Friday Friends with Flair

Hi Everyone, it's Friday and I have 2 Unity Friends with Flair cards to share!! Angela has the master list of all the 50 designers participating in the FWF this week! Take a lookie at the Unity blog for the names/links of more Unity goodness.

My cards use a sketch I jotted down from my GF Silke's blog awhile ago. But, I didn't write down where it came from -oops! Anyway, I made 2 cards using the sketch. I love how versitile it is. This first one is a Christmas card using my FAV ornament from the Bright and Merry Wishes set. See that Martha Stewart stars border punch? I bought it by mistake thinking it was the snowflake punch (it is actually stars), but I really LOVE it!! When you punch, it leaves little stars and I used them to adorn the ornament -oh it made me so happy!! The pattern paper is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses and the ribbon is PTI's sweet blush satin dots.

This next card I made for my mom's birthday. I just love this image, it's from the June KOM, Perfect in Every Way -how whimsical and fun! The sentiment is Verve and the pattern paper is K&Company, Que Sera Sera.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back Sunday for another addition of Hope Stamps Eternal Cupcake Inspiration Challenge!

Card Deets (Christmas):

Stamps - Mery and Bright Wishes (Unity)

Paper - Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Eskimo Kisses (Basic Grey)
Ink - Versamark

Accessories - Silver EP, vintage button from my granny's tin, satin ribbon, silver pearls, copic markers, Word window punch, siler cord, Score-Pal

Card Deets (birthday):
Stamps - Perfect in Every Way

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - White, Pink Pirouette, K&Company- Que Sera Sera.
Accessories - Score-Pal, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, Sweet Pea Kaiser Rhinestones, silver pearls, silver cord, Spring Moss Satin ribbon (PTI) and copic markers

Some challenge cards and one just for fun!

Hi everyone! I have a three challenge cards to share and a card I DID JUST FOR FUN! Remember when we used to have time to do that? Pfft! Now with Daniel in Kindergarten, my "stamping just for fun" time has pretty much gone out the window -LOL!

First up is my card for this week's SCS Featured Stamper challenge who happened to be RACHEL (aka RachelHope13)!! Of course you all know Rach is my BFF AND a wonderful stamper! I chose her cutie fun tree button card to case. I changed the pattern paper to a piece of Cosmo Cricket, Nutmeg 6x6 pad. I also added some scoring at the bottom and added a tag. All the buttons and burlap string are from Pinkhedgehog Papercrafts. 

 

This next card is for SCS Sketch challenge #252 (are we really up to 252?)!! I like this sketch altho it was a bit tricky chosing the pattern papers to go with the holly leaves and buttons. I used PTI's Holiday Button Bits for this card and the Pattern paper is Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly. The buttons are from the Fuchsia Collection, they are a perfect match to Raspberry Fizz!!

This Christmas card is for Jen's Sketch For you to Try challenge. I don't get to Jen's sketches very often, but I just love them and bring them out every week! This one REALLY caught my eye and I had to make time. So I busted out my Verve set, O Christmas Tree and My Mind's Eye, Merry Days of Christmas. The sentiment is from last year's Ornamental Christmas.

Next up is my Just for Fun card! No challenge, no deadline, I was digging thru my stamp stash and found this cutie $1 Studio G stamp. I bought it ages ago and never used it. I used some Basic Grey, Lemonade scraps and some Creative Cafe felt flowers from my LSS. Man, looking at this photo, I need to edit it again. It looks so dark... anyway, I love this little birdie! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned tomorrow for some Friends with Flair Unity goodness!!

Card Deets (Featured Stamper): Stamps: Tiny Giggle Grove Paper: kraft, vintage cream, Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Ink: Memento Espresso Accessories: buttons, score-pal, burlap string

Card Deets (Sketch): Stamps: Holiday Button Bits Paper: white, black, raspberry fizz, PP Jolly by Golly Accessories: raspberry fizz grosgrain, silver pearls, buttons from the Fuchsia Collection

Card Deets (SFYTT):

Paper - White, Pure Poppy, Merry Days of Christmas (MME)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories - Light blue and yellow rhinestones, blue taffeta ribbon, circle nestabilities, double ended tag nesties, copic markers

Card Deets (Birdie): Stamps: Studio G Paper: white, pink pirouette, lemonade Ink: black Accessories: score-pal, felt flower, $1 yellow grosgrain ribbon, Michael's silver pearls

Catching up with some Verve

Hi everyone! This is one of my favorite posts of the month! Today I have lots of Verve cards to share that I made with the Christmas October Release. There were 7 sets this month and each had lovely images, amazing sentiments and NEW fonts! LOVE love love them! Julee did not disappoint this month.

My theme this year seems to be BUTTONS and CAS!! Due to my close proximity and friendship with Heidi (owner extraordinaire of Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts), I have more buttons than I can EVER use, so tis the season I say -LOL! And CAS, well cause who has the time to make detailed Christmas cards? Last year I made almost 70 cards! EEK! So here we go...

Made from Holly Jolly, using Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly:

Another made from Holly Jolly, using Basic Grey Wassail:

Made from Frosty Flakes, using Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses:Made from O Christmas Tree, using Basic Grey, Eskimo Kisses:

Another made from O Christmas Tree, using Basic Grey, Eskimo Kisses:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #30

Hi everyone! It's Sunday and that means it's time for another FABULOUS Cupcake Inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Check out this week's cupcake, how delicious are those M&Ms? YUM-MY!!

I took my inspiration from all the circles and made a circle card. I used some Basic Grey Lemonade, the Saltwater Taffy piece, and the cherries from the Lemonade chipboard shapes! See all the circles on the cherry piece? Ahhhh, just makes me happy I tell ya!

Oh and I put the lady bug piece in the picture cause I desperately wanted to use on the card too, but I just couldn't make it work- LOL! To keep the circles thing going, I used my fav Cuttlebug embossing folder, Swiss Dots.

Everyone is invited to play along in the challenge!! If you do, be sure to link your creation to Mr. Linky on the HSE blog. Every week, Rach highlighs the top 5!! Congrats to this week's Top Picks !!!

Now head on over to my fellow HSE Sweetie's and see how they rocked that cupcake!!

Carolina - Carolina's Creative Pad
Rachel - Hope Stamps Eternal
Colleen - Glitter Ink
Bonnie - The Lucky Clucker
Tammy - Stamp Happy
Natalie - Dougnat Diaries
Jessica - Shamrocks and Seashells
Kelli - Yard Sale Kind of Luck

Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE: Our very own RACHEL is today's Featured Stamper over on SCS!! Congrats girlie! I can't wait to play!

Card Deets:

Paper - Pink Pirouette, white, Basic Grey Lemonade "Saltwater Taffy" piece

Accessories - Lemonade Chipboard Shapes, white taffeta ribbon, silver cord, button from the Lollipop collection

Verve sneak peeks and Raspberry Suite challenge

Hi everyone, I'm here with a Verve sneak peek today! This month's release has several Christmas sets and one very special set designed in honor of breast cancer awareness. $10 from the sale of every Believe set will be donated to the Susan G Komen for the Cure fund!

Today we are peeking Christmas in the Air and Holly Jolly Christmas. I am sharing 2 cards using Christmas in the Air and I have to say, it's my FAV set of the release! Take a look.

OMG, how cute is that tree? I colored it with Copic markers, but it would look super cute pieced and it really easy to cut out (thanks Julee, you are always thinking ahead). Both cards use Basic Grey's new Christmas paper, Eskimo Kisses and lots of Kaiser rhinestones!

Be sure to check out the Verve Blog to see more samples from the amazing Divas and leave comments for a chance to win Verve goodies! AND for even more chances to win, be sure to check out the Release Week challenges going on in the Verve Forum for your chance to win the entire release!


This next card is for Dawn's Raspberry Suite color challenge. This time Dawn challenged us to use Chocolate Chip, Vintage Cream, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz and Kraft! I love those colors, but this ended up being a challenge to use all 5 colors.

I REALLY wanted to use this vintage button from my granny's tin, so I designed the entire card around it! I have been saving this button for a long time. I am not too sure about the Chocolate card base, may change that later. The sentiment is from Verve's Just For You set. I punched a circle around it and then trimmed off the top and bottom. Then I tucked under some spare leaves I die cut.

Here is a little close up of my favorite button in the world!!

Card Deets (Christmas):
Stamps - Christmas in the Air
Paper - White, Aqua mist, Ripe Avocado, Eskimo Kisses
Accessories - PTI sweet blush twill, aqua satin, rhinestones, sewing machine

Card Deets (Raspberry):
Stamps - Bountiful Backgrounds and Just for You
Ink - VersaMark, black
Paper - Chocolate chip, kraft, Raspberry fizz, green leaf, vintage cream
Accessories - burlap string, Sizzlets leaves die, scallop border punch, Swiss dots EF, Granny's button

Lots of CAS!

Hi everyone, I have a several CAS cards to share today! I was inspired by the challenge going on over on the Cards Magazine blog. Paige issued a challenge to do a CAS card using collage-y layout inspired by Kim Hughes card she showed.

This challenge was SO fun! Seriously, I made 4 cards yesterday. It wasn't as simple as I hoped, I totally futzed around with the DP, layout, embellies, etc -but it was good to use up some scraps and chipboard sticker leftovers. I have 2 more in the works! I love this style of card.

This first one uses a vintage button from my granny's tin and some Creative Cafe felt flowers.

This next card uses some Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly pattern paper and chipboard stickers.

This one uses Basic Grey June Bug paper and chipboard stickers.

And lastly, this card is for my dad's birthday. I followed the CPS sketch from last week. The amazing cuttlebug folder is called Diamond Plate and is perfect for masculine cards!

Here are a couple close up pictures!

This week is Verve's October release week! Julee has come up with some amazing sketch challenges and there is a FREE digital download for release! It's called Winter Mittens. Check out the Verve forum on SCS for all the release details and the sketches! Peeks start tomorrow, so keep an eye out for lots of Verve goodness to hit the blogasphere!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake inspiration challenge #29

Hi everyone! It's Sunday and that means it's time for another FABULOUS Cupcake Inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Check out this week's cupcakes, how are cute are these little Halloween witches? I get questions about where Rachel finds these cupcake images. I will refer you to her challenge post. She has links there.

I also wanted to mention that Rachel has the new STAMPAVIE stamps in the store now -they are designed by Tina Wenkle and are the cutest little things!!
Honestly, I had a bit of trouble with these cuppies. The witches were not really my thing, so I took my inspiration from the black on them and used black as my layering/accent color and here's what I came up with.

I used some of my neglected Basic Grey Lemonade paper. I used the tiny dotted piece for the letters and carried the yellow dots thru to the rhinestone accents along the punched edge. The flower is made from 2 Zva felt flowers and a Zva corduroy brad. I SO love these brads, I see stampers use them beautifully and this is the first time I finally got one to work!! I tried several kinds of black ribbon and strings, but finally settled on the simple 1/4" grosgrain, sometimes simple is better! The sketch for this card is this week's Mojo108 sketch.

Everyone is invited to play along in the challenge!! If you do, be sure to link your creation to Mr. Linky on the HSE blog. Every week, Rach highlighs the top 5!! Congrats to this week's Top Picks !!!

Now head on over to my fellow HSE Sweetie's and see how they rocked those cupcakes!!

Carolina - Carolina's Creative Pad

Rachel - Hope Stamps Eternal

Colleen - Glitter Ink

Bonnie - The Lucky Clucker

Tammy - Stamp Happy

Natalie - Dougnat Diaries

Jessica - Shamrocks and Seashells

Kelli - Yard Sale Kind of Luck

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Card Deets:

Paper - Vintage Cream, black, Lemonade PP

Accessories - Zva felt flowers and corduroy brad, grosgrain ribbon, yellow rhinestones, Upper Crest border punch (Fiskars), score-pal

Friday Friends with Flair

Hi Everyone, it's Friday and I have a Unity Friends with Flair card to share!! Angela has the master list of all the 50 designers participating in the FWF this week! Take a lookie at the Unity blog for the names/links of more Unity goodness.

I had so much fun with the Bright and Merry Wishes set today, I made 2 cards! This first one is a one-layer CAS card! The card actually came from a Glittered Butterfly Card Making kit by Martha Stewart!! It came with 8 cards (pink, blue and green), envies, strips for glitter and 5 tubes of glitter -all for $2 at Big Lots. Yep, I LOVE my Big Lots!

I stamped the ornaments 2 times, once on the card and then on some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses scraps I had on my table. I pieced some parts of the ornaments and colored the other parts with copics. I drew in the string with a marker and a ruler and then added some 1/8" organdy ribbon for a tiny bow. The sentiments in this set are pretty big, but perfect for the size of this card, which is 5 x 7.

My next card SHAMELESSLY cases a wonderful card from Melissa Phillips. I am actually embarassed to link it cause there is really NO comparison, but here it is. To see it, scroll down 6 pictures and please be kind!

My card uses the fabulous My Mind's Eye pattern paper from the Merry Days of Christmas collection. It's hard to see in the picture, but I embossed the ornaments in gold and the snowflake image in clear directly on the background paper. The ribbon is SU! taffeta ribbon (which is still my all time favorite ribbon, I wish they would come out with more colors!). A couple rhinestones, some buttons and gold cord are the finishing touches. The sentiments were a bit too big in scale for this card so I used Verve's Ornamental Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by have a great day!!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Mery and Bright Wishes (Unity)
Paper - Vintage Cream, Spring Rain, Merry Days of Christmas (MME)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories - Gold EP, buttons, rhinestones, taffeta ribbon, glitter, copic markers, 1/8" Organdy ribbon, gold cord

Cute little snowman

Hi everyone, this is a short post as it is late and I want to start watching Flash Forward being recorded right now!!! That is my favorite new show!!

But first, I have a cutie little snowman card to share with you. Embellish Magazine's current challenge is to make a circle card using the colors Bashful blue, Certainly celery, white and Chocolate chip. My first thought was to make a baby boy card, but my mojo wasn't going in that direction.

So, I switched gears and brought out my beloved Snow Wonderful set. I stamped the snowman with chocolate chip ink and pieced his scarf and hat band with celery cardstock. The left side of the card was made using the backgrounder stamp in bashful blue ink. This is pretty straight forward, actually pretty easy to make. The trickiest part is making sure to run your largest scalloped nestie so the bottom 2 scallops allow your card to stand straight.

Thanks for the challenge Ashley! I love how this turned out and I rarely make circle cards!

Stay tuned, I have my Friends with Flair post coming up!!

Card Deets:

Stamps - Snow Wonderful

Paper - White, chocolate chip, certainly celery

Ink - Bashful blue, chocolate chip

Accessories - blue striped ribbon (May Arts), silver cord, pea green rhinestones, stickles, Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder, circle nesties

Somebody pinch me...

...have you seen the new Winter issue of Paper Creations?

I have 10 cards in there!! I feel like I am dreaming! I just love Paper Creations, their magazine is so well done, and they do each and every card beautifully in every way! This is truly a dream come true for me.

You can see some amazing Verve-y goodness on pages 28, 41, and 83

some Elzybells cutie pies on page 46 and 47

some PaperTrey harvest fun on page 17

some Rubber Stampede trees on page 20

a fun Inka reindeer on page 45

and Gina K elegance on page 44

Check it out and help support print publications!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake Inspiration challenge #28

Hi everyone! It's Sunday and that means it's time for another FABULOUS Cupcake Inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Check out this week's lucious cupcake, aren't the fall colors AMAZING! I get questions about where Rachel finds these cupcake images. I will refer you to her challenge post. She has links there.
I LOVE the colors so much on the cupcakes -notice that they are a perfect match to Basic Grey, Indian Summer??? I followed this week's Fall to Layout sketch. In fact I loved the sketch and paper together so much, I made TWO cards!!

Everyone is invited to play along in the challenge!! If you do, be sure to link your creation to Mr. Linky on the HSE blog. Every week, Rach highlighs the top 5!! Congrats to this week's Top Picks!!!

My first card uses a sentiment from The Greeting Farm, Sentiments. The sentiments in this set are cute and versitile. The felt flowers are from Zva Creative, the Cozy Mix. I put silver pearls in the centers and some silver cord tied in a bow glued underneath the large flower. Notice the sewing? I remembered to bust out my sewing machine and I sewed the DP to both cardstock layers. I then distressed the edges with my fingernail.

My next card uses a sentiment from Verve's Harvest Blessings set. I colored the pine branch with a green copic and added some gold pearls for accents. Again, the pattern paper is Indian Summer and the felt flowers are from the Cozy mix. I used gold pearls and string instead of silver, just seemed to match this particular paper better.

Now head on over to my fellow HSE Sweetie's cards and see how they rocked those cupcakes!!

Carolina - Carolina's Creative Pad
Rachel - Hope Stamps Eternal
Colleen - Glitter Ink
Bonnie - The Lucky Clucker
Tammy - Stamp Happy
Natalie - Dougnat Diaries
Jessica - Shamrocks and Seashells (has the week off)
Kelli - Yard Sale Kind of Luck

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Card Deets:
Stamps - Sentiments, Harvest Blessings
Ink - Black, Chocolate Chip
Paper - Stampers Select white, Raspberry Fizz, Bravo Burgundy and Indian Summer
Accessories - Zva Felt flowers, silver and gold pearls and cord, sewing machine