Beachies . . .

These two beach cuties are from the "Beachies" set from ATS. I made both of these cards about three weeks ago and tried in earnest to post them at that time, but wasn't able to post them timely. As such, this is the first time that I've had a chance to do so.

Above is Trevor . . . isn't he handsome?! Below is Emma . . . I think she's absolutely beautiful! Both were stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored using Copic Markers. Since it's been so long since I made these cards, I don't recall the patterned paper used, but the card bases are SU paper. Sorry that I can't provide the details! TFL!

MOJO84 - Maisy Ketto

Long time, no blog! I know . . . it's been quite some time since I blogged. Life has a way of getting in the way of stamping and blogging . . . Don't you hate when that happens?

I couldn't wait to post this card; especially since I made it two weeks ago for Jen's Sketch for you to try . I thought that Stampingbella's new Maisy Ketto stamp would be perfect with Basic Grey's new Lime Rickey paper! TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Lime Rickey, Whisper white, only orange, summer sun, green galore
Stamp: Maisy Ketto by Stampingbella
Ink: StazOn black, VersaMagic jumbo java
Copics: BG10, E25-27-50, G21, Y11-15
Accessories: Misc. brads, grosgrain ribbon, Flora Doodles jeweled florettes, Nestabilities, Stickles, EK Success wavy border punch, CB embossing folder

MOJO81 - Stampendous Sunflowers

Have you ever had one of those weeks when it seems (and does) take forEVER to create a card? I've had one of those weeks! I was excited to see Monday's MOJO81 sketch. And, as a promise and challenge to myself (and to another SCS sister, wink wink) I wanted to post the card that evening. So, here I am posting it Thursday afternoon . . . better late than never, eh? Rather than bore you with the laborious details about my past four days, I'll just move on to the card details instead! TFL!

Paper: Windsor Knot (retired), sage shadow, so saffron

Stamp: Stampendous Sunflowers

Ink: StazOn timber brown, Stampendous embossing powder, VersaMagic jumbo java,

Copics YR21 - 23; G17-24; blender pen

Accessories: Bronze brads, eyelet border punch

MOJO81 - Verve Flowers

I couldn't wait to create a card using the Mojo Monday 81 sketch. The best part: It's a contest (and who doesn't love a little competition?) with one winner for every 50 entries, up to a max of seven winners! I thought that my Everlasting Life stamps from Verve would be perfect for this sketch.

The base of the card is kiwi kiss with rose red as my highlight color. I stamped the flower using Memento Ink and colored the flower using my copics. I've been wanting to use my felt flowers for quite some time now and this sketch lent itself perfectly for them! The glazed brads for inside the flower are from Basic Grey's Bittersweet collection. The rhinestones at the bottom are from my "bling" stash. The ribbon is kiwi kiss.


Here are the Copic markers I used:
Paper: Raspberry Tart DP, kiwi kiss, rose red
Stamp: Verve - Everlasting Life
Ink: Memento Ink, rose red
Accessories: Copic markers, kiwi kiss ribbon, Basic Grey glazed brads, felt flowers (from '08), rhinestones

SC222 - Changito Hop!

I made this card for my April card swap for my "Card Chicks." Wahoo! (I know, I still owe you last month's card!). But, seriously, I couldn't help myself . . . I really liked last week's SC222 sketch. I used Making Memories stripe cardstock and barley banana (embossed using my CB) and lovely lilac as the base. I stamped this cute Changito on WW, cut him out using my Nestabilities, colored him using my Copics and added Stampendous glitter to his ears, tail and bunny slippers (aren't those slippers the cutest?). Below are the Copics I used. TFL!

Paper: Making Memories DP, barely banana, lovely lilac

Stamp: Stampendous Changito Hop

Ink: StazOn Timber Brown

Accessories: Copics, CB, Nestabilities, Stampendous glitter, American Craft ribbon

MOJO 80 - Dream a Little

Here is my take on this week's MOJO80 Monday challenge. I've wanted to use the Dream a Little set since I got it, but was waiting for the right layout. I am a huge fan of Basic Grey paper and their new Porcelain paper is no disappointment! The colors are stunning and match incredibly well with SU!'s Pink Pirouette. I really couldn't find a pattern paper that I liked for the marbled background, so I stamped the flower in Kiwi Kiss and colored the flowers in with the Kiwi Kiss reinkers. I added some Stickles for a little spark. The flower base is inked in Pink Pirouette and the outline is Riding Hood Red. The sentiment (from Verve) is stamped in Riding Hood Red and sponged in the same color to make it pop. The humming bird is stamped in Baja Breeze and then stamped two additional times and layered one on top of the other using dimensionals to make it look like it was really flying. I colored the bird using the Baja Breeze reinkers for some shadows and added some Baby Blue Stickles to its wings and eye. Finally, I used some pink Dew Drops to the left.

Paper: Basic Grey Porcelain DP, Pink Pirouette
Stamp: Dream a Little; Verve

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Nestabilities, Stickles, Dew Drops, Pretty in Pink grosgrain

SFYTT - Everlasting Life

Long time, no post! I participated in a scrap retreat with a bunch of friends (AKA "card chicks") this weekend and I was energized by all of my friend's creativity; they totally ROCK (love you chicks!)!

As a result of my new-found energy, I totally had my "Verve" on last night! For Jen's Sketch for you to try, I thought my newly acquired stamps from Verve called "Everlasting Life" would be perfect for this week's layout. The card base is barely banana with Basic Grey Porcelain DP. The images are stamped on very vanilla with StazOn Timber Brown and cut using Nestabilities. I used my new favorite punches: two by Fiskers and the other by Stampin' Up! The cross was colored using my Copics. For the final touch, I added the mini pearl beads, so saffron ribbon and Basic Grey glazed brad.

Below is inside the card. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Porcelain DP, barely banana
Stamp: Verve
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown
Accessories: Nestabilities, Copics, so saffron ribbon, misc. pearl rhinestones, Basic Grey glazed brads

SC218 - Live Like You Mean It

It's spring here in Florida, at least for today anyway. It is a beautiful 74 degrees with a blue sky and sunshine! Last week it was chilly; temps didn't budge over 50 degrees. While creating this card last night, I thought this stamp set reminded me of spring when I lived up north. The card base is kiwi kiss (I absolutely, positively LOVE kiwi kiss) with Basic Grey's Urban Prairie DP. I stamped the flowers in chocolate chip and colored two of the flowers in the barely banana and the leaves with kiwi kiss. I added some adhesive rhinestones to the center of each of the flowers. I used my color spritzer tool for the first time and love it! Very easy to use and I like the results. I added some chocolate ribbon pieces on the left for some added interest.

Below is what the inside of the card looks like. I used my Nestabilities and some scraps and used one of my felt flowers with an antique brad for dimension. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie DP, kiwi kiss, barely banana
Stamp: Live Like You Mean It
Ink: Chocolate chip, kiwi kiss, barely banana, creamy Carmel
Accessories: Antique brass brads, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, Color Spritzer, Nestabilities, K&C Company adhesive rhinestones, American Craft ribbon

MOJO76 -- Fabulous Flowers

Better late than never! This card is my take on MOJO76 from last week! While my intentions were to create (and post) this card last week, my MOJO just wasn't flowing! Let's also throw in a few distractions soccer practice, birthday parties, etc. and before I knew it the week was over!

My true inspiration behind this card is from Laura Fredrickson. She is one of my favorite designers whom I love to stalk! Her card using the Fabulous Flowers stamp set can be seen here. When I saw her card it took my breath away. So when I saw last week's MOJO76 sketch, I thought that this set would be perfect!

I first stamped the flower image three separate times using pink passion ink. I then cut each image out and stickled each of the layered petals. Once dry, I cut each image out and layered each flower using dimensionals. I added the rhinestones for added bling to complete the look. Can see the rub-on in the lower right hand corner? The rub-ons are from last year's SU sale-abrations promotions. TFL!

Paper: Bella Rose DP, Raspberry Tart DP, kiwi kiss, rose red
Stamp: Fabulous Flowers
Ink: Pink Passion
Accessories: Stickles, kiwi kiss ribbon, Kaiser rhinestones, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder, dimensionals, Nestabilities

Congratulations to Two of My Inspirational Blogging Friends!

No card to post today, but I have some great news about two of my inspirational blogging friends! Both are guest designers! Tori is guest designer during this month for All That Scraps. You can check out her designs on her blog here! My other friend, Lesley, is guest designer for Just My Sketches . You can check out her designs on her blog here!

It's pretty cool to see your friends succeed and it's even better to share their exciting news with the rest of the paper-crafting community! So fill up your coffee cup, settle in and enjoy!

All Natural (SFYTT)

I couldn't wait to use Jen's Sketch for you to try using my All Natural stamps by Basic Grey. The card base is cool caribbean with basic black. The DP is Basic Grey's Urban Prairie. I stamped the flower pods in cool caribbean. The flower is a 2-step stamp with the base stamped in baja breeze and the outline in pacific point. I colored the flower pods using twinkling H2O's and some stickles on the flower. Since I wanted the butterfly to have a two-dimensional look, I stamped the butterfly with timber brown StazOn and stamped the same butterfly on barely banana. I cut out just the wings on the barely banana cardstock and used dimensionals to pop-up the wings. I added cooper stickles to the wings for added effect. I used my Cuttlebug for the kiwi kiss strip and added some chocolate chip ink to the impression. I used my nestabilities to cut out the image and added a matching velvet ribbon and polka-dot ribbon for the sentiment. TFL!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

. . . that's my story! I was excitied to try Kristina's Color Inspiration and last week's Mojo Monday challenge, but I couldn't pull it off by the end of the week! I liked the color challenge combination because I wouldn't ordinarily use more mustard, really rust with kiwi kiss; However, once the mojo got moving I kinda liked the end result. I remembered that I hadn't used Basic Grey's Mellow paper yet and knew that it offered me the exact colors I needed. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Mellow, more mustard, really rust, kiwi kiss, WW

Stampa: Season of Friendship, Verve

Ink: Really rust

Accessories: More mustard ribbon, misc. crystals, 1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, boho blossoms punch

I{heart}2Stamp - Valentine's Day Sketch

I had a lot of fun with Jen Del Muro's Sketch for You to Try (SFYTT) from Saturday. Sadly, I bought this Stampendous stamp set last summer and this is the first time I've used it! No time like the present to ink this baby up, eh?! I used my new Basic Grey Bittersweet paper along with the matching glazed brads. The card base is purely pomegranate. I colored the sweets with Copic markers and SU markers and "iced" the cupcakes and dotted the cherries with some stickles. The greeting inside the card reads: "Wishing you all the good things in life -- friendship, happiness and chocolate!" TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet, purely pomegranate, close to cocoa

Stamp: Stampendous Tiers of Treats, All Good Things

Ink: Memento, Copics, SU Markers
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, 1/2" circle punch, American Crafts ribbon, Basic Grey Bittersweet glazed brads

Sprinklin' a Little Luv . . .

I just love Valentine's Day! When I saw this little Stampendous Skippin' Bee cutie and the sentiment, I knew it had to be mine! Stampendous’ Bee collection is so stinkin’ cute. . . I have almost the whole collection. TFL!

Paper: Basic Grey Bittersweet, rose red, river rock
Stamp: Stempendous
Ink: rose red
Accessories: Nestabilities, stickles, purely pomegranate ribbon, Hero Arts heart pearls, Copic markers: E-25-33, R-00-22-35-83

LPS02: Gettin' Sketchy - I Love You Valentine

My husband doesn't know it, but this will be his Valentine's Day card. I designed the card from Little Paper Shop's sketch challenge LPSC02: Gettin' Sketchy found here http://littlepapershop.blogspot.com/2009/01/lpsc02-gettin-sketchy.html . What attracted me to the design was it's simplicity -- perfect for a man! Not too smoochy and not too lovey-dovey, just perfect. We'll see what my DH has to say on Feb. 14.

Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle, rose red, basic grey

Stamp: A Happy Heart

Ink: rose red

Accessories: American Paper Crafts ribbon, nestabilities

SFYTT - Birthday Invitation

This is my daughter's 9th birthday party invitation. I used Jen Del Muro's sketch challenge found here http://iheart2stamp.com/2009/01/31/last-day-and-a-sketch-for-you-to-try/ Once I saw the sketch I knew that it would be perfect for the party invitation! The best part? My toughest critic (my daughter) "approved" of the design and colors! Whew!

Paper: Tres Jolie, cameo coral, pretty in pink, kiwi kiss, sage shadow

Stamp: Lots of Thoughts

Ink: cameo coral, pretty in pink, kiwi kiss, sage shadow, chocolate chip

Accessories: American Crafts ribbon, tag nestabilities, Cuttlebug, stickles

Ghiradelli ® Chocolate Boxes

It's been a while since I last posted. Here's what I’ve been doing for the past few days. I've been busy making these cute Ghiradelli® Chocolate Boxes for Valentine’s Day. Aren't they adorable? These treat boxes make great teacher’s gifts as well as “a little-something” for that special someone for Valentine’s Day.

The tutorial is available on SCS here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/ghirardellibox

These boxes are quick and easy to make and you can use them for any occasion! Who wouldn't like to receive one of these little goodies?

Paper: riding hood red, chocolate chip, pink pirouette, Candy Lane DP

Stamp: Love You Much, Love Owl Ways

Ink: riding hood red, pink pirouette

Accessories: Martha Stewart punches, stickles

Hang in There!

A friend of mine recently experienced some potentially serious medical problems. She is doing much better now, but as a result, she's had to come back "slow" which as you know can be frustrating. In an effort to keep her spirits up, I made this card for her. I didn’t want a traditional get-well card, but something that would be light-hearted to let her know that I was thinking of her. Of course, Changito fit the need perfectly! I hope she likes it! TFL!

Paper: old olive, chocolate chip, kraft, Basic Grey Mellow
Stamp: Stampendous! Changito
Ink: old olive, chocolate chip
Accessories: antique brass brads, Nestabilities, chocolate chip poly-twill ribbon, Copic markers

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's Day! Personally, Valentine's Day is probably one of my most favorite holidays. This is my first time using one of my Valentine digi downloads from C. C. Design Stamps and couldn't help but fall in love with her. Hmmm . . . I'm not sure if I'll be giving her away this Valentine's Day or keeping her for myself! Stay tuned for more Valentine's Day stuff! TFL!

Paper: kiwi kiss, riding hood red, Bella Rose DP

Stamp: Digi Download

Ink: riding hood red, Copic markers, stickles

Accessories: Martha Stewart heart punch, nestabilities

Happy Birthday!

I have plenty of "girly" birthday cards, but none that capture the masculine side. I was overdue on creating a birthday card for my brother-in-law so I whipped this one up rather quickly. I like the bright colors and how easy it was to come together. I hope he likes it! Notice how I incorporated kiwi kiss yet again -- geeezz, I didn't realize I love that color as much as I do!

Paper: Creative Imaginations, pacific point, tangerine tango, kiwi kiss, whisper white

Stamp: Hero Arts

Ink: pacific point

Accessories: ribbonFX, primary color brads, stickles

Elegant Thank You . . .

You can never have too many "thank you" cards, can you? I made this one for a friend of mine who surprised me with a Christmas gift. I love the color combo, but didn't like how the embossed image on certainly celery didn't "add" any dimension. I decided to use my brayer inked with certainly celery to add more color and definition to the image. I thought it added the extra punch that it needed! TFL!

Paper: purely pomegranate, pink pirouette, certainly celery, kiwi kiss

Stamp: Elegant Thank You

Ink: chocolate chip

Accessories: polytwill ribbon

Techniques: cuttlebug, brayer, top note die

One Cool Dude!

This is Balancin' Petey from Inky Antics . . . he's too cool, eh? I used my Prismacolor pencils using Gamsol to give him a watercolor-like look. The trick is using the blending stumps carefully -- a patiently -- blending colors from the outer edges toward the center of the area that you are coloring. I still need to master the blending technique (not to mention the patience part!), but it was a fun change of pace from watercolor crayons and Copics. The paper used is kiwi kiss, baja breeze, soft sky and Scenic Route paper. I also used my Cuttlebug, glitter, ticket punch and dew drops to add a little design element. Let me tell you, Petey would fit right in right now in North Florida -- temperatures are going to dip to 27 degrees by Friday morning (warming to a balmy 60 degrees by the afternoon). Brrrrrr! TFL!

Lily the Fairy

Isn't she precious? The Pink Cat Studio is offering Lily the Fairy as a free digi download; the catch? Design an original card, using the image of Lily -- that's it! Here's my take on her... I used SU WW, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey Urban Prairie papers; SU Baja Breeze ink; Fancy crush ribbon, Nestabilities, Stickles, and Copic Markers: Y21-26; YG63; G21-40; E00; R20; BG10-72. I absolutely adore her! TLF!