Category: Papercrafting

Saturday! Glorious Saturday! Hi everybody…hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I've been holed up in the craft room all day with Mr. Buddy. We're watching Mad Men Season 3 on DVD getting ready for the Season 4 premiere tomorrow night! That Don Draper is dreamy…and a total cad! Does anyone else remember the office party with the tractor? Just sayin' - brilliant television!  

I finally got my craft on this week! Yay! The first card I made today is my entry for the Shabby Tea Room Blog Challenge #19. It's been too long since I entered their challenge. Glad to be back! The theme for this week is "From the Garden" using Red, White, Yellow and Green colors. I got the idea instanty to use the PTI Friendship Jar set with the pretty daisies…fresh from the garden. Hope you likey.

All the stamps are from Papertrey Ink…love that company, don't you? Lots of cutting on this one…the label, the top flower, the scallop red lining on the jar, the bee…

I really wanted the flowers to look like white daisies but it seemed strange to leave them all white. I used my lightest yellow Copics to barely color the petals. I put some prisma glitter in the centers. I used a MS edge puncher and the red paper is also from PTI.

I felt that it needed something in the bottom corner so I added the bee. Notice that I popped up several parts of the card with foam tape to add dimension. I couldn't live without foam tape! I may later add a sentiment on the very bottom also. But for now I just liked it as is.

Today's card is my entry for Taylored Expressions Challenge #121! I haven't entered Taylor's challenge in a couple of weeks and it's fun to play along again. There's still time…why don't you make a card and enter too? After making this card, I realized I need to stop with the yellow and the polka dots! Hmmmm. What will be my next obsession? Anyhoo…here is my card! You best be appreciatin' all the cutting involved in this one! hahaha. This is a great layout. The finished card is 6 inches square.

The sketch image from Taylor:

Supplies – October Afternoon stamps, Copic Markers, Dotted Swiss paper from Bazzill, Amuse cloud paper, Creative Memories circle cutter, and blossom nestabilities…

Chirp Chirp!

Hello chicadees! Oy, it's still roasting here in Sac-town and I'm in the craft room trying to stay cool…

The DH just went up to Target to get the Season 3 Mad Men DVD set so we can get ready for Season 4 which starts next weekend. He got the LAST copy!!! Thanks honey!!! He said he only had to hurt one person! Just kidding! If you have never watched that show, I highly recommend it. I would start from season 1 and watch the whole thing. It's my favorite show – like a wonderful, beautiful movie each week. So well made, I can hardly believe it's television. Sunday nights on AMC. Check it out.

The card I'm posting today was inspired by Julie's Amuse flowers class we took last week at Paper Garden. I made a round card inspired by one of her cards and used the new marigold stamp I bought – which we used on another card in class. I kept it sweet and simple, too. Hope you likey.

I used my large scallop die from Stampin' Up in my Cuttlebug to make the card bases. One tip Julie gave us is to score the back circle instead of the front one – so your card front is a solid circle. I punched two small holes on the side for the bright yellow riboon.

This marigold stamp is very versatile…you can stamp it in any color and it makes a nice crisp image. I used Adirondack Ink in Sunshine Yellow. The "Thank You" is a Stampin' Up image.

Notice the tiny clear rhinestones in the center of the flowers?

This is the inside of the card. The bee is from PTI and the saying is from Paper Source.

Pretty little Thank You's all ready to go!

A friend at work hired me to make some cards for her recently. One card for a little girl turning one and the other card for a little boy turning two. I don't often do cards for the wee ones! I don't really have a lot of images or paper to fit this scenario. I thought I would share my ideas in case anyone else has this dilemma. I am pleased with how the cards turned out and hope you like them too.

What is sweeter than this pink and white checked paper? I made some banners and stamped her name on them. Added some little daisies and a big number ONE!

A really great color combination for boys is blue and orange. Since these are complementary colors on the color wheel, they look great together. To me they imply fun and activity. I can't explain it but I think in color that way. I used Basic Grey paper and letter stickers for this card.

The boy image is from an October Afternoon clear stamp set. I colored him in with my Copic markers to match the paper exactly. I used a small TWO from the letter stickers to put on his t-shirt. I got some new nesties and used them too!

Hi y'all! Whew…just had me some fun this weekend! It went by in a flash…maybe the fastest weekend on record. Lemme tell ya about it! Julie Ebersole, Amuse teacher extraordinaire, came to our local stamp store, Paper Garden, this weekend to teach classes! I have followed her blog for a long time and love her style and her cards and photographs. I was really excited to get to meet her in person and make some great projects. My friend Teadub, also a big fan, came to stay the weekend at my house and take a class with me. I was also very excited that my friend Shauna was in class! We made some new friends along the way too – Erna and Joy and Renee (shout out to ya gals!)

Julie is just as lovely and fun in person as I imagined and also very funny! The cards we made – five in all – we just so cute. We made this one card using some supah cool five inch wide ribbon she found! We stamped on the ribbon for a very soft effect. Also made some poofy paper flowers. The whole class had a flower theme. Great time!

 
Later on Saturday we did some power shopping at Paper Garden. Love the Copic Marker display to take pictures! Sunday allllll day we stamped in my studio and had grilled cheese sammiches. MMMM. I tried to accurately document the tornado that occurred in the studio with TWO crazy crafty girls!! You can see Mr. Buddy in the background. He LOVES Teadub! They are new BFF's.

One of my favorite gal pals recently adopted two brand new tiny baby Scotty Dog Puppies!!! I have seen some pictures and lemme tell ya…they are uber cute! Well…I'm never one to miss an opportunity to make a card so I decided to make "new baby" cards for her.  My friend shares my love of all things vintagey and preppy so I had the idea pop into my head to use kind of an old rose shade of pink for one card. The perfect stamp set from Pink Persimmon. Ugh, I seriously can't stand it.

Well…I made this girlie card ahead of time and set it aside to save for when the new girl baby came home…then I got an email saying that she went to pick her up and ended up with a girl and a boy! I had to quickly go and make a second card! Hahaha. I can't wait to meet the new kids!

With this super cool stamp set you can stamp your doggy and then either color in the sweater or use one of the patterns provided. Also, you can use the tiny bow stamp to make the bow match in the same color. I found some of this herringbone paper in my stash and it was PERFECT! I added a tiny pink rhinestone for just a touch of bling.

And here is the boy card! I used the same herringbone print…in baby blue of course. I then put on a tiny blue rhinestone for the bow. I did not have blue herringbone paper (sad face) so I used some aged vanilla paper to keep the same vintage feel.

This weekend my bestie Teadub is coming to our house for the weekend!! WOOT WOOT! We are taking a class from Julie Ebersole (of Amuse fame) at my friend Stephanie's Stamp Store (Paper Garden) and then attending a party at the store later Saturday night. Sunday we are planning to stamp the day away. I'm so excited! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

Today's card is my entry for the Taylored Expressions #119 Challenge. Check out Taylor's blog by clicking here. I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for this card. I tried all kinds of colored papers and different stamp sets. Then…as I was eating my recent favorite snack…it came to me! I used the fun color scheme inspired by the Coconut M&M's package! The colors are bright kelly green, chocolate brown, white and a pop of hot pink! Perfect.

I tried coloring in all the images but I thought it looked better leaving the images in the panels simple and just coloring the main coconut image. Below is a picture of some of my supplies! The cute Hawaiian set is an old set from CTMH.

The sketch image:

The coconut was colored in with my Copic markers and then I put some ultra fine glitter on the accents. I used my Marvy punches to add the hot pink scallop around the image.

MMMMMMMMM. You can find inspiration anywhere!

Happy 4th of July!!! Hope you are having a nice holiday weekend and enjoying time with friends and family today. I got in some stamping time this morning – before we get ready to head over to my brother in law's house for fireworks later! I made a card using PTI's new sets "Friendship Jar" and 'Friendship Jar Additions." Really cute stuff!

The jar, label, paintbrushes, and cover are all separate clear stamps. I cut out the label and the cover to add some dimension. I colored in the paintbrushes using colors of the rainbow in bright primary shades. Used my Copics…of course.

The ribbon is also from PTI – Poppy is the color. Here are my Copic colors. I didn't do shading since I wanted the color to look rich and bright. I did a little shading on the label with two shades of yellow. I used the lightest blue green color around the edge of the jar to make it look like glass.

I added diamond glaze to the paint to make it look like wet paint! I colored the bristles with warm grey and the handles with cool grey. You could do so much with this set! I can't wait to make stuff in different color schemes.

Hey everyone! I'm kinda short on stamping time this week. We are trying to refinance our house and do all that comes with that…paperwork, appraisal, etc. It is a long process, but one that will hopefully work out and be a good thing in the long run. Send some good vibes our way.

Since stamping time is at a premium, I combined two challenges in one! A color challenge from the gals over at Shabby Tea Room and a sketch layout from Taylored Expressions. The colors are bright and happy: Lime green, hot pink and aqua blue Love those colors… and I always love a sketch from Taylor.

Check out Shabby Tea Room Challenge #16 by clicking here. AND Check out Taylored Expressions Challenge #118 by clicking here.

I used this super fun paper collection from K & Company called Citronella. It has all the bright, juicy colors called for in the challenge and has fruits and drinks and all kinds of yumminess! The drink is a big sticker! The limes and strawberry on the right were cut out from the patterned paper. I used hot pink bazzill paper and some white paper for my layers. The polka dot ribbon is from PTI – chartreuse.

Let Freedom Ring! Today I'm posting my 4th of July cards to share with you. I love making patriotic cards – as you've probably noticed from my blog! For my 4th of July cards this year I called upon an idea from a card I made a while back for Shabby Tea Room. (click here to see that card). This time I made the flag much smaller and also more geometric.

Okay, I have to say that making one of these was okay….but making 16 of them!? Not so much! I had no idea how long it would take me with all that glitter and cutting, and punching, and gluing! Oy. I do like how they came out though, so I guess it was worth it!! And I got to watch THREE movies…hahaha.

The card:

The Process:

The finished flag is 4" x 3". The blue part is a 1" square punch. the stripes are 1/2" wide. It was fun to combine two of my favorite things right now: polka dots and gingham! The Statue of Liberty is from Amuse stamps! I colored her with my Copics and then put on some 'mermaid' glitter glue. The fireworks were stamped in white ink and then glittered up!

Today's card was meant to send a happy hello to a friend who just moved to a new city. I wanted her to have some fun mail in her new mail box. I love this stamp set from Pink Persimmon with the little banners and the birdies to hold them. Each banner is a different stamp with a different pattern. Don't even get me started on the cute alphabet that fits just so inside the flags!! I know I will be using it a lot in the future.

I colored the little birdies in with my Copics and used Versamagic ink pads for the banners. The black ink is all Memento Ink.

This little butterfly fluttered by while Mark was out doing yard work! This was the only picture I could snap before she flew away…

Hi there! I have a cheerful fun card to share today! My friend Jilli Bling lives in a beautiful yellow victorian house out in the country and she was gracious enough to invite me and some friends over to stamp a while back. I wanted to send her a thank you card and I was so inspired by her wonderful home.

I used my Copic Markers to color the house in…and yes…it took me a long time! I used my glaze pens to add some dimension to the leaves on the plants and some of the yellow siding on the house. I used three or four shades of yellow to get just the right color. I kept the rest of the color scheme simple to focus on the main image.

I'm pretty crazy for polka dots lately…

Hiya! I found another great blog with a color challenge! This one is a color challenge and you can link to the Stamp Away With Me blog by clicking here.

This is the color pallette we had to work with – nice huh?

I used the super super cute PTI hot air balloon set with the cloud die. I used my versamagic inks in the orange, aqua and chartreuse colors and then made the baskets brown. I absolutely adore this stamp set!

I tried adding ribbon, some buttons, a charm…nothing worked…so I just left it sort of simple and clean. The images are so crisp and soft and I like the way the scallops add some dimension.

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum Summertime!!! Woo hoo! Normally I'm not really a hot weather person, but this year, after all the rain, I am ready for it to be nice outside. I do love certain things about Summer: Sandals, warm evenings, fresh fruit and veggies, and being outside.

Today's card is my entry for the Shabby Tea Room Blog Week #14 Challenge – Summer Fun! I love the Shabby Tea Room challenges! I had fun with this one and I really am happy with my card this week. I hope you like it too! It's a long card – finished size is 8" x 4". I needed all that room for the letters…

I had these fun chipboard letters in the cabinet – have had them for a long time. I found some matching paper and some shells and ribbon all in this sort of retro Summer color pallette. Not your typical super bright colors. I sanded the paper to make it look like an old beach towel – all worn in. I stamped the palm trees in the same color ink as the paper. I tried Versamark ink but that wasn't dark enough.

Some of the supplies I used. I created my own fun little embellishment with the chipboard, some ribbon and a pretty shell. I've also had those shells forever! Glad to finally use them.

Good News! I was chosen as one of the Top Crops over at Taylored Expressions for my card from last week. (Challenge #116). Check out the announcement by clicking here! WOOO HOOO! Thanks Taylor! I love her blog so to be selected (again) is wonderful!

Today's card was made especially for my sweet friend TeaDub! I just knew she would like these little tropical cuties! I colored the image first and then decided to go all out tropical with the color scheme too. I love these bright sunny colors.

I colored the mice with my Copic Markers and colored the sun a nice yellow hue. I added some ultrafine prisma glitter to the sun to make it shine. The flower embellishment came with the glitter already on it. I used my nesties for the circle and scallop circle.

Aloha!

This weekend was pretty busy and I didn't get in very much stamping time (gasp!) at home. I needed a birthday card and so I combined a color challenge with a sketch challenge to come up with one. The sketch is from Taylored Expressions (#117) and the color challenge is from Embellish Magazine Blog. I'm not sure why I can never get brown to photograph correctly?? The layer on the card, the ink and the velvet flower are all rich chocolatey brown.

Taylor's Sketch Image:

Embellish Color Image – Yellow, Brown and Coral Pink:

I couldn't resist putting in a picture of my cutie patootie nephew Gabriel, who we saw at the BBQ on Sunday. He just had his one year birthday. What a face! Could you eat him with a spoon??? Oy.

Greetings and Salutations! Today I'd like to share a birthday card made with those ever popular and oh- so-cute Penny Black hedgehogs! Yup, I love 'em too. I've been collecting these fun stamps for at least 12 years or so.

Fun fact about me…I used to have a real live hedgehog! Her name was Emma and she was an African Pygmy Hedgehog. She lived about five years – which is a good life for a pygmy hedgie. She was such a fun pet! She had the cutest little feet and her tummy was soft fur. Too much fun! Only down side is that hedgies only eat live food – in the form of meal worms! EW. You know I loved her because I would go to the pet store every week to buy her food. Again…EW. Other than that she was cool and unusual and fun to have around the house!

Emma:

Here's my card to share today:

Can you tell that I am SERIOUSLY in love with that blue and white polka dot paper? I know, two posts in a row… The hedgies were colored with Copics and then I added some glitter accents to the balloons, present and flowers. This card, again, cute and simple. I let the image speak for iteself.

I started coloring the hedgies with E00 for their tummies and hands/feet. I then used RV10 for their cheeks. I used three or four shades of both warm grey and cool grey to fill in their spikes. No real pattern to it, just keep going until it looks the way you like.

Hiya! Today's card is for Stacey's Stamping Stage Color Challenge #33! Check out her blog – lots of cute ideas and cards, and I love her color challenges. I've entered her contest before. The one for this week just happens to be in one of my favorite color pallettes – blues and greens. Soft blues and greens, like the ocean or beach glass.

Here is my card:

My card turned out just sort of sweet and simple. The image is from Unity and I colored it with my Copic markers. Used BG000 for the water and G00 for the glass vases!

HELLO! Happy Monday…I have been a bizzy bee in the craft room today! I had the day off and, after cleaning up the house a bit and doing tons of laundry, I settled into the craft room with Mr. Buddy by my side. I redid my blog banner for Summer…you like? I took that picture in front of the most beautiful church in Lake Forest Illinois last summer.

The card I want to post today is for Taylored Expressions Challenge #116. I love her sketch challenges!

Here's the card – a nice cheery birthday message:

Is this little birdie too cute? He's from Whipper Snapper stamps. The banner and words are from Pink Persimmon stamps. I colored in with my Copics and then added a tiny bit of glitter in the center of the flowers. The sweet felt flowers are from Impress and I've had those for ages.

Here is the sketch image:

Close up of the coloring…

Hi friends in blog-land! I'm back after a super busy, super fun weekend full of crafty goodness. Sorry to have gone so long without a post! I'm back today with my entry for Taylored Expressions #114 challenge! For my entry, I made a thank you card! On a side note, my card for TESC #113 came in THIRD in the voting last week! If you voted for me, thank you! What an honor – there were so many cute cards.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my thank you card:

I used the stamp set "Enjoy the Ride" from Papertrey Ink to make my cute little VW car. The saying is a stamp from Impression Obsession. I used about 7 shades of green to get my car to look kind of old and beat up but still shiny. I had these funny clear bubbles that fit perfectly as headlights! Added a band of chartreuse ribbon and some buttons….

Okay, so I have to tell you about my weekend! Friday night after work I headed over to the site for the Annual Rubber Stamp Convention put on by my friends at A Stamp in the Hand. Kat, Wendy and Joyce came in from LA and I was anxious to see them! We went out to dinner and gabbed and caught up. Saturday morning I went over early to get situated at the Rubber Stamp Concepts booth. Harry  hired me this year to do demo's and make-n-takes for him. Cute necklace project with ecoboard and foil! You guys are not going to believe that I didn't take ONE picture at the stamp show! It was so crazy busy the entire time that I barely had time to go to the bathroom. The day flew by. I went out to dinner with ASITH gang and Judikins gang and we had Thai food. The best part was this amazing coconut ice cream with toasted almonds and caramel sauce. OMG. My "I don't want any dessert" turned into "yes, please!" THANKS KAT! Got home around 9:30….

I got to meet some of you that follow my blog on Saturday and that was wonderful! I was amazed that some people recognized me because of my new apron! Yay! Nice to meet all of you – and thanks for your support. Leave me a comment if you have time!

Woke up early on Sunday morning and went out to a nice breakfast with the DH and then he dropped me off at my friend LG's house. So, four crazy stamping girls headed off to Berkeley for a day of paper shopping! Whew. It was a perfect day. Beautiful weather, good company, and great shopping.

I think that's the weekend in a nutshell. Well….this morning this is what was waiting outside at 5:30 am!!! Three big deer in the street! I know these pictures are terrible…but it was still practically dark out. I'm surprised they came out at all. Usually the only wild life on our street is skunks, raccoons and the crazy turkeys!