MFT: Baby, It's Cold Outside

I recently ordered some MFT stamps...never bought them before but I can definitely see another order in the near future! :o) They have some new releases unveiled tomorrow night and I know I am looking forward to the snowmen one! I do believe for me, that is a must have...I am snowmen crazy, just ask my hubby!

I stamped this card using Brilliance Graphite pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. The cardstock colors are some favorite retired colors from SU: True Thyme, Cranberry Crisp and Holiday Thyme designer paper...oh, how I miss those colors! The background was embossed using the Snowflake cuttlebug folder and sponged with True Thyme to make the snowflakes really stand out. I paper pieced her dress (using the Holiday Thyme designer paper) and colored her scarf, boots, mittens and background using reinkers and a blue watercolor crayon with my Niji watercolor brush. Of course, the snow needed some attention and I added some Dazzling Diamonds and it really just set it off just right! The sentiment is blinged a bit with a nice pewter snowflake brad...I must say, I love this card. Even my husband who usually gives me the courteous "that's nice" comment when I show him cards, really liked this one. :o)) I am so thankful for him for so many reasons...He is really supportive of my stamping...he doesn't understand my fascination with stamping, but he encourages me in it and for that I am grateful.
Have a gret day...later I should get to stampin' some more.

Quick Sympathy Card

I needed another sympathy card and had little time with which to make it and get it in the mail. This was super quick and easy, which is nice when I am in a pinch for time! I think these colors are so nice together: Kiwi Kiss and Soft Sky. You could easily substitute Old Olive for Kiwi Kiss since the latter is a new In Color. I also like the scalloped edge punch with this layout, adds a nice touch. Well, it has been a busy day here and I am off to get some more things done.
Have a great night and stay tuned tomorrow as I have some My Favorite Things cards to share!

Back to stampin'

It has been a busy week preparing for a Mother-Daughter Luncheon at our church. I stamped the place cards and programs and was knee deep in finishing that up the last week and a half (a total of 65 placecards and programs...the event went wonderfully). If it is not too cloudy tomorrow, I will take a picture of them.



I made another card using the stamp set Whimsical Autumn...I think I should have put something in the white space over the squirrel, but couldn't figure out what without it being tacky (so this will do).



This is another card from my Secret Sister in SCS...It is just beautiful!

In other news, my little one has his first tooth.... I was/am a little sad about the whole thing, he is growing way TOO fast! I am going to miss his toothless grin when it becomes more visible.

Whimsical Autumn

Carolyn King designed the stamp set Whimsical Autumn which benefits the Alzheimer's Association. Her grandmother passed away in June from complications of this horrible disease and she designed this stamp set to honor her. Carolyn is donating 100% of her proceeds from this set to the Alzheimer’s Association. She has already donated $450 which was doubled by the Alzheimer's Association. :o)))

Carolyn has some amazing Blog Candy to win on her blog: http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/2008/09/heart-to-heart-blog-candy.html You have until this Friday to enter and you could win over $1000 worth of product, as well as some beautiful cards created by some wonderful stampers. If you follow the link to her blog, you will see all of the goodies to be given to the winner. It is quite amazing what has been put together and the wonderful stampers and companies that have donated.

To be entered to win, she asked for a card to be sent to someone who has Alzheimers or to the nursing home where her grandmother spent her last days. I know my great grandmother died from complications of this disease and I can still remember visiting her in a rest home in the mountains of North Carolina.

This card is going to the nursing home that Carolyn's grandmother was taken of...
Be sure to enter in the blog candy...I look forward to seeing who wins!
I hope you have a great day!

Birthday Whimsy

My nephew turned 11 this past week so I needed to make a nice boy birthday card. He was born exactly 51 weeks after my daughter....I always thought that was kind of neat! I remember taking my daughter to the hospital to see her new cousin (shortly after he was born). She had been walking for almost two months and she so enjoyed walking all by herself down the hospital hallway to his and his mother's room. It is crazy, but I even remember the outfit she wore and the balloons she carried....The years go by so fast!

I came up with the color combination (Not Quite Navy, Old Olive and VV) using the Color Coach, which is great to use when I am having a mind block on what to colors to combine. The cake was stamped on VV using Not Quite Navy and I cut another one out and laid it on top to give it more dimension. A little bit of Diamond stickles on the candles and cake and it just popped. :o)) The desginer paper is Basic Grey Infuse and it goes wonderfully with these colors. Have a great day!

Stamps: Birthday Whimsy and For a Friend
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, VV and Basic Grey Infuse
Ink: Not Quite Navy and Old Olive
Accessories: Cuttlebug Folder, Stickles, and Oval Punch

Whimsical Autumn: Leaves

My little one has had his first cold so there hasn't been any stamping done the past few days. He made it nearly 6 months before his first cold, so I am thankful for that. He seems better today than the past few so he is on the mend.

I made this card using the leaf stamp from the stamp set Whimsical Autumn using the Kaleidacolor stamp pad Pumkin Patch. I love the leaves in various colors. Oh, how I wish fall would arrive soon... This morning there was a crispness in the air, so it is getting closer.

Well, I am off to get busy today... Have a great day and maybe I will get around to stamping some this afternoon.

Basket of Apples

I had to break out the Buckaroo Blue cardstock for this card. Obviously another blue would due, but I really need to start using up my supply of Buckaroo Blue (it retired 2 years ago and I still have a pack and a half). For this card, I used a variety of punches and the colors Buckaroo Blue, Creamy Caramel and Ruby Red. I must say, I really like these colors together. The Ruby Red layer I put through the Cuttlebug to make the distressed stripes and I layered it with Creamy Caramel onto the Blue. It kind of just makes it stand out more. Have a great day...maybe this afternoon I will get some more stamping done.

Stamps: Whimsical Autumn, Flannel Plaid and So Many Scallops
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel and VV
Ink: Buckaroo Blue, Ruby Red, and Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Scallop Circle, Circle Punches, Spiral Punch, Caramel gingham, SU markers and dimensionals

Whimsical Autumn: Pumpkin

I have had quite a time making cards with the stamp set Whimsical Autumn... The past few days the temperatures have been in the upper 90º's and it seems as though fall will never get here! All the more reason to create some fall themed cards :o)

For this card, I used Pumpkin Pie/Chocolate Chip cardstock and the pumpkin stamp from the set. I colored the pumpkin image using reinkers. The background was made using the Flannel Plaid background from SU. I find it is the nice stamp for making more rustic looking backgrounds.
Have a great day!

Stamps: Whimsical Autumn and Flannel Plaid
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip and VV
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Staz On Timber
Accessories: Giga and Mega Scalloped Oval punch, Polka Dot Organdy Brown ribbon Paper Piercer, and Chocolate Chip marker

Whimsical Autumn

Just this afternoon I received my new Gina K. order...I have been looking forward to the stamp set Whimsical Autumn ever since I saw parts of it a the Gina K. party on the SCS forums (was that just a week ago?...time sure flies!) The sad thing about that night is our power went out and the phone lines went dead, so I had to wait until late that night to even see the complete set, but the samples alone were AMAZING! Enough to make me want the whole set. :o)

Whimsical Autumn was designed by Carolyn King and is a set of 12 stamps. She is donating 100% of her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association in her grandmother's memory. A really neat thing about purchasing this stamp set this month is that the Alzheimer's Association Board is matching donations for the month of September. So $25 donated is worth $50.... National Alzheimer's Day is September 21.



I also ordered the stamp set Comfort and Peace and just love the tin it came in. Whimsical Autumn came in a nice bag, but I have a hard time keeping up with all of the pieces. So, I found a tin (similar to the one's Gina K.'s sets come in) that I had sitting around in my craft room (from the various SU Accents and Elements sets) and adhered the label to the top so it will be easy to find the stamp set I want. I just cut the label out and adhered it to the front. Easy peasy! My only recommendation...make sure your fingers are free from ink before you start :o) My infant was napping so I wanted to hurry and stamp some too so I smudged the cover a bit...
I am off to straighten the house some so I can get back to playing with my new stamps!
Have a great day!

Owl Always Love You

I made this card for the Waste Not, Want Not Challenge on the Gina K. forum on SCS. It is hosted by the very creative Jessica Fick who is a new designer for Gina K. Designs. The challenge was to use an entire piece of 6x6 patterned paper to decorate your card (inside and outside). Today I just included a picture of the outside, since I was struggling with the way to use the last little square piece on the inside and will be uploading the pictures of both onto my SCS gallery this afternoon. I made this card using the stamped images Owl Always Love You sent by my Secret Sister last round. The fall leaves background paper is from the Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby and the border punch is Martha Stewart (from Wally World). Speaking of border punches, I was really wanting to order the new threading water punch from Gina K. with my order yesterday, but sadly it was sold out....
:o(( Oh-well, maybe next time.
I have a busy day today so I hope you have a great day!

Flowers for Daisy/Canvas

Sadly I was needing a sympathy card this past weekend and knew I wanted to use the stamp set Flowers for Daisy...not only for the verse sentiments (on the inside of the card, which is not shown) but for the flower stamps as well. With the double daisy stamp, I love to make my own background and this time combined it with the background stamp Canvas from SU. This was made for a sketch challenge on Gina K's forum on SCS by Carolyn King (which is a great sketch to use).
Have a great night!

Inspired By Nature

This is a beautiful card that was sent to me last week by my Secret Sister on SCS. Now I am thinking I "NEED" this stamp set too. Isn't that terrible? :o) I have been so good and have just ordered one stamp set from the new catalog, but I love the flower stamp in this set! The border on the main image is also actually sewn and not faux stitching like I normally do :o)) She really made a beautiful card and has increased my SU wishlist! Yikes!
Have a great day!

Punches Three/ Hip Hop Accessories

I absolutely love making baby cards. There is nothing more exciting than a new little baby...I know my little boy has brought so much joy to our family and I just get so excited about a new little one!
I needed to make a card for a friend who recently had a little baby boy and wanted to use the new hostess stamp set Punches Three with the matching Oval Punch. I find stamp sets that match punches so fun to use. I know that with Stampin' Up! it seemed to start with the Tag Punch and now there are so many punches with matching stamp sets that there is something for everyone's style.



When making a card, I like to try to stamp the envelope as well. I don't always do so, but when time permits I sure try. For this envelope, I used the stamp set Hip Hop Accessories by Gina K. Designs as well as the Whimsical letter stamp sets from Stampin' Up. It just makes it all of the more personal to have the name stamped of the new little bundle of joy. Whimsical Upper and Lower it my absolute favorite letter set and I use it all of the time. I find it perfect for baby cards, birthday cards and even scrapbooking because it is whimsical in style and doesn't have to be completely straight which is good for me! :o)
Have a great day!

Recipe:
Stamp set: Punches Three, Whimsical Upper and Lower, and Hip Hop Accessories
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, WW and Nana's Nursery Baby Boy (DCVW)
Ink: Blue Bayou and Soft Sky
Accessories: Swiss Dots CB folder, Oval Punch, Paper Piercer and Scallop Edge Punch

A Rose is a Rose

The first stamp set I ordered from the new SU catalog was A Rose is a Rose. I like the simplicity of two-step stamping! For this card, I used the colors Night of Navy and Brocade Blue for a monochromatic card (with just a touch of Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss for the leaves). The background design on the Brocade Blue layer was made using the background stamps Canvas and Bella Toile.

Tomorrow I have a fun little card using the Punches Three stamp set combined with a Gina K. Designs stamp set to make a cute little baby card. Have a great day!

Penny Black: Warm and Cold

I recently bought this snowman stamp at Hobby Lobby when they had their wood mounted stamps 50% off. You just can't beat a $4.00 stamp! I thought he was just adorable and wanted to use the colors Certainly Celery and Real Red for some Christmas cards. I colored him using Bic Markers and love that their are no marker lines! The Certainly Celery layer was embossed using a snowflake Cuttlebug folder and Dazzling Diamonds glitter was added to the snowflakes and snow. The Merry Christmas stamp was punched using the new Oval Punch from SU. I really like this punch and the neat thing is it fits inside of the Marvy Mega Oval Scalloped punch that was all of the rage a year ago. I didn't use the scalloped oval on this card...later in the week I will share a special card I made using it and the new Punches Three stamp set.
Have a great day!

Flowers for Daisy

Yet, one more Flowers for Daisy card. The flower petals in this card are more burgundy, but for some reason they turned a purple in the picture. I colored the flowers with my Bic It markers and went over the center of the flowers with some clear embossing glaze to make them stand out. The white cardstock between the flowers was a bit stark for my color scheme so I sponged some Bravo Burgundy over it.
Have a great day!