Blog Archives

A Little Hello

4/10/2017

Here's a lovely landscape sketch from Paper Craft Crew #238! Yay, banner! I'm adding in these sweet colors from TGIF #102, too!
Seeing this nice "landscape: laid out for me, I wondered, is there room to squeeze in my newly-acquired Mediterranean Moments? Why, yes, there is! I also decided to bring in my Badges & Banners to serve as my banner - SO not inking that baby up enough! Don't you just want to zoom over to this little street cafe, and have an adult Italian beverage with your girlfriends? I sure do! Let's go!
Mediterranean Moments and Badges & Banners Stamp Sets; Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum & Tip Top Taupe CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Tip Top Taupe, Sweet Sugarplum & Mint Macaron Inks; Softly Falling EF; Best Badge & Duet Banners Punches; Fancy Frost Sequins; #PCC238; #TGIF102.

Dragonfly Dreams Class April 13 & 15!
Finally! Time to play with the gorgeous new Dragonfly Dreams suite from our 2017 Occasions Catalog - have you seen those amazing thinlits?? We'll be making five all-occasion cards, and using some fun techniques while we're at it! $25 will cover all your supplies (bring your own snips and adhesive!), plus drinks and snacks, and a bonus treat from me, or class can be FREE with an order of $30 or more! Class will be held Thursday, April 13 at 630 pm, or Saturday , April 15 at 3 pm. RSVP today to save your spot!

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Totally Grateful

4/9/2017

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Here's a happy sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday #316! I think I can meet their optional color burst theme with Stamp Ink Paper #93's flowers challenge, too! And let's make those colors come from Color Throwdown #437 - yes!
Today I landed on Grateful Bunch - I haven't been using this set nearly enough, especially considering that it has a matching punch, lol. Lucky for me, CTD's bright colors worked just right for these flowers! I kept it clean and simple at first, but then I just HAD to go back and mat a layer in - I tried to resist, really!
Grateful Bunch Stamp Set; Whisper White & Wild Wasabi CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Wild Wasabi, Pool Party Real Red & So Saffron Inks; Stitched Shapes Framelits; Blossom Bunch Punch; Basic Jewel Rhinestones; #TSOT316; #SIP93; #CTD437.

A Paper Pumpkin Sara Thing!
Don’t miss the April Paper Pumpkin kit inspired and designed by Stampin’ Up! CEO, Sara Douglass, in celebration of Paper Pumpkin' 4th birthday! Experience creativity through the eyes of our CEO while having an experience that is uniquely YOU! Make sure to order by April 10 to get yours! Check out the teaser video here!

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Christmas Branches

4/8/2017

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Merry Monday #242 has a lovely twigs or branches challenge for us this week - fun! I think I'll combine with this "sketch of squares" over at Freshly Made Sketches #282, too!
So of course I pulled out my beloved Christmas Pines set for this challenge - they were made for each other! I think this modern-looking sketch helped me really bring an updated look, too - the squares of branches really jump off the card for me! With the touches of gold twigs, I added a few Gold Enamel Shapes, too - I have to say the metallics are my fave Enamel Shapes...
Christmas Pines Stamp Set; Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Gold Foil & Whisper White CS; Old Olive & Cherry Cobbler Inks; Pine Bough EF; Pretty Pines Thinlets; Gold Enamel Shapes; #Merry242; #FMS282.

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Chocolate Bunnies

4/7/2017

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Fusion Card Challenge has a beautiful Easter combo for us this week! Fun! I'd say Paper Players #338 bunny theme will go along perfectly! And of course, where there's bunnies, there's Basket Bunch, so I'll add in What Would You Stamp #110's Basket Bunch challenge, too!
So, whew, I feel like I need to confess: I totally just finished an Easter class pretty much based on this stamp set, and I'm starting to run down a little bit on bunny overload, lol! I focused on the chocolate bunny stamp, which was one I did NOT use for class, and because I have that on the brain since I just made my World Market run for the family Easter goodies, lol. Ours are all sparkly, too, so I consider this a little snapshot of my neighborhood World Market! Fittingly, I hauled the kitchen sink on this baby!
Basket Bunch & Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Sets; Succulent Garden DSP; Glimmer Asst Pack (SAB); Whisper White & Tip Top Taupe CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake & Tip Top Taupe Inks; So Saffron, Mint Macaron & Blushing Bride Markers; Decorative Dots EF (retired); Lg & Small Oval Punches; Basket Builder Framelits; Fancy Frost Sequins; #FCCEaster; #TPP338; #WWYS110.

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Blissful Blossom

4/6/2017

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Love this "stem" sketch from Case This Sketch #215! I think the Less is More #322 "3 pastels" challenge will go perfectly with it, too!
First step was to find my stamp set - and boy did I dither! Avant Garden? Helping Me Grow? I finally settled on on one of my fave Paper Pumpkin sets, Blissful Bouquet from October 2015. I can't BELIEVE it was that long ago already!! After that, I tried to stick pretty closely to the sketch, keeping it clean and fairly spare. I slipped a few candy dots on there, but really, that's ALL! Having an extra layer doesn't count when it doesn't have A color behind it, right?
Blissful Bouquet Paper Pumpkin Stamp Set; Whisper White CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Pear Pizzazz, So Saffron & Calypso Coral Inks; Calypso Coral Candy Dots (retired); #CTS215; #LIM322.

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Building Me Up (& Dragonfly Dreams Class April 13 & 15!)

4/5/2017

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Here's a pretty bubbly sketch from In{k}spire Me #294! I'm going to toss in this manly color challenge from Global Design Project #81, too!
Since I was already thing "manly" colors, I hit up my manly stamp sets, lol. Nailed It rose to the top, yuck, yuck, and also gave me the chance to go rogue on the suggested shapes, one of my fave sketch things to do, right? My layering is a little out of order, but I still had a blast coloring away, and then using the awesome framelits that go with this set. I've also finally learned to not go crazy with the glue on the "ruler" diecuts, just dot it on the solid spots, since that die DOES actually cut all the way through for the markings, sigh. That only took me three or four tries, lol.
Nailed It Stamp Set; Smoky Slate, Night of Navy & Whisper White CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Night of Navy & Smoky Slate Inks; Build It Framelits; Night of Navy & Smoky Slate Candy Dots (retired); #IM294; #GDP81.

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A Passel of Hogs

4/4/2017

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I love sketches with grand repeats of shapes, like this week's Match the Sketch #170 - so fun! Adding in Just Add Ink #353's "critters" challenge ought to be interesting, too, lol.
When I was on the critter hunt, I spotted my beloved Barnyard Babies - yeah! I quickly settled on the cute little piggy in this set - I just love that sentiment "Hogs & Kisses," lol. I decided to do a few colors and add some texture - I wish now that I did different texture on my solid dots, too, but I still laugh out loud when I look at this, so I'm good! (And yes, I looked up group names for pigs, so "Passel of Hogs is actually a technical term, lol.)
Barnyard Babies Stamp Set; Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Flirty Flamingo & Pink Pirouette CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake & Flirty Flamingo Inks; Seaside EF; 1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Circle Punches; Flirty Flamingo Enamel Shapes; #MTS170; #JAI353.

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Fresh Sugarplum

4/3/2017

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Love this banded layout from Freshly Made Sketch #281! I'm combining with the "purple haze" challenge from The Card Concept #70, too - I haven't played there in a bit!
So today, I really felt like a cupcake. A pretty one. In Sweet Sugarplum (which is hazy purple, lol), with fancy frosting - yes!! Yum!! I whipped up a little texture paste for my frosting even - and it definitely did NOT taste as good as it looked, lol. I think we need to have dessert OUT this evening... (Texture paste recipe: 1/8 cup cornstarch, 1 T white acrylic paint, 1 T glue, a few drops of re-inker, thin with water if needed! I actually store my un-inked paste separately, then just color a tiny spoonful as needed.)
Sweet Cupcake Stamp Set; Succulent Garden DSP; Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White CS; Sweet Sugarplum, Crumb Cake & Chocolate Chip Inks; Cupcake Cutouts Framelits; Fancy Frost Sequins; #FMS281; #TCC70.

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Be You

4/2/2017

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What a lovely layout over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday #315 this week! I'll try to keep it bright with these fresh colors from Color Throwdown #436!
I decided I definitely wanted to go floral with these shapes, and wouldn't you know it, I was just thinking I haven't stamped with Flower Patch in SO long! Not to mention its wonderful framelits, Flower Fair. I love how bold and bright this turned out - very sweet! I used the tried and true "stamp-off" method to achieve some pretty color gradations.
Flower Patch Stamp Set; Whisper White & Basic Black CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Marina Mist, So Saffron & Wild Wasabi Inks; Flower Fair Framelits; Spring Flowers EF; Basic Jewel Jumbo Rhinestone (retired); #TSOT315; #CTD436.

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Party Herd

4/1/2017

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Good times! I'm trying a new-to-me sketch challenge today - yeah! Check out this cute sketch over at Retro Rubber # 59! I'm going to add in these gorgeous colors from Stamp Ink Paper #92, too!
For Retro Rubber I ran straight to the Room of Retirement for likely candidates. From the Herd (Spring 2015) wins! I can't bear to let this one go - I love fussy cutting out the animals, too. I'm wondering if maybe I should have held off on that color challenge, lol, but hey, my thinking REALLY was that you know you're partying hard when you dye your hair green. (Or purple, lol! Sorry, SIP-ers!) And I think I've seen green pigs out there in the gaming world, too, right?? Lol, seriously, I had a great time coloring these guys all crazy colors - these are sophisticated partiers!
From the Herd Stamp Set (retired); Basic Gray & Whisper White CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Sahara Sand, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum & Mint Macaron Inks; Perfect Plum Candy Dots (retired); #RRC59; #SIP92.