Another Almost GoDiva Swap

Are you ready for Fall?  I am....it's my favorite season!....Unfortunately, I think we're pretty much skipping that around here......seems we're in for a Nor'easter and if all the predictions are right, at least 6" of snow tomorrow!  Here in northern NJ, I don't EVER remember getting any substantial amount of snow before Halloween!  

So, with snow on its way, this card definitely seems appropriate....and this is another of my recent, almost GoDiva swaps.  Truthfully, this one is my favorite, but I found I didn't have enough Basic Rhinestones to complete 30 of these....and without the rhinestones, it just didn't have the same pizazz!  Gotta have some bling!  And those bows would have taken a lot of time....as lovely and luscious as that quilted ribbon is, it's a bit of a bear to tie nicely and neatly into compact little bows!  But, OH, it's just so pretty....and adds a touch of class to just about any card you add it to!

What do you think?  Isn't this set lovely?  I just love the scroll-y type greetings that come with this set.  Gorgeous!!  Remember, this is a current Holiday Mini set...only available for a short time!

Stamps:  The Sounding Joy
Inks:  Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler
CS:  Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler
Big Shot:  Northern Flurry EF
Misc:  Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones, Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

A Holiday Swap....Almost!

Oh!  My goodness....where has the time gone?!  It seems like just a short time ago I made my last post.....but it was a few weeks ago!  Thank you so much for your patience.  I HAVE been stamping....I just haven't had time to post!  So...in an effort to remedy that, here's my first of a few posts.....

This card was actually a sample I made up for a recent swap.  It wasn't my final sample, but I still kinda like it.  Non-traditional colors....I love the unexpected, don't you?  This wonderful set, The Sounding Joy, is available now from the Holiday Mini.  It's just so pretty!....and to me, it speaks of what Christmas really is about. 

So, the background words, which are really the real words to "Joy to the World," were stamped in Baja Breeze onto a circle of Whisper White....the circle was created with the Big Shot and the Clear Circle die.  As you can see, it was then stamped over top with the greeting, also from the same set, and embossed with Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder....that stuff is just so pretty!  And can you see the Large Snowflake peaking out?  Also created with the Big Shot.  This was all highlighted with those awesome Basic Rhinestones (can you tell that I just love them?!!).  And the impressed background was made using the fabulous new Snow Burst Embossing Folder.   It's kind of like the Square Lattice EF in a way....the cardstock takes on this wonderfully supple feel after a spin through the Big Shot; it truly changes the texture of the cardstock.  But as you can plainly see, only a portion of the Baja Breeze layer was impressed.

This was all set off with my favorite ribbon....White Taffeta and a touch of the Cherry Cobbler & White Baker's Twine and topped with another Basic Rhinestone.  This card is pretty....in large part because of that beautiful set, but, it just didn't "send me!"  So, after creating this, I was back to the drawing board!  Please come back tomorrow and see my next pre-swap sample.

Stamps:  The Sounding Joy

Inks:  Baja Breeze, Versamark

CS:  Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Whisper White

Big Shot:  Clear Circle Die, Snowflake Die, Snow Burst EF

Misc:  White Taffeta Ribbon, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting today!

A Little Pink Duck

Remember that last little duckie card?....the one that was a Baby Challenge card, but turned out to be a perfect for a little boy?  Only problem with that was that I needed a card for a new little baby GIRL!  So, this is what I finally came up with! 

Basically, the duck in the center of this card was created the same as the duck from the boy card, but then I needed to add in some frilly things.....and make it pink!!  I think the pink duck works, don't you?!!  This is a real girly-girl card. 

Here's how I made it:
(Some non-SU stuff here, as well as some retired SU!)
-There's a layer of impressed cardstock layered over the same color card base.
-The white strip was punched on both top and bottom.
-The little holes were covered by the tiniest Basic Pearls, which were colored using one of my Copic Markers.
-The little duckie was colored in using the same Copic Marker.
-The hat and umbrella were "colored in" using Dazzling Diamonds.
-The beak and polka dots were colored in using my old Pixie Pink marker.

Sure hope the new Mom likes this little card!

Stamps: Easy Events, Short & Sweet
Inks:  Basic Black
CS:  Mauve Mist*, Whisper White
Big Shot:  Non-SU Embossing Folder, Circles Die
Misc:  Copic Markers, Modern Label Punch, Pink Gingham Ribbon*, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Punch, Basic Pearls, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Dimensionals, Pixie Pink Marker*
*Retired SU (Remember I'm trying to use up some of the many things I have in my stash that are no longer current!!)

Thanks for stopping by today!  (Sorry it's been so long...I've missed you!)

More from Toni

Here's another of Toni's Stamp Camp projects that I made last week while visiting (and helping!).  This one is just so cute....and I don't think that the photo really does it justice! (You can read more about my visit here and you'll see another of the projects, too!)

Toni had everything prepared for this one.  She used the wonderful Fancy Favor Die and cut it out using textured Crumb Cake.  Then the curvy top was trimmed off.  And I don't know anyone else who has mastered the Direct-to-Paper (DTP) technique quite like Toni....she is definitely the Queen in my book!  You can see this basket has a 2-tone look....Toni used Crumb Cake ink and colored it using the DTP technique.  That textured cardstock really looks amazing with this technique! 

She also slit the basket from the top down to allow for the weaving.  For the weaving, we simply did basic weaving with strips of Crumb Cake CS.  That's it!  Each portion was adhered at the top with Sticky Strip....or you could use Mini Glue Dots, which is what I used.

The handle....well, it was simply adhered using 2 Gold Brads on each side....Toni also did DTP on that strip as well!

The second photo shows the close up of the little tag (you can click on it to make it a little larger).  This set really didn't do a thing for me when I saw it in the Holiday Mini....it's called Gift Givers and each stamp image coordinates with one of our punches.  I think I've fallin in love with it after this project....it's just so stinkin' cute!!  As you can see, this turkey image works with the Curly Label Punch.  (One lady at Toni's class liked the set so much she purchased it AND every single punch that coordinates with it!!  WOW!)  On our basket, we simply colored in the image with markers.   The second photo gives a better close up of all the details.  This was really fun....can't you just see it on your Thanksgiving table?!!

Stamps:  Gift Givers

Inks:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

CS:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake -- textured AND smooth

Big Shot:  Fancy Favor Die Mover & Shaper (Curly Label shape)

Markers:  Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red

Misc:  Dimensionals, Gold Brads, Sticky Strip, Mini Glue Dots, Curly Label Punch 

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting today!

Just for Baby

You've heard me say that I've been a member of various online stamping groups.  One of them sends out Challenges each week, and although I really don't participate too often, I do try whenever I can.  Recently, there was a baby card challenge.  Well, I need a baby card....the daughter of a good friend of mine had a baby girl.  So, I thought this would be a GOOD thing to participate in!

Well, as much fun as I had making the card....it did NOT turn into a baby girl card!  I LOVE blue and yellow together...

yellow and pink, well, not so much!  So, that's how this evolved into what it is.  And it's just so cute, don't you think?!!  Baby cards are sweet and such fun to make...after all, new babies are sweet and fun, too!

As with many of my cards, this is a basic, classic layout....all dressed up with lots of details.  One of my favorite new things is to make the base of the card a color (in this case Bashful Blue) with a impressed layer in the same color over top....that way, the inside of the card has a nice clean look to it.  The corners are all rounded.  And that cute little duckie?...well, it's from the new Easy Events, a set we all received at Convention in July.  Here's he's paper-pieced....in other words, I stamped him 3 times:  1 time on the Whisper White background paper, 1 time on Daffodil Delight, and finally a last time on Bashful Blue.  Then I cut out the body of the duck stamped in Daffodil Delight, and the umbrella top out of Bashful Blue and layered them both onto the white stamped background.  The little sailor hat and the dots in the umbrella are "colored" in with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, which also outlines the waves.  The duck bill was simply colored by using my Pumpkin Pie marker.  And one of those cute little tiny Mini Brads (the new ones) was used for his eye. 

The plaid background was a technique we learned at Convention....you can't see it on screen, but there's a lot of texture going on here.  I inked up my new Stripes EF and put it through the Big Shot....then re-inked it and put the same paper back in but turning it 90 degrees first.  Cool?!!...Huh?!!

Since there was so much going on, the saying is not layered, but the outlined letter and brackets were colored in with my Bashful Blue marker.  Oh, and check out the inside....a plain and simple inside just wouldn't do!  My Challenge Partner should be receiving this in the mail in today or maybe Monday....sure hope she likes it!

And as an added bonus, this card qualifies for the Challenge over at Hand-Stamped Sentiments.  There's some fabulous entries this week!  Be sure to check them out.

Stamps:  Easy Events, Word Play, Full of Life

Inks:  Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray (for greeting inside), Daffodil Yellow (inside card)

CS:  Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue

Punches:  Corner Rounder, Extra Large Oval, Scallop Border (inside card), 1 3/4" Circle, 2 3/8" Scallop

Big Shot:  Perfect Polka Dots EF, Stripes EF, Circles (used for the Daffodil Delight circle layer), Scallop Squares Duo

Misc:  Bashful Blue Grosgrin Ribbon, White Baker's Twine, Silver Mini Brad, Paper Piercer (to make hole), Pumkin Pie Marker, Bashful Blue Marker, Mini Glue Dots (to hold bow on)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Stampin' with Friends

Did I ever tell you that the BEST part of being a Stampin'Up! demonstrator is the friends you make along the way?  I've met...and stamped....with people from all walks of life, from all over the country. SU has given me the opportunity to make friends with those that have been/are customers, as well as sister demonstrators...people I would never have met any other way!

So, why am I sharing this?  Well, last week, I traveled down to my son and daughter-in-law's new home.  You see, I have a bit of time off while the store I work in is being renovated (compliments of flooding caused by Hurricane Irene!) and my son began a new job this past Tuesday, but had some time off in between jobs.  So, down to Virginia I went!  I got to see his home all settled for the first time....they did a great job and it looks like it's going to be a very happy home.

I went down last Wednesday and Dan (my son) and I had a few projects and visited all of Thursday and Friday.  But when Saturday came along, I figured it was time for me to get out of their hair and give my DIL a bit of time to herself....so I visited with my friend and sister demo, Toni Tessler, who lives about an hour away.  Toni was hosting a Stamp Camp, and I told her I would come and help.  In return, she had all the projects ready for me to make as well.  Cute ideas!  AND I, of course, had some time to visit after everyone left and all was quiet.  Oh...and at the end of the day, I visited with another sister demo/friend, Jeannette!  See?  It really IS great to be a SU Demo!  (Want to join in the fun?  Contact me and see how.)

This photo here is one of the projects I helped with.  This adorable idea was featured at Convention this past July, and Toni adapted and redesigned it to fit a Fall theme.  The box itself is the Box #2 Bigz Die and then the box is "wrapped" with a piece of textured Cajun Craze CS and some of that wonderful Wide Grosgrain in Old Olive....only Toni didn't realize that the Old Olive has been retired.  But things could easily be changed out to what is currently available in the catalog.  The Triple Treat Flower is used on the front....don't you just love it?!!....remember, it's one of those single stamps available for purchase.  It was inked in Old Olive and then stamped off lightly once before stamping on the Natural Ivory CS.  And the best part?  The saying....Toni took the Bright Blessings Jumbo Wheel and peeled the rubber off of the hard plastic wheel...then cut it apart to use all the different sayings and images as separate stamps.  Ingenious!!  They each work marvelously well with our clear blocks.  Wouldn't this make a fabulous little treat box at your Thanksgiving table?!!

Here's the recipe:

Stamps:  Triple Treat Flower, Bright Blessings Jumbo Wheel

Inks:  Old Olive, Cajun Craze

CS:  Old Olive, Natural Ivory, Cajun Craze, Cajun Craze Textured

Big Shot:  Box #2 Bigz Die

Punches:  1 1/4" Round, 5-Petal Flower, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle

Misc:  Sticky Strip (to hold everything together!), 1 1/4" Striped Wide Grosgrain in Old Olive (retired), Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by and visiting today!

We Remember

It's a Blue Jeans Kind of Day!

Remember I attended the SU Convention in July? Well, I came home with at least a year's worth of ideas....and this was one of them! I landed in Salt Lake City about 4:30 and by 6:00 I was in the Convention center...things were in full swing! That first night, there were a lot of demonstrations and this little card is from one of them.

See the blue jeans? They were created by simply folding a piece of our new Denim Jean Ribbon in half and adding a new little Mini Brads....OK, we've had "Mini" Brads for a few years, but now all of those are simply called Brads.....they are 3/16" in diameter and come in a lot of different fabulous, coordinating colors. I use them all the time...they are definitely one of my very favorite accessories!.....LOVE them!

Well, these are the NEW Mini Brads (Item #122941 @ $5.50 for 100; Page 199)....and they are truly MINI!! At only 1/8", they are are just too stinkin' cute and so easy to use. The "legs" are easy to manipulate and bend in different directions, which was needed for these blue jeans. As you can see, the "jeans" are hanging on a clothes line (created with some White Baker's Twine) and those fun, new Mini Clothespins (Item #122042 @ $2.95 for 24). The background on this card was created with the classic Lovely as a Tree....so happy that set is still in the catalog! It's such a GREAT set for so many things!  Think Christmas, masculine, birthday.........

This was one of my favorite ideas from Convention (although there were lots of favorites!)....so simple, but so fun and creative! Gotta love that! So, last week when a few of us demonstrators got together, those of us who attended Convention gave a little demo on some of the ideas and tips we saw. This was just one of my "shares." So, now, I just wanted to share this fun little idea with you!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Early Espresso
CS: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Misc: Blue Jean Denim Ribbon, Mini Brads, Mini Clothes Pins, Mini Glue Dots, White Baker's Twine, Crop-a-Dile (for making the holes for the "clothes line"), Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

A Late Birthday Card

One of my nephews recently had a birthday and of all my nieces and nephews, he's one of the few that really looks forward to the cards I send to see what I've created for him.  To be honest, the actual day of his birthday kind of slipped right by me (my bad!!).....so, this is a belated birthday card.

I wanted something masculine, of course....he just turned 20, and I wanted something easy to mail and something that was quick and easy.....after all buttons and bows really aren't going to impress him!  This sample features all retired items (except for the cardstock)!

Both the retired Large and Small Star Punches were used to create the stars and laid out onto a piece of Natural White CS.  When each of the stars were adhered, it was run through my Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  (He's gonna think this is so cool!)  The Happy Birthday image in the center is from the now-retired Engraved Greeting....it's such a perfect set for simple, masculine cards, so I just couldn't give it up! The finishing touch is the simple piece of ribbon in matching Riding Hood Red (long retired) that goes across the card.

Hope he likes it!

Stamps:  Engraved Greeting*

Inks:  Riding Hood Red

CS:  Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Natural White

Big Shot:  Square Lattice EF

Misc:  Large & Small Star Punches*, Corner Rounder* (used older, retired version), Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon*, Dimensionals
*Retired

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Color Challenge....A Lot Late!

Hurricane Irene came and went....fortunately, here at my house, other than some yard clean up....mainly just leaves and small branches...we came out unharmed, we didn't even loose our power.  We were very, very fortunate, while many in our area were not.  There are many rivers in NJ, and it seemed that every one of them caused flooding.  Where I work, which is less than 10 minutes from my home....well, there was 2 feet of water in the store and in the entire downtown business area....no telling when we'll reopen.  Driving around right now is an adventure since so many roads, even major highways, were either washed away or closed due to flooding.  President Obama  is supposed to visit the area tomorrow to view the damage.  Irene certainly left her mark here.  So, when you see some of the devastation on the news...it truly is not an exaggeration.  They say this was a 100 year flood....I've lived in NJ all my life, I've never seen such destruction that has been so widespread as this has been.  Last week certainly was interesting....an earthquake AND a hurricane all in one week!  WOW!

Well, you know now that I'm fine....but, you came to see a card.  This is WAAAAYYY late! A few weeks ago, there was a Blogger's Challenge that was a color challenge....they are one of my favorite challenges! The colors were in the form of color dots and on my screen, the colors I used in this card matched....but I'm not sure if this is what they actually were!

Anyway, I didn't get the chance to share back when this was a Challenge, (don't remember why...sorry!!) but thought I'd share it now, 'cause I really like the way this card came out. This set, Easy Events, is one of the sets we received at Convention in July. What a GREAT set it is!! I'm sure this is going to be a great, all-purpose set.

For this card, as you can see, the flowers were stamped repeatedly across a piece of Natural Ivory and colored in with markers. The centers of each flower was dotted with my White Gel Pen, but everything looked blurry and murky, so I added in the simple Basic Pearls in each center....that's just what it needed! How cute, right?!!

This was a simple and easy card with some really fun elements.....the Basic Pearls, which I already mentioned; the Perfect Polka Dots in the background, and the fabulous new Lace Ribbon Border Punch with the Marina Mist Ribbon woven through. Oh, and that saying is just the perfect finishing touch...IMHO!....which is from the fun, new Hostess set, Happiest Birthday Wishes.

Stamps: Easy Events, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Inks: Basic Black
CS: Natural Ivory, Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder
Big Shot: Perfect Polka Dots EF
Misc: Basic Pearls, White Gel Pen, Wisteria Wonder Marker, Pear Pizzazz Marker, Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Marina Mist Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting today!