Kisa's Paper Cuts

The Happiest Birthday Yet!!

2011-05-25T16:56:00.001-07:00

Just a quick little card – I LOVE the sentiment .. It’s another from Big Birthday Wishes from Our Craft Lounge. I LOVE that’s it clear and I love that the sentiment is long and can be curved like this!! I think it really makes the sentiment stamp more versatile AND makes the card a bit more fun!

I just used some scraps from my Mabel paper, did some quick stitching and it was an easy layout! The background paper is “stained” with a little bit of Wild Honey Stain and Vintage Photo Stain. The bird and birdcage are from Tim’s Mini Bird and Cage Set, distressed with Walnut Stain ink and covered with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your DAY is the happiest yet!!

Bar’s Birthday Blog Hop!

2011-05-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Beautiful Barbara Anders!!! Today – we celebrate YOU!!

Here are the Birthday Blog-Hoppers – so go check out their birthday cards for Barb!!!

Tammy Hershberger

Broni Holcombe

Kristin Eberline

Laura Pryor

LeAnne Pugliese

Carole Burrage

Betty Wright

Jody Morrow

Makiko Jones

Cindy Haffner

Silke Ledlow

Julie Koerber

Jessie Rone

Frances Byrne

Lynda Benden

Vicki Garrett

Christina Fischer

Jodi Collins

Kim van der Sanden

Taylor Van Bruggen

Kirsty McIntyre

Iwona Palamountain

Wendy Bond

Jessica Diedrich

Lynn Put

Jackie Pedro

Joanne Basile

Card Info: Paper used: Mabel (of course). Dies: MFT – Die-Namics Fresh Cut Grass and Open Scallop Border. Stamp sets: OCL – Out for a Spin (the little flag with the birthday sentiment) and Pretty Petals. Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Sparkle and Fluff: OCL Sparkly Fluff - Real Juicy Orange.

May we Challenge you?

2011-05-16T14:30:00.001-07:00

The Inspiration Emporium has a new challenge for the month of May!! (Yes, I know I’m weeks late – but better late than never, right?) So here it is….. PACKAGING!! Create something with some sort of packaging – We want to see you upcycle your product packaging! You can find all of the challenge information on the ‘packaging’ link!!

Can you find my repurposed packaging? I used a Cherry Coke Zero Can! Can you find it?

It’s the bird!! Cool, right? I used Tim Holtz’ Caged Bird die cut – it cut the tin can beautifully!! I added some rustic colors with my Copic Markers – they worked PERFECTLY on the tin too!! Then I used the brick embossing folder from the Bricked and Woodgrain set – and it embossed beautifully as well! In Oregon, I can get a 0.5 cent refund for this soda can, but a 0.5 cent embellishment? NO WAY! I used Adage Tickets AGAIN! I love those guys – especially perfect when I don’t have the perfect sentiment stamp! I used the Sentiment Flat Die and stamp set from Lil’ Inker Designs to stamp and cut the ticket – gave it a fun new look!! I had LOTS of fun with the Kaiser Craft Pearls – Pearl color and just created some free-flowing swirls. The birdcage and paper behind it comes from the yummy Mabel paper pack as well. I used a pre-cut Manila Craft Tag #8, as well as Wild Honey Stain and Vintage Photo Stain to create the background and distressed the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Now go to the Inspirational Journal and check out some fabulous upcycled samples and join in the challenge!

A simple card … not so simple

2011-05-11T10:26:00.001-07:00

Boy, do I struggle with clean cards!?! No sponging, no grunging, minimal layers… oh it was a struggle! I can’t say I love it….But I can say I did it : )

Here’s the Color Throwdown Swatch:

Ahh! What great colors!! Of course I had to keep it clean : ) I did get to burn something though - the flowers!! That was fun and a little dangerous!! (Thanks Broni). The fabulous Birthday Sentiment is from Our Craft Lounge’s set – Big Birthday Wishes. A perfect sentiment-building set! The floral print paper is of course Mabel – I should probably be ordering more of that wonderfulness!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Be sure to check out the other Throwdown Girls for some more fabulous color inspiration!!

Jen Mitchell, May Guest Designer

Horsin’ around with color

2011-05-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

Clever title, right? Ha!! Here it is Color Throwdown Color Challenge 140 and I’ve managed to keep up for 6 weeks!!!

Now, isn’t he genuinely cute? ; ) I adore this guy!! He reminds me of Mr. Ed from YEARS ago on Nick at Night! You know… I guess HE could be a She.. but today I’m going with he! You can find him over at Paper Pretties. The set is called Horsin’ Around. I love that the image is fairly large – so it works perfectly for the front of a card and it’s a great size to color too! The set also comes with some great sentiments too!

The paper is Mabel AGAIN!! I just LOVE it! I used my Vintage Photo Stain to speckle it up a bit and give it some good ole’ farm grunge! Love that stuff!! I stitched it up, tied a bow, hung a Muse Token on it and called ‘er done!

Don’t tell any one but I’m pretty sure I didn’t follow the Color Throwdown swatch 100%…. I’m really, really stretching the Blushing Bride… ok…. and the Baja Breeze just a wee bit too. Shhh..

Be sure to check out the other Throwdown samples at the Color Throwdown – as always, they are pretty darn amazing!

Color Throwdown Challenge 139 (with a prize!!)

2011-04-27T10:42:00.001-07:00

My sweet friend Kristin designs for My Time Made Easy and she’s sponsoring The Throwdown today!! You can also check out her products on her blog and at MTME!! She has a fabulous prize of her beautiful stamps and paper over at the Color Throwdown so check it out and see how you can win!! Here’s my card using her digi papers!! They were so easy to print out – I even printed them in a few different sizes for some size variety!

I used 5 of her papers from the Fresh Cut Expressions Collections 2 digi paper set, did some sponging and sewing, a bit of die-cutting and viola a card!! The ticket flags are made from Adage Tickets, sponged, then cut with Lil’ Inker Designs Sentiment Flags die and tucked under the button. The butterflies are cut with the Mini Butterflies Movers and Shapers die.

Ok, here’s the colors.. go soar with them!!

A dirty little beach…

2011-04-25T14:19:00.001-07:00

Tag for a Treasured Friend! When I first started working on this tag I had NO idea what direction it would take me.

I started out with a blank Manila Craft Tag #8 ( I LOVE THESE), a bit of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and a little bit of Broken China ink. I used my non-stick craft sheet, a bit of water and the walnut stain ink and applied it mostly around the edges. I felt like it sort of resembled a shore-line and a little light bulb light up in my head… so I sponged a tiny bit of the broken china ink in a few places and thought that the little girls from Treasured Friend would work perfectly!!

It’s a pretty good-sized tag and the girls are pretty small, so I decided to leave the girls as their own scene at the bottom, but add some fun messy layers above them. My eyes can’t really decide where to look first, but naturally they start at the top, which I think is just the way it should be. One would think that the embellishments and layers would draw your attention away from what I feel is really the main part of the tag (the girls), but my eyes don’t spend much time up there at all – they are immediately drawn to the girls – which is PERFECT!!

I love that the seam binding looks so ragged and worn, like’s it’s been hanging out at the beach all summer with the girls! The cute tiny rose-buds are made with the dyed seam binding to match! I went with the alphabet paper because it reminded me of schoolgirls – it just felt right! I used the back side of an Adage Tickets to stamp the sentiment on and I slid a Charm Clip tided with a tiny shred of seam binding on the edge for a little hardware look. The Tiny Attacher was perfect to attach the MFT – Open Scallop Border.

Thanks for stopping by!!

A sweet Birthday girl, a sale and a fragment!

2011-04-23T11:29:00.001-07:00

Jay and Joy of the Inspiration Emporium are saying Happy Birthday to their sweet little Mama, who they actually call “big mama”! To celebrate, they are having a store sale – 15% off your entire purchase by using the code bigmama at check out!

The Emporium is also still having their monthly challenge (where you can win Idollars to spend at the store!!) You can read about it at the Inspirational Journal (blog).

Here’s another little card using a tag fragment from Fragment Charms.

The stamp set is called Sweet Thang from Our Craft Lounge. It’s such a perfectly cute spring set! The patterned paper is Mabel (again, yes, I know, but I LOVE it) but this time I changed it up a little using some Ranger Stains! The original color of this paper is the blue strip in the middle – bright and fresh!! I used Vintage Photo Stain on the first largest piece – I just quickly applied the stain (watered down a bit) with a paintbrush - I love the aged-paper look it gave! Then for the smallest strip on the right, I used Wild Honey Stain – it has a little bit of an orange tinge to it. You can go pretty light depending on how much water you dilute the stain with – and it still works perfectly!!

The birds are colored with Copic markers and some highlights and texture are added with a colorless blender.

The log was covered with Crackle Accents to give a bit of wood-grain texture. It’s a little hard to see in the photo – but it’s there! (it’s the shiny stuff!)

And here’s a close-up of the fragment! It’s a little cutey!!

Have a GREAT Easter!!!

Got some Cluckin’ good news?

2011-04-21T12:20:00.001-07:00

How bout these cute clucks? OH MY, how I LOVE these chicks!! Seriously – they are so cute and fun and fabulous to color!!

These cute chicks are from Paper Pretties – I used two stamp sets – the newly released Return of the Cluck and the older set Cluck Part II – they work PERFECTLY together!!

I used LOTS of dyed seam binding – I sort of wanted it to resemble a nest with some eggs, so I left the ribbon big and fluffy and added the buttons! For the background of the circle, I used the cute chicken-wire stamp that comes in Cluck Part II. I used Vintage Photo Stain – I love this stuff!. First, I quickly rubbed the stain all over the circle and let it dry. Then I used my craft mat and created some puddles of stain just by dabbing the stain onto the mat, then I gently placed the circle into the puddle – to get the nice water-drop look, don’t spread it around, just lay it right into the puddle gently then pick it straight up. You get a great “oil-stain” look or spilled coffee look. I let that dry and then stamped the great chicken-wire image! You want to make sure it is dry so you don’t get any bleeding of your image.

I did the same spilled-oil look for the inside of the card… you can see it below – SIMPLE EASY-PEASY way to get that dirty grunge look we all love!!

Hmm.. I think perhaps next week I’ll give a quick tutorial on how to make a coffee-cup stain on your cards : ) It’s quite easy!!

Hope your day is great!!

Pinwheel, Pinwheel spinning around…

2011-04-20T01:00:00.001-07:00

Look at my pinwheel and see what I’ve found!! Man.. that’s an old song – A Nickelodeon Classic –

And here’s a new spin on an old classic – a NEW die from Lil’Inker Designs – Pinwheels. (I also used her Flags die too!!). Lil’Inker Designs is also sponsoring The Color Throwdown this week so be sure to check that to read about a fantastic prize… and once again I got my act together (just barely on time) and participated!!

The color challenge was DEFINITELY a challenge for me this week! Apparently I’m not a navy-blue lover – I had NOTHING that I felt was TRUE navy blue. I scrounged about my paper stash and found ONE piece of dark blue cardstock that I thought might work.. I think it’s more royal blue and it doesn’t even match the patterned paper (lol) but I went with it! That’s the great thing about the Throwdown color challenges.. it’s all about your personal color interpretation!! The REAL colors were “PICK ONE,” Navy and White.. I barely pulled it off – and my “pick one” is more like “pick many”.

The YUMMY Paper I used is My Mind’s Eye – Stella and Rose – Hattie (that’s my great-grandma’s name – Hattie Jane – so I immediately loved it!). I kept the layout really simple because I wanted the pinwheel (which, by the way, makes a great flower) to stand out. The stamp set that coordinates with the Pinwheel die is fabulous as well! It comes with some really fun sentiments!! The Pinwheel is really easy to put together. Here’s a tutorial by the fantastic creator, Laura, on how to use it --- TUTORIAL---

I hope you have a great hump day!!

Send ME sun-filled days!!

2011-04-13T01:40:00.001-07:00

Lord knows I need some!! I’m pretty sure it’s rained all but maybe 5 days in the month of March and so far in April. Today we actually had a very nice day, yesterday too, and I’m pretty sure this card is to blame!! I made it for MYSELF as I needed a little sunshine and it sure did cheer me up!!

Okay, if I must be honest, I made this card for the Color Throwdown Challenge 137!

As soon as I saw the color “Summer Sun” I knew exactly what set I had to use!! Sunshine Cheer from Our Craft Lounge! I also used the tree from Swingin’ By. I think they worked perfectly together! I even used the cloud from Sunshine Cheer as a mask for the airbrushed sky! It worked great!!

One of the main reasons I love clear acrylic stamps is the ability to manipulate and “bend” the sentiments in many different directions. I love the look of it wavy instead of just straight across! Makes the set even more versatile! I free-hand cut the sentiment and used my copic marker to line the edges so it would stand out a bit! The grass die is MFT – Die-Namics Fresh Cut Grass and the scalloped edge just peeking out is MFT – Die-Namics - Open Scallop Border. The paper… oh how I LOVE the paper -- It’s MMI Stella and Rose – Mabel.

I used a bit of Spica glitter pen on the leaves and a little bit on the sun (the dots) to give it some added shine and sparkle – you can kind of see it here : )

Be sure to check out the other great color inspirations at The Color Throwdown today, then pull out your Summer Sun and have a sunshiny day!!

Fragments.

2011-04-07T10:23:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the Inspiration Emporium Blog’s Monthly Challenge?

It’s all about Idea-ology FRAGMENTS (not to mention the fabulous prize of FIFTY big Emporium Dollars!!!). You can read about it using the link above!!

FRAGMENTS

Remember this birdhouse I covered a few weeks back

and I mentioned I had this to cover as well?

Well, here it is!! All buttoned up and beautiful!

I LOVE it!!

I knew this sconce would be going in the same room as my birdhouse so I wanted to stick with the same theme.. birds, so I knew I had to have the Caged Bird die and I knew it would be perfect! I used the same paper stash - Retro Grunge and tissue tape – Market Place. I had some more Prima Sunflower vines so I knew those would also help tie the two together! Keeping with the bird theme, I also wanted to use the same words, FLY and SOAR, but perhaps with different medium… this is where the Fragment Charms came into play!! I used the Salvage Stickers to create my “FLY” tags (and SOAR). The fragment charms were simple! I cut the letters out, stuck them to some Kraft-colored cardstock, then used Glossy Accents to adhere them to the back of the clear fragment charm. EASY!!

I also used the cute new Mini Butterflies Movers and Shapers (the two bigger butterflies on the bottom) and my good old Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch for the smaller butterflies. I covered the butterflies with Scattered Straw Distress Stickles and Spiced Marmalade Distress Stickles. I dyed some seam binding with my distress inks, added the bird and called it good! (The bird also comes with the Caged Bird die cut – and I embossed it with the Woodgrain embossing folder. I think my little country corner is going to look GREAT with these two new additions!!

Don’t forget to go check out the Inspiration Emporium Blog and read about the Challenge and how to win the prize!!

LOVE… and a little dirt

2011-04-06T01:09:00.001-07:00

I 100% LOVE this sentiment and not just because I made it up … but I think it’s absolutely true in so many ways!!

I LOVE the colors and they happen to be The Color Throwdown colors this week – so proud of myself – two weeks in a row!!

Here’s the color challenge colors:

I decided to also add dark chocolate brown – I just had to… it’s dirt color, ya know?!! : ) But I think my hen and some of the distressing should cover the Kraft color!! : )

About the card….. I LOVE it! It’s not too often that I love my own work or that I admit that I love it, but I really do love this one! First off, I LOVE the stamp set – I designed it for Our Craft Lounge – I think I’d love it even if someone else designed it though! It’s called Sunflower Seeds. One of my favorite elements in the set is the rectangular frame, it’s a no-brainer grunge edge frame!! No matter how hard I’ve tried in the past, there’s just no way that I could get a perfectly grungy frame like that!! The sentiments and images in this set fit into the frame to create all sorts of fun. A seed packet, a frame, or just a plain old grungy rectangle : )

When I saw this Sizzix Die – On the Fence, I knew it would go perfectly with dear Henny Penny!! The Mini Fasteners that look like little screws…..LOVE those too!! For the little fancy slit, I used the Ornamental Photo Corners – Movers and Shapers die.

The brick pattern embossing is from my favorite texture fade folder – Bricked and Woodgrain – LOVE!!

I dyed seam binding to match.. and then stuck a Trinket Pin in it – fun stuff!!

And of course the paper….. LOOOVVVVEEE (in my most angelic singing voice ever) - I’m totally addicted to this paper – so much that I’ve neglected to use much else since receiving it!! It’s sweet sweet My Mind’s Eye – Mabel.

Well, I think that about wraps it up – I LOVE lots of things today…and I’m always willing to get a little dirty ; )

A Dirty Little Easter Tag

2011-03-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

Weird, I know.. but I do think I like it!

I actually made this card for the Color Throwdown challenge this week! GASP!! I think it’s been almost a year since I’ve participated with those lovely ladies!! I’m sneaky about it though… I snuck right in and added it to their post!! I sure hope they don’t mind!! I’m still amazed at what I can do with a clean stamping table!! Ahh! It’s so nice to be able to just sit down and get inky for a while if time allows – so nice that I don’t first have to spend an hour cleaning up my last mess so that I can make a new one!!

So here it is … My Dirty Little Easter Tag!!

I had the hardest time taking a good photo – I think it’s the red wall behind it – I ~~threw away~~ lost my white board background I used before so I’m stuck with this for now.

The color challenge:

I think I got all of the colors in there! My inspiration started out with this FABULOUS bunny sticker from the Idea-ology Salvage Sticker – Seasonal pack. My, this has great stickers in it! Easter, Christmas, Halloween, um… seasonal! ; ) It had most of the colors in there that I needed – I just had to add some yellow. I LOVE that they are such a sturdy sticker that you can sand the edges and even sponge it (that’s where I added the Scattered Straw Distress Ink!!! The word “Easter” comes from the same pack! To make the tag match, I used Scattered Straw and Fired Brick Distress Ink with blending tools and a craft mat. I also made sure I got some splatters of ink on the tag to mimic the dripping paint on the egg. I tore the top section of the tag off, inked it up with Black Soot Distress Ink, then reattached it down a little lower (to make the tag shorter) with my Tiny Attacher. I dyed some Lavish Trimmings with matching ink and added those as well.

I don’t think this is your traditional Easter tag but I do think I like it!

OCL Sketch Challenge 58

2011-03-25T11:26:00.001-07:00

The Lounge has a new sketch challenge today – and it’s based on one of my cards!!

Check out the sketch here !! I LOVED making this card!!

The stamp sets are both fun and cheery so I went with bright colors!! I used Joy in Little Things (the mushroom and sentiment) and The Pond.

If you can believe it, I actually have two posts today, so be sure to check out the Mermaid Anya below – she’s DARLING!!

A Sweet Little Mermaid! – Repost!!

2011-03-25T05:30:00.000-07:00

Ewwwe!! I’m not sure what happened with my post this morning but the photo was NOT the way it was supposed to be! I’ll try again!!

I LOVE this The Greeting Farm image – Mermaid Anya – she’s just so cute and so fun to color! I actually colored her MONTHS ago when Joy was in town for an Our Craft Lounge class with Cami and I. I saved the image for a special day… then when I saw the shimmery ric-rac I knew it was time to pull her out, as I thought it would make great waves and I knew exactly what sentiment I wanted to use as well!!

The sentiment “Hope your birthday is a SPLASH” is from OCL’s set – Whale of a Tale. I stamped it in Broken China Distress Ink – I also dyed the seam binding with the same ink! (I LOVE THAT STUFF)

I colored the mermaid with Copic markers – and I also used a blue Spica pen to create some scales on her fins!! Then I glammed her up with Kaiser Craft Rhinestones – Aqua Marine and Kaiser Craft Pearls – Snow.

Here you can kind of see the scale pattern, right? Well imagine it all purdy and shimmery!

We’ve had so much rain here this month, I’m sort of starting to feel a bit like a fish myself – wish I could at least have shimmery scales – my scale more like shimmies from the weight of me… it must think I’m a whale!! haha!!

Have a GREAT weekend!!

OCL Challenge 57 – Embossing

2011-03-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Wow! Look at me – playing along with a challenge!! OCL Challenge #57.

Oh the things one can do with a clean stamp table! ; )

The Challenge: Clean & Simple – Embossing

Not sure that it is Clean or even Simple, but it is Embossed – so we’re lookin good!! Ok, so definitely not so much on the clean side, but it actually really was simple to do!!

First I sponge-grunged up a Manila Craft Tag #8 with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint. I used embossing ink and Black Ranger Embossing Powder along with stamp sets Dandy Days and Life Is from Our Craft Lounge.

Obviously I’ve fallen onto the dyed seam binding crinkle ribbon bandwagon – What?? A cute ribbon that I can dye to match my project and it’s totally affordable??? WHERE HAS THIS BEEN ALL OF MY STAMPING LIFE? (I also used the same inks as above to dye the ribbon – and Black Soot Distress Ink, of course, to get the black ribbon – I LOVE love that it dyes it TRUE black, not greenish or purplish, but BLACK BLACK!!).

I am also falling in love with these tags… but I must ask, What does one do with these tags??

Now go emboss yourself something!! : )

A revamped Birdhouse

2011-03-16T14:04:00.001-07:00

My son, Shawn, took a required woodshop class this fall as a freshman and after each project was finished he would bring it home and give it to me. Ahh, what treasures!! I LOVE the cutting board - my mom still has the one I made, so I know that his will last a long time too! He also brought home a pretty cute whitewashed birdhouse. I didn't want to hang it outside to rot in the rain - I wanted to be able to see it and keep it for a long time, and although it was whitewashed, it was still a little plain, so with his permission, I decided to decorate it!

Here's how he brought it home - simple, cute, a little shabby, and a little crooked ; )

and this is what I did to it:

First I used Idea-ology Tissue Tape - Market Place- on all of the raw edges. Because the wood was painted, it stuck perfectly and it was SO easy to do!! Then I started covering all of the other surfaces with Ideo-ology Paper Stash - Retro Grunge. The paper was PERFECT for this project because several of the pieces have a wood grain pattern to them!! It was really pretty easy but there were a few tricky parts because the house was NOT square!! This is where the craft knife and sanding grip came in handy!! I had it covered in no time!! I used the sanding grip to scuff up the paper just a bit, which brought out some of the roughness of the wood below.

Then I went on to embellish it a bit!! I kept it fairly simple, but I still love the old country look.

I had some old Prima sunflower vines that I thought would work perfectly! I used the letters from Idea-ology Salvage Stickers to spell Fly, then the Idea-ology Adage Tickets for Soar, and the Idea-ology Muse Tokens says Forevermore - so basically it says "Fly, Soar, Forevermore" (I really had NO idea what to spell, but I felt like Fly and Soar were sort of bird related..and then Forevermore sort of rhymed so I went with it! I'm TERRIBLE at word creativity!) The bow is made from dyed seam binding - I used a variety of Ranger Distress Inks to create the color.

Here's a few close-ups!

Pretty cool, right? I LOVED how it turned out - so much that I've already started to cover the sconce!!

Stay tuned!!

My stamp table is clean!!

2011-03-10T12:19:00.001-08:00

Woohoo!! My stamp table is clean!!! It was HORRIBLE. I shared a picture of my “crapalanche” with some stamping friends and I think I actually gave them cyber anxiety!! It was THAT bad!! I finally had a full day off and nothing to do except get that table cleaned off!! It took me ALL day, but I did it, then I sat right down and made two cards and then guess what I did? I CLEANED UP MY MESS!! Oh, Yes I did!!! I was so proud!! I’ve managed to stamp every day since AND I’ve even worked on a couple projects that I’ll share soon! It’s been so nice having a clean workspace - 8 projects finished and I’ve cleaned up my mess after each one!!

Today I wanted to share with what I think is just about the cutest little girl image I’ve ever seen… as soon as I saw her I knew I needed her – she makes me smile!!

She’s darling, right? She’s called HG Peace from The Greeting Farm – and I paired her up with a few Our Craft Lounge stamp sets – The “Wishing You” comes from the stamp set Sunshine Cheer and “Peace” (inside view) comes from Flower Power.

The flowers are made of dyed seam binding – this is new to me and I LOVE it!! Broni made a similar flower that I LOVED and new I needed to make right away (she even has a great tutorial) these minis I’ll call Broni Buds because they are tiny little versions of hers! I dyed them with Ranger Distress Ink just like Broni did! For the grass, I airbrushed the grass using MFT – Die-Namics Fresh Cut Grass. I used the ‘negative’ piece as a stencil – it worked perfectly!

Here’s a look at the inside… the colors make me smile!!

Supplies:

Stamps: HG Peace from The Greeting Farm; Sunshine Cheer and Flower Power from Our Craft Lounge
Dies: Nestabilities – Lacy Circles and MFT – Die-Namics Fresh Cut Grass
Inks: Copic Markers and Ranger Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, and Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, and Fired Brick.
Embellishments: Dyed seam binding, Kaiser Rhinestones – Orange and Kaiser Rhinestones – Hot Pink

Happy Happy Day Tammy H!

2011-03-01T10:07:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to wish my amazingly talented friend Tammy a Happy Happy Birthday!! I hope your day is most excellent!!

Get it Tammy? A splash!?! Actually – I really do hope the water goes away!! ; )

And if you’d like to see LOTS of other Birthday Cards for Tammy (or just a lot of great inspiration for birthday cards) visit the Birthday Blog Hop that’s going on!! Here’s the list:

Barbara Anders
LeAnne Pugliese
Kristin Eberline
Frances Byrne
Julie Koerber
Betty Wright
Joanne Grzelak
Vicki Garrett
Heather Stephens
Danielle Kennedy
Jessie Rone
Broni Holcombe
Laura Pryor
Lynda Benden
Cathy Rulli
Julie Masse
Lori Tecler
Maria Bell
Maki Jones
Cindy Haffner
Dee Jackson
Kate from i{heart}papers

Supplies for the card:

Stamp set: Bubbles from Our Craft Lounge; Paper: My Minds Eye and Kraft; Sparkles: Crafty Sparkles – Colors used – Lemon Drop Yellow, Butterscotch, Real Juicy Orange, and Irish Green.

Have a GREAT day Tammy!!!

OCL Release Winner (SANDRA) and a RECAP

2011-03-01T09:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry I’m late on naming my winner!!! Sandra!! YOU are my winner!!

Sandra said... love your card, the coloring is wonderful - I don't know why, but I am drawn to anything with sunflowers!
Sandra ltb

Thank you every one for playing along!!! It was a great release!! Here’s a recap of what I shared with you:

Sunflower Seeds

Shower of Blossoms

Pins and Needles

Have a great day!!

A Blog Hop and some CANDY too!!

2011-02-25T00:39:00.001-08:00

Today’s the big day – It’s the Our Craft Lounge Blog Hop!! You’ve been hopping around all day from Blog to Blog and now you want to know what set I’m giving away, right?

Well, this one is special! Really, really special!! You wanna know why?

Because YOU-PICK-THE-PRIZE!

That’ll make you feel special, right?

There are limits of course. You can’t go and pick a cruise or anything like that..

You’ll be picking ONE set from OCL’s newly-released sets!! See – I told you it was special!

How can you win this, you ask?

Please leave a comment and tell me which set you LOVE the most!!!

I will be picking one winner on Saturday (midnight PT/3am ET) from the comments left from Wed through Saturday. So if you are just jumping in today, you can go ahead and check out my other posts and comment there as well. Be sure you have contact info in your blogger profile so I can find you or contact info in the comment itself.

Now be sure to check out all of the other Blog-Hopping Bloggers – They’ve got great samples to share and more prizes too!!

Amber Hillman
Bev Gerard
Broni Holcombe
Deb Felts
Debbie Corbari
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Jeanne Streiff
Joy Stagg
Kendra Wietstock
Latrice Murphy
Melyssa Connolly
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Stephanie Serrano
Tammie Edgerton

-- And, of course, I’ll leave you with a little eye candy as well --

This is a fun little pin cushion made out of a canning jar, some fabric and some fluff (cotton batting) and using OCL’s new set, Pins and Needles. It was super easy, quick and fun to make!! I think it took me a whole 20 minutes to cut and assemble, fluff (batting and Cotton Candy Sparkly Fluff) and poke!!

Also, check out The Lounge for today’s OCL Sketch Challenge!

Have a great weekend!! Thanks for hopping by!!

Day 2 OCL Sneak Peeks!!

2011-02-24T01:35:00.001-08:00

Are you ready for a sample from my FAVORITE set being released this week? It’s called Sunflower Seeds. I LOVE that’s it’s different…and I love that it’s a bit country, but it can be a little vintage or even just a friendly floral set!! I also have a little personal connection with this set : ) Can you guess how?

- A bit about the card -

I first found the brads – LOVE THEM… and then I went on a paper search to match the brad in my LSS - This paper just felt so farmy to me (no clue why) and I was also deeply in love with the colors!! My sister would probably guess that I’m a PINK lover (she’s a pink h.a.t.e.r.) – (I do always have a favorite pink shirt) but I actually LOVE LOVE LOVE yellow/orange colors, add a pop of red in there and I’m in earthy heaven!! Okay, I also LOVE pink and orange together! SO maybe it’s the orange that I actually love?

Sorry – got a little off subject there! Anyway – back to the card. I went a little brad crazy on it – See the fancy brad with the yellow center? (um… LUV it) Then see the other smaller fancy brad with the brown center? Well, those smaller brads came with the yellow centers as well but I popped off the yellow gem and added Coffee Bean Brown Sparkly Fluff – FUN, eh? Of course, I also added the Sparkly Fluff to the sunflowers’ centers – but of course!!

Here’s a close up of the sparkly brad and the hen – I LOVE HER!! She and the flowers are popped up on foam tape!

(RIP – Henny Penny)

- Blog Hop Info -

You can check out the whole set (plus plenty other great ones) over at The Lounge and for LOTS of samples, check out the blogs listed below! Be sure to leave a comment on yesterday’s, today’s, and Friday’s posts – they’ll all give you a chance to win my prize Friday!!

Amber Hillman
Bev Gerard
Deb Felts
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Jeanne Streiff
Joy Stagg
Kendra Wietstock
Latrice Murphy
Lori McAree
Melyssa Connolly
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Stephanie Serrano
Tammie Edgerton

Our Craft Lounge Sneak Peek Day 1

2011-02-23T00:33:00.001-08:00

It’s time for a little winter release from Our Craft Lounge! They are releasing 11 great new sets – there’s a little bit of sumpin’ sumpin’ for everyone!

Today I’m going to show you a gorgeous set illustrated by Marianne Walker (you know – I like Markers – Marianne). You might even actually recognize the image!! The stamp set is called Shower of Blossoms. What I LOVE about this set (besides the beautiful illustrations) is the SIZE of the images!!! Size DOES matter sometimes, ya know!?!

I honestly don’t get to stamp or color very often so I was really excited to take my time and use lots of techniques with this image! First I started with paper piecing the umbrella – I used a purple grunge-style paper and then I added shading with a few shades of purple Copic markers, once I did that, I finished coloring the image. Don’t let the detail of the image frighten you from wanting to color it – Marianne gives some great pointers on this image – take it piece by piece – or section by section and really it isn’t too hard at all. I was actually quite happy with the way mine turned out!! After I colored each section (the flowers, the bushes, the trees, the rocks, the bunnies) I created a mask of the image. I first covered up the bottom and airbrushed the sky, then I covered the top and airbrushed the ground. I LOVE the soft look of this – and it made the sky and ground coloring go super fast!! I added some shading around the rocks. Then I popped the two front bunnies up and used the shadow the popped up part created as my shadow for the bunnies – I have NO idea if this was the correct placement but it worked for me!

Looking at it now, I sort of wish I had popped the very first bunny up a second time – I might go back and do that! I kept the layout simple. Often after spending plenty of time on the main image, my creativity sort of fizzles out… so I like to say that I want the focus to be on the image ; ) Ooh! And I added a wee-little bit of Sugar Sparkly Fluff on the little bunny tail! It’s a gorgeous image, right?

Okay – so here’s the GOOD STUFF!!!

Leave a comment (with some kind of contact info) on today’s post, tomorrow’s and Friday’s, and your name will be submitted in my prize drawing for Friday’s blog hop!!

Be sure to check out all of the other great peeks – and comment there too!!!

Amber Hillman
Broni Holcombe
Deb Felts
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Jeanne Streiff
Kendra Wietstock
Lori McAree
Melyssa Connolly
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Stephanie Serrano
Tammie Edgerton

DIRTY… I have to work at it…

2011-02-04T13:40:00.001-08:00

Well, if you know me well enough you know that I don’t have to work too hard to have my mind in the gutter, but I do have to work pretty hard to get extra creative and down and dirty with my paper crafting! First, I must admit that I made this card ~~weeks~~ months ago. I thought I’d give sponging and grunging another go! I can’t say that I LOVE this card but I can say that I do love parts of it! I think it had potential – but I fizzled out in the end and didn’t really know what do with my main image.

I used Butterfly Kisses (which is actually one of the sets that I designed so I LUV it!), Vintage Traveler, and Under Lock and Key all from Our Craft Lounge – these are such fabulous stamp sets for collage-style stamping! I also played around with one of Tim’s many fabulous tools – Mini Mask – Florets – that’s the yummy flourish design peeking through the Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink – the blending tools work fabulously with these masks!! Then to add a little dimension to it, I used a Versa-Mark around the edge of the Nestabilities, sponging it up onto the image’s edge just a little, then I embossed with Black Ranger Embossing Powder….. and then I kind of fizzled and finished the card of kind of lamely.

I’ve got basketball game to go to tonight – Play hard Shawn!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great one!

The art of nature …

2011-01-25T11:08:00.001-08:00

I LOVE lavender….love it! I love it in lemonade, I love it in the bath, I love it in the garden, and I love it in this basket!!
The stamp set is called The Art of Nature from Our Craft Lounge and it’s beautiful!! I kept the card pretty simple, just some basic coloring, light shading, some embossing, a border punch, some brads and a bow! There’s a tiny bit of Sugar Sparkly Fluff on the lavender buds as well!

It’s another beautiful day in Bandon! The sun feels so good – even though it’s through the window!! : ) I hope you have a beautiful day too!

Sending a quick note

2011-01-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

Here’s a super quick and easy card I made using Our Craft Lounge’s Sending Love. It’s a darling little set – so quick and easy to color, yet so cute!

It’s hard to see in the photo, but the heart-shaped flowers and the heart flag have Rockin’ Pink Sparkly Fluff – so it’s nice and sparkly!! I colored the image with Copic Markers kept it clean and simple with some sponging with around the image and on the Lavish Trimmings flowers to tie it all together.

Thanks for stopping by!! Have a great one!

Are you ready to be Inspired??

2011-01-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

I’m blogging today to share with you a new design team for the Inspiration Emporium –

The Inspiration Team. This team consists of some very talented ladies with so many different paper crafting styles that will surely inspire you!!

Are you ready to be inspired?

RebeccaMA – You’re my big ….

2010-11-22T11:40:00.001-08:00

WINNER!!! Congrats and thanks for playing along!!! Love Notes will be heading your way soon!!!

RebeccaMA said... You always give me new ideas and you're making me warm up to the "dirty" look! Awesome!

Thank you everyone else for playing along!!

Our Craft Lounge Blog Hop!!

2010-11-18T01:43:00.001-08:00

I know you are BLOWN away by my two posts in a row!! Well, get ready to really be blown away with some prizes and fun samples!!

Today I’m sharing Love Notes – I ADORE this set! Not only is it a “love” set, but it can be used as a “dirty” set too! The swirl is a great stamp that can be used on so many different projects and the background script stamp is AWESOME!! The font is beautiful and can be stamped several times to create a background!

I used the solid stamp to create this frame (I just used some sponges to apply pink and black ink directly to the rubber, huffed it, and stamped it creating this frame look.) Then I inked up the larger heart, stamped it directly to the clean script rubber, then took that stamp and stamped it on the paper, this technique gave me ‘scripted hearts’ rather than one solid block of script! I love the effect!! Then I stamped some random smaller hearts to create a messy pattern! I used the new Rockin Pink Sparkly Fluff for the heart!

Not only is Our Craft Lounge giving away one of each of the four new stamp sets released today, but also several other fun-loving sweet sets!! So here's the deal. Leave me a comment for your chance to win the Love Notes stamp set. Visit each of the blogs listed and leave a comment for a chance at the other sets being given away. You can only win one, but it sure doesn't hurt to increase your chances!

The blog hop ends on Saturday, November 20th at midnight Pacific/3 a.m. Eastern.

Here are some things you REALLY need to know:

1) Your comment left on sneak peek day (yesterday) will automatically enter you into the giveaway for the blog hop prize.

2) You MUST leave contact information in order to be entered – or at least be signed in to Blogger.

3) You can enter on each blog once each day.

4) You will only be eligible to win one new set. Blog candy will be drawn Sunday morning (Nov 21) by each blog participant. Winners will be notified by the designer and a full list of winners will be posted on the OCL blog.

Here's the list of blogs you need to visit:

Don’t Fall Over… OCL sneak peeks!

2010-11-17T06:03:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know…. it has been almost two months since I last posted! Wow!! Now that’s some bad blogging!! We all know that life happens and when you have three active kids and a full time job and, and, and…. sometimes housework and card-making get put on the back burner!! Luckily, I did manage to find a few minutes to whip together a super quick project for Our Craft Lounge’s Valentine Release.

I used Notes of Love and Sending Love to create this cute little Valentine set. Both sets work really well together!

I kept the layout/design super simple (it’s easier that way when you need to create multiples of something). The cards are 3x3, the perfect size for passing out at school (or tossing in someone’s lunch bag to give them a little smile during the day.) I made a little ‘belly band’ to hold them all together, as shown in the photo.

Want to see more?

Amber HIllman
Bev Gerard
Broni Holcombe
Chelle Fowler
Deb Felts
Heather McNally
Jeanne Streiff
Joy Kennedy
Kendra Wietstock
Lori McAree
Pam Hooten
Tammie Edgerton

You can find out more information about the Blog Hop and the Sneak Peeks at the OCL Blog. Be sure to leave a comment today as it will count as an entry towards the prize tomorrow!! Thanks for stopping by!

It’s been such a long time – I couldn’t even remember how to post!

2010-09-27T12:37:00.001-07:00

I did, however, post on the OCL Blog today!!

Here’s a little glimpse of what I shared over there – hope you go see the whole thing : )

Little Boogas!!

2010-09-02T11:07:00.001-07:00

These Little Boogas are just as cute as can be!!

This card is simple and cute, and I LOVE how the boogas’ little hands look like hearts!! The stamp set is called Little Boogas – the whole set is adorable!! I used Appletini Green Sparkly Fluff and Punk Purple Sparkly Fluff to make it touchy-feely : )

Hope you have a great day – and I’ll wish you a great weekend too since we know that two posts in a week is something special…if I post Friday as well – well, that may just be a miracle!!

Just because I’m random that way..

2010-08-31T11:05:00.001-07:00

Although I’m such a terrible blogger – you’ve got to love my randomness, right? Ok – so how about a card.. just because I’m random that way : )

Shades of Fall – it’s a gorgeous set from Our Craft Lounge. I was a bit random when I colored the card too! I started with an orange leaf, colored with Copic markers, then I just grabbed a random green marker (see – very random) and blended over the orange – gave it sort of a nice dead leaf color ;D – just the look I was lookin’ for!! Then I added some dots and smudges and more randomness to the block image. All in all – I actually like this card : ) Say random 8 times, and it starts to sound very weird!!

Hope your day is great and full of randomness!!

OCL + CPS = Some GREAT lookin’ cards!

2010-08-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

Our Craft Lounge is sponsoring Card Positioning Systems’ weekly sketch. There are some fabulous samples and submissions appearing over there – I hope you check it out!

Here’s my card using the sketch:

It’s a little on the different side but still kind of cool, right? My favorite part is the ‘paint splatters’. Really – it’s Glimmer Mist and the first few spots were originally by accident! My bottled seemed to be clogged, so I opened it up, pulled out the nozzle part, and tried spraying…and of course, as spray bottles always do, it just poured right out the bottom and to my surprise made some very nice splatter marks, so I went with it….and created more!! The stamp set is called Butterfly Kisses – I love that you can get a grungey look with this set with minimal effort! That’s my kind of stamping!!

Thanks for stopping by!

OCL Blog Hop Winner

2010-08-24T09:19:00.001-07:00

First, thank you to all who played, left great comments and checked out the new OCL release! It was a fun one!!

Second, I’ve got a winner of the Football All-Star stamp set!!

Pam – (Crafts with Pam and Presley), you are my winner!! I’m going to need your shipping information so we can get the set to you!! Congrats and thanks for playing along!!

Our Craft Lounge Blog Hop!

2010-08-20T01:22:00.001-07:00

She scrapbooks? Why yes, she does….sort of and very rarely!!

I just LOVE the new stamp set – Football All-Star – and I knew it would work perfectly for these photos ;D

I must tell you that my son, who is standing exactly like his dad in the photo above, got his permit yesterday and I let him drive for about 5 minutes – that’s all I could handle…. I also “let” him drive 15 mph in a 25 mph residential area! LOL! I was sooo nervous that a little kid was going to jump out in the road and he wouldn’t know how to react. Luckily there were NO pedestrians and not even another car on the road, but I’ve decided to let his dad drive with him for several weeks before I give it another try!! Honestly, he did quite well – but if you know me…. you know that I’m such a nervous driver – I’m not a bad driver… I’m a “challenged”… I’ve always been that way. I worry about EVERYTHING and I dislike driving in MOST conditions, and although I want him to be a very cautious driver, I don’t want him to be a nutcase like his mother!!

Ok, back to business!! So you want to see the WHOLE stamp set? Why, of course you do!

This set is going to be my prize today, so make sure to leave a comment and tell me how much you love it! Ok…you can tell me how much you love another set… like Butterfly Kisses!! I kid… just go ahead and leave any ol’ comment you’d like! I’ll be drawing Sunday, I believe – I’m so on top of it, aren’t I?

Now go check out the other blog-hoppers and see what wonderful creations they’ve got to share….they have prizes too!

Amber Hillman
Beate Johns
Beth Silaika
Bev Gerard
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Debbie Corbari
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Jeanne Streiff
Julie Okada
Kendra Wietstock
Lori McAree
Maree Truelove
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Tammy Hershberger
Terri Thill
Vicki Garrett

You can also find more samples and info at the OCL Blog.

Have a great weekend…..I know I will! I get to spend it with Joy and Cami!!

No Peeking – Sneak Peek Day II

2010-08-19T01:17:00.001-07:00

Here we are at day number 2 for the Our Craft Lounge sneak peeks and today the set I’m sharing is super cute! It’s called No Peeking and it’s darling! It’s a holiday/Christmas tag set and it makes for making tags so easy!! I whipped up a little tag set gift in no time and used some fun nontraditional bright holiday colors, and lots of Sparkly Fluff and Crafty Sparkles too!

The set comes with several different “filler words” too – so you can pick what you want your tag to say!

Please stop by the OCL Blog for more information regarding the blog hop.

Here’s a list of other participants - Go check them out!!

Amber Hillman
Beth Silaika
Bev Gerard
Charmaine Ikach
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Debbie Corbari
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Jeanne Streiff
Joy Kennedy
Kendra Wietstock
Cami
Lori McAree
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Tammy Hershberger
Terri Thill

Don’t forget to comment!

Our Craft Lounge – Sneak Peek!!

2010-08-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

Are you ready for 24 fabulous new sets??? Well, here’s one to start you off! It’s called Ole St. Nick and he’s sending season’s greetings your way….Can’t you just hear his big belly Ho! Ho! Ho?? Almost makes me wish it was December! (almost)

Today and Thursday OCL will be sharing sneak peeks of all the sets, and Friday we will be having our big blog hop. Any comments left on my blog today, tomorrow and Friday will all be eligible to win the Blog Candy (Prize) on my blog Friday. When you leave a comment, please include contact information (i.e. email address) so that if you are the winner, you can be contacted!!

Here’s the list of other blogs sharing sneak peeks this week:

Amber Hillman
Beth Silaika
Bev Gerard
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Debbie Corbari
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Jeanne Streiff
Joy Kennedy
Kendra Wietstock
Lori McAree
Michelle Fowler
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill

You can also find more information about the release and blog hop at the OCL Blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Paper Pretties Blog Hop Winner

2010-08-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

I have a winner!!

creative patti said... OMG! I just love this little chicken!! You did an awesome job on this card. Thanks

Creative Patti – could you please stand up? (Ok..well just contact me with your mailing info!!)

Thank you all for playing along!!

Paper Pretties Blog Hop and Grand Re-Opening!!

2010-08-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

I’m so excited and honored to help my good friend, Heather, with her Grand Re-Opening of Paper Pretties!!

The Hop!

If you are arriving from Frances’ blog, then you are in the right place!! If you happened to start at my blog, make sure you turn around and start with the Paper Pretties Blog – I don’t want you to miss a thing!! (Be sure to check out all the information in the blog post too; there are LOTS of PRIZES and different GIFTS WITH PURCHASE, and I don’t want you to miss out!)

Twelve New Sets!!

You’ve likely heard by now, but Paper Pretties is releasing TWELVE brand new sets today, along with the big Prettie Boutique Re-Opening. All of the new sets will be available for purchase in the Prettie Boutique beginning no later than 7 AM CST today. The stamp set I’m showing today is called “What the Cluck” and OH man.. do I LOVE IT! It’s a dang cute chicken and there are some great sentiments in it – but my favorite sentiment is “What the Cluck?”

Now for the funny part…. the inside:

About the card:

Important: I did a little masking and changed the punctuation on the sentiment on the front of the card – The stamp really has an exclamation point at the end, not a question mark, but I used tape and masked it with the question mark from “What the cluck?” instead – I thought I was so smart!! It would have been PERFECT to give to one of my good friends about 5 years ago and I think she’ll get a good kick out of it still!

So enough about my card….here’s the good stuff that you came for…

The Deets:

Leave me comment on this post to enter to win this fab stamp set!! I will take comments until Sunday, August 15th at 6 PM CST, and then one Prettie Lucky Stamper will be chosen at random to receive this set!! Can’t get a better deal than that – and you can shop without fear!! If you happen to win a set that you’ve already purchased, you may substitute a different set of equal or lesser value in its place! Now how cool is that?!?

Thank you so much for stopping by today – Now you can head on over to Mercy’s blog – that’s your next stop!!

Good luck….and Shop Prettie!

Prettie Boutique Specials:

Here are the purchase specials for all purchases from the Prettie Boutique:
Every order placed during release weekend (now through Sunday, August 15th) will receive a free Paper Pretties “Hand Stamped” stamp!
All orders that total $25 or more (before shipping charges are applied) will receive a free stamp set (Paper Pretties’ choice) in their package!
Any orders that total $100 or more (before shipping charges are applied) will receive a free 6x6 paper pad (Paper Pretties’ choice) with their order!
The older Paper Pretties’ stamps are still on sale! Up to 75% off, with many of the Sophia and Cooper sets selling for just $5!

Happy Shopping!!!

Butterfly Kisses

2010-07-27T13:50:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share another sample of Butterfly Kisses (available at your local Archiver’s and released today at Summer CHA). I just love the natural look of this butterfly and that it is big enough to get some good color blending, yet small enough to fit in the frame that comes with the set! I used Juicy Orange Sparkly Fluff on it and it looks gorgeous!!

Can you see the “grunge” effect around the edge of the white square? That’s the frame stamp! I just stamped it and trimmed up really close to the edge with my paper cutter – I love the look and it was effortless! (It also fits well in a square Nestabilities die. ) There’s another image in this stamp set that fits in the frame; it’s a word block. It’s hard to see in this photo because I stamped it so lightly (stamped off before I stamped in the frame), but it is a poem about butterflies. The image itself is distressed and faded making it another effortless grunge stamp! Getting this look is simple with this set! I just love it! The “butterfly kisses” image is a separate image – I decided to stamp it inside the frame. And the “Everyone deserves a little sunshine” is a single stamp as well; I stamped this all along the bottom piece of patterned paper.

You can see more samples for this set at the OCL Blog – along with more Summer CHA sneak peeks all week!!

An after-thought and a bit of news!

2010-07-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

So, I was browsing around and saw Pam’s gorgeous sketch-challenge card – and I thought…..hmmmm… I know that butterfly! Maybe I should give it a try?

So, I added the butterfly to my sketch card from this morning! I didn’t CASE Pam – I completely copied her! : ) LOL! I haven’t decided if I like the card better with or without the butterfly – but I LOVE the butterfly and I think that blank spot was just perfect for this little beauty, so I think it’s going to stay! What do you think? Want to know WHY I love that butterfly? Because it’s an image in another stamp set that I designed for Our Craft Lounge called Butterfly Kisses! I’m pretty excited about this set – right now it is available at Archiver’s and next week it will be available at Summer CHA! I just can’t wait to see what stampers do with it – and I hope you love it as much as I do!!

Can you believe it?

2010-07-23T09:39:00.001-07:00

I actually stamped!! Not for a blog hop or a celebration but just because I wanted to!! Yeah for me! Kendra created a great card over on the OCL Blog for the sketch challenge – OCLDT23.

When I do sketch challenges, I don’t print the sketch or re-draw it, I recreate it by memory so it’s never exact – it’s sort of fun that way!

So here’s my version:

It’s sort of like the sketch, right? What’s the same? It has the scalloped bottom, the bow, the open section in the middle for the image, and the top piece (the striped paper with sentiment) divided by a distinct line (the other scalloped edge). Those obviously were the design features that stuck in my head.. What’s different? I didn’t round my corners. I also didn’t leave it free-floating on the card base – I anchored it down by making the orange scalloped strip reach the edge. I think it works though.

What did I do? The designer paper including the large and medium sized scalloped borders and the ‘main image’ piece with the little lacy border along the bottom came from a 6x6 Kaisercraft paper pack called Devinshire. I LOVE that these packs not only come with the 6x6 designer paper but also die-cut borders and tags and other extras that match! To create the aged-antiqued look I used my Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and my Non-stick Craft Mat. I used Tea Dye Distress Ink first to sponge the edges, bringing the ink closer to the center of the paper rather than just the edge. Then I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink on the outside edge to darken up the edges. Using the two colors created a more even shadowed look without trying too hard : ) I also stamped my image and sentiment with the Walnut Stain. The stamp set used is called Dandy Days from Our Craft Lounge. It’s such a fun set to get dirty with!

Have a great weekend! I’m SOOO thank that it’s finally Friday and I get to have the weekend off!!

I've got WINNERS!!!

2010-07-16T02:23:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know, you've been waiting ALL week for the winners and I've got them, but first... Thank you all so much for playing along with the Color Throwdown's 100th Challenge Celebration!! It was crazy!! It was amazing! It was a lot fun! There were so many wonderful cards linked up – do check them out if you get a chance!

Prize-Claiming information (important stuff so read this) : If your name is listed below, you have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, July 19th to email colorthrowdown@yahoo.com and claim your prize! In the subject line of your email please put my name (Kisa), and the prize you are claiming (Name of Company) ! CONGRATULATIONS!!

Ok – back to the big wieners!!

Here you are:

First up, I’ve got the There She Goes $15 gift certificate prize..

and the winner is Tonia (#106) (card submission number). Congratulations Tonia!!

Next up is the DRS Designs golf-themed stamp package – Banu (#271) you are the winner!!

And finally, The Our Craft Lounge and Inspiration Emporium combination stamp sets (including the one I designed), sparkly fluff and gift certificate prize package goes to Deb Neerman (#302)!!

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!! Winners be sure to read the paragraph above on how to claim your prize!!

Thanks again for playing along with the Color Throwdown! (Check out the new colors for week 101!!)

Celebrating 100 – The Color Throwdown

2010-07-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

The Color Throwdown is Celebrating 100 challenges today – and you are invited to play along!!!

I know it has been a LONG time since I’ve participated in the Color Throwdown challenges – but believe me – I know what those girls over there are doing every week – often times I know what they are doing every day! I still keep in constant contact with them and I still do their banners and blinkies AND they were nice enough to even let me participate today!! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!! All of the rules are listed over at The Color Throwdown Blog so be sure to check that out – but basically, you must participate in the color challenge, link up your card on the CTD blog, and then leave a comment on the blogs that have the prizes you are interested in winning!! (one comment only per blog please)

Here are this week’s colors:

and here is my attempt at using those colors!

The stamp set that I used is from Our Craft Lounge called Treasured Friend, which is a stamp set that I designed for Our Craft Lounge and it is also included in the prize package – I hope you love it as much as I do!! (For more information about the card, see below. )

Now for the important stuff, right? THE PRIZES!! I have plenty to give away today!! Everyone has been so generous for this celebration – it’s been awesome – thank you soo much!!

First up is the Our Craft Lounge and Inspiration Emporium’s combined giveaway including four stamp sets (pictured below), three jars of sparkly fluff and a $25 gift certificate to Inspiration Emporium (and they carry the FULL line of OCL stamps in case you want more!)

Next, up is from DRS Designs – another FUN giveaway and soo perfect for me to give away!! If you are a golfer, then you may have heard of the Bandon Dunes – right in my home town! (It’s a GORGOUS resort and has 4 courses)

Finally, I have a $15 gift certificate giveaway from There She Goes! Look at that sassy logo – You can bet you’ll find something wonderful there!!

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Now for the link list – below you will find all of the other bloggers that are participating in the GIANT GIVEAWAY!! Now go check them out!

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy
Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor
Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs
LeAnne Pugliese - Wee Inklings
Laura Pryor - Lil' Inker
Carol Longacre - Our Little Inspirations
Deb Horst - Sendable Sentiments
Debi Southard - Debi's Crazy Life
Elise Durenberger - MamaCow Creations
Juliana Swanson - Stampin With Inky Fingers
Lisa Kind - Kind Creations
Makiko Jones - Makink Studios
Maria Gurnsey - Scraps By M
Pam Speidel - Stamping With Serendipity
Sylvia Nelson - Sylvia's Stamp Corner
Teresa Kline - Enjoy the VA Sunshine
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations

My Card Information:

I’m a bit partial to this set, as I designed it! I used Glimmer Mist and just went a little crazy with it! It might be a good thing that it doesn’t show up so well in the photo! LOL! I also am LOVING the grunge look – I’ve always inked my edges and given a grunge look but lately I’ve tried to be a little more deliberate with my ‘grungy corner technique’. The speckled look comes from just barely resting the edges of the paper on the stamp pad. Sometimes you still get the harsh line, but I decided I liked that look too! I used Cosmo Cricket – Garden Variety Strawberry Fields paper (the backside) and I distressed the edges using my Ranger Non-stick Craft Matt and an Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool with Antique Linen Distress Ink. For the frame, I used the Classic Scalloped Rectangle from Nestabilities and just inked up the edges with the Black Soot Distress Ink.

Thank you so much for participating!! Dang – those Throwdown Girls are gettin’ OLD – 100 is pretty amazing!!

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!

2010-07-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

I just wanted you to check out this announcement at The Color Throwdown Blog! It’s a pretty big deal and I don’t want you to miss out!! I’ll be posting again tomorrow with some prize information -yep, that'll be two post-days in a row!! (You can now pick yourself up off the floor!!)

See you tomorrow!!!

Check it OUT!! Inspiration Emporium Grand Opening!

2010-06-25T08:42:00.001-07:00

There’s a new store in town (ok – on line, but you got that, didn’t you?) It’s called Inspiration Emporium and it’s their grand opening! They’re offering discounts and FREE stuff! Did ya hear that? FREE stuff! So go get your Shop on!!!

Memories Of Time June Class

2010-05-29T10:35:00.001-07:00

Read about our class here!!

OCL Blog – Spotlight

2010-05-24T10:00:00.001-07:00

I posted my little project on the OCL Blog for this week’s Spotlight Theme – School’s Out!

Here’s a little peek for ya! You can see the whole thing HERE!!

May Class at Memories of Time – TONIGHT!

2010-05-07T08:56:00.001-07:00

You’ll find some class info here: May Class at Memories of Time

Perhaps I’ll see you there!

I have a winner!!

2010-05-03T09:33:00.001-07:00

The winner of Fabulous Florals is:

Stampin'GHmom said... Oh!! I like this set so much! The possibilities are endless. Thanks for the chance to win. Your card is gorgeous.

Congrats!!! I’ll need your mailing info so we can get the stamp set out to you as soon as possible!!!

Today’s the Day!!

2010-04-30T03:03:00.001-07:00

It’s time for the Our Craft Lounge Blog Hop!!! Have you been checking out all the cool new sets that are available today? I hope you’ve been visiting all the blogs listed so you can enter to win your very own free set! You want to see which set I’m showcasing today? It’s FABULOUS!! Really, it’s called Fabulous Florals!

I decided to make a box and a matching card – I LOVE boxes! : ) For the flower on the box, I wanted the flower a little smaller and a bit more open, so I stamped it several times and cut out each layer, omitting the final petals, and layered it on its self. I love the look it gives the flower!! Each section was very easy to cut out.

Here’s what the WHOLE set looks like:

Pretty Fabulous, wouldn’t you say?

And here is the link list for the rest of the blog hop, and the prize information is below!!

Amber HIllman
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Jeanne Streiff
Kendra Wietstock
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill
Vicki Garrett

If you are interested in winning this set, please leave a comment! You can leave a comment in any/all of the last three posts. If you feel like it, let me know what set you love the most – I always like hearing what people like!

Here’s some important stuff:

1 – you MUST be signed in when you leave your comment OR leave contact information in your coment.

2 – you can enter to win on each blog once on each day

3 – you will only be eligible to win ONE prize. Blog candy winner will be selected on Sunday, May 2nd at noon PST (3pm EST). Winners will be notifie by the designer & a full list of winners will be posted on the OCL blog. (Some blogs are giving away stamp sets and some Sparkly Fluff – so check them all out!!)

Enjoy all of the wonderful sets and stamples today! (yep, i said stamples… samples of stamped things = stamples)

OCL Sneak Peeks Day 2

2010-04-29T01:36:00.001-07:00

Here we are, Day II of Our Craft Lounge’s Summer Sneak Peeks!!

The set I’m sharing with you today is called Beach Days. This set, along with the others being released, will be available to purchase from many retailers on Friday!!

Be sure to check out the OCL Blog – You’ll get to see a full preview of each set there!

Friday is the official Blog Hop – so be sure to come back to see what set I will be giving away!!

I failed to mention the information about the blog candy/give-away yesterday – So, here are a few things that you should know about the blog candy ~
1) you MUST be signed in to blogger or leave contact information in order to be entered (I need to know how to find you!!)
2) you can enter on each blog once each day (not just mine, but ALL of the fine ladies sharing OCL sneak peeks this week)
3) you will only be eligible to win one new set. Blog candy will be drawn on each blog Sunday, May 2nd at 12 noon PST, (3pm eastern time). Winners will be notified by the designer & a full list of winners will be posted on the OCL Blog. Good luck!!!

Here are the links for all the fine ladies participating!!

Amber HIllman
Beth Silaika
Broni Holcombe
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Kendra Wietstock
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill
Vicki Garrett

Hey buddies…Long time no blogging..

2010-04-28T00:52:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know – I’ve been a MAJOR slacker these past few weeks. Oh man, I think it’s been more like a full month! Yikes – sorry about that. I’m really not even sure what I’ve been doing – hmm.. I have been stamping and working on other things, but I haven’t been able to share those with you – until now that is!

Our Craft Lounge is having a little Summer Release party! We’ll be sharing some sneak peeks the rest of the week!

My card today uses Whale of a Tale. It is a really fun summery ocean set and I think you will love all of the possibilities it brings!! There are plenty of fun sea creatures in this set and lots of fun sentiments to go along!! Be sure to check out these other blogs for some more fabulous peeks!!

Amber Hillman
Beth Silaika

Broni
Cambria Turnbow
Charmaine Ikach
Chelle Fowler
Cindy Lawrence
Deb Felts
Deborah Anton
Denise Marzec
Heather McNally
Holly McMillen
Kendra Wietstock
Pam Hooten
Terri Thill

And as an added shocker – I’ll be posting tomorrow too!! Oh, and for a bit of a surprise (the other things), READ Cambria’s blog – I must admit – I do LOVE the set that she’s showing!!

Memories of Time

2010-04-02T12:35:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow there will be several make and takes at Memories of time. We’ll be sharing some new products from Winter CHA! Here’s the card I will be doing:

I decided to mix some old with the new and give Pat the Dog a new twist on life! This set can be used for more than just Valentine’s Day or a ruff day. By adding a sentiment from the newly-released Winter CHA Big Birthday Wishes stamp set, Pat turns into a great Birthday set as well! The Pat the Dog set comes with some great images and I LOVE the footprint border stamp – that’s what I used for the background of the card, and with my new EK Success border punch and Cosmo Cricket Sunday Picnic paper, I decided go with a Vintage Circus look for the card and I’m pleased to say that I love the way it turned out! I think this would make a perfect card for ANYONE, male or female, young or young at heart! The sentiment “Wishing You the Happiest….” is actually a straight stamp, but because it is a clear stamp set you can manipulate the stamp to just about any shape you want! I wanted it to look like a banner from an old circus poster, so I decided to give it a flowing curvy shape, then I cut around it, inked up the edges and used a black marker to give it a bit of stitching to make it really pop! No buttons, no ribbon, no frill, it’s just fun! Oh, and now that I think of it, Pea-Nut would be PERFECT with this style!

Easter, Already?

2010-03-30T11:15:00.001-07:00

Oh man – this year is FLYING by – seriously, and I can’t believe Easter is already Sunday! Guess I’d better share some of my Easter cards before it’s too late!

The stamp is from Hoppin’ Into Spring - Our Craft Lounge. The great thing about this set is that it doesn’t have to be just for Easter – There are some really nice gardening images as well! I used Brown Sugar Sparkly Fluff on the bunny’s tail. The photo isn’t the greatest, but it’s there!

I hope your week is off to a good start!

I could use a little sunshine…

2010-03-25T10:06:00.001-07:00

I thought I’d share a Sunshine Cheer card today – it’s spring break and it’s raining! : ( YUCK!!

No matter the weather or the mood – this stamp set makes me SMILE! I used Sparkly Fluff on the clouds so they look so fluffy and soft! I LOVE using the Pinking Nesties with this set too – sort of like a little sun!!

I hope your week is going well!

Just ONE more…

2010-03-18T09:54:00.001-07:00

Just one more farmy card and then I’ll try to go on to something else! I apparently enjoy a bit of country.

I used The Barnyard again from Our Craft Lounge, and as much as I love to color, I sure didn’t have to fuss too much over these guys! I covered their spots, tail and little tuft of hair with Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff – as I said before, I just can’t do a cow without it! The paper is My Mind’s Eye – Round and Round and the cute stick pin is from the Harvest collection – Fancy Pants.

I hope you are all having a sunshiny day!

A little Green but tickled pink!

2010-03-17T09:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know it’s St. Patrick’s Day, but I didn’t have anything that was with clovers or leprechauns, so I decided to use pigs and go pink instead and there is green on the card! I used The Barnyard again – these pigs are just too cute and very easy to mask. I also used Espresso Crafty Sparkles for the mud – a cute pig needs cute mud, right? And check out those buttons! Aren’t they wonderful? I got them at Memories of Time, my local scrapbooking store. A local lady makes them…..yep, you heard me right, she MAKES them! They are just so stinkin cute!

Here’s a little shot of the inside – it says “Tickled Pink”. And do you see the tiny brads? I love those babies! They are from Bazzill – they have LOTS of colors – found those at Memories of Time as well! I hope your day is happy and green and you are tickled pink about it!

Nature’s Note

2010-03-15T10:51:00.001-07:00

I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Cindy Lawrence at CHA this winter. She’s a true sweetheart and she’s an amazing stamper too! Boy can she color!! Anyway, this week she’s posting over at The Lounge and she’s spotlighting on Nature. While at CHA Cindy told me that she LOVED making this size card (and she has some wonderful samples this size too!!). I had never made this size before so I thought in honor of Cindy’s week at The Lounge and her Spotlight on Nature – I thought I’d make this card! It’s a small card, really, only 5-1/2 x 3. I’m not sure what Cindy’s exact measurements are, but this was my leftover piece from my 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 card.

I used Nature’s Note. The butterfly in this set is very fun to color! I also added Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff to the body of the butterfly and LOTS of Crafty Sparkles to the wings – so there’s a lot of shimmer in this baby! I stamped “Thinking Of You” across the bottom. It’s such a simple layout and such a fun little size to work with! I added some Kaiser Rhinestones to the corners, a bit of ribbon and called it good!

Be sure to check out The Lounge today – Cindy has a fabulous project that she’s sharing!

Basketball

2010-03-11T11:17:00.001-08:00

Just thought I’d share a picture of my son from the local paper!

http://www.bandonwesternworld.com/articles/2010/03/11/sports/doc4b983bfe47e01459306125.txt

(You actually have to go to the 4th photo in the slide to find it)

Photo by Steve McCasland - Inside action - Eighth-grader Shawn Peters makes a move against a defender at Otis Murray Court.

Hmm… he’s actually using his left hand! That’s nice to see!

A funky little fairy!

2010-03-11T09:34:00.001-08:00

I found this photo in my file of cards not yet shared! I must have forgotten about it! This cute little fairy is from Our Craft Lounge’s Fairy Dust is a Must stamp set. I added LOTS of extras to this card! Fun layers, Kaiser Rhinestones, Crafty Sparkles, and Shimmerz.

(Oh how I have missed my Shimmerz!) I had a whole HUGE collection that I lost! Yes, my stamping area is messy enough that I lost a WHOLE box of it for like a year.. I was so happy when I found it! I painted it on my Prima flowers. I also used an acrylic paint dabber to grunge up the edges a bit. I loved the way it worked!

Hope your Thursday is going well! Thanks for stopping by!

Hippity Hoppity … Easter’s On Its Way!

2010-03-09T10:04:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share a quick Hippity Hoppity Easter card with you today! I used LOTS of Kaiser Rhinestones to give the card some extra Bling! The cute Bunny has Cotton Candy Sparkly Fluff in his ears too!

I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday! I’m working a bit this morning on the real job, this afternoon I plan to work on a tutorial for OCL’s class at Memories of Time on March 19th, and then tonight I’m heading over to the high school for a fund raiser (and to watch my husband play basketball – I haven’t watched him play for nearly 15 years, I think – sad, I know, but I am looking forward to it!)

Have a great day!

OCLDT03 Sketch Challenge

2010-03-05T10:35:00.001-08:00

Oh YES! It’s Friday and boy am I happy about that, although I did have a little scare this morning. While I was still half asleep my husband asked me to put a garbage bag in the can when I got up, as he had taken the garbage out. Well, I panicked! I said, “OH!! What day is it? Is it Wednesday?” He said, “No, it’s Friday and I just want you to put a bag in the can.” The garbage truck comes on Wednesdays and in my sleepy confusion I thought it was Wednesday and I was sooooo disappointed that it wasn’t Friday! Now I’m EXTRA thankful for Friday!

Friday also brings us the OCL Sketch Challenge, and it’s a fab one at that!! You can read all about the rules for the challenge at the OCL Blog and be sure to check out Valerie’s inspiration for the sketch!

Eiei-Hello

Here’s a close-up of the cute Fancy Pants Pins from eP

(and since I worry about the little things – I cut the pointy ends off the pins so no one will get hurt!)

The Barnyard

I loved the sketch so much I decided to do it twice and give some lovin’ to each cow! My first card I decided to add a few layers and some extra embellishments! The paper for both cards is My Mind’s Eye – Abby Road. One thing I LOVE about sketches is that you can copy them to a T or you can just use them as a starting point – so here, I Stretched the Sketch just a bit! Of course, I used Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff for both of the cows – cow spots in my book MUST by sparkly-fluffed! I also used some on the rooster’s comb! I even used some Crafty Sparkles on the second cow’s mouth-full of hay!

For the second card, I stuck to the sketch a bit better. I used buttons instead of the sentiment along the bottom. I also centered the main image on the patterned paper rather than having it hang over the bottom edge. What I REALLY like to do with sketches is to create my card by memory – I look at the sketch, then I go to my table and try to remember the layers and create it – that way I know I’m giving it my own personal style yet still using the sketch as a starting point.

Here’s the sketch – so go out and have fun with it this weekend!

Tres Chic de Porc

2010-03-02T10:12:00.001-08:00

I’m sharing a card over at The Lounge – go check it out!!

Here’s a little info about it – The animal print paper you see, well that’s the background stamp that comes in the stamp set! I stamped it a whole bunch of times, then I airbrushed it with the Copic Airbrush System with a couple colors of grey. I colored the chair to match. The pig is colored with Copic Markers as well . She was stamped twice, cut out once and popped up on top just to give her a little dimension. I used Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff, Appletini and Cosmo Crystals Crafty Sparkles as well.

Feeling a little Country!

2010-03-01T11:26:00.001-08:00

This week Our Craft Lounge is feeling a little bit Country!! The stamp set is The Barnyard and it’s adorable! I got a lot of use out of my Basic Grey – Nook and Pantry 6x6 pad with time as it works well for SO many themes and styles! I went a little grungy country here - distressed up the edges and added a bit of crocheted trim and stars . I even added a couple Sparkly Fluff brads!

Here’s the inside:

Be sure to check out The Lounge for some more great ideas with this set and some news!

OCL Friday Sketch

2010-02-26T08:09:00.001-08:00

Hey! Welcome to week two of Our Craft Lounge’s Friday Sketches!

So, I know this is a pretty big stretch from the sketch (If it rhymes it works, right? Stretch the Sketch – maybe that should’ve been the name of the challenge!) Anyway, here it is! I used Spin Cycle again!! I sort of thought the flower ‘growing’ up the card was appropriate for the sentiment. i used LOTS of Kaiser rhinestones – 23 to be prexact!! How many can you count?

Here’s the sketch – now go and stretch – and make sure you check out the original card at the Lounge – It’s gorgeous! (You will also find the challenge details there!)

If you upload to Splitcoast, please use the keyword OCLDT02. Thanks! And HAPPY Friday!!

Around The House Final day

2010-02-25T14:06:00.001-08:00

Hey, I just wanted to make sure you remembered to check out the Lounge today – Kendra posted a really cute New Digs card for the final day of Spotlighting Around The House.

I’ve decided to share another Hot Betty card. She’s a lady of many talents!! (So the stamp set really has LOTS of versatility!!)

I used Basic Grey – Sugar Rush. I LOVE the 6x6 pads – they are the PERFECT card-making size!! I used my Copic Markers to color up Betty. I also used a Sakura Glaze pen to give the bottle and glass a touch of shine. I also LOVE to use Karen Foster Design – Memory Floss (Memories of Time carries LOTS of colors!!) – that’s what I used to tie the button onto the bow!! I also used my two of my favorite cutting tools – Nestabilities and a border punch (Fiskars Apron Lace), which can also be found at Memories of Time!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Live, Laugh, Lounge Meets Spin Cycle

2010-02-24T02:03:00.001-08:00

Ok – I’m going to do it to you again (mostly out of PURE laziness) – I’m going to give you a little sneak peek here, but then ask that you head over to the OCL Blog to view the entire card!! (Including the inside!) Thanks!!!

Oh – I loved the MOT Challenge Sketch so much – I used it again!! Can you tell?

Hot Betty

2010-02-23T01:56:00.001-08:00

I’m posting over at The Lounge again today – go check it out!!

Two posts?

2010-02-22T10:15:00.001-08:00

Yep, I’m posting twice today! I wanted to let you know about another sketch (and another prize)!! Memories of Time is hosting the challenge. This is the local scrapbook store where Cami and I teach classes each month (and starting in March it will be twice per month) and Heather Huggins is also a teacher there. It’s a GREAT store and I just LOVE Michelle, the owner, so I really hope you go check it out!! You can find out more info here: MOT Sketch.

Here’s my card for the sketch:

I actually LOVED the sketch so much (and it was SOO easy) I whipped out several extra cards!!

I used the stamp set Spin Cycle from Our Craft Lounge. (It has the ironing board too from the earlier post!) The paper is Lime Rickey from Basic Gray – I just LOVE the bright colors, which I’m normally not comfortable using, but these are just TOO fun!

So go check out the sketch and play along!!

You Ruffle My Feathers!!

2010-02-22T05:30:00.000-08:00

My post and full picture is over at The Lounge – if you don’t mind taking a little trip! See you there!

There’s a new Sketch in town!

2010-02-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

It’s the OCL Friday Sketch Challenge at The Lounge! I thought you might like to check it out (there’s a prize involved) and you’ll find all the rules over there!

There’s also a new Hot fella in town! Golfin Gramps! He reminds me of my old high school History teacher, Mr. Handley… Thankfully my teacher did NOT talk about any kind of balls, he did, however, put me to sleep quite easily with his talk of history and he made a mean apple cider. Not sure how well you can see it in the photo, but I Fluffed his hair!! LOL! He’s all sugar-coated with Sugar Sparkly Fluff! And, you see that paper with the clouds? Yep, that’s the cloud from Sunshine Cheer – Oh how I love that set!!

So here’s the first week’s sketch, which is based on a wonderful card by Broni - (be sure to check out the OCL Blog to see her card). I hope you play along!!

Ain’t no Sunshine…

2010-02-18T00:27:00.000-08:00

I think Sunshine Cheer is such a cute stamp set! It’s the perfect set with so many sentiments to choose from! Sort of a build-a-sentiment set.

As much as I love to color the image of the sun from this set, I decided to go sunless for this one (except if you look closely… you might just see my colorless sun). I thought the colors were just perfect for a bit of a dreary-day card, but the blue still adds just enough freshness to keep you smiling! The paper is a bit more from Fancy Pants of course because I love that paper. Printed pattern on kraft = genius!

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy Happy Thursday!

I just wanted to share this..

2010-02-14T18:28:00.001-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s day – and if you are still feeling the love, perhaps share some where it’s really needed! I hope you enjoy the video - I LOVED it! I love this one as much as the original and it really touched my heart.

Happy Happy Happy…

2010-02-12T10:50:00.001-08:00

Friday! I thought I’d share one more sample for the final day of The Lounge’s spotlight on sentiments! This stamp is from the set Say It Big – it’s in stock over at eP right now!

I love these big sentiments because you can use such simple layouts and base the whole card on just the ‘words’. There are no images to color in – just stamp and go! Don’t get me wrong….I LOVE to color, but sometimes it’s fun to spend your time on other details besides coloring images!! The element I decided to spend my time on was the star patterned paper (Fancy Pants – Rough and Tough)! It doesn’t show up too well in the photo (I’ll try to give a close-up below) but I covered the blue and green stars with Blue-Berry and Irish Green Sparkly Fluff.

There! You can see the Sparkly Fluff now!! I love the “touch me - I’m fuzzy” feeling Sparkly Fluff gives an otherwise plain card!

Be sure to check out The Lounge today for lots of other ideas!!

Big Birthday Wishes!!

2010-02-10T10:49:00.001-08:00

Here’s another BIG sentiment sample from Our Craft Lounge!! I “built” this sentiment with the Big Birthday Wishes set – you can view the whole set in THIS blog post at the Lounge.

For the background I used Fancy Fringe, which can be viewed in THIS post. I picked two colors and just went to town stamping in rows! I LOVE making patterned paper that way! I also made my own Sparkly Fluff brads! I LOVE making them! I like to create a little puddle of Glossy Accents, dip a brad into it, lift it out and let the glue pool just a bit on the brad to even out, then I dip it right into my jar of Sparkly Fluff! I like to let it dry for several minutes before I place it on the card so I don’t smear the fluff off! Once it dries though – it’s not going anywhere!! I used Nestabilities of course to hold the main image! They make card making so much easier!!

I’m hoping your eyes can handle the blog changes…. I’m still working on it!

Spotlight on Sentiments!

2010-02-08T11:22:00.001-08:00

This week the Our Craft Lounge Blog “The Lounge” is Spotlighting sentiment sets! They came out with THREE wonderful big-font sentiment sets this last release and we’ve got some great ideas for you over there… and here!

I used Say It Big with Nature’s Note to create these cards. Talk about EASY cards!! One could make a wonderful card set with this stamp set – it has everything! Happiness, Sympathy, Birthday, Friend, Congrats and Thinking of You! Find an easy layout, like above, and whip these together in no time What a great gift, eh? Or what a wonderful addition to your own personal stash!!

Here’s a close-up of the butterfly in Nature’s Notes. I used Eyeliner Black Sparkly Fluff for the body of the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your Monday goes by smoothly…..and mine goes quickly!

Last day of Sneak Peeks!

2010-02-05T10:30:00.001-08:00

I sure hope you’ve enjoyed seeing the new Our Craft Lounge stamp sets this week! They should be reaching retailers soon so you can shop, shop, shop!! Speaking of shopping….

Here’s Happy Shopping!

I had so much fun making this card! It’s sort of WAY out of my box! I went a little crazy with the Crafty Sparkles and Sparkly Fluff – I added it to the dots on the Fancy Pants paper, so in real life the card is soo touchable and shimmery!!

Check out the OCL Blog to see the whole stamp set (as well as several other sets too).

I hope you have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Our Craft Lounge – Dandy Days

2010-02-04T01:34:00.001-08:00

If you like dandelions or silhouette stamping, you are going to LOVE this set! It’s Dandy Days from Our Craft Lounge!

As you can see, it doesn’t have to be a silhouette – it can be a color-in image too! I think this set would also be fabulous with the Copic Airbrush System! For this card, I decided to use patterned paper to give the sense of a nice warm sunset. I used Y0000, Y21, YR04 for the dandelions and YG63 and BG0000 for the stems. Then I topped it off with some wonderful Sugar Crafty Sparkles. I LOVE the sort of soft shimmery feel the ultra fine glitter gives the dandelions!

For a view of the complete set be sure to check out the OCL Blog!

Thanks!!

Another OCL Sneak Peek!!

2010-02-03T10:10:00.001-08:00

Today we’ll take a visit to the farm – the OCL Farm that is!!

Now how cute are these chunky little animals? I just love them! The stamp set is called Banyard. I decided to stack them up and fit them all in one oval! Then I fluffed them up with Sparkly Fluff – I used Eyeliner Black on the cow, Sugar on the lamb and Rockstar Red on the hen! Then I used Tim Holtz mini fasteners that look like screws – how cute is that?

The paper is from Basic Grey – Nook and Pantry. I love this paper pack – I used it for so many different things – It’s not just for the kitchen!

Be sure to check out the OCL Blog for more farming and fun stuff today!

Are you lookin’ for a little more…

2010-02-02T10:44:00.001-08:00

HOT BETTY? Well, you came to the right place!! LOL! I think she’s just as cute as can be!! She’s part of Our Craft Lounge’s Winter 2010 CHA release!

I heard a few people talking at CHA saying she was like a Barbie for grown-ups! She’s fun, she’s cute and she’s got a little attitude!

I paired her up with Spin Cycle – they are a perfect match! I decided to take a window tin and make a cute little kitchen set for a friend. I included a magnet calendar for the fridge, some extra pebble magnets, and a covered notebook. Inside the tin, I added the words “And a cup of coffee” so that the box would say “Behind every successful woman is a pile of dirty laundry …. and a cup of coffee.” I’ll throw in a Starbucks card and I think the gift will be well received! The paper is My Mind’s Eye.

Be sure to check out the OCL Blog for more!

A little peek just for you!

2010-02-01T00:43:00.001-08:00

Are you ready for some Our Craft Lounge Sneak Peeks? This week you’ll get to see 24 new stamp sets that were released at Winter CHA 2010! They should be hitting the stores soon!!

Hippity Hoppity was a HIT at CHA! It’s a DARLING Easter set! Just wait until you see the Frog, or I mean Bunny, or now, wait, maybe it is a frog or maybe both!! : ) I used Sparkly Fluff for the carrot tops and grass in the basket, Copic Markers to color and a bit of rhinestone bling!

Be sure to check out the OCL Blog to see some more Sneak Peeks – and check out the Design Team links on the right-hand side!

And for fun:

Here’s one of the few pictures I remembered to take of the booth! You can see MY, Cambria, Lori Craig, and Daven from Splitcoast – they were stampin and fluffin with the Hippity Hoppity set!!

A little CHA/Supershow special ….

2010-01-29T11:16:00.001-08:00

A little birdie told me that there’s a little special going on over at eP so you might like to check it out!! You can find all the info here at Cami’s Blog. It’s a SUPER cute set and a great deal!

Here’s a little sneaker peek for ya!

I got home Wednesday evening from CHA. I had a wonderful time. I met lots of old and new friends and laughed a lot! I saw a lot too! I have a few pictures to share just as soon as I get caught up with work!

A quick post

2010-01-18T10:56:00.001-08:00

I found a few photos on my phone of some projects that I forgot to share - (probably because I never took a photo with my real camera). So here’s one:

This was a little card gift set I made with Our Craft Lounge’s Penguin Copic Set that Memories of Time carried this winter. I cut all the pieces to make the card displayed in the basket. I thought it might make a nice early Christmas gift for someone so they could stamp, color and assemble some quick Christmas cards and then keep the stamp set and Copic Markers for themselves!

This weeks is a bit on the crazy side – I’ll be working, running kids, and getting ready to take off for CHA!! I’ll be at the Our Craft Lounge Booth – stop by and say hi!

Woohoo! Look at me – I’m

2010-01-10T19:53:00.001-08:00

Blogging! Ha! Surprise! Surprise!! : )

I wanted to share a quick tutorial link with you! Cambria and I had a great class Saturday at Memories of Time – it was a very full class and it was so good to see our regulars and plenty of new faces! (I missed you all in December!) We used Out for A Spin from Our Craft Lounge, and we did the card and the basket. I made an easy-to-follow tutorial for the basket. I know the basket has been made over and over throughout the years, but sometimes we forget about the easiest projects and it’s nice to be reminded! I just love it, and I think it will make a perfect little Easter basket too!

The girls even got to try out the Copic Airbrush System – I think they enjoyed it although we had to refill the markers several times!! I love that about Copics though – they are refillable!! : )

The paper is from Bo Bunny – I LOVE it! The whole line is wonderful!

I have been stamping and coloring a lot lately, but I can’t share it with you : ( but don’t be too sad….You’ll get to see it ALL after CHA!

You Say it’s your Birthday…..

2010-01-08T00:53:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Cami my sweet friend! I don’t have a card to share, but I have something I think you will LOVE….

Just for You Cami! YUMMMY!!

and for the you readers……yes, I am still alive… just a really bad bad blogger! I HAVE Been stamping and I hope to share some awesome cards with you soon but you’ll have to wait to see them until AFTER CHA! Yep, I’m going…and taking lots of samples with me! I’ll try to take pictures too and upload them here with my iPhone! It shall be fun!!!

Tweet Winter Wishes!

2009-12-17T11:01:00.001-08:00

-note: I was going to post this days ago, but I’ve been SUPER sick! Sorry!!

I found this great tutorial for a really cute box on Maria's website; she has wonderful tutorials, so check it out! I thought it would be fun to make a little winter scene on the front of the box and then include some yummy warm cocoa and some candy canes to stir it up! I used Tweet Winter Wishes from Our Craft Lounge.

A close up!

I stamped the images, colored them, and added Crafty Sparkles to the ice/snow and Sparkly Fluff to the scarf and hat. I used foam mounting tape to pop up the snowman layer and give the scene a bit of depth.

Thanks for stopping by today!

WSC110 – I did it!!

2009-12-11T12:31:00.001-08:00

I can hardly believe it! I woke up not feeling so well today and decided that I needed to give myself a little stamping therapy before I started work for the day. I found the great sketch at Lori Craig’s Blog – WSC110.

The sentiment and little snow flakes are from Our Craft Lounge’s Merry Wishes stamp set. I did lots of sponging on this card….to age it up a bit! A very FUN and EASY sketch – thanks Lori!

My goodness, please excuse me…

2009-12-08T22:46:00.001-08:00

for my major slacking and lacking of blog posts! I can’t believe it’s been so long and I’ve been so NOT WITH IT! I’ll blame the craziness of sick kids, frozen pipes and just plain ol’ slacking!

It’s been so long I’m not even sure what I’ve posted – I need to share something – so how about this!?

The stamp set is The Journey from Our Craft Lounge. Not only is this set very nice for ‘encouraging words’ cards, BUT it’s an AWESOME scrapbooking set! I LUV the journaling box – You could write your own message in it, stamp a work along the edge, stamp it on acetate …. so many options!! I used my Copic markers and air-brushed the yellow square after stamping it – then I took a blender-solution-soaked rag and dobbed it around giving it a very cool parchment-like effect. I also used the airbrush to spray the white polka-dotted Prima flowers! I LOVE that with Copic Markers you can make everything matchy matchy!! This is the air brush system I have – I don’t have the big-guy compressor, but oh how I’d love it! As a matter of fact, my husband was secretly getting me one for Christmas, which I had NO idea about until he asked, “Would you rather have a compressor OR go to Winter CHA?” Well…. What do you think I picked?

Here’s a little mini scrapbook I made from the same stamp set and square coasters. I used my Bind-it-All so it was EASY! You can’t see it in the photo, but there’s actually a clear acetate overlay sheet on the front of the album to protect the journaling box – it actually looks pretty cool IRL…

Well, thanks for hanging in there with me….and not giving up on me and my bad blogging skills! LOL!

See you in Anaheim!! : D

Oooh! It’s like Friday!

2009-11-25T10:43:00.001-08:00

I’m so excited for the long weekend! I really really need the break! I tell ya, this month has been NOT good with sick kids, ambulance rides, emergency surgeries….you name it, I think we had to deal with it this month!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you the little Thank-You card set I made for my niece for a shower gift – so here they are! I needed to keep it real simple and really flat (so she wouldn’t have to pay extra postage). I used a Black Sakura Glaze pen for the flower centers and the “brads” in the corners of the image piece. It worked really well and gave a bit of dimension to the card. Obviously her colors were purple, black and grey – so I wanted her cards to match!

And this is the SHOWER card I gave her! The word “Love” comes from Our Craft Lounge – Love Notes set. The cake and little flowers are also from Our Craft Lounge – Bird and Groom. The card box is one of Val’s AWESOME creations!!

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!

A little Wedding Favor.

2009-11-23T09:43:00.001-08:00

My niece got married in Vegas this weekend – Congrats Amanda! She had a bridal shower a few weeks back and I decided to make her some shower favors! I wanted to make them a little formal since she was getting married out of state and not many of her shower guests would be attending the wedding - Of course, I was so lucky to have the perfect stamp set to use!

They were SOO easy to make! First I printed out several sheets of their names and wedding date on white Neenah paper and then I stamped the heart from Love Notes (Our Craft Lounge) right on top if their names – (this is when I REALLY love cling stamps because I can see right where I’m stamping). I cut the Neenah paper in strips to make it easy to run through my Big Shot with an oval Nestability die, layered it on a black scalloped oval and added it to a glassine bag (which I also ran through my Big Shot – first with a large scalloped rectangle to give the scalloped edge on the top, then through my Swiss Dots embossing folder). It seems like a lot of work but they really did come together quite easily and Amanda LOVED them!

Tomorrow I’ll show the Thank You cards I made as a gift for her! Have a great day!

And we have a WINNER!!!

2009-11-21T11:46:00.001-08:00

Andrea said... these are so great but I must admit the middle one is my fave :)

Will the REAL Andrea Murdock please stand up? Thank you all for playing!!

Kisa

Our Craft Lounge – Blog Hop!!

2009-11-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well it’s Friday and it’s time to PARTY with a Big Our Craft Lounge Blog Hop!! The set I’m going to share today is called Sweet On You and it is suweeet!!

I think that this set is a PERFECT set to make your own patterned paper (like I did above)!

And how about some FLUFFY frosting? (I Used several different colors of Sparkly Fluff to decorate the cupcakes!!)

Makes you want to go buy some cupcakes hu? OR maybe some new stamps! How about both? LOL! : )

And here’s some of that YUMMY Bazzill paper again – I can’t seem to get enough!

I love all the YUMMIES in this set and the font, well it’s yummy too! Want to see the whole meal deal, well it’s my kind of meal anyway! Yummy, right?

Where can you buy these stamp sets, you ask? Well, eclecticPaperie.com of course! You can find lots of awesome designer paper there as well! : )

Be sure to visit all of the other blogs today and leave a comment for a chance to win a free stamp set! You can read all about it at the OCL Blog!

Friday, November 20^th - Blog Hop

Bird and Groom - Beth

Hang it Up Cupid - Carol, Vicki

Hearts & Hugs - Holly, Joy

The Journey - Charmaine

Life Is -Amber

Love Notes - Heather, Beate

Out for a Spin - Pam

Fairy Dust is a Must - Cami, Broni

Granny's Truffles - Val

Jungle Love - Deb, Kendra

Shamrock Blessings -Cindy

Sweet on You -Kisa

Wanted - Lila

Thank you so much for playing along!

Another day of OCL Sneaky Peekies!!

2009-11-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

Well, What do you think of the new stamp sets so far? Cute, eh? Well, I’ve got a few more to show you today . Yesterday, you got to see a glimpse of the two sets I’m showing today – I’m hoping you don’t mind a little more exposure!

How about some Love Notes? Oh this is such a fun set! Pam gave you a peek of this set yesterday – she got all dirty and grungy (shabby chic) with it and it was FABULOUS! I went a bit more clean and contemporary… It is always fun to see a set used in such different styles!

Besides that one rogue piece of glitter (Chunky Red Crafty Sparkles) this is a pretty clean and simple card! I used Bazzill Embossed paper again – LOVE it! This set is PERFECT for “building” a card. You can layer all of the elements in so many different ways – and create such different looking cards!

I LOVE using my stamps to create background paper! I do it often!

I had so much fun with this set! I even used it for a wedding gift and some shower favors – I’ll show you Saturday!

_________________________________________________________

Now that you’ve seen lots of Love Notes, how about a Wanted card?

Now here, I did get a bit more grungy – but ya have’ta when you’re dealing with dirt, right? This is such a fun set! It is such a good “coloring” set and you just can’t help but play dirty with it! I LOVE the Yippy Ki-Ay sentiment – LUV it! I say it in my best Bruce Willis voice!

Thursday – 11/19 Sneak Peeks

Bird and Groom - Beth

Hang it Up Cupid - Lila

Hearts & Hugs – Holly, Kendra

The Journey - Charmaine, Beate

Life Is – Charmaine, Beate

Love Notes - Kisa, Joy

Out for a Spin – Carol

Fairy Dust is a Must - Kendra , Vicki

Granny's Truffles - Broni

Jungle Love - Heather

Shamrock Blessings - Pam

Sweet on You - Cami

Wanted - Kisa

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Be sure to leave a comment (and tell me what set you are loving the most) today AND tomorrow (which, by the way, is the Blog Hop with CANDY day). You can find more info at the OCL Blog!

Our Craft Lounge – Sneak Peeks!

2009-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Well, are you ready for another OCL release? Get your control-top panty hose on, grab your boots and hat, and let’s go for a spin!

Today I’m going to share with you a card I made with the Bird and Groom set! Isn’t that a fun name for this wedding stamp set? Bird and Groom – I bet you thought it was a typo – nope – just a fun play on words!! Hmm… I wonder if there is a bird in this set!

Okay, so how fun is that cake? I love it! I used embossed Bazzill paper – it’s awesome paper – sturdy and strong enough for the card base! I also added black Sakura Glaze to the flower centers – so they pop just a bit! And …. do you see the Bird and Groom? Cute, eh? The set has a lot of other fun elements, but I LOVE cake, so I had to use this image first!

Here’s a list so you can see all of the other sets being released this week!

Bird and Groom - Cindy, Kisa

Hang it Up Cupid - Heather

Hearts & Hugs - Deb

The Journey - Kendra

Life Is - Kendra

Love Notes - Pam

Out for a Spin - Lila, Vicki

Fairy Dust is a Must - Carol

Granny's Truffles - Pam

Jungle Love - Charmaine

Shamrock Blessings - Holly

Sweet on You - Amber

Wanted - Beth, Carol, Cami

Be sure to check them all out! Come back tomorrow too – I have lots of love to share tomorrow! If you want to read more about the Sneak Peeks (that will be going Wed/Thursday and the Big Blog Hop Friday – Check out the OCL Blog).

You say it’s your Birthday…NaNa NaNa NaNa

2009-11-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

Well….It’s OCL’s Birthday too!

Our Craft Lounge is celebrating it's FIRST BIRTHDAY this month! Go on over to The Lounge or the OCL Blog to find more information so you can join in on the fun scavenger hunt they are hosting! Good luck!

A little Bubbly for your shower.

2009-11-03T11:07:00.001-08:00

I wanted to share a couple bridal shower gifts I “fixed up” for my sister’s stepdaughter’s bridal shower this weekend. My sister is a beautician – so of course, she wanted to give hair products! : )

I used some GORGEOUS paper from My Mind’s Eye – Ooh La La! I thought the colors were perfect! Really, all I did was make the tags to hang from the basket – with Nestabilities and gorgeous paper – and a VERY cool stamp set – it was E-ZZZZZZ! I was THRILLED to realize that Our Craft Lounge’s stamp set – Cheers! would work perfectly with the shampoo and the wine-bottle baskets! I’m a big fan of Basic Grey Buttons so of course, I used those too! I colored my images with Copic Markers. Cute, don’t you think?

The bottle says “Got Bubbles?” – I LOVE it with Shampoo or any other bath product!

And since the wedding will be in Vegas, my sister wanted to give the mothers of the groom (step and biological) each a travel pack of hair products! I fancied those packages up a bit too!

I just love how you can change something from ok to fabulous with some gorgeous paper and a little ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hoppy Holiday!!

2009-10-27T10:01:00.001-07:00

I’ve been a blog-slacker again – sorry! I do have a good excuse though! My 11-year-old son had his tonsils removed on Friday, so I’ve been taking care of him. Last night, around 10 p.m., I finally got him to eat something besides applesauce. He lost 5 pounds in 4 days – poor guy …….. Hmmm….. maybe I should get my tonsils out! Oh wait, I already did. Darn it. I’m always looking for a way to lose weight. LOL! Anyway, last night I found a packet of Bananas and Cream instant oatmeal and fixed it up for him nice and runny and smooth and he was able to eat it! Yahooo! We were thrilled! He had it for breakfast too! So I’m hoping this means he’s finally going to start feeling better!

Here’s a picture right before surgery – feeling a little relaxed with some meds!

And…..Here’s my card for today!

It’s Hoppy Holidays from Our Craft Lounge! This frog is just way too cute! I used a Copic Marker to color the backside of the clear acrylic snowflake – so you can actually see it on the white paper! Of course, the hat and scar are fluffed up with Sparkly Fluff!

I’ve been busy with bridal shower favors and thank-you cards so I’ll share those with you this week!