High Hopes Challenge #33!!

Happy Sundy morning, stampers!! I hope that you are enjoying your weekend off as much as I am! It's lovely and sunshiney here in Ontario and I think it's going to be another wonderful spring day!!

This week's challenge over at the High Hopes Blog, which is brought to us by the lovely Niki Estes, is called No Corners!! We'd like to see some shaped designs, like circles, ovals, hexagons, octagons..haha..or just rounded corners. We'd just like you to create anything but a square or rectangle card. Sounds fun, right?? And if you join us, you could win some awesome rubber!!

To be quite honest, I've never made any shaped card, so this was a new adventure to me. I'd seen lots of people use their large Nestabilities dies to made card, so I thought I would try that. I pulled out my largest Curved Rectangle die and cut a card out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock, leaving the top edge just off the cardstock, so that it would leave the fold intact. Then I used the next size down to cut out some of the lovely Three Bugs in a Rug patterned paper.

I stamped Miss Zoe on Wausau bright white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her in with my Copic markers. I matted her on Kiwi Kiss, then pop dotted that layer on Baja Breeze. I stamped the sentiment on the dp and added a Basic Grey button with linen thread! Voila! My first shaped card! That was fun!!




Well, I'm going to be busy working on some stuff for upcoming classes at Scrappin' Great Deals and maybe playing with some new stuff that I picked up yesterday! Hope you get to play too!!

Meet Swiss Pixies - Heidi and Gretel!!

OHMYGOODNESS!! It has been ever so difficult keeping these adorable Swiss Pixies to myself!!! I've had them for soooo long but I had to keep them under wraps until today!!! I've been holding them and squeezing them and loving them!! Now you can too!!!

This first one is for my Momma!! It's her birthday today....May 30th....HAPPY BIRFDAY MOMMA!!! She and Dad came up to visit yesterday and we went out for dinner. I gave her this card and some stampin' goodies!!




I used Gretel along with some Dream Street papers and coloured her up with my Copics. I used my nesties to cut her out and emboss her. Then I took a light marker and carefully coloured the embossed outline to frame her in. I used my fabulous new Prima Caboodles flowers that I got from The Town Scrapper last week....aren't they delicious?? I pop dotted the main layer and stamped the AmyR sentiment on the bottom layer and finished it off by adding Stardust Stickles to her wings!



The second card features Heidi! I used Baja Breeze cardstock for matting and Certainly Celery for the base. The patterned paper is by Three Bugs in a Rug and I did the pleating technique with the Celery twill across the bottom. The sentiment is from the new AmyR Thankyou set that will be released along with these adorable Pixies on Monday, June 1st at All That Scraps!!! I added a flower treatment in the corner, pop dotted the main layers and added Stardust Stickles on her wings and hair baubles.




*WHEW* That's a big sigh of relief!! I feel that a huge weight has been lifted off of me....because now I don't have to hide my Pixies anymore!! I can share them for the world to seeee!!!!

What?? A little too dramatic?? ME??? *snort*

A Work of Heart!

Wow! It's finally Friday, people!! Yaaaaaaaay!! It seems like it took way too long to get here, don't you think? I'm a happy camper...I mean stamper... because I have three days off in a row now! How lucky am I???

Today's card features a Hanglar stamp that a friend sent me ages ago and I just now had a chance to play with it. Again, I decided to use these great Pretty Please papers by My Minds Eye. The card base is Sparkle Bazzill Bling (very close to Soft Sky...that's why I love it) and I accented with Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal and Regal Rose. I stamped the little girl and her kitten on Wausau bright white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her in with coordinating Copic markers. I cut her out and embossed her using my Nesties and left a little space down one side so that I could embellish.

The layout is from the Saturday Sketch blog from a couple of weeks ago and I really like it. I punched a trio of little flowers and added some tiny rhinestones in the centers. I also used my slot punch and threaded some shiney satin ribbon through it and I added a great sentiment from AmyR on a scalloped layer and pop dotted everything.



Well, my parents are coming down this afternoon to hang out and have supper. It's my Mom's birthday tomorrow, so I'll be able to show you the card I made her then....it's a new release sample by CCDesigns....but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it! So be sure to come back....it's adorable, if I do say so myself!! Heehee!!!

Happy Friday!!!

Without You There.....

I have a 'clean and simple' card for you today featuring Lizzie Anne Designs. I like to do lots of layers on bigger cards but these stamps seem to say, less is more.

This chair and sentiment are from the In the Parlor stamp set that was released last month. I coloured the chair in with my Copic markers and I think it ended up looking like it has a velvety feel to it. The card base is Certainly Celery and the dp is Bo Bunny. The brown and blue cardstocks that I used for matting are Bazzill Bling. I pop dotted the main layer, added some buttons from my stash and stamped the sentiment at the bottom.

Today it's raining and thundering outside, a real messy day. I hope it tapers off before I have to go in to work this afternoon. I hate running through the pouring rain from our parking lot to the building...it's much too far away....and I melt, don't you know?!

Have a super day!

Pretty Please, Miss Anya!

So you're going to be seeing a lot of this Pretty Please paper by My Mind's Eye, because I just can't get enough of it!! And you'll also notice that I'm in an Anya mood! Heehee!!

Today's card features one of the Miss Anya stamps....in this one she's picking flowers, so I figured that this AmyR sentiment was perfect to go with it. I stamped her on 150lb Canson paper and coloured her in with my Copics. The card base is Bazzill and I used Regal Rose to mat. I added some orange ric rack, some lovely Prima hydrangeas and attached them with Basic Grey brads. I pop dotted everything and then finished it off with a lovely little Prima rhinestone treatment in the corner. So summery!




Well, I'm working all day again today....and it's rainy and dreary. So depressing. I'm up early today to drop Emileigh off at school at 6:30am for her class field trip. Of course, it's not cool for your Mom to come anymore (she is 17, so I GUESS that's understandable), so I don't get to go. Hmph.

I Still Believe......

So I had some time to play on Sunday and as you saw by yesterday's card, I played with some stamps by The Greeting Farm. I also got to pull out this new fun set called Never Ever which features Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and me....well, actually I think it's supposed to be Wendy, but I like to think it's me! If I don't have markers in my hands and ink on my fingers, I usually have my nose in a book!!

So I stamped Wendy on Wausau bright white cardstock and coloured her in using my handy dandy Copic markers! *gasp* What a shock, I know! My colour inspiration came from all this fabulous dp by My Mind's Eye. Then I cut her out.




The card base is a 6x6 square Kraft card and I used Antique Linen to sponge around the dp that looks like notebook paper and I used my spiral punch down one side. I added a pretty bow using some funky wrinkled green ribbon and used it to keep the pretty paper flowers (from the $ store) in place. I attached some lovely rhinestone flourishes and made it look like Tinkerbell, on her funky layers, is flying across the card. And of course, everything is pop dotted!!




Well, I'm off to work again all day today. Let's just hope it's a better day than yesterday because, let's just say, it couldn't get too much worse.

Happy Tuesday!

Have a Rockin' B-day!!

Happy Monday!!! What's so happy about it?? Not sure yet! I gotta work and I'm in a department meeting all afternoon....yuck!! But it looks like it might be sunshiney, so that's always nice!!

Yesterday, I woke up early....well, early for me on a day off! And I had some peace and quiet to stamp before the rest of the family woke up. I decided to pull out some stamps that I hadn't inked up yet by The Greeting Farm!!

This one features Rockstar Anya...isn't she a diva??? I stamped her on Wausau bright white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her in with my Copic markers. I just love the openness of these images...they are so much fun to colour. Next I used my rectangle Nesties to cut her out, emboss her and mat her on Pumpkie Pie cardstock.

The base is a 6x6 Real Red square and the designer papers are from the Citrus DCWV paper stack. I messed around and made my own layout, added some wide red grosgrain ribbon across the middle, pop dotted the main layer and also some of the stars which were punched out of glitter yellow cardstock. The sentiment is from the Rockin' Out stamp set by CCDesigns. I finished her off by adding some Stardust Stickles on her hairband and her rockin' boots!!



I needed this bright, sunshiney card to help me kickstart my week! Hope it helps you start yours right too!!! Happy stampin'!!

High Hopes Challenge #32!!!

It's Sunday again...woohooooooo! And you know what that means....it's High Hopes Challenge time!!! And this week, our fab guest designer Tab has inspired us to use Pink and Brown (my fave colour combo...yummmmm!) I know lots of you out there love those colours too, so I hope you can join in with us!!!

For my design, I decided to ink up Danni Dress Up for the very first time! I was also inspired colourwise by this new fabby paper by Creative Imaginations that I picked up last week at Scrappin' Great Deals! I coloured Danni using my Copic markers and then doodled in the corners.

The card base is a 6x6 Close to Cocoa square and I matted the main lyter with Pink Pirouette and a dark pink Bazzill Bling. I stamped the sentiment right on the base and pop dotted Danni. I added some pink satin ribbon, some lovely pink Prima hydrangeas and attached them with Basic Grey brads. Pink and brown.......yummmmmm!!



Head on over to the High Hopes blog and check out the other yummy creations from our lovely Divas! It'll make ya hungry!! haha! And be sure to play along and you could win some HH rubbah!!

Well, it's a rather dreary day here in Ontario, so I plan to get some laundry and cleaning done.....and maybe a little stampin' too!! heehee! Hope you get to play too!!

You're My Style!!

Well, it's Saturday again....and I'm going to be spending mine at the library. Boo. It's supposed to be nice and sunny again, hopefully tomorrow will be the same and I can enjoy it!

Today's card features some of the new stamps from Lizzie Anne Designs. These are from the In the Parlor set. I stamped this elegant chair on Wausau paper and used my Nesties to cut it out and emboss it. The papers that inspired me are from the Wisteria collection by Basic Grey. The card base is Sahara Sand with Almost Amethyst matting. I framed the sentiment with some silver hardware, pop dotted the main layer and added some pleated lilac twill across the bottom. Nice and elegant!

The sketch I used is from Julee's blog at Poetic Artistry. She has released some new stamps this week and in order to celebrate, she is having a sketch challenge to win some of her stamps!!

Well, I'd better finish getting ready for work, hadn't I?? Hope you have a wonderful Saturday and get to do some stampin'!!!

Seas the Day!!

It's going to be another gorgeous spring day here in Ontario, I can just tell. And I gotta work....doesn't that figure.

Today we are reviewing some of the newest releases over at All That Scraps!! I absolutely adore all the new Beachy-themed stamps and sentiments that were released this month! I love looking forward to the warm summer weather. The bathing suit thing?? Not so much.

Today I'm sharing the only Beachy Sugarplum image that I hadn't played with yet. Ain't she a doll?? Right now, she and two others are digi-images, but you can preorder them in rubber....my fave!

I pulled out my new Citrus paper pad by DCWV and chose these very summery papers. I coloured Emma in with my Copic markers, added a couple of flip flop brads and doodled around the frame. The card base is Only Orange (I hardly ever use this colour), I matted with Green Galore and tied some stripey ribbon across the middle. The sentiment is from the new AmyR Beach Sentiments set which has some super adorable words in great fonts to go with the images! Love 'em!!




Be sure to hop on over to the ATS Blog later on today to check out some more designs using these stamps and images. I'm sure the design team has some 'hot stuff' for you to check out!!

Have a super stampy day!!

Treat Yourself....Pretty Please!!

Well, happy Thursday stampers!!! What's so happy about it?? Well, I hear it's going to be another warm and sunny one here in Ontario! Yaaay! I think I'm going to wear capri pants to work today....good thing I shaved my legs!! haha!!

Today's card features some deeeeelicious new paper that I scooped up at Scrappin' Great Deals last weekend! It's a new paper pack by My Mind's Eye called Pretty Please! And boy is it ever PRETTY!!! I think Sheila might be sold out of it at the moment but I'm sure she'll get more in soon!

I decided to pull out one of my older Magnolia stamps to play with. I love Tilda with her rolling pin and her apron. I paired her up with the Magnolia muffin stamp and the sentiment is by CCDesigns.

The lovely layout is this week's sketch over at the Just Magnolia blog. I used Bazzill Sparkle cardstock along with Apricot Appeal and Regal Rose. I used my Nesties on the focal layer and cut out Tilda and mounted her beside the muffin. I added some yummy Prima Hydrangeas, attached them with rhinestone brads and added some Stardust Stickles to the flowers, the hearts on the muffin and of course, Tilda's wings. The finishing touch really was the pleated ribbon at the bottom. I saw the tutorial on how to do this technique over on Splitcoast by the totally talented, Amy Sheffer.




So who saw the finales for Dancing with the Stars and American Idol??? I was shocked by both winners! I was thrilled that Shawn won...even though my pick was Melissa. And I was over the moon and Emileigh and I actually screamed out loud when Kris won on AI!!! I mean, Adam is totally a talented singer, but he's just not my style. He's too....theatrical for me. I will totally buy an album by Kris. And was he ever shocked when he won!!!

Well, I'm off to work today....lots to do. But tonight Emileigh and I will be cuddling up on the couch to watch the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance!!! We're excited to see what this season has in store for us!! We looooooove dancin'!!!

Happy stampin'!!

Floral Frenzy Thank You!!

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's the middle of the week, so we are halfway to Friday, right?? Well, not really for me because I have to work on Saturday, but that's why I have today off! I'm going to work on a few projects in between loads of laundry. I'll have my Ipod going and I'll be dancin' while I'm stampin'! Sound fun?

Today's card is a simple but elegant design using some Lizzie Anne Designs stamps! I chose three SU ink colours that I thought made a nice colour combo...so I chose Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal and Certainly Celery. Then I stamped up three slips of white cardstock using a few of the different flowers from Floral Frenzy. (OH and hey...this set happens to be retiring so it's on SALE for 50% off right now!!!) I matted them on Apricot Appeal and added some yummy iridescent amethyst ribbon across the top. I stamped the Thank You sentiment from Everyday Sayings on Certainly Celery cardstock and punched it out with my oval punch which fits inside the silver oval bookplate and attached it to the top layer. Then I attached the whole thing to an Almost Amethyst card base!

You could do variations on this simple design using any number of colour combinations and ribbon and sentiments!! Very simple, but clean and elegant!

Okay, I'm off to take Emmy to school! Then I'm gettin' inky! Hope you are too!!

Life is About Creating Yourself!

I have a very different card to share today....well, different compared to what I usually make! My pal, Andrea gave me me very first Unity stamps and this is the first one I've played with!

There was a coop student working with us at the library for a few months, named Greg....*HI GREG*....and he was done his term, so I made him a card and gave it to him on his last day. It was a bit of a challenge, as I'm great with the girlie, frilly stuff but not so good with the guy stuff. Anyhoo, I thought this sentiment stamp was inspiring, so I made that the focal point of the card.

The card base is a Chocolate Chip square and I used some Basic Grey dp and distressed all around it with ink. I then added a bit of colour with the blue ric rack and attached some buttons with brown linen thread.

Well, he must have really like it because he gave me a big hug. I love it when my cards get that reaction! So the distressed, scrappy, manly looking cards are not really my thing, but I think it turned out okay.

It was a lovely long weekend for me and we spent the day yesterday shopping in the US. I picked up a few good bargains, a couple of books and some stampin' supplies. Yay. Now I'm back to work...boo.

Have a super inky day!!

More Sugarplum Beach Kids!!!

Well, Christine had so much fun drawing the new Sugarplum Beachies and we loved playing with them so much, that she kept drawing them!!! There will be three adorable new Emma and Trevor images being released as digital images this morning at 10am EST!!

Since this is a long weekend for us Canadians, I had a little time on Saturday night to play with two of them.

This first one uses one of the new Emmas and I found this awesome sketch on the Sketch Saturday blog for this week's challenge! You might wanna play along too, because Christine is sponsoring it and you could win some CCDesigns stamps!! Woohoo!



I used some Bloom and Grow dp by My Mind's Eye along with a Tangerine Tango 6x6 card base and Apricot Appeal for matting. I printed Emma out on my husband's printer and cut her out with a circle Nestie, left the die on and coloured the sky and ground with my Copics, leaving that nice white frame around the edge. Then I layered it on a scalloped circle in Tangerine Tango. I used my Effervesence border punch, attached some Prima Hydrangeas with glitter brads and added some frilly orange ribbon. Of course the sentiment is from AmyR and goes perfectly with these images!



The second card features our boy Trevor, sitting in a bucket on the sand! The card base is Kraft cardstock and I used some Bo Bunny dp and matted it on yellow Bazzill cardstock. Then I used my Waves border punch on Pacific Point cardstock to add to the bottom. I did the same thing with Trevors image and the Nesties, but I sponged Creamy Caramel ink this time. I added some blue rhinestones and another of AmyR's sentiments!




Head on over to the ATS Blog to check out some more samples from the amazing DT and while you're there, be sure to let Christine know that you'd like to see these babies in rubber!!!!

Well, we are taking off, as it's a holiday! I've talked my honey into taking me stateside to do some shopping. I'll be stopping in at Joann's and of course my fave craft store....Hobby Lobby!!! yaaay!!!

High Hopes Challenge #31!! Can Ya Doodle???

Happy Sunday morning, stampers!!! Ooooooo, I got to sleep in this morning and it was niiiiiice! So I'm a little late posting...sorry!

Today's challenge over at the High Hopes Blog is brought to us by one of our lovely Guest Designers, Karen!! She would like to find out...Can Ya Doodle?? Now this can be doodling a frame on your main layer, it can be designing your own background paper with doodles, it's really any extra pen work you do on your card. Well, I haven't doodled in quite a while, so I decided to pull out my black glaze pen and frame a lot of my layers with black dots!!

I stamped Ladybug Stroll from the latest release on Wausau bright white cardstock and coloured them in using my Copic markers. The paper I used on the card and for colour inspiration is from Stampin' Up. The card base is a 12x12 Basic Black square with Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Real Red for matting. I used my Curved Rectangles Nesties on the main layers to cut them out and emboss them. I also used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the middle strip.

I got this fabulous layout from the Truly Scrumptious Challenge for this week and the twist was to 'Go Dotty', so I think these ladybugs and dots count!!! Haha! I added some black gingham across the middle, used some punches to make the sentiment layer, pop dotted everything and finished it off with a little bling!!



Now head on over to the High Hopes Blog to feast your eyes on some more doodly goodness and join in the challenge to win some rubber!!!

Happy long weekend to all my Canadian friends!!!

Happy Mother's Day....a bit late!

So I made this lovely card for my Mom for Mother's Day, but I got it in the mail a bit late. She didn't get it until the middle of this week, so I'm just posting it now....didn't want her to see it before it made it's appearance in her mailbox, now did I??

The layout is from the Mojo Monday sketch challenge for last week and I love the way it turned out. I used Kraft cardstock for the 6x6 base along with Baja Breeze for matting. The designer papers are from the Parisian Breeze pack by Stampin' Up and I love the thickness and texture of these papers.



I stamped Busy Mama on Wausau bright white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured her in with my Copic markers. I used my Swiss Dots embossing folder on one of the panels, added some taffeta ribbon and pop dotted the main layer.



I added the sentiment, then attached one of my pink crocheted flowers with a white glitter brad. I think the pink really makes it pop!! Anyway, it may have been late, but I know she loved it!

Today, we have two classes going on at Scrappin' Great Deals. Andrea is teaching the morning one and I am teaching the afternoon class featuring the new line of Ketto stamps by Stampingbella!! Sheila has them all in the store and we are gonna have a ball playing with them today!! There are still a few spots left, so if you'd like to join me, just give Sheila a call!!

Happy Saturday!!!