Friday, July 30, 2010

Hello From Chicago!!!


Good morning, and many happy hellos from CHA in Chicago!!  Today I'm going to share with you the make and take project from the Peachy Keen Stamps booth #214 at the CHA Super Show.   This little Post-It notebook complete with mini pen is perfect for slipping in a purse to keep track of all those wish list items you'll surely have at CHA.   


This adorable little peach is a die cut that can be purchased at either Peachy Keen Stamps, or The Scrapping Cottage.   Each little die cut package comes complete with stamps for adding these adorable little faces, which just bring each one to life.  This die cut was cut with white card stock, then colored with Copic markers. 
Here's a little closer look at this cutie.  Stay tuned, because as soon as I have a chance to upload some pictures, I'll be back to share some of the sights from the CHA Super Show!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  See ya soon!

Love ya,

Friday, July 23, 2010

Gone Fishin' AND Another Freebie!!!!

Good morning, and happy Friday!  I have a lot to share with you today, so let's get right to it!  First, I'd like to share the scrapbook layout I did this week for The Scrapping Cottage. Blog  These goldfish are so cute, and were cut with the, the Frannie Fish die available from The Scrapping Cottage.  

 The goldfish were cut with colored card stock, but I used my Copic markers to add some additional color and shading to them.  After I was all finished with the coloring, I coated them with a glue pen and doused them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  Love that bling!!!

 Here's a little closer look at the sparkle.  The title was cut with my Cricut using the Simply Sweet cartridge.  I added some page pebbles for bubbles, and I love the effect they give the page.  Now I'm ready for some pictures and I'll have one more page for the book!  Woohoo!!!!


Soooo, are you wondering about another freebie?  Well, Joanne from The Scrapping Cottage would like to keep the excitement from the new die/stamps sets released earlier this week going, so she has given each of the Peachy Keen Stamps design team members the die/stamp set we used for our post  from the blog hop on Monday. That means I'll be giving one lucky winner the Pig Peeker die/stamp set.

All you have to do is  be a follower of my blog, AND leave a comment on this post by Sunday midnight (CST).   Want some more good news?  You have 10 more chances to win a die/stamp set by visiting the rest of the Peachy Keen designers blogs.  There are links to their blogs in my sidebar under the Peachy Keen Designer logo.  There's also still time for you to enter to win the $15 gift certificate from Peachy Keen Stamps by leaving me a comment here.

WOW!!  Now that's a lot of chances to win some great prizes!!!!  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you have an exciting weekend planned.  I sure do!!  I'll be heading out for Chicago bright and early tomorrow morning!  CHA, here I come!!!!!!!!!!  I'll be popping in and out all week with posts and pictures of all the exciting and wonderful things going on at CHA.

Have a fabulous day, and I hope you get to do some happy stamping!

Love ya,
 

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Autumn Lovin' Cocoa

Hello, and good morning!  It's sure a warm Thursday morning here in the sun and summer soaked heart of Missouri.  As they say, it's not so much the heat, but the humidity!  It's positively oppressive outside, so you'll find me indoors in the nice, cool, air conditioning crafting away, and getting ready for CHA!!  I am sooooo excited, however, I need to focus, so that I can share a card and a recipe page with you today.

 

First, I have this cute little Cocoa card to share with you.  I made this for a swap I'm in on Splitcoaststampers.  I don't do many swaps anymore, because I don't have much time, but when I saw this swap which was all about coloring with Copic markers, I couldn't refuse.  I have lots of those cards in the works, and I love the inspiration I get from swapping cards.  I hope our hostess will like this, and it's my hope that by using some of my Sweet -n Sassy stamps with a swap that more people will be exposed to their wonderfulness!  This Autumn Lovin' Cocoa is one of the newest in the clear stamps release at Sweet -n Sassy Stamps.  There are a  lot of Cocoa fans out there, and I am certainly no exception!  He's just as darling as he can be, and this one I especially love, because Fall is my favorite time of year.
I of course, colored Cocoa with my Copic markers, and I put to use some of this pretty Autumn paper from Stampin' Up! that I've had for almost a year.  I kept the layout and embellishments pretty simple, because I wanted this cute little Fall scene to be the focus.  I finished this card off with the Autumn Blessings sentiment, and the inside of the card is stamped with "Wishing you a harvest full of blessings".  Both of those sentiments along with Happy Fall, Thank You, and a stamp of Cocoa peeking from behind an apple are all a part of this great set.
The second card I have to share with you today is one I made for The Recipe Challenge Blog this week.  Our recipe inspiration this week are the colors of the Mediterranean.   I actually used the colors as my inspiration for both the card and the recipe with this wonderful and refreshing lemon sorbet.   The paper for this page comes from Basic Grey, and can be found in 6x6 pads at the Scrapbook Store At Your Door.    I belong to Julie's marker club through Scrapbook Store At Your Door.  If you're looking for way to gradually build your Copic collection, then her marker club is just the ticket.  I know she'd be happy to tell you how she can help, and all you have to do is send her an email and tell her you're interested in knowing more .  Just follow the link above to the store, and click on the "Contact Us" button.   So... back to this card.  I used this fun little ribbon treatment that I mentioned in an earlier post this week for the bottom edge of my card, and the lemons are stamped with the Tart & Tangy set from Stampin' Up!, then given a healthy dose of Dazzling Diamonds to make them sparkle.


That about does it for today!  I'm so happy you could stop by!! I wish you a blessed day and lots of happy stamping!  I know that's what I'll be doing.  Well, that AND some laundry!  LOL!!  Make it a beautiful day!  Oh, I almost forgot!  There's still time for you to enter to win the $15 gift certificate from Peachy Keen Stamps.  See Monday's post below, AND check back in tomorrow, because I have a  fun scrapbook page to share with you and another freebie from Joanne at The Scrapping Cottage!!

Love ya,

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Peachy Keen Challenge #33

Hello, and happy Tuesday!  Wow, that was some blog hop yesterday!!!  There's still time to enter to win the gift certificate, because a winner won't be chosen until Monday, so if you haven't hopped along with the second Peachy Keen Blog Hop, they you'd better get hoppin' now!  Each designer is giving away a prize and  there's so much wonderful  and creative inspiration from our PKS designers that you'll be in full tilt crafting mode for a long, long time!!  The new combo die/stamp sets are so much fun, and are available for preorder at a discounted price this week only!! 
Today, I have another Peachy Keen creation to share with you.  It's challenge day over at the Peachy Keen Challenge Blog, and Angelica has cooked up an amazing sketch for us to play with.  I used the Robo Star and Robo Love stamp sets from the Market Street line at Peachy Keen Stamps.  These adorable stamps are illustrated by our very own DT Coordinator Angelica Suarez.  There are so many possibilities with these fun stamps!  They're perfect for kids cards and scrapbook pages, and I can see them for all kinds of altered items for a kid's room, too.  
 
I pulled out some of my K&Co. paper from their Happy Trails collection for this card, and added that fun little ribbon treatment.  Have you tried this yet?  You simply lay down a strip of super tacky tape (double sided), and ruffle the ribbon over the tape.  Easy peasy, and an interesting ribbon treatment for your card or project.  The ribbon flower was made by simply running a basting stitch along one side of the ribbon, then pulling the thread to gather.  I tacked the flower in place, then added the button for a little extra support.  The image was stamped in Memento ink and colored with Copic markers.  I couldn't resist giving these little robots a subtle hint of under color.  If you look really closely, the Robo Star has a bluish tint to it, and the little  Robo Love girls have a pinkish tint.  I simply colored my images with the grays I was using for shading, then when I had all my shading and highlighting the way I wanted it, I colored the highlighted ares with a  B00  Copic marker for the boy robot, and R00 Copic marker for the little girls.  It's just a subtle little bit of color that helps tie in the images to the colors in the background paper, and gives them a bit more character. 

I think that about does it for me today.  Be sure to check out the PKS Challenge Blog for a peek at the fabulous creations from the rest of the amazing and wonderful DT that I am so blessed to be a part of.  Also, be sure to play along with this challenge.  Sketches make scrapping and card making so easy, and you could win a fabulous prize just for playing along!  

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'm always blessed by your visits!  I hope you have a beautiful day filled with lots of love and happy stamping!

Love ya,
     

Monday, July 19, 2010

Peachy Keen Blog Hop & Preorder


Good morning and welcome to another Peachy Keen Stamps Blog Hop!!  We had so much fun with our first blog hop that we decided there's going to be a lot more hoppin' going on, so if you arrived here from the very talented Viv's Crafting Haven Blog, then you're on the right track.  If not, then you'll want to start at the beginning at the Peachy Keen Stamps Blog, and hop along from there so you don't miss one wonderful creation. 
Have you heard the wonderful news and the reason we're celebrating with a blog hop?  We've been keeping a little secret, but the cat is out of the bag, and we're showcasing the release of  14 incredible new die sets by The Scrapping Cottage featuring designs by Kathy Jakopovich, founder and designer for Peachy Keen Stamps. Each die set (except the Happy Bird package) will come with two to three Peachy Keen Face stamps to coordinate with your shapes!  The dies are available for pre-order today on both Peachy Keen Stamps and The Scrapping Cottage. Single sets will be discounted 15%, or 25% off the entire collection for one week only! Pre-sale ends July 26th. Orders begin shipping the second week in August.


The cards I'm sharing with you today were made with the oh, so adorable Pig Peeker die, which comes with both of the faces shown on each card.  These dies cut just beautifully, and the faces are perfectly proportioned to fit them.  The die cuts were cut using Georgia Pacific white card stock, then I proceeded to color my little piggies with Copic markers.  The scarf on this first little fella was paper pieced.  The rest of the card was put together with scraps from my stash.  The pocket was cut and stitched by hand, and I used some twine for the embellishment on the contrast piece, which was an element in the sketch this week for Card Positioning Systems.  I used a small tag punch from Stampin' Up!, for the tag on the side of the pocket.  Oh, and the "Oink" is actually one of the die cuts, too.  I cut that at the same time as the hankie around the piggie's neck, using more of that scrap paper.  Gotta love it when you can use those scraps up, and these dies are a wonderful way to do just that. 


For my second card, I wanted to show you just how different and versatile you can be using these fabulous dies.  This little piggie girl is all frilled up and peeking from behind a birthday gift.  I followed the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge with this card, and added a lot of rhinestone, and Prima flower bling.  Once again, I dug around in my scrap bag until I found papers that I liked, and VOILA!  One more card for the collection.
Thank you for stopping by today, and make it a great day by doing some happy stamping and die cutting!  Your next stop on this fabulous hop will be at my good friend Janice's blog.  The very talented and creative Janice will have something amazing prepared for you , so click the button below and hop on over to see what she's been up to!
Oh!  I almost forgot one of the most important things!  Kathy has very graciously given me the opportunity to award a $15.00 gift certificate to one lucky commenter on my blog today, so please be sure to leave me an email address when you leave your comment, so that I can contact you when you win!!!   You have until midnight Sunday, July 25th to enter, and a winner will be randomly selected on Monday, July 26th. Also, if you like what you see here, I'd be thrilled if you'd become a follower!  In fact, it would make my day!

Love ya,





Friday, July 16, 2010

Happy Days and Blue Jays

Good morning!  Yes, it's another funny title, but it goes so well with my card today.  I received my dies from The Scrapping Cottage a few weeks ago, and included was this Cottage Cutz Blue Jay die.  When I saw it, I immediately thought of the cold winter months here in Missouri, and how much we enjoy watching the birds at the feeder.  My grandparents have really gotten a kick out of watching them, and the blue jays are frequent visitors at our feeders.  So, today on this HOT Friday, we're celebrating the happy days of winter and those beautiful blue jays.

For this card, I used Stampin Up! card stock in Soft Suede, and Cherry Cobbler.  The DP is from K&Co.'s  Tim Coffey collection.  I started with white Georgia Pacific card stock for my die cut, assembled the pieces, and then began coloring with my Copics.  I added some fine line detail work with my 01 Micron pen, and white highlights with a white gel pen. 
Here's a little closer look at the details of my jay bird.  I used some of my Martha Stewart gem stones for the embellishment along each side of the center panel.  That was an element in Kazan's sketch on the 2 Sketches 4 You blog challenge, which is where my layout for this card came from.

Thanks for stopping by today, and oh... before I forget, I have some exciting news to share!  The Scrapping Cottage and Peachy Keen Stamps are teaming up this Monday, July 19th for a big celebratory blog hop.  What are we celebrating, you might ask?  Well, you'll have to tune in Monday to see, but I know you're gonna LOVE it!!!!

Wishing you a beautiful day filled with happy stamping!

Love ya,

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Sunny Squirrel Is On The Loose!

Good afternoon!  Crazy title, right?  Well, I couldn't help it!  Sunny IS on the loose, and is officially for sale in clear stamp form at Sweet -n Sassy Stamps.  He was released this week, in fact!  I have loved this little guy since Korin first released him as a digi last summer, and I was thrilled to see he made it to a clear stamp set!

Isn't he a sweet little fella?  I followed the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge this week for the layout of the card.  Mr. Sunny was colored with my Copic markers, and stamped in Memento ink on Georgia Pacific card stock.  The DP and ribbon are both from Stampin' Up!, and although it's hard to believe, that's the only embellishment I used on this card.  Just the ribbon.  What can I say...  It happens!!

I hope you're having a sunshiny day today!  Thanks for stopping by The ThINKin' Spot.  Happy stamping!

Love ya,

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

July Sisterhood Swap

Good morning!  I have my July Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards creation to share with you today.  Our dear sister Paola really handed us a challenge this month, and hopefully I managed to pull everything she listed together.  Let's see... our challenge was Victorian, something old or neglected, something new, something blue, and include lace.  Well, here's what I came up with:

So, for my something old and or neglected, I used some ribbon that I've had for a long time.  There's no particular reason I haven't used it, and the color was perfect with this background paper, from K&Co., which I've also had for who knows how long.  The something new was this stamp set from Stampin' Up!, and I used some of my new ink pads from SU, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso (love those!).  Of course, the blue and the lace are obvious on this card, and I think that I  fit  in all of the criteria for Paola's challenge for us.  Now to get these babies in the mail and on their way to Canada!!!

I'm so happy you could stop by today.  Make it a beautiful day, and do some happy stamping!

Love ya,

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Blog Hop For Bella

Good morning!  Today, I want to tell you about a very special blog hop to bring some smiles to an AMAZING little girl named Bella. Bella is an 8 year old girl from NH, who over Easter came down with a near fatal infection that has left her without her arms and legs. She is very lucky to be alive as doctors didn't think she would recover from this illness. Bella is a true fighter and you can read more about her incredible story here: Bella's story as well as make donations if you would like. Erin over at Scrap, Stamp, and Be Merry came up with this awesome idea to host 4 blog hops, in order to shower Bella with some love and smiles from all over the world to show her how truly inspiring she is!

There is an awesome Grand Prize too for all you Fabulous card makers out there that join us in our mission to fill Bella's mailbox with love. Check out the Grand Prize package here.

If you have just come across my blog, you will want start at Denise's blog, and hop along from there.  In case you get lost along the way, here is a list of the blog hop in order:

Here's the card I made for sweet little Bella.  I used this adorable Little Sunflower Girl image from The Stamping Boutique , and I played along with the Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge for the layout. My card will soon be winging it's way to Bella, and if you would like to send her a card or donate for her treatment and care you can send it  to:
The Bella Tucker Fund
P.O. Box 199
Londonderry NH
03053 USA
Thank you so much for stopping by today.  May you have a glorious day filled with everything that you love!
Happy stamping!
Love ya, 
 

Friday, July 9, 2010

Bloom...

Good morning!  I have a first for you today, but a first of many (I hope).  I'm sharing a scrapbook layout with you.  I gathered my inspiration for this page from my Creating Keepsakes magazine, then put my own twist on it.  I used Cottage Cutz dies from The Scrapping Cottage  for everything on this page except the sentiment, which I cut with my Cricut using the Storybook cartridge.
 This is a little closer look at the details on the flowers and watering can.  All of the die cuts were cut with white card stock, assembled, then colored with Copic markers.  I used the following dies for this page:  Flower 1 Layer, Flowervine Edger, Daisy with Swirl, Watering Can, and Scalloped 3 Edger.   
This is a closer look at the watering can where I added some drops of water raining down on my photo area.  One of my sisterhood friends very graciously included those in a hostess swap, and I'm so glad she did!!  They added such a beautiful detail to the page.

I realized when I was working on this page why I don't scrapbook often enough.  You see, I spend so much time on the details that the page takes on a life of it's own, and I work for hours on them.  My goal is to try and do more pretty pages with a little less detail so that I actually have hope of completing MORE pages.  We'll see how that goes!  LOL!!

Thank you for stopping by today!  As always it's my pleasure to share with you.  I wish you a bloomin' beautiful day filled with many happy blessings and of course LOTS of happy stamping!

Love ya,

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Don't Rain On My Parade

Good day to you, and happy Thursday!  Another weekend is almost upon us, and today I want to share my cards with you from last weekend.  I had a big 4th of July Parade planned for my blog, but with rainy weather and all the food preparations, I didn't get to my blog parade, so we're having it today.  Here are 4 cards I made for the 4th of July using stamps from several companies.  I'll list them all individually.  Enjoy!!!!




The first two cards are made with wonderful and festive images from The Stamping Boutique.  Card stock is from Stampin' Up!, and designer papers are from my stash, and I have no idea who makes them, as there's nothing on the back of the paper.  On the airplane card, I sponged some clouds using a hand cut template to lay down and sponge around.  There's glitter on the fireworks and Crystal Effects on the windshield for added sparkle, but it doesn't show up well in the photo.
The third card with the adorable firecrackers is made with images from Peachy Keen Stamps.  This little firecracker was a freebie a while back if you placed an order.  Were you lucky enough to snag one of these?  They sure are cute!!

And this adorable guy is one many of you will recognize.as our Sweet -n Sassy Stamps mascot, Cocoa.  Korin released this special Cocoa the Mouse digi especially for the holiday last weekend.  Of course I just had to print him out and give him color.  He's such a cutie, and always peeking from behind something.  

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my parade of 4th of July cards.  Even if it's a little past the holiday, we can still celebrate.  I see they're even still selling fireworks in the stands.  Guess maybe there's a little more celebrating to be done!  I hope you enjoyed a safe and happy celebration at your house!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Make it a great day by doing some happy stamping!!

Love ya,

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Two Recipe Challenges

Good morning!  I'm really behind in my challenge posts for The Recipe Challenge Blog, so today I'm devoting my post to sharing the last two challenges with you.  There's still time to play along with this first one, so hop on over to the Recipe Challenge Blog and give us your best for either a great camping recipe, or a light snack.  The choice is yours, and the inspiration will be all ours!!!!  :)
My first recipe card is for Guilt Free Cheese Crisps, and oh my are they every yummy.  I have done these on a much bigger scale, by covering the bottom of a medium nonstick skillet with the grated mixture,  let it melt and start to turn golden brown, then while it is still warm, remove from the pan with a  heat resistant spatula and drape it over a small bowl that has been turned upside down.  After it's cool, you carefully remove the cooled cheese from the forming bowl, and VOILA... instant crispy cheese bowl for a beautiful salad presentation.  I used to do those a lot in my catering/restaurant days, and they were always a big hit!!  This card was made with beautiful paper from The Scrapbook Store At Your Door, and the adorable little House Mouse Ballerina can be found there as well.
 

The adorable apron card below was from the previous challenge at The Recipe Challenge Blog.  Julie sent us out the templates for the apron, and our challenge was grillin' food.  Good old Missouri style ribs are pretty darned hard to beat, and the recipe looks so cute tucked inside this little pocket apron.  The designer paper for this project is from Stampin' Up!, and the House Mouse image can be found at Scrapbook Store At Your Door.  

 
 
 
 I hope you've enjoyed the recipe share today.  I love to cook and I'm always looking for new and different things to feed the family, but then again, it's pretty hard to beat the simple classics.  Have a glorious day, and I hope you get to do some happy stamping!

Love ya,
 


Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Peachy Keen Challenge #32

Good morning!  Well, I've had a few days off, and it's been a busy few days, but I'm back in card making mode, and loving it!  Today it's time for another Peachy Keen Challenge, and this one is an inspiration challenge.  Our ever so creative Angelica has challenged us to create a card, layout or project with our favorite vacation destination in mind and use at least one of the three B's, (buttons, brads, or bling).

I explained to my fellow DT members that my inspiration for this card comes from the years we spent camping at the lake with our boys.  Oh, how well I could sleep with the frogs singing at night!!  I used the Happy Lil' Bigger Froggies stamp set from Peachy Keen Stamps for this challenge, and the sentiment was computer generated.  I did a little masking with the two froggies in the set in order to make a chorus of 4 froggies.  The designer paper is one of the new collections from Stampin' Up!, and my bling is the book plate with brads.  

I played along with the Mojo Monday sketch challenge for this card, and the image was colored with my Copic markers.  Oh how I LOVE those things!!  I think that about does it for this challenge, but I want to make sure you know that you need to go check out the PKS Challenge Blog for all the wonderful destination inspiration examples that my fellow design team members have created for you.  They are such a wonderful and creative group, and it's always so much fun to see what they've been up to!

I'm so happy you could stop by today.  I hope I have inspired you to play along with the Peachy Keen Challenge, and show us your destination inspiration project.  You could win a fabulous prize just for playing, so put on your creative thinkin' cap, and show us what you've got!  Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!

Love ya,


Friday, July 2, 2010

Something To Crow About

Good morning, and happy Friday!  TGIF, right?  Well, I have something to crow about this morning.  I have kept quiet for a while, but today's the day I can officially announce that I have been asked to be a design team member for The Scrapping Cottage!!  Woohoo!!  This is going to be an entirely new experience for me, but one I hope will get me to doing more scrapbook layouts.  Of course I'll always be a card maker, and that's what I'm going to share with you today as my first project for TSC, but I want to challenge myself to do more scrapbooking.  Here's my card.  I hope you likey!!

As many of you know, my heart is in my coloring, and I had to find a way to incorporate that into die cuts.  Well, this is what I came up with.  I cut all the pieces with my Cottage Cutz dies, using Georgia Pacific white card stock, and assembled them with Zip Dry glue.  After my die cuts were assembled, I started coloring, using my Copic sketch markers.  I gave this little American Rooster color using that stipple effect that you've seen me use before. 

 

All in all, I used 4 different dies for this card.  The American Rooster, Patriot Bunting, Firecracker, and Primitive Stars Edger were all used in making this fun and festive 4th of July card.  You can find these dies, along with hundreds of other fabulous dies at The Scrapping Cottage.  The designer paper for this creation is some from Daisy D, and thankfully I have a generous stash of this, because it's some of my all time favorite, and I don't think they make it anymore.  :(  The sparkle sentiment and striped grosgrain ribbon both come from Stampin' Up!, as does the Dazzling Diamonds glitter I used for the sparkle on the firecracker's stars.  Notice that I did use the stars from the Stars Edger and randomly placed those around the image and even on the ribbon?  I'm pretty proud of myself for thinking of a way to use those scraps, before I had thrown them away.  *insert BIG pat on the back here*   :-D


I'm very excited about this new venture in crafting for me, and I'm sure looking forward to working with Joanne and the rest of the talented design team members.  Be sure to check out The Scrapping Cottage Blog for daily inspiration and especially the Watch For It Wednesday's, where there could be challenges, tips,  tutorials, and lots of great information and inspiration shared.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I which you a blessed day filled with happy stamping AND scrapping!!

Love ya,
 
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