Tea and Chocolate

 Good morning!  Happy Wednesday to ya!!  I have a fun little project to share with you today that was inspired by one that Nancy, my Stampin' Up! demonstrator made, and she was kind enough to share the instructions she found for this project from Pink Buckaroo Designs.  This was such a fun project, and I can't wait to make more of these!

 Here's a look at the inside of the wallet.  There are three envelopes for holding tea, chocolate, or even a gift card or cash.  I did 6 of these with various sentiments, and left room for a hand written note.  I think this would be the perfect little gift item to brighten someone's day.

The paper that I used for these was actually an old book.  What a wonderful way to recycle!!  I wrinkled it up really good, and gave it a good distressing with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink.  The flaps of the envelope, and the envelope in the center also have distressed book pages on them.  The sparkly die cut on the front is the Top Note die from Stampin' Up!, and the envelopes are the Scalloped Envelope die, which is also from Stampin' Up!.  The Field Flowers stamp set that I used is another one of my Stampin' Up! goodies.

 Thanks for stopping by today!  I wish you many happy blessings and happy stamping, too!

Boo!

Good Morning!  Is anyone else glad it's Friday?  Whew!  What a week!!!!!  I am so ready for the cool weather of Autumn,, and my favorite holiday, which is Halloween, so I've been breaking out the Halloween papers and crafting away.  Did you know that there's a new Halloween release out at The Scrapping Cottage?  There are some wonderful new designs for 2011, and we've got some fabulous dies from last year to play with, as well.  That's what I've been playing with, and I've combined several dies from several of the releases this year for this card.  

 In creating this card, I used the following Cottage Cutz dies:  Knickety knack Cat 3x3, Ghost and Bat 3x3 (both designed by Peachy Keen Stamps, and include stamps), Airplane with Banner & Sign (designed by My Little Shoebox), and Circle With Eyelets.  I added some sparkle to this design with the glittery paper, and I shadowed/shaded the cat and moon with a little sponging.  To give the cat a little more dimension, I cut two cats, one in black, and one in light gray and glued them together, offsetting the gray just a little bit.  This gives an awesome shadow effect, and was a technique that was shared on The Scrapping Cottage blog, by my fellow designer Erika in this post a few days ago.  The sentiment was stamped with the "Boo" stamp, which is included in the Ghosts & Bat die/stamp set.

I'm so glad you could spend some time here today!  I wish you a very happy Friday, and a blessed and beautiful weekend!

Peachy Keen Challenge #59 With A Twist

Hello my crafty friends!!  It's Peachy Keen Challenge day once again, and for challenge #59, we're sketching and twisting.  In addition to the fabulous sketch we have to follow, Angelica has challenged us to use buttons on our creations.

For my card, I used PK-289 Misty Sue and Colby Cheer up stamp set from Peachy Keen Stamps.  The double sided patterned paper is from Comso Cricket.  I colored Colby with my Copic markers, and added a little sparkle to his tear with some Stickles.  Some assorted buttons from my stash and grosgrain ribbon finished this cutie patootie off.  I'm so excited that this week I get to tell you that my sweet friend Glora is guest designing with us.  Glora makes such beautiful things, and her work is always so inspirational!  Please be sure to drop by Glora's Blog and leave her some love on her wonderful work.  You'll be glad you did, because not only will you LOVE her creations, but she's giving away some Peachy Keen Goodness that you won't want to miss out on!!!  Also, don't forget to drop by the Peachy Keen Challenge Blog to see what ALL of our wonderful, sweet and talented designers have put together for your crafty pleasure.  Once again, if you play along with our challenge, you'll have the chance to win a fabulous prize!  I truly enjoyed looking at all the creations for PKS Challenge #58, and can't wait to see what this challenge with a twist brings!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Have a blessed and beautiful day, and of course happy stamping!

No Clowning Around...Happy Birthday!!!

Good morning!!  I have a fun card to share with you.  With all the fairs, festivals, and fun things going on as Summer winds down, it couldn't be a more perfect time for this carnival release.  For my card today, I used the Clown Game die from the carnival release, as well as the Ornate Circle Frame from the My Little Shoebox release.

All of the pieces for this creation were cut with colored card stock, and shaded by sponging using the same tone ink as card stock.  I did add some highlight to some of the pieces by sponging with white craft ink, and I added more stark highlights with a white gel pen.

When creating this card, I followed Angelica's new challenge for The Scrapping Cottage Blog.  You can find all the details in her post, here.  I sure hope you can play along, Angelica comes up with some of the best sketches I've ever worked with, and I DO so love sketches!!  You have a full month to come up with a card, layout, or project using the sketch below, and there will be a random winner of a $25 gift certificate to The Scrapping Cottage drawn from all the entries. 

Wishing you a blessed day and lots of happy stamping!

Peachy Keen Challenge #58

Good morning!  Welcome to a bright and beautiful Tuesday, and another fabulous sketch challenge from Peachy Keen Stamps.  Did you know that there are newly released stamps at Peachy Keen?  Oh my!  If you haven't seen these Christmas cuties, they you'd better go check them out now!!!  I made my card with the newly released PK-417 Faceless Gingerbread Dolls - Large.  This set does come with faces, which you can use on these adorable gingers, or on any other project your heart desires. 

Here's my card, following the sketch you'll find below.  I did something that I haven't done in a looooong time with this card.  I put down my Copics!!!!!!  Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!!  Can you believe it?  Before I was so totally hooked on Copics as my coloring medium, I dabbled a bit with Prisma color pencils, and I decided I'd like to change things up a bit and play with those for this card.  I'd forgotten just how much I love the vibrant colors, and how much I love blending with them.  I used odorless mineral spirits to blend, which is much easier for me to find than Gamsol, but I've even heard of people using baby oil for blending with Prismas.  I've not tried it, but I've read that it works.  I wasn't sure about the colors for this Christmas card, but they matched the Christmas paper pack from K&Co.'s Secret Santa paper pad that I was using, so I went with it.  Very unconventional, but I think I like it for a change. 

The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory.  I added a little hand stitching, a hand cut banner for the sentiment, and the sketch element at the top of the card was done with a Stampin' Up! top note die.  The pink/purple pom-pom trim was in actuality pink, but I made it a little more the color I needed by grabbing an RV66 Copic marker and coloring it to match the project.  I LOVE that about Copics.  If you don't have the color you need, a little coloring with a marker and VOILA!  You're good to go.  I finished this little girl off with a 2-way glue pen and some glitter for her frosting, and that did it for this challenge card.

Please pop over to the Peachy Keen Challenge Blog and check out all the wonderful creations from my DT sisters!  They are so awesome, as is our guest designer this week.   The very talented Gaby, from Gaby Creates is designing with us for this challenge, and all this week over at the Peachy Keen Blog.  While you're blog hopping, be sure to check out her blog, and the PKS blog and leave her some love, because she's giving away some wonderful PKS prizes.  Speaking of prizes, how would you like to win one of the newly released stamp sets from Peachy Keen?  All you need to do is play along with our challenge for a chance to win the Lauri Loves Skip Faceless Elves stamp set!!  It's soooo cute, and I sure hope you can play along, so that we can see and enjoy your fabulous creations!!!  Here's the sketch to follow.

Thanks for dropping by today!  Have a blessed day, and happy stamping!

You're A Winner!!

Good morning!  I hope your weekend is going just beautifully.  I have a card to share with you today that showcases more of these wonderful carnival release dies from The Scrapping Cottage.  For my card, I used the Ring Toss/Fish Bowl game Cottage Cutz die.  I'm tellin' ya, that these dies are waaaaay too much fun!!  The possibilities for amazing layouts, fun cards, and home decor projects are endless, as you have seen all week from each one of our amazing designers who have shared their wonderful work with you.  Good news is that I'm sure there's LOTS more to come!!!  Here's my contribution to the mix this week.  This idea has been in my head since I saw this release, and I thoroughly enjoyed making this one!  Fun, fun, fun!!!!

Here's a little closer look.  It's kind of hard to tell from the photo, but I coated the bottles with a layer of ultra thick embossing powder to make them look glassy. 

There are so many wonderful dies in this carnival release.  Check them all out below, and take in all the awesomeness!!  Wishing you a glorious day and weekend, and oodles of happy crafting!!

Let's Face It Friday Challenge

Hello!  It's Friday, and I sure hope it's a happy one for ya.  I actually found time to play along with the Let's Face It Friday Challenge over at the Peachy Keen Challenge Blog.  This challenge is for shaped cards.  Oh, how I struggle with making myself use my Cricut, but I tacked it with this card, and I'm pretty darned proud of myself!!  Heeheehee!!!  Now, my son tells me that he doesn't get where I was going with this card, so let me explain.  My thought was this "ear" of corn "Heard you're sick."  The whole  "ear hearing" thing just went right over his head, but I thought it was a good idea at the time.  

I used my Cricut AND Gypsy to design this card using the Smiley Cards cartridge.  I made use of the hide feature on the Gypsy and hid the face that was supposed to be cut so that I could use my PK-450 Wide Eyed Kids Face Assortment from Peachy Keen Stamps.  My wood grain background stamp from Stampin' Up! worked great for the pattern on the corn shucks, and I pulled out this houndstooth embossing folder to give the corn a texture as close to real kernels of corn as I could get.  All of the card stock, which is from Stampin' Up!, was sponged with the same tone of ink (tone on tone), except for the yellow.  I used barely banana card stock, but sponged with more mustard ink.  The banner was hand cut, and the sentiment was computer generated.  I added some paper raffia for even more texture around the bottom of the corn, and for the cute little bow.  All of the coloring on the face was done with chalks, except for the white, which was done with a white gel pen.

The Let's Face It Friday Design Team has some absolutely stunning projects for you with this shaped card challenge, so head over to the PKS Challenge Blog and check them out!!  Sure hope you have time to play along, because this challenge was REALLY fun, and it certainly was a challenge for me!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Have a beautiful day, a blessed weekend!  Happy Stamping!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards - Christmas in July

 Hello and happy Thursday to you!!  Today I have my card for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards Christmas in July swap.  This month our lovely hostess, Linda challenged us to a Christmas in July theme, so on goes the Christmas music, and I happily created away in my craft room, when it was 110 degrees outside.  I'm never complaining about winter again!!!!!  It was fun "thinking" cool, and getting psyched up to work on Christmas cards, and here's what I came up with.

 

 

For this little cutie, I broke out the K&Co. Secret Santa paper pack, and colored this adorable little gingerbread guy to match.  He is from the PK-412 Too Sweet To Eat stamp set from Peachy Keen Stamps.  He was stamped with Memento tuxedo black in, and colored with Copic markers.  I played along with the Christmas Challenges {with sketches} blog and followed their sketch for this card.  I sure do LOVE those sketch challenges.  I cut the panels for the ginger boy with my rectangles Nestabilities, and added a matte with the Scalloped Rectangles (Lg.), and the tag was also cut with Nestabilties.   For that I used the Ribbon Tags Three die, and I colored the edge of the tag with a green Copic marker to match my little ginger's overalls.  A little ribbon, and some pink pearls finished this one off, and these are winging their way to Linda's house as I type.  Can't wait to see what amazing Christmas creations I get in return!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!