Being out of touch

I know we all have busy lives but this week was brutal for me. Usually I am able to stamp a few nights or mornings a week but this week was an impossiblity. I, like everyone, had over scheduled myself. I had to get my stuff together for the tax person which was to be done on Thursday night plus get ready for my daughter's birthday party on Saturday which meant running around to buy for the party favors etc. If that were not enough, I had a bookclub meeting at my house on Friday night and a first communion event with my other daughter on Saturday morning. Then Saturday night I had to get my daughter and husband ready to go to a father-daughter dance while I stayed home and babysat. So under normal circumstances I would be a nervous wreck but I think because I started to workout 3 to 4 times a week which helps me just prod along and go with the flow. Anyways, I am sorry if I have not been around to see everyone's blogs or my new sisters. I promise to catch up this week.

My Daughters Easter cards

My daughter loves to stamp with me and make cards for her friends. So I stamp images for her to color in and then we design the final layout together. Here she has used two stampendous stamps from Eclectic Paperie. She colored them in using her colored pencils and then we added the other elements. If you see my previous post, you can see the same elements are used for the Blossom Egg card but in this card we just added the ribbon. The second card uses the Bunny Egg stamp. My daughter just loves the bunny. We cute the green layer using my scalloped edged scissors and added the white dots using the gel pen. The ribbon was the final touch. She sent these to her friends. They came out cute.

Colorful Egg

This was a quick card I made using my new stampendous stamps I putchased from Eclectic Paperie. This stamp is called Blossom Egg and was perfect for using the Kaleidacolor Berry Blaze ink pad. I just used some CS that I had laying around that I bought at Michaels multipack. I used my mega and giga marvy oval punches and added the white dotes using my white gel pen. I also stamped the egg on the purple paper with Versamark and used my spica glitter pen on the dots to add some bling. This was a cute and simple card.

Sisterhood of Blogging Stampers - 15

I am just getting use to blogging and improving on my stamping techniques. My friend Kathy joined a group and encouraged me to join to share my ideas and keep me motivated by other across the country and the world.

I have been stamping for several years now - I think I started scrapbooking and taking classes at a local store in NH in 2000. I started stamping using SU products in 2001 making cards for co-workers for a variety of different occasions. It was fun to share my cards with others. I became a demo in 2004. I enjoyed stamping classes and technique workshops with others. I have moved quite a bit and landed here in MA. While starting my stamping endeavors, I worked full time. I formerly was a scientist in a large pharmaceutical company creating activity testing protocols for drugs produced in manufacturing. I then moved and worked for a smaller company and then later for a small university lab. I eventually left the scientific world to become a stay at home mom during our last transition period of moving. I have two daughters - one in pre-K and the other in 2nd grade. I love my job now with volunteering and participating in all my children's schools and various activities. It is fun to meet their friends and interact with them. I am also a Brownie troop leader for my daughter's troop which I enjoy doing activities and going on trips. My husband is my biggest fan and I show him all the cards I make which he thinks are great but when I go to a meeting he says I am going to drink the special punch to make me want to buy more. For my current stamping endeavors, I participate in several company contests to win free products and hopefully one day be on a design team and get published in a magazine. I also run a card club which I sell cards every month to a set group of people. I am throughly addicted!

That's What Friends are For

I recently had a birthday and received a few gifts from friends. I have always felt that friendship is the most important gift and gifts are not necessary especially at my age. Anyways, I cased this sketch from the SU catalog and made my own version. I always make more than one layout because I am never sure which one I would like to mass produce. I love this card with the spring colors. I keep using spring colors enticing spring to come soon. I used the Time Well Spent stamp set from SU. The colors for CS and markers were Tempting Turquiose, Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal. I stamped the images in basic black ink and then colored in. I used Versamark ink for the flowers on the background. I added rhinestones to the flowers and used the slit punch to make the scallop edge. The paper piercing tool was used with the mat pack to create the butterfly flying path. I stamped my butterfly image on WW CS, colored with markers and then cut it out. I used the scallop circle punch, stmaped the butterfly on it and then added my colored butterfly on top. To finish the card, I added Dazzling Diamonds to the butterfly and then the celery ribbon. This made a complete and coordinated card!

stay tuned for Easter stuff to come.

Pocket Easter Egg

This card was truely inspired by a card I did last year at this time. I love this SU stamp set, A Good Egg. It is so easy to use and design cards with. I used Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa and WW CS. I stamped the images with C lose to Cocoa ink then trimmed them out with my paper snips. I colored the images of the egg and the chick using my watercolor pencils and my blender pen. I used the dazzling diamonds with my 2-way glue pen. I cut the egg on the zig zag line. I attached the top of the egg and the bottom of the egg in a split fashion. The bottom egg was only attached around the edges so that the chick could fit inside. I attached some rhinestones I found at Walmart which had the adhesive to them. The top of the egg was adorned with a flower punched in Old Olive CS using the Boho Blossom punch and then cut in half. The ribbons are some that I had around. The background circles on the card were stamped with Versamark and then colored in the small circles using a white gel pen. The words were stamped in Basic Black. This card was definitely a labor of love.

New Addition to our Family

So this might not be what you expected when you saw the title. We tried for the past year to get our youngest potty trained - trying and promising everything to her. We thought that the day would never come. Since she had become fascinated with turtles, we thought a good incentive would be a turtle for consistency with her going on the potty. Well, it finally happened at the end of January and she remembered what we promised to her. So after looking into what type of turtle we would want (water or land) and which would be easiest and less germy, we chose to get a tortoise. The name Flipper was chosen way in advance and is the name of a stuffed turtle she had gotten for Christmas. My husband and daughter had a special date this past Monday to pick up the turtle. She was so excited and wanted to show all of her friends. So this morning I made a small photo album with pictures of Flipper doing various things with the captions so that she could show her friends at school. I used my new cuttlebug die and my ticket punch. The words were printed on the computer. I added cute ribbons to the binder ring. Since it has a binder ring to attach it, I can add pages when we take more pictures. Her teachers were thrilled to share this in her class. She is so proud of her pet and her accomplishment!

Sketch Challenge

This is the last card I made for the Paper Pretties PJ release party on Sunday night. This was the sketch challenge as the final challenge of the night. This card uses the Paper Pretties stamp set Look Who's Perky. I love this stamp set. The CS used was Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip with DS So Saffron Paper. I stamped the sugar bowl on the designer paper and the VV CS with Chocolate Chip Ink, then I cut the sugar bowl out and pasted it on top of the VV DS. I colored the handles with So Saffron marker. Then I used my ticket punch for the corners. I detailed the edges with my paper piecing tool using my mat pak. The coffee beans were stamped on top with Chocolate Chip ink as well as the two word sentiments which were combined for the message. I added the antique brads which were part of the sketch. I was very proud of this card and how it turned out.

Monochromatic Challenge

Here is another card made for the Paper Pretties PJ Release party from this past Sunday. The Monochromatic cards are always a challenge for me. For this card, I used the Look Who's Perky stamp set from Paper Pretties. I love this set and it lends to easy card making. For this challenge, I decided to use Certainly Celery as my Monochromatic color. I added the DS paper as a background and colored the image with an SU marker. I used some stickles to add some sparkle to the steam. My slot punch made it easy for me to stick on the ribbon for the final touch to the card.

No-layer challenge card

No-layer Challenge card was made for the PJ release party this past Sunday. This card was a little hard for me considering I am getting use to using designer paper lately. I love this stamp set from Paper Pretties called Looks Who's Perky. I did use WW card stock with Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose ink. Craft white ink was used to stamp the swirls which were embossed in white. The coffee pot was colored with Regal Rose Su marker and dotted with a white gel pen. The Chocolate Chip ink was sponged around the coffee pot and the Regal Roase ink was spondeged around the outside. My favorite ribbon was used at the top with two slits punched to put it through. There was a lot of detail since there was no designer paper used. Back to basics with a flair!

Many Thanks #2

Here is another quick thank you note using the same elements in the first card just rearranged differently. Here I used River Rock, Chocolate Chip, WW and Ruby Red CS with the Ginger Blossom DS. I also used Chocolate Chip ink to stamp the words. I used my ticket punch for the corners and then added antique brads around it. This was a clean and simple card which was quick to make.

Many Thanks #1

I so needed to make thank you cards and this SU sell-a-bration stamp set, Lots of Thoughts and So Many Scallops, lends itself to making quick and cute cards. I used River Rock, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red and WW CS in addition to Ginger Blossom DS. I stamped with River Rock and Groovy Guava. I layered a circle in Ruby Red punched out using my circle punches of 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 ontop of my scallop to highlight the words. I used the River Rock stitched ribbon as well. I layered the Scallop on with dimensionals so it would pop.

It was a quick and cute card.

It's My Birthday!

What better way to celebrate my birthday than to get up in the morning and stamp! I love being creative and sharing with others. Thank you for viewing my blog and supporting me! Oh Happy Day!

My Daughter's Card #2

My daughter needed to make her Aunt a birthday card and she just loves the Sofia stamp set called Cuddle Me from Paper Pretties. She colored Sofia with her colored pencils blending the pink and purple to give a heathered mixed look - what an inspiration! After she finished coloring, I mounted the picture on Lovely Lilac CS and used my scalloped scissors to make the edge and used the white gel pen to add the accent. I used DS Flowers For You and some American Crafts Ribbon on top of Pretty in Pink Paper. It is a precious card!

Elegant Egg

This card was truely inspired by the SU Catalog. I love this stamp set from SU "A Good Egg". When the new catalog came out, this was one of my must haves! I did not have all the elements that they used in the catalog but I did love the color combination. I used the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set with the white craft ink for the backround on the Bashful Blue CS. In addition, I used the Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla and So Saffron CS. I stamped the egg outline and the middle part using Chocolate Chip ink on Bashful Blue and Veryt Vanilla CS repectively. I colored on the VV CS with markers: Old Olive, So Saffron and Bashful Blue. I added antique brads and used dimensionals to place it ontop of the egg. For the stitched effect on the So Saffron CS, I used my Paper Piecing tool with my Mat Pak to make the holes and the white gel pen to add the line. For the top of the egg, I punch a flower on Old Olive CS with my Boho Blossoms punch and cut it in half. I attached some grosgrain ribbon that was a golden mustard.

Cracked Up!

These cards were cased and inspired by my stamping friend Kathy. She has such wonderful ideas! I used various colors and designer series papers. My friend in my card club wanted me to start designing more boyish cards so she could give them to her sons each month. Here is the card "you crack me up" that I had made. With this card, I used Brocade Blue CS with So Saffron. The DS was Pool Party which is retired from SU. I used my watercolor pencils to color in the chick and my word window punch for the words. I mounted the words behind the DS to give a window look. I used my decorative scissors to cut the zig-zag edges and added the brads. This set of cards came out cute. Thanks Kathy for your inspiration!

Love Bugs

This was a card that I made for a most recent Paper Pretties challenge. This image is Love Bugs made by Paper Pretties. The challenge was to use red (but not a bright red), black and Kraft CS. I used Ruby Red as the red for my card. I cut the CS in layers and took my scalloped scissors to make the scalloped edge. I used my white gel pen to dot the scallops on the black CS and black marker on the white CS. I stamped the image in Basic Black ink and then colored in with markers (Ruby Red) and watercolor pencils. I dotted the dress and suit with the white gel pen to add a dimension. The ribbon was black dotted and white organdy. I added a flower that matched from my stash of embellishments. I added stickles and some stardust gel pen for some shimmer.

Penquin Kisses

This card was made using the Snowflake Kisses stamp set from Paper Pretties. I love how the blue paper pops out from the black. For this card, I used CS of Basic Black, Ballet Blue and Whisper White. The Ballet Blue was dry embossed using the Cuttle Bug template of Snoflakes for the top. On the bottom, the penquin feet were versamarked and then embossed using Iridescent Ice. I stamped the image using a Brilliance Graphite Black ink and sponged around the image with Ballet Blue ink. I used watercolor pencils to color in the image and blended with a blender pen. The two-way glue pen was applied to the outline of the snow and then dazzling diamonds was applied to it to give it some shimmer. I stamped the words with Ballet Blue ink and added silver brads for the mounting. The ribbons used were Organdy White and Black polka dots.

Flowers for Sofia

This card was made for a Paper Pretties Swap from their stamp set Cuddle Me. I wanted to use more sprintime colors this time and came up with this card. I stamped the image with Brilliance Graphite Ink and colored in using SU markers: Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, More Mustard, Creamy Carmel, Basic Black and Chocolate Chip. Her dress was made into polka dots using a white gel pen. She was also highlighted using the Mega and Giga Oval and Scallop Punches. The CS used was Whisper White, Pale Plum and DS from Scenic Route called Dahlia Street. The ribbon was liliac ric rak which I bought as well as the DS at Right at Home scrapbooking store. I thought this could be a cute Easter card.