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PTI Make it Monday- Non Background Background Stamp

2011-09-06T20:28:00.001-04:00

Hello there. I just wanted to share this week's submission for PTI Make it Monday. This week's challenge was to build a background for a card using a stamp that is not necessarily intended as a background stamp. I chose to use my favorite stamp from the Iconic Images stamp set that I received for free when I attended the first ever Papertrey Ink Stamp Affaire. I think it made a cute background and I'm actually a big fan of the color combo I chose. It's PTI smokey shadow, aqua mist, and lemon tart. Here's the goods...

PTI Make it Monday - Colored Pencils

2011-08-31T07:54:00.004-04:00

Hello there. I am back again today participating in Papertrey Ink Make it Monday. This week the challenge was to use colored pencils for coloring in your image. I have been obsessed with coloring with my Copic markers lately, but I am a fan of coloring with any medium so I was definitely up for playing with my old colored pencils. The stinky part is that I know I used to have a nice set of Prismacolor colored pencils from college....where they are now, I have no idea. So I had to resort to my stash of junky Roseart pencils...let's just say...well...they suck. I need to either find my old Prismacolors or buy a new set, because the quality really does make a difference. Anyway here is the result that I came up with...It's not great but it will just have to do for now.

Stamps: PTI Friendship Jar, and Friendship Jar Fillers Paper: PTI Sweet Blush and Simply Chartreuse, (the pink houndstooth is SU! but I can't remember the name of the DSP pack) Ink-Momento Tuxedo Black Accessories- PTI Friendship Jar Die, SU Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, SU Decorative Label Punch, Roseart colored pencils.
Stay tuned for next week because three of my best buds/sorority sisters are coming to my house for a visit this weekend and we will be stampin it up! I'm planning on taking lots of pics and showing you all of the loveliness that we create! I'm sooo excited!!

Clean and Simple

2011-08-18T21:16:00.004-04:00

Hi There! I wanted to stop by blog land today and show you some clean and simple (and easy) cards that I made using only a white card base, some stamps, and my precious Copic markers. This is a perfect option for when you're in a hurry, you need a lightweight mailable card, or you just like a fresh,clean, minimal design. The only stamp sets that I used for these cards were PTI Framed, Gracious Vases, and Friendship Jar Fillers. Easy breezy!

Make It Monday- Glitter Die Border

2011-08-17T08:13:00.003-04:00

Hola! Happy Hump Day! Today I want to show you the card I made using the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday technique. I'm kicking myself that I've only recently started paying attention to these MIM videos...because they have some great ideas and stuff I would have never thought up myself. This weeks technique involves using a metal die to create a glitter border for your die cut image. It's really pretty easy and adds a nice little detail to your card. I've only recently started building my PTI collection so I only have two PTI dies in my stash, but my Mat Stack 5 die was a good fit for this technique. Here's what I came up with...

Stamps: PTI Tiny Treats Birthday Paper: PTI Spring Moss, Hawaiian Shores Ink: PTI Spring Moss, Aqua Mist Accessories: Mat Stack 5 die, SU Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, SU Glue Pen, SU Basic Black 1 1/4 inch striped grosgrain ribbon. Copic markers

Papertrey Ink Make it Monday

2011-08-13T16:07:00.004-04:00

Hey there, I just wanted to show you my submission for the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday challenge. Yes the challenge was posted on Monday and yes, even though I had the whole week off work I did not make my cards until late last night. The challenge was to create your own striped ribbon using Copic markers. Sounds easy enough right? Um well let's just not talk about the YARDS of ribbon that I wasted trying to make this damn ribbon. I even made a special trip to Target to buy not one, but two clear rulers solely for this purpose...that being said, here are my two cards I made using my custom Copic ribbon.

Stamps: PTI Simple Sunflower Ink: SU Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip Paper: SU Crushed Curry, PTI Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate Accessries: SU Ticket corner punch, Various Circle Punches, White twill ribbon(unknown brand), Copic markers, PTI button, Dollar Store twine.

This was my first try. It was kind of an attempt at an avant garde design...mostly I think it just looks weird. The ribbon I used was actually a thick white twill ribbon and I colored the whole thing with a mustard-y yellow copic and added a few brown stripes. Not particularly attractive, but I guess it does have kind of a rustic quality to it. I went with the yellow and brown color color scheme because I knew I wanted to use my Simple Sunflower stamp set that I got when I went to the PTI Stamp Affaire a few weeks ago. The set is not going to be for sale until the 15th of this month but I got my hands on it early and for free by attending the event and making a $100 purchase. Next I made a birthday card for Sophie, the little princess that I nanny for. You can see her twin brother's birthday card that somewhat matches this one here. This ribbon I think actually turned out pretty cute. It's preppy and girly and perhaps even something I would buy in a store...but I don't have to! I think I could get used to this DIY custom ribbon thing...that is if I start buying white grosgrain in bulk to make up for all that I waste in the process!

Stamps: PTI Tiny Treats Birthday, SU Dot Dot Dot Ink: SU Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, PTI Spring Moss Paper: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Spring Moss Accessories: SU Top Note Die, PTI Mat Stack #5 Die, White Grosgrain Ribbon (unknown), Copic Markers, PTI button, Dollar Store twine

I got a new toy!

2011-08-11T18:57:00.004-04:00

Look at my new toy! Isn't she a beaut!?! My sweet, wonderful, generous boyfriend knew how much I have been longing for a Digital SLR camera. So on Tuesday (which was HIS birthday btw) he decided that we should go on a "fact finding mission" at the camera store...needless to say it ended up being more of a "buy it today mission" The clincher was that since we bought it at a mom n' pop type store, the owner said he would answer as many questions as I could come up with and basically give me free lessons on how to use my camera. Considering I don't know the first thing about photography, it was a big bonus...and not the kind of service you could get at a "big box store". Also it was on sale and they had a smokin' deal on an extra lens. It's actually my birthday present two months early...and pretty much the best bday present ever, so I can definitely make the excitement last for two months! I've been wanting a DSLR for YEARS and I've especially wanted one lately to take nice pictures of my cards for my blog. I also want to learn the ins and outs of it by the time I have some bambinos to take pictures of...My goal is to never need to take my kids to the Sears portrait studio because I'll be able to take professional quality photos DIY style.... I know I have a long way to go. Considering I just learned what aperture and Fstop mean TODAY via YouTube! VERY long way to go. But I will get there. So without further ado here are some of my first tries at photography.

This is the birthday card that I made for Scott for the birthday on which he bought ME a (really big) present. What a weirdo! But I sure do love my weirdo! It turns out I really don't have a lot of masculine stamps so I fear that this one came out a little "little boy-ish". But I wrote some really nice stuff inside so I don't think he minded :) ( Note-to-self: Buy manly stamps!)

Here is Lilly. Or "Miss Priss" as we sometimes like to call her because she is constantly laying like this with her paws crossed. She is so fancy.

And this little stinker is Maggie. We affectionately refer to her as Maggie Moo...among many other names. Don't let her innocent face fool you... she is thoroughly ROTTEN! Also FYI, I black and whited the photos for the sole reason of hiding the nasty bright blue shag carpet in our house :)

I will be back this weekend with some more (oh-so-fancy-DSLR) pictures of some more cards I've made recently. So does anyone have any digital photography tips for this newbie? I'd love to hear some!

Ahoy, Birthday Boy!

2011-08-02T13:07:00.005-04:00

Ahoy! Wouldn't it be awesome if we all used this greeting more often? My inner pirate wants to bring it back. Anyway, remember how I told you that I stamped all weekend and didn't end up having much to show for it? Well here is one of the cards I made that I like but don't love. I made it for Luke, the little guy that I nanny for. He and Sophie are turning 4 in September which I CAN NOT believe! I"ve been taking care of them since they collectively weighed about 10 pounds, so it's been amazing to see how they've grown over the last 4 years!

Stamps: PTI Tiny Treats Birthday, PTI Bitty Baby Blessings Paper: PTI Lemon Zest, PTI Spring Moss Ink: SU So Saffron, SU Bashful Blue, SU Pear Pizzazz Accessories: PTI buttons, PTI Mat Stack #5 Die, PTI Lemon Zest Ribbon, Dollar store twine, SU Scallop border punch

It's a pretty straight forward card...Nothing too fancy. I love the PTI Tiny Treats Birthday set because EVERY image in the set is sooooo stinkin cute. And they lend themselves well to being colored in. Which leads me to my other new obsession- Copic markers! Leave it to me to find the most expensive crafting tool and absolutely NEEEEED every.single.color. Well maybe not every color since they are approximately $5.00 a pop and there are hundreds of colors...but you get my drift. They are like potato chips- you can't have just one.

On a roll

2011-08-01T08:43:00.008-04:00

Hey guys, I'm back again today with another card to share. I'm really going to try to update way more frequently. But if you notice that I'm MIA for a while it is probably because I had to go to stamping rehab...seriously I'm addicted! It's so bad that I've actually had dreams about stamping! I need help! Anyway I spent my weekend buried under a mound of stamping supplies at the dining room table and although I had a ton of fun, I wasn't super impressed with any of my creations...until I made this little gem...

Stamps: PTI Friendship Jar Summer Fillers, PTI Friendship Jar Fillers, PTI Trajen Monogram Alphabet
Ink: Momento Black, SU So Saffron Paper: All PTI -Lemon Zest CS, Spring Moss CS, Polka Dot Parade PP, Bitty Dot Basics PP

I love me a baby card, yes I do. And I especially love this one because I love using a stamp in a unique or unintended way. This is the pint jar from PTI's Friendship Jar Summer Fillers. I wish I could take credit for the idea of turning it in to a baby food jar, but I actually saw someone else do a similar design. And I love the subtle spoons and forks in the background from the Friendship Jar Fillers set. The last thing I needed was another baby card in my collection since they seem to be my favorite to make, but I just couldn't resist this one! What do you think? Anyone have any prego friends that need a baby card? I have plenty to share!!!

I'm baaaaaacccckkkkk!

2011-07-31T14:12:00.005-04:00

Oh Hi! Nice to see you again! Yes, I realize it's been over a year since we've talked. A whole year! Can you believe it? A lot of great stuff has happened in the past year! And even though I have neglected my own blog I have most definitely still been a permanent resident of Blogland...In fact my obsession has grown exponentially! It all started with this happy little place called YoungHouseLove.com. And then the snowball effect happened and suddenly my morning coffee was being enjoyed over countless nesting blogs, DIY blogs, wedding blogs, and mommy blogs...holy blogger batman there are A LOT of great blogs out there! In the mean time I'm still a stamping fool and my dear boyfriend, Scott and I have been tirelessly working to make his home less 1950's Italian grandma style and more 2011 wannabe pottery barn on a walmart budget style. So I figured it was about time to get back to sharing my creations as well as the progress on Scott's house, because frankly, I'm pretty proud of our hard work! So I'll be sharing LOTS of stuff in the near future, but today I would like to share with you some new card creations I've made recently. I'm starting a new direction in my stamp style. You see for the last few years I've been a Stampin Up! (hobby) demonstrator. I loved being an SU demo because I met some awesome ladies, got some fabulous ideas and inspiration and I acquired A WHOLE STINKIN BUNCH of SU merchandise at a nicely discounted price. Then came the point when I realized I had pretty much of the SU stuff that I needed and I was spending way too much money on making my quarterly minimums, so I decided to move on from Stampin Up for the time being. It's a great company and I'll always be a fan and I'll get a ton of mileage out of all of my SU stamps and accessories. Which brings me to my new stamp obsession. I was pretty much exclusively buying SU merch for that last few years which didn't leave any $$ in the budget for the other product lines I was lusting for...BUT NOW my craft world is limitless (ya know besides that pesky budget) Anyway, since I started stamping about 3 years ago I've been in love with the stamp company Papertrey Ink, but like I said there was just never enough in my budget to partake in their fun monthly releases. However I did keep a nice mental list of all stamp sets that I NEEDED to purchase someday. That someday came when PTI hosted their first ever Stamp Affair, an all day stamping retreat in my hometown (and theirs) Cincinnati, OH. The event sold out in under three minutes and fans traveled from across not just the country, but THE WORLD to attend. I feel very fortunate that I was able to get tickets for my mom and I to attend. The event took place last weekend and it was AHH-MAZING. Seriously soooo cool and so inspirational. The owners of PTI as well as some of their VERY talented design team were there and it was so cool to get to meet them in person. They are like stamping celebrities! We made make n' take projects all day and had the opportunity to make purchases on site and the staff made trips to the warehouse to pick up our orders and deliver them to us at the event. As someone who enjoys instant gratification, it was spectacular! Needless to say, I spent waaaaay too much money catching up on all of the stamps and accessories I've been missing out on all these years. So this week I've been stamping my butt off and playing with all my new toys! It's been soooo fun! So how bout I stop rambling and show you a couple of the cards I've made with my new toys this week. Stamps: PTI Friendship Jar,Friendship Jar Fillers Summer, Beyond Basic Borders SU! Flight of the Butterfly Paper: PTI Hibiscus Burst and Lemon Zest Ink: SU! Regal Rose Accessories:PTI Lemon Zest Satin Ribbon, PTI Button, Copic markers Stamps: PTI Tiny Treats Birthday, PTI Friendship Jar Fillers Summer Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, PTI New Leaf Ink: SU! Regal Rose Accessories: Copic markers

Welcome new baby...

2010-07-26T13:59:00.003-04:00

My friends Rob and Cari welcomed their new baby, Faith Ann to the world about two weeks ago so I immediately had to go buy her some pink clothes and make a little something cute to send her. Here's what I came up with...I got the idea for the little pea pod from a swap at a Stampin Up! regional conference last year...I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it and knew I would be recreating it. It's sooo easy and so stinkin cute. I tried to match the colors to the colors of her nursery. Hope she likes it. And this is the card that I sent along with it. This is one of those stamp sets that is just so much fun to color!

Think Pink

2010-07-19T21:39:00.003-04:00

So my boss (I use the term loosely...more like good friend) is going to be walking in the Susan G Komen 3 Day for the Cure Breast Cancer Walk in about two weeks. She has been training for this walk for months, collecting gear, and raising well over $2,000. Her best friend is also walking with her and one of my best friends from Cincinnati is also participating in the walk. I'm super proud of each of these ladies and I'm very excited for the experience they are about to embark on. Moral of the story...I found out a few days ago that you can actually send cards and letters to the walkers that will be delivered to them during the walk. It's a wonderful way to motivate and encourage the participants and let them know you are thinking about them. So I was all too happy to bust out every shade of pink cardstock and inkpad and get busy.This is going to be the longest that Tammy (my boss) will be away from her almost 3 year old twins since they were born so I really wanted to have the kids make a card for her...but then I had the brilliant idea that one of those recordable cards would be great so that she would be able to hear their voices. So I cruised down to Hallmark (which is against my religion) to get a recordable card. As is turns out, recordable cards only come in the birthday variety...but that's ok because I had a huge problem with sending a non-stamped up card anyway. So I grabbed a random recordable birthday card and came home to bribe the kids in to saying nice things to their mom at the sound of the beep. Then I jazzed it up stampin up style and then let the kids add the "finishing touches" Betcha can't even tell this used to be a hallmark card...unless you find my $7.00 receipt...BOO!I also wanted to make a separate card for her just from me. I liked the design and felt like it suited the occasion really well so I tweaked it a little and also made one for my friend, Kim as well as Tammy's walking partner, Rachel. Also because I'm a big nerd...and I had all the pink stuff out already I decided to make both Kim and Tammy a separate card "from their dogs". I know I'm a dork but they both love their dogs very much and everyone likes to get lots of mail, especially at an event like the 3 Day. Do you notice the little breast cancer awareness ribbon I drew on the dog's collar? You can make fun of me now.

Hey it's only been six months...

2010-07-05T14:32:00.003-04:00

But I finally have an update for my blog. I've been inspired to get down to business by the new Stampin Up! catalog which was just released last week, and I actually a had a few hours to enjoy some quality stamp time so here is what I came up with... Here are two versions of the same card with different color schemes. Two of my best friends are coming up on their one year wedding anniversaries so I wanted to make them each a card with a color scheme similar to their weddings. I also have a friend who is due to give birth to her 2nd baby any day now, so I made a cute baby card with a gender neutral color scheme since she doesn't know what she's having. Hope you enjoyed my rare update, and hopefully I'll have more to share when I get my shipment of new goodies later this week!

Playing Catch Up

2010-01-25T13:44:00.005-05:00

So sorry to my 3 faithful followers, I fell victim to the craziness of life and of course the chaos of the holidays and I completely neglected my blog. Life seems to be back on track now so I will do my best to keep maintaining my blog...but you've heard that before. Anyway I definitely havn't stopped stamping, I just stopped photographing my stuff. I made several things for people over the holidays, but of course I didn't get a chance to photograph them before I gave them away. Anyway to prove that I havn't completely given up stamping, here are some of my most recent cards...

My first digital card!

2009-11-02T21:56:00.002-05:00

I recently purchased My Digital Studio from Stampin Up! It took me a while to get around to playing with it, especially because I had to sort of "educate" myself before I could do anything. After watching a few quick videos, putting digital projects together is a breeze. I think my favorite use for this program is designing a card layout without having to use up all of your supplies while going the trial and error route...what can I say? I'm a cheap-o! Anyway, was there any doubt that my first card would be PINK!?! I went with the baby theme because my cousin just had a sweet little baby girl about two weeks ago. I also want to direct your attention to some WONDERFUL and PINK! blog candy here So here is my first shot at MDS...

New Cards

2009-10-21T13:29:00.004-04:00

Hi there! So having a new puppy has been keeping me BUSY! But somehow I managed to complete a few cards this week. I got a huge order of new stamps a little over a week ago and I've barely had time to play with them. Luckily, Maggie likes to curl up and take a nap at my feet while I stamp...what a perfect match! Here is my giant order of stamps- It took a *few* minutes to mount them all :) Here is a cute card that I made using the Medallion stamp, the En Francais background stamp, and some oh so lovely shimmer paint. I think it came out really pretty and elegant and best of all, I made it so it could be used for almost any occasion- birthday, wedding, anniversary, thank you etc.. Here are two Christmas cards I made using the new ornament punch and the Delightful Decorations stamp set. I LOVE LOVE LOVE when stamps and punches coordinate together! Thats it for now, hope you like 'em!

Meet Maggie!

2009-10-17T14:37:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to introduce my brand new pride and joy...Maggie I've been waiting for her to be available for adoption for about 3 weeks and I finally got to go and adopt her and bring her home last night. She is soooo sweet and she's already doing pretty good with potty training. She's very snuggly and loves to cuddle. She loves the twins and is getting along with them just fine. She is a lil mutt- She's a mix of lab, beagle, and golden retriever. It's so wonderful to finally have a fur baby back in my life. Now I'm off to go enjoy my new little friend!

World Card Making Day Challenge Part Four: Australia

2009-10-04T18:25:00.003-04:00

Finally we have Australia. I really liked this one. I've always thought that Aboriginal art was pretty cool ever since I did an Aboriginal art project in art class when I was in grade school. I happened to have a stamp that was made up entirely of dots- so it was perfect. I just went with an earthy color palette and put it all together. Easy Peasy!

World Card Making Day Challenge Part Three: India

2009-10-04T18:18:00.002-04:00

Next we have India. This one was easy as far as colors and paper and I even had a stamp that I thought had an Indian feel to it, but I had trouble with the "bling" aspect. Indian design needs a lot of gold and jewels. I personally have an aversion to gold so I have NO gold accessories in my collection- not even embossing powder! So I just worked with the bling that I had and did my best- not my favorite card though...

World Card Making Day Challenge Part Two: Mexico

2009-10-04T18:11:00.003-04:00

Next up in the WCMD challenge is Mexico. The ribbon that I used sort of reminded me of a Mexican tapestry and I chose the large rose stamp because it reminded me of something that I flamenco dancer might wear in her hair or something. These challenges are hard because I didn't realize how non-cultural my stamps are.

World Card Making Day Challenge Part One: Japan

2009-10-04T18:00:00.004-04:00

This weekend I was inspired to participate in some challenges hosted by Papertrey Ink in honor of World Card Making Day. Each Challenge has a Culture/Country as it's theme. First up we have Japan.

Welcome October!

2009-10-01T13:26:00.007-04:00

I love October! It's such a great month...mostly because it's when I was born :) Just kidding! It's just a lovely month. I love the weather and the leaves changing. I love to pull out the sweaters and hooded sweatshirts and get cozy. Other great things about October: World Card Making Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Month (which means I see pink everywhere- and that's ALWAYS good!), My birthday, and my Momma's birthday. This particular October is going to be great because I get to be in one of my best friend's weddings next weekend and it will be gorgeous. Plus this month I will be getting a new puppy! Yay! I can't wait. One of these little loveys will be mine in just two weeks :) They are a mix of lab/beagle/golden retriever. I'm not sure which one I will get, but whoever it is will surely be spoiled rotten. Since October is breast cancer awareness month, I will dedicate this post to all of the fighters and survivors as well as the wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends that we've lost to breast cancer. Needless to say I will be featuring projects in my signature color- PINK! First a few cutesy cards Here is a fabulous shadow box frame that I put together using a card front that I got when I participated in a swap at the Stampin Up! Cincinnati Regional conference last month. It was my favorite card that I got and it matches my bathroom perfectly. So I just embellished it a bit more and added some extra pieces of cardstock and stuck it in a shadow box frame. Cute huh?

I'm still alive...

2009-09-01T16:21:00.003-04:00

In case you were wondering, I did not fall of the face of the earth! I just moved to Cleveland... I also have not stopped stamping. In fact I have been pretty busy with my friend Elly's bachelorette party invitations. I kept with what seems to be the"traditional" bachelorette colors of black and bright pink. I also threw in some cutey patootie polka dots and a hodge podge of bridal themed stamps. I used my two sizes of square punches and layered them. I love this look, but believe it or not I had never done it before because I only recently got both of the square punches. And you bet your A$$ that I would never take the time to tediously measure and cut several tiny squares...but with the punches it's simple and easy and looks perfect every time! Pretty sure you can't tell from the picture, but each of the images were colored over with sparkle pen, so it's very shimmery in real life. Here's my project...

The Fling before the Ring

2009-07-12T20:58:00.006-04:00

My lack of posting lately has been a direct result of all of the projects I've been working on for my friend Amanda's bachelorette party. The party was last night and we had a fabulous time...this morning was a different story, but I'll spare you the details :) The theme of the party was pink, black, white, and zebra. It was a fun theme to work with! My many bachelorette projects included the invitations (28 of them!), some chap stick favors for the guests enclosed in Big Shot Matchboxes, a bachelorette banner, a "bridezilla" whistle enclosed in a precious little embellished box, a zebra bracelet for the bride, and of course a handmade card for the bride! So here's what I've been up to...

p.s. Blogger is stupid and I can't figure out why my text is appearing underlined like a link...but frankly, I don't have the patience to mess with it right now...

Happy New Catalog Day!

2009-07-01T10:00:00.004-04:00

Woo Hoo! The brand new 2009-2010 Stampin Up! catalog goes "live" today! It is a great catalog, and I have most of it memorized after obsessing over each page of my advanced copy. I'm loving the new In Colors and I'm also loving how much the color Old Olive is featured a lot. Old Olive was a color I never gave much though to but it looks great with a ton of color combinations. Just wait till you see them all! Here is a sweet little card featuring one of the stamps from a new level 3 hostess set. It's an awesome stamp set that is very versatile because it has several "seasonal" stamps...but of course my FAVORITE was the precious little CUPCAKES! I'm such a cupcake fanatic! These ones are super cute and very fun to color. Supplies: (All Stampin Up!) The More the Merrier Stamp Set (level 3 hostess) Certainly Celery CS Melon Mambo CS Pink Pirouette CS Whisper White CS Basic Black Classic Ink Top Note Die Melon Mambo Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Regal Rose Stampin Write Markers White Signo Gel Pen

Razzle Dazzle!

2009-06-28T08:00:00.002-04:00

I'm so excited! I just played with my new Razzle Dazzle stamp set! It's not really my typical "style" but I really like it. I almost didn't buy it based on the picture of the set but once I saw some examples of things made with it I realized it was very cute and actually pretty versatile. In the cards I'll show you today I used the "flowery" stamp as the focal point but I've seen lots of cute cards where people have used this stamp as more of a "background" stamp which also looks really cool. To use the image as a focal point you have to have some patience because it really looks best if you color it with markers so that you can have multiple colors for the flowers and stems. Since the image is made of solid lines and shapes you can't just stamp with black and color it in later. TIP: Whenever you color on your stamps with Stampin Write markers always be sure to breathe on your stamp right before you stamp it so that you can re-moisten the ink. Supplies: (All Stampin Up!) Card One: Razzle Dazzle Stamp Set Crushed Curry CS Rich Razzleberry CS Melon Mambo CS Whisper White CS Razzleberry Lemonade DSP Stampin Write Markers: Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay Scallop Edge Punch Card Two: Razzle Dazzle Stamp Set Crushed Curry CS Rich Razzleberry CS Old Olive CS Whisper White CS Razzleberry Lemonade DSP Stampin Write Markers: Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry,Old Olive Scallop Edge Punch Modern Label Punch Word Window Punch

I heart wedding cards!

2009-06-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

Back again with another wedding card! I told you they're my favorite! Good thing I have several friend's weddings coming up to use all of my wedding cards. The inspiration for this card came from one of my friends in my Stampin Up! Demo group. We did a stamp camp with our group a few months ago and she created a card for it using this stamp set and color combo. To tell you the truth I had never paid much attention to this stamp set until I saw the card she created. It's just sooo stunning and elegant. So as soon as I could, I purchased the stamp set for myself and this is the 1st card I've made with it. I think it came out great. I just love how classy and elegant it looks. Supplies: (All Stampin Up!) Sahara Sand CS Basic Black CS Very Vanilla CS Basic Black Classic Ink Sahara Sand Classic Ink Together Forever Stamp Set Basic Black 1/4 in grosgrain ribbon

Tis the season for graduations

2009-06-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

My boss is graduating from her residency program this weekend. Graduations are old hat for her because she's certainly had plenty of them. First high school, then undergrad, then med school, and now residency! That's a LOT of school. She deserves a nice graduation card! I've been wanting to try this ribbon technique that I've been seeing around blogland lately. You basically just fold the ribbon over on itself in sections and staple it at the top. I combined it with my favorite Big Shot staple, the Top Note and used a little strip of paper to cover the ugly staples at the top of the ribbon. I used the brand new modern label punch that pairs perfectly with the brand new Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set as well as the Word Window punch...Loving this combo! Supplies: (All Stampin Up!) Kiwi Kiss CS Pink Pirouette CS Raspberry Tart DSP Pink Pirouette 1 1/4 grosgrain ribbon Rhinestone Brad Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set

First week of Summer and I'm Big on Spring

2009-06-23T10:10:00.005-04:00

Summer is finally here! Woo Hoo! I'm headed to the pool with these crazy babies this afternoon! I love my job :) So sorry I havn't had much time for blogging lately but I do have quite a few cards to share. I think my new method of blogging will be to stock pile my creations and then photograph them all at once and blog them all at once but have them posts scheduled to publish once a day or once a week...something like that... For today in light of the sadness that comes along with all of the current Stampin Up! stamps that will be retired as of next Wednesday I will be highlighting my very favorite stamp set that has been retired for over a year now- Big on Spring. It's so stinkin cute and even though it's retired I still always come back to it! I am definitely one of those demonstrators that does not give up on my stamps just because they are retired. Don't get me wrong, I am also OBSESSED with getting to see, and buy, and play with BRAND NEW stamps, papers, and accessories so I also used one of the brand new In Colors on one of my cards. The first card I have to show you is one that I created (at the last minute) for my best friend's wedding shower last weekend. I used the Bride to Be stamp from the Big on Spring stamp set and colored it in with my Stampin Write markers. I added sparkle with my favorite little gem, the Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust Pen...I can never have too much sparkle! And this pen just gives a nice subtle little shimmer that makes everything so much prettier. I also added some tiny adhesive pearls because they are just so precious and elegant and bride-like. I used SU Brushed Silver CS and embossed it with silver embossing powder and the Baroque Motifs stamp set. I used my favorite Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist Card stock. I am OBSESSED with this color...Next to pink, this is my favorite color. I really wish SU! would make this color as part of their collection. Not that I don't love PTI, but I can't be a PTI demo so I wish I had it as an option for SU! For the next card, I used the Let the CUTE begin stamp. Baby cards and wedding cards are actually probably my favorite types of cards to make so you can see why I just love this old stamp set! I busted out my very first sheet of my brand new In Color cardstock- which is my favorite perk of being a demo- I get to play with new stuff early! Yay! I used the Bermuda Bay color which looks so awesome paired with Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery. (It actully looks great with a ton of SU colors- stay tuned) I stamped an extra image on blue CS and cut it out and popped it up to give it some dimmension and a pop of color.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge

2009-05-17T15:41:00.003-04:00

Today I decided to participate in my first color challenge. I suppose I chose this as my first challenge because it uses one of my all time FAVORITE color combos AND it comes from my stamping idol Dawn McVey. She is absolutely brilliant! I want to be Dawn McVey when I grow up :) The colors for this challenge come from Papertrey Ink and they are Aqua Mist, Melon Berry, Dark Chocolate and White. I only own 4 PTI stamp sets and for this color combo I thought that the one that I have that lent itself the best was Bitty Baby Blessings. I used it for both cards that I made. I also used the PTI Bitty Dots patterned paper which is just the most precious stuff ever!

Holy Blog Candy!

2009-04-28T15:41:00.002-04:00

All I can say is WOW! I've just come across the mother of all blog candy! Debbie is celebrating her blogaversary with the most generous blog candy I have ever seen! She is going to make one blog reader VERY happy! You should go check out Debbie's Blog and congratulate her (and enter to win!)

Cards, Cards, and More Cards

2009-04-27T10:36:00.007-04:00

Here are some of my latest card creations...I havn't had time or energy to blog lately so instead of posting each card seperately, I'll just do them all in one fell swoop and I'll try to be better about blogging before my cards get stock piled :) Later this week I will also be posting some 3D projects I made using some "My Timeless Templates" from Papertrey Ink...so stay tuned for those. Here are my most recent card creations... My Challenge entry for my Stampin Up! demo group meeting...I didn't win :(

More fun with the Big Shot

2009-03-24T20:14:00.003-04:00

I splurged and ordered the Movers and Shapers Curly Label die for my Big Shot. I am so obsessed with the shape of the curly label/top note...it's just so versatile and cutesy. I can't get enough. Anyway, this die is super cool because the "curly label" part of the die is magnetic and you can place it where ever you want it to be on your card. I did a little bit of playing with it over the weekend and here's what I came up with.

Big Shot Matchbox Tutorial

2009-03-23T20:19:00.004-04:00

So I just pre ordered the brand new matchbox die for the Big Shot from the Stampin Up! occasions mini catalog which will be available on April 1st. It's a pretty cool die because it comes with three cute little labels that fit with the box (and there's also a coordinating stamp set!)...anyway, in the mini catalog there is a picture of the matchbox with a "window" cut out of the top with the curly label punch. I thought it was a super cute idea and I wanted to make one myself...however, I'm not as smart as I look and it took me several tries to figure out how to do it. So I thought I would make a tutorial to save some other people some frustration. First, I like to use two coordinating colors of cardstock so that the lid contrasts from the box Here is what the pieces look like when they are cut out Go ahead and fold your lid on the score lines...but don't adhere anything yet There is a tab on each end of the lid piece, one is smaller than the other. You'll want to fold the smaller tab under and then position your Curly Label punch in the center of the box lid. When you punch it, it will cut part of the tab...but it's okay Place glue dots or chosen adhesive on the small tab (the one with the cut out) and overlap the large tab to comlete the lid. Then you can add a small piece of acetate to the inside and decorate however you like :) I hope this was helpful! Here are some more examples of the other Matchboxes I made...

I heart Manhattan Flowers!

2009-03-10T21:32:00.003-04:00

I'm lovin the Manhattan Flowers series from Stampin Up! I love the design and I love how they have incorporated it in to so many products. There's the stamp set, the DSP, the Decor elements, the rub ons, and the texture plate. I had the opportunity to play with the stamp set and the texture plate because some of my friends had purchased them...needless to say, I think I will be purchasing them for my own collection as well! Here are the creations I made with the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set and the Manhattan Flower tecture impression die.

Countdown to SPD and some Blog CANDY!

2009-03-03T13:09:00.005-05:00

Yay! March is here...which means Saint Patrick's Day is almost here! Woo Hoo...I may not actually be "Irish" but I will be on March 17th! It's such a fun day to take the day off work and spend it with great friends and green beer! So in honor of SPD here is fun Bella card I made. I used Kiwi Kiss CS and some green DSP from the Raspberry Tart pack. I also thought it was a great opportunity to use my kiwi kiss corduroy button. The "Kiss Me" stamp is from Unity Stamp Co. and "I'm Irish" is my very own handwriting. Also Froggy at Froggaritaville is giving away a fantastic collection of Saint Patricks Day clear stamps. You should go check it out!

Look who got her first Papertrey Ink order!

2009-02-28T08:45:00.005-05:00

I'm a bad girl and I went ahead and spent my whole Ohio tax refund on a Papertrey Ink order. I've been wanting to place a Papertrey order for months but I kept putting it off because I could never decide what to get because I wanted soooo many things. They finally released a sampler pack of their FABULOUS card stock and a collection of tiny polka dot patterned paper in all of their signature colors. Plus they released a kit that included a selection of card stock, ribbon, and inks all for $16! So I knew I had to get each of those things to get me started. Then I somehow narrowed down a few stamp sets that I've had my eye on forever and got those too. I also got several ink spots because they are only $2 and they come in the signature PTI colors. I must say all of my Papertrey Ink products are as good as I expected them to be. So here are the things I've been working on with my new Papertrey loves... First I used the brand new Friends till the End set. I just love the gorgeous flower. It's soooo pretty! Plus it has a ton of versatile sentiments in a very cute little font. I LOVE IT! I used some very springy color combos because I can not wait for SPRING! OMG I neeeeeed some sunshine! I also used the brand new Beyond Basic Borders set which I love, but I'm still trying to get good at stamping with it. The border stamp I used wasn't the easiest stamp to work with...just need to practice.The CS colors used on those two cards are PTI Spring Rain, Raspberry Fizz, Lemon Yellow, and Spring Moss. I used Ripe Avacado Ribbon on the 1st card and SU! Old Olive Ribbon on the 2nd one. Next I used the Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set to make a baby card for my cousin who is expecting. I've seen this color combo used recently and I've been meaning to try it and I finally got around to it. The colors are Spring Rain, Lemon Yellow, and Bitty Dots Pattern paper in Pure Poppy. I also used my SU! So Saffron Ribbon. I love how fresh and crisp the colors look with each other. And finally, of course I have another altered box to show you. This one had a yummy smelling candle in it and I found it on the cheap at TJ Maxx (I LOVE that store!) It already had the fancy little plastic diamond on the top and was a simple black and white color scheme. I decided to use the PTI Raspberry Fizz and Aqua Mist cardstock with the True Black patterened paper to jazz it up. I also used Raspberry Fizz grograin ribbon. I chose those colors because if and when I ever have a craft room, that would be the color scheme. Can you tell I've put some thought in to my imaginary craft room? I also went ahead and monogramed my initial on the front since afterall it will be going in MY craft room someday :) But for now I'm using it to store my PTI ink spots. So there you have it, my first(of many) PTI post.

I'm way behind on my blogging!

2009-02-27T09:34:00.007-05:00

Oops! It's been a while since I've updated this ol' thing. As you'll see from all of the stuff I have to show you, I've been BUSY! First of all, I finally got my Sale-a-bration order from Stampin Up! I got sooo many new stamps and accessories AND my BIG SHOT! Woo Hoo!!! The best part of this particular order was how many of the things I got were FREE! Then I had some projects and swap cards to make for my monthly SU! Demo group meeting. This is a project I made for our monthy challenge. I had to use a Raspberry Tart scallop envelope (from the Big Shot) , a piece of silver hodge podge hardware, a little piece of wide pink pirouette ribbon, and some chip board flowers. I came up with the idea to make an emergency card kit for those times that you realize that you need a card NOW and have no time. The kit includes some versatile any occasion cards and envelopes as well as pens and stamps so that you don't have to run around looking for those things when you have to send a card on the quick! And this is the swap card that I made...Shocker, it's pink! I used the Sweet Stems and Warm Words Stamp sets from SU!, Pretty in Pink CS, Basic Black CS, Rose Red Grosgrain Ribbon, and Black brads. I think it's cute and simple. There were so many wonderful swap cards this time around and I'm going to have a hard time giving any of them away! Here is one more little project I did. I am constantly saving any cute boxes or packaging that I get and then I jazz them up with my Stampin stuff. This one was a box that contained some NARS makeup that I got a few weeks ago. It was a great plain black box with an acetate window and a magnetic closure...and then I just gave it some more personality...who knows what I will actually do with it or what I will put in it, but at least it's snazzy! OK, I actually have more stuff to post but this will have to do for today....stay tuned :)

Friends til the End

2009-02-09T21:49:00.003-05:00

Papertrey Ink is one of my FAVORITE stamp companies. I can't even find the words to describe how fantastic all of their stamps, papers, and supplies are. Their stamps have a distinct style that is super classy and timeless and their papers are of the highest quality and most vibrant delicious colors...Another cool thing about Papertrey is that they are located here in Cincinnati...not that it makes a difference because the only way to purchase in online...but I thought it was cool that they are based here. (I may have even gone stalking one day trying to find their building...I didn't have any luck finding it and gave up because I felt like a creepster) ANYWAY...Papertrey is having their 2 year anniversary right now and they've been doing lots of contests, challenges, and sneak peeks of their brand new products on Nichole's (the owner) Blog. Today's challenge was to make a card for a dear friend inspired by their new Friends Til the End stamp set which is releasing on Feb 15th. I thought I would give it a shot...so here it is... I'll be sending it to my best friend Beth who lives in Seattle, WA. We went to high school and college together and it's been really hard since her husband whisked her off to the west coast. We don't talk or hang out nearly as much as we used to and I'm sure that she'll appreciate getting a little reminder of how much I miss her and care about her. Now don't go getting ideas that I've lost my Stampin Up! loyalty...I'm placing a $430 order tomorrow! I'm so excited because I will finally be getting my Big Shot and as a bonus I will be getting tons of free stamps and accessories from the Sale-a-bration promotion! Oh boy, it's gonna be like Christmas all over again!

Bella Bella Bella Rose Cont...

2009-01-29T10:25:00.000-05:00

Woo Hoo! I have more stuff to post today...My post yesterday got a little long so I saved some stuff for today. A few more Bellas and another Bella Rose card... I've mentioned before that I joined a yahoo group for Stamping Bella called Bellahollics Anonymous...it's a cool group that keeps stamping interesting with challenges, contests, and swaps etc. The coolest thing they do though is the Bella Sistah Swap. You basically get paired up with another Bella addict and you chat with each other and send each other Bellas, cards, goodies etc. I'm participating in my first one, and I got paired up with a great gal named Ellen. So here is a fabulous card she sent me including some awesome stamped images of Bellas that I don't have. I LOVE the colors she used! Pink and Green are my favorite color combo! And I love the glitter too! A Bella can never have too much glitter! And this is a card I made a while ago for Ellen. I had to wait to post it until she received it though...Did I mention I love pink and green? Finally a cute lil card using my fave DSP...I used my 1/2 circle punch to make some DIY polka dot paper. I also used the Say it with Scalops stamp set from SU! I found the cute lil easel and decided to try photographing a card on it...trying to decide if I like using it...I wish I could find something similar to what Dawn McVey (my other stamping idol) uses to prop up her cards for photos.

Bella Bella Bella Rose

2009-01-28T10:49:00.004-05:00

So this weekend I had a whole Saturday with nothing to do but stamp! It was glorious! AND THEN yesterday I had a snow day...I don't really get to have snow days because I'm a nanny for two doctors that HAVE to go to work, but I started driving in to work and I just had a BAD feeling that I was gonna crash so I turned around and came home...and once again I stamped ALL day...So here are my creations First I made a few Valentiney (I decided that is a word) Bellas for the Bellaholics Anonymous Yahoo Group homepage contest. If I win this month it means a free new Bella stamp for me, so keep your fingers crossed! This is a box that one of my Origins gift sets came in...It's almost exactly the same color as Kiwi Kiss from SU! So I just had to jazz it up with my favorite Bella Rose designer series paper. I wanted to give it sort of a weathered shabby chic look...I'm pretty pleased with it. While I had my Bella Rose paper out I went ahead and fancied up this cute little recipe box which will go just perfectly in my pink kitchen! I got the box from Sephora...it was a Philosophy gift set which contained some yummy yummy body washes...obviously the box was the best part though! The original colors on the box are almost spot on matching to SU Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red...so I just jazzed it up and personalized it with my JustRite monogram stamper. Now if I could just get around to making all of the recipe cards to put in it. Last but not least I made this precious little stationary set holder using the All Boxed Up template from Papertrey Ink. Lauren Meader (one of my stamping idols) designs these templates that you download, print, cut, and assemble...and they are just so awesome! For the design on the front I cased a design I saw on the Stampin Up! Demo website. I changed the design a bit but I just love love loved the color combo and the cute lil paper flower.

One more Bella

2009-01-20T18:44:00.004-05:00

I made this card for my Bella Sistah, Ellen because she just had a birthday last week. She got the card in the mail so I can post it on my blog now :) Happy Birthday Ellen!

Look what I made :)

2009-01-20T09:47:00.004-05:00

I did a major organizational overhaul of my "craft area" this weekend and got down to business on making some new stuff. I say "craft area" because I'm not one of the fortunate few who have a whole Craft room. Frank and I have a two bedroom apartment but I gave him the 2nd bedroom to be his sanctuary in exchange for letting me have control of the decor of the rest of the apartment (i.e. pink kitchen, pink and green guest bathroom, and what he refers to as "easter egg" colored bedroom) So I commandeered a wall/corner in our bedroom to be my craft area. :) And now for my creations... My cousin (along with like 546572 other people) got engaged over the holidays...so I made her a card :) I actually made her two cards because in exchange for supporting my habit my mom occasionally commissions me to make cards for her to give. So I made one from me and one for my mom to give her. For the one from me I used Blingabella from Stamping Bella. For both of the cards I also used the "bling" stamp from the new level three hostess set Goody Goody Gumdrops from the brand new Stampin Up! catalog...did I mention there's a NEW Stampin Up! catalog!!! Oh boy...gooooood stuff...my wishlist is ridiculous! It's hard to tell in the picture but the card base is metallic silver CS from SU! It's also hard to tell that I added some sparkles to the ring on the bella and the SU ring. I colored Ms. Bella with my Bic Mark-it markers as well as my Stampin Write markers For this card I used Baja Breeze CS and metallic silver CS from SU! I also used my Brocade Motifs stamp set and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. The picture doesn't do it justice. ...Speaking of the new catalog, Mom also commissioned me to make her one of the example projects from the new catalog. I always feel kind of bad blatantly copying another card...but that's what she wanted...I at least changed up the colors a little bit. I used the old classic stamp set Loads of Love. It's a great little set and is soooo versatile!

Blog Candy Alert

2009-01-12T23:10:00.003-05:00

There is some wonderful blog candy floating around the interwebz this week so of course I am partaking! Here is some neat stuff from Carri And some awesome Valentines stuff from Dannette More Valentine Goodies from Michelleo And a HUGE amount of great stuff from Sally And just so that this post isn't void of images and because Bronx was embarrassed of her last picture on here, here is one of her front side :) Isn't she pretty?

Some Gifts that I actually got photos of...

2009-01-12T10:09:00.006-05:00

I actually got a chance to take some photos of some (really late) X-mas gifts that I made for some friends. The first one was inspired by the gift that my fabulous upline Marilyn gave me... And here's my version... I made it for my friends Cari and Rob who just bought a new house a few months ago so I thought it would be nice to give them a little handmade home decor. I used the Stampin Up! Curly label punch to cut out Muirfield Designer Series Paper and I used the Baroque Motifs and Live Life Like You Mean It stamp sets

This is an all occasion card set that I made for my friends Kim and Kris...they just got married a few months ago and since she is a doctor in her 2nd year of residency and he is a work-a-holic fire fighter they have very little spare time on their hands, so I thought a card kit would be a nice gift for an uber busy couple. I used a variety pack of designer paper and cardstock that I got at Archivers on sale and then I used a variety of Stampin Up! stamps as well as my Just Rite Monogram Stamper. If you have a question about a specific stamp just email me because I used too many to list them all. :) To create the packaging to house all of the cards, I used the "All boxed up" template from the Timeless Templates collection over at one of my very favorite stamp companies Papertrey Ink...which fun fact--happens to be based in good old Cincinnati, Ohio!

Finally an Update!

2009-01-06T09:30:00.005-05:00

I've been a blog slacker lately...the holidays sort of consumed me a little bit. I made tons of gifts and cards for Christmas...but in true Jaime fashion they were all completed in the very last minute before giving them to the recipients...so unfortunately I didn't get pictures of most of the gifts/cards I made...bummer. Oh well. But I will share the super cute Christmas card my boyfriend, Frank made for me. He's always teasing me about all of my card making antics (especially since my supplies are generally scattered all over our living room because I don't have a "craft room") So anyway, he said he was going to make me a card for Christmas...I pretty much thought he was joking and I asked him if he was going to use my supplies to make my card...and he said, "No, I'm gonna use MY supplies" I didn't really expect anything to come of it but on Christmas morning I was surprised with this... I guess I should have prefaced the picture with the fact that he has a fine art degree and is a very talented painter/sculpter. His hobby lately has been building and painting little miniature models for a "nerd game" that he plays. So he used his model plastic and paints to make me a card. Isn't that sweet? I think it came out so cute...I almost wish it wasn't Christmas themed so I could display it all year round. He also gave me this...Diamonds are a girls best friend after all :) I feel bad that I missed out on posting all of the various Christmas card designs that I made but to make up for it, I got a jump start on making some Valentine cards last weekend so I will go ahead and post those. I was trying to make something that would be masculine enough to give to Frank...not an easy feat when dealing with Valentine subject matter...I thought that perhaps the truck stamp from the Stampin Up! Loads of Love set would do the trick...but it's still pretty girly...I may use these cards for my girlfriends and take another stab at a card for Frank. Any ideas for a masculine Valentine card? And just for good measure here is a photo of my special puppy, Bronx...She is in heat right now which is why she is wearing a diaper...and she is laying like that because she is very "special"

Blog Candy Alert

2008-12-14T19:39:00.002-05:00

I've been a total slacker about posting on here lately...mainly because all I have been working on is gifts for people and christmas cards so I can't post those things until they are received by people...so that's my excuse :) But anyhoo there is some A-MAZ-ING blog candy available over at Papermonkey.org You have to check it out! It's wonderful!!!

Some stuff to share...

2008-11-29T07:31:00.003-05:00

It's been a little while since I've had a chance to make a post on here...busy busy busy. But here are a few things I've created lately. This one is a project I created for a challenge with my Stampin Up! demonstrator group...AND I WON! Woo Hoo! Our challenges involve getting a baggie of "card parts" and using them all to create a unique project. For every challenge I do with all of those extremely creative ladies I always try to think way outside the box and try to out do myself and I apparently succeeded this time. The project started as a plain silver box that my mom got somewhere and it came with some rimmer sugar for margaritas...so I ran with the idea and used my Cheers to You stamp set and really jazzed it up with all of the challenge items which included the designer paper scallop, tangerine tango ribbon, a large star brad, and a silver circle piece of hodge podge hardware. So here it is... I also made this cute checkbook cover using a cheapo planner I got at the $1 spot at Target. I just pulled out the calendar part and made my own cover using the Priceless stamp set and Bella Rose designer series paper plus some pretties from the pretties kit. I also made a cute little matching pen by rolling up a little piece of DSP and sticking in the barrel of and RSVP pen and tying on a piece of pink pirouette ribbon. Easy easy easy! I think I may make a bunch of these and sell some during craft show season next year...

Blog Candy

2008-11-18T22:00:00.002-05:00

Some very nice blog candy over at Cindy's Blog And unfortunately, that's all I have to post today...it's been a busy week so far. But I am anxiously awaiting my newest shipment from Stampin Up! I got a brand new Valentine's bundle that is going to be available to purchase in December...It's so cute! It comes with a stamp set, a pack of designer series paper, and a punch. I can't wait to play with it!!!! Oh Mister UPS man, please hurry!

More Bellas

2008-11-13T09:49:00.004-05:00

I've got some more Bellas to share today. I feel like I've abandoned my Stampin Up! stamps lately because I've been so obsessed with my Bellas...but the Bellas are just so much fun to color and so stinkin cute!

I know a lot of stampers like to use Copic markers to color in their stamped images, especially Bellas....BUT I can not justify paying anywhere from $3-6.00 for ONE marker especially because you need several shades of one color to get the "shaded" effect. So I've been using a combination of Stampin Write markers, colored pencils, and the real secret weapon Bic Mark-it Markers.

I've found that the bic markers really get a nice shaded/watercolored effect similar to the look of Copic markers but with a tiny fraction of the price. They come in a pretty good range of colors too. The only thing that the bic markers don't do well is flesh tones...so that is one area where it may be a good investment to get a few flesh tone copics or prismacolor markers...personally I've been using the Stampin Write marker in Blush Blossom for the flesh tones and I'm pretty happy with it.

While I'm doing commercials (haha) I'd also like to mention a wonderful basic black ink pad that I just got turned on to. It's called Momento ink. OMG it's soooo good. I get a perfect stamped image with it 99% of the time and the other 1% is mostly due to my own error. The best part is you can color the image with markers immediately with no drying time and there is NO bleeding! It's a truly wonderful ink and it's only about $5.00

Anyway here are the cards I've been working on. I used the Bic markers I was talking about on each of these cards.

The first one is a "just because" card I made for my friend Amanda because she is a "Savvy Shoppah"

The next one is for my friend Katie, because she just got engaged last weekend! Yay Katie!

And the final one is a card front that I did for a "winter bella" swap. This was the first card that I used Shimmerz on and I looooove it.

More Blog Candy...

2008-11-09T22:24:00.002-05:00

I'm beginning to look like a very greedy person from all of the blog candy posts I've been making lately...but hey, I want to win! So here's another generous blog candy from Lara

2008-11-09T11:36:00.002-05:00

I got up nice and early to complete a challenge for some Blog Candy from Katie who is super cool and I love her blog!

Shocker...I used a Bella stamp :)

So I might be a lil obsessed..

2008-11-07T11:19:00.004-05:00

I've been going Bella crazy lately. They had a special promotion with free shipping for Bellas last week and I totally bought 8 new bellas! I've been stamping and coloring like crazy every night this week and last night I finally got around to actually making some cards. I think they came out pretty cute...I want to work on giving my cards more of a wow factor though...I keep feeling like my cards have become pretty formulaic. Maybe I should just buy some more bling! :)

It's (almost) the most wonderful time of the year!

2008-11-05T08:33:00.002-05:00

Yay for Blog Candy...This one from Suzanne is getting me in the holiday spirit...I know it's still early, but I just loooove the holiday season and it can't come soon enough for me!

Speaking of the holidays, my favorite night of the whole year is coming up in ohhh approximately 45 days...not that I'm counting :) The night that I'm talking about is always the Saturday before Christmas when my dad's band goes out for a tour of some of Cincinnati's finest bars and restaurants playing holiday music and collecting donations for Shriners Hospital for Children and other childrens charities. They have been doing this "tour" for 25 years and I've been lucky enough to join them as an "elf" aka money collector for the past 4 or 5 years. I always bring a few of my closest friends with me to help with elf duties as well and we always have such a blast! It feels so great to do such a good thing while having a fun night out. If you happen to be in the Cincinnati/Mason area you should check out the Santa's Goody Bag Band website and look at the schedule so you can come out and see the show...and put a few dollars in my santa hat :)

Luke and Sophie and the Pumpkin Adventure

2008-10-30T10:54:00.003-04:00

Today we took Luke and Sophie to a really cute pumpkin patch out in Milford. It was cold and just about nap time so we had to make it quick, but we managed to get some really cute pictures of Bubby and Sissy in their costumes. I also got a pumpkin to carve since I havn't done one yet this year. I love carving pumpkins and I always have to clean the seeds and then toast them in the oven with some cinnamon for a yummy treat.

Stampin Bella and Blog Candy

2008-10-25T08:45:00.003-04:00

So since I've gotten all wrapped up in everything Stampin Up! I'm constantly cruising the net looking at anything and everything that has to do with stamping...in doing so I've come across another wonderful stamping company that I am definitely getting hooked on. It's called Stampin Bella. They are just the cutest girly images and I love them! They are also sooo fun to color. I finally got a few bellas for my birthday but I havn't had a ton of time to play with them too much. I did get to make one card though...

The other wonderful thing that I've discovered since I've become an obsessive stamper is this thing called "Blog Candy". Sounds yummy huh? It's basically an incentive to get more visitors to your blog. Maybe someday I will get around to making and promoting my own blog candy but for now I've got my eye on some FABULOUS blog candy from Dannie's Blog. Of all the blog candy I've seen offered up at the numerous blogs I visit daily this is by far the most exciting. I love that it has a bunch of stamped Bella images...ooh I get excited just thinking about it! So you should check out Dannie's blog and all of her wonderful Bellas!

That's all for now. I'm crossing my fingers that I may get a chance to do some stamping this weekend, especially because I just got a huge shipment of Stampin Up! stuff from my workshop that I havn't had a chance to play with yet...but I have to work at Sephora a lot this weekend...boo! I also have my Stampin Up! meeting on Sunday which is exciting because I have some fun stuff to show off and I get to participate in my first swap!

Yep-I'm still alive and stamping...

2008-10-16T20:29:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since I've had a chance to do an update on here. I've been sooo busy. I started working at Sephora part time for the holiday season again this year, I had a birthday, and I was very busy getting ready for my very first Stampin Up! workshop. All the work I did for it was well worth it because my workshop was a success. It was really nice getting to share my new hobby with my friends and family. It was so funny to see my 70-something great aunt (who really just came to be supportive and to finally see my new apartment) get so excited over the Snail adhesive. She thought it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen and she bought two of them! I've always heard demonstrators say that it's so rewarding to watch people stamp and make cards for the first time and I finally got to experience it first hand. It was great...I can't wait to get that feeling over and over again.

Here are a bunch of pictures that I've been meaning

to post for a while...

This is a spread of some of the stuff I had set up for my workshop. I used the Muirfield Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up! so everything looked coordinated and put together. I decorated the box one of my birthday gifts came in to use as my box to draw the door prize winners from. Then I altered a paint can to put some fancy flower pens in. I also used the same Designer paper to decorate a lunch box tin which I put my Holiday Mini catalogs in. Finally I altered some giant binder clips to coordinate and used them to hold my door prize slips and my online ordering flyers. The "enjoy" card was one of the make and takes we did at the workshop.

This is a close up of my altered binder clips and some RSVP pens that I decorated to coordinate with everything.

Some more altered goodies. The card in the back is the other make and take we did using the Live Life Like You Mean It Hostess set. On the left is a calender that I got at the $1.00 section at Michaels and altered it to my creative standards. I also made a cute little frame thing with some cherry coasters that I found at the $1.00 section at Joann's...which just so happened to coordinate perfectly with the cherry stamp from the Tart and Tangy stamp set.

This is my favorite thing that I've made lately. It's a box that contained a cute little candle that a friend got me for my birthday. The box was cute by itself with the fun crystal on top and it had my initial on the front...however I wanted to fancy it up even more. It may be hard to tell from the photo but the box is almost exactly the same color as "pink pirouette" (one of my favorite Stampin Up! In Colors). I went to town on it with my favorite Bella Rose designer series paper and some fabulous stamps and I love how it turned out!

This was the card that I demonstrated at my workshop. I got to demonstrate two different punches, including my favorite-the scallop edge. I also demonstrated the Stampin Pastels used with the blender pens. This was the card that got everyone thoroughly impressed with the Snail adhesive...how funny that everyone would be so drawn to such a simple little gizmo. I also demonstrated the beauty of being able to mount your Stampin Up! stamps with the sentiment separate from the image.

Last but not least, this is Bronx sporting part of her Halloween costume. As you can see, she's thrilled to be wearing a pumpkin hat! :)

That's all for now! Have a great Day!

What a weekend!

2008-09-21T22:19:00.003-04:00

Whew...this weekend was nuts! Frank's best friend (and my good friend too) got married last night. It was a great wedding and it was so nice to see our good friends so happy. Amazingly amidst all of the wedding hoopla and the massive amount of errands I ran over the past few days, I somehow managed to be pretty productive with my card making and stamping. It also looked like hurricane Jaime hit my living room! I'm lucky my boyfriend doesn't mind my explosive stamping messes! This week I'm planning on finishing Cari's sisters baby announcements while I'm house/dog sitting for the honeymooners. I also hope to get a good plan down for my first Stampin Up! workshop on October 12th. Here are the cards I managed to get done this weekend...

Baby Boy Announcement Samples

2008-09-19T16:30:00.004-04:00

2008-09-19T10:29:00.004-04:00

I've been busy making a big mess in my living room playing with my new stuff. It seems that September is a popular month for births and birthdays so I have several cards and projects that I am working on. The baby announcements that I posted a while ago were apparently a big hit since I now have two orders for more baby announcements from some of her family members. So I am in the process of designing some samples for those...hopefully I can post them later today. But for now, here is a picture of a little something I put together for Baby Audrey. She is very precious and I can't wait to see her and give her her gift this weekend!

Finally

2008-09-17T21:31:00.003-04:00

I finally got my Stampin Up! starter kit! It's been a very chaotic week this week due to power outages and taking care of the twins day AND night for the last 4 days! Whew... thank god they are back with their parents now, cable and power are restored, and I have the next two days off work to do nothing but play with my new toys!

I set the date for my first Stampin Up! workshop for Sunday, October 12th. I am excited and I hope I can make some cute stuff and get some people hooked!

Until I get down to business and make some new goodies to post, Here is a picture of Bronx checking out my new stuff...

Getting Impatient...

2008-08-28T21:53:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling kind of bummed this week because I havn't been able to purchase my Stampin Up! demonstrator kit yet (stupid $320 bridesmaids dress and my rent killed my budget!) I realized that while I have TONS of craft supplies and papers and tons of Stampin Up! stamp sets none of it is featured in the current catalog and I have absolutely no SU! cardstock or designer paper. So all of the overflowing ideas I have for getting started on my Stampin Up! business...I can't begin yet. So I've avoided bunkering down at my stamp desk all week which is why I havn't posted anything new this week. However I was looking through the cards that I've made over the last few months and while they aren't made with 100% SU! stuff, some of them aren't half bad for a beginner...so I decided to post some of them in a slideshow just for the hell of it. And hopefully I should be able to buy my kit next week...grrr but then I have to wait for it to come :(

I'm a blogger!

2008-08-19T14:58:00.000-04:00

Well here goes my first blog post! I've recently gotten super hooked on all things stamping and card making. I solely blame it on my friend Elly because I saw her collection of hand made cards when I visited her in Michigan a few months ago. One thing lead to another and now I am about to become a demonstrator for Stampin Up! It's a good way for me to support my habit which has become quite costly...and maybe if all goes well I'll even make a lil profit. I'm hoping to start hosting Stampin Up! parties as soon as I get my starter kit, so if you're interested in supporting me in my new venture and making some pretty cards, drop me a line! Stamping has become a great way to keep me busy and entertain me when I would otherwise be really bored. I hope that by becoming a demonstrator I can get other people hooked on stamping and bring them the joy that it has brought me. The first picture I am posting is of the baby announcements I am making for my friend Cari who is expecting a baby in September.

The inside has a pocket so she can include a photo of the baby. You can't really tell from the picture, but the onsies are actually raised from the background of the card with a pop dot. I think they came out pretty stinkin cute. She doesn't know if the baby is a boy or girl yet, so I made a sample in both blue and pink and I'll just have to wait until the baby is born to finish the announcements. So there you have it, my first blog! Hopefully there is much more to come!

Jaime