Thanks Bunches!

It's the last week of school for my youngest daughter. It is so hard to believe how fast high school is flying by. Seems like just yesterday she was hopping on the bus to Pre-K and waving good-bye to her Dad and I. I tried to thank some of her teachers this year, we really wanted to remind them they are important and to thank them for all their hard work. I started with a card. The little cutie with the flowers hiding behind her back is Rosie Posy from Lili of the Valley. Isn't she the cutest? I colored her with copics and then cut the image out with a circle Nestabilities die. The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Collectable collection called Notable. I love the oranges and blues in this stack!

Next I worked on decorating a glass jar. I put a band on solid cardstock around it and then added some flowers, a label cut with Verve's Classy Label Die and a chipboard V for the teacher's initial.

On the other side of the jar, I stamped the sentiment and added more blue rhinestones in the corner of the label.

I finished the top of the jar with more of the flowers cut with the Plentiful Petals die from My Favorite Things.  I love how the layers add dimension. The green scalloped circle was cut with a Nestabilities die and I added some rhinestones to really make the flowers pop. I filled the jar with chocolate chocolate chip cookies!
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TSG Birthday Challenge Day 1

There She Goes Stamps is celebrating their fourth birthday this week. Each day this week is a different birthday themed challenge. Monday's challenge was to use numbers. I don't have a TSG stamp set with numbers so I stamped the cake image and then used some Thickers numbers that I have had laying around for ages. I used Jen Del Muro's idea for mounting the pearls on some cardstock circles to make them stand out a little more. The patterned paper is Simple Stories Harvest Lane--love it. Definitely a different color combo for me, but I like it.
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S'Up Grill-Friend

This has got to be one of my favorite stamp sets this year! They are from the Alfresco set from Paper Smooches.  You'll be seeing more of this set soon. I had never heard of Paper Smooches until I saw some of the Alfresco stamps on a blog. Instantly I knew they had to be mine. I have made two different cards with the S'Up Grill-Friend sentiment. The first one using patterned paper from the Simple Stories Summer Fresh pad. I inked the edges and then added the flag of patterned paper and the sentiment. I finished it with the gorgeous hamburger.

The second card was made with the same stamps, but instead of the picnicky red and white checks I used black, white and red. I added some spica glitter to the smoke and grill. The ribbon and black brad are from my stash.
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Just Married

One of my youngest daughter's favorite teachers is getting married over the summer. So I was tasked with making a wedding card for her. The stamp is from a wedding set from Digi Stamp Boutique. I printed it out and colored it with copics. I used a Sizzix embossing folder and some twine and ribbon from my stash to keep it clean and simple.
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Little Girls

As soon as I saw this Stamping Bella Anastasia stamp I immediately thought of my girls. Not sure if it is the curls plopped on top of her little head or the glasses or maybe both. I colored her with copies and gave her a nice bunch of red curls. I added grey and green to her dress. I cut the patterned paper strips with a MFT Fish Tail Flags Die-namic.  The flower was cut with a die and finished with a black rhinestone center.
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Oh Snap!

The challenge this week on the There She Goes Clear Stamps blog is vacation. I looked through my TSG stamps and as soon as I saw the Oh Snap set it clicked! Can't go on vacation without a camera right? I paper pieced parts of the camera and then added some glossy accents to the lens and flash. I cut the image out with a circle nestabilitie die and then layered it onto a blossom die cut. I cut the fishtail flags using a MFT die and added some texture with the cuttlebug seeing spots embossing folder. The black polka dot paper is Jenni Bowlin Haven--I am already wishing I had bought more than one sheet! I finished off the clean and simple look with a couple of black rhinestones.
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BombDiggity

Even though my youngest daughter is in high school, I still like to take the opportunity to thank a few of her teachers for all the hard work and to remind them how important they are. This year I used the new BombDiggity set from There She Goes to put together a quick little basket.

I got the cute little plastic basket from Target and filled each with some candy. Then I made a tag for each one. I colored each with bright copic markers and added some spica glitter and rhinestones.

I finished each one off with a sentiment flag and a colorful ribbon. The teachers were surprised when my daughter delivered them this morning. Can't wait to play some more with this set!

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Bridal Shower gift card holder

My husband's cousin is getting married in June. The bridal shower is out of town and I am not going to be able to go. I wanted to make a special card for the bride to be and just another simple gift card holder. I saw something like this recently on someone's blog and for the life of me can't find it now. The card actually slides into the holder with a frame cut out for the main image to show through. The gift card is tucked inside the card--wish I had pics of that!!!

The stamp is a digital image from The Digi Stamp Boutiques Cute Wedding Collection. I colored the image with copics and then layered the image onto pink and gray mats. I cut the pink corners with a new die from My Favorite Things and then added some pearls. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye, leftover from Valentines day but works perfectly for this. I cut the frame with a Nestabilities die and then cut a smaller one in the holder. I finished it off with some baker's twine and a button.

Bless Our Home With Lots of Love

My oldest daughter and her family moved into a new apartment the first week of March. Gracie has a back yard that she loves and it is really close to my daughter's work. It is still way too far from Mimi and Poppy, but they are very happy.
I knew as soon as I saw the Home Sweet Home stamp set from Market Street Stamps that it would perfect for a housewarming gift. I used a Nestabilities die to cut the opening in the frame, love the corners.
I colored the house and tree (complete with tire swing) with copics and then cut them out. I found the sentiment and sun in the Day or Night stamp set from There She Goes Clear Stamps. Love it when it all comes together. I cut some cloud patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Fly a Kite pad and then tore strips of green card stock. I layered the strips to give a little dimension.
I stamped the sentiment (little angels up above; bless our home with lots of love) and cut it out with a MFT first place award die-namic. I finished it off with a couple of green rhinestones.
Can't wait to get it in the mail!
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Long Time...No Post

As hard as I try sometimes life has a way of getting in the way of my stamp time. Between the flu, my daughter's play practice and averaging over eight hundred miles a week in my car getting everyone where they need to go I have had very limited stamping time. Yesterday I decided the laundry could wait one more day and got in a little me time!

The image is Cowlik Sunflower from Stampendous. I saw it on someone's blog, and loved it. The patterned paper is Milton & Company. I love the brown/orange/green combo. I used the Fishtail Banner Die-namic from MFT for the flags and some linen thread from TCP to hang the flags.

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Float My Boat

I have admired this little cutie from There She Goes stamps for a while. I finally broke down and bought it last week--and a couple of others I have eyeing.
I colored the image with copics and then cut it out with a Nestabilities oval die. I used a postage stamp edge dynamic from My Favorite Things for my waves. I cut the little flags out and then colored with copies to match. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Dilly Dally.
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Valentine's Day Box

I wanted to make something really special for my youngest daughter for Valentine's Day this year. It seems like she gets to see all the things I make as I am getting ready to mail them out to other people, so I think it is her turn. I made the box with my scor-pal and then used a Nestabilities die to cut the window out. I covered the window with clear acrylic and then used My Mind's Eye Love Me papers to decorate the top and bottom. I always make a test box with old paper I have on hand, gives me a chance to iron out all the kinks before using good, expensive paper. The hearts are felt that I cut out with the Heart Trio Cut Ups from The Cat's Pajamas. I added a few rhinestones for some extra sparkle.

 Detail shot of the side.

 I used stamps from The Cat's Pajamas to decorate the candy bar wraps.

Two clear acrylic boxes I made. I filled them with her favorite candy...Dove and Reese's.

 The inside of the finished box.
 Thanks so much for stopping by have a great Valentine's Day!

Peek a boo

This is one of my favorite stamps from My Favorite Things, Pure Innocence Peek A Boo. I used Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch for this card--love the sketch. I colored the image with copics and paper pieced her dress with Milton and Company papers from Wild Rose Studios. Big change from all the pink and red I have been using lately and I love it!

This is a close up shot of the little darling, I added pearls to her dress and the flower in her hair.
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Clowning Around

Here is the second card I am sending to Gracie.
The stamp set is Clowning Around from The Cat's Pajamas. The penguins seem to be having a great time!
I colored the image with copics and added some spica glitter highlights. I layered the image onto an inverted circle die cut with Nestabilities. The patterned paper is from the October Afternoon Campfire collection. I used my new Fiskars Jester punch for the red card stock and then added some bright blue bakers twine. I added some bright rhinestones to finish it off.
Can't wait to get this in the mail!
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My First Valentine

Not only is this my first Valentine's Day card for 2012, it is also my first entry into the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  If you'll remember one of my goals this year is to try more challenges. No better time to start than now.
I stamped the image from In Style Stamps called Patty Love. I colored her with copies (using my favorite color combo, pink and brown) and then added a little sparkle to her chain of hearts. I layered the image on to a Nestabilities heart circle. The two hearts in the corner are actually from the die. I added a pop of green to go with the Fancy Pants Hearts and Dots Bracket paper--left from last year. I used my new Sizzix embossing folder on the green card stock--got a feeling you will be seeing a lot of that embossing! I finished the whole thing off with some wonky zig zag stitches, I love how it ties it all together.
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Gracie's Cards No 1

One of my goals this year is to send more cards, I make a ton of them but for some reason I end up with a huge pile that never get mailed out. Why create all these beautiful (IMHO) cards if they are just going to sit in a box right? I decided to try to send one a week to my granddaughter, Grace.  She is almost three and loves to get stuff in the mail, especially cards with a couple sheets of stickers to play with inside!
Anyways, this is the first card for Gracie this year. I used the Green Acres set from Taylored Expressions. I  colored the farmer, cow and the haystacks with copics and added spica glitter to the farmer's pitch fork and the cow's bell. The clouds were cut with a die from The Cat's Pajamas. The patterned paper is from October Afternoon's Campfire pad.

For the inside of the card, I used one of the sentiments and added a haystack.
Think this is a great way to start Gracie's card collection!
Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday!

Now that the holidays are over I have a stack of thank you cards as well as a couple of birthday cards to work on. This little cake cutie is from The Greeting Farm, called Birthday Anya. I kept this card pretty clean and simple--a new look for me, but I like the final result. I colored Anya with copics and then added a little sparkle to her headband and cake with spica glitter pens. I used a Sizzix Christmas Six embossing folder on the aqua card stock. (I saw Jen Del Muro use it and loved it!) No patterned paper this time--strange for me I know but I think the solid card stock worked.
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Happy Birthday Ashley!

As hard as it may be to believe the little girl snuggling the naked doll in her rocking chair will be twenty six years old at the stroke of midnight. Yep, my oldest daughter is a New Year's baby! Having your birthday on a major holiday can be both a blessing and a curse, some years friends and family are a little partied out from the night before. My mom always reminds her that the whole world is celebrating with her. It also means that Christmas and your birthday are within a week of each other. For some reason in our family we have a ton of holiday birthdays--father in law celebrates his birthday the night before my daughter and my sister in law has two children one born on Christmas and one on St Patrick's day. Yep, we love a holiday birthday!

In honor of her birthday I got out the bunny stamps again--remember I told you he loves snow and cake, he is a mischievous little rabbit for sure! I colored him with copies and then used some liquid appliqué on the frosting, instead of heat setting it I added glitter and let it dry over night. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Madison Avenue. I love the pink, green, and brown color combo. Hope you have a wonderful holiday. Happy Birthday Ashley, love you!