Happy Heart Day

Here's an all Stampin' Up! card for you SU enthusiasts! I used Happy Heart Day, and the DP is Summer Picnic. I also used Real Red and Old Olive. I used SU markers to color with, and used a red Gelly Roll pen on the hearts. The heart corner punch is made by Fiskars.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Quilted Valentine

The Casual Midweek Challenge #38 on the Papertrey forum was a second quilt challenge- use Papertrey's Quilt stamps to make a Valentines day card. Since I am a prolific quilter, you'd think this would be easy for me. Nope, think again. Just wanted you to see my table in the beginning of my thought process... How many tries before I came up with a pattern? Oh, 10, maybe!

I wanted to use Sunbonnet Sue and Sam, so I also wanted the card to have colors that reflected the era~ ca 1940's. Well, I didn't have Sears green, lol, and I had to use Pure Poppy since it was Valentines, and Lemon Tart wasn't going to be visible enough... well... almost, lol.

The lace is sticky tape from K & Co., the ribbon is Papertrey. The tiny heart is from Heart Prints, but I think the sentiment is from Heart Prints Sentiments.

Sometimes I think maybe I don't remember to give you all of the supplies I used, I hope you will ask if I leave something out!

Joyful Mail!

Who of us doesn't feel joyful when we find a personally addressed envelope in the mailbox? It happened tome last week, and since it was the day after my birthday...well! I was feeling so happy as I opened the envelope! Who knew it was my birthday? Who made a card for me??? Imagine my chagrin to find an invitation to a baby shower for a work colleague I have not seen in 2 years! Talk about deflated happiness, lol!

Well, Sylvie to the rescue, all the way from France!


Her card arrived very shortly after my birthday~ even though the postmark was from France, and even though Sylvie had asked for my address, I was afraid to think it might be a real birthday card until I pulled it out of the envelope. Isn't it perfect!?!

She used Papertrey's Dark Chocolate, and stamped a pattern using Papertrey's Guidelines for the small side piece. A beautiful pink flower sits on a square that has embossed edges, and some Sweet Blush double stitched ribbon runs up the left side. There are the sweetest little rhinestones all over, and Birthday Wishes finishes it off~ What a pleasure it was to get this in the mail!

Then, to top off my week, look what landed in my mailbox today! My jaw dropped when my DH brought it in, especially since I had already gotten the mail- he says it was stuffed in the back of the box, and I missed it earlier. Patti mailed this to me after I admitted to some nerdiness- or OCD- in a comment on her blog. You should go see her little pails here She covered a tin with Papertrey's Raspberry Fizz patterned paper and tied a bow around, but really, look what's inside! Dessert! Yes, siree, I had chocolates for dessert tonight! Thanks so much, Patti! If you click on the picture, you'll be able to see in more detail the lovely Thank You card~ her stamping with guidelines is precision at it's best!

Getting these gifts in the mail reminds me of how much I love to get mail, and packages, and makes me wonder why I don't send things more. I need to remember to do unto others... Ok, I promise!

A Masculine Cottage

PapertreyInk is winding up for a giant release on February 15th, celebrating their second year anniversary. Nichole is releasing hints this week about changes and sets to come. One of those hints spurred a conversation about Claire. Claire had just posted a card where she hand drew and painted a cottage go see, they are just incredible!

I have the SU set Woodland Cottage, and thought the Casual Midweek Challenge #39 (which meant it had to be masculine) might lend itself well to a 'cottage card' in honor of Claire! So here 'tis!

The background was made using Papertrey's Guidelines set and Dark Chocolate ink. I first stamped the guide with SU's Creamy Caramel. The cotttage was colored with watercolor pencils, then cut out with a Nestability die. There is an odd 'dried grass-like' ribbon under the image, I've had it a long time, and can't remember where I got it!

The sentiment is from Papertrey's Out On a Limb set, it too was cut with nesties and layered on the ribbon. I thought of the brads later, so cut off the prongs and glued them down with glue dots.

An Outlines Valentine

This card came out really pretty, but head's up~ it's not original! I was inspired to buy the stamp at one of the local Scrapbook stores~ Wholy Scrap in North Hampton, NH. This card was displayed, pretty much just like this! I used Papertrey's Stamper's Select to stamp and color on, I used SU markers. I layered in SU's Rose Red and Papertrey's Ripe Avocado. The image was cut out with a Nestability, then sponged with Ripe Avocado ink while the die was still in place. The closeup shows how acetate is inside of the popped up heart, but the middle of the acetate is cute out to see down to the center of the heart. It makes for a very pretty card!

Pergamano Valentine

So! Here's a new technique for me! The Pergamano 'series' if you will, is working on parchment papers to draw, paint, emboss and all kinds of piercings to make beautiful patterns. For my birthday last week I got paper and patterns, white ink and the pen, plus a piercing tool.

I copied the pattern in the white ink, and pierced the holes according to the pattern as well. I put a layer of pink Prisma pencil under the heart, then smeared it around with a paper towel and baby oil. I'm still not sure that it is dry, lol! I then pierced around the edge, as close as my eyes would allow, and tore the piece away from the large sheet to make a 'ruffled' edge. The sparkly hearts are rub-ons from Michaels. It's layered onto Papertrey's Sweet Blush that has been punched with a Fiskers Heart punch.

I know, I know, the hearts are upside down- oh well, it still looks good. The parchment is quite thick, so I have a bit of monoadhesive on the pink layer to hold the parchment piece down. So far, so good! It's finished with a Papertrey's Sweet Blush Swiss Dots ribbon.

If you go to SCS and search for Pergamano, you'll find other cards of this genre!

Papertrey Blog Hop~ Birthday Cards!

Tonight is the Papertrey Blog Hop~ if you are just tuning in, be sure and read the explanation here . Here's the skinny on this month's challenge:

With January being the beginning of the year, it is the perfect time to build up a stash of birthday cards! This month's challenge is to create your very best version of a birthday card. The card can be geared towards a female, male or child; it's your pick! With the collaboration of all our ideas in one central spot, we will have more than enough inspiration to get us through the entire year! We look forward to seeing what you cook up!

Don't forget you can click on any photo and enlarge it~ they really do look better when viewed larger!

I often make Birthday cards, so just play around my blog to see many more!

As a knitter I learned to let busy yarn carry the pattern, and I think the same is true with paper. This black and white pattern from Papertrey's Black & White Basics pack is so busy it hurt my eyes to even put a ribbon on, lol! Hence, just a sentiment with a touch of color, and done! The flower is from Women of Life, and the sentiment inside is from Mixed Messages. If you don't have Mixed Messages, you need to go buy it right now! It has the tiniest of sentiments that fit inside anythng you might want. I hand cut the flower out, then mounted it on a Marvy punched Pure Poppy circle. Sometimes it is the simplest of cards that carry the biggest impact, and I think it is true here!

Hope you are having fun hopping! Come back tomorrow, I have more Valentines to post!

Valentine #2 with $1.00 stamp

How do I love thee? What a great stamp this is! I have used it many times! It was one of the Dollar stamps at Michael's', maybe 2 years ago. It works for birthday and anniversary cards, too.

Pure Poppy is the base card, with SU's gold metallic in between. The paper is Japanese, bought at my local paper store, All About Paper in North Hampton, NH. The sentiment is gold embossed, and I edged it with a gold Pilot marker. The inside sentiment is from Papertrey's heart prints set, and the little bitty gold foil hearts are from a Starform Stickers Valentine set. I got those at All About Paper, too.

I'm on a valentine roll!!

A simple but beautiful Valentine

During the Papertrey With Sympathy release, Debbie Olson created two wonderful cards- see them here . I thought they looked like a great Valentine's Day card, so here it is!

Debbie created her own background paper using the flourish from the with Sympathy set, but I was too lazy. My black embossed paper is Sparkle Wedding Romance from Cloud 9 Design. The base card is Papertrey's Pure Poppy, as is the Satin Ribbon. Believe it or not, the sparkly heart is one of the foamies hearts from Michael's, it matches the red perfectly! I accidentally stamped the I Love You from Out of a Limb (the original size, as with the Raspberry Fizz Valentine below) in L'Amour Red, but it works fine here. I sponged around the Nestability oval in L'Amour red as well. The inside sentiment is from Papertrey's Heart Prints, done in Versafine Onyx Black and L'Amour Red, then cut and layered with Nestability's.

Say, what is the plural of the Nestability, anyway?

A Valentine and a Baby!

My DD made this sweet baby card, I just had to show you before we send it to the hospital. We both got the Sizzlet button die from Stampin' Up!- she used hers and mine is still in the wrap, lol. Looks like I need to get mine out!

The onsie from By Ones & By Twos is paper pieced from a lighter print of the DP Muirfield, and the layer is a brighter paper from that set. The buttons were punched from Baha Breeze and Kiwi Kiss, the layer under the onside is also Kiwi Kiss. There is natural hemp just strung through the buttons, and they are set up on dimensionals. Cute, Cute Cute!

Now for something completely different~

This Raspberry Valentine is made using the Cutttlebug Swirls folder, and Papertrey's Raspberry Fizz paper and Swiss Dots ribbons, along with their set HeartPrints. The hearts are stamped in Raspberry Fizz ink, dried, cut out by hand, then smooshed in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. The glitter heart was smooshed on a glue pad, then covered in glitter. After about 12 hours of drying, I tapped off the excess glitter. The smaller white heart was cut out using the smallest nestability scalloped heart, and stamped with I Love You from the smaller Out on A Limb from Papertrey. I think if you didn't get the original Out On a Limb set, you can't get the small sentiments anymore. Sad for you, since this one works so well here! The dimensional wouldn't stick to the glittered heart, so I used a bit of Crystal Effects to hold it on. Worked like a charm! I had rounded the edges of the card with a corner rounder before I decided to use the ribbon, I suggest you leave the left hand corners square to have the ribbon 'sit' better.

1 Valentine down, 99 more to go, lol!!

What A Day!

My goodness, what a day! Well, really, what a week! Last Friday was my birthday, and I received an entire box of things to do Pergamano~ paper painting, embossing, and punching. Wow! Now, I have had a creative block for over a week, probably because I have an order for 6 cards- and I just can't get any of them out, lol. I can't imagine how those of you who create on a deadline do it. The birthday box was such a block stopper!


Then today I got 2 packages in the mail, one from Papertrey, and one from Flourishes. Double wow! Look for lots of posts in the future with these new toys. Of course, the amazing thing about today was the Inauguration of our 44th President-an historic day, but also so uplifting and hopeful. As if that wasn't enough, I peeked into Nichole Heady's blog to see if the Guest Star Stamper winners had been announced. And oh my goodness, there I was.. a winner! That's never happened to me before!




To help with my block, I have been stalking Michelle Zindorf's blog. Here is a Birthday card I did after I spent like 24 hours on her blog. It's SU's Stardust colored in Prisma markers and layered on a background of alcohol inks. The blues in the inked background are Pinata inks, they are much brighter than Adirondack. The blue paper is an unknown brand, but it is stamped in Encore gold, then torn and folded back.

Isn't this just the funnest birthday greeting?

Now, here is a failed Guest Star Stamper card. It failed because it wasn't done in time, but also because I wasn't liking how it looked. I'm still not sure, lol! I wanted the animals facing each other, but the deer of PTI's Forest Friends faces the same direction as the skunk. Maybe next time I'll make a parade. I stamped the deer, cut it out, turned it over and traced around. A brown marker did the outline, and when I water colored it, it wasn't too bad. I stamped the eye and antlers, it didn't seem to matter that they were 'backwards'. The trees are from Father Knows Best, the corners are a Sizzix die, and I made the little flowers that go up the right edge. Ribbon on the left is green gingham from SU, and the leaf ribbon from Papertrey. The Oh Deer sentiment is cut with a nestie ribbon label, then tied with natural hemp. All of this is mounted on a Ripe Avocado card. I think it is a Belated birthday card, lol, but actually I don't know!

Snowy Evening, Christmas 2008

Sometimes I think I have never grown up, lol!

I wanted a snowy sky this year for my train layout, so I stamped all of the PapertreyInk snowflakes I have: Snowfall, Snowfall Additions & Snowflake Serenade in SU's Whisper White Craft on a piece of navy blue chintz. Then I hung a bunch of glittery snowflakes from the blue. Martha Stewart I'm not, lol, but it sure was fun!

The hardest part was leaning across the layout with my 'arthritic' hands and wrists and trying to stick pins in our wooden roof. That's why you can see bulges in the fabric, oops!

Vellum Blog Hop & Lost Muse

I don't know where my muse has gone. I have an order for 6 cards, and for 4 days I have tried to make cards to fill that order. Nada, nada, nada. I have done what I usually do when I lose my muse...shopped. I've ordered from Papertrey and Flourishes. I've been to 3 different stamp stores 6 times. I've spent hours at the galleries of SCS and Papertrey. What do I have to show for it?

Nada.

I've decided to try and CASE myself, lol, which brings me to cleaning out the hard drive~ here's a card from the July PTI Blog Hop. We were to use vellum. The top vellum is a thin version, not from PTI. I embossed with the older Cuttlebug flowers folder, then used SU chalk along the stems, and a pink Stickles on the flowers. It is anchored with Glue Dots for vellum, which I think work very well, even with very see through vellum! The lace border is Fiskars Threading Water punch used on PTI's vellum. Papers are PTI's Sweet Blush and Chocolate, the ribbon is Sweet Blush Swiss Dots.

Oh muse, where are you?

Papertrey's January Guest Star Stamper Entry

Here is my entry for tonight's GSS contest on Papertrey! I have another, and will show it at some point, lol, but yesterday just got away from me. don't we all wish there would come a day when we didn't have to go to work? lol, well, since tonight is their release, and there is lots I want to buy, I guess I will head out tonight thankful I can go to work and earn some money to play with.

I used the set Guidelines and stamped the background lines in Spring Rain. Next I stamped one of the images in Spring Rain. A second image filled in the open spots with Certainly Celery. It looks great! the card is big, and determined by the number of 'tiles' I wanted to highlight. The elephant from Bitty Baby Blessings was colored in the same Copics Nichole Heady used~ B21 and B95. Hey! My elephant looks just like hers! The sentiment is also from Bitty Baby Blessings, cut out with a Nesty label, then glued to Spring Rain grosgrain ribbon. The little hearts were a perfect match from my stash, I just put a bit of linen thread through them and attached with some glue dots. The elephant is sitting on punched out circles, I used nesties, but the green scalloped circle is the SU punch.

Bashful Blue baby

Just another day in the baby card mill in Maine. this one is pretty much all Stampin' Up!, the carriage is from Something to Celebrate (2004).

Papers are Bashful Blue and Apricot Appeal~ brads are from the Soft Subtles set. welcome little one sentiment is from Savvy Stamps.

The plain blue layer is put through the crimper 2 ways to get the 'squared' look. I believe this carriage was the first time I used Prisma markers, it has been sitting on the desk a long, long, time.

Color Challenge

The weekly challenge over at PTI ~ see the gallery here ~ was to use Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet. My cards tend to be 'flat', so getting 4 colors on one card was not easy! I decided to let the ribbon carry the color, lol, so I didn't need to use as much cardstock!

The sentiment is from Bitty Baby Blessings, the circle is from Borders and Corners- Circle. The scalloped circle in the middle is punched with SU's scallop punch. The little heart is from my stash, and the rattle is from a pack of 30 for a dollar from the dollar store.

Sweet Peapod Baby

Isn't this the cutest? The background paper is SU's Fall Flowers, the vine stamp is from Penny Black, the Peapod Baby is from Lockhart Stamp Co., and the sentiment is from SU's So Many Sayings. The background paper is from SU's Fall Flowers.

In case you are wondering, I always buy any stamp SU makes with millions of saying on one block- I cut them all apart and mount them on Jenga blocks. So Many Sayings was originally 3 stamps, but I got 29 sentiments from it!

The images are stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, then colored with SU markers Old Olive and Certainly Celery. The layer is Old Olive cs; the buttons are from Joannes. I ran SU's Linen Thread through the button holes, pulled the thread off the edges of the button, put a glue dot on top then cut the threads- the glue dot held the thread down to the button. I put a second glue dot on to help hold the button down to the card.

Snowing here again today, sigh, I was going to go to AC Moore to see what Inkadinkado stamps I could get at 40% off. Guess I will just stay home in my warm and cozy home, with the fire going, and stamp the rest of the day!

Pretty Thank You!

Last night and today I have been making Thank You cards for the folks who donate things to the Birthing Unit where I work. There is a small group of women who knit baby hats~ they are so sweet and each baby looks so beautiful in a handmade hat after the first bath!

The flower and sentiment are both from Serendipity Stamps, the set is called Bleeding Hearts 1114QCL~ http://www.serendipitystamps.com/

Th papers are both from Basic Grey Blue Bonnet from Oh Baby and Preston from Oh Baby Boy. I stamped the images in Versafine Onyx black, then colored the it in with Prisma markers. I did some shading on the leaves, but you'll have to enlarge the picture to see that. I roughed up the edges, then folded over one corner and tied some Linen thread from SU, then fuzzed it out a bit.

It is an A-6 card, but I had to make it bigger to see some of the flowers on the paper. Simple, but very pretty!

Not a Creature Was Stirring...

After I had the mice image colored, I jumped up and drove all the way back to the stamp store to canvas more 50% off images. Lol, I didn't buy any, but I was so excited about my coloring of these mice I bought some Copics! So these little guys are done with a mix of Prismas and Copics, as well as some watercolor crayons to do their bodies. their faces are pink, but that got lost in the upload.

Next time I will take a lesson from Michelle Zindorf and emboss the image before after i color it, then I can brayer some color on the background. it actually looks ok the way it is, but some shadowing might make it look a bit more 'placed'. I contemplated doing Liquid Applique on their hats, but since this is going to sit for the next 11 months I thought better of it.

I also trialed a couple of sentiments and ribbons, but sometimes plain is just the best!

Stamp: House Mouse
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Prisma and Copic markers, SU's watercolor crayons
Paper: Papertrey's Stampers Select, Pure Poppy & Ripe Avocado
corners punched with a corner punch!

Little Chicks

Phew! Maybe the Christmas cards are gone from my bloodstream?? Then again, maybe not!

I don't believe I've ever had a magenta Self-Cling stamp before, but this one stamped out such a nice image! I colored it with Prisma markers, although the little butterfly is colored in SU's Regal Rose marker, since that matched the SU Sweet Treasure paper I used. The yellow is Almost Apricot, and the border punch is Fiskars Threading Water. The sentiment is a wood mounted stamp from The Cats Pajamas.

Simple, but very sweet!

A cute little tag for next year~

Another 50% off stamp! This one is from Northwoods Rubber Stamps, and cost $4.25! I think I may need to go back to Stamped Designs tomorrow, lol lol!

It's stamped in Versafine, heat fried, then colored with Prisma markers. I cut down the border edge a bit, then edged it with a gold Pilot pen. Finished size is about 4 x 2.

First 2009 Christmas Card!

You'd think I was ready to move on to Baby Card City this week- like, Christmas is over, right? And, you'd think I could stick with a New Year's resolution to slow down buying stamps for more than 1/2 a day, right? Wrong, both counts. I made 4 Christmas cards last night with the stamps I bought at a LSS that were 50% off. If you are close to Dover, NH, then get yourself to Stamped Designs, because almost all of the Christmas stamps are 50% off! This sweet one cost me less than $5.00!

The Penny Black Winter Bough #3508K image was colored with SU's water based markers (Old Olive, Real Red, Certainly Celery, close to Cocoa and another lighter brown), then spritzed with water from a spray bottle and stamped on SU's Shimmer White. This was the first image, but I had a second sheet of paper ready and stamped again without remisting, so got 2 images from one set up.

The Seasons' Greetings sentiment is from Rubber Soul.

The image is matted on Papertrey's Ripe Avocado, then popped up on a piece of imported paper with a red and green pattern- then all was layered on a Ripe Avocado card. Finished size is A-6.

Maybe one of my 'resolutions' should be to do a Christmas card or two per week?

Sweet Baby Card with Flowers

I made 4 cards and tags last night, lol, and 3 were Christmas! What's up with that??

All paper is PTI- Vintage Cream, Summer Sunrise, and Spring Moss. The ribbon is not PTI, but they sell a similar product. The flowers are Primas from so long ago they may qualify as antique. There are Dew Drops in the middle of the flowers~ I don't like Dew Drops so my NY's resolution is to use them almost up, lol! The Dew Drops are glued to the paper flowers with Tombow Mono Adhesive, then the flowers are applied using Glue Dots.

The top layer is a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder that came with a die to cut words that fit the raised part. I think it is pretty cool! The bottom scallop was cut using a blade on my Carl cutter. It makes a small round scallop- works well for shorter lengths.

Grand-daughter Olivia thought the Twins card was too plain, so I had to dress this one up for her, lol!