WSC41

2:04 PM Edit This 2 Comments »
Got a new stamp set and had to play! Since it's Friday, I knew Beate would have a great sketch to get me started. I went back and forth on ordering this set, Live your Dream, from the Occasions Mini. I'm so glad I got it. I've come up with some great uses for it - the saying would be good for a graduation card or SB page along with the lined dots to keep your journaling straight and the flowers are good for almost anything. I like the little bird and butterfly for Spring ideas and the Thanks is a nice font and size. Anyway, here's my version. Colors are are Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, US White, and Choc. Chip along with Soft Sky stitched ribbon and Afternoon Tea DSP. The flowers were colored with a blender pen and I put Aged Copper brads in the center. The square is sponged with Choc. Chip., layered and popped up with dimensionals.

I've also been trying to figure out watermarks and signatures. I love the ones with designs or big initials behind them, but I'm just not that computer savvy so I have to settle for the basics. Let me know what you think. Have a great weekend!

Happy Easter- WSC40!

2:04 PM Edit This 2 Comments »
Happy Easter everyone! I really wanted to keep up with Beate's Weekend sketches and started this yesterday morning but couldn't get back to it until today. This stamp is the biggest one I own - it's From the Garden, a level 1 hostess set and I love it. It makes a great Easter lily and can be used for numerous occassions. I stamped it in Staz On Brown and watercolored it with Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Garden Green and Always Artichoke Watercolor Crayons. I used Not Quite Navy for the background. It's mounted on Cameo Coral and then a So Saffron Card base. It looks a bit washed out here, but IRL it's very pretty. Those WCC do wonders! Sentiment is from All Holidays and popped up with dimensionals. I cut a slit on both sides of the image and slid a piece of white taffeta ribbon around and tied it around the sides. Hope you like it! Thanks for the sketch Beate!

Another Sketch Challenge

9:59 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
Whew! I made it - another one of Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenges. I think this makes 3 out of the last 4 weeks. Not too bad. Hopefully I can keep it up. I really like having a "starting point".
This one uses Together Forever in Staz On Black ink on Kraft CS, layered on Black. I embossed the circular image in black and added a cut out flower with black brad in the center with dimensionals. A strip of black grosgrain runs across the card and I added the line of dots on the top and bottom with my marker and paper piercing guide.
I loved the sample in the big catalog for this set and basically got it because I love the 2 images I used. So I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Let me know what you think. I loved getting those comments last week! Thanks!

6:15 PM Edit This 5 Comments »
Isn't this the cutest? From a small distance it actually looks like one of "those" baskets! Up close you'll see it's just textured cardstock! In this case, River Rock sponged with Close to Cocoa. It's a little time intensive, but I had to make one and I'm glad I did. The tutorial for them can be found here. I had to make an extra strip and tighten mine up so the studded piece would fit, so be sure to measure exact and keep it tight! The new poly twill ribbon would be fabulous for this, but I don't have mine yet. : ( I reached for this ribbon instead but it was a little flimsy so I spread some elmer's glue across it with my fingers to firm it up a bit. The brads are from the Vintage pack. What do you think?

New punches

5:26 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
OK, so here's another pink and brown combo. I couldn't resist. I looked up Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge again (love those) and started looking at my paper stash. As soon as I saw the stars in the Berry Bliss DSP I knew I wanted to use that since I also wanted to try out my new star punches that arrived this week. The pink is the reverse side of the same paper. The Card base and center are Choc. Chip sponged with Craft White. Stars are Choc. Chip and Pretty in Pink with an Aged Copper brad. I popped it up with dimensionals onto a white 1 3/8" circle sponged in Choc. Chip. Sentiment is from a retired hostess set Warmest Regards and embossed in white. It looked like it need a little something else but ribbon didn't quite work so I paper pierced both Choc. Chip pieces. Let me know what you think.

Punched Egg Tutorial

1:14 PM Edit This 7 Comments »
Hi Everyone. I'm so egg-cited to share this with you. (I know, corny, but had to do it : ) ) I was thinking the other day that I wished I had an egg shaped punch to fill a basket stamp with, add to a scrapbook page or just do an Easter themed card with. Then it hit me! Here's how I punched my eggs:







First I stamped a small pattern on my cardstock. Here I used the retired Petite patterns, but there's a number of sets that would work.








Then I used the small Oval Punch upside down to see where I could get the most out of my pattern and punched. I put a tiny bit of Snail on the back of it and placed it at the bottom of a sticky note (use any thin scratch paper).

After that, I took the Slit Punch and placed the sticky note with egg on it into the slot just until I could see the sides and punched.

Remove and you have your egg! You can sponge the sides or even leave some plain. I'd love to see what kind of creations you come up with using this. Leave me a post and I"ll pick a random number to send out an Easter card to.

Explosion Box

2:14 PM Edit This 1 Comment »

Here's another sneak peak for my next Stamp Camp - an Explosion Box! I used Pretty in Pink, US White and Close to Cocoa CS along with Berry Bliss DSP, One of a Kind stamp set, Choc. grograin ribbon and a Build A Brad. Let me tell you I'm not a big fan of the color Pink, but I do like it with brown and that Berry Bliss DSP is really nice. The flower is stamped twice in the 2 different colors, cut out and layered with a dimensional and then placed on a 1 3/8" Square. This is a great little box for Easter treats or even a special message or gift.

Felt Thanks

1:59 PM Edit This 1 Comment »

Here's a cute and quick card using a few new accessories: Felt Flowers (with a brad), Pumpkin Striped Grograin Ribbon and the Stitched Background stamped in Craft White on Old Olive CS. Sentiment is from Much Appreciated in Old Olive. I really like that background, it's like making your own designer paper in any color you want. We'll be making these at my next Stamp Camp.