Ikea Frame

I picked up some of these framed mirros from Ikea a while back thinking that I could do something with them.



Here is what I came up with, I am really happy with it.


To start of I gave it a light sand to smooth it out a bit since it was not completely smooth. Then I took some white acryllic paint and mixed in some Old Olive reinker. I took this and painted the outside edges as well as the inside of the frame by the mirror. After that was dry I took a piece of 12x12 designer paper and pressed all around the outside and inside edges of the frame and trimmed the paper to fit. Then I "painted" the surface with Modge Podge and adhered the paper. After it was completely dry, (I waited about a 1/2 hour to be safe) I sanded all of the outside and inside edges. I learned that you have to be really careful on the inside edges not to touch the glass otherwise it will leave some little scratch marks. Once it was sanded I painted a thin layer of modge podge and waited for it to dry, then I added a rub on to the bottom corner. Then I painted on a total of 7 layers of modge podge (over the papered side as well as all of the edges), while waiting 1/2 hour in between each coat. I wanted to make sure that it had a good finish on it so it could be dusted and cleaned, I may have gone a little bit overboard though. At the end I added a felt fusion flower with a glue dot. With all of the modge podge and the mirror in the middle it was so hard to get a good picture, I literally ended up taking close to 100 and these were the best I could get, thank goodness for digital cameras! Enjoy.

Here is a close up of the run-on.



Stamps: None
Ink: Old Olive reinker
Paper: Fall Flowers Designer Series Paper
Accessories: SAB run-on's, felt fusion flowers, silver brad, sanding blockPin It Now!

I'm Dreaming of a Scalloped Christmas

In keeping with Christmas in July, last night I did a Christmas in July class. We had fun trying to pretend it wasn't 100 degrees outside. At the same time I also wanted to showcase the scalloped circle punch. This class was kind of hard for me to do since we still do not have the new SU! catalog we haven't had any Christmas papers since December and those ones that I had are almost gone and I didn't have enough to make the projects for every one, so I had to fudge some of it.

The first project we did was a photo wallet.

I just did not have enough scraps left to use Christmas paper on this so I just used what I had. I wanted some color in it so I used the Summer Picnic designer series paper. We figured it was still a gift for someone so it would fit the theme.
Here are some pictures of what it looks like opened up. The white areas are for journaling. If you would like to see the pictures bigger, just click on them.



Stamps: So Many Scallops
Ink: Real Red
Paper: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Pearl from Pretties Kit
Punches/ Tools: Scallop Punch

The next project we did were gift card holders. I got the template from Dawn Griffith's website. It was real easy to put together but the ladies last night loved it.


The paper came from a retired Simply Scrappin Kit. I think that is was called All the Trimmings. Here is what it looks like opened. It is really hard to see the gift card in there because the only one I could find around the house was a navy one, so it blends in.


Stamps: Warm Words, Deer Friends, So Many Scallops
Ink: Real Red, Night of Navy
Paper: Night of Navy, Real Red, Brocade Blue, Whisper White, Designer Paper from All the Trimmings SSKit
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals
Punches/ Tools: Scallop Punch


The Third project was a set of little cards to go with gifts.

They use various colors of the Print Pattern Designer Series Papers, some of which are from the Prints Pack hostess set. I cased these cards from Angie Juda.
Here are the individual cards.




Stamps: Deer Friends
Ink: Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Black
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Prints Designer series paper in coordinating colors
Accessories: Wide Grosgrain in Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.
Punches/ Tools: Scallop Punch, Crafters Tool Kit

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Christmas in July

Well it is supposed to get to 100 degrees today here, if we could only Let it Snow. I still love this stamp set and am so glad that is it going to be around for another Christmas season. This is a slight alteration from some of my Christmas cards from last year. I cased the basic layout from Gina, and changed it up just a little bit.



I love using the shimmery white cardstock for my focal point on cards, especially holiday cards. It gives it the little extra sparkle that most everyone loves.

Stamps: Big on Christmas, and Mark the Date
Ink: Black, Bashful Blue, Markers- Bashful Blue, Only Orange, Real Red, Glorious Green
Paper: Shimmery White, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Brass Jumbo Eyelets, Night of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon
Punches/Tools: Crop-a-dile, Crafters Tool KitPin It Now!

Love you du Jour

Now I don't speak french, but I am falling in love with the new Dreams du Jour stamp set that will be available on Aug 11th. I have yet to use it as I had imagined when I first saw the set but have actually been using it on cards.

I came across a new blog (to me anyways) and found lots of inspiration. The first post was a color inspiration challenge. Kristina Werner had found this beautiful dress and chose the colors out of it for a challenge.

I hardly ever use Sage Shadow and would not have ever come up with this color combo on my own. Isn't the dress just absolutely lovely?

Here is what I came up with. This card started out as so much more, with many more elements and layers but I ended up ripping it apart and starting over. I ended up ruining the little butterfly that I spent so much time watercoloring and cutting out which was sad, but, I really like the simplicity of the card and the sentiment (which is mounted with dimensionals) says it all.



Stamps: Dreams du Jour, Pretty Petals
Ink: Sage Shadow, Basic Black, Markers: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Sage Shadow
Paper: Whisper White, Sage Shadow
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals
Punches/Tools: 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Crafters Tool KitPin It Now!

Where oh where did the time go.....

Wow, the last few days have been such a whirl wind. I have been stamping and crafting like a mad woman every spare moment I can get lately to get everything done. I had signed up for convention swaps, a partner exchange, was making baby announcements for a friend, and the list goes on. The nice thing is that I now have some neat items to post in the next few days.

Today I will start with some of the convention swaps. I was trying to wait until the retired list came out so that I wouldn't use a retired designer series paper on the swaps and lo and behold they retire ALL of the papers. It was so hard to not be able to use the papers. So here is the card that I ended up with, the idea was cased from a card done by cjoy over on SCS just tweaked a bit to make it work for me.



I love the cute little Moose you stamp set, and it literally fell off of the shelf when I was browsing through current sets to try and figure out what to do. So I decided to just use it. I wanted a fallish theme to the card. I think that it turned out cute. I hope that people at convention will like it too.

Stamps: Moose You Stamp Set
Ink: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Rose Red and Chocolate Chip
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Whisper White
Accessories: None
Punches: Both Large and Small Oval PunchesPin It Now!

Berry Bliss Box in a Bag

or is it a Bag in a Box, I don't remember... I have seen these floating all over blogs lately, so I jotted down the measurements a while ago and am finally getting to make one. I was trying to get this done on Thursday so that I could get it posted yesterday while I was out of town but that just didn't happen. So I just finished it up this morning and it was soooo easy and so cute.



Here the link to the pattern that I followed to create the Box In A Bag at Diana Gibbs' blog. I did do the strip at the bottom differently because I have the new Scallop Edge Punch that will be available August 11th. I just punched it along the 11 inch side of a sheet of cardstock and them cut it to be about 3/4 of an inch wide. That way I didn't have as much waste as I would have if I used the slit punch and a 2 inch strip of paper.

Per request I am going to try listing the supplies I used differently and see how it goes, so for those of you who prefer it list style here you go, and we will have to see if it sticks.

Stamps: none
Ink: None
Paper: Berry Bliss Designer Series Paper, Purely Pomegranate, and Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon (retired), Pretty in Pink Brads, Sticky Strip.
Punches: Boho Blossoms, Scallop Edge, Round TabPin It Now!

A super quick little something

I had made some banana bread for a friend as a quick little gift. Of course I needed a card for it. After spending most of my time left cleaning up a water spill that my toddler created, I had just a few minutes before I had to go and no suitable cards in my stash. The first set I touched was Deer Friends, a Christmas set.



I have not had a chance to use the set yet so figured sure, why not. I like how two of the images in the set can be used other times of the year, the angel face and the present. I also had not used 2 of the new in colors, so I decided to use them while I was at it. Boy was I in for a surprise when I opened up the pink pirouette ink pad, there was a nice dead spider in it. I am just glad it was dead. After getting rid of the spider and decontaminating my ink pad with a Lysol wipe, I was able to get back to work. Luckily there was still enough ink in the pad to still use it as I am currently waiting on the refill that is on backorder.

I used the Pink Pirouette and Pacific Point ink pads and paper. Also used was a 3x3 whisper white love note and a black ink pad. The pink layer is stamped with the flowers from the Sprinkles stamp set. The present is punch out with the 1 inch punch and mounted with a dimensional. Not too bad for a quickie.Pin It Now!

Scratched and Pieced Sock Monkey

We have a birthday party for a nephew today, and I still hadn't made a card. When we got home from swim lessons the kids all crashed on the couch waiting for me to make sandwiches. So I headed off to stamp, uninterrupted! I still haven't had a chance to sit down and use all of my new preview stuff, so I thought that this would be a good time to break out my new sock monkey. I love the idea of the stamp set but feel like it is lacking the character of the traditional toy. So I spent a lot more time than I should have trying to give the little guy some life.



I stamped the monkey twice, once on whisper white and going gray. I colored the going gray image with chocolate chip pastels. Then I took a needle from the crafters tool kit to scratch the monkey both horizontally and vertically. This let a little of the going gray peek through and give it the texture of a real life sock monkey. (If I could only completely capture it on camera.) I used the retired Summer Picnic DSP for part of the background and also the paper piecing on the cupcake, hat and banner.Pin It Now!

Stitched Gratitude

This card was done for today's SCS color challenge. The colors in the challenge are Wild Wasabi, Almost Amethyst, and So Saffron. I really did not like the colors together, but figured it was a challenge so I could make it work. I am pleased, not super thrilled, but pleased with the outcome.



The Wild Wasabi designer paper is from the Hostess prints pack. The two stamp sets used were Stitched Exotics and Define Your Life. I pierced the top of the Amethyst layer and added 3 brads to the bottom corner. (The bottom corner keeps popping up because of the brads, I am going to have to put a glue dot there because the snail just isn't cutting it.) Hope you enjoy!Pin It Now!

Been dreaming of new stamps

I was finally able to sit down for 10 minutes this morning to play with my new stamps for the first time. I have been so busy since they arrived, that I haven't been able to even mount them, and they are all die cut! I am so excited about the new in colors, they are all so fabulous. I only had a few minutes, so I mounted one stamp in one set and went to work.



This is the new Dreams du Jour stamp set that will be available on August 11th. The images are pretty, I have dreams of using it for labels, belly bands and other items like that but decided to try and use it on a card with my lack of time to do anything else. I stamped it using chocolate chip ink and versamark so that I could emboss it with clear embossing powder. It was colored in with the new in colors using an aqua painter. The colors used were Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. There is also a baja breeze button from the button bouquet assortment with some linen thread tied in it. The lighting in my room is not great as the sun isn't to this side of the house to help, and my light bulb, which was one of those special bulbs to make it look more natural burnt out and I had to replace it with a regular bulb. Hope you enjoy the sneak peak, we are off to swim lessons.Pin It Now!

Hippos!

I love hippos. They are hard to find but I have a few around that I have enjoyed collecting. I absolutely fell in love with the Pun Fun stamp set and of course the hippo was the first on that I used.

I have been hoping to get my business actually started up so that I am not struggling to make my minimums. I don't want to go overboard but want to get just enough to get by easily with out worry. So I have been trying to make some things that I can use as hostess gifts and the like. Well it is the time of year that is tricky because of the retirement lists. I wanted something that I could use for more than 3 weeks so that meant that I could not use any of my designer series papers. That was so hard. So this is a card from a gift set. I decided to make it a 3x3 love note set. That way I was able to get away with out the dsp that I so wanted to use.



I kept it simple so as to keep it whimsical. Isn't she just the cutest?! I colored her with my basic gray ink pad and an aquapainter. Her bow, balloon, and toenails were colored with a cameo coral marker. I cant believe that I made a card with out any embellishments that I enjoy. Another card that doesn't have ribbon, I may be getting over my addiction. Nah.....Pin It Now!

Baby thanks.....

So we found out last week that we are having a baby girl! I already have a few thank you cards that I have to get out. I whipped out a few cute simple ones. Someone once told me that you cannot put black on a baby card, well I hope that I proved them wrong.



I used the retired stamp set I'm Here and the soon to be retiring Much Appreciated stamp set and Flannel Plaid background. I will really be sad to see Much Appreciated go, I just love this thank you image. I had a hard time getting a decent picture of this card. For some reason the background doesn't show up very well. It almost gives it the look and feel of a baby blanket. I think that for the next batch I will be adding another black layer as the base layer for the card. Taking the picture on the black really added to it, but of course I didn't think of it when designing the card.Pin It Now!

Its back...

... but I dont know where it came from. I have really had the hardest time lately trying to stamp/create anything at all. After several hours tonight dinking around staring at my stamping stuff and the computer (being jealous of all of the people who's orders were shipping or even picking, let alone the ones who have recieved their pre-orders), I was finally able to do something, and the best part is I like it. (Woah talk about a run on sentence.)

I really have no idea where this card came from. I sat down with a sketch and color combo from SCS and was going to force myself to just do it to try and force myself back into the swing of things. Well the sketch was a card where the background was a bunch of squares, (it was SC182 just becuase it was at the top of the list when I looked) and CC174 which was Groovy Guave, Barely Banana and Chocolate Chip. I have no clue where this pretty soft card came from.



This card uses the Braoque Motifs, Warm Words and Year after Year stamp sets. The colors are whisper white, pretty in pink and basic gray. I used the coluzzle to cut out the oval frame and then I sponged all of the edges of the pretty in pink cardstock including the inside of the oval frame. I stamped off the pretty in pink braoque stamp before stamping on the white layer to make it more subtle. After messing up drawing stems 2 times I decided to use the stems from the flowers in the Year after Year stamp set. This is the first time that I have actually used the flowers and hat pins from the pretties kit. I colored the flowers with pretty in pink with an aqua painter. For some reason I have been hoarding these things. I have used the half back pearls several time but for some reason havent touched the other items. I am going to need to find a way to attach the hat pin a little differently becuase it keeps moving and covering the "c" in cherish. I hope you enjoy.Pin It Now!

They are done!

I'm finished, I'm finished, I'm doing the happy dance! If I dont see another nugget for a while I will be fine. Doing one or two of these is no big deal but when you do 50 they get to you.

I really was amazed at how long they ended up taking. Then again I have kids all over me because I will not let them play outside becuase of the unhealthy air quality and they know that daddy is out of town so that always makes things worse.




I used the jumbo wheel lots of hearts for the nuggets. I just wheeled it on address labels in several different colors. The belly bands were simple, I just typed out the label with the SU! font passing notes. Then it was punched with the 1 1/4 punch layered on a 1 3/8 inch circle punch and then on top of a scallop punch. I am SO glad that we were able to keep these simple.Pin It Now!

Double Pocket Bags

I hope every one had a safe and happy 4th. I had a nice break from life with the family. I didn't spend much time around the computer or my stamps. But I finally made it to Ikea to pick up some of the cool rods that are used to mount your punches on the wall. I am so excited to get them out of a drawer. It was a fun weekend but now we are thrown back into the swing of things. Swim lessons start today and of course it is going to be the hottest week of the year so far, today being forcasted at 105 and just getting worse from there, and all of the smoke that we are not supposed to be out side in to boot. Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do right?

I have finally figured out where my mojo went. I have been working on many "craft" items for a family reunion that my MIL is hosting. Over the last few weeks I have spent a lot of time cutting, designing, creating and all sorts of stuff as projects for people to do as well as take home goody bags. I will be fine if I do not ever see a provo craft tin again. I have cut out the supplies to make several dozen of them in all different shapes and sizes, so that people of any age and talent can put them together all they have to do is glue. This past week I have also been working on some double pocket bags and nugget tins. I did 3 packages worth of DSP into double pocket bags. Thank goodness for the scor-pal it sure helped in making these. But the ribbons were what gave me difficulties and took forever. But now they are done. Here are some of the pictures of them.




I love using Stampin' Up! designer series paper to make these bags. The paper is just the right weight and double sided so that it always coordinates and looks great. My MIL picked the Berry Bliss, Jersey Shore and Afternoon Tea designer series papers.Pin It Now!

Stitched Exotics

My mojo is slowly on its way back. I was finally able to create something, I cant tell you how many times I have gone in and sat at my table trying to stamp with not as much as one stamp hitting an ink pad. Here is a card that I made that I was pleased with the ideas, but don't like the way the card turned out, I am going to have to find a way tweak it somehow. I was looking at my stitched exotics stamp set and figured I could use the large swirl thing as stems for multiple flowers. Then I took one of the smaller flowers and cut off one of the petals and added a head and antenna and made a little butterfly!



The flowers were all stamped separately and cut out then mounted on the card with dimensionals. The big flower has a felt fusion flower attached with a brad in the center of it. The butterfly is not mounted on a dimensional but the top wings were not adhered to the card so that they could be bent slightly up to give it some movement. I hope you enjoyPin It Now!

Look Ma, no extra layers

I had a friend ask me if I have ever done a card that doesn't have any added layers to it. This is something that is very hard for me to do. Over the last few months I have been trying to simplify some of my stamping so that some beginners can see that it is not hard or too time consuming to create a beautiful card or piece of artwork. I knew that I had done one last year that I loved so I had to find a picture and post it for her.



This card uses the retired Bodacious Boquet stamp set for the flowers. I used a corner rounder punch to create the scallop border and the edges are sponged to give the card a little depth. This card was so easy and quick to do, I forgot how much I actually liked it until I saw it again. I probably got the idea from somewhere but I cant remember. I might just have to make up some more of these with a more current stamp set.Pin It Now!

Sorry about yesterday

Sorry I didn't have anything to show for yesterday. I was gone all day long and didn't expect it to go that way. In the morning I had an ultrasound appointment and found out that we will be having a little girl! My mom came up for that and stayed around for a while so I took the opportunity to spend the time with her. Yesterday as also our wedding anniversary so Scott left work early and we had a very enjoyable kid less evening. I promise I will get back to stamping later today.Pin It Now!