It’s Magic

Oh my, where oh where did December go?  This year December flew by even faster than normal and was about 10 time more hectic that I have dealt with before.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a great one as a family, my DH was able to take a few days off of work and spend time with the family without any other pressing obligations.  It was a great time.  Now we are back to the grindstone, and in a few days the kids will be back in school.  I spent what little stamping time, and I stress little, working on my project for Ustamp, so I didn't even do any Christmas stamping or projects.  I am so ready for this year to be over with, 2010 wasn’t really that nice to us.  I know that we had it better than many people but it was a really hard one for us.  I am hopeful that 2011 will be a good one. 

So a little while ago I finally tried my hand at a Magic card.  These cards were always intimidating to me and I never even looked at attempting one.  I finally bit the bullet and they were not that hard!  This one is a simple young boy’s birthday card. Here is a shot of the magic in action.  When you pull the ribbon the picture colors itself in! This is a shot of the tag pulled completely out.It was really fun to make.  I did look through several tutorials until I found one that suited me and thought I could recreate.  I know I wrote down the specific tutorial somewhere but as of the moment it escapes me but I think I actually used a video off of YouTube.    I have to get back to some prepping for my class tomorrow night.  I am so excited I have not had a class since before Halloween, had a few prepped but things came up and they were canceled, I am so glad to get back in the swing of things and a semi-normal life again. 

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UStamp With Dawn and Friends!

Oh my goodness I have some exciting news, the day that I finally started to get caught up and get back into my stamping I was asked to be a guest designer for UStamp!  I am still in shock and a little overwhelmed that I was chosen.  I have enjoyed the sessions that I have “attended” and can already tell you that this one is going to be a great one too! 

It is going to be so much fun.  We will be focusing on new items in the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog as well as the Sale-A-Bration (SAB) catalog.

Today is the last day to sign up and receive the early bird pricing of only $19.95!  After today you can still sign up with out the discount just visit www.ustampwdawnandfriends.com. 

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MDS Christmas Recipe

This is one of my favorite holiday simple treat recipes.  I try not to make it too often becuase it is so addicting.  I am not a fan of the hard caramel corn that you can get most anywhere, this is a soft chewy caramel corn that is oh so yummy.  I got the recipe years ago somewhere off of the internet.  Anyways I did a hybrid project using My Digital Studio to create a recipe card to give to a friend. 

The colors are Wild Wasabi and Cherry Cobbler.  I printed the MDS page out at my local Costco because I just could not wait to get it done through SU! printer.  I then trimmed it up and mounted it on the Cherry Cobbler and then Wasabi cardstocks.  Then I placed a line of sticky strip on the top and bottom of the picture and poured on the Champagne Glass Glitter.  I love this glitter, it is so pretty.  In fact I just had to open up my 3 jar of it last night and it has all just been for my personal use, no classes involved.

Here is a close up of the recipe for those of you who are interested in it. 

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Fun Christmas Countdowns or Advent Calendars!

Now that we are into the full on Christmas season I have a two Christmas Advent calendars or Countdowns that I have been waiting to share.  The first is the mini muffin tin advent.

These are fun and easy to make and they are all over the internet.  I am not sure who the original creator was.  I had a great time in October teaching some ladies at work how to make these.  Just a few punches, your favorite adhesive and magnets and what a great project.  I found some scriptures that we put in the muffin wells to make this a great countdown to keep the real meaning of Christmas in mind.  There is also room in the wells to put in a little chocolate or treat.

This next countdown is counting down the 12 days of Christmas.  It uses the candy wrapper die, I created this when the die was first released and I am so excited that I came up with it all on my own I have just been sitting on it waiting to show it to you. 

Here is what it looks like hanging from my undecorated mantle. 

Here is a close up of the boxes.  I used the same numbers for both the muffin advent and this one in MDS, printed on Vanilla cardstock and then just punched them out and layered them. 

These are bigger than the muffin tin advent so you can put something a little more substantial in it.  I designed them so that you just untie the candy wrapper from the main line on the appropriate day.  Then you fold the box flat and it stores nice and compact for next year.  This is the prototype version so it is a little plain.  I have great hopes for one all decked out, I am trying to be optimistic that there will be time to get it done!

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DCBD #205 It’s a sketch

Wow, it is good to be back.  I had a great post all ready to go a few minutes ago but my husband asked me to do something for him, which he could have done for himself, and we had a brief power outage.  If I had only just hit publish instead of waiting to proof read it , there would have been a great long post for you.  Now it is getting late, it is way past my bedtime and tomorrow is an early day so here is the reader’s digest version. 

Life is hard.  

I have not had a chance to stamp in more than a month until last night.   Thank goodness I had everything ready for the Royal Blog Tour done way in advance.  I was able to get the cards and stamp sets mailed out to the winner, Holly in KY and she received them safe and sound!

I decided to start simple while jumping back into stamping and this sketch really helped that.  Here is the great Diva Sketch:

There is not all that much stamping on my card, and I was a little disappointed in that part but am happy with the card especially considering that it was my first attempt out of the gate.

And look I didn't even really have to alter the sketch!   I love this time of year and am so excited to be able to listen to Christmas songs with out being teased!  (I listen to Christmas music year round.)

Don’t forget to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then get out your supplies, show us what you can do with this week’s challenge and add a link to your creation for us to all see!

P.S. Sorry it has been so long since I stamped I dont remeber the names of the punch, stamp set or DSP but they are all out of the Holiday Mini catalog.  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla.  I promise next time to have a full recipe for you. 

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Royal Blog Tour ~ Make A Monster Stamp Set

Welcome to your next stop around the castle.  While we are featuring monsters today we are not here to scare you but to entertain!  Since Halloween has come and left us sweet rewards, I have tried to align my stamping with the thoughts of the royal court jester and make some merry monsters! 
The first monster you will encounter today would like to put on a show for you…

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out;
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey-Pokey,
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about!  Really?!

Our next monster you will find hanging from the rafters of the castle.  There is no need to fear bats and other creatures when you have this guy hanging from the ceiling.    He is here to remind you to have fun and let yourself do something unexpected.

The last card has a pair of monsters that have fallen for each other.  Even though he may be a monster, our young man has not forgotten that it is the little things that matter and brought a fresh picked flower for his girl (even though she may end up eating it!). 

I hope you have enjoyed our little friends and will be inspired to pull out some monsters just to say “hi” to someone in your life.

As your royal gift from me you have the opportunity to enter for some blog candy.  You will receive these cards as well as the Vintage Labels stamp set (clear mount).  All you need to do is email me with your name and email address.
Thanks for visiting my blog. 
Thanks for stopping by and I hope your enjoy the rest of the tour!
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DCBD #201

I am a little late getting this post live but I am finally up and participating in the Diva challenges again.    This week the divas have a great sketch for you to work with:

Like always after any stamping break it took me a long time to be able to come up with anything at all that I could do with this sketch.  I liked the look of it better turned over and made a fun little Thanksgiving card.

It is a pretty basic card but one that was great for getting my foot back in the stamping door.  Maybe tonight I can get some more done, with out falling asleep at my desk again!

Stamps:  baroque Motifs, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  River Rock, Tangerine Tango

Paper:  Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, River Rock

Accessories:  Champagne Shimmer Paint (mist), Stampin’ Dimensionals

Tools:  Big Shot, Scallop Oval Frame Die, Wide Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Designer Label Punch

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Oh Wow

I have not stamped in FOR_EV_ER.  We really have been dealing with a lot over in the Brown household and I have not been able to keep all of my balls that I am juggling up in the air.  Unfortunately the stamping and blogging balls were the first to get dropped.  But my husband is back at work, we are all currently healthy and it is ready to try and get some other things going again.  Thanks for being faithful and coming back.  I do have some things from a while ago to show you, a lot of it is Halloween related so I will probably skip those, but don't forget to come back for the blog tour this weekend.  Luckily they encouraged us to get an early start on it otherwise I would not be able to participate.  I have had those done for a month now.  I am going to my desk as soon as the kids are down so that I can work on tomorrow’s Diva Coffee Break Designs Challenge it is a wonderful sketch so come back and check it out.  Ok now on to some stamping.

This card is one that I did for my monthly swap on the sudemoonly yahoo group.  The swap was due in the mail on Sept 30 so I am guessing that everyone has seen it by now and it is safe to post, I have not had a chance to see if everyone has or not.   The swap was a Christmas themed one.

This is a shadow box card, I really love the way that it turned out.  I was trying to do a little something different, I think that I found the instructions on splitcoast but it was so long ago I don't really remember.  The ribbon is white taffeta ribbon dyed with cherry cobbler ink, I really wish we had actually ribbon in this color.  I really like the touch that the glass glitter adds to the frame.   

Have a great night, and I hope I can get back to chat with you soon!

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DCBD Sketch Challenge #197

Welcome back to another Wednesday Diva Coffee Break Designs challenge day.   Wow the time is just whizzing by.  I cannot believe it is already a few days into October.  Crazy!  There are only like 80 or less days left till Christmas.  Ok back to the not so scary stuff, here is this week’s sketch.

I have been having a lot of fun playing with the Make a Monster set.  I had to get this set because I was lacking in the boy department and my son and I instantly knew we had to get this set when we saw it in the new catalog.   For today’s card I chose to make some silly monsters.I re-invested in some watercolor paper from Stampin’ Up! the last time I placed an order and I am sure glad that I did.  I usually use shimmery white cardstock to watercolor but it just didn’t have the right feel for these little guys.  I had forgotten how great the Stampin’ Up! watercolor paper really is and how easy it is to watercolor with it.  It is such a great quality, you have to get some yourself to try!   I just used my ink pads and an aquapainter for these goofy guys.   By the way, my son (almost 7) pulled these colors together and wanted me to make a monster card with them, didn’t he come up with a good one?

Now it is time to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then get out your supplies, show us what you can do with this week’s challenge and add a link to your creation for us to all see!

 

Stamps:  Make a Monster, Word Play

Ink:  Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy and More Mustard

Paper: Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Water Color Paper, Whisper White

Accessories:  Dimensionals

Tools:  Aquapainter, Decorative Label Punch

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Book Monsters

My son was chosen to be the star student a few weeks back at school.  At the end of their special week, the honored student gets to bring in a treat of some sort to the class.  They do not let you bring in homemade food like cookies and cupcakes, you have to buy store made items.  I do not buy those type of things from the store because I think that they are way overpriced for what I can do from scratch at home and they do not taste near as well.  So we always make something to give as a gift, usually school or learning oriented.  This year my son chose to make “book monsters” for his classmates.   These are little bookmarks that have little monster faces poking out at you when you put it in a book.  These were so simple to make that Spencer who is 6 did them almost all by himself thanks to the Big Shot.  They were made out of fun foam sheets and googlie eyes with minimal stamping.  All I did was cut the sheets of fun foam into pieces that were 2 by 4 1/2, and he did the rest.  Some of them Spencer drew a nose on and others  he stamped a mouth.  I think that this would be a fun little gift to sit down with your kids and make as a Halloween gift for their friends.  Hope you enjoy and get to stamp with someone you love!

Stamps:  Make a Monster

Ink:  Jet Black Stazon

Accessories:  Googlie Eyes, Fun Foam Sheets

Tools:  Big Shot, Two Tags Die

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Friends Never Fade

I just love the name of the stamp set Friends Never Fade.  I needed a special birthday card for a friend that I have not seen in over a year.  We have emailed each other and played phone tag a few times but our schedules have both been so crazy we have not been able to get together even though we only live about 30 mins apart from each other.  Her birthday was just a few days ago and so I needed to make her a card.  She loves any kind of yellow flowers (except sun flowers) so I just knew that the Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper would be perfect.  It paired nicely with the Pear Pizzazz DSP stack that can be earned as a hostess.  Pear Pizzazz has taken over my stamping at the moment, my poor Certainly Celery has been neglected for a while.  Maybe I will have to pull some out tonight.  Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. 

Stamps:  Friends Never Fade, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, In Color Patterns Paper Pack (hostess level 1), Greenhouse Gala DSP

Accessories:  Dimensionals

Tools:  1 3/4 inch circle punch, 2 3/8 inch scallop circle punch, word window punch, modern label punch, Big Shot, Clear Scallop Square Die

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Letter-pressing some big wishes

I ordered the letterpress plate that are in the new mini catalog and completly forgot to use them.  I finally pulled them out and played around with them.  I love the debossed colored image, it is so pretty.  I pulled out all sorts of scraps and just played around with them for a while.  I decided to put on to use on a card. 

This card uses the northern trim letter press plate.   It was pretty easy to ink it up using the craft ink spots.  The scalloped border on the bottom edge was created using 3/4 inch circles.

Stamps:  Word Play

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie (craft), Night of Navy (craft), and Regal Rose (craft)

Paper:  Whisper White:  Pumpkin Pie, Night of Navy, Regal Rose

Accessories:  Dimensionals, Navy Taffeta Ribbon, Bold Brights Buttons

Tools:  Big Shot, Northern Trim Letterpress plate, 2 3/8 inch scalloped circle punch, 1 3/4 inch circle punch

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Diva Coffee Break Designs Challenge #196

This week’s challenge is a pretty color combination for you.  I think that this weeks color swatch is pretty.

The colors are great, but they just seemed too much with most everything I tried.  I don't know what the problem was with my stamping last week when I worked on it but I was not happy.  I was going through the 4 samples I created and I just could not bring myself to posting them on here.  So what did I do, I took time I should have been folding the laundry and tried again.  This time I like what came out. 

It is fairly simple but I already have something in mind for it so it came together nicely.  I wanted to give my oldest a little something special for being a big helper this week.  I made a little set to stick in her lunch box.  She has been begging me more more of the silly bandz bracelets.  I have only bought the kids a few but thought that she earned them for her help, so I made one of the treat containers and a package fits in there perfectly.    

I hope that she will be excited and feel special when she opens her lunch. 

Now it is time to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then get out your supplies, show us what you can do with this week’s challenge and add a link to your creation for us to all see!

Stamps:  Wish Big

Ink: Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz

Paper:  Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz and Brights Designer Series Paper Stack

Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz Poly Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Big Shot, Two Tags Die, Perfect Polka Dot Impressions Folder, Treat Box Die, 1 3/4 inch scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, and small circle from the punch pack

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Just Believe Again!

I cannot seem to stop using the Just Believe stamp set no matter how hard I try.  I seem to pull it out almost every time I get a chance to sit down and stamp.  Today I used another fabulous color combination from the color coach.  The colors are Tempting, Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, and Pear Pizzazz.  It was late and the lighting was not the best which made the hand cutting hard.  My shadow just kept getting in my way no matter which way I turned.  It was a frustrating night.  I really like the look of the colored layer popped up on the same color card base, it really created a great frame.

Stamps:  Just Believe

Ink:   Tempting, Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, and Pear Pizzazz

Paper: Tempting, Turquoise, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, and Pear Pizzazz

Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz Poly Twill ribbon, stampin dimensionals

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Another Quick and Pretty Happy Birthday

Don’t you just love when you come up with inspiration when you are not thinking about it.  The other day I was cleaning scraps from several different cards off of my table at the time my color coach was open to the Poppy Parade card.  I was staring at the color during my stamping session the night before because I really wanted to use the color but was not liking what I was doing.  That's when one of my peach parfait scraps fell on top of the card, and my clean up was put on hold.  I only had a few minutes so it had to be a fun yet simple card.  Here is what I came up with.

I only put half of the peach layer in the embossing folder to get the Vintage Wallpaper image embossed on only the bottom half.  The ribbon that is in the bitty button is actually a super thin piece of cardstock tied in a knot.  I actually poked holes and fed it through the peach layer because I did not want to see a glue dot behind the button. 

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Craft Whisper White

Paper:  Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Whisper White

Accessories:  Bitty Buttons, Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon

Tools:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Bitty Punches Punch Pack

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Diva Coffee Break Designs #195

Its is another fabulous Wednesday.  It is a big day for DH, he is getting what he calls having his “eyes zapped”!  Really it is just Lasik surgery but he has been wanting it for years and things all of the sudden fell into place and we had an opportunity we couldn't pass up.  So today is the big day!

Last week was a fantastic color challenge so that means that today it is a sketch.  Man I really had a hard time with this one.  It just felt like there were so many elements to this sketch it really threw me for a loop.  This one card took about 4 days in the design process.  The colors and the stamps are completely different than what I started with and I even omitted the DSP that I thought I really wanted to use. 

Here is the sketch we have to work with:

See it really isn't that bad, the sketch is a nice one but it wanted to give me a difficult time.  It is a good thing I was ahead of the game when I was working on this one.  Here is what I came up with:

I do have to say that I am very pleased with how my card turned out.  I am glad that I kept trying this sketch instead of just completing one of my rejects.  Now I just need to get to some of those and see what I can salvage out of them to make into other cards.

Now it is time to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then you should get out your supplies, show me what you can do with this sketch and add a link to your creation for us to all see! 

Stamps: Just Believe

Ink:  Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze

Paper: Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze and Whisper White

Accessories:  Brights Designer Buttons, Stampin Dimensionals

Tools:  Big Shot, Square Lattice Impressions Folder, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch

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Diva Coffee Break Designs #194

Welcome back to another great challenge Wednesday.  I love the color combo that the Divas’ have in store for you today.  I love the Peach Parfait with the Cajun Craze, it is such a yummy combination. 

I have been working on an all occasion gift set to give away to a hostess.  These cards are square 4 1/4 inch cards, so that they will fit in a traditional a2 envelope with out having to pay for extra postage!  I used this combo for the “get better” card.

I used my homemade shimmer mist to help in the creation of the flowers (shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol).  It helps me to crumple and shape each punched flower as well as giving the flower a nice shimmer (the camera pick up a few shimmers as the little white dots on the photo).  Plus the alcohol dries quickly.  This was another great combo that I would have not been able to come up with on my own. 

Now it is time to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made.  Then you should get out your supplies, play along with us and add a link to your creation for us to all see!

 

Stamps:  Word Play, Vintage Vogue

Ink: Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Whisper White, Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze, Wild Wasabi and Crumb Cake

Accessories:  Champange Shimmer Paint (mixed with alcohol for mist), Dimensionals

Tools:  Fancy Flower Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch

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More Cute Owls

With the beginning of the new school year comes the need to buy all sorts of new supplies.  I also create several different bookmarks for each of my kids.  I make all sorts of bookmarks for them, ribbon ones, corner bookmarks, plain flat ones, some with ribbons on the top and currently their two favorite bookmarks are paper clip bookmarks.  The one on the left is for my son and the one on the right is for my daughter.  I find reading so important that I want to encourage it in every way possible.  When ever I find that they are losing their interest in reading I whip up a few more bookmarks and it rekindles the spark!  

Paper: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Brights Designer Series paper stack, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie

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Its getting a little spooky

Well the stores are in full on Halloween mode and in fact I have even seen Christmas sprouting up!  This is a quick card I created using the new stamp set Wicked Cool.  It sure is a fun little stamp set to work with.

I sponged the edges of the whisper white layers as well as the card base to go along with the “spooky” feel.  I really like the way that this turned out for my first try using this stamp set. 

Stamps: Wicked Cool

Ink:  Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Basic Black

Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Basic Black, and Brights designer series paper stack

Accessories:  Stampin Dimensionals

Tools:  Sponge

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A little MDS

With everything that I have going on in life I have been keeping a binder to keep my life in order from kids activities, appointments, lessons etc, even what days to do which chores!  It was not perfect and I was telling a friend about it at the beginning of the summer.  Well last week my friend sent me a link to a website where a lady does the same thing.  I took some of her tips and combined it with my own and am liking the end result much better.  Now that I have the binder set up better I thought it needed a cover page. 

This was created in My Digital Studio.  Although I used it for a cover page, all you need to do is add in a picture in the frame and it would be a great scrapbook page.  Some of the elements (Well I guess most of them) are not from MDS but the “everything” stamp, the texture overlay stamp (early espresso on the top and left sides), and the alphabet are from MDS.  I love the versatility of MDS and how easy it is to use other products with it.  I have been collecting digital scrapbooking elements for almost 2 years, so it is great to finally start using them!

 

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DCBD Sketch Challenge #193

It is Wednesday already, can you believe it?!  This week is just speeding by.  Since it is Wednesday I have another fabulous Diva Coffee Break Designs challenge for you.  This week it is a great sketch. 
I usually struggle a bit with sketches.  When I create I usually pick my colors, then the stamp set and see where it takes me.  I have a hard time conforming my brain the other way around to work my planning out backwards.  But this time I rotated the general orientation of the sketch and “boom”  I knew exactly what colors and stamps I wanted to use.    Ok back by request I will start adding in my supplies lists.  I didn't know that people really checked them out and in my rush to get things done I have skipped that for a little bit, but it will be back now, sorry.
Don’t forget to head over to the Diva Coffee Break Designs Blog to check out the samples that the other divas have made and to play along with us!
Stamps:  Word Play, Pretty Petals
Ink:  Peach Parfait, Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzazz
Paper: Peach Parfait, Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White
Accessories:  Stampin Dimensionals, Pear Pizzazz Poly Twill Ribbon
Tools:  Big Shot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Circle Scissors Plus and Glass Cutting Mat
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