Ladybug life

I had such a fun time making this card! I think it was a sketch challenge on MFT I think. I saw the sketch on SCS and I believe she mentioned MFT. Anyway story behind the card: I needed to make a card for a very good friend of mine Rita. Since we've been in Germany she's always done little things to make our transition over here better like always inviting us for dinner, bringing me home made lumpia which is the BEST i've ever had. They always want to take us to see new sights, and she has called or text me every single day since being here to make sure I'm ok or if I need anything. I thought the saying on the bottom of the card was perfect! Because even though they may seem like little things to others it's been a HUGE little things to me. I am so appreciative of her and her family. I think I will make her something chocolate cause she is a chocolate gal! Probably some home made Mocha Cupcakes from Batter-Splattered blog that I love! You can find the recipe here. I have made these and they only make 9 cupcakes so double your batter because let me tell you they will NOT last 1 day. They are the best chocolate cupcake I've ever tasted! For my card I used Purely Pomegranate as the base, matted a piece of printed cardstock from my wonderful Pocket Full of Posies stack by Die Cuts With a View. I then cut squares in Soft Sky, Summer Sun, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White. I layered them and on the Whisper White piece I stamped the heart from the A to Z Accents by Stampin' Up! in Purely Pomegranate on all four corners. I punched out a scallop in Summer Sun, used my circle punch for the Whisper White circle and stamped the big ladybug from Little Lady set by Papertrey Ink. I used 3 black brads from the vintage brads by Stampin' Up! on 3 of her spots to give her a little depth. I can't wait to give Rita this card on Friday!

Thank You BERRY Much!

A few other ladies and I are doing a mini card swap here in Germany and this is one of the cards I came up with. I got my Tart & Tangy set in the mail and just had to use it. I had fun making it and it was a lot of work sort of. You can't tell by the picture but the Green Galore piece has dimensionals on all four corners to make it pop up from the card base. I started off with a standard size card piece of Whisper White. I cut a piece of cardstock 5 1/4 X 4 and stamped the Print Pattern background in Green Galore onto the Green Galore cardstock. I then punched out 3 scallop circles and used my 1 3/8 inch circle punch to punch out the middle. I positioned the scallop cirles on top of the Green Galore cardstock and drew circles so I knew where to punch the wholes so I could stamp the strawberries directly onto the Whisper White card base. I used the Real Red & Green Galore marker to color the strawberry. The middle strawberry I embossed the top in Green Galore and put a dimensional underneath it to make it pop. My card needed some kind of embellishment and I didn't feel I had enough room for ribbon. So I opted to punch out 4- 1/4 inch cirlces and use Green Galore brads through them on all four corners of the card. I needed a sentiment and knew I wanted it to read Thank You Berry Much however the stamp from Much Appreicated reads "Thank you very much" I opted to use my Basic Black stampin write marker and ink up the Thank you portion stamp then hand wrote in the "Berry" in Real Red. I then masked off the first three words and inked up the much portion of the saying and stamped it. It looks so much better in person!

Black & White prima's

Lindsay's blog In My Stamp Room's catchy blog header caught my eye! I've just recently found it and visit it often. I did not realize she has sketch challenges which seem to be my "thing" right now. It's so much easier to be able to sit down and create when there is a sketch challenge rather than trying to come up with one on your own. Tonight I decided to give her Thursday Sketch challenge a shot. Let me tell you it was so painless and not messy! Usually when I do a sketch challenge you should see my desk area. It is full of probably all the supplies I own because I will start with something I see in my mind and it will end with something completely different than what I started with. But this challenge I kinda knew exactly which paper I wanted to use and wanted it to be a mainly black and white color scheme. To start off I used Whisper White as the base. I purchased the Doodlebug Black & White eyelet paper at A Walk Down Memory Lane because they actually had it in stock! Thank you A Walk Down Memory Lane I had been on the hunt for this collection for a while and the best thing it was on sale!!! Back to my card......I then cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock and matted Basic Black to it then another Whisper White and topped it off with Prima flowers purchased at Eclectic Paperie. I used Real Red brads in the middle of the black Prima flowers, and a Basic Black brad in the red & white polka dot Prima flower. I then doodled a little and decided to not put a sentiment on front because I'm not sure what occasion the card will be used for. I'm on a roll today got 2 cards under my belt because my family has let me enjoy my day in between spending time with them....

Taylored Expressions Color Challenge 11

All weekend I've been wanting to do this color challenge Taylor posted on her blog. While at the Black Forest yesterday I was trying to come up with a layout and what I wanted to use. I'm pretty happy with what I chose. This time I made a card 5X5 which I've never done before. I like how much room there is to play with! The card base is Tempting Turquoise, then I used my slit punch to make a scalloped edge on Pumpkin Pie after that I cuttlebug'd that piece with the swirls embossing folder. I layered a piece of Soft Sky on top of the Gable Green. On the Gable Green piece I daubed Gable Green. On top of that I wanted the Soft Sky to pop a little because it looked a little dull so I layered a piece of Whisper White on top. I used my scallop punches and stamped the Hey There Cupcake set on my card. I added some brads on the lower left corner and I punched out some corners using my Stampin' Up! Photo Corners punch. I also daubed Pumpkin Pie onto the corners too. Lastly I cut some Gable Green polka dot ribbon from a ribbon share Taylor held a long time ago.

Life May Not be the Party

I had fun with this card tonight. Once again this is a sketch challenge over at Poetic Artistry. I went through two different designer papers and finally decided on this one. I'm glad I did cause I like the whole pink, green, black combo. The card is BasicBblack for the base, Gable Green was matted on top and embossed using the Swiss dots cuttlebug folder. Swiss dots is my favorite cuttlebug folder. A piece of Basic Black matted the Pink & Lime Argyle designer paper by The Paper Studio purchased at Hobby Lobby. I then matted a piece of sponged Pixie Pink onto Basic Black cardstock and used 3 black brads on the left. For the prima flower I used some bling for the center. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for looking.

Heartfelt Thanks

I have found that being a military wife and living overseas in Germany there are some very special women who are always willing to help eachother out. I posted on the germany military wives yahoo group two weeks ago about needing a king size bed frame. When we ordered our new kind bed but forget about the frame we knew we'd need one. The wait to get one on base was like 4 weeks long and I kinda wanted one for my new bed now. Many ladies made many suggestions but Julia someone I've never even met emailed me personally and said hey we're going to Mannheim to get one I can pick one up for you. She genersously paid it and picked it up. This morning my husband is going over to pick it up and pay her for it. I am so grateful to her for helping me out. It's people like this that make living in Germany really great. Thank you Julia!

Mojo Monday

I really like the card challenges over on the Poetic Artistry blog. This is challenge number 31. She always has such nice sketches and card samples! I decided to use some paper I bought a while back from Eclectic Paperie. I unfortunately don't know who it's by. I used Rose Red as the card base and matted the designer paper to it. I used the Swiss Dots folder Old Olive & Rose Red pieces of cardstock. I stamped the flower from Bud Basics in Rose Red then I cut it out to give it some dimension. A vintage brad was inserted in middle of a brown prima flower and finally through the cut out flower. It was matted on a scallop circle.

Birthday flowers

I love this color combination! I wish I had Basic Grey by Stampin' Up! but I didn't so I used Basic Black instead. Although last night I did place a order for the basic grey ink pad, and paper! Can't wait to get it. This was a color challenge over at SCS. I used the Paisley cuttlebug folder on basic black. I used the stamp set Women of Life by Papertrey ink using black Stazon ink. I really don't like the way the picture makes the ink look like I didn't stamp it clearly because it did. Not sure why it looks kinda blotchy. I then stamped the middle of the flower in bashful blue and used stickles for the middle of 4 flower buds. I wanted to put ribbon but didn't know where to put it so I tied little bows in the bigger two flower buds with the black gingham ribbon. I matted that image on bashful blue cardstock. To give it one last element I put a bashful blue square rhinestone in the bottom right hand corner.

Beate's Sketch Challenge #40

Every weekend Beate holds a sketch challenge on her blog which you can find #40 here. This is the first time I've participated in it. See I tell ya I'm on a roll with these sketch challenges. Usually I will find a sketch challenge and say I'm going to do it. Only NOT to do it because I get so busy. Last week I made it an effort to sit down and put some stamping time in for me. I used the Bee Trio stamp by Stampedous. I love the Bee Happy collection. Eventually I will own the whole collection. :) I used pink passion as the card base, matted a piece of patterned paper from The Pocket full of Posies w/ sparkles stack by Die Cuts with a View 8X8 pack on top of the pink passion cardstock. The Bee Trio stamp was stamped in stazon black ink and matted on top of pumpkin pie cardstock. The flower punch by Stampin' Up! was used and punched out in Orchid Opulence. I used the birthday sentiment stamp from the set called Circle of Friendship by Stampin' Up! Thanks Beate for the challenge!

Butterfly Kisses

If you haven't heard of Papertrey Ink stamps boy are you missing out! I love her designs and excellent quality stamps. I made this card using Butterfly Kisses by Papertrey Ink. I used close to cocoa as the card base, matted bordering blue onto that. I received some Heidi Grace Rub on's from a blog candy contest that I won recently. I thought they would match perfect with the brown's used in the card. The butterfly base was stamped in bordering blue, and the outline stamp was stamped in close to cocoa. I matted them on barely banana cardstock to give it a little something extra and added brads to all 4 corners.

Superstah Kid

I was visiting a blog called Sketches by Tamara last week and saw a cute sketch design that I couldn't pass up. The sketch designs that people post on their blogs really help you to get outside that box of repetitiveness. I used basic black cardstock as the base, some patterned paper I found over at Eclectic Paperie, and old olive cardstock. I stamped Superstar Kid by Autumn Leaves on top of the old olive cardstock with stazon black ink. I then covered chipboard Stampin' Up! stars with basic black and real red cardstock to match the colors in the patterned paper.

Purse tote

Oh my goodness has it really been this long since I've posted something? Ok yes it has. But hey I had to get all settled into our new home. I have been stamping away but haven't taken pics of everything because I can't find the charger to my camera! ACK! Note to self must find that soon because my DH isn't going to take every single picture for me. Ok back to the post....My friend's daughter is turning 13 tomorrow and she's having a birthday get together with her closest 8 friends. She asked me to make her some bags to put goodies in but little does she know I made these purses which I think she's going to adore. Her mom bought makeup, chapstick, mini perfumes, and candy to put inside each one. You can find the directions here on SCS. I scored a 8 1/2 X 11 black sheet of cardstock at 4 1/2 at each end. Then at the long 11 inch side I scored inward at 1 1/4 inches on each side. I used the designer paper from Cutie Pie and I embossed it using the Cuttlebug with the Swirl folder. I cut the handles in Certainly Celery and lightly stamped those using the Linen background stamp. The buckle on the front is from the Pewter collection same with the brads. I used the cupcake stamp from Hey There Cupcake which you can find on Eclectic Paperie. I had a lot of fun making them and can't wait to see them all put together.

Ema-gination Blog Candy!

Check out this blog Candy Ema is giving away on her blog here. Have a look around her blog as well she's got some good stuff on there! Good luck......

Hi!!

I just wanted to put a quick update on my blog for that do read it. We recently moved overseas to Germany. My husband is in the Air Force and we are now at Ramstein AB. I won't get any of my stamping supplies until mid February. But by the time I actually unpack it will probably be beginning of March before I post a card. Who knows though I am desperately missing my stuff. I might open my craft box and make a card before even unpacking! I hope all is well with everyone. I wish you all a Very Happy New Year!

Bundle of Joy

My friend Amy ordered some supplies to make Baby Shower Thank You cards however her order did not arrive in time. So I offered to make the Thank You cards for her. She came over today and we stamped 16 of these, and 13 of another. I think these came out very cute. The picture does not do them any justice. I need to take some photography lessons from my husband.

Roses, Roses, Roses

My husband had a going away lunch this past week with his co workers. At the lunch he presented me with half dozen white Roses. I wanted to post how pretty they were because it's not often I get flowers. It was nice to get such a pretty bouquet. A few days later and they still look great. He gave me a certificate of thanks for supporting him. I was shocked to see I spent 303 days alone without him while he was away at work within a 2 year time frame. I had never really thought about the "total" amount of time he was gone. I do know that it was quite a bit and I'm glad to have him home.

Stampin' Up! Retired List

Here it is the Retired List for the Fall Winter catalog. You can find it here. If you want to place an order let me know.

Cartoon Network inspired

I have 2 boys who watch Cartoon Network and they have these commercials with some funky colors that I would've never thought to put together. One of the commercials uses colors that match Stampin' Up! colors Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral & Creamy Caramel. I went with Close to Cocoa rather than Creamy Caramel. I traced a flower from the Sheer Blossoms set that you can purchase online at Papertrey Ink onto the Cameo Coral then I put it through the Cuttlebug using the Tiny Bubbles embossing folder to give it a little depth. I then cut it out and placed it underneath the Sheer Blossom flower. I put a brown prima flower on top and secured it all together with a Turquoise Ice Rhinestone from Stampin' Up! On the Close to Cocoa cardstock I stamped the Canvas background first then used the circle stamp from A to Z Accents for a background effect. Card ingredients: Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa & Whisper White cardstock, Tempting Turquoise, Close to Cocoa ink, Brown Prima flower, Turquoise Ice Square Rhinestone, Tiny Bubbles Embossing folder, and Cuttlebug.

2-5-7-10 Box

SCS has a bunch of tutorials for different projects. This 2-5-7-10 box has been on my list of things to try and I'm so happy it was VERY easy. I don't follow written directions too well and well this was one tutorial I could keep up with. I knew I wanted to use the Coluzzle to make a cut out window. After I cut it out I cut out a piece of acetate to cover the hole. It's made out of 1 sheet of 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of cardstock. You can find the tutorial here. Now I just need something to put inside! Box ingredients: So Saffron cardstock, Cutie Pie designer series paper, Purely Pomegranate & So Saffron ink, Scallop punch, Coluzzle, & Ribbon.

Note of Thanks

There is this fairly new product called Glimmer Mist made by Tattered Angels that I absolutely love! While in a local scrapbook store I came across the mist and in the color Candy Apple Red which is so pretty. The lady at the store was telling me how versatile it is and when she mentioned it works great on chipboard I knew I was going to get it. I came home and misted the flower chipboard you see on this card. It came out very sparkly and pinkish/red. It laid in my "to do" box forever. Yesterday I finally used it on a card. I thought it was too pretty to just be sitting around. Well here it is....I hope you all like it. Card ingredients: Wild Wasabi, Basic Black, So Saffron, and Whisper White cardstock, Wild Wasabi & Basic Black ink, Circle of Friendship & Dots & Daisies background stamps, Cutie Pie Designer Series paper by Stampin' Up!, flower chipboard, Black Gingham ribbon and last but certainly not least Candy Apple Red Glimmer Mist.