I stamped yesterday!

Thanks to my lovely 7 year old, I got down and stamped some Thanksgiving cards. I just didn't have time to post them yet. I'll try to get them up for you tonight, or maybe tomorrow. Mondays are crazy for me now... ahh!!! Just wanted you to know I'm still here and trying to get my stamping mojo back!

Everyone loves Cupcakes... especially for their Birthday

My sister's birthday is Wednesday, and this is the card. Wanna know how old she is? 10? 15? Nope, she's hitting 40. Bet you'd never guess it with this cutsey card, but she's about as girlie as anyone I know, so oddly enough, this fits her. I can't wait to see if she likes it.
I had fun making this cupcake. First, I masked the words out of the big birthday cupcake so that the cupcake was blank. Then I cut out the bottom from Kraft cs and ran it through the crimper. FUN! The tag was done by coloring it in with a SU! marker and stamped, then using iridescent ice embossing powder to give it some sparkle.

I got a handful of thank you notes done, and I did them using a coloring source that I have been neglecting for FAR too long - my watercolor crayons! I did the classic method - I colored directly on the stamp, spritzed it lightly with water, and then stamped on watercolor paper. What an easy and cool way to watercolor!

Sets: Inspired by Nature, Wonderful Words
CS colors: Orchid Opulence, Watercolor paper
Watercolor Crayon Colors: Orchid Opulence, Summer Sun, Garden Green
Other: Stazon Black, sliit punch, gold eyelets

Hey, I'm one of the Undead....

Boo!! Happy Halloween!! And yes, I'm really not dead. lol I have not had the mojo the last few weeks, but I had one little tidbit to share with you today - and since today is Halloween, I'll share our pumpkin carvings instead of cards. I hope you enjoy them - it's the first time I ever did "fancy" carvings using those stencil books.... however I was pretty excited at the results. Here they are - both are lit up, but one is in the dark and one is in the light... just for the effect of both.

Have a Spooktacular Day!!

I'm on a roll....

Yep, it's ANOTHER Christmas card. I promise to change things up again soon, but I just couldn't resist. Honestly, I'm one of those ladies who is first to complain when I see Christmas displays in stores in September. lol I hate thinking about winter before I absolutely HAVE to. However, when it comes to making those Christmas cards, I just have to get started early i fI can becaus ethe shopping season and the chaos involved in planning and get togethers and all that, I always seem to run out of time to get those cards going. So humor me if you can, and keep checking back to see if I make anything else! lol
And don't underestimate the usefulness of the personalized stamps SU! makes... I had this "blessings" stamp made a few years ago and I LOVE having it, so I just have to hand write our first names and I'm all set. And this sentiment works for all occassions, not just Christmas. Keep it in mind for your cards this year!

Sets: Circle of Friendship, Riveting (retired), Season of Friendship (snowflake on bottom)

Colors: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou

Other: Cuttlebug snowflake EF, sponge brayer, scalloped circle and 1 3/8" circle punch

Notes: After embossing the snowflakes on the white layer, I used my sponge brayer to add Soft Sky ink to highlight the snowflakes. They show better and it adds character, too.

Another Holiday card idea

Not my best photography, truly. But, another holiday card idea is just the ticket for this time of year (though I LOVE making Halloween cards, which I should probably do soon!), if you want to get started early. I had the coolest idea - to run a transparency (acetate) sheet through my Cuttlebug for some clear snowflakes! It looks cute in person, but I am not too sure about the photo (due to the glare). Anyway, with some color coordination and the right snowflake stamp, this background compliments these cute little snowmen, don't ya think? it's a simple design, but when you're making many multiples of one style, you gotta have something that's easy to reproduce... so this is one that whips up quickly. Here it is:
Sets: Circle of Friendship, Season of Friendship (snowflake), Season by Season ("christmas")
Colors: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss
Other: Red grosgrain, acetate, CB snowflake EF, glue dots, dimensionals, blender pen

Holiday Greetings

So I finally decided to get things started with my holiday cards this year, and I made up this dozen or so cards using some of last year's InColor products I had. Soft Sky is featured, along with the Soft Sky DSP. It's a bit hard to tell, but there are snowflakes all over the panel with the tree, but they are also in Soft Sky so they got washed out in the photo. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, I really like the softness of these cards. I may just make a few more of these. ; )
Some of them I mixed patterns and some I matched them. It just depended on what I felt like at the moment. I'm unpredictable that way. : )

Sets: Season of Friendship, Sincere Salutations
Colors: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou
Other: scalloped edge punch, white eyelets

Shellabrate!

In my quest to be ahead of the game for holiday cards this year, I made a handful of them with my favorite theme - beach!! A few years ago I wanted to get my hands on a set of SU!s called Sunny Seasons Greetings, and I never got it. I have wanted it ever since. So this year when I saw a beachy theme for the holidays, I wasted NO time in purchasing that set! So this is the first one I came up with, but there will definitely be more to come! It's also using the SCS sketch SC196 (sortof). Here's the card:Sets: Shellabrate, Totally Tabs
Colors: Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Barely Banana, Kraft
Other: tab punch, SU markers, paper piercing tools, clear EP, 2-way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, hemp twine, CB swirl and Swiss Dots embossing folders

To get the sentiment shiny, it's my Close to Cocoa craft pad and clear EP over the top. The shell "tree" is super glittery all over, but you only see highlights in the photo, as usual. I hope you like it anyway!

Recipe Fun!

I love love love swapping 6x6 recipe cards with my stamping friends! Not only do you get great page and stamping ideas, but you get great recipes for your kitchen! (If you're in my swap and don't want to spoil the surprise, don't read or look on!).

I almost always tend to make my pages using earth tones, just because earthy colors say "food" to me more than other color families (although bright colors say fru-fru drinks better than any others)... and this page is no exception. Here's what I did for my italian sausage recipe (my mom's italian sausage is incredible!):
Tee hee, I bet you just spent time trying to read the recpie now, didn't you?? BUSTED!! If you can read it, more power to you (and be sure to tell me how much you like it once you make it), if not, you had to be in the swap to get the goods! ; )

Sets: Sock Monkey, Voila to Go
Colors: Garden Green, More Mustard, Riding Hood Red
Other: Cuttlebug Mesh EF (embossing folder), Weathered DP (SU!), blender pen, Real Red eyelets (SU!), paper peircing tools, white gel pen (SU!), dimensionals

Yum Yum... enjoy!