Stitched Roses in Winter

I think this set will be the most missed when it retires on June 30th. And not just by me. This is one beloved stamp set! For this card I stamped the rose in Regal Rose and Rose Red and cut it out. I stamped the leaves in Mellow Moss and Old Olive and cut them out, attaching them behind the rose. The rose is attached with dimensionals to a Pretty in Pink layer which has been distressed with the cutter tool kit. That layer is attached to a Rose Red layer that was pierced and faux stitching was added with my white gel pen. The sentiment is stamped in Rose Red onto Pretty in Pink and attached beneath the Rose Red Layer. The twill tape is frayed on the ends and attached to the back of the focal image and the entire piece is attached with dimensionals to the Mellow Moss layer. That layer is stamped randomly with the leaf stem in Mellow Moss. I added copper brads to the corners and put the whole thing onto an Always Artichoke card base.

This is one of those sets that I highly recommend you purchase if you don't already have it. You just can't go wrong here! My biggest regret about this set is that I only just purchased it a few months ago. What was I thinking? I'll be letting go of a lot of my retired sets in July but this won't be one of them.

Wanda pointed out that I have hit the 10,000 mark for hits on my blog! Wow! Thanks to all of you who come by to see what I'm up to. If you haven't already done so, feel free to subscribe to my blog...because it is free! You will get an email every time that I post. It's quick and easy to sign up. Just look for the link on the right!

Bold and Bright

I'm not a huge fan of bold brights but I thought I'd give it a try for this card. The card base is Green Galore stamped with flowers randomly in the same color. The Real Red layer is scalloped using the corner rounder and a piece of black gingham is wound around that. The focal image is on Whisper White stamped with Basic Black and colored with the markers. There is paper piercing in the corners. This layer is attached to Only Orange and the Round Tab Punch is added to the bottom. I stamped the word "friend" from the saying in the set. I used marker to only ink the word I wanted, thus omitting the rest of the saying.

I like the cheery feeling of this card. Maybe I'll have to use a little more brights.

Circle Journal News:: I can add more people to the swap. The cut off will be June 22nd. But be aware that the first mail out day is July 2nd! So if you are still interested please contact me via email with your information and I will forward the guidelines to you.

Baroque Motif in Pomegranate

Hello Stampers! Today I have a card to share with you done in one of the new In Colors and the Baroque Motif set. I'm really liking the richness of the Pomegranate on this card. The card base is Purely Pomegranate stamped in the same color using the flourish stamp. For the focal image I stamped the squarish flower on Confetti Cream and punched the corners with the Ticket Corner Punch. I layered that onto Basic Black and added silver brads. I stamped "kind" in pomegranate and punched out the word using the Round Tab Punch and attached behind the black layer. I wrapped some Black Gingham Ribbon around the card and tied in a square knot before attaching the focal image to the card. This card was quite simple to make. I hope you like!

Circle Journal News: We have eight participants for the Circle Journal. I'm so excited!! We are getting our themes ready and our first mail date will be: July 2nd. My theme will be: Things I Want to do Before I Die. I'm really looking forward to seeing every one's books as they make it through my house. I will post pics as they are available.

Simply Stamped

I recently got this set: Simply Said. I have admired it all year and finally broke down and bought it. I'm so glad that I did! For this sample I stamped three of the flowers randomly over a square of white. I stamped in Regal Rose and Apricot Appeal and added stickles in some of the flower centers. I added a thin black layer and wound a piece of black gingham ribbon around. I then attached this piece to a larger layer of Regal Rose. The card base is White with a layer of black and then a layer of celery patterned paper from the Palette O Prints. I stamped the sentiment in regal rose and punched it out with the large oval punch. I then cut a narrow black layer to make it pop and attached to the ribbon. I put three small black brads from the vintage brads asst. on the side. I used my mat pack to help center the brads.

Have a great Thursday!

Bug in the Guava

No, not in your food, silly! In your ink pad!! I CASEd this cute little bug from Doodledop on Splitcoaststampers. You can see her adorable card here. I used Groovy Guava instead of red because I was using my downline, Alicia's, ink pad that she brought along to Group Meeting last night. I wanted to play with the guava while it was here and I remembered seeing this bug on SCS. So I made the bug by stamping the polka dotted petal from Pick A Petal in Groovy Guava onto Blush Blossom. I then stamped the smile petal over the polka dotted one in black. The head of the bug is half of a large circle stamp and the body is a whole one. I attached my little bug to a 3x3 piece of blush blossom and did some paper piercing around the edges. I also drew in some curly antennae. This layer is then attached to Pumpkin Pie and the whole thing is attached to a guava card with circles stamped in Pumpkin Pie. For "kind" I stamped the word in black onto Blush Blossom and punched it out with the large oval punch. I used my rectangle punch on each end of the oval and wove black grosgrain through the oval and around the card. I'm loving this one. And so did everyone at the meeting because they all ended up making one!!

Have a super day!

Baroque Kindness

Tonight was my June Group Meeting with my downline. We didn't have anything planned so we just played with the new stamps and colors. Susie liked this card so much she asked me to put it here so she could print out a copy. So here it is.

The card started with Old Olive for the base. I stamped two of the flower stamps randomly around the background in olive. I used the saffron print paper for the back layer. And River Rock card stock stamped in Versamark for the front layer. Both of those rectangles are layered with Chocolate Chip. I stamped the large flower on vanilla card stock once with olive and once with saffron and the small flower with olive. After cutting these out I placed a silver brad through the large flowers and attached them with dimensionals. The small flower is just adhered with snail adhesive. The chocolate tab on the right side is made by punching the large oval and folding in half around the River Rock layer and adding a silver brad.

So there you go, Susie. I hope everyone else likes this one too! This set is so easy to work with.

Pick a Pomegranate Petal

Pick a Petal is the other stamp set I bought from the Fall Preview Brochure. I admit that I'm having a difficult time make something cute with this set. I think I'm going to have to check out the SCS gallery for some more ideas. For this card I used card base of Purely Pomegranate. I stamped an image from the Pick a Petal set randomly over the background in the same color. On White I stamped the green circle using Wild Wasabi and then masked it off and added the petals in pomegranate. I cut that out and attached it to the triangular shape cut from Wasabi. I sponged the edges of the flower and the triangle. I also did paper piercing around the edges of the triangle. The sentiment is from Everyday Flexible Phrases and stamped in wasabi and punched with the file tab punch. I hope you like it!

Circle Journal News: I need emails from anyone who has signed up through the comments area if you have not already done so. Namely: Bonnie and Charmaine G. Bonnie...I can order the book for you. Just contact me via email and we'll get that taken care of. Just click on About Me on the left. You will than find a place to click on a link to email me. I would like to set the first mail out date for July 1st. So let's work toward that, stampers!

Baroque Motif

Here is another sample of the new Baroque Motif set. I love the simple elegance here. I was inspired by a beautiful card at Paperfections. Check out the link to see the inspiration card. Mine is much simpler. This is the first card that I have used the corner rounder to make a scallop border. That was fun. The card base is River Rock with the large flourish stamped in Chocolate Chip. The edges were sponged in chocolate also. The flower was first stamped in Old Olive on White and cut out omitting the dots. Then the flower was stamped on olive with chocolate and cut out leaving the dots. I layered the two flowers and attached them with a round rhinestone brad and attached to white card stock with a dimensional. The word "kind" was stamped in Old Olive. The focal image is layered on Chocolate Chip with two corners rounded and the white layer sponged in chocolate. Brown grosgrain ribbon is wrapped around the front of the card and tied in a square knot.

The new color: River Rock has a lot of green in it which I think the Chocolate chip tones down somewhat. It is a nice neutral. Tomorrow I will post a card using Purely Pomegranate. I'm liking the bright purplish pink of that color. Have a nice day!!

New Stamps to Play With!

I got my new stamps and paper and accessories from the Fall Preview Brochure on Thursday. I didn't order everything but I'm loving what I got! Here you see the Baroque Motifs stamped in Always Artichoke. I distressed the edges of the focal image and sponged with artichoke. I punched the word cherish with the large oval punch and sponged the edges there too. The background is the new designer paper. This beautiful paper is double sided so I decided to show both sides on this card. At the seams where the dp is cut I added a 1/2" strip of Chocolate Chip and added paper piercing which you cannot see in the photo. I used the corner rounder on two of the corners for the focal image and attached that piece with dimensionals. I am really loving this set so far. The large flourish is so pretty!! I've got more to show you very soon...so check back!

Circle Journal News: I need an email from Bonnie Sliper and Charmaine G. with your snail mail addys. So please send that ASAP so I can get the list together soon. Thanks for participating!!

Yeah! An RAK for me!

I received this card in the mail yesterday from Diane Gilbert. Check out her blog: My Little Stampin' Spot. This card is so cute! It's 4.25x4.25. I love the layout and the colors that Diane used. I'm loving this stamp set. If it makes it to the new catalog I'll have to get it. I browsed Diane's blog a bit and all of her cards are lovely!

Thanks so much for making my day, Diane!!

Sleepover!!

Yeah! Convention is next month! I get to stamp and hang out with my best bud, Beckie!! I sent her this card. I started with an Almost Amethyst base and stamped the Flannel Plaid BG in White Craft Ink. I layered two patterns of the Palette O' Prints and added the jammie Bella. Some Hodgepodge Hardware finished off the card. The coloring was done with aqua painters and refills. I also sent Beckie some bella images to play with. So far she is resisting the Bella craze. I'm trying to be the enabler!! LOL

CIRCLE JOURNAL NEWS: So far I have 6 people signed up for the CJ. I'm hoping for a few more. So stop dragging your feet and sign up already!! It's not a lot of work, but it's so much fun!

Wanna Circle Journal With Me?

Are you up for a challenge? How about participating in a Circle Journal? It will be so much fun!! Here is how it works: Everyone starts a journal (preferably the 5x5 art book from Stampin' Up!). You decide the theme of your Journal. Some ideas are: favorite music, dream job, 10 thing I like. You can be totally creative here. Once you have decided your theme you make a page in your journal describing what the theme is and what you would like to see in your Journal. Like two page layouts, embellishments, layering, etc. You will need to include some kind of sign in page for your Journal and then create the first layout in your chosen theme. The journals will be mailed at the same time to the next person in the group. When you get someones journal you do the layout according to their theme and mail out on the next mail date. This will continue until everyone has done a layout for each journal and you get your own back.

One of the requirements that I would like to make for all books is that each layout uses a current Stampin' Up! stamp set and other current SU! products in the design including patterned paper. In addition to this being a lot of fun, it would be great to be able to use this as a sample for customers.

To sign up just leave me a comment to this post. Anyone can sign up as long as you are willing to use all SU! products and are ready to make this commitment. Of course, we would all expect that you would do your best work on the layouts and keep to the mail dates. Make sure that I have your email addy so that I can contact you directly about the mail dates and addresses. I would like to have at least 6 people sign up to begin.

Here is a sample of my first page in my Bella Circle Journal.

Tag, You're It

I've been seeing this tagging game going around the blogging world. I love to read everyone's answers and learn a little bit about them. Erica tagged me yesterday so here are my answers. (By the way, they are supposed to be one word answers). Check out her blog. I love her Bella creations. And the Paper Trey too. I really want to buy some of those, but I've gotta save up for the new SU! catty!

So here are my answers:
Yourself: Shy
Your Partner: Amazing
Your Hair: long
Your Mother: Inspiring
Your Father: Missed
Your Favorite Item: computer
Your Dream Last Night: Heroe's
Your Favorite Drink: Slurpee
Your Dream Car: Jeep
Your Dream Home: Paid-off
The Room You Are In: Office/Stamp Room
Your Fear: bugs
You Want To Be In 10 Years: healthy
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: Family
Your Not: Outgoing
One Of Your Wishlist Items: Pool
The Last Thing You Did: Brushed my teeth
You Are Wearing: Dress
Your Favorite Weather: Overcast
Your Favorite Book: Scriptures
Last Thing You Ate: Dinner
Your life: Happy
Your Mood: Calm
Your Best Friend: Beckie
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Convention
Your Car: Corolla
What Are You Doing At The Moment: Typing
Relationship Status: Married
What Is On Your TV: Nothing
What Is The Weather Like: Sunny
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: Today

Now I'm going to have to tag
Beckie
Wanda
Jane

Retiring Children

These cute kids from All God's Children are retiring at the end of this month. Here I stamped them in Basic Black and colored in with Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens. I used my Coluzzle to make the circles. The background is wheeled with Leaf Prints in Always Artichoke on So Saffron. The ribbon is Eggplant. This was the make-n-take at my workshop last week. Everyone had fun playing with the pencils and had a chance to use the coluzzle.

Have a great weekend!

For a Special Teachabella

I got another order of Bellas last week. Yeah!! I just had to play with Teachabella right away. So I made cards for my kid's teachers. This one if for my 1st grade son's teacher. She has been just fabulous! For this card I used Basic Grey for the background papers and the pink scalloped layer. The focal image is stamped in Basic Black onto Very Vanilla. I colored in with the Stampin' Up! markers. And sponged a little pretty in pink around the focal oval. Two prisma flowers with vintage brads accent the oval.

For the scalloped oval I used my slit punch again. That is just so clever! I love the way it looks.

Tonight I worked on the next Bella Circle Journal to come my way. I'm having a great time designing pages for each person's theme. In fact I'd like to start another Circle Journal with my SU! upline, downline, and sidelines. If you are interested in joining my Circle Journal please leave a comment letting me know. I will work out the details and let you know exactly how it will work. It will be so fun! So please think about joining if you are in my group! More info to follow.

More Stamping Space

Well, it's taken two days, but I got another pic to load. This is the wall opposite of the work space. The two door cabinet holds all of my stamp sets and the book shelf next to it holds catalogs, card baskets, and some other miscellaneous items. The tubs on top of the stamp cabinet hold wheels and old ink pads.

I'm really enjoying my space, but I don't quite feel at home there yet. I need to get creative and start to feel the mojo! Hopefully pics will be easier to load and I can get some art work up for you.

Thanks for hanging in there during my hiatus!