Just floating by to say hi!

Happy Friday to you! I decided to play along with this week's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers and use some of my brand spankin' new Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat paper. The paper comes in a 6x6 pad, so I had to cut it down to fit on an A2 card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2). This sketch worked perfectly since it allowed me to cut the paper on the diagonal and not lose any of the underwater scene portions. The diagonal strip is the reverse side, cut from the scraps - waste not, want not!

This month's Stamper's Sampler magazine had an article on using paint chips, so I decided to pull out my collection of paint chips and use one. I stamped my sentiment using Versafine Black Onyx ink, expecting to get the usual crisp impression you get with it, but alas it didn't play too nicely on my paint chip and bled a bit.

The seahorse image is from ERA Graphics and was colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Great Impressions. The ribbon is from American Crafts and was topped with some Memory Box crystals, which I also used for the seahorse's eye.

That's about it. Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Belli Challenge #85 - Round Two!

Happy Wednesday! Today I'm posting a second card using the QKR Stampede Tulip Border for our current Belli Challenge, which is to use butterflies or dragonflies. This time I colored the tulips with Copic markers to match the Heidi Grace Designs patterned papers.

My background panel was made using Core'dinations card stock and a Cuttlebug embossing folder. After I ran the folder through my Wizard, I sanded the paper while is still in the folder to bring out the lighter colored core.

The sketch I used is from my friend Sally over at Asleep on the Couch. She's having a Birthday Bash and is celebrating her birthday by giving away presents! How fun is that? You have until Sunday to enter her contest if you would like to play along. In addition to this sketch challenge, she's also got a color challenge.

For the inside of my card, I used a strip of the Core'dinations paper with a Cuttlebug border folder. The sentiment is also from QKR Stampede's Happy Birthday set.

Be sure to head over to the Belli Challenge and see what the rest of the Belli girls have done and if you want to play along with us this week, be sure to add a link to your card using Mr. Linky on last week's post. If you are posting your card to Splitcoast Stampers or Paper Craft Planet, use keyword CBC85.

Thanks for looking!

Dragonfly Sympathy

Hey there. I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm not sure why exactly, except that I just haven't had a lot of time or motivation. At any rate, here is a sympathy card I made last week for a good friend whose father recently passed away.

I don't recall whose stamp the dragonfly is, but the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and the paper and brads are from Kaisercraft. I stamped the dragonfly twice using Stampin' Up Old Olive ink, cut out one of the images and painted it with Iced Lavender Shimmerz paint and adhered it on top of the other image. I only adhered the body and left the wings loose so they could be shaped to add some dimension. The background was sponged with PTI Lavender Moon ink while it was still in the die.

The ribbon is also PTI Lavender Moon and I colored an ivory button with a Copic marker so it matched the ribbon better. The dragonfly charm is from my stash.


I thought the Legend of the Dragonfly would be a nice addition to the card, so I printed it in green, matted it on lavender paper and adhered it inside the card. Here it is if you're not familiar with it (click on the photo to see it bigger).

That's about it. Hope your week is going well! Thanks for looking!

Belli Challenge #85 - Butterflies/Dragonflies

Welcome to another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to use butterflies or dragonflies on your project. We also have a sponsor for the challenge - QKR Stampede. QKR Stampede very generously provided each Belli Girl a choice of three stamps for this week's challenge.

My first card uses Herd Birthday on the front and Happy Birthday on the inside. The patterned paper is from October Afternoon. I used the reverse side for my butterfly and for the strip on the inside. The ribbon is from Stampin' UP and the buttons and twine are from Papertrey Ink.

For my second card, I used Tulip Border and Happy Birthday again. The Happy Birthday set comes with four sentiments, so it's a great buy! I paper pieced my tulips using the same papers as I used on the background, which are from Memory Box's Biscotti Collection.

I popped the middle tulip flower up using a foam square and the matted panel is popped up with foam tape. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart and the buttons and dragonfly are from my stash.

For the inside, I used a 1" square punch to create three squares from the same paper I used on the front and paper pieced two more of the tulips. I punched the butterfly with a Martha Stewart punch and added three Memory Box crystals for the body.

We'd love for you to play along with us this week. QKR is offering $30 worth of stamps as the prize, so it would be worth your while to play! If you upload your card to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, use keyword CBC85. Please be sure to check out what all the other Belli Girls, and our guest designer, Jess Stockmeyer have done over on today's post on the Belli blog.

That's about it! Thanks for stopping by!

Love You Berry Much!

Sorry it has been so quiet around here lately. Work and life get in the way of blogging sometimes.

This is a quick little card I made for my mother and her husband for Valentine's Day. She has collected strawberries for as long as I can remember, so whenever I see them, I think of her. The stamps are all from Papertrey Ink (My Punny Valentine and Vintage Labels) and the strawberry paper is from BasicGrey's Nook and Pantry collection. The ribbon is from Stampin' Up.

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for stopping by! Check back on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge! Enjoy your week!

Belli Challenge #84 - Ribbon

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week our challenge is to use ribbon, which is not really much of a challenge for me! I LOVE ribbon on cards. We also have a sponsor this week - Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. The sentiment and birds on the limb image are both digital images that Korin at Sweet 'n Sassy provided to us.

My background panel is from a Webster's Pages 6x6 pad - A Sweet Life. I thought it went well with the birds on a limb image. I cut the limb and birds out, colored them with Copic markers and popped them up with some foam tape.

The background of my sentiment panel was airbrushed while it was still in the Nestabilities Labels 9 die. I matted it on some brown Ruche paper from WorldWin and used a slot punch to create some slots to run my ribbon through. The ribbon is Terracotta Tile satin from Papertrey Ink. I created my bow and tied my button to it using some twine. The finished card size is 5.5" square.

Please play along with us this week by creating a card or other project with ribbon and entering it using Mr. Linky on today's Creative Belli Challenge post. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, make sure you use the keyword CBC84 so we can find your project.

Be sure to head over to the Belli blog to check out what the rest of the Belli girls, including our two newest Belli girls, Melisa Waldorf and Darsie Bruno, have done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Music Valentine

Happy Monday! Hope you had a nice weekend! Last weekend I picked up this Impression Obsession Music background stamp and whipped up this card with it when I got home. I didn't get around to posting it last week and then on Saturday I saw that Our Creative Corner's challenge for this week is music, so I'm glad I waited!

Pretty simple - I stamped the music in SU's Riding Hood Red on some textured card stock and then added the matted patterned paper layer. I added some gold beads to each of the scallops on the bottom border, a row of heart ribbon along the top, the sentiment layer and a couple of chipboard hearts that I edged with a gold paint pen. I added a couple of heart shaped rhinestones to the hearts and that's about it!

Thanks for looking and enjoy your week! Please stop back by on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!

Please help if you can!

One of my blogging friends, Pat Adam, aka the Rubber Maid (love that!), works very hard for a wonderful cause called Cards 4 Kids:

This organization provides cards for all holidays to the children in the pediatric unit at the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Last year Pat's goal was to collect 1,000 Valentine's Day cards for the kids to share with each other. As a perfect example of how fantastic the stamping community is, when the final tally was made, Pat had collected 5,682 cards from stampers all over the world. Simply amazing.

And this year, she's at it again, so if you're a stamper and can make a few quick cards for the kids, please head over to Pat's blog to check out the details. She needs to have the cards by February 8th.

My Krafty Kat stamping group used our most recent kit of papers and embellishments to make some cards for the kids and here are the ones I made. They are all 3.5" square, except the last one, which I had to make 3.75" square to accommodate the journaling card.

I just received my Papertrey Ink Tiny Treats: Valentine set last week and used it for a couple of these cards - too cute!

The heart and the flower on this card are from a set of dimensional stickers from Creative Imaginations.

For this one, I just used a 1" punch for the square and stamped the border using PTI's Vintage Labels set.
The patterned papers and journaling blocks are from Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar collection and BoBunny's Back to Basics line (polka dots).

The cupcake was stamped on an Inchie and distressed using PTI's tea dye duo inks. Stickles were added to the heart.
These are quick, fun little cards to make, so if you have your Valentine's supplies out, how about whipping up a few extra cards for the kids? Please help Pat out with this wonderful project!

Thanks for looking!

FS154 Valentine Nurse

This week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast Stampers was my fellow Belli Challenge girl, Anne Harmon. I've never played along in the FS challenge before, but since Anne has been so good to me, I wanted to give it a shot and honor her. I selected this card from her gallery and used the same stamp and the same overall layout, but I changed the background paper from stripes to polka dots, changed the color scheme and changed the ribbon color. I also changed it from a get well card to a Valentine's Day card.

One of the things I like best about Anne is her wonderful, slightly wicked, sense of humor, as evidenced by this Valentine's Day card she posted this week. So, in keeping with her slightly naughty Valentine's Day sentiment, I added one of my own for this card. I've always thought this little nurse had a mischievous look in her eye!

The polka dot paper is from BoBunny, the journaling card is from Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar collection and the nurse stamp is from Crafty Secrets Feeling Yucky set. I paper pieced all of the nurse's outfit except her socks. That was a bit tedious, but it helps to qualify this card for this week's Ways to Use it Challenge, which is Cut It Out!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! Thanks for looking!

CPS150 Sweet birthday wishes

TGIF! Hope you have had a good week - I'm looking forward to the weekend! Sunday is Krafty Kat day - always something to look forward to!!

On Monday I posted a card using this same stamp for this week's sketch challenge at Card Positioning Systems. The sponsor for the challenge is October Afternoon, so I decided to do a second version using their 8x8 pad of Cherry Hill papers. This is also a good example of the different looks you can achieve with the same stamps. Everything is pretty self explanatory, the stamps, buttons, twine and ribbon are from Papertrey Ink, the patterned papers are from October Afternoon and the card stock is from Stampin' UP .

To make my paper flower, I used the two smallest Spellbinders Blossom dies with the text paper from the Cherry Hill collection and crumpled them up, then aged them and the rest of the paper panels with Papertrey Ink's tea dye duo inks. That's about it!

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your weekend!

Belli Challenge #83 - Hearts

It's time for another Belli Challenge! This week's challenge is to use hearts. Please be sure to head over to the Belli blog to check out what the other designers have done and to see who our new design team members are! This week we also have a guest designer and I think it's apropos that she is the guest for our hearts challenge - not only is she a talented card maker, she is also the recipient of a heart transplant!

For my card, I started with a base of Bazzill textured white card stock and some scraps of BasicGrey's Eskimo Kisses Woodland paper. I cut the hearts out of the patterned paper using a paper punch, alternating the direction of it as I punched so my hearts would lean in different directions since the punch is not symmetrical. I used the leftover strip of paper on the inside, along with a couple of extra hearts.

I scored a few lines above the script stamp, which is from the Glitz Clear Distress set, and one line below it. The sentiments on the front and inside are from Memory Box.

This is a quick and simple card and a great way to use up those scraps. Plus it's a fun way to use your leftover Christmas paper for Valentine's Day!

Sweet Birthday Wishes

I made this birthday card using this week's sketch over at Card Positioning Systems.

I picked up this paper from Graphic 45's Domestic Goddess collection specifically to use with this stamp from Papertrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits set. I created my sentiment by combining parts of two different sentiment stamps from the set. I colored the stamps directly with Stampin UP! markers (Old Olive and Real Red).

The accents on the right side of the main image were cut from a scrap of the patterned paper using a 3/4" square punch and popped up using foam tape. I replaced the two square elements on the left side of the focal image in the sketch with a bow made from Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado satin ribbon.

That's about it! Thanks for looking! Enjoy your week and be sure to check back on Wednesday for another Belli Challenge!

Make each day your masterpiece

Happy Saturday! This is a card I made for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday, which was this past week. He is an avid fisherman and I bought this stamp to make his birthday card last year but never got around to it, so I finally pulled it out and stamped it on some of Ranger's Sticky-Back Canvas. I painted it with reinkers and a waterbrush and cut it out with a Nestabilities Labels Three die. I adhered some twine on top of the stamped image for the fishing line and also wrapped it around my patterned paper. I used that paper because it has fish all over it, but you'd never know now that it's all covered up!

I cut out the fish using a QuicKutz fish die and tried to color it to look like a rainbow trout! An artist I am not...but I thought it was funny nonetheless. The stamps are from Cornish Heritage Farms and the patterned paper is from Hot off the Press Paper Pizazz.

Thanks for looking! Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks so much!

Greetings from Hotlanta, where it's a whopping 16 degrees and we have lots of ice. We only got about a half inch of snow, but the ice is the problem. There was a 29 car pileup near the airport this morning. We are hunkered down at home and not planning to get out in it today.

Here's a quick shot looking up our driveway. I know it's not much compared to the rest of the country, but it's pretty unusual for us. There are several patches of black ice on it, so no driving out for us.

Anyway, about the card! This is another one I made using the Caardvarks sketch from last week. It is also another qualifier for the Crazy 4 Challenges Polka Dot challenge and also for Sharon's Stamp Simply SSNOTIME120 challenge to use something new.

The image is from PTI's Everyday Button Bits set (I can't get enough of that set!!), and the sentiment is from their Mega Mixed Messages set. The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar and BoBunny's Back to Basics collection. I used my new Martha Stewart Floral Vine border punch on a scrap of vellum and added a few rhinestones to the centers of its flowers and to the wood flourish.

That's about it! Thanks for looking, have a great weekend and stay warm!

Thank Ewe So Much!

Happy Thursday! Hope you are staying warm - it's 24 degrees here in not-so-Hotlanta. They are calling for snow this afternoon, which is a pretty rare occurrence here.

I made this card for Card Positioning Systems' CPS148 sketch challenge, which is sponsored by Gina K. Designs. The sheep and the sentiment are from Gina K.'s Down on the Farm set. They are paired with October Afternoon's Farm Fresh, Farm Yard paper - a match made in Heaven if you ask me! The sheep is stamped on an Inchie+ square (1 1/2 inches square), then I filled it in with some Liquid Applique. The doodles on the Inchie+ were done using a green Spica pen.

The striped ribbon is from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love collection and the orange ribbon is from Martha Stewart. Pretty simple, but fun and I like the bright colors right about now!

Thanks for looking! Stay warm!