Time For Roses Soon!

I have a yellow rose bush that has those tinges of apricot at the throat and edges of some petals. You know the one. I thought I'd try watercoloring the Fifth Avenue Floral rose to look like one of those. My attempts are poor compared to the real thing but the watercoloring with the aqua painter was fun. The color spreads easy. I only used 2 shades, a yellow and a pinky red. Two sizes of the Nestabilities Pinking Circles propped up the image on Delicate Dots paper and I used So Saffron ribbon to dress it up. Liquid Pearls dot the inside circle. The background is Certainly Celery cardstock. Have a great weekend. I'm headed outside to work awhile as it's in the low sixties here. Woo hoo!

Halloween in March! Holy Ghostbusters!

Seriously folks, I'm a self confessed Halloween nut but even I don't make Halloween items in March. I only did this so I could use the Circle Scissors Plus. This tool cuts perfect circles like a charm. Even skinny ones! I used Basic Black CS, Basic Grey DP and some SU DP from last year. I also think the printed paper is MM. Anyway, the image is from Inkadinkadoo Halloween Trails and the owl is a Martha Stewart stamp. I used Detail Black EP and Versafine Onyx Black ink to do the embossing. Don't forget to click on the picture to see the details better. I used some gems on the ribbon and don't miss the owl's eyes! Now back to spring and Easter!!!

Circle Scissors Plus card

I played around with my Circle Scissors Plus today and some Tea Party designer paper. All the circles were cut with the CSP. Background is Pretty In Pink CS and I used gold Stickles for some bling. Enjoy

Sweet Puddin'

A few weeks ago I mentioned that my good friend Diane over at Nellie's Nest sent me some little cupcake chipboard books. This is the first one I made. The little pug featured here is my oldest "grand-dog" who belongs to my oldest child, Kathy, who is a PICU nurse. I just had fun playing with Maggie's pictures and a few embellishments. There's a little room for more when the inspiration strikes. Maggie the pug is 11 now and getting a little arthritic but she has always been the sweetest little dog so this is dedicated to puddin'!

Everybody Loves Candles

Eons ago I was lucky to purchase three of these vanilla scented candles at Target on a big markdown. I put them away on a shelf where I keep things to be altered. Today was the day. This was the first time I had tried stamping on candles and let me tell you it was easy peasy! There's a great tutorial on SCS under resources if you are interested. I did the sweet bird from SU Always on one side and the friend sentiment from All Holidays on the other. I also had some of these tiny matchboxes that I got from the dollar store. You get a whole load for a buck. You can't cover the inside box totally or it will be too thick to slide through. So I simply put a strip of decorative paper on the ends and wrapped a piece around the outside. Using the scalloped punch, a prima inked with Baja Breeze and some grosgrain ribbon with a bridal brad decorated the top. Paper is (did you guess yet!!) SU Parisian Breeze, just used up some scraps from other projects. I wanted to put the candle and a pack of the matches in a cello bag and tie with the ribbon but I didn't have the right size cello bag. But this could go in a little basket or a bag, etc. What a nice gift for a friend at very little cost! Have a good one.....

Sparkling White Top Note!

Decided to try the Top Note Box and use dry embossing to show it off. Card stock is Whisper White. The bottom layer of the top was a paper I got somewhere but don't remember what it was. It's very limp but has a nice shimmer to play off the WW. The base is embossed with the CB Swiss Dots, the top with the new Manhattan Flower and the sides were done with a CB strip type flower. The butterfly is from the SU Butterfly Die and is embossed with Swiss Dots and a few pearls. Very nice for a wedding, first communion, confirmation, etc.

Time To Bloom

I am so excited (yowsa!!!) about this embossing folder. When I first saw it in the catalog I was like "na, not my style." But then, as so often happens, when I saw some cards done with it I was blown away. The texture and depth of this thing is fantastic! The CS is Baja Breeze topped with a piece of Parisian Breeze (there's that paper again) and the sentiment is stamped in Choc Chip and is from Bella's Bloom. How perfect is that??? I have the entire embossed image up on dimensionals for further relief. This card literally took 5 minutes, even with cutting out the image. I love it!

New Rubbah and Toys!!!

My Occasions Catty pre-order came today along with some other things I ordered. I love the Butterfly die, love it, love it!! These cards show the smallest one layered on the Labels One Nesties using Parisian Breeze paper on Kraft CS. Can you tell I LOVE this paper! Are you getting sick of it yet? SU's Bali Breeze grosgrain ribbon and two new sentiments finish it off. The one on the top is from Fifth Avenue Floral and the one underneath is from Oval All stamps that coordinate with the NEW scalloped oval punch. I had these little tiny clips that exactly matched this paper so I had to use them. Also added a few little pearls on the b-flys! Enjoy!

Mrs. Lumpy, I Love You!

http://mrslumpys.blogspot.com/ Who is Mrs. Lumpy??? Go to her blog and find out. She took classes from the great Michelle Zindorf, brayer queen of all times. Now Mrs. Lumpy has done 2 videos of her own on how to do this card. I think it came out pretty good for my first attempt using her method. I didn't make the card as long as I should have so I could not get the whole reflection of the tree in the water but I'm pleased with how it came out. Inks used were SU Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue and Night of Navy, Handsome Hunter, Black and Certainly Celery. The tree is from Lovely as a Tree and the deer is a Stampscapes stamp. Go give it a try. It was lots of fun!

On a roll here this afternoon......

You know we forget we don't have to have a stamped image on a card. Here's an example of just the sentiment and a small embellishment. This is also from the Thoughts and Prayers SU set. The background papers are Naturals Ivory, Sahara Sand and the DP is Delicate Dots from the SAB Brochure. So Saffron ribbon and a flower from Martha Stewart finishes it off. I also used the Labels One Nesties for this.

Praying For You

I sure hope Stampin' Up! comes out with more of this textured heavy weight designer paper because I absolutely love it. It is a joy to work with. This image and sentiment are from the very popular Thoughts and Prayers set, new to the current catalog. The paper is SU Parisian Breeze. Background is Kraft. I used the Top Note Die and two of the scallop punches to surround the sentiment. Chocolate Chip ink. Hope you like it!

Largest Stamp I've Ever Used!!!

As the title says, this is the largest stamp I've ever used. I had to buy a special acrylic block to hold it. This stamp and another of a squirrel that I have are by Wendy Francisco for Biblical Impressions. They are detailed and beautiful. But let me tell you, they are HARD to ink! I finally used a brayer (over and over and over) and stamped about 8 bad images until I got one. Stamping on a rubber mat helps too. The backgrouind is Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla and the DP is by DCWV. I don't think you can see it but it is leaves in various shades of brown. I stamped the image with Versafine Vintage Sepia which is the only ink I recommend with detailed stamps like this. I just edged the image slightly with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo and used four brads in the corner. Very masculine, but hey us gals like nature images too, right?

Parisian Breeze Match Box

I came across a very wonderful blog recently http://www.flutterbyatomicbutterfly.blogspot.com/. Please visit her and see the artistic and wonderful creations. I shamefully cased this box, even the paper and stamp that was used! This new textured DP from Stampin' Up! is just wonderful for 3D projects. The stamp set used is SU Friends 24-7 which is such a beautiful set of images and sentiments. I know I'll be using this one a great deal. The paper as I said is Parisian Breeze. I embellished with a prima flower brushed with Baja Breeze and used a bridal brad in the center. And the bow is from SU striped grosgrain ribbon with a head pin and a few "jewels" to dress it up. I think this would be wonderful for a sweet spring gift, filled with moss or grass and some chocolate eggs. I made two, one to keep and one to give away!!

Elephant Card Tote

I decided that the little elephant cards below needed to go in a tote. This tote holds all six cards and envelopes comfortably. The background CS is Basic Gray and the DP was some scraps left from another project. I used that great ribbon again and the flower is a Martha Stewart sticker backed by a pinked circle nestie of the Basic Gray.

You can always use a thank you note.....

You can never have enough thank you notes on hand, especially for special friends. I bought the SU Happy Heart Day stamp set this year, not for Valentine cards, but because I liked the elephant image for a "friend" card. The mouse holding the heart could be used for other than Val. day too! Stamped on watercolor paper, colored with watercolor pencils and aqua painter. I used the plain square nesties and the scalloped ones as well and finished with a sentiment on 2 sizes of the oval punch. CS is Basic Grey and Pretty in Pink.

Easter Cards

I am not a "cute" stamp person but I could not resist this easter stamp set from Cat's Pyjamas because of the sentiments. They are so funny. They are stamped on 140 lb. watercolor paper and colored with pencils and the blender pens and aqua painter. All the paper is from Afternoon Tea from an old catalogue on Whisper White CS. Used the same Nestie scalloped rectangle on both and cuttlebug embossed one card. The pink ribbon on the left is the most luxurious ribbon I own. I got it on a sale table at Mike's I think. It's made by Wright's and is double faced satin. I think you can see how pretty it is. Got to find it in more shades. Enjoy!

The Kindness of a Friend

Look at the treasures my friend Diane sent me today! http://www.nelliesnest.blogspot.com/ What a surprise! She acknowledged what I had been through the last couple months and thought I needed these things to play! Wasn't that just so nice? I am going to have so much fun with those little chipboard cupcake books! Thanks Diane for being such a wonderful friend!

Ma Bunny and Babies

This has nothing, of course, to do with papercrafting. My fingers were itching to do a bunny for spring and this is what appeared. The pattern is from Hidden In The Attic. Mama's body could have been darker but when you stain them you don't know how they are going to come out of the oven. Her hips are dark and too close to the color of the bunnies but they all still look cute sitting on my kitchen island! Think spring!!!

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