Claudia and Company Hop Tomorrow!!

Just a quick peek at what's coming up tomorrow morning.... Get ready for a blog hop with some brand new images from CLAUDIA & COMPANY!!! 

You'll start the hop at The Claudia & Company blog and make your way through the team and some special guests!!

Here's a snippet of one you'll see here!

Come back tomorrow to see more!! See ya then!! :) 

PRC18 Color Challenge with Witchy Poo & Kitty

FIRST, Just a reminder to make sure you scroll down for my ATS Sneak Peek Day TWO post!!!

Hello! It's Thursday again, which means it's time for the Paper Romance Blog Challenge.  This week, we are giving you an EASY color challenge... use pumpkin, black and creme (or cream here in the U.S. :) .  Easy!!

For my card, I used another one of the newest High Hopes images available at Paper Romance named "Witchy Poo & Kitty".  

I polka-dotted (is that a word?) her pants by coloring them with E shades of copics first and then going back with W5 and YR07 to add some "style" to Witchy Poo's wardrobe.  She also went to the salon recently for some chunky highlights (as you can see in her hair!) There are several touches of Orange Peel stickles on here as well, I just didn't photograph at the right angle for you to see them!   The sidewalk was drawn in and colored with copics. 

As an FYI - The patterned paper is from PTI.  If you have any other questions-- leave me a comment and make sure you are a follower so that I can email you back!!

Thanks for stopping by and as a reminder, one linked up participant will win a $5 gift certificate to the Paper Romance store!  Make sure you go check out the other samples for fabulous Halloween inspiration!

Amy R NEW Holiday Greetings!! Day 2 ATS peeks!

Day Two of sneak peeks at All That Scraps and today we have NEW Holiday sentiments from Amy R Stamps to share... Amy designed two FABULOUS sentiment sets called Holiday Greetings and Merry & Bright.  I used the first one for this sweet card using tomorrow's peek of Christmas Babies by Amy Young.  They have been showing peeks of them on Amy's design team, so I figured it would be okay to use today! :)  Isn't he adorable!?! 

As I've mentioned countless times, Amy R's sentiment sets are my go-to sets ALL year long.  She comes up with the best fonts and sayings and these are no exception.  Wait until you see the full sets! 

Stop by the ATS blog to see more samples of Amy R's new sets and enter for your chance to win them for yourself!!

Day One - ATS October Peeks - NEW DESIGNS - Cuddle Crew!!

Hello!  It's nearly October-- OCTOBER, can you believe it?!?  I decorated my house for Halloween today and am starting to get summer stuff all put up in the garage (8 bicycles, 2 picnic tables, a sandbox, and 3 kids battery vehicles will all need to find a place to hide in my garage soon and we still need to be able to park too.  EEK!!)  I'm thinking a shed may need to be an investment next year! 

Well one exciting part of each new month is that sneak peeks start and this month, I get to start off with a FUN new image and designer for All That Scraps--- Any guesses on the artist?!?!?   It's someone I ADORE with her incredible talent for fuzzy critters... Marina Neira!! I was super excited to see these in the design team package this month!  Meet FREE WHEELIN' WALLY... Marina has two new designs at ATS this month and if you stop by the ATS BLOG, you can also see Baby Cow Daisy.
 
The sentiment is Summer Sentiments from Amy R Stamps and the bicycle papers I used on here are from K&Company.... I was happy I found it when I cleaned out my 12x12 papers the other day! I also used the large zig zag die and button cut-ups from The Cat's Pajamas.  The helmet is covered in Crystal Effects and everything was colored with copic markers, like always.  

Thanks for stopping by and you can see more samples at the ATS blog today!  Don't forget to leave a link on the post for a chance to win these critters for yourself! 

CCDesigns Sugarplums Christmas Kit Blog Hop

Welcome to the CC Designs Sugarplums Christmas Kit Blog Hop!

Today, All That Scraps Design Team is presenting the CC Designs Sugarplums Christmas Kit. A taste of the sweet Christmas creating you can do with these adorable stamps! Let us inspire you!

The hop starts at All That Scraps Blog - HERE. If you've arrived from RACHEL'S blog, you're on the right track! We're so glad you hopped in and here's what you want to know!!! The CC Designs Sugarplums Christmas Kit release date is October 1 -15th as a kit and then released individually on November 1st.

I used the Sugarplum Trim a Tree stamp-- Isn't she adorable with her shiny glass ornament?!?  I loved the plaid paper from the Basic Grey Jovial collection-- it looks like dresses that I've had my daughter wear at Christmas and I added some Atyou Spica in Red to her shoes so they are a little "Dorothy'ish"... Love em!!

I used an MFT Open Scallop Die-Namic die for the side with the half back pearls and added a collection of Spellbinders layered Snowflakes to the top.  The sentiment is from Amy R Stamps Christmas Card Greetings set. 

Now you can go jump around and visit all the blogs, leave comments along the way and the prize will be a random drawing from all the blogs on the hop for a $20 gift certificate to All That Scraps.com

Your next stop is SARAH'S blog. (Edit: Sarah's Blog isn't updated quite yet, so please jump ahead to: DIANE'S blog.)  Enjoy the hop and thanks for stopping by!

TESC129 - Hangin' Out with a Wicked Wardrobe

The weekend is over and it'll be back to the daily rush of getting out of the door for school in the morning... we had such a fun weekend, I didn't want it to be Monday already! Jeremy and I joined a Sunday night bowling team with another couple a few weeks ago, so I look forward to that night all week long, however my Sunday nights are turning into LATE nights/early mornings!! Some of my favorite shows started tonight... Dexter (LOVE!), Brothers and Sisters, and Desperate Housewives... I've been looking forward to them all summer, so I couldn't go to sleep tonight until I watched all three.  It's nearly 1:00 am, and here I am typing up my blog post.... it's feeling like the old days when I was working and did all my stamping in the middle of the night!  

So during my marathon of premieres tonight, I managed to get a card done during some of the commercials.... I used Taylor's Friday Sketch Challenge to get inspired and used the Hangin' Out - Wicked Wardrobe set to make a fun little scene. 

The cat and bats were all embossed with Marcasite Embossing Powder and I used the Fright Night Project Pantry kit for all of the papers and the pumpkin brad. 

I punched out a circle to make a template to airbrush the moon and then I used that circle to cover the moon after it was airbrushed.  I then cut out a PTI cloud die to make the spooky sky background by airbrushing with a V04 Copic marker.  I used the Martha Stewart Spooky Fence punch border layered onto the circle and I also used a spider web border where the scallops are shown on the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by and here is the link to Taylor's sketch challenge this week if you want to play along!! -----> TESC129

Stamps: Hangin' Out Wicked Wardrobe

Paper: Fright Night Project Pantry

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, versamarker

Accessories: Spellbinders circle, scalloped Circle and tag die, Spooky fence and spider web punch border by Martha Stewart, copic pen .3 (to draw in the fence line), marcasite embossing powder, sewing machine, all coloring with Copic Markers

SFYTT - Shane Playing Basketball

Hello!  The weekend is here, YAY!!! Saturday this month means it's time for Jen's SFYTT and you'll have to excuse my slightly off-sizes on here!! I had to be a little bit liberal with the sketch and rearrange sizes some to make it work for the size I printed of the image. (Hopefully Jen forgives me!) :)   I picked another adorable digi from Marina Neira at The Stamping Bazaar to use called "Shane with Basketball" (which is NOW available in rubber as well)--- Shane is an absolutely adorable tiger named in honor of my stamping friend and our design team leader, Kellie Winnell's brother. 

The paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Joy Ride stack and I used a computer generated sentiment, which I airbrushed after cutting it out. 

In the close-up you can see the crystal effects that I added to the basketball and Shane's nose.    I used prismacolor for the blue shading and then sponged with pumpkin pie ink inside the rectangle die. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a great weekend!! I'm hoping for lots of stamping time-- I have STACKS of new stamps sitting here waiting to be inked up for some incredible new releases coming up over the next two weeks!! 

New from The Stamping Bazaar....

I have some TOTALLY cute new images from The Stamping Bazaar to show you today.  TSB is participating in an Operation Write Home challenge and our amazingly talented owner and illustrator, Marina Neira designed some incredibly adorable little furry friends in honor of our troops.  She also designed new Christmas images to make for holiday cards to send for OWH. 

I had a ton of fun making this card-- I used the new image - Patriotic Eagle and cut the card using the oval and scallop oval Grand Calibur dies (which I borrowed from Kim Hupke at Spellbinders).  I used pearl glimmer spray to add some sparkle to the matte patterned paper I used.  It really added a rich look to the card and it's a great way to take some fairly generic cardstock and make it look like the expensive stuff!!  I also used the star/diamond impressabilities die on white cardstock and then airbrushed with blue and red.... I then sprayed that with the glimmer spray as well.  I loved how it turned out and you can see the glimmer in the close up shot. 

Next up is Jolly Josie--- an adorable kitty dressed for the holidays!  I loved her big fluffy face and Santa hat.   I used the new Cosmo Cricket Mitten paper and added some poinsetta flowers with rhinestone brads to tie in with the holly that Josie is holding.  There is some crystal stickles on the cuff and ball of the hat as well. 

Make sure you stop at The Stamping Bazaar Blog to see TONS of new samples and even more adorable new images!!  The challenge is also listed there which is to make a Christmas themed card for OWH-- you can use any stamp companies/images.... we just want you to link to the TSB blog post HERE <---- and send your card to OWH.  The challenge takes place until Friday, October 8th, 11:59pm EST. 

Let me know what you think of the new images and which is your favorite!!



PRC17 - Handmade Flowers - Merry Mouse

Hello all! It's Thursday again, which means it's time for the Paper Romance Blog Challenge.  This week, we are challenging you to make handmade flowers.  Easy enough, right!?

For my card, I used one of the newest High Hopes images available at Paper Romance named "Merry Mouse".   For my sketch, I used Mercy's Sketch Challenge this week - only I moved the accent to the left side instead of the right. 

Personally, I'm not a big fan of mice (as anyone who follows my blog may remember from my "mouse incident" last year... eek!), but this little cutie was one that I couldn't resist.  It didn't hurt that he was holding a giant candy cane and I just happen to decorate most of my house at Christmas with a peppermint/candy cane theme! 

For my handmade flower, I cut two of the Spellbinders Poinsetta dies and then added a few dew drops.

All of the papers are from last season's Martha Stewart Christmas line and I used the Cuttlebug Candy Cane Stripes Embossing folder on the red cardstock. 

Thanks for stopping by and as a reminder, one linked up participant will win a $5 gift certificate to the Paper Romance store!

TE Super CUPPIE - Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Hello Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Hoppers!!  It's time to dig through your shelves and find those dusty stamps that you haven't used in forever, and give them some new life!!

With Halloween coming up, I decided to use one of my very favorite Halloween sets, "Trick or Sweet II"... the frog and princess were the two cuppies that "sold" me, but I also have a son who was well known in our neighborhood as the "costume boy".  He LOVED to dress up in superhero costumes... and even came to the hospital on the day his little brother was born dressed as one of the Incredibles.  If wasn't unusual to find him in a Spiderman or Superman outfit running around our back yard... so the Super Cuppie image I used was a much loved stamp as well! 

I had "one of those nights" when I made this card and had to make some alterations.  So am I the only one who is HORRIBLE with using Liquid Pearls???  I had to improv with this card after I smeared red all over my first background.... I cut out my cuppie and re-cut and re-airbrushed my background circle. If any of you LP experts (ahem- Sankari) :) can give me some tips, email me and let me know what I'm doing wrong!! :)  

I did some fun Spellbinders layers on here... starting with my redone circle, then using the reverse scallops, and the outer yellow layer with pinking circles.  I also used two sizes of stars for an accent (playing off of Sankari's inspiration sketch).  

Finally, the sentiments was stamped in versamark and then embossed with white detail EP and I added a little touch of crystal effects to the Super Cuppie's cherry.  

Also--- as an FYI, Taylored Expressions is offering a special Blast from the Past sale in order to help you prepare for our next customer blog hop! Our October blog hop is all about Christmas and we'll be featuring past Christmas stamps from Taylored Expressions in our creations. The following select Christmas sets are 20% off through Sunday, September 26th so it's a great time to pick one up and join us on the hop next month. You can find all the details on the TE Blog Hop HERE!

Christmas Blessings

Season's Sweetings

Home Sweet Home

Holiday Wonder

Wings of Joy

Tag Treats

 Stamps: Trick or Sweet II

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Paper: Swiss Dot Cardstock, Reminisce Star DP, Vintage Coredinations cardstock

Accessories: Spellbinders - Stars, Circles, pinking circles, reverse scallop; white EP, Copics, Sewing Machine, Pastels, crystal effects

Taylored Expressions - Make a Wish

No school today for the kids, which means a house full of school kids.   I need to come up with some good inside activities for us to do since it's looking like rain!  If you have any ideas, let me know!

I had a chance to stamp with the Make a Wish set from Taylored Expressions this weekend --- as a reminder, this is the current Giving Tree set at TE, so $7 of each set sold is donated to a national children's charity devoted to helping children with life threatening diseases wishes come true. 

I used the Make A Wish Project Pantry Kit for this card--- I just love it when I don't have to "think" to put together a card-- this had everything in it that I needed, so no digging through stacks to find what I wanted!   

The balloons were stamped and embossed with clear EP, then cut out using the new set of 3 Balloon Dies.  I used Memento Lady Bug Red and Pear Tart inks, as well as Stampin' Up's Bermuda Bay.  The strings were stamped with Rich Cocoa ink. 

I also used another new die from TE, the Eyelet Border die, for the blue scallop on the left side of the card.  In order to make the banner, I stamped the banner image 3 times with the same inks as the balloons and then completely cut out the red banner first.  I then cut out specific triangles from the pear and bermuda  bay banners and pasted them onto the red complete banner.  (These were all embossed with clear EP as well.)

The Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop is tomorrow-- so come back then for more TE fun!!

Stamps: Make A Wish - Taylored Expressions

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Ladybug Red, Pear Tart and SU Bermuda Bay

Paper: Make a Wish Project Pantry Kit, Snow White Cardstock

Accessories: Baker's Twine from the Make a Wish Project Pantry Kit, Spellbinders die, Balloon Dies from TE, and Eyelet Border Die from TE, Taylor's Tiny Twinkle shapes

Birthday Girls... Gabby and Lily!

It's been a fun, but long day today--- Gabby's 3rd Birthday party was this afternoon and then we had to stay up to watch the late Iowa vs. Arizona game, which as of 1:08am CT, is still not over!  (Now let me define "watch"... I go into my stamp room and have the TV on the game so that when my husband comes downstairs during commercials, he knows when to run back up to the big TV for the game... lol... hey, I'm still listening!)  

Well while I "watched"... I came up with this card for the OCC sketch this week using one of Claudia and Company's newest Puddlejumpers "Birthday Lily".  I used Basic Grey Cupcake paper and I added some crystal effects to the balloon.   

Here is the close-up to see the detail...

And here are some pictures of MY birthday girl (who has a runny, red nose, but is still little doll in her EmmyDoodlesToo dress and striped leg warmers!! :)  She had such a fun birthday with lots of princess and Strawberry Shortcake toys to play with!  She crashed out at Grandma's for about 2 1/2 hours after everyone was gone! 

About the dress... I just love these little pillowcase dresses!  The owner lives less than 12 minutes from my house and I emailed her with a last minute request for the party and I just LOVE IT!! If you have a little girl, you've GOT to check out her Etsy store!! Cute, Cute Stuff and SUPER well made!! (Just click on the name of the store name above to link to it!)  

Glad you had a fun day princess!!

SFYTT - TE Wicked Wardrobe

Hello!  After a LOOONNNGGG week of dealing with sick stuff, a brand new adorable little neice being born, and prepping for Gabby's 3rd Birthday party (which is at noon today), Saturday is FINALLY HERE... so that means it's time for Jen's sketch for you to try (SFYTT).  It's an easy and fun sketch this week and I used some fun new "toys" to create this card:  

I stamped the orange frame from the Take Note set at Taylored Expressions with Memento Tangelo ink and I cut it out with the matching Taylored Die - Take Note 3.   It was embossed with clear embossing powder, so you'll see in the close up that it's super shiny! I added the "Boo" sentiment from the "Wicked Wardrobe" set and also stamped the ghost on Buttercream cardstock and shaded the edges with G20 and my blender pen.  The ghost was cut out and embossed with Irridescent Ice EP, so it sparkles and shines too!  The papers are all from the Fright Night Project Pantry Kit and I used the new pinking border dies from The Cat's Pajamas for the black lines in the sketch.  The black bats are cut out with the Nested Bats Spellbinders dies and embossed with Marcasite EP.  



Here's the close up of all the SHINY stuff... Ooooo!! :)



Before I go and finish getting ready for Gabby's party, here are a couple of pictures of my first neice, Avery Sue... she's just a little doll and as tiny as can be... well, at least compared to my kids!  My smallest was 8 lbs. 10 oz.  and my first was 9 lbs. 7 oz.!  Yikes!  You forget how tiny they start out!!





Here I am with Avery--- excited to hold a baby that I get to give back when she starts to cry! :) 

PRC16 - Operation Write Home

Hello!! It's time for the Paper Romance challenge over on the Paper Romance blog.  This week our challenge was to make a birthday or Christmas card for Operation Write Home (OWH), which supports our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.

Edited: Oops... There are a few rules with OWH cards, 1. they must be standard A2 card size, 2. NO GLITTER... there are a couple of other rules, but those are the two that I blew it on, so use mine as an example of what NOT to do!! :)  I'll remake something later this week if I have time!

I used this fun High Hopes image called "Bear-ly Inspired" and framed it with the Spellbinders Crown circle.  The paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety (and the orange polka dots are PTI bitty dots 2009).   The sentiment is computer generated... and since mail is always delayed for the soldiers, I thought this would be very appropriate!!

Here is a close up of Mr. Bear enticing his transporation to move a little faster! 

We hope you'll play along and as a reminder, one linked up participant will win a $5 gift certificate to the Paper Romance store!! So join a great cause and you can win two ways!!

Oh and before I go, I have to say CONGRATULATIONS to my brother-in-law and fiance' on the birth of my new neice, Avery Sue Wild.  My husband visited the hospital late tonight right after she was born and I get to go tomorrow (with our kids being sick, we didn't want them ANYWHERE near her!)  She was 7 lbs. 6 oz. and she's SUPER cute!! :)   And I have to point out how excited we are for another Wild girl (Gabby is Gabrielle Sue Wild, so she's really happy to have her first girl cousin!)

Thanks for visiting!!

Cat Girl Honey

Hey!! Well I still have one who can't go to school, but the number of sickies in my house is decreasing slowly.... VERY slowly!  I'm looking forward to everyone being well again soon!!  

At nap today, I had a little free time to finally stamp a card with the new Honey "Cat Girl" from C.C. Designs at All That Scraps.  She's just the cutest in her black boots and cat suit.  I used the Oval and  Crown Oval Spellbinders dies, Spellbinders Witches Brew, MFT Jumbo Ric-Rack Die-Namics, and  Spellbinders Hallowen Fence Scene.  Christine has a sale going on for most of the new Spellbinders dies... so make sure you check out the links for information!

For the black cat from the Witches brew set, I used Versamark and then embossed him with a Marcasite Embossing Powder.  I tied TCP divine twine across the ric rac with two buttons (which I kept on with some dimensionals. 

The inside is decorated on this one as well, I restamped Honey Cat Girl in Tangerine Tango and then used the PTI Eyelet Lace border die in black cardstock for the inside with some of the same star paper scraps from the front of the card.   The sentiment is from Amy R Stamps "Spooky sentiments". The rhinestones in the corners of the border die are orange and bronze (the bronze didn't show up very brightly, but they look GREAT in real life, TRUST ME! :)  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!