Coincidence and Serendipity

Coincidences and Serendipitious events abound in my life.

Last night I started to send a note to the Teddy Bo blog to ask if they ever have Design Team calls.  I was almost done when the netbook I was working on kicked me out of the program and decided to do its own thing with Windows updates or whatever computers do when they screw around with you.  So I gave up and read a book.  I was quite amused this morning when I saw the Teddy Bo blog that posted a design team call.   Coincidences and serendipity...

The Teddy Bo and the Sugar Creek Hollow challenges are  shaped cards so how sweet is it that this week's mojo sketch is a circular card.  Coincidences and
serendipity...

Here's the deets:
stamp - Teddy Bo digi
ink - hp printer and Ranger "Tea Dye"
paper - Stampin' Up dp; MFT cs
miscellaneous - copics, sewing machine; nesties circle and lacey circle dies; baker's twine' charm

Here's the challenges:

Teddy Bo #11 - Shaped card

Crafty Ho - twine

Paper Sundaes - Vintage or Shabby Chic

Little Claire's - shaped cards

Sugar Creek Hollow - shaped cards
Mojo Monday #193 - sketch



oops, I just noticed one of the pearls fell off the mat and is stuck on the image!



Yesterday I made this Teddy Bo wedding/Anniversary card.  I wish you could see this IRL.  I can't get the colors correct on the computer and the stickles aren't showing very well either but you can get an idea of what the card looks like.

That's how I spent my Memorial Day holiday, I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Here's the deets:

stamp - Teddy Bo digi

ink - hp printer; Ranger "Tea Dye"

paper - Melissa Frances "5th Avenue" dp; unmarked cs base; recollection neutral cs for mats

miscellaneous - copics; Recollections pearl swirl; rose and butterfly buttons; charm; twine; Kaisercraft lace; White Blossom rhinestone heart, nesite's label 16; stickles

                                                                                  

Here's the challenges:

Shabby Tea Room  #54 - 2-4-6:  2 patterned papers, 4 buttons (the pink and white roses are buttons with the shanks cut off) and 6 layers

Paper Playtime #47 - May digi Monday with Wedding or Love theme

Crafty Cardmakers #47 -  Love the lasting kind

Totally Gorgjuss #82 - Strings the thing

the Sweet Stop SSS110 - sketch

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. 

By the way, if you're having trouble commenting and you're using Google when you sign in don't check the box that's for keeping you signed in.  Thanks to the many people who have figured this out and posted here and on other blogs.  I have no idea why that is working but I am grateful that something is fixing my commenting problem.

Cupcake Bea

Do you have a favorite technique?  I love to paper piece but I also love to distress.  It's one of those things that grows on you.  At first you can't bare the thought of messing up those beautiful papers or tearing around an image that you spent a lot of time coloring and put your heart into.  Yeah, you get over those feeling pretty quickly.  At least I did.  If you're not sure about try it out on a card for your boss or mother-in-law.  Seriously, try it, you'll have so much fun you'll be glad you did or you can come back and tell me I'm nuts, you won't be the first. 

Well, I was looking forward to playing with a Teddy Bo image so I got lucky because I found Creative Inspirations has a cupcake themed challenge.  They want you to use ribbon, lace, 2 flowers and pearls too.  Is this getting easier or harder?  Well for me, the only thing they didn't ask for was distressing but Paper Romance, Kaboodle Doodle and Paper Sundaes did so all's well.  I snuck a couple other challenges in too.

Here's the deets:

stamp - digi image from Teddy Bo



don't forget the inside



ink - hp printer; Ranger "Antique Linen", "Tea Dye" and "Scatterd Straw'

paper - Melissa Frances "Vintage Attic" dp; Bazzill "Almond Cream" cs

miscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up notebook edge punch; Stampin' Up crochet lace ribbon; Nesties oval and scalloped oval dies; Recollections pink pearl swirl; green pleated ribbon; mini brads; Offray roses; stickles; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:

Pile It On #22 - You're the Sprinkle in My Life

Paper Sudaes #71 - Vintage or Shabby Chic

Creative Ispirations #60 - No cooking Cupcake Recipe - must have cupcake, ribbon, lace, 2 flowers and pearls

Crafty Catz #84 - Pink and Green

I Heart Ribbon #4 - Pleated Ribbon

Papertake Weekly - pale, pretty pastels

Totally Papercrafts #68 - Pink and Girly

Southern Girls #19 - Frills and Polish (lace and pearls)

Paper Romance #52 - Distressing 

Kaboodle Doodle #68 - Distress, rip, tear, crumple

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.

Oh the Drama



CIC113 Inspiration cuppies



 I hate being a drama queen but this week has been hellish!  The travelling and the wedding went well but my laptop started telling me I was going to experience a hard drive failure and to back up files NOW.  Fortunately I believed it and when I got home the backing up began.  Yesterday I took the computer to the store.  When I told the geek what was happening he told me it could be a virus or the hard drive was shot.  Turned out it is the hard drive and that was supposed to be the better problem of the two.  So for the next couple weeks, maybe a month my computer will be back at the manufacturer.  UGH!

Then blogger didn't like me.  For several days I couldn't leave comments on other blogs and no one could post a comment on my blog.  It seems to be okay now.  Fingers crossed.

Isn't making cards so much more fun than all these computer headaches. 



It's time for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.  YEAH!!!  This challenge always cheers me up.  I'm always amazed by the work that goes into the cuppies.  Just look at all those little flowers!  You can't look at them without smiling.

This week the challenge is sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps.  The winner of this week's challenge will get a prize of 6 images of their choice.  Sa-Weet, huh?  So you really oughta get inky this week.  In the meantime for the month of May everything in the store is half price, so if you hurry over there you can still get some bargains.  I picked up a couple images that I thought would be perfect for this challenge.  I picked Fairy Daisy to make a sweet card 

don't forget the inside

.

One of the things I've been doing is digging through my stash for OLD stuff.  I found a really old scrapbooking kit and made the first card from that.   The designer paper,  oval frame and the journaling tag were part of the kit.  The flowers, brads and a little stitching were added and that pulled it all together.

STELLA! (You should have heard that in Marlon Brando's voice) Stella has been cracking me up forever. So I had to have a Stella. When I used to buy cards I usually picked funny cards. Stella is funny. If your stash is lacking humor pick up a couple Stella digis. She is a riot.



the inside






Here's the deets:
stamps - Bugaboo Stamps
paper - Marcella by K "Baby Girl Scrap Kit";  MFT "Pink Lemonade" cs; October Afternoon "Thrift Shop" dp; MFT "Banana Split" cs
miscellaneous - mini brads;brads;  sewing machine; Jolinne's sticker flowers; baker's twine; charm; embossing folder; Martha Stewart border punch


Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspiration CIC113 - photo inspiration
Sketch Saturday week 157 - sketch for the Stella card
Totally Gorjuss #82 - Strings the Thing
Digital Tuesday #112 - Add some texture


Thanks for stopping, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go make a card inspired by the cupcakes and post it on the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge blog (you'll find all the deets, some more inspiration from the rest of the design team and of course the linkey thingey).  If all goes well, I'll be around to comment on it!

OH!  Have you dreamed about being a designer?  Well the sweeties are looking for some design team members and guest sweeties.  Quit dreaming, apply.  All the deets are on the Cupcake Inspiration blog, just click here.

Blog problems

I'm sorry if you're trying to post a comment and can't.  I don't know what the problem is but I am trying to figure it out.  Hopefully the problem will be corrected soon.

A Birthday Card

Everybody has a birthday.  Some people keep having their 29th birthday over and over and over.  Even though they keep having the same birthday you still have to give them a new card.  So this week's Paper Pretties challenge PWC155 to make a birthday card will be useful for everyone.  It can be a card for a child or adult, man or woman.  Heck, you can make a card for your pet monkey (we've got a great "Sock Monkey" stamp for that card!) if that's what you need.  Just get inky, you can use whatever stamps you already have but if you have Paper Pretties stamps we'd love to see what you make with them.  You can find all the challenge details and the samples made by the rest of the design team on the Paper Pretties blog.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Surprise Sophia"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Ranger "Tattered Rose"
paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural White; Cosmo Cricket "DeLovely" SU dark pink cs scraps; MFT "Pink Lemonade: cs
miscellaneous - copics; Sizzex "decorative flourishes" die; Queen and Co Pretty In Pink rhinestones; stickles; nesties ovals and labels 10 dies; glaze pen; ribbons; MFT scallops die-namics

Thanks for stopping, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go make a birthday card for the Paper Pretties challenge.  Need more inspiration stop by the Paper Pretties challenge blog to see what the other design team members have cooked up.  You'll also find the linkey thing to post your card.  So go get busy, I can't wait to see what you make.

Let the Sunshine

It's time to cook.  To cook up a card or project that is.  This week the recipe for Cooking It Up with Katie is to make a sunshiney card with swirls and a sentiment. 

The challenge is sponsored by Meljen's where you can get some of the cutest images around.   Pizzazz a Plenty is a co-sponsor. 

If you need some more inspiration hop over to Katie's blog to see some more samples made by the design team.  Also I've added a search gadget to this blog so you can see my other posts using this company's stamps.

a closer look at the sun charm

There's lots of swirls on the dp used for the crossbar.  There's swirls on the image too.  I even drew a swirl at the tail end of the bee sticker.  It doesn't show up that well in the photo.  Flourishes, especially blingy flourishes are all the rage lately so you could incorporate one of them into your creation.

For sunshine I turned to yellow design paper and of course a sun charm.  I think yellow cards are full of cheer which is how I decided upon "cheer up" for my sentiment.  But this image could be used for any occasion or  "thinking of you".  If you're not squeamish you can write your own sentiment like I did but if you're a scaredy cat you can use a sticker, a rub on or a stamp.  Whatever works for you.  After you finish your creation go to the Cookie It Up With Katie challenge blog and use the linky thingy so we can see it.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Meljen's
ink - HP printer
paper - Rubber Soul "Garden Variety" dp; Stampin' Up "Tangerine Tango" cs; scrap of yellow cs; Georgia Pacific white cs
miscellaneous - copics; bling; charm; ribbon, lace; sewing machine; Jolene's bee sticker; brads, glaze pen, Nestibilities oval and scalloped oval dies.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go get busy making your card or project for the Cooking It Up with Katie challenge.

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge - Hydrangea cuppie

CIC112 Inspiration photo

Are you ready for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge?  This week we're sponsored by "Through the Craftroom Door" magazine.

Hydrangeas are one of the prettiest shrubs you'll ever see.  In New Jersey where I used to live you find them everywhere.  Down the shore (in Jersey it's always "down the shore") there are some HUGE specimens.  I think the largest ones I've ever seen were in Ocean Grove.  At Easter and Mother's Day they are for sale everywhereere from food stores to gas stations and quickly put up corner stands.  They're inexpensive and make a great present.  They don't require much attention and can grow as big as your house.  When we purchased our NJ house there was a small one in the back yard.  The first couple years I was busy with other things and I didn't pay much attention to it and it came back every spring.   Then I started to prune it and fertilize it.  Well that sucker went from a scrawny two foot plant to a huge bush in two years and kept growing.  Later I picked up a pink one and had similar success with it. 

Down here in Florida I haven't noticed any hydrangeas.   Again, I've been busy with lots of other stuff and for our current house the landscaping is  beautiful and it's care is included in our association fees.  When we more we're thinking about bougainvilleas, an orange and a lemon tree, and we've got our eyes on a few types of palms, who knew there were hundreds of varieties of palms, each one a beauty.  Lots of the plants we took for granted are absent here but there's no shortage of gorgeous flowers.  It's a whole new world of gardening here.  I've got lots to learn.

I was inspired by all the beautiful shades of blue in the icing.  I have a few K & Co. dp pads.  One of them is a pad full of punch outs for making gift boxes.  I picked this pad up in A.C. Moore a couple years ago so I don't know if it's still available. Using this paper made it one very fast and easy project.  This one is the perfect size for a gift card, but there's lots of other things that would fit in it.

How will you be inspired?  I can't wait to see what you make.  You can find the linkey thingey and all the challenge details as well as the rest of the design teams samples by clicking here

Here's the deets:
stamp - sentiment from My Favorite Things
ink - memento Tuxedo Black
paper - K & Co Patterned Cardstock Boxes
miscellaneous - Prima flower

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go make something inspired by those yummy cuppies.

Skating Away

It's the weekend.  Yeah!  Whatcha gonna do?  Stamp?  Lucky you.  I love stamping all weekend long but this weekend is different for me.  Sometime today I'll be making my way North and tomorrow I'll be attending my daughter's wedding.  So even though I won't be stamping I'll be having lots of fun celebrating Annie's and Louie's big day.  Then I'll be visiting friends and relatives for a few days.  No time for stamping but I think I can bare it for a couple days.  And I was very busy for the last couple weeks trying to  make sure I have all my design team cards ready and scheduled to post. 

So let's get to it with Stampin' for the Weekend.  This week we have a recipe - Blue, Buttons and Bling.  Pop over to the challenge blog to find out all the challenge details, you'll find the linky thingy for your creation and best of all you'll see the beautiful eye candy created by the rest of the design team.  There's lots of inspiration to be had.

As you can see I've added one more card to my Christmas/Holiday inventory.  I've now got a whopping three.  Yeah me!  LOL.   I bet it's three more than some of you.  more LOL.  



don't forget the inside



For those of you who don't have a big stash of supplies (who are you?  I need to meet you cause right now I think you're as real as Big Foot -and I'm not going to debate Big Foot with any of you, but I digress...) you don't have to finish off the inside of most cards but when you use a dark cardstock it's a good idea to at least put a white square inside so there's a place to write a greeting.  For those of you with a stash of paper that will last you a lifetime, use some of the stuff up and finish off the inside.  It's a nice touch and makes your card that much more special. 

Here's the deets:

stamp - Paper Pretties "Gliding By Sophia"

ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black";  Color Box "Silver"

paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural White cs for image; Close To My Heart "Aspen" pack for all dp and cs

miscellaneous - copics; blue grosgrain ribbon; baker's twine; snowflake charm; Creative Impressions felt snowflakes; Stampin' Up button; Stampin' Up corner punches; My Favortie Things die-namics "Open scallop" border die; Nesties "Lacey Circle" and "Labels 13"; blue flower soft; sewing machine; EK Success snowflake border punch

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go get busy and make a card for the Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge  to use blue, buttons and bling.

Just for the Heck of It

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for New Jersey.  I'll be gone till Wednesday.  With something planned for everyday there'll be no time for stamping but there is one day being spent with my stamping buddies so a trip to a craft store is in order.  I'm very excited because I'll be seeing many of my friends and relatives. 

Getting ready for my trip included having my posts ready for while I'm away.  Between getting them worked up, making party favors and little gifties for my buddies I haven't had much time to make anything just for the heck of it.  Since I finally finished up I was able to make a card just for the heck of it. 

I'd been wanting to use this Teddy Bo image then I saw the DYSU color challenge and decided to hunt down some paper to work it.  I settled upon some Basic Grey dp.  How lucky was I to have some fishy buttons in my stash.  All I had to do was cut the shank off so that it would lay flat.  Today I've been wondering if you all know what I'm talking about.  Maybe some of you are newbies to crafting and don't know what a shank is.  So if you're in the dark I'm posting a pic of the back of the button and the clippers I use to cut them off.  Easy, peasy and more embellishments for your stash.

Here's the deets:
stamp - digi image from Teddy Bo
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up "Certainly Celery" and "Kiwi Kiss" cs; Basic Grey "Kioshi" and "Phoebe" dp
miscellaneous - copics; brads; twine; button; Nestibilities "deckled rectangles"; EK Success border punch






don't forget the inside

 Here's the challenges:
Teddy Bo - Teddy Bo only
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - Show Us What You got
DYSU #20 - Celery, White and Sea Glass Blue
4 Crafty Chicks #38 - Brads
Nadia's #6 - Men's Cards
Stamps R Us- Goin' Digital
Craft Your Passion #58 - Cutie Patootie
Dream Valley #7 - Dig out the old to use with the new (the Phoebe paper is old, the brads are very old, the image is new)
Stamp Something - Anything Goes
Card Mad Fariy #8 - For the Boys
Allsorts week 103 - Teddy Bear Picnic (Teddy went fishing to get the food for the picnic)

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.

If the Shoe Fits...



are you surprised that I have a shoe charm?

...buy it in every color.   Now that's a philosophy I can endorse.  When I attended grammar and high school I had to wear a uniform and I've been told that having a vast shoe collection was common for girls who wore uniforms.  It was definitely true for me and my friends.  Shoes are pretty much a female obsession, aren't they? 

It's time for Paper Pretties challenge PWC154 to use flowers.  Stop over there to see what the rest of the design team has made.  They're always an inspiration for me.  I'm not very good with using flowers, I love to see them on cards but I have trouble using them.  If you browse through my blog you'll see them here and there but I have to push myself to use them.  So this is a challenging challenge for me.  I like that. 

I was itching to use my newest Pretty stamp set "Sassy Shoes" so I had to think about this for awhile.   Even though the stamp set comes with a flower to add to the pump I didn't want to have that as my flower.  I wanted something more in your face.  So the first thing I did was pick a flower from my stash and from there I worked out the rest of the details.  The sketch is from Jen Del Muro, it's her May Sketch for You To Try.  It's perfect for an image and a big ole flower.   The colors for the papers and ink were picked to match the flower.  

here's a close up of the charm

 Here's a close up so you can get a better view of the charm.   You can also see that the layers are popped up.

I love this stamp set (are you getting tired of hearing this?) and you will too.  Here's some of the reasons why:

1.  there are 4 different shoes in the set.  My pulse quickens as I think about this.  There's a plain shoe, a polka dot shoe (that's the one I used, it reminds me of an faux ostrich bag I have, but I digress...), a leopard shoe AND A ZEBRA SHOE!!!! (my heart be still).  And if that isn't enough...

2.  there are four fun and funky sentiments including "walk on the wild side" 

3.  there's a little bow and a little flower you can add to the pump (I used to buy those fun things to put on my shoes so you know I'm wild for these)

4.  there's a "handstamped for you by" (and it has a little shoe with it) stamp in the set.

5.  this is a really easy to use set.  You don't have to have any coloring skills to work with this set.  Of course you can color the shoes and bow and flowers if you feel like it but all you need to make a great image is to stamp it.  AND this is a clear acrylic stamp that meets the paper with a kiss.  You'll love stamping with it.

I did finish off the inside but I forgot to take a photo.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Sassy Shoes"
ink - Stampin' Up "More Mustard"
paper - Wausau "Sunflower", "Tuscan Sun" and "Firecracker Red" cs; My Mind's Eye "Andrea Victoria" dp;
miscellaneous - Recollections mulberry paper flowers, brads, Hero Arts gem stones; Taylor's Tiny Twinkles; ribbon; sewing machine; nesties circle and lacey circle; Stampin' Up border punch

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC154 - Use flowers
A sketch for You To Try - May sketch
Little Claire's #7 - Sparkle
Creative Cowgirls - Anything Goes
One Stitch at a Time - Anything Goes
Stamp Something - Anything Goes
Totally Thrilling Thursday - Bling is a Girl's Best Friend
Fairy Fun - For the Girls
Creative Inspirations #59 - Glitzy and bling
Sugar Creek Hollow - recipe 3 dp, 2 die cuts and 1 charm
Really Reasonable Ribbon #24 - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts Ink #28 - Is That Oranges That I Smell
CR84FN28 - Red, Yellow and Neutral

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.  Now it's time for you to get inky and use some of those flowers you've been stashing away.  Don't forget to link it up on the Paper Pretties challenge blog so we can see what you've made. 

For the Birds

CIC111 Inspiration Photo

This has been a couple of scary days in blogland.  I hope your blogs have all been restored.  My missing post was restored but the comments were not.  Hopefully I read what you wrote before the problems started.  I appreciate every single word you take the time to write.  Since Blogger is free I won't complain, in fact I'm down right grateful I can post my work here and share it with you and that I can go to so many of my favorite places to see what they are doing. 

Let's get to this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenege.  It's for the birds.  

Those cupcakes are calling to me.    That fluffy icing wants me.  I do love icing, and some of them appear to have coconut on them.  YUMMMMM.  When I see those cuppies I have a difficult time thinking about anything else but I'll force myself.  

Lucky for me Robyn's Fetish is sponsoring the challenge this week because this image is perfect for the challenge.  They've got tons of digi images available.  I gravitate to the cutesy and country looking images which abound there.   Go check it out, you'll find something you like.  Then check out the Cupcake Inspirations blog to see what the rest of the design team has created and get all the challenge details.

I think the inspiration is pretty obvious. I took the birdhouse theme and colors.  

Here's the deets:

stamp - digi image "Waking Up Birdie"  from Robyn's Fetish

ink - hp printer; Ranger "Antique Linen" and "Pumice Stone"

paper - DMD Shrang- ri-la Pallette dp; Stampin' Up "Wild Wasabi" and "Soft Suede" cs; Georgia Pacific white cs

miscellaneous- copics; brads; buttons; twine; ribbon; nesties; chram

What will you do?  I can't wait to see your cards and projects so after you've finished don't forget to link them up.  I'm looking forward to visiting your blogs and galleries.

Happy Birthday Nancy!

Happy Birthday Nancy!  I hope you're having a great day.  Nancy's our Southern Yankee Crafter and you can always find something interesting there.

At Paper Pretties when there's a birthday there's a blog hop.  So go get your coffee, or your favorite beverage and settle down to hop along and see all the goodies the design team has been creating. 

We always start at the Paper Pretties blog, and there's a list of the hoppers in order there so if you get lost along the way you can pop back to the Paper Pretties blog and get back on track.  When you finish here you're going to hop over to Dominique's Mephisto's blog.

For my card I'm using the adorable pooch from the Dog - Gone Birthday set and the Kaiser Craft "Hey Birdie" dp pad.  I love how this card came out and am so glad I have this stamp and this paper and here's some of the reasons why:
1.)  everybody loves a cute puppy stamp, you can use this for a card for anyone, any age, any gender
2.)  It's fun to color this pooch, you could color him in traditional doggie colors or you could make him a funky blue, pink or green.  You can even paper piece him (or her, I'm not sure what gender the pup is)
3.)  the stamp is clear acrylic so you can see what you're doing with it and it stamps beautifully
4.)  the stamp is the perfect size for 4-1/4 by 5-1/2 cards
5.)  the paper is pink and brown and mauve and beige - it's just yummy. 
6.)  there's some metallics in the paper pack and beautiful prints
7.)  there's tags and borders in the paper pack (fun, fun stuff and you don't need to have dies to get them)


don't forget the inside



Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Dog Gone Birthday"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural White; Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" cs; MFT "Pink Lemonade" cs; Kaiser Craft "Hey Birdie" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette ribbon; Martha Stewart border punch; Nesties oval and scalloped oval dies; brads; sewing machine; ZVA pink crystals

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now it's time for you to continue hopping along.  The next stop is Dominique.

Paper Pretties hop and May Release

And it's challenge day too!  We do like to multi task. 

So the first task of the day is to let you know that the May stamp sets are now available (well if it's at least 7AM EST and if it isn't why aren't you sleeping).  There are five new sets this month.  There are three graduation sets, an inspiration sentiments set and the handy man set (if you buy noting else you must buy this one!).  The design team has been previewing the stamps since Friday and today we're having our release hop. 

If you just happened upon my post you can click here to start from where we began at the Paper Pretties challenge blog. If you get lost at any time during the hop you can just go back to the Paper Pretties blog where there's a list of all the design team in hopping order. So go get your coffee or some yummy beverage and get hopping.  When you finish here the next stop on the hop will be Deb Vandersteeg this month's Guest Designer.  I'll put another link to her blog at the end of the post so you won't have to look all over for it.


don't forget the inside

Have you started fretting over what you're going to stamp for Father's Day?  I have very few masculine stamp sets.  When I saw this set I flipped out and you should too.  Here's why:
1.)  the images are totally adorable (I know, I know,  I say this about every stamp set, well, they are all adorable).  You get a lawn mower, a tool box and a bar-b-que.
2,)  there are tons of sentiments making the set very versatile (birthday, father's day, brother, gift tag...)
3.)  speaking of versatile, besides being masculine you can make bar-b-que invites (tis the season)
4.)  I need masculine stamp sets, I bet you do too
5.)  (now this one may be just me) I have a set of bar-b-que charms that are perfect for this set (do you have this problem too?)

If I didn't have this stamp set already I'd be in the Paper Pretties store right now buying it.    Of course you could be polite and wait till you finish reading this post and the blog hop before you shop. 

Being polite, good for you, your mother would be proud. 

The next order of business is to tell you about today's challenge.  PWC153 is "Texture", add some texture to your card.  Texture adds interest and often dimension to your card.  There's a few ways that I know to do it and they're all fun.  Embossing will add texture.   I love the look of metallic embossing powders for sentiments.  It's very rich.  Think of white wedding cards with silver raised ink, very elegant.  There's also dry embossing, now picture that wedding card with a layer of raised dots or florals.  Adding fibers and ribbons, bling and brads or chipboard will add texture too.  Basically everything you add to your stamped image can add texture.  So what will you add?  I can't wait to see what you create so after you post it to your blog or gallery don't forget to link it up on the Paper Pretties blog so I can come see it.  You can find the linky thingy and all the challenge details by clicking here.

Here's the deets:

stamp - Paper Pretties "Handy Man"

ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Close to My Heart "Desert Sand"  on inside

paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural White cs; Cosmo Cricket "Joy Ride"; Stampin' Up Black" and "Tangerine Tango" cs

miscellaneous - copics; twine; Karen Foster charm; brads;Nesties Curved Rectangles

Here's the challenges:

Paper Pretties PWC153 - Texture

Tuesday Throw Down #48 - use die cuts
Sentimental Sunday #54 - Anything goes

 Crazy CCH#66 - Anything Goes
Stamps R Us - For the Men in Our Lives

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back.  Now it's time for you to continue the blog hop.  The next stop is Deb. 

Domestic Diva

Looks like everybody's cooking this week, even my image!  This image, Domestic Diva, is from this week's Cooking It Up With Katie challenge sponsor, Sassy Studio Designs. 
 

The recipe is to use brads, letters and stamp (a digi image or stamp).  You can get all the challenge details, see more more inspiring works by the desgin team and find the Mr. Linky thingie for posting your creation by clicking here.

I was debating over the letters part of the recipe.  I have some fun puffy letters but wasn't sure what I should spell out.  I have some patterned papers with letters on them but none of them were in the color scheme I wanted to use.  I have lots of chipboard letters but again couldn't decide which letter to pick.  So while I was batting around ideas in my head I pulled the paper pack I wanted to use and went looking through my charms.  I knew I had a spoon and some veggie charms but I had forgotten about the "LOVE" charm.  Well that was pay dirt for me and after that the card came together very quickly.



don't forget the inside



Here's the deets:

stamp - Sassy Studios "Domestic Diva" digi

ink - HP printer

paper - Wausau "Firecracker Red", "Tuscan Sun", and "Sunflower" cs; Cosmo Cricket "Garden Variety" dp; Georgia Pacific white cs

miscellaneous - copics; orange grosgrain ribbon; baker twine; mini brads, grads; charm; sewing machine; nesties scalloped rectangles

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie - #61 - Brads, letters and stamp

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go get inky and play along with us at Cooking It Up With Katie.

Go Kids! Go..

Go get  jobs!  From my computer to God's ears.

It's day four of sneaky peeks for the Paper Pretties May release.  One more day of peeks and then on Wednesday, you can shop.  YEAH!!!  I love to shop, especially for Paper Pretties stamps.  So mark your calendar or at least make a mental note that the May Release will be available on Wednesday, May 11 at 12:00 AM, perfect for all you insomniacs.  As usual we will kick off the release with a blog hop.  It will start at the Paper Pretties blog and from there you'll hop along through the DT's blogs where you will get to see some fabulous eye candy. 

Today's stamp set is "Graduation Zac".  If you've been visiting the Paper Pretties blog for the last couple days (and if you haven't, well why haven't you, get over there now and catch up) you know that besides Zac, there's a "Graduation Fairy Sofie" and a "Graduation Lily".  If you're like me, you would probably send a card with a boy's image on it to a boy and if you were going to send a graduation card to a girl you would want a girl's image on it.  

the inside



 I know a lot of you like to collect stamps and that's a fun thing to do. But if you're someone who can't afford to get every set that's released and you need a card for girl and a card for a boy, well I've got a nifty little trick for you.  My niece is graduating.  For the card I made for her I've turned Zac into a Zacarina (is there a feminine version of that name?) and it's pretty easy to do.  










For the transformation there are just a few simple changes.  First, the way Zac's pants pool around his shoes looks a little bit boyish to me so I cut that part of the image off.  The haircut was what made me think this could be a boy or a girl.  For Zacarina I colored in some funky red strips (guess who has a daughter with funky hair) but the hair doesn't need to be different.  But you need to pay a little more attention to the facial features to soften her up.  Zac got teeny little dots of blush that barely show, Zacarina got larger, darker dots and then a little of the color on her lips.  There's a smidge of color on her eyelid and I drew in little eyelashes with a fine point marker (if you're too scared to do that, if you work on the blush and lips that will be enough to make her feminine).  Lastly I added earrings but you can barely see them, even in real life, besides these days the guys are wearing all kinds of earrings...

Here's the deets for Zac:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Graduation Zac"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper -Georgia Pacific white cs for image; all other papers from Creative Memories graduation package (I've had this package for 4 years, I don't remember the name and have no idea if it's still available)
miscellaneous - copics; Creative Memories cutting system for ovals; Stampin' Up corner punch on inside; brads; sewing machine

Here's the deets for Zacarina:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Graduation Zac" 
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - DCWV yellow cs; DCVW "Glitter Stack" dp; Georgia Pacific white cs for image
miscellaneous - copics; nesties oval and scalloped oval dies; Stampin' Up ribbon; Blue Moon charm; baker's twine; button brads; MFT "Sweet Stack" dies; sewing machine

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget that I'll be participating in Wednesday Paper Pretties blog hop.  I hope you hop along.