a week of surprises...

Happy Friday everyone!!  The lovely weather that we had for the last few days is gone and we are back to rain... bummer!  Oh well... my week of surprises definitely makes up it!!  On Tuesday the first surprise arrived in the mail.  I knew that I had some cards being published in the Spring 2016 issue of Stamper's Sampler Take Ten because several of them were featured in their monthly newsletter.  But I was totally surprised and delighted when I took my complimentary copy from the envelope and saw that my card was on the cover!!!  The card is part of a four card feature that you can find in the magazine on pages 110 and 111.  I made the card using products from the Simon Says Stamp May 2015 card kit.   This kit contains the beautiful stamp set Congratulations and tons of beautiful supplies courtesy of My Mind's Eye.  It seems this kit is still available so you just might want to pick it up... you won't be sorry!  I must admit that I really loved how this card turned out so it is especially nice that it was featured on the cover!


The second surprise arrived on Thursday.  I went out for my morning walk and when I returned I found a package from Annie's Publications sitting on my front porch.  I was a little puzzled because I had not submitted anything to Annie's in about a year.  I went inside with my package and opened it up to find two copies of their Spring Greetings special issue and a card that I had actually submitted for publication in the Fall 2014 issue of CardMaker magazine.  The card was accepted for publication, but did not appear in the issue.   Well... apparently they decided to include it in Spring Greetings!   They also showed four other cards that I had previously submitted to them and that had appeared in other CardMaker magazines.  To be honest I'm really happy they published the card and sent it back to me... I loved how the card turned out and was sad that it did not get published.   My card isn't featured on the cover of this magazine, so I took a photo of that card to share with you here.

Finally my last surprise arrived in the mail today.  A few weeks ago my sweet bloggy friend, Petra, contacted me and asked for my address.  If you don't know who Petra is you really need to check out her blog.  She is an amazing papercrafter who lives in George, South Africa.  She has an amazing eye for card design and she always includes the most amazing details in all her cards.  She often is the winner of the many challenges she enters.   To my delight she sent me a little package of treats (I already ate the little chocolate bunny!) and a beautiful handmade card!   Receiving this package from Petra brought a huge smile to my face and helped to cap a week full of lovely surprises!!  Here is a photo of the beautiful card Petra sent me.  It isn't it absolutely gorgeous??!!!  All the die cuts she used on the card have a lovely sparkle to them!  I can't wait to surprise Petra with her own little bit of "happy mail"!!
 

Eeekkk.... I'm a Cover Girl!!!

Hello!!!  Have some fun and exciting news to share!!  As the title of my blog post indicates a card I submitted for publication made it on the cover of that publication!!  When I got the email from Tanya Fox, the editor of CardMaker magazine, back in early September letting me know that they had picked my card to be on the cover of the Winter, 2014 issue I about fell over!  I have had cards published in CardMaker many, many times (you can check my publication page to see), but I have never had the honor of being on the cover.   It is truly a great honor and I can,t tell you how happy I am to have achieved it.   So... here is the cover of the Winter, 2014 CardMaker:

The stamps I used are from the Reverse Confetti set Tinsel n' Trim.  The tag die (one of my favorite dies) is from the Reverse Confetti die set Tag Me.   CardMaker is a great paper crafting magazine and one that you can still get an actual copy of at the store so I hope that you will check it out!

Thanks for stopping by...

a quick christmas card...

Hello friends!!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up over on the CardMaker blog with a quick and easy Christmas card that I made.  I hope you will take the time to stop by and check it out.  Just click here.    I'm providing a little peak of it. 

Thanks for stopping by...

CardMaker/Crafter's Companion Blog Hop!

Hello friends!!!  Today the CardMaker blog design team has joined up with the Crafter's Companion design team to bring you a fun blog hop.  We will be putting the spotlight on some of Crafter's Companion wonderful products!   If you arrived here from the blog of Crafter's Companion design team member Leah Lucescu then you are on the right track.  If not, then you should head to the CardMaker blog to start at the beginning.  Make sure that you check out the Crafter's Companion Facebook page for the fun giveaway that they are having.  You will have the chance to win one of two prize packs that include a stamp set, embossing folder, two sets of Spectrum Noir makers and a one year digital subscription to CardMaker!

Crafter's Companion generously provided me with Spectrum Noir markers, a fun stamp set and embossing folder.  The stamp set is from their Makey Bakey Mice collection called Makey Bakey Christmas.  I stamped the image and colored it with the following Spectrum Noir markers:  DR1, DR5, DR7, BG1, BG2, BG4, CG1, DG2 & DG4.  After I finished coloring the image I added a little bit of glimmer with a silver Wink of Stella marker.  I embossed the red and olive green cardstock with the Crafter's Companion Christmas Elegance embossing folder.   To finish off the card I added a little fishtail banner on which I stamped the sentiment in black ink.

Thanks for stopping by... your next stop is the blog of Crafter's Companion design team member Tenia Nelson.  I know you are definitely in for a treat when you visit her blog!   Please also take the time to visit the Crafter's Companion blog for more inspiration!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Smooth white, red and olive green; Stamps:  Crafter's Companion; Ink:  Memento; Markers:  Spectrum Noir; Embossing folder:  Crafter's Companion

CardMaker/We R Memory Keepers Blog Hop!!

Hello friends!!  Happy Friday! Today myself and my CardMaker blog teamies have fun projects to share with you.  If you got here from the blog of my teammate, Michelle, then you are on the right track.  If you didn't and you want to see all the projects, then start from the beginning at the CardMaker blog.  Below is my finished project.  I have also included a few photos of the tool and my little box before I completed it.

We all know that We R Memory Keepers is at the forefront of innovative paper crafting products and that not too long ago they debuted their new punch board envelope maker.  Well, they have now added to that line with the Punch Board Pillow Box, Candy Box, Gift Bag and Gift Box and the CardMaker blog team each received one of these fantastic little tools to work with!  I received the Punch Board Pillow Box tool and first let me say that this tool is so incredibly easy to use.   You will be making wonderful pillow boxes in various sizes in no time flat.  When I received my tool I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is relatively small measuring a compact 5 1/4 x 7 inches in size.  I love that because storing it will be super easy.  I also like that they include a scoring tool that is cleverly stored inside the tool!!   When making the pillow box you simply cut your cardstock or patterned paper 6" wide and then up to 12" long.  The tool has easy to follow instructions printed on the tool.    If you can punch, score and fold, then you can make fun little boxes using this tool. 
I started my little box my cutting my cardstock 6" x 6" and then began punching and scoring my cardstock piece.  I made a few test pillow boxes and determined that you will want to use a fairly aggressive adhesive like Scor-Tape when adhering the box together.  Once completely punched out I assembled the box and added the embellishments.   I cut a piece of burlap to fit round the middle and then secured the burlap with some pale blue silk ribbon.  The leaves and acorn are from the Stampin Up! set Wonderfall and were stamped on the coordinated die cut pieces using More Mustard & Pumpkin Pie inks.  After adhering all the pieces to the box I finished things off with a little bow tied with some cream twine.


I had so much fun making this little package and definitely want to get the other punch boards in the near future.  Your next stop is Stacey's blog.  You can also check out all the punch boards on the We R website here.  I used the color combo from this week's ColourQ and so I will be popping my little pillow project into that challenge.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Crumb Cake; PTI Vintage Cream; Tool:  We R Memory Keepers Punch Board Pillow Box tool; Stamps & Die:  Stampin Up!; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Ribbon & Twine:  May Arts; burlap:  PaperTrey Ink

a quick post...

Hello friends!!  A quick post today to let you know about a couple of things.  First I have a card that I made using some of my left over scraps up over at the CardMaker blog today.  You can check it out here.

Second Penny Black is playing along with Designed to Color and I made the following card (you can also see it on the Penny Black blog, here):

To make the card I started by stamping and coloring the PB Amaryllis image using Copic markers.  The flower image was stamped again, colored with Copics and then trimmed out.  After all the coloring was done I over stamped the image with the Penny Black background stamp Christmas Story using Pumice Stone and then adhered the flower with foam dimensionals.  The image was then inked with Old Paper distress ink.  After mounting the piece on the card front a small tag was stamped with the word "Noel" (from the clear set "in a pear tree"), inked with Old Paper, adhered to the image and a red twine bow was added.   If you want to play along with the Designed to Color challenge click here.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI Rustic White; Stamps:  Penny Black, Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Pumice Stone & Old Paper; Twine:  May Arts red; Tag die:  PTI tiny tags; Copic Markers

CardMaker-Taylored Expressions Blog Hop!!

Hello friends!!  Today is a very exciting day because the CardMaker blog team designers have joined up with designers from the Taylored Expressions design team to showcase the Taylored Expressions Stamp of the Month club.  Just hop along to each blog on the list (the complete list can be found at the CardMaker blog, as well as the Taylored Exprssions blog)  and leave a little love for a chance to win a Stamp of the Month set (and coordinating dies!!) from the TE Stamp of the Month archives!!  How cool is that??  Pretty darn cool in my book!   You have until November 22nd at midnight PST to comment for a chance to win.  If you got here from TE designer Cassie Trask's blog, then you are on the right track.   The SOTM set I using today is the August SOTM set S'more Fun (and matching dies) and is just so cute that I had to make two cards.  First up is one using the little camper image.  I used the new sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch for the layout.

The camper die cut using the matching die, stamped and colored with Copic markers.  I die cut some My Mind's Eye Cut & Paste patterned paper with a Spellbinders rectangle die, added some white cardstock at the bottom and matted it with a larger Spellbinders rectangle die.   The camper was adhered using foam dimensionals.  The sentiment was stamped, cut into a fishtail banner and adhered.

Inside of card

For my second card I useed the two tree images, as well as the little tent image.  Just like the first card this one is really simple, too.  I cut a piece of woodgrain patterned paper from the Webster's Pages Family Traditions line to fit my card front, distressed the edges a bit and stamped it with the little map image.   The trees were die cut and stamped and the tent stamped and trimmed out.  All the image were added to the map using foam dimensionals.  A strip of the same patterned paper was cut and adhered to the inside of the card, stamped with the sentiment "miss you" and then two more die cut trees added.

Please check out the Taylored Expressions website to find out all the details of this fun club, as well as the Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients Club. 

Your next stop on the hop is TE designer Amy Crockett's blog.  Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; PP:  Webster's Pages Family Traditions; Stamps:  Taylored Expressions August Stamp of the Month - S'more Fun; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Old Olive and Chocolate Chip

a quick note...

Hi everyone!! Just popping in to let you know that I have a card posted on the CardMaker blog today.  I hope that you will check it out!  Thanks for stopping by...

Webster's Pages Blog Hop!!

Hello friends!!  Hope you have had a wonderful week!  I'm so excited because today the CardMaker blog team is participating in a blog hop with the Webster's Pages design team!1  How fun is that???   We will be showcasing the new Webster's Pages Family Traditions collection.  This collection is absolutely YUMM-O!!!   If you got here from the blog of Webster's Pages design team member Emeline Seet then you are on the right track.  If not, you will want to head over to the CardMaker blog and start there. 

As I indicated above the Family Traditions line is absolutely gorgeous and I just couldn't make one card... so I made two!!   The first card is a fairly simple one based on the sketch from Seize the Sketch.   The minute I saw the sheet of red gingham paper that is part of the collection I knew I had to make something with it.  I cut a 3 3/4 x 5" piece and matted it with white cardstock.  I cut one of the phrase strips from the "Family Time" sheet and then topped it with the yellow polka dotted paper from the "Fall Leaves" sheet that had been die cut with a My Favorite Things Fishtail Flag Stax die.  I adhered these pieces to the gingham piece and then added the little resin leaf from the Family Traditions Perfect Accents collection.  As a final detail I added one of the little apple clips from the Family Traditions line and then mounted everything on a bright green card base.  Squeee!!  How cute is that little apple clip???   LOVE!!!

My second card uses the gorgeous resin frame and cameo that is also contained in the Family Traditions Perfect Accent pack.   I cut a piece of white cardstock and distressed the edges a bit.  A piece was trimmed from the Family Time sheet and the edges distressed, as well.    A strip of paper was trimmed from the "Thankful" sheet, cut down, one side punched with a spiral binder punch and then the edges distressed.  I adhered that strip to the white cardstock piece and then layered the woodgrain piece on top.  A fishtail banner was die cut from the "Fall Leaves" sheet, the edges distressed and adhered.  The word "happy" was trimmed from the "Harvest" sheet, the edges distressed and layered on top of the fishtail banner.  Finally I adhered the frame and the cameo.  My goodness... how gorgeous is that cameo???  LOVE!!!  The entire piece was also mounted on a bright green cardstock base.
Your next stop on the hop is the blog of Webster's Pages design team member Diana Brodeur.   Make sure that you stop at the Webster's Pages blog because it will be worth your while... they are giving away the entire Family Traditions collection!! 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & simply chartreuse; Papers and accessories:  Webster's Pages Family Traditions line; Punches and dies:  My Favorite Things and Stampin Up!

a card and a quick note...

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a little Christmas card that I made with a new Penny Black Christmas and an old Penny Black Christmas stamp.   I also wanted to let you know that I have a post up over at the CardMaker blog so I hope you will check it out!

My card is pretty simple.  I stamped the newly released PB image "flourish holly" using  Memento Bamboo Leaves.   The sentiment (an older PB stamp) was stamped using SU!'s Cherry Cobbler.  Once the sentiment was stamped I added little dots of dark red glitter glue and the bakers twine bow.   Love how this turned out and because it was so simple to put together I think this may be our Christmas card this year.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Penny Black; Ink:  Memento and Stampin Up!; Glitter glue:  Stampin Up!, Green Bakers Twine

a quick note...

Hello friends!!  Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I have a technique post up over at the CardMaker blog.  I hope you will check it out!   Thanks for stopping by...

hello...

Hi friends... I'm back with a little card to share that I made using some absolutely yummy new Prima products.  The CardMaker blog design team is having a little product spotlight feature with the Prima design team today.  Click over to the CardMaker blog to check out what my team mates made.

I was fortunate to receive products from the new Prima line "Anna Marie".  Like all Prima products the papers and embellishments are just gorgeous!!   The design of my card is based on the current Sketchbook Saturday sketch.  One of the goodies I received were these gorgeous resin butterflies and I just had to use one on my project.  Obviously I followed the sketch to a "T", lol!!!  With that butterfly the focus of my card I kept everything else fairly simple.  A fun little pleated treatment was created for the bottom of my card.   I finished off the card by adding a few brads and Sugar Dots from the "Anna Marie" line, as well.  

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Pool Party; All other supplies:  Prima Marketing

overwhelmed...

Hello friends!!! On Monday I had a short post about the new challenge going on over at the Penny Black blog.  Each day this week a new color combo has been revealed on the blog.  The final color combo was revealed today and I have made a card using that combo. 

Even though the Penny Black challenge is all about Christmas I decided to make a fall card as the combo just said "fall" to me.  The layout for the card is based on the current sketch from Sketchbook Saturday.  I started with a kraft card stock base and added a layer of mustard yellow card stock (Stampin Up! More Mustard) that had the edges distressed.  I cut a piece of patterned paper from the Crate Paper Farmhouse 6x6 pad, distressed the edges and layered it on top of the mustard card stock.  A piece of kraft card stock was cut and stamped with one of the leaf images from the Penny Black set Foliage Fancy using VersaMark Champagne Dazzle ink.  Some cream twine was added to the piece and it was adhered to the card stock piece as shown.  The Foliage Fancy set has three different leaf images.  Each image comes in a solid and outline form.  The solid images were stamped first using different combinations of the following inks, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Real Rust, Real Red and Chocolate (all Stampin Up!) and the rock and roll technique.  Once all the solid images were stamped I overstamped each image with the corresponding outline image.  All three were trimmed out and some Old Paper Distress ink was applied.  I layered the images using various heights of foam dimensionals.  The sentiment (also from Foliage Fancy) was stamped on a banner cut with one of the banner die from the Penny Black Tagged die set, inked with Old Paper distress ink and added to the card. 

If you made it this far I have one more thing to share.   Today I have a blog post over on the CardMaker blog.  I'm sharing one of my favorite paper crafting tips.  I hope you will check it out and
thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock PTI kraft and cream; Stampin Up:  More Mustard; Patterned Paper:  Crate Paper Farmhouse; Stamps:  Penny Black Foliage Fancy (30-138); Inks:  Stampin Up! and VersaMark; Die:  Penny Black Tagged (51-007); Twine:  May Arts

happy friday!!

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a quick post to let you know that I have some projects posted over on the CardMaker blog today!  Myself and several of my CardMaker blog team members are sharing projects that we made with stamps from 100 Proof Press.  My blogging friend, Martha, is the queen of tag cards and she was the inspiration behind my 100 Proof Press projects.  Here is a little peek of one of my projects... I hope you will take some time to check out the post!!

Thanks for stopping by...

some exciting news to share!!

Hello friends!!  Can't believe that we are already five days into August!!  As my post title indicates I have some exciting news to share.  I have been sitting on this news for the last month and a half and now it is time to "spill the beans"!!   I have been picked to be on the blog team for CardMaker magazine!!  CardMaker has been publishing my cards for over three years now and if you have not checked out their magazine  and blog you really should.  So, I cannot tell you how excited I was when I was contacted by Brooke Smith, managing editor of CardMaker, asking me if I wanted to join the team!  Of course I said "YES"!!  All the details can be found here on the CardMaker blog.   My first official post will be August 15th, so I hope you will check it out!

Thanks for stopping by...

Button, Button...

Another weekend is gone and so is our good weather!  Back to yucky rain... oh well!  That's western Washington for you!   I have a card that is nice and bright to share.  I haven't done a Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger challenge in along time, but was really struck by the bright colors in the trigger photo and so decided to play along.  I'm also going to be putting this into the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use punches or dies.

Inside

My card is a take on a card I made that was published in the March 2012 issue of CardMaker magazine. Instead of using one color for the buttons as I did with the baby card, I used rows of buttons in the same colors as the cookies.  I then die cut the flower from white cardstock and added the rhinestone to the center to bring in the hint of sparkle you can see on the cookies.   I backed the white square with the dark grey cardstock to bring out the color of the buttons a bit more.    I decided to not put a sentiment on the front of the card, but instead finished off the interior with the sentiment.  I decided to stamp it using the new Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink making it a bit hard to see!  The sentiment says "Live in the sunshine" which I thought was very appropriate for the card.

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Smoky Shadow; Stamps:  Stampin Up! Pursuit of Happiness; Ink:  Ranger Squeeze Lemonade DI; Buttons:  DeNami Designs Tutti Frutti mix; Die:  PTI flower die; Rhinestone:  Want2Scrap

Just Sharin....

Hey there!!  Hope your week has been going well.   Mine has been a little tough and my mojo has flown away. So, thought I would share a couple of cards that are in the May/June issue of CardMaker magazine.   Both are Mother's day cards and use one of my favorite stamps, Hydrangea from Hero Arts and some of my favorite papers from My Mind's Eye.    When I initially made the card and submitted it to CardMaker I made it only in the yellow color scheme.   When I got the acceptance email from CardMaker they requested that I make a second card using the same stamps, but just a different color scheme.  

Thanks for stopping by.... hopefully my mojo will return soon.   And I hope that you will take the time to check out CardMaker magazine.  It is a wonderful papercrafting magazine full of great articles and art work.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft & cream; Stamps:  Hero Arts & PTI; PP:  My Mind's Eye Blush & Sunshine papers; Buttons:  PTI; Lace: unknown; Twine:  May Arts; Ink:  Stampin Up!

Sharing Some Publication Work...

Hey there!!   After I saw the current JUGs challenge to use buttons on your project my thoughts turned to three  sweet little cards that are currently to be found in the March/April issue of CardMaker and I decided to share them with here on the ole' bloggo.

 The cards were made using the following sets:  Waltzingmouse Frame It and the PaperTrey Ink mini set Whale  Wishes.  Each little card required me to glue 16 buttons inside the frame and then adhere the little whales on top.  When I initially decided to make this particular card to submit I was only going to do it in one color, but then I thought why not make a boy version, girl version and gender neutral version.  I submitted all three never thinking that they would accept all of them.  I honestly thought they would only take one!!  So I was extremely surprised, but pleased when all three were accepted for publication.

This Easter card was also accepted for publication in the March/April issue, but ended up as an online bonus project.   The stamps are from Stampin Up! and the entire card is made using the Spellbinders Lablels 21 dies.  I really love how it turned out.   I must admit, though, that I was a little bit sad that it didn't make it into the actual magazine.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, spring rain, lemon tart & sweet blush; Stamps:  SU!, Waltzingmouse & PTI; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Sky & Angel Pink; SU! So Saffron; Spellbinders:  Labels 21 dies; PTI whale die; PTI Buttons; Rhinestones:  Hero Arts; Copic Markers

True Love & A Little Giveaway...

Today I'm sharing a card that is in the January/February 2011 issue of CardMaker.  I was so excited when I gave submitting to them a try for the first time and they picked on of my cards!  Now that the magazine is available I can share my card with you.   Its a fairly simple card (my favorite kind!) made using the Memory Box stamp Lovey Dovey Tree.  This is the card:

CardMaker was kind enough to send me two copies of the magazine and I'm going to give both of them away, along with a couple of extra goodies.   Just leave me a comment by 9:00pm on Sunday night (PST) and your name will go into the hat.  I will draw the winners on Monday and post their names later in the day.

Thanks for taking a peek.... I hope you will take the plunge and try submitting your cards.