My Cup of Tea

Yay! Finally made it to Friday! Where have you been all week? It's been very busy here at my house... getting ready for next month's classes and the next release for Sister Stamps. I know, you didn't even get Release #3 yet and I'm working on Release #4? Crazy yah? Oh yah, and I work a full time job that has nothing to do with stamping. Needless to say, one of the "regulars" at Island Scrapbooking told me the other day that I looked tired. I guess my lack of sleep is beginning to show. So here's one of the projects that kept me up late this week. Isn't she a cutie? It's one of the new fairwees by Sweet November stamps. I can't remember her name, but she makes me happy. The great thing about smaller stamps is that they always fit on your card! Oh yes, I also stumbled onto this cup of tea stamp set by my other favorite company- Lawn Fawn and knew it would be perfect to use on this box. As you can see I had some issues again with my photo, really need to get my new camera. I know you can't tell, but above the mug I stamped the steam in versamark and coated it with pearl mica powder for a smoky effect. I guess you'll just have to go to the store to see the sample up close. Its so tricky getting mica powder to photo well. And here's the front view of the tea box. I'm thinking these would make cute gifts for our neighbors in case I don't end up baking this year! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! (Don't forget to pick up your Sister Stamps tomorrow!)

Happy Hallo"wee"n!

Finally got to play with my new fairwee stamps by Sweet November. I just love these little fairwees! So small- so its super fast to color! I also found my old set of hats by Lawn Fawn, which contained a witch hat that was the perfect size for this little fairwee! Paired it up with the heebie jeebie's halloween set by Lawn fawn too. Love how the web has the sentiment right in the middle! I must admit, borrowed the idea about using the hat set from my CBFF Debi. She used the Santa hat on one of the fairwees, which totally inspired me to dig up my old set and dress up my fairwees. Background was colored using my distress inks- orange, green and purple. Love how you can blend colors you wouldn't normally be able to blend! Have a great weekend!

May CATS

What can I say? May and June have been very busy for me! So busy, I was super duper late on getting my CATS out for May... Sorry Berenice! Pls check out Berenice's blog here... she is co-owner of Karber Digital Images. Since Berenice lives in Mexico, I thought I'd send her some Aloha from Hawaii! Love these new CC's images that have a Hawaiian flair. Doesn't she look like she's ready to give you a lei? Since its a Card and Tag Swap (hosted by Joy), I included a matching tag and added a hibiscus from Island Scrapbooking. The die used to cut the tag was an old Sizzix die. I like it cause its flower shaped. Oh yah, forgot to mention that the theme for this month's swap was to use orange, yellow and pink on your projects. Normally I don't put all three of those colors together, but I kinda like the tropical feel of this color combo. Here's a close up of the card... Thanks Joy for coordinating this swap! CATS is open for sign up every three months. So check out Joy's blog for the next sign up. It might be open now, so check her out here... Once you sign up, you will be matched up with a swap partner each month for 3 months.

Last Class Samples

Woah! Didn't realize I scheduled so many classes this month! I have a break this weekend but then I teach one or two classes each week for the next 3 weeks. Yikes! Hope I can remember which class I'm teaching and don't show up with the wrong kits. Anyway, here's the last of the card samples for my classes. Decided to teach Copic Blending again since its been awhile since I've done that class. The great thing about that class is that the cards are very simple since the focus is on coloring technique. We always make 2 cards in this class along with "practice" coloring. I get bored, so I normally change the cards every month. I love this new Hero Arts set called Life of the Party, so I included the cute cotton candy image in this card. I thought the loopy border punch gave this card the exact feel I wanted when it was combined with the flag paper- so festive! The first card uses the CC's girl that's lying down. It just seemed perfect to use the cloud paper and grass punch for that card. Hope I don't get my classes mixed up! Have a great weekend!

Hooray!

Hooray! Don't you just love this monkey stamp by CC's Designs? He's so cute- I can look at him all day and not get tired of him. Anyway, wanted to incorporate him into this sliding pop up card for an upcoming class. Also got the Hero Arts Life of the Party set recently and used the ticket and sentiment stamps to accent the card. Since the red paper would make the black ink hard to see, I decided to emboss it in white embossing powder instead. I'm glad I did cause the words really pop out now instead of getting lost in the dark red color. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Kris!

Just wanted to share this card I made for Kris of K-Lusive Kreations for her b-day and as a thank you. Decided to practice making the pleated center pop up card again and really wanted to make the balloons seem like they were floating. Here's a shot of the card when its opened... And here's a close up of it so you can see that its standing up. I guess you can't really see the acetate in the photo, so it does look like the balloons are floating. Yay! All images and balloon dies are by All that Scraps. Happy Birthday sentiment on the front of the card is by Island Scrapbooking. Hope Kris liked her card!

Some Bunny Loves You!

This is another pre-scheduled post. Just wanted to share another pleated center pop up card. I originally saw this on Eunice's blog and then again on Joy's blog. Thanks ladies! Made a few adjustments so that it was A2 sized. Guess I was in the mood for spring, so I decided to make an Easter themed card for my upcoming class. I think the key to this type of card is to find background items that will stand up or float to show off the coolness of this card (did I just write coolness?). Anyway, I couldn't resist using the Easter Anya since she's back in stock at Island Scrapbooking. Also finally able to use my easter basket punch and Lawn Fawn bunny from the Critters in the Burbs set. Yay! I think my favorite thing about spring is the pretty pastel colors. They are my favorite pallet to work with. Hope you are having a good week! Can someone check my cupcakes on Cupcake Corner please? ha ha ha!

Just Me Thinking of You

Ohayogozaimasu! Wanted to share this pop up scrapbook I made for Island Scrapbooking. I normally make the card version, but Michele asked me to make the larger size so that customers can see how big you can make it. This was a bit of a challenge since I didn't really have photos in mind to use but really wanted to use this Prima paper since it has that distress look. Decided to go with my CC's Swiss Pixie stamps since the paper reminds me of fairies. It was really hard for me to leave a lot of "white space", but I guess it will look nicer and more finished once photos are in it.

Tea and Sugar

Awhile back, I asked Denise if she knew where I could get the instructions for these cute tea box. She was so nice to send me the directions- Thanks Denise! I only got around to making it now. I really liked this plaid paper by Echo Park and knew I wanted to use it on my project. Decided to go with a different colored than to go with all plaid. I just got this Sugar stamp called County Girl by CC's Designs. I thought she was cute and really like her braids. I had to hang her off the edge since she would've blocked the opening where the tea is supposed to come out. Since there was a lot of room on the side of her, I decided to fill it up with a felt flower I cut using my spellbinders. This felt is 100% wood from PTI. I must admit that this is the first time I've used it (after having it for a few months now). I just had to buy it after Debi raved about it, and she was so right! It's thicker than most felt and cuts really easily. Added a button for the middle of my flower- now I need to go buy more buttons! Here's a close up of County Girl Sugar...

Sliding Pop-Up Redux

Yes, once I learn a new technique, I need to practice, and practice, and practice, until I get it. Here's another Sliding Pop-Up card (tutorial found on Splitcoast Stampers). I think these are better photos than my last card (sorry about that). I decided to use some scraps that I found that made a great background! I love these papers by Prima that Island Scrapbooking brought in awhile ago, but I just never had a chance to play with them since the holidays. I thought this was the perfect background since it some cute flowers. Added in some crystals and butterflies to dress it up a bit. Here's what the card looks like once you pull on the ribbon. DH had a hard time pulling it until I showed him that you have to hold the card on the sides (green cardstock area), otherwise the card won't slide up. The other cool thing about this card is that it will stay propped up like an easel card, which is nice if you want to display it. Here's a close up of Brigitta... Supplies:

• Swiss Pixie's Fall Birgitta- CC's designs
• DP- Prima
• CS- Bazzil
• Crystals- Kaisercraft
• Butterfly punch- MS Crafts
• Sentiment- Lawn Fawn

You Hold The Key To My Heart

Here's another new stamp I got by CC's Designs called Violet with Key. Since she's holding a key, I knew my new key punch would make the perfect accent for the inside of the card. I followed Debi's lead on this card by using some heart shaped doilies. It really gave the card a Valentine's Day touch. Instead of using Valentine's themed paper, I went with a Sizzix embossing folder for some texture without being too busy on the eyes since the doily would clash with most of the printed paper I had. Finished it off with some roses (yes, more roses) since they remind me most of Valentine's day. Here's a peek at the inside of the card. Used the CC's sentiment stamp set that coordinates with Violet. It also comes with two other key shaped stamps. Supplies:

• Violet with Key- CC's Designs
• Key punch- MS Crafts
• Sentiment- CC's Designs
• Red mirrored Cardstock- Bazzil
• CS- Bazzil
• Embossing folder- Sizzix
• Heart shaped Doily
• Roses- Wild Orchid Crafts
• Stickles

Be My Valentine

See how much I like Sweetheart Birgitta? I don't know how they did it but she' somehow much cuter than their other Swiss Pixies, even though she still looks like them. I think her face is fuller. Anyway, I promised you that I would show you a totally different look using the same background stamp right? Well, here I embossed the image using white embossing powder this time and then used Spun Sugar Distress ink over it. Love how this came out too. Gotta remember to do this more often with my background stamps. At first I wasn't going to put Sweetheart Birgitta on this card, but it was a little too plain, even for my hubby's taste... and believe me, he likes things simple. So I added her in as an afterthought and I'm glad I did. She really brightened up the card! Don't laugh, but I was actually supposed to color her blue for the other card I made using her... but I spazzed out and started coloring her pink, so rather than throw her away, I used her on this card. Supplies:

• Sweetheart Birgitta- CC's Designs
• Background stamp- Hero Arts
• Embossing Powder- Zing
• Ribbon
• Sentiment- Hero arts
• Roses- Prima
• Stickles

You're A Great Friend

Seems like forever since I've posted.. the fact is I've been busy helping Michele get the store ready for re-opening this week, which included making some new samples up for the store. These new CC's swiss pixies caught my eye, so I knew she would be one of my first projects. Some new Imaginisce paper came in called Garden Party that I fell in love with so I also wanted to use that in my card. Decided to try my hand at a shaker card again... not too successful in the past, so I thought I'd try once more... sometimes you need to take a break from it and then go back and try again, so that's what I did. I had trouble with my first attempt, but this one seemed to come out better (no beads falling through, etc.). Here's a close up of Sweetheart Birgitta. Well, tomorrow is my Friday! Thank goodness for this 3 day week! Supplies:

• Sweetheart Birgitta- CC's Designs
• Labels nestibilities- Spellbinders
• DP- Imaginisce
• Cardstock- Bazzil
• Roses- Wild Orchid Crafts
• Acetate
• Lace- (no company- got from Walmart)
• Sentiment- Hero Arts

October OCS- Halloween Card

Hello! Wanted to share my October OCS card for Ka Ren. I sent out her card last week, so I'm hoping she got it by now. Please check out her blog for some awesome projects! I decided to work on my swap card early this month since I had a little break before the Anniversary Sale and my classes. I love this Witch Brigitta stamp by CC's and wanted to use it on this card. I guess I went for an all black and white theme without realizing it. Here's a close up of the little witch... I decided to decorate the inside too by using my new Sizzix spiderweb die. I cut this one from acetate this time and tried out my new Tim Holtz alcohol inks with my blending tool. I think I just used silver and then stamped all over the acetate before adding it to the card. Decided to punch out my MS Crafts spider instead of using the spider that came with the die- not sure why as they are pretty much the same size. Because the background was black, the spider blended in, so I mounted it on another white spider for a shadow effect. Finished off the card by stamping spiderwebs in silver. Here's a close up of the spider... Supplies:

• Witch Brigitta and sentiment- CC's Designs
• Bat and spider punch- MS Crafts
• Oval and scallop oval punch- SU
• Spiderweb die- Sizzix
• Spiderweb stamp- Hero Arts
• Cardstock- American Crafts

Cat Girl

Is it Wednesday already? I guess that's good and bad. That means the week is half over! But it also means the week is half over and I have lots of work to do. Even though its more stressful, I'm thankful to have a furlough Friday this week. I've been busy at home too... making lots of calendars! Since I'm mass producing them, I haven't really seen any finished product yet, so it feels like I haven't done anything in awhile. I decided to take a few minutes and make this Halloween card using my new Honey Cat Girl stamp by CC's. Isn't she a cutie? She's all dressed to go trick-or-treating. Reminds me of Akemi's costume last year. For some reason, she wanted to be a cat for Halloween. I had leftover ears and tail from the previous year, so she used them for her costume. Here's a close up of Honey. Supplies:

• Honey Cat Girl- CC's Designs
• Happy Halloween stamp- CC's Designs
• Spiderweb and spider stamp- Hero Arts
• Bat punch- MS Crafts
• Cardstock- Bazzil
• Distress inks- Ranger

Frightful and Delightful

Happy Friday! Finally had a chance to ink up Halloween Hansel! Vampires are not my favorite, but I think he's pretty slick in his costume. Decided to use this spiderweb DP but didn't want it to cover the entire background, so I slanted it over the red cardstock so it would stand out a bit. I also wanted to try out my new MS gate punch and punched it out from some silver cardstock and made Hansel sitting on the fence. I guess he's waiting for his next victim? Because there was so much empty space, I decided to use a bigger sized sentiment in back of Hansel. Found this Frightful and Delightful sentiment by Hero Arts that was the perfect size and saying. I stamped it on the labels die but the larger die I would normally mount it on was too big for the card. Instead, I used my distress ink on the edges. Since there were some white spaces on the sentiment, I added in these small creatures (spider/bats) also by Hero Arts. Here's a closer look at Hansel... Supplies:

• Halloween Hansel- CC's Designs
• Halloween gate punch- MS Crafts
• Frightful & Delightful sentiment, spider and bats- Hero Arts
• Labels die- Spellbinders
• Distress inks- Ranger
• DP- Reminisce
• Cardstock- Bazzil

You're The Pick Of The Patch!

I made this card with every intention of entering the last ATC challenge using the colors orange, green and burgundy. I didn't finish in time, but thought I'd share it with you anyway. Used this new stamp by CC's called Fall Hansel. He's a Swiss Pixie, but I guess you can't see his wings. The great thing about CC's is that they also have a lot of sentiment sets by AmyR that coordinate well with their images. This sentiment is from their Autumn Sentiments set and right now all of the AmyR sentiment sets are on coupon for 30% off at Island Scrapbooking for IS members. As you can see... my morning sunlight was very dark yesterday. Guess fall is really here- no sun in sight! Supplies:

• Fall Hansel- CC's Designs
• Pick of the Patch sentiment- CC's Designs
• Flowers- Prima
• Flourish- Sizzix (Tim Holtz)
• Stickles
• Cardstock- Bazzil
• DP- Imaginisce

CC's Designs Sketch Challenge

After debating a bit, I finally broke down and got this cute Take A Seat set by CC's Designs. This set comes with a lot of different people and cute accessories like couches, walls, stools, etc. that they can sit on. I'm glad I got the set and have no regrets whatsoever. Wanted to try the sketch challenge at the Wednesday Challenge Blog, which was much harder than I thought! I guess I generally don't follow sketches, so I had some difficulty in making sure all my pieces were laid out in the right order. Hope I got it right... Also wanted to kill two birds with one stone and make a card for a special friend. She gave me a RAK recently and I wanted to thank her for it, so I designed this card so that I could also use it as a Thank You. Its in the mail now, so she should be getting it soon. Normally I would wait till she got it, but had to post already since there's the challenge deadline. I hope she likes it! It was my first time playing with crochet lace. I got this from Tamiko's at the Islander Girl Social. I've never used it before, so I wasn't sure what to do with it. Also added on corners from my new set I got from Sizzix. It must be an old set because it was on clearance. Like the paper? I got this plus a whole lot more from the Fall Clearance Sale at Island Scrapbooking this weekend. Someone was selling a lot of SU DP packs for a whopping $6, so I totally scored on this. I like getting coordinating papers, makes my job so much easier. (I make like its my work yah?) Anyway, here's the close up of Emma (I think that's her name). I like that she's holding a rose and the rock wall she's on also has roses on it. Added my own roses from Wild Orchid Crafts too. Since I was planning on giving this card away, I stamped the inside. This is the first time I've used my Verve stamp set and I love it! There are several thank you phrases in this set that fit perfectly in the circle! Plus they are clear, so you get perfect placement everytime! Here's a close up of the sentiment so you can see the detail on the circle I added in some small flatback pearls as accents. Hope you liked my card! My DH thinks the sketch made my card look more professional. I guess I agree with that. It sure took me a long time to make this one card. I have another challenge card to share with you tomorrow- that one is even more complicated than this one!! I'll get the hang of it one day. Supplies:

• Emma, rock wall stamps- CC's Designs
• Sentiments and heart flourish circle- Verve stamps
• circle, scallop circle dies- Spellbinders
• Scallop oval punch- SU
• DP- SU
• Cardstock- Bazzil
• Corners (flourish)- Sizzix
• Roses- Wild Orchid Crafts
• Lace
• Pearls- Kaisercrafts
• Butterfly punch- MS Crafts

Bewitching Emma

On a roll with Halloween stuff right now... Used that same technique using the acetate, glaze, and glitter but this time used Halloween colors and my new spiderweb cling stamp by Hero Arts. This stamp is great for backgrounds since there's not much else required. Decided to use my Witch Emma digi I got last year from CC's Designs. My DH didn't like the way I colored her because I made her face green and it reminds him of The Wizard of Oz! Supplies:

• Witch Emma- CC's Designs
• Spiderweb stamp- Hero Arts
• You're Bewitching- CC's Designs
• Acetate
• Glitter
• Crystal Glaze
• Tissue paper
• Distress Inks- Ranger
• Cardstock- Bazzil