Wow! What a Week!

Wow it’s a busy week, and I have lots to tell you! First, a huge Thank You to Heather owner of H&M Stamp Co. she had a huge give away recently called ‘The Parade Of Stamps’ and I was the lucky winner. Also Thank You to all the companies that donated the prizes, I will be a happy shopper this month!

Two of my favorite stamp companies are releases there new stamps this week, Hanna Stamps, and Gina K Designs. This is my favorite time of month, because I love playing along with the challenges and seeing what wonderful creations the design teams come up with!

My first card today was made for the Flourishes (another favorite) Tuesday chat challenge hosted by Faith (aka Markie’s Mom). We were to use an animal in our card. I used the deer from Flourished Christmas, and this weeks sketch challenge SC195.

The card base is Not quite navy, stamped with the weathered bg stamp in the same colour.

The 3 panels are really rust and old olive embossed with the leafy branch EF, and baja breeze. All the panels are sponged with the matching colour and layered on chocolate chip.

The sentiment is also from Flourished Christmas, stamped onto more mustard & punched out with the 1” circle punch & layered on a 1 ¼” circle in chocolate chip. The sentiment is popped up.
All the leaves were made with 2 different Martha Stewart leaf punches.

I used the SU polytwill ribbon, and a stick pin with some co-ordinating beads to finish it off!

The second card was made for Andrew a friend of the family who just turned 12. Andrew loves sports and plays on several teams, but I know he plays soccer almost year round, so I decided to go with the soccer theme.

The card base is black, with a layer of white, and then glorious green for the grass. I searched online for a diagram of a soccer field & that’s what I used to decide where to cut the green pieces. I also ran it through the cuttlebug with the tiny bubbles EF for some texture.

The soccer shirt is from Melanie’s Just So Sporty set, which can be found at GinaK. I added the number 12, (his #) and the stripes, which I coloured with markers.

The words are also from the ‘Just So Sporty’ set, stamped on white & punched out with the SU large star punch. I glued them to the blue & cut around them to make a mat.

The soccer ball is from a See D’s rubber stamps #50016, it has lots of different sports balls & sayings.

The inside is also decorated because it’s a spiral pop up card. If you haven’t tried one yet, you can find the tutorial here.

I put a layer of white inside, and cut out the the circle springs. Then I added stars & soccer balls.

Lastly, I have a card I made for my Niece Carly. She turned 2 this month, and because she loves sweets & is so sweet, I used the Sock Monkey & his cupcake!

The card base is metallic cardstock from Michael's & if I remember right, it's called seafoam. Then a layer of pretty in pink, and a layer of the DP.

The canvas bg stamp was inked up with pretty in pink, and stamped on both white & pretty in pink cs. Then I stamped the sock monkey in brown onto both pieces. I cut them out & layered on circles made with the nestabilities. I made the monkey a girl by adding eyelashes! The whole thing is popped up on dimensionals.

The cupcake was stamped on the metallic paper for the bottom, and then pink for the top which was cut out & glued together. I coloured the candle flames with yellow marker, and added crystal stickles to the top & flame.

I used circle punches to make the tag with the #2 stamped in pretty in pink.The ribbon is dbl. sided satin from Michaels.

I Hope You have a Great Day! It's rainy here, a perfect time to check out the new sneak peaks at SCS and maybe get some stampin done!

Laurie

GIANT BLOG CANDY FOR A GOOD CAUSE

This card was made for World Alzheimer’s Day, and the Heart to Heart blog candy challenge Carolyn (Cammie) is hosting on her blog.

Carolyn’s Grandmother was a victim of Alzheimer’s, and recently passed away. Carolyn designed a stamp set called Whimsical Autumn, which is sold at GinaK, with all the proceeds going to The Alzheimer’s Association. Now she’s come up with another fabulous idea, and is offering the chance to win an extremely huge blog candy prize. All you have to do is make and send a card to a caregiver, for a chance to enter. The full details can be found here on Carolyn’s blog.

This card was made with the new Whimsical Autumn set.

The card base is wild wasabi, with a layer of metallic sea foam on the bottom, embossed with distressed stripes EF. The top layer is SU DP, the fiskars edge punch was used on this piece.

The image was stamped on water colour paper, I used a soft sky ink pad & Koi water brush to colout in the water. Each pussy willow has a dab of the white from the inkssentials pen, and then glue to adhere the fun flock. This panel is popped up.

The ribbon is wild wasabi tied through a buckle from the stylized silver HPH.

The sentiment was stamped in black, and layered with the small oval punch, and popped up.

TFL!

Have a great day!
Laurie

H&M Challenge

Well I finally had time to join in one of the challenges hosted by Heather, owner of H&M Stamps. Heather recently released a huge amount of stamps, so if you haven’t checked out the new ones, you should click on over to H&M when you get a chance!

I made this card with the new set, Lil’ Behind, for both the HMSC14 sketch challenge, & the HMCC11 colour challenge which can be found here.

I had a hard time finding paper in these colours that didn’t remind me of Halloween, but I decided to look through my scrap bin, and there was the perfect paper in the amount I needed with a tiny bit to spare!

The card base is black, with a layer of purple, and the white strip I used the fiskars edge punch on.

The threee middle panels are white layered with DP from Amanda Blu.

The cow was stamped 3 times on white and coloured. The first panel only has the udder, the neck and the bell showing, the second layer is just the cows butt and legs, and third part is the head which is popped up. The bell was coloured with a pumpkin pie marker and then some stardust pen on top.

The sentiment was punched with the 1 ¼” and 1 3/8” punches and popped up.

I had to turn the sketch on its side, I hope that’s ok!

I’ll be back later with another entry.

Laurie

Live to Sk8, Sk8 to Live!

Hello out there, my Husband asked me to make a card for the son of someone he works with. I’ve never met him, but I do know he’s in Gr. 9 and likes to skateboard. The only skateboard stamp I have, is this one from the ‘Whatever Floats Your Boat” set by Rupa Shevde from GinaK Designs.

I was worried this image may not be cool enough for a boy his age. My Daughter Rachel is 15, and is/was into skateboarding too, so I decided to take some ideas from her clothes & favorite store West49.

The first thing I think of when someone mentions skateboards, is the fancy boards with bold graphics, skulls & crossbones, and the roughed up worn look, so that’s pretty much how this card came to be!

The card base is black, with a layer of old olive, and a layer of riding hood red that was run through the CB with the skeleton skull EF, and then the edges were distressed. Both the green & red layers have black sponged on the edges.

The image was stamped with noir black palette onto white, & onto water colour paper. The flames were hand drawn onto the board & coloured in with SU markers. I used SU markers, ink & a Koi water brush to colour the turtle. The turtle was cut out of the water colour paper, and I added a coat of crystal effects to his shell. I made him a hat with black cardstock, and the glasses are a brad. He’s popped up. I also used big brads for the skateboard wheels.

The sentiment was stamped in riding hood red ink, & cut out with the oval nestabilities.

The finishing touch was this really cool leather from offray that I found in a discount bin! See I knew I could use it some day!

So that’s my story! I hope he likes it!

Have a Great Day!

Laurie

Happy Birthday Murray!

Hello, I made this card for our Friend Murray, today is his birthday! A week or two ago, Murray went away with his Dad & Son down East to New Brunswick, to a badminton tournament. When I first started this card, I thought that Murray had played, but later learned that is was only his Dad, who is in his 70’s, that played in the tournament. But Murray was out buying tennis balls with his Son, when I found out he had not played, so I added tennis balls! That’s the story behind the card, I was trying to make it funny, I hope he likes it!

The card base is real red, with DP from DCWV summer stack on the bottom, apricot appeal embossed with the new argyle EF on the top, and a strip of real red across the center.

The image from Under the Stars, was stamped 2 times on white, coloured with SU watercolour crayons and a Koi water brush. Then I cut him out, and layered him on bashful blue, and wild wasabi that were made with the rectangle nestabilities. The bears head is popped up, and I added a sweatband by using 1 strand of 3 ply yarn. This whole panel is popped up.

The racket was made with the 2 smallest oval nestabilities, run through the cuttlebug together. I hand drew the handle, and the mesh is actually drywall tape. The birdie was made on a scrap of white that had a triangular point. I drew the lines with a marker, and the bottom is half of a circle made with a hole punch. The tennis balls are made with a regular office size hole punch, and I drew lines on with the white inkssentials pen.

The sentiment is from Circle of Friendship, I popped up the center circle.

Have a Great Day Everyone!

Laurie

8 Daisy's for Daisy!

Yeah it’s Friday!

The card I’m posting today was made for my Daughter’s friend Daisy, who is turning 8 tomorrow. Since I needed a card & wanted to play in the waste not want notchallenge jess jean(Jessica) was hosting in the Ginak forum, I decided to combine the two!

I used the daisy from the ‘Flowers for Daisy’set, designed by Asela Hopkins, it can be found at GinaK Designs. It’s a beautiful set! I decided to make 8 Daisy’s since she is turning eight.

The challenge was to use a whole 6x6 piece of designer paper, which I’ve never done before. Mostly because I am a self proclaimed DP hoarder! So I’m proud of myself, I used the whole entire piece!

The card base is white, with a layer of pretty in pink dp.

I cut all the pieces as described in the ‘Waste not want not’thread. That’s how I started anyway! I did end up cutting the 2x2 piece into 4 triangles, and the 2x4 piece into 2 - 1x4’s.

I used the Martha Stewart Doily lace edge punch on the white strips.

I stamped 8 flowers with the noir black palette ink. The centers of the flowers are colored with a pretty in pink marker, and the petals are covered with the stardust gelly roll pen. I love that stuff! You can actually see it in this photo. I attached 6 of the flowers with clear glue dots just in the center of the flower, and I also covered the centers of the flowers with diamond stickles. The last 2 flowers were popped up with dimensionals. Added some ribbon & da da! A pretty shimmery bouquet!

I had to add some of the dp inside, I’ll add a photo of that so you can see what it looks like.

I hope you all have a great day!

Laurie

3 New Ones

Well I’ve been slacking off on keeping my blog up to date, so I have 3 cards to post today! The first 2 were made using Flourishes stamps. Flourishes is one of my new favorite stamp companies, they just released 3 more new nets today, so you might want to check that out! Their stamps are beautiful!

The top picture was made with the’ Summer Blossoms’ set. I also made it for the challenge Faith (Markie’s Mom) hosts every Tuesday on the Flourishes Forum at SCS. The challenge was to use white dots on at least 2 layers. Here’s a link to this weeks challenge.

To make the flowers, I stamped them 4 times on white. Then I coloured them with copics, and I thought they still looked kind of blah, so I added stardust gelly roll pen, you can see that better in the second picture. I also added white with the inkssentials pen to the centers, and each flower is two layers, with only the center of the top layer attached with a glue dot.

The second card is made with the ‘Thank You” set from Flourishes. I love this card…can I say that…lol… it turned out exactly as I hoped!

I found this really cool paper at our local scrapbooking store, it’s called ‘coredinations’ it came in several colours, & the neat thing about it is it has a lighter shade inside. That means if you emboss with your cuttlebug, or tear or sand it, another lighter colour shows through! Plus it’s textured…can’t remember if it’s textured on both sides or just one! I’m definitely going to get more colours!

So this card was made with a black card base, a layer of white, & then a layer of the coredinations cardstock. I embossed in with the Script EF. The tulip was stamped on white 2 times. I cut the flower head out of one, and popped it up. The flower heads also have stardust gelly roll pen on them, again you can see it better in the 2nd photo. I love that little bit of shimmer.

Another new element that was new for me was the corsage pin. I love the way they look, they just seem to add elegance! I added a few glass beads I picked up at Walmart. I had held off using them, because I wasn’t sure how to cover the end, but in this case, it’s just tucked under the sentiment.

I also added some stick-on rhinestones, and there you have it!

My final card is made with Expecting Sophie, from Hanna Stamps, again another great company with great stamps. I love all the Riley’s & Sophie’s. I made this for a challenge that was on the Hanna Stamps Forum. We were to use flowers.

I decided to use this image of Sophie, and I absolutely love this DP from SU, it’s called ‘Sweet Always’, and it’s in the new catalogue. I have to admit I love buying DP as much as I loved buying material when I sewed & PJ pants with cute designs! I tend to buy the paper and then I don’t use it, just in case there’s a better use down the road, and what if I don’t have enough, what if they don’t sell it any more! What would I do….so you see using this DP was a huge step for me! Lol

I stamped Sophie on white and then coloured her with SU ink & an aqua painter, I’ve been using creamy caramel for her body, and close to cocoa for the antlers & hooves. I coloured & painted an extra arm so I could layer in on top of the dress which is DP from the same pkg.

The flowers were made with the fiskars flower punch, and I added flat back stick-on pearls. If I remember right, I bought them at a liquidation place & they were sold for decorating cell phones & ipods. The sentiment is popped up, and the bottom edge was made with a Martha Stewart edge punch.

I hope you all have a great day, I’m glad to see some of you are starting to leave comments! And wow I’m almost up to 500 hits…hopefully they’re not all me! Lol

Thanks for stopping by,
Laurie

GinaK Release Party Tonight!

You can come in your PJ's if you like!

Today’s the Day! Yep today is the release party for the 5 new GinaK stamps, they’re being released for purchase tonight after the party…want to join in, everyone is welcome!

Come join us on the GinaK forum tonight at 7-10 pm central. They’re always a blast, you don’t have to own Ginak stamps, but I’m sure you’ll want to when the party is over! There’s sneak peaks, games, challenges, prizes, you get the picture!

Here is a card I made with a stamp set released last month called Little Tee’s. The set is designed by Melanie Muenchinger and sold at GinaK Designs. Melanie has several sets now, and they are all truly fun and easy to work with, and the possibilities are endless.

So I started out wanting to make a card that reminded me of fall, and that to me means warmer comfy clothes like flannel…shirts pj’s you know what I mean! But I like pj’s with cute prints so I ended up using some Daisy’d bambino paper. Unfortunately, in the end, my card doesn’t really look like fall, but sometimes you start out one way and end up another right!

The pants were made using the Tee stamp as well, I can’t take credit for that though, Melanie did it first on her blog!

You’ll want to check out all the designers blogs today, and make sure you stop by Gina’s and Melanie’s, they both have blog candy to give away. All you have to do is stop by and leave a comment for a chance to win. I’ll warn you now, I’m hoping to win Melanie’s…she has a scor- pal & scor- pal mat to give away! I think it might have my name on it! LOL

Melanie
Gina
Joanne
Asela
Jessica

I’d also like to mention, that Carolyn King (Cammie) has designed a new set being released tonight at GinaK. Carolyn is generously donating all the proceeds to the Alzheimers Association, in loving memory of her Grandmother who passed away in July. From the sneak peaks so far, it looks like a great set for a great cause.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!Laurie

School's In!

I’m a few days late in posting this! School started here on Tuesday, so I made a welcome back present for some of the Teacher’s at my Daughter’s school. The cards were made using Hanna Stamps, and the mugs were using the Riley stamp, also from Hanna Stamps.

The card base is real red, with a layer of dp from the DCWV summer stack on the bottom, and a piece of black on the top.

I stamped the Hanna Teacher on white cs, and coloured in using SU inks and markers. I added a stck on gem for her necklace, and stickles for her bracelets.

To put the stamps on the blackboard, I used a large acrylic block and placed some of the small stamps on so they surrounded the Teacher. This way you only have to ink them up & stamp once for each card. I used SU white craft ink.

The circle stamp in the bottom corner, was made with one of the $ clear stamps from Michael’s.

The mugs were bought at our local Dollarama, I thought the colour was perfect, and they’re nice & heavy…actually the rim is so thick I wouldn’t want to drink from it!

Riley was stamped on white cs, and colured with SU ink & markers. I used the circle/scallop nesties to cut him out. Then I punches a hole on both sides, and threaded the ribbon through. To hold the image in place, I put clear glue dots on the back, & also one on the back of the ribbon so it didn’t slide down the mug. Tie the ribbon and voila! Actually fill it with pencils & then Voila!

I forgot to mention, I also used the Riley stamp to make a card for the Principal and the Secretary, I've included a picture of that as well.

Hanna Stamps just releases 4 new sets last night, along with a new Ballet Sophie stamp. All the proceeds from the Ballet Sophie stamp are going to a great cause, read more about it on Kristi's blog.

TIP: if you’ve had trouble getting a clear image from clear stamps, specially those $ store stamps, Kristi, the owner of Hanna Stamps has a great video on how to solve this problem.

Have a great Day!

Laurie

They made there own jewelry!

Hello Everyone…or anyone lol! I’m not sure, I may be talking to myself! Sorry haven’t posted is a few days. My body is fighting something off, I don’t know if it knows what! So I haven’t been on the computer much.

Last week I decided to do a craft with the kids, my daughter Olivia and her Friends, Daisy and her brother Andrew. I knew they’d love the ‘Little Tee’s set designed my Melanie Muenchinger and sold at GinaK. I also pulled out Melanie’s other animal sets, Cuddles & Hugs, Just so Hippy, Just so Hoppy and Hip Hop Accessories. I love them all!

I’d had this project in mind for a couple weeks, I’m glad we had a chance to do it. There’s something about having a few kids at a table creating that brings out smiles, stories, laughter etc. I always enjoy it, and I like to think it will be these fun times that they’ll remember when they’re older. Warning, don’t try this or any craft with kids if you’re a control freak, or no one will have fun! They may/will be messy, they may/ will use strange colours, etc. it’s actually part of the fun!

So our project was making bracelets, necklaces, and zipper pulls!

Materials
Bracelet kit from Walmart $2-3.00
Cotton jewelry cording Walmart
Claw hooks Walmart
White Shrinky Dink Michaels
Stazon ink pads
Sharpie markers
Hole punch
Tools to attach jump rings (I don’t have any & my thumbs were bleeding by the end!)

After they finished there pieces, I cut them out & put them on a cookie sheet in the oven. They didn’t completely flatten, so I’m glad I read Melanie’s blog here, so I knew I could use the heat gun to finish them!
If you’re up for a party, GinaK is releasing their new stamps and products on Friday September 5. There will be sneak peaks every day this week starting tomorrow Sept. 2. I can’t wait! You should come and join the party on the Ginak forum at SCS, everyone is Welcome

Hope you're having a great day!

Laurie

Here's a few pictures of the original stamped creations, and then the shrunken version turned into priceless jewelry & zipper pulls. I love the way Olivia's lions turned out!