Grandma's gone overboard!!

It's time for another CCEE challenge, and this week Cindy (Mothermark) has decided to choose Donna - Grandma Overboard (SCS) as our Catchy Name Featured Stamper. Our instructions: "Your card must have a Grandma Overboard on it. She could have fallen out of a boat, off the stage, out of a tree, etc. Well, I chose to have her go overboard with the partyin'!! *giggle*

I owe a big thank you to Cammie for mailing me some stamped images of this happy Grandma from the Gina K set You Know You're Old When... I don't own any Grandma images, so she was a lifesaver!!

Okay, didya notice the flaming muffler on the back of the bug? My son told me that's what the card needed for this to really send Grandma overboard, so he drew it in for me, and I colored it with my copics!!

eta: In case some of you are worried about Granny's drinkin' and drivin', she's heading to a Oldies but Goodies slumber party at a friend of hers. No drivin' after drinkin' for her. Shoot, she'll probably only be able to handle one drink. The bladder ain't what it used to be and she doesn't want to spend the whole party in the ladies room. *grin*

For the sentiment, I used one of the images from the Girl Time Borders and Centers set (JustRite) with a form of the Recessed Window technique found HERE on SCS, except I used the Octagon Nestabilities Shape (Spellbinders) The card opens up to reveal the rest of the sentiment on the inside.

The panel along the middle was dry embossed with one of the new cuttlebug folders from the Organic Borders set.

The fun decorative paper is from one of my favorite companies: My Mind's Eye. It's from the Ooh La La For Her line. Love the colors!! The ribbon is red twill (May Arts), and the button is PTI. Finally, I added the Wavy Border punch by EK Success, some Dew Drops, and Ink Distressed all the edges with Antique Linen.

Now you really must stop by the CCEE Stampers blog to see what the rest of this goofy bunch has come up with. You won't be disappointed!!

Happy Stamping!!

CASEing my dear friend Joanne!!

My dear, dear friend Joanne (JoJot on SCS) is being featured on SCS today for the FS Challenge found HERE. I'm thrilled because I get to case one of her fabulous creations! Now, Joanne knows I'm a huge fan of her black/white cards, and her sunset scenes, so this was very hard for me to choose. I finally decided to case this card HERE because I liked the way she used the fern on the three panels, the button on the side, and the piercing. But I cheated...I used a punch by EK Success instead. *grin*

It's also SCS's Sketch Challenge 238 found HERE.

When CASEing a stamper, you must change at least two things. I changed the colors and image, and my bg is dry embossed with the new Cuttlebug embossing folder Moroccan Screen, instead of using dp which Joanne is known for also. She's always including lots of yummy textures.

The main image is from one of Verve's new releases Budding Blossoms. The dots on the panel behind them were made with one of Verve's Bountiful Backgrounds. They were clear embossed. And to finish it off, I added a Wooden Button (PTI), and some Brown Burlap String. The edges are all ink distressed with Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink).

Congrats my friend!! You so deserved to be featured!!
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a fabulous week!!
Happy Stamping!




Stamps: Budding Blossoms, Bountiful Backgrounds (Verve)
Paper: Tawny Medium, Suede Brown Dark, Buttercream (Prismatics)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Copics, Wavy Border Punch (EK Success), Button (PTI), Burlap String (May Arts), Moroccan Screen Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug - Provocraft), Detailed Clear ep

Caught in the Web

Okay, I'm loving the MOJO sketches this week. They really help with putting a card together lickety split!! I used todays MOJO 100 sketch by Sarah.

As many of you know, I'm a HUGE My Mind's Eye fan!! Normally I'm not much into Halloween, but these Boo To You papers were just too charming to resist. Plus, I have some cute JR images from the Witch Way To The Treats set that go super with them.

Now, I'm sure someone has thought of this already, but when I saw the Spellbinders Inverted Circles, I thought they would make fabulous spiderwebs. They're simple as pie to make. I just took a straight edge and a White Opaque Pen (Ranger Inkssentials), and drew from point to point. Then I added little scallops between each line.

The borders were made with the new Spider Web Border Punch by Martha Stewart, and I added a bit of embellishments with Black Rhinestones (Kaisercraft) in the corner, and a Ivory Burlap String bow to the edge of the web. This spider likes to tie things off nicely.

Thanks for dropping by!!
Happy Stamping!





Stamps: Witch Way To The Treats (JustRite)
Paper: Boo To You (My Mind's Eye), Desert Coral Dark (Prismatics), Neenah Solar White
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Circles and Scalloped Inverted Circles (Spellbinders), White Opaque Pen (Ranger Inkssentials), Spider Web Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Corner Ticket Punch (SU!), Ivory Burlap String (May Arts), Black Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Dimensional Tape (Scotch)

It's Party Time!!

Oh my goodness am I in serious *paper love* with the new Mind's Eye Paper Ooh La La For Him!!!! I LOVE the patterns and adore the colors!!

I immediately thought of Verve's balloons from the new Party Time set. They have such a warm, old fashioned feel to them. And I used MOJO Monday's Sketch 3 from their 100th celebration week.

Happy Stamping!!





Stamps: Party Time (Verve)
Paper: For Him Ooh La La (My Mind's Eye), Watercolor, Birchtone Dark, Neenah Natural White
Ink: Black Onyx (Versafine), Scattered Straw and Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Tombow Markers, Rectangle Nestabilities and Labels 4 (Spellbinders), Piercing Tool (Making Memories), Mat Pack (SU!), Button (PTI), Multicolored Mini Rhinestones (Zva Creative), Scallop Border Punch (SU!), Detailed Clear ep (JudiKins)

Inkadink Christmas Card set

Inkadinkado has designed a fabulous new Christmas set called Holiday Greetings. It has a variety of images and sentiments, which are great for *mass production* of Christmas cards. For this set, all I used was two doubled-sided pieces of dp (Vagabond - Kaisercraft), Kraft, and Neenah Natural White cs. I achieved 6 similar, yet different, looks with a minimal amount of time. I changed each up with the way I sewed, and by adding a bow or button, and each image is colored with copics and/or has some Glitter added to it with my Quickie Glue Pen. I also ink distressed the images with Antique Linen (Ranger Distress), to give it a more vintage feel. That's it.

eta: Blogger really messed up my card order. In my edit program, my cards are in rows of two. I tried to fix it, but to no avail. Sorry for the scraggly look of this post.

Here's each Individual card:


































Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Greetings (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Vagabond (Kaisercraft), Kraft (Prism), Neenah Natural White
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Antique Linen (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Copics, Rectangle Scalloped Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Border Punch (EK Success), Ribbon (Making Memories and SU!), Buttons (Making Memories), Glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, Dimensional Tape, Sewing Machine, Twine




































Thanks for Stopping by!
Happy Stamping!!

Verve Anni-Verve-sary Projects

This past Friday, Verve celebrated its 2nd anniversary with a fantastic release and giveaways. Here are a couple of cards I posted in the SCS Verve Forum during the release party. Julee's generosity just keeps going too. The sentiment (To Risk), that I used on this card, is free with an order of $35 or more at Verve.



For this first one, I used Budding Blossoms, Enjoy, and the Plain Jane To Risk. Do you see the little gate in the picket fence?

Stamps: Enjoy, Budding Blossoms, To Risk
Paper: Chatterbox, Bazzil, Neenah Solar White, Intense Orange and Kraft (Prismatics)
Ink: Lettuce and Bottle (Adirondack Dye Ink), Vintage Sepia and Black Onyx (Versafine), Antique Linen (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Buttons (Making Memories), Labels I Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Fence Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Glitter, Kraft Ribbon (SU!), Scallop Border Punch (SU!), Copics


For this next one, I used images from the Express Yourself, and Bountiful Backgrounds (which I clear embossed the purse image over the stamped bg images.) This was also one of the Verve sketches for the week. (found HERE)

Stamps: Express Yourself, Bountiful Backgrounds
Paper: Tawny (Prismatics)
Ink: Versamark, Currant (Adirondack Dye), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Circle Scallops and Circle (Nestabilities), Clear Embossing Powder, Mini Rhinestone Flowers (Zva Creative), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Chocolate Candy Dots (Pebbles, Inc.), Ornare piercing Template, Piercing Tool, Sewing Machine


Finally, here's a little box I made with the Bountiful Backgrounds. I was inspired by a wallet I bought as a gift and needed a gift box for it. Below is a pic of the two together.

Stamps: Bountiful Backgrounds
Paper: Blush Red Dark, Black, Tawny Medium and Light (Prismatics)
Ink: Currant (Adirondack Dye Ink), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Circle and Star Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Border Punch (Martha Stewart), Sewing Machine, Scor-Pal

Thanks for stopping by.
Hope your week is off to a super start!
Happy Stamping!!

Practice Hospitality

Is it really week 3 in August? Some of you probably have kids returning to school this week. I'm one of them. My youngest is going to be a Junior in High School starting tomorrow. My how time flies. Well, with it being the beginning of the week again, I have another CCEE card to share with you. If you remember the last couple of weeks, Cindy Motherway has had some interesting challenges for us. The first was "The Birds and the Bees", the Second, "The Flowers and Trees", now this week it's "The Moon Up Above". So, you guessed it. We had to make a card with a moon on it.

I think this is my first ever "Moonscape". I'm pretty chicken when it comes to doing sunsets or sky scapes with sponges, but I'm happy with how this card turned out. And it took me less than an hour. That's like record breaking for me since I'm a 3+ hours card maker. I had this idea for a 1 layer card, and my idea actually worked....the FIRST TRY!!! Quite another accomplishment here. I'm a "fusser"...add, take away, add, try something new...etc.

Anyway, I started by Cutting out and embossing the oval frame on the front of my card with my Oval Nestabilities and Cuttlebug. I then lined up the oval on the inside and just embossed it (used my tan mat so it didn't cut through). After that, I took my Eclipse tape, attached a 4 x 5 strip to regular copy paper, and ran the same oval through my cuttlebug to cut it out. Now I have a sticky mask. I laid it over my oval and added a circle mask for the moon. I then applied Denim and Oregano (Adirondack Dye Ink) to the inside. I removed the moon mask, but left the oval mask in place and stamped Verve's Plain Jane verse Romans 12:13 and the wheat image from Verve's set Budding Blossoms, and colored it with copics.

Finally, I scored some diagonal lines on the outside, made a strip for the inside, punched the borders with a Fiskars border punch, and added some punched flowers (Carl CarlaCraft), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft) and Ribbon (May Arts).

That's it! Now head on over to the CCEE Stamper's blog to see what the other gals have come up with. We'd love to have you make a card with a moon on it too. Just follow the instructions on the blog!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Happy Stamping!





Stamps: Budding Blossoms and Romans 12:13 Plain Jane (Verve)
Paper: Neenah Solar White
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Denim and Oregano (Adirondack Dye Ink)
Accessories: Oval Nestabilities, Eclipse Tape, Scor-Pal, Copics, Ribbon (May Arts), Rhinestones (Kaisercraft), Border Punch (Fiskars)

Stamper's Dream has Gerbera's in the house!!

Gerbera Daisies are my absolute favorite flower. So when I saw that Stamper's Dream was going to have this Gerbera Daisies Flourishes set, I literally squealed!! This set is FANTASTIC!!

I used this weeks SCS Sketch as my starting point. I stamped the largest image 5 times with Black Onyx (Versafine) onto Watercolor paper and embossed it with Detailed Clear EP. I then watercolored the images with my Tombow markers and papertoled them. They're framed with the Curved Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), and have a touch of Ultrafine Transparent Glitter added to the flower centers with my Quickie Glue Pen.

Michelle has all the new Flourishes releases in her store right now, along with a bunch of fabulous new stuff!!! Click HERE to visit Stamper's Dream!!

Thank you so much for stopping by!!
I have quite a bit of stuff to post this next week, so check back often!!
Hope you're having a fantastic weekend!!

Happy Stamping!!




Stamps: Gerbera Daisies
Paper: Chatterbox, Neenah Solar White, Watercolor
Ink: Black Onyx (Versafine), Vintage Photo (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Curvy Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Offray Ribbon, Dew Drops, Tag Punch (Martha Stewart), Ultrafine Transparent Glitter, Quickie Glue Pen, Dimensional Tape

Verve's Anniversary Sneak Peek!!

I'm so excited to finally be able to share a sneak peek of one of Verve's newest Anni-VERVE-sary releases. I combined the two sets: Delightful & Delicious and A Cup of Life, to make a 3 x 3 Notecard set. I also found this sweet little box designed by Andrea Walford. You can find her template HERE.


This was easy as pie to make. All the dp is Periphery (Basicgrey). I know it's old, but it's my all-time favorite!! I LOVE the colors and patterns. The main images and sentiments were stamped with Espresso (Adirondack Dye Ink), and for the matting and base I used Birchtone Light and Dark (Prismatics), and sewed around all the edges. Each panel is ink distressed with Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress Ink), and I added a bit of bling with Mini Muliticolored Rhinestones (Zva Creative), and Spring Rain Twill (PTI) with SU! buttons.

Finally, the paper distressing was all done with one of my favorite distressing tools....my fingernail. *grin*

Be sure to check the SCS Verve Forum for some fabulous chances to win Verve Bucks, and the entire new Release. You have until this evening at 6:00 pm Eastern Time.

Verve's 2!! and a card

All you VERVE fans out there won't want to miss a thing this week!! Verve's celebrating its 2 year anniversary, and Julee has some wonderfully exciting things planned for the entire week.

Anni-VERVE-sary Sketch Challenges
Play along by this Friday, August 14 at 6PM Eastern for your chance to win the ENTIRE release! Check out all the sketches and the deets on this thread in the SCS forum.

Diva Giveaways
Throughout the week, the Divas will be posting giveaway threads in the SCS forum. Participate along with them (it might be a challenge, a game, a question or some other activity) and you might win $25 in Verve Bucks, good for anything in the Verve Store. A few Divas are scheduled to post each day Monday - Thursday, so there's 13 chances to win!

Sneak Previews
Sneak previews officially start on the VERVE blog tomorrow. Each day this week, the Divas will be bringing you some Verve-alicious peeks at the sets releasing this weekend! Plus there'll be more chances to win some stamps!

Anni-VERVE-sary Release Party
Last, but not least, the release party will be this Friday night (August 14) at 8PM Eastern. We'll be revealing the 7 new sets and 2 plain jane singles, as well as chatting and announcing all of our release week winners. Be there or be square! Oh, WHERE you ask? Over on the Release Party thread in our forum!

Julee has really outdone herself with the new releases, so you'll want to check them out.
Hope to see you in the Verve Forum on SCS!!


Here's a card I made awhile back and haven't had a chance to upload yet. I used a sentiment from Verve's Forever In Our Hearts set. I just stamped it with Espresso (Adirondack Dye Ink), directly onto Making Memories Designer Paper. It's pretty straight forward.

I'd like to welcome the two guest Verve Divas for the month too. They are fabulously talented, and most friendly!!

Welcome Mercy Kerin and Sankari Wegman!!! You guys are AWESOME!!

Stamps: Forever In Our Hearts
Paper: Spring Willow Medium (Prismatics), Neenah Natural White, Making Memories dp
Ink: Espresso (Adirondack Dye Ink), Antique Linen (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Buttons (PTI), Sewing Machine, Fiskars Border Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Happy Stamping!!

Flowers and Trees

Happy Monday (in a couple hours anyway) everyone. Cindy challenged us last week to make cards with Birds and bees for our CCEE Challenge. This week, we were to use flowers and trees. Do you see flowers on my card? Look closely.....I used Multicolored Mini Flowers (Zva Creative) on my bows. Aren't they just the sweetest? The Tall Trees are by Impression Obsession and were all colored with Spica Pens. I used my Quickie Glue Pen and Ultrafine Transparent Glitter for the white spaces though.

"Happy Holidays" was made with my Harmony Rectangular Stamper and the Times New Roman Font (JustRite). I also embossed a border with my Scor-Pal. That's it. Not my usual style, but I'm happy with the clean crisp look.

If you click on the photo, you can see the sparkle, embossing and details better.

You don't want to miss what the other gals have come up with this week. Head on over to the CCEE Stamper's blog. We'd also love to have you participate with us. Just follow the instructions on today's post there.

Thanks so much for dropping by.
I hope you have a fantastic week!
Happy Stamping!

Toasty Treats

Oh my goodness!! When I saw this Toasty Treats image by Impression Obsession, I fell in love. Fall and Winter are my absolute favorite seasons!! I love snuggling up with a cozy blanket and a hot cup of tea or coffee. This image just screams COZY to me and I couldn't wait to ink it up. I used yesterday's SCS Sketch #240 as my starting point.

I framed the image with one of my favorite Nesabilities shapes...the Octagon. I have to force myself to use other shapes sometimes. *grin* I used Liquid applique for the cream and marshmallows, and sprinkled some green glitter to represent sugar sprinkles on the whip cream. After doing that, I remembered that JustRite had a Sprinkled With Love sentiment in their Celebration Demi Phrases set. Perfect!! So I added that to the circle.

Now I love Christmas Decorative Papers, but I like to use non-traditional papers for my Christmas cards too. So this time I chose some papers from Basicgrey's Wisteria Collection, and matted them with Tawny Light (Prismatics) and Neenah Solar White. Each panel is ink distressed with Antique Linen, and some Dew Droplets, and Martha Stewart Punch was used to make the vellum snowflake which has a coating of Frosted Lace stickles for a bit of sparkle.

That about sums this card up.
Hope your week is fantastic!! I received some gorgeous flowers from my sweet husband for our Anniversary this week, and we're going out to a fabulous restaurant tonight to celebrate!! Can't wait!!
Happy Stamping!!

Verve Birthday and Anniversary Wishes

It's my FIL's birthday today. He has a duck pond surrounded by Eucalyptus trees, so I thought the image from Verve's set Forever in our Hearts, combined with the Circle image from Just For you, would make a great pair on a card for him. The sentiment is from a set called Circular Sayings. I loved yesterday's Mojo Sketch 98, so much so that I made two cards using it.

To get the image inside of the circle on my first card, I used a Circle Nestabilities shape to make a reverse mask. I then stamped the image inside the circle with Sea Breeze Versamagic and Cocoa Colorbox pigmented ink, and embossed with Detailed Clear Embossing Powder. I framed the circle image with the Labels 3 Nestabilities (Spellbinders) shape, and ink distressed each piece with Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress Ink). The dp is from Deja Views Timeless Collection, and the cardstock is Kraft and Suede Brown Dark (Prismatics).


Not only is it my FIL's birthday today, but it's also my 20th Anniversary. So I made the card below for my husband.
I love the bracketed sentiment *another name for love* from the Verve set World's Best. I stamped the sentiment onto Neenah Natural White cs with Walnut Stain. The heart and Octagon are both Nestabilities (Spellbinders), and the paper is Kimberly Poloson (Fiskars). The buttons are PTI, and the border was made using a Martha Stewart punch. The ribbon is Offray and was colored with a copic to match.

That about sums up both cards. I hope you all are having a wonderful week.
Happy Stamping my blogging friends!!





Birthday Wishes Supplies:
Stamps: Forever in our Hearts, Just For You, and Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Timeless (Deja Views), Kraft, Suede Brown Dark (Prismatics), Neenah Natural White
Ink: Cocoa (Colorbox Pigment Ink), Sea Breeze (Versamagic), Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Labels 3 and Circle Nestabilities, and Tags 5 (Spellbinders), EK Success border punch, Piercing Tool, Hole Punch, Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensional Tape

Anniversary Supplies:
Stamps: World's Best (Verve)
Paper: Kimberly Poloson (Fiskars), Island Mist Light and Suede Brown Dark (Prismatics), Neenah Natural White
Ink: Walnut Stain (Ranger Distress Ink)
Accessories: Octagon, Long Rectangle and Heart Nestabilties (Spellbinders), Martha Stewart Border Punch, Buttons (PTI), Dimensional Tape, Corner Rounder, Ribbon (Offray), Copic

CCEE Birds and Bees and Hot Air Ballooning photos

Wow, it's been so long since I've written a blog post, I'm hoping I remember how. I just got home after 8 days of camping, and I got to go hot air ballooning over Lake Tahoe. I'll share some photos with you in a bit.

It's a new month, and that means a new challenge host for our CCEE (Cheers and Challenges Eager Eight- a group of eight friends that have been challenging each other for over 2 years) group. This month Cindy Motherway is our challenge hostess. I admit a bit of trepidation when she's in charge, cause she likes to be very creative. And sometimes we really have to step out of our boxes. But this month she's been pretty easy on us, and at the same time, pretty creative too. This week we had to make a card with Birds and Bees on it. No problemo...I have many direction choices I could have taken with that one.

I chose this sweet Whiff of Joy image called Willow with Strawberry Basket. I thought it would be charming to add the Whiff of Joy Fall Grass image, and a little bird from the Hero Arts Sparkle Clear: Hello Birdie set. The images were colored with copics.

I added some Kaisercraft Curls Wood flourishes to the bg, some gorgeous Ivory Silk Ribbon (May Arts), and a sweet little bee charm to complete my requirement. I'm sorry, but I don't remember where I got the bee from. Finally, I added a touch of Ultrafine Transparent Glitter with my trusty Quickie Glue Pen. The yummy decorative paper is Vagabond by Kaisercraft.

Too complete the card, I sewed around the edges and Ink distressed them with Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress Ink).

We'd love it if you'd play along!! All you have to do is head on over to the CCEE Stamper's Blog for the details, and of course to see what the other gals have come up with this week.

Stamps: Willow and Strawberry Basket and Fall Grass (Whiff of Joy), Hello Birdie (Hero Arts)
Paper: Island Mist Dark (Prismatics), Neenah Solar and Natural White, Vagabond dp (Kaisercraft)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Frayed Burlap (Ranger Distress)
Accessories: Copics, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Glitter (JudiKins), Quickie Glue Pen, Wood Flourishes (Kaisercraft), Ivory Silk Ribbon (May Arts), Bee Charm, Dimensional Tape, Sewing Machine

Now for the hot air balloon photos. They are all unedited. The colors are exactly as we saw them. It just depended on the sun's location. You can click on the photos for a better view.

First of all, the sunrise as we were leaving the dock:

The four brave souls: My daughter, me, nephew and son

Looking up underneath the balloon right before it landed on the boat to pick us up. (we were the second group to go. The basket holds 12 passengers)

One of the gorgeous views we had of Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake from the balloon:

The balloon's reflection in the water as they were airing it up: (the white specs in the photo are shells on the lake floor. The water is that clear.)

The boat where they air up the balloon, launch it, and deflate it from:

Looking straight up inside the balloon as they air it up:

I have many, many photos of our ballooning experience (airing it up, taking it down, and gorgeous scenery), but I won't bore you with all of them. These were some of my favorites. If you ever have the opportunity to hot air balloon over Lake Tahoe, CA, I highly recommend it. This was my second flight (I went up 7 years ago with my son), and I'd do it again in a second.

Happy Stamping my friends!!!