Spongerfly

I stopped in at Archiver's with my SIL yesterday and picked up one of their beautiful card samples. I was trying to figure out how they achieved such a soft coloring that resembled chalk. I found out that they sponged ink into the image using daubers on a shimmery white paper. This is my first attempt at that type of sponging technique. I actually used the tiny sponge daubers that are for chalks rather than the large fingertip daubers. I also picked up the Essential Glue Pad and stamped the Swirly Gigs (TAC) with it and sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds.
Additional pic .


Supplies
Stamps: Ruffled Butterfly (Stampendous), Whirly Gigs (TAC)
Ink: Regal Rose, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Stazon Black
Paper: Regal Rose, Shimmery White, So Saffron
Accessories: Polka Dot Gingham, Dazzling Diamonds, Essential Glue Pad

Mother's Day Creations

I can't believe that I had time to create Mother's Day cards for my mom and my MIL since this will be my first Mother's Day. Little Liam (arrived on 4/3/07) has been keeping mommy very busy lately. I never thought that I would be able to get any stamping done. Luckily, I was able to slip away while he took a nice, long nap over the weekend. :)

I have fallen in love with a few gorgeous Stampendous stamps. I purchased poppies, fresh bloom, ruffled bloom and ruffled butterfly. (Thank goodness for my eBay sales or I would be spending WAY too much money...recycling is a good thing!) I also purchased the Paper Salon Tailored Tin Mother's Day set at Archiver's, which has TONS of cute floral stamps along with greetings and a vase.



Poppies

The ruby red card base was stamped with the Fresh Bloom (Stampendous) stamp and parts of the flower colored in with a gold Stardust gel pen, then a piece of gold cardstock dry embossed with the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls folder and adhered to the ruby red card base. The poppies stamp was stamped on a white panel, colored with watercolor crayons, highlighted with the gold gel pen, sponged the edges with regal rose ink, stamped "my mom" (SU) in black and attached black ric rac.



Stylized Flowers

A celery panel was dry embossed with the Cuttlebug stylized flowers embossing folder, then all of the flowers traced with a glue pen and covered with dazzling diamonds glitter. Using the Paper Salon Mother's Day stamp set, I stamped "Happy Mother's Day" and a flower on the scalloped oval. The flower was colored with Cameo Coral and So Saffron markers. The scalloped oval edges were sponged in celery and dotted with a silver Stardust gel pen. A floral background was stamped on white CS in Cameo Coral, then the vase stamp was stamped in black onto the background and cut out. A small flower was stamped in cameo coral and a yellow brad placed in the center and attached to a glittered flower. The vase was adhered below the flower on the stem. Black gingham ribbon was wrapped at the top of the celery panel. The celery panel was attached to the vanilla card base and the edges of both were sponged in celery ink.

Lovin' This $1 Stamp - Preggo Card for a Friend

This was a different sketch for me, which I found to be a challenge because I made quite a mess of this card as I was creating it. Once I was finished all of the individuals elements for this card I realized that I wanted to mat the embossed background to a piece of celery cardstock. I had already cut and punched the notches for the original dimensions, so I had to then keep wacking it down until everything fit correctly again. (Card base, mat, embossed BG, etc.)

I LOVE using Primas but had noticed after putting a brad through the large pink flower that it looked...well...a bit odd, so I pulled out a strip of stitched flowers that I had picked up a long time ago at the local fabric store. It's nice to have pieces tucked away when you need them. ;) I simply cut of of the flowers off of the ribbon and centered it with the brad to the original flower.

I hope my friend enjoys this card as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

Supplies
Stamps: Michael's $1 Maternity Stamp, SU Fancy Flexible Phrases
Ink: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Black
Paper: Glossy White, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Apricot Grosgrain, Silver Brad, Prima Flower, Stitched flower, Circle Punch
SCS Challenges: Color Challenge 104, Sketch Challenge 115

Ok...Last One for Tonight...I Promise!

Do you ever just try something and it comes together just as you had imagined? For me, I would say "not very often". For some reason this card did! Woohoo! I LOVE the colors and simplicity of the sketch.

The background reminds of antique embossed ceiling tiles gilded in gold. I used the Cuttlebug Textile Embossing Folder, Versamark and gold Perfect Pearls to create the effect. The background glossy white paper was first sponged with three inks (celery, rose and saffron), dry embossed with the texture plate, dabbed with Versamark then dusted with the gold Perfect Pearls. The background was then layered onto the rose card base.

The focal point was colored on the stamp with light rose (outlined with a deeper rose shade) and celery. The sentiment was stamped on top of the flower stems in black. The edges of the vanilla cardstock were sponged in the light rose color, matted with celery and embellished with the apricot grosgrain and gem. Love it!

Supplies
Stamps: SU Happy Harmony
Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Black, Versamark
Paper: Glossy White, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Gem (Hero Arts), Apricot Grosgrain, Cuttlebug Textile, Gold Perfect Pearls

Cool Color Combination

While trying to choose a SCS color challenge I ended up making my own. Thank goodness that I can be creative on my own. ;) I used Cool Caribbean, So Saffron and white. The real inspiration for the colors came from the patterned paper that I used as the secondary layer.

I am going to head off to try another challenge! Either that or take a nap. lol.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU Happy Harmony
Ink: Cool Caribbean, Basic Black
Paper: Cool Caribbean, White, DCWV Patterned Paper, So
Saffron
Accessories: Apricot Grosgrain, Primas, Gem Brads, Cuttlebug Script

A "Cuttle" of my Bug Creations

Bah...it's funny, right? Ok, only to a gal whose due date with #1 was today with no signs of anything happening. Anyhow, back to the good stuff...here are a couple of my Cuttlebug Creations. One is a birthday card for my favorite (and only) niece Kamala and one for DH who actually braided the copper for the card.

I completely loved the patterned paper from Die Cuts With a View. It came pre-glittered!! How can I argue with genius like that?? I used the Happy Birthday embossing folder on the patterned paper and also a sheet of shimmer white, then cut out "happy" and "birthday" from the latter sheet and adhered it to the patterned paper. I layed the patterned paper to a SU orchid opulence card adding a prima with a gem brad and a strip of apricot grograin ribbon.


Supplies
Stamps: NONE
Ink: NONE
Paper: DCWV Posies, SU Orchid Opulence, Shimmer White
Accessories: Cuttlebug Happy Birthday, Apricot Grosgrain Ribbon, Prima Flower, Joann's Gem Brad



The inspiration for this card was actually the braided copper wire to the left of the main image. DH likes stripping old electrical cords, saving the copper and decided to braid a few of them for me to use on cards and things.
I used brushed copper paper and the Textile Texture embossing folder for the sheet metal look beneath the celtic cross image. This was then layered onto the green card base. The braided copper wire was attached with two copper brads. The card was finished with hemp twine tied at the base of the copper embossed sheet.

Supplies
Stamps: Celtic Cross
Ink: SU Basic Brown
Paper: SU Brushed Copper, SU Glorious Green, SU Very Vanilla
Accessories: Cuttlebug Textile Texture, Copper Brads (Joann's), Hemp Twine, Copper Wire

Cuttlebug Crazy!!

Thanks to DH for forwarding to his family my birthday gift request I now have a Cuttlebug! I know that sounds horrible..."birthday gift request", but generally DH is always asking what I want, his family is asking him what I want and a lot of times the message never gets out. This time it did!!! How awesome! My SILs Loretta and Shari went in together to get me this great gift. From what I understand from Loretta it was quite a fiasco finding it not to mention finding a store that would honor the coupon and have the product.

I didn't have any dies/embossing envelopes until yesterday when DH and I headed to Columbus to return/exchange so baby items before I was unable to do so. Conveniently enough, there is a Michael's right next to Babies r' Us and a Joann's right down the road from Michael's. Both carry the Cuttlebug accessories, however, I found that Joann's prices are at least $1 less per item than Michael's. In addition, all of Joann's Cuttlebug accessories were 25% off. (Bonus!) Because I stopped at Michael's first and purchased one embossing folder, then headed to Joann's I had to make a return trip that same day to return the more expensive one to Michael's. I totally wore myself out!

When I got home yesterday afternoon, I (took a nap first) decided to break out the EF (embossing folders) and try them on a few different paper thicknesses and some metal.
Results:
Patterned Paper: Likes to crinkle a bit unless you put a little bit larger piece in the folder. This was a fairly thin patterned paper. Firmer PP may not yield the same result.

SU Cardstick: Perfect. Nice and firm paper with deep impressions

SU Metallic CS: Nice firm paper with deep impression, however, the faint squares on the EF showed through slightly on the finished product.

Metal Adhesive Duct Tape: A bit thin, but still a great impression. Not sure how well the impression will stay after adhered to project.

Copper Flashing: Wonderful deep impression on this firm surface. Again as with the SU Metallic CS the faint squares/rectangles on the EF made an impression on the finished product.

I am so excited to keep experimenting with the dies and embossing folders as well as trying various brands of the same products with the Cuttlebug. As the result of my first review I am completely "impressed".

Baby's Birth Announcement

Since I am at the end of week 37, I thought it wise to get the birth announcements pre-made to take the hospital with us. All we will have to do is fill in the information and pop them into the pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelopes and send them on their way.

This is the (again) simple design that I came up with last night at my friend Kerry's house, whilst stamping at her kitchen table. There are many other baubles/embellishments that I could have added, but I don't really want to deal with any complexity at this point it time. Since baby's gender is still unknown (our choice) I went with the celery color as something neutral. DH picked out the elephant and I used the "information" stamp from a baby set given to me at the last shower. The card has no inside to it. I could actually simply send it as a postcard, but am a bit leary about that idea at present. It would be less expensive...

Supplies
Stamps: Wild About You (SU), Bundle of Joy (SU)
Ink: Burnt Sienna (Palette Ink), Certainly Celery (SU)
Paper: Chocolate Chip (SU), Very Vanilla (SU), Certainly Celery (SU)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Scallop Punches, Sakura Stardust Clear Gel Pen, Chocolate Ribbon

Simple Baby Shower Card

My second baby shower was on Saturday....only one more to go, which will be next Tuesday after school. In all honestly, I am glad to see them coming to an end. I am sure I will miss everything baby shower and bridal shower as I get older, but at this point I am worn with showers. ;) Saturday's shower had all relatives and friends of DH's side of the family. Can't wait to post pics of the cake that my SIL made! She is so creative!

This is actually the card created for gifts that I received in the mail between the shower for my side of the family and the shower over the weekend. I see myself getting progressively more fatigued, thus my cards are getting much more simple. I hate to think that they will look like after the baby is born. lol!

Supplies
Stamps: Hero Arts (Baby Set), Stampin Up
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Black
Paper: White
Accessories: Celery Grosgrain, Dazzling Diamonds, Glue Pen

My First Baby Shower

I know it sounds funny....my "first" baby shower. I actually have three baby showers before the big day. While I completely appreciate all of the showers I am not much of a "party for myself" person. I know...the shower is really for the baby, but at this point I don't think that the little one is very appreciative. lol.

That said, we received many wonderful gifts for our baby who we will get to see in about five weeks. (I can't believe that it is going to be that soon!) With gifts come thank you notes that I needed to get out to all of the fabulous gift givers. Luckily, we didn't have school on Monday for President's Day, so I went to work designing and creating the thank yous. (Side note...we didn't have school today either...I think we will end up going to school through June at this rate.)

My inspiration for this card was a blanket given at the shower using the same colors and dots, although the blanket is MUCH more beautiful than the card. I also saw some gorgeous scalloped tissue paper stuffed in a bag that I had to use as an inspiration as well. The card is more like a postcard. I wrote a personal note on the back of each card, which was layered with a piece of Very Vanilla CS.

Supplies
Stamps: Dots (Hero Arts), Noteworthy (Stampin Up), Label Classics (Stampin Up)
Ink: Basic Brown
Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Sponge, Chocolate Rick Rack, Prima, Brad (Copper Mini Brad - Making Memories)
, Corner Rounder Punch, Scallop Scissors

Choco-Red Cupcake

This card really had be stumped. It just didn't seem complete, but I just went with it anyway. I always thought that red chocolate cake looked scrumptious so I decided to make a yummy cupcake with, of course, sparkly sprinkles. I layed chocolate grosgrain ribbon with the red gingham to give the gingham a border. The stamps for the bottom border are some of my $1 Michael's finds...what a wonderfully inexpensive option!

We have had school cancelled for the past two days due to wind chill factors and unfortunately I have been pretty sick during this time as well. I was soooo excited to have a couple days off to do lots of stamping. My body had other plans. :( At least I got one done yesterday...

Keep warm!

Supplies
Stamps: Chocoholic (The Angel Company), (XOXO & flower with heart)$1 Michael's stamps, Very Punny (Stampin Up)
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Paper: White, Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Chocolate Grosgrain, Red Gingham, Stardust Red Gel Pen

Flowers & Butterflies

Just a quick post before getting to my evening beauty routine. lol. (And boy, do I need it!) Using yet another Rhonna Farrer clear stamp set I created this fun card. The flowers in the corner are one big stamp. It only seemed appropriate that they be highlighted that way. ;) The images were stamped with Versamagic black chalk ink, then traced with a Stardust gold pen. I really like how it turned out.

Supplies
Stamps: Rhonna Farrer, Autumn Leaves
Paper: White, Night of Navy
Ink: Taken with Teal, Night of Navy, Versamagic Black Chalk, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Stardust Gold Gel Pen, Scallop Punch

Blue Valentine

I am loving this color challenge. I am off to create a few more after finishing this little blog entry. Actually, I am going to change my contacts first. Things are a bit blurry right now...not a pleasant way to create cards.

We had a beautiful snow day today! It has been flurrying gently all day. Our neighbor was just down with his tractor to clear out the lane and our driveway. I have a feeling that by tomorrow morning all of his work will be in vain even though it is supposed to stop snowing soon. Blowing and drifting seems a good possibility.

Well, here is my card for the SCS color challenge this week.

Supplies
Stamps: Hearts & Stars (Rhonna Farrer - Autumn Leaves), Dreams Come True SU
Paper: White, Taken with Teal, Night of Navy
Ink: Taken with Teal, Night of Navy, Black
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Flower Brad, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

After thinking that I was going to do another cool color challenge like the Blue Valentine above I came out of my stamping room with this one. I was simply a bunch of random ideas put together.

I am a sucker for pinks and chocolates. I used my chipboard scrap as a template to sponge the heart shape on the card. The ink is a monochromatic pad by Dee Gruenig called Shades of Rose. I used Close to Cocoa to doodle around the heart to frame it, then did a little doodling in the stripes with my clear Stardust Gel Pen. This was just a fun card with very little direction, but turned out to be a lot of fun.

Supplies
Stamps: Sage Advice SU
Ink: Close to Cocoa
Paper: White, Striped
Accessories: Copper Brads, Primas, Word Window Punch, clear Stardust Gel Pen, Grosgrain Ribbon

I've Been Tagged!

A - Available or Taken: Taken
B - Best Friend: DH Mitch & my friend Patty - The best friends anyone could ever ask for. :)
C -Cake or Pie: Pie - I love baking pies...and eating them.
D - Drink of Choice: Iced Tea
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday: Water Bottle - I have been drinking at least 64oz a day and carry it with me all of the time.
F - Favorite Color: Cool Caribbean
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
H - Hometown: Sherwood, OH
I - Indulgence: Frozen Coffee - Panera/Starbucks
J - January or February: January, I like seeing all of the Valentine's Day decorations and making V-Day Cards. By the time V-Day rolls around everything is down.
K - Kids & Names: ETA March 27 - Don't know the gender. Girl - Maura Grace (The jury is still out on that one.) Boy - Liam Thomas
L - Life is incomplete without? Family and friends....ok, chocolate and stamps are good too.
M - Marriage Date: August 10, 2002
N - Number of Siblings: Two Brothers, both younger (Christopher & Ian)
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples - Honey Crisp are my current seasonal fav. If I can't get those Gala are good too.
Q - Fave Quote: TBA
R - Reason to Smile: Having a good life that God has given to me.
S - Season: Fall...I like the cooler temps. I am much more of a long sleeve and warmer clothes wearer. I love the smell of leaves (not burning ones). Candy corn. Hayrides. Ohio State football games with friends.
T - Tag 3-4 People: Looking...
U - Unknown fact about me: I like slighty burnt popcorn.
V - Vegetable you don't like: Brussel Sprouts...I tried, honestly.
W - Worst Habit: What would DH say? lol. Impatience. Probably not a habit, more of a character flaw.
X - X-rays: It's been FOREVER. I think my most recent ones were from the dentist's office.
Y - Your Fave Food: Fish and Chips
Z - Zodiac Sign: The Fish ;)

Inspiration has Struck Again...Thankfully!

I have a 2-hour delay from school this morning, so I thought I would blog a bit. I should be sleeping.... :) Until a couple days ago I had been suffering from a terrible case of "stamper's block". I sat for something like an hour and an half in my stamp room and flipped through various colored papers, tools and stamps with nothing springing to mind. I even went to the SCS challenge forum and couldn't get inspired, then it hit me and I have been off and running!!! What a wonderful feeling!

I have created several cards since Sunday evening, which is rare enough during the work week. I think God heard my prayers of frustration. I wanted to create and felt nothing. I have been chalking it up to pregnancy hormones. lol.

Here is one card that I made as soon as I got home from work yesterday, while engrossed in the History Channel. The rest have been uploaded to my SCS gallery.

Supplies
Stamps: SU Sage Advice, SU Natural Beauty
Paper: SU Cameo Coral, SU Certainly Celery, Black, White
Ink: Versacolor Midnight Black, SU Basic Black, Cameo Coral, SU Certainly Celery
Accessories: Making Memories Copper Pewter Brads, Cuttlebug Dies, Dazzling Diamonds, White Grosgrain Ribbon
The white ribbon was dyed using my Cameo Coral stamp pad. This is a GREAT way to spend LESS on coordinating ribbon and think the results weren't too shabby!