Happy June 10th!

Good Day Inky Ones!

Happy June 10th!  No there is no holiday or actually any reason to celebrate this particular date!  It's just that I am happy!  I have had two Successful Open Houses and my last one is tonight at 7:00pm.  I am expecting some of my die hard stampers and a couple of new ladies who I hope will become addicted. lol

I have several orders coming and of course I need a card to put in the order.  So for today's share I have my June thank you card done and ready to go.

Have a look -

 

Ain't it purty?  I managed to use all the new in-colors and the new Mosaic embossing folder on this card.  I am so in love with these colors.  I used Betsy's Blossoms for my background and then punched them out with the Curly Label Punch.  I had Papillion Potpourri on my desk and decided to use that also.  I added a couple of large rhinestones and a little greeting punched out with my old fav - Word Window punch and Modern Label punch. 

 

A simple but elegant card.  Turned out great if I do say so myself!

 

Now on a side note - The Mommy Project is going well and I have just sent out the fifth card.  I am also doing a miniature of the front of the card and writing out the sentiment inside.  I will be journling these cards with an eye to giving her the "This and That" Journal on Mother's Day 2014.   Today's card said " I am so pleased that you encouraged us to be ourselves and saw a uniqueness in each of us"

 

These cards are designed to bring either a smile or a tear or just to remind mom that she is loved and to reaffirm that she is a good person. 

 

I have received a call from her each week and she is now wondering how many of these there are!  I didn't tell her as I don't want to spoil the fun!  52 cards for the year is a definite commitment but one that I gladly take on.  My mom will be 84 this July! 

 

Have to go and find something for supper.  DH is home a day early and is now throwing off my schedule lol. 

 

Heaven's to Betsy hugs!

Camping with Betsy's Blossoms!

Good day Crafty Ones!

It is I, the Card Goddess!  Well I finally got my craft paraphernalia brought up to our camper!  And it only took one trip and a little car!  (full)

I thought today I would give the totally insane Blog Hogger (aka my sister, Colleen) a little break from blogging as apparently it has been stressful for her lately trying to be funny and create cards.  Poor thing was reduced to challenging herself in self made contests.  (she is really missing me!)

But I must say her posts have been really entertaining.  She is laugh out loud funny for sure!  Keep up the hogging I love it and I love your cards.  (she just got a new order in with merchandise from the new catalog so who knows when she will hog my blog again and what she will have for us!)


I actually have a new card for you today and there is a long story that goes with it but I will try to condense it for you!

I have had this idea in mind for a card made with Betsy's Blossoms ever since I got the set back in May, but here is what happened!

• Idea comes to me!
• Poo have to go camping
• Double Poo, No craft supplies
• Ok, sketch idea on paper, then promptly lose paper for a couple of days grrrr!
• Go home and get supplies (yay)
• Get up next morning raring to go make said card!
• Rain Delay!
• Next day more rain! (card stock and damp weather not a good mix)
• Same thing next day! This is getting very old, very fast!
• Bring supplies into the trailer and set up in small space.
• Take out all the supplies and find out I don't have the blankety blank stamp set!
• When  home next time, get stamp set!
• Finally, get all the elements together and make card!

Seriously though I had forgotten how hard it is to make cards with limited supplies.  I am so used to just reaching for something and using what ever comes to mind that working in a small space with few supplies (my idea of few is probably not the same as yours) can be daunting.

I will take pictures of my craft room in the wilderness soon to show you what I am working with!


So after all this, here is said card!

It is a little cloudy out here at the camp site so the picture is a little dark.   I used Marina Mist card stock and Whisper white for the insert!  I cut out a cloud out of scrap c/s and sponged Marina Mist over the white to make my sky.  I took a piece of Lucky Limeade and and cut all the little grass blades.  I stamped the bird image in Marina Mist ink and then cut out the banners using the Itty Bitty Labels framelits.  I attached the banner using dimensionals and then took a Basic Black marker and added a little line to connect the banner to each other and the bird.

I stamped the flowers in Primrose Petals and then cut out each and every one and attached them separately. 

I love it.  Added a jewel to the eye and my first Big Falls creation was done.  I was so pleased to finally get this one down on paper. lol.

I wish you could see what I have to do to post these cards.  I am sitting in my car with the laptop almost completely open and typing kinda vertically.  It's hilarious!  Now that's dedication or lunacy, I'm not sure which!
I have to go I am losing the light and running out of battery power.  So Flying high hugs!

New Catalog Launch!

Good day Creative ones!

Whew I am exhausted!  I have been so busy getting ready for my Catalog Launch that posting was not an option.  But I am on the home stretch thank goodness.

Tomorrow I throw open my doors and welcome the ladies.  I have a make your own Sub area with Egg Salad and Chicken Salad with grapes and celery and of course some deli meats and other goodies to put on your sandwich.  And what party at my place would be complete without Cupcakes to die for. 

One is Chocolate with Chocolate Hazelnut filling and Double dutch Chocolate Frosting the other is a Mint Chocolate cupcake.  I am drooling just thinking about it.  Pictures tomorrow because I have something to show you that I am saving as a surprise.  tee hee I love to tease you!

Having an open House in June is new for me - I generally have a big one in September but this year with the new Catalog released one month early I thought why not?  At first I wasn't sure how it would be received and my hubby, bless him, said that if it didn't work then I could do one in September as usual!  I reminded him that because I wouldn't be home until the middle of September (I am going to Ottawa the end of July for the birth of our first grandchild) that it would be difficult.  :O)

But I am so pleased to announce that once again you ladies have exceeded my expectations.  I only hope we don't cause a traffic jam tomorrow! 

I have a couple of new cards for you and I plan to show them to you over the next couple of days, but today, I want to show you the other Make and Take for the Open House!  I cased it from the Internet and truthfully I can't find it again.  So if this card is yours please let me know and I will give you full credit.

Here you go!

I used the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set and the inks are Gumball Green, Primrose Petals and Daffodil Delight!  See how the new colors work with the older colors? 

This was supposed to go in this morning but apparently I forgot to publish it :O).  Oh well, it was one of those days.

Bushed hugs!

Betsy's Blossoms!

Good Day my friends!

Sorry about not posting yesterday but once again errands and appointments delayed me and kept me away from posting.

This is going to be a very quick hit and run type of post as I am heading for Big Falls to set up our trailer for the summer. 

I promised yesterday that I had another card for you and I do!  It is the same layout and same colors as the card I last posted, but with a different embellishment.  I had stamped the flower from this set and of course I couldn't waste the image right? so here's what I did with it -

See purty right?  I used the new blossom punch that works with Mixed Blooms.  For the life of me I can't remember the name of that punch.  I will edit this post when I find a catalog :O)

That's it for today folks.  Chat with you soon!

Blossoming hugs!

New Ink Pads!

Good Day Creative people!

As I mentioned yesterday, my goodies have arrived from Stampin' Up!  Yes it like Christmas around here.  Presents for me!  But I am willing to share with you once May is over!

I just found something on my new stamp pads that makes me so bubbly happy that I can hardly contain myself.  (yes, I lead a quiet life) 

Not only do the new stamp pads have better coverage but they come with their own labels built in!  Yes they do!  How great is that?  Stampin' Up! is so smart!

Have a little look -

This is one of the new in colors for 2012 -2014

On the reverse side of the stamp pad, there are labels in English, Spanish,

French and German. 

You peel off the labels and find the one you want to use, in our case, English.

This is what it looks like before I stuck it to the stamp pad.

Ain't it purty???

Now the difference is hard to see here but if you click on the picture you will be able to see the surface of the pad.  The ink pad is a type of foam which means that no matter what the type of  stamp, you will still get good coverage.  You definately need less pressure also.

  How many times have you stamped and the middle of the stamp either didn't have ink on it or was splotchy?  Well thanks to new technology our problems are solved. 

I had thought that I wouldn't  replace my stamp pads, but I think over time I will  convert them all to the new style.  I usually don't jump on the band wagon until I have tried it but this is me jumping high!

This image is one from Betsy's Blossoms and I used  Midnight Muse ink.  The ink bonds to the card stock better and dries really fast.  Love it!

If you look closely you can seel that the image on the left is clearer and the image on the right is a little blotchy.  (and no I didn't cheat and stamp funny, in case you were thinking that lol.)

Ok I just had to play with my new pre-order merchandise and make you a card.  Want a look?  Of course you do!

This card uses Gumball green and Starfruit Yellow along with Midnight  Muse!  Don't you just love the names?  I tried once again to get a simple card and tomorrow I will show you another one with the same layout but different embellishments. 

Done for today friends!  Don't forget that there is only one more week left to order the retired accessories and stamps before they are gone forever! 

It doesn't take much to make me happy hugs!

Blending Old and New!

Good day Inky ones!


How was your weekend?  Mine was glorious!  I spent the weekend cleaning and getting the trailer ready for camping.  I know that does not sound like fun but when you think of what we had only a short while ago (snow) this is soooo much better.

But I am back at my crafts and while going through my stamp sets I came across The Nicest Things, that I had borrowed from a friend, with an eye to doing some paper piecing.  It's one of those things that you never get time for. 

I will be returning this set when I see her  and since it will be retiring shortly (the end of May) I thought what better time to do a photo tutorial.

Ohh Ohh Ohh I also got my new rubber today along with the new style stamp pads.  I must say they work really well.  I am hoping to show you just how well tomorrow (smirk). 

So here we go - The Nicest Things blended, old and new -

First I stamped the main image in Stazon on Whisper White card stock.

Then I cut out the focal image using the Framelits labels die.  I think it was number 3 die.  I didn't remove the label at first because I wanted to try sponging on a little color.  I sponged very lightly and used Marina Mist around the top of the image.  This should give me a little white border.

I did the same on the bottom of the image with Pear Pizazz.  Then I removed the framelit.

Next I stamped the same image in Black Stazon on two different colors of DSP. 

I then cut out the different parts of the image from the DSP.  I pieced them onto the stamped image.

Once I had all the pieces glued on to the main image I started to color in the other parts.  See the cute white border?  It worked!  Yay!

as you can see I used several markers to color in the image.  I also used blender pen to add highlights to the hair and basket.

Now I mentioned that I got some new product right?  Well Betsy's Blooms wheel was one of the new items from the catalog.  I used Daffodil Delight ink to run the wheel over the bottom of the card stock.

I decided to tie in the color a little more with some DSP cut with the Pinking hearts punch. (soon to be retired)  Glued that just over the top of the wheeled image.  I also needed to cover the join between the wheel and the DSP so I used my new stitched gros grain ribbon.  No pic but you will see it at the end.

Now for the sentiment.  I stamped it in Black and punched it out with the Decorative Label punch and backed it with more DSP.  It looked a little plain so I added a couple of flowers punched out with Itty Bitty Punches and a few strategically placed jewels.

This is what it looks like all put together.  I popped up the image with dimensionals and added the sentiment.

Here is a close up of the paper piecing.

And here is a close up of the sentiment!

And here is the updated pic.  I decided to add some pink DSP to the frill on the dress.  It looked unfinished after I had sized up this post. :O)  I'm such a control freak!

See it's better right? 

Well that's it for today.  It is way too nice to stay indoors today.  I just want to be in the sunshine.... (I think that why I  may have used Daffodil Delight today :O) 

Sunshine  is the "Nicest Thing"  hugs!