Delightful Daisy So Very Loved

I think that the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper is my favorite paper from this years catalog (at least right now!)  When I first saw these papers I knew I had to scrap the photos I had taken of my sweet granddaughter just a month before the catalog came out. She was wearing an outfit that matched the colors in the paper and she was even holding a daisy!

I cut eight 3-1/2" squares of DSP to create the background for my page.. A 2007 Sale-A-Bration set, So Very was used to create a title, which is embossed in white on Night of Navy. I used the very handy Labeler Alphabet set to stamp the words on my list next to the largest photo. I used the tiny daisy image in the Daisy Delight set to create the bullets for my list and the largest daisy image with coordinating Daisy Punch for the large daisy embellishment. The center is one of the pretty Gold Faceted Gems. Here's a closer look.

Originally I had planned to use just one photo on this layout, but couldn't decide between two of the photos...so I ended up cutting 3 photos down into small squares using the Stitched Shape Framelits, and placed those photos along the bottom. 

Can you spot "something Stampin' Up!" in the photos themselves? I made little Maddy a bunch of headbands when she was only a month or so old using felt and the Spiral Flower Die. You cannot see in the photo, but there is a large Iced Rhinestone jewel in the center. Babies need bling too! (Both the die and the rhinestones have been retired, so they are no longer available)

After I was finished with my layout I realized I hadn't included the date or age of Maddy, so I used the Tiny Tag set with it's coordinating punch (both retired) and wrote her name and age on the tags which are hung from the bow created using Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon.

I used pretty much the same layout for a Halloween page using the Spooky Night DSP shown here.

If you too love these papers...you can get them for FREE!

But hurry...the Buy 3 Get 1 FREE Sale ends tomorrow!

Two quick cards

I started off my day with some exciting news! When I went to check out the Stamp Something blog to see what this weeks new challenge would be, I saw that I was the winner from their last challenge! Woo hoo! I NEVER win anything! I'm excited! It is a gift certificate to an online scrapbook store called the Coconut Scrapshop .

Today I have a couple quick cards to share with you. This first one combines one new In Color - Pacific Point, with a couple of my favorite old standbys - Tempting Turquoise & Certainly Celery. I inked the little flower from the Seeing Spots set first in TT then rock'n rolled it in the PP.

This second card originally started as the background for the card above...but it wound up being WAY too busy. Even though the Spot On wheel is shown to go with the Seeing Spots set I can never seem to get them to work together. I always think of bubbles when I use this wheel...especially with a blue background. Since I also needed a birthday card for my nephew, I decided to make good use of my bubble background and pull out my Very Punny set which hadn't seen the light of day in quite some time! This card also uses Tangerine Tango.

Now I must confess something that has been bothering me...I've been a lousy, rotten, ungrateful blogger! I've been given a couple of blog awards recently by some nice blogging friends and I didn't even acknowledge them here or pass them on to any of my other favorite bloggers. Honestly, it really isn't that I'm ungrateful...I really am! I'm just happy that people actually stop by here and like what they see enough to leave a comment, for some to include me as one of their favs by giving me an award is even nicer! So what's my problem??? Why haven't I passed on these nice awards to some of my favorite bloggers??? I guess lack of time is my best excuse. LOL. I have to fight for computer time with 3 guys! OK...enough excuses, right?

I received this award from Mary. Check out her blog: Primitive Seasons she has recently posted some great Halloween themed projects. My blogging friend Denise also passed on this award to me. You can see her wonderful creations here: Stampin With Denise

Now, I need to pass this on to seven other bloggers...that is the HARD part! There are soooo many wonderful, talented bloggers!

Elaine's Creations

Pat's Corner of the World
Rebel Inker

Crafting the Web

Design With Ink

Stamp Your Art Out

It's All About Stamping

I also received this award from my friend Denise. She is so sweet and always takes time to leave such nice comments! She is VERY talented too...so go check out her blog! I'm supposed to pass this one on to 4 regular visitors of my blog, 1 new visitor & 1 from another part of the world. But I'm going to take the easy way out and just say anyone who is reading this is considered one of my blogging friends.

Have a great weekend my friends! It's gonna be another hot one here and I think I'll spend the day relaxing in the pool.

That's what I call a mighty big blossom!

I finally had a chance to sit and play with my new Big Blossom stamp. Like it's name implies, it definitely is a big blossom! I can already tell that this one is going to be a lot of fun to try different techniques with. On both of my samples shown here I used the kissing technique. Before you jump to conclusions, no that doesn't mean I was kissing my new stamp because I was so lonely down in my rubber room!


Kissing is a technique where you ink one stamp and then press it against another stamp to pick up the ink and the design. The Big Blossom is perfect for this because it is so large and bold. I used craft ink because it is thicker and stays wet longer, which makes it perfect for transferring to another stamp. I hope I explained this well enough. If not, ask me next time we stamp and I can show you better in person than I can describe it here...plus I'm hurrying because Desperate Housewives is almost on! ;-)


On the first card I used the Canvas background inked in Orange craft ink and kissed it to my Big Blossom stamp which I then stamped on Apricot. I thought the Polka Dot Posies set would make a perfect center to this flower along with the "enjoy your day" stamp from the Riveting set.


The next card uses the Paisley background inked with white Craft ink, kissed onto the Big Blossom and then stamped on Pixie Pink card stock. I dry embossed the Bashful Blue background using the classy brass embossing template called Seeing Spots. For the center I used the thanks stamp which is also from the Riveting hostess set.

Hope you like these cards! Off to watch Desperate Housewives!

Can you stand another cow card?

I can't help it...I keep grabbing for the Very Punny set and when I do, it's usually the cute cow stamp I use! I also wanted to play with my new Polka Dots & Paisley set so I thought I'd create a background to look like the pattern you would see on a bandanna. I used Buckaroo Blue (sticking with my cow poke theme! ;-) and white craft ink to stamp the background. Then, with a Brocade Blue marker, I inked just the little flower from the middle of the paisley. I stamped those as a filler. I used the white gel pen to dot the center of these flowers and the Brocade Blue pen to dot the centers of the flowers inside the Paisley.

I water colored the cows and the background using my aqua painter and water color pencils. While the bottom was still wet, I took one swipe across with my Speckled roller inked in basic brown to create the dirt and rocks. I think my favorite part of this card is the tiny cow bell attached to the red gingham. I'm glad I remembered I had a few of those left in my stash from my wood crafting days.

I got some new stamps on Wednesday! I mounted most of them yesterday...so this morning I hope to find some time in between other stuff to do a little stamping. I LOVE new stamps! Do I really need to do laundry and clean the house???

Happy Harmony

The Happy Harmony card I prepared for my SAB open house a couple weeks ago used the poppin' pastels technique. I don't know why I don't use that technique more often? It is quick and easy and has really nice results. I decided to try it again using a different color scheme. While making this card I got to thinking - I haven't used my Pearl Ex in a while either! So I ended up getting those out and making another card.

The technique I used for this poppin' pastels card and the one using Pearl Ex powders are basically the same. Both start by stamping a bold image with VersaMark. However, when using the Pearl Ex I prefer to stamp my image on a dark background for the most vibrant results. After stamping my image, I allow it to dry for a few minutes, then I lightly rub or tap over it in a circular motion using an applicator dipped in my pastels. I have found that sponge eye shadow applicators work well. Be careful not to smear the VersaMark. (that is why it is helpful to let it dry a bit first) Sometimes I leave the background plain, or in this case I softly blended some of the colors I used in the flowers into the background. Colors I used for this card are: Pixie Pink, Gable Green & Cool Caribbean. I used the Paisley background stamp inked with white craft ink over the Pixie Pink. I really like the way that turned out.

I tried to capture the iridescent, sparkle of this card by photographing it rather than scanning it. This was the best shot I got. Not the clearest, but you get the idea. It is much prettier in person. I used Lavender Lace card stock stamped with the Canvas background, and Brocade Blue for the mat.

I started by stamping my image on black card stock and using a small, soft brush to pick up a bit of Pearl Ex powder - a little of this stuff goes a long way. I usually pick up a bit on my brush and then tap the excess off into the lid. Then using a soft swirling motion I apply the powder to the VersaMark image. When you have finished your project, there always seems to be excess powder left on the background. If you do not like that effect and want a clean looking background, simply take a small piece of a Swiffer sheet and rub it across your card stock. Like magic it takes away the powder where you don't want it, but the powder will remain on your design! Thanks to whoever came up with that! You will also need to seal your design when finished. You can use an acrylic fixative spray - I usually use Krylon Low Odor fixative, but in this case I just used hairspray. I didn't feel like going outside...too cold! So hairspray was definitely the better choice. Always use the proper precautions when using products like Krylon fixative. Even though the label claims to be low odor, you need proper ventilation, so it is best used outside. Also, when using the Pearl Ex powders, be very careful not to breathe in any of the powder or get in in your eyes, while you are getting carried away with your artwork!

Punny Little Valentine

I was so excited when I thought of this idea the other night...I couldn't wait to try it. My idea was to use the little cow from the Very Punny set to create a Valentine for my hubby, who just so happens to love puns. I didn't want to just use the cow like it was shown, but hoped that I could turn his spots into hearts. It worked!

Here's how I did it: I masked the spots right on the stamp by cutting out a bit of post-it note and sticking it to the stamp. I inked up the stamp, picked off the post-it masks and stamped my image. So I ended up with a cow that had no spots! I did it this way rather than try to color with a marker avoiding the spots because I wanted to watercolor my image and didn't want the ink to bleed. I do have a black journaler pen I got so I could do this, but it dries so quickly that I never seem to get a good stamped image. After I stamped my cow images I drew in the heart shapes where the original spots had been. I didn't have a real fine tipped permanent marker so I used my trusty old quill pen nib with black India ink. It ended up matching really well, so I also drew in a few more hearts as a border under each cow image.

I wanted my card to read "I love you...like no udder". At first I thought I was going to have to hand write the I love you part, but then I remembered the Double Line Doodles set I had received at the Lansing Regionals I attended back in October. That set has a stamp that said "I just love you". So I inked that up with my red marker to eliminate the word "just" and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the "I" was in the proper place...after spending all that time giving the cow heart spots I didn't want to do it all over again, so I'm sure glad I have my stamp-a-ma-jig!

The two middle panels of the waterfall card have tiny little flowers with hearts, that stamp is from A Little Love. I really liked the way this card turned out, and was excited to give it to Mike. He really liked it too and was impressed with the mechanics of it, and kept pulling the ribbon to see the images flip. I has been a long time since I made a water fall card, so it took me a while to remember how to make it. I'm really glad I did, because now I have others in mind to create.

I also made a couple little bag toppers and filled the cello bags with Red Hots for the boys. I was planning to sneak them in their lunches today but lucky for them they had a snow day, so my plan was foiled (Teenage boys love to get valentine treats from their Moms hidden in their lunches to be found while surrounded by their buddies;-) Or is it just Mom who loves to think of fun little things like that? Hope you had an enjoyable Valentines Day!

Quick & Easy Valentine

This was a super quick and easy card to make. I wanted it to look more masculine so I kept it pretty simple and made sure to use bold colors. Stamp sets used here are: So Very (SAB set), All Through the Year (large hearts), Little Pieces (small hearts on bottom) and the Canvas background stamp.

The words are embossed with black embossing powder for some extra shine & dimension. Accessories used are: Window Word punch & black Vintage Brads. Enjoy your day...and stay warm!

Best Kisses

Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner, over the next few days I think I'll share a few of the Valentine cards I've made.

Today's sample uses the "Best Fishes" fish stamp from Very Punny. I stamped the fish on vellum so that the end result would be a mirror image that looks like two fish about to kiss. To do this, stamp your first fish image and then flip the vellum over and stamp another fish image on the reverse side. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig so that they would line up nicely.

I colored the fish using my aqua painter and adhered it to my background, created with the Spot On wheel, with some brads. Keeping with the circle theme, I used the "Be Mine" heart stamp from the Tag Time set to stamp the red background. I then stamped Be Mine across the bottom using the stamp from Fancy flexible Phrases...I love that set! Of course I also had to make a tag using the Tags So Much Valentine stamp to finish off the card.

I think this turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself!

Sell-A-Brate Good Times!

Yesterday was my SAB Open House. It was also Super Bowl Sunday and one of the coldest days of the year so far. I think both of those factors cut into the attendance, however, I had a fun day because some of my favorite stampin' family and friends did make it and we had a good time visiting and stamping. I think everyone liked the make & take projects and the door prizes I had for them. First, we did a 6x6 scrapbook page using the Delight in Life stamp set. The next project was a Valentine card using the So Very stamp set. Keeping with the Valentine theme, our next project was a Red Hots candy pouch using the 2 tag punches and the Tags So Much stamp set. Finally, we finished our afternoon of stamping by creating an all occasion card using the Happy Harmony set.

Everyone who attended received a door prize. The first prizes chosen were the "sweet" little tin mail boxes that I had decorated with stamped paper and filled with Dove chocolate, Lindt truffles and Hershey kisses. Who doesn't like chocolate, right? That's why I also made a "So Very Sweet" wrapped Hershey bar for my little cousin Julia who I knew was coming.

Everyone loved the homemade vegetable soup I made for lunch. It sure was the perfect weather for soup, and I think it warmed everyone up. I used my Aunt Roberta's Famous Minestrone Soup recipe and many asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Aunt Roberta's Famous Minestrone Soup

Spoon 3T “Better Than Bouillon” vegetable base to a 4-quart Crock-Pot
Add 1c hot water and stir until blended.
Add the following ingredients:

2 - 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
2 – 15 ½-ounce cans kidney beans
2 teaspoons dried marjoram
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper (or 30 turns with a pepper mill)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 medium zucchini, scrubbed, quartered into ½-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced

Cover; cook on high 4 to 5 hours.

I made a few changes to this recipe. First, I couldn't find the Better Than Bouillon vegetable base so I used vegetable broth and eliminated the water. I used Del Monte Italian style diced tomatoes which have garlic and herbs in them so I eliminated the marjoram and the minced garlic. I also substituted frozen cut green beans for the zucchini.

As they left, everyone got to take a cute little Nugget Purse as a thank you for attending my open house. I made these using the large tag punch, the Spot On wheel, Little Pieces and Fancy Flexible Phrases stamp sets. I found the excellent instructions to make these adorable little purses posted at another stamping blog.

I hope everyone had a good time!

Just Delightful!

I did it! I cut into the pretty papers from the Just Delightful scrappin' kit. I used lots of the adhesive backed die cuts and as you can see from my above photo, I still have more than half of the kit left to make some scrap book pages & cards.

First I made another altered clip board. The other three I made, I gave away as gifts...this one I get to keep! It turned out so cute I'm glad I get to keep it for myself. I'm not sure if I'm going to use it in my work space downstairs or in my kitchen. I attached magnets to the back in case I want to use it on the fridge.

The die cut that says "notes" is just perfect for the post it notes don't you think? I love the little adhesive rick rack border and all the flowers. I used some Rich Regals brads, a Bashful Blue button, and lots of grosgrain and gingham ribbons to finish it off. I stamped the little calendar pages with the Delight In Life and All Through the Year stamp sets.


I also decorated the On Board Bitty Book using this kit. I really love the way the little book turned out. It has a little sleeve that it slides into which I also decorated. This cute little set would make a nice gift. Or maybe I'll just keep that too! ;-)

I'm not sure what I'm going to put in the little book yet, so I left the page protectors empty for now. I'm most likely going to fill it with wallet sized photos. I used decoupage medium to seal both of these projects to protect the papers so they will still look great for a long time.

When I finished these projects I used a few of the left over paper scraps to make a cute card. Since there wasn't much stamping on the first two projects I did, I decided I would stamp a background on the card and also stamp the main image using the matching Delight in Life stamp set.

I stamped the big flower in Versa Mark then embossed in white. I thought this matched the papers better than stamping in black before water coloring. I made the scalloped border cutting out half circles with my 1/2" circle punch and then stamping a little circle from the background in each one.

I had fun getting creative with the Just Delightful Scrappin' Kit and I'm happy with the way my projects turned out.

How Much Stuff Can a Scrapper Scrap With a Simply Scrappin Kit?

That is the question I asked myself as I fondled and drooled over my new Just Delightful Simply Scrappin' Kit. OK, I admit it...I LOVE paper! I have a tendency to buy paper and then hoard it because it is too nice to cut into or because I'm saving it for "just the right project". So I am challenging myself to see what I can create with this kit...after all it's FREE during Sell-A-Bration, right?

This is for sure my most favorite Simply Scrappin' kit I've gotten so far. It is so CUTE! It matches the Delight In Life stamp set, which is also free during SAB, and it features some of my favorite SU! colors: Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose & So Saffron. That is what I love most about SU!: the coordinating colors of their papers, inks & embellishments. This kit comes with 6 sheets of adhesive backed die-cuts, 4 sheets of 12x12 pattered paper, and 8 sheets of coordinating card stock.

I bought an On Board Bitty Book to create the adorable book shown in the SAB catalog. I'm also going to create another altered clipboard using my kit. While I'm at it, maybe I'll even make a scrapbook page or two! I'd better get busy. I'll post again tomorrow to show you what I've made.

So Very Punny

I had lots of fun yesterday stamping with the Very Punny set. It's so cute! I wanted to share with you how I mounted mine. Each stamp has an image with a "punny" saying under it. For me, I thought the set would be more versatile if the saying was cut and mounted separately on the same block. I carefully used my rubber cutting scissors to trim the words off and I mounted them on the side of each wood block. This way if I want to quickly stamp a bunch of cows or frogs, but do not want the words, I don't have to use markers or a masking technique to eliminate them. It also enables me to quickly stamp the words in a different color than the main image. It took a little extra time and care, but I'm glad I mounted them this way. That is what is good about mounting your own stamps...you can custom mount them to best suit your needs.

On my "Best Fishes" card I used the Seeing Spots Classy Brass embossing template to dry emboss the background to create the bubbles and the scalloped border. I also used the new smaller tag punch which is sized perfectly to work with this set.

On the "Hoppy for you" card, I used the Spot On jumbo wheel to create the background. To keep the circle theme going, I punched the frogs out and matted them using the 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" circle punches. The little tag is kind of hard to see in my photo, but it reads Hoppy for you.

I think my favorite card I've made with this set so far is the "Like no udder"cow card. I saw a similar card on the Splitcoast Stampers website, so it really isn't like no udder, but I changed it up a bit to make it my own. Mounting the words separate from the image sure made stamping the background on this one a lot easier. I used the 2 tag punches to create the 1st two layers of my tag, then cut the largest one myself just trimming around the pink one for a guide. I did a little faux stitching around the edges using my paper piercing template and white gel pen. The black and white gingham ribbon finishes off the card nicely.

The last card I want to share uses three of the new SAB sets. The background was created using the cute little circle background from Delight in Life stamped in white and the swirl of the lolly pop from Very Punny stamped in Pixie Pink. The words are from the So Very set. I embossed the words so very and the lolly in the center of the "O" with white embossing powder. The "O" is attached using a pop dot. The lolly pop image was water colored and then I applied Crystal Effects over the top to make it shiny like a real lolly pop.

I think the Very Punny set is So Very...cute! Don't you?

So Very...Cute!

Well, I may be a little partial, but I still think this is one of the cutest little guys I've ever seen! (Even tho it took me almost 18 years to scrap this photo!) Yes, this "little guy" is my oldest son Chris, who is now 18 and going to be graduating this year...and it freaks me out! It seems like just yesterday he was the chubby-cheeked baby boy with the big blue eyes peeking out from under his blankie, like in this photo.

I designed this 6x6 layout using the new SAB set So Very. I think this set will be great for scrapbooking! Along with the large "so very" stamp there are 7 other smaller words to go with it. Of course for my layout I chose the word cute. For the background I stamped the plain circle from Riveting in white craft ink and added the smaller circle designs from the Little Pieces set in Brocade Blue to match the card stock. I attached the title using brads and window word punch outs. The "cute" circle and the Little Pieces circle in the title were attached using pop dots for dimention. The result? So very cute!

More Cheerful Cards

I took some time out yesterday to play around some more with my new Delight in Life stamp set. On the first card I stamped the images randomly on a piece of vellum cut a little smaller than my card front. I used my pastels to color the floral design from the back...a trick I picked up from my friend Rachel's beautiful Christmas card she sent. This produces a softer look, and the color doesn't smear when touched because it's on the back. :-)

Then, I attached it to a piece of Almost Amethyst card stock, stamped with the Word by Word background stamp in Lavender Lace, using Rose Red brads from the Rich Regal collection. I added some celery and lavender grosgrain and the Delight in Life sentiment stamp matted using the ticket corner punch.

The next card I made was almost totally copied from my Stampin' Up! magazine. I use my catalogs and magazines all the time for inspiration. A lot of times, like with this card, they use color combos and such that I would have not thought to use. I usually always change something to make it more my own. For instance, my inspiration card used a plain background, I decided to use my Speckled jumbo roller on my Rose Red background, I also added some Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glittler to the popped up flower to make it sparkle. Other colors used were Tempting Turquoise & Marigold Morning. Now, I would never have thought to put those colors together, but the result is bright & cheerful!

Delight in Life

I spent today finishing a few stamping projects and trying to organize my crafting space. I did also manage to spend a little time playing with my favorite new SAB set - Delight in Life. Can't seem to get enough of those floral sets!

After spending so much of the last couple months working mostly with Christmas images it was a refreshing change to work with some floral designs! I choose pretty spring-like tones of Regal Rose, Celery, Apricot & Saffron for this card.

This set is great because it even comes with the cute little circle design I used for the background! I think the swirly image will lend itself well to a lot of different designs as well...so I really like this set a lot.

I stamped my focal images in Versamark and embossed them in white, cut them out and popped them up using pop dots. I used the faux stitching technique with my mat pack paper piercing template and white gel pen to create the stitches. I finished it off with some brads and celery ribbon.

I think this is a cheerful card that would perk anyone up on this dull, grey winter day. Ah, Michigan winter...and it's only just begun! (I better not ask where the snow is???)