Exciting News - SALE!!!!

Happy Friday everyone!! As if the fact that the weekend is upon us wasn't exciting enough, I have some awesome Hope Stamps Eternal news!

For this weekend only, starting RIGHT NOW and running through Sunday, August 2nd, ALL items, both regular and clearance, are ON SALE!!! Yup, EVERY item is 20% off!!! Who doesn't love saving money???

There is a ton of fun new stuff on the way fresh from Summer CHA, so HSE needs to make some room!! Love to color? Put those Copics or colored pencils to work with some stamps from The Greeting Farm. Want to have the latest and greatest new products? Check out what's new from Basic Grey and Inkadinako! If you've been following my blog for any time at all, you know I love to add some bling to nearly every card - check out the variety available! There are also plenty of punches (gotta love that Martha Stewart), floral embellishments, fun alterables, and lots more!

There is no code necessary, just add items to your cart as usual and the discount will automatically be calculated. And, don't forget that whenever you place an order of $100 or more (very easy to do!) you receive FREE SHIPPING!

Happy shopping!!!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #17

Happy Sunday and welcome to the 17th Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! The cupcakes this week just scream summer to me - aren't they fun??

My card was sort of an evolving work in progress as I made it. For quite some time I had been wanting to create some patterned paper using the Blossom Snag 'Em stamp from Imaginisce and my Copic markers. So that's what I did for this card, taking my color inspiration from the bright summery colors in the photo. I was going to use it as a background paper, but then spotted a piece of white cardstock with a hole cut out of it from another project just lying on my worktable. I thought it would be fun to have the paper I created showing through the hole and I think I like how it turned out!

I used the Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder on the white piece for some fun texture and then created the border with the Martha Stewart Scallop Dot Edge Punch. Green Galore and Raspberry Fizz cardstock match the Copic colors I used and the ribbon across the pink strip is May Arts Sheer Polka Dot ribbon. The card is finished off with some bridal flowers from Michael's which were colored with Copics and embellished with Memory Box Pearl Stickers.

If you want to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post by Saturday night and she'll select the top 5 to be featured in next week's collage. Thanks for looking! Now go check out how the rest of the HSE Sweeties were inspired by this challenge:

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Blossom Snag 'Em stamp from Imaginisce
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Paper: PTI white and Raspberry Fizz, SU Green Galore
Other: Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder, May Arts Sheer Polka Dot ribbon, Martha Stewart Scallop Dot Edge Punch, Memory Box Pearl Stickers, Michael's bridal flowers

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #16

Welcome to the 16th cupcake inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Isn't this week's inspiration photo fun??

My main source of inspiration this week was the colors in the photo, which, to me, translated to Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist, and Dark Chocolate. I started off by stamping my background to sort of match the backdrop for the cupcake by stamping a few sizes of open polka dots from PTI's Polka Dot Basics to create the bullseye look. My image, from The Greeting Farm Miss Anya set, was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, which is definitely the best black ink I know of when coloring with Copics. Once Anya was all colored in, I added some Stardust Stickles to her hair bow, because every card needs some sparkle!

For the other embellishments, I colored a white Prima flower with a brown Copic and then filled in the center with White Opal Liquid Pearls. The three brads along the side are Gumdrop Glitter Brads - love those things! The sentiment strip is raised up with adhesive dots and then is paper pierced and faux-stitched with a white gel pen.

If you want to play along, make sure you add your blog or gallery link to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. Please enter the link that goes directly to your CIC project, not your blog or gallery in general. The top 5 entries will be displayed in next week's collage!

Be sure to check out the rest of the HSE Sweeties for some awesome inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Miss Anya from The Greeting Farm, PTI's Polka Dot Basics and Mixed Messages
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Fresh Snow and Dark Chocolate, Copics markers, white gel pen
Paper: PTI white, Berry Sorbet, and Aqua Mist
Other: Stardust Stickles, White Opal Liquid Pearls, Gumdrop Glitter Brads, adhesive dots

The Next Level Challenge

Hope Stamps Eternal is very excited to be one of the sponsors for this week's challenge on The Next Level blog. I encourage you to check it out and play along, because one participant will be randomly selected to win a $25 shopping spree at the Hope Stamps Eternal store!

I'm not often one to toot my own horn, but this is one of my favorite cards that I've made in a very long time! I don't think the picture quite does it justice (for one thing, the color of the flowers look different in the photo - I swear they're a better match in real life!) but I am in love with how it looks in person!

This was a tricky challenge because it incorporated not only a sketch, but also needed to contain a 3-D element as part of the main image. I chose to use Hula Anya and popped up the flowers in her hair as my 3-D element. Take a look at this second photo to see what I did. First I colored and cut out the entire floral wreath and popped that up with pieces of foam adhesive. Then I colored and cut out another of the center flowers and popped that up as well, so in the center of the hairpiece, there are actually three layers of flowers. I love how this technique looks and how much interest it gives to a card!

Anya was colored with Copic markers and then Stardust Stickles were added to her hula skirt and to the centers of the flowers in her hair. The patterned paper is from an old SU scrapbooking kit and, using a Quickie glue pen, I adhered small clear crystals from my crystal wheel to the center of all the larger white flowers on the paper. The background paper was created using one of the small flower stamps from the Basic Grey Teapot set, which I stamped repeatedly in Versamark on Melon Berry cardstock. The flowers are from a set I got at Target ages ago, and I stuck little Memory Box pearls into the centers. The sentiment is from the Greeting Farm set called Sentiments, and the ribbon is SU white taffeta. Clear crystal dots from Zva Creative finish off the corners of the card.

Thanks for stopping by today! If you decide to try out this challenge, let me know so I can check out your creation!

Supplies
Stamps: Hula Anya, Basic Grey Teapot set, Sentiments
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, PTI Melon Berry, Versamark
Paper: PTI white and Melon Berry, SU Cool Caribbean and patterned paper
Other: foam adhesive, Stardust Stickles, Quickie glue pen, crystal wheel, Memory Box pearls, crystal dots from Zva Creative, circle Nestabilities die, SU white taffeta ribbon, SU slot punch

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #15

Welcome to this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Doesn't that cupcake look delicious?? I have to admit that my finished card is not what I had pictured in my mind when I started out. I knew I wanted to use the new Lemonade paper from Basic Grey because the colors are just so delightfully summery, just like this cupcake. And I knew I wanted to use the paper with the cherries on it to go with the cherry on top of this cupcake. But then I was stuck. There are SO many fantastic papers in this collection, I couldn't decide which others I wanted to use! I was going to use one that coordinated better with the color of the cupcake wrapper, but then I decided I also wanted to use my new teapot stamp, also from Basic Grey, so I ended up choosing the other piece of paper to go with the floral design on the teapot.

The teapot was stamped with SU Cool Caribbean ink, and then I used Copic markers to color in the flowers and other elements of the teapot to match the colors in the patterned paper. Then I used a paper piercer to poke holes around the entire image and finished it off by adding small green crystals from the Zva Creative crystal wheel to each of the corners. I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I love to use the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen to adhere these small crystals. It allows me to place some glue just in the tiny spot where I need it, and it holds really well once dry.

All of the panels are mounted on SU Cool Caribbean cardstock and then the teapot panel is adhered to the card with foam adhesive dots. The twill ribbon is from Taylored Expressions.

I hope you decide to play along! If you do, make sure you add a link to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's CIC post on the Hope Stamps Eternal blog. Please make sure it's a direct link to your blog post or gallery item for this challenge, not to your blog or gallery in general. All posts received by 9pm MST next Saturday, July 18, will be entered for a chance to win the awesome HSE Sweets (aka blog candy!) pictured here. Rachel will also pick the Top 5 entries to be featured in her weekly collage. Now go and stamp, but before you do, don't forget to check out what the rest of the HSE Sweeties have done with this challenge:

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Thanks for looking - have a great day!

Supplies
Stamps: Teapot Gamma stamp (Basic Grey)
Ink: SU Cool Caribbean
Paper: PTI white, SU Cool Caribbean, Lemonade paper (Basic Grey)
Other: Zva Creative Crystal Wheel, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Zva Creative Adhesive Dots, twill ribbon from Taylored Expressions

Slainte

Today was a very exciting mail day! I got my first ever mail from Ireland! If you don't know me personally, you've probably figured out from my blog title that I LOVE anything Irish. So when Claire Brennan of Waltzingmouse Stamps started previewing her newest stamp sets, release day couldn't come fast enough! If I had designed Irish/Celtic themed sets myself, I couldn't have done a better job of coming up with exactly what I wanted. I ordered the sets the very morning they went live and was so excited to see the package waiting when I got home from work today!

Here's the first card I made with my new toys, using FTL 49 from the Clean & Simple blog. The main shamrock image is from Celtic Heritage and the knotted border and the sentiment are both from Irish Blessings. Some PTI twine finished off this quick and easy card.

I've been working on going to bed early in the summer since there is no good TV on to keep me up late, so I'm off to bed. But you can bet you'll be seeing more of these new sets many many times!

Supplies
Stamps: Celtic Heritage and Irish Blessings from Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ink: SU Garden Green, PTI Spring Moss
Paper: PTI white and Spring Moss, SU Garden Green
Other: PTI twine

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #14

Welcome to another Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Aren't these cupcakes fun?! I just love the little hula penguins. While the Hula Anya stamp I used a few days ago would have worked well for this challenge, I've been itching to ink up and color my new HG Sing stamp, which I think works equally well for the challenge. She was just as much fun to color as I expected, and I took my color inspiration from the bright colors of some of the bikini tops and flowers and from the grass skirts.

I created the background papers with the Imaginisce Blossom acrylic stamp, stamping both the Berry Sorbet panel and the Spring Moss strip with corresponding inks for a slightly more subtle look. The centers of the flowers on the Spring Moss panel are dotted with Stardust Stickles. The clear stone on the center of the flower in her hair and the black stone in the flower on the circle are both from the crystal wheel that I can't seem to make a card without these days! I seriously love that thing!

I think the rest is self-explanatory, but I just wanted to note that the sentiment flag and the circle are raised up slightly on adhesive foam dots just for a little pop. Those are another item that I use on nearly every card! They are SO affordable and as I've said before, I love the flexibility of having 3 different sizes in the pack.

Want to play along? Link your creation to Rachel's post on the HSE blog before next Sunday to be included in her participant collage. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Supplies
Stamps: HG Sing, Imaginisce Blossom, PTI Around and About Sentiments
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Berry Sorbet and Spring Moss, Copic markers
Paper: SU Basic Black, PTI white, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss
Other: Stardust Stickles, Crystal wheel, foam dots, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

Happy 4th of July!

I don't think this photo does this card justice, but I love how it turned out in person! I completely CASE'd a card while creating this, which I don't normally do, but I knew I needed a card for the hostess of the BBQ I'm going to today, and when I saw the second card on this post by Geny Cassady, I knew it would be perfect.

I stamped the flourish in gold ink, and I love how it sort of looks like a firecracker bursting with stars exploding all around! All of the polka dot stars are popped up with foam dots (love how there are three different sizes in that one pack!) and the small punched out stars are adhered with a liquid glue pen. I added Stardust Stickles to the outlines of the polka dot stars and then scribbled the small stars with a clear Spica pen for some extra sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with the latest cupcake inspiration challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal which, incidentally, has lots of fabulous new Basic Grey products for sale, as well as Martha Stewart holiday punches available for pre-order! Go check it out!

I hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday. God Bless America!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI's Fancy Flourishes, Everyday Classics, Vintage Picnic (for sentiment)
Ink: Encore Gold, PTI Pure Poppy, SU Brilliant Blue
Paper: PTI white, Pure Poppy, SU Brilliant Blue
Other: mini star punch, Stardust Stickles, clear Spica pen, foam dots

Hula Birthday

Now that I've got a growing collection of Copic markers, I've really started to enjoy coloring again and this Hula Anya stamp was so much fun! I made this card last week though, and I'm afraid I didn't write down which Copics I used, so I won't be able to share that with you - sorry! In addition to having fun coloring Anya, I also had fun making her nice and sparkly! The picture doesn't show it, but I painted the flowers in Anya's hair with Opal Shimmerz, so they're really pretty in real life. And then of course there's the Stickles! I used Stardust Stickles on the centers of the flowers, on her bikini top, and on the yellow circle. And then I used Crystal Stickles on the lines of her hula skirt.

The strip of Spring Rain cardstock was stamped with the SU Canvas background stamp, which I haven't used in ages, but I knew I was saving it for a reason! The flower embellishment on the circle is a felt flower with a vintage button in the center, attached with embroidery floss.

Supplies
Stamps: Hula Anya, PTI Around and About Sentiments
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, PTI Hibiscus Burst
Paper: PTI white, Spring Rain, Lemon Tart, Hibiscus Burst
Other: Stardust Stickles, Crystal Stickles, Felt flower, PTI Hibiscus Burst vintage button, embroidery floss, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circles punches

Clear Cardstock

I rarely use clear cardstock. No real reason, just don't think of it often. But I had the idea for this card a week or two ago and thought I'd try it out. Now, this finished card is not exactly what I had envisioned. In my mind, there were going to be white polka dots stamped on the clear base to make it stand out. In theory, this was a great idea. In reality, I made a HUGE mess!! The stamp kept slipping on the acetate so that it looked more like raindrops than polka dots. And the ink would NOT dry, even after being hit with a heat gun AND being left to sit overnight. One touch of my finger and white ink smeared everywhere. Needless to say, that was not the look I was going for, so that first base went in the trash and I was forced to keep it plain.

Other than that mishap, I like how this turned out, and it's pretty close to what I first pictured. I used PTI's new set Cupcake Collection to build the cupcake image and for the sentiment as well. I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder for the background (which would have looked nice against the white polka dots *sigh*) and adhered that to the clear base. I then stuck a plain piece of white cardstock cut to the same size to the inside of the card, so that the adhesive on the yellow didn't show through. The gemstones on the sentiment strip are from that crystal wheel I keep turning to. I used my Marvy punches to create a frame for the main image and poked holes in each scallop with a paper piercer. The star on the candle and the frosting on the cupcake are coated with yellow Stickles. To adhere the oval piece to the card, I used foam dimensionals to pop it up off the card base a bit.

Supplies
Stamps: PTI Cupcake Collection
Ink: PTI Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart
Paper: PTI Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, white, clear cardstock
Other: Swiss Dots cb folder, Crystal wheel, Yellow Stickles, paper piercing tool, Marvy mega oval and giga scalloped oval punched