JustRite Stampers Design Team :)))))

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Good Morning Everyone,

I have been waiting to share the exciting news that I am joining the

JustRite Stampers Design Team today

(YAY!!! doing the happy dance right now :)

I am so beyond excited to be on this team with some amazing fellow designers and I am loving playing with all of the newly released gorgeous JustRite stamps which are so much fun, fabulous and fantastic! of these beautiful stamps! For my "debut" as it were, I thought it would fun to create a little 3D project using the beautiful oval stamp set: Breath of Spring (oval 2 1/4" x 3 1/16") - which is filled with gorgeous blooms and beautiful oval borders that you can vary amongst the blooms:

When you open the handbag - the papers inside fold out/pop open to reveal the sentiment: "Thank you for being my Sunshine Everyday" which is from the JustRite stamp set: Romantic Sentiments 1 5/8" round and the beautiful blooms on the bottom of the inside panel, is another flower stamp from the Breath of Spring Stamp set (the flowers are actually in a watering can, but I masked it so that only the top part would be seen).

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Deep blush Prism cardstock and CC paper.

Stamps: Breath of Spring and Romantic Expressions

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Lady bug red

Accessories: circle punch, MS butterfly punch, sponger, bling from Want2Scrap, white gel pen, eyelets and ribbon from stash and velcro stickies for the front of the bag opening.

Handbag template: created using the Ultimate Crafter Companion (handbag measures 7.5 x 10" and then inside insert is a 7.5" square (when fully extended).

I had so much fun creating this project and can't wait to make some more projects "just rite" ;) Today starts an awesome March Madness Sale over at JustRite Stamps: where you save 20% off all of the 1/58" Products!! AND - mark you calendars for a MEGA hop towards the end of this month on March 24th and 25th which will include the creative genius of 75 designers!! WOW!!!

A huge thank you to Kellie and Sharon for everything that you both do!!! I am so excited to be part of this wonderful team! Yay!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today!

Hope your Monday is off to a great start!!!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

2 Sketches 4 You - #39 - Snow Wonderful Sleigh ride :)

Good Morning Everyone :)

Today over at 2 Sketches 4 You, our lovely Laura has created this amazing sketch#39 for us to play with!! Love it - there are sooo many possibilities with this sketch! Our sponsor this week is Creative Cuts and More which has over a ton of different kinds of die cuts, alterables, embellishments, cardstock etc. in their store! The die cuts are such a great way to create something that is outside the box and today's project is definitely outside the box... its more like a ... sleigh :) I used the Sleigh die cut (this die cut measures: 6-1/4” long (4-1/4" long without runners) x 4" high x 1-1/4” deep and comes in a ton of colors that you can choose from). This is such a great little die cut to fill with things like pinecones, peppermints or candy (which I chose to do - which also by the way is mostly gone after the photoshoot!!! lol!!).

Here is my take on Laura's lovely sketch with my "snowwonderful" sleigh die cut - the elements of the sketch are mostly in there - I love the fact that we can start with the sketch and then let our imagination take us where it wants to go :)

Card Ingredients:

Paper: Paper Studio (Holiday Series)

Stamps: Snow Wonderful by Verve Stamps

Ink: Rosebud from Memento

Accessories: Sleigh die cut from Creative Cuts and More, buttons from Whirligig, dimensionals, red tacky tape, ribbon from Taylored Expressions, liquid pearls (opal), circle punches and candy

Before I folded the die cut, I traced around the shape on some yummy DP and then I folded the die cut together and then adhered tacky tape and some Zip Dry for Extra Measure. I embellished the traced and cut out shape with liquid pearls (opal for snow) and buttons and ribbon :). I stamped, copic colored and cut out this sweet little snowman from Verve and stamped the sentiment "snow wonderful" directly on the paper. I attached the little stick with the present on it with some more of the red tacky tape and added some crystal stickles to the little snowman's scarf :)

I had a ton of fun playing around with this sweet die cut and loved the sketch for this week over at 2 Sketches 4 You! A huge thank you to Creative Cuts and More for being our sponsor this week and also for the yummy prize that they are giving away to one lucky 2S4U participant! Check out all the details and all of the sketch samples from the wonderful Design Team over at 2 Sketches $ You and then play along too!!!

Thanks so much for coming over today!

Big hugs!

Sankari :)

2 Sketches 4 You - Top 20 - Round 3

Happy Friday Everyone :)

Before I get to my card - I just wanted to say a big thank you to Laura and Kazan and the wonderful judges and to all of you who left such sweet comments! Thank You So Much!!!! Thank you for allowing me to be part of the Top 20 in the Ultimate Card Showdown that Laura and Kazan are holding to celebrate their first blogaversary over at 2 Sketches 4 You! I am so honored to be part of this amazing event and to be surrounded with such talented artistes from around the world! A big Thank you to you all!!

This week Laura gave us a wonderful sketch - there were so many possibilites that I didn't know which way to go. I love how from one sketch there are endless possibilites for making cards :) I wanted to make a fun little scene and used the circle element as a little owl's home in a tree that could open and close (I have been watching the Adventures of Winne the Pooh with my 4 year old son :) .

The door on the little owl's house says: Knock Knock ....

and from the side:

The little knothole opens up to reveal a little owl-ie who is sitting on a sign that says: Whoo's there? :) I don't know what it is about little owls - but they are just so cute :)

and from the side:

Here is a close up picture of the outside of the knothole door and then it opens up to show the inside of the little owl-ie's nest:

I had so much fun making this! I drew out a tree and then tore some pieces of ribbon in strips to create a bark look. The knot hole was actually a ribbon spool that measures 1 3/4 inches and I took the top part off and put it into a hole that I punched with my 1 3/4 punch into the tree. I created a little “door” to the owls’ home and adhered it with some Tacky super glue on one side to the side of the kothole. Here is a closer look at it:


I was so excited when the ribbon spool that I had actually measured 1 3/4" the same as my punch! I added some green flower soft to the inside of my little owl's nest for a more nest-y-ish sort of look.

I decorated the inside of the card with the same theme of the sketch and left it blank inside so that it can be for any occaision :)

Card Details: Paper: K&Company (for the green and blue DP) and the rest from stash Ink: Chocolate Chip SU! and Martha Stewart brown, Stamps: Branching Out Accessories Accessories: flowers from the Mother’s Day KI, brads, ribbon spool for the knot hole, 1 3/4 circle punch SU!, 1 1/2 circle punch CM, 1 inch circle punch SM, Diamond Stickles, Flower Soft, white gel pen, corner rounder, dimensionals, button from stash.

I had alot of fun making this card - and I can't wait to see what wonderful creations have been created with this lovely sketch! A big thank you to Laura, Kazan and lovely judges and all of you and big hugs and thanks to all of my fellow showdown participants – it is a total honor to be with you!

 I feel so blessed to be part of this global crafting family :)

Thank you for visiting my little corner :)

Big hugs!
Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions - Day One of Sneak Peeks!!!

Good Tuesday Morning!!!

ITS SNEAK PEEK TIME!!!! (and also - another long post!!!! I can't help it! I am so excited to be on Taylor's awesome Design Team and be able to show some projects that I made using one of her stamp sets that will be releasing this Thursday, March 5th!

As you probably read yesterday on Taylor's blog, Taylored Expressions is branching out in more ways than one (not to worry, she is still providing LOTS of cute cuppie stamps to satisfy that crafting sweet tooth!!!) but she is also welcoming her new stamp designer Nancy Mckinney of Card Worthy (Nancy is uber talented and totally rocks my socks off with her beautiful banner creations!) These projects are sneak peeks from Nancy's new line of stamps called Whimsical Wishes! This is a Brand New line of stamps that include two adorable new sets to kick off the new Whimsical Wishes line: they are called Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates.

Today also marks the creation of the Taylored Expressions Giving Tree, where Taylored Expressions will be donating the proceeds from sales of these two new sets to a wonderful charity - Eden Projects. There will be new stamp sets introduced quarterly for this on-going charitable program. Eden Projects is an amazing organization - their mission statement from their website states: "Eden Reforestation Projects recreates healthy forest systems that restore hope, alleviate suffering, empower people, and build local economies in impoverished communities." They show the direct link between reforestation and empowerment of the people. I love that we can be part of this vision through donating the proceeds of the sales of these two new sets!

I love living in our town, where the community is very focused on sustainable living and local grown organic foods. So many of my friends are creating programs to make sustainable living easily accessible to all. It is such a joy to plant this seed of the importance of taking care of our Earth into my children and doing all the little things that can ensure that the environment, world that they grow up in will be green and beautiful and peaceful. One of the projects on my list this spring is to plant some fruit trees in our backyard with the kids - I can't wait for the weather to spring-ify!!!!

Speaking of trees :) How about a few sneak peeks from these awesome stamp sets? In this first card, I used Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #57 - I truly loved loved loved making this card!!! It is truly such a whimsical stamp set and its so easy to create something fun with all the elements in this set!

The front of the card says "Knock Knock" with a little wood pecker knocking on the tree and when you open the card
the inside shows a little cute owl sitting on a branch saying: "Whoo's there?"


I LOVE that these stamp sets have these "Knock knock" and "Whoo's there ?" sentiment's! The possibilities are just endless!!!!

Details for this card:
Paper: They are all from my stash (I am trying to whittle down the scrap stash so that I can get more new papers!! yay!
Ink: Martha Brown, Stazon Olive Green and Black (sponged with Brocade Blue and So Saffron)
Stamps: Branching Out (Whimsical Wishes) by Taylored Expressions
Accessories: Stardust Stickles, Liquid Pearls, Dimensionals, corner rounder (also used it for scalloped border on the inside of the card

And I couldn't stop just making one card - I just love the versatility of these sets!!! This card - I have to admit is one of my favorites :) I LOVE that these sets have a tire swing and a wooden swing!!! Tooooo cute!!!!!! Here's a little scene that I created using various elements from the sets:

Details for this card:
Paper: All from stash yay! The green grass/tree DP is from K & Company
Ink: SU! Artichoke green
Stamps: Stamps: Branching Out (Whimsical Wishes) by Taylored Expressions
Accessories: Stardust Stickles, Liquid Pearls, Circle punches from Creative Memories, Dimensionals, corner rounder, Ribbon - Guava Grosgrain from Taylored Expressions (this ribbon is so yummy - I want to eat it!!), flower brad from Making Memories

And yes, there's more! Susanna Boyd of PaperCraftPlanet is heading the 3D Tuesday challenge and today's challenge is to create a ....birdhouse !!! Well, I had to make a birdhouse because it was simply just SO perfect with this stamp set!!!

Susanna provides a template that you can print on DP with scoring and cutting lines provided . It was simply easy, peasy - which is always a plus - you have to try it - they are sooo much fun and I betcha - you will want to make more than one - they are that fun! After you make them, you can upload them to PaperCraftPlanet with the tag 3d2 and we can see all the cute birdhouse projects in one place!! Here are two versions of this birdhouse which I totally CASED from Susanna! (love you Susanna!!!)

The first one I thought could coordinate with my second card - where you can give someone a little gift of a card and a little 3D project along with it.

The second birdhouse has the roof open on one side where you can insert little treats and the sentiment reads Thank you. I can totally see making a ton of these little birdhouses as favor boxes - I recessed the knot hole in the tree and then popped the cute little owl so that he was kind of peeking ut from his little home...

The roof on this birdhouse only is adhered on one side so that it can raise up on the other side where you can put a tasty treat - I put some Hershey's minitures inside my little favor birdhouse - it can fit upto four.... but I only had one left by the time I finished the project.... hmmm :) I wonder where it went! LOL! :)

Here are both the birdhouses together --- I wanted to keep on making more --- they are just so absolutely FUN to make! And absolutely perfect with these adorable new stamp sets!!!

I absolutely ADORE this new line of sets from Whimsical Wishes! You can do so many different projects from creating a fun friendship card to creating a thank you card to let people know how much they mean to you. And the whole time - you are supporting a wonderful organization (Eden Projects) which is helping to empower the people, one tree at a time. Please check out their inspiring website here.

Don't Forget to check out Taylor's awesome blog with her sneak peeks and also all the beautiful and awesome creations from The Baker's Dozen Design Team!!! You will just fall in love with these stamp sets just as we have!!!!

Ana Wohlfahrt
Charmaine Ikach
Denise Marzec
Donna Baker
Jen del Muro
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Laura Fredrickson
Laurie Schmidlin

Thank you so much for visiting my little corner of cyberspace today!!! I totally appreciate you coming over to visit me and I can't wait to visit you too!!!!

Please come back tomorrow for some more sneak peeks from Taylor's new awesome release!!!!

Hoping your Tuesday and everyday is full of sunshine and smiles!!!

Big Cupcake Hugs to all!!!
Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #35 - Happy Bday Card

Good Morning All,

What a crazy night it has been - we have had major rain - major wind - and the lightening was so bright that I couldn't sleep - so I thought I would finish up my card for Taylor's Cupcake Friday Challenge - what a great sketch to play with! This card is made for my friend Mikaila whose birthday is today! Happy Birthday Kali!!!! Miss You!

First things first - I  don't think this is a card that I will be mailing (Kali - that means you have to come home again soon! and stay longer than you did last time!) because it's wee bit on the 3D side. I love the fun DP that Taylor has with this kit and I couldn't really pick one - so I thought it would be fun to do both and fold a corner over.... I was going to flatten it out a bit - but then changed my mind and left it a bit upstanding :) 

I love Taylor's stamps - and couldn't wait to use this sweet little cupcake ready to blow out her cake. I colored the stamped image and then paper pieced the cupcake liner, painted the tongue pink, added a larger brad that I stickled with orange glitter and then glazed the cupcake and cake. The green cardstock, brads, DP & ribbon is from Taylor's kit. The magenta background cardstock was partially embossed with flowers. I went over the sentiment in white get paint.

I sometimes will read on people's blog that the card that they made was just like the idea that they had in their head - and I am always amazed - because that rarely happens around here .... I kinda had a different vision for the card - but kinda ended up liking how it turned out...

 Anyhoo.... it's time to start the day - the wee ones are up - and I thought I would make them some waffles and fruit - -- and by "make" - I mean, "warm up" :)

Wow - so Monday has begun!! Well - hope all of you are having a wonderful start to your week!

Thanks for coming over for a visit!!!

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)