Hand Stamped Sentiments #78-Fancy Folds Challenge

Hello there and Happy Tuesday! It's time for another great challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments. This week, it's all about keeping it fancy...fancy-folding, that is! We are also sending a BIG welcome to our newest Design Team member (and fellow Texan)...the lovely Erica Cerwin, with this challenge! I hope you will join us this week and play along! 

The inspiration for my card came from Laura Lipe. (Thank you for the amazing inspiration, Laura!)  I saw this fun and fabulous card style on her blog and HAD to give it a try. *CLICK HERE* for the cutting and scoring instructions. It's super-simple and can be created from a single 4- 1/4" x 11" piece of card stock.

 Here is the front view of the card: 

 Here is the side view of the card: 

For my card design, I looked to a few of my favorite stampers, Ann Schach and LeAnne Pugliese. Ann recently featured *THIS card* with the stitched border punch and I loved how LeAnne created *THIS card* using the "other" stamped snowman from this set, on Crumb Cake card stock. 


I colored my sassy snowman with some wonderful watercolor pencils I recently received in the mail from my blogging pal Helene, in Norway!! (Click her name to visit her blog.) Thank you, Helene for the fantastic box of crafting treats. Wow! I promise to get better with my water-coloring with practice! ;) 

This card has a LOT of sparkle! The stamped snowflakes (from the ret. Jolly Old St. Nick set) were embossed in Iridescent Ice embossing powder. Then, I got a little crazy with the Dazzling Diamonds glitter on this one. You know it's bad when your husband walks into the room while the afternoon sunlight is streaming through the window and utters the phrase: "Honey, what have you been doing in here? Your face is sparkling like that vampire in the Twilight movie!" Yes, I made him watch the Twilight movies...and am slightly scared that he is referencing them now! LOL! 

As if Dazzling Diamonds wasn't enough, I busted out the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz for the embossed snowflake panel and then heat embossed both the sentiments (front and inside the card) with Cherry Cobbler Embossing Powder. Oddly enough, I held back on adding bling...I thought it would be a little TOO much.

I don't want to "over-explain" the card, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. I have listed all of the supplies at the end of the post, too...if you are interested. :)  

Finally, here is the inside of the card, with more embossing and sparkle to compliment the front:

Thanks for stopping by! Please check out Hand Stamped Sentiments and see what the rest of  the DT have cooked up. We hope you will play along and show off your "fancy-folded-creation" this week! Have a very HAPPY day today! :) 


Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Jolly Old St. Nick (little snowflakes, retired), Best Yet (front sentiment, retired) and Occasional Quotes (inside sentiment, retired)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Basic Black and Cherry Cobbler card stock
Ink: Black Staz-On, Versa-Mark and Crumb Cake Classic ink (for sponging around edges
Accessories: Baker's Twine, Embossing Buddy, Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Iridescent Ice Embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Crystal Effects (buttons and hat), 2-way Glue pen, Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Dotted Scallop ribbon Border punch, Vanilla shimmer Smooch Spritz, Stampin Dimensionals, Sticky Strip and craft knife
Non-SU! Accessories: score tool, watercolor pencils from Helene and snowflake embossing folder

Hand Stamped Sentiments Challenge #60: Blooming Blossoms

Hello and Happy Tuesday to you! 

Tuesday is terrific because it is THE day for a brand new challenge at 

Hand Stamped Sentiments! 

This week we are focusing on a "Blooming Blossoms" theme. 

Got Flowers? 

Well, this is the place to share your creation! I sure hope you will play along with us! 

My "blooms" are an interesting story. They started as stamped images. But, I just wasn't happy with how they played out. After viewing that inspiration photo, I knew I wanted to GO BIG! (I DO live in Texas, after all!) My flowers are a Gerber Daisy "hybrid". Gerber Daisies are my absolute, FAVORITE flower! These are a more layered version. I topped off my chunky blossoms with some Sweet Stitches Designer Big Buttons from the Occasions Mini catalog. I also added some plain, baker's twine to the centers of the buttons to dress them up. I think I have mentioned before that I do not like "naked buttons"! Eeek, scandalous! ;)

The flowers were made with the Scalloped Circle Punch. This is NOT my idea, I'm not exactly sure who originated it, to give proper credit. I think it is pretty cool, though! I cut along the scallops to create little petals. Then, I "smooched" all of the layers with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. I love this stuff...I'm on my 4th bottle in 2 months! 

I really like the bright colors in the Sew Suite DSP and decided it would make a fun background. There are a few floral shapes in that button paper, too. I also used the Paper Crimper to add texture to my flower "stems". The leaves were made from the 2-Step Bird Punch. Finally, here is the decorated inside of the card, using scraps from the front:

I hope you enjoyed my take on the "Blooming Blossom" theme at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week. Leave me a comment before you go and let me know what you think. Please check out the site and see what the rest of the fabulous DT has created for your inspiration. Then, share some of YOUR fan-tab-u-lous Flower Power and play along with us!! Have an awesome day today and thanks for stopping by! :)


Stampin' Up! Supply List: 
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Paper: Sew Suite DSP, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White card stock
Ink: Melon Mambo Classic ink
Accessories:  Paper Crimper, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch. scalloped Circle punch, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Scallop Border punch (inside), 1 3/8" x 5/8" oval punch, 1 3/4" x 7/8" oval punch, 2-Step Bird punch (petals), Sweet Stitches Designer Big Buttons (Occasions Mini), Basic Rhinestones and Melon Mambo Polka Dotted ribbon (ret.)
Non-SU! Accessories:  plain baker's twine

Blueberry Crisp and Holiday Madness

Hello and Happy Thursday! Only 9 more sleeps until the BIG day! Are you ready? I have been all caught up in the holiday "hustle and bustle" this week and my stamp time has been very limited. I did have a little, creative get-together with my friend Sarah yesterday afternoon but didn't finish the boxes I made yet, so I will save those for another day. I needed to make a thank you card today and just couldn't get around some "stamper's block". So, I went to Stamping 411 for their Saturday Sketch Challenge since I had so much fun with them last week. I made their "Top 5", too, so that was REALLY exciting! 

Yup, I'm using Pacific Point again...along with that Decorative Label punch. But, hey, when you find something that works, I say you should just stick with it! Haha! I think the color combo probably had to do with the never-used package of Blueberry Crisp DSP that was sitting on my desk today. In the end I like how the papers kind of had a "distressed look" to them so I didn't really have to add a lot to the card. 


I did use, for the first time today, some amazingly, awesome seam binding! Whoo Hoo! My blogging friend, Cheryl (-->click right here to visit her blog<--) recently sent me some to try out, along with a few other crafty treats. Cheryl, you are the best! Thank you SO much for the great surprises! I am HOOKED! Seam binding is seriously so versatile and you can do so much with it! I used white seam binding on this card...what's that?...it looks blue? Well, that's because I Smooched it with Electric Blue Smooch Spritz, then dried it with my heat tool...I burned my finger, too! Typical! (Yes, it is the SAME blue Smooch I used on my LAST card! Please be kind, I'm a little over-extended this week!) Cheryl shared a cool tip that Smooch actually makes the seam binding much easier to pleat and tie. The best way to describe it is like when you use spray starch when ironing...with the added benefit of sparkle. SO cool! :)

I also decorated the inside for a handwritten note. Well, there you have it. What do you think? I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment to say hello, when you visit. They make me smile! :) Now, I'm off to finish up more fa-la-la-la-la...

SU! Supply List: 
Stamps: Oval All
Ink: Pacific Point classic ink
Paper: Pacific Point, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla card stock and Blueberry Crisp DSP
Accessories: 2" x 1 3/8" XL Oval punch, Decorative Label Punch, Scallop Trim Border punch and pearls
Non SU! Accessories: seam binding, electric Blue Smooch Spritz, lace trim


Thanks for stopping by! :)

All Wrapped Up for The Play Date Cafe

I know I said I was finished with Christmas cards, but I made some Christmas tags for some gifts this morning and was inspired to whip up one more card. I'm sure I will end up needing it anyway, I always do. :) I love the color combo from this week's challenge at The Play Date Cafe:

I am wrapping a lot of gifts in purple this year so I thought it would be a great mix for the tags I was making. I used Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point.  As I was thinking about a layout for the card, it hit me...why not just make one that just looked like a gift box? Then I could incorporate one of the fun tags I made onto the card. 


I love the Tags 'til Christmas set because it coordinates so well with a lot of different punches, including the new Decorative Label punch. I love, love, LOVE this punch! What is really fun is that you can actually layer the punch with a little creativity...and this cool video tutorial from Angela McKay's blog, North Shore Stamper. I also used the Medium Oval punch to punch out the "Dec. 25th" in Pacific Point, then added some Glass Glitter, jewels and popped it up on the tag. I also used some Electric Blue Smooch Spritz on the embossed background for some added sparkle.


(For the gift tags I made, I also punched-out another tag in white card stock and attached it to the back of the tag. I did this so I could both cover up the layered punch AND so I had a place to write the names of the gift recipients.)

 Here is the inside, jazzed up with some felt snowflakes and the sentiment from the Snow Swirled set:

Hope you like it. Thanks so much for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of your day today! :)

SU! Supply List: 

Stamps: Tags 'til Christmas, Snow Swirled (sentiment)

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point classic ink

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turqiouse and Pacific Point card stock

Accessorories: Petals-A-Plenty Embossing Folder, Decorative Label XL punch, Whisper White 5/8" Organza ribbon, 1 3/4" x 7/8" Oval punch, Silver elastic cord (ret.), Silver glass glitter and Jewels

Non-SU! Accessories: Electric Blue Smooch Spritz, felt snowflake border 

Birthday Lanterns

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope you are enjoying the start to your week. I am posting this WAY later then I had originally planned because today has been interesting so far, to say the least. I will save it for the end of the post, but I am officially dubbing today, Day 1 of "Schnauzer-Gate"! More to follow...

When I saw the photo for this week's color challenge at The Play Date Cafe, I immediately was inspired to break out my Kimono Kids stamp set. Those lanterns in the photo are F-U-N! (I spell things out when I get excited, haha!)

The sketch was based on this week's challenge from Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog. But when I realized the lantern image was too large, I had to flip the sketch on it's side. Still works, right? 

My color combo was Cajun Craze, Certainly Celery and Whisper White. Although you can't really see it in these photos, I heat-embossed the lanterns in black to make them a little easier to color in. I also embossed the background with two different textures to play off the lanterns. 

To color in my lanterns, I used my Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads along with a product I have not used up until now: Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink in Gold Lame'. I was so excited when this stuff appeared in the catalog that I bought every color. Thought it was time to finally give it a try. I thought it gave a cool effect.  

Next, I embossed the sentiment in gold and added some Gold Elastic Cord (ret.) to add a little more sparkle. Then popped on a few pearls for fun. I also used some of the scraps laying on my desk to dress-up the inside of the card. 

Okay, now moving on to "Schnauzer-Gate". Yesterday early in the day, the little guy below appeared on our cul-de-sac. He wasn't wearing a collar and seemed pretty scared. Every time I tried to approach him, he ran away. Fast forward to me taking out the trash late last night where I saw him again, shivering in my driveway. I finally got him to come to me and decided to bring him inside. The plan was to keep him in the downstairs bathroom...but after giving him some food and water and seeing how sweet he was, I couldn't leave him there. He slept on a little blanket on the floor of our bedroom and surprisingly gets along with the other fur-kids pretty well. Well, except for Benjamin but he is my little diva, so that wasn't too shocking. 

Today, I took him to our vet to see if he was micro-chipped. (He's not.) Then I called all of the vet's close to our house and left my number. My husband and I are going to walk around and talk to some more neighbors later tonight. But for now, he is staying with us. It has become a quest to find his owners. Stay tuned...

Thanks for visiting today! 
Happy Stamping,