An Altered Journal & Workshops with Lauren

I have had 2 very crafty days! First, last night I altered this little 4 3/4" x 4" note pad. I bought it on sale at a Utrecht Art Store. It just had a plain cover and has lined paper inside. I use books like this to record every card or project I make - listing supplies and how I made it for future reference.

For this one - I cut 4 pieces of Basic Grey Archaic designer paper 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" and attached them to the covers - inside and out. I sponged the edges with Vintage Photo DistressInk. I also cut a piece 1/2" x 3" to slip inside the Pentel RSVP pen so it matches. I stamped the Cornish Heritage Farms background stamp - Lined Paper - with Terre Cotta Adirondack ink and cut a small piece off it. I over stamped the sentiment by Inkadinkado in Ranger Distress Ink Vintage photo - sponged and distressed the edges. I punched a hole in the side and attached a large eyelet using my Cropadile and looped a piece of ribbon through it. I attached it to the cover with foam dimensionals. I punched the Martha Stewart butterfly 3 times - sponged them with the Vintage Photo ink and attached them as shown.


On the inside cover I stamped this fun lined note stamp - Rock & Roll Page by Hampton Arts with Terre Cota Adirondack ink - sponged the edges with Vintage photo, distressed them, and attached it with adhesive tape.

Here is the back view - and you can see all the ribbons I knotted on the binding wires. I cut them about 6" each - double knotted them and then trimmed the edges. I also added a long narrow piece you can see sticking out - I use that for a book mark.
I took my fun book with me to an all day Workshop I attended that was taught by Lauren Meader - I know you probably know Lauren - she has the most wonderful blog and is a past member of the Dirt Pile on SCS. When I saw she was teaching these workshops and it was just 1 hour from my home - I jumped to register! It was held at the Papertree, 865 Second St., Manchester, NH so if you're ever in that area - stop by and say hello to the owner, Michelle, and check out all her wonderful stamping supplies - I brought two bags full of them home with me - but I left some there for you!

Here is a picture of all the things we created today - I took 3 workshops - from 10 am - 5 pm!

I know you can't really see them very well - but from left to right they are: a door knob hanger with a little box attached on the front - that is butterfly DP and punched butterflies on it and the sentiment says Thanks a Million. The Cylinder item has an acetate circle window on it (looks white in pic) and you fill this with candies - it's tied from bottom to top with a brown ribbon. Next is a fun Lollipop holder stamped with the cute dog sherrif from the Cat's Pajamas Set and the row of buildings from the set stamped on the brown part. There are holes punched on the top that you put the lollipops through. Next in purple is a beautiful box made from plain Bazzill paper and a beautiful floral paper that is tied closed with a gorgeous brown satin ribbon. We made 8 lovely monogramed cards using the Just Rite Monogram stamper to put inside. In front of that is a pouch that is sort of like a french frie container with a cute birthday bird stamped on it - that is made from one piece of 12x12 DP! Next is a beautiful flower basket made of layers of Nestability scalloped circles in graduated sizes - how cute is that!! And finally - another box made of 2 sheets of DP - corners tied with ribbons - and inside a stamped note pad and 4 stamped cards. A super, super creative day!!

And, of course, I had to take a picture of myself with the famous Lauren - to prove I really met her! She is just as sweet, lovely and talented as she is on her blog! She is going to be running more classes at this shop and I hope to be able to get to them!

And to top off my crafty day - I made this as a Thank You gift for Lauren. She had said it was her first time teaching at a craft shop (other than doing Stampin Up workshops) so I thought it would be nice for her to have something to remind her of this day.
The little monogram cards are 3"x3" so you can tell how big the canvas 'bag' is - I made this out of Confetti Cream card stock by Stampin Up and a navy blue card stock. The pattern for the bag is from a book called "Paper for All Seasons" by Sandra Lounsbury Foose you can find it on Amazon.com and other places it's about $19.95. The little monogramed notes are made using the Just Rite Monogram stamp, my scalloped circle nestability, DP by Scrapborer SCRB decorative collection, and Bashful Blue cardstock by SU. I tucked 4 inside the bag. The star is another nestability cut and embossed and stamped with a sentiment from My Favorite Things Back to School set. I put a square silver eyelet on the top and threaded a piece of hemp through it to attach it to the bag.

Well, - hope you enjoyed all my crafts today! Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm exhausted!

Todays quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins."

Rockin Socks Award and Got your Passport?

My new blogging friend, Deb Neerman, just gave me this fun sock's rockin award! So now it's my turn to pick 6 deserving blogging friends to pass it on to!

Please check out these great blogs to see all the fun stuff out there!

Charlene - has beautiful fresh ideas with her cards!

Dee - has great cards as well as wonderful scrapbook pages to share with you!

Jewels - is so creative with her card designs!

Emma - has fun crafts mixed in with her card offerings!

Loretta - has the most interesting cards and was just published in Take Ten Magazine!

Deena - will keep you in the know about all the fun things going on in blogland!

So check them all out and leave them a comment or two - tell them Julia sent you!!


And now that those formalities are taken care of - here is my card!

I made this quick card for the Ways to Use it Challenge over at Split Coast that was called 'Get Packing' - to use packing materials or travel related stamps - I wanted to do the challenge because I have a ton of travel stamps but I really needed to get to bed! I tried to do a no layer simple card - but just couldn't do it - it seems that I must add layers! So this is pretty close - stamping on a piece of DP and layering it on the card! I only added ribbon at the top. The cute vespa girl is from Amuse Stamps and the sentiment is by Uptown Designs.

Thanks so much for dropping by - I really appreciate it!

Stamps: vespa girl: Amuse, Passport please: Uptown Designs
Paper: Green Bazzill, DP: Basic Grey - Archaic
Ink: Onyx black versafine
Accessories: ribbon: Michaels, glue dots

It's all in the Chips!

Today's cards were made for the Weekly Double Dog Dare Challenge I do with some SCS friends. Beestamper (Beverly) was the host this week and her instructions were to make a card using a paint chip and a flower! Check out her fun blog here. I smudged several chips before I learned that I should let the ink dry overnight on the paint chip - so I have 2 cards to show you using different colors of chips!


This paint chip is Champagne Pink, Crystal Coral and Coral Reefe. Pretty isn't it?! I stamped one of the blooms from the Oh So Lovely set by Stampin Up. I used Onyx Black Versafine ink to get a dark image but as stated above - I had to let it dry overnight as the chip isn't very absorbant! The designer paper is PaperTreyInk Pink Patterns, the circle frame stamp is from PTI Boxes, bags and Tags, and the little heart is from PTI Borders, & Corners (Hearts). The sentiment is Verve Visual - Wonderful Wishes. The scalloped and round circles are punched and up on dimensionals. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch - I just love that punch!! I used a glue dot to attach it to the corner and folded it's wings up for dimension.

Stamps: Flower: Oh So Lovely - SU, Circle border - PTI Boxes, Bags & Tags, Heart: PTI Borders & Corners (Hearts), Sentiment: Verve Visual - Wonderful Wishes
Paper: White & DP Pink Patterns: PTI, basic Black - SU, paint chip
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Groovy Guava - SU
Accessories: scalloped punch, round punch, dimensionals, butterfly punch: Martha Stewart, glue dot

On my second card I used a shades of green paint chip - Garden Path, Seawall, Lake Marsh and Bar Bronze.

I used the same flower stamp but added ribbon from Flourishes woven through a slot punch and attached on the back of the panel. I pierced the corners with my paper piercer, mat and graph set. The Sentiment is PapertreyInk - Mixed Messages set and it's stamped on a punched oval matted on a larger oval. That is mounted with dimensionals as is the larger panel.

Here is a close up of the sympathy sentiment I stamped inside the card. It's from Verses Rubber Stamps.

Thanks so much for coming over to take a look at my stuff today! Which paint chip card do you like better??

You can see the other challenge cards here.

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Think of three Things - whence you came, where you are going, and to Whom you must account."

Stamps: Oh So Lovely - SU, With Sympathy: PTI Mixed Messages, Inside sentiment: Verses Rubber Stamps.

Paper: Green Bazzill, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla: SU, Paint Chip

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine

Accessories: oval punches: SU, dimensionals, ribbon: Flourishes, slot punch: SU

Look Who's Turning 1 !

So it was back to work for me today - getting up at 5:15 am once again and getting on the subway. Oh well, the days off were great while they lasted!

Wednesday is the Sketch Challenge over on Split Coast Stampers and this is today's sketch.
I volunteered to make a card for our church organist's son, Dante, who is having his 1st birthday this week so I used the sketch to make this card for him.


I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder for the background and the panel and my Nestability squares and rectangle for the panels. I dotted around the edges with my white gel pan and a blue Prismacolor marker. I love the font on this stamp set called Sexy Numbers by Clear Art Stamps.

It's great starting the work week on Wednesday - before you know it the weekend is here again - wish I could work these hours all the time!

I really appreciate your coming by to check out my blog today - Hope to see you again tomorrow!

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Better slip with Foot than Tongue."
Stamps: Clear Art Stamps
Paper: white: PTI, Bashful Blue: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: glue dots, SU ribbon, dimensionals, white gel pen, Prismacolor marker, Cuttlebug, nestability squares and rectangle

You've Got Peanut Mail!

Here I am back again as promised with a card - it was so good to get back into my stamping room! I just HAD to do the Featured Stamper Challenge from Sunday on Split Coast where the featured stamper was my blogger and SCS friend PeanutBee (Denise). She has some wonderful stuff in her Gallery and I chose this card to CASE.


When you case someone's card you need to change some things - I changed the colors, kinds of flowers and used a stamp image instead of a large sentiment. I omitted the brads in the corner. I liked the design of the blocks of designer paper and the large panel sentiment. Instead of a sentiment - I used my new row of mailboxes stamp from the Mailbox Greetings set from PapertreyInk. This set is so neat - it comes with 3 different stamps to put under the boxes - a puddle that can be snow, flowers, and grass. And there are all kinds of sentiments with it too. I added some Petaloo foam flowers layered with brads on the corners. I colored my image with Prismacolor markers. The little 'you've got mail' sentiment stamp is from Lizzie Anne - the All Guy set.


Thanks for coming back to check out my 'first stamping in 4 days' card! Be sure to come by again tomorrow! I'm sure to have something else new loaded up!

I already posted a quote from Poor Richard's almanack for today in my post below - so check it out there!

Stamps: Mailbox Greetings: PapertreyInk, You've got Mail: Lizzie Anne- All Guy
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red: SU, White PTI, DP: Winnie Walls - Playful Pansies
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Meadow Adirondack
Accessories: Prismacolor markers, Petaloo foam flowers, brads, dimensionals, glue dots

Historic Philadelphia and a Wedding!

Hello everyone! Did you miss me??? We were in Philadelphia over the weekend attending a wedding and were able to also do some site seeing. I will be posting a card later tonight but thought I'd share some of our pictures with you for now.

I hadn't been to Philly before. It's such a wonderful city! We stayed right in the 'Old City' area and were able to walk to all of these historic places.

We took a tour of Betsy Ross's house.

We saw the Liberty Bell along with hundreds of other people!

We visited the tomb of the unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.

And the gravesite of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah.

He had written his own epitaph when he was young as seen on this plaque - but he didn't use it on his grave!

This pirate named Jesse drove us through the streets in a horse drawn buggy with continuous interesting commentary

Then he graciously took our picture at the end of our ride. And I got to feed a big carrot to our horse named John.

We went on a tour of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was debated and signed. This is the courtroom.

And this is the assembly room. If you've ever seen the play - 1776 - or the recent PBS production of John Adams - this room will look very familiar to you!And finally on Sunday - we attended a beautiful wedding - here is Kara and her Dad walking down the aisle in historic Old St. Joseph's Church.

The bride was attended by several very cute nephews and a niece as seen below. They were dancing the night away later at the reception - lasting longer than most of the adults! Below from the left are Brendon, Madelyn and Ryan.

This is the wedding card I made forKara & Justin - I posted it earlier in my blog.

And this is part of our gift to them - a small box of Thank You Cards. I posted this previously here .

Hope I haven't bored you to tears with these pictures of our weekend. Now I've got to get into my stamping room! I'm suffering from severe withdrawal! I'll be back later on with a new stamped offering!

Thanks so much for checking in today!

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Virtue may not always make a Face handsome, but Vice will certain make it ugly."

Dad's Cabin

First off - I wanted to let you all know that I'm probably not going to be posting for the next few days. I have a lot of things going on including going to a wedding and celebrating Memorial Day Weekend. So don't worry when you don't see any new posts from me for a few days!

Today's card is a combination of 2 challenges over at Split Coast - yesterdays sketch challenge and today's Ways to Use it Challenge - to use a masculine topic on your card.

Here is the sketch we were given.

I've been dying to use my fun little cabin from H&M's stamps - Dad's Outdoors set, that I just got recently. They are having some new sets for sale on 5/25 so be sure to check out the site. So I inked up the cabin today along with the boots, lantern and sign that are all part of the set (there's also some fishing stuff and a Happy Father's Day sentiment stamp - check it out!). I used the trees backgrounder stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms and some great stone path designer paper by Provocraft both give the feeling of outdoors to the card I think. All of the stamped items are cut out and attached with dimensionals. I colored everything with my Prismacolor markers.

My dream is to someday own a real log cabin home in the mountains somewhere - but for now this little cabin stamp set will have to do!

I want to wish everyone a Happy Safe Memorial Day weekend -I'll leave you with a few pics from last years celebration in my town.

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Good Sense is a Thing all need, few have, and none think they want."

Stamps: Cabin, lantern, boots, sign: H&M Stamps, Trees Backgrounder: Cornish Heritage Farms Paper: Naturals Ivory, Choc Chip: SU, green DP: DCWV THe Stack II, Rocks Pathway DP: Provo craft.
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Ranger Distress Inks Vintage Photo
Accessories: crimper, dimensionals, Prismacolor markers

A Window On Spring

Well, here we are at Wednesday - half way to the long Memorial Day weekend here in the US! I was home late from work tonight so I wasn't able to do the sketch challenge over on SCS! I don't remember when I've missed that last! But I did complete this fun window card that I started yesterday.

I made this for the weekly Double Dog Dare Challenge I do with a group of friends on SCS. It was Anne's (Itsapassion) turn to give the challenge. Her instruction was to use a window or door on your card.

I just love this great curtained window stamp from Alotarubberstamps - and it's just been sitting in my drawer since I bought it - never seen ink - so out it came! I decided to cut out the panes and have the window look onto the inside of the card. I paperpieced the curtain and popped it up on dimensionals. I added large brads where the balls of the curtain rod were stamped. You can see this close up here.I colored the frame with an Oatmeal Prismacolor marker. I stamped the window on the Very Vanilla base card - but then realized it needed colors around it - so I cut out the center of a black panel so it wouldn't block the window! and attached that. Then I stamped the window again on the rust designer paper panel, cut along the outside edges of the window, and attached that piece around the original window. Phew! This card is large at 5 1/2 x 5 1/2. I'm going to have to cut out another piece for the inside behind the window as the brad ends show there - but you don't know I didn't do that yet right!!! So we'll pretend it's already done and looking lovely!

Here is the inside of the card where I made clouds using my home made cloud template, (see my post on how I do this here.) sponging soft sky ink over it. Then I colored the flower stamp from Stampin Up's Essence of Love set with my Stampin Up markers in Ruby Red and Old Olive - huffed on the stamp after coloring to keep it moist - and stamped it over the clouds. I stamped the sentiment at the bottom so you don't see it from the outside of the card.

I love my little window scene - don't you? - this challenge made me get creative which is the exact intent! You can see the other ladies window/door challenge cards here.


I so appreciate your stopping by and taking a look at my work!

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "The doors of Wisdom are never shut."


Stamps: Window: Alotarubberstamps, inside: Essence of Love - SU
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, floral DP unknown, Rust DP: Sandy Lion - fall
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, inside: Soft Sky - SU
Accessories: exacto knife, glass cutting sheet, large black brads, dimensionals, Prismacolor marker: Oatmeal, SU markers - Ruby Red, Old Olive, hand made cloud template, sponge

The Old Black and White

Today my offering is an ATC - or Artist Trading Card. I make one of these every month and trade it with Misshelenstamps on SCS. You can see Helen's ATC's here. Every other month I choose the instructions for what to use on the card. May was my turn and I decided we had to use just black and white.

The ATC itself is a 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" white card. I added a slightly smaller black panel that I distressed the edges on and had wrapped with a piece of white polka dotted ribbon. I got this ribbon on an order from Flourishes - part of my order was wrapped in tissue paper and they tied this ribbon around it - how fun! So I'm re-using it on this ATC - how convenient that it was in the perfect colors! The stamp is from Tin Can Mail - Inkadinkado . I stamped that on a white panel and cut around the edges with my dekkle edge scissors from Stampin Up. It makes it look like a torn edge. Then I added layered white flowers from Close to My Heart that I had inked with black ink on my finger. I joined the flowers with a jazzy brad and attached it with a glue dot to be sure it was held securely. The last thing was to stamp small circles randomly on the black panel using white Stazon ink. The circle is from PapertreyInk Polkadot Basics. I really like this vintage image - don't you?

You can see my other ATC's on this post.

I appreciate you checking out my blog today!

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "A long Life may not be good enough, but a good Life is long enough."

Stamps: Girl image - Tin Can Mail: Inkadinkado, dot - PapertreyInk: Polkadot Basics

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, White Stazon

Paper: PTI White, Basic Black SU.

Supplies: dekkle scissors: SU, glue dot, distresser, dimensionals, white polka dot ribbon: Flourishes, CTHM paper white daisys.

Tea and a Prayer

Isn't this the cutest little bag? This was the Try a New Technique challenge on Split Coast today. You can see the tutorial for this here. It's a folded piece of 12 x 12 designer paper and has two pockets. Just big enough to fit a few tea bags or maybe some cocoa packets etc.

I used Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl Designer Paper and PapertreyInk Spring Moss stitched ribbon. I cut the ovals with my nestabilities on the cuttlebug. The 't' is part of a page of die cut letters that came in the Cosmo Cricket paper package. I attached it with dimensionals.

The holes for the ribbon are punched with a horizontal slot punch. I knotted my ribbon ends but you can also just tape them together as per the tutorial.


I added a cute metal tea bag charm from Custers Last Stamp. Here is a close up picture of that - I tied it through two punched holes with a piece of string that reminded me of the string on a teabag. The sentiment is by Inky Antics.

I will put my Earl Grey teabags in this little bag and give it as a gift to someone. I can see lots of uses for a sweet bag like this! A perfect little thank you for a teacher or neighbor, or a hostess gift when you're invited over to dinner or a cookout!

Thanks so much for spending some time of your busy day here! I hope you try making one of these bags!

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "An empty bag cannot stand upright." (seemed appropriate for this post!!)

Stamps: Inky Antics
Paper: Cosmo Cricket DP pack - Dutch Girl
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Real Red
Accessories: sponge, oval nestabilities, cuttlebug, dimensionals, double stitched ribbon - Spring Moss: PapertreyInk, Teabag charm: Custers Last Stamp, String, Dimensionals, sticky tape, horizontal slot punch

Featured Birthday and Some Simple Panels

I've got 2 cards to share with you today - one for the Featured Stamper Challenge on Splitcoast and one for Sharon's - Stamp Simply Friday challenge.
This is the card I made for the Featured Stamper Challenge.


You can see the card of Dawnsings that I CASED here

I love the stunning simplicity of her card. The things I did differently on my card: I used more stamps from the Stampin Up Mixed Bouquet stamp set than she used, I changed the color of the card stock and omitted the dots.

I also added a sentiment framed on nestability rectangles. Instead of a sentiment stamp - I used Karen Foster Snap Alphabet Stamps so this qualifies for Friday's limited supplies challenge to use alphabet stamps on your card.

Check out Dawn's Blog - it's quite terrific!

Stamps: Mixed Bouquet: SU, Karen Foster Alphabet Snap Stamps
Paper: PTI White & Berry Sorbet, Basic Black: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: nestability long classic rectangles, cuttlebug, dimensionals
Techniques: dry embossing, nestabilities

The challenge for this card was to make a card using three panels.

You can see Sharon's challenge here.

I used this wonderful designer paper from American Crafts on my card for the panels and I thought it was so beautiful I really didn't need much else for the card! I cut each panel into 3 pieces and layerd it over a black panel onto a white card. I only added the scalloped Happy Birthday from the So Many Scallops Stampin Up set - which I punched out and put up on dimensionals.

This is what I stamped on the inside of the card. I've started stamping some kind of design or flower etc with my inside sentiment - I think it adds just that something extra to the card. These stamps are from Papertray Ink - the sentiment is from Birthday Basics and the design stamp is from Simple Little Things.

A truly 'stamped simply' card!

Well - I'm off to the cemetary to plant the traditional geraniums and marigolds at my parents, grandparents and great aunt's graves. I want to get it done before Memorial Day and before it rains today- it was a gorgeous day here in the 70's but it is just now starting to cloud up!

Thanks so much for dropping by!

Today's Quote from Poor Richard's Almanac by Ben Franklin: "Old Boys have their Playthings as well as young Ones; the Difference is only in the Price."

Stamps: So many scallops - SU
Paper: PTI White, SU Basic Black, DP - American Crafts: a la carte
Ink: Lettuce - Adirondack
Accessories: dimensionals, scallop punch: SU

Purple Haze

What a beautiful day it is here today! It started out rainy - but cleared up in the afternoon and is now sunny and in the 70's! I worked in the garden a bit putting up supports around my peonies and poppies and weeding a bit. Another job to check off the list!

Today was the inspiration challenge over on Split Coast and Stef gave us this to be inspired by. A candle and it's box from Papyrus.
I was inspired by the colors and the flowers and the black band along the bottom of the box.
I dry embossed a square on my lavender panel with my nestability die, then I stamped my flower inside the frame using my Versamark Watermark pad. I embossed the image with black detail embossing powder. I cut a ribbon tag with my new Spellbinders die, dry embossed it, ran a lavender grosgrain ribbon through it and wrapped it around a crimped black panel for the bottom.

The butterfly is a cuttlebug die/embossing folder that I highlighted along the body with some grape glitter glue (don't think you can see that very well).

I attached the whole thing to a black panel and then to the lavender card base.

I'm off to do a little more stamping and then to hopefully sit on the deck and enjoy the sunny day a little bit! Hope you can do the same wherever you are - thanks so much for coming by today!

Today's thought from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Do not do that which you would not have known."

Stamps: Flower: Outlines Rubber Stamps, Sentiment: Papertreyink - Simple Little Things
Paper: lavender, basic black SU
Ink: Onyx black Versafine, Versamark watermark pad
Accessories: glue dots, crimper, black detail EP, hot gon, lavender grosgrain ribbon, cuttlebug butterfly die, Spellbinders Ribbon Tag die, nestability square, grape glitter glue

Coming Home to the Tree

Happy Friday!! I'm a day late and a dollar shy with this card tonight......

I made this card for Kristin Werner's Color Inspiration challenge this week - but when I went to load it tonight - I realized the deadline was yesterday - so I missed it!! So here is my card using the colors of real red, so saffon, pumpkin pie, old olive and tempting turquoise! (with some Taken with Teal card stock since I didn't have Tempting Turquoise).

I used this fun new stamp from a Swedish company called Scrapmagasinet and the stamp is called Tretoppen. I purchased it from a woman in Canada who runs a stamp/craft shop up there. She also sells the cute Tilda stamps from Magnolia. I found her name on someone's blog as a person who sold the Magnolia stamps so I contacted her since I was not having any luck finding where I could buy some!

I stamped 'Happy Anniversary' inside the card. The outside sentiment (which I love!) is part of a stamp by Penny Black - it has a house above it on the stamp but I only inked the sentiment part for this card. I used my Floral Fantasy cuttlebug folder for the background. I sponged the edges as well as the cuttled panel with so saffron ink to tone down the white a bit.

We're having rain tonight and supposedly on and off throughout the weekend - so it will be a good time to be in my stamping room - not feeling guilty that I'm not out in the sunshine!!

Thanks so much for coming over to see me for a bit - check back over the weekend - I'm sure I'll be doing the Inspiration and Featured Stamper challenges on Splitcoast.

Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "He who multiplies Riches multiplies Cares."

Stamps: Treehouse: Scrapmagasinet
Paper: White: PTI, taken with teal, real red - SU, green bazzill
Ink: onyx black Versafine, So Saffron
Accessories: cuttlebug, Floral fantasy folder, dimensionals, glue zots, sponge, SU markers, Prismacolor marker: sky blue light
Techniques: Cuttlebug

An Inch of Pitter Patter

Today's Ways to Use It challenge on SCS was to use Inchies on your card. An inchie is a piece of chipboard measuring 1" x 1". You stamp a small image on some cardstock, cut it out to 1"x1" and attach it to your inchie. As you can see on my card - it adds dimension to the image. You can use lots of inchies on a card in a grid pattern or 3 in a row. You can stamp an image on a 4"x4" piece of card stock and then cut it into 4 1" pieces and mount each piece on an inchie. Check out the SCS Gallery for this challenge to see all the different ways people used them. The possibilities are endless. You can purchase Inchies at Ellen Hutson's store here. They also carry them at Michaels and AC Moore as well as other webb stores.

Today I just used one inchie and made it the focal point of the card by placing it inside an embossed frame made with my scalloped square Nestability.

I stamped this sweet pair of baby girl shoes on a piece of white PapertreyInk card stock and cut it to fit and attached it to the inchie. I colored the shoes with Stampin Up markers (Pretty in Pink and Blush Blossom) and added silver stickles where there were two buttons on the toes of the shoes.

Here is a closeup side view so you can see the embossing and the depth of the Inchie as well as the stickles. Isn't this the cutest pair of baby girl shoes? I didn't realize there was such great detail on them until I stamped them.

Here you can see the sentiment I stamped inside as well as the inchie on the front.. All these stamps are part of a clear set by Scraptrends called Classic Baby.




Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you will try using inchies on your cards now!


Today's quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "Hide not your Talents, they for Use were made: What's a Sun-Dial in the Shade?"

Stamps: Scraptrends - Classic Baby Clear stamp set
Paper: White, Sweet Blush: PapertreyInk
Ink: Onyx black Versafine
Accessories: Nestability scalloped square, cuttlebug, chipboard inchie: Magenta, SU Markers: Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Stickles: Diamond Ice

How Sweet Is It? and An Un-Natural Tree

Hi Everyone - Happy Wednesday! Tonight's the Reveal over at PapertreyInk for their new stamps, paper, ribbon and inks for this month - so you should check that out They have a great baby stamp set coming out as well as beautiful new colors of DP and ink - it started at 10 pm EST and the stamps will be revealed at 11 pm EST - Hopefully I can stay awake that long - if not - I'll be checking them out first thing in the AM! I love their stuff - you'll see some of their papers and ribbon on my 2nd card below. You can also look under PapertreyInk on the right side panel index to see all the cards and crafts I've made using their products.

This card was made for the Sketch Challenge at SCS today.

This is the sketch.

I used Prismacolor Markers to color my slice of cake and added Stickles on the frosting and the flame for a little sparkle. I knotted ribbon through a hole punched in the sentiment panel and wrapped it around behind the panel coming up through the hole on the other side and knotting it. The cake panel is up on dimensionals. This cake stamp is part of a set called How Sweet it is sold by Gina K Designs to raise money for diabetes - check it out here.

This is a great sketch - I'll be sure to use it again.

Stamps: Gina K Designs
Paper: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, DP - SU, White - PapertreyInk
Ink: Black Onyx Versafine
Accessories: cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, hole punch, narrow grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, Prismacolor markers: green tea, sky blue light, raspberry, pale vermillion, teal blue, stickles - Orange Peel & Strawberry ice

My 2nd card tonight is for a Double Dare I do every week with a group of friends at SCS. This week I chose the challenge - and it was to make a card with a tree but you could not use any brown or green anywhere on the card.

So - in order to keep me from grabbing any of the forbidden colors - (which is the first thing I do when there are rules it seems!) I went with the monochromatic look - and used Papertrey's Berry Sorbet for everything! The cute jeweled flowers are from www.petaloo.com. You can check out the other peoples challenge cards here. The challenge just started today so everyone has a week to get their cards in.

Thank you so much for stopping by - let me know what you think of my cards - I really appreciate feedback!

Todays Quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "The doors of Wisdom are never shut."

Stamps: Summer Tree: Whispers
Paper: White, Berry Sorbet, Pink Patterns - PapertreyInk
Ink: Berry Sorbet - PTI
Accessories: Berry Sorbet Swiss Dots: PTI, jeweled florettes- Petaloo, dimensionals, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots Folder