A Notable Brief

I am SO EXCITED about this little Briefcase Note Holder. I wanted to make a gift of notes for a male co-worker who's birthday was last week (and I missed it! Yikes!) I wanted to make some kind of masculine looking package. I know I've seen a brief case card somewhere before but I haven't been able to locate it in my HUGE pile of things I've printed off the internet!! (one of my 'to do' piles).

Luckily, while I was blogging around this morning I came upon this wonderful tutorial by Tracy Harp (Inky Doodles). She calls it a Tote Purse and she decorated hers using a feminine design.

I masculined it up by using this great striped designer paper and by using brown twill for the handles. Here is a side view and you can get your first peek as to what's inside the case!

I made 16 - 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" personalized notes (just a single layer note - no fold) using my friends initials (PTI Fresh Alphabet) and 'From the Desk Of' (PTI Simply Stationary). I attached a thin strip of the designer paper to the top of the card so it coordinated with the case.

I needed something to hold my case closed so I attached a tag (the designer paper came with a sheet of die cut tags - how nice!) to the back of the case with tacky tape and used velcro on the front. I added a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock to the tag as it was a little bit light weight and I thought it would rip with repeated openings). Luckily my twill was spaced just perfectly so the tag fit between the handles as I hadn't planned for the tag when I started out making the case!! Phew!! I also used my corner rounder on the top corners of the case.

I also put a piece of designer paper inside the Pentel RSVP Pen (you can get them at CVS or Staples about $1.00 a piece). You just open the bottom of the pen - take out the ink stick - roll a piece of 3/4" x 3" designer paper so the long ends overlap and slip it into the pen barrel and then replace the ink and the end of the pen and - Voila! - A coordinating pen to go with your project!

The clear box inside the case that holds the cards and envelopes - is a 4 1/2" x 5 7/8" x 1" box. I bought mine at Clear Bags.com. They also sell them at Papertrey Ink. You just cut the box in half and attach it with tacky tape (see Tracy's complete instructions)

Here you can see the note, the envelope and the matching pen close up. I'm so thrilled with how this project came out!

I added the tag with the Hand Stamped (Stamps by Judith) on the front of this project to look like a luggage or ID tag. It was also our Tuesday Doubledog Dare Challenge for this week - Beverly (beestamper) challenged us to use a 'Card Back Stamp' on the front of our card or project. A card back stamp is one that you would usually use on the back to show who made the card or that it was hand stamped etc.

We'd love to have you join in on our challenges - just load your card or project following the challenge into your Split Coast Gallery and use the keyword DDC so we can all come by and see it! Check my side bar to see all the Double Dare challenge members and check here to see all the DDC cards!

Thanks for stopping by today! let me know if you make one of these cases - I'd love to see it!

Stamps: Fresh Alphabet & Simply Stationary: PTI, Hand Stamped: Stamps by Judith

Paper: Chocolate Chip: SU, Vingage Cream: PTI, DP: Crate Paper - Cowgirl Buckle

Ink: Dark Chocolate: PTI

Accessories: corner rounder, tacky tape, foam dimensionals, loopi brad, Twine: SU, clear box: Clear Bags.com, copics, Twill: Martha Stewart, Pentel RSVP Pen, Velcro Tab, Large Brad: American Crafts

Simple Hope

I made this card with no layers - all the stamping was done directly on the card stock. The only addition was a knotted twill ribbon around the top of the card. When I first started card stamping this was the only kind of card I knew how to make - and then gradually as I saw more and more cards on Split Coast - I began learning how to add layers until suddenly I found it really difficult to NOT add them!

But todays Limited Supplies challenge on Split Coast was to make a clean and simple card (CAS) and it brought me back to my roots! After I got over the initial shock of one layer I enjoyed the great simplicity of it. You can view a whole gallery of simple cards here.

I used the With Sympathy stamp set from Papertrey Ink and 4 colors of ink. I actually made 7 cards of this design in the time it might usually take me to design and put together just one layered card. I ran out of the lavender twill after 6 cards so I used Spring Rain on the last one - Look how a different color ribbon can change the whole look of a card - I think the blue ribbon makes the blue butterfly pop a little more - what do you think??

Happy Friday night everyone - are you all going to be watching Football on Sunday!?!? We are - even though our Patriots didn't make it to the Superbowl this year!

Stamps: With Sympathy: PTI
Paper: White: PTI
Ink: True black & Lavender Moon: PTI, Landscape: Pallette, Cloudy Blue: Adirondack
Accessories: lavender moon & Spring Rain twill ribbon: PTI

Ever Grateful Throw Down

For my card today I used the sketch challenge from Split Coast and the colors from this weeks Color throw down challenge - which was to use real red, brocade blue and black. I've been wanting to participate in the Color Throw Down challenge for a long time and for some reason just never got to it - so today was the day - finally!!I used a Bazzill blue as I didn't have Brocade. The flowers are Nested Flowers Nestabilities and I added dew drops on the bottom right. The flowers and sentiment are popped up with foam dimensionals.

We had some snow this morning but it turned to rain by noon time - and now we have slush and giant puddles everywhere - and it's supposed to freeze tonight --- what a winter we are having!

I hope everyone that is living in a cold climate is safe and warm tonight!

Thank you so much for taking a moment to drop by!

Stamps: So Many Sayings: SU
Paper: white: PTI, Real Red, DSP: SU, blue bazzill
Ink: true Black: PTI
Accessories: foam dimensionals, dew drdops, nested flowers nestabilities, word punch: SU

Receiving and Forwarding an Award !

My wonderful blogging/stamping friend Anne just gave me this award - she is just the sweetest friend, a very talented card maker and also my long distance Stampin Up enabler! We also do the Double Dare Challenges together on SCS.

So the idea is to share this award with other wonderful people/blogs that I know and whom I'd like you to get to know! so be sure to check them out!

I'm passing this award on to :

Patter - who has inspired me to deepen my faith by participating in her biweekly His Holy Name challenge. She is a wonderfully creative stamper and scrapbooker.

Linsey - one of my first blogging buddies - we knew each other 'when' - before each of us became famous (LOL!!!) she is so talented she is on the Design Team of about 100 companies - I just CANNOT keep up with this talented lady!!

Jean - a new friend from Australia who makes lovely cards - I became aquainted with Jean after she visited my blog

Theresa - another friend I've met blogging - she does the best coloring on her cards and often has fun tutorial's for fun projects!

So ladies - grab the pic of the award and give it to some of your friends if you are so inspired! I appreciate you all so much in this wonderful world of card stamping/blogging!

You all inspire me!

Friend to Friend

I love this sentiment - if you stop and think about it - it's just a nice simple wonderful statement to send someone on a card.

I made this for today's color challenge on Split Coast as well as this weeks Our Creative Corner sketch challenge that you can check out here. There are prizes to be won there this week but you have to load your card by Friday so be sure to check it out!The colors to use for the color challenge were Garden Green, Baja Breeze and Pacific Point or a reasonable facsimile there of!! I used a green Bazzill card stock not having any Garden Green but I did have a Stampin Up Garden Green marker so I inked up the stamps with the marker. I used Just My Type narrow cuttlebug folders for the side panels (first time using them after purchasing them almost a year ago! another 'Yay' for the New Year's Resolution!) and the Leafy Branch folder for the middle panel. I thought I was going to have trouble with this color combination but I really like it!

I've gotta go - I'm trying to get to bed early tonight (before 11 at least!)

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Stamps: Stampin Up: Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: white: PTI, Pacific Point, baja Breeze: SU, Green Bazzill
Ink: none
Accessories: Garden Green Stampin Up Marker, cuttlebug, Leafy Branch folder, Just My Type Folder, word punch & scalloped circle punch: SU, circle punch, foam dimensionals

A Double Dare Thanks

The Double Dare Challenge for last Tuesday that I do with some SCS friends - was from Michelle (sf9erfan) and that was to case a card from the now 'old' SU catty.Wanting to use my 'bought em, love em, never used em' stash of stamps - I cased the card on Page 18 of the catalogue using the Organic Grace stamp. I used the flower instead of the dragonfly - changed the colors and cuttled the panel instead of stamping. I used one of the sentiment stamps from Upsy Daisy.

This is a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 card. I thought it came out pretty cute!

You too can join in our fun weekly challenges - just make a card using the challenge (case a card from the Fall Winter 2008 SU catalogue) Post it on SCS and use the keyword DDC. The Double Dare team will be looking for your cards!! There is no time limit to these challenges so come along! You can see all the Double Dare Challenge cards here. And you can see all the Double Dare Team members on my side bar (scroll down a bit).

Stamps: Organic Grace & Upsy Daisy: SU
Paper: Pumpkin pie: SU, Summer sunrise, white, Ripe Avocado: PTI
Ink: Pumpkin pie: SU, First Snow: PTI
Accessories: script guttlebug folder, foam dimensionals, SU scallop circle punch, circle punch

And I also wanted to share with you the wonderful project my DH Kent just completed for me to use for my "His Holy Name" challenge 6"x6" pages.

Every other Sunday I'll be hanging a new page on this beautiful wooden rack. I'll be able to flip them over - back and forth - forth and back - so I can keep reviewing them throughout the year. Since there will be 26 of them - he's going to make me a 2nd rack so I can put 13 on each one so neither gets too full. He earned a BIG kiss for this one!!

Short post today - I have a church meeting at my house so gotta go!

Thanks so much for dropping by today!

A Featured Birthday

Yippee! I used another stamp set that I love and had purchased quite some time ago but never got around to inking up! This card was made for the Featured Stamper challenge over at Split Coast.



Vicky Gould was Featured stamper and I chose this card from her wonderful gallery to case.

My changes were: I made my card a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 square, different colors, no ribbon, punched bird instead of stamped, and cuttled bg instead of stamping.

I used the script Cuttlebug folder on the background panel and my scalloped Nestability circles to frame the image. On the white circle - I left the die in place on the card stock and sponged from the edges into the center - then removed the die so it left a white clean edge. The sentiment and circles are popped up on foam dimensionals.

I'm so happy to be using my 'old' stuff!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday! Thank you for dropping by today!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy: SU
Paper: Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, White: PTI, Basic Black: SU
Ink: True Black, Aqua Mist: PTI
Accessories: foam dimensionals, scallope circles Nestabilities, keytag punch: SU, bird punch: Martha Stewart

Say Thanks to the Teacher!

Our inspiration today on Split Coast was a web site of Lang Calendars - this school page inspired me:

And here is the card I created from the inspiration:

I finally inked up this fun school set by Cornish Heritage Farms called Making the Grade - that I've had forever - waiting patiently for me to use it. My base card is light green like the inspiration but I sponged some red over it so you can hardly tell that it's a light color. I used Fresh Snow ink by Papertrey Ink for the sentiments - what great coverage that ink gives - but you do need to allow extra time for it to dry - it's real juicy!

The bench and tree with the grass line are all one stamp from Stampendous called Parkscape. And the bird punch is from Martha Stewart. All the panels are up on foam dimensionals as is the cute out school house and punched bird.

Kent and I went to see a wonderful play this afternoon at the Huntington Theater in Boston - called "The Corn is Green" starring Kate Burton (Richard Burton's daughter for those of you old enough to remember him!) and Kate's son Morgan Ritchie. It was a great story about a woman (Kate) who started a school in a small remote Welsh village in the late 1800's - where the children worked in the coal mines and no one got an education. The teacher mentored one of the students (Morgan Ritchie) and he got excepted to Oxford.

So - I made a teacher card and saw a teacher play - all in one day!

Thanks so much for coming by!

Stamps: Making the Grade: Cornish Heritage Farms, Bench: Stampendous Parkscape
Paper: pure poppy, Spring Moss: PTI, basic black: SU
Ink: True Black, Fresh Snow: PTI
Accessories: heart brads, sponge, foam dimensionals, bird punch: Martha Stewart

A Couple of Sweet Valentines!!

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge on Split Coast was to alter patterned paper to make it special. I've been making crafts to sell at my church for Valentine's Day and I needed to create something to decorate some pretty red heart shaped glass bottles I bought on sale last year at Michaels (they were 50 cents each as I recall - great buy - I just had to store them all year and remember that I had them for this year!!)


I chose to stamp on my patterned paper and punch it with a scalloped heart punch and attach it to the pretty bottles.

I tied a narrow grosgrain ribbon around the neck and filled it with candy Conversation Hearts.I love how they came out! A simple adornment but very effective I think!

I just got the stamp and paper in the mail today from Danielle (DPKennedy on SCS) as part of some wonderful blog candy I won on her blog last week - Thanks for getting them to me so quickly Danielle!!

Stamps: Heart: Inkadinkado Gem Stone Hearts, xoxo: PTI Sweet Love
Paper: DP: Sabrina 6x6 paper set Making Memories
Ink: True Black: PTI
Accessories: marvy heart punch, ping grosgrain ribbon: Michaels, Conversation Candy Hearts: Necco

And here is a 2nd Valentine's Day craft I made for our sale - once again using containers I got at Michaels last year on sale (again 50 cents each!) These are red and white heart shaped ceramic dishes.

I didn't decorate the dishes at all - but chose to fill them with red and white basket filler paper and a clear treat bags (from Michaels candy aisle) filled with jellied candy hearts (CVS) and tied with grosgrain ribbons.

I made the cute narrow cards to tuck inside the dish. Each card is 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" Kraft card stock folded in half (pieces left over from the Velentine Origami Boxes I made here.) I stamped on a piece of white card stock 1 1/4" x 4" and adhered it to the folded Kraft piece. The XOXO is a $1 stamp from Michaels - and the hugs and kisses as well as the Happy Valentines Day inside are from the Sweet Love set by Papertrey Ink.

Stamps: XOXO: Michaels $1 stamp Studio G, Hugs & Kisses, Happy Valentine's Day: PTI Sweet Love set

Paper: Kraft, White: PTI

Ink: True Black: PTI, L'amore Red: Palette

Accessories: Ribbon: Michaels, clear treat bags: Michaels, Red & White Heart Shaped ceramic dishes: Michaels, Jellied hearts: CVS

I hope you are inspired by my Valentines Crafts - easy peasy to make if you have the containers or something similar. Thanks so much for coming by today!

You're the Coolest!

I have seen so many cute cards using this fun Comfy Valentine set by H&M Stamps. So I finally got my set out and inked it up for today's Sketch Challenge on Split Coast.

I used my new Raspberry Fizz papers from Papertrey Ink (please don't notice that I bought something in the New Year! so much for resolutions - but I KNOW you understand!!) I paper pieced the pajama pants (it's a great stamp for paper piecing! so much easier than coloring!) and added a punched heart to the top (over the flower that is on the stamp).

The fun Petaloo flowers come with the gems on them and I added two more gems on the heart and on the sentiment.

I gotta run and get in my own PJ's (mine are flannel though not as sexy as these!) so I can settle down to watch "Tell Me Lies" on TV - I think that's gonna be a fun new show. Will probably do some blog hopping while I watch though :)

thanks so much for dropping by!

Stamps: H&M Stamps: Comfy Valentine
Paper: White PTI, Basic black, Purely pomegranate: SU, DP Raspberry Fizz Mix: PTI
Ink: True Black: PTI
Accessories: Swiss Dot satin: PTI, Floradoodles: Petaloo, Adhesive gems: K&CO, heart punch, oval punches: SU

A Valentine, Sovereign God and Some Pics of VT

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday - we ended up having about 8" of new snow and I had to help DH shovel us out! I'm so glad it waited until we were home from VT - I would have hated to come home to a driveway full of snow and had to unpack through it!!

And then there were those two football games on when we were done shoveling...........

But I did make a card for the Featured Stamper on Split Coast. I CASE'd this card of Lori's (stamp_momma)

I changed the colors and made it a Valentine card with Heart Nesties instead of squares. I just placed the basic heart Nestability inside the scalloped heart Nestability and ran them through my Cuttlebug together and it gave me this heart frame - plus I can use the inside plain heart piece that punched out on something else later! Following the instructions on her card - I was so excited to learn how to use the small Nestibility bird for the wings on the middle size bird on this card! You just have to snip off the beak on the front "wing" - now why couldn't I think of that???!!!

Stamps: none
Paper: White: PTI and SU, Real Red: SU, DP unknown (DCWV stack?)
Ink: none
Accessories: Martha Stewart Punch, dotted grosgrain, foam dimensionals, Nested birds and Hearts: Nestabilities

The next thing I have to show you today is my 6"x6" page that I made for the 2nd His Holy Name Challenge which is issued every other Sunday by Patter. You can click on the blinking box on my side bar to get to Patter's blog or you can also see the challenge in the forums on SCS just scroll down to comment #350. I'd love to have you join in on the challenges - you can join in any time and only do as many as you like.

God's Attribute this week is: God is Sovereign. I chose this verse from Isaiah 61:11

"For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the SOVEREIGN LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations."

I liked the analogy of things growing out of God's earth - and humans growing out of God's love.I used this great Urban Prairie designer paper by Basic Grey along with a leaf Sizzix die and layered flowers using a Martha Stewart flower punch. The bird is also from Martha Stewart. I typed the verse on my computer useing 3hourtour and CK fraternity fonts and printed it on an Avery Mailing label #8463.

Stamps: Snap Stamps: Karen Foster
Paper: Sage Shadow: SU, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist: PTI, DP: basic greay Urban Prairie Harvest
Ink: Onyx black versafine, Ocean tides: PTI
Accessories: foam dimensionals, glue dots, flower brads, square brads, sponge, computer generated verse, Avery Label, sizzix leaf die, adhesive gems: K&CO, oval punch, Designer label punch, spiral punch: SU, flower punch: Martha Stewart

And finally as promised - here are a few pics from our trip to Vermont this week visiting my DH's brother and sister-in-law.

This is the beautiful diningroom/livingroom in their gorgeous post and beam home.

Here I am on our first day snowshoeing in the woods - with my neck all wrapped up in my Head Sokz (a tube thing made of fleece that is a scarf and hood you can pull up if you need it!). It was about 4 above on this day out. And you can see not much sun getting into the woods here!

This is DH Kent at the edge of the woods when we just started out - standing by the sign of 'his' brook! That's his brother ahead waiting to lead the way!

This is Kent's SIL bringing up the rear with trusty dog Blue - who loves to run through the woods and snow - she calls Blue back to the trail by offering treats of cheese. Blue wears a bell to let any wild animals know she's around.

And here are some wild turkeys that came by their birdfeeders looking for a meal on a cold day!

We got some delicious coffee drinks as well as some home made cookies and muffins at this wonderful bakery down the street from them.


And a final shot of the old bicycle they have on their porch - it's lit with white lights at night.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

More or Less Quilt

I'm BACK!!! and I'm so happy to get back to stamping!!! We had a great time in Vermont snowshoeing and visiting with Kent's brother and sister-in-law. I'll have some pictures to share with you tomorrow so be sure to check back!

I made these two cards for today's inspiration challenge on Split Coast which was the Pottery Barn Teen catalogue web site. I was inspired by this quilt:I made two cards - one minimal and one stepped up for the January Fan Club More is More challenge. (One of these cards is not like the other - one of these cards is not the same... that song just popped into my head and now it won't pop out!!!)On one card I sewed up and down the panels with my sewing machine to give the card the quilted look, I popped up the center square as well as the sentiment, sponged the outside edges of the card with So Saffron ink and attached two dew drops on either side of the stamped square.

On the less card - I did not do the sewing, only popped up the sentiment and did not sponge on color or add dew drops.

The pretty heart quilt stamp and square quilted framing is from a set called Quilter Sampler Additions by Papertrey Ink and the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment is from the H&M Stamp set called My Favorite Valentines which is back in stock and at a great low price so be sure to check it out!!

Heather let us know that all the following sets are now back in stock over at H&M Stamps:

My Favorite Valentine

Comfy Valentine

Sweetly Stamped

The Cat's Meow

A Lil' Behind

Old English

Christmas is the Time for Cookies

so if you missed getting these during her big sale hop on over and check them all out now at new reduced prices!

Thanks for coming by today and I'll see you tomorrow with some pics of our mini vacation!

Stamps: Sentiment: H&M Stamps, Quilter Sampler Additions: PTI
Paper: white: PTI, Night of Navy: SU, DP: SU, DCWV Stack, Basic Grey Prairie Harvest
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Night of Navy: SU
Accessories: word window punch, prismacolor markers, dew drops, glue dots, foam dimensionals, Sponge

The Old One Two Punch! Come Join the Fun!

The weekly Double Dare Challenge I do with a few SCS friends was hosted by Charlene this week (LilLuvsStampin) and the instructions were:

1. Use one or more punches
2. Use a background stamp
3. No designer paper allowed
For my project - I made a magnetic bookmark using the colors for the color challenge on Split Coast and following the Double Dare Challenge instrucions.

I used a Martha Stewart punch, a bird shapeabilitie and 2 flower shapeabilities. (hope those count as punches!) I used the Cornish Heritage Farms Pretty Pattern background stamp on the bigger flower and bird and Polka dots background stamp from Papertrey Ink on the smaller flower (that doesn't show up in the photo - sorry!)

I attached two pieces of magnet strip inside so you can close this on the page of a book to mark where you stopped reading. The bookmark has a 5 1/4 x 2 5/8 piece of card stock as it's base - folded in half.The Double Dare girls would like to invite you to join along in our weekly challenges!

Just create a card or project using the Double Dare challenge instructions listed above (not the colors part) and post it in your Split Coast gallery. Please be sure to use the keyword DDC when you post so we can all find your card. There is no time limit to posting.

A new challenge is issued each Tuesday. The 9 Double Dare Challenge Friends on SCS are: Itsapassion (Anne), beestamper (Bev), jdmommy (Anne), artystamper (me - Julia), joan ervin (Joan), sleepyinseattle (Joanne), Francie G. (Fran) LilLuvsStampin (Charlene) and sf9erfa (Michelle).

So come along and join in with us!! we can't wait to see what you create! You can see all the Double Dare Challenge cards on SCS in this gallery here.

Here's a view of the back of my magnetic bookmark. Thanks so much for coming by today!! DH and I are going snowshoeing in VT for a few days - I'll be on line now and then - but not posting - so I'll see you when I get back if I'm not frozen solid!!

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms: Pretty Patter BG stamp, Polkd Dot Basics: PTI
Paper: Kraft: PTI, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy: SU
Ink: Not Quite Navy: SU, New Canvas: Palette
Accessories: blue brad, nested bird shapeability, nested flower shapeability, martha stewart punch, magnet strip, foam dimensionals, sponge

Hugs & Kisses Box, Blog Candy Winner And Valentine Card Challenge!

The winner of my blog candy was comment #53 and that was:

Dolce Deb's Designs who said...
Congrats what an honor hope you enjoy it. Your challenge card is just beautiful. Thank you for the chance to win some candy. Hope you have a great week and TFS.Debbie/Phx AZ
January 11, 2009 6:47 PM

so Congratulations Deb! - e-mail me with your name and address and I'll get that set right in the mail to you! julia.aston@comcast.net

I'm sorry everyone couldn't win - I know it's just a super fun stamp set. Remember to keep checking Heather's store to see when it's back in stock.

And here is a fun little Origami box that I made today for the Technique Challenge on Split Coast. You can see the directions here.

I was just starting to look around for fun easy Valentine crafts I could make to sell at our church during coffee hours and this cute box sure fits the bill don't you think?!

The directions on Split Coast include an optional cover but I just wanted an open box and then added a layered punched heart instead. I started my box with an 8" x 8" piece of kraft card stock (instead of the 12x12 in the directions). This makes a box about 2 3/4" square. Just perfect for this basket filler and a handful of kisses to fit into!

I stamped the card stock with the dots after making all the origami folds but before folding it up into the box. I attached the Nestability hearts to the inside of the back edge of the box with some tacky tape. I love how this came out!

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Sweet Love: PTI
Paper: Kraft: PTI, Real Red: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Palette New Canvas
Accessories: heart nestabilities, cuttlebug, foam dimensionals, tacky tape, basket filler, Hershey Kisses

And one last thing before I go make my supper -

You have probably heard on other blogs or Split Coast about a wonderful challenge going on at Patty Adam's blog. She is asking the stamping community to help her gather 1ooo Valentine cards for children in the hospital to receive and also send to others. You can find more details here - just scroll through her blog - the story keeps growing! You need to e-mail her to request her mail address.

The deadline to send the cards to Patty is 02/07/09. I just sent off 20 cards yesterday. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to share our talents with those who need some cheering......

Thank you for coming by tonight!

A Tilda Valentine

Today's featured stamper over on Split Coast was Jaydekay and I chose this pretty Valentine of Judy's to CASE.

I used a different Tilda than she used and different flowers butI did follow her overall design and theme of stamps. The corner piece is punched from a Cuttlebug die.

I was so happy to use one of my Tilda's by Magnolia Stamps. I bought about 8 of them quite a while ago and have only used one of them so far. So I'm following one of my New Year's Resolutions - to use the stuff that I have! The sentiment is from the Sweet Love set by Papertrey Ink.

I cut out hearts from a designer paper and popped them up over the stamped flowers to make it more Valentine-ish! I colored Tilda with Koh I Noor pencils and gamsol.

Thanks so much for coming by!

Remember to check out my blog candy on Saturdays post- you have until Monday night to post a comment there for a chance to win!

Stamps: Tilda: Magnolia, Sentiment: Sweet Love: PTI
Paper: Ruby Red, Basic Black: SU, White PTI, DP: My Minds Eye:Irresistable - Candy Stripe and Flowers for you

Ink: onyx black versafine
Accessories: corner die Provo Craft, Cuttlebug, glue pen, silver spica pen, foam dimensionals, Koh I Noor Colour pencils, gamsol

Exciting News and Some Blog Candy!

I'm so very excited today! A couple of weeks ago Jennifer Meyer (Lovetostamp6 on Splitcoast) pm'd me and asked if I would like to be a guest designer on Our Creative Corner some Saturday in January. Well - let me think......... I didn't have to think at all really!! - I said YES with a little tremor running through my body! Yikes - what pressure to make something worthy! So today it was a color challenge - to make a card using just two shades of blue and a neutral color. I used Buckaroo blue from Stampin up and then some designer papers with a lighter blue on it - I guess it's like Baja Breeze with white as my neutral. I inked up my pretty angel from the Calling All Angels set from H&M Stamp Co. I clear embossed her to prevent the colors from bleeding when I colored her with Copics and Prismacolor markers. I cut her out and layered her over a stamping of the angel using foam dimensionals.

I used my rectangle nestabilities and a lacy punch from Martha Stewart. The sentiment was punched with the larger oval punch from Stampin Up and layered onto a Design Label (SU) punched piece of card stock using foam dimensionals.

I tied 3 pretty ribbons together and stuck a heart pin through it that I had added some simple beads to. And finally - I put some silver Spica pen on her wings and halo to give a little shimmer, which doesn't really show up in the pic unfortunately.

I hope you stop by and check out the challenges at Our Creative Corner - they have a different one every Saturday morning to inspire you. You can also see their logo on my side bar with a link to their site!

In honor of the honor bestowed on me today - I'm offering this wonderful "My Favorite Valentine" set from H&M Stamps as blog candy. I made this card using the dragon from this set and this card using the owl. (Note: this set sold out during the H&M Super Garage sale this past week - Heather has re-ordered it so it should be in her store soon! But I have a set that I'll send out to the winner right away!)

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post. I'll pick the winner by random number.org and post it on Monday so be sure to check back!

Thanks so much for coming by - please let me know what you think of my challenge card today!

Stamps: Calling All Angels: H&M Stamps

Paper: White: PTI, Buckaroo Blue and Ski Alpine DP: SU, Argyle DP: 7 Gypsies Portobella

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine, Buckaroo Blue: SU

Accessories: foam dimensionals, glue dot, heart pin: Fashion Sense, lacey punch: Martha Stewart, rectangle Nestabilities, clear embossing powder, hot gun, sponge, white and blue rick rack, blue gingham ribbon: Michaels, Dazzling Diamonds: SU, oval punch & Desing Label punch: SU, Prismacolor markers, Copics

A Valentine's Day Massacre

Well - not a real massacre - just a massacre of a 5 pound box of candy as per below!

A fun Limited supplies challenge today on Split Coast - to use hearts and red!

My card also covers the Double Dare Challenge I do each week with some SCS friends. Fran (Francie G) was hostess this week and her challenge was to use any color or as many colors as you choose. Then pick one of those colors and use three different shades of that color! I used Real Red, Berry Sorbet and Blush Blossom for my shades of red.

I cut the hearts with my Nestabilities and punched the little white hearts. The dew drops are red and my lovely lady has hearts on her dress! I stamped her on the Berry Sorbet heart with black ink, then I stamped her again on Blush Blossom card stock - colored her in with Copics - cut her out and popped her up over the stamping on the heart. She comes with the sentiment next to her on the stamp. This is a large 5x5 card and I used a corner rounder on all 4 corners. The smoochie, smoochie is a clear sticker.

I can really identify with this lady's sentiment - can you???!!!

You can see the other 3 shades of color challenge cards here.

Please plan to drop by again Saturday morning - I have some exciting news to share with you as well as some blog candy!!

Stamps: American Art Stamp - Emerson Box of Candis
Paper: white, Berry Sorbet: PTI, Real Red, Blush Blossom: SU
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: Copics: R20, R29, Y15, foam dimensionals, glue dots, neart nestabilities,little heart punch, EK success siticker (Smoochie)

Blog Candy Winner and His Holy Name Challenge

Hi everyone ! Sorry I'm so late in posting but I had my monthly hair maintenance trim and color and it took forever!

First, I'm happy to announce the winner of my blog candy - and that winner is #7:

Jami {sgtStamper} said...
Soooo cute - love the colorful animals!! I went to the sale, added stuff to my cart and got sidetracked by kids.... then when I came back, the sets I wanted were sold out. Figures.hugs, Jami
January 7, 2009 6:23 PM

So Jami - let me know if you want the School Fun Percy

or the Percy builds Frosty. - and I'll mail it out to you right away! E-mail me with your choice and your address to julia.aston@comcast.net

They are both really cute stamps from H&M Stamp Co - you can see cards I made with them here and here.

And now I want to share with you a year long challenge that I am so excited to be participating in over on Split Coast.

It is called His Holy Name and you can see all the details here on Split Coast. It is run by Patter (identicaltriplets) on SCS and this is her description of the challenge:

"For 2009, we will be focusing on the Names of God. Every other week, I will post a name of our precious Lord along with a small devotion. You then will find a key scripture or a promise associated with that name and create a scrapbook page, card, ATC, Rolodex card or whatever you feel like creating."

She posts the challenge both on the Split Coast challenge thread and on her blog every other Sunday by 5 pm.

The name of God she gave us for our first challenge was "Holy". I am going to be making 6x6 scrapbook pages and I will be putting them in protective sleeves and hanging them on a wooden rack (that DH is making for me even as we speak!) that I can keep on my desk at work or on a table at home so I can flip through them and reflect on the different passages I chose for each name of God as the year goes on.

Here is my first page for the name HOLY: I chose Hebrews 12:14 as my verse: Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy: without holiness no one will see the Lord.

My NIV (New International Version) Bible has a Concordance in the back of it that list words (such as Holy) and lists all the verses where that word is used - so that is how I will locate and choose the verses for the challenges. I looked through all the Holy references until I found one that 'spoke' to me. I thought this one particularly timely given the conflicts going on in the world right now.

And please notice my very own watermark on the bottom left corner! I FINALLY figured out how to make one on my Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 thanks to this wonderful tutorial by Kurtis that I actually found quite some time ago but never had the time to focus on until yesterday. I am just so excited by this little thing!

I hope you will look into the "His Holy Name" challenge - maybe it's something you'd like to do this year also?

Thank you so much for coming by!

Stamps: Scrolly & star - PTI Silent Night, Words and stem: PTI Rustic Branches, globe: MFT back to school, Lesson 1: Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: white PTI, Night of Navy: SU, DP - narratives by Karen Russell Coral notebook
Ink: onyx black versafine
Accessories: crystal stickers, oval punch, designer label punch, copic B29, Avery mailing label, computer generated Bible verse: 3hourtour font and CK fraternity font

Edit: I just found out that Heather at H&M Stamps has re-ordered the following stamp sets - so if you were looking for those during the sale - she should have them in her store sometime soon.

Cats Meow

Lil Behind

Sweetly Stamped

My Favorite Valentine

Comfy Valentine

Old English

Christmas is a Good time for Cookies

Strong Love

Here is my card for today's sketch challenge on Split Coast. I'm afraid I cut this happy couple in half to accomodate the sketch! That's really using my artistic license isn't it!! "Sorry Officer - I had to do it for the sketch today........ - I have my artistic license right here in the glove box....."I tied the ribbon in the middle to kind of take your mind off the fact that they were cut in half and ALSO shifted to the right!! I colored my image with Koh-I-Noor color pencils and gamsol and added pearls to her little neck (to make up for cutting her in half perhaps!) The image and sentiment panels are up on foam dimensionals. The stamp set is Our Love from H&M Stamps


I just checked Heather's site and it looks like Our Love is no longer listed - so it must be all sold out - if you haven't gone over there already and want to get some great deals on stamps check it out before midnight tonight because that's when her blowout sale is over. She still has a lot of cute sets left so check it out!

Thanks so much for coming by today - be sure to add a comment on this blog entry to have a chance at winning a Percy stamp from H&M I'll post the winner Thursday night!

Stamps: Our Love: H&M Stamps
Paper: vintage cream, white: PTI, Bazzill blue and brown, DP: Rusty Pickle Chocolate Bunnies
Ink: onyx black versafine
Accessories: gingham ribbon: PTI, Koh-I-Noor colored pencils, gamsol, crystal sticker pearls, foam dimensionals, oval punch

Fair Warning! H&M Sale ends tonight!!

Just wanted to let you know that TODAY is the last day of Heather's sale over at H&M Stamps - so please go over now if you want to take advantage of all stamp sets being just $3 - $5!!!

I'll be back later with a card using one of the H&M sets but wanted to be sure you had enough time to catch the sale!

The sale ends tonight at 11:59 pm EST (Wed)

Check out my H&M blog candy on the post below!!

Chio for now!

What Color is a Cow? Blue, Green, or Orange???

By now you must have heard that Heather - owner of H&M Stamps - is having a blow out garage sale?? ALL of her stamps are just $3 - $5 per set! She's clearing out her shelves to make room for her new spring/summer sets! But they are going fast - some are already gone - so you may want to pop over there NOW and then come back here?!

The card I made today for the Split Coast Color Challenge uses one of Heather's sets called Kiddie Farm. It includes animals, a barn, animal words, a tractor and a tree. The stamp outlines look like they were drawn with a crayon - a very cute kids card set! AND it only costs $4.00 in the sale!!! (are you still here?)

The challenge was to use blue, green and orange. Hard colors to use together! They seem to me to work best with kids stuff (primary colors I guess) so that's why I pulled out my Kiddie Farm set.

This card would be our 'let's learn our colors' card not a 'let's learn the real colors of animals' card!! LOL!!This really awkwardly angled shot (!!??) shows the layered heads and popped up circles.

Be sure to check back here on Saturday morning - you'll have a chance to win blog candy from me of one of the H&M Valentine sets that sold out today!

and check out fellow H&M DT member Carolina's blog - she's offering a gift cert to H&M Stamps.

All of the DT members listed on my side bar are showing fun cards made with Heather's stamps so go visit them too!

Please leave me a comment on this post to let me know if you went to the sale and bought something!!!! You can win one of the Percy stamps - I'll pick a random number winner on Thursday night! Edited to add: if you didn't go over to the sale - you can still leave a comment and be eligible to win!!

Stamps: Kiddie Farm: H&M Stamps
Paper: White: PTI, Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi: SU, DP: DCWV Stack III
Ink: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore: SU, Onyx Black Versafine
Accessories: circle punches, dew drops, foam dimensionals, glue dots

Some Inspiring Cookies and a Big Sale at H&M Stamps

Isn't this a fun colorful cookie box?! (It's from Trader Joe's) Joanne (sleepyinseattle on SCS) our Double Dare Challenge host this week thought it was and sent it to us to see what cards we could come up with after gazing upon it!

I used my Stampin Up designer paper Ski Slope and 3 different sets of stamps from H&M Stamps for this card. Wouldn't this be fun to give to a new neighbor as you invite them over for cookies and milk (or tea!)

I cut out two of the cookies and popped them up on the plate and framed the whole plate of treats on two nestability ovals. Both sentiments are up on dimensionals too.

You can see all the other Cookie Box cards here.

Stamps: cookies & Milk: Christmas is a time for cookies, Welcome: Old English, Care to join me: Coffees Brewin all H&M Stamps
Paper: Real Red, Choc chip, DP Ski Slope: SU
Ink: Onyx Black versafine
Accessories: scallop oval nestabilities, cuttlebug, prismacolor markers, Copics, Tag punch: SU, oval punch SU, foam dimensionals

And now (drum roll please!!) here is Heather's announcement about her BIG H&M Stamp Sale!

"Just wanted to let you know to stop by H&M Stamps and check out our garage sale! These prices are soooo low! It is basically an inventory reduction/end of season sale. And what we do where I'm from is, anything you don't want to sit on your shelves, you get rid of by having a super fun Garage Sale!

Prices are $5.00 and under per stamp set!

So come check us out and get them while supplies last! Once they are gone, they are gone!

Hugs to you and yours and New Year Blessings!!! Heather R. H&M Stamps"

Nuff said???!!! Enjoy your shopping spree my blogging friends!!!

Sale ends Wed 1/7 11:59 PM EST so don't miss it!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Get Right Back on Your Horse!

This card is for the Split Coast Try a New Technique Challenge - Tacky Glitter. The basic instructions are to lay down tacky tape in a pattern - then remove the paper on a few strips and add glitter - brush off - remove the paper from the other strips and add another color glitter. This was really fun and came out better than I expected!I used Saturday's Our Creative Corner Sketch that you can see here.

The horse and sentiment are from a funny animal 'butt' set called A Lil Behind by H&M stamps. This card is going postal to my friend that needs a little lift - hopefully it does the trick! At least it will make her smile!

And here's some great news! Tomorrow, Heather, owner of H&M Stamps, is putting all her stamps on sale - I said ALL - you might want to go over there tonight and make a list of what you want to purchase!!!

EDIT: Just found out that the sale has opened early and is on NOW!!!!! so hop on over and start shopping AND saving! sale ends Wed 1/7 at 11:59 PM EST.

Stamps: A Lil Behind: H&M Stamps
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, choc chip: SU, white PTI
Ink: onyx black versafine
Accessories: Martha Stewart glitter Fire Opal & Brownstone, prismacolor markers, heart nestability, circle punch, crystal sticker, foam dimensionals

A Royal Thank You

Julie Ebersole (Her Royal Rubberness) was the 100th Featured Stamper today on Split Coast - I cannot believe she hasn't been the FS yet - she is the queen of simplicity in stamping - especially with her Amuse Stamps.
I printed off several of her cards I want to case but finally chose this snowy cityscape card.

I just love the cityscape Amuse stamp and have used it several times on other cards on my blog. In CASEing Julie - I changed the sentiment, the base card and sponged clouds in the sky instead of using snow (although I LOVE the snow effect on her card - today I wanted a clear sky!)

This card also qualifies for Sharon's No Time to Stamp - Simple Thank You challenge seen here:

As always - I'm so appreciative of your coming by my blog!

Please be sure to check back here on Tuesday - I'll have some terrific news about a huge blow-out sale over at H&M Stamps!! It'll be worth your while - believe me!!!

Stamps: City Scape: Amuse Thankyou: Nature Set- Amuse
Paper: soft sky, Tempting Turquoise: SU, Vintage cream PTI, 4 bar Vintage blue note: Amuse
Ink: ocean tides: PTI, Soft Sky: SU
Accessories: sponge, hand made cloud template, clear crystal stickers, Prismacolor markers, Copics, circle punch, foam dimensionals

An Inspiring Cake

Stef always posts the Saturday Inspiration Challenge on Split Coast late Friday night. So - if I'm up I usually take a look and browse through whatever the inspiration is to get an idea of what I might do the next morning. Well - as often happens - I really got inspired and knew what stamps I wanted to use and just couldn't go off to bed until I got the card out of me!! I know a lot of you are knodding your heads in complete understanding of this phenomenon!!!

Here is the cake that inspired me to stay up late:This cake stamp from the H&M Stamp set Sweetly Stamped that I used on my card below is a perfect match for that cake - don't you think?!The leaves on the top of the cake are cut from a pretty leaf ribbon I have and I also added sticky pearls. I used my Textile and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folders and Labels Two nestabilities. The cake is stamped on designer paper from Papertrey Ink and highlighted with a white gel pen. The sentiment is from another H&M set called Calling All Angels. I liked this kind of different sentiment - it might be a card that a bride gives to her groom the day of their wedding!

Here is a side view so you can see how the cut out Labels Two die is popped up on foam dimensionals. At first - I just had a white layer on the bottom - you can see it here - with the smaller Aqua mist color die cut over it ( the swiss dot layer) - then I played around with things a little - cut an aqua mist layer the same size as the white one - cut out the smaller size from the middle - (so it was like a frame) and held that over the cake and it looked better to me.

Sometimes that's how designs happen - sort of by mistake - just trying different things because something doesn't look quite right on an original layout....

So be sure to check out the fun cake web site on the Inspiration challenge! Maybe you'll be inspired too!!

Have a great Saturday and thanks so much for stopping by! Leave me a comment so I can come by to see you too!

Stamps: Cake: Sweetly Stamped - Sentiment: Calling All Angels - H&M Stamps
Paper: white, aqua mist, DP Everday blessings: PTI, basic black: SU
Ink: Onyx Black versafine
Accessories: white gel pen, Cuttlebug folders Textile & Swiss Dots, Labels Two Nestabilities, leaf ribbon, crystal sticker pearls, foam dimensionals