This Bud's for You!

Dawn Lusk was the featured stamper over on Split Coast this week. I cased this fun turtle card of hers. I used a different turtle, different designer paper and added a sentiment. This card is for my dear mother-in-law, Marjorie, who will be 94 on July 6th - her husband (who passed away 7 years ago) worked for Budwiser his whole adult life - so she will get a kick out of this sentiment!

I used two Papertrey sets on the inside sentiments - Birthday Basics and Women of Life.

The card is also for last Tuesdays Doubledog Dare challenge that I do with some Split Coast friends - Here is the Doubledog Dare Challenge forum - just scroll down to post #15 to see this one. I was the DDC hostess last Tuesday and my challenge was to use these free digi images from Whimsie Doodles on your card. We'd love to have you join along - just put DDC in the keyword when you load your card in your Split Coast Gallery. You can see all the DDC cards here

And I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Destin's 8th birthday party that I attended on Sunday.

Here he is with his sister Eden (my God-Daughter) enjoying cake and ice cream. Poor Destin is allergic to practically all foods - so he couldn't even eat his cake - but his mother gave him special ice cream and sauce.

And here he is with his brand new Red Sox baseball cap on - diving into more of his presents. You may be able to see - he hardly has any front teeth right now! They are suddenly all falling out at the same time!Thanks so much for dropping by today!

Stamps: Free Digi Image: Whimsie Doodles, Papertrey Ink: Birthday Basics, Women of Life
Paper: PTI: White, Pure Poppy, DP Cosmo Cricket Early BIrd Sunrise/over easy
Ink: none
Accessories: nestabilities: tag trio, classic inverted scalloped square, Copics: YG03, YG11, YG13, YG17, YG63, Y21, BG96, G82, G17, E13, E37, R09, R20, Glue dots, foam dimensionals, Martha Stewart Punch, PTI Vintage Buttons

Sometimes Prayer is the Only Gift We Can Give

A quick Note! They have extended the deadline to sign up for the Stamping Around Weekend in Farmington CT - so if you want to get in on this super fun stamping weekend see more info and sign up here!


I made this little book of Bible Verses to give to an Interim Assistant Pastor who is leaving our church this Sunday. During his year with us he ran a weekly Bible Study group that I particpated in. I wanted to give him something to remind him of our spiritual time together - so I found verses about prayer as well as discerning God's path for us. He is semi retiring and looking for a part time pastor position in VA where his family is from so he really doesn't know what will happen next for him and his wife.

Phillippians 1:25 Romans 12:2 (click on pic to see larger)

2 Corinthians 1:11 Psalm 16:8-9

James 5:16 Psalm 139: 3, 5-7, 9-10

Psalm 119:2 Psalm 32:8

And this is a picture of our church (that my father drew for the church many years ago so it's really special to me) that I put on the last page so Fr. Charles will remember his time with us whenever he takes out this little book.

I cut out the pages from cardboard with the Top Note die from Stampin Up - then cut out pieces of designer paper with the same die and attached it to all of the cardboard pages - front and back. The verses are computer generated and printed onto Vintage Cream. I cut them out and attached them over the designer paper. I punched holes in the top left corner of each page with my Crop a Dile and put a silver chain through the holes. You could add flowers or other accessories to each page as well as the cover - but I wanted the verses to be the focus so I left it all plain. I think the designer paper has enough color and design on it to make it nice to look at. The cover stamp is by The Stamp Pad Co and I used Labels One Nestabilities to frame it.

I'm teaching two classes at the Paper Tree in Manchester, NH Saturday - and Sunday we're having the farewell party for Fr. Charles and his wife Debbie - then I have an 8 year old's birthday party to attend - so I may not be back until Monday unless I can slip in a little stamping time! Have a super weekend everyone - and thanks so much for stopping by -

remember to check out Stamping Around if you are in the Connecticut/New England area!

Stamps: The Stamp Pad Co.

Paper: PTI: vintage cream,

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: SU: Top Note Die, Tandy Leather: chain, Crop a Dile, Nestabilities: Labels One, computer generated verses.

Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop - A Quilted Summer

I'm so excited to be participating in the Papertrey Blog Hop this month! A first for me! We had to create a card or project inspired by the lazy days of summer and show a picture of where our inspiration came from.

Well - this picture from the Pottery Barn July 2009 catalogue really caught my eye. It reminded me of my childhood summers when my parents would let my sister and me sleep on our screened in porch where it was cooler at night. Of course we had camp cots and sleeping bags... but it was the same cozy feeling as these wonderful quilts.

And here are four 'quilt' cards that I created from this inspiration.
I wanted to share with you a little bit of how I put these together. First I made a full sheet of 'quilt' using the Guide Lines paper and Guide Lines Two stamp set and many different colors of Papertrey Ink.! I stamped each design 14 times in the same color randomly around the blocks until the page was filled.

Then I cut them up into rectangles so they were like little quilts. I got 4 out of the sheet so I made 4 cards! I wanted them to be a little antique looking so I used the Camomile tea dye ink on the edges and then daubed it all over each "quilt". Here you can hopefully see them plain, edged, and daubed all over. I also cut around the edges with deckled edge scissors.
Here is a close up of each card. I ran each 'quilt' through my crimper and I used a corner rounder punch on the Bitty Dots designer paper behind each quilt. I pierced around the edges of the Rustic Cream card stock. I went over the grid lines with a light gray Copic to give each square a little definition. The sentiments are from Quilter's Sampler and Quilter's Sampler Sentiments.

These are all very Mish Wooderson-esque dont you think??? Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: PTI: Guide Lines Two, Quilters Sampler Sentiments, Quilters Sampler

Paper: PTI: Lavender Moon, Rustic Cream, Guide Lines, DP Bitty Dots Basics.

Ink: PTI: Hibiscus, Ocean Tides, Summer Sunrise, Plum Pudding, Spring Rain, Lemon Tart, Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, Tsukeniko: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: McGill: heart punch, Spellbinders: Deckled mega rectangle Nestabilities, SU: Deckled edge scissors, piercing tool, pad and grid, Fiskars: Crimper, PTI: Dotted swiss satin ribbons - Summer Sunrise, Lavender Moon, Aqua Mist, Berry Sorbet, Copics: C1, Zutter: 1/4" corner rounder,

Fresh Baked Color Inspiration

I made this cute little card for Kristen Werner's Color Inspiration #55. The colors were grey, rust, mustard and cream.

The gingerbread man is from a wonderful set by Waltzingmouse Stamps called Half Baked. I embossed the card with the swiss dots Cuttlebug folder and used the Labels Two by Spellbinders and oval Nestabilities for the framings. I added a little piercing on two sides and brads to the corners.

I fooled around with the layers a lot before finally attaching them all like this. And after I was done I realized that it looks like the little man is on a grey cookie sheet right out of the oven! A not planned fun design outcome!

ETA: just found out that they've extended the cut off date for registration to Thursday for the Stamping Around Workshop in Farmington CT - so check that out if you are interested!!

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps: Half Baked
Paper: SU: Really Rust, More Mustard, Basic Grey, PTI: vintage cream
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Adirondack: Butterscotch
Accessories: foam dimensioinals, Making Memories: Brads, Nestabilities: Ovals, Spellbinders: Labels Two, paper piercer

Pieced Sympathy

The Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge over at Split Coast was to do paper piecing on your card. I made 3 paper pieced layers on my flower. First I stamped it directly on the card stock - then on the lighter purple dotted designer paper, cut that out and layered it over the first stamping with foam dimensionals. Then I stamped the flower again on dark purple dotted DP and yellow dotted DP, cut out the smaller pieces and layered them over the flower.

I've been loving the drawn framings I've seen on cards lately so I tried it out here using my white gel pen. I really like how it came out.

Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card this week as my good friend's FIL passed away yesterday - so that's what I made today. All the stamps are from Papertrey Ink - I love this flower that is from Friends Till the End - inside (not shown) I stamped a sentiment from the With Sympathy set "Although no words can really help to ease the loss you bear, just know that you are very close in love and prayer". The "With Deepest Sympathy" stamp is from Everday Classics which is not for sale but was sent to customers who purchased a certain amount of sets last year.

A few reminders about Tuesday 6/23:

It's the last day you can sign up for the Stamping Around Workshop in Farmington CT - so check that out if you are interested.

Claire Brennan at Waltzingmouse will have her wonderful Irish Heritage stamp sets available for purchase so be sure to check it out! She's been having wonderful previews for the last few days.

Remember to check out H&M Stamps - Heather is continuing her blow out sale!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: PTI: Friends Till the end, Every Day Classics (not available for sale), With Sympathy
Paper: PTI: Plum Pudding, Bitty Dot Basics
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Foam dimensionals

You're Tweet!

Stef showed us a wonderful little kids shoe website, Bugaloo, for the inspiration challenge over at Split Coast. I was inspired by many of them! but finally settled on this cute pair.I cut my branch with a Sizzix leaf/stem die and the cut outs are a leaf from Spellbinder Flower Creations 3. The bird is a Spellbinder also. The only stamping on this is the Amuse sentiment. I used a corner rounder on the off-white Bazzill panel and popped it up on foam dimensionals so you could see more depth where the leaves are cut out.

My DH has deserted me and gone up to his sister's cottage in NH for a few days to help her with some renovations in her kitchen and bathroom - so I'm going to be here all alone with my kitties and probably have to stamp the whole time - don't you feel sorry for me!?!!? (That's why it's 2 am and I'm still up and posting a card!!)

Have a great weekend everyone - we just may float away here in rainy New England - but boy - is the grass really GREEN!

ETA: Hot tip! you must hop over and see the Waltzingmouse (Claire Brennan) she has samples of her new Irish Heritage stamp sets being released next Tuesday - and they are just lovely!!

Stamps: Amuse: Nature
Paper: white: PTI, Bazzill off white and brown, Baja Breeze: SU
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Spell binders flower Creations 3, Spellbinders Bird, Brad: Basic Grey, ruffled ribbon: Unknown, corner rounder, micron pen, foam dimensionals, Sizzix Leaf Stem

A Few Drinks, A Few Laughs & My Stamping Assistant

Here is my card for the Ways to Use it Challenge on Split Coast which was to use some kind of text stamp on your card - I used a fun Martini's background stamp from Rubbernecker which I stamped over designer paper that had dotted circles on it (sort of like the bubbles in drinks I'm thinking!?!) My fun Diva is Addy Tude - by Stampingbella and I slipped this cute little cocktail napkin by EK Success over the ribbon. (it says "a few drinks, a few laughs" in case you can't read it in the pic!)

The sketch was a Doubledog Dare Challenge from Beverly (beestamper) last week. You can check out the DDC Challenge Forum here we'd love to have you play along - just put DDC in the keyword when you load your card on Split Coast

I wanted to share with you this picture of my stamping assistant - Scout. Here she is adjusting the location of the Diva Circle on today's card - isn't she doing a swell job?!?


And here she is in one of her favorite resting spots - on top of the piles of papers that I print off of blogs with ideas or challenges that I want to do. I have a nice little blanket on top of one of my rolling drawer cabinets where she sits most of the time. This table area is supposed to be empty clean space and periodically I organize and put all the papers in appropriate places - but then somehow it just piles up once again! And you can see about half of my Papertrey Ink stamp sets in the CD racks here as well as some The Greeting Farm and Magnolias that I store in CD cases. The plastic drawers have wooden stamps by topic, one has my embossing supplies, another all my adhesives, and another my clear acrylic blocks.

Scout's sister, Boo, comes in now and then and sits on the windowsill just to be social - but she's not into the stamping the way Scout is! Scout will actually cry when I am downstairs asking me to "come on up to the stamping room now mum!!!" (as if I need to be asked?! LOL!)

and - Just a reminder! if you want to go to the Stamp New England Workshop in Farmingon, CT on July 10th & 11th - you need to sign up by Tues 6/23 so hop on over and check it out today!!

To see the fun we had at the March Workshop in Portsmouth, NH - look here and here

Stamps: Drinks bg stamp: Rubbernecker, Addy Tude Diva: Stampingbella
Paper: white: PTI, basic black, baja breeze: SU, DP Scenic route/North Shore in the tube
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: foam dimensionals, small circle punch: Marvy, summer sunrise swiss dots satin ribbon: PTI, cocktail napkin: EK Success, Scallop ed tag: Spellbinders, gemstones: Hero Arts & Amuse, Copics: Y38, YR02, colorless blender, E00, BG10, BG13, T2