Fall Harvest

Here is the card I made for Allison's Suggestive Sunday challenge for this week. The challenge was to make a project with a fall harvest theme.

I used the pumpkin stamp from So Grateful (Gina K) and leaves from Autumn Leaves (Gina K). The images are colored with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended with OMS. I cut them out and embossed them with clear embossing powder.

The oval is Very Vanilla sponged with Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip ink, then stamped with the small leaf from Autumn Harvest. I used a gold gel pen on the edges of the Basic Black and Chocolate Chip layers. The card base is Creamy Caramel.

Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake Ever - Click at your own risk. I accept no responsibility. If you want, you can blame my sister for sharing it with me.

Have a great day!

Butterfly Dreams

The DH and I went to see Eagle Eye yesterday. Wow, what an intense movie. I recommend it, but be sure to take your blood pressure meds first, though. LOL.

The Try a New Technique Challenge on SCS today was to use the batik technique. Can't say I love this technique, but it was fun to try something new.

I colored the butterfly with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended it with odorless mineral spirits.

Next I cut out the image and covered it with Versa Mark ink, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. (Repeat X 2)

For the batik backgroun, I stamped the tree on water color paper with Versa Mark and heat embossed it with clear EP.

Next I filled some spritzer bottles with a little water and few drops of yellow, red and tangerine inks. I spritzed the paper with those until I was happy with the results and let the paper dry.

Then I sandwiched the paper between some scrap paper and ironed it to lift the embossing, leaving a flat surface.

The card base is Creamy Caramel. All images are from Unity Stamp co.

Have a great day!

Edited to add...

Angela just posted a super sweet discount at Unity. Check it out.

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Starting at 9 central Tuesday ending at MIDNIGHT!!
September 30, 2008
Orders over $100.00 get a FREE {a} Handle!
COUPON CODE:
SEPT931
{can not be used with other coupon offers}
CLEANING OUT INVENTORY for SEPTEMBER!
GO SHOP!

Tin Trading Card

I participated in a swap in the Gina K forums recently. The swap was for tin trading cards, just like ATC's but small enough to fit in an Altoid tin.

This is the TTC I made. I used the daisy from Flowers for Daisy and the lavender & sentiment from Botanical Dreams. I colored the daisy with Koh-i-noor pencils and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The background is sponged on glossy cardstock.

The dimensions for the TTC's were 2 by 3 1/4 with rounded corners. This was my first swap. It was fun and I love seeing all the wonderful TTC's that I received. They are pictured below.


Aren't they all terrific?! I am definitely planning to do more swaps.

Christmas Hugs

The limited supplies challenge at SCS was Holy Jolly Critters. The goal was to make a Christmas themed card using an animal stamp. This little bear, from Melanie's set, Jumping For Joy, has always reminded me of Christmas, so I inked him up with Stazon.

I colored the bear with Koh-i-noor pencils, then cut him out. Next I rubbed him on a Versa Mark pad, then heat embossed him with clear embossing powder. The little Santa hat is hand drawn, colored with Bic markers and heat embossed also.

For the background I inked up a stamp from Lovely as a Tree (SU) with Versa Mark, then Not Quite Navy. I stamped the image, then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Next, I masked off the snow area and then sponged the sky with Bashful Blue and Ballet Blue. The snowflakes are from a white gel pen.

I used a glue pen and some glitter to make some snow drifts. In a happy accident, I noticed that the glitter stuck to the trees, so I heat set it in before I brushed away the glitter and it stuck in the embossed trees. It is hard to tell in the photos, but those trees really glisten.

The sentiment is from a new SU set called Heard from the Heart. I thought it was perfect for this card.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your day is fantastic!

Berry Sweet

Good morning and happy Friday! This is my first card using Treehouse stamps. This set is called Life's a Picnic. I made it for yesterdays challenge at SCS, which was to use a charm somewhere on your project.

The images are stamped with Stazon and colored with Koh-i-noor pencils. I cut them out and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I mounted them on small Bashful Blue panels and put those on a layer of Very Vanilla that I had sponged with Certainly Celery and dry embossed with my Swiss Dots folder.

The little charm hanging on the ribbon is made from Shrinky Dinks. I wasted a whole sheet trying to get that one little charm made and it still didn't come out very well. I think I need a lesson in what inks/coloring supplies to use with polyshrink.

Anyone have any suggestions for an ink to use with polyshrink or how to get it not to smear without heat setting it? I used Stazon, but it didn't work very well.

Trash to Treasure - SCTL8

Good morning. It is my turn to host the Stamping Gals challenge this week. I chose Trash to Treasure as the theme. Visit Stamping Links to Love for all the details of this challenge.

That big butterfly is from Butterfly Beauty from Unity Stamp Company and the bamboo is from Gratitude = Joy also from Unity.


I colored the butterfly with my Bic Markers and sponged the background with Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Bashful Blue and Ballet Blue.

That nifty panel in the back is trimmed from a coffee sleeve and is my Trash to Treasure piece. The card base is Kiwi Kiss. I am loving that color.

This card is also for the Stamp Something Challenge this week which is to use embellishments. I added a row of plastic wiggle eyes from Michaels. I like to use these in place of brads when I am putting them directly on my card base, so I won't have the little brad legs poking through the other side.

Thanks for visiting. I hope your day is fantastic!

Just so Spooky

Don't you just love making Halloween cards? I do. For this card, I broke out Melanie's Just So Sporty set and combined it with sentiments from Spooky Silhouettes. I used the sketch from today's challenge at SCS.


I colored the sweatshirt with Koh-i-noor pencils and blended it with odorless mineral spirits. I used my Bic markers for a little extra shading in the creases.

The sweatshirt is cut out and popped up with dimensionals. The three panels were all created using Whisper White card stock and sponging with Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery and Tangerine Tango. I also stamped each panel with two of the bats from Spooky Silhouettes using the same ink colors.

I hope you have a fantastic day.

A Giggle Tree

The color challenge at SCS today was Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla. I just got this stamp set (Giggle Grove from Unity) and inked it up for the first time today.

I stamped the images with black Stazon and colored them with Koh-i-noor pencils, blended with OMS. I cut them out and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder for the back ground and sponged with Kiwi Kiss ink. The card base is Baja Breeze. These new in colors are growing on me.

Have a great day!

Touch of Kindness

A few weeks ago, a stamp set called Whimsical Autumn, illustrated by Cammie, was released by Gina K Designs. Cammie is donating all of her proceeds from this set to the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, in honor of her grandmother, who recently passed away after suffering for years with the disease. . You can read more about it here.

Now, in honor of World Alzheimer’s Day Cammie is having a huge blog candy giveaway. Be sure to go check it out. There are a ton of prizes, all going to one lucky person, from companies like Gina K, My Favorite Things, Verve, Flourishes, Scor Pal, Unity, High Hopes, Stamping Bella, and the list goes on and on. Over $1000 in prizes!

My card today is for Cammie's blog candy contest and I will be sending it to the staff at the home where her grandmother was cared for. It also meets the Staming Links to Love challenge this week, set by Jennifer, our newest Stamping Gal. Our challenge this week was to use at least 5 leaves on our project.

The images are from Touch of Nature (retired SU). The were stamped with black on Stazon and heat embossed with clear embossing powder, then colored with watercolor pencils. Next I cut out the images, heat embossed the entire images with clear and adhered them to the sponged background.

The orange layer is More Mustard, sponged with Pumpkin Pie. The card base is Close to Cocoa, sponged with Chocolate Chip.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Official Thanks

Have you seen Melanie's new set, Just So Sporty? I love this set. It is so great for masculine cards and sports enthusiasts. When my daughter was younger, she participated in soccer, softball and basketball. Most of the refs and umpires back then were volunteers and the team moms usually tried to do something nice for them at the end of each season.

Although I don't need any ref cards these days, I made this card with in honor of all those dedicated volunteers that officiate our kids' games.

I started by stamping the sport shirt from Just So Sporty on Whisper White cardstock.

Next I used some small post-its to mask off the areas where I didn't want stripes.

I used a small scrap of cardstock to make a template for the stipes. I used my slot punch to make two lines, by punching it and then sliding it down slightly and punching again, until the lines were long enough to fit the shirt.

Here is the template after I finished it. I laid it on the shirt, where I wanted my stripes and sponged with Basic Black ink.

After my first two stripes were done, I moved the template over and lined up the right stripe with the left opening and sponged my next stripe. Doing it this way kept my stripes evenly spaced.

After the body of the shirt was done, I re-positioned my post-its so that only the tops of the sleeves were showing, and then added stripes to those. Next I cut out my image.

I popped up the shirt on a layer of Baja Breeze (SU), that I stamped with greetings from Just So Sporty. The lower layer is Saharra Sand, stamped with numbers from Just So Sporty.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your day is wonderful!

Gratitude = Joy and a RAK from Allison

The other day I mentioned that I won some terrific blog candy from Allison. Well, it got here already and she also included this gorgeous card and altered notepad. Aren't they pretty? I love DP she used and how she added the yellow panels. It really makes the flowers on the DP pop.

Have you been to Allison's blog? (you probably have, it is one of the most popular stamping blogs out there) If not, check it out. She always has fabulous eye candy, funny posts and lots of great blogging tips.


Included in the blog candy from Allison, was a Perfectly Paisley embossing folder for my Cuttlebug, and I pulled it out right away to use on this card I was making for today's inspiration challenge at SCS and Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge.

My goal was to make a quick, elegant card and it came together fast until it was time to tie the bow on the ribbon. If you have ever seen Sharon's work, you know that she is a master at the use of ribbons and bows. I was inspired by her to use a wider ribbon that I usually do. In the end, it took about twice as long to tie the bow as it did to make the rest of the card. Looks like I need some practice.

I stamped an image from Gratitude = Joy (Unity Stamp Co.) with black Stazon and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I sponged the background with Certainly Celery and Old Olive ink.

For the cuttlebug layer, I inked up the negative side of my new embossing folder and ran it through. The card base is Kiwi Kiss (new in-color from SU).

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your weekend is a lot of fun!

Friend to Friend

The limited supply challenge at SCS today was a tough one. You could only use white/vanilla as the main color with black or brown and one other color as accents, no sponging and no coloring except with your accent color. Ouch.

Once I got over my fear, this card came together in about 20 minutes, which is lightning speed for me.

The image is stamped with black Stazon ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The main image is from Botanical Dreams (Gina K Designs) and the sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes (Stampin' Up).

Have a great day!

Pinked Up Dream Tree

The Ways to Use It challenge at SCS today is to use a silhouette stamp and Allison's suggestive Sunday challenge is also silhouettes, so I created this card for both, as well as a Unity challenge.

The tree is from Growing in Unity (Unity Stamp Co) and I stamped it with black stazon and heat embossed it with clear. I sponged the background with Regal Rose ink and added some gems. The card base is Pink Pirouette card stock, one of the new in colors at SU.

Have a great day!

Autumn Harvest

I made this card for the sketch challenge at SCS today. I used two new Gina K stamp sets, Autumn Leaves and So Grateful.

I colored the images with Koh-i-noor colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. Then I cut them out and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

Stamps - So Grateful (pumpkins), Autumn Leaves (leaves) from Gina K Designs
Paper - Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal,
Ink - Apricot Appeal, Chocolate Chip, Black Stazon

Thank you so much to everyone that sent prayers and kind thoughts to my grandma. She is doing very and got to go home from the hospital. It turned out to be an infection and after receiving IV antibiotics, she started showing improvement right away. What a relief that she didn't need surgery.

Thanks again, Theresa

Chic Christmas Tree

Here is a card I made for this weeks challenge at 2Sketches4You and the color challenge at SCS. It is also a case of this card by Jennifer Buck. It was just announced that Jennifer became a member of the Dirty Dozen at SCS. Yay! Congrats to Jennifer. Her work is amazing.


I used the tree from Eco Chic (Unity) and colored it with Koh-i-noor pencils, blended with OMS. I added some red gems to give it a Christmassy feel. There is a layer of Riding Hood Red and an Old Olive layer below that.

I hope you have a great day!

P.S. I just got word from my mom that my grandma is in the hospital. Not sure exactly what the problem is just yet. It might be kidney stones, possibly requiring surgery. She is in terrible pain. If you have a moment to send a prayer or positive thoughts her way, I would so appreciate it.

Thanks, Theresa.

Haunted Mansion

I have a bunch of fun new stamps to play with and this is the first set I inked up. It is called Spooky Silhouettes from Gina K Designs. I made this for three challenges, Jen Del Muro's sketch challenge, the featured stamper challenge at SCS and Allison's Sugestive Sunday challenge which is to make a card inspired by "home."

This is the card I chose to case for the featured stamper, Lazylizard. I changed the layout completely, used different stamps and sponged the background behind the images.

I stamped the image with black Stazon and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I stamped the sun with Versa Mark and heart embossed it as well. I sponged the background starting with So Saffron and working darker toward the edges, with More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red.

Have a great Sunday!

Christmas Dress with Tutorial

I made this card using the tee shirt stamp from Little Tee's and the dress from Retro Boutique, both sets from Gina K Designs. Read on for a brief tutorial on how I did this.

Start by stamping both images.

I used Bic markers to color my images. You don't have to color the entire images, since they will both be trimmed.

Next, I trimmed both images. I removed the sleeves from the tee and cut about 1 1/8 of the skirt from the dress. I also trimmed the ruffle from the skirt. Then I covered both with Versa Mark and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

Next I added Snow Texture (pictured above - from Michaels) to the neck of the tee and bottom of skirt.


I assembled the dress by laying the skirt over the tee and added a piece of 1/8 inch black grosgrain ribbon as a belt.

I don't have a santa hat, so I drew this one.


Colored, embossed and added Snow Texture as above.

Finally, I assembled my card. The dress is popped up with dimensionals. I added gems to the belt and sides of the card base.

I did the Certainly Celery oval layer by stamping with the wheat image from Flowers For Daisy with Garden Green ink and sponged the edges with Old Olive. The card base is Kiwi Kiss card stock (new SU in-color).

Thanks for visiting. I hope your weekend is filled with fun and laughter!

Whew, it's done!

So here is my challenge card for SLTL. Anna picked out a great inspiration piece.

This stamp is from Joy to the World from Unity Stamp Co. I stamped it with black Stazon and then heat embossed with clear. The background is sponged with Almost Amethyst and Lavender Lace. The card base is Bashful Blue.

Dream For a Friend

This card is for the Ways to Use It challenge at SCS today. The challenge was to use a white gel pen in new ways to you. Well, not hard for me to do since I haven't used one before.

I didn't get very creative and just added some white dots around my scallops. I am not fond of my white gel pen, so I never use it. I need to get one that works better.

The daisys are from Flowers For Daisy (Gina K Designs) and are colored with Koh-i-noor pencils. I cut the flowers out and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

"Dream" is from Botanical Gardens (Gina K Designs) and the Friend to Friend sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes (Stampin' Up).

The top layer is glossy white cardstock that I sponged with So Saffron and Certainly Celery. The purple layer is Almost Amethyst that I sponged the edges of with Almost Amethyst ink. The card base is Certainly Celery.

I am still working on the SLTL challenge card. Wish me luck!