Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge

Good Morning! In my excitement to share the cute little hippo with you yesterday, I forgot about the Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge. Sorry about that, but it's here today!

This card is probably one of the most brightly colored ones I've made, but it sure does look nice against the white snow that's falling outside of my window right now! The stamps I used are from Hero Arts and are called Flower Pops. The background paper is Two Scoops from Basic Grey and the ricrac is some I had in my stash. The scalloped circles are punched from Bazzill Bling and the gems are from Hero Arts and Mark Richards. Oh, the little Hello circle stamp is a clear stamp from Stampendous. It was fun to use these stamps, I hadn't used them in a long while!

I got a new Pottery Barn catalog in the mail yesterday with some fun things in it. I'm going to use some of the pages as inspiration for my cards. Lots of ideas are going around in my head :) So look for that in the near future.



Our quote for the day "Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people." - Barbara Bush






When you get your creations made with your unloved stamps, be sure to leave a comment with a link to them so we can all take a peek. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

A Darling Hippo :)

Good Morning! I hope everyone is having a great week! It's busy for us getting back into the routine after being off for spring break, but we're managing.

Today's card features a Quickutz die exclusive to Archiver's. There are actually 4 of them, this hippo, a giraffe, a chick and a monkey. I bought the hippo and the giraffe so soon you will see something made with the giraffe as well :) I know this cute hippo just screams baby cards, but I wanted to use him for something else because I don't make that many baby cards. So I found this old rub-on from SEI and I knew it would be perfect! The card base is from Crafts Etc (I got them at Hobby Lobby) and they're textured. The patterned paper is Two Scoops from Basic Grey, the ribbon is from Michaels and the baubles are dew drops from the Robin's Nest. I just used scrap papers to die cut my hippo. I just can't help but smile when I look at him though, he's just so cute! The little teeth are just perfect. I didn't ink anything on this card, I kept wanting to but deciding not to. I did however chalk the hippo a little bit to give him a little more dimension. I definitely had fun with this one.

Our quote for the day, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." -Cicero

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for stopping by. Oh and a quick update on the Lady Tigers basketball team. They are doing well in the NCAA tournament so far. They are in the Sweet Sixteen and will be playing sometime this weekend! Geaux Tigers!!!

Sara's Creation

Good Morning! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. We got some snow flurries but nothing that really stuck to the ground. :) I haven't been getting a lot of stamping done recently but Sara on the other hand has done some of her own, so I decided to share her's instead.

I love this card. She took some scraps I had laying on the table to make it. I love that she isn't afraid to just get in there and try stuff. She had gotten the happy birthday sentiment stamped and decided that she still needed something else. We looked at flourishes, but she thought they were all too big, so she ended up stamping off of her card so she would only get part of the flourish. I also love that she used brown cardstock with this patterned paper, I would have used black but I really like the brown with it a lot! I really do learn alot from what she creates and I'm really thankful for that!! Thanks Sara!

Our quote of the day: "You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. "
— Marian Wright Edelman


Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Spring :)

Good Morning! I'm a very happy girl today! As I sit here typing I can hear the birds singing and I've seen more than one robin. These things mean spring is really on it's way. Now I know that we can still have snow, but hearing the birds sing in the morning really makes me happy! I'm a pretty simple girl :)

This card is not one of my favorites. I think it's because the colors are too muted for me. I think also because the ribbon buckle is too big for the ribbon. But see the felt flower on the 'happy' sentiment? I found those at Pier 1! They are really cute and come in yellow, pink, green and orange in a pack all together for $2.50. They are a little bit puffy too, fun! I did put glossy accents on the letter in "happy" and that helped it for me too and I really like the flowers stamped on top of the striped paper. I used Colorbox Chalk ink so you can still see through the flowers to the stripes and I really like that. So there are some things I like about it, but just the whole card together doesn't do much for me. I guess I'm just a bright color girl! I'm working on some other spring cards for a swap and I'm liking them much better so when I get finished I'll share those as well.

Our quote for the day: " Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get...Only with what you are expecting to give...which is everything." - Katharine Hepburn

Have a great spring day and thanks for stopping in!

Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge

Good afternoon! I know, I'm posting at the wrong time again, but it's Spring Break here and my routine is a little out of whack. :) But, it's love an unloved stamp challenge day and my card for today is simple but fun! I love red, it's probably my favorite color so when I was doing this black and white card I knew that red would be my accent color, it just really makes it pop!



I started with a plain white card base and used a cuttlebug embossing folder to do the embossing and then added some KI Memories patterned paper to the bottom. I used Brilliance black ink to ink the edges of the card as well as the tops of the embossed part (that part was really fun). The stamp I used is one of the $1 stamps at Michaels and I've had it for probably over a year. I know I've used it once, but I think that's all, so it needed some love! I stamped in Versafine Black ink and then colored the flower with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. A gem went in the center of the flower and then I rounded the corners of the sentiment piece and inked the edges in Colorbox chalk ink in warm red. The ribbon is from Michaels and it's one of the ones that came packaged on those clothes pins that they aren't selling anymore (or at least my stores haven't had them in a while). That's it!



If you love an unloved stamp, please put a link in the comments so we can see what you've done with your stamps.



Our quote for the day: " Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck." - unknown



Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Easter is almost here :)

Good Morning! It's overcast and rainy here this morning, but I'm not complaining because it's not snowing :) I like the rain, especially in the spring when it's kind of warm and the rain smells so good! I love how the plants and flowers always seem to grow a little extra after a spring rain too!

This morning I'm sharing another Easter card I made last year. Sara and I went shopping all day yesterday and weren't very successful, but we had fun. I however didn't get any stamping done. So, last year's Easter card it is. Same products as yesterday's card, Reminisce papers, purple shimmer paper, this time I added ribbon and cut one of the chickies out and pop dotted him onto a circle inked in purple. I added the sentiment on the inside of this card with I scalloped square punch and some eggs that I punched with a little EKSuccess egg punch.

Today's quote for the day: "Things are only impossible until they're not." - Jean-Luc Picard. Kind of a heavy quote for today, but if you think about it, everyday we see things that are happening that at one time were thought to be impossible. Don't underestimate yourself or anyone else.

Tomorrow is Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge day. I'll be working on mine this evening. How about you?



Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

A Card from the Vault :)

Good Morning! I hope you had a great weekend. This was the first weekend that we didn't have any games, or tournaments to go to. It was kind of weird, I kept thinking I was forgetting about something. It's okay though, next week we'll be back to normal :) I did get some cards made this weekend, but I haven't taken pictures of them yet, so I pulled one out of the vault for this morning. It's a very simple card I did for Easter last year, but I still love the Reminisce papers! This one was so easy because I used two pieces of paper, the purple shimmer paper base and the Reminisce chicks which have the plaid on the opposite side. I added the May Arts ribbon and stamped the Happy Easter onto a Quickutz tag and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. Super easy!

Sara has made a couple cards lately that I want to share with you too. So as soon as I get pictures taken I will do that. She amazes me!

Our quote for the day: "Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still." - Chinese proverb

I'm thinking about adding some other things to my blog so if you have any suggestions on what you would like to see, leave me a comment and let me know. I haven't been scrapbooking much lately, so I'm thinking about doing more of that in addition to the cards, what are you thoughts? More challenges, sketches, cardmaking tips - let me know your thoughts.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Easter Blessings

Good Morning! Another Easter card this morning, using some of the same things I used on yesterday's card. By looking at how many cards I use the same papers and embellishments on you would think that I wouldn't have too many scraps left, but that would not be the case. I don't know if I told you about this part of my scrapbook room re-do, but my wonderful hubby is making a desk/work table with cabinets on the ends. The cabinets are going to have drawers that hold my paper scraps. It's going to be kind of like a filing cabinet in that I will have hanging files with my paper scraps sorted. One drawer will have cardstock separated by color and another will have patterned paper separated by color. In the past I have sorted by color and found that it works very well for me. I find that I reach for my scraps way more often if they are easily accessible. Right now, while I'm in the middle of this re-do, I haven't been using my 'stuff' as efficiently and I'm ready to get it all organized. Oh well, everything in it's time right? Anyway....

For this card I used a white card base and two of my old shimmer papers that I don't know the manufacturer of. The one that looks kind of silver is really a pale lavender. I used my cuttlebug embossing folder on both the lavender and the gold. The cross stamp is one of the single clear stamps by Stampendous. I embossed it in silver and then colored the flowers with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. I layered two Marvy scallop punches and pop-dotted the top one onto the bottom. The Easter Blessings stamp is a wood mounted Stampendous stamp. This was a fun one to make.

Our quote for the day: "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are." - Marianne Williamson

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day and weekend!!!

He Has Risen...

Hi! Sorry this post isn't in it's usual time slot. But hopefully you will think it was worth it. This card is one of my Easter cards for this year. I love it because it's simple and yet it makes it's point! I started with prism cardstock, and then added patterned paper from Paper Adventures. It's a paper I've had for a few years and it has some shine to it in between the swirls, it's really pretty in real life. The cross stamp as well as the flourishes in the corners are from Paper Trey Ink, the set Everyday Blessings, you can find it here, http://papertreyink.com/stamps_everydayblessings.html . It's a beautiful set! The He has risen is from a Studio G $1 stamp from Michaels, the actual stamp has a cross on it, but I only inked the words. The cross and the sentiment are stamped on white cardstock in Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink. The flourishes are stamped in ColorBox chalk ink in Yellow Cadmium and the scalloped circle is inked in that as well. Then I matted the cross image with a shimmery gold paper that I don't know who made. I've had it for some time as well. I put pearl embellishments on the cross and created "light" coming from the center by coloring it with Copic marker #Y21 Buttercup yellow. The cross image is adhered flat to the card and the sentiment is pop-dotted.

Our quote for the day: "The future depends on what we do in the present." - Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge

Good Morning! It's Wednesday and it's Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge. It's still cold here although we are warming up a bit, but only temporarily :( So, I decided to use a stamp that makes me feel warm.





This stamp is part of a set from Hero Arts called Word Confetti. I used a really fun technique on this one. I stamped the image in VersaMark and then took chalk and the little pom poms and pounced the chalk onto the versamarked image. The more chalk you put on the darker it gets. It also darkens a little bit as it dries. I started with blue cardstock for my base and cut about 1/2" off the right hand side of the front of the card. I lined the inside of the right hand side with the striped patterned paper and then put the paisley on the front of the card. I think this paper is from Kaleidoscope, but I'm not certain. It's old though. I cut around my stamped image leaving a small white border and then attached it to the front of the card letting a little bit hang over the edge. Then I stapled a piece of ribbon to the image and that was it. Very easy, but a fun technique.

What unloved stamp are you going to love today? Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your creation so we can all take a look.

Our quote for the day: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength." - St. Francis de Sales




Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to love an unloved stamp today.

Bitsy Bugz Hugs

Good Morning! It's going to be a beautiful day here today, up to 50 degrees!!! Sorry about giving you a weather report every day, but even my children said that they were tired of snow the other day so the sunshine is definitely cause for celebration!

This card is another card I made using Amy Rysavy's sketch from the All That Scraps blog. You can see the original sketch at http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/. For this one I used Making Memories Noteworthy paper collection, CC Designs Bitzy Bugz Luv stamp, prima flowers, and Bellas baubles which are much like Robin's Nest dew drops. Once again the papers I used are double sided which I LOVE!! I colored with prismacolor pencils and minerals spirits and the "hugs" sentiment is from the CC Designs Little Penguins set. Sketches are fun to jumpstart from so if you haven't tried it, give it a go. I think you'll like it.

Our quote for the day: "Courage is very important. Like a muscle , it is strengthened by use." - Ruth Gordon




Remember tomorrow is Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge day. Have a great day today and thanks for stopping by!

Sketches

Good Morning! The sun is shining again today, so it's going to be a happy day! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE days where is just rains and rains and even days when it snows, but we have been running a little short on sunshine days, so these are the ones that make me the happiest right now :)

This card I made with VerveVisual's anniversary birds stamp set which you can see at www.vervevisual.com. They actually have a deal going on right now where you can get the 3 new releases for $45 instead of the full price of $56. All three are really great sets and Julee has great customer service. Julee has a sketch challenge I think every week and I made this card for last week's challenge, but just realized it had to be linked by yesterday and we were at a volleyball tourney all day yesterday. Oh well. I still like the card and it was a fun sketch. You can see her sketches at www.poeticartistry.blogspot.com. I used all Making Memories Noteworthy papers on this one, again using both sides of the double-sided papers. Can I tell you again how much I love double-sided papers!!! This was a really fun and easy card to make, if you like sketches, go check out Julee's!

Our quote for the day: "If you really want something, you can figure out how to make it happen." - Cher

Thanks for stopping by and remember "Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge" will be here Wednesday!

Lovin' the Imaginisce Papers

Good Morning! It's sunshine and no snow in our forecast for today - woo hoo!!! Still cold but working on a warm up.

Happy Birthday Amy!! Feeling any older? :)

Have I told you how much I am loving the Imaginisce papers lately? They are double sided and usually if one side has a big pattern then the reverse side has a smaller pattern and I LOVE that. It works so well for me! All of the papers that I used on this card are from the Imaginisce For Peep's Sake line. The background paper is glittery and then the pink rectangle that the Paper Bliss bunny is on is the reverse side of the background paper. The yellow and green windowpane pieces are also the reverse side of different papers in this same line. It's so nice to know that the paper are all going to coordinate. Makes for easy card making :) I inked around the edge of the entire card with colorbox chalk ink in rose coral. The HAPPY EASTER stamp is from Hero Arts and the flowers are prima.

Our quote for the day: "Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy." - Jacques Maritain.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. Remember the contest that's going on over at http://www.allthatscraps.com/. Be sure to check it out, Christine is giving away some GREAT stuff.

Lots of Fun going on at All That Scraps!

Good Morning! There are lots of fun things going on at http://www.allthatscraps.com/ right now! First of all there is a big contest where you can win all of the stamps released for Christine's 1st anniversary. This is some FUN stuff. She has come up with some new ideas for her stamps that will be included too!!!! The contest doesn't end until March 20th so you have plenty of time. You can find all the details on the ats blog at http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/ , scroll down to the Feb 28th post.


Next, Amy Rysavy is bringing her sketches over to ATS too. This card was made for the latest one. It uses Imaginisce's For Peeps Sake paper for the background and then some other things I've had in my stash. I LOVE the For Peeps Sake line the little daisys on the yellow background actually have some bling in their centers, so cute!!! It's also available at All That Scraps. To see the actual sketch and many other examples using it go to http://www.atsblog.typepad.com/. Definitely go check it out, there's lots of fun to be found there :)

Our quote for the day: "In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us. " - Flora Edwards

Have a great day and be sure to read all about the fun going on over at All That Scraps. Thanks for stopping by!

Bunny Cheeks

Good Morning! Spring is coming, I know it is, I just can't tell by looking out my windows or walking outside. The news this morning said we have a chance of light snow today, but right now the sun is shining and reflecting off the snow that is on the ground. It's beautiful!!!

I wanted to share these two cards with you today to talk about color choices. These cute little bunnies in the metal rims came in a package of Easter embellisments that I just loved. I knew I wanted to use them, but I also saw that they were not exactly alike so I would have to make some small changes to the cards. In this instance they were very small changes. The card on the top has the bunny on a background of mostly green so I didn't want the vertical strip to be green or there wouldn't be enough contrast between the strip and the bunny. The second card has the bunny on a background of yellow so I chose to do that strip green. Very subtle changes in these cards - the background strip, the vertical strip and the color of the fibers. But the changes made a lot of difference in having the bunnies pop off the card. Color really makes a difference.

Okay, now to the details of the cards. The patterned papers are all from imaginisce, they are double sided so everything matches so nicely. The stamp at the top is one of the individual clear stamps from Stampendous, the Happy Easter stamp is from Hero Arts, and I can't believe it but I already threw away the package from the metal embellishments. I'll try to find them online or something and let you know. They are really cute, sorry about that! The fibers are some that I have in my stash, don't know the manufacturer.

Our quote for the day: "One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears--by listening to them." - Dean Rusk




Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!!!

Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge

Good Morning! It's Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge day again. Don't you just love when something turns out even better than you thought it would? I have had this House-Mouse stamp for probably about 4 or 5 years and I have never used it. I love it, I just have been intimidated by it because 1) it's so big and 2) it's intricate so I was afraid my coloring techniques wouldn't do it justice. Well, I am here to tell you that this card was so much fun to make and turned out EXACTLY as I had planned, (that does not happen often at all for me :)

I stamped the mice in VersaFine sepia ink then used prismacolor pencils and minerals spirits to color in and shade. After all the coloring I used Spica glitter pen in yellow to give all the sunflower petals sparkle. I inked around the edge of the stamped image in pale blue and matted it onto brown DCWV cardstock so it has some texture, then stamped "sending you sunshine" which is a stamp from AMuse Artstamps (I LOVE their saying stamps), you can see them at www.amuseartstamps.com . I stamped that in the same versafine sepia ink and then attached the sunflower image to the patterned paper. I can't wait to make a few more of these as they were really fun to do and I feel like I've conquered part of my intimidation of big stamps :)

Find a stamp that you haven't loved lately and create something with it. Leave a comment on this post including a link so we can see your creation.

Our quote for the day: "One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbing blocks." - Jack Penn

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Easter Bunnies

Good morning! I'm still trying to post bright and cheerful cards, because tomorrow we are supposed to get more snow. I actually LOVE to watch it fall, I just don't like to drive in it or be cold all the time. Oh well.

I wanted to show these two cards together because they both use the same products and are an easy way of using your supplies and getting more cards made without have to come up with a totally new idea. The chick and plaid paper are one in the same, just double-sided. The Happy Easter stamp is a wood-mounted stamp from Stampendous. I stamped it on the white cardstock and then stamped it on a bunch of coordinating papers so I could piece the patterned letters onto the white. I also stamped the bunny twice and colored him with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and pop-dotted him onto the original image. I added polka dots to the "s" on each with a white souffle pen and then mounted the image on Bazzill Bling. I added the ribbon at the bottom and called in done. Oh I forgot, I did machine stitch around the whole card, straight stitch on the one on the left and zigzag on the one on the right. I thought they were fun and these Reminisce along with imaginisce papers are quickly becoming some of my favorites! I LOVE double-sided papers.

Remember that tomorrow is "Love an Unloved Stamp Challenge" I'll be working on that today and if you have a chance, try it! It really makes you feel good about using products that you've had for a while :)

Our quote for the day: "The future depends on what we do in the present." - Mahatma Gandhi

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Easter Chick

Good Morning! Guess what we got last night? 3+" of snow!!! So much for being able to see the grass......oh well. I will continue to post cheerful, bright colored cards, to combat the overcast days.

Do you see a pattern in how I make cards? This one used the Anna Griffin paper that I used on the last card. See, I do try to use alot of the paper once I cut into a 12X12. The top part of this card uses one of the new cuttlebug embossing folders, Floral Fantasy. I embossed it onto Bazzill Bling and then tied an American Crafts ribbon around the center. The stamped image includes the Chick (don't you love his hair?) from Studio G designed by Alison Wong (Michaels $1 stamp) and then I added the egg at the bottom. It's from Stampendous' clear stamps that are sold individually. I colored with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and then went over some parts with Spica glitter pens, the whole chickie glitters :) I inked around the stamped image and then matted it on pink shimmer paper and pop-dotted it over the ribbon. Voila - it's finished!

Sometimes I think my cards are too simple, but I like for the image to be the focus of the card and when I try to add too much sometimes it ends up taking away from my cards. So I usually focus on color and what feelings I'm trying to convey with my cards. Serious, whimsical, fun, relaxing.....these things are what I think about when trying to come up with colors and style. Hope you enjoy them!

Our quote for the day: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a GREAT Monday!

The snow is melting........it's melting........

With that title, I'll probably watch the news tonight and see that a huge snowstorm has just popped up over our town! I hope not!!!

Good morning! It feels like a really long time since I posted. Friday I was having camera issues and Saturday we were at a volleyball tournament. It's FINALLY warming up a bit here and the snow is actually melting enough that I can see the grass underneath. Spring is really on it's way. I KNOW that it will be side-tracked by some more snow before it gets here, but I only had to wear a jacket yesterday and that was nice!! :)

This card was fun because I love decorating Easter eggs. The egg stamp is a new wood mounted one from Stampendous and the Have a Happy Easter stamp is one of Stampendous' clear stamps that they sell individually so it's in a little bitty package :) Remind me to tell you about what I have decided to use to store my clear stamps and how much I love it!! Back to the card, the top layer is shimmer paper embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and the bottom is patterned paper from Anna Griffin. I stamped the eggs and the sentiment with Versafine black ink. I really like this ink when I'm watercoloring or using copics, or with prismacolors and mineral spirits, for me it doesn't smear and run like some other black inks do. I do however give it a few minutes to dry well before I start coloring my image, in fact I usually stamp first then put the background of my card together and then go back to the stamped images. I used copics on the big eggs and then cut them out (which was really easy to do with an egg shape :) Then I added the green flower gems. I colored the eggs on the sentiment stamp with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits, then I added some sparkle to them with Spica glitter pens. I rounded the corners of the sentiment matted it onto some Bazzill Bling and rounded those corners too and pop-dotted that over the ribbon that goes over the seam of the papers. It was really fun to do.

About my clear stamp storage, I have been collecting clear stamps for quite a while now and I've never figured out a great way to store them. I LOVE the ones that come in CD cases because I just took one of our old CD holders and I use it to hold those, but the ones that come in the soft plastic packages don't work there. For a while I used accordian style plastic containers that I could store them with like sets together, but I got too many for that to work efficiently. Sooooo, I finally broke down and bought the Clip-It-Up, both tiers and extra clips. I really, really, like this so far and it's working very well for me. I don't have ALL of my clear stamps on it yet as I'm still trying to get stuff back into my room, but I have alot of them on it and it's doing very well. I will take a picture of it and show you, but if you don't have storage for your clear stamps, take a look at this and see if it would work for you!

Our quote for today: "A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!