Happiness Is A Habit

I have enjoyed the Clean & Simple Stamping blog a lot, and found a great layout here that I used as the basis for these 2 cards. I've been meaning to use Hibiscus Burst together with my Dark Chocolate, and this layout just seemed perfect for it. I'm not totally sure about the cream ribbon on the sympathy card. I wanted to try it, even though it just kind of blends in. It is a sympathy card so I'm not going for "WOW!" But I don't know if it's just too blended in. Any opinions? And the happiness card just made me laugh! Are you ever just working along, and something comes to you that you haven't thought of in forever!?!? Well, as soon as I stamped the "happiness" I could hear my mom's voice from childhood. She had a little saying, "Happiness is a habit!" And I haven't thought of that in ages, and it made me laugh out loud!

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, SU Warm Words, River City Rubber Works
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Hibiscus Burst
Cardstock: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Vintage Cream
Accessories: PTI Hibiscus Burst Ribbon, Offray Ribbon

Digiments Card

Here is the card I made using a new "Digiment" from Michelle. She's opening a Digital Stamp store where she will be focusing on sentiments. Digital, sentiments....digiments!!! I thought that was very clever. She's looking for a design team to highlight her products. I haven't tried out for any design teams of any sorts, and decided to give it a shot. A really neat thing about digital stamps, is that you have the ability to resize the image you are using. I know there have been times I've been using a stamp and thought, "Oh, if this was just a little smaller, it would fit perfectly." Or, "I just want this sentiment a little bigger to fill up a little more space." There's my plug, Michelle ;) I like the way that this card turned out, and it will be fun (design team or not) to see what Michelle comes up with in the future.

Stamps: Digiment!
Ink: Colorbox Heliotrope for edging
Cardstock: PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Vintage Cream, SU Kraft
DP: Paper Pizazz
Accessories: Labels One Nestabilites, Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly Punch, Offray Petite Gems

Polka Dots

Well, as you can probably tell from my last few posts, with my last PaperTrey order, I finally got some polka dot accessories! I decided to do some more "clean and simple" cards with my Upsy Daisy set. I just changed up the colors, sentiments, and added some polka dot ribbon this time. This set is perfect for doing quick cards with, because it's just one big image.
Tomorrow, grades should be posted, so I find out what kind of goody I get to buy. I like to reward myself for good grades with stamping purchases! A "B" will earn me a new stamp set, and an "A" just may get me a new set of Nesties!!!

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy, River City Rubber Works Sentiments
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Ocean Tides
Cardstock: PTI Berry Sorbet, PTI Ocean Tides
Accessoreis: PTI Berry Sorbet Swiss Dot Ribbon, PTI Ocean Tides Swiss Dot Ribbon

Mojo Monday

It's been a few weeks since I played along with any of the Mojo Monday sketches, and today was the perfect day to participate again. I thought this sketch was really fun to use. I've been trying to build my stash of baby cards because I have so many family and friends due in the upcoming months. So here is another one, made with someone specific in mind, whose belly is about to burst ;)

Stamps: TAC Hello Baby, Fiskars The Stork Has Arrived
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Ocean Tides, Copics: BG11, E43, RV13, Y11, YG95
Cardstock: PTI Aqua Mist, PTI Ocean Tides
DP: PTI Polka Dot Parade
Accessories: PTI Aqua Mist Buttons, Offray Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Unknown Eyelet

3 out of 3!

I found this awesome stamp the other day and had to get it. My husband, my dad, and my father-in-law are all not only great dads, but they are the kind of dads that really can fix anything. I'd say 3 out of 3 is pretty good when it comes to something like this. So this is what I'll be using for Father's Day "cards" to go with whatever tool they get this year ;) The size is smaller than a regular card (3 1/2 x 5), simply because it looked better to me this way. I also tried using Sara's Creative Adventures Color Challenge for this card. I say tried because I always seem to be missing some element. I don't have New Leaf. I have Ripe Avocado, and have loved it so much that when New Leaf came out, I really didn't even care to get it. So I replaced the new leaf with Ripe Avocado. And on the patterned paper I used, I noticed that Ocean Tides is also on there. So I left out and added a color. But still, her color challenge was what inspired me to use these colors!

Stamp: Inkadinkado
Ink: PTI Ripe Avocado
Cardstock: PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Smokey Shadow
DP: PTI Polka Dot Parade
Accessories: SU Spiral Punch

Nice People

I have "met" some really nice people through stamping forums, blogs, etc. It's really fun how even across the miles and for people that will likely never meet in real life, people say such nice things and do kind things for each other. A friend from Split Coast Stampers sent me this cute fairy image, and I finally colored her in. The whole time I was coloring her I was thinking about a book that I just love: Fablehaven (If you've read it I think you'll see the connection. If you haven't read it, I recommend it!). I love to read and could spend hours out of the day wrapped up in a good book. I try to avoid reading "for fun" during the semester because I know I won't get anything productive done. But now that I'm finished with school for the summer, I'm ready to catch up on some reading. So if I go MIA for a few days, I may just be doing a little reading.

Inspired By JC Penney Bedding

I love participating in the new Clean and Simple Challenges at Split Coast Stampers. They are posted on Mondays, and yesterday I was gone most of the day doing schoolwork so didn't have a chance to even see what it was. This morning when I saw my friend Susan's card that she made for the challenge I thought it was terrific. It turns out the challenge is to use bedding from JC Penney for your inspiration. So I went to check out the bedding. This is the inspiration piece I used. I thought that quilt was so cute, and I don't think I did it any justice with this card. Nor do I think that this card is what I would consider CAS. I used a lot of stamp sets which is not something I usually do for a CAS card, it ended up taking forever, and I even got out my embossing tools. I loved looking at the bedding for inspiration anyway, and I'm hoping to make another card later that fits more into what I'd call the "Clean and Simple" category.

Stamps: SU Time Well Spent, SU Little Flowers, Mindy's Zoo, Verve Petals and Stems
Ink: PTI Hibiscu Burst, PTI Ripe Avocado, VersaMark
Cardstock: PTI Spring Moss
DP: Debbie Mumm
Accessories: Ranger Clear Embossing Powder

Happy Birthday, Using Happy Harmony

I love the flowers from the old Stampin' Up set called Happy Harmony. I decided to use them for a birthday card, and really like the way that they look paired with this sentiment. I wanted to get some green on this card, in addition to just the flower stems. I didn't really want a layer of cardstock, though, so I went for adding a little ribbon to a few of the corners.
We've had sunshine here for 2 days in a row now! I'm hoping that the spring snowstorms are finally gone. Now if my son's lingering cough would go away, too. Enjoy your Sunday.

Stamps: SU Happy Harmony, River City Rubber Works
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, SU Old Olive
Cardstock: PTI Plum Pudding
Accessories: Offray Ribbon

Monochromatic, again

After doing the cards yesterday for the monochromatic challenge, I ended up doing another one last night. I didn't actually plan it to be that way, but that's what happened. I was looking at the "best wishes" stamp from the Cute and Curly stamp set. It actually is supposed to have brackets around it, but I just wasn't too crazy about the brackets...not my style, I suppose. Now I know you can ink just part of the stamp you want to use, but I just looked at this stamp knowing I'd never use the little brackets. Ever. So I cut them off! Nothing funner on a Friday night than dissecting rubber stamps. Enjoy your day! It's finally sunny here after a week of drizzle and cold, but I've got lots of studying to do, so I'll probably still have to stay cooped up a lot of the day.

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy, SU Cute & Curly
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst
Cardstock: PTI Hibiscus Burst
Accessories: PTI Hibiscus Burst Grosgrain Ribbon

Clean And Simple Challenge

The Clean And Simple Challenge this week at Split Coast Stampers is to create a monochromatic card. To visit the gallery of CAS monochromatic cards, click here. I got out the first stamps I ever bought for this one. Pick-A-Petal is the set that pulled me into this crazy world of stamping. It's been a long time since I used it, too. One of the nice things about clean and simple cards is that sometimes you can make more than one in a short amount of time. So if you are needing more than a few cards to add to your stash, I've found clean and simple to be the way to go. It's Friday, enjoy your day!!!

Stamps: SU Pick-A-Petal, Imaginisce
Ink: PTI Ocean Tides, PTI Plum Pudding
Cardstock: PTI Aqua Mist, PTI Ocean Tides, PTI Plum Pudding

Spring Break

Well, we are supposed to be on Spring Break this week. But we woke up to several inches of snow. I am so ready for spring! I want sunshine and warm weather. These are just a couple of cards I made using my Life set from Papertrey Ink. I really love this set. I read a snippet on the forum during their last release party that sounded to me like the designer might come up with a follow-up set to this one. That would be so cool; I can't wait to see if that really happens!

Stamps: PTI Life, River City Rubber Works Sentiments
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Ripe Avocado, SU Old Olive
Cardstock: PTI Rive Avocado, PTI Vintage Cream, SU Kraft

PTI Swap Complete

I've finally finished all of my cards for the PTI Swap I'm in. I know I posted my "model" card already, but the card changed just a little. I knew I wouldn't have enough of the ribbon to make six cards, and when I went to get more ribbon, they were out of the lighter green color I originally used. Which actually worked out kind of nice, because I think this ribbon looks better with the ink I used.

Stamps: PTI Life
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Ripe Avocado
Cardstock: PTI Lavender Moon, PTI White
DP: Basic Grey
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Lables One, Offray Ribbon

Forever!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. We were able to spend the weekend with extended family and it was really nice. Other than catching my son's cold, and worrying now about passing it on to all the rest of the family. One thing I love about Easter, in addition to the religious significance it has for me, is that my husband and I got engaged over Easter weekend many years ago. He had the neatest Easter egg hunt planned for me and made it a really fun and memorable moment. He is the best! Now he's really going to laugh at this card. I was kind of trying to make the couple look like us. Well, I'm fair-skinned, and he is the total opposite. He has the kind of dark "olive" skin that I just love. So I was trying to make "him" darker, and after my tweaking it, his skin ended up looking kind of blotchy, which it is not. I don't have a hair color that works for my hair, so I just used what I had. And, he never ever goes barefoot. EVER! So he's going to laugh that I tried to make it look like us, and it can't really look like us. But it was fun anyway. I just wanted to have a fun card to give him, because he makes me so happy, and puts up with all of my quirky behavior, and loves me anyway!

Stamps: Sarah Kay A Kiss For Chloe, SU Forever, SU Spot On
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Copics, VersaMark
Cardstock: PTI Dark Chocolate, SU Kraft, SU Real Red (thanks Susan!)

Jelly Beans

I think this roller is really fun to use. I made some quick bags of jelly beans for my niece and nephew, and my kids, and some of their little friends. My niece and nephew are coming today for Easter weekend and my kids are really excited! As if there won't be enough excitement in the air, I thought I'd add some sugar to the mix!

Stamp: SU Egg Hunt Roller
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Copics
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Labels One Nestabilites

Raspberry Fizz, part 2

Have you ever had a card at the top of your blog that wasn't your favorite, so you didn't want that to be the first card people saw when they came to visit? Well that's how I felt about my last card. Then I got a call saying a lady from church had her baby, and I decided I should make her a card and that way I'd have a new card to post to my blog and a card to take to the new mom all at the same time! I used Raspberry Fizz again, because I do think it's a fun color, and I'm hoping maybe this card shows that it can be a great color, and especially in smaller doses.

Stamps: SU Wash Day, Fiskars The Stork Has Arrived
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, PTI Plum Pudding, Copics
Cardstock: PTI Raspberry Fizz, SU Kraft
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Ribbon

Raspberry Fizz Color Challenge; Caution: Bright Colors Ahead!

I'm in a swap on SCS right now with some really fun ladies. Sara, who's part of the swap, has PTI color challenges each week, and this week the challenge involved just one color: Raspberry Fizz. Well, as many of you know, I am a fan of pink, and so I started planning my card right away. I was using the sketch from Jen Del Muro's Sketches For You To Try, and was just determined to make everything work. Well, you know when you start something, sometimes you have to just keep going no matter what. It seemed like the card just kept getting brighter and brighter! I am planning on giving this to my 3 year old niece, who enjoys pink, so I don't think it will be too overwhelming to her. It's definitely not a soft, subtle Easter card. I'm hoping to get another card done later using the Raspberry Fizz that's not so bright. Because it really is a pretty color, but this might not be the best card to showcase that!

Stamps: Hero Arts Alphabet, SU Egg Hunt Wheel, SU Loads of Love, Verve So Happy, Unity Distressed Dots
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, SU Rose Red, VersaMark, Copics
Cardstock: PTI Lavender Moon, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: Eyelets, Raspberry Fizz Ribbon

PTI Sneak Peeks

So Nichole Heady has started posting sneak peeks for the new releases that Papertrey Ink will have this month. The sneak peek today shows a sporty-looking font! I am really excited. My husband likes to coach our son's baseball teams. Each year we take a lot of pictures of all of the boys on the entire team and at the end of the season he makes a DVD for all of the boys. I like to make a cover to put in the DVD case. Here is a picture of the cover from last year. Can you see why I am so excited about the font on the stamp set? It's a very similar style to the one I used to print off the boys' names last year. Anyway, that's all for today. Have a great one! The sun is finally shining here, but I've got to finish studying instead of playing outside!

Stamps: Inkadinkado
Other Supplies: It was last year...I don't remember

Sympathy

Here is the first card I made when I got my Kraft cardstock. I started searching the galleries at Split Coast, and found this stunning card. I thought it was absolutely lovely, and used it for my inspiration. I find sympathy cards hard to make. I want them to be comforting, but not dark and dreary. And I think that this color combination gives me the balance I want when I'm making a sympathy card.

Stamps: River City Rubber Works sentiment, SU Artfully Asian
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Plum Pudding, Copics: V12, YG95
Cardstock: PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Vintage Cream, SU Kraft
Accessories: American Crafts Ribbon, Glitter Glue

I have Kraft!

Dawn McVey, one of the wonderful designers for Papertrey Ink, has been issuing color challenges on her blog. When I went to the color challenge yesterday, I thougt, I must be doing something right. One of the colors was Kraft. I have seen some great cards made with Kraft, and finally decided I should try it, knowing I could at least use it for those hard-to-make guy cards. Well, it's funny because I've made 2 cards with it now, and neither one is guy-like at all (I have a great sympathy card I'll show you tomorrow). Then came the stumbling block. One of the colors was also red. I like red, I just don't have it stocked in stamping/scrapbooking supplies. No cardstock, no ribbon, no ink, no eyelets, nothing. So I went to my old paper scraps pile. I finally found a piece of red that was a shade that I decided was do-able. I have to say, that I would never have put these colors together all at once like this on my own. But I am quite pleased with the results. To see all of the other cards made with this combo, follow this link.

Stamps: SU blooming With Love, SU Warm Words
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, PTI Berry Sorbet, Copics: R22, RV13
Cardstock: PTI Berry Sorbet, SU Kraft, Red from scraps---thank goodness!
Accessories: Glitter Glue, Offray Ribbon, PTI Hibiscus Burst button

"Together Forever" Wedding

Some new goodies arrived in the mail yesterday, and I was really excited to break open the box and start stamping! With it being so close to the end of the school year, I need to be studying as much as I can. But I have to take stamping breaks. Quite some time ago, while looking at cards on SCS, I found the most elegant wedding card. It showed this adorable bride and groom and I had to have that stamp. The stamp was listed as "Another Stamp Company." I was like, man I wish I knew what company it was. Well, after some googling, I figured out, it was made by a company that's actually called "Another Stamp Company!" The stamp comes in this size and a larger size. When the stamp came, it seemed kind of small, and I wasn't able to make a card I liked with it. And I wasn't able to find the card I liked so much before. Finally, when I saw this "together forever" in the new Stampin' Up catalog, I thought it would go perfect with this image. I made this card for an upcoming wedding, but not knowing what the couple's wedding colors are, I tried to just keep it elegant and use colors that would look nice for any wedding. For a wedding when I know the bride and groom's wedding colors, I think it will be fun to try this card with some added color that incorporates their wedding colors, too. And another time I'd like to try different embossing powder, but other than clear or red, this was the color I had, so I used it.

Stamps: Another Stamp Company, SU Forever
Ink: Versamark
Cardstock: Walmart Silver, PTI White
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Labels One Nestabilities, Offray Ribbon, Ranger Embossing Tinsel, Stylized Flowers Embossing Folder

Clean And Simple Sketch

The Clean and Simple Challenge this week at Split Coast Stampers was a sketch challenge. I just couldn't decide how I was going to make it work. Then last night I was looking through all of my stamps, and found my "Reasons to Smile" set. I thought that the little flower patch would make a nice border. I don't line images up very well when I am repeat stamping, though. So I just took it off the wood block and added a little of the Aleene's Tack It Over & Over to the back, so I could use it with my acrylic block. I know some people don't like the TIO&O, but I've had good luck using it. I did the purple card first, and decided the border needed moved up a little for the next card. A quick, simple card, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. There are some fabulous cards in the gallery for this week's challenge. You can check that out here.

Stamps: SU Reasons To Smile, SU So Many Scallops
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding, PTI Hibiscus Burst
Cardstock: PTI White
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, PTI Buttons

PTI Swap Card

Here is my prototype card for the PTI swap I joined at SCS. I wanted to do something light and nice for spring. Originally I added a nesties border around the main image, but it just felt too heavy to me. So I left it like this. I usually like to add a mat of some kind around the image, but I think the embossed edge gives it a similar look, even though it's not a different color.
So unless I have a moment of total self-doubt, this is the card I'll be submitting for my swap.

Stamps: PTI Life
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Ripe Avocado
Cardstock: PTI Lavender Moon, PTI White
DP: Basic Grey
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Labels One Nestabilities, Offray Ribbon

Sketch Challenge 222

Today's card is based on Sketch Challenge #222 at Split Coast Stampers. I flipped the sketch because I thought the balloon fit better that way. At first I didn't add a sentiment, but the card seemed kind of blank. It needed something and I wasn't sure what, and I don't really have anything "extra" that I thought went with the card. Since I was making this specifically as a birthday card for someone, I decided to go ahead and add the celebrate! I'm not sure about the overall placement, but it is what it is.

Stamps: Unity Love In The Air, Cloud 9 Sentiment
Ink: Colorbox Royal Blue, PTI Hibiscus Burst, SU Rose Red, Copics: B21, E43, RV13, RV29, V12, Y11, YG67
Cardstock: PTI Hibiscus Burst
DP: Dirty Laundry Line by Keeping Memories Alive
Accessories: Ranger Clear Embossing Powder, SU Slit Punch