Wishes

I LOVE the new In-Colors! I saw this card in the Demonstrator Magazine, Stampin' Success, that came in the mail today. I just loved it and had to copy it!



This picture really doesn't do the card justice--it is beautiful in real life :-)

I used the half-pearls and flowers from the Pretties Kit, the Wishes stamp from a new stamp set, "Heard from the Heart," and DSP from the current Bali Breeze pack. I stamped the "Wishes" saying in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.

I hope you're as excited as I am for all the new stuff to be introduced in the Fall/Winter 2008 Collection!

Stamp Set: Heard from the Heart
Colors: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Bali Breeze DSP
Accessories: White embossing powder, Pretties Kit, 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, mat pack

On a side note, I posted the Retired Accessories list on my Announcements & Promotions page. The list will be updated every day as some items on the list will run out. There are already some items that have run out, so check out the list now! If there's anything you want, be sure to let me know ASAP before the item that you want runs out!

A Project...

I've been thinking recently that I'm really bad about only stamping cards and never doing any fun projects to post on my blog. So...today I set out to make something that was not a card. I remember seeing a project done some time ago with the Accents and Elements tin. I think the person who created the project used their tin as a picture frame, but I can't remember for sure. I really didn't have time tonight to look up the original picture that I saw, so I can't give credit to the original mastermind behind the magnet tin...but here's mine:

Side 1 (calendar)--the "Dream Big" and "De-lightful" images are magnets:


Side 2 (picture holder)--the "Happy" and "Live, Laugh & Love" images are magnets:


The background on the Calendar side was really plain--and boring. I decided I'd try something new for my background. Since I usually just stamp an image over and over with Versamark (and that's pretty much all I ever do for a background), I figured it wouldn't kill me to step outside the comfort zone. I decided to randomly (yes, you read correctly, RANDOMLY) score lines down the card stock. It created an almost striped look to the paper without having to stamp or draw or use Designer Series Paper. It was almost fun to be so haphazard with my non-evenly-spaced lines! :-)



This is such a simple background, and so easy to do! I challenge you to try a similar background on your next project...or even better--make up a new background! Be sure to email me your picture so I can see your creation!

Stamp Sets: Friendship Blooms (Sale-a-Bration 2008), Short Order Alphabet
Colors: Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Bashful Blue
Accessories: SU! magnets (Convention 2007), 1/4" grograin ribbon (Pumpkin Pie & Certainly Celery), Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Calendar taken from Peggy Goetzke on SUDSOL

I'm back!

Wow! What a week! 1500 High Schoolers can sure wear you out! I'm glad to be back and ready to play with my new stuff!

A couple weeks ago, I intended to use Julee's Monday Mojo sketch to make a card, but I never got around to it. I loved the sketch, so I decided I'd start with that sketch to make my card for today. I pulled out three new In-Colors, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, and Tangerine Tango. These are all fun, bright summer colors. Of course I had to use my new scallop edge punch (who can resist using a new toy!?), and a new stamp set, Wow Flowers.

Here is the sketch:



And here's my card:



I just can't wait to let you all play with new fun colors, tools, and stamp sets! Be sure to get me your address ASAP if you want an invite to the party! It's gonna be so much fun--you won't want to miss out!

On a side note, I thought you all might want to see the new scallop edge punch in comparison to our other current methods of creating scallops (the corner rounder, the slit punch, and the scallop circle punch). Here is a picture of scallops made with each of these methods. I hope this gives you a good idea of what you can expect from this new amazing tool:



Well, spending a week with 1500 High Schoolers does not exactly equal beauty rest...so I'm off to bed!

Decor Elements...finally!

I'm so excited! I finally got my Decor Elements order in the mail, along with my pre-order for all kinds of new goodies that will be in the new Fall-Winter Catalog & Idea Book (starting August 11th)!

I am sad, though, because Ben & I are headed to Southern Illinois University early tomorrow morning (5:45a to be exact) with the youth group from University Christian Church here in Manhattan. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be spending a week with a bunch of high schoolers (really, I am!), I just wish that my order had come in the middle of last week so that I would have had plenty of time to play with my new goodies. I was able to carve out about an hour and half this afternoon to put up my new Decor Elements before we leave. I'm thrilled! I LOVE them!

I bought the "Together Forever" circle frame with the "M" to put inside. I convinced my husband that Decor Elements were the best thing since sliced bread and got him to agree to let me put the circle frame and monogram on our front door. Since we live in an apartment in the basement of a house, our Decor Elements piece won't be exposed to the elements, but it definitely spruces up our plain white door :-)





For right now, the Decor Elements only comes in Whisper White or Chocolate Chip (except for the Manhattan Flowers which also comes in Kraft). Our monogram is in Chocolate Chip. Here is an upclose view so you can hopefully see the color a little clearer:



I also bought the create definition in Whisper White (size medium) for my stamp area--a.k.a. the living room--our apartment is pretty small :-) Our walls in this room are basically a Close to Cocoa color.



This is my whole stamp area (including the ghetto chair from 1930 that our landlords, who were alive in 1930, let us use while we live here...I think the picture makes it look worse...):



Our walls are not very smooth, so if you look close, you can see right under the "g" in "through" there is a bit of a bump. I was worried that it would be obvious, but unless you look close, it's relatively unnoticeable.



Well, that's all I have for you today. Since Ben & I are leaving early tomorrow morning and won't be back until late Saturday night, this is all I have for you all week long. I hope I'll have time next Sunday to stamp a little, but I may be recovering from our trip :-) I hope you all have a great week! And stamp something for me!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. I was stumped when I sat down to make him a card. It's amazing how hard it is to make "boy" cards...even for your dad (who will love the card no matter what-even if it was pink-just because you made it for him).

I love the "In the Stars" stamp set (Occasions Mini Spring 2008), so I decided I'd start with that. My dad likes the color red (he's a Nebraska fan so he usually doesn't appreciate the K-State Purple cards quite as much as the Nebraska Red ones...). So here I sit. Real Red card stock, In the Stars stamp set. Don't you just wish the card would make itself--Beauty & the Beast-style?

Anyway, here's all my creativity could muster today:



Good thing my dad will love it anyway :-) As my friend, Nikki, always says when she messes up her card, "I'll send it to my mom. She doesn't care what it looks like." Yay for parents!

Stamp Set: In the Stars
Colors: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Bashful Blue (DSP from Summer Picnic)

Face Lift

Well, instead of stamping today, I decided to give my blog a complete overhaul. I did not like the layout, colors, etc. that I had AT ALL! I finally got fed up and spent several hours re-doing everything. I'm still not sure I like it, but there are definite parts that I like better than I did. This is definitely not the last "face lift" you'll see here on my blog.

On a blogger note, when I started this blog a few months ago, I knew absolutely NOTHING about HTML or blog design at all. I stumbled upon Amanda Fazani's blog, Blogger Buster. She specializes in blog design, but posts tons of great tutorials on how to do lots of fun stuff with your blog. If you're interested in redesigning your blog, I would highly recommend Blogger Buster for any questions you might have. I give all the credit for my blog design to Amanda--she didn't help me directly, but because of her amazing tutorials I was able to make my blog look the way I wanted it to.

Although I didn't have time to stamp today, I'll still sign off and say, "Happy Stamping!" to you :-)