Always Cosmo Cricket

First off let me say that this is a terrible picture! The color is all wrong, the actual shades are much more muted. Making this card made me realize that I need some chocolate brown embossing powder. I don't have any, and I think this card would have been a little nicer if I had embossed the branch in brown instead of black. Why didn't I stamp it in any of the dozen brown pads I have, you ask? I like embossing. I never grew out of it. Most stampers love it when they are newbs, then slowly do it less and less until they simply don't emboss anymore. I love to emboss, love everything about it. It's magic, you know.

I will never get tired of Stylized Flowers from A Chemistry With Paper, it's just beautiful, and fun to work with! I embossed the branch first, then did the flowers in SU! pink, which is quite coral if you ask me. I dotted the center of each flower with Copper Stickles. I bought this Stickles a couple of years ago in Arkansas. I was with my sister, and we were visiting my dad. Mom had just died a month before, and Noelle and I were indulging in some retail therapy in the truest sense of the word. Noelle spent hundreds, and I mean hundreds of dollars on Primas. I joined A LOT of kit clubs. I still have kits, beautiful kits, that are over a year old and have never been used. I bought a cricut. And some cartridges. And paper. Noelle and I came out of one store with hundreds of dollars of paper, which we had to buy because it was on sale. Man, that was a hard time. Thousands of dollars later, we still don't have our Mom, but we have lots of supplies. Ah, me. Mom thought Noelle and I were nuts with the stamping/scrapping thing. Then we actually went nuts, but we're mostly okay now. They let us out in public. Noelle will cry when she reads this, but leaking is okay.

Oh, the card! I sprayed Chestnut Brown Glimmer Mist all over the primary image, distressed it, and layered it on a piece of Chocolate Chip which is on a piece of Bazzill. All that is up on foam tape. The wide satin ribbon is blanket satin, then I have a couple of peachy ribbons and a dab of SU! Chocolate Chip grosgrain. There's also a Hodgepodge Hardware swirly clip and a Cosmo Cricket cardstock sticker. I did a little DTP with the Chestnut Roan chalk pad, my second favorite pad of all time.

Bombshell Stamps~Love & Luck

This is one of those cards that takes forever and ever, but I was pleased with the final result. I hate it when I spend lots of time then hate the end result! This tattoo style set from Bombshell Stamps is called Love and Luck. I just got it yesterday, so I had to break it out and get stampin'! I started by stamping the rose in VersaMark and embossing with SU! black. Then I used SU! markers to color and an aquapainter to smear it around a bit. I gave it a couple of shots of Antique Brass Glimmer Mist then cut it out.

All the paper is Bazzill, Gin-X and Blue Cardigan. I knew I wanted to mount the rose on the mirror frame, so I cut the frame out and fiddled around for quite some time before I came up with the ribbon treatment. I fastened the ribbon with a crystal brad from Making Memories. I did the banner the same as the rose, except I gave it a couple of shots of Candy Apple Red GM then sprinkled it with Holographic EP.

That's how I did the flower. It started out white, then I smashed it into a Tim Holtz Fired Brick pad, gave it a few shots of CAR GM and followed with the same EP. May I just say that this flower is gorgeous!? The rhinestone bling in the center of the flower is from a hair dealie I bought in China Town when I was in Manhattan. The hair thingy fell apart immediately, I don't think I even wore it one time, but I just put the parts in one of my parts drawers, where it waited for the perfect card to come along so it could come to its fruition.

The Deluxe Designs chipboard corner was smashed into the TH FB pad then squirted with the CAR GM. Then I stamped the hearts on it in ColorBox Fluid Chalk in Charcoal, a really nice color. I finished by using my SU! Ticket Corner punch on the red layer and adding some stick on gems from WalMart. I don't know who makes the ribbon. I got it in a kit from Self-Addressed.

Bell Box Set

Well, this is a little embarrassing, but I know I've mentioned how pattern impaired I am, so here it goes: I made this box upside down. I love the dies from Creative Cuts and More because they are idiot proof, except for this idiot, of course!;) I would have flipped it over, but I had already glued the white panel down and added the Black Diamond Stickles. It had dried over night before I started to fold the box and realized it went the other way! I have another one, so I'll make it the right way and show that soon!! Look, CC&M dies are great because even if you mess them up, like I did here, you can still make them work! While you are looking around their site, don't forget the Basic Gray and Doodlebug stuff! Also, you can get the best deal going on redline tape from CC&M. It's called Killer Red Tape on their site.

The cardstock I used is Crystal and Onyx Stardream. I also used A Chemistry With Paper's All Year Bag Toppers, a huge set with lots of sayings. The sentiment and the linked hearts are from that set. The other stuff is Basic Gray rub-ons. The top is made up of SU! white organdy, silver cord and black grosgrain. The silver ribbon is Offray. I made a loop and tied the middle, then cut each end. I put the ribbon on the box with a SU! Pop Up Glue Dot.

The flower I colored with SU! Two-Way Glue pen, then sprinkled it with Doodlebug Beetle Black glitter. I added a matching Doodlebug jewel to the center, and stuck that on with another Pop-Up Glue Dot. This project wasn't too difficult or time consuming, and it would make a nice presentation for wedding party thank you gifts.

Retro Happiness

I think Artistic Outpost images are so timeless, they go with any paper. Here I paired an image from the Happiness plate with SU!'s Chocolate Chip, and some DP from Hot Off The Press. The ribbon is HOTP as well. The eyelets are HOTP and they are the kind with the legs, similar to but not exactly like brads. Well, I could not figure out how to get them set. There was some major bradulation here, so I did what any girl worth her salt would do: I filled the mess with Aqua Stickles. The ink is Tim Holtz Broken China. I got five new TH pads, so you will finally get to see some new colors! I also have some AO cards made with one of the newest plates, Playtime, but I haven't done their glamour shots yet, so they aren't ready to appear here. Soon we will have two new AO plates to play with, I can't wait to get them and tantalize you with a sneak peek or two! Stay tuned for more AO!! Please take a look at the NEWEST plate, now available! It's called Hero, and it's perfect for the Fourth of July or for honoring or remembering those who have served in the armed forces. It's also perfect for scrapbooking military pages. I can't wait to get mine, I have lots of ideas!

I'm back!!

I used Creative Cuts and More and Creative Play Stamps on this card. The main image is from CPS's Swirl Garden. It's a beautiful set and includes this swirl, a few butterflies, and a pretty flower. I stamped it in Brilliance Chocolate and embossed in Ranger's Holographic, which is a combo I use very frequently. The crooked rub-on is Basic Gray. I can usually get things pretty straight, but not this time! Oh well, it looks like a human being made it, and I'm fine with that. I know I'll be hearing from some of my more anal retentive pals on this one. HI NOELLE! (She's my sister, this will make her crazy, crazy, crazy! That's just one of the bonuses of my imperfection!) I also dragged the edges of the punched piece through the same pad and embossed. It adds a very subtle sparkle. I drew around the top layer with my 2-way and sprinkled on MS glitter in brownstone-just call me Rainman, I dig the sparkle!! All the paper on this card is Cosmo Cricket Love Notes, except the top layer, it's CC&M.

Speaking of CC&M, this is the THIRD project I got out of my ONE cupcake box die cut, talk about value! This is the cut-out from the lid of the box. They send you a piece of acetate to put in its place, but they also send you all the cut-outs. This is out of my favorite Caramel Stardream, and there was no way I was going to toss it! It's one of the prettiest papers I've ever seen! If you haven't tried CC&M yet, please do give them a try. It's so fun and easy, and the selection is amazing! I'm especially poor at patterns so CC&M is a real godsend for me, but even if you are good at patterns, give yourself a break and let someone else do all that figuring and cutting! Then all you have to do is make it pretty!!

BTW, the cruise was wonderful! I was very pleased with Royal Caribbean, and the Bahamas are beautiful!! I have cornrows, which I love! How did I go 44 years without them? I also got a fake tattoo, it's a tribal. I did love the shocked look on 17 & 14yods's. I think they only believed it for a few seconds. DH didn't fall for it at all. I have loved the curious and slightly shocked looks I've received here in the Panhandle since my return. I'm pretty sure most of the English teachers around here don't have cornrows and tattoos. I wore a very short sleeved shirt to church yesterday, and not one person said a thing, except DH. He said, "You wore that on purpose, didn't you?" I said, "Of course!"

Welcome Baby!

I hope you aren't getting tired of cute animals, I seem to be on a kick! This adorable lamb face is from the Bunny and Friends set by A Chemistry With Paper. I stamped and embossed him twice, then popped him up, then cut out his ears and popped them up also. All of the paper here except for the navy, which is Bazzill, and the white, which is SU!, is by Sassafras Lass. It's the Blue Boutique line, and I have just about the whole line. It's so fun and summery, it's just perfect paper for May, I think.I used four SU! punches here and lots of Stardust pen accents. I don't know who makes the ribbon or the brad. The sentiment is from the huge All Year Bag Toppers set. I just cut it apart so I could stack the words. This card makes me happy.

I love this bunny!

I love working with this bunny stamp! It's just the right size. It's easy to cut out. It looks great embossed. You could color it. He looks very alert, unlike me. I neither look nor feel alert. I'm teetering on the brink of exhaustion after battling the flu TWICE in one week, grading 36 research papers, (talk about painful), getting all the rest of my grades in order, and packing for a cruise to the Bahamas. Oh, cry me a river, you say? I'm going to the Bahamas with TEENAGERS. I'm senior sponsor. Yes, the sun will still feel glorious on my shoulders, but I'm leaving my peeps at home, and I will do humanity a grave disservice by appearing in public in a bathing suit. So I have reservations. About humanity, yes. About those fellow cruise mates with the gift of sight, yes. Graduation is tomorrow, and I have not made a single graduation card or bought a single gift. (Apparently there's no stamping or shopping in my bathroom.) Here we get gifts for the eighth graders as well, it's just another perk, teachers are lousy with them, you know!

But about this adorable bunny! I stamped him in Brilliance Chocolate, and embossed him in Ranger Holographic EP, it's fabu! For even more sparkle, I smeared some Crystal Stickles around on him, then I mounted him on a Chocolate Chip nestie circle, which is on a scalloped My Mind's Eye circle. Everyday Tango, I think. Did I mention that I only have about five sheets of CC left? I'm going to try to force myself to use Close to Cocoa. This card is on a CC base, but when I figured out how low on CC I am, I've been gluing quarter sheets of CC to a white base in order to conserve. I'm pathetic aren't I? What will most likely happen is that some SU! demo will get a call in the next day or two from some raving lunatic demanding that CC be overnighted immediately. THIS IS A CARD STOCK EMERGENCY!!! I've been retired from SU! for right at a year, so my CC stash went pretty far.

What I think I'll do now is go take a nap. I may have reached that questionable state...

Sealed with a Kiss

This is Bombshell Stamps' Butterfly Queen. If she looks a little different to you, it's because I added a little to her costume. That's one of the things I love about these stamps, they are like paper dolls, and you can dress them to suit your mood! As always, there's lots of sparkle here. I used Aqua, Copper and Crystal Stickles on this card. The Aqua is on her costume, the Copper is on the rest of the card, and the Crystal is in her hair and on her skirt. The paper is Chocolate Chip & watercolor from SU!, the tag is Basic Gray Aged and Confused, and the rest of the paper and the card stock sticker is Cosmo Cricket Love Notes. I stamped her in Memento Dew Drop ink in Tuxedo Black, and colored her with Prisma Pencils and baby oil. She is up on foam tape, as is the tag she is on. The Olive organdy ribbin is retired SU!, (I will be bummed when I run out), the string and grosgrain are unknown. There are many unknowns in my stamp stuff. Where does it come from? How does it get there? The answer to these questions and more coming soon...

Learn how to fly~

This is from Artistic Outpost's Happiness plate. I've worked with this plate a lot lately, and have really enjoyed all the beautiful images. I have the Home plate as well, and that's what I plant to concentrate on next. I have already sent this card to AO for some show boards, so I'm just going by memory and the pic to list my supplies. I used to be able to remember/recognize any supply, paper, stamp or embellishment, but not anymore. I have too much stuff, my life is too busy, and I just don't have the focus or memory I used to. Here's what I THINK I used here: All the DP is HOTP, the main image is probably Confetti, and it looks like there might be some Always Artichoke and some Chocolate Chip in there as well. The ink is definitely TH Aged Mahogany, I use that pad constantly! The heart brads are Art Accentz, the loops are probably Hodgepodge Hardware, and the ribbon is probably from a ribbon share with TexasJodyLynn. The main image might be embossed with the AM EP, but I can't tell on my monitor. I emboss a lot though, so it's likely.

Of Seaweed, Gardenias, Camels & Cairo

Makes sense to me! This RAK is from my dear friend Toni, whose thoughtful, intelligent and artful blog you can find here. Toni's RAK's are a treat inside and out. When I get one, (I'm the proud owner of two), I always imagine all the postal workers whose day she made a little brighter, a little more interesting. Toni is never mundane, even her envelopes sing!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend!

This popcorn box is from Creative Cuts and More. I had it cut from Amethyst Stardream card stock, one of my all time faves! My favorite way to navigate the CC&M website is to choose the card stock I want from the menu on the left. Then all the dies you can get with that card stock will come up. Once you click into a specific die, there is a drop down menu at the bottom where you can choose your color. You can also buy card stock by the sheet so you can make matching tags, cards or what have you.

The glittered ovals are from Creative Play Stamps' Simple Ovals set, and I used Heat & Stick powder to adhere the Azure Art Institute Glitter. Because I like purple so much, I use this color of glitter a lot. It looks good with all shades of purple. I added a Making Memories Crystal brad, a Prima, and the big flowers are from OTC. I topped the box off with some SU! organdy ribbon and silver cord, and a tag stamped with All Year Cheer II. The tag is stamped on Whisper White with Almost Amethyst, and layered on a nestie AA circle. I used my Two Way glue pen to adhere the glitter to the tag, the pen-like one, not the SU! marker-like glue pen. It's the same glue, but it comes in two styles, I use the pen-like one more than the marker one.

Free domestic shipping at Artistic Outpost!

These stamps are from one of the two brand new plates from Artistic Outpost, where you can get free domestic shipping on stamps this weekend! The name of this plate is Playtime, and the other new one is called Adventure.

All the paper on this card, except the SU! Basic Black circle on the tag and the Confetti main image panel, is from Hot Off The Press. The ink is Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Black Soot. The tag has three layers. The top & bottom layers are HOTP cut-outs. I went around the tag layers with my Stardust pen, and around the main layer with Black Diamond Stickles. The stitched ribbon is HOTP, the red twill is Wrights, and the black grosgrain I got in a ribbon share from TexasJodyLynn.

Infused Flowers

I know that's a dorky title, but I used Basic Gray Infuse here, so I guess that was in my head. Here is another view of my favorite A Chemistry With Paper branch. It's from the Stylized Flowers set, and I just love to emboss it! I stamped the branch in VM and embossed in black, then did the flowers in VM and embossed in pink. This ep is by SU! and it's called Pink, but it's actually a dead ringer for Cameo Coral, and it matched the Infuse perfectly. This is a super simple card, but I was pleased with the way it turned out. I love the MS Brownstone glitter, and also I loved that the Fruit Punch Stickles in the Prima centers matched the other corals so perfectly! I added a little subtle shine with the pink dew drops in the corner. I also gave the main image a shot of Chestnut Brown Glimmer Mist.

Grinning Skulls, the glamorous kind, of course!

Well, it had been a while since I used my Creative Play Stamps Skulls 1, so I got them out. I sure have fun with this silly set, I always like to add as much bling as possible, and I seem to use Basic Gray's Two Scoops with them a lot. I stamped this one in VersaMark on Whisper White and embossed in SU! pink. I put Crystal Stickles in the eye sockets, this gal has stars in her eyes! I added dew drops all around the edge of the nestie circle, and layered it onto a nestie scallop cut from Basic Black. The black circle has Cotton Candy Stickles dots on each scallop. That's the whole point of the scallops, right? They are just an excuse for more sparkle, am I right, or am I right? The grungeboard skull is covered with Art Institute's Blue Whale glitter, it's so pretty, and it goes well with this BG paper and the teal card stock. The ric rac is by SU!, and as a final touch, I pierced around the panel and added Stardust pen to the edges. If you need a new pad or refill, they are all 20% off at CPS until the 11th!

Something we can all use...

This is one of the first cards I made after a six month break from stamping. Yes, SIX MONTHS without stamping one thing. We moved from CO to OK in June, and my stamp area was not good, and I lost my mojo. In December I started to drag my stuff into the family room piece by piece. Now it looks like a total disaster, and I imagine most of you could not live like this, but I have my stuff and my family all together. I have plastic iris carts in the same room with beautiful antiques. Both my stamp desks are antiques, and shouldn't be crafted on, but there is just no place else for me to stamp so that's how it is. I would give up family heirlooms and a pretty living room for stamping. I guess it's good to know where my priorities are.

We will be moving again this summer. Our landlord wants to sell this house and we don't want to buy it. It's beautiful, but it was built in 1917 and needs a little work. We are not interested in adding any more projects to our lives. I hope our next house has a little more room for a stamping area, but if it doesn't, I guess I will make do! We don't want to buy because I don't want to live in the Oklahoma Panhandle for the rest of my life, it's just not the place for me!

Artistic Outpost ~Take me home...

These stamps are from Artistic Outpost's Home plate. The plate also includes a detailed barn scene, and a framed rooster weather vane. It's super cool, just like all AO sets! I stamped the pick-up in Tim Holtz Aged Mahogany and embossed it in the same. I love the TH distress inks because the pads are so juicy, and the images stay wet on the paper for a tiny bit longer than traditional dye ink pads. This makes them perfect for embossing when you want a grungy look. Not all the areas stay wet enough to grab the powder, and when I'm working with my AO stamps, I like that look. Distress EP is designed to give you the same look. Even if you use your VersaMark pad, there are "special release crystals" which can be rubbed off after heating for the same random, aged look.

I layered the pickup with Confetti, Chocolate Chip and some old SU! DP. I added some ribbon, the wide organdy is old SU!, I don't know about the other two. I finished up by rounding some corners, which I haven't done in quite a while. I have several corner punches. I suppose I should get rid of them. That's a sure fire way to bring on a massive, hysterical corner punch trend. I of course, being weak as I am, will go right out and re-buy the silly things.

Sassy Lady Luck

I wanted to change Lady Luck's outfit, so I started by embossing and coloring her with markers, and added some Crystal Stickles to her hair. Then I colored her top and pareo with glue, and poured on the Art Institute glitter in Fleur de Lis. I added a line of Black Diamond Stickles at the top and bottom of her skirt for a little extra dazzle and coverage. When I cut her out, I just cut off the shamrock and the wrench, so now she's just a plain ol' pin-up! I CBed the mulberry paper with the Textile folder and then distressed it with Black Soot. I love the look I get when I spray this ink with a fine mist of water.

The main image is by Bombshell Stamps, and the word is by Making Memories. The paper is Basic Black, Almost Amethyst, Gable Green, watercolor and Soft Subtles Mulberry paper by SU! The pattered paper is My Mind's Eye. I used VersaMark and Tim Holtz Black Soot inks. I added a little Stardust pen to the punched layers of the sentiment. I don't know who makes the chipboard. I got it in a monthly kit from Scrapologie.

Shaker

Inside of card above. Outside below.
This is a shaker card from Creative Cuts and More. The kit comes with everything you need to make the card. You choose the color of your card base, and the accent frame from dozens of papers. That's pretty cool, but what really makes these kits neat is that they send you a foam circle with adhesive on both sides. You lay that on your image, put in your micro beads, and put the pre-cut acetate circle on top. It's SO easy! I have been stamping for eight years and I never once made a shaker card because it looked like WAY too much trouble to me fiddling with all the foam tape and such.

For the inside of the shaker, I used the branch from the Stylized Flowers set from A Chemistry With Paper. I love this branch, it looks so pretty, no matter what you do to it! I stamped it in VM and embossed in black. Then I did the flowers and embossed them in pink. There is Black Diamond Stickles around the scallop and Cotton Candy Stickles on the inside scallop. The inside scallop I cut with my nesties.

Aquamarine Owl

I know these are odd colors for a barn owl, I don't know what possessed me to use these colors, but I did, and here they are!The owl is stamped in Aquamarine Chalk Ink, and there is some Almost Amethyst in the background. All the paper is SU! It's Basic Black, Almost Amethyst and Spring Flowers. The word "aspire" is Making Memories magnetic stamps. I used a Tim Holtz distressing tool, and three SU! punches and a black brad from my stash. This is a quick card, 10-15 minutes, tops. All ink pads and refills are 20% off through May 11th at Creative Play Stamps. That's a screamin' deal, girlfriends!