Love Fest 2013

 Hi Friends!

SCS is having a fun, week-long challenge called "Love Fest" that started last Thurs. (Valentines Day) and I thought I'd jump in and try my hand at a few of them this weekend!

This is the first challenge; you have to use items on your card that start with the letters L, O, V, and E.  Very clever!  My card is using a "L"adybug, "O"vals, "V"intage design, and "E"mbossing folder.

I'm off to try the next challenge!





TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!
  
 

Valentine Birds

Hi Everyone,

I'm hosting the IC this weekend and for the inspiration website, I found an awesome webstore called "An Angel at My Table".  Very charming, vintage style items that I just loved!  I decided to make a Valentine for my parents. 

I chose this gorgeous "St. Lucia White Bird Cage" as my inspiration piece.  ("Lucia" is my sister's name - how appropriate, right?!)   For my card, I started by punching the bottom border with a MS "Garden Trellis" Deep Edge border punch and embossing the floral "frame" right above it with a Sizzix EF.  I die cut a white Tim Holtz bird and birdcage using the Movers and Shapers dies.  I pulled out the "old reliable"  SU! Watercolor Minis" to create the stamped roses in the background.  Then I punched a smaller pink bird using a MS punch, and sponged a little bit of Crumb Cake ink onto all 3 of the punched pieces.  I adhered the cage and the birds to my card and stamped a SU! Valentine sentiment that says "Valentine Be Mine."  I raised the "V" in the word Valentine and the white bird with some dimensional tape pieces.

The finishing touches were Star Dust Stickles on the roses, gold gems on the bird's eye and the top of the bird cage, and a Peel-Offs gold sticker chain connected to the top of the cage.



Here's the final product!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!
 

My Wedding Anniversary!

Today is my wedding anniversary!  I feel so very blessed!!  The years just disappear - I can't believe it's been 24 years already!  Amazing how much you grow and change over the years and if you're lucky enough to live your life with your soul mate, he grows and changes right along with you!!  What a great man God gave me to share my life with. 

Here's the card I made for Carl!  We got married on New Years Eve so we went with Black and White and red accents for our wedding colors.  And then we had a massive, all out crazy Wedding Reception and New Year's Eve party that night. A night and day I'll never forget!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!
  
 

Valentines Day

 Happy Valentines Everyone!

This card is for DH today.  Had to wait until now to post it, just in case he tried to take a peak!  There's no stamping on this card.  I used black and white CS, Basic Grey Scarlett Letter DP, Basic Grey Rubons, and a very "old" Sizzix die (a small green one, remember those??!) called  Double Heart.  The pearly lacy trim is some that I picked up many years ago at an antique store.  Not that it's antique really, but I had never seen anything like it before at that time.

The card came together pretty quickly.  Hope he likes it!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

A Bucket of Valentines!

Quick!! Head over to Woodware USA Blog!!  We have some new DT members and some news about incentives to join our Challenges!!  Good stuff stampers!!  :)

This week's challenge is "Anything BUT a Card".  (Egads, always my most challenging challenge!)  I can't alter worth a hoot!!  My brain just want's to do cards.  But, I gave it a whirl!!  And it was a blast!!  Give it a try all!  Post your project, un-card, or anything you created that is not a card over on the Woodware USA Blog ASAP to be included in the January drawing for a FREEEEEE Woodware set!!  Yahoo!!

For this challenge I used the heck out of the "Lot's of Hearts" set!  This set is amazing, 18 stamps included, easy to color and wonderfully versatile!! Love it!!

I cheated and made cards...six of them, but they're little (3x3) and I put them in a not-card thing.  So it's not a card, it's my Valentine bucket.  (Anything but a Card -- check.) 

I alterered this little bucket that came with a bag of gummy bears in it... I ate the gummy bears a long time ago (hee hee!).  But saved the little clear bucket "just in case." 

Turns out, my little bucket fit little 3x3 cards and envys perfectly!!  (Can you see them inside the bucket??)








I cut out six 3x6 card bases, punched a 3/4" square hole in the front of three of the cards, cut a square scallop using Nesties, then punched a 1" square in those and positioned the (now) scalloped frame over my 3/4" square hole.  The insides are a variety of the different stamps from the "Lots of Hearts" set, and all colored using only R22 and E25 Copics. 

Wanted to show you how fun the "Love You" image from this set is.  I curved the image onto my acrylic block and stamped it onto white CS so it is banner-looking!  I colored in just the little heart in the middle of the sentiment.




Next, I punched a large heart in the front of the other three card bases using SU! Large Heart punch.  I cut them out just as they were, and adhered them over my heart hole.  Fun, right?!!  I outlined this card with dashes using a Signo with gel pen.

To decorate the outside of the pail, I randomly stamped a variety of the images from the set onto two 3-1/4" x 2-1/2" white cardstock panels.  Each of the panels are different (i.e. random!).  I colored in the images with the same R22 and E25 Copics and adhered one to the front and one to the back of my bucket with ATG gun tape. 


My embellishes on the bucket include Large scallop border punch by EK Success (around the top brim),  Paper Studio crocheted trim, and a few half-back pearls. 

For the lid, I used my Nesties to cut a perfectly sized circle of PTI Summer Sunrise CS.  I punched SU Early Espresso CS with SU! Large Scallop punch, ran my tape runner around the back side edge of the Espresso scallop and adhered Paper Studio crocheted trim.  I layered the trimmed scallop with a white circle scallop (SU!) and a 1" circle of Cameo Coral CS.  The sentiment I used in the center is from Woodware's "All Through the Year" set.  The lace bow embellishment is Jolee's Boutique Baby Patches.

And finally, I didn't know what to do with the handle, ribbon just didn't look right.  So I adhered a die cut scalloped heart and large heart with dimensionals in between and tied them together with Waxy Flax fiber and a Gina K button.






I know this was a long post!  Thanks for sticking with me!!  Be sure you head to the Woodware USA Blog to join in the challenge and see all the other AMAZING inspiration there!!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

So Outrageous!

Hello Friends!

Hope your weekend was fun and productive!!  I had much on my plate, but here it is 1:00 a.m. and I'm happy to say pretty much everything was accomplished!

Since it is "Anything Goes" over on the Woodware USA Blog this week, I created an outrageous Valentine Card!!  I used the WWUSA sentiment from the "All Through The Year" set and some awesome new "Swirls" Woodware Peel-Offs that I got in the mail last week to play with  (yay!!  Peel Offs!).

The heart-shaped part of the card was made with Cricut "Cindy Lou" cartridge and then embellished with many pearls, flowers, the peel offs and a bow.  I mounted the embellished, shaped panel onto a Chocolate Chip card base that I embossed using SUs! Framed Tulips EF.  The DP on this card and crocheted flowers are also SU! 

Hurry over to the Woodware USA Blog and submit your Challenge Card entree to be entered into the drawing at the end of the month for a free stamp set!! 

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Red, Pink, White

Hello Everyone!

I made this card is for the Woodware Challenge this week: Red Pink and White cards are on the roll call for today!  Join the challenge for a chance to win a WWUSA stamp set!  Head over to the WWUSA Blog for all the details!!

 Today I used my WWUSA "Tulips" set, I think these are poppies...?

The flower image was stamped with Versamark onto Crumb Cake CS and heat embossed with Zing White EP.  I colored it in using Copics, then added Crystal Laquer to the red blossoms. 

I used my Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties and an oval and oval scallop punch to create the layers.  The background paper is Basic Grey, the sentiment is SU! "Well Scripted".


Stop by the WWUSA Blog and check out the rest of the talented team's challenge cards!! 

NEWS TO SHARE!  Woodware has just released it's Woodware Spring 2011 Collection - 22 new designs!  See them at this link: Spring 2011.  Also new is the first launch of Jennifer Garant's new line of clear stamps. See the additional 8 new sets now at this link: Jennifer Garant.  

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Woodware Challenge -- Hearts!

This week's Woodware USA Challenge is "Hearts".  I could have used a heart stamp but I decided to keep playing with my "Jewel Garden" set that I had out, and that I just happen to "love" (!!),  so I ended up making this card.

I created a heart mask from copy paper with scissors, free-form.  You remember, from grade school, you fold the paper in half, cut out a half heart...

Then you open it up and you have a whole - heart shaped - hole!

Next I taped a 4-1/2" x 3-1/2" piece of white card stock over the hole.

I stippled PTI Berry Sorbet Hybrid Ink around the entire edge of the heart shape.  (Could also use a sponge, but I tend to favor a brush.)

Once I was happy with my stippling, I stamped several of the images from the Jewel Garden set over the stippled heart area with black ink, but I didn't completely cover it.

This is what it looked like when I lifted the mask off.  Then I proceeded to color in the image with copics.  Next I stamped the "With Love" sentiment from the WWUSA Set "Jane's Script" in the center of the heart.

Finally, I used added a little bit of sparkle using my Sakura Quckie Glue pen and Crystal Glitter from Stampendous.  (Sorry this photo doesn't capture it so well, but it's sparkly, I promise!)




I matted the finished image onto Black, Pale Plum, and Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I rescued a MS Hearts Border panel that I had discarded and added it to the layering. Finally, I embellished it with some Primas that the sweetheart queen Piali sent me and added some half back pearls in between the hearts around the border

Come join the Challenge!!  Create a card using "Hearts" and post it over on the WWUSA Blog for all of us to see!!  At the end of the month, all the entries are pooled and someone will win a Woodware USA set.  If you use WWUSA stamps in your project, your name will be entered into the drawing twice for your card!

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Pressed Hearts

Hi everyone!

Made this for a couple of challenges over on SCS today:  Use Twine; and Use Pink, Purple, and hearts on your card.

I started with a 4-1/4" square mauve CS panel and created a window in it using a square Nesti. Next I punched hearts and leaves from CS scraps and glued them randomly onto my square around the window. I ran the whole thing through my Big Shot using the Square Lattice EF from SU! to press in the hearts and leaves.

To make the black border inside the window, I cut a 3x3" square of black CS, and used the next smaller sized square Nesti to cut out a window in the black square.  I Adhered that to the back of frame.






Next I selected my image from Inkadinkadoo's "Animal Hearts" set, stamped it in Versafine Onyx black ink and colored it with Copics.  I Layered the colored image onto the back side of my window frame. 

 Finally, I cut a 4-1/2" square panel and adhered it onto the back to create the bottom layer.  I wrapped pink Waxy Flax twine around the bottom and sewed a button onto one of the hearts  with more twine.

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!