World's Best Sister

Good morning all, I hope you had a relaxing weekend and got lots of stamping done. I actually cranked out three of them in between laundry, vacuuming and watching some movies. My idea of a perfect weekend! lol.

Here's a bright, colorful card using Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls. I don't know what it is about these gals, I just think they're adorable. 

I couldn't resist adding some of those gorgeous mulberry paper roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, I think I'm the last person on the planet that finally got some. They sure are pretty!

I am in love with this color combo, Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist and Hibiscus Burst. Yum Yum! I even added a little purse charm to the bow, since the Uptown Girls are such fashionistas. I'm sure they carry some tres chic handbags!


Well, I'm off to watch The Walking Dead in a few minutes, me and Jimmy never miss an episode. I'm not usually into zombie shows, but this show is really, really good!


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Stamping Bella, Lili of the Valley circle sentiment
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, A|Muse Studios
Paper: PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch, Nestabilities, Stickles, Copics, WOC roses, Marianne Creatables flourish dies, PTI ribbon, purse charm from Whimsey Stamps

Sunny Days

Happy Friday! It's been pretty quiet around here in blog land, where is everybody? 

Here's a sunny little card to brighten up the winter doldrums, we all need a bit of that, right? Only 18 more days till the first day of spring!

This card is headed over to the Lili of the Valley headquarters for display in their new shop. Oh how I wish I could fly over there and visit! All that rubber...

Well I'm off to one more day of work, some food shopping afterwards, and then maybe a nap on the couch when I get home. How does that sound? The only part I'm looking forward to is the nap, ha ha! 
Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Potting Shed' and 'Sentiments for Her'
Ink: SU
Paper: Basic Grey, Memory Box, SU
Tools & Accessories: PTI Beautiful Blooms die/Buttons, Spellbinders Labels, Cheery Lynn doily die, taffeta ribbon, McGill circle punch, Copics, Spica pens, baker's twine

Pretty Peony Wedding Card

Good morning! Can you believe it's March already?! Where is the time going? Before we know it, spring will be here. Then summer, and we will be moving. Yes, after a little more than 5 years in Pennsylvania we will finally be heading down to North Carolina. This was supposed to happen quite some time ago, but this happened, then that happened and it kept getting postponed. Well Jimmy finally got the official word, and he will be transferring with the company we work for down to Greensboro. We're not planning to live in Greensboro, we'll actually live temporarily in Winston-Salem, but hope to find a house somewhere in between. I'm glad we're finally moving, and I can be closer to my brothers and parents, but I am dreading the moving process.

OK, enough drama, let's take a peek at what I've been up to...

I was so happy with Papertrey Ink's Anniversary set this year, I love Nicole Heady's floral designs and this one hit it out of the park! Peonies are one of my favorite flowers, I had a fabulous peony border a long time ago and hopefully will have one again in our new home! I have all kinds of plans for a garden, I miss it so much. Impossible here unless they are in containers and out of the deer's reach.

I colored the peony with Copics, cut out and popped up some of the petals for dimension. I added some butterflies, also from a new PTI set. This is my first butterfly stamp set, I can't believe I never got one before now! I stamped them on two layers, one on white cardstock, and again on vellum.


Well, that's all for today, thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Amuse, Versamagic, Perfect Match
Paper: Kaisercraft, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: PTI Mat Stack 4/butterfly dies, Stickles, Copics, crushed silk ribbon, Souffle pen, Copper leaf pen

All Aboard!

Good morning blog friends! How about a birthday card for a little boy today? I may be one of the very few card makers out there who actually enjoy making cards for boys, lol. I admit I don't do them often, but when I do, it's a lot of fun for me. 

This card uses Papertrey Ink's train set that has never been inked.

I decided to go with water coloring on this cute choo choo, using Tombow markers. I like embossing images that I'm going to water color so I don't have to be super careful about staying 'in the lines'. That's one of the things that drives me batty about water coloring!

The papers are from an old Cosmo Cricket collection, Biography 101 Little Boys which is not available anymore, BUT I was happy to see the downloadable kit available at Jessica Sprague.com. I think the papers from that set are just about the best little boy patterns I've ever seen.
Hope you like it and thanks for dropping by!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Versamark, Distress, Perfect Match
Paper: PTI, SU, water color paper, Cosmo Cricket
Tools & Accessories: PTI Train and banner dies, Memory Box Village die, paper piercer, Souffle pen, wool felt, Tombow markers, Aqua brush, baker's twine

Pretty Blossom

Hello everyone, I know I've been pretty quiet lately, I've had some behind the scenes projects I was working on. I didn't really get a chance to play with the newest Lili of the Valley release! :-(

So I grabbed my very favorite of the bunch, Blossom and colored her up in some pretty spring colors. (She must be everyone else's favorite too, she's OOS at the moment!) 

I almost never use purples, but I really liked this butterfly pattern from Shery K Designs so I had to try it. I think most of my Violet family of Copics are almost unused! Isn't it strange, I don't use my RV's, or B's that much either... Oh well, in small doses, the Violet is actually very pretty.

Since Blossom is sitting on what looks like a cherry blossom branch, I put on one of these gorgeous flowers I got from Wild Orchid Crafts a while back. I added a bit of R00 shading towards the centers  of the white flower to go with the papers. 


Thanks for taking a look, I hope you have a great week!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match
Paper: Digital patterned paper collection from Shery K Designs printed on Hammermill, Memory Box
Tools & Accessories: Cherry Blossom from WOC, Stickles, Copics, Souffle pen, Martha Stewart leaf punch, striped ribbon, PTI scallop die, Nestabilities, embroidery floss

Love is...

Happy Valentine's day to all my blog friends! Here is a final Valentine card I made a couple of weeks ago using an unusual color combination of Kraft, pink and cream.  I used the lovely 'Emma's Swing' because she looks like she got that bouquet of roses from a secret admirer. I stamped her in Latte Adirondack ink and colored her with Copics.

The patterned paper was all stamped with some of the great clear stamp sets LOTV released not too long ago, perfect background building sets. First I stamped the roses from the Roses clear set in pink pigment ink on Fine Linen cardstock. When that dried I went back with some Kraft colored ink and used the Grunge Corners to add some distressing. Then I sponged the corners with Distress inks for a little more aging. 

The love tag is from the Love Sentiments stamp set framed with a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis square. 


Well that's all for now, I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day shared with someone you love. Me and Jimmy are heading for our favorite Argentine restaurant after work for a little skirt steak! Mmm mmm...


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Adirondack, Distress, Amuse
Paper: PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Cheery Lynn lace die, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis square, sewing machine, seam binding, pewter heart charm, Copics, Stickles, Mega Mount, Souffle pen, clear embossing powder

Moving Day

Good morning all! I have another sneak peek of one of the new Lili of the Valley stamps being released on the 20th. This one is called 'Moving Day'. I like that you can find stamps at LOTV appropriate for some of the more obscure occasions in our lives, such as a new home. They have something for everyone!

I colored with Copics, but I did the grass and background coloring with pencils. I keep three shades of green and a Derwent Turquoise Blue within easy reach at all times, I use them on almost all of my cards. 

The sentiment banner is from Papertrey Ink, as are the papers, ribbon and felt flower. 


So have you all seen the other sneaks on the Inspire Blog? What do you think of the new release? I bet your wallets are screaming again, right? ha ha! 


Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day.


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Moving Day' (2-20-2012), Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento
Papers: Papertrey Ink, Heavenly White card base, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Papertrey Ink ribbon/felt/Bloom Builder die, Copics, pearl brad, pinking rotary cutter