Forever Friends Card box set

Better a late post than none at all, right?!

I just can't get enough of these pudgy little bears. I love their sweet little faces and rounded tummies! I HATE that I can't get the stamps easily here in the US! lol. Although I have found a couple of auctions that were willing to ship to me, yay! I don't know why I always fall for the hard-to-get stamps. I remember it started with Magnolia before anyone even knew what they were, I had to wait weeks to get my first ones! Then there were the Rachelle Ann Miller stamps first put out by Ladybug and Friends (I think) that were only available in Europe. Thank goodness her adorable illustrations quickly grew popular and a couple of other stamp companies started manufacturing them.

Then there's the retired Penny Black's, PSX and SU sets...sigh. Most of the time, I just can't be happy with readily available stamps, it has to be a treasure hunt! Maybe that's part of the thrill.

Anyway, I love these images so much I had to create a whole coordinating set of them. I even made a little card box for all of them to fit neatly into. (Thanks to Creative Inklings for the 'Wonderful You' card box, which I had to modify slightly to make my fatter cards fit!)

I used the lovely, lovely retired (surprise, I go for all the retired DSP's too!) Wintergreen papers from Stampin Up. Love the colors!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek at my latest project, have a good night all!

Stamps: Forever Friends, Papertrey Ink, SU, Justrite

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, SU, Adirondack

Paper: SU, The Paper Company

Accessories: Spellbinders Labels dies & Nestabilities, SU punches, Martha Stewart punch, SU ribbon, satin ribbon, Copic sketch & Spica markers, colored pencils, OMS, Marvy snowflake punch, Stickles, Flower Soft, rhinestone, pearls, PTI button, silver cord

Christmas Toys

I don't think I've ever made a gate fold card, this is my first time! I find myself so comfortable making a card ONE WAY, and never straying, it tends to get boring! I might be making more cards this way.....maybe, LOL! I try to force myself to create outside my sphere of comfort, just to change things up a bit, every once in a while.

The stamp is from Stampavie, colored with colored pencils and blended with OMS. The paper is Imaginisce.

Short and sweet, thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampavie, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Vivid, Perfect Match
Paper: PTI, Imaginisce, Stardream, The Paper Co.
Accessories: Red grosgrain ribbon, colored pencils, OMS, Liquid Glass, Stickles, Uchida clever lever snowflake punch, brad

Snow Angel

Oh gosh, doesn't your heart just melt looking at this adorable snow angel from Whipper Snapper? Mine does! She is BIG! There was entirely too much white paper behind her when I cropped it into a typical rectangle, covering up all that delish Basic Grey patterned paper, so I just gave in and cut her out.

One thing I learned when coloring this pudgy little snow lady was shading 'snow' looks a lot nicer when two different colors are used. One for the main shadows, then a totally different color for 'accent' shadows. In this case, I used a typical blue with a greenish tint, then went back and added a bit more in a light spring green. For some reason, it just added so much depth the shading. It's hard to see in the pictures, but trust me, it works!

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Whipper Snapper, PTI

Ink: Vivid, Adirondack

Paper: Heavenly White, Bristol vellum, Basic Grey, Stardream

Accessories: Nestabilities, EK Success edger punch, colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, satin ribbon, PTI button/twine

Mouse on a Daisy

Almost forgot all about this little guy from Stampavie! Isn't he sweet? When I saw those little puffball flowers, I immediately thought of using Flower Soft for them. But I only have white, so I HAD to try to color it. How? With reinkers! I simply took a piece of cling wrap, scooped a bit onto it, added a couple of drops of reinkers, smooshed it around and let it dry a bit before gluing it on. Dried pretty quickly though. And it colored beautifully. So now I know I don't hav eto buy every color of Flower Soft! I don't have the room for it anyway.

The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg collection. I love the colors! And actually, believe it or not I colored almost the whole image with Copics. I've been collecting some colors that seem to be 'missing' from my vast collection of colored pencils. I'm not fond of the flesh tones in colored pencil, so I started getting some in Copic markers. Then certain blue greens and pale aqua's weren't very good, so I added more Copics, LOL. Before I knew it I had enough to actually color an entire image. I'm still undecided about them, though, I don't think I'll be replacing my colored pencils any time soon.

Oh, and I made this card for the Stampavie design team call. Try, try again! Wish me luck!

Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Stampavie, PTI sentiment
Ink: Memento, SU
Paper: Heavenly White, Cosmo Cricket, PTI, SU
Accessories: McGill Label punch, SU scallop punch, Copics, colored pencils, OMS, Flower soft, Liquid Glass, Prima Flowers, pearl, brown satin ribbon

Peaceful Trees

This is a pretty simple card made with almost all SU products! That hardly ever happens, LOL! I've seen quite a few cards done like this, with the 'stamped off' trees, and I love the effect. This one is going into the Christmas card-for-family/friends stash.

I tried sticking some Polar White Flower Soft to the Stickled trees in the front, for some added dimension, but it didn't want to stick very much. {Note to self--Stickles looks pretty, but it ain't much of a glue!} Click on the picture to make it larger, the little bit that did stick looks really pretty. I may go back with some Tacky glue and stick some more on.

Not much to say today, being Monday, ugghhh... Hope your's isn't too bad.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Stampin Up, PTI sentiment
Ink: SU, Adirondack, Perfect Match
Paper: SU, PTI
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels & Nestabilities, sheer white ribbon, Martha Stewart tag punch, silver cord, Flower Soft, Stickles

Finally! My Own Shopping List!

If you've read a couple of my posts when I make these notebooks, you'll know that I haven't made one for myself yet, even though I desperately need one! Well, I finally made one that suits me to a tee! And I'm going to make myself use it even though it's too pretty, LOL. I use a lot of lists for grocery shopping, so I made a double notebook. The template from Nichole Heady's blog makes it sooooo easy, no measuring, you just print it out on your cardstock, make a few cuts, score, and that's it! Actually, I don't print it directly on my cardstock anymore, wastes too much paper, and you have twice as many cuts. So I printed one onto heavy cardstock, cut it out and use that to trace onto my cardstock. This way, I can line it up to two sides of the paper, eliminating two cuts, and save some paper, as well.

Here's a closer look at some of the modifications I made to mine:

I wanted my list to hang on my refridgerator, so I needed to attach a magnet to the back cover. I bought a bunch of magnetic sheets for cheap at the hardware store. They're 'Vent Covers' and only cost like $3 or $4 for a package of three. A lot less costly than the sheets you buy at the craft store! I just cut it down to size on my guillotine trimmer, and used Scor tape to adhere it. Then, I ran across another problem. The cover kept opening when hanging on the fridge. So I dug through my tool stash for the wafer thin magnets by Basic Grey. I found that if I adhered them to the inside back covers of the notebooks, they were still strong enough to keep the whole notebook closed, even through all the sheets of paper.

I love it, and you should really try one! Pretty and practical!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Perfect Match, Versamark
Paper: SU, PTI

Accessories: Marvy Uchida clever lever snowflake punches, PTI button, SU ribbon, Nestabilities, flocked mitten brad from Oriental Trading, Martha Stewart scallop punch, SU Heat n Stick powder, Art Institute glitter, PTI notebooks, magnetic sheet, Basic Grey magnets

How Many Sleeps till Christmas?

Before I share my card with you all, I figured I'd let you know that I've stepped down from the Magnolia design team. It was fun working with their stamps, and I love their designs, but it's on to new things for the future!

Now onto the card...
This card was one of those 'happy accidents' I have every once in a while. I started playing with Papertrey Ink's new Giga Guide Lines set, making a background paper on kraft cardstock, then another coordinating pattern paper with Beyond Basic Borders. I fully intended to make this a PTI card, but somehow I ended up coloring these adorable children gazing out the window from Eat Cake Graphics and just had to use it immediately!

Doesn't it look like they are just counting the days till Santa comes, maybe dreaming of the presents they will get? I LOVE them! This sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps is perfect too.

Of course I had to put Liquid Glass over the window panes, cut them out and popped them up with foam tape. Some Polar White Flower Soft and the effect is amazing. I am loving this card! All in all there was a LOT of stamping on this card, more than usual, but worth it, no?

Anyway, thanks all for the wonderful comments, it's what really keeps me going! I would be stamping anyway, but without my loyal readers, I wouldn't bother blogging!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Eat Cake Graphics, Waltzingmouse Stamps

Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, Distress

Paper: Papertrey Ink, Heavenly White, SU, Bristol vellum, The Paper Company

Accessories: Colored pencils, OMS, Martha Stewart edger punch, silk ribbon, EK Success holly punch, Liquid Glass, Flower Soft, PTI button, silver twine, Sharpie poster paint pen, Scribbles 3D paint