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

Sending my love...

Good morning blog friends! I've had my eye on these uptown girls from Stamping Bella for a long time now, I tried to resist starting yet another character collection. But in the end, I couldn't. There's something about them that I adore so I caved in and bought a few to satisfy the need, lol. 

I colored this lovely gal with Copics. She's got lots of sparkle with Stickles around the frilly hem of her skirt, the hearts she's got in her arms have a little dimension added with Crystal Lacquer. 

The papers are from Kaisercraft's Sweet Nothings paper pad, soft and sweet. There's a little pewter heart charm strung around the grosgrain bow. The sentiment seal is from Catslife Press. 

I'll be back with another sneak peek of Lili of the Valley's upcoming new release tomorrow! Be sure to stop back and take a look!


Thanks for stopping by,


Stamps: Stamping Bellla, Catslife Press
Ink: Memento
Papers: Kaisercraft, Core'dinations, PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, Copics, Stickles, Crystal Lacquer, pewter heart charm, PTI ribbon, Tonic corner rounder, heart doily

Feeling Poorly?

Hello friends! I hope everyone is well, we're past the mid week point which means the weekend is soon here. Always a good feeling for me...

I have a little project and card to share with you all today. I love this older stamp from Lili of the Valley, 'Little Nurse' and I wanted to make a get well card with a little box of tissues to go with it.  Those little packages of tissues are very convenient to have in your purse or car, but they're not very pretty to give as a little gift. They're so much nicer in this box.

I used a floral stamp from LOTV's clear set 'Folk Flowers' to decorate the tissue box. I hid a little magnet under the patterned paper so the flap stays closed.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you've gotten a bit of inspiration from your visit!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Memento
Paper: Stampin Up, PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Nestabilities, EK Success tiny scallop punch, striped twill ribbon, Copics, Crystal Lacquer, Scor Pal, Spica pens, magnets

Edited to add link to template for the tissue box:


Tissue Box Template from Lady and the Stamp

Hoppy Easter

Hello Friends! I have a sneak peek of the upcoming Lili of the Valley release coming up in a few weeks. How adorable is this image?! There is no one, and I mean no one who does fuzzy little animals like Lili of the Valley. I can't get enough of them! I wanted these darling little bunnies to be all white with pink ears and noses just like an Easter bunny should be.

I stuck with very light colored Copics (except for the yummy chocolate egg) to coordinate with the papers. These were printed  from a digital collection from Raspberry Road Designs. 

When thinking of what kind of embellishment I could add to the card after it was put together, I didn't want to do the usual flowers but wanted to keep the clean simplicity of the layout. I rummaged through my stash of trims and came across all this pom pom trim I totally forgot about. I added the small pom pom trim to the bottom of the image, but then I noticed the larger white trim looked kind of like.... well-- bunny tails! Ha! I cut two of them off and attached them to some crochet thread and slipped them through the bow. Perfect. 


Hope you like it, thanks for looking!


Stamps: 'Hoppy Easter' coming soon to LOTV store, Happy Circular Sentiments
Ink: Memento
Paper: Memory Box, Digital papers from Raspberry Road Designs printed on Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels, McGill circle punch, pom pom trim, PTI ribbon, Copics, Sharpie poster pen, Souffle pens, EK Success edge punch

Bunnies in Love

Good morning folks! Today is my day on the Ideas to Inspire Blog, we're showcasing everyone's cards using previously released stamp sets all about love. This one is 'Bunnies in Love'. I loved this stamp when it first came out and I love it just as much now!

Bunnies are colored with Copics. The papers are from a retired Stampin Up collection. 

I made the paper flowers using EK Success flower punches in two sizes. I just shaped them with a shaping tool and added the 'stamens' to the center to resemble cherry blossoms. They're simply tiny strips of paper that I fringed with scissors, rolled up and dipped the ends in yellow acrylic paint. 


Thanks for looking!


Supplies used:

Stamps: LOTV Bunnies in Love, Papertrey Ink sentiment

Ink: SU

Papers: SU, PTI

Tools & Accessories: Copics, Stickles, EK Success flower punches, Martha Stewart leaf punch, EK Success tiny scallop edge punch, SU edge punch, Oval Nestablities, striped twill ribbon, Maya Road heart stick pins, PTI Tiny Tags die, baker's twine, Crystal Lacquer

Ticket to love

Good morning folks! I recently saw a technique that's been around for ages in use on someone's blog and was finally inspired to try it out myself. (Stamping with bleach.) It's pretty cool because you can achieve lighter colors of the cardstock you're stamping on without using any ink! So, that's what I did for the background on this card...

I've used another Wryn digi, colored with my Copics. I was pretty impressed with the way the tree came out, I thought I would have to use my colored pencils to achieve the rough bark texture, but I didn't. Instead of coloring it in solidly with the darker brown Copics, I used long and short vertical lines to create the texture and I am very pleased with the effect. 

The grass, however, was done with colored pencils, there is just no way I can get those super fine lines I love with Copics. It would be pretty cool to have a fine drawing tip on Copic markers.


That's all for today, thanks for peeking in!

Stamps: Digital image from Tiddly Inks, PTI ticket stamps
Ink: Perfect Match, Amuse
Paper: PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: PTI ribbon, heart charm, baker's twine, Copics, PTI Ticket die, Tonic ticket punch, Stickles, Memory Box heart border die, bleach