Meant to be...

Good morning! Here's another of the new releases from Lili of the Valley, 'Meant to be'. I guess these adorable children are more to your liking than the floral designs? I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant to use the new stamps like the kitchen herbs I had posted yesterday, but after I created a card with them, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked them. Sometimes these cutie kids are just not exactly 'right' for a certain person and classic florals are just what a well rounded stamper needs in their arsenal, lol! 

So here's another darling couple to satisfy that sweet tooth you all seem to have!

I used another gorgeous digital paper collection from Raspberry Road Designs, 'Garden Rose'. 

Image was colored with Copics, except for the grass which I did with colored pencils. The while polka dots on the little girls dress were done with a Souffle pen. 


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley- 'Meant to Be', and 'Set 7 For You Circular Sentiments'
Ink: Perfect Match
Papers: Digital paper collection from RRD printed on Hammermill, PTI, Memory Box
Tools & Accessories: Tonic corner punch, Cheery Lynn lace border die, Wild Orchid Crafts roses, Liquid Pearls, silk ribbon, McGill circle punch, Spellbinders Labels, Spica pens, Copics, colored pencils, Souffle pens

Happy Herbs

Hello blog friends! If you haven't seen Lili of the Valley's latest stamp release, run over to their web site to check them out, they're up now! There are some different designs that I am very excited about, these potted Kitchen Herbs being one of them. Very Tuscany,  sì? These were quick and easy to color up, but instead of using them as one stamp, I cut them out separately. I glued each one to a kraft colored inchie square to pop them up and add a bit of contrast. 

These papers had a bit of that Tuscan flair as well, from Raspberry Road Designs' Honey Bee set. The warm yellows and cool greens go perfectly with the herb pots

I added a stripe using a Copic marker to the yellow grosgrain ribbon just to tie it in with the color scheme a little better. 
I love this cheery birthday card, hopefully it will brighten someone's day!


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley Kitchen Herbs, Words for Tags, Words for Tickets
Ink: SU
Paper: RRD 'Honey Bee' collection printed on Hammermill color copy digital cover, SU, PTI
Tools & Accessories: Copics, ribbon, twine, PTI Banner die, inchie squares

Easter Sweeties

Good morning everyone! Easter is quickly coming up next month, so I've made up a card using the new Easter Sweeties stamp. I love this adorable image, the sweet little ducks and colorful egg are scrumptious. 

I've used very light, bright Copic colors that I matched up to the papers from Raspberry Road Designs 'Baskets and Bunnies' collection. 

The pretty cherry blossom is a Memory Box die cut that I shaped with an embossing stylus to make it more realistic. I also added a pretty little tulip border along the bottom that I cut on my Silhouette Cameo. I then added pink Liquid Pearls to the flowers. I'm pretty sure the tulip border was a freebie I got from the Sure Cuts A Lot forum. If you haven't checked that forum out yet, you really should. Tons of free SVG files!


Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Adirondack, Distress
Paper: Hammermill (for printed digital papers and stamped image), Bazzill and Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: Memory Box Cherry Blossom die, Cameo, Copics, Liquid Pearls, PTI ribbon, yellow pearl

Ride with Me

Good morning! Here's a peek at another new stamp Lili of the Valley is releasing on the 28th. This one is called 'Ride with Me'. I managed to use some purples again, maybe it will grow on me eventually lol. How could I resist when these new papers from Prima 'Meadowlark' are so beautiful? They're actually more of a lavender, which I don't have trouble using, just the darker purples.

Whenever I see these cute little scooters, I immediately think of many countries in Europe. We Americans don't see them too often, just big noisy motorcycles! So I tried to make it look like a French postcard, or something with some of the stamps from Papertrey Ink's 'Postmarks' set. The cancellation mark and sentiment are from LOTV's 'Greetings Postmarks' set. 

The gorgeous lace border is from the Silhouette Store, cut on my Cameo. So much gorgeousness in that place!


Don't mind the little heart charm, I didn't realize it was turned backwards until I was done editing the photo! Ooops.


So what do you all think of the new releases? Any favorites?


Thanks for dropping by!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, Palette
Paper: Prima, Bazzill, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: PTI ribbon, Nestabilities, PTI postage stamp die, sewing machine, Crystal Lacquer, pewter heart charm, silver chain, Silhouette Cameo, unknown corner punch

Love Boat

Hello everyone! I've got a sneak peek of some new stamps coming out at Lili of the Valley on March 28th. This one is called 'Love Boat' and I just fell in love with this adorable image. I knew I wanted to do something dramatic with a night sky so I went on the hunt for the perfect patterned paper for the background. I found nothing in my stash (how is that possible?! I have tons of paper!) so I turned to the wonderful world of digital scrapbooking. Literally thousands and thousands of options available on the web, all the patterned paper you could possibly want yet I was having trouble finding just what I wanted. So after hours and hours of scouring the net, I turned to my favorite digital SB store Raspberry Road Designs. I don't know why I just didn't look there first, I could have saved myself half a day! I decided to use one of the papers from the paper pack, Mystical Sky. Absolutely perfect for what I had in mind. 

I had to use a trick from the Black Magic technique to make the willow branches show up on the  dark background so I took a tiny, tiny paintbrush and colored in the leaves and the moon with watered down white acrylic paint. Then after it dried I was able to color those elements in with colored pencils. 
The bears in the boat and the wine bottle were simply colored separately, cut out and glued to the background. 
Then I went to town with the embellishing. Sewed some seed beads around the perimeter of the label die cut as well as some 'stars' in the sky, then went back with a Souffle pen for more stars. 

The sentiment 'postmark' is from LOTV's Set 18 Greetings Postmarks embossed in white. 


Keep your eyes peeled for more sneak peeks on the Inspire Blog, there are some new designs that I am very excited about!


Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley
Ink: Versamark, Memento
Paper: Memory Box, SU, Hammermill color copy used for all digital patterned papers from Raspberry Road Designs
Tools & Accessories: Spellbinders Labels, Martha Stewart edge punch, seed beads, Souffle pen, Copics, Stickles, Inkessentials white gel pen, colored pencils, OMS, satin ribbon, Americana acrylic paint, paint brush

New Beginnings

Good morning everyone! I feel spring coming our way, it was almost too warm today if you can believe it! I saw the first signs of spring driving to work today, the bright yellows of Forsythia, and Daffodils! Actually here in PA, we are a few weeks behind and everything is still gray and brown. But a mere 40 miles away (where I work) is where I am already seeing signs of life. So, to celebrate these early signs of spring, I have an appropriate card to share with you all today. One of my all time favorite colors is Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist and SU's Soft Sky (retired, poo!) and I decided to feature that color on this card.

I did a lot of masking to create this jar full of speckled eggs and colored them with my Copics BG000 and BG72. I embossed the jar lid with silver embossing powder and layered it over the cute ruffled 'skirt' around the mouth of the jar. 

Then I added some sprigs of wildflowers from the 'Life' stamp set tied with a bow. I matted the whole thing on a Spellbinders Label stamped with Gina K's stamp set. 
I'm not sure what occasion this card would be for, maybe a new baby, or a wedding maybe? The sentiment 'New Beginnings' could be appropriate for a few things, I guess. We'll see....


I hope spring is coming your way too and thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Gina K
Ink: Adirondack, Versamark, Perfect Match, A-Muse Studios
Paper: Papertrey Ink
Tools & Accessories: PTI Life dies, white & silver embossing powder, Spellbinders Labels, PTI twill ribbon, Copics, Martha Stewart corner punch, white pearl

Shamrocks

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Good morning everyone, I'm not sure exactly what St. Patrick's day is all about. Maybe nothing, maybe something wonderful, all I know is it's a fun holiday to make cards for! I'm not Irish, but I love their lovely countryside, their accents and their rubber stamps, ha! Good enough for me! Here's a card featuring those 'Lucky Kitties' from Lili of the Valley.

I love using Basic Grey Origins for St. Patrick's day, perfect combination of greens and earthy browns. The kitties were colored with Copics, and shaded with colored pencils. 

I found this gorgeous shamrock frame in the freebie section of the Silhouette Plus forum. I was so worried I would not be able to get it to cut right on my Cameo, especially because I was going to use very thick PTI cardstock, but I ratcheted the pressure up to 4, and it cut like a dream! So happy....

Thank you for visiting my blog, have a safe and happy St. Patrick's day, I'm off to start the corned beef!

Stamps: Lili of the Valley, Catslife Press sentiment seal
Ink: Memento, Palette
Papers: Basic Grey, Core'dinations, PTI
Tools & Accessories: Cameo, Copics, Prismacolor colored pencils, OMS, Stickles, Nesties, PTI satin ribbon, embroidery floss

Serenity

Good morning friends, are you excited that it's Friday? I sure am, I am looking forward to an entire weekend of uninterrupted crafting. I have some sick folk in the house though, my son and dear Jimmy, so hopefully I won't be running around nursing them both, lol! We all know how men get when they have a little cold, HA!

Onto my card.. no coloring on this one. One of the nice ladies Jimmy and I know from work was in need of a sympathy card, so I had to come up with one on the fly. 

I used PTI's anniversary set Pretty Peonies again, can I just say I LOVELOVE this set!? I stamped the peony image several times with two colors of inks, then did some fussy cutting so I could layer the petals. 

I finally caved in and got SU's Hello Doily stamp. I just couldn't resist it's beauty anymore. I'm not really too compulsive a stamp buyer, sometimes it takes me months to buy something I've been keeping my eye on. This is one of them. I went for the popular technique of embossing in white and sponging some color around it to really make those intricate details pop.


Hope you like it, thanks for visiting!

Stamps: PTI, SU
Ink: Versamark, Fresh Ink, Distress
Paper: PTI
Tools & Accessories: PTI dies, white EP, PTI ribbon, clear EP, Glaze pen

Gift Card Holder

Good morning blog friends! I received a gift card over the holidays for one of the chain restaurants (can't remember which one right now) and it came in such a nifty little holder I quickly took it apart to try and replicate it. The cut out window on the sleeve was an apple I think, so I changed that on mine, but here's what I came up with...

 Pretty cute, huh? It's amazing what you can come up with if you pay attention to the packaging to the hundreds of items we buy every day! If you find something you like, take it apart and use it as a template to trace onto your own pretty papers. 


I used Born to Shop for this holder, because after all it is for a shopping card. 

This one is basically an outer sleeve with a die cut window, pretty papers and a bow, and an inside matchbook type card with a pocket inside for a gift card. Very simple. I added a little sentiment to the inside from Set 10- A5 Verses.

I really like the way this came out, it's going to be my future packaging for all gift cards from now on. I just hope I saved the original one.... eep! 


Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley- 'Born to Shop' & 'Set 10- A5 Verses'
Ink: Perfect Match
Paper: Papertrey Ink
Tools & Accessories: Copics, Scor Pal, Seam binding, McGill circle punch, EK Success edge punch, Spellbinders Labels 1

Hey Chickie!

Good morning everyone! I am so happy I bought myself a Silhouette Cameo, I was so unhappy with my Gazelle that I totally left it neglected. I have a feeling the Gazelle is for much more advanced users than myself. I needed something to work with a minimum of fuss right out of the box, and the Cameo fits the bill! Now if I have a vision for a card I want to create, I plug in my laptop, a couple of clicks of my mouse and voila! I have a gorgeously cut border to grace the front of my card. This egg border is from the silhouette store. Isn't it just beautiful?!

I dug into my classic stamps stash and came out with this adorable Forever Friends bear just in time for Easter. I was worried about coloring it entirely in Copics, because there was so much open space in this large image, which would require lots and LOTS of blending! I basically just used one or two of the lighter Copics and shaded it with colored pencils instead. 

I did some cross stitching with embroidery thread around the border of the card, added a strip of grass and some tiny little flowers to finish it up. I thought the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Spring fillers was perfect for this card, and stamped it on a tiny tag to tie around the bow. 


What do you think? Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Forever Friends easter clear stamp set, sentiment from PTI
Ink: Memento, Impress
Papers: Memory Box, Prima, Bella's bestest paper
Tools & Accessories: PTI ribbon, baker's twine, Martha Stewart tag punch, McGill flowers punch, MFT grass border die, Copics, colored pencils, Viva Decor pearl pen, embroidery floss, Spica pen, Silhouette Cameo

Birthday Balloons

Hello everyone! We're expecting temperatures in the 60's today, that makes me very happy! A sneak peek of spring, I hope. 

I have this sweet birthday card to share with you all today, featuring the adorable Mice are Nice line of stamps from Lili of the Valley. This one is called Birthday Balloons. 

Lots of colorful papers from Basic Grey's Indie Bloom collection. The balloons were cut on my Cameo, colored and I applied a thick coat of Crystal Lacquer to make them nice and shiny. I tied some baker's twine to them before adhering them in a cluster. 

Hopefully it will brighten someone's day, thanks for stopping by and I hope you will enjoy some spring like weather in your neck of the woods too!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Birthday Balloons' and 'Sentiments for Her'
Ink: Perfect Match, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: Copics, striped twill ribbon, McGill circle punch, Nestabilities, SU Scallop edge punch, baker's twine, Cameo, Spica pens, white embossing powder, sewing machine

Some bunny loves you....

Good morning blog friends! Sometimes I struggle with ways to make my cards new and fresh, I find myself getting into a rut with the same layout over and over again. So, I frequently browse sketch blogs for new inspiration. I use Mojo Monday a lot, some of my favorite sketches come from there, and I recently started seeing The Deconstructed Sketch all over the place. So I checked it out. VERY nice sketches, right up my alley. So I picked a favorite and in no time at all I have a card that is outside my box. Here's the sketch I chose: No. 34.

I used another Tiddly Inks digital stamp, Wryn with her little bunny ears. She's colored with Copics and some colored pencils too.

The sentiment is from a Forever Friends clear Easter stamp set I got a while back, can't remember where I got it from though. It was perfect for this card, don't you think?


Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Digital image from Tiddly Inks, sentiment from Forever Friends clear Easter set
Ink: Memento
Paper: Digital Papers from Raspberry Road Designs (printed on Hammermill color copy paper), SU and Bazzill
Tools & Accessories: Copics, Stickles, grosgrain ribbon, SU scallop punch, PTI banner die, baker's twine, Tonic corner punch, embroidery floss

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