Inspired By Stamping #25 - Sunflowers

Summer's end brings glorious sunflowers and beautiful chrysanthemums.  My card features a flower that can be used either way:

I'm playing along with Inspired By Stamping's Inspiration Challenge, and check out the inspiration picture:

The challenge is to use sunflowers and this color palette --  Yellow, Blue, Green, Cream.

I used some new-to-me paper from K & Co. called Merryweather as my background and bordered it with a stamp from Delicate Doilies II.  The sunflowers - from the set Daisies - were colored with Copics and dusted with Tiger Eye glitter.

I made a stamping boo-boo near the bottom of the card, so to cover it up, I put a sort of 'skirt' along the bottom made of three lacy layers.  I actually rather like the effect!

Come play along with us!  If you are new to the Inspiration By Stamping Inspiration Challenge, by all means go over and check it out.  It's a weekly challenge, and Joanna (IBS owner) varies the themes from a sketch one week, to an inspiration photo another.

Thanks for dropping by today!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Mason Jar Add-On II, Daisies, Delicate Doilies II - Inspired By Stamping
Paper: Very Vanilla - SU; Merryweather - K & Co.
Ink: Old Olive - SU; Antique Linen - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: satin ribbon - Michael's; lace
Other: oval punch - SU; Tiger Eye glitter - Martha Stewart; Copic markers

Playing With A Simply Scrappin' Kit

Happy Labor Day to my American friends!  It's nearing the end of the day here, and it's rained the entire day.  Yay for much-needed rain, boo for the timing on a holiday.  My husband is cooking some barbecue smoked ribs for dinner, and we'll have fresh Jersey corn on the cob.  Yum!

I played with a retired Simply Scrappin' Kit from Stampin' Up!, and made a whole bunch of simple cards.

Here's one for the Moxie Fab World Card Design Handbook Asymmetry Challenge:

It's also being submitted to Simon Says Stamp - 'Anything Goes', and The Paper Players - 'Leaves or Trees' (I've got a leaf, 'tho it's not the autumn kind ;)

The Simply Scrappin' kit also helped me make these:

Easy peasy, and a lot of fun, too!

Because they were each so simple, I added touches of Liquid Pearls in Lemon Yellow on every flower center for a little something extra, and a bit of twine on some too:

Have yourself a beautiful day or evening, wherever you are!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5" each
Stamps: Truly Appreciated, Essential Messages - Hero Arts
Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Certainly Celery - SU
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: twine - Creative Impressions

Other: stickers from Simply Scrappin' Kit (retired) - SU; Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls - Ranger

One Day At A Time

Hello all!  I have two quick cards to share today, and they're sort of mail-friendly.  ;-)  Not too many layers, and only a few bumpy things on them.

The card bases are from K & Co., and were a gift from my SIL quite a long while ago.  They are thin, and I love the pattern.  I added little bits of things that I keep in my soap boxes.  I rather like the eclectic feel, and balanced everything off to one side (save one little punched butterfly) for the MFW Asymmetry Challenge.

This card is entered here:

• Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook 'Asymmetry Challenge'
• Simon Says Stamp - 'Anything Goes'
• The Shabby Tea Room - 'Summer Cottage' - use inspiration photo, colors in photo, distressing/shabby elements and a title or sentiment

The other card uses many of the same elements, but the focus is dead-center:

Challenges entered:

• Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook 'Focal Point Challenge'
• Paper Play Challenges - 'Sentiment as main image/focus'
• The Shabby Tea Room - 'Summer Cottage' - use inspiration photo, colors in photo, distressing/shabby elements and a title or sentiment

Before I go, just a little reminder that I'll be discontinuing Feedblitz as my email-updates delivery company as of 9/1/12.  If you'd like to continue to receive email updates from my blog, be sure to sign up where it says "FOLLOW BY EMAIL"  on the top of the right-hand sidebar.  It's through Feedburner, who I'll be using exclusively after 9/1.  Thanks!

Have a lovely day!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Here For You - Verve
Paper: K & Co. patterned paper card bases (from a kit); assorted cast-off punched and die cut pieces
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko; Crumb Cake, Whisper White - SU; Antique Linen - Ranger
Fibers: twine - Creative Impressions
Other: pearl; Liquid Pearls - Ranger

Shabby Toile & Chandelier

Hello there!  It's a matter of hours until the new-to-me Unity Opportunity challenge closes, so I'm sneakin' in pretty close.  It's called Pick A Challenge.  There are 4 challenges to choose from if you use Unity/ippity stamps.  I chose the also-new-to-me  Chick Challenges with Ippity.  Here's the sketch provided:

It's gorgeously simple, isn't it?  So many possibilities!  Of course, I had to dress it up a little and put a Dietrich Designs spin on it:

I ADORE the Unity Tea Time Toile background.  Love!  It's so pretty.

I also incorporated an embossed chandelier from Glowing Hours and aged script from Vintage Handwritten.  Dots of Liquid Pearls accent the Fleur-de-Lis frame.

Other challenges I've entered:

• Moxie Fab World Card Design Handbook Week 'Gallon/Quart/Pint' Challenge 

Hope Cath (of MFW) thinks I got this right.  You pick three colors (mine are white, green, and sand).  You use one of those colors liberally (think gallon - mine is white, in the paper, the frame, the embossed image, buttons, and 'pearls'), then the second one less liberally (quart - green, the stamped image and ribbon), and the last color gets just a small dose (sand).

I see some new Followers' pictures on my sidebar and I'm waving to you right now -- see my hand going crazy??  Thank you so much for putting yourself there.  I hope I always make it worth your while to come visit me.

And thank you to those of you who have already signed up for the email updates from Feedburner (top of the right-hand sidebar).  Just as a reminder, I am switching my method of email updates from Feedblitz to Feedburner as of 9/1/12.  If you have been with me a while, please make sure you sign up before then, for uninterrupted updates in your inbox.  Thanks!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Glowing Hours, Vintage Handwritten, Tea Time Toile - Unity
Paper: white - PTI; Sahara Sand
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake - SU; Versamark - Tsukineko
Fibers: Certainly Celery ribbon, white floss- SU
Other: Big Shot; Fleur de Lis Rectangle, Rectangle dies - Spellbinders; buttons; White embossing powder - Creative Inspirations; Liquid Pearls - Ranger; heat tool

You Inspire and It's A Girl

Hello friends! I've got two cards to show today, and the post is photo-heavy.  Just sayin'.  ;-)

This card is entered in a couple of challenges:

• Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook:  The Movement Challenge
• CASE Study - CASE a team member - I chose Clare Buswell's 'Happy Day' card.  I liked the layout, but decided not to add any ribbon to mine.
• The Shabby Tea Room - use damask, colors in photo and flowers

As for the Movement Challenge from Moxie Fab, here is what I hope your eye does when it looks at my card.  First, you notice the flower cluster, with my punched-inked-scored leaves, and then the sentiment --

and then your eye should travel to the SRM border sticker, punched edges and Liquid Pearls.

The last thing you notice is the scalloped border --

I hope I did it right!  It's a challenging challenge for me.  

Here's the next card:

This one is entered here:

• Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook Focal Point challenge
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - 'Butterflies, Bees, Spiders, Oh My!'
• The Shabby Tea Room - use colors in photo, damask, and flowers (mine is the paper medallion flower)

The focal point of my card is the large medallion cluster.  (I hope)

There's quite a bit of depth to it.  No fitting this bad boy in a regular A2 envelope, I'm afraid.

Under the medallion, lots of white ribbons with different textures and widths --

On a personal note -- I visited my doctor yesterday.  Yes, I am STILL having trouble breathing this summer.  At least it's not bronchitis this time.  When we went away to the Outer Banks, North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, my breathing got better, but when we returned home, problems came back.  My doctor said it's been a summer where all bets are off, no rules apply, when it comes to people and their respiratory problems.  He's seen patients for lung ailments that have NEVER had problems, and they're in their 50s, 60s, 70s.  To find out  just how bad our air quality is here in South Jersey, I checked THIS site called Sperling's Best Places and entered my zip code.  I discovered that out of a possible 100 points for air quality (the higher the number, the better), my town has 9.5.  Yep.  9.5.  Isn't that terrible??  Makes me want to move right now, but it's just not feasible.  :(  Guess I need to continue my medications.

Thanks so much for hanging in there with me!



It's A Girl card:
Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Oh, Baby! - Inspired By Stamping
Paper: Blush Blossom, Mellow Moss, Whisper White, Sahara Sand - SU; patterned paper Merryweather - K & Co
Ink: Old Olive - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko
Other: flower - Petaloo; Liquid Pearls - Ranger; border sticker - SRM; Rose Leaf punch - Martha Stewart; Heart border punch - SU; Pointed Flower, Corner Rounder punches - EK Success

You Inspire card:

Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Dare To Be - Verve; Royal Day - Unity; butterfly, Bliss - SU
Paper: white - PTI; Sahara Sand, Pretty In Pink - SU
Ink: Old Olive, Pretty In Pink - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: various white ribbons
Other: 1 3/8" circle punch - SU; Pointed Flower punch - EK Success; Liquid Pearls - Ranger; white doily - Martha Stewart; circle die - Spellbinders

Shimmering Snowflake

I say it's never too early to get those Christmas cards going, 'cause the holiday season is just too busy to be making dozens of handmade cards!  Here's one to go in my ever-growing pile, using some Creative Inspirations Paints:

This is one of those cards that took a different direction from where I started.  I didn't take pictures along the way to show how I made it, but I can list the steps for you.

1. Make card base; emboss.
2. Cut red panel 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" and patterned paper panel 3 5/8" x 4 7/8".  Adhere together and set aside.
3. Using a black piece of cardstock, set a circle die within a larger scalloped circle die; send through Big Shot to die cut a frame.  Save resulting circle for another project.
4. Place same circle die over red/patterned paper panels and send through Big Shot to die cut opening.
5. Holding die cut panel over card base, find approximate area that will show through the opening.
6. Paint Winter Frost shimmer paint over this area, being sure to extend it a little so you don't see the demarcation lines through opening.  Set aside until dry (it doesn't take long at all).
7. Adhere black scalloped circle frame to patterned paper panel.  Place foam dimensional stickers on underside of panel and adhere to base over painted area.
8. Use Evergreen paint to cover two white felt snowflakes.  Use craft glue to join them together once paint is dry.  Glue on rhinestones, then adhere to center of die-cut area with more glue.
9. Add strip of black ribbon, cinched in one place with thread.  Make a bow from ribbon and glue over cinched area.

This felt snowflake was white before painting.

Just a reminder:  these paints are 10% off during the whole month of August!

Thanks for joining me today!

Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Paper: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black - SU; pattern - Christmas Home - Teresa Collins
Fibers: black satin ribbon
Other: Little Felt Flurries - SU; rhinestones - Queen & Co.; Big Shot; Sugar embossing folder - Sizzix; Scalloped Circle, Circle dies - Spellbinders; Evergreen, Winter Frost shimmer paints - Creative Inspirations Paints

Summer Delight

Hello friends!  I made a card for a neighbor who is celebrating a "big" birthday this year.  She's the kindest, sweetest woman, and it gave me great pleasure to make an extra-special card for the occasion.

My inspiration came from these challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show - No Rules (but should be vintage)
• Unity - Friends with Flair - my first-ever FWF post! 
• Ribbon Carousel - Celebrating Summer - this is a summer birthday!

I used two Unity stamps for this.  The sentiment is from a set of the same name, and the rose is from the Provencial Collection.  I had bought a bunch of bee-autiful Unity goodies a while back (during a most awesome sale), and am happy to crack into them a bit more (this card and this one show more of the stamps I bought during the sale).  :o)

The ribbon is vintage, from my grandmother before she passed away.  It's at least 30 years old (and that's estimating on the safe side; it could be older), but looks very good.  She kept her things in tip-top shape.  I sure do miss her!  My girls never got to meet her.  She passed just months before my eldest daughter was born.  I had such a wonderful relationship with her.  She began crocheting a baby blanket for me using white (my request) yarn.  I don't think she got very far into it when fate stepped in.  Her older sister, Irene, took over from there so that I had a special blanket at the time of my baby shower.  Sigh...such a fond, bittersweet memory.  :o)

I wiped the edges of the Fleur-de-lis Rectangle die with white and dark umber inks, to give it a worn look to match the DCWV patterned paper.

Don't forget -- if you'd like to receive email updates from my blog, please sign yourself up using the Feedburner subscription tool on the top of the right-hand sidebar.  Just enter your email address, then confirm your subscription following the steps you will receive in an email from Feedburner.  As of September 1st, I will no longer be using Feedblitz, so be sure to sign up!

Thanks for dropping in!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Provencial Collection, Delight In The Little Things - Unity
Paper: Old World Matstack - DCWV; Natural White, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake - SU
Ink: Walnut Stain, Antique Linen - Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko; Whisper White craft - SU
Fibers: vintage satin loop ribbon; twine - Creative Impressions
Other: pearls; Scalloped Ovals, Fleur-de-lis Rectangles dies - Spellbinders; kraft tag - SU (old); Copic markers

Little Sailboat and an Important announcement for email subscribers

Hello friends!  After catching up on all things home-related this past week after my vacation (laundry, dusting, vacuuming, errands, etc.), I made time yesterday for crafting.

Here's one of the cards:

My inspiration came from these two challenges:

• The Craft's Meow August Sketch 

• CASE Study - CASE one of the DT's creations - past or present.  I chose to CASE my oh-so-talented friend, Andrea Ewen.  She made a baby boy card that is SO precious!  Andrea used lots of neutrals, but I wanted to incorporate the traditional blues in my version.  

CASE Study is also looking for a guest designer, and I'm throwing my hat in the ring for a chance.  (-:

The stars and sailboat are from The Craft's Meow's It's A Shore Thing, and the sentiment is from Owl Be Thinking Of You.  The Lattice punch peeking out near the bottom of the card was one of the bargains I found on vacation, from TJ Maxx.  They had many EK Success punches on sale for $3.99 each (retail $15!).  I bought a few.  ;)

*** As we push ahead into autumn, I'm going to make a change on my blog concerning Feedblitz.  As of September 1st, I will be discontinuing this service. If you would still like to receive e-mail updates when I post, there is a section at the top of my blog on the sidebar for signing up through Feedburner. I will be using Feedburner exclusively from then on so make sure you subscribe. ***

I'm keeping this brief....we're visiting with family today and I need to get mooooooving.

Thanks for dropping by!



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: It's A Shore Thing, Owl Be Thinking Of You - The Craft's Meow
Paper: Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss - SU; white - PTI; Let's Party - Webster's Pages
Ink: Antique Linen - Ranger; Bashful Blue - SU; Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: white seam binding - Zipper Stop; twine - Creative Impression; lace - Simplicity
Other: blue bling - Want2Scrap; Copic markers; white button; Lattice punch - EK Success

Inspired By Stamping Recap Day - Thanks Berry Much

The August Release stamps at Inspired By Stamping are so sweet!  I hope you enjoyed the sneak peeks the other day.  I've got one more project to show you which showcases two new sets, Mason Jars and Mason Jar Add On.  

I created my background with a set that was released earlier this summer, Vintage Background.  I used a piece of Red Gingham Washi Tape over Baja Breeze cardstock to create interest behind the strawberry clip art.

I used two Fleur-de-Lis Motif die cuts, layered one upon the other, behind the berries.  I love to add pearls wherever I can!

I love how this little piece turned out!  First I stamped a doily from Delicate Doilies, then on a white scrap, stamped a sentiment from the new set, Mason Jar Add On, punched it out and placed on top of the doily.  On another scrap, I stamped the ribbon banner from Mason Jars in red, trimmed out and added beneath the doily.  It reminds me of a county fair (blue) ribbon!

To entice you even more, there's special pricing if you buy the whole stamp release bundle -- 15% off the total, and free shipping until Sunday with a minimum $20 purchase.

Check out the projects from my fellow team members --

Deb Hickman

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Irit Shalom

Joanna Munster

Kendra Sand

Kim Score

Tammy Hobbs

On a personal note, I'd like to enter this into Flourishes Sweet Celebration challenge (to use something sweet - like strawberries!).

Thanks for dropping in today.  :-)



Dimensions: 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Vintage Background, Delicate Doilies, Mason Jar Add On, Mason Jars  - Inspired By Stamping
Paper: white - PTI; Baja Breeze - SU
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko
Fibers: white seam binding - Zipper Stop
Other: Red Gingham Washi Tape - Inspired By Stamping; Big Shot: Fleur de Lis Motifs, oval dies - Spellbinders; pearls - Queen & Co.; circle punch - Martha Stewart; strawberry clip art