Another Tulipe ...

This has turned into one of my all-time FAVE SU dies!! I wasn't interested when I first saw it ... UNTIL, of course, I saw what people were makin' with it!! i have practically worn mine OUT as I did about a GAZILLION wedding announcements with it for my friend's son last summer ...

I actually did this for the Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS yesterday ... which was to incorporate some chipboard into your card. You can't really tell from the photo, but the I cut the whole darn die out in chipboard FIRST, then cut it out with the MUI-LOVELY Cottage Wall dsp ... pretty simple card, actually, but I like the color combo!!

Stamps: Vintage Labels
Paper: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Cottage Wall dsp
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Bigz Tulipe die, large and small oval punches, chipboard, whisper white taffeta ribbon, pearl (from Pretties kit)

Gettin' Inspired by ISC and WINNING!!!

It's inspiration time again!!! Innovation Stamp Creations is hosting ANOTHER fun inspiration challenge. And you would SWEAR that the theme this go-round was thought up by lil' ol ' ME (it wasn't!! Our fearless leader, Betsy Griffin, came up with it). Are ya ready??? Butterflies and Flowers!! Seriously!! How could I, the professed Butterfly QUEEN, NOT love this one???

Here is what ya do ... using only images from ISC, create a lovely card using butterflies and flowers ... that's pretty much it. THEN, post a link to your creation on the ISC blog HERE by May 9. What's in it for you, you ask? Well, how about a FREE ISC stamp sheet of choice??? If your card is chosen, you will get some free rubbah!! How cool is THAT??? Now go and see what my fellow Creative Architects have created to help inspire YOU!

ISC Blog
Joanne
Julie
Karen
Kathy

Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies AND About Me by ISC
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Ink: More Mustard, Old Olive, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, modern label punch, pop-up glue dots

And it is with sadness and gratitude that I announce that this is officially my last creation as a Creative Architect for ISC. I have LOVED the opportunity to be on their design team, and I have LOVED getting to know all the other team members (as well as Betsy) as I have been allowed to play and create with some of their wonderful images. Thanks for the encouragement and the opportunity, Betsy ... I really appreciate you!!

More Cuteness ...

Can ya stand one more thing I made with my Create a Critter cartridge?? My daughter is in an AMAZING dance company that has an equally AMAZING dance concert every spring. It is a VERY busy week filled with rehearsals, running around and LOTS of performing. Concert week was last week. During concert week, the girls are assigned big/little sisters. The purpose of this is so that the older girls can mentor and befriend the younger ones and help them through the week. Some wonderful attachments and friendships are formed, which adds to the cohesiveness of the company and the quality of their performance.

Anyway, one of the most fun aspects of the big/little sister connection is that they give little gifts to one another throughout the week. My daughter asked me if I could make a little something, and this is what I came up with ... a mini coaster photo album. I let Amelia choose the "critter" she wanted to have on the front ... she had a hard time choosing between the whale and the octopus, but as you can see the whale won out! (The little book actually has more pages than I am picturing, but they were just blank with no photos like the ones I am already showing ya!)

It also gave me the chance to drag out some retired SU dsp ... I totally {{{heart}}} this "Good Morning Sunshine" paper ... and I am SOOO glad that Pacific Point will be rejoining the cardstock "families" as a permanent addition (okay, I know that they are now gonna be called "collections" and not "families," but old habits die hard!).

Stamps: NONE!
Paper: Good Morning Sunshine dsp, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: NONE!
Accessories: Cricut Create a Critter and Calligraphy Collection cartridges, chipboard coasters, Cuttlebug Mesh Texture and Dotted Swiss embossing folders, small oval punch, Bind-It-All, rhinestone brads, brown/vanilla gingham ribbon, label maker, pop-up glue dots

How. Stinkin'. Ca-YOOT is THIS???

I have a Cricut ... and I am embarrassed to admit how many cartridges I have ... but suffice it to say it is waaayyyy more than anyone SHOULD have, and waaayyyy more than should sit gathering dust! So, I am committed to trying to use it more so that I can somewhat justify my obsession, er... um ... NEED to keep buying more cartridges!!

Which is where this card came from. Isn't this monkey just the cutest thing EVER???? I am totally LOVING him. The cartridge I got him from (Create a Critter) is gonna be one of my faves, I can tell! Actually, I have a goofy story as to how I justified buying it. My sister-in-law has a Crciut, and like ONE cartridge. Her daughter just turned 13 a couple weeks ago and is really starting to get interested in scrapbooking. Soooo.....I decided to buy the cartridge for HER, but not before loading the thing onto my Gypsy! (I called and asked my sister-in-law FIRST if she had any plans to get one .... riiiiiiggghhhht .... and she said, "By the time I ever even THINK about getting something like THAT they will have come out without something else entirely!") So, there ya have it!! Color me happy!!

Stamps: Wild About You
Paper: So Saffron, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Sahara Sand, Garden Green, Basic Black
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Cricut Create a Critter, modern label punch, large oval punch, Sizzix Animal Print (leopard spots) textured impressions folder, soft suede polka dot grosgrain ribbon, pop-up glue dots

Tropically Thankful

I sooooo can't wait for summer!! Okay, well ... I'm even giddy about SPRING!! ANYthing that is NOT winter!! (And, as much as I LOVE the fall, I am glad it's not fall 'cause winter comes right after it!)!! I couldn't be happier that I am seeing tulips, daffodils and crocus in my front yard! I feel the reprieve from winter is finally on its way!!

It was my turn as hostess again fpr the Free for All challenge on SCS today. I chose to take a virtual vacation ... LOVE the new stamps I used for this one! (They are from the upcoming summer mini catalog). I am also loving this new Square Lattice embossing folder (my friend thinks it looks like berber carpet, but I think it looks fab!). These images just screamed "bright colors" at me, so there ya have it!! What I wouldn't give for a lazy day at the beach ... love to sit under a big ol' umbrella and snack and read ... ahhhhh, I can just FEEL the sand between my toes!!

Stamps: Tropical Party, Watercolor Trio
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo
Ink: Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Scallop trim border punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, large oval punch, square lattice textured impressions embossing folder, old olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Freakin' Into Spring!

Well, I'm back after what turned out to be a very long, fun and adventurous drive last Friday/Saturday. It was great to be able to spend a lot of time with my friend, and we actually took a detour to Mt. Rushmore, which was AWESOME!!

And now it's time to see what the Freaks are doing ... again ... (you should have just come from the fabulous blog of LeeAnn Greff ) ... I always look forward to these Freak Tours because I have a great amount of admiration and respect for my fellow Freaky Friends ... these women are truly AMAZING, and I am NEVER disappointed with the things they create to inspire us all.

With that said, I have created a couple of things to share for this month's tour, which is centering on Spring, Mothers and/or Weddings.

I finally broke down and bought this cute little "bag with scallops" die last month. Totally {{{heart}}} it! I was also thrilled to see that it coordinates so very nicely with the scalloped tag in the "two tags" die (which I ALSO bought last month!). I broke down and bought SEVERAL things I hadn't planned to ... the Sweet Pea DSP was another such purchase. It is just too dang delicous!! (Which reminds me, I need to fill this with some chocolate ...)

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Old Olive, Sweet Pea DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Regal Rose, Rose Red, So Saffron
Accessories: Bigz Bag with Scallops Die, Bigz Two Tags Die, 1" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

I actually didn't use ANYthing that was recently acquired for this little wedding card (although, I have to admit, I used exactly the same sentiment and punch on it that I used on the little pop-up wedding box I created LAST month!). These colors are a little non-traditional for a wedding, but I decided that I liked 'em enough, anyway!!

Stamps: Wings of Friendship, Tiny Tags
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Kraft, Whisper White
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron
Accessories: Bigz Top Note Die, 1/2" Circle Punch, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Clear Ice Rhinestone Brad

With more fun to come, "spring" on over to Julie Buhler's blog ... she rocks!!

On the Road ... Again ...

I have a very good friend who lives in Minnesota ... okay, well I have a COUPLE of good friends who live in Minnesota (Hi Kathy! Hi Heidi!), but I am specifically talking about my friend Kathy ...

She has this very CRAZY tradition of driving form Buffalo, Minnesota, to Salt Lake City, Utah - straight-through-non-stop and ALL ALONE each spring to pick up her daughters at BYU to bring them back home for the summer. I have always thought that this was NUTSO!! In fact, the last time she did it I VOWED that I would fly one way and drive back with her ... which brings me to today .... I flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul on Wednesday evening. We spent the better part of the day yesterday shopping and eating ... and laughing and watching TV. We are heading out in a couple of hours to make the very long, 21+-ish-hour drive to SLC. I am sure we are going to laugh and eat and talk all the way ... GOOD TIMES!!

Which brings me to today's card ... which is actually a card I did earlier this week. I got my SU Summer MIni preorder items on Tuesday, so I just HAD to play with 'em before I left. This is what I came up with ...

... I totally {{{HEART}}}} this color combo. And I need to give a big shout-out to my BFF Jan - as in JanTink - and NO I am NOT a name-dropper ... she really IS my BFF (and she doesn't even live in Minnesota ... she lives in MICHIGAN, so THERE!!). She gave me the idea for this color combo as I was lamenting about not knowing what to use the other night ... thanks, girl!! (and if you look at her blog HERE, you will see that she created something eerily similar ... neither one of us had seen the card from the other one before we finished creating. I guess great minds think alike, eh??)

BTW, to those of you wondering about the ISC winners ... they have not been posted on the ISC blog yet ... but something will be up by this weekend!!

Hugs to all for a great day ... Kathy and I are gonna do our best "Thelma and Louise" impersonation as we make our way across the midwest/west ... 'cept for the part where they drive off the cliff into oblivion ... I wonder if we will see anyone who looks like Brad Pitt at the QuickMart Gas Station??!!??? Here's hopin', but I am doubtful ...

Stamps: Watercolor Trio
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Old Olive
Accessories: Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Designer Label Punch, Small Oval Punch, Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, pop-up glue dots

More New Inspiration from ISC - Day #3

This time around, the Creative Architects of ISC were asked to incorporate swirly, leafy images or scripty sentiments or ... HELLO!! ... BUTTERFLIES!! Anyone who has followed my blog for very long KNOWS that I am the Butterfly Queen (as you can see from ALL the cards I have done this week for our ISC inspirational projects). This card is no different.

I decided to stick with soft and subtle on this one. This was a pretty quick and easy card (which is not always my strong suit). I really love the look of kraft and pink together, though ...



Once again, If y'all leave a comment on this post (or the posts of ANY of the ISC Creative Architects' blogs) from Monday to Wednesday of this week you will be eligible to win a FREE ISC stamp sheet of your choice. You can even comment on the ISC Blog, too!! It's that simple. Leave a comment and you get in the drawing to win. Pretty easy, eh?? At the end of the three days (this coming Wednesday), winners will be chosen, so don't miss out!!

Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies by ISC; About Me by ISC
Paper: Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Kraft taffeta ribbon, Stitch-Doodle-Dot template, paper piercing tool/mat, large oval punch, pop-up glue dots

Dustin' 'Em Off ... Day #2

Aren't these little ATC cards just the CUTE-est??? All of the girls at ISC were challenged to bring new life to some of their "dusty" stamp sets by doing something fun and different.

This time around we were asked to make a series of ATC cards in which the images linked from one "card" to the next ... some of the girls put all three ATC's on one card front, while others, like me, decided to make a series of cards that are connected ... TOTALLY fun!! Y'all should go and try it!!



Once again, If y'all leave a comment on this post (or the posts of ANY of the ISC Creative Architects' blogs) from Monday to Wednesday of this week you will be eligible to win a FREE ISC stamp sheet of your choice. You can even comment on the ISC Blog, too!! It's that simple. Leave a comment and you get in the drawing to win. Pretty easy, eh?? At the end of the three days (this coming Wednesday), winners will be chosen, so don't miss out!!

Stamps: About Me by ISC; With All My Love by ISC
Paper: Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Suede, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: Clear Rain Drops, paper piercing tool/mat pack, small oval punch, designer label punch, vintage brads, pop-up glue dots

Back in the Saddle Again ...

I am very sorry for my absence for the past two weeks ... as I mentioned before, I was mui-mui busy creating lotsa stuff last week ... but I'm baaaa-aaaack!! Hopefully I can get on a more regular schedule ...

Actually, you will be hearing from me SEVERAL times this week as I showcase some things I made with some of my good "old" ISC (Innovative Stamp Creations) stamps!! Do ya ever notice how you buy that stamp set you just HAD to HAVE ... use it once, or twice ... then seem to have lost your mojo for it?? Sometimes if you just shake it up a bit - change the medium, layout, or even the technique - and you can find some of your old faves turning back into NEW faves, kwim?

That's what the girls at ISC are doing this week. We are dusting off some of our old FAVES and trying something new with them!!



We thought it would be fun to try to make a template/mosaic type card. How fun!! I haven't made one of these in like, forEVER!! AND it lets you play with multiple images from the same set in ways you would never have thought of before!!

If y'all leave a comment on this post (or the posts of ANY of the ISC Creative Architects' blogs) over the next three days you will be eligible to win a FREE ISC stamp sheet of your choice. You can even comment on the ISC Blog, too!! It's that simple. Leave a comment and you get in the drawing to win. Pretty easy, eh?? At the end of the three days (this coming Wednesday), winners will be chosen, so don't miss out!!

Stamps: About Me by ISC
Paper: Basic Gray, Crushed Curry, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Crushed Curry, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Gray Taffeta Ribbon, small pearl sticker, pop-up glue dots

A Little Confession ...

... okay, perhaps this is a BIG confession (at least for me). I know I have been promising a tutorial for my little pop-up wedding box for the past couple of weeks. And, oddly enough, when I posted the very same photos on SCS yesterday I got a p/m from my good friend, Beate, asking me if I would be willing to do a tutorial for the end of June (umm, YES!!). So, come the last week of June there will be a MUI-wonderful, step-by-step-with-photos-and-video tutorial on Splitcoast for it.

And so that I would have SOMEthing to share today, I stamped a little just for fun ... (and for CC265) ...

Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Vintage Labels
Paper: Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Suede, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 1" and 3/4" circle punches, 1/4" Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, pop-up glue dots

But, I digress ... back to my confession ... the reason I have been putting off .... and off ........ and off ......... posting a proper tutorial for you is that I finally decided to throw my hat in on the Stampin' Up Artisan Award thing. And I wasn't really gonna tell anyone about it ..... really ..... 'cause if I get kicked to the curb again this year I am SOOOO gonna feel bad because the stuff I am creating is, well, can I say AWESOME?? (I have truly felt like I have put my very most bestest into everything I have created). If I don't get chosen it is okay because I feel VERY good about what I have done. I know I have done my best and that is all anyone can do, right??

SO ..... since I DID promise you SOMETHING, and since my darling daughter, Amelia, WAS nice enough to trace the box for me to make a template out of .... here is a rough template for ya. For some reason I am having HUGE issues with Photoshop today and can't get it to let me type a text layer (not sure what THAT is all about), so here are a few instructions for you:

1. Cut on all black lines
2. Fold all red dotted lines TOWARD you
3. Fold all blue dotted lines AWAY from you
4. If you are using patterned paper, put the pattern that you want to show on the outside down toward the table and place the template on top of it.
5. Each side of the box measures 2 1/4" square, so if you print out the template and need to adjust it, at least you will know which direction to go!!

I hope this is helpful to y'all. I am sorry that it isn't a better and mo' coolah tutorial at this point, but just keep in mind that one is COMING ... if I EVER get these darn Artisan things done!!

I'm in a BOOK!

Waaayyyyy back last fall I was contacted by the folks at CardMaker because of something they had seen on my blog. I was told that they were publishing an interactive card book, and they asked me if I would make some sample for it!! Wahooo!! How totally COOL!! (The only sad thing is that I made FOUR cards for them, and it looks as though only THIS one made it into the book!) They had originally asked me about the hinged card, since they had seen the tutorial I had done on my blog/youtube ... hopefully it will get used somewhere else because it was MAHvelous!!


I had never actually made a waterfall card before making this one ... they just asked if I knew how to do one (which I did), so then they asked me to make them one. As FAB-OOO as this card is, though, I personally think it was the weakest of the four I sent them ... go figure!! And my BFF JanTink is ALSO featured in the book ... THREE times!! She also submitted four projects for the book, and three of 'em got used (and she is DELIGHTING in rubbing it in ... okay, not really, but she is DELIGHTED to have THREE - while I only have ONE!!).








They are actually pretty fun to make, but I have to admit that it seems kinda weird making a card that you can't actually WRITE in (which is why I slapped onto the front of an actual A2-sized card ... at least you can write in the inside of THAT!)












Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Polka Dot bg
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard
Accessories: Punches – Butterfly, Large Oval, Small Oval, Horizontal Slot, handheld 1/16” circle punch, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Brads, pop-up glue dots









Here is a picture of the cover of the book (even though my card isn't on it, it's pretty cool!!)

Now, as for the wedding box template ... I am having issues creating a file that blogger will let me post. Since I can only put up jpgs (and NOT pdf's ... darn Blogger!), I want to make sure it is in "real size" for ya so that it will be useful ... stay tuned, 'cause it WILL be up by this weekend!!