Stamp Review Crew - Zoo Babies

Stamp Review Crew is "reviewing" again ... and THIS week we are playing with the ever-adorable ZOO BABIES!!! And ya know what??? I realized just a few days ago that I didn't actually OWN this set!! WHAT??!!?? How is that even POSSIBLE???? So, happy for me it is available in MDS (which, VERY sadly, will be retiring soon!)! So ... I just downloaded it and used my trusty ol' software and Silhouette ... WHEW!!! Was glad I had that option!!

A TOUCAN??? Seriously???? Yeah-yeah-yeah ... I probably cut this cutie out in WAY too many colors, but I just couldn't HELP myself!! He's freakin' ADORABLE!!!

Stamps:Zoo Babies, Project Life Remember This (Hooray)
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Real Red
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Paper Fringe Scissors, Modern Label Punch, Burlap Ribbon, Silhouette eCutter, My Digital Studio (MDS)
MDS Download: Zoo Babies

I'm not even kidding ... ALL OF THESE ZOO BABIES are CUTENESS!!!









The "next" button will take you to the amazing Ann Schach, and the "previous" button to marvelous Martha Inchley!!!

Monday Montage #41

Welcome to Monday Montage!!! Because of Easter and everyone's caRAZY lives, we took a little stampin' vacation ... but we are BACK!!!!

Well ... my old protective cover on my Mac finally gave up the ghost ... it was falling apart in more than one way, so I finally DITCHED it!!! Got this new one (and it's TIFFANY BLUE!!) ... and of COURSE it needed a NEW and FUN design on it!! So I went to work with some images from MDS (which, sadly, is "retiring" soon ... WAAAHHHH!), some vinyl and my trusty Silhouette (which FINALLY is fixed and seems to be working well again!)! This is what I came up with ...

Stamps: NONE!
Paper:  White Vinyl
Ink:   NONE!
Accessories:Silhouette eCutter, My Digital Studio (MDS)
MDS Downloads:Life is All Around (Adventure), Next in Line (Bracket Flourish)

Hope your week is full of sunshine and SMILES!!!

Click "Back" to see Melissa Stout's lovely brilliance, and/or the "Next" button to see Amy O'Neill super clever creations!

Freaks Are CELEBRATING!

Fun, fun, FUN!!! The Control Freaks are CELEBRATING this month!!! Everyone is sharing projects that give us a reason to celebrate ... if you've been "hopping around", then you just came from Deb Currier's VERY happy cards! She's AWESOME!

I'm quite certain that this stamp set is my most FAVORITE stamp set that came out in last year's catalog!! I've used it a LOT!!! And I hope to use it a LOT more!!! There isn't an image in it that I don't LOVELOVELOVE!

Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Endless Birthday Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Vellum
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Large Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Oval Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim, Sewing Machine

This one ... it reminds me of a card I made a WAY-WAY-WAY long time ago (in fact, I'm not sure I even have a photo of it anywhere!)! CUTE little lady buggy!!! And red, white and black are ALWAYS happy together!

Stamps: A Fitting Occasion
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Real Red Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack and Paper Piercing Tool, Mini Stapler, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch

Next up??? My fellow freaky friend and running buddy Mindy Backes ... she has SUPER happy celebratory cards for you to see!!

Fab Friday #62

Well dang ... I have been SO busy at work (I was holding down the fort there the last two weeks while everyone else was out of town!) that I haven't had much stampin' time!!! AND I have been crazily-busily training for my FIRST-EVER Ragnar Race (held in Zion Park). LOTS going on!!! And this week's weather has been ca-RA-zy!! I went running on Tuesday evening ... in shorts ... at 6:00 pm ... and it was 72 degrees!!! By 6:00 pm on Wednesday it had SNOWED about 6 inches and was still going strong ... and about 28 degrees!!! My body seriously has NO IDEA what season we are in!!

Which brings me to my card for this week's Fab Friday Challenge ... I was feeling the SPRING "April showers" ... so I had to add the clouds and such (but you DO notice that one of my clouds is SMILING, right???)

Stamps: Think Happy, Label Love
Paper: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Back to Black DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party
Accessories: Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim, Spiral Border Punch, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, 3/4" Circle Punch, Artisan Label Punch, Ticket Duo Punch, White Jute Ribbon, Mini Stapler

Great challenge for me ... that little banner at the bottom had me STUMPED for quite a while ... so I improvised a little. I'm kinda addicted to the ruffle-y/staple-y thing lately!









Excited to see what all of our challenge players come up with!!

Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Check out the Fab blogs of my fellow Fab Friends:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Pam Steckman
Jan Tinklenberg

Hoping for lots of SUNshine and FLOWERS this weekend ... one more week until my Ragnar race ... SO excited!!

Stamp Review Crew - Painted Petals Edition

It's time, once again, for the Stamp Review Crew to share some creativity with all y'all. This week? Painted Petals!!! Oooooooo-la-la!!! Who DOESN'T love 'em some beautiful flowers???? This set is DA BOMB!!

I actually did the second card I am going to share with you FIRST. And then I was done. Or so I thought. I feel like I've seen a lot of things done with this card that look very similar to what I did on my second card ... but then THIS card jumped into my head!! I realize I did NOT invent the "make-a-rainbow-card-with-non-rainbow-shaped-stamps" card ... but I thought this was a fun way to use a couple of images in this set.

Stamps: Painted Petals
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, Paper Piercing Tool/Mat, Paper Piercing Essentials Pack, Real Red Taffeta Ribbon, Essentials Clips Hardware

So ... here is a little garden of flowers. I used some white craft ink to stamp the flower, then I sprinkled them with white embossing powder and heat-set them (actually, the FIRST thing I did was stamp the chevon image from "Work of Art" in the background with some Crumb Cake ink). I next colored the flowers and stems with my good-ol' trusty-ol' Stampin' Up Markers. Nothing too many here (unless you think the oval frame is fancy ... which it really isn't, but kinda looks nice, anyway). I am still using up bits of Burlap Ribbon that I have left over from making wedding shower invites (I ended up cutting too many pieces, so I have several "spare" ones floating around at the moment!)!

Stamps: Painted Petals, Work of Art
Paper: Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Whisper White Craft
Accessories: Note Tag Punch, Ovals Framelits, Large Scallop Edgelit Die, Burlap Ribbon, Natural Chevron Ribbon, Clothespin, Mini Stapler

What a pretty garden of images!!! So lovely!










The "previous" button will take you to Rochelle Blok and three BEAUTIFUL soft and lovely garden-y cards, and the "next" button will take you to Debra Burgin, who has a whole SLEW of gorgeous things for you to see!

Fab Friday #61

Happy Fab Friday, everyone!!! It's been another one of "those" weeks ... I'm kinda holding down the fort at work by myself ... everyone else is on vacation!!! So, that means I've been working full time (which is not my "norm") ... and I've seriously FORGOTTEN how to balance the rest of my life when I'm working full time ... how do you people DO it???

I also have a new mantra I am trying to follow ... "clean as you go" ... "clean as you go" ... I'm proud of myself on this card ... I actually DID clean as I went, and there was NO mess when I was done!! Hooray!

Stamps: Four Feathers, Hello Life, Gorgeous Grunge
Paper:  Soft Sky, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Sky, So Saffron, Pesr Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Fun Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Feathers Thinlits Dies, Pear Pizzazz Chevron Ribbon, Note Tag Punch, Mini Stapler

I love the softness of this color combo ... it's a lot more versatile that you'd think (I purposely didn't do a "baby" card because that's the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw it!) ...



Excited to see what all of our challenge players come up with!!

Here's a link to the Fab Friday Challenge Blog so you can play along:

Fab Friday Challenge Blog

Check out the Fab blogs of my fellow Fab Friends:

Mindy Backes
Cindy Beach
Heather Heroldt
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Pam Steckman
Jan Tinklenberg

Happy Easter Weekend!!