Quickie Valentine Card!

Happy Monday friends!! We had a super busy weekend and I didn't manage to sneak in any stamping time at all!! But it's all good! I did create this card last week - and I do believe that it's entirely Stampin' Up. Even if it is all mostly retired stuff! I stamped the Woodgrain background on Pirouette Pink in Riding Hood Red ink. The heart in the sentiment is stamped on riding hood red cardstock, cut out, and then stamped with the woodgrain in white craft ink. Super quick - but I love the look!
Hope you had a great weekend and are staying warm - it's awfully cold here! Brrrr! Later taters!

Bellarific Sketch!

Hey friends!! I had a chance this week to play along with Bellarific Friday - which happened to be a sketch challenge. Lately I've been concentrating on using stamps that have never been used, and using up patterned paper. This is Cakey Watt - he's adorable and perfect for a birthday party my daughter is attending on Sunday. The paper is Basic Grey Mellow and I subbed a piece of ribbon for the strip in the sketch. Check out all the entries on Em's blog

Happy Friday!! We have a super busy weekend - how about you? Later taters!
sometime today!

Ahead of the Game!

My daughter's birthday is at the end of the month and we're having a little tea party at home to celebrate. I knew that I wanted to make her a banner for a decoration to go along with our Strawberry Shortcake theme. Luckily, this week's Wed. stamp club challenge was to create a home decor item or to alter an item. This banner was a lot of work, but since I kept it fairly generic, it can hang in her room after the party!

I used a couple Pure Innocence images as well as Bling 'Bet. I'm pretty tickled about how this turned out - and more importantly - so is my daughter. Next up: invitations! More to come on that another day!

Here's some pictures of the individual letters - it's hard to see any detail in the banner picture.








Happy Monday friends!! Hope you have a great week!

Purely Innocent Mercy

I'm still on my mission to get all my Pure Innocence stamps inky. This is the last one from the first release - Flower Girl. This will be a valentine card for one of my daughter's preschool teachers - who she absolutely adores.
The paper is all older paper from My Mind's Eye, other than the riding hood red cardstock. I used an MFT perfect panel for the image though and coloured with copics. The awesome layout is from Mercy's Tuesday sketch challenge.
I've been stamping up a storm, trying to get things ready to post more regularly. I'm hoping to continue stamping this weekend. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for reading!

Soaring By...

I'm still on my quest to use the images from the Everyday Button Bits set. I love this hot air balloon image and I paired it with some shimmery cardstock and shimmery Bo Bunny paper. The layout is last week's Mojo Monday sketch with a few minor changes. These images are really easy to use - I think that this set will be really versatile.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Happy Monday!

Taylored Flurries!

I'm still on my quest to ink up all of my Pure Innocence stamps - hope you're not tired of them yet because 4 more landed in my mailbox the other day!! I used Taylor's sketch challenge for the layout and more of that Ski Slope designer paper. I'm hoping this doesn't look too "christmassy" but I'm thinking that it's definitely leaning that way.
I used liquid applique for the snow flurries and glittered up her boots and hat. I also glittered up my blue snowflake and layered it with a felt snowflake and button. The sentiment was heat embossed to make it stand out better against the patterned paper.
Hope you're having a good week! I've been super busy but am hoping to squeeze in some stamping time today! Later taters!

Watercoloured Innocent Valentine

I'm trying to get a head start on my valentine's cards so that I'm not scrambling at the last minute as usual! I saw Joanne's tutorial the other day on watercolouring and wanted to give it a try. I must admit that watercolouring is not my favorite way to colour images, mainly because I'm too impatient to wait for the colours to dry. So if you look closely at my image you will see areas where the colour bled into other areas. But it's watercolouring - and that's the beauty of it - it doesn't have to look perfect (thank goodness!).
Joanne also issued a challenge, and I just can't pass up a good challenge. I managed to incorporate all the elements except using the MME Be Loved paper. I don't have any so I substituted some older My Mind's Eye paper. I was able to include the Pure Innocence stamp, watercolouring, machine stitching, Bling Bet and pearls though. I used Mercy's Tuesday sketch challenge for the layout. I thought that this PI girl with her apple would be perfect for one of my kids' teachers.
Well that's all for me friends! Hope you have a good weekend!! Later taters!

Everyday Sketchy Buttons!

Hello friends!! I had a chance to play along with Taylor's sketch challenge and pulled out my Everyday Button Bits set from Papertrey. I had been dying for this set but have only used a couple of images so far. I paired this fun floral image with some old Scenic Route Sonoma paper (that I still {heart}) which matches perfectly with PTI's sweet blush and berry sorbet. I threw a little Kiwi Kiss in there as well and called it good! I tried to fit a sentiment on there, but after fiddling for way too long, gave up and stamped a birthday sentiment inside the card!
I'm off to get some cleaning done (oh yeah!) so I hope you're having a great week so far!! Later taters!

Sketchy Birthday

I don't usually post two days in a row but today is my husband's birthday and I wanted to post the card I made for his birthday. I used the sketch from the MFT Wed. stamp club but substituted the top note die for the star shape. I paper pieced Cuddle Up Carter and Nite Nite Ellie and flocked the blanket and bunny slippers (they're super fuzzy!). The paper is Basic Grey Mellow and those are some of the MFT glittered garnishes up in the corner. This card is much bigger than my usual size - it's 6"x6"!
Ironically enough, my son is definitely not being an angel today - but oh well! Hope you have a wonderful weekend friends!

Purely Snowy Thank You

True confession time! I haven't had a chance to ink up the first Pure Innocence stamps that were released! By the time the first 5 arrived in my mailbox, it was time to play with the next 4 for the December release! I'm trying to work my way through them - this is the 2nd of the 5. Shocking I know! (I can hear Megan gasping from here)
This card is for a friend who knit my daughter a neck warmer. Just because. Apparently she was thinking of us and was knitting and voila! How lucky am I to have such amazing friends?!
I used Mercy's Tuesday sketch challenge from this week, (although I may have compressed the sketch just a tad to fit my image and a standard A2 card) and had fun embellishing with paper piecing, brads, liquid applique and glitter. Here's a close up of this cutie pie!

The paper is Stampin Up from a couple of years ago, as is the felt ribbon. Did you see that 5 new Pure Innocence stamps were released Wed. night at MFT?? Let's just say they're on the way to my mailbox! Later taters!

Christmas Thank You's

I know it's a little late to be sending out Christmas thank you cards, but I figure better late than never right? We have some out of town relatives who sent our kids wonderful gifts and I wanted to make sure they knew that we were grateful.

I needed something fairly quick to produce and I managed to whip up 5 of these cards in about an hour. Not bad for a slow stamper like me! I used MFT's Polar Love and a sentiment from one of the Pure Innocence girls. The snowflake stamp and punch are from Stampin Up and the paper is Basic Grey Mistletoe. I loved this paper and never really had a chance to use it this year. I only used 5 copic markers and didn't worry about shading - I coloured quickly!

I really loved all the glittery snowflakes I had been seeing, especially Jo's, so I knew I wanted to incorporate them in somehow. For the first couple I ran my snowflakes through my xyron machine and then dipped them in glitter. For the second batch I used heat and stick powder and that worked much better. They're so pretty and sparkly in real life!

Hope you're having a great week - Happy Hump Day! My son is home sick today so we're laying low! Later taters!

Blinged Out GD Entry!

Oh how it feels good to be back stamping! Due to Christmas and some family stuff it had probably been a month since I've been in my stamp room. This card took me way longer than it should have, but it was great to shake off some of the cobwebs!

I have quite a few birthdays in the next week or so and decided to tackle some cards. I had not yet inked up this Pure Innocence cutie and she was so much fun to play with. I used the Mojo Monday 120 sketch and this is my entry for MFT's guest designer contest to get "blinged" out!

I used some DCWV Citrus paper that is already blinged out and paired it with some Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock. I used tiny rhinestones to replace the dots on the "i" in the sentiment and I glittered up my button. I picked the button up with my tweezers, smooshed it into versamark ink, dipped it in heat and stick powder, heated it, dipped it in dazzling diamonds, and heated it again. It came out perfectly and SO sparkly.

I covered the shoes with a clear glaze pen - all patent leather like! The balloon got a coat of Crystal Effects and then some dazzling diamonds on top while it was still wet - I was going for that shiny mylar look. A little bit of added glitter on her heart, barrette, and all around and she's complete!

Happy Monday friends! Hope you're all getting back into routine after the busy holidays! Thanks so much for reading and stopping by!

Magic Reindeer Food for Preschool

Oh my - it's been too long since I've blogged, but it seems with the hectic pace of the holiday season that stamping is the first thing to get crossed off my list. I do need to make some Christmas cards in the next couple days, so I'll have those to share soon. My own Christmas cards though got sacrificed for the sake of time. I decided that they just weren't going to get done and ordered photo cards through Costco. I won't let myself get stressed out about things that matter so little in the grand scheme of things!

I did have a chance to make some Magic Reindeer Food for my daughter's preschool friends. I made this a couple of years ago for my son's kindergarten class, so figured it was time again. The reindeer is a Quickutz die and the poem was printed off my computer. The food itself is simply rolled oats and coloured sugar. A fun little thing to give and for the kids to do.


Hope all your Christmas prep is going well! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Bella Birthday Bash Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Bella Birthday Bash Blog Hop sponsored by Stamping Bella! If you've just happened upon my blog, you can CLICK HERE to start from the beginning at Bloggabella. If you've landed here from Jodi's blog then you're on the right track!

For my card I decided to use a new-to-me Bella, Predictabella. I'd been wanting this one for a while and finally caved when I was in Bellaland a couple weeks ago. I colored her with copics and paired her with some Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper. I stitched the panels and added one of Jo's buttony bows. The layout is from Mercy's Tuesday sketch challenge.
I also coated the crystal ball with crystal effects - fitting no? The stars on the table skirt got Stardust pen added to them.
Three gift certificates for $100 in Bella Bucks will be hidden along the hop, but we’re not telling you where, so be sure to leave some love as you hop!!! Make sure you leave comments on every post to have the best chance of winning! The winners will be announced on Monday, December 7th on the Stamping Bella Blog. MWAH!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop on over to Debi's blog to see what amazing Bella magic she's created!! Happy Hopping!!

MFT December Shop & Hop!

Welcome to my stop along the MFT Shop and Hop! You should have come here by way of Cindy's blog. If not, you definitely want to start at the beginning - Kim's blog.

For my project I was just itching to use the two Pure Innocence girls that I hadn't inked up yet. As I was trying to decide what to do, I spotted a couple of canvases that I picked up at the Michael's dollar bins. They're about 5x5" and they originally had a picture on them that you were supposed to color in with paint. I had always meant to use these in my daughter's room - so I decided to make her a couple of wall hangings.

For the first one I used Fairy Girl. I stitched her some ground to stand on with some DCWV Nana's Nursery paper. I also paper pieced her dress. Her wand has an adorn-it in the middle and her wings and pom poms on her shoes are covered with glitter. Everything is mounted on some Doodlebug sugar coated cardstock and surrounded by Doodlebug paper frills.

For the second one I used Heart Stripes. I stitched together some panels of the same patterned paper and also paper pieced her dress. She's so adorable!!

These new Pure Innocence girls and all the new sets are available now in the MFT store! Last month the PI's sold out fast so you need to be quick if you want to see them in your mailbox!

Don't forget that there's blog candy hidden somewhere along the hop! Where? you ask? I'm not telling! So I'd suggest you leave a comment at each stop for the best chance of winning!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now it's time to hop over and see the fabulous project that Michele has in store for you! I know you'll be blown away!