Prairie Paper & Ink

Sneak Peek - Underwater Adventure

**I've been posting at least once a day since the 1st! There's TON to see so if you missed anything just scroll down!**

As I alluded to in yesterday's post - I have another sneak peek for y'all!

This is for the soon-to-be-released Underwater Adventure set (more info here) - this is the set that I designed my Underwater Sentiments to go with and it is seriously the most ADORABLE set EVER!!!!

When I first received the set I had a standing request for a special birthday card. It was for a little girl's birthday and the mom wanted mermaids and girly and all that fun stuff. PLUS she wanted it if possible to be a larger card (like 5x7) so that she could FRAME it for her daughters room!

A task like that is a little daunting when you know what you make is going to be on display like that! But I KNEW this set would be perfect so as soon as it arrived I got to work.

And here's the end result:

 

I stamped all the images onto watercolor paper with Palette Hybrid Noir ink and watercolored them with my Peerless Watercolors.

I made everything SUPER glittery with Stickles.

I cut out pretty much every single image (and multiples of the bubbles and seaweed) then added the stickles and set them all aside to dry.

I added a ton of Yellow Stickles to Emma's hair and used White Opal Liquid Pearls on the pearls in her hair and at her waist.

 

The letters were diecut from cardstock using my CuttleBug Red Tag Sale alpha dies. I then coated all of them in stickles as well.

The fishy paper is from Flair's Hit the Beach line - I die cut that with one of my Spellbinders Petite Oval Dies and matted it with a scalloped oval cut from black cardstock.

I added some rhinestones from my stash and attached all the images with a TON of dimensionals once it was all dry!

I didn't bother taking a picture of the inside of the card as I kept it super simple. Since this was to be framed no one will ever see the inside again.

 

STAMPS: CC Designs Sugarplums Underwater Adventure Stamp Set.

CS: Watercolor Paper, SU! Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Flair Design Hit the Beach Patterned Paper.

INK: Palette Hybrid Noir.

ACCESSORIES: Peerless Watercolors, Stickles and Ice Stickles, Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Liquid Pearls.

Don't forget to check out the other DT samples on the ATS blog HERE <----click! (and leave a comment on that ATS blog post and you will be entered in to win the Underwater Adventure set!).

Memory Crafter June WOW Blogger

Diana asked me some time ago to be a June WOW Blogger on her blog Memory Crafter.

She sent me a little kit with a TAC stamp set and papers (you can check out her post here that names the set and whatnot) and this is what I made with it!:

 

She definitely picked out the perfect set for me - these little girls are SO cute!

I stamped the image onto white cardstock and colored them in with my Copics.

The patterned paper, buttons and felt flowers all came from Diana.

The ribbon I got from My Little Ribbon Shop.

 

I used my latest Friday Sketch! for this second card.

I pulled out my Stickles for the balloons and glittered them up :o)

On the inside of the card I die cut some of the patterned paper, stamped one of the sentiments from the set and added another strip of patterned paper.

I hope you guys liked these and if you check out Diana's post you can see the third card I made with these stamps and papers :o)

Girl Friday, TGF, Friends and Craziness

This is going to be a CRAZY week for me!! Veronica graduates from Kindergarten on Wednesday (wah!!! Her first year of school went by SO fast!) and they have a cap and gown ceremony (LOL it will be so cute) that all the family is invited to.

This week is also the local high school grad so I've got extra appointments for gel nails and pedicures and whatnot.

And THEN I've got my big Stamping Garage sale with Julie on Saturday! ACK!!

So yeah I already can't wait for this week to be over!

ANYWHO tho I DO have a card to share and hopefully a bunch of posts to go up this week - figures when I'm running around like a crazy person trying to keep up with it all my mojo goes nuts and I get a ton of ideas!

 

I had this Reeta image (by The Greeting Farm) partially colored and sitting on my desk.

All I needed to do was pick out some patterned paper and match the colors to finish the image - so I pulled out what I have left of my Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday papers (which is hardly any! I'm going to have to get more of them - LOVE this line!) and used those to make this card.

I used my Copics to color in the image - making her a redhead this time and coloring her "meow" similar to Josie's as she was my inspiration after THIS POST.

I colored her outfit to match the Girl Friday papers and used my colorless blender for the polka dots and highlights.

I attached some buttons from my stash with pink string and stamped one of the sentiments from my Friends Sentiments set onto a scrap of the Monday paperthat I cut out with a circle nesties die.

I lined the inside of the card with more of the Girl Friday papers and that was it!

 

STAMPS: The Greeting Farm Reeta stamp, AmyR Stamps Friend Sentiments.

CS: CC Designs White, SU! Black and Pink Pirhouette, Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Patterned Papers.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities Dies, Coluzzle, May Arts Ribbon, Buttons, String.

Just Because...

**FYI I have not missed all the comments, e-mails etc regarding coloring with Copics and watercoloring and what inks and cardstock I would recommend for both. I've been typing up that post here and there for a while now, and when I get a free bit of time I am going to see if I can get it all done to post. It will be easier for me to put it all into one post rather than answer multiple comments/questions/e-mails!

I just wanted to post this FYI now so that no one will think I'm ignoring you! :o)**

..............................................................................................................................................................

Woot woot I got that card DONE!!

 

After cutting out the owl image I had messed up earlier I cut an oval from white cardstock using my nesties die.

This time I made sure to clean the die off with rubbing alcohol before putting it back in place and sponging the ink onto the cardstock.

I adhered the Rachel Anne Miller Hoo Hoo There Owl stamp (I've been wanting this one for FOREVER and it always sells out super-fast at ATS. I finally got my hands on it when placing my latest order so YAY!) using dimensionals.

I cut a scalloped rectangle using another nestie from SU! Basic Grey cardstock and adhered the oval to that.

The rest of the card was kept pretty simple.

The patterned paper is SU!'s Walk in the Park paper from the Occasions Mini.

The flowers are Making Memories - they came in a pack with matching buttons (so of course I had to buy them) that I got from my LSS sometime last year?

Ribbon is May Arts.

The sentiment is from my Love Sentiments set. I stamped that in black and left the inside of the card blank.

I lined the inside of the card with the same patterned paper used on the front and left it at that.

I'm still not feeling like my mojo is back but FINALLY finishing this card feels so good! I'm so OCD about everything that I just couldn't set it aside and try to work on something else. Every time I try and do that I just end up feeling more overwhelmed and get even less done. So yeah that's me!!

 

STAMPS: Rachel Anne Miller Hoo Hoo There stamp (Stampavie), AmyR Stamps Love Sentiments.

CS: CCDesigns Copic Quality White, SU! Basic Grey, Bashful Blue and Walk in the Park DS Paper.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Dimensionals, Oval and Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities Dies, MM Flowers, Button, Thread, Ribbon.

Sketch Sample - Happy Belated Birthday

**Post #2 for today!! Scroll down to see the Friday Sketch!**

This was the card I made that inspired the latest Friday Sketch - I had to wait for the Stickles to dry before I took the pics:

 

I had to pull out my Miss Anya set for this card. I used it along with sentiments from my Birthday Sentiments set. And I still have my SU! A Walk in the Park patterned paper sitting here (well sitting on the floor by my desk - I really need to clean my studio!) so I used that too.

I stamped the Anya onto CCD White cardstock then colored her in with my Copics.

The C-1 marker that has the black line on it is a marker that ran dry on me, and before I got a refill I just bought a new marker. Instead of throwing the dry one out I refilled it with Colorless blender (then later added a bit of C-1 when I got it) so it's a SUPER pale grey. I use it to blend out shadows and whatnot to give them a softer edge.

I added Yellow Stickles to the image so it's all sparklay ;o)

The felt flowers are from SU, and the little heart brads are Making Memories.

I added the 4th flower to the corner of the card to cover the ©Stampin' Up! writing on the patterned paper.

I am really loving their patterned papers lately - but still do NOT like that they have the © right on the paper - it's small but so noticeable when used on a card. It should either be on the back or they should add a strip to the bottom that can be cut off. OK rant over!

I stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of cardstock then adhered it to the main image before adhering that to the card.

On the inside of the card I used more of the patterned paper mimicking the layout on the front, then added a strip of cardstock that I stamped the Happy Belated Birthday onto.

 

STAMPS: The Greeting Farm Miss Anya Set, AmyR Stamps Birthday Sentiments.

CS: CCD White, So Saffron, Pink Prihouette (SU), Walk in the Park DS Paper (SU!).

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: May Arts Ribbon, Stickles, MM Mini Heart Brads, SU! Felt Flowers, SU! Scallop Edge Punch.

Thinking of You

 

I absolutely adore all of Rachelle Anne Miller's animal stamps - I don't own them all (yet!) but I've been adding one or two to my orders these past few months and just need to make a point of using them!

I pulled out the Peek-a-boo stamp along with my Friend Sentiments set to make this card.

Since I had all my SU! Walk in the Park patterned papers sitting out from yesterday's card I decided to use that as well.

I stamped the image onto CCD White cardstock then colored it in with my Copics.

I added a few highlights with my white gel pen then cut out the image with my largest rectangle nestability die.

The ribbon is the new wide satin ribbon in the Occasions mini catalogue - this is the first chance I've had to use it and OMGosh is it ever FABULOUS. So soft and ties beautifully - and I love the width of it too :o)

I've seen those "circle flowers" (I have no idea if they have an actual name) everywhere in recent months and thought I'd try my hand at making my own.

I used three different circle punches and punched out circles from the patterned paper, then crumpled them up and flattened them and attached them to the card with a button.

I thought it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

On the inside of the card I just added more patterned paper and a strip of cardstock that I stamped another sentiment from my Friend Sentiments set.

That's it for today - I gotta run and make my girls lunch! :o)

 

STAMPS: Rachel Anne Miller Peek-a-boo clear stamp, AmyR Stamps Friend Sentiments.

CS: CC Designs White, Basic Grey (SU!), Walk in the Park Patterned Paper (SU!), PTI Sweet Blush and Aqua Mist.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: White Gel Pen, Wide Satin Ribbon, Circle Punches, Buttons, Thread, Martha Stewart Scalloped Lace Punch.

Friends

I quickly want to say thank you to all your sweet comments lately! I really appreciate them - they definitely brighten my day!

This has been a crazy week - with yesterday being just awful. I worked all day (at mom's coffee shop and doing nails at home), screwed up my client's schedule (thankfully I was able to fix it), and all kinds of other things.

We got a call from Tim's dad yesterday telling us that his grandpa (his dad's dad) passed away Tuesday evening. It was unexpected and surprising as it was rather sudden - so we have a funeral to go to on Saturday. It will be nice to see family that we haven't seen in a while - on Easter weekend no less. It's just sad that the funeral is the reason we're all getting together. Tim's grandpa was a wonderful man (seriously SUCH a cheerful man - always positive!) and will be greatly missed!

On other news my house is a disaster - for a week now I've been pulling out EVERYTHING trying to find our birth certificates so that Tim and I can get passports (we're planning on going on a trip in July) and I never did find them. I don't carry them in my wallet and always had them in a "safe" place. Well after moving more than once I lost track of them (considering we've only needed them to get our marriage license and then now for the passports!) - so I had to get all the paperwork to apply for new ones.

I still haven't cleaned up everything I went through, and the garage is a disaster as we went through everything in there with no luck. I know the originals will turn up like the week before we leave. Ugh.

Oh and I've been working out for an hour a day (just started off with walking/speed walking and plan on doing other things to mix it up) so I HURT. I have 3 1/2 months to lose weight before our trip!!

Anywho sorry for rambling - like I said it's been a crazy week!

I was able to finish this card this morning - I'll edit this post later today with the supply list - I don't have time right now for all my regular card deets as I have a nail client showing up right away:

 

I finally got a chance to use my Miss Anya set.

Sentiment is from my Friends Sentiments set.

Ribbon is May Arts from My Little Ribbon Shop.

Patterned paper is Bella BLVD Swing into Spring Line.

Spica pens used to glitter.

Far Out

Well I had planned on stamping and posting a lot earlier today - but I woke up this morning with a knot or a kink or something in my back and it's making it difficult to do anything! I have a client booked for a pedicure later this afternoon as well so I'm not sure how that is going to go.

Anywho I whipped up this quick card using the My Cute Stamps Space Ships & Robots set (and OMG when I just went over there to link I see she's got a bunch of new sets!! Darnit there's a good 4 or 5 sets that I am gonna have to have! *wink*):

 

I used Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo papers for the card, and stamped the images from the MCS set onto white cardstock with colorbox inks. The Far Out! sentiment comes in the set - I just curved it on the acrylic block before inking it up and stamping it.

The ribbon is from My Little Ribbon Shop.

I used my Marve mega and gigacircles to punch out the white and black cardstock, then mounted everything on a card base of Apricot Appeal (SU!) cardstock - sounds funny but that color actually goes well with the Cogsmo papers!

On the inside I just added a strip of the same patterned paper, then added a circle that I had stamped the robot and the nuts and bolts onto.

I finished it off by stamping the screws in a row above the patterned paper and that was it!

{SUPPLIES}

STAMPS: My Cute Stamps Space Ships & Robots set.

CS: CC Designs White, Basic Black, Apricot Appeal (SU!), Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo Patterned Papers.

INK: Colorbox Inks.

ACCESSORIES: Marvy Circle Punches, Ribbon, Brads, Dimensionals, SU! Spiral Punch.

2 Quick Cards

Well I never did any stamping today like I hoped - instead I spent the day de-cluttering and putting things away.

I also played dentist and pulled Veronica's loose tooth! No joke. Her two front top teeth have been loose for some time now and the one was just barely hanging on and really bothering her and making it difficult for her to eat - so I asked her if she wanted me to pull it and she said yes (this isn't something new - I ended up pulling one of her loose bottom teeth for the same reason last year. With that one tho I didn't tell her before hand - I just used a cloth and a quick pull and it was out).

This one came out quick and she said it only hurt "a teeny bit" - she's all proud of herself now that she has another tooth to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy (which she knows is us and means money!). And I'm proud of her b/c she wanted me to pull it and just sat calmly and let me do it! So now she can get back to eating normally - at least till the other tooth decides it's time to come out.

Then we spent time playing outside - it got to about 7 above (Celsius) which is SO nice right now (and I don't even wanna hear how warm/hot it is for some of y'all - we've still got a ton of snow on the ground - so anything above zero is fabulous LOL!!).

ANYWHO - I have 2 super-quick and super-easy cards to share - I whipped them up yesterday to demo for a group of ladies and since that's all the stamping I've done lately they'll have to do!

 

Quick and simple using all Stampin' Up! supplies and their Flight of the Butterfly and Inspired by Nature sets.

 

Another quickie using the Fifth Avenue Floral and SAB Congrats set along with the Top Note die and SAB ribbon.

K I gotta run and finish supper and I'll be back later to post the winner of the Stamping Bella gift certificate along with the roundup and a new Friday Sketch!

Mermaid Anya

 

That's right. I've jumped on the The Greeting Farm bandwagon. I've been loving their stamps for a while and as soon as ATS got them in stock I ordered my first Anya stamps. LOVE them!!!!

I love the size of these stamps - they're perfect for playing around with your coloring. I pulled out my Copics for this mermaid Anya stamp, and I can't wait to try watercoloring and my prismacolor pencils and gamsol with some of the other images I got ;o)

I stamped the image onto white cardstock with Brilliance black ink and embossed it with detail clear embossing powder.

After I was done coloring I added stardust and lime ice stickles to bling it out.

The little gemstone thingies I found in my stash as I was rummaging through everything. They were the perfect color and size for the circles in her hair - so I added them then added a bunch more to the scallops along the bottom of the card.

The sentiment is from A Muse - after I stamped it I die cut it with one of mylabel trio dies then sponged the edges.

The ribbon is May Arts. 

All the patterned paper is from the Cosmo Cricket Snorkel line - it's so bright and cheerful yet distressed and funky. More paper to love!

STAMPS: Mermaid Anya by The Greeting Farm, Sentiment by A Muse.

CS: CCD White, Black (SU!), Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Patterned Paper.

INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Pumpkin Pie (SU!), Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Stickles, Spellbinders Circle, Scalloped Circle and Label Trio Dies, SU! Scallop Edge Punch, May Arts Ribbon, Sponge Daubers.

................................................................................

I have to run - I promised my mom that I would help out at the coffee shop for a few hours today and tomorrow so I need to finish getting myself and the girls ready and head out!

Hello Chica

Wow! Thank you all for your sweet comments these past couple of days! I'm glad y'all are liking the Bella cards I posted this week - hopefully I'll be posting more in the near future as I still have a bunch of bellas that haven't seen ink yet!

I could have posted another one today but decided to make something different. I have a bunch of Kim Hughes sets sitting here that are also sadly neglected so I pulled a couple of the sets out last night and made this card:

 

This one turned out even better than I thought it would. I had a vague idea in my head of what I wanted to do and then just fiddled around and this was the end result!

I used the Pretty Birds set - the nest and the bird image, and the branch, leaves and sentiment are from The Landing Pad set.

I stamped the branch with ColorBox chalk ink, then used my Prismacolors and gamsol to add a little more color (I can't remember if I'd ever used chalk inks before with Prismacolors and gamsol so I wasn't sure if it would smear but it didn't in the least as you can see!).

The leaves were stamped using a green chalk ink.

The nest was stamped separately onto Kraft CS, colored then cut out. I adhered it so that it looks like the bird (that I stamped above the branch on purpose) is sitting in the nest - doing it that way meant I didn't have to do any masking!

I added some mini Prima flowers and attached them with some mini brads (Basic Grey) from my stash.

The textured cardstock is DoodleBug by Bazzill - LOVE that CS - also love that the texture of it mimics the texture on the branch! I used my Fiskars Treading Water Punch to scallop the bottom of the CS.

I ran the brown CS through my CuttleBug using the Swiss Dots folder.

The sentiment was stamped then punched out with a circle punch and matted with a larger circle punched from Celery CS. I added another mini brad and prima to it before adhering it to the cardfront.

The ribbon is PTI as is the card base.

On the inside of the card I added more DoodleBug CS, used up the brown CS that I had embossed then attached a piece of white CS that I stamped the branch and leaves on. It looked pretty bare so I added a nest to it as well :o)

 

STAMPS: The Landing Pad and Pretty Birds stamp sets by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms.

CS: White, Brown, Kraft (SU!), DoodleBug Textured (Swimming Pool), Summer Sunrise (PTI).

INK: ColorBox Chalk Inks.

ACCESSORIES: Ribbon, Primas, Brads, Circle Punches, Swiss Dots CB Embossing Folder, Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol, Fiskars Treading Water Punch.

Dragon Valentine

There's still time to enter your comment in my Ribbon Blog Candy <----click! if you haven't already. I'm drawing a name tomorrow (Wednesday) night!

Now onto another card.

I had someone contact me b/c she stumbled across my blog the other day and it turns out not only do we live in the same town but our girls go to school together (SMALL world eh?). She asked me if I could make a certain valentine type of card - basically the requirements were that it was for a guy and it needed a dragon on it.

Well I went through my stash and I only have ONE dragon stamp - the one that comes in the Lizzie Anne Designs Once Upon a Time set. I showed it to her and she said it would work.

I don't have ANY other stamps that would work (like the knight stamp) but I think I pulled it off!

 

I am really loving how this turned out!

I went with a grey/red/kraft/black color combo (NO pink since it's for a guy!!).

I stamped the dragon and colored it in with the Copics shown here. I then cut out the image with my circle nestabilities die, matting it with a larger circle.

It was really hard to try and capture the gloss on the dragon - I went over the wings and other areas with my Sakura Clear glaze pen so that it's slightly raised and just a bit glossy.

The hearts were cut out with my heart nesties dies and then I used my Quickie Glue pen and red fun flock (that pic of it on the ATS website makes it look orange - it's really RED in real life!) to make them all fuzzy (I couldn't resist!) - in real life they look like velvet! LOVE it.

I stamped the castle from the set onto the grey cardstock, and added a strip of black along with some SU! red grosgrain ribbon.

The sentiment is from MFT'sEssential Sentiments set. After I stamped it I pierced some holes under it to emphasize it.

The inside was kept simple - I stamped the dragon onto the grey circle of cardstock with red ink, and added a strip of red and kraft CS's and that was it!

LOL I *just* heard back from her and she loves it - yay! I love doing custom orders like this - at times they can be a little out of my comfort zone but it's so nice to make something and have them really appreciate the work you put into it! :o)

 

STAMPS: Lizzie Anne Designs Once Upon a Time stamp set, My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments.

CS: White, Going Grey, Basic Grey, Black, Red (all SU!).

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Grey, SU! Red.

ACCESSORIES: Circle and Hearts Nestabilities Dies, Ribbon, Dimensionals, Fun Flock.

Robot Birthday

Whew! Well I'm feeling better, and Veronica is fine too now. Thank you all AGAIN for the get-well wishes (I know I've been pretty under the weather since the New Year! Hopefully I can kick these bugs and be done with them as I'm sick of being sick!).

My to-do list - around the house as well as with my stamping, and stamp set designing - is MILES long now. I really don't know how I'll ever get caught up now but I'll think of something. I picked a bad time to fall ill (that's how it always seems tho!).

Another thing that happened over the past couple of days is that my blog was switched over to TypePad's new interface (or whatever it's called). For all you readers this won't change a thing - for ME it's going to be interesting. I know pretty well how to navigate the system since the ATS blog has been on the new servers for some time now - but I've been used to using all the original settings for here. This will take some getting used to!

Anywho I did manage to get one whole card done over the past couple of days (pathetic I know - but my stamping mojo definitely went missing while I was sick and still hasn't come back!). I used another one of my new My Cute Stamps sets - this time the Space Ships & Robots set:

 

I HAD to get the Robot set - it's so cute and I am sorely lacking in anything little boy related when it comes to making cards. It also gave me the perfect opportunity to pull out my Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo papers and blackboard. It was all just meant to go together!

I stamped the robot and the "accessories" onto a piece of white cardstock then cut them out with my Nesties Labels 2 die. 

I used VersaMagic and Brilliance inks to stamp the images (you can click on any of these pics to get a pop-up window with a larger view) - I LOVE the coverage of these inks - especially when it comes to clear stamps!

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from MFT's Sassy Sayings set.

The blackboard embellishments came in the Cogsmo blackboard set, and in the Cogsmo paper kit there's a die-cut sheet of images that fit all the blackboard. So all I had to do was pop out the right paper images, glue them onto the blackboard pieces (I used Tombow Mono Multi), then sand the edges a bit (this Basic Grey sanding kit is a MUST have when covering chipboard - I don't know how I lived without it!).

I finished off the inside of the card by lining it with the same Cogsmo papers used on the front, the adding another piece of white cardstock cut with one of the Labels 2 dies.

I stamped the cupcake image (which if you look really closely doesn't have a cherry on top - it's actually a bolt - I love that little attention to detail!) in the various inks that I used on the front and that was it!

{SUPPLIES}

STAMPS: My Cute Stamps Space Ships & Robots, My Favorite Things Sassy Sayings.

CS: White, Black, Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo Patterned Papers.

INK: VersaMagic and Brilliance Dew Drop inks.

ACCESSORIES: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 2 Dies, May Arts Twill Ribbon, Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo Blackboard, Dimensionals, DoodleBug Mini Brads.  

Flu Bugs and Princess Cards

I never did get the stamping time I had planned on yesterday - instead I got hit with a nasty flu bug and spent the afternoon and evening on the couch. I'll spare y'all the icky details - needless to say I was SICK. I didn't get much sleep (concentrating too hard on NOT throwing up) and got up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a bus!

Thankfully this seems to be a 24 hour flu bug as I'm feeling a lot better - still not 100% but I'll take any improvement over how I felt last night. I am really hoping that no one else catches this - even though it's short-lived it's not fun to go through!

Anywho - I have a couple of cards to share that I made last week. I discovered this incredibly cute stamp line recently and HAD to get some of the sets. They were too cute to pass up. My Cute Stamps is the name of the company - go check them out here <---click!

Of course I had to get the Royal Celebration set - you should have seen the look on Veronica's face when I opened the package and showed her this set. I ended up stamping off a bunch of the images onto white cardstock for her and Josie to cut and color - they loved that!

For this first card I stamped the princess onto white cardstock and paper pieced her dress using patterned paper from the Imaginisce Fairest of Them All line. I colored her in with Copics and cut out the image with one of my circle Nestabilities dies. The sentiment is from MFT's Princess Birthday Set (another must-have set around here).

I used a white craft ink pad to stamp the stars (from the Royal Celebration set) onto the green cardstock, and also rubbed the pad along the edges of the CS to soften them up a bit.

I used Stardust Stickles to add some sparkle to the princess, and some sparkly star brads were the perfect touch!

For the inside of the card I just lined it with the same patterned paper I used on the dress - you can see a glimpse of that in the Copic markers picture.

{SUPPLIES}

STAMPS: My Cute Stamps Royal Celebration set, My Favorite Thing's Princess Birthday.

CS: White, Celery Green, Brown, Pink, Imaginisce Fairest of Them All Patterned Paper.

INK: Memento Black, White Craft, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Circle Nestabilities Die, Ribbon, MM Ribbon Slot Punch, Prima Flowers, MM Star Brads, Dimensionals, Stardust Stickles.

I had to make another card as soon as I finished the first one - the idea for the second one popped in my head as I was making the first so I had to get to it!

I stamped the Princess onto kraft cardstock and cut out with a rectangle nestabilitie then used my Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol to color her in. The wand is also from the Royal Celebration set, I just stamped it then colored it in as well.

Again I used Stardust Stickles to accent her wings and whatnot - the sparkle adds the perfect touch!

The rest of the card was kept pretty simple - I added some ribbon, the scalloped mat (cut with another nestabilities die - I can't seem to NOT use them on a card lately), and some Prima flowers.

The inside of this card was kept simple as well - I lined it with the same patterned paper used on the front (more Imaginisce) then added a white scalloped piece to write on that I had stamped the wand on and colored with a Prismacolor pencil.

{SUPPLIES}

STAMPS: My Cute Stamps Royal Celebration Set.

CS: White, Kraft, Brown, Imaginisce Fairest of Them All Patterned Paper.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.

ACCESSORIES: Prismacolor Pencils, Nestabilities Rectangle and Scalloped Rectangle Dies, Ribbon, Primas, Brads, Stardust Stickles, Dimensionals.

Now I'm going to go cuddle up on the couch and see if there's any good movies to watch. Even though I'm feeling better I STILL feel like I've been hit by a bus - this morning I could barely move - now it's more just an achy feeling - blah.

Last Minute (as usual)...

I had my mom pick me up a few gift cards from WalMart the other day - those are my go-to gifts for people on my list that are hard to buy for (like my brothers - they appreciate a gift card - 'specially if it's from WM!).

Of course I needed something to put the cards IN - just like I refuse to buy a card from a store I refuse to just hand over a gift card without putting it into something I've made!

I debated on altering a tin or something but decided a card would be best  - I was already working on the card on the right so I decided to make 2 similar to each other.

The image is by Whiff of Joy - the Santa Charlie image. I'm really liking their stamps!! Seriously deep etched and high quality - and the Charlie ones come with a sentiment to match. FYI they are just rubber - no EZmount or anything - I just slapped a piece of double sided tape onto it to attach it to my acrylic blocked and stamped it - the image is so deeply etched you really don't need any cushion - I got a perfect image both times.

Anywho - I used my Copics to color them in - I used the same colors on both images just switching the colors used on the different parts. Again I didn't do much shading and whatnot - I used the colorless blender to create a few highlights here and there (which I then emphasized with a white gel pen) and that was it.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I added some "snow" to the image with an old paintbrush - while it was still wet I poured on some ranger glitter to make it more sparkly. It says on the container that it takes 24 hours to dry - this small of an amount on paper took not long at all - I left the images for an hour or so while I did laundry and it was fully dry.

I blinged up their shirts with Spica glitter pens, and added a couple of A Muse twinkle stickers to the holly on their hats.

The snowflakes were made with my Marvy Snowflake punches - I then added a ghost snowflake to the largest punched ones before attaching them with DoodleBug brads.

The sentiments were stamped onto scraps of cardstock then cut out with my new tag dies then attached to the card with mini brads.

The patterned paper is more MME paper - I am frantically trying to use it up now because otherwise it will sit for months and next Christmas season I'll be hooked on some other fabulous paper (happens every year!).

So then for the insides of the cards I lined them with more patterned paper, die cut the white cardstock with my SU! Top Note die and adhered that, then adhered a strip of patterned paper in the middle.

The strip holds the gift card in place (they're really nice gift cards!! If I had the Thomas Kinkade stamps I would have totally used those and then everything would be matchy matchy - oh well...) - I only put adhesive on the very ends. Then the card slips out and the greeting can be written above and below the strip.

SO - 2 last minute gifts down, only a couple more to go. Then I have to wrap all the gifts - something I've been putting off (same as every Christmas). I love and hate wrapping at the same time. I love it b/c I got matching paper (from Costco - the heavy weight kind and it is GORGEOUS - the 2 rolls I got are prolly going to last me a few years - they're HUGE) that matches my tree in the living room - so they'll look all pretty. I hate wrapping tho b/c it just bugs me that it's going to get all ripped off and destroyed in like 30 seconds!! But there's no way 3 and 5 year olds are going to sit and appreciate the good wrapping job mommy did on the gifts *wink*