A little bit of sweet candy

Okay, it's finally here. My blog candy to celebrate 1000 hits! I'm almost at 1300, but let's just ignore that little fact, okay?

So, to make up for my tardiness, I've put together TWO blog candy giveaways! Just a little something to say 'thank you' for reading my blog. :)

Blog Candy #1 - "Retro"
A collection of (mostly) retro colours and images. There's ribbon, paper, Magic Mesh, a mini-scrapbook, jumbo eyelets, metal embellishments, die-cuts & tags, SU punched shapes, K&Co retro chipboard images, mini clothespins, and a whack of Prima flowers:
Blog Candy #2 - "Brights"
Well, brights and pastels, I guess. There's ribbon, paper, lots of die-cuts, Magic Mesh, SU punched shapes, a little Creative Memories paper/stickers set, a few square rhinestones, some googley eyes (I think they're hilarious on a kid's card!), a few clear buttons, and some Prima flowers.

So, how do you win one of these fun little packages? It's simple:

#1 - Spread the word. Share a link to my blog candy post on your blog.
#2 - Leave a comment on this post, with a link to your blog, as well as your favourite craft-related organizational tip. If you haven't heard, I'll soon have an entire room for my crafts, so I'm compiling a list of ideas!

I'll randomly pick two winners in exactly one week from now, so be sure to leave your comment on this post before next Sunday at midnight (PST). The blog candy is open to all of North America.

And thanks for helping me reach over 1000 hits!

Good news!

I found the missing stamp set. Somehow, it migrated down the side of my desk, and was on the floor next to the closet door. Whew!

More blog candy!

If you're sick of waiting for mine to be posted, check these blogs out:

Bunny-Zoe has reached 10,000 hits!

I lost a stamp set

Wahhh! I went searching for my Inkadinkadoo Circles & Dots set, and can't find it anywhere! I tore apart the entire room, but I think it's long gone. I'm guessing it somehow got caught up in a pile of paper for recycling? Anyway, not a big deal, as I got the set on sale, but I'm still mourning the loss!

Oh, and you'll all be happy to know that I'm putting together the blog candy as I type. Well, not this exact second, but as soon as I hit "publish", I'll finish putting it together!

I hope to get it up on the blog tonight, but I must say that the Wii is calling me. I need to have another Wii Fit session, and tonight's the night for that too!

More yummy blog candy!

Justine over at Just Crafty is having an awesome giveaway to celebrate 4000 hits!

Check out this giveway over at Storage Units, Ink & More. I'm speechless (and that's hard to do).

My life's inky escape and more is having a drool-worthy giveaway (loads of stamps!).

Thanks to Ms Crafty for the links!

I'm newly discovered!

Check this out! Allison at Stampin' When I Can (love the blog name, I know how that is!) listed me in her list of "newly discovered" blogs. Fun stuff. Thanks Allison!

Whoo hoo! Over 1000 hits (plus some blog candy)

Check it out! I'm over 1000 hits. (Wow, over 1100 actually)!!!

Yes, I am planning to give away some blog candy. No, I don't have it ready yet. Patience, my pretties, patience.

While you're waiting, check out these awesome blog candy giveaways!

Starving Artistamps is giving away a pile of fun stamps...I'm partial to the "We all could use a bit of mystery in our lives" sentiment.

Markie's Mom is giving away a mystery box that sounds awesome. Check out her cool card style!

And you never know when you'll need to break out the popcorn. Enter for a chance to win at the Sunny Little Blog.

(thanks to Chelle for pointing these out!)

Two challenges, one card

I made this card for Beate's weekend sketch (WSC53) and this week's SCS colour challenge (CC171).

It's hard to see, but the black is embossed with clear powder. I really need a Cuttlebug, as it was screaming to be embossed ;)

I love how the French Script background stamp looks on the Kraft paper! I used Soft Sky ink on the Kraft as well.

I cut around the stamped flower image, and then cut around it again in Soft Sky and Basic Black to "mat" the flower. I spun each layer, to create a full flower. With a brad in the centre, and the edges curled up, it stands out (with some help from a couple dimensionals).

To keep the ribbon simple, I cut a small slit in the fold of the card, and wrapped the ribbon all the way around. One end is adhered underneath the flower, I left the other out, to add some interest.

Three black rhinestones completed the card. I didn't add a sentiment, although it could be a nice birthday or even sympathy card.

Note the number of blog hits. I'm working on some blog candy for the big 1000!

Blog Candy Challenge

Sarah at my scrapbook table has reached 50,000 hits on her blog! She's celebrating by having a blog candy challenge for...get this...a set of nesties!!!

One part of the challenge was to create a card based on this image:
Here's what I did:

As soon as I saw her inspiration image, I thought of Groovy Guava. Not quite as pink, but that's okay! I wanted to add a bird, but I don't have any that fit the theme. I didn't have time to go shopping, so the card is bird-free! I dyed the embroidery thread with my Groovy Guava and Blush Blossom ink pads. My fingers were a wee bit stained after that!

I was originally going to use some background paper, patterned paper, and ribbon, but decided to keep it quite simple, just like the inspiration piece.

Stamps: In the Spotlight, Vases in Vogue
Paper: Close to Cocoa, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Whisper White
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom, Whisper White craft
Accessories: Flower punch, Word Window punch, Corner Rounder punch; clear buttons (Making Memories), embroidery thread

Happy Father's Day!

I'd made a card for my dad a couple months ago, but decided (today!) that he needed a different one. It didn't help that I really wanted to use my new stamp sets!

I wanted to distress the ribbon, to match the look of the card, so I dragged it on my Blue Bayou pad. I went a bit overboard on it though. Oops!

I love these screw brads, they're the perfect touch for a "manly" card.

Stamps: All About U, By Definition
Paper: Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
Ink: Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: Vanilla ribbon, Certainly Celery ribbon, Photo Corner punch, Ticket Corner punch; "screw" brads

New stamps for me!

I scored some great retired SU sets off of Craigslist (click the link to see the image from the SCS gallery): By Definition (background), French Script (background), Linen (background), All About U, and Friendship Blooms. Don't be surprised to see some of them soon!

Glitch Free

I love this stamp set. It's called Computer Quips, and it's perfect for a geek like me! I made this card for another computer geek. It was my friend's dad's 60th birthday, and I knew he'd appreciate the sentiment ;)

The colour scheme was based off of the paper, which is SU Summer Picnic.

I used Stickles on the icing and flame, and Crystal Effects on the mouse, tag, and eyes. The ribbon is from Michael's, but it's a close match to Old Olive. Yes, I think in Stampin' Up colour when looking at things ;)

Stamps: Computer Quips
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Summer Picnic DSP
Ink: Only Orange, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Going Grey, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Photo Corner punch, Crystal Effects; ribbon, mini brad, eyelets, Stickles

Coming up on 1000 hits!

Whee! Don't be surprised if you see a bit of blog candy once I hit 1000 :)

ps. I'm working on a little card tonight. Hopefully I get it done and can post it tomorrow!

Love Birds

I had to make an anniversary card, and found this sketch by Dawn Easton on Jen's i{heart}2stamp blog. I had a hard time with this card, as I didn't know what to do around the half-circle. I settled for some white dots with my Sakura glaze pen, but I still think it's missing something. The anniversary was today, so I had to give up.

The "love birds" were the inspiration for this card. I thought they'd make a cute pair, and added the heart above them to tie it all together.

I used my blender pen and ink pads to colour the birds (I need to work on my blending!) and used markers to colour the stamps for the branches. I used my scissors to distress the edges of the stamped image, and popped it up on dimensionals.

I first stamped the heard and then covered it with copper Stickles. Oh, and I traced a CD to make the half-circle. No nesties here yet!

Stamps: Polka Dots and Paisley; Forever Love (Inque Boutique); The Aviary Assortment (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: Creamy Carmel, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Close to Cocoa; Groovy Guava
Accessories: Soft Sky ribbon, Blender pen; Copper Stickles (Ranger), white glaze pen (Sakura)

Sweet Cheeks

I felt like scrapbooking today, so I came up with this quick page. All the photos are from the professional photoshoot we did when Chloe was just over six months old.

To make the background, I applied a bunch of rub-ons to basic white cardstock. Then I just added a few embellishments, the title, and the journalling strips.Paper: Certainly Celery cardstock, misc white cardstock
Accessories: Kaiser rub-ons, Making Memories stickers, brads, plastic flower

Getting back into the groove

I'm sorry I haven't been around much, the last couple weeks have been C-R-A-Z-Y! Between buying the house, appointments for Chloe, Chloe being sick, and then me getting sick, I haven't been motivated to clean my crafts room, let alone make anything!

Anyway, I had suggested another challenge on H! (a "colour your stamps" challenge) and realized I should get off my butt and do it too!

So here's my card, loosely based on my first sketch (JJSC001):


Stamps: Summer by the Sea, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Almost Amethyst, Blush Blossom, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Blush Blossom, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, Certainly Celery ribbon, Barely Banana brads, sponge, scissors (for distressing the edge of the white cardstock)

And here's a card that's made for my JJSC001 sketch:

Stamps: In the Spotlight, Forever Love by Inque Boutique, Circles & Dots by Inkadinkadoo
Paper: Real Red, Textured Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black
Accessories: brads, 3/4 circle punch, ribbon from Michael's

Here's the reason I've been neglecting you!

We bought a new house!!! The backyard is amazing (this is just half of it, but there's a cherry, apple, and plum tree!):
Most importantly - as far as this blog goes ;) - my favourite room. It will be my crafts room!!!It's done in pink and brown stripes, with dark laminate flooring. I'm so excited!!!

ps. Does that colour scheme look familiar? It should, I've done several cards with it in the last few months!

Colouring stamped images

My crafts room is also our spare bedroom, and as we've had a guest for the last few days, I haven't been able to do any crafting!

I snuck in this evening and decided to colour a few of the images I received from Jill. I'll use these on a card or scrapbook layout at some point, I just wanted to colour!


Each of the above was coloured with SU products and a SU Blender Pen. It's like a marker, but uses water instead of ink. It's great for spreading and blending colours.

I used Pure Color Pencils on the sweet birds nest, and couldn't resist adding some Crystal Effects to the eggs. I coloured the plant (no clue what it is, does anyone know? my best guess is thistle or garlic or something :p) with the Metallic Art Pencil Crayons. I used Watercolor Crayons in Soft Subtles for the bird (no brown, unfortunately). For the flowers, I used Classic Ink pads: with the ink pad closed, squish the top to the bottom. Then use the Blender Pen to pick up some of the ink on the inside of the lid, and colour! For the next plant (berry?) I used the Metallic pencils again. Finally, for the cute little chick, I used more Classic Ink pads (and had to give the flower centre and ladybug some dimension with more Crystal Effects!).

National Scrapbooking Day Challenges

As I mentioned before, NSD was May 3rd, and Scrapfriends had a set of challenges to celebrate! Here are the projects I created for a few of the challenges.

Doodle challenge: Show off your doodling skills in a layout. Color in your doodles as you see fit using colored pencils, markers, pens, crayons, paint, glitter, whatever you like.
For this scrapbook page, I hand doodled the background page. I wanted to keep the photos simple, and I think the black and white work well. I also wanted to limit the embellishment, to let the doodles stand on their own, so there's just a bit of glitter and gloss added.

Paper: White cardstock
Accessories: SU Stampin' Write journaling marker, Marvy Le Plume II markers, SU Crystal Glaze, Stickles, Sakura glitter pen, letter stickers

Create a Card challenge: We all have a ton of scraps and beautiful but underused stamps waiting to be loved in our stash. Why not spread the scraplove and create a card (or a few) with your scraps?

Except for the card bases and some of the white stamped paper, all the paper used was from my scrap stash!

Happy Birthday Card
Stamps: SU Alphabet Soup
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Whisper White; K&Company pp
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip; Versamark
Accessories: Corner rounder punch, clear embossing powder, heat gun, SU Vanilla ribbon, felt flower, Prima paper flowers, brad


Baby Card
Stamps: SU Cuddles and Tickles
Paper: SU cardstock, unknown scraps
Ink: SU Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Accessories: clear embossing powder, heat gun, ribbon





Many Thanks Card
Stamps:SU Lots of Thoughts
Paper: unknown scraps
Ink: SU Pixie Pink, Only Orange
Accessories: ribbon, buttons




Best Fishes Card
Stamps: SU Very Punny
Paper: unknown scraps
Ink: SU Pink Passion
Accessories: ribbon, SU Crystal Effects



Choose your hidden treasure challenge: We have a hidden treasure here at ScrapFriends. Every week, Penny and Karen hold weekly photo and sketch challenges. These challenges are not posted in our ScrapFriends Challenge Forums - these are free challenges, usually without prizes, graciously provided by KarenEmily and PennyB. Choose one photo or sketch challenge and create a new layout based on that challenge.

I won a prize for this challenge!! I used KarenEmily's Oct. 1st sketch for this layout.

Stamps: SU Simply Said, Inkadinkadoo's Circle and Dots
Paper: unknown cardstock and scraps
Ink: SU Pink Passion
Accessories: SU Scallop punch, SU Diamond Dust glitter, chipboard letters, rhinestones and rhinestone butterfly, flower brads

Learn Something New challenge: It's never too late to learn something new here at ScrapFriends. Our review team offers free online classes and how-to's to share their knowledge. Have you visited the Online Class Page or New How To's Forum lately? Choose a How-To or one of the Online Class Assignments and create a project using that technique.

I tried the Serendipity Squares tutorial:
Paper: SU cardstock, K&Co pp
Accessories: K&Co stickers, diecuts; ribbon; Xyron

I also completed a Scavenger Hunt on the Jacquard website, for which I won another prize! There were even more challenges, but I couldn't get to them all.

500 and counting!

Whoo hoo! I've hit 500 visitors!!! I didn't start tracking my hits from the beginning, so it's actually higher, but oh well.

Check out the new photo slideshow to the right. It shows some of my favourite crafts from the last couple years. You can click on it to view each photo in a larger size.

I'll get some of the new stuff up soon, I promise :) We've been super busy (and for good reason, stay tuned for some big news!).

Sketch Challenge

I made this sketch for a challenge on H!, but if you'd like to try it, please post a link to your card when you're done. I'd love to see what you do with it :)

Lots of stuff to post, but not yet

Thanks to National Scrapbooking Day at Scrapfriends, I have several layouts and cards to post. I'm just too darn tired to get around to it tonight!

On a very happy note, I won two prizes during the NSD challenge. Whee!

Sweet Tooth?

Check out the yummy blog candy at Kitty's Krafty Blog! She later added a note that it's a worldwide giveaway, so all us Canadians are free to enter!

Ooh, and hop over to The Card Grotto from some purpley candy goodness!

Thumping and Huffing

Don't worry, it's not what you think ;)

Thumping and huffing is a technique to add additional colour to a stamped image. You ink up an image, and them use a marker to colour over some of the inked stamp (this is before you stamp it). It's better to ink in a light colour, and thump in a dark one. Once you've added your marker colours, you "huff" on the stamp, to moisten it up a bit again (you know how you breathe on your sunglasses to clean them? same idea).

This card was for a challenge on H!, which was inspired by TL05 on SCS.

This version is very subtle, but I think it looks gorgeous in person (the pussy willows are thumped in a soft blue/grey).

To make the scalloped edge, I took the plastic "guard" off of the bottom of my corner rounder punch (must be EK Success brand, which SU also uses) and punched the edge. It's super easy! Then I punched the holes with my Cropodile, using the slider thing to ensure each was punched at the same distance from the edge.

Here's a close-up of the vase, so you can see the different colours.

Stamps: Vases in Vogue, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: River Rock, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: River Rock, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky
Accessories: Corner rounder punch, word window punch, brads, ribbon, dimensionals, sponge; Cropodile, Marvy Le Plume II markers
Techniques: thumping, sponging, scalloped edge

Here's another thumped image. This one didn't turn out so well, because the lines of the stamp are too small. I think this technique would work better with more "solid" image stamps. Isn't it a pretty butterfly stamp though?

Doodle-rama

This is a layout for a challenge on Scrapfriends. National Scrapbooking Day is May 3rd, and Scrapfriends is having a fun contest. This challenge was to use doodling in your layout.

I wanted to keep the photos simple, and I think the black and white work well. I also wanted to limit the embellishment, to let the doodles stand on their own, so there's just a bit of glitter and gloss added.

Paper: White cardstock
Accessories: SU Stampin' Write journaling marker, Marvy Le Plume II markers, SU Crystal Glaze, Stickles, Sakura glitter pen, letter stickers

Cheers to You!

I made this card for my friend Carrie's birthday. She's a fun and spunky gal, so I wanted a card that matched her personality.

I was inspired by this card in the SCS gallery, and knew I wanted to use my Reason to Smile butterfly stamp. The colours in the PP (Linen Prints, I'm sad that it's retired, because I love it!) gave me the colours for the card.

The card is pretty easy, I just added lots of Stickles to give it lots of sparkle.

I cut a slit in the fold of the card to pull the ribbon through. It's adhered on the inside, but I left part unattached, so I could slip in a gift card.

Stamps: Reason to Smile, Lots of Thoughts, Simply Said
Paper: Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Linen Prints DSP
Ink: Pink Passion, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava
Accessories: Scallop, 1 1/2" circle, and ticket corner punches, Chocolate Chip ribbon, Stickles

First Christmas

It's been a while since I've done any scrapbooking, but I am trying to finish my mom's scrapbook (Chloe's first year) before Mother's Day, so I need to get the last few pages done!

Here's one from Chloe's first Christmas:I used my ATG on this layout for all the paper and photos, and it really is great! It's easy to apply, and sticks like the dickens. So much so, I had to redo one of the torn paper borders, because I tried to reposition it, and the paper wouldn't come apart!

I scraplifted this layout from a magazine: Scrapbook & Cards today. The layout was by Heather Verrier.

Paper: Memory Block
Ink: Real Red (dragged the edges of the journalling block)
Accessories: rub-ons (Kaiser, Making Memories), brads, buttons, and stickers (unknown)

A new look for craft-o-rama!

I wanted to get away from the basic Blogger templates, and so I made a quick header using Adobe Photoshop, Rage Italic font, and The Golden Girls Flower Swirl element from the Flower Power digital kit. I sampled the colours from the flower element, and used them to customize the colours of my blog.

So, what do you think?

I'm sure I'll change it again, now that I know how easy it is!

Nature's Smile

This card is based on another SCS sketch challenge, SC167.

I love the colours in this card! The smaller Prima matches Cameo Coral perfectly, and the larger flower is close enough to Old Olive. I don't have Cameo Coral ink, so I just used Groovy Guava (to drag the edges of the CC panels). All the other edges are dragged in Old Olive.

The card base is stamped with Old Olive to give it a subtle pattern.

I punched the sentiment out with the word window punch, and then punched each end with the ticket corner punch.

Stamps: Vases in Vogue, Simply Said
Paper: Chocolate Chip and Cameo Coral cardstock, Linen Prints DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Groovy Guava
Accessories: word window and ticket corner punches, rhinestone brad (ice), flowers (Prima)

A masculine card

This card is for a sketch challenge on SCS (SC172). I knew I wanted to do a masculine card, and decided to base it around the paisley patterned paper. The striped paper coordinates with the paisley, so that was an easy choice for the second panel. I decided the colours in the paper were closest to SU's Really Rust, Always Artichoke, and More Mustard, so used carstock to match. I don't have the Artichoke ink, so I substituted Old Olive.

I sponged/dragged all the paper edges to add to the vintage feel.

The new jumbo eyelets were perfect, unfortunately they're too big for my cropodile! Manually setting a huge eyelet isn't fun, but it's worth the pain :p

Finally, I was excited to use a couple of the "screw" brads that I found. Perfect for a Father's Day card, no?

Stamps: Lexicon of Love, Fresh Fillers
Paper: Always Artichoke, More Mustard, and Really Rust cardstock; patterned paper (Memory Block), vanilla cardstock (unknown)
Ink: Really Rust, Old Olive, More Mustard
Accessories: ticket corner punch, cropodile, jumbo eyelets (Karen Foster), "screw" brads (Forever in Time)
Techniques: sponging

We're all going to get cavities

Because there's even more blog candy to be found! Lim over at The voices in my head is offering some sweet goodies to celebrate her 2,000 hit (she's actually almost at 3,000 now!). Congrats Lim!

And there's even MORE at Sharing my Obsession, where Deborah has reached over 3,000 hits. Way to go!

Jen at i{heart}2stamp is celebrating 400,000 hits by giving away a sweet package.

Finally, hop on over to Fresh and Fun. If you can believe it, Beate has reached 1,600,000 hits. Yowza!

Flappers unite!

I made this card for the Flap Fold card challenge on SCS (TLC161) as well as the punches challenge on H!

I made it with someone in mind, but I don't want to say in case they're reading this blog :)

The card is very easy to make. I don't have a large circle cutter, so I traced the edge of a CD. If you're not steady with the scissors, then cut two straight lines to make a point instead of a half-circle.

I trimmed the length so it was 10.375" and then scored at 4.25" and 8.5" (measuring from the bottom). You can make it any size you'd like, just figure out how big you want your flap and go from there.

The original card used magnets to hold down the flap, but I used the edge of a brad.

I used the word window punch to show the "from the heart" sentiment but I think it's easier to just punch out the cardstock and layer it on top of the DSP. You don't get much for all the measuring to line it up!

I sponged the edges of most of the card, and for the 5-petal flower, I used the "rock and roll" technique. I inked the stamp with River Rock, and then kind of rolled the edges of the stamp in Old Olive, which gives a nice two-toned image.

Stamps: In the Spotlight, Vases in Vogue, Warm Words
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, and River Rock cardstock, Linen Prints DSP
Ink: Old Olive, River Rock
Accessories: 5-petal flower, ticket corner, word window, and 3/4" circle punches, small brads, 5/8 grosgrain ribbon; paper piercer (Making Memories), pebble brad (Kaiser), felt flower (unknown)
Techniques: rock and roll, sponging, paper piercing

I think this is my favourite card ever.

More blog candy!

Yowza, I can't believe how many craft blogs there are out there. Here's another one that's offering some yummy blog candy: Misty at Li'l Buck's Creations is celebrating her 10,000th visitor! Check out her blog, she's got some amazing cards and beautiful scrapbook pages!

Inkling of Love

For all the blog followers, here's another one to check out: Wendy Cassidy at Inkling of Love is having a blog candy giveaway!

I've only just stumbled upon her site (by way of Jill) and I am really enjoying her cards! Take a look, and be sure to leave a comment in the blog candy post :)

A diaper for Baby

Chloe has been asking where 's diaper is. None of her dolls came with diapers, and her diapers are too big.

So, I borrowed my MIL's sewing machine, asked for a few pointers from some friends, and came up with a diaper. I used one of Chloe's old receiving blankets, and even added a doubler in the middle to be more realistic. I sewed on velcro tabs, to make it easy for her to put on and take off.
Here's the diaper cut out, with the doubler, ready to be sewed. That's the model on the left ;)
Here's Baby (yes, that's her name) wearing her new diaper!
Chloe thinks it's great.


I think it took 30-60 minutes. I'm not an experienced seamstress, but I'm really happy with how the diaper turned out! Now I'm going to make a couple more. One for Dolly, and one for Baby Emma :)

I won a stamp set!

Heather from Stamp with Heather had a SU promotion that included a bunch of cool prizes (including a full set of SU markers!!!). I was lucky enough to win the new Tart and Tangy stamp set, which is just adorable!

I just love the cherries stamp :D

There's matching pp, which I've already bought, so once I receive the set from Heather, I'll be ready to create some fun spring/summer cards!

This card is for the birds!

Haha, can you tell I'm in love with my new aviary stamp set?

Here's another card for the H! monochromatic challenge. Although it doesn't look to monochromatic to me, with all the black and white. Oh well!

I started with a white card base, and added red and black layers (the corners of which are punched with my ticket corner punch). I didn't have any red brads, so I used eyelets for each corner.

It's hard to see, but that's faux-stitching on the black layer. I used my paper piercer to create the holes, and then my Sakura white glaze pen to draw the "stitches". Some red ribbon wrapped around that, with red staples and a large red brad. Then a smaller layer of red, with more ticket corners and the edges dragged in red. White cardstock for the stamped bird/branch, with even more ticket corners (love that punch!) and red edges. I stamped the bird on the white paper, and then on red pp (which was some awful heart paper from one of those huge paper pads). I cut out the body of the bird from the red paper, and attached it to the white stamped image. I love how it looks watercoloured! Finally, a sentiment from the same set, and all popped up on top of the ribbon.

The early bird catches the worm

My lss (local scrapbooking store) moved to a larger space, and had their grand re-opening on Saturday. My friend Carrie and I arrived about 10 minutes before they opened, and we were about 50th in line!

They had some pretty good specials, and it was nuts in there. I did manage to pick up quite a few things, all 40-50% off! My two favourite purchases are these two acrylic stamp sets, both are by Inkadinkado. I just LOVE the bird set! So much so, that I promptly got home, and made a card:

Can you tell that the owl is stamped on pp? I love the subtle effect! All pp, carstock, and ink is from SU. The stamps are from the two Inkadinkado sets above. The top half isn't pp, it's cardstock with a circle stamp. I edged all the paper (except the owl) in brown as well. And finally ordered some stamping sponges, as I can't get the right look with just dragging.

It's hard to tell, but the white images are embossed with clear powder. Oh, and I thought it would be good to put a dot of white (Sakura glaze pen) in each eye, but now I don't think I like it :(

Ooh, and I read a great little tip on SCS: use your stamp set rubber trimmings instead of dimensionals! You just pull the rubber off of the foam, pull the backing off the other side of the foam, and it's perfect! It's actually a wee bit higher than dimensionals, but I like it!

One thing I realized is that I'm not too handy with the SU white craft ink. That, or it doesn't work as well on acrylic stamps. It turned out "blotchy".

Anyway, the card was for anther H! challenge. This week the challenge was to create a monochromatic card, with black and white allowed for accents.

Sneak Peek at new Stampin' Up' Stuff!

All of this information comes from Linda Heller's blog, Where the Rubber Hits the Road.

I've found some spoilers! The new in colours, Pink Pirouette, Red Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Baha Breeze, and Pacific Point:

Just like I love the Groovy Guava/Wild Wasabi/Soft Sky combo, I can already see that I'll be buying Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, and Baha Breeze. Sigh. Yes, they're very similar, but a deeper, brighter colour!

Yes, I'm a sucker.

There's also some new patterned paper:
And a few of the new stamp sets:

I LOVE the last two sets! Very organic and fresh looking.