Easter Poppies & Some Junk

I absolutely LOVE Poppies. I think they are so cheerful. I decided to make a bouquet of Poppies in pastels using Stampin' Up! inks and coffee filters. The filters proved to be the perfect material for this project. I planned on this being a quick activity, but it turned into a 2 week ordeal. My fingers are very happy to get a break from the glue gun, but it's short-lived. I have plans on another flower adventure very soon. Possibly later today!

My style at home is mostly composed of items found in old barns, junk yards, antique shops, and occasionally a dumpster. I like to call myself a Junk Gypsy. As my husband tosses old tractor parts in the garbage, I'm diving in to retrieve them. He thinks I'm crazy, but I love it. After all, one man's junk is another man's treasure!

So, I decided to put my little lovelies in an old galvanized canister I found at a shabby chic junk sale. I think they go together quite nicely. They definitely go well in my house. And for once, I have flowers that I can't kill!

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink ~ Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Baked Brown Sugar, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso

Tools ~ Hot glue, hot glue gun, Circle Collection Framelits, Paper Snips, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, 1" Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, Spiral Flower Die, Mosaic punch, glue dots

Other Supplies ~ Coffee filters, floral wire, floral stems, foam balls, foam block galvanized canister

Embellishments ~ 1" wide cream colored satin ribbon

Paper Crafters Sampler: Early Bird Special!

Happy New Year everyone! 

Exciting things are about to happen! 

It's time to start kick off the 2014 earlybird special of the Paper Crafters Sampler.  Get your 2014 full year Sampler for $89.00.  This earlybird special ends in just 3 days.

Following on the heels of the earlybird special is the release of the 2014 January issue, "Venetian Valentine".  Pop on over to the main page of the site for more information and a partial sneak peek of what's in store for this elegant issue.

Have a great day!

Click here to be taken directly to the Paper Crafters Sampler!

Pockets full of Promises

I have recently been invited to be a Design Team member for the Paper Crafter Sampler. The first issue comes out very soon and I can't wait to see it go live. Have I mentioned that I'm excited about this? Excited is an understatement. I squealed and did a happy dance when I got the invitation. Wooo Hooooo! I can't wait for you all to see what amazingly talented ladies I get to work with. Stay tuned....a sneek peek is on it's way!

Tag...You're it!

So this past week was filled with family, food and stamps. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the Thanksgiving weekend. I am behind on projects (what's new?) so I'm trying to play catch up. I have 31 class Christmas treats to come up with. No idea what I'm going to do yet. I've been scouring Pinterest for SOMETHING but have yet to find the right thing. I have lots of Christmas cards to make too, but I just focused on gift tags. Yes, I actually stayed on task FOR ONCE! I suffer from crafting A.D.D. so this is a major accomplishment!

Gift tags are a blast. At least I think they are. There are SO many options it's ridiculous. I need some more kiddy related ones though. Good thing I just put in a monster Stampin' Up! order! So there will be cute gift tags to come. As long as I can focus, that is.

Here is what I came up with so far...

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Very Vanilla, Night of Navy

Ink ~ Night of Navy, Crumb Cake

Stamp Sets ~ Gorgeous Grunge, Come to Bethlehem

Embellishments ~ Rhinestones, navy colored satin ribbon

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Always Artichoke

Stamp Sets ~ Gorgeous Grunge, Santa's List

Embellishments ~ hemp twine, faceted buttons

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Very Vanilla, Crisp Cantaloupe

Ink ~ Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Crisp Cantaloupe

Stamp Sets ~ Santa's List, A Banner Christmas

Embellishments ~ Chocolate Chip Chevron ribbon

 Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Whisper White, Night of Navy

DSP ~ Silver Glimmer paper

Ink ~ Night of Navy, Silver embossing powder

Stamp Sets ~ Christmas Deer (retired), Come to Bethlehem (Sentiment)

Embellishments ~ navy colored satin ribbon

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Ink ~ Soft Suede, Baked Brown Sugar, Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Early Espresso

Stamp Sets ~ Remembering Christmas, French Foliage, Fine Feathers

Embellishments ~ hemp twine, cream colored satin ribbon

{leaf detail}

Supplies:

Cardstock ~ Rose Red, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede

Ink ~ Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Always Artichoke

Stamp Sets ~ Gorgeous Grunge, Santa's List, A Banner Christmas

Embellishments ~ Vintage Faceted Buttons, hemp twine, cream colored satin ribbon

Acrylic Distress

As a self-proclaimed vintage technique whore, I can't believe I never thought of this. I have SO many acrylic paints it's not even funny. I think I need one of those displays they have at the craft store where they sell paints. It's ridiculous. I stumbled upon this today. Yes, it was from Pinterest. I seriously have a problem. Admitting it is the first step, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUcZDFnEcBI

Okay, so my YouTube link is being cranky with me. I cannot post the actual video to my blog, but you can follow the link above to watch it on youtube. Enjoy!

Oh Whale!

OMG this was fun to make. I saw the idea on Pinterest. I swear I should start up a support group for Pinterest. I feel like I start out EVERY post with "I saw this on Pinterest". But anyway, I saw this idea the other day and just HAD to make one. It was SO stupid simple. I love how it turned out. I made several in pink, several in blue and a few of these...

All it took was a few clear plastic zip-lock bags and some blue hair gel... Such a great idea. I wish I were this creative on my own. lol!

This Too Shall Pass

I created this card today for a stamping challenge from MojoMonday. 

The sketch template:

Supplies Used for this card:

Paper ~ Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Tea for Two DSP, First Edition DSP

Ink ~ Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral

Stamp Sets ~ From My Heart

Other supplies used ~ Crochet ribbon, Labels Collection Framelits

Just Because

Just because I had nothing to do. Just because I was lonely. Just because I've been cooped up in the house on bed rest {I had surgery last week}. Just because I'm addicted, I created this card.

I fell in love with this stamp {Feeling Sentimental} set the moment I saw it. It totally fits into my vintage themed style. I put together a few different layers. Of course, I had to include my one of my favorite Stampin' Up! colors... Pool Party.

Primrose Petals

These cards turned out exactly like I had pictured in my head! It's hard to see in the picture, but I raised the sentiments in the center and tacked them down on each end. I love the raised layered look! I also embossed the center shape on both cards. This one is from Everything Elenor set. The bottome one is from the Oh Hello set.

Stamp sets used:
~Fresh Foliage
~Sassy Salutations

I stole the design from Pinterest but made them each a little different. This seems to be a pattern. Oops! I fell in love with the layout. It's so simple. Layered stamping on the base and a few layers on top. Sweet and simple.

Stamp sets used:
~French Foliage
~Feeling Sentimental

Colors used for both cards:
~Very Vanilla
~Sahara Sand
~Crumbcake
~Pool Party
~Primrose Petals

Happy Day!

The photo doesn't do this card any justice. I really need to figure out a better way to photograph my cards. I have a lightbox, I just haven't had time to set it up yet. Truthfully, I don't have the room!

This card was created around some floral patterned paper that I had leftover from an old project. It's not Stampin' Up! paper so I rarely use it. However, it caught my eye as I was looking for inspiration. It just so happened that it went perfectly with River Rock, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, and Very Vanilla. 

Of course I had to create a card that had a vintage feel. I antiqued the edges of almost every piece of paper. In fact, I think I did EVERY piece. I did the texture on the base color (River Rock) with a stylus and my Simply Scored plate. I went every 3/4" on the diagonal. I added pearls at every cross section. 

A few different layers of different shapes, a designer builder brad and a stamp from the "Ciao, Baby!" set completed this card. It was such a simple design. It went together so smoothly! I'll definitely be making a few more of these!

 I kept the inside of the card fairly simple. Antiqued the edges. Added a sentiment from the "Vintage Verses" stamp set and a "Happy Birthday" stamp on a banner of River Rock paper. 

Perfectly Perfect

 I totally stole this layout from a card I saw on Pinterest a few days ago. Good ole' Pinterest! I absolutely HAD to put one together. I love all the different layers. To me, you can't have too many layers! I used a couple of my new stamp sets for this one. Vintage Verses for the little note inside the envelope. Pretty Petites for a few of the squares on the banner. Along with a few from the 2012 - 2013 catalog. I also used the new designer brads from the Spring catalog. Of course I gave it an antiqued look. This is a generic card that can be used for any occasion.

The inside of the card is decorated too! I used my old favorite  Fresh Vintage for the outside trim in coordinating colors from the front. LOVE this look!

From My Heart

I FINALLY got this stamp set! I am so excited to use it. I made this card for my hubby for Valentine's Day. He's not the hearts and flowers type. Trying to come up with a manly man card is SO difficult...at least for me. I used the Adorning Accents Folder for the first time too. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. Tape was my friend. Once again, I gave this card a vintage feel by antiquing the edges. I think I'm probably going to drive this into the ground but I just LOVE the feel it gives to the card!