Just sharing a card that I made a few weeks ago and had to wait to post until the Lil’ Inker stitched circles were released. I combined those dies with some Fancy Pants papers and this stamp set from Simon Says to make this simple card - I think the yellow is so fun!

I’m heading back to work today after 3 weeks off. Wish me luck, pretty please!

Suzanne

Hey there! I’ve got a fun project to share for this month’s Papertrey Ink blog hop. The theme this month is “tilted designs” and my foxy origami project was inspired by this tutorial that I found on Pinterest, since the backs of these foxes are slanted.

I used lots of PTI goodies on these. The patterned paper is their Dotty Biscotti paper, and the noses were stamped using one of the solid circle stamps in Daydreamer. The sentiment comes from Sketched Shapes.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Suzanne

Hooray for my 400th post!

Tonight I made this card for Lucy’s Sketch Challenge and A Blog Name Hero’s Challenge, which was to create a card in the shabby-chic or vintage style.

I used Hero Arts‘ True Friendship and Tiny Ink Spots, which was inked up in grey and yellow on the background. I added lots of flowers and pearls, and stitched the bottom right corner to make this a little more shabby.

Thanks very much for stopping by!
Suzanne

Hi everyone and welcome back to Day 2 of the Clear and Simple Stamps Collection 4 Release! If ever there was a warning to go up on this blog this is it: I love the beach, and everything that comes with it: clams, shells, seagulls. {Love.} It follows that I love beach stamps, so this is a very photo-heavy post because today we’re featuring oodles of new beachy stamps!

Today we are showcasing the new beach themed image, sentiment and background sets! Growing up, we spent our summers going to Cape Cod, and these stamps brought back so many wonderful memories for me.

My first project is a baby-themed card and favor combo that was inspired by all the nautical horizontal stripes that are being sold in stores right now. I used the Clear and Simple Stamp set called Create-a-Plaid to stamp the stripes in blue ink and added sentiments from Baby Sentiments to match the adorable whale image from the new set called Seaside Sentiments 1.

The favor is a lollipop shaped out of blue hair elastics, and is finished off with a handcut tag decorated with the same whale and sentiments from the same sets used on the card. Very easy!

For my next project, I went a slightly different route, thinking about couples that might be headed off on a honeymoon or vacation together.

I used the Beach Bum stamp set to stamp the waves, which were masked and shaded with Distress Inks. I used patterned papers to dress up the design a little bit, and scored the card base with my Scor-Pal.

The matching tag was done similarly, but with twine and pearls to finish off the look. I am somewhat new to distress inks, but found them very easy to use. I’ve been inspired SO much by my wonderful and dear blog friend Danielle Daws.

For my next project, a card and a bookmark, I really wanted to showcase one of the beautiful quotes that is included in these sets. I stamped and heat embossed the starfish image repeatedly across the bottom of both, and then edged everything with white ink.

The knotted jute twine is a trick I learned in a class with Kim Hughes a few months ago - I thought it would go very well with the beach theme.

Are you still with me?

Here is my last card using the new Caning Weave background stamp, which was heat embossed and then filled with Distress Inks. In case you’re interested, I have prepared a very quick tutorial showing you how I did this, but I am going to post it as a separate post so I don’t totally overwhelm you. I want you to see what everyone else has made with these great sets first!

Thanks so much! Happy Friday!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! I am here today with a fun blog hop that’s taking place between Ribbon Carousel and Skipping Stones Design, who was super kind enough to provide our team with some of their stamps.

I chose their Beautiful Botanicals stamp set and paired that with some Olive Woven Burlap Ribbon. Next I pulled together some matching papers and inks to make this card. I love this ribbon and the stamps - my first time using each! The green inks are all from A Muse Studio, and the brown ink is from PTI. I stamped off a few times to get the lighter colored images in the background.

The stamp set had several sentiments in it, but I chose this one because I am sending this card to my friend, Jaci, for her birthday.

Here are some more details about the hop:

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to check back over the next few days for the CSS release, and enjoy your holiday!:)

This week’s Ribbon Carousel Challenge is to get colorful! Use those bright colors you might not usually choose. Our fabulous sponsor this week is…

Totally Stampalicious was started over 3 years ago by two crazy Canadian crafters, Becky and Joycelyn! They wanted to be able to transform their own sense of humour into stamp sets…all they needed were some hilarious characters to go with it! Enter Jodie Mackrell of Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Her funny, adorable, and sometimes downright sassy images, were just what Totally Stampalicious needed! A partnership was born, and the rest as they say, is history! They also work with talented artists, Sylvia Zet, Dan Hale and Theo Cobb!

Today, Totally Stampalicious is home to over 85 hilarious and fun stamp sets for your crafting pleasure with many more to come! With the help of a very talented Design Team, Totally Stampalicious has become a successful, thriving and reputable stamp company! Check them out at Totally Stampalicious.com… and get your giggle on!

The girls at Totally Stampalicious are giving away a $25 gift certificate to their store to this week’s winner!

For my card this week, I used the fantastic Silky Crush Ribbon in Fuschia with my adorable image from TS! I colored them with Prisma pencils, added some glitter and mounted it all on some onyx gingham paper from A Muse Studio.

After refecting the digi image, I added a sentiment that I found online and called it a day. I like the look of purple here on this card, and think I should try using it more often.
Thanks for stopping by!

Last night I made this card for this week’s CPS sketch challenge, using some new Echo Park This & That paper and WPlus9 dies and stamps (swoon! for BOTH!)…

I did use Vintage Labels 1 from A Muse Studio to outline the tag, but the pale pink flower and sentiment are from WPlus9′s Folk Art Florals and that layered butterfly is just so gorgeous. I can’t wait to try it out with tissue paper…

Oh yeah, and that ribbon is the Silky Crush ribbon from A Muse…you’ll be seeing a lot more of that!

Hope your week is off to a great start!

Here’s a quick card this Friday afternoon for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge! I am about to wrap up some work so I can take the dog for a walk and head out to dinner before my husband leaves for a work trip.

I really enjoyed playing with PTI’s Rosie Posie; I held off on buying this for the longest time. At first I wasn’t sure that I liked it, but then I kept seeing so many beautiful cards with it that I decided it had to come home to me. I was going for a folk-art inspried theme on this card.

That beautiful sentiment is from WPlus9′s Folk Art Florals set. It seemed like the perfect fit for this card!

What do you all have planned for the weekend? I may do some work, but I may also go looking a new cameras since mine seems to be on the fritz; I’ve also got a Best Buy gift card that I’ve been itching to use. Any recommendations for cameras?

My Labor Day has been very relaxing. All of the sponsor logos and forms for the Free to Breathe were due on Friday, so Complete Panic Mode has ended as I enter the last 3 weeks of planning. I made a HUGE homemade yard sign to advertise the event - I guess it is good to take advantage of living on a busy street! I also tried yoga class again; it makes me feel better in a way that running or walking doesn’t. I think I may just keep up with it! Some other highlights have been a trip to my favorite local stamp store, some great walks with my dog, and some very yummy dinners with my husband. Tomorrow I will clean and craft since I heard that the weather isn’t supposed to be so great.

The theme for this month’s blog hop at Papertrey Ink is anything flowers, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to showcase my friend Christina MacLaren’s talents, as she crocheted this beautiful flower embellishment for me:

I stamped BB Text Style in Versamark on the bird, and ran the Nesties frame through with the Woodgrain IP:

I am also entering this card in this week’s CR84FN Challenge:

Happy Blog Hoppin’!