FS138: She's OH! so fancy!!!

That lady I call Nancy.......aka NancyRuth!


This week's featured stamper is NancyRuth! I used {this denim blue} card as the inspiration for my card. I liked the card and the simplicity of it - very clean, focusing on the main image. I started with a 5x5 base which I covered with a piece of black cardstock, embossed with the swiss dots folder. I spritzed the black with glimmer mist and it *REALLY* sparkles in real life!

I changed the card by adding a layer of designer paper (that I had in my stash). I also layered the main image and the sentiment.

The main image is colored with copics, then the outfits were fluffed with purple, green and orange sparkle fluff!
I used the word window punch on the sentiment and then layered it on some orange which I punched with the martha stewart edge punch on each end. Finally, I added some stickles to the star (on the hat) and the cobwebs.


Stamps: Witch To Wear {Our Craft Lounge}
paper: Black, designer paper (unknown source), white, orchid op, only orange, glimmer mist, swiss dots
ink: black, copics
misc: punches, sparkle fluff (purple, orange, green), stickles, glimmer mist, swiss dots folder

FS137: Tankgrl

I used this {CC197} card of Heather's to create my CASE card this week.

Heather's colors (Kiwi, Baha Breeze, Basic Grey) were one of the things I changed. I used smokey shadow, enchanted evening and some designer paper from Papertrey ink. I eliminated the piercing at the top, changed the brads to dew drops and used a different stamp set (changing it to a holiday card with the new Papertrey ink Winter Swirls stamp set).

Starting with a smokey shadow base, an enchanted evening layer.... then I stamped on the soft stone paper (my first time using it -- it's very nice). I used enchanted evening ink and the large snowflake from Winter Swirls on the bottom half of the soft stone. I used the martha stewart edge punch on the designer paper, then tied a satin enchanted eveing ribbon in a knot around the papers.

A scalloped square was stamped with the sentiment in fresh snow ink, then I stamped the tree from Winter Swirls in the enchanted evening ink, trimmed it out and adhered it to the scalloped square with dimensionals. I added a few of the pearl dew drops on the tree and in the top corner of the card (in place of the brads Heather used).

Stamps: Winter Swirls (Papertrey Ink)
ink: enchanted evening, fresh snow
paper: enchanted evening, smokey shadow, soft snow, designer paper
misc: dew drops (pearl), scalloped square, dimensonals, enchanted evening ribbon (satin), Martha stewart edge punch

Busy Week!

What a busy week!
Winter Swirls stamp set released -- Copic Review article published (here) this week on the 14th -- Xavier started Kindergarten, Sophie started preschool...and swim team started this week! Then tomorrow night I have Open house at the Elementary school (I am PTA president).... I also started the Maggie Homes photography course this week. I finally catch a break Friday with a nice night out with Todd in New York City to see Wicked (this will be my second time seeing it).

thought I would share one of my favorite pictures from this week -- hope to learn how to take better shots with this course!

Have a great rest of the week if I cannot check in before the Featured Stamper challenge card this weekend!

Winter Swirls!

The Winter Swirls stamp set is now available at Papertrey Ink!








Did you see all the fun samples on Nichole and Becky's blogs yesterday? OMW! Those two can make paper and ink take on a life of it's own!!!

Nicole's samples

Becky's samples

The design team has really outdone itself with the September releases! I love how they select different colors and elements and layers to create the most amazingly detailed projects....

Check them ALL out:

• Debbie
• Betsy
• Dawn
• Geny
  Pine
• Lauren
• Lisa
  Melissa
• Mish
• Niki and
• Teri

Thank you EVERYONE for your support! It means the world to me!

Sneak Peek Sample 4: Winter Swirls......

Here is another sneak peek of Winter Swirls! I had this great photo of Isabella from a project she did last year and I realized that I needed to turn it into a scrapbook page. The Winter Swirls set made for a perfect accent with the beautiful color papers.

I started with an 8x8 piece of enchanted evening cardstock. I used enchanted evening ink with a variety of the snowflakes from the set. I used a strip of stampers select white, scallop edge punched and placed it under the piece of oceans tide. The sentiment and mittens are stamped in enchanted evening ink. I also used Journaling Lines in oceans tides ink on the scalloped oval to create a journal tag for the page.

The buttons were tied with some of the rustic button twine. The journal box was adhered to the page with dimentionals....writing with a blue sakura stardust gel pen.

This is my finished page....

So the big sneak peeks from Nichole and Becky on Monday! Then the big release party in the forum later that night! OOOHhhhh! I am so excited!!!!


All supplies © Papertrey Ink (unless otherwise noted)
stamps: Winter Swirls (available 9/15), journaling lines
paper: enchanted evening, oceans tides, stampers select white
ink: enchanted evening, oceans tides
misc: enchanted evening buttons, rustic button twine, dimensionals, scalloped oval punch, scalloped edge punch (SU!), blue sakura stardust gel pen

FS136: Steubner

This week's featured stamper is Shannan! aka the Pink Tulle with Feathers and Sequins lady....

I selected this AWESOME card Let Heaven & Nature Sing.

kept: layout and kraft base
changed: stamp set (yes, this is another sneak peek of my soon to be released stamp set)
the colors (instead of a black second color, I used the same color as the ink) used a button instead of punched cardstock...and added shimmer with glimmer mist.

This was such a simple card....kraft base, enchanted evening layer and then using stampers select white, I stamped a variety of snowflakes and swirls from the Winter Swirls set in the enchanted evening ink. Oh do I love this color! I stamped the sentiment as well. I sponged ink on the edges and worked my way in to the center of the card. Finally, I spritzed the main layer with Snowflake Glimmer mist. Oh does it sparkle! Take a look at this close up! Finally, I dug through my enchanted evening buttons and selected one with a hint of shimmer. As the main image was drying, I tied some of the enchanted evening twill to the button. The edges of the main image were distressed once I adhered it to the card.

So Monday night is the big release party over at Papertrey Ink. You will have to check out Nichole's Blog along with the blogs of the other design team members:

• Becky Oehlers
• Betsy Veldman
• Dawn McVey
• Debbie Olson
• Geny Cassady
• Heather Nichols
• Lauren Meader
• Lisa Johnson
• Melissa Phillips
• Michelle Wooderson
• Niki Estes

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and your support during these sneek peeks -- I am so excited about this Monday's release party......



All supplies © Papertrey Ink (unless otherwise noted)
stamps: Winter Swirls (available 9/15)
paper: kraft, enchanted evening, stampers select white
ink: enchanted evening
misc: enchanted evening button, ribbon (enchanted evening twill), glimmer mist snowflake

Sneak Peek Sample 3: Winter Swirls......

This is my third sneak peek of my SOON TO BE RELEASED (Gasp!) stamp set from Papertrey Ink. This set is definitely fun to play with.....
I love the star! It was one of my favorite items in this set -- and of course -- it is so easy to make several colors and just punch them out with the star punch! (yes, they coordinate with the star punch)...

I chose this unusual color combination - plum pudding, spring moss and dark chocolate because they literally fell together on my desk....I loved it (Todd, not such a big fan....oh well, men...)

The designer paper is the Polka Dot parade collection in spring moss atop the plum pudding base. I used a scalloped edge punch on the stampers select white layer, then the strip of deep chocolate. The stars are stamped in each of the three colors, then adhered with foam squares. A button from my Papertrey collection, and some plum pudding ribbon - sewn together. The sentiment is stamped in the chocolate and plum pudding inks, then tucked behind the button....

Tomorrow, I will post another card during the featured stamper challenge *AND* possibly an earlier one (if I get back from swim team tryouts early enough)....I also have Beatles Rock Band luring me away from my stamping table....but that CAN WAIT!!!



All supplies © Papertrey Ink (unless otherwise noted)
stamps: Winter Swirls (available 9/15)
paper: plum pudding, dark chocolate, polkadot parade in spring moss, stampers select white
ink: spring moss, dark chocolate, plum pudding
misc: button, ribbon (satin plum pudding), dimensionals, scalloped edge punch (SU!)


Finally - I have to share some photos that someone took of the kids this week....they cracked me up and I thought I would share....Kindergarten and preschool have not yet started....so we have a LOT of free time on our hands.....

Sneak Peek Sample Two: Winter Swirls......

I just {LOVE} snowflakes!!! I knew that I had to have some in my stamp set, and there are SEVERAL to play with. I do not think you will be disappointed!

One of the things I love doing with stamps is to create something they were not initially intended for! In this case - I used the snowflakes to create the branches of a leaf. I saw this technique years ago and I had this card in mind when I created some of my snowflakes.

Ripe avocado base (5x5) with a layer of dark chocolate and then the main layer of stampers select white. I love this white...it really grabs the ink!

I used spring moss and ripe avocado ink in a repetitive circular pattern to create this wreath.
The "berries" are small scarlet jewel buttons...the sentiment is stamped with dark chocolate ink. The large ripe avocado button is so sparkly! I sewed it with some deep brown thread right to the scarlet jewel swiss dots ribbon. Tune in tomorrow for my next sample -- in some non-traditional Christmas colors!


All supplies © Papertrey Ink (unless otherwise noted)
stamps: Winter Swirls (available 9/15)
paper: dark chocolate, ripe avacado, stampers select white
ink: ripe avacado, spring moss
misc: buttons (scarlet jewel and ripe avocado), ribbon (swiss dot scarlet jewel)

Sneak Peek Samples: Winter Swirls......

Today I am going to show you the first card I made with my new stamp set, Winter Swirls. The set will be available on September 15 at Papertrey Ink.

I am trying to contain my excitement and maintain a professional composure..... {breathe deep}

This card features a few of the stamps from the set -- but the main focus is the holiday tree.

I started with a pure poppy card base and a strip of the avocado paper. The avocado strip was stamped with some snowflakes from the stamp set in avocado ink. I edged the paper with some fresh snow ink.

I used the scor-bug to create these really cool grooved lines above and below the avocado strip. A piece of swiss dot dark chocolate ribbon is on top of the avocado strip.

I stamped the tree with the avocado ink on the stampers select white, and carefully trimmed it out. I found some tiny dark chocolate buttons from my stash and adhered them to the tree with some adhesive.
I punched a piece of papertrey kraft cardstock with a marvy scalloped circle punch, then stamped it with fresh snow ink using some swirls and snowflakes from the set. The sentiment is from the Winter Swirls set too! That was stamped with avocado ink. I edged the scalloped circle with the fresh snow ink. The circle is adhered to the card with foam squares, then the tree is adhered to the circle with foam squares.
Well, what do you think? (eagerly awaits your reply)

Be sure to check Nichole's blog all week long for sneak peeks of the September stamp releases! This is sure to be a FUN month with all the holiday sets!





All supplies © Papertrey Ink (unless otherwise noted)
stamps: Winter Swirls (available 9/15)
paper: pure poppy, ripe avacado, kraft, stampers select white
ink: ripe avacado, fresh snow
misc: buttons (dark chocolate), marvy scalloped circle punch, foam squares, ribbon (swiss dot dark chocolate), scor-bug (for dotted lines)

First Day of School.....

We got a LATE start this year for school. For the first time, I have a middle school student! (Where has the time gone)....

We made the bus yesterday without incident -- although the middle school bus came 30 minutes late....

Todd even made the long walk up the driveway for the elementary school bus (with java and breakfast in hand)....

For the middle school walk, I took a few photos, but then decided to give Karen her "space"..... she was okay with that.....



The girls LOVE their teachers and I think we are going to have a FANTASTIC year!


I am the President of our PTA this year (and next)...so my life is very busy....

I will be keeping up with design team samples, my featured stamper cards and my sneak peeks, but not have much time for other things.....

One thing that relaxes me (and most of you will relate to this) is going into my craft room and just creating. I put on the music and just explode....of course I have to put it all away later....

Sneak Peek - Papertrey Ink Stamp set

The time has come! Today some of my stamp set is released for the world to see! My head is SPINNING! Will they like it? I certainly hope so! Is it a must have? I certainly think so!

I have been busy in my craft room trying to come up with samples of the set. There were cards I had in my mind to make when I created the set....now it is time to put ink to paper! Of course, this is the busiest week for me -- school starts tomorrow for my little ones....be sure to check back here later this week for my samples! In the mean time, stay tuned to Nichole's blog for more exciting previews!

FS135: LMcAcree

Today is Lori's day to be featured.

I selected her card {LSC232} to case.

changes:

• stamp set
• papers
• shape of main image
  

I started with a white 4.25x4.25 base, added some glitter designer paper. I loved the card Lori created, but decided to change it up and make the colors a little more summery since this weekend is summer's last hurrah! I used a different shape for the main image. I kept with the food theme, but changed the stamp to the ice cream cone from Summer Sweets. I colored the main image with copics, added some gloss with a pink souffle gel pen on the cherry. Three buttons (papertrey ink) on the velvet ribbon (stampin' up).



stamps: Summer Sweets {Our Craft Lounge}
paper: DCWV, apricot, white
ink: black, copics
misc: buttons (papertrey), velvet ribbon (SU!), dimensionals, nestabilities, souffle pink pen