Cherry Blossom Time!

ah...the sun came out after several days of rain. It's a perfect start to the Cherry Blossom Festival here in Washington DC. I made this card last week with the SCS Wednesday Card sketch in anticpation of the blossoms. It's a beautiful time here!!

I used watercolor paper and heat embossed the image. This branch is from Artsy Owls - and it's my favorite stampin the collection! I dressed things up a bit (trying to be artsy myself!!) with a stick pin, bead and some ribbons. I hope you like it!



Card Materials:
Stamp: Artsy Owls, saying retired hostess set
Paper: Lilly Anna Soar with it Collection and Lilly Anna Cardstock
Accesories: Martha Stewart punch, Tombow markers and aquabrush, stickpin/ribbon

CPS Sponsor - Last Day!

sigh...this has been an exciting week for me. I have been delighted with the different cards the design team came up with over at the Card Positioning Systems (CPS) blog. They picked from a variety of stamps and papers from The Angel Company and then did their magic!!

Many thanks to:

CPS Design Team
Tami Mayberry (sketches)
Charity Hassel
Debbie Olson
Jeanne Streiff
Kandis Smith
Keri Sereika
Laura Williams
Lea Lawson
Linda Beeson
Melissa Phillips
Sherry Wright
Stacey Kingman

The sketch itself was super and I enjoyed playing along too -- I hope you'll post your card over there with Mr Linky if you haven't already! Here is my last card but if you have time, please check out my last 3 posts...they are all very different takes on the sketch this week.

Card Materials:

Stamps: Butterfly Bits, The Angel Company

Paper: Mimi Soar with it Collection and cardstock

Accessories: palette ink, dew drops

CPS Sponsor - Part 3

I can hardly believe that I am half way through my week of sponsoring the card sketch over at the Card Positioning Systems (CPS) blog. I have really enjoyed going to see everyone’s take on the sketch and I can’t wait to find out who will be the lucky winner of the stamp set, Life is Short. It’s got some really neat sayings that are perfect for both scrapbookers and cardmakers. If you haven't heard about my offer yet, you may pick out a free jar of Stickles with just a $30 order (and The Angel Company throws in a free stamp!) but you must email me with your order...

My take on the sketch today is a bit more true to form. Sewing machine stitching is so popular right now, and the Running Stitches from The Angel Company makes it quick. I don’t have to worry about hauling out my Husqvarna sewing machine that is currently wedged between the organ and a wall, covered by countless Lego boxes! The card itself is really easy. I wanted the beautiful papers from the Soar with It Collection to take the main stage and so I just embossed my elephant to give it a little “umph”. Did you know that we carry TRANSCENDENCE POWDER which allows you to emboss with Palette inks?

Card Materials:
Stamps: Take Pride, Running Stitches
Papers: Hemingway Soar with it Collection and cardstock
Accessories: twine, embossing powder, Transcendence Powder

There is still time to upload a card for this week’s sketch! It’s really super easy.

1) Create your card using the sketch...
2) Upload your card to either your blog, SCS gallery or Flicker account.
3) Go to the CPS blog and under Sunday’s post, you’ll find MR LINKY where you type in your name and then paste in the URL of where your picture is!

Hope you’ll join us! And if you have a moment, please check out my last two posts as they contain more takes on this week's CPS sketch!

CPS Sponsor - Part 2

My last post featured All Things of Nature, one of my first stamp sets from The Angel Company. This stamp set is another old favorite of mine! I have had so much fun this week, not only as the sponsor of the Card Positioning System (CPS) blog sketch, but also playing along with my own creations!

For this card I brought out the “big” tools that I bought as half priced items when I was a “hostess” for a party sized order with The Angel Company (TAC). With TAC, not only do you earn a free stamp with every $30 you spend, but as the hostess for a $100 show...you earn a free stamp set, can get a hostess discount of 20% and earn one item (anything in the catalog!) for half priced. What a deal.

Card Materials:

Stamps: Flower Collage Trio
Paper: Catelynne, DCWV Green #1 and Pink #1
Accessories: Bind it All, Scor Pal, Tombow Markers, twine, buttons, Palette inks

Have you checked out the design team's creations over at the CPS blog? You can find out there how to WIN a free stamp set valued at $19.95 - just by playing along with this sketch. And don't forget to check out my last post...I'll keep adding my sketch cards this whole week! I am having so much fun - I hope you are too!

CPS Sponsor!!

I have some exciting news to share! This week I am the sponsor for the week over at the Card Positioning Systems (CPS) blog! The design team ladies will be featuring different stamps and papers from The Angel Company. You can also play along with the sketch and post your own creations using Mr Linky – the best part is that you have a chance to win a stamp set, Life is Short. And, if you place a $30 order with me this month, you also get a free Stickles, your choice of color, as my special thank you!

Tami Mayberry is regularly featured in the Cardmaker magazine, she is the creator of the CPS blog sketches and has published two books, Cardmaker Sketchbook 1 and 2. I was so excited about this week’s sketch and here is one of my cards!





Card Materials:
Stamps: All Things of Nature, Twists and Twirls
Paper: Genevieve, DCWV Robin #1
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils and gamsol, Noir Palette ink

I’ll be back again on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with some more of my sketch creations. Be sure to visit the CPS blog on those days too to see more great sketches from the CPS designers. The cards already posted are INCREDIBLE and I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

More fabric - more buttons!

The Pink Elephant has a sketch challenge to use buttons. My branch was a bit bare looking, so I thought that the flowers with the buttons as centers were perfect. They helped draw in more of the color scheme and gave the card some pop I think....plus, maybe you won’t notice that my owl is stamped a bit crooked?!?

This was another card I featured at my hostess club get together this month – and the main thing was stamping on fabric, muslin, to be exact! My following post has more details about stamping/coloring on fabric for a card...


Card Materials:
Stamps: Artsy Owls, The Angel Company
Paper: Misc, Bazzill Yellow and Green DCWV
Accessories: flowers from Ava embellishment, assorted buttons, Martha Stewart punch

This following card is from one of my club members...Donna. (She’s the kind of woman you love to be around, positive, silly and always uplifting. If she were to make a “mistake” she looks at it as an opportunity and worst case, says, “just lower the lights, everything looks better in the dark” or something to that effect. She has me laughing every time we get together) Most of the gals used the owl stamp or cow from my last post, but as usual, Donna did her own thing and I loved it. She used my beloved branch as a tree...and then stuck some flowers at the base. These are retired flowers (also from The Angel Company) but they were meant to pop out of a vase and I love the curved effect they have at the bottom of Donna’s “tree”.



My inlaws arrived yesterday so I was busy cleaning and making beds but I did sneak in time to finish a card for SCS's Wednesday sketch! I hope you’ll pop back in on Sunday because I have a really neat surprise!

Wow...100 posts!

Gosh, for being a reluctant blogger when I started up, 100 posts came quickly!!

For my hostess club get together this month I decided to do some stamping on fabric with my ladies. This technique was featured in The Angel Company’s supplement that recently came out, Serendipity; and when I saw the cards, I had to run out to Joann’s and buy some white and cream cotton muslin! It’s really not very expensive at all.

I used the sketch on the CPS blog for this week. I’ve never made a long card to fit into a regular sized envelope so this was a real “stretch” for me. (ha ha) I feel like something is missing but I hope you can see the embossed stars on the blue panel. I stamped with Noir palette ink (make sure your pad is juicy – I should have reinked mine in this case!) and then colored in the image with watercolor pencils. The secret trick to blending it all is to use a Dove blender pen. Did you know that The Angel Company carries the Dove liquid refill and tips as well as reinkers for all of the Palette inks?!?

you can't really see my poor cow in this card...it was tough to get a good picture!

Card Materials:
Stamps: An Udder Birthday, “oh baby” from My Journey, stars (retired)
Paper: Bazzill monochromatic packs Yellow and Blue
Accessories: Martha Stewart punch, ribbon, clear embossing powder, buttons, scrappers floss, Dove blender pen and refill/tips

Be sure to check out my button tree (following post) if you like buttons~~that is the sketch challenge over at The Pink Elephant this week!

Thoughts on cooking and stamping

I had a moment of self discovery this morning...I was putting together a batch of muffins, and grabbed my Southern Living Cookbook. I’ve made these muffins a zillion times but I still have the recipe out in front of me each time; I just am a “recipe follower” by nature. The interesting thing is this recipe is for Blueberry Streusel Muffins and my “version” is without streusel /blueberries, but instead I make it with chocolate chips! So, I follow but adapt.

I think my card making is a LOT like that too, whether it’s following a sketch or saving a beautiful card for future inspiration, it’s basically a “recipe”. Take this wonderful card by Laurie Schmidlin...there were so many elements that I loved and I thought, “Hey, I have a tree stamp that would work great like this!”

Laurie Schmidlin's card:

Here is my “adaptation”!

Card Materials:
Papers: Basic Grey, DCWV Robin’s Egg #1
Stamps by The Angel Company: Tag Tidbits, Spring Time
Accessories: Nestabilities, ribbon (Joanns), buttons from Ava embellishment collection

And now to share my Chocolate Chip Muffins...easy and quick!

1 ¾ c. flour
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
½ c. sugar
1 large egg
¾ c. milk
1/3 c. oil

Combine the dry ingredients and stir well (baking powder clumps taste bad!) and make a well in center. Combine egg, milk and oil; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened (this is the KEY to good muffins). Add 1 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon into greased muffin tins – dozen. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 min. or until golden. Remove from pan immediately and enjoy!

One Tough Critic

My daughter is tough on me...so why do I keep taking my beloved creations to her for her seal of approval?! Lately it's been more in the vein of "gee Mom, did you really make that?" but yesterday it was back to "that is the ugliest card ever!

I'm going to risk showing it here to see what you think. I actually liked it and worked hard to match the bee's color to the rest of the papers. They are a bit brighter and bolder than I like to work with but I thought they suited the little guy well. This is from this week's card sketch on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) and I thought it would be a fun layout. I sparkled him up and layered the colors, and even learned from my friend Silke in Germany to add some white accents! The bee is just part of the vintage set that The Angel Company will be offer next month!

Card Materials:
Paper: Miss Moxie patterned and cardstock
Stamps: April’s Vintage Limited Edition, words from: My Journey
Martha Stewart punch, Circle Nestabilities, felt flower: Ava Collection, black and icicle stickles

Speaking of SCS, they are holding a "non-raffle" to raise money for the bushfire in Australia and all funds go to the Red Cross...what a great community. I donated a terrific stamp set (Forever Family) so I can only encourage you to play along! I do know someone who won last time they did this for the flood vicitims in the midwest...just click on the image and it'll take you right there!

And lastly, (I'm must be channeling a lot of SCS right now!) you must check out my friend Franca's gallery...she has done amazing things with the tree from TAC's Love and Laughter set! She has promised to tell me her secret for the mugs and her work is really beautiful.

A Color Challenge

Over at the Pink Elephant blog they issued a color challenge vs. a sketch this week: pink, green and brown. I realised my butterfly card from last week's CPS sketch fit that but of course I wanted to make a new card since those colors are so great together! You may not see it, but I used cyrstal lacquer to give him shiny eyes. This Artsy Owl is in the Fall Supplement, so if you are ever browsing the online catalog, be sure to check out that as well as the Serendipity category, etc... there are wonderful stamps tucked in everywhere!

The other day Karen, one of my downlines, sent me a quick and easy note - it was so sparkley and I loved it! Of course, the next time I needed a mini-notecard, I copied her all pink version and used some chalk inks that I had. For just $5.95 you can NOT beat the Gerbera Daisy stamp from The Angel Company! And, the Thank You stamp is one of the free stamps you get when you place a $30 order. I was able to get 8 notecards out of one sheet of paper by cutting it once in half the long ways and then cutting those two sheets 4 times roughly at the 2.75 inches mark and folding the slices in half.

Feeling Springy!

It's unbelieveable that last Monday we had over 6 inches of snow and today I just ran in a T shirt and shorts - it's a balmy 60 degrees and rising! It feels "springy" so I wanted to share this card I just made. I really loved playing with the tutorial from Melstampz that I featured a few weeks back - and I thought this retired hat set from The Angel Company would be perfect for that vintage feel. I used the Naturals paper pack from TAC and a brown DCWV that we also sell.



Congratulations to my blog candy winner: Barbra from Green Bay, WI - I often fly in there when I visit my parents in Eagle River, WI. Small world!

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Another sketch and "project"

I'm loving sketches these days...I should've known that I would! (if you are here to check out my CPS sketch...it's the post below - and I have blog candy!) When The Angel Company came out with its design call for their upcoming catalog, they put out some sketches for us to use and it really, really got my creative juices flowing. I was thrilled to have 3 cards in the last catalog and I'm crossing my fingers that I will have something in the next one this summer! Ah...but I digress!

This sketch is from the SCS Wednesday card sketch and I got to use my brand new bunny from TAC. He's so cute! I also paired it with the patterned paper from the Gentle Beginnings pack which is part of this month's special. :) Aren't my home made buttons cute? They make it a perfect match and they are not too bulky to mail!

I was also playing around with the Gentle Beginnings paper when I came up with this little Easter treat pouch! The directions are on SCS under projects but I am happy to send them to you if you need help... The bunny is from The Angel Company. Can you see the fun flock on his tail?!? It is too cute in real life!!

Here is the paper special (with a cute stamp and hardware too!) just in case you missed it!

Have a great weekend everyone! Don't forget to enter my blog candy by Sunday and I'll be back on Monday to announce a winner!

CPS105

At first I didn't come up with anything in my head so I didn't plan to play along, but then the "sketch magic" kicked in and I'm quite happy with the results! I used some green paper from TAC's Catelynne paper collection that went beautifully with a soft coral Bazzill paper. Then I stamped just part of the butterfly image from True Beauty (out of the new Serendipity magalogue!) and inked it up a bit with some palette inks. How easy is that?

Don't forget to enter my blog candy (it's a little bunny laying on a rug with extra little flowers, a carrot, and some easter eggs~~just in case you can't tell from my photo!) - that I offered in my last post, or please stay awhile if you are here for the first time and look around!

A Snow Day...and some blog candy!

It's the biggest snow storm we've had in the 5 years we've lived here in Washington, DC...it's so pretty out but strange feeling since just last week we were in the high 50 degrees and I was convinced the spring was here...after all, my daffodils are blooming out back!

Let's celebrate the coming spring (20 March is the first day of spring!) then with some blog candy! Here is a never officially released Easter stamp from The Angel Company and two rolls of springy ribbon (5 yards each). What a way to get an early "hop" on Easter!

Please leave a comment by Sunday, 8 March (Daylight Savings Time begins!) and be sure to leave your name if you post as "anonymous"! Thanks for playing along ~~ I love my readers! :)