Time to Hit the Books!

Good Morning Stamping Friends! It is a very raining Sunday here, but hopefully you are still having a wonderful day! This week's Blogger's Challenge theme is Back to School and the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club theme is Hit the Books, so I combined the two and came up with this creation.

I was a lucky girl this month because I actually WON this set from one of the My Favorite Things Blog Hops! It is called Emma and Her Backpack. Now you know that backpack is just filled with heavy books! Poor girl! She is also carrying around the dreaded, "Blue Book". You know the ones I'm talking about. Our exams were always in blue books that we'd have to turn in after writing for hours in them...ugh! Although high school and college seems so long ago now, blue books probably don't exist anymore...lol! I also stayed with the book theme and made a Matchbook Card. I haven't done that in ages! I used my Jumbo Scallop Die-namic from MFT for the bottom fold of the matchbook. Emma is colored up with Copic Markers ( B12, C7, C9, E000, E00, E01, E35, E57, RV10, RV11, YG13, and YG25) and her skirt is paper pieced with some polka dotted paper from the Nana's Nursery collection from DCWV. All of the other patterned papers are from the same collection. I added a few pearl accents and some American Crafts ribbon and one of their buttons. Some real sewing and a little bit of faux stitching finish this one off.

For more Back to School projects, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar, and to play along with the My Favorite Things challenge, just click on the Wednesday Stamp Club link above. Please let me know if you play along so that I can sneak a peek at your work too! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of the weekend...Toodles! :D

Cupcakes!!!

Happy Sunday! Are you surprised that I'm posting on a Sunday? I am...lol! Aside from Church this morning and a quick trip to the grocery store, we've spent the day at home together, and that is always a good thing!

Two of my favorite challenges this summer have been Jen Del Muro's weekly Sketch for You to Try and the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. I started off with Jen's fabulous sketch from Friday and combined it with the MFT challenge. This week we are to use one of my favorite things...cupcakes! At first, that posed a little problem because I do not own any MFT stamps with cupcakes, so I had to get a little creative. I stamped up MFT Birthday Princess minus the cake and candles. In their place, I attached a cupcake brad from Doodlebug Designs. I'm very happy with the way that it turned out. What do you think? The sentiment is also from the same set. My little Birthday Princess is colored up with Copic Markers (BG10, C0, E000, E00, E01, E29, E30, E33, R20, RV11, RV34, Y21, Y32 and the Colorless Blender) and I used a white gel pen to give her crown some polka dots to match her cupcake frosting. The papers are from all different companies. I still don't know how I made it all seem to work, but I'm so glad that it turned out the way I envisioned it. The main layer is from Basic Grey and the vertical green polka dotted piece is from Scenic Route. The yellow polka dotted pieces are from Bo Bunny and the So Saffron and Rose Red accents are from Stampin' Up. I used my new Big Scalloped Rectangle Nesties on the Rose Red layer behind the main image. I just picked these Nesties up last night at AC Moore with a 50% off coupon!!! I really like the look of the bigger scallops. If you have a chance to play with Jen's sketch or the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club challenge, let me know. I'd love to hop by your blog too!

I hope you all like this creation as much as I do! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a Happy Monday tomorrow....Toodles! :D

Sending You Birthday Wishes!

Good Morning Stamping Friends! What a fun, yet busy week we've had at our home and next week looks pretty much the same! Just a few more moments of summer and then BACK TO SCHOOL!!!

This week's Blogger's Challenge theme is Birthdays. Now, you may look at this card and notice that it doesn't exactly scream...Happy Birthday! However, there is a method to my madness...lol! I made this especially for the little girl that I have been tutoring this summer. Her birthday is just around the corner. We have spent the summer working on reading and writing skills. Each time we meet, we read from a series called The Cobble Street Cousins by Cynthia Rylant. If you have little girls (around ages 6-10), I highly recommend this series. The stories center around three cousins that live with their Aunt Lucy because their parents are touring the world with a ballet company. The girls are sweet and kind and have just good wholesome fun and delightful adventures. In fact, they have tea with their aunt every day. Hence the reason behind the card. Not only will it be a card to celebrate my little friend's birthday, but I know that she'll look at that teacup...think about our new friends from the stories and remember all of our fun times together this past summer. (So sorry for such a long-winded explanation...lol!)

Here are some details about my creation...I started off with Jen's Sketch For You To Try. (If you head over to Jen's blog, you'll see who won some new stamps!!!) I used Kraft card stock from Papertrey Ink with Cool Caribbean accents. The yellow patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket and the red polka dotted paper is from Bo Bunny. My little critter in the teacup in from the Tina Wenke collection by Stampavie. He's colored up with Copic Markers (BG000, BG10, BV11, BV13, C0, C1, R20, R27, R29, Y21, YG63, YG67 and the Colorless Blender.) The birthday sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Circle of Friendship (retired). My Nesties made the Kraft circle and I used Cool Caribbean with my Ric-Rac Die-namic from My Favorite Things along with some twine and an American Crafts button for the accent on the bottom of the sketch. The other button is from Doodlebug Designs. Finally, I added some Stardust Stickles to the purple blossoms to give it some sparkle.

For some more birthday inspiration, just click here to see what the other Ladies in the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with. I hope that you have a beautiful day! Thank you so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge Sketch!

Hello and Happy Friday! This week's Blogger's Challenge is a fantastic and quite versatile sketch from Lisa Somerville. I'm sure that I'll be using it again! Thanks Lisa!

I started off with a card base of PTI Kraft. The patterned paper is from October Afternoon and the Core'dination green layer is sewed on with my Janome Sew Mini machine. I added a few Foofala buttons to the upper left corner and then some mini pearls to each corner of the card. The Buttercream oval was cut with my Nesties and my sweet little critter is from Stampavie. He's from the Tina Wenke collection and I colored him up with my Copic Markers (B00, B12, B95, B97, B99, E15, E29, E30, E31, E33, E35, R20, YG63, YG67, YR00, YR15, YR18, and the Colorless Blender).

If you'd like some more ideas with this sketch, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar. You'll be able to find all of the players there. Thanks a bunch for stopping by today! See you soon...Toodles! :D

Just For You!

I hope that you had a very happy Monday! I spent a good part of my day at Lego Camp with my little one and about 25 other children! We had such a blast, but I was thrilled to have some time to stamp when we got home. If you stop by my blog regularly, then you know the love affair I've been having with stamps and Die-Namics from My Favorite Things lately...lol! Each month they have a fantastic new release and a Guest Designer Challenge. Here is my submission for this month's challenge. I started off with Jen's fabulous SFYTT from Saturday. The theme for the challenge is "Floral Flair", so I went with MFT's Blooming Good Day set. See the sweet little flower that she is watering! I used my Copic Markers (BG10, C1, C3, C5, E000, E00, E01, E51, E55, E57, R20, R27, R29, YG93, and YG95) to color everything up. I also used some flowery paper from Jillibean for the background of my card and to paper piece her dress. That didn't seem like quite enough flowers so I was sure to add a couple flower shaped buttons to the sentiment and to the sun that I made with the MFT Sun Die-Namic. I used the MFT Jumbo Ric-Rac Die-Namic in Night of Navy for the vertical piece of the sketch. The red panel is some Polka Dotted Bo-Bunny paper and I used my Nesties for the circle and the scalloped circle. I hope that I ended up using enough flowers! Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Happiness Always

Happy Friday everyone! It has been a beautiful day here in New England...warm, but not too humid. A perfect, summer day! The card I have to share with you today is for this week's Blogger's Challenge...Black, White, and the color of your choice (in this case, Baja Breeze). This challenge came at just the right time. My in-laws have a wedding to go to soon and these are the colors from the invitation. My mother-in-law asked if I could come up with a card for her to give to the bride and groom, and here it is. I pulled out a set that I that I really like, but seldom seem to ink up...Stampin' Up's Baroque Motif. The sentiment comes from an older SU set, Happy Harmony (one of my favorites). I used my Nesties for the squares and I added a few pearls to give it an elegant look. Let's hope she likes what I came up with!

Be sure to stop by and see what the other Ladies from the BC group have come up with. The links to their blogs can be found here. Thanks so much for visiting with me...Toodles! :D

Just Splashing By!

Good Monday to you! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! I thought that I was going to be able to post this yesterday, but the day got away from me. My family went golfing and I went shopping with my parents! It was a very good trip. I bought a new shower curtain and some bathroom accessories, a couple of new pairs of pants for when I head back to school, and then we headed out to a stamping/scrapbooking store, and of course, I found a few things there as well. It was a terrific day!

On Saturday, I somehow came across a "new to me" stamping company when I was exploring some crafty things on etsy. It is called, 2 Cute Rubber Stamps. You all know how much I {heart} cute stamps, so I bought a few of Heidi's digital images, and I must say...they are quite CUTE!! This adorable pair is called Manatee Friends. I printed them on Beckett Expressions card stock and colored them up with Copic Markers (BG10, C0, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, E00, E01, E35, E37, R20, R29, YG13, YG17, YR15, and the Colorless Blender). Some Star Dust Stickles were added for a bit of sparkle too. I needed a layout with a large area for the main image so I headed over to Karen Giron's blog and just as luck would have it...her Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for this week was perfect! I dug out my Coluzzles for the ovals and then I distressed them a bit. The patterned paper is from yesterday's shopping trip. It is from TPC Studio. I love these polka dots. The other side has these wonderful rows of ocean critters, but that was much too busy for this creation. I sewed the polka dotted square to a layer of Certainly Celery and attached that to a white card base. Then I added a strip of Certainly Celery with a touch of May Arts gingham and some more sewing to dress it up. The sentiment is a free digital one from Pink Cat Studio. I added an American Crafts button to finish it off. I don't make too many square cards, but I really like how this one turned out. Hope you do too! Enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Can you believe that it is already Friday? I don't know where the week went to! Friday brings Blogger's Challenge and this week's challenge is to create a project with something recycled.

We are big fans of the Toy Story movies in our home. I bought my little one a shirt at Target after our family saw Toy Story 3 and I decided to recycle the price tag from the shirt. With the large "3" in Rex's mouth, I thought that this would work perfectly for an upcoming three year old's birthday that we will be celebrating. The papers are reused pieces from a scrapbooking page that I did many years ago. They are so old that I don't even remember the manufacturers, but I thought that the bright colors would work well with my Disney/Pixar image. My scrap pile is being reduced now, so that's a good thing! I used a Making Memories button to cover up the hole where the tag was attached to the shirt.

A rather quick and easy creation, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm anxious to see what the other Ladies have recycled. If you'd like to see what they have come up with, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo on the right side of my blog. Have a happy Friday and thanks so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Bloggers Challenge Sketch!

Here we are...Sunday evening, and I'm just posting my card for Friday's Blogger's Challenge. Our challenge for this week is this wonderful sketch from our "Challenge Mom" Lisa Somerville. I'm late with my posting because I went to Cape Cod this weekend to have a little stamping fun at A*Muse*a*palooza. My card was ready for Friday, but I couldn't post because even though I'm lucky enough to stay with my dh's aunt when I travel to the Cape, I'm not so lucky to have internet access...lol! Now that you know why I'm posting so late (so sorry) and you've seen the sketch that we were given, here is my card...

I recently placed an order with Elzybells Stamps in the United Kingdom and they arrived this past week. This sweet image and sentiment came all the way across the pond to have a new home in my little stamping studio! The image is colored with Copic Markers (B0000, B00, BG10, BG18, BG72, C9, G21, G28, Y11, Y21, YR15, and the Colorless Blender) and I embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. The card base is Stampin' Up's Not Quite Navy and the patterned paper is from the Girl Friday collection by Cosmo Cricket. The image and the patterned paper are layered with Cool Caribbean. I added some matching organdy ribbon and a button to go along with the sketch. A rather simple card, but I'm quite happy with how it all came together.

I'm having withdrawl from not having my computer all weekend...lol, so I'm anxious to see what the other Ladies from the BC group have come up with. If you'd like to see their creations too, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar. I hope that you have a beautiful start to the week! Thank you so much for visiting me this evening...Toodles! :D