A "melon" thanks!

With Labor Day right around the corner, I decided to use this sweet watermelon stamp today. My inspiration for colors and embellishments came from picnics and bbq's, which I'm sure many of you will be attending this coming weekend! Wouldn't this make a nice thank you card for your host or hostess?
This is a very clean and simple design. I really wanted the watermelon to take center stage. Instead of coloring the image, I paper pieced it. To do this, I first stamped the watermelon on red cardstock and then again on olive cardstock, I trimmed both and then pieced them together. To give it an even more realistic look, I colored the smallest part of the rind with a dark green marker.
Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon :)

Stamp: The Rubber Cafe
Ink: SU Basic Black
Paper: PTI White, SU Basic Black, Real Red, Old Olive
Accessories: SU gingham ribbon, Eyelet border punch, blender pen, PTI button

Hippity Hop - Love & Laughter

My first {H}ippity hop, I'm so excited :) I told you, I've fallen head over heals for Ippity!!! I kept my card pretty clean & simple!! This set doesn't need much embellishing, I think it's gorgeous on it's own!!

Short & sweet today, my two sweet boys are heading out for their first day of kindergarten & 2nd grade!!! I hope someone brings a mop to the bus stop :(

Thanks for stopping by :)

Stamp: Ippity So This is Love
Ink: SU Basic Black
Paper: PTI Kraft & Cream, SU Basic Black
Accessories: SU Mat pack, swiss dot embossing folder, ribbon, PTI button, Target $ spot felt flower

Life is a song...

Happy weekend!!! I hope you have something fun planned :) I'm visiting with my cousin that I only see once a year, today is the day!!!


Doesn't this little card make you want to sing!!? I'm lovin' my Ippity and already have my eyes on a bunch of other sets...lord help me! I'm addicted to stamping!! This card is for the last Paper Scraps Challenge at SSC, use your scraps to cover chipboard!!! This group will be closing at the end of the month, so stop by this weekend and play along! For your entry, you will be eligible to win a RAK from Rona our Simply Scrapping Crafts DT go-to Ippity Chick!!!

Stamp: Ippity
Paper: SU Baja Breeze, PTI Cream, OA Thrift Shop
Ink: SU Basic Black
Accessories: SU chipboard, library clip, scallop trim punch, filigree brad, silver brad, kaisercraft pearl, American Crafts ribbon

Sketch happy :)

As I posted yesterday, I love sketches :) This time I'm playing along with 2 Sketches 4 You!!

And, my card:

Close-up:

I don't usually toot my own horn, but I love this card. The elegance of the Basic Grey Capella paper and the beautiful font of the sentiment from Ippity. Together with this flower made with Stampin' Up!'s Scallop Circle Punch....just gorgeous! ( I found a tutorial on how to make this flower on Mary Fish's blog). The paper is a bit grungy, so I added some distressing around the edges.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Stamp: Ippity, So This Is Love
Ink: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate, BG Capella
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Mellow Moss Tafetta Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Rhinestones from Pretties Kit, MS butterfly punch

Sketches

I love sketches, just looking at them gets my mojo going in high gear. I was playing around in my paint program one day and made a bunch of sketches for the Simply Scrapping Crafts Card Group. Here's our challenge for the last week of August:

And, here's my take:

This card is a fairly simple design with little special touches throughout! I see sketches as a jumping off point. They don't need to be followed exactly!!! If you look at the sketch, I had wanted to use buttons on the main image, where you see the circle, but there wasn't room. Instead, I place the buttons on the ribbon and the bow represents the circle on the right side of the card. To add just a bit of pizazz, I paper pierced randomly on the leaves of the patterned paper.

Well, I hope you like my card today. I'll be back soon with some other SSC DT challenges. See you then!!!

Supplies:

All supplies are Papertrey ink except, SU! corner rounder to make scalloped edge and the ribbon is an unknown brand.

Thinking of you

Here's a quickie post for you today! I used my Hero Arts birdcage stamp, along with MTME So Sentimental!!! I think that is the PERFECT sentiment for that stamp. I've been doing lots of stamping since we've been home! I hope the sun comes out tomorrow so I can start photographing & posting! Be back soon, have a good one!

Family Fun!!!

It's time for a family post :) We just got home from a few wonderful days with my in-laws at the Jersey Shore!!! I thought I'd share some pics today!!!

Six Flags Great Adventure:

Wild Safari:
Giraffe's have been my favorite animal since I was a little girl. This was a breathtaking experience that left me speechless!!!

My favorite place on earth:

This was my goodbye to summer. The boys & my husband will be going back to school in just a week from tomorrow!!! I know it's not the official end to summer yet, but for me it was. It was a wonderful summer, that went too fast.

Today, I have no regrets, no looking back & wishing. Instead, I look ahead and look forward to what the coming months have in store for us!

Bye for now!

Little Boys

Hello! I hope you are having a great week.

So, today I challenged myself again! Gotta love a good challenge :) See, my problem is that I never make boy cards. My stash is so lacking in the boy department. That's a big problem because I have two boys and a husband and never have a card to give to them!! See, what I mean? It's definitely a BIG problem. I challenged myself to make a true boy card, not just one that could be used for a boy if it had to be, but a TRUE, honest to goodness, boy card.

The only stamp set I have that is remotely boy is PTI Star Prints. I paired that with some Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man paper (love their papers) and came up with this adorable card!!!

What is your most difficult theme when creating? Why don't you go ahead and challenge yourself today and make a card just for that occasion? Don't forget to share what you've made!!!

First Ippity!

This card is my first ever Ippity creation. I can't believe it's taken me so long to get my hands on them!!! I have to thank Rona, a fellow SSC DT member, for introducing them to us! She is an Ippity Chick and you can purchase them through her here.



Does this look familiar? It should! I made a similar card not to long ago. I love the deep rich colors and thought they'd look perfect with these stamps from "Music of My Heart". I love the sheet music stamp! I think it's extremely versatile. It's also all the rage right now in stamping. Sheet music is popping up everywhere!!! I also LOVE Ippity sentiments! I love the look of the different fonts and the sayings are so beautiful. Be sure to stop by and visit Rona, there's lots to see!

Have a great Sunday!

Simply Challenges

Have you stopped by Simply Scrapping Crafts this week? You haven't? Well, what are you waiting for? Lots of new challenges have posted over the last few days. I'm sure one of them (probably more) will have you running to your stamp supplies!!

Here's two I designed for:

Paper Scraps: Use your scraps to make rolled flowers.

I love the softness of this card. The pink & white and the satin ribbon are so romantic. I stamped several leaf images in Old Olive ink behind each rolled flower and finished them off with a small pearl.

Color Challenge: I love this color combo!! Amy designed this graphic, isn't it adorable!! This weeks color combo inspired me to finally pull out my scrapping supplies.

This is Ethan, little chubby-wubby, with a nuk in his mouth and a Krispy Kreme hat on his head. Oh, I just want to bite those legs...sorry, I got carried away, LOL!

Thanks for stopping by. When you get a chance, head over to SSC and play with us!!!

CAS-tastic Top 5

After a very miserable morning of feeling really sorry for myself, I came online to find that my card posted yesterday won the CAS-tastic top 5. Yay!! I'm so honored to have been chosen. This has totally made my whole day :) Thanks CAS-tastic Challenges!! I will be impatiently awaiting your return.

Case-ing the DT

I'm playing along with the CAS-tastic Challenges again. This weeks challenge is to CASE the Design Team samples. Here's my take on Karen's card.

To make my card, I used my Thrift Shop doily stamp in SU! Kiwi Kiss Ink and stamped it twice on PTI Stampers Select White CS. I trimmed both images, once the larger image and then the smaller and adhered the smaller with pop dots. I added a kiwi button to finish it off. Next I stamped my sentiment from PTI Star Prints & sponged the edges in Fresh Snow ink. I also used a corner punch on the bottom right corner. Easy Peasy :) Thanks for the fab inspiration Karen!!!

Challenging myself!

TGIF! I have to say, this week flew for me. We camped from Monday-Wednesday and by the time we got home, unpacked, did laundry, put all of the camping supplies away, it was Friday!
Ok, on to my card...I've been noticing lately that I sure do use a lot of patterned paper! I mean, why not? There are SO many gorgeous papers out there and what good do they do while collecting dust in my closet? But, what about my collection of stamps, they need to be shown the love too :) So, I challenged myself to make a card without using any patterned paper. Boy was it fun.


Isn't this a fun little card? I started out by using my Papertrey Ink Journaling Lines set to make notebook paper. Next, I stamped the main image in Old Olive ink and "remember" in Chocolate ink. I used my corner rounder on the right side of the paper and sponged the edges. I popped the sentiment up on a dimensional and added a library clip to go along with the office supply theme. Some buttons & a bow and this adorable card is all done!!!

Looking for something to do this weekend? Why don't you join me by making a card without using any patterned paper? Send me a link if you play, I'd love to see what you make!!!

Have a FABULOUS weekend!!

Color Splash

Hi! I'm playing along with The Play Date Cafe today & their Color Splash Challenge, to use black, white & a splash of green. Any shade of green.

I made two cards.

My first uses PTI Friends til the End & Damask Designs with a splash of Spring Moss.

While I had my supplies out, I made another card using Large Sentiments by American Crafts and PTI Beyond Basic Borders.

What a fun challenge! I'm so glad I had a chance to play along :) Thanks for coming by!!