Shop Pumpkin Spice...it's out of this world!

  Yummy Bazzill card stock (what?! NO patterned paper?)...ever since I first discovered Bazzill card stock (circa 2004), I was in love with the woven texture.  Since then Bazzill now has smooth, embossed, and every delicious color imaginable.

  I embossed the smooth green Bazzill with my Cuttlebug "Houndstooth" embossing folder; the pattern reminds me of computerized patterns like those square QR codes in magazines or newspapers.  Perfect for an alien, right?  My die cut is from the Cricut "Life's a Party" cartridge.


  My supplies came from the My Pink Stamper "Yankee Doodles" kit:

•  yellow dot embossed Bazzill
•  textured blue Bazzill card stock
•  the stars background are from the "Yankee Doodles" stamp set (part of the cute rocket)
•  My Pink Stamper hybrid blue ink pad

and from the My Pink Stamper "Birthday Doodles" kit:

•  smooth green Bazzill card stock 
• textured purple Bazzill card stock

I also used a My Pink Stamper "Buggy Punnies" sentiment and Glossy Accents.  My Pink Stamper kits are sold exclusively at Shop Pumpkin Spice and have free priority shipping!  I shop at Pumpkin Spice for all my My Pink Stamper stamp sets, papers, and other supplies.  Denine ships super fast and her prices are always the best I have seen on the internet.  If you ever have a question, email Denine for superior customer service.

Celebrate! Fit for a king...

  What is that saying about the cobbler's children having no shoes?  Earlier this month I worked so hard making Father's Day cards to sell for the coffee shop but I didn't make Father's Day cards for my dh, my dad, and my f-i-l...

  I wanted to make a card "fit for a king", and I needed it quick, so I started perusing my monthly ShopPumpkinSpice kits.

  This is my sixth card that has emerged from my May Shop Pumpkin Spice kit!  It is soooooo yummy.  The My Mind's Eye Indie Chic brads, 6x6 Indie Chic "Nutmeg" papers, coordinating dot embossed blue Bazzill cards stock, and the Danish blue ribbon are all in the kit.  My sentiment is from My Pink Stamper "Birthday Crazy."

Happy Thursday!

My Pink Stamper - Yankee Doodles

  All of the My Pink Stamper designers are having a blast (I had to get a pun in) using the new "Yankee Doodles" stamp set and kit.

  Seriously cute set, wanna see?

I absolutely adore that little rocket!

I just had to use him, 

as well as the Happy Birthday sentiment

(I masked "America", 

but inked "Happy Birthday".)

  The kit works well with Cricut cuts too.  I used the "Life's a Party"cartridge for my card base and for the flaming BLAST.  The blue embossed star was fussy cut after embossing the blue Bazzill card stock with my Cuttlebug "Stars" embossing folder.

  Everything you need to craft is in the My Pink Stamper kit:  Yankee Doodles stamp set, a great selection of Bazzill card stock, hybrid ink pad, ProMarkers, white card stock, acrylic block with easy finger holds AND etched horizontal lines and a vertical line for easy lining up:

Six pretty ProMarkers and perfectly coordinated card stock; love that!

There are more cute projects and inspiration at My Pink Stamper.  I am also entering my shape card in this week's "Stars & Stripes" challenge at SOS (Shopping Our Stash.)

Mele Kalikimaka

  For National Scrapbook Day I won Echo Park's "Paradise Beach" collection.  I have been eager to cut into it, and today I had the *perfect* opportunity!

  My dear friend, Lauren Bergold (...all the good blog names were taken...), has made several tropical-themed cards that inspire me.  Lauren also has a challenge blog with the lovely Stef (aka Smylin' Stef) called Jingle Belles Rock.  Lauren set the challenge this week:  Mele Kalikimaka (now you will be singing that in your head all day; you're welcome!)

  All I needed was a great sketch, and I found one at the Paper Players:

  I am a fan of Nance and Lesley's creations at the Paper Players.  This is a Lesley sketch...thanks for the inspiration, Lesley!

  I embossed the Echo Park paper and added some Imaginisce gems and a My Pink Stamper "Biggie Christmas" sentiment.  Easy peasy.

Happy Monday!

Sailing Away...

    Sailing away...I have completed my six month DT term with Artful Delight.  This has been a wonderful experience working with Leeanne & Debbie and their truly delightful monthly kits.  This is definitely not goodbye, though!  I really enjoy the monthly sketch challenges in addition to the kits.  The new Artful Delight DT has oodles of talent and I will be stalking the Artful Delight blog for inspiration and to play along with the LO & card sketch challenges.  My sailboat card was created entirely from the papers in the June kit; even the stick pin is from the kit!  The July kit reveal will be posted tomorrow on the Artful Delight blog.  You should probably pre-order it tomorrow because the kits sell quickly.

  My card inspiration came from my lovely blog friend, Julie M.  Her blog is called "Oh Well..."; I really enjoy reading her posts and I am personally in awe of her masculine card-making abilities!  And if I ever get to Ireland, I will plan to meet her in person.  Love her :)  Check out Julie's inspiring card here.

Supplies:

papers & stick pin:  June Artful Delight kit

Cricut cartridges:  Elegant Edges p.45 (card base); Designer's Calendar p.33 (sailboat)

Happy Sunday!

My Pink Stamper kits sold exclusively at Shop Pumpkin Spice

   Welcome to the Shop Pumpkin Spice monthly blog hop!  You should have arrived here from sweet Saundra's blog.  If not, please start at the beginning on the Shop Pumpkin Spice blog.

  I am entering this on the Cricut Circle blog "Stars & Stripes" challenge:  Use at least two Cricut cuts, 3 stars and stripes.  My astronaut, stars, and cloud shape are all Cricut cuts and the rocket has a striped hat (and my orange pennant is a stripe too, right?)

  Robyn, aka My Pink Stamper, now sells images stamp sets in a monthly kit that also includes card stock, acrylic blocks, hybrid ink pads, ProMarkers...everything you need to create.  The kits are sold exclusively at Shop Pumpkin Spice.  This is the second monthly kit, called "Yankee Doodles".  Check out all of this card stock, set of coordinating ProMarkers, stamp set, hybrid ink pad, and an easy finger hold acrylic block:

  That adorable rocket caught my eye!  My brain thought:  rocket, clouds, stars, astronaut, hope your birthday is a blast...which is why I also used the "Happy Birthday America" sentiment, but I masked the word "America" with a post-it note.  Robyn's stamp sets are always so versatile!  I suppose I could have done the same with the firecrackers.

The hybrid ink pads work perfectly with ProMarkers...no bleeding!

This one is called "Serendipity Skies" deep blue hybrid ink.

  Check out the "Yankee Doodles" kit here at Shop Pumpkin Spice with FREE priority shipping!  Last month the kits sold out the first day.

(Cricut cartridges:  cloud cut from "Create a Critter" cartridge;

the stars and astronaut are from "Life's a Party")

  Follow the Shop Pumpkin Spice hop for lots of Yankee Doodles inspiration.  Your next stop will be Diana's blog.  Happy hopping!

My Pink Stamper Yankee Doodles blog hop & GIVEAWAY

   Today the My Pink Stamper design team is debuting Robyn's newest stamp kit, "Yankee Doodles."  You should have arrived here from lovely Helen's blog.  If not, please start at the beginning at My Pink Stamper.  Hop along leaving comments along the way...YOU could win one of these kits!!!

  I created these brownie bite toppers which can be purchased TODAY at 12pm central/ 1pm EST at Shop Pumpkin Spice.  The kit includes the papers, card stock, stamp set, ink pad, acrylic stamp block, and 6 ProMarkers that I used to make these toppers.  Here is the complete list of items included in the kit:

  A great value!  These kits sell out very quickly.  Order immediately to get same day priority FREE shipping.  

Your next stop on the hop is sweet Shelley.

Here is the complete hop list, in case you get lost along the way:

Robyn

Andrea

Carissa

Courtney

Edna

Angela

Chelle

Helen

June  *you are here*

Shelley

Renee

Julie

Roberta

Karlee 

Missy

Maria

Tracy

Happy hopping!

Stuck on Stickers

  Tomorrow my wonderful dh & I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary!  We plan to go out for Maryland crabs...nothing better in our opinion.  We have had crabs in every style imaginable; barbecue crabs (Texas style) are a good alternative, but for us nothing compares to Maryland steamed crabs with Old Bay seasoning.  It is so funny that I thought Old Bay was spicy when I was 5yo (but that didn't stop me from enjoying it!), and now it seems just as tasty and mild as barbecue potato chips.  My children love crab potato chips, but they mostly enjoy licking the Old Bay seasoning off of the chips, then throwing the chips away; it must be genetic :)  Perhaps I should have made dhDH a crabulous card...

  My inspiration came from two places, Shopping Our Stash challenge blog and the new June 2012-May 2013 Stampin' Up! catalog, p.41.  Shopping Our Stash encourages using old stash.  The Bazzill card stock (black, light grey, and dark grey), the metallic gold card stock, the heavy vellum, and the "Happy Anniversary" Class-A-Peel sticker have been in my stash for years.  Seriously, all except  the Bazzill is from the late 1990s.  I "updated" the card with some baker's twine and Imaginisce gems, both of which have been in my stash for a year or two.

  The champagne glasses were cut with my Cricut "Sweethearts" cartridge.  I didn't think I *needed* that cartridge, and now I am so glad I have it.  (Thanks for enabling me, Court!)  Last autumn a customer (Heidi) asked me if I would make her wedding invitations.  I told her I don't do wedding invitations since stationery stores can emboss and engrave beautiful cards at a fraction of the cost; not to mention all of that mass-production.  But she pleaded that she wanted something different.  Heidi has been buying my cards for over four years, so it was hard to say "no."  Then she told me it was a small wedding and that she only wanted 25 invites.  How could I turn her down?  Besides, it was a GREAT excuse to decide that I needed to purchased the Cricut "Sweethearts" cartridge for my collection.

  I saw a sample card in the SU catalog using the "Embellished Events" stamp set that includes a stamp image of a champagne glass and "celebrate" and "congratulations" sentiments; I literally have hundreds of stamps and I really try not to buy more, but I loved the idea of the sample card in the catalog.  I grabbed my "Sweethearts" cartridge and found this cut of a pair of champagne glasses.  Perfect.

  This week's challenge at Shopping Our Stash is "Stuck on Stickers."  My sentiment is a sticker and arguably the Imaginisce gems are stickers?  Perhaps that is a bit of a stretch, but there is adhesive on the back :)  I hope you will dig out your stickers and check out the inspiration at SOS.  I think it is so rewarding to create a card out of ancient supplies.

Happy Thursday!

Baseball Baby Shape card

  Artful Delight kits are so much fun!  They sell out really quickly each and every month, but if you are lucky enough to own one, then you know how fun it is to create with brand new papers, card stock, and embellies that are perfectly coordinated.  Discounted subscriptions are available so you won't miss out AND you can cancel at any time without having to fulfill your subscription term...so what are you waiting for?

  I was inspired by the wooden baseball buttons in the kit.  All of the papers and baker's twine are also included.  This may be my favorite kit to date, but then again I feel that way each and every month :)

  Check out the Artful Delight blog for more inspiration and for a chance to win next month's kit!  Just follow either (or both) sketches on the right-hand sidebar...one lucky random winner will be chosen to win the July Artful Delight kit.

Supplies:
paper, buttons, twine:  June Artful Delight kit
toothpick:  March Artful Delight kit
mini brads:  Bazzill
sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Sweet Baby"
Cricut cartridges:  Everyday Pop-Up Cards (onesie); Life's a Party (baseball)

Happy Sunday!

Playing with This & That

    I feel like I have neglected my Echo Park This & That collection.  As soon as I saw it at Shop Pumpkin Spice I had to buy it, but I have not played with it much.  I perused all of the papers and I really liked these two patterns together.  I started to make the "Grad" card, but I cut the polka dot paper larger than the floral...OOPS!...so I made the anniversary card with those two pieces.  Then I cut another piece of the floral for the "Grad" card and used a scrap of the polka dot for the smaller layer.

  The two brads on the anniversary card, the GRAD alpha stickers, and pennant flag element stickers are part of the This & That collection too.  For the banner I used charcoal baker's twine from The Twinery.  The stamped sentiment for the anniversary card is My Pink Stamper "From the Heart."

Happy Thursday!

You're just my type, Freshly Made Sketches!

 EEK!  Last week my mojo was interrupted.  I had TWO days that involved lots of staring at paper willing them to evolve into a card.  I started four different times, which became four piles, but no card evolved.  One of the piles had this "You're just my type" that I printed and cut on my Cricut Imagine.  I decided peruse my blog reader for inspiration.  The first blog that popped up in my reader was Freshly Made Sketches.  SCORE!  Here is this week's sketch #38:

  I am happy with my card and I am enormously grateful to Freshly Made Sketches for the jump start.  I used a scrap of blue Bazzill card stock from my scraps, a scrap of hexagon patterned paper (Echo Park "Life is Good"), and SU card stock and SU ribbon.  How do you spell relief?  I spell it F-R-E-S-H-L-Y-M-A-D-E :)  One pile down...

Happy Monday!

Thank You, Artful Delight!

   Thank you, Artful Delight!  I am soooooo sad that this is my last month designing for Artful Delight.  I *LOVE* the monthly kits; each one is packed full of goodies and easy to do a little (or a lot) of mass-production if desired.  I needed two thank you notes, and the kit included exactly two of these wooden flower-shaped buttons, which is what inspired me.

  I also really liked this double-sided floral paper in the kit.  I used both sides (solid aqua on the back).  All papers pictured are from the kit.

  Whenever I need a quick card, I grab one of my Artful Delight kits.  I still keep each kit in tact (I have kit scraps all the way back to July 2011) because all of the elements in each kit coordinate beautifully.  No thinking required!  I have made quite a few cards from the scraps of previous kits that I have already made 4 or 5 cards from.  So far this month I have made 4 cards (two sets of two.)  Sooooo much more to play with still...

You can win next month's kit by participating in one (or both) sketch challenges on the right-hand sidebar on the Artful Delight blog.  One random winner will be chosen, so go create and link your project at Artful Delight.

Supplies:
papers & button: from June 2012 Artful Delight kit
sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Around the Corner"
flower dies:  Tim Holtz Alterations
twine:  My Mind's Eye Happy Go Lucky "Together"

Happy Sunday!

Hope Your Birthday's a Blast!

  Mojo interrupted...earlier this week I started to make a couple of cards and then I couldn't seem to get them to come together, which created "piles" around my work table.  The piles must be contagious because there are two more piles on the floor now too.  Hmmm...ever since we moved to our new house two months ago I have been able to make a card, then clean up after; keeping my craft room neat as a pin in between...*sigh*

  It all started with me trying to make a cupcake card (I need more birthday cards for the coffee shop).  I stamped and fussy cut on some Echo Park "Life is Good" scraps, then nothing.  I just couldn't get the card to come together.

Attempt #2:  I began playing with my June Artful Delight kit (Simple Stories "Summer Fresh"...so addicted to that collection right now!)  So pretty, but I could not get a card to come together.

Strategy #3:  I pulled out some really old stash (vellum and gold metallic card stock) to try to make an anniversary card.  Stuck again.

Tactic #4:  Look for a challenge.  SOS (aka Shopping Our Stash) to the rescue: "Father's Day or Masculine" challenge.  So I decided to play with my Cricut Imagine.  dhDH gave me the Imagine for Christmas, and I have made three cards with it so far...technology intimidates me!  I took it out of the box (where it has been since the move) and manage to figure out how to calibrate it.  Score!  Then I printed out this oval panel, rocket, and an extra "BLAST."  I popped up the extra rocket and sentiment with foam tape.

Shopping Our Stash (SOS) inspires me to pull out really old stuff.  About 4 1/2 years ago I used to use boxes of DCWV cards for my card bases.  They are pre-folded, come with an envelope, and they are white on the inside.  Convenient!  I have probably gone through 5 boxes of these over the past few years, and all I have left is a partially filled box of them.  Shall I challenge myself to use them up?  I get my box out of the closet and find that this red base matches!  As for card design, I created the banner from scraps of Echo Park "Life is Good" (pile #1...unfinished cupcake card!)  Hmmmm...I had 7 more of this DCWV card base in red...and I needed teacher end-of-year gifts...I spent the rest of the day making a total of 8 of these.  I decided my end-of-year gifts will be a box of cards for each teacher.

Thanks, SOS!!!

Girly Graduation

  A couple of weeks ago I made two girly graduation cards and took them to the coffee shop...they were using My Mind's Eye Indie Chic and they were done in pink/orange; the grad cap I used was pink and orange too.  I thought they were so non-traditional (not formal) that they might not sell; but I took them to the coffee shop anyway. When I returned home I discovered that I had not taken a picture to blog, so I went back to the coffee shop to take a picture, and they had both sold!  The owner said people wanted more girly grad cards.

  This one is different, but I used BasicGrey paper scraps from my December Artful Delight kit to make two of these and the May Artful Delight card sketch.  I soooo love my Artful Delight kits...when I don't know what I want to make next, I like to pull them out and see which monthly kit inspires my mood that day :)

  I also used my Cricut cartridge "Wrap It Up" for the diploma, my QuicKutz grad cap dies, a Making Memories snap, and a My Pink Stamper "Invitation Only" sentiment stamp.

Happy Tuesday!

thanks a bunch

  I created this card especially for one of my dd's teachers, "Miss Lynn."  Lynn has worked with my girls for five consecutive years!  I absolutely adore her.  She always has a smile on her face and she reminds me of sunshine.  I try to create cards that I think fit the personality of the recipient, and her radiance inspired me to make this card for her.

  As usual my inspiration also came from the lovely Lauren Bergold of "...all the good blog names were taken..."  She was the first person I ever saw create these patterns on her cards.  I asked her how she did it, and she even wrote an easy sunburst tutorial.  Check it out!  Instead of her 1" increments, I used 1 1/2".

  The Echo Park papers and stickers were purchased from Shop Pumpkin Spice.

  *MWAH* to you, Lynn...you are such a blessing to our family.

Supplies:
papers:  Echo Park "Country Drive"
stickers:  Echo Park "a walk in the park" and "Country Drive"
border punch:  Martha Stewart grass punch

Artful Delight June kit

   I created these two *nearly* identical graduation cards with the card stock and patterned papers in the June Artful Delight kit.

  The kit includes textured card stock (the white, red, and navy pictured above as well as yellow and green) and a 6x6 pad of Simple Stories "Summer Fresh" patterned papers.  Some of the 6x6 papers can be cut into journaling cards, and I cut two to stamp my sentiment on.  Voila!  Two quick happy cards.

Now I am off to play some more.  Leeanne's Artful Delight kits sell out very quickly, so I suggest you grab yours now.  She is selling a scrapbook kit and a card kit; click here to check them out!

For more inspiration, check out the Artful Delight blog.  You can enter to win next month's kit by following one (or both!) sketch challenges on her right-hand sidebar of the Artful Delight blog.

Supplies:
papers:  Simple Stories "Summer Fresh" 6x6 patterned papers; textured card stock (from kit)
sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Girlie Sayings" stamp
snap:  Making Memories white
ink:  Impress indigo blue

Happy Sunday!

Shop Pumpkin Spice June blog hop: Sympathy

  The lovely Denine, owner of Shop Pumpkin Spice, is mourning the loss of her father-in-law who passed away last week.  To show her how much we think of her, the Shop Pumpkin Spice design team is surprising her with a blog hop of sympathy cards.  Denine is truly one of the kindest and most thoughtful people I have ever known and I am proud to now also call her my friend.

  This is the card I sent her, made with product I purchased from her store.  I hope you will hop over to the Shop Pumpkin Spice blog and leave a comment for Denine.

  Please hop along with us!  You should have arrived from lovely Lenae's blog.  If not, please start at the Shop Pumpkin Spice blog and leave some words of encouragement for Denine.

Here is the entire hop order:

Shop Pumpkin Spice

Lezlye

Saundra

Lenae

June (*you are here*)

Carissa

Diana

Court

Supplies:

papers:  Echo Park For the Record "Lace Stripes" and "Table Cloth"

stickers: Echo Park element stickers

glazed brads:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Two "Breeze" and Stella and Rose Hattie "Happy"

twine

sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Sympathy & Comfort"

Your next stop is the talented Carissa!

Artful Delight Sketchs - Win a kit!

*2nd post today; please scroll down*

  I created this card using the June card sketch at Artful Delight.  One random winner will win the July Artful Delight kit.  AND you have two chances to win!  Either follow this card sketch:

or this layout sketch:

  You can enter BOTH challenges for two chances to win the July kit.  Link your creation(s) on the right-hand sidebar on the Artful Delight blog.

Supplies:

papers:  Simple Stories (June Artful Delight kit); DCWV card base

sentiment:  My Pink Stamper "Never Give Up"

snap:  Making Memories snap

grad cap die:  QuicKutz

Happy Friday!

You are so special

    As soon as I saw the My Mind's Eye "Miss Caroline" 6x6 pads available at Shop Pumpkin Spice, I purchased them.  I am particularly drawn to "Dilly Dally."  There are some collections of papers that really evolve into cards easily...this one works for me.  Do you recall my umbrella card?  I loved that one.  And my other butterfly card was quick and easy...and only used 1 sheet of 6x6.  I created today's card from some of the scraps from the umbrella card, plus a few other patterns in the collection.

  Both the glazed brad and the twine are also from My Mind's Eye; I am so glad that their products coordinate with older collections.  The twine is from the Lime Twist collection, and the brad is from Lost & Found Two.

  I was completely inspired by a card on the front of this book by Annie's Attic.

  Happy Friday!