Ain't Too Proud To Beg

Tomorrow, my husband and I will celebrate our sixteenth wedding anniversary! Poor guy, he doesn't know this, but I have no card for him yet. There's still time, right? As I was thinking about what I might make this year, I remembered this card that I made him last year. It was for the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen gallery, so it never appeared here on my blog, but I can show it now. This is totally my kind of anniversary card. Not too sappy, but sweet and thoughtful just the same, and a little playful, too.

The Dirty Dozen theme was "For A Song," and my musical inspiration was "Ain't Too Proud To Beg." The images, from Anna Wight's Good Dog by Whipper Snapper Designs, were way too perfect, and I have to confess I ordered the stamp set just for this card. Anybody else do that? (I'm certain I'll use the set again - it's way too cute not to!) How fun to look back at my older work and see where my style has changed. Maybe I've simplified, or maybe I was trying too hard for the DD gallery, but this looks overdone to me now. Hope you enjoy it anyway :)


Earlier this week, my blog friend Kathy Jones gave me this award. What a nice surprise! If by chance you're not already familiar with Kathy's elegant, classy style, be sure to pay her a visit at her blog, Inspired to Stamp. Thank you, Kathy, I'm honored!

These are the rules to play along: Pass this award on to 5 people, post on their blog to let them know they won, and then answer the following questions in ONE word:

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse?
2. Your hair? Unruly
3. Your mother? Giving
4. Your father? Intelligent
5. Your favorite food? Chocolate
6. Your dream last night? Odd
7. Your favorite drink? Latte
8. Your dream/goal? Travel
9. What room are you in? Study
10. Your hobby? Papercrafting
11. Your fear? Loss
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Patient
15. Muffins? Poppyseed
16. Wish list item? Silhouette
17. Where did you grow up? Virginia
18. Last thing you did? Blog
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your Pets? None
22. Friends? Cherished
23. Your life? Full
24. Your mood? Restless
25. Missing Someone? Yes
26. Vehicle? SUV
27. Something you're not wearing? BRACES!!
28. Your favorite store? Antique
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Unsure
32. Your best friend? Laura
33. One place that I go to over and over? School
34. Facebook? Some
35. Favorite place to eat? Out

Hmmm, the hard part ... passing this on to only five other bloggers when hundreds inspire me so much!

Meahni
Gretchen
Judy
Niki
Jami
... and anyone else who wants to play!

Happy thoughts,





Stamps: Good Dog (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip (SU!); Ivory (Papertrey); Archaic dp (Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky (SU!)
Accessories: loopy brads (Karen Foster Designs); ivory natural twill (source unknown); dark brown twill (Offray); natural hemp, sponges, paper piercer, linen thread, dimensionals (SU!); Tiny Bubbles Cuttlebug folder (Provo Craft); Copic markers

Count Your Blessings

Happy Saturday - welcome weekend! Today I have a three-pack to show you. This first card is something I've been tinkering with ever since Wednesday's sketch challenge was posted on SCS. I already had the Citrus stack by DCWV out from an earlier project, so that's where I pulled my papers. (Here I go again with the blue and green color combo.)

I liked the kinda funky color and pattern combo enough to use it again for my sample for Jen del Muro's Sketch For You to Try:



Check out the sketch, Jen's sample, and guest designer Jody Morrow's sample over at i{heart}2stamp. The rest of the SFYTT sistahs are at the ready with even more ispiration for you:

Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Kelly Lunceford
Susan Liles

We always love to have you play along, but this week, there's more reason to join the fun - Jen has a prize up for grabs. I'll let her tell you all about it!

I used the colors and papers yet again for my sample for this week's sketch challenge at Our Creative Corner. I think this is my favorite of the three:



Laurie Schmidlin is our host this month, and her sketch is a great one - so versatile. Just wait 'til you see the variety from the OCC designers! You can see everyone's together at the Our Creative Corner blog, or for more chitchat and details, visit the individual designers:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Jackie Pedro
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Kim Teasdale
Laurie Schmidlin
Lori Boyd
Lynda Benden
Silke Ledlow

The flower image is from Anna Wight's Blossoms & Butterflies set. All three sentiments are from her Blooming Expressions set, which has the most unique, wonderful phrases - I love this set! Both sets are available from Whipper Snapper Designs. The flowers are colored with Copic markers. The centers are dotted with a white gel pen. Last, they are trimmed out and coated with Crystal Effects. The stem on the OCC card is colored with a blender pen and Stampin' Up ink pads. The hat pin on the SCS sketch card is from the Stampin' Up Pretties kit. The large and small pinked borders are done with the Pinking Border Piercabilities by Spellbinders. The black butterfly is punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The ornate tag shape on the third card is BossKut's Vintage Tag Die #0834, and the silver flower brad is by Stampin' Up.

Hope you have a great weekend! Tomorrow (Sunday, 3/1) is release day for Our Daily Bread Designs, and I can't wait to show you one of the awesome new sets! See you then!



Stamps: Blossoms & Butterflies, Blooming Expressions (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: SU Basic Black and Kiwi Kiss, Papertrey White, DCWV "Citrus" dp
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU White craft, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive and Always Artichoke
Accessories: Martha Stewart lace border punch and butterfly punch; Spellbinders Pinking Border Piercabilities; May Arts sheer polka dot ribbon; SU Pretties kit (hat pin), dimensionals, filigree brad, 1/4" circle punch, filigree brad, crystal effects, paper piercer, clear embossing powder, and Kiwi Kiss ribbon; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder; black burlap string (available from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts), Hero Arts rhinestones, Signa white gel pen

California Poppy

I posted this on SCS for Tuesday's color challenge - Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, and Summer Sun. I thought the color combo would be perfect for an orange poppy, and this image from Anna Wight's gorgeous Blossoms and Butterflies set was just the thing. The sentiment is from Blooming Expressions, also one of Anna's sets. Both are available from Whipper Snapper Designs.

I colored the image using a blender pen and Stampin' Up reinkers. To get some extra depth to the coloring, I added some shadows to the Pumpkin Pie flower using Really Rust and some shadows to the Kiwi Kiss stems and buds using Always Artichoke. I also added a glow of Summer Sun (had to work that in to qualify for the color challenge, right?) around the flower and also used Summer Sun for some highlights on the buds. The shapely tag die is from BossKut - Vintage tag #0834. I purchased mine from cutathome.com. The black mat is hand-trimmed.

Have an awesome day!

Stamps: Blossoms and Butterflies, Blooming Expressions (Whipper Snapper Designs)

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream; SU Basic Black, textured Kiwi Kiss, and Pumpkin Pie prints; Canson watercolor paper
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; SU Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Really Rust, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Offray ribbons, Martha Stewart lace border punch, BossKut Vintage Tag die, SU 1/4" circle punch, paper piercer, vintage brads, dimensionals

Let Everything You Do ...

"Let everything you do be done
as if it makes a difference"

I love this quote from Anna Wight's Blooming Expressions set. I decided to pair it with some of the gorgeous images from Anna's new Wildflower Silhouette set. Both are available at Whipper Snapper Designs. The flower stamp is colored with Stampin' Up markers, huffed on, then stamped.

The layout comes from Jen del Muro's Sketch For you To Try. Head over to i{heart}2stamp.com to see what fun Jen has cooked up with this sketch, as well as what guest designer Jody Morrow has put together. Pay a visit to Amy Rohl, Carole Burrage, Kelly Lunceford, and Susan Liles for even more inspiration. As always, you're warmly invited to play along. Just link up your creation to Jen's blog post using Mr. Linky. If you upload to SCS, use keyword: SFYTT. It makes it so much easier for the players to find each other.

I started this card out with a different sentiment treatment that, honestly, looked much better. But I was desperate for this card to work for this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner, which is to use a tag on your project. Now that I look at it, I think it's really more of a label than a tag. Sorry! To see all the TAGS that the other OCC designers used this week, visit the OCC blog, or for more chitchat, visit their individual blogs: Cindy Haffner, Dawn Easton, Jackie Pedro, Jennifer Meyer, Julee Tilman, Kim Teasdale, Laurie Schmidlin, Lori Boyd, Lynda Benden, and Silke Ledlow. Also, help us welcome Rose Ann Reynolds as our guest designer for the week. Yay!!! Lucky us! Thanks for joining us Rose Ann! When you're ready to play, link your creation to the OCC blog and/or use keyword: OCCC if you upload to SCS.

Before I go, I've gotta tell you I'm in the midst of one of the worst creative droughts I think I've ever experienced, so if I'm quiet for a few days, you'll know why! It will pass, I know. I just hope it's soon, because it's making me VERY grumpy - LOL!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: Wildflower Silhouette and Blooming Expressions (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Prismatics Dark Suede Brown, K&Co Classic K McKenna Mat Pad
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Always Artichoke markers, oval Nestabilities, Offray brown twill, Spellbinders tag/label die, sewing machine, Making Memories decorative brad

Wildflower Silhouette

Today I'm showing a new set by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs called Wildflower Silhouette. The gorgeous images in this set are derived from Anna's own wildflower photographs. Very cool!

I went for a crisp black-on-white silhouette for today by stamping and heat embossing the image on a heavy watercolor paper and then layering it over a combination of mostly neutral patterned papers with just a splash of blue. I love the versatility of silhouette stamps and I love wildflower images - can't wait to show you my other ideas! Another day, though ... today I'm knee-deep in finishing up some decorations for a Western-themed Boy Scout event coming up this weekend. Fun!



Be sure to take a look at what the other Whipper Snapper Featured Designers have put together:

Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/

Beth Matson
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ematson
Blog: http://nevertoooldtocolor.blogspot.com/

Jackie Pedro
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/strappystamper
Blog: http://thescallopededge.typepad.com/

Lisa Zappa
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/lzappa
Blog: http://shabbychickjunk.blogspot.com/

Tosha Leyendekker
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/stamps4funinCA
Blog: http://stamptalkwithtosh.blogspot.com/

Anna also has a new set called Signature Series which has some of the cutest "handmade by" stamps ever - check it out!

Thanks for visiting,



Stamps: Wildflower Silhouette (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: SU Bacic Black; Canson watercolor paper; "Story of Us" dp by ATD
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Spellbinders classic and scalloped oval Nestabilities and tag die, SU Top Note die and paper piercer, Robin's Nest dew drops, Offray black satin ribbon, May Arts burlap string, Martha Stewart lacy border punch, clear embossing powder

You Have to Kiss A Lot of Toads ...

Happy Saturday!

Today's card doubles as my sample for both Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try and this week's challenge over at Our Creative Corner. I'm so accustomed to making cards with one main image panel, so I loved how this week's SFYTT forced me to think outside my box. The OCC challenge this week is to use at least two hearts. The Bittersweet background paper is full of them, plus I added two hearts to one of the toads. The images, from Anna Wight's Fish Friends by Whipper Snapper Designs, have been colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. The sentiment is computer generated. Here's a look at the inside:



I'd love to give this to someone getting married or celebrating an anniversary. So fun!

For more SFYTT samples, visit Jen and guest designer Kirsten DuBosque at i{heart}2stamp, Amy Rohl, Carole Burrage, Kelly Lunceford, Shannan Teubner, and Susan Liles. To play along, link up your project as a comment on Jen's post. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: SFYTT.

For more OCC samples, visit the OCC blog or visit the individual designers' blogs: Cindy Haffner, Dawn Easton, Denise Marzec, Jackie Pedro, Jennifer Meyer, Julee Tilman, Kim Teasdale, Laurie Schmidlin, Lynda Benden, and Silke Ledlow. To play along, link your creation to the OCC blog. If you upload to SCS, use keyword: OCCC.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great weekend!




Stamps: Fish Friends (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Bittersweet (Basic Grey); Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Old Paper and Walnut Stain distress inks (Tim Holtz/Ranger)
Accessories: Prismacolors, Gamsol, blending stump, circle Nestabilities, vintage brads, paper piercer, narrow chocolate twill by SU, Offray wide brown twill, foam tape, sewing machine, BossKut flourish die
Size: 5 1/2" square
Note: The sentiment is computer-generated. Font is New Courier.

One of A Kind

By the time this post goes live, I should be on an airplane headed to CHA! Woohoo!! I'm so excited to see all the latest and greatest in the industry and even more, to meet other stamping friends who will be there! I promise I'll take pictures (which is much better than being IN them).
Today I have two projects. Both of my Saturday challenges are sketches this week. And fun ones! This first card is my sample for Jen del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. Take a peek at the sketch over on i{heart}2stamp. That little area in the upper right where the horizontal band starts out as the top layer on the left side, but goes behind another layer on the right side (I'm probably not explaining it very well) gave me fits! On my card, the solid red horizontal strip's disappearance behind the red dotted vertical strip just looked too abrupt. I decided to add the burlap string to literally and figuratively tie it together. I can't wait to see what the other SFYTT girls did in that area. Speaking of SFYTT girls, there's a new kid on the block. Please give some love to the newest sketch sampler, the fabulous Kelly Lunceford (aka atomicbutterfly on SCS)!

Jen del Muro and guest designer Kirsten DuBosque
Amy Rohl
Carole Burrage
Kelly Lunceford
Shannan Teubner
Susan Liles

Wanna give the sketch a try? Just upload your project to your blog or SCS (SCS keyword is SFYTT), then link up your creation to Jen's post. Hope you can play along! And here's something all you SFYTT fans won't want to miss: Jen has a blog blinkie for the SFYTT sketches now! To add it to your blog, all you need to do is follow the instructions HERE. I{heart}sketches ... how 'bout you?

The adorable daisy and ladybug image is from Anna Wight's new Fish Friends set, available at Whipper Snapper Designs. The sentiment is from Friendly Expressions, also one of Anna's new sets. I stamped on white and colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I stamped the image a second time, colored and trimmed out the flower only and adhered it on top of the first one with dimensionals. The sentiment banner is just a little bit contoured so it bows outward in the middle. The paper is Twitterpated by Imaginesce.

Next up is my sample for this week's sketch challenge at Our Creative Corner. Our January host, Jennifer Meyer, put this one together. I thought it would be perfect to use with these two fish, also from the Fish Friends set. The sentiment is from Friendly Expressions.



I watercolored the circles first, using a Taken With Teal re-inker (I know, can you believe?! I might even need to re-order Taken With Teal card stock with my next Stampin' Up order ... who'd have thought?). The fish are stamped separately, watercolored (Summer Sun, More Mustard, and Really Rust), trimmed out, and coated with Crystal Effects. The bubbles are a separate stamp and I stamped those onto the backgrounds, then dotted one set of bubbles with Crystal Effects. Why not the other? I forgot :) Except for the two brads, all those Taken With Teal circles on the middle panel are just punched 1/2" and 1/4" circles coated with Crystal Effects. The designer papers are from Nana's Nursery Baby Boy Collection by DCWV.

Don't forget to take a look at what the other OCC designers came up with. You can see all the samples together on the OCC blog, as well as individually on the designers' personal blogs:

Cindy Haffner
Dawn Easton
Denise Marzec
Jackie Pedro
Jennifer Meyer
Julee Tilman
Kim Teasdale
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynda Benden
Silke Ledlow

A special welcome and thanks to Carla, aka cmsuto, who joins us as our guest designer this week!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Whipper Snapper Featured Designer

Good morning! I have such fun news to share today! The one-and-only Anna Wight has invited me to be a Whipper Snapper Featured Designer for January and February. I adore Anna's whimsical style of illustration, and am so excited to work with these new sets. Thank you, Anna, and thank you Whipper Snapper for this opportunity!

There are two new sets this month, Fish Friends and Friendly Expressions. I chose to work with Friendly Expressions first. I love floral images of all kinds, and the wonderful assortment of friendship sentiments could work well for so many different occasions, or for those wonderful "just because" cards that are so fun to send and receive. I am certain I'll get loads of mileage from this set! Take a look:



Are you checking to make sure you're at Pickled Paper Designs? Yes, I really did make this! I know it's a departure from my usual, busier designs, but I really like the vintage/shabby/a little-bit-country look! I colored the flowers with Copic markers, then added some speckling using an air art tool and a Bordering Blue marker. Most of the layers have been sponged with Antique Linen distress ink and roughed up using an edge-distressing tool. I coated the flowers and leaves with Crystal Effects. The sentiment banner is an idea I got from Anna herself - I can't seem to stop making them! Such great alternatives to the ubiquitous tag (not that I have anything against tags, lol).

Check out the rest of the featured designers. I'm so honored and happy to do this alongside these talented stampers:

Beth Matson
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/ematson
Blog: http://nevertoooldtocolor.blogspot.com/

Jackie Pedro
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/strappystamper
Blog: http://thescallopededge.typepad.com/

Lisa Zappa
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/lzappa
Blog: http://shabbychickjunk.blogspot.com/

Tosha Leyendekker
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/stamps4funinCA
Blog: http://stamptalkwithtosh.blogspot.com/

And of course ...
Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/

Before I go, I want to share two more things ... First, Verve's monthly Project Parade has begun today on the Verve Stamps blog. Jen del Muro kicks off our kid-themed parade with an adorable tic-tac-toe project - you must see it! Second, stop by the My Favorite Things blog or MFT SCS forum to see this week's Weekly WOW, a new feature you can find every Monday!!

Thanks for stopping by,



Stamps: Friendly Expressions (Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink); Buckaroo Blue, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard print (SU!); gingham dp from Chloe's Closet by Making Memories
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Copic markers; crystal effects, air art tool, Bordering Blue marker, distressing tool, paper piercer, vintage brads (SU); button (Making Memories); burlap string (Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts); Argyle Cuttlebug folder, sewing machine

Chicken Trio

[Update: I mentioned Laurie Schmidlin's daughter when I posted earlier. There is a prayer request thread on SCS with more information. You can find it -->HERE.<-- My heart is so heavy for the Schmidlin family. Please keep praying.]

Today's card is one I made yesterday for both Jen's Sketch for You To Try and this week's Our Creative Corner challenge. First the sketch ... you'll find it posted at i{heart}2stamp, along with Jen's sample and November guest designer Becca Feeken's sample. Welcome, Becca! So glad you're joining us this month! For more inspiration, head on over to see what Amy, Carole, Shannan, and Susan have put together. We'd love to have you play along. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: SFYTT.

This week's challenge at Our Creative Corner, issued by our November host, Denise Marzec, is All About the Coloring. We're focusing on all the many different ways to color (Copic markers, Gamsol Magic, watercoloring, etc.) I love, love, love to color, no matter what the medium, but I have to say, watercoloring is still my favorite method by far! Be sure to visit Our Creative Corner to see all the different ways the OCC girls like to color. Or, for more chit-chat, visit their blogs: Cindy Haffner, Dawn Easton, Denise Marzec, Jennifer Meyer, Julee Tilman, and Lynda Benden. We're also super excited to have Lori McAree (LMcAree on SCS) as our guest designer for the week. Welcome, Lori! So what's your favorite way to color? Link up your creation to the OCC blog so we can take a look! If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword: OCCC. [Note: Laurie Schmidlin is not playing this time. You may have seen this elsewhere already, but if not, her 12-year-old daughter, Ali, is very sick. Please, please, please keep this family in your prayers!]

I thought the large panel on Jen's sketch would be perfect for this adorable Anna Wight Chicken Trio stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs. I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and watercolored with my Stampin' Up inks and an Aqua Painter. The red and black chickens are stamped and colored a second time, their bodies trimmed out, and popped up on top of the main image. The whole image panel is adhered to the card with foam boosters that I got from one of Jody Morrow's sticky sales. The sentiment comes from Let's Go For A Walk by My Favorite Things. The black criss-crosses are faux stitching done with a black marker.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend planned! Stay out of the kids' Halloween candy!



Stamps: Chicken Trio (Whipper Snapper Designs), Let's Go For A Walk (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Haiku dp (SU!); yellow dp (Pink Paislee); watercolor paper (Canson)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Crisp, Baroque Burgundy, Basic Black, Basic Grey, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Soft Sky reinkers (SU!)
Accessories: sewing machine, paper piercer, black marker, air art tool, foam boosters, sponge daubers, flower (Prima and Daisy D's), black buttons, scallop border punch, narrow grosgrain ribbon (Offray)
Size: 5 1/4" square