3-D Thursday, er, I Mean Wednesday

Since I'm not Irish, I don't have a lot of St. Pat's celebrations planned. I know, we're all Irish on March 17th. If I only was going to be in Boston or Philly... Ok, I'll confess, I carry on my mom's tradition of having cabbage, potatoes, and corn beef once a year. Woohoo, kick up your heels, corn beef! I do know a pub in Yonkers that serves a mean Irish coffee! ;)

These little holidays are very happy occasions for Little Missy. She loves having something to look forward to every month, and a day on the calendar to place a special stamp. She wants to dress up in her Tinkerbell outfit for school, since it is green. And St. Patrick's Day is her day for snacks, so some green ones?

I don't have the Owl Punch (gasp!), so I used My Digital Studio and LeAnne's sample to create these dressed up raisin boxes. White raisins are kinda green, right? I moved this project up in the week so I could play along with a few challenges, including the Creative Crew demo challenge on SplitCoastStampers. Yep, goofing off again when I should be creating my DT card.

Stamps: Woodgrain; Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla; Ink: Chocolate Chip; Accessories: 1-3/4" Circle punch, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle punch, My Digital Studio, Coluzzle, Dimensionals.

And how about a couple St. Pat's cards? I didn't make myself any this year, so I'll share one I got in my Occasions mini swap, created by Shermala Austermann. This is a single stamp set in the back of the mini, very cute and perfect for the little Irish occasion.

This little medallion stamp would be perfect for the front of a little favor box, maybe for an Irish dinner. ETA: The background clover leaf is from another cute set, Got Treats.

And here is Sue Wilgan's shoebox project from the CT shoebox swap last weekend, also using the single stamp from the Occasions mini. Ok, so I did make one St. Patty's card, thanks to Sue.

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC14: A Scene From The Shed

Good morning, Everyone! Time for another SUO Challenge, and the challenge today is to make a card with your favorite retired stamp set, one that you would never, ever part with. So, what's yours?

Choose just one? Really? So I started with set #1, and although one of my favorites, one I always think of first, it wasn't doing it for me. I always start stamping my main panel layout on scrap copy paper (or backs of papers my daughter brings home from school. Shhhh, don't tell her! She always gets mad when she catches me!). I tossed that paper aside and picked another set. And then, it hit me that I could use both sets together. The moral of this story is: Get out your scrap pieces of paper and just start stamping. Just staring at your stamps, not feeling like getting them dirty so then you'll just have to clean them, does not get the layout done! :)

So, if it's not cheating, I used two retired stamp sets. For the record, Branch Out is the favorite one. Scene in a Garden hadn't gotten much use, so he is glad to play along. Another sidenote: As I was going through my stamps, I found that Spring stamp sets I have bought from the mini catalogs have been some of the best I have owned. Hmmm, maybe it is because it is Springtime, and those were the stamps I was looking to use. But, I digress.

I saw that the pussy willows outside are starting to bud. I LOVE pussy willows, so I have to include those! The tree buds are around the corner, yes?

I used my Color Spritzer to try to create a rough, cement wall texture. There's a lot of paper piecing on this card. I don't know why I insist on torturing myself. I felt too lazy to watercolor, although I did watercolor some shadows on the floor. The card seemed busy enough, so I didn't add any embellishments.

Stamps: Scene in a Garden, Branch Out; Paper: Marina Mist, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla; Ink: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Sahara Sand, Sahara Sand marker, Basic Black marker; Accessories: Sponge, Brayer, Aquapainter, Neutrals Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Color Spritzer.

I hope you take a moment to play along with the challenge this week. Thanks for stopping by!

Springtime Nest

I attended another enjoyable local SCS shoebox swap near Hartford, CT. Thanks to our wonderful host, Fran! Never been to a shoebox swap? Check for a local one near you on the Get It Together forum.

For my shoebox project, I was inspired by a card by Nancy Littrell on SCS. She used DSP to create her background, and since I needed to make 22 card kits, that wasn't going to work. I tried to recreate using stamps, embossing folder, and My Digitial Studio.

I love this bird image! I have been able, by using different coloring, to make several different species of birds. The nest and the branch come from My Digital Studio. Stamp the bird on a separate piece of cardstock and the background with the Sanded BG stamp. Sponge the edge embossing, nest, and bird to give a nice, muted color. The eggs were stamped on Bashful Blue and sponged on the edge with Marina Mist.

Stamps: Nature Walk, Sanded BG; Paper: Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla; Ink: Soft Suede, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Peach Parfait, Sahara Sand, Stazon; Accessories: Sponges, Craft knife, Craft mat, Rose Red seam binding, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Big Shot.
Thanks for stopping by!

Technique Page: Inset Embossing

Morning Everyone!

This blog entry is a little bit of a cheat for scrapbook Friday, a technique page. I've seen this technique called several different things: inset embossing, inlaid embossing, embedded paper. Whatever you want to call it, it is a fun technique.

After I saw Carmen's post for the Stampin' Addict Birthday Hop this past weekend, I knew I wanted to use the cog punch. Love that cog punch! So here is the technique page I made for the Binghamton shoebox swap.

You can see how the punch-out pieces blend right into the background piece once it is embossed. Hard to capture on a photo, this technique creates a lot of hands-on, gotta touch interest.

Stamps: Sense of Time; Paper: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla; Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Black Stazon; Accessories: Sponge, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Circle #2, Big Shot.

If you are interested, I posted a previous sample with this same technique.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bring On Some Flowering Trees!

I love making flowering tree main images with the Itty Bitty punch pack. I thought I would give it a try with the branch image from Thoughts & Prayers. Can't believe I haven't used that stamp yet... *eyeroll*.

I needed a quick b-day card, so off to play with a challenge.

I had meant to do something special with the sentiment, like hang it from the bow, but I got caught up with gluing, and before I knew it, it was too late. So just a simple layout here.

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayer, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Pear Pizzazz; Accessories: Pearl Jewels, Itty Bitty punch pack, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Black satin ribbon, Perfect Details texturz plate, Big Shot.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup: Cherry Chocolate

Well, last Friday's Mashup challenge was so similar to the color combo challenge on SCS's demo challenge, called Creative Crew, I thought I would combine them. I checked out the Creative Crew challenges February 1, right when they came out, and then promptly went on vacation without stamping supplies. I never got a chance to play. I'm finally catching up on things at home, so forgive me for being late!

Haha, since the only difference between the two challenges is the choice of yellow, I'm gonna use "mystery yellow". Sneaky, huh? I fell in love with Twila's layout from the Occasions mini blog hop, so I tried the same thing. I like it, but lots of paper piecing. I'm debating if I want to make these for an ATC swap at the shoebox swap this weekend.

I hand-tore one of the chocolates and placed a cherry behind, covered in Crystal Effects, for a chocolate-covered cherry. Yum! I used a marker to color the ripped edge.

Stamps: Eat Chocolate, Tart & Tangy, Tote-ally Tess; Paper: Mystery Yellow, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Mystery Yellow DSP, Love Letter DSP; Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Blush Blossom marker; Accessories: Crystal Effects, Pearl Jewels, Small Oval punch.

Thanks for stopping by!

You're Sew Sweet

Here is a card I made for the Binghamton shoebox swap. I have so much retired DSP. I am trying to get myself to use it up (yeah, right). The patterns in the Delicate Dots DSP from Sale-a-bration a couple years ago is perfect for the sewing motif.

This set almost creates a layout by itself. So many coordinating images with beautiful interest. I highly recommend it! Now, I have to say, you notice I didn't actually stitch on this card. I tried to control myself. :)

How easy is it to do a little paper piecing and add a needle for interest? Super cute! I can say that since the idea came from the demo magazine Stampin' Success. And check out those embosslit buttons!

Stamps: Sew Suite, Clearly For You; Paper: Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Poppy Parade, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Delicate Dots DSP (SAB); Ink: Rose Red, Garden Green, Early Espresso, Garden Green marker; Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Sweet Buttons embosslit, Big Shot, Needle, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!