I’m so excited to share with you today that Picket Fence Studios is launching its very first new release. So many fantastic new sets and I get to start sharing with you today!
First up, I have a card for you that I created for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers where I’m the guest designer this month. Ah…coffee!!! And cards! Need I say more??!! Ok, maybe a little more but click over HERE to see my post and some more details. This adorable owl from You Are A Hoot seemed perfect for this new sentiment from the Louise (#girlboss collection) set.
I colored using Copic Markers and then fussy cut her out. I added this stitched scallop layer for the sentiment and thought some dots to match my coloring would be nice in the background. Love the sentiments from this new set and they will be great to pair with many existing stamps in your collection.
For my second card, I used another of the new release sets called String of Lights. It is such fun and I love the sentiments too. I created this background using Dyestress Inks by Clearsnap. Then I stamped the image and sentiment in Versamark Ink and heat embossed with Bright White Embossing Powder by Wow Embossing.
These new inks come in such pretty colors and I loved the cool colors to make this image pop off the card. I found that the Shark Bite Sequins from Picket Fence Studios were the perfect match for the inks (love when that happens) and I also added in a few Sparkling Clear Sequins.
Well that is it for today! Make sure you head over to the Picket Fence Studios site to see all the new products available in the new release. I’ll be sharing more of them over the next few days! Thanks for stopping in. See you soon.
I’m happy to be back with you today to share a fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. Our sketch hostess is the talented and oh so witty Linda Callahan. I love her whimsical takes on sketches and stamp sets!
Her sketch this week reminded me of this little stamp set from Pinkfresh Studios called Dream On. I love the little images and the sentiments in it and it had not gotten nearly enough use. I hope that I didn’t stray too far from the sketch but I’m sure Linda will forgive me if I did.
I stamped the image onto a Strathmore Watercolor Notecard (these are the fabulous watercolor paper all pre-cut and ready to go with envelopes). I used Versafine Onyx Black and then watercolored with a new product from Clearsnap called the Dyestress Blendable Dye Inks. These are beautiful distress style ink in gorgeous colors. I just got them so I used this card as a bit of a palette test. Pretty, aren’t they?! I thought this sentiment kind of fit my mood as I was creating it. I know I didn’t make my usual Sept. 11th post yesterday but, truthfully, there is a lot going on with our family and I just didn’t have it in me. So in a way, this is my tribute card. It is hard in the face of tragedy to be happy. But it is ok to try to own it and allow yourself to heal and find joy. So I have this card for just the right day and just the right person.
I hope that you have a wonderful and peaceful week. Take a moment to allow yourself to be happy! And for those of you who are facing hurricanes, fires and other tragedies, please know that I am thinking of you and your safety! Thanks for stopping in today. See you on Friday with lots of fun things!
Hi friends!! I did a bit of a stamp room clean out toward the beginning of the summer and have all kinds of products that need to find new homes. I was overwhelmed by the amount of things so it took me this long to come up with a plan for my sale. After some debate, I decided the easiest way to handle it was to create “bundles”. So I have 7 boxes all ready to go and I hope you will see my logic in the groupings. With all my traveling, I was afraid that selling things individually would simply not work for me.
I created a new page on my blog that shows pictures, gives lists and has all the instructions on how to purchase. Please hop over and take a look. The boxes are all unique and this sale is first come, first served (by email time stamp).
Please share my sale with crafty friends if you think they will be interested! I want all of these beautiful products to help inspire other stampers as much as they inspired me!
In the meantime, I’m working on some fun projects for next week and I can’t wait to share. Until then, thanks for visiting and I’ll see you soon.
A quick post for today. On a layover, hotel wifi is wacko and I am just trying to fight to get this posted. Ah, technology!!
The amazing Jen Mitchell has a sketch today over at Freshly Made Sketches that is perfect for anyone. That wide open space meant that I just needed to create something with watercolor. These fabulous fish from Picket Fence Studios are such fun and seemed perfect. I stamped on Fabriano Extra White Watercolor paper and colored using some Daniel Smith paints. The sentiment from a sister set called A Dose of Vitamin Sea really spoke to me and I thought it would work well here. The Frosted Droplets are a new product from Stampin’ Up and I liked their added texture.
Ok, like I said…super quick. More soon when I’m back to a functioning internet. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
Do you ever see a stamp set that speaks to you and you cannot even begin to resist it?! Yeah…me too. And my card today features one of those stamps!! I’m the sketch hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches today and I created a sketch that was perfect for this image and this sentiment. Because, really….just look at them!!
As with most things that hit you as “must have”, there is a back story. Many of you know about my sweet little calico kitty named Kate. But do you know WHY she is Kate? Before her, I had an old man kitty who had been my friend for over 19 years. He was my sweet boy who was kind enough to adopt my husband and then tolerate the arrival of my two boys (albeit, with a 2 week hunger strike after the birth of the second). When he passed away, the house was too quiet and I was so sad. After a few months, DH told me that we were heading to the local SPCA to see if a new kitty would choose us. We narrowed it down and I was looking for another boy. After all, I said, I’m the queen and there will be no other. So I took the boys the next day to see which kitty really wanted to come home with us and there was this sweet little girl. And she took one look at us, realized we would do very nicely and demanded that we get her home immediately. So there was a princess. As luck would have it, there was also a new princess (well duchess but whatever) so we chose the name Kate. And here we are about 6 years later and the boys wore DH and I down asking for a second kitty. In a moment of weakness, I took them back to the SPCA “just to look”. Yeah, right. And thus a new kitty has entered the house. Another little girl. Naturally, her name is Meg (after the latest addition to the royal family). Kate is warming up to the idea of a sister but you don’t have to speak fluent cat to know there were some very unkind words uttered. In the midst of the early chaos (Meg has been with us about 3 weeks), I saw this stamp and yep. It just hit me as totally hilarious. And true. At least in my house. (and yes, I’ll share some pics here of Meg but I did put some up on Instagram when she first came home)
Ok now that I covered that seriously too long story, back to the card. This stamp set is from Picket Fence Studios and it is called Wicked Together. It is awesome!! I stamped this fabulous kitty in Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder (SU). I chose this chevron paper from my stash as a background to the sentiment (stamped and embossed too). I tied on some purple twine and added a few sequins just for more dimension. But we know that all eyes are on that cat…as they should be!!
I hope you will find this sketch inspiring! As always the Freshly Made Sketches Design Team has outdone themselves and you need to hop right over to see their work. I’m so glad you were able to stop in today. Until next time, happy stamping!
I have a fun card to share with you today over at the Picket Fence Studios blog. Many of you know that I tend to hoard collect sentiments and this sentiment set called Crafty Friends is simply amazing. I though it would be great if I simply focused on it without any images but wanted the card to feel special enough to sent to a crafty friend.
Back in March when I was at Stamping Away, I created this background after I saw some inspiration by the awesome stampers who joined me. My friend Jill told me about a great way to use the Tonic Nuvo Glimmer Pastes. Using a background cover plate from My Favorite Things, I created a disposable stencil. All you have to do is lay it down on card stock just like any stencil and apply the paste. I got two cards out of it before it was a big mess and then could just toss it. If you do want to use the pastes with your real stencils, take care to wash them off immediately since the paste dries quickly. I used two colors here…so pretty!
My sentiment was stamped onto vellum with Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then heat embossed with Wow Black Glint Embossing Glitter. It has a bit of a shimmer and shine that regular embossing powder doesn’t have. Perfect against this background. I created this with this week’s CAS(E) this Sketch challenge as inspiration. Perfect for showing off great sentiments!
I will be sharing posts about every three weeks over on the Picket Fence Studios blog (as will all my fellow design team members) so we would love to have you visit over there for inspiration. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
I’m so happy to share this fun Christmas card with you today! I know it is hard for me to really think about holiday stuff right now but let’s face it, if I don’t start with the cards now, I’ll never get them done. I loved Amy’s adorable sketch this week from Freshly Made Sketches. Her little trio allows for so many options!
I chose this cute little snowman from Let It Snow by Honey Bee Stamps. I love this stamp set and all its fabulous sentiments. I stamped the snowman and flakes with Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I added the line on the bottom of the snowman for coloring purposes using a Copic Multiliner. Some quick coloring with my Copics was all he needed. I cut him and his flakes out using the coordinating Let It Snow Dies and then stamped the sentiment from the same set onto white card stock. I used some striped paper from my stash to finish the sketch. I love this one!
I’ll be back on Friday with a post for Picket Fence Studios. Until then, I’m out flying around so look for me if you are traveling! The summer flying has been a bit crazy with all the weather. If you are out and about…pack your patience (and chocolate for the flight attendants never hurts!). Until next time, have a great week.
As with all great adventures, you have to find the end to start a new beginning. And that is where I am now. After almost 12 years of being a Stampin’ Up demonstrator I have decided it is time to leave. There are a number of reasons, some personal and some professional, that brought me here. But first…allow me a small trip though my years.
I was first introduced to stamping through some friends in my neighborhood. They convinced me to come to a Stampin’ Up workshop pretty much kicking and screaming. After all, I told them, I’m not crafty. But I went and found that I could actually make something I liked and I had fun. Hmmmm. So I went to another event and stamped some more and eventually was a hostess and bought enough to make, well, nothing. This was in the days before kits, you see. As part of a one year assignment to Columbus, MS, I met my dear friend Brandi. She was hosting a stamping event at a local coffee shop and I convinced some others to go with me. I loved what we made and was happy to create with Brandi. Over the year, she convinced me that I should give being a demo a go. So for my birthday that year, I asked for my starter kit. (There may have been some days that my husband regretted the decision to get it for me, haha!!) And so it began. Eventually, I was able to go to a Convention in Salt Lake City and I met some of my online friends in person and met my friend (and second level upline) Lisa too. Now Lisa is a smart and business minded stamper and she asked me about my goals. And gave me some space to consider them. She knew that with my flying schedule, the business side would always be a challenge. She and Brandi cheered me on as I decided to enter the competition for the Artisan Design Team.And they were there when I was actually chosen for the team. I could not have guessed how much this ADT group would come to mean to me. They will always be a part of my heart! I grew so much creatively over that year but I also found that my business was going in the other direction. I enjoyed focusing on the process of making things. Other opportunities have presented themselves and I found myself wandering further from the “Stampin’ Up Only” way of making cards. But I adore my SU friends and stayed “for just a little longer”.
I finally came to a place where I knew it was time to make the decision to leave. Again, a few things factored in but the biggest is that I want to explore other opportunities. I can’t do that with one foot still in the door so I officially resigned last week. While I haven’t had any SU orders from my blog in a while, I still want to share with you some contacts in case you need a Stampin’ Up demo.
All of these ladies are super talented and kind and wonderful and….. You get the point. A word of caution….Brandi has a way of convincing you to take a chance! Take her up on it!! Lisa has an amazing blog and creates videos that will blow you away. And Michelle is local in Northern VA for those who would love to attend in person classes. There is no wrong choice and they would love your business!!
I very much hope you will continue to follow me in my crafty adventures. You, my followers, are a big part of why I continue to grow. It takes courage to share creativity and you have always made it a little less intimidating with your sweet comments. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!! Now…on to the next chapter….
Happy middle of the week! I’m a bit belated (if you were looking at the challenge this morning) with my card for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches. I had about 11.3 seconds in the last week to make a card but I just HAD to pull this set out. Thank heavens that the awesome Narelle gave us a super sketch for this week!! Her layers (she really is amazing with layers) were a great way to show off some new things.
You see, this stamp (and some lovely friends) all showed up to my mailbox on Monday as part of my new adventure of being on the Picket Fence Studios Design Team. *Insert whooping and hollering here* I look forward to having lots of time to play but I really wanted to be able to share the good news here. So….a quick card. I stamped the flower and the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black in and put them on a base of Smoke Gray (SSS). To add a little bit of color I thought these sweet blue sequins were just perfect. They are from the Shark Bite collection, also from Picket Fence Studios.
Here is a picture of the whole team….according to my husband, I’m Peter Brady of the Brady Bunch…..we may have just aged ourselves irrevocably. Ok, well off to see if I can find a few minutes to actually craft! I’ll be back soon. Until then, thanks so much for stopping in.
Hi everyone! I’m back from a bit of a summer break and I’m thrilled to be able to share the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. Our sketch hostess is Karren Johnson and she has created the perfect clean sketch to get me inspired after my time off. Karren always has the most beautiful coloring and design on her cards so it is no surprise that she gave us a sketch that allows for lots of creativity.
When I saw the horizontal panel, the first thing that came to mind was watercoloring. So I went with it. I used my Daniel Smith palette from Simon Says Stamp (lots of little dots to allow you to find your favorite colors!) and chose a soft color scheme. I made an ombré gray and then added some little hydrangea petals from Mondo Hydrangea colored in purple with a bit of green. The sentiment from the same set fit perfectly across the bottom of the colored swash. I thought about adding more bling or details but then I felt it was perfect just as it was. You can’t really see it but the purple watercolor is called Amethyst Genuine and has a bit of sparkle in it. Gorgeous!
I needed a clean card to warm back up! Over the last two weeks, I have not been in my stamp room. We had a family vacation to Florida (yes…it was crazy hot and humid, haha!!). We conquered three parks and enjoyed some pool time. And most fun, we even managed to sneak a surprise visit in with my mom! That was a highlight of the trip, for sure. After vacation it was right back to work. This is the busy season for sure and the weather has been no one’s friend. I definitely needed some stamping time!! I’m back out today but hoping for some more craft time next week. Lots of fun things in the works! Until then, thanks for stopping in and I’ll see you soon. Hope you’ll join in our challenge this week!
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First up, I have a card for you that I created for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers where I’m the guest designer this month. Ah…coffee!!! And cards! Need I say more??!! Ok, maybe a little more but click over HERE to see my post and some more details. This adorable owl from You Are A Hoot seemed perfect for this new sentiment from the Louise (#girlboss collection) set.
I colored using Copic Markers and then fussy cut her out. I added this stitched scallop layer for the sentiment and thought some dots to match my coloring would be nice in the background. Love the sentiments from this new set and they will be great to pair with many existing stamps in your collection.
For my second card, I used another of the new release sets called String of Lights. It is such fun and I love the sentiments too. I created this background using Dyestress Inks by Clearsnap. Then I stamped the image and sentiment in Versamark Ink and heat embossed with Bright White Embossing Powder by Wow Embossing.
I chose this cute little snowman from 
