With Sympathy

I'm back!! Sorry for going awol last week. We were on our yearly family camping trip and I had hoped to be able to blog from the campground with a battery hook-up but that was not to be and silly me had not pre-posted anything.  Oh well, we all got a vacation! :)  We had a great time and we were all so excited to come home to 13 brand new puppies!  Our dog, Ruby was due this week but decided to have them at my parent's house Friday morning instead.  If you are on Facebook, you can see some pics of them there (I'll be adding a few of our vacation soon too!).  The puppies are adorable - a lot of work at this point since there are so many, but they are as sweet as can be!

Now it's time for another Kitchen Sink Stamps Monday!  Unfortunately, I've been needing sympathy cards lately and I think the beautiful KSS floral stamps are perfect for this.  I pulled out Multi-Step Lillies for this card and came up with what I think resembles a Stargazer Lily.  My recipe:


Lily:  Step 4 - Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink), Step 3 - Angel Pink (Memento), Step 2 - Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink), Step 1 - London Fog just around the edges (Memento), Step 5 - Lilac Posies (Memento)


Leaves: Step 2 - Bamboo Leaves (Memento), Step 1 - New Sprout (Memento), Step 3 - New Leaf (Papertrey Ink)

The sentiment is made using Simple Sentiments which really has become my go to set for sentiments!  I love the mix of fonts and the mix & match sentiments - it's perfect for almost anything!  Remember to use coupon code JULIE10KSS for 10% off all purchases at Kitchen Sink Stamps!

Please pay a visit to the rest of the KSS Crew today!  Thanks so much for visiting and hanging in with me while I was away - I truly appreciate you all!! :)

Angela • Connie • Lisa • Lynn • Makiko • Maria

Cardstock:  Soft Stone, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink), White (Gina K Designs), Patterned Paper:  Soft Pastels (Papertrey Ink), Stamps: Multi-Step Lilies, Simple Sentiments (Kitchen Sink Stamps), Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Fresh Snow, New Leaf, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink), Angel Pink, London Fog, Lilac Posies, Bamboo Leaves, New Sprout (Memento), Accessories:  Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Fillable Frame die, Scalloped edge die, White ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Pearls (Zva Creative), sponge dauber

Many Thanks

We're off today on our annual camping adventure! It's suppose to rain a bit today but we're hoping that it clears by tomorrow! :)  Amidst all the packing I've been doing for several days now, I was able to make a card for Kitchen Sink Stamps Monday. 

This set is a special edition set, a Year of Thanks II with Multi-Step Lily of the Valley.  I love the variety of images in this set and the bonus of a Lily of the Valley stamp is so fun!  I used Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch (SSSC82) for my layout. 

Please visit the rest of the KSS Crew today for more inspiration - you'll love them!!

Angela • Connie • Lisa • Lynn • Makiko • Maria

Have a great week friends!

Salt Challenge: Celebration of Marraige

Good morning!  Today's Salt challenge is entitled a Celebration of Marriage.  Please read Stacy's write up on the Salt blog.  She has chosen to use I Cor. 13 as the scripture passage.  Since today is my 10th wedding anniversary (and my parent's 43 and would be my grandparent's also if they were living) I thought it was very appropriate to reflect on marriage!  This past 10 years has certainly gone by quickly and the road has not always been easy.  But through it all I can honestly say that I am so thankful for my husband, for his love, his friendship and his dedication to me and our family!  It seems cliche, but I truly love him more now then I did 10 years ago!  He is definitely the one who knows me better than anyone else and he still loves me - LOL!  I am thankful for the gifts God has given us in 5 beautiful children and for all the blessing He has given to our family!  Happy Anniversary my love!

The template for this digi page is Tiffany Tillman's Summer Template 17 that I had seen my friend Charmaine us - it's such a pretty template! One more picture for you because I love it (even though the scan didn't come out very well)!

Please visit the Salt blog to view the rest of the team's creations. Have a great day!

Fun in the Sun - TCP Blog Hop!

The Cat's Pajamas is having a Customer Blog Hop and I'm so excited to be playing along!  You still have time to join the fun by adding your link to Alma's blog by August 24 - there's even a super duper prize!!  I pulled out one of the great summer sets available, Fun in the Sun.  I just love Sprinkle in her floaty - makes me smile!

I had a little fun with the sentiments from the set by stamping them in a couple of different colors up the left side of the card.  I love the bright, happy colors of this Bo Bunny paper so I colored the image to match.  I used the Button and Flower Button dies to make the the flower using felt from the Mellow Yellow collection - all from The Cat's Pajamas!

Hope to see you around the hop! Have a great day!

Cardstock:  Harvest Gold, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink), White (Neenah), Patterned Paper:  Bo Bunny, Stamps; Fun in the Sun (The Cat's Pajamas), Ink:  Tangelo, Black (Memento), Chartreuse (Palette), Accessories:  Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), rhinestones (Kaiser), Scallop punch (SU!), Flower die, Button Flower die, Divine Twine, felt (The Cat's Pajamas)

Bunny Birthday!

Happy Monday!  It's Kitchen Sink Stamps day too - yea!  I have a great friend who is having a birthday today so I made this thinking of her (whether it ever actually gets mailed or not . . . yikes I'm bad!!).  I used 3 Step Honey Bunny from Kitchen Sink Stamps and FTL #103 for the sketch.  I love pairing the amazingly details KSS images with a CAS sketch - I think it lets the stamps shine as the "star of the show!"

Here are my ink recipes:

Grass - Step 3 - New Leaf (Papertrey Ink), Step 2 - Bamboo Leaves (Memento), Step 1 - Pear Tart (Memento)
Bunny - Step 4 - Rich Cocoa (Memento), Step 3 - Latte (Adirondack), Step 2 - Adirondack (stamped off), Step 1 - Dessert Sand (Memento)

It's a quick one for me today - we're starting school today!! We got our books last week and my children are so anxious to start school I figured, why now!  We go on vacation next week but that's the beauty of homeschooling - we make our own schedule!  Please visit the rest of the KSS Crew today and don't forget to use coupon code JULIE10KSS for 10% off whenever you order from Kitchen Sink Stamps!  Have a great day!

Cardstock:  Spring Moss, White (Papertrey Ink), Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Stamps: 3 Step Honey Bunny (Kitchen Sink Stamps), Ink:  New Leaf, Hibiscus (Papertrey Ink), Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart, Dessert Sand, Rich Cocoa, Black (Memento), Latte (Adirondack), Accessories:  Ribbon, Button, Twine (Papertrey Ink), rhinestones (Kaiser), Corner Rounder punch, foam adhesive

TCP Tuesday (on Wednesday)

Sorry I haven't been very consistent with posting lately.  Last week I broke the 3rd power cord I've had for my laptop (in 3 years!).  Since then I've had to jockey with my children for use of the PC and since the computer is downstairs in our house I don't spend much time on it late at night.  Ok, enough excuses . . . hopefully I'll have a new cord by next week!

This week's TCP Tuesday is a color challenge by my friend Joanne - great colors!  I hadn't inked up this adorable set yet, Ship Happens - ha! from The Cat's Pajamas but what fun it was!  I was in the mood to paper piece I guess because almost every element of this image was pieced and/or cut out. One of my favorite parts is the tiny little newsprint paper hats - cracks me up! :) (If you click on the photo you'll get a much better view of it!)

I used the new Birch wood paper for the tea cup "boat" adding some color with a Copic marker - love the wood grain!  I also used the new Wave Cut-Ups die and the Buttons die along with some felt from the Singing the Blues felt collection (the felt is soooo yummy!!).  Phew - that's a lot of yummy new-ness! :)  Of course, I had to throw in some Divine Twine and it seemed appropriate to make another Sailor's Knot which is so fun to do!!

Oh and you might notice a certain napping kitty in the background of my photos??  Our cat, Oki has taken a liking to my light box and was so lazily lounging that I decided to let him stay for the photo shoot - although the pics didn't turn out very well - I think it was hard to balance the dark blue of the waves with the lighter colors of the box and cat.  Sorry about that - I'll try taking a better one in the morning!

Be sure to check out the details for TCP Tuesday on Alma's blog and a leave a link to your card if you play along!  There's also a TCP Customer Blog Hop going on that I plan on joining so I better get making another card - have a great night!

Cardstock: Birchwood Paper (The Cat's Pajamas) Kraft, Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Patterned Paper:  October Afternoon, Stamps: Ship Happens (The Cat's Pajamas), Ink: Memento, Accessories:  Divine Twine, Dark Blue felt (The Cat's Pajamas), Copic markers, Tools:  Nestablities (Spellbinders), Wave Die, Button Die (The Cat's Pajamas)

Whee!

Last week's Wednesday Stamp Club challenge in the MFT forum on Splitcoaststampers is a sketch. I love sketches, don't you? I pulled out this adorable Pure Innocence girl that I haven't used in a bit and my Echo Park papers, you're not sick of seeing those yet are you? I just love the bright, fun colors and designs - so summery!

This sweet set, Start the Day With Whee makes me smile!   As you can see (if you look at the sketch) I flipped the sketch so I was able to add some fun clouds (made with MFT's Die-namics Cloud Trio) to use a the the corner element.  I added a bit of glitter to the edge of my vellum clouds - sort of the silver lining you know! :)

Hope you are having a great week!! Baby O had a follow-up to his surgery yesterday, everything is healing up fine and he got a shorter, much less bulky cast which is great!! He can crawl now!

Cardstock: Kraft, Vellum (Papertrey Ink), White Perfect Panel (My Favorite Things), Rose Red (SU!), Patterned Paper: Echo Park, Stamps: Start the Day With Whee (My Favorite Things), Ink: Memento, Accessories: Cloud Trio Die-Namic (My Favorite Things) Ric Rac dies, Vintage Buttons (Papertrey Ink), sewing machine, Copic markers, Glitter (SU!), Foam adhesive

Ruff Day?

It's Kitchen Sink Stamps Monday again - those weeks roll around quickly don't they? :)  A lot of my friends (and I'll include myself here) have been having some stressful days lately - nothing too bad mind you but it seems like a lot of us could use a day or two away.  Since that's not likely to happen, how about a cute card to lift some spirits?

This adorable set, Multi-Step Kittens and Pup from Kitchen Sink Stamps is perfect!  Who wouldn't smile at that adorable little puppy face?  My ink recipe for the dog was (all Memento unless otherwise noted):

Step 4 - Black, Step 3 - Rich Cocoa, Step 2 - Latte (Adirondack), Step 1 - Dessert Sand

The layout is rather simple, but I love the mix of colors and dots.  All it really needed was a bit of stitching and that adorable sentiment!

Please visit the rest of the KSS Crew today, I'm sure they have beautiful things to behold!  Have a great week my friends!

Cardstock:  Kraft, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), White (Gina K Designs), Patterned Paper: Bitty Dot Collection, Dotty Biscottti (Papertrey Ink), Stamps: Multi-Step Kittens & Pup (Kitchen Sink Stamps), Ink:  Black, Rich Cocoa, Dessert Sand (Memento), Latte (Adirondack), Accessories:  Nestabilities (Spellbinders), sewing machine, Ribbon (Papertrey Ink), foam adhesive

Tiffany's Doodles Challenge #3

It's the 7th of the month and time for another great challenge from Tiffany Doodles!  This month we will do another theme challenge.  Create a card using any flower you'd like!!  You may use any stamp you like for this challenge! There are all kinds flower digi stamps at Tiffany Doodles!  There are also tons of freebies for inspiration! You have until the end of the month, Aug 31, to play! Please add your link (directly to your card post) to the bottom of this post using Inlinkz.

Don't forget to add your card to the Tiffany Doodles Flickr Gallery - (only if you use a Tiffany Doodles digi stamp)  Tagged with: TD03,  You have 4 chances to win up to 7 digis of your choice from Tiffany Doodles!

Ok, for my card I used the beautiful Zinnia Petals with Blossom stamp.  The cool thing about this is that you get both just the Zinnia and the Zinnia inside the Blossom shape which coordinates with the Blossom Nestabilities!  I love zinnias, they are such a beautiful flower!  So I had lots of fun coloring up this beauty!

Please take a few minutes to visit the Tiffany Doodles blog as well as the rest of the DT members, they all have BEAUtiful flowers to show you today!  Can't wait to see what you come up with!!

• Tiffany Doodles
• Tiffany Richards
• Cammy Wall
• Cindy Lee
• Deirdre Horgan
• Donna Mikasa
• Julie Masse
• Kathy Racoosin
• Kim Schofield
• Lindsay Amrhein
• Peet Roeven
• Ruby McGuire
• Shannon Neparko
• Vanessa Menhorn
• Virginia Lu

Cardstock:  Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink) White (Neenah), Patterned Paper: Bitty Dot Collection, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink), Stamps: digi-Zinnia Petals with Blossom (Tiffany Doodles), Text Style II, sentiment from Vintage Picnic sentiments (Papertrey Ink), Ink: Memento, Accessories:  Berry Sorbet ribbon, leaf dies from Delightful Dahlias dies (Papertrey Ink), rhinestone (Zva Creative), sewing machine, Copic markers, Blossom Nesetabilities die (Spellbinders)

A Wedding!

Some friends of our from church are getting married tonight.  I am so looking forward to a wonderful night out.  It's been quite a while since I've been to a wedding and I just know it will be beautiful!  I actually had a small part in it - I made the invitations.  When the bride asked me to help her make invitations we initially talked about a different "theme" but when that got put aside and she said elegant, romantic and pink I knew exactly what to do!

This beautiful stamp set is from Innovative Stamp Creations.  If you have never seen their products you really should go have a look!  They have the most beautiful nature-themed stamps as well as beautiful images and background stamps.  They have been a generous donor at some of our past Stamping Around events and they located here in New England.  This set is Delicate Roses and my favorite stamp is the large rose background stamp, it's gorgeous!!

So, this is what I came up with.  The bride loves pink so we went with pink shimmer paper - it's so lovely!!  I stamped the rose background on Vintage Cream cardstock and then printed the invitation on vellum cardstock using a sepia code for the ink color.  I stamped and embossed the small rose image in pink on the top of the vellum layer - I love how it peeks through the shaped edges of the gatefold!  The ribbon - oh the ribbon is to die for! It's from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  It's 1.25" silk ribbon, just dreamy! 

The response card was fairly simple, just a piece of cardstock which was printed and then stamped with the rose background.  I also made table number cards and placecards but don't have pictures of those.  I'm pretty sure she liked everything and I'm pretty sure she's looking forward to tonight! :)  Have a wonderful day my friends!!

Cardstock:  Pink Shimmer, Vintage Cream, Vellum Cardstock (Papertrey Ink), Stamps: Delicate Roses (Innovative Stamp Creations), Ink:  Angel Pink (Memento), Accessories:  Silk Ribbon (May Arts), Pink embossing powder

Cruising . . .

Good morning all!  Did you see this adorable set from My Favorite Things when it was released several weeks ago (sorry, I can't seem to find it on the site to link it up!)??  I just love the fun Mini Cooper and the girl is so sassy and cute!  I had to use my fun Echo Park dp for this and make a nice bright yellow Mini with fun upholstered seats!

There's so much here that the camera just doesn't pick up - the Glossy Accents on the windshield, the Clear Glaze pen on her sunglasses and the racing stripe at the bottom of the car, the clear Stickles on the headlights . . .it's all there and so fun!  I made a fun rolled flower with some of the dp and then backed it with a Cut-Up flower from The Cat's Pajamas, they seemed to work well together! :)

Hope you're having a great week!

Cardstock:  Soft Sky (SU!), Yellow (Gina K Designs), Berry Sorbet (Papertrey Ink), White (Perfect Panel - MFT), Patterned Paper:  Echo Park, Stamps: My Favorite Things, Ink: Memento, Accessories:  Felt, Flower Cut-Up (The Cat's Pajamas), Glossy Accents, Stickkles (Ranger), Brad (Hedgehog Crafts), Copic markers, Nestabilities, sewing machine, Clear Glaze pen, foam adhesive, Cuttlebug embossing folder (Provo Craft), Glitter (SU!)

School Days

Yikes, has it really been since 5 days since I posted??  Funny how some weeks just slip by with little crafty time!  Actually, I did have to finish up one project for some friends' wedding which reminds me I need to post the invitations at some point!

But today is Kitchen Sink Stamps Monday and I have a little school-themed card today.  I've been looking at lots of school books lately, getting ready to order this year's curriculum so school seems to be right around the corner.  I used Multi-Step School Days from KSS which is filled with lots of wonderful images and sentiments.   This sentiment paired up with the great ruler image is so fun!!

I stamped the ruler using Step 3 - Rich Cocoa (Memento), Step 2 - Rich Cocoa (stamped off), Step1  - Crushed Curry (stamped off -SU!)

The books used Step 3 - Rich Cocoa, Step 2 - Rich Cocoa (stamped off), Step 1 - Dessert Sand (Memento)

Remember to visit the rest of the KSS Crew today - they're sure to have something fabulous!  And if you live in Texas and want to attend the next KSS workshop be sure to check out Maria's blog soon for the details.

Angela • Connie • Lisa • Lynn • Makiko • Maria

Cardstock:  Kraft, Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink), Baja Breeze (SU!), Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Stamps (Multi-Step School Days (Kitchen Sink Stamps), Ink:  see above, Accessories:  Twill tape (SU!), large scalloped die, Vitage Buttons (Papertrey Ink),