CDS Sneak Peek - Woodland Critters

It's the very last day for April Sneak Peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps and I have the totally cute Woodland Critters set. I wanted to create a sweet little "scene" so I hand drew the tree stump, coloured it and then traced the lines with my glue pen and added clear embossing powder. I heat set it so that it looked the same way the the fox did.




The fox has been paper tole'd and the grass was cut out with my craft knife in 3 different shades of papers to add the look of dimension. Laurie challenged use to use one larger letter on our card so I tried my hand at mixing the Woodland Critter's Foxy sentiment with the Upper Case "F" from the Monogram set. I added some paper piercing to balance the card up and for some more texture :)




Before I end this post I would like to extend a warm welcome to 2 new Sneak Peek Design Team Members: Cassie Trask and Angela Thomas. They both will bring so much to the team with their various talents! Welcome Ladies :) Feel free to pop by the links below to see the rest of the April 1st Sneak Previews:

Laurie Wilson
Lori McCroskey
Linda Borneman
Candy Fosta
Tori Wild
Monique Hawrelluk

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Woodland Critters & Monograms
Paper: PTI White, Watercolour, Crate Paper DP, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Old Olive, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cloud Stencil, Corner Rounder Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Buttons, Linen Thread, Sponges, Dimensionals, Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Mat Pack and Piercing Tool

CDS Sneak Peek - Sunflower Songs

I want Spring! I want Summer! I want warmer weather...so I created this :) Today is day 3 of the Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks and I have a new set called Sunflower Songs (available April 1) to show you.

Many of you know that I like to create little scenes with my stamps, but here is one on a slightly bigger scale. This card is 5 1/2" square and I have used the entire card front for my sunflower patch.


The stamp set actually comes as a two-step stamping style, but I chose to watercolour the sunflowers and paper tole them. I added brown buttons to the center with linen thread for more of a country look, to go with my rough looking picket fence. The picket fence was done with a faux woodgrain technique and the stems and leaves on the sunflowers are a Sizzix Leaf Die.



I love this sentiment and it works so well with this set :) It's supposed to look like a little sign and is nestled in a bed of paper grass. The grass was created by using my craft knife and self healing mat to quickly slice up the edges - very easy with an effective look :)

There is more CDStamps sneak peeks going on today so be sure to pop by these blogs to take a peek at every one's creations:

Laurie Wilson

Katie Renz
Linda Borneman
Lori McCroskey
Candy Fosta
Monique Hawrelluk

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Sunflower Songs
Paper: PTI White, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Misc Designer Paper Scraps
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White Craft, Old Olive, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Sizzix Leaf Die, Craft Knife, Embossing Folders, Sponges, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Folders, Buttons, Linen Thread,Aqua Painter & Re-Inkers

CDS Sneak Peek - Charliene April Showers

Welcome to day 2 of the Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks! Today I have a brand new Charliene stamp set to show you called April Showers. When I first saw this set I HAD to have it! She's so adorable and come complete with a puddle, rubber ducky, rain drops and some really sweet sentiments :)

I picked these pretty papers to go with the a very easy colour combo DT challenge of using any shades of pinks and greens on a card. Since this image is a super fun one and the papers are whimsical I decided to add a thick coat of Lime Green Stickles to the olive cardstock matting. Whoa, does this card shine! *grin*



I {heart} this sentiment from the set and it was a perfect fit for my 1 1/4" circle punch center :) All of my images have been watercoloured with various SU Re-Inkers and an Aqua Painter. I have used 2 different colours of Stickles (Lime for the matting and Crystal for the accents on the puddle) and the puddle has a coat of crystal effects on it.

We have more sneak peeks happening today so please pop by the blogs below to check them out! Happy clicking :)

Laurie Wilson
Katie Renz
Tori Wild
Lori McCroskey
Candy Fosta

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Charliene April Showers
Paper: PTI White, Old Olive, Watercolour, Imaginisce DP, My Minds Eye DP, Scenic Route DP
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots and D'vine Swirls Embossing Folders, Mega Curvy Rectangle Spellbinder Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 Circle Punches, Lime Stickles, Sponges, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing Powder, Dew Drops, Aqua Painter & Re-Inkers

CDS Sneak Peek - Horse Poetry

Whoo Hoo! It's sneak peek time again at Clear Dollar Stamps! It's the last 4 days of the month and that means that I now get to show you what I have been working on :) Today I get to show you this gorgeous new set called Horse Poetry. The set consists of the horse main image and a handful of quotations :)



This send lends itself particularly well for all things western and country. I wanted to create a really rustic card without going too masculine so I created a faux woodgrain "frame" to really make my image the center of attention. I love how the card turned out! Perfect for Equestrian lovers.



I watercoloured the image and paper tole'd the horse and the foliage to make it pop out of the frame. The clouds have been sponged on with soft sky ink and then the images were placed on top of it. I made this card free of designer papers for the DT challenge that was issued to us. It was hard, and I did have to apologize profusely to my designer paper stash for ignoring them...but I think with time and maybe some counseling, they come to forgive me *grin*

To see some other sets and samples of what was released today, please pop by the blogs below:

Laurie Wilson

Tori Wild
Lori McCroskey
Candy Fosta
Monique Hawrelluk

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Horse Poetry
Paper: PTI White, Watercolour, More Mustard, Old Olive
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White Craft, Old Olive, Soft Sky
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttebug, Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Labels Nestablitities, Brads, Cloud Stencil, Sponges, Dimensionals, Distressing Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Aqua Painter & Re-Inkers

OCC - Colour Challenge with Chicken Soup

It's time for another challenge at Our Creative Corner. This week' s challenge was pick by yours truly and is a colour challenge. Are you ready ladies? Here are your colours: Bashful Blue, More Mustard, Not Quite Navy and a neutral of your choice. If you don't have those exact colours, don't fret! Simply choose colours that are similar and carry on with your fabulous creation :D



What came first, the chicken or the soup? *snicker* Sorry! I couldn't resist! I made this card with one of this season's new releases from Whipper Snapper Designs! This cute little fellow just happens to be one of Anna Wight's designs :)

Soooo, do you like this card? Wanna chance to win this card, and this one...oh and let's not forget this one? All you have to do is make a donation to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal to be entered in the non-raffle for a chance to win one of over 100 prizes! I donated a couple of my cards plus a stamp set and would love them to go to a generous person who is able to help out other's in need. For more info on how you can help please click here.




This Chicken Soup card has been watercoloured and paper tole'd. I coated the beak and cup n' saucer in crystal effects to give it a ceramic glazed feel and for added texture :) Let me tell you, over the past week I have been drinking a lot of this stuff! If you were by chance wondering where I have been since last Saturday, I was nursing my flu bitten kids back to health and in the meantime have been laid up with the flu bug myself! With 3 of us now on the mend my poor husband is down for the count! Hopefully all the germs will cease to exist soon!!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs- Chicken Soup
Paper: PTI White, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Watercolour
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue & Re-Inkers
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Corner Rounder Punch, Scalloped Edge Punch, Brads, Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Sponges

OCC - Sketch Challenge

It's a beautiful day for another challenge at Our Creative Corner :) I am today's host and it's a sketch challenge...I figured that you all needed a break after last week's Limited Supply Challenge *wink* You're going want to play along this week for sure because there is a giveaway!! Lori McCroskey, owner of Clear Dollar Stamps has generously donated this week's prize of $25 worth of the stamps of your own choosing :)




And since there is a big Clear Dollar Stamps prize being given away, I decided to use my CDS Thankful for You set. I paper tole'd the flowers and coloured the centers with my glitter pen so that they have the slightest of gold shimmer to it. The vase has been coated in a layer of crystal effects to give it a little bit of gloss and pizazz. *grin*



I wanted to show you my interesting ribbon treatment. I am always trying to think of different fun things to try on my cards and today's ribbon treatment was something of a happy mistake. The swirls are actually some of the long Spellbinder's Doodle Parts Dies that have been die cut, embossed and then sponged with close to cocoa ink. I was trying to arranged them on my card and it just started to look a little too busy, so I started giving them a haircut :) I arranged so that they looked like they were actually one die cut and then hid the cut off parts behind the layer of ribbon. I really wanted this card to be feminine, so I added the gemstone brad to the center of my metal filigree flower.



So now that you have seen my card and know that there is a lucrative giveaway, please check out what the OCC girls have put together for you :) For all the info on how to enter the contest please visit Our Creative Corner!

Jennifer Meyer
Laurie Schmidlin
Cindy Haffner
Silke Ledlow
Lori Boyd
Vicki Garrett
Jenny Gropp
Frances Bryne
Robin Willis
Loretta Lock

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Thankful for You
Paper: PTI White, Close to Cocoa, Watercolour, My Mind's Eye DP, Basic Grey DP
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Nestablilities and Doodle Part Dies, Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Aqua Painter, Re-Inkers, Dimensionals, Sponges, Ribbon, Filigree Brads, Gemstone Brads, Crystal Effects

Dirty Challenge - Caseing a Beginner

Once upon a very long time ago I made this card. Why am I bringing this up you ask? Well, once a month the Dirty Dozen along with the Dirty Dozen Alumni get together to participate in a challenge. This month we were challenged to a Featured Stamper Challenge, but the hitch was that we had to each feature ourselves! Oh, it gets better! The only restriction that we were given was that we had to case one of the cards that were our very first SCS uploads! *whistles* Scary stuff!




Now the whole point of this particular challenge is to show everyone that we all start out at paper crafting somewhere and to show how we have "grown" in our abilities over the years. The problem was that most of us wanted to run with our tails between our legs because nobody wanted to dive into the deep dark depths of our beginning cards! lol But here I am rising above my embarrasement to proudly (go along with me here) display my card for all to see at the very top of my blog post! *snickers*




You can see in my case that I have changed the colours, added sewing, ribbon, paper tole and nixed the brads to choose pearls in it's place. I don't know about you, but this card looks a little more refined to me! I originally wanted to go crazy and change everything, but nooooo...somebody had to go and squash that theory and replace it with "you may do subtle changes to your card". Hmmph. So much for that idea! *wink*

***Edited to add*** - This card is an A2 Gatefold card. The belly band is a faux belly band and doesn't actually conect in the middle and neither does the ribbon. The image is only adheard to the right hand panel and stayes closed with a little magnetic closure. You open the card by lifting the left hand side of the image up :)

When I went to search my gallery for a card for this challenge I chose this one for a few reasons:

1. I don't own some of the stamps in my earlier uploads
2. I needed a maternity card
3. I made the original card for my brother and his now wife who just found out they were expecting (ahhh, memories)

But I have to say that the number one reason why I chose this card is that my brother and his wife just found out that they are expecting baby number 2 and I'm gonna give her this card to see if she even recognizes this from the original! Then I'm gonna ask her to bring out the original to compare it - let's make her sweat and see if she kept the card as a treasured keepsake! Bwahahaha!!


Card Recipe:

Stamps: Studio G Maternity Stamp
Paper: PTI White, Riding Hood Red, Watercolour, K&Co DP
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Creamy Caramel, Re-Inkers
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Corner Rounder Punch, Taffeta Ribbon, Half Pearls, Aqua Painter, Dimensionals, Sponges, Paper Piercing Tool and Mat Pack

Butterfly Sympathy and Announcement

Have you noticed along my sidebar a new little tag under Design Teams? If not, I am proud to announce that I am one of the newest members of the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Design Team!!!! This month's Dirty Dozen Gallery was released to the Fan Club members on March 15th and I just haven't had a chance to blog about all of the excitement until now. I've been busy with my sick kids and catching up on some housework that I had um, forgotten to do...yeah, that's it...forgotten. Not to be confused with "avoided" *grin*

Since I have finally been able to share my little secret that I have been guarding for what seems like a lifetime, I get to share with you a little something else. Remember way back when in the summer when I was the Featured Stamper on SCS? Well Cindy Motherway (Mothermark) had created this fabulous card for the challenge and mailed it to me with this note on the inside.




I have to say that I was so touched that Cindy put this in my card and that she thought that I was even talented enough to be a Dirty Girl! I have saved this note and proudly put in on display right next to her awesome card so that I could see it every day and hopefully reach that goal! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world because not only to I get to be a Dirty Girl, I also get to be on the team at the same time as Cindy (who wasn't Dirty Dozen at the time the note was written) :) Thanks for the inspiration and sweet, sweet words Cindy!

So after all that, I'll bet you're wondering where the butterfly sympathy card comes in? A few weeks ago I needed a sympathy card for my best friends parents. I decided to use my Beautiful Butterflies set from CDStamps because there is something soothing and peaceful about watching butterflies. I actually don't own any sympathy sentiments so I found this sentiment on the Internet and printed it onto the cardstock.



I love TheresaCC's gallery and used this card for inspiration. It had the perfect layout for what I was looking for and I adore the colours that she chose :) I didn't have a larger leaf stamp so I use the negative paper from the Sizzix Leaf Die to create a stencil for reverse masking using a sponge.



Well, I should probably end this post now as I have a dozing child leaning against my arm and it is getting considerably harder to type! *wink*

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies, Baroque Motifs (SU)
Paper: PTI White, Basic black, Bobunny DP, Watercolour
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, So Saffron, Re-Inkers
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges, Sizzix Leaf Die, Aqua Painter, Dimensionals, Computer Generated Sentiment

OCCC - Limited in Every Way....

It's Saturday today and that means another challenge for you at Our Creative Corner! This week's challenge was thought of none other than me and that means that you get to place all the blame right here! lol This week's challenge is a Limited Supply Challenge and the rules were to use a maximum of 3 layers of paper, 1 type of embellishment and your stamps (sentiments are optional). I'm a big 'ol meanie! Bwahahaha!




So let me just explain that when I thought of the challenge I figured that it was a great idea because everybody loves a good challenge right? Then I sat down to make up my sample and...um...well...it was harder than I thought it was going to be! lol This card actually took me longer to make than some of my other more detailed cards that have been paper tole'd and sewn on! Remind me never to post this kind of challenge again! lol

So are you wondering about my card? Let me explain my layers. The base of my card is watercolour paper that has been masked and then inked with Not Quite Navy ink to make it look like another layer of paper. The next layer is my designer paper that has been sponged like no other. I have sponged around the edges, masked, sponged and stamped the rectangle and then masked off the scalloped circle. I then cut out my inner circle with my nestabilities so that I would have a "window" that would show you my original base layer of watercolour paper. The flowers and butterfly have been stamped right onto my base layer, coloured and then sponged. I then glued my designer paper to my base. My third and final layer of paper is the popped up butterfly :)



You can see from this picture the slight colour variance from where the inks overlapped each other to create darker areas when I masked off the shapes. See this pretty bow? I learned how to make it from a very helpful tutorial that Kittie Caracciolo posted on her blog :) Thanks Kittie!
You can also tell by this photo that I added some raised lines around the perimeter of my designer paper with my score pal - such fun!

Are you ready to give this interesting challenge a try? You can stop by the OCC for all the details and you can see what the other girls made for you to feast your eyes upon here:

Jennifer Meyer
Laurie Schmidlin
Cindy Haffner
Silke Ledlow
Lori Boyd
Vicki Garrett
Jenny Gropp
Frances Bryne
Robin Willis
Loretta Lock

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps (Beautiful Butterflies), Inkadinkado, Essence of Love
Paper: Watercolour, Inque Boutique
Ink: Versa Mark, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestablilities, Taffeta Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Score Pal, Sponges, White Embossing Powder

And the Winner is...

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by to congratulate me on my blog hits and to enter into my little contest! I am thrilled that there was so much interest and so many comments! This has been so much fun :) I know that you are all waiting to hear who the big winner is so, here we go...

Search RANDOM.ORG

True Random Number Service

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

95 

Timestamp: 2009-03-13 01:55:22 UTC

....And comment number 95 belongs to...

emilie said...

great great great blogcandy,thanks for the chance to win!!!!congratulations on all your hits!I posted a lin on my sidebar.
greetings from holland
Emilie

March 7, 2009 1:24 AM

Congratulations Emilie!!! Please email me your address and I will get all of your goodies off to you tomorrow!! I hope that you enjoy all of your new stamps and that you love these companies as much as I do!! Please feel free to link your creations to one of my blog posts as I would love to see what maser pieces you have made with them :)

Thanks again to everyone who played along! Come back and visit me anytime :)

SC219 - A Bear for You

I purchased this stamp at a garage sale almost a year ago and it had never seen any ink from me up until tonight! I love this image and when I picked it up I immediately thought that it would make an adorable baby card :) Since I had a little bit of free time, I decided to participate in today's sketch challenge (SC219) over at SCS. It has been so long since I have done one and it feels great!



Since I know that there are a few babies coming along this year with friends and family, I decided to start my baby cards now! I am always making cards, but forever running behind on mailing them out...sigh...maybe one day I will get organized!


After looking at this whole card, I know what your thinking. "She made two A2 cards in a row! It's a miracle!" lol...Well, maybe you're not thinking that, but I sure am! It felt good to make one for the Mojo Challenge so I thought I would try my luck at another :) Speaking of Mojo Monday Challenges...I won!! Julee was giving away 8 sets this past week to celebrate the release of 8 new Verve sets and I was chosen as one of the winners!! I am soooo excited, and a little bit ashamed to admit...but this will be the first Verve set that I will have owned! Shhh, don't tell Julee! I have so many things that I *need* and I am ever so slowly working my way down the list of *must have* stamps :)

Just a reminder for those of you who haven't yet entered my blog candy in this post, I will be closing the entries on Thursday evening at 5:00 pm Pacific Time, so get your entries in now :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: PSX Bear
Paper: PTI White, Close to Cocoa, Watercolour, Basic Grey, Scenic Route
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Embossing Folders, Clear Embossing Powder, Aqua Painter, Re-Inkers, Twine, Button, Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Sponges, Dimensionals

OCC - Add a Doodle

This weeks challenge at the OCC is to add a doodle! Yes ladies, that does mean pull out some pens and start to scribble, or use a doodley stamp or a doodle chipboard...the possibilities are endless! We would love it if you would link your creation back to Our Creative Corner so that we can see your wonderful creations :) If you are uploading your card to SCS, then please use the letters OCCC in the keyword box so that it automatically loads into the OCC gallery there.



March usually brings change and it sure has at the OCC. Some of the girls have moved on to other commitments and we wish them the best of luck, but will miss them deeply :) With that said...we have some surprises for this month over at Our Creative Corner. We have welcomed 5 new girls to the design team! Please help me extend a warm welcome to the newest members of the OCC:

Vicki Garrett
Jenny Gropp
Frances Bryne
Robin Willis
Loretta Lock

Now for some info about my card :) I used my new stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs to make this card. I love this particular stamp because every time I look at it, he makes me laugh! The sentiment was computer generated and then cut out with my word window punch. I choose to use the sketch from this weeks mojo challenge and I actually made a regular A2 sized card! Whoa, nelly! I can't even remember the last time I made a card that size!

My main image is watercoloured and then the jar part was coated in crystal effects. I added some texture by embossing some of the designer paper, stitching with my sewing machine, adding eyelets and adding hemp twine with some knots for some fun.

Just a reminder about my 100,000 hit blog candy! If you haven't already entered to win it, you can do so here.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs
Paper: PTI White, Basic Grey CS, Basic Grey Granola DP, Watercolour
Ink: Basic Black, Versa Mark, Baja Breeze, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey, Bordering Blue
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Crystal Effects, Eyelets, Hemp Twine, Dimensionals, Sponges, Re-Inkers, Aqua Painter, Corner Rounder Punch, Word Window Punch, Computer Generated Sentiment

Whoo Hoo 100,000 Hit Blog Candy!!

***Edited to Add*** Thank you everyone for playing along. This blog candy has been closed and the winner's stamps are on their way :)

I am so excited to announce that I have recently had registered 100.000 hits on my blog counter!! So to thank all of you who read my blog, I am offering this bundle o' goodies :) I have decided to offer something with a little meaning behind it for this particular blog candy. Each of the stamp sets below have been specifically chosen from each of the companies that I have ever been a part of their design teams!!!

Here is what is up for grabs:

Whipper Snapper: Wanted

Artful INKables: Autumn Flowers

Our Daily Bread Designs: Guardian Angel

And because I am on the Clear Dollar Stamps Senior Design Team, I am offering alot of their fabulous stamps!

Clear Dollar Stamps:

Charlie Fenced In

Charliene Cowgirl

Charlie Snowhorse

Charlie Reindeer Games

Charlie Frolic

Charlie Horse

Charlie Baby

Charlie Autumn

Charlie Gets Giddy

Handstamped Angel Policy Howdy Charlie

Are you ready to find out how you can enter to all of these wonderful stamps? You can do so by posting a link to my this post on my blog and to tell all of your readers that I am celebrating with blog candy! Let's spread the joy! Once you do that please come on back here and leave a comment with your blog post that tells everyone about this blog candy! Clear as mud? Basically please link you comment to your blog post that tells everyone about my 100,000 hit celebration!

Please only one entry per person and if you don't have a blog, then just tell all of your stamping buddies :) I will use a random comment generator to draw the winner on Thursday, March 12th!

Good luck to you all and thank you so much for reading all of my blather! lol