CDS Sneak Peek - Fashionably French

Welcome back for the very last day of the Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks. I hope that you have enjoyed yourselves so far! Today I have this lovely set illustrated by Shawne Arnold called Fashionably French to show you. For a complete peek at the set, please visit the Clearly iStamp blog.



This crazy card started out at a 5 1/2" square card using the new Cosmo Cricked Material Girl Mini Deck an was severely transformed into a 4 1/4" square note pad using scraps from my bin. How did this happen? Well, I'm not really sure of that myself! lol

This was the card that I cut up so many different pieces of DP for and then decided that they didn't have the look that I was going for so they got tossed into the scrap bin. Then I found some scraps to replace them with ;) I water coloured the image with my tombow dual brush markers and a water brush, then cut it out and stacked it to make it dimensional as usual. I pieced together the fancy designs around the image with my spellbinders dies and just cut some pieces out and tossed the rest. I was able to find a matching button an a brad that was shaped like scissors to finish off the card and stuck in a few sewing stick pins to boot....and stabbed myself with them too! Ouch! Those little buggers are sharp! I recommend not trying that at home ;)




Thanks coming to take a lookie at my card and be sure to pop by the blogs below to see what the rest of the girls have in store for you :)

Angela Thomas
Tricia Traxler
Cassie Trask
Linda Anderson
Laurie Wilson
Lori McCrosky
Linda Borneman
Nancy Grant
Katie Renz
Candy Fosta
Sarah Taylor
Trudy Sjolander
Wendy Hall
Tori Wild
Stacy Morgan

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Fashionably French
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Basic Grey DP, My Mind's Eye Dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Dies, Pop Dots, Metal Bangle Embellies, Button, Sponges, Crochet Lace, Taffeta Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Crystal Effects, Tombow Dual Brush Markers, Water Brush, Stick Pins, Scissors Brad, Corner Rounder

CDS Sneak Peek - Charlie Bee Happy

Thanks for joining me again! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about then please scroll on down to the next post). The set that I'm showing off now is called Charlie Bee Happy and it's illustrated by the incredibly talented Laurie Wilson. I just love all of her Charlie images and I literally jumped out of my chair when I saw this set. How could anyone not have a smile on their face seeing Charlie in his bee costume? lol



For this sample I did things a little differently. I altered a journal and used Charlie as the main feature - he added some much needed whimsy :) For Charlie himself, I water coloured him with my tombow markers and water brush, then I sponged on the sky and then I added grass and extra shading around his body with my prisma colour pencil crayons and OMS. I have been playing around with my pencil crayons lately and really like the extra effects that I can achieve with them.

I paired up the image with some of my scraps to create this patchwork-ish journal cover. To finish off dear Charlie, he's now sporting some lovely sparkly wings and the journal was gussied up with some brads to coordinate. I really love how this project turned out and thought that Charlies was the perfect horse for the job *giggle*

To see what the rest of the girls have been up to please visit the links below. All of the stamps shown today will be available on April 1st from Clear Dollar Stamps.

Angela Thomas
Tricia Traxler
Cassie Trask
Linda Anderson
Laurie Wilson
Lori McCrosky
Linda Borneman
Nancy Grant
Katie Renz
Candy Fosta
Sarah Taylor
Trudy Sjolander
Wendy Hall
Tori Wild
Stacy Morgan

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Charlie Bee Happy
Paper: Black, Water Colour, K&Co DP, Cosmo Cricket DP, October Afternoon DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Mustard, Garden Green
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Sponges, Journal, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Prisma's and OMS, Brads, Stickles

CDS Sneak Peek - Bless My Bloomers!

Welcome back for day 2 of the Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks! I have 2 treats to show you today and the first one up on the block is my other newest set called Bless My Bloomers :) This is a set of 22 stamps that is perfect for the gardener in you life as the upcoming Mother's Day season. It has some fun loving sentiments in it as well as the all important...Bless my bloomers...I missed your birthday! For all you ladies that have been asking for a "belated" sentiment stamp, this set is just for you ;) To see a picture of the set in it's entirety, please visit the Clearly iStamp blog.



Can you tell yet that I'm really proud of this set? I love how the images worked really well mixed and matched together. For example, you can put the gardening tools, heart flowers and blossoms in either the terra cotta pot or the watering can. The possibilities are endless! Ok, now I can get off my pedestal and actually tell you how the card is made *grin*

The colours in the image were inspired by this wicked fun Cosmo Cricket mini deck called Garden Variety (CDS now carries it in case you were wondering). I got the papers in the mail and broke out this stamp set the very same day - a match made in heaven! The image itself has been water coloured multiple times with my tombow markers and a water brush. I then cut out all the layers and popped them up on dimensionals to make it 3D. I sponged in the blue for the background and paired the papers with the grey card stock to tie in with the watering can. All of the designer paper has been run through my cuttlebug to add texture, sponged and then sewn in place.



I can't wait for you all to see the wonderful samples that the girls have come up with from all the sets being shown off today. I will be previewing another card a little later this afternoon and you won't want to miss this one! Have fun visiting the blogs below and we will catch you later...

Angela Thomas
Tricia Traxler
Cassie Trask
Linda Anderson
Laurie Wilson
Lori McCrosky
Linda Borneman
Nancy Grant
Katie Renz
Candy Fosta
Sarah Taylor
Trudy Sjolander
Wendy Hall
Tori Wild
Stacy Morgan

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Bless My Bloomers
Paper: Gina K, Grey, Water Colour, Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Baja, Frayed Burlap
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Sponges, Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensionals, Tombow Dual Brush Markers, Water Brush, Button, Taffeta Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Scallop Edge Punch

CDS Sneak Peeks - Doodlebug and Heartfelt Sentiments

Welcome to day one of the Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks for the April stamps! Today I have one of my newest sets to show you and a clean and simple card that I made with another soon to be released set.

The first card is from a set called Doodlebug (one of my newest) and he's a bug with some artistic flare! He comes equipped with a paint brush and palette. Talk about a prepared little fellow! He has been water coloured with my tombow markers and water brush and popped up on pop dots for some dimension. I added some grass with my prisma color pencils and odorless mineral spirits and added some sponged sky to complete the main image.




The second card of the day is from a new set called Heartfelt Sentiments. I went with a clean and simple one layer card because I wanted to challenge myself. Usually I'm terrible about leaving any white or blank areas on a card but I'm rather pleased with how this turned out! And talk about easy :) I should really try CAS cards more often!

Both of these sets will be available on April 1st from Clear Dollar Stamps and if you are interested in seeing a sneak peak of the whole set, then please pop by the Clearly iStamp blog. Lori has an amazing announcement in yesterday's post regarding some new product that she will be carrying as well - I will give you a hint...it involves paper in some very exclusive colours....and more! You won't want to miss that announcement!

There are so many wonderful samples being shown off today so if you get a chance swing on by the blogs below to see all the lovely creations that the ladies have waiting for you there:

Angela Thomas
Tricia Traxler
Cassie Trask
Linda Anderson
Laurie Wilson
Lori McCrosky
Linda Borneman
Nancy Grant
Katie Renz
Candy Fosta
Sarah Taylor
Trudy Sjolander
Wendy Hall
Tori Wild
Stacy Morgan

Doodlebug Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Doodlebug
Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, Imaginesce DP, 3 Bugs Dp
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ridinghood Red, Olive, Baja
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilites, Dew Drops, Sponges, Pop Dots, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Blender Pen, Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, Scallop Border Punch, Corner Rounder, Ribbon, Button, Linen Thread, Clear Embossing Powder

Heartfelt Sentiments Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Heartfelt Sentiments
Paper: Water Colour
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Ruler, Stamp-a-majig

TSG Sneak Peek - Poppies

Hi ladies! Welcome to the final day of the There She Goes sneak peeks and my first day participating ;) For those of you who don't know, I am a part time designer for There She Goes and therefore will only be participating in the sneak peeks with one card. I have to admit though, with this one card it sure was with a fabulous set!! If you are just starting this hop with me then please make your way to the TSG Blog and start from the beginning. If you have arrived here from Miss Jodi's blog, then you are in the right spot ;)




The set is called Poppies and it was illustrated by one of the newest illustrators for TSG, Chris Dark. It's a 4x8 realistic set with oodles of poppies to colour and a couple of sweet butterflies too. You even have a chance to win this set! All you have to do is visit all the Trendsetter blogs along the hop and leave a comment on their poppy card. Then visit the TSG Blog to leave your name in the Mr. Linky. One lucky commenter will win this gorgeous set! Good Luck!



For this card I water coloured the poppies and butterfly with my Tombow Markers and water brush. I then cut out everything and popped it up on dimensionals to make it 3D. I used a few different Spellbinders dies to create this look and sponged some frayed burlap ink onto the embossed raised parts. I added a sponged back drop for the poppies and finished off the card with some fabulous taffeta ribbon and some elegant pearls.




Now that you have seen my card, you are off to visit the lovely Lisa Henke over at My Little Creative Escape. Have fun and don't forget to leave some love along the way ;)



Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Poppies
Paper: Gina K, Suede, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye DP, Basic Grey DP, Kaiser Kraft DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Frayed Burlap, Mustard, Chocolate
Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Dies, Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Tombow Dual Brush Markers, Water Brush, Pearls, Sponges, Pop Dots, Corner Rounder

A Pre-cial card for Nicholas

I know that I really can't spell so I'll bet that you all are just shaking your heads at the title of this post aren't you? Yep. I knew it ;) But really pre-cial is a word that is used everyday in this household. It kind of goes like this..."Taiton! Don't touch that, it's pre-cial!!!" The little person that commonly uses those words is none other that my 4 year old little sweetie Ashlynn. Pre-cial, came about as a combination of precious and special and she merged the two words together to describe all of her gifts given to her this last Christmas by Santa :)

So now let me tell you the story of how this card came about. The other day Ashlynn got an invite to a birthday party for one of her preschool classmates. But this little fellow named Nicholas isn't just any little guy. He's very pre-cial to Ashlynn. These two little characters have been joined at the hip since September to the point that the teachers were actually setting up playdates for them on the weekends! Yes, at the ripe old age of 4, my daughter was giving her phone number out to a boy! ;)

Together, Nicholas and Ashlynn are quite the sight to see. Their faces actually light up at the near mention of each other and Nicholas patiently waits beside the door for Ashlynn to make her arrival at the school. They nuzzle each other and wait hand and foot on each other. They won't even move to different play areas from each other. I must say that Nicholas is such a cutie in a play apron pushing a dolly in a stroller. Did I mention that Ashlynn can be a little persuasive? lol

Because it's Nicholas's 5th birthday, Ashlynn asked me to make him a very pre-cial card. She picked the stamp set that I used (Monster Mash from CDStamps) and helped to pick out the colours. When I showed her what the card looked like she giggled and told me that Nicholas would never be scared of such a silly monster :) I think that this card fits her definition of pre-cial for a very special person :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps - Monster Mash

Paper: Gina K, Black, Water Colour, My Mind's Eye DP, K&CO DP

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Curry, Baja, Red, Teal

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Ribbon, Brads, Sponges, Pop Dots, Corner Rounder, Tombow Markers, Water Brush, Prisma Pencil Crayons, Odourless Mineral Spirits, Googlie Eye, Tombow Multi Adhesive

With a Flourish and a Flower

...you have a rather lovely simple yet elegant center piece for a card :) Today, I used one of the mini sets from There She Goes called Flourishes. This is the biggest flourish in the set and I used both my Peeled Paint and Pine Needle Ranger Distress Inks to ink it up and give it dimensional look.

The flower has been made out of saffron, pumpkin and rust card stock using some of the Punch Bunch paper punches and a stylus for shaping. Each layer was shaped, sponged with mustard ink and then glued together using my Tombow Multi Adhesive. I added a miniature pearl to finish off the center and so that the flower coordinated with the rest of the card.

This card was made for the Monday Challenge issued on the There She Goes blog by Sr. Trendsetter Sandra McLean. The challenge was Yellow Spring Flowers and was to use the colour yellow on a card with flowers (the flowers do not have to be yellow). Spring is in the air and the girls at There She Goes would like to see your creations using this challenge! If you choose to participate (and we hope that you do) don't forget to upload your creation to the There She Goes blog under the Mr Linky :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Flourish

Paper: Gina K, Suede, Basic Grey DP, My Mind's Eye DP, K&Co DP

Ink: Ranger Distress Ink - Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Mustard, Rust, Frayed Burlap

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nestabilities and Borderbilities, Sponges, Pop Dots, Ribbon, Pretties, Kit, Mini Pearls, Punch Bunch Paper Punches, Stylus, Tombow Multi, Corner Rounder

Loads of Fun!

I am a demented woman! Last night when I realized that I forgot to check the mail and that there was a possibility of new stamps waiting for me all lonely like in my deep, dark postal receptacle, I did what any stamper would do...I dragged my sick kiddos with me to retrieve these delicious stamps! My poor Ashlynn threw up all over the sidewalk, and fell on the way there so the 2 minute walk was a little more exciting than usual! Poor thing...what a girl won't ask her kids to do in order to get inky! (I should explain that she had a coughing attack and has a very sensitive gag reflex. - You know that cough that you get at the end of a cold...yep, it was that ;)

Ok so now that I have made you all realize where my priorities apparently are and grossed you all out, lets get to these fun stamps shall we? This is one of the newer sets from There She Goes called Loads of Love and I paired it up with my delicious new Cosmo Cricket Material Girl designer papers from Clear Dollar Stamps. You guys will have to bear with me as I step out my my designer paper box and experiment with some wild papers! lol

The laundry basket was water coloured with tombow markers and a water brush and then cut out and popped up on dimensionals. I places the image on a background that was sponged and added some extra shading with my prismacolor pencil crayons and OMS (another thing that I am experimenting with).

If you get a chance, please pop by the There She Goes blog and check out what the rest of the Trendsetters have been up to. Blogger still won't allow me to post URL links, but when I can I will add all the DT to my sidebar so I don't have to send you guys all over the web on a wild goose chase ;)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: There She Goes - Loads of Fun

Paper: Gina K, Suede, Water Colour, Cosmo Cricket Material Girl (Clear Dollar Stamps)

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Burlap, Vintage Photo

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Sponges, Tombow Markers, Waterbrush, Corner Rounder, Prismacolor Pencil Crayons, OMS, Clear Embossing Powder

Thank you cherry much!

Aren't these cherries so sweet? I have conveted this set from My Favorite Things for sometime and finally got around to ordering it a month or two ago and this is the first time that this set has seen ink! It seems that when ever I order some new goodies, I don't have time to play with them when I actually do get them! I think I'm going have to assume the title of stamp collecter soon ;) lol

This little note card was made for the SC269 sketch on Feb 23rd and I totally forgot to post it to my blog. I used some of my new October Afternoon papers on it and combined them with some K&Co scraps of blue paisley paper. Then cherries have been water coloured with my tombow markers and then added some crystal effects for some glossy fruit perfection ;)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: My Favorite Things - Feelin' Fruity

Paper: Gina K, Suede, Water Colour, October Afternoon Farm Fresh DP, K&Co DP

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Antique Linen

Accessories: Sewing Machine, Cuttlebug and Embossing Folders, Spellbinders Nesabilities, Dew Drops, Taffeta Ribbon, Button, Linen Thread, Glue Dots, Crystal Effects, Corner Rounder, SAB Scallop Punch, Tombow Markers and Blender Pen, Water Brush. Sponges, Pop Dots, Stickles