February DT Blog Hop

Paper smooches new stamp release.  Check it out!

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2014

February DT Blog Hop

It's Pep Rally week and we are here today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches March/April release with you!  FOUR new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase at midnight on March 5th (eastern time) (12:01 am on March 6th) You will find our new releases HERE

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! 

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog
• The prize - a $25. gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win!  (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes) 
• You have until midnight MT on Sunday, March 2nd to leave a comment. 
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, March 3rd to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.

Ashley Marcu

Betsy Veldman

Emily Leiphart

Erin Lincoln

Heidi Van Laar

JJ Bolton

Kalyn Kepner

Karolyn Loncon

Kim Kesti

Laura Bassen

Laurie Schmidlin

Mou Saha 

Pamela Ho 

Summer Fullerton

Teri Anderson

Wendy Sue Anderson

To increase your chances of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop
• Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog)

WPlus9: Birthday Celebration Trend Watch

Today I decided to try a challenge over on the  Wplus9 Birthday Celebration: Trend Watch blog.  I only own 2 of their stamp sets (Fanciful Feathers and Fresh Cut Florals), so I decided to try some of the trends that are showing up on a lot of blogs as of late.
My card starts with a pale yellow base in which I added a purple 4x5.5 piece of cardstock.  Using white embossing paste, I placed 4 curvy lines to the middle of the card stock. Set it aside to dry for about 1 hr.  I then white embossed the different feathers that are included in the stamp set on different colors of cardstock and fussy cut them out.  Using a sentiment from the Fresh Cut Florals, again I white embossed on the base. Added a few pieces of bling and there you have it.  The hardest part was to get a picture of good quality.  We are having some more snow (weather channel says 10-12 inches by morning), so it is gray and dark.  Thank you for visiting.

Simon Says Stamps: Wednesday Challenge Blog

Well I thought I'd enter my card for the Simon Says Stamps: Wednesday Challenge Blog.  We are to use Kraft card stock and also use Memory Box Dies if you own any.  My card today uses Neenah Desert Storm Card Stock as the base of my card.  I also used another piece cut 4x5 in which I used Tim Holtz's embossing folder Woodgrained.  For the vase, I used the apothecary jar die from Memory Box and diecut it out using Neenah Solar White card stock.  I colored the vase using a metallic pen in platinum from Office Max then covered the whole vase with Ranger's Glossy Accents.  For the greenery, used a die cut from CC Designs: small leaves.  The sprigs are Memory Box Diecuts called Large Sprigs.  I too colored them with copic markers in greens.  For the flowers, another Memory Box Die called Fancy Blossoms.  Colored them with another metallic pen from Office Max in purple.  Added some black gems from Simon Says Stamps to the centers.  The card base was blended with Distress Ink in Walnut Stain.  Used some pop up dimensionals to raise the vase then tucked all the greenery behind the opening.  My sentiment was white embossed on black cardstock using Hero Arts Everyday Sayings.  Happy the way this came out.  Will be a great card to give to my sister in law who is undergoing chemotherapy for stage 4 Melanoma.  I hope this brightens her day.  Thank you for visiting.

Welcome Post

February 15, 2014

Well I finally did it.  Creating a blog that is.  I have been wanting to create a blog for around 2 years now and I took the plunge.  I am sure it will take me awhile to learn all the ins and outs to get around blogland and am looking forward to sharing my crafty things with the world.                                                                            I got into stamping and crafting around 15 years now when one on my nurse friend (Laurie McLean), introduced me to Stampin Up! back in 1999.  We worked the night shift together and she would bring her supplies in to make cards, gift boxes, mixed media etc.  I was invited to a party and I got hooked. I joined her club where we got together once a month, played with new product from the catalog, and ordered a few goodies each month.  I was amazed at all the techniques and different ways to use stamps.  The best part was I always had cards in my arsenal to give to family and friends.  Yep, I can't tell you the last time I bought a card from the store.  So my journey began. Cheers to you and me while I take this journey to the next chapter of my life to share a few things I find inspirational.  Happy for your visit as well.