Growing Breezes

Nobody fall over from shock – I made and posted and blogged a challenge card ALL on the actual day the challenge was posted! I know – right?!?!

My colors are from this week’s color combo challenge on Splitcoast. And my stamps are from Unity’s Growing in Unity set – how gorgeous is the tree??? I’m keeping this post short, because I am crazy sick and don’t want to give everyone my germs through the computer – yuck. But I do have some important announcements, so listen up:

• Tomorrow kicks off a new Cards for a Cause Challenge on Splitcoast,  so I’ll be posting the link for that 🙂
• Lizzie Anne Designs Fall Sneak Peeks start tomorrow, too – so don’t forget to check back over here because I have something DARLING to show you!!!

Stamps: Growing in Unity (Unity)

Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey dp

Ink: same as above

Accessories: Primas, brads, nesties, sponge

Wishing You Cupcakes

This is a birthday card I made for a friend. Pretty simple, and straightforward 🙂

The cupcake is stamped on the Naturals Ivory, and then stamped three more times on Fabriano Medioevalis watercolor paper. I colored and cut out three times the bottom half of it, and just layered them on top of each other. Then I colored the top twice, layered one on top of the Naturals Ivory, and popped the second one up on dimensionals. I’m please with the layot of this one – it has numerous possiblities!

Stamps: LAD Cupcake, Sketched Sentiments

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Natuals Ivory, Basic Grey (Phoebe)

Ink: Brown Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate, Green Galore

Accessories: primas, large brad, Nestabilities (oval, rectangular – plain and scalloped), paper piercer

Misted Manger

I used the Misting with Markers technique for this card – I like the way it turned out. Non tradtional colors for a Christmas card, I know. But they matched the manger scene, lol!

I left the card really simple, because I like the image used simply. I have absolutely fallen in love with Dew Drops – they are the perfect accent to every card!!

Stamps: LAD Silent Night

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, More Mustard, Cosmo Cricket dp, Naturals Ivory

Ink: Really Rust, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: SU Markers, Water bottle, hemp twine, jumbo eyelet, dew drops, sponge

Techniques: sponging

Simplicity

I love a good, simple card. Who doesn’t? I was over the moon when I dicovered Unity’s Gratitude=Joy set last week. Had to have it!

I used dp from American Crafts’ *Play* line – it is full of bold prints, which I adore. I figured I’d try hard to keep the card simple, both because of the sentiment and the *big* pattern on the paper.

Stamps: Gratitude=Joy (Unity)

Paper: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, American Crafts dp

Ink: Whisper White (craft)

Accessories: black prima, black brad, ticket corner punch

A Little Something for My Daughter

A while ago I went shopping with my mother in law at Michael’s, and we found THE most amazing sales. This little box was only $2.00 – can you believe that? We both got tons of other amazing deals. I love it when I come across a crazy good sale!

It did take a bit of work for me to turn it into this. The box came this creamy color, but everywhere it is now pink, it used to be green. I bought some acrylic paint in two different shades of pink, and used a foam brush to apply it. It took a few coats, but eventually it was all sorts of girlie!

I used Black Stazon ink to stamp images from Lizzie Anne Designs’ Once Upon a Time set. My daughter loves it, and it couldn’t be more appropriate – this box is a gift for her for her third birthday, which is Saturday the 27th. She’s been dying for a jewelry box of her own, and this seemed like the perfect idea to me!

I painted all of the images with Shimmerz paint – am I the last person on the planet to discover this wonderful product??? It is not easy to tell in the pictures, but they are all really glimmery and sparkly — I love it!

I’m really excited about giving this to her. She is going to be over the moon, I just know it! Of course, she has more than a few other things. But I just had to give her one handmade gift!

Appealing Daisies

I made this card on Thursday, with Scrappy Sunday in mind. The Ways to Use It Challenge was all about using silhouttes on your card – so it was the perfect excuse for me to ink up the new stamps I got from SU.

My striped cardstock is from a Prima collection, and I didn’t do a thing to it – no cutting, no trimming. It came out of the scrap box the perfect size! I never skew my main images, so this card was hard for me to put together!

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Inspired By Nature

Paper: Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Apricot Appeal, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, prima dp

Ink: Apricot Appeal, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss

Accessories: $1 spot brads, gg ribbon, sponge

Techniques: sponging

Triple Kiwi Cheer

I just love the Limited Supply Challenges over at Splitcoast. I really do. This week Wendy came up with a great one – check it out! I used the Holiday Cheer set from Lizzie Anne Designs. I rock ‘n rolled the trees in Kiwi Kiss and Close to Cocoa. Of course, there is an awesome tutorial on Splitcoast if you neeed a crash course in rockin and rollin’!

My small strips were created with a scrap piece of cardtosck – I didn’t really worry if I cut each one the same width or not. The brads were a $1 spot find at Target – I am for sure ging to look for more tomorrow!!

Stamps: LAD Holiday Cheer

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Kiwi Kiss

Accessories: SU Marker, brads, cuttlebug (snowflake folder)

Techniques: rock ‘n roll

Framed Manger

I made this using a $.50 frame I got at the Dollar Store. The manger scene is embossed in Dark Brown (SU, discontinued) EP, the star is embossed in Mustard (SU, discontinued). I paper pierced around the edges, and adhered the 2.5″ square piece onto a 3″ square piece of Chocolate Chip. Of course, because the frame was only $.50, the edges are not quite straight, lol. Oh well, it’ll make a great Christams gift for a family member!

Stamps: LAD Silent Night

Paper: Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: dark brown and mustard ep, paper piercer/mat pack, frame

Techniques: heat embossing

Shake Those Feathers, Baby!

Oh my stars I love this set. Ok, I love all of my Unity sets. And singles.  But really – how cute is this birdie? And his little sentiment???

I went with the color combo challenge for this card, and pulled out some Prima dp. I also decided to live dangerously and make a Tilt Card (tutorial on Splitcoast, of course!) – you should see this little guy’s tailfeathers in action! Instead of pennies, I used dimes, because the tail was a smidge to small for the pennies. But it really is too cute irl, when it tilts and rotates!

I dug out some old white fibers I knew I had in my stash – I figured they’d be perfect with the theme of this card. So *yay* for using up stuff I’ve had forever!

Remember to check the Unity Blog today — it is Hip HOP Thursday, so there will be deals galore!

Stamps: Hey Chick! (Unity)

Paper: Basic Gray, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Confetti White, Prima dp

Ink: Versafine Black, Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray, Always Artichoke

Accessories: reinkers, aquapainters, dimes, dimensionals, white fibers, white offray ribbon, cuttlebug (swiss dots), Marth Stewart edge punch

I Love So & So!!

I got this stamp free with my last Unity order, and wasn’t sure how much I’d use it. Well, now that I have used it once, I know I’ll be using it all the time! I love it!

I stamped the image in Brilliance Coffee Bean ink and heat set it. Then I watercolored it using an aquapainter, and River Rock and Baja Breeze reinkers. I LOVE the way it turned out – the variances in the trees look so realistic!

I distressed the edges of both panels, and sponged the edge of the River Rock one. I added some brown thread, handstiched, on the left side of the image. And then I left it at that — I love the image so much I didn’t want to fuss over it!

In case you haen’t figured it out, I am over the moon about Unity Stamps. I got another order delivered on Monday, and it is a pretty safe bet that I’ll be placing another order this Thursday. Wonder if there is a Unity Addicts Club?

Stamps: Unity Stamp Co. – So & So Loves

Paper: Baja Breeze, River Rock, non SU Watercolor

Ink: Brilliance Coffe Bean, River Rock, Baja Breeze (reinkers also)

Accessories: Brad, thread, 7 sided distresser tool

Silver Bethlehem

I can’t believe it is time to really start getting serious about holiday cards! To help me get going, I stocked up on a bunch of holiday sets from Lizzie Anne Designs. This one is from their July release, and it is called Silent Night. It is such a gorgeous set!

I stamped the main image in Encore Silver, and then out some silver ep on it and heat embossed it. I stamped the palm trees behind that image using Bordering Blue ink. It is hard to tell, but there is a small silver star in the upper left corner of the panel. The edges of the Bordering Blue panel and the So Saffron panel are distressed and sponged.

The sentiment is stamped in Encore Silver and I used the key tag punch to help set it off. It is also sponged, as is the card base itself. I off centered my image panels so I could add the large silver star on the left side of the card base. The finishing touch is the saffron ribbon threaded through the jumbo silver eyelet.

Stamps: LAD Silent Night

Paper: Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Bordering Blue

Ink:Encore Silver, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, NQN

Accessories:silver ep, gg ribbon, jumbo eyelet, key tag punch, 7 sided distresser tool

Techniques: sponging

Frog Princess – Scrappy Sunday II

For my second installment of Scrappy Sunday, I went to the box of smaller scraps I had. I managed to find a piece of Basic Grey that I didn’t have to cut at all – how perfect is that?  I made a very simple card, using the Lizzie Anne Designs set Once Upon a Time. I think this little frog is adorable!

The card is pretty self explanatory – not too many frills. I doodled the the “dot trails” on either side of the sentiment using an SU marker. I also colored the frog with SU markers.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Stamps: LAD Once Upon a Time

Paper: Naturals Ivory, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey dp

Ink: Brown Stazon

Accessories: gg ribbon, paper piercer, su markers, ticket corner punch

Part Two

This is my *more* version of my super simple Christmas card. It is still really simpe, because that it what I was going for, lol. But I wanted to add a little bit, and because of the lumps it will cost more to mail. If you saw the other one, you know that my goal was wo have a card that was easily reproducable and didn’t cost extra to mail out around the holidays.

On this one, I added the colored strips of paper that I Cuttlebugged, some dark brown eyelets, and a bit of dark brown twine. I also used some Liquid Applique on the snow for two of the buildings.

Stamps: LAD Holiday Lane

Paper: Kraft, Naturals Ivory, Always Artichoke, Cranberry Crisp

Ink: Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Eyelets, Twine, Cuttlebug (swiss dots), Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Liquid Applique

Techniques: sponging

Nice and Simple!

Remember when I posted this card, and said I had more simple holiday ones to share? Well, I forgot to share! I am so totally in love with this card. It is, to me, so simple and warm and cute! It will definitely be one of my cards for the “easy-to-reproduce-doesn’t-cost-anything-extra-to-mail” pile, lol. Also, I have heard it mentioned that this set is intimidating because it requires so much coloring. Not true!! I think this set (Holiday Lane by Lizzie Anne Designs) is absolutely darling just like this – uncolored.

Tomorrow (honest, I promise this time) I will share version two of this card – it just has a few more “extras” on it.

Stamps: LAD Holiday Lane

Paper: Kraft, Naturals Ivory

Ink: Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, samj, corner rounder

Techniques: sponging

No sample today :(

I forgot to upload something last night, so I don’t have anything fun to share with you today! BUT, I can tell you about a couple of fun sales!

• The Product of the Week at Lizzie Anne Designs is Celebration Sayings. It is 10% off all week long!
• Unity Stamp Company is having a huge, Thursday only sale. Check out their blog for deets!

So, go spend some money! Have fun!