fresh & fun

I am a bad prograstinator! I spend all afternoon yesterday making Pixy Stix holders for Rebecca’s class.

Her class shares a classroom with another third grade. So guess what? I got to make those for 31 kids. It took me 3 1/2 hours to get them done.

I started out stamping Boo from Autumn Apparitions in Pumpkin Pie on Whisper White cardstock.

The small spider was stamped over it in Black Palette ink.

Then the image was punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch, layered first on a 1 3/8″ black circle and then on a scallop Lavender Lace circle.

For the pouch, I cut a 5 1/2″ x 6″ piece of Basic Black cardstock and scored it at 2 1/8″ and 4 1/2″. I punched a half circle in the center panel with my 1 1/4″ circle punch.

I taped it together by adding Terrific Tape to the bottom on the side of the pouch. I just recently got this tape and I LOVE it!

You know how the red plastic of the Sticky Strip is static and clings to everything? Terrific tape has a different backing that doesn’t do that and is at least as strong as the Sticky Strip.

Next I crimped the bottom of the pouch with my paper crimper.

A 3″ x 4 1/2″ piece of Creepy Crawly Designer paper was taped in the center of the pouch. A 1″ x 4 1/2″ piece of Basic Black cardstock was added over that and topped with a 7/8″ x 4 1/2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock stamped with Happy Halloween.

The Boo circle was added with dimensionals and Pixy Stix were added. Now typing this I can’t believe it took me so long to finish those suckers!

Joan Hajek sent this cute card to Austin last month after he had his tonsils and adnoids removed.

I always have a hard time thinking of cards for older boys. I think she did a smashing job.

She even used his favorite color, Brilliant Blue. You heard me right. That’s his favorite color. He definitely doesn’t have that from me. LOL

You can see more of Joan’s work on her blog Stamping, Cooking, Knitting…my life.

I am sorry I have been quiet lately. The weekend was really busy. Yesterday I didn’t get done doing chores until about 3 p.m. Then the kids came home and Rebecca and I hung out outside with our neighbors. Rebecca loves the little toddler they had. It was a great day….but I didn’t get to stamp.

After not having stamped for a while, it’s always hard for me to get creative. Good thing I had new rubber laying around!!!

Asela Hopkins created this adorable stamps. You can find them at Cornish Heritage. Not having had new rubber fix from Stampin’ Up! for a while, I was excited to play with these cute stamps.

The card base is a sponged 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Blue Bayou cardstock.

Next is a 4″ square of Wintergreen Designer Paper that was paper pierced around the edges.

The snowman family was stamped on Shimmery White cardstock with Black Palette ink.

I colored them in with Aqua Painter and Classic inks (Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke, Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou and Going Gray).

I ran through the image through my Cuttlebug and cut it with Nestabilities dies into a scalloped square. It was layered on an Artichoke scallop square.

I then added glitter to the snowflakes and the snow on the floor with Star Dust Stickles.

I stamped the saying in Black Palette ink on Shimmery white and punched it out with the Key Tag punch. I layered it on a sponged piece of Blue Bayou cardstock and cut around it with scallop scissors.

I punched out two snowflakes with the Snow Blossom punch out of Acetate, added Star Dust Stickles on one and sandwiched the other on top of it. After that dried I added it to the saying with a Ice Circle Rhinestone brads.

This is the last of my Build A Flower tin pages for Convention.

I love that picture of Rebecca. It was taken on the first day we went to the beach this year. It was March and the water was COLD. Rebecca ran in anyway and screamed when she came back out. LOL

The page base is a 6″ x 6″ piece of Taken with Teal cardstock.

I adhered the 4″ x 6″ photo on a slightly wider piece of Pink Passion. Then I stamped the saying from Stem Sayings in Taken with Teal Craft ink on the photo and carefully embossed it with clear embossing powder. I tied some white narrow organdy ribbon over the saying.

The same saying was stamped on the bottom of the page, this time in Taken with Teal Classic ink. I added some flowers to the page and used one of the label sticker included in the tin to make my title. The words for that title are from the set Fundamental Phrases. 

I am sorry I didn’t post yesterday!

I worked on a tutorial in the morning and then went shopping with Rick and the kids. I don’t know about you, but shopping wears me out. I was pooped when I got home! I hope to get some stamping done later today! First I need to do some work.

I can’t believe it, but …. I had another card on the showcase! How amazing is that?

You can read all about card in this blog entry.

Because I haven’t stamped, I will share my last display stamper page from convention a little bit later on.

Now I better get started on work so I can stamp later!

Have a wonderful Sunday! Hugs and smiles

Here is my sample for this weekend’s sketch challenge.

I started with a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Wild Wasabi cardstock.

I scored it at 2 3/4″ and 5 1/2″ , sponged all the edges and with Wild Wabi and stamped the Argyle from Looks Like Spring. 

The left edges were punched with the corner rounder.

I added a double photo corner on the top right with three black brads.

For the center piece I started with a black scallop rectangle made with my Nestabilities, layered it first with Purely Pomegranate, then with Shimmery White. I sponged the edges of the Shimmery White with Groovy Guava, paper pierced the edges and stamped a saying from Friendship Flowers in it’s center.

I inked the big flower from Looks Like Spring first in Groovy Guava and then rolled the edges in Purely Pomegranate. It was stamped on Shimmery White cardstock and cut out. I added a Pewter Jumbo Eyelet in its center and topped it off with a Fire Circle Rhinestone brad. I taped the flower half over the sentiment layer with double stacked dimensionals (to make it higher).

I punched a hole next to the 2 3/4″ score and tied Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon through it. Last I punched some flowers with the Spring Flower punch, layered them over each other and added another Fire Circle Rhinestone brads.

If you need a few more pictures on how to make this card, click on more.

» Read the rest of this entry …

This weekend’s sketch is a Z fold card with a rectangle layer over it. Again, feel free to add extra layers and another shape for sentiments. As long as you can still see the layout in your card and you use the Z-fold, your card is fine for this challenge.

Z-fold cards are really easy. I posted a tutorial for visual learner.

This week, the winner of the random drawing will get 6″ x 6″ sheets of patterned paper from the My Mind’s Eye pack Cosco sold this spring.

To participate in the challenge and be entered in the stamp set raffle, make a card with this layout and upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery.

 If you upload your card on SCS, put WSC25  (NO SPACE INBETWEEN WSC AND 25) in the keyword section. That way we can look at all of them at once!

Post a link to your card to THIS blog entry as a comment. Please add your entry# to it.

I will determine the winner of the clear stamps with Random.org on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.

To see samples made with this sketch now, check out the blogs of

Charmaine Ikach

Jenn Balcer 

Laurie Schmidlin 

Lori Craig

MaryJo Albright

Sharon Harnist

Have fun creating! I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

SCS submissions

Chelsey Navaratil sent me this beautiful card!

I love how elegant this fast card looks.

You can see more of Chelsey’s work on her blog Stampin Girl’s Creations.

Thank you so much for the beautiful card and note!

Yesterday’s sketch challenge  looked a lot like the Blogger challenge card I made for Sharon on Tuesday.

My downline Stephanie, who is in her last month of pregnancy, came over yesterday.

We hadn’t stamped together in quite a while.

It took us a little bit to get creative, but we did manage to make a card each and work on a project that I can’t show just quite yet.

I started my card by playing some more with my Nestabilities. This time I wanted to use the rectangle to match the sketch. I made a smaller one out of Shimmery White paper, the bigger one out of Chocolate Chip.

In the center of the white rectangle I stamped Merry Christmas in Always Artichoke. The sentiment is from the Holiday & Wishes stamp set.

I then stamped three small flowers from Baroque Motifs on Shimmery white in Purely Pomegranate, cut them out and taped them around the sentiment. I added clear Rhinestone brads in the centers. You can find those in Stampin’ Up!’s Pretties Kit.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Always Artichoke cardstock folded in half.

The next layer is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Chocolate Chip. The corners were punched with the ticket corner punch. Over that is a 1/4″ smaller piece of Holiday Harmony Designer paper. The corners were punched and faux stitching was added with All in a Row.

The horizontal layers consist of a sponged and ticket corner punched 2 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ layer of Always Artichoke and a 1/4″ smaller piece of Holiday Harmony Designer paper. After I taped both layers together, I paper pierced the edges. Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon was tied around the bottom of the layers. It looked a little too thin for this big piece, so I taped a strip of the same ribbon underneath.

My friend Sharon Harnist was the guest host for yesterday’s color challenge. I had to participate for that reason alone. But…she also picked a GORGEOUS color combo: Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky! It was a pleasure to create with these colors.

I started out with a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Going Gray cardstock folded in half.

Next is a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Shimmery White cardstock. The corners were punched with the ticket corner punch.

On top of that is a 1/4″ smaller piece of Soft Sky Prints Designer paper. Again those corners were ticket corner punched.

Then I stamped the Argyle stamp from All in a Row on all four sides with Basic Gray to add the faux stitched look.

I just recently received my Nestabilities die cuts and hadn’t had a chance to use them yet. I used the largest scallop oval with Purely Pomegranate and sponged the edges. Next is a layer of Basic Gray, then Shimmery White.

On the Shimmery White layer I stamped the angel from Holy Triptych in Basic gray. I let it dry and colored the angel in wiht Aqua Painter and Purely Pomegranate, Blush Blossom, Soft Sky and Basic Gray classic inks.

I love the fact that you can watercolor over the Basic Gray ink from Stampin’ Up!.

I paper pierced around the edge of the Shimmery oval and taped all ovals together.

Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon was tied around the Shimmery White/Soft Sky prints layers. Those were adhered to the card base with dimensionals.

For the saying I stamped Praying for you from So Many Sayings on shimmery white, punched it out with the small oval punch and sponged the edges. I also stamped the swirls from the tag of Holy Triptych in second generation Soft Sky, just to add a bit more texture to it. The circle was layered on a 1″ sponged Basic Gray Circle and taped down with another dimensional.