Santa's naughty boy list

Ooooh, Sassy Stella has her mind on all kinds of ways to warm up on a cold winter's night. I hope Gus is ready! If you are new to my blog, these characters are some of my favorites. They come from a stamp company called Bugaboo and are available as a digital stamp. You can spend hours browsing though all of their images. So many cute stamps and funny sentiments.

I love to color these stamps because they are simple. I usually dont do too much blending or shading on them since they are so cartoonish. I always add bling by way of stickles to give them some added oomf. PErfect stamps for the beginner cardmaker who is a little overwhelmed with the shading that I generally do on the whippersnapper animals.

My friend and card making buddy, Kathy, used ther versitility of the digital stamps to resize them to a larger size and is creating the cutest calendar out of them for 2012.

Happy Stamping!

Fa-La-La-Land

About a month or so ago Simply Scrapbooks started carrying a new line of stamps called La La Land stamps. I have to be honest, I wasnt a big fan when I first saw them. They sort of reminded me of Greeting Farm which I am just so-so on.

When I was picking out my papers to begin the Christmas card samples, I decided to pick up this La La Land stamp, hoping I could help with the sales of the new stamp line. Around the same time, I started watching some YouTube videos to get some pointers on coloring hair and skin with my Copic markers. I happened upon one of the videos and she used a La La Land stamp for her tutorial.

This video totally changed my mind about these stamps and really helped me with my coloring techniques. When I finished coloring this little girl stamp, I was nearly jumping up and down. This was the best result I have ever had with blending and highlighting with Copic markers. I am thinking of applying them to a class, possibly in January, to share these techniques with you.

Sadly, I misplaced my note where I jotted down the exact Copic colors I used.

Happy Stamping!

Have yourself a cozy little Christmas

Ahhh, wouldnt it be nice to just sit in your jammies, sir cocoa, and watch your favorite Christmas movie? For me it would be Elf. I just love that movie! "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"..."Go ahead, call me elf one more time!" If you havent seen it...where have you been???...and go rent it!

I would love a day like this but who the heck has the time??? My tree isnt up, I have cookies to bake, presents to buy and wrap...uggh!

So to dream, I made this card. The little girl is a precious Pure Innocence stamp. I just cant seem to use one of these stamps without paper piecing the clothes. How do you do that? It's simple. Just restamp your image on a patterned piece of paper (say that 3 times fast) and cut out that part you want to paper piece. This is a fantastic way to do clothing. It coordinates your stamped image to your background paper and pulls everything together.

The Copics I used are: yg05, yg06, r27, e02, e01, r02

Happy Stamping!

Santa Called....

I know the office Christmas parties are probably scheduled and happening soon...I dont know why but this one really reminded me of an office admin giving a message to her boss...hmmm, now where in the world did I ever come up with this idea...Lol!

What many of you probably dont know is that I decided to give up the mortgage business. I worked in this field for 13 years and was ready for a change. Our bank was closing our branch which led me on the job search. I was blessed to find one in the mortgage business and one in a totally different field. I opted for the new adventure and am working as a registrar at our children's hospital.

My stress level has gone down significantly and I no longer have a boss that's on Santa's naughty list.

Now onto my card...It's Stella from Bugaboo making another holiday appearance. This time I used the following Copics: c3, c5, c1, e57, e11, r02, e01, r46, y17.

Who's been naughty???

It's the first of many cards from Bugaboo stamps with my Stella and Gus friends. I went to a scrap booking retreat a few weekends ago and I went a little crazy designing Christmas cards. I designed 14 of them so you will have plenty of inspiration this holiday season.

Sure, I made cute cards, religious, cards, animal cards...but my favorite are always the funny little nasty ones. "Be naughty, Save Santa the trip". Maybe this one would be good to leave under the mistletoe for your sweetie (wink, wink)

The copics I used are: y38, 100, e35, g17, r02, e01, r02, r46, c5, c1

Happy Stamping!

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Okay, who doesn't love this song? I saw a set of Inky Antics stamps with this hippo and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to make a card that went along with the Christmas song. Inside, the card says "Hippo Holly Days".

I did a sneak peek of this card on my facebook account and it got a lot of compliments.

I think this card would be perfect for all ages. I know a lot of kids love the song. I decided to give it some extra dimension by stamping the image twice and colored and cut the head of the head of the second image so I could pop it. I also added some white flock to the border of the hat and the snowball on the end so it would be fuzzy.

The copics I used were: w5, w3, w1, g28, r46, g21

I did learn something interesting about choosing colors. As you know, Copics makes both warm and cool grays. Warm grays are for living creatures and cool grays are for objects. Keep that little tip in mind when choosing your colors. Of course, this is only a tip and not a hard fast RULE.

Hope you get your hippo for Christmas!
Happy Stamping!

The greatest gift of all

Inside verse:
Some packages come wrapped in bright papers and bows,
The greatest of all came wrapped in swaddling clothes

I thought I would begin the Christmas season with a card that celebrates the true meaning of the holiday. Tina Wenke designed this stamp that is available at Simply Scrapbooks. She does such a darling design job with all of her images. She has a ton that incorporate really cute cats and dogs.

I double stamped the image so I could *fussy cut* the banner and pop it out. I actually just pop dotted the middle of the banner and adhered the ends with regular adhesive so the banner actually bows.

I used a ton of copic markers for all of the details in this stamp: b39, e53, c1, r02, e37, e01, y17, yr23, c3, r46, b12, g99, & e35.

And then....

I went totally crazy with my stickles. I sparkled EVERYTHING and it turned out beautiful!

Happy Stamping!

Christmas shopping is underway...

And that means it is the season for Psycho shoppers!

Proudly, I am one of them! Before we dive into the details of this card, let me just vent on a few things...first, I wasn't digging the 9pm start on Thanksgiving. I liked it so much better when my first stop was about 5am. That was Black Friday. I could spend more time with family on Thanksgiving Day, sleep on my turkey, and spend most of Black Friday shopping. Starting at 9 pm means I am about toast by 7am. Not to mention it's much colder in the overnight hours.

This year, I headed out at 9pm to go to Toys R Us...no way! Got there and the line wrapped around the shopping center. Instead, decided to stand in the Target line for hours til they opened because I "needed" more stuff there. Target does an excellent job with crowd control and organization. Walmart should take a lesson. Now there is a place for Psycho shoppers...how about that lady who pepper sprayed a crowd...over a barbie car...seriously????

Okay, now onto my card...Stella is the perfect lady to voice her opinion on the psycho shoppers. I got this one on the bugaboo website right before my last retreat.

The paper is from the doodlebug line and the Copics used are: c7, c1, rv06, 05, e01, bg01, & r35.

So if you have time to paper craft at this time of year, stop by the bugaboo site and send it to your favorite psycho.

Happy Stamping!

Simply Scrapbooks Open House

(Sorry, I cannot figure out how to rotate this picture)

Simply Scrapbooks in Kettering, Ohio is having their annual Christmas open house this Saturday from 1-5pm. Stop by for Christmas paper crafting ideas, make n takes, and of course a ton of your favorite card kits!

I have been SUPER busy making cards and will have 14 different ones to choose from. First come, first serve. I made approx 18-20 of each one and am not sure that I will be able to find time to remake very many of them.

The picture above is only a preview. I will dedicate a blog posting for each one to include the Copic colors I used.

Hope to see you on Saturday! I'm hoping to have a make in take prepared too.

Happy Stamping!

Fight Like a Girl!

With all of the hustle and bustle that goes on in our lives this time of year...the presents to buy, the clothes to find, the cookies to bake, the trees to trim, the cards to address...take a moment to pause and remember those who are less fortunate that we might be.

A cancer patient has one wish this Christmas: to find a cure so that they can spend many more Christmases with their families.

Do you know someone fighting? Send them a card and let them know that you are behind them and they are not forgotten.

I made this pink card as a reminder to Fight like a girl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just finish watching the parade? waiting for the turkey to be done? feeling so stuffed you cant move? It doesnt matter, I'm just thankful that you took a moment to stop by today.

Stella, my favorite bugaboo character, has something to say about every holiday! Thanksgiving is no different and perhaps you can relate to her wisecrack about the "turkey".

Enjoy the rest of your day and rest up...tomorrow is Black Friday! I'll be heading out the door tonight around 10 and braving the rabid shoppers for the door busters.

Happy Thanksgiving!

You make my world happy

With Thanksgiving only a few days away, it's time to count our blessing and be thankful for all that we have in our lives. This Pure Innocence stamp created a card that can be sent to that special person in your life that you need to say thank you to...not for any gift, not for any deed, just that special someone who is always there for you.

I just can't seem to create with these adorable little girls without paper piecing their outfit in some way. I grabbed the polka dot paper and pulled it into her shirt. For her pants, I used another technique with the Copic markers that I demonstrated in my fall card class at Simply: First you color the pants in a jean color. Next, I used the colorless blender refill and dropped a few drops onto a scrap of terry cloth. I blotted the jeans and it picked up the texture. The terry cloth is good for adding texture to furry animals too.

My go to guru and fellow stamp addict, Dolly, showed me another texture that is fantastic. She uses the coloreless blender refill but puts the drops on a scrap of denim. It is FANTASTIC when adding a denim look to your stamps. Try different fabric scraps to see what different textures you can come up with!

Happy Stamping!

Merry Kiss my....

It's never too early to start making Christmas cards....but geeze Louise, it is still too early for radio stations to play 24 hours of Christmas music!!
We send out about 75 cards every year so I'd have to start, oh...Dec 26th if I wanted to get that many done. We always do picture cards, sorry. But if your list is shorter, you might be looking for some ideas.

Bugaboo stamps, who we loooove for Gus and Stella, has an array of our favorite characters to wish our loved ones a happy holiday. Gus must be a distant cousin of scrooge with the one I chose to use. His little tushy was adorable, so I could hardly resist. I printed the image twice for the card so I could cut out the tush and pop dot it for extra effect.

You know you love this card...now who are you going to make it for?

Happy Stamping!

I demand a recount!

Wow...Mid Novemeber already??? Where has 2011 gone? Before you know it we'll be ringing in another new year. Have you thought about any new resolutions? I made 2 last year and uggh, didnt quite live up to either of them. One of them was to make birthday cards for all of those I send them to. You would think that would be easy...not so much. Maybe next year, along with the looming diet...

So here is a head start. I pulled out another Stella image from Bugaboo with one of her snappy sayings to get the job done. Patterned paper is ala Doodlebug. Their paper has such fun colors. Perfect for a birthday card.

Happy Stamping!

Get well Soon

Well, today is my first day in the actual ER. Wish me luck!

I'll use that for my inspiration for the card posted today. This little girl has a teddy with a few boo-boos but it looks like he is going to be okay. The stamp is a Pure Innocence stamp and I am just loving these lately. Guaranteed that you will see a few more cards in this line in the coming days. One of my favorite things to do is to paper piece the clothing on the stamps. It really ties the stamp into what ever background paper you chose for your card.

If you have never paper pieced, it's really easy. Just restamp the image on a patterned paper and cut it out with detail scissors. It's that easy.

I have a new card class using Whippersnapper stamps this month. In it, we paper piece on 3 of the stamped images. Stay tuned, I'll post class pictures soon.

Happy Stamping!

Angry birds part 2

AS if the last blog post with 6 cards wasn't enough, I couldnt help myself and had to create one more. I saw an example of a card kind of like this online but had to take my own twist.

I used the Cricut Winnie the Pooh font cartridge letter "y" in the wood grain to make the slingshot. I wrapped ribbon around it to complete it. I used a circle punch for the bird and piggie and hand cut the details. Actually the head feathers and tail feathers are mini flower punches. The grass is a Martha Stewart border punch.

I'm guessing this is my last angry bird card for a while. It's back to stamping in the next post.

(snort, snort)

Don't be angry...

Hi everyone...I'm sorry that it has been forever since my last posting. It has been one crazy month. I hurt my back and was on some wicked pain meds that had me completely out of it for about a week and a half. I think I injured it closing up my pool somehow.
Of course this would happen at the same time my boss decided to leave for another company...leaving me to search for another position. After many resumes and applications, I was lucky enough to be offered 2 positions. One with the company that my boss went to and the other at our Children's hospital as an ER registrar. I decided to choose the later and leave the woes of the mortgage business behind...so here's to my new adventure...
I took a week off in between jobs and spent that week crafting like a fool. I have tons of new cards to post so my blog should be back on the every other day schedule for a while so be sure to check back often.

Soo, onto the cards...



Last month, I did a paper piecing class with Phineas and Ferb. I also made a card with Perry the Platypus from the Disney channel. The card was a hit but also had a few shoppers wanting an angry bird card. So ladies, by popular demand, I went a little nuts and created not one, not two, but an entire set.






I went with the most popular birds and created cards around them...the angry red bird, the yellow triangular bird, the black bomb bird, and a blue card that represents the 3 bluebirds that split in the game.


Finally, the card set would not be complete without the piggies being represented. I looked at the images in the game and came up with a card for the piggie with the helmet and also the piggie king.
All of the cards were made with nothing but basic supplies: hole punches, oval spell binders, inks, pop dots, and scissors.
I'm still trying to decide if I am going to make this into a card class or just a kit. But rest assured, you will be seeing them at Simply Scrapbooks soon!

I know what we're gonna do today!

104 days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it....

Need a layout for your fun summer pictures? Have kiddos that love Phineas and Ferb?

Call Simply Scrapbooks to sign up and join me on Sunday, Oct 30th at 1:30pm for a day of paper piecing! I will show you how to create paper piecing patterns out of your favorite characters and stamps.

You will need to bring the following to class: adhesive, pop dots, black pen, white pen, inks (charcoal, chestnut roan, green, pink/flesh color), orangy brown marker for Perry's tail, paper piercer

In case you are wondering, I used the Die-namics fence diecut...It is sooo sute. Not only does it diecut, it embosses a wood grain into your fence that really pops when you ink over it.

Sign up soon! Spaces will fill quickly at $15!

Save the hooters!

And I'm not talking about owls! I wanted to get a head start on October's breast cancer awareness month. I figure if anyone wants to recreate the idea, this will give you more times.

Lots of scrapbook stores are in the beginning stages of planning their Scrap Pink Crops. I know Simply is and I can't wait. I never miss the chance to donate to this great cause. If you are looking for other ideas, Etsy is a great place to purchase pink ribbon goods or get creative ideas.

My card is made with Stella, who is a character from Bugaboo. Stella is always sassy and I love her saying for the support ribbon. This stamp can be used and colored to match other awareness campaigns. Bugaboo sends you a digi image with the words on the sign and another one with the sign blank. I saw another card with a saying that would go great with Stella: Cancer picked the wrong b$#!& to mess with!

I had some left over scraps and decided to make one of the cupcake picks that are all the rage these days. You could use this scalloped embellishment to attach to lollipops, peppermint patties, or even add to a plant or flowers.





Blessings to those who continue to fight the battle!

September Denami Blog Hop!

Welcome to my blog! Hope you are having fun hopping along but if you are anything like me, these cards are making you hungry! If you have hopped over from Karen's page or if you are just starting out from here, be sure to leave a comment on each and every page you visit. By leaving comments, you are entering to win one of 3 $20 gift certificates to the Denami store.
So, onto my card...

I am addicted to the Denami chickies so of course I found a way to work them into this blog hop. I decided to use the D102 Ice Cream Chickies with the color theme inspired by neopolitan ice cream.

I debated on coloring my chickies yellow v. the ice cream colors. After a poll of my husband and daughtrer, we decided on the ice cream colors...like the chickies dove into the ice cream head first.

I created the bottom piece of paper by using a sentiment stamp that I picked up at a garage sale and the Denami polka dot.

Thanks for "hopping" by. Be sure to leave a comment below. Before you hop along to Ruza's blog, please pause for a moment to remember those who lost their lives 10 years ago on Sept 11th and to pray for our troops who continue to fight for our freedom & the freedom of others.

Agent P!

Oh, there you are Perry!

This is a little different than the typical posts on my blog but this one was too cute not to share. My daughter loves Phineas and Ferb and her birthday is in a few days (Sept. 11) so I thought I would surprise her by making a Perry card. She has a t-shirt that matches this.














In addition, I played around with some paper piecing too. Paper piecing your favorite characters is so easy. All you need is a coloring book or image off the internet, a sheet of transparency paper, a sharpie, and a copier.

Simply lay the transparency over the image and trace all of the individual parts. Next, copy the transparency on the copier and then you have the pattern. Cut out all of the pattern pieces and trace onto your colored card stock. Cut them out and piece together. Its so simple!

It's great when your little one loves characters but there isn't any specific scrapbook paper for. Phineas and Ferb is definitely one of those. I keep waiting for Disney to bring out paper or cricut to make a cartridge...til then...I'll keep paper piecing.

Happy stamping...er, I mean paper piecing!

Best Witches!

Hello stampers!

I bought this sweet little witch stamp way back in the spring on the bugaboo website. I have literally been waiting for months to use this sweet little girl. Bugaboo has so many different "brats"...I personally think they are much too cute for being brats....that said, they also have a variety of furniture, steps, benches, and even a broom to sit on.

As usual, you can't see dimension on a scanner. The little girl is popped out using a pop dot and then her knees and feet are popped again. I was excited when I saw this paper at Simply (Sorry, I always forget to note the paper company). It looked just like a twilight sky, perfect for flying around on a broom stick. I used the spooky fence border punch by Martha Stewart for the border.

Of all the cards I've been making lately, this one might be one of my all time favorites.

In case you are wondering, here is a list of Copics that were used:c-1, c-5, e00, e01, e35, e37, y17, bg 10, yr23, v17.

Happy Stamping!

Wishing you a toad-ally awesome Halloween!

Hello and welcome! I often wonder if anyone is reading my blog or if I am just posting these entries as a way to remember my creations for the year. If you have a moment, leave a comment, let me know that you are out there in blogland!

Now onto my card...my little froggie friend is from a new Inky Antics stamp set that goes with their honey pop paper. If you're interested in the honey pop, scroll back a few blog posts and you will see the inside of this card done with the honey pop. I used the same layout for this card but just stamped the inside with a sentiment instead of going all crazy with the honey pop paper.

Love, love, love the Martha Stewart "drippy goo" border punch. I have used it as mud, vampire blood, and now goop from a cauldron.

Have a toad-ally awesome day!

Cute Little Witch

Wahoooooo Halloween! I must have a zillion stamps with pumpkins, witches, and things that go bump in the night. Get ready for some spooktacular inspirations this month in my posts.

I know it's only September 1st but I couldn't hold off any longer. The Halloween papers are arriving at Simply Scrapbooks and I just couldn't resist. The papers call to me!

My first card of the season showcases a cute little witch from Pink Cat Studios. I kept my layout relatively simple as a warm up for things to come.

Stay tuned and Happy Stamping!

Good things come in small packages....

Check out this adorable little gift bag that is used as an embellishment on this birthday card. It's not a $4 Jolie, its a die that I bought this past weekend at the convention. How stinking cute is it!

The die is small like a spellbinder and has score lines that are easy to follow for assembly. I added a little ribbon and a small piece of tissue paper. I love the bag but am not thrilled withe layout and paper choices. I cant wait to make a Halloween one.

Taylored Expressions makes the die and has a stamp set that goes with it.

Happy Stamping!

Sympathy cards for the loss of a pet

This is a card that none of wants to make but often has a need for. In the past few months, several of my friends have lost their fuzzy little familiy members. I didnt have the right stamp to make a card. I only had stamps for people sympathy ones.

This past weekend, we went to a stamp store near the Sharonville Convention Center post StampAway. There, I found these the angel kitty and puppy stamps. They were exactly what I had been looking for! Now I have one of each card made and in my stash, hoping that I wont have to use them for a very long time.






This is my fur baby Honey...aka Honey Belle, Belles, Bad Dog, Get Down, Give me that!
She is a 4 year old yorkie.



Happy Stamping!
(woof, woof)

Party til the cows come home!

I think we were out AFTER the cows came home this past Saturday...the most wonderful day of the year, if you are a stamper...the annual STAMP AWAY convention at the Sharonville convention center. I was accompanied by my stampin crew Dolly, Kathy, and Cindy! We doorbusted at 9am and didn't leave til about 4:30. It was a fantastic day shopping with some of my favorite vendors and even a few new ones.

One of the new ones was Taylored Expressions. Cute, Cute Cute! Totally my style. They had stamps that are on the smaller size, adorable sayings, and even dies that go with them.




These were some of the first stamps I played with on Sunday afternoon. I modeled my card after a sample they had in their booth. I tweeked it a bit and this is the cutie I came up with.

The stamp set is called Green Acres. As you can see, I only used the cow and one of the sayings for this card. Imagine all of the possibilities with all of these other combinations. I'm sure this wont be the last time you'll be seeing this set!

Happy Stamping!

Denami Mini Cards

The day is here for the Denami Designs Mini Cards Blog Hop!

So glad you hopped over from Heidi's blog She sure is a talented lady! Be sure to leave a comment on each page as you hop along so that you are entered to win one of the $20 gift certificates.

Summer has been so busy but there was no way I was going to miss this blog hop. I absolutely love making mini cards! I almost made 12 mini cards for this hop. I really wanted to...one for each month using chickies...okay, I talked myself out of it and enjoyed some pool time instead.

But back to the cards I did make...

I tend to give a lot of gift cards for baby gifts but I hate just putting it in a card. I need to be a bit more creative. I like to buy miniature gift bags but then you have a card that looks giant next to it. These little mini cards are perfect.

I cut my card base 3" x 6" for a 3 x 3 card. Don't think just because it's small that the card will be boring. You can add a ton of layers on a mini card. Scallops and circle punches are a staple for me...and of course Denami Stamps!

I used gingham paper because it had a cute mini print. For the boy card, I used the baby bottle from the PF24 Baby Stamp Set and F166 Baby Circle. For the girl card, I used C72 chickie with flower.

I hope you enjoyed my mini cards...now off to Tenia's page

New Class at Simply Scrapbooks

The new Inky Antics Honey pop holiday stamps arrived at Simply Scrapbooks this week and I used them to design my next class!

Sunday, August 28
1:30-4pm
$15
I only have 20 spaces in class so sign up as soon as possible. You wont want to miss out on these super cute cards!

Class supplies: scissors, copic markers and or colored pencils/Gamsol, adhesive, pop dots, yellow, orange, and crystal stickles, & glossy accents.

By request, I am going to list the Copic Marker colors that I used, but don't want you to feel obligated to purchase all of these in order to take the class.





Halloween Card: BV 31, YR 04, R20, Y06, C7, YG00, YG03, BV02






Thanksgiving Card: YR16, YR23, C7, RV13, RV000, E49, C1, W1, E57, C5, E53, YG67





Penguin Card: YR16, R29, YG03, C7, YG 67, E50, C1, C5