Counts as Fruit

Another sample using a new set from {ippity}'s March release coming out on Thursday, March 8th...this set is an Itty Bitty (my favorite!) If you LOVE this set, please visit the Unity website on Thursday to order! Only $6.50!!! Please remember to click on my picture on the Unity website to order this set as well as all of your favorite {ippity} stamp sets!

I paired the image with some pretty papers from Momenta's Let's Party Pyramid Pad.  I also colored white satin ribbon with a Copic marker to get exactly the right color to match my image.  It's one of my favorite tricks!

Getting Old...

Today's share is a fun birthday card, filled with sarcasm. Kind of...but as a thirty-something girl, I can totally relate to the sentiment! Can you?
I used one of {ippity}'s February releases, "Sucks to Get Old". You can now order that set directly from the Unity website-just click on me as your {ippity} chick!
I paper pieced it with white and hot pink cardstock, then mounted it onto a cropped Spellbinders die cut. The sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder. It was a challenge for me to do a "color pop" card like this because I love patterned paper and lots of color! However, I wanted to play along with this week's challenge at the Play Date Cafe. The challenge was to use black and white, with just a splash of hot pink. I missed the deadline to enter, but still wanted to give it a try! You just never know what technique will give you great results!

Growing in Unity!

I am so excited to be the featured stamper this week for Growing in Unity! Here is a sneak peek of my project:
Please head over to this post my {ippity} blog to see the full project and for your chance to win some {ippity} and Unity stamps!

Mini Challenge: Etsy Inspiration

This week's Counterfeit Kit Challenge is to be inspired by a project from Etsy. HERE is the project that I chose. I have always loved the look of printer's trays, but finished ones tend to be a bit pricey. I knew I could make my own for a fraction of the price. To save even more money, I found a small shadowbox at Goodwill to alter. The price was definitely right: 45 cents!

Here is a before photo:

Pretty outdated and dusty, huh?

Here's what it looks like now:

Here are the details:

Top left: I cut this butterfly from my lace paper, but the color just didn't "pop" like I wanted it too. So, I covered the butterfly with Versamark ink and heat embossed it twice with silver embossing powder. Two bling brads form the body.

Top right: I stamped the sewing machine on a piece of clear packaging (from the Bella Blvd. fabric flowers.) I then paper pieced just the body of the machine and added an epoxy brad and some stickle-y thread. For the "fabric", I cut a little slit in the transparency and threaded a scrap of rickrack through.

Middle left: Just a rub-on and gems on a Spellbinders die-cut.

Middle right: I cut a Spellbinders die-cut in half, then distressed the edge so it looks like a tiny notebook edge. Studio G stamp and butterfly punches, plus a little doily that I created with an EK Success border punch.

Bottom left: My favorite! I stamped the dressform on the same clear packaging from the flowers and paper pieced the dress. The text flowers are just two punched flowers, adhered together with a foam square and topped with a button and gems. The little metal flowers are my soda can flowers. :)

Bottom right: I trimmed a corner off the stamped doily from my kit, then topped it with a butterfly rub-on on white cardstock. I popped the butterfly up with foam squares. I love this punched flower, too. I layered three Martha Stewart flower punches, attached an epoxy brad, then "squished" the petals up to give it some dimension. The tiny stamp is from an old (uninked!) Studio G set.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I hope you can join us for this challenge this week! Check out the details at the Counterfeit Challenge blog!

A Fun Birthday Card

I can share this one with you now that the recipient FINALLY got it in the mail! I am really good about MAKING cards, but not-so-good about actually MAILING the cards. Many of you know this about me. ;) I should probably just stamp every birthday card I make with a belated birthday sentiment, just to be on the safe side.
This card uses Lawn Fawn's "Bake Me a Cake" stamp set and fun new papers from Momenta. Lots of paper piecing here, which is one of my favorite techniques ever. I think it comes from my love of patterned paper (and the hoarding of said paper!)
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Couple Card and Glitter Giveaway

You all know I like to add a touch of bling to my projects. Just a touch. ;) Sometimes it's gems, sometimes it's pearls, sometimes it's glitter. Wanna get some FREE glitter? Meyer Imports is having a giveaway on their blog. You can check it out HERE. Tell 'em I sent you!

For this card, I used a submission sketch from PaperCrafts magazine. I made the card, but I didn't submit it. I don't know why I didn't, I was just having a "not very confident" kind of day on the day of the deadline. :( Now I kick myself for not submitting all of the cards I had made for the call. The good news is that I will be sharing them with all of you sooner!

First I cut a panel of white cardstock, then covered it with rectangles that I trimmed from patterned papers. I used monochromatics, but I think that I will try this card again with brighter scraps. It makes for a fun background! Then I just popped this panel up using foam squares. And look-no stamping! I used a puffy sentiment and chipboard wedding ring stickers. I added a touch of bling to the diamond using Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I love that the photo caught the sparkle of the diamond!

I have been working hard on tons of new cards for Momenta's booth at CHA. You're going to love the new products-they are SO CUTE! That's all I can say for now. Sworn to secrecy. :)

Plum Birthday

I made this elegant card for my mother-in-law's birthday. I started out with a very different design in mind, but ended with this simple design. I loved it! The embossed background was just what this card needed to make the white space as elegant as the image.

As you can see from the inspiration photo above, this card is made using the beautiful colors that Kim has selected for this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge. The plum/burgandy and taupe cardstock are from SEI, and I think that the ribbon is from SEI, too. I'm not sure-I've had it in my stash forever! The paper, however, is brand-new. I just received it from CARDS magazine as a goody for being published in the September 2010 issue. :)

The design is based on this sketch from Create with Connie and Mary. The JUGS Challenge this week was to decorate and line a matching envelope for your card. It gave it such a finished look!

Delightful Winter Dressform

I just finished up my entry for the new Lawnscaping Challenge #1. The challenge was called "All About Snow" and entrants were encouraged to use Lawn Fawn stamps. I have 4 different sets of Lawn Fawn stamps, but none of them were winter-themed! I saw that Ashley Nguyen Newell, from the Lawnscaping DT, used a non-winter set with snowflake paper to create a cute birthday card. Great idea! I used my "Sew Lovely" dressform and the sentiment from "How Delightful". I paired these with snowy papers from Imaginisce, snowflake frames from Spellbinders, and a felt snowflake. The little ice skates were cut from patterned paper and hung over the corner of the frame. Doesn't everyone wear a little snowflake dress and matching skates when they go skating? :)

Also, remember my Peachy Birthday card? It made the Top 3 at CR84FN. Check out the new blinkie in the sidebar! :)