Cuppy Cakes

I made this cute little cupcake card using the "Cuppy Cakes" stamp set from {ippity} and papers from Basic Grey's Lemonade collection. These cupcakes were so fun to paper-piece! I can't wait to make more. I am entering this card in 2 challenges. The first is the {ippity} paper-piecing challenge. Although {ippity} chicks can't win, many of us play along just to share some fun ideas for how to use the stamp set. You, however, could win a $20 gift certificate to your favorite {ippity} chick! If you play along and win, I'd love to have you shop with me! :) You can find the details for the challenge HERE.
I am also entering this card in the Mojo Monday sketch challenge. This is my first time entering this challenge, although my friend Lesa has been playing along for quite a while. I am a bit intimidated by the numbers-there are already 148 cards entered in the challenge! WOW! The great thing about that, however, is that there are a ton of great ideas to peruse through the linky.
Thanks for visiting today-I will be back a little later with a couple more challenge cards to share!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge-Memorabilia

I am so excited to share my very first chipboard mini album with you! I had so much fun making this-I can't wait to add my photos and memorabilia! I can't yet because I made this album to document my upcoming weekend at CKC-Manchester with my scrappy friend, Lesa!

The page above has a fun pocket on the right-hand side. Recognize it? I "stole" a leftover pocket from my March kit! Then I dressed it up a bit with alpha stickers, a border sticker and some gems. This pocket will hold my class stubs from Friday and any other items that I want. The pocket is 5" wide.

This page also includes a fun pocket to hold memorabilia, probably the stubs from my Copic classes. Can you spot it? It's my mini transparency! I need to tell you how I made this transparency on a budget! I recently transferred all of my Imaginisce Snag 'Em stamps to a Cropper Hopper folder. Each stamp had 2 square transparencies in the package-one printed with the design and one that was "plain". Being the frugal scrapper that I am, I had to save those plain ones! They were the perfect size for the heart stamp that I used for this kit. I stamped the image with black StazOn ink, then colored the back side with Bic Mark-It markers. Then I trimmed around the top of the heart to add a fun edge and stitched it to my paper. Cute little free pocket!

And did you see the zipper flower! It was SO easy! I made it using Becky Olsen's tutorial, but I used Glue Dots instead of the double-sided tape that she recommends. Worked great!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my mini! Don't forget to visit the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog for the other designers' takes on this challenge!

Lots of Projects featuring *NEW* Momenta!

I can finally share all of the projects that I made for CHA! I'm SO excited that my cards are on display at the show. I'm hoping to see a pic of them on display there! :D

All of the products used will be available on the Momenta website in a few weeks.

Mini Valentines

I made lots of cards today, including this set of mini Valentines. Each of these cards is 4"x4", so I was able to get four cards from a 12"x12" sheet of cardstock. Each of the images is stamped and paper-pieced using scraps, so these Valentines are perfect for stretching your scrapping budget! Each of the images is highlighted somewhere with Glossy Accents to give it a little bit of shine.

I pulled out my Marvy scalloped heart punch, too. I don't use this very often, but it was perfect for these CAS cards. It provided a nice base for my paper-pieced images. The stamps are all from Unity's "Mix-Up of Cuteness". So cute!

This set of cards is my entry for the Paper Play Challenge-Clean and Simple.

Playful Puppies

Just a note: this is my second blog post of the day. Please make sure you scroll down to see this week's Get Sketchy challenge!

For these two projects, I got to play with some adorable new stamps from DeNami Design. It is called Playful Puppies, and it is a Petit Four set which means you get four adorable little stamps to mix and match on your projects!

For my first project, I made a brightly colored card featuring a little hound from the set. These stamps coordinate so perfectly with DeNami's other stamps. For this card, I paired it with the Dog House. (oops-there's another sneak peek for you!) I also stamped Happy Birthday from the All-Occasions Sentiment set. I finished my card off with some fun details: a punched border from EK Success, striped ribbon from American Crafts, and an oversized button from DeNami Design.

On to my second project: a tiny gift bag with tons of style! This project features the little poodle from the Playful Puppies set. I was inspired to create a super-girly look for this. I paired the image with a computer-generated sentiment ("Pamper yourself!") and a rhinestone-studded collar/ribbon. These stamps also look great with DeNami's current stamps, such as the Paw Print. I personalized the tissue paper by randomly stamping the paw print. It was the finishing touch for this little bag! Can't you just picture this as the perfect gift bag to hold some sparkly nail polish or a spa gift card? Gift bag template, cardstock, ribbon, and button by DeNami Design, patterned paper by SEI, gems by Creative Charms, border punch by EK Success.

Be sure to check out the DeNami blog today. My friends and fellow designers Jenny and Rebeka have some adorable projects to share with you, also featuring the Playful Puppies set! And stop back here tomorrow for another project using more new DeNami stamps-I promise it'll be a "hoot"! (*wink, wink*)

Get Sketchy #43

Can you believe that it's Friday already? This week has literally just flown right by. During the winter, that's a good thing, but I hope that summer vacation doesn't continue like this! It will be over in the blink of an eye!

Because it's Friday, that means I have a new card for a new Get Sketchy sketch challenge. This week's sponsor is Eye-Lets Etc. Can you spot the eyelets on my card? No? OK, that was a trick question because there aren't any eyelets on there. :)

The product that I chose to use from Eye-Lets Etc. were the kitty brads. Yes, they carry brads, too, including these shaped ones. Because they were shaped, I treated them the same way I would have any other embellishment. I wanted to "ground" them so they wouldn't appear to be just floating on my card. So, I spread the prongs slightly and inserted them through the buttonholes. This grounds the brads and adds both dimension and color. So cute!

Hope you can play along with this week's sketch. You will find it HERE along with the rest of the DT's adorable cards.

You're the Best

I just got this cute little stamp set by Hero Arts-isn't she just so adorable? I just couldn't resist her. My dilemma: I don't own any Copics (yet!) so I was a little unsure about how to color her. The peachy markers that I have are a little too bright, and they don't blend very well.

I came up with a way to prolong buying Copics for a little while longer, plus use up a product that I really don't use anymore: vellum. I got this idea from the latest issue of CK. I stamped the little girl using black StazOn ink. Then, I flipped the vellum over and colored the back side of the image with my Sharpies and Bic Mark-Its. When I flipped the image right-side-up, it had a much softer tone and the colors appeared to be blended.

I was quite happy with the results, and decided to enter this mini card in this week's CPS Challenge. I had fun playing with this technique and tried it with this and several other stamps which i will share later this week. Happy Monday, everyone!

Safari Animals

When I received this set of stamps in the mail from DeNami Design, I was a happy girl! As you can tell from many of my cards, I LOVE critter stamps, and these little guys are no exception. I have had so much fun using them on different cards. I showed this set used on a card for one of the Get Sketchy challenges (see it HERE).

For this card, however, I wanted to create a safari scene. As I was moving elements around, I realized that this would make a fun interactive card. I created two pockets on the front of my card using green cardstock for grass. The, I made three tiny cards and stamped the safari animals on those. The animals are also covered with fuzzy flocking. I finished each of the mini cards with a little strip of "grass" and tucked them into the grass pockets on the card front. I also created a sun using triangles cut from patterned paper and an oversized button from DeNami Designs.

Sometimes cards for boys can be challenging, but I think this is perfect for a little guy. Because the mini cards can be taken out and tucked back in, this little scene may even become something he will play with later. (I'm thinking road trips or waiting at a restaurant! Why not tuck it into your purse for such "emergencies"?)

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to check out the DeNami blog to see what the other designers came up with!

(All cardstock, stamps, and button by DeNami Design, patterned paper by Heidi Grace, flocking by Studio G.)

Spring Mini Cards-DeNami Theme Challenge

Have you checked out the DeNami Design blog lately? So many adorable ideas, and lots of fun challenges and chances to win! Yesterday I shared a card that I made for the 2S4Y Challenge sponsored by DeNami Design. Today, I am sharing a little mini card set that I made for DeNami Design's Spring Theme Challenge. These were made using the Elegant Spring Flowers set and the Assorted Greeting stamp set.

Mini cards are easy to make: simply fold a piece of cardstock to A2 size, then use your paper trimmer to cut it in half, forming two mini cards. These cards are made using Lime cards from DeNami Design. I then trimmed a little bit from the card front and adhered a contrasting paper to the inside of the card.

For the flowers, I first stamped the images with StazOn black ink and lightly colored the flowers with a periwinkle marker. Then for the bling! I recently discovered the Quickie Glue Pen, and it is perfect for adhering loose glitter to your projects. I used Sparklets glitter from DeNami Design and loved the results. (Other supplies: pearls from Hero Arts, sheer ribbon.)

I hope you can all play along with the Spring Theme Challenge! You have until April 30th to upload your entries.

Get Sketchy Challenge #31

It's Friday, so that means it's time for another challenge at Get Sketchy! The sketch this week is very versatile-the design teams cards are all so different! Sometimes cards for boys are difficult, but when I saw this week's sketch, I knew I wanted to make a boyish card for a little buddy of mine.

I changed the sketch up a bit by using a chipboard flower as a gear instead of the star on the sketch. Also, the sketch shows the star being "chopped off" with the edge of the card-I chose to extend the gear beyond the edge. This cute little robot is cut from patterned paper by Recollections (available at Michael's.) First, I cut a circle containing the robot, then I cut just the head and body from another piece of the paper. I then adhered the head and body over the robot on the circle using foam squares. Super easy, and super cute!

Patterned papers from Recollections and SEI, cardstock from Bazzill, chipboard flowers (used as gears) by Fancy Pants Design, glitter brad from Imaginisce.

Some fun Valentine's Day cards...

to share with you today. I made these mini cards using up some spare stamped pieces and scraps. So easy!

First, I started with one white A2 size card (4.25" x 5.5"), then I cut it in half. The result: two 2.75" x 4.25" mini cards, already folded. More bang for your buck, as you're making two cards from one. Plus, the smaller surface makes them perfect for using your scraps!

For each card, I adhered a small scrap of kraft cardstock to the top, then a small punched border directly below that. I adhered a scrap of ribbon around the card, letting the ends extend beyond the card. (The ribbon is not tied-just adhered.) I also added a button with thread tied through on top of the ribbon-just attach it with a glue dot.

For the images, I stamped the frog and the owl (both from Hero Arts) on patterned paper and cut them out. I added some pink chalk to the frog's cheeks, and used a red colored pencil and a white gel pen to accent the owl. I wanted to add fun touches to each image, since these cards are for my kiddos. The frog got a little tiny heart "kiss" on his cheek-the heart is actually a tiny heart left behind after I used a Martha Stewart heart border punch. I used a glue stick to attach it to his cheek, then added a bit of Fruit Punch stickles. For the owl, I also added some Fruit Punch stickles to the wing, but the fun part was adding the pink, eye-lashed googly eyes. I found these at JoAnn Fabrics. So cute!

You can add whatever you'd like for sentiments near the top. My "Happy Valentine's Day" stamp is from Studio G, while the "I" and "you" are from Technique Tuesday. The heart is from Hero Arts.

I'd love to see what you come up with for mini cards using your scraps. If you'd care to share, email me a link to your card and I will share the link on my blog. Be brave-we'd all love to see what you create!

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

As promised, here are two of my new Halloween cards. These are minis, made from my 3" scalloped circle punch. This is quite possibly one of my most-used tools. I combined stamps from a couple of different companies. First, I used my little fox from Imaginisce. He is one of my favorites. I love that I can dress him up in costumes by using other stamps with him. It really stretches my stamp dollar. The witch hat (by Studio G) is stamped on patterned paper, then cut out and adhered to the front. I also used Studio G sentiments on each card. The little ghost is from Hero Arts.
Don't forget to stop by the official World Cardmaking Day website-the link is over on the right. Just click on the icon and it will bring you there. There are lots of card ideas and tips, plus a great card contest. What a great activity for this rainy day! Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

Paper Bag Mini Album

I created this fun little mini album from paper lunch bags, three sheets of patterned paper, and three sheets of 8.5 X 11" cardstock. Some stickles and Scrapper's Floss added a fun feel and left plenty of room inside for pictures. I love the cardstock tags, too-they slide into the pockets created from the paper bags. You could add additional photos, journaling, or both to the tags, and even slide some summer memorabilia into the pockets, too. (Think business cards, brochures, postcards, maps...)

To create this album, take four brown paper lunch bags and fold them each in half. Now unfold them and stack them, rotating every other. Fold in half again, and use a hole punch (I used a Crop-o-dile) to punch two holes near the fold. Insert binder rings to hold your book together.

Believe it or not, this is all there is to creating this album! Now you can embellish the inside pages. For each inside page, I distressed the edges of a 4 X 4" square of patterned paper. (I really like the Snorkel line from Cosmo Cricket.) I roughed up the edge with an Edge Distresser from Heidi Swapp. Then I simply adhered the patterned paper to each page. I recommend Glue Dots to adhere the papers and embellies to the bags-photo splits did not hold very well. My accents were cut from the Snorkel Elements patterned paper. I added a bit of stickles to each element after adhering to my page.

For the tags, I cut each piece of 8.5 X 11" cardstock into 6 pieces (4.25" square-you can use the scraps for another project.) I folded a piece of patterned paper in half for each pull-tag, adhered it to the cardstock, punched a hole and tied on some Scrapper's Floss.

I've posted just the cover here on the blog, but you can see all of the pages in my album HERE.

Thanks for looking!

Trying to make a dent...

in my stash of buttons. I have been using buttons on every project lately, it seems. I have been collecting buttons for years, and like all of my crafting supplies, I accumulate them much faster than I use them. It's also great for the scrapping budget, since buttons are pretty inexpensive. Save even more by buying them in bulk in the sewing section instead of those pre-packaged for scrapbooking. My favorites are the color-coordinated multi packs. You can get a bag of 100+ buttons for less than $2.00 at Walmart.

One way to use several on one project is to make a border with them. On this mini card (4" square), my border covers the seam between my two patterned papers. To mix it up a little, I used a couple of different threading "techniques." Nothing hard, just something to add visual interest.

Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts striped paper, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, Hero Arts stamps.

I "scraplifted" this card idea from Lucy Abrams in the Hero Arts Flickr group. There are some absolutely beautiful cards there. Anyone can post projects to this group, you just have to use at least one Hero Arts stamp on your project. Go check it out for some great cardmaking and scrapbooking ideas! If you'd like to see the cards that I have over there, click HERE.

For some other great button cards, visit last week's round of Gallery Idol on the Papercrafts site. Lots of different ideas there, too. I just love the button-embellished trees, especially this one from Shanna Vineyard. She actually created her tree with buttons-so clever and cute.

Hope I inspired you today to raid your button stash to create a new project. Thanks for looking!

"Yummy" prizes from Hero Arts!

Some great giveaways happening over at Hero Arts this week! They are totally revamping their website and are sharing their excitement by doubling their already great prizes. Not only are they giving away twice the number of prizes this week, but the prizes themselves are doubled! How cool would it be to win $100 worth of free stamps from Hero Arts! The best part is that there are so many possibilities with this week's challenge-you just have to be inspired by any one of the hundreds of projects on their website. HERE is the link to today's blog post detailing this week's challenge.
This is just a little scalloped circle card I made using some Hero Arts stamps. I just can't get enough of these-they are so cute and fun to make. One of my favorite ways to embellish them is with stamped images that I have cut out and layered.
Thanks for looking-off to enjoy another sunny day here. :)

Cards on the Cheap

Everyone's trying to cut back on expenses these days-I'm no exception. I made these two cards after seeing a baby card by Kim Kesti. Love the way she combined chipboard (one of my favorite products) with vellum (a product that scares me a little.) Not only are these little cards cost-effective, they're also adorable.

I'm going to share a couple of cost-cutting strategies for making cards. They're all painless and give you super-cute results.

The first is to make your cards smaller. Mini cards are adorable and easy. These cards I'm sharing are 4" square, so you can get four cards from a 12X12 sheet of cardstock. Cover the from with a scrap of patterned paper-I used 4" square pieces, but you could also use a smaller size square and leave a margin around the entire card.

The second way to stretch you buck is to use papers that you already have. Not a new idea, but this one has a twist. I punched a scalloped circle from a piece of ugly patterned paper (you know you have some!) and adhered it to the center of the card, ugly-side-down. It will look like you used white cardstock. Layer a square piece of vellum over the top and attach with brads or eyelets in each corner.

The third way to stretch your card budget is to use minimal embellishments. You don't need ten layers on your card front to make it look spectacular. Adhere a chipboard shape (these are Miss Elizabeth's from Dollar Tree-there were 15-20 different shapes for $1) over the vellum on your card. You could also use a button, a flower, or any other slightly dimensional accent.

Finally, use stamps. They are a little more expensive than embellishments sometimes, but can be used over and over again. Sentiment stamps are my favorite because you can mix and match them with any embellishments, not just other stamps.

Miss You Mini Card

I'm still playing around with my entry for the "manly card" challenge over on the Hero Arts blog. It also occurred to me that I should include links for some of the blogs and sites that I talk about. The Hero Arts blog is one of my favorites-you can visit it HERE. New posts from the designers each day, tons of ideas, and weekly contests. Need I say more?

Today I'm sharing a mini card I made for this challenge. It's pretty versatile-could be for a man, woman or child. I'm actually going to send it to the students in my practicum classroom. It's been less than a month since my semester ended, but I really do miss them already. Can't wait to have a classroom of my own soon!

For this card, I used a wood-grain stamp from the Hero Arts Artistic Windows set, a little owl from their Ink 'n Stamp Birds and Branches set, and the "miss you" sentiment from Lily Pad Greetings. Yes, more owls. The Green Stack from DCWV goes perfectly with all of my new owl stamps, too.