Hey Chickie!

***Please click HERE for my Lily Pad Cards Blog Hop Post!***

I think I have a new favorite stamp company-Paper Smooches!  My scrappy BFF, Lesa, and I had the opportunity to go to a card class last week taught by Kim Hughes and Karolyn Loncon.  They were both SO sweet in real life!  We made some really cute cards (I will share later), and I bought my first 3 sets of PS stamps.  Here is a card I made for the SPARKS Challenge on the PS blog:

I was inspired to use some of the colors and textures from the inspiration photo (tiny white bunnies stitched from felt.)  I used a mix of papers from Bo Bunny, Imaginisce, and Pebbles, along with a die-cut felt border from Queen & Co.  I made some faux-stitching on the sentiment tag using a Spellbinders Pierceabilities die.

I'm so glad that you came to visit my blog today!  Don't forget to check out THIS post for the Lily Pad Cards blog hop!  Lots of great prizes and cards along the way!

Some Spring Cards...

I got to play a little bit today with some new stamps and my March Counterfeit Kit.  I struggled a bit with these colors, and I'm not quite sure that I was successful.  Getting inky made me happy, though!  Here are the 4 cards that I made today-but I still have a ton of paper in my kit that I want to use up!  I see a few more blue and yellow cards being created before the weekend is over. :)

This card uses some older stamp images from Hero Arts and Art Impressions.  My wonderful sister-in-law, Patti (the one who got me hooked on stamping a few years ago), recently passed all of her stamping supplies along to a few lucky recipients.  This is a thank you that I made for her using some of those stamps. 

I am in love with this little bunny stamp from Unity and Jillibean Soup's "Chicken Dumpling".  Isn't he sweet?  This is a super-simple CAS card that used just a few scraps of patterned paper from my kit.

I'm not quite sure about this card.  I think it needs a "pop" of color somewhere.  What do you think?  I think it just may be a bit too much blue for me.  I love the white lace over the kraft, however.  To make the kraft border, I traced a blue die cut border from my kit onto kraft, trimmed it with scissors, then used a brass stencil to dry-emboss the edge.  You can see just a hint of it in the picture.  Adds a little "oomph". :)

This card is super bright and cheery.  I used a Hero Arts flower set and a "vintage" sentiment from PSX (another pressie from my SIL.)  The blue and green patterned paper on the bottom is actually a journaling box that was on the back of one of my kit papers.  It worked perfectly as flower stems!  I added some bling to the centers and a little notch to the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today-and remember the Lily Pad Cards' Birthday Blog Hop starts tomorrow morning at 9 AM!  Lots of inspiration and goodies up for grabs!

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!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge-Stamp Your Own Patterned Paper

The Counterfeit Kit Challenge (which I am sponsoring this month) issues 3 mini challenges each month to help you use up the supplies in your monthly kit. The first mini challenge for September is to create your own patterned paper using stamps. I usually use my Ippity stamps to make focal point embellishments for cards, so creating background paper was a great way to get me thinking outside of my comfort zone. I decided that I wanted to give myself an additional challenge to create a layout instead of a card.
There are quite a few stamped elements on this layout. Can you see them all? First, I created my background paper using a piece of ivory cardstock and Tattered Rose Distress Ink. I first stamped the cardstock with the Dots for Sure background stamp. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the dots. I then wanted to give it a bit of a vintage look, so I then stamped the paper again (randomly) with the postmark stamp from Cherish Your Dreams.

Now on to the embellishments. I used up all of the flower embellies that I made in THIS tutorial. The flower, leaf, and butterfly stamps are all from Ippity's Now & Always stamp set. I also stamped the journaling spot where my title is with one of the frames from the Season of Joy set. I just love that frame! I distressed the edges of the frame with Tattered Rose Distress Ink to tie it in with my background paper.

I hope that you are playing along with us at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge this month. It's not too late to start playing! Remember, you could win your choice of Ippity stamps if you join in! Check out the details at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog, along with all of the wonderful stamping projects from the Master Forgers. I know you will be inspired!

Cool... :)

This card just makes me giggle. It's silly and fun, and it's just the thing that I needed to make today. Isn't it cute?

I spritzed a piece of kraft cardstock with Mister Huey in Orchard, then stamped and paper-pieced the popsicle from Unity. The sentiment is also from the "Mix-Up of Cuteness" set. Papers are from Sassafras Lass' "Sunshine Lollipops" collection.
I am entering this card in two challenges. The first is the All Things Unity #36, Summer Feeling, Challenge.

I also used the sketch from this week's Card Patterns challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Along for the Ride

Cards for guys are tough, especially anniversary cards! While I was playing with my July kit for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, I noticed that the back of one of the papers had a cute retro car and camper. My husband was just saying that he would love to find a teardrop camper and restore it to match our '55 Chevy Belair. I thought it would be cute to make an anniversary card for him using that paper. I couldn't believe it when I looked through my stamps and saw this cute little sentiment from Unity-uninked! It was the perfect message for this card. I added some twine and buttons to my arrow sticker and paper pieced the little details on the stamped image. I am entering this in the All Things Unity Challenge #35: Wrap it Up. I haven't participated in many challenges lately-it feels so good to be creative again! Thanks for stopping by!

Get Well Soon

Here's a sweet little card that I shared during my last ShareCroppers class. The heart stamp and sentiment are both from {ippity}'s "How YOU Doin' " stamp set. These pretty little patterned papers are from SEI's Happy Day collection.

Love these stamps! Visit my Etsy shop to see all of the sets I have available for purchase. I'd love to be your {ippity} chick!
To see other great cards made with {ippity} stamps, visit this week's Linky Party. Thanks for stopping by!

June Counterfeit Add-on Kits

I admit that I got a bit carried away this month while I was creating my add-ons for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I created a small add-on kit based on the add-on from Burlap & Buttercups, which I shared yesterday with my main kit. When I was looking through some of the other kit clubs, however, I found that I really loved the Studio Calico Star Dust Add-on. After I assembled my main kit, I realized that I could counterfeit the Star Dust Add-on and have it coordinate with my main kit. So this month I have a mix of two kit clubs. Here is my counterfeit Star Dust Add-On:Everything was pulled from my stash or handmade. I really wanted to include a chicken wire background stamp, but didn't have any stamps in my stash that would work. My solution: an onion bag (thanks, Lesa!) I created a frame from a scrap of chipboard, then adhered a piece of the onion bag over the center of the frame. To use this, I applied ink to one side, placed it ink-side-down on my paper, then rolled a brayer over the top. It worked great! Can't wait to try this on a project!

Here are my counterfeit tin pins. I had one package of buttons to cover leftover from last month's kit, so I decided to cover them with paper to make my version of the tin pins. I used a cloth to slightly dampen my paper, then covered the buttons. I then applied a layer of Glossy Accents, and they look very similar to October Afternoon's tin pins!

These are the tapes that I made in place of the Smash Tape. I used some old first aid tape, and stamped the checked background with teal and red ink. I then used some different stamps from my stash to add words, phrases, and numbers. I'm not quite sure what I will use these for yet, but they were fun to make! Note to self: need more first aid tape. :)

Finally, I counterfeited the Kitch brads from the inspiration kit. I simply cut or punched circles from patterned paper scraps and placed them inside the rim of these buttons. I then covered the paper with Glossy Accents. Super easy, and no one will ever know that they are buttons, not brads, once they are on my projects!

I also made a Summer Add-On so that I can play along with Kim's Summer challenge later this month. I have had my eye on Echo Park's Splash collection for a while, but I simply couldn't justify buying it when I still have lots of last summer's paper in my stash! So I decided to counterfeit the Splash collection (instead of a kit) as my Summer Add-On. I had so much fun making the journaling blocks and the ticket embellies. You can see the "real" Splash collection from Echo Park HERE. Here is my counterfeit Splash kit:

I'm excited to use my kits to make some projects! If you haven't played along with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, you are missing out! Check it out HERE. I know you'll be inspired!

Happy Wishes

Happy Friday, everyone! I can't think of a better reason to celebrate this week. What a week!

Today I am sharing the card that I made for this week's Lily Pad Cards sketch challenge. Lucy has made a sweet little sketch for us-I know you will love it and hope you can play along! Our sponsor this week is one of my very favorites, too-Lawn Fawn! I just love Kelly Marie's adorable stamp designs, and I was so excited to get to play with one of the new releases from CHA Winter. The set is called Lunar Lights. Here is what I made:

I decided to use a Hero Arts acetate card for my card base. First, I stamped the lanterns and string on the white cardstock inside the card. Then I stamped the lanterns and string directly on my card front using black StazOn ink. Paper-piecing the lanterns allowed me to add lots of fun colors and patterns.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Don't forget to check out all of the Dream Team's cards and challenge details HERE.

Ocean Gift Bag Topper

Welcome back! I'm excited to share a photot tutorial for this sweet gift bag topper with you today. It is also the featured project on the Momenta blog today. If you haven't checked out the new blog yet, you should head over! (After you're done here, of course!)
1. Trim embossed cardstock to fit the width of the gift bag. (My gift bag measured 7.75" wide, so I trimmed my cardstock to 7.75" x 12". Make two score lines across width of cardstock to fold over the top of the gift bag.


2. Trace edge of die-cut cardstock along short sides of embossed cardstock. (You can use any die cut paper because you are just using it as a template. You can also leave the edge of the bag straight if you prefer or are short on time.)

3. Trim along traced lines.

4. Mark handle placement on back side of cardstock.

5. Use paper trimmer to cut "slices" from the cardstock to slide over the handles. My "slices" were about 1/4" wide.

6. This is what it should look like. Notice that I cut the "slices" from the top of the gift bag topper, not the sides. This will allow the topper to sit flat on top of the gift bag.

6. Sand cardstock. (This is a great way to show the contrasting core of your cardstock. Pre-embossed cardstock, such as Momenta's Hidden Hues, works great for this project!)

7. Fit topper over gift bag handles and embellish as desired. I used cardstock scraps and my Create a Critter cartridge (Cricut) to create a little ocean scene. This is such a fun project, and such a great idea for your scrap budget! Not only can you embellish using scraps and leftovers from other projects, but also the plain gift bags are 2/$1.00 at Dollar Tree! You can get my favorite, kraft, or fun colors like the teal one used in this project.

Thanks for stopping by today!

The Greeting Farm Presents...A New Lily Pad Challenge!

It's Friday, so that means the Lily Pad Dream Team has a new batch of cards to inspire you, plus a new challenge and a new sponsor! Our challenge this week is another gorgeous color combination from Kathy-a collection of soft, muted colors that would be perfect for a Mother's Day card or any spring project.
Not only do we have a great color combo for you, but our sponsor this week is none other than The Greeting Farm! I have been in love with TGF's adorable images since I first saw them about a year ago. The sweet characters fit in perfectly with my cutesy card style! My card this week features a sweet digi stamp-it's called "Kissy Kissy".

It's true that these images are perfect for coloring. I am just learning how to use Copics, however, so my colors (and skill) are quite limited! My image is entirely paper-pieced, using scraps of cardstock and some Distress Ink. A touch of Crystal Stickles "eyeshadow" finishes off the image.
I hope you will all join us this week for our Color Throwdown! You can see all of the details, as well as the rest of the Dream Team's gorgeous cards, HERE.

Lily Pad Inspiration Challenge

The Lily Pad DT had a fun assignment this week: we got to hunt through all of the submissions from the past month and create a card inspired by one of them! This assignment is perfect for me because I am always inspired by others' cards, and I always tell myself that I will "lift" their design someday. Well, life gets busy and I forget. Having this as an assignment was the perfect reason to make one of these cards!

I loved THIS card by Therese, who entered this for the Lily Pad Color Throwdown. I had that same scooter stamp in my stash, and I had never inked it up. Time to remedy that! Here is what I came up with:

I cut this fun shaped card using my Cricut Wild Card cartridge. It's hard to see the detail, but the pink cardstock is dry embossed with the same quirky heart that is on the scooter-love that! I also hope that you will join us for this fun challenge-you could win a gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp! Check out the challenge details and the rest of the Dream Team's cards HERE.

Counterfeit Kit Mini Challenge #3: Inspired by Food

Our mini challenge was to create a project inspired by our favorite foods. My favorite food is ice cream-hands down! I knew that I wanted to scrap these photos from our trip to the Ben & Jerry's factory last fall. As I looked through my kit, I noticed my cloud papers and chipboard shapes, the scalloped borders, and the blues and greens. My mind instantly thought of the B&J's containers. I thought it would be fun to recreate the background from the packaging. Although it's not exact, it's definitely inspired by the packaging. I am so proud of myself for getting these photos scrapped and on a 2-page spread, to boot! :)
We would love to see your take on this challenge! You can see the original post HERE on the Counterfeit Kit blog.

Lily Pad Sketch Challenge

I feel so honored to be working with the girls on the Lily Pad Cards Dream team. Our sketch artist in the amazing Lucy Abrams! She created this wonderful sketch for us to use this week:

We also have a generous sponsor this week, Penny Black! This was my first time using Penny Black stamps and cardstock. I used the Mimi in Paris set to create my card based on Lucy's sketch:

Ooh la la! Be sure to check out all of the details for this week's challenge HERE on the Lily Pad Cards blog. I know you will be amazed by all of the Dream Team's cards, as well!

Lily Pad Cards-Our First Challenge!

Welcome to the first challenge from Lily Pad Cards! Kathy came up with a beautiful Color Throwdown for us-I love the rainbow of colors, don't you? When I first saw this color combo, I knew that I wanted to do something fun and light-hearted.

I decided to ink up one of my newest sets-the Birthday Purses set from Skipping Stones Design. I paper pieced the stripes using scraps of cardstock. I also added a fun circle border using Versamark ink.

The Dream Team would love it if you would play along with us!

The challenge. Make a card using the color palette above (an exact match is not required-just land in the same ballpark.)

The prize. The lucky winner will receive her choice of ONE of the following fantastic marker sets from Letraset:

You can see all of the challenge details HERE. The deadline for this challenge is Thursday, April 14, at 11:59 PM. Now hop to it! :)

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Welcome to your next stop on the Counterfeit Kit challenge Blog Hop for the month of March! If you didn't start at the very beginning, you will want to head on over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. We have lots of great scrappers participating this month-you won't want to miss a single hop!

Our mini challenge for the blog hop was to scraplift ourselves. I don't do this very often, so this was a fun challenge for me. I knew right away that I wanted to scraplift this gift bag that I made for my mom's birthday back in January:

I really loved this project-the stamps, the label shape of the bag topper, and the fact that it was a fun way to give a gift. I tried to think of a way to make the bag differently. I was a little stuck, but I was quickly inspired when I saw the cute little boxes that Backyard Farms uses for their tomatoes:

I loved the die-cut fence on the front and the fact that it was made from kraft cardstock. Being the frugal girl that I am, I decided to take the elements that I loved from my gift bag and use them to create a gift box. Here is what I came up with (my sweet daughter even baked some Double Chocolate Chunk cookies so my box wouldn't be empty for the hop!)

Everything (except the box and the cookies) came from my March Counterfeit Kit. I hope that you like the project and are inspired to upcycle your produce packaging, too! Your next stop on the hop is with the fabulous Karen Williams. Don't forget to leave some love along the way!

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!

Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop

Welcome to your next stop on February's Counterfeit Kit Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Melissa's fabulous blog. If not, make sure that you start the hop right at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog so you don't miss any of the amazing projects!


This month's inspiration kit was from Scraps of Darkness. You can see photos of the inspiration kit HERE, and you can also check out my blog post HERE that shows the contents of (and the logic behind) my counterfeit kit. Here are a couple of projects that I've made with my kit.

Here is the sketch from Scraps of Darkness:

And here is my layout:



It's hard to see in the photo, but I finally used my Perfect Pearls mists! I sprayed the background and the brown chipboard flourish with Interference Red mist. So pretty when the light hits it!

I also made a couple of cards (of course!) The first uses supplies from my kit plus a cute little button card stamp from Unity Stamp Co. I'm embarrassed to say that I've had this stamp for a few months and didn't know what it was, lol. I just saw a new set from PTI that had a similar stamp and realized what it was! Now it is one of my favorites. :)

The next card was actually the first project that I made using my kit, back at the beginning of the month. The card base is made from the postage stamp die cuts (from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge). The flower and sentiment stamps are from Ippity. If you would like these stamp sets, I happen to know a *fabulous* Ippity chick. ;) Plus, I think I finally achieved the vintage look with these two cards!
I am so very glad that you had a chance to hop along with us today. I'd love it if you left me a comment, too! Your next stop on the hop is the amazingly talented Marianne!