Oh My Word! {project sneaks!}

Hi all!  Are you curious about the projects I've made for UStamp With Dawn And Friends?  Well, here's your sneaky peeky at the 2 projects I created for the Oh My Word issue. 

Do you like?  These are just two of many projects that are included in the issue.  Lots of fun things to check out.  You can find out more about the Oh My Word issue here.

I'm also excited to share that I'm part of the Creative Crew for the upcoming Big Shot Brilliance issue, too!

That's all for now, dear friends.  Behind the scenes, I've been super busy with work, and I've been a bit under the weather, too {boo - not so fun!}.  It's also getting very late for me in my neck of the woods, so I'm gonna call it a night.  TGIF tomorrow!!!  Toodles for now! 

March Final Friday Giveaway!

Hello there blog friends!  I've got a fun giveaway for you this month!  How would you like to win the cute Funky Four stamp set and 6x6 stack of the Delicate Dots paper (32 sheets total, 8 sheets each of 4 double sided designs!).  Just in time for Spring! 

Are you ready to play?  Here are the rules {only enforced by the "Honor System"}:

1. Leave me a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Time, Wed, March 23, 2011.
2. On your comment, please make sure to include a valid email address or a blog URL (where I can leave a comment or have a way of contacting you). For those of you that are uncomfortable with leaving an email in a post, you can write your info like this: yourname at emailaccount dot com.
3. One comment per person please. :)  Please leave your first name and last initial in the comment, too!
4. Anyone can play - international visitors welcome!

Now you can leave me a comment about anything, or you can tell me one thing about the town you live in.  I love to travel and visiting places, so I would love to hear more about the places where you live!  If I were to go there, where is one place I absolutely would have to go?  I can tell you about where I live.  Last weekend, there was a Whale of a Day festival near the Pt Vicente lighthouse.  This is the time of year where you can see the whales migrating!  Unfortunately, this past weekend, we didn't see any.  It is still early in March, so I think we'll go and see if we can spot any these next couple of weekends.

Can't wait to hear your comments!  I'll be announcing the winner my blog on Friday, March 25th, so be sure to check back then.  Have a great day!

Paper Crafters Sampler March Sneak Peek

Hey friends! Just popping in with a quick post about the upcoming March issue of the Paper Crafters Sampler with the theme of Spring Reverie.  Here's a peek of my banner project for you.  

This issue is chock full of great projects for Spring.  Head on over to Paper Crafters Sampler if you'd like to find out more about the issue or subscribe!  You can reference promocode PCSRD.  Enjoy!  I'll catch up with you guys in a bit.

a St. Paddy's day {beverage} for this week's HSS Challenge

For this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge, I was tasked to create a card set using this week's Go Green St. Patrick's Day theme.  While St. Paddy's day probably doesn't conjure up a hot cup of coffee for most, I decided to "buck" the trend, so to speak. I have Sandy Hancock to thank for this fun coffee cup design!  She made the cutest samples, I just had to case it!  First, here are the deets to this week's challenge:

And now, here's a look at one of my Grande cups of java:

Isn't that so fun?  I have to say I'm getting great use of my In Color 6x6 DSP stack!  I used the Pear Pizzazz DSP patterns for my cups.  I then also dusted off my crimper to create my coffee sleeves.  The Lucky Shamrock stamp from the Occasions Mini catalog made the perfect logo for my cups.  I'm telling you - these cards were so fun and easy to make, I think you guys should give it a try!  Here are the quick instructions for you:

1.  Start with a 4" x 11" piece of cardstock as your base and fold it in half.

2.  Mark off a 1/2" from both edges at the base of the folded card.  Use the paper trimmer to trim from the top corner to your hash mark - this will create your coffee cup shape.

3.  Cut a 2 1/2" x4" piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and run through your crimper.

4.  Adhere a piece of 5"x4" DSP and your crimped piece of cardstock on top of your coffee card.  Once you adhere both pieces, trim the excess cardstock off using your paper trimmer.

5.  For your lid, cut a 4 1/4" x 1" piece of Whisper White cardstock.  Score lengthwise at 1/4" to create your faux edge on your lid.  Round the top 2 corners and adhere this piece onto your card with dimensionals.  You're done! 

Give it a whirl.  You'll see for yourself how fun these are to make.  Who knew that whipping up 4 cups of coffee could be such a blast?! Hope this inspires you to play along with us at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week.  Check out what the rest of the DT has in store for you and create a project to share with us!  Have a great day :)

Baja Wasabi anyone?

Hey there peeps!  It is one cold day in Southern CA today.  Temperature-wise, it really wasn't too bad - 53 degrees - but it's super windy, which makes it chilling to the bone when you're outside!!  I'm sure you East Coast folks are getting a kick out of that comment.  But, for this Southern California girl, it sure is COLD {I'm a wimp}! 

Anyway, how about some Baja Wasabi for you?  Doesn't that sound like a fun sushi restaurant name?  For all I know, it could be.  What I'm actually referring to are the fun colors of this birthday card I'm sharing today.  How do you like the little snippet?  Wanna see the full card?

I've had the color green on the brain, since it's March and St. Paddy's day is coming soon, which also coincide's with my Mom's birthday.  What do you think of the card?  Does the Baja Breeze/Wild Wasabi combo work for you?  I have to admit it took me a while to put this card together.  I had creative block after I made my lattice square embossed focal point.  In fact, I needed to step away for a while because I was stuck!  Then, it finally came together after I decided I wanted to work in more of the Trellis Bigz die in Baja Breeze.  Next thing you know, I'm on a roll.  I layered the Baja Breeze Trellis on Whisper White and then trimmed the end into a pennant shape.  Finally, I topped it with a cute little flower from the Fun Flowers die and then added my Happy Birthday sentiment stamp from the Create a Cupcake set.  Hope you like it!  I really would love to hear what you think!  Here's the recipe for you:

{Baja Wasabi Birthday}

*Stamp Set: Create a Cupcake

*Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Crumb Cake

*Inks: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

*Accessories: Trelli Bigz die, Lattice Square embossing folder, Fun Flowers Bigz XL die, Sweet Stitches Fabric Brads, Vintage Trinkets brad, Jewelry Tag punch

Thanks for visiting.  Hope you had a great Monday.! I'll be back tomorrow with my card for this week's Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge!  See you in a bit :)

Sweet Blushing Rosette Parade Pizzazz box

Hi there!  You're probably thinking - what a crazy blog title!  Well, it's appropo I think because I repurposed the colors from this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge into another fun project.  I have to say I am hooked on this color combo...AND the cute In Color DSP stack!  Blushing Bride, Poppy Parade, and Pear Pizzazz  -  it truly is such a YUMMY combination!  So, about my project. Believe it or not, I was inspired by the explosion box concept, but wanted to create a shallower box, so this is what I've come up with.  The cool thing is that this cute little box is made out of two 6"x6" pieces of DSP, so you can make a BUNCH of these from the DSP stack!  Isn't that awesome?  Here's what you see when you open the box...

It fits this adorable little calendar {yes - I'm hooked on making those, too!}

Are you wondering what the dimensions of these projects are?  Wonder no more, dear friends! The box base is the full 6"x6" piece of DSP, scored at 1" on all 4 sides.  Then for each of the corners, score at a diagonal, so that when you fold the score lines, you get something that looks like this:

For the top of the box, cut the 6"x6" piece of DSP into a 5 1/2"x 5 1/2" piece of DSP, then score on all sides at 3/4".  You'll want to cut the the 2 score lines on the top and bottom and then glue the ends to make your box, so that the top securely fits on the base. As for the little calendar, You'll need a 7 1/2" x 3 3/4" piece of cardstock and score the long side at 1 7/8" and 3 3/4".  Super easy peasy!  As for the pretty rosettes an leaves - those fun flowers were made from the Table Setting Bigz XL die, which I just recently got and already LOVE since it makes the rosettes a snap to create! 

Here's a look from the side of the box.  You can see that the top is a quarter of an inch shorter than the base of the box.  Now one last, thing - how about that top note die?  I love making this shape with the top note!  Basically, you create your top note die, then place the die cut piece over the top note die again, turning it a quarter turn, and run it through the Big Shot.  Viola!  You get this fun shape!  Hope you guys liked today's post.  Here's a parting shot:

Isn't this such a sweet little package?  Try it out for yourself!  And, if you want to use this same color combo, come and play along with us at Hand Stamped Sentiments and post your finished project! Would love to see your take :)

Enjoy the rest of your Friday!  Toodles for now :)

HSS Color Challenge #57

Hello there blog friends!  Happy March!  Boy is this year flying, or what?  Well, in any case, it's time for this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge and we've got a fun color combo for you to try out.  What do you think of the card snippet above?  I have to say I had fun putting together my card for this week's color challenge using these pretty In Color colors.  Here's a look at the details:

Do you want to see what my full card looks like?  Here it is:

Now how fun are those colors?!  I wouldn't have typically thought of putting them together, but I do like the outcome.  I got to play with the In Color 6x6 DSP papers that are from the Hostess Level 1 set.  I just opened the pack and LOVE all the pretty prints!  For good measure, I even created a second card in a slight variation:

The cool thing is, these cards were really easy to put together, yet the DSP instantly dresses them up a bit.  And, just so you can see them both side by side, here's one last picture:

What do you think?  It was my first time to use the For You stamp from the Punch Bunch set (Sale-a-bration), and I really love the sweet little poppy flowers on it.  I think the overall color scheme reminds me of summertime.  That Poppy Parade color just makes me smile!  Here's the recipe for you:

{In Color Prints For You}

*Stamp Set: Punch Bunch

*Cardstock: Shimmery White, In Color 6x6 DSP, Whisper White

*Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride

*Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1/2" Poppy Parade Poly ribbon, dimensionals

 Hope you like it!  Now try out this cute color combo and play along with us this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments!  Hop over to the site for some inspiration from our creative DT, and then add your own take on the challenge.  Have fun! :)