with all my {heart}

Hi there and Happy Friday to you all! I haven't had a whole lot of time to stamp lately, but early this morning, I got a chance to play with the With All My Heart stamp set, and I seriously had so much fun. The color palette I used reminds me of summer - such happy colors! Maybe it's because I've had Kauai on the brain, since we'll be going there this summer for our 10 year anniversary :) Don't these cards remind you of a tropical summer? Here's a close up of each of the cards for you.
I love the deep Melon Mambo color. I can't believe I was debating on getting the Extra Large Fancy Flower punch as well as this stamp set! I was thinking that I didn't need another flower punch, yet, now that I have it, I LOVE it. Turns out, you can't have too many flower punches afterall :) And as far as the stamp set goes, it's definitely more versatile than I thought. I created the background by stamping a pattern on an 8 1/2" x 11" Whisper White piece of cardstock and am really happy with how it came out. The 2 colors I used are Apricot Appeal and Melon Mambo. I got the gradient of pinks by stamping the image 3 times, so I have 3 shades of the Melon Mambo.
I think I definitely under utilize the Apricot Appeal color - it's so pretty and soft peachy-yellow. I love how this card turned out too!

Hope you like the cards today - here's the recipe for you:

{With All My Heart cards}
*Stamp Set: With All My Heart, Happy Moments
*Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, Old Olive
*Inks: Melon Mambo, Apricot Appeal
*Accessories: Scallop Trim Punch, Scallop Oval, Small and Large Oval punches, Corner rounder, Extra Large Fancy Flower punch, 1" circle punch, Rose Red double stitched grosgrain ribbon, So Saffron Twill ribbon {retired}, Pretty In Pink corduroy buttons

Hope you have an excellent Friday and a fabulous weekend!

my March {SWAP} cards

Hi there blog peeps! How are you guys doing this week? I'm glad it's Thursday. Time really does seem to go by fast these days! Today I've got a couple cards to share with you - they are the 2 cards I created for my March SWAP team swaps. Here the are: This first card showcases the Emboss Resist technique, where you heat emboss your images, then go back and sponge or brayer ink over the image. The embossed images "resist" the ink, which results in a pretty cool effect. Here, I used the Upsy Daisy stamp set for my flowers. I used the Whisper White craft pad and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then, I went back over it by sponging Melon Mambo Classic Ink over the image. Viola! That's Emboss Resist.
My second card was a quick and easy card that requires minimal stamping! Just the tag is stamped. It's a 3"x6" card, which fits perfectly in the SU! Small Open-End envelopes. I also used a lot of goodies from the Occasions Mini and Sale-a-bration catalog. I used the Sweat Pea Designer Series Paper stack as my focal image, then I added more detail by using the Pinking Hearts and Scallop Trim border punches. Finally, I topped it off with the yummy satin ribbon in Old Olive and added a "Happy Birthday" tag. Here are the recipe's for you.

{Upsy Daisy Easter Card}
*Stamp Sets: Upsy Daisy, A Good Egg
*Cardstock: Whisper White, Barely Banana, Apricot Appeal,
*Ink: Whisper White Craft Pad, Melon Mambo Classic Pad
*Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Modern Label Punch, Melon Mambo polka dot ribbon, Sherbet button, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Pretties kit half pearl, Finial Press embossing folder, Linen Thread

{Sweet Pea Birthday}
*Stamp Set: Vintage Labels {Sale-a-bration set!}
*Cardstock: Taken With Teal, Whisper White, Old Olive, Sweet Pea DSP
*Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Taken With Teal
*Accessories: Pinking Hearts and Scallop Trim border punches, Small Oval punch, 1/8" circle punch, Linen Thread, Old Olive Satin Ribbon

Hope you like these! Thanks for stopping by today :) Toodles for now.

{yummy} Fabrics!

I just had to share the gorgeous Heather Bailey fabrics I got online. Aren't these such fun springy-vintage prints?! I love her website and all her fun fabrics. I'm hoping to make a rag purse and some more flowers...I'll definitely post them when I'm done! I know this is a short post, but I couldn't help myself - these fabrics really are so pretty in person!

Announcing March's Final Friday Giveaway

Hi blog peeps! Hope you're having a great weekend so far. Are you ready to see what's in store for this month's Final Freebie Friday Giveaway? Here it is: This month, I'm offering 2 stamp sets! They are the Organic Grace and Love Bug stamp sets, which are perfect for spring! Hope you like them.

The lucky winner will be announced on my blog on Friday, March 26th. Here are the rules to play {enforced by the honor system ;) }

1. Leave me a comment on this post by midnight Pacific Time, Wed, March 24, 2010.
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. :)
4. Anyone can play - international visitors welcome!

You can leave me a comment about anything, or you can answer this question: Where does your creative inspiration for your crafting come from? I know this is a broad question, but feel free to share a few things if you'd like. I think I get a lot of my creative inspiration from fashion trends and textiles as well as architectural elements. I love going through catalogs I get in the mail and translating clothes or furniture concepts into my card and papercraft projects. I think that's fun. Blurfing is also something that gives me inspiration - it's amazing to see everyone's different styles and how they influence me! I definitely think my papercrafting has evolved from all of these sources.

I can't wait to read about what inspires you. Thanks for visiting :)

Swaps from Sandi McIver

Hi all! Happy Friday. These weeks have been flying by for me, it seems! New job, busy schedule, and all kinds of things to adjust to, but I'll get there. Today I've got one more guest stamper from my Swap Team to share with you. It's Sandi MacIver and she made a couple of gorgeous swaps for our February exchange. Here they are: How stunning is this card?! I love the bold Yellow and Black color scheme that Sandi used with the Vintage Vogue stamps!
Here, Sandi used the Good Neighbors stamp set and Whimsical Words from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Just too cute!

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned for March's Final Freebie Friday giveaway, which I will be posting soon! By for now :)

Swap Shares {day2}

I've got some more shares for you guys today! Our creative inspiration comes from Sharon Field and Carole'Anne Sluchinski. These ladies have created some more awesome swaps from the Occasions Mini and Sale-a-bration catalogs. Look at how fun these cards are: Carol's cards incorporate lots of great elements! The top card uses the Pinking Hearts border punch and the With All My Heart stamp set from the Occasions Mini. The bottom card uses the Gardens from the Heart stamp set and the Beautiful Wings embosslit, and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, all of which are also from the Occasions Mini.
Sharon's top card showcases the Shades of Spring DSP and the Gardens from the Heart stamp set from the Mini. The adorable cake in her bottom card is from the Happy Momentsand Whimsical Words Sale-a-bration sets. I love the ribbon detail on the cake card - so sweet!

Hope you enjoyed these swaps. Make sure to pop over their blogs and take a look at all their awesome papercraft creations. I think you'll enjoy browsing through their blogs! Have a great day!

Swap Team Shares

Hi all! Happy March! Wow - isn't this year flying? It doesn't seem possible that it's already March! Well, I've got something special for you guys this week. All week, I'm going to feature the February swaps I received from Team group I'm participating in. All the gals are FABULOUS stampers and papercrafters! Today, I'm sharing cards from Krista Driessen and Lee Conrey. Our February theme was focused on using stamp sets and accessories from the Occasions Mini and Sale-a-bration catalogs. I got some great ideas from these ladies, so I wanted to share them all with you too! Here are Krista's cards: She used the Vintage Vogue stamp set from the Occasions Mini and created an adorable scallop circle card. The square card she made uses the Happy Moments Sale-a-bration stamp set. I love her use of the scallop trim border punch with a scallop circle on the card, too. Below are Lee Conrey's cards:
I love the scallop trim border punch frame Lee created in her top card. Love the polka dot embossing folder she used in the background too! For her "dear Father card, Lee used the Finial Press embossing folder in the background - too cute. The stamp sets Lee used are also the Happy Moments for the flowers, and the Whimsical Words and Vintage Label sets for her second card.

Hope you enjoyed these swap cards from my featured Guest Stampers! You should definitely check out their blogs, too. Lots of great inspiration!