Hand Stamped Sentiment Card Challenge, Sweet Valentine!

Hi all!  I have some exciting news to share with you....I am so delighted to announce that I've been invited to be a designer for the Hand Stamped Sentiments Design Team!! Woot woot!!   They're a fabulous group of Stampin'Up! gals that have a card challenge blog and I am so excited to be a part of the team!

So, today marks my very first card contribution as part of the DT.  The theme this week is to create a project using a black and red color palette, so I thought I'd create a little heart bag using the Petal Cone die.  And, I knew from the start that I wanted to use the Love Letter DSP, which I haven't used in a while!  It's one of my faves though.  Wanna see the full project?

The Petal Cone die (Item 121810, $32.95) makes a perfect little heart bag!  Just the right size for a special little gift {wink wink!}  A little hint for all the hubbies and significant others out there - heehee!  GREAT things come in small packages...{am I right, ladies!}. I used the yummy Glimmer Paper for my heart and just a teenie bit for the Dotted Scallop Ribbon trim.  Then of course, I had to do some embellies - I went with the Antique Brad and also used the banner from the Petal Cone die for my "faux ribbon."  Isn't that so fun?  It really is a great die cut!  Here's a closer look at the die - you'll see it's pretty versatile!:

I love that the Glimmer paper coordinates with the Glimmer Brads - such a fun touch of bling to this vintage-y Valentines pouch, don't you think?  Another fun punch I haven't used in a long while is the Spiral Border punch, which I think is a great pairing with the newsprint pages from the First Edition DSP.  I gave the overall project that aged look by inking up the edges with the Soft Suede craft spot.  The cute sentiment is from the Something to Celebrate stamp set {Occasions Mini Level 2 Hostess set}. To finish it off, I did the handles in the Very Vanilla seam binding.  What do you think?  Hope you like it!!  Here's the recipe for you:

{Petal Cone Sweet Valentine}

*Stamp Set: Something to Celebrate

*Cardstock: Love Letter DSP, First Edition DSP, Glimmer Paper, Very Vanilla

*Inks: Real Red Classic Ink, Soft Suede Craft Spot

*Accessories: Antique Brads, Full Heart punch, Petal Cone die, Spiral Border punch, Dotted Scalloped Border punch, Glimmer Brads, Seam Binding

Wanna play along with us?  We'd love to see your take on this week's challenge!  Hop on over to the Hand Stamped Sentiments site to check out all the DT projects and find out the deets for the challenge.  Thanks so much for visiting.  If you'd like to leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you! ;)  Bye for now.

Easter Wishes Paper Crafters Sampler {Blog Hop}!

Hi all!  If you've come across my blog from the Paper Crafters Sampler blog hop, you must have just visited

Vicki Burdick's blog and saw her gorgeous project.  If you've just come for a visit, I definitely encourage you to hop on and check out what the Design Team has created and you can also check out some sneak peek's of February's issue.  We're using this beautiful Easter Cross template in this blog hop, designed by the talented Melanie Schulenberg, and the cool thing is, you'll have the template available to you as part of the issue if you'd like to subscribe.  Now here's a look at the cross I made:

I used the pretty daisies from the Blossom Party Originals die to decorate my cross and then used the sentiment from the Something to Celebrate Hostess stamp set from the Occasions Mini.  Here's a close up look at the flowers for you: 

Before you go, here's a sneak peek of my Easter Wishes project in the February issue:

Let's say it's very egg-citing! {hee!}  You can visit the Paper Crafters Sampler site to subscribe to this month's issue!  It's chockful of wonderful Easter Ideas for you.

I hope you've enjoyed my Easter Cross Box and sneak peek.  If you haven't done so already, be sure to check out Vicki’s blog just before me or head on over to visit the next stop on the hop – Kelly Campbell’s!

Thanks for popping by! 

January Final Friday Winner!!

Hi all!  Sorry for being so absent on the bloggie blog this week....such a crazy busy time!  Anyway, I have not forgotten about January's Winner...as a matter of fact....are you ready to find out who it is?  Drumroll please....the lucky winner is:

Lucky number 17, who happens to be Steph D. sweet craf-tea chick!!!  A BIG congrats to you, dear Steph!!!

Thanks so much to you all for playing!! I will be posting later today, but for now, gotta run.  Have a fantastic Saturday!!!

It's time for Sale-a-bration!!

Hi blog friends!  I have to say that today is the start of my favorite annual Stampin'Up! promotion - Sale-a-bration!! This is the time of year where you can earn free Sale-a-bration products (like stamp sets, papers, and digital images) for every $50 in merchandise you buy.  Doesn't that sound cool?  This promotion kicks off today, January 25th and goes thru March 31, 2011. 

Wanna check out the Sale-a-bration catalog? 

It has all the excluse Sale-a-bration products you can choose from, plus lots of other options from the main Idea Book and Catalog, too!  So many cool things!  You can shop anytime on my Online Store from the comfort of your computer, or you can send me an email if you'd like to go that route, too. 

Oh - and how do you like my little digital Sale-a-bration owl graphic I created?  I used My Digital Studio (MDS) to create it, and most of the graphics are from the brand spankin' new Sale-a-bration Digital Content CD {all the exclusive images from the Sale-a-bration catty..which happens to be one of the free items you can earn}.  If you're an avid digital scrapbooker or digital designer, it's an awesome supplement to MDS and definitely worth getting...I love all the images and embellies!

Enjoy, dear friends!  It's a fabbie time to be stamping and crafting, or, for you newbies out there, take this opportunity to start your crafting arsenal!!  Have a great day!  Thanks for dropping in for a visit. :)

perfectly punched cupcakes!

Hi all!  Did you guys have a nice weekend?  I have to say we had a great weekend!  We had beautiful weather and we also got to hang out with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nieces for the weekend.  They came down for a visit and we had lots of fun.  We went down to see the tidepools by my house and then we even had some time for crafting, which is always a bonus.  I just wish we had an extra day!  Oh well...we did have fun.  Now it's time to kick off the new week.  Remember the other day when I mentioned I'd share the tip on how to to be more paper efficient with the new Build a Cupcake Punch (and can also be applied to the Blossom Petals Punch, too!).  Applying this handy technique ensures you make perfectly punched cupcakes!  Here's what you need to do:

Here's a picture of how the stamped images align with your punch:

Isn't that cool?  Now here's another look at the cards I created with my cupcakes.  I made a stepped up version with the ribbon, as well as a simpler, easy to mail version without ribbon...Either way, I don't think you can go wrong!:

What do you think?  Aren't these fun?  I love this sweet color palette - so girly and preppy, too!  Here's the recipe for you:

{Punchy Cupcakes!}

*Stamp Set: Something to Celebrate {Occasions Mini Catalog Hostess Level 2 Set}, Create a Cupcake

*Cardstock: Pretty In Pink, Filled With Love DSP Bundle, Whisper White

*Inks: Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz

*Accessories: Build a Cupcake Punch, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, Certainly Celery Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Springtime Vintage Buttons, Hemp Twine

It's your turn to give it a try!  I think you'll have fun making these perfect cupcakes - I know I did.  Hope you have a fantastic week.  Oh...don't forget...Sale-a-bration starts tomorrow!  WooHoo! 

sweet Butterfly Birthday

Hi there bloggie friends!  Yay - It's Friday!  Hope you had a good week.  As usual, time is just flying faster and faster for me.  Work has kicked it up a notch, but I've got so much crafting energy from last week's Leadership Conference that I had to squeeze this card in for the Cards Blog Challenge for the week!  As soon as I saw that the challenge was to use butterflies, I HAD to play!  I've been dying to use the Sweet Stitches paper so this was my chance.  Are you ready for the big reveal.....

I was so excited about how the card turned out - the color scheme, papers and pretty butterfly just make me smile.  I mean, this card practically made itself!  How do you like the fun embellies - from the fabric button to the pompom trim....so yummy!  I do love that Birthday font, too.  It's just so cute and shabby - perfect for the card.  Here's some more pics for ya...

Love the textured cardstock - it makes the stamped sentiment look aged and vintage-y.

One last look.  Are you in love with that paper?!  I know I am!  So, so fun!  Here's the card recipe for you:

{Sweet Butterfly Birthday}

All Supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted

*Stamp Set: Bring on the Cake {SU! Occasions Mini Catalog}

*Cardstock: Textured Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Sweet Stitches DSP

*Inks: Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake {sponged on the edges}

*Accessories: Sweet Stitches Fabric Designer Brads, Melon Mambo Pompom trim, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die; Boxy Banners Die {PTI}

Hope you like it!  Have a fantastic Friday! Ciao, for now.

filled with {LOVE}!

Happy Thursday!  Today, I'm sharing a super cute Valentine Card that was totally inspired by a Thank You card I received from my cousin, Grace.  As soon as I saw her card, I knew I wanted to case it and I had this Filled With Love stamp set in mind.  It's from the Filled with Love promotion, which comes with these pretty DSP papers, too.  I am also really digging the red glimmer paper - so, so CUTE!  Wanna see the full card?  Here you go:

There are a lot of fun elements to this little Valentine.  For the card cover, I used the Scallop from the Scallop Circles #2 die, and for the inner circle, I used the 3" Circle Originals die that's from the Occasions Mini catalog. It is the perfect size to use with the scallop circle as a mat!  Love that!  I also used the Embosslit Heart with the red glimmer paper, which has such a pretty effect.  I stamped then punched the Filled With Love heart with the heart punch.  To add interest to the edge, I used the scallop border punch with the glimmer paper to give it a little bling factor.

The design is soo much fun!  I love the tab closure.  It adds the total cute factor, I think.  You'll have to scroll down to the end to check out my cousin's card and you'll see why I was so inspired!  Here are a few more views of this valentine card.

I finished off the tab closure by rounding the edges with the corner rounder.

Inside, I stamped the "Be My Valentine" and added a couple heart flowers.  The little heart punch goes perfect with this set, too!  Now....here's my cousin's card.  So cute!!

Love how she used the Owl punch!!  This is such a great card design, I'm gonna have to make more cards like this.  Hope you got some good ideas!  Here's the recipe for the Valentine card:

{We're Good Together}

*Stamp Set: Filled With Love

*Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack (from Filled With Love Bundle), Whisper White, Glimmer Paper

*Inks: Real Red

*Accessories: Scallop Circles #2 Bigz Die, 3" Circle originals die, small heart punch, Full Heart punch, Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit, 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Border punch

Here's the Filled With Love Bundle deets:

You have until January 24th to order this adorable bundle, but make sure you don't miss out - order it today!

You'll love it.  Thanks for coming by! :)