Saturday, November 22, 2008

Relaaaaaax

Ok, it's official. My life is CRAZY! I took a new position at the bank in September and since then I live in St. Paul (MN) during the week and come home on the weekends. Fortunately (that word should be in caps and bolded now that I think about it), I have a wonderful friend who rents me the upper level of her house. I have a beautiful space to stamp with a big giant window, but the problem is, I leave early in the morning (so it's dark), and get home in the evening (and again it's dark), and then head for home on the weekends. I totally miss my Saturday stamping marathons! But, I spend my weekend time with DH and cooking (which I love to do too!) for the week when I'm home on the weekends. Hopefully, the house will sell and this can all be over soon. (ya, I'm not holding my breath either. lol)

So what do I do when life is crazy? I color. When I color I don't have to think. I don't have to push my already full brain to come up with a unique layout. I can just sit with my container of Copic markers and a few cute images and pretty soon I am in Happy Land.

The new Our Craft Lounge stamps are PERFECT for coloring (they were designed by Marianne Walker, the Copic Queen after all). I just love how the image is really the focus of these cards, not the paper or the layers or the 'bellies.

The first... Birthday Elle, is from the Lil' Pea-Nut set. I love how the lines in the stamp define where I need to put my shading! I used 3 different greys and added pink to her ears and adorable toes. The balloons are paper pieced, covered in Glossy Accents (Ranger), and attached with foam tape. The ground and sky are shaded using the Copic Airbrush System.

The second... Happy Day is from the Pat the Dog set. While I could have made it easy on myself and colored the heart, I decided to paper piece the heart so it matched the scallop frame. - cutting paper is a relaxation too! :o)



Both cards are made with My Minds Eye paper. Totally takes the work out of creating a card when I have papers that match! Don't you agree?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Gracie turns 6

Our granddaughter, Grace is turning 6 next month. How does that happen? It's bad enough that it seems like her dad (our son) was just 6, but 20 years later he has a 6 year old of his own. He and his wife are awesome parents and I'm so proud of them!

Anyway... each year I make her a birthday card with her age on it. Katherine, (her mom) has all her birthday cards in clear envies taped to her bedroom door like artwork. It's so fun to see them all together (and to see how my stamping has changed over the years! lol).

This year, I used three of Taylored Expressions SASI sets for the card and gift bag - Home Sweet Home, Sweet Celebration and Trick or Sweet. Yes, the cuppie on the gift bag is the ghost cuppie, minus his face! A cool trick I learned on Taylor's blog.



The party cuppies (from the Sweet Celebration set) are stamped on white cardstock, colored with Copic markers, and then cut out. I added some Crystal Stickles to the tops of the hats before attaching them to the card with foam tape.

The row of little cuppies are from the Home Sweet Home set and are simply stamped on the pink paper with black ink. A little gem helps them stand out.


I colored the *6* with a Copic marker, frosted it with glitter and placed it in the Happy Birthday circle that was stamped with the JustRite C-45 small letters.

Now for the bag... I found this little green gift bag on clearance at Target! It came with a funky colored cherry hanging in the "window". I removed that uuuugly cherry and replaced it with a
cute cuppie all frosted with sparkles.


Now, I just need to find the perfect gift for a little 6 year old cutie.

Thanks for stopping by!
HB


Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Celebration, Home Sweet Home, Trick or Sweet (Taylored Expressions), JustRite
Paper: Around the Block, Neenah, SU!
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Lime Pastel (Colorbox Chalk Ink), Copic markers
Misc: Crystal glitter (Stampendous), Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles, Crystal Stickles (Ranger), Harlequin Grungeboard (Tim Holtz), Pink rhinestone (Kaiser Craft), clear gems (Crystal Stickers Elements), gift bag (Target)

IT'S HERE!

Today's the day! Our Craft Lounge is open and you can find it HERE!

I am SO excited and what goes better with excitement than chocolate! Chocolate cupcakes to be exact! lol The Life is Sweet set is filled with deeply etched rubber images perfect to whip up that yummy creation.



I stamped the cupcake 3 times, colored, glittered and cut them out. I cut out the center circle with a round Nestability, sprayed the center using the Copic Airbrush System and a pink marker, and stamped the sentiment with Burnt Umber Palette ink. The mat is pattern paper cut with a scallop oval Nestability. A couple buttons, some adorable pattern paper and waLA!


Here is the full set:

Don't forget, this weekend only (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 14th, 15th, and 16th, ) with each stamp set you purchase, you will get a ticket included with your order! Save those tickets! The following weekend, OCL will start drawing winners. You just never know when a new ticket number will show up on their site. YOU COULD WIN!!!
WoooHOOO! I love Fridays!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

It's a dogs world!

WoooHOOO! It's almost here! Our Craft Lounge opens this Friday the 14th!

Today I'm featuring Pat the Dog! With the cold and snow we got yesterday, I just wanna be this cuddly little puppy laying in the sun!


Here is a look at the whole set. I giggled when I saw the *censored* sign. :o)



This weekend only (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 14th, 15th, and 16th, ) with each stamp set you purchase, you will get a ticket included with your order! Save those tickets! The following weekend, OCL will start drawing winners. You just never know when a new ticket number will show up on their site. YOU COULD WIN!!! (and we ALL love to win!)

Check out these amazing blogs for peaks at more of the OCL sets being release on Friday!

Lisa Zappa
Lila Holgate
Bev Barton
Heather McNally
Pam Hooten
Cami Turnbow
Kisa Peters
Joanne B
Lisa Mathis
Joy Kennedy

Be sure and check back tomorrow! Not only is it Friday (shout HURRAY!), but I'll have another sample to show you plus the link to the Our Craft Lounge store! wooHOOO!!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

* New *

I thought and thought about what to use for a title of this post. I've used Sneak Peak before, so that was out. I wanted something special... something exciting...something that would say...

LOOK HERE! There's a new stamp company in town!

Yup, you heard me right. Our Craft Lounge is introducing a line of THE most adorable stamps!

Here's a sneak peak from the For the Love of Birds set.

Check out these blogs for more samples! ooooo' you are gonna love what they've created!

Kendra Wietstock
Bev Barton
Heather McNally
Pam Hooten
Cambria Turnbow
Kisa Peters


Supplies
Stamps: For the Love of Birds (Our Craft Lounge)
Paper: KaiserCraft, Neenah
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette), Antique Linen (Ranger Distress Ink), Copic Markers
Misc: Nestabilities, ribbon (May Arts), embroidery floss (DMC)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Right at Home!

Fall is my favorite time of year! The crisp air, the colors, the crunch of leaves as I walk down the sidewalk. When I found this gorgeous piece of Bo Bunny paper I knew it would make the most beautiful fall cards, but I didn't want to make just any old "leaf" card.
These cards look similar, but one I kept simple, just stamping and coloring.

This one, I did some paper piecing (the roof and the trees) to add some dimension.

I love how they turned out and I hope the recipient will too.

Now, if only I could have a day off to enjoy this beautiful fall weather before the snow starts flying! ewwwwwwwwwww
Thanks for stopping by!
HB

Supplies
Stamps: Boards and Beams, Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink), Flourishes (Rhonna Farrer)
Paper: Bo Bunny, SU!, CTMH, Neenah
Ink: Burnt Umber (Palette), Antique Linen (Distress Inks), Copic markers
Misc: Copic Airbrush System, brads (Making Memories), ribbon (May Arts), Swirl glitter glue, tracing wheel