It's the little things...

I received the new SU! catalog the other day and one of the first things I do when I receive a new catalog is to look at all the wonderful layouts used on the card samples. The designers for SU! have such a wonderful, clean line style!

This layout was one of my favorites. I pared it with the new Friendly Expressions set by Anna Wight (for Whipper Snapper). I stamped the flowers on the white panel, letting the top of the bouquet go off the edge. I then stamped it on the green pattern paper. Lastly, I lined up the white panel so the bottom of the bouquet matched the top (on the green) and attached. Once attached, I trimmed off the left edge. The right edge was scallop cut using a Fiskars border punch.

Next, I stamped the flowers on a scrap piece, colored with Copic markers, cut out and attached with glue and foam tape. Only the center flower is popped up.

Here's a look at the card standing open. You can see that the front is trimmed shorter than the back so the blue shows.

I love the way Anna mixed fonts for this sentiment. I highlighted little things with one swipe of a marker. A touch of ribbon and a few glass baubles finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by! The sun is shining in MN today and there are hopes of Spring in the air. (I say that not having been out side to see how dang cold it is! LOL!)

HB

Supplies

Stamps: Friendly Expressions (Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs)

Paper: SU!, Choice Cardstock (Taylored Expressions), Sandylion

Ink: Momento, Copic markers

Misc: Ribbon (May Arts from StartLitStudio), Robbin's Nest glass baubles (Eclectic Paperie), Fiskars border punch, tracing wheel

New Stuff!

WooHOO! The new Our Craft Lounge release is right around the corner (mid-February)!

Here's a little peak...

Just in time for Spring! (oh would someone PLEASE tell Spring to hurry up!!!)

Don't you just LOVE new stuff!

HB

Happy Anniversary TECC!

Taylor is celebrating the one year anniversary of the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge! Each of the ladies on the Weekly Cupcake Crew has designed their own sketch for the celebration. I'm featuring Donna Baker's sketch challenge. You can check out the sketch on her blog Serenity in Stamping and find out about the prize you can win by participating!

I used the adorable cuppie couple from A Year of Sweets I set. Don't you just love the cupid cuppie! The papers are all cut into equal sized peices, attached to a piece of white cardstock and then stitched (yea!!! I found my sewing maching foot!).

I masked the clouds when I stamped the original image so that it would fit inside a rectangle Nestie. Then I stamped the clouds on a scrap piece, outlined them with a Copic marker (B001), ran them through my little Xyron sticker maker and plunged them in my glitter tub. I love using the sticker maker (you know, the little Xyron that looks like an *X*) when I want to cover things with glitter. The glitter stays put and it's flat, vs clumpy like when I use glue.

These girls are also featuring Donna's sketch:

Angela Knopf: http://www.inkybutton.typepad.com/

Karen Motz: http://paperplayhouse.blogspot.com/

Carolina Buchting: http://creativepad.typepad.com/

Don't forget to check out Taylor's blog, the anniversary celebration headquarters, for all of the sketch challenges as well as an awesome grand prize for one random winner who participates in ALL 9 sketch challenges! We hope you'll help us celebrate this yummy occasion!

Supplies

Stamps: A Year of Sweets I, A Year of Sweet Sentiments (Taylored Expressions)

Paper: Bo-Bunny, K & Co, Making Memories. Snow White Choice Cardstock (Taylored Expressions), SU!

Ink: Memento, ColorBox, Copic markers, Gelly Roll shimmer pen

Misc: Copic Airbrush System, Nestabilities, Starfire glitter (Taylored Expressions), red pearls (KaiserCraft), felt heart (Archivers), sewing machine

Luck o' the Irish

Everyone is in high gear for Valentine's Day (me included) so I thought a change of color would be nice. I used the adorable Irish cuppie from A Year of Sweets I (Taylored Expressions) for this pocket card.


The rainbow is my favorite part! I love how it frames the cuppie with sparkles. I colored each stripe with various shades of Copic markers and then went over the whole thing with glitter. The green band on cuppies hat and his tie are colored with a green Copic Spica pen...wonderful shimmer!

The sparklie shamrock on the tag is actually a glittered foamy that I found at Michael's. They had a whole display of St. Patty's Day stuff and those caught my eye and I built the card around it. LOL! Tell me you have done crazy things like that!

I'm going to pick up a McDonald's gift card for the inside of this pocket card. My granddaughter, Gracie, loves Shamrock Shakes and since she's 6, I know she'll love all the sparkles on this card! :o)

Oh, I almost forgot... you have to check out the new cardstock Taylor is carrying (Choice Snow White and Buttercream). It is the BEST cardstock I've used with Copic Markers (and I have tried alot of brands!) Even with small images there isn't any bleeding!

So... now it's back to Valentine's Day! Wait until you see what's on tomorrows post! Be sure and stop back!!

HB

One of a kind...

I am SO not a farm girl. Oh, I lived on a farm once (ok, so it was an acreage, but we had sheep and chickens) but my part of the *farm* began at the driveway and ended at the house. Everything past that was his.

So... if I am so NOT a farm girl, how come I love Anna's chickens so much? Is it cuz I can make them yellow, or blue, or plaid or polka dot if I want? You betcha! LOL!

These chickens are from the new Fish Friends set (Whipper Snapper). Don't you just love the little guy!?! The sentiment is from the Friendly Expressions set.

I used the Copic Airbrush System to create the ground, first spraying with the chisel end with E31 and then with the brush tip end with E35. The brush tip sprays speckles, giving the ground texture.

Hope you're having a FABULOUS week!

HB

Supplies

Stamps: Fish Friends, Friendly Expressions (Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs)

Ink: Memento, Copic Markers

Paper: SU!, Buttercream Choice Cardstock (Taylored Expressions), the plaid is from my scrap bin

Misc: Copic Airbrush System, tracing wheel, button (Autumn Leaves), hemp (SU!)

Pizza Recipe

I've had some requests for the Baked Potato Pizza recipe. So here it is, but I gotta tell you, I don't really cook with *recipes*. I kinda throw in a bit of this, and a little of that. Good thing is, this pizza can really be anything you want it to be! :o)

I start with a pizza crust (sometimes scratch, sometimes a Robin Hood mix, sometimes a Pillsbury refrigerated crust) on a rectangle baking stone (mine is Pampered Chef, but you can use a cookie sheet too). Pre-bake it for 10 minutes or so at 350° , remove from oven.

Mix sour cream, ranch dressing and whatever seasonings you want (I added garlic salt) to equal about 3/4 of a cup. Spread over the pizza crust not quite to the edge.

Cube a medium sized baked potato (this is a great recipe for the day after you have baked potatoes for dinner, or you can microwave one for this recipe), toss on a little salt and pepper and sprinkle over the sauce.

Sprinkle with a large handful of shredded cheese (I used monterey jack/cheddar mix).

Now, start adding stuff. I used crumbled bacon, artichoke hearts (canned) cut into bite size pieces, chopped green onion, and grape tomatoes cut in half.

Sprinkle on another large handful of shredded cheese over everything and bake for another 15 minutes or so.

Eat and enjoy!

Passion #2

So you know how I'm living in two places, right? During the week I live in St Paul and have a beautiful place to stamp. I keep most of my stuff there so that I can stamp in the evenings.

On the weekends I'm home with my DH and because we have our house for sale, all the rest of my stamping stuff is packed up in boxes. I know I could plan projects and bring stuff home to work on, but I really want to enjoy my time with him because I don't see him all week.

So, what does one do on a Sunday afternoon, when the husband is skiing (I don't like outside fun when it's cold!) and all the stamping stuff is packed in boxes?

COOK!

I love to cook! Everything from the basics, to gourmet, to hotdish. So I thought I'd share what I did with my Sunday afternoon.

Cooked chicken (deboned to make a chicken casserole and stock to make soup).


Baked potato pizza (with bacon, fresh tomatoes, green onions and artichoke hearts. YUM!)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies (DH's breakfast staple. lol!)

So now you know... I have TWO passions (well, 3 if you count DH! ;o) )!

HB

Snowflake thanks

Any idea what these three things make?



<=== This! Isn't it cool? I was playing with Pine's Snowfall set (Papertrey Ink) the other night. I wanted to make thank you notes for my staff at work for how hard they worked over year-end. Since I have both men and women on my team, I knew the cards needed to be neutral, and yet special.

I had pulled some Softsky designer paper (SU!) from my stash and tried stamping the snowflakes in Softsky ink on white... too dull. I tried embossing them... too boring. Nothing was giving me the *pop* I wanted. Then I spied a package of shrink plastic. Remember that stuff? I cut out a scallop circle (Nestabilities), stamped the large snowflake in white ink (Colorbox), and punched a hole with my Crop-a-Dile (large size). Then I shrunk it using my heat gun. It turned into a perfect clear charm! The white ink really pops and I placed a little pearl in the center for a finishing touch.

I stamped *thanks* (Papertrey Ink) on a little jewelry tag and tied them both to a white satin ribbon (May Arts) with embroidery floss.

The cards are 4x4 and are simply a white cardstock base, layer of Softsky cardstock, white mat, layer of Softsky polka dot paper.

Here's a closeup. I used a tracing wheel to run a couple of swirly faux stitching lines around the edge.

Easy peasy card to put together! I made 8 of these in a couple hours. (ok, a couple hours might seem like a long time for YOU, but for me... that's FAST! lol)

My staff must have liked them, because they all have them sitting on their desk! Yeaaa!

HB

February!

I am having SO much fun creating the pages for my new perpetual calendar from Taylored Expressions. Here is my February page. Cuppies in love... how cute is that!


I tried so hard to get a shot that showed all the sparkles. To much white space, but trust me, there is glitter galore! :o)

I added a row of sparklie hearts down the side of the calendar page, and two die cut (CB) hearts at the bottom that are edged with glitter.

Have you seen the calendar sets? No? OMGosh, they are so cute... take a look here!

Be sure and stop back... you may just find a pot 'o gold at the end of the rainbow!

HB

Life is sweet!

It was a beautiful sunny weekend here in MN. We didn't get the storm that was predicted (whew) and although they say it's cold outside, it was warm and sunny in my stamping space! :o)I never even left the house! I just stamped and blog surfed and stamped some more.

I pulled out my Our Craft Lounge sets and decided on Life is Sweet. (no, I wasn't hungry. lol)


I stamped the ice cream sundae and banana split on Choice Buttercream cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The banana split is cut out and attached with foam tape. I wanted the glass dishes to look like vintage green glass to better coordinate with the paper (My Minds Eye), but I don't have a Copic marker in that color, so I used B000 mixed with G40 to shade just parts of the dishes.

Once I colored the ice cream and toppings, I went over the chocolate with a Gelly Roll glaze pen and the sprinkles with a Spica glitter pen.

The border is a Martha Stewart border punch I just got at Michael's (gotta love those 50% off coupons!). I love it... it gives such a delicate look.

A few red gems for sparkle added the finishing touch.

I hope you had a sunny weekend (and time to stamp!)

Thanks for stopping by!

HB

Happy *Heart* Day

ETA: I've had some questions regarding a template for this project. I bought the kit at Archivers, and since it isn't my design, I can't post a tutorial. However, I think with a little ingenuity anyone can figure it out. Even using coin envelopes (cut down to size) for the inside pockets might be an option.


Can you even stand it! KISSING CUPPIES! When I first saw this stamp in the new Love is Sweet set by Stamp a Sweet Impression (Taylored Expressions), I just fell in love!

I made this little gift card holder using the cardstock and delicious papers that come in the Key Ingredient kit. I purchased a gift card holder kit at Archivers before Christmas and hadn't used it yet. It was in red, which would have matched the papers just fine, but I love the yummy color of this Prism cardstock, so I made my own.


The inside has 6 pockets, each decorated with papers from the Key Ingredient set (you can see how they line up from the side in this next picture). Instead of using a magnet or a piece of Velcro to hold it shut, I made a band using one of the ribbons from the kit. Taylor is just amazing at how she puts the kits together so everything matches and I don't have to spend hours trying to find just the right thing.



This next picture shows the inside. It really went together easy peasy using my Scor-Pal to make the fold lines and a circle punch to notch out the top of each pocket.

I think instead of store gift cards I'm going to make personalized gift cards for my hubby. You know... good for a back rub, his favorite dinner, things he can redeem whenever he wants. :o)

Remember, the new SASI stamp sets are available tomorrow at Taylored Expressions! You are gonna FLIP when you see how adorable they all are!

Thanks for coming by!

HB

Supplies

Stamps: Love is Sweet (Taylored Expressions)

Paper, cardstock, ribbon, Starfire glitter, brads (Key Ingredient kit by Taylored Expressions)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), embossing ink (Ranger), Copic markers

Misc: white embossing powder (SU!), Scor-Pal (Eclectic Paperie), circle punch (EK Success)

Sweet on You!

Now I ask you... what could be sweeter than a cuppie with a kiss on the cheek?
Love is Sweet is one of the new SASI sets being released tomorrow at Taylored Expressions! I created this card and little favor box (filled with yummy Dove chocolates) using this set, along with papers from the Key Ingredient kit.

Taylor sells these favor boxes in the store, and they are available in all kinds of colors. I ran mine through my CB with the Swiss Dots folder to add a little texture.. The border of little chocolates is stamped on natural white cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The box of chocolates is also stamped on natural white cardstock, colored and then cut out.


Now, let me tell you about this new white and natural white cardstock Taylor is carrying. Choice Cardstock is awesome! I stamped my images with Palette and Memento and colored immediately with Copic markers. Not one smear! It's 100lb weight and it's definetly the cardstock I will reach for now.

The papers on the card are from the Key Ingredient kit and I love that they work for both guy and girl projects!

I topped the cuppie off with a red pearl (Kaisercraft) and paper pieced the wrapper.

Remember to check out all the Baker's Dozen Design Team blogs (links over here ===>). They are just SO talented!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm really excited about this new set (and not just cuz it doesn't have Christmas or snow in it! lol) and can't wait to play more. Until next time.... here's a smooch!

HB