God Bless America

Happy 4th of July

I hope you have a fire-crackin great day!

HB

Toad'ally!

Hello!  I have another creation to share from my unexpected stamping time last weekend (remember the washed out camping trip?  lol). 

I used the new Sweet Sunday Sketch (#161) to make a card for my daughter who lives in Chicago.   

When she was little her nickname was "Toad" (long story.  lol) so I thought this image was very fitting.  I'll stick a Starbucks gift card in it as a treat.  I wonder if she'll get the phone reference - as in CALL YOUR MOM!  :)  She's more of a text'er but sometimes I just need to hear her voice.  Ya know?!?

Anyway... the image is Whipper Snapper and the papers are My Minds Eye.

Thanks for stopping!
HB

A rainy day...

Today was one of those days.  We were suppose to go camping (in a tent that we've had for 3 years and still haven't used), but then the weather forecast was for thunderstorms.  Oh well, we thought, a little water never hurt.  But then my husband ended up at an emergency dentist appointment this morning and had to have a tooth pulled.  Oy.  Needless to say, the camping trip was cancelled.  We were only going about a half hour from home for one night, so it really wasn't all that sad to cancel (and I know I would NOT have enjoyed sleeping in a tent with a thunderstorm going on around me anyway.  LOL)

So what's a girl to do with a unplanned day at home?  Stamp, of course.

I decided to go against the weather and make a bright, cheery card using Main Street (Whipper Snapper).  The birdhouses are all paper-pieced with Neapolitan (Dear Lizzy by AC).  The little flower garden is two dies; Spring Border (Memory Box) and Fresh Cut Grass (MFT).  The flowers and stems are colored with Copics.  The sentiment is from the Year Round Sentiments set (Hero Arts).  I love the little strip of washi tape that was a gift from a wonderful friend (she actually gave me a whole roll, not just the little strip.  LOL)

So... all in all, not a bad day.  Considering.
Thanks for visiting!
HB

Miss You

It was a good stamping weekend at my place!  There really is nothing better than spending time relaxing and coloring.

Frog Garden is one of my favorite Whipper Snapper images.  You can match the flowers to whatever paper you are using.  In this case, Neapolitan by American Crafts.

I even dusted off the sewing machine for this babee!  :)

The scallop die is Taylored Expressions, the flags are My Favorite Things and the scallop circle (behind the button) is Spellbinders.  The layout is MFTWSC68 (I love their sketches!)  Oh... and there is glitter pretty much everywhere.  LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

HB

Birthday Wishes

Happy Leap-Day Everyone! Here in MN it's a crazy one... snow, ice, sleet, wind. Winter decided to hit us with everything all in one day!

So... here is a pretty Spring bouquet to get our minds off the crappy roads.

This is a new Whipper Snapper image called My Garden. The sentiment is from Simple Little Things (PTI 2008 anniversary set) and the papers are from the Dolled Up 6x6 pad from My Minds Eye (delicious papers!)

Stay safe today people!
HB

Thinking of you...

Happy Friday all!
It's been a week+ of sickness in our home. ugh. But, today I actually feel 50% (which is way better than the -50% I was yesterday).

Here is a card I made last weekend for a friend who has had some health challenges of her own.

Picked Texas Wildflower (Whipper Snapper) is such a fun image for coloring. The skies the limit with what color you want these flowers to be. I matched the colors to some papers from My Minds Eye. After coloring, I punched two little holes on either side of the jar rim and tied a little bow with linen thread. The sentiment is from Everyday Classics (Papertrey), which I believe was an anniversary set.

I am so in love with dies lately. The little scallop on this card is from Taylored Expressions and the label is Memory Box.

I better get my day started. Have a happy one!
HB

Wish Big!

Happy Monday All!
It's Presidents' Day here in the U.S., which means the day off for this banker. Yippeee.

I spent some time coloring this weekend and here is one of my creations...


This card uses Big Presents and Wish Big from Whipper Snapper. The balloon is a punch I bought probably 10 years ago. Don't you love when things you buy never go out of style? Papers are from the Hip-Hooray collection (My Minds Eye).

One of the reasons I love Whipper Snapper is how fun the images are to color. I could sit all day and color. Seriously.

And once I get laundry started and a pot of chicken dumpling soup started I will do some more coloring. After all, it is a holiday, right!?!

HB

Still sharing the love...

I know... Valentine's Day is over, but I thought I'd share a couple of my favorites from the holiday of love.

I can't get enough of this Valentine Mouse from Whipper Snapper. Some blue Stickles around the heart balloon makes it all the more sparklie!



This card was for a special friend of mine who has an addiction to buttons. I wonder if she's tried to pull them off the heart yet. LOL


Both cards use My Minds Eye paper from the Love Me line.

Thanks for stopping by!
HB

Happy Birthday...

I was looking through the sketch challenges on Splitcoaststampers and found a fun one - #369. It's perfect for using multiple pattern papers.

The image, Birthday Gopher, is from Whipper Snapper's new release. He is adorable and I love him! The papers are from the Hip-Hooray line from My Mind's Eye.

It's overcast and a bit foggy here in MN today. A good day to make happy right here at my table.
Hope you have a fun day!
HB

Frogs

I kept today's stamping simple. I used two sheets of pattern paper (Love Struck by WeR), coordinating cardstock and My Special Love image from Whipper Snapper.

I went from Valentine's...

To a card to just say Hello...

and back to Valentine's again.

You just gotta love the versatility of this stamp!

Hope you had a great weekend!
HB

Happy Everything

Doesn't this image just scream HAPPY?

It's one of the new stamps I just got from Whipper Snapper called Frog Garden. It made me smile the minute I saw it. The sentiment is from the Sweet Expressions set. Papers are Jillibean and the butterfly punch is Martha Stewart

I hope your day is filled with everything happy!
HB

2-fers

I've been stamping for a lot of years and have collected a lot (ok, LOT) of stamps. When I buy a new stamp now, it has to have multiple purposes (except for Christmas, because, well, just because). When the new Whipper Snapper release came out a few weeks ago, I saw this mouse and had to have him. But... what about my rule? It's a Valentine's stamp!


Oh no... it's so much more! He's the perfect little guy to deliver flowers and a balloon when a friend or loved one isn't feeling good.



The Valentine's card uses Yours Truly (Echo Park) papers and the balloon is covered in glaze to give it some shine.

The Get Well Soon card uses Farmhouse line (October Afternoon) papers.

The sentiments for both cards are Papertrey.
Thanks for stopping by today!
HB

Just a Note

I was in St. Cloud, MN last weekend for a family get-together and managed to talk my wonderful husband into letting me have an hour at Crafts Direct. Those of you who don't know, Crafts Direct is a huge craft store that carries just about every paper line made. I could spend hours walking up and down their stamping/scrapbooking aisles!

I found the display of the new Authentique line and stopped dead in my tracks. Beauty!

I pulled out one of my favorite Whipper Snapper stamps (Basket of Blooms) and the whole thing just came together (don't ya love when that happens?).

Hope you're having a great week!
HB

Summer

Can it get any hotter? Well, I know it can but another day in the 90's is... well, enough all ready. My favorite summer time snack (and spring, fall & winter too) is ice cream. Plain 'ol vanilla. Sure, I like the fancy schmancy flavors, but I really prefer vanilla.

So in honor of this hot summer day...

The Tall Sundae (Whipper Snapper) is stamped, colored with Copic markers and cut out. It's mounted with foam tape on a tag (Simple Stories).

I hope you're keeping cool!
HB

Just sitting here...

It was a great weekend here at home. I was able to play with my "toys" all day Saturday! I love days like that.

I opened my drawer of woodblock stamps and there sat "Pete", looking cute as ever, so I just had to ink him up!

Pete is one of my favorite Whipper Snapper stamps, absolutely timeless. He's colored with Copic markers and accented with Cosmo Cricket papers.

I hope you had a great weekend!
HB

Happy Everything

Hi friends! I'm just ending a wonderful, relaxing weekend spent stamping with friends. Oh how I love to create with fun conversations and inspiration all around.

Here's one of the cards I made featuring a Whipper Snapper image that my friend Lana gave me. I love that fat, little bee.

The sentiment is from Little Bitty Bird (Papertrey Ink) and the paper from Jillibean Soup.

I hope you had a fun and creative weekend!
HB

Miss you

Thank you everyone for such a warm welcome back. I really have missed talking to my blogger friends.

As I look through my drawers of stamps that haven't seen the light of day in almost two years I am just giddy with excitement! This little guy (Whipper Snapper Designs) is one of my all time favorites. Don't you just love the way he holds his head? Can't you just hear his heavy *sigh*. LOL.

Time to put my feet up and relax after a long day.
See you next time!
HB

Hay chick!

I was browsing through a CK magazine the other day and thought to myself "Why do I get this magazine? I haven't scrapbooked in forever?" And then I saw this layout for a scrapbook page and realized it's because I love to look at the possibilities of taking a page layout and turning it into a card layout!

I used Anna Wight's Crazy for Chickens set. I took some liberties with the chick by giving her a black and white polka dot *coat*. Although if you've seen some of Anna's chicks, a polka dot coat is pretty tame compared to some of them! LOL


Here's a close up of the center panel. I used a rectangle Nestability and smoodged Antique Linen ink around the edges, followed by Spiced Marmalade (both Ranger Distress Inks). *Smoodged* is a technical term meaning to rub ink in a circular motion with a foam blending tool along the edge. :o)



So, what inspires you these days?
HB

Supplies
Stamps: Whipper Snapper Designs
Paper: Heidi Grace, SU!, Prism
Ink: Memento, Ranger Distress Inks, Copic Markers (all from Eclectic Paperie)
Misc: buttons, tracing wheel, photo corner punch, scallop border punch, Nestabilities, brad

Easter baskets

I am trying so hard to use what I have... to not run to Archivers or any other scrapbook store every time I have an idea and can't find just the right thing in my stuff. Ya, I know... not really the best way to stimulate the economy, but hey, if you could see my stuff you would know that I've stimulated the economy plenty over the years! :o)

So, when I wanted to make little Easter treats for my staff at work, I found these little white handled boxes that I picked up at JoAnn's a long time ago. Who knows what I wanted them for back then! lol

I covered all four sides in green cardstock and added a strip of glitterfied polka dot paper (Doodlebug) around the top. The tag is my favorite part. I stamped Hunny Bunny (Whipper Snapper Designs) on white cardstock, colored the image with Copic markers and lightly airbrushed the sky with blue. *Happy Spring* is stamped using my Karen Foster snap stamps (yup, another forgotten goodie) and then attached the image to a pink scalloped circle. The tag is attached to the box with a felt flower and a brad. Throw in some yummy candy and there you go!

For the guys, I used some awesome bag/boxes that I got from a friend a year (or two?) ago. These were easy peasy! I filled the bag with candy, set it in the box (base), tied the bag with a little ribbon and added the tag.

When I did the tags for the girls boxes, I colored Hunny Bunny with a grey marker (C1) just around the edges. I like the hint of shadow, but couldn't achieve that soft look I wanted. Then, when I masked the bunny to spray the sky, I realized that I could achieve the look I wanted with the airbrush! So... since I was going to cut the bunnies out for the guys tags, I tried it. WaLAAA.... perfect soft effect.

I'm going in early in the morning to set these on their desks. I hope they like the containers as much as the candy! LOL.

Happy Easter to you!

HB

You're my favorite

Nothing turns a dull, dreary day into a bright sunny one like playing with new stamps and springy papers!

I just HAD to have this Hunny Bunny stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs (did you ever wonder what HB stood for? Well, there you go... it's what my husband affectionately calls me. Years ago he shortened it to HB. lol)

I colored the image with Copic Markers and then added sky and grass with my Copic Airbrush System.

The paper (Doodlebug Designs) is all sparkly polka dots and I wanted the center of the felt flowers to have that same look, but I didn't have any brads large enough for the center hole. Instead I put a small piece of yellow cardstock behind each flower and then filled the hole with yellow Stickles. I let it dry overnight to be safe, and then attached the flowers to the card with dots of glue. Here's how the flowers look before I filled in the centers.

The sentiment, from Sweet Expressions (Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs) is stamped in black with a swoosh of yellow marker. I ran the sentiment flag around a pencil until it softened up and had some curve to it. The sparkly dot is punched from the paper, but it just wasn't bright enough, so I touched it up with an orange marker.

We're suppose to get snow tonight here in MN. Thank goodness I can have Spring in my stamp room! :o)

HB