Fun Stamps!

Every so often I stop to realize that most of the stamps in my collection are flowers. I love flowers! I can't grow them... but maybe that's why I love them so.

I go through spurts where I really work to not buy flower stamps. (hard to do!!) The other day I was in our local JoAnns and I found these adorable little $1 stamps called *Mini Clear Stamps*. They are so adorable and funny! And the best part... they come with their own sentiment, so you don't have to try and figure out what to use! How cool is THAT! I had to scoop up a handful (yes, literally a handful! lol) and this one has got to be one of my favorites!



I love this little owl... he just looks so wise! I perched him on a branch, which is really a funky palm tree cut from a piece of scrapbook paper by Reminisce. I cut the top of two different trees and layered them to get a 3-D effect. The striped strip is from the back of the same paper.



The owl is stamped on Papertrey Inc white, colored with Copic markers and then cut out. His little bow tie is brightened up with a black Gelly Roll Glaze Pen.

I used my trusty Copic Airbrush System to spray on the blue sky.


Oh... and the best part? The inside of the cards says:

Follow your dreams,

except the one where you're

at work in your underwear.

Don't ya just LOVE IT! LOL!!!

Hope you have a fun day!
HB

... and we have a WINNER!

This was so much FUN! Hearing where you all are from is just mind blowing! From Australia to Israel to California to New Joizee (LOL Sue!!!) to Canada and beyond.

I had DH pick a number (#35) and the winner is Lizzy from Seattle, WA! Lizzy, send me your snail mail address and I'll get your package in the mail!

Now, I'm off to go stamp something!
HB

Thank You!

I think it's time to give something back... to show my appreciation for the warm and wonderful welcome you have all given me since I entered the blog world a few short months ago. So, I put together this little thank-you gift.

I've met so many wonderful women, from all across the country and Canada, through stamping and sharing via the internet. Aren't stampers just the most warm and caring people? I sure think so!

I'd love to know where YOU are from, so leave me a comment telling me what state/country you call home before 5pm (CT) on Tuesday. Be sure and leave your name! (isn't it amazing how many people have the name *anonymous*?)

Thanks for being so AWESOME!!!

HB

Featured Cupcake Sampler!

Last weekend, when I was buried knee deep in wedding invites, I decided to take a break and stamp just for fun. Because any creative brain cells I own were lost in a see of red and black, I turned to Taylor's blog (her creations are magnificent!) to see what her Friday Cupcake Challenge was. It was an adorable layout, so I made this card.

Well... guess what!?! She picked me (well, my card) for this weeks Featured Cupcake Sampler! Can you even BELIEVE IT? I KNOW! (said in my best Monica from Friends voice).

This weeks sketch is awesome! And it's oh so versatile that I made two different cards with totally different feelings.

The Cupcake Card:

When LZ, Joy, Daisy and I were at CHA Anaheim in February, we walked into the Inkadinkadoo booth and saw this new line of stamps where the phrases were all written by kids! They were hilarious! Imagine my excitement when I walked into our local craft store the other day and they had just gotten them in! I had to get this one! IT'S SO TRUE! Don't you think? I mean really, isn't the best part of a cupcake the icing?

The tiny cupcake is stamped in different colors on the white panel to create the background. The colored cupcake is stamped on cardstock that was cut using the smallest circle Nestability. Instead of keeping the die on the circle and using my Copic Airbrush System to color the center like I usually do, I punched a separate circle, masked the cupcake and sprayed pink around the edge.

Since I wanted to keep the background light, so the phrase stood out, I just touched a tad bit of Stardust Stickles to each of the cupcake hearts.

My Mother's Garden:

I created a garden of flowers using Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb set, and then stamped the sentiment right over the top. I used Versa Magic chalk inks for the flowers giving them such a soft look. I would love to be a Color Namer when I grow up! lol You know, the person who comes up with the fabulous names given to colors! This flower garden is made using Turquoise Gem, Aquatic Splash, Mango Madness, Thatched Straw and Pixie Dust! Aren't they just awesome names?

The corner element is made using a Martha Stewart scalloped border punch. It reminds me of a doily! The little pink button needed a little something, so I polka dotted it with my Inkssentials opaque white pen.

I had such fun being the Featured Cupcake Sampler! The hardest part was keeping it a secret all week!!! (but, I'm a vault... right Joy!?!)

I hope you have time to play in the challenge this weekend! I can't wait to see what you create!

HB

Supplies:

Cupcake - Stamps: Katie & Co, Inkadinkadoo, Stampendous (Hey There Cupcake!) Paper: Fancy Pants (*Sweet Pea*), SU!, Papertrey Ink Ink: Palette Noir, SU!, Copic markers Misc: Nestabilities, Stickles, Copic Airbrush System, Gelly Roll Glaze pen, American Crafts ribbon, Cindyribbon, tracing wheel, sewing machine

Mother's garden - Stamps: Papertrey Ink, Rubber Soul Paper: SU! (Soft Sky DP, taken with teal), Papertrey Ink Ink: Versa Magic chalk inks, Palette Noir, Inkssentials opaque white pen, Gelly Roll stardust pen Misc: Martha Stewart scallop border punch, tracing wheel, Cindyribbon

The Wedding.

I've mentioned a couple times (at least lol!) that our daughter is getting married next month and I was making the invitations. Well, I am happy to say that they are all done... all in the mail and the RSVP's are trickling in.

Along with the invitations, I also made the table favors. You know, those cute little things that are at every place setting for people to say "what am I suppose to do with this?" or "she must have spent a fortune on these" or "she must have spent hours making these" (the last being the most appropriate response for these! lol).

The invites are 5 x 6 with a 1 inch pocket inside to hold the RSVP card, reception information, map, etc. I used white DCWV textured cardstock for the base and then added the layer of red and the pattern paper (Black Tie Optional by Imaginisce - I see Eclectic Paperie is out of stock right now... I must have bought all they had. ). The wording is computer generated.

The favors are little white boxes, wrapped with matching red cardstock and pattern paper. The monogram is computer generated and then punched out with the SU! scallop punch. Inside will hold two chocolates (cuz even though people will say "she must have spent hours making these" and then throw them away, they will surely enjoy the chocolate!

Now, I have to put in a very special THANK YOU! to Scor-Pal. That tool is now my new best friend! I am serious here. Do you have any idea how many score lines were needed to make these? Val had been telling me how wonderful this tool is since last year, but I was skeptical. Then, when I designed these invites and new how much scoring I had to do I gave in and ordered one from Eclectic Paperie. BEST thing I have ever done!

And lastly, I needed a card for the bridal shower this Saturday. My work table was already filled with scraps from the above mentioned project, so.... black and red it is!

Since her colors are black and red, and her flowers are red roses, I just can't go wrong with this one!

The flower bud is paper pieced in 3 layers - stamped first on the base cardstock and colored; stamped again on a scrap piece, colored and then cut out; and then stamped a third time, colored but this time I only cut out two of the leaves and layered them. It has beautiful dimension in real life.

The little tag has a light gray swirl stamped on it to match the base paper.

I just love this LOVE stamp by Papertrey Ink! I love fonts, especially when the sizes are mixed like this. (was that too many loves in one sentence? lol)

So... there you have it. This is what has been eating up all my time (and the blades on my paper cutter!) for the past few weeks.

HB

Supplies:

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo, Memory Box, Papertrey Ink, Hot off the Press Ink: Palette Noir, SU! (real red, going grey), Copic markers Paper: DCWV, SU!, Papertrey Ink, Imaginisce Misc: CindyRibbon, Office Depot (tag), SU! punch

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge

I love long weekends! Especially ones where we don't have to go anywhere!

I got all the wedding invitations done and a good start on the wedding favors, so as a reward I decided to take a break and stamp something. Since my brain is on wedding, and it would take FOREVER to find a creative brain cell I headed over to Taylor's blog to see what her Cupcake Challenge is for this week. I love when these creative genius' do the thinking for me! lol

I found this paper by Adornit.com at the LSS and it is so fun with all kinds of words and sayings all over it. The flower image is stamped and colored with Copic markers. I paper pieced the vase using Barely Banana cardstock that I stamped with polka dots in white craft ink.

It needed something around the outside (I am SO spoiled using the Nestabilities that I can't handle a plain edge any more!), so I used my Scor-Pal to make a perfectly straight embossed edge and then layered it on the rose cardstock. (Eclectic Paperie carries Scor-Pals. I would be LOST without it!)

The little flowers are punched out of rose cardstock and I added the polka dots with an Inkssentials opaque white pen (LOVE that thing!).

The center flower in the vase is also paper pierced. I used the same rose cardstock, covered it with Glossy Accents and sprinkled a tich of glitter on it before it dried. Yellow bling finished it just nicely.

The sentiment ribbon is a strip of rose cardstock that I scored twice at each end. I love 3-D embellishments, don't you?

This sketch is already in my sketch book! Thanks Taylor!!!

HB

Supplies

Stamps: Hero Arts, Savvy Stamps, Hot Off The Press Paper: Adornit.com, Papertrey Ink, CTMH, (the green is from my scrap bin, and I don't remember the manufacturer) Ink: Palette Noir, SU! (craft white), Copic markers, Inkssentials opaque pen Misc: Scor-Pal, small flower punch, circle punch, white EP, glitter, KaiserCraft (gem)

Miss You!

Our daughter is getting married in June and I've been making her wedding invitations. Isn't it amazing that I've known about this wedding for months, I've had the supplies to make the invites for months, and yet here it is, one month out, and I'm racing to get them done and in the mail (which is why you haven't seen anything new here) ! YIKES! Thank goodness I only had 80 to make!

Anyway... I'm tired of looking at red, black and white (the color of her invites) so this morning I decided it was time to play with something fun! And what better place to look for inspiration than Beate's weekend challenge!

I found this Autumn Leave set called *Mindy's Zoo* at Archivers a couple months ago. It's filled with the most adorable animal images! And who doesn't love a palm tree with coconuts!

I stamped the palm tree on scrap cardstock, colored it with Copic markers and cut it out. I stamped another one on scrap cardstock, colored it, cut out just the top and mounted it on the first tree with small (teeny tiny) pieces of foam tape. I then filled in the coconuts with a glue pen, applied Fun Flock and got FUZZY COCONUTS! lol!

The monkey and grass are stamped on a circle cut out with a Nestability and colored with Copic markers. I masked off the top and using G21 Lime Green and the Copic Airbrush System, I airbrushed the ground. I then masked off the bottom and using B01 Mint Blue I airbrushed the sky.

Once all the coloring and airbrushing was done, I used my trusty Tim Holtz Craft Knife (I cannot live without that thing!) to cut around one edge of the grass. I was then able to slide the trunk of the palm tree in so it was placed behind the grass.

The image was then placed on a pink scallop circle that has the edges run through an SU! white craft ink pad using a circle of chipboard to elevate it just slightly.

I think I am going to put wedding stuff aside for today (I still need to do the table favors, the programs and who knows what else!) and play some more.

Hope you're having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

HB

Supplies:

Stamps: Autumn Leaves (Mindy's Zoo), Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages) Ink: Palette Noir, Copic markers Paper: DCWV (Nana's Nursery/Baby Girl), SU! (Pretty in Pink), Papertrey Ink (white) Misc: Nestabilities, Copic Airbrush System, Stampendous (Fun Flock/Caramel Latte Tan), Office Depot (tag), SU! (eyelet), JoAnn's (ribbon), foam tape