Karen Stolper Irish birthday card

How fitting that my Karen Stolper stamp order arrived from American Art Stamps yesterday! Boy am I excited! You can bet on the fact that you will be seeing a lot of cards made with these stamps in the coming days :)

I have a very proud Irish friend celebrating a birthday this weekend and this new stamp is absolutely perfect for her. She loves everything Green...so of course, I had to make a Green card for her using my new little Irish friend.

I stamped him on Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, colored him in with Stampin' Up! markers - Green Galore, Certainly Celery and Garden Green. Edges were distressed with Stampin' Up! Always Artichoke and matted on Always Artichoke cardstock. Designer paper from DCWV. Steckles Stardust Glitter was used on the Shamrock in his hand and on his hat. Faux stitching was done with the Stampin' Up! piercing set and white gel pen. Green brads from Stampin' Up! also.

Sentiment is stamped three times on the side of the image in Certainly Celery from Stampin' Up! Small Sayings stamp set.

Altered Coaster

This is an altered coaster I made for an anniversary gift.

I used My Minds Eye Paper, Fancy Pants Rub-ons, prima flowers, some bling as well as Organza ribbon from Stampin' Up! to hang it from the wall.

I can't get enough of Karen Stolper's stamps!

I placed an order for more Karen Stolper stamps from American Art Stamps (yep, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist for too much longer) and they are on their way! I can't wait to play some more with these whimsical characters!

Be sure to check out their site, they have some totally cute stamps catering to all tastes. I challenge you to NOT find something you like there! American Art Stamps - http://www.americanartstamp.net

Happy Stamping!

More Karen Stolper

I just love the Karen Stolper images I found the other day. This time, I paired this whimsically adorable cake giver with the Stampin' Up! Palette O Print papers, Markers and Ribbon. A little bit of faux stitching using Stampin' Up!'s totally cool crafter kit, as well as a little bit of doodling around the edges.

I love the way these turned out and think I will be making quite a few more of these soon.

I promise I will get back into my Stampin' Up! groove soon. I was slightly distracted by my new stamps...how can you blame a girl?? :-)

Talking about Stampin' Up!, have you received your Fall/Winter preview catalog? I received mine in the mail today and I can say, I am REALLY looking forward to the fully fledged Fall/Winter catalog coming out!

Happy Memorial Weekend everyone! I am off to the Redwoods for some serious river kayaking, biking, hiking and hopefully some R&R in between!

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Happy Stamping!
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Oh la la..Karen Stolper designed stamps by American Art Stamps

Oh my goodness...I went to my local stamp store to buy a couple of small items I needed and while doing the mandatory perusal of the stamp aisles, which I must admit, I had no intentions of buying any stamps, I found some wonderful new stamps on the shelves and I nearly squealed out loud!

American Art Stamps has a fantastic designer by the name of Karen Stolper, who has created these wonderfully whimsical characters, which I just adore. I did exercise constraint and bought only three, but my desire for more of them will overrule me quickly i suspect!

You can visit Karen's Designs at American Art Stamps online store, www.americanartstamp.com

Here are a couple of cards I made last night with these adorable characters and I will be making a few more tonight!

5x5 cards

I started playing with my Palette O Prints paper from Stampin' Up! which I received a couple of days ago.

This card uses: Doodle That (Spring mini) and SAB Delight in Life stamp set. SU Pallette O Print paper, SU Cool Caribbean, SU Black, SU Vanilla cardstock, SU Black and Close to Cocoa classic ink, SU Rose Red and Certainly Cellery markers as well as an Aqua painter.

These two very basic cards uses A Muse sentiments and Stampendous Sassy stamps, SU ribbon and the Palette O Prints paper. I free handed the doodles around the edges.

Inner Circle Card Swap Club - May

Here are the pictures from the May Inner Circle Card Swap. Thank you ladies for participating!

Congratulations to Judy for being this months winner of the Challenge random drawing!

Regular Swap:



May Challenge: Shadow Box Cards

Beate's Sketch Challenge

I love Beate's sketch challenges!. I loved this sketch so much, I decided to make an anniversary card.

I do need to get better at photo taking of the cards. In this shot it looks muted but in person, it really pops.

Cards received

I just love receiving hand made cards in the mail!

This one was sent to me by my Upline Patty Bennett as part of a prize drawing I won. It used the long notes which i just LOVE! Thanks Patty!

Patty's blog can be found at: http://pattystamps.typepad.com she has an amazing garden and she features some of her spectacular blooms.



This one was sent by Shirley Rodenberg, who is a member of my monthly Inner Circle Card Swap. Thanks Shirley...how beautiful!

Shadow Box

This month's challenge for the Inner Circle Card Swap members was a Shadow Box card. This is the Shadow Box card I made. This was my third attempt at the shadow box, playing around with different stamp sets and colors, finally settling on this one. Boy, was that an ordeal :)

Stamp Set: Stampin' Up! Doodle This

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! White, Certainly Celery and Cool Carribean

Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black

Markers: Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery, Cool Carribean Real Red

Accessories: Coluzzle and White Gel Pen

Photo's of the members monthly regular swaps as well as the monthly challenges will be uploaded on Sunday.

Penny Black quick card

I had this Penny Black image stamped for quite a while and decided to finally use it. I used black embossing powder for the image and colored it in with markers. I used the Stampin' Up! Sweet Shapes stamp set,Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise cardstock as well as the Stampin' Up! ribbon as it coordinated fairly well with the image.

Stampin' Up!s Palette O Prints

I have to say, I am very excited and waiting in anticipation for my Palette 'O Prints paper to turn up from Stampin' Up!

The new 6x6 pad from what I hear is double sided...yipee!

I love the subtle design of the papers in 4 great colors and I just can't wait to get start working on projects. Hopefully they will arrive soon and I will get to play on the weekend :-D. My mind is ticking already!


If you want to learn more, you can view my Stampin' Up! website at www.stamplounge.com

3x3 warm up card challenge

Here are my layouts for a 3x3 warm up card challenge. These cards are meant to be used to get your creative juices flowing in the morning because of their miniture size and the fact they should take no longer than 15 minutes each to make.

The good thing about this challenge arriving this morning is I could use up some of the My Mind's Eye scraps from over the weekend...I LOVE that!


For this one, I used Stampin' Up Flower's for a Friend stamp set. Stampin' Up! Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel and Au Chocolate Designer Paper, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa Ink. White gel pen for fauz stitching.


For this card, I used scraps from My Minds Eye patterned paper and Fancy Pants Rub ons.


This one used scraps from My Minds Eye paper and A Muse "Sweet" stamp with Stampin' Up! Markers to color it in. White Gel pen was used for the faux stitching.

Julee's Sketch Challenge

What another cool sketch challenge, this time offered by Julee. I had alot of fun with this card.

Paper: My minds Eye
Stamp: Stampendous Sassy Scooter
Ink: Stampin' Up! Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa

Mother's Day Card

Happy Mother's Day Judy! :-)

Here is the Mother's Day card I made for Judy.

I used: Stampin' Up! Delight in Life Stamp set, Old Olive, Black and Watercolor paper, Rose Red, Apricot Apeal and Almost Amethyst Classic Inks, an Aqua Blender and May Art Ribbon.

Beate Challenge - Card #2

Here is my second card made with Beate's Sketch Challenge layout.

Beate's Sketch Challenge

Oh the unfairness of it all! :-) I arrived home to quickly change clothes and head out to dinner with friends. I decided to quickly check email and what do I see? A sketch challenge from Beate! Now who could refuse???! Could I make a card in the little time I had before I had to run out the door? YEP!....BUT I will be trying this sketch challenge again over the weekend!

I used, My mind's Eye patterned paper, Stampin' Up! Two Way Blossom stamps set, Stampin' Up! Basic Black Classic ink pad, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue Markers.

Have a great weekend everyone!

This week's Sketch Challenge

Here is my layout for this week's sketch challenge! Yay! I am up to date..phew :-)

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Doodle that and Circle Background stamp.
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Regal Rose, Certainly Celery & Whisper White
Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black and SU! Markers: Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal
Accesories: Stampin' Up! Organza ribbon

Last Week's Sketch Challenge

Here is my layout for last week's Sketch Challenge...yup, running just a little behind! ;-D

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Wild About You.
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Really Rust, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Stampin' Up! Basic Black, More Mustard, Buckaroo Blue, Marker: SU! Close To Cocoa
Accessories: Crimper, 1/8" round punch, sponge & brads

Early peek - monthly card swap

After pushing the Inner Circle card swaps aside to work on some other fun projects over the last week, I finally got to them last night. I had made this card for a friend's birthday a while back and just love it, so I replicated it again for this month's Inner Circle Card Swap.

I hope I haven't spoiled the surprise for the members of the Inner Circle Monthly Card Swap!

The goal is to work on the Challenge next!

My embarrassing introduction to dominos

The fact I am not ashamed to embarrassing myself, must stand for something right??! :)

I have been eww-ing and ahh-ing over altered dominos for a while now but just haven't had the opportunity to try them. So again, the swap cards got put to the side (really..I am going to get them done!) and I decided to jump in, head first, and try my hand at it.

Well, these are my first attempts and yes, they are very lame but at least it's a starting point :-)

I just really wanted to see how all the different elements

come into play with each other and now I am all set to get serious about this!

I have grand visions of making necklaces as gifts. Well, one is allowed to dream for a little while right? :-)

No stamping - Friendship wall hung picture coaster

I was suppose to be making my swap cards for the monthly Inner Circle Swap yesterday but my mind kept going to some Fancy Pants Rub-On's I purchased on Friday night and all the things I could do with them. Of course, the swaps were put to the side for later on in the afternoon and I embarked on a little project - a Friendship wall hung picture coaster.

The B&W photo is printed out wallet size on standard paper. A HP laserjet printer was used. The photo was then cut to size, Microglaze was dabbed on to seal the toner and give the image some shine. I glued the image on a 4x4, corner rounded Basic Grey designer paper and then applied my Fancy Pants Rub-Ons around and over the edges of the image.

Organza ribbon was used, which you can't see here, tied nicely in a bow at the top to be suspended from the wall. I applied sticky strip to the end of the ribbon and placed the ribbon between the front and the coaster. Sticky strip adheres the front to the coaster...you don't want to take any chances with it falling off.

Hope you like it.

Card making with a 10 year old

A friend of mine is hosting a card making session for a 10 year old friend of hers next weekend which is going to be a lot of fun...nothing like late 30's and "40 something" women crafting with a 10 year old :-)

They looked through the Stampin' Up! catalogs together and the little one picked out the stamp sets she wanted to use as well as picking out the colors she wanted to play with.

I spent this morning working through all the stamp sets and making a couple of samples from each set for her to make. This was more challenging that I expected it to be as I had to modify and simplify the cards.

Her chosen Stamp Sets: Girlfriends, Simply Circles, Eat Cake and Ruff Day.

Here are the samples.

Gift cards:



Cards:

Halloween color twist

A friend of mine challenged me to make a generic card using traditional halloween colors ... hmmm...errrr ... *scratching head* OK :-)

I mulled over it for a while, and here it is. It looks much better in person. The image is actually popped up, providing another level of layering.

I used the Stampin' Up!, Time with You stamp set. For cardstock, I used Stampin' Up!s More Mustard, Whisper White and ....umm...hmm...I have forgotten the name of the Stampin' Up! Halloween designer paper (oops!). I used Stampin' Up! markers to color the images - More Mustard, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Lavendar, Bravo Burgandy, Apricot Appeal and Blush Blossom. I sponged Bashful Blue and Creamy Caramel over the image to provide some depth and added Old Olive brads in the corners. Tada!

Coaster Book

I made a coaster book as a thank you gift for some friends for a "camping" weekend away recently (dare I reveal we actually stayed in the Lodge and not a tent? lol...ok well, that's a story for another time).

I used the Stampin' Up! Collage alphabet stamp, which i absolutely l.o.v.e. and am very sorry to see it being retired (I will be keeping it as it is one of my staple sets), as well as a combination of Stampin' Up! and Basic Grey scrapbook papers.

Sketch Challenge

I participated in a Sketch Challenge and this is my first attempt...can't say I L.O.V.E it to death but I think it turned out OK considering I was on a tight time limit as I only had 20 minutes to complete it as I had a color in my hair - talk about multi tasking! :-D teehee

I have been chomping at the bit to play with my new Bella Stamps and this gave me the opportunity to do it, so I am happy about that! I might give it another try, this time with only Stampin' Up! stamps...