Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Back in the Kitchen

Well, hello friends!  I haven’t been here in awhile… not sure if anyone missed me, but I’m here today to share some new creations with you!  I don’t stamp nearly as much as I have in the past, but when I do I find it easier to just share on Instagram.  So if you’re an Instagram user, please feel free to follow me there by clicking this link, or click on the little Instagram camera icon there on the top left column of my blog.

But hey, let’s get to the biggest reason why I’m here today!  Many moons ago, I was honored to be assigned to my very first design team by the wonderful owner of Kitchen Sink Stamps.  And today, Maria is releasing a new bunch of great stamps and has asked me to help her share them with you today by being a guest designer.  Little known fact… in addition to being the first design team I was ever priviledged to serve on, I was also the VERY FIRST online customer at Kitchen Sink Stamps!  I logged on to Splitcoaststampers one day, and saw a banner ad for a company I’d not heard of, but in that ad was a pretty flower!  I was intrigued!  I clicked on the link and liked what I saw so much I placed a quick order as I headed out the door to work.  That first stamp set that caught my eye (in addition to a few others I ordered that day!) was the 3-Step Daisy.  Do you remember this card?

1st Kitchen Sink Stamps

Another fun story from many moons ago… I don’t remember how it got started but the Kitchen Sink Crew members were talking about other flowers we’d like to see as stamp sets, and someone (I think it was me?) mentioned dogwoods.  I have the most beautiful pink dogwood tree in front of my kitchen window, and I look forward to it blooming every spring!  Maria, being from California, didn’t know what a dogwood tree was!  The horror!  So I actually plucked some of the blooms from my tree that following spring, pressed them between sheets of waxed paper, then tucked them between the pages of a magazine, and quickly mailed that magazine off to Maria.  And now… 8-10 years later? I FINALLY have my dogwoods!  Just LOOK!

Dogwoods 2

Say hello to the Enchanted Dogwood stamp set.  Aren’t they glorious?!?!?!  I literally SQUEALED when I saw the stamps, I was so happy!  I stamped my dogwoods with a combination of pink inks, because the pink blooms are what I like best.  We also have another dogwood tree in our yard that has yellow blooms, but the shape of the petals are slightly different than this one.  You seriously can make yours any color you want… they’re all beautiful!  I paired my pretty flowers with some gingham paper, and added a sentiment… the “Friend” comes from another new set being released today, the Words 4 Celebrating set.  You will find SO. MUCH. VERSATILITY! in this new sentiment set… as I did with this card…

You are the Best 2

How do you like that rainbow?  I picked four of the words from the set… Amazing, Special, Perfect and Awesome and stamped them for a background.  Then I die-cut the letters y-o-u, and combined them with a sentiment from the Other Important People stamp set.  I just LOVE how this one turned out, and I hope you like it, too!

And one more fabulous stamp set being released is the Multi-Step Spring Daffodils!  Check it out…

Daffodils 2

Daffodils in the spring are such a wonderful sight, don’t you think?  Although, here in Norteast Ohio, they can sometimes look pretty sad when they’re covered by a snowfall, as happens quite often!  One more fun fact, if you can stand it?  When I was a little girl, I called these “dack-o-dills”!  Wasn’t I ADORABLE???  I paired my daffodils with another sentiment from the Words 4 Celebrating stamp set, and I also used the digital cut file that’s available from Kitchen Sink Stamps to cut out the daffodils with my Silhouette Cameo.

Finally, I had to use the Spring Daffodils for one more fun card.  You’ll notice included with the daffodils in the set, some frogs and dragonflies!  So, just for the fun of it, I used the current CAS(E) this Sketch #274 to create this fun birthday card…

The Frog and the Fly 2

My froggie is hiding in the weeds along the edge of a pond, getting ready to snap that dragonfly out of the air!  LOL

PLEASE be sure to visit the Kitchen Sink Stamps website to grab these new stamp sets for yourself.  And stop by the KSS Facebook page to see more creations featuring these new designs.  And visit the other Kitchen Sink Crew members today, who will have fun designs to share…

Lynn McAuley

Jeanne Frontz

Maria Colosimo

So, that’s all for me today… I know, I’ve been long-winded!  I hope someone might still be reading my blog here, and that you’ve enjoyed these KSS creations today!  Thank you for stopping by!

Monday, October 9, 2017

Back in the Saddle

Hi friends!  I’m squeaking in under the wire to enter my card for the sketch challenge #353 with My Favorite Things this week.  I made this card on Saturday while I was at Crafty Day with my friends, and realized I needed to get it photographed and uploaded!  I have a co-worker who’s having surgery in a few weeks, and I agreed to make a card for everyone to sign.  She’s an animal lover, and a motorcyclist so I thought this card with a horse AND the saddle reference (thinking of the motorcycle seat!) would give her a chuckle!

MFTWSC353

Here’s the sketch, and as you can probably tell, I flipped it upside down.

MFT_WSC_353

I also got some inspiration for my design from this card by Kay Miller, also using the (retired) Farm-tastic stamp set and Die-namics from MFT.

I hope you had a nice weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Color Throwdown #461

Ohhh, I’m running late this week with my post for the Color Throwdown!  It’s been a hectic week because I’ve had to work at a different office than my own all week, and just breaking my usual routine throws me into a tizzy.  It took until this evening for me to even realize I hadn’t done my post.  My apologies to the CTD ladies for forgetting my obligations!

Here are the colors for this week…

swatch461

And here’s my card…

Color Throwdown #461

These colors just screamed Halloween to me, but I don’t have many Halloween-ish images.  However, this cute image from Whipper Snapper Designs is one I have always kept as I love the whimsy of it so much!  I colored that lil’ pumpkin, ghost and scaredy cat witch Copic markers, framed them up with a purple gingham frame, and added some bright yellow sequins for embellishment.  A green sentiment flag completed the design.

Please be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit the CTD team members for more inspiration…

Amy Rohl
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Color Throwdown #460

Hello friends!  It’s my second week of joining the Color Throwdown team again as their Guest Designer, and we have a great color combo for you today that I’m sure will spark some great creativity!

swatch460

I found this combo to be just perfect because I needed to make a baby boy card…

Color Throwdown #460

I used the retired LJD Beautiful Baby stamp set from My Favorite Things for that sweet elephant, stamped in Blueberry dye ink.  I accented with some green gingham paper from the Farm Fresh Gingham paper pack, along with a Blueberry card stock Fishtail Flag, stamped with stars.

Please be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit the CTD team members for more inspiration…

Amy Rohl
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Color Throwdown #459

Hello my friends!  Guess what?  I have the honor and pleasure of rejoining my Color Throwdown teammates this month as their Guest Designer!  Yay!  I’m so excited to get to play along this month and aid in inspiring you to stamp with some fun color combos!

Today, sweet Vickie is the hostess and she’s chosen a very classic color combo…

swatch459

I thought some bright red flowers would be perfect for my card…

Color Throwdown #459

I used one of my favorite My Favorite Things stamp sets, the Bold Blooms to create my card, stamping the flowers with Wild Cherry dye ink.  Accents were stamped with Black Onyx ink, and the gray leaves were colored with a W3 Copic marker.  My sentiment was created using the Kind & Kindness Die-namics die, and the Kind Words stamps from MFT.  Behind the flowers and sentiment I added a piece of black and white polka dot paper from the Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots 6x6 paper pack, and embellished with some Sparkling Clear Mix sequins

Please be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details, and visit the CTD team members for more inspiration…

Amy Rohl
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Happy 65th!

Hello friends!  I have a quick card to share today.  A couple at our church is celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary this coming week!  Isn’t that amazing and wonderful!?!?!  I can remember my grandparents celebrating their 65th the year before my grandpa passed away… it’s truly an incredible feat, especially in this day and age where more young people seem to be more interested in just throwing a big wedding, and not actually in making a marriage work! 

I found the current MFT sketch #347 to be the perfect inspiration for this card…

Happy 65

I used the retired High-Rise Numbers from My Favorite Things, die-cutting the numbers from gold glitter card stock, and I added a sentiment flag from Blueprints 13 that was stamped with a “HAPPY” from Essential Sentiments on Gravel Gray card stock.  Behind the numbers, I added a Black Licorice Die-Namics Stitched Dome Frames and layered a piece of vellum behind that.  I added a strip of black diagonal stripe paper from the Dots & Stripes Neutral 6x6 paper pack, and embellished with some clear rhinestones.  I die-cut the center panel with the Double Stitched Rectangle STAX, layered that on a piece of Black Licorice card stock, then adhered to my card base.

Sending tons of love, thoughts and prayers to friends in the areas affected by Hurrican Harvey right now.  I can’t imagine the devastation, and pray everyone is safe!

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Hippo Bird-Day!

Hi friends!  Has anyone missed me?  I haven’t stamped in weeks!  Know how I know that?  Because I made this card on Saturday, August 5th, and that’s the last time I stamped!  My mojo is completely missing… I’d like it back, if anyone sees it!

Using the adorbs BB Happy Hippos from My Favorite Things, I made this card…

Hippo Bird-Day

The layout was inspired by the MFT sketch #344 from way back in early August.  I never even had the time to photograph and blog it in time to enter in the challenge!  What’s UP with that???  My kids are adults… WHY don’t I have MORE time on my hands?  Oh, I know what the problem is… my hubby and I spend too much time at auctions and antique shops looking for Pyrex!  And here’s my latest acquisition… a vintage Formica and chrome kitchen table!  Isn’t it DARLING? 

20881997_10214327448045802_1068256348653130661_n

Well, we’re enjoying our summer and I hope you are too!  Thanks for stopping by!