Beauty from The Sink!

Have you ever had anything this beautiful come out of your Kitchen Sink? LOL This 3-Step Daisy set from Kitchen Sink Stamps continues to amaze me! I just love what can be created with it!

This card is for our wonderful friend, Carol. She's the wife of our family friend who died on Sunday. I hope it brings her some cheer, along with the apple crisp I made for the family!

The stamp set I used is, of course, the 3-Step Daisy and the sentiment comes from that set, too. I inked the first layer of the daisy with Versacolor white, then edged it with a little bit of Smoke Blue Colorbox ink. The second layer I inked with Stampin' Up Going Gray, stamped it off once to remove some ink, then stamped the flower. The third layer is stamped with Going Gray, fully inked. The daisy center was stamped with Versamark, then I sprinkled it with Moon Glow yellow embossing powder. The leaves were stamped with Versamagic Sage and Spanish Olive. The sentiment was stamped with Spanish Olive, also and embossed with clear embossing powder.

Remember, only 1 day until the release of 4 new Holiday Stamp Sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps! Remember to look for the banner ad on Thursday, November 1st at www.splitcoaststampers.com to purchase the new stamps and get a 15% discount!!!

Stamp happy!

One more day to NEW STAMPS!

I can't get this banner to animate, and show you the words "4 New Holiday Sets" or to tell you specifically that they'll be released on November 1st, but you get the gist, right? Be sure to go to http://kitchensinkstamps.com for the online store, and click on the link for "Sink News" to go to Maria's blog and get a sneak peek at some of the new sets! Then, right away tomorrow morning, go to http://splitcoaststampers.com and look for the banner ad! Click on it to take you to the store, where you'll receive 15% off your total purchase on November 1st! Can't beat that! Great new stamps, with a great discount! I promise, you'll love the stamps! :)

Are you ready for some new STAMPS!!!

Less than 2 days and counting until the release of new Holiday Stamp Sets from Kitchen Sink Stamps! Be sure to see the banner ads at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ on Thursday, November 1st! Click on the banner to order the new sets, and receive 15% off your order! Wow! How generous is Maria! An awesome chance to get some awesome stamps at an awesome deal! Do I sound like a valley girl, or what? Totally!

sadness

That's it.... just a plain black square. Our family lost a very dear friend to cancer this evening. I had made a few cards today that I intended to upload tonight but it's now furthest from my mind, so it's just a black square. This man was the absolute very nicest man you could ever hope to meet, let alone call a friend. Just one of those people that you're very lucky to have known... you know what I mean? Always kind and good to everyone, always there to help, always giving more than he got. And it's completely and utterly unfair that his life is over at age 55. And he leaves behind a wonderful family... a wife, 3 awesome kids, a daughter-in-law, 2 beautiful grandchildren, brothers, his mother, nieces and nephews and a ton of people that we so lucky to have had him touch our lives. If you are so inclined, please include the Lantz family in your prayers. And remember to let everyone in your life know how much they mean to you! Say "I love you" until you can't say it anymore!

Busy, busy!

The weekend was busy, and has extended into my week, as usual! Can't believe it's Wednesday already! My daughters volleyball season is officially over, so hopefully that means a little more "down-time" for me before the holidays through us into high gear.

I spent a lot of the weekend, and a few hours of my day off on Monday making cards for a project at church. One of my customers at the store told me she keeps a box full of all-occasion cards on a table at her church. People are welcome to help themselves to whatever they need, and all that's asked is that they leave a donation of some amount in another box beside the cards. The donations are then given to their mission fund. What a wonderful idea, don't you think!? So I decided to try something like that. I have to wait until Church Council meets again next month for approval, but I can't think of any reason not to approve so I've started making cards. I have 44 done so far, and am hoping to have at least 100 to start. I'm a little leary of making too many duplicates so it's been challenging. I'm worried that if there is someone in the church having a special birthday, that 3 or 4 people may take the same cards from the box (if I do too many duplicates) and then the birthday person gets all the same cards! So anyway... above are pictures of what I created. There is too much information to list specifics for each card, but if there's one you want to know more about, just email me! A link to email me is in my profile.

Thanks for looking, and happy "hump" day!

A new adventure!

Check out that great logo on the right side of my page! Yep, I'm officially a Design Team member for the Kitchen Sink Stamps... dubbed the Kitchen Sink Crew! I'm thrilled, excited, nervous and just plain happy (Stamp Happy!) to be given this honor by Maria! It's really neat to be a part of all this, and to kind of be helping Maria get her company really off the ground! There are some great new holiday sets due to be released soon, and you'll love them all! Maria has got some wonderful ideas, and is such a great artist! Be sure to check out the website for the store and idea gallery (http://www.kitchensinkstamps.com/) and check out the Design Team announcement on her blog (http://kitchensinkstamps.wordpress.com/) to see the other wonderfully talented designers that I share this opportunity with!

Easy Gift Bag

My daughter has a birthday party to go to tonight, so I quickly made up this easy gift bag! I must have received one previously in a swap or something because I had one in a pile of cards and stuff in my stamping room, but don't know where it came from nor who the original designer might be (if there is someone to give credit to for the design!) If this bag design has a name, I'd love to know! Anyway, I used just a plain white paper lunch bag, and cut it so that it is 7" tall. The front piece of cardstock is cut the width of the bag (5 1/4") by 7" tall. The back piece is cut 5 1/4" by 8 1/2" and was scored at 7 1/8" for the fold over the top. The cardstock I used is Stampin' Up Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and generic white. I stamped swirls from my Kitchen Sink Stamps Backgrounds & Borders set using Versamagic Sea Breeze ink. Happy Birthday is from Kitchen Sink Stamps 3-Step Daisy set and is stamped with Versamagic Jumbo Java and embossed with clear embossing powder. The scallops on the Chocolate Chip piece under the flap was punched with my corner rounder punch. The little card is 2 3/4" square and is stamped with the medium flower from my Kitchen Sink Stamps 3-Step Daisy set in Versamagic Sea Breeze, Aegean Blue, and Jumbo Java. The edges around the main image are inked with SU! Cool Caribbean, and the piece is matted on a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock punched with my Marvy giga scalloped square. I finished off the bag by punching a hole and threading a piece of chocolate brown satin ribbon through it.

My daughter is at a volleyball game, so she has yet to see this! When she does she's probably not going to want to give the gift! :)

Thanks for looking!

Holiday Gift Idea

Do you need a good idea for holiday-gift giving? This is a coaster calendar that I made last year. Someone asked me to send pictures of it to her, but my email account won't let me send this many pictures at one time, so I thought I'd post it here for everyone to see! The front and back covers of the calendar are made with 4x4 chipboard coasters, covered with designer paper and/or cardstock. The inside pages are just made from cardstock, and glued back to back. The calendar stands on it's own using the front and back covers. The rings (I can't remember what they're called!) are available from any office supply. I think I've even seen them in the office supplies at Wal-Mart. Mine are about the size of a 50 cent piece in diameter (or maybe just a tad bigger). If you get them too small, there won't be room for all the pages. The actual calendar pages come from http://www.stamponthis.com/. All supplies to make this calendar are from Stampin' Up, however it was created last year, so some items are outdated or retired!

Have a happy Thursday!

Techniques Class

I had the first of two techniques classes at the store last night. I had 8 ladies last night, and they loved the projects, even if I was having a melt-down and was sure that each one was going to backfire! Everything went off without a hitch, except for the customer that thought my sample card was her card, and glued her piece to the back of it!

So this first card is actually only a card front because we had to separate hers from mine! This "Winter Magic" card was created using Moon Glow's Glitz Spritz. I inherited a LOT of it with my job at the store and I have had no clue what to do with it, and want to sell it so I can get other things! So I created this card using 2 different techniques with the Spritz. The main image in the circle (stamp from Northwoods) is stamped on black cardstock with Versamark ink, and embossed with Moon Glow's Silver Moon/Turquoise embossing powder. Then it is sprayed lightly with the Glitz Spritz, and heated until dry. The circle was then cut out using my circle Coluzzle, and I inked the edges slightly with silver Encore ink. The background is also Glitz Spritz sprayed on white cardstock. You spray the Glitz until it puddles on the cardstock, then blot with a paper towel and dry with a heat gun to get this cool, sparkly marblized effect! The corners were punched with Fiskars Heritage punch. Winter Magic (also from Northwoods) is stamped in silver Encore, and embossed with the Moon Glow EP. The navy cardstock for the card base is Bazzill. The black and white cardstock is generic.

This next card uses a Chalk Resist technique that I found on Inkadinkado's website. The wheat image is from Magenta and is stamped on glossy cardstock with Alabaster white Colorbox chalk ink. Then, before that ink is dry, Blush Rose Colorbox chalk ink is applied directly over the image. Then you just buff with a paper towel, and heat slightly to dry! The birthday sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamp Company, and is stamped in Blush Rose on cream cardstock. The brads are from Lasting Impressions. All cardstock (with the exception of the glossy) is from Bazzill.
This next baby card uses the Baby Wipe technique! (For a tutorial, go to http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/babywipe.php) This is the one I was sure would backfire last evening! The pale blue and pink inks (from Memories) that I got to do the technique ended up being too pale, I think and the image isn't stamped as nicely as I wanted. So I quickly called my supplier on Monday morning (they're in Cleveland, thank God and can ship in one day!) and ordered a little bit darker pink and blue ink. Well, those inks came yesterday afternoon, and they were just totally wrong shades to go with the polka-dotted background paper! But I have to say my customers adapted well, and had fun playing with the technique! They played with the colors, and ended up doing combinations of all the colors for great results! I even put out plain baby pink and baby blue ink pads and told them if they'd rather not do the technique for their card, they could just stamp in the plain colors, and I don't think anyone chose that option! The "onesie" is from Rubber Soul, and the dotted designer paper is from Paper Salon. Cardstock is Bazzill, and the ribbon source is unknown. The light blue ribbon also has baby footprints on it, but I didn't turn it so it was visible before I took the picture! There is a sentiment stamped inside.

This last card I also feared would backfire. It uses the cracked glass technique. Technically, it did backfire because the post office is holding up my package that contains the bare-branched tree stamps and the ultra-thick embossing enamel I needed for this card! Luckily, I was able to buy the stamp at the Adventures in Stamping convention this past weekend, and had UTEE here at home to use instead! The tree stamp is from Sparkle n' Sprinkle, and the sentiment is from Verses. I colored the tree, ground and moon with Tombow markers, and the sky is done with a combo of black, gray and navy chalk. For a tutorial on how to do the cracked glass technique, go to http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/crackedglass.php. The sentiment is stamped with Memories Chestnut ink, and I used Ranger distress ink in the cracks of my "glass." All cardstock is Bazzill, with the exception of the generic black, and the white cardstock which is 100 lb. from Hollo's. A close-up.

GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM!

This is for today's color challenge on SCS, to use PINK! This is also a reminder to GO GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM! Many of you may know that I used to work for an oncologist (before I got my dream job!) and believe me, a mammogram is NOTHING compared to chemotherapy! Yes, it's a little uncomfortable. Yes, it can be a tad painful. The pain doesn't last for long. Yes, it might be a little inconvenient to take off work to go get it done, or work it into your schedule. Would you rather work weekly chemo treatments into your schedule??? GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM! Can't remember when your last one was? Call your doctore... call the hospital. They can look it up for you!

OK, off the soapbox!

My card was created using Bazzill cardstock, and designer paper from One Heart, One Mind. The stamps are from My Favorite Things. I just got a shipment from them yesterday to carry in the store I manage, and I'm so excited! I hope my customers will love them as much as I do! This card will be perfect to display with the stamps today, and hopefully generate some excitement! I have a card class tonight, and so it will get some attention for sure. I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils, and used Gamsol and blending stumps to blend. The rest I hope is pretty self-explanatory but if it's not, just ask!

I'm running late for work at this time! Thanks for looking and have a great day! (GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM!)

More fun from the Kitchen Sink

Well, my Mom was here all weekend, and we had a wonderful visit. Now she's home and I got to spend some time this afternoon stamping with my newest Kitchen Sink Stamps!

This first card, I think may be a little too busy? I really, really loved this background paper when I found it, but after I stamped the flowers to go with it, I thought maybe it's a little over the top? The flower stamps are, of course from Kitchen Sink Stamps... the Pretty Petals set. My sentiment is from Impression Obsession. Anyway, the background papers are the Magnolia collection from My Mind's Eye. My card base is Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip. I also used SU! Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla, and Bazzill Whirlpool blue. The flowers are inked with VersaMagic Jumbo Java, Pumpkin Spice, Aegean Blue, Spanish Olive and Aspen Mist, and the sentiment is Pumpkin Spice. The flower centers are punched out with a 3/4" circle punch, embossed with clear EP, and raised up on dimensionals. I used my sewing machine and brown thread to zig-zag stitch across the top of the card. The sentiment is on a 1" circle, and layered with a 1 1/4" circle. The main image is mounted on dimensionals, too and I finished off with this gorgeous Offray aqua ribbon I found at Joann's on Friday.This card is just a silly idea I've been playing around with in my head ever since I saw Maria's Pretty Petals set and thought they looked like surfboards! When I mentioned it to Maria, she said her friends thought so too, especially since the swirls that are included with the set look like waves. So I created my little beach scene by tearing a piece of kraft cardstock for the sandy beach, and making a fence with pieces punched from my SU! Word Window punch. I then stamped and cut-out my "surfboards" and leaned them against the fence. Then I had to add another layer of sand, because those surfboards would fall over if they weren't sitting firmly in the sand! :) I added swirls in 3 shades of blue for waves. The set comes with a longer, swirled piece that is mostly used as a flower stem but I stamped it in the sky and sponged some white for nice, high clouds! My sun is obviously punched from my giga scalloped circle punch. The sentiment is from Stampendous, and stamped on SU! Pretty in Pink cardstock and punched out with the Word Window punch. I wanted it to say "Hang 10, dude!" but my smallest alphabet set just wasn't cooperating with me tonight! Hope you like my silly little "pick-me-up" card!

Happy Weekend!

My Mom is visiting this weekend (she lives 3+ hours away). Kaylie's volleyball team was participting in Volley for the Cure last night, and since my Mom is a 14+ year breast cancer survivor, she came to watch Kaylie play, and be honored during the varsity game with a flower for being a survivor. ('scuse me while I wipe my tears of joy!) The whole gym looked like bubble gum had exploded as everyone was wearing pink, including the players and referrees! Of course, I go to most games straight from work, so I didn't have my camera! They even used a pink and white volleyball! (Wow, I am such a sap... I literally cannot stop having to wipe tears just thinking about how grateful I am that my Mom was there last night to be honored!)

Anyway, I'll be busier this weekend since Mom is here. I'm working a half day today, then as soon as the girls get home from school, we're all going to see a movie. My husband has car repairs to work on in the morning, my Mom and the girls and I might go apple picking, I have to work from 1:00 until 9:00 tomorrow because we're having a huge toy sale at the store, Kelsey has soccer in the afternoon (which I'll miss) and Kaylie will be getting ready with Grandma to go to go her first Homecoming dance. I'm hoping they will have time to stop at the store before they go so I can see the girls in their dresses. (She has no date... just going with friends, which to me sounds like a lot more fun!)

Since I haven't had time to stamp, I'm posting a card that was made a few weeks ago that I never uploaded to my blog. I think it was from a Limited Supply challenge. I hope you like it! I think he's so cute! Have a great weekend!

Stamps: giraffe from Stamps by Judith and Heather, witches hat taken from an old Inky Antics stamp, boo from Karen Foster snap-stamps, pumpkin is a Michael's $1 stamp

Ink: Stampin' Up So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black, Vintage Violet, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Cardstock: Basic Black, Vintage Violet, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, white

Accessories: Cuttlebug die cuts, scalloped scissors, sponges, stitched grosgrain, hemp twine, circle punches, pop-dots

Kitchen Sink Stamps How-To

There have been a few comments on a SCS thread asking if the Kitchen Sink 3-Step Daisy set is hard to use. The answer is no!!! Play with it a little bit, and you won't have any trouble once you acquaint yourself with the stamps. But just to prove it, here are some pictures and a quick tutorial!

This is stamp #1, inked with Bisque Colorbox ink.Now I've taken the plastic sheet that comes in your package and laid it over my first stamped image. I've lined up the outer edges of the stamps and also used the corner guides that Maria provides on the plastic sheet. Have you ever used a Stamp-a-ma-jig? This is the very same principal, you just don't need the actual positioning tool because you can see through your clear block for exact placement. Before I remove the plastic sheet from my image, I pick up my block with stamp #2 (inked with a generic orange pigment ink) and get it turned to the right angle, and stamp.In the next picture, I've done the same thing with stamp #3, just having to turn the plastic sheet a quarter-turn to line up the images again. My stamp is inked with Colorbox Chianti ink. Pick up your stamp and get it turned to the right angle, and stamp!Then I've inked the tiny flower center with Colorbox Chestnut Roan ink, and just stamped in the middle. Voila'! A bee-yoo-tiful flower!!!
This is my very first time doing a tutorial, so I'm not sure my instructions are really clear! But I sure hope this helps anyone who is undecided about purchasing the set! Trust me, you'll love it!
Have a great day!

Love for the Kitchen Sink!

Wow, never thought I'd utter those words! I've never loved my kitchen sink, but I sure do love my Kitchen Sink Stamps! They don't come with dirty dishes!



Here's another card I made this morning using those great stamps. This is also for the color challenge today on SCS, but I've got to get to work, so I'll upload there later! The stamps used on this card are from the Thanks with Style set. Cardstock is Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou and River Rock. The DP is the Bohemia collection from My Mind's Eye. The sentiment is inked with Versamagic Jumbo Java and embossed with clear EP, and the swirled heart is inked with Versamagic Aegean Blue and also embossed with clear EP. I paired SU! French Blue grosgrain and Chocolate Chip grosgrain with this. The blue matches a lot better in real life, I think! This also made me realize how pitiful my ribbon collection is! I was really wishing for some SU! taffeta ribbon this morning, but alas, I have resisted the urge to buy any! The vintage brads are also from Stampin' Up, as is the ticket corner punch used around the main image.

This second little thing is just a really quick gift I threw together for my daughter to give at school today to her volleyball Secret Sister. We have a wonderful little bulk food store next to the toy store, and I found these cute jack-o-lantern gumballs there last week, so thought they'd make a cute gift. Then I kept forgetting about them, hence the reason why this was done so quickly this morning! (notice the crooked staples... that's gonna' drive me crazy everytime I see it!) Believe it or not, I did freehand those letters, though!Thanks for stopping by! :)

More from the Kitchen Sink!

Wow, what a fun day I had yesterday playing with my new Kitchen Sink Stamps! If you haven't checked them out yet, what are you waiting for? http://www.kitchensinkstamps.com/ Quick! Go! See what's in Maria's sink!

This first card was made using the Thanks with Style set, and my Autumn Leaves Swirls v. 2 by Rhonna Farrer. (The swirls are great here, but also made me realize that I need the Kitchen Sink background set!) I found this yummy crushed velvet ribbon at another store that shall remain nameless on Saturday night, and thought it matched Wild Wasabi very well. So my color combo here is Stampin' Up Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, and Groovy Guava. I used Versamagic Spanish Olive chalk in on the sentiments, and embossed with clear embossing powder. The swirls are stamped in Colorbox Rose Coral. I also sponged a little River Rock and Wild Wasabi ink around the edges of the main image, and used my paper piercing tool and template for the corners. I finished this card on Saturday night, but then saw JanTInk's card on SCS (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/682961?cat=500&ppuser=692) I had to "edit" my card and stamped another "T" to raise up on foam tape for dimension. Thanks for the inspriation, Jan!

This card was also made using the Thanks with Style set. I created this also for another bloggers challenge go make a card using Always Artichoke and Bravo Burguny. My additional colors are Soft Sky and Sahara Sand, and I found that combo at this site... http://www.scraptitude.com/colorcombo/ I have a Stampin' Up Scrappin' Kit that includes some of their new textured cardstock. I keep using it for things other than the stuff that comes in the Scrappin' Kit though, and I'm going to use it all up, I fear! I sponged soft sky ink around the edges of the same color cardstock, and punched the corners using my SU! ticket corner punch. The heart with swirls is stamped with Versamagic Spanish Olive ink, and embossed with clear powder. The sentiment is stamped on Sahara Sand cardstock using Versamark, and embossed with SU! burgundy embossing powder. I rounded the corners of this and the layered piece below, and attached a vintage eyelet with my Crop-a-dile. This is mounted on foam squares, and I threaded some SU! burgundy grosgrain ribbon through the eyelet. This turned out a little "simplier" than I intended, but sometimes I think maybe that's OK!This card, I think, also ended up being a little "simple" but that's OK, right? :) I stamped the 3-Step Daisy flower on generic pink cardstock using Versamagic Pixie Dust, Stampin' Up Cranberry Crisp, and Colorbox Maroon. The flower center is stamped with Versamagic Eggplant. I sponged a little SU! Pretty in Pink around the edges of the circle after punching with my Marvy mega circle. The SU! Purely Pomegranate scalloped circle is punched out with the Marvy giga scalloped circle. My card base is SU! Purely Pomegranate, layered wtih a piece of Bazzill Basics cardstock (sorry, I don't know what color though!) and SU! River Rock. The corners of the layers were punched with the ticket corner punch, and River Rock ink is sponged around the top layers edges. The sentiments are stamped in Versamagic Spanish Olive ink (I think that's becoming my favorite color to use!) Looking at it now, I wish I had embossed the sentiments! I used a piece of Stampin' Up Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon, but the white of the stitching was so bright, so I drug the ribbon through my River Rock ink pad a few times to darken it up a little. The scalloped circle is mounted on foam squares.Last is this birthday card, using the Three-Step Daisy set from Kitchen sink, and also my Rhonna Farrer swirls again and the Sentiments 1 set from Impression Obsession. (I highly recommend that clear set from IO... a TON of words for a very good price!) My cardstock is Stampin' Up Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Ruby Red along with a piece from the Blush line from Basic Grey. My white cardstock is from the paper capital of Northeast Ohio, Hollo's. The flowers are stamped using Versamagic Pixie Dust and Stampin' Up Ruby Red ink. The leaves are from an unknown clear set I round in my supply cupboard at work, and they are stamped in Versacolor Sage and Evergreen. I used a small sponge dauber to add some Sage ink around the leaves, too. I used Versamark on the background swirls, and Versamagic Aegean Blue on the sentiment. I sponged some Ruby Red ink around the floral piece edges, and also added some color to it using my Ruby Red marker and color spritzer. I sewed around the edges of the top layer with my sewing machine, and attached this pretty scalloped velvet ribbon using red-line tape. Also again, used my paper piercing tool and template for the corner, and mounted the floral piece using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Well, those are my latest contributions using those great new Kitchen Sink Stamps! I must get busy now and get ready for work! It appears that I will have to purchase a few items before I leave work today to give away some blog candy! I had no idea the number would go up so quickly! Thank you everyone who stops by! I've had a little bit of a downer this weekend pertaining to stamping despite all the fun I've had, so you really should know that you have me on Cloud 9 with your views and comments! Unfortunately for me, sometimes it's all about the validation.... I need that positive reassurance or I probably wouldn't stamp nearly as much as I do! So thank you, from the bottom of my heart!

Hmmm... now how do I give away this blog candy? Please leave me a comment, and tell me what your favorite Fall food is! A really yummy dessert? Hearty stew or soup? Pumpkin pie? I'll figure out some random way to choose the winner, and since my Mom is coming to visit on Thursday for a few days, I'll be very preoccupied, so the winner will be chosen on Wednesday evening!

Thanks again! Have a GREAT Monday!