A Sweet Thanks

Hi there! Today I'm playing along with this pretty inspiration challenge over at The Shabby Tea Room! isn't this picture just lovely?

Here are the DEEtails:

I knew right away that I wanted to play with the bike and tree image from Sheltering Tree. I hestitated in getting this set for a couple of reasons... First is that I have a LOT of tree stamps! The second reason was that I felt like a lot of cards I was seeing with this set looked really similar. However, the more and more I saw card samples, I realized that I really liked them all and finally decided to get the set regardless of my ever growing collection of tree stamps. And I'm so glad, because this set is lots of fun. I started with stamping the "grass" in Pistachio Pudding, which is really just a nice artistic swoop.  Next up was the tree, which I stamped in Baked Brown Sugar. The flowers were stamped in VersaMark ink and I sprinkled both white and Blushing Bride embossing powders over it. I probably wouldn't recommend making it look like there is a stripe of white blossoms on the tree, but obviously I haven't mastered this technique yet - hehe! I heat embossed the tree, then stamped the bike pieces in VersaMark and embossed it in Smoky Slate and white. I trimmed down my tree to fit on a cute chevron background from Watercolor Wonder. Then I layered on a piece of Wood sheet, die cut with the Tasteful Trim Die. I added a cute banner punched out of that lovely patterned Vellum from Papertrey and hung with Whisper White Baker's Twine. Then I added some Cotton Ribbon in Blushing Bride along with the sentiment, die cut from the Scripty Words Die Set from YNS. What do you think?

Paper: Blushing Bride Cardstock, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Sheer Basics Vellum Patterned Paper Collection (Papertrey Ink), Texture Cuts Wood Sheets, Watercolor Wonder
Stamps: Sheltering Tree
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding, VersaMark
Embellishments: Blushing Bride Cotton Ribbon, Blushing Bride Stampin' Emboss Powder, Smoky Slate Stampin' Emboss Powder, Whisper White Baker's Twine, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Wood Sheet
Tools: Banner Punch, heat tool, Scripty Words Die Set (Your Next Stamp), Tasteful Trim Die

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 303

Today's challenge at Cupcake Inspirations is a fun theme of stripes and dots!

Our sponsor this week is Digital Delights by Louby Lou and I'm playing with this fun and summery July Cupcake. 

Here are the DEEtails for my card:

I had fun coloring and paper piecing this cheerful cupcake. These fun patterns from the Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Paper pack were perfect for this challenge. I layered them on some Daffodil Delight card stock and added a bit of Stitched Grosgrain ribbon. I added a few banners cut from some Designer Series Paper and Melon Mambo Cardstock stamped with a sentiment, then popped on my Louby Lou image, matted on more Melon Mambo Cardstock. A bit of sparkle was added to the ice cream cones using my Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen, of course! Then I added a few little Candy Dots just for fun. Hope you enjoy all the stripes and dots! :)

Paper: Daffodil Delight Cardstock, Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack - Brights Collection, Melon Mambo Cardstock, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Paper
Stamps: July Cupcake (Digital Delights by Louby Lou), Something to Celebrate
Ink: Stampin' Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette; Stampin' Write Markers - Basic Black, Blush Blossom Creamy Caramel, Real Red, Sahara Sand
Embellishments: Candy Dots - Brights, Daffodil Delight Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Stampin' Dimmensionals, Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen

Now stop over at Cupcake Inspirations and see what the rest of our Sweeties created this week! Hope you'll play along with this fun challenge!

Naki and Nina's Double Dare Challenge

Hello! Hello! It's time for a new Double Dare Challenge with my dear friend, Naki.

Here's how it works: For each challenge, Naki and I blindly pick something that we want to work with (a color scheme, tool, sketch, technique, inspiration, whatever!) Then we combine our picks to make a Double Dare Challenge! Here are our picks for this challenge:

Naki's pick for this challenge was to some Glimmer Paper

My pick was to add sequins

Here are the DEEtails:

I was a little nervous about this card being a little too sparkly, but I decided to embrace it and add even more shine. I used some Silver Fancy Foil Designer Vellum on some Crisp Cantaloupe Cardstock as a backdrop to some Silver Glimmer Paper chevron stripes. Then I stamped the pretty sentiment from the Hostess set, Hello There onto some white cardstock. I embossed it in silver and punched a circle. I layered my sentiment onto a die cut doily (can you tell I'm loving these doilies!?), then sprinkled on some Crisp Cantaloupe sequins.

Paper: Crisp Cantaloupe Cardstock, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Silver Fancy Foil Vellum, Silver Glimmer Paper
Stamps: Hello There
Ink: VersaMark
Embellishments: In Color Sequin Assortment, Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
Tools: Awesome Borders Die Set One (Your Next Stamp), Doily Details Dies Collection (Papertrey Ink), heat tool, Stampin' Dimmensionals

Now let's all hop over to Naki's blog to see what she's made this week. And if you'd like to play along with us, just create something sparkly using Glimmer Paper and sequins and link up in the comments below.

What I Wore

Hello! Hello! Today I'm sharing another week of What I wore...

I painted my nails again - I know! Shocking! This week, I use Yogaga, which was part of Essie's Zen collection a few Falls ago. Now don't laugh... It's pretty similar to Chincilly, which I wore last week, but a lighter shade. Essie describes Yogaga as "a creamy, icy taupe," which means it's a totally different color! Sadly, it isn't available anymore.

Essie Yogaga

DAY ONE

dress: tacera / belt: ??? / cardigan: target / necklace: groopdealz (similar)  

 DAY TWO

 dress: old navy / cardigan: target / necklace: ??? / bracelet: kohls

Tuesday was St. Patty's day, so of course I had to wear green.

I decked myself out in cute clovers (necklace with matching earrings and bracelet). 

The necklace is one that my hubby found for me at a little boutique store. 

About a year later, my  mom found me matching earrings! 

And you can't see it at all, but the bracelet has a sparkly dangling clover. 

DAY THREE

dress & belt: target / cardigan: target / necklace: groopdealz / ring: kate spade

DAY FOUR

dress: loft / cardigan: loft / necklace: groopdealz / bracelet: kate spade

DAY FIVE

sweater: american eagle / leggings: target

Friday was the first day of spring. 

Obviously it wasn't very springy if I was wearing a thick sweater with leggings and boots!

Here's hoping for warmer weather soon!

Some of My Favorite Things

Good morning friends! Happy Monday! I found a bit of time to craft this weekend and made this card using the sweet sketch from My Favorite Things with some of MY favorite things.

Here are the DEEtails:

I started with this fun chevron background for my card and used the Stitched Line die from Your Next Stamp to create a nice stitched edge along all four sides. I die cut a little doily using dies from Papertrey Ink and their awesome patterned Vellum. It's hard to see in the photos, but there is a sweet polka dot detail on the vellum that is just the perfect touch! Next I layered on some more polka dots, with some Pool Party patterned paper (say that fast!) trimmed into a banner. These Bigger Blooms are so lovely and I die cut and stamped them in some of the pretty In Colors (Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding). I layered them to make a little cluster of blooms. The little flowers were dotted with some Sparkly Teal Gumdrops and attached with some Stampin' Dimmensionals to add a bit of depth to the flowers. I added some more Sparkly Teal Gumdrops around the doily as well. Lastly, I added some gorgeous seam binding from Paper Sweeties. I'm loving all the fun goodies on this card! I hope you like it!

Paper: Crisp Cantaloupe Cardstock, In Color 2013-2015 Designer Series Paper Stack, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Pool Party Cardstock, Sheer Basics Vellum Patterned Paper collection, Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack
Stamps: Bigger Blooms (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pistachio Pudding
Embellishments: Robin Egg Seam Binding (Paper Sweeties), Sparkly Teal Gumdrops (Your Next Stamp)
Tools: Bigger Blooms Die (Papertrey Ink), Doily Details Die Collection (Papertrey Ink), Stampin' Dimmensionals, Stitched Line Die (Your Next Stamp)

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 302

Hello dears! I'm back today with a lovely color challenge for Cupcake Inspirations.

This week's sponsor is Little Miss Muffet Stamps and I'm playing with the cutie, Polka Dot Pals Heidi this week.

Here are the DEEtails:

I started with a Pretty in Pink card and layered some fun patterned papers in Daffodil Delight and Pretty in Pink underneath a little Polaroid style frame die cut. I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey's Bigger Blooms onto the frame and layered a little doily die cut. My Blendabilities came to the rescue when coloring the cute Heidi. I barely ever do any sort of shading, but I did a bit on this card and I'm kind of loving it. I added a bit of Basic Black Baker's Twine along the side and then sprinkled on some of those fabulous flower shaped sequins from Paper Sweeties. I do hope you like it!

Paper: Daffodil Delight Cardstock, Designer Series Paper Patterns Stack - Brights Collection, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Pretty in Pink Cardstock, Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack
Stamps: Bigger Blooms (Papertrey Ink), Polka Dot Pals Heidi (Little Miss Muffet Stamps)
Ink: Stampin' Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette; Stampin' Write Markers - Basic Black, Blush Blossom
Embellishments: Basic Black Baker's Twine, Bubblegum Sequins (Paper Sweeties)
Tools: Doily Details Die Collection (Papertrey Ink), Fabulous Frames Die Collection (Papertrey Ink)

Now stop over at Cupcake Inspirations and see what the rest of our Sweeties created this week! Hope you'll play along with this adorable color challenge!

Congratulations!

Hello there! I'm here to share a congratulatory card today that I made for my little brother. He recently received some really great news! He has been accepted to the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, one of the top universities in Japan! We're quite proud of him!

Here are the DEEtails:

These fun stars from Papertrey ink were die cut out of Kiwi Kiss Cardstock. I also die cut some shapes out of Coaster Board to create an embossed starry background to match. It's a bit difficult to see in the photos, but if you look really closely, you might be able to notice the embossed shapes. I mounted my embossed background onto some Basic Black Cardstock and some black fun foam to add a bit of dimension. I added some strips of Washi tape onto my card base and adhered my embossed background on top. Then I layered on some stars and sequins, as well as a sentiment stamped onto some Kiwi Kiss Cardstock. Simple and fun. I hope you like it!

Paper: Basic Black Cardstock, Kiwi Kiss Cardstock, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock
Stamps: Something to Celebrate
Ink: Basic Black
Embellishments: Frosted Sequins, Stacked with Love Designer Washi Tape
Tools: Coaster Board, fun foam, Small Sketched Stars Die (Papertrey Ink)

What I Wore

Hi there! It's been a while since I shared a "What I Wore" post... The weather has finally started warming up, but it's been hard picking outfits because it is still pretty cold in the morning and sometimes chilly in the building.

If you look closely, you may notice that I painted my nails earlier in the week (I got bored during testing and peeled most of it off on Wednesday). I was getting tired of my nails constantly looking torn up, so I decided to throw on a couple of coats of polish, more to preserve my nails than to try to make them look pretty. The color I wore is Chinchilly, which Essie describes as a sleek granite gray. It's got a bit of a brown undertone to it. It's one of my favorite colors.

Essie Chinchilly

Anyway, here's What I Wore last week...

DAY ONE

dress: old navy (similar) / cardigan: old navy / necklace: premier designs / bracelet: folli follie (similar)

 DAY TWO

 dress: target mossimo / belt: ??? / necklace: jane / bracelet: groopdealz

I know this dress is a little wild for me - hahaha. 

I did end up throwing a black cardigan over it 

to tone it down a bit, but it is kind of fun to to wear.

DAY THREE

dress: olsenboye / camisole: american eagle / cardigan: forever 21 / necklace: american eagle

DAY FOUR

dress: max edition / camisole: aerie / cardigan: american eagle / necklace: tom design (etsy)

DAY FIVE

sweater: american eagle / tank: kirra / leggings: target / necklace: coach

I'm gonna be honest, I wore a lot of black the past few weeks, so when I knew I was going to be doing this post, I forced myself to wear a few new colors. I hope you enjoyed this week's "What I Wore" post. It certainly encourages me to not wear the same five dresses every week! haha :)

A Few Little Gifts

Things have been a little busy around here! I'm backtracking a bit to share some of the fun that occured in February... In the midst of preparing for the exciting events at Cupcake Inspirations, I was also busy preparing for some fun at school as well.

Our school system has a partnership with Bunkyo University in Japan and each year, a group of their students studying to become teachers comes to visit to learn about schools in the United States. It's a fun opportunity for us to learn a little about Japanese culture and for them to learn about our education system. This year, I was asked to be our school's liaison, coordinate a schedule, play "tour guide," and present gifts to our two students who would be visiting our school this week.

I planned to give the girls clipboards that sported our school's mascot, the Dolphin. My principal asked me to get some other stationary items, like a notebook and pens, to go with the clipboards. I made a face. Japanese stationary goods are the absolute best and I felt silly trying to buy stationary items for Japanese natives, so my principal gave me the green light to buy whatever I thought would be good. And then I stressed out. Hahaha.

Of course I immediately asked Naki to brainstorm ideas with me. The first thing she said was that I needed to make a card or cute tag. I honestly wasn't planning on that at all. I was just going to get something simple, tie a bow on it, and call it a day. But in the end, Naki's idea won.

I decided to make little favor bags of Swedish Fish as a little "Whalecome" gift to our students and their professors. I combined stamps from Fox and Friends (whale image), Oh, Whale! (sentiment), and Sea Street (fish background and flag banner) with a Taken with Teal, Pool Party, and Real Red color palette. Then I tied some pretty ribbons onto the clipboards for a little extra flair. :)

 

I found these dolphin stuffies at Michaels when I was out buying some adhesive and thought they were a fun little parting gift for our girls. I stamped some tags to hang on their tails using the Sea Street stamp set along with some alphabet stamps that I had purchased from the Target Dollar Spot over the holidays.

Hazuki and Michiko visited during the crazy weeks with snow, but I think think their visit was enjoyable, despite the nasty weather. I had such fun with them and hope they did too!

Paper: Pool Party Cardstock, Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack, Whisper White Cardstock
Stamps: Fox and Friends, letter stamps (Target Dollar Spot), Oh, Whale!, Sea Street
Ink: Basic Gray, Real Red, Pool Party, Taken with Teal
Embellishments: Bermuda Bay Grosgrain Polka Dot Ribbon, Island Indigo Baker's Twine, Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon, Sycamore Street Ribbon, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon
Tools: Banner Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch

Cupcake Inspirations Challenge 301

Good morning friends! Are you partied out?! Hahaha! We're back to our regularly scheduled challenge at Cupcake Inspirations and today we have a fun theme challenge.

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Digi Stamps and I'm playing along with a cute image called Theodore Shamrocks. Isn't he just adorable?

Here are the DEEtails:

I printed Theodore and his little lucky friend on some white cardstock and colored the image using Stampin' Write and Blendabilities markers. I cut Theodore out carefully and ran a black marker along the edges to there was no extra white showing. I love how this simple trick makes the image look so much more finished, especially against a black background. I felt like Theodore needed a pot of gold or something like it, which is what inspired this shaker card (plus the fact that now I'm obsessed with making shaker cards - haha!) I die cut a rectangle out of the center of a piece of Basic Black Cardstock. I don't have a fancy set of frame dies to make shaker cards, so I double-dutied a polaroid style frame die to cut out the center. I added a piece of transparency paper behind for a window and added strips of black fun foam along the edges. I also added some strips of fun foam in a triangle shape behind Theodore since the space behind him doesn't really need any confetti. Then I filled the area up with gold and sealed it up by attaching the card base. Theodore was adhered carefully and I added some extra sparkle with my Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen. Stella got a little excited and splatted out a bit, which is why my clovers are extra sparkly! :)

Paper: Basic Black Cardstock, Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, transparency paper
Stamps: Theodore Shamrock (Bugaboo Digi Stamps)
Ink: Stampin' Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Old Olive; Stampin' Write Markers - Basic Black, Blush Blossom, Creamy Caramel, Garden Green, Going Gray, Real Red
Embellishments: 6mm Gold Confetti (Pretty Pink Posh)
Tools: Fabulous Frames Die Collection (Papertrey Ink), Fun Foam, Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen

Now stop over at Cupcake Inspirations and see what the rest of our Sweeties created this week! Hope you'll play along with this challenge!

Naki and Nina's Double Dare Challenge

Hi friends! We're back for our Double Dare challenge with Naki today! We had to take a quick break to party! Naki had her son's birthday party and I had our huge celebration over at Cupcake Inspirations. By the way, if you haven't had a chance to play over there, the challenges all close tomorrow, so you can still celebrate with us!

Here's how it works: For each challenge, Naki and I blindly pick something that we want to work with (a color scheme, tool, sketch, technique, inspiration, whatever!) Then we combine our picks to make a Double Dare Challenge! Here are our picks for this challenge:

Naki's pick for this challenge was to use the Sahara Sand Lace Trimfrom the Occasions Catalog

My pick was to use an embossing folder

Here are the DEEtails for my card:

This card is a little somber after all the partying we've been doing... The pretty lace and the woodgrain embossing was so peaceful for a sympathy card. I added a strip of the Something Borrowed DSP (This paper is really lovely, by the way) and just had a bit of the lace peeking out from underneath. Naki actually stamped and embossed this feather in one of her adorable wrapping treatments in some Happy Mail she sent me. I had kept it on my desk and it popped out at me as the perfect embellishment while I was making this card. I added the recycled embellishment with some Stampin' Dimmensionals over a piece of Sahara Sand Cardstock embossed with the beautiful sentiment from Gifts of Kindness. Have you noticed that I'm loving slightly wordier sentiments embossed on colored paper recently? 

Paper: Neenah Solar White 80# Cardstock, Sahara Sand Cardstock, Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper, White Vellum Cardstock
Stamps: Four Feathers, Gifts of Kindness
Ink: VersaMark
Embellishments: Sahara Sand Lace Trim, White Stampin' Emboss Powder
Tools: Feathers Framelits Dies, heat tool, Stampin' Dimmensionals, Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Please pop over to Naki's blog to see what she's made for this little challenge. Of course, we'd love for you to play along with us! Just create a project with some Sahara Sand Lace Trim and an embossing folder and link up in the comments below.

Cupcake Inspirations 300th Challenge Celebration - Last Bit of Inspiration

Hi there! I have one final card to share today as we finish up the Cupcake Inspirations 300th Challenge Celebration. Today I'm playing with the SPARKLE Inspiration again. There's still time to play along in all the challenges, including the COLOR Inspiration and the CONFETTI Inspiration!

Today's card features some product from Avery Elle, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, Winnie & Walter, and Your Next Stamp.(Sponsor product is linked at the bottom)

DEEtails:

This beautiful butterfly is from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps and I colored her in with some Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blendabilities. Wait! Before I go on, have you heard the crazy news about these markers being discontinued? I want you to know how much this is destroying my Type A brain. I don't have a complete set (I was actually planning to order most of the markers I was missing THIS WEEK!) and it's going to drive me crazy... probably forever... Just thought you'd like to know. Okay, back to my card... I added a bunch of sparkle to my butterfly using the Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen - I love that thing! :) My card is full of lots of fun layers... Layer one is the Basic Black card base with a piece of Typeset Designer Series Paper on it. This grid paper is so wonderful for my Type A brain that likes to line everything up just so. Hahaha! I tried to add some randomness over the grid with some ink splatters from the Avery Elle Brushed stamp set. Next I layered on a Whisper White cardstock tag, threaded with some fun Crushed Curry Thick Baker's Twine from the Hello Life Project Kit (I so wish they sold more colors of this thick twine... It's quite fun!). Then I added a strip on striped Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper (this is actually the strip that got cut off of Tuesday's card). I added a little chipboard postage stamp frame from Maya Road that I got ages ago and can't live without. I also added the die cut sentiment from Your Next Stamps' Scripty Words Die Set in Crushed Curry. My sparkly butterfly was mounted onto the postage stamp frame with some Stampin' Dimensionals. My final layer is a good dose of confetti. I used these giant sequins from Teresa Collins Save the Date and cute tiny stars that were in Winnie & Walters 1st Birthday Bash Sequin Mix. I'm loving the sprinkles! 

Come celebrate with us over at Cupcake Inspirations and play along in all of our fun challenges this week! You still have some time to play along! All challenges close at noon CST on March 14th.

Paper: Basic Black Cardstock, Crushed Curry Cardstock, Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper, Whisper White Cardstock
Stamps: Brushed (Avery Elle), Everyday Miracles (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Crushed Curry, Stampin' Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight
Embellishments: 1st Birthday Bash Sequins Mix (Winnie & Walter), Hello Life Project Kit, Love Notes Chipboard (Maya Road), Save the Date Sequins (Teresa Collins), Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush (by Zigg from Your Next Stamp)
Tools: Scripty Words Die Set (Your Next Stamp), Stampin' Dimensionals, Tag Topper Punch