Fun news from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

I am so excited to announce that I have been chosen as a design team member for Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. Lindsay has designed some really cute digital stamps suitable for many different applications so take a peek at her work. I made this flower pot/fairy house card for my mom for Mother's Day using Lindsay's adorable owl stamp. Love this little guy especially the swirly branch on which he is perched. I haven't decided if he is watching over the little fairy house or just waiting for dinner to come out the door (he he).

I think the best part about digital stamps is that they can be sized for just about anything. The flower pot card (which I got from SCS)looks big in a picture but the dimensions are really quite small so I just sized the owl down to fit. I printed the owl on brown, green and cream CS. I cut out the entire image from the brown, the leaves from the green and the owl from the cream. I used pop dots on several leaves and the entire owl image to give it some dimension. I made the door using dark brown CS with a cuttle bug folder then cut it out freehand. A brad was used for the door knob.

I really like the shabby chic look of those flowers too. I found two different tutorials (lesa rapp and miniature paper rose)for these at about the same time. Both are made of heart shapes and are really great for making your own which are much less expensive than store bought. I made mine using a MS heart shaped punch.

It was a bit of work cutting everything out but mom is worth it don't you think. She will be 88 on May 15th and we are getting her a computer so she can hang out at SCS with the rest of us. Who knows, maybe she will have her own blog one of these days.
Card Stuff
Digital Stamp -Owl, Lindsay's Stamp Stuff
Mushroom stamp - Hero Arts
Paper - CTMH, K&Co., Brenda Walton
Prisma pencils, gamsol, copic markers
Etc., Cuttlebug folder, MS Punches, Brad, rhinestones

Shay's Day

I am declaring today SHAYLEIGH DAY on my blog.


There may be no crying in baseball but nobody ever said anything about a little lace and bling.
I made this card in honor of my neice Shayleigh who was named player of the week by her local newspaper for not only making three home runs in one game but also driving in seven more during the same game. Way to go Shayleigh!!!

I used a sketch from the Case of the Curious Card challenge at The Greeting Farm. The image was actually Batter Ian but I added a little extra hair and voila!

The card is just a lot of layering with some distressing of the edges. I used a chipboard frame and sponged some ink to cover it, then stamped some swirls in cream colored ink and embossed. It makes a nice dimensional addition.

Card Stuff
Paper - K and Co.
Stamp - The Greeting Farm
Versa mark ink
Chipboard frame, prima flowers, prisma pencils, gamsol, walmart beaded lace,

SCRAPPY FROGS CHALLENGE #3

WHAT IS CUTE AND SWEET,
COMES IN A VARIETY OF FLAVORS,
AND IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST TRENDS IN COOKING, HOME DEC AND CRAFTING?

THE CUPCAKE of course.

I recently saw a ceramic flower pot in the shape of a cupcake paper and thought it would make a cute party favor or table decoration if made out of paper. As I was trying to figure out how to make one I decided to check to see if anyone else had done it. And of course as the Bare Naked Ladies sing...."Its all been doooone befooore" (love those guys, eh). I found this great tutorial (Leah and friends are too cute also) and went ahead and modified it to suit my purpose. Super easy to do and they look almost good enough to eat.

So on to the Scrappy Frogs Challenge
It is to be a spring floral project and this is what I chose to do.

I made the cupcake paper ala Leah but used my fiskars circle punch around the edge first, then made my folds. I also did an inner layer slightly taller in the turqoise color as a liner and cut the edges of that with a curved pair of scissors. I glued the two together and then cut some florist foam to fit inside. I used a glue gun to glue the foam into the cupcake paper pretty much as they did in the tutorial. I didn't have any ruffled ribbon for the icing so I made my own by running a basting stitch down the middle of flat ribbon and pulling on it till I got the desired rufflyness (is that a word?).

What says spring more than daffodils right? I made the daffodils using this tutorial. I did use a different punch for the center and the main flower petals cause i don't have those particular punches....yet. The largest petals were run through a crimper before punching them and I also sponged the edges with ink to give them a little more color. I glued the flowers and leaves into the foam and then glued the ribbon in around them. I also made the wire springs that attach the flowers to the foam out of a thin green wire that I wrapped around my SU piercing tool. It is so cute how they bobble when they are moved. I really like how this turned out. I think I will put one of my shrinky Happy Birthday cupcake picks into this and give it as a birthday gift.

Hop on over to Scrappy Frogs and join in on the challenge, they have some awesome prizes this time.

And while we are on the subject of cakes, check out the Cake Wrecks blog listed among my favs. If you have a twisted sense of humor like me you will love it. If not you will find it amusing at least. Always starts my day with a giggle.

Project stuff
Paper and ink- Close to my Heart, sorbet, creme brulet, tulip
SU, tempting turqoise
Basic grey
Punches-SU,Punch Bunch
gross grain ribbon, flower styrofoam, light weight green wire
Punches

SCRAPPY FROGS CHALLENGE

I don't know if you noticed over there on the left, a little blinky with piggies and a frog? I was chosen to be on the brand new Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog design team and I could not be more excited. Couldn't believe it when I saw my name on the list. I have to say it's pretty cool considering the name and the fact that I work with frogs, not to mention it's my first design team! I think its gonna be so much fun!

Check it out and join in.


The challenge this week was to use the picture of the new Slice by Memory Makers.




This was my entry for the challenge. As soon as I saw the plastic on the Slice I knew I had to make one of these acetate treat boxes. Love these things. My awesome SU demo Linda showed us one she made and I was so impressed I went home and tried one for myself. After messing up a couple, I finally got it down and they went together really quickly. I made a bunch for Christmas gifts for teachers, daughters riding instructor, etc.

I actually stamped and embossed the acetate. Yes, Virginia you can emboss acetate you just have to be vewy vewy careful. Think I will do a mini tutorial on it later.


This is the fun prize (chosen by random draw so everyone has a chance). It is a Slice apron, so cute and I love those colors.








Project Stuff
Paper, ribbon and punch were from Martha Stewart
Stamp-Inque Boutique, Monarch
Ink - versa mark, Sea breeze Ancient page, french grey
Brad-K and company -I think, I gotta start saving those wrappers
Leaves were made with the cricut storybook cart
Prima flowers

Mouse is in da House

I am not much of a girly girl. I never liked playing with dolls or barbi, I don't like chatting on the phone and I can't even remember the last time I wore heels. I do love pink and purple though, go figure. This led to the purchase of the paper I used for this project. I really liked the rich combination of beige, purple and turquoise in this paper pack.

I find the House Mouse stamps adorable and this is one of the very first stamps I ever bought. It is the only one I own because I find them very intimidating. Something about the complexity of the design seems so overwhelming. However, as I was blurfing while I should have been doing laundry (those poor kids are gonna have to turn their undies inside out again LOL...just kidding!) I found a house mouse monday challenge and thought I would give it a shot with my one and only.

The challenge was do something with multiple images. Since I only had one image I had to make due. I stamped the same image three times and then cut out and highlighted the two mice with my little circle frames.

Happy Sunday and Have a great week!

Card Stuff
Stamp, Birthday cupcake
Paper, Black Market Paper Society - Let it Bloom
Coloring, Prismacolor pencil and gamsol
Etc., Martha Stewart Punch, Prima flower, SU ribbon

DIGI STAMPS ROCK on a MOJO MONDAY

OK, I will be the first to admit that I was a bit of a rubber (and acrylic) snob. I never thought I would use a digital stamp. It just didn't seem like it would work very well and it sorta felt like cheating. Weird of me I know but hey that's me, a little odd.

So, the other day at SCS I saw this card and I thought, wait a minute,THAT is a digi stamp? That is awesome! So of course I immediately went to Dustin Pike's website and got a couple. I am totally hooked. There are some disadvantages to digi stamps but all in all I am lovin them. They are relatively inexpensive, you get them immediately and and I think the best part is that you can pretty much make them any size you want. Which is great because this card came out so huge I will have to be scaled down a bit before it is sent. I am donating some cards to a local youth home and this will be one of them.

Oh yeah, I just have to tell you the bone story. We were in Disney World last January and we came out of the Pirates of the Carribean ride into a gift shop (of course) and there hanging on the clearance rack was a set of pirate punches at 5 bucks. There were 5 or 6 punches in that thing. I grabbed them immediately and ran to the counter like I had just found gold. The best part was that we stopped in the scrapbook store in downtown Disney the next night and they had them there at FULL price. What a bargain!

Card Stuff
Digi stamp - Peeking dino, Dustin Pike
Paper - Marrakech, Basic Grey
Prisma pencils and gamsol
brad, twine, and a tooth made of.....what else, shrink plastic
The image was stamped three times. The first layer was the base. The next layer was the part that looks like it is tearing along with the claws. The last layer was just the claws. It is hard to see but the layers make it look like he is really coming through the tear.

Tell me if you have tried digi stamps and what you think of them. Link me to your work if you would like. I would love to see them.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Congratulations KanataNewf! Please send me an email (its over on the left under about me)with your name and address and I will send you the Elf Anya.

#1 SUPER HUGE THANK YOU!!!!! for all the wonderful comments. I know I bribed you to leave them but I love hearing them all the same.
#2 SUPER HUGE THANK YOU!!!!! to Jessica and the team for a great time and for choosing my box for the wild west anya prize - can't wait to get her inky.
#3 SUPER HUGE CONGRATULATIONS for the other winners, just an amazing group of projects all around.

Club Anya Blog Hop - Welcome!

I have several pictures so please make sure to scroll all the way to the end of the post.

DOWN BY THE SEA

I know this doesn't look like an Anya project on the outside but just hold on to your seahorses and take a look inside.....




When the lid is removed - POOF!
Anya is swimming with the fishes. The images are suspended on acetate strips that pop out of the box when the lid is removed. The lady from whom I got the tutorial has THE most amazing boxes. She was even comissioned to make one for the queen. Now THAT is talent. Check out her BLOG.
I got the fish in a set from TGF because I liked the frog but the little fish swam his way right into my heart.
















This is what it sounds like when the doves cry....






This was supposed to be an entry in the club anya rocker contest but I didn't finish in time. Since I had it half done I thought it would be good for the blog hop. I love Prince - IMHO some of the best dance music of that era. Who among us can stop their booties from shakin to 1999?

I used the two pics as inspiration for a stair step card. Prince is rockin with Wendy as his backup. I wanted to put in Lisa too but didn't have time. Yes, that is my double helix stamp that I used for the stairs (just ignore the base pairs). I combined Ian and Anya for my man Prince and added a few jheri curls. I also made a guitar by shaping anya's to look like his (made out of shrink plastic of course).

SWIMMIN WITH THE FISHES PART TWO

I have to admit that this looks far worse in person than it does on the picture so you know its bad. But for all the time that went into it, I was determined to put it on the blog. Whatever you do, DO NOT click on a closeup.
I wanted a serene, water scene, and I pretty much got a mess.
Using stazon, I tried stamping mermaid anya onto a glass vase. That part worked really well and then everything went straight down hill from there. It is safe to say I will never work as a glass decorator. To top it off the very last thing I did was put a huge fingerprint right on anya's sweet little face. If you have this type of talent I think this would be a cute idea for a girl's room.

I stamped a couple of my favorite fishes around the vase to keep anya company.
HEY, I told you not to click for a closeup and you did it anyway didn't you;}!













HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS GIFT ISN'T FOR SOMEONE EXPECTING A BABY GIRL?

(Hint - Nothing to do with Dress up Ian or the colors, it has to do with the chocolate inside the box).

I thought this would be a cute, personal gift for someone who is expecting. A little sumthin sumthin for the one doing all the work. If you have seen my blog you know I LOVE shrinkies so I had to do one for the blog hop. I used the SCS acetate box tutorial and the Dress up Ian/Anya set for this project.



I think those teeny little outfits are adorable.

So.....did you figure it out?
The chocolate has nuts (tee hee).










A Pink Tink
I know this isn't anya/ian but a request was made for a PINK shrink fairy and I thought it would be a good time to post her. I got the cupcake at a place called the The Sweet House Bake Shop in Mars, Pa (yes I said Mars, didn't know I lived that close to martians did you?). They have amazingly unique and scrumptious stuff. This cupcake didn't last more than a few seconds after the picture was taken mmmmmmm.

If you have hung with me through all this you deserve a prize. I have a coveted Elf Anya up for grabs. Just leave a comment tonight and I will put all the names in a hat and have one of my kids pick. Stop back tomorrow to find out if you won. I hope you enjoyed yourself and thanks bunches for bloppin by (get it? BLog hOPPIN, I crack myself up;}).

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Hope the Easter bunny brought you lots of chocolate!

I SPY SOMETHING GREEN

PLEASE BE SAFE "Do not stand sit climb or lean on fences. If you fall animals could eat you and that might make them sick".

That is what the sign in the upper right hand corner of the layout says. Being animal lovers, my family thought it was pretty funny. Long waits drive my family crazy so we often play I spy to pass the time. When the Disney movie Brother Bear came out it had two moose playing I spy and it cracked us up. The moose always spied the same thing…something green. Using the I Spy books as an inspiration I created this layout using cork, flowers, dies, trinkets and pictures of a family trip to an animal reserve in Ohio called The Wilds. As in the books, there are things going on everywhere. Various trinkets are hidden throughout and a list of things to find is included. It is probably hard to read but the poem with the things to spy goes like this
A star, two giraffes, a shell, a bear
A girl with locks of long blond hair
A leaf, a key, a bison, a boy
A day in the wild filled with laughter and joy.

Oh, by the way, the “something green” the moose always spied? It was always a tree. Can you find the moose?

This was my first and only scrapbook page. I made it for a contest (which I didn't win) and I liked how it turned out. I love brown and blue together. I would like to do more pages but I just never seem to have the time or energy for a whole page. All that space is so intimidating to me. Cards are so much smaller and easier to work with. Maybe I should just add a photo to all my cards, throw them in a mini scrapbook and call it a day? Thanks for visiting!

Some Stuff to Share

Since I am hanging with the kids for Easter break and I am working on a couple things for the Club Anya Blog Hop (should be a lot of fun, check it out) I thought I would post some older projects that I have on SCS but not here. The card was inspired by my son and was my very first Anya.

This is the true story (I have documentation) behind this card. My son (as well as my daughter) has ADD and while it can be a challenge it can also be quite a gift. The way my son thinks just cracks me up and I couldn't be more proud of him.

WHAT does a dolphin's brain look like asked Ian (who was about 4 at the time)on the way home from daycare one day. Being a biologist and wanting to encourage my son’s curiosity, I dusted off my old anatomy book and showed him a preserved human brain (didn’t have a dolphins). He looked and said “but I wanted to see one all bloody”. Well, you can imagine what I was thinking (say jeffery dahmer maybe?)as I rapidly put the book away. The next day his teacher told me he had made a brain sucking machine out of plastic tubing that sucked out a sick brain, fixed it and put it back. Whew, maybe he will just grow up to be a doctor? The next day he asked to see a voice box, out came the anatomy book for another look. When I saw the dolphin stamp it reminded me of this incident. No brains just a peaceful happy scene of Hawaii where my doctor son (fingers crossed) will someday send me to retire. Oh Yeah, the next day he asked to see where babies come out….I said when your older, much, much older say 30!
This is a flower he made me a couple weeks ago. He wouldn't let me come out of my craft room till he had it finished. He cut the bottom of a small pop bottle into petal shapes and used paper to make the stems and leaves. I just love it!

MOJO KETTO

This was my first attempt at a Mojo Monday Sketch. They have some really fun sketches and are great if your mojo is dragging. Does anyone know where mojo came from?

Anyway, here is the sketch
I used some more kettos that I got from Stamping Bella Love those little guys, too cute. I cut out the kitty's head and popped up a circle frame around it.







Card info:
Paper - We R Memory Keepers - Promenade lipstick and curlyQ
Ink - pallete noir hybrid ink pad
prisma pencils, copics, markers