Peace & Comfort

I love settling down to stamp now, when I can find time. It is so peaceful and relaxing.


This card is up over on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog today. I stamped in pink ink an image from Bold Wishes repeatedly onto a background that had been inked with yellows and oranges. So cool how one little row of images can create an entire background. I'm really into these big, "juicy" bows too (as Michele calls them) and find that I want to put the silk ribbon onto every card I made. (You'll have to bear with me, there are a few more cards coming with juicy bows!)  I added a big bow in gold May Arts Silk Ribbon and then stamped a sentiment from Beanstalks. The colors were just soothing to me.

So that's it for today, hope to be posting more often soon!

A Colorful Birthday Hop

 

The Ink Squad over at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps is having a blog hop in honor of Michele's Birthday. What a wonderful leader and designer to have. Michele, I hope your day is amazing!

As the badge says, we are having a colorful birthday with for Michele, so each of the seven girls of the Ink Squad were assigned a letter in the word BIRTHDAY and have created a card with that letter. I'm the first stop on the hop today, so I've got "b" and decided to go with blues and browns (fabric paper from DCWV). I added a banner with the sentiment stamped from Bold Wishes, a newly released set from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps (designed by Michele herself!) and topped it off with a big juicy bow made out of May Arts Silk Ribbon (I first started following Michele when she showed off her "juicy" bows!) and topped it off with some May Arts Burlap String too.

Here's the hop order...

Karen (B)
Dana (I)
Laurie (R)
Lynn (T)
Michelle (H)
Piali (D)
Virginia (A)
Kelly  (Y)

I hear the Girl Fridays from the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Blog are hosting a hop in Michele's honor as well, so there is tons more inspiration to be had.

Bold Wishes

**Please scroll down if you are looking for my May Arts Ribbon Organization post**

Are you as enamored with April's CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Release as I am? I was in a stamping funk for the longest time and it was so fun to pull out my inks, papers and these stamps and get crafty again. Today marks the last day of sneak peeks, with Bold Wishes.


I went big and bold with this card for sure! I had in mind to create some birthday candles to feature on a masculine birthday card. I started by stamping the set of lines from WTF as the candles and added some "flames", which are really the fun graphic shape included in this set. I used a bit of marker to add dimension to the flames and finished them with some glitter. To balance the candles, I stamped one of the fun sentiments from this set, rounded a corner and attached it to a black card base.

Please check out the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for more cards featuring Bold Wishes, and to find out how you can win this awesome set...Tomorrow is the day where the sets will be revealed in their entirety and prizes announced.

Ribbon & Organization

 

It's a good problem to have. Ribbon. So much ribbon. A while back I ran into a problem of not having enough storage or a way to display the finery that is offered at May Arts. The Ribbonistas at May Arts decided to join together in a hop to showcase the ways we store our ribbon.

I discovered the wonders of cranberry crates-the texture, the colors. I thought how cool these woudl be for a shelving unit. Wisconsin is known for cranberry marshes (and cheese production) so it wasn't too difficult to drive down the road, stop by a marsh, and ask to purchase a couple of crates. At about $15 for three of them, I was well on my way to new shelving. With the help of a handyman, we disassembled one crate to use as shelves in the other two, and hung them side by side on my wall.

Then began the fun task to fill them up! I sort my ribbon by product line. I have silks, beads, bakers twine, burlap string, grosgrain, lace, linen...the list goes on an on! I just stack the spools on top of each other. Sometimes it gets a bit messy, but that is when I call it creativity at work!

I also have another crate with no additional shelves. It is a bit more weathered. On this crate I keep a jar of ribbon scraps and some old glass bottles sometimes used for props.

Today is the second day of the hop and I'm the last stop, please be sure to check out the links of the Ribbonistas below from yesterday (and I included the ones for tomorrow too)! As always, there are more details on the May Arts Blog too!

Monday
Candy Rosenberg
Charlene Driggs
DeeDee Catron
Emily Lanham
Erika Taylor

Wednesday
Erin Thiem
Gini Williams Cagle
Jen Shears
Jenifer Cowles
Karen Baker (me!)

Friday
Lalo IK
Leah Farrar-White
Sandy Allnock
Virginia Fynes

Mums the Word

Back again this morning with the second day of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps April Release! Today the Ink Squad is featuring a lovely set perfect for women in your life, called Mums the Word.

Along with beautiful phrases for a mother, this set also offers versatility with a birthday sentiment and has some cool, bold flower type images. I chose to make a card featuring these flowers, and started by embossing them in gold and highlighting that with a watercolor mix of Twinkling H2Os, and stitched them to the card base. I added some gold and pink banners and a black ribbon tab, along with the sentiment from the set. I think this would be perfect for a teenager or young women, and filled a niche in my stash of cards.

Once again, please stop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for more cards featuring Mums the Word, and to find out how you can win this equally awesome set as the one previewed yesterday...

Stop

Holy cats, CAS-ual Fridays Stamps has thee coolest release coming up. I'm delighted to be joining the team over there (so many fabulous and fabulously talented ladies!) and thank Michele for her patience during my unexpected break.


This clean and simple card features two stamps from the first set of the release, called Stop. I stamped one of the graphic border stamps twice, embossed it with antique powder and then wrapped the card with twine and topped it with a gold jewel. I then stamped the sentiment (another beautiful mix of fonts characteristic of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamp line) and finished by highlighting some of the negative circles with a marker and rounded the corners.

Please stop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for more cards featuring Stop, and to find out how you can win this awesome set...

Detailed Doilies

It's been a while since I've sat down to make something... A long while. I recently received a new product from Lifestyle Crafts called Detailz Dies: Doilies and they helped me get back into the groove.

 

These 2 inch dies are gems, and oh so fun to play with. If I had more time, I could have kept on creating. They cut, emboss and stencil with one pass (or they can just emboss too). In the package there are three designs, each so dainty, detailed and feminine. I ran just one of the dies through my die cutting machine with the luxurious Lifestyle Crafts White Letterpress Paper and slightly inked the edges. I adhered it to a kraft card base, stamped with a sentiment (from Hope Blooms by The Craft's Meow), added a wood veneer bird and tied the card with May Arts Burlap String. I love the pairing of this feminine die with masculine-ish embellishments for this clean and simple sympathy card.

**So lucky to be affiliated with this company. Lifestyle Crafts has given me a code to share with you...enter the keyword DRAGONFLY for 20% off! Watch for more information on the new Detailz Dies coming out this month.

Silk and Beads

What’s not to love about a little girl who enjoys having her hair done up in fancy finery? Perhaps it could be the price tag of the “finery” offered at stores? Please hop on over to the May Arts Blog today, I've got a tutorial up there showcasing beaded barrettes.

Dad

Have you enjoyed all the products of the Lil' Inker Designs April release? I know I have!

If you are following along with today's hop-the last  releases, you should have arrived from Mary's Blog.

I've featured two products from the new release on my masculine card today, Dad Word Die and Mom & Dad Sentiments, with each stamp being fit perfectly to size with both the Dad and Mom Word Dies.

As a reminder: there's amazing product debuting this month, please be sure to stop by the Lil' Inker Blog for details. There is a prize up for grabs too-one winner will be selected from comments lefts on one of the participant's blogs, so please be sure to let us know what you think! Up next is the crazy talented Suzanne.

Stitched Scallops

Did you have a nice Easter Holiday? Back again today with the second day of the Lil' Inker Designs April release!

If you are following along with today's hop-the second day of releases, you should have arrived from Jen's Blog.

Today is all about the Stitched Scallop Die. A must have staple in your crafting arsenal, and a unique addition with Lil' Inkers signature stitching. I made little egg holders simply by die cutting paper with the scallop border and fringed flower die and stapling together. A simple card of thanks (using the Darling Diamonds Stamp Set) is featured today as well.

As a reminder: there's amazing product debuting this month, please be sure to stop by the Lil' Inker Blog for details. There is a prize up for grabs too-one winner will be selected from comments lefts on one of the participant's blogs, so please be sure to let us know what you think! Up next is the delightful Mary.