Dawn's Color Challenge Week 2

I was happy to hear that Dawn McVey is going to continue her color challenges time permitting. These are the colors for this week.

This is what I came up with.

I also used this weeks sketch on the Caardvarks Blog for my layout. This is my first time doing one of their sketches.
I started the card by stamping the tree from the Papertrey Beyond Basics Borders Set with SU Chocolate Chip Ink. Next I stamped polka dots over the branches from the Polka Dots Basics set with SU Taken With Teal and Certainly Celery Inks. After that I added some Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon and stamped it with the polka dot border from the same set. When I was done with that I stamped the sentiment from The Around and About Sentiments Set on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock with Taken With Teal Ink. The butterfly from the With Sympathy set was stamped on a piece of Stampers Select white cardstock with Taken with Teal ink then cut out and attched to the middle of the circle. The background Taken With Teal piece was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder and matted on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock. The finished card size is 41/4x51/2. That's it for now. Thursday is Emilia's birthday so I will be back then with more things to share then.

Venting - Need Advice

First off I want to say thank you for the birthday wishes and taking the time to visit my blog. It always means a lot to me to hear how much you enjoy my work. I mentioned in my last post that there was something going on in my life right now that really had me bummed out. After thinking it over for the last few days I thought I would blog about what is going on to see if any of you have any suggestions for me.

I have been stamping for almost 4 years now and it is something that I really love to do. I have always been the kind of person that likes to take something I love to do and make it into more than just a hobby. Since my nail business is not doing very well at the moment I have really been concentrating on trying to sell my stamped items to help bring in a little extra income. I know that the economy is not very good right now and that could have something to do with my items not selling, but lately I have seen other stampers start selling their work on Etsy and being more successful at it.

That is what brings me to my question: What do you think is keeping my work from selling? I am not trying to take anything away from the other talented stampers out there that are successful but sometimes I feel like success in the stamping world is based more on who you are and not just what you do and that has me very discouraged right now. Do any of you feel that way too? I have also tried other avenues to be successful in the stamping world like publishing,contests and challenges but I am not getting anywhere with those things either. I am just putting so much time,effort (and money) into this right now I would really like it to pay off some how. I would greatly appreciate it if you would share your thoughts on this and if you have any suggestions or advice for me please share that too. If you have read this far thanks for taking the time to listen. In the meantime I will continue stamping and hope to be back with more stamping stuff to share soon.

40 and a Blog Hop

Today is my 40th Birthday. I know a lot of people don't like turning 40 but age is really just a number to me so I am okay with it. It is hard to believe that 40 yrs have gone by though. I have been bummed out about other things the last few days but I will save that for another time, today I am going to try and focus on the positives and be grateful for the 40 yrs of life I have already been given. I feel like I have accomplished a lot in my 40 yrs but I hope that I will have a least 40 more because there are still a lot of things left that I want to see and do. To celebrate my birthday my mom came over this afternoon and we went to a new yarn store in the neighborhood that I have been wanting to go to. She bought me some really cool yarn that I look forward to using soon. Tonight I will be participating in this month's Papertrey Blog Hop, watching American Idol with Emilia and eating the birthday treat Rich brought me home. All things I love to do. Now on to my entries for the blog hop.
This months challenge is to make your own backgrounds. Making my own backgrounds is something I enjoy doing so I was able to come up with 2 projects this month. Here is the 1st one.
This card was inspired by a purse Emilia has. I did the Black Magic technique by stamping the Polka Dots from the Polka Basics background set with CTMH White ink on Stampers Select Black Cardstock. This is what the background looked like before I made it into a card.
After it was dry I colored in the polka dots with Prisma color pencils. Next I stamped the Celebrate saying with Versafine Ink from the Damask Set on Raspberry Fizz Satin Ribbon then I attached a piece of New Leaf Cardstock to it that I cut a scalloped piece from. After that I added a large Daisy Flower from Heidi Swapp that I painted with Angel Wings Shimmerz and attached a hot pink button with green floss. To finish the card off I matted it on a piece of Raspberry Fizz Cardstock. Final card size is 41/4x51/2.
The is the second card.
It was inspired by this bedding I saw in the Garnet Hill Kids Catalog
I made this background by randomly stamping the solid butterflies from the Butterfly Kisses set on Stampers Select White Cardstock with Sweet Blush, Lavender Moon, Lemon Tart, Hibiscus, and Aqua Mist ink. The next thing I did was stamp the butterfly again on a piece of Eclipse Paper and cut it out so I was left with a mask, then I put it over the butterflies and stamped images from the Retro Background Basics and Polka Dot Basics set on top of the them with White Snow, Plum Pudding, New Leaf and Summer Sunrise Inks. After that I stamped the bodies with the dragonfly stamp from The Pond Life set and the antenna are from Little Lady Set. When I was done with that I matted the butterfly piece on Hibiscus cardstock. This is what the background looked like before I made it into a card.
I made the polka dot background piece by stamping the Polka Dots from The Polka Dot Basics set again on New Leaf Cardstock with Versamark Ink then I embossed the polka dots with white embossing powder. I finished the card off with some Satin Hibiscus ribbon that I tied in a bow then I added a tiny cuttlebug tag that I cut out from Plum Pudding cardstock and stamped and embossed with the Celebrate today saying from the original Mix Messages set. The finished size of this card is 41/4x51/2. Both cards will be going up in my Etsy shop if anyone would like to buy them.
I hope you have been inspired by my cards to make some backgrounds like this with your stamps now too. As always thanks for stopping by and have a great night.

Dawn's Color Challenge

Dawn McVey has started doing color challenges on her blog. I hope it will turn into a weekly thing because I love her bright color combos. I also love the Pottery Barn Teen Catalog for stamping inspiration!
When I saw these colors they reminded me of the Wise Owl Rag Bag I made last year so I decided to make a card like it too. This is what I came up with
I started by stamping the owl pieces from The Papertrey Wise Owl set on a piece of Stampers Select White cardstock with Dark Chocolate Perfect Match Ink. After that I colored the owl in with Copic markers E57, Y15 and YR04. Next I cut the owl out with a circle Nestabilities die and stamped the flowers with Razperry Fizz Ink from the same set around the circle, then I colored the flowers in with Copic makers RV19,RV14and Y15. I matted that piece on a Summer Sunrise scalloped circle that I cut out with a scalloped circle Nestie as well. I used SCS sketch 190 for the layout and ran the PTI Razzberry Fizz and SU Only Orange cardstock through my cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder then matted them on Dark Chocolate and Summer Sunrise Cardstock. Ater that I tied a piece of Dark Chocolate Satin ribbon around the middle. To finished the card off I stamped the Thanks a Hoot staying under the owl and embossed it with brown embossing powder. Finished card size is 51/2x51/2. This card is going up for sale in my Etsy shop. If anyone would like to buy it, you can click the link on the side bar. I will be back tomorrow with my project for this months PTI bloghop. Until then have I hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Watercolor Resist

Happy St. Patricks Day! Yesterday we had a St. Patricks Day Celebration with my homeschooling group. The kids learned some cool facts about the St Patricks Day, played some fun games and sampled some Irish food. It was fun.
This card was made for the Papertrey Guest Star Stamper contest this month and is also the card for my technique video this month as well.

All supplies,dimensions and written directions are at the end of the video. If you have any questions let me know. I would love to hear what you think of it too. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Domino Barrette

This is something I have been working on for awhile now and am finally getting a chance to share it with you.

I started by stamping images with one of the Guideline Stamps using Versamark Ink and silver embossing powder on 2 domino's. Next I ran Red Line Tape on the side of one of the dominos and stuck them both together then I ran another piece of tape around the sides of both domino's and added clear micro beads. When I was done with that I mixed some Stream alcohol ink and blending solution then painted around the embossed images with a small paint brush. When it was dry I went back into the middles of the images and painted them with Stonewash alcohol ink. When that color was dry I added a coat of Crystal Lacquer over the top to give it a shiny finish and then I set a single micro beads in the middle of each stamped image. To finish it off I attached a barrette clip on the back with more red line tape and hot glue.

Here is a picture of the barrette in Emilia's hair
I will be putting these up for sale in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested in buying them. I also hope to make more of them with the New Guidelines 2 set that is coming out on the 15th.
Tomorrow I plan on working on my technique video for the month so be sure to check back next week for that. Until then I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Purim

Today is Purim or what I like to call the Jewish Mardi Gras. Here is a link to how the holiday came to be and the history of if you would like to know more about it. As a kid I remember going to Purim carnivals and having a lot of fun. Purim is also like Halloween for Jewish kids because they get to dress up in costumes to help celebrate it. A traditional food people eat for Purim is called Hamantaschen. Hamantashen are said to resemble Haman's tri cornered hat. Their triangular shape is also said to represent the three patriarchs of Judaism. One thing I know for sure is they taste great! In honor of Purim Emilia and I decided to make some. I thought it would also be fun to come up with some cool packaging for them too.

I made the cookie bag from a plain white catalog envelope. You can see a tutorial for how to make the bag here. I ended up changing a few things though. I cut out a window in the bag with a rectangle Coluzzle and attached a piece of acetate so you can see what is in the bag. I also added a piece of folded CTMH Hydrangea cardstock to the top as a way to close the bag instead of using ribbon. I decorated the envelope by stamping the Flower of Life stamp from the Mazel Tov set with Versamark ink then embossed the images with lots of different bright colors in honor of the celebration. For the tag on the top I used a Nestabilities ribbon tag and embossed Happy Purim on it. The lime green ribbon is from American Crafts. I used scalloped scissors to make the upper and lower borders. I think this is a great way to make custom packaging for baked goods and I can see myself making more bags like this in the future.

Here is the recipe if any of you would like to try it.
1/2 cup margarine. You can use butter if you are eating dairy with them.
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups white flour
Filling of your choice. We used Apricot jelly and chocolate chips. Traditionally they are filled with Poppy Seed Filling. If you want the recipe for that email me.

Cream margarine,sugar and honey together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla until blended. Mix in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Place the dough on a sheet of waxed paper and form into a think circle. Cover with another piece of waxed paper and refrigerate until firm or up to 3 days.
When you are ready to bake them roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface until it ia about 1/8" thick. Cut out circles using a 3" cookie cutter. Fill each circle with the filling you desire. Fold up the edges of each circle in thirds to form a triangle and pinch the edges together tightly leaving a small opening in the center of the cookie where the filling can be seen. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 mins or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

If you decide to give them a try let me know what you think of them.

I am off to finish watching Idol now. My favorite this year is Danny but there are a lot of other great singers this year too. As always thanks for stopping by and I will be back soon with more things to share. Until then Have a great night!

Quilted Surprise

Sorry for not posting in over a week. Time just seems to have gotten away from me again. I wish there were more hours in a day to do everything I want to do but there are not so I have to get my crafting time in when I can. I have had a lot of ideas for things to make in the meantime though and I am finally getting a chance to try them. This is one of my ideas that I was able to get done this afternoon.
This card even qualifies for 2 challenges that are going on this week too. The first one is on Melissa Phillips Blog. It is a recipe challenge. We are to create a card using the following ingredients:
1. A pocket of some sort
2. Buttons
3. Ribbon
4. Stripes
5. the color PINK
The second challenge this week is Mojo Monday Sketch 76
When the Quilters Samplers Set came out last summer I was super excited about it because I am a quilter too and I could not wait to get it. Once I got it though I had a hard time figuring out what to do with it manily because the squares were a lot smaller than I thought they would be so it sat uninked. While participating in the PTI Blog Hop last week I happened to come across this blog and while looking around I saw she had made some heart quilt squares that I fell in love with. They were the inspiration I needed to start using my Quilters Sampler Set and where I got the idea for the quilted heart on this card.
I started by stamping the log cabin quilt square from the Quilters Sampler set on Stampers Select White cardstock with Versafine Black Onyx Ink. After that I punched the squares out with a 3/4 square punch and assembled them on another piece of Stampers Select White Cardstock, then I colored them in to revel a heart in the pattern with Copic colors G20, YG93, V12, R85 and R83.
After that I matted the quilt on a piece of Lavender Moon Cardstock. The layer behind it is a piece of Vintage Cream Cardstock that was run through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss dots embossing folder then I matted it on a piece of Spring Moss Cardstock. The striped piece is from the Memory Box Sugar Collection which I sewed on to the final layer of Bazzill Petunia Cardstock with my sewing machine. When I was done with the base of the card I attached some dimensionals on the back of the heart quilt piece to create a pocket. Inside of the pocket is the surprise.
The middle piece is a bookmark which can be taken out and used in a book. I made the bookmark by cutting out a rectangle from a piece of Maple poster backed Wood Veneer that I embossed with the Cuttelbug Stripes Embossing folder. After that I added 6 more log cabin quilt squares and colored them in with the same Copic colors I used on the main quilt piece. Next I added some Plum Pudding Saddle Stitched ribbon and punched 2 holes in the top of the bookmark with my Cropadile then I threaded some more ribbon through the holes and tied it in a knot. Next I added a new Vintage Cream button Papertrey is now caring on the top of the knot with a glue dot. Finally I matted the bookmark with a piece of Bazzill Romance cardstock and trimmed around the edges with some scalloped scissors. The Mojo sketch calls for a saying to be added in the lower right corner but I decided I like the card without one that way it can used for any occasion. Finished card size is 51/2x51/2. That's it for now. I hope to be back soon with more things to share. Until then thanks for stopping by and have a great night.