Last Call for Sale-a-Bration 2010!

Stampin' Up!'s biggest promotion of the year

comes to a close today, March 31st!

If you *need* any ink, cardstock, or embellishments, NOW is the time to stock up!  When you spend $50 on Stampin’ Up! merchandise, you’ll receive a FREE Sale-A-Bration product!  Please click THIS LINK for more info and photos of all the FREE products available!  And remember, there is no limit!  For every $50 you spend, you can select another free Sale-A-Bration product!

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me!  Thanks so much and Happy Stamping! :)

{CTD86} Sending You Sunshine!

You guessed it! 

It's time for another

Color Throwdown Challenge!

This is my last week already as the Color Throwdown Designer for March and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.  You know it's so true that "time flies when you're having FUN!"

I'm not so sure about this card.  In fact, I feel like I "cheated" by depending almost entirely on the Basic Grey designer paper.  I thought it went perfectly with the chocolate chip, old olive and yo yo yellow cardstock I was planning to use, but then I liked the design so much that I didn't want to cover it up with an image.  So instead, I decided to go with this simple sentiment.   Afterall, when I see yo yo yellow, I think of SUNSHINE! : )

I thought you would like to see the inside too! 

The smiling sunshine stamp is from Inkadinkado.

The fancy rhinestone covered button is also from Basic Grey.  I got a little carried away with the stitching on this card, but hopefully you won't notice.  ;)

This was another terrific color CHALLENGE!

I want to say "Thank You SO Much" to the Color Throwdown Team for giving me the fabulous opportunity of being the March Guest Designer. I’ve enjoyed it immensely and consider it a blessing to create alongside this team of talented designers!

Kristin Bueter - Mindless Creativity

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

LeAnne Pugliese - Wee Inklings

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy ~ Wild Dragonfly Designs

Cathy Indelicato - Crafty Thoughts

Remember, you're *all* encouraged to play along each week.  The "rules" to play are simple...you don't have to match the colors exactly, just use the closest colors you have. Use keyword CTD86 if you post to any online galleries.  Be sure to add the direct link to your project using InLinkz on the Color Throwdown blog.   Oh, and HAVE FUN too!!!  :)

Thanks so much for stopping by again today!  Please come back again soon! 

Sending you Sunshine & Smiles!




"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves." ~ James Matthew Barry

{MTSC67} You Make Me Smile!

For Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge this week, I decided to dust off an oldie, but goodie, from my stamp shelf and give it some inky love!   This FuN stamp is from Denami Design c 1999.   I've stamped it in Rich Razzleberry and clear embossed.   The base cardstock is also Rich Razzleberry, layered with Melon Mambo and Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Paper from Stampin' Up! 

Other than the smiley image, the crocheted flower is my favorite thing about this card!  My sweet blog friend and Nebraska neighbor ~ Debbie Fisher at The Paper Garden ~  crocheted the yellow flower for me.  Isn't it FuN and oh so pretty?!  Rather than tie a bow, I gathered up the melon mambo polka dot ribbon and adhered it with some sticky strip tape.   I finished off the inside with a piece of the designer paper and crushed curry cardstock.  The little flower in the corner was punched and then fastened back down with a glue dot after I added the pink brad.   I left the inside blank for a personal handwritten message.

You are all invited to get creative
 and play along with Mercy's Sketch Challenge!

If you need a bit of inspiration to get started,
please hop on over and see what Mercy's Muses have created:

Cindy Haffner ~ Cindy Haffner's Corner

Jackie Pedro ~ The Scalloped Edge

Pam Varnell ~ The Stamping Addict

Julie Lacey ~ Stamps and Taxes!

Crystal Birr ~ The Messy Stamper

Jessica Diedrich ~ The Whimsical Butterfly
Shannan Teubner ~ Shannan Teubner Designs

Mercy Kerin ~ Lord Have Mercy {our Queen Muse}
and our Guest Muse for March . . .
Dawn Easton
Treasure Oiler Designz

Just so you know... you really do make me *smile* with all your comments and words of encouragement.  I appreciate it so very very much! 

Have a fantastic fun-filled week, my friends!  I'll be back tomorrow with my creation for the Color Throwdown Challenge.  Stay tuned! 
Smiles 2 U ~

"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." ~Mother Teresa

{CC Act 23 & SSSC62} My Dear Kind & Wonderful Friend

Today's card is a combination of two {count 'em 2!} challenges!

The lovely colors in Stacey Schafer's Curtain Call Color Challenge were calling my name and I always enjoy playing along with Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge too! The design teams for these two groups are some of the very BEST and always inspire me with their fabulous creations!

This is a standard 5-1/2 x 4-1/4" card with a base of KRAFT cardstock.  I've layered on basic black and pretty in pink that has been embossed with the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder.  A little zig zag stitching and 5/8" satin ribbon to dress it up a touch.   The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's All Holidays set.  The cute little polka dot flower and brad embellishment is from my stash of neglected doo-dads. 

Have you been doing any SPRING CLEANING?  Something about the change of seasons and especially the coming of Spring makes me want to clean closets and get better organized.  This morning I tackled our bedroom closet and got all the wool sweaters and winter clothes put away.   Our forecast is for warmer weather this week and I'm counting on it!  : )

Happy Stamping & Smiles 2 U!

"You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." ~Leo Aikman

{CQC #25} Happy Birthday Easel Card!

Doesn't this color combination and accompaning photo perfectly portray SPRINGTIME?!  I love these bright and cheery colors and have been wanting to play along in this Colour Q Challenge all week!

I decided to make another easel card while the directions were fresh in my mind.  This is a 4-1/4" square card when closed.  For the base cardstock, I've used Stampin' Up! chocolate chip and layered on designer papers in tempting turquoise and certainly celery.  The piece on the bottom is barely banana and I used the swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder and trimmed the top edge with a chocolate chip scalloped edge. 

This is the first time I've used my FREE Sale-a-Bration set ~ Happy Moments, but I know it's a set that I'll use often!   First I stamped the stack of presents on whisper white cardstock with chocolate chip ink, then stamped it again on each of the three colors of paper.  Each little gift was cut out and paper pieced onto the original stamped image.    

The sentiment on the bottom is from Curvy Verses ~ a set that's been around awhile, but its always a terrific "go-to" set for many occasions!  

This was a FUN card to make and I like how it turned out.   What I should do is make a few of them to have on hand for birthdays!

Announcement:  If you need any Stampin' Up! supplies, remember now is the perfect time to stock up during Sale-a-Bration when you can get a FREE stamp set with any $50 order!  You can order direct from my blog or you can email me too.   {This promotion ends March 31st!}

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Enjoy your weekend!

Smiles 2 U!


"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons." ~Ruth Ann Schabacker

My First Try at an Easel Card!

Many of you have been making easel cards for months now and I've just been sitting back admiring them all. I don't know why I was intimidated by them, because now that I've made one, I'm really surprised how easy they are!  : )

I may be just a wee bit prejudiced because I *love* this card, but I don't think the photos do it justice!  The ribbon really does coordinate with the paper and the designer paper is much more vintage looking and not so washed out.  

The card when closed is a 4-1/4" square.  I've used Stampin' Up! true thyme and river rock cardstock and the vintage floral designer paper is from K&Company.   The pretty ivory flower buttons and the pinking hearts border punch are also from Stampin' Up!

If you haven't tried creating an easel card yet, please believe me when I say that its easier than it looks!  Seriously!  Beate Johns has a fantastic video tutorial on Splitcoaststampers that will walk you right through the process.  I'm obviously no pro at them, but if you have any questions, just email me and I will certainly try to help you out!

Are you ready for the WEEKEND?!!   You know I am!!!  :)  Have a GOOD ONE and do something that makes you SMILE! 

"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair..." ~Susan Polis Shutz

{Vintage} Heartfelt Thanks

This card was created with a very special friend in mind.  She *loves* floral images and the vintage style so I think she'll really like this card.  ; )  You'll notice I didn't stamp any sentiment on it yet, but I can picture a little tag hanging from the bow and there is plenty of room on the inside for a personal message too.

The flowers are from a two-step Stampin' Up! set ~ Heartfelt Thanks.  It has been my "go-to" set for floral images recently.  Love it!   The beautiful vintage designer papers are from K & Company.  I've used scalloped Spellbinder dies for both the oval and the rectangle and sponged inside the die frame before removing the cardstock.    Antique brass brads, circular clip and satin ribbon to finish it off!

Heartfelt thanks to all of you for all the kind comments you've been leaving me lately!  It is such a blessing to know you enjoy seeing my creations as much as I enjoy making them!  : )

Thanks for stopping by and do come back again soon! 
Smiles!  : )



"How beautiful a day can be when kindness touches it." ~George Elliston

Love You ~ Forever and Always!

This is the first time in forever that I've created a card without any sort of color challenge or sketch challenge for inspiration.   One of my friends at work ~ a young sales engineer asked me if I would create a card for him to give his wife for their 5th anniversary this weekend.  This is the third time I've created a card for him to give her, the last one was on Valentine's Day and the other was her birthday last year.  He's quite a character so the other cards were more on the humorous/cute side.   This time he asked me to go with a more romantic theme so hopefully this is what he's looking for. ;)

The card is 5-1/4" square of basic black cardstock.  I've layered on Stampin' Up! Night and Day Specialty Designer Paper with a strip of black cardstock punched with the new Scallop Trim Border Punch.  This punch is one of the items you can get FREE with any purchase of $50 during Stampin' Up's Sale-a-Bration promotion through March 31st.  

The hearts are from the I {Heart} Hearts set from the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I've stamped them in black and clear embossed to give a nice glossy shine.  The love you sentiment is from Short and Sweet and the inside sentiment is from the Mixed Greetings set.  The white flower button is also from Stampin' Up! - Button Latte.  On the bottom right corner of the inside, I used the small heart punch on the white cardstock so the black base would show through.  If you click on the photos to enlarge, you'll see I did a little zig zag stitching too.  

Well, that's all for tonight my friends!  We dvr'd American Idol last night and I'm anxious to watch it.  The gals at work were talking about it today so I do have some idea what happened and who they think should be voted off tonight.  ; )  

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your sweet comments on my cards this week.  It motivates me and makes me *smile*.   

Two more days to the WEEKEND!   : )  Smiles 2 U!

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that." ~Michael Leunig

{CTD85} Happiness & Harmony

This is the first week since Tammy Hershberger asked me to be the Color Throwdown Guest Designer for March that I can actually say "I Can Handle This!"  I *love* this color combination! 

Once again, you would probably laugh if you knew the process that went into creating this card.  I started out thinking I was going to combine the Color Throwdown Challenge with the MoJo Monday Sketch Challenge.  That's why my card is a long and narrow 3-1/4 x 6-1/2".   I had a sheet of cardstock for each of these colors ~ baja breeze, garden green and certainly celery ~ and then went to my designer paper stash to see if I had anything that would coordinate.  I selected this old favorite of mine from Basic Grey.  The Gandhi quote stamp is from a retired Stampin' Up! set ~ Happy Harmony.  I used a rectangle die cut and sponged inside the die before removing it.  All the outside edges have been sponged too with Versafine Vintage Sepia.

Back to the sketch...I didn't want to hide this pretty floral paper so made it the entire background instead of a smaller rectangle like the Mojo sketch.  I simply added sentiment, ribbon and fancy clip and called it good!   What do you think?  Have you ever thought to use Garden Green with Certainly Celery?   I'm amazed how well they go together!  And oh so SPRINGY!

It has been a real pleasure to create alongside these

*super talented*  ladies on the Color Throwdown Team!

Kristin Bueter - Mindless Creativity

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor

Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy

LeAnne Pugliese - Wee Inklings

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy ~ Wild Dragonfly Designs

Cathy Indelicato - Crafty Thoughts

The "rules" to play are simple...you don't have to match the colors exactly, just use the closest colors you have. Use keyword CTD85 in any online galleries, add the direct link to your project using InLinkz on the Color Throwdown blog.

I hope you're having a wonderful week so far!  Thank you for stopping by and do come back again soon!
Have a Happy Day & Smile! 

"I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal - and soon they'll forget my number."  ~Edith Armstrong

{MTSC66} Live with Passion

Today's card was created especially for Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge!   Mercy's sketches always inspire me to think outside the box and try something new and different.

Can you tell I was in a SPRINGY mood yesterday when I created this?  I've used this stamp set ~ Inspired by Nature ~ several times but never thought to color it in this way before.   This is a 5-1/4" square card and the base is pretty in pink cardstock.  On top of that, I've stitched together certainly celery cardstock and designer paper.   The flower stamp was inked up with my Stampin' Write Markers and stamped on the Big Shot Top Note die cut of natural ivory cardstock.   The pink satin ribbon and sherbet designer button finish it off.

The photo below of the inside of my card isn't the best, but I wanted you to see how I layered the Top Note die cut.

And without further delay, Here is Mercy's sketch!

{all I did differently was turn my image the other direction

 so I could fit the sentiment on the left}

You are all encouraged to play along with us!
If you need a bit of inspiration to get started,
please surf on over and see what Mercy's Muses have created:

Cindy Haffner ~ Cindy Haffner's Corner

Jackie Pedro ~ The Scalloped Edge

Pam Varnell ~ The Stamping Addict

Julie Lacey ~ Stamps and Taxes!

Crystal Birr ~ The Messy Stamper

Jessica Diedrich ~ The Whimsical Butterfly
Shannan Teubner ~ Shannan Teubner Designs (YaY, she's back!)

Mercy Kerin ~ Lord Have Mercy {our Queen Muse}
and our Guest Muse for March . . .
Dawn Easton
Treasure Oiler Designz

Simply create a card or scrapbook layout using the sketch above, and link your creation to Mister Linky on Mercy's blog. Be sure to use the keyword MTSC66 when uploading to a public gallery.

Happy Stamping & Smiles 2 U!



"Follow your passion, and success will follow you." ~Terri Guillemets

{SSSC61} Sweet Sunday Chocolate Easter Bunny!

Do you like CHOCOLATE?  Silly question!  Well, if you like chocolate, you should like this card that is loaded with chocolate!  It's got chocolate chip, close to cocoa and even a chocolate Easter Bunny!  : )

All the products on this card are from STAMPIN' UP!  This cute little chocolate bunny is a single stamp from the Occasions Mini Catalog and sells for only $7.95 (116980).  I've stamped it with chocolate chip onto close to cocoa cardstock and clear embossed to give it that nice fresh chocolate sheen!  Yummy!

The designer paper is from a retired designer paper ~ Berry Bliss and I've layered it on Pretty in Pink cardstock.  The bottom edge is punched with the scalloped edge punch and that is a chocolate chip corduroy brad to add to all the chocolate goodness!    My sweet friend in Texas surprised me with a box of polka dot ribbon this week and this one was PERFECT with it's combination of pink and brown! 

Above is a photo of the inside of the card.  I decided to go with this sentiment from the Stampin' Up All Holidays set, but I really wish I had something a little more FUN and not so fancy.  Any ideas?  I could print it off on the computer if I don't have the stamp.  Something that relates to chocolate?  I *know* you gals are much more creative in that department than I am.  Let me have your ideas and I'll post the results, ok?? 

Good grief, I got so carried away thinking about chocolate, that I almost forgot to tell you this card was created especially for Karen Giron's SWEET SUNDAY SKETCH CHALLENGE # 61!   I always look forward to this challenge and love seeing what her talented group of Sweet Sunday Stampers create!  Be sure to check it out!   You'll be inspired!

Are you having a good weekend so far?  I hope you're finding time to do something that makes you *smile*!   Thanks so much for stopping by and triple chocolate thanks if you take the time to leave a comment.  As always, I *love* hearing from you! 

Have a Happy Day!

"Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate." ~Author Unknown