Chalkboard Technique

This was my "Control Freak" swap for the Occassions mini. I used the set "Live Your Dream" with a technique called "chalkboard." It's a technique I've been meaning to try for months and this set was perfect for it. All you do is stamp in white craft ink,dry it a little bit with your heat gun and dab the image with chalks. I love how it pops the image off the dark cardstock. Easy and fun!

Dahlia!

I got my taxes done! To celebrate, I escaped to my stamping room and created this. I've been wanting to try this Dahlia fold and I paired it with today's SCS challenge to make a Flap-Fold Card. Here are the instructions for the Dahlia - http://www.cardsandcrafts.freeservers.com/dahlia.html

And here are the instructions for the Flap-Fold card:

http://scor-pal.com/feb_magazine/index_files/Page449.htm

I busted out my pack of Afternoon Tea designer paper along with my Pretties Kit - both of which I've been hoarding. I daubered one flower with Soft Sky ink and layered it with a plain white one. The top flap is stamped with Twill in white, but it's hard to see in the picture. This was a fun way to celerbrate, so get your taxes done (or procrastinate) and give it a try!

Perfect Day for a Bike Ride

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday. We went to my family's ranch in Lovelock and had our traditional egg hunt there. The weather was amazing and today is just as beautiful - a perfect day for a bike ride! Here are two more swaps using Time for You from the Occasions Mini. The top one was done by Ann Walker and the bottom by Jan Tinklenberg. Have a great day!

Baby Parade!

Here are some baby themed swaps I received from the Occasions Mini. This first one was done by Joy Kennedy using Big On Spring.

This one was done by Stephanie Leider using By Ones and By Twos. I love how she zig-zag stitched her border with her sewing machine.

I love how Alice Erickson created the wall of a baby's room here and how she stamped the onsie on patterned paper and cut it out. She also used By Ones and By Twos and our new striped ribbon. The picture doesn't do this card justice. She layered her cardstock to make it look just like a chair railing. LOVE this!

Freshly Squeezed Oranges

I spent the better part of the day doing taxes, but I managed to procrastinate a little and upload a couple shots of the swaps I just got back from the Occasions Mini. These two feature the new set Tart and Tangy. This one was made by Dannie Graves. She also used the new paper Summer Picnic that's made to match the set.

This one was created by Lisa Martz. She sugared up the oranges with glitter, and added one of the flower ribbon slides from the new hardware set. The pattern paper is Jersey Shore. Enjoy!

Aloha!

Aloha! We just got back from a fabulous week in Hawaii, and I wanted to do a quick post to let you all know I haven't dropped off the blogging planet. Here's a quick card I made last summer using Artfully Asian and Tres Chic for the background. I watercolored with reinkers and an aquapainter on shimmery white paper - excellent paper for watercoloring!
I just got an amazing swap back from the new mini catalog. I'll be posting them soon as soon as I get the pictures downloaded. Mahalo!

Pick a Petal

Happy Monday! It happens to be the Monday I have off, so I'm happy! This is a card I did for my convention swap last summer. This summer is Stampin' Up!'s 20th anniversary, so I'm betting it will be the best one yet! For this card I used Pick a Petal which is an adorable set with 6 different petals to choose from. This card is held closed at the top with a slit punch. The greeting is from Hugs and Wishes and I used the dog tag punch to punch it out. The colors are Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, and Barely Banana. Have a great day!

This is another card we did at our Stamp-a-Stack of 10 event last month. The hearts are simply stamped in versamark on Purely Pomegranate cardstock and embossed with clear. The greeting is stamped with chocolate chip craft and also embossed with clear. The sets I used were Priceless and Boho Backgrounds and a new background stamp called Twill. I was pleased at how quickly people were able to crank this one out....Simple cards are not my strength!