Stampotique Originals

 

 I remember the first time I stumbled upon a project using a stamp from Stampotique, I was totally blown away! I thought it was so wicked cool! I spent hours looking at all the stamps trying to make a reasonable wish list of stamps to buy. I found it was not possible, I simply want to own hundreds of them! Just to name a few, some of my favorite artists are Daniel Torrente and Jill Penney, Carol's Collection, and Amy Wilson Wellenstein.

 

 So today I made a card for the Stampotique Design Team Call.

With hopes of winning more stamps, I've had a lot of fun by randomly playing along in The Designers Challenge. I'd be honored to be part of their team. And do I ever want to earn that discount!!! My style is constantly evolving, but completely different from all the other designers. I'm in awe of some of the coloring techniques the other designers use to make backgrounds for their cards and journals. I think we would have a lot to learn from one another. I would bring a totally fresh perspective on ways to use products from Stampotique. I really enjoy having deadlines. It keeps me focused on the goal at hand. One of the best things about crafting is being able to give a handmade gift.  I really love making cards. I also enjoy giving support and encouragement to fellow crafters and friends through blog hops, Facebook, and online challenges.

 

 Now onto a little about my card. The background of my card was made by using a flocked damask pattern paper. I stamped Fabulous in black ink then added Glossy Accent for a little shine. A black bow and a few rhinestones finished off my card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Snowballs 4 Sale

 

I am feeling pretty lucky today!

 I just received a gift from Patty Bennett that contained the entire Festive Flurry Bundle from Stampin' Up!

Here's the link to where it was announced on her blog.

 

 

I have so many ideas swirling around in my head about all the possibilities of things I can do with the dies and stamps in this set.

 

 

 I decided to use the largest snowflake die cut a piece of shimmer cardstock. Next I pulled out a snowman ( I think the very first stamp I bought from Stampin' Up!) and stamped him on the shimmer cardstock. I colored him, then fussy cut him to layer onto Bashful Blue cardstock (sad face :( also retired). Then I stamped Snowballs 4 Sale (also retired SU!). Finally is used a bunch of Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the snowflake layer.

 

Thank you so much Patty Bennett!

 I truly appreciate the gift and will think of you every time I use one of the stamps or dies!

I hope you like the first thing I made with the gift :)



Trick or Treat

 

Now that's officially Autumn, I'm ready to start thinking about decorating for Halloween.

I want several big fat pumpkins to make a couple of topiary arrangements for my front porch.

 

Anyhow, I decided to make a Halloween card today. I don't know about you, but I love to dress up with Parker for Halloween. So much fun! The design idea came from a sketch on the Mojo Monday blog. For Linda's shirt I used the Witches' Brew washi tape from Stampin Up! I also used it to create the banners. The Black Webbing ribbon came from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  The Trick or Treat stamp is part of a new set called Tags 4 You from Stampin' Up!

 

If you noticed the background, it's a doll house. I've been working on making a haunted house for Halloween. If I ever decide to make another, I definitely will be buying one already put together. It has not rocked building it piece by piece. As soon as I find the perfect wallpaper, I will post pictures of the completed house. I have not bought any furniture, but I did find that fun tiny candelabra.

 

I'm sharing my card with Stampotique Designers Challenge, Mojo Monday, By Lori Designs, The Crafters Café, Card a Day Blog, Sweet Stamps, DRS Designs, and Macabre Monday Challenges.

 

Woodgrain and Roses

 

I made two different cards using the wood grain paper and rub-ons from Pink Paislee. For the pink floral card I tried to "whitewash the wood" to make it a bit softer and added some lovely lace ribbon and a bow to finish it off. I think the yellow rose is so pretty and love the pop of color from the green seem binding ribbon.

I'm sharing these with Really Reasonable Ribbon RRR80, Cute Card Thursday, and

 Crafts and Me Challenge and Inspiration .



Ribbon Roses and Burlap Butterfly

 

I wanted to try to make another shabby chic card. White, pearls, glitter, and ribbons are what comes to mind when I think of shabby chic. Well I wanted to add some color too. It's not totally over the top feminine, but I'm not your pink loving girly girl either. lol

The burlap butterfly came from Pink Paislee, paper (retired) from Close to My Heart, and rose ribbon from Stampin' Up!

 

I'd like to share this with Creative Belli, Cute Card Thursday,

Crafts and Me Challenge and Inspiration, and Card and Scrap.



Shimmering Shabby Chic

 

I started this card with black and grey card stock that I embossed lovely damask pattern, then painted with an iridescent medium.  I next added some seam binding ribbon, a bow, and a couple of hat pins with pearls. The frame came from Prima and the jeweled crown from Melissa Frances.



Windsor Newton Iridescent Medium is such an easy and fabulous product to work with. It gives such a lovely shimmer to my papercraft projects. I found it at Hobby Lobby for about $5 several years ago, a little bit goes a very long way!

 

I'd like to share my card with Really Reasonable Ribbon (RRR80), Cute Card Tuesday,
 Creative Belli Challenge, Card and Scrap, and Divas By Design.

Have a Fabulous Birthday

Today I made a birthday card using the Fabulous stamp from Stampotique.

It's one of my favorites. I could not even begin to guess just how many times a day I say Fabulous.
 

I will be sharing it with Stampotique Designers Challenge, Through The Craft Room Door,
Creative Craft Challenges, and Party Time Tuesdays.

Custom Desk

We have been in our new home for about a year and a half now. I felt like we have done so much work to the entire house, but that my office was not as organized or polished as possible. So I talked Chad into building me a new custom desk.

 

 

I snapped a picture of Chad adding some trim molding to my new desk.

 

Here's the finished product!

So totally fabulous! It's 28' wide and over 6 and a half feet long. So much room to spread out my mess craft projects. Love it! I painted the desk a nice shade of taupe, the trim white, and stained the top a walnut color.

Soon I will get my office totally organized and show you where I create :)



Where do you find inspiration to create?

 

 

Can you believe Autumn is officially here? That means Christmas is just around the corner. I need to get going with making some Christmas cards. I like starting early so they don't all look alike. I would get tired of making the same card over and over again. I think 6-8 of the same card is my max. So I'm always looking for inspiration to create. You won't believe where the inspiration came for this card.

 

 

I tore off the cover of a flyer that came from Target a couple of years ago. I have a binder full of magazine ads and craft projects that I flip through occasionally. Today when flipping through the binder I saw the ad and just knew I had to make something with it. So I fussy cut the Jolly part out and the rest is history. I couldn't help but start singing, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, It's the best time of the year....

So where do you find inspiration?

 



Beachaven Mixed Media Art

 

I love painting things.

 

Here's my tip on deciding on a paint color, paint a piece of canvas with the color. You can hang it to see it at different times of the day and lighting conditions. No commitment. If you decide it's not the perfect shade, no big deal. You don't have to repaint a whole wall or the room again.

 

That's how this painting started. I was thinking about painting the half bath a terra cotta color. I still really like the color, it's just not right for the space I was originally thinking. So now I had a canvas that needed some art.

The wine bottle was made using a piece of cream cardstock. I used a soft brown ink on a script font stamp. Then hand cut the bottle shape. I peeled the label from a bottle of Budbreak Blush that came from the local winery Beachaven. They have so many wonderful wines. I love a sweet dessert wine. One of my favorites is called Cumberland White. The wine glass was created from a piece of vellum that I painted white. The scroll designs were painted on with a stencil that came from Stampin' Up!

Voila!

 

Going Above and Beyond for Work

Going above and beyond for work is something that Chad & I just do. It drives us crazy when we see people simply ignore things that need to be done. Sometimes it's small things, like picking up a piece of trash in the parking lot. Other times I can't believe someone will use the last of the toilet paper and not replace the roll. Really!?! I don't know about your place of employment, but the cleaning crew does not come during the day at mine. And besides if some thing needs to be done take some initiative and just do it.

 

 

Here's a great example of Chad going above and beyond at work. The signs were looking really rough and beginning to fall apart. There was actually mold and fungus growing on the signs. He took the initiative to dig up the signs and cart them home to be repaired.

 

Can you believe the difference! Chad had to buy new poles because the old ones were dry rotted. Chad really is pretty handy and talented. It was cool seeing him measure and router out the new poles.  It took a while to scrub all the funk off the old signs. After they were dried Chad & I put a fresh coat of paint on them. Parker supervised.

Take pride in the job you are doing. It doesn't matter how big or small it may seem. It's a reflection of who you are. Besides who wants to look like a beat up old sign! lol