American Ink swaps with sneak peeks and a mini ironing board

 

The new Quatrefancy Specialty designer paper really stands out on this white card. I stamped a long stamp from Mosaic Madness in Pool Party. In hindsight, I think Island Indigo would've been a better choice. Anyway, I used one of the framelits from Apothecary Accent Framelits for the sentiment from Sassy Salutations.

 

 

Barb's swap uses the Honeycomb embossing folder and smallest butterfly punch. The card is Soft Suede with Calypso Coral and new In Color Crisp Cantaloupe. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake.

 





Frankie's swap uses the new Wildflower Meadow single stamp (she did an incredible amount of coloring with markers - amazing!), and the coordinating embossing folder with the same name. The sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Kim's swap uses the new Mosaic Madness stamp set, Mosaic Punch, along with the Modern Mosaic Textured embossing folder. "You're Amazing" comes from the stamp set with that same name.

 

Mary Ann's swap uses Floral Fusion Sizzlits, and a sentiment from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.

 

I really enjoy myself at these get-togethers. I'm planning a group retreat August 10-11 at my studio. I'll be prepping a couple of projects for everyone who shows up, as well as prepping random cards for everybody to make as a service project for our troops and a local nursing home.

 

 

Of course I have to share this adorable mini ironing board. That little wooden piece locks the leg in, so it doesn't collapse; otherwise, it does collapse to store easily. The "iron"ic thing - I don't iron. lol

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of my friends! I hope you have a wonderful day of laziness.



Hostess gift challenge for Stylin' Stampin' Squad blog hop

 

Autumn leaves - especially those from an oak tree - may not be found blue in nature, but I took creative license so I could use Baja Breeze with Soft Suede and Summer Starfruit as the focal point on a special hostess gift.

 

 

This month, the Stylin' Stampin' Squad has a grateful theme, with a challenge of a hostess thank-you gift. I'm always up for a challenge! What you see in the photo below is actually what I gave a hostess - a 2-pocket pouch, complete with an incentive stamps and M&Ms, and a card with a Post-It Note for my note inside of the card so my hostess could reuse it. As for what I'm grateful for today? Nature and all its beauty. I'm saying "Thanks" for different things every day this month on my blog.

 





Here's a free tutorial on How to Make a Two-Pocket Pouch: http://goinovertheedge.blogspot.com/2011/07/two-pocket-pouch-tutorial.html. Mine uses one 12" x 12" sheet of Birds of a Feather dsp, along with Summer Starfruit ribbon. I purposely kept my hostess gift simple. I like to make things that a hostess (a potential recruit) looks at and says, "I can do that!"

Here's a complete list of everyone on the blog hop. Click the graphic at the bottom to go on to the next website. We love comments too! So don't be shy about leaving one. Have a wonderful day! I've got a holiday bazaar today from 10-3 and then a 10-card Christmas class tonight at 7.

1. Shellie G. of Creative Electica
2. Annie L. of Love Me Cards
3. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
4. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
5. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
6. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
7. Patricia T. of Sunnyone Stampin'
8. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
9. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
10. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
11. Nancy B of Momma B Stampin'
12. Terry B of Goin' Over the Edge (YOU ARE HERE!)

Christmas cards and cool furniture finds of the day

 

Ooh, these mittens look so cozy! I love the glitter on them. This was one of the five designs at a recent 10-card Christmas class.

 

 

I CASE'd this card from Jill Hilliard, though I changed the embossed part to a Delicate Design Folder. It uses the Make a Mitten stamp set and Mitten Builder Punch, along with Greetings of the Season with Baja Breeze and Island Indigo colors of ink and card stock.

 

 

I had the best day today! Look at my biggest score - a $25 pew! The seat compartment opens. I think it's adorable. My BFF Kim and I went to a vintage market, a thrift store, and a handful of garage sales. We each got a pew at a moving sale. Eric - an actor who starts filming on the TV show I Hate My Teenage Daughter next month - is helping his mom purge two storage units and a garage so he can move her to a condo he bought for her in Los Angeles. He's quite the talker, and an absolute sweetheart! I also found these two items at the moving sale:

 

 

This little unit is sitting on a shabby chic table I bought at the vintage market today. Eric's mom had used it to hold onions and potatoes. This is a "before" photo. It cleaned up nicely. I can't wait to use it at the Tacoma Holiday Food & Gift Festival next month. Kim and I have been working on lots of fabulous handmade crafts!

 

 

This was another little table I picked up. I like that it has a clear, hinged drawer and is sturdy.

 

Now for more Christmas cards:  











 

Sassy Salutations and Snow Festival dsp using a Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch from a couple of weeks ago.

 

A sentiment from More Merry Messages and the Music Notes standard wheel, CASE'd from Deb Lalim.

 

 

A monochromatic card in Soft Suede with Snowflake Soiree, CASE'd from Mary Fish.

 

The fifth Christmas card design was the No Peeking card here.

 

Have a wonderful weekend! I'll see you back here Monday morning with my last Merry Monday challenge as the Featured Designer for September. I hope you'll join in the fun!

A couple of wonderful days with a 10-card class thrown in

I've had the best couple of days between yesterday and today. Yesterday, I took the kids plus one to the beach. I have to show you a photo. My son thought there was a fire!

Well, the fog burned off, and we had a gorgeous view of the water, mountains, ships and freighters. It was a day well spent, digging holes for poles to support our driftwood fort and makeshift furnishings, beachcombing, walking, wading and sunbathing.

Today, I met up with my friend, Barb, and spent the day shopping at craft stores and talking. We have so much in common, especially where our families are concerned. In fact, we were talking a bit too long because Kim called to say she was waiting. We went to a  newly discovered vintage market, and boy, did we get some great things! I spent all my money on one vendor's goods. The coolest thing I bought is a wooden chair that turns into a ladder. We all found something. It was fun!

Now onto stamping. I had two clubs meet earlier this week (I'll share those projects a little later), and a 10-card class on Tuesday. Here are the cards from that class:

This card uses the Fabulous You and Sassy Salutations stamp sets with the Fancy Fan Folder. I love the In Color Dahlias. They look so cute on the toe of the shoe! Of course, the card is finished with 2-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

The Very Vanilla card features the Postage Due stamp set and Postage Stamp Punch. The colors are Cherry Cobbler, River Rock, Always Artichoke and Marina Mist.

This card uses the Need for Speed stamp set in Basic Black, and a stamp from Clockworks in Wild Wasabi. The sentiment is from Made for You. This card was inspired by Deb at ARTfelt Impressions.

This Whisper White card uses Floral District dsp with a corner rounder punch, and the cake and greeting from Embellished Events.

This was my favorite card. It uses the Blue Ribbon stamp set and World Spectacular dsp. The ink colors are Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo. The stampers could use any stamp out of the Family Reunion stamp set. If it was for a female, they used rhinestones; and if it was for a male, they used brads.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! I'll be back later this weekend with swaps and make & takes from my American Ink team gathering, which is tomorrow morning.

Happy Stampin'!

Sassy Salutations birthday card for color, sketch challenges

I'm always in need of birthday cards, and like that this one works for a guy! I used the Stampin' Royalty Color Challenge #131 to pull it all together. There's only one more day to take part in this color challenge:

My card uses Sassy Salutations, layered with Basic Gray and Daffodil Delight. I ran the Baja Breeze banner through the Chevron embossing folder, then added a few inches of 1/4" stitched Daffodil Delight grosgrain, held in place with two mini silver brads (love those!).

The designer paper is from the Twitterpated pack. This is the first time I've used this pattern, layered on Basic Gray. I got this cute and easy sketch from Create with Connie and Mary. The sketch challenge ends Wednesday, July 11.

Stamps: Sassy Salutations (page 143);

Ink: Basic Gray pad;

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, Twitterpated dsp;

Accessories: Mini silver brads, 1/4" stitched Daffodil Delight grosgrain; Chevron embossing folder, Stampin' Dimensionals, paper piercer and mat.