A Birthday by the Sea!

My good blogging buddy Anne, hosted Saturday's Inspiration challenge over on Split Coast this week.  She had us looking at the Outer Banks Trading Group web store.  I recently purchased a wonderful Gina K Designs stamp set called Gifts from the Sea (check out the terrific sentiments in this set!) - and I was inspired by this beach tote to use my new stamps!
 Sand dollars are such a wonder to me.

I made my little bag from a PTI die, stamped the sea gulls and sand images on the front and sponged the edges all around.

I white embossed the sand dollar on Creamy Caramel cardstock and adhered it to the bag with foam tape. I stamped the happy birthday, cut it with an oval punch and adhered that with foam tape. Then I just added a twine bow and some basket shred.

I just love little treat containers,  the perfect little box to place a gift for a friend or loved one!

Stamps: Gina K Designs - Gifts from the Sea
Paper: creamy caramel - SU, Rustic Cream - PTI
Ink: Versamark, Ranger Distress - Brushed corduroy, Antique Linen
Accessories: white embossing powder - SU, hot gun, foam tape, small oval punch - SU, twine & Favor It Box 2- PTI, basket shred -Michaels

Don't Grow Up Too Quickly!

What a great CAS sketch over at Split Coast this week - oddly enough - I made a CAS card with it!!

I just love my new Gina K 'Gifts From the Sea' Stamp set! It has such wonderful sentiments in it as well as lots of different shell and star fish stamps. I found out about this set on my good stamping friend, Vicki's blog ,where she used this sentiment on her cute crabby card!

I have several friends who love the ocean ( I mean REALLY love the ocean!), so I'm sure to get a lot of use out of this set. This card will be going postal to one of them for their birthday in May.

The sentiment says "Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach." Inside I stamped 'Happy Birthday' which is another stamp in this versatile set!

I normally would have popped this pretty shell up on foam tape - but I'm really trying to keep my cards 'flat' when I know I'm mailing them to avoid extra postage!

Thanks for coming by today - I'll be back on Saturday with my Waltzingmouse Sketch card!

Stamps: Gina K - Gifts from the Sea
Paper: White - PTI, DP Archaic Paper Pad/Basic Grey
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Pumice Stone

A 70th B'day and a Basket of Chicks!

Warm Biscuit Bedding was the web site Stef showed us for the Split Coast Inspiration Challenge this week. I found this cute robot material and it reminded me of the Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo paper I had.I needed a card for a 70th b'day party I was going to Saturday and thought this fun paper would help soften the blow of the old geezer and big number on the card!! LOL!!!

I used this weeks Taylored Expressions Sketch for my card.

The fun stamps are by Gina K - inside I stamped 4 sentiments from the set: "everything hurts - and what doesn't hurt doesn't work", "your birthday cake looks like baked alaska", your driver's license picture looks better than you do", your ears are hairier than your head'.

Hopefully Roger is still speaking to me after he opens his card!!!

Stamps: Gina K - Tickle your funny bone - You know You're old when...
Paper: vintage cream, ocean tides - PTI, DP Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo Mr. Roboto
Ink: Menento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron - SU, Ocean Tides - PTI
Accessories: Copics, sponge, star punch, circle punch, gems - Amuse, scallope edge punch - SU, foam dinemsionals
My second card today was made for the Featured Stamper challenge on Split Coast we got to check out Kristen's gallery (mommylvs2stamp).

I finally chose this peek a boo card to CASE - as I really liked her layout. I changed the stamps used, the colors and I left off the bow and brads.

My cute little chickie basket and sentiment are from Rubbernecker Stamps I paperpieced the bow and stamped the little chick again, cut them out and popped them up for a little dimension. I colored the image with Copics.

The sentiment is cut with a Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2 but I cut off the ribbon loops on the ends so it would just be an oval shape. I sponged it before taking it out of the die. This card is a biggy at 5.5"x5.5"

Reminder:

We're having a St. Paddy's Day blog hop over at the Waltzingmouse Forum on 3/17 check out all the deets on her blog

AND check out here right now - she's having a give-away!! BUT YOU HAVE TO COMMENT BY SUNDAY NIGHT - hurry over!

Stamps: Rubbernecker Easter Basket #84-05, Sentiment #31-08
Paper: White, Ocean Tides, Bitty Dot Basics - PTI, Marigold Morning - SU
Ink: Memento Tuxedo black, Summer Sunrise - PTI
Accessories: sponge, ribbon tag trio 2 - Spellbinders, ribbons - PTI, foam dimensionals, scalloped edge punch -SU, Copics - Y02, YR23, Y38, BG10, G82, E33, E37

Tee for my Sister

Don't you love this little tee shirt stamp??? I got this set from Gina K - over a year ago I think - and this is the first time I've inked it up - so you can see that I'm still working on my New Year's resolution - to USE MY STAMPS!! not just admire them on my shelves!!!

I used today's sketch challenge on Split Coast for my card design and the Doubledog Dare Challenge from Joan Ervin this week was to make a Mother's Day card with an article of clothing on it.

This card will be for my sister, Marcia - since we lost our dear mother, Margaret, 7 years ago (at the ripe old age of 89 - so she had a good long life! - love you mum!) and obviously the Tee shirt stamp is my article of clothing. The sentiments are Papertrey Ink from the Women of Life set. I just got my Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday paper today - so I whipped it right out to use on this card.

I did a little piercing on the scalloped circle and added some bling from Amuse to the shirt - what's a T shirt without bling?!?!? LOL!

You are cordially invited to join along in our Doubledog Dare weekly challenges - just use the Keyword DDC when you load your card in your Split Coast gallery. You can see all the Doubledog Dare cards here.

I'm rushing off again tonight - I haven't been getting to bed until midnight the last few nights - and when you have to get up at 5:30 am for work - that's not good (!) - so I'm trying to get to bed by 10:30 tonight - we'll see if I make it!

Stamps: Gina K: Little Tee's, Women of Life: PTI
Paper: Vintage cream: PTI, Kiwi Kiss: SU, DP Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday - Sunday
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukeniko, Ocean Tides: PTI
Accessories: Foam dimensionals, cuttlebug, Stylized flowers folder, ocean tides twill ribbon : PTI, scallop circle punch, SU, Scalloped edge punch: EK success, red brad, paper piercer

A Birthday Card Coaster Photo Book

I seem to be making a lot of these cute little coaster photo books lately! This one is for a co-worker's wife that will be from their children and has pictures of the children inside.


I used Cosmo Crickets Happy Camper designer paper throughout the book. The coasters are medium weight and I used silver 5/8" wire to bind it with my Bind It All. I love that you can buy different colors of wire for these books. I've seen white, black, red and silver so far.

I gathered sentiment stamps from all around my stamping room for my pages - trying to find just the right thing for each page. That's what took the longest time in creating this! The cover stamps are from The Women of Life set by Papertrey Ink and I used my rectangle nestability as well as the fern and dove punches - both by Martha Stewart.
This is Noa on the left, doing a nearly perfect split! She's a 6 year old ballerina and 10 year old Roee on the right - who is actually a competitive swimmer - but we see him climbing on things in this book! The Absolutely Fabulous sentiment is PTI Mixed Messages and the U R the Best is Gina K Designs - Text Messages.Let's Hang Out is from the Little T's set by Gina K Designs and A Very Special Delivery is from the Faux Ribbon Set by PTI.

For the final note on the back which I just used a small corner of and sponged and distressed the edges - is the Lined Paper background stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms and the words and date are stamped using Karen Foster Snap Stamps (which I believe have been discontinued so I'm so glad I have mine!) I told my co-worker to have his kids sign their names here.

He was gratifyingly thrilled with this little keepsake I created for his wife! and that makes all the effort put into creating it worth it for us stampers - right??!!!

You can see all the other coaster books I've made by looking in the Index in the right column of my blog.

I appreciate your coming by today!

Paper: Medium Coasters, DP: Cosmo Cricket - Mr. Campy, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, mellow Moss, sage shadow, close to cocoa: SU

Ink: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron: SU, onyx black versafine

Supplies: distresser, sponge, corner rounder, dew drops, bind it all, nestability rectangle, dove punch & fern punch: Martha Stewart

Sporting a Tee

Stef showed us some fun swimwear for the Inspiration challenge on Split Coast. I chose this piece to be inspired by: I was up watching the Olympics so I had sports on my mind and thought I could use my new Gina K Designs T shirt stamp for this challenge.

My card is 4 1/4 square. I stamped the T shirt right on the designer paper (which I thought matched the swim suit pretty well!) - cut it out and attached it to the cuttled panel with foam dimensionals. I cut the sentiment with a Spellbinders Tag trio die and laced my stitched ribbon through it. I added a little shimmer to the card with the dew drops on the corners and I dressed up the T a little with the felt flower and a blue brad.

And now that I got my challenge card done - I'm off to bed - see you tomorrow everyone!

Stamps: Little Tee's - Gina K Designs
Paper: Cool Caribbean, choc chip, ruby red: SU, DP - Deja Views Fresh Print-Blue raspberry blossoms
Ink: onyx black versafine
Accessories: Spell binder tag trio, cuttlebug, tiny bubbles folder, foam dimensionals, stitched ribbon, blue brad, flower fusion - SU, dew drops

You Know You Are Old When.....

Kent and I are going to our cottage in NH this weekend for an annual Cousins Party - and one of the cousins is celebrating her 50th birthday this month - so I made this 'tongue in cheek' card for her! I'm several years past 50 so that age doesn't seem old to me at all !!!! LOL!!! but I know it's a milestone birthday. Everyone will be teasing her about how 'old' she is...

I used this fun stamp and sentiment from the Gina K set called "Tickle Your Funny Bone" that I colored with my Prismacolor markers. I used a silver Spica pen on the bumper and hub caps so they have a shimmer IRL and I added a pearl to the lovely ladies neckline. I added a flower in true 1960's VW decorating tradition (for those old enough to remember those days!) The sentiment was cut using a Spellbinder ribbon tag trio die and the ribbon was woven through. The image panel and scalloped frame were cut with rectangle Nestabilities.

Inside I added a strip of the same designer paper at the top and stamped the sentiment off center. I hope she likes it and takes it in the good humor that it's presented - I'm sure she will!

Stamps: Gina K - Tickle your funny bone

Paper: White - Papertrey Ink, Real Red - SU, DP - My Minds Eye - star bright dottie dude

Ink: Onyx Black Versafine

Supplies: spell binder ribbon tag trio, cuttlebug, nestability squares, red dotted ribbon, spica silver pen, prismacolor markers, small flower - Doodlebug Design.

The Last Two and A Happy Mail Package

Here are my last two cards for the week long Dare to Get Dirty challenges over at Split Coast. What a challenge just to finish them all - I think there were 20 challenges but I combined several of them onto one card when I could (which was perfectly legal to do! - it said so right on the list of 'rules'!!)

This card is for 2 DTGD challenges - Amy's challenge to make a 3 1/4 x 6 1/2 size card and use something acetate/clear on it and Lindsey's challenge to use pink and black and some faux stitching. I don't think I have ever made this size card before and I love it!! I used this pretty DP from Basic Grey and some clear ghost flowers from Heidi Swapp I've had them for a couple of months and finally opened them! It feels so good to use the stuff you've bought! The border 'stitching' is a Hero Arts stitched ribbon stamp and it looks as crooked as it would if I stitched it on my machine!

Stamps: Stitched ribbons: Hero Arts, Sentiment:: so many sayings: SU
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Basic black: SU, DP - Basic Grey: Perhaps
Ink: Onyx Black Versafine,kPretty in Pink: SU
Accessories: Black dotted grosgrain ribbon: Flourishes, clear ghost flowers: Heidi Swapp, sponge, jazzy pink brads, oval punch, word punch

And this card is for the DTGD challenge by Natasha who gave us a sketch - which I really love! I used some pretty designer paper by Graphic 45 and my cute stork from Gina K (another loved but never inked yet stamp!) The sentiment (Special Delivery) is from a $1 G clear set from Michaels and was perfect for this card!I colored my image with Prismacolor and SU markers and cut it out and embossed it with my rectangle nestabilities. I pierced the bottom, cuttled the panel and added the ribbons.

These challenges have been great - and I really appreciate all the behind the scenes work that went into this by a lot of dedicated people over at Split Coast. My heart felt 'thank you' to them all!

Stamps: Stork: How Sweet it Is - Gina K Designs, Sentiment: G - clear stamps
Paper: Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla: Su, DP: Graphic 45: Baby button bingo
Ink: Onyx black Versafine, Sweet Orange Adirondack
Accessories: Prismacolor markers, SU markers, green & orange gingham ribbons, Nestability rectangle, cuttlebug, paper piercer, Fiskars stamp edge scissors

And last but not least on my post today - look at the fun package I got in the mail! This was my blog candy winnings from my good blogging and SCS pal - Linsey! Hi Linsey! I received this wonderful Asian theme clear stamp set by Clear Artistic Stamps called Shadows of Memories and two wonderful AncientPage inks which I'm so excited to try out!! You really MUST check out Linsey's blog - she makes the most fun and creative things over there - so get a 'cuppa' - sit back - and browse through her projects - tell her Julia sent you!!!

How Sweet Is It? and An Un-Natural Tree

Hi Everyone - Happy Wednesday! Tonight's the Reveal over at PapertreyInk for their new stamps, paper, ribbon and inks for this month - so you should check that out They have a great baby stamp set coming out as well as beautiful new colors of DP and ink - it started at 10 pm EST and the stamps will be revealed at 11 pm EST - Hopefully I can stay awake that long - if not - I'll be checking them out first thing in the AM! I love their stuff - you'll see some of their papers and ribbon on my 2nd card below. You can also look under PapertreyInk on the right side panel index to see all the cards and crafts I've made using their products.

This card was made for the Sketch Challenge at SCS today.

This is the sketch.

I used Prismacolor Markers to color my slice of cake and added Stickles on the frosting and the flame for a little sparkle. I knotted ribbon through a hole punched in the sentiment panel and wrapped it around behind the panel coming up through the hole on the other side and knotting it. The cake panel is up on dimensionals. This cake stamp is part of a set called How Sweet it is sold by Gina K Designs to raise money for diabetes - check it out here.

This is a great sketch - I'll be sure to use it again.

Stamps: Gina K Designs
Paper: Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, DP - SU, White - PapertreyInk
Ink: Black Onyx Versafine
Accessories: cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, hole punch, narrow grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, Prismacolor markers: green tea, sky blue light, raspberry, pale vermillion, teal blue, stickles - Orange Peel & Strawberry ice

My 2nd card tonight is for a Double Dare I do every week with a group of friends at SCS. This week I chose the challenge - and it was to make a card with a tree but you could not use any brown or green anywhere on the card.

So - in order to keep me from grabbing any of the forbidden colors - (which is the first thing I do when there are rules it seems!) I went with the monochromatic look - and used Papertrey's Berry Sorbet for everything! The cute jeweled flowers are from www.petaloo.com. You can check out the other peoples challenge cards here. The challenge just started today so everyone has a week to get their cards in.

Thank you so much for stopping by - let me know what you think of my cards - I really appreciate feedback!

Todays Quote from Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin: "The doors of Wisdom are never shut."

Stamps: Summer Tree: Whispers
Paper: White, Berry Sorbet, Pink Patterns - PapertreyInk
Ink: Berry Sorbet - PTI
Accessories: Berry Sorbet Swiss Dots: PTI, jeweled florettes- Petaloo, dimensionals, Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots Folder