Spring is in the air with exciting news!

Hi everyone!   Happy Spring!  April showers have started a bit early here in northern Illinois so there is a lot happening in my flower garden.  I have daffodils and tulips and crocuses sprouting up everywhere.  One of my favorite flowers are tulips and I look forward to cutting a bouquet of them every year to brighten up my kitchen table.  The only thing that makes me sad is they don't bloom for very long and then I have to wait a whole year before I see them again.   Not anymore!  Check out this gorgeous layered  
Fresh Cut Tulips stamp set by The Ton! 
Now I can have my tulips all year long!  ;)

The first thing I did with this set was make a card to share with a fellow tulip lover...my mom!

For this card i used the following supplies:
Stamps:  Fresh Cut Tulips, Minor Stripes, Bokeh Burst Round (The Ton).
Inks:  soft garden, bright fern, deep emerald, rose quartz, soft garnet, red sangria (The Ton).
tiara (Catherine Pooler Designs), duckling (Simon Says Stamp), butterbar (Hero Arts), clear emboss (Versamark).
Paper:  Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs)
Accessories:  fools gold embossing powder (WOW!), dimensional tape (3M), sequins, twine, fun foam.



My most used stamp from The Ton is the Minor Stripes cling background stamp.  There is just something about a floral and stripe combination that catches my eye.

I originally stamped this floral bouquet for a one layer card but I changed my mind and decided to do a little fussy cutting so I could create a more dimensional bouquet.  There is also a coordinating die set that is available for these tulips and I think they just made it to the top of my wish list.

Now I would love to share some exciting news with you!   As of today I'm officially part of The Ton's fabulous design team!  I'm so excited and honored for this opportunity to work with Effie and her amazing group of artists.  If you haven't checked out The Ton's blog The Season yet, hop on over there and check it out today.  You'll see some gorgeous projects using The Ton's stamps and die sets.  Keep your eyes peeled, there's a brand new spring release in the works so I'll be back to share a whole bunch of new cards with you soon!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a great weekend and Happy Stamping!

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge - No Dies Allowed!

It's The Challenge time again over at CAS-ual Fridays!  This week we're kicking dies to the curb!  The Challenge is to make a card with only one rule: No Dies Allowed!

For my card this week I used the following stamps  from CAS-ual Fridays:

Zigs & Zags, Thanks, Sassy Smiles:

   

To start off my card I got busy with some Zigs & Zags.  I stamped continuously until I achieved a large area that I could cut out using my scissors.  This cutout piece offered the perfect backdrop for a BIG sentiment from the Thanks stamp set.  I popped this piece up on the card base with a little fun foam for some great dimension.

For this card I also used the following supplies:
Ink: Tiara, Lime Rickey, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Paper:  Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Accessories:  twine, fun foam, ebony black Nuvo Crystal Drops.


From the Sassy Smiles stamp set I added a few little stamped asterisk symbols (or flowers, whichever you prefer) for fun, along with some Nuvo Crystal Drops.  Then I topped it off with a black and white twine bow.

I hope you'll play along with us for your chance to win!

All you have to do is make your own card with No Dies Allowed,  then link it up over on the 

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge blog by April 4th ----------->HERE<--------------

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!

Having fun with Paper Smooches

Hi everyone!   This week  I thought I'd pull out some of my Paper Smooches stamps and dies to create a few cards.  Paper Smooches is calling for an April guest designer so I thought it would be fun to play along and show them some love by making three cards.

First I made this card using the Roses die set.  This set comes with two different sizes of roses so I started by cutting out a  mask in each size from just a piece of cardstock.   I used the masks to do some ink blending directly onto the card front.  I moved the masks around to fill in most of the card where I wanted my roses to be.  Then I diecut 5 roses in white.  When I glued them on top of the blended areas I was sure to offset them a little bit for some added interest.  I diecut some leaves and stems and just fit them into the blank areas around the roses, like a puzzle.  I made sure to leave a little room for this cute sentiment from the Uplifters sentiment stamp set.

For this card I also used the following supplies:

Ink: abandoned coral, worn lipstick (Ranger Distress).

Paper:  watercolor 140 lb (Canson), Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Accessories:  Gelatos, white Pitt Pen (Faber-Castell).

I used a Faber-Castell white Pitt Pen to add some finishing touches onto the roses to give them a whimsical feel.

For my next card I stamped a whole bunch of butterflies using my favorite ink colors by Catherine Pooler Designs.    This Graceful Beauties butterfly stamp set is so fun to stamp. Look at those gorgeous clean, crisp images!

For this card I also used the following supplies:

Ink:  lime rickey, tiki torch, party dress, flirty fuchsia, fiesta blue, midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper:  Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Accessories:  Stitched Jumbo Fishtail Banner dies (My Favorite Things), ebony Nuvo Crystal Drops, dimensional tape (3M).

I spotlighted this cute little giggle sentiment from the Uplifters sentiment stamp set using a stitched banner die and some dimensional tape.

And here's one more card using one of my favorite sentiment dies Happy Birthday Words.  The stenciled balloons on the background of this card make the perfect backdrop for this cheerful birthday diecut.  A few black floating hearts from the Graceful Beauties stamp set are a great little element to accent the bold black sentiment.

For this card I also used the following supplies:

Stamps:  Striped Background (My Favorite Things).

Ink: squeezed lemonade, picked raspberry, twisted citron, spiced marmalade (Ranger Distress), onyx black (Versafine).

Paper:  doll pink (Simon Says Stamp), Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Accessories:  Blueprints #15 (My Favorite Things), black pen, fun foam.

To make this sentiment pop off the card a little more I glued together two layers cut with black cardstock.  Just that simple trick adds wonderful dimension to this card.

Well, that's all for today.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 

 Take care and  Happy Stamping!

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge - Off The Edge!

It's The Challenge time again over at CAS-ual Fridays!  This week we're going Off The Edge!

For my card this week I used the following stamps and dies from CAS-ual Fridays:

Mon Ami Stamps and Mon Ami Fleur dies

  


For my card today I took my top layers of watercolored Mon Ami  flowers "off the edge" of my card.  I watercolored the green background and the flowers using 140 lb watercolor paper and Faber-Castell's Gelatos.  This is my first time watercoloring and distressing with Gelatos and I am super impressed with the vibrant colors. 

I also used the following supplies:
Ink: clear emboss (Versamark), Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Paper:  watercolor paper 140 lb (Canson), Premium White Cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).
Accessories:  metallic platinum sparkle embossing powder (WOW!), gold glitter pen (Gellyroll), Gellatos (Faber-Castell).



This Mon Ami stamp set embossed beautifully using a platinum sparkle embossing powder.  The embossing really helps to keep your watercolors contained in the image.  No seeping out of the lines.

I hope you'll play along with us for your chance to win!

All you have to do is make your own Off The Edge card,  then link it up over on the 

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge blog by March 21st ----------->HERE<--------------

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!