Simply

Thanks!


Serendipity's Second project for December was to create a simple thank you card for after Christmas!

My finished card size is 4"x3". I stamped the thank you with Serendipity 559E Horizontal Thank You II. Embossed it with silver embossing powder, and then accented it with a red pen. I then tore a strip off the bottom and inked it in red. The final touch was wrapping a ribbon around the top and tying a bow!

Thanks for checking out my final project of the year now on to the other Design Team blogs:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

An apple a day...

...keeps the winter blues away...
I can totally see this with a little worm coming out of it, or as a caramel apple!

Tiny Turtle I made for Jac it's sitting on his head so you get an idea of size.

And looking my best here, but this is the super cute hat I made myself.. hoping you'll notice the hat and not my appearance!

Merry Months

For our challenge this time we each needed to pick a different month stamp to use. I chose February because well it's my birthday month! And I chose red, cream, and black which is one of my favorite color combos!


For a different look I stamped with a glue pad and covered the image in flocking, it gives it such a warm fuzzy feeling!


Supplies:
^Serendipity Stamps February (586F)
^Card base finished size 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
^Cardstock in black, and cream
^Red and cream patterned paper
^Glue pad
^Red Flocking
^Black pen
^Corner punch
^Red gems
^Black ribbon

Directions:
~Cover card in black cardstock, layer red and cream paper on top. Add ribbon down the middle.
~Stamp image with glue pad, and cover with flocking. Cut out image, use corner punch and mat on black cardstock.
~Adhere to center of card, and add red gems to corners, and add dimension with black pen.
~Tie a bow out of same ribbon and attach below stamped image!

On to our other designers for the month,
I can't wait to see what they came up with!

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Corporate Brains...

... taste best to the Corporate Zombie....


BRAINS.... BRAINS.... BRAINS!
More crochet amigurumi love here! And In honor of the only hard working corporate guy I really know I have christened this guy Mikey!

And for a moment of relief I've gotten a new book all about crochet food, so expect some of that in the near future!

Nothing says Thanksgiving like....

... the Vampire Queen Drusilla.



Drusilla turned out to be much easier than Xena... no little bikini to worry about, the only part that was longer was the hair. Since Xena sported the pony tail completely covering her head wasn't necessary, but it was for Dru. And in turn she has this great head of crazy thick hair.


Sorry the pictures are kinda cruddy, but Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Coasting along...

Coasters...
That is the second Serendipity Stamps project for this month!



This may be my first project that looks better in the photo than in real life. I had to get online and look up tutorials and find out what the best coloring choices were and I went with chalks, and I'm not super good with them.

Supplies:
Lemonade Picture Serendipity Stamp (989G)
Tile Coaster
Black Staz On ink
Chalks
Heat Tool
Oven

Directions:
1. Stamp image on tile with Staz on ink. Set with heat tool.
2. color in image with chalks.
3. Set oven to 300 degrees and bake tile for 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the oven.

Now many a website told me that baking the tile would set the ink and chalk permanently, well I can still run my finger over it and come away with color? And other sites said that sealing the tile is a bad idea because it loses it's ability to absorb moisture? Any ideas on that, I'd be happy to hear them!

On to our other designers for the month,
I can't wait to see what they came up with!

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Quake with fear....

...at the site of the Amazon another cutie from Creepy Cute Crochet.
I'm going to call her Xena.. man do I miss that show (insert Xena war cry here).
This little lady started off just like the ninjas.. body was easy peasy!
Then her little outfit... ughh took forever but she isn't naked. And then hair was super hard, but I concorquered.

Here she is hanging out in the jungle surrounded by scary animals of all sorts, but she remains calm!

And here is my little guy posing with his jungle creation. I think he did a great job!

so delicious...

It's girls night out, there will be snacking and spoons.. what should I take?
Why Maple French Toast Bacon Cupcakes of course!
And they taste as good as they look, and smell even better! And I could sit down with a spoon and just eat the icing out of the bowl!

Stealthy cuteness

Times 2!

Well ninja number 2 is done... and just as sweet as the first, if not a little bigger? Why you ask? Well so do I, same pattern, same brand and type of yarn? It's a mystery?

All Business...

This time the Serendipity Stamps design team was challenged to make a card that fits into a business envelope, that makes my finished card 4" x 9".

Here is a close up of the sentiment and the coloring on two of the cupcakes. I had a good time with these cupcakes, making them bright and fun, and you know if you eat one it will turn your mouth colors!

Supplies:
Cupcakes Cling Set (1161QCL)
Copic Markers
Black Ink
Yellow glitter glue

Directions:
1. Cut a card base so the finished size is 4" x 9", stamp the sentiment in the upper right corner, and then randomly stamp candles around it.
2. Cut a piece of paper to 9" long and add a wavey top, adhere to bottom of card.
3. Stamp five big cupcakes and color them, and cut them out. Adhere to card along the wavey line.
4. Color in candles and add glitter glue to lines around flames!

I hope you enjoyed this months first project, it makes me want to go eat some cupcakes.... now please check out the other designers blogs:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

....

So about 6 months or so ago I decided I would learn to crochet... now mind you my grandmother had tried to teach me many years ago, and well I was a miserable failure. But in the day and age of youtube... I have succeded. I made a few blankets, some flowers,and a tiny wee baby hat at prayer shawl group at church.. Then one magical day at Barnes and Nobel I found the book Creepy Cute Crochet, by Christen Haden.... and knew that the little guys in the book would be next.. and since Jim bought me the book, I told him he'd get the first guy, a ninja!

Here he is being very ninja like hiding among my fall pumpkins and gourds.


And here he is blending in with my laptop.... very ninja like, right? I can't get over how stinking cute this guy is.. and that I made it?




And with so many more choices in the book look forward to more super cute amigurumi creatures in the future!

Simple Christmas Cards!

For October's second Serendipity Challenge we are keeping things simple!

I chose stamp from the new Christmas stamps and kept it to three colors. I had the urge to add glitter and had to keep myself in check, simple!

Supplies:
* Tree Flourish Large (1234G)
* Simple Merry Christmas Small (1035D)
* Red card base finished size 4" x 4"
* White Cardstock 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
* Ink Green and Red
* Green Ric Rak

Directions:
~ Stamp the tree towards the top side of the white square in green. Stamp Merry Christmas at the bottom using red.
~ Attach white square to red front. Tie the ric rak around the top of the card, and you are finished!

Now check out the other awesome projects here:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Elk county and a surprise...

so it seems like every year Jac and I make the trek to Elk County with my parents to see the Elk now they are huge and beautiful animals but I always have an ulterior motive.... BEARS! Yes I think I may have been the last person in Pennsylvania to not see a black bear! This year I finally fixed that with not one, not two, but three bears together!

Here we have the biggest Elk of the trip.... just hanging out by the side of the road eating.. it was also the rut season so we got to hear lots of bugling which is super cool!


Jac at the Elk Center in the discovery room!

Although the turkey fan looks great at as a headdress, that's not where turkeys wear theirs....



And last but never least... the bears.. okay so I got super excited and didn't get any great pictures, but that little black blob to the left of the house, baby bear I swear it...

Meet

Rockelle



So my mother and her cohorts at work have a weird sense of humor. When someone has surgery or some such thing they make a party out of it. In this case someone is having their gallbladder out becuase of stones... so hence the stone theme! My mom asked for a cute pet rock with sticky up hair and a bow! And this is what I came up with. Of course at work today she will certainly pass this cutie off as her own!

Hobby Time!

Challenge: Create a card based on your other hobby or the hobby of someone else!
Using the sketch below!


So I chose hunting which is very popular in my neck of the woods, especially at this time of year!



Since the finished card is small 4" x 4 1/4" I decided that I would only use a portion of the stamp I chose. I just love how that turned out, gives a whole new look the large stamp it started out as!

Supplies:
Buck stamp (116L) Serendipity Stamps
Card Blank (finished size 4" x 4 1/4")
Patterned Paper
Ribbon
Brown Ink
Sponge

Directions:
*Ink edges of pattered paper, and adhere ribbon around middle.
*Stamp part of buck image on small square and mat with brown cardstock. Lightly ink over the image as well as the edges.
*Adhere image to center of card. Adhere patterned paper to card front!

Sweet and simple on this one, but it still looks finished and polished to me!

Now check out the other awesome projects here:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Words of Encouragement

Serendipity's second challenge for the month was to use a stamp that offered encouragement! Mary wanted us all to use different stamps, and make sure that the sentiment was the highlight! So with this in mind I decided to keep the card simple so the saying stood out!

And here you have it!

Supplies:

Live Each Season Stamp (1003E)
White Cardstock
Black Cardstock
Black Ink
A range of ink colors from a dark to a light... I used two lighter yellows and two lighter greens and a darker green.
Sponge
Black Pen
Black flower brads
Black velvet trim (mine is doodlebug)

Directions:

* Begin by inking a 4x4 square of white cardstock all over with yellow using a sponge. Then using the darkest green ink the lower left corner. Ink a stripe across the middle with the lightest green. Then using the other yellow and green blend the middle out to the corners. You can also go back and add other colors and keep blending till you are happy with the results.

* Stamp the sentiment in the middle with black. Using your black pen make lines 1/4" in on each side. Where the lines cross add the flower brads.

* Make a card base out of black cardstock a quarter inch bigger than the white square. Adhere your square to the middle and add trim around the edges. I mitered the corners for a finished look.

Now on to the other great projects this month, check them all out here:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check out Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Fall Fun!

This month my task was to create a card based on the sketch below, using the new Autumn/Fall stamps from Serendipity!



So I took the sketch just like it was and whipped up this card! Isn't the Autumn stamp adorable!

Supplies:
~ Autumn Serendipity Stamp (1223H)
~ Brown ink
~ Fall Patterned Paper
~ Coordinating cardstocks
~ Colored pencils
~ felt leaves
~ velvet or felt ribbon

Directions:
1. Cut patterned paper to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Cut brown strip to 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhere in center of patterned paper. Cut off white cardstock to 3"x 4 1/2", cover with felt leaves and trim of excess leaves, adhere to top center of brown strip.

2. Stamp image in brown, color with colored pencils and cut out! Using pop dots adhere over top of leaves. Add ribbon to edge. Super simple!

But I couldn't be done there not when that adorable spider was still calling out my name! So I created this one as well. Enjoy!

Cute and glittery too!

Now hop on and check out the other awesome projects! I'm sure you'll be inspired.

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Spooooky....

When Mary emailed us and asked us all for ideas for the new fall line, I jumped right in and suggested a cutesy spider. Now this coming from a girl who is terrified of spiders might be a bit of a surprise, but when you make them super cute, I'm sucked in. So much to my great delight when the new stamps arrived on my doorstep a cutsey spider was included!

I also happened to be shopping at AC Moore on Saturday and came across this small carvable pumpkin, I'd seen big ones before, but never a little one. I just knew that it and the spider stamp went together.

Imagine I had an idea of something a bit spookier but how could this little guy ever be scary? No way! And of course I started out thinking just the spider inside and some ribbon and it spiraled out of control!


The little boo stamp also comes in the set with the spider I used my xacto knife to make thin slits to stick the transparency into. I also stamped the spider on transparency with staz-on, and colored on the back of the image with galaxy markers that don't smear on shiny surfaces.


Plenty of coloring on the pumpkin and added ribbons with cute Halloween buttons finish the look!

Oh Baby!!

Serendipity's second August Challenge has arrived! This month we are highlighting some of the beautiful baby stamps that Serendipity has available!

Isn't that frame adorable... I just love to use them, and love it even better that they are only $3 at Walmart. I could have picked any name, but well I admit that I like seeing my name on things so I went ahead and used it!

Supplies:

* Christening Gown Stamp (627H) From Serendipity Stamps
* 6" x 12" frame
* Coordinating papers
* Coordinating letter stickers or die cuts ( I used Lyrical Letters on the Cricut)
* Brown Ink
* Colored Pencils
* Gamsol and stump for blending
* Paper flowers
* Ribbon

Directions:

* Cut pieces to fit into frame, each frame is a little different so you may need to play with the sizes a bit. Ink edges of all pieces.
* Stamp image in brown ink and color with colored pencils, blending with Gamsol for a smooth look.
* Adhere letters to center square.
* Embellish letters with flowers.
* Adhere bow to outside of frame, and add flowers to it as well!

Here is a close up of the adorable little dress!

Now for the other goodies this month check out the other Designers Blogs...

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Gotta scrap those pictures...

Seems like lately all I've been doing is making cards or projects but doing very little actual scrapbooking of my photos... so I hit the scrap room with Disney photos in hand.... I love how this page turned out but it makes me a bit sad because it reminds me of all the great topiary pictures on the lost memory card... :(

This layout uses the zipadee line from Close To My Heart! Enjoy! Maybe the faster I get my last Disney pictures scrapped the sooner I can go back?

Write on...

Serendipity's first challenge this month was to use stamps that showed writing.... not hard since they have a great selection of stamps to choose from in that category... but I fell in love with the Feather Pen (192D), it's so swirly and elegant looking.

And since having a few teacher friends and a few friends who are avid journal writers I thought I'd make up a card that was also a gift.

Here's my card.. it was super simple, would make such great writing prizes or just a gift from the teacher, and would be great in so many color schemes, school colors, holiday colors, or favorite colors.

Supplies:
Feather Pen Serendipity Stamp (192D)
Three coordinating pens
Three colors of cardstock to match pens
Coordinating Ink
White or other coordinating letter stickers

Directions:
* Cut card base to 4"x4" make two mats in coordinating colors.
* Cut a strip of paper to go around pens whatever size you need to hold pens you choose... Glue three colored strips together and score into a box, and adhere to card front.
* Stamp feather pen and cut out. Adhere to top of pen holder.
* Use letter stickers to spell out Write on.

Now for the other goodies this month check out the other Designers Blogs...

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Christmas in July!

Christmas in July! Our challenge for this month was to take a non Christmas image and make into a Christmas card! I had a lot of fun with this one! I took the chipmunk and wiped the part of the stamp with the daffodil clean. Then covered it with a red flower that I thought looked like a poinsettia. Then added white embossing powder around to look like snow!

Supplies:

Chipmunk Cling set (1201QCL)

Merry Christmas Casual Small (668C)

Red, White, and Green Cardstock

Black and Red ink

Green and white pens

Brown shades of Copic markers

Red paper flower

Green jewel

Green Ribbon

Emobssing pen and gun

white embossing powder

Directions:

1. Cut card front from red to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2

2. Stamp chipmunk in black, I used a paper towel to wipe off the daffodil the chipmunk was holding. Color with markers. Cut into ciricle.

3. Cut scalloped circle out of green (I used nesties dies) add white dots to all scallops.

4. Using embossing pen add snow to the grass, leaf, and end of chipmunks nose.

5. Add snow to red flower and ahdere to card with green jewel center.

6. Tie ribbon around top of card. Stamp Merry Christmas in Red on small tag and attach under bow.

7. Add doodles to edge of card and tag!

Now for the other goodies this month check out the other Designers Blogs...

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

A trip in the way back machine....

For our first July Challenge Mary asked us to pick a stamp from one of her early lines. Once I saw this pile of books I knew that was the one I wanted to use.



This is a big card... 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 since I don't usually make big cards I was surprised at how much I liked it big. Lots of room to play with the big stamps.

Supplies:

Books Stamp set (063QCL)
Brown Cardstock
Yellow/Green pattern paper
Pattern Paper that looks like ledger paper
Brown Ribbon
Brown ink
Bronze Brads
Bronze glitter
Border punch (mine is from Fiskars)

Directions:

* Cut Brown cardstock to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
* Cut Pattern Paper 1/2 inch smaller all around
* Border punch bottom of Pattern paper and a strip of brown cardstock, and another strip of pattern paper, adhere to back of big pattern paper.
* Ink edges in brown adhere to cardstock
* Stamp both stamps from set on ledger paper in brown ink.
* Ink edges and middles to give a worn appearance.
* Adhere to front of card with brads.
* Tie ribbon across card add double bow.
* Glitter around pattern paper and in holes of bottom punch.
* Adhere to card front!

Now for the other goodies this month check out the other Designers Blogs...

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

And for the rest of this year we have a special guest designer Jenny, check out her blog below!

Jenny's Blog



And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Cool Down with...

nice glass of lemonade!

This stamp from Serendipity just screams summer to me. I used Copics for coloring for nice vibrancy. And even though it's hard to tell I coated the picture with some liquid glass so it looks like it's made of glass! Enjoy!

Simple is as Simple does...

Junes second challenge involves simple cards, and since they were so simple I made two... each card took me less than five minutes to put together with just things laying on my desk at the time!
My first card uses the small set Martini glass cling set (896MCL). I made a standard A2 sized card 4 1/4" X 5 1/2". Stamped the image on white colored the glass blue and cut it out with Nestabilities and matted on a coordinating card stock. Adhered a half inch strip of patterned paper and stamped It's a Party below that and attached the circle on top of the strip! See Simple.


Card number two was just as easy! I cut the flowered card stock to the A2 size. Ran a yellow ribbon around the middle and inked all the edges in black. Then I stamped The Sweetest Joy is Love (1082D) on light blue and matted it in dark blue and stuck it to the middle of the card! Done and Done!

I couldn't even drive to the store to get a card as quickly and cheaply as I made these two! Don't forget to check out the other great Design Team creations:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

Jennifer's Blog


And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Have you seen a cuter dessert?

I'm getting back at my Disney album from our trip over a year ago... feeling the urge to go back and I can't if the last scrapbook isn't finished!

I knew I'd find them....

As soon as I got this fantastic new train stamp from Mary I knew what I wanted to do with it... as soon as I found the pictures... and I did. Toot toot! A few summers ago we visited the Strasburg Railroad in Strasburg PA! Jac had the best time checking out the trains and riding the rails!


I decided to try that aged look with the stamp again. I think it came out well...I used water color crayons and some sponged ink! Thanks for looking!

With Sympathy

This months Serendipity Stamps Challenge was a sympathy card using the following sketch created by Lynda from the Design Team. I chose to turn the sketch on it's side. And go with mostly subdued colors.

Supplies:

With Sympathy Stamp Serendipity Stamp (783D)
Patterned paper
Two coordinating card stocks one dark, one light
Hemp fibers
Off white pigment ink
White pen
foam mounting squares

Directions:

* Use the dark card stock for your base
* Adhere three strips of patterned paper one to each edge and a larger one in the middle
* Attach hemp to sides of patterned paper
* Cut rectangle from dark cardstock, a second smaller one from the light, and a third smaller from the dark adhere the rectangles together
* Using the pigment ink stamp the with sympathy in the middle of the small square (pigment ink takes a while to dry so be careful not to smudge)
* Using the pen make dots in corner of the large brown rectangle
* Using foam squares adhere the rectangles to the center of the card

The most challenging part of this card was keeping things low key. For a sympathy card I just didn't figure lots of bling and such would be appreciated or necessary!

Now onto more fun ideas from the rest of the Design Team:

Anya's Blog

Lynda's Blog

Kathie's Blog

Jennifer's Blog


And as always check the new contest at Serendipitystamps.com and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter to get those awesome deals!

Coming by....

to say HI!

And show you one of Serendipity Stamps newest stamps! Isn't this steam train just wonderful. It's so full of detail. I chose to stamp it in white on black to give it a chalkboard feel, and to keep it as simple as I could so that the image would shine!