Happy Retirement...

 Our first August challenge is to create a retirement card.  When I was browsing through all the great stamps at Serendipity Stamps, when I came across this Screen Door stamp (oo1k).  It spoke to me of the calm and serenity that we are all looking forward to after we retire.  I can imagine myself sitting on this front porch with the cool breeze blowing. 

I colored the image with copics and then cut it with my die cuts.  I used a big one and one smaller to create a frame on the outside of the card, and have the rest of the image on the inside of the card.  I love the 3D feel that it gives to the card.  Then for some extra oomph I added brads and wrapped twine around them.

These are the copic colors that I used to achieve my sunny front porch look.

 

 

Now on to the creation of the other amazing team members:

 Miriam's Blog
 Jenny's Blog

Jeanne's Blog

For Serendipity's second August challenge we'll have two new designers joining the team... so look forward to that later in the month!

Special: Free shipping on orders over $10 until August 13th.

And as always don't forget to check out Serendipity Stamps! Mary runs a great site, has great sales, and links to the gallery and blog.

Heating it up...

I know isn't it hot enough?  Yes but this kind of heat is good, heat embossing. Mary wanted us to use heat embossing and Christmas themed stamps if we could bring ourselves to do it.  I chose these beautiful trees, because with embossing powder they look so beautiful. (Tree Flourish Large 1234G and Tree Flourish Small 1235C)

 

And here is the card I created!  A simple design yet I feel it still has some pop to it.

A quick view from the side so you can see the trees stand out.

Supplies:

Flourish Tree Stamps Small and Large from Serendipity Stamps

Versa Mark Ink

White embossing powder
Heat gun

Shimmer green, red, black, and polka dot cardstock

Red jewels

White star jewel

Wide red ribbon

Be sure to check out the other projects by Serendipity's Designers:

 Miriam's Blog
 Jenny's Blog

Jeanne's Blog

And as always don't forget to check out Serendipity Stamps! Mary runs a great site, has great sales, and links to the gallery and blog.

How does your garden grow?

Welcome to Serendipity Stamps first challenge of July.  We were challenged to use and of the garden type stamps that Serendipity has... and boy do they have a lot.  I happened to have the Pea Package Cling set(1210QCL) one of my favorites on hand.  And in keeping with my new obsession with Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), I decided to go that route again.  

I stamped the image on light green card stock and white.  I used my prisma pencils to color in the Peapods.  I then cut them out and adhered them with pop dots on top of the ones stamped on the green.  I mounted the green on yellow cardstock.  Then for the finishing touches I added this great trim that reminded me of peas, and added green gems on top of the stamped peas...

Here is a side shot so you can see how the pea pods stand up off the page.  These little ATCs are so much fun and so easy.  And I just love popping them into a card or package that I send off to someone. 

Check out the other designer's gardens:

Sue's Blog

 Miriam's Blog
 Jenny's Blog

Jeanne's Blog

And as always don't forget to check out Serendipity Stamps! Mary runs a great site, has great sales, and links to the gallery and blog.

The current special running is 20% off of your order!

So I may have mentioned it before but I love the craftster.org site... it's amazing... so much inspiration and talent over there!  And I love the swaps they have... just participated in two great ones... felt badges and disney! I had two partners for felt badges and sent two to each partner... both of my partners were perfect for me in this swap... below behold bacon, and a tiny hedgehog in a mushroom forest!

 

 And then stitch on a hawaiian flower and a kawaii apple... it's hard to see but his eyes are all glittery.  and yes stitch is all made of felt, instead of cutting out all the tiny pieces I painted on the felt!

And these are the Disney goodies I made... a simple coin purse... I'm pretty new to the sewing world, and some mickey barrets.

 And my partner collects Mr. Potato Heads, and wanted hoops so I sewed this up for her!  And I made two things out of perler beads and forgot to take pictures of them!

And I received two of my badges already aren't they fab!  Snoopy came right from my pinterest, and the little Disney guy is perfect!

So really if you haven't been over to check out Craftster... do it now!

Feeling Nutty!

So our challenge for this week was two fold.  Use one of the border or corner stamps and use the colors in the color challenge! Lately I've been quite obsessed with two things.  ATCs: Artist Trading Cards and squirrels!  So I decided that the border I had chosen would be perfect for this!

 Using the Acorn border (385D) I colored my card with copics and stamped the acorns randomly on top.  Then I printed a cute squirrel in her house dress.. and dolled it up with some flocking.  I stuck it to the card with pop dots, and added a little dream bubble full of acorns.  I hope she has sweet dreams.

And now on to see what the other designers have created:

Sue's Blog

 Miriam's Blog
 Kathie's Blog
 Jenny's Blog

Jeanne's Blog

And as always don't forget to check out Serendipity Stamps! Mary runs a great site, has great sales, and links to the gallery and blog.

The special until the 25th of June is buy three items get the 4th free!

Two new goodies...

Here are two of the projects I've been working on.  My first full sized crochet blanket.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  The blanket is for my niece who graduated high school this year.  The colors are the colors of the college she will be attending.  I'm so proud of you Sam.

Here is a close up of the stitches.

And here is the first project I've finished in a while that I am so proud of and want to show off to everyone.  I took the bag class with the fabulous Cheryl Wiederspan.  She was a great teacher and made making this bag so easy, especially considering it's my first major sewing project. 

Here is a shot of the inside where I added lots of pockets to hold stuff.  In nice bright fabrics so I can see what I'm after.

And one of the best parts is you unbutton the buttons and flip the bag around for a totally different look.  And did you notice the outside pocket has a zipper... yes a zipper and I put it in all by myself!  Amazing.

America the beautiful!

Our Challenge for this week is to make a patriotic card, and to use glitter.  I chose the America the Beautiful stamp (318E).  I stamped the stamp on a die cut, and inked the edge in blue and added a thin black border.  Then to make it pop a bit more I colored the leaves in red, white, and blue.

For the base of the card I masked it off and inked blue and red in the patter of the American flag.  And then I brought in the glitter.  For the white stripes I used a super sparkly glitter.  I think it really makes the background pop.  Then I mounted the die cut with foam tape, and added a black card stock border to the back.  

Be sure to check out all the other amazing designs:

Sue's Blog

 Miriam's Blog
 Kathie's Blog
 Jenny's Blog

Jeanne's Blog

And as always don't forget to check out Serendipity Stamps! Mary runs a great site, has great sales, and links to the gallery and blog.