MFT November Stamp Release Party!

Ladies....if you haven't checked it out yet make sure to stop by the Members Companies area of SCS, it has some wonderful companies, one of them being My Favorite Things! Well tonight they are having a party for the release of three new sets (one which can be seen below...I love PaperPretties!). At the party there are a few challenges, this one is all about making a box...so to continue in making boxes here is my entry! I used the You Take the Cake set, one of my personal favorites!
EDIT: Ladies! Guess what?! It turns out that the challenge had a prize, and being that I was the first to post my box, I won a free stamp set! I choose the MFT Time for the Bubbly set, which is a super cute set that I have been eyeing for some time now. Thank you Kim for the wonderful party, designs, stamps, and the opportunity to win some wonderful goodies!

Paper Pretties Boxes!

Ladies, today I received my Bella and My Favorite Things boxes from Paper Pretties! I love when these packages arrive, I never know what will be inside, but I am always thrilled. As always I took a picture of each boxes contents and I made up the sample each box was put together to create. I will make my own sample with my own design some time this week, but in the mean time enjoy the contents and the supplied sample. Thanks again Christie! I just love these boxes!The paper that came in my Bella box is so pretty and wonderful, it is all from Crete Paper and I think I may need to but a few more sheets of this stuff! The paper is very elegant and the colors are lovely, plus the card design is too cute! This months box also came with some Bella Baubles....LOVE them!
I love this new MFT stamp set! This set is called "By the Seashore" and it will be released to everyone on the 1st of November, which is one of the perks to ordering a PaperPretties MFT box, you get sets before they are released! Remember, you have until the 31st to sign up for a PaperPretties box without paying the membership fee. Just let Christie know that Jackie R sent you!

Bouncing Brayer

After seeing the PaperPretties gals trying out this technique, so I decided to try it out as well. I dug through my ready to be inked stamps to find this Ollie and Olivia stamp. I thought it looked like a good sunset picture of the two of them. Hope you gals like, it think I will be trying this technique again it was a lot of fun!

Peek-A-Boo Boxes

I saw these boxes on a few blogs recently and I just had to join in the fun on making some of these adorable boxes. So I decided to make a set of them for the Christmas Friend Swap I am hosting. This set of goodies is going to Group #2, you are some lucky ladies! I used paper from the Glitter Christmas Stack I got last weekend at A.C.Moore, as well as some Brilliant Blue paper for the backing on the Winobella image. Inside each of these boxes you will find mints, and not just any mints, but my two favorite mints! Each box comes with Andes chocolate mints as well as some Life-Saver Wint O Green mints....yummy! Hope you enjoy these....off to try a new technique using a brayer I saw on the PaperPretties Designer Blogs!

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. So....Christie from PaperPretties tagged me....how rude! To be honest Christie is a great person with a wonderful company, if you have yet to do so make sure to check it out, PaperPretties. In fact if you sign up from now until October 31st your membership fee ($7.50) will be waived for Happy Halloween Hoorah!

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog, we all want to know them).

This should be interesting....

1. Not only do I still work for my town library but I am an AVID reader. I would say I read about 3 or 4 books a week, unless of course I have a free weekend, then its no stopping me!

2. I collect anything with Roses! I have feather, shell, glass, wood, clay, stone, leather and even apple roses in all different colors, shapes and sizes.

3. I am a neat freak! Everything has to be just so, in fact if I have too many things to do I can not clean anything. Either it stays as it is or I spend hours, sometimes days organizing everything.

4. I eat chips in size and shape order. If I pour myself chips I eat all the pieces and then the whole chips....I don't know why I do such odd things, but I do.

5. I make graphics for various things, right now most of my graphics are for a Harry Potter website I moderate.

6. Which brings me to my next random thing.....I am a volunteer at a Harry Potter website. It is similar to SCS in that people go to chat about all different types of things and I was asked about a year ago to join the staff, I accepted and now I come up with ideas and graphics for the site.

7. Ummmm.....I play Bingo! That's right....I am 23 years old and I play Bingo at the local church every now and then. I love the chance to win something, of course I never do, but the fact is that I can win!

And last but not least: tag more people! The lucky ladies are:

Jody

Heidi

Angie

Lori

Janet

Heidi

Tammy

Sorry ladies!

Busy Bee....

I have been busy altering all sorts of goodies! So I thought I would share them with all of you the first goodie is an altered mason jar that my Demo designed. My favorite part of this jar is how genius it is! Using a mason jar is a great idea for a candy jar, you can unscrew the cap and remove the insert allowing for everyone to enjoy the candy. I will be adding candy corn to this jar for work next week, they're going to love it!Next up.....something I altered for this months Wish RAK swap. This round it is called a THANKFUL exchange with a wonderful fall theme. The tin is from one of the Prima tins I purchased this past summer inside there are all sorts of goodies for my THANKFUL friend. of course I can not reveal who this tin full of fall delights will be going to, but it is just so cute I had to share!Last but not least, my first attempt at One Sheet Wonders using the PaperTrey Believe set. Using four SU! colors plus Basic Black I created several sheets of decorative paper to create these adorable goodie cones....or at least that is what I am calling them. Inside there is chocolates which are tied up with some red grosgrain ribbon and then adorned with a scalloped oval and the sentiment 'Believe'. So let me know what you think about my recent altered goodies....there will be more to come. I have plans for my two other Christmas Friend Swap groups, which I will also be posting soon. So come back soon!

Enjoy

So two Friday's ago I had my K.I.T. Club meeting and we made two cards and a project. Here is one of the cards, which uses a set that will be coming out in the new SU! Catty as well as the gold elastic cord, which is actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be. We used a technique where we emboss and then de-emboss to create the layered effect that you see. I love this card! It is just so much fun, so I had to share, although I did not design the card, I did create it. Enjoy!

Tomorrow I should be posting one of the projects I created for my Christmas Friend Swap on SCS. One of the projects are done, but I need to put some finishing touches on it...I used the PaperTrey Believe set on this project and I can't decide which stamp company and set will be next! Make sure to stop by tomorrow evening!

Sorry that my posting has become sporadic, I’ve been running around doing all sorts of non-stamp related things. Friday night I ventured into New York City to meet one of the ladies who attended the UK trip I went on this summer. Her daughter had won tickets to the JKR reading and book signing on Friday night at Carnegie Hall. I unfortunately did not win tickets, but I did meet up with Joyce and her daughter Kim for dinner and after the event drinks at a place called Ava Lounge. The entire evening was a blast, it was nice to see Joyce again, plus I got along wonderfully with Kim who is only a few years older then me.

Saturday I spent the day recovering from all the NYC walking and shopping! My boyfriends 25th birthday was Saturday so I picked up some fishing things that he love plus the new Transformers movie. When I got to his house he had a bouquet of white roses waiting for me! Apparently Saturday was something called ‘Sweetest Day’ so he got me roses, plus he got his Mom a cute plant and a bouquet of wild flowers for his Grandma. Is he the best or what!

I haven't created any cards recently, but I thought I would update you on how things are going for me behind the scenes. Hope to post some cards soon!

At the Cafe

So today I decided to break in my new MFT 'Meet Me at the Cafe' stamp set and I just love it! I only own 6 Copic markers and I put them to good use on this card, in fact I used all of the Copics I own. I am still learning how to use these markers and I created the shading effects by using layers of colors from the markers I already own. I cut out the ladies and matted it on a piece of SU! DP, then I went back and drew the lines that the set includes free handed, I think it works. Then I used the PaperTrey white CS and the cute little 'Oh La La' sentiment....Love it! I can't wait to play with the other two sets I received with this one, they are just all wonderful stamps to use.

Friends Forever

Well, it turns out that Nichole picked a card for the WCMD Card Contest that I never shared with you! Out of the 16 cards I created she picked one of my cards from what I thought the hardest digital kit to create with was. Don’t get me wrong I loved all three sets and I had a blast making these cards, but the Bloom set was the hardest for me to create something that I felt was good enough. If you roamed through the PaperTrey gallery you will see what I mean! The entries were amazing and the styles used throughout all the cards and projects were noteworthy to say the least, I would not have wanted to pick only a few winning cards from all the creations! So without further ado the card that Nichole would like a tutorial on (LOL)…
I love how the layering comes through on this card. I am a huge fan or drop shadows on any graphics I create so I used the same method to these digital cards, out of the 16 I think only three or four did not include drop shadows below the image.

I started with the two background graphics, split the card at about 60% and 40%. I then added the leaf ‘ribbon’ as I thought of it to the divide between the patterns, allowing for each pattern to stand out on its own. I just kept adding the small leaves to complete a full line across the card. I then added the ‘Friends Forever’ sentiment circle over the entire thing, making sure to leave some of it overlapping the ‘ribbon’ I created. But I wasn’t done yet! The card was wonderful as it was, but it needed something else to make it pop. I added a drop shadow to the sentiment and the leaf ‘ribbon’. I loved the look, but it needed something else still so I embossed the ribbon a bit allowing it to stand out and really have a defined ribbon like quality. I hope you enjoy the card…I plan on posted the step by step graphics to this to let you see what I mean. Have a great day all!

Guess What!?!

It turns out that I was one of the lucky ones last night. I won the WCMD challenge from PaperTrey! One of the cards I created for the contest was chosen as one of the six winners. I am thrilled to say the least...I mean little o' me won something! I honestly was so excited that I couldn't fall asleep last night, I was just too thrilled.

The reaction from my SCS friends, the Paper Pretties ladies and my online friends have been amazing! I still can not believe the reaction. I have received PMs, e-mails and congratulations postings all over.


Thank you to each and every one of you wonderful ladies who have sent your kind words, especially to Nichole for choosing one of my cards to win some wonderful PaperTrey sets. I stayed up last night expecting to purchase two wonderful sets and some tins and now I only have the tins to purchase! I promise to share any cards I create with these sets once they arrive :)
These are the notebooks I created for a Penny Black and Bella notebook swap on Splitcoast Stampers. I can't wait to see what the other wonderful ladies created, altering things is always a blast! Well, that is all for now. Once I know which card was selected I will post the news and the card here for all to see!

Hello All

Sorry I haven't posted since Thursday. I've been buys making graphics for the HP website I am a part of plus I've been wading through all this mail! I am currently running three swaps (I added one on SCS tonight) and everything is starting to come in. In fact I received a wonderfully altered notebook and purse box from Molly who is a doll! She picked me for her friend for the friendship swap! Included in the altered purse box was the a wonderful Fella! That's right....Grillafella arrived at my home. I can't wait to use him, in fact he is now mounted but I haven't used him yet, don't worry something to come soon!

I did make one more wonderful card from the Believe PaperTrey set before sending out that massive box for the Paper Pretties Card Swap and in celebration of their new stamp set releases tonight I decided to share it with you! Hope you like it. No the wreath did not come with the set but a small spring of leaves and berries do so I created the wreath! I love it! Hope you enjoy it too.

Also Paper Pretties has introduced TWO new monthly clubs! The Copics Color Club and the Nestabilities Now Club. Talk about great ideas! Both the Copic markers and the Nestabilities N are expensive so Christie has come up with a way to get them all in an inexpensive way. You will receive 6 markers a month or one set of dies a month, depending on which class you sign up for. If you decide to join please remember to tell her that Jackie Rakoski sent you!

Veggie Bella

Today I received some wonderful goodies from my GF on SCS Kelli. I joined a monthly swap where we send each other a specific type of items for a particular month. This month its all about brads and eyelets and man did I get some brads and eyelets! I received 3 containers with four types of eyelets each, plus XL brads from Heidi Swapp, and a flower shaped container of winter shaped brads. Love it all! I had to use at least one item tonight so I pulled up my Paper Pretties Yahoo Group Weekly Challenge and got stamping. I love how well this XL brad works with the entire card. Thank you very much Kelli! I can't wait for November!

The problem I have been having with my Veggiebella is that I am coloring her in all wrong. So I ordered some Copic markers over at eclecticpaperi with some of the Glimmer Mist so I used both on this card as well as the wonderful sentiment from StampingBella 'you grow girl'. I mean whats not to love!

World Card Making Day!

This is late.....so late! Well I mentioned that I went to my Demo's for a WCMD celebration but I didn't share any of the cards we made. She had 8 different cards set up in four baskets. Each basket had two different cards, one Birthday and one Holiday per basket. Now the best part of these cards were that the used the same supplies, paper, and colors to create two very different cards. I loved the idea, plus since I told her early that I was coming I got to make two additional cards for free! I choose to make two cards from some old cards she had demoed for a stamping stack earlier this month. I sent many of the cards I made to the PP card swap and one out to my DSS, so here are the ones I have yet to use. These are all made with two colors being Bashful Blue and Bravo Burgundy and all SU! supplies. Enjoy....

Here is the additional card I made, it was so simple! I rolled the Jumbo Wheel over some Versamark and embossed the image with Black embossing powder. This card uses one of the In Colors and I love it! I would never have thought to use Groovy Guava as a Halloween card.

Digi Cards

So, I haven't been posting but that doesn't mean I haven't been making things over here. The above are a bunch of both 'handmade' and 'digital' cards I have created for the PaperTrey challenge. On the 15th the new release of at least 3 new stamps sets will be revealed and I will waiting and watching. Enjoy the card creations and look forward to my new MFT cards and when they arrive some cards from the new Hanna Stamps set that came out last weekend. I am loving all the new stamp companies I am trying out, it makes stamping a blast. As you may have noticed I do not only use SU! although I own MANY SU! sets and supplies I discovered all the other companies out there and I am trying them out deciding what works for me and what doesn't. So far I am loving acrylic stamps but I will always love my rubbah! Have a great night all.

Digi Kits

Well.....PaperTrey has partnered up with Paper Crafts to bring a few free digital kits. I have never attempted to make a card this way, but I thought I would give it a try so here is what I created so far with the first set, Snowflake Serenity. Enjoy....I am loving WCMD....all sorts of sales and events, how can anyone not love this community!

There is another set available now and one is being posted tomorrow. I promise to share any other creations I come up with!

More Cards!

Well, since the due date is soon the Christmas cards will be starting to slow down. I am going to a WCMD event that my Demo is hosting this weekend where she has designed 8 different cards and I know that 4 of the 8 are Holiday cards. Today I only used my PaperTrey sets, the new sets are just so much fun! Plus today was another great mail day. I received the brads I ordered through Heidi (pinkhedgehog @ SCS), her bog link is on the side, these brads are great! I also received the new My Favorite Things stamps that I ordered on Monday. I can't believe they already arrived! I hope to try the sets out when I get a chance, they are so great!A super simple elf card, just lots of layers but cute anyway.I love this set! PaperTrey did an excellent designing this set. I also love blue as a holiday card, so serene.Another layout with this super set. There are so many options for what you can do with the 'Take a Bough' set, all different pieces to create specialized ornaments. Wonderful!
I think that this card is my favorite of all the cards I have created. I dug out my Blitzen DP and I love it! If you look really close you can see little reindeer in this decorative paper. Love it!

Just a few....and News!

You know how I told you I won a challenge from the Bellaholics weekend, well my prize has arrived! Em sent me a Bella Bindah plus inserts for it! My Bellas are loving the new house, it is the best! I honestly don't know why I didn't buy one for myself earlier. LOVE it!


Now its time for some new Christmas cards, these are due soon so I will be sending (I hope 40) cards for the Paper Pretties charity card drive. These 5 bring my current total to 36, so I know at least 36 card will soon be postal!Isn't this elf adorable, I love the style of this set.This card is classy, I used my Brilliance Inks and the 'Tough Branch' set from PaperTrey. Doesn't this card just work well together!Another example with these cute elves! Plus the fun background paper!I don't know what happened to this card. I started with a nice stamped scene of ornaments and silver and it ended up sort of puzzle like. So let me know what you think about this one, I'm a bit unsure about it really.

I really like this card, I think the colors work and the silver is a great touch. I really love the new PaperTrey sets!