Serendipity Stamps Challenge of the Month

It is time for another creative challenge from Serendipity Stamps and this month the design challenge is to create a monochromatic card using Serendipity Stamps. I was really excited about this challenge. Inasmuch as I love lots of color on my cards, this challenged provided an opportunity to use the color palette in a range of just one color.

As soon as Mary and Kelli announced the challenge theme to the design team I knew immediately which stamp set I wanted use. This little Hippo Set has the sweetest expression and I had to use her on a girly-girl all pink card. I think she'd be adorable for a newborn or perhaps 1st birthday card.

Card Recipe Ingredients:
Stamps: Serendipity Stamps, Hippo Cling Set Code: 072QCL
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black and Versafine Crimson Red
Designer Paper: Stampin' Up!
Colored with Copic Markers and Prisma Color Pencils
Accessories: Nestibilities circle and scalloped circle dies, Making Memories Photo corner punch, Prima Flower from the Nursery Tales Collection, Stickles on the bow, machine stitching.

Be sure to stop by the rest of the Serendipity Stamp team's blogs to view their monochromatic cards:

Amy Cokley
Anya Schrier
Kathie Bailey
Kelli Richardson
Lynda Benden
Shannon Teubner
Sue Eldred
Yvonne Hagane


Cheers!

Sweet Wonderful You!

Do you remember the funny little Freddie Frog card I posted a couple of days ago? He was one of Sunshine Designs new Roly Poly characters (scroll down two posts to see Freddie Frog.) Well today I want to introduce you to another Roly Poly character. She doesn't officially have a name on the stamp like Freddie does so I'm going to call this Roly Poly girl "Tami Teacup." Isn't she fun?



Card Recipe Ingredients:

Stamps: Sunshine Designs from THE STAMP BARN and Papertrey Ink for the sentiment tag
Designer Paper: Making Memories
Colored with Copic Markers
Accessories: Nestibilities oval and scalloped oval dies, Stampin' Up! small over circle punch, DMC white cotton thread, blue crystals, Stampin' Up! whisper pink grosgrain ribbon and a touch of stickles.


I have one more of the new Roly Poly characters to introduce to you in a couple days. I'd better get outside now and take the dogs for a walk before the temperature gets to high.

See you again soon.

Cheers!

Morning glories and other posies

I was wondering around in the yard at 6:45 this morning in my gown and robe, barefoot, coffee in one hand, camera in the other. I'm not a great photographer, but I do enjoy this time of day and communing with nature. These are a flew of my posies that greeted me this morning.

Freddie Frog Roly Poly

Shhhhhhhh! Don't tell me husband. Last week while he was away on business I did a little...ummmmm, let's make that a lot (!!) of new stamp shopping. Well, it was my birthday and I had no one but the dogs to celebrate with and of course I just knew my husband would want me to have fun on my birthday, so........ Ok, that's enough rationalizations.

I discovered some new stamps by Sunshine Designs and manufactured at The Stamp Barn, in Ottawa, Ontario. They are called the Roly Polys. I bought three different ones and I want to introduce you to my first little Roly Poly fellow called Freddie Frog. This little guy makes me smile in his frog costume so I just had to use SMILE as the sentiment.

Card Recipe Ingredients:

Stamps: Sunshine Designs (Freddie the Frog) and Papertrey Ink (sentiment)
Designer Paper: K&Company
Image colored with Copic Markers
Embellishments: Sunflower yellow Grosgrain ribbon, Dragongly brad from Michaels, Martha Stewart border punch.

It really is a simple card but one that I hope will bring a smile to the receiver.


I've colored my other two Roly Poly images for more whimsical cards but haven't decided on their layouts yet. So in the next few days, if you'd like to meet more of the Roly Polys, check back again.

Cheers!

Little gray elephant

Magnolia stamps have some new additions to their line. This sweet little elephant is one of the new magnolia animals. The first time I saw this little fellow I fell in love with him.

I wanted to try my hand at creating a card all in gray but not have it look dreary. This little elephant seemed to be the perfect stamp for my self proclaimed challenge.

I stamped the image three times and cut out the head twice mounting the layers on foam tape. I think this make the little fellow look very welcoming with his message of "hello."

Card recipe ingredients:

Stamps: Magnolia (elephant) and Papertrey Ink (sentiment)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo black
Designer Paper: Anna Griffin
Image coloring medium: Copic Markers
Accessories: Nestibilities hexagon dies, Sheer ribbon from Michaels, button from my stash, tiny pearls for eyes by Mark Richards pearls.

I think this elephant will make really cute children's cards. In fact, I know a little boy who might get a kick out of this little fellow.

Cheers!

A huge honor!

What an honor I've received! I'm tickled to announce that Scrapbook News and Review magazine , the leading papercrafting magazine on the internet, has chosen my blog
for the This Blog Rocks Award!

Truly, this is an honor and thrill and completely unexpected. Thank you so much!

If you don't read Scrapbook News and Review then click HERE and head on over to read all of the latest news in papercrafts.

Cheers!

Double embossing

I like fairies. I like the idea of fairies. I like Tinkerbell. Do you think there are garden fairies?

Well, today I'm introducing my very first fairy stamp. Meet Capri. Capri is one of the Enchanted Hollow collection that I recently purchased at Heather's Stamping Haven in Ottawa, Ontario. Heather has created a few other fairies in the Enchanted Hollow collection as well as a unicorn that is next on my shopping list.

This is my first card using Capri and I thought the image went perfectly with a challenge to use double embossing. The idea of double embossing is to use two different embossing folders and run them through your Cuttlebug, or whatever machineor method you use to emboss, and get a double pattern. For the background of this card I used the Cuttlebug swiss dots folder first and lightly sanded the surface to make the dots "pop". Then I used the swirls embossing folder on top to emulate the swirls on Capri's dress.

I also used a Nestibilities fancy flourish die for the swirl in pink and purple. The image was watercolored with Tombow markers and then I added a lot of stickles and crystals to give it more sparkle.

As is my usual problem, my photography doesn't pick up the mystical shimmery and glittery effect I've tried to achieve. Trust me. This card does sparkle with fairy dust.

Double embossing was a new technique to me. I'm always up for a challenge and it was a lot of fun to try out.

Have a great weekend!


Cheers!

Time for some lunch!

I've been out in the garden for a good part of the morning and I've worked up an appetite. Was checking on the carrots and discovered that they are getting ready to be harvested soon too. In fact, some are ready so I pulled a few for my lunch, picked some peas and a handful of cherry tomatoes and beans.

So what to do with my fresh garden veggies? I have a little bit of leftover chicken breast in the fridge and decided I'd make a white sauce, put the bits of chicken meat in it and add my fresh peas and carrots and put it on a pastry. I cooked up a handful of beans too. Then I went to my herb pots and added a little basil and fresh parsley.

Excuse me while I have my lunch. With my hubby away traveling I don't always fix the best of meals for myself but if I do say so myself, I think today's lunch (which will double as supper) looks pretty tasty. And what I especially love is that one hour ago these veggies were still on the vine. It doesn't get much fresher than this.

Bon Appétit!

It's time to begin the canning process

This summer has been the coolest and most definitely the wettest summer on record where I live. I'm so happy that the cooler temperatures and lack of an abundance of sunshine hasn't been a detriment to my garden. My garden has grown better than any other year previously.

I've been very busy the past week so I thought I'd post a few photos of some of things that have been keeping me out of mischief. The beans and peas are in full harvest time so I've been canning beans and peas (a few jars shown below). Also, the Ontario Peach crop appears to be very good this year as well so I bought several baskets of fresh peaches and have been canning them for pies and pastries. I have some more to make fresh peach preserves and will make and can that this weekend.

The raspberries are especially delicious this year and I had to make my favorite Raspberry jam to have on hand too.

I can hardly keep up with the green beans. Most I'm just canning plain. But see the jar of beans to the far right with herbs and seeds in the jar? Those are Dilly Beans and are in a garlic/herb marinade (I suppose you could say they are pickling) and will be eaten cold on a relish tray.

I think peas are 'cute'. Don't laugh! I do! I like the jacket and the way you pop them open and sweet peas are inside. They are now starting to really produce on the vine so I've just started picking them.

My broccoli did well this year. It has all been harvested and I blanched and froze it.

Next will be tomatoes. My tomato plants are HUGE! And they are now really starting to produce in full force. I want to can salsa and tomato sauce and plain tomatoes for the winter as well as eat as many as I can fresh off the vine. I love just standing in the garden eating warm tomatoes fresh off the vine.

This afternoon I'm going to do some papercrafting and one of the things on my list to do is to make labels for all of my canned produce.

I hope you are having a great summer.

Cheers!

Take me out to the ball game!

Do you love baseball? Do you love SOFTBALL too? Well, the design team for Serendipity Stamps have had a fun chance to participate in America's greatest pastime by making cards celebrating the USSSA Softball World Series.

Last week Mary's (Serendipity Stamps owner and fearless leader) oldest daughter headed off to the USSSA Softball World Series. I'm betting lots of other girls and boys around the country are traveling to games too. This was a lot of fun to create a couple of softball card using Serendipity stamps. And just in case you're more in tune with the boy side of the ball field than the girl side, a softball is bright yellow, not white. Thus, my softballs are colored yellow.

For this first card I used the ball, bat and mit stamp from Serendipity stamps and colored it with copic markers. The sentiment "Get your game on" is also a Serendipity stamps. I used my sewing machine to sew a feather stitch around the image and the outside edges of the card. The button and ribbon are from my sewing room stash.

This was fun making cards so I decided to use on of the Serendipity Softball stamps and the sentiment "It's not just a game" and stamp and mount the sentiment and ball on a ball field diamond shaped mat. The fun baseball print designer paper on this second card is from Michaels. The grosgrain ribbon is Stampin' Up! I thought the ball field diamond mat looked too plain so I went back to my sewing machine for this card too and used a feather stitch around the border, trying to replicate the stitching of the baseballs.

I have fond memories of my three children playing little league baseball and softball. Wow! The years speed by quickly.

After making these cards I'm singing, "Take me out to the ball game!"

Cheers!

Autumn Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Fall, Happy Blessings to one and all. This is the sentiment on the pumpkin for this Autumn/Halloween card I made for a card swap of that theme at the Stamp Shack.

The stamp set used for this sweet scarecrow (who doesn't appear to be doing his job very well) is from Stampin' Up! and the set is titled Happy Blessings.

Card Recipe Ingredients:

Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny
Cardstock: Stampin' Up!
Ink: Colored with Copic Markers
Accessories: Nestibilities rectangle die, Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder, raffia, Martha Stewart Pumpkin punch, Stickles.


It is a chilly, damp, rainy day today. Blaaaaaaaa...I think I'm staying inside and doing housework. Sure wish we could spend the weekend out of doors. Perhaps later I'll do some weeding and deadheading of flowers in the sprinkles. It is supposed to be summer! I've been wearing sweaters and sweatshirts all this week. Sigh.......

Hope your weekend brings you sunshine and happiness!


Cheers!

Serendipity Stamps Reader Challenge Deadline extended!

Would you still like to share your Reader Challenge card with Serendipity Stamps for a chance to win the Oval Months Unmounted Sheet Set, valued at $20? We’ll the deadline to enter has been extended until Friday, July 31 so that you can join in on the fun, too! If you missed the first announcement, here are the details….

Just send your challenge project, made exclusively with Serendipity Stamps images, to serendipityreadercards@gmail.com . We’ll post your submissions right here on our blog and at the end of the challenge deadline, we’ll pick one random contributor to win a set of Oval Months Unmounted Sheet Set ($20 value)! And make sure to add your blog address and email so we’ll know how to contact you if you’re the lucky winner. Good luck!!

Take a look at this Gorgeous Set:



So get busy and create a Christmas in July card and submit it to the Serendipityreadercards@gmail.com And remember, you have until July 31st to enter.

Cheers!

Forever Friends

A very close friend of mine emailed me a message the other day and we were reminiscing about fun times spent when we used to get together during lunchbreak at work...sitting under a big tree on the University campus eating our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. After our conversation I knew I had to make a card to mail to her. Sometimes geographical distance separates us from our friends, but a true friend is never far from the heart.

I purchased this darling "friends" stamp at Heather's Stamping Haven in Ottawa. I think this is one of my favorite Heather's Stamping Haven stamps. It is so sweet and poignant.

I recently found these gorgeous K&Company patterned papers stack at Michaels. For this card I definitely chose the background papers first and then colored the image to coordinate. And the sheer ribbon was a little piece, about 10 inches long, that was in my ribbon bin. A couple years ago when my mom was moving she gave a sack full of little ribbon scraps from her sewing room. Some of the scraps are just a few inches long (never throw away something that may be of value to you in the future!) The color was perfect on this card.

Card Recipe Ingredients:

Stamp: Heather's Stamping Haven
Designer Paper: K&Company
Ink: Colored with Copic Markers
Accessories: Machine stitching, Martha Stewart eyelet border punch, miscellaneous ribbon and buttons, pop dots.

Speaking of Heather's Stamping Haven, Heather just began a blog for her shop and you can connect to it HERE.

Time to dash off a note on the inside and mail this. I think my friend will get a kick out of this. Miles may separate us but our friendship holds strong.


Cheers!

House Mouse White on White Challenge

It's been a while since I've played with my House Mouse stamps. This week, on the House Mouse and Friends Monday challenge site, the challenge was to create a white-on-white card. The requirements were all cardstock and embellishments must be white with the exception of the coloring of your House Mouse image. That is the only color allowed.

This was a lot of fun and admittedly, I got carried away. Oh well, I love glitz, glitter, ribbon and embossing so I went to town on this card.

Card Recipe:
Stamp: Stampabilities "Floating on a leaf"
Cardstock: Papertrey white
Ink: Colored with Copic Markers
Accessories: Michael's satin ribbon, Nestibilities frame die, Cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, Martha Stewart snow white ultra fine glitter.


It is a cloudy and rainy day so I had to take this photo between raindrops and I'm afraid you can't see all of the glitter and sparkle on it. Maybe I can get a better photo later.



Cheers!