never TOO MUCH HAPPY Card

Good Morning, everyone! A couple of weeks ago I was SO happy to find out that I WON a FABULOUS prize from the Simple Stories/Unity Stamp Company Blog Week! I received 5 GORGEOUS stamp sets from Unity Stamp Company!!! So of course, I had to get crafty with them right away! The first thing I made was this card:


I was inspired by the sketch at the Deconstructed Sketch Blog for this weeks challenge so I decided to play along! I used the Happy Pinwheels set and the set and stamped my images in Cocoa Close to My Heart Ink. I used some FABULOUS patterned papers from the Echo Park Paper This & That Graceful paper collection to paper piece into my stamped image. To do this, you simply stamp your image onto patterned paper and then cut out the pieces you want to use. The background paper I used is from Studio Calico and I like the Notebook Paper look it has. I'm so pleased with how this card turned out! Thanks for reading!

Ribbon-A-Holic!

Hello, everyone! I've got a bit of a long post for you today. As many of you know, I have been fortunate to be a Cameo Ribbonista Designer for the May Arts Design Team for the past year. Well, I'm auditioning to join the team once again so I have a post today about my ribbon addiction!

First I'd like to show you a little book I created for myself to keep track of my ribbons. Here's a look at the book when it's closed...


I used some beautiful October Afternoon papers to decorate my cover and then added some of the new May Art's Red Baker's Twine wrapped around the cover. Next I added some of the Zebra Grosgrain ribbon to the ring that holds the book together. I didn't want it all to be white so I used a little Glimmer Mist to spray a few pieces red and green to co-ordinate with my cover.


Now I have a beautiful, neat and organized system to keep track of all of my different ribbons so I know which ones to re-order!

The next project that I'd like to share with you is my beautiful mermaid card!


I used a rubber stamp from The Greeting Farm for the mermaid image on my card. I pulled some Heidi Grace paper from my massive paper stash and got to work! I colored the mermaid's hair and body with my Copic Markers. Then I used my patterned papers and stamped the parts of the mermaid I wanted to cut out and paper piece into my stamped image. Then I glued them to the corresponding place on my colored image. Then I cut her out and used some fairly thin foam adhesive to adhere her to my card.


You may have noticed the waves along the bottom of the card... I started with some plain White 1/2" May Arts Ric Rac and used my Copics and some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Glaze and Glam to color my ribbon and then adhered it to the lower part of my card to look like waves.

Finally I'd like to tell you about how much I like to add ribbon to layouts.


I like to find ways to add texture to my layouts and I feel that ribbon adds a wonderful texture to almost any project! For this layout, I used White Satin Pleat Ribbon and then adhered Pink Baker's Twine to the center of it.


Then to add a little more texture to my sticker, I used a 1/2" Glue Dot and created a spiral on it. I then stuck this to the center of my flower and now I have a completely custom look!


For my Zoo Layout, I wanted more of an earthy texture so I grabbed some Burlap Cording to add to the bottom of my layout. I cut small, triangular slits on each side of my layout to disguise the ribbon's bulk.


I needed a custom flower to add to my layout so I pulled out my Copic Markers and some White Frayed Flowers Ribbon and altered one of the rosettes to co-ordinate with my layout. It takes only a minute to color and you have yet another custom embellishment to add to your layout!


My last layout shows the simplest way to add ribbon to a layout. In the sketch I was using they showed patterned paper strips running vertically down the layout. I decided to grab my 1/2" Ric Rac again and add that to my layout instead!

Well, there's my Ribbon-A-Holic post for today! Wish me luck!

Super Dad Father's Day Card

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I just *had* to make two cards with my new Amazing Duo stamps and here's the other one!

I wanted to make a special card for my Super husband to let him know how much I appreciate him for Father's Day. Everyone else seems to be making the Shirt and Tie cards or a Fishing themed one so I went the other direction, Super Dad! Really, he's a great Daddy for my girls and a very supportive husband to me with all of my crazy craft endeavors, so I think Super Dad is the right way to describe him. Enough gushing now, LOL!


I knew I wanted to use this amazing plaid from the Echo Park Paper Mini Line called The Great Outdoors. I bought just one kit and then ended up buying several more of just the papers because I LOVE the papers so much! The reverse of the plaid is wood grain so I just used that for a little contrast and then added a custom colored piece 1/2 " May Arts White Ric Rac. I have been buying mostly white trims lately since I have discovered my new love of coloring things to match my project exactly. I'm saving my pennies for the Copic Airbrush and Compressor so I will be able to custom color things even faster! I inked everything with Cornflower Blue Close to My Heart Ink and stamped an argyle pattern on my blue cardstock. It's subtle but that's what I was going for. I used my Copics to color my "Boy" from the fabulous Amazing Duo set from The Greeting Farm and then used the "you're SUPER" sentiment from the same set. Then I added a little faux stitching to both pieces and mounted them with a bit of foam tape to the base of my card. I think my husband with like this one!

You Are AWESOME Card

So I was recently shopping in an amazing scrapbook store in Bloomington, IL called The Scrapbooking Studio and it was my first time into the store. I was delighted to see that they not only carry LOTS of my favorite Echo Park Paper, but they also have The Greeting Farm Stamps too! I picked out several stamps, including a set called "Dynamic Duo"


Of course, I had to make a card right away (ok, two, but that's tomorrow's post) so I made this for my AWESOME friend, Lori! She is a Close to My Heart consultant also, so if you need any great CTMH goodies they have a wide variety available, including the alphabet stamps I used here! I decided that this cute little Super Hero Girl looked a bit like Wonder Woman so I decided that I was going to use that as my inspiration. I added a few lines here and there with a Copic Liner pen for more accuracy and then I colored her with Copics but didn't do a ton of shading and blending, except for the hair (which I'm still learning how to do). Then to make the white stars on her skirt, I used a little Liquid Applique so it would just puff up and be opaque when I heated it. I used Echo Park Paper's Playground line for the Red and Blue and Country Drive for the Yellow and just added a little "stitching" around all of the edges to give it a little something extra. Finally I stamped "you are" in Sunflower Ink on my Yellow and "AWESOME" in Cranberry on the Red and used a little foam tape to adhere my colored image to the card! Now to drop by Lori's house with it before this posts to my blog...