merry...

what can i say??  it's a "merry" kind of week!  i didn't realize that all of the cards i posted this week only had the word "merry"...oh well.  merry, merry, merry!!!

it's now only a week away, the merry time of year.  how nuts is that?  this is one of the christmas cards i made to send to friends.  it's simplicity in the beginning turned into quite the time consuming process.  funny, i was explaining it to the mom of one of my cute patients the other day.  she is a quilter.  she told me a way to do it that would have made it so much less time consuming!!  too bad i didn't consult with her prior!  oh well...  i  used sticker paper and inked it the colors i wanted for the tree, then layered them.  sort of homeade washi type fashion!

go enjoy friends with flair over at unity.  i'm sure there will be christmasy, holiday ideas a-pleanty!!

merry
stamps: ippity
cardstock: crumb cake, walnut cream
ink:  peeled paint distress, walnut stain distress, lucky limeade, old olive, soft sky, cloud white, cherry cobbler
embellishments: baker's twine, buttons, sticker paper

ps if you need any last minute gifts for your stamping crafties, check out my {ippity} blog...lots of fun stamps over there!!!

pps sharing the unity love on this post!

which ink...

riddle me this, batman.  you are in the middle of a project and  you need a certain color of ink.  of course, you're not sure which color is going to work like you want it to.  you have about 4 colors to choose from.  how do you remember what they look like?  well, i never can.  especially with distress ink.  with my stand-by ink (stampin up), i know the colors inside and out.  but mr hotlz's ink always stumps me.  i saw this handy tip on someone's blog once.  can't remember who and who knows when it was.  so if this was your idea, leave a comment and i'll give you proper kudos.  made some labels with the name of the ink, then stamped on the label so i could see the color, too.  and i'm an edger (meaning i rarely leave a naked edge...they must be colored!) so i did that as well.  made a pretty cool picture, i think!  i need more, too.  i only have a few...there are so many more!!  (check here)

oh so purdee...

thinking of you...

i needed a thinking of you card and  wanted to make a simple one.  this one was both!!  took not long to make and used my new stamps in the process!  used the direct to paper technique with the ink.  love that.  a friend had surgery so i wanted to send a card.  of course i wanted the cards to continue so that's why i'm sending it a week later!  *wink*

don't forget to comment on the the next post for a chance to win {ippity} stamps!  and if you are visiting my new {ippity} shug facebook page, don't forget to leave a comment there, too!!

thinking of you
stamps: ippity
cardstock: white
ink: barn door distress ink, peeled paint distress ink, onyx black


need an {ippity} chick?  
i'm your chick!!

beachy goodness...

it's just beachy today.  ok, not really.  but i'm dreaming.  it is friday, though.  friend with flair.  would be better if it were friends with flair hanging out on a beach day.  *sigh*  i'll have to pretend i'm with my friend andrea that went to hawaii yesterday.    but on to fwf.  i have been putting off a set of atcs for a swap suzi is throwing, themed "life's a beach".   i love this stamp from the june kit of the month.  i never quite figured out what to do with it, though.  till now.  i used the emboss resist technique and first embossed the image with clear embossing powder then sponged on different colors of ink.  a cool look with this technique.

here's to friday and the weekend.  go hop on over to the other fwf peeps.  and watch for the special blinkie!

beachy goodness
stamps: unity
cardstock: soft sky
ink:  pear pizzazz, daffodil delight, tangerine tango, pacific point, versamark

embellishments:  clear embossing powder

oh snap...

i promise i will start posting projects with stamps other than unity soon! i have just been playing along with the challenges over at scs for the unity anniversary! this is another card that i made for the triple take challenge. you had to follow a sketch, use 4 different patterned papers, and add a button or bling. i also got a new set of nesties on saturday (woot woot, 50% off coupon!) so i wanted to play a bit with those.

oh snap!
stamps: unity
cardstock: soft sky, blue bayou, kraft-su; we r memory keepers pp
ink: blue bayou-su; onyx black versafine
embellishments: prismacolor markers, stickles, buttons-sei, ribbon-su
tools: nestabilities

just saying hello...

howdy! that's what i feel like this little guy is saying. i love this little digi stamp. this is for my "what's up with ewe?" atc swap. another set i finished at palooza!

just saying hello
stamps: basic grey, purple onion
digi stamp: whimsie doodles
cardstock: kraft, we r memory keepers pp
ink: onyx black, certainly celery, baja breeze
embellishments: prismacolor markers
tools: nestabilities

some unity love...

so i recently discovered a new stamp company. unfortunately for my wallet, i absolutely love, love, love them! i'm talking about unity stamp company. oh my loveyness! the stamps are so stinking cute! and the bonus is you can buy them online or in stores. the shocker is i can even find them in utah at archiver's! woot woot! (geez...this is starting to sound like an infomercial!)

i also am doing something of of a first and joined my first blog hop! it's for unity, of course! it's called friends with flair friday. and a group of people do a blog hop. if you start at the unity blog (clickie, clickie) and find the blog with the special blinkie, you could win a bunch of cute stamps! so what are you waiting for? go start at the beginning!!

here is a little card i made out of this new set i just got. i had no idea what on earth i would need a set of lamp stamps for but they were just too cute to pass up! i can't believe i even paper pieced when only a few posts back i swore i wouldn't do it again for a while!!

simply shine
stamps: unity
cardstock: purely pomegranate, we r memory keepers pp
ink: versamark, chocolate chip
embellishments: zing chestnut embossing powder-american crafts

what's up?

i figured that if i make a few dollars selling cards, i should be able to buy more supplies. right? so i made a little archiver's run today. armed with a 30% off coupon and a quest to get some new unity stamps, i came out with a little more than i went in for. but isn't that always the case? i also did a quick and cute make 'n take while i was there. it was so cute, i case'd it and made this atc for christie's riley swap. i also used some new embossing powder that was a cool color of brown, chestnut. i'm not usually one for colored ep, but i loved it on the orange.

what's up?
stamps: riley, my favorite things
cardstock: hot fudge-mft; tangerine tango-su; crate paper pp
ink: versamark
embellishments: zing chestnut embossing powder-american crafts

been a while...

wow. this little atc was kind of a pain in the butt. it's for christie's paper piecing swap. i suppose i should have used a simplier design to paper piece! i pieced everything but her feet!

been a while
stamps: my favorite things
cardstock: purely pomegranate, soft sky, kraft, my mind's eye pp, making memories
ink: purely pomegranate, onyx black
embellishments: prismacolor markers

friends or foes?

that is the question this camper will want to find out when they either wake up or return to their tent! i made these for marie's "rustic woodsy lodge" swap. it had to be something from like the back woods (i'm thinking no modern conveniences sort of thing) with wildlife all over. what do you think? i really should have called this "maksing madness" since it was a ginormous pain in the butt maksing everything. but it was worth it in the end. i also distressed the edges to make it look more 'rustic'.

friends or foes?
stamps: my favorite things, chicken girl design, inkadinkadoo
cardstock: sahara sand-su, hot fudge-mft
ink: chocolate chip, buckaroo blue, crushed curry, mellow moss-su; onyx black; weathered wood-distress ink tim holtz/ranger
embellishments: prismacolor markers

chocolatier...

no, not chocoholic, although i am one of those..what's a chocolatier you may ask? that's what i thought the first time i heard the term. there is a cool site called crop chocolate. they have random deals on crafting/scrapbooking/stamping stuff that change ever day, sometimes many times during the day. a while back, they decided to have a design team, which they call chocolatiers. they are sent a box of goodies from crop chocolate and have to create something out of the items. i was one of the lucky ones to be accepted as a chocolatier. i received a box of goodies last week and this is my first project officially as a chocolatier. so be watching on cropchocolate.com and you may see my stuff! i case'd this from the amuse blog. there was the cutest card over there and i knew i wanted to try it. it fits perfect for the reason i made this card, which i can't reveal until the recipient receives it or it will spoil the surprise. that's why the two middle sections are blank. i'm going to add photos there. when i have given the card, i'll post it again with the pictures and the reason for sending it!
















absolutely fabulous
cardstock: hot fudge-mft; soft sky-su; making memories pp
ink: chocolate chip
embellishments: making memories: button brads, flowers, rub ons; stamping bella ribbon
tools: big shot, nestabilities labels 1

presents and trees...

here are the finished projects i mentioned in my previous post about the glitter. sans the glitter. i went for no glitter on one and embossing powder on the other. something that is much easier to control than glitter. i also decided to try something new. i'm an edge inker. i hate having uninked edges. almost all my stuff is inked. so i tried embossing the edges of this atc. i love how it worked out. i used versamark to ink the edge just like regular ink, then ran it through some embossing powder and viola! embossed edges! and who knew a window stamp could work for a present?


presents
stamps: memory box
cardstock: going gray-su; candy apple-bazzill; pebbles pp
ink: versamark
embellishments: silver embossing powder, silver elastic cord



i used paper piecing on the tree, too. much cuter than the glitter i tried! i had origianlly tried to do something similar, using a glue pad and stamped the image and added glitter. each section of the tree a different color. but the glitter didn't stick all over. and it look horrid. i did add a speck of stickles to the this set, after i took the picture. i tried it on one of the stars on the trees, then decided i liked it!


o christmas tree
stamps: hero arts, hampton art stamps
cardstock: wild wasabi-su; hot fudge-my favorite things; su, pebbles, imaginisce patterned paper
ink: certainly celery, onyx black
embellishments: stickles

shaving cream...

oh my gosh. like totally! sorry, that first comment brought about the second. so at stamp club on saturday, jami showed us how to do the shaving cream technique. WHERE HAVE I BEEN??? i know, some of the shackies (or was it that other site) tried to explain this, but i didn't listen. WOW. me and my mom played with it yesterday and made some of the coolest backgrounds. who would have thunk it!?!

of course, i left the examples at my mom's, so i'll post one tomorrow. and i know, sherri, you are waiting for your scalloped card. hold your llamas, sister.

EDIT: here is the picture of a few of the backgrounds we made.

isn't the internet amazing?

so i love the internet. yes, you could say i'm an internet junkie. you can find anything you can think of somewhere on the internet. today, i got an email from crafttvweekly.com. i posted a little diddy about this website a few weeks ago. at that time, i was learning how to make a maze book. see that post here (that's the contest NO one entered...but i'm okay, do worry about my, it didn't hurt my feel bads or anything *sniff, sniff*) anyway, i kind of forgot about the craft tv website until i got the email this morning. they have some great ideas over there. it's nifty because you watch a little video demonstrating how to do the new projects. i figure if i'm going to be doing this blogging thing, i might as well throw out some new techniques for you all!!

so go learn how to do something new!!!

the maze book challenge

so kerry over at the stamp shack posted a link to craft tv weekly. i guess they have a different project that the demonstrate each week. i'm totally in love with this project called "the maze book". you take a 12x12 piece of paper and turn it into a little book. i'm going to try and make one of these today. anyone out there want to do this challenge with me??? watch the video here, then email me your design (either a link or a photo) and i'll post it here. let's have the challenge deadline be by tomorrow (sunday 2/11) night!

as a little bonus, some random entry will win a prize!!!