One Panda Please!

One of my favorite presents in a long time has been the Mama Elephant Pandamonium stamp set given to me by my friend Makalah (she’s a Stampin’ Up demonstrator so don’t tell on her!). I try and use it whenever possible. So when I saw the new Mama Elephant Inspiration Challenge photo, I thought…hmmm…how do I get Pandas into that?

Bottles! That’s the ticket!

But don’t worry, I swear they’re happy 🙂

Love Them!

Man, they’re cute. They are standing in Pumice Stone Distress glitter sand in bottles from the Avery Elle Bottle it Up Die set. The sentiment is from the coordinating stamp set. I used some thin acetate and die cut a second set of bottles from that so they are standing in little dimensional bottles. Gotta have room for the sand! I lined them with a Krylon pen to go with the Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder (of course!) that I used on the sentiment and on the foliage in the jars. These little guys are all mine!

Read Full Post »

I’m Grateful for My Mind’s Eye!

As you may know, I have been practicing my “grouping” and “mini-collage” “skills”. 😉 (Prize for most quotes in one sentence!) So I gathered some die-cuts and sparkly things to work on my Gratitude card for this My Mind’s Eye challenge.

I think it turned out pretty well. I used My Mind’s Eye paper from the Collectable Unforgettable collection. I stamped the Sparkle sentiment from the Hero Arts set Find Joy in Soft Olive. The Hero Arts inks tend to sink into the paper a little. The end result is a nice melding of paper and ink. And of course, I needed to use some My Mind’s Eye enamel dots!

Read Full Post »

Paper Smooches Designer Drafts

Disclaimer: I’ve had these little snowmen for a really long time. At least it feels like a long time. They are SO cute, which is why I bought them, but I don’t make a lot of holiday cards so they’ve never gotten used. Now is the time little man–Get out there and be cute!! To the Paper Smooches Designer Drafts challenge!

I found this sketch a little challenging, but maybe that’s because I started it at 2am. Hmmm…well…I took another crack at it in the morning and it worked out much better than the night before.

There he is hanging out in the snow! I used an oldie but goodie for my paper–Basic Grey Nordic Holiday. The snowman is from the Paper Smooches Freezy Fellas stamp set. And the sentiment is from Paper Smooches Metropolis. He’s perched on a page from the Notebook Basic Die. And of course I needed to Stickle up his nose! 🙂

Read Full Post »

A Beary Special Paper Girls Challenge

I LOVE LOVE LOVE paper piecing and fussy cutting. So the challenge at The Paper Girls #43: Cut it Out is perfect for me!

Aren’t they adorable?!?

I love the serene little look on this guys face. He’s from the Neat and Tangled Little Bear set. He’s dressed in papers from the new Basic Grey RSVP collection. I think they are all special, but the guy in the middle is a super star! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Read Full Post »

How Sparkly Are You? Let Me Count the Ways…

Basic Grey? Yes Please!
Sparkles? Yes Please!

This Basic Grey Challenge is PERFECT! This time is Sparkle and Glamour at the Basic Grey Challenge Blog.

Ooooooooh Shiny!

Oh pretty little shiny flowers! This paper is from Cappella from Basic Grey. I added shiny buttons and bling from Close to My Heart. Even the twine along the edge has silver glinting through it. I like the understated glamour with pops of sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by!

Read Full Post »

Drunken Stampers: Chipboard

I’m back with another Drunken Stampers Thing: Chipboard challenge. I have SOOOOO much chipboard that I really like, but never use. This was a great excuse to break into it. I especially like the Basic Grey adhesive chipboard that matches the collections–but I hoard it because I like it TOO much.

…Smiling at me

This coveted chipboard is from the What’s Up collection. The paper is from the Basic Grey Capture collection and the little arrow is from Basic Grey Carte Postle. I like that the little birdies are hovering in the sky with the banner 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

Read Full Post »

Runway Inspired Challenge #47

I really enjoy the creative exercise of the Runway Inspired Challenges. It’s so much fun to try and translate one medium into another.

And here’s my take:

I like it 🙂 Especially the sentiment that comes from my Tweety Jill Alice in Wonderland set 🙂 I cut out the flowers using the Stampin’ Up Secret Garden die set. They are out of the Lakeside collection from Pebbles. The striped paper is from The Basic Grey Fact pad. I tried to use a lot of white space and the flowers to reflect the top and the stripes for the skirt.

Thanks for stopping by!

Read Full Post »

Thank Goodness for Thank Yous!

Thank you cards are always useful and they are great to have ready at a moment’s notice. There are a lot of November challenges that focus on Thank you cards and Raisin Boat and Shopping Our Stash are no exception. As I was digging around in my stamps, I unearthed an older Stampin’ Up set that has 4 great sentiments called Wonderful Words.

The paper is from the Studio Calico Snippets collection. Recently, I’ve been working on adding the little groupings on cards. I always like the way they look when other people do them, but I find the cohesive randomness needed for a nice looking grouping often out of my reach. It’s still hard for me to use things that seem random to me, but look like they work in the end. It’s a great way to use up leftover bits and pieces though. I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing (OH NO ;)!)

Thanks for visiting!

Read Full Post »

Drunken Workplace

Now that sounds like fun! 🙂

Mine isn’t like that at all, but the new challenge at Drunken Stampers is Workplace.

This challenge was a great excuse to use my new-ish (well, they aren’t actually new, I just haven’t used them since I got them) stamps from PinkFlamingo61 on Etsy. (Full disclosure–just adding that link made me look at her store again and buy something else. Dang it. So cool.) Anyhoo…Here’s my take.

Is it 5 o’clock yet?

Both the sentiment and the women are from PinkFlamingo61–Fun, right?!?! She has so many cheeky sentiments! The background paper is from the Crate Paper DIY Shop collection. And I used a Prima wood veneer (love those things!) that I colored with silver Smooch Inks. The women I just colored with some pencils and I added a little Pearl brooch. I don’t know what those women are talking about, but I hope it’s not me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Read Full Post »

Fall Colors

Today I took the day off to have a mini-retreat at home. My main goal is to not feel guilty for not doing the laundry or dishes. 🙂 I also wanted to try and play with a few techniques. The Picture Perfect challenge at Paper Smooches was a great chance.

Isn’t that picture gorgeous?!? Sometimes it’s easier to be inspired by a picture than others and this time was a piece of cake! I especially love how the colors blend into one another. Distress Inks will be perfect for this.

Hopefully you can see the glimmer on the leaves in this closeup.

SO fun to make! The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Hey You! collection. I used the Paper Smooches Leafy Greens stamp set for all the leaves that I stamped on vellum. Since Distress Inks don’t dry well on non-porous paper, I needed to seal them and this was a good excuse to also use the Distress as an embossing ink. I used clear embossing powder to seal them all and then added a couple dewy drops of Glossy Accents on a couple of them. The sentiment is also from Paper Smooches called Word Salad. I made enough leaves so I have extra and can add them to something else. I’m also entering this into the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp. Off to my next challenge!

Read Full Post »