Bicycle Greetings

This card was one of a set of notecards I made for my little guy to give his Preschool Director on the last day of school.  These are so quick and easy to put together.  I'll be making more of these - they're great cards to have on hand.  You know, I keep saying I'm going to build up my stash, but I still haven't done it...add it to the 'to-do list'!

I stamped this Hero Arts bicycle image on kraft card stock with black ink.  I wanted the flowers to stand out a bit, but still be subtle.  So I added dots of white ink to the blooms and a bit of green pencil to the leaves.  That's it!  Doesn't get much easier than that!  A strip of DCWV paper at the bottom, a couple of scored lines, a sentiment and VOILA! 

I made a set of 8 cards for Mrs. Kranz, each with a separate sentiment.  These could easily be adapted for any occasion. 

Just wanted to let you know that I'm participating in a Summer/4th of July Blog Hop on Saturday, July 2.....I hope you'll hop along with us.  There will be many stops along the way, full of beautiful inspiration.  Plus.....if you leave comments at each stop, you'll be eligible for one of 10 prizes.  You don't want to miss it!

Take time to get inky today!  Hope to see you back here on Saturday!

recipe:  Hero Arts Bicycle, Thinking of You Messages; Sakura White Gel Pen; Prismacolor Pencils; Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink; Scor-Buddy; DCWV Linen Closet Mat Stack

Family Fun Patriotic Centerpiece

While I was checking my email this morning, I noticed a really cute patriotic centerpiece that was featured on the Family Fun website.  See it here.  As I looked at it, I realized something looked familiar....take a close look...it features  Stampendous clear pails.

From the Desk Of

I love making gifts for my boys to give their teachers.  I try to make a bunch of little gifties for them to bring to school throughout the year.  I also try to remember the bus driver and the lunch room supervisor (though admittedly, not as often.)  I was inspired by a card I found on Splitcoast Stampers, however I can't find it right now, I'll keep looking.  Instead of stamping a standard message on the card, I decided to run them them through my printer and personalize them with the teacher's name.

This card was especially appropriate for my oldest son's 1st grade teacher.  He was in an advanced reading class, which the teacher dubbed "Camp Read-a-Lot" - most activities throughout the school year were centered around reading.  So, I decided at the beginning of the school year that I would make these cards for her. 

Since I made a set of 20 cards for her, I kept the coloring simple and set up an assembly line to put them together.  They actually came together pretty quickly - the hardest part was deciding on the colors and cardstock.

Better get going, friends.  Hope you're having a good day and that you take time to get inky today!

recipe:  Stampendous School for Max, Book Border; DCWV Linen Closet Mat Stack; White & Beige Cardstock; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo Gone, Tortillons; Tsukineko Tuxedo Black, Sand inks

Sketch Challenge Winner!

Just wanted to take a moment to congratulate the winner of my Stampendous Sketch Challenge.  In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Fluffles, so I fell in love with this card by Meg.  I love the image and the bright, cheery colors - and the cupcake paper is perfect!

Check out her blog Peacock Paperie to see all of her wonderful creations! 

Thanks to everyone for playing along!  And thanks to Stampendous for sponsoring my first ever Sketch Challenge! 

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Stampendous for choosing me for their first round of BlogStars.  My term is now up and a new team of BlogStars will soon be named.  It was a blast and I enjoyed every minute of my term.  Stampendous took a chance of me since I had never been on a design team before, so I really appreciate the fact that they had confidence in me.  I'm over the moon excited to have been asked to stay on as a member of the Michael's Design Team.  What an honor! 

Things have been busy around here with the first full week of summer vacation for our boys.  We've had VBS at church this week, so next week we'll be able to settle into some sort of a routine.  I'll be back then to share a few cards with you. 

Hope all is well in your world - take time to get inky today!

Stampendous! Blog Hop

Happy Saturday, friends!  Welcome to the Stampendous! Blog Hop!  If you arrived here from Taylor's blog you're in the right place!  Don't you just love all of Taylor's creations?  I am always inspired by her beautiful work!  If you just stumbled upon my blog today, be sure to stop by the Stampendous! blog for all the details.  I'm really excited to be part of today's hop - it's my first time being a "hop stop"! 


Today's hop is featuring three new JUMBO Cling Rubber flower stamps...Cling Jumbo Dogwood Set,  Cling Jumbo Tulip Set and Cling Jumbo Tiger Lily Set.  They are all beautiful and I'm sure you'll want them all!  If you've never worked with these wonderful Jumbo Clings, don't be intimidated!  They are easy to use, and make for a quick card since they cover such a large area at once.  Plus, they look great when you let the image "fall" off the page.  Give them a try!  I'm sure you'll love them!  The hard part will be deciding which flower you want - they're all so pretty!


After much deliberation, I finally decided to get Cling Jumbo Tulip inky.

recipe:  Stampendous Cling Jumbo Tulip Set, Jumbo Perfectly Clear Handle; Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Kraft gift bag; Prismacolor Pencils, Goo Gone, Tortillons; MPR Assoc Green Raffia Ribbon; Kraft cardstock

What a fun image to color!  I decided to make a gift bag using this set.  I thought the orange tulip would look pretty against the kraft gift bag.  I'm really happy with the way this turned out!  I think I'll be making more of these to have on hand. 

 I used Tsukineko Rich Cocoa ink to stamp the images and then colored in the tulip with my Prismacolor Pencils and blended using Goo Gone and Tortillons.  I decided I also needed a matching gift tag, so I stamped the flourish image on a piece of kraft cardstock and trimmed it into a tag shape.  I inked the edges with Rich Cocoa ink also.  Add a green raffia ribbon bow and....VOILA!  Ready to add a gift and give to someone special!


Stampendous! is very generously offering TWO each of the three new stamp sets PLUS each stamp set will come with an easy to use Jumbo Handle.  In order to be eligible for the prize drawing, you must leave a comment (be sure to include your first name and last initial) at each blog along the hop between today, Saturday, June 11th and Wednesday, June 15th.  Winners will be announced on Friday, June 17th.  Good luck!


Well, my work here is done, now you're on to the next stop on the hop....the wonderful Trudee!  I know you're in for a treat - her work is always an inspiration to me!


Take time to get inky today!  Time to get hoppin'!

Stampendous! Blog Hop Participants

Stampendous! Blog

Pam

Rachel

Kristine

Taylor

Krissy (that's me - you are here!)

Trudee

Wendy J.

Wendy P.

Cyndi

Geny

Lynn

Jenn
Laura

Ooh, almost forgot!  While you're here, check out my last post - I've got a Sketch Challenge up and running.  I'd love to have you join us and make a card based on my sketch - just post a link to your blog here.  The winner will receive Stampendous stamps! 

Sketch Challenge

Welcome to my very first Sketch Challenge!  I hope you'll want to play along!  Using Stampendous stamps, create a card based on my sketch, and post it on your blog.  Then add a link to your blog in the comments section of this post by Tuesday, June 14th.  I will chose a winner on Monday, June 18th.  Unfortunately, I can only send prizes within the US, but I hope others will play along.  Here's my sketch:

The card I created based on this sketch is the wedding card I made for our church's lay minister, Joe and his bride, Sarah.  This was the first time I got this Happy Couple inky. It was also the first time I added stick pins to a card - I'll be doing that again soon.  I love the extra bling!

Sorry this isn't the best picture.  We've had rain for days in our area.  I'm about ready to start builing an ark!  As bad as our weather is, though, it's no where near as bad as the areas that have experienced tornadoes recently.  My thoughts and prayers are with all those who have suffered any loss.

I hope you'll want to join in my sketch challenge, can't wait to see what you create!  Take time to get inky today!

recipe: stamps: Stampendous Happy Couple, Mr. & Mrs.;  paper: Bazzill Glass Slipper, Bank Roll, Petunia; Recollections White Cardstock, Card & Envelope; pearl top corsage pin; Jolee's Bicone beads 4mm pastels, 6mm clear; 1 inch white satin ribbon; Martha Stewart edge punch; Prismacolor pencils, Goo-Gone, Tortillons; Stampendous Detail White Embossing Powder; Tsukineko Black Staz-On

Stampendous Video

Hi all!  Thought I'd pop in today and tell you about this great video that the gals at Stampendous! have put together to give you an overview of the wonderful Jumbo Cling stamps!  If you've never used one of the Jumbos, you have to give them a try!  They may seem intimidating at first, but they are so easy to use and are all beautiful!

Plus, I also wanted to give you the heads-up about the Stampendous Blog Hop that is happening on Saturday, June 11th.  It's my first time being a Hop Stop and I'm really excited to show you the new some of the new Jumbo Cling Stamps.  All of my Stampendous design team friends are participating and they will have lots of beautiful inspiration to share with you.  I hope you'll hop along with us!

Gotta run now, time to start getting ready for work (don'tcha hate when the real world gets in the way of stamping?)  I'll be back hopefully tomorrow to show you the cute cards I made for my son to take to his wonderful teacher on his last day of 1st grade.  I still have to make cards for his bus driver, too - uh oh, better get busy!

Hope you're having a good weekend and that you'll take time to get inky!

From the Kitchen of.....Me!

This was a hard one to get a good picture of.....I hope you get the idea.  I baked a loaf of banana bread for a friend, but wanted a fun way to "wrap" it.  So, I made a paper band and decorated it with the Stampendous! stamp set From the Kitchen.   It's a fun set to work with.  I randomly stamped various images from the set and colored them in with my Prismacolor pencils.  I then randomly added clusters of 3 dots with my Zig markers to fill space.  The center image is also included with the set (it is called "From the Kitchen" after all!)  I added 2 silver brads to embellish the name bar.

This would be a cute way to package baked goods for bake sales (note to self:  remember this for the Fall Bake Sale at church!!!).  It was quick and easy to make and could be done ahead of time and then wrapped around a loaf of bread at the last minute for a quick gift.  All the supplies (except the banana bread) are available at Michaels.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world....take time to get inky today.

recipe:  Stampendous! From the Kitchen Perfectly Clear; Recollections Paper; Prismacolor Pencils; Tsukineko Tuxedo Black Ink; Recollections Silver Brads; Marvy Scalloped Circle Punch; Zig Markers