Circle of Friendship Blog Hop for Annika

Welcome to the Circle of Friendship Blog Hop

If you've come here from Chris' blog, then you're on the right track.  If not please start at Crystal's blog to make sure you haven't missed anyone's gorgeous creations for Annika.

Our Circle of Friends hop is to show our dear friend Annika Ryan that her Whimsy Family is here for her during this difficult time. Everyone needs a circle of friends, and sometimes, during those hard moments, you need to be placed in the center of that circle and be given a big group hug.  Though we may be miles away, our hearts are with her along with our support.

Today we all have made her a creation to show her how much we care, Please hop along with us to support our teammate and friend Annika.  I'm sure a lot of you know her and a lot of you know her as a colorful, wonderful artist AND person.

Here is the creation I made for my dear friend and DT sister using Whimsy's Jelly Bean.

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Jelly Bean

Medium: Ranger Distress Reinkers

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Togetherness

Accessories/Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, seam binding, Viva Decor Pearl Pens, doily

If you know Annika or even if you don't know her and can sympathize with what she's going through, and would like to make a creation for her please go to the end of the hop (Denise's Blog) and link a card, then email Crystal at crystalkbk30@gmail.com to ask her for Annika's address.

This hop will end on February 5, noon Eastern time so you have enough time to create a card for our friend!

Thanks so much for hopping along with us today!  Your next stop on the hop is Lori's beautiful blog.

Tickled Pink Stamps Blog Hop

Welcome to the Tickled Pink Stamps

Valentine Blog Hop!

If you've come here from Angela's blog, then you're on the right track.  If not, please start at Amy's blog to make sure you don't miss a thing!

Today is the Tickled Pink Stamps Valentine Blog Hop and I've been invited by Kellie to join along as a guest.  How sweet is she?!  We're showing off the Tinkled Pink Stamps that released in January, which includes both two image for the Lil Valentine collection, four Valentine Cherries, a Pink Valentine Sentiments with matching die.  I've used the adorable Cherrie with Heart on my card.  She's just so cute!

Make sure to hop along the entire way because there are lots of prizes to be won!  You can win the entire January release AND there are also hidden stamps throughout the hop.  And of course, you wouldn't want to miss anyone's gorgeous creation along the way.

Here's my card using Cherrie with Heart, which is available now at Tickled Pink Stamps in both rubber and digi.

Stamp: Tickled Pink Stamps Cherrie with Heart

Medium:  Distress reinkers using small Koi waterbrush

Paper: BasicGrey (forgot which pad)

Accessories/Tools: May Arts Striped Twill Ribbon, twine, button, Viva Decor Lilac Pear Pen, Stickles, dew drops, WOC flowers, lace, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Tim Holtz distresser

Now it's time to hop along!  Please make your way over to Emma's beautiful blog because you don't want to miss her amazing creation!

Winter CHA anyone?

Just wondering if anyone is going to Winter CHA this year.  I'll be there, aimlessly wandering around, not at a booth or anything.

Hope to bump into you!  I'll be the one oooh-ing and aaaaah-ing at everything :)

Cupcake Inspirations Guest Sweetie

The wonderful gals at Cupcake Inspirations chose me as this week's Guest Sweetie and Rachel asked if I would like to play along.  Of course I said yes because I love their challenges over there.  Plus, I was having huge cardmaking withdrawals from all the studying.

This week they have a very appropriate cupcake inspiration picture to get those lovely Valentine Day cards done.  Don't you miss getting those V-day cards in elementary school?  I do, but maybe I'm just crazy.  It was so interesting who chose what type of card, lol.  I remember some boys giving away Power Ranger V-day cards...how romantic :)

The above picture is the inspiration picture for this week and below is the card I chose to make for it.  Hope you see the connection.  The sentiment was handwritten (crookedly) by me since I didn't have something small enough to fit in there, or actually, I was too lazy to hunt for one that was small enough.

Oh! And this is the first time I've used seam binding!  I've had it for a few weeks, but haven't had time to put it to good use.  It was originally white (same as the one Tilda is sitting on), but I used some stamp pads (two shades of red, and a black stamp pad) to "distress it."  I pretty much just randomly stamped the stamp pads on the seam binding while it was on a scrap piece of paper.  I rather like the effect and think it matches the card perfectly :)  Sadly, I didn't have time yet to decorate the inside.

I've used the sketch at Sketch and Stash.  My unused stash is the seam binding and the border punch and I also used my old, neglected embossing folder.

Please pop on over to the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge Blog to play along!

Stamp: Magnolia Tilda holding Christmas Ribbon

Medium: Distress reinkers

Paper: BasicGrey Sugar Rush

Accessories: ribbon, button, baker's twine, seam binding, rhinestones

Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities, MS border punch

Rock Chick

Quick post!

Just wanted to share a quick card I put together last night using one of the Whimsy Stamps KennyK Rubber Stamps called Rock Chick.  I was inspired to use my BasicGrey Wander paper pad with this image after I saw Annika's card HERE.  My coloring isn't are great as hers, though, but then again, who's is?!?

I made the tickets using some of the Fast Lane Digital Sentiments, but there may be some more of these types of ticket sentiments coming soon ;)  Keep an eye out!

Okay, back to bed.  I'm sick as a dog.  Will someone bring me some chicken soup, pretty please?  :(

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Rock Chick; Fast Lane Digital Sentiments
Medium: Distress reinkers
Paper: BasicGrey Wander
Accessories: buttons, baker's twine

Big Present

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I officially "went back to school" for my Master's in Quality Assurance on Tuesday last week and it's been kicking me in the butt.  I'm a little scared as to how I'm going to handle full-time work, sentiment work, design team work, school, and of course, squeezing in a some time for my hubby and our doggies, BUT I really want to finish my Master's and I know it'll be worth it.  Wish me luck because I'll need it!  So, if I'm not posting as much or leaving as many comments, then you know why.  Thanks for understanding :)
Enough about the boring stuff, let's go on with the card already!

In keeping with my resolution to use my unused stamp, this is another unused LOTV image called Big Present. I have a day off tomorrow so maybe I can actually squeeze in another card this week :)

Stamps: Lili of the Valley Big Present, Whimsy Stamps Ticket Sentiments
Medium: Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush
Papers: Cosmo Cricket Wanted
Accessories: baker's twine
Tools: Tim Holtz Flourishes die cuts, MS border punch

This card is for a few challenges:

• Truly Scrumptious - Sketch
• Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes
• Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday
• Meljen's - Square or Round Card
• Stamp Something - Anything Goes 
• Stampin' B's - Use a die cut
• Raise the Bar - Oh to be a kid again!
• Totally Paper Crafts - Happy Birthday
• Simple Create - Use your punches
• One Stop Craft - Card for a male
• Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle - Anything Goes
• Gingerloft - Celebrations
• The Play Date - Color challenge

Pssst!! Tickled Pink Stamps has a new release coming up!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that on January 13th 12AM Australian time, Tickled Pink Stamps will be releasing some new love-themed images as well as a love-themed sentiment set and matching die cut.  The sentiment set and die cut were designed by me :)

The Pink Ladies are doing some amazing things with the new stamps and dies!  Please make sure to visit the Tickled Pink Stamps Blog to see their wonderful creations and prepare to be inspired.  And definitely make sure to visit the Tickled Pink Stamps Store to check out the new stamps and die!!

Thank you for all your support!

Whimsy Stamps Digital Release - Love makes the world go round

Hi everyone!  I just wanted to let you all know that today we're releasing some new digital stamps at Whimsy Stamps.  We're doing a love-themed release and there are a whole lot of cute images from Crissy Armstrong and Meljen's Designs that are coming out today.  I'm also releasing Love Sentiments and the Dressed Up Shapes 4 - Love Set (also all available as individual shapes).  I've used all of them in my creations below.

Please make sure to head over to the Whimsy Stamps Inspiration Blog to find out all the happenings for today.  The Digi Team (along with the newest team members) are having a blog hop for the release.

I really really try hard to do shabby and vintage cards, but for some reason, it never turns out quite right.  I think it messes with my mind when I don't have bold colors.  BUT, I must say that the Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue and Wonderfall 6x6 Papers helped out a lot!  The papers are so beautiful that I didn't even want to use them up and guess what?!? They're double-sided! You get 36 sheets for gorgeous paper that is double-sided for the same price as a BasicGrey paper pad that's only one-sided.  Great bargain.  This will definitely not be the last time I'm buying Webster's Pages.

Anywho, enough with the papers.  I wanted to showcase the sentiments and the frame so I merged the sentiments from the Love Sentiments set into the Dressed Up Shapes.  I really should have recolored the frames to make them a little softer, but didn't think of that until after the fact.

Speaking of recoloring, resizing and merging digital images, I've had a couple of people ask me how to do this so I've created two tutorials:

Resizing and Recoloring Dressed Up Shapes using Microsoft Publisher 2010

Resizing, Recoloring, and Merging Dressed Up Shapes using Microsoft Word 2010

You can also find other tutorials in my "Dealing with Digitals" page.  I hope you find them useful!

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Love Sentiments and the Dressed Up Shapes 4 - Love Set
Paper: Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue and Wonderfall 6x6 Papers
Accessories: Viva Decor Glitter Liner in Holo Iridescent, doilies, May Arts wrinkled ribbon, Prima flowers, WOC flowers, pearls, Sizzix flourish dies
Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter, ATG adhesive gun


These cards are for a few challenges:

• Drunken Stamper - New (new paper, new digital images)
• Fairymoon Crafts - Sketch (last card)
• Sundays with Crissy - Ribbons with Crissy
• Die Cut Dreams - Quote
• Little Red Wagon - Use doilies
• Creative Cottage - Something New (new paper, new digital images)
• Fun 'n' Funky - Anything Goes
• Cute Card Thursday - Out with the old (super old flowers!)
• Moving Along With The Times - Ring out the old, ring in the new (old flowers, new paper and digital images)

7 Kids College Fund Challenge: Hot or Cold

Hi everyone!  We have a new challenge up at the 7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog today!  The new challenge is: Hot or Cold - You choose!  So, create something the depicts either hot or cold.  I've done two cards, one hot and one cold, for this challenge.

Up first is my HOT card.  What's nicer (and warmer) than a nice super day spent at a picnic with a friend? That's what imagined when I saw this wonderful Penny Black Hedgehog Birthday Slapstick Stamp.  The stamp is already mounted on cling mount and ready to be inked for your crafting pleasure! 

All the gorgeous papers are from my new favorite paper pad: the Cosmo Cricket Togetherness 6x6 Paper Pad.  I know, I know, I fall in love with every paper pad, but hey, just look at these gorgeous papers!  The image was colored with Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush and the background was colored with Dove Blender Pen with chalks.  The butterflies were handmade and you can find my tutorial on how to make them HERE.  The cake was topped off with Viva Decor Glitter Liner in Holo Iridescent.

Stamps: Penny Black Hedgehog Birthday Slapstick Stamp
Medium: Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush, Dove Blender Pen with chalks
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Togetherness 6x6 Paper Pad
Accessories: Viva Decor Glitter Liner - Holo Iridescent, ribbon
Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 5, Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter, ATG adhesive gun


This card is for a few challenges:

1. Sketch and Stash - Sketch - My new stash is the stamp and the papers - I just got these in the mail on Monday!
2. Stampin' B's - Celebration Card
3. Crazy 4 Challenges - Celebrate Something
4. Kaboodle Doodles - Anything Goes
5. The Crazy Challenge - All Things New - Stamp and paper
6. Pile It On - Brand Spankin' New - Stamp and paper
7. Paper Playtime - Faces - I hope this counts?
8. My Time To Craft - Up in the Air
9. Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
10. Sparkle Creations - Tie It Up

Up next is my COLD card.  We were getting pounded with rain here in Southern California all last month, which was absolutely awesome for me.  I love the rain - I would never be using the umbrella like the cutie you see in this image :)  Enough of my babble.

On this really simple card, I used the Crafter's Companion S.W.A.L.K. After the Rain rubber stamp, which is also colored with Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush.  I used the Waterfall Stickles to add a bit of glitter to the card.  The DP is from the BasicGrey Marjolaine 6x6 Paper Pad, which I am fast running out of.  The sentiment is from the Whimsy Stamps Snippets Set 1, which was one of the first sets I designed for Whimsy :)

This card is for the challenges at Annabelle Stamps - Sketch + Bling and Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes.

Stamps: Crafter's Companion S.W.A.L.K. After the Rain; Whimsy Stamps Snippets Set 1
Medium: Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush
Paper: BasicGrey Majorlaine 6x6 Paper Pad
Accessories: rhinestones, ribbon
Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Lacey Circles, Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter, ATG adhesive gun



Make sure you stop by the 7 Kids College Fund Challenge Blog to play along in the challenge! You could be in the running to win a $20 shopping spree for the new Belles and Whistles Stamps.  Yep, you read right - 7 Kids College Fund will now be carrying Belles and Whistles stamps!!  You can get them on preorder now HERE.

Take a look at some of these super adorable stamps illustrated by the talented Elisabeth Bell:

Here's a card I made a while back using Lil' Miss Poppy:

Whew, sorry for the long post, but thanks for sticking around!!

I'm learning more flower names!

And these are cyclamens :)  This is image from another set that I recently got from Flourishes.  It's from the "A Year In Flowers 3" set.

This time, I really did try to stay with the natural colors of the flowers, which when I looked them up online, were bright pink with a white outline on the edges.  The flowers were colored with Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush.

I attempted to put in the white outline with Inkssentials Opaque White Pen from Ranger, but I'm a very impatient cardmaker and the watercolor was still wet so the white outlines just bled and blended into the pink.  Ack.  I then continued to try to hide my mistake by covering the flowers with Judikins Diamond Glaze. It sort of made it better; the shininess distracts from the unrealistic looking flower : /

Anywho, I'm really going to try this year to use up my neglected supplies.  The doilies in the back started off as white doilies, but I sprayed them like crazy with Shimmerz Spritz.  I used Olive Branch Spritz on the one in the middle and used Cotton Candy Spritz for the pink ones on the sides.  They're actually more shimmery and nicer looking in real life.  The net ribbon is from May Arts. 

Other than that, the card is pretty simple, lots of white space.  Added some pink pearls to give it a bit of character.  I can't believe I didn't use patterned paper.  I rather like the way it turned out :)

Thank you for stopping by today!  Make sure to stop by tomorrow for my post for the new 7 Kids College Fund Challenge and then on Thursday for a showing of some new digis from Whimsy Stamps.

Stamps: Flourishes A Year in Flowers 3
Medium: Distress Reinkers with Small Koi Water Brush  
Accessories: doilies, pink pearls, Olive Branch Shimmerz Spritz and Cotton Candy Shimmerz Spritz
Tools:  Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 4, Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter,  ATG adhesive gun

This card is for the following challenges:

• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Flowers (whoo hoo, how easy is that?)
• Repeat Impressions Challenge - Sketch
• My Sheri Crafts - Spray/Mists

Sentimental Sundays Challenge: Celebrate Friendship!

Eh? I actually made something for the Sentimental Sundays Challenge this week?  I know, shocking!  This week, we're challenging you to "Celebrate Friendship!"  Yep, should be a rather easy one so please come along and play.  This week, we have two prizes - one is a $10 GC from Deedee's Digis and the other is two digital sentiment sets from Raindrop Echo Designs Sentiments at Whimsy Stamps.  Of course, there is also the weekly freebie sentiment set up for your to grab.

In trying to keep up with my New Year's resolution of "Use all unused stamps," I've inked up this beautiful image from Whimsy Stamps called Valerie's Gift.  It was illustrated by the sweet and talented Crissy Armstrong.  Oh, and you should stop by her blog - she has a list up of her "Favorite Cards by Others from 2010" and it's an amazing list.  I'm always inspired by others and I love finding new people to follow.

Anywho, back to the card.

The image was colored with Distress Reinkers with Small Koi Water Brush.  The sentiments are from the newly released Whimsy Stamps Friendship Ticket Sentiments, which went perfectly with this challenge and image!  Papers are from the BasicGrey Marjolaine 6x6 Paper Pad and can you believe it?  I found a ribbon that was a perfect color match to the papers!  I was very happy about that, lol.

Flowers are from WOC, leaves are cut from my Cricut, and the net ribbon is from May Arts.

And just for fun, I thought I'd share with you my 5 crafting/blogging resolutions for 2011:

1. Use all (or as many as possible) unused stamps.
2. Leave a comment back on all commenters.
3. Find new ways to use my embellishments.
4. Use the Cricut more often.
5. Color better.

Do you have any crafting/blogging resolutions for the new year? I'd love to hear them :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stamps: Whimsy Stamps Valerie's Gift and Friendship Ticket Sentiment
Medium: Distress Reinkers with Small Koi Water Brush  
Paper: BasicGrey Marjolaine 6x6 Paper Pad
Accessories: May Arts net ribbon, WOC flowers, old blue hearts ribbon from who knows where
Tools: Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter,  ATG adhesive gun

This card is for a few challenges:

• JUGS - Sketch
• Little Red Wagon - Leftovers - ribbon is a long, long time ago leftover
• Stamp Something - Something with Glitter 
• Lots to Do - Something New - Unused stamp
• Mark's Finest Papers - Something New - Unused stamp
• Paper Sundaes - Something New - Unused stamp
• Creative Inspirations - Something New - Unused stamp

Sweet (and bright) Tilda

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic New Year's Day and that your New Year's Eve was both safe and exciting!

I'd like to kick off 2011 with a card using Sweet Tilda from the Magnolia Stamps Raising The Ceiling Collection.  I think she's one of the cutest Tildas out there!  The image was colored with Distress Reinkers using the Small Koi Water Brush.  The edges were inked using the Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and a yellow and blue stamp pad. I added some highlights using the Inkssentials Opaque White Pen from Ranger.

I used papers from the October Afternoon Modern Homemaker 8x8 Paper Pad.  There are a lot of bright papers in this pad which I thought goes perfectly with Sweet Tilda.  I've paper pieced her dress and her socks to match.

I kept the card simple with some net ribbon, striped twill ribbon, and baker's twine.  I added some blingy rhinestones to the card to give a little more girly-ness :)

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope everyone has a nice, relaxing weekend!

Stamps: Magnolia Stamps Sweet Tilda
Medium: Distress Reinkers with Small Koi Water Brush  
Paper: October Afternoon Modern Homemaker 8x8 Paper Pad
Accessories: rhinestones, May Arts net ribbon and striped twill ribbon, button, baker's twine
Tools: Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool, Tonic 12x12 Guillotine Paper Cutter,  ATG adhesive gun

This card is for a few challenges:

• The Corrosive Challenge - Bling it On
• Paper Sundaes - Cut It Out
• Bunny Zoe's - Sparkle and Shine
• Hand-Stamped Sentiments - Bring on the Bling
• Secret Crafter - Buttons and bows
• Truly Scrumptious - Sketch