Stay Cool

Has it been hot where you are? It's been really hot in Columbus, so much so that I saw someone tonight on TV wishing for snow. I'm not going that far but I am trying to stay cool. That's why on Saturday, I dragged my two boys to the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky. If you haven't been there, it is absolutely worth your while to go (and this is coming from someone who lives less than a mile from Jack Hannah's World Famous Columbus Zoo - we have nothing like it). The Newport is fabulous. They have everything from standard aquarium-type fish to sea otters to a very cool octopus exhibit. My son's favorite animal is the penguin so I thought what a perfect way to stay cool...we'll go visit the penguins. The Newport has an absolutely marvelous penguin exhibit that houses 5 different types of penguins including the newly added Macaroni penguin. Alas, 6000 (5873 to be exact) of our closest friends had the same idea. We spent a few minutes with the penguins and then left.

When I came home, all I wanted to do was color. While looking for inspiration I came across the current Lawnscaping Challenge & knew it was the perfect way to depict our day at the Aquarium. The current challenge is called stamp a scene. Just click on the link if you want to play along but hurry, I think it ends tomorrow.



As for my scene, you guessed it, it's the penguin exhibit at the Newport. Five different types of penguins rollicking in the cool water, having fun. The center penguin on the inner tube had orange raffia head feathers inspired by the Macaroni penguin. My husband convinced me I should take them off.



Many Lawn Fawn stamp sets were used to create this scene:
Critters in the Snow (the penguins)
Cruising Through Life (the pinwheels & the pinwheel poles, stamped end-to-end to hold the banner)
Bannerific (the banner)
Swimsuit Season (the splash & the inner tube - sorry I cut off the horse's head:-))
Critters in the Sea (the wave)
Jessie's ABCs (the sentiment)

Add a little fussy-cutting, some Copic coloring & a bit of Rock Candy Distress Stickles and you have the perfect scene.

Stay Cool & Good Night!

Thank You!

Today's card was made using stamps from a few different manufacturers. I usually don't mix & match (kinda for the same reason you should never invite both sets of in-laws to a function) but everyone played nice and it all turned out great in the end.

The notebook paper stamp is from a My Favorite Things set & the sentiment is a Stampendous stamp. All the rest (the teacher, her chalkboard, pail of goodies & apple) is a By LORI Designs digistamp. By LORI Designs is a relatively new find for me but I must say the moment I found this company, I fell in love! The images are adorable & perfect for coloring. By LORI Designs makes it so easy to download & open that you can print & color images within minutes of purchasing them. There is a wide variety of characters & themes so there is sure to be something for everyone. Another plus is the most fabulous card examples. The website is packed with inspiration...Did I mention I love this company?

The particular image I used for this card belongs to the Sugar Sticks line & is called "Teacher & Accessories." My son has some truly incredible teachers that I wanted to make special cards for, to let them know we really appreciate all that they do for us. Hopefully, they will like their cards.

If you are looking for something to color today, check out By LORI Designs. You'll fall in love too.



Thanks for visiting!

Poppy Bottles

I made this card for Jennifer McGuire & Kristina Werner's Online Summer Card Camp but never got it posted. Are any of you participating? It's been great fun. I just wish I had had more time to camp & play. Maybe if we all band together, we can talk them into 'a kids are back in school, now we can camp' camp:-)

For this card, I used two of my favorite Stampendous go-to stamps: Dream Text (R105) & Poppy Bottles Perfectly Clear Stamp Set (SSC1092). This poppy set is so versatile. I adore the long poppy stems in their bottles & the cute, 'handwritten' sayings. These sentiments are the perfect size to stamp on a tiny tag & then tie around one of the stems. The set even includes a solid poppy bloom if you prefer to stamp in the color instead of using markers or pencils. Speaking of pencils, that's what I used to color my poppies. I then accented them with a little Glossy Accents. It is hard to see in the picture but I stamped the entire front panel with the Dream Text. The colored pencils acted as a resist. With a button, some twine & a little scoring on the card base the card is done.

Thanks for visiting!

A Perfect Pairing!

A friend of mine is going through some tough times right now so I thought I’d make a card to brighten her day. This is what I came up with; hopefully it will put a smile on her face.

I recently received this exquisite stamp in the mail and knew it was perfect for the job. Isn’t it stunning? It’s the new Cling Jumbo Baroque Bouquet from Stampendous. I love how the Cling Music Score (also a Stampendous stamp & one of my all-time favorites) compliments the Baroque Bouquet image. Combining these two stamps makes me want to listen to another perfect Baroque pairing, the Goldberg Variations played by hmmm Glenn Gould or Simone Dinnerstein, maybe both… ooh sorry, I digress. My point is Stampendous has done it again. No matter what you create with this image, the result will be magical! Please visit the Stampendous blog for more inspiration.

Stampendous Supplies:

Cling Jumbo Baroque Bouquet CRS5019 (image)
Orchid Greetings SSC1053 (sentiment)
Cling Music Score CRR103 (background)

Other Supplies:

Copic Markers
X-Press It Blending Card
The Paper Company Bronze Metallic card stock
Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Ranger Archival Jet Black ink
Ranger Glossy Accents
Tsukineko Versamark watermark ink

Card Notes:

Create a card base using the Bronze Metallic card stock (mine is a 5.25" square card).
Trim a piece of X-Press It Blending Card slightly smaller than card base; stamp image & color using Copics.
Stamp image again on a scrap of paper and fussy-cut; use this as a mask; Place over main image.
Stamp the Music Score using Versamark; Stamp more than once to cover the entire card front.
Use an ink blending tool to distress the edges of card front with Antique Linen ink.
Stamp a small section of the image & the sentiment on a scrap of X-Press It; color desired flower & leaves then fussy-cut; trim sentiment & mat on scrap of Bronze Metallic card stock.
Distress the edges of the sentiment panel; adhere to card front using dimensional foam adhesive; adhere flower & leaves; accent all flower centers with Glossy Accents.
Adhere the card front to the card base.
Use a corner rounder to create fancy corners on the card & sentiment panel (I used the Corner Chomper stub).

For your listening pleasure, click here to listen to Simone Dinnerstein playing the Aria from the Bach Goldberg Variations.

Good Night & Thanks for visiting!

4th of July Invite

Today, I thought I'd share an invitation I made for some upcoming weekend plans. 4th of July is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't know if it's the fireworks or parades or maybe the music. It's just a lot of fun.

Card Notes:

Stamp the image onto the X-Press It Blending Card & color; Trim image.

Trace the fireworks with the Quickie Glue pen and sprinkle with glitter; Tap off excess.

Cut two stars out of complimentary patterned paper using the Cricut electronic cutting machine; One star should measure 4 3/4" while the other is 5"; Mat the smaller star with the bigger one.

Cut a 3 3/4" x 5 1/4" piece of patterned paper; stamp the sentiment onto this piece of patterned paper & mat onto black cardstock.

Finish by simply assembling the card.


Stamps: Stampendous Cling Firework Day Set CRS2033; Mini Happy 4th SSC478
Patterned Paper: various pieces from October Afternoon Rocket Age Collection
Cardstock & Specialty Paper: Copic X-Press It Blending Card;
Recolllections Black Cardstock; Cardbase (unknown)
Diecut: Star from Plantin Schoolbook cartridge cut with my Cricut
Markers: Copics R20/R21/R24/R27/R29/B0000/B91/B93/B97/B99/BG10/E00/E01/E40/E41/E50/
E53/E55/E57/W0
Glitter: from the Stampendous Glitzy Glitter 80's Flashback set GK02
Adhesives: American Crafts Permanent Dot Runner; Sakura Quickie Glue pen
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black dye ink; Ranger Jet Black archival ink



Thanks so much for visiting. Happy 4th of July Everyone!