Update: This Blog is Still Alive! Also, Some Bracelets…

Hey blog readers — ‘member me?  Life has been really busy lately and I’ve got a bunch of stuff happening behind the scenes.  Details will be forthcoming, I promise, but for now I’ll just leave it at that and show you a couple of bracelets I’ve made lately.

These two bracelets were done in nearly identical styles, with just a few changes here and there.  Maybe you’re looking at them now, saying, what’s the difference, now?  And I wouldn’t blame you, so I will explain!   There are a few details here and there that I changed, and since they were both gifts, the changes suited the recipients.  But they both share a charm – a winged heart made of pewter that I love.

This first bracelet was for my dear friend Beth’s birthday.  Some reading this may know Beth, of StampInsanity fame.  For those who do not, I can tell you that Beth simply rocks.  She is a true rocker girl in spirit, so no soft, pastel colors for her!  So I broke out the Swarovski crystals in fuchsia and jet black and went to town – see below for a close-up view…

And a full view of the bracelet.  Click the image if you wish to enlarge.

And here is another gift bracelet that has a little bit of a softer edge.  No jet black on this one, and the fuchsia was swapped with rose Swarovski crystal beads.   The main beads of the bracelet differ as well – Beth’s bracelet featured crystal and this one was made with white cats’ eye beads.  Just a little bit of a different look.

The close-up view…

And a view of the entire bracelet. Click to enlarge!

If I still have some readers out there, I truly appreciate your hanging in with me while I do my thing behind the scenes.  I will have some news about that stuff soon;  in the meantime, thank you SO much for visiting and reading!  I hope you are all having a lovely summer!

Beaded Bookmarks

I have some new beading projects to show today – BOOKMARKS!  Please forgive my loud, shouting caps, but I am so excited about these!  While I enjoy making charms for my journals (which is how I got my start with beading), I am seriously excited to start making these bookmarks.  They are so much more useful.  So I am HAPPY about these! 

Here is a bookmark that I sent to Beth.  Last week, I had mentioned how kind she was to lend me the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, so she HAD to have a reading-related prezzie in return. And here is Beth’s bookmark in action, in a J.R. Ward book, of course.

Here’s another one in my fave blues — I LOVE those periwinkle crackled-glass beads so much.  This all reminds me of being a kid with marbles – I just want to PLAY with them. 

I have a BUNCH more bookmarks to show, so I will be posting those soon.  Thank you so much for visiting – see you again soon!

Friends Having Fun and Some Little Cards

Have you heard the news about Friends Having Fun yet? It’s a brand-new challenge blog that is just about to debut!  And this one will be a little different – fun is the first priority for this site!  Challenges will be weekly, and will rotated among four teams – see below for the challenge themes and the team leaders:

Alison – Color Challenge (week 1)

Dani – Sketch Challenge (week 2)

Sarabeth – Recipe Challenge (week 3)

Erica – Pop Culture Challenge (week 4)

In addition, each team is looking for 3-4 friends (design team members) who would like to have fun!  All the details can be found here and the deadline for submission is this Friday, March 12th.  Details are still being worked out for the debut of the challenges, which is now tentatively scheduled for late March.  I will be sure to update here! 

Now, feel like seeing some little cards?  There are times when I seriously love making smaller-scale cards like the three pictured below.  They come together quickly and the size forces me to really keep them simple.  

This first one is my fave of the bunch – I absolutely loved using that sentiment stamp (by Verve Stamps) and that designer paper (by Pink Paislee).  Putting them together just made me happy!   I think I need to use that stamp again really soon – as a matter of fact, an idea is coming to me as I type this….hmmm….

The Twilighty card below went to the winners of blog candy prizes from the recent Twilight Tuesday Farewell Blog Hop.  It was a bit bittersweet making this final Twilight-themed project, but I HAD to use that sentiment from Beth’s StampInsanity Stamps set (called Otherworldly Loves).  Although I may very well make more Twilight-themed projects in the future, this definitely felt a bit poignant since I was officially done with my Twilight Tuesday duties when I mailed out the blog candy prizes and these cards.  I hope that the prize winners liked them!

And this last card also resulted from that Twilight-card-making session – exactly the same as the card above with a different sentiment and die cut shapes in the center. 

Thanks so much for visiting – see you again soon!

What I Used:

Anything is Possible Card:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red cardstock, Pink Paislee designer paper

Stamps:  Verve Stamps

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Ruby Red

Accessories:  Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch, Kaiser red pearls, dimensionals

Twilighter and Thank You Cards:

Paper: Papertrey Ink vintage cream and black cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red cardstock; K & Co. designer paper

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Otherworldly Loves set (“Twilighter”); Verve Stamps (“thank you”)

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red

Accessories:  Spellbinders Nestabilities labels dies, dimensionals, K&Co adhesive jewels

Bird Song

Hey everyone!  I’m back with a card to share today.  How’ve you all been? 

This card I made for my dear friend, the lovely Beth of StampInsanity.  I needed to thank Beth in a big way for a gift she had given me – the gift of THE BROTHERS.  She lent me her entire set of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, and I adore them so much it’s not even funny.   If you haven’t read the books yet, READ THEM!  They’re amazing! 

If you’ve read the books, you might get my (admittedly vague) reference to the 5th book in the series, Lover Unbound, that I included in this card.  (Once I explain the reference, that is!  It’s not obvious – lol.)  I was really touched by the events in that book with Vishous and the birds – I will say no more for those who might want to read the book – and this card was inspired by that.   But hopefully it’s nice to look at if you have not read the books, too, so see below!

I absolutely love this stamp (the sentiment) by Verve and I was really excited about using it for this card, along with a bird stamp by Inkadinkado. 

I added a bird charm attached with a bit of chain and glittered up the bird image a bit – you can see that below.

I will be back again soon to share more stuff – I have been working on SO MANY projects lately that I’m honestly losing track of all of them!  They’re all in various states of completion, which is why I have not been posting much lately.  Bringing them to completion – that is what I need to do right now!  I can’t stop myself from starting new things before I’m done with other projects.  It’s just too exciting – I HAVE to!  In any event, I hope to share more here soon. 

Thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue and So Saffron cardstock; Bo Bunny Summer Cottage designer paper

Stamps:  Verve Stamps (sentiment); Inkadinkado (bird)

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Brocade Blue

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Victorian embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities petite circle dies; brad; dimensionals; Sakura Jelly Roll pen in clear; chain and bird charm; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch

Stamp Happens Sketch Challenge, With a Chance to WIN!

My dear friends Tonya, of the Stamp Happens Shop, and Beth, of StampInsanity Stamps, are doing a joint Sketch Challenge, and this one has a PRIZE!  

A winner will be randomly selected from all challenge entrants and will receive a free StampInsanity set called Zeke & Maddie.  This set is adorable and perfect for Valentine’s Day – check it out here!

I love a good sketch – and this challenges happens to be all about love too!  That is the one rule to this challenge – to create something based on love or Valentine’s Day.  Oh, and to link back to the Stamp Happens Shop as well.  Click here for all the details and play along!

And here is my challenge card.  A very simple one at that, but definitely about love, in all its pink, Cupid-ish glory!   The designer paper on this card is BoBunny from their Persuasion line (and from Tonya’s shop).

Have a great day & thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper: Papertrey Ink white cardstock, Stampin’ Up! Regal Rose cardstock, BoBunny Persuasion designer paper

Stamps:  Pink Paislee

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Regal Rose

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix embossing folder and Spellbinders Nestabilities curved rectangles dies; dimensionals, Kaiser pearls

New Stamps! StampInsanity Release Day

It’s a big stamp release today for StampInsanity Stamps!  StampInsanity owner Beth Schultz has come up with three, count ‘em, three, new rubber stamp sets, available today!  They’re sold exclusively at the Stamp Happens Shop – go and grab yours!  The three stamp sets are called Morgan’s Star, Henry’s Snowman, and Naughty and Nice.  I used the latter wicked cute set on my card for today – more on that below.

The Stamp Sistahs Design Team will be displaying their projects using these stamp sets today as well – check them out!

Senior Design Team Members

Tonya, Stamp Happens; Owner, Stamp Happens Shop

Beth, Stamp Insanity; Owner, StampInsanity Stamps

Jen, Deconstructing Jen, Owner, Wildflower Kids Stamps

Design Team Members

Alyssa, My Addiction

Donna, Donna’s Diary

Gayle, Little Bird Design

Leigh Ann, Stamping With Annie B.

Sarabeth, Scrap Happie

Stephanie, A Paper Buffet

And here’s my project – my first holiday card of the season!  It was FUN to break out that red and green combo for this one!  The two stamps used on this card are from the Naughty and Nice set.  And the cheeky nature of these images informed the design of the card.  The designer paper that I used, from Bo Bunny’s Tis the Season line (also from the Stamp Happens shop!) is a bit distressed, and I was just about to start distressing away on everything else on the card.  But I realized that using the “Jingle Bell Rock Star” sentiment called for some bling on the card, so I went in that direction, with lots of glittery touches on the stamped images, rhinestones, and glittery red snowflakes.  You know, that classic sign of Christmas.  And Morgan is SO fun to color – look at her cute little winking expression! 

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream and Vintage Cream cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red and Garden Green cardstock; Bo Bunny Tis the Season designer paper

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Naughty and Nice set

Ink:  Versafine black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Spellbinders Nestabilities long rectangle and square dies; Kaiser rhinestones; Martha Stewart snowflake punch; Sakura Gelly Roll pens (clear, white, red, and gold); Copic Ciao markers; dimensionals

Halloween, Vampire-Style

Happy Halloween everyone!  This is a good day to share a project I made with Beth’s StampInsanity Stamp set called Halloween Henry.   This set, along with all of the other stamps in the StampInsanity line, are available exclusively at Tonya’s Stamp Happens Shop.

And here is Henry himself, in full vamp regalia.  One thing I love about this guy is that he seems so happy to be a vampire!  He’s quite pleased about the whole situation.   Another thing from Tonya’s shop, used in this card – my new of Copic markers!  I’m not sure, but I believe this might be my first Copic-colored card.  It honestly didn’t occur to me to record the information on which colors I used, but I will definitely work on that for future posts.

Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for visiting!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream and Black cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Riding Hood Red cardstock; Jenni Bowlin designer paper

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Halloween Henry set (vampire, sentiments, and bats)

Ink:  Versafine black and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Swiss Dots embossing folder, and Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels and tag dies; Making Memories black brads; black adhesive jewels, Copic Markers;  Sakura Gelly Roll pens

Introducing the New StampInsanity Sets!

Today’s the day!  StampInsanity Stamps has released three new, and fantastic, stamps sets, available now at the Stamp Happens Shop!  Two of the sets, Morgan’s Spell and Halloween Henry, are Halloween-themed.  I posted a card made with the Morgan’s Spell this week (to the right).  The third set, called Morgan’s Love, is a HUGE set that is perfect for all the bookworms out there!  It’s filled with sentiments related to losing yourself in good books and is sooo much fun.  I used this set for my project today.  Morgan is a regular character in the StampInsanity lines – you’ll see her in this badge (at the left) as well.  StampInsanity Stamps are sold exclusively at the Stamp Happen Shop – get ‘em while they last!

Today, the Stamp Sistahs Design Team is unveiling their projects from these three new sets; visit them to check them out!

Senior Design Team Members

Tonya, Stamp Happens; Owner, Stamp Happens Shop

Beth, Stamp Insanity; Owner, StampInsanity Stamps

Jen, Deconstructing Jen

Design Team Members

Alyssa, My Addiction

Donna, Donna’s Diary

Gayle, Little Bird Design

Jacquie, Family and Crafting

Leigh Ann, Stamping With Annie B.

Sarabeth, Scrap Happie

Stephanie, A Paper Buffet

My project today features Morgan, who is happily lost in a good book!  Beth Schultz, the creator of StampInsanity Stamps, is a avid reader and you can really see how much her love of reading inspired the images in this stamp set.  And evidently, Morgan loves to read so much that she even reads in French!  I stamped and paper-pieced the pages of her book with Stampin’ Up!’s French Script background stamp.  Just because it amused me, really. 

So, have fun visiting the Design Team members to see what they have to display today, and then – get yourself to the Stamp Happens Shop and get your own sets!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey ink Vintage Cream and Melon Berry cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Certainly Celery cardstock

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps, Morgan’s Love, available at the Stamp Happens Shop; Stampin’ Up! French Script

Ink:  Papertrey Ink Melon Berry

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix damask embossing folder, Nestabilities long rectangle die; Prima flower; Dew Drops; Copic Markers; dimensionals

StampInsanity Stamps Sneak Peek!

Exciting happenings this week — StampInsanity Stamps is releasing three new sets this week! And wait until you see these — they are FANTASTIC!   Two of the sets, Morgan’s Spell and Halloween Henry, are Halloween-themed.  The third set, called Morgan’s Love, is a HUGE set that is perfect for all the bookworms out there!  It’s filled with sentiments related to losing yourself in good books and is sooo much fun.  I will be displaying a project using that set as soon as I can!

To give you a little hint on the contents of the new sets, here is a card that I made the set called Morgan’s Spell. Morgan is a regular character in the StampInsanity lines – you’ll see her in this badge (at the left) as well. 

StampInsanity Stamps are sold exclusively at the Stamp Happen Shop, beginning on Friday, September 25th.   Today, the members of the Senior Design Team of the Stamp Sistahs are unveiling sneak peeks from these three new sets, and the full Stamp Sistahs Design Team will be posting their projects on Friday.  Visit the Senior Design Team members today to see their awesome projects!

Beth (owner, StampInsanity Stamps)

Tonya (owner, Stamp Happens Shop)

Jen, Deconstructing Jen

And here is my card!  I used the new set called Morgan’s Spell and I could not WAIT to get this witchy little stamp inked up!  How adorable is she? 

Coloring this image was so much fun.  I stamped the image with black ink and colored it with Prismacolor markers, with a couple of glittery highlights done with my fave Jelly Roll pens.  Her earrings just HAD to sparkle!  I used Stickles in Frosted Lace on the moon, and penciled in a little extra “moonglow” around the moon with a really pale blue-grey Prismacolor pencil.  The stars in the background are also from the Morgan’s Spell set and were stamped in metallic silver.  I embossed the white background with a stars texture plate from Fiskars. 

The quote on the card is yet another stamp from this set, and it features the classic witchy quote from Macbeth: 

Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.

~ William Shakespeare

Lots of details for you!  I had a TON of fun making this one.  Be sure to hit the Stamp Happens Shop on Friday to grab these three new sets before they’re gone!

What I Used:

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white cardstock; Stampin’ Up! Ballet Blue cardstock; The Paper Company silver metallic cardstock; Bazzill Bling in Tiara

Stamps:  StampInsanity Stamps Morgan’s Spell set (girl image, quote, and stars) from the Stamp Happens Shop

Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Ballet Blue and Night of Navy

Accessories:  Cuttlebug: Fiskars texture plate in stars; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Three die and ribbon slide die; Dew Drops in metallic silver; EK Success deco corner punch; dimensionals; ribbon; Prismacolor markers and pencils; Sakura Jelly Roll pens in silver and clear; Stickles in Frosted Lace

StampInsanity Stamps Release – Today’s the Day!

Today’s the day – the debut stamp sets from StampInsanity Stamps are being released today!  The first two stamp sets, called “Meet Henry and Morgan,” and “Otherworldly Loves” are being sold exclusively at the Stamp Happens Shop.  The entire Stamp Sistahs Design Team will be displaying projects using these stamp sets today – go and check ‘em all out!

Senior Design Team Members

Tonya, Stamp Happens; Owner, Stamp Happens Shop

Beth, Stamp Insanity; Owner, StampInsanity Stamps

Jen, Deconstructing Jen

Design Team Members

Alyssa, My Addiction

Deb, Paper Tree Design

Donna, Donna’s Diary

Gayle, Little Bird Design

Jacquie, Family and Crafting

Leigh Ann, Stamping With Annie B.

Sarabeth, Scrap Happie

Stephanie, A Paper Buffet

I used the Otherworldly Loves set for today’s two projects.  This is the set that is perfect for “paranormal princesses.”  What’s a paranormal princess?  Well, a very clever phrase coined by the creator of StampInsanity Stamps, Beth Schultz.  Beth reads as much paranormal fiction as she can get her hands on!  It’s also one of the sentiments in the Otherworldly Loves set!  Fans of Twilight, the Sookie Stackhouse series of books, and True Blood (among others) will LOVE this set!

My cards for today are tributes to two characters on HBO’s True Blood – Eric Northman and Lafayette Reynolds, my two fave characters on the show.  Eric is beautiful and on the chilly side (literally and figuratively) and Lafayette?  Well, that boy’s got major sass.  So I tried to bring out those traits in the cards – let’s see how I did!

Here’s my ode to Eric, played by Alexander Skarsgard.  Eric needed something elegant, with dramatic colors…

And my tribute to Lafayette, played by Nelsan Ellis, who called for bright colors and, you know, sass.  I mean, just look at that picture of him!

So, what are you waiting for?  Go here!  (to the Stamp Happens Shop, that is).  Grab the stamp sets while they last!

What I Used:

Real Men Have Fangs

Paper:  Papertrey Ink white and Scarlet Jewel cardstock; Deja Views designer paper

Stamp:  StampInsanity Stamps from the Otherworldly Loves set

Ink:  Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel and Ranger Archival Ink in jet black

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Sizzix damask embossing folder; Spellbinders Nestabilities petite circle dies; Stampin’ Up! ticket corner punch; Kaiser black pearls; dimensionals

Photo: property of HBO

Meet Me at Merlotte’s

Paper:  Stampin’ Up! Lavender Lace and Tempting Turquoise cardstock; Papertrey Ink white cardstock; DCWV designer paper

Stamp:  StampInsanity Stamps Otherworldly Loves set

Ink:  Tsukineko Kaleidacolor in Spectrum

Accessories:  Cuttlebug:  Floral Dots embossing folder; Spellbinders Nestabilities rectangle and scallop rectangle die; EK Success dots & lines border punch; Robin’s Nest Dew Drops; dimensionals

Photo:  property of HBO