Peeking into the Neighborhood

Good Morning! Today is Day #2 of Clear Dollar Stamps' Sneak Peek Week and today I'm sharing a really versatile stamp set called "Nice Neighborhood". This set includes 3 different style houses, trees, a moving truck and several themed sentiments. The set was illustrated by Laurie Wilson, our CDS Design Team Coordinator and if you like to color images...then you gotta get this set! For this particular sample, I wanted to keep it very clean and simple. Well, it didn't exactly turned out clean and simple, but for me, I think it's close! LOL I drew the colors from the beautiful Basic Grey Designer Paper Collection "Porcelain" and wanted the pretty floral background and stamped image to really compliment each other...so I colored the house quite simply to not distract from the background floral. I added a little Michael's self-adhesive silver bead for the door handle of the house! Isn't that cute? To keep the feminine flavor of the card, I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch and some sweet Pebbles Gingham Ribbon...AND! My favorite KasierCraft Self-Adhesive "Bliss" Pearls. For some other ideas and card samples of "Nice Neighborhood", see my fellow CDS Design Team Members: Candy Fosta, Stacy Morgan, Katie Rentz, Sarah Taylor, Cassie Trask & Kim Teasdale. "Nice Neighborhood" releases August 1st and can be purchased at www.newcleardollarstamps.com.

Stamps: CDS "Nice Neighborhood"
Cardstock & Papers: Basic Grey "Porcelain" Designer Paper Collection, ColorMates Light Pretty in Pink & Medium Spring Green Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers - RV11 Pink, G21 Lime Green, BG000 Pale Aqua, C1 & C3 Cool Greys
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular and Scalloped Round Dies, "Swiss Dots" Embossing Folder, Marvy Mega Round Punch, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Paper Piercing Tool, Pebbles Gingham Ribbon, KaiserCraft Self-Adhesive "Rose" Pearls, Michael's Silver Self-Adhesive Bead
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Copic Coloring, Paper Piercing, Machine Stitching

Another sneak peek sample using CDS' "Nice Neighborhood" was created all around the two-sided designer paper that I was dying to use and waiting for "just the right moment!" Since I used soft, feminine colors on my first sneak peek sample of "Nice Neighborhood", I wanted to use some warm and toasty colors on this sample. I drew all the colors from the Graphic 45 "Times Noveau Collection" Designer Paper, to color the image, to sponge the sentiment, etc. The image, again was so much fun to color my Copic Sketch Markers and I added another little Michael's Self-Adhesive Gold Bead for the door handle of the house. In fact, if the house weren't a dark yellow...it might pass for "My Little Yellow Cottage" !! LOL To see the whole stamp sheet set of "Nice Neighborhood", visit Lori McCroskey's blog.

Stamps: CDs "Nice Neighborhood"Cardstock & Papers: Basic Grey "Boxer" Designer Paper Collection, Graphic 45 "Times Noveau Collection - Hot Tomato" Designer Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Summer Sky Inks, Stampin' Up! Mellow Moss Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch - B00 Frost Blue, E09 Burnt Sienna, E34 Orientale, YR21 Cream, YR24 Pale Sepia, E29 Burnt Umber, G94 Grayish Olive
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Curved Long Rectangle, Regular Circle & Inverted Circle Dies, Paper Piercing Tool, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Cloud Template, Tskukineko Sponge Dauber, Michael's Self-Adhesive Gold Beads, Making Memories "5th Avenue" Collection Ribbon, Spare Parts Button, Crochet Thread
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Copic Coloring, Sponging, Masking, Paper Piercing
CDS Challenge: Create a Stamped, Cut-Out Element as an Accent

Well, unfortunately, that's all I have to share with you this CDS Sneak Peek Week, BUT! There's more to see on my fellow Clear Dollar Stamps Design Team blogs -- you can find their links on my right sidebar. They will have more sneak peeks to share with you on Thursday, July 30 and Friday, July 31st -- and they are so worth seeing! AND! All these great new sets will be available for purchase August 1st at www.newcleardollarstamps.com

Good Morning! Do you know what today is????? Today is Day #1 for Clear Dollar Stamps Sneak Peek Week! I always get excited sharing my sneak peek samples with my readers during CDS Sneak Peek Week and hope that you all enjoy seeing them, as well. I have two super stamp sets to share with you today, and I'll start with "Hanging Out" illustrated by our Design Team Coordinator, Laurie Wilson. "Hanging Out" is a supercute stamp set that offers a clothesline, several items of clothing to hang on the clothesline, various sentiments and two adorable Magpies! How homespun is that???? For this sneak peek sample, I couldn't wait to ink up the articles of clothing and then paper piece them onto the clothesline. I wanted to used a Summery color scheme, and had this fun different-sized polka dot designer paper, and thought that I'd throw in a little teal to make it all pop. All 3 articles of clothing were stamped on either cardstock or designer paper, then cut out then adhered overtop the underlying stamped image. The clouds were sponged with my trusty handmade cloud template and the little dots around the Nestablities Labels Three were stamped with Clear Dollar Stamps' "Sassy Scallops" stamp set. That set is invaluable! For more great designs using "Hanging Out" see my fellow CDS Design Team Members: Candy Fosta, Cassie Trask, Angela Thomas, Kim Teasdale & Laurie Wilson.

Stamps: CDS "Hanging Out" & "Sassy Scallops"
Cardstock & Papers: Paper Trey "Bitty Dot Basics" Designer Paper Collection, DCWV "Assorted Splats" Designer Paper Collection, DCWV "Nana's Kids - Embossed Green Dots" Designer Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Tangelo Inks, Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze & Taken with Teal Inks
Markers: Copic Sketch - YG03 Yellow Green
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular Square & Labels Three Dies, EK Success Corner Punch, Sewing Machine, Thread, Cloud Template, Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Offray Felt Ric Rac, Robin's Nest "Water" & "Flame" Dew Drops.
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Paper Piecing, Machine Stitching, Masking

Do you like Magpies? Blackbirds? I so love them as illustrations, but not so much in the yard! LOL For my second sneak peek sample of "Hanging Out", you know I just had to ink up those magpies! I mean, how cute is that? Two Magpies on a clothesline! I love the whole visual!! LOL The colors and layout for this card came from TWO (mind you!) CDS Design Team Challenges: 1. the Sketch/Layout and 2. Color Challenge - Mustard & Black. Well, I didn't have a lot of mustard coordinating papers lying around, but I did have this two-toned trellis plaid old scrapbook paper that just was screaming to be used! It is so old that I have no clue where it came from or who made it! (Sorry, sniff, sniff!). If you look closely at the right side of the card, you'll see the zig-zag stitch that ended in straight stitch to the button embellishment...that was my attempt of satisfying another "strip type area" for the Sketch/Layout that Laurie Wilson provided. I think it flies alright...LOL. "Hanging Out" will be released on August 1st and the entire stamp sheet set can be viewed at Lori McCroskey's Blog. To purchase, visit www.newcleardollarstamps.com

Stamps: CDS "Hanging Out"
Cardstock & Papers: Paper Trey "Bitty Dot Basics" Designer Paper Collection, Unknown Scrapbook Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Black and Summer Sky Inks
Markers: Copic Sketch - Y21 Buttercup Yellow, Y26 Mustard, 100 Black, C1 & C3 Cool Greys. Other Marker - Signo White Gel Pen
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Oval Dies, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch, Cloud Template, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Pebbles Ribbon, Doodlebug Button, Crochet Thread
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Copic Coloring, Masking, Machine Stitching.
CDS Challenges: Color Challenge & Sketch Challenge

The second soon-to-be-relased stamp set that I'm sharing today is called "Under the Sea", illustrated by our own Design Team member Shawne Arnold and includes a stylized fish, seahorse, various seashells, seawood, coral and coordinating sentiments. The colors that I used to create this card came from a photograph of a living room that our CDS Design Team Coordinator, Laurie Wilson supplied. From that we were to be inspired by the colors, design, etc., of the living room. I also had this new K&Co. Designer Paper Collection called "Sea Glass" and it just seemed to fit perfectly the "Inspiration Challenge. I so enjoyed coloring the main stamped image with Copic Sketch Markers and you will, too! For the fish and the coral cluster, I stamped them twice and popped them up on Stampin' Up Dimensionals. You WILL love this stamp set!

Stamps: CDS "Under the Sea"
Cardstock & Papers: K&Co. "Sea Glass" Designer Paper Collection, ColorMates Light Geranium Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers - RV13 Tender Pink, R11 Pale Cherry Pink, B32 Pale Blue, BG000 Pale Aqua, BG11 Moon White, BG15 Aqua, YG03 Yellow Green, G07 Nile Green, G24 Willow, Y13 Lemon Yellow, YR01 Peach Puff, YR21 Cream, E00 Skin White, E25 Caribe Cocoa, E31 Brick Beige, E33 Sand. Other Marker - Sakura Micron .01 Fine Tip Black Marker
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Label 3 Dies & Tags Trio Die, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch, Fiskars "Wave" Paper Shaper Scissors, Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Clear Dollar Stamps Ribbon, Karen Foster Button/Brad, Robin's Nest "Water" Dew Drops
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Copic Coloring, Machine Stitching, Sponging
CDS Challenge: Inspiration Challenge

For my second sample of "Under the Sea", I wanted to ink up that seahorse and color him with my Copic Sketch Markers. I had yet, one more CDS Design Team Challenge to do: to not use any designer paper, but to make your own. So, when I saw the adorable seashells and starfish in this set, I knew that they would make great background paper Once I colored the starfish and seashells, they sort of set the color scheme for this card and I color-coordinated most of the other elements in the main stamped image. After coloring my starfish, I took my trusty Sakura Stardust Glitter Gel Pen and outlined all the swirls and twirls on the seahorse, as well as outlined the coral and the seaweed. I embellished with my favorite "bling", KaiserCraft Self-Adhesive "Bliss" Pearls...because every sea needs a few pearls. There are other fab card designs using this set by my fellow CDS Design Team Members: Candy Fosta, Stacy Morgan, Cassie Trask, Kim Teasdale & Laurie Wilson. "Under the Sea" releases August 1st and can be purchased at www.cleardollarstamps.com. To see the complete stamp sheet, visit Lori McCroskey's blog.

Stamps: CDS "Under the Sea" & "Smooth Sailing" (sentiment)
Cardstock & Papers: ColorMates Pretty in Pink and Light Orange Dream Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers - RV11 Pink, RV23 Pure Pink, YR01 Peach Puff, YR16 Apricot, YR21 Cream, B00 Frost Blue, BG000 Pale Aqua, BG11 Moon White, YG63 Pea Green, YG67 Moss, E00 Skin White, E25 Caribe Cocoa, E31 Birch Beige, E34 Orientale. Other Markers - Sakura Clear Stardust Gel Pen, Sakura Micron .01 Fine Tip Black Marker
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Long Curved Rectangle Dies, Cuttlebug "Swirls" Embossing Folder, Martha Stewart Zig-Zag Border Punch, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Clear Dollar Stamps Pink Velvet Ribbon, KaiserCraft Clear Self-Adhesive Rhinestones, KaiserCraft "Bliss" Self-Adhesive Pearls.
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Copic Coloring & Machine Stitching
CDS Challenge: No Designer Paper, Create Your Own DP Using CDS Stamps

Get Ready!

Good Morning! I'm still kicking! Sorry that I haven't posted in what turns out to be a long time...I was busy creating August Sneak Peeks and I'll be showing those on Tuesday, July 28th! So, I hope you'll come back to see what we, the Clear Dollar Stamps' Design Team has to share with you this week! See you Tuesday!

A Special Birthday

As promised, I have a card to share with you...this one was created for a very special friend's birthday this week (hope she's not peeking...but I DID promise sharing a new card with my blog readers!). This card was colored with Copic Sketch Markers -- I spent a great deal of time coloring the image...wanting it to be the main focus of the card. The upper white half of the background was scored using a Scor-It -- I was trying to achieve a Beadboard/Wainscoting effect (like at seashore cottages) for a seashore effect. I had a wonderful time coloring this and decided to keep the embellishment and layers simple. I hope that my friend likes it! Here's the deets:

Stamps: Stamps Happen "Girl at the Sea Shore" & Stampin' Up! Sentiment (inside)
Cardstock & Papers: ColorMates Deep Belgium Blue Cardstock, Making Memories Red Pinstripe Scrapbook Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch - B00 Frost Blue, B14 Light Blue, B24 Sky, B32 Pale Blue, R11 Pale Cherry Pink, YR21 Cream, YR24 Pale Sepia, Y26 Mustard, E25 Caribe Cocoa, E29 Burnt Umber, E31 Brick Beige, E33 Sand, E34 Orientale, C1 & C3 Cool Greys
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular Square Die, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Zots, Offray Ribbon, Brass Charm
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Copic Coloring, Machine Stitching

Just sharing...

Hello! I'm still working on my Clear Dollar Stamps August Sneak Peeks, but I didn't want you to lose interest in my blog and go away forever or anything. So, I wanted to share what my front window boxes look like close-up...I took this photo today, and then decided, "hey, I need to update my blog cottage photo with the flowers in the window boxes!" So, check it out above...nevermind that that tall azalea bush to the right of the steps needs trimming (LOL). Something always needs trimming around here, that's for sure! I really hope to have a non-sneak peek card to share in a day or so...and that's a promise! See you then!

My "Down Under Pot"

Hello! I'm busy working on the next batch of sneak peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps' August releases, but I had to share my "upside down pot" that hangs by my back door. I first heard of these "upside down pots" from my hairdresser last spring. She had mentioned that she had bought one and I was intrigued by the idea. I did a little research and learned that they were first crafted in Australia and are sometimes called "down under pots". I searched high and low for one, and found several on eBay and bought this off-white one. There are various colors available including colored, glazed ones...but I opted for this flat off-white pot thinking it would showcase the colors of any flowers that I planted in it better. I planted two different color impatiens in it this year (last year I planted another flower that had more of a woody stem -- which I don't recommend). When you first plant your flowers in an "upside down pot", you turn in over, plant your flowers in the wide opening and leave it sitting on a table for 2-3 weeks until the flowers are well established. After 2-3 weeks, you turn over the pot and hang it on a hanger, and in a few short days, the flowers start to reach upward and around the "upside down pot" "bottom"...it's really fun to watch it grow upward and always a great conversation piece.

I hope to have something non-sneak peek to show you in a week or so...but back to work on the sneak peeks for now!