"Let's Toast!" Great News & Sneak Peeks!

Good morning! Today I have a some very exciting news to share with you, as well as a preview of a soon-to-be-released stamp set in March. First, we at Clear Dollar Stamps are so excited about the next venture that awaits one lucky challenge submission. Starting this month, and starting today through the end of this month, February 28th, CDS is offering a new Monthly Guest Designer Spot Challenge, and YOU could be the next Guest Designer for one month! The chosen winner will be the Guest Designer for CDS for the next release month (in March!), and will receive three stamp sets FREE of his/her choice from the stamps that are released in March! How exciting is that? If you think that you'd like to submit a card for this great opportunity, please DO YOUR BEST WORK, and for more details, see Lori McCroskey's blog, here.

Now, to preview a very cute and whimsical kitchen stamp set, called "Kitchen Clutter by Clear Dollar Stamps, to be released on March 1st. This set has several images including, a tea kettle, sugar and creamer, dish soap, bubbles, sponge, coffee pot, cannister jarsand more! This set is so much fun to stamp with with endless possibilities for stamping and much more fun than cooking! Ordering and pricing details may be found HERE. Be sure to see my team members' blogs, Laurie, Linsey and Candy for their beautiful samples using "Kitchen Clutter".

All Stamp Sets Used: Clear Dollar Stamps "Kitchen Clutter"
Cardstock & Papers: Bazill Solid Cardstocks, My Minds Eye "My Sunshine Sunny Days" & "My Sunshine Blooming Lovely", Paper Trey White Cardstock, Swarthmore Watercolor Paper
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Apricot Appeal and Only Orange Inks Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: Y11 Pale Yellow, Y21 Buttercup Yellow, R59 Cardinal, BG000 Pale Aqua, C1, C3, C5 Cool Grays
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossin Folder, Nestabilities Regular Round & Large Pinking Round Dies, Piercing Tool, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive "Bliss" Pearls, Adhesives, Zots, Sewing Machine, Thread, Marvy Corner Rounder Punch, Offray Satin Ribbon, Crystal Effects
Coloring Medium: None
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Copic Coloring & Blending, , Dry Embossing, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5"x 10" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. Three square mats were cut to size: Plaid 5", Burgundy 4-3/8", Floral Print 4-1/8". A yellow horizontal strip was cut to 4-1/8" wide x 1-1/8" high, and a brown border was cut to 4-1/8" wide x 1-5/16" high. Using a Marvy Corner Rounder Punch, I clipped the bottom left and right corners of all 3 mats. Using a Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, I embossed the yellow horizontal strip. Using a Stampin' Up! Slot punch and after marking the center of the brown horizontal strip, I starting punching from the center outward, first to the right and then to the left so that the scallops on the border were be balanced and centered. I paper pierced 3 decorative holes in each of the brown scallop points. I glued the plaid, the burgundyand floral mats together, and then glued the yellow horizontal swiss dot embossed strip along with the brown horizontal scalloped border together and then on top of the 3 glued mats. Using my Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine ; ) I machine stitched around the 4 sides of the larger, plaid mat and the floral mat with the yellow horizontal strip at the bottom.

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. Using a Marvy 1.5" circle punch I punched out the sentiment, cutting it about 3'4 from the top of the circle, horizontally. Using a paper piercing tool, I hand pierced around the semi circle sentiment mat, and then, using Stampin' Up! Apricot Appeal ink, I lightly sponged around the semi-circle and then again, a little more heavily using Stampin' Up! Only Orange. I glued the sentiment to the yellow horizontal swiss dot embossed strip.

The stamped focal image, the toaster was stamped onto Swarthmore Watercolor Paper, and colored with Copic Sketch markers and blended. Using Nestabilities Regular Round Die, I cut out the stamped image, and then using a paper piericng tool, I hand pierced around the circular focal image. I cut a pinked circle burgundy mat for the stamped image using the Nestabilities Large Pinking Circle Die Set. I added Crystal Effects to the toaster to add dimension and interest to the toaster. I glued the stamped toaster image to the burgundy pinked mat and set aside. Using Offray Brown 5/8" wide Satin Ribbon, I glued down a ribbon strip veritcally down the right side of the card, anchoring it to the back of the largest mat. I "v-eed" the end of the ribbon by folding the ribbon in half, and cutting a slant cut from the folded edge outward. I popped up the matted, stamped toaster image overtop the Offray Brown Satin Ribbon strip, and then added two bow knots to the ribbon strip above the stamped image. Using thread, I anchored sewed the three button embellishments and then adhered them to the card front using Zots. To finish, I added Kaisercraft Self-Adhesive "Bliss" Pearls to the flower centers of the floral print interior mat. The card was finished off by gluging the card front to the 5"x 10" white cardstock card base.

This is the second card that I've made with "Kitchen Clutter" a pre-release stamp set by Clear Dollar Stamps, to be released on March 1st! This set is so much fun to create with and is great for retro kitchen designer paper, as well. This unique stamp set offers many cute "kitchen clutter" items such as a toaster, a sugar and creamer, a dish soap bottle and sponge, bubbles, cooking spoons and so much more! Ordering and pricing details may be found HERE. Be sure to see my team members' blogs, Laurie, Linsey and Candy for their beautiful samples using "Kitchen Clutter".

Stamp Sets Used: Clear Dollar Stamps "Kitchen Clutter"
Cardstock & Papers: Colormates Medium Autumn Red, K&Co. "Berry Sweet" Designer Paper Mat Pad, Creative Imaginations "Renae's House" Line, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: R18 Vermillion, $27 Crimson Red, G82 Spring Dim Green, BG67 Moss, C# & C% Cool Grays, 0 Colorless Blender, Signo Red & White Gel Pens
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular Round Dies, Fiskars Mini Scalloped Shaper Scissors, EK Success Photo Corner Punch, Stampin' Up! Small & Large Oval Punches, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Sewing Machine, Thread, American Crafts Extra Large Eyelet, Colorbok Adhesive Dots, Adhesives, American Crafts Dimensionals, American Crafts Grosgrain Polka Dot Ribbon
Coloring Medium: Copic Coloring and Blending
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5"x 10" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. Two square mats were cut to size: Red 4.75", Cherry Print 4-1/8". Then I cut 3 horizontal strips to size: Green Patterned Paper 4-1/8" wide x 1/5" high, white 4-1/8" wide x 1.25" high and red & white polka dott 4-1/8" wide x 1-1/16" high. The red mat was glued to the cherry print mat. Using Fiskars Mini Scalloped Shaper Scissors, I cut a scalloped edge along the top and bottom of the white strip. I then glued the green patterned strip to the white scalloped strip, and then glued the red & white polka dotted strip to the top of all 3 strips. Using Doodlebug Limeade Ric Rac, I tacked it down across the middle of the red & white polka dotted horizontal strip..Then gluing the 3 layered horizontal strip across the two glued square mats, and then using my Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine ; ) I machine stitched around the 4 sides of the red mat and the cherry print mat, and set aside.

I stamped the main focal image, the teapot onto Paper Trey White Cardstock and colored with Copics Sketch Markers and blended, as well. Using Nestabilities Regular Round Die, I cut out the colored,.stamped focal image. I made a scalloped red mat out of Colormates Medium Autumn Red Cardstock using the Nestabilities Scalloped Round Die, and then another mat out of K&Co. "Berry Sweet" lime patterned dp using the Nestabilities Regular Round Die, and then a third mat out of Paper Trey White Cardstock using Nestabilities Round Scalloped Die, once more. Using Signo Red and White Gel Pens, I dot-doodled around the two scalloped image mats, as well as the image mat, itself.
I glued the white image mat to the red scalloped mat, and then glued the lime patterned circle mat to the white scalloped circle mat. I then popped up the two mats (image mat and red scalloped mat) overtop the two other mats (the lime patterned circle mat and the white scalloped circle mat).

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and then punched out using the Stampin" Up! Small Oval Punch, and then made a red oval mat out of Colormates Medium Autumn Red and punched out with the Large Stampin' Up! Oval Punch. Using a White Signo Gel Pen, I dot doodled around the red mat oval. I glued the smaller white oval sentiment mat to the larger red oval mat. Using a Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch kit, I punched two holes on either side of the sentiment mat and then attached Extra Large Eyelets from American Crafts to the holes. Threading American Crafts Red & White Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon through each hole, I tied it off into two bow knots. I anchored the bowed, matted sentiment to the card front using American Crafts Dimensionals, popping it up for dimension. To finish, the card front was glued to the white cardstock base.

A little tip and a little excitement...

SNEAK PEEK WEEK

BEGINS WEDNESDAY!

Good evening all! I had a late start to my day, but wanted to post a little tip that I think is useful to most stampers and to share a little excitement.

First, for the tip: When stamping an image that you are going to pop up overtop the same identical image or using "Paper Tole", as some call it, here's a handy tip. Do you get annoyed with that white interior of the cardstock after you've cut out a stamped colored image? You know the core of the cardstock? Especially, when you have stamped the image in black ink? Well, here's a quick fix: After cutting out the stamped, colored image that you're going to pop up over the underside image, take a Black Marker (I like to use a Black Sharpie) and "edge" along the entire cut-out stamped image edge before adhering to the matching underside image. Be very careful not to mark on the top of the stamped, colored image, or you will have to redo that...and who wants that? Just a little tip, and when it's popped up over the underside image, you won't see that annoying white core edge peeking out.

Now, the Excitement: this is Clear Dollar Stamps Sneak Peek Week! I have 3 new stamp sets to showcase this week, starting on Wednesday, February 25th! So, I hope that you'll come back to visit and see all the excitement brewing at Clear Dollar Stamps.

A Dental Emergency and A Little Love

Good morning all! So sorry that I've not been sharing anything new since Valentine's Day. I have had a dental emergency that has disrupted my entire week, unfortunately and will be back on my feet in a few days with prayer. Not to worry, God is good -- all the time!

My friend, Oliva Ohlson, who also was my "Little Sister" during a round of Divine Secret Siblings over on Splitcoast Stampers Community, surprised me with a sweet email and a little honor this morning. After this week, I sure could use some cheering up! LOL Oliva has the sweetest and kindest heart and she is always encouraging me in stamping. She is also an addicted stamper and her wonderful work can be viewed on her blog, here.

Thank you Oliva for the blog award. You are truly an angel. Love you!

Now I have to choose 5 fellow bloggers to share the award with. Now, that, in and of itself, is a difficult task. When I think of whom to bestow the award, my mind races with excitement over quite a few to surprise. I have chosen the following five people for this blog honor:

Beth Hartley - This girl cranks out projects like a machine, but each one is handcrafted uniquely and beautifully. Beth has the sweetest spirit and she is a dear friend.

Lori Garrison - This woman is a supermom, beautiful stamper, Pampered Chef demo, homeschools her children, keeps her husband in line and cheers everyone up over on Splitcoast Stamper Community. Lori is one of my favorite people in the world.

Linda Anderson - Now, this is another special friend. Linda and I met through Splitcoast Stampers Community, as well. We both participated in the Divine Secret Siblings and she was my "Big Sister" for three months, and a wonderful one, at that. She lavished me with stamping goodies, galore! Linda's work is beautifully crafted with lots of layers and dimension. I love her work, and I love her, too.

Monique Hawrelluck - Talk about talent all over the place! Monique is a fellow team designer for Clear Dollar Stamps and we have just begun our friendship. I am always amazed at Monique's blog when I visit, because each one of her cards are beautifully and thoughtfully crafted with such detail and embellishment. You will love viewing her work.

Lorelie Kim -- Another talented lady! Lorelie and I met through Clear Dollar Stamps, as fellow team designers. Lorelie now designs for Our Daily Bread Designs and I'm telling you! If you want to see works of art, check out her blog! Lorelie, is another sweet spirit and she always makes you feel like your stamping is appreciated. LOL Lorelie, I love your work and I love you, too!

Okay, that's it! I wish I could pass it on to more, as I have so many more in my heart that love and admire...

Blessings!

Sausage Anyone? LOL

Hello and thanks for coming back! I hadn't posted anything lately, and I was worried that any blog followers might lose interest (while I was busy creating March sneak peeks for Clear Dollar Stamps). But, I was able to play along with the Clear Dollar Stamps Weekend Color Challenge over on Paper Craft Planet this weekend, and Laurie Wilson is hostessing and substituting for Alex Maldonado (my fellow design team member), who is sick with bronchitis. Laurie chose the following colors: Pink Pirhouette, Regal Rose and Baja Breeze with white as an optional neutral.

I have four stamping friends with March birthdays, and I wanted to use the pig in the CDS "Farm Critters" stamp set for one of the birthday cards...turns out Laurie used the same pig stamp for color challenge sample. But what better stamp to use for those two shades of pink, other than a pig? Anyway, I wanted to created my own designer paper for the card, and I wracked my brain trying to come up with some to stamp a background with, that would tie in with a pig. Then, I had light bulb moment! I had a sausage stamp! I had never inked it up, but decided to go ahead and use it for the background stamping for this card. The sausage stamp comes from a Stamp of the Month stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps. I thought that the whole concept of a pig, sausage and oinking worked, quite well! LOL Okay...the deets:

Stamps Used: Clear Dollar Stamps "Farm Critters" and "May 2008 Stamp of the Month" Stamp Sets
Cardstock: Colormates Light Pretty Pink and Dark Pretty Pink Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: RV11 Pink, RV23 Pure Pink, R29 Crimson, BG000 Pale Aqua, BG72 Ice Ocean, Signo White Gel Pen
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular Round Dies, Nestabilities Large Pinking Circles, Marvy Mega and Large Circle Punches, Piercing Tool, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Sewing Machine, Thread, Adhesive, Zots, American Crafts Dimensionals, American Crafts Photo Anchor & Brad, Pink Twine, Spare Parts Buttons, Judi Kins Diamond Glaze
Technique: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Paper Tole, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing, Copic Coloring and Blending

DIRECTIONS:
A card base was cut to 7.5" wide x 8" high from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. Four rectangular mats were cut for the card front to size: White to 3.75" wide x 8" high, Light Pretty Pink 3-3/8" x 7.5" high, Dark Pretty Pink 3" wide x 7-3/16" high, and the smaller white 2/75" wide x 7" high. Using the smaller white rectangular mat, I stamped random sausages using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copic Sketch markers. Using Judi Kins Diamond Glaze, I applied glaze to each sausage to create a glazed, elevated effect.

The pig image was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock twice and colored identically with Copic Sketch Markers and blended, as well. One of the colored pig images was cut out using the Nestabilities Regular Round Die, and then using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, I moderately sponged around the edge of the die cut circle using Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink, and then when dry, using a Paper Piercing Tool, I pierced around the circle edge to embellish. I punched a mat out of the Light Pretty Pink Cardstock using a Marvy Mega Circle Punch, and then cut a larger circular mat using the Nestabilities Large Pinking Circle Die out of Dark Pretty Pink Cardstock. Using a Signo White Gel Pen, I dot doodled each pinking point on the larger mat. I then cut out the second stamped, colored pig and popped it up over the underneath stamped, colored pig, using American Crafts Dimensionals. I then glued the colored image mat, to the larger light pink mat and then to the darker pink mat and set aside.

The sentiment was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using the Nestabilities Regular Round Die, and then using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, I moderately sponged around the edge with Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink, and paper pierced around the edge to embellish. I cut two pink mats to enhance the sentiment using Nestabilities Regular Round and Large Pinking Round Dies. I paper pierced around the lighter pink mat edge, and then using the Signo White Gel Pen again, dot doodled around the pinked points on the larger pink sentiment mat. I glued the sentiment circle to the two pink circular mats and set aside.

I did something that I don't normally like to do. I took the sentiment "Something to Oink About" and it cut it apart to "free" the "oink" word. I wanted to stamp "Oink" randomly in between the sausages on the background stamped mat. So, using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink again, I randomly stamped "Oink" in between some of the sausages.

I punched two circles using a Marvy Large Round Punch, and tied two buttons from Spare Parts two the punched pink circles with pink jewelry twine...tying each button with a bow.

Using my Janome Hello Kitty sewing machine ; ) I machine stitched around all four sides of the lighter pink card front mat and then again on the inner white, stamped and colored "sausage and oink" mat using straight stitches and alternating with a zig-zag stitch. If you look closely, you'll see where I messed up and stitched the straight stitch with a tighter stitch in two areas. Oh well...it is handcrafted, right? LOL

Okay, to finish up the card. I popped up the stamped, colored and matted pig image onto the card front using American Crafts Dimensionals. Adding an American Crafts Decorative Photo Anchor and Matching Brad, I punched a hole through the card front and anchored the pig mat to embellish. I adhered the two button circles to the card front using Zots adhesive and then adhered the stamped, matted sentiment circle using American Crafts Dimensionals, again. To complete the card, the card front was glued to the 7.5" wide x 8" high card base.

Up to my ears...

Good morning! It is blustery cool here on the Chesapeake Bay today. Spring did seem to be in the air, but today was a good reality check that it is still February...just ask the seagulls in the above photo! My husband, Tom, who is an avid digital photographer took this photo of our hometown and it's one of my favorites. We live on the water with a "Promenade Boardwalk" that spans a mile along the water, and it is truly a pretty sight with all of God's nature around.

Okay...on with the business of cardmaking...I bet you thought I was on vacation or something, didn't you? Nope, just up to my ears in designing Clear Dollar Stamps sneak peeks for their March 1st release -- but oh, what fun! There are some beautiful and whimsical stamp sets coming out, and I'll be sharing those the last four days of this month with you, so I hope that you come back to visit for that.

I will have a new card that I can share with you this weekend, however! My fellow team designer from CDS, Alex Maldonado will be hostessing the Clear Dollar Stamps Weekend Color Challenge over on the Paper Craft Planet, and I will be participating in that! I have 4 March birthday cards to make, so that will afford me the opportunity to get started on those! See you back here this weekend!

"Sweet Pea x 2!!

Good morning! Today, I'm sharing card that I've made for a dear friend that is a fellow "Dork Sister" on SCS (Splitcoast Stampers Community). Her name is Leona Carver and she is expecting twin baby girls VERY shortly. And! Leona, if you're peeking at this, shame on you!! The stamp set that I used to make this card did not have anything remotely useful for twins...so, I improvised! After stamping "Sweet Pea", I added "x 2" in handwritten black gel pen ink. I envisioned a pea vine all around the card, and not having a stamp for that, either, I took on the task of drawing by hand the vine, trills and berries (not that pea vines have berries, but I kind of liked the way that it looked, and kept it! LOL) In the second photo, you can see a close-up of the vine drawing. The beauty of stamping world, is that everything is okay! ; ) Okay the deets:

Stamps Used: Fiskars Baby Stamp Set
Cardstock: Colormates Medium Glorious Green, Pink & White Striped Scrapbook Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Stazon Black Ink, Stampin' Up! Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance Inks
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers - RV11 Pink, RV29 Crimson, G21 Lime Green, YG67 Moss, Signo White Gel Pen, Sakura Micron 01 Black Felt Tip Pen
Tools: Cuttlebug, Regular & Scalloped Square Nestabilities Dies, Regular & Scalloped Oval Nestabilities Dies, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Prismacolor Pencils, American Crafts Dimensionals, Adhesive, Zots, Sewing Machine, Thread
Embellishments: Offray Satin Ribbon, Spare Parts Buttons & Sequins, Green Twine
Technique: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Freehand Drawing, Machine Stitching

INSTRUCTIONS:
A white card base out of Paper Trey Cardstock was cut to 5"x10" and set aside. The card front was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock to 5"x5". A scalloped mat was cut using Nestabilities Scalloped Square Die with Colormates Medium Glorious Green Cardstock. A square mat was cut out of the Pink & White Striped Scrapbook Paper with Nestabilities Regular Square Die. The two square die cut mats were glued together. Using a Signo White Gel Pen, I dash-doodled around the scallop points of the green mat. and set aside.

The main image was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Stampin' Up! Garden Green and Pretty in Pink. Using Prismacolor Pencils, I colored the "Sweet Pea" bodies to make the color more intense. Using Stazon Black Ink, I stamped the sentiment and added "x2" next to "Sweet Pea" by hand using a Sakura Micron 01 pen. After sketching with pencil the sweet pea vine along the bottom of the main image oval bottom, I retraced where the pencil sketch marks were, and then using a gum eraser, erased the pencil sketching. Using Copic Sketch Markers, I colored in the leaves with two coordinating greens and then adding vine trills by hand with the Sakura Micron 01 pen. Using two different shades of pink, I colored in by hand the pink berries along the sweet pea vine. I then cut out the image using the Cuttlebug and Regular Oval Nestabilities Die. Using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber I sponged along the edge of the cut out stamped oval using Stampin' Up! Pretty in Pink Ink. (Here's a tip when you want to draw or stamp along a die shape before cutting. Take your die, as I did the oval and trace around the edge with a pencil where the outside die edge is. Then you'll see what area you have to work with as you stamp, as as you add other stamping elements, such as a sentiment or a hand drawn element.) I die cut a green mat for the stamped, cut out image using the Cuttlebug and the Scalloped Oval Nestabilties Dies. I glued the stamped, cut out image to the green scalloped mat, and then using a Signo White Gel Pen, dot doodled along each scallop point on the green mat.

Using the same method as I used to draw the sweet pea vine on the stamped image, I drew the sweet pea vine and berries along the four sides of the card front, and then after adding vine trills as before, I colored in the leaves, and added the pink berries. The two square mats that were glued together were then glued to the center of the white cardstock front, and using my Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine, I stitched around all 4 sides of the pink & white striped square mat. The matted, stamped oval was then popped up on American Crafts Dimensionals over the two sewn down square mats. To embellish, I added a strip of Offray Satin Ribbon horizontally across the upper part of the card base, and then securing a matching bow to the center, I added a double button secured with green twine to the center of the bow. Using medium size sequins from Spare Parts Assorted Embellishment Packs, I glued two sequins to each "sweet pea" body. The finished card front was then glued to the 5"x10" white cardstock base.