Cover Girl!

Can't believe my artwork was recently chosen for the cover of the Autumn 2013 issue of 'The Stampers' Sampler'! What a thrill, I tell you. It was kind of funny how it all happened....I had submitted this card MONTHS ago and then one day got an e-mail from Stampington to vote for cover art. When I first saw the two selected, I said to myself....'Hmmm...this kind of LOOKS like something I did, but then again someone else could have made something very similar.' That's when I decided to dig thru my scans of photos I always take before I send anything out. There it was. MY artwork. I was so excited and for WEEKS patiently awaited the verdict. Needless to say when it finally was posted, I was just thrilled. Last time I had artwork on the cover of their magazine was years ago and I shared it with two other artists. This time it's all mine:) I LOVE the PRIMA - Julie Nutting's doll stamps and was so happy to hear she came out with a second set of stamps. Now...if she only starts to make some male dolls to go with them;) Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by. BIG HUGS, Debbie Here's the link if you'd like to take a peek... http://stampington.com/publications/whats-new-coming-soon/The-Stampers-Sampler-Autumn-2013

Today Eileen Hull posted the little baby shower centerpiece I sent her on the Sizzix blog. I thought I’d go into greater detail as to how I created it in case anyone wanted to try making their own. It’s such a neat box, and could be used for so many things! You can read more about it here: http://blog.sizzix.com/scoreboards-roundup-september/

First I purchased a package of pre-cut mat board in colors from Hobby Lobby. They carry them in 12 x 12 sheets and that way I didn’t have to wait for paint to dry! (I love painting but time is such an issue for me these days.) For this particular one, I chose to use a seafoam green sheet, cutting out the two necessary pieces to assemble my box. (Note: The Sizzix box die is soooooo easy to cut and assemble and holds together nicely with redline tape.) From there I painted four small wooden balls with white acrylic paint, allowing them to dry. Next I applied crystal lacquer and set them aside to dry again. After that, I glued them to the bottom of each corner with a wonderful nontoxic glue called 'Liquid Fusion' (purchased, at JoAnn Fabrics.) To decorate the corners of the box, I used a corner die from ‘My Favorite Things’. It was only necessary to cut four corner pieces from the glitter paper as I trimmed each piec in half – width wise. Each glittered corner was adhered with the liquid fusion to each side of the box. For the bottom portion of the box, I cut a strip of crepe paper (I was too lazy to measure it, so just wrapped it around the box, allowing a bit of excess to be cut off later on.) I wanted the edge to be dainty looking so I trimmed it in half, then, folded it width wise and sewed along the edge. From there I adhered the trim to the bottom portion of the box with redline tape. Thin glittered ribbon purchased from Michaels (dollar bin) was attached with redline tape. I made the rosettes from Tim Holtz's die using BoBunny pink dotted paper and added the sweet stamped angel to the centers. The angel was colored with Copic markers before I attached small punched scalloped circles behind her. In case you are wondering, the little angel is from Stamp Camp and is called, 'Heavenly Scribe'. I think she's just adorable and can be used for several different occasions I mounted one of the rosettes to the back of a paper straw (Hobby Lobby carries a ton of colors!) then attached it to a base made of the same. A sweet bow was created with ribbon from Michaels and some mini roses and stamens, also from Michaels, adhered with the glue. Several glue dots securely held the rosettes to the sides and top of the box. (For this particular piece, four rosettes were attached to each side so it could be enjoyed from every angle at a table setting.) This little creation would be perfect for a small gift or a gift card. This project was so much fun to make. I think I’ll be making several more as we have lots of baby showers happening in the family soon. Thank you again, Eileen for sending me this great die. I’ve got my eye on a few others you just came out with, especially your little cradle. Have a good rest of the week everyone and thank you so much for stopping by! DebbieK

Sweet box....

Back in February of this year I won a Sizzix Bigz box die from Eileen Hull! (Can't believe how LUCKY I was!!!) My free time is very limited these days due to family obligations but finally I got some time to let my creative muse loose (and boy was she HAPPY...lol)! My first instinct was to make a cute baby shower center piece with it. That meant a trip to Hobby Lobby where they sell pre-cut packages of matt board in colors. The box is soooooo easy to assemble and holds together nicely with redline tape. I started the project by painting four small wooden balls with white acrylic paint. Then I coated them with crystal lacquer and allowed them to dry. I glued them to the bottom of the box with a GREAT nontoxic glue called 'Liquid Fusion' (purchased, I believe at JoAnn Fabrics). To decorate the corners of the box, I used a corner die from My Favorite Things and cut them out from glitter paper, trimming each in half, width wise. I also used some crepe paper that I sewed and adhered to the bottom edge of the box with redline tape and adhered a thin glittered ribbon over the top edge of the crepe paper. I made the rosettes from Tim Holtz's die and added the sweet stamped angel to the centers. The angel was colored with Copic markers before I attached small punched scalloped circles behind her. In case you are wondering, the little angel is from Stamp Camp and is called, 'Heavenly Scribe'. I think she's just adorable and can be used for several different occasions! I mounted one of the rosettes to a paper straw (Hobby Lobby carries a ton of colors!) and attached it to a base made of the same. A bow I created with ribbon from Michaels and some mini roses were added to the base. Each rosette was attached to the box with glue dots. (For this piece, four rosettes were attached to each side so it could be enjoyed from every angle at a table setting.) This little creation would be perfect for a small gift or a gift card. I appologize for my TERRIBLE photography skills (I probably deserve a booby prize for my AWFUL picture taking). Just thought it was too cute not to share for those of you who are nice enough to stop by and see my doings;) Have a good weekend everyone!

What a day....

What a day I had today. We've been having problems with our refrigerator and after having the repair man tell us that a special part needs to be ordered (a week wait, by the way...) and replaced, we transferred all our perishable items into our refrigerator in the garage. (Thank goodness for a back up refrigerator!) This afternoon I decided I was going to make tacos for dinner and proceeded to carry in some items from the garage. One of the items I grabbed out there was our salsa. I carried several items inside and proceeded to place them onto our dryer in our laundry room which connects to our kitchen. After I got inside, I proceeded to move the items from the laundry room to the kitchen counter to start cooking. The last item was the salsa. Unfortunately, my hubby had NOT CLOSED the cover properly and the glass jar slipped out of my hand and onto the floor. I tell you, it looked like someone got MURDERED! There was salsa alllll over my slacks, shoes, socks, the floor, walls, washer and dryer AND the folding ladder that we keep behind the door. As I proceeded to wipe it all up, I noticed that it had even splattered UNDER the folding ladder. Needless to say it was not a happy day:( Things got a bit better however when I checked my e-mails in the afternoon and found one from Stampington and Company. I enjoy getting their newsletter and seeing what's new and on the horizon. I glanced at the upcoming issue of 'The Stampers Sampler' and did a double take. I knew I sent in a holiday inspiration card for their challenge awhile ago, but vaguely remembered what I did. So to refresh my AGING brain, I looked thru some photos I keep on file and low and behold, YES, IT's MY CARD that is on cover A!!!!! It's a Prima doll stamp image by Julie Nutting. I love, love, love her new doll collection. Please vote for me (COVER A) if you will, I would be ever sooo grateful. (Here's the newsletter site for you to cast your vote. All entries must be in by Aug. 14th.) Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone! http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0ff07a26abed7ed58fe7075fd&id=1e152a0b68&e=d33331d82f BIG Hugs, Debbie

Recently I entered a give away on Shelly Hickox's blog - 'StampTramp' and won a couple of Sizzix dies!  I was so excited as I love, love, love Karen Burniston's Pop n' Cuts.  (I'm a big kid at heart and Karen's pop-ups are stealing, I mean STEALING my heart!  Most people think 'travel' when they think of suitcases, but my mind was wandering and I was thinking - maybe create a child's birthday card with clowns and have balloons appearing to be floating out of  the suitcase!  After receiving the dies, my first stop was at Hobby Lobby where I found this cute balloon patterned paper to work with.  Then I pulled out my chosen stamp set  from the 'Big Top' collection -(head portions only) from Oxford Impressions (http://www.austingallerycom). After coloring the images with copic markers, I fussy cut them out.  The Sizzix Thinlits #658954 helped create two loop trims that I attached to the edge of a sticker strip (Hobby Lobby - The Paper Studo - Birthday Boy #358838).  From there I die cut a label from Sizzix Framelits #657913 to use for the message.  I had some rub-on's in my stash that I used for the 'happy birthday' sentiment.  Then I dug thru my stickers and found some little gold stars to make it look more festive.  The suitcase die is a breeze to work with, and I added tiny brads to the corners to make it look old (don't clowns usually carry around old looking suitcases??....lol!.  (I even found some paper at Hobby Lobby that had a leather look to it so that made my project go together even quicker!)  I stamped the balloons, cut them out and tied some scrappers floss

to the ends.  The strings were tucked  between the pop up itself and the suitcase.  Such fun!!  Sorry my photography skills aren't the best, but hopefully you will enjoy seeing yet another option for these dies.  Thank you Shelly, Karen and Sizzix.  You make paper crafting a REAL treat.  Have a good week everyone and thanks for stopping by:)!

New stamp collection!

I recently received the new 'Jane's Garden' stamp collection by Oxford Impressions and couldn't wait to sit down and play with this set.  The set contains a variety of images centered around a spring and garden theme.  Just looking at this plate makes one want to wander outside and enjoy the quiet and peacefulness of nature!  It's a reminder that we shouldn't take this gift for granted.

When I went to show my hubby what I made and ask which was his favorite, he immediately pointed to the one with the daisies:)  I cut out the flowers from some scrapbooking papers and thought they'd look nice with the cute teacup.  I used a portion of a square lace doily that I purchased years ago at a stamp convention.  A few gems glued around the sentiment towards the bottom added a bit of color. 

My favorite card I made however, has to be the one with the little garden gate.  I recently purchased a few of the new die-delites from Spellbinders.  When I first saw this particular die, I knew I wanted it to use with the 'Jane's Garden' set.  The only thing you have to remember is to use a piece of wax paper between the die and your paper or it will get stuck in the die after you cut it out (believe me, I forgot the first time...dahhh!) Lol.

Maybe you'd like to play with this great set (or perhaps another similar one), so go check out Suzanne's new website -

http://www.austingallery.com. 

Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Baby Things!

Recently my mom informed me that we will be invited to a baby shower soon.  This is no surprise to me as my mom comes from a family of sixteen children and I have 63 cousins (last time I counted).  So there is always a wedding or shower to attend. 

I guess I'm a bit behind in the times but I don't Twitter or Tweet or do Facebook but I do look at Pinterest and I am addicted!  Recently I found several small projects that I HAD to try.  Actually, I'm not really a sewer so this was a bit of a stretch for me. (Paper crafting is more up my alley....) 

My project started out with a simple bib pattern that I found posted by Amy Friend on her site -  (www.duringquiettime.blogspot.com).  Some monkey fabric caught my attention at JoAnn Fabrics and I raced home with a yard to start (believe me I've been to JoAnn's a NUMBER of times since then, purchasing MORE of the same as it turned out so cute!)  The gal at the cutting counter had to ask what I was making as I kept buying SMALL amounts of this cute fabric.  Little did I know I was HOOKED on this little sewing frensy I was on...LOL!

Amy's bib had a pocket but I decided to omit that.  Like I mentioned, I'm not much of a sewer and I wanted EASY!  After accomplishing the bib, I decided I needed a burp cloth pattern.  Found one on this site... www.cloud9fabrics.com (tutorial - 'My Happy Nursery' by Michelle Engel Bencsko).  From there I decided I needed a pacifier pocket so I found a pattern on this site - www.weallsew.com by Ashley Johnston.  A side trip to our local Wal-Mart included a set of pacifiers to go with it all:)

(Sorry for the lousy photos.  One picture was taken with my camera, the other with my i-phone.  The fabric looks like a different color on the pacifier pocket, but it's the same. )

What started out as a whim turned into EIGHT sets!  I guess I'll be ready for all the babies showing up in the family now.  Thank you Amy, Michelle and Ashley for the great patterns that even someone who's not a sewer can deal with.  Like they say, 'One thing leads to another...and another....and another!"  Now I need to create a card to go with it all.  Now if only I could give up sleeping.....Have a good rest of the week everyone and thanks for stopping by:) 

It was a hectic weekend that included a graduation celebration.  However, I did manage to complete a few cards with the new 'Lily Elsie' collection from Oxford Impressions.  If you haven't seen these stamps, you really should take a look-see!  They are breathe taking beautiful.  Four images plus a sentiment. 

I'm attaching a photo of two of my favorites - the one with the pink edges included images from the 'Court of Versailles' collection and a bit of paper lace.  The other card included images from the 'Art of being beautiful', along with some butterfly and bird stickers .  Lily Elsie was a famous actress and this set would be wonderful for a variety of occasions.  Lily has such an air about her, so feminine and dainty, it's hard to go wrong with owning this collection.  Perfect for birthdays, Mother's Day, bridal showers, thank you's or just a thinking of you card.  I think I will openly admit,  this as my most favorite set of ALL of the Oxford Impressions collections!  If you'd like to see the set yourself and perhaps order one, here's Suzanne's new website - http://www.AustenGallery.com 

Temps hit the 80's here in Wisconsin today and there is a nice breeze.  Just gorgeous for taking a walk and catching some rays.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Have a great week everyone!

Seems holidays creep up on us so quickly lately and I can't help myself when it comes to puttering with a project at the very last minute...lol.  Anything that doesn't move around here is fair game in my eyes;) 

We'll be celebrating Easter over at my brother & SIL's place and we had this bottle of champagne begging to be opened, sitting on our counter.  I decided to make a little tag for it to wish them a 'Happy Spring'. 

Several years ago I purchased a couple of list pads from our local Dollar Tree.  Who could resist these with little fairy girls on them I asked myself!  They have sat in my art room for forever it seems.  I couldn't get myself to use them for just grocery lists, they were just too cute.   However, she was just begging to be used in some artistic way.  With that in mind, I cut out a cream colored bottle tag from a die I purchased from 'My Favorite Things'.  I sponged the edges with cotton candy distress ink.  Then I glued the little girl image onto a recycled cereal box and fussy cut her out.  I mounted her to the tag with foam dots.  Then I punched out little butterflies from the same paper she was printed on (sponging the edges lightly too) and some pink flowers from a dollar punch I bought at Michaels awhile ago, randomly gluing them around her.  I also attached a piece of lace to the bottom of the tag and added a strip of Washi tape above that .  I stamped the 'Happy Spring' from a stamp I had in my stash (I think it's from Hero Arts) and cut the edges with a decorative scissors.  I glued that to a scrap and cut it out again, mounting it to the tag with foam dots.  I tied a strip of ribbon into a bow (that was part of a child's skirt that I also purchased awhile ago at The Dollar Tree).  For a quick project I think it turned out rather sweet.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and thanks for stopping by:)

Happy Birthday Suzanne!

Today is Suzanne Melvin's birthday. Suzanne is the owner of Oxford Impressions stamps. I created this card for her using her new collection called 'love lines' and the woman image from her 'Afternoon Tea' set. You can find these lovely stamps on her site - http://www.oxfordimpressionsstamps.com Hopefully Suzanne will forgive me in getting the card out to her a bit late. Time just is slipping away! Hope everyone has a great week. Thanks for stopping by:)

I made this card for my friend Mary over at Stamp Camp and thought I'd post it. I used a background stamp of hers that looked like scratch marks since I didn't have a stamp that looked like bricks. I wanted the man to look like he was standing outside of his girlfriends house:) I also used one of the new Spellbinders Die D-Lites. (I absolutely LOVE these new dies! If you haven't tried them yet, you really should. They are so delicate and beautiful. Word of caution however, you need to use a piece of wax paper when cutting them out with your die cutting machine. Many of the dies have tiny pieces in them so you have to use the wax paper to help release those parts.) Also included, I stamped alpha letters (also from Stamp Camp)and mounted them to the card with glue dots. Sorry for the lack of posting but I've been having problems with blogger the past few weeks:( Hope everyone is doing well!

Oh yes....it's been awhile since I've posted. No excuse except that life keeps getting in the way! Since 'Heart' day is tomorrow, thought I'd post a photo of a couple of Valentines Day cards I made for my two nephews who are away in college. I know they are getting too old for Valentines but I couldn't help myself. I LOVE this image of a smiling dog. It was printed in our newspaper and I always cut them out as they are just too funny. I mounted them onto a recycled cereal box and fussy cut them out. Next I used my tent card die template that I bought from THE STAMP DOCTOR (http://www.thestampdoctor.com). (Love, love, love that die! Oh my gosh....I can't tell you how often I grab for that one.) I added paper to the sides and stamped the sentiment, punched out a couple of hearts and mounted them to the card too. Used a super mini heart sticker on the front tooth of the dog as a finishing touch. Too fun!!! Hope it brings a smile to their faces. Did mine anyways...lol! Happy Valentines Day, everyone! Hope your day is filled with sweetness:)

I know I've neglected my poor blog lately but sometimes life just gets in the way...Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still kickin and even though I don't have a lot of time to create, I do once in awhile surprise myself by acomplishing something...LOL! Our son and DIL just bought a new house so I created a card using scrapbooking paper I bought at my favorite store - Hannahs in Antioch, IL. The paper is from My Little Shoebox and I thought it was perfect for this card. Using my fABULOUS Sizzix Pop N' Cuts die (by the genius - Karen Burniston), I created a card to congratulate them on their new home ownership. I cut out several houses from the paper and added them to the front of the card with pop dots to make them stand out. I also stamped the sentiment (not sure what company it's from, sorry) and added the strip to the front of the card, along with other images cut from the same paper. In the inside I continued the same concept. I created a 'sun' by using a circle punch, sponging it and cutting strips to represent the rays. It turned out simple but cute, I thought. The other card I created is for my cousin who will be getting married in the next couple of weeks. I also used the Pop n' cuts die (Can you tell I LOVE THIS DIE?!) and stamps from Oxford Impressions. The images are from Suzanne's 'Beloved' plate. I also used a Spellbinders die and silver glittered paper behind the lovely couples. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did making them. Happy crafting everyone!