Blog Award

Good Saturday Morning!

I wanted to make a quick post today to share an award I received a while back from my friend Jeanette of Happy Thoughts and Inkspots. Shame on me for taking so long to post this Jeanette, I'm very sorry.

It's an honor to receive this from Jeanette, she is a super fabulously talented stamper and I only hope to one day be able to color as well as she does! Maybe she'll teach me ;)! Thanks so much Jeanette, it means a lot coming from you!

I don't remember the rules for this one, so I'd like to pass it on to all of the wonderful friends I've made in this little blogging land! Thanks for visiting and leaving such lovely comments for me, it's always wonderful to ready them!

Enjoy the weekend! Happy Stamping!! :)

Black Friday Somethings

Happy Friday All!

Hope those of you in the States enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday and that my international friends have had a nice week too. We have a new challenge for you on STAMP SOMETHING today and it's one in honor of another special day here in the US. Today is know as Black Friday, the busiest, craziest, holiday shopping day of the year. Many people get up super early in the morning, stand in long lines, waiting forever, all to get that special one day only price on all their holiday gift giving needs! I've personally never really ventured out, but we are going to this year!

So for the challenge we thought it would be fun to have a Black Friday Somethings theme. All you need to do to play along is make a project that includes the color black in some form or another. It could be black paper, ribbon, buttons, anything you can think of as long as there's something black, it counts! Post your entry by 7pm EST on Thursday, December 4th for a chance at this week's blog candy prizes! That's right I said prizes...there will be two lucky winners this week!

Our new sponsor, JessicaLynnOriginal, has generously donated a $20 gift certificate and a free designer stamp as blog candy this week! Woo Hoo, thanks Jessica! Be sure to check out the design team samples for this week too, they are fabulous in black!

Here's my take this challenge....

I started with black cardstock and then layered on a piece of white cardstock embossed with the swirls embossing folder and my CB. I used A Cardinal Christmas from SU! as my image. I used the coluzzle to cut the white oval and then my scalloped oval nesties to cut the black oval. The final touches were some taffeta ribbon and white gel pen dots.

Thanks for dropping in! Hope you'll have some time to stamp something black with us today! Have a great weekend! :)

Whimsy Blog Candy Winners!

Good evening!

Thank you for all the kind and wonderful well wishes you've all left over the past week for Whimsy Stamps! It means a lot to me personally, as Whimsy is my dream! We have the website up and running now, however the shopping cart service is taking a bit longer to publish. Hopefully everything will be running smoothly tomorrow! If you'd like to take a look at Whimsy's site, please click here.

Now, on to the 3 blog candy winners....there were over 90 entries! I did have to remove some multiple entries as well. So here we go....as chosen by random.org...

Here are your random numbers: 33 87 51
Timestamp: 2008-11-26 20:21:01 EST

Those numbers translated are...

#33 Nicola said...
Congratulations on your new adventure. I wish you lots and lots of luck with it. I have linked you on my blog both in a post and in the side bar. These images are just the cutest ever. http://gorillamamagreats.blogspot.com/ HugsNic

#87 Katarina said...
They are so full of personality. Good call on the designers :) I've written about the line and your candy on a seperate post on my blog:kamadesign Thanks for the chance to win.

#51 flipflops4sherri said...
These are just as cute as can be! Just adorable! I posted them on my blog :). http://sherri-iloveflipflops.blogspot.com/ Congratulations on a new venture!

So ladies congrats! Please contact me with your mailing info and your choice of 1 stamp; either the frog, turtle, or duck and I'll get those mailed out ASAP!

Thanks to all of you for playing along. I loved reading each of the comments and checking out the links and your blogs. I hope you'll continue to visit and leave comments about Whimsy Stamps!

Have a great night! :)

Whimsy Sneak Peek

Good Morning All!

I can't believe it's already Wednesday, time is flying by this week. I hope it's been fast for you too. I don't have a card to share today, but I do have a couple Whimsy Stamps updates I wanted to share as well as a sneak peek at a new stamp being released on December 5th!

We've been working very hard each day to finalize the website, but have experienced a few technical issues that will hopefully be figured out today. My plan is to have the site up and running in the next couple days. Thanks for your kindness throughout this process and for your patience!

There is still time to enter the Whimsy Stamps blog candy drawing. I'll be randomly selecting 3 winners this evening after 7pm EST. If you'd like a chance at a free Whimsy Stamp, be sure to check out the post here!

Now on to the sneak peek! This little guy is our Whimsy Animals Collection Owl, he is one of 3 new stamps being released on December 5th! I hope you enjoy him as much as we do!

Thanks for stopping by today, be sure to check back in tonight for the announcement of the Whimsy blog candy winners! Have a great day.

Turtle Happiness

Good Morning!

I had some time to play around with my new stamps and wanted to share a card I made with the turtle from Whimsy Stamps. Between website configuration, emails, laundry, kids, etc....I really needed some stamp time! Hope you like this little guy! He was lots of fun to color.

I have to run, so if you'd like the details on this card, please feel free to email me. Hope to have some new Whimsy news soon! Stay tuned for some sneak peeks too!:)

Check out the Whimsy blog candy chance here, only one day left to enter.

Have a great Tuesday, happy stamping!! :)

Ducky Wishes

Happy Monday All!

Another weekend flew by, and here we are starting new week. We're gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the States and so there's lots to be done.

I did want to make a quick post today to share a card made with the duck from the Whimsy Animals Collection. I'm hoping to have the website up and running in the next couple of days.

Here are the basics for this card...Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red cardstock, Washington Apple DSP, and white cardstock. The image was stamped with Staz-On ink and colored with watercolor crayons and Copic markers. The embellishments are grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine and a clear button, and photo corner punches. The sentiment is from SU!'s Short and Sweet.

Thanks for stopping in today, hope you have a nice Monday. Happy Stamping!!

There's still time to enter for your chance to win a free Whimsy Stamp, check out the details here!

Thankful Somethings Challenge

Happy Friday!

We have a new challenge for you over on STAMP SOMETHING and this one is all about being thankful! With the Thanksgiving holiday right around the corner, we figured this was the perfect challenge theme. So all you need to do is make a project having to do with giving thanks, saying thanks, or even Thanksgiving itself. We realize not everyone celebrates this holiday, so we're keeping the interpretation open to just having to do with THANKS! Have fun with this one. We have some Magnolia images up for grabs as blog candy, be sure to enter by Thursday, November 27th at 7pm EST for your chance.


I don't have any Thanksgiving stamps, so I went with a thank you card. Many of you know this has been a busy and exciting week for me with the launch of Whimsy Stamps, so I have lots to be thankful for! And because it's been a busy week, I haven't had too much time for stamping. So this is a pretty simple card.

I used some Autumn colors and then Pocket Silhouettes to make this card. I started with a base of Cocoa cardstock and stamped it with the Canvas BG from Stampin' Up!. Then I layered on a strip of Pumpkin, Washington Apple DSP, and then the image with Riding Hood Red. The images were stamped with Pumpkin and Saffron ink. The final touch was an elastic cord and button. The sentiment is also from Pocket Silhouettes.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you'll find time to stamp something with us this week. Be sure to stop by STAMP SOMETHING and check out all the design team samples too! Happy Stamping! :)

Oh, and there's still time to enter into the Whimsy Stamps blog candy....check it out here!

First Whimsy Stamps Card!!

Hi all and happy Thursday!

What a week this has been! I have a card to share today, the first ever Whimsy Stamps card! I'm so excited to share it. I made this one with each of you in mind! Thank you for visiting this week and leaving such wonderfully kind and generous comments. Your support has been amazing! I can't wait to see what you all create with these stamps, enjoy!

I also wanted to share our completed company logo, designed by the marvelously talented Elisabeth Bell! She's one of the nicest people and being able to work with her was a pleasure. She took a simple photograph and created the beautiful logo you see today. I think Elisabeth captured Whimsy Stamps perfectly with this logo, it's whimsy, fun, and carefree...like the subjects in this logo. They are my children who make my life fun and wonderful each day! Thank you Elisabeth!

Don't forget you have until Wednesday, November 26th at 7pm EST to enter for your chance to win a Whimsy Stamp. Check out the link here. Have a great day and happy stamping! :)

Whimsy Stamps Design Team

Hello All!

Thanks for all the well wishes for Whimsy Stamps, it's a very exciting time for me personally! Your support means a lot to me and my family. I'm super excited that we can finally share these stamps with the world! :)

Today I'd like to introduce you to the Whimsy Stamps Design Team. Each of these wonderful ladies, brings an individual and special talent to Whimsy Stamps. I'm thrilled to be able to work with each of them and I'm honored to share their creativity as part of the Whimsy team!

I hope you'll stop by and visit each of them. We'll all be sharing Whimsy artwork in the coming weeks!

So without further ado... here they are!

Erin Bailey of Scrap, Stamp and Be Merry
Catherine Martinez of Inksomnia
Hanne Skogvold of Hanne's Kreative Krumspring
Jeanette Comerford of Happy Thoughts and Inkspots

Thanks for stopping by today, be sure to check out my previous post which contains stamp sneak peeks and a chance to enter a blog candy draw for a free Whimsy Stamp, check out the link here.

Happy Stamping!! :)

BIG HUGE SUPER EXCITING NEWS!!

***This blog candy drawing is now closed***

Hi All!

I have some pretty big personal news to share with all of you, news that I've been wanting to spill for some time now and today, I finally can do just that! So hold on to your hats....here goes!!!
I have decided to end my old stamping career as a Stampin' Up! demo to start my new stamping career with my very own stamp company! This has been a huge dream of mine and with the love and support of my wonderful husband, I've begun the adventure of small business owner! I'm super excited to announce the launch of Whimsy Stamps!

Whimsy Stamps is our family owned and operated business located in New Hampshire. With the help of wonderfully talented artists we are please to bring you our exclusive whimsical and fun rubber stamp designs. Our stamps are crafted from deeply etched rubber and mounted on cling cushion. They will come untrimmed, but once trimmed they will be ready to mount on acrylic blocks and ink up!

We will officially launch our website and online shop next week, fingers crossed, but for now I have a couple treats to share on my blog. First, here are some sneak peeks at our first three stamps...

Whimsy Animals Collection Duck $6.00 US, actual stamp size is approx. 2.25" x 3"

Whimsy Animals Collection Frog $5.50 US, actual stamp size is approx. 2.35" x 2.7"

Whimsy Animals Collection Turtle $6.00 US, actual stamp size is approx. 3" x 2.25"

These images were designed by our artist Katie Sowa for the Whimsy Animals Collection. Each of these images will be available for purchase on our website soon and we will ship to all US locations as well as internationally.

But, you won't have to wait until the website is up to get your hands on these little cuties! We will be offering a pre-order period starting today. If you are interested in placing an order, please email me at whimsystamps@verizon.net and I will send you a link to make your purchase via Paypal. All pre-orders will be filled and processed in the order in which they were received and will be mailed Flat Rate Priority mail via the USPS beginning on Thursday this week. All USA shipping rates are $4.80 and international are $11.95. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me! edit to add: these shipping rates are on PRE-ORDERS only. Once our website is up and running shipping rates will be Priority Mail based on the weight and destination of each purchase.

Now, on to the second treat....

BLOG CANDY!!! If you would like a chance to win one of these little guys to add to your stamp collection here's what you need to do. Add a post on your blog telling everyone about the launch of Whimsy Stamps, link back to my blog, and then leave a comment here. You will have until Wednesday, November 26th to enter for your chance to win. I will draw 3 winners using random.org on Wednesday evening at 7pm EST. Each winner will have his/her choice of 1 of these new Whimsy Animals Collections stamps! Pretty easy right! :)

Stay tuned all week for more updates! I will be introducing you to the Whimsy Stamps design team, sharing some projects featuring Whimsy Stamps, and maybe even giving you all another sneak peek, this time at our December 1st stamp release! I will also make an announcement when the website is up and running!

Thanks for stopping by today and allowing me to share this news with you! I can't wait for you to see some stamped stuff made using Whimsy Stamps, be sure to stop back!

Happy Stamping!! :)

Gingerbread Fun!

Happy Monday All!

I can't believe another week is under way, the weekends are just too quick! Hope you enjoyed yours though!

I have a holiday themed card to share today. I've seen so many fabulous holiday cards lately, some people are even finished with their card lists for what they are mailing out this season. I haven't even really started, I need to get moving! I think Christmas is only about 40 days or so away, pretty crazy! I haven't started shopping yet either, big surprise!

Anyway, here's my card. I used this cute Rachelle Anne Miller image of a gingerbread man. He was easy to color and cut out, bonus! I added some CE and glitter to him too. I started to make this card for Beate's weekend sketch challenge, but it turned out a little different than the sketch. I like it though.

My cardstock colors are Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, White, and Baja Breeze. I ran the red through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. I tied ribbon around the olive piece, add the white and then mounted those to the red. I added some snowflakes with baja ink to the white piece.

The final touches are a clip, a Very Merry tag and a snowflake button all attached to the ribbon. Then I also added some "snow" to the bottom of the gingerbread man. The snow is a snow writer pen thing that I got at the craft store.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great Monday! Happy Stamping!! :)

Queen Kat Sketch Challenge

Happy Friday Everyone!

Hope you're all having a good week. Now with Friday here, that means a new STAMP SOMETHING challenge! This week we have a sketch challenge and some yummy blog candy generously donated by Queen Kat Stamps! There are also loads of fabulous samples using this sketch. Not only do we have the STAMP SOMETHING design team samples, but we have a guest designer this week as well has some samples from the Queen Kat design team! Head over to STAMP SOMETHING and check them out.

Here is the sketch....

Please design your card or project based on this sketch. Then post a comment on STAMP SOMETHING by 7pm EST next Thursday, November 20th for your chance to win the fantastic blog candy goodies.

This is the card I made with this sketch. It was tough at first, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. I decided to get two for the price of one with this challenge and make a card for a child's birthday party we have next weekend.

Here are the details for this one: the cardstock colors are Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and White. I also used Washington Apple DSP. The stamps are Zoofari and Hugs and Wishes, both Stampin' Up! sets. I colored the images with reinkers and an aqaupainter, cut them out and mounted them to the squares. The accents are brads, photo corner punches, circle punches, paper piercing, buttons, and hemp twine.

Thanks for coming by today, have a great weekend. Hope you'll find some time to sketch something with us this week! Happy Stamping!! :)

Simple Cardinal Christmas

Hi!

So it's Thursday, another week almost over. I have a very quick post today to share one of the cards we made last night at stamp club.

We made two different holiday cards using this stamp set Cardinal Christmas. I liked the way this one turned out better than the other one, so I'm only sharing this one with you. :)

The base of the card is Confetti Cream, stamped with holly in Kiwi Kiss. The image was also stamped on Confetti Cream and then colored with reinkers and an aquapainter. I layered the image piece on Riding Hood Red cardstock and added a piece of red taffeta ribbon. The final touch was to tear the edges. This is a very simple card aside from the coloring! :)

Thanks for stopping over, have a great day! Happy Stamping!! :)

Sweet Blues

Hi All!

Hope you're having a good week. It's been busy here, but I had some time to sneak in some stamping today. I actually should be planning cards for stamp club tonight, but I'm procrastinating as usual. Plus, I need to get the creative juices flowing and what better way to do that than stamp! :)

I made this card using an image my good friend Jo sent to me a couple months ago. She was kind enough to stamp me a whole folder filled with sweet little Sugar Nellie images just like this one. I adore them, they are fun to color and always put a smile on my face. Thanks Jo!

Here are some quick basics about this card, as I really need to get to my club projects. The colors are Close to Cocoa and Bashful Blue along with some Washington Apple DSP. Then I added a scalloped oval which was cut with my Nesties. The embellishments are flower brads, a metal clip, grosgrain ribbon, and some white gel pen accents.

Hope you have a great Wednesday! Happy Stamping! :)

Layers of Color Monday - Rose Heart

Happy Monday!

Boy, did this weekend go by fast! They always do though don't they. Hope you had a fun and relaxing couple of days.

I have a card to share with you today that is now up in my Layers of Color gallery. This card was made using one of my favorite Layers of Color stamp sets, called Renaissance Hearts. I think it's a very beautiful and romantic image. It's perfect for wedding, anniversary, and all those "love" cards.

To make this card I started with Old Olive cardstock and layered on a piece of Chocolate Chip and White. The white piece has been dry embossed with the Cuttlebug and flower CB folder. The main image was stamped in Staz-On Timberbrown ink, colored with blender pens and reinkers, then mounted on Riding Hood Red cardstock. The final touches are brass eyelets and organdy ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you're Monday is a good one. Happy Stamping!! :)

Simple Somethings

Happy Friday!!

We are celebrating our 6 month anniversary over on STAMP SOMETHING this week! It's been such a fun 6 months too and we hope the fun will continue for many more! We've enjoyed seeing all the wonderful talent and meeting all kinds of people from all over the world. We are very grateful for all of your support! And to celebrate we have an easy peasy challenge this week and a great blog candy offer! Head over and check it out!

The challenge theme is Simple Somethings, which to be honest, wasn't exactly simple for me. The challenge rules are to use only one layer of cardstock. You can embellish it, stamp on it, color it all up, anything you wish, but you may only use one layer of cardstock. That's why it was tough for me, I really like to layer!

I'm not totally happy with the way this turned out, but it is what it is, I guess. I do love this new stamp set from Stampin' Up! called Cardinal Christmas. I think it makes a beautiful holiday stamp.

My card is one layer of Natural Ivory paper, stamped and colored. Then I tore the edge, sponged on some red ink and added the taffeta ribbon and hat pin accents. The sentiment finishes off this card. Very simple!

Stop by STAMP SOMETHING and check out the design team samples and stamp something simple with us this week! Have a great weekend, happy stamping!! :)

For You

Hi All!

I can't believe it's already Thursday, my week is flying by. Which of course is a good thing, but I haven't been a good blogger. I've been so busy, I haven't posted anything new or visited any of my friends. I promise to visit soon!

I did make some time to stamp today. It felt really good too. I haven't made a card "just to make a card" in a long time. So, I thought I would share it with you.

The image is a Whiff of Joy and the printed paper is Washington Apple DSP. I embellished with buttons, a rhinestone brad, a clip, hemp twine, and ribbon.

Hope you're all having a great week. See you tomorrow for a new STAMP SOMETHING challenge! Happy Stamping!! :)

Two Birthday Cards

Happy Tuesday!!

I have a couple cards to share today, ones I used for a workshop this past weekend. They are pretty simple and quick to make. One is more masculine and the other feminine.

The first card uses Loads of Love for stamps. The cardstock colors are Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, and White. I pretty much CASEd this card from the Idea Book and Catalog. The only enbellishment is ribbon and then some distressed and torn edges.

The second card uses Pocket Silhouettes and All Holidays for stamps and then the cardstock is Sahara Sand, So Saffron, White, and Parisian Summer DSP. I also added some ribbons, a brad, and paper piercing to this card. This card was a layout CASE of the card on the back of the Idea Book and Catalog. I hate to CASE, but for workshops and keeping it simple, sometimes CASEing is the best option!

Thanks for stopping in, have a great day! Happy Stamping!! :)

Layers Of Color Monday - Color Blocks

Hello All!

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend. It was chilly here, but the sun was out both days. We had a busy weekend too, visiting with family and running errands. Hope you're all recovered from the Halloween festivities too. It was a fun week and weekend, but I'm glad it's over! Now on to November, can you believe it!

I have a couple cards to share today from my Layers Of Color Gallery. I made both of these cards using the stamp set Architectural Blocks. These stamps are great for creating backgrounds and/or focal points.

This first card has a sunflower design for the focal point, stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and colored with watercolor crayons. I framed it with a piece of Old Olive cardstock which was punched with a square punch and then paper pierced around the frame. I then added gold eyelets to the corners. I layered this finished image piece on to Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, and Chocolate Chip cardstock.

This next card demonstrates how you can use these images to create a background and a focal point. I used this cross image on my Artichoke cardstock. Then I added a piece of designer paper and ribbon. The main image, the same cross as the background, was stamped on Very Vanilla in Artichoke ink and mounted on River Rock cardstock.

Both of these cards were very simple to make but also contain a good amount of detail, which these intricate images create. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to be back tomorrow with a couple workshop cards I made this past weekend.

Have a great Monday! Happy Stamping!! :)