Whimsy Challenge: Sparkle!

Another Whimsy challenge is underway over at the Whimsy Stamps Challenge Blog. This week we want to see your cards sparkle! You can bling it up, use glitter, shimmery watercolors or paints - whatever says sparkle to you!

Today's card features one of my favorite Whimsy stamps - the polar bear. It's a 6x6 card this time, and I already had a white square adhered to the card front waiting for completion. I pulled out some scrap snowflake dsp from my scrap tray for the mat under the image, and used one of my snowflake stamps to add some heat-embossed sparkle. I found some kaleidoscope iridescent ep at my local Fred Meyer, of all places, in their craft section. It's hard to see, but the snowflakes are multicolored as you move the card around under light. Plus, I painted the bear with some Shimmerz for more blingy sparkle.

I also picked up a trick from another blog on how to make your image hang out of the frame you're cutting with your nesties. I don't remember which blog, but I know I've seen it on at least two blogs. This stamp is a big image, so learning this trick was a big help for my limited collection of dies.

supplies ~ cardstock & dsp: stash, main image: Whimsy Polar Bear, snowflake stamp: Scenic Route, Shimmerz Angel Wings

Now you're off to the Whimsy challenge blog to see more inspiration from the design team, or you can click on their blog links over on the left. Thanks for coming to look at my card, and have a great Monday!

Doodle Dragon release coming soon!

If you follow Dustin's blog, you know that he's having some problems with his website. He plans to post this week's releases as soon as he's able, but you can still anticipate his "cool" new digis here and on the design team blogs (on the left under the Doodle Dragon banner).

This is my 2nd - yes, SECOND - Christmas card this year. I don't think I've ever been this far along with my Christmas cards EVER! lol But with Dustin's art, I think it will be a breeze this year! =D

I started with a sketch from 2 Sketches for You and a kraft base, then used papers from the BG Wassail collection. The gingerbread man & ornament were painted with Shimmerz with a little silver glitter glue for the cap and hanger. The scalloped mat was kraft, but to tie it together with the buttons, I sponged on some Memento Rich Cocoa, then rolled the hemp twine on the ink pad to give it a little more color. The buttons have quite small holes, so I threaded the hemp through with the help of a needle threader. Both the image and the buttons are popped up on pop dots.

supplies ~ kraft: Bazzill, dsp: Basic Grey Wassail, image: Dustin Pike, buttons & hemp: stash

Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? Yeah, I'm not quite there yet, but at this rate I will be soon! Thanks for coming to visit today, and have a great weekend!

Hip Hop Hangover...finally!

Welcome! Did you go the the HOP yesterday? It was fun, and lots of prizes were given away; you should try it! After a long absence, I'm finally back to using some of my Unity Stamps - wahoo! I have a lot of catching up to do, though! Today I'm sharing with you TWO cards made with Unity's most recent kit of the month release!

This first card uses Sketch 233 from Splitcoast. I started by stamping the image on white cardstock, then used Shimmerz to paint the two scoops of ice cream and cherry. I used Twinkling H2Os to paint the cone. Then I matted the image and the dsp on Chocolate Chip cardstock and adhered them all on a Chocolate Chip card base.

And just in case you're wondering....when I was a kid, we used to go to Baskins & Robbins occasionally for a special treat. My favorite combo was anything chocolate and peppermint (their version was pink with chips of peppermint - yum!), so that's why I picked those colors for my ice cream cone.

supplies ~ cardstock: SU Chocolate Chip, pink embossed: stash, dsp: DCWV Sweet Stack, image & sentiment: Unity June KOM {perfect in every way}



It's been too long since I participated in any Unity challenges, so this week I decided to go for the YSHLUA #6 challenge (that stands for You Shouldn't Have Left Us Alone - you can find out how this all got started HERE) and a sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. Here's what we were asked to do for YSHLUA this week:

You will be making a card using your least favorite color as the primary color (no just throwing in on in a small spot where you can barely see it!), use two embellishments that are your least favorite, and use a stamp that hasn't seen any ink yet.

I don't typically use orange as my main color, and I don't use chipboard or ribbon very often, either. I did decide to paper piece some of the flowers with the dsp from the bottom part of the card, and used marigold and key lime Shimmerz on the rest of them.

supplies ~ cardstock: stash, dsp: DCWV, image & sentiment: Unity June KOM {perfect in every way}, chipboard corner: Colorbok, ribbon: stash

Lastly, if you've never purchased Unity stamps before, now is a great time to start! If you order this weekend, not only will you get a free stamp with a $25 order, but if you mention my name, my email, and "I AM NEW" as you're checking out, we will BOTH get a 40% off coupon for the next order - cool! Deets and sale special are all on the Unity website! PLUUUUUS, if you email me that you did this, I'll stamp off some Unity images for you!

Thanks for stopping by today - come again soon!

A quick post for a quick card

Scroll down to the next post if you're looking for the Hip Hop Hangover post.

I don't have much time, but I wanted to share a very quick card I made using a Unity stamp and some Shimmerz. It was made for one of Unity's anniversary challenges to make a one layer card - oy! Now, THAT was a touch challenge for me! I originally tried to paint the Shimmers directly on the stamp, but the impression didn't come out very well. So this is my second attempt: the image stamped in black, then painted over with Shimmerz and embellished with flat-back pearls.

supplies ~ image stamp: Unity "Wish Sticks", sentiment: Unity "Gratitude = Joy", Shimmerz: Royal Purple & Evergreen, pearls: Martha Steward


Enjoy your Saturday!

Hip HOP Hangover

Welcome! Did you go the the HOP yesterday? It was fun, and lots of prizes were given away; you should try it!


I have way too many scraps sitting in my scrap tray, so I created this card with what I had already cut. I wasn't sure when I cut the scallop circle if the negative would ever get used, but I put it in with my scraps anyway. Today it got used! =D

I love this stamp. There are so many names of God in the Bible, but each one of these is precious to me. I hope you are blessed by them, too.

supplies ~ cardstock: DCWV & Martha Stewart, ribbon: Michael's, stamp: Unity







And here's another Unity card - they've been keeping us busy over there with anniversary challenges! I made this card for their FIRST challenge. Each letter stands for something we had to include on our card in addition to the Unity image.

F is for flowers
I is for insect
R is for ribbon
S is for scallops
T is for turquoise or teal

I also entered this one in my first-ever entry to Three Clovers Designs Thursday Challenges. I really enjoyed working with one of the DCWV Old World stack papers for a Mother's Day card (you'll see that one on Sunday), so I decided to use some of the left over paper for this card. I also thought I wanted to use either black or kraft. Some friends on the Unity SCS forum suggested I use both, and I elected to use some Shimmerz on this card, too.

supplies ~ kraft cs: Bazzill, black cs: Fiskars, dsp: DCWV Old World, ribbon: Michael's, gems: Darice, images: Unity Floral Fantastical (butterfly) and April KOM Fresh Beginnings(sentiment)

Thank you for coming by today. Have a super weekend!

Birthday wishes...with bling!

Today's card was FUN! I've had some jars of Shimmerz and a new stamp set sitting in my craft room waiting to be used, and I finally got to play with them! I used a sketch from i{heart}2stamp and a challenge from Flourishes to make the sentiment the focal point. I'm also trying out the Created by Courtney challenge for the first time; she wanted us to let nature inspire us. I guess flowers are part of nature, and all I can think about right now is SPRING! =D There's also a big birthday party bash going over at the Paper Garden Projects blog for week 2 and at Paper Craft Planet, so I've entered this card along with this one and this one, too.



The papers were from my scrap tray, but I think they are Paper Pizazz sarapapers over a DCWV cardstock base. I used stamps from my new Inkadinkado set, Chelsea Sentiments stamped in ColorBox Royal Blue ink.

Check out those flowers - aren't they stunning? I love what Shimmerz does for just about everything. I used two white Bazzill paper flowers and painted them with Shimmerz. The December Sky blingz was perfect for this card, but I didn't have pink. Never fear - ROY G. BIV is here! I mixed Royal Red with Angel Wings until I got the shade of pink I wanted. I probably could have gone lighter, but there's a bit of deep pink in the floral background paper that I was trying to pull out with the second flower. To finish off the flower, I popped in a bead cap and a brad.

supplies ~ cardstock: DCWV, dsp: Paper Pizazz (??), flowers: Bazzill, paint: Shimmerz, bead cap & brad: stash, sentiment: Inkadinkado Chelsea Sentiments set.

Thanks for stopping by to look!

Shimmerz online store

I am so psyched about the new Shimmerz online store! For their grand opening, they are having a HUGE sale - go check it out HERE!