DRS Blog Hop Stop #1a

Welcome to the second DRS Blog Hop! If you missed the first post on the hop, the DRS Designs Blog, be sure to check back there to get started. Stop by all the Hops for a chance to win blog candy!!

DRS Designs just released several new stamps, including Dustin Pike's new line featuring his popular whimsical critters. Don't you think 'Jungle Jim the Elephant' is the perfect guy to deliver a glittery birthday balloon?

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'Jungle Jim the Elephant, Walk on the Wild Side sentiment, Dot Easy Background. Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue, PTI white. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Ballet Blue. Accessories: Rectangle Nestabilities, SU scallop border punch, red dotted grosgrain ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

DRS is famous for their sentiments and they made sure to keep up the impressive work with an appropriate sentiment for the upcoming graduation season:

Stamp by DRS Designs: Tassel. Cardstock: Black, Textured white, Summer Sun. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black. Accessories: gold cording and brad.

Initially, I was searching for a tassel embellishment, but once I finally found one I thought 'I can do that myself' and I actually did! To make the tassel, I wrapped the cording several times around a thin piece of cardboard, tied around it at about a quarter length, then cut the ends. It brought back memories of my Girl Scout days -- easy crafting fun!

Be sure to stop by the DRS Designs web site to see all the new releases now available for purchase.

**Next stop on the DRS Blog Hop is:

Jennifer's blog/Ink 'N Scrap Habits.

Have fun and good luck!

Buzzy Tilda!

Stamps: Tilda with Bee, Beehive, smARTworks' ladybug trail, Stampendous bee sentiment. Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, More Mustard, PTI white, black, Deja Views 'Honeycomb' and 'Summer Rain'. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, More Mustard, Copics, white gel pen. Accessories: Nestabilities Rectangles and Circles, circle punches, Mustard grosgrain ribbon, Stardust glitter pen, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Dress it Up bee buttons.

Warmer weather has finally arrived and let's hope the bees begin making their appearance, too. Has anyone else noticed how few honeybees are around the past few years? Although I don't think I'll ever be as friendly with bees as this Tilda, they are always welcome in my garden.

Here's a photo of my garden in 2007:

It's designed to be a butterfly/hummingbird garden with a bit of 'anything that strikes my fancy' thrown in for good measure. Maybe I need a Tilda around to encourage more bee visits?

If you need a few more Tildas, be sure to check out Lena (tackertwosome)'s Magnolia Card Kit swap over on Splitcoast Stampers. This 'Buzzy Tilda' card is a sample from one of the kits I sent in to the swap; 'Happy Moments' Ladybug Tilda is the other.

Using the card kit supplies, the shading jeans tutorials from Copic Creations's current challenge and the sketch from the Just Magnolia Sketch challenge, this card came together in no time. Now I have plenty of time to get out in my garden and start pulling up those weedlings!

NOTE: KL Scrappin' and Stampin has Stampavie stamps are now in the store!! Be sure to check out these cuties HERE and order before they are all gone. You still have a few days to get in on April's free shipping with a $50 order!

DRS Designs Sneak Peek

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'Jenny Giraffe', Creating Yourself sentiment, Easy Dot Background. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Sun, Perfect Plum, Copics. Cardstock: Textured white, Summer Sun, Black, GP110 white. Accessories: Purple glitter, yellow primas.

Another round of new DRS Designs releases will be available on May 2nd and the Design Team is now allowed to start posting sneak peeks! Dustin Pike's adorable animal stamps are making their debut, along with several other fun images and sentiments.

When I first saw this little giraffe, I imagined a sweet baby card. Although very cute, Jenny Giraffe has more grown up options, too. I love her sparkly spots with this sentiment, but I was also thinking a rainbow of colors could be appropriate, too. It's all about creating yourself, right??

**DRS Designs is hosting their second blog hop on Thursday, April 30th. Stop by the DRS Blog to start hopping towards a chance to win some fun blog candy!

SheetLoad Design Team Try Out

Take one SheetLoads' issue, gather supplies listed, assemble cards with cutting guides and lots of amazing examples, then what do you have? Endless possibilities!

For my Design Team Submissions, I decided to use the current April issue of SheetLoads for inspiration. To add a little extra spin for myself, I also opted to use at least one item received either through WRAK, swaps, or blog candy on each card.

BASIC 'Worm Wishes' is a card straight from the April issue; the only addition is a thin mat around the image:

Stamps: Veggiebella (thanks, Lori!) and sentiment by Stamping Bella. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics. Cardstock: Stampin' Up Real Red, Ballet Blue, Bashful Blue. Creative Memories' red plaid. Georgia Pacific 110 white. Accessories: Spellbinder's Rectangle Nestabilities, Provocraft Cuttlebug 'Distressed Stripes' embossing folder, Martha Stewart tomato embellishments.

SLIGHTLY MODIFIED #1. For 'Take a Break', I rotated the sketch, added a few more mat layers, and used a Nestabilities Label to change the shape of the layer under the image.

Stamp: My Favorite Things 'Annie Lapoint Take a Break'(thanks, Shelly!). Ink: black, Copics. Cardstock: Stampin' Up Almost Amethyst, Elegant Eggplant. My Mind's Eye 'Wild Asparagus'. Georgia Pacific 110 white. Accessories: Flower Soft, Bella Baubles, white organdy ribbon, Spellbinder's Label one Nestabilities, Prima flowers.

This was also my first time using Flower Soft -- what fun texture! Don't the lilacs look like perfect miniatures? Thanks again to Eileen (SCS leenk) for sharing this great embellishment with me.

SLIGHTLY MODIFIED #2. For the third card, I used an acetate base. Melyssa Connolly's card in the April issue was the inspiration, and since the clarity of acetate always reminds me of ice, I went for a winter theme using supplies from a swapped card kit created by Angela (SCS monkeymama):

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio's 'Lily and Tweet'. Cardstock: Stampin' Up DP, Georgia Pacific 110 white. Ink: Versafine black, Copics. Accessories: acetate, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Hero Arts gems, blue organdy ribbon, white iridescent ribbon, Spellbinder's Nestabilities Ribbons Tag.

BEYOND THE CARD ITEM. With warm weather finally arriving, I can't stay with winter cards for long, so my 'Anything but a Card' project is this seed packet holder using cardstock and ribbon from a 2 Red Bananas blog candy prize:

Stamps: Stampin' Up 'Live Your Dream', Papertrey 'Mixed Messages'. Ink: Sage Shadow, Old Olive, Regal Rose, So Saffron. Cardstock: My Mind's Eye 'Bloom' DP. Accessories: May Arts orange ribbon, Primas, Stampin' Up buttons and tab punch, Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinder's Rectangle and Label One Nestabilities, white lunch bags.

Sharon (notimetostamp) has a wonderful tutorial HERE on her blog that guided me through this fun project using white lunch bags. The holder fans out to allow 3 different seed packets to be included:

Hope you enjoyed this round of cards and more. Be sure to stop by the SheetLoads' archives for 'loads' of inspiration. Wish me luck with the Design Team try outs!

Good Friends, Chocolate, and Magnolias

Here's another gift set featuring Tilda; this one was made for a very dear stamping friend who also happens to be a retired teacher. Jacque's cards are works of art, so I was a bit intimidated to send her one of my cards. Check out the amazing Magnolia creations on her blog HERE. I finally decided that anything is more impressive when it arrives with chocolate, so I was safe as long as plenty of chocolate was included!



Tilda's dress is paper-pieced on the card because I wanted to use as much as possible of this gorgeous DP by My Mind's Eye:



Stamps: Magnolia 'Tilda with Slate' and 'School Desk', Papertrey 'Teacher's Apple'. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Copics. Cardstock: textured Teal, Riding Hood Red, white, My Mind's Eye 'Front Porch' DP. Accessories: Top Note Die Cut, Riding Hood Red satin ribbon.

The treat box is from the current issue of Scor-Pal projects. It's actually designed as a soap box by Kitty Franken, but was easily modified to perfectly fit this stamp and chocolates.

Chocolate, stamping, and friends -- sounds like a great time to me!

NOTE: DRS Designs just announced their second Blog Hop to be held on Thursday April 30th. Be sure to stop by here for Stop #1; we'll be showcasing all the latest releases, including Dustin Pike's new line of stamps. Blog candy will be up for grabs!

Ladybug Wishes

Stamps: Tilda with Ladybug, smARTworks sentiment and ladybug trail. Cardstock: Real Red, Imaginisce 'Twitterpated Ladybug Ball', Prints Pack Pretty in Pink, Garden Green, PTI white. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Copics. Accessories: Crystal Effects, Bazzill red gingham ribbon, Favorite Findings 'Ladybugs', Nestabilities Squares.

This card was created using supplies from a card kit made for Lena (tackertwosome)'s Magnolia Card Kit Swap over on SCS and using Magnolia-licious April Sketch Challenge. Card kit swaps are my new favorite swap -- it's so exciting to see what the other stampers include with their kits! Minimum swap requirements are 2 uncolored images, 2 6"x6" DPs, 12" fiber, and embellishments, but so many swappers go way above and beyond the basics. Check out this thread to join the fun!

A few important and potentially rewarding reminders:

**KLSNS is now not only taking pre-orders for the Magnolia 'Butterfly Collection' which includes the Ladybug Tilda featured above, but will also be ordering for the first time Sarah Kay, Lilo Designs and Rachel Ann Miller stamps!! Be sure to check out the selection here.

**KLSNS has a Cuttlebug challenge running over on PaperCraft Planet and there's still time to enter your card for a chance at great prize. The only requirement is to use a Cuttlebug panel (or portion) somwhere on your card -- how easy and fun is that??

**DRS Designs is also still running their Color Combination Challenge through May 3rd with fun blog candy incentive, too! Just check out the cards featuring Summer Sun, Pink Passion, and Chocolate Chip on the blog and then link your own creation for a chance to win.

Sweet Color Challenge Time!

Stamps by DRS Designs: Silhouette Birthday Cake, Family & Friends Birthday Greeting, Girly Swirly Flowers. Ink: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Pink Passion. Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Pink Passion, GP110 white. Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, square Nestabilities, dotted yellow grosgrain ribbon.

This week's challenge on the DRS Designs' Blog is our first color challenge. Our fearless Team Leader challenge us to create a card using the yummy combo of Summer Sun, Pink Passion, and Chocolate Chip. Maybe it's the chocolate in the challenge, but a summer birthday card seemed perfect for this color combination!

After I stamped the silhouette cake, it still seemed a little plain. Since my current cardmaking motto is 'when in doubt, bling it up', I decided to frost the cake with clear glitter for extra sparkle:

Be sure to stop by the DRS blog to see the other card created with this sweet color combination and play along for a chance at great blog candy!

'Tis the Season of Birthdays!

Stamps: Cherry Top Cupcake, Giga Birthday Circle, Interlocking Flower Background, All About You Birthday Sentiment. Cardstock: Real Red, Ballet Blue, GP110 white. Ink: Memento, Real Red, Craft white, Versamark, Copics. Accessories: chunky clear glitter, red gingham ribbon, Giga Circle Punch, white detail EP.

It's definitely birthday season in our household! Two daughters have birthdays within weeks of each other, and that doesn't even count all the friends and family that have birthdays this time of year.

I always promise myself that I'll stock up on birthday cards (and gifts) well before this time of year and I'm finally following through on that goal. Or at least attempting to follow through. DRS Designs is a big help with their birthday images and amazing selection of birthday sentiments. Be sure to check out the blog posting today for other birthday card ideas.

And to further my birthday preparedness goal, I'm organizing my card system so I actually remember to send out the cards in a timely manner. In an upcoming post, I'll show my new birthday book and card box systems. Wish me luck in getting organized enough to get those posts up and running!

Tilda's Birthday Gift Set

Stamps: Tilda with Tag, Swing, Chasing Tilda, Great Friend, Papertrey 'Mixed Messages'. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics. Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey ' Porcelain' DP, Papertrey white. Accessories: Oval Nestabilities, Circle Nestabilities, wide organdy ribbon, white gel pen, hole punch, Great Friend rub-ons, spiral clippie.

A few weeks ago I posted this 'Well-Dressed Tilda' card (notice her paper-pieced dress and socks?) and ended up liking the card so much that I decided to stick with the theme and create a complete gift set to coordinate with it!

The Bon Bon box is from Kitty Franken's design in the February 2009 Scor-Pal issue, but it doesn't actually contain bon bons -- it contains a stamp, which is just as good, but has less calories.

The roll in the left of the photo is actually bath confetti covered in Basic Grey's 'Porcelain' DP and embellished with Stampin' Up rub-ons. The confetti came already packaged in the plastic roll and tied with the white ribbon; what could be easier??

For more photos of the Bon Bon box assembly, be sure to check out today's KL Stampin' N Scrappin blog.

I'm planning to post more gift sets soon because not only do I need to stock up on birthday gift sets, but I also have to justify all those Michael's $1 spot purchases!

New DRS artist!

Just a quick post to share some very exciting news -- DRS Designs has a new artist with a complete line of stamps! If you are a fan of Etsy, you may recognize the name 'Dustin Pike' as an artist of adorable critters available as digital images. Here's Dustin's blog post, complete with sneak peeks of stamp images to be released May 2, 2009:


http://dustinpike.blogspot.com/2009/04/sneek-peek.html

I just received my new batch of stamps and I'm very excited to get coloring with the Copics! Cards with more sneak peeks will begin appearing here and on the other DRS DT members' blogs beginning April 27th, so stay tuned!!

More Miniatures -- Bella Shines!

Stamps: Anniversary edition billybootabella, My Sentiments Exactly 'Little Birdie'. Cardstock: CM purple, CM green dots, Making Memories fuschia, flower DP of unknown source, Papertrey white. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics. Accessories: orange Prima, Bella dots, tab punch, Martha Stewart woven ombre fern-grasshopper.

My magnifying reading glasses have been getting quite the work-out lately with all these miniature projects! First, the House Mouse inchie and now this miniature billybootabella which I received during Stamping Bella's second anniversary celebration. Isn't she the perfect ATC size?

After coloring 10 of these little gals, my eyes were detail work-complete for the evening! Here's the finished group for Lily (milmil)'s Bella/Ketto ATC swap:

The sketch is this week's Bella sketch challenge #75, done on a miniature scale of course. Next week, I'm sticking to A2 size which will most likely seem gargantuan!

Chocolate Hunny Bunny

Stamps: CC Design's 'Hunny Bunny', Papertrey 'Mailbox Greetings'. Cardstock: Basic Grey 'Porcelain', Papertrey white, Pink Pirouette. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, copics, Signo white gel pen. Accessories: Martha Stewart 'Pink Sand' Craft Seam binding, Rectangle Nestabilities.

Everyone needs a chocolate bunny for Easter, right? One this cute might not be quite so edible, though. Whenever I see a chocolate Easter bunny, it always reminds me of the Emo Philips' skit -- hilarious, but probably not appropriate for this blog!

Hunny Bunny's egg is paper pieced with Basic Grey's 'Porcelain'; if you don't have any of this beautiful paper yet, be sure to stop by the KL Scrappin' N Stampin' store. Kelly is taking pre-orders and the paper should be shipped mid-April.

The sketch for this card is from Verve Stamps and you can view it here. It also happens to be the sketch for this month's WRAK challenge, so this card is pulling double duty. Thanks, Lena (SCS: tackertwosome) for sending me this wonderful Papertrey white cardstock that makes this card eligible for the challenge!

Happy Easter!

DRS Designs Challege #18: Butterfly Birthdays

The latest challenge on the DRS Designs' blog is to create a birthday card and something fun to accompany it. Since I have quite the collection of butterfly images, I was very excited to see this new birthday sentiment from DRS Designs. I decided to let it be my inspiration for a card and coordinating treat box.

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'K's Butterfly Birthday Saying', Medium Open Silhouette Butterfly, Small Open Silhouette Butterfly, Interlocking Flower Background, Silhouette Branch Background. Cardstock: GP110 white, Certainly Celery, Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant. Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

Butterflies are even better with a touch of sparkle, don't you think? Glitter is one embellishment that always looks better in real life, but here's a close-up where you see a little more of the sparkle that earns this glitter its Dazzling Diamonds name:

Since mailing a slice of birthday cake is beyond my capabilities, this fun 'Piece of Whatever' box by Kitty Franken would be the next best thing:

Stamps by DRS Designs: Medium Open Silhouette Butterfly, Small Open Silhouette Butterfly, Silhouette Branch Background, sentiment from Birthday Candle Burst, Birthday Ribbon Slide. Cardstock: GP110 white, Certainly Celery, textured Pale Plum, Elegant Eggplant. Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, circle punch, scallop border punch, white orandy ribbon, Bella Baubles.

The small butterfly on the tip of the cake slice also serves as a pull to open the cake slice and reveal the goodies inside. Chocolate and a stamp should fit perfectly!

Visit the DRS blog to view other birthday creations and be sure to link your own projects for a chance to win blog candy!

Mini Mouse and Other Inchies

Stamps: Stampabilities 'Relaxing Wildflowers', Papertrey 'Mixed Messages'. Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, GP110 white. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Purely Pomegranate. Accessories: square Nestabilites, yellow glitter.

I've been admiring 'inchies', or 1" x 1" canvases, for quite some time and the Round 9 House Mouse swap, currently hosted by Joanna (Queenbee Jo) on SplitCoastStampers was the perfect incentive to give them another try!

Inchies are easier than my more commonly made ATCs in some respects (less coloring and layers), but also more difficult as well. Staying inside the lines while coloring was quite the challenge! So was correct alignment when using the Nestabilies dies.


Since it was a swap, I was able to practice both of these issues at least nine times, ending up with swaps I'm not embarrassed to share:



My first experience with inchies was through a DRS Designs' blog challenge. The first challenge was to create inchies and the following challenge was to create cards using these inchies. For my first card, I used polyshrink to shrink the polka dot flowers down fit on the one inch background:


Stamps: Polka Dot Flower, Funky Thanks. Paper: Night of Navy, Real Red textured, GP110 white. Ink: Stazon blue and red, versamark. Accessories: White EP, Polyshrink plastic, gems, square punches. Techniques: inchies, polyshrink, embossing.


The second card is my favorite; I really like how each inchie forms a portion of the larger image:

Stamps: DRS Designs 'Butterfly 4 corner Background', 'Wishing Peace and Happiness'. Paper: Almost Amethyst textured, Certainly Celery, Basic Black, GP110 white. Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery. Accessories: Pearl Ex, Square punches, green satin and black dotted organdy ribbon. Techniques: Pearl Ex.

Check out the other DRS inchie creations from the Blog Challenge #1 and be sure to visit our first Blog Hop, too. The drawing for blog candy featuring the brand new releases will be Monday, 4/6 at 8 pm.

If you find yourself in the mood to give inchies a try, check out Joanna's House Mouse swap. There are also spots for other fun sized projects like ATCs and nickelbacks!

DRS Blog Hop Stop #5

Welcome to the DRS Blog Hop, Stop #5! In case you are just joining us, be sure to check out the first blog hop stop on the DRS blog so you don't miss out on any of the fun of previous stops.

I have two cards featuring one of stars of the new images, Leonard the Pig. First we have Leonard dishing the dirt on his favorite part of birthdays:

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'Leonard's Dance of Joy', Cherry Top Cupcake, Sweet Birthday, Lines O'Plenty Background, Easy Swirl Background, Dot Background. Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Papertrey white. Ink: Memento Tuxedo black, Copics. Accessories: Nestabilities rectangles, wide red grosgrain, Crystal Effects.

Another new Leonard makes his appearance on the inside of the card. The sentiment on his sign is masked off from a multiple word background:

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'Leonard the Billboard', Sweet Birthday, New Year's Square.

Leonard is also featured on the second card which also showcases my all-time favorite DRS sentiment. Since he's jumping for joy and I added an extra bit of sparkle to his smile with a glitter pen, I thought he would be a perfect spokesman for a positive attitude:

Stamps by DRS Designs: 'Leonard's Dance of Joy', Positive Attitude Saying, Vicki's Versatile Background, Interlocking Flower Background. Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Ballet Blue, GP110 white, black. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics. Accessories: dotted black organdy, Stardust glitter pen.

Thanks for stopping by my blog during our first DRS Designs Blog Hop! Next stop is Judy's blog, Joy in a Jar. Good luck on winning those new releases!!

Elegant Easter Greetings

Stamps: Butterfly on Eggs, Easter sentiment. Cardstock: Textured Black, GP110 white, CM yellow. Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark, Copics. Accessories: Wide green satin ribbon, white EP, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, purple glitter.

From cute critters to elegant Easter images, DRS Designs has it all! Adding a wide satin ribbon adds an extra touch of class, too. I couldn't resist a bit of sparkle, so I accented the purple egg and portions of the butterfly with glitter. For more photos and cards, be sure to visit the DRS Designs blog.

**Don't forget to stop by the DRS blog on Friday, April 3rd for our first ever Blog Hop. All the Design Team Members will be showcasing the latest releases and you will have two chances to win these fun new images for yourself!