A day full of Joy

This card started from the City Crafter Challenge to use an envelope on your card.  I used a little vellum envelope that worked well with the Mojo Monday sketch.  

Recipe:

1. Cut paper and punch edge with border punch. Attach to white cardstock. Trim with lace and twine. 
2. Cut vellum and score to create envelope. stamp Brocade Background using Stazon ink. 
3. Punch circle in front of envelope.  Add trim and ribbon with flowers. 
4. Stamp flowers along top edge using gray ink. Sponge gray along bottom. 
5. Die Cut tag. Trim to fit in envelope. 
6. Stamp scene on tag using grey ink. Punch hole and add ribbons. 
7. Stamp sentiment on top left using grey ink. 

Products: Our Daily Bread - Brocade Background, Our Daily Bread Easter Blessings, Our Daily Bread - Bird Border and Corners, Websters Pages, EK Success Border Punch, StazOn - Mustard, Stone Gray.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Queen of Hearts

 Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is Kings and Queens and the Snazzy Design Team's first challenge is Love/Romance. I mixed them together and re-used my triptych format to create a Queen of Hearts crown.

 I used a combination of stamps and punches to create my crown. Here is the products list: Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel, Stampendous Amore Frame, Stampendous Time Flies, Stampendous Altered Alphabet, a brand new Alice in Wonderland set from Stampendous that is being released this month!

The hearts are punched using a fun punch with a mix of hearts from Martha Stewart.  I snuck in a few of the Cornish Heritage Farms stamps too. The background is stamped with a Verses Rubber Stamps - How Do I Love thee.

Inks: Ranger Archival Crimson Red, Coffee,  Ranger Distress Inks - Vintage Photo

Hope your Monday is off to a great start!

Suzz

CR84FN47 - Wishing you a Fairy Good Day

Time for another fun  CR84FN  challenge! I created this fairy in the flowers card for my youngest DD:

I started with paper from my friend Jacqueline. I pulled it out as it was the perfect pink to coordinate with the colors this week.  The image is from Stamping Bella and she had  a beautiful bouquet to coordinate with the colors.

The background is stamped with the Hero Arts Design Block - dots.  Sponged the edges of the pieces using Ranger Distress Inks Tumbled Glass and Memento Angel Pink. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence.

Here are the colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville *

We also have a wonderful guest designer this month, Monika please visit her at her blog: Igla i Nitka
and leave her some love.

Have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday HollyHocks

It's Stampendous Saturday and the monthly challenge is all about BLING! I love the new jumbo clings and used the beautiful hollyhock on my project:

This is a sneak peek of the Jumbo Cling Hollyhock stamp from Stampendous.  I stamped it over a new background stamp that gave it a lovely texture. I colored it using a watercolor pencils.  The centers of the flower have a touch of glass glitter in the center for my bling.  The background panel is another jumbo stamp which is embossed using bronze embossing enamel.

These are not in the store yet but will be available soon!

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog
Janelle Stollfus 

Cyndi Bundy

Taylor Usry

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle

To play along with us: add a direct link to your card in the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Mojo Monday #225 - Live in the Sunshine

When I saw the Mojo Monday sketch I loved the design and thought it would be a fun sketch.  After that I fell down a rabbit hole. I have been struggling with this card for a few days and decided to give up today and share it.  Of course I have created a few other cards in that time period but nothing is coming easily right now. :) I am not even sure I like what I ended up with but wanted to be done and move onto something else. So here is my 3 day card which should have taken 10 minutes!  :O I am also entering this in the Simon Says Challenge for anything goes.

I started with (well actually finished with) some lovely Authentique paper and cut them into banner shapes. I then sponged the edges using brown dye ink.  

I stamped the Artistic Outpost images (Home, The Outpost) using brown ink onto the banners on the bottom and the center.  I used the sentiment to stamp along the edges of the top banners. The tops were finished with twine and buttons. 

Here is the sketch that started me down my rabbit hole. 

Well I hope your creativity is flowing better than mine is right now! 

Suzz

Magnolia Birthday

Happy Wednesday!

Today I mixed in a couple of challenges City Crafter Challenge with a lovely sketch by the talented Linda and colors from ColourQ challenge #121. 

The stamps are all sneak peeks from the latest Stampendous release that will be in the store later this month. I colored the Magnolia with watercolor pencils and added some sponging using the Antique Linen.

Here is the sketch and color inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Rockin Robin

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week is to show a song title.

 I chose Rockin Robin for my title. I pulled out my triptych template from Verses Rubber Stamps as my layout.  After I stamped the house image from Artistic Outpost I ended up trimming the Triptych to follow the lines of the house.

The stamps include: Artistic Outpost - Home, Birds of a Feather, Whimsical Melange, Songbirds.  Other products: Ranger distress inks - Walnut Stain, Rusty Hinge, Glimmer Mist - Jazz z Blue, Watercolor pencils, Ranger Archival Inks - Black, Coffee, Stampendous Bronze Glass Glitter.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Suzz

CR84FN46 - Hearts and Flourishes

For the  CR84FN  colors this week I used some beautiful paper and pieced together the background and my heart.  To soften the color of the paper to get closer to the soft pinks and yellows I distressed the papers with white acrylic paint.

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps.  The hearts are from Spellbinders Heart dies.  Not much stamping other than the sentiment and the background behind the sentiment.

Here are the colors:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville *

Have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Swimming with the Mermaids

It's Stampendous Saturday and the monthly challenge is all about BLING! I am sharing a very blingy project as it has a beautiful mermaid that I happened to capture and put in a bottle.

This is a sneak peek of the mermaid stamp from Stampendous.  She is beautiful and she has that sweet seahorse that she is holding. I used some magic to make him appear as he is floating in front of her.

The bling is all the wonderful halo glitters and mixed into my seabed is some of the beautiful crushed glass glitter.  There is all kinds of new glitter, and bling coming out.  These are not in the store yet but will be available the end of January.

She is stamped using memento and colored with Copics.  I added halo crystal to her scales to give her a little glitter too.  The shells are covered in bronze embossing enamel and then encrusted with halo glitter. 

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog
Janelle Stollfus 

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Price

Wendy Jordan

Taylor Usry

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle
Steph Lee 

To play along with us: add you direct link to your card to the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Butterflies and Brocade

City Crafter Challenge this week is to show the inside and outside of your card.  I paired the challenge up with the Fashionable Stamping Challenge #18 - Butterflies or Bugs.

 I took the idea and made a window card.  So the pretty inside can show on the outside. :) 

Here is the front of the card on an angle so you can see the frame is lifted which will hopefully protect the butterflies in transit.

 And the inside:

I didn't put a sentiment or verse inside yet. I will add something when it goes to it's final destination. :)

The background is created using that beautiful Brocade Background stamp from Our Daily Bread and the Butterfly Bush is from the Faith set and the sentiment form the Simple Things Set.

I used Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added a touch of pink watercolor pencil to the butterflies. Blended with a waterbrush.

The background is stamped multiple times using the walnut stain dye ink and smeared with white acrylic paint.

I punched the border and added a strip of the background to the inside to highlight the punched border. 

The sketch is from Wee Memories Challenge.  This is Jenny's last challenge and I was happy to play along one more time.

Hope your day is fabulous! 

Suzz

Love

I was playing around with my new Memory Box dies and decided to create an all white card.  The embellishments ended up having a hint of ivory in them.

The hardest part was getting a good picture. Luckily we had some sunshine today and I was able to go outside and catch a few rays. The layout is from the Mojo Monday sketch #224. 

The new Memory Box heart dies have beautiful coordinating stamps and also beautiful overlay dies. I paired up the Serafina Heart with the Cupid Heart.  I added to nested birds as my love birds. (These are from Poppy Stamps) and added the Love sentiment.  The rest is layered embossing pieces and some pearls and flowers and ribbon.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Map Cigar Box

Simon Says Stamp and Show anything but a Card inspired me to pull out an old cigar box and crate a keepsake box. 

I covered the entire box inside and out with piece of map from an old Atlas I purchased at a garage sale. I distressed it with white acrylic paint and brown dye ink.

I stamped a variety of the Artistic Outpost Route 66 and the Home stamps using brown ink.  I colored them using watercolor pencils and waterbrush. I added sentiments from Artistic Outpost Huck Finn plate and the Route 66 plate.

I finished it with some strips of leather to make a frame on the cover.  I think this one will be going to my son to hold mementos from his various vacations. 

Have a wonderful day! 

Suzz

ODBDLYLS13 - Faith & Love

The ODBDLYLS13 Challenge this week is to use a lovely inspiration photos with hues of blue, grey and a pop of red.  I  have this lovely new set Never Give Up from Our Daily Bread Designs that has this beautiful cross which had me pulling out some old photos of my uncle's first communion. 

 

The picture is of my grandfather, grandmother, my mom (in the adorable coat and hat) and her older brother and younger brother.  She actually had two more brothers who weren't born yet. :)

I used that as my focal point and scattered the cross across the background with touches of blue glimmer mist.  The sentiments are from the ODBD God's Love set and Faith.

Products: Prima, My Moments, Recollections flourishes, Ranger Dye Ink - Stormy Weather, Ranger Archival Ink, Glimmer Mist - Jazz Blue, s and lace trims.

I decided to create a second layout based on the inspiration using some pictures from my mom's first communion.

 I used the ODBD sets used include: Never Give Up, Brocade Background, Sweet William Small, and Easter Blessings.

The flourishes are Zva and the paper is Enchanted by Bo Bunny. The background is a mix of stamping the brocade background and smearing white paint and sponging blue dye ink.

The inspiration photo:

For all the details of the challenge go here.

Happy Tuesday to you!

Suzz

CR84FN46 - Sweetest Moments

 The CR84FN colors this week are soft and sweet and perfect for Valentines. 

I was working on another project and  had a scrapling leftover.  I picked it up as the base for my project: 

I decided to make a bookmark for my daughter using the scrapling. It has a fold so she can put it over the page.  You can also add a tiny bit of magnet (the kind you get as advertisement for the refrigerator) to the bottom to help keep it closed and on the page. 

Products: Hero Arts Sweet Hearts, Cornish Heritage Farms, My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence - Bee Mine,   Memento Angel Pink, Ranger Archival Coffee,

Here are the lovely inspirational photos and quote:

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville *

Have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday - Easter Bonnets

It's Saturday which means Stampendous!  Here is another project for the Stampendous monthly challenge which is all about BLING!

I made this sweet Easter egg awhile ago and wanted to share it:

 

I love these little vintage Easter chicks with their bonnets. I wanted to give them a proper home and had this paper mache egg that I had purchased at Michaels.

Recipe:

1. Trace oval shape on tissue paper cut out and use as stencil to trace onto egg. 
2. Cut an opening into egg using exacto knife. 
3. Glimmer mist tissue paper (I used multiple layers so I glimmer misted 3 or 4 sheets) 
4. Apply Elmer's Glue mixed with water to egg and wrap tissue paper onto glue. Continue until multiple layers cover the entire egg. 
5. While glue is still wet or apply more glue to surface sprinkle Stampendous Crystal Glitter.Let dry. 
6. Run tape around opening.  Apply Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter to the tape.
7. On the inside of the egg apply the same glue over the entire surface.  Sprinkle Stampendous Tarnished Mica Fragments on the inside. Repeat until entire surface is covered.  Some won't stick which is fine between applications turn the egg over and shake the excess out. 
8. Squeeze tacky glue to bottom of inside of egg and place moss into egg. Add more glue and more moss until you have a nice little nest for the chicks.  Brush on glue onto moss in various areas and Sprinkle Halo Gold Glitter into the glue in the nest.
9. Stamp the adorable chicks Stampendous Cling Feather Bonnet Baby, Posie Bonnet Baby, and Floral Bonnet Baby using Ranger Archival Ink Black onto white cardstock. 
10. Color chicks with watercolor pencils and water brush. 
11. Cut out. 
12. Attach toothpicks to back of chicks. 
13. Dip toothpick ends into Glue. Stick chicks into nest. 
14. Tie ribbon around egg. Attach flowers and little tag with sentiment.

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Price

Wendy Jordan

Jennie Lin Black

Taylor Usry

Krissy Fossmeyer

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner
Jennifer Ingle 

To play along with us: add you direct link to your card to the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Maps

A couple of fun projects using maps as a background. 

First is a tag.  I have had this background forever. I created it for another challenge and never used it. So when I saw the Moxie Fab World Map to your Heart challenge I pulled it out to create something with it.  The background was made by stamping the map using versamark. Embossing with clear embossing powder.  I then sponged on the blues, greens and brown dye ink over the surface. 

The next step was to stamp the skyline across the bottom with black versafine and heat emboss using black embossing powder. 

The sentiment and balloons were stamped on white cardstock and cut out. Sponged with blue and brown dye ink and pop dotted onto the tag.

Products: Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Versafine Black Onyx, Versamark, Verses Rubber Stamps - Ones Destination - QQ08E17, Cornish Heritage Farms Skrapblock - Map, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous - (Skyline), Hero Arts - Past Times (Balloons)

My second card is a mini card for both the Moxie Fab Challenge and for Wee Memories Mini Card Challenge.   

 

 

 Same idea as the tag but on a CAS mini card using a map in the background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Butterfly Love

I love my butterflies. I was happy to pull out my new ODBD butterfly sets and make a card for the Fashionable Challenge #12 - Anything Goes using your New stash and the Moxie Fab World - Cool Tools Week - Die Cutting.

I started with a background created on a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white cardstock.  I stamped the background using ODBD Honeycomb background  using Ranger Archival Ink Coffee. I inked up the stamp and then used a baby wipe to wipe off portions of the stamp before stamping to give an uneven effect on the background.  After I finished stamping the entire surface I sponged white acrylic paint across the surface.

The background was cut and distressed with a distressing tool and brown dye ink. Stamp the butterfly flourish using Versafine Toffee and Ranger Archival Coffee ink on the background.  Stamp again on a another piece of the honeycomb background.  Stamp the butterflies using the gold ink and overlay the details with the brown ink. Die cut using the butterfly dies.  Stamp the sentiment using the brown ink. Cut and distress edges.

The butterfly dies, stamps and sentiment are all part of the ODBD Gods Love. 

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

B Mine

I rolled up three challenges into one: Mojo Monday Sketch #223, Simon Says Stamp and Show a Red Letter Day and City Crafters Challenge - Back to Black.

I started from the idea of the scarlet letter and used the red B in the B Mine to put together my card. 

All kinds of inspiration here... I was inspired by Linda's valentine card,  Tracy provided a beautiful card and the meaning behind red letter day. The back is black challenge is to use a silhouette and the pussy willows on the panel is my silhouette.


The stamps are from the Cornish Heritage Farms and the papers are from My Minds Eye.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Suzz

Hero Arts 2012 Blog Hop

Welcome to the  Hero Arts 2012 Hero Hostesses Blog Hop!  The Hero Arts 2012 blog hop  is  all week long,  January 9th through Friday January 13th.   Along the way you will see wonderful  inspiration from the Hero Hostesses using the 2012 release! 

When I saw the new Fleurettes - K5597 Stamp and the Classic Tea Flower I was smitten. I love flowers and both of these are gorgeous.

I created a little card set with a purse to hold the cards: 

A close up of the wooden purse:

And a close up of the cards: (Click to enlarge)

Recipe:

1. Paint the wood purse using white acrylic paint. Dry. Repeat to create two coats of paint. 
2. Cut four 5" circles from white cardstock. 
3. Cut eight 5 1/4" circles from black cardstock.  
4. Stamp flowers using black archival ink on purse and on white circles.
5. Smear pink dye ink onto craft mat. Watercolor flowers using water brush. 
6. Smear brown dye ink onto craft mat. Watercolor flowers for shading using water brush. 
7. Stamp dragonflies onto tissue paper using archival black ink. Sprinkle black embossing powder over surface. Shake off excess. Heat emboss. Repeat for multiple dragonflies. 
8. Turn over dragonflies with embossed surface facing down. Paint with waterbrush and pink dye ink. 
9. Cut out dragonflies. Accent dragonflies with gem.
10. Attach dragonflies to background. 
11. Add highlights to flowers using white gel pen. 
12. Assemble cards. 
13. Smear pink dye ink onto craft mat and spritz with water until drops appear. Dip white seam binding into pink dye ink and turn the ribbon until covered in pink. Dry ribbon and attach to handle of purse.

Products:

• Classic Tea Flower
• Year Round Sentiments 
• Fleurettes
• All the Time
• Fern and Hummingbird

 The next card uses the same flowers but I turned it into a Valentines Card:

 I created a mask from the spellbinders heart die and stamped the image repeatedly into the heart shape. I then colored using watercolor pencils. The butterfly (Three Artistic Butterflies) was stamped on tissue paper and watercolored with the pencils.  The sentiment is from the Made with Love clear set.

I finished off my projects with a vintage tag: 

I used the fun Art of the Card cling set called Past Times.  I stamped the background with Watch Gears
 using glimmer mist chalkboard ink.   I added a few partial stamping of the Moments definition stamp.   The rest of the images were stamped in black ink and cut out and pop dotted.

Onto the important details: 

If you arrived here from Deborah Nolan at Society of Stamp and Scrap a holics you are in the right place, your next stop is the fabulous Donna Mikasa at Three Umbrellas!   If you didn't come here from Deborah you should head over to the Hero Arts Blog  and start at the beginning of the hop!

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report broken links to Tami.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

CR84FN45 - My wishes to you!

This is for the CR84FN challenge this week.  We are still playing with the bright fun colors of orange, yellow and blue.

I pulled a bunch of die cut shapes out of my scrap bin and started layering them up.  I used the Hero Arts Designblocks and clings to stamp the different patterns on the layers.  The lovely verse is fromVerses Rubber Stamps Wishing You Always - MC0634 .  I created this before the new year and thought it was a lovely new year wish to send out to all my bloggy friends.

Here are the beautiful colors for this week. The pictures are provided by  Deborah Frings

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

The wonderful CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Stephanie Kraft * Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville *

Have a wonderful Sunday!  On Monday I have something very fun to share!

Suzz

Stampendous Saturday - Sparkly Things

Today is the first Saturday of the month which means it is time for a new Stampendous challenge.  This month's challenge is all about bringing in the New Year with some BLING!  Glitter, rhinestones, sparkly stickers...you name it.

I decided to create an anniversary card that could easily be used for Valentines Day as well:

My bling is on the flower. I dipped it in the beautiful Halo Gold Glitter. The background is stamped with a combination of stamps from the Eiffel Tower using brown ink. The cherub is from the Cherub Wishes set.  I used the Amore sentiment from Amore Frame.

The seam binding was died pink using glimmer mist. The edges of the panels were sponged with a pink and brown dye ink. The images were stamped using Ranger Archival Coffee Ink.

The DT has some fabulous projects to share:

Stampendous Impressions Blog

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Price

Janelle Stollfus

Wendy Jordan

Jennie Lin Black

Taylor Usry

Krissy Fossmeyer

Suzanne Czosek

Kristine Reynolds

Steph Lee

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner

To play along with us: add you direct link to your card (make sure you've loaded it up with tons of BLING) to the linky tool below (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than February 2, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You don't have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cherub Wishes Perfectly Clear Stamp Set: (Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address)

I hope your weekend plans are going to be fun.  We have one more family celebration for tomorrow and then our holiday celebrations will be finished. The kids will be sad but I will be glad to get the decorations down and all cleaned up.

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Something Old and Something New

Simon Says Stamp and Show something old and something new.  I pulled out my melt pot to play again and create a pendant with a mix of elements.  

 A different angle:

I created a Valentine's pendant using some old (Vintage cupid with heart)  and new(ribbon, earring)  bits and pieces. 

Recipe:

1. Stamp script over background using brown ink. 
2. Stamp damask using red ink in corner. 
3. Stamp Sentiment using brown ink. 
4. Heat melt pot with UTEE. 
5. Stamp Eiffel Tower on Shrinky Dink using StazOn ink. 
6. Place Shrinky Dink in UTEE. Shrink up and pull out of UTEE
7. Cut background to fit into metal frame. 
8. Place Eiffel Tower and any other bits and pieces into metal frame over background. 
9. Pour melted UTEE into frame. 
10. Let dry.  
11. Accessorize.

Stamps: Memory Box - Eiffel Tower, Love, Elemental Damask
Inks: StazOn Jet Black, Ranger Archival Inks - Coffee, Memento - Rhubarb Stalk

That's it for today. Been working on projects that I can't share. :)  Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz