Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone. This weekend has been jam-packed with so much family fun! So much so, I had to share a funny story and some pictures! I woke up this morning (it was only 7:30-- which is sleeping in for me), and I walked out in to our living room and my daughter is fully dressed, jeans, shirt, shoes and all. I said, "Ellie, what are you doing?" She tells me with the most serious of voices, "I'm all ready for the Easter Egg hunt." Bless her heart -- it wasn't until 10 AM! Since we have some green space in our neighborhood, we have a egg hunt in some of the park areas.

Look at all those eggs just waiting to be picked up! My son told me that there were 2,000 eggs!

And the kiddos waiting.... this was just a handful. There had to be at least 50 kids.
Here's Ellie going for it! And, my 13 year old, Cal, proving you are never too old! ;-)
And, here's Ellie - post face painting....

Later in the day, we colored eggs and I have to tell you that this year's offerings for Easter egg coloring was hysterical. Who knew you could give your egg a "fro!" Check it out! I cracked up!

And, before I bid you ado, here's a card I made this weekend for a friend of mine that we go to church with. I just love this Easter lily and the sentiments that are in this Lily of Hope set from Flourishes -- just beautiful sentiments that are perfect for this time of year. This card is really an easy card. I used my Labels 8 Nestabilities die (after embossing, I used a sanding block to distress the edge a bit), a petite oval die (and while the die was still on, I used my paper piercing tool to add a pierced frame). The flower was colored with the B000 Copic marker plus the Sunflower and Spring Greens Copic Collections grouped by Flourishes. Afterward, I added some Stickles glitter glue to the stamens in the flower. Add a fun flocked ribbon, some crocheted lace and a pearl and voila!

Here's a close up!

And that, my friends, is it! I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and a blessed Easter. I'm making a ham with all the fixings and I can almost smell it just thinking about it! YUM!

I'll see you back here soon!

A few sweet treats for you!

Hi all and Happy Friday! It's a freebie day with the gals at Flourishes -- and that means we all dug into our stamp set stash and pulled out one for a free for all creation!

And, with Easter about a week away, I picked up the new Easter Basket set for some sweet treats! I just think this set is too fun for words because of the fact that you can build your own basket with treats you like! Jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, eggs... even PEEPS!
I colored my basket with Copics. I honestly just grabbed a marker here and a marker there. The only thing I am certain of is that the basket was done with Flourishes Flesh Tones 2 collection. the paper is from my dp stash -- just bits and pieces here and there. And, when all was said and done, I did glitz up the basket goodies with a dash of glitter glue!

The ribbon was paper pieced and... here's a fun effect! I stamped the basket, colored it a second time and cut just the basket portion and popped it up -- like this! I did that so that when you look at it, it looks more three dimensional! FUN! And that, my friends is it!

Be sure to stop by and say hi to the other Flourishes gals and see what set they picked up for their Friday creations!

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Danielle Kennedy

As we speak, I'm off soaking in some "hot wadda" as they say! I kidnapped the family and we are taking a dip in the hot springs that aren't too far away. Every now and then you just have to say -- ok -- everyone get in the car!!!!! Don't you think?

See you back here soon!

Just go faux!!

Hi all! It's been a while before I've had the time to play in a Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge but with my mom visiting (she's an avid FTTC fan), she told me she had to get down to the stamp room to whip up a card before to much time passed.. .so... off we went! :-)

It was Betty's challenge today and her challenge was to go faux! She had a great link HERE to SCS tutorials and I picked up THIS one on faux mother of pearl. I had never heard of this technique so I couldn't wait to try it! You'll have to read the tutorial for the step-by-step because Beate Johns' instructions are super duper easy to understand!
Basically-- in a nutshell, you use pearl acryllic paint and some saran wrap. The wrap is scrunched and used to apply the paint onto your white card stock (you have to leave some of the cardstock showing). Let it dry and then sponge some light antique looking ink over top (I used Tattered Rose and Antique Linen). The next part is where you use a damp rag to remove the ink from the paint -- so you don't lose that mother-of-pearl look. I then stamped my image (Easter Blessings from Flourishes) over top with archival ink and then painted on color with ranger distress inks. I used Fired Brick, Tea Dye, Brushed Courdoroy, and Peeled Paint. After you are all done, you use a damp rag again to remove the ink that is sitting on the pearl paint. And, this is how it looks.... pretty cool huh?

From there, I added some stitching, a fancy corner, some pearls and matted it all on some 7 Gypsies decorative paper... voila! And, that my friends is it! Hope you make time for play time!

See you back here soon!

It's an Easter Parade!

With Easter fast approaching, the gals at Flourishes thought we’d have a little ‘Easter Parade’ to showcase some fun creations perfect for this time of year.

So, without further ado, I picked up Flourishes very first Easter set for my creation-- Easter Bunnies -- isn't this little chick and bunny super duper sweet?

I decided to make my card a 4-1/4 by 4-1/4" shape and used some Spellbinders Nestabilities to give the front of my card a little bit of a pop - I used the Oval, Scalloped Oval and Labels 1. Add a punched border and -- almost done! I did use the Basket Weave Background on the Labels 1 shape to give it that Easter Basket feel! After stamping on Flourishes Classic White, I colored with Copics, using the Flesh Tones 1 (plus E53) Dahlia, Daffodil, and Tigerlily collections. Add a sheer polka dot ribbon, a button and some glitter glue and.... done!

Here's a close up to show the sparkle! Oh, I almost forgot, I did add a dot of white from the Inkssentials pen for both the chick and bunny's eyes.

If you like the Easter Bunnies set, you should know.... it's on it's way to retirement. It's being offered right now at 40% off! So hop on down the bunny trail and take a peek at our Easter offerings!

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Dawn Burnworth
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan
Danielle Kennedy

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Friday... have a good weekend! Today is my baby boy's 13th birthday! Holy cow! Do you ever wonder why time has to go by so fast? Don't worry, I'll eat a piece of cake for you!! :-)

See you back here soon!

It's all about Easter IO Challenge!

Hi all! Happy Thursday! It's time for another Impression Obsession Design Team challenge! We're hopping along to share a bit of Easter inspiration with you all! The fun part is, if you join us and make an Easter creation using IO stamps, you could win a $25 gift certificate to the IO store! What fun! You can check out the IO Blog for all the details!

For my creation, I decided to pick up the stamp called Garden Fence along with some distress inks to watercolor my image. There is something so peaceful and serene about this image. And, while it's not an Easter scene, I thought a spring scene was perfect for this time of year. Easter is all about renewal and growth and that's what this scene says to me!

I stamped the image onto watercolor paper and then colored with Distress Ink Reinkers by adding a few drops of each color to a paint palette and picking it up with a water brush. I used Tea Dye, Worn Lipstick, Broken China, Mulled Lavender, Dried Marigold, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, and Antique Linen. After I was done with my image, I wet the paper above my image and added a bit of watered down Broken China ink for my watercolor washed sky. Mat this onto some fun decorative paper, add some crocheted lace, a button and some pearls and done!

I do have to admit that I forgot to take a picture of the inside where my sentiment is but this is what it says!

I really, really love this sentiment! While this card was on the subtle side, I do have quite a few Easter projects and cards using IO stamps to "re-share!" There was THIS project that was a ton of fun for my daughter's class at school. THIS little treat pouch! And last but not least, THIS fun little card!

There you have it a bit of Easter inspiration for you! If you want to see more, be sure to hop along to the rest of the Impression Obsession design team to see what they created with an Easter flair!

Daniela
Dina
Kathy
Kelli
Jeanne
Jenny
Tina
Laura
Rosemary

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you back here soon!

Easter Blessings To YOU!

I hope you are enjoying family time and are able to reflect on all the wonderful things in your life! I am cooking up a ham today and DD and I finished up a cake Saturday night. It's actually kind of silly -- it's a bunny cake! We giggled and had fun though. The boys -- i.e. DH and DS spent the night at an arena football game which left the mischievous girls behind! :-)


I have one final Easter project to show -- so sock it away if you like for next year!


My DD wanted to bring treats for her kindergarten class so we came up with this idea....

While my daughter was at school, my bud Lovely and I had a morning creating -- whipping up these little bags with a topper -- easy peasy! We had a blast (thanks for hanging out with me Lovely!!!)! Just some decorative paper, a coordinating paper for the scallop, some glittered brads, and THIS stamp set from Impression Obsession! That's it! I thought they were cute. Nothing over the top that gets tiresome to make 25 of! ;-)

Fill the bags with some paper shred and some chocolate eggs and.... DONE!

Well, I'm off folks! Have a Happy Easter and I'll see you back here soon!

A Friday Two-fer!

Hi all! TGIF! I cannot believe it's Friday already! But, with that realization comes a whole lot of fun! We have Stamp Simply courtesy of the fabulous Sharon Johnson and.... we have the Friday Flourishes Focus which just so happens to be all about paper peicing!

So, first things first - I'm going to start singing..... "The incredible, edible egg!" Remember that jingle? Well folks - that's your inspiration for this week's Stamp Simply challenge! (ssnotime 81) Since Easter is fast approaching, the challenge is to take a look at the traditional Easter Egg - any way - any how -- in a decked out egg, a bird's next, or even in a frying pan!

If you stopped by yesterday, you saw my "chick parade." Today, I used the same set called Happy Easter from Impression Obsession, masked it and made the chicks sit on top of, carry and push all the larger than life eggs.
I stamped the chickies where I wanted them and then, masked and stamped the eggs so that one would be carrying it, one would be sitting on top and the last would be doing a sommersault off it! I just love these little chicks! Afterward, I colored them up with some watercolor pencils, blended with a blender pen and added some Crystal Stickles for a little sparkle! Stamp "Happy Easter" on a punched circle and mat it on a scalloped SU circle! Add some dp, a ticket corner punch and some bling and..... done!

You'll have to check out all the "egg"stra special cards the rest of the Stamp Simply team cooked up! Delish!

Jenny -- our new guest designer!
Dee
Tammy
Janine
AJ
Jennifer
Julie
Becky

Next up.... The Flourishes Focus,which is being hosted this week by the lovely Faith Hofrichter, who gives us an inside look at how to make our paper pieced creations pop -- literally! Stay tuned -- at the end of this post, I'll fill you in on how you can WIN all three of the new sets to be released next week!! You won't want to miss it!!

First off, Faith challenged the rest of the Senior DT to come up with our own paper peiced creations and so... here goes!

These cutie patootie stamps are from the newly released Gigi & Chloe set from Flourishes. I just love those little shoes! So, I stamped them mutliple times on the new Memory Box Rhubarb Tart paper. Stamped them a second time on a 1-1/4" punched circle and then started to layer them up! Layer on a 1-1/2" punched circle from a coordinating color in the MB paper pack and then layer again on a punched scalloped circle. The rest is easy peasy -- layer - add a little ribbon, a scalloped edge, paper pierce the edge and add a fun sentiment! Almost done! On two pairs of the shoes, I added some silver studs and bling! Too fun!

Here's a close up! I added some shading with a Cool Grey #1 Copic Marker.

Swing Into Spring Challenge!
Do you want to use a little of your creativity to get your hands on all three of the soon to be released sets from Flourishes? All you have to do is make a card with a little paper piecing on it! Upload to SCS with the keyword FLLCAPR or leave a comment here on this post. We can't wait to see what you piece together! We'll accept entries until Friday, April 10th at 5PM CST. A winner will be drawn from all the entries during our RELEASE PARTY which is set for April 10th from 8 to 10 PM CST!! WOO-HOO!!!!!! Can't wait for that!

Want to see what the rest of the Flourishes DT pieced together?

Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan

Thanks so much for stopping by! We have big plans this weekend - so I won't be back until Monday! My son, bless his little heart, qualified for a state bowling tournament. It's about 300 miles away and we are hitting the road! There are even scholarships on the line so we are pretty darn proud that he made it this far! Wish him luck! The good thing is - we are just 20 minutes from some of the state's fabulous hot springs which means good year round swimming! Yes -- swimming in April! Should be nice and relaxing!

Enjoy your weekend!

Let's Hear It For The Chick Parade!

Hi all! It's time for another Impression Obsession DT challenge and this one is all about those sweet signs of Easter. Just a few months ago, IO released some darling Easter images from the talented artist - Sarah Phelps.


So, I grabbed one of them, some post-it notes, some watercolor pencils and I went to town!

If you click HERE, you'll see the set and how I masked the chicks to add some flowers in their wings! The flowers are also in the set but are in a row. I just inked up a few of the individual flowers. It was a little time consuming -- but fun!

After masking and stamping, I used watercolor pencils to color up my chicks and eggs, blending with a blender pen. Add the sentiment (also from the set) and the rest is just a scalloped edge punch, some paper piercing, and a ribbon tied up and off to the side! Just that simple!

Want to see the other IO gal's Easter creations?? "Chick" them out! Sorry, I couldn't resist!

Jeanne Streiff -- our new guest designer! Woo-hoo!
Dina Kowal
Daniela Dobson
Laura Fulcher
Tina Werner
Shirley Ross

Thanks for stopping by! See you back here soon!

Chick It Out!!!

Want a fun little project that is perfect for boxing up some small Easter Treats? Well, this little "tag" box is easy peasy to make! Want to see how it's put together?

First, here's a peek at the supplies you'll need to get started!

• ¼-Hole Punch

• Sm. & Lg. Oval Punch - Stampin Up
• Urban Prairie Paper by Basic Grey
• 1/4" hole punch

• Sheer Yellow Polka Dot Ribbon - May Arts
• Ruler

• 1" wide Pink Satin Ribbon - May Arts
• Palette Noir Ink

• 1/2" wide Pink Scallop Ribbon - May Arts
• Fine Tip Orange Marker

• Fine tip back pen
• Yellow Ink Pad

Next, to whip through this box in a flash, I like to cut my paper/decorative paper before I even get started. I used Basic Grey Urban Prairie for my patterned paper!

• Start by cutting 2 strips of white card stock to measure 2-1/2” by 11”. From the long side, score at 1-3/4”, 4 - 1/4”, 6-3/4”, and 9-¼”. Do this to both pieces.
• Corner round all of the edges of your strips.
• Cut dec. paper #1 into 4 pieces that measure 2.5” by 1.25”
• Cut dec. paper #2 into 4 pieces that measure 2.5” by 2.5”
• Cut dec. paper #3 into 1 piece that measures 2.5” by 2.5”
• Cut dec. paper #3 into 4 pieces that measure 2.5” by 1.75”
• Cut pink satin ribbon to measure 11” (this includes excess)
• Cut scalloped pink ribbon to measure 11” (this includes excess)
• Cut yellow sheer ribbon to measure 11”

Let's Get Started!

Rememer the two long strips that you created and scored? You'll want to criss cross them adhering them in the center square. Mark the center of each end and punch a 1/4" circle roughly 1/2" from the top.

Next, adhere decorative paper #2 so that it looks like the picture below.

Adhere decorative paper #1 so that it overlaps decorative paper #2 and looks like the picture below.

Adhere the decorative paper #3 so that it looks like the picture below...

Next, it's time to deck out part of your box. I stamped the little chicks from the Signs of Spring set from Flourishes using Yellow Ink (Memento Dandelion). After I stamped my chicks in yellow, I went over the beak with a fine tip orange marker and the feet with a fine tip black marker like this.....

After that - wrap your box with 1" pink satin ribbon and 1/2" pink scalloped edge ribbon and secure using a high tack tape - cutting off excess.

Stamp the words Happy Easter and For You also from the set onto some scrap decorative paper using black ink. Then, using a small and large oval punch (SU) punch out both phrases and punch a hole at the top of both of these ovals to make a kind of tag.

Knot the 1/2" wide yellow polka dot sheer ribbon and thread through all four flaps. To keep the flaps secure, slide the ovals over the ribbon like this....

All you need now are some fun treats to stuff inside! If you make one of these boxes, be sure to link it up so I can see! I had a blast making mine and can see making some for the kiddos in my life!

p.s. I'll be back with the winner of all of Laura and I's blog candy tomorrow---- so stay tuned!

Easter Treats!

Hi all! Hope you are having a fabulous weekend! I was in my craft room the other day trying to dream up some goody bags for my daughter's class for Easter and this is what I came up with.

Now... will I be adventurous enough to actually do 22 of these babies? Hhhhmmm.... we'll see! I used some spring theme paper that I had in my stash for the base and it is just a 4" by 8" piece that I cut on an angle and then scored 3-3/4" from each edge lengthwise. I did this so that my pouch would be dimensional and not just a flat fold. (You'll be able to see what I mean when I show another photo below).

The rest is just decking it out! I used a Marvy oval and Marvy oval scallop punch for my main image and layer. Then, I created a topper for my little pouch by folding a 4 by 4-1/2" piece in half so that the finished measurement was 2 by 4-1/2". Then, I just angled this piece in my paper cutter to create the fun angles at the top- just cut an angle by marking a dot 1/4" in on both sides of the fold and using your paper trimmer to cut from that mark to the corner of the flap. I hope that makes sense!

For my stamping, I used one of the NEW Sarah Phelps clear sets from Impression Obsession called Easter Bunny. You can find it HERE. There's also a smaller set too with some similar images that is just as cute HERE.

I stamped with Versafine Black Onyx and then colored with watercolor pencils blending with a blender pen. I actually stamped the bunny's shirt on a pink piece of paper and paper pieced it I just wanted the color a little more bold there.

Here's a close up!

The rest is easy! Add a tag with some gold embroidery floss. I stamped the saying from the set on a 1-1/2" circle that I punched and matted it on a scalloped circle that I punched out of dp with a SU punch. Add some pink satin ribbon as an accent and then punch two holes at the top of your flap so that it goes through not just the flap but your pouch as well. Thread the ribbon through and tie in the back....

Like this!There you have it! A fun and easy little treat bag for the little ones (and maybe big ones) in your lives!

By the way, the Impression Obsession sale ends at midnight tonight! I know the site was down for a bit yesterday but it's back up now!
It's all going on at the Impression Obsession Webstore. Free shipping on orders more than $30! To see all the NEW images... click HERE for the rubber stamps, and HERE for the clear images!

See you back here soon!

A Dose Of Spring

Today was such a perfect day in my neck of the woods. The sun was shining, the "boys" (AKA DH and DS) were out shooting hoops and DD was tooling around on her scooter. Well, with a little spring in my heart I turned out this fun card. I even used a bit of watercolor which was fresh on my mind since my card Friday.

I stamped with my Palette Noir and then began to color using watercolor pencils and then blending with a blender pen. Scribble on the color and then blend it in! That's about it! Papers are a mix of Crate Paper and Basic Grey Urban Prairie. The "tag" was done with two sizes of oval Stampin' Up punches. Add some sheer ribbon and a fun scalloped edge and... voila - Done!

Here's a close up... I love this new stamp set from Flourishes - Signs of Spring. It was just released Friday and it will - for sure- be one of my spring time faves!

Hope you have a happy Monday! The kiddos are off school so I will be trying to cook up some fun!

See you back here soon!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully, you are relaxing and reflecting with family! Here's the last card of the Easter season! It's kind of a simple one! I love this little chick from Inkadinkado! My LSS had a make and take a week ago and used this to deck out some Easter tins. Well, I couldn't resist making a card!

I actually stamped the chick twice - once on the grassy background paper and then one on white. I knew I wanted to cut the chick out, but I didn't want to have to cut out his little curly cue of hair! Too hard! So, that's why I stamped hi twice! I used my rectangle and scalloped rectangle nesties for the mat and background. I used my slot punch to string the ribbon through. Added a sentiment and I was done! The coloring is just watercolor pencil. I did add a bit of bling to the little guy's egg with the help of some Crystal Stickles but you really can't see it!

Over the weekend, my family and I took a walk to this little chapel area by our house. Because of today, I wanted to go over and take some pictures of this beautiful cross that stands nearby. I think the photos turned out really neat and how appropriate for this time of year when we reflect on all we have because of one perfect sacrifice. When I popped my card reader into my computer I was amazed at how blue the sky looks! This is completely untouched! Anyway, I wanted to share a few!

"I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in me will
never die"

John 11:25-26

Happy Easter...
Until tomorrow...

Egg-stra Special Tin!

With Easter fast approaching, my LSS decided to do a make and take this weekend and this is the project we are going to do!!!


Altoid tins have been all the rage for a while now and, well, I hate to admit it, I've never done one before! These little stamps are from Inkadinkado! That little chick is so stinkin' cute! I used my Marvy Mega oval and scallop punch for the punched pieced and watercolored the chick with watercolor pencils (after stamping in permanent black ink). To attach my ribbon, I used the small slot punch from Stampin' Up to make the hole to run my ribbon through.


On the inside......


I stamped a whole bunch of eggs also from Inkadinkado all over a page of sticker paper. I colored them with markers and then punched then out using a 1" circle punch so they would fit over top my Reeses mini peanut butter cups. The Happy Easter was stamped using black ink onto the oval for the inside of the tin. It might look a bit sparkly because I went over it with my clear Copic Spica pen. I think that's it! The paper is Lasting Impressions! Should be fun to make these little tins this weekend! Stop by Stampressions if you're in the Billings-area Saturday morning!!


Hope you're having a fab week!