I've been absent for a while and I apologize if you've been checking out my blog. We are in the midst of a large project at work and I've been doing some things in the evening from home. And then last Monday my sister was admitted to the hospital and they found a cyst on her brain. Very scary! I've been trying to visit her every evening. So haven't been doing much stamping. I did manage to get a card made for the Gina K Designs June Release Party. Lee challenged us to use Pink and Chocolate. Not much of a challenge for me. ;o) I love them together. Here is the card I posted the other day. I had issues with blogger and IE so that is why I am posting this even later than I wanted to.



Stamps: Eclectic Summer StampTV Kit
Paper: Chocolate Kiss Pure Luxury CS {Gina K Designs}, dotted pattern paper from K & Company Saffron collection. pink floral pattern paper {unknown}
Ink: VersaMark, Dark Brown Chalk Ink
Other: Copper embossing powder, chocolate brads, glitter pen, stickles

I can't stop quilting. With paper that is. It's a great way to use up scraps of pattern paper.

Although for my first card I used paper from my brand new Basic Grey Wisteria pad. The paper is gorgeous. Especially for making paper quilts.



To make the quilt block I cut 1" squares and then cut them diagonally to make triangles. I then added a small amount of adhesive on the back of each piece and adhered them in a quilt pattern on Ivory card stock. I stitched the block with the zig-zag stitch. I pulled all of the loose threads to the back of the block before adhering to the purple paper from the same paper pack Then I adhered the full quilt block onto River Rock. Finally I adhered the whole thing on a Pure Luxury Ivory card base. The base weight card stock is great for card bases. Very sturdy. The card size is 5". I even used some of the paper as backings for the clear buttons.

For my second card I used some old Stampin' Up Designer Paper; Rose Red and Certainly Celery.



For this quilt block I used 1 1/2" squares cut diagonally. I layered them onto white card stock and sewed it with a zig-zag stitch. The card base is Pure Luxury white base weight.

Stamps: "Relax" from Lazy Days of Summer and "Prayer" sentiment from Flowers for Daisy {All Gina K}

IC #84 - What a Catch!

I made this modern looking card for the Inspiration Challenge over at splitcoaststampers.com. The challenge is to choose inspiration from this Lovely Package blog. I chose the Safeway Fruit Sodas. I really like the clean simple look with the bright yummy colors.
Surf on over to the challenge forum and try it out yourself.

Stamps: Eclectic Summer & Eclectic Summer Sayings from StampTV Kit {Gina K}
Paper: Pure Luxury White {Gina K}, Brushed Silver, Tangerine Tango & Basic Black {SU}
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & StazOn Black
Other: Copic and Bic Markit Markers, Colluzzle circle template, & gingham ribbon

STVSC16 - U Rock!

Donna Baker is hosting the sketch challenge over at StampTV.com this week. The sketch is a round card. I made a cute little chocolate and pink cheer card. I love the cheer stamps from Gina K Designs new Sporty Accessories stamp set. The set was designed by Melanie Muechinger. I love her designs. Always so much fun! And this set goes so well with her other Tees sets.

To make the card:

I cut

• two 4 1/4" circles from Chocolate Kiss card stock
  one 4" circle from Pretty in Pink
• one 3 3/4" circle from Pure Luxury White
• one 2 1/2" circle from Brushed Gold

using my Fiskars circle cutter.

I punched two circles with a 1 1/4" circle punch from Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Kiss.

I stamped the cheer leading suit and megaphone with sentiment on Pure Luxury White base weight card stock.

I stamped the stars from the Little Tees set onto the suit as well as the gold circle.

I used the football & pom-pom stamps from Sporty Accessories and the Cheer stamp from Just So Sporty.

The front and back of the card are attached with a single gold brad so it can swing open.

I hope you enjoy my card. Now stop over at StampTV.com and try the sketch challenge yourself. You have a chance to win a free stamp set.

Be Happy

A quick post before I head off to bed. It's been a while since I inked this adorable set up. I just love the images from the Gingersnaps Spring Things set by CC Designs. I used some old Stampin' Up pattern paper to paper piece her outfit and umbrella. I stamped the image on Gina K Pure Luxury White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored her with Copic Markers.

Stamps: Gingersnaps Spring Things {All That Scraps} & So Many Sayings {SU}

Paper: Pure Luxury White {Gina K Designs}, Urban Prairie {Basic Grey}, Basic Black and Retired So Saffron PP {SU}

Ink: Tuxedo Black {Memento}

Other: Copic Markers, mini rhinestones, dotted ribbon

Woven Background

I've been wanting to make a woven basket background ever since I made my red basket the other week. I had some scraps left from an attempt to make a Chocolate Kiss basket. I wove the 1/4" strips and even wove a piece of ribbon in the center. I finished the woven piece by adhering strips of card stock to the shorter ends and ribbon to the longer ends. I added some pewter brads to one of the short sides. It took me forever to figure what layout to use for this one. I really like what I ended up doing with it. I thought the basket of flowers from Eclectic Summer would look great with the basket weave background. I colored the basket and flowers with Copic markers. I stamped the flowers a second time, colored them and added mini blue rhinestone stickers to the center of each flowers. I cut out the second set of stamped flowers and adhered them to the original with foam tape for dimension. It may be hard to tell, but I also stamped the large flower from the same set with white on the Baja Breeze layer. Then I sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy ink.

Stamps: Eclectic Summer, Eclectic Summer Sayings
Paper: Pure Luxury White & Chocolate Kiss {Gina K}, Not Quite Navy & Baja Breeze
Ink: Rich Cocoa {Memento}, Not Quite Navy {SU}, Dark Brown Chalk Ink {ColorBox}, White Chalk Ink {VersaFine}
Other: pewter brads, mini blue rhinestone stickers, striped & dotted ribbon

Playful, Fun, Relaxing Summer

Many people that live around me are so excited that warm summer weather is right around the corner. While I love images of summer (flowers, butterflies, ice cream), I loathe the hot humid weather. When the temperature reaches anything above 70, it is way to warm for me. But as I said I love images of summer. So I will enjoy summer through paper, rubber and ink. :o) I made this card for a challenge I am hosting over at StampTV.com. It is based on a card I shared last week during the preview blog hop for Gina K Designs May Release. Please stop by StampTV.com and check out my challenge. And browse around at the other great areas in our fun little community that some call "home". You have a chance at winning FREE stamps. Thought that would catch your attention. See you there!

Stamps: Eclectic Summer & Lazy Days of Summer
Paper: Pure Luxury White (Gina K) & Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Marigold Morning (SU)
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Tangelo (Memento ) & Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze (SU)
Other: Copic Markers, ribbon, light blue brads

Woven Paper Basket Tutorial

I shared this basket during the Gina K Designs Preview Blog Hop. When I asked you if you would like a tutorial, most of you said yes. I finally had a chance to put that together.

Feel free to use this tutorial to create your own paper baskets. Please do not distribute this tutorial on any other site. You are welcome to add a link to this blog post.

If you create your own basket I would love to see a photo. Please stop back and share a photo of your basket.

You will need card stock or thicker pattern paper cut as follows:

• 14 strips of 8 1/2" x 1/4" (I used gray)
• 20 strips of 4 1/4" x 1/4" (I used a mix of gray and light blue)
• 1 strip of 4" x 3/8" (I used gray)
• 1 strip of 7" x 3/8" (I used gray)
• one 2 1/4" round circle (I used gray)
• strong tape (I used Scor-Tape)

Add a strip of double-sided tape to each side of one of the 8 1/2" x 1/4" strips.

Apply the shorter strips along the edge, alternating between the front and back of the long strip.

Leave a slight gap between each strip to allow for the weaving of the longer strips.

See picture below:


Weave each longer strip into the shorter strips. The photo below shows how the strips should look after you begin to weave them. The first few strips take some patience. After you have a few done, the rest are much easier to weave.

Make sure you are pulling the longer strips as tight against the previous strip as possible. After you have woven 3 or 4 strips take some time to adjust the shorter strips; making sure the are straight up and down and not slanted. This will make your basket more uniform and easier to work with when finishing.


After you have woven all of the longer pieces in you will need to trim the ends of the longer pieces leaving about a 1/2" extension. You can snip off every other extension from the shorter strips.

Here is a photo of the finished weave.


Now we are ready to make it look like a basket.

Lay the woven piece with the side you are using for the outer part of the basket up.

Apply the 7" x 3/8" strip along the long edge without the extensions (this will be the top of the basket).

Apply the 4" x 3/8" strip along the short edge without the extensions (this will cover the seam).

Add adhesive to all of the extensions on the short side.

Now shape the woven piece into a cylinder and adhere the extensions with adhesive to the inside of the basket on the other end. Press firmly to make sure the adhesive is secure.

Here is what you should have at this point:


Apply adhesive to the left over tabs and fold them into the center of the basket.

Adhere the circle onto the bottom and press firmly to secure. (I placed the basket right side up and used my bottle of stamp cleaner to press down onto the adhesive to secure it.)




Here is the basket finished without handles and embellishments: I used some blue with the gray to create a more unique design to show you the weave.

Now you can add handles and finish it with embellishments. I cut two 3 1/2" strips of card stock and attached them to each side of the basket with brads. I cut the tag pieces with punches from Stampin' Up. The word "Relax" and the star are from Gina K Designs new Free With Three set Lazy Days of Summer.

Here is my finished basket:


At this point the basket is empty. You could place a small gift inside or some beautiful punched or stamped flowers. I will show you how I made my flowers for my original basket in another tutorial. So be sure to check back for that.

Go Fly a Kite - MMSC3

I actually created this card for Theresa's color challenge at StampTV.com, but I did not use only blue, so I did not submit it for the challenge. I still like how it turned out and thought I would share it. I used the kite stamp from Eclectic Summer in the NEW StampTV Kit. The pattern paper is from the kit too. It is from Basic Grey Lime Rickey. Very fun designs! The card base is Not Quite Navy and the embossed piece is Baja Breeze sponged with Not Quite Navy ink. I stamped the kite image onto Pure Luxury White and colored it with Prismacolor colored pencils, baby oil and blending stumps. I cut out the little ribbons on the tails and replaced the stamped tail with a piece of black hemp. I carefully glued the ribbons onto the tail. Very tedious work, but worth it. The sketch is again from Midnight Madness Sketch challenge blog.

Tomorrow night I will posting the tutorial for the Woven Paper Basket that I made last week for the Gina K Designs Pre-Release blog hop. I will be put the finishing touches on the tutorial after work, so expect it around 10pm EST. Sorry it is taking so long. We had gorgeous weather this past weekend and I took advantage of that instead of stamping all day Saturday. And Sunday I spent the day with relatives that I have not seen in a very long time. It is coming! :o)

Have a Terrific Tuesday!