Caffeinated Autumn Mood

I have two cards to share with you today. Both represent some of my favorite things.


In the Mood for Autumn
I love autumn weather. It is so much cooler and less humid than summer. And I just love the colors; Reds, Oranges, Browns, Yellows with hints of Green. To get in the Autumn Mood I pulled out some old and new autumn stamps and this fabulous felt leaf and swirl border I bought at Big Lots the other week. Here is my autumn card:

Stamps: Signs of Autumn StampTV Kit, So Grateful
Paper: Pure Luxury Green Apple & Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie & So Saffron
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, greens and browns for sponging, Copic markers
Other: bronze brads from kit, Nestabilities Die, green printed ribbon from stash, felt border

Caffeine Keeps me Going
I have to admit my one true weakness is coffee. I like it hot, iced and frozen. I found a new coffee set at Stampede (my Local Stamp Store) the other day. I love this phrase in the set. If you can't read it, it says:

"I don't have a problem with caffeine, I have a problem without caffeine!"

Yep, that's me. Gotta have my cuppa' joe every morning and a decaf at night.

I made this CAS (Clean and Simple) card using images and a phrase from the set. I like that the coffee mugs are large and lots of room for paper piecing.



Stamps: Coffee Cafe {TPC Studio}
Paper: Pure Luxury Soft Sand, Basic Gray {SU}
Ink: Basic Gray Dye Ink, VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria, Aegean Blue, & Spanish Olive, Copic Marker for coffee in mugs
Other: mini brads, small piece of blue ribbon from stash

School, Sports and Spirit

I shared this card last night at the release party. I was going for a cork board/white marker board look. The white piece is stamped with phrases and images from several of Melanie's sets. Like someone wrote some messages and drew some doodles. Then I laminated the front to make it look like a white marker board. The cork board is real cork. It is thin and easy to cut and use on cards. I stamped the stars border from Ribbon Stripes. I made a mini card to hang on the cork board. I stamped the phrase "You Aced It!" from Melanie's new set School, Sports, Spirit. And I stamped part of the football from Sporty Accessories. I placed some random brads to look like tacks. Of course this board belongs to a cheer leader, hence the pom poms and megaphone. And she is such a rock star with her ribbons.



I added some cheer sneakers and a girlie duffel bag on the inside.



The card size is 5.5" x 5.5". Please let me know what you think. I love to hear from my readers.

Princess Diva at School

Well, all the little divas are back at school. Including my 11 year old (soon to be 12) niece. She started 6th grade. Hard to believe. I pulled out one of my Miss Anya stamps and some Gina K Designs stamps illustrated by Melanie Muechinger. I was inspired by a card that Donna Baker posted on her blog yesterday. She used the lockers and some anime girls from another Gina K Designs set that I don't yet have. So I decided the pull out my Miss Anyas for my locker scene card. The lockers are so much fun to use in a scenery card and very appropriate for this time of year. This is a little princess is posing in front of the lockers at school. Isn't she just fabulous with her little tiara?




Card Details:
I used Basic Gray card stock from Stampin' Up for the lockers. I colored the little locks with a silver glitter pen and then added super mini silver brads to the centers of the locks. I also added some clear glitter from a Sakura glitter pen to the vents on the lockers. Each locker is individually stamped. I just cut them all out. Which is easy because there are straight lines. I lined them up and put some tape on the back to hold them together. I layered them onto some Pure Luxury Black Onyx. Then I created a wall behind them with patter paper from the Basic Grey's Boxer paper pad. I glued a strip of black satin ribbon at the seam of the papers. The "wall" is layered onto Green Galore and then the card base is more Pure Luxury Black Onyx.

The tiara, "tiara" phrase and the word "Diva" are from the Little Tees set. And the "what a" phrase is from the Just So Sporty Set. The locker stamp is from Sporty Accessories. All sets are found on this page of Gina K Designs web store.

The little diva girl is a Miss Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm. I stamped her onto Pure Luxury White and colored her with Copic markers. I colored her tiara with a pink Copic marker and then covered the whole thing with glitter from a clear Sakura glitter pen.

I hope you have a splendid day.

So Grateful for Autumn

My favorite season is Autumn. It represents an end to Summer heat. I am not too fond of hot weather. So when Gina K Designs released this new kit with all things Autumn, I had to have it. Here is a card I made with the yummy basket of apples and some sprigs of wheat.



I decided to color them green instead of red. The rebel inside of me. ;o) The patterned paper is from the kit. I also used Soft Sand card stock from Gina K Designs' Pure Luxury line. I love the color and the weight of this card stock. It is perfect for Autumn cards. The bronze brads are from the kit as well. I used Prismacolor pencils and baby oil to color the basket. I used Copic markers for the apples. Oh, and the little nails on the basket are self adhesive nail heads also from Gina K Designs.

Being a huge fan of Gina K Designs, I want to remind anyone reading this that she is releasing new sets and other fun stuff tomorrow night. Come to the party in the Member Forum area of Splitcoaststampers.com. I am in the EST time zone, so it starts at 8:00 pm for me. I look forward to seeing lots of my stampin' friends there. For more information about Gina's parties, check out this thread.

Awards from Fabulous Friends and some Hippie Projects

First I would like to share 2 blog awards that I received. The first was given to me by Geri the end of July. The second was given to me by Mary Anne. I met both of these amazing ladies over at StampTV.com. What a great community to meet fabulous women who share our common passion of stamping and paper crafting. Thank you ladies!



I also have two projects I created using new stamped images from The Greeting Farm. I just adore the Hope and Grace and Anya images from TGF.

This first project is a card I made using going green/natural colors. The stamp is from TGFs Hope and Grace line. This is HG Peace. I love her little innocent look. I colored her with Copic markers. I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the yellow layer.



My second project I made during SpliltCoastStampers Annual Dare to Get Dirty challenges. I used the inspiration piece that Joanne Basile provided. I also incorporate a couple of the other challenges. I never had a chance to upload it in time, but wanted to share it now with you. Isn't she cute? She is Hippie Anya and is a limited addition. She is very fun to color. I used some bright and funky papers from K & Company. There is a plastic flower between the button and the Purely Pomegranate disc. I am not sure what I will do with this. I didn't make it into a card and thought maybe I would frame it some how.




I hope you had some time to enjoy your hobby this weekend. I ended up having to do other stuff and did not stamp as much as I wanted to, but I did get some time in. I think I'll run to my stamp room now and play a little more before bed time.

I'm back and ready to stamp...

I am finally back to my stamping home, so to speak. I've been very busy working on a software upgrade project at work. The hardest work is behind me and I finally have the time and energy to do some stamping. Yipppeeeee! Sorry to those of you that may have been stopping by and not seeing anything new. I just did not have the energy to do anything stamping related.

So, here is my first project I actually created a few weeks ago when I did find a small bit of energy to stamp. It's been sitting on my table waiting to be photographed and uploaded to my blog and StampTV.com.

I found an old Bath & Body Works bag a few weeks ago. I had it packed away in a box of "stuff" and just knew it would come in handy some day. :o) You know how that is, right? So I brought it into my stamp room and then I began scratching my head. What should I do with this thing, I thought to myself. Then it hit me. I'll make a paper bag card. Here is a photo of the back just to prove to you where it came from.




I thought Gina K Designs My Cuppa' Joe would look great with the checkered design on the bag. I pulled out some yellow paper that looks like notebook paper from my pack of K & Company Wild Saffron pack. I stamped the coffee bag and beans image directly onto the paper with blue ink that looks like ink from a pen. I used the same ink to stamp the bag on some orange pattern paper and cut it out. I glued it to the already stamped bag on the yellow piece. I colored in the beans with a brown Copic marker. I added some fun accessories, including a mini Tim Holtz paper clip I bought a while ago and never used. I also created an insert page for the front cover pocket. You can see it peeking out the side. I paper pieced the mug onto that page.



Finally, this is the inside. I just layered some card stock to the inside with some pattern paper and a strip of ribbon.


I hope you like my paper bag card. I also had a chance to play with some new Anya images I bought a few weeks ago from The Greeting Farm. I'll be sharing some fun projects I made with them tomorrow.

stamps: My Cuppa' Joe
paper: yellow piece from Wild Saffron {K & Company}, checkered bag from Bath & Body Works, orange piece {unknown}
ink: Agean Blue VersaMagic chalk ink, Copic markers, orange ink for sponging
other: large eyelets, orange ribbon, small copper brads, mini paper clip