Mini Canvas bag

Just playing around to see how stamping on canvas would look. I practiced stamping with some paint which wasn't too bad but then I switched to pigment ink which looks so much better; I stamped so much on the second side that uh well, lol, I would have to cover it up with another piece of canvas or some other fabric! The flowers would probably look even better with a backdrop of sky but I'm not that talented, lol. I added the grass with a marker and I used images from the Inque Boutique mini escape stamp set and ribbon from my stash.

Shrink Plastic

The past several weeks, I've seen various jewelry creations using shrink plastic. I also bought a book a few weeks ago called 100 Great Ways to Use Rubber Stamps which has instructions on making earrings. Well I gave it try and made my own earrings. I actually wore my heart earrings the other day to work because it matched my outfit; I wasn't even thinking about using colors from my wardrobe, I just used similar colors in the instructions and it just turned out that it matched my outfit for that day so that was a bonus.

I didn't know if it would work because of the thickness of the plastic but I was able to cut out the shapes using my circle and heart punch. But, I did have to use a little extra muscle when pushing down on the punch. I used white shrink plastic for the round earrings and clear shrink plastic for the heart earrings. After punching out the shapes, I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes before stamping and shrinking. I used images from Inque Boutique's Mini Escape set. And, I added some blue and white seed beads to the heart earrings.

It was hard to get a good clear close up picture especially for the heart earrings but it looks nice IRL.

Be mine

This card is 4.5 x 7.

Patterned papers - My Mind's Eye
Be Mine - Studio G wood stamp
Message hearts - Inkadinkado background stamp
Other: DMC thread; embossing powder, ribbon, cardstock

Stamped message hearts, colored with chalks, cut out a few of them and added Aleene's paper glaze. The heart messages are: Kiss Me, Hottie, I Luv U, Sweetie, Luv Ya, Love and Hug Me. DMC floss used for balloon strings. Punched hearts out on strips of black card stock to allow red paper to show through; embossed stamped message and added black ribbon to balloon strings.

Chocolate Chip Hearts Cards

I purchased a stamp set by My Favorite Things called How Sweet It Is here. I also purchased a stamp set by Papertrey Ink called Mixed Messages here. I combined a few images from each of these sets to create this card. I also used my Cuttlebug to die cut the hearts. The red and brown papers are by Hot Off the Press but I created a pattern on the brown paper using the mini kiss image. I've seen this technique used on many cards by various crafters so I thought I would give it a try; I used a paper piercer (not bad for my first time) to add a decorative detail in the corners on the pink card stock.

Cake heaven

The other day, Food Network ran a mini marathon on wedding cake challenges. Usually I don't check the tv guide often but I lucked out that afternoon. But, had I not checked the guide, I would have found out; one of my aunts called and then a cousin called; they both know how I like cake decorating so it was great to know they thought of me and gave me a call. But I am learning, most times FN airs challenges on Sunday. Out of these 5 episodes, I had already seen 3 of them that I recorded previously but that didn't stop me; I recorded them again including the ones I hadn't seen before. Hey, you can never have too many copies and it was great to have them all on one tape, back to back. Plus, I need the motivation for the upcoming MidAtlantic Cake Show coming up in April. I can't wait to walk into that room filled with sugar! Now I just need to decide what I'm going to enter into the competition.

Papertrey Ink and Cuttlebug

Thanks to Amy at Prairie Paper and Ink, she mentioned that the Mixed Messages set by Papertrey Ink fit on the Cuttlebug mini tags. I am so glad to have learned this because I never realized how small those tags were until I tried to stamp on them several months ago. I didn't have a stamp small enough to stamp a message and I really wanted to avoid writing but....yes, I had to end up writing the message. Well I'm glad to say that I received my first Papertrey Ink stamp set several weeks ago! Several days after I received them, I stamped a message on one of the tags and the message fit perfectly! They ink up so nice!! Thanks to Papertrey Ink for producing these small stamps!!

Setting Up

I'm still trying to get my blog settings right and adding information but I guess this will be an "in progress" phase for a little while until I get used to all the features. So far it hasn't been too bad. I've viewed other blogger sites and gotten ideas on setting up mine.

Boy, there are so many blogs out there!!! I'm already subscribed to at least 8. And a few blogs I've checked have been up for 2 years....oh my goodness!!!