Thursday, September 30, 2010

Clear Dollar Stamps October Sneak Peeks Day 4

"Goin' to the chapel, and we're gonna get married ...." I remember that song from my mom whenever someone in our family got married or were 'in love.' Hahaha! The set I have to show you today brings that cute little song back to mind.



Wedding Bells is a great set for weddings or anniversaries. Aren't those bells beautiful?!















The sentiment is stamped on one of the tags cut and embossed using the Cuttlebug die/embossing folder combo. It actually only uses 1/2 of one of those tags. I thought the size worked perfectly for the sentiment.








The lower scalloped lace layer was created using a corner punch. I took off the corner guard and just used it as a punch, positioning each punch *right* next to the previous one. This was done on a strip of the white which was embossed first.











Those beautiful bells were stamped on scalloped circles created using the Cricut, and they were colored using the Copic markers.















Stamps - Wedding Bells by CDS
Paper - white, gray, coral
Ink - Memento black, Copics (C1, C3, C5, R32, R37)
Accessories/Tools - Cuttlebug, folders, combo/die/folder, corner punch (with corner guard off), ribbon, pearls, Cricut, SCAL, pop dots




Head over to Clearly iStamp to see the other great samples and previews for today!!





All of the stamps previewed this week will be released for sale tomorrow at Clear Dollar Stamps.






Have a marvelous day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!



~*Shell*~

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Clear Dollar Stamps' October Sneak Peek Day 2!!

Let it snow! I LOVE snow!!! I LOVE snowflakes! All of my northern friends are well acquainted with my annual mantra begging for a chance of snow. Snow is fun to play in, beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and somewhat mesmerizing. The new set, Snow Flourishes, being released by Clear Dollar Stamps on October 1 lets me play with a little snow while still enduring the 90ยบ heat here in Georgia (yes ... at the end of September).

For this set, I created two samples. I actually love both samples (appropriate since I love snow, huh?? :) ). This set is such a pleasure with which to work.



This is a circular shadowbox card. I cut out the card base on the Cricut with SCAL's basic shapes. The snowflakes and sentiment are stamped on the white image layer inside the shadowbox. For the snowflakes, pink and blue inks were used, and black was used for the sentiment. The snowflakes on the outer layer were stamped with white, pigment ink. Two snowflakes were stamped and punched out with circle punches. The were hung with silver cord inside the shadowbox area so that they dangled through the opening.





Stamps - Snow Flourishes by CDS
Paper - navy, white, black
Ink - pretty in pink, bordering blue, white pigment, Memento black
Accessories/Tools - Cricut, SCAL, silver cord, circle punch, self-adhesive pearls
Technique - shadowbox card




On the second sample, I went with a Christmas color scheme. I also chose to use a polished pearls technique for one of the background layers, as well as some designer paper. The polished pearls tech is the same as polished stone, but with a pearl mixative instead of a sliver or gold.

The snowflakes stamped on the olive piece are stamped with silver, though that doesn't snow very well in the picture. Snowflakes are stamped on the polished pearls layer using the Memento black.



Stamps - Snow Flourishes by CDS
Paper - celery, glossy, Cloud 9 dp
Ink - Memento Black, Dew Drop Silver, white pigment, Adirondacks - cranberry, pearl, lettuce
Accessories - alcohol ink applicator, sponge dauber, ribbon, pop dots, corner punch
Technique - Polished Pearls

I'm also showing the cute stamps, A Gift for You and Happy Birthday Jesus, once again.


A Gift for You is a perfect stamp for a gift card or tag. It's perfect for any occasion, but I chose to highlight it as a Christmas stamp in my sample. I used the Cricut to cut the layers - 2 tag layers and 2 layered squares. The Cuttlebug embossed the white layer, and ribbon was put all over it. :) I like the ribbon on this one.











Stamps - A Gift For You
Paper - red, brown, olive, white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories/Tools - Cricut, SCAL, ribbon, Cuttlebug, folders, pop dots, little circle punch




Happy Birthday Jesus. That's what Christmas is all about, right? Let's put our focus back on Him. This stamp is great for that!! I chose to spotlight it on an ornament this time. On this one, I used the Cuttlbug to emboss the frame on a piece of white. Then, I imported that into SCAL so that I could use the Cricut to cut it out for me. After I cut it at the regular size, I embossed it with that folder, and I added a shadow layer - or 2 (red and black), some ribbon and gold dots, and popped it all up with pop dots.





Stamps - Happy Birthday, Jesus
Paper - red, black, white
Ink - Real Red, Memento London Fog
Accessories/Tools - Circut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, folder, gold dots, pop dots, sponge dauber, ribbon


More previews on Clearly iStamp today and tomorrow!!! More previews here on Thursday!!! Join us each day for the great October previews.




Have a wonderful Wednesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!


~*Shell*~

Monday, September 27, 2010

Clear Dollar Stamps October Sneak Peek Day 1!!!

I just love preview days!!! Super fun, and fantastic examples of creativity. Make sure you see all of the sneak peeks today. Head over to Clearly iStamp when you're finished here.

Jabez knew how important it was to ask God to bless him and to take care of him. He invoked the beautiful prayer in 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, and God blessed him.

As of October 1, this prayer will be available as a beautiful set of stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps.



My example shows the prayer as the feature image on a card. It would be a beautiful bookmark, framed prayer, or even an ornament. For this card, I used that great Cuttlbug folder/die combo-thing. I also cut the image layers with the Cricut using one of Penny Duncan's Shaplies. A sponge dauber was used to apply the color around the prayer and on the title strip.











Stamps - The Jabez Prayer from CDS
Paper - Ballet blue, white, basic gray
Ink - Ballet Blue, Memento Black
Accessories/Tools - sponge dauber, Cricut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, folder/combo/die, pearls, ribbon



Another preview tomorrow!! I can't wait to share with you.

Have a wonderful Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.



~*Shell*~

Friday, September 24, 2010

Special Preview Friday ... AND a Free File!!

Woohoo! I have a special Clear Dollar Stamps' Preview for you today.

Today, I'm showing samples of "A Gift for You" and "Happy Birthday, Jesus," two customer requested stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps. On Clearly iStamp today, there are more great examples of these stamps, as well as a preview of another wonderful set. So make your way over there as soon as you've checked out my samples and left a comment to let me know what you think.


A Gift for You is a perfect stamp for a gift card or tag. It's perfect for any occasion, but I chose to highlight it as a Christmas stamp in my sample. I used the Cricut to cut the layers - 2 tag layers and 2 layered squares. The Cuttlebug embossed the white layer, and ribbon was put all over it. :) I like the ribbon on this one.











Stamps - A Gift For You
Paper - red, brown, olive, white
Ink - Memento black
Accessories/Tools - Cricut, SCAL, ribbon, Cuttlebug, folders, pop dots, little circle punch




Happy Birthday Jesus. That's what Christmas is all about, right? Let's put our focus back on Him. This stamp is great for that!! I chose to spotlight it on an ornament this time. On this one, I used the Cuttlbug to emboss the frame on a piece of white. Then, I imported that into SCAL so that I could use the Cricut to cut it out for me. After I cut it at the regular size, I embossed it with that folder, and I added a shadow layer - or 2 (red and black), some ribbon and gold dots, and popped it all up with pop dots.





Stamps - Happy Birthday, Jesus
Paper - red, black, white
Ink - Real Red, Memento London Fog
Accessories/Tools - Circut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, folder, gold dots, pop dots, sponge dauber, ribbon


So ... to entice you further, would you like the file to cut this great shape? Well, here ya go!



Just import this .jpg into SCAL and cut at whatever size you'd like. I believe that I cut it (keeping proportions) at w = 5.30" to use it for the Cuttlebug embossing folder.



These stamps are great additions to my arsenal for gift cards and other great items. I know you will want to grab these when they are released for sale by Clear Dollar Stamps on October 1!



Join me again Monday for another great preview day!!! Super-great sets being released in October, and you won't want to miss any of the previews by the Design Team.



Have a fantastic Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.



~*Shell*~

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Happy Birthday, Hello Kitty .... uh, I mean, Jaydin!!!

Today is my dear daughter's 5th birthday!!! She doesn't know it yet, but I'm taking her to a friend's horse farm to spend a couple of hours. I think she's going to be THRILLED. Anyway, I would be SO remiss if I didn't make my own daughter a birthday card. I did make one ... last night ... BUT it got done. :)


That's what I want to share with you today. She loves Hello Kitty, and she made a very special one at Build A Bear on Saturday. The head on that cat is HUGE!!!!! :) But, she is happy with it.














So, I chose to make a Hello Kitty card for her birthday. I can't wait for her to see it. It's going to be such a big day for her, though, it may just be more than her little self can handle. She'll appreciate it at some point, though.







I took this image and imported it into SCAL. SCAL broke apart the outlines for me and created the layers that I needed. The only thing that it didn't do well with was the bow. So, I went into the Hello Kitty cartridge and made the bow.


















Here's how my version turned out. I changed some of the colors to fit my child, and I added a great Hello Kitty ribbon that I found at JoAnn's on Sunday. I put the image on a piece of embossed cardstock (embossed with the Art Deco folder) with pop dots. Let me know what you think!!
















A close up of the card and layers.

















So, Happy Birthday, Jaydin!!! I love you, my princess.





Have a wonderful Wednesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!!




~*Shell*~

Friday, September 17, 2010

Free File Friday

Wanna free file or two?? I am offering the files for the bears I showed yesterday.



This bear is the original. He will help you with the placement of the face features and such. PLEASE note .... I did not cut the nose, mouse, and eyes. For the eyes, I simply drew those on. They are tiny ... TINY ... and hard to manage. The nose and mouth can be done in a little different way. I will tell you about that in a moment when I post the file for that area.








Here's the bear body. :) I cut it in brown for my bears.















This is the blackout (background) for the nose and mouth. Cut this in black.








This is the 'muzzle' area. I cut it in a lighter brown than my bear. Adhere it to the black piece above. Then, the nose and mouth will show through and automatically be in the right places. :)





If you just feel like torturing yourself or plan to make the bear ginormous, here is the eyes, nose, and mouth cut outs. As I mentioned before, I did NOT use this cut.






This little piece goes on the paw that he's holding in the air. It should be lighter than the bear's main color - typically, the same color as the muzzle area.








The shirt. Make it any color you'd like!! :) Create extras and use velcro to adhere. Or whatever your imagination can come up with!












The pants. I made them jeans. Again .. have fun with this!













PLEASE let me see your creations!! These can be such fun!!!!! :)




Have a fantastic Friday - and pray for me. I have a birthday party to deal with tomorrow .... filled with 5 years old. :) Oh my.



Have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!!!



~*Shell*~

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Birthday Bears!

My daughter is turning 5 next Wednesday, but her party is on Saturday. Where in the world did the time go?! My precious baby princess will be 5?!

I think I mentioned that I'm wimping out this year and doing a Build A Bear party. Typically, I go all out for a party and have craft stations and such. Not this year. Too much going on. I would have done it, but I was SO glad that she chose a Build A Bear party instead. :)

Even with the fact that each child will get a bear, I did a small, candy goody bag. I wanted the bags to be unique, so I searched for the Build A Bear mascot online and imported him into SCAL.


I made 20 of these little guys/girls for the bags. The shirts are varied so that the kids can choose the one they like the best. Some are done with dp, and others are embossed with the Cuttlebug.


Hopefully, there are some in there that the boys will like, as well.












On the back of each bear, there are 2 circle magnets. Then, each bear is placed on the topper using a glue dot on one of the magnets.













All of the toppers say 'Thank you' with a little flower. That is stamped in cameo coral, brocade blue, and certainly celery randomly around the paper. The toppers are 3" wide (scored and folded at 1 1/2") and 4 1/4" in length. The bags I'm using are small, so the toppers didn't have to be particularly large, either.


This bear is for my daughter because I stamped it with the candles folder for the Cuttlebug. I have set that one aside just for her. :)















Hopefully, the party will go well and the kids will love their bears. Jaydin already enjoys playing with the sample I made. :) She will have a little family of them before this is over.



Tomorrow - I will post the .jpg files for the bear and his/her layers. Watch for it!! :)


Have a great day and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!




~*Shell*~

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A Child is Born

"For unto us a child is born ...."

Our Savior's Scriptures stamp set includes this beautiful scripture, and that set coordinates wonderfully with the Our Savior's Birth stamp set. Both of those worked together perfectly to help me create a card for the sketch challenge - sc297 - over at SCS.


The layered shapes were cut using the Cricut, SCAL, and Shaplies by Penny Duncan and were cut out of paper from My Mind's Eye. The flower was colored using a Copic, and I thought the color worked well with the Christmas paper. The main image was placed on pop dots to give the card a little more dimension. The red background layer is embossed using the Cuttlebug and the swirls folder.





Stamps - Our Savior's Birth, Our Savior's Scriptures
Paper - My Mind's Eye Christmas, white, red (SU In Color)
Ink - Memento Black and London Fog, SU Bordering Blue, Copic (BG72)
Accessories/Tools - sponge dauber, ribbons, Color Me flower (sparkle), brad, pop dots, Cricut, SCAL, Shaplies, Cuttlebug, swirls folder


Have a fantastic Tuesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!


~*Shell*~

Monday, September 13, 2010

Celebrating Early

Christmas cards. Have you started? Finished? I had great 'intentions' this year. I PLANNED to make about 5 Christmas cards each month. Then, by the time November got here, I would have 50 - 60 to use. Ha!!! Didn't happen .... I did it in January, but lost the momentum. Oh well. Clear Dollar Stamps to the rescue!

My September stamps are Christmas, and I've been making samples and challenge cards with them. LOVE the stamps, and I'm having a blast with the stamps.

Here's one of the challenge cards I made last week. The challenge (Ways To Use It 287 on SCS) was to use twine on a card. Hmmm ... I like using twine, so this one was great!


Using Our Savior's Birth set, I created that beautiful manger with the star. I sponged the edges a bit and mounted it on a shadow layer. The twin is anchored behind the image layers on one side and on the other with a brad. The stitching around the blue layer was done with a programmed stitch on my sewing machine. I thought that stitch was perfect for this card. The label on which the sentiment was placed was cut and embossed using a combo die/folder made for the Cuttlebug called Fanciful Layers, and then, it was sponged with brown. The background layer was distressed along the edges.


Stamps: Our Savior's Birth
Paper: blue, black, brown, white
Ink: black, mustard, blue, blush, brown
Accessories: sewing machine, brad, twine, sponge dauber, Cuttlebug, folder
Techniques: distressing, sewing



Let me know what you think. More challenges this week!!

Have a super Monday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.


~*Shell*~

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Remembering

How interesting that the next card from VSN that I wanted to show you was this one. The challenge was to create something inspired by the 'Land of the Brave.' The first thing that comes to my mind is our military, police, and fire personnel. My son happens to be in the US Marine Corp, and this one is inspired by him ... and the other brave brothers protecting our freedom.


Brave ..... We also needed to include one or more of these elements ....

B - Blue
R - Ribbon
A - Accent with something sparkly (ribbon and cord)
V - Vellum
E - Embossing (vellum is embossed)


Instead of only using one, I chose to incorporate each element into my card.

The image shape and shadow were made using the Cricut, SCAL and Shaplies (by Penny Duncan). They are such a dream to work with. The vellum in the background was embossed with the Cuttlebug and the stars folder.


Stamps: Liberty by Clear Dollar Stamps
Paper: blue, black, vellum, white
Ink: Memento black, Copics
Accessories: Cricut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, folder, Shaplies (Penny Duncan designs), ribbon, brads, cord.





Remembering the victims of 9/11/01, and honoring all of the heroes of yesterday and today.


Have a wonderful Saturday, and remember that because we have heroes willing to give their lives for our country, we can all have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.

~*Shell*~

Friday, September 10, 2010

Country Time

The challenge for this card was to create something about summer in the country. I remember going to my cousins' house during some of my summers. They lived in the country with chickens, pigs, cows, and such. Great memories. That's what inspired my card.


I loved this stitch because it looks like chicken wire. I used it to pen up my chickens. :)

The edges were distressed, and the image was colored with Copics.






Stamps: Country Morning
Paper: Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, GP white
Ink: Memento black, Copics
Accessories: flowers, pop dots, sewing machine, twine


Monday, I will have another card using the Cricut. You KNOW how I love my bug!! :)

Have a fabulous Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.


~*Shell*~

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Another VSN Challenge

Purple and amber - in honor of the song "America the Beautiful." Whew ... this one gave me *fits*! Part of the challenge was to use vellum, but my colors wouldn't dry on the vellum. Ugh. It was just one of those cards. :)


I DO like how it turned out, though. I just cringe when I look at it and remember the fits I had with it.

I colored the 3D flower with a Copic marker, but the flower in the middle on the vellum was done using WWC and black Memento ink. The color of the card doesn't show up very well here, but it is very purple. :) The background is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder called Art Deco. It's a new set, I believe, and very cool.











Stamps: Petal Prints
Paper: SU purple (an in color from last year?), summer sun, vellum cardstock
Ink: memento black, copics (for the flower)
Accessories: WWC, Cricut, SCAL, Art Deco folder, Cuttlebug, Color Me flowers, brads, pop dots, ribbon








Hope your Thursday is terrific and that you have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!



~*Shell*~

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Hot Days ... Cold Water

The VSN challenge for this card was to use water on our cards. We couldn't just put a lake stamp on our card or something like that. We *had* to use the water on the card. I chose to use the Watercolor Wonder Crayons with the Aquapainter.

Because it has been so hot outside, I decide to cool things off a little with this precious set by Clear Dollar Stamps called Winter Eskimos.

The image was colored using the watercolor crayons. Then, using the Aquapainter, I painted the areas. The result was a frosty-looking scene.







What can you do with this challenge? Can you create a project using water ON the card?? Lemme see! :)


Stamps: Winter Eskimo (CDS)
Paper: SU not quite navy, close to cocoa, , GP white
Ink: Memento black
Accessories: watercolor wonder crayons, brads, aquapainter, ribbon, oval punches, WATER :)




Hope you have a wacky and wonderful Wednesday and a great, big beautiful tomorrow!!


~*Shell*~

Friday, September 03, 2010

Clearly Inspired Challenge #17 and Free File Friday

Clearly Inspired Challenge #17 is all about owls and trees. How fun!! Take some time and try it out. Someone has to win!

Here's my sample for CIC #17.


To meet the challenge make a card with owls and/or trees, I decided to do both. My vision was a little owl peeking out of a tree, so I created a tree-shaped card.






The stamp set "What a Hoot" is from Clear Dollar Stamps and is such fun to play with. I used the smaller owl in the set because I found that the knothole wasn't quite big enough for the bigger owl.






A close up of the owl and knothole in the card. I embossed both the tree top and the trunk to give it a little dimension and texture.











So ..... Go tackle that challenge and have fun!!!! :)



Stamps - What a Hoot
Paper - Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Basic Gray, White
Ink - Memento Black, Copics (Y26, Y28, E71, E77, W3, W5), Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Only Orange
Accessories/Tools - Cricut, SCAL, Cuttlebug and folders, border sticker, brads, pop dots
Technique - shaped card


Free File Friday .....

As I promised last weekend, I have a special free file for you this week. The stamp Blooming Background is a fantastic stamp, and I wanted to make a great cut border to go along with it. So ... here it is.


I hope you enjoy the file. Let me know what you do with it! :)


Have a fun Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!

~*Shell*~

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Heating Things Up

Another VSN challenge project today ....


For this challenge, we were to use the wax paper Cuttlebug Resist technique on a card. Again, we had 45 minutes to create our card. Since I had a new folder (or 2...), I chose to use one of those to create a masculine card for this one.


I used the new 'clockworks' folder for the Cuttlebug, and I LOVE the way the background came out.

I used hardware to accent the clockworks and gears on the background.







Stamps: Artifacts, Mailbox Greetings (PTI)
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, glossy
Ink: Memento Black, Walnut Ink
Accessories: Cricut, SCAL, ribbon, brads, Cuttlebug, Clockworks Folder
Techniques: Cuttlebug resist



Tomorrow, I will give you the great .jpg file that goes with the Blooming Background stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps.


Have an totally tremendous Thursday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!


~*Shell*~

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

What did you do this past weekend?? Hopefully, you took a gander at the great sets that Clear Dollar Stamps is releasing today, but did you stamp or create?? I was excited to be able to participate in Virtual Stamp Night at SCS. It has actually turned into a weekend affair now, though, instead of one night. There were 17 challenges, and I completed 14 of them. For each challenge, we are allowed 45 minutes to complete our project. Whew ... lots of fast stamping and creating!! :) Super fun, though.

So, for a while, I will be showing some of the projects I submitted this weekend. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about them.

For this challenge, we had to make a card with some type of window on it. It could be an actual cut out on the card or it could be a stamped window. Alternately, we could make a shadowbox card. That's what I chose to do.



This was super fun to make, and I used my Cricut to cut my card base and the circle in the middle. I also used it to cut the leaves on the front. The Cuttlebug was used to emboss the leaves. I wish that I had thought to emboss the card base, but ... with only 45 minutes, I was trying to hurry!


So, what do you think? I wanted him to look like he was peeking out of a tree. :)




Stamps: What a Hoot (Clear Dollar Stamps)
Paper: close to cocoa, old olive, GP white
Ink: Memento black, Old Olive, Basic Brown, Copics
Accessories: Cricut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, pop dots, ribbon, brads, self-adhesive dots
Techniques: shadowbox card


Tomorrow, we'll look at a challenge involving a new technique for me. It was fun and easy.

Don't forget that Clear Dollar Stamps released their September stamps today!!!


Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.



~*Shell*~