Tour-de-Freaks

Welcome to the June 2011 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Barb's blog, you've come to the right place! Weren't her projects fantastic?! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This month's theme is Summer Mini/Sneak Peek catalog projects. I am totally in love with the new In Colors so I used several of those on my projects plus a couple of new sets from the catalog. Then I had to use my favorite set from the summer mini - Fabulous Florets. This was actually a set I did not plan to buy at first. But now I'm hooked on those gorgeous flowers. Anyway, let's get started!





Ok first up is an adorable snowman set from the new catalog called Snow Much Fun. I just fell in love with the snowmen in the set. They are so cute. So I thought maybe I would get a super early start on my Christmas cards! Crazy, I know. I decided to make this a clear card using the clear window sheets. The 2 images on the stamped in white are from Delicate Doilies, another new set in the catalog. I thought they worked well as snowflakes too! I colored and cut out the snowman and tree and put them on dimensionals on the front of the card. Inside, I stamped more doilies on the crumb cake cardstock and added the sentiment with the modern label punch.



The next card uses those flowers from Fabulous Florets. I decided to do something a little fun and wild. The colors for the flowers are Blushing Bride, Calaypso Coral (*new*), and Poppy Parade. The leaves are stamped in Lucky Limeade (*new*). I think this may be my all time favorite new green color. I love it! I then stamped various doilies from Delicate Doilies in Black on Crumb Cake cardstock. I added some black satin ribbon and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.



My last project is a 6 x 6 scrapbook page. This is a picture of me and my future sister in law from my bachelorette party. I used another floral image from Fabulous Florets and stamped them in black on Wisteria Wonder (*new*) cardstock. I stamped the leaves again in Lucky Limeade on the First Edition DSP. I stamped several sentiments on Pretty in Pink cardstock. The bottom of the Crumb Cake piece is stamped with another image from Delicate Doilies. The pink DSP is a sneak peek from the Flirtatious collection. All of the papers in this collection are gorgeous!

That is all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed my projects! Next up is LeeAnn with some more eye candy for you!!

Tour-de-Freaks - Weddings!

Welcome to the March 2011 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Wendy's blog. you've come to the right place! Didn't you just love all her projects! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This month's theme is Wedding Projects! Oh how I love doing wedding projects. So of course I had to participate in this month's tour. My first project is a super cute wedding card. This card would be for a fun loving couple. It's definitely a cutesy card and not your typical fancy card. But I still love it. I used a layout that I've done before with the owls for an engagement card. This time, I used penquins. Because they are already dressed up :) For the boy penquin, I just gave him some buttons using the smallest circles from the owl punch. For the bride, I gave her a nice pearl necklace and a little flower on her head. The flower (from Silouette Sentiments) is stamped in Pink Pirouette, cut out and a pearl was added to the center. I added some white tafetta ribbon, a pink button and the sentiment is from A Word For You. I'm not sure if you can see in the photo but the Baja Breeze paper is textured. It gives it a little something extra.



For my next project, I did a wedding invite sample. My brother is getting married next year on the beach so he wants something a little tropical. I did this invite in MDS. I added 2 palm trees from the Tropical Party set. I added the text and printed. Then I ran the belly band through the Big Shot with the lattice die texture plate. The belly band is used to hold all the extra pieces (rsvp, envelope, etc) behind the actual invite.





Thanks for checking out my projects. I hope you are enjoying the tour. Next up is Renee Van Stralen, with some fantastic projects!

Tour-de-Freaks: It's My Party!!!

Welcome to the February 2011 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Barb Mullikin's blog, you've come to the right place! Weren't her projects great! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!(If you are viewing this before the 20th, all the links may not be working so be sure to stop back again on the 20th).

This month's theme is It's My Party - Birthday cards and projects. I decided to do a birthday ensemble. I've seen lots of these types of things on the internet so I wanted to do my own using My Digital Studio. I had a lot of fun doing this. Obviously, if this was for a real party, the set up wouldn't look so small, lol! I would certainly have many more cookies and cupcakes! Anyway, on to the details. I used the Celebrations Digital Kit for most of the pieces, along with the Owl Punch. For the straws, I made the owls, printed them on white cardstock, and then punched them out. I adhered them to scallop circles using the Celebrations DSP. Then I just taped them to the straws. I then used the labels and added "cake", "cookies", and "candy" using the Just Perfect font. Then I used the pennant from the Celebrations stamp set and added different words to each one. I then stuck these into the cupcakes. How cute!





So whats a birthday ensemble without an invitation or card! Again, I used the Celebrations kit and owl punch for the invite. My cousin's son is turning 1 on April 2nd, so I used him for my sample :) Maybe they will want to use all of these for their party! For the invite, I used the polka dot paper for the background but just changed the opacity so it wasn't so bright. Then I added the fun little banner in the corner and the owl in the other corner.



Lastly, is the birthday card. This is pretty much a CASE of a card by Teneale Williams. I used the Celebrations DSP, the scallop square, the owl punch, Bashful Blue ribbon, red buttons and the Party This Way stamp set. Super cute right! I just love this little owl. Now if only I had my own kids to make all this fun stuff! Someday!!!




Thanks for checking out my projects. I hope you are enjoying the tour. Next up is Debbie Couier, with some great projects!

Tour-de-Freaks: Occasions Mini

Welcome to the December 2010 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Iliana's blog, you've come to the right place! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!(If you are viewing this before the 20th, all the links may not be working so be sure to stop back again on the 20th).

This month's theme is Sneak Peek at the Occasions Mini and SAB catalogs. My 2 projects today use products from the Occasions Mini catalog. Another great mini catalog. Of course I want to buy everything in it! Everything is so fun and springy.



For my card I used the Valentine Defined set and You're a Gem (for the sentiment). I originally wanted to do something bold and bright with this set but I ended up with vintage. Which just shows you that this set is versatile and doesn't just have to be used for Valentine's either. I just love the tree image from this set and I can see myself using it a lot. I stamped the tree is Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip and cut out 3 Rose Red hearts. I used a strip of the flower pattern dsp from the Springtime Vintage collection. Some lovely papers in this collection. I used the music notes wheel on the Crumb Cake cardstock. Then everything was sponged with Crumb Cake for the vintage look.



My 2nd project is a wall decoration. I have a lot of friends who are expecting babies so I thought this would be a cute gift idea for one of these friends. Hopefully someone will have a girl! I used some chipboard pieces from the On Board Mix and Match. I covered all of the pieces with paper from the Springtime Vintage collection. I stamped the crumb cake cardstock with the music wheels again. I don't know why I waited so long to get this wheel, it's fabulous! The banner in the top corner uses the Just Perfect alphabet. I actually didn't have any alphabet stamps so I just downloaded this set from My Digital Studio. I opened up a project and added these letters in Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, and Baja Breeze. Then I just printed it out on Crumb Cake cardstock and punched them out with the 3/4 circle punch. Then I put it all in a nice wood frame (without the glass) and it's now ready to go to a new baby girl!


Thanks for checking out my projects. I hope you are enjoying the tour. Next up is Lisa Young, with more fabulous projects!

Tour-de-Freaks: Holiday Gift Ideas

Welcome to the November 2010 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Dawn Olchfeske's blog, you've come to the right place! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This month's theme is Holiday Gift Ideas. I have a couple of projects to share with you today. I had so many ideas of things that I wanted to do for this tour but everything that I tried was just not working out. I think my crafty brain got fried, lol! Anyway, I decided to make a little gift for my grandmother. My first project is a group of birthday cards. She likes to send out cards to her friends and she loves it even more when they are homemade. I decided to keep them all the same but just change the colors of the birds. I used the lattice texture plate for the Soft Suede background. Then I punched a piece of DSP from the Deck the Halls pack. The sentiment is from Watercolor Trio. The birds are Blushing Bride, Marina Mist, Pear Pizazz and Poppy Parade. I don't know if you can tell in the photo but they are all sprayed with vanilla smootch spritz. I am loving that stuff lately! After I did all the cards I put them all together and bundled them up with some Rich Razzleberry ribbon.




My next project is a little birdhouse ornament. I kept with the bird theme here. :) I saw the birdhouse template on splitcoast and I thought it would be really cute for an ornament. I plan to make a few more of these for other gifts. I printed the template on Soft Suede cardstock, then I sponged the edges to give it a little dimension. For the roof I used the Top Note Die and then ran it through with the lattice texture plate. The little bird is again sprayed with smootch spritz. I used the champagne glass glitter for around the hole. I also added a real twig for him to stand on :) and a little vanilla seam binding bow.




Thanks for checking out my projects. I hope you are enjoying the tour. Next up is Lee Ann Greff, with more fabulous projects!

Tour-de-Freaks: Fall

Welcome to the September 2010 Blog Tour. If you've just arrived from Gretchen Barron's blog, you've come to the right place! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This month's theme is Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. I cannot believe that fall is already here. I don't even know where September went. Probably because I'm getting married in less than a month so time is on super speed!! Luckily I was able to squeeze in some projects for this months tour.


My first project is a Halloween card. I realized as I was getting ready to make this card, that I had very limited Halloween stamps but I was determined to make a card anyway. So I used my 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 circle punches to make these pumpkins. They are punched out in Tangerine Tango and Peach Parfait. I sponged around the edges of the circles. The leaves are from the XL Bird Punch and the Chocolate Chip stem is actually the very top portion of the Ornament punch. The purple background is Concord Crush with the swirls from Trendy Trees. Grass is Old olive with the top punched from the scallop punch and then that was sponged as well. I also added some sponging on the Crumb Cake piece as well. I accidently started sponging it with the sponge I used for the Concord Crush piece and after looking at it, I think it turned out ok with that color. For the sentiment, I ended up printing out the Happy Halloween saying from MDS (since I didn't have this stamp) and then just punched it with the Modern Label punch. So that is something to keep in mind if you looking for a saying and don't have the stamp...check My Digital Studio and print it out from there.



My next project is two little gift bags. One is Halloween related and one is more fallish but can be used for Halloween. The bags are small frosted bags that I got online. I wanted the pumpkins to be bigger than the punches that I had, so I used my circle cutter to get the size I wanted. This time the pumpkins are Tangerine Tango and Cajun Craze. Also sponged like the others. For the Halloween one, I added two ghosts using the Owl punch and then added some Rich Razzleberry ribbon on top. On the other bag I stamped and cut out leaves from the Falling Leaves set. Then I just added some Certainly Celery ribbon and a mini vintage Tag. Surprisingly I have no candy at my house (gasp!) so I couldn't fill up the bags. Instead I just crinkled up some of the brown bag packaging that you get in the Stampin Up shipments, just so it had some sort of filling to it. I definitely plan to fill them up with candy and give them to some friends at work. I think this will be a nice surprise on their desk.


Thanks for checking out my projects. I hope you are enjoying the tour. Next up is Lisa Martz, with more fabulous projects!

Blog Tour - September 20th!!

Come join us on September 20th for this month's blog tour. This month's theme is Fall, Halloween and Thanksgiving. So come back to see all of the fabulous projects that the ladies have created this month!!

Tour-de-Freaks: Good 'Ol Summertime

Welcome to the July 2010 Blog Tour! If you've just arrived from Cindy Major's blog you've come to the right place! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This month’s theme is “Good ‘Ol Summertime.” I decided to use some bright summery colors for my cards. My first card uses the new Aviary set. I used some paper from the Greenhouse Gala dsp pack for the background. The other patterned piece I stamped myself using Awash with Flowers and the colors Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Daffodil Delight. The bird cage and birds are all stamped and then cut out. I then added some white grosgrain ribbon and a button. The sentiment is from A Word for You.



My next card isn’t as bright but I like to think of the blue (Marina Mist) paired with green (Pear Pizzazz) as summery. Plus there are always lots of birthdays over the summer so I decided to make a birthday card. I stamped the candle from Party This Way in versamark and embossed it with iridescent ice. The sentiment is from A Word for You. The balloons are stamped in Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight. The inspiration for this card came from page 152 of the catalog. I just loved the little owl (Aviary) that was sitting on top of the card so I really wanted to use him on my card. I don’t know if he really fits but I just thought he was so cute. I decided to have him peeking out on the top and then added 2 more owls. Obviously this is a birthday card more for a kid. I think next time though I would do something else with the strings from the balloons. They just seem out of place. Oh well, too late now!



I hope you are enjoying the blog tour. Next up is Melanie Schulenberg, with more great projects!

Blog Tour - New Catalog products

Welcome to the June 2010 Blog Tour! If you've just arrived from Melanie Schulenberg's blog, you've come to the right place! But don't worry, if you have started here, it will be possible to go completely to the end and arrive back here after going to the beginning of the tour!

This is the first tour I've taken part in and I'm really excited to share my projects with you. This month's tour focuses on products from the new catalog, which will be debuting in July!

My first project is a card using Friends Never Fade and the new Greenhouse Gala DSP. I am in love with this set. (Actually, any set with flowers I'm in love with!) I stamped the flowers 2 times in Baja Breeze and the 3rd flower is a second generation flower (stamped again with out cleaning it). For each flower I did a little bit of shading with the blender pen just dabbed onto the ink pad. I think the little bit of shading adds a lot to the flowers.Colors are listed below the card.


Stamps: Friends Never Fade, Petal Pizazz (stems); Inks: Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Pacific Point, Soft Suede, Certainly Celery; Cardstock: Greenhouse Gala, Certainly Celery, Soft Suede, Whisper White; Accessories: Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, crystal effects, blender pen

Moving on, my second project is a bit more simple. Again, I used the same set and all new colors. I stamped the flowers, cut them out and cut out the centers separately too. The sentiment is part of another image from the set that I just cut apart.


Stamps: Friends Never Fade; Inks: Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso; Cardstock: Early Espresso, Whisper White; Accessories: twine, Top Note Die

My final project is a wedding ensemble. I have wedding on the brain constantly with my coming up in 4 months...Ahhhh! So I thought it would be fun to come up with an ensemble using...you guessed it... Friends Never Fade. This ensemble includes the invite, rsvp, a menu, a program and a thank you card. In the next day or 2, I'll showcase each part separately with some more details.



Stamps: Friends Never Fade, Petal Pizazz (stems); Inks: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, Old Olive; Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White; Accessories: Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, blender pen

Well there you have it. I hope you enjoyed everything. Next up is Patty Bennet's blog, with more great projects!