Mojo Violets

I was thrilled when Brandi emailed me and asked if I would like to use some of the ribbon and paper she sells in her ebay store MyLittleRibbonShop. Of course I said Yes!!! Me and Ribbon are a match made in heaven! LOL! She sent me some fabulous ribbon and some paper and other goodies. I put it to good use today on this card that *sort of* fits with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I started off with good intentions of following it, but my design choices made me have to add something here and there. I am sure you all know what I am saying! Right?

She sent me some yummy paper from Cosmo Cricket. I think I may be mixing lines, but I liked the combo, so I went with it.


I thought the little Violet cupcake image that I picked up from Ellen was the perfect fit for the focal image. It was sitting on the shelf begging to be inked. I used a combination of Copic and Prismacolor markers to color it. The sentiment is from Papertreyink's "Heart Prints Sentiments". I had to have that set as soon as it was released and I am so glad I purchased it. It has been so versatile.

I sponged all of the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink for a vintage feel. The bottom was scalloped with the scallop edge punch by SU! It has been a bit neglected as of late, since I have been using my Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge Punch which seems like it is almost ready to give up on me!

Thanks, Brandi, for all of the fun goodies. I can't wait to use more! Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I will be back tomorrow with one of Jen's new SFYTT!

Supplies:

Stamps: Violet Cupcake by Lockhart Stamp Co., Heart Prints Sentiments by PTI

Ink: Palette Noir, Copic and Prismacolor markers, Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Paper: Vintage Cream by PTI, Cosmo Cricket

Accessories: Button from my stash, glue dots, linen thread by SU!, ribbon by May arts available at my little ribbon shop, scallop edge punch by SU!, sponge, foam squares

Right at Home

I have been itching to ink up this lilac image from Lockhart Stamp Co. for a while now. It has been sitting there feeling lonely. I saw a wonderful demonstration by Debbie Olsen where she colored this image and it gave me a little more courage to try it. Mine pales in comparison, but I had fun with it. My photography always washes out my coloring out...if anyone has any tips, I would love to hear them. Anyway, I colored the image with copic and prismacolor markers. I tried to match the image with the paper, although the paper is blue rather than purple.

I wanted a vintage design, so I distressed the edges. I have had a few of you ask how I do that...it is super simple. I just use the edge of my fingernail and run it down the paper. If it tears, great...I will work that in to the design, if not, it just has a distressed edge. I usually like to sponge it after that so that the torn edges get the ink on them also.

I didn't have much time today to stamp, so I kept the layout super simple and just added a few embellishments with the buttons and ribbon. The sentiment is from Papertrey's "Boards and Beams" set which hasn't seen ink yet either, yet I have had it since it's release. Shame on me!

I added a little glitter to the flowers for some added detail. I am fortunate to have a neighbor two doors down with a row of lilac bushes that send their beautiful aroma down to my house. I can't wait for them to make their appearance! They are some of my favorite flowers!

Thanks for fluttering by!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Jen's SFYTT! Stamping Tip: Don't stamp your sentiment once you have raised your image with dimensionals or foam squares...it won't stamp evenly (especially if you are using acrylic stamps!)

Stamps: Lilac Pitcher by Lockhart Stamp Co., Boards and Beams by PTI
Ink: Palette Noir, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Copic and Prismacolor Markers
Paper: Classic K Bailey 12 by 12 paper stack by K & Co., PTI White, Ultrasmooth white
Accessories: ribbon by creative impressions, buttons from my stash, linen thread, coarse crytal glitter by Martha Stewart and Doily Lace Edge punch by Martha Stewart, foam squares, sponge

You make this world a better place

I have some fun and exciting news to share. I have a card posted on the Verve Blog today....I am one of the March Guest Divas! Isn't that fun! I was so thrilled to be asked and I have had so much fun working with all of the new images. I will also be a guest with Jodi Collins (aka. Kharmagirl) . I guess I can share the news since Jodi's sneak peek card was shown yesterday and mine today! I have been wanting to share the news, but of course had to keep quiet until today. The official release will be on March 8th...there are so many darling images!

Today's Color Challenge was to use Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion and Chocolate Chip. I thought they sounded pretty fun, so I thought I would give it a go. This was my third and final attempt and I am not that pleased with the results. I wasn't going to *not* post it though....after all that!

I have been itching to use this darling cupcake image from Lockhart Stamp Co. I got it last month and it has sat un-inked. I thought that it would be perfect for today's challenge. What could be better than a chocolate cupcake with yummy pink flowers! I have always wanted to try my hand at candied edible flowers. I paired it with Bella Rose DSP because it had chocolate chip and kiwi kiss in it. I thought the polka dots worked well with this design. I used one of my Verve sentiments from the set "All About You".

I watercolored the images with an aquapainter and ink refills. I added a little crystal coarse glitter to mimic a candied flower. Of course I had to do some distressing and add some buttons. Thanks for fluttering by!

Stamps: Cupcake image from Lockhart Stamp Co. , All About You by Verve Stamps
Ink: Palette Noir, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Passion, Pink Pirouette
Paper: Naturals White, Bella Rose DSP, Pink Passion
Accessories: Foam Squares, sponge, Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, 1 3/8 inch circle punch, buttons from the Paper Studio

Mojo Celebrations

I hope you are enjoying the matchbox tutorial. I have stayed away so that those of you who were interested would have a chance to see it. If you are still interested, you can check it out here. For today's card, I used the Mojo Monday sketch. I love it! Yesterday I needed to head to Staples to get some ink cartridges for my printer and Hobby Lobby is on the way so of course I needed to make a stop. I came home with some fun goodies, including this yummy paper from My Mind's Eye. I also picked up a few copic markers so that I could finally color this darling Hydrangea image from Lockhart Stamp Co. that I picked up at Ellen Hutson's store. I went to color it the other day and had really horrible purple choices, so I needed to fix that! LOL!

The focal image was stamped with Palette Noir ink and then colored with copic and prismacolor markers. I added a bit of Lavender glitter to give it some shine and dimension. I created the label with my Nestabilities Label 1 dies. I added some machine stitching, sponging, ribbon, buttons and ribbon! Of course I *had* to add the lace border using the Doily Lace Edge Punch from Martha Stewart.

Thanks, Julee, for anther fantastic sketch! It is one of my favorite challenges of the week! In fact, this is the only challenge I have done this week and we are already half way through! Let's see if I can get my act together and get some more done!

I got all of my cards packaged up that I will be giving to a friend in my neighborhood. The stash included nearly 20 cards. Some of them were hard to add to the stash because they are some of my recent favorites. She will be getting most everything that I have posted since this post. So...that means that all of my cards from this post on, will be going in another stash for a lucky recipient. Today's card is for my friend's birthday on March 2nd. She loves purple, so I hope she will like it! Thanks for fluttering by!

Stamps: Hydrangea from Lockhart Stamp Co., Circle of Friends by Stampin' Up!, Mixed Messages by Papertrey, Ink.

Ink: Palette Noir, Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger, Copic and Prismacolor markers
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, My Mind's Eye, Ultrasmooth Vanilla by Stampin' Up!
Accessories: Buttons, 1 inch circle punch, ribbon, fern punch and doily lace punch by Martha Stewart, Sewing Machine and Thread, glue dots, lavendar glitter, sponge

Lemon Card and Lemon Curd

First things first....if you have subscribed to my blog, are you getting your email notifications? If you haven't been, but visit here anyway, could you let me know? Thanks!

I had promised a recipe after Christmas and I am finally getting it done. I spied this beautiful "Lemons and Bay Leaf" image on Debbie's blog and knew it was a must have for getting this project done. I quickly headed over to Ellen's store to purchase the stamp and I picked up a few others while I was at it. I am so excited. I made the lemon curd a couple of weeks ago and it has been sitting in my refrigerator waiting to be finished. I made these for some ladies in my neighborhood and I will be delivering them this week. I have included the recipe for you to try. It is delicious on Sour Dough English Muffins, scones, etc. You can even use it as filling on a cake. So if you love all things lemon, this is the recipe for you. I got the recipe from "Christmas Recipes from the Lion House". I think my version was published sometime in the 1980s judging from the cover photo. LOL! I put mine in a water bath for 10 minutes so that the jars would seal and I wouldn't have to worry about it going bad.

I started off having a completely different color scheme in mind. I wanted to go with Lavendar and Yellow because that was the fabric I had chosen to use for the tops. However, as I dug through my newest stash of pattern paper, I spied these beauties from Scenic Route that I hadn't used yet. From there I was set. It also matched the dishtowels that I photographed the lemons and jars on! LOL! It really makes for a much more cohesive blog post, don't you think? LOL!

I began my card design by cutting an oval and accompanying scallop with my cuttlebug and nestabilities. To find the right size, I simply chose the die and placed it over my stamp to see which would be the best fit. After that was done, I sponged the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. You know my sponges have been sad as well as my glitter the last few days. Everything has been so clean and crisp. I stamped the image with Palette Noir ink and colored with an assortment of Copic and Prismacolor markers. I added some crystal effects to the lightest part of the lemon for a fun sheen, but it doesn't show up in the photo. I was inspired to do that from the photos of real lemons I took while making up the curd. I loved the water dripping from the lemons and the shine. I used my swiss dots embossing folder for the saffron layer and sponged all of the edges. I glittered the eges and tied some ribbon; finished off with some buttons and stitching and called it good.

I repeated the first steps for the label on the jar, only I used a smaller scallop and didn't color with as much detail. I applied it to the jar with foam squares. Hopefully it will stay!















I love making gift ensembles. It is one of the reasons I began stamping in the first place. I think when a project is pulled together it lets the recipient know how much they are loved and thought of. Thanks for fluttering by!


Stamps: Lemons and Bay Leaves from Lockhart Stamps, Mixed Messages from Papertrey Ink
Ink: Palette Noir, Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger, Copic and Prismacolor markers
Paper: So Saffron, PTI Vintage Cream, Scenic Route Pattern Paper
Accessories: Satin Ribbon from Offray, Buttons from the Local Quilting Shop, Linen Thread, Fabric by Moda, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug and Swiss Dot Embossing Folder, Thinner satin ribbon by Club Wed, sponge, sewing machine and thread, liquid glue, crystal coarse glitter by Martha Stewart