Baseball Frame, Hanna-style

It's that time again; 2 new Hanna stamp sets will be revealed this Friday, April 4th! And I was at Dollar Tree, again!!!! This time, I found a baseball-shaped collage-type frame that I thought would be fun to put travel photos in. One of the new-release Hanna sets is a travel-themed one, with lots of fun little vacation stamps with it. I used Cosmo Cricket "Bandwith" Paper from the "Twist & Shout" line, to cover the frame, using mod-podge glue to adhere it.

Here's what the frame looked like before I covered it. I thought it was an interesting shape and had some fun circular openings for photos.

I took the frame and laid it upside down on my patterned paper, traced around it with pencil (on the opposite side of the striped pattern), and then cut the circle out of the patterned paper.

Then I took the back off the frame, laid it on top of my circle, and traced the photo openings on the opposite side of the paper. After you are done tracing, then use an exacto knife or a scissors to cut out the center pieces.

I found these great Junkitz chipboard rounds in a travel theme at Archivers. I used them for embellishments on the front of my frame, and as frames around the Hanna Hollywood & Taxi Images.

100 cards, a sore back & my butt got bigger.

Hiya!

I'm back from my weekend stamping retreat and thought I'd check in to let you know I met my 100 card goal! Here's what a hundred cards look like! Well, okay, here's what 80 cards loooks like. I sold 20 of them to some of the girls in our group before I left. BUT I DID MAKE 100 CARDS! Oh, the pressure! I WORKED LIKE A MADWOMAN~ day & night! I stamped, I colored, I glued, I ribboned. I cut, I papered, I scissored, I eyelet punched. The only thing I didn't do was take photos for you. I have to say, this is the most cards I've ever done at a weekend stamping retreat EVER. I can usually crank out 75-80 cards, but this weekend I decided to set a goal of 100 to see if I could actually do it. The girls around me were cheering me on...it was like watching the mile markers on a road trip....43 cards girls! 61 cards, girls! 80! I'm at 80 cards! I finished the last few this morning, although I have to say, the quality got a little worse as the clock kept ticking!

Anyway, I'm off to lay on the couch to rest my sore back & neck & relax for a bit. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

L.

Have a swinging day!

First of all, let me apologize for my lack of brain cells this week. I've had a lot of 'stuff' going down and I pretty much feel like Changito here in his tire swing. Except without the goofy grin on my face. Many of you have let me know the link that I posted yesterday to Eclectic Paperie didn't work...I'm so so sorry, I discovered that it's not linkable and you have to go to E.P.'s home page and sign up. So go to the home page HERE and on the toolbar to the left there is a little yellow box that says "sign up for our newsletter". Trust me, you'll want to do that because when these girls start getting in more of the goodies from CHA, you will FLIP! Tomorrow this little Tire swing guy will debut!

Stampendous has always been one of my favorite 'cutesy' stamp lines, even from when I was teaching at Archivers. Can I ask you guys something? Do monkeys eat peanuts? I know that's sort of stupid, but I had already bought the peanuts to fill up my little Stampendous paint can. For some reason I was remembering feeding monkeys peanuts at the zoo. I suppose it doesn't matter...you FOR SURE can't fit bananas in there! Joy had stayed at my house for a Stamping retreat and brought me a little pail full of stamps when she was here last. She's like Santa Claus, only with better toys! I love you, Joyful!

I decorated this paint can with new Cosmo Cricket "bandwith" paper from the "twist & shout" line. The alphabet letters were stamped with the new stampendous letters that will debut tomorrow at E.P. (see bad photo from yesterday!)

I saw these little mini clipboards at CHA in February too...Stampendous was doing a make & take with them. Dang, I forgot the ribbon on the clip part! The tiny sentiment is from A'Muse, "Have a swinging day". Make sure to check out Lana L. & Camipink's blogs for more of the new release Stampendous stuff, too!

I'm off to a stamping retreat this weekend so I'll be missing until Sunday. I'm shooting for 100 cards this weekend. YIKES! The pressure! Hopefully I'll have lots to post, anyway! Have a good weekend!

Monkey LOVE!

Oh man, here we go! The CHA goodies are arriving and I WANT IT ALL~! Sweet Joy & Daisy from Eclectic Paperie are GETTING NEW CHANGITOS IN! You will die when you see all the cute Stampendous images from CHA that they will be carrying in the store! I got the goods and am monkeying around like a madwoman! Heh heh. This little sweetie monkey is called Changito Tire Swing...Joy and Daisy will be uploading the goodies this Friday so make sure to get signed up for their newsletter HERE if you want the inside scoop as it happens! Doesn't he look like he's fawning upside down over his monkey girlfriend?

I don't think I ever uploaded Stampendous pics from CHA, so I wanted to show you one of the new products that they are coming out with. You've probably seen these little mini stamps sets already in stores, but these alphabet stamps are new this year....tiny block ALPHABET letters for spelling out names and words! And they all come with little 2 step do-dad patterns to stamp inside the block letters! I had a hard time trying to photograph them, so sorry for the messy photo. I think you can see the letters ok. I ripped into them already and then tried to put them neatly back onto the cling sheets for the photos. Sorry, patience is not in my vocabulary. LOL

Camipink has better pics on her blog of these new little letters (HERE) if you're interested in a clear view of them! Patterned paper: Chelsea's Place by Making Memories.

Lockhart Zinnia

Hi all! I'm back from Wisconsin and thought I'd post something bright and sunny here today. I worked on these cards a few weekends ago and am just getting around to posting them! I ordered a bunch of Lockhart goodies from Ellen Hutson's store and had to rip into them and play right away. These cards are based on a layout done by Carol Halvorson HERE..(the front card, on the left). I have been having so much fun coloring the Lockhart Zinnias with my Copics. They are the perfect all-occasion stamps...they can be birthday, thank you, thinking of you, sympathy; anything you want, really!

I used Papertrey "faux ribbon" sentiments for the circular sentiment on this card. I also used a Marvy scallop square to punch the image out, and then a hole punch to make holes in the top and bottom scallop. The paper is old Archivers exclusive Daisy D's floral, which is probably not around any more. I'm frantically trying to use up my patterned paper collection!

Easter chick Riley!

One last post until next week; I'm heading to Wisconsin tomorrow early so that my Mom and I can do a team effort and make these little gift bags for everyone at our Easter gathering! I got my new Take Ten magazine and fell in LOVE with the little easter bags Jen Del Muro made out of little paper sacks. I created my own version of them here with the Easter Riley stamp image from Hanna Stamps. Full instructions for making these bags are in the Spring issue of Take Ten magazine...they are SO easy and fun to make!

We decided to fill them with caramel puff corn. I think Mom is going to throw food coloring into the mix and make the caramel corn brightly colored, so that it will look festive inside the gift bags! Notice there is no caramel corn in my bag here. That would be the "team effort" part, because I am NOT SO GOOD in the kitchen. Ahem. So I wasn't blessed with cooking skills.

I'm still trying to use up old patterned paper, so I've used Basic Grey Lollipop shoppe & My Minds Eye papers on these.

I wanted to show you this close-up of the image, to show you what I did to Riley. I decided to give him a yellow "chick" outfit, like he's trying to fit in with the other easter chicks! I took my black copic multiliner pen and drew squiggly lines on Riley's body outline, then I colored him in with yellow.

Have a wonderful Easter, and remember....always bite the chocolate bunny ears off first!

L.

You lead, I'll follow!

Hiya! One more card done using the new release Riley Moose stamps tonite. I'm using up old paper too, which makes me very happy! I'm trying to reduce the quantity of patterned paper in my stash.

This is bicycle Riley, heading down a steep hill with his buddy, bicycle Riley! You get 2 stamps for the price of one! Kidding. I stamped off bicycle Riley twice and colored the bikes different colors. The simple sidewalk was drawn in using a Copic Multiliner. I stamped the first riley in the left corner, and then drew the front part of the sidewalk so that I'd know where to position the 2nd riley. Then I stamped Riley #2, and drew in the back line of the sidewalk in between the bikes.

I'm trying to use up eyelets, too. I have a million of them begging to be used!

The moose are loose!!

Kristi Ferro from Hanna Stamps just put the Rileys up on the Hanna Stamps website tonite!

The moose are on the loose & the frenzy has begun! I think that it's awesome that she sells the Rileys either mounted on a wood block ($6.95 each) or unmounted ($3.99) each. It makes them so affordable for everyone's budget! I got the unmounted ones, and all I do is put a little bit of hermafix dotto adhesive on the back of the rubber and stick them onto my acrylic block..the adhesive rubs right off. So don't be afraid to get the unmounteds if you *need* more than one Riley!

Tonite I played with the tractor Riley & bikini Sophie G...I had this image in my head of Sophie running out in her hottie little bikini to say Happy Birthday, Riley Dear (Marilyn Monroe style). So I used the play on words and misspelled Deere on purpose, since Riley's riding the green tractor. (I know it's a stretch...bare with me). AAAAAAACK. BAD JOKE.

When I've been coloring in my Riley's I've been using Copic Marker E33(Sand) for the bodies, and E57 (Light Walnut) for the hooves and antlers. On this card I drew clothes on Riley, to make it look like he's wearing jeans and a shirt. Can't have him riding the J.D. nekkid, now, can we? This is a G rated blog!

I also paired up Tractor Riley with the saying "Sow the seeds of love", from the "Things Hanna would Say" set. I thought it would be a great card to give to a farmer hubby or a son, who's been working hard out in the field all day to help out his family. I drew in the little messy rows in the field and seeds in the rows with a Copic Multiliner, then colored it in in with Brick Beige & light walnut Copics.

Hope everyone is having a great evening!

L.

Riley Smores

When I saw this new image of Riley Moose (Hanna Stamps) in front of the campfire roasting marshmallows, I decided immediately that I'd have to do something SMORES-themed. My first thoughts were to package up graham crackers, Hershey bars & marshmallows & make a smores kit. Then I was talking to friend Carol Halvorson about my idea, and she said "HEY! Why don't you do a smores trail mix with marshmallows, chocolate chips and teddy grahams!" Carol is BRILLIANT, I tell ya! So that's just what I did. Problem being that I ate more Teddy Grahams than I actually put in the treat bag. I tell you, being on the Hanna design team is not good for my backside. Baby got back.

This little plastic snap bag actually held Foo-Fa-La buttons! I took all the buttons out, washed it, and put a belly band & May Arts ribbon around the middle of the bag with the marshmallow-roasting Riley image on front. Riley is colored with Copic Markers.

The card is done with soft sky Stampin up cardstock, and striped Crate "Taylor Hopscotch" paper. The brown distressed paper is from my scrap bin...I believe it's old Stampin Up paper. The Hanna design team is cranking out the Riley samples over at Splitcoast! You can check out their blogs to the right or click HERE to see all of the uploads over at Splitcoast.

The new Rileys will be released this week over at the Hanna Stamps website.

Aloha, Sunshine!

I love traveling with my sister Gina. She always comes prepared for the flight with snacks and travel size goodies packed in her carry-on. I, on the other hand, forget just about every essential item and am always borrowing everything from her. I thought it would be fun to make a little travel pack gift for a friend or honeymooning-couple with the hula Sophie, being released this week at Hanna Stamps! This little gift set began with a package of tropical trail mix from my favorite store...ahem... Dollar Tree.

I decided to do a matchbook-type trail mix goodie bag with a larger bag of trail mix. The concept is the same as the small matchbook treat bags, only on a large scale. I started with 12 x 12 paper, which wasn't large enough, length-wise. So I sewed on an extension to the end of the 12 x 6 paper sheet, to make it longer.

I eyeballed it so that the paper fit around the bag of trail mix. Since every bag is a different size, you'll have to do some measuring on your own to achieve this same effect.

I stapled the trail mix inside of the packaging as so. Because the paper was flimsy, I added a piece of cardboard to the reverse side of this pouch, and then covered it with the red Kaleidoscope patterned paper, to cover up the cardboard.

The goodie bag opens up from the front, like an upside down match-book. The stapled part of the bag is at the top. I also found these fun little Hawaiian punch to-go sugar free drink mixes at Dollar Tree. Since you can't take liquids through security, you have to buy bottled water from the gift shop or get it on the plane. So once you're on your way, mix up a little Hawaiian punch and get the party started!

Sophie has a real-life 3-d grass skirt on! Well, miniature, of course. I took white crepe paper, covered it in mistletoe colored glimmer mist, and then glued a little skirt onto her body. I took a scissors and cut slits in it for the grass. I drew the little sun border by hand. I'm sure you couldn't tell...my drawing skills are...well.... limited. The Hawaiian-looking flowers are on sale from Eclectic Paperie, and are called Prima Pop-ups, Flower 1.

I had these beach patterned tissues in my papercrafting stash...I had gotten them on clearance at Michael's ages ago. They fit perfectly with the theme and colors here! I just cut a piece of cardstock for a belly-band, and attached Sophie to the front.

Wouldn't this be cute for a girls trip, to give to each of your friends? (Trail mix $1.00, Tissues $1.00, Hawaiian Punch, $1.00 for 9 packets) Or how about a couple going on their honeymoon? Although I don't advocate giving someone gifts who is already going on vacation. Unless they're taking you with them, of course. (Insert jealous face here).

A dreary Saturday!

It's an overcast, dreary Saturday here in St. Paul. Yesterday it was so beautiful; the sun was shining and it was so warm! I hate getting a tiny taste of spring and then *PSYCH*, back we go into winter mode.


I cleaned out my stamp room this morning so I got a late start to my day of stamping. I have a list of projects I want to finish in my stamp room, but it's slow going today!


The layout for these cards was inspired by friend Jenn Hollett's card HERE. She used an old layout of Beate's. I love the simplicity of the strip of patterned paper, and the image in the right hand corner. Since I'm back in crank-em out mode, it makes it easy to get a ton of cards done quickly. Patterned paper is by Chatterbox, called "Dress Squares"

This "Party Chick" stamp was another $1.49 "Studio G" stamp set from Crafts Direct. They remind me SO much of Anna Wight's cute little chickens! I need to head over to Whippersnapper and get some of Anna's stamps. This gave me a small taste of those chickens, and now I want MORE! HMMM, taste's like chicken?

Hope you all have a good Saturday!

L.

More Mikey & Doggies - Hanna Stamps

Tonite I'm going to post a variety of cards that I did for tomorrow's new release at Hanna Stamps. Many of the cards are similar to other designers cards on the team, so I thought I'd post my versions of them here before the release tomorrow. With such a large design team using the same sets, there's sometimes overlap of the same images, themes and sentiments. I think it's still fun to see how everyone's style shines through and see how all of the team uses those same images on their layouts! You can see the entire team's cards on Splitcoast by clicking HERE.

I had so much fun playing with these new releases...once I got started making cards with them, the ideas kept coming! If you're into the Hanna sets and have the girl images already, you have to have Mikey...it's so fun to stamp him with the various Hannas and the dogs!

The 5 sets being released tonite at midnight are called:

Mikey (guy set)

Small Breed (dogs)

Large Breed (dogs)

My Best Friend (Hanna & Dog) and Get Physical (Hanna working out!)

I have 2 more samples that I will be working on this weekend to show you, so I'll have more next week with these great sets!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Scooby doo?

A short but sweet post tonite!

The card on the left started out as a Scooby Doo and Shaggy card....I drew a goatee on Mikey with a brown Copic marker. Mikey is from one of the 5 Hanna Stamp sets being released this Friday. The dog is from Hanna's "Best Friends" set, also being released on Friday.

The tower of pups on the left is from the Small Breeds Hanna Stamp set. Papers from Piggy Tales; Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Collection.

Dog-bone frame!

I love Dollar Tree. Somehow they always have the perfect thing that I need for stamping! They had a ton of new pet frames in a few weeks ago, so I grabbed this bone-shaped one because I knew it would be PERFECT with the new Hanna Stamps dog sets that will be released this Friday!

I stamped a bunch of the doggies from the new Large Breed and Small Breed Hanna sets onto white cardstock, and colored them in with various shades of Copic Markers. I attached the cardstock to the frame using glue dots, but you could mod-podge them on if you wanted something more water (or doggie-drool) resistant. I tried to make the bow at the bottom look like a dog collar with a little metal heart embellishment that came from the Target dollar spot AGES ago.

P.S. I hope my sister's Yorkie doesn't mind that I snagged some of her dog treats to stage my photo tonite. I've stopped bleeding, so everyone remain calm....

L.

Splitcoast Hanna Stamps Design team link: HERE

It's Hanna-time!

It's time for another new Hanna Stamps release this Friday, and OOOOOH DOGGIE, you're gonna love the new sets! There are 5 new sets being released, so make sure to head over to Splitcoast and check out all the new samples that will be posted this week! If you click on the link HERE, you'll be able to see all of the team's samples in one view! There will be PLENTY of eye-candy coming at you! This week I'll be posting a new Hanna sample on my blog every night. And tonite, there's a bonus post, too! Check out the Crafty Secrets blog HERE and you'll see more creations with the new bird-lovers set!

I made a trip to the dollar store in search of some pet-friendly items to alter. I scored a cute milk-bone soft toy and some rawhide chews, and set to work making some samples! The soft-toy came with a bone-shaped tag, so I traced the tag onto white cardstock and stamped Eddie here onto the tag. (This little guy reminds me of Eddie from Frazier.) The dogs are SO easy to color, I used 2 contrasting brown shades of Copic markers to color them in. Kristi from Hannastamps is carrying her own line of Copics, with AWESOME color combos! So if you haven't taken the plunge yet and want a great starter set, check them out HERE!

The card was done using a Sassafrass Lass "Blue Boutique" diecut tag. I stamped the dog and hydrant image on white paper, colored it in, and attached the image to the front of the heart tag.

Patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye, "Out & About" Tiny Dots. Ribbon is from Starlit Studio's Ebay store, by May Arts.

The rawhide treat box was done with a $1.00 red Popcorn box from Creative Cuts and More. I took an exacto knife and cut out the center of one of the box sides, and attached a transparency sheet to the inside so that you can view the treats inside. Since the treats are a little bit heavier than candy would be, I used Killer Red Tacky tape to hold the box together. I made a little topper with patterned paper and stamped woof woof across the top of the box.

You will DIE when you see all the dogs that are being released this Friday! There is something for EVERY dog lover! HINT HINT! :)

L.

What's the buzz?

Just checking in to see what everyone is up to tonite! I'm in heaven because I've got an entire weekend to myself! I don't have to be anywhere, do anything, work anywhere, I'm FREE as a bird! I'm coming off of a 12 day stretch of working with NO days off, so I'm not really feeling the need to do anything but sit in my stamp room and create. I love days like this. The only thing that could make it better is stamping with friends, and yakking up a storm. I'm still doing a little speedstamping, using quick layouts with minimal layers and cranking out multiples.

The layout I used was based on an awesome card made by Kittie at Splitcoast. You can see her blog and the card HERE. I LOVE how she framed the card by cutting out a scalloped oval from the Nestabilities dies, and then cut a smaller oval in the center of the scallop to form a frame! I turned mine the other way so it's horizontal to fit the bug images from the new Crafty Secrets "Bugs Life" set. I am dying over this set. I swear I cannot stop using it.

I'm trying to use up old paper in my stash, because it's overflowing the top of my patterned paper bin. It feels good to use stuff up, and I'm always surprised that I can come back to paper I've already used before and it always has a fresh, different look to it. The bugs were colored in using Copic markers.

Patterned paper: Crate Zoom "Stoplight" & Cowgirl Stripe.

Speed-stamping again!

I'm starting the weekend off by speedstamping again. I'm short on wedding cards and when I saw this card posted on Splitcoast by clarhan HERE, I immediately wanted to try a Z-fold card! They work PERFECTLY with the Nestabilities Dies from Spellbinders/Ellen Hutson.

The stamp set is an old Stampin Up Sale-a-Bration set called "Happy Harmony". I can't look at this trio of flowers without thinking of my friend Val Stangle, who does WONDERFUL things with flower stamps. Paper is by K & Company, from the Pink & Green "Peabody" line. Ribbon is from May Arts from Starlit Studio's ebay store.