Monday Morning Make - DIY Washi Tape Challenge

This is a first for me.  I have never gotten on the washi tape bandwagon...never totally got why people were loving it so much, but now I know!  Thanks to Claire at Waltzingmouse stamps and her Monday Morning Make, I forced myself to get out of my own little comfort zone and try something new.  Not only try it, but make it myself too!  Claire's challenge this week is to make your own washi tape using tissue paper and double sided tape.
Here is what I came up with:

First off, I didn't have any tissue paper, so I rummaged through my daughters room since I am likely to find just about anything in her messy room.  She did have a shoebox and there was a bit of tissue paper in it.  First problem solved.  Second, I didn't have any double sided tape in the widths that I wanted, so I took a 6 x 6 scortape sheet and cut it into strips, laid it on the tissue and colored it with copics as Claire did in her tutorial.  I chose my colors from Colour Q #174.  I love this weeks colors of pink, autumn rose, brown and cream.  I was shocked the technique worked for me on the first try...the tissue colored just the way I wanted it to and dried really quickly.

Next I stamped a few patterns on the tissue.  I used several images from Waltzingmouse Woodgrain stamp set and also from Pic-nic Patterns.  For my card design, I used Retro Sketches #48.  Don't those little strips look like washi tape?

I stamped a polka dot background with the round circle from Woodgrain and layered it onto a PTI Tag Sale #7.  I added some cute pinwheels and a sentiment from Playful Pinwheels and stitched it all to a sheet of patterned paper by Recollections, Valentine's Day pack.  The tag has a little twine and the little image in the corner was a little snippet of washi tape left over with a couple of buttons layered on top.  I really like the way this one turned out and wouldn't be surprised if I finally decided to give washi tape a real chance and start to collect some.

Serendipity New Spring Product Blog Hop

Happy Wednesday...lots of fun going on here at Serendipity Stamps as there are some new products just released that we all have been playing with for the last few days.  It is always fun to receive something new, especially if it is the middle of Winter and you receive Spring stamps and dies.  It gives you a little hope that beautiful Spring weather is just around the corner.

Today the Serendipity Design Team is having a blog hop to share some of the new Spring products.  There is a great prize up for grabs too...$20 off your next order which will go to one lucky random commenter.  Make sure you leave a little comment on all of our blogs for the best chance to win.  You have until Friday, February 1st to leave a comment with the winner being announced on the Serendipity Blog on Monday.

I chose one of the new dies to work with today...the Love Die.  It is the absolute perfect size and looks great on both A2 or a 5 x 7 card as I have made today.  I also can't wait to use it on a scrapbook page I am making for my son's wedding.

You can purchase the die alone or as part of the Love Die and Hearts Stamp Set

Love Die and Hearts Cling Set

Love Die

  

This would be a cute card to give for Valentines Day, an anniversary or any other occasion where the focus is on Love.  I cut my banners from a Recollections Valentines Day pack and that beautiful, ornate heart is from Serendipity (Heart Scroll Die).  It cuts out such a beautifully detailed heart and also has a solid background die that goes with it (Heart Outline) if you decide to use it.  I added a pretty red flower and some stickpins along with a tiny bit of ribbon.

Wondering what else is new for the Spring release?  Make sure to check out the blogs of the other Design Team Members.  I am anxious to see what products they chose to work with today too!  Don't forget to leave a comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win the $20 off your next order.  

Jeanne

Marybeth

Anya

Jenny

Miriam

Heart Scroll Die

Heart Outline Die

Happy Retirement

**Play along with the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog - Have a Care with a free digital stamp and chance to win a $20 discount prize!**

We will also be having a special Blog Hop on January 30th and will be sharing some of Serendipity Stamps new stamps and dies!

I finally had some time to write up a card I made the other day...both my husband and daughter have had the flu and it was awful!  It is the sickest my daughter has ever been in her 21 years and my husband is the biggest baby when he is sick, even I have to admit he was pretty sick.  Both are a bit better today and I have closed myself off in my craft room and started to write.

I got some new stamps from Serendipity the other day...new release stamps which are always so fun to use since they are ones I have never seen used before.  One of my friends from work and her husband are both retiring soon, moving out of our state and looking forward to being able to do some fun things together. Serendipity has just released a really cute Tandem Bicycle stamp set and although they may not ride one that is pink...I can see them riding together on a Sunday afternoon.

I cut out the front part of the bike and layered it on top of a piece of kraft that I ran though my crimper.  The sentiment is from Serendipity (Happy Retirement) and the ribbon is from Stampin Up.   I showed this card to my husband and his first comment was, "Don't even think about it...no way am I going to pedal for us both while you sit back and enjoy the scenery!"  Although true, not a very nice thing to say to your nurse, is it?

Serendipity sale of the week is 20% off all stamps in the Home and Farm category...good through January 30th!

Tandem Bicycle Set

Happy Retirement

SSCB#4 - Have a Care

Welcome to Challenge #4 of the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog!  This week our challenge is titled "Have a Care" and we are to use one of the "bonus" stamps that all customers receive for free when they place an order in the Serendipity store (here is a link to the bonus stamps).  I have several now, but the one that always intrigued me was Big or Small, Save them All (Big or Small).  I must be pretty clueless because I always thought this saying was intended to be used to save pets.  I know, not very smart, am I?  I now realize this sentiment is one of the slogans for Breast Cancer Awareness.  It totally makes sense to me now, duh!  Why didn't I get it before?  As I was scanning the web in search of inspiration, I came across a baking site.  Breast Cancer - Baking, not much in common, but I did see the cutest cookies made by a company called Make Me, Cake Me.  Here is the cookie that inspired my card:

Make Me Cake Me

Is that not the cutest cookie?  As soon as I saw this I thought I could adapt this idea and use one of Serendipity Stamps beautiful dies to make a cute little bikini top, perfect to go along with my breast cancer slogan.  I used Serendipity Stamps Heart Scroll and Heart Scroll Outline die to cut my bikini.  I did a little trimming and I think it looks just like a bikini that someone (other than me) might wear if they were brave enough...I definitely am not!  My easel card is 5 x 5 and I used Spellbinder Postage dies and PTI raspberry fizz and fine linen patterned papers.  I used the sentiment to prop up my card.  I added a few little heart rhinestones and a some pink stickles on the pink breast cancer ribbons.

Hopefully I have not offended anyone, I made sure to add a white backing to the bikini to make it clear that this is definitely a bathing suit...not a bra...no X-rated cards from me!

I hope that you will play along with us this week...our Have a Care challenge runs for two weeks and no worries if you don't have one of Serendipities "bonus" images.  Mary Lee, the owner of Serendipity has provided a digital image that can be used to make your cards.  Just copy and paste it into a word document and you are set!  All you have to do is use one Serendipity image to enter the challenge, anything else on your card is up to your own imagination.  There is a great prize up for grabs too...$20 off on your next Serendipity order.

Free Digital Stamp
Recycle Reuse Flourish

There is also a great sale going on at Serendipity this week, 20% off any stamps in the Home and Farm Category.  Need a little inspiration, here's a link to the Home and Farm Serendipity Pinterest board with lots of ideas of how you can use Home and Farm stamps.  

Make sure to check out the other Serendipity Team Members cards using Have a Care bonus stamps...you will be surprised what they come up with!

Jeanne

Marybeth

Anya

Pauline

Helen

Jenny

Miriam

We will be having a New Product Blog Hop on January 30th and will be sharing some new Serendipity Stamps and a really cute new die too!  Stay tuned...

Big or Small

Heart Scroll Die

Heart Outline Die

CASology #127 - Blue

Today I have a card for CASology #127 where this week's cue word is Blue.  I just happen to have some new stamps from Serendipity Stamps and decided to see how this Quilted Heart looks in blue.

CASology is a clean and simple challenge so I let the pretty quilted heart pattern stand alone with no coloring.  My sentiment is also from Serendipity (For All You Do) and the pinked edge patterned paper is from PTI pattern paper pack in blueberry sky.  I added a denim ribbon and fancy button, but still think it fits the definition of CAS.  Serendipity has some new stamps in their store...perfect for Valentines Day.  Did you know Serendipity has a new challenge blog?  This week the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog is called Have a Heart and all you have to do is have a heart on your project and one stamp or die from Serendipity.  There is a great prize up for grabs too...$20 off your next order, so make sure to check out the new challenge!

For All You Do

Quilted Heart Set

Waltzingmouse Blog Party - LOVE

The 17th of the month and that always means it's time for a Waltzingmouse Blog Party.  This month's theme is LOVE, a very easy theme when you realize Waltzingmouse has many, many stamp sets which cover any kind of Love you can think of.  How about a wedding?   My son Andy is getting married in April.  I am giving a bridal shower for his fiance, Ashley in February.  I recently made 30 invitations for the shower...not an easy task when the bride-to-be requested a "simple" invitation.  I showed her my idea of a simple invite and three samples later, finally came up with one that she agreed was "simple" enough!

This is the invitation she finally decided on:

My blog party card is the matching card I have made for her shower gift.  

Nearly a duplicate of the invitation, just a sentiment more appropriate for a shower gift.  I used a Fiskars border punch to cut the top of the card and a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the hearts onto the light lavender layer.  The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Big Day Additions.  I love the elegant font and the sentiment itself is something I truly wish for my son and new daughter-in-law.  The cameo is from Waltzingmouse  Cameo Creations.  I am making a wedding book for Ashley and the polka dot paper is one of the digital papers I have chosen to use with her book so everything will coordinate nicely.  Lavender used to be one of my favorite colors, but I am pretty sure that by the time the wedding and wedding book is over, I won't be using purple for quite some time.  Make sure to follow this link to the party over on the Waltzingmouse blog where you will see a whole lot of "LOVE" using Waltzingmouse Stamps.

4 of a Kind - A La Carte

It seems like it has been a very long time since I posted 4 of a Kind cards...and it has!  This month ends nearly two years of our Four of a Kind kit club and sadly, our good friend Renee has decided to leave our group.  Renee is super busy, busy, busy with her family, house and other obligations and has decided to cut back a bit.  I know we all have enjoyed the fabulous kits she has created, always packed full of lots of stamped images, beautiful patterned paper and a ton of matching embellishments!  We will miss you Renee, but know that we will continue to see your great projects all over blogland.  We are also changing our 4 of a Kind club up a little too.  It will now be 4 times a year and we will be welcoming Marybeth of Marybeth's Time for Paper as the 4th person in our group and realized that now we are all "California Girls" too, kind of a fun coincidence.

We are calling this month's kit "A La Carte".  Over time we have all stored up a huge pile of left over supplies from our past kits and decided to make this month's cards using anything we want from that left over pile.  Here is a picture of just a small portion of my left over ingredients:

 There was so much I couldn't even fit a fraction of it in the picture frame, but I think you get the idea...I had a lot to work with!

 My first card is my favorite, most of the ingredients came from one of Kim's kits with Papertrey Ink's Fruit Fusion set.   I love the cute apple paper and the picket fence she included in our kit.  I just embossed the fence with a woodgrain impression plate added some little punched branches and little tiny blobs of Marvy Uchida liquid applique that puffs up when you heat it.  The little banner was from one of Joyce's kits and I added my own loop-de-loop border and embossing folder for the brown card base.

 My second card is primarily from one of Joyce's kits using Up, Up and Away.  I found that I had a few hot air balloons left over as well as the sentiment and embossed background.  I also had some orange pom-poms Joyce gave us in a later kit.  All I added for this was the window die cut and the felt cloud.  Those balloons always make me smile!

My last card uses mostly ingredients from one of Renee's kits, with beautiful patterned paper and stamped images from Sewing Box Hugs.  She even included a cute bow from Lil Inker.  I cut my own doily, punched the patterned paper circles and added the twine ribbon from one of Joyce's kits.  I topped it off with a button that could have come from just about anywhere!

My cards are all so different this month...I can not wait to see what the other girls have come up with.  Make sure you look at them all!

Joyce

Kim

2012 Waltzingmouse Card Favorites

Even though New Years has come and gone, I still wanted to take a little time to share my favorite Waltzingmouse cards from 2012.  I had a little nudge from my sweet friend Jeanne of A Kept Life and a Waltzingmouse Mischief Maker...so, here are my favorites from 2012!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

I am so glad Jeanne suggested we post our favorites because it made me realize I really did use a lot of the stamps I bought this year.  I truly loved the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenges and found that almost all of my favorites were made using a Waltzingmouse sketch.  I would love to see your favorite Waltzingmouse card of 2012...why not write it up and share it with everyone on the Waltzingmouse forum.  Here's a link!

SSCB#3 - Have a Heart

Happy New Year!  All of the Christmas decorations have been taken down and stored away for next year.  Along with that, I have moved on from Christmas cards and am looking forward to making cards for other holidays and occasions.  Today is the third challenge for the Serendipity Stamps Challenge Blog and we had some really beautiful and creative cards posted during the past two weeks for SSCB#2.  I am sure glad I am not the one who has to decide the winner!   If you haven't heard about our new blog challenge...get right over here and check it out!  Every two weeks a new challenge is posted and all you have to do is make a card using one Serendipity image...you can use any other materials you want as long as there is one Serendipity stamp or die used on the card.  Each challenge, the card maker that knocks our socks off will be given a cute badge to display on their blog and a randomly drawn winner will receive $20 off their next Serendipity order.  Definitely a great prize to win!   Don't have any Serendipity stamps yet?  Follow this link to the Serendipity Store and and prepare to be amazed at the wide variety of beautiful, highly detailed stamps and dies. 

Now, on to this weeks challenge which is titled, "Have a Heart".  Our challenge is to use a heart somewhere on our cards.   The only difficult part of this challenge for me was how to choose the stamp... since Serendipity has a ton of great heart stamps and a beautiful set of dies with hearts on them too.    After much thought, I decided on this cute image...Heart Quilt.  

I used Serendipity Stamps Heart Quilt colored with copics and Will You Be Mine for the sentiment.  I decided to make my whole card "quilted" and cut a variety of squares and rectangles from Reminisce patterned paper (Sweetheart, My Love and Valentine Stripe).  I used an embossing folder on some solid red, kraft and blue cardstock and zig-zag stitched it all together with my sewing machine.  I added a tiny lace border to my heart quilt and hung it from a large glittered "Love" paperclip. 

Whew!  That was a lot of talk and I am sure you would much rather look at some cute "Have a Heart" cards, wouldn't you?  This week we are so lucky to add a new member to our Design Team...

Anya Schrier!

I know what you are thinking...THE Anya Schrier of Life is What You Make It? It is!  I am so excited to be on the same design team with someone I have long admired.  Please make sure to welcome Anya as you check out the Have a Heart creations made by the Serendipity Design Team.

 Don't forget to play along with our challenge.  It's easy and fun way to win some new stamps!

Anya Schrier

Jeanne Jachna

Marybeth Lopez

Pauline Pollington

Helen Berry

Miriam Napier

Jenny Gropp

**This weeks special is buy 3, get the 4th stamp free and runs through January16th!**

Will You Be Mine

Heart Quilt

2012 Waltzingmouse Secret Santa Card Exchange

This is the second year I have enjoyed receiving a card from a Waltzingmouse Stamps Secret Santa and I wanted to share the card I received from a very, very talented cardmaker...Sandy Dawes.  I have known Sandy from a couple of the popular stamp forums and have even bought and sold a few stamp sets from her, so I was very excited to receive a beautiful card from her a few weeks ago.  Here is the card Sandy made and sent to me.

Isn't that pretty?  Sandy created a very beautiful and detailed easel card for me.  She used Waltzingmouse A Cottage Christmas and I love how the snowy little cottage is help upright by the cute doormat she made.  The card in person is very shimmery and the trees and pathway is tipped with glittery giving the illusion of a beautiful cottage in the forrest.  This was the first Christmas card I received this year and it is still sitting right in front of me on my craftroom shelf...I may take it down around the 4th of July!  Thank you so much Sandy!

I sent a card to Sandy in return and since she doesn't have a blog or gallery, here is a picture of the card I sent to her:

My card uses several WM stamp sets.  The background is Yonder Star Backgrounder stamped in Versamark.  It gives such a pretty, subtle little texture to a plain piece of cardstock.  The holly leaves and sentiment are from Sewing Box Christmas and the Nice List badge is from Candy Jar Christmas.  It was so fun to make this card and I hope Sandy enjoyed it.

I hope you will all check out the Waltzingmouse Blog to see all of the fabulous cards that everyone received from their Secret Santa's.  Here's a link...take a look!