FairyBlossoms & Life

Rockin my UnityLuv!

Hello lovebugs!!

I hope you're having some nice, sunny weather!! It hasn't stopped raining since forever, so I thought it would be the perfect day to rock an utterly fabulous umbrella, and luckily for me, I had just the right one thanks to my brand new March Kit from Unity.

UGH could you just flip???  I can't stand it she's SO gorgeous!! I am doubly excited because it is my very first Unity creation!! whoo-hoo!! I know - I have been living under a rock, but it's all good because I now have some unity rubber in my grubby little hands and I am in looooove .

SO, I decided to paper-piece my chick's umbrella and fancy coat, so I used delicious new paper from my Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety paper.  I used my Ranger Walnut distress ink to darken the edges of the coat and umbrella.  My fancy little lace trim is from my August Key Ingredients.  I am utterly devastated because I am nearing the last of it...sniff!!, still it was just the finishing touch my sassy girl needed!  I used my oval nestabilities to cut out my image panel, and my image mat is cut using my new Deckled Edge nesties. (OMG!! I am in so love with them - I just got them and they rock my world!!).  I added some checkered ribbon and a tan button to finish off my card! 

I cannot wait to play with the rest of my Unity kit!! The stamps are delicious, I just have to figure out a way to store them because they are HUGE and there are like 50 stamps in the kit I kid you not, (SO AWESOME).. if you ladies have any suggestions, please throw 'em my way!  I {heart} these stamps - I can't wait to scrapbook with them!!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have a sunshiny day!

alex

Stamp Sets: Rockin' It Unity Style (March 2010 Kit of the month)

Cardstock: Choice Snow White Cardstock, Chocolate Chip and Kraft from SU!, Pale yellow Bazzill, Aqua Couture Cardstock from Taylored Expressions Easter Key Ingredients.

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut.

Accessories: Copic Markers, Linen Thread, Glue Dots, Foam Tape, Deckled-Edge Oval Nestabilities Dies, SU! Word Window punch, GinaK Neutral Button.

Reach for the stars!

Happy Friday!!

I hope you're all charged up and ready for the weekend!! I plan on spending some quality time with my hot tea and tissues because I am feeling not too peppy

I did manage to squeeze in some more fun playing with my metal squares though, and I am loving them big time!!

I used one of my favorite embossing folders and my silver metal square to embellish my card:

Doesn't the embossed panel look delish?? It's so smooth and dare I say it...Shiny!!..  gotta love it!!

I had been itching to use my The Places You'll Go stamp set and I thought it would be fun to pair it up with some more of the patterned paper, cardstock and embellies from my Rockstar Key Ingredients.  I colored my image using Copics and used my nestabilities to cut out the circle panels.  This awesome sketch is from Splitcoast Sketch Challenge SC272.  Since I only used my white CS as a cardbase and didn't want any unsightly brads going through it, I used my small circle punch to punch out my "faux" brads out of my metal sheets.  I just used glue dots to secure them to my card and voila! perfect inside! no holes, and no "brad tooshies" stickin' out! whoo-hoo!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I am hoping to be back to stamping this afternoon so please come back for a visit soon!

Hugs,

Alex

Stamp Sets: The Places You'll Go by Taylored Expressions.

Product Focus Spotlight: Silver Metal Squares

Cardstock: Choice White Cardstock

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Accessories:  Kaisercraft Rhinestones from Taylored Expressions, Glue dots, Small circle punch, Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Word Window Punch.

Center of Attention Product Spotlight - Metal Squares

Good Morning Doodlebugs!!  I hope you are having a beautiful day!!

I am so loving that spring is finally here, and today I am even more excited because I get to participate in this month's Taylored Expressions product focus!!  It's no secret that we're always on the hunt for cool new stuff to add to our collections right?? so once we have them in out hot little hands, we want lots of ideas for ways to put them to use right? so that's what this is all about!!

This month we are shining the spotlight on TE's metal squares.  Now I know you've probably seen these before right? but wait until you see what you can do with these bad boys!!

Don't take my word for it though - want another peek?

Okay, okay just teasin'.. here's a complete look at my altered canvas wall-hanging:

DO you love it??? I surely do!!  Isn't it purrfect for spring too??? This is a picture of my husband and I at our Sikh wedding ceremony.  Disregard the fact that I look enormous and I kid you not my entire outfit weighed 30lbs.. (Okay I made that up, I just want to pretend I weigh 30lbs less..nevermind.. movin' on)

Of course, this wouldn't be nearly as pretty if it weren't for the gorgeous butterflies I made using my copper metal sheets - and it was SOO easy to make!  I used the Beautiful Butterflies Sizzix Die in my Big Shot to cut out the larger butterflies, and I used a Martha Stewart punch for the smaller ones.  This was the first time I tried using metal sheets for making shapes and I have to say I LOVE that the metal is so sturdy, and the butterflies kept their shape beautifully! I bent my butterflies a bit, just to give them the nice dimensional look and adhered them to my canvas using only a couple of  glue dots.  Now, even though the foil is nice and thick, I was able to punch through the foil very easily using my hand-held MS punch which totally made my day because that means you can get an amazing array of shapes out of each square, and if you're a cheapskate like me you will love that you can use every last bit of it.  I used the leftover metal from the large butterflies to punch out the small ones so nothing went to waste! LOVE it!!

Of course, I couldn't do a butterfly theme and not use some of the gorgeous verses from my Discover Your Wings stamp set.  This is just such a beautiful set, and truly perfect for any occasion - I can totally see using this to make an inspirational wall-hanging (you can just skip the picture) and use different words, or prayers, etc.. perfect for a baby's room or even for those of us whose babies are "SO NOT babies anymore" lol..

I cannot wait to keep using these metal squares, there is so much you can do with them!  Trust me, this is going to become your go-to embellishment, I promise!! You can make your own "faux" brads, charms/metal plates, and I am planning on pairing the SIlver Metal ones with my You're my Hero stamp set to make some cool scrapbook pages and cards (always great to have on hand for class birthdays!!) 

Tomorrow I will be sharing another project featuring this cool new embellishment, so be sure to stop by for a visit! 

I know you MUST have a cool picture around your house that you'd like to dress up and have on display, so be sure to give this a try!!  Just so you know, now's a great time to try this because it's on sale for 3 days starting today!! whoo-hoo!! and if you want to see what else you can do with this cool stuff, check out some more inspiration from each of these fabulous ladies from the Baker's Dozen:

Taylor VanBruggen
Jeanie Witmer
Carolina Buchting
Sankari Wegman
Karen Motz
Jackie Pedro

Thanks so much for stopping by, I truly hope you enjoyed my little project!

Hugs!!

Alex

Stamp Sets: Discover your Wings by Taylored Expressions.

Product Focus Spotlight: Copper Metal Squares

Cardstock: Choice Buttercream Cardstock

Ink: Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo, and Walnut.  SU! Basic Brown.

Accessories: Ranger Stickles in "Stardust", Kaisercraft Rhinestones from Taylored Expressions, Glue dots, Fabric Flower.

Easter Tag - Cuppie Time!

TGIF my peeps!!!

So, it appears my cuppies are mad at me ......because I hadn't inked them up in ages!!  and can you believe I had forgotten all about my yummy Sweet Spring stamps set from last year?? shameful, I know!! 

SO yesterday, determined to give my cuppies some love, I made this little tag for one of the teacher gifts I'll be giving out before Easter vacation:

isn't he sweet?? I could just pinch those little rosy cheeks!! (okay, so I need help - big deal..)  seriously cute and easy though, and I found everything I needed to make this in my Easter Key Ingredients.  Actually I used up all my little scraps and just put it together, which is great! nothing gets chucked, and that makes my little cheapskate heart happy.

anyhoo, I stamped my cuppie onto my image panel using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, and colored it in using my SU! watercolor crayons - I decided to give my Copics a rest for this one!!  I used a little rhinestone on my bow to give it a little style!  The patterned paper on my tag is Kioshi from BasicGrey, and the cardstock as well, is included in the Easter KI kit.  I added a jumbo eyelet to the tag for support.  Don't you just love those little flowers?? I just glued one to the jumbo eyelet and it just looks so stinkin' cute right??

Well, as you can see this little tag is super easy and super cute, (if I do say so myself) which is actually a good thing since I have a bunch more I need to make and Easter is almost here!!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're enjoying some "springy" weather!

Smooches,

Alex

Stamp Sets: Sweet Spring by Taylored Expressions.

Ingredients: White Watercolor Cardstock, all Patterned Paper, Aqua Cardstock, Ribbon, and embellishments included in the Taylored Expressions Easter Key Ingredients.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Accessories: SU! watercolor Wonder Crayons, SU! Jumbo Eyelet in Pewter, Glue Dots, stampin' dimensionals.

Rockin' Hot Pink!

Hello lovebugs! I needed a little color boost today, so I'm going hot pink now!!

I found the coolest color combo challenge on Splitcoast (of course!!), and I decided to jump right in and make a fun (and girlie!!) card.

The colors in this challenge are celery, pale blue and hot pink.  Never in a million years would I have thought to use those colors, but I LOVED it!!  Of course, you couldn't have a cool color combo and a girlie card without having the rockin' chick to use as my image!!  I used the "Rocker Girl" from my ultra-cool You're My Hero stamp set. 

My rocker is stamped in Basic Brown Ink and my image panel is sponged using Vintage Photo and Melon Mambo ink.  For my background panel I made my own patterned paper using a couple of the other stamps in the set - it was so fun, and I wish I'd gotten a better picture (my lighting was NOT cooperating!!) but anyhoo, I used one of the guitars, the star and the "Rock Star" sentiment to stamp all over using my melon mambo ink - loved the look, and you MUST try it!!! and the best part is your projects look completely coordinated - it's budget friendly too! (no silly, I don't mean you'll save money I just mean you're going to be able to buy more stamps by making your own paper!! whoo-hoo   )

Okay, just teasin', so I finished off my background with a bit of stardust stickles, and a mix of ribbons from both my Easter and my February Key Ingredients Kit.  I then stamped my sentiment using my melon ink and inked up the edges.  I then mounted everything to my card base using dimensionals.  Easy peasy and totally rockin'oh yeah!!

I hope you get your groove on' and try these fun colors too!!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

mwah!

Alex

Stamp Sets: You're my Hero by Taylored Expressions.

Ingredients: Choice Buttercream Cardstock from Taylored Expressions, Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo and Certainly Celery Cardstock from SU!.

Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Brown, SU! Melon Mambo, Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. 

Accessories: Ranger Stickles in "Stardust", Silver Brads, Ribbons from Easter and February Key Ingredients from Taylored Expressions.

BunnyRider

Happy Sunday!!  

I hope you're all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed like I am, on this fine morning!! (..um. not so much!)  but anyhoo, I do have something fun to share today, so it's all good!!

I'm actually reeeeeally excited about my card today!   I got some glorious un-interrupted stamp time yesterday and I decided to make use of it playing with some of my new TE goodies!  I am so in love with my Favorite Peeps stamp set, it's downright gorgeous!!   I have to admit the bunny in the set was just calling me to do something really fun (but easy!!) with it, and so I decided to give my little bunny a fancy new ride:

Could you just flip?? He's got a "carrotvette"!!! lol.. Okay I seriously have issues!!  still, is this not the funnest thing ever?? I just drew my bunny his little car and off he went!

So to make my card, I stamped my bunny, the flower, and the sentiment onto my image panel an colored it in using Copic Markers.  I used some of my Kioshi patterned paper to add to my cardbase, and a small ribbon piece to decorate it up a bit!  I also did some sponging around the image panel and mounted it onto a piece of this gorgeous Aqua cardstock.  I then traced the template I drew onto pumpkin cardstock and cut it out.  The edges are inked up with a mix of pumpkin and distress ink to give it some depth, but you can definitely skip that step - it looks just as cute without it!!  I cut a small tapered square and just made some long cuts all over it to make the fringe to finish off my carrot. The "tires" are 2 buttons threaded with some linen thread and adhered to my card using glue dots. I then mounted my "car-rot" (*snort*) to my card using foam tape. 

The best part of this fun card is that my patterned paper, buttons, ribbon and cardstock are all included in the Easter Key Ingredients so everything matches perfectly! (and yes, that makes my Type-A personality very happy!!)

I went ahead and scanned my little "template" in case anyone wants to give it a shot!  I also included the ingredients and measurements for my card, this way you have it all in one spot! I have to say this was super easy, and I think it would be adorable as a baby card too, so I will have to give it a shot - unless someone wants to beat me to it??

You can get the PDF with the template & instructions here (please bear with me, it's not exactly high-tech, but hey, it worked for my card!! lol..):

Download BunnyRiderTemplate

I hope you like this little card - I really had so much fun making it, so I hope you give it a try!  

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!!  

Bunny hugs!!

Alex

Stamp Sets: Favorite Peeps by Taylored Expressions.

Ingredients: Choice Snow White Cardstock, Striped Patterned Paper, Aqua and Mint Green Cardstock, Ribbon, and buttons ALL included in the Taylored Expressions Easter Key Ingredients.

Other CS used: Kraft for card base, and Pumpkin CS for carrot, Tiny Metal foil and Black scrap piece for “seat” and “steering”.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Pumpkin Pie, Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut and Vintage Photo.

Accessories: Copic Markers, Linen Thread, Glue Dots, Foam Tape, Stardust Stickles.

Going Green!

Good Morning lovebugs!!

Time for another fabulous challenge from Clear Dollar Stamps!! Of course, you don't have to use CDS stamps to play, but the fabulous Katie is inviting us to play along with her on the Clearly Inspired blog!  Today's Clearly Inspired Challenge #9 is a color challenge! FUN!! Don't ya just loove green?? it's so Spring! so get inspired and grab your greens!

If you're new to the challenges, here are the details: (you can win free goodies too, so be sure to play along!!)

• These challenges will occur every other Friday
• You have until the following Thursday to link your project using Mr. Linky on THIS POST on Lori's Blog.
• Challenges will vary each and every time
• Your work is important so there will be 5 Inspirational Cards/Projects chosen to be featured here
• Use CDstamps if you have them... IF NOT PLEASE PLAY ANYWAY... use what you have!
• A PRIZE (your choice of stamp set) will be awarded to a randomly chosen winner
• If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or another online gallery please use CIC9 as one of your keywords

Remember you have until March 18th to play along!!

Oh, you can certainly feel free to throw in another color, or different shades of green!  That's what I decided to do with my card - I very rarely stick to one color, but this was SO much fun - I thought it would be fun to come up with a "mellow" card, and the colors worked great!! Here is my card:

I just loove this! I was so glad I finally got to use this gorgeous cross from my Prayer Journal stamp set - it's sooo pretty, isn't it??  Of course, the Pretty Little Scripture is just as lovely, and they work so well with any occasion that I thought it would be perfect!  (and very green right?? :o)

I hope you get a chance to play along!! I'd love to see your creations so don't forget to share!

I'm heading back to my stampin' room 'cause my mojo is flowing big time (thank goodness!!), and I have some more fun stuff to share so be sure to stop by soon!!  I am dragging my very grumpy hubby to see Remember Me tonight (even if I have to jump over the 13 year-olds to get to it!!) tee-hee! 

Have a wonderful day!

Alex

Hot Stuff!

yoo-hoo...I'm baaack!!

I feel like I've been gone forever!!  I spent this past week running/wrapping up the Book Fair at Nick's school, and it has me absolutely beat!  Now seriously - I LOVE kids (especially when they're not mine so I can happily give them back ), but I have to say after one week of incessant screeching and thundering footsteps I needed nothing more than silence, so I took refuge in my stamp room, and boy did it feel good!!  I'm back and I'm feelin' well.. much better :)

So, imagine my surprise when I came across my still new, in package, uninked "Good Knight" stamp set from MFT!! sheer horror, I know!!  shame on me!  Anyhoo, I grabbed some of my yummy Earth Love paper and got busy coloring this cute little fiery dragon!

isn't he adorable?? I just love him!  I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the colors/patterns so I just sort of threw them together and hoped for the best!  I colored my little dragon (and the fire!) with Copics.  I also cut out a second "fire" and mounted it onto my image panel using dimensionals, so it really pops!  I have to confess this little guy inspired me to go on a little MFT shopping spree (bad girl!).. so I am totally stalking the mailman the next few days! yay!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I have a challenge to share with you tomorrow so be sure to visit!

Have a wonderful evening!

Alex

TE March Release!

Happy Friday!! and what a marvelous day it is!

Release day is here and I am sooo excited!!did you just luuuvvv all of yesterday's projects?? I sure did!!! today is "eggstra" special because we are celebrating the one year "birthday" of Whimsical Wishes stamps illustrated by the lovely Nancy McKinney! I have been a looong time fan of Nancy's work, and I have to say I am SO excited that I get to play with all her wonderful designs so much more now!!

Today, along with all of the wonderful new goodies available in the TE store (more enabling to come!) I have the absolute honor of showing you a wonderful treat Taylor and Nancy have prepared for YOU for this release!  Wanna see??

today I give you, The Promise of Spring:

Isn't it beeyootiful??  I love, love, love this image!  I decided to go with a bit of a country feel for my special celebration of spring!  I colored my image using Copic Markers, and my patterned paper is from the Earth Love Collection from Cosmo Cricket.  I used my color spritzer tool to do some spattering on my image panel (I don't know why but I SOO love doing that!!) and of course, I added some sponging using a mix of my poison of choice  - Ranger Vintage Photo and Walnut Distress Inks - and a bit of pale lavender and soft sky just to add to the "Spring" feel!  I also added a bit of ribbon and one of my pretty little flowers from my Easter Key Ingredients Kit to finish my card up!

I wish I could take credit for the awesome sketch, but I swiped it from this week's Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast: SC270 I just loved the 3 patterned paper panels on this one! great for those small pieces of paper we love!!

Anyhoo, now for some more good news!! As part of the Whimsical Wishes celebration, you can have this gorgeous image for free - but there's more, because this set of images is called "Whimsical Wishes Throughout the Year" and that means that not only do you get Promise of Spring but you get to enjoy this year-round!...see for yourself!!

How gorgeous are these???  As you can see, this fabulous download includes 4 exclusive seasonal images and their perfectly coordinating sentiments! Your images  are ready to be colored with your favorite medium - just print and get to work!!  Isn't this great??  I am in love with all of these images, and you can have your own in just minutes!!  This download is yours FREE this weekend (until Monday 3/8) with any purchase from the TE store! (and you know you MUST treat yourself to something fresh out of the oven, so it's yours!!  score!!)  

If you need any further enabling (HA!! as if..) I just have to let you know that the very first Whimsical Wishes stamp sets "Branching Out" and "Branching Out Coordinates" are on sale as part of the celebration, until Monday also, so hurry!!  oh and I should probably NOT tell you this since I haven't gotten my grubby hands on them yet BUT Taylor has the NEW Limited Edition Nested Egg Dies in stock!! Have you seen these babies???? ugh..I know!!!  just gorgeous!!

Okay I am off to do my own shopping so I'll stop enabling you guys, but please visit the rest of the Baker's Dozen for some more eye candy!  today we have a special treat too - please join me in welcoming the "OMG!! She SOO Rocks my World" Amy Sheffer as our Guest Designer for March and April!  I cannot even begin to tell you how gorgeous her creations are, so be sure to take a peek!!

Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen

Thank you for stopping by for a visit!!

Have a wonderful stampy day!!

Alex

Spring is in the Air! Day 2 Sneak peeks!

Happy Spring sugarbunnies!! 

Okay, so it's not exactly spring yet, but bear with me! I am all about getting ready for the upcoming season and the fun holidays that come with it!!  Did you all love the awesome "You're my Hero" stamp set??  I still can't get over how utterly cool it is - you're going to be seeing a lot of it from me!  whoo-hoo!

Well today I am showing you TWO new sets that will also be released tomorrow at the TE store!! You're going to fall in love with the versatility of these 2 new sets!  Here is a quick look at my first peek!

I just LOVE Easter.  I love the pretty colors, the tranquility, and most of all I love the opportunity to reflect, and to feel at peace within.  I am thrilled that everything I love about Easter is beautifully represented and celebrated in this new stamp set called "Easter Blessings".  There is a wonderful variety of sentiments, verses and of course lovely symbols of our faith.  This is the card I made using my Easter Blessings stamp set:

For my card today, I paired my Easter Blessings stamp set with the gorgeous Easter Key Ingredients, also being introduced by Taylored Expressions this Friday (March 5th).  This Key Ingredients collection is absolutely delish - it features the patterned paper "Kioshi" collection from Basic Grey.  I LOVE, love the sweet colors and patterns which of course, still have the "distressing" that is so much a trademark of Basic Grey paper.  I decided to allow myself a bit of distressing for my image panel, and the beautiful cross which I wanted to use to accent and keep the focus on my panel.  I am in love, I think it's just the right kind of look I was hoping to get.  This pretty little flowers are also from my Easter KI kit, as are the buttons and the ribbon I used to embellish my card.  I SO hope you love this as much as I do!!

Of course, there is more!  for my next peek I decided to go in the absolute opposite direction. 

want to see a little peek?

This next stamp set is called Favorite Peeps, and it is just one more gorgeous addition to Nancy McKinney's Whimsical Wishes line.  While this stamp set is just perfect for all of your Easter cards and treats, I decided I wanted to try pairing my little peep with some more of my Rock Star Key Ingredients for a bit of funky chick fun!

Is this stinkin' cuteness or what??? I just LOOOVE this little chick, and I did a bit of masking so I could give her a BFF to hang out with!  I colored my "chicks" using copics, and then added a bit of Star Dust Stickles to add a little glam! This gorgeous (and FUN!!) flower is a fancy addition to the TE store for Spring!  so fun, and bright I am just beside myself!  As for this sentiment - do they get any cuter than this? I think it is just perfect, and I will be using it a LOT!!  

I hope you like my little peeks into these very different and incredibly lovely stamp sets!  I would love for you to check out some more inspiration featuring these two sets, so please stop by for a visit with the rest of the Baker's Dozen - you will be floored, I promise!!

Carolina Buchting
Charmaine Ikach
Donna Baker
Jackie Pedro
Jeanie Witmer
Jodi Collins
Karen Giron
Karen Motz
Melissa Sauls
Sankari Wegman
Taylor VanBruggen

and also joining us today, is the ultra-talented Nancy McKinney!! 

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Alex