Creative Inking Blog Hop- Here Comes Peter Cottontail

It's that time again- the Creative Inking Blog Hop is here! I hope you are ready to hop along with us and the Easter Bunny today. By the time you are done you will be inspired for your Easter gatherings next month too :)

A week or two ago I saw something that said "Happy Easter Peeps!" on Pinterest (of course packaging for those *disgusting* Easter candies). Well, I'm obviously not a fan of that take on it- but it made me think of our cute little Sale-a-Bration chick stamp, and I thought it would make such cute Easter gifts for friends or family.

So I set to work making a little tag using that stamp- and I needed SOMETHING to hang it from... so I pulled out the berry basket die to make an Easter Basket to match :) Hopefully you don't see too many baskets on this hop... but then again the die is so stinking cute I'm guessing you will!

I used a lot of Sale-a-bration items on this card. The cute little chick stamp is from the Honeycomb Happiness set. And then I also added some Wildflower Fields DSP to dress up the basket.

To make the chick I stamped the image twice- once on the white tag and once on Hello Honey cardstock. Then I was able to cut out the yellow parts of the little cutie and attach to the tag, still allowing me to give him some orange colored legs. Since the sentiment I wanted wasn't one of our stamps I considered typing it out on the computer and printing it up... but in the end I decided I liked the idea of my own handwriting on the tag to give it a personal touch. In this case the Project Life pens we carry are the perfect writing instrument. They go on nice and smooth- and there are two different thicknesses to choose from.

To give the tag a finishing touch I sponged Blackberry Bliss all along the edges, and then also used the direct to paper technique on the very edge (to do this you drag your paper right across the ink pad). In person it gave it a really nice edge- but I was a little sad to see it doesn't show up very well in the photo. So you'll just have to take my word for it :)

Alright, time to hop on to see what Kristine has made for us this month!

And just in case you need to go backwards on this journey, this will bring you to BJ

Flutterby again soon!

Paper Pumpkin Calendar

As long as I'm getting you caught up on what I've made with recent paper pumpkin boxes I may as well keep going :) Besides, by the end of the week we will have a new fun kit to play with so I'll be busy with that soon!

Flashback to the December Paper Pumpkin. This seemed to be a love it, or hate it box for people. Some absolutely loved it- and they were the ones who helped the refills sell out in less than a day!! Then there were other's who just didn't like the idea of a calendar... although most I believe are now happily turning them into cards.

I personally stuck with the calendar idea. Since I couldn't make one 'as per the instructions' and still have more to play with I kinda half followed directions and half strayed off-path on the whole thing :) Here is what my final project looked like:

As you can see I turned all my cards on their side. I just liked the landscape view better- and besides, then they are perfect to slip into project life albums as the monthly title slots! Double purpose :)

As for the designs on the calendars themselves, I mostly stuck to the themes from the directions. I did swap around a couple of the backgrounds just for what made more sense seasonally to me. Also, I had to change the direction of some of the embellishments so that they would fit on the landscape cards. Otherwise, I mostly kept things in the same groupings as suggested.

I did, however, stick to stamping the month right on top of the numbers for every card. I really liked how that looked, and was didn't want to loose it with the banners that you could put over the top on some of the designs. So now I've got some left over pieces to play with too!

Hope you enjoy my alternative designs. If you haven't gotten your kit together yet, there is no time like the present!! Don't wait to long or those calendar designs will no longer be current!!

Flutterby again soon!

More Paper Pumpkin Valentine Inspiration

Alright, you've got a couple days left before Valentine's day. It is time to clear out the rest of that Paper Pumpkin box from last month! Besides, a new one will be here before you know it, so it really is time to finish up :)

Here is what I created with the rest of my box (click the image to see it larger)

I just love having banners on my fireplace. It really dresses up our front room, and is such an easy decoration to make (not to mention fun!).

Pretty much everything here came from the Paper Pumpkin box. The only thing I added were two heart punches to make the smaller hearts (sweetheart punch and itty bitty heart punch). I didn't even have to sacrifice any of my big hearts to make the little ones (wow- that could sound creepy if you read it wrong). I punched all the little bits out of the scratch paper left after the precut pieces were removed. There is ALOT there to play with!

Here are a couple close ups of the designs I came up with. I pretty much just played with throwing things together until I got visuals I liked ;)

So, now, go grab your red box and finish up those Valentine projects too. Happy Heart Day!

Flutterby again soon!

Paper Pumpkin Inspiration

I know I mentioned that I've been busy with My Paper Pumpkin lately. I don't think I have any supplies left in my last three boxes... except maybe a few scraps here and there. :) I have just been loving what they send to us, even if I don't stick to 'the plan' perfectly ;)

Here are the valentines I made my family with the most recent january kit:

You can see that for the kiddos two pouches I stuck pretty close to the directions. Stamp, stick together, decorate, and done! But the more I looked at these heart shapes, the less I saw 'conversation hearts' and the more I saw an old fashioned doily heart :) Which brought me to the special one I made for the hubby.

To get the ruffled edge I grabbed two doilies and cut off the edge. Then I added some fast fuse along the whole back edge of my heart. Starting at the bottom point I attached the doily edging to the heart, adding a little ruffling here and there to keep the paper straight along the edge. Then when I got to the rounded part it followed the curve of the doily quite nicely on its own (although I still ruffled it a little, just to keep it consistent). I repeated the process on the other side with the second doily edge and it was complete :)

I did also add a couple of rhinestones to this one- just to give it a little extra sparkle :) Now, I've got to find some fun candy to fill these hearts up with for my three sweethearts!

Flutterby again soon to see what I did with the rest of my kit!

Going Global Card Swap

As I mentioned before, I look at the Going Global stamp set and can't help but think Valentine's Day. So is it any surprise that I made a valentine card for a recent swap using this set :)

I once again paired it up with the Love Blossoms DSP stack, and stuck with the coordinating color scheme. It made for such a pretty & elegant card.

To give the background some texture I used the World Traveler embossing folder. Fun fact- I noticed after running it through the Big Shot just twice that it was cracking at the hinge :( I figured I must have gotten a defective folder, so I called Stampin' Up! and they sent out a replacement right away! They have such good customer service- part of what makes them an excellent company to work with :)

For the main element, I stamped the world twice- once in Soft Suede and again in Blushing Bride. On the later I added the sentiment on top in Rose Red and then punched it out using the sweetheart punch. A little gold thread on the back for some *bling* and then I lined up the two world images. So much fun  :)

I hope this inspires you to make something fabulous for the loved ones in your life for Valentine's Day too! You've still got time to make something wonderful :)

Flutterby again soon!

Stuck in a Rut

First, I want to thank all of you who check out my blog- Thank You Thank You THANK YOU!!

Second, I want to apologize for the lack of posts the last couple of months. I have been stuck in a big creative rut. I've been making things- especially Paper Pumpkin projects- but getting them posted on here has been lacking :( I am truly sorry. I'm going to try to get better.

Health around our house this winter has been a big contributing factor. My coworker was explaining to someone the other day "The thing you have to understand about Amber is that she is sick more than she is healthy". She was joking around of course, but I have to admit there is quite a grain of truth there none-the-less. It has been awful around my house since thanksgiving- just one cold after another going through my kiddos and I. In fact, right now I think I'm on my 5th bout of sickness in 2 1/2 months. Bleck.

Anyway, I'm going to try to get better (at both posting, and my health of course). So please stick with me!

Flutterby again (hopefully soon)!