My Time Made Easy Sneak Peeks day 1!

April is almost here! And i am ecstatic! This has been 1 long winter and I for one am more than ready for Spring and Summer to be here! i truly hate cold weather. Not a big fan of rainy weather either. I'm definitely a sun person! So bring on the flowers and sunshine!

Since a new month is just about here, so comes the time of non stop posting on my blog!

I actually love this time. I love sharing things everyday. It's a lot of work getting it all ready, and I'm usually ready for a little vacay when this week and a half if done, but man is it fun in the meantime!

SO, today is the first day of the madness! And I get to share quite possibly, my favorite clear stamp set EVER with you! Why is this, because it goes hand in hand with making your own soaps and bathroom goodies which you all know i LOVE! And i actually dont have any homemade tutorials or recipes today, but I WILL very very soon! Today, i just have a fun project that i Love how it came together!

I bring you.... the Take Time template and Take Time stamp set from My Time Made Easy!

I was actually thrilled with how this turned out. I did have a bit of one of those "man, this seemed like a good idea when i thought about it" moments making my own patterned paper, but even that part i ended up loving (you'll see it in a pic here in a minute!

This paper holder would work for more than just bath products. It's really just a pretty holder for anything! Here's a view without anything in it (and a view of my stamped patterned paper).

You can also see the scroll-ie sides and back which truly help this template to stand out!

I used Couture Cardstock in Whale Watching for my template base and basic black from stampin up for my matting. The white cardstock is also by Couture Cardstock and it's called One Sheet Wonder. :)

Also being released this month is a stamp set called Petal Perfection (which is also being released as a digital stamp set!) The flowers in this set match the flowers also found in the Take Time stamp set, just in different sizes. I took the very largest flower in the Petal Perfection set and stamped it on my One Sheet Wonder Couture Cardstock. I also took smaller flowers from the Take Time set and stamped them on the paper as well. This was the fun and easy part. Then i had the brilliant idea of coloring them in... with copics. Now this was easy peasy with the largest flower. The smaller flowers were a bit more tricky and took a very steady and not too caffinated hand! haha!

Here's another close up of one of the beautiful flowers! But also some other elements of the Take Time set...

I truly love this set! There are so many fun things you can do with it! The label could be used to label so many things! Plus it fits in perfectly with the template. Hmm... that Lauren is a smart cookie. ;) The label comes empty so it could be filled with images or other things. You can see (below) the shower gel label. The words "bubble bath", "body lotion", and "Bath Salts" also come in the set so you can make full bath product collections! hehe.

And another shot of all the goodies going into this basket. For the locals, this gift set will be available for auction at St Giles Basket Auction at St Giles Presbyterian Church on April 18th. All bids go to the youth group for mission trips.

In the set there is shower gel (yes i realized that now that i covered it with paper, it will be a little harder to just leave in the shower.... shoulda done a body lotion!), an eye mask, a bath bomb, soap confetti ( that in the package look like little roses!) and a complete mani/pedi set.

Ok, one last set of pictures to show the matching card to this gift set. I used the same large flower stamp from the Petal perfect stamp set, and the fronds (those would be leaf stem thingys) are from the Take Time set although there is a set of larger fronds in the Petal Perfect set. See, they all go together!

The scentament, i mean sentiment is from the Take Time stamp set. :)

Here's a close up view of the flowers...

I actually layered 2 flowers on top of each other. Each was stamped and hand cut though there is a cut file available for this set. Man, wish i had remembered that BEFORE i started hand cutting those! I then colored them in with the same copic used on the template.

Behind the flower, i used the labels 10 nestie and airbrushed inside the nestie using the same copic marker. Now i know i mentioned before that i used the couture cardstock, one sheet wonder on this project but man, that stuff stuck in the nestie beautifully. I mean it popped out just fine, but i dont know about you, but sometimes when i'm trying to airbrush my cardstock wants to wiggle on me in the nestie so i dont get that crisp line. I had NO problems with that here! :)

Thanks so much everyone for stopping by today! Be sure to check out Lauren's blog today too and she is taking on a whole different idea with this template that you wont want to miss! Ok, so i havent seen what she has up her sleeve, but she ALWAYS has something up her sleeve, so i'm sure you'll want to check it out. :)

Stamps:
Take Time by My Time Made Easy (release date April 1st)

Petal Perfect by My Time Made Easy (release date April 1st)

Template:

Take Time by My Time Made Easy (release date April 1st)

Paper:

Couture Cardstock: Whale Watching, One Sheet Wonder (white)

Stampin Up: Basic Black

Other Tools and Accessories

Pearls from Kaisercraft in black

Brad from making memories (in black)

Copic marker BG13

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up Baja Breeze

Spellbinders Die: Labels 10

Copic Airbrush

ribbon from Michael's

bath products from Michael's

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MTME announcement, card and giveaways!!!

Lots of exciting things to share with you today! There is some new phenomenal talent joining the My Time Made Easy design team! I'm so excited to get to work with these ladies!

Each new team member is giving away a My Time Made Easy template! So if you've wanted to try them out, you can get one for FREE! If you have tried them out and love them, now is the time to get one FREE! :) Just leave the new team members some love on their blogs!

Here they are....

Dawn Easton - http://treasureoilerdesignz.blogspot.com

Geny Cassady - http://madisonavenue.typepad.com

Lesa Rapp - http://paperpossibilities.blogspot.com

Stephanie Kraft - http://handkraftedbystephanie.blogspot.com

By the way, Stephanie totally lucked out on the best name ever for a paper crafter! Haha!

My Time Made Easy also has a new Design Team page! How fun is that! You can read a bit about each designer there! I LOVE that idea (and just might have to steal it! ;)

You can check it out HERE!

There are some links to more giveaways at the bottom of my post (but i'm sneaky like that and will make you scroll thru!)

Ok, now onto my card today... This is another simple one using one of the very first MTME stamp sets called All A Flutter. By the way, this set has also been made into a digital stamp set! Which means you can make those beautiful butterflies any size you want! How fabulous is that! Think of the wall art designs! I cant not WAIT to get my room painted so i can put vinyl cuts on the wall and have it all a flutter with some beautiful butterflies!

Ok, i got off subject! here's my card!

I was dying to play with some of my new distress ink colors! So I stamped the solid butterfly image in Wild Honey, and then stamped off on a scrap piece of paper, then stamped it onto my cardstock. The distress inks are so sticky that a good amount is left on the stamp, but it leaves a much lighter color. I know pretty much all inks do this, but the distress inks are fabulous at this! Then i inked up one of the butterfly wing designs in the same ink and stamped right on top of the previously stamped butterfly. I repeated the same process with the new Storm Sky distress ink color. I then took the small build a butterfly body pieces from the stamp set, inked them up in vintage photo distress ink and finished off each butterfly. Each piece is separate (the body, head and antenna) so you can each all or 1 or however you'd like the butterfly to be.

To give the butterflies some motion, i used 2 swirls (i love that the swirls have mirror images in this stamp set!) from the Fanciful Flourishes stamp set. Those were inked up in Antique Linen distress ink.

The sentiment is also from the All A Flutter stamp set. (did you know there are 25 stamps in that set? Talk about the set to have if you love butterflies!

Sweet and easy! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Dont forget to check out the new team members blogs (links above and in my sidebar) for your chance to win a free template!

ALSO - the Just Us Girls Challenge blog is being sponsored this week by MTME. Play along this week and 1 lucky participant will win a free template from Lauren!

And last but not least... have you been dying to get your hands on a stamp set from MTME?!

Well now is your chance! Leave a comment on Lauren's blog post today (read it here!) and she will pick 1 lucky commenter to win a free stamp set! How awesome is that!

Lots of giveaways floating around! Be sure to check them alllllll out! :)

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One of Jack's Cards

I dont have a new project for you yet, but I have been hard at work. :)

It's getting towards the end of the month which means i've got about a week and a half of daily posts coming up! I actually love this time of daily posting and lots of projects, it just takes a bit of prep work!

BUT, my son did make a card to share with you! :)

He LOVES to color with mama's markers (yep that would be my copics). But they are so indestructable, i let him so long as he is coloring at MY table so i know where they are!

Maybe that was even a bad idea because i had dreams all night long that caps were missing and my markers were drying out. These dreams actually WOKE ME UP!

I guess i a smidgen obsessed, huh?

Ok, so here is Jack a roo's card!

he likes to pick scraps out from my scrap drawers to make his cards. And i save even the most onnoxious scraps, like this one that i just the circle out with a nestie. I figured it might make a good mat sometime? So no, he didnt cut his stamped image out, he gave it a frame. haha.

He also quite enjoys creating confetti with the decorative edge scissors (i think i'm posted about that before). So all those bits are glued on there and the whole card HAD to be BLUE since it's his "favorite color like the ocean!".

so thats all i got for today! more to share very sooooooon!

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A CAS with MTME and making a faux bow!

That was a lot of letter mumbo jumbo in my subject line, huh?

Well after a fabulous weekend with my BFF since the WOMB and a lto of packing of orders for the mega sale from paper makeup stamps, i was just DYING to get inky! Problem is the to do list still seems to be unfinished. SO, i decided to fill those inky desires with a little CAS. What does CAS mean? Clean and Simple. I've never fully understood the term, but i'm pretty sure this card qualifies. Aside from the drawer that was dumped out half way thru the card by my little guy, and the puppy who needed scolded for piddling on my carpet in my craft room... this card took all of about 15 minutes.

My dear friend, Christi, has been all kinds of sick! The poor thing just cant catch a break!

I decided to use 2 of the new stamp sets from My Time Made Easy™ (hence the MTME in the subject line!) First i used one of the pretty flourishes in the Fanciful Flourishes set. This set of swirls has quickly become one of the favorite swirl sets ever! There are so many different size swirls and i LOVE that it comes with lots of different sized flowers, leaves, and things to go along with it! You can see here that i used one of the separate flower stamps to give a little pop of color to the swirl!

Then I used one of the many sentiments you can find in the So Sentimental set. I'm telling you, this set will have you covered! I inked the the stamp in versamark ink and then heat embossed it with some white. I love embossing powder, why i rarely use it i never know. Perhaps it's because this is the drawer that got pulled out and dumped all over the room that i mentioned earlier! Luckily, Gabe doesnt know how to open the jars (YET!)

I used the 2 of the new mega dies from spellbinders (the long oval large and the long scallop oval large) to cut out my sentiment and the mat.

One last quick pic...

I am bow tying CHALLENGED! Seriously, it's a darn good thing God gave me 2 boys! But this "bow" which isnt a boy at all is so simple to do and looks so elegant!

First i adhered a strip of organza ribbon across my card (thats the black) and tucked it under the mat layer. Then i adhered a strip of red satin on top of it and tucked it under as well. I layered 2 pieces of the same ribbon on top of each other and made them into a loop (like a big circle) and then pushed the center together to flatten it. Now usually my method of choice to secure it is a stapler. Very quick and easy and secure as all get out. But i couldnt find it since i'm redoing my craft room. So i took a very small hole punch and squeezed tight tight tight. It was enough to puncture the ribbons, but it doesnt leave you a nice neat hole like if you were to do it in paper. Still, since the ribbons were punctured i was able to easily put a brad thru them to secure my faux bow. Then i used glue dots to secure the bow to the ribbon already across my card.

So thats it! A super easy card with possibly a new bow technique!

Thanks so much for visiting today! Now to finish up that to do list so i can get even more inky later! Ciao!

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Just wanted to share...

First of all, thanks to my friends and customers of PMS for the overwhelming response to the mega sale going on! I have had a LOT of orders and actually have everything all packed up and ready to go! PHEW! You all mean the world to me and I love that you PMS stamps!

This will be a busy busy weekend for me! I have a wedding to do makeup and hair for today (sometime tonight or tomorrow i'll post pictures on my makeup blog for anyone interested)

Then my BFF since the womb is coming to visit! YEEEEA! I'm so excited i cant stand it!

So it will be monday before i can get back into my crafting groove. :)

BUT, i do have a project for you! I didnt make it. This past monday i opened my mailbox to a WONDERFUL surprise from my dear friend, Shaela.

She sent this beautiful new coffee mug, a super cute card (using some paper makeup stamps, moody for coffee and a sentiment from caffeine trip, which by the way, shaela did the wordart).

But not only that, but she sent me a $10 gift card to starbucks! Since we've been cutting out the "frivolous" purchases, my husband deems my lattes from starbucks as one of them. haha! So this was a wonderful and welcomed treat!

So THANK YOU shaela! I challenge all of you to do something for a friend for no other reason but to make their day! I plan to pay it forward very very soon! :)

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A little mojo monday on thursday!

Ok, so ya wanna know something funny, i actually used the mojo monday sketch ON MONDAY!

I was so proud of myself. Then suddenly it was tuesday night and i still hadnt posted it and i wanted to post my st patty's project yesterday so i thought, ah, well, it can wait til thursday. :)

Here is my card...

I used 2 of the most recent releases from Paper Makeup Stamps.

Caliope with a Flower and A World without Flowers wordart.

Here is a quick view of the mojolicious sketch!

I stuck pretty close to the sketch, but i noticed afterwards i sort of meshed my ribbon and the border. Ah well, the sketches are for inspiration right, now precise placement. :)

Here is close up view of pretty Caliope....

I colored her using copic markers and I used Couture Cardstock One Sheet Wonder. I'm getting more and more used to the OSW. I'm still not positive it passes the neenah i use for larger color spaced, but i do love how well it inks up! And i think it just uses a slightly different blending technique, so over all, yes i still likey. I think if you tend to oversoak your paper and bleed outside the lines, you might really like this paper. :)

Ok, one last shameless plug for today. Paper Makeup Stamps is having a HUGE inventory reduction sale! I'm talkin SLASHED prices! You can read all about it HERE. :)

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Where do the days go?

Don't you hate it when your days run away from you? I've felt like that a bit lately. I've even crafted, but the cards havent made it up here on the blog. But, i took lotsa pictures today so i should be prepared for at least a few days! haha!

Today is St. Patty's Day! We love St Patricks day in my family. I have an irish background, so it's always been a fun holiday to celebrate.

Last night i met with some of my bella friends at Funkie Munkie Scraps. We call it the Bella Club. :) Each month i prepare a project for the club members to do. This is what we made last night...

We used GoodLuckaBella and stephanie graciously gave away the stamp to a randomly drawn club member. How fun, huh?!

And do you see that fun pot of gold? Thats using the My Time Made Easy Bouncing Baby Buggy (you know, the one i made into an easter basket, then a coffee cup and not a pot of gold... Lauren made it into a boat, a wheelbarrow a basket, it's really the endless template!)

My original thought was to fill up the "pot of gold" using those gold covered chocolate coins but i was unsuccessful finding them. Seriously? It's st patricks day! I checked all over the place! SO i used some chuck e cheese coins instead. :)

Chuck E Cheese coins are more coveted in my house anyway!

I opted to not fold in the top of the basket so that i'd have enough room to tie around a ribbon. I also used the Paper Dolls cricut cartridge to cut out a shamrock and add it to the pot. I used soem chalks to add a little definition.

Here's a close up view of the card we made...

So thats what i have for ya today! Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!

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Dreaming of a new craft room

So i'm coming to terms with the fact that I am not going to be getting my hubby's office across from the dining room (which is more affectionately known in our home as PMS land).

My craft room, while it's a very large room, it's not used to it's best abilities.

On top of that, I want one of those craft room that pops up on blogs worldwide as the room that everyone wants to have! One of these days i WILL have that room!

For now, i'm in planning mode. We wont financially we able to outfit a new room until the summer. So, for now, i'm weeding thru the excess, re-organizing, selling off the things i don't need and am PLANNING!

See, the tricky part of my room is the slanted ceilings which makes for short walls. There are only certain places some furniture will fit. Since I would ideally like to move "PMS land" also upstairs so that everything is in one place, i have some major planning to do!

Here is a slideshow of roughly my craft room looks now. I've gotten rid of the bed which gives me a lot more space to play with.

My biggest things i'm wanting to do it.... PAINT, goodness i want to paint!

Get all things of 1 type in the same places. All tools together. All embellies together. All paper... all ribbon... you get the idea. :)

I need a new table. No more plastic folding table please? It's not cute. It's doesnt stamp well.

More things need to be put AWAY and not as easy to get into. As much as i love the idea of having my own room that is my own personal space without little sticky fingers... it's not going to happen. SO, i need some storage solutions!

And then the biggest one, is having everything be cohesive! I'm not saying everything needs to be totally matchy matchy ... but i'd like for them to look like they belong in the same room!

SO - show me your craft rooms! Give me ideas! I'll even feature them here on the blog! You can all take my crafty journey with me!

Let's DO it!

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SCAL winner announced!

Sorry everyone for the tardy announcement! On top of a busy week, we've all gotten sick! I had avoided the boys germs until yesterday when they finally got the better of me!

Luckily all of the packages i had to mail were already ready to go!

Unfortunately for me, it' means i still havent been able to craft much. My head just feels heavy and full of goo, so i've opted to lay down when i can. haha.

But i did want to announce the winner of the Sure Cuts a Lot Giveaway, so generously offered to me to give away from CandaCraft.com

Now i decided to write everyone's names on pieces of paper because some people had multiple views on Mr. Linky. This is totally fine that there were multiple views because it's great for Lauren to see the different views for her contest (which she is still carefully going over each entry and will be announced soon!) but I wanted to make sure that everything way fair for the random drawing. SO, here is the video (pay no attention to my snuffy nose!)

So congratulations Cindy Lee! Your project was so fabulous, and fun! I love the idea and might just have to CASE it! For anyone wanting to see her project, check it out HERE!

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Verve's Spring Fling Sketch Challenge

Holy cow - i got a card done! Normally it's this time of the month where i disappear for a few days. Well, I was a little ahead of schedule today and I noticed that the deadline wasnt until midnight today for the Verve Spring Fling Challenges. Sooooo, i thought, ya know, i have a spare 20 minutes to do the sketch challenge. So i put together this card. man, cards come together so fast when you just follow the sketch and dont have something to color!

I was pleased with the outcome as well...

I used a sentiment from the Beautiful You set which was the 2nd verve stamp set I ever bought (my very first set was starlight starbright which is retired and no longer available, sniff)

I used a butterfly from Prima to serve as my second circle. Only 2 come in a pack, but man are they pretty!

Here's a close up shot...

Ok, i spent most of my extra minutes on my card so not much time to type before the deadline! :)

Ok, if you dont hear from me for a few days, know i'm ok, just taking a breather from sneak peeks and releases!!! :) But i'll be back soon, i promise!

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My Time Made Easy Baby Buggy turned Coffee Cup!

Have you ever had one of those days, weekends, weeks or even months that you think i just need a BIG cup of coffee?! Yeah, it's been one of those for me! And i think it's ironic that i have/had a really big mug that was my favoritist mug. It perfectly fit 2 cups of coffee from my keurig machine. Gabe dropped it yesterday. Not sure how he could even reach it off the counter. It was a sad sad moment in my world. Sniff.

So thinking of big coffee cups, i thought I would turn the Baby Buggy into a BIG coffee cup! Sadly, i dont think it would hold the coffee as well being that it's made out of paper!

Now isnt that Baby Buggy template from My Time Made Easy just so versatile?! (you can see my original baby buggy HERE and yesterday i turned it into an easter basket which you can see HERE)

To turn this template into a cup, make the basket as it tells you to in the intructions provided. Leave off the wheels and buggy handle. And Leave off the top. So basically, you're just using the basket.

Didnt it turn out cute?! I love it! Here's a view from the "handle" side...

To create the handle, I simply took a long piece of cardstock (the leftover scrap after i cut out the 2 sides of the mug on a 12x12 sheet of paper and my cricut and sure cuts a lot!

I adhered the end together with some strong adhesive and pinched the ends together. Then i lined one side of my tear drop shape with strong adhesive (for the record i always use scortape) and then stick it to the side of my mug and viola! A perfect mug handle!

Of course the templates from My Time Made Easy are perfect for making a simple gift into a really WOW gift! I personally think that coffee is a perfect gift! I know a lot of people who truly love coffee. It's a relatively inexpensive gift depending on the type of coffee you are giving

and you can really taylor it to the person you are giving it to. Example, my mom always gets the flavored coffees, my husband, not so much!

I've decided to add a coffee bag to match the coffee cup and some other coffee essentials. This one will definitely be going to a girlfriend rather than a man in my life! Which i think you would gather yourself since i used pink and browns as my color palette!

I decided to keep both my mug and bag simply decorated. This project came together SO fast! I even had a baby on my lap the whole time!

To decorate both my mug and matching coffee bag, I used the set Fanciful Flourishes.

OMG, this set is AWESOME! There are so many different size swirls! And there are some great additions like flowers, leaves, etc. I left those off for this project. ;)

Now the bag you can pick up for free at most supermarkets. Ok, so you are supposed to buy coffee in them! But there are usually a stack there for people to use and i often just take 1 or 2 extra. They are great to have handy for gift giving projects. Look for the ones that are plastic lined on the inside. They are great for giving cookies and such as well! :)

To decorate my coffee bag and to match it to my coffee cup I used the the template again. With the template comes "decorative layers". These are so that you can easily cut patterned paper to add layers to the sides of the basket (which i did in my previous 2 versions using this template, but i decided that they maked it look too basket-ie and not coffee cupishie enough).

Anyhoo - i used one of the decorative layers to be my coffee cup for the bag! I used smaller versions of the same stamps used on the mug and it's almost a perfect match!

But my favorite part was the steam! The swirls making the steam is what gave me the idea to put a coffee cup on the bag to begin with!

So thats my project for you today! Be sure to check out the rest of the My Time Made Easy team as each and every one of them have something wonderful to share with you today!

And a BIG dont forget...

The My Time Made Easy contest from Lauren

AND

the Sure Cuts A Lot giveaway!

Check out THIS POST for all the details and to link up your creation!

We're extending the deadline until wednesday!

Lauren Meader - owner

Kristin Bueter

Mona Pendleton

Katie Cotton - that's me

Pam Imholz

Catherine Doucette

Tracey Cuccia

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It's time for a monster sized Blog Hop!

It's the 7th! And you know what that means.... your wait (which was particularly long this time with no release last month!) is over for new stamps from Paper Makeup Stamps!

This release is just so much fun to me! Maybe it's because i was tired of the wait too! maybe it's because it's release crammed with all things PMS! New fairies, new moodies, new monsters, new wordart, it's all in there!

And right now it's time for the Hop! If you've hopped over here from Lisa's blog, you are indeed in the right spot! If not, why dont you start from the beginning, you dont want to miss any of this monster bash! As you hop along, you'll be collecting letters that give you a 15% discount code!

So before I forget to give you my letter, here it is!!!

Y

So here it my card using a fun Easter Rabbit drawn by monster illustrator, Steve Hammond.

When Steve sent me this cutie i was torn, because it was a little too late to release any easter stamps but he was just so stinkin' cute! So I decided he would be released this month as a digi only! The digi purchase will come with the Hoppy Easter sentiment you see on my card.

Easter is sort of a tricky holiday when it comes to card making. For some recipients it's easy to make them a beautiful "easterie" card with pastel colors and beautiful embellishments, lavish stamps. But for others, say, the men in your life, making an easter card can be a bit tricky.

Thats why i fell in love with this little bunny! Not so cute that he works only for kiddo cards, but not so um, unique looking that he wouldnt work for a card for children. My 4 year old loves him too!

Here's another shot of the card...

Here's a closeup view of the image...

Isnt he just too cute! But in a not too cute way! I love him!

When creating this card i wanted some not too feminine paper so i printed off some of the new paper released from My Time Made Easy called Well Woven. It comes in a whole slew of colors! Here i printed Thistlestock.

And the great thing about using digi paper with digi stamps, is i was able to drag my sentiment layer right on top of the patterned paper before printing!

And one last thing to share with you... Remember that super cute Bouncing Baby Buggy template i used for a baby boy project a few days back? Click here to see it! Well where do you think I made that easter basket from? Yep, the template is one in the same (and i have another different way to use it that i'll share with you tomorrow!) This template really is so versatile! You should see how Lauren turned it into a boat and a wheelbarrow! Here's a close up shot of it...

So the base is the same as the base in the buggy. I simply didnt add the top or the wheels and instead I added a strip of cardstock to be a basket handle. Ok, dont call me a genius, turning this cutie buggy into a basket is one of the intentions of the template! :) But I still wanted you to see it done!

Ok, thanks for hanging in there! I know it was a long post! Now it's time for you to hop along to Paper Makeup Artist, Randee!!!

Don't forget our party is TONIGHT at 8pm CST in the Paper Makeup Forum!

We would LOOOOVE for you to join us!

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Paper Makeup Stamps Moody Sneak Peek & a mojo sketch

Hello everyone! Well, since i'm typing this post up well after midnight (i opted to watch a movie with my hubby instead of working!) it's going to be a short post. Ok ok, keep the sigh's of relief to yourself! I can hear you ya know! :)

Today's sneak peek from paper makeup stamps are 2 new moody girls. One named Moody for Showers and one named Moody for Flowers! Perfect for spring right?!

My preview is of Moody for Flowers!

I used this week's MojoMonday sketch for my inspiration! At first glance i thought the sketch was really tricky, but in the end i loved it! Go figure! The ones that make me step outside of my comfort zone are always the ones i like the best!

Here is a close up of the image.... I had so much fun coloring her flowers. The took a minute, but they were fun!

And last but not least, here's another preview of the sentiment i used 2 days ago (who needs luck when you've got stamps?... remember there is a giveaway on that post!) There are actually a few different words in the set that can be plugged in there. Today i decided to use the word love to go with my lovely moody and her bundle of flowers. Cause really, love is all ya need!

(which is ironic because my hubby is none to pleased that i ran off to type up a blog post instead of going to bed with him! haha!)

Another quick funny, i totally didnt realized until i took this picture that one scallop is missing a rhinestone. WOOOOOOOOPS!

Ok, so thats all i have for you today! Be sure to go to the PMS blog to see all the other wonderful sneaks from the Paper Makeup Artists!

Stamps:

Paper Makeup Stamps March Release, Moody for Flowers, Lucky Me Sentiment Set

Coloring with Copics

E31, E55, E57, E59

E00, E000

Y32, Y35, Y38

R02, R11, R14, R17, R89

BG23

YG21, YG23, YG17

Paper:

Patterned Paper by We R Memory Keepers

Bo Bunny Dotted paper (yellow)

Red Ridinghood Cardstock by Stampin Up

Tools and Accessories

Pearls by Glitz

Nestabilies Classic Circle and Scallop Circle

Satin Ribbon (walmart)

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Random post for the day with some VERVE

Ok, so i totally already posted once today. And if you are looking for my sneak peek from Paper Makeup Stamps, just scroll down. :) And i actually have a lot of crafting to get done. Like deadlines, stuff for classes, videos to edit, etc. But today is Verve's release! And they are partying all day with challenges on their blog and sneaks and fun-ness! And you know i looooooooove me some verve. So i just HAAAAAAD to play. So i did. ;)

The first challenge of the day was to create a CAS (clean and simple) card using something floral. That seemed easy enough! And i wanted to play with a copic technique i'll be using in a class later this month so i had the perfect idea and knew exactly which stamp i wanted to use for it!

I used Verve's Elegant flower. It's a "plain jane" which means it comes by itself and is only 3 bucks. But it pairs perfectly with Because of You (which is probably my favorite verve set ever) and grateful elegance which i dont own and i'm really really thinking that i should!

Here's a closeup of the flower...

Isnt it fun? I used copic markers BV02, BV04, BV08 to blend into YR61, YR65 and YR68. A simple rhinestone for the center finished it off.

For my sentiment i used onee from Here For You. I just love the fonts that verve uses! LOVE them! I stamped it out, then used the Labels 8 nestie and then used my copic airbrush (i know, i'm sooooo original from card to card... hahahahaha)

So thats my fun CAS card for Verve!

Now to finish up my sneak peek card for tomorrow. Yep, i have my priorities straight. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

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Mom, I'm so lucky to have you!

Today is the 3rd day of sneak peeks from Paper Makeup Stamps.

This is set of stamps is very personal and very meaningful to me.

When taking with Diem (illustrator of the Beautiful Day Fairy line) about having some "on the farm" fairies, she has some fantastic ideas and these 3 fairies came about.

I wanted to name these fairies after the best farmers i know, My Grandpa Wayne, My mom and my Aunt Nell. You can view all of the fairies today over on the PMS blog.

For my card today I used Carma, the fairy i named after my mom.

My mom is AWESOME! Truly, she is! (sorry mom, you may need to grab the tissues, i know you) My mom is truly my very best friend. She knows me better than anyone else. She's the first person i call when i'm upset. The first person i call with good news. Sure i tell my husband all these things, but I call my mom first. She has never ever not been 110% supportive of something that I want to do. When i wanted to move across the country to Los Angeles, she helped me drive the truck. When I called her and told her I was pregnant (unexpectedly) she assured me everything would be ok. When I told her we would be moving across the country to South Carolina i think she did a happy dance that i'd be closer, and she made the flight with me and my 2 week old baby. This is my mom. There for me thru anything. She is my best friend and i am LUCKY!

Here is my card....

I also used a sentiment (that wasnt peeked yesterday) from the Lucky Me Sentiment Set also being released on the 7th. This sentiment is just perfect for this card for my mama! Because i do just feel so lucky to have her in my life!

Here is a close up shot of the image. I have also been playing quite a bit with the One Sheet Wonder cardstock by Couture Cardstock. Blending with copics on it is much different than on the Neenah paper I usually use. I dont know that I would say it's better or that it's worse, just different. The colors dont blend within the fibers of the paper because something about the paper doesnt soak in the ink. So it's a little more like you are blending on the surface. You get absolutely zero bleed thru, as in you flip it over and there is nothing on the other side, not that it would matter when you have layers on your card. I will say that solid image stamps stamp out like a dream on this cardstock!

I did use the copic airbrush on my image as well (after it was colored for the record). Since the patterned paper had that more rustic appeal, i thought my image looked too white and crisp so i dinged it up a bit with the airbrush and an E40 marker.

Moving on to the sentiment...

I love this sentiment. It's actually the only wordart that i put together myself this month. The rest of it was all arranged by the ever fabulous, Shaela Odd.

This was a very random shot i took. not even sure why. I think i was trying to show off one of my new nesities (the big scallop rectangle) but the one i used it actually 1 size too small for the image so that just the edges of the scallop peek out. It just just a subtle bump up that you barely notice. I kinda like it. :)

So thats my card! PMS is having 2 giveaways of the release this week. 1 is from comments collected from the PMS blog and the other is comments collected from the design team members blogs. You can see a list of all the design team members in my sidebar and also get links to them daily off of the PMS blog.

Dont forget i have 2 giveaways going on right now as well! Check out THIS POST for the Sure Cuts A Lot giveaway (i mean thats kinda huge, it's a $70 program being donated by Candacraft.com) and then a fun little PMS stamp or gift certificate giveaway on THIS POST

Thanks everyone... and GOOD LUCK! :)

Stamps: Paper Makeup Stamps March Release, being released march 7th at 8pm

Carma Fairy

Lucky Me Sentiment Set

Coloring with Copics

Hair: E33, E37

Skin: E00, E21, E000

Shirt: Y21, YR23, custom color "Y20"

Shorts: B91, B93, B97, B99

Chicks: R08, R27; BG72, BG75; BG93, BG97

Wings:BG10

Paper:

Patterned Paper by Cosmo Cricket, Earth Love collection

Cardstock: Marcos Paper (Brown Bag Cover Paper); Stampin Up (Kiwi Kiss); Cardstock Couture (One Sheet Wonder, white)

Tools and Accessories:

Spellbinders: Classic Rectangles Small, Big Scallop Rectangles Large

Brads by The Paper Studio

Copic Airbrush and E40 Marker

Distress Ink (all edges) in vintage photo

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Who needs luck? PMS sneak peek...

It's day 2 of the PMS sneak peeks!

For today's card, i decided to play a little bit. I very rarely do CAS cards. I usually think that something is missing and it just doesnt feel right. But for this card, i used one of the new sentiments (which is actually 2 separate stamps). The sentiment reads "who needs luck when you've got..." and then there is a slew of words you can stamp in there. I chose STAMPS!?

I mean really, stamps are all you need right?

I thought i was genius to pick different stamps from some of my favorite sets to create a little scene. Then i started to think i was not so genius when it wouldnt turn out how it was envisioned in my head! haha! Still, i decided to run with it.

Here is my not so genius but still fun card...

I still think it's a fun concept. Can you find what all stamps i used on my card?

Tell you what... in addition to the giveaways happening on the PMS blog... i'm going to do a giveaway of my own! Email me at makeupbykatie @ yahoo . com which stamp sets i used on my card. I will draw 1 person at random to take their pick... either get all of the stamp sets i used on my card or if you are not new to PMS and have all those sets already, you can get a $15 gift certificate to use on the upcoming release.

You can until march 7th to find which stamps i used. Have fun digging! :)

Dont forget to check out the PMS blog to see lots of other fun sneak peeks by many of the Paper Makeup Artists!

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