Hola, Chica and Stamping Around Vermont '09!

Remember my friend, Sonya, that was my navy room mate in Orlando that I was telling you about last week? Well, I just had to pay tribute to her with this great "Hola Chica!" by Paper Pretties! She's as colorful as they come and when you're around her, it's always a "large" time and big fun! Believe me, there's not a time that you couldn't have found us dancing around with fruit or other things on our heads and acting like it was just a normal thing to do! Thanks for helping me remember how short life and great friends and fun times are. It's a welcome path to travel down.

Also, whenever I work with my Paper Pretties, I always think of Julie and Jodi, two fun stampers I met at our Stamp New England event I attended with two of my stamping buddies, Lynn and Molly. That event went so well that Julie and Kim have started a business of setting up stamping events everywhere and the next one that's closest to me is in September in Vermont. So for any of you who are anywhere close, they're taking sign-ups and if it's like the last time, they'll fill up fast! So click on the Stamping Around Vermont blinkie on my sidebar and go take a look at what all is going on! This is an event I won't want to ever miss! Great instructors, gorgeous give-a-ways, and wonderful company are one of the best ways to spend some time!

Anyway, I colored Miss Chica herself with copics and used a bit of Smooch on her top and some Glaze on the fruit. She's colorful and great fun and I wish a Miss Chica in everyone's lives! Have a great day!

Card Ingredients:

Hola, Chica by Paper Pretties, copics, Smooch, Glaze Pen by Jellyroller, nestabilities, divine swirls and dotted swiss cuttlebug folders, paper from my stash.

Scrappy Frogs Challenge and Make a Splash with Old Friends

Every now and then you have moments in your life that bring you back and help you remember who you really are. And every now and then a stamp comes around that has you written all over it. When I opened this Paper Pretties "Make A Splash", and then opened up an e-mail from my old roommate and great friend when I was in the navy, a trip down memory lane was in store! And I'm so glad I took that trip! This is the card I wanted to get done for the Summer Time Challenge over at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog but didn't get the chance to get it photographed and up in enough time. Go over and take a look at some absoloutely stunning summer cards! Join in the challenge and get the chance to win a great stack of paper. If you don't want it, I sure do!

Sonya and I were roommates while I was stationed in Florida and the stories we have! We laughed about all the times we went to the beach, hung out around the pool, laughed so hard with Larry that we couldn't stand up for an hour because our stomach muscles hurt so badly, and you wouldn't want to know the margaritas that were involved! Gosh, it felt good to reconnect with one of the most favorite parts of my life.

Little Sophia jumping into the swimming pool reminded me of us cooling off and having fun after processing like 200 recruits at one time. That water always felt so refreshing! I colored her with copics and added some Glossy Accents to her to make her suit look like nylon. The paper is from SandyLion and I used my cuttlebug divine swirls and used my new flourish punch from EK Success. I love it! And I added some pearls that I picked up from Michaels. I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday and loved it! I plan on using this one again!

What fun I had reconnecting with Sonya and remembering how good it feels to just laugh and talk about anything and everything. We're going to plan a visit after Nichole's wedding and not lose touch again! If you have anyone you're thinking of reconnecting with, just do it! Don't ever forget that visiting the past doesn't mean you're living in it. You're just honoring a wonderful time in your life. And that's a great thing! Now go make a splash!

Card Ingredients:

Make a Splash from Paper Pretties, Paper by SandyLion, copics, Flourish punch by EK Success, SU ticket punch, Pearls from Michaels, divine swirls cuttlebug folder, nestabilities.

Sophia Ballerina and Big Fun News and Victoria Case coming to SCACD and a Sneak Peek!!!!!

This time of the year brings around dance recitals and such sweet memories of Nichole's ballet recitals. She had the pretties costumes and looked so sweet and graceful all dressed up. But that wasn't my favorite way of seeing her. I loved her every Saturday little sheer skirt she talked me into making for her. She would stand there or walk around and hold the ends of the skirt with her finger tips just to make the skirt move and twirl. I'd come downstairs where her bedroom was and she'd be dancing to her own music. Oh, those memories are so precious to me.

Sophia Ballerina by Paper Pretties is a stamp that I'll keep forever and use over and over. I was looking around on Saturday and found this great sketch from Our Creative Corner and thought I'd use it. I stamped this diva on GinaK Luxury Paper and colored her with copics and used some Shimmerz on her skirt. The paper is from the4 DCWV Spring Collection and the flowers are Prima. I absolutely love this cutie!

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. I know I did!

And now for some exciting, big News! Exciting NEWS - the wonderful artist Victoria Case is creating an exclusive line of stamps for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design! The premier of the NEW stamp line is called Victoria Case for SCACD and the 1st in the series the Hearts and Hugs Collection. Right now all I can tell you is it’s a line of fantastic images with a cuteness factor that are off the scales for Susana's store! Now you won’t see the line just yet that will happen on Friday May 15 for the Big Premier of the entire line of 9 stamps. We are celebrating our New collaboration so check out Follow Your Heart, the store blog for the first puzzle piece in the big reveal and for details to keep ya going till Friday May 15. Of course there will be Blog Candy involved!!! The winners of the contest will be announced promptly at 8am PST May 15 and the stamps will be available for purchase at that time!

Some new stuff in the store is Pink Cat Studio, Sparkle Fluff, Bella Crystal Flowers, Petaloo Flowers, Flower Soft, and Smooch. And on sale are all of those cutie Smirks are now only $1.50 each, 15% off all Nestabilities and Shapabilities and 50% OFF All Hot Off the Press.


Card Ingredients:

Sophia Ballerina by Paper Pretties, Shimmerz, DCWV Spring Collection Paper, Jellyroll Clear Glaze pen, Prima flowers, Kaisercraft Pearls, Boutique Trims by Doodlebug, Nestabilities, devine swirls cuttlebug folder.

Sophia and Tilda

It's amazing to me how much creativity I get by cleaning out my stamps. I've been sorting through some of my stamps I don't use very much anymore and would like someone else to love. When I send them out in the mail, I get this shot of creativity and so many ideas pop into my head about what to do with some stamps that I've been holding onto for a special occasion. These two cards are the result of a couple of Bellas being sent on to new homes.

Speaking of creativity, what better way to get your creative juices going than with the yummy blog candy Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design has going on at her store blog! It's fabulous and involves Elisabeth Bell! Something like a signed print of one of our new stamps that will be released. Make sure you stop over and find out all about it! It runs from April 6th through April 13th.

Sophia of Paper Pretties has been at my house for over a month and inked up but I couldn't bring myself to color her up. I could so get addicted to these sweeties and go hog wild over them and way overspend! I joined up for their Stamp of The Month Club and this beauty, Hippity Hoppity, was my first Paper Pretties and I couldn't be happier! I was sorting thorough my papers and voila, I found my Nana's Nursery Baby Girl stack and Sophia came to life for me! She reminded me of pink lemonade and she just kind of put herself together. She's stamped on GinaK's Luxury White paper and colored with copics. All I did was add some Dew Drops, a bit of Glossy Accents to make her ribbons look satiny and used my cuttlebug to add a bit or texture to her. I adore this stamp and believe me, she's staying with me forever!



Tilda with Lamb is so beautiful and innocent sitting with her lamb. The Easter Collection from Magnolia that Summer at Roses on Paper is carrying is by far, my favorite collection. It's the first collection that I want every single stamp from! I've got to tell you that I had a hard time having Tilda sit on the Bible! I think it's the Baptist in me but I hope I've not been disrespectful. Once I saw the card in my head, it just happened. I've wanted to stitch on my cards for a long time and between Catherine Scanlon's encouragement (one of the most talented paper artist I've ever seen and get the pleasure of stamping with every month!) and Danni's tutorial, I just took the plunge! So glad I did! I had so much fun stitching that you'll be seeing it a lot more on my cards. I colored and the Bible with copics and used some Souffle Pens to highlight some of the flowers and Sophia's eggs. I used Glossy Accents on the satin book mark for the bible and my glitter pens on the swirls. I also added some Glossy Accents to Tilda's blouse becauseTilda what little girl doesn't have satin in some sort for Easter? She's got stickles on her socks and I used Dew Drops on the corners and just love how she came out.

I hope you enjoy these two cuties. I had such fun creating them to share with you all.

Don't forget to stop by the Follow Your Heart blog for some great blog candy! My gosh, a signed print by Elisabeth Bell is too good to pass up!

Card Ingredients:

Tilda With Lamb, The Bible, Dew Drops, Glossy Accents, Glitter pen, Souffle pens, ribbon, The Glitter Stack and Nana's Nursery Baby Girl's stack from DCWV, GinaK Luxury White paper, copics.