Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Flower Power Challenge

Happy New Year All!

Hope everyone has some fun things planned for this evening. I wish you all a wonderful and safe New Year's eve and a happy and healthy New Year!

I just recently posted a new Whimsy Challenge on PCP. This one is called Flower Power. Make a project using flowers in some way....you can stamp them, use floral paper, add flower embellishments, anything with flowers. I'm getting tired of winter already and want to see some touches of Spring! Have fun with this one. Oh, and if you have a Whimsy image, please use it! I love to see all your fabulous Whimsy creations! You'll have until Saturday, January 10th to enter and I will choose one random winner to receive a free Whimsy Stamp!


This is the card I made for the challenge. I got lots of flowers for Christmas from my good friend Jo, as well as from Santa...;) my hubby!

I started with a base of pink and added some Parisian Summer dsp from SU!. I used my spiral punch on the edging, first time I think I've used this one too. I also distressed the edges. The main image is my Whimsy Animals Skunk. I colored him with an aquapainter and re-inkers and a Brick White Copic, the grass is also a Copic. Still haven't mastered the use of these markers, I need to see a tutorial! Anyone? The other embellishments are Vanilla HPH and a heart shaped piece of metal, and some ribbon.

Thanks for popping over! Have a wonderful holiday! Happy Stamping! :)

Monday, December 29, 2008

Katarina's Sketch 37

Happy Monday All!

Hope your week is off to a good start. I had time to stamp today, so it's been a good day here! :) I have this card to share with you. I made it using Katarina's Sketch challenge on her blog. The challenge is open until January 4th and you have a chance to win a free Whiff of Joy stamp.

I've had this Alpine ribbon from SU! for a while now, so this was the basis for my color combo. I used Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, and Kiwi Kiss. I ran the red through the CB with a paisley folder, but it's mostly covered up so it's hard to see. The Kiwi pieces have been stamped with a paisley pattern from the set Fresh Fillers by SU!.

The main image is my Whimsy Animals Frog. I colored him with Twinkling H2Os then added some white gel pen accents. The final touches on this card are distressed edges, Prima flowers and a button, and a vanilla HPH oval. The sentiment is from the Whimsy Sentiments Collection.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a good night. Happy Stamping!! :)

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Whimsy Guest Designer

Hi All!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! It's been great to be home with my family, relaxing and spending time together. I hope to have some time to stamp this week too. I feel like I haven't made anything in forever. Plus, Santa was very good to me and I have lots of new things to try out! :) Hope you got lots of new goodies too.

As some of you may know, our Whimsy Stamps Guest Design call for the month of January ended yesterday. I want to thank all of you who participated in the call for Whimsy Stamps. We had the honor of seeing fabulous creations from very talented crafters. And choosing a new guest designer was an extremely tough decision. We appreciate the time each of you took to make your cards and we hope you had a fun time creating them.

Please remember if you weren't chosen this time, we will be having a new guest designer call each month, so please try out again. Don't be discouraged, continue to pursue your design goals.

Our next guest designer, for the month of January 2009 will be Ellie Stover of Live*Laugh*Love....and stamp. We are very excited to have Ellie as a guest designer. She has a very sweet style in her card making, one we feel will fit well with our Whimsy images. Her attention to detail really adds to her creations, each accent is perfectly placed and carried out.

We hope you'll help us in welcoming Ellie to our team. Please be sure to see her Whimsy Stamps artwork during the month of January on her blog as well as in the gallery at WhimsyStamps.com.

Have a wonderful evening and start to the new week. Hope to see you soon with some new stamped projects!

Happy Stamping!! :)

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Teacher Gifts - Snowman Soup

Hi All, happy Tuesday!


I can't believe we are only 2 days away from Christmas! I haven't even finished wrapping all my gifts yet. I did just hit the grocery store this morning, before the all the crowds. And of course I forgot something so now I'll have to head back. Ahhh, maybe later.

I wanted to share the teacher gifts I made for my son's Kindergarten teachers this year. I found this idea on Rach's blog, Papercrafts by Rach. She had the cutest poem for snowman soup. I found these tins at SpecialtyBottle.com. I filled them with hot cocoa, Hershey Kisses, and candy canes.

The tin has been wrapped with Ski Slope DSP. I added ribbon and felt snowflakes as accents along with a JOY ornament for his teachers to keep. The top image is a penguin stamp from Firecracker Designs colored with ink re-fills and an aquapainter. I used my Coluzzle and circle nesties to make the tag for the lid.

I made this card to go with the gifts. The image is a new design from Whimsy Stamps and will be available for purchase on January 1st. This is our Whimsy Animals Seal! The papers are Blue Bayou, Baja Breeze, and Ski Slope DSP. I added grosgrain ribbon, a felt snowflake and button, a clip and a tag for accents. The sentiment is from Whimsy Stamps as well, available January 1st.

I colored this little guy with a black marker and an aquapainter. Then added some white gel pen accents. He is framed in with a scalloped circle Nestabilities. I also added some white gel pen accents around the card.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're all ready for your holiday festivities! Have a wonderful and safe holiday season!


Happy Stamping! and Happy Holidays! :)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sketch Saturday - Sneak Peek!

Happy Sunday!

We are in the midst of another snow storm here today, so it's a perfect day for stamping! Plus, with all the holiday preparations, I haven't stamped in days. While out blog hopping, I came across a sketch on Jeanette's blog. This one is for Sketch Saturday's weekly challenge. This is the sketch you need to use. Then you can post your creation and leave a comment for the Sketch Saturday team. The DT cards are just beautiful!

The card I made with this sketch uses a new Whimsy Stamps image, one that will be released on January 1st. So I guess this is a little sneak peek along with the challenge! This is our Whimsy Animals Collection Polar Bear, but now that I think about it, he could be any kind of bear with a little color.

I started with Baja Breeze cardstock and layered on various pieces of Ski Slope DSP from Stampin' Up!. The accents on this card are felt snowflakes, rhinestone brads without the brad, snow writer pen and glitter, and wide grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment is also a new one from Whimsy Stamps, available on January 1st!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Sunday!

Happy Stamping!



Friday, December 19, 2008

Sketch Something with DRS Designs

Happy Friday All!

I'm so happy that this week is finally over! It's been a long one! We have a new challenge for you over on STAMP SOMETHING and this challenge will run for two weeks. We are taking a break for the holidays, which means you have extra time to play along.

Our challenge this week is a sketch made by our DT member Emily. Thanks to Emily! We also have DRS Designs as our sponsor! They have generously donated stamps for the DT to use on their inspiration projects as well as a free stamp for one lucky winner. To enter, please create a card using the sketch and then upload your creation by commenting on the Stamp Something site by Thursday, January 1st 2009, by 7pm EST. Can you believe it, 2009!

This is the card I created with the sketch and a DRS stamp. The colors are Eggplant, Moss, Plum, and Ivory. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the moss piece, then I sponged ink on the embossing to make it stand out more. The image was stamped, colored, and then distressed with the cracked glass technique. I added ribbon, hodgepodge hardware, paper piercing, and rhinestone brads as my accents.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you'll find some time to sketch something with us this week and next! Have a wonderful holiday season!


***this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday ONLY, save 20% on your entire Whimsy Stamps order! Use the promo code HOLIDAY to save! Happy shopping!***
Also, there is still one week left to try out for the Whimsy Stamps monthly guest design spot for January 2009! Click here for more details!






Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Whimsy Stamps Monthly Guest Designer - Design Call!

****This design call is now closed****

Monthly guest designer for January 2009, design call now open!

We are looking for a talented crafter who loves to stamp, create and share! Each monthly guest designer will be asked to create atleast one Whimsy Stamps project per week. This project must then be posted on your blog. Whimsy Stamps will post your artwork on the gallery page of our site. We also ask that you participate in any other Whimsy related challenges.

Important:
-Anyone from around the world may enter this design call.
-Monthly Guest designers must have their own blogs to share and promote projects featuring Whimy Stamps.
-Enter as many times as you would like.
-It is not necessary, for this particular design call, to use a Whimsy Stamps image, however if you have one, please do.

Monthly Guest Designers will receive free Whimsy Stamps, during their design period, and links on our website to their blog!

To enter the Whimsy Stamps Design Call for January 2009:
-Make a card or scrap book page using atleat 3 layers and 3 embellishments with an animal image or Whimsy image
-Post this card on your blog and announce our guest designer call
-Upload a picture of your project on PCP and/or SCS with the tag whimsydesigncalljan09
-Leave a comment on this post with a link to your entry

If you would like to guest design for Whimsy Stamps, please follow these guidelines and enter by Saturday, December 27th! Good luck!

Holiday Teddy Bear

Morning!

Hope you're having a good Tuesday. I've been able to get back to stamping now that power is back, school is open, and life is getting back to normal. Although, I know for some, power is still out here in NH. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer.

I made this card this morning using my Favorite Teddy Bear set from SU!. This is a retired set that I dug out of the back of my closet. It's adorable, so I think it will be staying in the front of the closet when I put it away. I never think to drag out some of the retired sets I have, but I'm going to change that! Too many good sets not to use them!

I started by coloring my teddy bear image with watercolor crayons, then added a paper pieced scarf and holiday gift. I added crystal effects and chunky glitter to the bottom for snow. I used Ski Slope DSP and felt snowflakes to complete this card. It's simple, but I like it. Now I need to find my Christmas card list and get this little guy in the mail!

Have a great day, thanks for stopping in! Are you up for a challenge? Head over to PCP and join in the Whimsy Winter Challenge for your chance to win a brand new Whimsy Stamp! Click here for details!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Chilly Skunk!

Hi All!

Well, boy am I glad that the weekend is over! I don't think I've ever been happier for it to be Monday before! We finally got our power back on at 11:30 last night, just shy of the 72 hour mark. We are very fortunate as there are still many many people without their power. We've never experineced anything like this before. It was a cold, dark, and boring weekend! I'm looking forward to life getting back to normal and getting back to stamping!

I have a card to share today, one I made last week before the ice storm. I used my Whimsy Skunk for the main image on this card along with SU! Ski Slope DSP and felt snowflakes.

I colored my skunk with markers and then added iridescent ice EP over the whole piece. To me this skunk screams sassy. So I wanted to glam her up with the glitter! I also randomly adhered some tiny rhinestones to the snowflakes and the DSP for added bling.

Thanks for stopping by, I'm looking forward to visiting all of you today too. I've missed being able to blog hop!

I'm also hoping to add a new challenge on the Whimsy group over at Paper Craft Planet today. Hope you'll check it out and maybe even play along! Have a great day! Happy Stamping! :)

Saturday, December 13, 2008

No Power

Hi All!

Just wanted to let you know that we are without power here in NH and could be for quite a while. We had a major winter ice storm Thursday night and power has been out since 1am on Friday! We are hopeful it will be up and running soon, but that may just be wishful thinking. Luckily we have family in the area with power, so we could check email and other things.

I promise to be back blog hopping and visiting as soon as power is restored! I miss seeing all of the creative things you all post. Having no power for more tan 36 hours is getting really old and really boring!

If you are placing orders for Whimsy Stamps, we will process those as soon as power becomes available again. Sorry for the delays.

Have a great weekend!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Red, Green, Gold Somethings Challenge

Happy Friday!!

We have a new challenge for you on STAMP SOMETHING today, a color challenge! It's red, green, and gold! Make anything you wish for this challenge as long as you use these colors in your project! I'm happy to share that Whimsy Stamps is sponsoring the challenge this week! We'll be giving away 2 free stamps to one lucky winner. If you'd like to play along, please post your entry by 7pm EST, on Thursday, December 18th.

For my project, I chose to make an ornament using a chipboard coaster. I got this idea from Vicki Parson, of Stamped Smiles, she's always got super creative ideas!

I began by covering the coaster with printed paper, then I added a jumbo eyelet for the ribbon. The ribbon is red taffeta with gold elastic cord tied around it. I stamped and colored my moose, available now from Whimsy Stamps. Then I cut him out and glued him to the coaster. I added some snow under his feet with a snow writer pen and glitter. The sentiment is from Short and Sweet, a SU! set. The final touch was to add a scarf around his neck! This scarf came from the set Favorite Teddy Bear, also SU!, but retired.

These are so easy and fun to make, I decided to make another. This time I used my Whimsy Owl, also available now at Whimsy Stamps. I added a frame using my oval scalloped Nestabilities. I also added Iridescent Ice EP around the owl image. The accents on this ornament are felt snowflakes, white taffeta ribbon with gold elastic cord, a rhinestone brad, and some stickles.

Thanks for popping in today, hope you'll head over to STAMP SOMETHING and check out the design team samples and then maybe stamp something red, green, and gold with us this week!

Have a great weekend! Happy Stamping!! :)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Holiday Wreaths

Good Morning!


Hope you're having a good week. All day yesterday I was thinking it was Thursday, so now that today is actually Thursday, that was a bit disappointing! It's also another gross weather day here, been rainy and icy all week. Hope the days are sunnier where you are!

I have a couple cards to share today, ones that I made to send to friends for the holidays. I've almost finished all my holiday card making, then it's on to the school teacher gifts. I'll be happy when everything is done!

This first card uses A Cardinal Christmas from SU!. I took the holly image stamp and created this wreath design, then added the berries with the circle image from Heartfelt Thanks. The printed paper is a retired SU! dsp. The sentiment is also from A Cardinal Christmas. I added the ribbon by punching 2 holes in the wreath and making a bow. Not the best best bow maker, they never end up even or straight for me!





This next card is similar, but I made the wreath with the two floral images from Heartfelt Thanks and the circle again for the berries. This card also uses the same retired designer print paper.



Thanks for stopping over today! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the new STAMP SOMETHING challenge! There's also still time to enter the PCP Whimsy Sketch Challenge, I'll be drawing one random winner on Saturday this weekend.

Have a great day! Happy stamping!! :)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Owl For You

Hello All!

This week is off to a quick start, I have so much to do between house stuff and kids and holiday shopping. Time is just flying by! I'm sure it will be like this right up until Christmas too. Hope you're having a good week so far.

I did some stamping yesterday and took a break from holiday card making to make a non holiday themed card. I wanted to make a card with my new Whimsy Animals Collection Owl, so I grabbed some printed paper and made this card.

I think he's just the sweetest, it's hard to resist that face! The printed papers are SU! Parisian Summer dsp and Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette cardstock. I stamped my owl in brown staz-on ink and colored him with watercolor crayons. The embellishments are buttons, paper flowers, and a pearl. I also added some stitching with my sewing machine.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday! Happy Stamping!! :)

Monday, December 8, 2008

Merry Moose-mas!

Happy Monday!!

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend. We actually starting our holiday shopping, but still have lots to do. We always seem to wait until the last minute! I did find some time to stamp this weekend too and I made a card using some new Whimsy stamps.

This sweet guy is our Whimsy Animals Collection Moose, he's available now at Whimsy Stamps! I used some watercolor crayons and an aquapainter to color him in. Then added some snow and glitter all around him using a snow writer pen. The papers are SU! Ski Slope DSP. I also added some red ribbon, felt snowflakes and rhinestone brads to finish off this card.

Now, I'm off to finish my holiday cards and get those in the mail today! Hope you have a good Monday. Happy Stamping! :)

Friday, December 5, 2008

Snow Somethings with Firecracker Designs

Good Morning All!

Yay, it's Friday! We have a new challenge for you over on STAMP SOMETHING and this week our challenge is being sponsored by FireCracker Designs by Pamela! The challenge is super easy too, it's Snow Somethings! Create a project with the theme of winter and snow. To enter for your chance at the blog candy prize... visit us at STAMP SOMETHING, participate in this challenge and post your project by 7pm EST, Thursday, December 11th. Be sure to also check out all the design team creations, they are snow fabulous! :)

Here's my card for the challenge this week. I used this cute penguin image from FireCracker Designs. I colored him with Baja Breeze and Blue Bayou re-inkers and an aquapainter, then added some glitter to the fringes of his hat and coat. He's standing in the snow, which was made using a snow writer pen and dazzling diamond dust. I used some felt snowflakes, a rhinestone brad, and grosgrain ribbon to finish off this card. The sentiment is from SU! Short and Sweet.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend. :)

One more thing...
the Whimsy Stamps shop is up and running and we've just released three new images and two sentiment sets! Stop by and check them out! Happy Stamping!! :)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Layers of Peace

Hi All!

Hope your week is going well. It's been busy here, I always like when the week's go by quickly! :)

I have a card to share today that was recently posted in my Layers of Color gallery. I made this one using the Renaissance Hearts set. I love this image. I was going for more of a holiday look with this one and so I used Burgundy and a forest green for the cardstock colors. The image was colored with watercolor crayons. I cut out the birds and adhered them with glue. The sentiment is from SU! All Holidays.

Be sure to visit the Layers of Color site to see more ideas and creative inspiration using these exclusive art stamps.

I'll be back tomorrow with a card made for the new challenge over on STAMP SOMETHING! Have a great day, happy stamping!! :)

I'd also like to mention that my friend and blogging buddy Jo of Only Joking is celebrating her blogoversary! Hop on over and take a look! Happy Blogoversary Jo! :)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Whimsy Sketch on PCP

Hi Again!

I'm back! I have my card to share that I made for the first Whimsy Stamps Challenge on Paper Craft Planet! This challenge is a sketch challenge, here's the sketch! Please note: this is a PCP challenge, projects must be posted on PCP to enter. PCP membership is free!

If you'd like to play along, please follow this sketch and then post your creation to the PCP photo gallery with the tag whimsysketch1, all lowercase and one word. You'll have until Friday, December 12th to enter. For this challenge, you don't need to use a Whimsy Stamps image to play along but if you have one, please do use it! :)


I used the Whimsy Animals Collection Turtle to make my card. The cardstock colors are Always Artichoke, and Soft Sky. I also used Wintergreen DSP. I colored my image, then added some crystal effects and glitter to make the water. The accents are grosgrain ribbons, silver HPH, brads, paper flowers, rhinestones, and eyelets. The sentiment if from SU! All Holidays.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll join in the challenge fun. Be sure to check out our sneak peeks in the post below. Happy Stamping!! :)

Final Sneak Peek!

Hi All!

I want to share a final sneak peek at the new stamps being released this Friday from Whimsy Stamps! We are super excited for the release!

Now, you've already seen our owl, but here he is again and we also have our moose and skunk! What do you think? The actual stamp sizes will be...


owl = about 2.5" X 3", the moose = about 3" x 4", and the skunk = about 2.75" x 2.75". And just as our original three stamps, these little guys will also be mounted on cling cushion/EZ mount and will come untrimmed.






In some other news, as I mentioned before, we now have a Whimsy Stamps group on Paper Craft Planet. And this week, I'll be adding a bi-weekly sketch challenge and maybe a little candy prize too! To play along, please visit us at Paper Craft Planet, membership is free! We'd love to have you join! I hope to have the sketch posted later today! :)

Have a great Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, December 1, 2008

A Whimsy Christmas

Good Monday Morning All!

Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. We stayed home for most of it and just relaxed. It was nice. I got to read, the kids played, and the hubby did some work around the house. I started the Twilight series, well let's just say not much else got done this weekend, including stamping! I'm addicted! Can't wait to get the next one!

I did make some time today, after my book was finished (hee hee) to stamp. I made a holiday card using my Whimsy Frog image and some holiday designer print paper from SU!. I also tried out my new sewing machine (hubby bought it for me for my birthday, in May) to do some stitching around the edges. I'm still trying to figure it out! I hate to sew, but it was fun on a card! :)

I also took out my heat embossing tools and added iridescent ice EP to the image piece once my stamping and coloring was complete. The accents here are felt snowflakes and brads, wide ribbon, a metal clip, and oval punches with the sentiment.

I do have some Whimsy Stamps news to share today as well! Vicki Parson of Stamped Smiles is going to be the first monthly guest designer for Whimsy. She'll be making projects for the month of December! We are lucky to have her fabulous talent contributing to Whimsy Stamps! Thanks Vicki! I hope you'll go over and visit her, she always has amazingly creative ideas to share!

Whimsy also has a new group on Paper Craft Planet. Membership on PCP is free and fun! I hope to use the Whimsy Stamps group to post announcements, news, challenges, and also have a place for lovers of Whimsy to share their work and creations!

I think that's about it, at least for now! Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stamping! :)