Wouldn't it be nice?

Wouldn't it be nice if stamps grew on trees? And I don't just mean the wood handles, I mean the whole stamp. I'd buy a Whipper Snapper tree, and a House Mouse tree, and a Verve Stamps tree, and, and, and... well, you get the idea.

Here is the much anticipated altered item using my September 3 Little Dreams kit. There's really not a whole lot too it, but I think the end result makes for an adorable little gift. I bought this cute little bucket in the Target dollar spot, and decorated it with strips of paper from the kit (excuse the pic - I had to use flash as it wouldn't fit in my usual, well lit, photo location). In real life the blues are a perfect match, but with my flash they are different - the metal must reflect more of the light from the flash or something. Anyhow, I adhered those to the bucket and then tied a bow in the ribbon and adhered the ends of the bow around the back of it (hence no little "tails" on the bow itself). Then I added a SU Cellophane bag filled with blue Easter grass and some stamps and added some twigs from the birch tree for a little dramatic flair.

I think it makes for a cute little gift, don't you?

Details:
Stamps: None
Ink: None
Paper: All from 3 Little Dreams kit
Other: Ribbon from kit, Cellophane bag (SU!), Birch twigs, Easter Grass

Chickadee Greeting

Here is my third and final sneak peek card for the September Sweet n' Sassy Stamps kit from 3 Little Dreams. I promised a bird that needed no coloring, and here you have it! The chickadee image in this set is large enough that it can hold its own as a background image. Not much to say about construction on this one. Just lots of layering and some brads. The bird and sentiment are stamped with Close to Cocoa ink, and the sentiment has Tim Holtz ink sponged around the outside edge. Everything used on this card, with the exception of the Close to Cocoa ink, was included in my September kit.

I think tomorrow I might have to show you the card I made for this week's cupcake challenge over on Taylor's blog. It turned out super cute, if I do say so myself! I still have to show you my 3LD altered item too but to be honest, I'm kind of having a bit of crafter's block on it so it might have to be bumped back a day for "fine tuning". *wink*

Enjoy your weekend!

Details:
Stamps: My Lil' Chickadee (Sweet n' Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Tim Holtz (included in kit)
Paper: All from September SNSS 3 Little Dreams Kit
Other: All from September SNSS 3 Little Dreams Kit

Destination Unknown

Ok, I don't know about you, but I need a break from the bird. LOL. :) I do love that set, but I needed to lighten things up for a day. Today is another 3 Little Dreams challenge day, and the challenge this week is to use stitching on your card. Here is my take on the challenge, using materials from my August Globetrottabella kit. I just love that map paper (It's called Passport, and it's by Making Memories... I checked. *wink*), and I thought the little puffy tag was just perfect for this image.



Now I really want someone to make that sentiment into a stamp so I can use it with this Bella. Em, are you reading this? Wouldn't that be fun? Yeah, I thought so. ;)

As for the card, I adhered everything together except for the base, and then drew little dots where I wanted my punches. My long reach punch didn't fit over all of the layers of cardstock though, so I used my old paper piercer for setting brads (you know, the one with the hammer) to punch the holes. It worked great, and thankfully both boys slept through all of my banging. hee hee. I thought the holes looked a little too big, but in the end I kind of like them that way. Then I just threaded the hemp cord through by hand, and secured it at either end. I also stuck the tag down with a mini-glue dot so it didn't flop around.

And there you have it! What do you think? I kinda think I love it, personally.

Want more samples? Check out the rest of the design team blogs (links at right), OR looky here... Lauren Meader herself played with this very same kit and made some super cute things too.

I'll be back tomorrow with my final sneak peek card, and then an altered item on Sunday... that I shoplifted from Target. *sigh* It was under the carseat, and I didn't notice it until I got to the parking lot. So now I have to go back and let them look at me like I have two heads for coming back to pay my $1.05 for a dollar spot item.

I love being a mom. I love being a mom. I love being a mom.

Details:
Stamps: Globetrottabella (Stamping Bella)
Ink: Adirondak Pitch Black
Paper: All from 3 Little Dreams August Bella Kit
Other: Tag from kit, Staples, hemp cord, copic markers, stickles (on scarf)

My Little Chickadee

Here is another sneak peek from my September 3 Little Dreams kit, featuring the My Lil' Chickadee set from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps. This is the front of the card:



And this is the inside:


I used one of the notecards that come in the kit for my white paper, and had a hard time getting my copics to blend on the paper, but it's weird because they seemed to work just fine on the bird's tummy, but not on the sky. Strange. It's still cute though, no?

I cut the window on this card with my Fiskars circle cutter (seriously, how old school am I?), and all of the materials used are from my kit with the exception of my copics and ink (black on bird, close to cocoa on sentiments). The brown piece of cardstock is the traditional A2 cardfront size (5.5x4.25) and the notecard was trimmed down a little bit to layer on top.

So I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Geez Sarah, that's great, but I hate to color." I can't tell you how many times I've heard stampers say they hate coloring. Well, don't you worry! Stay tuned to my blog and on Saturday I'll post another super cute sampler card from this kit where the Chickadee isn't colored in at all. Not even a tiny bit! You'll love it! It has to wait for Saturday though because tomorrow is another 3LD challenge day. ;o)

Now I have a little business to take care of! I was blessed to receive this blog award from two people this week... Kimberly and Sarah. Thanks girls!

In the interest of paying it forward, I thought I'd play along.

The rules...
1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

There are lots of blogs I visit regularly, so for this list I've decided to go with blogs that I truly do love, AND blogs that I haven't already nominated for a different award in hopes of exposing you to some new art that you maybe haven't seen yet (although seriously, how could you miss them?! They're fabulous!)! Here are my picks:

1. Jennifer Love's Cuppy Cake - she has some super cute cards on her blog, and she always has such nice comments.

2. Dawn's Stampin' Thoughts - Stampin' Up! fans, this blog's for you! She has tons, and I do mean TONS of fun ideas and videos to boot. So cool! I have her in my reader but rarely comment (I'm a bad blog fan, I know), so I thought I'd give her a shout out here!

3. Gina's Stampin' Blog - I think I've told you how much this girl rocks for all of her volunteering on SCS. Be sure to check out her blog and give her some love. She has some super cool stuff out there!

4. Mandy at Limelight Papercrafts - I'm a little bummed that she didn't pick me for her DT, but I got over it quick *wink*! Mandy is super creative and she has an awesome store (with super fast shipping, btw!). Be sure to give her some love!

5. Sparkle Smith's My Life, Creations, and Tribulations - Sparkle is on the 3LD design/dream team with me, but I followed her blog long before that. She has great cards (lots of bella's, if you're a fan!) and just posted a super sweet sb page honoring her Mom. Take a peek!

6. Suzanne J. Dean's Scrapbitz - This is another case where I drool far more than I comment, but that's not the point, right? I stink at commenting, but I love to look and learn! Suzanne is uber-talented to say the least. Go on, click her blog link, you'll see what I mean!

7. Kimberly Geswein's Life in China, Unscripted - Ok, so this is not a craft blog, but Kimberly *is* most definitely a crafter. She just happens to be following her heart on a not-so-little journey to China, and this blog is her journal of that journey. I read it daily, and would highly recommend you do the same! I know she won't play along, but just wanted to remind her that I do love her blog!

And FINALLY (man this seems like a long post!), big thanks to Monique for nominating me for another Brilliante Weblog award. I really appreciate it. I've already played along on that one though, so I just thought I'd give her a little love here. :)

Card Deets (is anyone still reading? lol):
Stamps: My Lil' Chickadee (Sweet n' Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Basic Black, Close to Cocoa
Paper: All from September 3 Little Dreams kit
Other: Copic Markers, the rest from September 3 Little Dreams kit

My World

The other day Katie issued a little challenge to her 3 Little Dreams Dream Team members to create something with the little container that holds the brads in the August kits. I thought it was going to be one of those round, hard, plastic containers (do you know which ones I'm talking about?), and had all these visions of a pretty Christmas ornament dancing around in my head. I was so psyched to get my kit so I could start creating. Then my kit came, and this is what stared back at me:

Ummm, what? What is THAT? That's not a brad container. LOL. Ok, so maybe it is, but it's not the one I wanted! hee hee. So, back to the drawing board. I thought about it for a bit at my desk and then thought I really should get busy doing some of the things I've been neglecting. Like mailing out the kid-pics that were taken in the beginning of July. I have to send some wallets to Jenn, and.... wait a minute.... wallets.... hmmm... that looks like it might be big enough to hold a wallet photo.... (seriously, this is a real time conversation in my head people! Don't you feel enlightened? LOL!).... And then the light bulbs went on and the clouds parted and the angels sang and well, it was good. *wink*

A few layers of cardstock later, this is what I came up with:

I measured each layer of Cardstock and then cut the rectangles out with my exacto knife (Note to self: Buy Nestabilities). I stamped the sentiment and cut it apart, then layered it and freehand cut that as well so the edges are all a little angled (on purpose... honest.), then stuck each word to the front of my frame in a random pattern. I adhered the whole thing to the back of the brad container with dimensionals, and then had to adhere a 1/4" strip of white paper around the inside edge to finish it. Everything I used is from the August kit with the exception of the Riding Hood Red (SU!) paper I used behind the sentiment words. Oh, and just so you know, the wallet photo fit PERFECTLY with no trimming needed!

Is that not the cutest stinkin' baby? That's my Jack at 3 mos. :o)

Once the frame was done I added a piece of adhesive magnet to the back (no idea what brand it is as we've had it forever, but it comes in a roll and you just cut off what you need and adhere it to whatever suits you), and popped it up on the fridge.

Here's a pic of my messy freezer door:


That's my Henry in the bottom left pic (taken awhile ago - around 9 mos old, maybe?), and those magnets in the top right corner are made with SU stamps on tile. They're sooo cool. They were a gift from my first secret sister on SCS. She spoiled the daylights out of me. Some day I'll show you some of the things she sent me in a close up when I need blog fodder. :o)

Meanwhile, tell me how you like my frame!

Details:
Stamps: Sentiment (Stamping Bella)
Paper: All from 3 Little Dreams August kit
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Stampin' Dimensionals, Brads from 3LD August kit

Chirp Up!

My 3 Little Dreams kits arrived today! Woot! I was so excited to start playing, and thankfully the boys went down for their naps at the same time so I was able to whip out a card this afternoon. Here is my first creation with my September kit, featuring the My Little Chickadee set from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps. Click HERE to view the contents of the September kits. Pre-orders are ending in a few days, and they sell out super fast after that (seriously, I'm not just saying that!). And let me tell you... they sell out for good reason! These kits really are a killer deal. The paper, stamps, and embellishments are top quality, and very well coordinated. I really couldn't ask for anything more. I love it! Now, on to the card. What do you think? I stamped the image with my Adirondack Pitch Black ink pad, then colored it in with my copic markers. Then I was going to sponge some of the Tim Holtz Distressed Ink around the edges of the main image, but as I did I started to wonder what it would look like if I sponged the entire white space. So all that tan paper you see behind the bird - that's actually white paper covered with Tim Holtz ink using the sponge dauber. The ink covered so nicely - much better than SU! ink would have using the same application method (I am a *HUGE* SU! fan, but it's totally true). The rest of the card is pretty self-explanatory.

I had the hardest time deciding where to put that flower, but I thought having it there at the end of the branch was my best bet. Everything I needed to make this card was included in the September kit, with the exception of the ink I used on the image and sentiment and my copic markers. Even the sponge daubers were in there (from the optional add-on).

And as much as I was looking forward to getting my hands on this set, I thought it was kind of funny that once I stamped the image I couldn't for the life of me remember what the coloring looked like on a chickadee. Go figure. Not bad for "winging" it though, eh?!

Edited to add: I don't know why that ribbon looks so dark?? In person it's a deep chocolate brown that coordinates nicely with the rest of the card. On my screen it looks almost black though. Weird.

Details:
Stamps: My Little Chickadee (Sweet n' Sassy Stamps)
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Close to Cocoa (sentiment)
Paper: All from the September 3 Little Dreams kit
Other: Ribbon, Flower, Brad, all from the September 3 Little Dreams kit

Can I get a WOOT?!

Remember how I said I was working on stuff a month or so ago, but that I couldn't share it at the time? WELL. Let me tell you! What I was working on was a group of cards and an altered item for a Design Team application.

Did you notice that little button on the right side of your screen? That one that says I am a Design Team Member?? {insert WOOT here!}

The company is called 3 Little Dreams. Take a moment to browse the website, and feel free to linger on the DT page near my photo. LOL. ;o)

I have clearance now to show you the fun cards I made (ALL bella's!) for the application, but you're going to have to wait because first I want to show you another contest entry using my new She's All That set from Stampin' Up! I have it scheduled to post just after midnight, so stay tuned!