Crafty Secrets Soldered Pieces and Spellbinder's Winner!

Drumroll please. We have a winner of the Pinking Circle Dies from my Blog Party post. Congratulations to Katie Renz!! And thanks to all of you for visiting my blog!

Katie said this after being notified she was the winner:

I’m super excited to receive this set of new dies. I have been collecting all the nestabilities and am close to having ALL of them J This set will fit in perfectly with what I have. I honestly use my dies for cutting and embossing nearly every day. They are not only super easy to use but really add that something special to my cards.

I thought I would share some photos today of some of my first soldered pieces. I used some cut outs from Crafty Secrets booklets. The booklets make for some GREAT soldering artwork. You can check them out HERE.

This first piece shows the front and back of a bird themed soldered piece. I used this with all of my bird and nature decorations this spring.
And I thought this piece about family would be fun to hang off of a wreath, Christmas tree or perhaps a scrapbook album.
I am no where near the great soldering expert I would like to be. I still have LOTS to learn. I'm definitely going to be stopping by the Simply Swank booth at CHA this year to learn some more tips. They have a great line of soldering tools and have THE CUTEST samples at their booth. Be sure to add them to your list of booths to visit at CHA....and Crafty Secrets too. Sandy has lots of fun new stuff up her sleeve!

Lockhart Rosebud Cupcakes

Thank you all for the nice comments about yesterday's Spellbinder's post. I'm glad you all like the new Pinking Circle Dies. You have until midnight tonight to enter the drawing. Tomorrow I will announce the winner of the pinking dies right here on my blog. Be sure to check the blog party schedule to see what's coming up next!

Today I'm using Karen Lockhart's Rosebud Cupcake stamp. The rosebuds on the top of the cute cupcake liners make for fun cards. I stamped three of the images and colored them with Copic markers. I used birthday sentiments from the Papertrey Ink set called Birthday Basics. The smallest sentiment is layered with a circle and scallop circle from Spellbinders. I stitched around the main image with my sewing machine and then layered the card up with Papertrey Ink cardstock. Bottom scallops with the holes are made with a Fiskar's border punch. Ribbon is from Papertrey Ink. I love making pretty birthday cards. Birthdays are such a special day for that special someone. I think everyone deserves to be pampered on their birthday. And sometimes all it takes to make someone's day is a nice card...no gift required.

Spellbinder's Sneak Peek

There's a blog party going on at Spellbinders! Click on that link to read all about the two week celebration, celebrating the 1 year birthday of Nestabilities! Today, I get to show you some new dies being introduced at Summer CHA coming up soon. Be sure to check out the official rules at the end of my blog post for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Party Drawing for the dies I'm showing today and for a chance to win the gihugic GRAND PRIZE of a new raspberry Wizard and $500 worth of Spellbinders dies!!

Today I will be featuring two new sets of dies.

Small Pinking Circle Dies (S4 172) MSRP $24.99
Largest die in this set measures 3-1/2" in diameter

Large Pinking Circles Dies( S4 170) MSRP $24.99
Largest die in this set measures 3-5/8" in diameter You can check out some great videos HERE! Stacey has demonstrated how to use Spellbinder's dies in other die cutting machines.

Now onto my projects for today featuring the new Small and Large Pinking Circles! I wanted to show you how verstatile the dies are for you projects. I first chose to use some of the smaller Pinking Circles as an accent for a card. When I first saw a photo of these dies, I immediately though of prize ribbons and emblem type projects. So my inspiration led to a blue ribbon pie! I used two sizes of Pinking Circles dies to create the round portion of the ribbon. I hand cut two longer pieces of cardstock to create the rest of the ribbon. I adhered this to my card as if it hand won first prize in a pie contest! Pie and polka dot stamps are from Papertrey Ink. Rectangle die templates from Spellbinders.

Next, I wanted to show you how one of the larger Pinking Circles can be used the focal image of a card. I paper pieced a Lockhart Apron with Cosmo Cricket patterned paper then outlined it with a grey Copic marker, plus some shading on the dish towel hanging out of the apron. I then adhered my circle cut main image to a large Pinking Circle die. The zig zag of the pinking pattern really helps the focal image to pop off the card. Polka dot stamps are from Papertrey Ink.

And lastly, I want to show you how the dies can be used as a card in itself. I folded a piece of cardstock and then ran it through my Wizard with a large Pinking Circle die, making sure that a portion of the fold hung over my template. This allows for the clamshell type card to still have a small fold for opening and closing. These types of cards would be great for little gift cards or perhaps a recipe could be printed up and adhered to the inside.

So however you choose to use the new dies, Spellbinders offers limitless possibilities to what you can create because there are so many sizes to choose from. And these particular dies nest perfectly with the regular circle dies too.

Here's a list of the 2008 Blog Party Schedule so you can check out all the other new dies arriving soon!

June 30: Thinking Inking by Debbie Olson -- http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/muse_and_amuse/
July 01: Created From Paper by Jennifer Ellefson – http://www.createdfrompaper.blogspot.com/
July 02: Wickedly Wonderful Creations by Wendy Weixler – http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/
July 03: Embellished Dreams by Heidi Blankenship Decorative Frames – http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/
July 04: Simple Dreams by Ellen Hutson -- http://www.ellenhutson.typepad.com/
July 05: Caffeinated Thoughts by Michelle Klomp - http://michellejoklomp.blogspot.com/
July 06: Linda’s Works of Heart by Linda Duke -- http://www.lindaduke.typepad.com/
July 07: Mish Mash by Michelle Wooderson – http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/
July 08: Inky Heart by Sally Lynn MacDonald – http://www.inkyheart.typepad.com/
July 09: Cookies for Breakfast by Beth Pingry – http://bethping.blogspot.com/
July 10: PaperFections by Sharon Harnist – http://www.PaperFections.typepad.com
July 11: Today’s Creations by Holly Craft – http://todayscreations.blogspot.com/
July 12: Donya Schroeder by Donya Schroeder -- http://donyas.typepad.com/puckish
July 13: Follow Your Bliss by Trudee Sauer -- http://trudee.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Here's the official information for the:
Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Party Drawing

Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each of the 14 Spellbinders Sneak Peek Blog reveals as stated in the "Rules". This name will be drawn to receive the die being revealed on said blog. These entries must follow all rules stated below to be valid for the drawing.

Entrants visiting all 14 Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peeks Blog reveals and correctly entering their information into the 14 separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a new RASPBERRY WIZARD and a $500 retail value die package!

Rules:
Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek die give away must adhere to all of the following rules:

1. Participant must click on the provided drawing link on blog to enter each individual drawing on sneak peeks between June 30 and July 13.
2. Participant must type in the subject line the name of the die being revealed.
3. Participant must send their entry for this blog before 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on July 8th, 2008
4. Participant is only allowed to enter each of the 14 Spellbinders sneak peek blog give away drawings one time per sneak peek. Participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry.
5. Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawing.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Grand Prize drawing, must enter the drawing from all of the 14 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.

Please note:
*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.
*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.
*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communications
other than to contact the winner.
*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage and sign up: http://www.spellbinders.us/.

Click HERE to enter the drawing. Good luck!!(If you use an e-mail client that does not work with this pop-up box, you may copy and paste this address to send your entry to: NewDierelease@spellbinders.us .) Winner of my dies will be announced July 9th!

If you would like to receive more Spellbinders product release information, please go to their homepage and sign up at: http://www.spellbinders.us/.

Summer Birthday

Sweet Summertime.....and today it's the aftermath of our huge party. We had 56 guests......today the guests are gone but we have the remains of their fireworks, sticky pop cans, bowls with sticky, melted homemade ice cream, dead June bugs all over the garage and FLIES! We had a GREAT time with all of our friends and we just finished up the cleaning, have our showers taken and are now in a vegetative state...scattered around on the sofa, beds and recliners. Whew, what a night! Eric decided to get a card game up with the leftover men so it was 2am before everyone left. Now it's just one more ball tournament to be done with and the summer is ours! I'll upload some photos of our party soon.

On to today's card. I love this Vintage Garden Chair stamp from Karen Lockhart. This is such a familiar scene around our house during the summer.....lawn chair, cold drink nearby and just relaxing. I thought this stamp would make perfect cards for summertime birthdays. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink birthday set.
The *happy birthday* sentiment is acrylic so I curved it on my clear book so that it could follow the curve of my circular main image. Paper is from Ocotber Afternoon. Image was colored with Copic markers. Circle and scallop circles dies from Spellbinders. Machine stitching around the card front. For a fun twist, I added two scraps of patterned paper to the circle with the main image. I added ribbon to cover up the paper *seam* and then mimicked the angle with the placement of the floral background paper.

I hope your summer is going great! We're looking forward to days at my inlaws pool, maybe catch the American Girl movie next week and definitely some Sonic runs for Jordan's favorite Mocha Java Chiller and Josey's strawberry milkshake. I prefer Diet Cherry Limeades, yummo!! And it's almost time for me to head off to CHA. I can't wait to meet up with some of my friends and also meet some new people.

Have a great afternoon everyone! I think a good book and a nap are calling my name!

July 5th Party....Day 5 JustRite Stampers

Good morning and Happy July 4th and Happy Birthday to my Josey! Today is my 5th and final day as a guest stamper for JustRite Stampers. Below is a sneak peek of some monograms I made up for our July 5th party this year. I used some Papertrey stamps and computer generated text for some fun invitations. And there's polka dots too! You can check out all the details by clicking on the link HERE. I would like to thank all the nice folks at JustRite Stampers for having me as their guest. If you're going to be at CHA, please stop by the JustRite Stampers booth. I'll be doing a guest appearance for the make and take booth for a few hours on Friday morning. Be sure to stop by and say HI and see what's cookin' (that's a hint for the make and take!).
Do you have any big plans for today? We'll be celebrating Josey's birthday with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and lighting some fireworks tonight. Tomorrow will be our big party! Hope you all have a great day and enjoy the independence that our wonderful nation offers.

Papertrey Boards and Beams/Day 4 JustRite Stampers

Hey everyone, today is day 4 of my guest blogging over at JustRite Stampers. You can check out my notecards I made right HERE. I'm having so much fun with these stamps. Once you get the idea of how they work, the light bulb moments start to click on......and then the possibilities are endless!! I hope you try them out!!
Yesterday was such a busy day. We had an early appointment, dropped Jordan's sleepover friend back home and then we headed to the big city for shopping with my parents. Our plans were just to hit the scrapbook store and Sam's for July 4th food.....little did I know that we'd stop at Kohl's and buy school clothes for the girls! Great deals though if you have a Kohl's near you...lots of 40-50% off items that are summery but still great for back to school clothes. My family is exhausted though with all the hustle and bustle of the summer. It's time for some R & R around here!

I did find a little time to stamp tonight though. I colored some Papertrey images while watching the girls swim yesterday. I do that quite often....color images while waiting for the girls at practice, swimming, etc.....then finish my project later.

I've been wanting to use my new Beams and Borders stamp set from Papertrey Ink SO badly. When Nichole first gave a sneak peek of this set, I got very excited! You see, my college degree is in Interior Design. And although I didn't have a stellar career in designing fancy interiors, I loved drawing floorplans, preparing sample boards, choosing color palettes and doing architectural renderings. I really think that I should have majored in Graphic Design now that I look at it. But oh well, back to my card. The big house image that Nichole designed for the Boards and Beams set is actually pretty close to what rendered elevations of a house would look like. She did a VERY good job! So I was tickled pink...or maybe yellow for this project.....to see the entire set. With my combined background and love of all things *homey*, this set just called my name! I will use it tons for house warming, hostess gifts and I know that my realtor friends will love cards like this to give to clients. Awesome set! Below is my finished card, I love how it all came together.
And what's not to love when you have such great stamps to work with. Nichole and the other PTI stamp designers put so much thought into each set. The combinations of stamps that can be used together are endless. I love how you can piece together a scene so easily with all of the separate images that come in each set. Look how I was able to separately stamp, color and cut out the fence and the tree. I popped them up with pop dots to give a 3-D effect. For the tree, I stamped and colored it twice then cut out a smaller portion of the leaves for added pop.
And look how many stamp images come in one set. Talk about a DEAL! There's just oodles and oodles of stamps there. Plus each set has a bunch of sentiments too. I loooove the sentiments. Each stamp set comes with a CD case and labels.....very detailed, that Nichole is!
And with each stamp set, the details just get better and better. The hard part is done for you....the drawing of the images! All you have to do is stamp and move on to the project details. I colored my house with Copic markers and was able to get some great shadows placed under the eaves and overhangs of the house.
And then there's the PTI accessories. Nichole has such a good eye for choosing colors for all of the wonderful papers, inks and ribbons.....they all match.......I'm in heaven! Have you noticed which style of ribbon is my favorite? It's the polka dot ribbon, love it!
Isn't it great that there are SOOO many great stamp comanies out there to create with? I'm excited to share each and every one of my creations with you. Stamping is such a fun craft and I've met sooooo many wonderful friends too. I hope you all are having a blast with your stamps...get them out and use them......send a card out to a friend.....have FUN!

Recipe Card....Day 3

Hi everyone, today is day 3 of my guest blogging over at JustRite Stampers. Today I have a fun recipe card to show you. You can visit the website HERE. It's such a busy time around here. Josey's softball team lost their game last night so they are done with ball. We can cross that off the list! Today's it's orthodontist appointments and then I'm headed to the big town with my folks to do some shopping for the July 5th party. I'll have some more fun projects soon! Have a great day everyone!

Library Projects...Day 2 for JustRite Stampers

Hi everyone, today is day two for my guest spot over at JustRite Stampers. Here's my sneak peek of my project. You can see the full design and read all about it by visiting the JustRite Stampers blog HERE. All my friends are hearing the buzz about these fun monograms...so don't miss out.
Be sure to scroll down to my Spellbinder's post....the list of the featured bloggers are posted there. You can win some GREAT prizes from Spellbinder's.