Life lately has been nothing but house hunting! We are desperately trying to find a house that is within our budget and fits our family. We have seen 60+ houses, put in two offers that fell through and are still looking! :(

This card is one I made over a month ago, before all the craziness, to try and use up and showcase retiring products. I mixed some retiring colours with a long retired stamp set (Extreme Elements), Bigz Die (Stars #2) and a new stamp set & punch (Label Love & Artisan Punch).

It's a simple card, but wanted to share so that you know I'm still alive! haha I haven't even had much time to play with my new goodies! Wish me luck on finding a house so that I can relax a little and get back to what I love most!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Punched Cross

Today I'm sharing with you an old project... you can tell it's old because of some of the products used. However, I still wanted to show it to you because I think it's really cool.

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Beau Chateau DSP (retired)
Stamps: Crosses of Hope (inside)
Tools: Scallop Trim Border Punch & Corner Punch (retired), Little Leaves Sizzlit
Accessories: Pearls, Flower Trim

What happened is that (over a year ago!) I came across an awesome tutorial video from Frenchie on how to make a beautiful cross with punches. I was so excited that I made a few, but then never did anything with them. As you may have read, I had to do a major clean up of my craft loft as we're selling our house and during this clean up, I came across my crosses. :)

I hope you've enjoyed this share and if you've got these punches (or perhaps similar ones would work?), head on over to Frenchie's Blog linked above and show her some love!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

What's New and MM?

I'm still here... have you been wondering what's going on in my life? Well, my littlest one hit the 3-month mark over the weekend (can't believe that!) and life with kids is pretty busy, but on top of that, we have also decided to sell our house, so that makes life pretty crazy around here lately! Having to keep the house spotless for showings is near impossible with little ones! haha.

Being kicked out of the house for showings and raising two kids has left me little time for designing, but I also didn't want to craft much because my space becomes buried in mere seconds when I'm working. :) It's an organized chaos though... but I didn't think potential buyers would appreciate that.

Anyway, some of the projects I'll be showing you over the next few posts are ones I've done a while back, but haven't yet had the opportunity to showcase them here on my Blog. Here is one CASEd from one seen on Pinterest:

Paper: Basic Gray, Pool Party, Silver
Ink: Basic Gray
Stamps: One in a Million
Tools: Big Shot, Fancy Fan TIEF, Punches: Heart, Owl,
Apothecary Framelits, Typeset Alphabet
Accessories: Pearls

I added a few more layers and dimension then the one I saw and I'm happy with how it turned out. Although, many ask me what "MM" stands for. I thought it was pretty clear that it stood for "Mr. and Mrs." but maybe I'm wrong... what are your thoughts?

Thanks for sticking with me during this time where I'm horribly neglecting my Blog. I appreciate your following and comments!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Doily Thanks

This card was one I designed for Sunday Stamps several weeks ago, but never got around to blogging about it. :( My life lately has been insanely busy!

My design was partially inspired by a card seen on Pinterest - a large background stamp was used and cut into quarters (or I assume so anyway since that's what I did). The card on Pinterest was quite simple... I jazzed it up by stamping the fuller image again and then adding a sentiment. Check it out:

Paper: Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade
Stamps: Hello, Doily, A Round Array
Tools: Big Shot, Perfect Polk Dots TIEF, Punches: 7/8" Scallop, 1" Circle, Artisan Label

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out. I created an abstract layout that I felt fit with the way I stamped my image. I kept this card fairly simple... no bling! But I did add lots of dimension with some embossing and popping up my sentiment in two spots.

Hope you like my design... this is a great one if you have to whip up a lot of thank you cards!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Thanks a Bunch

It's another week at Sunday Stamps... Kathya has got a fun colour combo for us - Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo & Daffodil Delight. I opted not to do a card this week, but a bunch of tags to thank a friend who brought me some homemade soup in a mason jar after my son was born. I'm not much of a baker or cook, but thought this was a nice gesture when I returned her jars.

Paper: Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss (retired)
Ink: Daffodil Delight, Sahara Sand, Melon Mambo
Stamps: Friendship Preserves
Tools: Big Shot, Windows Framelits
Accessories: Very Vanilla 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon

I must apologize for the poor photos... we listed our house yesterday and over the weekend, I had to do a major declutter and pack-up of my entire house, including my craft loft! :( I kept all of my most used items, but temporarily had to pack up my portable light studio for the house photos.

Anyway, this was a quick and easy project to thank my friend for her awesome soup. She does like to bake & cook, so I know that she will get some use out of the tags I made for her.

I hope that you'll play along with this colour challenge! Pop on over to Sunday Stamps to play along... there are some exciting changes happening with the challenge. You now have two weeks to play along, and we're introducing some new DT Members. So head on over and see what's new while you upload your project!

Until next time, stay crafty!

Steph

Sunday Stamps Sketch!

I don't know about you, but May has been a crazy month! It's been jam-packed for me and after today, I'm looking forward to a little bit of relaxation time... and hopefully more stamping! I did manage to find a brief moment the other day to work on my design for Sunday Stamps this week though. I'm hosting and have put together a simple sketch:

Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Neutrals Paper Stack
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey
Stamps: Word Play, En Francais
Tools: Big Shot, Elegant Lines TIEF, Artisan Label Punch
Accessories: Jewels

This sketch is so versatile... and the beauty of sketches is that you can use them as a starting point for inspiration - flip them, move the elements around, change the shapes, etc. I decided to stick pretty close to the sketch, just changing out the sentiment shape.

I hope this sketch inspires you and that you can play along with us this week. We love seeing what designs you can create!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Better Late Than Never!

I know it's Tuesday... but here's my post from Sunday! It's my design for Sunday Stamps. I had a pretty crazy weekend, not to mention life with a toddler & newborn. ha. I'm lucky if I remember what I'm doing half the time... But, better late than never, right?!  :)

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Various Stampin' Write Markers
Stamps: Fabulous You, Bitty Banners, Stacks of Wishes
Tools: Big Shot, Labels Framelies, Lacy Brocade TIEF, Boho Blossom Punch, Heat Tool
Accessories: Jewels

This card started out looking like the sketch, I swear! But then it morphed into the card you see above. That's the beauty of sketch challenges... they're an inspiration point. Sometimes you keep it looking exact and sometimes it inspires you to create something completely different!

This was a card I made for my friend's bridal shower over the weekend. I just love the shoe from the Fabulous You stamp set. It's hard to see in the picture, but I stamped the sayings from the Stacks of Wishes hostess stamp set from the Spring Catalogue. I created a background image with them, stamping them randomly both inside and out. It's such a great set because you get so many greetings... plus, the beauty of clear mount allows you to cut them all apart so that you can use them individually, or all together by mounting them on a block again.

Hope you're inspired by Joan's sketch this week. Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team too!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Wedding Card Box

One of my very good friends is getting married at the end of the month and as one of her bridesmaids (and the "crafty one"), she asked if I wanted to create a custom card box for her. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! Although I played around with a lot of ideas and it was harder to find boxes that would work than I thought, I am extremely pleased with how it turned out...

All the boxes are glued together with holes cut through them so that the cards can drop right to the bottom. I designed it so that the lid can pop off to empty out all the cards. Can you believe this cost me less than $15 to create?! Well, maybe you can believe it, but I think it looks far richer than that! I hope my friend loves it... and that you do too!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph