Wow! That's Fantastic!

It's Time for a New Challenge! Wait....I guess I just said that. In the little banner right above this. Oh, well. I said it again. But, for reals, though...it is. It is time for a brand new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog! This week we are Making it Masculine! We want to see you create projects for the men in your life! The Design Team is featuring CAS-ual Fridays Stamps products and Waffle Flower Crafts products this week!



I pulled out THREE of my favorite CAS-ual Fridays Stamp sets for this card. Yes, three favorites. I have a lot of favorites when it comes to CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, what can I say? I stamped using some favorite Simon Says Stamp inks to create a simple, classic design. I have a confession: I don't differentiate between 'masculine' and 'feminine' cards. I make a card for a person. If that person likes blue, I use blue. If that person likes birds or flowers or cake or beer, I choose my images accordingly. I think this card would work wonderfully for any friend who likes bold, clean designs, but we are going to go with masculine for the sake of the challenge, K? K. Glad we had this talk.



A wee bit of washi tape and a single sequin accent the top of the card for just a teensy bit of pizzazz! That's a fun word. PIZZAZZ! Go ahead... say it. No, like, for realies...out loud. PIZZAZZZZZ! Yup. Totally a fun word. Plus the word 'pizza' is hidden in it, so that makes it even more awesome.

Wow. Tangent. Okay, so, anyway... now it's your turn to play along with the challenge! Create something awesome for the Make it Masculine challenge and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog! We can't WAIT to see what you do! One lucky participant will win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store! Yup. That's awesome, too.

Have a Happy, folks!

Mountains in Your Way? Move 'em.

Yup. Move 'em. You can do it.



I created this card with fabulous Encouraging Words stamp set from WPlus9. The sentiments in this set are amazing. They are truly encouraging words. In addition to the sentiments, the images are wonderfully simplistic, making them a natural choice for a CAS designer.



I used three different ink colors to get the coloring I wanted on the sun behind the mountains. I love how that turned out! This one was quick, yes, but it makes me happy.

Have a Happy!

Organizational Tips and Tricks

Do you have a craft room? Craft space? Craft closet? New ways to organize our supplies are always cropping up and today I am sharing some of my favorite supply organization tips and tricks over on the Bazzill Basics blog!



I can't WAIT for you to see it over there! You won't be able to leave comments on the Bazzill Blog, but it will be posted on the Bazzill Facebook Page sometime today, so feel free to leave comments there and also SHARE with your friends!  

Be Different. Be Beautiful.

Those are the same thing. Just in case that wasn't clear. It was, though, huh? Yeah... it totally was.

In other news: I love flamingos. And I love that they aren't ACTUALLY pink, but they are pink, but they aren't pink. No, for reals. ACTUALLY, they are pink OR Orange-ish. And they are born a light grey color. They eat brine shrimp. LOTS and LOTS of brine shrimp. And blue-green algae that is loaded with beta-carotene. THAT, is what causes the colors. They also eat some mollusks and other crustaceans that contain similar pigments. The pink or the orange tones depend on the specific shrimp and algae types they are eating. AND, because people expect them to be pink, zoos will actually add a color chemical to the flamingo food to maintain that color. It's all in the food, folks. If you change their diet, they wouldn't be pink anymore. You are what you eat!



AND...I even have an ink pad CALLED Flamingo. It's from WPlus9 and it is probably that fabulous pinkish-orange color because it ate a lot of shrimp. And algae. I'm sure of it. I used it for my Flamingo. Then I stamped his legs and beak in Simon Slate ink and layered a WPlu9 tag cut from Bazzill Vellum over him. A bit of May Arts Silver string grounds the tag to the card. The accent stripes are from the Clearly Besotted Diagonal Stripes stamp set. I love those stamps for accenting!



And that sentiment. I love it. I love it a lot. I am different. I like it that way. It works for me. I hope you are different, too.

Wow. You came to see a card and got a science lesson AND a mini motivational speech! Who knew?

Have a Happy, friends!

Because ANYTHING Goes!

If I can incorporate the words 'zap', 'pow', and 'boom' into a card, I pretty much count that as a win from the start. For reals, though. Yes, it's that time, again, folks! It is ANYTHING GOES week over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog! The Design Team is featuring Avery Elle goodness this week! I am a big fan of Avery Elle stamps. I just love them. I used the Super stamps and dies for my card today.



I stamped the entire scene on the white panel and then stamped and die cut the city, colored with Copics to add some shadowing, and adhered that with foam tape for added dimension and visual interest. I also coated the message bubble with Wink of Stella clear glitter goodness!



Now it's YOUR turn! Create something AWESOME (it has to be NEW) and link it up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp! Yup. For reals.

Have a Happy!

Because Puppies Make Me Smile

They really do. And I like to smile. And I REALLY love puppies. (And for the record, age does not define a puppy in my world. They are ALL PUPPIES!!!) Even though it makes me a little sad to pull out my puppy stamps, it reminds me of both of my sweet girlies and THAT makes me happy. I recently got these adorable Mama Elephant Playful Pups from Simon Says Stamp and I just love them. The puppies are just so sweet!



I colored that sweet little chubby puppy with my Spectrum Noir pens and stamped and colored the tennis ball, as well. I then added the line for the floor by hand. I really like doing this, as it is never perfectly straight and adds a touch of visual interest to the card whilst grounding the images quite well.



I used some fun washi tape in a few places to accent the card. I love this tape! It's super cuteness! It is made by Little B so it comes in a cute little dispenser thingy, too. I think you can find it at Michael's. A single Spellbinders® sequin finishes it off. Did you know Spellbinders even HAD sequins? They do. And they don't have holes in them. And I LOVE that. Also, the colors are amazing and they come in a wonderful little pot. Seriously. I love them. Lots.

I hope this little puppy has made you smile today! You can find my complete supply list below.

Have a Happy!

Supplies:

Stamps: Mama Elephant Playful Pups

Pens: Spectrum Noir, Sakura Fine Line Micron Pens

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black

Sequins: Hip Hooray by Spellbinders®

Washi Tape: Little B Designs

This Gold is Distressed!

I mean, it can be tough being a gorgeous gold foil flower. WAIT, nope. Not that kind of distressed. I recently purchased a pot of WOW Heat & Bond powder along with a packet of the Bright Gold foil that goes with it. It arrived. And I, naturally, was scared to death of it.

What? That doesn't happen to you? Oh. Wellll... it happens to me.

HOWEVER, my dear friends, I conquered that fear by carefully reading the directions and choosing the simplest application of the product. This involved using my heat gun and a burnisher (read: teflon bone folder, 'cause that's totatally what I used) to create a distressed gold foil look. The results? Well, I have to say, I kinda really like 'em!



Of course, that AMAZING stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps did half the work for me. I mean, SERIOUSLY, that flower, you guys?! I so love it. So, lots of love it. I made this card for the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog. You should visit that blog from time to time. We make some pretty awesome stuff. For reals, though.



I die cut the flower from the black and layered that over the dark teal cardstock before adhering the stamped, foiled, and die cut flower with foam tape. A bit of gold thread and a few sequins add even more pizzazz to the look. (Pizzazz has LOTS of z's in it. That is a fun word to type. And to say. Go ahead, say it out loud...PIZZAZZ!)

For those of you in the United States, I wish you a Happy Memorial Day weekend! For the rest of you...

Have a Happy!