Happy New Year's Eve!

OMG, I feel like I'm so out of touch. I have been without internet access for the past 5 days. We made it to our hotel in Tampa today and THANK GOD we finally have internet. I don't have much time right now but I wanted to tell you all about some fun going on at Jacksonbelle Embellishments tonight. There is a New Years Eve bash with Jacksonbelle Embellishments over on Papercraft Planet (PCP). There will be lots of chatting, challenges and PRIZES! All the action starts at 3pm EST -so I hope to see you there (I'm going to try and check back in after we get home from Busch Gardens).

I don't have enough time to post the challenge details here so definitely check out the fun in the PCP group or on the Jacksonbelle blog. I did make cards for the 4 challenges before we left Wisconsin so my cards are posted below. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #4 Birthday cards

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #3 Neglected Stamps

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #2 Black and White

Jacksonbelle Embellishments New Years Challenge #1 Ring in the New Year

Happy Christmas Eve! (a little early)

I'm posting this a few hours early because I have an appointment at 7am in the morning (which is when I usually do my blog posting) to give blood at the annual Christmas Eve blood drive that they have here in Madison. My sister and I are trying to make this a tradition. Last year we chose late afternoon appointments and we waited FOREVER so this year we decided to take the first ones of the day...what in the world were we thinking. It sounded good several months ago when we scheduled the appointments but now that it is almost here, the thought of getting up and out of my house by 6:30am sounds near impossible. Wish me luck!

Today I have another card that I made using the QKD butterfly stamp. Just like yesterday's card, I was going for a crisp, clean, simple look. I think I got that with this card. I was actually really pleased with how this one turned out. What do you think?Supplies used: Stamps from Queen Kat Designs, SU CS, Sharpie marker, Hero Arts self adhesive gems, Cuttlebug folder.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! Thanks for stopping by!

SNOW, SNOW, GO AWAY....

and please don't come back ...EVER. We have gotten way way too much snow already this year. After getting more than a foot of snow in the past week they are calling for 4-6 more inches tonight and 4-6 more inches tomorow. To make it even worse our temperatures are still sub zero. Thank Goodness we are escaping on Friday to Florida for a warm and sunny family vacation!
Until then I'm going to continue to dream of my favorite things about summer...warm temperatures, sun, and butterflies! You all know that butterfly stamps are my absolute favorite, and I have a bunch of new butterflies that I haven't even inked up yet so starting today I am going to share a few butterfly cards to help boost my attitude until I can leave this frozen state for the sunny beaches of Florida.
For today's card I was going for clean and simple. This butterfly was just calling for me to cut it out and pop it up, LOL!

Supplies used: Stamps from Queen Kat Designs, SU CS, Basic Grey DP, Hero Arts black rhinestones, Bic marker.

Thanks for stopping by today! Even though we are going on vacation, I'm hoping to have blog posts scheduled while I am gone.
Oh and don't forget Jacksonbelle Embellishments will be hosting some awesome New Year's Eve challenges that you won't want to miss! I will have those scheduled to post also!
Hope you all have a wonderful day!

DRS Blog Challenge #11

It's time for another DRS Designs blog challenge!!
Tis the season for......BLING!!! Yes, you guessed it today's challenge is all about bling!!! We would love for you to play along with our challenges and I'm pretty sure almost everyone can play along with this one...you can use jewels, sparkly paper, shiny ribbon...whatever you consider bling goes!!! If you play, please come back and leave a direct link to your project. If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword DRSC11. There are no time limits and anyone can play. Don't have any DRS Designs images yet (because they are in the mail right?!) that's ok, you can still play! Tell a friend...the more the merrier!

Check out the awesome inspiration from the rest of the design team at the DRS Designs blog.

Here is my bling-filled card:Supplies used: Stamp from DRS Designs, SU CS, Basic Grey DP, SU ribbon, Michael's self adhesive rhinestones.

I hope you all have a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments!

Lindsey announced her new Jacksonbelle Embellishments DT yesterday, and I'm excited to say that my name is on the list! WOOHOO!!!!!

If you aren't familiar with Jacksonbelle Embellishments I highly recommend you drop whatever you are doing and "run" to her store, LOL! Lindsey carries pretty much all of my favorite products...Inkadinkado, Shimmerz, Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket, May Arts, October Afternoon and lots, lots more. It is a one stop shopping experience. You can find everything you need there, plus all orders over $75 have free shipping! Oh and I forgot to mention that the service is unbeatable. Lindsey is a dear and she ships really fast!

Congrats to all the other wonderful ladies who’ve also landed on the team — I am humbled to be included in such an awesomely talents group of ladies.

The Jacksonbelle Embellishments design team:

Maren Benedict

Melissa Bove

Jennifer Buck

Jill Dunn

Heather Lee-Reppen (that's me)

Kimberly O’Rosky

AJ Otto

Kisa Peters

Shannan Teubner

Michelle Woerner

Then of course the executive team:

Rachel Baird

Lynda Benden

Beth Thomas

Our first team challenge will be a fun New Year’s Eve party!!! There will be lots of fun and prizes! The details will follow soon!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sale at Firecracker Designs!!!!

There is a sale going on at Firecracker Designs ... from now until Christmas Day you can take 5$ off every order over $15.00!! Use coupon code: 5$OFF (all one word)!

Hope you are all having a wonderful day! It is freezing cold here (wind chill temps as low as -30) so I am stamping in my pjs all day. I don't go out in weather like this!

O Summer, Where Art Thou?

Cold...Snow...Freezing Rain...School Closings...Shoveling...Wind Chills...Subzero temperatures...that about sums up the week we've had here in Wisconsin. To make things even worse they are calling for 12 more inches of snow tonight. YUCK! Winter hit hard and early this year. I am SO not a cold weather person. To help boost my gloomy winter spirit I decided to make a card that at least reminds me of the warm, happy days of summer.
This card uses the newly released "You're Invited" stamp along with some of my other summer favorites! Oh how I wish I was going to a backyard barbecue instead of going out to shovel yet more snow...
Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Sharpie and Prismacolor markers, Shimmerz paints, Cuttlebug embossing folder, brads.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a warm and sunny day!

Non-traditional colors

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I thought I would share 2 more Chin Up snowman cards that I made with my design team set this month from Firecracker Designs. For both of these cards I went with non-traditional Christmas/Winter colors. Winter hit early and hard in Wisconsin this year and I've been suffering from the winter weather blues. I thought maybe I would try and cheer myself up with some bright, fun pinks and oranges. This snowman stamp is just so stinkin cute and I love the pink/orange combo with it!

Supplies used: Chin Up snowman from FCD, SU CS, Fancy Pants DP, Sharpie markers, MS snowflake punch, self adhesive rhinestones, foam dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, MM brads, misc ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Another FCD snowman card

I know this is my 2nd blog post today but I couldn't resist sharing another card that I made with the Chin Up snowman set from Firecracker Designs. This is my design team set this month and I have had such a fun time playing with this cute snowman. For this card I used some of the scraps of red glittered paper that I used on my TTIC card a few days ago. I love when I use scraps that are just laying on my stamp table! It is a really simple layout but I'm happy with how it turned out!Supplies used: Chin Up snowman set from FCD, SU CS, Glittered paper from Target (sorry I don't know the brand off the top of my head), Sharpie markers, Offray ribbon, foam dimensionals, red glitter.

Hope you are all having a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

Simple masculine card

Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Prismacolor pencils, Shimmerz paint, twill tape from Bobbin Ribbon, foam dimensionals, Basic Grey brads.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Amazing...

the world's most sewing challenged person was actually able to thread a sewing machine and get it to work properly. If you knew how incredibly inept I am when it comes to sewing you would be truely amazed! I've tried a few times (very unsuccessfully) over the years to work a sewing machine. The problem is, I have seen so many beautiful cards with sewing on them and the closest I could ever get was some stitching rub-ons. About 6 months ago I borrowed my grandmother's sewing machine from my mom in hopes of getting over my fear of sewing failure. A couple days ago while I cleaning up my stamp room I spied the sewing machine cover (covered in dust) under my table. I decided to pull it out and maybe try and thread it. The sewing machine is a Janome and has around 8 basic stitches. It took me a while but I actually got the needle threaded and THANKFULLY there was already a bobbin of thread in the bottom (not sure I could handle having to do to much). I can't even explain how giddy I was when I realized that I might have actually threaded it correctly. I decided to take the plunge and try it out. It took a few tries but I actually got the hang of sewing 2 pieces of paper together. I am SO proud that I can finally do what probably every 7th grader on the planet has already mastered....I can thread a sewing machine and sew a straight line, LOL.

So here is my FIRST EVER sewing card:

Supplies used: Chin Up snowman from Firecracker Designs by Pamela, SU cardstock, Fancy Pants DP, MS snowflake punch, Shimmerz angel wings, SU dazzling diamonds glittter, Sharpie markers...and a sewing machine!!!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you all have a terrific day!

TTIC #11 A Very Cullen Christmas

It's Tuesday and I'm excited...how can that be? Reason #1 - it's a snow day! No school, so we don't have to leave the house (or even get out of our pjs). Reason #2 - it is time for a Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge. The what challenge, you say? Well...Tonya from Stamp Happens has an AWESOME challenge every Tuesday called the Twilight Tuesday Inspiration Challenge (and she even has an awesome DT to go along with it!). As most of you know I am sort of a late bloomer when it comes to Twilight but late bloomer or not I am totally in love with this series of books and Edward Cullen. I first came to know of TTIC from one of my stamping/blogging friends Rebecca. I had been reading her blog for a while and was always intrigued by her Twilight projects. I finally decided to read the book to see what all the to-do was about. OMG...or should I say OME (Oh My Edward!)....I LOVED the books! Actually LOVED is a bit of an understatement...I read 4 books (and saw the movie twice) in less than a week. All I can say is THANK YOU REBECCA!!!
This week the challenge is "A Very Cullen Christmas". Before I say anything else I want to say that this card looks MUCH better in real life than it does in the photo. I took over 50 photos with and without flash and the glittered paper just doesn't photograph well.
For my Cullen inspired Chirstmas card I went with Elegant and well...Sparkly, of coarse!
I just bought this glittered paper at Target yesterday and thought this would be the perfect project for it. I embossed the red glitter paper with the Cuttlebug and then sanded it a little so the embossed pattern was a little more recognizable. It is really a shame that I can't get a good photo. I was really happy with how this turned out. Supplies used: Stamp from DRS Designs, SU CS, Glittered paper, Dress It Up glitter dots, white embossing powder, foam dimensionals, Nestibilities, misc. satin ribbon.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

DRS Blog Challenge #10

It's time for another DRS Designs blog challenge. The challenge this week is Christmas Ornaments. We would love to have you play along with the challenge. If you do please post a link to your project or use keyword DRSC10 when you upload to SCS or PCP.

For my ornaments, I painted chipboard snowflakes with Shimmerz Blingz. After they were dry I stippled ink over them and stamped the DRS Designs stars background. I also painted some Prima flowers with Shimmerz Blingz and added them to the centers with brads.
They are really beautiful in real life but very difficult to photograph. Let me know what you think.

Without flash:

With flash:Supplies used: Star background stamp from DRS Designs, Maya Road chipboard snowflakes, Shimmerz Blingz, Prima flowers, Basic Grey brads, SU classic ink.

I hope you are all having a terrific start to your week. Thanks for stopping by!

Quick and easy!

Today I have a quick and easy note or gift card. This card is 4 1/4" square. The flower is a large red Prima that I painted with Shimmerz. Total prep time including letting the Shimmerz dry...10 minutes! Great when you need a last minute card!

Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Prima flower, Shimmerz paint, SU button, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder, black organdy ribbon.

I hope you are all having a terrific week! Thanks for stopping by!

Queen Kat Designs Royal Wednesday Challenge #1

Today is the first Queen Kat Designs Royal Wednesday Blog Challenge. Here is this week's challenge:

Royal Ribbon Challenge

The challenge for this week is to make a card or scrapbook page using at least 2 different ribbons on it. QKD would love for you to play along as well! If you participate QKD would love to know and would love to see your project. Just leave a comment on the Royal Wednesday post in the QKD group on PCP - HERE with a direct link to your project.

Here is my card:

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Help spread the word!

If you have never checked out the Cosmo Cricket blog, now is a great time to do so. For every person who comments on their blog between now and 5:00PM MST December 2nd, Cosmo Cricket will donate $1.00 to "Quarters for Christmas" a non-profit organization, that provides shoes for needy children.

Have a great day!

December already?

I feel like just yesterday it was August and now today I had to flip the calendar over to December. Where does the time go? Oh how I wish it were still warm and sunny August. We got our first measureable snowfall overnight. Oh how I hate when the weather gets like this. I awoke to the sound of snowblowers and spinning tires. Yuck! They only bright side of today is I get to pick up the 4th book in the Twilight series from my friend Kris so hopefully I can read the night away!

Today I have a card to share that uses of the new release stamps from DRS Designs. DRS Designs is known for their wide selection of sentiment stamps and this new release is a wonderful addition.
I was really happy with how this card turned out. The shimmery flowers were painted with Shimmerz Gold glimmerz Blingz. The Gold glimmerz Blingz is BEAUTIFUL! I absolutely love it. If you missed my post a couple days ago, I got to share the news that I am a new member of the Shimmerz design team and I could not be more excited!!!!! Actually, excited is a major understatement! Shimmerz is one of my absolute favorite products and this card really shows why it is. I think the shimmery flowers really make this card pop! If you haven't tried Shimmerz, I definitely reccomend it! You can order Shimmerz from several online stores including a few of my favorites: Firecracker Designs, Jacksonbelle Embellishments and the newly opened Shimmerz Shop online store.
Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Shimmerz Gold Glimmerz, Sharpie markers, misc ribbon, foam dimensionals.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Award!

One of my blogging friends (and fellow FCD DT member) Lisa gave me this wonderful blog award! If you get a chance definitely check out Lisa's blog! Thanks Lisa!

I am supposed to pass this on to 5 other bloggers but honestly I would never be able to pick only 5. So this award goes out to any of you who share your creative works on your blog!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by today! Tomorrow I have a card to share that I made using some of the new release stamps from DRS Designs.

Enabler alert!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. My plan for this weekend was to do nothing but stamp, but plans took an unexpected detour after I started reading a book after we finished our Thanksgiving lunch. I have spent the past 2 1/2 days curled up in my electric blanket blissfully reading about Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. If you are unfamiliar with Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series of books I HIGHLY recommend you check them out. I have never in my life been so excited about reading. I started reading the first book after lunch on Thursday and I just finished the 3rd book a couple hours ago. I am trying very hard to fight the urge to run to the book store this very second to buy the 4th. I have a friend who has volunteered to lend me the 4th book if I can wait until tomorrow afternoon. I'm not sure I can wait that long.

Due to this unexpected change of plans I don't have a card ready to share yet but I did want to share some awesome sales and a little bit of exciting news.
If you are in the mood for some after Thanksgiving shopping there are several FABULOUS sales going on this weekend:

Jacksonbelle Embellishements: 20% everything in the store. Use coupon code THANK08 when you go through the checkout!

Queen Kat Designs: all of their stamp sets are 20%. Plus, use coupon code FSBDAY when you check out for free shipping!

Shimmerz: Did you know that Shimmerz now has their own store. This weekend is their grand opening and all Shimmerz is on sale.

Firecracker Designs by Pamela: Did you know that FCD now carries Shimmerz paint! Save 10% on all orders placed by Nov 30th using coupon code GIVETHANKS when you check out.
Also new at FCD: Subscriptions to RSM (Rubber Stamp Madness) The original rubber stamping magazine!! Now you can renew, or start a subscription just by clicking the "Get It" button on the Firecracker Designs site! *** Coupon is not available on Magazine Subscriptions. Sorry.

Oh and speaking of Shimmerz...I added a few new things over of my side bar *wink* --------->

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. I think I may have found a little of my mojo so check back in on Monday for a fresh new project! Have a great day!

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

Thanks for stopping by! We are doing a little bit of holiday travel the next couple days so I probably won't be posting again until at least Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving!

DRS Blog Challenge #9

I spent a little time in my stamp room this weekend and I seem to be slowly finding bits and pieces of my mojo, Thank Goodness! I was really starting to getting worried that it was lost for good. Today is a DRS Designs blog challenge day. We do a different challenge ever other Monday and would love it if you would play along with us! This week we are on Challenge #9-Postage Frame Stamps! WOW, was this challenge! DRS Designs carry a ton of these awesome postage frame stamps that you can dress up any envelope with. They are all so cute I wish I had more of them. Our challenge for today was not to use them on an envelope though, the challenge is to use them on a card as the focal point. So, go ahead, pull out your postage frames and get to work!! Be sure to let us know if you participate by posting a link here so we can come visit you. If you post to an online gallery, be sure to use the keyword DRSC9 so we can find it!!!

To check out all of the cool postage frame stamps at DRS Designs click HERE.

Now onto my card...I only have a couple postage frame stamps so this was definitely a challenge!
I just went to the annual stamp expo they had here in town this weekend and I bought some felt snowflakes that I was just dying to use. I thought they went perfect with this postage frame stamp. The shimmery cardstock is just regular cardstock that I painted with Shimmerz Paint - Angel Wings. Beautiful shimmery cardstock in any color is simple with Shimmerz. All I did was paint the entire piece of cardstock with the paint. Then while it is still wet, I used a paper towel and rubbued over the entire piece of cardstock in a circular motion. This helps even out any brush strokes that you might have had from painting it on. Viola, shimmery cardstock in any color. After you rub the cardstock with the paper towel, the cardstock is ready to be stamped on. For my card I "shimmerized" the light purple background and both of the white pieces. I then stamped and or Cuttlebugged them. I love the gorgeous look that the Shimmerz gives!
I finished this card late last night and didn't have good light to photograph it. I had hoped for good light this morning but it is overcast and unfortunately, very snowy. Because of this I had to use the flash for my card instead of natural light. Sorry about that. If it brightens up later today I will try and take a better picture!


Supplies used: Stamps from DRS Designs, SU CS, Shimmerz paint - Angel wings, Felt Snowflake, MM brad, foam dimensionals, misc ribbon.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Check out this blog candy!

WOW! Check out the amazing blog candy that Debbie is giving away: http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com/

This is it...

my very last project that I have made. If my mojo never returns then I guess this is my last post... I'm hoping that isn't the case, though. I am going to spend some time in my stamp room today...crossing my fingers that maybe my mojo is just hiding under a container of Blingz and when I clean up my stamp table today, I find it, LOL.
Thanks for listening to my whining and all of the support everyone has given! Wish me luck today!

Here is a scrapbook page that I made. I was doing this for a challenge that required the use of a bottlecap, bubbewrap and a specific circle background stamp from Stamping Bella. I have to say that it was definitey a challenge since I wasn't particularly fond of any of the 3 elements. I did my best and did manage to use all 3 (the red bull's eye flower centers are a portion of the background stamp that I cut out with a circle punch, the bottlecap is the large blue flower's center and I inked up bubblewrap and stamped it as a background on the blue cs)
The shimmery flowers are white Primas that I painted with Gold Glimmerz Blingz that I got from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. OMG, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Blingz! I can't wait for them to come out in more colors! For more info on them check out the Shimmerz blog HERE!
I included a couple close-up photos of the flowers. It is hard to catch their real beauty in a photo...they are GORGEOUS in real life. I was just thrilled with how they turned out! I also painted the chipboard letters for the word BEST with the Gold Blingz...they are GORGEOUS!
Supplies used: Stamps from Stamping Bella and Autumn Leaves, Bazzill CS, SU CS, Prima flowers, SU Build a Brad, Dress It Up glitter dots, Hero Arts self adhesive rhinestones, Botttlecap, Daisy D rub-on, bubblewrap, cuttlebug alphabet dies, Shimmerz Gold Glimmerz Blingz.

We are having an early Thanksgiving with Tom's family on Saturday (which I'm not looking forward to) and it is also the annual One of A Kind rubber stamp expo here in town this weekend (which I have been looking forward to all year!). I plan on trying to hit the expo for a hour or so before Tom's family comes on Saturday and then do some real shopping at the expo on Sunday. I'm so glad I ordered my ticket early and got the 2 day pass!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I hope I have something new to share soon!