Ippity New Release Sneaks Day 3

Okeedokee!!!  

Are you ready for some more???

Now you have seen 4 of the 8 Ippity stamp sets 

being released on Thursday

 and today you get to see two more!!!

Start HERE to see them!!! 

Then follow the blog hop icons to go through all the DT's blogs!

Today's sets are so wonderful!!!  

You are going to LOVE them!!!

The one that I am showcasing for you today is called 

Cherish Your Dreams

While the stamps in this set look very ornate and elegant, I decided to use two of them a little out of the box and give my card a masculine touch.  Once again it shows the versatility of these AMAZING Ippity stamps!!

The word happy and the oval frame are both in the Cherish Your Dreams set.  The word birthday comes from the Fall For You set.  I needed to make a masculine birthday card for a friend and I still had my October Afternoon sample packs sitting next to me so they were easy to grab and go.  I think the blocking and the colors and patterns lend themselves to make a card that a guy could even like!

The oval frame was stamped with SU's Not Quite Navy, the happy was stamped in Real Red and the birthday was stamped in Wild Wasabi!

The ribbon actually had a pink stripe through the middle but with a trusty red Copic marker, I was able to make it match the red on the card!!  LOL!

Next stop on the Hop today is Lisa Arana's Blog!!!

ENJOY!!!

Only two days until our NEW RELEASE PARTY!!!

I hope you will be there!!!  Lot's of challenges, prizes, chatting and of course
NEW RUBBER for sale!!!!!

Thanks again for your sweet comments!!  

Keep 'em coming each day for a chance to win a FREE stamp set.
Each DT  member will be choosing one to give away from all of the comments during our Sneaks!

Ippity Summer 2010 Release- Sneak Peek Day 2

Happy Hippity Hop!

Welcome to Day 2 of the Sneak Peeks of the

New Summer 2010 Release of Ippity Stamps!

By the comments left on our blogs yesterday, we are getting the impression that you are liking the new stamps as much as we do so far!!  Well today you won't be disappointed!  One of my favorite sets from the whole new Summer Release is being showcased today and I am happy to tell you that it contains masculine stamps!!  Woot woot!!!  It is always hard to find good masculine stamps!

Each DT member today has some goodness to share on their blogs, but we want you to start at the Ippity blog where you can see all the new sneaks and then be sent off to hop from blog to blog.

To go to the Ippity blog, click HERE!!  

If you have come to me by way of Karen's blog 

then keep on hopping, you are on the right path!!

Did you see the challenges that Maria posted on the Ippity blog yesterday?  We have three of them that you can get started on early this week if you choose to, just be sure (Ippity Chicks) not to show any creations you may make with the new stamps until Thursday when our stamps are officially released!  Each challenge participant will have a chance at winning a prize on Thursday night!

I am the host of one of the challenges, and the card I made today uses an inspiration photo that I took at CHA,  The picture below is from the landing just off the elevator as you got off on our floor in the hotel we were staying at for CHA.  I just love the colors and all the graphics and swirls.  I thought it was perfect for the masculine card I needed to make!  The keyword for this challenge is INRC3SUM10

And here is the card I made based after that photo and using the new stamp set called

Authentic Man

It is filled with some amazing images and sentiments that are perfect for all the men in your life!!

I used the swirls embossing plate with my Cuttlebug to mimic the swirls on the carpet.  And also chose the same color palette.  The Road Sign die cut is from October Afternoon's Road Map collection.  

I really love the sentiment on this card!

I colored the car with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol and fun using them.  They have been quite neglected for a while now!  The black strip of paper that is near the bottom is pleated and then sewn together.

Please leave a comment here and on every DT members blogs each day for a chance to win a free Ippity stamp set.  I really appreciate all the sweet comments left yesterday!

To continue on the Hop, please head on over to the talented Lisa Arana's blog!

Enjoy the rest of the Hop and please come back tomorrow for more sneaks!!

Hip Hop! For Real!!

Hip Hop!!!

Sorry if you visited my blog earlier today when my card wasn't posted yet.  I went in to work Wednesday evening around 9pm and didn't make it home until 4 am.  It's one of the drawbacks to my job, but whatcha gonna do... right?

This will be short and sweet because I really need to get some sleep tonight.  The card I made for today's Hip Hop uses the following sketch that was one of Lisa H's cards.

I made a card for my daughter Michelle's boyfriend's Birthday.  His name is Matt and they were over last night to celebrate his birthday when I got called in to work!  Atleast we got to eat dinner first... but I did miss the cake!!  ;-(

I followed the sketch the best I could and still make this masculine.  Even Matt said that the bow I used was masculine enough!  LOL!!  I used stamps from Life's Little Moments (and masked out the center portion) and also the sentiments from the Fall For You sets by Ippity.

If you want some Ippity... please click HERE get some!

Short and sweet, but I hope it inspires you in some way!!  Have a wonderful day and please head now to the the wonderful Lisa Arana's blog to continue on the Hop!

And if you didn't start at the beginning, please head to the Unity Blog and you will be taken on the hop all the way to the Ippity blog where there will be a new tutorial for you!

Have a good day... but for me it's good night!!  ;-)

Hip

Friends With Flair Friday!!

Hello Friends!!

Welcome to my blog for today's Friend's With Flair post!  On Friday's Unity fans come together and share projects using Unity Stamps.  One blog even has a hidden Flair Blinkie on it.  One lucky person who leaves a comment on that blog will win a prize of random Unity Stamps!


As I told you in yesterday's post I have been working on some household projects so my time at the craft table has been limited!  I didn't get a chance to finish a new card for you today, but I do have some projects that I submitted to the February Dirty Dozen Gallery at SCS!

The theme for February's Gallery was Masculine!!  

You know... it's one of those themes that we all find so challenging!!  LOL!!

The cards I made were for the More is More challenge they give us.  They ask us to make a simple card and then to make the same one but stepped up a notch or two.

I decided to make an invitation to a Barbecue!!  I mean Grilling on the Grill doesn't get any more masculine does it?

I used the Unity stamp set called Retro BBQ but I let the designer paper from Flair Designs set the theme for me!  I kept this one very simple by just stamping the words and adding some brads.  I love the red, brown and Kraft colors together!

I n this stepped up version, I kept the layout the same but added a little extra paper on the bottom for the accents and then also stamped the BBQ Grill and colored it with Copics.  I popped it up a bit and placed it on top of the DP and the sentiment panel.  Of course this is my favorite version!!  

Which one do you like better?

I hope you have a great weekend and may your bucket overflow with summertime fun like BBQ's and pool parties!! See you on Monday for Ippity's next Hippity Hop!!

Let's Hear it for the Boys!!

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday to you!!

I hope you all had a chance to check out (and even purchase) some of the new Whimsie Doodle stamps that were released yesterday!!  And today I have another sample to share with you that uses one of them.

The card I made today is for this week's Whimsie Wednesday Challenge #26 called Let's Hear it for the Boys.  Nicole is our hostess this week and since two of her boys have birthdays this week she thought that it would be wise to challenge us to make a card for a guy!!

Thankfully Melyssa released the perfect image yesterday to work with so this is what I came up with!

This was a really fun card to make!!  Swing Koale takes center stage on his rope swing which is attached to the tree from the Sunny Day set at Whimsie Doodles that was released last year.  I enlarged it quite a bit and originally was going to cut it off at the cord borders even with the card on top, but decided to leave it extending over the edge instead.  The finished card is 5 x 6.5 when closed!

I started with the SCS Sketch SC17 for the bones of the card and then I went a little crazy with adding things that you probably don't see on the sketch!  But heck... we do get some creative license while designing right??

See the resemblance??  The number 2 panel is the grass that I made by piecing some MME paper, trimming the edge to make it appear to have blades of grass and then shading it and adding grass sprigs with various green colored Copics.

Koale was colored in using my Copics. I chose orange for his shirt because I thought it was a complementary color for the greens and blues that were in the MME papers.  The tree top is from the Quite Contrary collection.  The sentiment is from one of the Changito sets by Stampendous.  The inside says "Hi!"

My friend Vianna shared a link to Sherrie Siemen's blog who is a Regional Copics Certified Instructor.  She has a video HERE that you can watch to learn how to shade around images to give better depth to your designs.  I knew about shading before but not to this extent.  So I gave it a try and will definitely be practicing this more.  When you look at it from a slight distance you can appreciate the effect better!  But this is a great technique to have in my Copic's repertoire of tricks!!  Thanks Vianna!!  

That's all I have for you today!!  Be sure to visit Whimsie Doodles 

and get your New Releases if you haven't already!!  

Then come back tomorrow for another Hip Hop with Unity and Ippity DT members!

Have a wonderful day and may your bucket overflow with the happiness you get when a friend swings by to say hi to you!!  :-)

Have a Rockin Friday!!

Hello Unity Friends!

Welcome to my blog today!!  It's Friends With Flair Friday and in typical fashion I have a Unity project to share with you! but before we get to that, did you guys have a blast with us celebrating the come back of Unity's Hip Hop?  It was so wonderful!! I enjoyed it and look forward to many more!!

I tried to get my layout done using this week's sketch, but I ended up at work last night until late and wasn't able to finish it. I do however have a card to share with you!!

For this card I used the jukebox from Unity's March 2010 KOM called Rockin it Unity Style.  I love this kit!! In fact I love all their kits!! LOL!!  Have you joined the Kit of the Month Club yet?  The bargain is amazing!!  April kit is just being released... so be sure to join in!!

I colored the image in with Copic markers in colors that coordinated with the Cosmo Cricket Paper from the Lil Man line.  The sentiment was created on my computer using Word so it would be just right for the guy we were giving this card to in honor of his 40th birthday!  I love the retro feel that both the paper and the image give to this card!! Plus he is an avid lover of rock music, so he thought it was great!!

Click HERE

 to go to the Unity Blog for the list of today's FWF particpants.  

Be sure to be on the lookout for the hidden FWF Blinkie 

and a chance at winning some free stamps!!

Have a Rockin Friday and may your bucket overflow with your favorite tunes that put you in a good mood!!

My Baby Boy is Sixteen!

I really can't believe that this day has come!!  And without getting too sentimental on you, my baby boy is turning 16 years old today!  While he might be the last child of my four, preceded by three older sisters, Ricky is hardly a baby in stature!  He is pushing six feet tall and basically towers over his mommy!!

Here is a picture of us that I love from my wedding back in November of 2008...

And this is one of us from last August... I love that boy!!  What a sweetheart he is!! 

Ricky has a heart of gold.  He is loved by anyone who knows him and is passionate about animals and fishing.  He is definitely growing up too fast right now... he got his first girlfriend last month and will get his driver's license later this month!! Oh boy!!  Let the fun begin!!

Happy Birthday Ricky!

Today I was the hostess on the {ippity} Blog for this week's Hippity Hop Challenge.  And in honor of my sweet boy's birthday today I am challenging you to make a card or project using your {ippity} stamps for a BOY.  Enter your creations into the Gallery and label them ippity and IHHC13 for a chance to win. You have until next Sunday to submit!

Next Monday I will be drawing from the submissions in the SCS Gallery 

for one lucky person to win an {ippity} mug!

Here is the card that I created for today's BOY challenge!

To make this card I stamped the banners from the Winter 2010 Love in Return set onto the blue, green and orange papers.  Then I used rub-ons to spell HAPPY.  To make the Birthday I stamped the letters from the Alphabetically Adorable set from the Fall 2009 line and colored them in with Copics.  I placed a coordinating ribbon underneath the banner to make it appear like it is suspended.  All the colors were chosen to match the DP from Scenic Route.

Here is a closeup of the letters...

Need some {ippity} stamps to make your project for this week?  I have many of sets on hand and will be happy to sell some to you and get them in the mail right away!  I have two Alphabetically Adorable sets and three Love in Return sets in my possession for immediate release!

Visit my {ippity} sales blog for details!

Now, head on over to the {ippity}blog and use the list to hop to all the 

wonderful blogs signed up today to participate in our Hippity Hop!  

Have a wonderful  day and may your bucket overflow with joy for a boy in your life!!

Ippity Sneak Peek #2- Winter 2010

Wow!!  Wow! Wow!!

Yesterday was amazing and I want to thank ALL of you who left a comment on my blog and all the other blogs for Day One of our Sneak Peeks!!  I know Angela is giving an amazing prize package away to a lucky commenter (read her blog post here!)  But I got the feeling that you guys were really liking what you saw anyway and for that I am thankful!!

Welcome to Day Two of our Ippity Sneak Peeks 
and Friends with Flair Friday!!
(Scroll down to see the Whimsie Doodles Blog Hop)

Today we will not disappoint as we have two more amazing stamp sets to share with you !! To see the actual snippets of the stamps sets please visit the {ippity} blog HERE. These stamps sets will be available for purchase from an {ippity} Chick beginning Monday February 15th at 12:01 CST. 

What is an {ippity} chick you ask??  Well they are women or men (in which case we call them {ippity} dudes) who have signed up to sell {ippity}.  You see these stamps are not for sale at your stamp stores, online stores or even Ebay or Etsy.  The only way you can buy them is by contacting an {ippity} chick who sells them. I happen to be an {ippity} chick and will gladly sell you some stamps!   To see my sales blog click HERE.  If you are interested in becoming an {ippity} chick and want the opportUNITY to make some extra cash doing something that you love then click HERE and tell them Kelly sent you!!

Now on to the goods...
The first project I want to share with you is from the new stamp set called Regal Greetings

If you like flourishes and fleur de lis patterns then you are going to LOVE this set!!  It will make any of your projects take on a look of royalty!!  These stamps are AWESOME and I have no doubt you are going to reach for these over and over again!!

This set comes with a total of five sentiments for many occasions.  I figured that this one would be perfect for a wedding couple or even an anniversary card!  I stamped this with Memento black ink and added some Rhinestones from Studio 18 in a few spots to add some bling and help frame the sentiment.  Speaking of the frame, that too is one of the stamps in this set that will hold any of the five sentiments that come within the collection.

The border you see here was actually created by stamping four times in a row one of the ornate designs and then cutting around the edges very closely. More bling was added here too! LOL!  The DP is from MM Black Tie collection and I can't remember where I found the velvet ribbon you see here!  But I just love how stately and regal this card turned out!!  This set leads to so many possibilities!!

The next stamp set to share with you is called Music of My Heart 

The project that I made for this sample is going to be given to my hubby for Valentine's Day.  It is a decorated CD holder that contains some of our favorite romantic music that we like to listen to together.  Today I am going to show you the outside that uses  the Music of My Heart stamp set and tomorrow I will show you the inside that features a stamp set we will be showing you then!

Both the sentiment and the swirly heart come in this set, but I though it went perfectly with this Creative Imagination DP designed by Marah Johnson with that gorgeous guitar on it.  It has the perfect amount of grunge and really helps make this very masculine!  I started by covering the CD case  with the DP.  Then I stamped the sentiment directly onto paper and then colored the little heart in with a red Copic marker.  The swirly heart I stamped onto Kraft CS and colored with the same red marker and then carefully cut around the edges and adhered it  over the guitar.  I really love the way it looks and with this DP being so ornate already, my work was done rather quickly!!  :-)

For the back I stamped the huge musical score stamp that comes in this set as well!!  I mean tell me that you won't be using this as a background stamp ALL THE TIME!!  It is fantastic!!  

Here is the covered case opened up so you can see both the front and the back together.  I think it is really neat!  If you are interested in knowing where I got the CD case from just click HERE.  The River City Rubber Works has a great price on a pack of three which can be altered individually or put together to make a fabulous mini album! 

So be sure and stop back tomorrow to see how I stamped the inside of this case using some more new {ippity} releases!

Are you ready for more {ippity} inspiration??

Then be sure to check out what these fabulous ladies have done with these amazing stamps...

Eryn Hagen

Eva Dobilas

Heather Rolin (Guest)

Lisa Henke

Maria Gurnsey

Michelle Woerner

Unity Girls...

Christi Snow

Jessica Diedrich

Natalie Dever

I can't thank the Unity girls enough for helping us show off these fabulous stamps!! Thanks ladies you really ROCK!!  :-)

Well have a wonderful day and fun time hopping on the {ippity} new release hop and the Friends with Flair Hop too!!  May your bucket be overflowing with fabulous Unity/ippity inspiration!

A Clean and Simple Challenge

Can we pretend it is Tuesday still?

Where did my yesterday and end of Monday go?  I have been chomping at the bit to get to my craft desk and start the nearly one zillion projects that I have to make before the 15th, but time just keeps slipping past me!  Work is still crazy busy... much more than usual!  I am trying to cope with all of it, and just wish I could cut back and stay at home more!!  I think stamping is important don't you?  LOL!!

Anyway, I was SO HONORED this week when Jen (MissBoo on SCS,) chose my card to be CASED for the Clean and Simple Challenge (CAS52) on SCS this week!  Talk about making me feel good, especially because I don't consider myself naturally to be a CAS kind of girl.  But after hanging out on that forum a bit, I have learned so much about the CAS style and how important the balance, coloring and design are when doing those types of cards!

Here is the card that is being featured...

Thanks So Mush(room)

Stamps Used: {ippity}: Because of You, Just Wanted to Say

Ink: Stampin Up, DP: K & Co.

Jen is asking that we play along by using the sketch from the above card for our inspiration! I hope you will play along too and upload your card into the Gallery and include the keyword CAS52.

I wanted to play along too, but since I had the sketch down already, I decided to add an additional challenge for me and make it a MASCULINE card to boot!!  Now we all know how challenging those can be right?

The perfect masculine card to make was for my step son's birthday which is today!!  I used the number collage stamp from the Life's Little Moments set from {ippity} and stamped it three times on the Kraft cardstock using SU's Chocolate Chip ink.  

Next I used Basic Grey  number stickers (which didn't match so I colored them with my Copics!) and applied them to the accent circle to represent how old he is.  The strip of DP is from the BG Blush collection.  I also added the paper piercing and twine to add texture yet keep it masculine. 

And for the final touch I added the sentiment which is from {ippity's} Just Wanted to Say set. This came together really quickly and got the seal of approval from my DH too!!  Sometimes it is hard for me to keep masculine cards masculine!! LOL!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOMAS!!  

I love you and hope that you have a phenomenal day!  I know that this world holds so many opportunities for you to succeed and it is my prayer that you reach out, grasp them and hang on to them until you become the man that you always dreamt you would be!  I am looking forward to celebrating your birthday with you tonight!

Thomas and Jess (his girlfriend) in December

So since we pretended that today was Tuesday (for my post's sake), I will be back soon with my Whimsie Wednesday Post too!! Have a great day and may your bucket overflow with all the time in the world you desire to spend on your papercrafting!! 

Clean and Simple Masculine Card!

Super quick post today!  Sorry for neglecting the blog a little but I am happy to say that I am slowly but surely getting my Christmas projects and to-do list checked off!  I am starting to believe that I might actually be ready for Christmas by Christmas Eve, which is when we will be celebrating this year!

My Father-in-Law had a birthday this week and so I had to send out a card to him. Here  he is with his dog named Gator.  This picture was taken back on Father's Day this year.  It is Tom's step dad actually, but the man Tom considers his father since he raised him more than his biological father did.

I chose to follow along with a challenge on SCS and to use my {ippity} stamps for his card....

The challenge was this week's CAS Challenge CAS45 on SCS, which was to use curves on our card.  I used a masking technique and the numbers collage stamp from {ippity}'s Life's Little Moments kit to create the strip of numbers.  Then I added the sentiment from Just Wanted to Say.  I don't remember the brand of the DP since I found it in my scraps bin.  I kept the colors deep to make is seem more masculine, but then added a touch of red for accents.

I don't usually do masculine too well, but I did like how this one turned out. My husband doesn't quite get the CAS style and how it differs from my typical card style.  He asked me if I didn't want to add anything to the white space!  LOL!! I told him no... I  didn't!! The card was done!!

To purchase any of the stamps you see used in the card I made here, you can contact me through my {ippity} sales blog HERE.

Today and tomorrow I am off call and plan on making cookies and finishing my Christmas shopping.  I am down to the wire, but I have faith!!  I CAN do it!!  :-)

Have a wonderful Sunday and may your bucket overflow with the things you like to do to prepare for the holidays!!

Friends with Flair Friday!

Hi there Unity friends!!  How are you doing on this wonderful Friday?  I am so happy that it is that special day of the week when we all get to share our Unity creations with each other.

Since I consider you guys my friends, I am going to ask a favor of you at the end of my post.  I am going to need your opinion on something. But  I will get to that later!

The card I am showing you today might be given to my husband for our 1st anniversary which is this Sunday.

Do any of you find it difficult to make masculine cards?  I sure do.  So I am always afraid that the stamps I choose are too frilly for a guy, or I have a hard time finding embellishments that aren't too feminine!

My card today uses many Unity and even one {Ippity} stamp.  The "It's Love" stamp, and the Months and Day strip stamps come from Unity's November Scrapping kit. 

The "Celebrate" stamp is from the April 09 KOM.  The "simply be who you are" strip is from the November KOM and the Love words collage is from the {Ippity} Because of You" set.

The martini glass was cut out of Designer paper from Creative Imaginations twice and layered onto the card with pop dots.  The black strip of DP is from BG's Eerie paper pad collection.  I had a happy accident of sorts when I dropped my ink pad onto the clean white surface of my nearly completed card.  I felt like crying but then realized that I could distress the whole card and probably still make it work, and I ended up liking it even better!

So I need your help!!  Which card do you think 

is better for me to give to my husband??

The Just My Type card that I made last week or today's card???

Get This - Survey Results - GlowDay.com

Thanks for your help!!  I hope you have a great Friday and have fun visiting all our friends with Flair.  Be sure to stop by Angela's blog to get a list of all the great  blogs to visit today.


And if you want to see some {Ippity}, head on over to the {Ippity}blog for a card sample made by me using the Because of You set!

May your bucket overflow with lots of Unity inspiration today!!