Memory Box, poppystamps cards, a sale and an Easter giveaway!

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 Pam Sparks41 Comments

An overdose of Spring today on my blog! Welcome to thoughts of new life, playful bunnies and before we know it, congratulations will be in order!

I inked a background with Distress Inks for the NEW Memory Box Happy Easter Egg, Pasture Grass and Prairie Grass dies. Die cut the scene with the MB Stitched Rectangle Layers die and added the MB Springtime Bunnies die.

*** Cindy from Starlitstudio has generously provided me with TWO of the Happy Easter Egg dies to give away! YAY! Thank you Cindy! Comment on this post for a chance to win! *** I’ll leave it open for 5 days.

Next up is a fun scene with the NEW poppystamps Brevilla Hillside die. I die cut in black and in white cardstock. I used the frame from the black cut and the pieces from the white cut.

I did ink smooshing on the pieces and the sky with Distress inks…Twisted Citron and Mermaid Lagoon.

The Hot Air Balloon and Sky’s the Limit stamp and Banner are all from the MB Flying High stamp set and Flying High die set. Super easy to stamp and die cut. I did add a little Copic coloring to the banner and a teeny bit of line shading to the balloon.

Both cards are A2 size.

Now for the SALE info… I LOVE my NEW white Big Shot…if you’re in the market for a new Die Cutting machine…here’s the deal for you! Scrapbook.com has up to 70% off Sizzix right now and the lowest price I’ve ever seen on the new White Big Shots! I do own the Big Shot Plus too… solid machine. LOVE it! So there you have it… Happy Valentines Day to us! lol We can die cut our own roses! lol

Be sure to comment on this post for a chance to win one of the two Happy Easter Egg dies I’m giving away! Thank you again Cindy from Starlitstudio! Be sure to click over to her store…TONS of awesome stamps, dies and supplies! You’ll love her store and the prices!

Thank you all for stopping by today! I appreciate it so much and love your comments and chatting now and then!

Links to the supplies I used to create these cards…

cards · Die Piecing · Distress Ink coloring · Easter · rubber stamps · Spring · Taylored Expressions · Techniques

Taylored Expressions February Release Day…

February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 Pam Sparks29 Comments

Hi everyone! It’s release day at Taylored Expressions.com today! I’m featuring the NEW Door to Door Spring Decor die set that goes along with the previously released Door to Door die sets.

I love all the elements that come in these sets! Unlimited creativity!

I used the Bead Board Embossing Folder for the house siding…the New Little Bits Mailbox, NEW Welcome Spring banner die, Wispy Grass Border die, Door To Door die set and the wreath from the Door to Door Decor die set.

I scored the steps with my scor pal and inked the edges of pretty much everything with Hickory Smoke and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and the ink blending tool. I used a white gel pen to decorate the eggs on the wreath.

My past Door to Door cards are HERE and HERE.

Look at this darling NEW In the Garden die! I wanted to make it a vintage sepia ‘look’ so I used Tea Dye Distress Ink and did watercolor ink smooshing on canvas looking card-stock for the background. Edges of everything are inked with Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks and the ink blending tool.

The sentiment is from the Shade Tree Scripture stamp set.

A beautiful New stamp set, Light of the World, with lovely stain glass windows and sentiments. I stamped in dark brown ink, then blended on Distress inks…Shaded Lilac, Cracked Pistachio for coloring. I can’t remember what the orangish color is. ugh. sorry about that! I used white gel pen over the flower petals after I finished inking.

I covered the stain glass piece with double sided adhesive and glittered it with Vintage Glass Glitter…so pretty!

I gold embossed the sentiment on vellum die cut with the Stitched Banner Stacklets and adhered with little dots of Tombow mono multi behind the words. The little bird’s tail from the NEW Little Bits Birds die set, is glued to the vellum also then a mounting square behind the top part of the bird.

The ‘true’ way to welcome Spring in our area anyway is with Tulips! Gorgeous new stamp and die sets, Simply Stamped Tulips.

I stamped, die cut and placed them on the NEW Leafy Vine Cutting plate die cut in white. So romantic! lol

That’s it from me today but there’s tons more inspiration from the TE creative team! Click over to the TE Blog HERE, scroll down to the link up of designers and enjoy all their beautiful creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

You’ll find the products I used at Taylored Expressions…links below

InLinkz.com

Avery Elle · Birthday · copics · Easter · Reverse Confetti

Birthday card and Easter Baskets…

April 6, 2015April 7, 2015 Pam Sparks20 Comments

Hi everyone! I was so excited to get this stamp and die set from Avery Elle! Perfect for boys of any age! The sentiment is stamped on vellum with pigment ink and embossed with clear powder. The clouds are stamped and inked with Tumbled Glass Distress ink and the buildings are colored with Copic Sketch markers. A row of chevron washi along the bottom. I was happy with it and Lane liked it too! The grandkids are growing up so fast! This is grandson #2 turning 13!!! Whoa!

Linking my Birthday card to…

Virginia’s View Challenge #14 – Layers and Dimension

We’ve got grandkids! Anyone have more than us?! lol We have 17! lol We have so much fun! They range from 15 years old down to 2 months old. Happy gram! Saturday I made Easter baskets and Tim filled plastic Easter eggs with dollar bills. Here’s the box with all 17 baskets ready to pack in the car for the hunt. The kids loved them and wanted to keep them too! YAY!

The girls baskets were lilac with light green tags. The paper ‘carrot’ is a scallop circle taped in a cone shape and a couple poppystamps die sprigs stapled with the tiny attacher for the carrot top!

I filled little zip lock bags with ‘Sundrops’. So cute!

I googled baskets made from 12×12 paper and was reminded of this basket that we’d made several years ago! I tried it multiple sizes and it ended up the 7.5 inch square size worked the best for what I had to put in it. Score your paper in thirds both directions. Cut up the score lines on two sides then you can position into the basket shape! Very easy after you decide what size to make! lol

I stamped and die cut the egg carton and chick from Reverse Confetti’s Carton Cuties stamp and die set. So cute! Then on the back I stamped ‘from the bunny’, from the same stamp set.

: )

Baby Charles is way to little for an egg hunt or to eat. But he needed something in his carrot! So I put in a few Late July Organic mini cheddar sandwich cookies. His basket had his 5 eggs in it instead of the fruit snacks. Fortunately I had just the right color plastic eggs in the egg collection. 😀

I’m linking my Easter baskets to the following challenges…

Addicted to CAS – Cute

After we had our Easter Basket/egg hunt, we ate supper and sang happy birthday a few times. A beautiful day with family. It was nice to be able to be outside. Thankful it wasn’t muddy! eek!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week! I’m prepping for two classes Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Can’t wait to see the gals @ Scrapmania again!

p.s. Next week is the new Memory Box release…be watching!

Shopping links…

cards · Die Piecing · Easter · Memory Box · Scrapbook.com · Shopping · Spring

A little Memory Box Spring and a SALE!

March 5, 2015March 5, 2015 Pam Sparks26 Comments

I’ve noticed the dark chocolate bunnies showing up in the grocery store aisles! These two cute NEW bunnies are hiding out under the flowers in their own little miniature world!

I created the little scene on an A-2 size card with the following dies…

links go to Starlitstudio.net – great prices on Memory Box and check out the new Penny Black stamps and dies while you’re there too!

Shaker Rectangle Frames (30003)

Stitched Rectangle Layers (30009)

Oh Hello Again (30010)

Fanciful Fences (30035)

Springtime Bunnies (99109)

Florina Corner (99081)

Puffy Clouds (98172)

Alphabet Soup (98795)

Here’s a close up of the bunnies… I drew in a little brown line with an E49 copic marker to define the ears, a black dot for the eyes and a little white gel pen on the eye. An itty bitty white pom pom for the tail.

Next… the NEW Tulip Bouquet die! So pretty and ready for Spring!

Linking up my Tulip Bouquet card to the Card Concept Challenge – thinking of you photo inspiration (CAS)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – anything girly/feminine

and Addicted to Stamps Challenge – CAS

Here’s the steps to create this card…

*die cut the Tulip Bouquet in an A-2 white top folding card-base (you’ll want to keep a few of the white pieces to stick back in)
*then die cut it in black card-stock, keeping the Tulip outline
*line the inside of the card with a piece of Raspberry Dot Signature Pattern Paper
*piece and glue the black cut into the white negative die cut space in the white card-base
*glue in the little white pieces you kept
*die cut the middle size butterflies from the NEW Leavenworth Butterfly Trio die in black card-stcok and NEW Cascadia Butterfly Trio die in Raspberry Moroccan Signature Pattern Paper
*glue them together and glue to card
*wrap the card with two rows of Black and White Bakers Twine, knot is under the rectangle
*die cut the smallest rectangle from the NEW Cross Stitched Frame Borders set in white card-stock
*stamp just the word ‘hello’ from the Hello Combo stamp (I used my stamp a ma jig to stamp it)
*adhere the rectangle over the knot with mounting squares

While I’ve got you here, I wanted to tell you about a sale where I’m an affiliate…Scrapbook.com…a four day stamping sale event!

Save BIG on all stamping supplies! Every stamp, ink pad, and stamping accessory is on sale. You save 20% to 60% off! This stupendous stamping sale starts now and lasts until Sunday March 8th at midnight MST. Check out a few of our best-selling stamping brands below or shop all stamping today! The stamp a ma jig, paper for masking, clear blocks, Delicata ink, Memento ink, tack ‘n peel, Distress ink, Tim Holtz stamps, Lawn Fawn, Avery Elle and so much more!

All Inkadinkado Stamping 20% to 60% off!

All Taylored Expressions Stamping 20% to 60% off!

All Technique Tuesday Stamping 20% to 60% off!

Have fun shopping and so glad you stopped by! Thank you for all the comments on my coffee blog hop cards!

It’s still cold with snow on the ground here in Iowa but that is going to change! My computer dashboard says it’ll be a high of 19˚ on today but watch out Friday! We’re jumping to 46˚! Almost bike riding weather! lol

Blog Hop · cards · copics · Easter · Perfect Layers Tools · Printworks · rubber stamps · Spring · Watercolor

Perfect Paper Crafting Blog Hop and Printworks…

March 31, 2014April 13, 2014 Pam Sparks50 Comments

Welcome to the week long, Perfect Paper Crafting, Brand Ambassador blog hop.

the hop starts today, March 31st and goes through Friday, April 4th at Midnight PST
visit all of the participating blogs and leave a comment on every single one for a chance to win one of the prizes!
prizes…one $50 Gift Certificate to Perfect Paper Crafting and one $25 Gift Certificate to Sugar Pea Designs
the winner will be announced Sunday, April 6th on the Perfect Paper Crafting blog

We’re posting today to show you what we created using the NEW Perfect Paper Crafting Mini Tools and the NEW Perfect Cutting Mat! (use Sparks5% at checkout for 5% off your order)

I have a bunch of cards to show you so I better get started! You know me… I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Perfect Layers Tools and NOW we have NEW Mini tools and an AWESOME NEW Cutting Mat! I love this mat… it is different than other mats! It has just the right amount of softness to it… so different than all the hard, hard, mats we’ve been using. I love how the craft knife works on it and you can hardly see any cut marks! It’s the perfect size for card-making and so are the new mini rulers.

Fabulous products to save card makers time! That is a BIG plus for me! No more trimming, measuring, trimming, measuring, trimming, measuring, to get the right mat size! YAY!

On my first card, I used the ⅛ inch and ¼ inch ruler and Printworks NEW Spring Release rubber stamps. They come in CLING HERE and mounted on WOOD HERE. (use the code “PAM2014” for 5% off your order total)

I was so excited at how this card turned out. I stamped in Archival Coffee stamp ink on Canson watercolor paper. I painted in the grass and the little bit of yellow with Distress Markers, using them like watercolor.

I edged the piece with Tumbled Glass distress ink and the ink blending tool and then flicked water on it.

Here’s a close up…

Here’s the NEW sentiment I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black on the inside. The flower is colored in with a white gel pen.

Here’s a pretty Spring card with the NEW Tulip Umbrella stamp and Spring Blessings sentiment stamp…

For this card, I used the ⅜ inch ruler to add the polka dot mat. So easy with the new mini size ruler. They make me happy!
Then on the inside I used another new sentiment from Printworks…stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink.

I have a tip for you… did you notice the top layer of my card matches up to the card base layer in the top left corner? This slant type card is really popular right now, so I thought, why not! Then it was like, oh, well, I want the layers to fit together perfectly, what can I do?! Did you guess? I use my stamp a ma jig ALL the time! YES! It works perfect! Another awesome tool! I took a picture so you could see what I mean. Lay the card base in the angle of the stamp a ma jig, then lay the top piece right in on top and it’s perfect. I did use mounting squares on the image piece.

One more thing to make me very happy! YAY!

The Tulip Umbrella is stamped with Ranger Archival Black ink on Canson 90# watercolor paper. I wanted a similar white for the card base, so I used Strathmore Bristol card from a pad for it. I watercolored the image with Distress Markers.

***Linking up to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge – Anything Goes

Do I dare post another card?! So many cute new stamps from Printworks! Here’s a cute bunny card! I used the 1/16th inch and 3/8th inch ruler to mat the image. Then I positioned it on the card and used the 3/8th inch ruler again for the sides.

I stamped the NEW Carrot Name Tag stamp and NEW thanks with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic Sketch Markers. The background is Tumbled Glass Distress ink applied with the ink blending tool.

Darling image and wouldn’t it be so cute for place cards at your big Easter Dinner! Just put the name where the ‘thanks’ is. Cute!

Copics – green YG00, 13, 17; orange YR00, 02, 04, 07, 09; bunny E40, 41,42 and R81,83,85

I have another card but I think I better save it for another day! : ) You’ve been so patient to make it clear to here in this post! eek!

Here’s the blog hop list…

Perfect Paper Crafting & Laura Lynn
Wendy Ramlakhan
Pam Sparks – you are here
Roxie Glaza
Jenny Gropp
Susie Moore

Kim O’Connell
Jeanie Witmer
Heather Hudson
Lori Brown
Kat Ancheta
Dana Joy
Kristie Maynard
Kim Bush
Diane Bove
Patti Gilliam
Cathie Rigby
Linda McClain
Leigh Brunton
Nancy Baier
Jenn Cocran
Lezlye Lauterbach
Faith Abigail Prado