Classic Summer Bash

The Stamp of the Month for May is a super cute set featuring a ball/mason jar and some lemonade images. At first I was challenged with how exactly to use it and which techniques would work the best. As I started to play with it I realized that several techniques will work and I haven't even stamped all the images yet. Take a look at some of the creations~

This first card is a festive way to greet the summer season. I used a patterned paper to represent the pink lemonade in the jar. The lemons and ice were separately stamped, cut out, then added. You could just stamp the banner pieces which is included in the set, but I chose to cut them out from colored cardstock to make them stand out.

How about a sign posted near your jar of refreshing lemonade at your next summer bash. That is the name of the stamp after all!

For this jar I did lots of masking and watercoloring. It gives a much more mellow effect than the first card.

Finally, I stamped the jar image on a piece of paper with an ombre blue color. All three the exact same, then cut them out. Then I created 3 totally different cards with them.

I think its awesome to find so many uses for one stamp set or even one image alone! You can get this stamp set this month at a discounted price. Go to my website to find out more!

New in May

Hello, welcome to a new month and a new quarter. Today is the start of a brand new Seasonal Expressions Idea Book. There are new collections of papers, fabulous stamps and a new Story!

I think that you will see from just the cover of the new idea book that it holds a summery surprise for your crafting needs these upcoming months. It has paper collections with flowers, balloons, outdoor scenery, tea cups, bicycles, homes and maps. I will show you more on each of the 4 new paper collections soon.

You will see a new way to preserve and document your memories called Story by Stacy. The talented Stacy Julian will share some simple, colorful, happy ways to document those stories that mean so much to you. Find starter kits with 4x4 albums, quote cards, story cards, photo trimmer and stamps that will make your documenting super easy.

A new month is not complete without a Stamp of the Month that you can get for only $5! This is called Classic Summer Bash and features a large mason jar, straw, citrus and all the sentiments you need for a summer-time BBQ or setting up a neighborhood lemonade stand! This is a cute one!

Last, but certainly not least, it's National Scrapbooking Month! You are going to love the variety of products offered this month with the Postcard Perfect papercrafting suite of products. Please check out my website for all the details and offerings for this collection. I gave you a sneak peek of this collection earlier. Just a small photo of a scrapbook layout I created with these beautiful papers. Want to see more?

I love these floral papers and the fun tropical images. My pictures don't really do it much justice.

The collection contains 4 sheets (2 patterns) of vellum papers. The dot pattern is laid on top of the floral on this layout giving it a more subtle appearance. It is so pretty!

Just think of scrapbooking your tropical or summery related photo's on these papers. Plus, if you order the bundles there is a discounted price. Come back soon and I'll show you some more projects using this collection.

Please check out all the new products and browse through the Idea Book online here.

Mystery Mini Gifts Revealed

At my Christmas Card Exchange we also held a Mystery Mini Gift Exchange. Participants created a hand made gift and brought it packaged in a plain brown bag. I attached a small puff ball in different colors to each bag and then we drew a matching puff ball from a bowl. Here is what some of the gifts were.

My dear friend Nanette makes her own fruit preserves. This year she made a triple berry preserve. Look how cute her little tag turned out and the preserves were delicious too!

Janet makes our tissues look so pretty!

Pat decorated this little box with some Believe papers. Wait 'til you see what's inside...

... Look at all those tiny tags!!!

29 tiny tags to be exact. She was having a good time playing with her Cricut AP cartridge.

I did not snap a picture, but my friend Tommie decorated a little box similar to Pat's and filled it with her "famous" peanut clusters!

Here is the project I made~

I created a set of cards called "A card A month". There were a total of 12 standard cards in the set, perfect for sending to that special someone each month for an entire year! Each one was made using the Pair-a-Phrase stamp set.

Here is a pic of all of them, but I will post each card individually later on.

Summer Wishes in a Jar

~ Heart 2 Heart ABC {anything but a card} Challenge ~

I enjoy making cards and scrapbooking my photo's, but I especially love creating projects from found or recycled products. For this week's challenge over at H2H, I wanted to create a jar to showcase some snap shots from this summer and fill it with our memories!

The Ball jar has been hiding in the back of my pantry for some time now. I created a four panel piece of card stock that is decorated with Splendor papers, family pics and stamped images from Hot Diggity. I also stamped tiny bumble bees and adhered them inside the jar with a tiny bit of liquid glass. It reminds me of summers back east as a little girl trying to catch fire flies. That is also how I arrived at the tag description of "capture summer wishes". It will be an ongoing project this summer adding more memories that we have yet to make.

I topped off the jar with circle paper flowers, or as I learned from Tresa Black this weekend "lollipop flowers". I adorned it with some sheer and grosgrain ribbons.