{Love} Postage

Kim Hughes has done it again--another "must have" set called The Birds & The Bees, available through Cornish Heritage Farms. For a couple of weeks after its release, I convinced myself that I could wait to order it, but of course that didn't last long as you can clearly see.

There are so many key-ute samples using this set in the CHF Gallery and I wanted to do something a little different with it, so I stamped the bee images with a sentiment from PTI and numbers from Hero Arts to create an oversized postage stamp. Pretty simple, straightforward stamping as you can see, so there's not much else to chatter about! I'll list the materials I used below.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving all, and thanks for stopping by Ink About Me today!


Details
Paper: Basic Black, Vanilla, Mustard DSP (Level I hostess); Daisy D's Autumn Collection 6x6 pad

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Ranger Distress Ink in Walnut for a bit of sponging

Stamps: CHF The Birds & The Bees; PTI Faux Ribbon; Hero Arts Alphabet

Accessories: black satin ribbon (recycled from somewhere!), Heidi Grace stick pin, My Pretties bead and pearl, jumbo black brads, Fiskars decorative scissors

In love...

...with my Birds & Blooms dies that came with the Big Shot bundle I ordered recently! It all started with the Believe Journal I created using Jen's Saturday SFYTT this past weekend. The more I used that sweet bird and the accompanying blooms, the more I liked 'em. Silly me, thinking I didn't really care for that whole set of dies, I'd just wanted the Pillow Box and Top Note Bigz dies that also came in the Big Shot bundle, ha!

If you'd like to see the evolution of my love story, scroll down to Saturday's post and then back up--there's a plethera of cards (ok, just 3 of them, but I love that word!) using the Birds & Blooms dies, as well as Mr. Top Note!

Today's card uses a bit of the retired Spring Silhouettes DSP along with retired Soft Sky cardstock. I guess I was on a roll with retired products as the stamped sentiment and frame are from the retired set, Noteworthy. In hindsight, I should've aptly named this post: Something Old, Something New?! Back to the card...just a couple more details to share: the edges of my love bird are lightly sponged with (retired!) River Rock ink with Linen Thread tied around the 5/8" grosgrain and sentiment layer; pearls are from the My Pretties kit; and the flower is from that bag of unmarked flowers, so I have no source for them, but I can tell you they're "prima-like" in nature!

Here's something for you to try--pair up something old with something new today!

So Thankful...

...for my Big Shot and Top Note Bigz die! I know what you're thinking--enough of the Top Note die already, but I'm just not ready to move on. It's been the mainstay of my go-to sketch lately, and that's a good thing! I'm also so thankful for Kiwi Kiss! I tell you that color goes with everything and for every season. I sure SU! takes a second look at KK and integrates is somehow into their color family(s)...perhaps as a new neutral?! I paired Kiwi with patterned paper from Daisy D's Autumn Collection 6x6 pad, a Chit Chat rub on, and a die cut flower using the Birds & Blooms dies. A button tied with linen thread finishes the flower and this one's ready to head out to the mailbox!

ETA: I decide to whip up one more using the same layout and same Daisy D's paper pack. Here she is:

Have a great Sunday and don't forget to be So Thankful for something today!

Believe...

Christmas can be such an overwhelming affair...if you let it. I gave a bit of advice to a dear friend and relative of mine who was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the thought of everything she'd like to accomplish before Christmas. My advice was to write things down, make lists, check things off or eliminate items that just don't merit the anxiety that accompanies them. As I sat down to work on Jen's SFYTT, I decided to use the sketch for the cover of a journal/notebook of some sort for her in hopes that she'd take my advice (am I full of myself or what?!) and ultimately ease her mind.

What luck--I'd picked up this 5 1/4 x 7 1/8" chipboard album on clearance at Target yesterday and it was perfect for my project. The album was actually part of a Halloween album complete with die cuts, ribbon, etc. that I'll put away for next year. I covered the album with Cosmo Cricket's Wonderland patterned paper and stamped minimally using stamps from PaperTrey Ink's Out On A Limb and CHF's Joyeux Noel sets. The die cut bird is Stampin' Up's Birds & Blooms and the flower peeking out is another from an unmarked bag of die cut blooms I picked up at my LSS last week, no source.

Be sure to check out Jen and Becca's sketch samples at iheart2stamp.com, and then look for more inspiration from Amy, Carole, Shannan and Susan. Last but not least, don't let the upcoming holiday season overwhelm you, do what you can when you can!

{love note} sketch

This is a challenge combination of SCS's Tuesday Color Challenge (193) and Wednesday Sketch Challenge (203). The colors this week are Kraft, Real Red and Basic Black, and a link to the sketch challenge can be found right here.

I'd read Taylor Van Bruggen's blog yesterday about using good old Crayola colored pencils to color an image and decided to do the same. I colored my image with Stampin' Up's watercolor pencils and then blended with a blender pen. I can definitely use a lesson or 10 in coloring, and I almost didn't upload because of my inept coloring/shading {skillz} but decided that it's ok to show my weaknesses to the stamping world. Please go easy on me!

If you haven't participated in some sort of stamping challenge this week, get out there--find one that you like--go for it!

{Happy} Holiday Inspiration!

Ever wonder where the {inspiration} comes from? Well, I'm going to share with you the inspiration for today's cards that I'm about to show you. The first card was inspired by a cool photo card I found on Shutterfly and the second card was inspired by an ad in People magazine (11/24/08 issue) for a Hallmark Channel Original Movie~An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving.

Click here to view the inspiration from the Shuttefly card called Holly Chocolate. After much searching, I was unable to find the exact ad for the Hallmark Channel movie, but it featured a soft navy background with white snowflakes alongside a picture of Jacqueline Bisset in character with the movie information. Sorry about that, but if you click here, you can get all the deets on the movie!

Be sure to look around...there's inspiration everywhere!

Sugar & Spice

Jen gave us a fun sketch to work with this week, and I decided I'd get a head start on my niece's birthday card using it. My niece is definitely sugar & spice, and she's sort of into horses (what 7 year old girl isn't though, eh?!), so I combined two Cornish Heritage Farm sets, For The Men and Little Gal. I also dug through my stash of patterned paper to find this retired SU! Rebecca paper pack. Not a whole lotta stamping here, but sometimes less is more!

You can look for more sketch inspiration over at Jen's blog as well as the original sketch. She and Becca no doubt have some fabulous cards ready for your viewing pleasure. Then scoot over to the other sugar & spice gals on the SFYTT team to see what they've been up to!

Amy
Carole
Shannan
Susan

Have a great weekend all!