New Company - DESIGN TEAM CALL

Just wanted to post a heads up here that there is a Design Team Call at http://elementaldoodles.blogspot.com . This is a new company (yes, my images & part my company) and it is scheduled to launch on or before March 2009.

My Ramblings

Last weekend my 9 year old and I went to help out at a local ministry church that provides some very much needed services and such to the needy in our area. I felt so very blessed to have even had the privilege to meet these wonderful people and to have the opportunity to serve them. Well, my 9 year old helped out with the clothes and toys. We went out for lunch afterward to discuss what we did that morning. To my surprise he tells me "mom, I really did not know that there REALLY ARE kids that don't even have ONE toy, or food, or new clothes." Apparently he thought that when we told him these things and how he needed to be thankful for what he has that we were making it all up. Then he followed this conversation with "Mom, I really would like to go help out every month when you go. And I want to go through my toys and get the unbroken ones to bring to the kids that don't have any at all". You talk about making a mother proud. It just brought tears to my eyes to hear my 9 year old say these things. This is something that I think every child should experience. Not only to make them more thankful for what they have...but to really show them what it means to serve others.

Mimi Merry Christmas Reindeer Card

Mimi Merry Christmas Reindeer Card

I absolutely love this stamp set from TAC. My son and husband have a lawn business and wanted several different designs of cards to send to their clients. This is one of the card designs they selected when I was done creating. :-)

Supplies Used (all TAC):
Cardstocks: V-223 Ivory Ultrasmooth & B-311 Mimi
Stamps: T-2701 Christmas Season, TA-2978 Just For You Level A Hostess Set

Ink: TT-218 Palette Burnt Umber & TT-220 Palette Noir

Coloring Medium: A-505 Jewel Tones Chalk Kit
Embellishments: B-211 Mimi Ribbon, A-287 Prisma Glitter
Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence EP, D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller, D-97 Tombow Mono Multi Glue, F-490 Corner Rounder

Newborn King Christmas Card

Newborn King Christmas Card
This is another one of my Clear Cards. I love the way these cards look and they are different than what you can find in the stores so they make really unique cards for giving on any occasion.

Supplies Used (all TAC except ribbon):
Cardstock: V-233 Dark Green Cardstock, V-223 Ivory Ultrasmooth, F-47 Clear Acetate
Stamps: T-3045 Holiday Collages
Ink: TT-218 Palette Burnt Umber Hybrid Ink Pad, TT-220 Palette Noir, S291 Brilliance Galaxy Gold, S293 Brilliance Starlight Silver, TT-196 Palette Moulin Rouge
Embellishments: Ribbon Scrap, Mini Brads
Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence Embossing Powder, K-100 Crop-A-Dile, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller

Snowman Soup Cocoa Gift Packet

Snowman Soup Cocoa Gift Packet

Ok, yes I know it should have a snowman image on the front but I didn't have one handy when I made this so it ended up being Santa Soup instead. LOL Anyway, inside this packet is a cello bag filled with a couple of cocoa packets, holiday shaped marshmallows and 2 fancy candy bars (you could also put several of the Hershey nuggets instead). I'm putting these in the gift package that my kids will be taking to their teachers at school before Christmas break. I got this idea from a friend of mine who had an example in her workshop.

Supplies Used:

Cardstocks: White, Red, Light Blue & Hunter Green

Stamps: T-2701 Christmas Season
Ink: TT-220 Palette Noir & S-1179 Versamark Pad

Coloring Medium: F-462 Stardust Glittering Gel Pens
Embellishments: Ribbon Scraps
Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence EP, K-100 Crop-A-Dile, D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller; Large Cello Bag

Christmas Angel Card

Christmas Angel Card

This is a card I did using an old medium that I've not used in a very long time. It's a medium that I truly wish were still around because I absolutely loved it.

Supplies Used:
Cardstocks: Red, White & Hunter Green
Stamps: T-2953 Just Dream & T3045 Holiday Collages
Ink: TT-220 Palette Noir

Coloring Medium: Magical Faerie Myst Paints
Embellishments: Ribbon Scraps, Poinsettia pieces, F-771 Matte Heritage Mini Brads
Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence EP, D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller

Mimi Love & Laughter Card

Mimi Love & Laghter Card
This is a sweet and simple card for every day or for Valentine's Day. It took all of about 15 minutes to do several cards at one time.

Supplies Used (all TAC):

Printed Paper: V-837 Mimi

Cardstocks: V-223 Ivory Ultrasmooth & B-311 Mimi

Stamps: T-2981 Love & Laughter

Ink: TT-218 Palette Burnt Umber & TT-220 Palette Noir

Embellishments: B-211 Mimi Ribbon, B-111 Mimi Hardware

Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence EP, K-100 Crop-A-Dile, D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller

Mimi Always Remember Scrapbook Page

Mimi Always Remember Scrapbook Page

I used one of my own pictures from when I was a little girl on this scrapbook page. I'm working on some scrapbooks for the grandparents and this is one of the pages that I am including. It is an 8"X8" page. This page could easily be adjusted to any size.

Supplies Used (all TAC):

Printed Paper: V-837 Mimi

Cardstock: B-311 Mimi Cardstock, V-223 Ivory Ultrasmooth

Stamps: T-2951 Always Remember

Ink: TT-218 Palette Burnt Umber Hybrid Ink Pad

Embellishments: B-211 Mimi Ribbon, B-111 Mimi Hardware

Miscellaneous: C-151 Transcendence Embossing Powder, K-100 Crop-A-Dile, D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller, F-28 Retractable Knife, and a Personal Photo.

Amelia Christmas Poinsettia Card

Amelia Christmas Poinsettia Card
Fairly quick and easy card to do. The most time consuming part was the Poinsettia. It is stamped 3 times and cut out at different levels and layered with Pop It! Pop Dots for a 3D effect. The Poinsettia "ornament" dangles as it is attached to the round loop with ribbon.

Supplies Used (all TAC):

Printed Paper Pack - V-838 Amelia

Cardstocks: V-223 Ivory Ultrasmooth & B-317 Amelia Cardstock
Stamps: T-2701 Christmas Season

Ink: TT-220 Palette Noir Hybrid Ink Pad & TT-218 Palette Burnt Umber Hybrid Ink Pad

Coloring Medium: A-505 Jewel Tones Chalk Kit & F-462 Stardust Pens

Embellishments: B-217 Amelia Ribbon, F-764 Antique Round Loops, F-771 Matte Heritage Mini Brads.

Miscellaneous: D-89 Circle Pop It! Pop Dots, D-91 Kokuyo Permanent Adhesive Dot N Roller, K-100 Crop-A-Dile, C-151 Transcendence EP

NSR: Weight Loss

I know this is not stamping related and I do try to keep everything on my blog stamping related BUT.......

I started walking this week.....just getting way to large and need to put an end to it and shrink a little. LOL Anyway, I weighed myself before I went for a walk and then again when I returned home. Well, I had GAINED a pound. So my thought is this, apparently I am allergic to exercise since it is having an adverse effect on me. LOL

Seriously though, it was yesterday's shock on the scale that made me realize that I am way too overweight and need to do something about it NOW. Sooooo, I signed up with Herbalife (a friend of mine has done very well with these products, her diabetes is under control, she's lost quite a bit of weight, etc so I thought I'd give it a try as well). And I signed up as a distributor with them so that I can get my own products at a discount and sell it as well.

So with that I was also thinking about starting some weight loss challenge groups in my area with a twist.....for those who are interested I would also host a stamping make & take on weigh in days to make it a little more fun and exciting to come weigh and measure in. And it would also give us a little time to chat about the challenges we are facing with losing weight, or our accomplishments, or offer encouragement to each other, etc.

Anyway, today I'll be taking my dreaded before picture. I have 100 pounds to lose but have set my first goal at 50 pounds. I'll worry about the other half of that after reaching this first goal.

Oh, I'll have some more projects to post shortly as well.

Book of Blessings

Something that I have been working on with my children is to always be thankful of the blessings we have in our lives. And even though it may seem like nothing is going right and it may seem as though life is just so tough there are always blessings to be found. And we've been talking about how important it is to take the time each day to thank God for each of these blessings. Sooooo, our little Book of Blessings was born. I made these today so that me and my kids can take time out every morning to write a few things that we are thankful for in our lives as a way of saying "Thank You Lord, for all You do.".

These little books are made using the little mini composition notebooks found in Dollar Tree (something like 4 per pack for $1). They are covered with colored CS (just a piece on front and one on back, it is not a full wrap) and the spine is recovered with a contrasting color CS. The "medallion" is made with CS matching the spine and then green CS circle. The stamp is from stamp set T-2951 Always Remember (TAC of course LOL). The ribbon is fed through 1/8" holes in the top and bottom of the "medallion" piece.

Clear Card - Pointsettia

This is the same image from 2 different angles. I really had fun with this card. It was made using stamps from TAC stamp set T-2701. The green CS is attached to the back side of the back flap using 2 red eyelets (one in the upper right corner and one in the lower left corner). The red CS is attached to the front of the back flap using double stick tape. The white CS is attached to the red CS using double stick tape. The Poinsettia image is stamped using the Noire Palette Hybrid Ink Pad and embossed with Transcendence EP. It is colored using chalks. The Holly stamp is stamped on the front side of the front flap using Staz On White and heat set (only because I'm impatient but heat setting is NOT necessary). The holly is colored from the back side of the front flap using green stickles. The Poinsettia in the lower left corner is made using several poinsettia parts and a leaf and is attached using a tiny gold brad. The ribbon in the upper right corner is just some scrap ribbon I had laying around.

The thing about working with acetate is that you're prone to getting a TON of fingerprints on the acetate. I try to remember to work with cotton gloves on so I don't get the fingerprints all over (the gloves can be found in the candy making section of most craft stores). If I forget to put the gloves on I just wipe over the card front and back on both flaps using a soft rag (we have several eye glass cleaning rags laying around the house and I snagged a few for use on acetate).

Clear Card - Let It Snow

These are all different versions of the same card. Again, they vary by the way the ribbon is added. These cards were made by cutting the acetate in half on the long side instead of the standard short side. And then I cut about 1 1/2" off the front flap. This particular card is stamped to open up rather than from the right. The images are from TAC stamp set T-870 and T-2924. The "Let It Snow" image is stamped using the Noire Palette Hybrid Ink Pad and heat set. It is colored from the backside of the transparency with a brown Sharpie (the trees). Glitter was also added from the backside to the snowflakes and snow hill outlines. White CS is attached to the back of the front flap using 2 green eyelets at the top. "Ready Set Snow" is stamped using Staz On White Ink. It is NOT embossed. The Green CS is attached to the front side of the back flap using double stick tape. The ribbon is thread through the eyelets on all but the last one.

Clear Card - Dashing Through The Snow

I did 2 versions of this card. Both cards were created using stamps from TAC stamp set T-2924. The snowflake swirl stamp is stamped on the front of the acetate using Staz On White and heat set (not necessary to heat set but I'm impatient and wanted it to dry quicker). The "Dashing Through The Snow" image was stamped using Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance Ink Pad and embossed with Transcendence EP. Glitter was added to the backside of the snowflake swirl image. And the blue "poofy" ribbon is "fun fur" that I picked up at Dollar Tree. The red CS is adhered to the very back of the card (behind the back flap) using eyelets. The white CS is attached on the front side of the back flap of the card using double stick tape. The "fun fur" tassle is attached with a staple (you can use a colored staple if you choose).

Clear Card - Give Thanks

This is one of my Clear Cards. It is difficult to see the card edges since it is made using Acetate. This card was made using stamps from TAC stamp set T-1139. The acorns were stamped with the Noire Palette Hybrid Ink Pad and heat set. They are stamped on the front of the card and colored on the backside using permanent markers (Sharpies). A little depth was given to the leaves using a Green Glaze Pen. "Give Thanks" and the Cornacopia was stamped also using the Noire Palette Ink Pad. It was NOT embossed. It is colored using chalks. The ribbon is just orange grosgrain ribbon scrap I had laying around (yes, I have a ton of ribbon scraps laying around LOL).

Butterflies

This is a picture of 3 different versions of the same card. Everything is the same except the way the ribbon is attached. The butterfly is from TAC stamp set T-2929. It is stamped on white CS and embossed with Transcendence EP. It is colored with chalks and stickles. The butterfly was cut out and mounted with foam dots to pink CS which was then mounted to the brown CS also using foam dots. The background image on the brown CS was stamped using Versamark and the swirl stamp from TAC stamp set T-2929. The ribbon used was some scrap that I had laying around.

New Storage Finally

Ok, I finally got around to taking pictures of my new storage method. I certainly hope you all can actually make out what you see in the pictures below.

Above I have a picture of the box with the lid off showing the "folders" that I cut down and put the stamps inside.

Then there is a picture of one of the "folders" pulled out and laying closed on top of the box.

The last picture is one of the "folders" opened up with the index sheet laying close by.

I do love this method as it makes it so easy for me to just pick up and take all my stamps with me rather than having to flip through a ton of CD's trying to find just the right set. This way I have all my current stamps with me at one time. As sets retire I will take them out and put them in a retired box. I have more retired boxes than I do current. LOL

I get 2 "folders" out of each full size folder. There are 12 of these laminated folders in each pack. So that makes for 24 of the cut down mini folders for my stamp storage. Each pack of full size folders are around $4.50. And the boxes are around $8 at Walmart. So this makes for a very economical storage system.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

NSR - Culinary School

This isn't stamp related....BUT....I'm just so proud of my son that I had to share.
My oldest son is in Culinary School (he just started and is in his first semester). So yesterday he asked me if he could make dinner himself. He wanted to make one of the meals he'd learned about in school.....and he needed to practice some techniques with potatoes.

So last night he did chicken breast in a white sauce (white wine, chicken broth, seasonings, heavy cream and something else that I didn't pay attention to LOL), asparagus steamed and sauteed, and potatoes cut some weird way steamed and sauteed. OMG!!!! This meal was FABULOUS!!! We usually have some left overs.....not last night. Every one of my crew went back for seconds and left mom with NO SECONDS!!!!!! LOL I went in the kitchen to get another piece of chicken (not a whole piece....I only wanted a couple of bites) but there was NONE left. LOL

Ok, so during this whole cooking of dinner process Anthony was getting really frustrated. We didn't have all the spices he needed. He thought mom would have had everything since mom cooks a lot and loves to cook......but mom apparently didn't use the same seasonings he needed. How could I NOT????? LOL Anyway, then he needed cheesecloth for some of the seasonings but we didn't have that either (I dont' use cheesecloth for anything) so he had to make do with a tea strainer. We didn't get clarified butter for the white sauce so he had to make do with what we had.

So this whole ordeal has helped him to learn to improvise and make substitutions in a pinch. Sure he was frustrated. But I am hoping that he learned something from this experience. He pretty much had all the substitutions figured out but was not pleased with the fact that he had to do that in the first place. I have explained to him that there are going to be times in his career that he is out of something or missplaced something or whatever the case may be he'll have to substitute and think on the spot of a way to make do with what ingredients and tools he has on hand.

All in all, he did a GREAT job...especially considering we didn't have everything he needed. Today I am planning to go to Bed Bath & Beyond and get one of those spice/seasoning things that hangs on the side of the refrigerator with the metal tins and then I'm going to make sure we have every single seasoning you can possibly imagine so that my baby will have what he needs when he cooks for us next time. :-)

Anyway, I'm so proud of him that I just had to share.

UM Stamp Storage

I am so excited.....my new stamps arrived the other day and I actually got a chance to play with them last night. BUT, I am so over storing them in the CD cases. These CD cases were really starting to overrun my stamp area and it was such a pain trying to decide which ones to take with me when I go places to stamp with other people. Soooooo, I figured something else out.

I bought several of the photo storage boxes (in pink and brown of course. LOL )
I also bought several packages of file folders (the ones that have laminate on one side - also in pink and brown)

I cut them in half both ways so they would fit inside the photo storage boxes. Then flipped them inside out. The Creative Cling sticks perfectly to the laminate side of these folders. I like to have an index sheet with each set of stamps so I cut pieces of CS to slip into each "folder".

Then I turned the index cards that come in the box on its side and cut them to the right size (so they just barely stuck out over the stamp "folders" and labeled them with the section titles as they are in our catalog.

So now all my stamps are organized nice and neat in these boxes. I removed all the retired stamp sets and have seperate boxes specifically for my retired stamp sets (these are also organized according to category as they are in the catalog).

This is so much easier for me to carry my stamps away from home rather than trying to figure out what I'm going to put my CD cases in and which sets I will be taking with me.

I'll take a picture of how I did this later this evening.

My 7 year old's card

This is the halloween card that my 7 year old made the other day. He loves to stamp and play with mom. The only thing I helpded him with on this card was getting everything centered. He did the stamping and selected his own stamps to use from the stash of "kid" stamps they have. He plans to give this to his teacher when it is closer to halloween.

I will post the calendar books we do when they are finished. We will all be using TAC stamps on our calendar books. :-)

Business Card Holder

Being that I am involved with a few different companies and have 4 different business cards it was always an issue of how and where in my purse to keep all of them. And then, having to fumble around with them to find the right one to give out was just a hassle. So, this is the solution I came up with.

I created a template to fit the business cards. Then cut out several of them. The front and back are covered with various decorative cardstocks (what a great way to use up some of the scraps I have laying around LOL). The cards are all attached using a Paper Tagger so that they all stay together. They just slide out of the side of the pocket. So now when I need to hand out a business card I can just hand out this cute little "pack" of business cards.

Calendar Page - May

This is my May Calendar page for a calendar swap I'm participating in. All the stamps are, of course, TAC. :-) The stamped images are colored with chalks and glaze pens. The letters spelling out "May" are affixed with foam dots. The dates for the month are actually on the hang tag rather than in the daily boxes.

New Projects

It's been a while since I've posted, I know. I have a few new projects that I will be posting here either tonight or tomorrow. I have to take pictures of them.

I have a cute pink and brown card that I made last month. I've also been busy making business card holders for all my business cards (TAC, Sweet Wrap Workz, The Chocolate Works, etc). I got tired of having a bunch of different cards and trying to weed through them every time I was giving one out. So figured it would be easier if I just had some premade pouches with one of each of my cards. So I'll post a picture of that when it's done....just trying to decide how I want the outside of it to look.

I'm also working on a May calendar page for a swap. I should have that completed this evening as well. I couldn't think of what to do for it so I've just had to make it up as I go along. Doing things that way just about kills me though as I prefer to have it all planned out nice and neat. LOL

Let's see, I know I have a few more projects laying around here that I'm working on...just can't recall them at the moment. Oh, one is a clear card and the other is a folding album (been working on that one since June though....I'm just not great at the scrapping thing LOL).

So watch for an updated post by tomorrow with new projects.

Project I worked on with my kids

My 9 year old and 7 year old absolutely love to stamp with me. While looking through my supplies my 9 year old found some "puzzles" that I had that were unstamped. So we ventured out to stamp up some puzzles.

This first puzzle was done by my 9 year old. The image used is a Rubbernecker image. He used markers to color it. Then we heat set and sprayed with a sealer.





This second puzzle was done by my 7 year old. I did help with stamping the image because it was a large image and we found out from stamping Samuel's (my 9 year old's) that it's not so easy to stamp on puzzles.










This would be the puzzle that I did. The stamps used are all TAC stamps. The background was done with a sponge and soft colored ink pads.

Stationery Box

All of the images below are of a Stationery Box that was made using all TAC stamps and papers. This was not my original idea....I got the printed instructions from the following SU site http://jackietopa.typepad.com/addicted_to_stamping/tutorials/index.html

This is the Greeting Card that is in the very back of the stationery box. There are 3 of these included as well as envelopes.

These images (from left to right) are mini gift tags, mini note cards, mini envelopes, address book and stamp and pen area.

The address book is completely handmade. BUT, I have decided on my next go around I will be making the address book out of a mini composition notebook.

Just a few projects

Both of the images here are mini clipboards that I altered using TAC stamps and papers. The ribbons used were just some scraps that I had laying around. I save all my scraps no matter how large or small they are because they oftentimes come in handy for projects such as these.

NSR: Just something funny to share

Good Monday morning to everyone......

I certainly hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was wonderful. I didn't have much time online this weekend but that's ok....I had a great time with my family and some newfound friends.

I have a funny little story to tell all of you this morning....it happened in church yesterday.

My 16 year old son falls asleep anywhere that he may be sitting still for more than 5 minutes. It's just how he is. and this includes church. Yesterday's message was about expectations and we think and say things that we really shouldn't and how many times these things come to fruition (both good and bad). So we really need to keep our thoughts positive and our words positive and uplifting instead of negative and depressive.

Well, about midway through the service I looked over and my son was asleep with his head resting in his hand and his arm was resting on his leg. So his head was pretty close to the pew in front of us but not touching it. Well, I had already been poking him and trying to keep him awake so by this time I had given up. So I sat there thinking to myself "God, how funny it would be if Kevin just bumped his head on the pew in front of us"........less than 5 seconds later I look over at him and hear and see WHACK!!!!! Sure enough, he bumped his head on the pew in front of us.

So I am sitting there trying really hard not to laugh out loud where everyone can hear me. So instead I'm sitting there laughing quietly and trying to contain myself. I thought for sure I'd have to leave and go in the bathroom or outside just so as not to disturb anyone in the church. FINALLY, I was able to control myself. But I could not look at my son without laughing. And then I was thinking about what our Pastor was saying about our words and thoughts and it just made me laugh all over again.

Anyway, we were having lunch with our Pastor and his inlaws after church yesterday so I HAD to tell them what happened. He said he was a little relieved because he saw me sitting there laughing but he couldn't think of what he had said that was so funny.

So we teased with Kevin all that afternoon about how the Pastor needs to have a water gun at the pulpit so he can just squirt Kevin every time he falls asleep. How funny would that be????? LOL ROTF

Ok, so I just wanted to give you all a good laugh to start your week out just right.

Rubber Stamping Email List

I've decided to try and revive my old stamping email list at yahoogroups. I had to close it several years ago due to my life going in a different direction. But now that I'm back into stamping I've decided to recreate the group. I've sent invites out to all the old members. But unfortunately, some of the email addresses weren't any good.

The email list is called Ink It Up. And it's set up for all those rubber stamp artists that just would love to get back to actually stamping. In other words, if you're "old school stampin' style" then this list is for you.

Right now there aren't a lot of members as I just created it again TODAY!!!!! So it's only a few hours old at the moment.

If you care to join go here:





Click to join ink-it-up

New Chocolate Biz Adventure

WooHoo!!!!! I am so excited and wanted to share this wonderful opportunity with all of you.

Hey everyone, In addition to my regular chocolate business, I am now also an Independent DOVE Chocolate at Home® Chocolatier. Now I can easily offer Chocolate Tasting Parties in your home (for those in the Raleigh, NC and surrounding areas - catalog parties available for those outside the area).

What a GREAT way to entertain your friends.
A few themes I can work with (not limited to these though):
Girls Night Out
Cool Concoctions
Summer Celebrations
Truffles To Die For

We have some really terrific products available: Martini Mixes, Truffle Brownie Mixes, Boxed Truffles, Beverage Mixes, Professional Quality Chocolate, Molds and much much more. There's something for everyone.

Visit my website today for more information, to book a party or to join my team. http://www.dovechocolateathome.com/mhand Or, email me at mel@javamels.com

By signing up to join my team you are not only getting the training provided by Dove Chocolate......you're also getting my personal experience of nearly 20 years of working with chocolate and 5 years of working as a professional Chocolatier with my own chocolate business. If you're thinking about signing up to be a DOVE Chocolate at Home® Chocolatier.....think fast.....sign up before the end of June and have the option of paying only $50 (plus shipping) for your kit up front with the balance of $349 due in 60 days. I am told this offer will not last beyond June 2008. I took advantage of this payment plan and so can you!!! So hurry!!!

Birth Announcements

These two Birth Announcement cards were made using thefollowing:

Stamp Images: KISS12 Rubbertree-Enterprises (retired sheet)
Coloring Medium: combination of Faerie Myst paints and Faerie Dust
Cardstock: from Michael's
Shrink Plastic was used for the little "dangles" - stamped images and colored with markers and then accented with Faerie Myst paints after they were shrunk down to give them shimmer.

Bookmarks

These bookmarks are some I did using our old line of images and they were colored with Faerie Myst Paints.

Stamp Credits: Dragonfly Maiden Sheet # CLN004 Rubbertree-Enterprises & Tea Time Fairies Sheet also Rubbertree-Enterprises.

Coloring Medium: Faerie Myst Paints

Embroidery floss was used to attach the tiny "teabag" to the TeaTime Bookmark.

Fluffy Yarn from AC Moore was used to make the bookmark tassels.

Both bookmarks were laminated using the Xyron laminating machine.

Organza ribbon was added to the Dragonfly Maiden Bookmark as accent over the drape she's holding in the original stamped image.

Stamps used to make the Dragonfly Maiden Bookmark are available at http://www.javamels.com/ on the Stampin' Yard Sale page. There are only a few of this sheet available and once they're gone they're gone as we will not be manufacturing anymore of them.

Pull Up Candy Bar Wraps

While these Pull Up Candy Bar Wraps were not handstamped I still wanted to share them here. These are available through my chocolate company's direct sales division, http://www.sweetwrapworkz.com/ . They are not on the website yet as I have not uploaded them there but will be in the next few days.


I purchase a license agreement to use select candy bar wrapper templates and graphics for commercial use. The wrappers represented here were purchased for that purpose. The back of the wrappers are actually blank so my clients can either specify a custom message to be printed or they can just go with the standard message or I can leave it entirely blank for them to handwrite in their custom message.


The bars shown are regular milk chocolate Hershey Bars, Special Dark Hershey Bars, Almond/Milk Hershey Bars, and 1/2 ounce milk Hershey Bars. And I got the wrap idea from a SU friend locally and just modified the idea to fit all the candy bars we offer (including bars we manufacture ourselves as opposed to using only Hershey products as we use relatively few Hershey products).

Groovy In Denim Cards

Ok, so yeah, I'm hooked on the hippie stamps. LOL I've just been in one of those moods lately.
;-)


Stamps are TAC retired stamps. The denim stamp is stamped on an old pair of my son's jeans.
Background paper is brayered.
Eyelets are used on the jeans to attach the "belt" which is embroidery floss.

Mini Flower brads are used to attach the piece to a card.

Magic Mushroom Card

Below are 3 images of a card I just finished. I call it the Magic Mushroom.
Stamps Used are from a retired TAC set (TAC740 I believe)
Coloring Medium is a combination of Faerie Myst paints and colored glitter glue.
Background paper used is from SU.
Pull string and Peace charm are from I have no clue. LOL
Be gentle....this is the first card I've done in over 4 years. :-)