Prettie Peek Day 2

For today's Prettie Peek, I have a wonderful new Sophia stamp, all ready to grace your Thanksgiving creations! Season of Thanks will be released on Tuesday, September 1st along with 3 other BRAND NEW stamp sets, and the August Stamp of the Month - Story Time Sophia. You don't want to miss the great Stamping In Your Jammies party we have planned over in the Paper Pretties Forum for Tuesday starting at 5pm Pacific Time. A good time will be had by all, and there will even be prizes!!For today's card, I decided to make a Thanksgiving Dinner invite. Doesn't she look ready to help everyone celebrate a season of gratitude for a wonderful bounty? I used one of my favorite techniques to make her really shimmer and shine - faux diamond dust. After stamping and coloring my image (with a combination of Copics and SU! markers) on some very vanilla cardstock I covered the die cut image with versamark and then some iridescent ice embossing powder. I love the look of this technique with vanilla carstock...it adds a lovely golden sheen.I used the You're Invited stamp from Danielle's Home Sweet Home set...it's so versatile!

Be sure to check the peeks on all the other Prettie blogs listed below, and I'll be back tomorrow with one last peek before the big party tomorrow night!

Charmaine Ikach

Christi Thorsen

Christie Ortman

Danielle Lounds

Frances Byrne

Jackie Rakoski

Julie Masse

Pulling a Prettie Peek

Happy Sunday everyone! It's that time of month again, for our Prettie Peaks! Now you all know how much I love Cooper. I also love little Radio Flyer wagons! (Julia had a great one that her aunties bought her!!) so this little guy pulled me in immediately! And to give him a frog to play with? Nothing could be better.I colored Cooper with my small supply of Copic markers (it's amazing how much you can get from just a few!!) and the frog was colored with my SU! markers (since I have no green Copics yet, suppose I should remedy that soon!!) I decided to add some faux stitching around the main image to help set it off a little more, but it's a pretty simple, straight forward card.
I did make Cooper a strawberry blond today, by first coloring his hair with So Saffron, then Apricot Appeal over the top. I like it. I used Really Rust to add his freckles - how many redheads do YOU know without them???
As usual, on Tuesday, September 1st Paper Pretties will be having their monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party!! The party starts at 8pm EST and will last until 10pm. We will be having three challenges, so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing 5 new sets, including Story Time Sophia. Hope to see you there!!

Prettie Wednesday Scrapling

This week's challenge came from Frances and is to make a scrapling project, using scraps from other projects. The challenging part is the main part can't be wider than 2.5" So...I decided to make a bookmark!This little bookmark uses the new Summer Fun set and some Stampin' Up in colors for '09-'10. I love the beach ball and thought it would be the perfect bookmark for a fun summer book. Of course, this summer I finally got to read the 4th Twilight book - guess a beach ball works for part of that book, right??

Be sure to go see what all the other Pretties have come up with for their Scrapling this week, and we'll be back next Wednesday with a fabulous sketch from Jules!

Happy Birthday to the Officer!

While I missed the party where Jackie (often referred to as Jacque so as not to be confused with our OTHER Jackie who just HAD a birthday!) was given the nomiker Officer, I can certainly understand how she got it! We all love Jackie very much, and are therefore throwing her a Twilight Birthday hop. So if you didn't arrive here from Danielle's blog, please head back to Frances so you can start from the beginning.

It being a Twilight hop, I brought my date, Carlisle (because all the good looking young ones were taken, and I was teased for saying I would bring Jasper...so I thought I'd go for Carlisle instead - besides I always wanted to date a doctor!!!) And my card adhere's to the rules of being black and white with some red. I thought Jackie might like some roses for her birthday, and since as usual I am doing this last minute (something Jackie and I have in common!!) I also kept it simple!
The roses are from the Sealed With a Kiss set, which I think is so very versatile! I stamped them with Stazon and colored them with SU! markers (because that is what I have unpacked right now!) All the paper is from my scrap folders (yeah for me!) and I thought the shimmery white would add a little extra class. I mean, I am dating a doctor, right? I embossed the white layer with my SU! embossing plates, then mounted it on real read, then the black card base. The sentiment was punched with the word window punch, then mounted on some real red that was cut with the ribbon tags trio shapabilities die...which was attached to the card with some great polka dotted ribbon.The image was punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch, and mounted on a scalloped circle of real red. Overall, a nice simple design...just my kinda card!

Now head on over to Prettie Mama Christie for our next stop on this Twilight birthday tour, and enjoy the scenery!! When you're done, be sure to leave some love for the Birthday Girl!! Have a great day everyone.

Pretty Vellum Wednesday - a little late

Good morning Prettie Peeps! Sorry I'm late this morning, technical difficulties here with missing camera chargers, broken card readers, etc. I really hate moving...but I still love my new house!

Ok, that off my chest. 2 weeks ago Christi challenged us all to make a card with vellum. Surprisingly, I actually did FIND my vellum. I like using it, but never seem to remember I have it. I decided to make a wintery card, even though we're enjoying our lovely California summer still (and swimming in the pool EVERY day now that we're home again!!) If I had been able to, I would have loved to photograph this card in front of the pool...talk about irony!I used one of my FAVORITE Prettie sets for this card, Snowflake Kisses. It is such a fun and versatile set with Sophia and Snowflake making snow angels, these beautiful mittens and some fun snowflakes and sentiments. I also used some gorgeous Heidi Grace Designs DP I picked up in the Pretties Boutique a while back when Christie had it on clearance. It has a lovely shimmer and sparkle to it...and the back side is a pearly white for the inside of my card. I wrapped that in a vellum card, and attached them with my ribbon.Of course I had to use lots of glitter on my mittens as well...hanging there on the hook just waiting to go play in the snow. For those of you roasting in warmer climes, you can dream of icy cold snowstorms to cool off, then enjoy your sunshine while you've got it! Have a wonderful wednesday, and be sure to check out how all the other Prettie girls used vellum in their creations by using the links to the right!

Hapy Birthday Jackie!!!

It's another Prettie Birthday, this time for Jackie, our wonderful New Jersey Girl! Jackie is such a wonderful, sweet person...I was so excited to finally meet her last month when I was in New Jersey visiting family. I have now met 3 of the Pretties...can't wait to meet the rest!!For Jackie's birthday I have a lovely picnic for her, with a wonderful bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - perfect for enjoying at the beach with some grapes, cheese and crackers. MMmmmm - makes me want to go pop a cork right now! :-) I used the fabulous new Everyday Picnic set that was just released on August 1st. I love this new set, and was excited to use it for Jackie's card!
You should have arrived here from Officer Jacque's blog, but if not hop on back there to see what she's cooked up. And if you did arrive from her spot, then head on under to Frances, our StampOwl to see what fabulous creations she's devised this time. And when you're done, be sure to leave some birthday Love for our wonderful Jackie!!

Happy Birthday Jackie...sending many hugs your way Chickie!!

Prettie Wednesday Challenge Unknown!

All the Pretties who HAVEN'T been traveling for 3 weeks are having a birthday blog hop for Danielle's birthday today...so be sure to head on over to the Prettie Mama's blog for the hop, and visit Danielle when you're through to leave her some birthday love!!!

Prettie Wednesday...but not the challenge. I'm writing this a couple weeks in advance, so the challenge for this week hasn't even been issued yet when I'm writing (you see, I'm still in Maine, fly home tomorrow in fact) so I don't know what the challenge is. But I have one more Pretties card that I made before leaving home to share.

This card uses the fun new Make A Splash Accessories set again, and is a fun summery card. I really love the popsicle in this set...and the glass of lemonade that looks so refreshing. The gold fish is just too cute (could put him in the wading pool also I guess...hmmmm...gives me an idea to try when I get home!) This card also let me play with all my new SU! in colors and papers again - which I love!!

To find out what the actual challenge was, and to see all the other Prettie Girls' creations, be sure to visit their blogs listed over on the right, or by going to the powder room.

SIYJ Buttons, buttons, buttons!

Another of the challenges from the last Paper Pretties Stamping In Your Jammies release party was to create a card using using only buttons for embellishments. Now...I made this card back while I was still home, and it was made while pulling things out of boxes, packing to leave for New Jersey, and other general chaos...I was actually shocked I found my buttons in all the boxes!!

For this card I used the newly released Every Day Picnic set which I just LOVE. I am a true wine lover, and for many years have gone on special girls' weekend trips with friends to go wine tasting. It's been a while since I've been able to do that, but I'm looking forward to the day when we can resume the tradition, and I can go wine tasting with some girlfriends again!!! In the meantime, i have this fabulous stamp set to create cards for those friends.I colored this image with my SU markers, then cut it out with one of my label nesties. I sponged the edges to give it some oomph...then attached it to the card. I love the buttons with this set, it's all kinda homey!Come back on Wednesday for my last post from the road...we fly home on Thursday!!

SU! Friday

Here's a card I made a few months ago back when this set was new. I had to get this fun Trendy Trees set when I first saw it...and I haven't had much time to play with it. I really loved using the Pink Pirouette (now retired) with chocolate chip and old olive. The eyelet lace punch worked great, and this fun ribbon trim was the perfect finishing touch! I'll probably miss next Friday's SU! post since I'm traveling home on Thursday, and I don't have any more cards ready...but I'll be back the following week with more SU! creations to share. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sparkly Prettie Wednesday

Jackie loves glitter (and I even got to meet her - the sparkles in life too!!) so she challenged us all to make a card that sparkles. I used some more of this wonderful Nana's Nursery boy paper that is so sparkly and wonderful...I love it! I colored this little Aloha Sophia with some copics a while back and was happy to finally use her...I really like the colors! I used a trick I saw on Jules' blog about adding highlights to her hair by using the colorless blender to remove some color...looks like she's really standing in the sun, doesn't it?? Be sure to check out the other Prettie Blogs to see what sparkly creations they've come up with for today's challenge!Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!! We're still at the lake and enjoying our visit, but we have just one more week.

Paper Pretties Post Party Sharing

The SIYJ party Saturday night was fun for everyone (at least I assume so even though I couldn't really attend!) and we had some fun challenges to do. One was to make a giftcard holder. I love this new Stamp of the Month, Make a Wish Sophia. She's so much fun to color, and perfect for all the birthday parties Julia has to attend...and she'll love making cards with this little sweetie!

I decided to make a different shaped card for this using my nestabilities. It's a very simple card, just the colored image on the circle card with a scalloped base on the bottom. Inside, I've punched out the greeting with my word window punch and placed the gift card underneath. A fast and easy card that looks much more complicated than it is!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week...we're just enjoying our time at the lake!

Prettie Peek - Tonight's the Night!

Another Prettie Peek today using the fun new accessory set for Make a Splash called Summer Fun! There are so many images and sentiments in this set to mix and match...the possibilities are endless!!

This little wading pool is so adorable...I love the polka dots on it. For this card, I used a challenge sketch from Danielle (LOVE her weekly challenges, don't you?!) for the layout, and got to work. The paper is the new Razzleberry Lemonade and SU! in colors, and the markers are SU! as well. I cut out Sophia and her splash separately, then mounted them both on top of the wading pool. I love the 3D effect that gives, even when NOT using pop dots!

This sentiment is perfect for an encouragement card...I think thiw would be great for Julia after the swim lessons she took this summer since she did such a great job!

Be sure to come to the Party Forum tonight at 8pm EST to join the fun as we launch the 2 new sets plus Aloha Sophia and reveal the September Stamp of the Month!