Prettie White Wednesday

Good morning! Sorry I wasn't here on Monday...I literally wasn't here since I flew to Texas with my family to visit my in-laws there. We all had a nice trip, especially Julia who loves all the fun things to do there at the ranch.

Now I'm back and running behind as always! It's after 10pm and I just finished my card. I loved this challenge from Jackie P - a local Californian! She wanted us to use only white for our card, except the main image which could be colored with other colors. I had seen this technique on Patty Bennett's blog a while back and really wanted to try...so I thought this would be perfect!I stamped the tree from Soakin' Up the Sun (currently unavailable, but soon to return!) with white craft ink on shimmery white paper then embossed with clear embossing powder per Patty's instructions. I then wet the paper and added the ink. It's so much fun to watch the color spread! I used shimmery white paper for my card base, and for the layer just under the tree that was cuddlebugged. Then, I added some white striped paper from the SU! specialty paper pack, and some ribbon. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment with brilliance black ink. Hopefully I didn't break the rules by using black on something other than the main image!!Overall, I'm very happy with my card, and will for sure play with this technique more. Thanks for the great challenge, officer!!

Prettie Fat Cat Wednesday

2 Weeks ago Jodi challenged us all to create a card using the colors from Danielle's new designs Fat Cat Stamps logo...apricot appeal, baja breeze and pacific point. As most of the Prettie's know, I am not a real big fan of baja...but I liked it here!I used the June Stamp of the Month, Giving Thanks Sophia for the card. I just love her...she's so sweet looking in this image! I colored her using my stamp pad and aquapainter for the dress, my markers for the rest. Then I added the Baja Breeze ribbon, and these fun pearl brads I picked up at Mikes a while back - pretty aren't they?
Sorry for the quick post...I'm in between watching Idol final performances and Dancing results show, and as usual there's someone complaining in the background wanting to go to sleep with his favorite pacifier - ME! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week and long weekend! I'll be back on Monday from Texas where I'm visiting my in-laws for my dh's birthday!!

I love New York!

New York City is an amazing place. I visited there for the first time just over 3 years ago now on our way to Germany when we moved. My sisters live in Jersey now, and since they've moved there I've been up to New York 3 times, and will be visiting again this summer when we head East. The funny thing is though, I have never seen the Statue of Liberty there - although I've seen her smaller sister in Paris 4 times! So, we're going to fix that this summer!Lady Liberty Sophia is one of the sets Paper Pretties released back on May 1st, and I just love her!! She's perfect for making 4th of July cards, cards for the troops, or just general America Rocks cards. :-)
For this card I stamped her on white cardstock then colored her in with my SU! markers. I cut her and the chocolate chip layer with my nesties, then used the sketch challenge from the release party for the layout, adding some fun dp I picked up at my LSS. It's actually a Christmas design, but I thought it looked like fireworks for behind Lady Liberty.

If you're looking for a fun sketch to try, be sure to check out Danielle's latest Pretties Weekly Challenge (PWC52) because it looks fabulous! I'm hoping to try it out myself soon!! And be sure to upload your cards to the challenge gallery - you could win a gift certificate to the Prettie Boutique!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Prettie Wednesday Color Challenge

2 weeks ago Jackie challenges us all to use our favorite color, along with a darker and lighter version. I LOVE Pacific Point. It's such a wonderful blue. So I paired that up wtih Night of Navy and Bashful Blue for this fun Flirty Phrases card.
I stamped the take out box onto some white cardstock and then again onto some SU! dsp to paper piece, then I cut it all out with my new labels nestabilities. I cut out the fortune and the chopsticks, colored the chopsticks and then gave them some gloss with my crystal effects.
I put the bashful blue through my cuddlebug in this fun folder, then added the ribbon, adhered it to the 5" square night of navy base, then added the rest. I think it's a fun card, and with that sentiment (Your future will be full of love) it can be very versatile - anniversary, wedding, engagement, or just for your honey!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone - be sure to surf around to all the other Prettie Girl blogs to see what THEIR favorite colors are, and don't forget to check out the latest Prettie Weekly Challenge tomorrow on the Paper Clip!!

Happy Birthday to our Canadian Mama!

Our Prettie Mama Christie's birthday was Friday, May 1st - the day of our release party! We didn't ignore her by not doing a hop, we instead had a challenge at the party to create a birthday card for her!!I used our fun new Canadian Girl Sophia, and created the birthday banner using the Welcome Home stamp from Danielle's new set Home Sweet Home. I just stamped the outside and handwrote my own greeting! I colored her in with my SU! markers using some artichoke for her sweater. And of course, some bling for the corners. Speaking of bling, did you know that the Prettie Boutique now has Blingz?? You gotta check it out, it's WAY cool!I hope your day was spectacular Mama!! We love you!

Prettie Butterfly Birthday Hop

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! And especially to Christi - for it's her birthday today also!! I hope your little ones are extra sweet to you today!!!

In honor of Christi's birthday(you know, that Whimsical Butterfly girl??), the Pretties are having another fun blog hop. If you are just joining us, please go to Christie's blog so you don't miss any of the Prettie Birthday fun. If you just arrived from Charmaine's Oodabug Alley, you're in the right place!I thought I should bring some Strawberries to the party since the season is in full-bloom here and I've been eating strawberries non-stop for the past several weeks. I knew my fellow pretties would enjoy them...perhaps we can all have some strawberry daquiris!! The patterned papers are from the Nana's Nursery Girl stack - my buddy Charlie made me do it!!! Of course, I couldn't be sexist so I got the boy set too. And now I want Nana's Kitchen!!! I'm sunk!

The stamp is our newest stamp of the month, Give Thanks. Isn't she adorable? You can get her next month (before she is released to the general public on July 1st) by joining hte Stamp of the Month club!! Cool beans, huh?For the next stop on our Birthday Hop, I send you Down Under the illustrious StampOwl, Frances! And don't forget to visit Christi and give her some Birthday Love after you've hopped to the end!!

Dusting off a Prettie for Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone. Today I have a neglected Prettie for you. Mostly because, I tend to forget her until Mother's Day! However, she is quite useful all-year-round (even if I did use her to make a Mother's Day card here...I mean...I needed to make one anyway, right?!?)

Here's our lovely Lexi baking some chocolate chip cookies. While I know my mom did make those, I'd prefer these be the big soft molasses cookies she used to make...YUM! Maybe I can get her to make some this summer when we're in Maine!!I used some wonderful SU! dsp because my mom loves Black Eyed Susans, and these were close enough to those flowers, especially by adding in the brown. Not your traditional mom's day colors, but they work for my wonderful mom!! So go pull our your Made With Love set and get a card made for your mom before Sunday!!

Be sure to go visit all the other Prettie Girls to see what stamp set's they've dusted off for today's challenge...And mom...Happy Mother's Day! :-)

Pretties Weekly Challenge #5-0 baby!

Happy Monday everyone! We're all excited here because my sister flew in Sunday afternoon for a quick visit before some meetings she has in Southern California on Tuesday. Julia of course was bouncing off the walls with excitement, and hasn't let go of her auntie since she arrived!

Friday night's SIYJ party was a blast (although I had to keep popping out to deal with children, husband, dinner, etc!) The new sets are fabulous - and our new designer out of this world! :-)One of the challenges at the party was a color challenge, so I decided to combine that with Danielle's sketch from her Weekly challenge. I have to admit...I like the color combo quite a bit. And with this set and sketch...it's perfect! I used Danielle's new stamp set Home Sweet Home along with my aquapainters and ink pads for the images. Then added some chocolate chip, kraft and tangerine tango cardstock. Lastly, I have some Cafe aulait buttons. Cute, huh?? I loved painting a cute old brownstone.I hope you all have a wonderful week...I'll be back on Wednesday giving a neglected prettie stamp some love!

Blog Hop and Pretties Party TONIGHT!!

I can't believe it's already May 1st...boy did April fly by!! And with the first of the month, another awesome Paper Pretties Release, and Stamping In Your Jammies party! WOOHOO!!

We at Paper Pretties are SO EXCITED today!! Not only are we introducing a BRAND new set by none other than our own Prettie Girl, Danielle Lounds, but we are having an EXTRA SPECIAL party! Today is Christie's, the owner and operator of Paper Pretties, birthday!! Please join us at the party tonight to wish her a VERY happy birthday!! The festivities start at 5pm PST, so don't be late!!

We've got a fun blog hop for you showcasing Danielle's new set! The hop started with Christie, so if you haven't been to her site yet, please head on over (and don't forget to wish her a Happy Birthday while you're there!)Danielle's debut set is called Home Sweet Home and it is gorgeous! I love all the different houses that come with it, and the sentiments are all awesome! I colored this with an aquapainter and ink pads...and love the soft look with the brighter colors. Goes great with this gorgeous Marakesh paper from Basic Grey, don't you think?Be sure to go to Charmaine's blog next on the hop...you won't want to miss any of the beautiful cards everyone has made with this fun new set. And we look forward to partying with you tonight over on the Paper Pretties site!!

Prettie Peekie Wednesday

Good morning everyone, I hope you're having a great week. Today's Prettie Wednesday card is also a Prettie Peek of the new sets being released Friday night. I like this new Canadian Girl Sophia so much. She's perfect for all my Canadian friends!!I started with our sweet little Sophia on whisper white cardstock, and colored her in with my SU! markers. I'm still too cheap to invest in Copics...and I haven't get gotten a good enough tutorial to convince me I have to have them...so I'm still using my trusty SU! ones. I cut her out with my nesties, along with a scalloped layer. I also cut out the sentiment with my new ribbon tag die...isn't it awesome?!?

I knew she needed something in the upper left corner, and I searched around until I put my hands on these SU! fire rhinestone brads. Perfect!! Overall, she was pretty quick, and lots of fun! Don't forget to go check out all the prettie blogs to see more Pretty Wednesday cards, AND more Prettie Peeks!!!

Don't forget, On Friday May 1st Paper Pretties will be having their monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party!! The party starts at 6pm CDT and will last until 9pm. We will be issuing a challenge every hour so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing Hola Chica, TWO new Sophias, re-releasing Rainy Day Friend in RUBBAH, and we will have a BRAND new set from a BRAND new artist!! Sneak peeks start on Wednesday April 29th!! Hope to see you there!!

It is also time for another Cutie Pie contest!! You have until Thursday April 30th at 8pmCDT to get your entries uploaded to the Cutie Pie gallery at the Paper Pretties website. The winner will not only get to call themselves a Cutie Pie, but they will also receive all the new release stamps!! Good Luck!!

Today I have a special project to share, with an even more special model!! With warm weather coming up, I wanted to stamp some cute onesies for Jack to wear, and since I needed to stamp a few as gifts figured I'd do them all at once (especially since I never iron and wanted to get that part over with all at one time too!!!)
I stamped Jack's name first using craft ink and SU!'s Big Deal Alphabet. Then...I stamped Cooper from Love You This Much using Brilliance Black ink. Then, I colored him in using some Fabrico Markers I picked up at Mike's for just this sort of thing. Adorable, isn't it?? And Jack's lookin' pretty cute too, I must admit!!

The first of the month is coming up fast, which means another SIYJ party right along with it!!

Paper Pretties will be having their monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party Friday, May first starting at 5pm PST. We will be issuing a challenge every hour so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing Hola Chica, TWO new Sophias, re-releasing Rainy Day Friends in RUBBAH, and we will have a BRAND new set from a BRAND new artist!! Sneak peeks start on Wednesday April 29th!! Hope to see you there!!

And...since I'm sharing my little Cutie Pie, don't forget you can be one yourself!!! You have until Thursday April 30th at 8pm CDT to get your entries uploaded to the Cutie Pie gallery at the Paper Pretties website. The winner will not only get to call themselves a Cutie Pie, but they will also receive all the new release stamps!! Good Luck!!

Prettie Technique Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! Today's challenge was issued by me to try a new technique. I did a quick peruse at Splitcoast and found this wonderful Brayered Batik technique Beate had written a while back and decided to try that. It was great fun!!I had to make this card quite quickly tonight since the baby was screaming, so I'm not overly happy with it, but I do like the technique. I used an old spectrum pad with nice bright colors for the background, then embossed the fun palm tree from Soakin' Up the Sun. I really love that set - and especially the palm tree!! It's overall a very simple card, but I do like the batik effect. I highly recommend checking out that tutorial sometime when you get a chance!

Sorry for the quick post, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Prettie Splish Splash

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you've all had a wonderful weekend. We had a pretty relaxing one here, which included a birthday dinner out on Saturday withOUT children, and with other adults at a favorite restaurant of mine, La Fondue! It ain't cheap, but I'm worth it...especially since that is all I asked for for my birthday. :-)Danielle does such an awesome job with our weekly challenges, and this past week's was no exception! I love the sketch she came up with, and used it for this Monday's card. Don't you just love our latest little Sophia? Right now, I would love to be diving into a nice cool pool. It was hot in San Jose, and our house is still sweltering at 9:30 at night! You can get this little cutie in May if you sign up for our Stamp of the Month club before the end of this month...otherwise you'll have to wait until June 1st.I colored Splish Splash Sophia with my SU! markers and an aquapainter and ink pads. Then, I added some Spica glitter pen to the water droplets so they would sparkle. Everything else is pretty self-explanatory!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Prettie Bright Wednesday

This week's Prettie Wednesday challenge was issued by Charmaine, to make a card using bright summery colors. How perfect for next month's Stamp of the Month, Make a Splash Sophia! She's all ready to jump right into summer, just like my little one is! And here Sophia is even diving straight into the lake, something Julia will happily be doing in just over 3 months when we finally get to go back to Maine...I can't wait!!!

I started off with Sophia on some Whisper White cardstock and colored her in with my SU! markers. For the Kiwi Kiss bathing suit and Pacific Point water I used my aquapainter and the ink pads. If I had been thinking, I would have added some sparkle to that water, or at least some crystal effects ... hmm ... maybe I'll go back and add that now!
For the layers, I used some awesome SU! dsp from the current catalog, Good Morning Sunshine. I love all those bright colors!! I actually used an old SCS sketch challenge from sketch notebook for the layout...with several modifications of course! ;-)

And don't forget that tomorrow is a new Prettie Challenge, and I have it on the QT that this week's challenge is another sketch, so be sure to check the forums, or the Prettie Blog to see what Danielle has in store for us this week!

Supplies:
Stamps:One of Those Days and Look Out World by Paper Pretties
CS: whisper white, summer sun, kiwi kiss, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Palette Noir, Pacific Point, kiwi kiss, blush blossom & summer sun markers
Acc: aquapainter, summer sun corduroy buttons, SU! punches

TFL!

Just another Prettie Monday

And boy is it Manic! We had a wonderful Easter, but Julia is still coming down off her sugar high. I normally limit her to 1 sweet per day, but on Easter she had a few more, and boy did we see it. But I am so thrilled that my parents are here. I've not held Jack more in the last 2 days then in a normal week! It's wonderful to have 2 arms available to get things done (like clean up my stamping space so that I can get stamping this week!!)Today's project is from the Pretties release back on the first. Charmaine challenged us all to make a card using the clothes we were wearing as inspiration. That day (well the first half of the day, I had to change following a rather nasty spit-up incident!) I was wearing a green and grey nursing top, and some jeans that have a metal embellishment on the sides of the leg with metalic stitching and these metal brad-like things. They're kinda cute...and I thought this embellishment on the side looked kinda cool!
I love this Luke stamp and the whole Right on Par set. So perfect for cards for my dad...and he comes with such fun sayings...I love them all! I colored him with an aquapainter and ink pads, then paper pieced his shirt from this fun (very old) SU! dsp. I used the sage marker on his color to color it in a little darker. This really can't count as my dad since ic an't find my creamy caramel ink pad right now, and this Luke is MUCH too light to be my dad when it's golf season!! ;-)

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Monday! Be sure to check out the awesome new Stamp Storage System we have over at the Pretties website. I can't wait for my binder to arrive, and to fill it up with all my Sophia stamps. There's no better way to keep them!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Right on Par by Paper Pretties
CS: Sage Shadow, whisper white, SU! dsp
Ink: Basic Black, sage shadow, blush blossom, chocolate chip, going gray
Acc: SU! marker, aquapainter,silver cord, silver brads

TFL!

Prettie Sketchy Wednesday

2 weeks ago, Julie challenged us all with a wonderful sketch. I LOVE sketch challenges, because it takes the hardest part of designing a card out of it for me. I especially love sketches with lots of layers since I tend toward more simply layouts with few layers. I LOVED Julie's sketch!!!

And how appropriate that I chose this stamp set (Rainy Day Friends, currently sold out, but returning SOON!) considering it is pouring rain here right now in California! (Altho, I should have used pink and purple for the umbrella since that is what we have for an umbrella right now!!) It's hard for me to cut the paper smaller than I know the image is, but since I didn't have much space I needed to do that. I kinda like it...gives me more freedom somehow!I colored Sophia in with my aquapainter and ink pads, and used the new Basic Gray Marakesh papers for the dp. I am loving that stuff!!!

Since it is my turn to issue the challenge this week, I am going to challenge the Pretties, and all of who who want to play along, to make a card using a new technique you've never tried before. Need some ideas? Visit the technique pages at Splitcoast for dozens of things to try!! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. For now though, be sure to visit ALL the Prettie blogs to see everyone else's take on this awesome sketch.

Pretty Monday Fun Folding

The party on Wednesday night was lots of fun...Charlie had some great challenges for us all (as usual) and even made a big announcement!! Congrats Charlie!! Be sure to check out the party gallery to see all the amazing creations!!One of the challenges was to make a card with a different fold, so I decided to make this gate fold card. The daughter of a good friend of mine is turning 13 today, and since she is a dancer, I thought this Sophia Ballerina would be perfect for her! I colored her with ink pads and an aquapainter, and used my nesties to cut her out and layer her. The dp is from Basic Grey, and I used some Pretty in Pink and Always Artichoke papers for the base and layering.I used some Basic Grey magentic snaps to keep the card closed, but still easy to open. On the inside I stamped the sentiment and added some doodling for interest. Gate fold cards are super easy with my new score-pal that I picked up while in L.A. - I'm loving that thing!! I hope she likes it!!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Prettie Small Wednesday

2 weeks ago, Frances challenged us all to make Artist Trading cards. I really don't like making ATC's, because there's just not much space to work with, and that means everything you do has to be exactly perfect, or it won't work. You can't just add some ribbon and voila, it's great! Making this ATC actually took me twice as long as a normal card does...sad, isn't it?I love this Bunny Slippers stamp, and am so excited that she's now available in RUBBAH (starting at tonight's party!!) Doesn't she just look so cute all fuzzed up with my new Doodlebug flock? It's just so much fun to play with, and I now have so many great colors I can flock EVERYTHING! :-)

Be sure to come check out the party tonight. I'll be a little late as Julia's dance class doesn't end until almost 5, then I've got to get her changed into soccer clothes and ready for her dad to pick up for practice which starts at 5:15. But...can't wait to chat with you all there!!!

I hear the cries of my little one now...so off to feed him yet again! Chat with you all soon!!

Prettie Peek Monday

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a lovely weekend. We had amazing weather here, and enjoyed it outside as much as possible with soccer, yard work, and the farmer's market.

I can't believe March is almost over, but that means April 1st is fast approaching, and along with it another Pretty Pajama Party!! The 3-hour party starts at 6pm CDT (that's 4pm here in California!) We will be issuing a challenge every hour so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing Sophia Ballerina, Sweets for the Sweet in Rubber, Bunny Slippers in Rubber, and a new set!! Hope to see you there!!My peek for you today is our latest Luke stamp set...isn't he awesome? He's got a bunch of fabulous sentiments for all those men in your life. This card will be waiting for my dad when he gets here in just under 2 weeks...perhaps with a giftcard to a local golf course (shhhh mom...don't tell!!!) And don't you love his paper pieced plaid golf shirt?? I think my dad might even have a shirt like that!!! :-)

Don't forget, another release party also means, another CUTIE PIE CONTEST!!! All you have to do to enter is upload a card you have made using Paper Pretties stamps to the Cutie Pie Contest gallery over at the Paper Pretties website. Entries must be in by no later than 8pm CST on March 31st to be considered for the prize. Besides getting to call yourself a CutiePie, you will also receive all the new stamps that are released on the 1st!! Good luck!!

Prettie Wednesday bookin' it!

Sorry...that's a lame title, but it's getting late and my husband is on a plane to Dublin right now, so I'm getting a little punchy. Thankfully he's only gone for about 60 hours (crazy to fly him from California to Ireland for a 2 hour meeting I know!!) so I'll only be mostly insane by the time he gets home.2 weeks ago Christi challenged us all to make bookmarks. That is something I almost never make, but always need since I do love to read!! I wanted to use this SU! paper, and I thought the Simply Special stamp set would be perfect!

Normally when I use that set, I always complain about how hard it is to color well, never knowing how to color that watering can. For some reason, it has always stumped me. Well...today I have conquered the watering can, because I am very happy with the coloring on this one. Maybe it was just by sticking with a color and not going grey has I have in the past...but I really like it!I started with a piece of 2" by 8" piece of cardstock and scored it at 2". I then cut 2 pieces of dsp, one 1 7/8" by 5 7/8" and another 1 7/8" square. I added some Basic Gray magnetic snaps, then adhered the dsp over them (so they stay hidden!) Then, I stamped my image, cut it and it's layer with my nesties, and watercolored away. Now to go stick it in my book!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!