Playing with paper dolls

I'm sure you've seen the Julie Nutting dolls from Prima.  I'm not a paper doll person, never was.  Something about these stamps has me hooked though.  Maybe all those years of not playing with them as a little girl has me itching to play with them now.

Whatever it is, I've got a small collection - mostly the boy stamps though.  I do have 2 of the girls.

I took a little watercolor class at a local store this part weekend only because I own watercolors and those cool brushes that hold the water.  I like those.  I figured I should learn how to use these things I just *had* to have - right?

So, here's my first attempt at dressing and watercoloring the stamps.  It was a bit of a challenge at first but I really enjoyed it and can't wait to make another one.

Papers and supplies are all from October Afternoon Witch Hazel line.  I made a mini album one year with this and have lots of leftovers.  The patterns and colors were perfect for what I was thinking.

 Flair button is from A Flair for Buttons Etsy shop.  Link to set....
Web doily is from Stamping' Up and is available in my shop HERE.

 I even dug out an old bottle of Stickles (its been years since I last used them!)

 I also finished up a layout I started a few weeks ago using last years summer line from Simple Stories.  Their lines are totally timeless and I feel like I can pull them out whenever and they feel current to me.  Flair button is from the selfie set available in the AFFB shop (link above).

 Lots of glossy accents on this one.  Just to highlight the fun little details like hearts and the word 'hello'.

A {flair} for buttons Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the {a flair for buttons} Valentine's Day blog hop! Join our designers as we showcase some of Shelley's awesome new flair. We hope to inspire you along the way! As a thank you, please use the coupon code IHEARTFLAIR to receive 10% off your purchase in the a flair for buttons Etsy shop.

Make sure you visit the A {flair} for buttons blog at the very end for a chance to win some flair! 

I had so much fun this week trying to create something for the Blog Hop today.  I used some of the Valentine's {flair} that Shelley sent me but I also used some {flair} I already had in an unconventional way.

 I used the last bits of my favorite Valentine's line from last year from Fancy Pants.  I only have little pieces left over so I made it all work using my Silhouette.  The first card is just some square panels with a heart.  The Pink string is the solid Divine Twine.  The {flair} button is from a geotag set in Shelley's shop.  Without words, the card says that you are in my heart.

 These next two cards use this heart set from the shop.  I used the Silhouette to cut the 'potty people' out in different patterns and connected their hands using the twine and {flair}.

And another Silhouette file.  There is a large heart where the {flair} is on this card but I removed it from the file before cutting it out to make a place for the button.  Of course, some teal twine this time to finish it off!

Check out the rest of the team:

Shelley Haganman 

Danielle Walls
Erica Weinstock  <-----You are here!

Dayna Howard 

Diane Payne 

Michelle Hernandez 

Megan Klauer 

Jennifer Chapin 
A Flair for Buttons

Graphic Card

I am not a card maker.  For some reason I just don't visualize that canvas very well.

I needed a masculine card with a hockey focused phrase on it to use my *new* flair set from a {flair} for buttons.  Shelley is awesome.  She designed these hockey themed buttons at my request and they are now available in the shop.  Yay!

Its not the greatest but my friend loved it.

'Birthdays don't scare me, I'm a goalie'

Took me a while to find the right sentiment and a phrase where I could incorporate the goalie mask.  Yes, my friend is a goalie so this was perfect for him.  I tried to keep with the graphic feel of the paper (Fancy Pants) by adding the October Afternoon alphas along the pattern.  Splatters are the Heidi Swapp mists that just came out.  No one else has the right combination of purple, silver and black like her mists.

Being Thankful

I'm thankful for many things these days and I've learned not to take certain ones for granted.  Its been a long couple of years but I'm proud to say I handled it all like an adult.  Even my mom said she was proud of me.

Since work seems to be keeping me extremely busy these days, my crafty time has dwindled.  I say that too often here but I'm slowly figuring out how to incorporate family, work and my hobby into my life.

I worked on these every day at work the week before Thanksgiving.  My co-workers and employees think I'm nuts but it was a nice break from the stress.  I cut up one sheet of the Simple Stories Harvest Lane line and used scraps to create the pinwheels, banners and starbursts.

I'm going to go ahead and gush about Simple Stories a bit.  I love them.  Just about everything they put out is amazing.  Okay, everything is.  I would love to be on their Design Team.  Echo Park is the only other company I feel this way about.  Not many companies can put out lines on a continuous basis that grab my attention the way these two companies do.

Back to crafting.

I cut apart the Bingo card paper and layered the rest of the scraps on top to create these:

I have Lennox china - its the most extravagant thing I own.  I'm not much into china, crystal etc.  But I've wanted this set my entire life.  I saw it once when I was shopping with my mom as a teenager.  I have wine/water glasses to match.  These look good on my fall tableclothes but they look A-MAZ-ING on my royal blue cloth for Christmas.  I'm not much of a red/green person for the holidays but blue and silver make me swoon.

The feathers are from a Studio Calico kit and the brown burlap string is from the Stringery store.  There is currently a 20% off coupon code (FALL20) to use.  Rumor has it, there will be a Cyber Monday deal and a pretty big giveaway.

I hope everyone has a great holiday!  Our Elf on the Shelf Ziggy should be arriving tonight!

{Flair} Winner

Thank you all *so* much for stopping by on World Card Making Day and checking out my cards.

I have to pick a winner and I know every one of you fell in love with Shelley's flair, I can only pick one.  I wish I could send a set to each person who stopped by to leave a comment.

Random.org chose number:

Comment # 27

Barb said...

Beautiful use of gray...love these both.

OCTOBER 6, 2012 2:13 PM 

*** Barb - send me an email with your mailing address and Shelley will get your set of flair out to you!  ohmy17(at)yahoo(dot)com ***

Reminder....

If you want a chance to win some {flair} from the A {Flair} for buttons shop, you need to leave a comment on yesterdays post.  Deadline to leave a comment is 10/8/12.

National Card Making Day

Happy National Card Making Day!  I always have a hard time with cards.  My mind doesn't always like to work with the small canvas but I had fun making these little gems and the {flair} is a perfect finisher.

Now its your turn to get your hands on some {flair}.   

You can win the Document button set by leaving a comment on my blog! Deadline to comment is Midnight CST Monday October 7th.

Enter for a chance on each blog!  We each have a set we're giving away.

A Flair for Buttons <--- Start here!

Tessa Buys

Jennifer Chapin

Michelle Hernandez

Danielle Flanders

Dayna Howard

Megan Klauer 

Melissa Phillips

Diane Payne

Danielle Walls

Erica Weinstock <---You are here!

The Stringery

The little shop is doing just great thanks to some fellow string lovers out there.  I love my little shop.

Last week I shared some projects from Mary Pat.  Lets see what the rest have been up too.

Mandy - I love the little touches here and there.

Jennie - she's the master of string on cards.

Christa 

You're Invited

To a Blog Hop this weekend!

Join us in celebrating National Card Making Day, a Blog Hop and a giveaway!

A few cards

Its been a long time since I got a box together for Operation Write Home.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have Mothers and Fathers Day cards that I never sent.  I got busy looking for a job and eventually starting a new job that I never got enough together to send a box.

I've had a recent jump in creativity and I pulled together almost 100 cards (some old, some new) to send off to OWH.

Some of the last batch I added to the box.

Papers are all remnants from the Echo Park Summer line from last summer.  Stamps are new from Hero Arts/Studio Calico.  I made some with the many sun flair buttons I have and some with an Epiphany Crafts button.  The bottoms have the burlap string from the Stringery shop.

If you're a card maker, OWH is always looking for cards.  If you aren't a card maker, you can always help with a donation for shipping.  The shippers have to pay for shipping and I know they are always needing donations to cover that.  With each box I ship, I send in a donation to cover shipping a box to the troops.

Cards were all based off this card idea I found on Pinterest:

Boo!

I finally finished them.  The Halloween Party Invites.

Echo Park Chillingsworth Manor.  I love this line like I love every one of their lines.

 The skeleton is one of the diecut stickers in the line but I used the Silhouette Print & Cut file and then sprayed him with new Glitter Dust from Therm-o-web.

 You can see the Glitter Dust in action here.

 Some Studio Calico veneer stars with black diamond stickles.

 The alpha sticker sheet in this collection comes with a bunch of words.  I used them to make the important words pop on the actual invite.

Finally, the envelopes.  These are leftover from another project and were purchased at Paper Source.  The address labels are one of the journaling cards cut from the 12x12 sheet.

Mother's Day

I know, I'm early.  In the process of killing a past Studio Calico kit, I had a flowery piece of paper I just couldn't use.  Its not my style and normally it goes into the 'donate' pile to be donated to a friend or sold in a goody box.

This one just screamed Mothers Day to me so I made 4 quick cards using leftovers from that Studio Calico Kit.

Thank you

Finally got the kids thank you cards done and in the mail.  Its been a crazy summer and I'm glad its over.  I don't really care for the hustle and bustle of filling in the hours, working and trying to keep the house up.

It really is too much.  But its over now.  We are in our final 24 hours of summer vacation here and I'm excited.

School starts Tuesday morning and we have our outfit all picked out.  We've been to school to 'meet the teacher' and find our cubby.  We're all ready to go.  Well, one of us is. 

Supplies:

Lawn Fawn Banner Stamp

Hero Arts Chevron Stamp

American Crafts Zing Powder - Silver

Studio Calico Veneer Stars

Chevron ribbon from the Etsy Shop

I even pulled out the Stickles!