Saturday, February 23, 2013

Bloomin Betsy


Have you ever bought a stamp set with every intention to use it, only to find yourself putting it away and forgetting about it before you ever use it? Well, I did just that with the Betsy's Blossoms stamp set. I was so excited to get it when the new catalog came out in June, and then I just forgot about it. That was until this past fall when I led a small group at my church where we made cards and scrapbooked each week. I showed this this simple, but cute card using the Betsy Blossom's stamp set. I then remembered how much I like this set.

Stampin Cita Tips:
  • Color scheme: Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White, and Gumball Green 
  • Stamp Sets: Fabulous Phrases, Betsy's Blossoms, Betsy's Blooms Stampin Wheel 
  • Accessories: 
  • To get the background, use the Betsy's Blooms Stampin Wheel to stamp the flower background on a piece of Whisper White cardstock. 
  • Give the bird dimension, by cutting it out using your paper snips and then adhering it over the Gumball Green branch with a Stampin' Up! dimensional. Add a pearl for its eye to give it an extra embellishment. 
  • Stamp your sentiment on Whisper White cardstock using any of the variety of words in the Fabulous Phrases stamp set. Position the word in the bottom of the curly label and punch out the word. 
I hope you get to use all your stamp sets! And check out Betsy's Blossoms!

Happy Stampin'
~Cita 

Friday, February 08, 2013

Ladybug Ink Blog Hop: Valentine Style


I'm going to be honest right away - I am not a fan of Valentine's Day. :-) I'll spare you the details as to why I feel this way, but needless to say, I still participate. And I'm participating in this month's Valentine-themed blog hop. Woo-hoo. I have to admit it. I enjoyed making my cute little owl card. Thank you to Linda Throgmorton for inspiring my card, specifically giving me the idea to bust out my Owl Punch and make cute little owls in love.





I named the two owls. The owl on the left is named Carmelita, and the owl on the right is named Steve. :)

You can make these owls by using the Owl punch. Use a 2-way glue pen to glue all the little pieces together. I used the flower vine stamp from the Tiny Tags stamp set to make the little flower border on the Whisper White cardstock. I stamped the "Love You" stamp from the Seasonal Sayings stamp set in Versamark and then embossed it with Whisper White embossing powder. I just found out that this stamp set carried over from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I was excited. Finally, I tied a bow  using a basic gray tafetta ribbon.

The great thing about making a Valentine's card is I now have a card for my hubby. Now to make a birthday card for my daughter, who is my ultimate Valentine's day present. :)

Hope on over to Cassie's blog! Thanks for visiting.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Ladybug Roll Call!
Nichole Gonzales Jaramillo http://nicholesu.blogspot.com/
You're Here: Carmelita Wasson http://carmenacita.blogspot.com/
Cassie Rogers http://lucyslovelies.blogspot.com/
Michelle Carrion www.ilovecrafttime.blogspot.com

Friday, February 01, 2013

Distress and Art


I belong to a team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators called Ladybug Ink. Each month, we meet and exchange ideas as well as participate in a card swap with a different theme. I love these swaps because they help me explore ideas, techniques, themes, and techniques I don't think I would on my own. A few months ago, the theme of the Ladybug swap was ink techniques. In my search for a unique ink technique (say that three times fast), I came across Sherry Cheever's Wrinkle Free Distress tutorial on the Splitcoast Stampers website. I quickly embraced the technique and had a night of fun playing with ink and my brayer.

Now, our swaps have a few rules - three layers, current Stampin Up! product, and at least one embellishment. So I needed an embellishment. I punched out three "leaves" using the scallop punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack and then layering them under a Dahlia. And the beautiful sentiment is from the Trust God stamp set. 

If you would like to join my team of Ladybug stampers and participate in these awesome and challenging swaps, contact me. Being a Stampin' Up demonstrator is such a fun and rewarding experience. You should try it!

Happy Stampin' 
~Cita

Snowed In

It's like we were destined to not go to school today. I woke up to a beautiful 6 inches of snow in my yard. We are in the lower elevatio...