Happy Birthday Betty!

We are having a very special Blog hop today in honor of a very special person, the ever so talented and wonderful BETTY ROBERTS!!!  We all got an image courtesy of another fabulous artist Tamara Van Wijk,  The Stamping Chef.  Then we each made a card and mailed it to Betty ~ SURPRISE!  So without further delay here is my card:

You can get Betty the Queen of Halloween at The Stamping Chef. You can also see several wonderful cards all along the way on this Blog Hop!!! Happy Birthday Betty!!! We all LOVE you!!!
So, you should have come here from Sharman Deluca's Blog and now you are off to Tanja Charles' Blog ~ enjoy the hop and please join us for more fun over at the Simply Betty Stamps Fan Group!  See you there.  Bonus Betty is having a SALE over at Simply Betty Stamps!!!
BIG INKY HUGS!!
MEL

Sparkle N Sprinkle July Sketch Challenge

This is my entry for Sparkle N Sprinkle's July Sketch Challenge.  It is also one of the projects I submitted on my design team application.  The stamps used on this card can be found HERE not to mention tons of great glitter, sparkling fluff and countless other products to add deminsion to all your craft projects.  Everyone that knows me knows my love of all things shiny!  A passion for glitter that has been passed down to my daughter as well.  Can you imagine if I get on this design team?  The ceiling won't be the only thing covered in glitter around here.  Hope you liked this card, until next time.
{Big Inky Hugs}
Mel

One Sweet Challenge ~ June

This adorable little fairy is my entry for Sweet Pea Stamps current challenge.  For the month of June stampers were challenged to use yellow, blue and green to create a warm Summer card.  There is green grass at the bottom of the flower so this should work just fine.  I colored this stamp (Little Daisy) with Copic Markers then used Sakura Stardust pens to add shimmer on the wings.  The Shimmer on the flower petals ~ also Sakura pens.  The center of the embellishment is a glue dot covered in glitter.  Just dip your glue dot in the glitter while it is still on the sheet then gently remove the dot and attach a wonderful, shiny circle anywhere you want. I also used glitter on the center of the flower on her hat and the little circles on her shoes.  There is a bronze tinsel glitter by recollections,  that is just perfect to use with this stamp.  Any color will add a beautiful shimmer I just really liked that one because it made me think of daisies.  Hope you like her and be sure to check out Sweet Pea Stamps if you enjoy entering challenges.  Bonus this card qualifies for another challenge too!  Cute Card Thursday has the challenge ~ make a Summer Card.

Inky Hugs as always!
Mel

My Favorite Things

     This year at the One of a Kind trade show in Madison we found a great little item that is the perfect gift.   DEBIT REGISTERS!  You can buy them HERE at www.vikwing.com .  Vickie is really nice and she will take the time to answer any of your questions should you need to call about your order.

    First stamp the actual vinyl on the outside with Black Staz On.  The stamp used is Paper Inspirations ~ Soldier Calligraphy, set it aside to dry.  TIP you need to put something into the holder before you stamp it so that the other pocket does not leave a line through your image.  Next time I will just ink the word Soldier and leave the other words off because they are distracting from the picture. 

    The last step is to make an insert to put in your Debit Register.  This will be the cover that is displayed for people to see.  I stamped the image from Stampin Up ~ Courage in Memento ~ London Fog.  Then cut with Spellbinders Deckled Rectangle and mount on Black Cardstock.  There is a small piece of silver cardstock to give the look of a pedestal and even out the image so it is evenly spaced.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I am thankful for my family and the time we have together.  Here is a quick card to say thanks for checking back.  This card uses 2 Great Impressions stamps, J105 a great border stamp and F418 for the bird.  This background stamp is the one I used to make that fabulous tree.  The background stamp is embossed, while the bird was colored with a black water based marker then huffed (breath moist air from the back of your mouth) to stamp.  Next I colored the bird, punched it out with SU's large oval punch.  Spellbinders used are Labels 4 and Fancy Tags 2 (my current LOVE).  The colors are Brocade Blue, Black and White. A simple black ribbon with white stitching finishes this card.
Until next time.
Melissa

Great Impressions Blog Blitz

 This is one of the Christmas Cards I made for 2011.  The Stamps are all Great Impressions (GI);  The background is K95 stamped in Memento's Tuxedo Black.  Then colored with green marker just under each branch.  A White Glaze Pen was used for the snow accents and allowed to dry.  Once dry I touched up the snow with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in Star Dust.  This was also used to go over the outside edge.  For the tree in the middle I used  GI stamp H203 embossed with Sweet Stamps fine detail Fantasy Silver (my favorite find at this years expo).  The tree was then cut out and adhered with pop dots to add dimension. The sentiment "There's magic is in the air" is GI B218 embossed in the same powder on black card stock.  Next it was punched out with Stampin Up's Label Punch.  A blue rhinestone was then added to the top of the tree for the finishing touch.

This is a new use for border stamp GI J105.  I just had to show everyone the beautiful tree that I saw hiding in this stamp.  White Pigment ink was used to ink up the stamp just about halfway in from the outside edge.  This was then stamped toward the edge of  a piece of black cardstock and embossed with the same powder as the one above.  I used a silver gel pen to highlight and accent the image then added rhinestones for a little more sparkle .  The same sentiment was used as above, but a stamp a ma jig was used to make it 2 lines instead of 1. Spellbinders Label 4 in regular and Mega were used to layer Black, White and Silver cardstock.  Spellbinders, Fancy Tags 2 made the decorative swirls behind the sentiment.  There is a Silver (SU) scalloped oval punched then layered between the black tag and the white oval. 

After spending the last few days in Madison with the MOOs for our latest swap and checking out the One of A Kind Stamping & Scrapbooking Expo I have countless ideas just waiting to hit paper.  This should prove to be a creative week so stay tuned for more.

{Big Inky Hugs}with my fingers out to avoid stains!
Mel