Bloomin' Beautiful

Wow! This set is so fun! I mentioned it a previous post that Erin sent me some images. Thanks again Erin! My favorite sets always seem to be the ones I hated when I first saw them. Fabulous Flowers, Always and now this one =). I've gotta get this set if it makes it to one of the big catalogs. The bee and half of the HPH are popped up with Stampin' dimensionals.

-Stamps-Bloomin' Beautiful
-Paper-Groovy Guava, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock; Fall Flowers DSP
-Ink-Groovy Guava, Really Rust, and I'm guessing brown staz-on.
-Accessories-Paper Piercer, Stampin' dimensionals, Mat Pack, Chocolate Chip twill, SAB rub-ons, Styled Silver HPH and Pewter HPH.

I redid my blog banner and colors Sunday. What do you think? I think I might have to redo the banner though. There are some white streaks through some of the flowers. Not quite sure how I did that, lol. The side bars are a little darker than they should be too. This time I went with Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi.

SC181

Woohoo! I'm on a roll. This is my 6th post this week!! I think my mojo is definitely back =)...now if only I wasn't bored with most of my stamps, lol. My stamp room hasn't seen new rubber in so long. I did just place a small order yesterday though =). I got From the Kitchen and some other stuff to make a recipe box. I'm really looking forward to starting on that. Oh, and Erin Bailey sent my a GORGEOUS card yesterday with some Bloomin' Beautiful images =). I didn't even like that set till I saw her card, but now I LOVE it! You can see the card HERE. but it's even prettier in person.

I did both of these cards for SC181 on SCS. I love this sketch! And I'm so proud of myself. I haven't touched looks like spring in forever...probably at least a year. =) BTW, I got the piercing idea from Becky Carafa. I just loved the way she pierced around the main panel. I got the color combo from the verve visual blog.
-Stamps-Looks Like Spring and Embrace Life
-Paper-So Saffron, Kraft, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock; So Saffron and Real Red prints paper
-Ink-So Saffron and Real Red
-Accessories-Mat Pack, Paper Piercer and Build a Brad

The main panel on this card was done by masking and sponging.
-Stamps-Embrace Life, One of a Kind, and Ginormous Flowers (for the leaves).
-Paper-Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate chip and Whisper White cardstock; Rose Red and Pretty in Pink prints.
-Ink-Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery.
-Accessories-Mat Pack, Paper piercer, Pink Taffeta and clear rhinestone brad.

Stamp Something Challenge 8

Happy Friday! It's time for another Stamp Something Challenge. Melissa is our hostess this week. Her challenge is to create something red, white and blue...........and have it be ANYTHING BUT A CARD! At first I wasn't sure what I was going to do for this challenge because I have no stamps that are even remotely patriotic (I know, shame on me). So I had to think outside of the box. I remembered one of my favorite color combos: Soft Sky, Whisper White and Bravo Burgundy which is perfect for Christmas, so that's what I went with. I know it's a stretch, but technically it's still Red, White and Blue right? =) The tin can be found HERE. It's filled with Hershey's Kisses.
-Stamps-Crazy For Christmas, Many Merry Messages and Snow Flurries
-Paper-Soft Sky, Bravo Burgundy and Whisper White
-Ink-Soft Sky, Bravo Burgundy and black Staz-on.
-Accessories-Scallop Punch, Circle Punches, Bravo Burgundy grosgrain and tin.

Fabulous Flowers

Well, this one I'm not sure if I like yet or not. The flower was done using the Faux Shaving cream technique (directions HERE) with Purely Pomegranate and Groovy Guava. I love that technique...although, I'm not sure I'm loving it on this card =). I think I may try this one again with different colors and no faux shaving cream too see if comes out better.
-Stamps-Fabulous Flowers and True Friend.
-Paper-Kraft, Whisper White and Purely Pomegranate cardstock; Bali Breeze DSP
-Ink-Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava and Chocolate Chip.
-Accessories-Chocolate Chip grosgrain, hole punch (sorry, I don't know what size)

BTW, hopefully you won't be seeing cards with horrible shadows behind them anymore =). I've seen several people mention on their blogs that they use the Macro setting with no flash for photographing cards but I didn't know what it was, or where to find it. So the other night I started playing around with settings and I found it! It's a focus setting. Now I'm playing around with other buttons trying to figure out what they're for =). Oh, and I found out that my camera (that I've had for a year and a half) has a few really cool features that I never knew were there =). The picture above was taken in my stamp room (that has horrible lighting) with the macro setting and no flash. I also had the EV shift on +0.3 (default setting was 0)...not sure what it's actually for, but it seems to make things less dark. I only lightened this picture a tiny bit after I uploaded it to my computer. Normally I have to brighten A LOT.

Wild About You

Well this one came out totally different from what I started. I started using A Beautiful Thing. I love that set, but it isn't getting quite enough love (aside from the sentiment) so I've been trying to make myself use it more. So I started with the flowers, even had them cut out then decided the colors I was using just looked funny with such pretty flowers, so I went with this instead. The way I did the DSP actually started off unintentional. The DSP was a little bigger than I wanted so I cut 1/8 of an inch. I put it down next to the other piece and realized I like it, so I did it on the other side too. -Stamps-Wild About You and It's Your Birthday
-Paper-Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Kraft and Whisper White; Fall Flowers DSP
-Ink-Blue Bayou and Soft Sky
-Accessories-Old Olive marker, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain.

BTW, I cut my hair this weekend! Yes...I CUT IT! I've gotten way to many bad hair cuts over the years (and I mean BAD), so I decided to do it myself. I've actually been cutting it for the last year or two, but up till this point I've been to scared to do anything but a regular cut. I found a couple of video tutorials on YouTube for giving yourself layers. I used THIS one and THIS one. I can't believe this worked! All you have to do is put your hair in a ponytail at the top of your head, hold the ponytail up in the air and cut straight. The second link shows basically the same thing, only she just put up the top part of her hair, so I used that to put in more layers. I actually put in 3 layers, but I can't seem to find the other two, lol. I tried to curl the ends so they layers would show better, but my hair doesn't like curls =).

A Beautiful thing SC181

This was SC181 on SCS. When I saw THIS card by Dannie Graves I HAD to try it. I love her card. I didn't mean to CASE it, but I loved the way she used the pattern paper, so I CASEd that, then the 3 flowers looked so good, so I did that too, and before ya know it the only thing not CASEd are the colors, lol. -Stamps-A Beautiful Thing
-Ink-Pretty in Pink and Purely Pomegranate
-Paper-Pretty in Pink and Whisper White cardstock; Rose Red prints DSP.
-Accessories-Eastern Elegance Rub-ons and Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon.

Picture Frames!

I've been meaning to try this forever, but I always forget to buy frames, but yesterday I happened to walk by them in walmart.

The pictures came out horrible. I took a bunch with and without flash, but either way, I couldn't get a good one. My camera doesn't like red at all! My living room is panted Cranberry Crisp (07 In Color) so I wanted to use that color in my frame. I also wanted to use brown since my couch is brown, and the yellow just went so well I threw it in too. Now I'm thinking maybe it's too bright. Please let me know what you think, as well as suggestions that go with the other two colors.

You probably can't tell from the picture, but the rub-on inside the scallop says you and me with a flower below. The one at the bottom says the sweetest thing. The Cranberry piece is pierced around the edges. The frame is 5 X 7 and the picture is 3 X 4. -Stamps-Boho Backgrounds
-Paper-Cranberry Crisp (retired), Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana and Whisper White.
-Ink-Close to Cocoa
-Accessories-Eastern Elegance rub-ons, Paper Piercing tool, mat pack, circle punches and scallop punch.


I made this one for my 9 month old nephew David. It holds a 5 X 7 picture (frame is 8 X 10). The ribbon is only attached on the back so a picture can easily be put in. The letters at the top are white chipboard (sorry, I have no idea what brand). I stamped on them with polka dots from Itty Bitty Backgrounds with Bashful Blue, but I don't think you can see that.
-Stamps-Nursery Necessities, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
-Paper-Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Whisper White; So Saffron and Bashful Blue Prints DSP.
-Ink-Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery
-Accessories-Chipboard letters and Celery grosgrain.

Stamp Something Challenge 7

Good morning and Happy Friday! Today is the 7th Stamp Something Challenge. This week's challenge is a sketch. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

-Stamps-Tart and Tangy, Much Appreciated
-Paper-Old Olive, Real Red (textured) and Whisper White cardstock; Summer Picnic DSP
-Ink-Real Red
-Accessories-Real Red and Old Olive markers, Red Ribbon, and Styled Silver HPH.

Don't forget to head over to the Stamp Something Challenge blog to see what everyone comes up and a chance to win the blog candy.

One of a Kind

This card was a CASE from the page 2 in the catalog. I never noticed it before since it's upside down, but I loved it. I changed it up a good bit though. I am LOVIN the Flower Fusion. I got them when they came out, and hardly touched them, now I can't get enough of them! I know I totally screwed up the background on this card, but at that point I already had the card done, since I wasn't planing on using a BG and I just didn't feel like doing the whole thing over. I really wish I would have spotted this card in the catalog earlier. This would have been a perfect make in take.
-Stamps-One of a Kind, Boho Backgrounds
-Paper-Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White cardstock; Bali Breeze DSP
-Ink-Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi
-Accessories-Wild Wasabi ribbon, Flower Fusion and silver brad.


This is just a little gift I gave my hostess for hosting the workshop. I forgot to post this with the other workshop stuff, but hey, it matched the card above anyway =). -Paper-Summer Picnic DSP and Cutie Pie DSP
-Accessories-Styled Silver HPH, Flower Fusion and Eastern Elegance rub-ons.

Workshop projects

I had a workshop this weekend, so I thought I'd post the stuff we made. The first card is a 3 X 3. Very simple. -Stamps-Priceless
-Paper-Soft Sky, Chocolate chip and Whisper White cardstock. Rose Red prints DSP
-Ink-Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip.
-Accessories-Mat pack, paper piercing tool, Chocolate twill ribbon, circle and scallop punches.

The picture in this page is my hostess and I, so I thought it'd be funny to use this picture. I know this pictures looks like I'm missing some teeth, but I swear I'm not, lol. =)
-Stamps-Boho Backgrounds
-Paper-Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Very Vanilla cardstock; Berry Bliss DSP
-Ink-Chocolate Chip
-Accessories-Scallop and circle punch.

We also made THIS card, just without using the nesties.

So I've got to show you the cutest pictures EVER! Okay, so some of you know I'm working on making my pit bull Jingle a house dog (couldn't house train her when she was a puppy). Well we also have a long haired chihuahua, Reese in the house. It's the cutest thing. They like each other! Well they have been trying to play, but we wouldn't let them since Reese weighs 5.5 pounds and Jingle's 60 so we just didn't think it was a good idea. Reese kept putting her toys in front of Jingle, so we were like okay, let's let them play. Here are some of the pictures I took. It's so sweet, because she's being sooo gentle. I was playing tug a war with her a few days ago, and she pulled me off the couch. I can't wait to scrap these =). Just click to make them bigger.

Stampin' Up! Retiring list

Hey! Sorry I'm posting so late. I guess this is probably like old news now, lol. But just in case any of you haven't seen it yet, you can view the retiring list by clicking on the links below.

Retired List (Alphabetical)
Retired List (Numerical)


I'm so sad to see some of them go. Especially Give Thanks, Snowflake Spot and Artfully Asian =(. I think 8 or 9 of mine retired.

Just email me at Stampingexpressions@gmail.com if you'd like to order or have any questions =). And if you order before June 25th, your whole order ships for free*! And don't forget, with $150 order you receive hostess benefits!

Orders must be $70 or more to qualify for free shipping. US only.

Stamp Something Challenge 6

Good morning! Well it's Friday, so of course that means another Stamp Something Challenge. This week's challenge is to make something using a monochromatic color scheme and one neutral. I love the monochromatic look, so this challenge was really fun. Our coordinators Denise and Erin have done an awesome job coming up with challenges every week. You both rock! Thanks for all the hard work y'all are doing. The hardest part of this challenge was trying to figure out what colors to go with. I kept going back in forth between greens, blues and pinks, but I finally settled on purple-Pale Plum and Perfect Plum. I haven't picked up these colors in a really long time. I couldn't for the life of me get a picture where the colors showed up right, but you get the idea =). I was in photoshop trying to fix the colors, and I clicked on hue/saturation. It's so cool. You can make the whole card different colors! Here it is in greens. Doesn't that look like Certainly Celery and Always Artichoke? I think I actually like those colors better =).

The flower was stamped 3 times and cut out. I put glue dots underneath to make it pop. I dyed the ribbon Pale Plum using my marker. You just color one side, then touch up any bare spots on the other side (it bleeds through). Heat set it and your all done.

-Stamps-Fabulous Flowers and Boho Backgrounds
-Paper-Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Whisper White
-Ink-Pale Plum and Perfect Plum
-Accessories-White ribbon, Pale Plum marker, Paper Piercing tool and Mat pack.

You make me happy =)

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday so far. Chances are I'm still sleeping, I just scheduled this post. Don't you love that new feature on blogger? FYI all of my posts that are in the morning are scheduled. I am sooo not a morning person, lol. Anyway I came across this color combo somewhere and loved it so I had to give it a try. It's Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and So Saffron. I had to use Garden Green for the flower stem though. -Stamps-True Friend and Boho Backgrounds.
-Ink-Purely Pomegranate and Garden Green marker
-Paper-Purely Pomegranate, So Saffron and Whisper White cardstock; Wild Wasabi DSP (from hostess prints pack)
-Accessories-Clear rhinestone brad, pop dots.

Dare to be Fabulous!

I did this card for Taylor's cupcake sketch challenge. I don't have any cupcake stamps though, so this is what I went with. I LOVE this sketch. I'll definitely be using this one more often. This was a really quick card, and I just love the size (3 X 6). I didn't stick to the sketch exactly since the scallop is supposed to be behind the strip, but I don't have any bigger scallops, and it looked funny since you couldn't see much of it.

Am I the only one that is in love with Boho Backgrounds? It's rare that one of the inexpensive smaller sets becomes a favorite, but this one sure has. It's kinda funny, the reason I got it was because I was also getting One of a Kind and it matches, but I've used this set a lot more. -Stamps-Boho Backgrounds and Fabulous Flowers
-Paper-Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock
-Ink-Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky
-Accessories-Scallop punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Paper Piercing tool and mat pack.

Stamp Something Challenge 5

Good morning everyone! Well this is the 5th Stamp Something Challenge. This week we have another guest designer. Her name is Laura Campbell. Make sure you check out her blog and brand new store. Our theme this week is In the Wild. This doesn't have to be just animals though. Anything from nature. Whether it's flowers, animals, colors of nature, whatever! It's all about how you interpret it =). I used the stamp set Wild about you for this one. It's one of my favorite sets anyway, so it gave me an excuse to use it.

-Stamps-Wild About You
-Paper- Whisper White, Real Red (textured), Bashful Blue and So Saffron.
-Ink-Bashful Blue and Real Red
-Accessories-Real Red and Garden Green markers, Bashful Blue grosgrain, pop dots.

Have a great weekend!

It's a big one!

I made this card for my mom's birthday. We threw a surprise birthday party for her this weekend. It went great. I can't believe all of us managed to keep it a secret so long. I wanted to make her a big card that had room for everyone to sign so this is a whole sheet of cardstock folded in half (5.5X8.5). It took me forever to figure out how to fill up so much space. I mean this is twice what I'm used to working with. I know I just posted a card very similar to this recently, but I knew my mom would love the faux silk and I wanted to use the pink ribbon so I went with the same colors too.
-Stamps-Artfully Asian, It's your Birthday
-Paper-Pretty in Pink, Basic Black Whisper White cardstock and tissue paper.
-Ink-Black Staz-on, Whisper White craft
-Accessories-Styled Silver HPH, White Signo gel pen, Black Grosgrain ribbon, Flirty ribbon originals (retired), Ticket corner punch and Corner rounder punch.