Blogging Vacation!!! I will be "awol" from blogging for the next several weeks. I'm still on vacation and its been busy! My hubby is also joining us this week and we are ECSTATIC we will all be together as a family(only another recruiting family would understand!)...its been a long time! Therefore, family comes first and of course I'd like to break in a few new stamp sets during this break! I also wanted to thank all you lovely ladies...and gents...for your orders!!! I truly enjoy what I do....its my passion:) I will continue posts and new ideas starting in mid-august! Who knows...I may even have my first "blog-goodies" giveaway:)
Thank you
Dawn:)

Hairbows for your little girls...

What little girl doesn't want to be a princess?? These fabulous hairbows are made by a dear friend, April, who can make any color combo you wish. I have a few of these myself and absolutely adore them. The hairband is super stretchy so you don't get those "unsightly" indents as you would with store brands. Although its super stretchy it also holds very well and my 11 month old actually keeps them on:) If you are or anyone you know is interested in purchasing these cute bows, please drop by April's Blog(click here!!)!

Sweet birthday gift...

I had remembered when I was on this "lunch-box" kick that my twin sis had asked for one for her birthday, so this was the perfect oppurtunity to pull out another tin! There wasn't really any paper in my stash that caught my eye, but I did happen to find this cute kicthen paper from the LSS on Staten Island. I was prepared to make some sort of bag for the wine bottle but decided a simple card was all it needed. There are several dividers inside the recipe tin, which I simply covered with matching cs and used my Karen Foster Snap Stamps to do the recipe titles(not pictured, but you get the idea...lol).

Supplies:
Cardstock: CM-red, PP-inkspirables(kitchen pattern and green diamond as well), Papertrey ink-white
Stamps: Papertrey ink-papertrey(happy birthday), SU!-tall tales alphabet & Itty bitty bg(on the happy birthday card)
Ink: SU! True Thyme, Black Stazon
Accessories: Various vendor ribbon, faux stitching, raffia ribbon, scalloped square punch, dimensionals, & Prima Flowers(around the lid of lunch box)

Thank you gift...

A simple thank you gift I made up for my sister to give to her son's babysitter. I happened to be at A.C. Moore in Staten Island, and they have this fabulous new packaging line by "American Crafts" and thats where I nabbed the "Pillow Box" to put all these goodies in. Now, I'm a big fan of American Craft ribbon(wish it came on bigger rolls though!!), so I loved everything I saw. It was hard to hold back, but I only bought the box...lol My sister asked for something that she'd be able to slip gift cards in when it arrived to her(she lives in GA)and it was also a bonus to ship this cute box flat and she could stuff it all in on her end! I kept the front very simple, used my large Heidi Swapp and Bazzill Flowers and used dimensionals for the monogram. I also put together two smaller packages that included a post-it note booklet, box of chocolates, and a set of lady bug cards.

Supplies:

Cardstock:Bazzill-brown, CM-turquoise, Papertrey Ink-white, PP-DCWV
Stamps:Papertrey Ink-Little Lady & Papertrey, SU!-Sweet on You & Alphadots, KF-Snap Stamps
Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops-Jumbo Java & Sea Breeze, Black Stazon
Acessories:May Arts ribbon,Paper Piercing, White gel pen, Primas, Rhinestones, Raffia, Stickles(just a few drops on the ladybugs body), Scalloped circle punch, CM circle punches

Sassy garden boots...

Don't you just love these garden boots?? I only wish I could use a pair, but they are just a tad useless living in a 3rd floor apt...lol OOOOOOH, how I can't wait to own a home of my own! These boots are again from the Green Thumb set by Papertrey Ink. I love that you can put the "buckle" and "toe-tip" on separately and don't have to "mask" any other part of the stamp. The boots are made 3-D by first stamping a single boot image, cutting out in a square shape, and adding another boot on top with dimensionals.

Supplies:

Cardstock:CM pink, PP K&CO.
Stamps:Papertrey Ink Green Thumb, Rhonna Farrer Doodle Swirls
Ink:Versamagic Dew Drops in Jumbo Java & Pixie Pink
Accessories:Marvy Uchida Scalloped Square Punch, Paper Piercer & White Gel Pen, May Arts ribbon, Bazzill Brads

WE MADE IT!!

Whew!!! The long drive is over and we made it to GA in one piece!!!! As the the only driver, 2 kids, and the dog, I never lost my sanity. I have to say this was the best drive I've done with the kiddos. It was a little tough managing the stops with the dog and having to leave her in the car, but we only made short ones so she wasn't in the heat too long. Sorry I wasn't able to post...did bring the laptop, but the hotel didn't have free access...rats! I just wanted to share my good news with you all...well, its pretty exciting to me anyways...lol When you have a chance, swing by Cindy Brockes blog by clicking on the "My Inky Fingers" webpage under "blogs I stalk"(on the right hand corner of my blog). and you can see the project I did as her "Featured Artist" this month!

Awww, now I'm off to rest my aching feet...

Some more Little Lady designs to share! You can tell these are my new favorites. I tend to "break-in" all my new stamps quickly, which is a good thing so their not sitting up on the shelf waiting to be used! This card is done with two of my favorite color combos(ok, I have LOTS of fav's...lol) pink and sage! I wasn't sure how well it would turn out since both are "soft" colors and thought it may not highlight the lady bug body very well. But I'm pretty happy with how well they look together.

Supplies:
Cardstock:Papertrey Ink-white, SU!-certainly celery, Bazzill-berry Blush, Paisley Print-making memories
Stamps:Papertrey Ink-Little Lady & Papertrey(sentiment)
Inks:Versamagic Dew Drops in Aloe Vera & Pixie Dust
Accessories:M's ribbon, Stickles-stardust(for a few dots on the body), Paper piercing and white gel pen, DemensionalsOne important factor I most love about clear stamps is that you can see where to put the second image(i.e. lady bug dots over the main body)on your paper, especially if your doing 2-demensional stamping...with regular rubber stamps you have alot of trial and error in proper placement! I also discovered to make sure when cleaning these stamps by Papertrey, make sure you have your drain cover in the sink! I nearly cried when I thought I'd lost a little stamp down the sink, but luckily it stuck to Gracie's sippy cup!! Some of their stamps have very tiny pieces so be careful!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock:Papertrey Ink-white, Bazzill-chocolate, Bazzill-berry blush, Making Memories-pp
Stamps:Papertrey Ink-Little Lady & Papertrey, SU! Itty bitty bg
Inks: Versamagic Dew Drops in Jumbo Java, Pixie Dust
Accessories: M's ribbon, faux stitching, dimensionals

Green thumb...

Starting to see a "trend" here??? Yup, its more of my beloved Papertrey Ink stamps! They are soo yummy!! Ok, can you seriously say "yummy" when it comes to clear rubber stamps?? I suppose only another enthusiast would agree with me...lol Anyhoo, I have alot of these images already stamped out and when I can squeeze in some time, I run over and put it together. I was dying to break in the strawberries. They reminded me of the strawberries we picked a few weekends ago:) And its a sure bet I will tend to use more summer-like images with the weather finally getting warm here in NY!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink white, CM Red, CM black gingham, SU! Certainly Celery
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Green thumb, SU! Itty Bitty BG
Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops in Aloe Vera,Red Magic, & Midnite Mist
Accessories: M's ribbon and MM black brads

Little lady...

FINALLY!!! I've got a great excuse to use this set...well, not really an excuse, but theres always time to play right???!!! I received this wonderful set from a very gracious customer, Elizabeth, for my birthday last week...how sweet is that???!!! She loves me:) Anyhoo, she and I both love the blue/pink/choco. combos and I can't seem to get enough of it! You will see alot of these colors on my blog. I have been playing here and there with acrylic stamps this week and I just ADORE them! I'm not sure I will buy soo many rubber sets anymore...yeah right! But seriously, they are sooo versatile and I'm amazed at how well the Versamagic Dew Drop Chalk inks have great coverage on these stamps. Also, when using clear stamps you can see EXACTLY where you are stamping your image...makes for less errors in the image being "crooked". I was skeptical at first, but now I'm hooked! I can't wait to let my sisters play:)

Supplies : White cs(papertrey ink), PP is from DCWV(retro prints), brown and turqouise cs(bazzill), ink-versamagic dew drops-sea breeze,jumbo java, and midnight mist, Little Lady & Papertrey stamp sets(papertrey ink), may arts ribbon(texasjodylynn), faux stitching, and stickles(star dust) on the dots of the body.

Busy Bee...

Because my Blog has been lacking in "creative" work I thought I'd just share what I've been up to! Yes, very busy!!! These are some custom orders that I just finished completing this week. Most of the coaster boxes are for teacher appreciation...seeing how it is the end of the school year and others are special orders. I had a blast getting to try new techniques, especially with altering the notepads. I have been inspired ALOT lately by browsing SCS and love all the floral 3-D projects I have seen. I also had the chance to play with some new embellishments..buttons!! Now, I don't normally use these in my crafting, but I certainly think I'm going to start:) The rest of this week is filled with a BIG surprise...I'm working on something that has me totally stoked, but you won't find out until the 15th!! I will be enroute to GA, but I'm sure I will find time to squeeze in the good news with you here on my blog:) I will be gone thru the 25th of July but will still be able to do posts. This week is filled with some free stamping and I have some brand new Papertrey Ink sets I'm DYING to use!!! I've already been playing a little today:)

Happy Birthday to US!!!

Ok, this post is only a day late as I didn't have any internet service yesterday! My birthday was actually yesterday, but I also share it with my identical twin sister, Christie! I'm on the upper left and she is on the bottom! Our older sister, Jill, also celebrated her birthday last week so I figured I'd honor all 3 of us! This has be be one of my all time favorite pictures of us...it was taken at Christie's Wedding:) I spent the day with my husband and girls and thats all I needed for my birthday to be special:)

Strawberry fields...

Spending some family time together in the Strawberry Fields of New Jersey. We had a wonderful time and the kids were covered with strawberry juice...Gracie loves wiping her hands on her shirt these days! And of course Addison had fun squeezing the berries to death...thats why she has that funny face there! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your families as well:)