Fall Elegance Stamp Set Winner!

Congratulations to "The Pavlina Family"!
who wrote:
"These are exciting projects you have created! I love the festivity of this set combined with the fun and elegant flourishes. It will be perfect for so many occasions!"

You have won the Fall Elegance Stamp Set! Please email me with your contact information so I can mail your stamp set to you and you can begin with the fun!

Check out my blog tomorrow to get inspired with a beautiful new project!

Fall Elegance meets Cruise and Crop!

Only ONE DAY LEFT!
"Fall Elegance" is Released on Aug. 15 at Papertrey Ink!
(click on images for enlarged view.)

This beautiful stamp set features the iconic pumpkins, fall leaves, and warm sentiments coupled with a flair of elegance in flourishes and swirls. You will FALL in love with this set!

CRUISE and CROP
I am so excited to share this beautiful acrylic album with you! My mom-in-law and sister-in-law are the founders of the super cool company: Cruise and Crop! I personally think that a cruise and oodles of time to scrapbook or stamp is the perfect combination! Gail and Cheri prepared an adorable project for their upcoming cruise which featured my Fall Elegance stamps! Their cruise still has space if you want to jump on board! They are taking a 9 night sailing through Canada and New England sailing on Sept. 17-26, 2009. I have to give many thanks to Cruise and Crop because it was actually on one of their cruises that I had the privilege of meeting Nichole Heady from Papertrey Ink which opened this amazing opportunity in stamp design.

Check out Cruise and Crop for upcoming cruises! You deserve it!

(*Click on images for enlarged view.) I love the acrylic albums because you have so many layers and double sided options! Have you ever had double sided paper and you loved both designs so much and hated choosing which one to use? Acrylic projects solve that problem for you because you can use both sides of your papers... it looks like you have more layers than you do, because you can actually see them all. These frames were cut out on a pazzle and will have pictures on both sides with frames on top.

The use of the silk flowers really adds wonderful texture and depth to the project! And the medallion shaped stamps make a perfect handle for the page mark on the right of the album. The jewels on the medallion really go a long way!

Now for the ultra fun part.... A FREE STAMP SET GIVEAWAY!

That's right... Just make a comment on this post any time on Friday before midnight and you will be eligible to win your own copy of "Fall Elegance"! How fun is that?! I will announce the winner on Saturday on my blog. :)

Happy Stamping Ladies... And may your Fall be filled with Joyful Elegance!

Embrace the Season and Smile!

A Plethora of Pumpkins!

First of all, I have to apologize for the cheesy alliteration in the title. I couldn't help myself! I just love pumpkins! Who can resist a paper crafting pumpkin patch? Last year I took my son (who was about 14 months at the time) to the pumpkin patch mainly because I thought it would be an adorable scrapbooking page. As it turned out the weather was not great and Noah was cranky and nap-deprived. So this year I hope to have a better classic family outing to the pumpkin patch when the time arrives. Well, this card is completely made with my first stamp set debut!

PAPERTREY INK releases FALL ELEGANCE stamp set on Aug 15!!
Purchase this set online at www.papertreyink.com for only $24

There are 28 beautifully unique images with endless stamping possibilities!! All of these stamps elegantly make you fall in love with the Autumn season all over again! Your cards will be sitting out on display as part of your friends' holiday decor!

OK- so back to the details of the card!
My orange base pumpkin is the Summer Sunrise PTI cardstock. I just scored the cardstock and hand sketched a pumkin then cut it out. Pumkpins are fun because they don't have to be perfect... in real life they never are! I inked the edges of the pumpkin to give it some artistic life and then cut out a green stump and glued it to the back.
The other layered pumpkins were a lot of fun,too! I used a striped pattern paper and added glitter to make the stripes stand out more. Then of course the Pumpkin stamps from Fall Elegance really make the card pop! The details of the swirly flourishes stamp with absolute perfection. And a little glitter highlights the intricacies of the stamp set. The funny thing is that this card took me absolutely NO time to make, yet when I show off my pile of projects... this one is EVERYONE'S favorite! I think other people must love pumpkins as much as I do! But who can blame me... pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, jack-o-lanterns... and then of course the Pumpkin spice candles... Oy! Pumpkins are the icon of the season!

I hope you enjoy your pumpkins from Fall Elegance! Just one more day and this set can be yours!!

Don't miss my blog on Friday! If you leave a comment you will be eligible to WIN A FREE Fall Elegance stamp set! And get inspired with a fabulous project featuring this beautiful stamp set.

Fall Elegance Count Down Day 3

PAPERTREY INK AUGUST COUNTDOWN: DAY 3
Previewing: Fall Elegance (click on pictures for enlarged views.)
Purchase this awesome Fall Stamp Set at Papertrey Ink starting Aug. 15 for only $24!

This was one of the first cards I made with my stamp set. I love the shape... the long and skinny horizontal look is a very pleasing shape for the natural movement of your eye. It just feels natural and relaxing to look at.

Once again, my SLICE made this project fun as I cut out the frame on my Basic Grey patterned papers. A few brown metal eyelets and some awesome "fall leaves" glitter makes the frame really stand out. I am also enjoying making the frame as a pop up as opposed to the actual sentiment.

SENTIMENTS: What can I say? I am a sentiments gal! The words make the card for me. When I make a card- I want the words to jump out and impact the person I am making the project for. That's the difference between a simple craft and gift. :) I think you will see that more and more with upcoming stamp designs in the future with PTI. I embrace my God-given sappyness. :) SO, this sentiment is one I enjoy and actually can fit several occasions. For a general thank you note, it gives a nice emphasis- but this is also great for Thanksgiving, too.

I also have had fun seeing how versatile the swirlies are to use in different ways, these gave a nice movement and balance underneath the sentiment.
I love the masculine feel of this card. I actually ended up using it for my dad's birthday card. :)

FALL LEAVES: (click on picture above to see enlarged image.) The fall leaves are so much fun and can be used in so many ways. In the first card I used Spring Moss Ink from PTI to make a subtle piles of leaves... (the kind that any young child would bulldoze through!) And in the vertical card above these leaves have a graceful falling effect. There are several leaf shapes which are great for patterns or collage looks. Some are also in outlines so you can color in and shade them to be the perfect fall colors. My favorites have the swirls in them and really give the stamp set the appropriate name: Fall Elegance. :)

PTI PRODUCTS RULE!
This card utilizes the rich PTI colors (Dark Chocolate and Spring Moss cardstocks, and Ripe Avocado ink.) I love the brown on brown leaves! And I used a Close to My Heart inking sponge (my favorite!!) to darken the edges of the card to give it a warm glow.

Don't forget the PTI summer sunrise ribbon and PTI new leaf vintage buttons!

Have an awesome day! And I can't wait to show you more fun projects tomorrow!

AUGUST COUNTDOWN for PaperTrey Ink
FALL ELEGANCE releasing Aug. 15 for only $24!!!
This stamp set features 28 images and has already become my favorite fall stamp set.

It's so hard to find a good stamp set for the fall season- and you stop your search here! As an update from yesterday's post: I mentioned that I am moving to Colorado. One of the many miracles of this move is that our house sold in 2.5 weeks. Praise God! So, as a kind gesture I decided to make a cake for our buyers. They are a lovely young couple, and I am really excited that this home will be a special part of their lives as it has been so special for me.


Bakery Band: I used one of the swirls in the set which was designed to seamlessly repeat which makes it perfect for backgrounds. So after stamping the background on the band, I just stamped, cut out, and popped up of the pumpkins. One top I made a label with my SLICE by making memories. (I love my slice! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!) I have to admit that I did use PTI's awesome set Handwritten Notes to add the adorable sentiment. But it also features one of my favorite parts of the Fall Elegance stamp set... the elegant leaves with the swirls inside. I must say- I have been so impressed with the quality and clarity of this stamp set. PTI products are really the best! The details stamp perfectly every single time. It always comes out perfectly clear. Not to worry- you will see more of these beautiful leaves on tomorrow's blog post. Don't miss it! The projects only get cuter and cuter!

PS. I didn't mention my yummy cake! If you want an INCREDIBLE cake recipe... check this out! It's a Butter Pecan Cake... and seriously, it's one of the best cakes I have had.

BUTTER PECAN CAKE (aka "Your New Favorite Cake!")
Ingredients: Pecan Cake Mix, 1 can coconut pecan icing, 4 eggs, 2/3 cup oil, 1 cup milk
Mix all ingredients into bowl, spray bundt pan with cooking spray - and bake at 350 degrees for 45min. Let cool in pan then remove. (Yes, it's that's easy!)

A light drizzly frosting goes nice or I usually just sprinkle some powdered sugar and garnish it with berries. It's a fabulous recipe for fall.... but really I could eat it all year round! It's the perfect cake because you can always have the ingredients waiting in your pantry- then when you have a surprise guest drop by- you can whip up something amazing without running to the grocery store. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

The Count Down is ON!

Wow! I have been waiting all year for this moment! The release of my very first stamp set! When I received my samples in the mail I was so excited that I didn't want to use my stamps because they were so perfect. Well that moment of awe lasted only minutes before I started inking up my stamps. The cool part of about the five day count was it challenged me to used my one stamp set exclusively for projects and I was so excited to see the versatility in the set. I know it designed it that way- but it was fun to really make it happen.

I LOVE FALL! Every year I decorate my home and burn pumkin spice candles. All my life I have lived in Florida, but in about 2 weeks my family will be moving to Colorado Springs. So, this will be a very different fall season for me. It might be harder to watch my Florida Gators on TV when we are 2000 miles away... but this will be the first year I have lived through the beauty of the colors of fall. Yeah! I am so excited!

My move to colder weather makes this set all the more special. I called this set FALL ELEGANCE because I think the way the trees embrace the season is beautifully graceful. Most people (myself included) cringe with change... our hairs turn gray, our body changes and we do everything we can to avoid it. But it seems that God's creation relishes the season and the trees know exactly how beautiful they are when the colors change. The leaves dance in the air and create a divine confetti all over the ground as nature celebrates the closing of yet another season. Nature really does age with elegance. It is the essence of such beauty that inspired this stamp set for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Just a few more days to wait!

May you enjoy the upcoming fall season with the elegance and and contentment with your inner beauty.