CREATIVE BLOG HOP

I am honored to have been nominated to be on the 

Creative Blog Hop by my friend & upline Angela Carter over at Angela's Ink Link!  It's a fun little one-time blog hop!!!  Then after I get to answer a few questions about myself! Very exciting! Projects can be anything we want! That's cool!!!

So today's post is to feature an amazing stamp set, Painted Petals.

Here is the "suite" of cards I made:

I love this stamp set!!! It has THE most beautiful coordinating 

DSP-Painted Blooms! It can be framed with nothing else & still be beautiful! 

Here are the individual cards:

This one uses the DSP, stamp set, the Petite Petals Punch, and some 

Daffodil Delight Ribbon! I love how these colors look!

The next:

I thought this may look like flowers growing through the fence! This one uses the Note Tag Punch, the same Daffodil Delight Ribbon, and the 

Striped Scallop Thinlets Die.  Kept it fairly simple tho. That paper is beautiful but busy!!!

The last:

This one I took the piece of DSP with the leaf background & added the stamped flowers! I love how that looks!!! I grabbed that Petite Petals Punch again, as well as my brandy new Flower Medallion Punch!!!  I stamped that image with the Crazy about You stamp set! One of my current faves! lol  I will fess up to some retired Rose Red Seam Binding.  I just thought it worked here! Plus, don't have any other Rose Red ribbons!!! lol

Now, questions! 

1. What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on creating one of the Perpetual Calendars from our Occasions Catalog as a gift for someone! Don't wanna say who! I love this kit! I have made several already. It is very useful, and I have already referred to mine a couple of times! I like to look at it at the beginning of the month & then make the cards for my blog hops with the upcoming occasions in mind.  Easy peasy too!!!

2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?

Hmmm! That's a tough one. What exactly is my genre? Well, I'll take that to mean "stampers" like me. So how does it differ? Well we all have our own styles. Mine is clean & simple.  I don't like a lot of ephemera or extras on my cards. Occasionally I'll go there, but when I try to create "vintage" it looks like I just emptied out my supplies & glued them all on! Haven't quite got that eye. I like things neat, matted & simple. While I truly enjoy looking at those beautiful works of art, I just know I don't do them well!  In life I live outside of  the box, but interestingly enough, in card making, I live pretty much within the box! Boring I guess!! lol

3.Why do you create what you do?

I love to try new techniques! Whenever I see something I can't figure out I have to try it. I like to have a variety of "styles" and "skills" to pull from. Most of my cards are designed for one reason or another. A lot of them come from the several blog hops in which I participate. I enjoy giving a card to someone special. A friend of mine years ago, who has since gone to Heaven, kind of hit it home. When she was ill, I sent her a card weekly as she couldn't have visitors.  When she passed, her husband told me she still had every single card I sent displayed around her room because she would look at them & they made her feel good.  I guess that's why I create what I do.

4. How does your creativity work?

I'll take that to mean how do I come up with a project???!! So I first decide why I need the project. Birthday. Anniversary. Etc. Then I consider the person who will be receiving it. I try to gear the card personally.  Then I pull what I think works for them. Now, if I'm just creating, I pull out a new stamp set & think of a design that would fit it! I also love to visit challenge blogs & use them as a "kickstart" to my design.  That's particularly helpful when I get into a rut!!

So I hope you've enjoyed this Creative Blog Hop!  Now I get to nominate 2 people for next week's Creative Blog Hop! I am sending this on my good friend Helen over at Blue Dahlia Designs who always designs a beautiful card and my Canadian Stampin' Up! buddy Diane at 

Teach to Stamp who has a similar clean & simple design to myself.  Be sure to visit their blogs next week!!!!

Happy Stampin'!

FOCUS PEOPLE! FOCUS-WITH THE PAPER PLUNGE!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Plungers!!!! I know it's a day late, but I sure hope it was awesome!!

So it's time for The Paper Plunge!!! This week, our designers have been busy working on "Focus"! That is, making your sentiment the focus of your card! Often it's just kind of floating around there & the "picture" is the focus! This time, it's all about the sentiment!!

So here's mine:

First, it's getting to that warm, fuzzy, Christmas time! So starting to think in that direction! Second, I want to make the best use of my amazing products from the Holiday Catalog before they go away! I'll miss this one! Sure hope a ton carries over to the Annual Catalog!!

I'm sure you recognize this stamp set-Seasonally Scattered! I've used it plenty!!! It's from the Holiday Catty!  This time I combined some white & some Dazzling Diamond embossing powders to make the white "sparkly"! I'm all about sparkles & bling!! lol

Tough to tell, but I used some Dazzling Details on the snowflakes! The photos don't do it justice!

The Striped Scallop Thinlets Die makes a great background! So simple too! Here I used some of the DSP from the adorable  

dazTrim the Tree DSP Paper Pack! This one is loaded with fun snowflakes! Not quite visible, but the affect is there!!!

Snowflakes were cut using the Snowflake Card Thinlets Die accessories! So many goodies in that kit!!! Can't wait to share some of those cards with you!!! I was waiting until December tho! Can't even think about snow!!! Yuck! Although we are now digging out from our Thanksgiving Nor'easter!!!

And then I realized I took this pic before I finished the card!!! There is actually one more snowflake-the All is Calm Snowflake embellishment! It kind of floats around on the other snowflakes, hanging on the White Bakers Twine & attached with the Handheld Stapler!!! Not where I can upload a pic, so picture it if you will!!!! lol

So hope you enjoyed!!! Now head over to The Paper Plunge & see what other really cool sentiment focus cards my team has for you!!!! Please leave a fun comment!!!

Happy Stampin'!!!