Thursday, February 25, 2010

A Simply Adorned Bracelet!

    Stampin' Up! now has a line of jewelry, featuring charms in which you can show off your favorite photos and artwork!  I recently created my first Simply Adorned bracelet -- here are some of the charms I created for that.  I love that the charms are double-sided, so you can have different artwork on each side.

 Here's a 5/8" Square Charm -- my 4 year old, Timothy, picked out this paper to go in it from the Welcome Neighbor Designer Series Paper Pad.  Then, we added the smallest butterfly from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit.  Plus, some rhinestones from the Eggcellent Eggs Kit.



We also made a 5/8" Circle Charm.  This is just a piece with one of the flowers in the Sending Love Designer Series Paper, with a rhinestone from the Eggcellent Eggs Kit in the center.


And, for the other side of the charms, I added photos of my boys -- these are the small index photos you get when you have photos printed, trimmed to fit.


This was great fun to put together!!  I'm looking forward to making some more of these.

If you'd like to order supplies to make your own, please visit my online store!

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Have a Happy Day Card

I love Spring and Easter, so am really having fun creating cards for both right now!  Here's a card I actually made last month to submit for a contest, but haven't had a chance to show you yet:


I loved using the clouds and the green designer paper from the Good Neighbors Designer Series Paper (one of the free Sale-a-Bration choices!!!) to set the background scene for this card. 

The egg was created by cutting a piece of Pretty in Pink Card Stock with the Big Shot Scallop Oval Frame die.  Then, to create the scallop-like opening in the center, I punched first with the Wide Oval Punch, then I punched around that with the 1/2" Circle Punch.  I ran the egg through the Big Shot again in the Stampin' Up! Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  I decided to use the debossed side up, and sponged the inside and outside of the egg with Regal Rose Classic Ink.  Thought it still needed a little something, so added some rhinestones from the Eggcellent Eggs Kit in the flower centers.  For the bow on the side of the egg, I brayered Regal Rose ink onto some Whisper White Taffeta ribbon.  Here's a close up:



The bunny, flowers, and mushrooms -- and the greeting on the card -- are all from the adorable Picnic Parade set (a Level 2 Hostess set you can earn from the Occasions Mini Catalog).  I colored the bunny and his "scene" with Watercolor Pencils, then used the Blender Pen to soften the colors.

To complete the card, I added some pastel eggs, cut with the Wide Oval Punch, and some butterflies that were die cut with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die from the Occasions Mini.

Thanks for stopping by!

- Michelle

Monday, February 22, 2010

I Dream of Stamping Final Winter Card Challenge -- Time Trials!!!

Our 5th and final Winter Card Olympics challenge on I Dream of Stamping is a TIME challenge. We are challenging you to make a card in 10 minutes (you get 15 if you have a handicap - such as a sleeping baby on your shoulder like Jana had!!)


For my card, I decided to do two challenges with one card -- so not only be time challenged, but also color challenged.  This week's Late Night Stampers' challenge is to make a card using only pastels, no neutrals!  I started with what was out on or close to my desk . . . had a Pretty in Pink card base there, and some Sending Love Designer Series Paper nearby, so figured that would make a good start.  Here's my finished card:



and another view, taken with flash, that shows off the sparkle from the Designer Paper and rhinestones a bit better:




Only stamped once -- the greeting is from A Good Egg, and was stamped in Apricot Appeal Classic Ink on Apricot Appeal card stock, then punched with the Word Window Punch.  I layered that on a piece of Barely Banana, punched with the Modern Label punch. 

I created the bird, branch and leaves using the wonderful new Extra Large Two-Step Bird punch from the Occasions Mini.  The bird was punched from Barely Banana, its wing from Apricot Appeal, and the branch and leaves from Certainly Celery.  The little Pretty in Pink Flowers were punched using the Trio Flower Punch.  And, I added rhinestones from the Eggcellent Egg Kit for some extra sparkle.  Of course, couldn't resist using the Certainly Celery 5/8" Satin Ribbon.

Look forward to seeing what you can whip up for this challenge!!!  Don't forget to link it up at the I Dream of Stamping blog so you can be eligible to win one of our fabulous prizes!

- Michelle

Sunday, February 21, 2010

I Dream of Stamping Challenge #4 -- Vintage Vogue Curled

For our fourth I Dream of Stamping Challenge, we thought it would be fun to pay tribute to the sport of curling by including curling on your card in some way.  You can curl paper, ribbon, whatever you want to do! 

I chose to curl paper -- bending up the edges of some flowers I had stamped and cut.  The Very Vintage wheel also has some beautiful curls in its image, so I think those count, too!  Here's my card:




This card is on a Rich Razzleberry card stock base, with a layer of Kraft card stock on top of that.  I rolled the Very Vintage wheel across my Rich Razzleberry ink pad, and then across the Kraft card stock to create the background pattern.  The flowers were created by stamping the flower images from Vintage Vogue in Rich Razzleberry onto Close to Cocoa Textured Card Stock.  Then, after cutting them out, I distressed and bent the edges of the petals, first by hand, and then a bit more as I sponged Rich Razzleberry ink around the edges.  I added an Ice Square Rhinestone in the center of the largest flower, and silver brads for the centers of the other flowers.
 
I added a strip of Close to Cocoa card stock, with the edge punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch, on top of the Kraft.  The ribbon is Old Olive 5/8" Satin Ribbon, distressed by running it across my Old Olive Classic Ink pad (thanks to my friend Laura Pinto-Nguyen for the idea . . . check out her project that inspired me here).
 
The greeting was stamped with Rich Razzleberry on Kraft, then punched out with the Word Window Punch.  I added a Close to Cocoa frame around that, which I created by first punching with the Word Window Punch, then punching around that with the Modern Label Punch.
 
Thanks for stopping by!  Can't wait to see what you create for this challenge!
 
- Michelle

Thursday, February 18, 2010

I Dream of Stamping Challenge #3 -- Ice, Ice Bunny

For our third challenge, we want to see some ICE! Jana's favorite ice on cards is iridescent ice and the faux diamond dust technique -- she's managed to get me quite addicted to this technique, too.

This card uses the faux diamond dust technique on the Very Vanilla piece behind the stamped Chocolate Bunny image. 

Here's a close up of the bunny so you can see more of the sparkle behind him: 


The Very Vanilla oval and the Close to Cocoa frame were cut using the Big Shot Oval Scallop Frame Bigz Die.  That's layered on top of a strip of Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper and an even smaller strip of Bermuda Bay card stock.  The Pretty in Pink butterflies were cut using the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Wings embosslit die.  Then, I added a strip of rhinestone bling from the Eggcellent Eggs Kit for a bit more icing on my card!

For those of you in my new hostess club -- this is a sneak peek of one of the cards we'll be making on Sunday.  Want to join the fun?  Send me an email using the link on the side of my blog or leave me a comment and let me know.

Can't wait to see what you create for this challenge!!!  Be sure to head on over to the I Dream of Stamping Blog to link up your card and check out Jana and Jane's samples there!

- Michelle

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Today is my Mom's birthday -- please join me in wishing her a fabulous day!!! 

I had fun creating a very special card for her, and wanted to share that with you as well.  Here it is:


And, a side view:



I became obsessed with these paper roses when I saw Julie Williams' beautiful card, which you can see, along with instructions for how she created it, in this post.  My roses were created in a similar manner, except with the Stampin' Up! 5-Petal Flower Punch instead of the new Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch (from the Occasions Mini).  The Old Olive leaves were also punched out with the 5-Petal Flower Punch.  The stems and smaller leaves were punched out with the new Extra Large Two-Step Bird Punch (also in the Occasions Mini). 

The card base and the scored layer on the front are made of Stampin' Up!'s Shimmery White Card Stock. The layer in between the base and scored layer is Barely Banana, as are the rose petals, and Scallop Oval Punch.

The "Wonderful Mother" sentiment and the "happy birthday" inside are from the Well Scripted stamp set in the Occasions Mini.  I stamped these with Old Olive Classic Ink.

For the finishing touch, I attached half pearls from the Pretties Kit along the bottom of the card.

- Michelle

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I Dream of Stamping Challenge #2 -- Heat Embossing

Today we're announcing our second challenge for I Dream of Stamping.  This time, we're challenging you to get warmed up after watching all that ice and snow on the Olympics, and do some HEAT EMBOSSING!

We'd love to have you play along with us. The prize for this challenge is the level II Occasions mini catalog hostess set Picnic Parade in clear mount form. You have until February 28th to link up your entry over at our I Dream of Stamping blog, where all winners will be posted on March 1st!   

Here's my card for the challenge (be sure to hop over to the I Dream of Stamping blog to see Jana and Jane's amazing cards, too!):



The heat embossing technique I used on this card is the Cracked Glass Technique, which is done by applying and heating several layers of Glassy Glaze Enamel Embossing Powder.  Once that's done, you put your piece in the freezer for a few minutes.  Then, when you take it out, you can crack it, for a great vintage look.  Here's a close up of my cracked glass piece.  (I also used several layers of Glassy Glaze on the stamped flower, but I didn't freeze and crack that piece).


The stamps used for this card are from the Vintage Vogue stamp set -- which I am absolutely loving!!!  If you don't have it yet, trust me, you need it! 

The colors for the card are inspired by Mardi Gras -- since today is Fat Tuesday!  I used Storybok Specialty Designer Paper, as well as Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, and Handsome Hunter card stock (and the Five Petal Punch leaves behind the biggest flower are actually Garden Green card stock).  The F and Friends were stamped in Rich Razzleberry, while the flowers around that were stamped in Crushed Curry with a little bit of Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink rock and rolled around the edges, and the edges of the focal piece were stamped with a floral border in Garden Green Classic Ink.  I lightly sponged Crushed Curry and Pumpkin Pie around the Friends piece as well before embossing.  The ribbon is Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain (love how you can use either the polka dot or the plain side of this -- managed to use both sides on this card!)  The scallops at the top and bottom of the card were created with Stampin' Up!'s Scallop Edge Punch.

The layout for this card came from this week's Mojo Monday sketch

Look forward to seeing what you come up with for the I Dream of Stamping Heat Embossing challenge!!! 

- Michelle

Sunday, February 14, 2010

I Dream of Stamping Color Challenge -- Go USA! Card

Here's my card for the first I Dream of Stamping Challenge -- it's a color challenge -- you can choose to use the colors of the country you are cheering for in the Olympics, or you can choose to be inspired by the Olympic ring colors!  Click here to see more information about the challenge as well as Jana and Jane's fabulous cards!

I decided to make a card with USA colors -- and thought it would be fun to use to make a card for my brother's birthday this week!  The layout is from the Mojo Monday Week 125 Sketch. 
 
 

I used Real Red, Whisper White and Night of Navy, and then the designer paper came from the Patterns Pack III Designer Paper -- this is one of the Level 1 choices that you can choose for free with a Stampin' Up! order or workshop of $150 or more!  Or, if you create a card for the I Dream of Stamping Color Challenge, you could win a package -- since that's the prize for the challenge winner!

The presents are from the Happy Moments Sale-a-Bration set.  I stamped them with Night of Navy and then used an Aquapainter to pick up color from my Night of Navy and Real Red Classic Ink Pad lids to watercolor the presents.

I added a few punched stars and a bit of sparkle with Crystal Effects and Chunky Sprinkles Glitter.  The ribbon is Real Red 5/8" Satin Ribbon. 

Look forward to seeing what you create for the Color Challenge!!!

- Michelle

P.S.  Couldn't resist showing you my "helper" while I was trying to photograph this card.  Isabella the cat really didn't like the card stealing her spotlight . . . she ended up knocking it over moments later. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope you are having a wonderfully sweet day!  Thought I'd share with you today the cards I made for my sons to pass out at school -- each boy helped in the design of the cards. 

My 7 year old Daniel wanted a kind of funny card, and decided he wanted to use the bunny stamp from the Forest Friends stamp set and have the phrase "Somebunny likes you" on his Valentines.  Here are his cards:


The Real Red hearts were cut out using the Big Shot Petal Card die, and then I folded two of the petals up to make the heart-shaped pocket.  I printed the "Somebunny likes you" onto Whisper White cardstock.  Then, I used the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to stamp the heart frame around it.


Finally, I punched that out with the Heart Punch.  The bunny is holding a small heart punched from the Heart to Heart punch.  After Daniel had signed the cards, I inserted them into the heart pouch and then into a Glassine Bag from the Occasions Mini.  I added a Close to Cocoa heart with the word "friend" stamped on it over the staples I used to hold the glassine bag closed.

My 4 year old Timothy's Valentine's also used the Petal Die cut outs turned into a heart pouch, but were a bit more complicated to assemble.  Timothy really liked Jackie Topa's punched lion -- and as I played around with that, I realized that I could change the pieces a bit and make them look like our kitten Isabella.  Timothy loved that idea.  Here's what I came up with for him to give his preschool friends:



And, with the greetings added:


I tucked these in Glassine Bags, too.  Here's the finished products:



I made the fun discovery that I could stamp on the glassine bags, too -- it only takes a little while for the Classic Ink to dry completely!

- Michelle

Friday, February 12, 2010

Carrying a Torch for I Dream of Stamping!

I'm excited to announce the opening of a brand new stamping blog my friends Jana and Jane are starting with me.   We all wanted to do more stamping and blogging, and thought it would be great fun to challenge each other . . . and share those challenges with all our online friends.  Our new blog is called I Dream of Stamping!

To kick off this fun new venture, we've decided to host the 2010 Winter Card Olympics. You can read all the details about this fun set of challenges over on the I Dream of Stamping blog.  In the meantime, here is my first card for the blog . . .  Stampin' Up!'s Tote-ally Tess doing her part in our torch relay as we head to the opening ceremonies!

 

The stamps on this card are all from the new Tote-ally Tess set in the Occasions Mini.  I stamped Tess and her apron in Basic Black Craft Ink, then heat embossed using Detail Black Embossing Powder.  I then colored Tess and her stamp-torch in using my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an Aquapainter. 

The torch base was created using the scissors from the stamp set -- stamped in gold ink!  Flames were made using pieces from the Boho Blossoms Punch, which I trimmed down to look more, well, flame like.  Here's a close up of that:


The I {heart} stamps banner was stamped in Real Red Classic Ink, then I trimmed the shape by hand, as well as the Basic Black layer to go under it. 

For the row of hearts, the Real Red heart was created using the smallest heart in the Heart to Heart Punch.  The Pumpkin Pie and Barely Banana hearts were trimmed from flowers punched out using the Boho Blossoms Punch.

I decided the card wouldn't be complete without some serious bling!  So, I added rhinestones and rhinestone strips from the Eggcellent Eggs Kit in the Occasions Mini.  These adhesive backed rhinestones are wonderful for adding sparkle to more than just your Easter eggs!

Hope you enjoyed my card -- and hope you'll join Jana, Jane, and me in the challenges over at I Dream of Stamping

- Michelle

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Marlene's Popping Spring Flowers Card

Here is another of the beautiful creations I received from my friend Marlene Caravello in our recent swap!  She used the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper (from the Occasions Mini) on this card, and added texture and dimension with the coordinating Sweet Pea felt!  Isn't it great how Marlene created the clouds behind the flowers, too.  I'm guessing that she used a mask/stencil made with the Scallop Oval Punch.  (Please correct me if I'm wrong, Marlene!)  The grass along the bottom is created with the new Pinking Heart Border Punch, also from the Occasions Mini Catalog (so much good new stuff in there!!!)


Then, inside the card, Marlene added a fun surprise -- some pop up felt flowers and a butterfly. 


The felt flowers are from the Felt Fusion in the Idea Book, the butterfly is cut with the Beautiful Wings Sizzlit from the Occasions Mini, and the Designer Paper is also from the Sweet Pea pack in the Occasions mini. 

Thanks again for allowing me to share your beautiful work on my blog, Marlene! 

- Michelle

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Marlene's Spring Mini Milk Carton Treat Carrier

Here's another of the wonderful projects I received in my swap with my friend Marlene Caravello -- she created and decorated two of the Mini Milk Cartons using the Big Shot, then made a fun carrier for them.  Marlene found the template for the carrier at Kim Score's blog here.


I love the spring colors on these -- Marlene used the Tea Party Designer Series Paper to decorate them, as well as the gorgeous Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini (on a side note, I realized today that I've already gone through more than a roll of the Real Red 5/8" Satin Ribbon!!!  Really loving this ribbon -- in all its colors!!!) 

These treat boxes came filled with jelly beans -- in colors coordinating with the designer paper and ribbon!  Too much fun!!!

Will very soon be officially announcing a new project I'm working on with a couple of my stamping friends!  Hope you'll stay tuned and join in on the fun!

- Michelle

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Marlene's Vintage Butterfly Pop Up Card

This is my second post for today . . . first post was the announcement of my blog candy winner . . . if you entered my blog candy, please make sure to check that post out to see if you won!

Now for some eye candy -- of the card variety.  This is another beautiful card from my swap with Marlene Caravello.  This is her vintage card -- and it is a clever pop up or spring card.  I love how she added her butterfly, cut with the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die.  It looks like it is just about to take flight!  Her card uses the Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper, and the greeting is from the Well Scripted stamp set in the Occasions Mini.  Marlene used the Scallop Trim Corner punch to create the square frame around the greeting.


Marlene told me that she found the template for the spring card on Meg Loven's blog, and you can see that here.

- Michelle

Valentine's Blog Candy Winners

Just got back from Random.org, which gave me 7, 4, and 2 as my 3 random numbers.  So, drum roll, please . . . looks like Sun, Rhonda, and Jacqui are my blog candy winners!  Congratulations!!!!  Please email me your snail mail address so I can get your flower pin and candy to you!  (There's a link to my email on the left side of my blog.) 

A big thanks everyone who left a comment -- always love to hear from you!

- Michelle

Monday, February 8, 2010

Marlene's Easter Bunny and Side Step Card

Do I have a treat for you this week!  I'm going to show you what I received from my friend Marlene Caravello in our swap.  First up is an Easter Bunny Side Step card she created!  Isn't this card fun?!

 

Here's a close up of the bunny:



To create the bunny, Marlene gave a Build-a-Bear a little makeover!  She added some adorable punch art for the head, tummy, and feet.

Don't you just love how she created the grass with designer paper, the Pinking Hearts Border Punch, and the Crimper, too?

Marlene found the template for the Side Step card and was inspired by Jackie Topa's creation that you can see here

Here's a side view of Marlene's card, so you can see more of the Side Step:


This view also shows off the beautiful new Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon and the Tea Party Designer Series Paper eggs, cut with the Wide Oval Punch. 

Thanks for the great Easter inspiration, Marlene!

- Michelle

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Challenged by Jane!

Another quick post today . . . was talking with my friend Jane about a card she had made, and about needing to make a card for my husband's birthday today (I know . . . totally last minute, but it's been a crazy week as my boys have not been well! . . . that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!).  She challenged me to make a card using the same color combo she'd used -- Crushed Curry, Bravo Burgundy, and Gray -- although I realize now looking at her blog post again, that I goofed on the gray for the challenge -- I used Going Gray instead of Basic Gray -- oops!  So, guess my card doesn't qualify for the Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge #256 after all.  Hopefully, Jane, you'll still think it qualifies for your challenge!  Here it is:



Inspired by Jane's card, I continued the birthday cake and hearts theme.  I used the Happy Moments Sale-a-Bration set, but tried to alter the cake to look more masculine.  I did some paper piecing to hide the flowers from the stamped image.  The little hearts on and around the cake are leftover pieces from punching the Pinking Hearts Border along the bottom of the Bravo Burgundy piece.  I also ran the Bravo Burgundy piece part way through the crimper to add a little more texture.  The silver hearts are punched from soda cans with the Three Heart Punch (the soda cans I used are rather thin, so turns out they fit into and work okay with Stampin' Up!'s punches, although I am not sure whether it would dull the punch over time if I make too many of these?) 

This card was quite a challenge, and as it is, I'm not sure it is really masculine enough.  My oldest son informed me that I should have just left the flowers on the cake because hearts are just as girly as flowers!  He's probably right!  At least now I have a card to give his dad that'll hopefully make him feel as loved as he is!

- Michelle

Smile -- My First Easel Card!

Here is the last of my projects from my swap with my friend Marlene.  For this card, the challenge was to create a fancy fold card or a card that moves.  I decided to try making an easel card -- have seen so many cool easel cards!   Anyway, here's my card closed:

The images are from Picnic Parade, a Hostess Level 2 stamp set.  I stamped in Basic Black Classic Ink on Whisper White Card Stock, then colored in using watercolor pencils and a blender pen.  I layered the stamped piece onto a piece of Old Olive Card Stock, which I had punched using the Scallop Trim Border and Scallop Trim Corner punches.  Then, put that onto the Certainly Celery card base.   The stitched felt embellishment is one of the new Sweet Pea Stitched Felt pieces from the Occasions Mini Catalog.

Here is the card set up into its easel base:


The flower and leaf on the easel base are also from the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt.  The greeting was stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White and punched with the Word Window Punch.  Then, that was layered onto a piece of Old Olive punched out with the Modern Label Punch.

And, finally, I also stamped inside the card -- I love the cute little images in the Picnic Parade set.  So much fun!



Hope this card made you smile! 

- Michelle

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Pop (Can) Art Butterflies


Here's another of the projects that I sent to my friend Marlene in our swap.  The challenge here was to create a card with spring elements (hearts, flowers, butterflies, etc...).  Here's my card:

Here's a close up of the embossed butterflies and designer paper:

















And, here's the inside of the card:




















For the card base, I used Chocolate Chip card stock.  The corners of each of the layers were punched with the Scallop Trim Corner Punch from the Occasions Mini.  For the card front, I layered a sheet from the gorgeous Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Pack (very excited that this paper is also now available for My Digital Studio!!!) onto some Brushed Silver card stock.  I tied a piece of Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain around the designer paper and silver cardstock.  The greeting is from the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set.  I also used that stamp set for the flowers on the inside of the card, which were stamped in Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink onto Very Vanilla card stock.  The paper strip on the inside is a piece from the Sweet Pea Paper as well.

The metal butterflies were created by running a piece from a soda can through the Big Shot in the Stampin' Up! exclusive Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die.  You might remember a sneak peek I gave you a few weeks back with this photo:



And, you might be wondering why I decided to run soda cans through an Embosslit!?!  I had heard of other crafters running soda cans through their Big Shots to create beautiful snowflake ornaments and more, and couldn't resist trying this for myself.  After cutting a few shapes with Bigz Dies, I wondered what would happen if I ran a piece of the metal through using my Beautiful Wings Die.  I was a bit nervous about what would happen to the die, but happily the experiment worked -- no harm to the die, just cool metal butterfly embellishments! 

To create these, you start with an empty soda can, then cut it open -- I found that the Craft and Rubber Scissors are perfect for doing this. 
I cut off the top and bottom, then trimmed through the middle, to end up with something like this:


You do have to be a bit careful as the edges of the can can be jagged and sharp -- however, the butterflies and other images that come out of the Big Shot have nice, clean edges. 

Another warning, these butterflies are very fun and addictive to make!  You can even get fun colors and image on them from the artwork on the soda can, and I'm guessing it might be possible to color the metal with Craft ink, but haven't tried that yet.  Will let you know how it turns out when I try that!

Be sure to let me know if you'd like supplies to make these for yourself.  Would love to see what you come up with if you try this technique, too.

- Michelle 

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Vintage Style Message Board

I recently participated in another swap with my friend Marlene, and she just received the projects I sent yesterday, so now I can share them with you!  And, wait until you see Marlene's amazing creations, too!!!

One of our challenges was to create a vintage card or 3D item.  I decided to create a vintage variation on my Chalkboard Heart Message Board.  Here's what I came up with:


The stamps are from the beautiful new Vintage Vogue set in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Really love this new set -- have more samples to show you with it soon, too!

On the decorative side of the heart, I stamped the images in Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose Classic Ink, and sponged around the edges of the heart.  On the chalkboard side, I stamped on the Chalkboard Decor Elements sheet using Regal Rose Craft Ink.  The ribbon hanger is the Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini.  Before I sent the heart to Marlene, I actually added some half pearls from the Pretties Kit as well.

I created the border around the heart using strips of designer paper from the new Sending Love Specialty Designer Series Paper.  I punched along the strips using the new Piinkng Hearts Border Punch.  Then, I ran them the paper strips through the crimper, which allowed them to bend nicely around the curves of the heart when I adhered them.  Thanks to Janine Tinklenberg for the inspiration and tutorial on how to create scallop punch borders like this!!!  I think it works wonderfully with the whole vintage style that's popular right now! 

- Michelle