International Scrapbooking Day Sale at POD!

In honor of International Scrapbooking Day, Michele is having a sale on many of her popular stamp sets up to 50% off, TODAY only! There's no direct link to the sale but you can browse the store and look for the discounted prices marked in red.

Lots of journaling sets are available like this set, Road Trippin' on sale for $7!

And this set, Seasons Date Me, is on sale for an amazing $4!

Even if you're not into scrapbooking you can incorporate these sets into cardmaking as well.

All Purple Onion Designs stamps are made of deeply etched, unmounted rubber. Even if you don't have any mounting cushion, they stamp clean and crisp every time.

This is a one day only sale, so hurry over to Purple Onion Designs' store and take advantage of the half off sale today! Run!!

TD12 -- Flowers in May challenge

This month's challenge at Tiffany Doodles is to use flowers on your card. Tiffany has TONS of flower digis on sale in her store, from magnolias to cherry blossoms to bluebells, all drawn realistically by Tiffany herself.

For my card, I chose to use a whimsical design and one of the "older" digital stamps--a topiary.  I printed the digi three times and played with the size so the middle topiary would have more height than the other two.

I colored two sets of images with Copics and used pop dots to raise some of the tulips and the flowers for a bit of dimension. The background is Hero Arts Graph Background and the sentiment is computer generated.

I added a drop of Liquid Pearls in the center of each flower and the lovely seam binding was given to me by my dear friend Kiara. She created the sweetest shade of pink that was perfect for my card. Thank you, Kiara!

The challenge runs for two weeks and you don't have to use a Tiffany Doodles digital stamp--you can try and win some! Please visit the rest of the design team (see the list on my sidebar) for more inspiration.

Tiffany also has some great specials this month. First is a Mother's Day special from now through May 9th. Use the coupon code "mom" at the checkout.

And for the entire month of May, spend $30 in the Tiffany Doodles store and receive $10 off! Be sure to use the coupon code "morning" upon checkout.



We hope you'll join our flower challenge this month and win some of Tiffany's awesome digis, too!

A warm ALOHA!

Happy Aloha Friday! Just sharing a card using one of the newer stamps from The Greeting Farm--Surfer Anya. Isn't she a cutie? She and Surfer Ian are such a cute couple, too.

I colored her with Copics, trimmed her out and used some corrugated paper and kraft cardstock for a little beach scene. The background is Hero Arts' Raindrop Background, stamped with Frayed Burlap distress ink. The sun die is from My Favorite Things, and I added lots of buttons for color and fun. The sentiment was made with Harold's ABCs from Lawn Fawn.

The Greeting Farm is once again sponsoring Cards for a Cause for 2011. This year, cards are being sent to some students in Japan who could use some cheering up after the horrific earthquake/tsunami in March.

You can read about the card drive here. I'm planning to color a bunch of Surfer Anyas and Ians and spread some ALOHA all the way to Japan!

Thanks for visiting today! Please join me tomorrow for another Tiffany Doodles challenge.

Hope you have a great weekend...

Purple Onion Designs giveaway winners!

Word of Purple Onion Designs' new stamp giveaway spread quickly and there were 180 comments left on Michele's blog! Wow! Go here to see if you're a winner!

Stamps used: Build-a-Banner, Birds House, Chick Sentiments

Here's another card I made with some stamps from the new release. I had so much fun putting this card together. All the images were colored with Copics and I added a few highlights with a white pigment pen. Isn't that the cutest sentiment?

The background was stamped with Hero Arts' Raindrop Background and all the images were attached with dimensional tape.







Hope you managed to scoop up your favorites from the release. There's also a Sentiment Sale going on with some great sentiments on sale for just $1 to $2 each! Get them while you can because they're selling out fast!

New stamps giveaway!

Hello, friends! Are you excited about the new Purple Onion Designs stamps that were previewed? Well, don't walk...run!......to Michele's blog post here, and leave a comment on what you're excited about and you could win a set of the new release!

You'll see more wonderful samples from the rest of the design team, too. For every 25 comments, Michele will randomly give away a set of the new stamps. 50 comments means two prize packages; 75 comments means three prize packages, and so on.

Pass the word along, too, because more comments means more prizes up for grabs! The giveaway will end tomorrow, May 3rd at 9pm EST. One comment per person, please.

P.S. Michele has opened the store a day earlier than expected! New stamps are here. Let the shopping begin!

Purple Onion's new stamp previews!

Hello! I hope you're all having a great weekend. I'm so excited to finally share some previews of the newest stamp release by the talented Stephanie Ackerman for Purple Onion Designs.

I just love her whimsical, homespun style and when Michele sent me the stamps, I knew what I wanted to do, and put my cards together so quickly. Such happy stamps!

I used Heart Flower and paired it with Flower Quotes for my shaped cards on kraft. The flowers were colored with Copics and attached with dimensional tape. I added a bit of Glossy Accents and Stickles to the hearts.

The backgrounds were stamped with Hero Arts Raindrop Background or Large Canvas Stripes. The "grass" was made with some paper scraps from my stash.

I love the sweet sentiments and Stephanie's playful, handwritten font. A bit of faux stitching around the edges and the cards were done. So quick and easy!


Want to see more stamp previews? Head over to Jenn's blog and see what my sweet friend has created.

And please visit Carly and Jennifer tomorrow for even more inspiration using the new images. All stamps will go on sale Tuesday, May 3rd in Purple Onion Designs' store.

Happy Summer!

First of all, thanks to all of you for your sweet comments and good wishes for me on joining the Purple Onion Designs team! I'm a little nervous but super excited to start working with a company that I've long admired. In a few days, I'll be sharing my first cards as an official Onion....so stay tuned!

Do you think it's too early for a summery card? With the month of May just a few days away, I think summer is zooming towards us sooner than we think. And living in Hawaii....well, it's summer almost every day!

I couldn't resist using Tiddly Inks' Snorkel Bunny and a fun sketch by Sasya for my card. Rather than search for patterned paper, I used three of Hero Arts' background stamps to make my own papers.

For the background, I clear embossed Graph Background and ink distressed with Broken China and Faded Jeans. I water splotched the card for a bit of interest.

The pennants were clear embossed with Raindrop Background and ink distressed with Orange Marmalade and Wild Honey.

The piece behind the bunny was stamped with Large Canvas Stripes in Frayed Burlap and ink distressed with the same color. The sentiment was handstamped by me, using my favorite $1 alpha stamps and I added a touch of Glossy Accents to the bunny's snorkel mask.

Stamps: Tiddly Inks, Hero Arts, Studio G

Inks: Ranger Distress inks, Memento

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Other: Copics, clear embossing powder, Marvy scallop circle punch, Glossy Accents, pop dots, twine

Make sure that you visit Tiddly Inks tomorrow, April 30, for a Treasure Hunt Blog Hop to celebrate their first birthday. There will be prizes galore and a few freebies, just for hopping along. Hope to see you there!

Got Onions?

Purple Onions, that is! I'm honored to announce that I am now on the Purple Onion Designs design team! (Pinching myself....pinching myself)

After I ordered a set of their stamps, Michele, the owner, sent me a confirmation along with an inquiry: Would I be interested in making some cards if she sent me some of their new stamps? 

I think she could hear me scream my reply.

After sending her my card samples, she asked if I would be interested in joining the team! I was a little hesitant at first, but decided it was just what I needed to get back into stamping again.

I love the assortment of styles that POD offers. From cute and whimsical to their elegant butterflies and of course, their awesome noteblocks. All of their stamps are deeply etched, unmounted red rubber. I have a stash of cling foam, but there are ways of stamping unmounted stamps perfectly without any mounts or wood.

Here's a card that I made with their Citrus Set. I added some Glossy Accents to the orange, and cut apart the "punny" sentiment to fit. I also used Reverse Wonky Rectangles again, which is becoming a favorite new die.

Thank you, Michele, for inviting me on board! I can't wait to share my cards with the new stamp release next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share my happy news with you!

Stamps: Purple Onion Designs, Hero Arts Large Canvas Stripes
Inks: Ranger distress ink, Versafine 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Hero Arts kraft
Other: Copics, Spellbinders, Couture Creations embossing folder, Glossy Accents, sheer ribbon, pop dots

Hello...Happy Easter!

A quick post and card to wish you all a Happy Easter! I printed out this Pure Innocence Digistampcharacter and colored her up in a few minutes.

Rather than struggle with coloring a "smooth" egg, I dabbed the colorless blender over the entire surface of the colored egg. I love the mottled look.



I also used the new Spellbinder die called Reverse Wonky Rectangles. Isn't that a fun name?

* * *

My Hero Arts Flickr friends will recognize Ivy, who I met for lunch yesterday, along with her hubby Eddie, and the B-boys, Brandon and Bryan.

I'm so glad we got to meet up, and I had the privilege of sitting next to BryBry, who scarfed down all of his popcorn chicken.

Thanks for the goodies, Ivy, and I hope to see the Wongs next year--maybe at the new Disney Aulani resort?

Enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a safe trip home!

Lily Pad's Frames, Dies & Dimension challenge

Have you entered any Lily Pad challenges? I missed the deadline for the color challenge and I wanted to enter the current one, sponsored by Globecraft Memories. I don't own any of those cool frames, so I created a simplified tent card instead.

I used "Chickies!2" by Mo's Digital Pencil and colored it with Copics. I followed a great tutorial on making a tent card here. The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink and I added some punched hydrangea and Liquid Pearls for accent. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Hope you're all having a great week so far! Thanks, always, for stopping by...

Stamps: Mo's Digital Pencil Too, Hero Arts
Ink: Ranger distress inks
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Patterned paper: Papertrey Ink
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, MS hydrangea punch, Liquid Pearls, pop dots