Coffee, Coffee and more Coffee

I have few coffee themed cards to share with you today. Anyone who really knows me, knows I LOVE coffee. And in particular, I LOVE Starbucks coffee. My love of all things coffee has spilled over into my paper crafting hobby and I have a small collection of coffee themed stamps and paper. Now I need to find someone to send these coffee creations to. :o) So without further ado, here are a few cards with a coffee theme.

A few notes: I stamped the coffee and bean image on the twill ribbon with Dark Brown Chalk Ink and then sponged the ribbon with Wild Honey Distress ink.  I also used the Distressing Inks to sponge around the stamped image after coloring it in. I put the circle die over the image before sponging to leave the white border that gives the illusion of an extra layer without the bulk.



Stamps: Table and Chairs (Unknown), Coffee and Bean on ribbon from Sparkle Clear Coffee (Hero Arts)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko), Copic markers, Tim Holtz Distressed Tea Dye, Frayed Burlap and Wild Honey, Dark Brown Chalk Ink (Colorbox)

Paper: Blue Bayou and So Saffron (Stampin Up), Pure Luxury Ivory and Grass Green (Gina K Designs)

Other: Diamonds and Snowcap embossing folders (Sizzix), adhesive backed silver brads & small white paper (Recollections), twill ribbon (unknown), Circle and Labels Three dies (Spellbinders)



A few notes: I rubbed the Aspen Mist ink over the embossed snowflake layer to define the embossing better. I used the same sponging technique as above on the main image here using the Barely Banana ink.

Stamps: Cosette Digi Stamp (Paper Makeup Stamps)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and VersaMagic Aspen Mist (Tsukineko), Copic markers, Barely Banana and Vintage Violet (Stampin Up)

Paper: Perfect Plum and Kiwi Kiss (Stampin Up), Pure Luxury White (Gina K Designs)

Other: Snowflake #6 embossing folder (Sizzix), Swiss Dot embossing folder (Provocraft/Cuttlebug), white satin ribbon (unknown), Oval, Circle, Labels Three dies (Spellbinders)

CSS Alumni Blog Hop - December 2010 Sketch

Welcome to another Center Stage Alumni Blog Hop. I want to say how honored I feel to be a part of this group. This will be our last hop for 2010, and I hope we can share many more hops in the next year. If you are coming from Melissa's blog, then you are right on track. If not, then you can go to the StampTV forum to start from the beginning. You will not want to miss all of the fabulous projects that the group has to share.

For this hop we were given a sketch, created by our very own Melissa Cash, to use for our project. I made two snow related cards for this hop. I am quite envious of those in other areas of the country that are snowed in. I love snow!

Here is the sketch:

And here is my first card made with the Color Challenge colors from last week. I love Pink, Chocolate and Ivory together. I used one of my favorite winter sets, Winter Friends to make this one. And added lots of texture with embossing folders.

For my second card I used Melanie's new set Mugs and Kisses.

This is most fabulous set ever sold in Gina's store. Seriously, you need to get this set! :p)

I am a coffee fanatic. Not just drinking it, but also collecting things related to coffee. I have so many Starbucks mugs. I just love collecting them. So many cool designs. And now, I can create any kind of mug I want to. Oh yeah!!!! Very cool!!!  I decided to add a lot of blink to this one as well. I love the faux adhesive back brads and there are so many colors available now. I couldn't resist adding a ton of mini brads to the snowflakes. So fun! You can click on the image to get a closer view.

Now head on over to
Miesje's blog
to see what amazing project she has to share with you. And remember to make it a great weekend!

TTYS Over Coffee

I always have good intentions to do the challenges over at StampTV.com and never have the time. I finally made the time and the first challenge I completed was the sketch challenge from last Thursday. It was a fun sketch to use.  I used the Tech Talk stamp set with some Pure Luxury Kraft card stock and some Basic Grey DP.  I added some sponging for character and some little adhesive back nail heads.

I hope you all have a safe new year's eve. We are supposed to have a wintry mix here. I plan to stay home.  Probably do some stamping. :o)

Caffeinated Autumn Mood

I have two cards to share with you today. Both represent some of my favorite things.


In the Mood for Autumn
I love autumn weather. It is so much cooler and less humid than summer. And I just love the colors; Reds, Oranges, Browns, Yellows with hints of Green. To get in the Autumn Mood I pulled out some old and new autumn stamps and this fabulous felt leaf and swirl border I bought at Big Lots the other week. Here is my autumn card:

Stamps: Signs of Autumn StampTV Kit, So Grateful
Paper: Pure Luxury Green Apple & Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie & So Saffron
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, greens and browns for sponging, Copic markers
Other: bronze brads from kit, Nestabilities Die, green printed ribbon from stash, felt border

Caffeine Keeps me Going
I have to admit my one true weakness is coffee. I like it hot, iced and frozen. I found a new coffee set at Stampede (my Local Stamp Store) the other day. I love this phrase in the set. If you can't read it, it says:

"I don't have a problem with caffeine, I have a problem without caffeine!"

Yep, that's me. Gotta have my cuppa' joe every morning and a decaf at night.

I made this CAS (Clean and Simple) card using images and a phrase from the set. I like that the coffee mugs are large and lots of room for paper piecing.



Stamps: Coffee Cafe {TPC Studio}
Paper: Pure Luxury Soft Sand, Basic Gray {SU}
Ink: Basic Gray Dye Ink, VersaMagic Perfect Plumeria, Aegean Blue, & Spanish Olive, Copic Marker for coffee in mugs
Other: mini brads, small piece of blue ribbon from stash

I'm back and ready to stamp...

I am finally back to my stamping home, so to speak. I've been very busy working on a software upgrade project at work. The hardest work is behind me and I finally have the time and energy to do some stamping. Yipppeeeee! Sorry to those of you that may have been stopping by and not seeing anything new. I just did not have the energy to do anything stamping related.

So, here is my first project I actually created a few weeks ago when I did find a small bit of energy to stamp. It's been sitting on my table waiting to be photographed and uploaded to my blog and StampTV.com.

I found an old Bath & Body Works bag a few weeks ago. I had it packed away in a box of "stuff" and just knew it would come in handy some day. :o) You know how that is, right? So I brought it into my stamp room and then I began scratching my head. What should I do with this thing, I thought to myself. Then it hit me. I'll make a paper bag card. Here is a photo of the back just to prove to you where it came from.




I thought Gina K Designs My Cuppa' Joe would look great with the checkered design on the bag. I pulled out some yellow paper that looks like notebook paper from my pack of K & Company Wild Saffron pack. I stamped the coffee bag and beans image directly onto the paper with blue ink that looks like ink from a pen. I used the same ink to stamp the bag on some orange pattern paper and cut it out. I glued it to the already stamped bag on the yellow piece. I colored in the beans with a brown Copic marker. I added some fun accessories, including a mini Tim Holtz paper clip I bought a while ago and never used. I also created an insert page for the front cover pocket. You can see it peeking out the side. I paper pieced the mug onto that page.



Finally, this is the inside. I just layered some card stock to the inside with some pattern paper and a strip of ribbon.


I hope you like my paper bag card. I also had a chance to play with some new Anya images I bought a few weeks ago from The Greeting Farm. I'll be sharing some fun projects I made with them tomorrow.

stamps: My Cuppa' Joe
paper: yellow piece from Wild Saffron {K & Company}, checkered bag from Bath & Body Works, orange piece {unknown}
ink: Agean Blue VersaMagic chalk ink, Copic markers, orange ink for sponging
other: large eyelets, orange ribbon, small copper brads, mini paper clip

Classic Pink & Gray

I made this card for both the Weekend Sketch Challenge # 71 hosted by Sharon Harnist and for the Color Challenge over at StampTV.com. The color challenge posted by Theresa was to use pink with a neutral color. I always seem to pair pink with chocolate, so I decided to use a different neutral color. I chose Basic Gray and Going Gray. The PP is from the Floral Frenzy Digital Paper Kit Gina K Designs. I used Copic Markers for the coffee cup: E00 - Skin White, E57 - Light Walnut, & R11 - Pale Cherry Pink. The coffee mug stamp is from my cuppa' joe Gina K Designs and the sentiment is from Autumn Leaves Gina K Designs.

Some VSN Cards

I made two cards tonight for VSN. I used My Cuppa Joe for both. The first card was for FEB09VSNB challenge. There were different color combinations to choose from based on your favorite type of chocolate. My favorite chocolate is Milk Chocolate with a hint of Dark Chocolate. So the color combo was Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red and Almost Amethyst. Here is the card I created:


The next card I made for challenge FEB09VSNA. The hostess provided a sketch and we were supposed to include things we love. I included
Starbucks - I cut out the logo from a cup wrap-around I saved. I knew these would come in handy some time ;) LOL!
Coffee - Kind of a given with my love of starbucks.
Chocolate - I love the flavor and the color.
Pink - It especially looks good with chocolate.
Bling - I added some little rhinestones because they are so cool.
and I used Gina K Design stamps because I love them as well.

"my cuppa' joe" is Cool Beans!

I walked up the steps to my apartment and what to my wondering eyes do I see, a cute little box filled with Gina K Designs stamps. I was giddy with excitement. Like a 6 year old girl on Christmas morning. I grabbed the box and hurried into my apartment. I put my bags down and ran to my stamp room. I tore open the box and salivated over the cool new stamps. I mounted the "my cuppa' joe" first and then I mounted "Have a Cookie". I could wait no longer. I made a card using my cuppa' joe. I just love the sentiments in this set. The Cool Beans sentiment has got to be one of my favorites. Here is my card:

I used Chocolate Chip, Kraft, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette, and Baja Breeze CS. I used Memento Rich Cocoa to stamp the images and SU Close To Cocoa ink for the sponging. There are little blue rhinestonse on the blue and green mugs. And I used up a scrap of green ric rac on the one corner. It matches Wild Wasabi perfectly.