Congratulations, Graduate! Owl

Hello! Today’s I’ve got another card using the new Owl Graduate from the Chicken Girl digis May Collection printed on Copic Medium Weight cardstock, colored with Prisma pencils and cut out with Labels Eight. I sponged the edges with Palette Haystack. Then I cut the greeting out using the Labels Seven dies since they look like a book. I thought that was the perfect touch for a graduation card.
My DP is from the adorable new Basic Grey Max & Whiskers line and my ribbon is the red faux suede, just loosely knotted. Very simple but I think it is adorable!
Thank you so much for stopping in today! See you again soon!

Five Minute Friday: You’re Special

Happy Friday! Yippee! It’s a holiday weekend (here in the US!) I love holidays, especially when the forecast is beautiful!

I have a super quick card (because it is Five Minute Friday!) using a sketch from the PC Go To Sketches magazine.

Did you know that several of the patterns from Very Square can be lined up? Well, yes, they can and the polka dots are one of them. So that’s what I did here. I stamped the pattern in Palette Claret and because they’re clear it is super easy to line up. Then I used my Jumbo Scalloped Petite Borderabilities to cut the edge. I put some bling in the holes it cut near the peaks. Then I wrapped a piece of 3/8” white satin ribbon on the edge and used the last of my Lemonade Woolies. Lastly I stamped my greeting from All Occasions Messages (also in Claret) along the top of the ribbon.

It look me longer to write up this post than it did to make the card!

A few store updates: DeLovely has sold out and Cosmo Cricket is telling me they won’t be restocking until the end of August! I am leaving it active so you can click the restock notice if you’d like to be notified when it does become available again.

There are lots of new additions – Unity, ribbon and Copics (restocked) so be sure to check the new section of the website!

And, TODAY is the last day to submit newsletter name suggestions with your chance to win a $25 gift certificate. DETAILS HERE.

I hope you have a great weekend! I’ll be back Monday with a a Chicken Girl card for you! Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown

Hello! Today I’m sponsoring Color Throwdown (using Chicken Girl Design). How exciting! I hope you stop by and play along! You could win a 6 free digis! WOW!!



I did some Photoshop work on my Monkey Around digi to make my card today. First I decapitated my monkey (something I would normally never do!) and then I did some editing on the sentiment because the original sentiment was too big for the space I wanted to put it. (It’s a little naughty now. HAHA!) Anyway, this sort of thing is why I LOVE digis! It gives you so much flexibility and you don’t need a lot of compute skills to do it. All I used were my eraser tool and my cropping tool.
I loosely based my card on a sketch from the last Go To Sketches issue. I printed out my 5 monkey heads on Copic Medium Weight paper, used my small square Nesties to cut/emboss them and then colored them in. They’re popped up using some 1mm dimensional dots. Then I used my long rectangle Nesties to make the scallops on the top/bottom of the blue and on the bottom of my sentiment tag. My DP is from Kioshi and had almost all the colors from the challenge in it. Score! I finished it off with some small blossom gems.
In addition to the Color Throwdown DT showing you samples today, some of my DT girls are playing along as well (they’re not all using CGD digis so there’s lots of variety for you!) Go check them out!
Carolyn
Tracy
Lori
Gretchen
Loretta
Kendra
Carlie
Laura
Michele
Christy
Deb
Tammy
Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Name The Newsletter contest

Just a reminder, in case you missed it in the last newsletter, that we’re holding a newsletter naming contest.  Deadline to submit entries is this Friday!

Come up with a name for us, and if we decide to use it you'll win a $25 gift certificate to i {heart} papers!

To enter, send us an e-mail (service@iheartpapers.com) with "Newsletter Name Contest" as the subject, and your brilliant idea for a newsletter name in the body of the e-mail. 

I’ll be back tomorrow with a card for the Color Throwdown!  I’m sponsoring it this week so be sure to check back!

Pink Mint Motif Quilt

Can you keep a secret? I am LOVING these two new Mint Motif sets! For today’s card I used my second smallest Square Nesties to die-cut various little squares stamped in Palette Belle Rose and Toile Pink. This pattern is one of the repeating ones in the set so if you line it up carefully, it will seamlessly line up. I pieced them together and added small pearls at all the corners. Then I made a custom tag using my Round Top Tag, including a strip from one of the leftover cutouts from the squares.

Then I finished it off with some sheer pink ruffle ribbon and a brad from Bittersweet Glazed brads.

I love how versatile these two sets are! Thanks for stopping in today! See you again soon!

OCLDT14: Happy Father’s Day

Hello!  Happy Saturday!  Today’s card uses (sorta) the OCLDT14 sketch.  That was my starting point and when I saw it I knew I wanted to use these bracket chipboard pieces I’ve had forever (well, since my SU! days).  I covered the set of them with some Kioshi paper and then I couldn’t get the second bracket to work on my card.  So, here it is, minus one bracket!

The image is from Beach Days, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Copic Medium Weight cardstock and colored like me when I was a little girl, with Copics.  I used some Stickles to make her shine (rock candy Stickles on the ice cream cone).  I used my Large Circle Nesties to make the focal point.  The greeting is from Fishing With Dad.  (My father and I never went fishing.   Eww.)

I also used one of my new Quickutz folders called A2 Swirls.  It reminded me of beachy waves.  The ribbon is this sheer white ribbon that I colored with my Copics.

If you play along be sure to tag your creation OCLDT14 and upload it to Mr. Linky here.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend!

Five Minute Friday: Patterned Squares

Hello!  Happy Friday!  I’ve got another Mint Motif card today using Very Square and Very Square Sentiments.  One of the things I like about several of the patterns in Very Square is that they are repeating patterns so if you’re careful, you can line them up.  Good thing they’re clear!  So, that’s what I did here.  I stamped the square and greeting (I omitted part of the greeting) in Palette L’Amour Red, trimmed it down and layered it with some alternating Labels One dies. 

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping in!

DT Challenge: CASEing Kimberly!

Hello! Today is our DT Challenge day and for today’s challenge we’re taking a cue from SCS and doing our own version of Featured Stamper, using Kimberly Crawford as our inspiration. In case you’ve missed all the chatter, Kimberly is the designer of IHP’s latest exclusive stamp line, Mint Motif. So, all of the IHP today has selected a project from Kimberly’s amazing blog and we’re each making our own take on it.

I selected this card of hers and used her two new sets, Very Square and Very Square Sentiments to make my own version. I used my Square Nesties for the frame, stamped the cloud image in Palette Seascape. The bird is the smallest from Nested Birds stamped in Palette Prussian Blue along with the greeting. The DP is from BasicGrey’s Lime Rickey collection. The finishing touch was a wrap of Navy Silk ribbon.

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT to see their creations.

Here are links to the rest of the team:

Carolyn
Cathleen
Deb
Gretchen
Kendra
Loretta
Lori
Lynn
Megan
Tracy

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monkey Around!

Hello!  Isn’t this image adorable?  It Monkey Around from the latest Chicken Girl digi May Collection, printed on Copic Medium Weight cardstock, cut with my trusty Large Circle Nesties and colored with Prisma pencils.  The cupcake also has some Turquoise Stickles.   I used some SEI Happy Day paper along with one of IHP’s EXCLUSIVE coordinating buttons.   I love that button on the orange silk bow – it just pops!  And I’m loving this orange, blue, green color combo.  It is so bright and summery!
Thanks for stopping by today! 

Blog Candy Winner!

RACHEL JOY! Congratulations! Please email me your snail mail address by Tuesday so I can get your box ‘o goodies out to you.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for doing a great job of stalking me on Facebook, here on the blog and signing up for the newsletter (did you get yours this morning? It’s got your chance to win a gift certificate for $25!) A few of you even joined our PCP group.

If you missed the newsletter (check your junk mail folder!) or didn’t sign up for it you can still view it online here. But, if you’re going to enter to win the $25 you MUST be a subscriber so be sure to go over to the homepage and signup if you haven’t.

There will be more candy coming up so check back often!

Thank you again for the great response to the new Mint Motif stamps! It was an amazing release weekend!

See you again soon. I’ve got a few project lined up to show you this week!

Mint Motif release day!

Hello! Today is the day! Have you been enjoying the sneak peeks this past week? I sure hope so! Well today Mint Motif is available!

Be sure to check out the design team – they all have great inspiration projects to show you how fresh and versatile these sets are!

Kimberly Crawford – designer
Charlene Austin
Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby

The two sets, Very Square and Very Square Sentiments are only $10 each. They are made in the USA and are the industry’s best quality photopolymer material available. I know you will love them, just as you’ve loved our Petal Press stamps and our clear Chicken Girl Design stamps.

AND...because I know everyone is on a budget, I've JUST changed my shipping calculator to include a new lower tier for lightweight items. Now, for all US orders up to $25 if you're ONLY ordering clear stamps (like Mint Motif!), ribbon and/or a Bow Easy, you will only pay $3. That's down from $5. Just select the correct method at checkout. And please, be nice. If you try to sneak something other than clear stamps, ribbon or a Bow Easy on your order I'll have to send you an invoice for the difference. So please don't make me do that!

My card uses the cloud image from Very Square, cut out with my Large Square Nesties. Then I used my Big Circle Nesties and standard circle Nesties for the center tag. The greeting from Very Square Sentiments is stamped in Palette Reflection Blue. I filled in my clouds with some White Opal Liquid Pearls and finished it off with turquoise silk.

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you're as excited about these new releases as I am!!

Blog Candy and tomorrow is THE day!

As promised over on Facebook during our unfortunate website outage last week, here is my blog candy offer!  But, there’s a catch!  There is SO much going on here at IHP that I don’t want you to miss a thing, just like that Aerosmith song.  Well, not exactly like it.  :)

So, make sure you’re a follower, either here through Blogger or subscribed through you Reader.  And come over to Facebook and “like” us.  I much preferred the term “fan.”  “Liking” something just makes me feel like Sally Field winning her Oscar  - “you really, really like me!”

And lastly, click over to the homepage or on the left of the blog to sign up to receive the newsletter.  We don’t bombard you with messages – usually just one a month unless there is LOTS of stuff going on.  The next one will be going out this weekend and you don’t want to miss it.

So…go do these things and then post here in the comments which you’ve done.  You get one entry for each method of following us.  I love stalkers.  :)  

You have until Saturday 11:59PM EST to enter and I’ll draw a random winner on Sunday.  What will you get?  Well, I haven’t actually decided yet – only that it will be awesome and plentiful.  The winner will get a HUGE goodie box of all sorts of stamps, papers, ribbons and whatever else I can manage to find that I think you might like, valued at at least $75!  Check back here to find out who the lucky winner is.  If it isn’t claimed within 48 hours I’ll pick someone else!

TOMORROW is the day so many of you have been waiting for – the Mint Motif release!  I’ll have a card and so will all the DT members so be sure to check back in tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by today!  See you tomorrow!

Kitty Cake Circle Card

Hello!  I’m back today with another Chicken Girl Design card using another one of the releases from the May Collection called Kitty Cake.  I used my Large Circle Nesties to cut the card from a standard A2.  The image is printed on Copic Medium Weight paper and colored with Prismacolor pencils.  Then I used Scattered Straw Distress Stickles on the kitty and some Turquoise Stickles on the apron, fish and hats.  I finished it off with a little Glimmer Orange bow and stamped the greeting from Birthday Wishes (one of the clear CGD sets) in Palette Orangerie.  Just a reminder, we still have clear CGD sets but once they’re gone, they’re gone!  So get them while you still can!

Thanks for stopping in!  I’ll be back on Friday with for the full release of our new Mint Motif line!  I hope you’ve been enjoying the sneak peeks this week from Kimberly Crawford and the rest of the design team!

Chicken Girl release day!

Hello! It’s Chicken Girl release day here at IHP! I know, I know…so much excitement over the last week with the release of Mint Motif and now more Chicken Girl stamps!
Each image is $2.50 each or you can get the entire collection shown here for only $8.50!
Be sure to check out all the DT members, especially since this is the first release for our newcomers! We also have some Core IHP DT members helping us with this release too so you've got more inspiration to pull from!
Here are the links for you!
Laura
Carlie
Michele
Tammy
Lori
Loretta
Christy
Cathleen
Carolyn
Gretchen
My card for today uses Gator Greetings. He’s printed on Copic Medium Weight paper and colored with Prisma pencils. I went over him with some Crackle Accents so he’d look a little scaly. If you click on the picture for a larger version you can see it a bit. The presents are covered with some Yellow Stickles. The DP is from SEI’s Happy Day collection. I used my long rectangle Nesties and finished it off with some luscious turquoise silk ribbon. Isn’t he adorable? My card measures 5-1/2” x 3-1/2” in case you’re wondering. :)
Thanks for stopping in today. Have a great week!

Five Minute Friday: Mint Motif Sneak Peek

NOTE: As of the scheduling of this post, the store appears to be up and running but may be a a little slow or have intermittent outages as it is still recovering from the server outage. If you experience any problems please be patient and try again later. This is unprecedented and we thank you for your understanding!

Today is a very special day. Not only is it Five Minute Friday but as I mentioned yesterday, I am thrilled to welcome IHP’s newest exclusive stamp line, Mint Motif, designed by Kimberly Crawford. Today we begin sneak peeks of the two coordinating sets Very Square and Very Square Sentiments, which will be fully released on the 14th.

Before I talk about my card I’d like to welcome Mint Motif’s fabulous design team:

Kimberly Crawford – designer
Charlene Austin
Latisha Yoast
Geny Cassady
Kazan Clark
Julie Overby

Please be sure to stop by all of their blogs today and see their first peeks of the new sets!

I have to confess, today’s card is only a Five Minute Friday card because I had stamped various images in different Palette inks a few days ago when I was playing around with the sets when I first got them. So, it was easy for me to die-cut them using the smallest Nestie Blossoms Two die. I put a little clear gemstone on all of them except the last one, where I stamped part of one of the sentiments in Palette Burnt Umber and wrapped a piece of satin white ribbon around to finish it off. This sketch is from Go To Sketches (the one that Tiff had a Petal Press card published in!).

Thanks for stopping in today! Be sure to check the other DT members and check back here on Monday for the next Chicken Girl release with our new design team!

Have a great weekend!

Big announcement! New stamp line!!!

NOTE: As of the scheduling of this post, the store is still currently down due to a hardware failure at the server. They were working to restore things when this post was scheduled so it may or may not be up by the time you read this. If it isn't, you know why and know that they are working on it. It's been down for nearly 24 hours. This is unprecedented for them/us so please be patient! Thank you for your understanding...now onto the NEWS!

Hello! I am THRILLED to announce today – FINALLY - a huge secret that I’ve been keeping from you since…umm….last year? Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been holding out on you! I think you’ll forgive me once you see these stamps though! *grin*

Please join me in welcoming IHP’s newest exclusive line, Mint Motif, designed by papercrafter extraordinaire Kimberly Crawford. These new designs are as refreshing a a cool glass of mint tea on a hot summer day! You’re going to love them! We will begin sneak peeks tomorrow and the full release will be on the 14th. Be sure to stop back in tomorrow for the design team announcement (they are AMAZING!) and a peek at the two new coordinating sets.

In the meantime, pop on over to Kimberly’s blog to wish her congratulations. This has been in the works for quite a while and she has been busting with excitement so go tell her congrats! A special thanks goes out to Becky Oehlers for thinking we’d make a good team and playing matchmaker! Thanks Becky! We couldn’t have done this without you!

See you tomorrow!

Yup, the store is down!

As many of you have told me this morning - the store is down!  First Unity's website went down (and is still down!) last week and now me!  What's going on??

Well, here's what's going on, at least in my case.  My server folks had to restart this morning around 5AM.  When they did, something didn't go right and they had to run a scan to make sure everything was good.  In the middle of the scan, about 15 minutes ago, the machine had a hardware failure (probably the reason why it needed to be restarted in the first place!).  They're replaced the failed hardware and are running the scan that checks the integrity of everything.  Unfortunely this scan takes anywhere from 2-5 hours usually, depending on how much data is on the drive.

*sigh*  So, it will be a few more hours before the scan is complete but at least they look like they know what the problem is and hopefully once the scan is complete then that will be the end of it.

I’ll continue to make updates on Facebook so check there for the latest!

Thanks for your patience!  Don’t you LOVE technology sometimes??

Anniversary Love Birds

Today’s card is so much prettier in person than in this picture!  I just could not get a good shot.  There was either too much reflection or it was too dark.  I made this card for John’s grandparents’ 65th wedding anniversary last weekend.  What an occasion to celebrate!

I used lots of Nesties on this card – nested birds, hearts and long rectangles.  The paper (which is responsible for the terrible picture) is a GORGEOUS shimmery DP from the SEI Juliette line.  Gorgeous but does not photograph well.  I finished it off with some little pearls and sheer ruffled pink ribbon.  The greeting is from Chelsea greetings and is stamped in Palette Charcoal.

Thanks for stopping by.  I’ll have some BIG news for you at the end of the week so be sure to stop back by!  I’ve also got several deliveries scheduled to arrive this week so be sure to check out the new section later in the week or join our Facebook page for up to the minute updates!

Have a great day!

Chicken Girl Design team changes

I am thrilled to announce the addition of three new talented stampers to the Chicken Girl DT and thank everyone for applying!  It was a tough decision!  I *may* be contacting some of those who applied for a guest spot at some point in the future.  Without further delay, please help me welcome the new additions: Laura, Carlie and Michele.  They are joining the current team: Tammy, Lori, Loretta, Christy and myself.

Our next release will be on the 10th, as always, and has some absolutely adorable images you won’t want to miss!

Thanks again to everyone who applied and welcome to the team Laura, Carlie and Michele!  I can’t wait to see you creations with the images!