My Sunday Shares - July 8th

Good afternoon everyone!

We FINALLY have a break from the super hot and humid weather! YAY! It started cooling off last night and today it is PERFECT out! It's in the mid 80's but there is a nice cooler breeze. My husband and I went and rode bikes at the lake. 19.2 miles is what I toodled today! That is my record... so far :)

I didn't have a lot of time to search out around blog land this last week and the few cuties I did find, I never heard back from the artist for permission to share it. I do, however,  want to share design team member, Ceal Pritchett's card though that was supposed to be our Thursday post this week but I received it late due to the holiday, and wasn't able to get it on in time. So we will share it today instead :)

What a sweet card! Ceal used the Cupcake Belle stamp from C.C. Designs. This image is from the Fairy Tales Exclusive Retailer Collection.  I think Ceal did a great job coloring her image. I love the little blush cheeks!

For the rest of my Sunday Shares today I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite blogs that I follow. These mega-talented ladies all serve on Design Teams for some of the companies that we carry and their work is just amazing! I could spend hours and hours just looking at their blogs and all of their amazing designs!

Cheryl Valadez - The Ink Trap - Cheryl is a member of the Kraftin Kimmie Stamps design team and her coloring skills are phenomenal! I did feature Cheryl on one of our Sunday Shares previously but the truth is I could literally feature her work on every Sunday Shares day because she is amazing :)

Pam Sparks - Expressions With Heart - Pam is a member of the C.C. Designs design team and her creations always blow me away! She has so many details and really puts a lot into each and every design. Her coloring skills are also amazing! Everyday when I get the email with one of her new posts I always find my new "favorite" card that she has created - LOL!

Laurie Schmidlin - Just Give Me Stamps - Laurie is a member of the Paper Smooches Design team. Her projects usually have a vintage, shabby chic style that I love. She does a lot of really fun and adorable projects using the Paper Smooches stamps that really make you say... "WOW" Why didn't I think of that - LOL!

Mariska Van Der Veer - Sending You a Little Smile - Mariska designs for three different companies that we carry.... Whimsy Stamps, C.C. Designs, and Pink Cat Studio! I also featured Mariska on one of our previous Sunday Shares posts. She is the MASTER at creating 3D cards by popping different layers of the stamped images. If you take a look at her blog she will sometimes post pictures of all the itsy bitsy pieces that she cuts the image into in order to do her layering. It is mind-blowing! But her projects are GORGEOUS so it is worth it. I can't even imagine the time it must take her to create one of her masterpieces.

Linda Heavens - Heavens Created This - Linda is on the Stamping Bella Design Team. Linda is the MASTER at coloring using a hybrid-coloring technique that fuses copic markers with prismacolor pencils to create a gorgeous finish! I could seriously pin every card that she makes onto my "favorites" board. I am always blown away by her gorgeous coloring on each and every project she creates.

I hope that you take some time and visit these "favorite" blogs of mine and get inspired by these ladies! BEWARE...you can spend HOURS and HOURS looking at their beautiful work :)

Happy Stamping All! I am going to try and create a few things later today for a couple of challenges that I wanted to play in soooo if I get too...after working in the store first... I will post my creations later on :)
Laura

Daydreamer

Good Morning All!

Today I have a beautiful card from design team member Jacqueline Smith.

Jaqueline used the super cute Buttercup stamp by Conie Fong from Sweet Pea Stamps. She colored the image using prismacolor pencils. I think she did a great job! I love the colors she chose, the turqoise butterfly wings really pop against the pretty pinks and purples of the dress and butterfly. This little girl reminds me of getting lost in a daydream! The Happy Birthday tickets are from the Celebration Mini Tickets stamp set from Whimsy Stamps. Jacqueline created a frame for the little girl to sit in using Spellbinders dies.

You can read all about how Jacqueline created this card on her blog - Jacqueline's Creative Works of Art.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

Gettin' Fun & Funky on Friday!

Good Morning All!

Today I have a really fun and funky card created by design team member Meredith Winston!

Isn't this AWESOME? I adore all of the fun textures and shapes and the scrap-pieced feel of this gorgeous card! That lovely sentiment is from the Vintage Verses stamp set from Gourmet Rubber Stamps. This is a definate must have set because the sentiments can be used for so many occasions. You MUST visit Meredith's Blog - Paper Canteen Creations and see how she created that gorgeous black and blue textured background - VERY COOL technique and a sweet story behind it as well ;)

Hope your Friday is full of fun!
Happy Stampin!
Laura

Cheers....Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

It is 9:00 am and is already almost 90 and HUMID! Feels like you turn your shower on pure hot and steam up your bathroom and just stand in it. Today is suppose to be the hottest day of our week and you can sure tell it already! I need to get my fanny out and get my work out in before it gets any worse out!

Our plans for today (besides trying to stay cool - lol) will be hanging out at home mostly and then tonight my husband will be racing in a special 4th of July race so we will be going to see that. He races a sportmod and for the 4th of July the track he races at puts on a special show. They will have a rollover contest, school bus races, some sort of trailer race, where a race car has a trailer attached to it and the object is to win and destroy the trailer in the process. Can be very interesting! Last year they did that but had boats and a boat trailer attached to the back. There was one person that had a sailboat and it ended up catching on fire! After the races they put on a pretty good fireworks show too. Will be a great time! Here is my husband's race car for those that are wondering what it looks like.

And look at this.... :)

My husband is very supportive of our business which is awesome :)

Today's card that I want to share with you is created by design team member Lisa Rasmussen. She created a great card that can be used for all kinds of celebrations!

This uses an image called Cheers Dude from the KennyK Collection from Whimsy Stamps. Lisa colored her image with copic markers and did a great job! I think this stamp is so fun and we will be adding it to our store with our next Whimsy order so watch for it :) It is hard to find great guy stamps and this is definitely one to have! I love how Lisa kept the background simple and lets the image be the focal point. Visit Lisa's Blog - Eat. Sleep, Stamp. and see all the details on this great card!

And remember if your 4th of July celebration includes some cheers and beers...please celebrate safely and always have a designated driver :)

Happy Stampin!
Laura

A Sketch Challenge!

Good Morning All!

Today is Tuesday which means we get to start a new Loves Rubberstamps Blog Challenge!  This week we have our very first card sketch challenge!

We were to create a card that is based off this sketch:

And here is my card:

My flower is from the Crafter's Companion Paint Fushion collection called Sunflower.  I colored two flower heads, cut them out and popped them for added dimension. To color the flowers I just used a sponge with Stampin Up! More Mustard and Daffodil Delight, with the base flower also sponged with a little bit of early espresso. The center is Stampin Up! Early Espresso. I used a white gel pen to create some dots in the center. My sentiment is from the Paper Smooches - Happy Camper set.
My background paper is a retired Stampin Up! pattern. I wanted to try and create a background that reminds you of a quilt and this pattern was perfect.

Here is a closer look at my flower:

The leaf was sponged also using Stampin Up! Pool Party, Old Olive and then Always Artichoke on the edge.

I hope you will play along in this week's challenge with us! We will be giving away a $25.00 gift voucher to the Loves Rubberstamps Store!

Happy Stamping!
Laura

Queens Cutie!

Good Morning All!

Hope you are all staying cool, if that is possible! Today you will get two posts! Our power was on and off yesterday so I wasn't able to post this super cute Olivia Marmara card as planned...and it is TOO CUTE to not share!

This is one of my FAVORITE KennyK stamps from the Glam Gang series from Whimsy Stamps called - Queens Cutie.  Olivia colored her image using the Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Markers on Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White Cardstock that is made for use with alcohol ink markers. This is such a pretty card! I love those roses and the doily that Olivia sat her image on!

Happy Stampin!
Laura

My Sunday Shares - July 1st!

Hello Everyone!

Hard to believe that July is here already! It is starting off like a furnace here. This next week our coolest day will be 95. I think everywhere is hot but the miserable part is adding the humidity. Which here is about 90% so it feels like you are standing in a sauna as soon as you step outside. But what can you do...it definately could be worse so I am not going to complain!

Today for my Sunday shares I wanted to share with you a couple of cards I came across while surfing around on splitcoaststampers.

The first is a beautiful creation made by the very talented Wanda Cullen of Cullen-ary Creations. I have been a big fan of Wanda's for awhile and have many of her gorgeous creations tucked into my favorites file at splitcoaststampers. She is a member of their elite Dirty Dozen Alumni and does some really beautiful work.

This is one of my favorite cards that Wanda has created. She used the gorgeous Sunflowers stamp set from Flourishes. I love the very CAS look of this card. The sunflower is paired beautifully with that pretty yellow gingham (I am a sucker for gingham prints) and that black and white polka dot ribbon. So pretty! The layout she used is from a Mojo Monday Sketch #242. If you want to see more details on this gorgeous card that Wanda created visit her blog above, it is linked to the blog post featuring this card, or you can visit her amazing Splitcoaststampers gallery - cullenwr.

The second card that I wanted to share today is a really fun card using the Paper Smooches stamp set - Healthy Vibes. I have mentioned before but I have a little obsession with Paper Smooches stamps! Kim Hughes, the designer, has this amazing talent for creating stamp sets that you can use for many occasions, that are easy to mix and match, and that can be used in so many different ways! I love to search for cards created with her sets because you will find many genius ideas! Here is a super cute and fun card I came across this week...

This super cutie was created by another very talented paper artist - Lori Barnett of Stamp Scents! I absolutely LOVE the fun colors that Lori used on her card. She colored her images with copics and popped them up on a desert sand background that she created using the Dude Block from Paper Smooches also. I also LOVED the subtle pattern that Lori created on her tissue box by stamping a pattern from the Debonair stamp set from Paper Smooches. To make this card even cuter (if that is possible) Lori framed her desert sand block with a glitter frame! How she managed to get her lines so straight is amazing! Mine would be wavy - LOL! This would definately brighten anyone's day! Be sure to visit Lori's blog and see some of the other amazing cards she created. You can also check out her splitcoaststampers gallery too - versamom!

I hope you enjoyed today's shares from these two amazing ladies! I want to give an extra big thank you to both Wanda & Lori for allowing me to share their beautiful creations!

Stay cool everyone!
Laura