CIC #39

Happy Sunday! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Today's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal features such festive cupcakes - perfect for New Year's, or, in my case, a birthday card!

I chose to feature the Flower Patch and Alleyway papers from the Bella Blvd Honey I'm Home Collection. I love all the bright colors and thought they went so well with this week's inspiration photo! I dressed up the top portion of the card a little by adding Stardust Stickles to the centers of the flowers and to the little dots scattered throughout the paper. It's tough to see in the picture, but adds some nice sparkle in real life!

This simple card was finished off with a little birthday sentiment and some clear crystal flowers from the Zva Creative Crystal Flower Wheel. I like how those tie in the flower theme from the Bella Blvd paper and add a nice finishing touch.

If you want to play along with this week's challenge, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now it's time to visit the other Sweeties for lots more inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Elena (December Guest Sweetie)
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits (for sentiment)
Ink: PTI Fresh Snow
Paper: Flower Patch and Alleyway from the Bella Blvd Honey I'm Home Collection
Other: Stardust Stickles, Zva Creative Crystal Flower Wheel

CIC #38!

Welcome to the 38th Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal!

I need to start out by apologizing for my even-worse-than-usual photo! I swear, I have got to somehow invest in proper lighting and a light tent!

Anyway, aren't these cupcakes so fun and holidayish?! I took my inspiration from the hearts, the candy canes, the holly, and the colors, right down to the black accents!

I punched hearts out of paper from the Imaginisce Polar Bear Expressions collection and the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly pack to reflect the candy cane and holly motifs on some of the cupcakes. I then traced around the edges of the hearts with some Stardust Stickles. The larger center heart is raised up with a 2mm adhesive dot from Zva Creative, while the smaller hearts are on 1mm adhesive dots. In between the hearts I put different sizes of Zva Creative Crystal Dots.

Some silver ribbon from PTI sort of sets the top portion apart, and then the sentiment is from Keep Cozy by The Greeting Farm. More crystal dots in the smallest size appear on either side of the sentiment.

I've taken photos of all of the different Christmas cards I'm sending out this year, but I don't know if I'll have time to blog about them before Christmas. So in case this is my last post this week, I hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday!

If you want to play along with this week's challenge, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now it's time to visit the other Sweeties for lots more inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Elena (December Guest Sweetie)
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Keep Cozy by The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection, Imaginisce Polar Bear Expressions, PTI white
Other: Stardust Stickles, 2mm adhesive dot from Zva Creative, Zva Creative 1mm adhesive dot, Zva Creative clear crystal dots

Hope Stamps Eternal Secret Sweetie Blog Hop

Welcome to a very Sweetie Christmas Hop! The Hope Stamps Eternal Sweeties have a big reveal to share with you today. A few weeks back we were each assigned a secret sweetie who in turn made us gifts and sent them to us to ring in the holidays. During this hop you will see what each of the sweeties put together for their recipient and reveal who they made it for.

Make sure to comment on each blog because one lucky person will be the winner of blog candy! If you didn't arrive here from Kelli's blog, be sure to go back to the beginning at Rachel's blog where you will be able to see a photo of the blog candy and then just follow along to the next blog from there.

I was very excited to be assigned to the fabulous Hope Stamps Eternal owner herself, Rachel! She is one of my dearest friends, and I was thrilled to have an excuse to send her a little Christmas cheer! I know that one of her favorite candies at this time of year are the Candy Cane Kisses, so my ensemble had to include some of those! I took my color inspiration from those, choosing products from the HSE store that fit in the silver/red/white theme.

First off is the bag of Kisses. I just put those in a clear cellophane bag and tied it off with some white polka dot ribbon from May Arts. It looks like she's just run out of the white ribbon, but check out the ribbon selection in the store for a variety of other colors. I then made a little tag for the bag using some paper from the Imaginisce Polar Expressions collection and a Making Memories snowflake blossom with a Zva Creative clear crystal dot in the middle.

I also made a little 3" x 3" card to match the set, using white and silver cardstock along with more of the Polar Expressions paper, white polka dot ribbon, and Making Memories snowflake blossoms. In the center of this snowflake, I used one of the gemstone brads that comes with the snowflakes.

Next up I embellished one of the 4 oz. round clear top tins, again using the same paper, ribbon, and snowflakes. I just love making a set of things that match - it appeals to the OCD side of me I think! I was trying to figure out what to put inside the tin and decide to make some magnets using dominoes. I used the snowflake stamp from Keep Cozy by The Greeting Farm and stamped two dominoes with red ink and two with silver. I then adhered small clear gemstones from the Zva Creative crystal wheel to the center of each of the snowflakes. To turn the dominoes into magnets, I cut up some self-stick business card magnets and stuck them right on the backs of the dominoes. Sorry for the less than stellar picture of the dominoes - I was taking these photos at night and could not for the life of me get a photo that wasn't too full of flash or too dark!

I had so much fun creating this set for Rachel and I hope she liked it! Now it's time to go to the next stop, Colleen at Glitter Ink. Don't forget - you'll want to leave a comment at each stop on the hop to have a chance at winning the blog candy!

Supplies
Stamps: Keep Cozy by The Greeting Farm
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy, Encore silver
Paper: Imaginisce Polar Expressions, PTI white, SU Brushed Silver
Other: May Arts ribbon, Making Memories snowflake blossoms, Zva Creative clear crystal dot, 4 oz. round clear top tin

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #37

How sweet are the cupcakes for this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal?! Adorable!

I obviously went with a snowman theme for my card this week, and also drew my color inspiration from the photo as well. My main image is from The Greeting Farm set Keep Cozy and I colored him with Copic markers. His hat is cut out and popped up with a Zva Creative 1mm adhesive dot for a little dimension and his hat and scarf are accented with Stardust Stickles. The final finishing touches on the image are 3 Zva Creative black crystal dots.

The snowman is punched out with a Marvy mega circle punch and matted on a Marvy giga scalloped circle. On each scallop I adhered a Zva Creative white pearl using a Quickie glue pen. The circle is then adhered to the base using more Zva Creative 1mm adhesive dots.

Speaking of the background, that gorgeous paper is more from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection. I know I've been using it a lot, but there are just sooo many awesome designs in that pack! The little snowflake embellisment at the bottom was created with a small punch and finished off with a Zva Creative clear crystal dot.

If you want to play along with this week's challenge, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now it's time to visit the other Sweeties for lots more inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Elena (December Guest Sweetie)
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Keep Cozy by The Greeting Farm, sentiment from PTI
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection, PTI white, Spring Rain
Other: Stardust Stickles, Zva Creative 1mm adhesive dot, Zva Creative black crystal dots, Zva Creative clear crystal dot, Zva Creative white pearl

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #36

Hello and welcome to the 36th Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal!

With Christmas less than three weeks away, this week's inspiration photo is just perfect! Holly is one of my favorite motifs for the holidays, and I knew right away that I wanted to use some of the paper from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly pack. Both the large piece of background paper and the small strip across the center are from that collection.

My main image is from the Greeting Farm Rain, Snow, Shine set and I colored her with Copics. As you can see in the inspiration photo, the holly leaves are dusted with glitter, so I knew I needed to have some glitter on my project as well! I used Stardust Stickles on all the trim on her outfit, as well as on her earmuffs. I also used the Stickles to create a border around the image. My picture came out crummy due to the rainy/snowy weather we had yesterday, but it's really pretty and sparkly in real life! The image panel is attached to the card with 2mm adhesive dots from Zva Creative. The last little details are the snowflake embellishments from Jolee's by You adhered on either side of the image.

I hope you'll participate in this week's challenge and knock another Christmas card off your to-do list! If you play along, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now before I send you off to check out the other Sweeties, I want to introduce you to our December Guest Sweetie, Elena at The Red Haired Girl. She's insanely talented, so be sure to stop by and see her take on this week's challenge. Once you've done that, go ahead and visit the other Sweeties for lots more inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Rain, Snow, Shine by The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection, PTI white
Other: Stardust Stickles, Jolee's by You Snowflake collection, 2mm adhesive dots by Zva Creative

Cyber Monday Sale!!

Hi everyone! Getting back into the normal work and life routine after a nice long holiday weekend is never fun, but I've got something to make your Monday a little better!

Hope Stamps Eternal is having a Cyber Monday sale - EVERYTHING in the store is 30% off!! Now is the perfect time to stock up on supplies for your holiday cards - check out all the Christmas items from Cuttlebug, Basic Grey, Inkadinkado and more! This is also a great chance to cross some craft-loving family and friends off your gift list - there's sure to be lots of goodies for any stamper or scrapbooker in your life!

Don't miss out on this one day sale - shop now!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #35

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I can't believe it, but the season for leaves and pumpkins and all things fall is over and now it's time to think winter and Christmas! I LOVE this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal. There are SO many products in the HSE store that work for this challenge, so my creative juices were immediately flowing.

As soon as I saw the little snowman perched atop those gorgeous cupcakes, I knew I wanted to use one of the adorable stamps from the Keep Cozy set by The Greeting Farm. I love this little guy and think he's a perfect match for the one in the photo. I colored him with Copics, using the hat and scarf for my color inspiration, and then accented his hat, scarf, and mittens with Stardust Stickles. My frosty image was punched out with a Marvy scallop punch and then matted on a larger scalloped oval. I added a white pearl sticker from Memory Box to each of the scallops, using a Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, to mimic the pearl ornaments and embellishments in the photo.

The patterned paper is a gorgeous sheet from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection. The color scheme and swirling snowflakes are absolutely perfect for this week's challenge! The sentiment, one of four included in the Keep Cozy set, was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, as was my image. That ink is still by far my favorite ink to use when coloring with Copics!

Across the top of the paper I used some ribbon from the Art Blanche Arctic Ribbon Pack. Again, the color is just perfect for this project and adds some nice detail to the card. Both the large snowflake embellishment at the top and the small one by the sentiment are from the Jolee's by You Snowflake collection - the big one is pre-glittered and both come with the gemstones already adhered to the center. Such pretty, yet simple, embellishments!

To adhere the snowman panel, I used the 1mm adhesive dots by Zva Creative and then, because I wanted it to pop up a little higher, I used a 2mm adhesive dot for the large snowflake. I love the different depths and sizes offered in those packs! I used the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen again to adhere the smaller snowflake at the bottom.

I'm so excited to have my first holiday card done for this year! In years past, I've been so efficient with my Christmas cards, and sometimes have even had them done by Thanksgiving, but clearly things have changed. I have a feeling I'll still be finishing my cards right up until Christmas Eve!

I hope you'll participate in this week's challenge and get yourself in the holiday spirit. If you play along, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties for loads of inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Keep Cozy set by The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly collection, PTI white and Aqua Mist
Other: Memory Box white pearl stickers, Stardust Stickles, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Art Blanche Arctic Ribbon Pack, Jolee's by You Snowflake collection, 1mm adhesive dots by Zva Creative, 2mm adhesive dot

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #34

Hello and welcome to Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #34 from Hope Stamps Eternal!

For my card today I chose to sort of pull from the colors in the inspiration photo. I swear my colors in real life are a little closer - I could not get a good photo today for the life of me!

I wanted to use one of the Blooms-a-Bella flowers from Bella Blvd. They're such a great focal point and make for a quick and easy card- gotta love that! It's tricky to tell because of the lighting, but both the green paper and the red paper it's matted on are from the Imaginisce Polar Expressions Collection. I love when paper packs like that have patterns that are specifically for Christmas, but also include reverse sides that are more neutral patterns. It really extends your stamping buck when you have that kind of flexibility.

The designer papers are matted on a brown 4.25" square base (yes, it's brown, not purple!) The sentiment is from Sentiments by The Greeting Farm, and the finishing touch on the card is the lines of Memory Box white pearl stickers.
If you would like to play along, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties for loads of inspiration!

Bonnie (out this week)
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Sentiments by The Greeting Farm
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Paper: Imaginisce Polar Expressions Collection, PTI Dark Chocolate
Other: Blooms-a-Bella flowers from Bella Blvd, Memory Box white pearl stickers

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #33

Happy Sunday! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away?? Where has this year gone?? I think this week's cupcake inspiration photo is perfect for this time of year - it just screams fall and yumminess!

For my card, I used a sheet of Waffles paper from the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry collection. Check out that line of paper - talk about yumminess!! I then stacked three of the flowers from the Imaginisce First Class paper flowers collection. I just love the mix of shapes and sizes and colors included in that package! The embellishment was held together with Diamond Glaze and finished off with a Zva Creative clear crystal dot in the center. Emerging from under the flower embellishment is a Zva Creative crystal flourish. Once I adhered it, I realized the bling gets a little lost in the pattern of the paper, but if the light catches it right, it looks fabulous in person! The sentiment is from the Bella Blvd Plastino stamp collection.

If you would like to play along, make sure you add a direct link to your creation to Rachel's post by 9pm MST next Saturday in order to be considered for the Top 5 collage next Sunday.

Before I send you off to check out the rest of the Sweeties, I wanted to mention a few things. First, if you haven't yet, hurry up and enter to win Rachel's blog sweets - you have until 10pm MST tonight! Second, be sure to check out all the NEW stuff in the Hope Stamps Eternal store! TONS of amazing goodies from The Greeting Farm, Basic Grey, Cuttlebug, Inkadinkado and more!! And finally, if you love Martha Stewart (who doesn't??) go and scoop up some fabulous punches - all Martha Stewart items are 40% off!!

Ok, now go and visit the Sweeties!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen (out this week)
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Teresa

Supplies
Stamps: Bella Blvd Plastino stamp collection
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Paper: Waffles paper from the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry collection, PTI Pure Poppy
Other: Imaginisce First Class paper flowers, Diamond Glaze, Zva Creative clear crystal dot, Zva Creative crystal flourish

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #31

Welcome to the 31st Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal!

These cupcakes are so pretty and spring-like, right? Well leave it to me to make a winter card out of it! The inspiration I took from this week's photo are the colors - the red, pale aqua, yellow, and green. I thought the Jolly by Golly paper from Cosmo Cricket pulled variations of those colors in really nicely, so that's what I used on my card today.

When trying to decide what stamp to use, I noticed the striped scarf on one of the Anyas in the Rain, Snow, Shine set from The Greeting Farm and thought it would be fun to use my Copics to color her scarf to match the paper. I like it! Sort of a faux paper piecing in a way. Anya's trim (earmuff band, buttons, etc.) are touched up with a clear Sakura Stardust pen for some nice sparkle, and to add some extra bling, I added a clear Zva Creative crystal dot to the center of my snowflake embellishment (created with two sizes of snowflake punches).

For the final touch, the edge of the cake plate in the photo made me think of dew drops, so I added a bunch of those to the border of my card using a Sakura Quickie glue pen.

If you'd like to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries linked up by 9pm MST next Saturday night will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Ok, now it's just about time to go and visit the other Sweeties, but I first wanted to mention that this is Tammy's last week with the HSE design team. She has been a great addition to our team and will be missed! But every cloud has a silver lining, so I'd like to give a big welcome to Teresa Kline, who will be taking Tammy's place as a Sweetie for the next couple of months. Check her out!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Rain, Snow, Shine set from The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers
Paper: Jolly by Golly from Cosmo Cricket, PTI Aqua Mist, white, and Pure Poppy
Other: clear Sakura Stardust pen, clear Zva Creative crystal dot, dew drops, Sakura Quickie glue pen

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #30

Happy Sunday and welcome to the latest Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

My card this week is modeled fairly loosely after the cupcake photo - I mainly drew from the bright colors for my inspiration. I just love the colors in the Bella Blvd Plastino collection, so I wanted to really spotlight a few of those papers. The striped paper, the paper I used to punch the scalloped circle, and the main image are all from Plastino papers. I needed no stamping for that main image - cool, huh? I just used a Marvy mega circle punch and it was the perfect fit for one of the flower clusters on the patterned paper. I added some Stardust Stickles to the center of the flowers for a touch of bling on my super easy focal point! The entire main image is raised up with foam adhesive dots. Oh, and the ribbon wrapped around the large panel is May Arts sheer polka dot ribbon. You can never go wrong with polka dots, right?

I'm a little bummed about the background. When I made the card a few nights ago, I stamped the 'happy day' sentiment from The Greeting Farm set Sentiments repeatedly across the card base to create a fun little background. However, when I finally had a little bit of natural light to take a photo a few days later, the sentiments had faded so they were barely visible. I stamped the sentiment again just before I took the photo, but now it looks a little jumbled with the faint trace of the stamping I had previously done behind it. :-(

If you'd like to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries linked up by 9pm MST next Saturday night will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Ok, now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Sentiments by The Greeting Farm
Ink: PTI Lemon Tart
Paper: Bella Blvd Plastino Collection, PTI Lemon Tart
Other: Stardust Stickles, adhesive dots, May Arts red sheer polka dot ribbon

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #29

Happy Sunday and welcome to this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge! These little witches are so sweet perched on top of those yummy looking cupcakes!

My card kind of took on a mind of its own as I was making it, and I don't know that I'm really pleased with the final result, but you win some and you lose some, right?!

My main inspiration came mainly from the colors, though the overcast weather we've been having didn't exactly allow me to get the best photo of my card to showcase the colors I used! The top panel is black cardstock embossed with the Perfectly Paisley cuttlebug folder. I then outlined the embossed shapes with a Sakura Stardust pen to really make them pop. The kraft panel on the bottom was stamped with a greeting from the Greeting Farm set called Sentiments, embellished with a Zva Creative crystal flourish, and punched along the bottom with a Martha Stewart Scallop Dot edge punch. Finally, to finish off the card, I added a strip of brown cardstock along where the black and kraft panels meet and covered that with a strip of sheer white polka dot May Arts ribbon.

If you'd like to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries linked up by next Saturday night will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Ok, now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Sentiments by The Greeting Farm
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate, True Black, Kraft
Other: Scallop Dot Edger punch from Martha Stewart, Perfectly Paisley cuttlebug folder, Sakura Stardust pen, Zva Creative crystal flourish, sheer white polka dot May Arts ribbon

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #28

Happy Sunday! It's time for another Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal!

I am out of town this weekend and so did not get a chance to participate in the challenge, but I wanted to make sure I put the inspiration photo up in case you want to play along! Aren't these cupcakes pretty?!?

If you do, be sure to add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Ok, now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties for some fabulous inspiration!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #27

Good morning! Believe it or not, it's October, so that means Halloween is just around the corner! Isn't today's cupcake inspiration photo a lot of fun?

I chose to focus on the pumpkins and used the Pumpkin Harvest cuttlebug folder on some Imaginisce Bestitched paper, showing the debossed side instead of the embossing. I kept the rest of the top of the card plain to really show off that cuttlebug folder.

The two strips of patterned paper are both from the Basic Grey Eerie paper pack. I just love how all the different papers from that collection mix and match so well together!

The sentiment is from Scary Words, one of the Inkadinkado mini clear sets. I traced over the sentiment with a black spica pen to give it some fun sparkle.

If you'd like to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Now before I send you off to check out the other HSE Sweeties' creations, I want to extend a warm welcome to the latest Guest Sweetie, Ida from Faith Artistry. Be sure to visit her fabulous blog to see her interpretation of this week's challenge.

Ok, now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Scary Words from Imaginisce
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, black spica glitter pen
Paper: Imaginisce Bestitched, Basic Grey Eerie, PTI white, Plum Pudding, Ripe Avocado
Other: Pumpkin Harvest cuttlebug folder, paper piercing tool, foam adhesive dots (for popping up the sentiment panel)

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #26

Hello and welcome to the 26th Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal! Before I get into this week's challenge, I want to remind you about the HSE Halloween Blog Hop - if you have not yet checked out the Sweeties' blogs to comment for a chance to win blog candy and to collect the "hidden" promo code letters, check out my post here.

Now, onto today's business! This is the first CIC we've had since fall officially started, and I think the cupcakes this week are perfect for fall - just look at those gorgeous colors! The colors are what I drew my inspiration from today.

I used one of the Anyas (stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink) from the Rain Snow Shine set by The Greeting Farm. This set is no longer available, but check out the new Dressy Anya set - so cute, and so much fun to color! I can't wait to buy that one myself! I used my Copics to color Anya in and to give her some cute striped knee socks! The umbrella is paper pieced using the Bestitched paper from Imaginisce.

The punch along the side is the Scallop Dot Edger punch from Martha Stewart. I coated Anya's buttons with Stardust Stickles and then the whole main image panel is popped up with foam adhesive dots.

I stamped the background with PTI's Polka Dot Basics to match the polka dotted umbrella and added a Zva Creative pearl swirl flourish along the bottom left corner. To finish off the card, I punched an oval out of the card front, and then stamped "My Friend" from the Greeting Farm set Sentiments on a white panel layered on the inside of the card.

If you'd like to play along, add a direct link to your project to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 entries linked up by next Saturday night will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Ok, now it's time to go and visit the other Sweeties!

Bonnie
Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Rain Snow Shine and Sentiments sets by The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Ripe Avocado, Copic markers
Paper: Bestitched paper from Imaginisce, PTI's Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry, and white
Other: Scallop Dot Edger punch from Martha Stewart, Stardust Stickles, adhesive dots, Zva Creative pearl swirl flourish

HSE Halloween Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hope Stamps Eternal Halloween Blog Hop! There is a TON of fabulous Halloween stuff available in the HSE store, and the HSE Sweeties wanted to showcase these goodies for you today, giving you plenty of time to plan your own Halloween cards and gifts!

Now, if you didn't arrive here through Tammy's blog, go back to the beginning and start on Rachel's post so you don't miss out on a thing! As you travel through the blogs, be sure to comment on each one by Sunday at 11pm EST, because one of us is the Secret Sweet Stop. One of the commenters on the Secret Sweet Stop blog will be randomly selected to win some amazing blog candy (shown on Rachel's post), but you don't know which one of us has it!

And, as you travel through the blogs, take note of a special letter highLighted in each blog post. Put those letters together in order and you'll get a Promo Code for 25% off EVERYTHING in the store from now through this Sunday, September 27! This includes all new and clearance items (though does not include pre-orders). Once you have put together the Promo Code, just enter it at checkout (use ALL CAPS when you enter it) to automatically receive the 25% discount.

Ok, now on to my cards! The first one uses lots of fun stuff from the HSE store! The main image is from the Inkadinkado mini clear set called Witches Brew and is heat embossed to really make her pop. The sentiment is from another Inka mini clear set called Scary Words. I first stamped it in Plum Pudding ink and then stamped it using Memento Tuxedo Black ink to create a shadowed look. I then traced over it with a black Spica glitter pen for some sparkle. The scalloped mat for the main image is punched out of the back of the Imaginisce Bestitched paper and all of the other fabulous patterned papers featured are from the Basic Grey Eerie pad. On each of the scallops is a small black stone from the Zva Creative Mixed Rhinestones Wheel and along the side and top of the card you'll see larger black stones from the Zva Creative Jet Crystal Lines. The last thing I want to mention about this one is that the main image panel is popped up with foam adhesive dots.

Now for the second card, I started with a 4.25" square base and really wanted to showcase some of the same Basic Grey Eerie paper that I used above. I then added a little topper using Happy Halloween, yet another fabulous Inka mini clear set. This sentiment fit perfectly inside the pink Marvy circle punch, and then I matted it onto a larger black scalloped circle. On each of the scallops here, I adhered a yellowish teardrop shaped gemstone, also from the Zva Creative Mixed Rhinestones Wheel. Sorry for the glare on the embellishment toward the bottom - that's an orange button with a big clear Zva Creative Crystal Dot.

I hope you like what you've seen! To continue on your Blog Hop journey, please visit Carolina at her Creative Pad!

Supplies
Card 1
Stamps: Witches Brew, Scary Words
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Plum Pudding
Paper: Imaginisce Bestitched, Basic Grey Eerie, PTI Plum Pudding
Other: Zva Creative Mixed Rhinestones Wheel, Zva Creative Jet Crystal Lines, adhesive dots, Marvy mega oval and giga scalloped oval punches

Card 2
Stamps: Happy Halloween
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Basic Grey Eerie, PTI Ripe Avocado and Lavendar Moon
Other: Zva Creative Mixed Rhinestones Wheel, Zva Creative Crystal Dot, PTI Orange Zest button, Marvy mega circle and giga scalloped circle punches

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #25

Welcome to Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #25 from Hope Stamps Eternal! These cupcakes are perfect for this week, as it's really starting to feel like fall. And to me, nothing says "fall is coming!" like the start of football season. So Quarterback Ian from The Greeting Farm is the star of my card today!

Ian is colored with Copics and I added some Diamond Glaze to make his helmet nice and shiny. It's too early in the season for it to be scuffed and dirty yet! The orange paper is the Imaginisce paper Bestitched from the Spooky Town line and I used the star cluster from the Inkadinkado set Angels to add a little interest. The sentiment is from The Greeting Farm set called Sentiments. To finish off the card, I add some Stitchin Button Brads from Imaginisce. The brown ones I used are sold out, but there are some adorable white and pink ones still available!

I wanted to mention the tons of NEW stuff just in at Hope Stamps Eternal. Lots of stuff from Basic Grey, Bella Blvd, Cosmo Cricket, Cuttlebug Embossing Folders...the list goes on! And one more thing...be sure to check back on Thursday for a very special Hope Stamps Eternal Blog Hop!

If you want to play along with this week's challenge, add a direct link to your creation to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post. The top 5 cards entered by next Saturday night will be featured in next Sunday's collage.

Now go and check out what the rest of the Sweeties have done with today's cupcake!

Carolina
Colleen
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Sentiments and Quarterback Ian from The Greeting Farm, Angels from Inkadinkado
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, Really Rust and Close to Cocoa from SU
Paper: Bestitched from Imaginisce, PTI white and Summer Sunrise, SU Close to Cocoa
Other: Diamond Glaze, Stitchin Button Brads from Imaginisce

Ahoy Matey! It's CIC #24!

Arrrr! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day on Saturday, September 19, so this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge from Hope Stamps Eternal is a nod to the celebration!

I just love these fun cupcakes with pirate motiffs, and I thought this image from the Matey set by The Greeting Farm would be the perfect image for my card. Incidentally, this set is ON SALE, so I advise you to add it to your collection right now!

I colored in my image with Copic markers, then embellished the hat with Stardust Stickles and added black gemstones from the Zva Creative Crystal Wheel to the eyes on the skull belt. The image is popped up with Zva Creative Adhesive Dots.

The papers are both from the Imaginisce Polar Expressions line. The striped paper is pre-glittered, and then I used the Herringbone Cuttlebug folder on the green paper. The really cool thing is that with the white core of the paper, it gets a sort of aged/sanded look along where the embossed lines are. I love it!

If you want to play along, add a direct link to your creation to the Mr. Linky widget on Rachel's post.
The top 5 entries linked by next Saturday night will be featured in the collage next Sunday.

Now before you go off to create, be sure to check out the rest of the HSE Sweeties for more fantastic inspiration! Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!

Bonnie
Carolina
Kelli
Michelle
Natalie
Tammy

Supplies
Stamps: Matey from The Greeting Farm
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI white, Pure Poppy, Imaginisce Polar Expressions
Other: Stardust Stickles, Crystal Wheel, Adhesive Dots, Herringbone Cuttlebug folder