Day 6: Sneak Peek - Heartfelt Friends

Today's sneak peek uses the exclusive stamp set "Heartfelt Friends" from 2RedBananas.com, which will be released on the website February 2nd. I only used one image, but this set had about 6 different images that are all cute and look kind of doodled.

I made my card base out of red CS which I stamped with the heart stamp from Thursday's set "Snowman Love" using Versa Mark ink. I then accented the hearts with a white pen and drew "stitching" along the edges. I punched out a scalloped circle in white and pierced each scallop, then adhered a red CS on top of it, which I also "stitched" with a white pen. I attached the heart ribbon my May Arts to the circle and adhered it to the card. I stamped the frog image with black Staz On ink and colored it with watercolor pencils and a Tombow blender pen. I also used opal Shimmerz on the frog's extremely long tongue and glued on some googly eyes. I used pop dots to adhere the frog to the circles. I stamped the Be Mine sentiment (also from the "Snowman Love" set) with Staz On on the right had side of the card base and adhered a rhinestone heart by K&Company to the upper left corner.

BLOG HOP:

If you're participating in the blog hop, be sure to leave a comment here and go to each design team member's blogs and leave comments there as well. Then go to the 2RedBananas blog and answer the question posted there. Blog candy will be awarded to one randomly selected participant.

Jeanette - http://jcfincher.blogspot.com/
Maraya - http://itsmybailiwick.blogspot.com/
Theresa - http://leftyscrapper.blogspot.com/
Jami - http://sgtstamper.com/blog
2RedBananas - http://2redbananas.blogspot.com

I hope you come back tomorrow for the final sneak peek of 2RedBananas.com's exclusive stamps.

Day 5: Sneak Peek - Value of Joy

Today's sneak peek is of 2RedBananas.com's stamp set "Value of Joy" which was designed by Jami Bova and will be released on February 2nd. I used it on a layout of our dog, Iggy, who, after a long illness was put to sleep over a year ago. We still miss her.

I used brown CS and K&Company's Wild Saffron line as the background, with ribbon along where the two papers meet. I matted the photo with brown and cream CS and adhered it to the layout. I cut out a butterfly from a scrap of the background paper and pop dotted it on the layout, partially overlapping the photo. The dog image was stamped on cream paper and colored with watercolor pencils and a Tombow blender pen, then I cut out the dog and pop dotted it on top of a second image that was stamped on kraft paper with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. The leaves were colored with watercolor pencils along with the butterfly which was also colored with a gold Sakura Stardust pen. I then adhered this on the layout. The sentiment was also stamped on kraft paper with Chestnut Roan ink. Along the left side I adhered some Fancy Pants Designs flowers by Prima, with Kaiser pearls in the centers.

BLOG HOP:

Be sure to visit the blogs of all of the 2RedBananas Design Team members and see how they used this cute stamp set. Be sure to leave a comment at each one, then go to the 2RedBananas blog and answer a question. This will enter you in the drawing for blog candy.

Hope to see you tomorrow for another sneak peek at 2RedBananas.com's line of original stamps. Be sure to visit the site for all your scrapbooking and stamping needs. New products are being added every day.

Day 4: Sneak Peek - Snowman Love

I'm back for our fourth day of sneak peeks for 2RedBananas.com's new line of stamps. This time I did a layout using the Snowman Love set (along with some of the January Journaling Spots). Due to a freakish snowfall in southeast Texas, I actually have snow photos.

I used K&Company's Christmas Cheer paper for the background and drew a line around the edges with a white pen. I adhered another strip of patterned paper with rick rack along the top and bottom. I also adhered Dewdrops along the strip. I painted all of the chipboard with white puffy paint by Tulip and sprinkled Twinklet's Diamond Dust on before puffing it up. The photo layout is actually a collage I printed from Photo Shop with a couple of spots left blank. On the blank areas I adhered patterned paper. I stamped the snowman from the set in various poses, colored them with watercolor pencils, cut them out, then adhered them with pop dots onto each of the squares. I stamped the journaling spot onto patterned paper and cut it out, then pop dotted it onto the layout.

This set was really fun for me because I miss snow (being a displaced Detroiter), and usually never have a chance to use snowmen, snowflakes, etc.

BLOG HOP:

Be sure to visit all of the blogs of the other 2RedBananas' Design Team members and see how they used this cute set of stamps. Leave a comment at each person's blog, then go to the 2RedBananas blog and leave a comment explaining what kind of challenges you would like to see sponsored by 2RedBananas and how often you would like to see them.

Jeanette - http://jcfincher.blogspot.com/

Maraya - http://itsmybailiwick.blogspot.com/

Theresa - http://leftyscrapper.blogspot.com/

Jami - http://sgtstamper.com/blog

2RedBananas - http://2redbananas.blogspot.com

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another sneak peek.

Day 3: Sneak Peek - Come Home Soon

Here is another sneak peek of a 2RedBananas.com original stamp set being released on February 2nd. It's called "Come Home Soon" and I used 3 stamps from the set. I made the card base out of brown CS with a block of patterned paper on top (I'm sorry I don't know who it's by, I tend to use scraps for my cards and don't always have line names or manufacturer info). I stamped the images with brown Staz-on ink. I colored the main image with watercolor pencils and a Tombow blender pen and adhered it to the card. I circle punched around the outside and inside of the round image then passed the strip stamped with "HERO" through it and adhered them to card.

This is a really great, patriotic set designed by Jami Bova, who is also a very talented member of the 2RedBananas DT.

BLOG HOP:

Since everyone seems to be enjoying the blog hop, we will be having another one today. Go to the 2RedBananas blog - http://2redbananas.blogspot.com/ - to begin the blog hop. It will direct you to the next blog you must visit. At each blog you leave a comment. There will be blog candy awarded to one lucky participant.

Thanks for visiting and participating in the blog hop. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another sneak peek!

Sneak Peek - January Journaling Spots

Here is my sneak peek of 2RedBananas.com's exclusive stamp sets - January Journaling Spot and January Journaling Spot 2. These sets will be available on the website on February 2nd.

Because I live in Texas, where we don't usually get much snow, I used the January Journaling Spot stamp sets to make a card. I used a base of cream CS and adhered a block of Anna Griffin patterned paper. I randomly stamped snowflakes (from first set) onto a strip of cream CS with blue Clearsnap Chalk ink and added a little sparkle with a Stardust pen. I adhered this strip toward bottom of card. I stamped the mitten journaling spot (from set 2) onto cream CS with blue chalk ink and stamped sentiment (also set 2) with pink chalk ink. I adhered a piece of ribbon along bottom of mitten and put the whole thing on card with pop dots. I also added 3 pearls from Michael's along the bottom right side.

BLOG HOP QUESTION:

The blog hop will be starting at the 2RedBananas blog, so be sure to go there first (http://2redbananas.blogspot.com). The blog hop question wants to know my favorite type of ribbon. I love grosgrain ribbon. It's thicker than some other ribbon and has nice heft, so it tends to make good bows because they retain their shape well, and it doesn't flop over as easily when doing tags, etc.

If you're participating in the blog hop, don't forget to leave a comment. And be sure to check back all week for additional sneak peeks.

The Gift

Here is my sneak peek from 2RedBananas' stamp set "The Gift." I stamped the images on kraft paper with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. I colored in the image with watercolor and chalk pencils. I cut out the images and inked the edges. I used kraft paper as my card base and adhered a strip of red cardstock along the bottom, cream cardstock along the top, the edges of which I also inked with the Chestnut Roan ink. I added a piece of brown ribbon from May Arts where the two pieces of cardstock met and tied a second piece of brown ribbon to it near the right-hand side. I adhered the image to the left and used a pop dot to adhere the sentiment to the right.

BLOG HOP QUESTION:

For those of you participating in the blog hop, here is my question: What is your favorite method for coloring stamped images?

Sneak Peek of "The Gift" Stamps

The 2RedBananas Design Team will be posting sneak peeks of 2RedBananas.com's exclusive stamp sets on our blogs and on the 2RedBananas' blog.

Tomorrow's peek will be of a stamp set called "The Gift." It is a really great set that will be released on February 2nd at 2RedBananas.com, along with seven other exclusive sets.

The Design Team is also going to host a blog hop that will begin on the 2RedBananas blog - http://2redbananas.blogspot.com. To participate you have to go to the 2RedBananas blog first, where there will be a question posted. Simply post a comment with the answer to the question, then go to the blogs for all of the design team members and answer the questions posted on each one. The order for blog hopping is as follows:

2RedBananas - http://2redbananas.blogspot.com
Jeanette - http://jcfincher.blogspot.com
Maraya - http://itsmybailiwick.blogspot.com
Theresa - http://leftyscrapper.blogspot.com
Wendy - http://nowherebayou.blogspot.com
Jami - http://westamphappy.blogspot.com

There will be blog candy awarded to one lucky participant in the blog hop.

Be sure to check back here and at the 2RedBananas blog to see all the exciting sneak peeks this week.

2RedBananas Stamp Release

I am so excited to announce that 2RedBananas will be releasing its new, exclusive stamp sets on February 2nd. These are some really great stamp sets that will only be available at the 2RedBananas on-line store. I'll be posting some sneak peeks in the next couple weeks, so be sure to check back and take a look. There are also a bunch of great new products that have been added to the store, so go check them out.

Love You Card

This is my first Valentine's card this year. Actually, it's my very first card of the year. I had some fun with this one. I used a House Mouse stamp and colored it with watercolor pencils. Then I used Diamond Glaze by Judikins to make the candy dish look more like glass. I don't think it shows up really well in the photo, but in person it turned out pretty cool. It definitely has a glassy sheen to it. I then adhered the stamped image to pearly Bazzil cardstock and added a heart shaped transparent die cut from Fancy Pants Designs to the upper right corner with two brads from Queen & Co. I sanded the die cut and rubbed a little yellow paint on it, then went around the edge with some Stickles before attaching it. I then adhered it to the card base, which is Basicgrey Oh Baby Girl paper. The letter stickers are the Cheeky Shimmer Stickers by Making Memories.

Have a Mice Day

OK. This card is a prime example of why I should not try to craft late at night while in the throes of sleep deprivation. I thought it was fine until Matt asked me how it opened and I realized I had taped the ribbon around to the back on the side that should open. Other than that it turned out pretty well. This is actually the last card I made in 2008, because I finished it just before Midnight on New Year's Eve.

I used a House Mouse stamp, Webster's Pages patterned paper and SEI cardstock for the base. The ribbons is from May Arts. The flowers are Prima's Fabric Fancies, with a Dewdrop in the center. I also used a Stardust pen for a little added sparkle.