Carrie Stamps

Birthday Giraffe

OH MY WORD, this might just be the cutest card EVER!!!

 

I made this card for my husband's cousin's son who is turning 3.  His birthday party is tomorrow.  I saw this giraffe on line and thought it was so cute and knew that I had to make it one day. Today was that day!  The cupcake is from the sock monkey set.  

I know, CUTENESS!  I think he is about to drool over those cupcakes!

All I knew was that I wanted to put a cupcake on the card to make it birthdayish, but when I stamped one and tried to put on the card with him, it was just too small.  That is when the idea for the stack came to me.  My stroke of genius for the day!  

Okay, enough of me bragging about how I am a stamping goddess!  Remember I totally cased the giraffe!  

RECIPE:

Stamps: Sock Monkey

Ink: So Saffron, Jet Black Staz On, Bashful Blue, Really Rust, Old Olive

Paper: So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive, Really Rust, Mellow Moss

Accessories: Dimensionals, 2-way glue, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Tools: A BUNCH O' PUNCHES: 

1" circle: head and spots

small oval: nose and mouth (trim down pink for tongue)

5 Petal flower: ears (trim down close to cocoa)

slot punch: horns

1/4" circle: eyes, tail, feet and spots

Crop-a-Dile: small hole for nose and pupils, large hole for tops of horns

3/4" circle: spots

word window: neck

1-3/8" circle: body

Pinking Heart border punch: grass

Cloud Stencil (download one for you here)

Happy Stampin'
Carrie

 

Build-a-Leprechaun

Yes, I have to make a build-a-bear for EVERY holiday!!!  Here is my Leprechaun Bear, he is cute though!

 

I used the following Stampin' Up! Build-a-Bear dies: 

The Bear Die (for the bear and the light green "socks")

The Beary Lovely Sizzlit (for the bow tie)

The Beary Essentials Die ( for the shirt, jacket and pants, which I cut to be knickers!)

The Beary Merry Die (for the shoes and buckles)

The Beary Girl Sizzlit (for the belt)

I also used the following punches:

little heart punch (for the clover)

Wide Oval punch (for the greeting, which you can down load from this post)

Scalloped Oval punch (to mount the greeting on)

1/8" circle punch for the buttons

I free hand cut the following: 

the beard and hair from Really Rust card stock

the clover stem

the grassy hills

the hat

I created the clouds using my own cloud stencil, download your own here.

And you know if you follow the Leprechaun to the end of the rainbow you will find the pot of gold, well guess who found it...

Of course it was a girl and she has filled her purse with the gold and is off to the MALL!!!

This is the bear card for St. Patrick's Day that my daughter and I made together.  She wanted hers to be a girl!  She did a really good job!  I ended up doing the clover she was done at that point and I did the gold in the purse as well.  

Looks like a pretty heavy purse!

Well, time to go get my daughter from pre-school.  More blogging later!!!

Happy Stampin' 

Carrie   

 

Oh Yes it's Ladies Night!

Do you remember the movie The Wedding Singer, with Adam Sandler?  There is a part when John Levitz comes in and sings "Oh Yes it's Ladies Night, oh what a night".  Well, when ever I am getting ready for my monthly Ladies Night Out event, at some point this song and visions of John Levitz pop into my head.  I know, I might be crazy!!!

ANYWAY!!!!!  I have planned the BEST projects for this month's Ladies Night Out!!!  

Our first make and take card was inspired by Andrea Walford and is a cute Easter greeting card:

It really is so cute!  I love this stamp set, it is a great Easter set. Seriously, look at those adorable chicks!

  

Here is the second make and take card: 

This one was inspired by Sandi MacIver, I lover her style and loved the card that she made which was similar to the one we are making. 

I just got the all new Fine Flourish Stamp, it is from the a la carte selection in the Occasions Mini Catalog, it is fast becoming one of my favorite stamps! 

And now for the BONUS project of all BONUS projects!!!!!

I KNOW, it just might be one of the cutest Easter projects I have ever made!  That Chocolate Bunny makes it easy, another stamp in the a la carte selection!!!  

Don't you want to come and stamp with me!  You are totally invited!  

March Ladies Night Out

Friday, March 19th at 6:30pm

At my house

Please bring your own adhesive, Snail and Tombow Liquid glue recommended. 

Registration is just $5!!!

Click here to pay now:   

I will also be demonstrating a paper rose, I can not wait to show you how to make this!!!
If you prefer to mail me a check please email me at carrierhoades@msn.com
Happy Stampin' 
Carrie

Rock Star Birthday

My friend Tami asked me a few weeks ago and asked if I could help her make some things for her daughters birthday, party favor bags and invitations.  So I planned them all out and we got together and made them on Sunday, the birthday girl helped too!  They turned out so cute!

This is the party favor box.  There was one change to this box for the final product, the star was attached with card stock here, but we changed that and it is now sticking up with black wire.  We curled it, much cuter, but I did not get a picture of it after.  

Here is the RECIPE:

Stamps: Star is from: A Little Somethin', Crown is from: Seriously Sassy (both sets are retired)

Ink: Pink Passion and Basic Black - Craft for star, marker for detail on crown.

Paper: Basic Black, Pink Passion, Whisper White, Night and Day DSP (retired)

Accessories: Pink Square Rhinestone brad, black brad, black chunky glitter, dimensional, White Shimmer paint (mixed with rubbing alcohol to make shimmer spray, sprayed on box), black embossing powder.

Tools: Big Shot, Fancy Favor XL Die, scissors, Boho Blossom punch, brayer (brayered Night and Day DSP with Pink Passion to make it Pink and Black), Crystal Effects, 1/8" circle punch, paper piercer, tombow glue, sticky strip.

And now for the invitations!

Tami sent me a picture of an invite they really liked and asked me to make something similar.  The original card had a zebra print background (don't you think Stampin' Up! needs a background stamp like that!!!!!).  So, I tried doing a background with marbles and re-inker, it was too dark.  Then I tried the brayer wrapped with rubber bands and I really liked how that came out!!! 

I know, they ROCK!   We did get a little bored with the Pink Passion marker about 6 cards in, but it is much funner to make together!  

I was trying to capture the Shimmer paint sprayed on the background, you can see it if you double click on this picture to make it bigger. 

RECIPE:

Stamps: Friends Rock (thank you Becky Sowell for letting me borrow it!!)

Ink: Pixie Pink, Basic Black

Paper: Pixie Pink, Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: self adhesive Rhinestones (non-SU!)

Tools: Big Shot, Ovals Die, Lots of Tags Sizzlits (thank you Britiney for letting my borrow it!), Brayer wrapped with rubber bands, tombow glue

I am really looking forward to the party, I got the birthday girl the guitar vinyl Decore Elements for her bedroom wall! Shh! 

 #119306 - Med. Star Guitar (chocolate) - $16.95

Happy Stampin'

Carrie 

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Dont forget to play along with my FIRST CHALLENGE EVER!!!!

Inky Fingers Spring Swap!

Hi!  I am so excited to be sharing with you the FIRST EVER INKY FINGERS SWAP!  This is a swap that was started with a small group of my stamping friends.  All of us are demonstrators and wanted to connect with each other and get a few great ideas for our display boards! 

Every other month we will be swapping and each of us will take a turn being hostess, when you are hostess you get to pick the theme of the swap!  Fun!  This month Georgie Manning was the hostess and her theme was Spring/Easter.  Each person in the swap makes 2 cards for the theme.  I want to share the SUPER CUTE cards with you and then CHALLENGE YOU to join us, keep reading! 

With out further ado here are the Inky Fingers Spring Swap Cards:

Created by Georgie Manning - card #1 

Created By Georgie Manning - card #2

Created by Julie Alberda - card #1

Created by Julie Alberda - card#2

Created by Marrisa Hewitt - card #1

Created by Marrisa Hewitt - card #2

Created by Britiney Slaughter - Card #1

Created by Britiney Slaughter - Card #2

Created by Patty Sowell - Card #1

Created by Patty Sowell - Card #2

AND NOW, here are my cards, I might have to take it up a notch  next time, what GREAT SWAPS!!!'

Created by Carrie Rhoades - Card #1

Created by Carrie Rhoades - Card #2

Wow, aren't those fun cards!!!

NOW for the challenge.  As our group is only swapping cards every other month, the month we are not swapping we are doing a optional virtual swap using the same theme as the swap we just did, but creating a NON-CARD item.  I will be posting pictures of them here by the end of the month.    

SO, I wanted to challenge you to play along! Here's what you do:

• Create a NON-CARD item using the theme SPRING/EASTER. 
•  Leave a comment to this post with a link to your creation. 
•  My Inky Fingers Swap group will vote on their favorites.  
• The top 3 will then be featured on my blog. 
• And the number one creation will win a Patterns Pack III Designer Paper!!!                                                                                                                                      Thanks for playing along, I look forward to your CUTE creations!                        Happy Stampin'                                                                                                                Carrie

Beautiful Butterfly T-shirts

So, I could not let my daughter wear this head band on St. Patrick's Day and not have a matching outfit!  So, I made her a coordinating t-shirt.  And, of course Hannah had to have one too!!! 

I cut out the butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Die from the same fabric I used to make her headband.  I also used Wonder Under to iron it to the t-shirt, just like I did to make their Halloween costume.  Super fast and easy and I put them on t-shirts that they already had.  

 

Close up:

 
 

And now time for a Posy Posy picture:

I promise I did not set them up in this pose.  Samantha was sitting up there for me to take a picture and Hannah was climbing up to join her and this is what happened!    Hannah is 1 going on 13.  Fun times!  

Happy Stampin' 

Carrie

Big Shot Fabric Creations

About a week ago I went with my friend Patty to the new Hobby Lobby here in town.  I think they are still getting in all their stock because I did not find much of anything I could not live with out.  But I did find this felt!

It is almost like it is dry embossed, the image is pressed into the felt!  Yummy, huh!  So, I decided to run it through my big shot with my Flower Folds XL die and make a brooch, here is how it turned out: 

It is so thick and full and PRETTY!  I just love how it turned out!  I really can not stop making these brooches!  

My next creation is a little something I whipped up this morning in 5 MINUTES for my daughter to wear to school!!!

Here is what you need: 

 
A clippy, Beautiful Butterfly die, Big Shot, fabric of choice, brad, Crop-a-dile.

Run the fabric through the Big Shot creating the smallest butterfly.  I did two layer of fabric.  Punch a hole in the end of your clippy with the Crop-a-Dile and in the center of your butterflies.  Attach the butterflies to the clippy with a Rhinestone brad!  Easy, quick, cute, done! 

Because the butterfly is attached with a brad you can easily change them out to match an outfit.  And you can turn them once the clippy is in place in the hair so that they are going the direction you want them to go!  

Check it out:

Super cute, and so is the butterfly! 

So, when it comes to the Big Shot, don't limit your self to paper, break out the fabric and see what you can make!  

Don't have a BIG SHOT YET!?!  Order yours now!    

Happy Stampin' and Big Shottin'

Carrie

My Cloud Stencil

I had so many people interested in my cloud stencil that I use to make this card that decided to put a link here so that you can print it out for yourself and make your own cloud backgrounds!  So, here you go:

Download Cloud stencil

Happy Stampin'

Carrie

St. Patrick's Day Gifts and one for you too!

Hello Stampers and Blog friends!  Today I am sharing with you some St. Patrick's Day creations.  First, a card.  My downline and friend, Patty and I wanted to create a clover card using hearts, but neither of us had a "Happy St. Patrick's Day" stamp.  That's when Patty suggested that we create our own St. Patrick's Day greeting using My Digital Studio!!!  Here is the card with the MDS created greeting...

I saw someone else make a clover with this stamp from the I {heart} Hearts stamp set and just had to use that idea!  See that cute greeting!  I used the Calendar Basics Kit Stamp digital stamp set to create it. 

I also  added some sparkle to each heart...

I stamped each heart with Garden Green classic ink, cut it out  and then pressed it into a versamark pad, dipped it into Iridescent Ice embossing powder and embossed it. The really do look fabulous, you have to try it because you can not really see how gorgeous they are in the pictures! 

Keep reading and you will find a St. Patrick's Day gift for you!!!

My next creation is a gift for my daughter Samantha's preschool teachers for St. Patrick's Day, she will be giving them to her teacher's this morning. 

The are flower brooches, so they have something AWESOME to wear, so as not to get pinched!  We also made a head band for Samantha to wear!  These are made with the Flower Folds XL die, the big shot and some Hot glue!  I will be demonstrating them at our next demonstrator meeting (March 25th) and each demonstrator there will get to make one.  I am so excited about that!  

Here is a close up of the Brooch:

I only used one fabric for this one, which I got at a garage sale this past summer!  

Here is the headband, attached to my cutie!

 

How fun is that! Can you see I added a flower and half pearl from the Pretties Kit in the middle! 

Here is how I packaged the flower brooches:

See how I used the MDS tag again, so many fun uses! Patty used hers to make and Easel card!  I will have to post her card later! 

NOW, I wanted to give you all a little St. Patrick's Day gift! Just click this link:

Download St patricks day-001

It's a sheet of 32  "Happy St. Patrick's Day" labels to download, print and use for your own projects. Just print them on card stock and your ready to go.  I used the large oval punch to punch them out, they fit perfectly!  The coordinating colors are Garden Green and Certainly Celery.  Have fun and Happy St. Patrick's Day.  Please do not attempt to sell these, they are meant as a gift to you for your personal use and feel free to send your friends to my blog so they can print them out too.  

Happy Stampin'

Carrie

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Yummy, Yummy, Chocolate Bunnies!

This Chocolate Bunny is the perfect stamp for my diet, I get to have my chocolate and stamp it too! 

Check out this cute easter card that I demonstrated at my workshop on Saturday, it was inspired by a card that Becky Roberts made:

I love this card.  It's one of those that I might just have to mail my self for Easter!  Do you see the cloud background?  It is made with a stencil that I created.  I did not like the look I was getting by using the scallop punches, so I made my own stencil.  If you are interested in it, just email me and I will send it to you in a pdf, you can print it out, cut it out and start making your own cloud scenes! 

Now, I have to show you my favorite way to stamp this bunny...

Ink it up with Chocolate Chip Craft ink, stamp it on Close to Cocoa card stock and emboss it with clear powder, I find this gives it the most realistic CHOCOLATE look!  So, real, you might have to resist taking a bite!  Which leads me to my second card!!!

FUNNY, huh!  I saw this last Easter on a t-shirt and thought it was so funny, so when I got my Chocolate Bunny stamp I knew I had to make this card!  I think it would be the perfect Easter card for a man.  As you can see I used my cloud stencil here too, don't forget to email me if you want a copy of my cloud stencil. I typed up the words on the computer and printed them out on Whisper White card stock.  Then I drew the cloud around them with a journaling marker and cut around that.  NOW, let me tell you about my struggles with this card!  I needed the bunnies to be facing each other, which meant that I was going to have to make a reverse image...  

What I really wanted to do was to ink the bunny, stamp it on a solid piece of rubber and then stamp that, but I did not have a big enough piece of plain rubber or solid stamp to do this.  So, I tried brayering the bunny and then rolling that onto my close to cocoa card stock, but it was too light.  Then I tried stamping it on to an acrylic block, again it came out too light.  Next I tried my silicone rubber sheet that is used with the big shot for the impressions plates, too light.  Then, I tried a window sheet, too light.  With all these techniques I used craft and classic inks.  Ugh!  So, finally I switched my card stock to WHISPER WHITE and was able to get the bunny you see on the right using Chocolate Chip craft ink and my brayer. 

So, this is what works to create a reverse image of the Chocolate bunny...

Ink the Chocolate bunny stamp with Chocolate Chip craft ink

Run your brayer over it one time

Roll the brayer on to a piece of Whisper White card stock

Now you have a reverse image of the Chocolate bunny.

If you find something that works better please let me know I would have liked it to come out darker and on Close to Cocoa card stock!    

I used the scallop oval punch to take the bit out of both bunnies and sponged the bit to make it pop a little with Chocolate Chip classic ink. 

Even if it is lighter it works, I guess one could be dark chocolate and the other is milk chocolate, variety is good! 

I hope you have enjoyed my Chocolate Bunny creations.  Thanks for visiting, I love sharing my ideas with you all!

Happy Stampin' 

Carrie

Email me at carrierhoades@msn.com for your own copy of my cloud stencil.

Purchase your Chocolate Bunny stamp here!