Peaceful Thoughts

Hello friends, today I decorated this ready-made ivory gift box using the newest stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps' fabulous Serenity Line, called Thoughts Of Joy.

I inked up this unique bird with three different blues, soft sky-bashful blue-tempting turquoise and also dabbed the beak with bright orange. Sponged along the bottom after stamping the small foliage with the same colors and added blue tinted glitter to the flowers, leaves and bg. I added a small ivory candle and will fill this box with some sort of relaxing bath product, such as salts to make it a nice little gift.
Do you love to make jewerly as much as I do?...and nevermind that I'm a complete amatuer, hehe. If so, you will want to be sure to check out our "By Ivitation Only" Designer, Polymer-clay Artist, Rebecca Mudd. She is amazingly talented and super inspiring with her beautiful creations, including a wonderful tutorial for making your very own peaceful bracelet.
Thanks so much for popping over to my blog! Have a wonderful evening, friends! xoxo

Cottage Rumble Challenge 8

Hi there my friends, I hope you're having a great weekend. I had to let you know about our Cottage Rumble over at the Clear Artistic Cottage Studio. This time our sweet WENDI is hostess and she designed a beautiful and versatile sketch for this challenge. Here is the card I made, although my 3 panels are too big, I like Wendi's original much better, but I had them framed and done before I really noticed, so it is what it is. :) My card was created using the Delicate Moments stamp set, which is part of the beautiful Serenity Line. I stamped 3 different images in real red, old olive and creamy caramel for the main panels. I added diamond stickles here and there on each image for a bit of sparkle. The patterened paper is double sided floral/tan from Piggy Tales. I chose the word "Serenity" for my framed oval and added 2 green bling gems to either side.

I hope you enjoy this sketch as much as I have and get a chance to play along too (you have 2 weeks)! You have a chance to win a fabulous prize just for joining in the fun!! Find all the details on how to play and see wonderful cards from the design team using this sketch HERE! Thanks for stopping by!

Reap The Joys Of Today

Every day has its own set of joys, doesn't it? That's one reason I adore this sentiment from Clear Artistic Stamps and I find myself coming back to it again and again. It's just a good reminder :) My card below is very simple and came together easily using Shadows Of Memories, from the beautiful Serenity line. I stamped the main image with pretty in pink, then rock-n-rolled rich cocoa around it for a two-tone effect. I dry embossed the brown base with a floral pattern. The corners were punched from Chatterbox (Rosey Powder Puffs) designer paper with my photo corner scallop punch. I sponged lightly around the image with pretty in pink and I slid my rich cocoa Memento ink pad along each edge of every layer for added depth.

* ON SALE this week: Moments In Lace stamp set/Sunshine & Smiles shimmer paper pack together for $14.95!

* May is customer appreciation month at Clear Artistic Stamps and there are still 2 more drawings, plus the Grand Prize drawing, where 1 very lucky person will win all 6 Capacious sets! Find out more HERE

* Be sure to visit Kathie McGuire, our fabulous "By Invitation Only" May Designer! She is so inspiring and talented!

* Our Clear Artistic Stamps Yahoo! group has a beautiful new color palette and layout for May! Join our group and have fun with us! The more, the merrier and you can win stuff too!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great evening!

Stuff

Hello friends and happy weekend! It's been a busy week and I have a bunch of stuff to share with you today.

First, if you joined in the Stamps and Smiles blog hop party last night, Thank You!!! I had such fun showing sneak peeks all week and the blog hop was the most fun of all! Each wonderful comment means so much to me, thank you very much! My random winner for You Warm My Heart is Char in So Cal (comment #45). Congrats Char!

Next, It's Clear Dollar Stamps 18th weekend color challenge here at PapercraftPlanet and our hostess, miss Alex, has come up with a beautiful combo and sample!

Riding Hood Red(red)

Blush Blossom (peach/lt.pink)

Certainly Celery (lt.green)

Here is the card I made using this fab color combo and the adorble new stamp set from CDS, Kuddly Koala. Come join in the colorful fun!

Next, May is Customer Appreciation Month at Clear Artistic Stamps! During May, anyone ordering will have their name put in a drawing for a grand prize of all 6 Capacious sets (over a $140 value)!!! Seriously, have you seen these stamps?! They are fantabulous! There will also be drawings on..........

May 11th for 1 Shimmer Paper Style

May 18th for 2 Shimmerz & 2 Blingz

May 25th for Holiday Celebration set
And get this--even if you win one of the these prizes your name will go back in for the Grand Prize! Pretty sweet, huh!!! The big drawing will be on June 1, so get over to CAS and order up, baby!

Finally, have you heard of Penguin Pants Stamps? They are wonderful, high-quality clear acrylic and their designs are awesome! I discovered them last summer at the Heirloom stamp expo. and fell in love with no only the stamps, but also their people! The owner and her team are such delightful folks! Then, last month, I found out that they have a monthly challenge where participants have a chance to win a free stamp set of their choice and be featured on the Penguin Pants website! I played along in April's challenge and guess what....I won! :) This is the card I made with Let's Play

And they have a new challenge for May! Find out the details HERE! I hope you play (you can use any stamps!) along for your chance to win too!

If you're still here, thanks! This was a long one, lol! Have a wonderful day!!!

CAS Cottage Rumble #5

A SKETCH CHALLENGE! Lee designed a most fabulous sketch for the Clear Artistic Stamps Cottage Rumble challenge #5, take a look!

I created this card with the beautiful BIRDS OF A FEATHER set, part of Belinda's Imagine Line!

Now, it's your turn!!! I hope you can play along for fun AND also to be put into a drawing for a prize............this time it's an 8.5x5.5 Package of Shimmer Paper!!! 10 colors!!!! These are so soft yet beautifully shimmery!!!!

1) Make a card or scrap page following the sketch above. Upload it to your blog or any other gallery, then GO TO THE COTTAGE STUDIO and leave a comment and link to your creation so that we all can see!

2) You can use ANY stamps for one entry.

3) If you use Clear Artistic Stamps you get two entries!

4) If you use a Technique Junkies technique (any stamps) you get two entries as well!

5) If you upload to SCS please add the keyword: cottagerumble5

6) Entries accepted until Thursday April 30 midnight, the day before our NEXT rumble :)

Take Time To Dream

I love Saturday's...for me, it's a time to slow down a bit and reflect on the events of my week. Oh, and I also have time to do things I love and enjoy, such as.....dream.....and....S T A M P. But now I don't have to dream about the brand new Capacious Collection from (c) Clear Artistic Stamps because it has arrived and today I inked up Whispers In The Woods, 1 of 6 beautiful sets in this collection. I'm just in love with this dreamy sentiment--it's so unique and perfect.

I inked the tree with old olive, rubbed away the ink in a few spots then sponged those spots with passion pink. With more practice and patience, I think this technique could create a really cool look for different seasons with changing leaves and such, kwim? Anyway, I also cuttlebugged each side of the card base with the Just My Type embossing folder and the rest is pretty much self-expanatory.

Thank you so very much for visiting me today. Whatever you have planned for this weekend, I hope you enjoy every moment of it and make it count! hugs :)

A St.Patty's Day Rumble!

Hello and happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but I feel lucky every day simply because there is so much to be grateful for and one of them is being a part of the Clear Artistic Stamps design team. :) Each month, we get to create a card for our Cottage Rumble and it's always a blast! My fellow design team members are so talented and inspiring and I love to see what each lovely lady comes up with! This month, we are going GREEN!

See ALL of DT samples In The Cottage Studio

Clear Artistic Stamps sets used: Sweetpea Sweetheart (four hearts stamped and cut out to create a large shamrock); Sentiment from Birds Of A Feather

Thank you for visiting me, have a great day!

Whisper Of Spring

Oh, how I am longing for the warmer days of Spring to come...until then, this beautiful stamp set from Clear Artistic Stamps, Whispers Of Dreams from Belinda's Serenity Line, really helps brighten my mood. I created a card for this weeks featured stamper challenge over at scs, which happened to be a wonderful and talented friend of mine, Stacy Morgan (aka: Twinshappy). I drew my inspiration for the card below from one of Stacy's fabulous creations.

For the circles, I stamped one of the smaller florals from this set in Eggplant Envy, then stamped again without reinking, slightly off center to create a silhouette or shadow effect. I added some distressed stickles (color: faded jeans) to the tops of the blossoms (not sur if you can see it here).

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

A Couple of CLEARLY Fabulous Companies

Hello and happy weekend! Today I'm sharing 2 cards I made using stamps from 2 different, yet both clearly fabulous companies....

Clear Artistic Stamps are just wonderful! Illustrator, artist, poet and owner of Clear Artistic Stamps, Belinda Landtroop, is not only a creative mentor and tremendous inspiration to me (and so many others) artistically, but she has also become a very dear friend and confidante. She is a truly amazing woman who has taught me so much and I love her. Just had to let the world know that! :)

Clear Artistic Stamps sets used on this card: I'm Just Saying and Sweetpea Sweetheart

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Now, I don't need to tell you just how much I fancy Clear Dollar Stamps because, clearly, I'm head-of-heels for them! Below is a sneak peek of Songbird Silhouettes, which will be released tomorrow, March 1!

Thank you for stopping by my blog today and have a great weekend!

Celebrate Fat Tuesday with Clear Artistic Stamps!

And win something FABulous!! That's right, to celebrate Mardi Gras 2oo9, Clear Artistic Stamps is having a FAT blog candy giveaway! YOU MUST VISIT THE COTTAGE STUDIO HERE and leave a comment answering 1 of the Mardi Gras questions for your chance to win this super fabulous limited edition Pierrette t-shirt (image from Moon Dreams stamp set), which our very own DT coordinator extraordinaire, Etha and her darling Grandaughter, Ava are modeling--what a couple of lookers, huh!! :) So, what are ya waiting for?!

Go enter now and have a super fabulous day!

Join Our Cottage Studio Rumble!

Happy Sunday! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. We are having our 2nd Clear Artistic Stamps Rumble! over in the Cottage Studio this week and I hope you will join in the fun! This month our challenge was to create a guy's/masculine card/project and you should see what the rest of the design team came up with--OMGosh, they are so inspiring! Even though Valentine's Day has passed, we can always use a masculine card in our stash, am I right?! So pull out your favorite Clear Artistic Stamps and get inkin'!! We would love to see your creations, so please post a link to them HERE in the Cottage forall to enjoy! Below, I used the darling set called Sweetheart Sweetpea, which is perfect for so many occassions beyond valentine's day!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Have a most wonderful day and I'll talk to y'all tomorrow!

Tonight! Clear Artisitic Stamps Release Party!

And you are invited!!!!! It's Sarah Bunnie's Bridal Shower tonight, Jan. 20th at 8 p.m. Central!!!!! Clear Artistic Stamps release of the beautifully dainty wedding set, Moments In Lace and if you're behind on this adorable little bunnie Love Story that is part of the releases.......check out Belinda's Blog to catch up!!!!We're gonna have a Party Chat and also a Forum Chat..............most of us will be on both......'cuz we love, love, love to chat and party!!!Please join us at either or both!!!! We'll have some fun Shower games with beeeeeautiful PRIZES!!!! Stamps, Shimmerz, Ribbon, Albums..........oh all kinds of FABulous goodies!!!!! Plus, it will be our newest design team member, Lee Murphy's very first release party as part of the dt and we are all overjoyed to welcome her!! She's even made an Intro Video revealing the new set Moments In Lace and visit her blog for another gorgeous sneak peek of this lovley set!

And look at the pretty blush gown I get to wear for Sarah Bunnie's Bridal Shower tonight! I can't wait! :) Hope to see everybodys tonight at 8pm CST!

Clear Artistic Stamps Sneak Peek

We are just 2 days away from our January 20th Release Party for Clear Artistic Stamps and Belinda has designed the most beautiful set called Moments In Lace, which is going to be perfect for all of your wedding, anniversary, new years, graduation, shower and just about every other celebratory occasion you can think of!

And how about a fun little rumble to get ya all fired up for the release party this Tuesday?! We are hosting our first Cottage Rumble challenge over in the cottage studio! This first challenge is a challenge of threes! Make a card or project and count your 3's! Now you can do this purposefully and do everything in threes, or you can go ahead and make your card and then see afterwards how many things you did in threes! You'll be surprised how often this happens naturally without even thinking of it! :) The CAS design team has created a fabulous array of samples, so be sure to stop by for some inspiration! Hope you will join in the fun and leave a link to your creation HERE for us all to enjoy!

Here is my "3's" cottage rumble sample, Save This Date mini cards. I just think Belinda is brilliant to have thought to include a save this date stamp with Moments In Lace. Thanks so much for visiting me! :)

Who Wants Some Blog Candy?!!

Hey, who doesn't is a better question, ha!! Our fabulous Clear Arstistic Stamps DT coordinator, ETHA, is giving away some real yummy stuff! Plus, she has a gorgeous sample for us using the winning sets!! Can you believe that 2 sets are up for grabs--Little Blossom Cottage plus the accessory set!!--wow huh!
What do you have to do to win you ask? Well, we are having our next release party coming up in exactly one week, Jan. 20, 8pm central time. We would like to know if you would prefer to participate in a forum setting like they do on Splitcoast. You can check it out here or rather in a real-time chat in a chat room which you can try out here . There will as always be games and prizes in our short hour of celebrating release. Just visit Etha's blog and leave a comment telling her which form you would prefer and what will tempt you to attend our release party. Winner will be announced at the party and the next day on Etha's blog. C'mon we need your input and what you could win just for helping us out is an awesome prize indeed!

***I'm getting my camera back tomorrow, YaY!!!***

Clear Artistic Stamps "Girlie Girl" Release Peek and Game Clue!

Hey there! Tonight Clear Artistic Stamps releases the first set in the fabulous new "Girlie Girl" collection! Join us for games, prizes and lots of fun chit chat tonight at 8pm Central HERE!

Belinda has been hiding paintings all over the cottage studio, trying to keep them under wraps--

but I found a little gold key and snuck into the cottage for peek--and guess what I found! I had to steal this painting of Belinda's Happy Birthday Tag and show you! I'm so sneaky, hehe! Be sure to visit these designer's blogs to find more stolen paintings!

Etha

Wendi

Traci

And also, I made a fun pop-up card, creating a very girlie escape into a luxurious bath full of pink bubbles! ...ahhhhh, take me away!!!

Don't forget, tonight 8pm Central, PARTY TIME!

CAS and MFT and everything nice!

that's what wonderful papercraft projects are made of! : ) Here are a couple of projects I've done in the past day or so. I made my first coaster gift box from my most favorite addition to date- The FABulous WASSAIL Christmas paper line from Basic Grey! I covered each coaster with a piece of wassail paper, which I also Cuttlebugged with the Swiss Dots folder for added texture. I followed the wondefully simple tutorial by Taylor V. This flower, which I strived to make resemble a mulberry poinsettia, is from the beautiful new set called Intrique, from Clear Artisitc Stamps. I first embossed the flower in gold, then colored it in with Copic Ciao markers #'s Copics RV13, R59, G94YG67 and the colorless blender. I added touches of metellic shimmer over the poinsettia as well. I filled my gift box with holiday cranberry and vanilla frosted animal cookies, which I will send to a super sweet friend for Christmas.

Stamps: Intrigue (big flower) and Joy Of The Season (greeting) from Clear Artistic Stamps, designed by Belinda Landtroop
Paper: white cs; Wassail dp from BG
Ink: craft white, rich cocoa, purely pomegranate, old olive
Accessories: Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots folder, Copics RV13, R59, G94YG67 and colorless blender, scallop circle punch, Cropadile, gold ep and heat gun, 1 3/8" circle punch, square scallop punch, old olive polytwill ribbon, gold thread (Gina K), 5 square coasters

I also tried out, once again, for My Favorite Things guest designer --this time for January. Michelle's challenge was to alter a store bought or recycled piece and I chose to alter this plain cork board into a fun message board for any sweet girl.

I used MFT's Here's The Scoop stamps to create push pins for the board. I stamped "here's the scoop" on each note (which is simple copy paper cut into squares). To better preserve the push pins, I added a couple layers of crystal laquer to each ice cream cone and sundae. I think this turned out ok, but I totally saw other entries for this challenge that trumped me to the max! I have my own personal favorite so far, but if you want to try out too, you still have until tomorrow, Sunday night to enter--check out the details HERE. Thanks for visiting me today! I hope you are enjoyig your weekend and now I'm off to see what everyone else is up to! Hugs and happy crafting!

More Stuff....

Hi there, I'm back to say that Jess Russell's challenge for Limelight's 12 days of Christmas is NOT to make anything! ...it's a super fun and festive guessing game instead! Check it out here! And since I didn't have to do a card for her challenge, I decided to do Rox's sketch challenge over at Splitcoast. I played with my Clear Artistic Stamps because I love this wreath with the 3 words surrounding it from Joy Of The Season. I added gold stickles to the little stars within the wreath and red stickles to the bow. Did you know that this set and Belinda's 2 other Holiday sets are on sale this week for only $8.95! That is an amazing deal, take it from me! These stamps are absolutely delightful and you should have them in your holiday collection for sure! I'm just sayin...I love em!

Girlie Girl Sneak Peek 1

Hello there! Today, I am thrilled to able to show my first sneak peek of Clear Artistic Stamps brand new stamp set called Girlie Girl, which will be released next Tuesday night, December 9th! I am simply enamoured with this delightfully girlie set! Just look at this bubble bath--who wouldn't want to be relaxing her stresses of the day away in this bubbly heaven! And we don't want to be disturbed during our bubble bath time, so I created an equallly girlie door hanger to put up during those bubblebath escapes. :) Although you can't see it here, I drew around each bubble with my silver gel pen so that each one sparkles! A combination of Prismacolor markers and Copic Ciao markers were used to color in the image. I hope you get an opportunity to stop by our Clear Arstistic Stamps release party 1 week from today for fun and prizes and keep visiting me and other Clear Artistic Stamps design team gals for more sneak peeks all week! Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a wonderful day, my friend!

It's Thanksgiving week and Clear Artistic Stamps is having a BIG Thanksgiving sale!!! Be sure to go by and see if there is a set you don't have or one you know would be the perfect gift for someone. Many of the Collectors and Serenity sets are on sale for $7.95! If you are a member of our Yahoo! group you save 20% more and pay only $6.36, WoW! Remember, to get the discount you must send the order to Belinda at belanneart@yahoo. com. The store isn't set up for the discount. She will send you an invoice through PayPal. Get a jump start on black Friday with Clear Arstistic Stamps today!

It's Release Day with Clear Artistic Stamps

Today is the day! Our release of three new sets! When you get the two Little Blossom Cottage sets together they will be............. Oh, you find that out when you find the key. So Wendi can open the box holding the surprise. She will open the box at the pre-release chat party tonight! We need to find the key by then. But, you can still comment until midnight Friday Nov. 21. Where to look? Search at Clear Artistic Stamps online store!When you find the hidden key post a comment at the Cottage Studio saying where you found the key. Then, you will be entered to win a $25.00 Gift Certificate from Clear Artistic Stamps! A winner will be picked by random generator from all the comments.Our story has hints of where the key is hidden at the store. It also has information that could win you a prize at the Chat Party tonight! So, fly over to the store and get searching!!!