It's Our Blog Anniversary! We Have CANDY!

My blog turned one year old last Thursday! Thanks to all of you who have visited, commented and been so supportive.

One of things I have often been asked is why I don’t have a “following” option on my blog? To tell you the truth, when I was setting it up I thought that if nobody followed it (and everybody saw that) I would feel so darn rotten! Well, I have just added the option. So, please follow me! I know that some of my loyal readers have told me that they can’t even figure out how to leave a comment, so this may be a whole new challenge.

To encourage you to follow me and in celebration of my first year, I am offering up some luscious blog candy. First, some great classic Hero Arts stamps:

• I Heart U – A4964
• Stone Flower – F5402
• Canvas Stripes – CG196
• Circle Pattern – CG149

Next, some other card-making goodies:

• Watercolor paper pad, 9” x 12” by Carson
•  Dainty Doilies – pack of 36 
• Collage Pack of handmade papers 
• Sassafraslass “Sweet Treat” stickers, one sheet
• Recollections pack of “Assorted Embellishments” in red, black and white 
• Package of 1.5 yards of Rick Rack, apple green color
• Prima Flowers “Frosting Flowers” – jar of 30
  

Here are the steps to follow for your chance to win:

1.    Become a follower of Watermarks!

2.    Leave me a comment on this post of the blog

3.    Share my blog candy info with your friends by posting it on your blog, Facebook and/or Twitter -  or you can even let them know the old-fashioned way.

I'll keep this open through 10:00 PM PDT on August 9th and the randomly selected winner will be announced here on August 10th. This drawing is also open to my international pals!

Sending Love to Japan

I have been thinking about Japan. Immediately after the terrible disaster we had so much news - sometimes too much - about it all, but now it is difficult to hear anything about the recovery efforts. I just can't even begin to get my arms around what it must be like there - so much grief, personal loss and economic destruction. My thoughts and prayers are with them every day.

A current challenge over at Lily Pad Cards is about making a patriotic card with a twist. So, I decided to make a card for Japan. It was a healing exercise for me. The stamps are Hero Arts CL476 and CL373. I used paper piecing, Stickles, a circle cutter, a die and that's a bamboo hors d'ourve skewer! Simple and sweet.

Now we have to send our best thoughts and prayers to Norway - what is this world coming to? Have a good weekend - I'll be back next week, God willing!

Let's cut through the red tape!

Hi, all! I am sharing with you today a card that was inspired by the Lucy's Lovely Lines Challenge at Lily Pad Cards. Here is the sketch: 

Is this cool, or what? Well, it just so happened that this weekend, while shopping in a neat Japanese store with some friends, I found some washi tape! My crafting pal Lisa Spangler has talked about this stuff FOREVER and I never knew where to find it. So, I had to use it on this card.

I got so excited that I even used it on the envelope. I could seriously get used to this cool stuff. It wasn't cheap, so I only bought one pack of two rolls, but it is such fun to use. I watercolored the paper lantern images to make them look more like colored tissue paper. The stamp set is Hero Arts CL373 and the sentiment is from CL515. I resisted the urge to reach for my "go-to" product, baker's twine and instead reached for some yellow raffia that was on my desk from a previous project. I love it! It was easy to knot and I think it looks really festive. Looks like a party waiting to happen, eh?

Thanks for looking!

A Banner Day for A Party!

Wow, summer is quickly passing! It is my favorite time of year. I especially love the longer days - I have so much more energy! Well, I should have much more energy. Sometimes the heat just makes me so lazy......

Today I have a cute banner which is perfect for a kid's party. This was a little difficult to photograph because I like to take my photos outside. Here are the sections:

The pennants are cut from the "Scalloped Banner" die (I don't know if you can see the dark purple scalloped background on each flag - it is tiny) from Memory Box and the tabs holding the pennants on are their "Pastry Label" dies. Memory Box dies are among my current favorite supplies.

The stamps are Hero Arts CL349, "World Dolls"  and S5213, "Dots and Flowers" for the background.

Each flag was distressed with two different inks, the kids were colored with Copics, sparkled with Stickles, cut out and mounted onto the flags. The butterfly punch is by Martha Stewart.

Aren't these kids the cutest ever? I could color them for hours.

Thanks for looking! 

Accessorize For Summer!

I have to say that I am so glad that Cath extended this week's Moxie Fab World  Tuesday Trigger for an extra week. When I first saw it, my initial reactions was "Ewwwww!!" I can't say that I hate any color, but bright yellow is probably my very least favorite. However, I continued to think about it all week and had an idea that I wanted to try. By the time I talked myself into it the week had passed.

When I saw that the Trigger was extended, I decided to play along. I actually had to go and buy some yellow card stock because I didn't have any. I also had to use my yellow Sharpie pen to color up some embellishments.....but it was such fun.

What goes with a "Perty and Flirty" trench coat? Why, a well-traveled bag, of course! This is actually a little treat bag, good for a party favor or a little gift. The second photo shows the side view and the bag for holding all the treats.

You can tell I really had fun with this! I first made one with the postmarks stamped in black ink, but with that bright yellow the contrast was just too severe. For this one I used Memento's London Fog ink, a color I really love. I added the pink rose bouquet to pick up on the floral background in the photo.

Rather than include all the supplies in this narration, I am going to list everything:

Spellbinders Nestibilities "Wonky Rectangles" die, ek sucess  square punch for the handle, Memory Box "Classic Tags" die, Hero Arts "Take a Trip" CG358 stamp set, Martha Stewart branch punch, Die-Namics "mini rolled roses" die, Papertrey Ink felt, Tea Dye Distress Ink and ribbon, embroidery floss & vintage buttons from my stash.

Now I seriously want to "step out" with the gal who is all dolled up with this great fashion statement! Maybe I should go shopping for some yellow for me to wear?

Nancy Takes Over and Offers Blog Candy!

In case you haven't heard, there is something really fun happening here in blogland. One of my favorite cardmakers, Jill Foster (the inking master!), is out of town at CHA and she has invited other amazing crafty gals to take over her blog, "Inspired by...." for the day. Check it out!

One of the gals who did an outstanding job of "house-sitting" Jill's blog is Nancy. A super-talented and lovely lady - and fellow Californian! I "met" nancy at the Hero Arts flickr group. Check out what she did with Jill's inspiration  here. Well, not only did she inspire us over there, she has her own terrific blog called Happy Heart Studio. Nancy always has a ton of inspiration of her own to share....check it out!

Nancy is offering some lovely blog candy - Wow! Here it is:

 Is that generous, or what? Run, do not walk, over to Nancy's sweet blog and check it out for yourself.

Thanks to Nancy, Jill and all of you craftin' souls sisters out there for the sweet inspiration!

Summer Card Camp Week 4

Since it is the last week of Summer Camp, don't you think we should get S'mores? Come on! If not, I might just short sheet your bed.

Well, yes, it is the final week of my online Summer Card Camp - thank you, Jennifer and Kristina! It has been so amazing. This week's color combo is dear to my heart - ocean colors! You all know that I am a true mermaid gal, so I am in my wet glory.

In addition to the colors, Jennifer provided us with a video just bursting with ideas and techniques. I have incorporated a couple of them here, the acetate window and the letterpress techniques. Jennifer made this look so easy, but I had some troubles! After all, she is the brilliant professional.

It was difficult to photograph, but there is a strip of clear acetate (a Hero Arts clear acetate card) on the front of the card. It is stamped with Hero Arts "Magical Background" stamp (which I think looks like waves) using Stazon Ink. Doesn't it look like the turtle and the mermaid are floating in the water? For the letterpress effect I used Royal Blue Colorbox Ink in the Cuttlebug embossing folder with the wave design. It all makes a big splash!
.
The turtle is Hero Arts E996, the mermaid (don't you love her tan?) is A Muse 1-6134D and the shell is Crafty Secrets SL26 - all colored with Copic pens and highlighted with Stickles. The funny sentiment is from Memory Box, embossed in white. The seaweed is from a sweet Die-namics die and it is inked with Distress Inks. The tag is from Spellbinders "Ribbon Tag Trio", the pearls are from my stash, and the ribbon is a gift from my sweet crafty and Hero Arts flickr group pal, Barb!

Wow! What a line-up, eh? Maybe we should call this card the manufacturer's buffet, since so many different ones have been served up!

Summer Card Camp has been a truly great getaway - lots of fun and inspiration. Thanks again to everyone who taught us and for all the crafty pals who played along. Is that "Kumbya" I hear in the background?

Life of the Party!

Today Hero Arts is unveiling some new fantastic collaborations with Basic Grey so I decided to share with you a card made with one of their earlier ones.  This line is called "Life of the Party" and they are as cute as they can possibly be.

What says "summer" more than a county fair (unless it is my birthday - yeah!) and what says county fair better than cotton candy? There was some discussion on the blog as to if this was cotton candy or ice cream, but I'm in the cotton candy camp. This cutie is from Life of the Party Birthday, CG300.

The background is Life of the Party Dots, CG298. This makes such an interesting background with all the variations of dots. I have used a tone-on-tone color combo.

Next is the Life of the Party Words, CG300. I really like how the brown cardstock makes the white words pop.

I wish I could tell you more about the sentiment stamp. I keep a bin of all my tiny sentiment stamps and if they aren't marked I can't tell you where they are from, but my guess this is Stampin' Up.

The perfect hat topper is from my local scrapbook store - gotta love it! The image was colored with Copic pens, the pearls are Hero Arts and the ribbon is from my stash. Isn't this perfect for someone (hint, hint!) with a summer birthday?

The Big Move!

This has been such a crazy day that I will be glad to say "goodnight"! Lots of craziness. I decided to post this before calling it a day in case tomorrow is even more crazy.

I made a set of "We've Moved" cards for our niece and her husband. Since they moved to New Hampshire, the "Live Free or Die" state, I decided on a patriotic theme. My crafting pal Antoinette lent me this cute Stampin' Up set which is so perfect. If you haven't seen it you can couple the truck up with lots of different goodies and people. Very cute.

I used some papers and brads from my stash. I am going to enter this into the "Some Odd Girl Presents a Theme Challenge" at Lily Pad Cards. The trick is to make a patriotic card with a twist. What do you think? Probably not my best work, but I made 20 of these! The bar is pretty high over at that webiste. The gals there are something else.

Thanks for looking! I will be back on Wednesday with another card.

A Bird in the hand

Good Monday morning everyone! Hope you had a wonderful summer weekend. We sure did - perhaps the best ever! Lots of great cooler weather and outdoor fun. Calistoga, the sweet town in the Napa wine country where we live part-time, had its 125 Birthday Jubilee! It was such fun. Great music, food and friends. We also played some bocce ball - love it!

Now to today's quick post with a card I made using Stampin' Up products. Sweet, eh? I really love how their papers, ribbons and inks are so color-coordinated.

I am mainly a Hero Arts gal, but I have to say that Stampin' Up products are also very high quality.

I took a wonderful class last week at a nearby scrapbook store, Stampin' On Over  - Thanks, Bibianna! I hope to share those cards with you soon.