Tagged!

My new SBS sister Meredith tagged me (check out her cute stamped tile coaster). And it's my first time being tagged! Let's see if I can do this right.


Here are the rules…………..

Please answer the questions on your blog and tag 5 more people to answer the same questions……….make sure you list on your blog who you are tagging….Thanks!!

1. If you could have 100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? Making me choose between the two? Since I just bought some cute bling brads and such, and because I'm running low on paper (to my standards, at least) I would go with paper.

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or ribbons, which would you choose?
Stamps, hands down. A plethora of stamps!

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year…which would you do? Um, just cards. Never done layouts.

4. Would you rather own a scrap booking store or have your own scrapping room at home…(can’t have both he he he). My dream stamping room! Right now all I have is a closet under the stairs to store my stuff. I have to drag everything out onto my kitchen counters and table, where the kids bother it.

5. What is your CURRENT card making or scrapping style? I'm not sure what style mine is. Any ideas?

Tag--You're It!
1. Lesa
2. Karrie
3. Jen
4. Marilyn
5. Maria

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

Get your SBS badges here!

Hi, ladies. It's already been a real treat getting to know you and your cards. This is how we'll get started. For those of you with a blog, click on the badge below that you want to embed on your blog and copy the URL (or right click on image and select view image). Go to your blog settings (for blogger template), click on add page element. Click on add picture. Paste the URL from the image in the appropriate space. Click on save. That should do it hopefully!

To make it easy, why doesn't each group member create a new post entitled "Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers." Write a little getting-to-know you fact. Each of us will leave a comment to each SBS post with our blog address. Then we'll add everyone to our blog roll with the acronym SBS. And we'll all do the same for you, too!

If you don't have a blog, leave a comment and give us the link for your SCS gallery instead, and leave a little factoid about yourself. I hope that covers it. I'm retiring for the night...and it's not even midnight yet. Wahoo! Inky hugs, Alana

Edit: I forgot to post a factoid. I am 31 and have been married for over seven years and have a two girls, 4 and 2. If I could take a vacation anywhere, it would prolly be to a beach in Mexico. I would like to go back to the Netherlands for a fist full of stroop waffles, and to Belgium for a REAL Belgian Waffle (not the kind you eat for breakfast, but a rich pastry). I lived in these two countries for 16 months and learned to speak Dutch and Flemish. I love the rich heritage of these countries. I am going to branch out and try clear stamps for the first time...hopefully soon. And I love Little Caeser's 5 buck pizza.

Another Stamp Set Preview

Bold Buds.

I created the design for this stamp set on Saturday evening. I wanted something swirly with bold blossoms. Wasn't sure what kind of blossoms. It kinda looks like a tulip--my favorite flower since living in the Netherlands ages ago. It wasn't what I had intended to create, but I'm satisfied with the final result.

The set is 2-step. The leaves and blooms are separate from the stems. And the swirly vine perfectly fits the 5-1/2" length of a card.

Here are two cards that showcase my Bold Buds stamp set. What do you think? Should I tweak anything?

Before Rubber Stamping

Hidden Treasures (pronounced tray-zures, like my dad says) in my closet.

Okay, I was rummaging through my craft closet the other day and came across my oldest daughter's first birthday invitation. I have to chuckle. I think I made at least 12 of these: strung the beads, cut out the pigs and fence, put backing on the fabic pants and cut them out (pants matched the dress she wore for her birthday), hand wrote each poem (maybe my printer was broken?), etc. It must have taken me at least five hours. Crazy! SOOOO glad I've found rubber stamping to streamline the card-making process.

And running across this old card made me remember a card that I had made before the piggy invite that I had forgotten about. It's a thank you card for my friends for letting me stay at their house while passing through the state of Idaho before I moved here. This one probably took two hours or more. And when you open the card up, it says "Spanks. Spanks a lot." I don't know how I cut all those pieces so well. It makes me shudder thinking about the complexity of it all. (I don't have a cricut or anything like it...yet. Hopefully for one of my birthdays down the road. DH even agreed to it last night!)

Actually, maybe I will create a stamp set after this card. ....hum....

Sneak Peek

Attn: Stamping Addicts!

For you paisley lovers out there, here's a sneak peek of my latest stamp set design. This one only shows a few of the plethora of pretty petally paisleys. I would call it Petal Paisley, if it were up to me.

My favorite one isn't even shown here. Lots to choose from. And some of the paisley images coordinate with my Friendship Forecast stamp set shown earlier. Perfect for backgrounds and adding style. Don't you think?

*These images are ©2007 Alana Lee.

Looking for a Stamp Designer?

That's right! I'm looking to sell my designs to a Stamping Company. I don't necessarily want to design the cards and projects themselves (although I can do that, too)...I want to design the actual stamps. That is my strength--and your potential asset!

I have two stamp sets that I have already created. I will post a demo card that showcases 6 of the 11 stamps in the Friendship Forecast stamp set. The set has 2-step stamping images and 5 sentiments. Please remember that all of these images are original designs by Alana Lee and I own the copyright. For now. Unless you want me on your team. If you know someone who could use me, please pass on the link. Let me know what you think! Thanks.

Blog Makeover

Confession: I know my blog was WAY too boring for being a graphic designer. (I've spent a lot of time working on my other two blogs though.)

I finally found a few hours of free time (thanks to hubby watching the kids) and this is the facelift I came up with. I am a paisley addict and cannot get enough. And flowers are always a welcome addition. Best of all, I think it's perfect for fall.

...And did you notice that I used Stampin' Up! colors for my banner?

What do you think?

Butterfly Landing

Love this card! I used a stamp from the SU! Demonstrator incentive set Merry Mix. I used light purple square rhinestone brads and lots of glitter on the pretty butterflies. They actually pop off the page and look like they momentarily landed on the card. Lots of dimenion! I used Soft Subtles colors (pale plum and perfect plum)--so the purple butterflies are the color of the light purple cardstock I mounted them on. The camera doesn't do it justice. It would almost be a crime to hide this in an envelope for any period of time.

Bling - Rhinestone/Crystal Brads

I think bling is the hottest way to embellish a card. However, please be forewarned that it increases the thickness of the card so that if you are sending it in the mail, you must add 17¢ extra postage for the non-machineable surcharge.

They are great for just giving with gifts or hand delivering. Hot, hot, hot! I will try to make some gift notes and gift card holders with bling. Gimme a few days. I think I spent 6 hours making cards yesterday. My supplies are strewn over my kitchen counters--something I hate to do for more than a few hours. But I just gotta stamp!

Inspired by...

I was browsing blogs and clicked on to From Combat Boots to Rubber Stamps and saw the cutest Halloween card. I decided to do my first challenge in 20 minutes (because I promised myself I'd be in bed by midnight, not like 2 am the past few nights--getting to bed when my hubby has to get up for work). I know it's not the best, but it's my first and it's a starting point. And I two minutes to get to bed! Hooray for me!

Clear & Glazed Stickers

I've departed a little from using only stamps to decorate my cards. I found some really cute stickers at our Dollar Tree that are acid free and great for card images. Miss Elizabeth's is the label. The stickers are great quality and an easy way to create a focal image for your card when you are pressed for time. I do, however, usually stamp extra images when I am making cards. I keep a stash of ready-to-use images in a little box. That way I am not always pulling out all of my stamps and ink and trying to figure out what to use.

Many of you probably already know this, but I just remembered how to create the ticket corner without SU!s ticket corner punch. I used my slit punch and eyeballed how much of the corner to crop. I know you can also use any sort of round punch, handheld or whatever. Ticket corners are just an excuse to use more brads--gotta love that!

The brads on the green and white cake card are purple rhinestones. They look really hot in person. And so does the cake. The stickers are embossed and glittered. Just a note, the colors really do look much better and coordinated in person. These pictures make it look like the colors don't mesh well. It's just an illusion.

Flowers & Coffee

This one has bling, flowers, and lots of dimension. I promise the bling has lots of zing in real life. I used SU! colors. The bling and flowers I bought at Craft Warehouse in Meridian, ID. The flowers match pretty well.

Stamp sets: Treat Yourself & Greetings Galore.