Christmas Joy!!

Boy, it has been a long time since I have been able to take some time to update things here at The Little Place.  My granddaughter is now 9 months old and adorable, but the biggest blessing in my life is my husband Leon who received a lung transplant on August 26th and is doing extremely well thanks to wonderful doctors and nurses at the University of Pennsylvania and the many prayers from family and friends.  Leon now has a new lease on life and we are very grateful.
This may excuse me from my lack of posting and attention to my blog and my stamping.  Life calls and we must answer....my love of stamping will always be there when I have the time, but we can not go back and make up time lost with people!!   So on that note I will share the Christmas cards that I was able to get done   during the many hours of waiting for my husbands appointments, therapy and tests.

Living in an old house with a weathered front door with a window made this a perfect image to use with the saying "From our house to yours".  This is a beautiful stamp set from Our Daily Bread Stamps.  I colored it with my Copic markers and used Stampin Up papers to complete the card.  I actually added the cherry cobbler dots on the old olive designer paper to give it a little more pop.  I also used a silver metallic pen to highlight the door handle.

Couldn't pass up a chance to share a cute little Christmas picture of my Granddaughters, Letty and Titania.

Looking forward to getting back to stamping and blogging on a regular basis.
Thanks for looking and please leave a comment so I'll know you stopped by.
Happy Stampin!!

Our Beautiful Baby Girl!!

Today I am sharing the newest wonderful thing in my life......my first little granddaughter, Arletta Lee Miller.   My son finally married last year and they didn't waste any time working on their family.  She was born on May 3rd.  We are extremely pleased with her, especially my 84 year old mother who wasn't sure she would ever have a great grandchild.
Thanks for checking in on my blog today and happy stampin!!!  I will post her baby card soon.

Mom's Birthday!

Happy Friday!  Today I am sharing the card I made for my mother's 84th birthday!  She is surely one in a million,  so I got to use the little phrase that I got from My Favorite Things.  This card was such fun to make.  Everytime I thought I was finished....I looked at it and decided that it needed something more and that happened about four times....ending in the final card with the 100 year old buttons and the little bit of glitter pen accents, which are hard to see.  I used the Nature Walk stamp set from SU and the designer paper that coordinates with it.  I am a big fan of collages and this set just lends itself beautifully to that technique.  I colored the bird and the butterfly with chalks first and then added a little Copic highlights. I cut the butterfly out and snipped between the wings so that I could extend the front wing to give the look of it just perched there on the corner of the card.  The Happy Birthday is stamped on a Nestibilities tag die that I cut out of cream and soft suede and placed them together to highlight it against the background papers.  I also added some little champagne colored pearls.......lots of them.  I just couldn't stop myself, but I like the way they catch the light.   Well, I think that's about it for this card that made my Mom really happy.
Thanks for stoppin by today and Happy Stampin!!

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  SU Nature Walk;  Happy Birthday, SU Messages for Mom;  Mother, Anna Griffith;  One in a       Million, MFT

Ink:  SU soft suede, buckaroo blue;  Copics

Paper:  SU Botanical Gazette, buckaroo blue cs, cream cs, soft suede cs

Accessories:  latte pearls, Kaiserkrafts;  MS lattice border punch;  SU seam binding ribbon, soft suede and baja breeze;  chalks; Prima flowers;  great grandma's buttons, brown DMC thread, glue dots; Gelly Roll glitter pen, sponge for distressing

Visions of Easters gone by!

Hello All,  This is the second card that I created for my convention weekend getaway.  If you scroll down to my last post you will get the drift of what we are doing.  Since we challenged ourselves to share cards made with some of the many older stamps we have bought over the years at the conventions and many other places, I dug deep in my stash and found this beauty.  It looks like an old photo of a brother and sister posing for an Easter snapshot back in the day doesn't it?  I stamped it on glossy paper to really give it that photograph look.  It looks great in almost any color ink.  I have also used Sepia inks which really make it look old.  I didn't use a lot of embellishments because I wanted the picture to be the focal point.   I used a purple monochromatic color scheme, some background paper, a punched border, a ribbon with bow and it's done.  I think my friends will enjoy making this cute Easter card.  Hope I've inspired you to pull out some of those neglected stamps that I know you all have.  Thanks for stoppin by!
Happy Stampin!

Supplies Used
Stamps:  The Stamping Ground image, sentiment from $1 bin at Michael's
Paper:  retired SU cs  Eggplant Envy and Mauve Mist, SU designer series paper, glossy cs
Ink:  Eggplant Envy die ink
Accessories:  SU white taffeta ribbon, Martha Stewart Lattice border punch

Back to Basics!

Oh my goodness!!  It is a beautiful day in the neighborhood today!!  I am so happy....my windows are open, the sun is shining and I feel like gardening!!!  Hope you are starting to see Spring around you too.
The next two cards that I'm posting are called getting back to basics for these reasons:  I am going to a stamping convention this weekend...YAAAAY!!! with 10 friends. Here is info. on convention in Allentown PA.  We have been doing this for about 6 years and it is so much fun.  We stay for the weekend so we can have a girl's getaway.  We stamp and eat and shop!!  What more could a girl want.  Every year my cousin Nancy has prepared projects for us to make in the evenings....which is a lot of prep for her and no stamping for her.....bummer!  This year we decided to give her a break and dig out some of OUR older or retired stamps and each bring 2 card with the makings for everyone...including Nancy to make their own. I'm the only one in my group who uses Copics, so that was out.  I had to challenge myself to go back to basics and stamp without my Copics.  At the end of the weekend, we will have made 20 cards and we will have had a blast!!

Over the years I have collected quite a few unmounted stamps from the convention and I used one of them for this card.  I stamped the dresses directly onto designer paper from my stash and cut them out.  I made the stencils for the clouds and grass background from cardstock and lightly sponged blue and green ink over the stencils.  I think it created a pretty cute little background for my clothesline, which is just a piece of string and two brads.  The dresses are raised up on dimensional so they look like they are blowing in the wind.  I just love the way it turned out!!  Reminds me of my Mom who always hangs her clothes out to dry.  Well, that's about it for this one.  I haven't made many cards without using my Copics lately and this was a nice change.  What a cute little card it turned out to be.  If you like it, please leave a comment.  Thanks for stoppin by and Happy Stampin!!


Supplies used:
Stamp:  unknown image, sentiment from Papertrey Ink Little Lady set
Paper:   Stampin Up retired kraft cs,  old Lasting Impressions dp
Ink:   SU Bliss Blue, Mellow Moss, Mememto black,
Accessories:  dimensionals, brads, string

A Girl and her Dog!

Rainy days and Mondays......always make me stamp!! And surf the web! Can't decide which I like more.  It is such fun to search for inspiration on the wonderful stamping sites and blogs that can be found on the web.  I have been celebrating the First Year Birthday of Color Me Creative website for the last 7 days.  It has been really fun and I have made my last two cards and I have one more to do for the challenges over there at CMC.  The final prize for participating in all the challenges is a Cricuit Expressions machine.  That is one tool that I don't have...  I am keeping my fingers crossed for that drawing.
This cute little girl with her dog is from High Hopes Stamps and it is called Heidi and Mattie.  Aren't they cute?  The challenge was to use pink and green and girls, so Heidi and Mattie fit the bill.  I had no trouble finding some pink and green dp in my stash because I have recently been on a pink paper buying binge.  This may be Daisy D's but unfortunately I'm not sure.  I did distress some of the paper with my new Zutter Tool and cut the scalloped circle with 2 different size Nesties.  I always cut out the middle of those circles and save the center for another project....especially that great glitter paper.  I just put a nice coordinating circle of dp on top of the hole.  This is a pretty simple little card but the sparkle and image make it special.  Thanks for stoppin by to visit.  Would love to have your comments.
Happy Stampin!!

p.s.  I finally figured out how to add my signature....I am a happy girl!

Pink Bildmalarna

I've been celebrating with Suzanne Dean over at Color Me Creative today as she celebrates the first anniversary of her teaching website and magazine, Through the Craftroom Door.  I have learned all of my Copic skills from Suzanne both from her online classes, which are terrific, but I have also had the priviledge to take her On the Road Class when she came to Wilmington, Delaware last year. I still have a lot to learn and Suzanne continues to educate me through her blog and her online videos.  What a great teacher she is and we are having a lot of fun with her as she celebrates.  She is awarding lots a great prizes all week long to participants in challenges and chats and just for checking in all week long.  Hop on over to share in the fun.
My card today is for both the CMC Birthday Bash Sketch Challenge and  Challenge #17 over at  7kidscollegefund challenge blog, which asks for Pink and Flowers.
This image is my first Bildmalarn called Mimosa Wonderful Day and she is colored with my Copics.  I used two different size dies from my scalloped circle Nesties to make the ring behind Mimosa and I added the flowers and swirls in the corner to complete the sketch.  I also added a little bling with my Stickles on her dress and the swirl and flowers.  Have to have sparkle!  I hope you like her.   Thanks for stoppin by.
Happy stampin!
Diane

Supplies used:
Paper:  Stampin Up Baja Breeze cardstock and the patterned paper is just from my stash
            glitter paper from AC Moore
Ink:  Momento Tuxedo Black
       Copics:  skin E11, E00, E000, hair E37m E35, E31, E50,
dress R85, R83, R81, RV10, RV0000, BG72, BG10, BG0000
Star Dust Stickles
May Arts 1/4" silk ribbon, Offray lace ribbon
Swirl Die Marianne Dies
Prima Flowers, little plastic squares
Petite Scallop Circle die Spellbinders Nestibilities

Tea Anyone?

Thank the Lord for this beautiful day in South Jersey!  I am lovin the SUN!  It is still a little chilly, but it's sunny and I'll take it!!  I am in need of several cards for some wonderful friends and I wanted them to be special so this is the first one.  It is another sweet Lily of the Valley image called "coffee break".  I'm a tea drinker, so for me it is Tea for Two! These two girls are obviously good friends because they both love fashion and tea! This is another easel card and this one is 5" square, which is very fun to make because you have so much room to play!  I found this glitter paper at A.C. Moore and had a little trouble spending $1.99 per sheet, but LOOK at it!!  It was definitely worth it.  I love what the sparkle adds to this little card.  The ribbon is a great find from the internet on Etsy.  Don't get started looking at ribbon on the web because it will just draw you right in.  This is distressed seam binding from Memrie Mare.  Her colors are just gorgeous.....you will want them all.  I added a great little vintage button with a pink edge from my grandmother's button jar. It even has a tiny little piece of old thread on it.  That little button is probably 80 years old or older.  Pretty cool, huh?  Thanks for stoppin by!
Happy Stampin!
Diane

Other stuff I used:
Martha Stewart flower border punch,  Stampin Up scallop punch
Spellbinder Nestibilities scalloped circle, vintage button
Paper: Stampin Up cardstock  black, marina mist, blue glitter paper, patterned paper     unknown and Cryogen irredescent white
Copic markers:   R24, R22, R21,R20, R00,
                         E11, E00, E31, E35, E25, E47, E40,
                         BG75, BG72, BG13, BG10,
                         YG17, YG01, YG0000, 
                         Y11, Y06, Y000,

A Card for the Baby!

(click image for larger view)

This little baby carriage has been one of my "go to" stamps for a long time.  I don't know where I got it or who made it, but it is a keeper.  I like it even more since I have been coloring it with Copics.  Today I needed a brown and pink baby card, which is not typical for a baby color combo but I gave it a try.  I used Stampin Up pretty in pink cardstock for my base card which is a 5 1/4" square easel card.  The patterned papers are from my stash and the beautiful brown silk ribbon is May Arts.  The lace ribbon is from Offray and the brad in the middle of the double bow is from Stampin Up.  I distressed the brown dp with my new Zutter distressing tool.  It is quite a tool.  It takes some getting used to, but I am loving the look.  The image is stamped with Memento tuxedo black ink and cut out with my circle Nestibilities and layered on a petite scalloped circle in pretty in pink. I attached it with some dimensionals to make it stand out a bit.  I used some vellum on the inside for the sentiment and attached it with some cute little corners punched from the pink dp. 

All in all, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  Hope you like it.  Thanks for stoppin by!

Happy Stampin!

Diane

Sweet Invitation

Happy March everyone!  Is it Spring yet??  I am so ready for warm sunshine and daffadils and going to the local greenhouse to get my Spring fix. 
Today I am sharing a sweet little invitation with you.  I am so in love with this cute little baby girl with her stroller full of her favorite little friends....bunny and bear.  I had the challenge to make it brown and pink and to make it work with my Copic markers.  After trying a couple of different shades, I ended up with pretty in pink and soft suede cardstock from Stampin Up to compliment my Copics.  The stamp is from Lily of the Valley in the UK.  Once you check out their stamps, I know you will fall in love as I have with all of their sweet little images.  This invitation is a two sided piece...the image on the front and the information on the back.  This is my favorite style for invitations because I am usually making a lot of them and saving paper counts.  On this one I have layered the front with a piece of vellum embossed with the dotted swiss Cuttlebug folder and then a layer of brown with rounded corners also embossed with the dotted swiss.  I sponged some white on the edges of the brown as well as lightly over the dots to make them show a little more. The image is stamped with Momento black ink and colored with my Copic markers and then run through the Cuttlebug to cut out the scalloped rectangle with my Nestibilities Die. The sentiment was stamped with my Justrite stamper which lets me create any words that I want which makes it perfect for creating a personlized card.  I created the back by putting the information on the computer and then printing it out on vellum.   I hold everything together with the ribbon on the top so that I don't have to mess with adhesives and vellum. The bow is made by punching two holes and feeding the ribbon down and back up to secure all the layers. 
I hope you like her.....she was a big hit with the invitation recipients. 
Thanks for stoppin by!
Happy Stampin!
Diane