Time for a Splash...of Color!

It's one of my favorite week's in

The Play Date Cafe!

It's 'Color Splash' Week!

If you are not familiar with 'Color Splash'

it's a pretty simple concept.

Anything black and white with just a

'hint'

of color..and this week's color is....

green.

We are so happy to have

The Memory Box Company

as this week's sponsor in The Cafe.

They not only provided our design team

with these fabulous stamps to create this

week's inspiration projects, but they

are also giving you the opportunity to win

the very same stamps that we used!

There are seven layers on top of this card base.

I used the 'Damask Butterfly' stamp to create the layered

background between the 'art deco' green border,

in which I used Martha Stewart's punch.

Spellbinders Large Labels dies were used to create the

frames for the 'Inspire Butterfly Collage' stamp.

A little patience and a good pair of tiny scissors

really goes a long way on this project.

Make sure you pop over to

The Play Date Cafe and see what the rest of our

fabulous design team have created to inspire you.

Then....get out your black, white and greens

and get creatin'!

A Little Clean & Simple Goes a Long Way

I have been selling a bunch of my cards lately and was

in need of a quick replenish and decided that it was

time to go a little CAS.

I also realized that as much as I love my

'old-school' wood-mount stamps,

I don't play with them often enough.

So I went to the shelves and picked one that

I have had for quite awhile and had yet to play with.

This fun summer image from Stampabilities has so many possibilities.

So to go CAS was a good start.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Just a little black ink and coordinating buttons and you are good to go. 

I also added tiny pewter rhinestones to a few of the flower centers.

Here is another take on the same design...

It's so easy to get caught up in layer upon layer on our creations.

It's totally ok to give yourself permission to take it down

a notch...or two...or three  ; )

I am going to leave the books up on my blog for another day or two.

I have chopped the prices a little more, so if you are interested in

any of these titles, this will be the only price I will offer them.

Remember, the prices DO include postage.

Click here to see each one.

Have a great day!

Purging my Art Space...

If you are here for the
Monday H{ippity} Hop
click here!

I don't normally do this, but...
I have a variety of 'art & craft' &
'lifestyle-related books
that I am ready to now part with. I can't
bear to think of them going to 'no-man's land'
so.....

I want to offer them to you (or maybe one of your friends)
as I know this is a group of people who may truly
appreciate them.
All prices INCLUDE postage.

softcover
$7.00 (reg price $14.95)

softcover
$9 (reg price $17.95)

hardcover
$12.00 (reg price $35.00)

All of these books are in excellent condition
and the prices do include postage.
They are on a first-come, first-served basis.
Prices w/postage are to US only
(Intl please ask about postage)
I can only accept PayPal for payment.
Email me at julieranae@hotmail.com
if you are interested.

Once these are gone, I will let you know.

As I continue to 'purge' my art space, I may offer
some other goodies from time to time
so I hope you don't mind.

Have a great day everyone!

So Many Thanks...So Little Time...

I don't know about you, but I feel like I can never send

enough 'Thank You' cards.  I sometimes think that the

simpler you can make them, the quicker you can get them

to the one who deserves it.

It is H{Ippity} Hop Monday here at

Julie's Open Window.

There are so many fabulous 'Ippity Chicks'

that have created something to share with you

today, so make sure you stop by the

Ippity Blog and check them out!

Today I wanted to share something that is

simple, quick, dimensional and elegant.

I used some fabby DP from Teresa Collins and stamped

the images with Ranger Archival ink in 'Coffee'. 

I gave the panel a little 'depth' by inking

the edges with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink in 'Old Paper'.

I layered Spellbinders 'Labels 9' dies to create the panel

for the sentiment.  The side border was created using

Martha's 'Deco Border' punch.

A few pearl and silver embellishments and a little

organdy ribbon finish it off.

I can tell you that the 'Bit of Burlap' stamp is one

of the most versatile images I own. 

It's great for backgrounds and adding textures to other images

such as the butterflies on my recent projects.

To see those, click here

I am so happy to be able to offer these wonderful stamps

right here on the Ippity page at Julie's Open Window.

I have them in stock and ready to ship!

Let me show you what I used and then tell

you about today's 'Ippity Double Deal'...

'The Simple Things'

'A Bit of Burlap'

This week's 'Ippity Double Deal'...

Purchase both featured stamp sets for

only $21.99 w/postage included

(reg. retail price is $24 + postage)

Just email me at julieranae@hotmail.com

and let me know you want The Ippity Double Deal'.

Here is a public thank you...

To Ippity DT member Maria Gurnsey for choosing my

card as the winner of last week's Ippity Challenge

over at SCS.  It really meant a lot to win because

it was a CASE challenge and it was Maria's card

I CASED!  Here is a quick click to see it.

One more thing....

There is still plenty of time to play

this week's challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.

Unity Stamps is this week's sponsor and they are

offering a very generous

prize package worth $75

to this week's winning creation.

So what are you waiting for???

Hope you will go out and make it a great day!

Sweet Friendships

Offering a very quick post today.

I was playing around with my new favorite 'branch' punch
from Martha Stewart and a wonderful new stamp I
picked up a couple weeks ago, and here is the result...

I have been creating with a lot of kraft cardstock lately
and I really like how these blues
work with the simple background.
The sentiment is a great $1 Studio G find.
Some lovely Prima flowers in a variety of shades...
The birds are just a tiny portion of the actual stamp
from a company I have come to love, Memory Box
who by the way, will be  
next week's fabby sponsor
over at The Play Date Cafe!.

Now...speaking of sweet friendships...

These are my 3 yummy grandsons.
(even yummier than that Pop-Tart Caleb is eating!)
That's Alex, jr on the left, he's 2.
Alex is cousin to Caleb, 4 1/2 and CJ, who is 7.

I had the blessing of having all 3 boys over this past week,
trying to keep up with them playing catch and a little soccer.

The brothers sometimes don't display friendship to
one another as often as they should
(as brothers tend to do)
but I love watching them display friendship to their little cousin.
It would be nice to keep this crew as young as possible...
just for a little longer...

Thanks for stopping by!

A Visit to Dublin, Ireland by Way of The Play Date Cafe

It's my turn to host the 'color story' again this week at
The Play Date Cafe Challenge

and this is one that I am really excited about!

This is one of my favorite places on Earth!
No...not just Ireland.
No...not just Dublin.

The photos you see are of the lovely
Russell Court Hotel
on Harcourt Street in the
Heart of Downtown Dublin.

Paul and I stayed there just over 20 years ago
and it is probably the place we talk most often
and most fondly about.
Ireland is fond to my husband's heart as well
because both his mother and father are from
Northern Ireland...it confuses people quite often
when my husband Paul, who is British tries to explain
that he has Irish parents : )

Back to Dublin.....

Not much has changed over the years...
It's still as beautiful as ever.
The card I chose to make was not intentional,
but in the end, it certainly speaks to how I feel
about this wonderful place...

The stamps that I used for sentiment and for the designs
around the clock are from Ippity Stamps 'Now and Always' set.
Again, how apropos is that??!!

The clock was cut from the DCWV 'At Home' Stack.
The papers that make up the 'wallpaper' are from
the same DCWV and The Paper Company.
I used Spellbinder's 'Labels 9' for my die.

Here is a close-up of the clock so you can see the subtle
stamping I did using these wonderful Ippity stamps.

I used Ranger Adirondack Ink in Mushroom.

If there was ever a week to play...
This one is it!

Ippity's parent company, Unity Stamps is
our sponsor this week and there is
$75 worth of stamps sets up for grabs to
the most creative entry this week!

Unity Design Team Member and one of

Paper Crafts Magazine's 'Go-To Gals'

Maren Benedict

is our Celebrity Guest Designer.

So what are you waiting for?

Oh...well I know it's to leave me a comment...
but get going...and git er done!
See you soon and enjoy your trip!

Still Feelin' Happy...

Last night I had a little time to sit down and play.

I was still very inspired by Maria Gurnsey's card

that I CASED for the Monday H{ippity} Hop

and thought I would see what I could do with the leftovers.

I used all of the same stamp sets and paper elements that

I used yesterday, so if you are interested in all the details,

you can scroll down or take a quick trip by clicking here.

If you are new to Ippity stamps, and you like the ideas that you see,

you have come to the right place!

I would love to be your 'Ippity Chick' and you can

find the sets used for these cards on my

Ippity Page here.

Check out yesterday's post for the specific sets

used AND for the great deal that you can get

this week ONLY.

I will be back tomorrow night at midnight, EST with a

brand new Play Date Cafe Challenge.

There is still time to get your entry in for this week's challenge 

and have an opportunity to win a fabby $14 gift certificate for

an entire stamp plate from our gracious sponsors,

See you then!

A Cheerful Day Indeed...It's H{ippity} Hop Monday!

It's Monday...the start to a brand new week!

It's Monday...it's H{ippity} Hop Monday!

This is the day where you can take in a

whole bunch of inspiration from a group of

very talented creators...The Ippity Chicks!

Stop by the Ippity Blog by clicking here

and not only will you see what the design team

have to offer, but also the list of all those participating

in the H{ippity} Hop!

This past week's challenge over at Ippity was

to visit the SCS Ippity Gallery and CASE a

creation there and I fell in love with

Maria Gurnsey's card which you

can see here.

This is my humble take on it.

I love the random 'writings' of this

K&Company DP.  I stamped the ladybug

on a snippet of DP from Heidi Grace.

Now here's the good news!

All of the stamps I have featured here today

are available directly from my Ippity Page here.

Here's what I used for this card...

'A Little Buggy'

'Now & Always'

'A Bit of Burlap' (butterfly pattern)

I love sharing these cheerful stamps

sets with you and I would love to be

your 'Ippity Chick'!

Order the first two sets from me this week

for only $35 (+ $5 postage)

and you can get 'A Bit of Burlap'

for just $3 !!!

That's $10 off the msrp

Just email me at julieranae@hotmail.com

and let me know you want this week's

'Ippity Triple'

(I accept Paypal & postal money orders)

One more thing..

I thank the girls over at Ippity for the

honoring my card as one of the Sunday Favs

yesterday!  Just click here to see my card

and the cards from the other talented ladies!

Have fun on the Hop!

Celebrating a Birthday...aaah...Not Mine

Just a quick post today....

To wish my favorite daughter

(my one and only, of course  : )

A Happy 26th Birthday.

Love you with all my heart, Mallory!

And to those of you who visited, I will be
back tonight by midnight EST with a little
H{ippity} Hop!

Sweet, Sweet Remedies...Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz!

I am super excited to be participating in
my very first
'Friends of Waltzingmouse Blog Waltz'.

I am a huge fan of Claire's stamps
and having received my first set, I could
NOT
wait to play, I mean...
waltz along.
 The theme for July was to use
'colors of summer'
shades of blue & green'
(obviously I added just a hint of pink as well)

'Rescue Remedies' is one of the newest
releases from The Waltzingmouse line.
It is a collection of 'vintage-style' labels
that are so unbelievably versatile.

When I think of 'sweet confections' I think of  

drippy...
     sweet...
            gooey...
                      goodness

which is what led me to pull out my
Martha 'Drippy Goo' border punch.



I managed some pretty good 'Boo' on
this card as well, which I haven't done in
quite awhile (shame on me...and if you don't
know what I am talking about, make sure
you click 'Boo' to find out more)
I used DP from Graphic45's
'Baby to Bride' and BasicGrey's
'Eskimo Kisses'

There are so many wonderful creations out
there being shared today by the

'Friends of Waltzingmouse'

so make sure you go over to the
Waltzingmouse blog and find out more!

Get Your Kicks...Yep! You Guessed it!

Over at The Play Date Cafe this week,

we have a wonderful new sponsor and our

design team got to play with whatever stamp set we wanted!

So I chose this set from Artistic Outpost...

...and here are the colors for this week....

...brought to us by the lovely Sarah.

And here is my card...

Growing up in Illinois, I have had opportunity to

travel the famed 'Route 66', but not for very far...

Even my British husband is intrigued by the idea

of taking a little 'road trip'  : )

The design team over in The Cafe have some

really fabulous inspirational pieces to inspire you

so before you 'head on down the road', make sure

you stop by The Play Date Cafe for an

inspirational 'pick me up'!

A big thanks goes out to

for providing our team with fabulous stamps

to help inspire you to play.

Please visit the AO website and check out

all of their 'vintage-style' images.

See you soon....

It's H{ippity} Hop Monday!

The beginning of a new week here at

Julie's Open Window...did you have a

nice weekend?  Mine was a busy one!

It's time for another H{ippity} Hop Monday!

If you are new to my blog or this 'hop', it's really

simple, fun and very inspiring.

After you have read my post and gotten an idea

or two, just pop over to the

Ippity blog HERE

and check out the rest of the Ippity 'chicks' and fans

that are participating.  You will surely find

some fun ideas for using your Ippity stamps.

I really love the vibrant colors for this CAS card.

I used a variety of VersaMagic & Colorbox Chalk inks

and Spellbinders 'Labels One' for the frames.

Three different Ippity stamp sets complete what you see.

'The Simple Things' (card border/butterfly)

'Faith Blooms' (sentiments)

'Now & Always' (Butterfly/frame border)

I love having the opportunity to share

Ippity stamps with you.

These 3 sets can be yours at the

wonderfully discounted price of just $40 (+ $5 postage)

AND

if you order all 3 sets from me this week,

you can get

'Bit of Burlap'

for only $3 !!!

You TOO can have fun with Ippity stamps

and remember, this specific offer is only

available here at Julie's Open Window.

Just click HERE!

Make sure you stop by the other blogs

on the 'hop' and have fun!