Hugs ... The Craft's Meow & Want2Scrap Blog Hop

Happy Friday !

It's a great day to visit The Open Window because the

designers over at

are blog hopping with the designers of

Hopefully you made your way her by way of my friend

Amy Tsuruta's blog

If not, I'd love for you to start at the beginning of the hop at the

Want2Scrap Blog

because there are great prizes up for grabs!

The Craft's Meow is giving away 

a stamp set of your choice

and W2S is sharing bling too!

I thought the colors on this card worked really well
for the newest challenge over at The Play Date Cafe too!

Summer is still in bloom and here it is no exception !

I love the bright colors in this paper from Doodlebug Design and thought

it was a great way to showcase the 'Stitched Flowers & Sentiments' from TCM.

And how about those pearls ? !

Gigantic flower centers and the pearl flourish really create

a dimensional design, don't they ?

I'm so glad you popped by and now it's time to send

you on your way over to my talented friend

Elise Durenberger's Blog

I know she has some very fun designs to inspire you.

Before I go, I also wanted to let you know that

The Craft's Meow is retiring a variety of stamp

sets & accessories and is having a Summer Sale.  

You can save up to 50% off

and you know what it means when

a set is retired . . . so make sure you visit the

TCM Store

and add what you can to your own stamp collection !

Have a great Friday !

Project Recipe:

 Cardstock: Pure Luxury by Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: Sugar & Spice by Doodlebug Design
Stamps: Stitched Flowers & Sentiments by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pearls from Want2Scrap

Brand New Stamps & More Need Good Home!

Hey there everybody!

If you have been visiting lately, you know I am

doing a big *purge* of my craft studio

and I am here once again to share a few new

packages I've put together that

reallllllllllly

need a good home!

The items that do not sell will be listed on

Ebay where the prices will go up due to 
fees & actual postage costs

Click on each photo for a 

*little* better view

SOLD

Terrific lot of Hampton Arts Stamps

$30 includes postage

(retail value over $125)

ALL BRAND NEW IN ORIGINAL PACKAGES!

SOLD
Sweet parcel of images

$12 includes postage

(retail value $30)

ALL BRAND NEW IN ORIGINAL PACKAGES!

SOLD

Six Beautiful Shades of Memories Dye Ink Pads

$18 includes postage

(retail value $30)

ALL BRAND NEW IN UNOPENED PACKAGES!

Hampton Arts Glitter Glue Sets

$14 includes postage

(retail value $30)

ALL BRAND NEW IN UNOPENED PACKAGES!

Red Rubber Mounted & Unmounted Stamps

from Artistic Outpost, Innovative Stamps & More

$20 includes postage

(retail value $50)

Most are BRAND NEW...only a few have been used
(THIS SET NO LONGER INCLUDES THE
BUTTERFLY TREE PLATE) 

SOLD

This baby is brand new and has NOT been

released to the stores as of yet!

$20 includes postage

All of the prices here include postage

but for US shipping only.

I'll gladly ship international!
Please email me

for postage to your country

PayPal only please 

Email me at:
julieranae@hotmail.com

Remember:  the items that do not sell will be listed on

Ebay where the prices will go up due to

fees & actual postage costs

Hope you'll be able to help give these fun products 

a good home!

A Glimpse Inside...

Good morning everyone! I thought this morning I would share with you a little glimpse in to the chaos which is my art studio. Actually, these photos represent a few of my favorite things. I love ribbon...love, love, LOVE it. I have 3 drawers full of it as well as my glass jars and a vintage suitcase. I would say right now that the ratio is 30% gets used in my projects and 70% is collected for my personal amusement. The Marie Antoinette card above is one of four that I own by Nancy Maxwell James over at Sugarlump Studios...don't you just love that name?
I must have 100's of packages of unopened embellishments, so every few days it's like Christmas as I go through all the packages to see what I can use. Don't you just love finding things you didn't know you had?!
A small stash of my paper rolls. I must admit I haven't played with these lately, but I think it's because some have such a sentimental attachment. Many of them I purchased with my UK friend Sarah when she came for a week-long visit. We spent the most amazing day in Chicago and could barely get into the taxi with all of our bags...and by the way, I drove to Chicago. The only reason we needed a taxi was because we also could not WALK to my car with said bags!
Then there's my vintage trims that I save for very special projects. Some I acquired from my grandma who lived most of her senior years in front of a sewing machine. Her love of sewing didn't quite rub off on me, but her creativity certainly did!
Will be back later with another post and something creative to show you. In the meantime, what's your favorite 'pretty little embellishment' in your creative space? I would love to know!

Big Things Come in...Well, You Know the Rest...

I am in the process of making a card for a graduation open house that I will be attending this afternoon and I got to thinking about all the times you and I have needed that 'little something' to include with a gift that really personalizes that it's from us...you know the dialogue in the middle of the baby shower...it goes something like this: "Oh, she always makes something handmade and we all wait to see what it's going to be!". No pressure there!?!

I think we get so used to working in standard greeting card scale, that we forget that we can pack the same 'Ooh...Aah...' punch if we think gift tags...with embellishments. I think the key is to embellish.

As we know with greeting cards, it's really easy to fold the cardstock (ok, I know some of you HAVE to score it first ), lay down a layer of backgrounds, use a brad or two for the 'flower centers', stamp the greeting and go. Why not do it with these miniature greetings. I guarantee, when you hand over a gift 'tag' that's just as embellished as the cards that people expect from you, it will go from being a miniature greeting to a miniature masterpiece!

I will be back later on with, what I think is a fun announcement. I hope you will stop back and be ready to participate. I only hope this post was enough to whet your appetite...hmmm...