Happy H{ippity} Hop Halloween!

So glad to be back with you for 

H{ippity} Hop Monday!

I have a few different projects to share with you and

a special offer waiting for you at the end.

Before we get too far down the road, make sure

you stop by the Ippity blog to see all the great

Ippity 'chicks' and 'fans' who are hopping along today.

I have to say that I love the colors used here.

Fresh, bold and yet, subtle.

The Ippity stamps/sets that were used here:

 Dots for Sure

Thoughts from the Past

The Simple Things

The extras include DP from GCD Studios, 'Stylized Flowers'

EF from Cuttlebug, rick-rack and flower from Prima.

Now for a little Halloween inspiration.....

It's always fun to work make cards for this creepy holiday

using non-traditional colors.  Besides the stamped images, I think

the most effective part of this card is the shaded border.  I used

Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade.

The Ippity stamps/sets that were used here:

That's Creepy

 Book It

The extras include spider web border punch from Martha Stewart,

spider web image from Inkadinkado and copper mini brads.

Lastly, this little layered card.

The Ippity stamps/sets that were used here:

That's Creepy

Totally Happy

The extras include the same Distress Ink used on the previous card

as well as the little spider web image and a crackle background from

Paper Inspirations.

Here is a quick peek at the Ippity stamps/sets

along with my Ippity bonus deal of the week!

How would you like to have all of these

fantabulous stamps for just $49!!!

You absolutely can!

(that's $15 off the msrp)

Order this week, and you will also receive

a bonus embellishment package.

To order, simply email me at
julieranae@hotmail.com
and tell me you want The Ippity Bonus Deal.
(this offer is not listed in my Ippity store, you must email me)
I accept PayPal as well as USPS & Walmart money orders

You TOO can have fun with Ippity stamps

and remember, this specific offer is
only available here 

at Julie's Open Window.

To see more Ippity stamps available

Just click HERE!

Just Sittin' Here Waiting for Autumn...

Well, I am making no secret of the fact that I am

very excited

for fall to roll around.
Mind you, as much as that is my favorite time of the year,
it's also a stark reminder of what's comes shortly after.
The brutal midwest winters are just not my thing
as I get older.  But I digress....

Thought I would share a couple of cards with you
today that are pretty different from one another.

I couldn't wait to have a play with my new 'Vampire Bat' punch
from EK Success.  The paper is from Martha Stewart.
You may recognize the Basic Grey in the background.  This is
from last year's 'Eerie' collection,  but it is one of my favorites.
I cut out some concentric circles using Spellbinders dies and
just 'layered it all up'.
The stamped 'Spooky' is from Inkadinkado (I think).

As the cast of Monty Python would say...

'Now for something completely different'

Thought I needed to pay homage to summertime as it is
still August, even if it's only just....
Everyone's summer favorite this year has been the
'On the Boardwalk' series from Graphic45.
These papers make it SO easy to put together fast but fun
cards because everything is SO coordinated.

Outside of a little sewing, I just added brads (see photo above)
and Stickles for embellishment.

Paige over at the CARDS challenge is calling for cards
with 'one word greetings' so I thought I would share both
of these little projects there as well.

It's Emmy Night and one of my favorite funny men,

Jimmy Fallon

is hosting, so it's going to be a party in my house.
Yes, I do watch all of the pre-show 'stuff'.
Love the red carpet...will watch 'E's' coverage
with Guiliana (whom I adore) and Ryan.

Just glad I have my H{ippity} Hop ready to go
for tomorrow's posting because I will be just a bit
sidetracked tonight.

Hope you will leave a comment and let me know
you were here...I LoVe to hear from you!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Better Late Than Never...

This past week, I was unable to complete a project for

the current challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.

You may have read that my computer crashed and learning

my way around my very first laptop was pretty time consuming.

Anyway...I managed to get a little something done and wanted

to share it with you just in case you were on the fence

about these wild and crazy colors...

I was totally inspired by a project I spotted in the

current 'CardMaker' magazine and thought it might be

a good way to incorporate the colors.

Most of the DP that was used on this was from

GCD Studios.  The stem is paper from Heidi Grace.

  The leaf images are from Inkadinkado were stamped using 

Ranger's Adirondack ink in 'Caramel'.

Here is a reminder of the 'color story' for this week.....

There is still plenty of time to play along with us.

Stop by The Play Date Cafe and check out the

amazing inspiration from the

world's best design team!

Down the Spooky Rabbit Hole with EIC

It has been such an honor and pleasure to have been
a Guest Designer with the talented team from the
EtsyInspired Challenge.

I have found that the older I get, the time
absolutely zooms by and the month of August
has been consistent with that statement.
I thank the girls at EIC for their kind comments
along the way and hope that I was able to bring
'just a little something extra' to their challenge.

For this week's challenge, we were inspired by the
beautiful shop known as 'The Caged Fairy', which
features some beautiful handcrafted jewelry.
I chose this pendant for my inspiration.....

.....and I have been dying to pull out my newest
Graphic45 collection that picked up at CHA last month.

Halloween can't come fast enough for me...well, I don't want it to be
here quite yet because I want some solid 'play time' to create some
spooky creations.
This is hardly spooky, but it is from Graphic45's
'Halloween in Wonderland'
I inked up the borders of this fabby paper with black ink to
create some spooky shadows (ok, so a little spooky)
I cut some concentric circles using my Spellbinders Nesties
and topped it with a wonderful die-cut which is part of the collection.
The embellishments are from Making Memories 'Spellbound'.

Make sure you stop by this lovely shop to see all
the wonderful pendants that are available there and
of course, please visit the girls from EIC.

Here are the links to the talented girls of the

EtsyInspired Design Team....

Ashley

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Julie Ranae 

{many thanks}

Kerry

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Really? Seriously? Yep!

Before you 'ooh and aah' and congratulate me on such

a stunning piece of work....

it doesn't belong to me!

Nope...this one isn't mine either...

But they are both fabulous, aren't they!?

I thought I would show you the beauty that can

come from even the strangest of combinations...

That's right...it's the Play Date Cafe's first...

'Colour Horribilis' Challenge.

You will be absolutely amazed at the stunning

work that the world's best design team have done to 

bring you the most beautiful projects using this color story.

So make sure you get on over and see what's behind this

unique idea, who created these lovely pieces 
and check out this week's prize sponsor.

We are also saying goodbye to one of our first term designers.

Stephanie Kraft will be greatly missed as an inspiration to

our players and a friend and encouragement to our team.

We wish her so much love and best wishes for whatever

is next in her creative endeavors.

Before I go, I just wanted to thank you for your patience

as I have been MIA for over a week.  The hard drive on my

computer decided it was time for a permanent rest, so I had

to do some computer shopping, which I wasn't prepared to do.

It took a few days to make a decision and I am now the

happy owner of a fabby laptop.  My first laptop and I

love the freedom!

I spent some time today out on the patio

working on the PDCC post and then took it on it's

first road trip to Barnes & Noble.  The great thing

is I can take it there under the guise of 'working'

but my true motive is to stare at my husband

while he is working  : )

Happy to be back online, getting caught up on things

and hoping to bring you lots of new projects soon!

A Pocketful of Posies...

I am in love.....with this color combo!

Now having said that, I am also pleased to tell you

that I am this week's design team host for the new challenge at

Sometimes I think Martha and I were sisters,

separated at birth.  I love the colors she puts

together (or at least her 'people' put together)

and this was one photo inspiration I knew we had to use.

I was thinking about all the different types of flowers there

are to make (because Paige over at CARDS was calling for them)

and I thought it would be fun to make these 

funky posies using this color scheme.

You may recognize that DP from Cosmo Cricket's

'Early Bird' collection.  The stems were stamps

from Heidi Grace and the senitment is Impression Obsession.

Creative Inspirations Paints

Hey!  We've got a brand new sponsor this week!

Creative Inspirations Paints...and you could win

12 jars of paints in your choice of colors!

And....a big announcement awaits!

Who is the next....

Head on over to The Play Date Cafe

and find out who is joining 

The World's Best Design Team!

Layers, Scallops & Thanks

It's a busy day for me, so I only have time to share

one card today.....

This one is lots of fun scalloped layers and

one mighty big handmade paper flower.

I love using kraft cardstock with these types of colors.

It's such a versatile neutral.

The paper flower is made from 2 types of handmade papers,

the off-white with specks is 'tobacco paper' which I have

had for years, along with the peachy-pink paper.

I guess that's using some BOO, isn't it?!

The periwinkle blue in the flower is good-old-fashioned tissue paper.

I made the flower using the Dahlia die from Spellbinders.

There are about 21 layers altogether.

I also used the Labels 4 for the sentiment.

The other scalloped punch is from Fiskars.

The sentiment is from Unity.

Thought I would enter this over at the

CARDS challenge.

Paige is calling for unique, handmade flowers.

In the meantime, you still have until

midnight EST tonight to enter this week's

challenge over at The Play Date Cafe.

Oh...one more thing...

I have just one more complete set in stock

of the 'Ippity Triple' deal

from yesterday's post.

You can read about it here.

Have a terrific day!

Summertime is Meant for Color

You know it's H{ippity} Hop Monday

here at The Open Window and it's gotten

a whole lot more fun this week with

the brand spankin' new images that

were just released!

If you are new to the H{ippity} Hop,

after you get done checking out my little

offering for the day, pop back over to

The Ippity Blog here and check out the

other talented people who are creating

new things to share with you today.

I had a great time creating this card because

I used the challenge of the 'Dog Days of Summer'

that was issued this past Monday on the Ippity blog.

When I think of the 'deep days' of the summer

here in the Midwest, I think of all the flowers

that are in full bloom.....

patio pots full of flowers.....

and bright blue skies.

It's hard to make them out, but if you click
up close, you just might see all the tiny
white pearls that were used as the flower
centers and on the sprigs in the potted plant.

I'm very happy to tell you that all of the stamps

that I used on this card are

in-stock and available 

to purchase from me.

Here's what I used.....

 'So This is Love'

'You Deserve'

'Book It'

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
anytime this week

for only $22.50 (+ $3.50 postage)

and you can get 'Book It'

for just $3 !!!

{International orders inquire for postage rates}

That's over $11 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 or Walmart money orders)

While I update my Ippity store, please

feel free to email me directly

with any questions.

Hope you have a terrific Monday!

'Baby Love, my Baby Love'

I am guest designing for the entire month of August

over at EtsyInspired.  It's such an honor to design

with such a talented group of girls!

They celebrated their 100th challenge last week

and it was so fun for me to be included in the celebration!

Speaking of which....

Before I get to this week's challenge, 

I need to announce the winner of the amazing

'ribbon stash' from May Arts.

Congratulations goes out to.....

#13

Terri E. said... "Those funky owls are perfect for the inspiration.
It's a good life."

Terri....send an email over to stampindeva@bellsouth.net

 and let her know you won on my blog.

This week's Etsy store featured is

Lover Dovers Homemade Goodness

What a fun little place to browse and buy!!!

You have an opportunity to win one the

fabby handcrafted aprons from this 

sweet little shop.

Here is the apron I chose as my inspiration...

My teenage days were spent smack

in the 70's.  I spent every single year

from 10-19 in that decade and to this

day, I still love me some good disco!

Another big part of the 70's were the

fun and funky 'mushroom' motifs.

So this apron was a perfect fit for me.

Cosmo Cricket's 'Earth Love' was the first thing I

grabbed out of my stash.  I think it's fun to

create 'unusual' cards for baby showers.

There's no stamping on this card...just a little sewing 

and embellishment...easy peasy!

You definitely need to make a visit to the

EtsyInspired Blog to get all the details on

the prize from the featured shop, but also 

check out the sponsor prize from

Sassy Studio Designs.

Here are the links to the talented girls of the

EtsyInspired Design Team....

Ashley

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Julie Ranae 

{love my guest spot!}

Kerry

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Enjoy the Day!

YAY! Ippity's Summer 2010 Release is Now!

You'll find the

The Play Date Cafe

Challenge here!

Today is the day!

It's Ippity Release Party for the

new Summer 2010 Collection

and I am SO excited to share it

with you.

I hope you have a cup 'o something

in your hand because I am going to share

every new set with you right here!

Your cost only $15 (msrp $18)

 Your cost only $15 (msrp $18)

Your cost only $20 (msrp $24)

Now...just those new

goodies would be enough

for me!  But wait....

 Your cost only $7.50 (msrp $10)

Your cost only $15 (msrp $18)

Your cost only $20 (msrp $24)

So...what do ya think?

Oh Wait......

Your cost only $15 (msrp $18)

Your cost only $7.50 (msrp $10)

Your cost only $7.50 (msrp $10)

And there you have it!

Yeah right..... 

Your cost only $4 (msrp $6)

Your cost only $4 (msrp $6)

Your cost only $4 (msrp $6)

And....how about some

fabby paper from Echo Park!

 Your cost only $5 (msrp $6.50)

          FREE w/any $45 purchase!

Total order of $50 & up = FREE shipping
Total order $20.01-$49.99 = $5 shipping

Orders up to $20 = $3.50 shipping

I am so happy to be

an 'Ippity chick' 

and I would be glad to take your order!

Many of these sets are on the UPS truck

right now on the way to my house!

While I update my Ippity store, please

feel free to email me directly at

julieranae@hotmail.com
to place your order : )

You are welcome to combine your order 

for new stamps with other stamps

from past collections featured in 

my Ippity store here.

I am standing by 

to take your order!