Camels in a Queue...What?

To see the brand, new
Ippity Summer Collection
click here!

It's that time in the week once again....

The new colors are up for 

The Play Date Cafe Challenge.

Just take a look at these camels!

They crack me up!

We are in week #42 of our challenges which means in just

10 short weeks, we will be celebrating our

one year anniversary!!!

The time has sure flown by, hasn't it?!

I love this DP from the UK company
Papermania (thank you Sarah).
The designs include the lamp
and the wallpaper background.
I layered Spellbinders Labels 4 die cuts
to form a dimensional frame.
And the bit of striped paper is from
Memory Box.
Speaking of Memory Box.....

Guess who is sponsoring the challenge this week?

One of my favorite companies for sure...

And look what you could win...

and that's not all....

So make sure you get on over to 

The Play Date Cafe.

Never played with us before?

Then you are gonna love it!

Go see what the

world's best design team

have put together to inspire you

with this week's 'color story'.

I'll be back a little later with a
big look at the brand new

Ippity Summer 2010 Collection!

A 'Virtual' Community Project

I finally had a couple of minutes to upload this

gigantic greeting card that I made for my

mom's 70th birthday.

She loves greens and peaches and

garden-themed things, so I thought this

DCWV 'Mariposa Collection' was

just right for her special greeting.

Along with the Prima 'bling' I added

extra sparkle with 'diamond' Stickles.

Then I sewed a 'binding' to 

hold it all together.

There were so many of you who had a

hand in this card and I want to thank you

for sharing your thoughts and

well-wishes with her.

 There were 5 very full pages!
To accommodate all the messages,
I formatted it in 8.5 x 11.

I used Papertrey Ink's 'Dot Spots'

 and butterflies from Sandylion

to add color to the inside pages.

Suffice to say, she was stunned and thrilled to read

all of your sweet greetings and.....

I think she liked the card a little too.  : )

Simple Little Details...

Whenever I find a verse I like, I try to find a few

ways to use it to make a little selection of cards

for when a need arises.

This is one of those verses.

Simple little details can change the whole look

while keeping the design the same.

This sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps.

Adding your own little embellishments and

borders can make all the difference in the world.

The border punch is from Martha Stewart.

Just shaping your edges to add interest is

a simple, but effective idea.

Whenever the verse is larger in it's perspective,

it's good to stay simple.

The additional images used were from:

(in order)

Inkadinkado

Memory Box

October Afternoon

Inkadinkado

Hope seeing these little note cards inspires you to

think simple.  Sometimes it's the most effective.

H{ippity} Hop & Sneak Peeks Day 2 with Ippity Stamps!

It's H{ippity} Hop Monday!

It's a great opportunity for you to find
inspiration from Ippity 'Chicks' and
Ippity Stamp lovers.

Stop over at

The Ippity Blog

to see the list of fabby girls who
are playing along this week.

I had such a great time creating this bright and cheerful greeting.
The sweet little birdhouse was cut from some fabby paper
I got when I went to CHA.  It's from Jillibean Soup.
I also used the Martha Stewart loop punch for added texture.

Here are the Ippity stamps I used.....

'What Matters Most'
(tree branches, sentiment, birdie, birdhouse post)

'Faith Blooms'
(flowers)

I love sharing these cheerful stamps

sets with you and I would love to be

your 'Ippity Chick'!

Order 'What Matters Most' this week

for only $20 (+ $5 priority mail postage)

and you can get 'Faith Blooms'

for only $3 !!!

That's $7 off the msrp

Just email me at julieranae@hotmail.com

and let me know you want this week's

'Ippity Double'

(I accept Paypal & postal & WalMart money orders)

and now for....

It's Release Week

for the Summer 2010 Collection.

Stop by Julie's Open Window

daily for 'sneak peeks' at the

new images and then on

Thursday, Aug 12th

you can place your order

with me for the new

summer images.

Here's a 'peek' for day 2...

I am 'standing by' to 

take your order  ; )

Sneak Peek Day One for Ippity Stamps!

Oh my goodness!

It's nearly time for the

Ippity New Release Party!

The Ippity 'Chicks' are so excited

about these new images.

I was able to touch and feel these fabby new

stamps recently when I dropped in at CHA.

This....is just the beginning!!!

Mark your calendar for

this Thursday, August 12th

for all kinds of fun and giveaways.

The Ippity 'Chicks' have not

been able to show projects showing

these new stamps quite yet, 

but the Ippity Design Team have...

So hop on over to the 

Ippity Blog and check out what the

design team have done with these

new images.

If you are interested in 

ordering any of these

new stamp sets,

just let me know.
You can email me at

julieranae@hotmail com

and I will be happy to get those for you! 

A Little Spooky Stamping

If you are looking for the

EtsyInspired Challenge,

click here!

Thought I would share with you a little

'spooky' stamping I've been doing.

I totally CASED this card when I was at

my 'not-so-local' scrapbooking store.

I was on a mission to pick up some of the new

fall stamps from The Memory Box collection

and I scored big time!

There was a card on display that used this 'lighting' technique

and I knew I wanted to re-create it.

This gorgeous paper is part of the Memory Box fall

collection.  I stamped the lamp post with kitty in a strategic

place on the paper and then proceeded to 'freehand'

the branches to go 'through' the light.

The moon with bats image (and the sentiment used below) 

are from Artful Inkables.

Here's another variation on the same theme...

Hope you enjoyed a little 'spookiness'.

I know we are still in the thick of summer,

but I just couldn't wait to have a little play

with this fantastic collection.

The Gang's 'Owl' Here! EtsyInspired #100

The day is finally here!

EtsyInspired Challenge #100!

I am so honored to be a guest designer with

this fabulous team for the month of August

and to kick it off with a

celebration this big is...well...big!

There are so many fabulous prizes to

be won this week by these fabby sponsors:

Unity Stamp Company

Lawn Fawn Stamps

Charleston Scrapbook Company

Limelight Papercrafts

May Arts

Softpencil Designs

Someone is going to win

100 items!

Let's see what my 'inspiration' was for this week

and then I will share with you how you could win!

The Etsy Store sponsor this week is

Cathy Walters.

She designs and creates amazing soldered pendants

and this one really grabbed my attention.

My little owl family come courtesy of

Kristen Powers Ink.

I love these little guys and I thought you might too!

You know this is one of my favorite border punches

from Martha Stewart.

So now how & what can you win?

First...we would love for you to play along

with us at EtsyInspired.  Stop by and check out

the challenge and play along.

You could win a fabulous pendant from

Cathy Walters and maybe even the

100 item giveaway!

Next...make a stop at each of the design team's

blogs and leave a comment for a chance to win

an additional prize from one of our sponsors.
Here's the EIC Design Team...

Ashley

De

Emily B.

Emily N.

Joy

Julie Ranae 

{that's me, of course}

Kerry

Savannah

Stephanie

Virginia

Here's what you could win from

Julie's Open Window courtesy of May Arts...

A grab bag a fabby ribbon!

Finally...to qualify for the 100 item giveaway,

you must play in the challenge.  The winner will be

chosen by random draw from the players who enter.

For all the details, click here and have fun! 

Singing a Happy Song...

I am in love with these stamps...plain and simple.

You will be seeing many of them used in a bunch

of my projects over the coming days as I have been

playing with them a lot.  So what did I use?

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps.

I mentioned a couple days ago that I recently started working 

with their design team and I am really happy 

with what I have done so far.

The tree trunks and the tiny bird are from one

of my all time favorite companies, Memory Box.

So why else am I singing a happy song?

Look at what arrived in my mailbox today

from my UK bestie, Sarah.....

here's another view....

I love this stamp set...

Sarah bought one for each of us : )

and how cool is it that this extra large sheet of

collage old 'documents' actually mentions

Rockford, Illinois

(which is where I live)

This sweet birdcage votive from one of my

favorite stores, John Lewis.

and finally, something Sarah and I

cannot live without.....

how cute is this little box?!

Not only all these goodies arrived, but stamps from some of

our upcoming sponsors from The Play Date Cafe.

What a fun mailbox day!

Now...don't forget...tomorrow is the

100th Challenge over at EtsyInspired and I am

honored to be a guest designer there for the

entire month of August.

So come play with us!