Newsy Tuesday

Hey there! We don't have a whole lot of news today, but we've got a few things to share with you today.

I finished the baby boy memory flip album I have been working on. It turned out SUPER cute and I really hope the new mom likes it. The story behind the album is that I reconnected with an old childhood friend via facebook recently. I really was better friends with her older sister when we were kids, but it's funny how a 3 year age difference isn't really that big of a deal when you're a grown-up... anyway, I digress. Her older sister recently had a baby boy and she asked me about the flip album. That's how the whole thing got rolling and now I have all the pieces cut out for another baby boy album and I'm hoping to do a couple of baby girl ones also. I'm planning on getting this album in the mail today on its way to its new home! =)

Last week my mom and I spent some time making some masculine-themed cards. We're planning on doing a masculine-theme SAS sometime within the next few months. It's hard to get your brain to think "masculine". I'm a girl! I love flowers and pretty things! These stretched my creativity, but it was a good challenge. Here are just a couple of the cards we made:

We're getting closer to being done with the preparation for the scrapbook put-together party for the upcoming baby. My husband and I (mainly I) finally decided on the spelling of the name we chose: Allison Grace. My husband didn't really care how it was spelled... I kept going back and forth between different spellings. =)

We have a couple of classes this week at Tumbleweed Rec. Center. A Creative Cards class and a CD scrapbook album. I'm sorry I don't have pics to share for these classes... I'll have to get them from Mom. =)

Anyway, that's the news for this week! Hope all of you are doing well and staying creative. Enjoy your day. =)

Sweet & Simple Monday

Make a set of sweet and simple gift tags perfect for a variety of occasions! These tags feature one of our favorite cardstock colors right now: Kraft. Kraft is so versatile and adds something extra to these gift tags. Of course, these tags would be perfectly fine using white cardstock... they would still look great!

1. Trim Kraft cardstock to 2-1/4"W x 4"H. Use tag corner punch on top corners to create the "tag" look.

2. Use medium floral image from Fifth Avenue Floral in Old Olive, Ruby Red or Rich Razzleberry to stamp on the bottom of the tag. (I stamped once and then also stamped again without inking up again to create a more subdued, faded look in the left-hand corner of the tag. This is optional.)

3. Stamp sentiment from Fresh Cuts in Chocolate Chip ink on upper right-side of tag.

4. Find the top center of tag and punch a hole.

You can use a variety of fibers to tie this tag onto your gift or bag. Some of our favorites are hemp twine and fine white crochet thread. Ribbon in various colors are also great!

Super simple and you can make a great looking set of tags in very little time! Hope you enjoyed today's project. Join us again next week for another sweet and simple Monday. =)

Supplies: Kraft cardstock, Fresh Cuts stamp set, Fifth Avenue stamp set, Old Olive classic ink, Ruby Red classic ink, Rich Razzleberry classic ink, Chocolate Chip classic ink, Tag Corner punch, hole punch.

Stampin' Up! supplies can be ordered through Heidi by clicking HERE. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at: twohappystampers@gmail.com

April's THS Color Challenge #3

Here's the colors for our color challenge this month! We're looking forward to seeing what you have to offer with these fun colors this month!

Our color challenge is open for the entire month of April, so you have plenty of time to play! This challenge is open to all of our artsy, craft friends. Whether you make cards, scrapbook, knit, paint, make jewelry, or anything else in between, we'd love to have you join us!

Our color challenge this month is: Cameo Coral, Night of Navy, Taken w/ Teal, and White (these are Stampin' Up! color names... use what you have, but try to keep it close). Make something creative using our color challenge and leave the url link to your creation in the comments at the end of this post or send us a picture of your inspired creation. We will choose 5 of the submissions to feature on our blog at the end of the challenge!

Sound fun? Join us!

Guidelines to participate:

- Use the colors in the challenge as a springboard for your creativity.

- Challenge ends Friday, April 30th @ midnight, Arizona time.

- Please keep submissions family friendly. =)

We're looking forward to seeing what you have to share with us! Let your friends know about our challenge, too! Have fun! =)

UPDATE: We recently figured out how to get the InLinkz feature to work, so if you are just joining us and haven't left your link in the comments yet, please try leaving it through InLinkz. Don't worry if you left your link already in the comments... it still counts! =)

Friday's Fresh Finds

It's Friday already! Wow, this week flew by and here it is already Friday! In addition, here we are in new month: April. Our weather here has been beautiful lately, but I know that the summer heat will be upon us before we know it. I've been encouraging the kids to spend time outside and take advantage of the weather, because pretty soon they'll be cooped up in the house with it being too hot to play outside.

With all that being said, our Fresh Finds theme this week is spring and garden-related items. Here are just a few of some wonderful items that caught my eye on Etsy recently! Enjoy! =)

Cherry Blossom Bangles from sophiapip - Someone on facebook shared a link to these and the photo caught my attention. Such a lovely piece! There's so many more lovely things in her shop, too! Lovely work. =)

Garden Tray from LynnWoodPorcelain - This piece is so happy and cute! Perfect for the new season! =)

Blooming Pillows from TwoYellowShoes - Okay, I am in love with these! Aren't they fun?! =)

Hair Garden Bobbies from TopStory - These are just beautiful! I love things like this, but then I can't figure out how to do my hair with them. I have jeweled hair things and bobbies that never look right when I put them in my hair. Call me accessory-challenged... I still love looking and dreaming, though. These make me want to try again... =)

Chalkboard Flower Pots from MaysHomemade - I thought these pots were such a cute idea, especially for herbs or something of that sort. Simply write with chalk on the pot what you've planted. Charming idea! =)

Crochet Flower Brooch from bysweetmom - I saw this on facebook also. It just caught my eye! Such a beautiful way to dress up a T-shirt or simple blouse. Lovely accessory! =)

I hope you're enjoying the spring season and all the loveliness that it brings. Have a wonderful Friday! Thanks for stopping by! =)

This & That Thursday

Color Challenge Participants

We had 6 participants this month in our color challenge! I think that's double from last month! =)

Since we only had 1 more than the 5 we said we would choose to feature, we're going to feature all of the participants as a thank you for their participation! We were excited to get a couple of paintings in the participation this month! Here are the submissions for this month's THS Color Challenge #2:

Kirsten Bailey used the color challenge to create this beautiful painting called "Embracing the Storm":

Karen Fisher created this fun collage piece:

Karin Morin, one of our local stamping buddies, made this cute card for our color challenge:

Nicole Corbett used the color challenge for her painting:

Kayla Hong made 3 cards using the color challenge:

Jacob Hong made this nice picture using the color challenge:

We'll be introducing this month's new color challenge soon, so be watching for that! Thanks to all of our participants! We're looking forward to seeing your wonderful creativity next month!

Have a great Thursday, everyone! =)

Wowzer! Wednesday

For today's Wowzer! Wednesday we are featuring the work of talented SU! Demo Jen Sannes. A couple of her projects this week caught my eye and I thought, "Why not? Let's just feature her on Wednesday!"

Here are Jen's Wowzer! projects that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did!

This lovely card by Jen Sannes is simply done and yet so beautiful! Visit her blog HERE for all the details about her card! I love how she added some interest to the background simply by embossing the cardstock. It makes the card so much more interesting without very much effort! Her use of the Vintage Vogue stamp set are beautiful on this card.

This little card by Jen Sannes opens to reveal a pocket to hold a tea bag! Isn't that darling?! Jen provides dimensions and basic directions HERE, so don't miss it! This would be perfect for a friend under the weather or just to let someone know you're thinking of them. I love the color combo Jen used and again, she did such a beautiful job with the Vintage Vogue stamp set on this card.

We hope you enjoyed this week's Wowzer! Wednesday. Get those stamps out and use them! You never know when you'll end up with a Wowzer! of your own! =D

April Newsletter is Posted

From Heidi...
Don't you love all the fun posts Adriel has come up with the last few weeks? I've enjoyed visiting our blog just to see what's new and fun!
We have been having beautiful warm weather the last few weeks. Kayla and Jacob were over today and we sat by the edge of the pool eating popsicles! I think it got up to almost 86 degrees today! The pool water is still cold, but just sitting by the pool's edge and eating our popsicles was almost as much fun as being in the pool. The kids kept sticking their hands in the water trying to imagine if they could stand the water's temp...they decided that it's still too cold to jump in.
Another thing I did today was get our April newsletter published. You can click here or scroll down to our newsletter button to view it. Happy Stamping and Crafting!

Newsy Tuesday

Here's what we've got that's new this week!

Adriel's card for the THS Color Challenge #2:

Remember those flowers I showed you that I made awhile back? I told you I was going to do something with them, remember? I decided to incorporate them into my card for this month's THS Color Challenge (which BTW, is open for more participation until midnight tomorrow!). I had a ton of fun with this card! More than that... TONS! =)

I mixed up some homemade shimmer mist using a small travel size hairspray container, some alcohol and white shimmer paint (shake, shake, shake and you've got your own shimmer mist). I masked the So Saffron CS background with 1/2" punched circles all over the CS in a polka dot pattern. I used a temporary adhesive to stick the circles on. Then I spritzed the CS with the shimmer mist, allowed it to dry, then removed the circles. I ended up with this fun shimmery, polka-dot background. It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but it's TONS of fun... you gotta try it! =) I also added even more texture by distressing the edges of the So Saffron CS with an edge distresser.

Like I said, it was tons of fun and I love how it turned out! =)

Here's a bunch of invitations to the preparation party (for the new baby coming soon). We made pocket invitations with the color combo of Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black and Whisper White. The sheer flowers are 3 layers of 5-petal punched vellum. Makes it a bit more delicate looking. =) We'll be sending these out soon! Obviously, I'm having a girl! I'm sure with all the pink and flowers it's hard to guess. =P We have decided on a name, but I can't decide how to spell it. When I do, I'll let you know what it is!!

I'm almost done with the baby boy flip album I was just getting started on last week. This project has turned out to not be as simple as I had initially thought it would be, but that's how it goes sometimes. There were measurements missing from the directions and some other info, so it was almost like starting from scratch at some points. At least now, the information is all complete (I think) and making another one won't be such a big deal. =)

I'm sure we'll be working this week on some new projects. I'm not exactly sure what at the moment! I guess I'll just have to surprise you and myself and save all the rest of the news for next week!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day! =)

Sweet & Simple Monday

Today's Sweet & Simple project is a cute mini note card that features designer paper and some heat embossing, but is very simple. You could use any printed paper along with a different stamped image for a similar effect and new look.

1. Fold a piece of 3" x 6" of Whisper White CS in half to form card base.

2. Rub Embossing Buddy over surface of a 3" x 3" piece of Designer Series Paper. Stamp floral image in VersaMark ink on lower right-hand corner of DSP. Sprinkle with White Embossing powder and set with Heat Tool.

3. Attach embossed 3" x 3" piece of Designer Series paper to card front with SNAIL adhesive.

4. On a small piece of Rich Razzleberry CS, stamp sentiment in VersaMark ink and sprinkle with White Embossing Powder. Set with Heat Tool. Punch out sentiment with Large Oval punch. Attach this to a punched Pale Plum CS Scallop Oval. Attach this to a punched Whisper White CS Wide Oval. Attach this entire piece to front of card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

5. Punch flowers out of Certainly Celery and Old Olive CS with Boho Blossoms punch. Layer and attach to oval sentiment with SNAIL adhesive. If desired, attach a small pearl to center of flower.

Supplies: Whisper White CS, Old Olive CS, Certainly Celery CS, Rich Razzleberry CS, Pale Plum CS, Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set, Fresh Cuts stamp set, VersaMark ink, White Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Heat Tool, Cottage Wall Designer Series Paper, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals.

All supplies can be ordered through Stampin' Up! by clicking HERE. If you need any help or have any questions, please feel free to email us @ twohappystampers@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by and we hope you enjoyed our Sweet & Simple Monday! Come back soon! =)

Happy Weekend!

It's the weekend! Yay!

On Monday it felt like the weekend should be here already. Ever have those days? Well, it's nice for me that this week went by rather quickly and the weekend ended up being here before I knew it! Love it when that happens! =)

Yesterday we worked on the invitations for the scrapbook party we plan on having in preparation for the new baby's arrival. My mom and I have been designing pages for the scrapbook and getting all the pieces cut out and ready for assembly. We'll have lots of helpers to assemble it and it will be a fun way to celebrate a new baby coming. =)

Here's Mary and my mom hard at working stamping sheets of Whisper White cardstock for the invitations.

We had quite an assembly line going. Kayla was punching flowers and folding cardstock... I didn't get a picture of her (or myself for that matter).

The invitation is a pocket card. The stamped Whisper White cardstock got trimmed down for the front of the pockets. The insert pulls out and that will have the information about the special event!

I used a fun color combination of Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Whisper White for these invitations. I haven't used Melon Mambo hardly at all this whole entire year, but it was a fun addition to this project.

If you're one of our stamping gals, be looking for one of these in your mailbox soon! I plan on having these sent out by the first of April! =)

Friday's Fresh Finds

From Adriel:

So I've got "baby" on my mind lately. I haven't really talked about it much on here, but I'm expecting again and I've got 10 weeks left to go! Yay! These last 2 months are usually the hardest... most uncomfortable, feeling enormous... but it's also exciting because you get to start accumulating your "baby" things. I've found some great "baby" things on Etsy that I wanted to share with you today.

Here's Friday's Fresh Finds! Enjoy! =)

White Chenille Floral Love Blanket from ablemabel. The print on this blanket is so cute and the blanket looks so soft and perfectly sized for a small person. There are many other wonderful handmade items in their shop!

Brand New Baby Starter Hair Accessory Pack from hblackberry. Yes, I'm having a girl! This set is so versatile with everything you would need for a baby girl's head (and hopefully hair!). They have plenty more varieties and styles to choose from in their shop!

Coupon Book for New Mommies from Polished Productions. This is such a creative gift idea and great for a new mom. They have more creative gift ideas in their shop!

City Blooms Diaper Clutch Wristlet from SaritaBaby. Very cute and a great way to keep things organized compactly for a quick run somewhere. They have really cute bibs in their shop, too!

Classy White with Black Flowers Nursing Cover from MyBabyCorner. I did the blanket cover with my other two children and I think something like this would make nursing easier. There are many other styles to choose from in their shop.

Soft and Cuddly Baby/Toddler Blanket by babytogo! Aren't those colors so pretty? Gorgeous blanket! Their shop has so many other cute baby things, too!

Round About Orchid Sleep Sack from TwiceAsNiceBoutique. This is such a great idea and they have many other patterns to choose from in their shop!

Etsy is an awesome place to find all kinds of handmade and unique items.

I hope you enjoyed the Fresh Finds! We'll have more Fresh Finds next week!

Wowzer! Wednesday

Today for our Wowzer! Wednesday blog feature, we're highlighting a couple of kids that "wowed" us.

Okay, so they happen to be related to us... closely... but we're not biased at all! ;-) Yah, right!

Anyway, Kayla and Jacob both decided to play along with us in our color challenge this month. They both did a wowzer of a job and they love it when we feature them on our blog, so we obliged them. =)

Here's Kayla hard at work for the color challenge.

She made 3 cards for the color challenge! Wowzer!! =)
Jacob used what remained from the supplies Kayla brought home and seriously went to work (hey, he was using SCRAPS!!).
He made this very nice picture... very creative!
The color challenge is still open and we'd love to see what you can create with the colors we've picked out. Click HERE to get all the details!

That's all for today, folks! Join us next week for another Wowzer! Wednesday where we'll be featuring more "wow" creativity and talent!

Newsy Tuesday

Here's what's new with the Two Happy Stampers this week!

We've got a couple new organizers going into our Etsy shop. One is for keeping track of birthdays and other special dates. Super cute and I love the bird on the front! =)

The other organizer is the same concept, except this one is a grocery/menu planning organizer. (I'm thinking I need one of these for myself!) The paper is nice and modern and looks great! I'm curious to see if anyone else will think this is as handy and practical as I do! =)

My mom and I have been working on page layouts for the album we plan on making in preparation for the new baby's arrival. We're going to have an album-making party in May and we'll need the helping hands of our stamping and crafting friends. We've prepped for some of the pages already, getting the paper cut and pieces sorted. My mom is even writing directions for her pages... she's something. I'm not that ambitious... I will be providing a template along with my pieces and I'm hoping that will be good enough. My mom has been using My Digital Studio to design her pages and has even printed some elements and paper for the album, so that is fun. Another great use of My Digital Studio!

Our 2nd Color Challenge is open until the end of this month. We've gotten a few entries... I'll be showing a couple more tomorrow on the blog. We've had two artists create paintings with the color challenge, so that has been neat to see artists do something other than a card with the colors. Anyway, if you are interested in participating, check out the details HERE!

I'm going to be working this week on getting a baby boy flip album done for a friend. I thought since I was making one, I might as well make two! I'll be putting the extra one in our Etsy shop, so be on the lookout for that when it's done! I'm using the cute Sweet Pea Designer Paper Stack from Stampin' Up! that is available in their current occasions mini catalog. I've got all my pieces cut and scored and ready to assemble... just need to sit down and put it together. =)

The colors for these albums are Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Taken w/ Teal, hints of Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie. I'm looking forward to getting them all put together and seeing how the finished product looks!

Something else that is news-worthy is that I started a new blog... it's like one day old. LOL! I wanted a place to share other things that I have a hard time finding a place for here. My new blog is called: Faith, Family, Food, & Fun. I hope you'll visit me over there and follow along for the ride! =)

We don't have any classes this coming week or two, but that is when we create new stuff for new classes! Check back soon to see what we've been cooking up! =)

Monday: Simple & Sweet

Sometimes you just need a card... FAST! It doesn't need to look like a million bucks (or that you spent a million hours on it)... it just needs to look nice and be simple and sweet. Today we're starting a blog feature that I hope to continue weekly: Monday: Simple & Sweet. Pretty self-explanatory, but to sum it up, we'll be featuring a simple and sweet card (or project) weekly on Monday with the list of supplies so you can make one, too!

Today's card uses only one stamp set and a small amount of supplies. The polka dot embossed background is optional and a plain piece of cardstock can be used instead for a card that still looks great! Here's our Simple & Sweet card for Monday this week.

1. Fold a 5.5" x 4.25" piece of Bermuda Bay CS in half to form card base. Round all corners. Set aside.

2. OPTIONAL: If desired, place a 3.75" x 5" piece of Very Vanilla CS in PERFECT POLKA DOTS TEXTURED IMPRESSIONS DIE and send through Sizzix Big Shot. Round all corners and attach to Bermuda Bay card front with SNAIL adhesive.

3. Stamp flower image from Wow Flowers stamp set on Very Vanilla CS in Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, and Pretty in Pink classic ink. Stamp round happy birthday image from Wow Flowers stamp set in Bermuda Bay on Very Vanilla CS. Punch out stamped images with 1-1/4" circle punch.

4. Punch out 1 Curly Label out of each: Chocolate Chip CS, Bermuda Bay CS, Pretty in Pink CS, and Old Olive CS. Attach Curly Label punched shapes to card front in a square pattern with SNAIL adhesive. Attach stamped and punched circles to corresponding colored curly labels with Stampin' Dimensionals.

5. Tie a small piece of 1/4" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon into a knot. Trim ends and attach to card front with a mini glue dot.

Simple and sweet, right? =)

Supplies: Bermuda Bay CS, Very Vanilla CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Old Olive CS, Pretty in Pink CS, 1/4" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain ribbon, 1-1/4" Circle punch, Curly Label punch, corner rounder (or choice), Wow Flowers stamp set, Pretty in Pink classic ink, Bermuda Bay classic ink, Chocolate Chip classic ink, Old Olive Classic ink, Mini Glue Dots, SNAIL adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions die (optional), Big Shot machine (optional).

All supplies can be ordered by clicking HERE. If you need any help or have any questions, please feel free to email us @ twohappystampers@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful Monday and a great week! =)

More Kraft!

From Heidi...I've been admiring all of the Lace Medallion cards out there, so I wanted to make one, too! Here's my take on this fun technique. I thought this would be a fun technique to add to April's newsletter, so I'll be working on a tutorial for next month. Thanks for looking!

Our Love of Kraft!

From Adriel:

My mom and I were talking the other day about how much we love the color "kraft". It's so versatile and goes with so many colors. It's one of those colors that is a "go-to" when you don't know where else to start. It doesn't look cheap... it's somewhat trendy. You can keep it plain or dress it up... it looks fabulous either way. If I was energetic enough, I would put my creative writing to practice and write an Ode to Kraft... but I'm not, so I won't make you suffer either. ;-) I find that I have to almost force myself to use another color and I really tried to with these cards, but my mom and I both agreed that Kraft was the only acceptable card base for these lovely and simple stamped images.

I used inks and a blender pen to give them a "water colored" look... this stamped image from Stampin' Up's Asian Artistry is just gorgeous and looks even more incredible with a bit of color. I spent an afternoon a couple of weeks ago just coloring away... it was somewhat relaxing even. Using the blender pen makes me feel like the artist that I'm not! =)

So what color are you hooked on right now? I'd love to know... it might help me try something new and get out of my rut! =D