Sneak Peek Number 2

Here is the second card I created using the new Valentines Hanna set. I also utilized the Hanna sentiment stamp. What do you do for your sweetie........how do you sow the seeds of love?

Flowers, chocolates, Promises you don't intend to keep? Anyone know the movie line that is from?

This is a very simple layout - the main images are colored with copics. A cute little prima flower in the bottom corner. This Valentines Hanna set is so cute and so versatile...you can use the teddy bear for baby cards, or like tomorrow's sneak peek....well, stay tuned to see what I create...

Sneak Peek! Hanna Valentines Stamps!

I love the versatility of the Hanna Stamps!

Look how cute this little lady is. Simple card with the Hanna Sentiment set "Hello" in the corner.

FS47:Dlounds

Here is my card - sorry - I have a horrible flu bug, not so chatty. Here is my card. I hope to add more later:

Highlights of 2007

One of the highlights of this past year was attending my brother's wedding in NC in September. Prior to the rehearsal dinner, everyone at the wedding got to have their photos taken on the beach (courtesy of the bride and groom). Here are some of my favorites !

the whole gang

my parents, my brothers and sisters

my family

the kids

the kiss

Daddy's little girl

my baby

Todd & Beth

Sophie & Xavier

Sophie G

Merry Christmas

I wanted to wish a VERY Merry Christmas to everyone! May you enjoy the day doing what you love, with those whom you love! I have spent the day surrounded by my whole family and it has been extremely wonderful!!!

FS46: #1artist4highhopes

Wow - Is that a MOUTHFUL of an SCS name OR WHAT? It is much easier for me to say Crissy! Hey Crissy! I really like Crissy's style. Her coloring is just devine, descrumptious and delicious. I knew I could not color like her...NO way, NO how! Back to the drawing board....How am I going to case a coloring phenom? HOW? Well, avoid coloring. LOL!

This is the card which I cased. Here is my version:

I know, there is no moose. But what I did was focus on her layout and the circles, stripes. I used basic grey paper (can YOU BELIEVE that I cut up THAT MUCH Basic Grey?) I used the moose layout and used a white base, the ruby red on top of the base (with a little bit of sponging). I used some of the BG striped paper, and the circle papers just like Crissy used. My colors are just very different. I took the sentiment and stamped it in black pallete noir ink along the side. The main image could not foot the bill for coloring, so I used watercolor paper and my markers, colored directly on the stamp with the markers and spritzed it with a fine mist. I pressed the image on the watercolor paper and then let it dry. I then took a spritz of gold glimmer mist and used my aquapainter to go over the image with the glimmer mist. A dab here, a dab there. Once it was REALLY dry, I went with the fine point of my marker and edged the watercolored image that had really been overmisted. I gave that image a much firmer boundry, which was cleaner looking in my opinion. I decided to add a sentiment to the bottom of the main image. Then I used some brads along the main image (in lieu of the photo turns). It needed more balance, so I added two more brads to the lower corner. This is a sympathy card for a dear friend who lost her mum. I am so behind on everything, but I made the time during this busy season to get a card out to her (albeit late) to let her know I love her.


SHOPPING:
all my favorite places to shop are on my sidebar
Stamps: SU! (garden silhouettes, so many sayings)
Paper: white, ruby red, old olive (SU), watercoloring paper (michaels), Basic Grey(Epaperie)
ink: SU! markers (old olive, ruby red, always artichoke, basic black)
Misc: Brads (SU!), aquapainter (SU), glimmermist (antique gold, Epaperie)

Baby Genevieve

wrapped in swaddling clothes, this was her after the pagent. She has recently discovered her tongue! LOL!

Holiday Gifts

Here is the final version of the teacher's gifts which I gave this year:

These were simply brown paper bags, hand stamped with the santa from Papertrey ink. I put the little present inside. Real red marker colored it in and then the white Sharpie poster paint pen (white) for the beard and trim. I spritzed the bags with Holly Berry glimmer mist (available for a limited time at Epaperie). I made the tags with real red cardstock, the papertrey ink sentiment (stamped in black pallete noir) and a white snowflake in white craft ink. I trimmed the one end of the tag with a decorative edge scissor and used the SU! tag corner punch on the other end. Easy fun tags. Bags were topped with red MayArts ribbon (available from Starlitstudio).

Inside the bags, each teacher got a bag of Ghirardelli chocolates, plus a homemade cd case (hand stamped -sorry, forgot the photo of that) with the Josh Groban Noel cd. Each teacher also got an ornament (made by the kids). These ornaments were so easy (and fun) to make. Each child got to select the colors which they wanted to use. Some chose blues, silver and purple. Others chose traditional reds and greens with gold. No matter what the color combo, they came out so pretty.

Michael's ornaments with ranger alcohol inks, gold or silver foil pen on edges, topped with ribbon and cord.

Pagent

Last Sunday (which seems like a month ago) was a whirlwind of a day. It started out with snow (and lots of it!!) - snow, then ice, then more snow! It was wonderfully beautiful, but not fun to drive in!

We had our church's Christmas Pagent on Sunday during the late service. This year 5 out of 6 Silaika Children participated in the pagent. It was a really nice event at the church. The audience was small due to the weather, but I was proud to watch all the children participate. Here are some photos of my crew:

Xavier, the angel. His halo was a little itchy!

Victoria, the sheep. She costume was not her favorite (she wanted to be a shepherd).

Isabella, also an angel. Not an itchy halo for her!

Karen was Mary and Genevieve was Baby Jesus. They both did a phenomenal job!

FS45: LZappa

It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages boxes, or bags!

And he puzzled and puzzled, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more."

Who else has a sore Puzzler? I am telling you, we are coming down to crunch time! The hustle and bustle of the season, the crowds, the grumpy people really put the Bah in the Bah Humbug this time of year. It is really time to sit down and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. We are very religious and in lieu of losing some of you readers, let me suffice to say that we do celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday, not a commercial venture with hundreds of presents and crazy piles of gifts under the tree. With the amount of children Todd and I have, it would be unruly! Years ago, we decided to limit the gifts and focus on family. This year, one of Todd's clients graciously offered to have a holiday dinner catered for our family. I was absolutely flabbergasted! What an amazingly generous gift! So last night, we had a dinner prepared for us at our favorite Italian eatery (Bellini's of Clifton Park). The entrees were descrumptious! We all sat down and had a nice, quiet evening meal. Then I got the children dressed in their Sunday best and we went to see Annie at the small theatre in Schenectady. Karen's best friend Gabby (aka Ellie) is Pepper in the production. So is our friend Julia (who plays Kate). What a great show!
holiday dinner


Back to the card: This is the card I am sending to the people who gave us the holiday dinner. What a wonderful meal. It reminds me of the above Grinch quote. It doesn't have to come in a package (although the take out did come in a bag in those cute little containers)....it is so much more....the family memory of last night was priceless.

Here is my card:
This week's featured stamper is Lisa Zappa. If you are not familiar with her, you better get familiar soon! She is one of those peeps taking the stamping world by STORM! She is on the Hanna Stamps design team and is also on the Crafty Secrets design team. Not too shabby. AND SPEAKING OF SHABBY - check out her blog ShabbyChicJunk. Remember the Hurricane Katrina Raffle On SCS? Lisa was the person who organized the raffle and we raised THOUSANDS of dollars for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Lisa is now just shabbifying the holidays and everything she touches turns shabbilicous! Check her out!


I used Lisa Zappa's card design from this card. I changed the colors and ribbon. I used a pencil eraser on kraft with white craft ink in lieu of patterned paper, I used the PTI select white on the bottom with pallete noir ink to create the patterned paper on the bottom. The ribbon rolls are one stamp, repeatedly placed on the white cardstock. I threw in a few scissors (separate stamp in the set) here and there. Then I colored the bottom with copics and sakura stardust, spritzed with the SU! spritzer and real red marker. Red ribbon (starlitstudio) tied with a Val Stangle knot. The main image is colored with copics and then I went over the red ribbon on the package with the sakura stardust. Simple card, just a lot of coloring.


Shopping:
paper: kraft, real red (SU!), white (PTI)
ink: pallete noir black, copics (Epaperie), white craft (su)
misc: sakura stardust (Epaperie), ribbon (starlitstudio), nestabilities (Ellen Hutson LLC)
(all links on my sidebar)

TreeHouse

My Friend, and fellow Hanna Stamps Design Team Member, Ashley Bowen just started her own stamp company - TREEHOUSE STAMPS. You HAVE to check out the cute turtle! GOOD LUCK Ashley! Break a Leg (in a good way...not like falling on the ice or anything!)....

Hanna Thank You Note

Here is the stamp I made with some leftover Stamp-a-stack supplies and the new Hanna set. I used the new Hanna sentiment (Thank you) set and Perfect gift

Base is kraft paper with shimmery white atop it (stamped with the Snowflake spot). I then used a piece of wasabi pierced with my pokey stick - what is that thing called? The main image is a plethora of gifts from the new Hanna set. They are colored with copics and the red is colored with the new copic glitter pens (get yours at Epaperie). Ribbon is Cindyribbon (red sheer polkadot). Simple way to use up some of my scraps from the stamp a stack!

Shopping:
Things Hanna would say & Perfect Package (Hanna Stamps)
Snowflake Spot (SU!)
Paper (SU!) - wasabi, red, kraft, shimmery white, white (Papertrey)
Ink - pallete noire black, white craft, real red, celery, wasabi
Misc: Copics (epaperie), cindyribbon (starlitstudio), Copic (glitter)

Piano Teacher Gift

This is what I made for Miss Dolly, our piano teacher. She put up with Xavier for a few months (needless to say, he didn't make it to the rehearsal, but he may try again next year). The girls adore her....

Idea inspired by Cindy (starlitstudio). I used a large Fabriano to create a pocket (fold large fabriano at pre-folded crease, then fold down one side at 1/2 inch, push brad through to create a pocket. Stamp on outside. Place stamped cards and envies inside (approximately 6-8 cards/envies).
I stamped with the Elegant notes from SU! and then spritzed the cards with glimmer mist (silver). I tied a cindyribbon (blue) on the pocket to add some more blue to the project (you can never have enough blue {grin}, right?)

Ornament is a ceramic white ornament from Michael's. Don't bother to find them in Clifton Park (I bought them out, sorry). I used Adirondack Alcohol inks in blues and silver and pounced the color on the tree. edged it with silver leaf pen and then tied some blue ribbon and silver cord to the ornament to finish it off. Based on an ornament my upline Lana sent to me!

Close up of ornament.

Shopping:

paper - fabrianos - starlitstudio
ink - SU (cards), Ranger Adirondack Alcohol inks (starlitstudio & epaperie),
silver glimmer mist (epaperie)
ribbon - cindyribbon, cord (SU! silver - retired)
misc: brads, silver foil pen, ornament (michaels)

Perfect Gift

Some people really want to know what happened to that woman (the younger one) at City Hall. I swear I didn't stick around to find out (kicking self now), but I would like to believe that she found what makes her heart fill with joy. I have never experienced not knowing who my parents are, so I don't know the pain she may (or may not) be enduring. I do want to think that she is very happy with her family (she has a beautiful daughter and a kind loving sister). She also might have found another sister, so that is kewl too! I guess that is her perfect gift this holiday season!

Here is my first card with the new Hanna release "Perfect Gift". Hey PERFECT GIFT on the mind I guess.

My heart lept with Joy when my Hanna package arrived in the mail this week. This is an ADORABLE set. I used the bow from the set with white craft and stamped randomly on the regal background piece. I used some old (recognize it) Stampin' Up! designer paper. HA! I swear I will never in my lifetime use all the designer paper I have in my stash. Can you believe I didn't turn to my trusty costco slab of designer paper! HUSH! Hanna is stamped with pallete noir black and colored in with copics. I did some paper piercing (the gift and her socks). I like her socks, like to think they are warm fuzzy designer socks. It is cold out and sitting on the floor REQUIRES fuzzy designer socks. I also think that Hanna is Da BOMB in her Regal shirt with sparkle collar. I used sakura stardust to bling-ify her collar. She is wearing her new jeans...they are comfy jeans, so she is able to sit criss-cross-applesauce. She is using some purdy chocolate chip ribbon to wrap her present. What is in the box? Hmmm! Maybe some stamps? Some HANNA STAMPS???? Maybe the new sentiment set!?!?! I also did some faux stitching along the outside of the regal. Very simple design. A pink (cindyribbon) sheer polkadot ribbon is tied with a very simple knot (ala Val Stangle). Nestability rectangle with embossed edge is a fun focal point on this design. I also made a dash-doodle border around Hanna. The sentiment is stamped in close to cocoa and placed in the bottom corner, mounted on a scrap of close to cocoa.

What do you think? Be sure to check out the other designer's blogs - to see their variation of Miss Hanna!

Shopping:

Perfect Gift Hanna (Available December 14) at http://www.hannastamps.com
Paper: SU! Regal Rose, designer paper (retired)
Ink: Pallete Noir and Copics (see sidebar for epaperie or hanna stamps store)
misc: paper piercing tool, sakura stardust, cindyribbon (starlitstudio), nestabilities (soon to be available at hannastamps!)

Surreal Experience at City Hall

I took a ride over to City hall yesterday to grab a copy of my birth certificate for my passport. Todd and I are getting passports because we are going on a little trip....I am keeping it under wraps until I show my Hanna stamp which will reveal our location....Needless to say, I am so excited I could SHOUT from the Mountain Top!

Back to City Hall. I haven't been inside since 1993, when I had to get my marriage certificate. Prior to that, it was 1985, when I got my birth certificate. At that time, I was 16 and getting ready to travel abroad to Germany with my high school. I went in and discovered that my name was not Beth Erin Shopmyer, it was in fact BETHANN Erin Shopmyer. You see, my mother, being 100% Irish, originally named me Beth Ann, but decided the next day that she wanted to change the Ann to Erin. No one ever deleted Ann - so I got a whole new name! I WAS STOKED! UBERSTOKED! I had a whole new identity!

Fast forward to yesterday. There were two relatively young women at the desk at Vital Records. One was in her 40s, the other (her sister) was 38 (I know this because she announced her age and lots of other personal information during my short visit to Vital Records) . She had her young (maybe 20 month old) daughter with her. The daughter was sitting nice and quiet on the chair in the office while these two sisters filled out the form to obtain a copy of their birth certificate. The older sister went first. She was explaining the spelling error in her middle name. The clerk punched in a few keys and announced "You are in here...." - the older sister was excited....but the excitement died down when the printed copy was placed in front of her. 'Nope, No father is listed" she exclaimed! The younger sister embraced her sweetly and said, "I'm NEXT!"
The second sister went, and announced that she couldn't wait to see if she had a 'daddy' listed. She opened her wallet, took out a recipe for Peanut Butter balls (she had printed from the Internet) and handed it to her sister with a glimmer of excitement! She turned back to the clerk and exclaimed, "Mom was a dirty girl! She had four kids. My brother died a few years ago, and
we never knew who our dad was. Mom died 30 years ago, so we will never know!" Poor girl was 8 when her mom died, I thought. She turned to her daughter, who was sitting so quitely on the chair. "Don't worry! We know who your daddy is sweetie!"

I was now eager with anticipation, easily getting sucked into the history of this family...."Well, there is a FATHER listed on yours!" said the clerk! I was giddy. The sisters were standing next to me at the counter, and kept engaging me in the process! Let me tell you, the excitement was contagious! "REALLY? WHO IS IT?" asked the younger sister. "You will see in a minute" replied the clerk. I held my breath! I was so excited! The clerk haded the news over to the younger sister who exclaimed "RAY So&So!!!" The buzz was deafening. Could Ray have been both their daddy? Ray, do we know that Ray?

The elated moment passed quickly when younger sister scanned the document and noticed that the name on the birth certificate was NOT HERS, but an UNKNOWN SISTER! Quickly, younger sister jotted down the father's name and the sister's name. The clerk went back to work, looking for the correct document, apologizing profusely! "A sister?" asked the older sister! "Maybe she has a better recipe for Peanut Butter Balls!" said the younger. "I told you she was a dirty girl!" said the older one!

The second clerk handed me my documents and I had no reason to stick around and see the end to the Who's your daddy game ....I wanted to stay, but felt just a little like a voyeurist! "Good Luck!" I called out, and left the office...

"Thanks!", the Sisters Echoed!

I looked at the papers in my hand. My vital documents. My birth certificate and my marriage certificate. Both times, I got a new name. It wasn't as exciting as finding out who my biological father was....he was the same awesome dad who had been there for me all my life. But there is always some excitement in Vital Records!

Simple Thank You Notes....

Sometimes I get really far behind! The girls are very late with sending out their thank you notes, so I created a pile of them this weekend (and by pile, I mean 20). These are made with the Kitchen Sink Stamps Happy Birthday Cupcake set and the Never at a Loss 4 Words set. The base is Taken with Teal (Stampin' Up!). I used a simple 5.5x4.25 card base and stamped the background with white craft ink. There are several flowers in the Happy Birthday Cupcake set, which shows the versatility of this set. The combinations are endless (well, not endless, but with several flowers, you can really create an amazing array of floral backgrounds AND main images for your cards). So the background is randomly stamped with the flowers from the Happy Birthday Cupcake set. I placed all the flowers on my acrylic block and arranged them so that I could make a neat pattern on the cardstock by just rotating the block 45 degrees between inking. The main sentiment is on a piece of whisper white paper, punched with a scalloped square punch. What is neat about using acrylic stamps, you don't have to worry about stamping first, THEN punching, because you can SEE EXACTLY where the ink is going to go on the paper. I stamped Thank You (from Never at a Loss 4 Words) with chocolate chip ink on the punched piece of whisper white paper (Stampin Up!). I then added some of the flowers (Happy birthday Cupcake) in taken with teal ink to the white cardstock. The edges were sponged with Teal ink. I used some brown sheer polkadot ribbon (Cindy, Starlitstudio) to the card, tied a simple knot and then added the square sentiment atop the ribbon. I had an assembly line going with my 2 1/2 year old Sophie. I would glue (I like using the Scotch quick drying adhesive) and Sophie would put her hand on the card to hold it down for a few moments until it dried. She grinned away when I told her she was doing a GREAT job!

The Happy Birthday Cupcake set is now available at Kitchen Sink Stamps.

Shopping List:
Stamps: Happy Birthday Cupcake, Never at a Loss for Words (Kitchen Sink Stamps)
Ink: White Craft, Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Paper: Taken with Teal, Whisper White (SU!)
Accessories: Ribbon (Starlitstudio), Scalloped Square Punch, daubers

Just SAY IT!

Well, after much input from the design team and a little silliness, Kristi settled on 28 sayings to go with the Hanna stamps! The set will be released on Friday, December 14. The kewl-est thing, the sentiments ALL FIT inside the Stampin' Up! word window punch. That is SO KEWL! I cannot wait to get my hands on these new stamps. I have seen what the international ladies have done - and I am giddy with anticipation!!!! Stay tuned for my first sneak peek later this week!

In the meantime, you can check out the samples on the pages of the other design team members following THIS LINK.

Happy Birthday Cupcake

Here is a card I made with the Kitchen Sink Stamps Happy Birthday Cupcake set.
What a FUN set!

This card was made with a more masculine feel. I have a hard time making boy cards. This one used some brown, saffron, blue and cream to give that more manly feel. The paper is from my costco slab. I love that slab. I have used so much of that slab this year. The polkadots and stripes side by side on this 5x5 card look so interesting. I added the circle main image with the circle/cupcake image and colored it in with Copic markers. The sentiment in the bottom corner was stamped on a punched out piece of blue cardstock (brocade) and then mounted and trimmed on brown cardstock. Polka dot ribbon isn't really masculine, but it is brown, and has the polka-dots, which pulls the project together.
Why do I like this set so much? Wait until you see tomorrow's project....

FS44: Oh Lil!!!!

I am not sure why she has the username LilLuvsStampin on SCS. I cannot wait to find out. What I do know is that I love that Charlene loves stamping. She is awesome at it! This is the CARD which she made. I fell in love with it - loved the colors, the homemade patterned paper. I had to try my hand at it!

First, I selected some of my new Kitchen Sink Stamps. I selected two Kitchen Sink Stamp sets: backgrounds & borders and Never at a loss for words. For the card, I started out with a garden green base. I dry pressure embossed it with the cuttlebug folder D'vine swirls. I used very vanilla paper and stamped with vanilla craft ink with some of the flourishes from Backgrounds & Borders. I spritzed the paper with silver glimmer mist and then let it dry. I sponged the dry paper with bravo, not quite navy and garden green ink (using daubers). I mounted the "patterned paper" on the green base. I used nestability dies to cut out the main image. The swirl flourish from Backgrounds & borders was stamped on the main image in garden green. I used the snowflake images in bravo burgundy and used the sentiment ('tis the season) in bravo. Instead of the homemade brads which Charlene made, I added some CindyRibbon. I mounted the main image with dimensionals. I also added some sakura stardust to the main swirly flourish. Just a wee bit 'o bling!


What do you think?

Shopping List:
(links in sidebar)

Paper & Ink: Garden Green, Bravo Burgundy, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps (background & borders, never at a loss 4 words)
Misc: cuttlebug A2 Devine Swirls, sakura stardust, glimmer mist (silver) from Eclecticpaperie.
Cindyribbon (Starlitstudio)

Design Team Pages

Feeling REALLY Famous now!! LOL I promise I won't let it go to my head.

Here is the Kitchen Sink Stamps DESIGNER PAGE and MY PAGE is also up and running.

Hanna's Design Team Page is also up and running!

What do you think?

One Photo.........

Made from two - can you tell?

The problem is that one didn't want to wear white, one wanted to wear red. One was overtired from church, one really needed a nap, one likes to blink when her photo is taken....

AHHHH!

With the magic of adobe - I fixed one photo with another....I won't tell you who I fixed...can you guess?
This is the final version.

These are from Winkflash - they are on sale .23 cents each! (they are 5x7s and they come with envelopes!)
http://www.winkflash.com
HLDY27 is the coupon code

No way I can hand stamp 350 cards!

Holiday Decorating!

My new BFF (Nichole Heady) posted the other day about decorating for the holiday. She posted a photo of a beautiful ornament which inspires her.
One of my favorite ornaments is one which my upline sent to me. It is amazing. An ornament from Michaels (white), which was altered with alcohol inks. She used the gold leaf pen on the outside and tied it on top with a beautiful sheer ribbon and gold cord. This is the most elegant, yet understated item on the tree. It holds special meaning for me because my Upline (Lana) is such an important part of my life. She has introduced me to so many of my great online buddies. More importantly, she is one of those people who has been my biggest supporter. She has made me such a great stamper, given me so many ideas over the years. I adore her and I love putting this decoration on the tree to help me recall the friends which I don't always see in person, yet they are in my heart!

Todd and I did a little decorating Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have been slowly putting items out. Last weekend, we put up the outdoor decorations and the Christmas tree (nekid - just lights) - and this past Friday night, we decorated the tree with the kids. Here is Xavier helping out. What a difference one year makes. Last year he broke more than he put on the tree.

Xavier decorating

Victoria decorating
Karen decorating

Sophie looks at the ornaments close up!

Putting the Angel atop the tree is the big honor. With so many kids, we have to have two do this job. This year, Xavier and Karen got to top off the tree. Here they are adding one of the final touches.

After the angel is up, Todd hides the pickle ornaments. For some reason, we have 2 pickles. So the kids turn away, shut their eyes and Todd places the pickles in the trees. Since we are never home on Christmas, we let them find the ornaments as soon as they are hidden. This year Xavier and Bella won. For a time, Xavier was crawling around the tree and he looked like the Grinch, slithering about the base of the tree.
Pickles FOUND!

My six-pack on Friday night. They all willingly let me take their photos. Although they were fighting about who gets to hold the baby! Bella won!

Todd holds Genevieve and they inspect the completed tree.
Another photo in front of the fireplace.

How cute is this hat? It somes with a matching jacket! To DIE FOR! Genevieve got this as a gift from cousins for her christening. I am glad because the sweet lil' thang didn't have a winter coat (she is off sizes from the rest of the gang).

What have you been doing for the holidays? What special or unusual traditions do you have?

FS43: Rose Ann

Aka CUTTERSCALLOUS

I love Rose Ann's blog Paperdelightz! The thing about RoseAnn - she is always so sweet and kind. I see her comments all the time. Not only that, she is a very good stamper. Her designs are wonderful. Check out her gallery HERE

Here is my card



It was based on Rose Ann's card Give thanks. I changed the colors, kept most of the layout the same, except the main image, which went from a square to a circle. I used lots of sakura stardust and some stickles on the image. The main image was created with nestabilities and a marvy punch. I stamped the image in black, then stamped the candle on pumpkin pie, stamped the image again on the designer paper and cut both those out, mounted it on the main image and colored it with sakura stardust. The "icing" is yellow with a TON of stickles on it. I used the copics on the brads to make them more "pumpkin" color. The make a wish and the swirl are also part of the happy birthday cupcake set. Check out Kitchen Sink Stamps for this new set! It is great!

Shopping list: (all stores are on my sidebar)
stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps (Happy Birthday Cupcake)
ink: pallete noir black (epaperie)
paper: SU! (whisper white and bashful blue) and costco (WA)
ribbon from Starlitstudio
Sakura stardust from Epaperie or Starliststudio
punches from SU!
brads from SU!
Copics & cuttlebug folder from Epaperie