I'm in May Flaum's new class the Curious Scrapbooker's Field Guide at BigPictureClasses. The assignment for this week was to use an ink pad or a stamp that you've rarely or never used before. I have some ink pads that I have won in challenges and one of those is this bright neon pink InkXpressions ink pad. I had no idea how to use it. Recentely, I've heard that neon colors are really popular with kids. So, making a birthday card for my niece in law who's going to be 11 years old in August (yes, I like to prepare the cards in good time LOL!) I realized that using some neon colors would probably be perfect! So, for the first time, I opened the lid to the neon pink ink pad. Oh, my eyes, my eyes! It was BRIGHT! LOL!

I grabbed the Unity Itty Bitty Stamp called Live Laugh Love Girl, that I bought with my nieces in mind but never got around to use until now. The ink pad was a little bit dry (I suppose that's why they gave it away as a prize. Ha! ;), but using all my strength I got it to work good enough. I also used the brand new Inkadinkado mini clear stamp set Positive Pop for stamping the Shine circle in the lower right corner, and then I edged it with some pink glitter glue from Studio G/Hampton Arts. I bought a load of those new mini stamp sets. They are perfect for journaling, smashbooking, cardmaking... More about those stamp sets later.

For the background, I used some specialty paper scraps in neon colors. I love those papers with the crocodile skin embossed pattern! I found them in a craft store some time ago and they are not acid free so they're all right to use for cards. I cut out a couple of shapes from the Cha Cha paper from American Crafts' Margarita collection. It's from last summer, and I have used pieces from that collection for so many cards. I love it! I put a pink glittery brad in the center of one of those pieces and adhered the stamped and stickled Shine circle on top of the other one.

I also added some accents from House of 3/Pink Paislee's Soiree collection to the card. Those die cuts are from the Mini Notes & Labels pack. Soiree is a collection that I am hoarding because I love it so much and I use it all the time. My Project Life album will be made from all kinds of House of 3/Rhonna Farrer/Heidi Swapp collections and designs! I adore those girls' designs!!

I put it all together with foam tabs for dimension and finally I added some bling with some clear rhinestone stickers. I was very pleased with the result and, now that I've started to use those bright and neon colors, I am hooked! Expect to see more bright and happy colored projects from me! :)

Finally, a note on those new Inkadinkado mini stamp sets. As I said, I've picked up almost all of the different sets because their fun and inexpensive and perfect for my smash book, inspiration notes, project life and cards. Scrapbook.com have all of the sets for only $1.99 per stamp set, and they are really good quality for clear stamps. They feel almost as good as the ones from Technique Tuesday. Here are some of my favorite sets:

I made the digital card above with elements from Rhonna Designs. And, because I seem to have loads of crafty energy this particular Valentine's, I dressed a heart shaped wreath with Baby's Breath for our kitchen cabinet. Now, I'm off to prep the romantic evening! :)

This is a Valentine's card that is quick and easy to make. I stamped a border with a set of 6 small Laura Ashley collage stamps that I found on a sale recently, using Barn Door and Spun Sugar Distress Ink pads. I die cut a couple of hearts with Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Movers & Shapers Mini Hearts Set, and colored the edges with Barn Door Distress Ink pad. The paper I used is from the Lime Twist collection from MME, called Hello Zig. And am I not being amazingly trendy using a chevron pattern? LOL!

I placed the hearts with foam tabs over a crocheted doily (I used a big glue dot for that) and blinged the card with Doodlebug Mini Jewels (the red Ladybug color) and some rhinestone hearts that I found at a local craft store. All this took me under an hour, which is super fast for a slow scrapbooker and cardmaker like me. 

As a background for the photo, I used another paper from My Mind's Eye. It's Numbers Grid from the Love Me collection and I'll have to say that it is my favorite Valentines paper for 2012! 

I saw a flower shop selling bunch of white painted twigs with hearts on them, for Valentine's Day. Since I already have some white painted twigs left from Christmas, I figured I could make it myself. 

I punched hearts from pink and red cardstock, but I wanted to add some white glitter to make the hearts a bit frosted. I experimented with different kinds of glitter and glue.

I noticed that a glue pen and Martha Stewart's Carrara Marble Glitter was the prettiest combination, and with the glue pen the glitter really stuck to the hearts and didn't come off after drying. A regular glue stick was not enough to make the glitter stay in place, and glossy accents made the glitter into a gluey blob.

To finish it up, I just placed a glue dot on the back on each heart and adhered it to the twigs. Super easy, and so pretty for Valentine's Day. 

It's time for the successful True Scrap event, hosted by Lain Ehmann! This time it will be in April and registration begins on March 1. Click here to view the details on this year's True Scrap program and teachers!

And here's the wonderful news: If you sign up for the True Scrap 3 Early Notification e-mail list on that page, you will get an e-mail with a discount code that gives you 30 % off any of the individual classes from True Scrap 1! So if you've never heard of True Scrap or tried it before, this is a great opportunity to check it out by taking one of the classes for only $6.99!

You may of course choose any of the individual classes from True Scrap 1, but if you are a stamper I can recommend the Stamping Secrets class with Jennifer McGuire. I learned several new techniques from that video! :)

This garland (above) is made out of hundreds of small jingling bells. I found it in a store before Christmas, and I put it in the kitchen window with winter and holiday ornaments. Christmas is over and I found a new use for the garland as a home decor for Valentine's. I dressed the garland with sprigs of Baby's Breath and decorated seven wooden heart shapes that I found at a local craft store (below). For the decoration, I used colors and products in my scrapbooking stash. Scroll down for more detailed pics and instructions.

Below are more detailed pics of those wooden hearts and instructions for how to decorate them.

First, I colored the wooden heart shapes with Glimmer Mist. I also tried coloring a couple of the hearts with Distress Stains (Spun Sugar, Fired Brick) and they turned out fine and weren't as shimmering as the misted ones, so I guess it's a matter of taste which type of color you want to use.

I colored the edges with a Distress ink pad (Fired Brick) and I also used Distress ink (Fired Brick, Walnut Stain and Worn Lipstick) for stamping on the hearts when the color had dried. All the stamped images are from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Shabby French stamp set (image below).

On some of the hearts, I added some tissue tape and Glimmer Glaze (Flirty and Pink Lady) or Glimmer Glam (Big Apple) to get extra effects. I also added some white paint with the Picket Fence Distress Stain.

To finish, I blinged some of the hearts with pearl and rhinestone stickers (Doodlebug and Kaisercraft), and put a string a silver colored yarn through them to make hangers. Below are some of the produts I used for this project.

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More embellishments from Jillibean Soup. This time it is buttons and the prettiest wooden banners!

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This is a gorgeous new pattern for overlays and papers from Hambly Screen Prints, called Streets of Paris.

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Tim has created markers filled with distress ink! Look at those beauties! I need them! :)

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Woodland Park is the last of the new lines from October Afternoon. Adorable animals!

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Wow! Tim Holtz just gave us the coolest sneak peek: Cartridges for Sizzix Eclipse where the die cuts are images from Tim Holtz stamp sets, so you combine those die cuts with the stamping. There are so many cool things to do with these! Watch the video below!

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Cute designer tapes from Bella Blvd! The ones above and even more designs on their blog.

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There's even more from the Idea-ology line. Look at the Paper Valise above! Great for storing paper! And the Alpha cards below. Want! And the tissue tapes are gorgeous! This is just a few of all the amazing news. View it all at Tim's blog.

Hip Hip Hooray is a bright and happy colored line from Pebbles. Perfect for scrapping birthday parties! More on Pebbles' blog.

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More news from Hambly Screen Prints. I love this Rain Clouds pattern!

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Tim Holtz has posted some sneak peeks from his latest Idea-ology line. Loads of wonderful things! I instantly fell in love with the Cash Keys and Label Pulls (above). The File Tabs and Word Bands (below) are sooo cool! And, of course, I'll get A Compendium of Curiosities, vol. 2! There are many more new Idea-ology products. View every new item on Tim's blog here and here.

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Here's new collection no.2 from Crate Paper, Pretty Party. Oh, I love those retro images! Very pretty, indeed! There are loads of different images, so I'd say that Pretty Party is not only for scrapping parties and birthdays, but could be used for anything from summer pics to heritage and childhood projects. Very versatile! The full collection is on display at Crate Paper's blog!

A tiny tease of the new travel themed Escape collection Little Yellow Bicycle. I love the tags (below)! More images to come next week.

Another teaser from LYB: Hello Spring. Bright and fun! LYB have promised more images next week.

A tiny sneak peek of the new summer/beach line from LYB. Wonderful colors! More images to come next week.