Introducing...Sunbasilgarden

http://www.sunbasilgarden.etsy.com

I would like to share with everyone the beautiful soaps created by sunbasilgarden. Bright, crisp and clean colors in modern designs await you at her shop. Her soaps are also made with top ingredients that produce a wonderful lather, so they not only look great but leave you feeling great too! (I'm a customer).

Her soaps come in many different colors and yummy scents including pink grapefruit, salty caramel ice cream and kumquat. Soaps that smell good enough to eat!

She also makes fun soaps such as her section of foodie soaps that includes eggs and bacon, buttered toast and even basmati rice soap! Try finding that in the stores.

Another of her great ideas is her loofah soaps. These soaps have an organic loofah embedded into the soap, such as the cucumber melon loofah soap shown here. These soaps are great for using on knees, elbows and heels to keep skin soft.

As the holiday season approaches, also check out her Christmas soaps such as this glittery Christmas tree soap. What a great Christmas present this would make.

Check out her Etsy shop today!

Baby Cards

Last weekend I went to a baby shower for my boyfriend's cousin who is having a girl. The party was great and was beautifully decorated. Everyone was given a frame in the shape of a shoe to display a photo of the baby once it arrives. It's adorable.

The shower was also great because it forced me to get making baby cards, which I have been planning on doing for a while. I made her the girl version of the baby feet card that I show here. I recently purchased gorgeous new white card from an online company. It gives a beautiful quality to these cards. The design is simple but stunning. The image and greeting are backed with pearlized card, which I also purchased from the same company. Amazing quality. The card is also finished with a quality white paper insert which is stamped with a cute paragraph about babies. I have to thank a fellow Etsian from whom I purchased the stamps to make this card: http://www.stakersensations.etsy.com

The second baby card is just too cute. Who wouldn't want to hug that baby? I stamped a rattle and diaper pin as a background and mounted the baby image on 3D foam pads to add dimension. I finished the card with pink gingham ribbon and brads. This card contains the same paragraph stamped onto the paper insert, but in pink of course! I am adding a paper insert to all of my cards now, because I love the quality of this paper so much.

Both cards are available in girl and boy on my Etsy store.

Halloween Cards

In line with the below post, even my Halloween cards are kind of cute. I instantly fell in love with the chick dressed up in a pumpkin costume stamp. Colored in with shimmering stardust pens and backed with glittery card, makes chicky look ready to go "chick" or treating.
The second card features a fun frankenstein who is offering you a flower. A different take on the usual depiction of frankenstein. Coupled with a greeting reading "Have a frightfully fun Halloween" with a spider web hanging between the words, this card would be great for a kids' halloween party.
My third halloween card is slightly more spooky. Glittery bats fly around an eery looking tree, in front of a silvery full moon. Send this to someone and they will "Have a Spooktacular Halloween"

Cute animal stamps

If you visit my Etsy store, you may see that I don't really have a trademark style. I like to think I use different styles for my cards. But one recurring theme you may begin to observe is the use of cute cartoon style stamps, like these animal designs. They are too adorable. And I love how easy they are to make pretty by simply adding color.

They look particularly great when colored with a watercolor style technique. This is achieved by scribbling a brush marker or stamping an ink pad onto an acrylic block and then mixing with a wet paintbrush to produce a watercolor. When using this technique, it is best to use a permanent ink to stamp your image.

Another of my favorite ways to color in these type of stamps is with stardust pens from Sakura. They give a shimmering effect, and come in bright colors. Perfect for the cheery chick in the "you rock" card.

Medallion Cards

There are many medallion design rubberstamps out there. And I love pretty much all of them. I think they are so majestic looking, but best of all they are very versatile. Here I have made three very different cards by simply changing the color scheme, coloring medium and medium stamped on. They can be used to make cards for any occasion.

Another reason I love them is their ability to be decoupaged. This is shown in the Christmas card. The medallion is stamped several times, each time cutting out only one layer of the design and then assembling them with foam pads to make a 3D design. Looks fabulous.

The red and white medallion was stamped onto clear vellum and embossed with white embossing powder. It was then colored with red Sakura glaze pens which dry to a glossy finish.

The purple medallion was stamped onto black card and embossed with white embossing powder. It was then painted with purple Twinkling H2O paint. When these paints are used on black card they produce intense, almost glowing color, very different to when used on white card.

The Christmas medallion was stamped several times onto ivory card and embossed with gold embossing powder. Each layer was cut out separately. I then used a quicky glue pen from Sakura to apply glue to the areas where I wanted glitter. I applied green and red glitter to alternating layers. I then assembled each layer. On this occasion I simply glued each layer together, but foam pads can also be used to acheive more dimension.
**Please note** The Christmas medallion card is currently not available on my Etsy store. I plan to make a new one soon for when I start listing Christmas cards.