Meet Louie and Louie Too

Good Morning and welcome to day 6 of our 'Week of Peeks'! Today's featured set is actually two sets, "Louie" and "Louie Too" illustrated by Abbey Westemeyer. I don't think I've ever seen leprechaun's having this much fun!!

These are adorable sets and just in time for St. Patrick's Day :)


This card was made by Maraya and isn't it the cutest thing ever!!! I love all the colors she incorporated while still keeping the green base.....me, I just think green :/. She has all the details on her blog.



Also be sure to check out Deb's blog, Jami's blog and Jeanette's blog for more projects using these fun stamps.

Remember that our Inspiration Challenge closes Monday, March 2nd at 4pm EST. You still have plenty of time to enter and it's a really easy challenge. Plus you chances of winner are excellent. You could win your choice of one of the newly released stamp sets!! What could be better than that??? Click here to get the full challenge description.

Thanks so much for coming by and enjoy all the projects we have to show you!

Welcome Caring Critters!

Good Morning and welcome to Day 5 of our 'Week of Peeks" . The set we are showcasing today is Jami Bova's "Caring Critters" - it's amazing. She has thought of so many things with this set, like that there are two butterflies each flying a different way so you can choose which butterfly to use based on where you want it on your card. I LOVE that!

There are 2 large images in this set, 2 smaller butterflies, and 5 different quotes/sentiments which makes this a VERY VERSATILE set! Plus it's just plain CUTE!!!

This is Wendy's card and you can see how much fun the bird is with shimmerz on her. I love the colors too :)

Make sure you go to the dt members blogs to see more creations with this set:

Jami
Maraya
Wendy

You still have a few more days to participate in our Inspiration Challenge for a chance to win your choice of one of the newly released stamp sets. The challenge will close Monday, March 2nd at 4pm EST. Click here to go directly to that post.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy looking at all the fun projects made by our design team!

Just Ducky :)

Good Morning and welcome to the 4th day our the 2RedBananas "Week of Peeks". Today's set that we are previewing is called "Just Ducky" illustrated by Abbey Westermeyer. These are such cute images! And I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring!! I say that as we have a chance of snow today!

These are such fun little images to color. You could even paper piece the boots and the umbrella if you are so inclined. I colored mine with Copics :)

These stamp sets will be released on Monday, March 2nd. Please be sure to go to the following blogs for more samples of the set: Funny thing is that we all used the same images on our cards, so I will try to get something else made because there really are more image :)

Wendy
Deb
Jeanette

You are sure to find something inspirational to use for you entry into our Inspiration Challenge, where you can enter to win one of the newly released stamp sets! Click here to jump to the post.

Thanks for stopping in, be sure to check back tomorrow for another set by Jami Bova :)

Meet Gunther!

I am very pleased to introduce you all to Gunther. Let me tell you a little bit about Gunther...

Gunther's Daddy is my good blogging buddy Curt at Curt's World. Curt not only stamps and makes gorgeous projects, but he has the greatest sense of humor. Every time I visit his blog I end up with a big smile on my face! I love ya Curt! Curt has two of the most adorable Giant Schnauzers, and he always shares wonderful photos of them. I still haven't figured out how he gets them to pose like he does. Seriously...these are photos you'd see on a calendar. Some day I'm gonna hire him to come photograph my dogs!

Once when I visited his blog, he had made a darling card for a sick friend. On the front there was a dog and he had printed the word Heal. How creative!! I love that card. Around the same time, he had a picture of his boys (Gunther & Shotzy) in his banner, and this is how Gunther was laying - with his head cocked to the side and the sweetest expression on his face. And that is how the idea of this set was born. When I first thought of this set, I emailed Curt and asked if I could use his wonderful idea...and I would put Gunther front and center in the spotlight. I am so glad that he said yes! We've asked Curt to join in with previewing this set with us - so be sure to stop by his blog!

Previews for Gunther's Greetings:
Curt
Jami
Wendy
Teresa

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to join in the fun with our Inspiration Challenge. Read all the Details below at THIS POST!! You could win this set!!

Hugs, Jami

Today's Peeks - Quotes and March Journaling Spot

Welcome to the 2nd day of our Sneak Peeks for the release on Monday, March 2nd! Today will we be showing you 2 of the sets to be released. The sets are "Quotes" and "March Journaling Spot".

Teresa made this card with the "Quotes" set and the new My Mind's Eye Grow collection of papers. I just LOVE this card! I love the colors, I love the layout, just everything about it! You can go to her blog to see even more projects that she made with these sets!!

Maraya made this layout and she used the "Quotes" set as well. I love how these stamps can be used for so many projects! Isn't this just the sweetest layout? I LOVE it! One thing you will ALWAYS find on Maraya's projects......BLING! :)

If you want a chance to win one of the March release stamp sets, scroll down to the post below this one for the details to enter our Inspiration Challenge for this month's blog hop. Remember, there are 9 new sets being released this month and we will show you peeks of them all this week!

Be sure to check back tomorrow because we have a special guest helping us preview tomorrow's set!

"Week of Peeks"

Good Morning!! Are you ready for some fun??? Well, this morning starts our "Week of Peeks" at 2RedBananas. Last month was so much fun, we're ready to do it again :)

We are going to do the blog hop just a little differently this month, we wanted to change it up a bit :) We have 9, yes 9 new sets that we will be releasing on March 2nd, and we will show you sneak peeks of each of them before the week is up!

Our blog hop this month involves a challenge for you. We would love for you to play along for chance to win your choice of one of the new releases! It’s an inspiration challenge. Here’s what you do… during the week, you stop by our blogs and check out the sneak peeks. Then you choose any three things from any three projects and create your own. It can be a card, a layout, an altered item…whatever. For example, you may use a layout from one persons card, colors from another, and a certain embellishment from another.

Just post your project to your blog or SCS and tell us in your description where you pulled your three inspirations from. For instance, Jami's layout from her Wrapped in His Love card, Maraya's color combo from "Gunther's Greetings" (wondering what that one is yet :) and the ribbon treatment that Deb used on her "Just Ducky" ( just another name to tease you :) card. Then come back to the 2RedBananas blog and give us a link to your project using Mr Linky at the bottom of this post. (If you upload to SCS, be sure to add 2RedBananas as a keyword)

You can enter as many times as you like!! On Monday March 2nd at 4:00 pm EST/3pm CST the challenge will close and we will choose 2 winners. Both winners can take their pick from the new releases. If there are lots of entries, we just may have to choose more than 2 winners, so be sure to tell your friends to come play along too.
Now for today's Sneak Peeks. Jami, Deb and Jeanette have all made projects using the "Wrapped in His Love" stamp set designed by Jami Bova. It's a FABULOUS set that you will use for many things! I love love love Jami's talents! She is amazing! On a sidenote, for those of you who do SCS challenges or those who would like to start, Jami is the featured stamper for the Sunday challenge!! Woo Hoo, congrats Jami!!

Okay, go check out the sneak peeks and remember there will be new projects daily so check back often.

We also have added MANY new products to the 2RedBananas store. There is a new category called "What's New at 2RedBananas" so it's easier to find the new stuff :)

Enjoy blog hopping with us and we can't wait to see your creations!

And...check it out...we're using Mr Linky. So now it couldn't be easier for us to see your wonderful creations. Please leave us a direct link to the post with your project (not just to your blog in general). We'd love to get a comment from you too...but your challenge entry must use Mr Linky. Thanks.

A Sketch Challenge

Hi! There are some great things going on at 2RedBananas right now. First, we are sponsoring the House Mouse Challenge this week. It's a sketch challenge and this is the sketch that Jami designed for it. (She has so many talents :) You can go to the House Mouse Challenge blog to read all the details and post your project. You will be entered into a drawing for a new House Mouse stamp :) If you don't have any House Mouse stamps, you'll need some after you see all the fun projects that the dt's have created with them. You can find them here. :) We also have some new House-Mouse stamps on order and they should be here soon, I'll let you know when :)

We have just received papers from My Mind's Eye's CHA release. Hope to get them all up on the website today! :) The nestabilities from the CHA release as well as some new metallic dew drops from the Robin's Nest are ordered and I'll let you know when we get those in too :)

Our 'Week of Peeks' will begin Monday, February 23rd and the new stamps will be released Monday, March 2nd. Deb Felts (our guest designer) will be joining us for our 'Week of Peeks' so don't miss out! We will be doing things a little bit differently than we did last month, we don't want you to get bored of the same 'ole thing, so stay tuned for more info on that :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to check out the House Mouse Challenge!

News, News and more News :)

Hi Banana Friends! We've got lots of fun news for you today.

First I would like to introduce you to our very first 2RedBananas Guest Designer. It's Deb Felts. She has a fabulous blog and a fabulous SplitCoastStampers gallery. Her SCS name is debdeb. We're so excited that she said yes to being our first Guest Designer. She has this to say,

Hi! I’m Deb Felts, and I am so thrilled to be the very first guest designer for 2RedBananas! Having been born and raised in southwest Louisiana, joining this team of Texas and Louisiana girls and their friends seemed like the perfect fit! I first came across 2RedBananas on my friend, Jami Bova’s blog, when she announced that she would be having some of her fabulous illustrations made into stamps. As I read the names of Wendy’s and Jeanette’s blogs I couldn’t help but grin…and I couldn’t wait to read more! Words like Lagniappe and Nowhere Bayou might sound foreign to you but they’re near and dear to my heart! And sure enough, these girls are from right there in my neck of the woods! In fact, our parents are practically neighbors!

I have been a scrapper since our son, Matthew, was born. He’s almost 15 now! It wasn’t until about 3 years ago that I was introduced to stamping. Immediately I was hooked, because stamping merged my love of texture (from my sewing days) with my love for shading and tints that I learned in tole painting. The more I stamp, the more I love it!

If you love stamping and you’re looking for a good challenge, check out The Daily Dare! It’s a blog that lists card challenges by the day of the week they’re posted. This idea was one that I had been mulling over for quite a while, and after collecting bookmarks for a month or so finally the idea became a reality. It’s only about six weeks old, but its popularity is growing and I’ve heard good things about it! Hopefully it will be a valuable resource for you! I hope you’ll visit 2RedBananas, The Daily Dare, and my own blog, With a Stamp and a Song, on a regular basis! I’m looking forward to sharing my designs with you!

Please help me to welcome Deb to 2RedBananas!

Product news:

The March 2009 House Mouse stamps are in and on the front page of the website. They are soooo cute and now our own Jami Bova is on the House Mouse Challenge dt, so we all get to play along with her! Congrats Jami!!

These are the March 2009 House Mouse Stamps.

And last but certainly not least, we have some new products on order. The new Spellbinders Nestabilities, Labels three, Labels four, Dahlia, the Nested Bird Shapeabilities, all the new Impressabilities, Stardust pens by Sakura (very glittery and very cool colors), and some Colorbox Cat's Eye Chalk inks (very cool and easy for distressing the edges of your paper). The brand new My Mind's Eye papers should be here soon as well!!! I will let you know as these new items come in. We also now have a New Products category on the website, be sure to check it out!

And our next exclusive stamp release will be Monday, March 2nd. We will be doing thte "Week of Peeks" starting Monday, February 23rd. Look for something a little bit different than we did last month :)

Gettin' Punchy with Come Home Soon

Today I'd like to share some ideas on using the smaller stamps in the Come Home Soon set. I absolutely love to use my nesties and my punches. I always admire the layered medallions I see on other peoples cards using various punches. So when I designed this set, I wanted to be able to create some of those looks.

The stamp with the circle and small letters saying "Land of the Free...Because of the Brave" will fit perfectly into a 1.5" circle punch. It also works nicely with the smallest of the Large Scalloped Circle nesties and the SU Scallop punch.

The 5 smaller stamps in this set will all fit inside that circle. Here's a look at a few things I did with these 6 stamps. I'm sure there are many many more. I would love to see what you can come up with!




Here are the various punches I used for these
- 1.5" Circle Punch
- 2" Circle Punch
- SU Scallop Punch
- SU Word Window Punch
- The smallest of the Scalloped Circles Large nesties

I'll describe these starting with the bottom layer and work my way up...

- Pink SU Scallop Punch
- Stamped on White and punched with nestie/cuttlebug. Sponged turquoise ink on the edges
- Stamped "I Miss You"




- Cream colored nestie
- Stamped circle onto striped DP then punched with 1.5" circle punch.
- Stamped ribbon onto DP
- Stamped ribbon onto yellow cardstock, cut out with craft knife, popped up on dimensional and added Golden Wheat Shimmerz.



- 2" punched red circle
- SU Scallop punched from Olive DP. Popped up with dimensional
- Stamped circle onto white and punched with 1.5" circle punch
- Stamped HERO onto Olive and cut out.



- SU scallop punched in blue
- Stamped circle onto white and punched with 1.5" circle punch
- Stamped Come Home Soon onto white







This ribbon can also be used to support other things too...here's a pink one for Breast Cancer Awareness.
- Stamped support ribbon onto brown cardstock with brown Memento ink
- colored ribbon with Prisma pencil
- Stamped HERO over it with white Kraft ink.


And I love the Word Window punch...the Come home soon is spaced just far enough apart that you can put each word into this punch.
I stamped the sentiment twice onto red SU DP. I punched the Soon and the Come from the first part, then punched the Home from the second time I stamped it.


- The blue was cut with the nestie/cuttlebug
- Stamped circle onto white and punched with 1.5" circle punch
- Stamped flag onto red cardstock, cut out and popped up on a dimensional.


- White square of cardstock
- Red square just a bit smaller. I punched a 2" circle in the red before adhering it to the white. Leaving a circle window.
- Stamped the circle and the Come Home Soon onto the white.
- Used the leftover blue from the flag medallion above to create a little frame which I popped up on dimensionals.


Just a few simple squares with the I Miss You stamp. Easy Peasy...but oh so versatile!!


Hope this gives you some different ideas on how to use the stamps in this set. As I said, I'm sure there's tons more...and I would LOVE to see them. If you create something new - send us a link so we can see.


If you send us a picture in an email, we'd love to share it on our blog!

Some Cool New Ribbons to go with the Cool New Stamps!

Just thought I'd share the VERY cool ribbons that we have recently gotten in stock at 2RedBananas. The leaves are so very cool as they are faux suede and are really soft and have an awesome texture to add to your projects.!!

These ribbons are also faux suede on both sides, so when you tie bows or knots, it doesn't matter which side is showing, they both look the same. They are all really cool. While you're at the store looking at the new stamps and the samples we have with them, be sure to look at the ribbons as well!

Here is a sample I made with the olive suede leaves. You can get an idea of the size of them here too. They are sold by the yard and you get about 17 leaves in a yard! Fun stuff!!!

The Stamps are Now Available!!

Good Morning!!! Well, this morning we're announcing the winner of the last set we are releasing this month.


Chosen by random.org, our winner of the February Journaling Spot is.....Jacqueline. Congratulations Jacqueline.....please email your address to me and I'll get your stamp set out to you!

We had some issues with blogger yesterday, so if you didn't comment on each of the dt member's blog, for today it wasn't a big deal. But normally it will be checked so be sure to visit them all :)


That's it for the blog candy for this release, but based on your answers to yesterday's question, we will probably do something similar for our next release!!


Here are the February releases in their entirety with links to the store. If you go directly to the 2RedBananas store you can find them in the "What's New at 2RedBananas" section or in the Stamps, then 2RedBananas February Release section. The stamp sets are listed here in the order that we previewed them in our Week of Peeks.



The first one is Jami Bova's "The Gift". When you go to the website you will notice some color pictures under the picture of the stamp set. Click on those and you will see some samples of what the dt has done with this set. You can also click on the enlarged picture and it will make it even bigger and easier to see :)



The second set is January Journaling Spot.


























The next one is January Journaling Spot2.


















This one is Jami Bova's "Come Home Soon".






















This one is "Snowman Love".

Jami Bova's "Value of Joy".


















Abbey Westemeyer's "Heartfelt Friends".














and finally "February Journaling Spot".

Thanks again for blog hopping with us this week! We had a great time!! Happy Shopping! :)

The Stamp Sets are Now Available!!! :)

Just a quick message to let you know that the February releases are now available in the 2RedBananas store!!

Hop on over and see all of them in their entirety!! The new stamps as well as the new suede leaves ribbon are all in a What's New category so you can see them all together.

Thanks so much for hopping this week with us!

Our last blog hop for this month - February Journaling Spot

Good Morning!!! Well today is out last blog hop for this month at least. Our question today has to do with whether we will try to do this again or not, so be sure to keep reading :)

First, we'll announce the winner of the "Heartfelt Friends" set. Thanks to random.org the winner is........... Heather, congratulations Heather!!! Her comment was, "Love this set it is very cute!!!! Great new illustrator!!!I guess these days you will find me mostly blog serfing!!!But I do spend some time on both PCP and SCSI read and subscribe to Creating Keepsakes Magazine.Heather

Please send me your address and I will get "Heartfelt Friends" right out to you!

We really like to read your comments and want to make 2RedBananas a place you love to come for inspiration and to shop, so thank you for sharing you thoughts with us!!!

Now to today's featured set.
The first card is made by Jami. Doesn't she have the most gorgeous handwriting!!! Jami - let's talk about getting a font made with your handwriting :) She has lots of details on her blog about how she made her card so hop on over there after you finish reading here.



This next card is made by Maraya. Such talent I tell ya! I LOVE the colors and how they just POP off the black and white! More details on her blog as well!

Okay, now to the 'rules' of the blog hop.
Visit each of the dt member's blog to see what they have created with the February Journaling Spot and be sure to leave them a comment.

Jami
Jeanette
Maraya
Teresa
Wendy

After you have visited each of those, come back here a leave us a comment answering this for us,

"Have you enjoyed blog hopping with us this week and would you like to see us do something similar for our releases next month?"

You will then be entered into the drawing for the "February Journaling Spot" stamp set which will be drawn at 9:00am EST tomorrow, February 2nd.

Remember the releases go on sale at 12:01am EST Monday, February 2nd (that's really tonight - kind of :)

Thanks so much for participating with us!!!