so long 2007...

As we wish a fond farewell to 2007 and ring in 2008, I figured I'd better get one more post in for the year. I haven't been very consistent in posting and I'd like to say that I'll make doing better a resolution for the new year, but since my track record for resolutions is nothing to shout about, it would probably be the kiss of death! LOL! Let's just settle for hoping for the best... :) I can say, however, that I've gotten quite a few books read lately. ROFL!!!!!

OK, so back to stamping. This card is from my November stamp club meeting. Our fearless leader - yes, I'm talking about you Pat! - has decided that our challenges will now be techniques. And for November, it was my call as to what the challenges were. I picked two that I had never done before - one I had a lot of fun with, the other one I really struggled with. I'll start with the fun one. It's called Frosted Filters although I've not figured out where the "frosted" part comes from. It is done with re-inkers and coffee filters. Rather than spending lots of time 'splainin it, I gratefully refer you to the step-by-step tutorial found on SCS here. I actually made two cards because after 'coloring' the first coffee filter, I decided to add more water and do another filter and see what happened. Loved them both! Give it a try - be brave - dare to get inky fingers and don't wear gloves!! LOL! This is with the first coffee filter...

Stamps: Paint Prints

Ink: Groovy Guava, Really Rust, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke

Paper: Always Artichoke, Whisper White

other: coordinating mini flowers and brads, Artichoke grosgrain ribbon, ticket corner punch, coffee filter, re-inkers: Groovy Guava, Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke

wow! time flies!

I don't know about you all, but for me time really flies this time of year. Too many things - too little time. Need to double the amount of hours in a day! LOL! I have finally learned not to try to do it all and that it is ok to be less (far less!) than perfect. But I still manage to get myself right down to the wire, hence the annual wrapping of the gifts on Christmas Eve after coming home from my sister's house. Yes, it's a mad, mad, mad world! hahahahaha! Hope you all had a great Christmas. :)

Anyway, maybe now I can get back to getting some stuff up on my blog. I have been stamping - my sister and I made a "lunchbox" tin filled with cards for part of our mom's Christmas gift (she had said she wanted cards), so you'll be seeing the cards I made over the next few posts. This one, however, is not one of them. LOL!

This is a card that I made earlier this month as a sympathy card for a co-worker. The word "courage" inside the label holder was done by coloring just that word with a marker on a quote stamp from Friendship Flowers and then cutting it to fit the holder. The Artichoke paper under the ribbon was added after the card was put together - something just wasn't tickin' for me! So that's why it doesn't go all the way across (the holder/word were already stuck down). The photo corner punched piece was also added after the card was together, but I used the ticket corner punch to take out the "corner" then slid it under the photo anchor. Tricky, but effective con'cha think... :) A tip on this type of card: to make the tri-cut portion, stamp one solid piece of cardstock first, then cut in thirds. This will keep the stamped images lined up after being cut (hope that makes sense!). btw: this card was loosely inpsired by this card by JeanneS on SCS - check it out...

Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Friendship Flowers

Ink: Always Artichoke, So Saffron

Paper: Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Confetti Cream

other: label holder and brads, photo anchor, celery grosgrain ribbon, Always Artichoke marker, photo corner punch, ticket corner punch

CASEd myself! LOL!

Had to do another baby card and I am a bit challenged in that area since I don't make very many of them. What to do, what to do? Aha! I decided to take the pressure off and CASE one I had done this summer. This card is a little different - square instead of the usual size, so I added a bit to the bottom to fill in that space, and the color palette is different (knew I was doing a boy-baby card). Nothing fancy here so everthing should be pretty self-explanatory. Holler if you have questions... :)

Stamps: Wild About You, Headline Alpha, EFP, Riveting

Ink: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery

Paper: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Splash d/p (retired)

other: slit punch, ticket corner punch, designer label punch, 1-3/8 circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, silver snaps, silver eyelets, blue gingham ribbon, dimensionals

zoom, zoom, zoom...

Nope - not a Mazda! It was that last week that went whizzing by! Did you miss it, too? LOL! This time of year often gets the best of me. Not only is there too much to do and not enough time to do it, but I go into "bear" mode and just want to hibernate (that means reading and sleeping - lots!) until the warmness that is the desert comes back. Yes, I know. This really isn't cold compared to LOTS of other places. But I live in the desert for a reason and any amount of cold is not on my list of happy!!! OK - 'nuff sniveling for now. :)

This is the last of the craft sale stuff. Arn'cha glad?! I am!!! We made a bunch (90+) RSVP pens and 50+ of the binder clips. I really thought the "office crowd" would go for the pens more, but at least the binder clips were a huge hit. Probably coulda sold double the amount of those we made! Go figure. Ya just never know what the masses are gonna want at any given time...

A lot of our "stock" was already gone by the time I took this - but you get the idea.

Lots o' fun pens! We hot-glued a little bling or something fun on the caps.

And our last item was inspired by one I saw on SCS done by cdrhoades who was, in turn, inpsired by others. Such a cute idea!

balls, balls and MORE BALLS!!!

Yep - you guessed it! Still more craft sale stuff! Can you see why I haven't touched my stamp table in over a week?! LOL! OK - there was that stomach virus thing last week, but after getting all the stuff done for the craft sale, I swore I was never gonna stamp again! :) Now I need to get my challenge cards done for stamp club this Friday, but that's another story...

Jonna and I made a bazillion of these glass ball ornaments with designer paper curled inside (well, maybe not quite that many - but it felt like it!). Our mom (bless you momma!) bought lots o' them for Christmas gifts, followed by my good friend Jo who also bought some (although not nearly as many as Mom!) at our preview sale for special customers. And we still had tons left. What were we thinking?! We did sell quite a few, but had plenty left over to use for our own gifts for friends. One less thing I have to do... whew! These were really easy to make and we spent many a weekend puttering with them while watching ballgames. Yes, Jonna practically lived at my house for a while there. LOL!


Lovely bowl o' balls #1...


















Lovely bowl o' balls #2...















Massive quantities of balls!!!!






Close up of the some lovely balls...















Thought it was gonna be more balls, didn't ya?! LOL! Don't ask me why but this was the only pic I got of the candles and it is not good at all. Oh well, I'll have to work on my camera skills...

mo' craft sale...

Sorry for the delay in posting more of our craft sale items. I've been sick with a stomach virus since last weekend. I'd think I was getting better, then down I'd go again - good day, bad day, good day, etc. Soooo not fun! Especially when the biggest eating day of the year was right in the middle of it! That was just soooo wrong!! Luckily I was having a good day on Thanksgiving - at least when it was time to eat. I didn't overdo and thought I was good to go, then got slammed with nasty migraine. Oi!! Doing pretty good today, so far. We'll see how it goes! LOL!

Here are some of the Altoid tins that Jonna and I did for the sale. A couple of the designs are very similar to ones I had done last year for friends and family, but we bumped them up a notch and did the insides as well. Since the tins were past their expiration date, we dumped the mints and put in some other candy instead.

An overall view of

most of our tins...

The "reindeer" tins.

The "snowman" tins.

We made a few non- holiday tins, too. This is a really bad pic but you get the idea...

This is a gift set that Jonna put together: Altoid tin, candle and binder clip.

just for you, Pat!

I wasn't going to post until tomorrow night, but after talking to my friend, Pat (who wanted to see more craft sale stuff!), I decided to go ahead an get one up while watching the 'Cats play. So, here are some tins that my sister and I got at Michael's a while back. They had some "old-timey" kinds of "advertising" on them that we covered with paper and ribbon. We put some shred and candy in these and sold all but one of them. :)

Here are several of Jonna's reindeer tins and you can also see a couple of our binder clips (more on those later) and some RSVP pens we made (more on those later, too!).

A closer view of this

adorable tin (and, oh

yeah - that cute little

clip, too.)

Overall view of the snowflake tins and a snowflake binder clip.

Not a great pic (sorry about that!) but a closer view of the snowflake tins. The pic shows it a little bit, but the snowflakes are iridescent and VERY shimmery! Also, the large snowflake is 3D.

craft sale finally over!

Well, we finally got through the craft sale we've been working so diligently toward the last couple of months. We did really well and sold lots o' stuff! The next few posts will be of the stuff we made. I'll apologize up front for the pics not being so great. I had hoped I would be able to take the time for some nicely set up shots before we had to go, but such was not the case. So I took some quickies the night before when we had it all layed out and some more at the site. I think you'll get the idea ok anyway! :) I'm also not going to try to list all the ingredients either. Way too much to try to remember at this point and my old peri-menopausal brain just doesn't want to go there! LOL!

My sister, Jonna, checking things out and making sure all is looking spiffy for our customers - Starbucks morning libation in hand, of course!

These are little candy tins that we made into ornaments that can either be hung on a tree or put on the fridge (we put a flat magnet on the back).

A little closer view.

just have a quick minute

Gonna squeeze in a quick minute here to post. The craft sale my sister and I have been getting ready for is tomorrow and we are finally all packed up and ready to go! Woohoo!! We had a few "preferred" customers over last night who purchased almost a third of our stock. Yikes! Luckily we had made LOTS O' STUFF so still have plenty to take tomorrow. So I'm gonna get this post done quickly, then hit the couch for some much needed rest. LOL! This weekend I'll start getting the pics ready to post so you can see some of the stuff we've been making.

In the meantime, here is the birthday card we made together for our Dad's birthday last month. Not gonna go into a lot of detail cause I'm too pooped to even think! Lots of distressing (used the edge of my little scissors - still don't have that dang tool!) and some embossing. Although you can't tell from the pic, we sprinkled a little rust colored embossing powder on the horse first, then tapped off the excess, and followed with some Tiger Eye e/p, then heated. Gave just a little more mixture of color to the horse that went well with the other colors in the card.

Stamps: Wanted, Sanded b/g

Ink: River Rock, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, VersaMark

Paper: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Really Rust, Apple Cider d/p

other: Photo Corner Punch, 1" and 3/4" circle punches, paper piercer, Chocolate Chip marker, bottle cap, coordinating mini brads, rust and Tiger Eye e/p

time flies!

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted! Time sure does fly these days - guess it's that getting older thing, but we won't talk about that... LOL! On my own behalf, I will say that I haven't been totally slackin'! My sister, Jonna, and I have been working diligently getting stuff ready for a craft sale coming up at my work next Friday. I will be taking pics of all of that stuff and getting it uploaded... one of these days... :)

In the meantime, here is a card I made for our last stamp club. The challenges have now changed to techniques and this was what I did for the VersaMark Resist card. The "flower" is the resist part of the card. Often you see this done where the background is the resist and there are many beautiful cards created that way. I decided to do it a little differently with just the focal image as the resist piece. Also, I did it on Very Vanilla cardstock as opposed to glossy white, which is also often used for this technique. All you do is stamp your image with VersaMark ink on blank cardstock, emboss with clear embossing powder, then brayer or sponge color over the embossed image(s) until the paper is colored to your satisfaction. The embossed image will resist the ink and stay the color of your c/s. Your will need to take a tissue or paper towel and gently rub the embossed image to remove any excess ink. Then you can finish creating your masterpiece.

Stamps: Garden Silhouettes

Ink: More Mustard, VersaMark

Paper: More Mustard, Very Vanilla, More Mustard d/p

other: clear embossing powder, brayer, Cuttlebug w/Vintage die, coordinating ribbon, dragonfly charm

still Halloween?!

Well, I do still have Halloweeny candy - only had about 30 kids last night. I can have anywhere from 10 to 80 depending on the phase of the moon! I know that sounds funny, but I live on kind of a dark street and it seems that if the moon is full I get more kids. Last night was a waning moon, so not totally full, but not totally dark either. I had some of the cutest little ones and gave out most of my candy, but still have some for me. That is not necessarily a good thing! LOL! May end up taking it to work... will have to see how good my rationing will power is this year... :)

Anyway, I had meant to get this one uploaded the other day, but that was not to be. So here you have one more look at Halloween, then we'll be off to other things. This one was also made by my sister with inspiration from several at SCS. I don't know what all the ingredients are, so I'm letting you figure this one out for yourselves. I know you can do it. Plus, I'm feeling just a little lazy tonight! teehee! Enjoy!

cute as a bat!

An admission: I have not made one single Halloween card this year! Aaaack!!! I wanted to. I REALLY wanted to! But my sister and I have been diligently working at getting projects/craft items made for a craft sale they have at my work every year. So we've been really good and trying to work every weekend, spending hours and hours making lots 'o stuff. That means somethin' had ta go and it appears it was the Halloweeny cards I had wanted to do. Oh well... there's always next year... LOL!

Anyway, my sister did manage to make a couple of Halloween cards early on (before craft sale project making started), so I'm gonna share one of them with you here (the other to follow tomorrow...). Don'cha just think that little bat is the cutest?! I know she was inspired by one from imastamper on SCS. I'm gonna have to get that stamp set now and maybe someday I'll get to make this card. Does is sound like I'm whining? Cause I am... just a little! :)

Stamps: Booglie Eyes, Cheesecloth b/g, Best Blossoms (leaf/branch)

Ink: Basic Black, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Halloween Night d/p

other: giga and mega square scallop punches, coordinating ribbon, bat eyelets, wiggly eyes, 2-way glue pen, aquapainter

a cake just for Dora!

OK - so there's a bit of a story behind this card. I ran into my stamp club buddy, Dora, at J's a couple of weeks before her birthday. We were standing there chatting and just happened to be standing by the Cuttlebug stuff. So, of course, we started chatting about CB and she mentioned she was looking for a particular die based on the card that was posted above the display - the one with the birthday cake. I started helping her look, she found it and I said "hey, I think I'll get one of those, too." Well, she got the last one so after a few not so nice words (joking!) I said "well, I'll just go over to M's and get one there!" She said something about M's not having as good a selection as J's and I probably wouldn't find it, but I did find one and set out to make her card with it just to show her! LOL! It so happened that our stamp club meeting was the day before Dora's birthday, so rather than mailing it I took her card with me and gave it to her there. I wanted to see her face when she opened it. We both got a huge laugh out of that card!! :)


As for the card itself, I cut the cake (no pun intended!) three times - once in white, once in Close to Cocoa and once in Blush Blossom. Then I cut out the Cocoa and Blush pieces and layered them onto the white base to create the final cake. The candles are part of the "bottom" white layer of c/s - I watercolored the flames with Summer Sun, then "colored" over them with my Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen to give them some sparkle. The CB happy birthday piece was run through the CB first, then "stamped" lightly with the Linen b/g to give it a little color and depth. To do this, I ink up my b/g stamp, lay it down and lay the c/s on it with the raised side to the stamp. Then rub lightly around on it to pick up ink on just the raised portion. Make sense?! As you may be able to see, it's not perfect, but that's ok. I miss a spot here and there, but that just adds to the charm! The CB embossed piece and cake are popped up.



Stamps: Paisley b/g (retired), Linen b/g
Ink: Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom (for edging and inside)
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, Blush Blossom, textured white, coordinating patterned paper (M's)
other: Cuttlebug w/Happy Birthday embossing folder and Birthday die set, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, MS Apricot piped nylon ribbon, silver spiral clip, rhinestones, 1/4" circle punch, dimensionals, aquapainter, Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen

ETA: forgot to mention that I used white Liquid Applique on the cake for a bit of "frosting"... yummmmm....

rootin' scootin' birthday

This is the birthday card I made for my friend, Wanda. I think it was a day late (due to my ever present procrastination skill!), but at least it got there! LOL! I had picked up some patterned paper at M's (shhhh!!!) not too long ago and decided to put some to use. Thought this turned out fun and since Wanda has two young boys, I thought they might get a kick out of it, too. :) Now although you can't see it from the pic, I used a clear jelly roll pen on the ribbons of the presents. When you tilt the card it looks shimmery/silver, depending on the angle. One of those gotta-be-there-to-see-it things!

Stamps: The Wheel Thing, Riveting, Loads of Love Accessories

Ink: Night of Navy, Really Rust, Certainly Celery, So Saffron

Paper: Night of Navy, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, patterned paper from M's

other: Designer Label Punch, 1" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, Ticket Corner punch, rectangle handheld punch, silver mini brads, green rhinestones, bright green gingham ribbon, dimensionals, aquapainter, Sakura clear gelly roll pen

Halloween!!

Yep, the greatest 'candy' night of the year is almost here! And have I made even one Halloweeny card?! Nope! This one was created my my sister, Jonna, and can you say CASE!!! I can clearly see that I am gonna have to make some of these to send around to friends... :)

The photo doesn't show it very well, but a few of the pumpkins along the bottom are cut out (from rolling an extra piece of c/s) and popped up on dimensionals. For the witch in the moon, she stamped once on the moon, then stamped another witch on another piece of c/s and cut out the part of the cape and broom that are off of the moon piece. The moon is popped up, as are the back of the cape and broom. Hope that makes some kind of sense!! LOL! Jonna used StazOn black ink for this as it seems to cover better and give a deeper black look than does the SU black.

Stamps: Home is Where the Haunt Is, Spooky Skyline (jumbo wheel)

Ink: StazOn black

Paper: Basic Black, Summer Sun, Brocade Blue

other: 1-1/4" circle punch (moon), Tag Corner punch, bat eyelets, black&white checked ribbon, dimensionals

thinkin' turkey!

Here is the second project we made at my last stamp club meeting, brought for us by Carla. How totally cute is this little guy?! LOL! And super easy, let me tell you. The turkey feathers were stamped using the very versatile Pick-a-Petal set, then we either cut them out or used the oval punch (depending on whether you wanted to wait for the punch or not!). The feet were made using a small flower punch, then cutting it so three petals made the three "toes." The beak was the "trash" piece from the Ticket Corner punch. Basically a lot of punchin' and assembling, but really easy. Carla had brought the regular "wiggly" eyes, but since I didn't get mine fully put together at the meeting, I got to use these super fun eyes that my sister brought to my house - aren't they adorable?! LOL!

Stamps: Antique Cracking b/g (retired), Pick-a-Petal, Holidays & Wishes, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal(?), Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Summer Sun, Whisper White

other: coordinating mini-brads, photo corner hardware, coordinating ribbon, "wiggly" eyes, Ticket Corner Punch, large oval punch, circle punches, flower punch, dimensionals

thinking of fall...

This one's from last month's stamp club. It actually wasn't my turn to do the project, but one of the gals that was supposed to do so couldn't be there, so I scammed an idea from SCS since I didn't have much time to be creative. The card that inspired me is this one by strappystamper and was for the sketch challenge that week. I didn't have the same paper or stamp, but I made do with similar stuff and I was really happy with the way it turned out. There were some awesome cards done with this layout - I saved quite a few for future inpsiration! The focal image was stamped full ink with Pumpkin Pie and stamped off in the Chocolate Chip to give them a softer appearance.

Stamps: Garden Silhouettes (hostess set)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie d/p

other: coordinating mini-brads and spiral clip, chocolate grosgrain ribbon

another challenge card

Here is the second challenge card I did for my last stamp club meeting. This challenge was a latch card. Although I like the look of latch cards, I find them hard to open/close and you can't stand them up for viewing as you do with regular cards. So while I was at it, I made another card with all the same ingredients, I cut the "latch" off at the front opening edge, so it has the feel of a latch card without the hassle! LOL!

I have wanted to use this stamp set since I got it and finally got around to doing so. I LOVE the MOOSE!! He is just so darn cute I have to smile every time I see him. :) You can't tell from the photo, but I stamped the moose with craft ink and embossed in clear. Used a twig from an old grapevine wreath to give it a more outdoorsy look. Kinda got the hunting lodge feeling going here (I am NOT a fan of hunting, but do love the toasty fire/comfy couch/good book inside while the snow drifts softly down outside. (Can you tell I live in the desert! ROFL!!) The moose/twig piece is popped up. I distressed the edges of the c/s with the edge of my scissors (no - still don't have that distressing tool!).


Stamps: Moose You, Rough Texture jumbo wheel, Houndstooth b/g
Ink: Old Olive, Really Rust, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip AND Chocolate Chip Craft
Paper: Old Olive, Really Rust, Very Vanilla, coordinating patterned paper
other: grapevine twig, natural hemp, brass mini brads, dimensionals, clear e/p






here is the one I made where I "adjusted" the latch...

yep - MIA again!

Wow! Hard to believe it's been so long since I last posted. I have been stamping some - not a lot. But the stuff I was stamping was for my stamp club meeting last week, so I couldn't show it here cause then they would see it and I wouldn't get all the oohs and aahs in person! Yep, I want all the appreciation I can get! LOL!!!

Anyway, this card I made for one of our challenge cards which was a layout using the diamond pattern with the strip behind it. The color combo of this card came completely from the ribbon colors. I am forever trying to find ribbon to go with whatever card I have going, so this time I picked the ribbon first and worked the card around it - what a concept! I added some depth and texture to the CB'd piece by using the Canvas b/g stamp on it after I had run it through the CB. The central image (diamond strip) is popped up. The charm on this one says "smile" - I also made another one where the charm said "celebrate" and that one was sent to Diana, my bestest friend since high school, for her birthday tomorrow (yes, it will be late cause I know you remember my procrastination issue!). So hopefully Diana won't see this for a while! :)

Stamps: Doodle That (retired), Canvas b/g

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Cool Caribbean

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Cool Caribbean, Whisper White

other: aquapainter, coordinating ribbon (M's), hardware (J's), Cuttlebug w/D'vine Swirls embossing folder, dimensionals

Happy Birthday to Pat!

OK - so last week was my stampin' buddy Pat's birthday. Now you have to understand that Pat is a primo, top-of-the-line, off-the-charts kinda stamper. Making a card for her involves a trememdous amount of pressure to do something really spectacular, stupendous, wowza - well, you get the idea! LOL! So here is the card that I made for Pat's birthday and I did a pretty faboo job, if I do say so myself! Yep, I'm pretty proud of this one! :)

The patterned paper and the chipboard { came from my friend Lisa who is a demo/consultant/whatever for a company called "I Remember When" and the paper is from WeRMemoryKeepers Urban Window collection. Love it! The rest of the c/s is SU. I distressed most of the paper by "scratching" with my fingernail. I really do need to get one of those distressing tools!! The darker blue flower is SU's Blue Bayou d/p, the lighter blue from the previously mentioned d/p set, and the lighter flower I watercolored with Blue Bayou and Really Rust inks. I "dirtied" up the brads a bit by lightly sponging some Basic Brown ink on them. The flowers are popped up with the squishy dimensional Glue Dots. The rest you can probably tell from lookin' or just ask. I almost didn't want to send this one out - just wanted to sit and admire it! I did take it to work to show off before I mailed it (in a padded envelope, of course!). LOL!

Stamps: Doodle This, Paisley b/g

Inks: Blue Bayou, Really Rust, Basic Brown

Paper: Blue Bayou, Really Rust, Very Vanilla, Urban Window d/p, Blue Bayou d/p

other: Photo Corner punch, chipboard { from Urban Window collection, spiral clip, coordinating large and mini brads, Blue Bayou double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, narrow brown ribbon (M's), dimensional glue dots, paper piercer, aqua painter

August stamp club - Jonna's project

Here's the card my sister, Jonna, brought for us to make at last month's stamp club meeting. It is soooooo cute!! I'm planning on making several more of these, too, for my "sale" box. I totally love the look of the corner-rounder-punched piece up against the ticket-corner-punched piece. Jonna said that was a lucky accident! LOL! The cuttlebugged red piece was lightly sponged with Basic Gray to give it a little more depth. The central square piece is popped up as is lady bug piece (the circles were mono'd together first, then popped up as a whole unit). Ya gotta love this one!

Stamps: Very Punny, Bugs and Kisses (ant)

Ink: Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Basic Black

Paper: Basic Gray, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla, Charbon d/p

other: 1-3/8 circle punch, 1-1/4 circle punch, Ticket Corner punch, Word Window punch, corner rounder punch, gray mini brads, coordinating gingham ribbon, Cuttlebug w/ Mesh embossing folder, Ruby Red marker

August stamp club - Pat's project

Well, my August stamp club was (as you can tell!) a couple of weeks ago - but, as usual, I'm taking my own sweet time getting the projects uploaded! Maybe I should start a support group for procrastinators... well, that can wait for another day... (ROFL!!!)

Anyway, this is the project that Pat brought for all of us to make and I was delighted as I had just gotten this stamp set. Needless to say, I will be CASEing this card for my "sale" box of cards. :) A few of the items I will have to be creative in finding substitues for as I don't have enough of the Hodgepodge Hardware she used, nor have I yet bought the wide grosgrain ribbon (it WILL be on my next order, however!). But I'm sure I'll find somethin' that will work!

Stamps: True Friend

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Really Rust

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Outlaw d/p

other: markers - Really Rust, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Tag Corner punch, Hodgepodge Hardware, natural hemp, coordinating brads, chocolate wide grosgrain, dimensionals

challenge card #2

So here is the second challenge I gave to my group - a chipboard flower. The all had different flowers and also had the "outside" piece of the chipboard that had the "negative" flower shape (does that make sense?! LOL!). They could use either piece of chipboard, or both, on their cards. I used just the flower shape for mine since I'm not quite as talented as some of the others (namely - Pat!). I had made a card last fall for my sister (who was recovering from surgery) using these same colors and d/p and a chipboard flower, although I didn't think about it until she pointed it out to me! Too funny! I kept looking at this card as I was making it and adding more and more stuff until I had what we lovingly refer to as a "Pat" card. Miss P is the absolute queen of embellishments and "stuff" on her cards! ROFL!!! As you can see, not much stamping here - mostly just lots o' stuff! All in all, I ended up pretty pleased with the results.

Stamps: EFP, Polka Dot b/g, Stamps by Judith flower on tab

Ink: Regal Rose

Paper: Regal Rose, Sahara Sand, Rebecca d/p

other: chipboard flower, Photo Corner punch, Round Tab punch, Slot punch, clear button, silver brads, coordinating ribbon, paper piercer

life goes on

Well, it was a pretty rough weekend and we are missing our Hannah-girl very much. She was a goofy, funny little dog (Dachshund/Beagle mix) that I rescued from the Humane Society 14 years ago. She had a long, happy (I hope) life and was dearly loved by all. She used to love to "patrol" the perimeter (the wall) and sniff/snort at whatever delightful things she could smell on the other side. This she could do for hours and absolutely drive you crazy if you were outside working in the yard! LOL! She was also a sun worshipper in her younger days and as soon as the sun cleared the wall in the winter, she would be basking in the rays and warming up those bones. I will miss her precious, happy face and the tap-tap-tap of her toenails as she came down the hall. I know Hannah is in a place now where she can run free and play and have lots of walls to sniff.

I'm trying to get back to stamping, but still struggling a bit. So here is one of the cards I made for our stamp club meeting last week. I was the one to decide what the challenges would be this time, so for one of the challenges I sent everyone a couple of these polka-dotted flowers to do with as they wished (well, not quite, as I'm sure Pat wanted to toss hers in the trash!). All of the flowers were a different color combo - this was mine. I was actually pretty happy with the way it turned out and the others did great with theirs, too. Now I have lots of ideas for what to do with the rest of these flowers that I have (see, there is always a method to my madness!). :-)

Stamps: Looks Like Spring, Define Your Life, All in a Row

Ink: Marigold Morning, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Marigold Morning, Garden Green, Very Vanilla, patterned paper (unknown source)

other: large polka-dotted flower, Spring Flower Bouquet punch, Ticket Corner punch, large and small amber "jewels"

In Loving Memory

HANNAH

1992 - 2007

back in stampin' mode...

...or so I hope!! I wish I could say I had been on a long, lovely vacation to the beach somewhere, but, alas, such is not the case. Just haven't had any stampin' mojo lately - have had dog issues and car troubles and weather grumpiness, though, so couldn't work up any mental energy for stamping. But with stamp club tonight, I've had to jump back in - especially since it was my turn to come up with the challenge card ideas for this month! LOL! Now I won't post those until after the meeting (don't want any of my club members to get an early peak!). Not to mention that I actually have to go finish one of them as soon as I'm done with this post (can you say Queen Procrastinator!). Just the finishing touches, though...

This card is actually one from last month's club meeting. It was my turn to make one of the projects and this was what I came up with. I've said before how much I love this stamp set. I makes the most beautiful cards and sooooo easily! I had wanted to play with some of my new colors and papers, hence the Groovy Guava. I am so totally in love with that color! I had seen others on SCS using it with Sahara Sand and really liked it. I do think that my Sahara Sand is not quite the same color that I'd seen, but perhaps it was just photography and computers that altered the colors a bit. At any rate, I was completely happy with the way this turned out. Hope you like it, too. :)

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Linen b/g

Inks: Groovy Guava, Sahara Sand

Paper: Groovy Guava, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Groovy Guava d/p

other: Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon, white self-stick faux brads, dimensionals ("flower" in upper left corner is popped up)

WOW! a slide show!

My friend, Pat, added a slide show to her blog and I was sooooo jealous! LOL! So I figured out how to do it and added one here. You can see it on the left side of the page (you may need to scroll down a bit). It was sooooo EASY!! I've put in just some of the cards I've made over the years. There are tons more on my WEBSHOTS page (also linked at the left down lower), but this was so fun I just had to put a few of my favorites up to share. Hope you enjoy... :)

BTW - thanks, Pat, for the great inspiration. Now if I could just get some stamping done! bwahahahaha!

last but not least!

And here is the last of the hand-stamped cards I received for my birthday. This one came from my friend/co-worker/stamp club buddy, Carla. Now I gotta tell you it is so wonderful to see how far Carla has come from when she first started stamping (I still have other b-day cards from her from previous years). When I invited her to come to a stamping party all those years ago (pre-demo) she said she wasn't at all creative, but afterwards she decided stamping was something she could do. And look where she is today! What a great card, Carla - ya done good, girlfriend :) Although I'm not too happy with her right now as she is retiring and will have lots o' time for stamping (I am soooo jealous). Well, she will be taking care of her new granddaughter, Boston, but I'm pretty sure she is happy about that, too!

Stamps: Pick A Petal, Stem Sayings (not sure about the other HB stamp)

Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black

Paper: Elegant Eggplant and More Mustard - both regular c/s and textured, Whisper White, Pickles d/p (retired)

other: Ticket Corner punch, coordinating ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware spiral clip, chipboard (flower center), clear circle bubble sticker, dimensionals.

** I think that is most of it, but I may have missed something! :) **

mo' birthday!!

Here is the totally faboo card I received from my sister, Jonna. She is also part of that stamp club I mentioned on the previous post. When I tell you the scan just does not do it justice, it really is true. I must have taken about 20 pics of this card and for the life of me I just can't get the colors to come out right. I started last night - tried several places - then again today in the day light. No luck. Aaaaacckkkkk!!! So you will just have to take my word for it and use your imagination. This card is amazing. Lots o' bling, as you can see. Chipboard, ribbon, button brad. LOVE it! No stamping on the front, but lots of labor and love went into this one. My sister really does make incredible cards. Thanks bunches, seestor! :)

Stamps: n/a

Ink: Groovy Guava, Elegant Eggplant

(used for edging chipboard and c/s)

Paper: Groovy Guava, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Groovy Guava d/p

other: On Board Simon Lower (h&b), chipboard flower (don't know from where), coordinating ribbon and button brad, rhinestones, Cuttlebug and D'vine Swirl embossing folder, dimensionals

a birthday card for ME!!

Last week I celebrated my birthday. Woohoo!! - another year closer to retirement! LOL! Can you tell I'm counting the days? OK, not the days cause that is just too big a number. And not the years cause that is just too big a concept. So I actually count months - 79 to be exact! Anyway, I digress. :) This is the first of the stamped cards I received and it is from my friend and fellow stamp club member, Pat. She is a fabulous stamper and always makes wonderful cards. Thanks mucho Pat!


So I'm gonna guess on the ingredients. Hopefully I will get most of it right...


Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Aida Cloth b/g
Ink: Really Rust, River Rock
Paper: River Rock, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Whisper White, Fall Flowers d/p
other: Ticket Corner punch, Photo Corner punch, large and small Oval Punches, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, coordinating mini-brads, blue rhinestones, dimensionals, markers: Bordering Blue and Always Artichoke

(how'd I do Pat?!)

Grandma's Birthday!

This card I made for my grandmother's 96th birthday!! Yowza!!! Yep - we live a looonnngggg time in my family! LOL! I finally got a chance to play with my Pick A Petal set (in fact, I think I put it together just to make this card). I used some of my Palette of Prints paper so you'da thought that would make it quick and easy to do. But noooooo!! This was a two-day job. Couldn't get it to come together for me, so went to bed and managed to finish the next day just in time to go to Grandma's birthday lunch! Hence, the not so great pic since I was already late heading out the door and wanted to get a quick shot before I left. :)

First I stamped the petals on Amethyst d/p (two different patterns) and cut them out. Then I layered them on white and cut them out again leaving a small border. Same idea for the center of the flower. For the larger b/g piece of Saffron d/p, I stamped the petal randomly in flower shapes to give it some added dimension. The smaller flowers were punched out and a couple of them popped up. It really does look better IRL - sorry for the crummy pic! LOL!

Stamps: Pick A Petal

Ink: Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, Basic Black

Paper: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst d/p, So Saffron d/p

other: Spring Flower Bouquet punch, white self-adhesive faux brads, Apricot grosgrain ribbon

"b" is for birthday

Here is the other card I made for Jo. This one she gave to her stepbrother, so not quite as conservative as the one for her stepfather! LOL! I love that SU has added the lower-case mono alphas cause they are much easier to fit on the card and still have room for some other stuff. If I had this one to do over again, I think I would have highlighted in some way the "b" in birthday so that it was a little more obvious what the monogram letter was all about. Oh well, that's wha'cha get when I try to do two cards on the same night with limited time! :)

I stamped the monogram b on white with Ballet Blue and cut it out, leaving a small border of white all the way around. Then I layered iton a piece of Chocolate Chip c/s and cut it out again. The "Happy Birthday" piece is popped up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Monogram Alpha lower (b), Holidays & Wishes (happy), EFP (birthday)

Ink: Ballet Blue, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Tickles d/p

other: copper brads, coordinating ribbon, dimensionals

Antique Birthday

Well, it's that time of year when you can never tell if you're gonna be able to be on the computer in the evening - monsoon storms play havoc with electricity and although I would love to have a new computer, there is nothing wrong with this one so I'd better be good to it! LOL! It would wonderful to be home all day and be able to do this before the storms move in, but alas, my employer expects me to be there. Really messes up my day! :)

Anyhoo - this is a card I made for my friend Jo to give to her step-father for his birthday. Had to make this one and another one for her step-brother on the same night (note to Jo: give Dana more warning!!). If you know me, you know that was a definite challenge. I tend to putter when I'm making cards and it is not at all unusual for a single card to take more than one night. Sometimes I just have to sleep on it for it to all come together into something I am satisfied with. Am I that a*** you ask?! You betcha and proud of it!! LOL! Now it helped that this was a guy card, ya know. Plus Bob is a retired FBI guy in his 80's so no fluff or muss for his card. :) I pulled out a way-old set since I thought he might get a kick out of it. Word is that he loved it. BTW, the edges of the white c/s were roughed up with that handy tool - my fingernail; and, yes, the main image is popped up...

Stamps: Antique Autos, All In a Row, Weathered b/g

Ink: Bordering Blue, Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Naturals White

other: Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, navy grosgrain

July stamp club challenge - tall card

This is the second challenge card I made for this month's stamp club. I told you the other day that the square card was a toughie for me and I now freely admit that this one boggled me, too! I knew what I wanted to do for the main image, the colors and paper I wanted to use, but for the life of me I just couldn't figure out what do to with all that space! It appears I am quite challenged by anything but the standard-sized card. LOL! Anyway, finally managed to put a card together that I was reasonably happy with. :)

You will need to click on the image of the card to bring up a larger view in order to see that the Basic Gray c/s (a new color that I am totally in love with!) is some of the new textured paper. LOVE IT! Oh how I wish it came in all 48 of those wonderful colors (and In Colors, too) and also in 8-1/2 x 11 sized c/s. Hopefully it will be so popular, SU will decide to add more to what is offered now. Keep your fingers crossed. I also used some of the new taffeta ribbon (also in the Basic Gray) and it has a really nice silky feel to it (not satiny - there's a difference!). Try some, I think you'll like it.

Stamps: Both Way Blossoms, Wonderful Words
Inks: Real Red, Basic Gray, Always Artichoke, Basic Black
Papers: Real Red, Basic Gray textured, Very Vanilla, Cerise d/p
other: Cuttlebug w/ Vintage die, Ticket Corner punch, aquapainter, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, red satin-edged organdy ribbon, mini self-stick rhinestones

July stamp club challenge - square card

This card I made for one of the challenge cards for my July stamp club meeting. Although I make square cards from time to time, they are still a bit of a challenge for me. It just seems like I never know quite how to fill all the space. This card started out to be something totally different and sort of developed a life of its own! LOL! I'm happy with the way it turned out, but boy howdy - how it ended up like this I sure couldn't tell ya!!

Got to play with one of the new colors - Blue Bayou - and I'm lovin' it! It is similar in tone to Not Quite Navy, but if you lay them together you will really see the difference. I'm thinkin' this will definitely be one of my new favorites. Also got to use chipboard, which I again am challenged by. But the On Board Accents flowers take up a lot of space so work really well on a square card! LOL! Easily covered with d/p by running the paper through my Xyron, adhering the chipboard, then trimming off the excess with an Exacto knife. The round chipboard piece is just right for the 1-1/4" punch, so just had to punch the d/p (no cutting!). The only stamping on this card is the Fresh Fillers mini b/g that is on the piece right under the ribbon. I also used the new photo corner punch (LOVE it!!). The punch does two corners, one slightly smaller than the other. For this card I used the larger corner (punched twice), layered on a piece of Blue Bayou c/s, then trimmed off. Very easy to do. Nothing is popped up - shocker, I know! - but the chipboard pieces give the card more depth/texture so no need. :)

Stamps: Fresh Fillers

Ink: Blue Bayou, So Saffron

Paper: Blue Bayou, So Saffron, Petals & Paisleys d/p, So Saffron d/p, Blue Bayou d/p

other: On Board Accents chipboard (flower and circle)Photo Corner punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, Blue Bayou double-stitched ribbon, coordinating snaps, small blue rhinestone