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