Rubber Room Ramblings

Two of a Kind

2008-03-26T13:00:00.007-05:00

I have been using my One of a Kind set lately. I love it! Hope you are not tired of it yet.

This first card is a card I did at a recent workshop. I was trying to use up some of the paper I seem to never use. Apparently, I rarely use shades of purple. This card was very simple. I used a strip of scrap Berry Bliss Paper and some Pretty in Pink ribbon to give some texture and separation. I stamped the blossoms in pink and amethyst and punched them out. Then I popped them up using pop dots.

This second card is for Kristina's Color Inspiration. It had Orchid Opulence in it and I happen to have lots of that card stock as well. Here is the picture she gave for inspiration.

I love the Rose Red with the Pumpkin Pie.

Here is the card I came up with. Fairly simple again. I colored in the image using my Aqua Painter and then did some faux stitching (which I am still unsure about) with my white gel pen. I also used the gel pen on the flower next to the words "for you".

Freebies

2008-03-19T18:06:00.003-05:00

Every time a new Stampin' Up! catalog comes out I buys some Post-It Note Flags and use them to mark all the things on my wish list. I often use different colors for different price ranges as well. This helps me out if I need to boost up a hostesses workshop or if I am placing my own order and need a certain amount to reach a sales goal or something. Anyways, 3M is offering a free sample of their flags and I thought you may be interested. Click the banner below to get yours. Enjoy.

And the Winner Is....

2008-03-17T19:30:00.001-05:00

Annette Warkentin - email me with your mailing address and I will get your goodies to you!

Lots of Happiness

2008-03-12T15:21:00.004-05:00

Lots of reasons to be happy around here.

1. We no longer have the flu!!!

2. We are out of debt, except for the house.

3. It is 70 degrees outside.

4. I just went over 45,000 hits.

5. This is post #100.

6. I got to stamp.

7. Blog Candy!

This is a card I am doing at my workshop this weekend. It measures 4 1/4' square. I stamped the top in Barely Banana using my Polka Dot background stamp. I tied some Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon to give some division. I stamped a flower from my Big Flowers set in Regal Rose on a scrap piece of Whisper White and then punched it out with a circle punch. I mounted it on another circle punched from Rose card stock and used a pop dot to stick it on. Then I stamped the word "happiness" in Rose underneath. Pretty simple. I like the springiness of it.

Since this is my 100th post and I just past 45,000 hits I wanted to celebrate with some blog candy. So post a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about spring and I will pick from all the comments on Sunday, March 16th. The winner will get a copy of the January edition of Cards (the one I was published in), some SEI Holly Lane ribbon and some Russell Stover Private Reserve Triple Chocolate Mousse candy! I look forward to hearing from you.

Valentine

2008-02-06T14:21:00.000-06:00

First, I just wanted to say sorry for not posting in a while. I have been battling a sinus infection to start with. Once I got over the major part of that (I am still suffering a little from it) Bobby's (my DH) grandmother got put in the hospital. It has been quite a roller coaster. She is scheduled to have a triple bypass this week. In the midst of all of this we got way behind with our homeschooling. As much as I love stamping and all you guys my daughter's education seemed more pressing. I guess I could have posted and told you that I had nothing to share but I hate when my inbox or Google Reader gets filled with "nothing to show today" posts.

Anyways, Kris tagged me today. This is a middle name tag. I get off easy because my middle name only has three letters. My middle name is Rae (<------ ATTENTION: Lynnda and Karen...lol, it's OK cause I have no idea what your middle names are either) so I only have to think of three things about me. So here we go....
R - rapid - I talk very, very fast!
A - affectionate
E - emotional

OK.... now onto a card. I created this card for a workshop that I had last week. My hostess likes pinks and browns. I did not have enough Pretty in Pink card stock so I went with Rose Red instead. I love the satin Chocolate Chip Ribbon! It is luscious!

Stamps: Sweet Shapes and Holidays and Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa and Rose Red Card Stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa and Rose Red
Accessories: Circle and Scallop Punches & Chocolate Satin Ribbon

Little Black Dress

2008-01-23T13:27:00.000-06:00

Here is another card I did for Virtual Stamp Night/ Weekend. The challenge was called Little Black Dress. The main images had to be stamped on black card stock.

I created this card using my Baroque Motifs set. I stamped the flourish and the medallion with white craft ink and then embossed with white embossing powder. Then I cut out the medallion and put a rhinestone brad (earring) in the center of it. I used some retired organdy ribbon to finish the whole thing off. Normally I would not leave my embossing so messy, but the challenge limits you to 45 minutes so I did not have time to go back and do it again.

My inspiration came from this card by Kitty. If you are not part of the SCS Fan Club you will not be able to see the original card. When I first saw this card I put it in my favorites and intended to do it in red. But when I saw the challenge I knew it would work perfect. I may still do it in red though.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Inks: White Craft Ink
Paper: Basic Black & Whisper White
Acessories: Fire Circle Rhinestone Brad, White narrow organdy ribbon (retired), wide black organdy ribbon (retired) and white embossing powder

I Got PUBLISHED!!!!

2008-01-22T19:14:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I sent in a card to Cards Magazine and would you believe that they picked it to be in the January issue!

Today the Fed Ex man finally found my house ( we live in a new neighborhood not on mapquest yet) and left me a box full of goodies and 2 copies of the January issue of Cards. This is my first time being published so please excuse my gushing, bragging and general excitement! I promise that if it becomes a regular thing (being published) I won't continue to go on and on about it ; ) !

If you are interested in being published in Cards, PaperTrends or Scrapbook Trends you can go here and see what they are currently looking for.

Circle Card

2008-01-19T09:30:00.001-06:00

Creative title... ehhh?

Last night on Splitcoast Stampers they had several challenges going on for Virtual Stamp Night/Weekend. The first challenge was to create a circle card (representing your circle of friends) and there was a sketch attached. The hard part was sticking to the sketch for me. That and getting a photo. My card kept rolling off. Notice my strategically placed felt flowers, they are not just there for looks people!

Here is what I came up with. I used my new Embrace Life set. I water-colored it using my Aqua Painter and inkpads. I also used a felt flower from my new Flower Fusion Kit. I love the texture that they add. Oh and I used my culuzzle to cut out the circle.

Oh, and I could not find a "miss you" stamp that I liked with this image or I would have used it because all of my friends are in Tennessee and I miss them all! "HI, FRIENDS!"

Stamps: Embrace Life
Inks: Jet Black StazOn, Rose Red and So Saffron
Paper: Rose Red, Whisper White, Old Olive and So Saffron
Accessories: Rose and Saffron Brad, Culuzzle and Olive Felt Flower

One of a Kind

2008-01-18T17:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I pulled out my new stuff again today and played a little. I am not totally happy with the results. Sometimes the ideas in my head don't completely make it to the paper. Oh well!

I started with this card of Beate's for inspiration. I used Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and then embossed the focal image and sentiment using clear embossing powder. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to place the pomegranate flower in the center of the bigger flower. Excuse the crazy ribbon. I am not sure what is up with that. It does not look like that in real life. This card measures 4 1/4 x 41/4.

Back to the drawing board!

Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: Berry Bliss DSP, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa Card Stock
Ink: Chocolate Chip Craft Ink, Purely Pomegranate
Accessories: Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Brads, Crystal Clear Embossing Powder

Bitty Birthday

2008-01-16T11:17:00.000-06:00

I got my new Stampin' Up! stuff yesterday. I am in love with all the new papers. I ordered the Berry Bliss and the East Coast Prep. I also got some new chunky glitters, two new stamp sets and the Boho Blossoms punch.

I created this card using my new set, Bitty Birthday. I do not have a birthday set anymore that is not retired so I got this set. I used the new East Coast Prep Designer Series Papers. I love these colors together. They are so fun! I think this is the card I will be using for my swap group, but that could change.... we will see.

Stamps: Bitty Birthday
Inks: Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard and Jet Black StazOn
Paper: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard and Whisper White Card Stock and East Coast Prep Designer Series Papers.
Accessories: Turquoise Brads, Turquoise Grosgrain, Wasabi Stitched Ribbon, Tag Punches, Word Window Punch and Ticket Corner Punch

Secret Sister Gift

2008-01-14T14:34:00.000-06:00

The number one Google Search that brings people to my site is "Secret Sister Gift". So today's post should be a hit.

This is part of the gift I am sending my Secret Sister. I made the whole thing using the retired Creative Licence Simply Scrappin' Kit. I got the tins over at Papertrey Ink. I found the frame in a pack of three at Ikea. I followed this tutorial from Emily to do the frame. The nugget tin does not have nuggets inside, instead I created a few small cards that coordinate with the set. I am also including some of the kit contents so she can create some stuff of her own.

I am including some more goodies in her box, but I won't post them here. I need to have some things left to surprise her just in case she is reading this : ).

Now I must go make a card for my wonderful husband. Tomorrow is our 9th wedding anniversary!

Casing Kristina

2008-01-11T08:37:00.000-06:00

In an effort to continue cleaning out my favorites, I chose this card by starofmay to case. I absolutely adore her and I quite possibly have enough of her cards in my favorites to keep me busy for at least two weeks. In the off chance that you have not heard of or seen any of Kristina's work, you should dash over to her blog, as soon as you finish commenting on my post. : )

I absolutely LOVE this layout. I especially love the 5/8 ribbon. I just received my Big Flowers set. It was one of those sets that was on my list but I had never gotten. Well, when SU! put out their most recent catalog, the price had went up quite a bit. So, of course, I had to buy it while it was still a much lower price. I used a marker to ink the flower and then inked the dots with my Wasabi ink pad. The entire green panel it popped up with pop dots as is the scalloped flower.

Stamps: Big Flowers and Polka Dot
Ink: VersaMark and Wild Wasabi
Paper: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Basic Gray, and Regal Rose
Accessories: Regal Rose 5/8 grosgrain, scallop punch, corner rounder, circle punch and Regal Rose marker

Elephant Support

2008-01-10T10:29:00.000-06:00

I love this little guy! Sorry about all the animal cards lately. They seem to be calling my name! I started out this card wanting to use the same colors as yesterday. The little bird was originally going to be on the ground like my inspiration card by 11Valerie11, but I cut my finger while trimming the papers and dripped a small amount of blood above my flower. I had already used my stamp-a-ma-jig to get the words in the right place and I did not want to redo that. So I stamped the bird over the blood. LOL! I think it works.

On another note, who proud of me, besides me, for posting so regularly? I am trying to be more consistent in my blogging because it helps me to create daily. So far, so good! See you tomorrow!

Stamps: Wild About You and Curvy Verses

Paper: Patterned Paper from retired Creative Licence Scrappin' Kit, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue and Whisper White

Ink: Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue and Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Double Stitched Wild Wasabi Ribbon

Kick Stand Card

2008-01-09T13:49:00.000-06:00

Today's Sketch Challenge is to make a kick stand card. This sketch was created by my blogging buddy Kirsten aka ked. You can visit her over at her fabulous and famous blog Confessions of a Naptime Stamper.

I have been planning on doing one of these cards again since Christmas. My first attempt was just so-so. I had my hubby get me a Marvy Giga Scallop Punch so I could use it for these cards.

I used my ink pads and an Aqua Painter to color the rhino and his bird buddy. I colored the rhino in gray and then went back and highlighted him with blue. Then I grounded them with some Wasabi colored grass. Since I was already straying from a total SU! card by using the scallop punch I decided to use my American Crafts Pumpkin colored ribbon. I wish SU! carried 5/8 Pumpkin Pie grosgrain.

I have to say I am much happier with this card then the previous one.

Stamps: Zoofari and Polka Dot
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, VersaMark
Paper: Basic Gray, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi
Accessories: American Crafts Pumpkin Grosgrain, Marvy Giga Punch, Coluzzle

Color Challenge

2008-01-08T09:45:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, I love color challenges. This weeks challenge is to use Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou and Barely Banana. I do not have any Blue Bayou ink yet so I had to use Bordering Blue. They are very close so it is not too noticeable. I wanted to create a simple card. I think I achieved that but even now I am dying to add something to it. Hmmm... maybe I am just not a simple card person. My inspiration for this card came from a card in my favorites by StampinSweetie. As soon as I saw the colors for this week this card came to mind. I pretty much stuck to her layout and just simplified the whole thing. Pretty strait forward stamping here. I used the Wasabi ink pad to ink the stem and leaves and the petals were inked using a marker. I also popped the whole flower panel up on dimensionals.

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Inks: Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana and Basic Black

Paper: Textured Blue Bayou, Barely Banana, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White

Accessories: Bordering Blue Marker and Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon

Casing My Favorites

2008-01-04T15:21:00.000-06:00

Last night I decided to do some sorting and organizing. Not of my stamp room, but of my Favorites folder over on Splitcoast Stampers. I had 8 pages of favorites and at 48 cards a page, well, you do the math. I put card in my favorites for one of three reasons.

1. I own the featured stamp set and love the way the original artist used it.
2. I love the colors that have been used together.
3. I love the layout.

So I went through all my favorites and got rid of everything that featured a set that I no longer owned, unless of course numbers 2 & 3 applied. I also got rid of a lot of stuff that was just plain outdated. Then I kicked out the stuff that I still loved but knew I would never recreate. For example, there were several cards in there that had a lot of the images cut out. Too much time for me. I like instant gratification. So now, I have only 5 pages of favorites. Problem is that in a few months I will have at least 8 pages again. So I decided I better start casing what I already have (once I case a card I remove it from my favorites) so that I don't get overrun by them all again.

So I created this card. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 apply to this card. My nephew has a birthday next week and I thought this card would be perfect. You can see Rohla's original version here. I changed the colors just a little to fit this weeks color challenge. I also left off the brads and tag. I changed the background and added beady little eyes. He's going to be four and I figured that the beady eyes would get much more appreciation than brads and a tag.

Stamps: Wild About You, Polka Dot and It's Your Birthday

Inks: Taken with Teal, Real Red and Certainly Celery

Paper: Taken with Teal, Real Red, Certainly Celery and Whisper White

Accessories: Mat Pack, Real Red and Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon and beady eyes

2008 Chipboard Calendars

2008-01-02T23:16:00.000-06:00

I just had to try the little chipboard calendars Beate made for this tutorial on SCS. I printed my calendars using an altered version of Cat's template. There is absolutely NO stamping on this calendar. I did not intend for that to happen but once I put the calendar portion in place I thought it would look overdone if I added anything else. This will have a magnet on back so it can be put on the fridge as soon as I can find my roll of magnet strip.

I also wanted to say how amazing all of you are. I received several messages about my Heartfelt Trio cards from yesterday. I often get comments here and over at my gallery on SCS but no one ever messages me to let me know how much they like my creations. I am so glad that so many of you enjoyed them, you made my day and made me glad I share my creations. Thank you all so much.

Also a few of you had questions about my storage unit behind my trio of cards. The unit is one of those workshop storage things that usually holds nuts, bolts and nails in a garage. Mine holds all of my craft spots, reinkers and a sponge and dauber for each color. I printed out all of the SU! colors and then punched them out with my word window punch. Then I just stuck them on. I got the idea from StampinMelis. I absolutely love it. I used to hate when I would use a sponge that already had another color on it. This keeps all my sponging from looking muddy.

Maybe I will get a few more pictures of my storage solutions and post them soon. In the mean time, what storage/organization solution have you found that really works for you in your craft area.

Paper: Brocade Background DSP, River Rock and Always Artichoke Card Stock

Accessories: Vintage Brads

Heartfelt Trio

2008-01-02T09:07:00.000-06:00

I never use this set. I bought it because 11Valerie11 over at SCS made me fall in love with it, but for some reason I never grab it. I wanted to do some cards with flowers for the Demonstratable Cards Challenge and my new secret sister mentioned that this is her favorite set so it seemed like a perfect time to pull it out.

For each card I stamped the same focal image of the trio of flowers in Groovy Guava and used a Mellow Moss marker for the stem. Then I did the the detail lines in Ruby Red. I did not want the stem detail line, so I used a Ruby Red marker to ink up only the blossom. I distressed all the edges in all of the cards as well.

On this first card I used a mat pack to pierce some holes in the top corners of the Guava card stock and then sponged the edges with Guava ink. I also sponged the edges of the focal image with Moss ink. The using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the word Happiness from the Warm Words set in Ruby Red ink. I was thinking later that it would be cool to emboss all the Ruby Red accents, but wanted to keep this one simple for an upcoming workshop.

For the second card I added a little Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the blossoms using my two way glue. I also added some Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon. I used my word window punch to make the "special friend" tag. I attached it to the ribbon using some gold wire.

For the final card I put glitter on the blossoms as well. I used the mat pack again to pierce the corners. It is hard to see in the photo but I used Versamark ink and stamped the detail lines for this flower on the bottom half of the Guava card stock.I also used some Moss grosgrain. I had planned on just one strip but it looked unbalanced so I added another one. I was not going to put a sentiment on this one, but when I was done it looked naked. So I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the "from the heart" sentiment from the Holidays & Wishes set.

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Holidays & Wishes, Warm Words, Everyday Flexible Phrases
Inks: Groovy Guava, Mellow Moss, Versamark, Ruby Red
Card Stock: Groovy Guava, Naturals, White, Ruby Red and Mellow Moss
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Word Window Punch, Mellow Moss 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, gold wire, mat pack

We Have A Winner

2007-12-15T06:03:00.000-06:00

We have a winner! I went random.org and it picked number 5! So Silvia Mabie, who has a blog called Mabie Stampin' is our winner.

stampinsilvia said...
Sweet! Thanks for the chance to win some candy...real candy even!!!I hope you Merry is Very!

Stampin Silvia

So Silvia send me your address and I will ship out your goodies!

Thanks for playing everyone. I hope to get some stamping done this weekend. Everyone around here has had a stomach bug. With three kiddos sick it is hard to stamp, or homeschool, or clean, or sleep... LOL. Okay, maybe I won't stamp. Maybe I will catch up on the house, lessons and laundry. We shall see. Have a great Saturday!

Christmas Blog Candy

2007-12-12T13:27:00.001-06:00

Well, at 73 degrees, it does not feel like it is almost Christmas. But sure enough the calendar says it is less than 2 weeks away. So, in order to get me in the Christmas mood. I thought I would give away my first Christmas gift. So post a comment on this post and I will pick a winner Friday, December 14th. The winner of this gift will get some 2-4-6-8 boxes complete with chocolate inside, some Christmas ribbon from Michaels, some holiday $1 stamps also from Michaels, 10 sheets of Stampin' Up! (retired) Forest Foliage and some 6x6 printed paper that came from somewhere that slips my mind.

Merry Christmas,
Julie

Lovely Elephants

2007-12-11T13:41:00.000-06:00

Okay, admit it.... you are surprised to see another post. Two days in a row! We are starting to get settled in and I have most of my stamping stuff unpacked and have been able to get my new space (in my bedroom UGGHH!) somewhat organized. Not so much that I can take pictures to share with you just yet but enough that I can stamp and find things easily enough.

Anyway, I stamped these little 3x3 cuties for the Demonstrator Challenge over on SCS. Every Monday is Demonstrable Cards. This weeks challenge was to make a Valentine card. I don't own any Valentine sets so I decided to use the Wild About You set. I think these would be perfect for the kiddos to hand out to all their friends.

I chose the colors with last years Loves Me Designer Series paper in mind. I just love it. You may notice that one elephant is darker than the other. That is because I stamped both of them without reinking. I also used scraps of white grosgrain. There is not a whole piece under these little guys but two separate pieces. This is a great way to use up your scraps and no one will know unless you tell them. I also used the Polka Dot Background on the lighter one to add some ummph... I think I like it better. Which do you like better?

Hope you are all having a great day.

Julie

Stamps: Wild About You, Holidays & Wishes, Polka Dot
Card Stock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: White Grosgrain Ribbon

2-4-6-8 Box

2007-12-10T21:49:00.000-06:00

This weekend we had a Christmas Dinner/Party at my church. We were each responsible for decorating a table. I made these 2-4-6-8 boxes to sit at each place setting at our table and filled them with candy.

I stamped each one with the holly leaves and berries from the Background Basics Set. Then I used a Real Red marker to color the berries. I stamped the tags and then threaded them onto red gingham ribbon that I tied around the "neck" of the bag to keep them closed.

Here is a closer look at one of them.

Stamps: Background Basics and Holidays & Wishes
Card Stock: Creamy Carmel, Real Red and Very Vanilla
Inks: True Thyme (retired in color '07)
Accessories: Real Red Stampin' Write Marker, and red gingham ribbon

Simply Scrappin' Card

2007-11-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

This card was so simple. I used the Creative License Simply Scrapin' Kit. It made it so easy since everything is already coordinated in the kit. The only stamps I used were for the "U R". Too simple.

You can see the card I cased here.

Stamps: Rough Edges Alphabet

Paper: Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, Wild Wasabi Card Stock, Blue Bayou Card Stock, Printed Paper from Creative License SSK

Ink: Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Die Cuts from Creative License SSK, Scallop Circle Punch and dimensionals

Tagged

2007-10-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

My friend Kris over at Stamping for Sanity tagged me. I totally flaked out on the last round of tagging that circulated because we were in the midst of buying and selling houses. And while we are not all unpacked (I have not even seen my stamp stuff yet) we are in one place for now. That and the fact that this tag is a little different has spurred me to post a little walk down memory lane.

I will answer the question: What was I doing 10/20/30 years ago…Then, you answer this question on your blog or here in the comments section. Tag as many other bloggers as possible & have them link back to Relevant Blog (Mary DeMuth) who started this little social experiment! I went and looked at her blog and there is an additional question listed. So Kris go back and answer the last question!

Here are my answers:

10 years ago (1997): I was 24 years old. This was exactly one year before I met my wonderful Husband! I was still dating that Boy who I should have ran screaming from much sooner than I did. I was working for the Makita Corporation of America. I was unmarried and childless and had not yet accepted Jesus as my savior so I was doing lots of stuff that I should have never been doing

20 years ago (1987): I was 14, about to be 15. I was a freshman in high school. I cannot find my yearbooks because they are all packed up so I cannot remember what school I was at. I changed a lot around this time in my life. But I am fairly certain I was at Towers HS in DeKalb County GA. We had just moved to GA from Texas. I hated my mom for moving us and was being generally rebellious.

30 years ago (1977): I was 4 years old about to be 5, I do not remember a lot from my early childhood, but I do know I was living in Texas and I had a baby brother named Danny. My youngest brother was not yet on the way.

Additional question: What do you see yourself doing ten years from now? (2017) Ten years from now I will be in the middle of the teenage years with my two oldest and my youngest will be 11. I will have an additional child, a girl I hope. And she will be around 8 or younger. We will still be debt free and I will be making mucho bucks using all my wonderful crafting genius! (Oh my, I think JanTink rubbed off on me there a little. Maybe I should wait to read her blog until after I post from now on LOL !)

I'm going to tag so new (to me) blogs I have been reading lately...

Chrissy - Tales from the Carpool Lane

Tami - Mental-Pausing Stamper

Danielle - Fat Cat Stamper

Good News!!!

2007-10-01T13:55:00.000-05:00

We are planning on closing on a new home this weekend! I cannot wait to have all of my stamping goodies out of storage and have a stamp space again!

An Unsent Card and Some Excuses

2007-09-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness! it has been so long since I posted on my blog. To my two faithful readers I am very sorry. We are currently looking for a house to buy. In the mean time, we are living with my in laws. We have been staying in their bonus room for almost six month (I have a family of five). Our previous home finally sold but we have not found a new one yet. Then three weeks ago my MIL had back surgery. So I have been helping to take care of her. Needless to say, I have not stamped.

So this card is a card I made for a family friend who had a baby. I made it before she had a beautiful little GIRL! She has three boys so I figured that the blue was a safe bet. My intention was to make matching pink and blue cards so I could send either one but I ran out of time. Instead she got a little note that said, "Congratulations" .... no stamping involved. I did however send her a great girly blanket from ...

Okay, enough rambling ... Onto the card.

This card was totally inspired by seewah over at {kindred spirits}. You can see her card right here. I did not have any SU! Kraft card stock so I used some similar paper that my hubby got for me. I love the look of the white craft ink on it. The sentiment says, " sweet little one" but it is hard to see in the photo. This card measures 4 1/4 " X 4 1/4"

Stamps: I'm Here and Hugs & Wishes
Inks: Craft White and Craft Bashful Blue
Paper: Bashful Blue and non SU! Kraft
Accessories: baby blue grosgrain, sponge and punch

Kick Stand Card

2007-08-23T09:26:00.000-05:00

Last week Kirsten started featuring Kick Stand Cards. They were so cute that I thought I would try one out. I am not totally happy with this card. It feels like something is missing . I was looking for my Vintage Violet Stitched ribbon but cannot find it. It is probably pack up in a box in storage. (I SO want my own house!!) I did however find this cool paper. It was in a scrapbook kit that my daughter got for her birthday. I think it goes well with this image.

Stamps: Wild About You
Ink: Vintage Violet, Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Westtrim PP Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White and Vintage Violet Card Stock
Accessories: Marvy Giga Square Scallop Punch

Sweet Butterflies

2007-08-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

I finally got some stamping time in yesterday. I actually got 3 cards done. This is the first card I did. I fell in love with this card done by Jen Balcer. I loved the striped paper and the layout.

I used craft ink to stamp the butterflies and then sprinkled some Iridescent Ice embossing powder on top. After I embossed them they were all sparkling. The swirls are stamped with VersaMark and embossed with Iridescent Ice as well.

On another note, I have some exciting news. I am being published!!! One of my Dare to Be Darling cards was chosen to be in the January 2008 edition of Cards! How exciting is that! You will notice that I had to take it down for now. So only those with a good memory or who are in my swap group know which one it was. I just cannot believe that the first card I sent in got selected! I cannot wait to see it in print!

Have a great day! More cards tomorrow!

Stamps: Sweet Shapes and Hugs & Wishes
Paper: Shimmery White, Rose Red, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi and Darling Doodles DSP
Ink: Craft Rose Red, VersaMark and Groovy Guava
Accessories: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Wild Wasabi Stitched Grosgrain and pop dots

And the Winner is...

2007-08-10T13:02:00.000-05:00

Sencie said...: Both of these cards are adorable!!!! I think my favorite new set is Bronc Buster, but there are tons of others I really like... and my fav set seems to change daily. lol My favorite new accessory right now is probably the new double stitched ribbon.

Sencie, send me your snail mail addy so I can send you some goodies!

Dare to Be Darling

2007-08-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

There is a lot of talk over at SCS about everyone disliking this set. I however, love this set. It was on my short list. I just think it is so much fun.
This first card is a case of this card done by Kristina Werner (starofmay on SCS). I love so many of her creations. If you have not already done so you MUST check out her blog and SCS gallery.

The colors of this card are drawn from the coordinating paper, Darling Doodles. It is hard to see in this photo but I also used the Polka Dot background stamp.

Sets: Polka Dot and Dare to Be Darling
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Groovy Guava, Brocade Blue and VersaMark
Papers: Darling Doodles Paper, Whisper White, Rose Red and Brocade Blue Card Stock
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, dimensionals and Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Grosgrain

This second card uses all the same things minus the Darling Doodles paper. I created this one for a swap I am participating in. Hope they like it. I am really loving this double stitched grosgrain. Too cute.

Sets: Polka Dot and Dare to Be Darling
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Groovy Guava, Brocade Blue and VersaMark
Papers: Whisper White, Rose Red and Brocade Blue Card Stock
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, dimensionals and Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Grosgrain and Circle Punches.

And if you read all this you deserve some blog goodies. So comment on this post and let me know what you favorite set and accessory is out of the new SU! catalog. I will randomly pick a winner on Friday, Aug. 10th and send the winner a surprise package.

Color Challenge Card

2007-07-07T14:12:00.000-05:00

I created this card for the Color Combo Challenge over at Splitcoast. This weeks challenge combo was based on Basic Grey's Infuse paper. We had to use Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I love these colors together!

I also love this stamp set, even if it is retired. I originally did not distress the layers but once I was done the card lacked something. So, I ran my scissors along the edges of all the layers. I like the final outcome.

Well, I finally past the 30,000 mark. So be looking gout for a blog gift giveaway at the beginning of next week.

Stamps: In Full Bloom and Hugs & Wishes
Inks: Timber Brown StazOn, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive and Naturals White
Accessories: Dotted Ribbon and Aquapainter

Wild About Ribbon

2007-07-06T11:11:00.000-05:00

I finally got the chance to stamp last night. I was having some trouble getting inspired so I decided to do a few challenges from SCS. Doing a few challenges is a great way to get your creative juices flowing.

The first challenge I did was the Way to Use It Challenge. This weeks challenge was to use ribbon on your card and if you use ribbon often; to use it in a different way. I use it all the time so I wanted to try doing something similar to this card created by amylou on SCS. The way she used the ribbon reminded me of patterned paper.

I also did the Color Challenge for this week. More on that later.

Stamps: Wild About You
Papers: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Rose Red and Whisper White
Ink: Almost Amethyst and Rose Red
Accessories: Rose and Celery markers, Sherbet Ribbon

New Catty

2007-06-26T21:37:00.000-05:00

I get my pre-order case of Stampin' Up! Fall/Winter Collection tomorrow! I am so excited! I just had to tell someone!

On another note I am about to hit 30,000 on my counter. Be on the lookout for a Blog Gift!

Preview Swap

2007-06-19T18:46:00.000-05:00

I finally got all my stamp stuff set up here at the in-laws. This is my first card since we got here over a month ago. I hope I will have more to share soon.

Stampin' Up! lets it's demos order sets from the upcoming catty every year. This year they also gave us 20% off of the preview sets! I ordered several sets, they were on sale after all and then I also got some of the new In Color papers and some new rhinestone brads. I made this card for a preview swap that I am in. I love this set as a wedding set.
I embossed the swirls and the word cherish. I also dipped the tag in VersaMark and embossed the edges. I love all the layers. I think the white really makes each layer pop.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs and Everyday Flexible Phrases
Card Stock: Blue Bayou, Not Quite Navy, Soft Sky, Whisper White
Ink: Not Quite Navy & VersaMark
Accessories: Sterling Silver Stampin’ Embossing Powder; Stampin’ Dimentionals; White Organdy ribbon; Silver Cord; Purse Boxes & Tags sheet

New Catty News!

2007-06-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

Today the July Stampin' Success came online for all of us demos to see! It was chock full of new stuff from the upcoming catalog! Here is what I have found so far (with some help from the demos over at SCS).

New Stamp Sets:

Build a Flower (sort of looks like Pick a Petal)
Fundamental Phrases
Ginormous Flowers
Polka Dot background
Sweet Sampler
Think Happy Thoughts
Wanted

New Papers:

Certainly Celery Prints
Cutie Pie
Outlaw

New Ribbons:

River Rock double-stitched grosgrain
Soft Sky double-stitched grosgrain
Wild Wasabi double-stitched grosgrain
District Ribbon Originals
Fairytale Ribbon Originals
Jersey Ribbon Originals
Sherbet Ribbon Originals
Theater Ribbon Originals
Chocolate Chip taffeta
Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain

New Punches:

Star punch
Circle Scallop punch

Other New Stuff:

On Board Clipboards!!!

New product lines of coordinating sets, papers, and punches!

Boho West (featured-- Wanted set, Outlaw paper, Star punch)
Corner Office
Tapestry

New Simply Scrappin' kits! Includes double-sided Designer Series Paper and Textured card stock .

Winter Bright Simply Scrappin' Kit

New Simply Sent card kits! Will include supplies for 10-20 cards, depending on accessories and card sizes.

Pretties Kit!

fabric flowers (that can be dyed to match)
halfback pearls
hatpins
beads
rhinestone brads

Also, if you have not seen the Preview Catty yet click here to see a few more things that were not mentioned in SS!

Tagged

2007-06-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

I got tagged by Kris. Check out her blog, Stamping for Sanity.

The challenge is to answer the questions with one word answers! This will be hard...

Yourself: complex
Your Partner: simple
Your Hair: brown
Your Mother: difficult
Your Father : unknown
Your Favorite Item: couch
Your Dream Last Night: unmemorable
Your Favorite Drink: coffee
Your Dream Car: paid-off
Dream Home: big
The Room You Are In: bedroom
Your Fear: heights
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: here
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: family
You’re Not: all-together
One of Your Wish List Items: lasik
The Last Thing You Did: email
You Are Wearing: pjs
Your Favorite Weather: spring
Your Favorite Book: many
Last Thing You Ate: sausage
Your Life: upside down
Your Mood: content
Your Best Friend: Bobby
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Breakfast
Your Car: Relay
What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing
Relationship Status: Married
What Is On Your TV: Dora
What Is The Weather Like: sunny
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: yesterday

My Swap Entry

2007-05-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

This is the card I did for the Spring Bloggers Swap Group 3. I decided to use the set I got a the Regional Seminar in Atlanta. This set will be available in the upcoming catalog. This layout is what I call my 11Valerie11 layout. I stared with my Sarah Designer Series Paper. I knew I wanted to use it so I drew my colors from it. I stamped my stems first. I double stamped the one on the left to get a taller stem. I had to tape off one of the leaves while I inked up the stem the second time. After inking, I removed the tape and stamped. Then I stamped the blooms. Once on the white panel and once on white scraps. After coloring everything in I cut out the blooms on the scrap and mounted them on top of the other blooms using brads. I then embossed the sentiment (which is hard to see in the photo) using blue embossing powder. I finished the card off with some ribbon and paper piercing along the top of the card.

Stamps: Double-Line Doodles Inks: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, So Saffron and Versamark Paper: Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White, Sarah Designer Series Papers Accessories: Saffron Brads, Regal Embossing Stack (blue), paper piercer, Apricot grosgrain & blender pens

Two More

2007-05-30T11:45:00.001-05:00

This colorful beauty was created by Donna Baker. This card is a slider card. When you pull the ribbon tab down the butterfly panel slides down and reveals a hidden message. Also, it is hard to see in the photo, but there is Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on the butterfly wings.

This card is the swap I received from Mimi. She creates some beautiful art. Be sure to stop by her blog, Stamps-a-latte Stamp Cafe. while there be sure to scroll down to see a sneak peek of the new In Colors to be released by Stampin'Up! in July. I love all the layers in her card. Thanks Mimi!

More Spring Swaps

2007-05-28T12:58:00.000-05:00

This swap card came from Anna. I love this set. Anna masked off the frog and then stamped the mushroom to make the frog "sit" on the mushroom. It is hard to see but she put Crystal Effects on each heart in the background.

This card is the second card I received from Fairle. I love the dimension of this card. She cut out and adhered each flower petal individually. WOW!

Group 3 Blogger Swap

2007-05-26T08:55:00.000-05:00

I was so excited when my harassment of Kirsten persuaded her to join the Blogger Only Springtime Swap. I began admiring her work several months ago and now she is practically famous! You must visit her blog, Confessions of a Naptime Stamper. Her work is incredible and she is a very nice person too. OK, enough gushing over Kirsten...on to her card.

This card was for the second group I was in. It was as Stampin' Up! only swap but we were not limited to the Spring Mini. Kirsten used a set from the Spring Mini anyways. I just love what she came up with. This girl is into details! I love the little sentiment "must stamp" that she put on. The date stamp in the corner was marked for the day that the swap was due. How clever!

Kirsten also let me lift all the photos of Group 3's swaps from her blog. Thanks girlie!

Stamps - Office Accoutrement, Rough Edges Alpha
Paper - Celery, Teal , Saffron , Whisper White , Notations PP
Ink - Sahara Sand, Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Celery, Teal, White Craft, Chocolate Marker
Accessories - Celery Grosgrain, Round Tab Punch, 1/8 and 1/16 Hand Punch, Saffron Brads, Dimensionals

Springtime Swaps

2007-05-25T09:58:00.001-05:00

Isn't this card just perfect for spring? I love the colors and the sparkly flowers. They just scream spring to me. this card was created by Fairle Beaman Carroll. Be sure you drop by her blog, Stamping 101. Scroll down when you get there and check out her cute Spring Bouquet.

Stamp Set: Polka Dots & Paisleys
Card stock: Lavender Lace, Basic Black, Glossy
Inks: YoYo Yellow, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Lavender Lace
Accessories: Flower Punch, Glitter, Ribbon

This little cutie was created by Leslie Brown. I love her use of our new punches. She definitely has an eye for detail. You can find more of Leslie's work on her blog, Continuing to Create.

Stamps: Paisley and Polka Dots, Amazing to Zany
Card stock: Cool Caribbean, Regal Rose
Inks: Cool Caribbean, Cranberry Crisp
Accessories: Paper Piercing tools, Spiral round and Tab punches, ribbons, Designer papers

Another Group One Swap

2007-05-23T08:39:00.001-05:00

Here is the swap card I received from Amber Porter. I absolutely love the clean look of her card. When I first saw some of the colors in this Designer Series Paper, I was unsure about this particular one. But Amber really pulled it off. I also love the touches of black that she added. Be sure to visit her blog, Ramblings of a Sassy Stamper.

Spring Blogger Swap

2007-05-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

I recently participated in a Blogger Swap that featured Spring Mini sets. I immediately fell in love with this little invitation! This clever card was created by Chris Smith. You need to visit her blog! She has some gorgeous creations. I especially love the way she used the twill tape to make the strap! How cute!!! You can see more details over on her blog, from my inkpad to yours.

Stamps: Crab & Company, All Year Cheer II, Flannel Plaid
Paper: Ivory Naturals, Ruby Red
Inks: Buckaroo Blue, Black Stazon, Ruby Red, True Thyme, Night of Navy marker
Accessories: Twill tape, Ruby Red brads, 1/16" punch, Aqua Painter

Chris also graciously allowed me to lift all the photos from the swap from her blog. I was afraid I would never get all the pictures taken because of my move. THANKS CHRIS!

This second card was done by Michelle Laycock. I love the way she used the window punch and the Hodgepodge Hardware. Be sure to stop by her blog, Ink Artist. She has pages of inspiring artwork, she's been blogging for FOUR years!

Stamp Sets: Polka Dots & Paisley, Everyday Flexible Phrases, and Expressive Flexible Phrases
Paper: Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery
Ink: Regal Rose, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Word Window punch, Certainly Celery brad, Navy and Celery organdy ribbon, Celery grosgrain ribbon, Hardware, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Ghosting

2007-04-26T09:44:00.000-05:00

Funny thing happened yesterday. I got a sweet comment on this card from Melissa. She said that I had inspired her to do the crayon resist technique at her next class and gave me the link to her blog, Melissa's Moments. Imagine my surprise when I see her card! it looks very similar to the other card I did for my Stamp Club in April! Great minds think alike!

Here is the card I did. I used the ghosting technique. My club members were wanting to learn something that they could use their brayers with and this seemed to be a good place to start.

Stamps: Sincere Salutations & Petal Prints Ink: Jet Black StazOn and Rose Red Paper: Naturals White, Basic Black and Glossy White Accessories: Black Wide and White organdy ribbon & brayer

Spring Blogger Swap

2007-04-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

I participated in the Spring Blogger Swap hosted by Sarah Moore recently. I received several gorgeous swaps back this week. So over the next few weeks I will be sharing them with you. I was in two groups. The first group had to create a card using a set from the Spring Mini Catalog and were only allowed to use SU! products.

This is the card I created. I was heavily inspired by this card over on Amy's blog Heartfelt Greetings. I loved the paper she used and wanted to recreate it using stamps. I was a little more complicated than I had anticipated, but I am happy with the results. To create the look, I used glossy paper. I stamped my images using StazOn ink and then used a white crayon to cover the entire area of each image and some of the area surrounding them. I then brayered on my turquoise ink and then buffed the card stock off. This left me with completely white images. I then colored in selected areas using my SU! markers. Be sure you let the piece dry between each color or you will get a mess. A complete tutorial for this technique can be found here. After finishing the focal panel I stamped dots on the top half of the yellow card base and then attached the red card stock and did some faux stitching around the edges. I tied on some turquoise ribbon, stamped a sentiment and then I layered my focal panel onto more card stock and added some red brads.

Stamps: Doodle That, Much Appreciated & Itty Bitty Backgrounds Inks: Craft White, Real Red, Jet Black Staz On & Tempting Turquoise Paper: Real Red, Glossy White, Whisper White & Yo Yo Yellow Accessories: White Singo Gel Pen, S! REal Red, Yoo Yo Yellow, Tempting Turquoise and Green Galore Markers, Paper Piercer, Red Brads,Turquoise Grosgrain, Brayer & White Crayon

Tagged

2007-04-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

Kirsten over at Confessions of a Naptime Stamper tagged me TWICE! Once so that I can list my top 5 blogs and once to tell you 10 weird things about me. Most everyone has been tagged already so I am listing some blogs that I frequent that you may not have seen yet.

Belinda's Stamping Space

Inking Aloud

Kim's Basement Stamping

Stamping 101

Paula Ponders

And 10 weird things about me... well, weird is a strong word but I will play anyways.

1. I am a big crybaby! I even cry at commercials.
2. I only knew my husband for a month when we got engaged.
3. I only knew him 3 months when we got married.
4. I cannot stand for people to touch my belly button.
5. I love Disney music.
6. I am a very organized person, but my stamp room is a disaster.
7. When putting things in alphabetical order I often think in Spanish.
8. When packing up my house I assigned each room a color ( living room = green, kitchen = yellow etc.) and then put that color tape on the outside of the box.
9. I describe colors using Stampin' Up! names. Like, " she was wearing a Ballet Blue Shirt and a Pretty in Pink necklace."
10. I did not want kids when I was growing up. Now I have 3 and plan to homeschool them all.

Another Trifold

2007-04-21T13:59:00.000-05:00

I just fell in love with these little trifold triangle cards. I decided to do one for my May Stamp Club. Here is the design I came up with. I used my Recollections Designer Series Paper and my Roses in Winter set. So pretty, in my opinion. On the inside I included a ivory piece of card stock to write a message to the recipient on.
Stamps: Roses in Winter Ink: Cranberry Crisp & Mellow Moss Paper: Cranberry Crisp, Mellow Moss & Naturals Ivory Card Stock, Recollections DSP Accessories: Wine Organdy Ribbon

TLC112

2007-04-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Monday's Technique Lovers Challenge was to do a Triangle Trifold Card. I had never done one of these so I headed over to Beate's tutorial. I love her step by step instructions. This was a very easy card to do and I just love how cute it is. I will most likely be teaching this at my next Stamp Club meeting.

On this card I was finally got to use the acrylic stamps that Asela sent to me. This was the first time I had used acrylics and they were definitely different. The jury is still out, I am unsure if I like using them or not.

Stamps: Micheal's Dolor Stamps Ink: Color Box Wisteria and Yellow Citrus Chalk Inks Paper: Whisper White, YoYo Yellow and Orchid Opulence Accessories: Orchid Stitched Grosgrain by Just Enough

I'm Back!!

2007-04-16T12:14:00.000-05:00

Well, the house is on the market, it is painted and all non essential items are packed up and shipped out. The only things left are some minor repairs, cleaning out the basement and keeping my house clean enough for people to walk through. I did get to stamp recently. I had two swaps due and i will be showing you those latter this week. I also had my Stamp Club this past weekend. Here is the card we did.

This card features the Crayon Resist technique. I love the way this technique highlights an image. I also featured some of the In Color line since it will be retiring soon.

I hope to do some more stamping this week and get my stamp room somewhat cleaned up. We will see how that goes.

Stamps: Natural Beauty and Mini Mates Paper: Whisper White, Vintage Violet, Marigold Morning, and True Thyme Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Vintage Violet, Marigold Morning, and True Thyme Accessories: Thyme stitched grosgrain, white crayon and sponges

Retired Sets For Sale

2007-04-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

As you know we will be moving soon. In an effort to keep the boxes to a minimum I am selling some of my retired sets that I never reach for anymore. A friend has listed them on eBay for me. (side note: Thank You so much, Tami. I would have never found the time to get these online.) So be sure and take a look HERE if you are looking for retired sets or if you just want to help me have less to pack (wink).

Another Secret Sister Card

2007-04-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

Well, we put the house on the market this weekend. So needless to say, it has been crazy around here. I still have not done any stamping. I need to finish my Blogger Swaps, so I will stamp this week, only I can't show you. I hope to have something new to share soon.

In the meantime, here is another card I made for my Secret Sister a while back. The base is Pretty in Pink. I stamped the circle and flower from Sweet Shapes in pink on it then I highlighted them with my white gel pen. I then cut a strip from an embossed sheet of white. I highlighted the circles using a sponge dauber and pink ink. I tied on some pink dotted organdy and finished off with the word sweet (highlighted again) in the bottom corner.

Stamps: Sweet Shapes Inks: Pretty in Pink Card Stock: Pretty in Pink and Whisper White Accessories: Bloom Dots Embossing Folder by Provo Craft, White gel pen and Dotted organdy from Wal-Mart.

Blogger RAK

2007-03-26T14:12:00.000-05:00

Kristen Soboloski sent me this beautiful RAK! It is my second card from the blogger RAK group. I love square cards and I love the Petal Prints set from Stampin' Up! Thank you so much for the card and all your lovely sentiments! You made my day. You can see more of Kristen's creations over on her blog, Artfully Inking.

I still have not stamped...AAARRRGGGHHH! I had wanted to participate in VSN this weekend over at SCS but I still have so much to do. We did get the yard ready for it's picture. Our real estate agent will be coming later this week to take photo. The hose should officially go on the market this weekend. I you wanna see the house you can stop by my family blog. The link is over on the right.

Blue Paisley

2007-03-21T15:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging. We are getting ready to put our house on the market so I have been getting everything in order. I am not even close to being finished. I have not stamped in days. So I pulled up this card.

I sent this card to my Secret Sister months ago. She is not a demonstrator and did not have this set. I think the colors are Buckaroo Blue and Night of Navy but it has been so long that I am not totally sure. I also used my Singo Gel Pen to accent the paisleys.

Blogger RAKs

2007-03-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received my first Blogger RAK! This spring cutie came from Julie Brooks! I adore all the colors she used. I feel warm already! If you have not already seen Julie's Blog be sure to head over there and check out her great stuff!

And then today as if yesterday wasn't enough. I received these little cuties from Asela. She had shown them on her blog and was asking what type of ink to use. I mentioned that I did not know because I had yet to try any acrylic stamps and there was no Michael's in my town so I was out of luck. So she put them in an envelope and shipped them my way! How sweet is that! Thanks Ladies, I feel so loved!

Now I am off to stamp with these little guys!
Also, if you bog and want to get some great cards from other bloggers. You can sign up over at SCS in the RAK forum ( you must join) on this thread.

Welcome, Cora Cooper

2007-03-16T19:36:00.000-05:00

My friend just had a new baby girl. My last too babies were boys so I excited to do something girly for a baby! I hope she likes it.

I started by using my Cuttlebug to do the swirls on the top portion of the card. I then used the side that had the swirls sunken in rather that the side that had raised swirls. I then stamped the hand with pink craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder. Then I used the ticket corner punch on each corner and layered it onto some rose and pink card stock. the whole piece is popped up on dimensionals. I had wanted to pit the ribbon across the top of the patterned paper but the swirls do not reach the fold on the card and I wanted to cover that up. So instead I put a piece of pink card stock right above the paper. To finish it all off I stamped "Welcome, baby!". I just feels so girly! I love it.

Stamps: Tiny Talk & I'm Here Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White and Regal Rose Card Stock & Loves Me Designer Series Papers Inks: Basic Black and Craft Pretty in Pink Accessories: pink grosgrain ribbon, pink dotted organdy (Wal-mart), Iridescent Ice EP & Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl Embossing Folder

Atlanta Regionals Swap

2007-03-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

So, went to the Atlanta Regionals this past Saturday and swapped this card. Only once I got home I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture of it and would not be able to share it with you all. But then as I was perusing the gallery I saw this card. I received it as a swap in Atlanta. So I sent Christy a little note begging that she have pity on me and take a photo for me. And She DID!!!! So now I am forever indebted to her! Please take a peak at her new blog, Stamps Scissors and Sippy Cups and give her some love!

This card was a lot of work but I love the end result. Since I was mass producing these I did things a little differently. First I stamped full 81/2 x 11 sheets of pink paper with the Paisleys. I used Timber Brown StazOn because it popped of the paper better than regular classic ink. Then while watching/listening to the TV I used my white gel pen to add a little highlight to the images. then I cut the full sheets into quarters and then cut the quarters in half. I mounted each one onto chocolate card stock. Then I took the base of the card and stamped the images down both sides and highlighted with the gel pen. Next I stamped the focal flower with pink craft ink and embossed it with iridescent ice embossing powder and then added the sentiment. I then stamped the words. Afterwards I added a little pick grosgrain. Then I took a sponge (that is now retired) and some chocolate ink and distressed everything including the ribbon. After everything was distressed I put it all together. the focal image is popped up on dimensionals.

In other news... I drew a winner for the Blog Gift. Thank you to everyone who commented. I read every single comment and visited the blogs if you have one. A very BIG thank you to Allison for sending so many people this way. Be sure to check Allison's Blog, Stampin' When I Can for frequent updates on where to find blog candy!

Stamps: Polka Dots and Paisley Inks: timber Brown StazOn, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink Craft & Classic Paper: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White Accessories: Singo White Gel Pen, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and Pink grosgrain ribbon.

BLOG GIFT - WE HAVE A WINNER

2007-03-14T15:25:00.000-05:00

ETA: the winner is....

Kraftin' Kimmie said...: Two things about me...hmm??
1. I work at a library and
2. I can't wait for the new Harry Potter book!!
Please email with you address so that I can ship all the goodies to you!

Okay, so who is up for FREE Stuff? If you are then post a comment on this post and tell me two things about yourself. I will go first....

1. My favorite color is red
2. I will be moving to Georgia soon.

You can post a comment for the next 24 hours. So 3pm CST on Thursday, March 15 is the deadline!

This is the Retired SU! Furnished with Love Set NUM and three rolls of various American Crafts Ribbon.

Good Luck!

Featured Stamper Challenge

2007-03-13T15:48:00.000-05:00

The Featured Stamper Challenges are quickly becoming my favorite! There are so many great stampers over at SCS that you cannot help but be inspired by them.

This weeks featured stamper is Toy. Her attention to detail never ceases to amazes me. And she always has so may layers, a look that I love! I chose this card of hers to CASE.

I participated in this sketch challenge so the layout was familiar, one that I really enjoyed and that was the reason I chose this particular card (I had to narrow it down somehow). I decided to play off the circle snowflakes in her card. I also kept her ribbon feature. To change it up and make it more mine, I changed the colors and left off the sentiment. I also did the Dazzling Diamond Dust technique on the focal image.

Stamps: Simple Shape Ink: VersaMark, Rose Red & Certainly Celery Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rose Red & Certainly Celery Accessories Sweet Shop ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder

Atlanta Regionals

2007-03-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I attended the Atlanta Regional Seminar. I had a blast and met some great ladies. I went with a fellow demo who lives in the area. It was nice to have someone along that you already know. I was blessed to be able to sit at a table with some great ladies, Diane, Pam and Julia (waving)! I also met Kim Howard , fellow Splitcoast Stamper and blogger. I was glad to meet her because she lives in the area that we will be moving to in a few months.

This is one of the cards I created while I was there. They had a different design for us to do but it did not appeal to me so I made some adjustments. We all received a set, from the upcoming Fall/Winter Collection 2007, called Double-Line Doodles. It is a pretty cute set and I hope to get some cards made with it soon.

The picture is not a great one and my colors are a little off. The card base is actually More Mustard. The challenge here was to stay in these colors since it was all they had provided us with. I used a blender pen to color in the leaves and stem and markers to color in the flower.

On another note, I passed the 15,000 hit mark over the weekend! So, as a thank you to everyone for supporting me I will be having a little blog gift drawing later this week. I just need to decide what I am gonna give away and then I will post it. So keep your eyes open.

Stamps: Double-Line Doodles Ink: More Mustard, Old Olive & Tempting Turquoise Paper: Naturals White, More Mustard, Old Olive & Tempting Turquoise Accessories: Red Grosgrain, Red marker, blender pen & olive button

Color Challenge Bella

2007-03-06T15:20:00.000-06:00

My wonderful Secret Sister sent me several Bella images. So today I decided to put them to use. I needed a birthday card for a fellow blogger and wanted to do the Color Challenge on SCS.

I started with my Flowahbella image. I watercolored the dress, hair, body and pot with my Aquapainter. then I used my markers on the flowers. The rose panel looked too plain so I added the little starburst image from Sweet Shapes. I also pooled some Celery ink under her feet to ground her a little. After layering everything and adding ribbon it still looked like something was missing. So I did what all the stampers I admire do.... I added coordinating brads. I finished it off by stamping "happy birthday".

Stamps: flowahbella by Stamping Bella, Birthday Cupcake (sentiment) by katie & co. and Sweet Shapes Inks: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery & So Saffron Paper: Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White Accessories: Saffron Brads, Saffron Grosgrain, Aqua Painter and Coordinating markers

Featured Stamper Challenge

2007-03-05T20:20:00.001-06:00

Here is my entry for the Featured Stamper Challenge. This weeks Featured Stamper was atomicbutterfly. I absolutely LOVE her work. The hardest part of this challenge was to narrow down my favorites and decide which one to case. I finally settled on this card.

I kept her basic layout and the focal image the same. I changed the colors to match my AC ribbon and changed the sentiments to fit my needs. I also left off the brads, but that was an oversight on my part. I distressed my edges in the same way as the original. I love the way she curled the edges of the focal image. I also used Crystal Effects on my flower petals and popped up one of the leaves like she did. I think it really makes the card.

Stamps: In Full Bloom, Wonderful Words & All Year Cheer Inks: Ruby Red, Timber Brown StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Garden Green Paper: Whisper White, Ruby Red, Garden Green & Chocolate Chip Accessories: American Crafts Ribbon, Paper Piercer, Pop Dot, Aqua Painter & Crystal Effects

Spring Bags

2007-03-05T12:58:00.000-06:00

This is the second project we did for my Stamp Club. I wanted to feature the double sided paper so I did a search on SCS and found a thread about different things you can make with the double sided papers. It led me to this tutorial done by Stampin' Mama.

I just love these little bags and think they will be great filled with Easter goodies. After making the bags I added a piece of cardstock, that I ran through my crimper, for a handle and added a little tag stamped with some spring flowers.

Stamps: Springtime Stems & All Year Cheer Inks: Cameo Coral, So Saffron and Chocolate Chip Paper: DS Spring Flowers, Chocolate chip and So Saffron Accessories: Gold Cord & Crimper

Stamp Club Card

2007-03-01T16:31:00.000-06:00

I am so ready for spring. I hate the cold! In an effort to hurry spring along I decided to make a springy card for my Stamp Club.

I try to teach something new each month. This card features the Watercolor Wonder watercolor crayons and masking. This card is a case of a card done by Beate for the basic masking tutorial on SCS.

I simply stamped the three mushrooms then masked them off as shown in the tutorial and then stamped the flowers. I colored in the image in with the watercolor crayons and an aquapainter. I love the watercolor crayons because they let you blend color together easily. I blended three colors on the under side of the mushrooms. You can click on the picture to see it better. Then I mounted the stamped panel onto the chocolate and moss panels. I stamped the snail onto a scrap piece of paper and watercolored him and cut him out. I then popped him up on a dimensional. I used some Designer Series Paper behind the focal images and then a little chocolate grosgrain to accent. I stamped "hoppy birthday" and then added a little line to make it say "happy" since there are no hoppy creatures on the card.

Now I am off to cut paper! Have a great day!

Stamps: Unfrogettable Inks: Timber Brown StazOn Paper: DS Spring Flowers, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss and Whisper White Accessories: Aquapainter, matching Watercolor Wonder crayons & Chocolate Grosgrain

Spring Mini Swap

2007-02-26T22:43:00.000-06:00

Here is the first of my Spring Mini Swaps. I have a few more swaps that I am in but this one is due first. Sorry about the bad lighting but this has to go in the mail tomorrow.
I just love the Doodle sets in the Spring Mini. And as you can tell, I love these colors! I colored in each of the little doodles with markers! I must be insane! I will think very hard before doing this again...LOL! I also used a slit punch to create a scallops edge. The word friend is from the Wonderful Words set. I just used a marker and left off the end of the word. An idea I got from Taylor. Then I cut out one of the flowers, inserted a brad and popped it up on a dimensional. I am quite pleased with the final result. I hope everyone in the swap likes it.

Stamps: Doodle That & Wonderful Words
Inks: Timber Brown StazOn
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral & Certainly Celery Markers, Slit Punch, Paper Piercer & Turquoise Brad

Secret Sister Bella

2007-02-22T13:15:00.000-06:00

This is the cute Tinkerbella card that my Secret Sister sent my daughter for her sixth birthday. She also included a $5 gift certificate to Burger King. I love all the texture. She used her Cuttlebug Bloom Dots Embossing Folder for the green panel. There is glitter on the wand, wings, dress and sentiment.

I hope to get some of my projects uploaded soon. We were sick this weekend. Then we had Hannah's Birthday. Tonight I have a Pampered Chef party and Hannah's party is Saturday. In between time I am trying to get swaps done for my Swap Club, Regionals and the Spring Bloggers Only Swap. So I have been busy to say the least. Did I mention that I have also been redoing my stamp room, that I homeschool and ...... I must be insane...LOL!

Stamps: Tinkerbella by Stamping Bella & Warm Words Inks: Black, Pixie Pink, Brown & Blush
Paper: White, Pixie Pink and Gable Green Accessories: Glitter, Rose Grosgrain, Flower eyelet by unknown, Ticket Corner Punch, Bloom Dots embossing folder by Provo Craft

Combined Challenges

2007-02-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

Today I combined two challenges. This is the card that I did for the Sketch Challenge and Ways to Use it Challenge. Right away knew I wanted to use my colors that I found over at Oriental Trading. So I got out my Simple Shapes set and stamped my circles onto my white cardstock. I then went back and "outlined" them all with the outline circle that fit each solid circle. to make sure it all lined up pretty, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig. I also used it for my sentiment but after three tries I gave up. I should have stamped the sentiment before adhering all my layers. I think the thickness messed up the positioning. After 4 tries I gave up. So my tip is... when using a stamp positioner on the card base, stamp BEFORE you adhere any layer.

Here is the DCWV card kit that inspired my colors for today and yesterday. The kit is also my inspiration for the circles and the sentiment. I just love these colors. They really work great for funky cards. I am wondering how they would work for more traditional cards. HMMMM? I will have to try it out. But for now I must go get prepared for my workshop this weekend.

Stamps: Simple Shapes & Much Appreciated Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Cameo Coral Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Cameo Coral Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, turquoise grosgrain

Technique Lovers Challenge

2007-02-14T15:37:00.000-06:00

This weeks Technique Lovers Challenge was to create 4 cards using one main stamp set, one sentiment set, one background and one color combination.

I knew immediately that I wanted to use my new Doodle That stamp set. I have a swap coming up and I wanted to try and get some ideas. I also just got my new Oriental Trading catalog and it had some great color combos that i wanted to try. So I pick one that I thought would lend itself to the whimsical funkiness of this set and started stamping.
These cards are what resulted. I did the coral one and that got my juices flowing. Next I did the celery one. This one was inspired by a card done by jbalcer. Next I case a card done by Lynn in St. Louis. The next card I did was the turquoise one. By that time it was 3am and I was running out of steam. I still think it turned out cute but not as cute as the others. JMO.

For this card I used a Cameo Coral base. There are sqiggly doodles stamped on it with VersaMark, but it is hard to see here. I then placed on a piece of Certainly Celery that had been stamped with the swiggly doodle, this time using Chocolate Chip. I stamped the three flowers with timber Brown StazOn onto Very vanilla cardstock and then colored them all in with markers. I did one extra and cut it out then popped it up on pop dots and placed it over the middle flower to add some dimension. I then layered them on a piece of chocolate cardstock and centered it over the celery piece. I then stamped the word sweet from my So Very set and punched it out with my word window punch. I added a turquoise brad and attached it to the card.

This next card is in the running for my favorite. I stamped different images from Doodle That onto a strip of Vanilla cardstock. Then I colored them in using my markers. I also stamped a flower and added a stem on another piece of cardstock. I tried to add a ground but I do not like how it turned out. I will have to figure out something else. I used the ticket corner punch on all of the corner on the focal image and accented with brads. I also stamped the flower image onto the celery piece using VersaMark.

This last card is in the running for my favorite also. It was also the most simple. I stamped random images again in chocolate onto the very vanilla. Then I created a scallop strip using my slit punch. Then I attached both to a chocolate card base and covered my seam with chocolate ribbon. Then I tied on some brown dotted and ivory organdy ribbon. I finished the card off by stamping the word blessed in the bottom corner in Craft Vanilla ink.

Stamps: Doodle That and So Very Ink: Timber Brown StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Craft, Versamark, Tempting Turquoise & Certainly Celery paper: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise & Very Vanilla Accessories: Turquoise Brads, Word Window punch, matching markers, Stampin' dimensionals, Chocolate and Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch, Brown dotted (Wal-mart) and Ivory organdy

Featured Stamper Challenge

2007-02-13T22:05:00.000-06:00

This Sunday a new challenge was started over at SCS. It is called the Featured Stamper Challenge.
Each week a different stamper will be featured and the challenge is to case that stamper.

This weeks featured stamper is Krabearkub. He is a very talented stamper and I already had several of his creations in my favorites. The card I chose however, was a new creation. After I finished my card I realized that I had cased his entry for the challenge.

I kept the layout that Kurtis used. I wanted to try out some watercoloring techniques I had read about over at Sweet Miss Daisy's Blog. So I changed the image to a flower from the In Full Bloom set. I think I did a pretty fair job. I also wanted to keep the simplicity that he had in his card. So the only other stamping is on the Marigold panel and the sentiment. I did not have a metal edged tag, so I just layered my image onto a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. I loved the detail of the paper piercing so I definitely kept that.

Stamps: In Full Bloom & Warmest Regards Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Marigold Morning &amp;amp;amp;amp; Buckaroo Blue Paper: Watercolor paper, Chocolate Chip, Marigold Morning & Buckaroo Blue Accessories: Paper piercer and template, Aquapainter and Chocolate grosgrain

Spring Bloggers Swap

2007-02-13T16:12:00.000-06:00

Sarah is hosting another swap. The Valentine swap was great. You can see the cards I received here. I hope that if you have a blog you will consider joining. Just visit this thread to sign up.

Sweet on Taken with Teal

2007-02-12T14:14:00.000-06:00

I think I could count on one hand how many times I have used Taken with Teal before I got this Loves Me Designer Series Paper. It started me thinking that Stampin' Up! may have designed the paper around this color in order to increase sales. I never order taken with Teal. Now, I am totally out. I will be placing some on my next order.

Anyway, here is a card I did for my workshop on Saturday night. Most of the ladies had never stamped before. I tried to keep this card fairly simple for that reason. I was inspired by this card done by kathat.

I started by stamping the heart image on the teal card base with the matching ink. Then I added a piece of the Loves Me paper to the bottom portion of the card and tied on some rose ribbon. then I stamped the sweet image onto some scrap paper and punched it out with a circle punch. Then I punched two more larger circles out of Taken with Teal and Regal Rose cardstock. I layered all the circles together and then attached them to the card using pop dots.

Stamps: Sweet On You Paper: Taken with Teal, Regal Rose & Loves Me Designer Paper Ink: Taken with Teal, Regal Rose Accessories: Rose grosgrain ribbon, circle punches

Valentine Mailbox

2007-02-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

I picked up several of these little mailboxes a few weeks ago at Target Dollar Spot. The kids and I will be decorating some red ones on Valentines Day and I decorated one for my Secret Sister. The rest we decorated last night at my Stamp Club meeting. This is my example. Everyone got to choose the pattern the wanted from the Loves Me Designer Series Paper so they all liked a little different. We also made these cute little cards to fit inside.
The flower card uses the slit punch to keep it closed. The card base measures 8 1/2 x 3 . I punched one end with the slit punch and then folded it over so that the other end could slip under the slit. No envelope for this one, but it would be cute to slip inside someones pocket, backpack or lunch bag. I also used 2 way glue to adhere glitter to the centers.
The sweet card was very simple. It measures 3x3. I colored the stamp with markers to get two shades on the same stamp and then punched it out with my circle punch.

Stamps: Sweet on You, All Year Cheer & Sweet Shapes Inks: Timber Brown StazOn, Regal Rose, Taken with Teal Papers: Loves Me DSP, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal and Close to Cocoa Accessories: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa & Regal Rose Markers, Turquoise, Rose and Taupe Grosgrain, Aqua Painter, Slit punch, Circle Punch 2 way glue &Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Blogger Only Valentine Swap Finale

2007-02-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

This cute little card/book was created by our swap hostess Sarah Moore.
She has a wonderful blog called Sarah and the Stampstars. She has many great tutorials over there that are a must see! You can also see the inside of this cutie. The pages on the inside say, "If Life is a pajama party, you are the cat"s pajamas". It is hard to tell in the photos but the inside is done on Shimmery White Cardstock. She also included the little envelope complete with a stamped heart.

Stamps: All images are Hampton's Arts Paper: Loves Me DP & Pretty in Pink Ink: Versamark Accessories: Metal Edged Tag, Silver Cord, pocket Notes, Creative Candy Pink "bling" by A Muse, Die Cut Heart & Embossed Swirls by ProvoCraft & Silver Embossing Powder.

Sarah was also our swap hostess. She is about to hostess another Bloggers Only Swap. So if you are interested in joining be sure to keep an eye on this thread. I know I will be participating again!

Sarah also sent everyone in the swap this cute little bookmark. She used the Flirty Ribbon. It was the first time I had seen it and of course now that I have seen it I just had to get some! And of course the Loves Me Paper is too cute.

Thank you Sarah for all your hard work on this swap and your generosity! I cannot wait for the next round!

Stamps: Wonderful Words Inks: Chocolate Chip Paper: Loves Me DP and Taken with Teal Accessories: Cuttlebug Bookmark & Heart Dies, Uniball Gel Pen, Flirty ribbon Originals & packing chipboard

Simple Birthdays

2007-02-06T18:18:00.000-06:00

I saw this great card done by laurakj and knew that I wanted to do something similar. I loved the simplicity of her card. I also happened to need some birthday cards. So this seemed like the perfect solution. I really like how they all turned out. Maybe I am getting the hang of these simple designs.

This first card was my first try. I loved the colors of the ribbon and wanted to showcase them.

This card has a brad with a golden (topaz) gemstone in the middle of the flower. The picture did not capture it very well.

This card uses some ribbon that I received in the mail yesterday from Keri. I loved the colors in it.

Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Warmest Regards & All About U Inks: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip & Ruby Red Paper: Natural (non SU!), Garden Green & Chocolate Chip Accessories: American Crafts Ribbon, Flower ribbon from unknown source, Antique Brass Brad, Prima, Large Daisy from unknown source, Gemstone brad from unknown source, Paper Flowers by Making Memories, Silver Brad, Circle punches

Connie's Blogger Swap Card

2007-02-06T14:49:00.000-06:00

Connie Reichert created this next card. It is so cute. You can tell from her card that she is a fun lady. You can get to know her a little better by visiting her blog.
There are a few things that make this card stand out. First of course is the play on words. Second is the dry embossing on the base of the card. It is hard to see in the picture, but IRL it really stands out. Third, the sparkle added to the sheep and words. Connie definitely has an eye for details.

Stamps: Sketch It, Shep by Amuse & Tenley Caps by Paper Studio Inks: Real Red & Basic Black Paper Pink Passion, Eggplant Envy and Target$1 spot Printed Paper Accessories: Sakura glaze pen, Sakura sparkle pen, brads by Making Memories, Oval punch, Ticket Corner Punch & Sizzix Tiny Flowers Texture Plate.

Next Blogger Valentine

2007-02-05T14:16:00.000-06:00

Here is a card created by Denise Bryant. You can find her on her blog, All Things Stamped. The really cool thing about this card is that it does not open. You pull on the tab that says "sweet" and it slides right out. I also am in love with the Loves Me paper after seeing this card. I ordered some right away. It is sort of hard to see in the picture but the heart is popped up on a dimensional.

Stamps:Dream Come True & Sweet Shapes Inks: Cool Caribbean & Close to Cocoa Paper: Loves me DS Paper, Cool Caribbean, Whisper White and Pretty in Pink Accessories: Brown Bazzil Pocket May Arts Pink Dotted Organdy ribbon, Offray Brown Dotted Organdy, Joann's Brads & McGill File Folder Tab Punch

Blogger Only Valentine Swap

2007-02-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

This cute little card was designed by Lauri Royall (SCS Jailbirdstamper). I love the simplicity and the black and white theme. You should check out Lauri's blog. Be sure you take a look around, she has a fairly large publishing resume and you can find all sort of publishing call information.

Stamps:Stinking Cute Papers : A Muse & the rest are unidentified. Ink: Craft Black. Accessories: heart die punch, scalloped circle punch and red gingham ribbon

Last Birthday Card

2007-02-01T22:08:00.000-06:00

Here is the last of the cards we did at my recent class. Again, I attempted to do a more manly card, but I could not resist throwing in the little flower. This card was inspired by this card done by WAXYO. Is there a limit to how many times you can CASE someone? If you have not taken a peek in her gallery over at SCS, it is a must see.
Several of the ladies at the class liked this card because it was "Gator Colors". I absolutely love these colors together. I also added some hemp twine to try to make it a little more masculine. I wanted to add all the brads that Meg has on hers, but since I had 10 people making two each...so alas, I did not have enough brads. So we settled for 1 rather than 5. I used the Rock n Roll technique on this card, and sponged everything to add a little depth and aged look. It really makes the "U" pop, I think. Overall I am fairly happy with it.

Stamps: All About U Inks: Very Vanilla Craft, Not Quite Navy& Pumpkin Pie Paper: Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie & Sahara Sand Accessories: Copper Brad, Hemp Twine & sponges

Manly Birthday

2007-01-30T23:55:00.000-06:00

Another Birthday Card Class Card. I desperately wanted some of the cards to be suitable for the men in our lives. I finally gave up trying to design two manly cards ( I did come up with one, but more on that later) and decided instead to CASE this card.
The original card created by MadelinesMom03 on SCS has been in my favorites for along time. I loved it right away. I especially love the faux stitching that she did in her version. I would have added it to mine but I was trying to keep the projects as simple as possible since I had several new stampers attending the class.

Stamps: All Year Cheer& Simple Shapes Paper: Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla Inks: Real Red, Creamy Caramel and Bashful Blue Accessories: Taupe & Real Red grosgrain

Birthday Card Class

2007-01-30T12:39:00.000-06:00

Here is another one of the cards that I did at my Birthday Card Class this past weekend. This card was a favorite because of how simple it was to make. I love it because of the colors. (I absolutely LOVE Ruby Red) and because of the distressing.

Stamps: Petal Prints, Warm Regards and Canvas
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Ruby Red and ChocolateChocolate grosgrain Chip Ink: Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red Accessories:

Debbie's Blogger Swap Card

2007-01-30T12:15:00.000-06:00

This card was created by Debbie Seyer over at A Peek Into My Stamping Room. You really should visit her blog. She has some great stuff over there. I especially love the Domino Ornament Tutorial that she featured in October.
I love this card! I love pinks and browns together. Everything on this card works together. It balances so nicely. I especially love the pink eyelets in each corner and the Canvas background she added for texture onto the Chocolate Chip layer. I also love that this is a card using only SU! products. I can use this card at workshops.

Stamps: Loving Hearts, Everyday flexible Phrases and Canvas Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Whisper White and Loves Me Designer Paper Ink Regal Rose, Creamy Caramel, Cool Caribbean Accessories: Pink Eyelets and Rose Grosgrain

Bloggers Only Valentine Swap

2007-01-29T12:04:00.000-06:00

Recently I participated in a Bloggers Only Valentine Swap hosted by Sarah Moore. It was so much fun to receive such awesome cards from such awesome ladies. I also enjoyed reading all of their blogs. This is the card that I submitted to the swap. I had originally done another card, but decided that it was too traditional and opted for this card instead. I especially love the distressing on this card. Be sure to keep checking back so that you can see all the wonderful cards that I received.

Stamps: Happy Hearts and Tiny Talk Paper: Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Real Red and Whisper White Inks: Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Real Red Classic inks & Whisper White Craft ink Accessories: Ticket Corner punch, Red Eyelets, Square Punches, Caramel Gingham Ribbon, Red Grosgrain and red dotted organdy from Wal-mart

Where I've Been

2007-01-25T14:52:00.000-06:00

Someone asked me where I have been. The answer: in my basement! That is where my stamp area is. I have two classes scheduled for this weekend. A Birthday Card Class on Friday and then a Card Tin Class on Saturday. You can see the card tin here.

I have 10 ladies attending my Birthday Card Class. They will each be making 12 cards. 2 each of 6 different designs. So I have been cutting paper for 120 cards! Some of the cards are variations of recent designs and some are new. I will save the new ones for a later post so I can give more details.

But I will show you the two that are variations of my recent cards. On these I basically just changed the colors so that I could use card stock that I was sure I had enough of. You can see the original cards here and here. And one card I did not change at all you can see the details of the Roses in Winter card here.

Alora Tagged Me!

2007-01-20T12:48:00.000-06:00

A - Available or Taken:
Happily Married

B - Best Friend:
Bobby

C -Cake or Pie:
this is hard.... but if I am forced to chose, I am gonna have to say Pie ( my MIL's pecan pie, yum)

D - Drink of Choice:
Lemonade

E - Essential item you use everyday:
Computer

F - Favorite Color:
Red

G - Gummy Bears or Worms:
Sour Worms

H - Hometown:
Highlands, Texas

I - Indulgence:
Blue Bell Ice Cream (Homemade Vanilla Flavor)

J - January or February
February

K - Kids & Names:
DD Hannah (5 ), DS Nicholas (3), DS Gabriel (10 months)

L - Life is incomplete without?:
Jesus & my family

M - Marriage Date:
January 15, 1999

N - Number of Siblings:
2 brothers

O - Oranges or Apples:
Oranges

P - Phobias or Fears:
heights

Q - Fave Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. -C.S. Lewis

R - Reason to Smile:
My kids laughter

S - Season:
Autumn!

T - Tag 3 or 4 People
Sarah M, Sarah V, Debbie

U - Unknown fact about me:
I Like Reality TV

V - Vegetable you don't like:
Okra... YUCK

W - Worst Habit:
Interrupting people!! I'm sooo bad at waiting my turn! ( This was Alora's answer,but I do this too... really bad)

X - X-rays:
teeth

Y - Your Fave Food:
Mexican

Z - Zodiac Sign:
Ummm, I don't really do the zodiac thing..so I don't know?? But, I'll tell you my favorite ZOO animal (since that's a "Z" word) Elephants

Simply Difficult

2007-01-19T11:28:00.000-06:00

It has become difficult for me to do really simple cards. I have a workshop tonight. I rarely do workshops and mainly do Stamp Camps and a Stamp Club. Most of the women at my classes are seasoned stampers so I teach them more advanced techniques. There will be some new stampers at my workshop so I needed to keep my projects fairly simple. I am going to do my Rejected Valentine Card and this one. I didn't even use any ribbon. I love the final product, but it was really difficult not to add lots of extras. I had overwhelming urges to add ribbon, brads, glitter and punch every corner with my Ticket Corner Punch. But I fought off my urges, deciding that I really want the new stampers to know how easy it is to make a great card.
I love this stamp set. I just recently bought it and now cannot believe I waited so long. It make beautiful projects so simply.

Stamps Sets: Roses in Winter and Sincere Salutations Papers: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum and Naturals White Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum and Mellow Moss

Card Tin

2007-01-17T16:21:00.000-06:00

It's been a few days since I have posted anything. I have been working on this card tin. It really did not take a lot of time but actually finding the time to work on it was another story.

I am doing a class for these next weekend and this is my example. We will also do 4 cards to go with the tin but I have not finished my examples yet.

I used the Sarah Designer Papers to decorate it. I also created dividers on the inside as well as a matching pen and pocket to hold stamps and that sort of thing. I modge podged eveything on to make it more durable. You can find a tutorial for these cute tins here.

TLC98

2007-01-10T15:27:00.000-06:00

We all have those stamp sets that we bought and later thought... "what was I thinking?"

This week's Technique Lover's Challenge is to dust off your least favorite set and do something with it!
I try quite often to use stamp sets that I have that I rarely use. It helps to keep me (sometimes) from buying more stamps. When I see a card online that uses a set I never use in a cute way I always save it. I have had this card by WAXYO in my faves for a long time. I just loved the whole look of this card. I also needed something else to show my stamp club this Friday. I wanted to do a donut card, preferably square. So I went online and the first card that popped up was this one done by Beate. So I married the two cards together and this is what I came up with.
I sponged both the Ruby Red and More Mustard panels with their coordinating colors to give each panel a little dimension. I also sponged More Mustard onto the Caramel gingham ribbon so that it would not be so stark.
Now I just have to go cut all the paper for the cards I have planned. That should keep me busy for a while.

Stamp Set: Mini Mates Inks: More Mustard, Ruby Red and Basic Black Paper: Whisper White, More Mustard, Ruby Red and Basic Black Accessories: Circle Punches, Sponge Black and Ruby Markers, Black Grosgrain and Caramel gingham ribbon

Scallop Edges

2007-01-08T20:48:00.000-06:00

Everyone keeps asking, "How did you do that?" So I took a few photos, because a picture speaks louder than a thousand words. I did not come up with this idea. I simply read about it in the SCS forums. I am posting picture in hopes that it will help all of you who had questions. I did my scallops on a thin strip of paper. This technique will not work for larger pieces of paper. I did find a tutorial, by Natasha aka tashers on SCS, that shows how to do this technique using a corner rounder. I haven't personally tried it but it looks like it would work for larger pieces of paper.

All you need is a slip of paper and a slit punch.

Punch out your first slit. Be sure that your slit will not hit the edge of your paper.

On the next punch overlap onto the previous punch just a little. It is kinda hard to see here, but I tried.

When you have all the scallops you need, you can pull away excess paper.

I hope this has helped you get a visual on how to make your own scallop edges. If this has helped you please post a comment and let me know.

Stamp Club Project

2007-01-08T14:32:00.000-06:00

Valentines Day is almost here. I just finished doing a Valentine swap so I guess that got me in the mood. Every other card I do seems to have a heart theme. So, I decided to do a Valentine card for my stamp club this Friday.
I have wanted to teach the ladies in my monthly stamp club the Diamond Dust technique. I have also been seeing a lot of cards with the scallops made from a slit punch and wanted to show them that as well. (You can see the tutorial for Diamond Dust here.) So I went to the gallery on SCS and looked up the only Valentine set I own and immediately found this great card created by Vitality. So I altered a few things like adding the Diamond Dust and this is what I ended up with. I thought about adding more to this card, but I needed to limit myself so that we have time to make another project. In fact I put some detail on the scallops here but I think I will leave it out for my class.

Stamp Sets: Tiny Talk & Happy Hearts Inks: VersaMark, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose Papers: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Whisper White & Basic Black Accessories: Rose, Pink and Black Grosgrain; slit punch, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder & Stampin' Dimensionals^®

For Lynnda

2007-01-06T13:17:00.000-06:00

I made this card for my friend, Lynnda. She moved a few towns away. Not far, but I miss her just the same. Of course, she used to live 10 minutes away and I hardly ever saw her, but at least she was close KWIM?

The photo is not the best because I did not take it in natural light. It was dark outside and I wanted to get this in the mail today so she will get it on Monday (everyone needs happy mail on Monday) so I went ahead and took it in my stamp room. This card was inspired by Julia S. She made this card a while ago but it has been in my favorites for a long time and I finally found the perfect reason to case it.

I stamped the flowers in Versamark and the embossed them with Iridescent Ice Embossing Power. Then I cut out a rectangle to use as a mask (the hardest part of this card) and then sponged on all the color. The ink resists the embossed area, making the image pop out. You can see a tutorial on this technique here.

Stamp Set: Petal Prints & Rough Edges Alpha Inks: Vintage Violet, Pixie Pink and VersaMark Paper: Whisper White and Vintage Violet Accessories: Hot pink polka dot organdy ribbon, Iridescent Ice EP, Heat tool

Rejected Valentine

2007-01-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

Here is a card I was trying to do for a Valentine Swap for Bloggers. I like it but felt it was to traditional and wanted somthing a little different. I would love to share the one I created but Sarah aka Staramaze would hurt me :) ! So for now you will have to settle for the rejected version which I think is quite cute.

Stamps: Sweet Shapes

Paper:Real Red, Pretty in Pink and Basic Black

Ink: Red and Pink

Accessories: Pink Brads, Red andPink grosgrain and Word Window Punch

My Cuttlebug Finally Arrived!

2007-01-04T10:19:00.000-06:00

And I LOVE it. And who knew this thing would amaze my husband and children as well.
Anyway, I have played around with it a little and made a few cards last night. A few were for my Secret Sister so I can't post those (yet) she may see them and find me out. But I did make this one for a friend that I never see enough. This card was inspired by many like it in the SCS Gallery.
I think the first one I saw like this was one done by JulieHRR.
And I recently saw this card done by Mytime. I was going to add ribbon to my version, but I kept felling like it was taking away from the embossing. So I decided to let the Cuttlebug shine. Especially since part of the reason I made the card was to show my friend how cool this thing is! Can you say enabler?

Stamp Set: All Year Cheer; Card stock: Elegant Eggplant and Naturals Ivory; Ink: Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: Cuttlebug, A2 Embossing Folder Stylized Flowers, SU! Pastels: Eggplant, Celery and Pale Plum

Color Challenge 95

2007-01-03T10:21:00.000-06:00

As you may know I LOVE the Color Challenges on SCS! This weeks challenge colors are Basic Black, Cool Caribbean and Whisper White. I ended up doing two cards with these colors. I love the way the colors pop off of each other.

My first card was CASEd from a card uploaded by Vicky. NurseT made the card for her. This card has been in my favorites for a few months and these colors seemed to be the perfect match. I used my Aqua Painter to color in the birds and I used my Cool Caribbean Ink pad to dye some grosgrain ribbon to match. I also painted a floor under the little birds so that they weren't floating in mid air.

Stamp Set: Love Ya Bunches; Card Stock: Basic Black, Cool Caribbean and Whisper White; Ink: Jet Black Staz On & Cool Caribbean: Accessories: Aqua Painter, Black and White Grosgrain.

My second card was inspired by a card created by Chantel. I am always looking for a way to use my Year Round Fun II Set. I changed things a little but stayed with her basic layout. I wanted to do a larger black square, but my punch would not reach to the center. I ended up with a 3 inch square and used the 1 3/8 SU! Square Punch. To get it centered ( I can never eyeball it) I turned my square panel over and drew lines from each corner, creating an X in the center. Then I centered my punch over the X and made sure that the lines I had drawn lined up with the corners of my punch. Voila! Perfectly centered! Again I used my Aqua Painter to color in everything and create the "table" that the cupcake sits on.

Stamp Set: Year Round Fun II & Mini Mates; Card Stock: Basic Black, Cool Caribbean and Whisper White; Ink: Jet Black Staz On & Cool Caribbean: Accessorise: Aqua Painter, Black gingham ribbon and Square punch

Secret Sister Reveal Gift

2007-01-02T21:41:00.000-06:00

I love being a Secret Sister! So much that I am a part of two groups on SCS! This month is reveal month for DDSS (Dabblin' Demo Secret Sisters). This is part of the gift my sis will be receiving. I am also including a stamp set she is wanting, some ribbon, another mailbox that is white for her to decorate, some stickers and Accents & Elements from the Winter Mini Catalog from Stampin' Up! I can't wait until she gets this! I hope she loves it.

In the spirit of giving, I am going to do a little drawing. You will get your name in the drawing for:
1) making a comment to this post and
2)Referring someone to my site. Be sure to have them mention your name!

I will be drawing a name on Thursday, Jan 4, 2oo7 at Noon CST. The winner will receive a 6x6 SU By Design Album and a few surprise goodies.

Stamps: Mini Mates, Sweet Shapes, Nice &easy Notes; Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Whisper White and Real Red Target Dollar Spot Printed Paper; Ink: Real Red, Basic Black and Pixie Pink; Accesories: Circle Punch Cuttlebug scallop die, assorted ribbon, Aqua Painter and Sticky Strip

ETA: The winner is mnhyrkas at SCS
Please email me with you address so I can get your stuff in the mail. Stay tuned the 15th is my annivesary and I may have to celebrate by doing another drawing.

Petal Sketch

2006-12-22T10:51:00.000-06:00

Sorry it has been a while since I posted any cards. I have been working on a Valentine swap card that needs to be in the mail the first week of January. I am just about done with it so I took a break to make this card.

I started with this American Crafts ribbon. I loved the colors so that is where I got the colors. And the layout is from Sketch Challenge 91 on SCS. I love this sketch and had it in my file of things to do.

My lighting is bad since it is an overcast day so some of the details are hard to make out. The rose panel has the flower outline stamped on it in rose. And the white panel had Cool Caribbean splattered over it. I ended up adding the faux stitching to the corners because it still needed something extra KWIM?

Stamps: Petal Prints & Much Appreciated Inks: Rose Red, Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie Card Stock: Whisper White, Rose Red, Cool Caribbean, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie Accessories: American Crafts ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Singo white gel pen, paper piercer, mat pack, Aqua Painter

Today is a GREAT Day

2006-12-19T13:30:00.000-06:00

Oh My Goodness! Today is a great day, aside from the green marker incedent with my dear children. First the Cuttlebug and now I go check the mail and there wasn't a Stampin' Up Christmas gift, but something better! A package from my Secret Sister on Splitcoaststampers.

Can you believe all the loot she sent me? She just continues to amaze me with her generosity! She is awesome. I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything! Now I need to go trim and mount my stamp set so I can put it to good use!

DDSS, if you are reading this.... Thank you, so very much. I cannot say it enough!

Look What I'm Getting!!!!

2006-12-19T10:21:00.000-06:00

I am so excited. My DH came home last night and said, " Buy that die cutting machine you have been talking about." I could not believe it! So I got online this morning and filled my shopping cart with my little Cuttlebug from Provo Craft and various embossing folders and a die or two. Had to get my order up high enough to qualify for free shipping, ya know. Now I begin the hard job of WAITING!!! Hmmm.... Maybe I should go stamp to pass the time.

Another CC92

2006-12-12T22:33:00.000-06:00

OK, I cannot control myself. I love this color combo! Again, I tried to use sets I never use anymore. I used my Aqua Painter to color in the flowers. What sets tend to sit on your shelf gathering dust?

Stamp Sets: Fresh Flowers & Lexicon of Love Inks: Real Red & Cool Caribbean Card Stock: Real Red, Whisper White & Cool Caribbean Accessories: Real Red Marker, Ticket Corner Punch, Aqua Painter & Red Grosgrain

Color Combination 92

2006-12-12T21:16:00.001-06:00

This is a card from the Color Combination Challenge on SCS . I love this combo. I cased this card from a card done by Marika. I have had it in my favorites for a while and these colors looked like they would work well. I also got to use my new ticket corner punch. I think it adds a lot to the layout.

This is an old set that I hardly ever use. I like to try and revive my old ones every now and then.

Stamp Set: Nice and Easy Notes & Sweet Shapes Inks: Cool Caribbean, Basic Black & Real Red Card stock: Cool Caribbean, Whisper White & Real Red Accessories: Red Gingham Ribbon, Ticket Corner Punch, Real Red & basic Black Markers, Red Eyelets & Blender Pen.

My First Tin

2006-12-12T18:55:00.000-06:00

I finally used one of the many tins that I have been hording. I am planning on doing a class using these in January so I figured I better try it out. I am not completely satisfied with my results but there is always next time. I made this for a Christmas gift exchange that I went to. The lady who ended up with it was not too impressed so I am glad it was not one of my creations that I just love and are hard to part with. I hate giving up beloved creations to people who don't get it.

I did not stamp on this one at all. I used paper that I got from Target Dollar Spot around Valentines Day. I painted the top with white acrylic paint mixed with Regal Rose reinker. Once it dried it looked sort of bland so I covered the paint with Versamark ink and Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder. Once heated it became super sparkly. It is hard to see in the picture but trust me. I really love the top but once I was finished with it, it was too late to change the body of the tin. We were down to two hours before we had to leave and all 5 of us still needed to get ready. So I was forced to accept it as is. But there is always next time .... I mean it was my first try...

WAXYO Inspired

2006-12-08T12:13:00.000-06:00

I am constantly inspired by WAXYO. It seems like half of her gallery on SCS is in my favorites.
I fell in love with her Papercraft inspired card.

This is what I came up with. I love the results. it took a little time to get all the berries colored and I had to use glue dots on the tabs that are holding the hemp twine.

Stamps: Background Basics & Sincere Salutations, Inks: Close to Cocoa & Always Artichoke, Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Ruby Red, Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss, Accessories: Red Hemp Twine, Word Window Punch, sponge & Ruby Red Marker.

I also added a little detail on the inside. I love the extra little touch that it added.