Stamping Time

Finally had some time to stamp. Reilly was my big helper and made this Halloween card for my dad. He is a funny kid. I had to help him a little but he is a mega stamper. What do you think. The first picture is outside and the second is inside. The images are from Paper Trey Ink and the ghosts were die cut with my sizzix out of used dryer sheets. They were a little tricky to glue on...we ended up just using glue stick. On the subject of Paper Trey...they just released their new holiday sets. You should really jet over there and check them out. They are SOOOOO cute!

Here is the Halloween card I made out of a pumpkin piece that I was just playing around with. I love their stamps and I think I might be a convert to acrylic stamps at this point. It is so much easier to position them and two-step-stamp because you can see through the block. Needless to say...all four holiday sets are on my wish list but are currently on hold due to the maximum amount of times you can give plasma in a month. Bwahahahahahaha!!!! The Happy Halloween ribbon is actually twill that was preprinted with the words. I picked it up in May at a scrapbooking store that was going out of business. Bummer...because she had really cute ribbon. The bats are embossed in black.

Next up is a long over due thank you card going out to my good friend GerRee. A big shout out to GerRee! Luckily she is very understanding about my lack of time management and won't be offended that this is so late. It is also made with Paper Trey stamps (see a trend here? I promise I will use something else soon!) This card is made from the Beautiful Blooms and Text Boxed sets. Love them both...want to use them more and more. Anyway, I digress. Not sure if you can see the center of the flower but it has a little yellow bling in it...just to give it a sparkle. The words are tied into gold eyelets with linen thread.

I made this wedding card for a contest in one of the many stamp magazines that I receive, but par to my usual hectic life...I never got it photographed and sent in. But like I tell my friend Kari....I am slowly making progress toward that goal. At least I got something stamped this month eh? The theme was to be a white on white wedding themed card. Let me just tell you that trying to stamp "spring wedding" in the middle of Fall is not an easy task for me. I want to think pumpkins and sunflowers and scarecrows and stuff....not spring wedding. Sheesh!!! Anyway, the background behind the dove is created with a flourish from the Beautiful Blooms set (Paper Trey) which I embossed in irridescent ice embossing powder. I LOVE THAT STUFF! I am so bling happy.....somebody stop me! The dove is from Carte Postale...another favorite set that I accented with Pearlex. I love pearlex....who in their right mind removes pearlex from their catalog. It don't make good sense....ya hear? The Mon Ami at the bottom of the card is also pearlex-ed. Nice word eh? The paper is retired Stampin' Up designer paper. I am mailing this to my German friends who are getting married next month. If they have signed in...congrats Michael and Sandra! Yeah for you!!!!

Last but no least is another card that started as a white on white card and I just couldn't hack it so it become a watercolored card with lots and lots of pink. When in doubt....it should be pink. HA! This is also a very late thank you card going out to my other good friend Holly (ho-ho for short). She is also quite understanding and realizes that a good part of my mind is now gone. A big shout out to Ho-Ho too! Thanks for the birthday lunch and treats. Prepare yourself....your time to babysit is coming soon. LOL! This card uses Beautiful Blooms. The outside flower was embossed in white and the inside in vanilla....you can't really tell...I was hoping for a bigger effect...but that didn't happen. I then cut the solid piece into three strips and watercolored them with the SU watercolor crayons....my favorites and my aquapainter. The scallops were achieved with my Marvy punches and outlined with these really cool pens I found at hobby lobby called Galaxy Markers. I think you can get them other places too....but they are one of my new favorite finds. They totally show up on dark paper and come in fantastic colors. It looks like chalk on dark paper. LUV IT!

That's all for now....off to play I Spy treasure hunt. Arrgghhh Matey! (BTW yesterday was national speak like a pirate day in case you wanted to know. Ha!)


Happy Stamping!

Sympathy Cards

I had to make some sympathy cards to send to my extended family in Germany. My great aunt (my grandma's brother's wife) Angela passed away. This news was especially sad because she and I had just started to correspond frequently back and forth. Although my German is horrible at best....we managed to get the jist of things across. It makes me very sad that we didn't have more time together.

As for the cards, I tried something a little different this time around. I wanted to experiment with some new layouts and sizes. These all fit into a large SU envelopes (6 1/2 x 4 3/4"). Kind of fun to play with sizes and shapes of cards. My pictures are not coming out well lately....I have no clue as to why....but I am working on a solution. Anyway, here are the cards. I hope you like them.

Happy stamping! =)

Chinese Auction Low Down

We had great time on Sunday at the chinese auction. For those of you who missed it...bummer. We missed you!

The gals who came had fun making two cute projects (I will try to post them later this week) and bidding and winning fun stuff. We also had yummy snacks including pumpkin pie to kick off Fall.

I wanted to post a few of the items that I made for the auction. The goodies tins have little mini round tins inside to store your stamping goodies...i.e. buttons, eyelets, staples, etc. I also lined the top and bottom of each one.

I stamped some large tiles and turned them into dry erase boards. Someone had done this at the SCS dinner during convention and I thought it was such a clever idea that I decided to put it into action. I would love to give that person credit, but I didn't win one and I have no idea who made them. So whoever you are...if you are reading this...thanks for the idea. =) The only downfall to this great idea....now I want all the craft ink so I can stamp stamp stamp away. Dangit! If you want to see a great tutorial on how to stamp on tiles, if you've never done it before, check out the this week's Splitcoast tutorial here. A great idea for holiday gifts and sooo easy.

You may have seen this idea before, but this is formerly a starbucks four pack of coffee drinks that I have recycled into a gift. Each bottle has the label covered with double sided paper and then has a stamp that either says "enjoy" or "sweets" put onto it. I punched the labels out with a scalloped punch and then layered them with a bigger scallop. I didn't think to take a picture of that. Sorry. I filled each jar with different kinds of candy and nuts. I really liked the way this came out, but I have to figure out something else to do with the frappacinno---waaaayyy too many calories. =)

The last picture for today is a tin that I also reformed into a gift tin. This was an eggnog pancake mix tin that I received for Christmas last year. It was such a cute tin (William & Sonoma) that I couldn't bear to just pitch it.....so I stamped it with some fall leaves from last year's set that was featured in Country Living and filled it with bath goodies that I found at the dollar spot at Target. I totally LOVE that spot. =)

I hope you like the pictures....everyone seemed happy with their winnings. Thanks for coming!

Happy Stamping!

Back from the Bunker...for a minute

Labor day weekend was full of LABOR in the bunker...as it began it's transformation from a bunker to a true studio. My DH who is super-duper-mega darling...in case you didn't know, helped me revamp my cabinets and countertops, added new lighting and I have been a paintin' and cleaning and organizing. Things are getting put back and are starting to straighten up, but I still have some work ahead of me. I have found some time to stamp, just not time to post my newest creations. So....without further adieu....here are two RAKs that I sent to my Bellaholic friends. In case you were wondering....I LUV the Bellas and their Fellas and the Fellas and Bellas together. Whew. So what do you think?

Remember when I told you that August through December was jam packed with Birthdays. I wasn't lyin'! =) So I had to stamp some more birthday cards for family and I have posted those here as well. The first card is made with the text boxed set from Paper Trey. If you haven't checked them out yet....you should. Where have you been under a rock or something? Sheesh! Anyway...this is one of the many stamps you receive and I LOVE LOVE LOVE their stamps. They have the cutest stuff. I embossed the chipboard star in gold and then rolled it in dazzling diamonds. The "W" is from the new Outline Alphabet by SU and the definition stamp is from the Define Your Life set. Love those too.

The next card also uses Define Your Life and the coordinating Defining Alphabet. We did this similar technique at convention and I fell in love with it. I am quickly becoming and avid scrapbooker and both of these were must haves. The little stick guy was created from the All In The Family set also by SU. If you haven't seen this set yet....it is DARLING! You can create various stick figures from baby's to kids to mom's and dad's. It even includes a dog and a cat and you can also get accessories such as soccer ball, present and a tutu to go with them. Again....so cute. Love it!

The last card again uses Define Your Life and Defining Alphabet as well as Circle of Friendship which I placed behind the clear button. The punch is from Party Punch (Level 1 HS) which was punched out with the label punch. Also a very cute set that makes good use of your punches. The notebook border was also created with the notebook punch. I pierced the corners and viola. I also used some of the new 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon on this card. It was hard to let it go....because as you know I am a hoarder...but I have come to grips with it now. Hee hee!

In my spare time I whipped up some save the dates for my BIL and future SIL. I will post those later, as I haven't had time to photograph them yet. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, don't forget about the Chinese Auction on Sunday afternoon from 1-4. There will be some fun stuff for you to bid on, a make and take and for one day only 50% off my retired stamps. Come on over if you haven't got plans.

Until later....Happy Stamping!