Second to last....

Sorry I am posting a little late today. I have spent the majority of my day at birthday parties for kids and Lowe's shopping for table saws. Don't all get jealous at once. Needless to say...that errand is done and now, we have to gather some burly guys to get the enormous thing out of my truck. Uggh!

So, back to our card. There is only one more to go after this one. Are you loving this set or sick of the series? I hope you are enjoying them. There were fun to make, but definitely a challenge to make them look differently and only use on stamp set. =) This one came about because I foudn this purple and green scrap of paper in my paper scrap stash and it looked like lilacs to me. My favorite flower for spring. Maybe even my favorite all time...hard to say...there are so many great flowers. =) Tomorrow will be the grand finale. The final Namaste card I made and the final I will show you. Until then, Happy Saturday and Happy Stamping!


Recipe:
Stamps: Serenity Now (MFT Stamps)
Paper: Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Pale Plum (SU) and unknown Patterned Paper
Ink: Pallette Noir Black (PTI), Mellow Moss
Accessories: Moss Wide Organdy (SU Retired), Giga Rectangle Scalloped Punch (Marvy Uchida)

A Sad Goodbye....

Today is a sad day if you are from Colorado (at least if you've been here for awhile). A piece of our heritage has disappeared into the sunset today as one of our newspapers folded. What does that mean, you might be asking yourself? Why is that significant? I believe it is important not only to us as Coloradans, but it should be an important wake up call to everyone in the world. It marks a turning point in our future. It leaves me wondering about the future of our newspapers in our world. It is so easy to log on and get your news or watch the news on television, but the real objective news is only found in print. The in depth coverage of our daily lives, can only be found in the newspaper. It remains one of the tangible pieces of our history that is left in our very electronic world. If this trend continues for the newspaper industry, where does that leave us? If we sit by and watch newspapers become a part of our past, do we risk the ability to have objective news? Further than that, are we risking the ability to form an opinion based on facts? The Rocky Mountain News is one of many newspapers across our country threatened by extinction. Todays paper listed at least a dozen across the U.S. The Rocky Mountain News lost their fight today. A monument for nearly 150 years in Colorado is now gone. It breaks my heart a little. My grandfather worked for the News for nearly his entire life. Our family, our neighbors and our friends all read the News. Growing up it was a staple on our breakfast table. I continued that tradition in my own family. I am not sure why I was compelled to share this with all of you, but I thought it was important to pay tribute to this newspaper and the people who worked so hard for so long to make sure all of us had the news. To pay some respect to those who put their heart and soul into this paper. Thanks for reading, more stamping talk will be here tomorrow. If you would like to read more about the Rocky Mountain News or see the last issue, click here.

Did you know....

...that pink is my favorite color...hence this is my favorite card in this series. I think this was a natural occurence due to all the testosterone that flows freely in my house. I need something girlie to counteract it...pink seemed the simple solution. Not that my whole house is pink or anything, I just have pink here and there in accessories and such. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Sometimes things just come together perfectly, that was the case with this card. I also love this silver hardware from SU. I originally bought it to share with my mom, but have since decided, I may have to save my pennies to get my own set....it is by far my favorite. I am going to try something a little different with this post, in hopes that I will hear from you all out there. I am going to post the recipe at the end of the post instead of within. If you will leave a comment letting me know which you prefer, that would be swell. Well, off to volunteer at one school today. Hope you are enjoying your day...thanks for stopping in.

Happy Stamping.

Recipe:
Stamps: Serenity Now (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Regal Rose, Whisper White and Bella Rose DSP (All SU)
Ink: Black Pallette Noir (PTI), Regal Rose (SU)
Markers: Copic Sketch RV20 (Shirt), E00 (Skin)
Accessories: Silver Hardware (SU), Ribbon from Hobby Lobby

More Namaste....

Hello there! Happy Hump Day and Ash Wednesday! I dont' know how many of you participate in lent...but I will just let you know...I am terrible at it. I am not really a practicing catholic, but for some reason every year I am compelled to participate in lent...go figure. So, I have already blew lent twice today...I think it's my momnesia...I totally spaced that beef jerky was meat...I know....ridiculous. I really did have a mind before kids...however, that seems like a long time ago. =) Other than the whole forgetting lent thing...it really is a beautiful day here in Colorado. The temps have been in the high sixties and low seventies the last couple of days. It's hard to stay inside. I stopped at Hobby Lobby to get some paint for a lamp that I am refinishing for my eldest son's room and stumbled upon the perfect fabric for quilts for the twins rooms. They love all animals (especially zoo animals) but I have been having a hard time finding "mature" animal fabric. Well, today was my lucky day....they just got in a whole line at H.L. So, I bought what I needed, after much deliberation about sizes and patterns and such at the cutting table, and I am going to attempt to get them going here in the next day or two. Maybe I will post some pictures as they come along. (I know Mom...what you are probably thinking....another project?)

Enough of my life story.....let's talk some stamping. This is another card in the namaste series that I made for my friend's birthday. The card base on this one is Bashful Blue. I stamped the background using PTI Ocean Tides because it is just about a shade darker than Bashful Blue. The image is also PTI - Guide Lines, I haven't gotten to use this set much, but after using it here...I can tell it is a keeper. So many fun combinations. =) The white strip is whisper white. The green oval was cut using my nestabilities scalloped oval on sage shadow paper. The image is stamped on whisper white with pallet noir black and colored with copic markers (I forgot to write down the colors - sorry - working on this for the future.) It was again punched out with the Marvy Uchida giga scalloped rectangular punch. The saying in the corner is stamped in Ocean Tides on Whisper White and punched out with SU small oval punch. I colored the edge by running it along the ink pad. The ribbon is SU blue taffeta. Thanks for checking in.

Happy Stamping!

Hello again...

Sorry for the hiatus...I was sick, then the kids were sick and you know how that goes. Staying upright is a challenge on those days...let alone stamping and posting. Anyway, I'm back. I have been doing a series (prior to my Valentine posts)of namaste cards. I have finally finished them and will post the rest this week. I am getting ready to stick them in the mail this week with coordinating envelopes as a gift to a friend. She isn't a stamper, but I still think she will really like them. So, let's talk some stampin'. =)

This card again uses the Serenity Now set from MFT stamps. I stamped the image in pallete noir black on whisper white paper and then colored the image with the following copic colors - pants V01 and BV00, shirt Y19, Mat C1 and Skin E00. The base of the card is barely banana. Sort of a different color combination, but I think it works. What do you think? =) The image was then punched out using the Marvy Uchida Giga Scalloped rectangle punch. I mounted that on a piece of pale plum that I had embossed with my nestabilities and then layered that on summer sun, also cut with a nestabilities die. The pale plum piece was cut and embossed with a nestability die. The ribbon is PTI Lavender Moon satin ribbon. The saying is stamped in Lavender Moon as well. My favorite part of this card was using up little pieces of this and that which were laying around my stamp space and making them work into the card. I love when that happens. I hope you all enjoy my creation too. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping!

CPS Challenge Card

This is the second post for today...please scroll down and check out my Valentine's below. Since I was gone for a couple of days...I thought I would load you up with some ideas...ha!

I actually just rediscovered this site for card positioning systems. It is a great place to go and get inspiration and if you feel like it participate in a sketch challenge. I made another valentine, I should have them about done pretty soon...ha! You can check out the sketch on the right side of the cps page linked above. The card base is pink pirouette. I layered it with chocolate chip. The stamp set is from Verve stamps and is called Hearts on Fire. The square in the corner is a piece of chipboard (really old SU) covered in designer series paper from the Bella Rose collection. The little heart in the center of the stamped swirly heart is from the corner of that chipboard (covered) and is also covered in the same paper. The saying is stamped in riding hood red and then overstamped with chocolate chip on the reverse side of the polka dot paper (also patterned). I punched it out with the purple size of the marvy uchida scalloped rectangular punch. The border is made out of the patterned paper using the Martha Stewart large heart punch edge. The little hearts are left over from punching out the border. The ribbon is dark chocolate satin from PTI. The swirly heart is stamped on whisper white in riding hood red and then cut out.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stamping!

More Valentines....

It seems like all I did this weekend was work on Valentine's and blow my nose....I have a cold...thanks to the DH for that one. But, I did manage to get all the kids' valentine's made for their parties this week. These are the version I made for the twins (which I cased from Heather Nichols over here - for the most part). I wanted them to be simple, since I had to make so many of them. I will post Reilly's tomorrow as they haven't been photographed yet. I normally don't copy much, but time was of the essence for these and I had to make 60 total...copying was definitely in order. I changed it up a bit...but still the main idea came from her and I wanted to give her credit.

I love this set from PTI called Love Songs. I like that you could use it for other card and not just V-day, but also that it has some really cute sayings and themes to it. Check it out if you get the chance.

The card base was cut out with my rectangle scalloped nestabilities using basic black paper. The second layer is real red and the saying was stamped in pallette noir black ink. The third layer is kraft and the colors used were real red and fresh snow. I added Martha Stewart silver glitter to the centers of the envelopes to give it some sparkle and punched a heart out with her valentine heart punch from black. It was attached with a dimensional. That was it...pretty simple...but I liked the way they turned out.

There will be two posts today...so I hope you scroll down to read this one too.

Happy Stamping!

PTI Bag Challenge

PTI is having a challenge today with a great giveaway. To read more about the giveaway and what you could win, visit Nichole's blog here. PTI always has great giveaways, but this is even better with a special announcement that PTI will be at CHA this summer and that regular old people like you and me are going to be able to go and SHOP! How fun is that? I am saving my pennies NOW! The challenge was to alter a bag of any type by 3am EST today and post it to your blog.

Here is the bag that I created for the challenge.

I took a little white craft bag that I bought at Michael's and folded the top down. I then punched a heart out using my yellow Marvy Uchida punch. I placed a piece of Riding Hood Red (RHR) cardstock inside and stamped the lips from Love Songs, three times. First in RHR, then the outline in pallete noir black then with a glue pad and added glitter. Then I stamped off the lips image in RHR for the main portion of the lips stamp and then outlined it full strength with RHR. The edge of the bag is lined with a strip of designer series paper from SU called Bella Rose. The "Happy Valentine's Day" stamp is stamped in pallette noir black on the same paper. I stamped the round saying in RHR ink on RHR paper and the lips in Fresh Snow. I attached this piece and the "Happy Valentine's Day" saying with dimensionals. The ribbon at the top is pretty in pink taffeta from SU. Hope you like this quick little bag. I thought it would be perfect to put Dove chocolate hearts in (those are my favorite because they have saying inside. Two gifts in one.) =) Thanks for looking.

Happy Stamping!

Namaste Part Deux

Here is the second in a series of cards that I am making as a surprise for a friend of mine for her birthday. I was in a sunshiney mood because the weather here is UNBELIEVABLE! We are so lucky...almost 70 degrees in February. I lovin' it! Sorry...enough bragging...let's get back to business.

The base of this card is Tangerine Tango...it isn't really my favorite color...but it might be growing on me. I used PTI's Polka Dot Basics to stamp the background with Fresh Snow ink. This truly is the whitest ink I have found, but I did have to heat set it a little. (Because I am not very patient!) I layered it with summer sun and then pumpkin pie. The image is from Serenity Now at MFT Stamps. I stamped the image in pallette noir black and colored with my copics. It is punched out with the pink rectangle scalloped punch from Marvy Uchida (PTI) and the ribbon is pumpkin pie striped wide grosgrain from SU. The saying is also from Serenity Now stamped in the pallette noir black ink.

Hope you like it. I liked that it was cheery. Thanks for the comments, it's nice to know people are stopping by. I appreciate it. =)

Happy Stamping!

Cookie Boxes

Happy Hump Day! Sorry I have missed you the last few days...it has been crazy here. We had all kinds of school projects and cub scouts stuff going on. Phew! Feels nice to be back to blogging.

I found these cute little white lunch boxes at hobby lobby this week and thought they would be the perfect way to deliver cookies to some friends. I have a friend in Boston that I promised cookies to, and I am hoping they will travel well in this little box. I liked these because they were a little wider than some of the other lunch boxes I have seen and they were only $3.99. Unfortunately, I used retired SU designer series paper....but you could swap it out with any of the cute stuff in the current catalog. I am on a stamping hiatus at this point - no buying nothing for awhile....so gotta use my stash. I cut the paper into 12x3 3/4" strips (2) and then lined them with red sticky tape. The overlap slightly in the back and then used a different print to patch the front. The "fresh baked" stamp is from the PTI Holiday Treats set. I stamped it in tempting turquois and then used my nestabilities to cut a scalloped oval out of the same color. The lid has a textured flower (source unknown) topped with a felt flower and brad from the Target dollar spot layered onto the "from our house to yours" stamp from PTI. Wow! That was a mouthful. The top of this was a little tricky...but I just played with it until I got the strips lines up.

The second cookie box was made the same way...just different paper and colors. The color scheme on this one was Cool Carribean (retired) and Chocolate Chip. Same stamps - the flower on the top is a prima from one of Texas Jody Lynn's shares from awhile back. You can find her here. (I love her BTW!) =)

Thanks for checking in. Stop by tomorrow for a card.

Happy Stamping!