Some Sunday Stamping...

I finally found my way back to my studio today after a long long weekend/week of working. I am frantically getting Valentine's under way. In case you weren't aware (as I wasn't) January is over as of today...tomorrow begins February. You might be wondering as I was....what happened to this month? They sure seem to fly by lately.

So, Valentine's for the boys are my mission and I came up with these cute designs in the 3x3 size. They all use the same set, Love Songs from PTI. Colors are (top card) Pixie Pink and Lovely Lilac. Lips were colored with my jelly roll pen in starry glaze. Next the red heart balloons are in Real Red and cut out with my Spellbinders Scalloped Heart Nestabilities, the label on the bottom was punched out with the SU Modern Label Punch. The light pink card uses Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. The edge is done with the Martha Stewart small heart punch, from last year. You could substitute with this punch instead however. The saying on this one is from Verve's Hearts on Fire set. The final card is also real red and I used the same punch to edge this one on the red and the SU scalloped edge punch to edge the white. Hope you enjoyed thes quickie Valentine's and they inspire you to go make some too. Until tomorrow.....
Happy Stamping!

I've got that Lovin' Feeling....

....so how bout' a Valentine? I got together a little over a week ago with some friends to stamp and my friend Laura brought her Cricut for a little demo since I hadn't really seen one in action. It's a really cool machine, but it also has a pretty hefty up front investment to go with it. Anyway, she cut me out a page of these cute curly cue borders (thanks Laura!) so I thought I would try incorporating them into a card. This is what I came up with. I like that the Cricut enables you to make your shapes a multiple of sizes and that you can cut out more than one at a time or fill a page like Laura did for me here. The white curly cues are from the cricket machine. The heart in the center is one of Martha Stewart's new punches called Lace Scallop Heart Punch large. I found mine at Michael's but they are going going going..fast. I went around the edge with sparkly white stickles. The edge of the card was also punched with the Lace Heart Edge Punch also from Martha Stewart. The card base is Cool Carribean and the background is Chocolate Chip. I stamped two hearts from the Hearts on Fire set from Verve Stamps in Cool Carribean on the same color cardstock and then cut them out and attached them with dimenstional tape. The center heart is punched out of a scrap piece of designer series paper in pink. The edge under the lacey border is the same paper. The ribbon is from the Joann bargain bin in a pink organdy. The brown heart was punched out with a Fiskars heart punch. If you can believe it I didn't have one single plain heart punch, they were all scallops...ridiculous! Ha! After stamping in New Canvas white (PTI) the saying from the same Hearts on Fire set I punched the heart out. I then tied it onto the pink ribbon with a piece of silver cording. Hope you enjoyed my latest creation. Stop back again soon and until then,

Happy Stamping!

A moment for thanks....

Hello blog friends! Hope this Friday has your spirits high and ready for the weekend. I am still (yes this is ridiculous now) recovering from this awful cold. I can't remember the last time I was this sick this long...it's been a loooonnnngggg week. Tomorrow is Reilly's Pinewood Derby race, I hope I am well enough to go and not contaminate the masses. uggh!

In the meantime, it has taken me forever to finish this because I just couldn't stop coughing long enough to focus....but I do have a card for you today!

This is from a new to me stamp company called Flourishes. They have gorgeous stamps. I am one that really really appreciates detailed stamps, and Flourishes has them. This is from A Year in Flowers Calendar set 1. For some reason I can't locate set 1, only set 2 and 3 which leads me to believe that they are currently sold out of set 1. I remember reading somewhere that they don't take backorders so I am going to assume this set will reappear on the website once it is back in stock. Check out 2 and 3 and you will get an idea of the set. Now back to the card this is February's flower which is Primrose. Confession, I actually went to the internet to see what color primrose's should be before coloring...I wasn't sure. *grin* The base of the card is mellow moss and the patterned paper is Almost Amethyst matched with Almost Amethyst cs cut out and embossed with my scalloped square nestabilities. I dotted the inside of the scallops using my Clear Star jelly roll pen (I found mine at Joann). The flower was stamped in Pallete Noir black ink on Sahara Sand paper and then cut out. I colored the flower with my copics - BV02 Prune, V17 Amethyst and BV04 Blue Berry for the flowers and YG63 Pea Green, G40 Dim Green and YG03 Yellow Green for the stems and leaves. I then went back and highlighted with my jelly roll pen again because it makes everything sparkle. Sparkley is good. :-) The saying is stamped in Perfect Plum on Shimmery White CS and then punched out with the Modern Label Punch fro SU. The blings in the corner I bought last year at a retreat from the bling lady Crystal. Hope you enjoyed my very very late thank you cards and have a great weekend! Happy Stamping!

Still fighting the crud....

I have had this nasty cold now for over a week and it just keeps hanging on, so please excuse my lack of blogging over the last few days. Also, some exciting news, I threw my hat in the ring for the Spellbinders Design Team last week. So, I had to get johnny on the spot to get my projects done. Crossing my fingers and waiting now, it's all I can do. Once I know something I will post pictures of what I submitted, but I'm really really really excited. =)

So, I promised last week that I would give you all a glimpse into my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. I can see how this little corner of the scrapbooking arena could become quite addictive. The good news, for all of those on a budget, is that I did this entire page for free. I found this great website called Shabby Princess. It is a store (I will be giving them my business for sure!) but they upload a free digital kit every month. The kits have a few repeat items, but the items in each kit all coordinate together making it very easy to assemble your page. There are some great things on this site...including tutorials and loads of ideas. Check them out when you have a minute. I also found lots of sites where you can download free brushes and fonts for your digital scrapbooking habit, I mean hobby! I used Adobe Photoshop Elements for my page. It has a little bit of a learning curve, but there are a lot of online tutorials on how to use your software so it is easy to pick it up. I might even think about doing a tutorial if there is some interest. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. =)

One of the first questions I had, and I am sure all of you have is well, is once you have your page done...then what? My answer is that you then get it printed somewhere that will print 12x12 pages. I know for certain Costco does, but I would bet other places that do large amounts of photo finishing also will as well. Might try snapfish too. From what I understand is you electronically send your page over, select 12x12 or larger size, and then print it. I haven't tried it yet because I wanted to get this up for you to peruse, but I'll let you know what I find out if you want. I also understand that you can have entire albums printed and bound but I haven't researched the process that far, it isn't likely something I will pursue in the near future because as a brick and mortar scrapbooker, I have lots of albums already. What I liked about this process is it was easy, you didn't have to preprint your pictures and you can slip the page in between your other scrapbook pages and it won't stand out like a soar thumb. Also, you could venture into what is called hybrid scrapbooking where you combine both artforms together. Print you page and then add to it as you want after it's printed. I could see this being a fun new way to scrapbook, I hope you will give it a try too.

Without further adieu...here's my page....recipe of the kits I used follows. Until later this week, hope you are enjoying yourselves and Happy Stamping!

Recipe:
Shabby Princess 2006 Season Sampler Red Tree, Green Brad, Green Bow, Blue Swirls Paper, Green Paper; Shabby Princess Dinner Party Red Paper for mat; and Shabby Princess Holiday Magic Photo Corner Anchor, Christmas Swirls Paper, Red Scallop, Alpha Circle 1, Red Brad. Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 (I think 8.0 is now out, but I'm waiting to buy it until Costco has their coupon for it. When I see the coupon I will let you know.)

Birthday Wishes....

Somedays do you feel like your life is spinning a little out of control as your to do list gets longer and the hours in the day get shorter? I think I've felt that way now for about three months...uggh! Hence, this very late birthday card that I finally got in the mail this week. I really have adopted the "better late than never" adage, especially as of late. This little set is from one of my favorite stamp companies...Verve Stamps. They have beautifully designed unique stamps, but my favorite is their saying sets....they always have really great sayings that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Go check them out, especially for Valentine's Day! Their Hearts on Fire is my FAVORITE! So much so, that it's permanently inked on my body. (Don't read this part mom!) They will also be having a new release party in a couple of days on the 15th. Check them out you won't be disappointed. =)

This little bird comes from a set called Birthday Surprise. Isn't she cute? It's not one of the newer sets, but I love the swirly cue's on most of their sets...very girlie...I need girl power over here, I'm being smothered by the testosterone....Lord help me! Ha! I must be in a blue mood, which is strange usually it's pink for me, but I find myself being drawn to blue's this month. Must be the winter color or something. The blue used here is Buckaroo Blue (a retired SU color) but you could substitute Bashful Blue or Ballet Blue. Mounted on the base color is Barely Banana. I embossed a circle in the middle using my circle Spellbinders Nestabilities and then cut a scalloped circle out with the scalloped set out of the same Buckaroo Blue paper. The bird was stamped in Pallette Noir black ink which you can find at Ellen Hutson's store and the colored with copic markers in the following colors - BV08 Blue Violet, BG09 Blue Green, Y19 Napoli Yellow, R14 Light Rouge and RV17 Deep Magenta. I love my copics because they enable you to blend several colors together to get almost any color you could want. I bought mine from Ellen Hutson awhile back because she spent a lot of time with tutorials and putting sets together (and she was having a really great sale!) I utilize her site often so I felt it only right to buy from her as well. Expensive investment, but soooo worth it! The image is stamped in Buckaroo Blue on Whisper White CS then mounted on Buckaroo Blue paper. Both were punched out with the Marvy Uchida rectangular scalloped punches white in the Mega size, Blue in the giga size. The present and saying are from the same Verve set and the present has a dimensional behind it. Ribbon is retired SU organdy ribbon. Hope you are find some inspiration today and that you will be back soon. Happy stamping!

Starting out on the right foot....

So last year's blogging here at Bunker Thoughts was mediocre at best. One of my goals for the New Year is to attempt to blog on a more regular basis. Thanks to all of you who have stuck by me! =)

Blogging isn't the only thing that has gone by the wayside in the last year, unfortunately, so has my stamping. I did get some cards made for the holidays and a few other things throughout the year, but I am really hoping to get some scrapbooking caught up in the very new future. I know I might be a little behind on the front of digital scrapbooking, but my interest has been piqued for some time now. Recently I decided to venture down that road. After I finish this post, I'm going to try my hand at my first digital pages. Stay tuned for the result (crossing fingers).

In the meantime I had the need for a wedding card and I wanted something a little different, so I pulled out one of my favorite Papertrey Ink sets, Quilter's Sampler. Being a former, sometimes, and someday again quilter....the set holds a special spot in my heart. The colors were the wedding colors and that became my inspiration for the card scheme. The card color is Pink Pirouette (a retired SU color) and Close to Cocoa. The border on the bottom is also retired SU paper. I stamped the quilt blocks in Close to Cocoa and then colored them with my copic marker in R14 Light Rouge. Speaking of Copics, my friend Sharon Harnist has a great tutorial over here at the JustRite Stamps blog today on coloring with your copics. She is AMAZING and I could go on and on about the beautiful things she creates but you should just do yourself a favor and go look for yourself. While you are over at Just Rite Stamps you should check out their stuff....very fun stamps! (insert enabler vibe here - ha ha!) Back to the card, the saying was also stamped in Close to Cocoa, the ribbon is a white satin scrap I salvaged from somewhere (?) and the quilt blocks were stamped on the reverse side of the designer series paper used for the little border I punched them out using the 3/4" square punch from Papertrey Ink and then bordered them with close to cocoa using the Marvy Uchida Extra Jumbo Scalloped Square punch. It is fairly simple compared to some of the other amazing art I have been seeing lately, but I like the way it turned out. Speaking of Papertrey Ink, it's a great time to head over to Nicole's blog and check out the pre-release sneak peeks she is showing. I love the tree set....until later this week....

Happy Stamping!