Bunker Thoughts

A few suitable digital creations....

2011-05-11T13:08:00.001-06:00

Since I spend so much time at karate, swimming lessons, cub scouts, you name it....I have really enjoyed learning more about digital art and creating digital cards and pages. These were made out of digitally created images from a retired Stampin Up! stamp set called Suitable for Framing.

The rest of the elements were either created with Photoshop Elements or else put together from freebies found online.

Enjoy and Happy Stamping!

Springtime Stems Makeover

2011-05-09T12:50:00.001-06:00

I have a stack of retired Stampin Up! stamps that I am hoping to send to someone else's home. In an effort to revive them, I have made up some digital cards to highlight the versatility of them. This set is an oldie but goodie. I created a digital image for two of the flowers and used them as the little blue background flower and the white flowers in the center of the card. All the other items were freebies that I found online. I love that you can find so many free digital scrapbooking items online. It makes learning free and fun. I have been throwing around the idea of putting some introductory "how to's" tutorial on here. If you think you might be interested, please spread the word and let me know. I use Photoshop Elements 9 which is SO worth the money. I had the older version and upgraded to 9 last winter. They have incorporated many of the standard Photoshop abilities into the home version. It is a great product.

If you are interested in purchasing springtime stems, drop me an email.

Here is a snapshot of what is in the set. ;)

Enjoy the card and Happy Stamping!

Procrastination Strikes Again...

2011-05-04T21:38:00.004-06:00

I find that I am in one of those perpetual cycles of running late. It isn't a constant cycle, but once it gets started it's hard to stop. Needless to say, Mother's Day has snuck up on me this year and I have still not finished my cards. I think I need a stop button for my life so that everything stops but me, then I can run around like Mrs. Incredible (from the movie) and get everything caught up then restart the button. Doesn't that sound good? Alas, no stop button yet or rewind for that matter...so my Mother's Day cards will be late. (Sorry mom as I know you are reading this)

I am again participating in the PTI Make It Monday challenge. I like these because I learn something new (sometimes) and it motivates me to get down and stamp and have a goal to attain rather than just looking at my work space and admiring the one empty space that I have cleaned up. :D

Check out this weeks challenge here.

Here is my card

I swapped out the phrase in the embossed label area with different salutations depending on who the card was for. Check the supply list and always feel free to email with questions.

Happy Mom's Day to all those mom's out there and of course, Happy Stamping!

Supplies:

Paper: SU Elegant Eggplant, White and Rose Romance

Ink: Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Rose Romance and Elegant Eggplant

Stamps: PTI Women Of Life

Accessories: Sizzix Texture Plate, PTI Simple Circles Border, PTI Tea For Two Collection, 3/4" circle punch, pop dots, stickles in pink, purple, and yellow, ribbon source unknown.

PTI Make It Monday Challenge and Blog Hop

2011-04-25T20:10:00.007-06:00

Hi all!

I decided to participate in the Papertrey Ink Blog

Hop and luckily was inventive enough to add the cute square idea in today's Make It Monday video so I can participate in both. This card is made with the Pond Life and Pond Life

Sentiments set. Colors are Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke and Kraft for paper and the same for ink. Water lilies were colored with copics. The lines were drawn with a fine tip sharpie. This card was actually my second card, the first being below. However, the bird card didn't seem manly enough, so I went with a turtle. I struggle with masculine cards...so this was a challenge for me.

This next card was made with a set that was a freebie from PTI a few years ago.

If you

purchased 12 stamp sets within the year, they sent you this set. I love this set, but, if you can

believe it....I hadn't even inked it up until today. If you are lucky enoug

h to have this set,

definitely use it...it has cute things in it. The colors are black, daffodil delight and summer sunrise. I added lots of bling to this card and also incorporated one of the images from guidelines.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping!

Easter Wishes

2011-04-18T14:23:00.002-06:00

I hustled to get this card created before I went to stamp with my girls Sunday night. I seem to work well under pressure. :) I think I should get myself a stop watch so that I can meet my deadlines. I tend to wait until the last minute...but it seems to get my creative meter ticking faster. I love love love the Perfect Petals Die I used in the corner of this card. It is a heartfelt creations exclusive...I will link them to to the bottom of the page. The set is Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Spring Fillers stamped in PTI's Dark Chocolate Ink. All the coloring was done with my copic markers. I love my copics for two reasons, one you can color on anything which makes them amazingly versatile and two you can blend colors like a pro even if you have no idea what you are doing and it turns out GREAT. They are an expensive investment but well worth their weight in gold. Your images will look amazing and they are even earth friendly since they are refillable. The patterned paper is one I found in my stash...so I don't have a source for it and same for the ric rac. (sorry) And who knew that ric rac would hot again. :) Luckily I save all my ribbon for such an occasion. Some might say I hoard my ribbon, I like to think I only break it out on special occasions. *giggle* The paper is all Stampin Up! and the colors are Barely Banana and Pink Pirouette, the ovals were sponged in matching ink colors. The ovals were cut using Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Oval Large Nestabilities and the bottom edge was punched using Martha Stewart's Double Loops Punch

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping!

Springtime Flowers

2011-04-14T19:54:00.003-06:00

I whipped up this little card for my triathlon training partner because I have been dying to ink up these Papertrey Tulips and I wanted to send her a little note to thank her for her positive reinforcement. I love the size of this flower stamp, because it fills up the card face without adding much else. The jar is a PTI exclusive that coordinates with the several jar sets that they have come out with. I die cut it out of a heavier window sheet and then added the lace ribbon which I bought ages ago from Flourishes. Colors are Stampin Up! Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette and the ivory is a shiny cardstock that I bought ages ago as well...I think at a local store that is no longer in business. :( Flowers were colored with my copics.

Thanks for stopping by! Email with questions.

Happy Stamping!

Something Old and Something New

2011-04-13T15:21:00.003-06:00

If you are anything like me you have a semi large (ok large) stash of stamps and supplies that are just waiting there for your inspiration...and may have cobwebs and dust doting their tops while the inspiration arrives. I have a stack of stamps that have been on my to put on ebay list for a LONG time now. So in trying to find a creative way to move them onto greener pastures...I thought I would make up some cards to post with the ebay listing. These two cards are made from the retired Stampin' Up! set called Nature's Secret.

I currently have this set for sale on ebay or if you are interested...drop me a line and I will be happy to deliver it to your happy home where you can create to your heart's desire. This set is unmounted and uncut...brand spanking new in the box. So how did she make the cards you might ask? I am pretty chum with myself in my own cleverness....ha ha...but both cards were made digitally and here's the best part, they were free. All of the supplies were found online and the card was free to make. Free is AWESOME...wouldn't you agree. Stay tuned for details on your own freebies on my upcoming blog....name to be determined soon. In the meantime....here is the card. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping!

PTI Make It Monday Challenge

2011-04-10T20:22:00.003-06:00

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I've been stamping...so please forgive my short post. Many things have been keeping me busy, but hope to get some posts up here now and again. I made this card for the PTI Make It Monday challenge. The great team over there posts a challenge every Monday with a tutorial video. This weeks was using embossing. I took th

e technique and went a different way with it and did an emboss resis

t technique. Here is my card....

To create the emboss resist I stamped the Text Boxed image in Versamark Ink on PTI White cardstock and then embossed with clear embossing powder. After the embossing had cooled for a few minutes I brayered over the image first with Marigold Morning and then with Daffodil Delight. I then colored the leaves with three colors of copics and the stems with a Ultra Fine Tip Dark Brown sharpie. The ric rac was created with the small ric rac die from PTI and the buttons are also PTI. Supplies are listed below. Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy Stamping!

Supplies:

Text Boxed and Everday Button Bits Papertrey Ink Stamps

Daffodil Delight and Marigold Morning Ink Stampin Up!, Burnt Umber Pallete Noir Ink

Small Ric Rac die, bakers twine and vintage buttons Papertrey Ink, Distressing tool and punch SU.

Birthday Billy and Lilly

2010-02-01T12:28:00.003-07:00

Have you heard of Pink Cat Studio stamps yet? They have some really cute images. I bought these a little while back because I thought they would be cute for winter scrapbook pages, but I decided I was in a snow mood (probably because we haven't seen much around here lately) so I pulled them out for a quick birthday card.
The set I used is simply called Billy and Lilly Winter Stamps. Look how cute those snow angels are...hee hee. :-) The images were stamped in Pallette Noir Black ink and then colored with Copic Markers. I love my copics...look how nicely they blend to create different grades of color. I have no idea what I am doing, but they always turn out well...so it must be the markers! :-) The card base is Bashful Blue, the next layer is Taken With Teal and the images are stamped on Whisper White. The border edge is an EK Success Snowflake Border punch. I bought mine at Joann, but this store also carries the same one. The little snowflakes came from the reverse of the punch after I punched it out. The ribbon is scraps that I had and the corner saying was stamped in Taken With Teal and punched out with SU's Round Tab Punch. Hope your having a fantastic Monday and I'll talk to you soon!
Happy Stamping! :-)

Some Sunday Stamping...

2010-01-31T15:50:00.004-07:00

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....

2010-01-26T12:41:00.003-07:00

....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....

2010-01-22T14:11:00.004-07:00

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....

2010-01-18T14:44:00.003-07:00

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....

2010-01-13T11:37:00.005-07:00

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 Noi r 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....

2010-01-12T18:05:00.003-07:00

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!

Shimmer Paint

2009-11-08T18:30:00.004-07:00

It's all the rage have you heard? The new shimmer paint from SU. I ordered some on the advice of a friend and have been having a great time playing with it. It adds a new level of sparkle and well, shimmer, to all your holiday and everyday projects. I used the silver shimmer paint over both the Night of Navy and Suede paper from SU to create the backgrounds on these cards. The stamp set is by Inkie Dinky Doo. The snowflake border was created with a Martha Stewart punch.

Enjoy! Happy Stamping!

I think this might be my backup favorite....

2009-03-01T08:57:00.003-07:00

This is the last card I made using the Serenity Now set for my friend's birthday present. It turned out much better than I thought, considering I almost never use these colors...so not the earth color girl. This is another one, where I found the green patterned paper (source unkown) in my stash and thought...I can make this work for a different look. I also used the little green ring from my stash. I had picked these up at Joann quite a while back and wasn't sure how I was going to work them into a project...but my thought was originally scrapbook pages...I liked the center of the flower idea. I think it came out nicely. I also like the embossing line I created from my rectangular nestabilities. We are off to finish out our birthday celebrations for the DH's birthday. Hope you have a happy Sunday and can get in some stamping.

Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Serenity Now (MFT Stamps)

Paper: Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU) and Patterned Paper (Source Unknown)

Ink: Pallette Noir Black, Fresh Snow (PTI), Copic Markers E09 & E27 Pants, Y000 & G93 Mat, E00 Skin, YG63 Shirt

Acessories: Nestabilities Rectangles, Prima Flower, Small Frame (Joann)

Second to last....

2009-02-28T15:26:00.003-07:00

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....

2009-02-27T10:53:00.006-07:00

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....

2009-02-26T11:08:00.003-07:00

...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....

2009-02-25T14:35:00.003-07:00

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...

2009-02-24T15:03:00.005-07:00

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

2009-02-09T12:05:00.006-07:00

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....

2009-02-09T11:38:00.005-07:00

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

2009-02-05T20:14:00.004-07:00

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

2009-02-05T12:34:00.003-07:00

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

2009-02-04T16:14:00.009-07:00

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!

Another Valentine

2009-01-31T15:49:00.005-07:00

We made this card (well one like it) at Stamp Night on Thursday. If you know me, you know I have a very hard time copying cards...I always have to change it up a little. This is the project idea my friend Marilyn came up with (Hi Marilyn), except her card used the scallop punch on the bottom edge and sayings from the new sale-a-bration catalog. If I would have been more alert on Thursday (too much wine) I would have taken a picture of her card...but I didn't. Maybe next time?

The card base is whisper white cut at 12x4 1/4" score on one side at 2" then flip and score again at 3 3/4". The brown is close to cocoa. I didn't measure it because I just worked with it until I got the look I liked. Just layer in the close to cocoa until you like it. I used my Martha Stewart scalloped heart punch again and punched an edge out of pink pirouette. The heart are embossed on pink pirouette with gold embossing powder using the heart from the Always set by SU. The two sayings are from the new Love Songs set by Lisa Johnson over at PTI. (BTW - Did you know they are having an anniversary this month. I can't wait.) The first saying I embossed in gold and the second was stamped in chocolate chip. I added a little heart to the top punched out with my Martha Stewart coordinating heart punch.

More V-day cards to come as I get to work on the kids' valentines this week. I have to get back to painting now....Happy Saturday and Happy Stamping!

Thursday Night Stamping....

2009-01-30T13:55:00.004-07:00

I got to stamp with some friends last night and we had a good time....don't you always have a good time when you are stamping with friends? =) We have had a group that gets together and does a shoebox swap (all the card supplies for a project fit in a shoebox and everyone makes everyone else's project) but we haven't gotten together for a few months. It is fun to see what everyone comes up with for a project and you always get to try something new. Last night was no exception, and I will show you those projects later this weekend. However, today I am showing you the project I made. It is a simple card with all SU product. I haven't managed that in awhile, mostly because 85% of my SU product is retired. I should have a blowout sale huh? =)

Anyway, this card is made with one of my favorite sets Heartfelt Thanks. I have liked this set for a long time and it normally makes a very beautiful sypathy card, as well as others. I used my watercolor crayons for this project. I haven't used them for awhile....but they are still one of my favorite SU products. I colored directly on the stamp with brocade blue and night of navy and garden green and certainly celery for the stem. Then I spritzed the stamp with water (I used a hairspray travel bottle filled with water) and also spritzed the paper. The more water...the more watercolor look. I then took the outline stamp of the flower and used my SU markers to color night of navy for the center, brocade blue for the outside of the flower and old olive for the stem. I liked the definition this gave the flower. The center I colored with my gold spica glitter pen.

The card base is buckaroo blue (retired - sorry) with a strip of old olive. The background stamp is stamped in ballet blue and is the stamp En Francais. The saying "heartfelt" is stamped in Old Olive. The ribbon is celery wide organdy ribbon (retired SU).

That's all for today...Happy Friday!

Happy Stamping!

Namaste....

2009-01-29T13:58:00.004-07:00

Hi there! Happy Thursday...I can't believe the week is almost over. Whew! Here is your happy and peaceful Thursday card.

I have been eyeing this Serenity set from MFT for almost a year and when I went on the "bender", I made sure it was in my cart. I am making a set of note cards for a friend who is a Buddhist for her birthday. I hope she will like them. This is the first in the set. I used bashful blue paper for the base of the card and stamped a background with the new Ocean Tides ink from PTI just to mix it up a little. Ocean Tides is just slightly darker than bashful blue. Me likey! Then I accented the card with basic black and stamped that asian doodad in white snow (PTI) and yes that is the technical term....sheesh...ya think I can just make this stuff up? The serenity girl was stamped in pallette noir black and colored with my copic markers. I used the clear blender pen to remove some of the black from her pants to make it look shadowed...I think it turned out pretty cool. The namaste is stamped in Pallette Noir black as well. The ribbon is from Michael's. Fairly simple card....but I like the way it turned out. Hope you have a great rest of the day...check in tomorrow for a Stampin' Up! card...haven't done one of those for awhile and a fun technique....one of these days I am going to get my video camera out...then we're all in trouble...watch out! Ha!

Happy Stamping!

Birthday Wishes....

2009-01-28T12:01:00.003-07:00

We seem to have a lot of birthdays between November and January....so here I am making yet another birthday card. But, I was excited to whip out one of my new MFT stamp sets. This set is called What's Up C upcake. Which for some reason isn't showing up on the MFT website, so I linked you to the All That Scraps website to see it. The card base is Apricot Appeal and I made a close to cocoa insert for the inside so that I could put this cute little punch on the edge. This is another Martha Stewart valentine punch called small heart or something. I would link you to it, but I can't find a picture of it on the internet anywhere...sorry. I followed up the inside with a strip of green to match the front strip. The green is certainly celery. I used my nestabilities ovals to cut out the scalloped oval from close to cocoa. The cupcakes were stamped in pallete noir black and then colored my cupcakes with copic markers. The sprinkles were added with versamark and heat and stick powder and are glitter from the Doodlebug Designs glitter multipack in green. The Happy Birthday was from the Verve stamp set Birthday Surprises stamped in certainly celery to match. Can you believe there isn't any ribbon on this card...I can barely believe it myself. But, look, I totally refrained. Ha! Thanks for looking.

Happy Stamping!

Valentine Tuesday....

2009-01-27T12:43:00.003-07:00

Sorry I missed you yesterday, I am pretty sure I had a case of the Mondays. Good thing that's over with. =)

So when I went on my stamp bender, I decided to try out a new company called Verve (I say it with a an "eh" sound on the end, because it so much more chic to be french...eh?) Anyway....I LOVE THEM!!!! They are so swirly and girly and princessy and I love em. They stamp really well...the only downfall so far...they don't smell as good as PTI. I know...it's weird...but I totally dig the smell of new PTI stamps and so does someone else that I know (who will remain nameless...but she knows who she is) so it can't be that weird...right?

Anyway....trying to stay on track here...this set is one they just released this month and I love it. The set is called Hearts on Fire. It comes with the cute swirly hearts and then the centers to fill them in. I stamped the swirly part in Plum Pudding from PTI. The centers are pink pirouette (I swear I am going to learn how to spell that so that I don't have to look it up everytime!) Then I took my clear glitter pen (Joann) and outlined the centers so they would be sparkly. Did you notice that border....that's the new Martha Stewart heart border punch (DO NOT covet me! I only found two and one I had to give to Laura because she told me about it! Sorry!) Good luck finding one, apparently they are quite the hot commodity (and now you know why - huh?) My advice....finish reading this and then RUN to Michael's. =) The border was punched out of pink piroutte as well. The ribbon is pretty in pink because for some reason I don't have any pink pirouette ribbon. Go figure.....the ribbon queen doesn't have one color. =)

The Happy Valentine's Day saying is from the Hearts on Fire set as well (also stamped in plum pudding). I love their fonts...I think it was the seller for me. The card base is perfect plum, layered with very vanilla. The two little hearts in the corner were punched from pink pirouette with a coordinating heart punch from Martha Stewart. For some reason, this picture didn't come out as well as I had hoped...but I am working on that. Hope you liked this card...see you tomorrow with a birthday card.

Happy Stamping!

Quilting Thank You....

2009-01-24T10:36:00.004-07:00

I have the original PTI Quilter's Sampler, but then a little while later they came out with Quilter's Sampler Additions and I knew I would have to have it because it had Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Bill and they are two of my favorite quilt patterns. I made this card as a thank you for my cousin's mother-in-law. She sent cute pillowcases down for the boys for Christmas that she had made and she is also a quilter.

The card base is barely banana again and it is layered with Pink Pirouette (my favorite pink at this moment). I stamped the sunbonnet sue's in pallette noir black ink and then colored them with my copics. I then punched the blue squares out using my 3/4" square punch from PTI. I bought this punch because it is the exact size of the quilt blocks, personally, I think you have to have it if you have any of the quilt sets just for efficiency sake. The think the blue paper is very old creative memories patterned paper...but I wouldn't swear on it. I used it because it reminded me of quilt fabric and it was about as close as I could get from my stash. The saying is from the original Quilter's Sampler set and was stamped in brocade blue because it matched the blue paper best. The mini pink buttons I bought at hobby lobby in a multi-pack awhile and the two square buttons in the corner are newly retired SU buttons in barely banana and brocade blue. The ribbon is PTI satin in Lemon Tart.

Hope to have a V-Day card for you on Monday. Happy Weekend and Happy Stamping!

Snow Angel....

2009-01-23T13:10:00.003-07:00

I went on a bender a little bit ago and bought some stamps from some new companies (just in case you are tired of seeing PTI - as if!) =) This is from a little set from Pink Cat Studio called Billy and Lily Winter Stamps. I just noticed there is a brand new valentine set on there which is also darling called sweatheart stamps....in case you want to check that out. This is one of the final thank you cards that I needed to get done for Christmas presents.....I know ridiculous that these are done yet....can't figure out where the time goes. The card base is barely banana and the blue layer is an old su patterned paper from about a billion years ago (no idea what it's called). Billy was stamped with pallette noir black ink and colored with copics. I love the blending ability of my copics more than any other coloring medium to date. The snowflake was from the SU winter mini and the thanks is from PTIs Mixed Messages set. The "You're an Angel" comes from the Billie and Lilly set. The third circle contains a snowflake brad that was originally white and I colored with my copics.

That about sums it up. I hope to get some stamping for V-day this weekend....but you never know how it's gonna go. We have the pinewood derby and I am going to a girls only night on Saturday....so don't be disappointed if I don't post again till Monday. Thanks for stopping in.

Happy Stamping!

Snow is coming round the mountain....

2009-01-22T14:40:00.005-07:00

.....so let's celebrate with a snowman...it is still January....although us Coloradans were beginning to wonder with the spring weather we have been having.

Some might say that I have a slight snowman obsession, but I have been trying to curb my bad habit by only buying select snowmen....this is actually a stamp I bought awhile back. I don't even remember where or what it is called (sorry) but I figure you could improvise with your favorite snowman....or dig into your stash and find your favorite snowman. (I am sure you have one! What good stamper doesn't?) Ha!

The snowman was stamped on PTI white cs in pallette noir black ink and then colored with my copics. Someday I will post which colors, but let's be honest, I am lucky to be posting this often (as I have received multiple congratulations recently on my frequent posting - that says....get it together lady....it's about time! Ha!) I scalloped the bottom edge with the SU scalloped edge punch and the snowflakes were stamped in ballet blue with the PTI Holiday Treats set. The layer below the snowman is ballet blue and layered finally on the real red card base. The "Thanks so much" saying is from the SU set Sincere Salutations on a real red tag with black pallette noir ink. THe snowflake brad is from a local scrapbook store Your Crop Shop and it is tied on with silver SU cording. The ribbon is striped grosgrain in real red.

Off to dream up something magical for dinner and get ready for bunko. Yeah! See you tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!

Remember yesterday....Remember Today....

2009-01-21T12:42:00.002-07:00

Howdy! (Stock show is in town, can you tell? Ha!) Well it's hump day...and this week is just flying by for me....hope it is for you too.

I shared a card made with the PTI Remember set yesterday and thought I would share a different design with the same set with you today. Before I started this card I made a mask of the squiggly poppy to use so I could stamp my stems around the flowers with out making them look all glopped together. (Those are technical terms, in case you are wondering.) (The card base is Riding Hood Red.) Then I grabbed a piece of very vanilla to stamp my poppies on. I stamped them in Riding Hood Red and then colored them in with my copics in yellow. I then took the center stamp and stamped the centers in pallette noir black. The stems are stamped in Wild Wasabi to coordinate with the layered paper. I added a bit of ribbon (source unknown, but I think it might be May Arts) and added a prima with a bling bling in the middle (black). The thank you is also from remember, stamped in Riding Hood Red and the center flower was stamped the same as the main card. The bling in the center is a faux dew drop that I colored with my black copic and adhered with a glue dot. I found those at Michael's. I clipped the corners with a stampin up punch and that finished it off. Hope you liked the look. Check back tomorrow for a snowman card. Maybe it will promote some snow...it's been 70 degrees here. That is just CRAZY for January. =)

Happy Stamping.

Just Playing Around....

2009-01-20T15:22:00.002-07:00

I really didn't know quite what to do with this set when I first got it, because it is so out of reach from my normal stamping style. I had seen beautiful things made with it, but it isn't something I normally would pick as a stamp set. However, after playing with it....I really have found it to be a very versatile and beautiful set. The set is called Remember and is from Papertrey Ink. You will see another card made with this set later this week. One thing I always love about the sets that Lisa Johnson creates is the sayings. She always has just the right touch....for example this one "True Strength is Delicate". I am going to send this to a friend who just lost another friend to cancer. But you could use it for any occassion where someone is having a hard time, or just as a pick me up.

The card is made out of real red cs and stamped on PTI white. I used real red ink and then stamped off to get the two shades of red. Darker for the outline of the poppy. The leaves were done with spring moss. The ribbon is PTI twill in spring moss with a piece of pink taffeta SU tied into it. I punched the single poppy out with the marvy uchida scalloped super jumbo punch and backed it with the mega size.
The second picture shows a closeup of the saying which is stamped in New Canvas pallette ink, also from PTI.

Hope you will give this set a chance too. Happy Stamping!

Two from the same....

2009-01-18T19:30:00.005-07:00

I really like this PTI Set, Rustic Branches, but I wanted to see if I could stretch it's use from being a holiday set only. So, I created these two cards. All I changed up were the colors. I think I actually like the blue and green better. But it did turn out that you can use this set for something other than the holidays. I am going to try it with some other colors too....just to experiment.

Anyway....enough babbling. So, this stamp is a 2-stepper. To get the two shades of green I used Old Olive and stamped it off for the darker leaf image and then used it full force for the outline. The red berries were stamped on first and then I used stickles in red to make them pop. The red ribbon is from PTI it's their poppy color and the paper is real red layered with whisper white and old olive.

The second sample was made the same way and uses Baja Breeze and Night of Navy for the color scheme. Blue stickles were used for the berries. The green is again old olive.

I know this is a quick post but today is a holiday and the boys are running like crazy. See you tomorrow.

Happy Stamping!

Sunday Flowers.....

2009-01-18T08:21:00.002-07:00

Can you tell I am ready for spring? All these butterflies and flowers and such....I think that January gets me down after all the holiday hoopla....so I need to fill my stamping with happy thoughts and sunshine. =)

This is one of my favorite cards I have created recently. I just love the way that it turned out. The stemps/flowers are stamped with SUs Simply Said stamp set (one of my few current stamp sets). I am finding that I am quickly moving away from rubber stamps and opting for clear sets instead. Anyway, onto the card. I stamped the flowers with palette noir black and then colored them with my copic markers and my spica glitter pens (these are new and I LOVE them!) If you don' t have the spica glitter pens yet...I HIGHLY recommend them. They are a great bang for your buck and personally, I think everything is better with a little glitter. I got mine from Ellen Hutson, but you can find them other places too. After the flowers were stamped I laid out three of the felt flowers from Flower Fusion by SU. I added a little bling to the centers, and that side was done. The card base is very vanilla with a layer of spring moss. The patterned paper is PTI Bitty Baby Blessings. The pink ribbon is ribbon from my stash...I actually have no idea where it came from. It was very simple....but I loved transforming an old stamp into something new. I hope you will like it too.

I am off to clear out the bunker so the girls can come over and stamp this afternoon. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Sunday and Happy Stamping!

Weekend Butterfly....

2009-01-17T10:27:00.002-07:00

Hi and Happy Saturday!

Thought I would share another project with you today....sometimes the weekends are busy...so not as many people have time to post....but I have all these finished projects to share with you...so I thought I might as well post today too.

I haven't used my flock in a long time....so I decided I would whip it out and try it out on this butterfly from SU's Garden Whimsy set. I haven't used this set much, but I really like it. This isn't my favorite card....but....I thought maybe someone out there might like it....so I decided to post it anyway. I bought the super flock variety back from doodlebug designs and there is about every color in the world in there....almost. ; ) I used my glue pad to stamp the butterfly and then flocked it in yellow. The card was cut out with my Big Shot and the Sizzix Movers and Shakers card die cut. It was cut out of Bashful Blue cs. I got this right before Christmas and it is so cool. I love being able to make shapes in the center of my card. Anyway, I cut out the card and trimmed it up a little so that it would layer nicely. Then lined the center with vellum and backed the inside of the card with chocolate chip paper. I then stamped the two smaller butterflies in Bashful Blue and colored and outlined them with my copic markers. I added a strip of brown and the gingham ribbon (May Arts) to the side. Stamped the thank you from the PTI Anniversary set Simple Little Things in New Canvas Palette Ink. (To learn how to get your special addition PTI set for this year click here.) I then used my Mega scallop punch and punched out half a circle. The gems are attached with crystal effects.

I hope you like this one. Happy Saturday and Happy Stamping!

A Little Bird Told Me.....

2009-01-16T13:45:00.003-07:00

Happy Friday!

I have been challenging myself to use stamps I haven't pulled out for awhile and also try and mix my supplies up a little. I find myself tending to use all of one companies products on a project. I think when you start with one company, it is sometimes a little hard to break out of the mold and try new things. There are some excellent stampers out here in stamp land that create "design stations" to get their creative juices flowing. I really liked that idea....so I have been trying to do that and mixing all my stamping products into one project. This is what I came up with.

The bird is from SU from the set Always. I really like this set, but to be honest, I totally bought it for the heart....in fact when I first saw it, I thought DAMN that bird is ugly. Guess which stamp I use the most....the bird. It totally grew on me. True story. Ha! =) I stamped this little guy in Plum Pudding from PTI and layered him on Perfect Plum (because for some reason I don't have Plum Pudding paper - or it might be lost **chuckle** in the bunker) and Spring Moss (PTI). The background paper is also PTI and is called Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI). The ribbon is swiss dot sating in Plum Pudding. I added some prima flowers with a gemstone in the center and called it done. It was a relatively quick little card, but the little details are what bring it to life. I hope you like it to....now I have to send it out....it is a late thank you card. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping!

Snowflakes....

2009-01-15T15:03:00.005-07:00

Hi there and Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by. I am sure glad to be back to stamping and blogging. I have quite a few cards to show you...I even have them photographed and ready to go. (Can you believe it? I can barely believe it myself! Ha!) Part of my New Year's goal list.

This cards was so fun to make and easy. I just love the Giga Snowflake Punch (PTI). I think I might need that punch in every size. Even though the holiday season is over, you can still use your holiday stamps if there are snowflakes in them, at least through January, in my opinion. In my mind the same rule applies to snowmen. Which is why I tend to buy more sets with snowflakes and snowmen versus holiday stamps. I like to stretch my stamping dollar and make my stamps more versatile. How bout you?

To make this card. I punched out the jumbo snowflake punch and used the negative as a template. I sponged the snowflakes on with Baja Breeze ink (SU). The label behind the larger red snowflake was made by stamping two labels from Holiday Treats from PTI in a row and then trimming it down. The red snowflakes are from the SU mini catalog (small felt snowflakes) and I adhered them with glue dots. The ribbon is also SU - riding hood red grosgrain. The closeup shows two stamps the "from our house" stamp is also from Holiday Treats and the Thanks so Much is from Mixed Messages. Ink colors are Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red (SU) and the paper is Whisper White and Riding Hood Red.

Thanks for stopping by today....I will have something new to share tomorrow. Happy Stamping!

Quilter's Sampler

2008-08-31T15:50:00.004-06:00

Let me start by saying, that yes, Paper Trey has done it again. Taken another one of my favorite things and made it into a stamp set. Yes, in a life before kids I actually quilted. I quilted a lot in fact. I don't have much to show from this time in my life, because for some reason I never kept anything I made. How dumb is that? Some day I will get down to the bunker and finish all the UFOs (unfinished objects) in my quilting stash...but it won't be anytime soon. Another reason I enjoy stamping, it is fairly easy to start and finish a project within a couple of hours. Not so much for quilting.

This is another set that I had to wait nearly a month to get into my hot little hands. It's my own fault, because I dilly dallied when it came out, knowing it would be crazy popular, but I didn't get my order in....so I had to wait for the backorders to come in. I couldn't be happier with this set....my card however, not my choice as my favorite work. I am a little over critical, I am sure, but I need a little more time to play with this. This was not that week though, too much to get done. =) So the set is called Quilter's Sampler and it has additional sayings available to go with it. The additional set is called Quilter's Sampler Sents. I hope to ink this to paper and play a little more to have more to show you soon. Thanks for stopping by and here's the recipe.

Happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Quilters Sampler (PTI)

Cardstock: Pretty In Pink, Bella Rose Patterned Paper (SU) and Perfect Cardstock White (PTI)

Ink: Perfect Palette Ink Black (PTI)

Accessories: Pretty In Pink grosgain ribbon (SU), Buttons (unknown)

What is it about owls?

2008-08-31T15:40:00.004-06:00

I have been very impatiently waiting for this set from Paper Trey Ink to come back into stock. I don't know why or how this obsession I have with owls started, but it was about six months ago, I started to become obsessed with finding the perfect owl. I didn't really even like owls, but then I just had to have one, not just any one either. He had to be cute, but not too cute. He had to be able to be manipulated....so you wouldn't always have the same owl. Bigger, but not too big....I know it's ridiculous. I sound compulsive and obsessive....but I literally searched for this perfect owl everywhere, online, in stores, with friends. It was nuts. Then....Nicole and her brilliant friends (artists) created this. I LOVE THIS SET!!!! It has everything I wanted including great sayings, interchangeability and two little owls to be friends with the big owl....just in time for Halloween. I don't know how they do it, but they always seem to fill in that empty stamping gap just when I need them to. Anyway, I finally got to order this a couple of weeks ago and made this card for my cousin's husband. The paper is also from Paper Trey Ink and is part of their Chocolate Remix patterned paper pack. Love love love their paper. It is thicker than most patterned paper, it is a good value and the designs are always unique yet traditional. I know, I could quite possibly be their biggest fan. I can't help it....I LOVE THEM!!!! Here's the recipe for this little owl card. I hope I am not alone in my owl obsession. =) Happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Wise Owl and Wise Owl Bellies (PTI)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla (SU), Chocolate Remix and Dark Chocolate (PTI)

Ink: Pumpkin Pie (SU), Dark Chocolate (PTI) and markers from bic markit and copic

Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Eyelets (SU retired), Dark Chocolate Twill ribbon (PTI)

Quick, Easy and Green Giftwrap....

2008-08-31T15:24:00.003-06:00

Have you ever tried stamping your own giftwrap? I was one that said, who has time for that. I was a nay sayer...I admit it. But, after I need some quick wrap...I could be reformed. Not for everyone mind you, but for the extra special people or gift you want to deliver....it is kind of great to make your own wrapping paper. This first picture shows the complete gift ensemble. The larger packaging paper was actually made from the inner wrapping of my Paper Trey Ink order. They have this great paper in their boxes that is just screaming "stamp me! stamp me!). So I did and I recycled, patting myself on the back. My only tip is to iron the paper prior to stamping it (and then don't let your kids loose near it until you have wrapped - hence the rewrinkled effect below - ha!)

The box was created from a Stampin' Up! box (this will date me) from who knows how many years ago...when you could punch out the template and it had all these little tags that went with it (I told you I was digging into my stash). But I am sure you can find this box template online, probably at mirkwood designs or split coast stampers. So the box shape and lid are flat. All I did was stamp them and sponge them up a little. The tag on the top, covering the ribbon I dolled up a little more with some glitter. Here's the recipe....now it's your turn to get on out there and stamp. =)

Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms (PTI), Limitless Labels (PTI)

Paper: Box and Tag Template Sheet in Confetti White (SU retired), Dark Chocolate (PTI), Recycled offwhite paper

Ink: Summer Sun, Garden Green, Tangerine Tango (SU), Dark Chocolate (PTI)

Accessories: Sponges, Dimensionals, Martha Stewart Ribbon (Michael's), Sugar Coating glitter in yellow by Doodlebug Designs.

Have you heard of Bugawumps?

2008-08-31T15:16:00.004-06:00

If not, don't feel bad? I hadn't either. My friend Laura (a great enabler - Love Ya Laura!) invited me to a stamp and scrapbooking expo a few weeks ago. She had told me about Bugawumps about a year ago and I actually kind of forgot about them. Anyway, we ended up at the Bugawump booth and I found this cute little tool guy and had to snatch him up for all the tool bugs in my life. What I really like about this company (besides the cute stamps) is that you have the option to buy them wood mounted or unmounted so you can use them on your clear blocks. They are easier to store that way and take up a lot less room. This is the first card I have tried them out with, but I see other cards...especially using the tools...in my future. Here's the recipe. Enjoy and Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Wrench, Hammer, Small Roger (Bugawumps)

Cardstock: Orange (unknown), Green Galore, Whisper White and Pacific Point (SU)

Ink: Palette Ink Black (PTI), various bic markit and copic markers, stampin up markers

Accessories: Large and Extra Large Scalloped Oval Punch (Marvy Uchida), Rubons (Scenic Route), Silver Eyelets (SU retired)

Sock Monkey On The Loose

2008-08-31T14:51:00.005-06:00

So when I first saw this set I thought "oh how cute, I love it!" I think I have changed my mind a little. It's still a cute set, but I struggle with it because I am not in love with sock monkey's. I know many of you probably are, but it's just not my thing. However, I have a cousin who is TOTALLY into sock monkey's and her birthday happens to be tomorrow. So, I have found a permanent use for this set, therefore enabling me to justify the cost. *wink*. Maybe it will grow on me? Sometimes that happens.

So, I made this birthday card first using very unusual sock monkey colors of orange and green. I have no real explanation, other than the green piece of cardstock was sitting near my work space and I happened to pick it up. It is a textured c.s. from DCWV that I have had sitting around for awhile. I like textured cardstock for certain things....but I just never remember to use it. So, here it is, fresh my stash of unused items. I hope to showcase more of these in the future. =) She loved the card - even though I didn't think it was my best work. Here's the recipe:

Recipe:

Stamps: Sock Monkey (SU), Women of Life (PTI)

Cardstock: Green Textured (DCWV), Orange and Brown (unknown), Patterned (retired SU)

Ink: Dark Chocolate (PTI), various markers copic and bicmarkit.

Accessories: Silver Eyelets (SU retired), sheer organdy light green ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Dimensionals (SU)

This was part of the gift that I made for my cousin to go along with some other things that I had bought her. I love these clear notecard boxes you can get from Paper Trey Ink. I have made several sets of stationery for different people and this box with some ribbon finishes the gift off very nice. They are also super reasonable, 10 boxes for $6. They are a heavier weight plastic. I am sure that Nicole and her design team have dreamed up a million uses for these, but this is all I have used them for so far. The ribbon on the outside is the new poppy red introduced this month by PTI. I am thrilled to announce that I was the lucky winner this month of everything released by PTI. How did I win you ask? I simply went to nichole's blog and left a comment for this month's contest. It was a random drawing and I was thrilled I got picked. I received about $150 worth of free PTI merchandise including five stamps sets, paper, ribbon and ink. I hope to have more to share with you later this week. I haven't even had time to unpack the box to drool yet. Ridiculous! I know!

This is a shot of the notecards I made to fit inside the cute box. I made a total of 8 and decided to make them all thank you cards, because I thought those would be fairly generic. I am always looking for a thank you card, how about you? Here's the recipe. Until later....happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Sock Monkey (SU), Mixed Messages (PTI)

Ink: Versamark, Close to Cocoa (SU), Dark Chocolate (PTI), various bicmarkit and copic marker colors

Cardstock: Real Red, Very Vanilla and Au Chocolate patterned paper retired (SU)

Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Sponges, Small Oval Punch (SU)

Teacher Gifts....

2008-08-14T21:01:00.007-06:00

I always like to start out the year by giving the boys teachers a little welcome back gift. I was thumbing through my new Paper Crafs magazine and someone had made up these cute little buckets and mini composition notebooks for a gift. I thought they would be a perfect gift for back to school. Mind you the pictures are sort of horrible because I was in my normal mode of procrastination and got these done about 10 minutes before heading to back to school night at school. Needless to say the pictures were rushed, but you should be able to get the general idea.

The paper for this one is retired SU and coordinated with the Office Acoutrement set. I can't remember the name of it. The flowers are prima flowers with little gemstones from Michael's set in the centers and then colored with the Bic Markit pens. The ribbon is May Arts polkadot. The little buckets were from the Target dollar spot and I filled each with fine line markers and colored pencils.

This one uses the same paper as the above version only I focused on the pinks. The flowers are again from Prima flowers with a gem set in the center. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

Lastly, this version uses the Summer Picnic Designer series paper in the current SU catalog. I used a rubon in the center also from SU and mounted it on the reverse side of the paper and on Pumpkin Pie CS. The flower in the corner is chipboard sponged with pumpkin pie and I added a circle of the reverse paper to the center. I punched it out with a small scalloped circle punch from Marvy Uchida. The center is finished off with a fabric brad I got from Hobby Lobby.

These were a big hit. I hope they will help you come up with something great for your teachers.

Enjoy and happy stamping!

My broken Fresh Cut Note....

2008-08-14T20:50:00.003-06:00

So when I received my new Fresh Cut Notecards from SU, I opened up the package and low and behold the first note had part of the interior petals missing. Insert big sad face. I just set it aside and said I will figure out something to do with that little ditty later. If you haven't seen these cute note cards yet, I will attempt to describe them. They come with part of the note card already perforated and ready to punch out so that you have a see-through effect. There are delicate petals in the center so that it have a nice detailed design. In an ideal world, yours aren't broken. One of mine was, so I rolled with the punches and this is what I came up with. I actually like it better than the first one I created with the interior petals.

What do you think? Happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Tres Chic (SU), Mixed Messages (PTI)

Ink: Vintage Distressing Ink (Tim Holtz)

Cardstock: Patterned Prints Paper Apricot Appeal (SU Retired), Apricot Appeal and Very Vanilla (SU)

Accesories: Floral Fusion (SU), Round Rhinestone Brads Fire (SU), Brown and White Check ribbon (Hobby Lobby), Floral Metal Edge Tag (unknown), Bic Markit Markers to color the tag.

Did you ever have a color you didn't really think you liked?

2008-08-14T20:28:00.007-06:00

Well, that was Tangerine Tango (new in color for SU) for me. I saw it and I thought, ugghhh, that is waaaayyyy to bright. So, I decided to make myself like it. I still don't love it, but I do like the way these two cards turned out. I also just got some new embossing folders for my cuttlebug and thought I would kill two birds with one stone by embossing the images on the Tangerine Tango CS. That way I would have to use it. You can't just leave embossed images laying around don't you know? Ha! So these are the two cards I came up with.

I also kinda went on a birthday bender when it comes to stamping supplies. But I figure, hey, it's my birthday, I oughta get a little somethin' somethin' huh? So I have had my eye on the sugar coating glitters from Doodlebug Designs for awhile now and I decided to go for the gold. I got the 12 pack and I love love love love love love them. In fact, I have even spread the love to my mom who now must have them too. Once you see them and how fun and sparkly they are I bet you will love them too. Hee hee. Did you know they have flock now too. Get outta town, no - really - flock in 12 colors. I think I need that for bats (halloween) and chicks (easter). Uggh...the possibilites.

Recipe:

Stamps: Women of Faith (PTI)

Ink: Summer Sunrise (PTI), Tangerine Tango (SU)

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango (SU), Summer Sunrise (PTI)

Accessories: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Floral Fantasy, Floral Cut out (unknown), Orange Glitter (doodlebug designs), Rubons (SU), Polka Dot Ribbon Summer Sunrise (PTI), Small Scalloped Punch (Marvy Uchida), Dimensionals (SU)

This is my first attempt at trying to watercolor with my new Bic Markit watercolor pens. They are similar to the copic markers (although I have a few of those too) only a fraction of the cost. The copic markers are great if you can afford them, but I was a little unsure at how much I would actually use them, so I opted for the bic pens to do a trial run. I have been happy with them. They come with a lot of colors and will hold me over until I decide whether or not I want to invest in the copics. I found mine at Target on sale for $11 and a coupon online at BicMarkit for $3 off.

Recipe:

Stamps: Dreams Du Jour (SU)

Ink: Palette Noir Black (PTI), Bic Markit Markers, Copic Colorless Blender

Cardstock: Blush Blossom, Tangerine Tango and Certainly Celery (SU)

Accessories: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Perfectly Paisley, Floral Cutout (unknown), Ric Rac Ribbon with orange flowers (Archiver's), Square Scalloped Punch small (Marvy Uchida), Dimensionals (SU)

Happy Stamping!

A really late post....

2008-08-14T20:13:00.004-06:00

I made this card for the men in my life for Father's Day (sadly I am just getting it posted here now). I really like the way the Father Knows Best set offers so many different option for masculine type cards. Not to mention the variety of sayings you get. I could see this used for birthday or pick me up cards as well. You could also use the sayings in lots of different ways. Maybe I will challenge myself to do that soon? Hmmmm.

One might say I am a #1 fan of papertrey and their ability to put into the market what others have not or cannot. I love them. (As if you didn't already know that! HA!)

An artist I am not, but I decided to draw the grass in by hand with my watercolor pencils and then blended it with a blender pen. I find the blender pens work better than the aquapainter or waterpens when I am blending colored pencils. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just the pencils? I say, try everything and pick what works best for you. That's what makes this all fun right?

Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Father Knows Best (PTI)

Ink: Summer Sunrise (PTI), Chocolate Chip and Old Olive (SU)

Paper: Chocolate Chip and Garden Green (SU), Stampers Select White (PTI), Father Knows Best patterned paper (PTI)

Accesories: Summer Sunrise Twill Ribbon (PTI), Water Color Pencils (SU), Blender Pen (SU), Dimesionals (SU), 1/2" Circle punch (SU)

Digging In My Stash....

2008-08-14T19:57:00.005-06:00

Like many of you.....I am guessing....I have a stash of stamping "stuff". Some of which I actually have forgotten about for periods of time (don't tell my husband, he will never let me live it down! HA!) I decided to go digging on my last adventure into the bunker, there I found wide twill tape. Do you have any wide twill tape? I bet you use yours as often as I use mine, needless to say, I have lots. So, I thought I should find a use for it. Hence this card. I actually really like the way this turned out, except I think i would have stamped the saying in Not Quite Navy instead of the Baja Breeze color. The gemstones were colored with my BicMarkit marker after attached so they would match. I love these markers. I hope to do a demo of them soon. A cheaper version of copics that blend great. This is sympathy card for a friend of my parents. She has a time of it. She suffered a stroke a few years back and worked really hard to gain back her ability to speak. A few weeks ago, she lost her footing and fell in the yard and broke her arm as well as splitting her head open. The doctors opted for surgery to fix her arm. After the surgery, her daughter was visiting and got her up to walk around, during which time she suffered another stroke. She is still in ICU and they are not sure what her recovery looks like. I thought I would send this to her and her husband to let them know we are thinking of them. That's all for today. Happy Stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps: Always (SU), Anniversary Set (PTI)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy (SU) and Stampers Select CS White (PTI)

Accessories: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Birds and Swirls, Not Quite Navy Buttons, Linen Thread and Wide Twill Tape (SU); Gemstones (Michael's)

School has finally started, now I have some stampin' time.

2008-08-14T17:00:00.005-06:00

I can't believe we started school so early this year, it was nuts this week. It has been an emotional week of highs and lows. It was definitely a difficult day when I had to send my little guy off to first grade. Uggh, like a sucker punch to the stomach, having to realize that he wasn't going to be there for lunch or all the fun little things during the day. I am slowly getting over my sadness. The twins also started preschool four days a week for a couple hours a day. What will I do with all my time? HA! Drive around and do errands alone probably. Ha!

I decided to blow off all domestic duties today and stamp a little something. Finally. I miss my stampin' time, but life doesn't always adjust to what you want to do.

This is what I came up with. I rarely make two toned cards, but I have been trying to push myself out of my element a little bit more. I like the way this came out. This is also a rarity for me because it has very few elements to it. Just some simple stamping.

Recipe:

Stamps: Fresh Cuts - SU

Cardstock: Perfect Plum and Eggplant Envy (SU), Stampers Select White CS (PTI)

Ink: Elegant Eggplant and Perfect Plum

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch (SU), Lavender Moon Ribbon (PTI).

The second card I made is using an older Paper Trey set, Text Boxed. I have had this set for quite awhile, and it still remains one of my favorites. It makes coordinating images very easy, as it contains several images that match. I also have found using the "secret weapon" from Inque Boutique makes stamping bold images much easier and cleaner. I actually won a stamp set from them, and it came with a secret weapon, as do all of their stamps, and it really does work and make a difference. Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Recipe:

Stamps: Text Boxed (PTI)

Ink: Kiwi Kiss (SU) Lemon Tart (PTI)

Cardstock: Very Vanilla and Kiwi Kiss (SU), Lemon Tart (PTI)

Accessories: Vintage Eyelets retired SU, Lemon Tart Ribbon (PTI), Rubons SU

I have some other samples that I have worked up, that I will be posting tomorrow. Stay tuned and check out the PTI release party tonight, starting...well now. I know they are going to have some fab new stuff. Get our checkbooks.....and happy stamping!

Something Old and Something New

2008-07-30T16:21:00.009-06:00

I am hopefully going to start a new stamping blog series here called "something old and something new" with the hopes of finding my mojo again. (crossing fingers) I have been in a sort of stamping funk. Not sure if it's summer or I just need some inspiration. Anyway, I thought I would try this and hopefully someone out there will enjoy it, or at least read it, or look at it. Helloooooo, Helloooo is there anybody still out there?????? If so, thanks for hanging out with me.

First, something old....I created this scrapbook page (actually twice) for the twins baby albums...yes very far behind....they will be four at the end of the year....I have come to grips with it though. Ha! The set used is a retired Stampin' Up! set called On The Line. This was the set I used for the twins birth announcement because it comes with a saying "the perfect pair" and I thought that would be perfect for twins. A picture of that is below the scrapbook page.

Recipe:

Stamps - The Perfect Pair (retired SU), Typeset Alphabet Lower (retired SU)

Paper: Patterned Heidi Grace, Confetti Cream, Brocade Blue, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue

Ink: Bashful Blue Ink, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Garden Green, Real Red, Apricot Appeal and Creamy Caramel SU Markers.

The announcement recipe:

Stamps: A Perfect Pair (SU retired)

Paper: Real Red, Garden Green and Whisper White CS

Ink: Real Red, Garden Green and black printed from Microsoft Word

Accessories: Gold Cording

The inside (which I decided not to photograph because of the detail included) was a black and white photo of the boys with a piece of vellum eyeleted to the top containing all of their birth information.

Now that you've walked down memory lane, you may be saying to yourself...I love that Perfect Pair set, I have to have it....but....it's retired. Darn it! I may be able to save you...I have the set and I would be willing to part with it for half price ($10). If you're interested, email me.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten, the something new.....

This was a card that I made for our girls club, which ended up not meeting this month because our hostess with the mostest had a family pet die suddenly. Hugs to her.

I was anxious to use the new Sock Monkey set, but couldn't really decide what I wanted to do...so this is what I came up with. The only different thing that I did was color the monkey body with my barely banana marker and then watercolored over it with close to cocoa. It gave it a textured kind of look. What do you think?

Recipe:

Stamps: Sock Monkey (SU)

Paper: Pink Poirouette, Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa

Ink: Barely Banana, Close to Cocoa, Pink Poirouette

Accessories: Pink Gingham Ribbon, Close to Cocoa Brad (retired), Dimensional, Aquapainter

I hope you like my creations and will stay tuned. Happy Stamping!

Maybe I live in a cave.....

2008-07-16T21:21:00.002-06:00

..............but am I the only person who has never heard of Net Neutrality until tonight? If so, sorry to have bothered you, if not.....listen up people this is big news.

Apparently, corporate America is again trying to squash our democratic rights. Maybe you're thinking, who cares? Won't effect me....whatever....listen closely....do you get on the internet...ever? This will matter to you.

What I have just learned is that the major telephone corporations (Comcast, AT&T, etc.) are trying to take control of the internet through the way that we connect to the internet. Their "plan" is to charge consumers to get onto the internet. They in fact plan to offer set websites that you can go to for a monthly fee (sound familiar?) and then any other sites not in the plan you might want to go to would cost you extra per site per visit. In addition, to being a monetary pillage to the consumer, this will disable the internet as we know it. People will be forced to choose which sites are most important to them, because there would be no way to go to all the sites on the internet without financial bankruptcy. This would cause traffic flow to blogs, smaller sites and personalized sites (i.e. stamping, fishing, cards, or whatever you might be into) to slow down or maybe even stop. If that happens, those sites will no longer be able to stay active and will disappear completely.

If you would like further information about Net Neutrality, I recommend the following video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_3WnJ42kw

If you would like to find out how to get more involved visit here.

It hasn't happened yet, let's make sure it doesn't.

Retired Stuff For Sale.....GREAT deals!!!!

2008-07-11T13:21:00.006-06:00

Hi everyone!
Sorry for no posts lately, I have been doing some major clean out and getting ready for a garage sale. I finally got everyone through and finished with the "big" wedding.

Don't you feel like this summer is just flying by....I REALLY miss my stamping space though and I hope to get down there soon. Stampin' Up! is coming out with some fun things, finally!!! I haven't been able to say that for awhile, so I am excited about them. The new in colors are glorious, as soon as I get my pre-order I hope to have some sampies up for you. Maybe a sneaky peaky if I can figure that out soon.

In other news, if you are a crafty-mama like myself, you will love the PTI is coming out with a quilting set on the 15th with matching sayings. TOO ca-ute! You will lovey it...I'm sure. Check out Nichole's sneak peak here for all the goodies coming our way soon. Can't wait!

In the meantime, I have the following stamp sets for sale at half price. All of these can be found at Splitcoast Stampers in the gallery alphabetically (unless they have a star by them, I couldn't find those). You have to scroll to the near bottom of the page to find the alphabetical listing. Prices are listed next to them as well as the last catalog they were seen in (if I could find it). If you are interested in any of these sets, please email me at eyeleteers@comcast.net. I can take cash, cashier's check or paypal. If you would like to have stuff shipped, I can do that too, but you will have to pay for the shipping. Thanks for looking and happy shopping.

Hugs!

Key:
FW07 - Fall Winter 07
SS08 = Spring Summer 08
SAB = Sell-A-Bration
HS = Hostess Set
Other sets will be noted by last catalog they appeared in Mini Catalogs = Season + year

Set Name - 1/2 Price - Catalog Retired From
A Is For Adorable - $15.00 - HS 06-07
A Light Heart - 10.00 - Special Set for AHA Retired Fall 2006
A Little Love - $8.50 - 2007-2008
All Through The Year - 9.00 - SS08
Alphabits - 8.00 - FW07
Blooming with Happiness (HS) - $10.00 - 2006-2007
Both Way Blossoms - $20.00 - HS06-07
Bundle Up - $10.00 - 2006-2007
Business Memos - $11.00 - 2005-2006
By Definition - $8.50 - 2006-2007
Country Comfort - $7.50 - 2004-2005
Delight In Life - $10.00 - SAB07
Eat Cake - $13.00 - SS08
Expressive Flexible Phrases - $20.00 - 2006-2007
Flowers & Friends - $8.50 - 2003-2004
For A Friend - $11.00 - HSSS08
Fresh Fillers - $6.00 - 2006-2007
Fun Filled - $10.00 - 2006-2007
Furnished With Love - $15.00 - Summer 04
Girlfriends - $11.00 - 2006-2007
Glad Tidings - $13.00 - SS08
Greetings Galore - $15.50 - SS08
Holiday Wishes - $11.50 - 2006-2007
In Any Event (HS) - $12.00 - 2006-2007
Label Classics - $10.50 - FW07
Letter Patterns - $8.50 - FW07
Linen Background - $9.00 - FW07
Little Layers II - $10.00 - 2004-2005
Little Pieces - $9.00 - SS08
Little Shapes (2) - $6.00 - 2003-2004
Lots of Thoughts - $11.00 - SAB08
Love It - $15.00 - HS06-07
Love Without End (2) - $12.00 - 2006-2007
Love Ya Bunches (2) - $8.50 - 2006-2007
Mini Mates - $15.00 - 2006-2007
Nature's Secret - $20.00 - HS 05-06
Occassionally - $10.00 - 2004-2005 mini
Olive You - $7.50 - 2006-2007
On The Line - $10.00 - 2004-2005
Open For Trade - $16.00 - 2006-2007
Party Punch - $10.00 - HS FW07
Print Pattern - $9.00 - SS08
Simple Sayings - $10.00 - couldn't find which catalog sorry!
Smorgasborders - $11.50 - 2005-2006
Springtime Stems (HS) - $7.50 - 2006-2007
Suitable for Framing - $10.00 - 2004-2005
Sweet of You - $10.00 - 2005-2006
Sweet Shapes - $13.00 - SS08
That's Nice - $7.50 - Spring 07
The Fine Print - $8.50 - couldn't find which catalog sorry!
The World Over - $10.00 - HS06-07
Travels Abroad - $11.00 - couldn't find which catalog sorry!
Very Punny - $11.00 - SAB07
Wheel Thing - $7.50 - Summer 06
Wishing You - $10.00 - Holiday 06
Word Play - $10.00 - 2004-2005

I'm so sorry....

2008-06-15T14:12:00.004-06:00

I have been such a bad blogger. I have very good intentions, but sometimes life just scoops me up and carries me away for awhile. We have been busy folks. We took our first trip to Disneyland....the boys had a ball and we were exhausted....but we had a GREAT time. Then we had the last day of school for the twins, and field day and then Kindergarten graduation (yes I totally cried for like a whole day - big baby- I know!) Anyway, excuses, excuses, excuses, I know.....but a big thanks to all of you who keeping checking back.

Amazingly, I have been stamping, unfortunately, I haven't gotten a lot of pictures taken of the items I have made because, as you may know, I am a fly by the seat of your pants stamper. Meaning, I TOTALLY procrastinate. However, I plan to change my ways (HA!) and in the meantime, I have some cute cards sent to me by other people that I would like to share though.

I received this cute kitty card as an RAK (random act of kindness) from Sparkle. How nice it was to receive a darling little card in the mail. Cyber hugs to you and a big thank you too. I think it turned out darling. The picture has a flashback on it sorry. Poor photography over here. I think that I need a new camera....don't you? I am torn between the Canon Rebel XTI and the Nikon D60. Do you have either? Would love to hear some feedback. Leave me a comment if you have any feedback. =)

The second was sent to me by my good friend Kari who lives in New Mexico (not really...Castle Rock....but might as well be). I never see her....sometimes we connect by phone....but not nearly enough. I miss her. Anyway, she sent me this cute card using Doodles. Kinda made me think about digging that set out again. =) I think it came out really nice....good job friend!

Without further ado, I wanted to let you know that Stampin' Up! released their retirement list today. You can view the list yourself by visiting the website here. Lots of oldies but goodies on the way out. I will have many of my retired sets for sale and on the website hopefully within a couple of weeks. We have a big wedding happening next weekend (big cheer for Eric and Carrie) so it won't happen until after that. I will post a slide show here so you can see what I have for sale.

I hope to post some new stuff soon. I would have taken pictures of my Father's Day cards, but alas they are signed, sealed and nearly delivered. Maybe I can steal one back and photo it? Ha!

Hope you all are stamping way more than me and enjoying your father's day. Happy Stamping!

Plain Jane Cigar Box - first attempt

2008-04-10T14:15:00.011-06:00

So we have these really nice friends who live in Germany (I think I might have mentioned them before?) and they were nice enough to send Reilly a postcard from Germany for his Felix the Rabbit project in his class. They also kindly sent the German version of Felix the Rabbit with the postcard. (Wasn't that nice? Now he has a keepsake to boot). So I wanted to send back a little goodie to Saskia who is their 10-old-daughter because she wrote Reilly the letter, as a thank you. So I made up these little notecards and the Plain Jane Box as a stationery holder. I finished the whole thing off with a beaded pen. I think they came out cute, but the postage to send them to Germany is a whole different story. HIGHWAY robbery I tell you....Ugghh!

So here's the scoop....(the pictures are awful - sorry - please forgive me?). The box is from you guessed it PTI. It's made of chipboard and I covered it with DCWV paper. I can't seem to find them on their website at the moment, not sure what's up with that....but just do a search on Plain Jane cigar boxes and you will find them. Back to the project....in all honesty.....I had some trouble getting the paper to stick (since we are being honest, I had quite a bit of trouble with this little box. I think I thought it would be a quick doodlie doo and off to the races....it wasn't.) I would not recommend covering the hinge of the box....that is where my trouble started. I also would recommend sanding the box lightly with sandpaper or a file block, I think it would get the paper to stick a little better. I have one more....I am going to try that and I will report back. So I covered the box with three different patterned papers (inside and out) and adhered them with glue stick. I normally have no problem with chipboard and glue stick....maybe this was a fluke? I traced the center out of the middle and cut it out of the top piece of paper. Then I stamped Saskia's name using the Doodle Alphabet on a white piece of paper....colored it and sponged it, then adhered it underneath. I then covered the inside cover so you wouldn't see the paper. I liked how that came out. I used a prima for the dot of the "i" with a little purple blingstone in it. The hinge of this is covered with a fabric tape that I found at archivers (it's really cool stuff and comes in a pack of four different designs.) I also used this on the inside hinge. Trust me, after redoing the hinge with paper, cardstock, ribbon and then the tape.....just leave the hinges alone....for the love of life....it would have been sooooo much easier. I added hardware to the top and bottom and threaded a piece of organdy ribbon through it. (note - add the hardware prior to putting the paper on the inside - guess who didn't do that?).

The note cards were actually a snap compared to the box. Sheesh...at least they were speedy.

I made a total of 12 notecards in three different colors. I also banded the envelopes together with a scrap piece of patterned paper to make them look "fancy". I didn't line the envelopes mostly because I didn't think a 10-year-old would really care. Anyway, all the stamps are from my Bella friend Em. The Bella's are still my fave....but she has lots of other stuff too...check her out at Stamping Bella. She is from Canada (sounds like Kuh-nay-duh) har har. Seriously, she is so sweet and I love love love her Bellas and their Fellas. I used the new PTI spring moss paper, Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac cardstock. The images are all stamped in pallette black ink on PTI white cardstock. The patterned papers are leftovers from the box. I embellished with different ribbons most are SU or PTI and added bling as I saw fit. Oh, I forgot the words were printed out on the computer prior to cutting the paper. All the images are watercolored with my SU markers and an aquapainter. I used these Bella images in case you want to find them fast Emmybella, Jammybella and Superbella. I could go on and on about all the new bellas and my want of the bellas and fellas, but I won't. I hope you likey as Em would say.

Until later....Happy Stamping.

In case you thought I was slackin'.....

2008-04-07T12:53:00.004-06:00

.....I really wasn't. I decided to get on this spring cleaning kick and well, I'm REALLY bad at it. I get really motivated for about 10 minutes and then I get interrupted or decide that something else should be done instead. Needless to say...my normal procrastination level (high) has zoomed up to exorbanant levels as of late. Sadly, this is the reason you are now seeing my easter card sample. I hope you can modify it for another occassion...but I really liked the way it came out, so I opted to share it with you. I always manage to take my photos at the most inopportune times, so sorry they colors are a little goofy. Someday, I will figure out my Photoshop program (volunteers?). This uses the PTI set Everyday Blessings. I know I always say this....but I hafta....it is the greatest set. I love all the sayings and the crosses are beautiful. I am not really a "religious" person per se - spiritual is a better description - anyway I nearly always find an occasion (sympathy, first communion, weddings, easter, etc.) when a nice cross comes in handy - this is the set. TRUST ME!!!! =) The first picture is the card closed. The paper is the new PTI Aqua Mist. It is lighter than cool carribean but darker than soft sky. If you haven't tried the cs yet....I highly recommend you treat yourself to the white. Then you will become addicted and have to have every color like some other people that I know. hee hee.

I forgot to order the PTI patterned paper so I used the soft sky polka dot paper and it worked well enough. There was a slight color difference, but non stampers and most stampers aren't going to give you a bad report card or anything. So I used my scor-pal (heard of this yet? You will want one - sorry - enabler!) to make the tri-fold card. It helps you with multiple and accurate scoring. Anyway, it scored this little baby in a flash. I then took my scalloped marvy punch and punched one side of the flap halfway, made a little mark on the other side, lined it up and punched it half way as well - it made a pretty little oval. Then I embossed my cross right in the middle. No worries about missing the mark, that's the beauty of clear stamps. I wrapped the ribbon (white grosgrain SU) around and met it at the edges of the two flaps. Added a prima flower and hardware to attach the two flaps and then found these little beads (that I had used on a Christmas Tree skirt that I made for my grandma about 10 years ago-told you I needed to clean) and added them to the flower and the hardware. The saying is from Just Hatched and is stamped in the coordinating PTI ink. The card is held closed with a half a glue dot on the ribbon and attaches to the hardware so you can open and close it.

This shot shows the inside of the card. I also embossed the saying in gold. Simple as that it was done-a-roo...so why didn't it get mailed until yesterday? Procrastination - is an ugly disease my friends. So is momnesia.

I just received in my hot little hand (20 minutes ish ago) the Anniversary set for PTI. I can't wait to play. Fun stuff. I will try to stamp something with it so that I can share. I also got Out On A Limb right before Easter and it hasn't met any ink yet either. Soon....soon....I hope.

That's all for today....Happy stamping.....I hope to have more goodies for you tomorrow. Depends on the rugrats ability to nap....so far....not so good. Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!

Swiped from Archiver's (sort of)

2008-03-16T14:40:00.003-06:00

I initially started this card to do the embossing resist technique that I was re-introduced to at my Stampin' Ladies Club last month. My genious friend Pam had made a beautiful card using this technique (which I would love to show you but it is lost in the Bunker right now) and I thought....oooohhh...I want to try that. So I went home and started this card using the Wild Rose stamp set. This is a two-step stamp set....so I stamped the darkest part of the flower on white cardstock and embossed it in clear. Then I brayered over the entire thing in purely pomegranate and stamped the leaves. I kept trying to figure out how to get the detailed part into the card without it coming out too dark. I tried a bunch of things....none of which are coming to mind at the moment, but they looked...well....awful. So I just walked away for a little bit.

Anyway, so I was cruisin' around town and felt the need to stop in at Archiver's. Sometimes I just go there to see what's new and what they have come up with. An inspiration stop of sorts. Anyway, I was looking at some of their card samples and had been struggling with this card....when I saw that they had stamped some flowers on transparencies, cut them out and then put them on their card over another flower. I thought....ah-ha...that's it. So Icame home, used my fancy pants stamp-a-majig to line up the detailed portion on a transparency. Used my heat and stick powder and added the glitter. The glitter is from Martha Stewart. Her glitter rocks by the way. The leaves were stamped in always artichoke and the saying is from the True Friend set stamped in purely pomegranate and punched out with the scalloped rectangle punch, mounted on artichoke. The ribbon is the satin pomegranate ribbon from the holiday mini. Hope this was fun for you.

Happy stamping!

Paper Trey Just Hatched....

2008-03-16T14:30:00.003-06:00

I got to play with the Just Hatched a little bit and it is pretty fun. Nichole has some little egg holder boxes that this set coordinates with. I don't currently have any.... but wanted to see what else I could come up with. I decided to make this birthday card. The saying if you can't read it says "Friends are like flowers each with it's own beauty". I used nicholes new spring moss cardstock (love it) for the base of the card. The flower is from limitless labels. I stamped it in the coordinating ink color and then filled in the centers with my white gel pen and a dot of pink stickles. I inked the outer edge of the frame with chocolate chip (the stampin' spots work great for this) and stamped it on my white paper. Then I went back and stamped the saying in pretty in pink in the center. I punch that out with my marvy punch and then layered it on chocolate chip. The pink strip is pretty in pink and the green is actually the twill tape ribbon in spring moss. I love the ribbons...they are such good quality. The flower is a Heidi Swap flower folded in half and stuck behind the ovals. The saying was stamped in Chocolate chip and is actually two saying put together from Limitless Labels. I love the flexibility of clear stamps for this reason. I stamped the "happy birthday" first and then went back and could see right where to put the "friend".

Happy Stamping!

Playing with Ellen....

2008-03-16T14:14:00.004-06:00

I have waited a long time to order some stamps from Ellen, only because, well let's face it, my income for buying stamps has to be limited somewhere. I only have so much plasma to donate. Ha! Seriously, I just kept forgetting to place my order (that's actually more sad isn't it?) But alas, I now own some stamps from Ellen's store.

So, I decided to just play and see what happened. Sometimes you just want to stamp to see what it will look like on paper...ya know what I mean? So I just stamped the images - a bunch of them and started coloring to see what I liked. Then I made them into cards. So this is whatcha got. The cherries card is a base of real red cardstock and I can't remember where the blue striped paper came from (it's about 99 years old - seriously) but I thought a strip of that would bring out the bowl on the cherries. The "friend" stamp is from the hostess set For A Friend from Stampin' Up! I stamped it in Brocade Blue. The ribbon is from May Arts and is a red stripe. I used my marvy scalloped punch (blue I think) to stamp out the cherries. I colored the cherries with my real red marker and added crystal effects to make them shiny.

The second card is using the Vintage Garden Chair stamp. I bought this because I actually have two of these chairs from my grandparent's house. After they passed away, I asked if I could have them and they are in the process of being stripped and repainted. They hold a lot of memories for me. I colored the chair with apricot appeal and the grass with certainly celery. I used river rock to color the river rock - bwahahahahaha - hope somebody else thought that was funny! =) Pretty much everything was watercolored. I edged the white with my sponge and river rock. The apricot appeal was embossed with my Bloom Dots embossing folder. The saying is from the SU level 3 hostess set Time Well Spent. I stamped it in versamark and embossed it in clear. The paper is cameo coral. The ribbon on the edges of the apricot is from May Arts. The card base is certainly celery.

I hope you likey. Happy stamping!

Lazy Sunday....finally....

2008-03-16T13:56:00.004-06:00

I finally have had a minute or two to get some pictures taken and post a few things for you. I swear that takes the longest. You think I could figure out a quicker system....but not so far. So, I have been busy in the bunker stamping....still haven't finished those pages from the last post...someday....ha! But, in the meantime I have been making cards.

I got the chance to put together one of the cute little nugget tins from Paper Trey this week and what fun they are and how cute. A friend of mine at the gym was having a birthday this week so I wanted to put something together for her. This is what I came up with. The nugget tin comes wtih a window in it, but I wanted my window to be a little smaller so I used my nestabilities scalloped rectangle to cut a frame out of a piece of au chocolate paper (retired Stampin' Up!) to place over the front. In my usual stamping manner, I adhered it to the front, opened the lid and realized...crap, this looks really crappy from the inside....so I then had to carefully cut out another to match the first one for the inside of the tin. I am sure that some if not most of you would have thought about this ahead of time....I tend to do things the hard way....always. =) Anyway...then I cut a strip to go along the outside and had to make two notches for the hinges in the back...after I adhered it, I once again realized that the paper and the metal made the box to thick for the lid to close. Duh! So I had to trim the paper down to come just above where the lid comes down. (live and learn huh?) The flowr is actually three flowers layered...the first two are from DCWV called posies. They are actually textured flowers that my friend Amy sent me. (Big shout out to Amy...still love all my stuff. Hope you feel better!) I have no idea where she got them, but I am telling you what....I wanna go shop with her. The inside flower is a prima flower that is embossed (it came that way) and then I used a cupcake for the center from PTI's Limitless Labels set. I love this set. It is so much fine and I have used it so much since I got it. Fun fun fun!!! I also made the nugget blankets using this set. I stamped the circle background in Pretty in Pink then stamped one of the "watch bands" in close to cocoa. I stamped the cupcakes in Basic brown on watercolor paper and then watercolored them with my aquapainter and punched them out with my 1/2" punch. I adhered them with dimensionals so they would sit up a little bit. Cupcakes are so hot right now. Isn't that funny? Kind of funny to me. ha! The ribbon is the satin close to chocolate chip ribbon from the holiday mini catalog.

Here is the card I made to go with it. I used the inside piece of the frame that I cut for the box for this card. The card base is pretty in pink and I embossed it using my Happy Birthday cuttlebug folder. The ribbon is the same as for the tin. This little cupcake comes from one of my favorite stamping people...Ellen Hutson. She is really a nice nice lady and besides she is always on the cutting edge for stamping. Check out her site sometime if you can. I stamped it in basic brown on watercolor paper. I find that I am using this more and more for watercoloring because it stands up to the task. The Stampin' Up! paper is nice but pricey. I have found similar quality in the art department at my local craft stores. I then watercolored the cupcake with pretty in pink and basic brown. Added some stickles to the wrapper (pink) and some sprinkles for the top. The cherry is a rhinestone brad from Stampin' Up!

Hope you are well. Happy Stamping!

I love the way this turned out!

2008-03-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

I had the idea for this card literally in the night. I think that people think I am NUTS when I say that these things come to me in the night....but really...they do. Maybe I am nuts, probably should be sleeping....but what are you gonna do? So, I started thinking about what Easter meant to me. What this lenten season really means to me. I live literally minutes from the mountains....they are almost close enough to touch. I feel amazingly blessed to have such beauty in my backyard. I often stare in wonder at the magnificence of those mountains and I am amazed again by God's creations. This is what Easter is to me. We have a sunrise service at Red Rocks ampitheater in Morrison and I imagine this is what it is like to be at that service (I have yet to go...but will someday!)

This was not a "lickety split and it's done card". It definitely took some time to put the images in my mind onto paper using stamps. I created the mountains using the square at an angle from the B&C Monogram set. I masked off the areas underneath with post-it notes and created my mountains. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in vintage photo. (I got this from my new friend Amy who is newly pregnant - hip hip hooray! and I LOVE it!) I then watercolored them in the same color. The sun was made with the double edge circle from that same set, stamped in pumpkin pie. I water colored the image with summer sun and pumpkin pie and my aquapainter. I then added lavender lace, bashful blue and pretty in pink to the sky to make it look like the sun was rising. I embossed the cross from Everyday Blessings in gold on black paper and cut it out. Then I embossed the saying in gold. The card is made out of a black base and then I cut an additional piece for the saying to lay over the top. I tore the edge of the paper because it looked too straight. I hope you like it.

Happy stamping!

Sympathy Card

2008-02-26T08:00:00.002-07:00

I have to be honest....when I looked at the new SU catalog, I wasn't really that impressed. I was actually pretty disappointed....but when I flipped through this was definitely one of the few sets that caught my eye. I didn't love the bird at first, but then it kind of grew on me.

I had to make a sympathy card for a friend who just lost her baby at 33 weeks. This is what I came up with. I used Always from SU and Mixed Messages from PTI. The color combo is Perfect Plum and Barely Banana. Before I started stamping I used my wizard nestabilities to cut a window out of the barely banana to make a frame. I used the largest rectangle from the classic set. Then I used the next to the largest scalloped rectangle to cut out the center portion and also embossed it (that is such a cool feature! - I hope you can see the embossing). Then I stamped my border of vine and berries in mellow moss and my sympathy wish in perfect plum. The bird is stamped on tracing paper and then attached with brads. Then I added the ribbon in moss to finish it off. I didn't photograph the inside (because, well, I had already written out my message - doy!) But, I stamped this saying "Someone remembers, someone cares. Your name is whispered in someone's prayers" from Everyday Blessings in the inside. (Have I talked you into that set yet? *wink*) =) That's all for today. Happy Stamping!

Life is just a bowl of cherries....

2008-02-25T08:00:00.002-07:00

I have been coveting this stamp for months...many many months. Let me first say that I love Ellen Hutson. She is the sweetest most wonderful lady and we as stampers are so lucky to have her. She spends hours researching things like, which copics match the SU color line and then designs products to fit our needs. She is always on the cutting edge and get this...she always...always....sends a personalized little stamped thank you note with your purchase. How can you not love that? Am I gushing yet? Anyway, if you haven't checked out her store or her blog, you should take a couple minutes and do that. This darling cherry stamp is from her. As Em would say - "Do you lovey?"

I definitely lovey! I stamped the cherries in Palette black ink (PTI) and then watercolored them using real red and certainly celery for the leaves. I watercolored the colander using sahara sand and basic grey on watercolor paper. I punched the image out using my mega scalloped punch from Marvy Uchida and then backed it with a giga punch in real red. (You can buy these from PTI) The ribbon is from Jody's ribbon share awhile back. (I am sure she will have another one! While you're over there, check out that stinkin' cute basket. Get outta town. Love her!) Then I used my slit punch and repeated punching along a strip of paper to create a scalloped piece. I dotted it with my galaxy pen in white and then added the dashed ribbon (again from Jody). I am not sure you can see the embossing in the photo. But, I tried something new. I had a set of circle cuttlebug folders (set of 4) and I took one and embossed it several times to create a background. I liked the way it turned out....so I will probably try it again. I jsut realized my watermark is over the saying which is from Mixed Messages and says "Enjoy the moment" in case you can't see it, stamped in certainly celery. Hope you enjoy!

Happy stamping!

I have been stamping....really I have....

2008-02-24T20:05:00.003-07:00

So, I know I drift off into la-la land once in awhile, but I have been stamping....really. Last weekend I had a crop and between the gum smackin' I actually got almost one page done. HA! Until I found out that apparently ultra sound pictures fade if you just glue them in. CRAP! So that led to internet searches on how to preserve your ultrasound pictures which led to mulit-lingual cursing (yes I can curse in several languages....what a gift...I know!) but this is the answer I found. For those of you wanting to scrapbook your ultra sound photos (sadly I am doing mine from over 3 years ago....better late than never right?) this is what I learned. You must scan your photos into your computer and then print them out on photo paper. Sounds simple right? Unless you have your studio and computer setup on two different floors and three children attached to your legs during most hours you are functioning. Did I mention that the twins are weaning themselves from their nap. Great news....NOT! So, I am not sure how much stamping that will be recognized as actual "stamping" will be happening in the very near future. Anyway, I digress. I hope that some of you read this blog for my witty banter....if not...you must be really bored. =) So, last week....I got my new Paper Trey. If you haven't heard of PTI, where have you been? Under a rock or something? I have been told that I am a very good enabler....so if you haven't mosied on over there yet....I recommend that you go right after you read the rest of this post. =) They have recently come out with some glorious stamp sets and added several designers to their team. They just celebrated their one year anniversary - I can't believe it's only been a year.

So....I have in my hot little hands....new paper, new ink, new ribbons and two new stamp sets. I have made a couple of cards, let me know what you think. This is with the new Everyday Blessings set. I fell in love with this set the minute I saw it. I think it is just perfect for Easter, weddings, sympathy and the sayings you could use any time. I have used the new aqua mist color combination for the paper, ink and the polka dot ribbon. The ribbon is awesome (says the addict). I just want to lay with it and feel the love. (okay maybe that's taking it a little far?!?!?!) I embossed the swirly whirs in the corners and the saying in gold. Stamped another swirly whir square on the background in the aqua mist ink. Added stickles to the cross and voile...done. The bow was kind of fun on this one. I tied it in a not and then took the two ends and taped them to the back before I attached the ivory to the aqua mist. Stay tuned for more cards this week. I am meeting with my stamping friends tomorrow....so that should be fun. However, I still need to figure out what I am taking. YIKES! Procrastinator, procrastinator....I know. Happy Stamping!

One more quick thing....

2008-02-12T19:44:00.001-07:00

Two posts in one day...can you believe it? I nearly fell off my chair myself....ha! I whipped out these cute little bags for the teachers and aides for the boys. We will deliver them tomorrow. Thought I would share. The bags are from Paper Trey Ink (you can stop rolling your eyes now!) I used the Love Matters set (retired SU) and stamped little hearts in Real Red, Regal Rose and Pink Passion. I stamped the "love" in black stazon and colored it with my Pink Passion marker. I punched it out with my mega rectangle scalloped punch and then mounted it on a piece of pretty in pink punched out with the giga scalloped punch. The punches are by Marvy Uchida and you can buy them lots of places, I bought most of mine at....guess where...Paper Trey Ink. It took less than 30 minutes to whip up four of them. The ribbon is glued on under the word. Saves ribbon and easy fix. If you're out there and reading this....do me a favor and leave a comment. Let me know if you would like to see more or less of something or if you have any ideas for tutorials or things you would like to see.

Happy Stamping!

You still have a few days before Valentine's Day....

2008-02-12T15:39:00.001-07:00

So, as you may know by now....I am a procrastinator. Not normally by choice, but usually because I have multiple speed bumps on my way to the bunker (in the name of small children living in this house). Adorable as they may be....they often lead to me running around at the last minute to get things done. So....here are some remaining valentine cards. I finally got them in the mail from Loveland (big deal if you live or have lived in Colorado) because the DH had a job up there this morning. Lucky break. =) Maybe you haven't mailed or made your valentine's yet (hoping I am not alone) and these will give you some inspiration.

First up is the gift the twins gave to their classmates yesterday for their valentine exchange. They don't have school tomorrow because of Parent Teacher conferences. (for 3-year-olds, really? maybe I will save this for another post.) Needless to say I was whippin' these suckers out (at the count of 10) on Sunday night. Totally missed Brothers and Sisters, but thank God for tivo. Anyway, I hate to give out a bunch of candy because everyone else does and because I really really really don't like paying the dentist a bunch of money to fix holes in my kids teeth which are bound to fall out anyway. (sorry Dr. B!) So, I made up these little matching games and packaged them in the takeout boxes. I love these little boxes, but Stampin' Up! in their infinite wisdom, decided to discontinue all the boxes - but I'm not bitter or anything. =) I am sure if you did a search you could find them elsewhere on the web or find the pattern at least. They have the pattern here and I bet you could whip them out in a jiffy with a Scor-Pal (really really want one). Sorry, most of this is retired, but it was all I had that was the right size. I used Very Punny from Sell-a-bration last year. I stamped the images in stazon and colored them with my SU markers and did a little watercoloring on the fish because the Turquois looked too dark. I then punched them out with my 1 3/8" circle and backed them with the coordinating color punched out with the SU scallop punch. Sounds quick until you multiply by ten. Background/marker colors are as follows: Orchid Oppluence, Green Galore, Close to Cocoa, Pretty In Pink, Tempting Turquois, Summer Sun and Real Red. I typed the note out for the box on the computer and attached it with a red brad using my cropodile. (Mine's pink because I like pink better, but they also come in green.)

I think I was getting burned out on Valentine's by the time I got to the boys' cards....I just couldn't get my brain going. Anyway, this is what I came up with. The love bug is from Olive You (retired) and the background heart is from All Through The Year (current). Stamped on Paper Trey Ink white paper (they're coming out with new colors did you here?) Then I added the plaid strip to the side (unknown) and stamped the bug again in Stazon. I use stazon because it doesn't tend to run if I watercolor or use my markers. I punched him out with my Giga Scallop punch from marvy uchida and then backed him in real red and gable green. I added the googlie eyes....because let's face it....kids love googlie eyes. *chuckle*

This little cuties was simple and fast. I used some of the Heidi Grace paper that I received from my contest winnings (love free stuff) and it is actually raised which you can't really see in the picture. Very cute. I added a piece of wide grosgrain ribbon and then punched a heart out with my smallest heart punch and stamped it with "be mine" from Fancy Flexible Phrases in black. I used my pink stickles to dot the edges. (Note....do this after the whole card is assembled...trust me on that one.) I also added a little blingy heart to the hanging heart which I found at Michael's on clearance in the jewelry department. The base of the card is sahara sand which I stamped with Simply Said in real red and regal rose. I used my galaxy glitter pen in pink to add some dots and texture and my white galaxy pen to outline the heart in the middle with dots.

I used Paper Trey's set Green Thumb to make this card. (I bought this set because of the boot...ridiculous I know...but I have grown to love all of it!) I stamped the strawberries in real red and the tops are glorious green on PTI white cardstock (it's my favorite). The "love you" is from the set SU sold last year for the American Heart Association A Light Heart again in real red. I used the "thank you berry much" stamp from the Green Thumb set and colored only the "berry much" with my marker and stamped it. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. The chipboard "L" is from Joann and I covered it in Glorious Green Craft and embossed it in irridescent ice. The whole thing is mounted on real red. Voile!

My favorite valentine card that I made. For the DH. I used the Wild About You set. The card base is wild wasabi. The heart is created out of two leaf petals from the Blossoms and Basics chipboard set. I sponged them with Purely Pomegranate ink and then glued them together with a glue stick to make a heart. I don't know about you....but I am always looking for new ways to use the massive amounts of chipboard I have accumulated. I again used my small heart punch and punched out a scalloped heart in Pretty In Pink and added Be Mine in Pomegranate. I used my pink stickles around the edge. The rectangle was cut out using my new spellbinders nestablities(insert giddy here) and embossed the same way. Not sure if you can see the embossing but if you click on it you should be able to see it. The ribbon below that is the satin pomegranate from the last mini catalog. I added a little bow in the pink gingham that I adhered with a glue dot. The alligator is from Wild About You. I stamped him in Wasabi and then cut him out. I added a little prima flower to his mouth with a jewel in it and wire for the stem. The head in the corner is partially covering my prima flower with a heart jewel in the middle (again from Michael's). The head is courtesy of my helper. How can you be mad at that? Here's a picture with no head in it. Not as fun huh?

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and happy stamping!

Have I mentioned....

2008-02-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

....my severe love of Paper Trey Ink? Well, if I have and you don't want to hear about the ULTRA SUPER FANTASTIC EXCITING things going on over there....stop reading now. (please don't) =)

You will never believe it (insert me peeing my pants) they are bringing on 5 new designers to release stamps along with Nichole every month. These ultra talented ladies are going to blow us away....I have that much faith in them.

The first designer, Melissa Bickford, unveiled her very first stamp set sample today. Take a mosie on over and check it out and look at Nicholes Sample Here.....(but then come right back k?)

Do you not LOOOOVVVVVEEEE it? Those swirly wirly flowers and the cute stems and and and.....I think I am in Love. And this is just day one. Get outta town....I am sooooo in trouble.

That's all for now....just had to plug my friends over there at PTI. Hope you will enjoy what's coming out and can't wait to get my hands on some of those stamps and show you girls some purty stuff. Hope you are well and warm.

Happy Stamping!

Valentine's Shoebox Swap

2008-01-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I have missed you for the last few days....been chasing away fevers and nasty coughs. All 3 kids are STILL sick....can ya believe it? I think we are on the way to mending. I managed to get everyone to school today....a feat we haven't managed since last Thursday. Whew!

I left the gym early today so I could come and post a card for you. Luckily you can't see me or smell me because I am both sweaty and stinky.....ewwwww! =)

I am lucky enough to be invited to a monthly shoebox swap at my friend Amy's House (big "hi" out to Amy) and we met on Monday night. What a fabulous group of talented -- very talented--stampers. This is the card I made for that swap. Stampin' Up! was kind enough to send all demonstrators this set as a holiday gift. It is currently a level 3 hostess set. Sadly enough I didn't even have it cut before Monday.....just no time. CRAZY! But now that it's cut....I can see many many cards coming from it in the future. Without further adieu......

The set is Time Well Spent and I also used Jumbo Outline Alphabet, Define Your Life and Wonderful Words. The cardstock is Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Oppulence and Whisper White. I stamped the hearts, the "x", "o" and love in Stazon Black. The definition is in Pink Passion. I colored the flowers and hearts with Orchid Oppulence Markers and then watercolored the center using the marker and an aquapainter. Do you know how to do this? Kind of fun. I also stamped the little flower in Pink Passion as a background. The bling is from hobby lobby in the craft department. They aren't brads just little beady things. I like em'. The flower is a prima flower. This isn't my favorite card....I think I need less purples.....but....I am a pink girl. I also would use either the PTI white paper or watercolor paper for the hearts. Whisper white just doesn't seem to stand up very well to watercoloring. I also sponged the edges. I used the Stamp-a-majig to line up the letters and the definition. Do you know how to use that? One of my favorite tools. =)

Happy Stamping!

Sunday Stamping....

2008-01-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to get some "mega" stamping done this weekend....but the universe didn't find my plan to be "acceptable". All three kids are sick and so you know what that means for me....lots of kleenex, snuggles and chicken soup. Maybe next weekend? But, I did get these two cards made Friday night so I thought I would share them with you. One is for a sketch challenge on Splitcoast but don't ask me which one....I have to look it up again....yeah yeah I know. I hope that Ginko kicks in pretty soon....the old brain power....not a so good. YIKES!

Anyway, the first card is a birthday card I made for a family friend. This card uses the Stampin' Up! Fast and Fun Notes set and the retired Fancy Flexible Phrases set. All images were stamped in Basic Black. The "happy birthday" is a rub-on from Making Memories that I got with my "free stuff" from winning the Paper Crafts Mag contest (yeah!!!!) The cardstock colors are Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue and PTI White. I found the little index tab thing in my "pile of stuff that I bought but still haven't used" section of the bunker. Hey look I used it....now I can move it into the "rarely used but still like it" pile. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I added a little bit of blue satin ribbon and some white eyelets and called it good.

The second was my sketch challenge card. I don't have a lot of current "valentiney" sets so I have been stretching myself outside the box. I decided to use Wild About You and make the elephant pink. I stamped him on Sahara Sand and then the phrase in chocolate chip. The skinny ribbon is from a swap I just did with my new friend Amy. Big "hi" out to Amy (I love my stuff!!!!) I added a little heart brad again from my pile of embellishments neatly organized at the moment and a googlie eye. I embossed "my valentine" in white and that saying is from Everyday Flexible Phrases. I used my cuttlebug for the background on the regal rose (I don't know which one....probably named something simple like circles.) The inside paper is retired SU Rebecca. The large ribbon is my ruffly pink check from Hobby Lobby. I think I have to go buy some more of this. I still LOVE it. That's all for this sunny Sunday. I think I will go play outside for awhile.

Happy Stamping!

Some New Goodies for you....

2008-01-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

Look what I finally had time to photograph....I know....can you believe it? I can hardly believe it myself. Anyway....I think I am doing pretty good with my NYR (New Year's Resolution) by posting more than once a year....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry the pictures aren't great. I am working on my photographic skills. I keep telling the DH that if I had a new camera (preferably a Cannon Rebel XT) that I could take marvelous award winning pictures. He ain't buying it....or the camera....so I gotta work with what I got....which is NOT an award winning camera. Anyway......here's the scoop on these two cards.

This one was made with Lovely Lilac and Silver and was a sketch/color combo for Papercrafts Magazine. I submitted it but didn't hear anything...so I am sharing it with you instead. Guess they didn't like it....but that's okay....you can't win them all. So the letters are from SU Jumbo Outline Alphabet and the definition of "always" is from the Define Your Life set. I love this set and can't wait to make some scrapbook pages with it. Someday....someday soon. Onwards....the swirly-whirl is from Paper Trey Ink's Ambassador Monogram set and the "wish" is from the Text Boxed set. I layered three different colors of primas and put a Rhinestone Brad in the center. The purple ripped piece is a piece of vellum that used to be sold by Stamping Up!. I embossed the letters and wish and swirly-whirl in black and then colored in the letters with my Lovely Lilac marker. That's it. I thought this would make a cute birthday card.

The next photo is my first attempt at a V-Day card. I can't seem to get in the mood for V-Day....I have lots of retired sets that I like....but they aren't getting me motivated. Guess I will have to find some cute new stamps.....oh darn. For this card I used Barely Banana and Pretty In Pink SU CS and then of course my favorite white cardstock from PTI. The stamps sets are both retired....sorry....Olive You and Love Matters. I stamped both in Stazon Black and then colored them with my SU markers Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, and pretty in Pink. The hearts around the outside I took my Zig Painty Pen and colored in the dots with the silver end. The so my favorite ribbon is from Hobby Lobby - on sale - SCORE!

That's about it for today. If you would like to see more or less of something....please leave me a comment and let me know.

Happy Stamping!

My last few cards and then we are off to V-Day

2008-01-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hee hee....V-Day that's funny! I know what a goon. So here are the last few cards from my happy Christmas paper. Then we will be moving onto newer and brighter and springier cards.

Card #11 - This card uses the same Making Memories paper and I added Real Red, Old Olive and a patterned paper from DSWV. The ribbon is the same checked red from Hobby Lobby. The saing is again from Fancy Flexible Phrases in Basic Black. The background was stamped with little peppermints from a retired SU set (All Wrapped Up Accessories) in Real Red and I added a little bit of glitter to it.

Card #12 - This card uses Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla Cardstock. The greenery is from the Paper Trey Ink set "Believe". I stamped the holly in Stazon Black and watercolored it and then in Old Olive on the old olive CS and colored the centers with red glitter. I used my giga square scallop to punch out the greens and the center piece and layered them together to make one long strip. The ribbon is from Joann and it is a felt ric rac.

Card #13 - This one is made out of Real Red and Old Olive CS (again) and all I added was a piece of wide grosgrain in very vanilla and the little holly brad and eyelet at the bottom. I have had those forever....so I don't have supplier for you on that one....sorry.

Card #14 - The last one....can you believe it....this has been a long series.....Whew! This one uses the Giga Scallop Punch and the "yellow" one....sorry I can't remember the size right now from Marvy Uchida. I watercolored the santa a little bit and added a little glitter. The wreaths are from the same "Believe" set and also had a little bit of red glitter added to the berries. The sentiment is from Fancy Flexible Phrases and the ribbon is from May Arts and is a green velvet ric rac.

Well....I hope you have enjoyed these....I will be back later this week with some new cards. In the meantime......

Happy Stamping!

More Cards from "the Paper"....

2008-01-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some more cards from the Christmas Paper from my last post. Enjoy.

Card #6 - Uses Real Red Cardstock and the Making Memories Christmas paper. I watercolored the santa suit using an aquapainter and the Real Red ink pad. Added some red glitter to the santa bag and colored a few of the toys with my SU markers. The ribbon is the wide grosgrain SU vanilla. I love this ribbon it is by far my favorite ribbon right now. The saying is from Fancy Flexible Phrases and I put a Making Memories Page Pebble over it to jazz it up a little.

Card#7 - This card again uses the Making Memories paper and Real Red and Old Olive cardstock. I used the "peace" saying from Paper Trey Ink's Snowflake serenade in Real Red on the background. I used my mega sized circle scalloped punch from Marvy Uchida for the image and the next size smaller for the saying. The saying is again from Sincere Salutations. The ribbon - is a mystery....it was stolen again from the Christmas presents....I would guess hobby lobby. =)

Card #8 - In addition to the Making Memories paper this card uses Real Red and Old Olive Cardstock (see a pattern here)? I didn't add much here except for the saying which is from Wonderful Words by SU and the ribbon which is from Hobby Lobby Again.

Card #9 - This card has a saying from a SU set you can't get anymore (except maybe Ebay) sorry I hate to do that to you...but I love this little set. It is from Fancy Flexible Phrases stamped in Basic black and punched out with the 1" circle punch from SU. The ribbon is Christmas leftovers.

Card #10 - Same cardstock and paper as before. Watercolored this time with my watercolor crayons and added the saying from Paper Trey's Beautiful Blooms set. I love that set....plan on seeing more from that later on. =) I added the chocolate satin ribbon from Stampin' Up! for a final touch.

In other news....I got a sneak peak at the up and coming Occassions catalog that SU will be putting out in March. It has some really cute stuff in it. SPOILER - like new hardware in Silver with the fanciest panciest brads.....I LOVE THEM! Some cute and different stamps....none that I can list as my favorites yet....but they may grow on me. Also some cute designer series papers and glitter in some fun new colors. That's about all I can remember right now.

I also ran across another fun company Ellzybells and she has some really cute stamps. She just released her friendship line and I personally must have the girl in bed with the bag on her head. SO CUTE! Check her out if you can. Anyway, that's all for today. Glad we are above 30 degrees today.....BRRRRRRR. Me no likey!

Happy Stamping!

How Many Cards.....

2008-01-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Okay....I know you are over Christmas now....but maybe....like me....you haven't quite finished all your thank you cards. Maybe? Mebbe? I hope I am not alone. =) If I am alone...don't tell me...then I will just be sad and depressed. (Not really!) I did make a Valentine's Day card this week...just haven't time to photograph it or get it up here yet. Maybe later today. We do have a fantastic adventure planned at Chuck-E-Cheese today (ugggh) so maybe, mebbe not. I can see you writhing with jealousy....HA! So we'll see how my state of mind is when we return. =)
So....I found this really cool paper from Making Memories waaaayyyyyyy before Christmas. But, I have seen similar non-Christmas paper....and Making Memories is so good about putting out new lines for each season....that I thought you could use the same idea for different cards. But I got 14 different cards out of this one piece of paper. I loved this paper because as most of you know....I am an antique junkie....junkie I said it....junkie. So sue me. I digresss....this paper just screams antique Christmas so I had to have it. I found it online at this great store, Croppin Paradise that was really super speedy (if they have everything you want in stock)....check them out.
Card #1 - Real Red and Old Olive Cardstock; Making Memories Paper; Believe set from Paper Trey Ink; Real Red and Basic Black Classic Ink from SU; Small Twill from SU; Red Stickles.

Card #2 - Making Memories Paper; Real Red and Old Olive Cardstock SU; Basic Black and Old Olive Classic Ink SU; Red Glitter SU.

Card #3 - Making Memories Paper; Old Olive and Real Red Cardstock SU; Old Olive and Real Red Classic Ink SU; Lovely as A Tree Stamp and Wonderful Words Stamp Sets SU; Irridescent Ice glitter, red checked ribbon from Hobby Lobby (scavengered from the Christmas wrapping) *grin* I stamped the trees in old olive and then used the two way glue pen to add glitter to some of the branches. I also used my watercolor crayons and an aquapainter to color the black and white image a little.

Card #4 - Making Memories Paper; Old Olive and Real Red Cardstock SU; Basic Black Classic Ink SU; Real Red, Old Olive and Bashful Blue SU Markers and Aquapainter; Sincere Salutations Stamp Set SU; red and white gingham ribbon SU. I watercolored using my markers and an aquapainter to add some color to the black and white piece.

Card #5 - Making Memories Paper; Old Olive and Real Red Cardstock SU; Basic Black Classic Ink SU; Red and White gingham ribbon from Hobby Lobby (again stolen from beneath the Christmas Tree)

I LOVEY LOVEY LOVEY that I was able to make so many cards out of this paper and that they were relatively quick.

So I thought I would post a few today and then some more later this week....so you don't get overwhelmed with my creative genius. Bwahhahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!!!!

Happy Stamping!

Winter Birthday

2008-01-17T17:21:00.001-07:00

We have lots of birthdays between November and January....so I have found it necessary to find new ways to make them....sometimes the same old cake and candles get kinda boring especially if you have to make 10 of them in two months....sheesh...ridiculous! =) So I made this little card for the neighbor I grew up next to...her birthday is on New Year's Eve which ends the run of "tons of birthday" over here....whew! Next onto Valentine's day cards. I hope to sneek away and stamp this weekend to get you some ideas before Valentine's Day...hey there's a concept.

This card was made using Bayou Blue and Bashful Blue. The snowflakes are embossed in white are are from Paper Trey's Snowflake Serenade set (which I LOVE - I know what a surprise.) *grin*. The new sets ROCK BTW if you haven't seen them yet....run...don't walk....over there and check them out. As well as the super duper cutie patootie heart tins that I MUST have. If only I was a millionaire....working on winning the lotto...so far not so good.....keep forgetting to buy a ticket. CRAP! Will work harder on this. Ha! I digress....the ribbon is from my stash and I have no idea where it's from because I am sure it is one that I scavengered from the depths of a trashbag (see previous post). Sad isn't it? The pattered paper is from DCWV.

Sorry this post is so short but the twins are trying to push every button on my computer as I type - so I am erasing more than I type and yelling more than I can think. Sing along with me "oh what fun it is to be a mom at the end of the day......aaaaahhhhh.....I need my vino to take me away."

=) Dinner is burning...what's new.....gotta run.

Happy Stamping!

Simply but sweet

2008-01-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

I made these as little stationery gifts for the wives of my hubby's co-workers. I had to do something fast because, well, because, as you may know I TOTALLy procrastinate. If you have ever come to one of my classes you know that I am usually not ready until the minute you hit the door. I don't think it's going to change in the near future....I really try to not procrastinate....but it's not in my blood. Anyway, these were all created using last month's Paper Trey Ink stamp releases....Ambassador Monogram Set and the Background & Corners Monogram Addition. I used various designer series paper - most of which is retired Stampin' Up! or DCWV, but use your imagination and go with it. I hope you enjoy.

These make up really fast....these were sets of 10 with matching envelopes. I ordered the Paper Trey Stationary sets and the little boxes come in a pack of 6 or 8 or something...they are totally cheap and make your cards look sooo Fancy Pantsy. Don't you want to be fancy pantsy too? =)

BTW - don't forget tonight is the night of the new Paper Trey release....you will LOVE it! Swear. Go check them out. =)

Happy Stamping!

A Little Late....

2008-01-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

.....but cute nonetheless. I have finally managed to get my computer to cooperate long enough to get these pictures edited and posted. I hope you will enjoy them. The jar idea....was stolen from one of my favorite artists, Gina K. I gave these to each of the boys' teachers and the aides in the Kindergarten classroom. They were a big hit. The jars were purchased at target and come in several sizes. I got the medium sized jars.

Here's a picture of the goodies inside. Most of these goodies came from the Target $1 spot. I love that spot....dangit! The snowman soup was a little recipe I put together from a poem I found on Splitcoast last year. They have all kinds of those crazy poems for poop and soup and you name it......funny stuff.

As you will see some of the contents stuck above the jar so I had to get creative with the lids. I just decorated them with paper and stamping and then stuck them to the jar with pop-up glue dots....so that the teachers could use the jars again next year if they wanted to.

This one I used a nice holly background paper from DCWV that I got in a Christmas variety pack. The santa is from Paper Trey Ink's Believe set. (I love them...did I mention that?) Which I stamped in Black Stazon on Very Vanilla and then colored with my markers. There is a little star eyelet on the end of the hat (from waaaayyy back in the years of Stampin' Up!) then punched him out with my large oval scalloped punch (Marvy Uchida). The ribbon was a steal I found at a scrapbooking store on clearance and it says Merry Christmas in white writing. LOVE IT! Totally hoarding it....not nice. =)

The second version, is also made with the Believe set only the tree this time. I love this tree....it has so many possibilities. I used it over and over this past Christmas and foresee that I will be using it again next year. (I know I totally sound like a spokesperson for Paper Trey....but I swear they aren't paying me....I wish! *grin*) This was also stamped in Stazon, colored with about three colors of green with my Stampin' Up! markers because I am too poor to own Copics at this time...in my next life....hee hee. Then a little star brad for the top of the tree because the punch chopped it off a little. Ha! Camouflage is really the best stamping. =)

I am not sure if you caught the little planner in the goodies above, but these were also a find in the dollar spot. These were a steal. When you look at the front of these...you will see there is a little cutout in the front of the plastic that fit the scallop punch and the word window punch perfectly. Like magic I tell you...magic...or just dumb luck! Hee hee.

I made each one a little different and stamped each page inside changing the stamp for each month so they would know when the month changed. This took some time....but it made the generic planners much more personalized.

The first one pictured uses a pink paper from Stampin' Up! that was long ago retired....sorry but I thought you could improvise from your stash or something that you just had to have. I then used the stamp from the True Friend set (in new catalog and previous mini) and stamped it in Pretty in Pink and punched it out with the Stampin' Up! scalloped punch. I decorated the edges with little rhinestones and used the word window punch for the date which is stamped with the new Ambassador Monogram Set from Paper Trey.

The others were made pretty much the same way so I will just add supplies here so you can know what to use if you want to copy them. This one was made also using a retired paper that you could have gotten in a different color scheme but Stampin' Up! has since retired that too...so you will just have to dream up something else beautiful...I know you can do it. I put a prima flower in the center cut out with a flower that is in the Office Accoutrement set, the saying is also from this set. Then I stamped the date in Basic Black again using the Ambassador Monogram Set.

The third one uses one of my favorite current Stampin' Up! sets which is Garden Whimsy. The butterfly is stamped in Orchid Oppulence and then embellished with multi-colored rhinestones. The date was also stamped in orchid oppulence and sponged in barely banana. The background paper is again from DCWV.

The last little planner uses a set we got at convention, Fun and Fast Notes, which I really like because I like to color...go figure. If you don't like to color...probably not the set for you. The hedgehog was stamped in basic brown and then colored with creamy caramel using the aquapainter. His face is watercolored with Groovy Guava. The date is in basic black and uses the Ambassador Monogram set - yes again. =)

BTW papertrey is getting to release their new stamp set for this month and you can see a preview on Nichole's blog. SO FUN....must have. Off to sell plasma now. =)

I hope you will get some inspiration from these.

Happy Stamping!

WoooooHoooooo!

2008-01-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

First let me say I know I haven't been a good blogger....I am working on it. I have lots of Christmas stuff to post....I know it's a little after Christmas...but maybe you will get an idea or two that you can use for another gift or event. They will come as soon as I can get the photos edited.

But guess what.......

I just got a call from Paper Crafts Magazine and one of my cards was chosen as a winner in their world cardmaking contest. I can't post the card yet....but will after the issue comes out. It will be published in the March issue. This is the first card I have ever had published....so of course, I am beside myself with excitement. Those of you who know me well know that I am peeing my pants. Hee hee. In addition to fame and glory (snort), I won a bunch of free stamping and cardmaking stuff. Happy New Year to me. Yeah. Just had to share.

Happy New Year to all of you. =) Hope you are well and Happy Stamping!

Stampin' Up! Retired List

2007-12-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

I apologize for being a day late in getting the retired list posted for you all...but yesterday was the twins' birthday party and that pretty much consumed my day. I can't believe they are three already....time sure does fly. The party went off without a hitch and everyone is full of chocolate, ice cream and they have an abundance of toys to play with. Christmas oughta be interesting. Ugghhhh! I think we need to downsize. =)

Anyway, for those of you who don't know or forgot....Stampin' Up! will be coming out with a brand new "big" catalog again on January 1st. This retired list if for the current Fall/Winter catalog. Click here to view the retired list.

Please let me know if you would like to set up a "wish list" for Christmas or if I can help you with your order. Happy Holidays!

P.S. I promise pictures of current projects are coming. Still working on that. Sorry for the delay.

The Plague

2007-11-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry I have been missing for so long. Between multiple birthday parties to plan, 30 people for Thanksgiving, getting ready for Christmas and fighting off the plague for a month (yep you read that right - a month) I haven't had time to blog. The good news....I have some stamping stuff to post....the bad news....haven't had time to photograph it yet. Soon...very soon.

Did I mention that our computer and my ipod decided to hit the old superhighway landfill? Not so good. I did manage to salvage my hard drive and reboot my ipod....so things are looking up. November has not been a good month.

Things to look forward to -

December 1st - Stampin' Up! Retirement List will be coming out. I will try to post it here.

December - If you have stamping stuff you want from Santa....let me know and I will do my best to pass on your wishes to Santa, husbands, moms, dads, etc. I believe I can order up until the 15th with confirmed Christmas delivery.

Classes will resume in January. I along with many others are feeling a little overwhelmed....time to take a minute and breathe. Whew!

I will post later this week - maybe even today *wink* some new cards for you all.

Happy Shopping, Stamping, Wrapping and all the other fun things with the holidays.

Anniversary Cards

2007-10-09T14:26:00.000-06:00

October is Anniversary month over here. I made these two cards for anniversaries, one for my cousin and her husband and the other for my neighbor that I grew up next to.

The first is using the Le Jardin DSP from Stampin' Up! I cut out a piece of Bravo Burgundy and punched an oval out of it with my smallest Marvy Punch. I embossed the doves in Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder. The ribbon is a velvet white that I got from a ribbon share. The saying is from Hugs & Wishes and I sponged the edge with Versamark and then also embossed it with irridescent ice EP. The lace border on the top I found at the dollar tree. It was quite a find since it comes with adhesive on teh back. I like it.

This card was made using a sketch challenge from SCS. I turned the sketch on it's side. I stamped the love in versamark and then used a violet pearlex. Then I restamped over the first image in versamark and embossed in clear. The rose paper is from a DCWV Stack - I don't know which one. The saying is from Happy Everything and I punched it out with the Mega scallop punch and then framed it with the giga scallop punch. The ribbon is again the white velvet.

Happy stamping!

Oh how I love....

2007-10-05T13:54:00.000-06:00

......stamping and Christmas and Papertrey and and and....okay you get the idea. *grin*

I finally got to spend some time stamping this week, alone and with friends. The halloween costumes are done, the laundry was done....sort of...and the vaccuming and dusting...well...they will never be done. ha!

I got my new Paper Trey stamps late last week and I was just itchin' to use them. If you haven't seen them yet...head on over there....they are adorable. New ones will be debuted on the 15th again. Gotta love that! New stamps every month. Wooppeee!!!

Anyway...here are two cards that I made. The santa card is from the Believe set. I stamped him in Black Stazon and then colored him with the SU metallic colored pencils. Blended him with a blender pen. The beard I colored with my white galaxy marker and the fluff I colored with the white gel pen. Paper is Old Olive, Bravor Burgandy and White. Ink to match. Didn't he come out cute? It's all in the stamps....swear!

The second one, I owe almost completely to Sarah McLachlan and her Christmas album. I think it's called Wintersong....but I wouldn't swear. Anyway....I couldn't figure out what to do...and then I started listening to that and it got me all Christmasy and snowy brained and then...out popped this card. I luv it! This is also a Paper Trey set called Take A Bough. Sooo cute! I stamped the branch of the tree several times. Colored it with my white galaxy pen and then added glitter to the branches. The ornaments are pearl-ex-ed in different colors and then I drew in the hangers with my silver pen. The saying was stamped in white craft ink and then embossed with irridescent ice. I hope you like it.

Happy Stamping!

I'm not going to apologize anymore....

2007-10-03T12:50:00.000-06:00

I am really sorry....but I can't keep saying I am sorry that I am a bad bad blogger. I know that I am not a daily blogger....I really really try....it's just not happening over here right now. Probably not for the next 3 years - sorry. So I am sorry that I drift off for some time now and then and I just want you to know that I really appreciate those of you who read this blog. Thanks! =)

So, in case you weren't aware....October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. (If you don't know this....you might want to get out a little more. HA!) There is a group of bloggers out there that are going Pink for October (meaning they are changing their blog colors to pink) to raise awareness about Breast cancer. Lucky for me.....mine is already pink....but I still wanted to participate. I learned about the Go Pink group from Lisa over at Poppy Paperie. She has gone pink too (and she is an amazing stamping artist). You should check out her cute blog sometime.

There are many reasons to go pink this month.....and many ways. The number one reason...you could end up saving your life or the life of someone you love. Check out the Race for the Cure in your area. If you can't walk, or just want to sleep in....then you can do the sleep in for the cure. You still get a t-shirt and you are still supporting the cause.

Mail in those Yoplait lids! 10 cents per lid....just to mail them in...come on...lick the lid and mail them in. Holy-Pete if you go through yogurt like we do (and it's totally on sale all month) it really adds up.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do your monthly self checks, get your yearly mamograms...it may just save your life. Click here to give someone a mamogram for free. Wouldn't it be a wonderful day when we could say....there is no such thing as breast cancer anymore? We have come so far and done so much....let's keep that momentum going.

You may be thinking that breast cancer or cancer in general is something that happens to other people. I am here to tell you that in one instant...that someone else can be you. I am a cancer survivor (14 years this December-thank you God), my mother-in-law is a breast cancer survivor (going on 2 years cancer free) and my cousin (Shelly) who is 36 years old just was diagnosed with breast cancer. She will be a survivor too. She never did self exams. She had never had a mamogram. We don't have any history in our family of breast cancer. By the grace of God she did a self breast exam a couple of weeks ago and she found the lump in her breast and went to the doctor immediately. A week later, they told her she had breast cancer. In that short amount of time....her life changed forever.

You probably know someone who has had or has breast cancer. Almost everyone does. Think about them and do this for them. Ask yourself what if it were me? What would I want others to do?

Wishing you health and happiness.

Happy Stamping!

Stamping Time

2007-09-20T13:58:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-14T12:54:00.001-06:00

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

2007-09-13T21:10:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-05T13:37:00.000-06:00

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!

I finally cleared away the paperwork...

2007-08-20T13:03:00.000-06:00

I finally cleared space around my laptop so that I could post a real post for you all. Let me start by saying that convention was ultra-fun and that I am amazed that Stampin' Up! can always pull off such a great show. I don't know how they keep coming up with such great ideas for us....but they do. Some of you know that I was rather skeptical of the new catty prior to convention....but after learning all the fun things and seeing some of those new things in action....I am a convert. I can't spill all my knowledge here...because you would be reading FOREVER. But, you will be able to see all of my learning in future classes. FUN STUFF coming your way. Stay tuned.

Convention also helped me reassess my stamping goals and dreams....so hopefully I can make some of those come true in the next year or so. Stay tuned on that front.

So what did you all think of my swaps? The swap for SCS and the dinner were FABULOUS! If Melissa reads this....a big thank U to you for coordinating and hosting. She did a fabulous job. I can't imagine planning a dinner for 100 people twice. But she did with class. Bravo girlfriend!

So what have I been doing you ask? Since convention ended nearly a month ago? Well, the Bunker is currently undergoing a transformation, which means it is in worse shape than it normally is...but with any luck....things will be MUCH better when it is finished. If only I can live through the disaster that it currently is until that time. August is a HUGE birthday month for us....so I have been making birthday cards, thank you notes and teacher presents as well.

We start school on Wednesday....Kindergarten....my baby has gotten so big. How is that possible? sniff sniff. So, I hope to post a picture of the gift for his teacher sometime this week. But every night we have either school or soccer something....so it might not make it up until the weekend.

Also, for those of you who don't know...my yearly Chinese Auction is this Sunday. Fabulous items to bid on, classes to sign up for and of course half price stamps. (retired that is). So, if your in the neighborhood and want to swing over, I'll see you Sunday. If you need info, send me an email.

In the meantime, I decided to put one of my favorite new stamp sets to use. If you haven't visited the girls over at Papertrey, I would highly recommend heading over there soon. They have the KA-UTEST stuff. So, I dug into my stash...it's amazing what you find when your cleaning and found the accents and elements kit from around Valentine's Day and the coordinating DSP and I made these cards. I challenged myself to just use those three items, and this is what I came up with. What do you think?

The last card is the card I made for my FIL for his birthday. I think it's pretty manly if I do say so myself. I think I might be in love...with chipboard that is. *grin*

For all of you reading....thank you! Happy Stamping and I'll see ya soon! =)

Hey Ladies....how would you like a new tv?

2007-08-16T13:09:00.000-06:00

Check out this great contest! 5 Minutes for Mom is Giving away a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!! You have to enter by August 17th (tomorrow). Check out the link here. =) Good luck!

I'm on my way....sorta....

2007-07-30T12:58:00.000-06:00

Well, I will be on my way after I finish packing, load the car, take a shower and get dressed. Everyone knows that I am a HUGE procrastinator...and I work well under pressure. I plan to put that on my resume someday when I go back to the "real" world. If I ever go. So where am I going you ask??? ....to CONVENTION of course!!!!! Woo hoo! The day is finally here and although I have had my ups and downs about convention this year (what with all the retiring news) I am psyched to be heading downtown and to convention. I am ready to get pumped up, learn lots and then come back and share it all with you. Yeah!

I know you are probably in blog-shock right now, because I managed to post twice in one day...and let's face it....that never happens. But, I wanted to leave you with pictures of the swaps I created for convention. The two ATCs (Artistic Trading Cards) were most definitely the most difficult because of the limited amount of space. They each show a specific technique, both of which you can plan on seeing in upcoming classes. One is faux wood and the other is faux linen. Let me know what you think.

The next two cards are for the Splitcoast Stampers dinner/swap tomorrow night. The pirate one took me forever....but I like the way it turned out. On this original, I used the copper cord interwoven with two shades of ribbon...but Stampin' Up! threw me for a loop when they retired the cording, so the swaps actually just have two colors of ribbon instead of the cord too. The cherry card also had to be revamped because Stampin' Up! retired the pearl ex. I did a new technique on that one too...also coming to a class near you. *grin*

The last two are for general convention. I broke out of the box a little on these and didn't use "all" Stampin' Up! product....but what's a girl to do....sometimes you just gotta punch stuff...and I wanted a scallop punch...so there. Ha! I also am in love with my cuttelbug and wanted to share the love. So I figure if people don't want to trade...they don't want to trade....there will always be someone else who wants to trade.

For an extra special treat...I have also shared with you the swap that my friend and fellow demonstrator gave to me to swap for her. She is in Hawaii for 2 weeks (big ahhhhh here) so I told her that if she brought me back a cabana boy I would be happy to swap for her. Hahahahahahaha!!!! But really....isn't her work Bayootiful???? I love her....she is the sweetest lady and I am so glad that I get to see her artistic talents first. Yeah!!!!

So until next week.....I am off to celebrate stamping with all the other crazy stampers. Beware of Denver....as it is Stampapalooza 2007.

Happy Stamping!

Anniversary Cards....

2007-07-30T12:51:00.000-06:00

I wanted to show off my mom's card that she made us for our anniversary and another little card she made me. She is such a good little stamper....she just needs about another 12 hours in the day to get all the things done that she wants to....but don't we all. She used the cuttlebug on the thank you card and the oval punch as a border in the middle of the card. How clever don't you think?

The last one is the card I made for my DH for our anniversary. Man cards are always a challenge for me. I am just not good at no flowers, no ribbon and lots of "man" stuff. Go figure. But, hey "truck" just screams "man" doesn't it. Didn't think I could go wrong with this one. I had to steal it back to share it with you all. Hope you like it!

Stampin' Up! Retired Sets I am Selling

2007-07-11T19:48:00.000-06:00

In case you haven't heard....the new catalog is here. I don't love it, but I don't unlove it. I guess I am mostly disappointed because Stampin' Up! got rid of so much and really didn't seem to replace a lot of it. It is making me wonder whether or not I want to continue with Stampin' Up! Time will tell I guess. Convention is around the corner, maybe that will revitalize my spirit a little.

So, with the new catalog...comes the clean out of some of my retired sets. This year it's a lot...or it seems like a lot to me. Anyway, I found a way to make this cool slideshow....see below. I took pictures of all the sets that I have for sale that are retired. You can click on the picture to make it stop and it will give you the name.

If you are interested in any of these sets, send me an email at eyeleteers@comcast.net and let me know which set you would like and if you would like it mailed or would like to pick it up. I will add shipping charges onto your total if I mail it. I can take all major credit cards and personal checks/money orders.

I will keep the sets available until August 31st and then they are going to ebay.

I haven't had a whole lot of extra time to stamp because I am in a swap making frenzy and have been busy with Vacation Church School this week. Someday the swaps will be done and I will get back to some fancy pants stampin! If there is something you would like to see, or any ideas, leave a comment on this blog. I promise to post samples of my swaps as convention gets closer. I hope you will like them. =) I have been workin' hard.

Happy Shopping and Happy Stamping!

Incognito....

2007-06-25T21:55:00.000-06:00

So...you may have noticed that I have been absent...I am also absent minded...har har. Summer is crazy busy around here and I have been mourning the loss of our many retired stamps and accessories and have somewhat high hopes that Stampin' Up! isn't going to let us down with the new catalog that should be here within days. DAYS! Woohoo! Are you on the edge of your seat?

I have made some pages and a couple other fun things with some of the new sets coming out and have been frantically trying to find a minute or two to work on convention swaps. You can check them out in my Splitcoast gallery. The convention swaps are not going so hot...but whatta ya gonna do? I guess if they get done, they get done and if not I will be swapless....go figure. I am sure I will get them done...apparently the word on the street is that I work well under pressure. Although I am not necessarily jolly to be around under those times, I do manage to get it done.

So...to tide you over until the new catty gets here (in couple of days) I am posting these two cards....both for my dad...one for Father's Day and one for his birthday which was right after Father's Day (practically!).

BTW I love the Fellas....if you haven't checked them out recently...there are some new additions....and don't you know "Every Bella has to have a Fella....that's their boyfriend" so says my 5-year-old. Training them young. Ha!

If you still want something that's retiring...time's a tickin' only a couple days left for that and the spring mini...so you probably should quit procrastinating and hop on it. ha!

Happy Stamping!

-Alisa

Card class cards....

2007-06-16T13:06:00.000-06:00

Happy Saturday!

I finally stole a few minutes away from the munchkins to post pictures of the cards we made in Wednesday's card class. The first is a pocket card that I CASEd from Greyhoundstamper on SCS who cased it from Julie Buhler. I changed the colors a little and used the faux leather technique for the belt, but other than that, it's nearly a copy. But I loved the idea and it made for a great "man" card. =) The stampin' girls enjoyed making this one and some changed it into a Father's Day card. I liked the birthday theme because I always struggle with not putting frilly things on guys cards. I used buckaroo blue and chocolate chip. The Linen Background stamp was stamped in buckaroo blue on the card base and tehn the pocket stamp was stamped with basic black. The "Happy Birthday" in the pocket is from Birthday Best and the words on the pocket are stamped on Marigold Morning and are from Amazing to Zany. The belt loops are made with the word window bunch and then the black dashes were drawn on. Ribbon is Stampin' Up! grosgrain in navy and taupe.

The second card was a layout posted in April by Michelle Wooderson which she dubbed "tent toppers". I love this design because it is interesting and it still fits in a standard card envelope and you can stand it up on a table. So, here is the card I came up with for this layout. We used the Doodle This stamp set (because as you know I am in love with this set and if it's not in the new catalog....I am going to be very UPSET!) The card base is Marigold Morning and the topper base is Cameo coral. I used both the Office Accoutrement flower and the Doodle This flower for the topper. They Doodle flower is watercolored with the ink pad and an aquapainter and has a bling in the center. The other flower is stamped in cool carribean. I also stamped the swirly from Doodle This is Marigold Morning to match the paper and then a saying from Office Accoutrement in Basic Brown stamped off once. The ribbon is turquois grosgrain from SU.

There is a theme here, in case you haven't found it yet. Most of the sets are retiring or going away in a couple of weeks as are all of the in colors which I chose to take advantage of.

We made this Thank You card (which could also be considered man-ish) with the Natural Beauty set. The bird is embossed in gold and then watercolored with the watercolor crayons. In class we used the pastels and it worked also. I used the Certainly Celery DSP from the Pallete O' Prints (which will be coming out in the new catalog) for the small strip and the bird is mounted on Certainly Celery to Match. The card base is chocolate chip and the matching ink was used to stamp the saying twice along the edge.

I used the spring moss grosgrain ribbon and the "thank you" is from the All Natural set. I lined the inside of the card with Very Vanilla CS.

My personal favorite was this "girlfriends" card using the Girlfriends set. The card base is Pixie Pink and the saying is stamped one shade darker in Pink Passion. A strip of chocolate chip is on the side which I punched out using the 1/4" punch up the edge

to give it a 'groovy' feel. I drew in the dots and checks with my gel pen and then added a piece of green galore. I coordinated that behind the girlfriends (which I colored with the markers) and then added 'celebrate' from All Year Cheer II stamped in versamark and the pearlized with Pink Flamingo pearlex. I love the colors on this one.

The last design was also CASE'd from Cambria who borrowed it from Julie. I love those girls...they make the CA-UTEST stuff. Swear! Anyway. The shirt is origami folded and you can find out how here. I again used the paper from the Palette O' Prints promo in the So Saffron color. The zipper tie was made from this paper ribbon stuff that I found at Archiver's which is also SO FUN! The card base is brocade blue (even though the picture looks a little bright). The yellow strip is a scrap leftover from the shirt and the happy is from Polka Dots and Paisley's as is the Paisley in the background. Old Olive is the green and the "father's day" is from everyday flexible phrases.

Enjoy the weekend and I will hopefully have some retired loot posted it for you in the next day or so.

Happy Stamping!

Quick Post

2007-06-12T18:18:00.000-06:00

Here's an anniversary card I made for my in-laws. Their anniversary is on Flag Day....so I gotta mail it...well...now. Yes, I am always late. Better than never eh?

I got the sketch from the card sketch challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. Check it out if you are having a stampin' block. Great stuff!!!

Happy Stamping!

Summer it seems....

2007-06-12T17:38:00.000-06:00

Summer it seems has taken me by storm. One minute it's spring and the next, school is out, swimming lessons have started and it's all a bit a whirlwind. Sorry I have been lax in my blogging....bad blogger....bad blogger....I will try to do better. I am posting some pages that we did during my Scrapbooking Class last Friday night. We had a good time drinking, eating chocolate, laughing and of course stamping. I love my stamping friends. Yeah!

The class was focused on the Pockets & Pieces set in the back of the Stampin' Up! catalog. All the little accessories (tickets, etc.), pockets and booklets came from this kit. They were accented by stamping or designer paper and I really enjoyed using the kit. You get a lot of bang for your buck and they are in neutral colors so you don't have to fight with color choices. Fun stuff! Now if I could just get up to our 5th birthday party....I might be caught up. Yeah right! har har!

I also completed the homework page from the last class and will try to get the next one done for the next class coming up at the end of the month. I am making good progress on my pages.

I have actually been doing quite a bit of stamping. I have two of several card swaps that I will be swapping at an SCS dinner at convention created and now I have to duplicate. But, I can't share those yet because otherwise my stampin' friends at convention won't be surprised. But, I will share them right before I leave. There will be so much to tell you after that I want to leave with something before I go. =)

Now for the exciting news...I got my first ever PaperTrey stamps and I LUV LUV LUV them! I bought the green thumb set and I finally put some ink to rubber this afternoon. I think these acrylic stamps are totally growing on me. Hee hee. I also got some of the new scalloped punches that I can't wait to play with. I have a card class coming up tomorrow night, so I hope to post some pictures of those cards by the end of the week. Yeah!!!

Also, I will be creating a gallery for my retired sets and putting a list of prices up here. If you would like to purchase one, please email me and I will sell the stamps to the person who emails me first. This was the only way I could figure out how to do it fairly.

I hope you enjoy the pages.

Happy Stamping!

P.S. I can't get this page to format worth a crap tonight....sorry you will just have to forgive me...one of the twins is screamin' so I gotta go. =)

Back from the Bunker

2007-05-24T14:42:00.000-06:00

Well, as you may have noticed....I have been a little incognito as of late. I have been stampin' just trying to get those teacher gifts done and working on convention swaps that I can't show you yet, because then they wouldn't be a surprise. They are sooooo cute though. I am little proud of them, maybe a little more than a little. Anyway.....

For teacher's gifts this year, I made paper bag albums. If you haven't seen these albums before....they are really kind of neat. The base of the album is made out of paper lunch bags. In my case I used brown, but I know they come in all kinds of colors. I just happened to have brown and being my usual "think ahead" self....I started this project on Sunday night. Yes, I am forever the procrastinator....actually, I think I just live in a time bubble. I really do not have any sense of time anymore....but that is a problem to be solved on another day. I need some of that memory stuff. Ginko something. If you know what it is, let me know. Needless to say after many nights in the bunker after the kids were asleep...I finished these just in the nic of time. The teacher's really seemed to enjoy them and I really liked the way they came out. It was sort of therapeautic, but also a little saddening because this is the end of preschool for my little guy. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I made one for each teacher.

Here are the front covers.

Here are the inside cover and one of the inside pages. Each child got their own page.

These are really easy to make. A little time consuming, but easy. I might try to post a tutorial a little later down the line for you all. The inside pages featured each of the kids, with their names and then a quote (I found online) about teachers. I also included the class picture in each one.

In the pockets I made a little 5x5 page that coordinated with the preceeding page so that the teacher could pull it out and add their own photos or journaling about the year. The bottom quote says "Favorite Things About This Year". I printed this on the computer onto cardstock and then mounted it on a bigger sheet. This way the teacher's can personalize the album a little more.

In the wee hours of the night, I managed to squeeze in a couple of cards too. You can't really give a gift without a card...right? I didn't stamp my gift bags....but please don't call the stamping police on me. I just ran outta time. I had to resort to the dollar store. Luckily I was in a hurry or I could have spent the rest of my 401K there. Crazy store....everything's a dollar. And, they have everything there. Need some peanuts...they got em. Playdough...got it. Plastic bin...got it. It's easy to go nuts in there. Also, a great outing for the kids on a rainy day. Whoever thought of the dollar store is counting way more than dollars, I can assure you.

These were my teacher cards. This one of course I used Doodle This because let's just fess up at this point, I am totally addicted to this and Doodle That. If they don't make it into the next catalog, I think I will go on a chocolate and wine bender. It's not gonna be pretty. For the background, I used the swirly dude (this is totally the official name. You can call Stampin' Up! and ask em'. I swear!) Anyway, stamped that in Vintage Violet (which is retiring too - boo hoo) and then I used the fine glue pen and added the dazzling diamonds glitter to it. The flowers were stamped in black stazon and then watercolored with the watercolor crayons. One is mounted on Taken with Teal and the other is mounted on Pink Passion both placed on the diagonal. The saying is from Warmest Regards and is in a pewter oval piece of HP hardware. The ribbon is from Jody's ribbon swap. The back of the card is also Taken with Teal.

This card was made with chocolate and purple. I thought this might be kind of cool combination. Again, I used Doodle That for the background stamped in Basic Brown ink on Whisper White CS. I put little purple blings in the centers of the whole flowers. The middle flowers were also stamped in Basic Brown and then watercolored with the watercolor crayons (again) and then yellow blings in the center of those. They are mounted on Chocolate Chip which is laid over a piece of Au Chocolat paper that I sponged with Lovely Lilac ink. I would have brayered this were I to do it again, but I didn't have a foam brayer until about a week ago and this was a whoopsi from a class that I did. I couldn't very well throw it away no could I? Psh. That's what I thought! The thank you again is from Warmest Regards (I am totally gonna miss this set too!) stamped in Brown to match and tied off with some old SU fibers that I found in my stash, also in purple.

Lastly, but not leastly....today is my parent's 38th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations Mom and Dad! This is the card that I made for them. Wow! 38 years. That makes me feel a little old, but also proud that they have been married that long. For this one I used my cuttlebug embossing folder "swirls" and then mounted that on Real Red CS. I used my scallop scissors and cut off a chunk and then added polka dot ribbon and a heart bling to that bottom edge. On the inside edge I stamped "Love" from Wonderful Words in Basic Black. The heart is from Doodle That and is stamped again in Real Red and mounted on the same color. The ric rac and ribbon are again from Jody's share. Love that Jody!

Well, it looks like rain again. I am going to try and get down to the bunker before the boys wake up. Off to work on the mystery swaps. Bwahahahahaha!

Happy Stamping!

Scrapbook Pages

2007-05-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone! Just a quick post to share these two pages I recently finished. I had these two pages done a couple of days ago, but didn't have time to get them posted here until today. The pictures aren't great because the lighting was craptacular today....sorry. But, you get the general idea. These were the samples I put together for my last class and finally got them finished up and embellished. I still have 4 more to go...but they will get done someday! For details....check out my splitcoast gallery. Happy Stamping!