Tween Birthday

Happy New Year's Eve! My boys needed a birthday card today, so I pulled out the handy-dandy chef and let him get to work! He created a lovely cupcake from Party Hearty, complete with puffy icing filled with yummy glitter and 3 wonderfully lit birthday candles in celebration. {giggle}

OK, back to reality, everything is colored in with markers. I did used a touch of pink on the aquapainter for his cheeks. The main panel edges were lightly sponged. I used puffy paint sprinkled with glitter, and let it set up for a couple hours, then hit it with a heat gun and let the paint puff up.

I send warmest wishes for a wonderful and blessed New Year to you and your family. Thanks for visiting with me today, and I'll see you next time....

Stamps: Voila, Party Hearty
Paper: Ballet Blue, Lovely Lilac, white, black
Ink: black, markers for coloring/stamping
Accessories: White puffy paint, dazzling diamonds glitter, brads, sponges, heatgun

Squash Valentine card..... say wwhhaaat???

Hello, Everyone! :) What a weird title for today's post, but let me explain... Today's challenge on SCS is to make a squash card. Most of the time, they seem to be used for scrapbooking, hence "squash album", and you might have heard of that term. Anyhow, Lynn created a PDF in the first post so that you can see just how easy this is to create... there's a Word document in post #10 for those of you who prefer this format. I've made these squash albums before, and they are perfect for gift giving! It was fun to make a card version today.

Well, it sure felt good for me to make a card for a different kind of celebration... and in this case, yep, you guessed it! -Valentine's Day. I don't know if this card is really "vintage", but the colors made me feel that way when I was typing up the title. This is a card that sort-of evolved... my original idea was completely different! I love organdy ribbon (it's my favorite kind to use), and I was completely depressed about it when Stampin' Up! stopped selling it many years ago, so I use what I have very sparingly. I continue hoping that they bring it back with every new catalog release... tee hee! Nothing wrong with hopin'.....

The background script is from the upcoming Level 2 hostess set Rustic Rooster (ooh, sneak peak!) and is stamped in Creamy Caramel on the same color cardstock. The large heart from Always was stamped, masked and stamped again on top of the background in Close to Cocoa. I reverse-masked and sponged the inside of the heart with a sponge dauber. The edges were swiped against the Creamy Caramel inkpad. The ribbon and half-back pearls were added last, and everything was mounted on my 4 inch square Very Vanilla squash card.

Have a great day, and I hope to see you again very soon... thanks for stopping in!

Stamps: Always, Rustic Rooster
Paper: Very Vanilla, black, Real Red, Creamy Caramel
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: organdy ribbon, half-back pearls, sponge dauber, SU photo corner punch
Techniques: masking

Simple Christmas Thank You Card

I hope that your Christmas celebration was filled with much happiness! The last two weeks were very hectic for me (and I'm sure for you, too!), so I apologize for not posting... I squeezed in work and sleep between finishing up Christmas shopping, cooking and baking, wrapping gifts, and completing all the Christmas cards. I made over 70, but most were done assembly-line style (once I decided on which card, that is!).... and to top it off, they were either mailed or hand-delivered to boot.... YAY!

Well, I had to work the day after Christmas, so yesterday was spent vegging around the house and making some simple thank you cards for family and friends for the wonderful Christmas gifts that were given to my family. I love this Merry & Bright stamp set, and decided that this little snowman would bring a smile to just about anyone's face. I stamped the snowman and trees, masking where necessary, in order to create my little scene. Then, I re-masked the snowman and little tree beside him to protect them from sponged ink done in Summer Sun, Bordering Blue and Night of Navy which created the glow from Heaven above. The snowman and tree were colored with markers, and snowman shadows were colored with light blue colored pencil. I stamped the snowflakes in White Craft ink. This was mounted on a Real Red block, and the sentiment is from Warmest Regards (retired).

I hope that you get some time to wind down after the holiday hustle and bustle. Take care and see you soon...

Very Merry Christmas

Happy Wednesday to you... Well, I am starting to feel the Christmas Card Crunch, so after seeing today's sketch challenge on Splitcoast, I knew I'd love to try it out. This card is pretty self-explanatory... no fancy techniques done to it. My upline let me borrow the Christmas Classics stamp set (thanks KM!), and I wanted to use it today. The sentiment is from Punches Three, and I cut out the center label section in order to use just that portion of the stamped image. Oh, I will let you in on something though - that Bella Toile background ROCKS!!!!!! I am a big Stampin' Up! background stamp fanatic - I love, Love, LOVE all the backgrounds that I've purchased through the years - but this one is like a chameleon. It can be soft, classic, feminine, elegant, vintage... it is truly beautiful, indeed. If it is on your wishlist, you may want to consider bumping it up a notch or two - the first time I used it took my breath away! Today's card used Kiwi Kiss ink on the same color paper with this background stamp ~ such a pretty effect. I also used my mat pack and paper pierced along the horizontal, Riding Hood Red block. In case it's hard to see in the picture, the center mistletoe circle and sentiment have been popped up using dimensionals. Have a great day, and I'll see you soon...

Stamps: Christmas Classics, Punches Three, Bella Toile background

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Vanilla

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Ruby Red marker

Accessories: silver brads, mat pack, piercer, dimensional popdots, SU punches - 1 3/8 inch circle and scallop circle

New Techniques, Retirement List & Free Shipping!

Today's post has alot of stuff - first off, the Fall Winter 2008 Retirement List was just announced today, and I found out this morning that Stampin' Up! is giving 10% OFF all stamps sets on this list plus FREE SHIPPING with any purchase over $70 through December 23rd!!!! Just to clarify something, if your merchandise total is over $70, regardless of your selections (retirement items or not), you will still receive the free shipping promotion. How awesome is that?! If you'd like to shop from the comfort of your computer (hey, why fight the crowds and traffic?), and save alittle cash for the things on YOUR wishlist, you can click the "Shop Now" button located in the upper right corner of my Business Website to take advantage of these fantastic savings!
OK, let's get on with some more fun stuff.... So, how do you like my card today? I'll admit that I have a hard time using ribbon sometimes on a masculine card ~and my boys' preference is no ribbon, just metal :) but I like how this card turned out.... now, for the details....
I was visiting Splitcoaststampers this morning and ran across today's color challenge to use Taken with Teal, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. I sat in my craft room looking at my stuff for about 5 minutes. Card ideas were forming in my head, but this one idea kept coming back, so I went with it! I have some simple techniques about this card to share with you... This card is my 2nd one made with my new Happiness is a Journey stamp set (the first one is a couple posts below - in fact, take a quick look at that card - see how the train is actually white?). The stamp is sort-of like a reverse from the typical images... instead of the main image being inked up, the background is inked instead to create the main image.... clear as mud? :)
Well, I wanted the train to be colored in Taken with Teal, so I inked up the stamp with Versamark and Baja Breeze inks. I stamped on white and heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder. This created a Baja Breeze glazed surface so that I could use a sponge dauber and sponge in Taken with Teal ink to color in my train. I used a napkin to wipe away any ink on the glazed surface.... Voila! My train is Taken with Teal.... (tee hee!). I matted this main image with Riding Hood Red and Taken with Teal blocks and set it aside.
When I first started stamping and scrapbooking many years ago, mulberry paper was the *in* thing. In fact, I still have alot of it in various colors, but I wanted to see if I could recreate the look of it using ink. This technique, or a similar one, may already be out there, but I've not seen it yet, so I'll post how I did my Faux Mulberry technique. In the picture below and depending on your monitor, you may be able to see some lines that I lightly drew in pencil to approximate the placement of my train block. I followed the edge of this line and used a sponge dauber and Craft White ink to fan outward toward the edges of my Riding Hood Red cardbase. In other words, ink up the dauber and start on the inside edge of the pencil line and swoosh/flick outward (do you like my descriptive words here? ~giggle). The thick and creamy characteristics of the craft ink allows you to move the ink around without absorbing instantly into the cardstock, so you get this cool effect. Seriously, you should try this on a scrap piece of colored cardstock and check it out! Off the top of my head, this would be fun to do around candles, stars, fireworks, or campfire stamps, don't you think?

After going all around the pencil lines, I wrapped my grosgrain around the card front and placed my main block on top. I pencilled in a small dot about 1/2 inch to the left of the train's smoke stack - see it?

Then I took my 1/4 inch circle (hole) punch and punched it out at the dot. I took my snips and cut across to the hole, then slid one end of the grosgrain ribbon through - you don't really need to cut across, just thread it through the hole if it's big enough... Then I glued down the block to the cardbase, pulling on the left tail of ribbon to keep it tight.

The cut line is hidden when I tied my knot.... then I trimmed the ends of ribbon.

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in Taken with Teal ink and punched out/layered in Riding Hood Red with oval punches.
While typing this post, I realized that I need to play with my camera settings to get better (and truer) color. The first image of the entire card at the top of the post was taken in natural light and show the real colors, and the rest of the pictures were at my craft table under the desk lamp. Anyhow, I appreciate you stopping in today. I hope you enjoyed these simple techniques and get to try them out if you've never done them before... till next time!
Stamps: Happiness is a Journey, sentiment from Fresh Cuts

Paper: Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Riding Hood Red

Inks: Versamark, Baja Breeze, Taken with Teal, Craft White

Accessories: Clear embossing powder, heatgun, sponge daubers, white grograin ribbon, SU punches - 1/4 inch circle, small and large ovals

For a Friend

It's Sunday! I hope that you are able to grab some time today to relax with your goodies and be creative... it soothes the soul, doesn't it?
This card uses stamps from the beautiful Organic Grace hostess set and was very fast to put together. The main panel was stamped in Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Bravo Burgundy inks onto a Whisper White block. I used the scallop edge punch along the bottom of the panel and layered it on Elegant Eggplant. An Old Olive grosgrain ribbon was tied in a knot and trimmed, then this was adhered to my Old Olive cardbase. The sentiment from the Best Yet stamp set was stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink and punched out with the Designer Label punch. This was backed with a 1 3/8 inch circle in Old Olive and an Elegant Eggplant key tag punch-outs. To add a small bit of dimension, I popped up the sentiment block with popdots.
When you find that you don't have alot of time and need a quick & easy card, just remember random stamping in your main block. This technique makes really pretty background paper for scrapbook pages, too. I hope you have a great day ~ thanks for checking in, and I'll see you next time. :)

Stamps: Best Yet, Organic Grace
Paper: Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Designer Label punch 1 3/8 circle punch, Key Tag punch, Scallop Edge punch

Teen Masculine Birthday

Happy Saturday! One of my son's needed a card for a friend's birthday party tomorrow, and being a teenager, I had to be careful not to make it too "girly". Usually, in these situations, my go-to embellishments are brads and hardware instead of ribbons, just to be on the safe side. I picked out the train from a "brand new this catalog" set called Happiness is a Journey. I loved this stamp set the moment I saw it because it reminded me of my father who loves trains and swears he was an engineer in a former life.... :) Nevertheless, this is an awesome set to use for masculine cards, and I look forward to using it often for many years to come. This solid style train stamp was inked up with Versamark first, then sponged with Chocolate Chip and Not Quite Navy ink. This was pressed to white cardstock and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I Versamarked the whole block, and heat embossed again with clear embossing powder several times to create a smooth, glassy surface. This main panel was mounted on black, Not Quite Navy and Chocolate Chip with edge distressing on the C.Chip layer. I added silver brads along the top. The blue background paper is from my scraps pile (source unknown), but a very similar effect can be achieved by sponging and spritzing ink. This layer was edge distressed as well, then mounted on C.Chip cardstock with brads added in the corners. This was placed on my Not Quite Navy cardbase. There's a white insert inside stamped with a birthday sentiment, and my son was pleased with the look of it. So what do you think? Have a great weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow. See you then!

Try One in Neutrals

Hi Everyone... Just a quick post today but I wanted to show you my latest card in Neutral colors - white, black and Sahara Sand. The Sahara Sand is a new color for me, and I'm so happy that I finally picked it up! This layout is pretty simple, but I really like it alot! I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll be posting again here in a day or so! See you soon... :)

Stamps - Winter Post, Bella Toile background

Paper - white, black, Sahara Sand

Ink - Sahara Sand, black

Accessories - black lace (non-SU), white grosgrain ribbon, black brads

NOEL - altered wooden letters

Here's some altered wooden letters that I worked on here and there the last couple of days. I picked up the already-painted white letters in Walmart's craft area last week and couldn't wait to decorate them. The letters were inexpensive, so this project didn't break the bank ~ especially since I've already got a stash of embellishments screaming to be used! :)

Here's a close-up of each individual letter, so you can see the details alittle more clearly-








I used the Holiday Treasures Designer Paper (page 170, F/W 2008 IB&C) for the background of each letter. I traced each letter lightly with a pencil and cut out with scissors. I mod-podged the letter and glued the paper on top. I sanded the paper edges with my sanding block and did a bit of distressing too. I sponge-distressed the edges of each letter with Close to Cocoa ink. To decorate my letters, I used a retired Stampin' Up Christmas stamp set that I've had for many, many years called "Joys of the Season". You can see the Santa on the N, a stocking on the E, and a Christmas tree on the L. After stamping and watercoloring in the images, I wanted the images to stand out a bit from the busy background, so I stamped Versamark over the entire image and heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder. I did this a few times to make it very glazed, like glass, and stiff enough to withstand a few Christmas uses over the years... also, I used pop-dots behind the images to make it alittle more dimensional. They actually do stand out a bit and don't blend so much into the background IRL - the photos don't do this project enough justice! The snowflake on the O is the large Sizzx Snowflake #2 die found on page 31 of the Holiday Mini Catalog. I diecut a thin sheet of chipboard (like a cereal box) and glued each side of this with a Riding Hood Red snowflake to give it some weight and keep it from tearing very easily. The other embellishments are buttons, ribbon, twine, brads, half-back pearls, etc that I've had forever in my embellishment tote (not all are SU). They are adhered with glue dots or Mono-Multi glue.

This was a very fun project to work on, and I hope I've inspired you to try this out for yourself! Go ahead... you can do it! :)

See you next time!

With Sincere Thanks!

I feel very humbled and thankful ~ Amber and Sheri nominated me for this Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you both so much!!! With the Thanksgiving holiday and all the things I needed to catch up on lately, I had to push this out till I could catch my breath. The requirements to post the award on my blog were each alittle different ~ with Amber, I'm to post about 6 things I value, and 6 things that I don't care for so much and nominate my 6 receivers. Sheri's was to nominate my 5 receivers. I'm going to combine the two (I hope you don't mind...). If you click on Sheri or Amber's names, it'll take you to their wonderful blogs (also part of the requirements, but you should check out what they are up to anyway! hee hee)... I've not done this before, so I hope I'm doing it right!

OK, the 6 things that I value are -
* God's goodness and grace in my life
* my DH, Jim, who is a loving husband and super father
* my 4 wonderful children who bless my life every day
* my parents who are so supportive and filled with wisdom
* my friends who I laugh with, cry with, and fill me with encouragement
* the good health of my family

Now, the 6 things I don't care for very much (I am going to stick with personal quirks here) -
* lima beans
* socks with seams that rub under my toes
* socks with any holes -OK, I've just realized I have issues about my feet :)
* curtains open at night time
* dogs without manners (don't like dogs that jump up on you or beg at the table)
* loud music or TV

OK, paying this award forward, here are 6 people who inspire me for different reasons -
Jen - love your stories and humor
Stephanie - love you sharing recipes, events and scenery around your beautiful city
Sara - you have such a fabulous variety of projects
Renee - your creativity is wonderful
Sara - another creative guru here :)
Jan - your hard work with your SU business is inspirational and your classes look so fun!

Part Two -

Sheri gave me this award a couple months ago, but being a relatively new blogger who didn't blog hop, I didn't know much about other people's blogs or really what to do. Sheri is so sweet and helpful to answer some questions, so I'm paying this award forward with a couple of blogs that I like to visit -
Tai - your ideas are so fresh and fun
Twila - your project variety is fabulous

Thanks again, Sheri and Amber! I appreciate your thoughtfulness so much!