Stop the Presses!

It's a miracle! It's amazing! I stamped! I created! And I made not one, but two - yes, TWO - cards!!!!

But wait! There's more!

AND I'm blogging on the SAME DAY that I made them!!!!!!!!!!

I hope y'all were sitting down when you read that. I know it's quite a shock. I still can't believe it. I think I must have a fever or something. Or I'm trying to avoid the housework. :)

This is my first card using a digital image. I just love these little bunnies!
Cardstock: Real Red & Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up), White (Papertrey Ink)
Digital Image from Tiddly Inks
Colored w/ Copic Markers
Hearts embossing folder by Provocraft
Flowers and brad from Stampin' Up

Another card made with a digital image. I could get hooked on these things! So easy to use, and no storage space needed!

Cardstock: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up), White (Papertrey Ink)
Digital Image from Tiddly Inks
Colored w/ Copic Markers
Stamps - Sprinkles (Stampin' Up), sentiment by Hero Arts
Ink - Real Red, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up)
Ribbon - Stampin' Up



I don't know why I don't stamp more. I really should start creating again. Must. Must. Must.

Challenge Cards

So I'm sitting at Lake Whitney on our annual stamping/scrapbooking retreat and I'm stamping my fingers off. My goal for the weekend is to get some challenges done and make some Halloween and birthday cards. Here are my first three cards of the weekend.

This week's Clean and Simple Fall to Sketch #110 -

 

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black (Stampin' Up)
DP: Toil & Trouble (making memories)
Sentiment by Inkadinkado
Button from Papertrey Ink

This week's sketch from Friday Sketchers #122:

 

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black (Stampin' Up), White (Papertrey Ink)
DP from Stampin' Up
Image from Twick or Tweet by Stampin' Up
Ribbon from Stampin' Up

And one little random card I made while waiting for dinner to be served.

 

Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive (Stampin' Up), White (Papertrey Ink)
DP from Stampin' Up
Images from Autumn Harvest by Stampin' Up
Sentiment from Loads of Love Accessories by Stampin' Up
Colored with Copics - YR15, YR16, YR18, YG93, YG95, E49

First Attempt at Fur

I started this card about two weeks ago, but between creative difficulties and life just being very busy I didn't finish it until a couple of days ago. It started out as a sketch challenge, but now I don't recall which sketch challenge it was. (ETA: I found the challenge! It was Eat, Sleep, Stamp Sketch #100) Go figure! It is my first attempt at coloring fur with Copics. It's not wonderful, not too horrible for a first try, in my opinion.

 

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Garden Green and PTI white
DP: Bo Bunny Anna Sophia Worn Stripes
Image: Teddy with Flower by Lili of the Valley
Copics: C1, YG63, YG67, YR12, YR18, YR21, YR23, YR24, E31, E33, E50, E53
Other: flower by Vintaj brass

Chickadee Buttons

Stamping AND blogging twice in one week? I must be sick or something! ;)

I have wanted the Everyday Button Bits set from Papertrey Ink for ages, and when one of my friends offered to let me buy it from her recently I couldn't resist! (Thanks, Kris!) I had so many ideas while I was making this card that I'm sure you'll be seeing more in the next few days! And I decided to try a Clean and Simple sketch (107) this week. Here's the result:

 

I haven't invested in Papertrey's ink, paper, and buttons, so I had to do the best I could with what I have - Basic Grey buttons and DP (Lime Rickey). Cardstock is from Stampin' Up, as is the ink (Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi, and Daffodil Delight). I also used the scallop border punch from Stampin' Up. I didn't think I'd ever use this sheet of DP, but it worked well with the chickadees, in my opinion, especially with the googley eyes. :)

Oops!

I'm not sure where the picture of my card went in the following post, and I can't seem to put it back into the post, so here it is again! Thanks, Tammi, for alerting me to the problem!

 

Believe It or Not, It's a Card!

I stamped!
I created!
And I blogged!
Amazing, isn't it?

And to top it all off, I finally talked Ed into buying me a new camera last night. Our camera is, oh, about five or six years old. It's been a good camera, but the thing eats batteries and every time I want/need to take a picture the batteries are dead. I'd had enough! So last night after dinner we went to BestBuy and picked up a little Olympus FE4030. Simple little point and shoot job, but as long as the battery stays charged, I'm sure I'll love it. :)

 

It seems like it's been forever since I've stamped and I felt pretty rusty yesterday. This didn't come together like I wanted it to, but it is what it is. I used some old Stampin' Up paper on this card. All of the cardstock is from Stampin' Up, too, except for the white. It's from Papertrey Ink. Image is from Twick or Tweet by Stampin' Up,is stamped in Tuxedo Black ink from Memento, and colored with Copics. I also used the Boho Blossoms punch and the Pinking Hearts border punch, both from Stampin' Up.

January 2010 Reads and a Handful of Cards

Once again I see that time has flown by and I haven't posted anything. I've had lots of stuff running through my mind, but I can't seem to mold it into anything useful. This time of year has become a rather introspective time for me as the third anniversary of my head injury is right around the corner and the first anniversary of my grandmother's death is right there with it. I will not delve into that tonight, but instead will share a few cards I've made recently along with the books I read last month.

First, the cards. I decided to make a few Valentine's this year, which is something I don't usually do. I have purchased several V-Day sets over the years, though, so I figured I might as well put them to use! :)

 

Yucky picture, but that's what I get for waiting until dark to take card pics! :)

Cardstock: Bashful Blue (SU), PTI white

Printed paper: Imaginesce (last year's spring series, I forget the name)

Ink: Memento black, SU Close to Cocoa, birds colored w/ Copic markers

Images: The More the Merrier (SU)

 

Single layer cards. I don't do very well with these, but pulled out my Fabriano watercolor cards that I bought years ago and decided to give it a shot. Not too shabby, IMO. 

Cardstock: Fabriano watercolor

Ink: SU Basic Brown and Rose Red (I used a blender pen to color the flowers)

Images: Love You Much (SU)

Embellishment: Rose Red grosgrain ribbon (SU)

 

Another single layer card using the Fabriano watercolor cards.

Cardstock: Fabriano watercolor

Ink: SU Real Red

Images: Love You Much (SU)

Embellishment: Real Red grosgrain ribbon (SU)

And the most "complicated" card I've made lately is.....

 

 

Cardstock: Rose Red (SU), PTI white

Printede Paper: I know I bought it at Hobby Lobby, but the scraps I have left have been sitting for so long I have know idea who made it. :)

Ink: Memento black and Copic markers, Pretty in Pink (SU)

Images: Love You Much (SU)

Embellishment: white taffeta ribbon (SU), Stardust Stickles

The little pink flower is cut out and layered over the original image. The small hearts on the side are punched out of Rose Red CS using the SU 3 heart punch and covered w/ Stardust Stickles.

And that's it for cards. How about some books? I read four novels in January, two at lightening speed and two dragged on forever. That's how it goes sometimes! 

Dashing Through the Snow by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark

Another Christmas mystery by the mother-daughter team. I love Alvirah and Willie stories, but the quality of these yearly holiday tales is not what I think it could be.  I won't even go into the story line. Just don't even bother with this one, it was very disappointing.

Her Mother's Shadow by Diane Chamberlain

This is the sequel to Kiss River, which I read in December. This story focuses on Lacey and the ghosts of her past. When she is suddenly awarded guardianship of Mackenzie, the daughter of her best friend, Lacey must battle her own demons relating to losing her mother at a young age. The man that murdered her mother is coming up for parole and that just complicates everything. And who is Mackenzie's father? Should she tell Mackenzie who it is? A great read! Highly recommeneded!

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs

Cartoonist Sarah Moon's life has just been turned upside down. After walking in on her husband and his lover, Susan returns to her roots- a small town in northern CA. To make matters worse she finds that, after almost a year of fertility treatments, she is pregnant with twins. Returning home wasn't easy and she is forced to come to terms with her troubled past -an emotionally distant father, the loss of her mother, and the unexpected connection she has with Will Bonner. Will was the Golden Boy in high school, and she skewered him mercilessly in her comics. As Sarah begins to connect with her past, she just might find that life in a small town isn't so bad, that she can make it on her own, and Will Bonner just might be her very own Prince Charming. 

Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs

Second in the Cackleberry Club Mystery series. I love Laura Childs. She has a way of writing that just sucks me in and holds me captive to the very last page of the book. When Suzanne stops by the local funeral parlor to deliver a pie, she discovers Ozzie Driesden on the embalming table. Dead. Who murdered him, and why? And why did they drug Suzanne? Suzanne, Toni, and Petra team up to "help" the local sheriff with the case, but end up getting into plenty of trouble themselves. Great book!

More cards

I had to make birthday cards for our monthly staff meeting next week, and here they are!

Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, and Summer Sun from Stampin' Up
Printed paper - TAC
Other: white grosgrain ribbon, yellow brad, and Pearl Glimmer Mist

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, and Very Vanilla from Stampin' Up
Image - Deadbeat Designs cowboy
Colored with Copic markers
Other: Star Cuttlebug embossing plate, 3/16" eyelet, 1/4" twill tape

Card Challenge 2010 - Card 3

I seem to be on a roll these days. It's so much more fun to make cards when it's just because I want to and not for a specific birthday/holiday/occasion.  I knocked this card out pretty quickly this afternoon and had a great time making it. It's another super simple card, but that's the way I like 'em! :)

Images: Snowflakes are from Punch Pals, snowmen & sentiment are from The More the Merrier. Both sets are from Stampin' Up!
Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Real Red, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, and White Craft ink (all SU)
Brads are by Queen & Co.
I colored the snowmen using a blender pen and the white craft ink, used the SU markers to color the buttons, scarves, etcc. Then I used the corner rounder on all of the corners and popped the sentiment up on dimensionals. Quick & easy!

Card Challenge 2010 - Card 2

I'm on a roll! It's only the 7th day of the new year and I have made two cards and this is my fifth blog post! I'm pretty dang proud of myself if I do say so. I sure hope this becomes a habit! I really need to get some use out of the items in my stamping "collection".

Today I made a Christmas card. Yes, I know Christmas is over, but I buy so many different things to make Christmas cards with each year and then the vast majority of it never gets used. Today I broke out a couple of new things and a couple of things that haven't seen much love since they were added to my collection - my Big Shot, my Curly Label punch (from SU), the Poinsetta embossing folder, and the Christmas Punch stamp set (also from SU).

Ed bought the Big Shot for me for Christmas and I love it! Well, actually, it was one of those "Hey Ed! Guess what you bought me for Christmas?" incidents, but still.... I have only used it a few times, but it is so much more versatile than my Cuttlebug. Definitely a good purchase!

Cardstock: Real Red, Glorious Green, Whisper White (all SU)
Ink: Real Red (SU)
Poinsetta Embossing folder
Movers & Shapers Curly Label Bigz die
Embellishment: Real Red & Glorious Green ribbon, Candy Cane Stickles

This was my first attempt at using the Movers & Shapers die on my own. It took some thinking and a couple of goof ups before I got all three layers to line up perfectly, but it wasn't too bad. I'll use it again, that's for sure!

Alert the media!

Call the newspapers! Call CNN! I'm posting my FOURTH blog post in a week! I don't think I have done such a thing in at least a year! :) And not only am I blogging AGAIN, I'm blogging about CARDS! Crazy, huh? ;)

A few of my LOSTie sisters and I participated in a Christmas card kit swap waaaaaaaaaaay back in October. We each received card kits from each other that included just an uncolored image and the paper necessary to make a card. Coming up with the layout and embellishments was the challenge! So, without further ado, here they are!

Barb's card (I really struggled w/ this one, and do not like the end result. It still needs something, I just don't know what....)

Cindy's card

Edie's card:

Jessica's card:

Kris's card (Another challenging one. I covered the felt snowflake w/ glue and then sprinkled glitter on it):

Rachel's card:

My card (It has a funny greenish tint in the picture. Not sure why. Looks better IRL!):

I love these card kit swaps and hope we do another before too much longer!

Bunco prizes

Greetings from the land of the unwell. I have felt rotten since Sunday and I am so sick of it! I did get to see my doctor yesterday and I'm all stocked up with antibiotics, so I think the worst of it is behind me. I knew getting sick was inevitable. My allergies have been bad for the past few weeks and when they stay bad for that long I'm destined for a sinus infection. *sigh* Such is life.

My friend and co-worker Melissa asked me to make some gifts/prizes for her Bunco group. I made the tin back in December (don't know if I ever shared it), and have no use for it, so I'm tossing it into the gift pile, but the other two items are freshly made.

First, the tin...

I used all Stampin' Up materials for this project, except for the tin itself and the white paint on the lid. I believe the tin is from a hot chocolate product that my sister received last year as a secret Santa gift. She gave me several of them to alter. The white paint is good old Tulip paint from Hobby Lobby. Nothing fancy! :)

To cover the tin I used Jersey Shore paper adhered w/ Terrifically Tacky Tape. It's trimmed in Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon. The stamped image is from Simply Said, and is stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink, punched w/ the 1 1/4" circle punch. That is layered on Wild Wasabi CS (punched w/ 1 3/8" circle punch) and that is layered on a 1 1/2" Night of Navy circle. I used an Old Olive brad in the center of the flower, and the whole thing is mounted on a pop-up glue dot. The ribbon is Wild Wasabi.


For the top of the tin, I roughly painted the edges white, adhered Pumpkin Pie CS in the center (after stamping a small flower from Simply Said in Pumpkin Pie ink randomly on the CS) using Terrifically Tacky Tape, and them made the flower and mounted it on pop-up glue dots and dimensionals. I made the flower by punching Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, and Wild Wasabi CS w/ the 5-petal flower punch. I layered the blues for the flower and anchored them together with a large brad (not SU). For the "leaves" I cut 3 of the petals off of the Wild Wasabi flower and attached them to the underside of the flower. I then took an Old Olive marker and gave them a little "leaf line" down the center. Easy peasy!



For the post-it note holder, I used a 4x6 piece of Bo Bunny paper, adhered a 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 piece of Ruby Red CS to it, added a cute cow image (from An 'Udder Birthday, TAC) that I colored w/ SU markers and mounted on Old Olive CS, and slid the whole thing into an acrylic frame. Then I tied some Old Olive ribbon around it, attached a pad of Post-It notes on top of the red CS, and voila - a gift! This has to be one of the quickest things to make in the entire craft world. The hardest part is just choosing which papers and image to use!


And last, but not least, is the calendar. This is the first one of these that I have made, so it was kind of a shot in the dark. I made the calendar using Excel and then trimmed all the months to be the same size. I know you can buy little mini calendars, but I didn't have the time to order any. I covered 2 chipboard coasters w/ printed paper (this is from Basic Grey), inked the edges with Summer Sun ink, mounted the calendar on Summer Sun CS, and added some green grosgrain ribbon and 3/16" eyelets. The image is from tha same stamp set as the post-it-holder - An 'Udder Birthday from TAC - and I colored it w/ Prismacolor pencils and OMS. Punched it out with the Marvy Mega circle punch, mounted it on a piece of Summer Sun CS punched w/ the Marvy Giga scalloped circle punch, piereced some holes in it around the edges, and adhered it to the chipboard. The two pieces of chipboard are held together with mini-hinges from making Memories. Just a note - the Cropodile comes in quite handy when making projects using chipboard!

Inspiration Station

My friend Cindy posted this link on this week's LOSTie thread yesterday on Splitcoast...

Mini Inspiration Station

I think this is an awesome idea! I'm always coming across paper/stamps/embellishments after a season or holiday is over. You know - the whole, "I forgot I had that! It would have been perfect!" kind of thing. It's especially common for those of us who have hoarded, um, I mean COLLECTED stamping stuff for years.

Sooooooooo, when I went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon, I picked up my own little inspiration station. It's not a gorgeous Longaberger basket. My budget is more along the Hobby Lobby 50% off baskets. After supper tonight I pulled out all of my Halloween/Fall papers, stamps, ribbon, Stickles, and other embellies. I need to work on Christmas stuff, but I thought I'd play with my much-neglected fall stuff for a couple of weeks. Here are a couple of pics....




I was pleasantly surprised at how much fall stuff I have! I had no idea. Sad, huh?

After showing off my new Inspiration Station to Ed, he asked if I was going to use it on my Stamping Plantation. I think he's seen 101 Dalmatians one too many times. I did promise not to stamp on any Dalmations. Now I've got the Dalmatian Plantation song stuck in my head!

Baby boy!

Our Minister of Discipleship and his wife are expecting their first baby - a boy - any day now. Today our church had a baby shower for them, but since I'm sick I decided to stay home and keep my germs to myself.

All of us ladies in the church office went in together for a gift, and I offered to make the card.



This is one of those cards that took FOREVER to make, but it was fun. You know, sometimes they come together in 15 minutes, and sometimes it takes hours to get it right. I just couldn't get the colors and the images to work for some reason. I've had an idea of what I wanted to make roaming around in my head for a week or so, but when I tried to get make the idea a reality it just didn't come together. This isn't quite what I had planned, but I like it.

Images: Zoofari, So Many Sayings (from Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Palette Noir Black, Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie (from Stampin' Up!)
Printed Paper: Jersey Shore (from Stampin' Up!)
Ribbon: Wild Wasabi (from Stampin' Up!)
Other: brads from Spare Parts, Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder, oval and circle punches from Stampin' Up
Images are colored with Prismacolor pencils and OMS.

Quick card

Here is a quick card I made last weekend. I haven't even had time to think about stamping this week, let alone the mental energy to do so.


This is a VERY simple card. It's 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches. All supplies are from Stampin' Up. The card base is Old Olive, second layer is Very Vanilla, third layer is River Rock, and the top layer is a sheet of printed paper from the Dashing collection. I used the Always stamp set and Old Olive ink, circle punches in 1/4", 1/2", 1", and 1 1/4". The three stamped images are layered on Old Olive cardstock and popped up on dimensionals. And I used the corner rounder punch to round all of the corners. I thought they blended nicely with all of the circles. Super quick and super easy!

Inkin' Up the New Rubbah

This past Saturday we went to Fort Worth to meet up with my LOSTIe sistah Emily to buy her Crop in Style XXL, and to meet up with our old friends Shane and Lisa and their kids for lunch and a trip to Cabela's. It was great to see Emily again and meet her husband and kids. And it was great to see Shane and Lisa and their kids again, too! It was way too much for my little damaged brain, and I'm still recovering from major over-stimulation and over-tiredness, but overall I did amazingly well given the amount of stuff that we did.

So, anyway, we met Emily and her family at a stamp store in Fort Worth AND the store was having a "garage sale." Talk about bargains! :) Between this trip, my LOSTie sistah Rachel's sharing of bargains in Idaho, my recent trip to Stamp Salado, and gifts received from my secret sistah Barb, I'm well stocked with new rubber. Here, have a look....


I stayed home from work today after waking up "seizurish" and deciding that it wasn't safe for me to get behind the wheel and drive. I took advantage of the marvelous quiet time and got creative. I made three cards today, and tweaked one I made last week.


I bought this set (Haunting Halloween, by Stampin' Up) on Saturday at the stamp shop. It was gently used, and I was tickled to get it. I've wanted it for about a year, but I'm not a big Halloween fan and couldn't justify the cost to buy it new.

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Only Olive (All from Stampin' Up)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pallette Noir
Ribbon: Old Olive Twill
Other: Marvy Giga scalloped circle punch, Marvy Mega circle punch, black gel pen, prismacolor pencils, OMS, Twinkling H2O's, Yellow Stickles





Rachel bought this stamp on sale for me. She rocks!!! I realize that July 4th is long gone, but I've been wanting to play with this stamp since it came out last spring.

Stamps: Stampendous Biker Bee, Sentiment unknown
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Brilliant Blue (All from Stampin' Up)
Ink: Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Pallette Noir
Ribbon: White Grosgrain
Other: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, Brilliant Blue brads, Stardust Stickles





Cupcakes are all the rage these days, and I've held off on buying this set. However, at the stamp store Saturday I fell head over heals in love with it and it HAD to come home with me. :)

Stamps: Hero Arts Cupcakes, Linen background (Stampin' Up)
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Old Olive (All from Stampin' Up)
Ink: Pallette Noir
Ribbon: Striped grosgrain
Other: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, Old Olive brad, Stardust Stickles, Red Stickles




And last, but definitely not least, is the card I made last week and tweaked today.


Stamps: Changito Play Ball (by Stampendous)
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (All from Stampin' Up)
Ink: Pallette Noir
Other: Prismacolor pencils, OMS, Dewdrops, Cuttlebug folders (circle, frills), pink Stickles

World Domination Delayed

***Sorry for the wonky photo layout in this post. Blogger is NOT cooperating today!***

I've taken a short break from taking over the world. I need to make a trip to Walmart or Target before I can tackle the big shelves, and that's not going to happen today. Maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've been stamping! If you don't want to clean and reorganize the stamping stuff, then just pull it all out and use it! Right?

Yesterday I made these two cards:






I learned to make these at stamp group a couple of weeks ago. I planned to make a couple before now, but I put the template in a "safe place" and didn't find it until late yesterday. :)
Both are made from all Stampin' Up products: cardstock is Certainly Celery, Ballet Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White; DP is Sarah and Summer Picnic; sentiment from Warmest Regards; corner ticket punch; Color Spritzer tool; Certainly Celery, Ballet Blue, and Pumpkin Pie ink.
























And I made a few more thank you cards for my sister. Here's an example of just one of them:


I love this M&M stamp from Deadbeat Designs! Cardstock is Brilliant, Blue, YoYo Yellow, and Whisper White. YoYo Yellow ribbon; sentiment is from Bold & Basic Greetings; Brilliant Blue, Glorious Green, Real Red, Only Orange, YoYo Yellow ink. All items from Stampin' Up except for the M&M.