Lazy Dog Blog

Little Luminary and a Super Deal

2010-11-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

We are going to be making this adorable little snowflake luminary at a workshop hosted by Jennifer this weekend. I coudn't stand the idea of tossing the snowflake that was punched out so we are going to make a little set of 3 x 3 cards also.

This luminary can also double as a treat holder. You can use it to deliver some homemade cookies or fancy candies to someone for the holidays. After the treats are gone just put a battery operated tea light inside. Quick, easy and really cute!

I got the idea for these little luminaries from KatheD on Stampin Connection. This website is a fabulous resource available only to Stampin' Up! demos. Wanna have access to the thousands of stamping ideas on Stampin Connection? This is the perfect time to join Stampin' Up!.

Stampin' Up! Starter Kit Contents

The starter kit price has been reduced by 50% until November 30th! That is over $300 worth of stamping supplies and business materials for only $87.50. Seriously, this is an amazing deal!

So, if you have ever thought about being part of Stampin' Up! now is the time to try it out! You can sign up or get more details by going to my website http://mollyb.stampinup.net/ and clicking on Start Your Own Business in the upper right. (you will need this password to sign up: mollyb) If you have any questions feel free to contact me at jamb1997(at)roadrunner(dot)com

Hello Baby Monkey

2010-11-05T21:00:00.003-04:00

A challenge over at SCS today was to use anything with a tail. I think this little monkey from Fox and Friends has the cutest tail ever! And I love that he is hanging by his super cute tail from the sentiment.
I used the scalloped square punch to make the Bashful Blue and Crumb Cake patches. They were adhered to a layer of Early Espresso and then run through the Square Lattice Embossing Folder with the Big Shot. Gave a nice quilted look, ha? More layers of Whisper White and Early Espresso and then onto a Bashful Blue card base.

I used:
Stamps: Fox and Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Early Espresso
Other Stuff: Scallop Square XL Punch, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Big Shot

A 2 Challenge Card

2010-11-04T09:27:00.004-04:00

This quick card takes on 2 challenges at once. First it uses FTL 113 (from last week...yes, I'm a slacker) on the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog and Color Challenge 295 over at SCS. Yea me!

The weather is so blah here today that getting a good photo was next to impossible.

The stamp is from Just Believe and I inked it up first with Peach Parfait and then rolled the edges only in Cajun Craze. Gives the image a lot of depth.

Here is what I used:

Stamps: Just Believe, Tiny Tags

Ink: Peach Parfait, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso

Other Stuff: Jewelry Medium Tag Punch, Early Espresso 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Linen Thread, Stamping Sponge

September Class Samples

2010-09-21T19:42:00.008-04:00

These are the cards we will be making at this weekend's class.

If you are interested in joining us here are the details:

When: Saturday, September 25th. 12:30

Where: Mariners Compass Quilt Shop, Bath Maine

What else: The class fee is $25 and you will get all supplies (pre-cut to size and ready to stamp) and instruction to make 12 cards and 3 treat bags.

Let me know ASAP if you are interested so that I can have your kits all ready to go!

Serene Northern Frost

2010-08-10T05:11:00.000-04:00

Here are the cards I promised you yesterday that use the new die from the Holiday Mini. Can you find the die cut peices I'm talking about? It is the snowflakes! Aren't they great? Ok I think they are great! The die gives you 8 different snowflakes! They are super detailed and look awesome layered up like this. A little Basic Pearl in the center is perfect.

The other sneak peak on this card is the Witner Wonderland sentiment. It comes
from a little set called Bright Christmas that has 3 wonderful Holiday sentiments in it.

The background was stamped using Serene Snowflakes. I used Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist to randomly stamp the snowflakes on a piece of Very Vanilla (even though it doesn't look like Vanilla in the top card). The I cut it up to make the various sized pieces for a bunch of different cards. The top one was run through the Big Shot with the Square Lattace Embossing Folder. The card below has the sentiment stamped on the lower part of the card that was stamped only with the smallest snowflakes in the set. A little of the 1/8" Early Espresso Ribbon hid the seam of the two layers.

Thanks for the visit!

2010-08-09T06:54:00.001-04:00

Since I was on a roll with trying new things the other day (after the little baby wipe technique) I decided to try making a background with my brayer. And I was itching to use my new set Just Believe. How beautiful is that image? So this is what I did...

I brayered So Saffron onto my Whisper White and then Pumpkin Pie on top of that but not as far down. Then a little bit of Cajun Craze on the top and down the edge a bit. The flower image was stamped in Early Espresso and I also brayered a little of the same at the bottom to make some ground.

So did you notice that yummy DSP layer on there? It is from the Autumn Spice pack that will be available September 1st in the Holiday Mini! It is textured and it is fabulous!

I have been working on more stuff from the Holiday Mini including a new die that I am soooo in love with... But you will have to wait a little longer to see those samples. Ok, maybe I will put them up tomorrow! hee-hee!

Thanks for the visit!

Funky Little Trees

2010-08-07T18:47:00.002-04:00

So these little trees are from a set called Funky Four. I think I found a way to make these trees really funky! Don't they look all tie-dyed? Wanna know how I did it?

I made my own ink pad using my classic ink refills and a baby wipe. Yes, a baby wipe!

I grabbed a regular ol' baby wipe and folded it over a couple of times and placed it in a paper plate. I used More Mustard, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze and Rich Razzleberry ink refills and added just a few drops of each color randomly on the baby wipe until I got an area a little larger than the tree stamp inked up.

It worked like a regular ink pad from that point on. After I inked the tree I used a Early Espresso marker to do the trunk. I made sure to stamp a bunch of these trees, I think I must have done 30 or 40 of them the one "ink pad" that I made. The colors started to fade some at the end but not bad for a first try at this technique I think.

I used the FTL 102 sketch for my card. The little lines were done with my paper trimmer and bone folder. The button on the left is a Designer Button from the Brights collection and the other two are some of the Bitty Buttons with paper behind them that was punched with the coordinating Itty Bitty Shapes punches. All of the buttons were tied with Linen Thread. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. A must have set!

Here is a great tutorial on how to make a stamp pad with a Baby Wipe.

Thanks for the visit!

True Friend Gala

2010-08-06T18:52:00.004-04:00

A card from class last weekend. I started with FTL 95 from the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog. The butterfly from Simple Friendship was inked with Daffodil Delight and then the edges were inked with some Pumpkin Pie. A little Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz and then the butterfly was trimmed out.
The pattern paper is from the the Greenhouse Gala DSP pack. Pear Pizzazz was used for the card base.
The ribbon is the new 1/8" Taffeta in Daffodil Delight.
A nice summery card I think. I have been playing with all my my new Summer Mini (psst.. it goes live on September 1st and it is awesome) goodies today. I will have them up to show you soon. So much fun!

Oh yea and I made the same card in blues too. The yellow is still my favorite of the two.

Owl Note Holder

2010-07-27T09:08:00.001-04:00

I love this little card and note pad holder set that I made for my friend and party hostess Jennifer last weekend. I used the Two Step Owl Punch that is new in the Idea Book and Catalog. How stinkin' cute is he?

I used the new Sweet and Sour DSP because I knew that Jennifer had a special love of orange and pink together. It is super cute paper too.

The note pad holder base is made from Early Espresso. Very Vanilla and the Sweet and Sour DSP layered on top. I used 2 ribbons to make my little owl a place to sit. The first was Pumpkin Pie Taffeta and I layered some Rose Red 1/4" Grosgrain (retired) on top of that. I love the look of the two ribbons layered up like that.

A Pumpkin Pie Button from the Brights Designer Buttons collection and some Hemp Twine made a little spot for my Crumb Cake branch to start from. The branch was made using the Two Step Bird Punch.

I made the card the same and added it to a Very Vanilla base. I even added two little customized matching clips to the note holder.

Friends Never Fade

2010-07-25T08:56:00.000-04:00

I just adore the flowers in the Friends Never Fade set. I stamped this flower and sentiment stamp three times on Whisper White to create my main image. Once with each Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, and Pear Pizzaz. From the Early Espresso image I cut out the flower center and the word Friends. I cut the flower from the Pear Pizzaz image. I layered all of these back on top of the Baja Breeze image and popped the flower up with some Dimensionals.

That very cool patterned paper is from the Greenhouse Gala DSP pack. The ribbon is the 1/4" Early Espresso Taffeta Ribbon.

This layout was based on FTL 94 over at Clean & Simple Stamping. LOVE that blog!

Hello Friend

2010-07-22T08:35:00.002-04:00

This card uses the Builder Wheels that debuted in the Summer Mini. These Builder Wheels work with the Jumbo Wheel Handle. You can mix and match the wheels any way you want... 1,2 or 3 at at time in the handle. A Triple Cell Cartridge makes it so easy to ink up the builder wheels in any combo of colors you want.

This card uses the Posy Party Wheel and the Bees & Blossoms Wheel. I left the center space on the Spindle empty to leave a blank area that is perfect for the ribbon. This is the new 1/2" Stitched Poly Robbon in Pear Pizzaz. So soft and wonderful!

I inked the wheels with Rich Razzleberry ink and rolled them onto Whisper White for the main panel and again onto the Rich Razzleberry background layer.

I used the Tiny Tags stamp set and the Medium Jewelry Tag Punch to make the little sentiments. I also added a couple of the new Rhinestones in the flower centers for a little bling.

Itty Bitty Blog Post

2010-07-20T20:16:00.003-04:00

This is one of the cards we made at a Stampin' Up! Party hosted by Jennifer on Sunday.
Here are the details....
Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits 117056 Wood Mount or 120060 Clear Mount
Teeny Tiny Wishes 115370
Paper: Whipser White 100730, Daffodil Delight 119683, Island Oasis DSP 117173
Ink: Pumpkin Pie 105216, Old Olive 102277, Rose Red 101778
Accessories: Bitty Buttons 118761, Itty Bitty Shapes Punches 118309, Linen Thread 104199, Paper Piercer 116631, Mat Pack 105826, Heart to Heart Extra Large Punch 119881

Watercolor Trio Kit

2010-06-09T08:08:00.004-04:00

Here are the details for the Watercolor Trio Kit.

The kit will make 3 each of the 3 cards shown above. The top card has 3 different treatment options for the Old Olive layer... embossing, punching or tearing. Depending on what you like or have for supplies you can do it however you like. The embossed option is shown above, the other 2 options are shown in the instructions.

Cost: $12 (plus shipping if required)

In the kit: All of the consumables (paper, ribbon, buttons) cut to size to make 9 cards, complete instructions for assembly.

What else you will need: (this is what I used, you can always substitute other colors, stamp sets, etc.)

Watercolor Trio Stamp Set (#117050 wood mount, #120084 clear mount)
Old Olive Classic Ink (#102277)

Regal Rose Classic Ink (#105211)

Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (#100908)

Whisper White Craft Ink (#101731)

Certainly Celery Classic Ink (#105217)

Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink (#105210)

VersaMark Ink (#102283)

Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker (#100079)

Pretty In Pink Stampin' Write Marker (#100045)

Regal Rose Marker (#105108)

Pumpkin Pie Marker (#105115)

Elegant Eggplant Marker (#105234)

Snail Adhesive (#104332 or refill #104331)

Other supplies: (these are additional items that I used)
Dimensionals (#104430), Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set (#115370), Border Punches, Big Shot, Embossing Folders

These kits are being cut as they are ordered. The other supplies needed are available through my website or you can e-mail me (jamb1997 at roadrunner dot com) to order as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Stamp Sets Need a Good Home!

2010-05-21T10:16:00.006-04:00

I've done the difficult task of weeding out a few stamp sets.
These sets are for sale to a good home.

Papetrey Ink Stamps:
Butterfly Kisses Sold
Around and About Sentiments Sold
Faux Ribbon Sold
Its's A Celebration Sold
Mixed Messages Sold
Boxes, Bags and Tags and Favor it Baby Sold
Wise Owl and Wise Owl Bellies Sold
Out of the Box Sold
Mailbox Greetings Sold
Background Basics: Spots and Dots $8.00

My Favorite Things
Happpy Occasions $8.00

All of these stamps have been gently used and are in excellent shape with only minor staining. Leave a comment here or email me if you are interested in any of these. Make sure you leave your email in the comment so I can get back to you.
Shipping will be $4.95 for up to 3 sets. (I think I can cram that many into a priority envelope anyway.) I can only ship them in the United States. Paypal will work for me if it works for you. Otherwise I'm sure we can figure something out. I will update with more sets (when I can get around to cleaning out more) and those that have been claimed as needed. Feel free to contact me at jamb1997(at)roadrunner.com if you have any quesitons.

Summer Mini and Class Samples

2010-05-05T10:26:00.006-04:00

Got a few examples of stuff from the new Summer Mini that we will be making in class on May 15th.

The first one uses the new stamp set called Go Graduate. This one is actually a money holder. (These are our highschool colors, if you are coming to class and want a different color combo please let me know.) There will also be a non-graduation variety of of this card but I'm still working on that one. I will share as soon as I have it done.

This card uses Elements of Style! Beautiful set!

This is my favorite card for this class.... so far. It uses the gown stamp from the Blissful Bride set. I also used some of the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (new in the Summer Mini as well) on the dress. Gives it the perfect amount of glitz with out making the card too over the top.

There is a link to the Summer Mini over there ----->

If you want to come to class and make these great cards (and one more) let me know. Remember if you bring a friend who has never attended a class before, you get to choose and item from the freebie bin OR take $5 off the cost of the class. When your friend comes back to a second class she will get her choice from the freebie basket.

Here are the class details:

May 15th, 12:30, in Poolyanna' Parlor at MCQS. Cost $25 Please bring the basics.. scissors, pencil, adhesive..

Birthday Flip Book

2010-03-31T12:35:00.003-04:00

Just a quick look at another of the flip books I have made. This one is uses the Happy B-day Simply Scrappin' kit. Just one of the choices available for the class on April 17th. Check out all of the class details here on this post. There is still time to sign up! Let me know if you have any questions... Hopefully I can get some photos in this and the Christmas one before class, eeek!

Flip Book Class Details

2010-03-22T09:30:00.003-04:00

These little memory books may look complicated but they are really simple to make. This class will show you just how quick and easy they really are. With one Simply Scrappin’ kit you will be able to make two 6"x6" flip books. The class will show you how to make the base of the book. How you decorate it with the pattern papers and self-adhesive die cuts is completely up to you. Bring your photos along if you want.

The Christmas Jingle Scrappin' Kit (shown in the samples) is perfect to get last years holiday photos off of the camera and into an album!

Here are the details:
April 17th at 10:30 a.m. in Pollyanna’s Parlor at MCQS Cost $35
Included in the cost of this class:
* detailed written instructions (with photos) for making the flip book base
* one Simply Scrappin’ kit of your choice (pages 164-167 in the Idea Book and Catalog or here online)
* a length of a coordinating ribbon for closure tie
* Sticky Strip for putting the base of the book together
*Use of my punches, inks, Big Shot and dies for the day to help decorate your flip books.
*As an extra class bonus you will be able to order the stamp set that coordinates with your Scrappin’ kit at 10% off the catalog price. Those stamp sets are listed in the details of the kits. (Make sure your order it when you sign up if you want to have it for the class.)

Please bring:
12” paper cutter, a ruler, scissors, a pencil and adhesive. Since we have access to the classroom all day feel free to bring a lunch and make a day of it.
You can leave your payments at MCQS or contact me for other payment options and if you wish to order any coordinating items for your flip book. Make sure you make a note of what Scrappin’ Kit you want.
All payments and kit choices must be received by April 2nd. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

A little Thank You

2010-01-28T21:05:00.006-05:00

Just jumping in on the old blog to post this card I made a couple of weeks ago. I love how it came out. Trendy trees and Tiny Tags. And yes I am still using that Sweet Pea designer series paper. A nice manly card I think. Those are so hard to come up with at the last minute so I like to have a few on hand that I can just add a sentiment to.

The wind is whipping here something fierce so I had better go before the power does.

Baby Giraffe

2010-01-07T13:40:00.007-05:00

I've got another super quick card today. This is yet another pattern in the Sweet Pea DSP collection. I seriously love every one of the patterns in this stack.

The little giraffe is from Fox and Friends. He is inked up with So Saffron and I used a sponge dauber to ink a little bit of Chocolate Chip onto his mane and tail before I stamped him onto Whisper White. Yet again I have used the Tiny Tags set and the Medium Jewelry punch for the "baby" tag. This set and punch are going to get some serious use from me. I may have to beg Stampin' Up! to make more little sentiments and words to fit it. I bet I can find some more in my big ol' stash somewhere that will fit. A good mission.... and maybe I can get some stamp organizing done at the same time? yea right!

The little scalloped oval was done using the Movers and Shapers. The giraffe is actually stamped on the Whisper White base that shows through the oval window. I just sponged a little Chocolate Chip around the window and it makes it look almost like a shadow. That is a great way to get the look of layers without actually layering.

To find out more about the Movers and Shapers Dies and Windows check out my this post. And if you would like to browse the newest Stampin' Up! catalogs and merchandise you can go here or you can find the links to download the catalogs right over there ------>

Movers And Shapers Tutorial... Kind of

2010-01-06T09:50:00.001-05:00

After I posted my little heart cards I had a couple of questions about the Movers and Shapers die that I used to make the heart cut out on the front of the card.
The Movers and Shapers Dies from Stampin' Up! are great. You can punch a shape anywhere in your card, regular punches can only reach so far. The shapes are made to nest with many of the Stampin' Up! punches for great layering and nesting. I made a little photo tutorial to help me explain how to use them. So here we go...

*sorry, some of these photos are a little out of whack.. I took them late last night. If you click on them they should get bigger*

There are two parts to the Movers and Shapers die "system" (for lack of a better word). The first part is the Bigz die. This die has a large metal surface that holds the window dies with magnets. This die also cuts and scores a standard size card base. (The card will fold on top.)

The other part of this system is the window dies. When you buy the Movers and Shapers Bigz die it comes with the Curly Label window (bottom window die in photo). I also own the Punch set of windows that are available in the main catty (top 4 window dies). These particular windows coordinate with the matching SU punches creating perfect mats and layers. There are also Holiday Window Dies available (they are on my list, hee-hee).

A few examples of how the windows look when cut and how their shapes (the darker colors) nest with the coordinating punch shapes (the lighter colors). The Curly Label Window also has an added scored detail around the window.
To use the Movers and Shapers first decide where you want your window cut from your card. I have a piece of graph paper inside my die (covering the metal base) that allows me to place my window more evenly (not my idea.. can't take credit for that one!).

You can cut a standard sized card and window with one crank through the Big Shot by covering the outer cutting lines with your card stock.

Or you can place a smaller, pre-cut card inside the cutting lines and only cut the window. If you just want the shape from the window simply run a small scrap big enough to cover the window through. You get the idea.....

Starting at the bottom you will need to stack one Extended Cutting Pad, the Movers and Shapers die (with window placed where you want it) facing up, card stock and the other Extended Cutting Pad on top. Run this stack through you Big Shot.

Tada, it is that easy!

A few tips I learned so far...

..experiment with the dies and shapes to find the best spot for your window on scrap before you cut your card. (Ask me how I know?!)

.. don't toss the shapes leftover when you make a window. Keep them for use later.

.. you can cut along the outer score marks on the Curly Label window to create a larger window opening.

.. if I'm making a smaller card I cut to size and score the card first. Then I line up my score line with the score line on the Bigz die. Just make sure that none of the card is hanging over the cut lines on the die.

.. you can cut a standard size card base (4 1/4 wide x 11 long) first and then run it through. Just make sure to line up the card base with the cut lines on the Bigz die. A little bit of an edge might get trimmed off but it shouldn't be noticeable. If you have trouble getting a nice shaped card try cutting your card base either a bit wider or smaller (maybe 1/8" - 1/4"). This allows the card to either stay just inside the cut lines or allows a little extra to be trimmed off without losing any of your card base.

.. I know that some Bigz die will work in other die cut machines. I have not tried the Movers and Shapers in anything other than the Big Shot so I can not vouch for how it will work. I know one problem is that the Sizzix cutting pads are wider than those that come with other machines. In most cases the Bigz die itself will fit through other machines but the cutting pads will not. Bigz dies require the Extended Cutting Plates (the long ones) and I know, having owned a little green machine (wink, wink) the cutting pads that come with it are not long enough. Some people have found ways around this (shaving down Sizzix plates, piecing together one or more other plates) but I again I can not recommend any of these because I have not tried them myself and do not know what effect it would have on your machine or dies.

I hope this helps take some of the mystery out of the Movers and Shapers Dies. If you have any questions feel free to email me or leave a comment here. Just remember if you leave a comment, leave your email too so that I can get back to you.

Have a great day!

Leftovers

2010-01-06T08:28:00.001-05:00

Here is the card I made using the Sweet Pea scraps that were leftover from the cards I showed you yesterday. I had a few long skinny pieces so I adhered them to a regular piece of typing paper and snugged them up close to one another. Then I used the Full Heart Punch to punch out the tri-colored hearts. I did the same with one of the hearts in the Heart to Heart punch. One more strip for the scalloped border and a little thin strip of the tiny polka dot brown. The Be My Valentine is from the Chit Chat Rub-Ons. I never think to use rub-ons. Maybe because I have never had good luck with them in the past. But these went on like buttah, I tell ya! I will for sure be reaching for these again. And with the newest Chat Room Rub-Ons available in the new Mini I will have plenty to choose from. Yea!

I will try to move onto other paper and punches now... or at least different colors from the Sweet Pea collection.. There is enough variety to keep me busy for quite some time in there..

ETA: I am working on a little tutorial on how to use the Movers and Shapers dies. I hope to have it done this afternoon but if not look for it tomorrow.

Sweet Pea Hearts

2010-01-05T08:05:00.001-05:00

A couple cute little 4 1/4" square cards today. These use the newest paper from Stampin' Up!. Sweet Pea. I used the Movers and Shapers heart to make the cut out on the front and then the Full Heart punch for the inside heart. They are perfect for layering and nesting. The little hearts are the Heart to Heart punch.

Again, today I used the Tiny Tags set for the "love" across the bottom. Super easy to line up those clear stamps and get a nice straight line of images. Of course I still had to draw a faint pencil line to make sure they were perfectly straight but it could have been done with out all of that trouble.

Tomorrow I have one more card using this same paper. Actually it was made with the little tiny scrap pieces left over from these cards. No wasting this paper that is for sure.. I love it too much to waste a tiny scrap!

So today is the day! Sale-a-Bration has started and so has the new Mini. You can see all of the new goodies on my website. (You can browse all of the Stampin' Up! cattys from over on my sidebar too.) ----->

Don't forget if you place a $50 order (before s&h and tax) you get to choose a free item from the Sale-a-Bration catty. And there is some awesome stuff in there. Wait till you see the Scallop Trim Border Punch!

Distressed?

2010-01-04T12:50:00.003-05:00

I tried! I really did. This was my best attempt at a distressed card. I was distressed making it but that was about it!

Really what I wanted to do was show you Vintage Vogue a new stamp set from Stampin" Up. I love the vine!

The little tag is new too. Tiny Tags, appropriately named, is adorable! And the Medium Jewelry Tag Punch is perfect with it. I stamped the little flowery vine from that set off once on scrap and then stamped it right over my "friends" sentiment. My favorite part of this card I think..

All of this new stuff is available tomorrow! I will be up bright and early putting in an order full of fun stuff to play with during class on Jan 16th. If you want to see all of the new stuff check out the new cattys on my Stampin' Up! website. I will have links on my sidebar soon....
Hope everyone is having a good start to the New Year!

With All My Heart Thank You

2009-12-07T09:05:00.005-05:00

I've got a little sneak peak for you today. These stamps are from a new stamp set that will be available in the Occasions Mini on Jan 5th. It is called With All My Heart. And the paper, oooh, the paper.. Sending Love is a new paper pack that has the perfect amount of glitter on each piece. I'm really loving this paper. So much so that I have another version of this card using another color scheme from the same pack. These use a sketch from the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog. FTL #64 to be exact! A total copy of the sample for that sketch. I totally fell in love with it, I think it was the rounded corners that got me! I just love those sketches.

If you signed up for my card workshop on Jan 16th (there is only one spot left by the way) These are some of the cards we will be making.

Gotta run, I'm in the middle of a house cleaning, card making marathon. A little cleaning, then a little carding, more cleaning, lots more cleaning, more carding. You get the idea. Hopefully I can get another Mini peak for you tomorrow. So much fun!

Holilday Greetings

2009-12-03T19:06:00.005-05:00

This card was part of a little set that I made a while back. The flower is the Daisy Die and the paper is from The Write Stuff Specialty paper. I have used every sheet of paper from that pack. I really need to reorder it because it is one of my favorites. Anyway, back to the card... the center of the flower is a Chocolate Chip Corduroy Button.
The Little Leaves sizzlit and the Top Note die created the backdrop for my flower. The Holiday Greetings sentiment is from Sincere Salutations.

I got a huge box of brand spankin new Stampin' Up! goodies today. Almost all pre-order stuff from the new mini that will be available in January! Wait until you see it, WHOA! Good stuff!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Have you started shopping for Christmas yet? We got a great start yesterday! I really want it all done by the 20th so that I can spend the week of Christmas relaxing... and stamping! hee-hee

Patterned Pines Forest

2009-11-21T09:46:00.003-05:00

Good Morning!

I wanted to show you quick a Holiday card I made. Actually I made a bunch of these! Wicked quick and easy!

This one uses Patterned Pines, Christmas Punch (both are hostess sets) and Four the Holidays (from the Holiday Mini). See the ribbon? Yup, it is another color of the taffeta ribbon that I am in love with.

We are off to a frozen turkey hunt at the Botanical Gardens. What the heck is a frozen turkey hunt you ask?! Well, all over the gardens are hidden apples with numbers on them. You collect as many apples as you can and then return them to the visitor center to see what you have won. You can collect almost an entire Thanksgiving feast, including the turkey and fixings for a pumpkin pie just for walking around the trails at the gardens. And it is a beautiful day as a bonus so why not?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thoroughly Modern Snowman

2009-11-13T15:51:00.005-05:00

My little snowman card today uses the Thoroughly Modern paper from SU. You know when you see something and you love it but when you get it home you don't know just what you are going to do with it. That was the case with this paper. Until today! The trees, scarf and hat band were all paper pieced. The hello sentiment is actually half of the "hello baby" stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set. I just inked up the word that I wanted and stamped it three times.

Gotta run! The dog is whining because she thinks she is starving and she somehow has convinced Tyler that he is wasting away as well. Love it when they gang up! Have a great weekend.

Dasher and a little news

2009-11-12T18:33:00.005-05:00

I am in full on Christmas card mode right now. I actually have our family cards nearly done thanks to our crafty girls gathering last weekend. yahoo! Now if I could find someone to address the envelopes and get them in the mail on time I would have a complete success! We shall see.... Anyway, I have a quick card using the Dasher stamp from Stampin' Up!. I fell in love with this image the minute I saw it in the catalog. I think it is the antlers that got me. Doesn't hurt that it is in the Under $10 section either.
I added some glitter on the antlers and around his hooves. I love this kraft taffeta ribbon (my photo does it no justice). My goal is to get this taffeta ribbon in every color. I just love it!

My news is that you can now buy Stampin' Up products from me online anytime! Yes, I have taken another plunge and started up my web store. You can see it here. Go check it out! You can see all of the current SU specials and current catalogs and some very cool projects too. I will be doing a stamp a stack after the New Year so look for the dates on my calendar as soon as I have them finalized. Very cool new stuff coming in the New Year, just wait and see! hee-hee

Remember me?

2009-11-04T11:49:00.001-05:00

Hi, my name is Molly B and I am a bad blogger.

There are no excuses really, well I have a list prepared but why bother boring you with that now that I have finally posted something.

Even though I have not posted since MAY 28TH (thank you to my friend, Karen for pointing that pathetic date out to me) I have been making cards and other goodies all summer. Did I pose, photograph and edit any of these masterpieces??? Well, no but there was stuff being done really there was.

The last few days I have been busy preparing for a big event (big in my world anyway). One of my oldest and dearest friends Amanda is expanding her quilt shop. Mariner's Compass will celebrate the Grand Opening of Pollyanna's Parlor (along with a huge Early Bird Sale) on November 7th. You can read more about the expansion and how the new space got its name over on Amanda's blog here. Myself, along with some other very talented ladies will be doing some demonstrations during the celebration. I will also have a little make and take, and guess what... it is a card! No way, right?!

Here are the little note cards that I came up with for the big day.

It is a quilt shop after all so I had to use Quilt Quips, right? Love the sentiments in this set. Perfect note cards for a quilter. The red one will be the make and take for the day, but you will be able to pick the sentiment and quilt block you want to use on it. There will be some kits available, just in case you want to make all 4 note cards when you get home. And if you want to make more than 4, I will have a special deal for that too. But you will have to show up to see what that is. Oh, and while you are there you just might see a few early sneak peaks of an upcoming class that Amanda and I have cooked up. wink, wink

Check out all of the details for the Grand Opening of Pollyanna's Parlor, the Early Bird sale and all of the demos on Amanda's blog. And I will be back with more blogging soon.

Mojo 88

2009-05-28T08:15:00.004-04:00

Made this card for the Mojo 88 Sketch callenge this week. This week the Mojo sketch is working double duty, on the Mojo Blog and over at Stampin Out Alzheimers as a challenge sketch as well.

So this is what I came up with..... I used some My Mind's Eye - Tres Jolie paper that has been in my stash for a loooooong time now. The flowers are from Verve - Because of You and the sentiment is SU - Sincere Salutations. I did stamp the background pattern from Wishful Elegance on the 2 little panels with some VersaMark but it doesn't show up at all. Oh well, I still like it.

Well, the SOA challenges have been great for my mojo but not so good for the condition of my stamping area. What a mess! I have stacks of stuff and stamps everywhere, barely found room to set down my cup of coffee this morning. I think there is hope though, I can see a tiny corner of my scor-pal sticking out from under a pile, LOL! Looks like a good place to start!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to feed the dogs -------->

A little Post It folder for SOA

2009-05-27T20:33:00.007-04:00

This little notebook was part of a challenge over at Stampin' Out Alzheimers. What a great thing Jen Tapler has put together! SOA has already raised over $5000 for the Alzheimer's Association! Don't let that stop you from donating though, you can do it right over there ----->. Even if you don't want to take part in all of the amazing stamping and scrapping stuff going on over at SOA you can still donate to this amazing cause. So get going... make a donation and then come back here to see my little notebook..... I'll wait.......

So like I said this was a challenge by Whiff of Joy to create a post it note holder. I happened to see the challenge this morning before work, had 30 minutes to spare, a pre-stamped image and a tiny bit of clear space on my desk, LOL! I started coloring and was almost late for work. Oops! I stole a large pink post it pad from work, shhhh! Hey, I needed it to match my project and I didn't have any pink ones. The holder is made from chipboard so that it might withstand the beating it will recieve in my purse. The little tab wraps around and has a magnetic closure under the button to keep it closed.

I have such a hard time making my 3-D stuff look finished. I'm still trying to add things to this to make it look more polished. I tried adding the word NOTES somewhere but just hated everything I tried. It was amazing for me just to get it done to a point where I like it at all and look.. more pattern paper! I am on a roll!

Please donate to Stampin Out Alzheimers if you can and don't forget to feed the dogs..... --------->

An update... at the request of my Husband!

2009-05-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

Jason has asked me to update you all with some very important information. You see, he checks out my blog from time to time and was very concerned that I never posted the finished product of his maple syrup in this post.

So without any further delay, here is Jason's finished maple syrup.... what is left of it. MMMM!

PTI Blog Hop

2009-05-25T19:00:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone!

For a change I actually remembered the PTI Blog Hop this month.
The challenge this time around was to use the color yellow. You can read all about it here. Then go check out the rest of the hop over here.

I decided to use my newest PTI set A Day at the Beach. I also used Polka Dot Basics for the background. I tore, crumpled up and then smoothed out a piece of kraft paper for my "sand dune". The umbrella was cut out and mounted with 3-D foam. I couldn't decide if I like the Melon Berry or the Spring Rain better... so I did both.

I LOVE the "life is good" sentiment with this set. Worked perfectly for a couple of simple summery cards.

Enjoy the rest of the blog hop and thanks for hopping by here!

Its a hot one...

2009-05-22T14:36:00.009-04:00

It is 91 here right now! The dog has taken up her summer spot under the steps, where she digs a big hole in the sand to cool off. My little hummingbird is sitting on his phone line and the smell of the lilacs is drifting through the screen door. Aaaaahhh! I love it!

Julee posted the cutest little sketch yesterday on her blog to celebrate the new Verve releases tonight. It is a super simple sketch and you know I love simple.

I used images from the set Miracles Blossom and the sentiment from Wishful Elegance. The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye. More of my CKC paper! A little bit of SU Ruby Red and Cameo Coral matched pretty well. I cut out the main images with my new Deckled Nesties. LOVE them. As soon as I finish blabbering here I am off to order the other sizes in these babies.

So this is a birthday card (duh) for my Husband's Grandmother. She will be 92 tomorrow. I took her the newspaper this morning and she was.... get this... washing windows. I told her she was making me look bad!

Have a great weekend everyone, thanks for stopping by!

ETA: I had to get a photo of my little hummingbird to show you. (This was the best I could do and this is zoomed in as far as my camera goes. You might be able to click on it to see that it really is a little bird and not just some bump on a line.) He, well I assume it is the same pair but who knows, comes every year and stands guard over the bunch of bushes where he raises his little family. Although I have never seen a nest, I have seen him and his lady flying in and out of those bushes hundreds of times a day. I guess the nests are only the size of a thimble so no wonder I can't find it. I know it is in there though, LOL!

It only took all week.....

2009-05-21T14:50:00.001-04:00

but I got this weeks Mojo card done!

I used some of the pattern paper I got last weekend at CKC. What a great time that was! I met up with Lauren, Paulette, and Tracey and her Mum. It was so much fun shopping around with all of them.
So anyway I got this paper there and I made a vow, with Paulette as my witness that I would use the pattern paper I was buying.
So how did I do? This was one sheet of double sided (love the already coordinated-ness of the good ole double sided paper, LOL! ) Scenic Route paper from the Sonoma collection.
I used a MFT stamp set called Can Ya Dig It? for my gardening lady. She was all paper pieced with the pattern paper using some great tips that I learned at SNE from Joanne. She has a really good tutorial on her blog here. I also used some stamps from the Verve set Miracles Blossom. "Hello there Sunshine" is also from Verve.

OK I have been on the computer all morning now. First editing this photo (and that didn't come out great) and my new blog banner (isn't my Loki girl cute?). Then my blog freaked out and my side bar went to the bottom of the screen. Still have not gotten everything back where it should be. It was time for an overhaul anyway, just didn't plan on doing it today.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to feed the dogs! (it is over there somewhere on my sidebar still I think ------->)

Mojo Monday 86

2009-05-13T11:22:00.007-04:00

Mondays are the best! Ok, well Mojo Monday Sketches are the best!

I have been on a wicked tulip and twine card phase lately. So here is another one. This one was super quick. The tulips and sentiment are from PTI Wishing You... And look I used pattern paper! Urban Oasis from SU. Kiwi Kiss (my most favoritest green evah) So Saffron and PTI Melon Berry were the flowers. "Make a wish" was stamped with CTMH white daisy and then because I didn't think it was dark enough I went over it with a white gel pen too. And of course my twine bow! PTI is going to be selling twine with this month's release, how can I resist that? Seriously!

Have a great day!

Don't forget to feed the dogs..... -------------> See the little doggie on my side bar, click him, answer a tivia question and help feed homeless dogs. Easy, free and it just makes you feel good.

ETA: Toot -Toot! That is me tooting my own horn a little bit because, when I went to the Mojo Monday blog to get the link for the sketch I realized that this card had been chosen as one of the May Mojo Winners. Yahooooooooie! I am so excited! Thank you Julee! And Thank you to everyone who left such nice comments too. You all sure do know how to make a girl's day!

Simple Tulips

2009-05-07T11:40:00.001-04:00

I drive by the entrance of a beautiful botanical garden every day.. at least a couple of times. The garden's drive is lined with a beautiful stone wall and right now the tulips are open in front of it. They are gorgeous! I want to get a photo before they go by but the weather has been so blah here that I'm not sure the photos would do the blooms justice (kind of like the photo of the card below).

So until the sun shines for more than 5 minutes at a time this card will have to do.

These tulips are from a set called A Year of Flowers over at Gina K. Love it! You will see flowers from this set again I guarantee! I used my Stamp' Write Markers to watercolor the tulips. They were cut out and mounted with some 3-D dotty things to a piece of Gina K. Pure Luxury layering weight paper.

This was the first attempt to sew on a card with my brand new Sew Mini. Not bad, but I won't point out the places I messed up either. I think I am going to like it with a bit more practice.

Have a great day!

Info:
Stamps: A Year of FLowers- Gina K
Ink: Palette Noir
Paper: Kraft- PTI; Pretty in Pink, Patterns Pack II - SU; Gina K. Pure Luxury
Other Stuff: Stampn' Write markers, Hemp Twine, PTI Ribbon

Finally!

2009-05-04T14:40:00.000-04:00

Wow, did I ever need this week's Mojo Sketch in order to get back in the swing of things. I haven't done much stamping lately and sometimes it takes just the right thing to get me going again.... this sketch did it. Finally!

I saw the sketch posted this morning just before I headed out to help with Tyler's pre-school during swim lessons. Then I thought about it while the munchkins were in the pool. I knew I wanted to use Great Friend. I love those butterflies. The sentiment is from Because of You. One of the new Verve sets I got during my Birthday shopping spree.

Enjoy the week. I'm back to work part time next week, summer must be getting close!

Info:
Stamps: Great Friend - Stampin' Up, Because of You - Verve
Paper: Walk in the Park DSP & Kiwi Kiss - Stampin' Up, Stampers Select - PTI
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose - Stampin' Up
Other stuff: Ribbon - PTI, 3D Dots, Ornare template

The Sweetest Violets

2009-04-23T12:52:00.005-04:00

I adored this stamp from the very first peek I got of it. Aren't these violets awesome?! I love them.

I used this week's sketch over at SCS for this card. The stamp is from Flourishes. I colored it with Prismacolor Pencils on Stampers Select. The pattern paper is from the DCWV Latte stacks. The ribbon is SU. I didn't put a sentiment on the card. Not that I was lacking for one in this stamp set. Seriously, there is a little sentiment in here for just about any occasion. And I love the detail in the flowers. I need to get the lilac set next. All of their flowers are awesome really. This could be trouble, LOL!

Have a great day.

And the Winner is....

2009-04-18T22:00:00.001-04:00

zoesimm said...
hi Molly....I completely blame you for introducing me to PTI :-) in a good way though! Kelley

Yea, Kelley! You are going to love these stamps!
Thanks to everyone who left comments and Birthday wishes. ________________________________________________

And a quick card since I have posted next to nothing all week long. It should be PTI (since I just gave away a PTI set) but it isn't. Honestly I have been outside almost all week long. The weather has been great and I have been busy cleaning up the gardens and the yard. I have barely stamped a thing! gasp!

A couple of weeks ago though, I had a great time water coloring this image from Soft Summer. I used a combo of Stampin Write markers and ink pads to color it. The Pretty In Pink background was embossed with the Sizzix Weave texture plate. Have I said how much I LOVE that plate?!?

I have a bunch of brandy new stamps on the way from PTI, Flourishes, and Verve. I spoiled myself rotten for my Birthday. Next week will be like my Birthday all over again when all of the packages start arriving! Oh and Jason kind of spoiled me too. He got me a cordless power tools! Augh, Augh, Augh, Augh (my best Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunt, LOL!) I really wanted a cordless circular saw, but he also got me a cordless drill and reciprocating saw too. LOVE them! Now if the Red Sox can pull out a win tonight!

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Easter Birthday Blog Candy

2009-04-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

So a funny little fact about me... I was born on Easter Sunday. I don't think my Birthday and Easter have fallen on the same day again since. They have come close but not the same day. And this year is no exception. But it is close this year and a enough reason to give away a nice little goodie.

I have an extra Papertrey Ink Anniversary Set just laying around! Ok actually I made sure that I was going to get 2 sets this year especially so that I could offer one as blog candy. Check out the PTI gallery here to see the set and all of the awesomeness that the DT made with it.

Leave a comment on this post if you want to a chance to win this set. I will leave this post at the top of my blog (as soon as I figure out how to do that) until around 8 pm (EST) on the 18th, my Birthday, and then I will choose a winner with some kind of randomness that I haven't decided on just yet. Don't forget to leave your email so that I can find you when you win!

If you have my blog in your google reader (or some other kind of subscription thingy) please feel free to leave 2 comments (I know there are a few of you out there), otherwise one comment per person. Please play nice.

Good Luck, and Thanks for all of the comments you have left for me over the last year or so on this little blog.

Branch Out Birthday

2009-04-13T20:45:00.002-04:00

Hope everyone had a nice Easter. We were at my Dad's making more syrup this weekend. Made a gallon and a half this time.

I've got a quick card that I made with Branch Out. I love this tree. Ok, show me a tree stamp that I don't love! LOL!

A nice manly card, well except for the bow and button but I did tie the bow with twine... That is manly right? The kraft layer was embossed with a Sizzix embossing plate then I ran a New Canvas Palette ink pad over it to bring out the texture.
Don't forget I am giving away a Papertrey Ink Anniversary set. All you need to do is leave a comment on the post above. Have a great night!

Baja Mojo Monday

2009-04-07T14:00:00.000-04:00

Maybe it took me a few extra days but I got it done. And I like it!

This card uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I was a little afraid when I first saw it, not quite my style but today everything just came together. Gotta love that.

It is a very dreary day here today so getting a good photo was rough but I think you will get the idea.

Only 2 hours left till the first pitch of the Boston Red Sox season, otherwise known as the opening day of "scream-profanities-at-the-television-like-they-can-actually-hear-you" season! Oh how I do love Red Sox baseball!

Oh and starting this Sunday I will have a little blog candy for you. So make sure you come back and check it out.

Have a great day!

Card info:

Stamps: Very Versatile, Sincere Salutations - SU

Ink: Baja Breeze, Creamy Caramel

Paper: Stampers Select, Kraft - PTI; Baja Breeze, Urban Oasis DSP - SU

Other Stuff: Sizzix texture plate Weave, Sizzix Button Die #5, Brads, Hemp Twine

A Sweet Weekend

2009-03-31T21:25:00.000-04:00

We spent this past weekend at my Dad's house making maple syrup. I snapped a few photos to share with you. I am making them small (hopefully to help with download time for anyone with dial-up) but you can click on them to see them bigger if you like (hopefully).

This is the sugar house. My parents built it in the late 80's. It is about a 10 minute walk into the woods to get to it. Nice and peaceful.

Most of the trees were already tapped but we added a few more and re-tapped some of the trees that were not dripping. After the hole is drilled a metal spigot is hammered into the hole so that the sap can flow into a bucket.

If you are lucky you get a bucket that looks like this.... Overflowing with sap. Only a couple of the 40 - 50 trees we had tapped flowed like this.

Any sap in there?

Yup, time to collect it.

All of the collected sap gets strained through this old milk strainer and stored in a 50 gallon bucket. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. We collected about 20 gallons on Saturday.

And then we boil! The pan on top of this stove, that my Dad made, is filled with sap and the boiling begins. As it evaporates more sap is added until everything we collected is in the pan. The boiling continues until there is only about a gallon or so of sap (almost syrup at this point) left in the pan. That is poured off and taken home to finish boiling down in a smaller pot until it is syrup. Then the hot syrup is put up in mason jars and sealed.

In the morning you can enjoy you hard work on pancakes while you look out the window at a scene like this in the backyard. Neat ha?

I hope you enjoyed my little sugaring photos. I will try to find my desk and come up with something crafty very soon. Thanks for stopping by!

2009-03-25T10:57:00.003-04:00

This past weekend at Stamp New England was so much fun! Seriously, if you live anywhere close to the North East you need to check out the blog and get yourself to the next one. I'm hearing it will be this fall. And while you are there go check out all of the fabulous ladies that made this entire weekend possible. They are awesome! And the sponsors! There were so many give-aways that every single person left with at least one door prize. Some, like lucky me, left with two.
HUGE Thank you to everyone to who worked so hard to make SNE possible and such a huge success. You ladies Rock!

As part of the weekend we all made our own name tags that reflected our personal stamping style. Here is mine! Looks like me doesn't it? The stamps are PTI - Women of Life (of course, my go to set!). I used my Just Rite Stamps for my name.
We also had the option to take part in a card swap. And this is what I came up with. I liked my name tag so much I just kept going with it! Everything is PTI except the two polka dot papers, they are from Bo Bunny.

That is it for me today. I have to go find my dog, Loki. I think she just took off to Grampa's house. She has her own trail through the woods that goes right to their back door. When she sees them drive by or just wants a biscuit she goes up the trail. Today however she is nursing a cut paw and I am really trying to get it healed up a little before the weekend at my Dad's house. I'm sure this little treck through the woods will do it no favors. Oh well.

Have a great day everyone!

Butterflies for You

2009-03-24T15:16:00.004-04:00

Hello again!

I went looking for a sketch to play with today and found this one. Cute sketch, no? I had yet to ink up my Great Friend set (darn pneumonia!), and they seemed like a perfect combo to me!

What do you think? I used Baja Breeze, Basic Grey and white for my colors. The ribbon (scrunched by mistake and not noticed until after the photo, grrr) is SU Basic Grey Taffeta. I love that stuff! I want it in all of the colors now!

After I finished my card I went to see what everyone else did with the sketch and if you haven't already, you need to see this. How beautiful is that butterfly that Beate did? Wowzers! I have to try that the next time I take this set out. I love it!

The sun is out here but the wind is wicked cold. Put it this way when I looked outside earlier the thermometer said 40 degrees and we were in the middle of a snow squal! Silly weather doesn't it know it is spring?

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you are having a good one!

A little mojo tulip.

2009-03-23T15:03:00.006-04:00

Yahooo! So I had a great weekend at Stamp NE. I have never laughed so hard for so long in my life. Even while we were getting lost we were laughing. The classes were great and the Sise Inn was beautiful. I was still a little under the weather but not bad, taking a few days to recover now though. I don't remember the last time I went to bed at 8:00 but Saturday night I was zonked! Even took a 2 hour nap yesterday and went to bed early again last night!

I'm feeling pretty good today and check this out. I made a card this afternoon. Shocker!

Today's Mojo Monday sketch was perfect for the new PTI stamps that were waiting for me when I got home on Saturday. Wishing You... by the oh so fabulous Melissa, LOVE IT! Seriously this set is a must have!

I used some great new paper that I got on our little adventure this weekend, Chloe's Closet by Making Memories. Look... me.... pattern paper! Crazy ha? The buttons are from the same collection. I tied a little bit of American crafts ribbon to make the bow in the biggest button. All of the white is PTI Stampers Select and the orange is SU Pumpkin Pie. I also used Kiwi Kiss, Barely Banana and Pumpkin Pie ink all from SU.

So that is it for me today. Thanks for checking in today!

Sicky, Sicky

2009-03-18T10:28:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to drop in quick and say I'm not ignoring my blog on purpose. I have been super sick the last week or so. Haven't been off of the couch since last Thursday. I found out yesterday I have pneumonia. I am on antibiotics and using every bit of my energy to get better for Stamp NE this weekend. Wish me luck!
I will be back after the weekend.
Don't forget Spring will finally be here on Friday! Yahooooooooo!

Sophie's Thank Yous

2009-03-11T09:54:00.005-04:00

Got a quick one for you today. I am in the middle of trying to find my desk so that I can make some swap cards for Stamp NE (only 9 sleeps left, eeeeeekkkkk, I'm so excited) and I have a huge box of Stampin' UP stuff due to arrive any moment. And another one tomorrow. I have a few Sizzix dies coming today. I could not resist the Beautiful Butterflies or Top Note any longer. I've also got the Manhattan Flower Impressions Die coming, along with a bunch of coordinating stuff. Something about that line just drew me in.

Ok enough about the stuff I don't even have yet, on with what I actually have to show you.

I made a bunch of these cards for my Cousin as Thank Yous for gifts that she received for her beautiful little girl Sophie! What an adorable baby she is. I have some very cute photos of Tyler holding her, of course they are on my Brother's camera 3 hours away, duh!

I scored the PTI Dark Chocolate on my Scor-Pal to make the background. The flowers are from Simply Said. I inked the image with markers, stamped it and then colored in the flowers with a lighter pink. Added a little Spica glitter pen, of course that doesn't show up in the photo. Used the Tags Trio for the label and before I took the label out of the die I ran a white gel pen around the oval. Gave it a nice little detail I think. The "thank you" is from Short and Sweet. Some PTI Fresh Snow ribbon finished it off.

Hope you are having a great day. We are getting some very nasty snowy, rainy, icy stuff and it made the drive to town with the kids a little hairy this morning. I guess inland is getting it even worse. Do you think Mother Nature takes bribes? I really want some spring weather soon.

Rainy Day Sketch

2009-03-06T13:39:00.006-05:00

Its raining out and all I can say is that I'm glad it isn't snow. Seriously, I'm really ready for spring. So for today I made a rainy card.
This card uses Amy R.'s Friday sketch for this week (see it here) and it also uses 2 of Amy's stamp sets - Boutique Sentiments and Amy's Boutique.

First of all this card goes way beyond my comfort zone, I have a very large fear of pattern paper. I just can't seem to make myself comfortable with it. Today I just went for it. This pattern paper is from the Citrus matstack by DCWV. The orange is Summer Sunrise from PTI.

Can you see the rain? I embossed a piece of transparency with the Forest Branches embossing folder at an angle. Then I added some "rain drops" of Star Dust Sickles to the back side. Instant rain drops! The umbrellas were added onto the rain layer with 3-D dots. I hacked a piece of vellum into a cloud (kind of) and stamped the sentiment onto it. "Friends are the umbrellas in the storms of life". The cloud could use a little more work, maybe another try later.

The little pierced border was made with a new EK Success punch I got at Mikes this past weekend. Love that thing. A little PTI Fresh Snow (I hate to even type the word) ribbon and that is my card for today.

Only 14 sleeps left till Stamp New England. Not that I'm counting or anything. Ok, so I'm counting every minute and I really want to start packing my bags. LOL!

Have a great day everyone. Thanks for stopping by.

Thumping Around

2009-03-03T19:37:00.005-05:00

So I had never really heard of Thumping using Stampin' Write markers until the other day. And that day it seems I saw it everywhere. First I saw it here on Gina K's new Stamp TV, and then I saw it here. I really loved the way Julie's tree from Thoughts and Prayers came out using this technique and thought I would give it a try. I LOVE it. I love the tree, the card could use some work. I was sick when I made it and the creativity was a little low after I got the tree panel done. But I like the tree so much I had to use it.

So go check out this technique at one of these super stamping places, get going and try it yourself. I'm going to be using it again and soon.

Super quick post tonight I am supposed to be reading a bedtime story. Just wanted you to know I haven't fallen from the face of the planet.

Have a great night.
Info:
Everything used was Stampin' Up except the white ribbon that was from PTI.

Friendship Quilt

2009-02-24T19:37:00.003-05:00

Remember the So Saffron card a while back. This was during that same color craze. Not quite as saffron-ish though. (Sorry about the photo, I could not get the colors to edit correctly, might be because I have no idea what I am doing. LOL!)
Anyway, this uses Quilters Sampler from Papertrey Ink. Just a quick little card colored with Stampin' Write markers. Believe it or not the purple is Lavender Lace. Much nicer IRL honest.

I'm off to find some mojo, I know it is hiding around here somewhere. Probably on my desk under all of this mess.
Have a great evening everyone.

How many days till Spring?

2009-02-23T15:47:00.003-05:00

Even though we got nailed with snow last night, today I found a small glimmer of hope that spring might soon arrive.

Then Jason informed me that robins stay in Maine all winter!

Well, ba! humbug! to you to buddy!

Note of Thanks

2009-02-21T19:08:00.003-05:00

This is my other favorite set that I got for Stampin' Up in my starter kit. Cheep Talk. How stinking cute it that little bird? From the minute I saw him the the catalog I knew that I had to have him.

I colored the branch and leaves with Stampin' Write markers and stamped it onto PTI stampers select. The little bird stamp was loaded up with Ballet Blue then I wiped the ink from his little beak and feet and colored those with markers. I love the detail that you can add to a stamp with those markers. I stamped him one more time on scrap and cut out his body and tail and mounted it with 3-D tape.

And look at what I found. My threading waters punch. Just fell behind my drawers in the closet, no foul play after all.

Just a simple little card but I like it, maybe because it is kind of springy looking. I could use a little spring weather right now. I am sick for the second time this month. ugh! Totally killing my mojo!

Thanks for checking in. Hope you are having a great weekend. If you live here in the east, take care in the snow and icy-rain tomorrow.

Info:
Stamps: Cheep Talk - Stampin Up
Ink: Ballet Blue, Always Artichoke - Stampin Up
Paper: PTI Stampers Select, Mellow Moss - SU
Other stuff: Stampin' Write Markers, Mellow Moss Ribbon - SU

Mojo Monday and Trendy Trees

2009-02-17T19:29:00.005-05:00

Long-time-no-post!
I have no excuse really. Other than feeling crummy. And getting two, count them one.. two, huge boxes of Stampin Up goodies in the mail last week. The first was my starter kit. Yes, I have become a Stampin Up demo. My UPS driver asked if all of the boxes from this company would be as heavy as this one. I told him I really hoped so. Not the answer he was looking for.

The second box of goodies was my first order as a demo, so the goodies were not all mine but I got my fair share from that box as well. So between lack of energy from being sick and new stamps, blogging really took a back seat. But I'm back tonight and I even have a card. A card I really kind of like.

This card uses the Mojo Monday sketch for this week. LOVED IT! I used Trendy Trees for this one. This might just be my favorite set that I got out of both boxes last week. Well this set and Cheep Talk are tied actually.

So I stamped my 3 little trees onto Papertrey Ink Stampers Select white card stock, using Mellow Moss and Always Artichoke. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the tree trunks stamped with Close to Cocoa. I tore a post it note for the hill and masked the lower tree then spritzed Mellow Moss to make the grass. I used the fine tip of the pen to add a few darker areas to really show off the hills.

A little Bashful Blue was sponged around the top edge and trees to make a little sky. This scene was mounted onto Bashful Blue and then onto chocolate chip with 3-D dots. That was all mounted to a piece of Always Artichoke and tied with a litle Mellow Moss ribbon.

I ran some Bashful Blue through my cuttlebug using the Forest Branches embossing folder and off centered those pieces onto some chocolate chip. The leafy tree top was stamped with Versa Mark onto the Mellow Moss card base. The same tree was stamped onto a circle of Stampers Select and the "thanks so much" sentiment was stamped over it with Chocolate Chip.

So there it is. Now if I can get myself blogging again before 10 more days have past I will be doing good. Thanks for checking in.

Polka Dots

2009-02-07T10:53:00.004-05:00

Before I get to my card for today I need to send a HUGE thank you to everyone who left a comment about my card yesterday. You all sure do know how to make a girl feel special and it had me smiling all day long.

So, Thank You!

Another very cool Papertrey Ink challenge today. This one is a sketch challenge and the prize... a years worth of ribbon. And the big announcement is all about the polka dots. If you love polka dots like I do, you need to go check out Nichole's post today.

So here it my card following the sketch for today. Plum pudding base, some crimped spring moss and some pattern paper from Polka Dot Parade. I ran some vellum through my cuttlebug with the dots folder and mounted it onto white, then more plum pudding. Two spring moss hearts from Heart Prints were stamped with Versa Mark and embossed with clear EP. The bottom one is set up on some big 3D dots for a little umph. And a little home made tag for the xoxo on the side.

I hope you have had a chance to check out some of the challenges over at PTI the last few days. I can not wait to see what they have going on tomorrow. These challenges have been great for my mojo.

Over the Rainbow

2009-02-06T08:54:00.005-05:00

Another challenge from Nichole today. Check it out here. Today is a color challenge. Pure poppy, summer sunrise, ripe avocado and ocean tides. I started working on it the minute I saw it. And with a little cooperation from my 3 year old I got it accomplished, including photographing & editing, in just about an hour. Seriously that is a record for me, but it wasn't all that complicated of a card.

I cut the card stock colors from the challenge into 2 inch squares and stamped the daisy from Floral Frenzy right in the middle with white. I pierced all the way around each square and then mounted them all on white with 3D tape. And then that was mounted onto Kraft. The sentiment "Just a little note to say..." also from Floral Frenzy was stamped at the bottom. The buttons are from my button jar, who knows where they came from really. Tyler helped pick them out.

That's it for me today. I am going with Jordan to get her picture taken for her drivers license. Yes, she got her license on Wednesday and I have suddenly developed some grey hairs that I'm sure were not there before. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. LOL! Have a great day everyone!

It's in the Bag Challenge

2009-02-05T21:47:00.004-05:00

Just in case you haven't heard Papertrey Ink is celebrating their 2 year anniversary this month. And boy are they ever celebrating. You can get all of the party information here.

Today there was a challenge from Nichole to make a bag... any kind of bag. And it was perfect timing because I needed a little card bag. So here it is.....

It isn't anything too glamorous but I like it. It uses one of my most favorite PTI sets ever... Women of Life. And one of my most favorite PTI colors... Kraft.

Now I have a very serious question for you.... Where would you hide if you were a Threading Waters punch? Seriously! I have lost mine somewhere and I can not find it. I really wanted it for this purse too. I have been searching everywhere! How do you loose something like that? UGH! I know when I stop looking it will be right in front of me but really it has been driving me nuts for weeks now! Oh well.

Thanks for checking in. Have a great evening everyone.

Warning!

2009-02-04T19:20:00.004-05:00

Warning!

The follow card contains an obscene amount of So Saffron.

We must insist that you do not try to recreate this or any other card

with this amount of So Saffron.

No stampers were harmed during the construction of this card!

__________________________________________________________

Alright, don't say I didn't warn you!

I told you there was a lot of Saffron on this baby! I had this idea to use the pattern paper from Georgia Peach (a SU paper - retired now) on my Mojo Monday card. Well one thing led to another and all of a sudden I was on a saffron overload. And I have been using it ever since. So saffron has been in each of the last 4 cards that I have made. And not just a little bit, it has been a major color in those cards. I will try to spread them out a bit so as to prevent any adverse reactions. LOL!

For sure go check out the Mojo Monday blog and see the other cards for this week. Maybe that will help to clear this mess out of your memory! LOL! Ok here are a few quick details on the saffron disaster.

Stamps: Floral Frenzy - PTI
Paper: So Saffron, Regal Rose; Georgia Peach - SU; Stampers Select, Dark Chocolate - PTI;
Ink: So Saffron, Regal Rose - SU; New Canvas - Palette
Other stuff: Stickles; American Crafts ribbon.

Papertrey Blog Hop

2009-01-25T19:21:00.006-05:00

This month the Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge was to make Birthday cards. You can read more about the Hop here and then come to the forum to check out everyone's cards and creations.

So here is mine. I actually have made this card in several different colors but since I only just now (7:30 pm) realized that this is the 25th of the month, I only had time to edit one. But trust me it looks very nice with Plum Pudding as well. So there you have it, quick, easy to make tons of and best of all it can be for anyone depending on what color you use.

Have a great time hopping around tonight and thanks for hopping by here.

Card specs:

Stamps: PTI Text Boxed & Birthday Basics

Ink: PTI Ocean Tides, CTMH White Daisy

Paper and ribbon: all Papertrey Ink

One Happy Little Mouse

2009-01-22T18:37:00.006-05:00

Have you ever seen such a happy looking fellow in your life? This little guy just won the cupcake lottery!

I saw this new image from the Whiff of Joy Party Animal line and HAD to have him. And I am so glad that I did. He is great fun to color with pencils or watercolor with inks. I don't think it is possible to color this image and not have fun.

I used Prismacolor Pencils and thinner for the image. I was totally lost when it came to a sentiment so I used the Happy Birthday to You from the new PTI set Around & About Sentiments. It doesn't show up very well but the cute little mouse is the star of this show anyway.

I have this great pad of DCWV paper called The Green Stack. It has adorable little birds and skunks and other woodland creatures in it. And it is 70% recycled paper so that is a good thing. The little critters is what really got me though. So anyway the pattern paper is from that pad. The green is SU and the Kraft and white is PTI.

I did something on this card that I have never done before. I put actual stitches, with a sewing machine on it. If my machine wasn't such a beast I think I would even do it more often. Kind of liked it.

Thanks for checking in. I am on some kind of blogging role... 3 posts in 3 days. Some kind of record for me. Lets see if I can keep it going and make it 4 for 4!

Valentine Owls

2009-01-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

I made these little cards a while ago during a hot streak that I was on. Man I wish that would come back.... and soon.

I realized I had not really ever played with Wise Owl from PTI. I was in a Valentine mood so I combined the owls with some sentiments from Heart Prints.

This little owl was stamped onto Ocean Tides paper and he is sporting one of the hearts from Heart Prints for his belly. The smaller hearts fit almost perfectly as bellies for these little owls.

As you can see I didn't do a great job editing this photo, the colors are a bit off. Sorry!

This owl is done up in Raspberry Fizz and has a regular owl belly.

The background of both cards is Dark Chocolate stamped with Polka Dot Basics - one of my most favorite sets ever! The labels are both from the Spellbinders Ribbon Tag dies and have the coordinating PTI ribbon.

Great Moms

2009-01-20T19:24:00.005-05:00

I have hit a creative wall! I have been sitting at my desk just staring at stamp after stamp and not able to put ink on any of them. I'm really hoping that just by putting it out there, I will come out of it cause I'm going crazy here!

This card was done before I lost my mojo. I told you a few posts ago about a stamp set that made me laugh out loud in the stamp store. Here is one of the sentiments that got me.

Good Moms let you lick the beaters....

..Great Moms turn off the mixer first.

Ok, I may be warped but I just could not stop laughing. There is another great sentiment also and as soon as I can remember how to ink a stamp I will get something done with it.

The image was stamped onto Stampers Select and colored with Prismacolor pencils. The cream layer is Vintage Cream and everything else is from SU.

Have a great night.

Cupcake Day!

2009-01-14T10:25:00.004-05:00

This card is based on Lauren's Saturday sketch from way back in December. I had a great creative streak during the first week of the new year. I had made 7 cards in 7 days and loved them all. This is not the norm for me at all. It is usually more like 1 card in 7 days. LOL!

Anyway, this was one of those cards. The stamps are from My Favorite Things. The pattern paper is Basic Grey - Bittersweet. LOVE IT! All of the other paper is PTI as is the ribbon. I spritzed the white layer under the cupcake with a SU marker and the spritzing tool. I also used SU marker so to color the Bridal confetti flower. I wasn't sure how the markers would dry on the flowers but they were fine and made a really cool looking texture on the flowers.

I even remembered to add some of the pattern paper to the inside of the card. I did not however remember to take a picture of the inside.

Hope your week is going well. It is cold here but if the weather reports come true it is about to get even colder. Brrrrr! Thinking warm, sunny, margarita-on-the-beach thoughts right now.

A little Valentine

2009-01-10T20:35:00.005-05:00

A quick little Valentine's Card tonight. This was an attempt to use up some patterned paper that I have laying around. As you can see I didn't use up to much of it here. This uses the Heart Prints set from Papertrey Ink and all of the paper is from Papertrey. The inks are a combo of Papertrey and SU. And to be honest I can not remember which are which.

I stamped the XOXO with versamark onto the hearts and embossed with clear EP. Made them look like those oh-so-yummy conversation hearts. MMMMM! I have been on a search for red hots, you know the little heart shaped cinnamon candies, I can not find them anywhere. It just isn't Valentine's Day without red hots.

Hope you are having a great weekend. We are getting ready for more snow here late tonight and tomorrow. As long as it is not ice. I do not like ice!

ETA: I was in such a hurry when I originally posted this that I forgot to say that it uses the Mojo Monday Sketch #67. DUH! It is a great sketch go try it out!

Whisking you A Happy Birthday

2009-01-09T18:55:00.004-05:00

Isn't this a super cute image. I fell in love with it and the hilarious sentiments that came with it and another coordinating set. This is one of the more "normal" sentiments that is in the set. Wait until you see the others. They literally had me in tears laughing in the middle of the stamp store.

Not only is it a cute image but it was super fun to color. I used Prismacolor Pencils and odorless thinner to color the image. After looking at the image again now I wish I had done a little something more with the pink layer.

I can't wait to stamp some of the other ladies from these two sets. I think I will go do that now. Have a great night everyone.

Info:

Stamps: Darcies

Ink: Palette

Paper: SU, Papertrey Ink - Stampers Select & Dark Chocolate, Memory Box - Homespun

A little mojo bird

2009-01-06T14:15:00.007-05:00

This card is for the Mojo Monday sketch this week. You can check it out on the all new Mojo Monday Blog. I love Julee's sketches and I love this little bird from SU. I colored him with my new SU markers (Thank you, Dad!) and stamped him onto Vintage Cream from PTI. He is supposed to be a Blue Bird. Well he is close-ish!

I tried to keep it on the manly side. That is a challenge all by itself. The little bow might not be so manly but at least it is with twine and not ribbon, that is manly... right?

I used the twine again along the bottom with the ribbon tag. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink - Mailbox Greetings. Thankfully I have no specific reason for needing a sympathy card right now, I just like the way the sentiment looked on the tag. And they are good to have on hand. Not always the easiest cards to make, but surely some of the most appreciated.

Thanks for checking in today.

Hello 2009!

2009-01-05T14:00:00.005-05:00

I'm back! How were your Holidays? Was Santa good to everyone? Everything was great here. The weather cooperated nicely for travel and everyone stayed healthy and happy. Can't beat that! If only I could somehow now get Tyler back onto what little bit of routine we had going prior to the Holidays. Nap time is a disaster right now!!!!! And if I give in and let him stay up then later in the day is a disaster. It's a no win situation. He is just old enough to not NEED a nap but not quite old enough to NOT NEED the nap. KWIM?

But anyway, I have been spending a lot of time trying to get my little space organized. I found some great deals on large glass jars and I am rolling all of my ribbon onto dowels. I have unmounted the few SU sets that I have and gotten them all into CD cases, which along with my other stamps, have a new home on a bookcase style CD rack. I just don't have enough room for clutter and I need to make myself clean everything up and keep it that way. It is a work in progress that really needs to be put into action all over the house. One corner at a time......

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda... onto a card.

I felt like playing with the new Prismacolor pencils (the 120 pencil set) that my husband got me for Christmas so I colored the little Imaginisce giraffe and went from there. The ribbon is from Papertrey Ink and it is the oh-so-lovely Fresh Snow velvet ribbon. Soooo nice!!! The pattern paper is from SU and the white cardstock is PTI. The Sweet Little Baby sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, Bitty Baby Blessings.

Happy 2009 to everyone! May it be a year filled with health, happiness and of course lots of stamping!

No time to blog..

2008-12-22T18:07:00.004-05:00

Why is it that this time of year is so crazy? We know it is coming.. it happens every year at the same time.. we have an entire year to prepare for it. And somehow there is never enough time prior to the Holidays.

I have been super busy and sick. Both my Jason and I came down with a nasty head and chest cold just prior to the weekend. Nothing major but it sure has knocked us on our rears for the last few days. Keeping our fingers crossed that the kids don't come down with it this close to Christmas.

Then there was the 16 or more inches of snow that we got last night. I did so much shoveling today that even the dog gave up and came inside before I was done. I am not complaining though, there are people in New England that still do not have power from the ice storm 10 days ago. I am just not used to the much snow all at once.

Needless to say there has not been much time for blogging lately. And it is not looking like there will be any time until after the holidays. The next two days are full of last minute shopping, baking and house cleaning.

So I will take this opportunity to say Happy Holidays to everyone in blog-land. I hope that everyone has a safe and Happy Holiday with friends and family.

Here is one last Christmas card. An all PTI Christmas card.

Snow and Ice, Oh My!

2008-12-15T18:19:00.004-05:00

Our neck of the woods got hit hard the end of last week with a nasty ice storm. We were actually some of the lucky ones. We only lost our power for about 36 hours. Many people are still waiting for their power to be restored.

So between cleaning out the fridge and freezer after the storm, getting the house back together after the power outage, and trying to get everything done for Christmas there just hasn't been a lot of time for blogging.

One more Christmas card right now though. Just a quick one I made with Festive Frills from CTMH. Such a pretty set of stamps. Not sure this card does it justice. I will give it another go and see what I can come up with.

I'm off to clean a little and try to get some more Christmas cards finished up. Time is really running short now.

One more Christmas card done!

2008-12-10T18:30:00.001-05:00

Check one more card off of the long list I have left to make. This one uses the Mojo Monday sketch for this week.

I tried water coloring again. I'm still having some issues with color consistency on the image and somehow my Always Artichoke started having some brown showing up in it. I kind of like it though, it looks a little antique-ish. I'm still practicing. I just got out the few Peerless Watercolors I think I'm going to play with those next.

I also used the same image to make a couple of gift card holders. I like the snowflake edge (a Martha Stewart punch) better on this one.

I've got a few more Christmas cards to share over the next few days, but now I need to go get busy making more.

Info:

Stamps: Believe - PTI

Paper: Kraft, white - PTI, Always Artichoke - SU

Ink: Noir - Palette, Always Artichoke - SU, White Daisy - CTMH, Starlite Silver - Dew Drop

Other stuff: Ribbon - PTI, paper punch - EK Success

A gingerbread hug

2008-12-08T18:45:00.005-05:00

This weekend was the Harbor Lights Festival in town. There were a few different things going on around town. One of them was a fund raiser for the Opera House. There were many decorated trees that could be bid on as well as a bunch of gingerbread houses that were up for bid as well. There were some really cool gingerbread houses. Of course I didn't take any photos of those. I did however get this photo as we were leaving the building. Tyler spied the gingerbread cookie and ran to him arms open wide for a huge hug. I snapped the photo just in time. How cute is that? He looked for that cookie for the rest of the day. We also made a visit to Santa and Mrs. Claus. (Blogger is not letting me upload that photo though so I will have to try that again later.)

He was so excited and asked Santa to bring him a scooter for Christmas. It was only after that he realized that Mrs. Claus was one of his pre-school teachers. Too funny!

Have a good evening everyone!

The First Page

2008-12-06T08:00:00.003-05:00

This is my first ever digital scrapbook page. This was a very difficult page for me to create. First, I had no idea what I was doing I just needed to make this page and used some stuff that was in my Photoshop program.

The other reason this was so hard for me is that this is a photo of my Mom, holding my son when he was about 3 months old. My mom died 3 years ago today.

I set a goal a few months ago to get just one page, of one photo completed before today. So here it is.

I tried to do some journaling but just couldn't find the words. Until this point I couldn't even sit down with photos to make an actual page. It was hard for me but I am so glad I finally did it. I need to gather some more photos (there aren't many, Mum never liked being in front of the camera) and make more pages. It will be good for me and I know that other family members will love to have copies. And someday I will be able to show the album to my son, so he can see his Grammy Elaine, who loved him more than anything in this world.

I miss you Mum.

Embracing the white space is hard!!!

2008-12-05T18:38:00.006-05:00

This card does double duty! It uses the Mojo Monday sketch for this week AND it has a cow on it for the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge at PCP. First the Mojo Monday part... Julee said this sketch "embraces the white space" and challenged everyone to do the same. Yea, that was tough for me. I really wanted to put something, anything on there. That is where I get myself into trouble with card making. It is never good enough. I need to learn to just make a card then leave it alone.

The second part of this double duty card was the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge at Paper Craft Planet. Today was 8 Maids a Milking. Thus the cow. And I need to stay in the Christmas card mode so she is decked out with her Holiday hat and scarf and sporting a little holly too. The cow is super 3-D. The body is popped up and the head is popped up again on top of that. I really wanted to add some flock to the hat and white spots on the cow but the other 6 projects on my desk are screaming finish me (ok so a couple are screaming start me) for Christmas.

I used 3 different stamp sets from 3 different companies for this one. The cow and the Moo are from My Favorite Things - Punny Farm. The hat and scarf are from Papertrey Ink - Made of Snow. And the sentiment is from Christmas Card Verses by Amy R. Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

On the 7th day of Chirstmas...

2008-12-04T15:01:00.005-05:00

When I saw that today's 12 Days of Christmas Challenge over at PCP was to make a black and white card I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Problem was I could not find the one sheet of paper that I had been saving for exactly this kind of card. I looked everywhere and through my mile-high paper stash twice. I thought I was going to have to give up when I finally found it, only to realize that it was not white as I had remember but a kind of silver-ish grey. Oh well I used it anyway, hey I had gone through all of the work to find it.

So here it is. Sorry about the bad photo. The paper has a metallic finish to it and I could not get a good photo of it.

The pattern paper is by Heidi Grace Designs, the red is PTI Pure Poppy and the black is from the back of my closet somewhere (found it while looking for the patter paper). LOL! I stamped the image and sentiment from Pocket Silhouettes onto the back of the pattern paper with StazOn. I found 2 tiny pearls I picked up at the Target $1 spot a while back and colored them with a copic to match the Pure Poppy. Added a bit of Black Diamond Stickles to the stamped image, a bit of Pure Poppy ribbon and that was it... done! Super quick and not a lot of stamping but I rather like it.

So it appears that I may have found myself doing a bit of digital scrapbooking. EEEKKK! Even though the idea of actual scrapbooking makes me shiver with fear, the digital thing is rather cool. I have no idea what I am doing though. The one page I made so far is nice but I know there are bazillion more things that I have no clue about. So if you know of any good sites or blogs where I can learn more please let me know. I feel another addiction coming on. I will post the little page I made here on Saturday.
Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!

Seasons Greetings

2008-11-30T11:00:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I made this Christmas card for a swap I was in with some local stampers ( Hi Everyone!!).

I fell in love with this card by Julie Buhler and used her technique seen here for the main image. Super easy and such a cool look. I just love the way these came out.

The images are from Papertrey Ink - Take a Bough.

I used a silver Atyou Spica pen to outline the main image and around the outside.

I also used the silver glitter pen to go around the inside panel. This sentiment is from Christmas Card Verses by Amy R. Stamps. I think I will be using this set for all of my Christmas cards this year.

Info:

Stamps: Take a Bough - PTI, Christmas Card Verses - Amy R. Stamps

Paper: Stampers Seclect, Pure Poppy - PTI

Ink: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa - SU; Noir - Palette

Other Stuff: Versamark, I Kan Dee Chalk, atyou Spica Silver pen, Ribbon - PTI

Santa's Lists

2008-11-24T14:10:00.005-05:00

I think I have everything re-loaded and ready to go now. I had a bit of a time re-creating my watermarks but I figured it out.

Here is a quick little card I made using the Santa from C.C. Designs North Pole set. The images in this set are just adorable. I can't wait to play with the others.

I colored Santa with Prismas and OMS and added some puff paint for his beard and trims. A couple pieces of scrap and a few scribbles for his lists. I used a Just Rite font with the rectangle block to create my saying.

Got to run I have a sick little boy home with me today and he just got up from a short nap. He gets the worst coughs when he gets a cold. Sounds like they are coming straight from his toes. Poor little bugger.

Gotta love technology!

2008-11-23T20:55:00.004-05:00

So I have been MIA the for last week. It goes like this. Last Sunday computer is running reeeeaaaallllyyyy slow. Can't figure out why. Saved a few photos and files to flash drive just in case. Take computer to get it looked at on Tuesday. Computer fix-it people reeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyy slow. Found out Thursday night, the hard drive was kicking the bucket. Bummer! (Good thing I saved those few files and photos ah?) New hard drive covered by computer warranty and the old hard drive is still working, barely but enough that we can retrieve the files on it later if we want to (for a $100, we will have to be needing a lot of those files let me tell ya). YEA! Take disks to the computer geeks (yup they actually call themselves that) to restore windows programs on Friday. Computer geeks reeeeeaaaallllyyyy slow again. Make another trip (an hour each way) to get the computer on Saturday. One afternoon of hooking it back up and getting the virus protection reactivated, getting all other necessary things re-installed and running again.
And here we are a week later. Still don't have my photo editor up and running yet, hopefully tomorrow. At least we have not permanently lost any files and everything was covered under warranty. Could have been a lot worse.
I did actually get some Christmas cards mass produced with all of my spare time this week. LOL! I will share some as soon as I get the photo software re-installed. Just wanted anyone who reads this little blog that I have not fallen off the face of the planet or anything.

YEA!!!!

2008-11-14T21:46:00.005-05:00

Who knew that my mojo was hiding with the water color paper in a little art corner in my local book store?! But there it was.

I have enjoyed trying to water color with SU ink. It is rather relaxing actually. Still need some practice and if anyone knows of any good tutorials PLEASE let me know. I found a few but each had their own way of doing it and each is different. I'm trying them all until I find a one or a combo of a bunch that I like.

This card uses PTI Believe and Snowfall. I used Not Quite Navy for Santa's suit. The trim I did by water coloring with a Dew Drop called Starlite Silver. I think it gives it a really cool look IRL. I did a few dots with a white gel pen in the centers of some snowflakes to help them stand out against the kraft.

Thanks for visiting I'm off to the Papertrey release party. Have a great night everyone!

Christmas Stole my Mojo!

2008-11-13T09:50:00.006-05:00

I think I've figured out what happened to my missing mojo. Christmas cards!!!! Yup, just knowing that I HAVE to make Christmas cards is killing my mojo! I'm working on the situation though and I should have it fixed in no time. I hope!

Here is a little something I make pre-mojo breakdown. This set is Snowfall from PTI and I chose it as my free set for being one of the winners of the GSS contest last month.

I'm going to work on getting that mojo back now. Later.

Birthday Wishes

2008-11-10T21:09:00.005-05:00

In an attempt to find my mojo I found a cute little sketch over at Papercraftplanet. I love the sketch but I think my mojo is still on the loose. Let me put it this way, tonight I cleaned the house and cooked supper so that I wouldn't have to face my stamping area!!!!!! I know, I checked to see if I had a fever and everything. Nope, I'm not sick, I've just been mojo-less for what seems like a very long time now. Somebody HELP!!!!!!

Sorry sidetracked there. So here is my card. Thought maybe I was burned out on Christmas and winter so I went for flowers and rain boots instead. Still a bit of fall in the colors.

I'm going to get a new filing cabinet tomorrow for all of my PTI and SU paper so maybe after I organize all of my stuff I will find my mojo hiding somewhere. Wish me luck!

Another Gift Card Holder Tutorial

2008-11-05T21:40:00.002-05:00

I posted this card a few days back and said I had a way to turn it into a gift card holder. So here it is. This is the outside. This was done with Made of Snow and Snowfall from PTI.

This is the inside of my card. You can see the gift card peeking out of its holder.

Ok, now for how to make the card. This is only my second tutorial so PLEASE if you see something here that is out of whack, let me know and I will fix it. I tried adding some photos to show you what I was doing. You should be able to click on them to see more detail. Let me know how you like it. Here we go...

You will need:
*a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of cardstock for the card base
*a 4 1/4" x 4" piece of cardstock for the gift card slot piece (this is the paper that will be seen on the front of the card bottom)
*any papers/ embellishments you want for your card
*adhesive, craft knife, ruler, 3/16" paper punch (or whatever you have that is close)

Score your base cardstock at 2 3/4" from each end.
If you have a scor-pal, align your cardstock as shown on the 1/4" mark. Then score at 3" and 8 1/2".

Next to make the gift card slot piece, score the 4 1/4" x 4" piece of cardstock at 3". Make sure you are scoring along the 4" side not the 4 1/4" side.

Mark 1" from each side on the score mark. Punch a 3/16" hole centered on each mark and fold on the score line. (If you punch a larger hole the gift card slot will just be deeper.)

Cut along the dotted line as shown below. Really you are just cutting out the paper that is between the holes to make a slot

This is what it should look like when you are done. (If you have a word window type punch this would probably work also. You would just center it along the score line and make sure it is long enough to fit your gift card.)

Now to assemble the card.

First attach the gift card slot portion to the card base. Apply adhesive to one of the card base flap fronts. Adhere the card slot piece (now brown so you can it better against the card base) lining it up at the score line on the card base and allowing the "slot" to overhang the flap.

Apply a length of tape where the base flap and the slot piece come together. (see above) This keeps the gift card from sliding between the wrong flaps. The tape only needs to be a tiny bit longer than the slot itself.

Apply a bit of adhesive to the outer corners only of the slot piece and fold it along the score line, adhering it to the inside of the base flap.

Still with me? Almost done!

Apply adhesive along the edges of the card base flap from the score line to all the way over the card slot piece as shown below. Also apply adhesive along the sides of where they gift card will be held. (See the zig-zag lines below) This will give the gift card a nice snug fit and prevent it from shifting around. Don't use any adhesive except on the edges where marked. The gift card will take up all of the space in between.

Now fold up the flap and adhere it to the card base. Decorate the card however you like, insert your gift card and you are done.

Once you have made your way through my crazy directions you will see that this is super simple and I think it is a great, easy way to give someone a gift card for any occasion. Adjustments to the pocket depth would be easy to allow for the ever popular cash gift as well.

Thanks for hanging in there with my little tutorial. If you try this Gift Card Holder I would love to see it. Leave me a link so I can check it out.

I'm so button challenged!

2008-11-03T18:33:00.006-05:00

Where has my mojo gone? If you see it could you kindly tell it to come on home. I miss it!

In my search for it today I found this sketch. I loved it from the minute I saw it. I picked out my images from the Believe set from PTI. I based my colors on the background paper from the Basic Grey Wassail line. I even had the brads and buttons that coordinated with the line.

I stamped the Santa, colored him with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. Added some chunky glitter to the trim on his coat and hat, some fun flock on his beard and mustache, and the gift was paper pieced and added with a 3-D dot.

It all was coming together nicely until I got to the buttons. I just could not make them feel like part of the card. I kept telling myself I must be button challenged and finally just had to leave well enough alone. Any suggestions would be welcome. I really wanted to add some ribbon but the darn buttons had me so buggered that I couldn't function. Anyway, there it is for better or worse.

I'm off on the continuing search for my mojo. Have a great evening.

You asked for it..

2008-11-02T06:48:00.004-05:00

So here it is. The recipe for Sweet Potato Cupcakes.

I got this from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I changed it up just a tiny bit because I could not find canned sweet potato. Here ya go..

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup butter softened

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups mashed sweet potato

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Bake 2 large sweet potatoes. Mash and cool.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake papers.

Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Beat butter on med. speed, add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Add sweet potato and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add flour mixture. Beat until combined. This will make a thick batter.

Divide batter into cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes or until top springs back. Cool for 1 minutes then remove from pan to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. softened cream cheese

2/3 c. butter softened

2 Tbl. Milk

8 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter for 30 seconds. Add milk and beat till combined. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until combined and is a good frosting consistency.

Frost those little buggers and enjoy. We decided that if you eat 6 of them it will count as a serving of veggies. LOL! Eating 6 might not be difficult either.

A snowman and a little pirate

2008-11-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

Anyone else having a bit of a Halloween hangover? 4 hours of trick-or-treating with a 3 y.o. is more than enough. Our town holds a parade for the little ghosts and goblins that passes by a bunch of local shops and businesses. They all come out dressed up and pass out candy. There were over 300 people in the parade yesterday. That includes the parents but still that is a long line of trick-or-treaters. Tyler had a blast, a lot of his friends from Pre-school where there and they were the best behaved kids there. The parade all ended at the Opera House where there was some costume judging. Our group of kids went right up to the front of the room and sat in a line and just waited quietly until everyone got there. It was so cute.

After the parade we had to go visit a few relatives and close friends around town. By the time we got home at 8:00 we were both exhausted. I did manage to get a picture of the little scurvy pirate before the costume started to get ripped off piece by piece. He loved the eye patch but kept running into things with it on so it just stayed up on his head most of the night.

So now with that behind us I have the card I promised yesterday using Made of Snow.

This card is folded like a gate fold card. Starting with 4 1/4" x 11" Stampers Select for a base I scored at 2 3/4" and 8 1/4". When folded the ends should come to the middle. I used paper from the Making Memories Holiday stack that I found at Target. This color went perfectly with PTI Dark Chocolate. Tell me though what color doesn't go with Dark Chocolate?

I stamped my snowman onto a rectangle of Stampers Select, shaded a bit with some cool grey, added a face and some arms and covered him with glitter. The snowflakes around him are from Mailbox Greetings. A punched snowflake was added with a brad and then he was mounted onto Dark Chocolate. The little snowflakes at the bottom were punched then glittered and some Dark Chocolate ribbon was added around the middle.

The inside has one glittered snowflake and the rest of the sentiment.

I have another version of this card that I will share another time that makes it perfect for gift card giving.

That is it for today. I hope you all had a great Halloween. Now I must go find a place to hide a bushel of left over candy.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:38:00.005-04:00

Well there has been nothing creative going on here this week. Unless you count carving pumpkins. Tyler and I carved a couple last night.

We set them on the porch and to my surprise they are still there this morning. Usually they get smashed the minute they go out.

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween.

ETA: I just saw that Nichole posted the GSS winners on her blog. If you didn't just come from her blog you need to go check out all of the talent on that list. WOWZERS! Here is a post about my card. It is still so exciting to see it show up on Nichole's blog. I have another card made with that oh so cute snowman from Made of Snow. He just didn't quite go with the Halloween thing I've got going on today, I will put him up tomorrow. Thanks for stopping in.

Build a Holiday Background

2008-10-27T13:30:00.001-04:00

Today is my last Monday as All That Scraps Guest Designer. I have had a blast this month. A HUGE Thank you to Amy and Christine for the opportunity and to the other DT members for making me feel so welcome.

Here is my last sneak peek at the new Amy R. sets being released tonight at ATS. I wanted to do something a little funky with this one. I kept thinking as I was using the images over the last few days, what great backgrounds they would make. So I made my own funky background paper.

The white squares are embossed to give them a little pop. I know it is super simple but I really like it. You could do this in any color combo and dress it up for a teen or guy's card. I have the most difficulties with those two types of cards, but I think this would be great.

So that is it. Make sure you check out all of the DT samples on the ATS Blog. All 3 of these awesome sets are going to be available tonight at 10:00 over at ATS.

Holiday Trees

2008-10-25T23:01:00.005-04:00

Here is another sneak peek at the newest stamps from Amy R. Available tomorrow night at All That Scraps.

This card uses the triangle image to make a row of Christmas trees. The 3 different sized trees were all stamped and cut out then added to my glittery background. I stamped the trucks on the background prior to glittering.

I tried something new to glitter my background. I saw on "Martha" the other day that she ran her paper through her Xyron machine to apply the adhesive. Then she added the glitter. It really did make a perfect glittered background. Nice and smooth and best of all EASY! hard to photograph because it is so smooth but oh so nice.

This card took only a couple of minutes to make. With Amy's stamps you could easily make a bunch of these for your Holiday Cards.

The Holiday Greetings image is also from a new set of Amy's called Christmas Sentiments. Both of these along with Christmas Card Verses are being released tomorrow night at All That Scraps. For now go check out what the Design Team did with these sets and be sure to enter to win your very own Christmas Card Verses! This set is going to be a must have!

Papertrey Polka Dot Blog Hop

2008-10-25T19:26:00.005-04:00

Yea, it is time for another PTI Blog Hop. This month was all about Polka Dots.

As you can see I put just a few polka dots on my card. I used Polka Dot Basics. Can I just tell you how much I love using that set with the Rock-a-blocks. Those blocks make lining up these dots sooooo easy. The main image and Thank You sentiment is from Women of Life.

Sorry this is so short but I know you have a ton of other blogs to hop to and I need to get some cream cheese frosting made for some (get this) sweet potato cupcakes. If the cakes are half as good as the batter I think I will be eating a ton of these babies. I will let you know how they come out.

Thanks for stopping in. Make sure you check out the other blogs in the hop tonight. They will all be listed in the PTI Forum.

Build a Holiday Flower

2008-10-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

Today I wanted to share the flower that I made using the soon to be released Build a Holiday set by Amy R. Stamps. It will be available at All That Scraps on Monday at 10:00 pm.

So if you have seen the DT samples with this set you already know that you can make just about anything with these images. Snowmen, reindeer, flowers... the sky is the limit. The first thing I set out to make when I received this set was a flower.

I started by stamping all 3 of the "petal" sizes onto a nice thick white card stock and colored them with copics. Water colors would be nice too. I cut out all of the shapes and arranged them starting with the largest petals at the bottom and ending with the smallest petals on the top. A few extra of the largest petals were colored green for leaves. A little white gel pen for detail, some small green beads for the flower center and voila, done.

I thought this flower would make a great package topper. I actually used a paper grocery bag to wrap my gift (I would love to wrap all of my gifts for Christmas this way) wrapped it with some red ribbon and added the flower. Every gift needs a tag so I used an image from Holiday Sentiments (also being released Monday) to make the tag.

As I was doing this I thought what a bummer that this flower might be tossed in the trash after the recipient opened the gift. So I attached everything using just a small amount of tape. That way all parts can be easily removed and the ribbon can be attached to the flower and used as an ornament for the tree next year. Another idea would be to add a pin back to the flower and it would make a great broach. Or a hair accessory, ok you get the idea it can really be used a bunch of ways.

Thanks for checking in today. I will be back tomorrow with another card made with Build a Holiday. Don't forget to check out the ATS blog to see what else the DT made and enter to win Holiday Sentiments from Amy R. Stamps.

New Amy R. Stamps

2008-10-24T11:30:00.002-04:00

This is the first sneak peek I have for you using the newest stamps from Amy R Stamps. First let me just say that this set Build a Holiday is only limited by your imagination. You should go see what the design team did with this. Oh yea, while your are there, make sure you enter to win this set.

I wanted to keep this card as antique looking as possible. I love it! I used the circle images from the set to make some ornaments. I stamped the ornaments onto pattern paper and cut them out. Then I did the crackled glass technique on them. You can see how to do this here. Can I just tell you how much fun this was. I might have had a bit too much fun cracking them though because some of the cracks are a bit deep and well they almost fell apart.

For the hangers I glued a Hershey's Kiss wrapper (yes a candy wrapper) to a piece of card stock, to make them more sturdy and then stamped the hanger onto the wrapper. I cut them out and then stained them up a bit with a brown copic. A little bit of hemp cording finished off the ornaments.

I used an Ornare piercing template to make the swirls near each ornament. It needed something but I am quite sure that glitter and bling wouldn't have given me the antique feeling I was going for.

I tried to rough up my Peace image a bit by wiping some of the ink off prior to stamping, should have taken a bit more off. This Peace image is from another Amy R. set being released on Monday at All That Scraps. Just wait until you see these sets.

Don't forget to visit the ATS blog to see what the DT did and enter to win you very own Build a Holiday. I'll be back tomorrow with another peek.

ATS Challenge - Ribbon Inspiration

2008-10-23T09:53:00.005-04:00

For a girl who loves ribbon this challenge should have been a breeze right? ERR, wrong answer. I guess I usually pick my ribbon after I make my card because starting with ribbon really threw me. That is why the call it a challenge!

I fussed over this for a week and finally just grabbed an American Crafts ribbon (how can you go wrong with American Crafts after all). I used the colors from the ribbon to color the bear from My Rubber Ducky.

I stamped the rubber ducky with Versamark on the upper panel, just to create a little pattern up there.

Like I said I struggled with this one but I really like how the the bear and ducky turned out and had to use them cause their just so cute. Can't leave all that cuteness just laying around.

I will be back tomorrow, (in between baking 4 apple pies for a bake sale), with something that I had a much easier time with. Until then go check out what everyone else did for this challenge (and all of the others) in the All That Scraps Gallery. While your at it get your stuff loaded up there. You might be next month's Guest Designer.

Go Prehistoric x3

2008-10-20T13:35:00.000-04:00

This is my third week as the Guest Designer over at All That Scraps. I loved Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric from the minute I opened the package. So today I have 3 cards made with that set but also using at least one other CC Designs set.

This card uses the dino image from Go Prehistoric and the balloons and party hat from Froggy and Friends. I used a bit of embroidery floss to tie the balloons to his tail. I also combined sentiments from both sets to create my "have a dino-mite Birthday!" greeting.

This next card was in my brain for a while before I was finally able to drag it out. This is the volcano image from Go Prehistoric and Lucky from Wintertime Fun. There is a ton of glitter on this baby. I also used some puff paint on the "mountains" but being impatient as I am I didn't allow enough time for it to dry and I smooshed it nearly flat. Oops!

And this last card uses 3 sets from CC Designs. The palm tree is from Go Prehistoric, the Relax and Unwind saying is from My Rubber Ducky and the monkey in the tube is from Summertime Fun. I was going for the "wish you were here postcard" kind of look instead I got "the girl has now idea how to use watercolors look". LOL! This was my first attempt as coloring with watercolor pencils and Peerless watercolors. It was fun, I just really need more practice, clearly.

But back to my original point... the palm tree goes perfectly with the Summertime Fun set.

Thanks for checking in today. Don't forget there is a new challenge every Wednesday in the ATS forum. Take part in any of the challenges and you could be next month's Guest Designer.

Hey chick...

2008-10-19T13:55:00.009-04:00

Well I have missed a few days.. where does the time go? Seriously! Actually I have been making cards like crazy the last few days. Mostly some Christmas cards.

Tyler and I had a road trip on Friday to a new-to-me stamp store. He was so good. It helped that the owner of the store kept him occupied looking at her dogs and the funny stamps while I shopped. Then I had printed him his very own 40% off coupon for AC Moore and he got to pick out a new train for his train track. These trains are great. He has a giant basket of wooden tracks, bridges, overpasses, buildings and trains. He plays with them all the time (please excuse the messy house in the photo). If you are looking for a great gift for a little person in your life, check out these trains. I have been collecting the track for him since he was about a year old. He still needs a little help creating a big track but he plays for hours with it. The Brio and Thomas wooden tracks will work together and you can see a bunch of them here. I have nothing to do with any of these companies but when I find a great toy I like to pass the word around and these are some of the best ever. They are tough (trust me, I know) and they are great for the imagination (ok I admit it I like to play with them too). I am actually getting a starter set for my cousin's little boy for Christmas.

No that I have that out of my system I've got a quick card I made with Annabelle. The sentiment "Hey chick, what's moo?" totally cracks me up. So I put the little chick sitting in Annabelle's hand. Just a quick card to say hey to someone and give them a little chuckle. The colors went a little springy on me but I guess I was needing a change from all of the fall and Christmas colors.

Don't look too close... my grey copic that I use to shadow went all weird and glomped up all over. Oh well Annabelle's cuteness makes up for it. :)

I will be back tomorrow with more CC Designs. Don't forget to check out the ATS forum for the latest challenge you could be next months Guest Designer.

Papertrey Ink GSS

2008-10-15T12:50:00.004-04:00

So at the last minute I decided to submit my Friendly Snowman card to the Papertrey Ink Guest Star Stamper contest. And I am so glad that I did. It won for Best Winter Project. How cool is that?

You should really go to the PTI Gallery and check out all of the other winner's projects. Amazing stuff!

I was half asleep, ok I totally fell asleep on the couch and woke up at 12:10 am and ran to the computer to place my order. Got all done with my order, checked my email and there was a note from Julie saying You Won! Still hadn't a clue what was going on. Finally I woke up enough to realize that my snowman card had won. If I wasn't so dang tired I probably would have done cartwheels right then and there.

I am so very proud of my little snowman. This might just be my most favorite card off all of them I have ever made. So to have it be acknowledged like this is just awesome. And thank you again to everyone who has left me such nice comments on this card, here and at SCS. It means the world to me.

Ok this is starting to sound like an awards show acceptance speech :)

Thanks for checking in today.

There is a bit more about the card here on the original post if you are interested.

Christopher and Olivia in PJs

2008-10-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

This has to be quick today. Tyler has a friend over and right now they are supposed to be sleeping. LOL, that is not going to happen. So in just a few minutes I have to go let them get up and just try to keep them quiet for a few more minutes.

But anyway...

This is Pajama Christopher, now available at All that Scraps. I paper pieced his PJs. The pattern paper is from a Making Memories FaLaLa scrapbook pad. I couldn't resist the snowflakes.

Info:
Stamps: CC Designs - Pajama ChristopherInk: PalettePaper: Making Memories - FaLaLa, Papertrey Ink - VIntage Cream, Dark Chocolate
Other Stuff: Prismacolor Pencils

And this is Pajama Oliva, also available at All That Scraps. Her pigtails are just adorable. I paper peiced her bows and PJs from the same Making Memories polka dot paper. I cut out the Olivia image with a nestie and sponged a little bit of pink around her while still in the die. This creates a nice crisp outline.

Info:
Stamps: CC Designs - Pajama Olivia
Ink: Palette

Paper: Making Memories - Holiday mat stack, Papertrey Ink - Sweet Blush & Stampers Select, Bazzill

Other Stuff: Primsacolor Pencils, Nestabilities, ribbon and buttons.

Well the boys are beyond the point where a nap will be helpful at this point. Guess plan B is to lay quiet on the couch and watch PBS cartoons. Hey at least they are educational, right?

Don't forget all of the new stuff (including these two adorable stamps) that is available over at All That Scraps right now. And Wednesday there will be another Design Team Challenge. Take part in it or any of the others already there and you could be next months Guest Designer.

ATS Halloween Treats Challenge

2008-10-09T11:40:00.000-04:00

The challenge over at ATS this week was to make some treats for Halloween. I decided to make little packages for Ty's preschool friends.

I made these little pillow boxes to hold the treats. I googled and found a template for the box here . I used the large size for this treat holder and traced it onto chip board to make a nice sturdy template to trace around.

I stamped Boo and shaded him just a bit with a grey Prisma. Then I masked him and sponged either purple or orange all around him. Cut him out with a scalloped nestie and matted him with another. Then it was stickle time. The little girls at Preschool will love the sparkle. I added some ribbon to the front fo the box and glued Boo on.

I know Tyler is allowed to have some candy. Like a piece after supper or something like that, he certainly doesn't eat a lot. I also know that some parents do not allow their children to have any sugar, so Goldfish seemed the perfect treat. And the little packages you can get right now for Halloween are the perfect fit for this pillow box. I actually got Teddy Grahams too but they are a little tighter fit and quite frankly just did not match my container for the photo. :)

These will also be perfect for a couple of little tikes that will be trick-or-treating this year who are too young for candy. I made a few this morning but still have several to go and two teacher treats too, can't forget the teachers. These are really quick to put together though, just have to wait for the glue and stickles to dry.

Be sure to check out this and all of the other Wednesday Challenges over on the ATS message board. You can do any of the challenges at anytime, no time limit, and you could be next month's Guest Designer... you might have to fight me for it though. LOL! Don't forget that the new stamps are all available there now also.

Thanks for checking in today.

A Christmas Scenery Ornament

2008-10-07T19:55:00.001-04:00

I so wanted to get the posted earlier. But in the process of trying to unclog a bathroom sink I somehow broke the drain pipe and had a cupboard full of yucky drain water and of course Drano. It was a great combination really (not). So between cleaning up the mess and helping DH fix the pipe I never got around to posting.

So really quick here it is:

This is an ornament I made with the Christmas Scenery Set being released tonight at 10:00 over at All That Scraps. I was so excited when I received my stamps in the mail to see this fireplace. It is awesome! And the little stockings are just adorable.

This is a 3-D ornament. The fire actually sits inside of the fireplace. I made a little box and mounted the fire to the inside. (I hope this shows up, it was rather hard to photograph.) The mantels are both mounted with pop dots for even more 3-D effect. The first photo shows the ornament before I added my terrible hand writing to it. I added all of our names to the stocking with our family name and the year to the lower mantel.

All of the images were colored with Prismacolor Pencils. I added some white fun flock to the top of the stockings and "hung" them with brads.

Ok Im off the the release party at the ATS forum. Dont forget this set and others will be available tonight at 10:00 at ATS.

Thanks for checking in!

Meet Chrissy

2008-10-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

I am back with my second post today using the soon to be released stamp set Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric from CC Designs. This set is being released tomorrow night at 10:00 over at All That Scraps.

First of all this card kind of uses this sketch by Lauren (mytime). I strayed some for the original design but it was my starting point.

I stamped Chrissy and masked her to sponge the sky & ground and stamp the volcano & mountains. I think my mountains are supposed to be rocks but that just goes to show you the versatility of the stamps. I used them as mountains in my door sign (see post below) as well. I cut Chrissy out with a nestie and made a border with that K & Company paper that I have been using a lot lately (see many of the posts below, it is everywhere). I added more Glossy accents to my volcano and some fun flock to Chrissy's outfit.

Chrissy's little dino pal is stamped onto paper from the same K & Company pad and I colored her spots with a Prisma pencil. The cream background is, you guess it, K & Company and the brown circles and base are Dark Chocolate from PTI. The sentiment from the Go Prehistoric set was stamped right onto the background and the ribbon is American Crafts. MMMM, Yummy!

I have had a blast with this stamp set. By far the cutest stamps I have seen in a very long time. I can not wait to see what Eric and Chrissy will be up to down the road. Want to win your very own Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric set, head on over to the ATS blog and check out all the details on how to win and the release party happening tomorrow night.

Thanks for checking in tonight. And a special Thank You to everyone who has left me such kind comments here on my blog, as SCS and over at ATS. It really means a lot.

Eric and Chrissy Go Prehistoric

2008-10-06T13:05:00.007-04:00

Yea, today I can finally share my favorite project so far with the new CC Designs Stamps that are being releases tomorrow night. This set is called Go Prehistoric and is the first set to feature Eric and Chrissy. First of all these images are ADORABLE!!! I have been waiting for the perfect dinosaur stamp set for a long time and this is it! Not to mention that Eric and Chrissy are just too stinkin' cute.

My first project with this set was a door sign for my dino-addicted son. He has already made a request for Christine to draw him a "sharp-teeth and a spike tail dinosaur".

So anyway, this sign is made on a wooden slat. I found them at a local craft store, 6 in a package for just a couple of dollars. They measure about 3 x 7.

I used various color inks and just smooshed (its a technical term, LOL) the ink pads right across the board. While the inks were still a bit wet I used a cloth to really blend them in together. It was all kind of random actually, I just tried to keep a nice clean horizon line.

All of the images where stamped, colored with Prismas and cut out. Some were mounted with 3-D tape others were glued right to the board. I used some Glossy Accents on the lava coming from the volcano to give it a hot, lava look. I drilled two holes and used some ribbon as a hanger. The letters were inked and then sponged around the edges for some detail.

Super easy! And if you have a dino-addicted girl it would be so easy to just change to colors to a more girl-like palette.

I will be back in a bit with a card I made with this set. I have a little project from yesterday's Christmas Scenery set peak to fit in as well. So much to show you so little time.

Don't forget these stamps will be available Tuesday night at 10:00 at All That Scraps. And there will be a release party starting at 8:00 in the forum. Oh and go to the ATS blog for a chance to win this set and see what the DT has done with it and all of the other new sets. SO CUTE!!