Some Cheese To Go With the Whine???

Boy have I had my days mixed up this week, kept thinking Tuesday was Monday, etc. Finally have it straight, I think. Hasn't been one of my better weeks. Was supposed to start 3rd round of chemo couple weeks ago but postposted when I lost my job. Well, not really...was just put on indefinite "I dunno how long" status. Didn't need the physical on top of emotional stress. Started another job this past Monday, so relaxed and started the chemo Tuesday. Bleh. Roller coaster of up and down emotions...don't want to do this, don't like this, my face is over the commode again, can I get through this, how much hair will I lose this time, why is the cat staring at me that way...

As far as paper goods this week, I've been working on 200 invitations for my son's JROTC Military Ball coming up in December. I had made them last year as well and must have done an okay job because they asked me to do it again. The Military Ball is like a prom for the JROTC cadets. They guys dress in their Class B uniforms, the girls in formals. There is a traditional Army Dining In ceremony, the grog bowl, then a dance. It's very nice. This will be my 5th year to chaperone. So here's the invitation. Burgundy CS (there is it again, see previous post), run through with CB D'Vine Swirls. Black Nestabilities oval stamped and gold embossed with numbers I cut from craft foam using CB dies and mounted to use as a stamp. Gold vellum for the theme cut with decorative scissors. My friend Deborah came over and helped me with these this week. She cut out some ovals, did some of the CB embossing, and cut the cord for the tassel and tied knots. Once we got all the pieces cut, embossed, etc., became more of an assembly line type process and went pretty quickly. The inside has the info printed on white opaque vellum, then tied with the cord. Pretty simple stuff...just a lot of it.

Stamps: Homemade numbers from CB die.
Paper: CS and vellum from The Paper Studio.
Ink: Laser printer.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, embossing powder, cording, decorative scissors.

Team Cookies & Cards...Away!

Kind of been a crazy week. Just now getting around to posting this.
For Team Cards & Cookies, our team captain Erika added a little spin to Operation Baking Gals. In addition to some baked goodies, we made 10 cards with envies to sent to a soldier overseas, who would then distribute all the baked goods and cards to everyone in his batallion. There were 21 on our team. Woo hoo!
I got my cards with envies made and packed up. For my card base I started with a burgundy CS. I then Cuttled white card stock in the Ornaments folder. Stamped the sentiment and cut it out with the Spellbinders ribbon tag, inked the edges. Cut some burgundy satin ribbon, threaded it through the tag. Then hit a wall. Maybe it was just me, but nothing I put on that background looked good. Lost count of how many times I stepped away from the cards, trying to get some ideas. Blank. Finally just started browsing the SCS Gallery for inspiration, came across this card and so finished mine with some casing. I had some pieces of left over vellum in a bunch of different colors, so cut out "ornaments" with a circle Nestabilities, ran it through the D'Vine Swirls CB folder. I drew the ornament "caps" freehand and cut those out; that was loads of fun. :) Had some very fine chain left over from a fashion doll makeover I did, so I used it for the hangers. Added a CB snowflake on top of the ribbon. Did that x10. Needed to keep the card relatively simple and flat so it would mail well. Guess that's where I kept running into trouble, wanted to add too much. I decided to make mini muffins from this recipe Tammy posted. It has been a great hit with my daughter and her roomie and the rest of her company at college. I send her a batch every week and her company commander comes down the hall of the dorm asking if she has anymore of the "Texas muffins", (even though they're Paula Dean's) so at least I know they're a hit. :)

Stamps: Flourished Christmas by Flourishes.
Paper: CS from Hobby Lobby, vellum from another life.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Spellbinders Tags, ribbon, Cuttlebug folders and snowflake die, chain.

I've Been Tagged!

Yesterday and today I was busy with finishing up my niece's Halloween costume, among other things. Today my boyfriend and I went to vote then to lunch. When I checked my e-mail I found a wonderful surprise...I was tagged by the incredibly talented and uber sweet Tammy Hershberger. Wow!! Fun questions, so here we go:

Things I Love:
1. My family - My two wonderful kids, my mom, brother, and sister.
2. Being creative...sewing, paper crafting, beading.
3. Sticky and Laila - my cat and dog.
4. Getting together with friends.
5. Cooking.

Things I Don't Love:
1. Grocery shopping.
2. Hot weather (and I live in south Texas where there are only two seasons - hot and hotter..go figure).
3. Rude drivers.
4. Dishonesty.
5. Housework.

Songs on my mp3 player:
1. John Denver.
2. Andrea Bocelli.
3. Nickelback
4. Lots of 80's big hair groups.
5. Alan Jackson.

Favorite Foods/Drinks:
1. Pepsi.
2. Chocolate
3. Seafood.
4. Chicken and dumplings with cornbread (can you say comfort food - grin).
5. Pretty much anything with pasta.

Tag 5 others: This is the hardest part...there are so many wonderful crafters out there!
1. Michelle.
2. Chris.
3. Holly.
4. Carolyn.
5. Stacy.


Tomorrow my son is in a Veteran's Day parade with JROTC over near Randolph Air Force Base. After that I'll be back home making a set of cards and baking cookies for my part in Team Cookies and Cards to send to our soldier. Will get those sent off on Sunday.

Flat Ribbon For Stamp Simply #58

Make it flat...that's what Sharon said to do for her Stamp Simply challenge. No bumps or bulges for this one so it can be mailed flat in an envelope, with no extra postage. I had started this card for my good friend in Miami who has finished her chemo after a recurrence of her breast cancer. She was here this past weekend to visit her daughter and she looks fabulous. Her hair is growing back in and she has it kind of spiky right now which is so totally not her, but it looked great on her! I found the template here, printed it directly onto the pink CS and cut it out. I wanted to use the Survivor mantra that is so fitting for anyone who has dealt with breast cancer (or any cancer for that matter). I got out several of my JustRite sets to get the letters on here. Used the Special Occasions font from one monogram set for the larger letters. I used the small font set to do phrases from the whole sentiment as a background across different parts of the ribbon. Don't sneeze while working with these itsy bitsy letters...found myself on the floor under my desk looking for some of them. :) I chalked the edges of the card, added some pink Stickles. Still needed something, so I glued on the pink and fuschia "foily" butterflies and added the Stickles to their bods as well. Not a whole lot to do with something this shape, but I really liked how it turned out.

Stamps: JustRite Special Occasions and Small Letters sets.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Template, Stickles, chalks, butterflies

This Year's Halloween Card

Last year was the first year I sent a Halloween card to some of my girlfriends; several asked what this year's was going to be, so I guess a tradition has been started. :) I came across this sentiment in a magazine on the plane to Vermont a couple weeks ago and had to write it down. This Fluffles stamp was what came to mind to go with it. I decided on the stair step card so that Fluffles and the sentiment would show at the same time. I used Cuttlebug Distressed Stripes folder on the front panel, then added some punched out leaves and pumpkins, applied some chalk over the pumpkins. Printed the sentiment from my computer then cut out and embossed with Nestabilities rectangle, edged with some chalks. The ghost,bats and tiny leaves are all from the same punch as the pumpkins. The ghost was edged with silver ink and attached with tiny foam dots. The bats are glued onto a thin strip of acetate and attached behind the sentiment so they stand out from the background. The moon was cut from a circle Nestabilities, painted with Shimmering H2O's, and then sprinkled with glitter in some spots for extra sparkle. Fluffles was colored with Prismas...even has the green "face paint" listed in the sentiment. Added some Stickles to the hat band.

Stamps: Fluffles Broomstick.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS, My Mind's Eye DP.
Ink: Stazon. Prismacolor pencils.
Accessories: Nestabilities, leaf punch from Target $1 spot, mystery punch, Shimmering H2O's, chalks, glitter, foam dots, acetate, Cuttlebug, Stickles.

Paper Withdrawal, But Sewing and On to Cookies!!

I've gotten to where I enjoy stamping and card making so much I almost had withdrawals this week, but happily I was kept busy with my other passion...sewing. Had a Halloween party to go to last night so spent the past week making the Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes for my boyfriend and myself. Here's part of our group that went to the party too. Just a bunch of big kids, aren't we? Funny...no one could solve that Rubik's cube! :) I felt like a walking mattress with all that fabric in the dress and pinafore. My BF and I got lots of funny looks and laughs on the way to our friends' house; could tell some of the grown men felt funny waving to a big rag doll. haha. We had a good time and we're already throwing around ideas for our costumes for next year. :)
During the week I still did some blog hopping, which further added to my paper craving. On Tammy Hershberger's blog yesterday she was talking about Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support). Such a great idea and what a way to show our support and love for our troops overseas and give them some cards to send to loved ones at the same time. I followed the links and joined up right away. Will get a friend over here this weekend for some fun and baking and get our package ready to send. For more info and/or to sign up to join the team go to Erika Martin's blog.

Anything But a Card for House Mouse

I saw that the House Mouse challenge was to make anything but a card, and I thought it would be cute to have this little mousie jumping out of something...somehow. I had made this little coffin box over the weekend...how convenient...and decided to go with it. :) I got the template for the box here, was very easy to assemble. There's even a liner for the box. I cut another piece of orange CS to go on the top of the box, stamped it with spiders from Inka's Halloween Trails set, and BOO from Martha Stewart's Gooey Alphabet. The ghosts were from a punch I have, inked their edges with silver. I'm giving this box to my son and the candy will be in a wrapper, but for the picture I thought the candy corn would look good tumbling out of the open box. I used the Oh Happy Days image from House Mouse, colored with Prismas blended with baby oil, then cut it out. I cut out a circle from some plastic packaging with a Nestabilities circle, cut it into a spiral and attached each end of the spiral with silver bat-shaped brads to the inside of the box. Then attached the mousie to the spiral to make it look like she was jumping out of the box when it was opened. Surprise!! (sorry about the punch, used it to prop open the box top). ~*grin*~

Stamps: Inkadinkado, Martha Stewart. Paper: The Paper Studio CS. Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues. Accessories: Template, brads, acetate, punch.

No Pix With Stamp Simply 57

This week's Stamp Simply Challenge theme came from Heather Telford who won the opportunity to be co-host when Sharon was doing a blog candy blast a couple weeks ago. Heather's idea for this week is to create a card with no images, but can use a background stamp and/or sentiment stamps. A few hours earlier I had seen this card and the gears started turning. I ran a piece of acetate through a Cuttlebug folder and then on the backside filled the "wells" with copper Stickles. I went through my stamps to find a sentiment that would fit between the diamonds and chose this one from Crafty Secrets. Here's where the fun started, trying to figure out how to get the stamp in there just perfectly. I put the stamp on the block and set it on the acetate, where it stuck nicely. I don't have a stamp-a-majig thingy...so let's just say there was a lot of tape and a couple other acrylic blocks involved. Lifted the stamp up, ran it across the Stazon pad and held my breath (literally) as I eased it back down amidst the other blocks. Wheeeee, it worked! Used gold vellum as a base for the acetate and put tiny dots of glue at each diamond corner to attach it. Then attached the vellum to the card base. I had put some ribbon on it, but decided this would be a nice guy card to keep in the stash until the need arises, so took it off. Looks kinda dull in the picture, but is pretty IRL. Taking the picture was tricky, as I have a huge picture window right here and there was glare all over the place. Would show you but there's the eeeeek factor involved with you seeing my disaster of a work/sewing/carding area. It's a bit (understatement) messy.

Stamps: Crafty Secrets Glamour Girls.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS and vellum.
Ink: Stazon.
Accessories: Acetate, Stickles, Cuttlebug.

Fourth Whiff of Joy Challenge

Here's the fourth Whiff of Joy Challenge. This time we get to make a card using autumn colors. Oh, and I just saw many gorgeous colors while in Vermont visiting my daughter!!! We stayed at a gorgeous B&B near a floating bridge, and the mist on the lake in the early morning was ethereal. I decided to use Willow's Chair...it arrived while I was gone, and seems fitting since there was a parlour in the inn where we could sit and read or just relax. Now this is Willow's chair, but when she went to get more hot chocolate, Kitty hopped into her chair. :) I stamped the chair image twice, once on CS and a second time on some DP. Cut out the DP for the cushions, and colored in the wood of the chair with Prismacolor pencils blended with baby oil. Same with the hat box, using a striped DP, colored the side of the lid and added some Stickles. Mounted the chair on a triple mat of three different CS colors and popped the box up on dimensionals. Embossed the burgundy CS with Cuttlebug paisley folder, inked the raised parts. Guess I had an attack of corner punches, as I used the rounder and that notched one on this card. Sentiment is from Verve, cut out with oval Nestabilies and mounted on dimensionals. Finally, added those teensy Cuttlebug flowers I seem to have gotten hooked on, put Stickles in their centers, and then the Dew Drops.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow's Chair, Pink Cat Studio Kitty, Verve Artful Elegance

Paper: The Paper Studio CS, My Mind's Eye DP.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues, Prismacolor pencils.

Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Stickles, Dew Drops, dimensionals, corner punches.

Some Catch-Up With SSNOTIME56 & House Mouse

Wow! I was so, so happy to see my daughter! She looks beautiful as always, looks very happy, and I can tell she is having the time of her life! Makes it a bit easier for her to be so far away. Vermont was amazing...the turning of the leaves, the B&B we stayed in near the floating bridge. Wonderful. Could not have been a better weekend!
So today I'm playing catch-up, after a day of recovering yesterday from that 3:30 wake-up to catch the 6 a.m. flight on Monday; felt washed out all day yesterday. :)
So first card today is Sharon's challenge but this time she has been hijacked and she is the one being cased. This was somewhat intimidating - casing Sharon - but fun. The card base is kraft CS onto which I attached DP from My Mind's Eye after inking the edges. The lower border is pink CS run through a Cuttlebug Frills border. The main image is Flourishes Mixed Greetings; colored the bowl with chalks, and added some color to the mail with Prismacolor pencils, cut all that out and attached to white CS. The ovals were cut with oval Nestabilities. Used a slot punch and ran the ribbon through it. Have to say, after tying that beige...umm, thing...to the card...okay, it's a bow - I have a whole new level of respect for Sharon's bow-tying skills! I thought I was going to have to get a foot involved with this. Not completely happy with the way it turned out, but that is the best I can do with that poor bow. Sentiment from Verve was stamped and cutout with rectangle Nestabilities. Lastly, added some Dew Drops.

Stamps: Flourishes Mixed Greetings, Verve Artful Elegance
Paper: My Mind's Eye DP, The Paper Studio pink CS, Stampin Up! kraft CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Prismacolor pencils.
Accessories: Ribbon, slot punch, Nestabilities, Dew Drops, Cuttlebug, chalks, baby oil.

This second card is the House Mouse weekly challenge. I love the sketch! I used a couple of the same papers as in the previous card, since I had them out. :) Kraft CS base and all of the DP is from My Mind's Eye, with the main base DP attached after inking edges. I used the House Mouse Feeling Rosy image, colored with Prismacolor pencils blended with baby oil. Added some Stickles to the cup decorations. Chalked around the image after cutting out with circle Nestabilities then attached to base. Sentiment is from My Favorite Things, cut out with Nesties and mounted. The flowers were cut from a Cuttlebug die, curved by pressing in the centers with end of a paint brush, and then added rhinestones to the centers. Added lavender pearls I got from Flourishes, each bordered by tiny rhinestones.

Stamps: House Mouse Feeling Rosy, My Favorite Things Time For the Bubbly.
Paper: Stampin Up! kraft CS, My Mind's Eye DP.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Prismacolor pencils.
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, rhinestones, pearls, Stickles, baby oil.

Whiff of Joy Challenge #3

This will be my last post until next week. I'm leaving this afternoon to see my daughter for parent weekend at Norwich University in Vermont. Can't wait to see her!!!! This is for the Whiff of Joy Challenge, following a sketch by DT member Heather. For this card I used Willow with Lantern image. Colored her with Prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil. Added some Stickles for the holly berries and Twinkling H2O's on the lantern for a glow effect, which you can't see in the picture. Also added some over her hair and waist ribbons. Popped her up on dimensionals. All of the background papers are from Basic Grey Two Scoops pad. Ribbon is from Michael's dollar bin. Flowers cut out with my Cuttlebug, layered and secured with a brad. Snowflake rhinestones in the corners, and added some Dew Drops.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow with Lantern.

Paper: Basic Grey DP, The Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Stazon.

Accessories: Ribbon, snowflakes, brads, dimensionals, Dew Drops.

Gift For a Friend

This is the gift I made for my friend (about a week or so late) for Rosh Hashanah. I cased this set by Lauren; I thought it would be perfect for my friend. I used the Mazel Tov set from Papertrey Ink for all the stamped images. This is actually a second set I made. A friend saw the original set when she came by to drop some things off and said I had to add apples and honey, which I had left out because I'm shipping this to Miami. My light bulb came on and I realized she is Jewish ... something that had never come up before. A silly grin later and she was walking out the door with the original set, minus that little pizza box which has a set of notecards for the originally intended recipient. : ) So I got another bottle of wine, made another set, and included apples and honey this time. There is also a candle in there (right in front of the box). Will wrap this in some shrink wrap and off it goes to Miami!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Mazel Tov. Flourishes and JustRite (below).
Paper: The Paper Studio CS, Making Memories silver CS.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Nestabilities, rhinestones, dimensionals, border punch, wine.

Before I forget...here is one of the notecards that I made that is inside the pizza box. You can see a closeup of the pizza box in yesterday's post. I made 8 cards and envelopes, and they all fit in there nicely, even with the dimensionals popping up the monogrammed circle. Used Flourishes Damask background and cut out with square scalloped Nesties. Then stamped the monogram with JustRite stamper, cut that out with circle Nestabilities and popped it up on dimensionals. Added the little rhinestone blingage between her initials to match those on the box. :)

A Mouse, and a Box

Decided to play in this challenge since I had this cute stamp. Love House Mouse and happened to stumbled onto the blog a couple of weeks ago.
This is Feathered Friends stamp. The base DP is actually the packaging backing for Martha Stewart's Goo alphabet that I used for the sentiment. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and blended with baby oil; cut around it, inked edges a bit and mounted on black CS with rounded corners and silver inked edges. Embossed the spider web in the corner with black EP, added a clear Dew Drop. Mounted the words on dimensionals, and added three more Dew Drops.

Stamps: House Mouse, Inkadinkado.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS, Martha Stewart packaging insert.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Stazon.
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, embossing powder, Dew Drops, dimensionals.

My first blog hop of the day is always Sharon's. I saw this one yesterday and I've never done a TLC, but this one was to make a mini pizza box so I jumped on board. This came in handy as that extra something I needed to put into a gift set for a friend for Rosh Hashanah. I'm about a week late getting this out but she'll understand. :) Will post pic of that set tomorrow before I ship it to her. I used Papertrey Ink's Mazel Tov set for the images. I stamped the blue CS with two different images for background before assembling the box. Did the Tree of Life on silver CS with Stazon. Cut that out and embossed with three nesting scalloped Nestabilities. For the sentiment I just rounded the corners. Added the rhinestones for some pretty sparkle. I also made a set of 8 monogrammed note cards to go inside box.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Mazel Tov.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS, Making Memories silver CS.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Nestabilities, rhinestones, dimensionals.

Second Post Today...Couple of Flowery Cards

Here are a couple more from my weekend of card playing. : ) This first one used no stamping. I ran a piece of white CS through the Cuttlebug Birds and Vines folder, inked the raised parts and mounted to olive CS. The second matted piece is simply a pretty sticker from Karen Foster that I put on white CS, put a rhinestone in the center, mounted on olive CS and attached that over the ribbon. The circle was cut from one of my Cuttlebug dies, then glittered it. Cut the butterfly from my Cricut, cut out the circle and attached it over the glittered circle base.

Stamps: None.
Paper: Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Karen Foster sticker, Cuttlebug, Cricut, glitter, ribbon, rhinestone.

This second card I made for my sis-in-law with the first set of Kitchen Sink stamps that I got. I love hydrangeas. Did those in purples (have to work on those leaves), added the little butterfly. Cut the edges with deckle scissors, ticket punched the corners, inked around it. Mounted it to moss green CS that I ticket punched as well. The base is green CS onto which I mounted the yellow and white striped paper that was part of the packaging for another set of stamps (there's that recycle freak popping up again-heehee). The sentiment from SU! Blossoms Abound was stamped in lavender ink and embossed with clear powderUsed my corner rounder to scallop the lavender CS strip and attached it. Added the ribbon and some Dew Drops.

Stamps: Kitchen Sink, Stampin Up!
Paper: Paper Studio CS, recycled yellow/white packaging.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Embossing powder, ribbon, Dew Drops, deckle scissors, corner rounder.

A Case....And My "Baby"

First off, have to start out with this picture from this past Saturday. It was the Homecoming dance for my son's high school. He is in JROTC and was in the saber line for the Homecoming court presentation so had to wear the Class A uniform. That's his date; she's a cutie, she just always looks nervous in pictures. They had a good time at the dance. I was pretty worn out from being chauffeur, first to dinner, then pick them up and take them to the dance. Then back over there at 11:30 when the dance was over and to take his girlfriend home.

I made a few cards over the weekend, just random stuff. Will post over the next couple of days.

Okay, on to the cards. I had come across this card a while back before I ever thought about starting a blog and had saved the info on it. Background and bottom panel are Basic Grey Lilykate; both mounted on light brown CS. I stamped the foliage from Inkadinkado Garden Delight three times in blue, over the panel. I just love this Inkadinkado Birds Galore set. I stamped it once in brown, then again in the blue and cut that bird out and popped it up on tiny dimensionals. Made the wavy bottom with my Coluzzle, then did the same with a narrow dark brown strip and mounted them to the blue panel, and then mounted that to the card. I twisted up some brown tissue paper and then flattened it a bit and cut a "ribbon" and attached it to the sides. Added some bling to the leaves, ribbon and upper corner and called this one done.

Stamps: Inkadinkado Garden Delight and Birds Galore.
Paper: Basic Grey Lilykate, Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Tissue paper, rhinestones, Coluzzle.


I liked this layout so much I made another card, this one just a little different. The base paper is from My Mind's Eye onto which I stamped part of a collage stamp that I had inked up with my Marvy markers. I ran a piece of olive shimmery vellum through the D'Vine Swirls Cuttlebug folder and mounted that on magenta CS. Stamped part of Inkadinkado flourish stamp after inking it with the markers as well. Cut the tiny flowers with my Cuttlebug then set them on foam and pushed down in the center with an embossing tool to give them a cup shape. Glued them to the flourish, added some beads, then the little outline butterfly sticker. Inked the edges of this piece and mounted to the magenta CS as well and attached to the base. Finally, cut a strip of the magenta with a border punch attached it and added some beads to it as well.

Stamps: Inkadinkado Flourished Flowers.
Paper: My Mind's Eye DP, Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Marvy LePlume II markers.
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Fiskars border punch, beads, outline stickers.

SSNOTIM55...Singing & Stamping With Becky!

Had one of those "whoa" moments this morning when I saw

Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge and just had to participate. This week Sharon is featuring design team member Becky. Becky makes amazing cards and projects using her stamps and amazing talents. She is also a singer with an amazing voice. I listened to her on myspace. :)

I did a different challenge yesterday (here) and had stamped this blue paper with this sheet music stamp by Purple Onion, and had also used Cuttlebug's Allegro folder on the same paper. I chose the embossed paper for the other challenge and this one went into my "now what do I do with it" drawer. Out it came this morning for this card! I inked the edges and mounted it on brown CS. I used this Inkadinkado stamp because it feels sing-songy. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets Bird Notes set. Both were then cut out and embossed with Nestabilities. Inked their edges and lightly tamped the ink pad over each to try to tone down the white. Tied on that fun ribbon, attached the main image with dimensionals, and the sentiment directly on the base.

Stamps: Purple Onion, Inkadinkado, Crafty Secrets.

Paper: Paper Studio CS, Hot Off the Press DS.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Ribbon, Nestabilities

Whiff of Joy Challenge #2 - Stitching

This card is for this week's WOF challenge. Stitching...wheeeeeee! Get to use my sewing machine! I had the song "Wild Thing" on my mind for some reason today so I used the Melinda Hugging Heart image and printed the sentiment from my computer. Colored her with Primacolor pencils, added Stickles to her wings. I cut her out with a rectangle Nestie then chalked around her while the image was still in the frame. Used the scalloped rectangle for the mat and edged it with Twinkling H2O's. The base DP is Basic Grey Periphery which I stitched to the Kraft cardstock base. I Cuttlebugged the blue paper with the Allegro folder, then inked the raised parts, a bit of the background and the edges. Attached the ribbon then Melinda. The flowers are from the Verve Abundant Blessings set. The paper I used for the sentiment and the flowers was actually the paper with the item list that Verve sends with its orders. Geez, everything I get my hands one becomes potential craft stuff for me! :) Anyway, I cut the sentiment out with a scalloped oval Nestie, edged and inked it with two different Queues and attached it on dimensionals. I tappity tapped the flowers with the same two colors (Prussian Blue and Chestnut Roan), cut them out and attached them with dimensionals as well. Added Dew Drops for a final touch to the oval.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Melinda Hugging Heart, Verve.

Paper: Basic Grey Periphery, Hot Off the Press, Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, stitching, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities, Dew Drops, Stickles, Ribbon, dimensionals, computer, chalks.

Inspired By Skivvies??

Staying true to form with my somewhat "bad" habit of looking at something, mentally dissecting it and telling myself I can do that because it will save money (although this was a blessing when it came to sewing...could make little girl dresses that would have cost terrible amounts, and eventually nice prom dresses that otherwise would have been oh my $$$$$). Oops, got off track...I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day and picked up a copy of BH&G magazine (my subscription expired). I was flipping through the pages and boi-oi-oing up popped this double page ad with butterflies on spirals. Cool! It was an ad for Fruit of the Loom and on looking closer I realized...those aren't butterflies...they're undie-flies! See, here's a close-up.

I bought the magazine, and not just for that ad...there are great articles, recipes, etc., and besides, I don't wear Fruit of the Loom. : ) I basically built the card from the outside in, because I thought of snowflakes. For the main image piece I used masking, lightly inked with the inkpad and stamped part of SU! French Flair to give the whole snow blowing effect. Then stamped Inkadinkado lamp post and used Twinkling H2O's on the bow and leaves, and also to give a candlelight glow. It really shows up in the picture because of the flash, but IRL the glow is much more subtle. Trimmed with deckle edged scissors, inked it a bit and put it on another piece of white CS. I don't have any snowflake stamps (gasp!) so I used a piece of 1/16" sticky back craft foam with my Cuttlebug snowflake die, stuck them to tiny acrylic blocks and voila` snowflake stamps! Stamped those lightly all over the front, deckled that layer and put it on a blue mat, attached all that to a white card base. The sentiment is a silver outline sticker, and it really got blasted out with the flash, but looks great IRL.

For the inside, again I stamped a bunch of snowflakes, this time adding CB's new big snowflake after making it into a stamp with the craft foam. I cut the two curlycew "springs" out of acetate I saved from product packaging, glued them down on opposite sides and put them together in the center. They actually come apart so the whole thing can lay flat. I used the CB snowflakes again to cut out 12 sets of snowflakes from silver metallic CS that I had run through my Xyron so they would be premade stickers. I sandwiched the spring between each snowflake set. I'm waiting for a sentiment stamp that I will stamp in the center of the snowflakes, but I wanted to go ahead and get this posted and move on...

I did save the original ad, because I think it would be cute to case for a double page spread in a scrapbook.

Stamps: Inkadinkado lamp, SU! French Flair, homemade Cuttlebug flakes.

Paper: The Paper Studio CS, Making Memories silver CS.

Ink: Colorbox.

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Twinkling H2O's, acetate, outline sticker, craft foam, deckle scissors.

Life is Good With Kitties

I have a couple sets of these adorable kitties and decided to give this challenge a whirl. I used pale lavender card base and covered it with DCWV Far East Mat Stack. Then cut away the right edge and attached shimmery gold vellum then the scallop. The "ribbon" is the same little bit darker lavender paper as I used for the scallop. For the flowers, cut them out with my Cuttlebug in dark purple and pale lavender, then did the switcheroo like I did a few posts ago. Added Tiara Stickles to the centers and attached them. For the main image, I colored my oriental kitty with Prismacolor pencils, chalked around her, and cut her out with round Nestability. The scallop was cut from a shimmery olive green vellum. I added a layer of Frosted Lace Stickles over the lavender colored fan, also Lavender Stickles to the centers of the flowers and the ends in her hair decoration. The sentiment was from the Verve's Artful Elegance set.

Stamps: Pink Cat Studio, Verve.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, DCWV Mat Stack, vellum.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, Cuttlebug, Stickles, border punch, Nestabilities.

Hangin' With Count Catula!

I've had this Magenta stamp called Count Catula since last year and decided to use it when I saw this sketch.
I put a piece of paper that looked like gray flannel through with my Cuttlebug Spiderweb folder, attached that to the base card. The spiderweb on the strip was embossed with silver powder...just hanging out there in the corner. Catula was colored with Prismacolor pencils, edged in chalks, and cut out with a square Nestability. This was then mounted on another square and attached to the base. The sentiment was done with the Justrite Monogram stamper Special Fonts set and small letters, with no border. Cut it out with a Nestie circle, inked the edges and attached it with dimensionals. I know they're not your usual halloween colors, but I think they look pretty nice. :)

Stamps: Magenta, Justrite.
Paper: Paper Studio.
Ink: Top Boss embossing, Colorbox.
Accessories: Justrite Monogram Stamper, Prismacolor pencils, Cuttlebug, embossing powder, Nestabilities, dimensionals.

Whiff of Joy Challenge #1

After I made my first WOJ card yesterday, I found the Whiff of Joy blog with their first challenge, so had to make another card to go play that - darn it! :) It was a fun sketch to follow.
The paisley background DP kind of swallows the base circle, but if you look closely you can see it and IRL it shows up really well. It was a doily (that word looks funny) I had sitting on my table from ??. I sliced it up and folded into a smaller circle, inked it with Velvet Colorbox and then tapped on it with Distress Ink and smeared that with a Q-tip to soften the edges. Colored the main image with Prisma pencils and chalked around her (they shimmer nicely in the light). Added Stickles to the flowers on her pants and bookmark, and Liquid Pearls to her wings. Cut her out with a circle Nestabilities and then a scalloped mat and popped her up on dimensionals. Stamped a ribbon from Prima onto the vertical strip and added some Dew Drops to the other. Attached it all to the burgundy card base. Sentiment is from a set called "Will -n- Way", rounded and inked the corners and attached with dimensionals. I love square cards. : )

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Melinda Reading Book, Will -n- Way sentiment, Prima Mktg.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, My Minds Eye DP.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Distress Ink.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Prismacolors, doily, chalks, Dew Drops, Stickles, Liquid Pearls.

Fell in Love...with Whiff of Joy...

I absolutely fell in love with Whiff of Joy stamps the first time I saw them, especially Melinda and Willow. I finally jumped in and got some.

This is my first card I did last night using Willow with Hot Chocolate. I colored Willow with my new Prisma pencils I got on Evilbay for so much less than anywhere else I found in stores or online. Her blue "aura" was done with chalks. Cut the main image and mat out with Nestibilities, embossed the main image, inked the edges a bit, and matted it on the brown. The base card is Paper Studio CS from Hobby Lobby. The two DP layers are from Hot off the Press; cut the circular one with my Coluzzle. I put the ribbon on (Michael's $1 bin), then attached Willow with dimensionals. Put the Dew Drops on the circle, then stamped the sentiment from the SU! Garden Collage set. Set it up and looked at it and it just seemed off balance. I was tired so went to bed, then this morning I started going through my Cuttlebug dies and thought these flowers would be perfect. Picked out three colored papers to go with the rest of the card, cut them with the CB and then swapped the different parts of the flowers and put them back together. Attached all with dimensionals and then put Tiara Stickles in their centers. That was it...balance. I love it!

Stamps: Whiff of Joy, Stampin Up!

Paper: Paper Studio CS, Hot Off the Press.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Dew Drops, Cuttlebug, Stickles, Nestabilities, ribbon, dimensionals, Coluzzle, Pebbles Inc chalks.

Time 2BKrafty!

Sharon's Stamp Simply Challenge this week showcases one of my favorite bloggers to stalk...Janine! This is the card I chose to case so that I could use my Cricut.

I embossed with the Cuttlebug spiderweb folder and then inked the raised parts. Tried to keep it only on the web, but you know...ink happens. :) Yellow layer under the black strip is a piece of tissue paper I wadded up tight then ironed back out. The pumpkins I cut with my Cricut, added Stickles to the leaves and "crazy eyes" and mounted on the black strip; the center pumpkin is popped up on dimensionals. Finally, added the tag from Spellbinders with the word printed from my computer, and some Dew Drops. My ribboning skills need work. :)

Stamps: None.

Paper: Paper Studio CS, tissue paper.

Ink: Colorbox, computer.

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cricut, Stickles, Spellbinders, ribbon, Dew Drops, computer.

A Card for a Cause

There are several blogs I drop in on everyday for inspiration and to enjoy the eye candy. Carolyn King's is one of those, and she is giving away an absolute huge bushel of blog candy to bring focus on Alzheimer's disease in honor of her grandmother who recently died from this disease. This is also to give kudos to those who are caregivers of those suffering from the disease. My grandmother passed away years ago from cancer, but she also suffered from dementia near the end, so I know the toll this disease can take on anyone involved.
I made this card for a good friend of mine who is taking care of her mother who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It has been heartbreaking for her. We try to get together for dinner once a month, but talk on a phone quite a bit. Tommie is a teacher and with school starting again she was so worried about what to do with her mother, but thankfully she found a wonderful adult daycare center that specializes in Alzheimer patients, and her mom really enjoys going each day. In fact, she came home one day and said she needed a costume but didn't want one like all the others. I will be meeting Tommie for dinner on Wednesday and will give her this card.

Stamps: Rebecca - Repeat Impressions; Garden Grass - Rubbernecker, Kitchensink Sentiment.
Paper: Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox, Stampabilities Dye Ink.
Accessories: Brayer, watercolor pencils, Marvy markers.

I Got INTO This Box!!!!

Oh, did I love this!! This Out of the Box kit from Lauren arrived yesterday. I felt like a little kid getting some candy! :) I read the instructions, whipped out my Scor-Pal and had the box together in no time. Her instructions are poifect! There is no end to this lady's talent and imagination!!

This is the box made with the items that came in the kit. I gave this set to a friend. I coated the black flower on the belly band with some black Stickles then when that dried I dotted Red and Tiara Stickles in the center. It looks really pretty IRL. I also put a silver Dew Drop in the center of each button on the handle. For the cards, I embossed the base with Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers folder. Stamped Inkadinkado's Floral Flourish on the white panel and dotted the center of each flower with red Stickles. Used that wonderful JustRite monogram stamper, cut out the circles with my Nestabilities, then mounted it all up on the background and tied on the ribbon. So classy! Yes, that is my dashboard they are sitting on. I was taking this to my friend's house when I realized I forgot to take a picture. Still had the camera in my console from Friday night when my son did the Color Guard for the football game, so I pulled over and set these up on the dash and ~*click*~. Please ignore the dirty windshield. : )

My daughter left for college a month ago ( I miss you Baby Girl! ) and even though she keeps in touch with family and friends via e-mail (almost daily to her momma), she said it is fun to get snail mail. I knew she would just love this set so I made this for her. I also made a set for her roommate, whose favorite color is orange. I made the monograms with the JustRite Stamper again, putting the small letters around the border. I cut out and embossed the circles and the ovals with Nestabilities. The lower edge of each of the decorative strips was cut with different border punches. The belly band decoration is cut from a Cuttlebug die, with flat-back pearls on each side.
Here is the box open, so you can see the cards and envelopes in each of the pockets. I made 8 cards for each of these sets, but could have easily fit a couple more because they were relatively flat without the layers.
Here's the orange set I made for my daughter's roommate. The flower and butterfly on the belly band were cut from a remant of the main paper. The butterfly has lots of glitter embedded in the embossing and is very shimmery. I tried not to make these sets too frilly and fussy, as both girls are ROTC scholarship recipients, going to Norwich University in Vermont. BUT...they are still girls, so there's some frill. : ) I left the handle off both of these for simplicity of shipping them.

Stamps: JustRite Monogram Stamper, Inkadinkado. Paper: Graphic45, Cloud 9. Ink: Colorbox. Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Scor-pal, pearls, Basic Grey magnetic closures, Stickles.

Happy Birthday to My Brother!!

Here are a couple of cards I made for my brother. I made
them both and left the inside blank so my mom could pick one to give him and then the other would be from me.

This first one I pretty much completely cased from Jerri. I found it a while back in her gallery. Stamped and cut apart the lighthouse image, sponged the edges and attached to same color as base paper. Stamped the sentiment from Lexicon of Love, sponged and mounted on same base color. The background is French Flair; like that windswept look, but made sure not to ink up the birds so they wouldn't come out on here. Sponged the edges, and then attached everything to the base card, added the brads and some raffia.

Stamps: SU! Lighthouse and Lexicon of Love, French Flair
Paper: Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Color Box.
Accessories: Raffia, brads.



Here is the other card. I also cased this one, but can't remember who (sorry). My little brain couldn't seem to come up with anything masculine on its own. : ) This is simply background cardstock stamped with a journaling image I got at Target. Then a layer with three strips of torn paper edged with gold Deco marker and then the whole square edged too. Attached the eyelets and strung thin gold cording along one side. Celebrate was stamped and embossed in gold on a strip of blue CS, then the strip edged with the Deco marker and attached to the background. Added the curly hardware and voila`.

Stamps: Unknown set from Target, SU Wonderful Words.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, My Minds Eye DP.
Ink: Color Box.
Accessories: Eyelets, cording, embossing powder, Deco marker, hardware

Dolly Mama Halloween

Here's a cute card I cased for halloween last year. I even had the same stamp. Instead of inking
"Is it Hot in Here" which was on her bag, I wrote the word "Hexes" on it. Colored her with water color pencils, added those cute little bat brads and matted her on orange CS. The sentiment was printed off my computer and mounted, then all put onto the base card after attaching the ribbon. On the inside I printed out "hocus pocus" in a pumpkin font, and in the lower right corner stamped and embossed a black cat, and on the inside left stamped and embossed a silver spider and web. I don't have a picture of the inside, but I kept one of the cards so when I find it I'll take a snap of the inside and post it.

Stamps: Dolly Mama Is it Hot in Here, Inkadinkado Scaredy Cat and Spider and Web. Paper: Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox.
Accessories: Brads, ribbon, computer, embossing powder.

My first Challenge - SSnotime52

I love looking at Sharon Johnson's blog every morning and have been trying to get brave enough to attempt a challenge. I thought this Stamp Simply Challenge would be a good one to jump into for my first try. We are to Cuddle Up With Tammy (Tammy Hershberger ) to create a warm and cozy card. I got to bring my sewing machine forward on my table for this one. I hope this card will do.

All my paper is from Hobby Lobby. The ribbon was a spool in the $1 bin at Michaels. The cute little buttons are from Michael's too. They came in a package in the most gorgeous muted colors! I attached the ribbon, stitched a wavy straight stitch all the way around the card and over the ribbon, then attached the buttons. The teacup is by Inkadinkado, stamped in Burnt Copper Colorbox, then cut out with an oval Nestie and then a scalloped one. While the oval was still in the die, I attempted to create somewhat of a vignette effect with the Ruby Satin and Gold Brocade.

Stamps: Inkadinkado Vintage Teacup.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, My Minds Eye DP.
Ink: Colorbox Burnt Copper, Ruby Satin, Gold Brocade.
Accessories: Nestabilities, ribbon, buttons, sewing machine.

Masculine Birthday

Here's a straight forward, no frills birthday card I made for my son's best friend. Sometimes it is hard to make a masculine card without adding more frills and fuss.

For this one I attached the striped DP then the same brown cardstock as the base after attaching some ribbon (Hobby Lobby - I get several spools at a time when they have their 50% off sale . . . nothing better than 5 yds for 98 cents!). On top of this I put a tag I cut out with my Coluzzle template from a manila folder. I inked the edge with Distress Ink and patted the ink pad around on the tag. Then I used my handy dandy metal ruler again to distress the edge of the tag. I sew a lot and have a bin of extra buttons in my sewing closet. I dug around in there and found this button and stuck it on. I don't know what stamp set this is. I got several little sets at Target for $1 each a couple months back. I like the way this one turned out. : )

Stamps: Unsure.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, My Minds Eye DP from Hobby Lobby, manila folder.
Ink: Colorbox Queue, Distress Ink
Accessories: Button, ribbon, Coluzzle

Some More Firsts, Technique Wise...

...where do I begin?? : ) My kids gave me this adorable stamp for Christmas, because they know I love fairies and all things whimsical. I saw a card with this image and cased it somewhat. I colored my fairy with watercolor pencils, used an aqua pen to shmear the color a bit (very little bit). There's one first attempt, so didn't make much of an effort on this image so I wouldn't mess it up. I colored her wings pale yellow and then put a layer of Fire & Ice Twinkling H2O over the yellow, followed by Indian Copper highlights, with Garnet used on the flowers around her waist. Another firstie...those Twinkling H2O's. I thought they would have more shimmer, but the card has to be turned just so to pick up the shimmer. They are pretty though. I added some yellow Stickles to the center of the flowers, and also Fruit Punch Stickles to the wings. I have had my Flower Soft stuff for a couple weeks but decided to dive into that with the flowers on this image; I used the Lavender. Had a hard time getting some of it to stick so maybe I had it on too thick. So that's new stuff #3. I have used my Cuttlebug many many times but just got the Frills border embossing folders in the mail yesterday and decided to break one in on the strip behind the main image. Oh my, are those fun! Let's see, last firstie would be the sorry attempt at distressing the edge of the green cardstock. I don't know how that is done to make it look "real", but I just used the edge of a metal ruler and rubbed it back and forth until I thought it didn't look so bad anymore. : )

Stamps: Flower Fairies from Stamps Happen.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, My Minds Eye DP.
Ink: Black Color Box., watercolor pencils.
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Twinkling H2O's, Flower Soft, Stickles, aqua pen.

For My Sweetie

Back in May my boyfriend and I celebrated one year together. We have taken lots of pictures of the things we have done together, with our kids, friends, etc., over past year. I thought that rather than give him a card, I would make this album.
This is a We R Memory Keepers Raw Goods album, 5x7 size. It a 2-ring binder and comes with 10 clear pages.
I covered the album with My Minds Eye DP from Hobby Lobby (of course ~grin~). I put narrow cording on the edges that move when it is opened, to conceal the raw edges there. I stamped Inkadinkado's Wine & Cheese stamp on ivory cardstock, cut the edge with decorative scissors then inked the edges. Attached it to the pink CS with dimensionals to pop it up, and attached that stack to the album. The heart I cut from a card that was given to me in another life and ended up in my scrap box. It even already had gold foil embossed ribbon on it...how convenient is that? : ) That gorgeous metal plate was put in as an extra with something I bought on E-bay. There are three different plates in this set and I just love them. I chose this ivory one because it went so well with the paper. The sentiment I put together from alphabet rub-ons from K&Company, with each individual letter rubbed on separately to form the words. I thought the sentiment and the stamp went really well with the whole theme of the book.
I included a shot of a couple of the pages. Some are more decorated, and each page has two or three pictures. These shots were of NIOSA (Night in Old San Antonio), which is part of our annual Fiesta celebration (somewhat like a Mexican Mardi Gras). It is a blast!! Also interspersed between the photo pages, I printed out the words to three different love songs that remind me of US. I printed them on DP that had a small faint image, then cut the edges with decorative scissors, inked the edge, and attached it to a 5x7 piece that I cut from manila folders and punched holes. I like the folder's thickness...not too thick but still sturdy. Each page was decorated completely different. I used different stamps, bling, stickers, chipboard, glitter, rub-ons, caligraphy...you get the idea. My boyfriend loved it! : )

Stamps: Lots of different ones.
Paper: Paper Studio CS and My Minds Eye DP from HL.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: We R Memory Keepers, bookplate, cording, bling, rub-ons, and a variety of other embellishments throughout the album.