Verve Visual Sneak Peak!

How fun is this? I used the Starlight Starbright stamp set that Verve Visual will be releasing on Saturday November 10th! I turned the oval sentiment background on end and used it for balloons!

The sentiment reads, "Superstar, Yes that's what you are!" (I don't want to date myself here, but I could NOT get Madonna's Vogue song out of my head while making this!) I used 2 stamps from the set to make the PP, and then the sentiment background to make the balloons, and then another small star to make the streamers! This set actually has 17 stamps in it and 11 of them are sentiments that are different enough that you won't already have them, yet NECESSARY enough to be used on a regular basis! I cannot get enough unique sentiments, and both of the new releases are filled with awesome ones.

This card is so easy to reproduce and can be changed to suit the occasion with different colors, and a different sentiment, but still using the balloons! It also can be used for a boy/man! Now THAT'S versatility! I love stamps that can be masculine too.
Go check out the Verve Visual blog to see some more sneak peaks! You won't be disappointed!

Tagged yet again.

Isn't this box pretty? I whipped it up origami style a few days ago and put in some treats for a gift, but then changed my mind and used a tin instead. Two sheets of 12x12 paper and a ribbon is all it takes! I re-learned how to do it on K Werner's blog. I say re-learned because I used to REALLY be into origami and making little boxes all the time as a teen. It just never occurred to me to make them larger using 12-12 paper!

I was tagged a few days ago by both Julee and Ema so here are yet another 7 randoms things about me. It's getting harder and harder to think of interesting things about myself, so let's hope this is the last round of this tagging game! I'm NOT passing it on!

7 RANDOM THINGS

1. I am basically blind in my right eye. I got my first pair of glasses when I was 4 and had to wear a patch over my good eye for a few years to make my "bad eye"stronger. Didn't work. And I looked awful too! Now I only occasionally wear glasses or contacts, and have been trying to strengthen my eye with natural exercises.

2. I am an awesome cook. I've been cooking meals since I was 7. I even started a small (one person!) catering business when I was in college. I would cater professor's parties and make $300 in a weekend. When I went vegan, I started cooking even more and have amassed a HUGE book full of original recipes with no meat/no dairy/no eggs included. I have stumped many people into thinking they were eating meat and/or dairy when they actually weren't!

3. I took ballet for a long time as a kid/teen, and at one point wanted to be a professional dancer. That went out the window when I realized my propensity to be overweight! I also took tap lessons a few years ago and LOVED it!

4. I fell off a 50 foot waterfall when I was a senior in HS, gouged out a piece of my shin on a shale cliff on the way down, landed in 6 inch deep water full of boulders and lived to tell the tale! Not only that, I had to climb back UP the waterfall, (while a piece of bloody "meat" was dangling from my leg), and then walk home more than a mile! I broke my toe, and still have the scar on my shin.

5. My husband is almost 3 years younger than me. We started dating in college when he was 17, and I was 20.

6. My dad once got drunk with John Wayne on "some green liquid" out west. (In know this one isn't about me, but I'm running out of ideas here!)

7. I HATE peanut butter.

The break is over! LONG post.

Well, I had a not-so-nice break from blogging for a few days! I'll spare you all the details. But I warn you that this will be a long post because I'm attempting to play catch-up!

I was asked to teach a stamping/cardmaking class lasting 5 weeks for the Adult Education Program in the area, and last night was my first class! I had 5 women show up, and 2 more plan to come. (we live in a VERY rural area!) I wanted to start simple, so people wouldn't be intimidated, and these are the two cards we made last night.

True Thyme, River Rock, and Cranberry Crisp. BG stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms, image by SU, sentiment by Hero Arts.
For the nest card, I let them choose the ink/cardstock/ribbon color they wanted. Some chose a willow green, some choose Blue Bayou! I explained that this card could be used for a new home OR a new baby. Nest and polka dot BG stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment by Hero Arts.
I hope everyone had a great holiday, we LOVE the Autumn Equinox/Samhain/Halloween at our house! We visited Pumpkinville (Supposedly the OLDEST pumpkin farm in the country) where there are lots of fun things like hay rides, feeding the goats, riding the horses, pressing apples for cider, etc.

This was the SMALLEST of the gigantic pumpkins! He couldn't get up on the others! I made our youngest scrape out the inside of his pumpkin, and you would have thought I'd given him the moon! He had a blast (as you can see from the "guts" on the ground!).I love carving pumpkins, and usually do at least 3 of my own, but I only got to one this year. Here it is lit up: My husband, on the other hand, loves to create a showstopper. Last year, he carved a pumpkin and placed it in the middle of the yard on a slab of stone, filled it with kerosene and lit it. It shot flames and nasty black smoke for hours! This year he made a scarecrow and carved a pumpkin for it's head. He wanted it to be flaming again, but used small slices of a fire log and I was much happier! Here it is during the early evening. Here are our two trick-or-treaters! Stickyfingers was a robot, and Crumbgrabber was a dragon.

And here are myself and my DH. I LOVE to dress up, and this year decided to go dark. I normally have long, straight, wheat colored hair, but LOVED donning this short, black, curly wig!

In other news, have you guys been checking out the Verve Visual blog for sneak peaks on the newest releases? SO AWESOME! I can't wait until I can share some my DT projects with you. The newest stamps will be released on November 10th and you won't want to miss these two sets!

Random conversation

1. I haven't heard back from the winner of my blog candy, Kristina, yet. If I don't hear from her by Tuesday night, I will draw a new name.
2. In other news, I have Strep throat and Tonsillitis. YUCK. I finally went to the ER this morning, after being in severe pain since Friday afternoon. I have a stiff neck, a raging fever, and cannot swallow anything. This is SO not fun. I don't often get sick, and I've never had strep throat before. I wish I could curl up and crawl into bed like when I was a kid. *sniff sniff*
3. Wanna see a stamp room that will make you GREEN with envy? Check this out! I showed it to my husband and he said,"Well, if we move you into the other room (meaning the kids' room currently) I can build it for you." Isn't he the sweetest? I declined, because we plan on having an addition built onto the house anyway soon so the kids can have separate bedrooms. I like my small studio anyway. Everything is within reach!
I will most likely be staying home tomorrow from work, and depending on how I feel, I will get some card made.
4. I was tagged by Julee and Ema and promise to play soon!

We have a winner!

Random.org generated a winner for the blog candy this morning (ok, so it wasn't quite at 9AM EST, but it was close).

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:30
Timestamp: 2007-10-27 13:38:45 UTC

So Kristina, you are the winner! I will email you this morning!

Her comment: Kristina said...
I agree with many other posters about masculine sets that don't include hunting, sports, cars etc. Something more modern! I am always in need of sympathy sets that says something besides with deepest sympathy and not a flower! Maybe something a bit more modern looking. Thanks for a chance at the blog candy!ruok72@gmail.com

WOW, so many of you want some fresh, modern masculine stamps. Really, these stamp companies need to get on the ball!
Thanks for playing everyone, I think this was the most comments I've ever gotten in 9 months of blogging!

BLOG CANDY TIME!

OK, I've been meaning to giveaway some fun stuff for awhile now, so today is the day!
Here's the loot:
A brand new 6x6 pack of Basic Grey's Figgy Pudding holiday paper, and ONE of the two yet un-released stamp sets from Verve Visual! The newest stamps from Verve will be debuting November 10 and you will want them both! Win one of them here!
Here's what you need to do to win:
1. Leave a comment on THIS post, telling me what stamps you'd like to see in the future. Something that isn't already out there, that you've been looking for. Crazy, weird, normal, anything goes, just let me know what you'd like to see!
2. Make sure your email will be available to me on your comment. Either through clicking your name link, or by actually typing it in. I can't track you down if you leave an anonymous comment!
3. I will randomly generate a winner from all the comments on Saturday morning, October 27th at 9 AM EST.

*As an additional bonus, you could win the OTHER new stamp set from Verve by commenting on my pal Shannan's blog candy giveaway, HERE! How cool is that?!

And now onto today's card. It is the anniversary card for my brother and his wife!
I started with a strip of PP from the new Figgy Pudding Basic Grey pack (NOT the one I'm giving away up above, I promise!) and chose my CS and ink colors from that.
All stamps are from Papertrey Ink. I love this cake set, it's so versatile!
Sky blue and white CS, sky blue ink, and ribbon are from SU, Brown CS is Bazzill. Ink is Colorbox brown, versamagic blue, and Memories darker brown.
I used a white gel pen to color in the centers of the flowers and then used a glitter gel pen when it was dry. They really sparkle nicely, but not in this photo.

Today is my friend Julie's Birthday. Stop by her blog and let her know that turning 30 is AWESOME! (She makes incredible cards and altered projects too, so check them out while you are there!)

OS Winter W

I posted an article on the Verve Visual blog this morning about my first time ever making a One Sheet Wonder. It was so much fun!
I randomly stamped an 8 1/2 x11 sheet of white CS using the Winter Wonder stamp set (which is sold out currently, BTW), and then cut it up into pieces and made 10 (TEN!) cards from it!

Here is a sample of some of the cards I made. I used the Seasonal Circles stamp set to add a sentiment and a few highlights to the cards, but I purposely kept them simple and un-embellished. They could be easily adorned with some metal eyelets, extra layers and dimensional adhesive to personalize them. To see all ten cards, go check out my Verve Visual post!
I plan on doing these OSW several more times until I have all the holiday card I need!

Happy Birthday and Anniversary to my brother!

Today is my brother Lindsay's anniversary. Last week was his birthday. I'm a little behind, so I'm posting his BD card today! This was CASEd from the Papertrey Ink gallery where I saw this bright, fun card and turned it masculine.
My brother is the best. He's 14 years older than me, and has always been the "coolest" person I know. He married a fantastic girl (Laura), whom we all love. They have 4 kids. The oldest is my favorite niece of all time (She turned 16 on the same day as her dad!), the next is almost 4, and then there are the twins, who aren't yet 2. This is a photo of his three youngest with my two boys this summer.
Happy Anniversary Lindsay and Laura!

Blender pen!

I used a blender pen for the first time! What a fantastic tool! Why has no one ever told me I needed one of those before NOW? You just dab it on the inkpad and color...it's like having markers in every shade of ink you own!I stamped the image 3 times with Ranger Black Archival ink and then used a blender pen to color the images. So simple, but quite pretty (if I do say so myself)! Looking at the photo here it looks like the coloring doesn't match, but it is perfect IRL. I used a glitter gel pen (from the Stardust Galaxy set I bought at Verve Visual) to add highlights to the berries, but you can't see it too well here. It really adds a nice sparkle.
Just a simple card for the head of the daycare where our youngest goes. She's an amazing girl and has been helping me a lot recently.
All stamps and CS and ribbon by SU, Ink is SU, Impress, and Ranger.

a Cool holiday

I was looking for inspiration for an UBER-quick holiday card and I found it in an ATC I received in a swap last week. I just enlarged the design, changed the stamps and Whahlah!
This card took me under 3 minutes to make (I timed it!). Score and fold your white base, cut a piece of PP, punch out an oval, stamp it, add some glue, sprinkle with glitter, punch a hole in the top, tie on a piece of ribbon, stamp the sentiment!
The glitter is hard to see in this photos but it is the nicest, most sparkly glitter I've ever used. I bought it at Verve Visual and really like the brand.
Penguin stamp from SU, sentiment from Papertrey, PP from DCWV, ribbon from my stash, Ranger archival black ink.
To "up" the design, I might add a black mat under the PP next time, and maybe stamp the sentiment on a piece of raised red CS. But for quick and simple, this was perfect.

Green Smoothies and pumpkins

Let me preface this card by saying that I am not the best color-er! I know how I want it to look in my head, but can't achieve it on paper.I stamped the pumpkin from Papertrey's Spooky Sweets set on white with Versamagic chalk ink three times and cut them out. Then I glued them onto a larger piece of white CS, overlapping to look like they were in a pile. I then attempted to use prismacolor pencils to color on top of them to give depth and shading (no laughing allowed!). I added the stems, the face, some sponging around the edges, the sentiment, and some "dirt" to ground them and then matted the whole shebang with black.
Because I only have one small oval punch, I had to hand cut the other two to mat the BOO sentiment. Add some ribbon, a few eyelets and it's done!
I'm not sure of the color of the card base, but I know it's SU. I love this pale apricot color so much! It's the color of the walls in our living room (actually, it the color of the paint that I bought a few years ago to paint the living room with, it's still in the cans at this point *rolling my eyes*)!

I have the day off today, because it's Superintendents day for our 8 year old and there is no school. Our littlest (2) has been asking for a week now to go "pumpkin shopping", so I want to take the kids to pick out pumpkins. I also need to buy some groceries. I hate when we run out of soymilk, bananas and spinach! We drink a raw green smoothie every morning for breakfast at our house. The first words out of the 2 year old when I wake him up in the morning are"Mommy gonna make smoothie?" as he wipes sleep from his eyes.
I promise it's not as gross as it sounds...want my recipe?
Dana's Green Smoothie
In a high powered blender (we have a Blendtec but a Vitamix would work as well), put:
2 cups washed baby spinach leaves
1 cup torn kale leaves
2 peeled bananas
1-2 cups of any other fruit (we use what's in season, so right now it's apples and pears)
2 cups fresh water
1-2 cups ice cubes (we only use these if the bananas aren't frozen)

You might like it! We love them, and even my husband likes them. In the summer we use different seasonal greens (dandelion greens, mizuna, mustard greens, choi, red-leaf lettuces, etc.) and different fruits (but ALWAYS 2 bananas) like blueberries, kiwis, pineapple, grapes, etc.
Grapes and apples are a good combo with the greens, as are pineapple and kiwi. And I toss in whole washed organic strawberries in the spring too, don't bother hulling them, the green part is good for you! (our oldest is allergic to strawberries so I don't use them for him.)
Have a great Friday!

Retro holidays

When I was growing up my mom decorated the entire house for Christmas in orange and pink. She hated the color red (must be where I get it from!), but loved orange and a nice deep hot pink. She still uses the same decorations in those two colors today. I remember my stocking (which she made) was from this gorgeous paisley orange/pink/green fabric. I still have it. Of course, she likes those colors year round also, as she has an antique settee in the living room that is covered in orange corduroy, and a small loveseat sofa that is covered in pink velvet in the library. I always thought that was normal until I visited friends' homes and saw that everything was brown and beige. How boring!

Anyway, I made this holiday card with her in mind! The PP is from Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar collection and you can get it from Verve Visual, as is the snowflake that I used on the background (it's from the Winter Wonder stamp set). The main image is from SideShow stamps, and is embossed with white EP and the reindeer is colored in using a brown Zig marker. The sentiment is from Papertrey ink, the CS is SU and Bazzill, the snaps are from MM.

Mojo Monday and an award

This is for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch of the week. I switched the shapes around, but otherwise stuck to the sketch. I realized I don't often put things "front and center" and I've now done so 2 times this week already!The PP is from Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar and you can get it here. I LOVE Cosmo Cricket, and have been collecting (hoarding really) their paper collections for at least 3 years now. They used to be called Comstock Collection (and I LOVED their stuff then, too).

The main image was stamped with palette hybrid ink in Bordeaux on vanilla CS. The sentiment was embossed with chocolate EP on vanilla and both stamps are from Oxford Impressions. I used a clear Studio G dollar stamp to make the finials on either side of the oval using versamagic chalk ink. In real life, the ribbon matches the bordeaux color of the stamp perfectly.

And In other news, I've been awarded the "You make me Smile" award by Abi at Musings from Tenerife! I love reading her blog, she always has something fun to share and her cards are adorable. Thanks Abi!

I'm going to nominate a couple folks too.

1. Tammy at Tammy's Recipes ALWAYS makes me smile. She shares her delicious recipes, gorgeous food photos, frugal tips, and amusing daily life with two small children on her blog. I LOVE checking out her frequent posts!

2. Lisa from The Bunny Log is not only an amazing artist, photographer, and seamstress, but she's also a new mom! And the photos and journaling on her blog could bring a smile to even the hardest of criminals. You must check out her adorable daughter, Sienna.

Snow falls on the Bayou

So, have you had a chance to check out the newest Verve Visual stamps yet? Aren't they gorgeous?! I love snowflakes, and the sentiments that come in the Winter Wonder set are my favorite of all time for the winter/holiday season. I just know I will be using them time and time again. I like that the circles in the Seasonal Circles set can be used year 'round too. Makes the stamps multi-functional! And how awesome is it that you get them in a jewel case WITH an index sheet all for $10! (That's my favorite part! Hee hee)

I made this card in anticipation of the VV releases last week, but then decided not to use it for my DT commitment. The snowflakes were embossed with clear glitter EP and then cut out and raised with pop dots. ( I inked them with Versamark first, THEN lightly tapped them onto my Blue Bayou SU inkpad to pick up some color before stamping and embossing them. Worked like a charm!) The PP is from Webster's Pages winter wonderland collection. CS and ribbon from SU. The sentiment is embossed with gold EP to match the gold cord hanging the snowflakes. This card was based on THIS one (the second card) I saw by Kwarner.

BOO! No metal?

I bought my first wood mounted dollar stamps from ACMoore last week! I've been avoiding those bins for ages, knowing I would loose all self-restraint once I looked.
Can you believe I only bought 3??! This fun spooky house with the moon drew me in. Isn't it fun? *grin*
The sketch is one from Jen Del Muro's SFYTT collection. I had jotted it down last week, but never got around to using it. When I grabbed this stamp I knew it would be perfect for that LO because it showcased the image front and center.
I wanted to use something other than black so I grabbed some SU Navy and used my Impress inks to match. And of course orange and bright yellow/gold coordinated well with the blue.
I colored the moon in using prismacolor pencils and gamsol, and added Starry Night Stickles to the word "BOO."
The small sentiment is Papertrey as is the dotted border around the circle. Both are embossed with white EP. The ribbon is from MM. And no metal was used in the making of this card!

customer request

Recently a customer requested a baby card with a Noah's Ark type of theme. She had made a quilt with animals and the Ark all over it as a gift and wanted a card to match. Well I immediately thought of my "wild about you"(SU) animal set. I only wish I had some sort of boat looking stamp to make an Ark!
The colors are actually more subtle than they show in the picture, the orange BG (Chatterbox PP) is a softer rust color and the greens aren't so vibrant. I added stickles to the giraffe's spots and the bird's wing. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. The rest of the CS is SU very vanilla, celery, banana, and sahara sand.

Happy Saturday to everyone!

Long time no post...

Life has handed me some twists and turns this past week, so thanks for sticking by while patiently awaiting my regular posting schedule. Soon, I promise.

I made this quick card for a baby shower that some friend's of ours are having this weekend.

Not much else to say about it...stamps by Papertrey (PTI), ink is palette hybrid, CTMH, and Ranger archival black, ribbon by MM, CS by SU. It's simple, quick and who doesn't like peas? *grin*

Sneaky sneaky...

Happy World Card Making Day! I hope to be glued to my studio today making all sortd of cards! Want a sneak-sneak-peak? Go check out my post on the Verve Visual blog today! I made my own PP for the first time! Go on, go see it. I'm kinda proud. *big cheesy grin*
<--------- OK, fine. Be lazy. In that case I'll share a full card I whipped up in less than 6 minutes using the new Winter Wonder stamp set that will be released on October 10th by Verve Visual!

This was not the card I set out to do. But it's what happened when I made a glaring error and couldn't salvage it! So, because it's not DT material, I'm sharing it with you. Does that make you feel all warm and fuzzy, (knowing you are my fall-back) or what?! *chuckle*

I started with soft sky CS (looks darker here, doesn't it?) and then stamped the sentiment in black first. I used versamark to add different size snowflake images around the sentiment and then used stickles to add glitter to them.

Now what I wanted to do next didn't turn out. I wanted a SUBTLE pattern of snowflakes on the rest of the card. I didn't want to detract from the glittered snowflakes surrounding the sentiment, so I thought if I used some clear EP it would actually be clear! Not so. The silly snowflakes turned out darker than the "main" ones that I highlighted with Stickles! URGH. So I added the ribbon and tossed it onto the "reject" pile. Not the "crap" pile that I've mentioned before, but one step away!

If I re-do this card, I will leave off the larger snowflakes and just keep the majority of the front plain. I really like how the sentiment area turned out...wish the rest of it didn't overpower that part!

The name game!

Abi at Musings from Tenerife tagged me to play in this fun blog name game. Abi has a fantastic blog that I frequently peruse for her upbeat, bright creations, and fun photos about her family. She's really quite a talented muralist (is that a word?).

The NAME GAME. The name of the game is to list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life, for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing you middle name and game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog.

My middle name is Wadsworth.

W-Water. I'm a Pisces, I grew up surrounded by water and have been swimming since I was still in diapers. I get antsy if I can't be around SOME type of water all the time. Gotta love those negative ions!
A-Art. of any shape , medium, or form. MUST have it in my life.
D-Dance. I am not a good dancer although I took ballet for many, many years. But I love to do it! I also LOVE watching dancing, especially men! I just think it sooooo cool to be able to move your body in such an artistic way. I get goose bumps watching people dance.
S-Sleep. I love to sleep. I get ill without 8 hours each night. As a child I would BEG my mom to go to bed, even if my friends were still visiting. As a result, I never had a bedtime because I LIKED going to bed so much and would always go when I was tired. I still do.
W- Weight. As in "need to lose"! It's something I've struggled with for a long time.
O-Organic. Feeding organic foods to my family is very important to me. We also grow organically, support out local organic farms, and encourage other's to reduce their use of herbicides, pesticides, etc. We need to care about our planet and it needs to start small.
R-Raw. I have a goal to become a raw foodist. I eat 50% raw now and feel on top of the world when I have an all raw day. It's those cooked food addictions that drag me down!
T-Travel. I am a mover. I love to be in a car on a road trip, or flying somewhere new. I want to travel to so many different places. I love new people, new foods, new everything about traveling!
H-Home. I am a home-body. I would rather stay home than go out ANYWHERE. (I know this contradicts the above statement, but it's true!). I LOVE coming home at the end of the week and knowing I have no place to go for the weekend.

Ok, now for tagging others. I hate this part. Ummm, if your name, or your blog name starts with a letter in my middle name (Wadsworth), please consider yourself tagged! Ok? (I really don't like to "force" bloggers to play along, but if you want to feel free!)

Where have I been?

I've been so busy for a few days that I haven't even posted to my own blog, much less read anyone else's! This is the first chance I've had to sit down and upload some photos from the past few days. My job ( and life) is kicking into high gear currently, and I have NO computer time! I've been in that "fall" mood lately, with all of our sugar maples and ash trees changing their leaf color. We have many large, mature trees on our property and it's beginning to look SO pretty with the various displays of color. I can't wait to start harvesting pumpkins!

I made this card earlier this week all because I was playing around with my brayer and some old Kaleidacolor pads. I love to do the "plaid" technique on glossy paper with a multicolor ink pad and a brayer. It's simple, quick, and produces stunning results! Then I just chose CS to match! I gold embossed the leaf stamp (SU) onto a piece of the "plaid" glossy paper I made, and then cut it out and adhered it to a piece of chocolate chip CS.

It looks really cool up close, doesn't it?

I love the sentiment stamp too. I try to use it every Autumn when making a card. I think it's from Hero Arts, but I'm not positive because I unmounted it a long time ago! The gold embossed frame stamp is by Rubber Stampede.

The CB embossing folder was a last minute addition as I thought it looked like the swirly path of falling leaves. I always think of the opening scene in Forest Gump with that feather floating lazily all around and catching updrafts before finally landing! Remember that part? I love the music right there too.

Have you been checking in on the Verve Visual blog this week? Those sneak peaks will keep coming until the new sets are released on October 10th! I can't wait until I can post some things I've made here on my blog!

No sneak peaks here!

I've been hard at work in my studio this weekend and can't WAIT until I can share some of my projects with you! The new releases from Verve Visual will knock your socks off! *giggle*
Alas, I can't give you a sneak peak just yet, so I'm sharing a card I made weeks ago that was relegated to the "crap" pile.
I have trouble using pastels unless they are on a baby card, so I challenged myself to use them for an everyday theme. I hardly ever use purple, don't know why, I love purple, I just don't seem to use it on cards very often. While this card seemed to be coming together easily, once it was done I was not happy with it. For starters, you can see the glue through the tiny purple grosgrain ribbon, the piercing around the edge of the center piece is crooked, and the same center piece needs another color of CS (maybe black?) behind it to mat it from the base. And then the fun rippled green ribbon started to unravel at the ends AFTER I adhered it!

Anyway, the point is to enjoy what you do, right? This card was lots of fun and outside of my comfort zone, so it meets the requirements even if I NEVER send it out! I had fun using my Verve Visual stamps to create the spikey flowers and stems, and the sentiments both seemed to fit right in. Aren't the eyelets in the center fun? You know...I think this one might be salvageable if I tweek it a bit! *wink*

A girl needs some rubber galoshes!

Today's post will be short, I need to hit all the last-ditch-effort yard sales in town today! Plus we're going to the Falling Leaves Festival this afternoon and I need to make some leaf and acorn shaped hand pies.


I finally inked up these galoshes! I love the Green Thumb stamp set from Papertrey, but I hadn't ever used these adorable galoshes so I decided it was about time. My inspiration came from the PP that I used. It's from Memory Box and I won it from Julee at Poetic Artistry in one of her Mojo Monday challenges. The funny thing is, is that I actually had it in my cart over at VerveVisual.com! It's so luscious! Very vibrant and thick. THANK YOU JULEE!

This card is going out to my BFF who is going through a very rough spot in her life. She's a shoe lover, but I'm pretty sure she's never owned a pair of these boots. Maybe it's about time!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend!

Laugh and Live more!

Do you ever have a great idea in mind but can't quite execute it onto paper? Well, this is one of those times. I know how I wanted this card to look...but it didn't! *chuckle*
I started with the CPS sketch for this week, and then dug out the main image I wanted to use and a piece of PP (7 Gypsies). I was having trouble deciding on colors and tried 3 or 4 different ones. This card was torn apart so many times last night, I think it might have identity issues! But I'm leaving it alone for now, because I DO like it...it's just not what I started out to create. Something about that blue book-plate is not right.
I love this main image stamp used here. I try to reserve it for special occasions so I don't get bored with it! It is from a sheet of UM rubber by PaperBag Studios, called "Laugh". I last used it here for a swap in February.
Sentiment is by TAC. All CS is Bazzill, Impress ink, Palette Hybrid ink and versamark were all used, ribbon is from my stash, button brads from MM, sponging, piercing, and my Sizzix were also used.

I'm wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, it's FRIDAY!

Don't try this at home!

Okay, so it's not really Merry, but it sure is bright! I'm not a big Christmas card maker, (we send out New Year cards), and I don't care for the whole "red & green" bit around the holidays, but I had so much fun with this simple card. This was the first thing I made when I received my newest Papertrey stamps last week. I like non-traditional holiday colors, and this pink CS from Bazzill was just crying to be used!

I LOVE how the branch looks when stamped on textured paper...more realistic! I used a white gel pen to add snow to the branch and highlight it a bit.

Here's a closer view:

I stamped the ornaments on whisper white CS and cut them out. After gluing them to the card base, I used a versamark marker to "color" the entire ornament and then embossed with a clear glitter EP. It raised them a bit more and added a nice sparkle too. I used gold EP to emboss the hanger part, and I also white embossed the sentiment "Merry & Bright" onto the wide grosgrain ribbon. That didn't work as well as I planned, but I left it anyway because I liked the concept!

PP is from Basic Grey...not sure which collection, but I think an older one, ink is Palette Hybrid and Ranger Distress, ribbon from my stash, EP from Sparkle n Sprinkle.

Loosing my authority...

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to command authority from your children and your DH when you can't talk louder than a stage whisper? *chuckle* Argh, this being sick thing is not fun. I can't discipline the children, I can't call them in to dinner, I can't let the little one know that I hear him when he calls for me. All because I'm losing my voice and have the worst sore throat ever.

I made this card in triplicate a few weeks ago because I wanted some classy, yet simple TY cards. Actually, the other two have a different ribbon, but when I received this pretty kraft ribbon in the mail I couldn't resist replacing the original on at least one card! Stamps by Verve Visual, PP by 7 Gypsies, CS by SU and Bazzill, ink is Ranger Distress walnut stain, brad is unknown.

DID you see??? Check it out! The Verve Visual card contest deadline has been extended until Friday night, so get your entries in! The prizes are amazing, and you can't win if you don't enter!

Long time no Mojo

Although I have lots of other things to post, I want to get this week's Mojo Monday (courtesy of Julee) up before the week is out! My camera is doing well, me...not so much, but enough that I got out of bed to make this card last night *wink*!It looks all wonky, because it is! *chuckle* I dropped it on the floor without realizing it and ran over it numerous times with my rolling stool. Can you tell I'm not feeling well?
I started with a piece of Basic Grey PP, and my favorite tree stamp (100 Proof Press), and it just built itself from there. I added the webbed key hole stamp (Leavenworth Jackson), and it became a creepy type of card so I grabbed my Papertrey stamps and those little spiders just JUMPED out at me! The doodle around the scalloped oval is by Papertrey too.
After embossing the tree image I sponged green ink around it and matted it with black CS. I added the two sheer black ribbons to keep in line with Julee's Sketch and called it done.

I like it a lot. It's simple, but I love the colors together and that tree is one of my most favorite stamps ever! (I know you aren't supposed to have favorites, but we all do, right? It's NOT just me, is it?)

I'm BACK! I'm sick.

Hello all,
I'm back from my business trip and I'm sick. Blahhhh. I haven't been this sick since my college years. I guess that's what happens when they cram 20 people from all over the country into a conference room the size of a guest bathroom! All week long I was breathing other people's germs that they brought with them from their respective states. Yucky.
I sure have missed reading all your blogs and posting to mine, but hopefully tomorrow our camera will be fixed and I can post again!
I'm going back to bed now....

computer problems

I have LOTS of things to post and my laptop is giving me a hard time! ARGH! For some odd reason, my pictures aren't transferring from my camera. I've tried everything, numerous times. Now I'm just waiting on tech support.

I will be gone all this week in Michigan. I'm going to a conference on the the Emerald Ash Borer for work. I will attempt to post from my hotel, but I'm not making any promises!

I've got some blog candy to give away, so keep your eyes peeled!

Oh, and did you see that I won Julee's Mojo Monday sketch??? AWESOME! I couldn't believe that she picked my card from all those amazing entries. Watch the slideshow and see for yourself!

Revisiting the rejected

Recently I've been pulling things out of my "crap" pile and playing around with them a bit, hoping to make them into beautiful (or at least functional) cards! It really helps to put things aside and come back later, or at least it does for me. I can see things in a whole new light and sometimes I know just what to add/remove to make the card better.

This one is NOT one of those cards.

This has been in the "crap" pile since the day my Papertrey Green Thumb set arrived in the mail. I've had that small piece of PP (from Paper Mojo) for a long time. When I saw that Papertrey Ink was going to be releasing a set with a pea pod in it, I knew I wanted to use this PP to compliment it. After it arrived I sat down and immediately came up with this card.

I hated it.

It was awful...or at least it WASN'T what I had in mind when thinking about the stamp and the PP together! So it was rejected. I've taken it out of the pile many times to try and re-do it somehow, but just can't seem to "fix" it. So here it is, in all it's embarrassment, proclaiming it's badness to the blogging world. Or at least to my crafty blog readers!

Personally, I think the entire thing needs to be dis-assembled and new CS, new colors and a new LO need to be put into place before this card will ever make the A-list. Maybe the peas need to be stamped in a hot pink, or a blue, maybe the extra curly-cues need to go, mabe it needs some metal embelishments...I don't know. What I DO know, is that I'm done. I do not want to look at this card anymore. Not even while it's in the "crap" pile. So beware. This monstrosity might just be showing up at your door soon! *evil cackle*

Busy pink day.

I've not got much time this morning, but I wanted to share this photo that I took on my way into my office this morning. I saw this Pink Underwing Moth on the floor of the front porch to my office building. I gently picked it up and placed it on the railing to get a closer look. Then I grabbed my camera out of the car!

I have never seen a Pink Underwing up close before, and the only reason I did so this morning is because it was obviously in the process of dying. They are a northern species, mostly living in Eastern Canada, but do occasionally fly as far south as New Jersey. I felt so lucky to experience this moth today.

This is the most vibrant pink color I've ever witnessed on an animal in nature! I'm talking HOT PINK here folks!

I do a lot of insect trapping and moth surveying for my job. (In case you were wondering why I am so excited about this moth!) I've also loved insects since I was small...I'm just fascinated by most "bugs" and spiders and flying creatures!

Entering another contest...

I actually had no intention of enter the CPS/CardMaker Magazine contest, but this card came to me in a dream. Seriously! I dream of card layouts frequently, and Tuesday night I dreamed up this card. Strange, because I'm not what you would call Rah Rah Patriotic. I'm guessing that I had seen snippets of paper while making other cards and my brain remembered them, and assembled them in some sort of order!

Well who am I to ignore my dreams?! *grin*
ETA: Photo has been updated and gold chocolate wrapper covered heart button has been replaced. Sorry to disappoint those who loved the chocolate wrapper! *wink*

Can I tell you how difficult it was to cover those chipboard letters with Very Vanilla CS? Goodness! I've covered chipboard with paper lots of times, but never CS before. What a pain! It's so much harder to cut out! The stars are CS covered chipboard too. The PP is by Flair designs, lacing brads from Oriental trading Co., gold elastic cord from SU!, card base and blue CS by Bazzill. The small heart was a button that I covered with shiny gold paper and laced some red embroidery thread through. The shiny gold paper is from my stash...it is actually the wrapper from baking chocolate squares! Tee hee. I wanted to age things a bit, so I distressed the edges of both main pieces and also the chipboard letters with distress ink. I think it helps to tie in the aged bronze brads.

So are YOU going to enter?

Sticker Shock Challenge

Brrrr. It's cold here this morning. There was frost on the grass!! *pout* I am NOT ready to let go of summer yet.

In other news, I made this card last weekend for the Cardvaark's Sticker Shock Challenge. It didn't turn out the way I had hoped, so I "tabled" it and planned on doing something different. Well, knowing myself and my schedule I can foresee not getting another one done so I am going to submit this one anyway.

Now I love stickers. I use them on LOTS of things and I use them frequently! But I almost never use them on cards. This was a real stretch for me! If you know me, you'll know that red is NOT my favorite color. And I don't do Christmas all that much either (as far a cards go, that is!), but I've had this sheet of Flair designs stickers for a few years now (I received it in a monthly kit) and have been meaning to either RAK them or use them. While digging them out of my sticker stash I discovered, lo-and-behold, matching Flair designs PP! Ok, I can read the signs. It was kismet.

The "Ho, ho hos" are stickers, the "metal" frame and sentiment are stickers, the green twill looking stuff along the bottom are stickers, the red stitched mat is a sticker that I cut up and pieced together to fit my CS, and the snowflakes are clear stickers from Joanns. That's a lot of stickers, folks!

I used Bazzill CS, Stampington & Co. santa stamp, and stickers and PP by Flair Designs. All metal embellishments are from Joanns, ink is CTMH.

Is there such thing as too much Mojo???

I was bound and determined to get to Julee's Mojo Monday on MONDAY this week (not Saturday), so last night I got to work! Like her, I have a bin full of "almost cards." Images that I've colored, cut-out words, sticker embellishments stuck to CS and matted, etc.
I had made myself a note previously about some color challenges I wanted to try from SCS, so I started with one of those and went from there. Digging through the bin of images, I found this flower and leaf mounted on a white circle.
I stamped this image last year sometime, right after I bought it from my friend Barb. I remember sponging ink onto white CS and then stamping the flower on top. I wanted there to be more highlights, so I tossed it into the "later" bin. The reason I never used it was because I didn't have CS to match the magenta color. Well, not quite true, I'm sure in my hundreds of Bazzill papers, I could have found one close, but I'm sort of a perfectionist (surprise! Who knew? *wink*). Well it was PERFECT for last night because I was using one of the new "in colors" from SU, Purely Pomegranate.
Things were just coming to me left and right and everything was coming together so well. This is what I ended up with. I was pleased, but it looked too froofy. Is that a word? Ok, it looked too fussy. I wanted to get rid of something and I didn't know what.But then, I had another "light-bulb" moment and tore it all apart and re-assembled it without the pink/pomegranate BG piece. I did add a pink mat behind the green/grey to set it off from the card base, and I did change the ribbon, but otherwise it's the same!
Whatdaya think? I like the second one a bit better. More calm.
Anyway, if you've actually read this far you deserve a medal! I CAN ramble on can't I? *grin*

Song stuck in my head again...

"Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you...Spooky!" Who sings that? It's been running around my head since I made this card on Saturday. HELP!This card is really simple and I enjoyed making it. I've been neglecting my Papertrey Ink Spooky Sweets stamp set ever since it arrived so this weekend I inked up all that virgin photopolymer!

I used my Kodak photo program to brighten this photo up and I don't like how it turned the black to grey, but now I can't undo it.

I used a scrap of PP from Heidi Grace--doesn't it fit PERFECTLY with the bats?! I was delighted to see the scallops in black and green on this paper, and that's what made me use the bat stamps and this color scheme. I attached the PP strip to some vanilla CS and pop-dotted it to the black Bazzill card base. The green scalloped oval and yellow oval are Bazzill also. Only ONE color ink, can you believe it?! My perfect black ink; Ranger Archival. I buy the super-large inkpad size in this and I always have 2 more in reserve unopened just in case!

I wanted to add something though...some metal or an embellishment of sorts. But I also didn't want to "over-power" the simplicity of the card, so I went with a sheer vanilla ribbon tied around the seam where I attached the papers. Perfect!

I love the Halloween holiday. From the Samhain festival to All Hallow's Eve we celebrate it all!When I was a kid we celebrated the Fall equinox by gathering pine cones and walnuts and pretty dried leaves to create a display in our front hall. I've tried to carry on this tradition with our kids by explaining about the end of harvest festivals that our ancestors celebrated. Samhain (pronounced Sow-in) is a festival that celebrates Nature's cycle of death and renewal, a time when the Celts acknowledged the beginning and ending of all things in life and nature. Samhain marked the end of harvest and the beginning of the New Celtic Year. Being that I have Welsh and Scottish ancestors, I like to carry on this traditional celebration. I also love to make elaborate costumes! *wink*

Mojo Monday on...Saturday?

This was my second attempt at Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch. I guess I'm a few days late, huh? Ah well, the joys of everyday life get in the way of my stamping occasionally. (darn it!)
I really like sketch challenges, and recently have begun "thinking outside" the sketches and changing them up a bit. This is no exception. I liked the large square in the middle, but I wanted to simplify it, so I just used the flowers to show the general idea. Then I just stamped the sentiment in the lower corner in place of the tiny square she drew.
I based the colors scheme around the piece of gorgeous satin ribbon down the middle of the card. I bought this ribbon YEARS ago to use on a wedding card, and kept the last bit for someday. Well, "someday" arrived this week!
This card was for a lady who works at the learning center (daycare) my children attend. She the sweetest lady and really LOVES children so much. She's still there at 80! Can you imagine having the "get up and go" to play with tons of wild kids all day when you are that age? Goodness.
All stamps by Papertrey Ink, except "80th"(unknown), and the linen BG stamp, which is SU. CS is SU, PP is Basic Grey, ink is Versamagic, versamark, and ranger archival.

Feeling opinionated?

If so, I would love to hear your thoughts. I'm in an ATC swap with a Christmas theme and I've been playing around with designs for a few days.I can't decide which of these ATCs to recreate in multiple (I need to make 12). Leave me a comment letting me know which one you think I should make for the swap, or if you think I should try something else. (I do have a few other ideas in my head)

NUMBER ONE:

NUMBER TWO:

NUMBER THREE:

NUMBER FOUR:

Please have some pity on me for neglecting my blog this past week! I work 40 hours a week outside my home (in uniform, I might add) in a somewhat stressful government position, am the sole chef for my hungry DH and two boys, and have to divide my "free time" up among keeping my house in semi-reasonable condition and crafting in my studio!
This week the house won. Blahhh. I also have some demanding card customers and need to keep up with orders that I'm behind on. Forgive me?