Lovin' Amy's sketch!

I liked Amy's Sketch so much that I just had to use it again. For some reason, my eye likes this LO *shrug*. I also have been missing my brown colors lately. This card was just for fun, and just for me. It helps me artistically, to make something that I like occasionally, instead of always for someone else.
SUPPLIES: All CS is Bazzill, Circle pattern stamp, and saying (Art is) are from Stampers Anonymous, Lady dreamer is from Cat's Life Press, Big brads are from Joann, ink is Distress, Memories, and Ranger, fiber from my stash.

8th BD creature card

Our oldest (Sticky-fingers) is having a birthday soon so I've been fiddling around with what type of BD card I want to give him. He loves creatures of any kind, so I made this one up last night using some of my Sideshow stamps. He also likes to do crafty things with me and I've discovered his love of using ribbon and fiber on his projects, so I know he wouldn't mind the funky green ribbon on this card. I bought some really tiny rub-on letters from a dollar store a while ago and I'm going to put "Sticky-fingers is" all around the edge of the white circle. The center is an old type-writer key embellishment I bought years ago. I only bought a few, and 8 happened to be one of them!
I had so much fun coloring in these funky, retro images after stamping them with black ink!
SUPPLIES: PP is unnknown (from a Self-addressed kit in June 05), stamps are Side Show Stamps, ribbon is from www.Reallyreasonableribbon.com, white card base is from DCWV, CS is SU, ink is Ranger Archival, prismacolor pencils.

Vegan Sushi!

Well, I did it! I finally made my own sushi! My husband and I are sushi lovers. Of course, we've only ever eaten vegetarian sushi, so some might say we've never eaten sushi at all if we haven't eaten raw fish, but...I digress.

I had been wanting to make my own sushi for such a long time but just couldn't work up the courage. Everything I've read makes it sound nit-picky and difficult.Well, it's not.

I rolled up 4 large rolls last night and had a blast! My husband said he felt like he was in a nice restaurant (read: not kid-friendly!) and couldn't believe he was sitting in his own dinning room eating good sushi.

Inside the rice and nori are cucumber, avocado, carrots and bean sprouts. Pickled ginger and wasabi paste were served on the side along with a small dish of tamari sauce.

Our youngest, age 2, LOVED it! Even the pickled ginger and wasabi were eaten with great gusto by him. His older brother, on the other hand, did not. For some reason, he didn't like the rice. Bizarre. So he ate the nori and the vegetables by themselves. Oh well, you can't win them all, right? Of course, he hasn't been feeling very well for a few days, so it might be his upset stomach.

We will definitely be having this again! It was actually fun to make the rolls, and much easier than I previously thought. I don't know why I waited so long!

Wonderland Birthday

One of my older sisters (I have 5), Perrin, is having a birth day at the end of May when I will be in China, so I made her card now and will hopefully get a chance to see her in a few weeks to give it (and her gifts) to her. She, like me, has always been an avid reader, and I know that Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) is one of her favorites. Who wouldn't like Jabberwocky? A poem so full of nonsensical words that it makes me giggle to read it. A few words that he invented and used in that poem have even been added to the dictionary! How fun is that?

Anyway, he also wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, which is where this card comes in. I have a small collection of Alice stamps from Stamp Francisco and just knew I wanted to use one on my sister's card.

SUPPLIES: PP by Basic Grey, CS by SU and Bazzill, Ribbon from SU, image stamp from Stamp Francisco, sentiment stamp unknown, rough texture wheel by SU also, ink is Ranger and SU, Charm is MM, Prismacolor pencils, white gel pen.

Mother's Day card

I will never use all all those older embellishments I have tucked away in little drawers, but I like to get one out and find a way to incorporate it into my cards occasionally. This card is based on a sketch at Amy's blog. She hosts a Super Sketch Sunday and I've attempted a few of them recently.

Patterned paper can really inspire me, and this card was built around the colors in the sheet of Basic Grey Perhaps that I used as the BG. I only have a few colors of SU cardstock, I'm more of a Bazzill collector, but a friend of mine and former SU demo sent me a bunch of CS and I used three sheets of it for this card because they matched perfectly with the PP. I have no idea what the colors are called, but they are purple, pinkish and light blue.

The metal quote plaque is from MM, the flower stamp is from Stampington & Co. and is embossed, and I stamped a heart image from SU's "Dream come true" set and cut it out of the light blue CS before rubbing it with some pink chalk ink from Versamagic. I used my pinking shears, some small tan ric rac, and my edge distresser to finish it up.

I've been tagged!

Ila, my fellow blogger and faithful commenter, has tagged me. I am supposed to list 7 random facts/habits about myself and then tag 7 others. I don't know how I feel yet about "passing it on," but I am very willing to post here about my own craziness. If you are reading this, and don't mind being tagged, please leave a comment and I will tag you for sure!

1. My favorite food is lima beans.
2. I'm not ambidextrous (able to use both hands equally), but there are certain things I can ONLY do with one hand or the other. Write, draw/paint, cook, eat= left hand. Cut with scissors, sew, dial a phone, use a key in a lock= right hand.
3. I used to bite my toenails. I know...ewww, but only when they were clean.
4. My first ever paid job was tying grape vines in the vineyards around my hometown.
5. I met my best friend when I was 2 1/2. She is still my best friend.
6. I am related to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He's my Grandmother's great-great uncle. My middle name is Wadsworth too, because it was my grandmother's maiden name.
7. I like being different. I fear being "one of the crowd."

Playing with my new stamps

Because Julee sent me some fun new stamps from Amuse, I thought I'd have a go with them last night. They are quite cute! I created this card because I thought the two elephants would make a good engagement card for a couple who aren't into "classic", but when I was done it was just "too cute" for what I had envisioned. Oh well, I had fun playing!SUPPLIES: Amuse stamps, SU CS, Bazzill CS, Prima flowers, Ribbon unknown, brads are MM, ink is SU and Ranger, white liquid applique, Cuttlebug embossing folder.
I put a drop of reinker on a fantastix and used it like a marker to color in the elephants, and I also added liquid applique to the ribbon because I didn't have a pale yellow one with polka dots and I thought it needed it. The center of the primas have hole-punched CS touched with dark blue glitter-glue.

I've been RAKed!

Look at the gorgeous card I received in the mail last night from Allison!
I think the ribbon is so pretty and it really matches well with the aqua and brown cardstock. Thank you, thank you Allison. Gotta love that Papertrey itty bitty flower!

Old swap card

About two years ago I was in a swap where the hostess asked us to make 6x6 cards based on the cover design of a CD or album. I thought it sounded fun and I took up the challenge!

I went through hundreds of my CDs and records to find the perfect one. I chose this one, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

This photo here is actually of a color copy of the CD Jacket. We had to include a picture of the original with our swap cards so that the other swappers could see what we based our design on.

Let's ignore for a moment, the fact that NOT ONE OTHER swapper included the color pic of the album they based their card design on...can you tell I was irked by it? (I mean, it's been almost 2 years now, I should let it go, right?!)

Anyway, I really had fun with that challenge and enjoyed participating in that swap, so I wanted to show you the card that I made. I ended up with an extra due to someone dropping out at the last minute.

I went with a sort of graduating/moving on/new job theme and used an Asian flare.

I based the card around one of the first punches I ever bought, a "good luck" symbol from All Night Media. It's there in the lower left hand corner of the card. Then I stamped a large oriental collage on kraft CS, and cut out 4 rectangles from it and mounted them on black CS. I used a computer font to print the sentiment, both on the outside and on the inside.

I don't know why, but this is one of my favorite swap cards ever. Silly, and simple, but it speaks to me!

New stamps

I received my prize from Julee (at Poetic Artistry) for winning her card contest/sketch challenge. See here for full list of winners and some gorgeous cards!

She sent me a fun Bella card...my first one ever! Isn't it adorable? I love the BG paper and the row of tiny white dots she applied on the edge. And look at the actual prize! An entire set of AMUSE stamps! I can't wait to start creating with them.

Thank you Julee!

Randomness

Sometimes when playing around in my studio I come up with great ideas but just can't execute them very well. Ever happen to you?

These two cards are examples of this phenomenon. I'm hosting a no-layers card swap at Art Happens, and after making my first set weeks ago, I decided to make some more because it was fun and it was a challenge for me not to use layers. I had this idea of stamping on dark CS with bleach and keeping it simple with just a ribbon or some brads. Ummm...didn't quite turn out like I anticipated, so I tried my castaway pad...again, not quite right. So then, *light bulb* I thought maybe white pigment ink might do the trick. It did a reasonable job, and after highlighting some areas with white gel pen, it turned out great.

So lets just keep it on the 'down-low' that it took me almost 3 weeks to create this absurdly simple card, huh?! *wink*

SUPPLIES: Flower stamp, CS and ribbon by SU!, Sentiment by TAC, white ink by Versamagic, black ink by Ranger, White gel pen, and white glaze pen.


While highlighting the edges of the stamped flower with gel pen, another "great idea" popped into my head. Why not stamp something in black ink on a darker CS and highlight IT in white too? After four attempts at creating what I could see in my head (but could NOT execute on paper), this is all I have to show for it:
I stamped the frame (Stampers Anonymous) with black on SU CS, and attempted to highlight it with white gel pen and a white Galaxy marker for contrast. I then cut out the center and placed the frame over a face image (Eclectic Omnibus) stamped on white CS. I used my old crackled BG stamp (which I have a love/hate relationship with) on the card base and used a sentiment (Eclectic Omnibus) matted with white and decorated with white brads for the bottom. I wanted to use a sheer white ribbon, but am running seriously low so I went with a white grosgrain. While I DO like the duo-tone colors of this card, it is not quite what I was seeing in my mind...oh well, can't win 'em all, right?

One for me

I had a few minutes of "me time" yesterday, so I spent it in my studio creating a card for myself. *gasp* Is that allowed?! Can you send yourself a card? Well, I did regardless. Sometimes I get so behind in customer orders that I forget to create for the fun of making something beautiful (or funky or whatever). Yesterday, it all came back to me why it is so important.

SUPPLIES: PP by Basic Grey, Image stamp by Stampers Anonymous (from their Tim Holtz collection), harlequin stamp by Hero Arts, french script stamp by Eclectic omnibus, Sentiment by TAC, CS by SU!, flower trim by Wilton, gold metal heart from my stash, inks by impress, ranger, and SU!. I used gold paint pen on the crown, and prismacolor pencils on the face and hair.

Coming to the show?

I am fast becoming addicted to Sideshow stamps! I like the 'uniqueness' of their images, and how eclectic their stuff really is. I have purchased everything from retro, to cute, to artsy from them. (I promise I'm NOT affiliated *chuckle* just a happy customer!)

Here are three cards I made up last night. Actually, all three have been in various stages of completion for many days now, but I got a chance to finish them up last night!

The flower image is from Sideshow, the sentiment is from Papertrey, and the PP is Basic Grey. Square pink brads are MM, green card base is SU, grey CS is Bazzill. I stamped the flowers in flower image with a pale grey ink onto the BG paper to tie it in with the flower accents on top. For those, I stamped onto pale yellow vellum with chalk ink, clear embossed them, and used a Galaxy white marker to color on the back. I punched out circles of inked CS and applied Crystal effects and glitter to make the centers. After cutting them out, they curled on their own and I pop dotted them onto the card front. A very simple card as far as LO goes.

I had a small piggy bank JUST like this stamped one when I was little. Only it was white with pinkish flowers on it. I made a few different versions of this card using the pink color but they just didn't look "right" to me, so this one ended up being the final draft.

I based this color combo off the SU ribbon originals I had and went from there. I stamped the retro sparkle star with three colors of chalk ink (that matched the ribbon exactly) randomly onto white CS. I then stamped the piggy bank in black and colored it in by sponging yellow ink on it and using small grey blending stumps to pick up ink and color in the flowers and leaves. I then used my french grey prismacolor pencils to added highlights and shading.
I matted it with a giga scalloped circle punch, then pierced holes and ringed them with white gel pen. Ran a piece of kraft CS through a cuttelbug folder, added some more ribbon from SU and I was done!

This masculine card is based on a sketch at Julee's blog. I had stamped both the "frightened man" and the sentiment a week ago, and had chosen some PP from Chatterbox to make this card, but it just wasn't coming together until I saw the sketch Julee posted, and then it worked! This card is late for it's destination. Inside it says, "I hope your job interview goes just as well!" and I made it for a male friend of mine who was interviewing for a new job. The sentiment (I think) came from a bin of UM rubber at a stamp convention I went to in Vegas last April at the Carmen's Veranda booth, but she's no longer online and I can't link to her stuff. I have a bunch of funny sayings from that company and was sad to see that they went out of business. PP is Chatterbox, CS is SU, ribbon is unknown, and ink is Ranger archival.

Slacker...

That's me! (said in a cheerful voice, of course) But only concerning my blog, not real-life stuff.

This spring break has really taken it's toll on me. We went to WV to visit my in-laws and introduce the kids to some more family. What a great time we had! The weather was beautiful down there; warm, breezy, sunny, with actual GREEN grass! Ahhhhh. Alas, we came home in the midst of a blizzard here in upstate, NY. Yuck. Considering that we LEFT in the middle of a terrible storm with our car covered in ice and snow, it was not fun to return to the same old stuff. It's amazing how much the weather can affect my mood.

Also, my husband and I have been thrown for a loop at the amount of paperwork and court appearances involved in adopting our two kids. Whewwww. Add that to the planning and visa/passport arrangements we are trying to take care of so we can go to China for 2 weeks in May/June. We are so busy.

So, as you can see, I've been remiss in posting recently. I promise to jump back on the band-wagon by tomorrow morning, and get back to my regular schedule.

By way of an apology, I'm posting a few kid pics, and a food photo of my Dessert Nachos.

Rough around the edges?

A friend of mine isn't feeling well so I made him up a card last night. I enjoy creating masculine cards, it seems to challenge me and keep me on my toes!
I've been using this PP from Cosmo Cricket's WANTED line for awhile, but just couldn't figure out something to use the "cowboy" paper with.
Then, last night, my new shipment of stamps from Side Show Stamps arrived! I was having fun looking through them and saw this cowboy stamp I ordered and immediately and light bulb went off in my head! Both the cowboy image and the sentiment are from Side Show Stamps, and I thought they went together well because the cowboy has his hands on his hips.
Inside the card I wrote, "I heard you were feeling a little rough around the edges...Hope you're feeling better soon!"

I stamped the cowboy image twice, once on wood grain paper, and again on red patterned paper. I cut out his "chaps" from the red paper and adhered them to the first image, colored in his bandanna, used a gold paint pen to highlight his cuff links, distressed the edges, and set 3 star eyelets randomly around him. I matted him twice and using pop dots, adhered him to the card base. I then set 4 more star eyelets in the corners and threaded jute twine around the perimeter of the card, tying a knot and loop for added texture on the left side. Then I finished it by stamping the sentiment "Hey Hipster!" directly below the cowboy.

SUPPLIES: PP from Cosmo Cricket, Ivory and chocolate chip CS from SU!, stamps from Side Show stamps, star eyelets from my stash, jute from my gardening supplies, and ink by Memories.

Simple animal-free easter...almost.

We had a lovely Easter and hope all of you did also. Due to the 6 inches of snow on the ground we didn't have our regular egg hunt outside. Instead my husband and I hid a TON of treat/toy-filled eggs all over the house Saturday night and the kids went 'hunting' on Sunday morning. 3 eggs are still missing! Oops. *chuckle*

I usually 'go all out' on holidays and spend days cooking and preparing, but I decided that I wanted to keep it simple for Easter this year, so it would be less hectic for me (the cook)! I prepared a vegan seitan "ham" on Saturday and chilled it overnight so it would firm up. Then on Sunday I popped it into the oven with some pineapple and made some smashed baby red potatoes with chives, and steamed some asparagus while the ham was roasting. Ahhhh, a nice, simple Easter dinner.Please ignore the wrinkles in my tablecloth. I forgot to get it out on Saturday and iron it! And I surprised everyone with dessert this year. I usually make an adult type desert because the candy and toy filled Easter baskets are plenty fun enough for the kids, but I changed my typical Easter Cheesecake into this fun bunny cake!
It's a home made vegan carrot cake with vegan cream-cheese filling and frosting, sprinkled with toasted coconut. The marshmallow ears and cheeks are not vegan however, so they were given to our 7 year old dinner guest.

Vegan eggs???

I thought I'd share a photo of the breakfast I made for April Fools day last week. We don't eat many eggs in our house (our older son won't eat them unless they are hard boiled), because I use mostly vegan ingredients when cooking/baking. But I sure shocked the heck out of the kids and my husband last Sunday morning! It's a dollop of vegan home-made cool whip, an apricot half, and the top is sprinkled with poppy seeds! Our older son sleepily looked at it and then said "Eggs?" in this horrified, disgusted voice. Hee hee!

Another contest

I submitted this to a card contest using a specified sketch from this site. Julee is hosting a contest and I liked her sketch so I thought I'd wing it by entering a card. It was harder than I thought to keep this simple...I wanted to add more and more to it but refrained!

SUPPLIES: PP from the "Far East Stack' by DCWV, CS is SU!, eyelets are MM, 'Good luck' Chinese punch by McGill, trim from my stash. Since I don't have the Ticket punch from SU, I just use a hole punch and only stick the corners in a little bit. *shrugs* It works for me! I also distressed the edges of the card with my MM edge distresser. I love that thing!

This card fits in a regular business size envelope. I like making tall cards occasionally.

RAK

Watch your mailboxes readers, because this RAK is heading out to one of YOU!

SUPPLIES: Sentiment stamp is Hampton Arts, Boy with wings stamp is Stampers Anonymous from the Tim Holtz Collection, the top ledger points stamp is also Stampers Anonymous, PP is 7 Gypsies, all Ranger distress or archival inks, ribbon is SU and so is green CS, other trim is from my stash.

I am sneaky in finding out mailing addresses, so keep an eye out on your mailboxes, because you never know when something might appear!