Out on the town

I made this card with some brand new Wordsworth stamps that Julie sent me as a RAK. Isn't she the BEST?!?!?! I think I might have giggled with glee when I opened the package and saw them!

I quickly ran up to my studio and created this card for her. The city image was stamped on glossy CS using Ranger clear resist ink. Then I brayered over it with a hybrid ink in pinkish. Once it was dry, I added some touches with a white gel pen.

The sentiment says, "My favorite person in town".

I stamped it with Ranger Archival black on a scrap of the brayered glossy CS and then used my Sizzix to cut out the frame. I used versamark on the entire frame and center and clear embossed it a few times to give it a thick coat of glaze and make it stiffer.

Black and pink CS by Bazzill, glossy and white from my stash. Brads from MM, ribbon from a swap.

I've received some incredible RAKs lately and have been remiss in posting them. But here they are all together!

This AWESOME recipe card was made by my friend Jessica. She is an incredible artist and obviously a good cook! This recipe card has perfect aging techniques on it and the colors really make it stand out. Check out her blog and look for her beautiful clay beads she makes...museum quality!

This adorable square note card came to me from Julee, of Poetic Artistry and Verve Visual fame. She used a sentiment from the Thoughtful Phrases stamp set. Isn't it cute? I wish I knew the other stamps she used, I like them a lot.

Flossie sent me this super-fun, vintage-type card! The clock is so cool and look at those beautiful patterned papers, they are amazing. I just kept looking and looking at this card, there was so much to discover. I love aged cards. *sigh*

My best friend, Mary, sent this little note card to me. Look at the HAND STITCHING on it folks! I felt so special when I saw that! I mean, who takes the time to hand stitch on cards anymore? And the sponging on the purple tag is really pretty.

This is the bella card that Julie sent me along with the Wordsworth stamps and a few other goodies as well. I LOVE veggie Bella! (And not just because I'm a veggie myself!) She used some beautiful Basic Grey PP on it and even some stamps from Papertrey Ink too! the best part is the tiny metal garden rake dangling from the ribbon. And isn't her coloring amazing?

Thank you, all of you, for the RAKS and cards. I feel so loved and blessed to have met so many wonderful people through this hobby. I think that's about the best part of being a paper-crafter/stamper; the friends you meet who love it too!

Sketch contest part 2

I really like Julee's sketch, so I came up with another entry last night. This card combines stamp companies too (I enjoying doing that for some reason).

The hardest part of this card was deciding on the ribbon. I kept switching back and forth between this pale green and a sheer black. I had a lot of trouble making up my mind, but finally went with the green (obviously). Looking at it now in blogger, I'm wishing I used the black!

I was inspired to create this card when flipping through some of my new Basic Grey paper pads. I saw this green/red/white piece from the Mellow collection and immediately thought of my new Papertrey stamps. Then I realized that there was a lot of swirling going on too, so I used SU!'s Baroque Motifs to "amplify" it! Main flower is paper pieced and raised. I added a green brad from Joann's too.

This almost looks Christmas-y doesn't it? Hmmm....might have to think on that bit. Maybe if I used Verve Visual's Fancy Florals for the main flower I could make a poinsettia image!

Julee's contest

Julee (of Poetic Artistry and Verve Visual fame) is holding a card contest on her blog using a specific sketch. I made an attempt last night and am pleased with it, although I plan on making another one if I can think of anything else.

I started by stamping the school girl tag on white with Distress ink so it would 'bleed' a bit and then I sponged some more distress ink on top to age it. Then I knew I wanted the alphabet stamp on there so I stamped it on white also using a pinkish-red hybrid ink and crumpled, sponged, and tore it to make it look like a page from an old primer. The number tag was stamped with blue on white, punched out, matted with red, and glued to a metal rimmed tag that I painted gold with a Krylon paint pen. I stamped the ribbon part of the tag a few times in different colors before deciding on the blue which I paper pieced on top. I really wanted a charm on there somewhere, so I painted a small school-house with the same gold paint pen to match. BG is a piece of Basic Grey "Recess" PP, cut to size.

School Girl tag and number tag stamp by Oxford Impressions, alphabet by Paper Bag Studios.

Floral spray Birthday

I hate being away from a computer for so long! (can you hear me whining?) I miss my blog, I miss other people's blogs, I miss my email messages, I just don't like being computer-less for more than 3 days. I've realized my limit, and that is it!

While we did have a very nice long weekend away for our anniversary, I am so happy to be back and on schedule again. Now I just need to start school shopping for next week!

I love this card. Is that immodest of me to say? Well, I do anyway! *grin* Sometimes what you are picturing in your head comes together just perfectly IRL. I made this for my best friend (of 28 years) who turns 31 on Friday, the 31st. She prefers my more simple cards so I tried to keep this from overwhelming her.

I stamped the flowers from Verve Visual's Fancy Florals in versamark ink on white CS and clear embossed them. Then I stippled some aqua ink around them and stamped the flower bursts in green. The sentiment is embossed in black to make it stand out and then the panel is mounted on green and black CS to an aqua card base. I added the black eyelets as a finishing touch after putting both ribbons on it too. Have I mentioned that I really like this card? *wink*

I want to share a few pictures of this past weekend. On Saturday evening, we went to a restaurant on the lake that some friends of ours own, had a great meal, enjoyed the view, and drank some local wine. During our dinner, a thunderstorm passed through and it rained a bit, but was still sunny and we talked about rainbows and how we didn't see them as often as we used to. When we walked out the front door of the restaurant this is what greeted us! Amazing.

On Sunday night we went to a Willie Nelson concert (I don't care for country music, but I DO like Willie!) and on the way home around 11 pm we passed this rusty old truck parked outside of a body shop. We thought it was cute the way they made it up to look like "Mater" from the movie CARS, so I took a pic of my DH standing by it.

This is a photo of my great-nephew (on the left) and his cousin (who isn't really related to me in a way that I could explain to you). I liked this shot a lot. Especially the shadow of his hand on his shirt.

This last picture is of our youngest in a chair with a little girl my sister watches. I liked how opposed they were to each other!

Miss me?

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm still here! We went on a long weekend away and just returned. I'll post more tomorrow, I need to unpack!

BEST GIFT EVER!

Ok, according to my source, your fourth anniversary gift is traditionally flowers or fruit, and the modern gift is appliances. My DH gave me a hydrangea bush and...wait for it... an OTT LIGHT!!!!!! Yippee! He knew I had been coveting one of those for some time so he thought for the 'appliance' gift it would be perfect. And it is. *glowing* It's a floor lamp one, with an added magnifying glass on it. I love the hydrangea bush too, it will look great in one of our front flower beds. Isn't he the best?Today's card is courtesy of Flo, at Flossie's Follies. I had been admiring those adorable little bee images that everyone, but me, seemed to have, so she sent me some! How kind! I made this up a few days ago and had a lot of fun with it. I'm not the best color er. I get impatient and want it to look correct right away, and we all know it takes time to layer the shadows on.
I started with that piece of Basic Grey Recess PP, and everything came together really quickly except the coloring part. I free-hand cut out some ovals in SU Cranberry Crisp and Bazzill Lemonade, discovered that the new Blue Bayou CS matched the paper perfectly, added the banana and cranberry crisp ribbon, stamped the Verve Visual's sentiment and dotted oval from the Thoughtful Phrases set, and was done...except for that coloring bit. That took me a bit longer and I messed up an entire image attempting to perfect it! I ended up just using some prismacolor pencils and NO gamsol! Their wings are sparkle embossed but it doesn't show up here.
Thanks Flossie!

I received 3 emails yesterday from some readers asking about my wedding. Here's a small synopsis:
Our wedding was a super-fun day. We gathered all our friends and family at the lakefront near our home (Wine country-Finger Lakes region of NY), and had the reception FIRST! We ate, drank wine and had a grand old time, while children played in the water and on the playground, until almost dusk when we changed into our wedding clothes and (barefoot w/ matching toe rings) walked together up the candle lined dock over the water to say our vows (which we wrote) and be married. Two friends of ours from college sang "Two of Us" (originally by the Beatles, but this was the Aimee Mann & Michael Penn version) as we walked back up the dock after being pronounced married.
Then we REALLY had a grand time. The beach pavilion was threaded with white x-mas tree lights, and our candle luminaries were left lit on the dock and everyone ate the 3 tiered vegan cake (that I made MYSELF), and danced and had fun all night. *sigh*I can’t believe it was only 4 years ago yesterday.

Happy Anniversary to me

Today is my wedding anniversary, four years. The other day someone asked me how long DH and I had been married and I had to do the math in order to tell them! How sad is that? I guess when you've been together for 10, the years all start to blurr together. *smile* We started dating in college; he was 17, I was 20! (I know, I know, I've heard all the jokes *grin*) But he looks older!I'm sure I saw this design somewhere, because when I took out this set to make my DH his anniversary card, this immediately came to mind, and, I'll be honest, most of my ideas do not come that quickly! I really wanted it to be masculine, yet pretty. Is that weird?
I used grey CS and a small piece of Basic Grey PP (Periphery) and slate grey ink. I also silver embossed the pop-up medallion, but it doesn't show up too well in this photo.

I'm hoping we can meet for a long lunch today, as going out to a show or dinner is practically impossible. We have no friends nor family close by to baby-sit, and I'm weary of teenage babysitters in this small town. Since February of 2006, when our children moved in with us, we have only been out together alone 2 times! In both instances my mom was visiting for the weekend and offered to watch them while we went out to dinner. So, we try to occasionally meet up for lunch when our work schedules allow. I didn't realize how important "couple time" was until we got children! Sometimes we barely talk! Anyway, I love my husband dearly. He's generous, highly intelligent, loving, creative, and adorable. *grin*

Not so original...

A few days ago I was asked to make a card for a co-worker who is retiring. I got to work immediately but nothing seemed to be "perfect". I'm sure you know the feeling! My sentiment stamps weren't right, the colors were too something, the paper wasn't working, etc. So I hopped online to SCS and browsed the gallery for some inspiration.

Today's card is a total CASE of this card. When I saw it, I knew I could make it work, and my co-worker would love it. I want to give the origial designer full credit so go to her blog and check out her other card samples, she's amazing!

I started with a piece of PP from the Old World DCWV Stack, found some matching Bazzill CS (watermelon), and then cut and mounted my "In the Spotlight" stamps from SU. The ink is Palette hybrid, versamark, and chocolate chip. I used Joann's sparkling EP, brads and SU ribbon to finish it off. The sentiment is also from SU and I thought it was perfect for a retirement card.

2 for Tuesday again!

Just by chance I happen to have two cards today.

The first is one I quickly worked up last night. I was using an older SU stamp set and just playing around with scraps near me when I realized I had stamped the flowers upside down on the tag and it looked good! So I started with that stamped tag and went from there.

I love this PP. I have so much stocked away you wouldn't believe it. There are 8 designs in this collection and I like them all. I use them frequently to make altered notebooks. When I pulled them out I realized that they match the new river rock CS from SU perfectly, so I added some of that in too.

The second is an older one, about 2 1/2 years old actually. It was the first card I made when I got my "printed pattern" background stamp that I had been wanting. My friend Bobbie sent it to me as a gift! I have to warn you that this card is scary. That's probably why I never sent it to anyone!

The reason I'm showing it today is because when I saw Beate's weekend sketch, it looked familiar. I browsed through tons and TONS of old card photos before I saw it! Now, granted, my card is turned 90 degrees, but it still follows the sketch! It uses all Bazzill CS (I was into the monochromatic thing for a while), and a stamp from Stampington and Co. I was really into the "distressing" thing too, if you couldn't tell! *chuckle* I think there are five different colors of monochromatic CS on that card, not including the white! Good grief. I cringe looking at some of my older cards now...what was I thinking?!

Late Monday

So busy I forgot to post this morning! *shaking head in amazement*
I made this last week for CPS sketch #26. It uses one sheet of PP, some rub-ons and two stamps. The sentiment stamp is by Verve Visual. I really, REALLY like these sentiments from the Fancy Florals set, if you can't tell! I also embossed the Baroque Motifs swirl on some pink vellum for the lower rectangular piece. The main image (square vanilla piece), is actually some rub-ons on top of Very Vanilla CS. It looks like PP doesn't it? The "ribbon" IS patterned paper though, not ribbon!
I know this card is a bit too busy, but it was fun making it, and using the PP in different ways. I also liked using so many rub-ons...it was refreshing to USE instead of HORDE!

Look Ma, no ribbon!

Happy Friday everyone! Being a work-outside-the-home mom I really, REALLY look forward to the weekends where I can catch-up on house-work, get some quality crafting time in, and spend more time with the children (who are in day-care all day). I also like to create elaborate meals on the weekends, as preparing food is a big hobby of mine. Thankfully, our children will eat anything and everything, including edemame beans, spinach, artichokes, beets, tofu, etc. They actually beg to have salad for dinner (and we don't use typical iceberg or romaine)!

Anyway,(...how did this conversation turn to food?) this card uses a stamp that I've had for 4 years or more. It's by inkadinkado, and I love it. It's one large square stamp that is perfect for coloring in.

This time I decided to leave large portions of each "block" white, for more contrast. I colored it with prismacolor pencils and gamsol and mounted it on pop-dots on a Bazzil CS base. I pierced holes around the entire square, and stamped the sentiment on top and bottom.

Beate's Sketch

So I attempted my first sketch from Beate this past weekend. She posts a weekend sketch to inspire folks, and I felt inspired this past weekend! I feel that I really stepped outside my area in making this card. I don't use bright colors too often, and I'm not a big butterfly fan either, but I really wanted to try using SU's new Purely Pomegranate, and the butterfly image just seemed to go with the Basic Grey PP.

The green CS is embossed with a sparkling EP using a flourish stamp from Autumn Leaves, and the butterfly is paper pieced using some Basic Grey PP. The sentiment is from SU!, as is the ribbon and all the CS. I doodled some swirls on the main image, added some pierced holes, and three button brads from MM.

OH, and I found this amazing contest over at 5 Minutes 4 Mom! They are giving away a 37″ Flat-Panel LCD HDTV courtesy of Best Buy. You only have until the 17th to enter, so go here now, NOW!! All you have to do is leave a comment!

Short and sweet

My posts are short this week because my work schedule is keeping me very busy. If you like it when I ramble, stay tuned and I'll pick back up next week. *wink*

This card uses stamps from three different companies. The main image is from Fancy Pants, the BG on the top is from Inkadinkadoo, and the sentiment is from TAC. Ribbon from my stash, white and gold EP from Sparkle N Sprinkle, white eyelets from MM, Versamark ink.

Quick and simple. In order to emboss two colors on one image, I stamped it with Versamark, sprinkled white EP over it all, and then used a very tiny paintbrush to "remove" some areas of white EP. I then sprinkled gold EP onto those areas, tapped it off and heat embossed it all! Adding the white eyelets and some paper piercing finished it off. I LOVE this color of CS. It's called Sage Shadow from SU! and I think I need more of it. I only had 3 sheets from a variety pack and now I'm down to 1!

NEWS: Verve Visual's newest release is available for pre-order! If you pre-order it now the price is only $19.95! When it is actually released on the 20th, it will be $22.50, so check it out here to get your order in now! Even if you don't pre-order it, you should check it out here, because it is really something. So pretty, and quite versatile.

60 Years On!

I'm a HUGE Elton John fan! I mean HUGE, seriously. So while whipping up this anniversary card for my Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Diz for their 60th, I just kept singing this song (60 Years On). Does that ever happen to you? A word or memory triggers a song to pop into your head and you can't get it out!
This was a simple card to make, took about 10 minutes tops. The only stamping is the sentiment, which is from Green Grass Stamps. I started with a scrap of Cosmo Cricket's Gretal PP line and just built it from there. Cs is from SU! (choc. chip, Ivory natural), ink is Colorbox chalk, flowers are Primas, and brads are Joann.

Weekend photos

No card today (although I was very busy in my studio this weekend), just some photos taken this weekend at home. Our youngest, crumbgrabber riding his beloved tricycle.

Some echinacea in one of our flower beds.

This last one is a door that my DH built for our oldest's "workshop". Stickyfingers has a club house out back without a door, so my husband drew this design on a piece of plywood, quickly cut it out, and hinged it to the clubhouse!

Thanks All!

All you smarty-pants, camera know-it-alls out there were right! I needed to hit the macro (tulip) button. I felt rather dumb after reading all the comments because it seemed like EVERYONE (but me) knew what the problem was *sheepish grin*. Oh well, in honor of my readers I made you a card last night:Inside it reads, "Thanks a bunch!" I was going to stamp a 'bunch' of flowers on the front but only three seemed to fit properly. I was inspired by Julee's awesome placement of the sentiment, see here, so I "copied" her and did the same thing! At the last minute, I tore the card apart and stamped the large dotted BG on one side of the front to pull it all together. So this thank you goes out to all my readers for helping a moroon like me figure out her new camera!

Supplies: River Rock and Whisper White CS from SU!, blue and orange CS from Bazzill, PP from Artic Frog (available at Verve Visual), flower stamps by Purple Onion Designs, sentiment by Verve Visual, large dotted BG by Heidi Swapp (foam stamps), ink by Memories, Colorbox, SU, and Ranger, ribbon from my stash.

Sneak peak #2

Grrrr. I am having trouble figuring out the settings on my new camera. All of my card photos are blurry, but none of my people/action/foliage shots are. What's up with that? Am I getting too close? Help Jen! (My SIL has the same camera as I)

Anyway, this is another card I made using Verve Visual's newest stamp set. It will be released on August 20th (and might be available for pre-order sooner!). I used 7 different stamps on this card and one piece of scrap PP (that Cosmo Cricket Gretal again!). This was actually pretty quick to put together once I had cut out all my flowers. So sorry the picture is blurry again, I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong. ETA: Thanks for all the help on figuring out my camera! I think I needed to hit the macro button! You are all angels in disguise!

SUPPLIES: Vanilla CS is SU!, teal CS is Bazzill, ink is Colorbox, Versamagic, Memories and Versamark, White EP, piercing, ribbon is from my stash, and stamps are from Verve Visual!

Sneak Peak

Here is a first sneak peak of Verve Visual's newest stamp set, Fancy Florals. I was delighted to open my mail after coming home from vacation and see this awesome set! It has 28 stamps in it!! I immediately cut up the rubber and started stamping. 3 hours and 3 cards later I felt great. *wink*

I only used 6 stamps from the set on this card, but I couldn't resist some of the new Cosmo Cricket Gretel PP and had to include it! WHOAH...I see that this photo is quite blurry....hmmm, I wonder if I had the wrong ISO speed on...Why didn't I notice it before? Oh well, I will update it later with a better, more clear photo I promise. ETA: Photo has been updated, but still isn't perfect. (?)
Isn't this PP scrumptious? You can get it at Verve Visual when you get the newest stamps because Julee carries it in the store! The 3 layered flower in the bottom corner used 3 stamps, the teal-ish paper in the middle was made using 2 flower centers, and then there's the sentiment!
I'm really thrilled with this set of rubber, because there is a lot of versatility in it. I like stamps that can be used in many different ways.

I came home to...

...awful news. Please keep my friend and co-worker in your thoughts. Her 5-month old grandson died in a terribly tragic accident while I was gone. Brayden had the happiest smile I've ever seen and beautiful blue eyes. I cannot imagine what the family is going through right now. I wish them peace and strength to continue on.

Am I in a color rut??

I seem to be reaching for pink and green more often than not lately. See evidence here, here, here, here, here, and here! I don't even really like pink, but it's been my "go to" color lately. It seems to pair well with every other color I grab and that makes it easier to be creative.This card is another based on CPS' sketch #24. I used my Papertrey green thumb set, and one stamp from SU!'s Think Happy Thoughts set. PP is from Chatterbox, velvet ribbon from MM, diamond EP from Joann, Ink is Versamagic chalk, and Ranger archival.

SIDE NOTE: Our family is going on vacation tomorrow, so I don't know if I'll be able to post until I return. We'll see how much access I have to a computer. *wink*

Today's the day!

Verve Visual will be open for business today! I'm so excited and can't wait to see all the goodies that will be available. Yippee!

Today's card is my attempt to use only 2 stamps. One image, and one sentiment. That's not as easy as it may seem, let me tell you! You should see all the attempts I made that were tossed out! *shaking head*

I've decided I need some flock. I really wanted to make the embossed BG stand out but I wanted it to be soft too, so some fun flock would have been perfect. I just used plain old black EP and it worked alright. Here is a smaller photo where you can see the embossing better.

Cherry branch is by Rubber Stampede, sentiment is from the Happy Harmony SU! set. Ribbon and CS (except pink=unknown) is SU!, brads are MM, Sizzix bookplate die, EP from Sparkle & Sprinkle, ink is Versamark, Versamagic chalk and Palette Hybrid, white gel pen by Signo, SU ticket corner punch.

Happy shopping everyone! I, for one, hope to be first in line to purchase a TON of stuff from Verve Visual!