I love Halloween!

I've decided to post a few things from my office computer while on my lunch break. I uploaded a few photos from my camera to this computer weeks ago but can't edit them, because I don't have PSE here, so bear with me if they are a bit dark. I did lighten this one a bit with MS picture manager, but it's not the best.

I'm still alive and kickin', but can't use the internet at home (STUPID COMPUTERS!) so if you have emailed me, hang in there until I get a chance to check things at work. Because I'm a federal officer there are only so many websites I can visit on my Government computer and only a few minutes to do so if I'm in my office. (I'm usually out in the field or on the road)

I adore Halloween, (we call it Samhain) and we usually celebrate in a big way around our house. We like to do lots of natuire inspired craft projects to remind us of the end of the harvest season. Winter is coming!

This little card makes me happy and I might keep it for myself. All PTI supplies.

I miss you guys and can't wait to catch up on all my blog hopping when our new computer arrives!

(I'm totally dreading the loss of my photos and our itunes files though...blahhh.*pout*)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Posting woes and an old card...

Do you know what the most frustrating part of this is? The fact that I actually HAVE photos to share of some really fun cards! ARGHH! This computer virus/trojan thing is driving me batty!

I have tried everything recommended by the experts, and short of buying a new computer (I can't even do a system restore) I'm at a loss. Besides, if I purchase a new computer, I still lose the photos that were on the old one! Typing this at the library makes me sad, but I wanted to give you all an update and let you know that I'm still alive. *smile*

I'm including a photo of a card I made in April of 2005. Isn't it hysterical to look back on your older cards and see how much has changed? Not only what's "in", but style, LO and design too. Don't judge too harshly, I'd only been stamping for a few months when I made this card! And I hand drew those letters too!

CARD FROM 2005! Bazzill CS and Hero Arts stamps (these were the first stamps I EVER owned!)

Make a card today!

I'm sure you all know what today is, but never-the-less I'm going to say it again. It's WORLD CARD MAKING DAY! Are you going to be making cards today? I'm hoping to find some time to get into my studio and accomplish a few things myself. I have heard word that several prizes are out there for the taking! So hop around and see what you can find.

In the meantime, here is a card I made last weekend.

  Orange is my favorite color, and I love it combined with pink! My mom always decorated our home in pink and orange for the Christmas Holiday and I like to do the same. No red and green for us!

This card is for my niece, Kayla. She turns 18 this month and I'm so excited for her. (She doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe in posting it!) Isn't it fun?

Just some simple stamping on the card base using a scroll-y stamp from PTI's Vintage Label, an actual label stamp, a large damask image from Damask Designs and a sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages. Not many layers or embellishments besides a few black buttons, a simple black rhinestone and some grosgrain ribbon. Oh, and I added some glitter using a spica glitter pen.

Can you see it here? Not vey well I guess. Well you'll just have to imagine it then! *smile*

Alright, enough chatting, I'm off to take care of some chores and hopefully find some time to make a card today. Happy WORLD CARD MAKING DAY!

Thanks for stopping by!

I know why the caged bird sings...

Hello everyone! Although our computer woes aren't completely fixed, I have been working all day to be able to access my photos so I can share a card or two with you. Plus, tomorrow is WORLD CARD MAKING DAY and I intend to post. Computer troubles aside! (I can be just as stubborn as this piece of...well, machine, I mean *grin*)

I was playing around with some background stamps last weekend and ended up filling an entire sheet of CS with the dotted stamp from Background Basics: Retro. I then used a copic marker and colored in the inner circle with various colors. Liking the red and yellow combo, I built this card around it.

I love how the PP from the Men Of Life Colletion matches the stamp pattern! I covered a chipboard bird from Maya Road with the PP and then stamped a small piece of lemon tart with Text Style and covered the wing. After using a Paint Dauber in Pearl to paint the cage, I adhered the bird on the outside.

A touch of ruffled red saddle-stitched ribbon, and some Spring Rain CS stamped with Fancy Flourishes, and it was done!

Thanks for stoppping by today, I appreciate your patience!

It figures

For once, I have a ton of things to share with you. I had a period of frenzied card making this past weekend, got quite a few done, and then...*kerplop* our home PC got a trojan virus. The entire computer is infected and nothing works and I'm not able to access any of my pics nor PSE to edit them! Incedibly frustrating!

So I'm using a computer at the library to post this photo of a card I made when I got my newest PTI order and put aside because it wasn't quite..there. KWIM? I wasn't satisfied with it and put it away to maybe work out some kinks later. BUT, at the moment, it's the only photo I have for you, so we'll "make do" for today! Hopefully, I will soon retake the pics of all the stuff I created last week, and will post from the library (without the use of PSE to edit them, they might be darker, but oh well!). Thank goodness the public library is a block away from my home!

The image stamp is by Penny Black, and I LOVE it. It can be used in so many different ways, and I attempted to make it "christmas-y" for this card. Sentiment is from PTI. I like the colors of Ocean Tides, Poppy Red and Kraft together, but didn't get quite the right mix here. The vintage cream made it pop, but I still know something isn't right. Whatever. You can judge for yourselves!

Thanks for stopping by today, hope your day is fantastic!
Hang in there with me while our computer woes straighten themselves out.

PTI Princess challenge-No white!

Cheryl issued the newest Papertrey Princess challenge...man oh man was it hard! We were not to use any cream or white on a card. Not ink, ribbon, cardstock...anything! I thought it might be challenging but it was more than challenging...it was hard. Seriously. I tried so many different samples before finally finding something that worked, at least IMHO.

All supplies PTI except black ink and black brads.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing, productive weekend. I'm off to finish the yard work!

Wordless Thursday?

Orange Zesty Sweet potato pie Fall card

My favorite color is orange, so when Papertrey ink decided to realease Orange Zest, I was delighted. Of course the first card I made with it was this autum inspired leafy one.

The leaves aren't actually..well, leaves. At least not leaves like you think of when referring to fall; oak, maple, ash, birch, hickory. But, I think given the colors of ink I used, they work just fine!

The image and swirly stamps are from the Spiral Bouquet set. Sentiment is from the 2009 Autumn Tags set, and the surrounding border is from the new Vintage Labels set.

Here's a photo of the sweet potato pie that my BFF and I made last weekend. We actually made two pies and now she has one in her freezer! I thought the colors in the pie were a perfect match for the card above!

SWEET POTAOT PIE RECIPE

(courtesy of my mother in law, Beth)

1 1/2 c. cooked, mashed sweet potato

2/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. evaporated milk (can use soy)

1/2 c. flaked coconut

6 T. melted butter

1/2 t. lemon extract (or 1 T. lemon juice & 1/2 T. lemon zest)

2 egg yolks (can use vegan versions)

1 9 inch pastry shell, unbaked

2 T. dark brown sugar

Blind bake the pie shell in a 375 degree oven for about 9 minutes--no browning should occur. When removed, sprinkle brown sugar over bottom of hot crust and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, combine rest of ingredients and pour into pie crust. Bake at 375 for 15 mintues, then lower the temp to 350 and continue to bake for another 30, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

I like to top mine with a butter, brown sugar, pecan, brandy drizzle and some whipped cream, but feel free to experiment to your liking!

Thanks for stopping by today. If you try the pie, let me know how you like it. Sweet Potato pie should NOT be a 'remake" of pumpkin, so no adding cinnamon and all those other spices, you hear me! *grin*

Birthday Buttons

I thought I had this post scheduled...appears I was wrong! I couldn't figure out why no one was leaving me comments! Duh. *smacks forehead*   So this is the birthday card I made my best friend about a month ago. I just loved it and really enjoyed inking up Guidelines II to create the background. At the time it was still summery out so the colors stemmed from how warm I was feeling, but now the nights are cold and the days are cooler and trees are changing color rapidly. Here comes Autumn!

I had a fun time visiting my BFF, Mary, in her new place. We made sweet potato pie, and vegetarian philly cheese steak sandwiches on kimmelwick rolls, ate blueberry coffeecake, scrumptious ratatouille, and even some yummy seaweed at a tiny Korean restaurant. We also did a lot of shopping. More than I would do in a month to be honest! (I'm not a big "shopper", unless it's online for stamps!) We laughed, gossiped, and hung out with her boyfriend Erik, (who is an AMAZING artist, BTW. Check out his website here!) who creates giant chalk art on commission.

Thanks for stopping by today friends, hope you have a wonderful afternoon.

Sheetload Fall sketch challenge

Through a very lovely comment on my blog by Denise, I discovered Sheetload! They host monthly challenges and I liked this round so I decided to play along. It was a sketch, and although I rotated it and switched out the circle for an oval, I think it still works.

This card is a bit more involved, accessory wise, than I've been into lately, but it was fun to keep adding things, and hard to stop once I got started! *grin*

The challenge was to make a Fall themed card using the sketch provided in the Online newsletter/ezine, and I think the stamps from PTI's First Fruits were the perfect choice.

I also used a small piece of the patterned paper from the Autumn Abundance collection, but I had to change it a bit. Can anyone see what I did?  I began my card using white CS, so when I went to grab a piece of PP, I noticed it was made to match the vintage cream CS and was disappointed. But then I thought," Why not color in the cream lines with yellow to match the rest of the card?" So I did! I loved how it turned out, and, as you can see, the yellow matches perfectly and there is no cream to clash with my white!

The main yellow BG piece is embossed in a square pattern using a Score-Pal and again using the score-bug to make embossed dotted lines along side the original ones. I think it looks sort of quilt-like. So then I added the sentiment on a half-piece of a vintage label die-cut and covered it with twill. But the twill covered part of my pine branch up, so I stamped another one and after trimming it out, placed it on top of the ribbon. I added white gel-pen dots around the sentiment, and two chocolate buttons tied together with rustic twine. The pinecone is cut out and popped up to add dimention, and then, as a last touch, I faux stitched around the card with white and called it done! Phewwwww. *wiping brow*

(You can see in the right photo above, that I decided to add a flat bow to the card too!)

Thanks for stopping by today friends. I'm off for a weekend with my best friend, Mary (no hubster and kids!), to see her new apartment, celebrate her most recent birthday, explore the city of Binghamton and eat yummy foods (She mentioned wanting to make sweet-potato pie! *drool*)

Dana

Three Cherries

Since you already know I love fruit, I won't say it again! How about a story instead?

My dad used to love to tell the story of how I got lost and found in a cherry tree. I was 2 and my parents were picking cherries in our orchard while I was playing on a blanket nearby. Suddenly my dad realized I was not on the blanket anymore and had disappeared! He and my mom walked all over our orchard calling me and looking everywhere they could think of to look, becoming more frantic by the minute! Finally my dad looked UP and there I was, at the top of the ladder, high in the cherry tree, happily eating all the cherries I could reach with my fat little 2 year old hands! They never could figure out how I had gotten past them and up the ladder without them seeing me (sneakly little girl that I was! *evil laugh*). Maybe that was the beginning of my love affair with fruit!

Some real and faux stitching, Everyday Button Bits, PP by Magnolia Ink, all CS, ribbon, twin, buttons and ink by PTI.

Thanks for stopping by today friends,

A partridge in a tree?

Today's card was made several weeks ago. I'd been putting off posting it beacuse it was Holiday-ish and by no means do I want to rush things! But because the colors aren't traditional red-n-green I think you will forgive me.

Image stamp by Impression Obsession, sentiment by Inkadinkadoo (I think). CS, ink, twine by PTI. Glitter, white gel pen, and buttons from my stash. Punch by Fiskers.

I was trying to keep it simple, but then couldn't resist adding a touch of glitter! And don't you just love adding snow to branches? I've gone through several white gel pens in recent years, but never tire of them.

Hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday morning at your house. Thanks for stopping by,

Christmas in September Tutorial

I've been inspired by all the holiday cards that the PTI Design Team have been showcasing on their blogs to prepare for the new Holiday stamps release on the 15th. And I don't even send Christmas cards! I do send out New Years cards though, after the hustle and bustle of the holidays has slowed a bit and people are less frenzied (meaning ME!).

Anyway, I thought I'd share a tutorial with you today. I don't know what it's called, but it sure looks pretty! You need an open image stamp, white EP, versamark or other pigment ink, heavy white vellum (I used 40 lb.), an XL ball stylus, and some bee's wax.

1. Stamp your image with versamark or white pigment ink on the heavy vellum, sprinkle with white EP and heat set.

2. Turn the vellum over and place it on a soft mat (I use a pergamano mat made for this purpose, but a mouse pad would work also).

3. Be sure to use an extra-large stylus, and occasionally rub it in some bee's wax, NOT parafin. This helps the stylus to glide smoothly over the vellum without tearing it.

4. Start rubbing the BACK of your image while it's on the mat, in small circular motions. Continue until the entire area you want raised and white, is covered. Press gently at first, until you can feel the correct pressure you need without tearing the vellum.

5. I usually stamp and dry emboss at least three of the same image because I like to layer them for dimention, but this particular image doesn't lend itself to layering IMHO. You can also see where I decided to try rubbing the entire image, not just parts of the petal.(I didn't like it as well)

6. Now turn the vellum back over to the front and carefully trim out the images, staying close to the embossed edge.

7. Here are my three images dry embossed and cut out, on my Pergamano mat. I'm so inspired by this photo that I base my card on it! *smile*

Using a Smokey Shadow card base, I score-pal'ed several embossed lines on the CS, and added a simple black satin ribbon through the middle. Next I added three rhinestones to the center of each flower and a pop dot on the back to adhere them to my card. I heat embossed a sentiment from the Holiday Wishes stamp set in black EP and called it done!

Wouldn't this technique be perfect with an open pointsettia stamp? You could layer several of them on top of each other for dimentional effect and it would be so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you enjoyed my tutorial!

Feeling blue?

Thanks Abound

Let me tell you how amazing the people are who work for/operate/own Papertrey Ink. When PTI formulated their new inks I was delighted! I imediately purchased all the new available colors, and intended to return my old ones for credit (how amazing is THAT?!)

Then, when I didn't like the color of one of the new ones (Spring Moss), I asked where I could purchase the refill of the original ink formula and was told they were all out and would not, of course, be restocking them. Sad, I posted to the forums that I was disappointed, but still loved the other new inks, and would continue to use my old Spring Moss until it ran out. End of story...right?

Wrong. Both Nichole Heady and Jennifer Ellefson pm'd me saying they would be willing to give me their old Spring Moss refill! Can you believe it???? Not only did I get a pm from Nichole AND Jennifer, but they both were offering to GIVE me something they paid for! Amazing. And I received both just recently. So now I have two refills!

These two ladies were just so sweet in offering to donate something to a complete stranger, that I wanted to make them both a special card. Let me tell you how intimidationg it is to be making a card for THE Nichole Heady! lol.

The green one above is for her. I used Text Boxed for the image and Mega Mixed Messages for the sentiment. Colors are Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, and Scarlet Jewel.

This one below is for Jenn. I think she'll like the colors. I love her blog and visit frequently, so it was a real treat to get something in the mail from her. And she made ME a card too! (I'll post it later)

I embossed the chocolate base with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder but it's hard to see in this photo. Stamps used are Green Thumb and Limitless labels for the sentiment. Colors are Sweet Blush, Melon Berry and Ripe Avocado.

Thank you so much Nichole and Jenn. I am thrilled with my Spring Moss ink refills!

1st Day of School

Just a random 4.25 x 4.25 card made a few weeks ago. Nothing special. I always need thank you cards, so when my mojo is on hiatus, I go with what's comfy!

All supplies PTI except small piece of cotton crocheted lace (MM).

So today was the first day of school for my boys. Stickyfingers(age 4) was so excited to be entering Kindergarten and riding a school bus! We are trying a new school this year (private catholic) so Crumbgrabber (age 10) was excited too, albeit a bit nervous about making new friends.

Know what I love the most about this new school? UNIFORMS!!!! No more arguing about weather or not this is a "school shirt" and "No, you may not wear holey-kneed jeans to school!" Everyday it's navy dockers and white polos with the school logo on them. Period. Ahhhhh, one less thing to yell about in the early mornings. *grin*

Thanks for stopping by today friends, I'm off to start dinner...(home made veggie burgers on the grill, broccoli & cauliflower au gratin, green leafy salad, and whole wheat kaiser rolls with home canned pickles!)