LOVE MY BUG!!!!

1. I love my Cuttlebug!!!! Unfortunately I don't use it nearly as often as I should, but I will be using it more as a result of two things. I just acquired a bunch of new embossing folders for it, including the much sought after Swiss Dots.
2. I found a fantastic blog site for inspiration it's called "Cuttlebug Challenges"

There is a blinky to the right on this Blog page that will take you to their wonderful blog where you can find all sort of ideas on how to use your cuttlebug in new and exciting ways. Check it out! As soon as I get some breathing space I plan to try out several of their ideas.

THANKSGIVING AND GRATITUDE

It's the time of year when our thoughts turn to things that we a thankful for. Studies have proven that when we look for the good in our lives and regularly focus on finding things to be thankful for our health is better and we live longer.

I find it helpful to have a place to record and keep a record of things that I am grateful for. This way when I go through a stretch of time when I am tempted to think nothing good ever happens I can look back through what I have written down and see that there is much to be thankful for on a daily basis. Big things as well as small. I know other people like to do the same type of recording and so one thing I love to make are Gratitude Journals. I enjoy making each one unique and I definitely try to make each one pretty.

A few weeks ago a friend asked me to make some of these for her to be used as gifts. I made six. Here are three of the designs I came up with. I've also made a few prayer journals and another friend has asked me to make a gardening journal that she can give as a gift.

These are very easy to do especially if you have a Xyron machine that can be used to put adhesive on the back of the various elements of the cover. The books I use to alter as the composition books that are found in most office supply stores. I stock up on them at the back to school sales in August and September when I can get them for 99 cents rather than the normal $1.99 or more. I personally like the college ruled ones, but that's a personal preference. I've made a few for children and then I use the wide ruled.

The backs are covered with the same papers as the front but with no embellishements. The inside if the front and back covers are covered but only in a coordinating solid card stock. If I have a supply of RSVP pens I will often make a matching pen to go with the book.

These make nice gifts to give as well as a wonderful tool to use to daily remind yourself to look for something to be thankful for. Each and everyday no matter how bad things may be going in our lives there will be at least one thing we can find to be greatful for. Even it it is only having woke up in the morning to see another day. I find that when I make a consious effort to look for the good in my life and the workd around me I find plenty. Its only when I forget to look for the good and focus on the bad that life becomed bleak and unbearable. So why don't you join me and make yourself a gratitude journal and make the first entry in it one of gratitude for the joy you had in creating your journal.........

All that said I hope each and everyone of you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends.

Now it's on full speed ahead into the holiday season how ever you celebrate it.

GOOD NEWS!!!!

Okay I am jumping on the band wagon that Teresa started on her BLOG about good news in November. It's been pretty dreary and nasty here on the East Coast so far this month. Add to that the end o Daylight Savings Time and the darkness that now descends around 5pm and we need some good news to keep our spirits up. December bring the excitement of the impending holidays, but November can be just down right depressing until you begin to focus on Thanksgiving. So post here what you are looking forward too and what is the good news right now in your life and then ask the same of readers on your BLOG if you have one.

What am I looking forward to in November??? Time that will be spent in NC with my sister and mother helping my mother move into a new home. Also my daughter will be joining us so it will be a three generation Thanksgiving celebration. This also means I will be away from work for a week....always something to be thankful for!!!!!!! Just kiding I really do love my job even though it drives me nuts!!!

MORE CHIRSTMAS

Halloween is over and it is still a bit early for Christmas at least for Christmas decorations and carols, but shopping and making items for Christmas has definitely begun so I am more and more thinking Christmas cards. This is one that I made for SCS's November mini VSN. Unfortunately, I am not sure if I will be able to do the full VSN next weekend. I'll have to wait and see what this week brings. Anyway I digress, back to my card.

I used my new SU stamp set Scandinavian Seasons. I think this set is absolutely gorgeous. Especially when it is embossed with gold. Each of the four images in the set is elegant, but I think the tree is my favorite. I also have the coordinating wheel, Scandinavian. I haven't had time to use it yet, but plan to soon.

This really is a very simple card. The embossing is pretty basic. When I emboss with the metalics I always stamp with the same metallic ink so in this case I stamped the tree with gold encore ink and then embossed it with gold embossing powder. The gold edging on the rectanges is using the Kylon gold leafing pen.

PLEASE VOTE!!!!!

I don't have anything to show today. Life and work just got inthe way and now I am headed out to set up our polling area for tomorrow. I know I won't be here tomorrw as it will be a very long day working the polls.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!!

Of course I Would like you to vote for my candidate, but since I'm not going to tell you who that is since I don't want this to turn into a political BLOG please just vote! Keep those of us working the polles as election judges very very busy!!!!

CARDS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Well it turned out to be a stamping day. No sewing today.

It's now November. Halloween is over and we are rapidly moving towards Thanksgiving and Christmas. A co-workers asked me to design a Christmas card for her using the Christmas stamps she has. Last week she gave me her stamps and today I decided to play around with them and see what I could come up with.

I was a bit frustrated because I didn't have any of the Christmas designer papers to play with and I really would have like to use some of them. But I had to work with what I have that is not retired since if she likes my design she needs to be able to purchase the supplies needed to make them. I decided that I didn't want to just give here one design. What if she didn't like it???? So I decided to increase the odds that I would do something she might like and did three different cards with several different sets that she has. Here is what I came up with.

The first card used a set that SU has retired. It's called Peaceful Wishes. I used Mellow Moss card stock for the base of the card and rolled it with a snowflake wheel in Mellow Moss to make a background. I punched the bottom edge of the front of the card with the scallop boarder punch. The other card stock colors I used were Riding Hood Red and Always Artichoke. The sentiment "Peaceful Wishes I embossed in gold and the pine cone I stamped in Chocolate Chip craft Ink and embossed with clear powder. I did the same with the holly sprig, but stamped it with Old Olive craft ink and then put in small red brads for the berries. The ribbon is the Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon.

Card number two also uses a stamp from the Peaceful Wishes stamp set. This is the full holly branch stamp. I once again used the Riding Hood Red card stock as an accent color this time placing it against a card base of Kiwi Kiss. To make a background for this card I used a snowflake stamp (of unknown origins) and randomly stamped it around in versa mark ink then embossed the whole card front with Iridescent Ice. This give the card a sparkly festive look. Unfortunately it doesn't show up in the scanned image. The holly sprig is stamped on white card stock in Old Olive and I colored over the berries with a Real Red marker. Then I put little drops of Crystal Effects to give a bit of shine and dimension. The Merry Christmas sentiment is embossed in silver. Both the sentiment and the holly sprig element are raised on dimensionals.

Finally for the third card I went with a color scheme other than the traditional red and green. This is basically blue and amethyst. For some reason this card did not scan well at all. (One of these days in my free time, HAHA, I need to work on making my light box to take photos in.) The card base here is Bashful Blue and again I stamped the small snowflakes in Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice. The set used for this is Loads of Love which has been around forever! I had to use masking to get the lady in the cab and the tree in the pickup bed. The tag that the pick-up is stamped on is glossy card stock stippled with Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst, and Perfect Plum inks. It is edged with a silver leafing pen. This really did not scan well at all! If I have time tomorrow I may try and take a photo in daylight to see if it comes out better. I colored the truck with markers. The ribbon was white taffeta ribbon that I ran across the Almost Amethyst pad to color. Inside the card I stamped "Merry Christmas"

So I don't know which if any Nancy may like, let alone choose to make for her family cards, but I had fun making Christmas cards and once again making a mess of my stamping room! Just out of curiosity let me know which one you like the best. We'll see how your choices compare with Nancy's.

QUILTING TODAY BUT A CARD TO SHOW

Today has been a day of small quilting projects. I've made 2 sets of placemats and I don't know how many quilted pot holders. It has been fun being down in the sewing room (aka basement). I don't seem to be doing much sewing these days and I have so much fabric to use up! I do enjoy sewing and using my lovely machine.

However, I haven't taken any pictures to show you. So I have gone into my card archive of cards that were made sometime in the past, but have never made there way to my BLOG. I found a picture of a birthday card I made that has a quilt block on it. I do have this connection between my two passions.

I have added some wonderful quilt related stamps to my inventory. Sometime this week I hope to break them out. Maybe tomorrow, unless I feel that it is a sewing day once again.

I'm trying to guess what the buying public will be interested in next Saturday and see that I have some of it. I would like to do one more placemat set, at least one baby quilt, maybe a wubbie or two. Plus I have cards to finish up and a few framed pictures as well as a couple more journals. This is not a week that I need to have disrupted by the presidential elections! I need crafting time, but I am committed to working as an election judge all day and night Tuesday so I will have to make good use of the remaining non work hours of the week!

If anyone reading this happens to be from the Maryland area I would like to invite you to the 2nd Annual Fall arts and Crafts Festival at our church. It will be on Saturday, November 8 from 9am to 3pm. There will be 16 vendors as well as a large collection of hand painted porcelain collector dolls, a bake sale and wonderful Silent Auction baskets to bid on. Our church is Covenant United Methodist Church and is located in Montgomery Village at the corner of Montgomery Village Avenue and Wightman Raod. The address is 20301 Pleasant Ridge Drive.
I would love to see you there! I will be in the library with my goodies. We are working toward raising money for repairs and reoutfitting of our kitchen. (Which a favorite project of mine as I cook dinner in it every Tuesday night!)

Oh.....even if you live out of town you are invited if you want to fly into town.....well I didn't want you to feel left out!

CHIPBOARD ON CARDS

Using chipboard is not a specialty of mine. I keep forgetting I even have it and trust me I have a lot! When I do remember it I never quite know what to do with it.

Diane included some chipboard pieces in the Fall Craft Kit she put together for the FLYbaby Stampers on SCS and so I decided I needed to use at least those pieces. I needed a get well card and it is fall so I used the kit to come up with this card. I'm ot sure the butons add anything but they are there and stuck well so there they will stay. I don't think embelishements are my forte. I may just leave that aspecyt of card making to my buddy Lee. She does such a great job with embellies of all kinds. If you have never been to here BLOG to see the wonderul work she does you must go there. It's called My Reality....It's All Good! And it is!!!!!!!

I colored the chipboard with my copic markers. They work well for dark colors not for lighter ones. The leaf is a sticker. Normally I don't use stickers on cards but this one worked well and shows up nicely.


I do like the sentiment that I put on the front of the card. Its from SU's set Nice and Easy Notes which is a favorite of mine and of course is retired. I seem to be in a gold embossing mood lately. I've been using it on a lot of cards. Maybe it is the fall maybe it is getting ready for the holidays which are rapidly approaching I don't know, but it is showing up on a lot of my cards.

Well thats it for today. Not sure how much stamping I will be getting done in the next few days. I need to spend some more time sewing for the craft fair I am part of next weekend. I will try and split my time between sewing and stamping this weekend.

See you later. Thanks for stopping by.

JOURNAL FUN

Its getting to be that time of year again: craft shows and gift giving. So now is when I start looking for new ideas for gifts as well as items than might sell and redo items I have done in the past that have been popular and that I like to make.

Altered composition books are one of my favorite gift items to do and people seem to like them. So I made a few this weekend. Especially popular are prayer and gratitude journals so those are what I started with. I also like doing quilt journals and I will work on designs for some of them after I've been to the post office tomorrow morning.

Why the post office you might ask????? Because I have some new stamps waiting there for me. And they are quilty stamps! I've been eagerly waiting for these stamp sets from PaperTrey. They are Quilter's Sampler, Quilter's Sampler Additions, and Quilter's Sampler Sentiments. These are going to be so much fun to use!

Until these here are two of the altered books I have designed so far. It doesn't show up well in this photo of my gratitude journal, but I followed the advice of Susan and altered the black brad that is in the center of the flower in the top left corner of the journal. I used a white rub on flower and put a tiny rhinestone in the middle. Then I coated it all with clear nail polish. It took me three tries and three rub ons but I finally got it right! It is cute. For more detailed information on how to do this check out here fabulous and informative web site Paper Craft Central. Thanks Susan for the wonderful idea and instructions.

NO STAMPING OR PAPER BUT OTHER FUN!

No one has ever accused me of being a single minded crafter. There are only a few crafts I have never tried and even fewer that I have tried that I didn't like. There are ones I can't afford such as needle point on hand painted canvases, but that's a whole different reason for not doing something.

So what have I been up to lately besides stamping, paper crafts, and quilting. Well, at the last quilt show I attended I decided it was time I taught myself how to knit socks. I've been knitting since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Having a very English grandmother I suppose it was only natural that I would learn to knit at a young age. My mother also is an avid knitter so the stage was set. I've done scarves and an afghan or two in my time and even a few sweaters including a very challenging fisherman knit sweater full of cables and popcorn stitches. I loved that sweater even if it turned out a bit larger than I wanted it to. Socks however were something I never took on. The heel scared the dickens out of me. Then our church administrative assistant started knitting socks and I fell in love with what she was doing. It took me 2 years to get up the courage, but in September I bought the needles, yarn and pattern and set out. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, though I have to credit You Tube instructional videos I found with getting me through the turning the heel part of the sock. I know have one done and am on my way with the second of the pair. My main concern now is that the two end up being at least close to the same size........

I think that what I really love about knitting socks is getting to use all the wonderful washable wool sock yarn that there is to choose from. Its so pretty. I already have the yarn for a second pair.

What else have I been doing????? Yesterday I appliqued the aprons for the winners of tonight's Chili and Dessert Cook off at church. It is an annual fund raising event put on by our churches youth group. I think I've made the aprons for the winners for about 10 years now. Every year I also enter a dessert into the competition, but have I ever won.....of course not. Do I care...not really. Usually it's one of the youth group kids that wins the apron. We all think the kids stuff the voting boxes........this year I went with an easy entry. Simply a chocolate sheet cake with yummy chocolate frosting covered with crushed toffee pieces. Not fancy, but it sure smelled good baking!

So that's what I have been up to that is not paper or quilt related. This next week I will be busy preparing items to be sold in our second annual church Fall Arts and Crafts Festival. I have less than 2 weeks to get ready............So you know where I will be if I don't show up here for a while, but I hope to make it by so do stop back and see whats up!

BIRTHDAYS ARE FUN!

There are a lucky group of stampers that were able to spend a week on a cruise with Gina of Gina K, Nichole of PaperTrey and I forget who else. It is something I would have loved to be a part of but well the timing just was all wrong and for a variety of reasons I could only dream about it. But there was some land fun last Wednesday evening when the land lubbers who also love Gina K stamps got together on SCS for a land cruise. There was lots of chatter, questions to answer in hopes of winning a prize and fun card challenges.

I only had time to do one challenge. I had to use chipboard on a card. Now I have LOTS of chipboard and I rarely use it because I can't figure out what to do with it so this was a real challenge for me. I was not very happy with my first attempt. I seemed to be forcing the issue. This is what I came up with. ITs okay, but nothing special. I colored the chip board scalloped ciecle using my copic markers. Since I was using yellows and oranges it took quite a few coats of color. I did have fun uing lots of my punches.

My second attempt made me mch happier. Maybe mainly becasue it is a lighter brighter card. For this one I covered a chipboard circle with designer paper. I wish I could remember the name of the Designer Paper but I don't. All I can tell you is that is is retired and it is from SU. Also it was one of their christmas packs. This is the chard that I uploaded for the challenge. It also uses a Gina K stamp set. The set is How Sweet It Is which is one of her stamps for a cause sets. These are specific sets that provide from their sale a donation to a specific charity. This set benefits The American Diabetes Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. $7.00 of every set sold is divided evenly between these two organzations.

So thats it for today. Tomorrow will be venturing away from stamping to show some things I've made or am working on that are projects from other of my crafting loves.

A BREAK FROM CARDS

Back in early September good friend of mine got married. She asked me is I would be willing to make prayer and wish cards to her reception. This was not her first marriage and she knew from earlier experience that guest books never were looked at after the wedding. So instead of a book for guests to sign she wanted cards that they could fill out writing a prayer or wish for the future of the newly weds. I have never been so nervous making something, but when I showed the cards to her she loved them. Here is a picture of them in the basket waiting to be filled out and then hung on a dowel rod tree. Each one was different and I made great use of all my decorative scissors, prisma flowers and rhinestone brads.

They were a great success. People loved them and wrote very endearing sentiments that I am sure will be cherished by the bride and groom for years to come. My next task it to put them all into an album for them. This was my gift to them both.

Next "I have a "band aid" tin that has been altered to hold tiny treasures. Everything used in this project once again came from the Fall SCS Craft Kit. I never know what to do with these tins. They are such an odd shape for keeping or gifting things in (other than band aides that is). This is what I came up with. I will probably find some small goodies, probably chocolates to go into it and it will go into my craft show inventory. I have a show that I am a vendor in coming up on November 8 so the crunch is on to get things made for it. I am hoping I can offer inexpensive yet nice handmade items for sale as gifts for the upcoming Christmas season. With the state of the economy What it is I don't think people will have lots to spend on expensive gifts this year. At least I know I won't. So I will do what I can to provide nice things for them to gift friends and family with. I may try decorating a few of these tins to hold crayons for kids. I think they are tall enough for crayons to fit. We'll see.

Well that's it for today. See you all later and thanks for stopping by.

MORE FALL THEMES

The weather gets more fall like by the day. The trees here in Maryland are showing their colors and some are falling. Soon there will be enough to rake up. The temperatures are cool even when the sun is shining. While this all goes on outside inside I am inspired to work with fall colors and themes on my cards. Fortunately I have wonderful papers and stamp sets to choose form.

The cards I have here today use a current set and a loved retired set. First two cards with scarecrows from the Happy Blessings set. This is a fun set to color. The first card is colored using Copic markers. I can color with them okay, but don't have the blending and shading techniques conquered yet. I try, but everything still looks flat. I do like the vibrant colors they give though. I so need to save my money to get some nestability dies though. Working to get the scalloped rectangle to be the correct size AND have decent looking corners is no fun.

The second scarecrow card is colored using an aquapainter and watercolor crayons. I don't do a perfect job shading with these either but I think I do much better than with Copics. These give a much softer look. I uses a lot more embelishments on this second card. It uses items from the Fall craft kit from my SCS group.

My final fall card for today uses the retired SU set Autumn Fest. I love the leaves in this set. They are so real. I choose to use the oak leaf along wiith a couple of acorns for this card. It also uses papers from the Fall craft kit.

My goal with this card was to capture the look of leaves that are changing color. I was happy with my results. I used several fallish colored craft ink spots. Starting with the lightest color which was a golden yellow (More Mustard I think) and then progressing through to the darkest color which was Bravo Burgandy I dabbed the oak leaf stamp. I stamped it onto Old Olive cardstock and them embossed it all with clear embossing powder. I made several and just like real leaves they all looked different. Oh, I also used Chocolate Chip on the stem part of the leaf. I did the same type of inking and embossing on the acorns, but they were stamped on Creamy Carmel card stock using Chocolate Chip on caps and Close to Cocoa on the bottoms.

The card base is Sahara Sand and I sponged fall colors around the edge that wasn't covered by the striped paper.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Please come again.

I'M BACK FROM MY TRIP

I know I haven't been around here for a while, but with good reason. I've been on a cruise to Canada. What fun!

I do have some projects that I've worked on both on cruise and then today I did make a couple of cards, but haven't had time to photograph them yet. Plus I'm up to my eyeballs in photos from the trip.....I think about 600 of them!!!!!!

I do have this card to share with you all though. I did it before we left on the trip, but never got around to posting it here which I guess was good since it gives me something to write about now.

This is one of the first thing that I've made using the Fall craft kit from the SCS FlyBaby Group. It's a really neat kit and so I look forward to making more with it. The stamp set used was Happy Blessings from Stampin' Up. It's in the Holiday Mini catalog The main image was embossed with a really neat embossing powder I found at a yard sale. It's called Gold Dust. It is much more sparkly than regular gold powder.

Then weather has turned very cool here and the trees are changing color so I am very happy thinking fall and getting ready for Thanksgiving. (I don't do halloween any more since kids have grown up. I like watching the little kid come by and we give out candy, but we don't decorate.) I love pumkins and fall leaves. Scarecrows can be fun too.

Thanks for stopping by I will try and get some photos for tomorrow. I not I do have another fall card I can share.

CASTAWAY INK????

Has anyone heard of this product....Castaway ink pads by Jacquard????? I hadn't heard of them until I went to a stamping show several weekends ago. I discovered they are really neat. Rather than putting color on your card stock they remove it. Sort of like using the stamping with bleach technique but much easier and neater plus no nasty bleach to worry about getting on your clothes.

When I encountered these pads at the show I had to have one to try out and play with. I really like the effect they give. The image left is like a shadow or a frosty or hazy background. The colors you get are different with the color of card stock you are using and also the brand. I even had one color that it didn't work on at all. Nothing changed. Here is a picture of two different card stock colors and how the stamp shows up. They are both Stampin' Up products. One is Bravo Burgundy the other is Sage Shadow. I used the Upsy Daisy stamp on both.



You use it by stamping the image you want on the card stock with the Castaway ink. It leaves a wet almost creamy image. You let it set for 5 minutes. At this point the ink has dried and is virtually invisible. Then heat set it using a dry iron on the cotton setting. The image reappears. It is a shadowy image that I think is really cool.

Here is a card I made using the image stamped on Night of Navy card stock. Notice that there are two little circles in the top most daisy. Know what those are????? The steam holes on the bottom of my iron. So a lesson was learned here. Use to bottom half of the iron where there are no wholes to cause a temperature difference on the heated image. Also notice here the image reappeared in a lighter bluish color where as the Sage Shadow showed up a creamy yellow and the Bravo Burgundy a light gray.



The final card I have to show you is one of the first images, the burgundy one, made into a Get Well Card.

I really do like how these images show up. I look forward to experimenting more with it. I saw it used with a snowflake stamp on a lighter blue card stock and it was really really cool. So I will try that when I get out of my fall card mood and move on to winter cards.

Oh the card stock which did not register any color change and the image just faded away to invisability when ironed was Stampin' Up's Almost Artichoke.

POLISHED STONE

I haven't been doing much in the way of stamping lately due to other life activities, but the other day I did once again play around with the polished stone technique. I don't get out my alcohol inks often enough and this is one of the main, okay maybe the only, thing I know to do with them. Fortunately I love the technique.

It's very easy and fun to do. The supplies you need are few: glossy card stock, alcohol inks, ( I use ones from Ranger), a blending solution (also from Ranger), and an applicator . For these cards I also used a copper metal mixative.

When I do this I make a lot of backgrounds at once. Usually I cut up two 8.5x11 inch sheets of glossy card stock into 4 pieces each and prepare 8 backgrounds. It can be a little messy and so I get the mess over with in one sitting. Rather than my trying to explain the technique to you I am going to send you to the experts. Tim Holtz has a video that shows using these inks in YouTube. You can watch it here. This is the technique I used. For those of you that don't have alcohol inks and would still like to try the polished stone technique SCS has a tutorial on doing it with dye ink refills. You can read it here. I have done this as well. I like the Ranger ink version better mainly becasue you don't have to seal it with a spray and I think it is shinier.

One of the things I like about polished stone is everytime you make a background with this technique it is different than the last time. Even when you use the same colors. Becasue I was thinking fall I used yellows, reds, and oranges with just a little green and even less blue in the mix.

The stamps I used are both Stampin' Up sets. The top card uses Upsy Daisy which is in the main Fall Winter 2008-09 catalog and the lower card uses a set which is in the Holiday mini catalog that is currently out. It's a set called Happy Blessings. There is also a cute scarecrow in this set. I especially like the Upsy Daisy over the polished stone background. I think the solid black image is very striking.

I will try and be back tomorrow with some more fall creations. Thanks for visiting.

A FEW MORE PAGES

It has been a while since I have updated my BLOG. Its not that I haven't been doing anything, thought I haven't been doing much but work. I just haven't had time to photograph and process what I have been working on. I continue to work on my nephews Baseball album. Here are a couple of more pages that I have finished. I actually got two others completed as well but I don't want to bore you with everything.

This project has really been a challenge. There is so much print info that working to get the pages so that they are interesting and appealing to look at as well as memorializing the information is something thst really needs to be worked at. So far I am happy with how the pages are turning out. I hope my sister will be as pleased. At this point I have three months completed and have 7 more to go plus some miscellaneous items. Definitely more work needs to be done.

I have made a few cards during this interval on no posting. I will get them up tomorrow.

We are now officially into Fall and so Thanksgiving cards are on my planning table. I know a lot of people do Halloween, but I don't so I get to skip that holiday. After Thanksgiving, oh my gosh, it will be right into Christmas.

Along with my stamping and quilting I have a new fun project I'm working on. I will have a photo of it soon.....SOCKS! I've been afraid of them for years, but they are so much fun. I am almost done with my frst one. And of course when you have one you MUST do it's mate!

SOME COLOR FUN!

So do you know how well you see color and distinguish between different hues? If you would like to find out here is a fun, though somewhat maddening test of how well you can line up hues as the go from one shade to another. Go to Test Your Color IQ through this link and see how you do. I was fairly pleased with my score of 16 out of 100. Have fun and let me know how you do.

NEW STYLE CARD

Here is another of the cards that I made when I got together with some stamping friends a couple of weekends ago. It may not be a new style card to some of you, but I have never seen one like it before. I think it is a really neat design and plan to use it in some of my own designs at some point in the future.

It is the normal A2 size card, 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 but the way it opens makes it very different. I need to sit down with a ruler and record the measurements needed for the cut card stock and patterned paper.

From looking at the closed card it is not immediately evident how the card opens and where the message would be written. There is actually a type of double door opening. The two butterflies on the left were stamped on white cardstock and cut out. They are attached with dimensionals and actually act as a closure for one of the door flaps which is the panel with the brown butterfly on it. This panel itself holds closed the second door flap which is the one with the green patterned paper on it. I don't know if my description makes any sence so the next photo is of the card opened.

The location for writing your message is the bottom half of the top closure. The one with the brown butterfly on it. I have never done a step by step tutorial before. This may be the card that actually gets me to take the time and photos of the process and do one.

I'm not making any promises, but if any card would get me to do so this will be the one. I really do like it and it is a fun card to make. One thing for sure is it won't happen this week though so don't hold your breath.

GREEN CRAFTING

So Just what is "green crafting"? I am reading about this more and more. I guess it goes along with the whole "green" life style which is growing in popularity.

Actually in crafting it really is nothing new. It's basically a form of altering items to use things that would normally be discarded. This goes along with the concept of recycle or reuse.

So what was my recycle/reuse craft this weekend. Well it revolved around these...........

I have mentioned in several posts quite a while back that I have stopped mounting my stamps and have unmounted others. This is being done to save space. I could just stop increasing my stamp collection, but that would be about as fun as not increasing my fabric stash is. Anyway this non and unmounting of stamp sets is causing quite a growing collection of wooden blocks. What to do?????? I could just throw them away, but that seems just plain wasteful. If we used our fireplace I could use them for fire wood, but we don't so I can't. I've thought of trying to sell them and may yet, but I am such a procrastinator about getting started on E-Bay. In the mean time I must do something with at least some of them. At least the ones sticky from unmounting sets.

Then I remebered in one of my BLOG hoping ventures I saw an idea for altering the blocks and creating photo and note holders. I wish I could link you back to the originator of this wonderful idea but I can't. I just don't remember which of the 50 or so BLOGs I visit the idea was on. If any one reading this knows please leave a comment for me.

The idea is to completely cover the block in designer paper, add some embellishments and them top it off with a binder clip set on its top. Here is what I came up with. They are very easy and quick to make. Especially since I run the paper strips through my xyron which complete covers the back of the paper with adhesive. The picture doesn't show it but the top and the bottom of the blocks are also covered with paper. I would think you could also paint the blocks, though since these were used ones with some sticky residue on them I'm not toaly sure they would paint evenly. I may just have to try that.

I attached the ribbon by first wrapping a strip of sticky strip around the very top of the block and then sticking the ribbon to it. I cover the seam with the embelishment.

For a nice coordinating touch I placed a little strip if paper on the clip and the clip is adhered to the top of the block with sticky strip tape.

For this first set of holders I did not do any stamping they are all altered simply with paper, ribbon and flowers. I used brads for the flower centers and the flowers are attached with pop-up dots from SU. Here is a view of the three different ones I have done so far. I've tried to show some different thingsthat can beheld in them. Also this first set is made with 2 inch blocks and pretty small binder clips. When I get some medium sized clips I will try some of my larger blocks. I think these could be nice gives or great for a craft fair. However I still need to come up with more ideas for my blocks. I really don't want a house full of photo holders...........

SUMMER IS OVER BUT NOT THE CRAFT KIT!

Two more cards using uo scraps from my Summer Craft Kit. I really like my crativeness with using scraps in this first card. It is on Night of Navy card stock. For one of my other crds I had punched out three squares. It wasn't intentional but I punched them out in a row with relatively even spacing between the punches. As I was going to throw away the strip from which I had mad the punches I was struck by how it looked somewhat like a film strip piece. Which got me to wondering if I could use it in a card design with something featured in each of the three punched out holes.

Well this is the card I came up with. Maybe not a perfectly designed card, but it certainly meets my grandmothers invoction of "waste not want not..."

The second card also makes use of scraps that were left from my use of the kit. I was able to punch out enough squared to come up with this design. I was also able to put to use a left over pearl embellishment and a bit of ribbon. Once again I used my awesome scalloped boarder punch. I really really don't know how I lived without this tool. IF you don't have one it is a must have!!!!!

So summer is now officially over. What will the fall bring? I guess we will wait and see. I am hoping more stamping, some scrapbooking and of course some sewing....what would life be without creative outlets and pursuits?

STAMPIN' SUNDAY

Last Sunday I went to the home of a fellow SU demo along with several others. We are part of the same downline group but haven't been together in quite some time since our "fearless" leader has moved to Florida. As part of the gathering we had a shoebox swap.

These are two of the projects we did. The pink is the one I designed. It is actually a design based on the July Sheet Load of Cards design. I love Sheet Load of Cards and for putting together a shoebox swap it's perfect. They've provided all the measurements for you. Just need to gather the supplies and cut........

I did a lot of embossing on this card. I just love to emboss.....The medallion in the circle is embossed with silver powder on silver ink. The sentiment is embossed with clear powder over Tempting Turquoise craft ink. The most fun though was the scalloped strip was stamped with Versamark ink and then embossed with clear powder. I did it on the newBaja Breeze paper and then sponged over the whole strip with Pacific Point ink. Then I took a tissue and buffed off the ink that was on top of the embossed part of the image. The ink will not stick to the embossing it just rubs right off.

I used the new scalloped boarder punch on the two sides of the strip. This is so much easier and nicer than using the corner rounder punch without the guide. I absolutely love it!
These are the projects that one of the other gals designed for us to make. They are a card on the left and a post it note holder on the right. All new In Cololrs here--Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss. I'm loving these colors. I am amazed when the first pictures of them came out that I didn't like them. They are all awesome!The fun thing about the card project here is we got to play with the Big Shot which is a new SU product that will be available I think September 2. IT is a die cutting machine. I doubt I will get one becasue I already have a Cuttlebug. I will be getting some of the dies though to use with my bug! I love them...sign what don't I love. We also used the new stamp set, Pocket Silhouettes. It's a really neat set and you know what from now through September 30 you can get it and other great new sets for 15% off. Isn't that awesome! Interested??? Ask your Stampin' Up Demonstrator. If you don't have a SU demonstrator ask me! Feel free to also ask about the Big Shot and cutting dies.

Tomorrow I'll shar with you a few more of the projects we made last Sunday.

WHAT'S BLACK AND WHITE AND RED?

This is one of the cards that I made for the VSN on SCS last weekend. I forget now what the title of this challenge was but we were to use some sort on newsprint in it.

I have a retired set from SU that is vintage writing implements. I can't remember the name of it right now, but will find out. I really like the set and it just seemed perfect for this challenge. So I hunted through the stacks of stamp boxes and found it. Then I did a Google search for vintage newspapers that could be printed on my home computer. I choose one and printed it onto white card stock. I've always liked the black, white and red color combo so decided to use that color recipe as it seemed to go well with the newsprint and it would provide a contemporary touch to an otherwise vintage card. I've also thought I needed to work with some chip board so did so inking it with Real Red craft inks. Thisis what I came up with for the challenge.

I like using newsprint so much I thought I would try another one using same stamp set and still focusing on the black, white and red color scheme. This was my second creation. You can't tell by this scan, but I even gold embossed the nib of the pen.

I still have some of the printed card stcok and will be working on another card or two with is. Maybe for those I will work with a different color scheme. Though I REALLY DO like the black, white and red. Maybe I'll try black white and yellow.

Oh and before you think I forgot to go back and check the name of the stamp set is Letters From Friends.

CELBRATE A CHALLENGE!

Did you know that Shelli...the Stampin' Up Shelli has her own BLOG now? If not you need to check it out. It's called So Shelli and it's not just for SU demonstrators. She just started BLOGing after the SU convention so she is still new at it, but there are some wonderful pictures from her recent trip to Australia. She got to hold a cute Koala. Though I hear they can be mean...Susan tell us more about Koalas.....

Also Shelli has a Creative Challenge that she has given out to her readers. You can find the info on it here. But don't wait too long to check it out if you are interested. Submissions are due by Aug 30. In honor of SU's 2008 convention theme which was Celebrate 2008 the challenge in short is to make a project with the word celebrate on it. Post your project on the internet, a BLOG or a gallery and then comment on the challenge BLOG posting with a link to your project.

Since this weekend was a big stamping weekend and since I didn't get to celebrate at convention this year I thought I would make one of my VSN cards using the word Celebrate and join in with Shelli's Celebration Challenge.

So here is my card. It was made for the Color Purple challenge on SCS and I actually think it is all SU (Though being so is not a requirement for Shelli's challenge.) Thought the stamp set and ribbon I used are both retired. Send a Celebration is the stamp set and it is one of my favorites. I love it and use it probably the most of any of my sets. It's just so fun.

The card didn't scan perfectly. For some reason the card stock layered under the green always scans blue when it is actually Lovely Lilac. It blends together much nicer in real life. You will just have to take my word for it.

Thank you Shelli for the opportunity to use this set again.

AUGUST FUN ON SCS

Its late and I really need to get to bed, but before I Go thought I would just stop by and share a bit of my VSN fun that I had on SCS this weekend.

First let me say that I loved all the challenges that were offered. I found time to finish about half of them. In the process I tried some new techniques and I also dug out some stamp sets that have not been used in quite some time. That's always fun.

I chose the card that I am featuring here tonight becasue it is one that I was ready to upload as a finished card when I looked at it again and decided that it still needed something. There just was something that didn't look right. I couldn't see it on the card itself for some reason, but when I looked at it on the computer I noticed that there seemed to be a big empty space in the lower right corner.

Because of the 45 minute time limit on making cards for the challenges I didn't have a lot of time to figure out a fix so I thought a moment or two and came up with something to try. Fortunately it worked. I rescanned the card and uploaded it with only a few seconds to spare in the 45 minutes.

Before I show you my fix let me tell you a bit more about the card itself. I was designed and made for the Alice In Wonderland challenge. All the challenges were based on books. This is what we were given for this challenge:

"I’ve heard recently that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are going to team up to make a movie of “Alice in Wonderland”. My favorite passage from Alice in Wonderland is this:
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So in tribute to this passage, your challenge is to make a card using pearl-ex, twinkling H2Os, lumiere or scallops (circle, square, whatever scallops you like)."

That was it. I created a shimmery water picture using pearl-ex, twinkling H2Os, and lumiere to paint the image of the crab and then sprinkles a glittery gold embossing powder over it all. If I had nestibilities I would have used an outer scalloped circle behind the stamped image but I don't have them so I had to settle for another plain circle out of brushed gold card stock. I placed it all on a background made using one of my cuttlebug embossing folders that sort of looked like bubbles in water to me. Finally I added a Birthday Wish also on brushed gold card stock.

So back to my final fix. Simply three small rhinestones glues in a row. Maybe not the perfect fix but one that allowed me to finish in 45 minutes.

Now I will go to bed and in the next few days I will have lots to share. After stamping like a mad stamper all yesterday; designing and making 7 cards. This evening I went to a meeting with some of my SU stamping cohorts in the area and made 8 more projects. 7 cards and one post it note holder. Plus I still have more fun from the fall craft kit to share........See you later!

SOCK MONKEY FUN

I remember sock monkey's from when I was a kid. I don't think I ever had one but I thought they were so cute.

Then when I was a young adult they became popular again and I though maybe I would make one. IT wasn't hard to find a pattern because when you bought a pair of men's rag wool work socks they came with a pattern for them. You didn't even have to go to a craft store. Just ruin down to your local Sears and Roebuck or "Monkey" Wards, which is what our family called Montgomery Wards. Those of you who are youngin's have probably never heard of them as they went out of business I think in the last 1980's. Anyway, I did get socks that had the pattern and I did intend to make one, but.......I think it was about 10 years later I found the socks on a shelf, couldn't find the pattern so got rid of the socks and of course immediately there after found the pattern. Needless to say I never made me a sock monkey!

Now Stampin' Up has come up with a stamp set that will let me easily make a sock monkey for just about any occasion. He comes with his own party hat, banana, cupcake, balloon and more. Plus they have a companion accessory set with even more fun things for him to wear and hold.

Here is my first "monkey" card. Doesn't he have just the cutest grin? And he is ready to party! I colored him with my Prismas and OMS. I need to visit my buddy Lee again and get a few lessons on coloring well with these. An artist I am not when it comes to coloring and shading. But I am happy with my little guy.

So tonight is the start of SCS's VSN. Don't you just love acronyms? That's Split Coast Stampers Virtual Stamp Night. IT will be a fun night and then Saturday of stamping challenges. The theme for this event is authors and all the challenges will somehow relate to books and authors. I hope to take part in a few of them. That probably means I need to go up and do some cleaning in my room. There is a 45 minute time limit for making each card so you really do need to be organized and clean when you start because a mess will quickly develop! It is fun though and there is a lot of laughter and chatter on line along the way.

One final comment....in case you haven't noticed I still am using up bits and pieces from my summer craft kit.

LOVELY TREES

Two more cards here using the Lovely As a Tree stamp set from SU. They sympathy card actually was one of my fair entries. It was judged worthy of a red, 2nd place, ribbon which made me very happy.

Once again both of these cards use papers and embellishments from the Summer craft kit. (Don't worry I'm almost done using up everything and will soon move on to something else.)

I used watercoloring and masking with both of these cards, but think it worked out much better in the sympathy card. The birthday card is okay, but I am not totally happy with how it turned out. I think my background sky ended up to dark. Oh well live and learn. Right?

CARD AND PAGES

The 2008 Montgomery County Fair is now history! That means there is once again time to get back into my stamp room and play. My playing involves finishing up the use of the papers and embellishments in my Summer Craft Kit. The papers are almost gone. Only scraps remain, but since I mainly used this kit to make pages for my nephews baseball album I have quite a few embellishments left, especially the flowers. Somehow they just didn't seem appropriate to the baseball theme. Don't worry though they will not go to waste! They will be used on other projects in the future.

So here are two more pages for the album. I now have February and April
pages complete. All the pages I have completed so far have been fun though challenging. There are not many photos like you see in a lot of albums. Mainly the memories are of newspaper clippings and programs. Lots of print. Of course this does mean I don't have to do much if any writing which I do like.

One thing I have discovered is that rubbery (sticker) embellishments though really neat do not make sliding the pages they are on into page protectors very easy. They want to stick to the protector. So you have to be real careful with them. I do like the way they look however as they are thick and give a 3 D look. Also the ones I found are great colors. The strip of baseballs down they right side of the first page are these type of stickers as is the baseball bat and ball on the first page here. Come to think of it so is the "varsity" pennant. This page was a real bugger to get into the page protector, but I did it!

I didn't want to stop with the two pages so I also made another sympathy card. I used my new Stampin' Up scalloped border punch to make the scallop fringe that peaks out from the right side of the patterned paper strip. I then used the tip of my finger to "fluff" the scallops up a bit so they didn't lie totally flat against the card. I love this punch and know that it will get a lot of use.

I once again used the Lovely As a Tree stamp set from SU. I don't know why I waited so long to get this set. It is quickly becoming a favorite. I really like how the pine tree turned out here. The paper I stamped it on is a plain side of one of the double sided papers that came in the kit. It had a texture to it. Normally I don't like to stamp on textured paper because you get a texture showing on the image, but I like it with this pine tree stamp. I think it gives the feeling of the pine needles.

I hope you've enjoyed these and hope to be back to a more regular posting schedule. If you are interested in my week at the county fair I am posting about that on my companion BLOG Life Out My Window. Feel free to stop by.