IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY

I have been asked to do a birthday party at the end of February for a 7 year old little girl and 6 or 7 of her friends. Mom says she is an artist (the 7 year old that is) and likes to make things. These are the project ideas that I have come up with. They needed to be fairly simple, but still nice looking. There will be two cards, a junior sized legal pad with a cover to decorate and a goodie bag.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but the goodie bag is the item that says friend on the front. The base of it is a trimmed down brown lunch bag. I picked up this idea about a year ago from one of SCS VSN challenges. They are very easy and fun to make.

Since the girls are only seven I am going to pre-cover the legal pad and the brown bag. I will also punch the holes for the handles of the bag and the girls will just decorate them. They also will each get a small stamp and a black ink cube to take home so they can stamp a bit more on their own.

A LITTLE GET TO KNOW ME FUN!

I got this list of question's from Leslie's BLOG. IF you decide to take these questions and answer them on your BLOG please let me know so I can visit and learn more about you!

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say? Considering my age I would probably first say "you must be kidding!" and then I would pass out!

2. When was the last time you flew in a plane? August 2007 coming home from Stampin' Up's convention in Denver.

3. What did the last text message you sent say? I don't even know how to send a text message!

4. What features do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? understanding and support

5. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future? To live a healthy lifestyle without having to think about it. (Leslie's answer but I like it!)

6. Shoe size? 11, but at almost 6 feet tall I'm allowed to have big feet or I would fall over! Now that doesn't mean I like the way shoes look on them though!

7. Been to Mexico? Yes on a cruise in 2000. Cozumel

8. When is the last time you had a massage? A seated massage in 2006. Full massage never!

9. What was the last TV show you watched? I'm embarrassed to say General Hospital, but that's because I watch the soaps while I craft or cook.

10. What are your plans for the weekend? Saturday I'm taking a class on how to clean and maintain my Featherweight sewing machine. Then Sunday I'm going to watch the Super Bowl and stamp!

11. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? That depends............

12. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A reusable Giant grocery bag, a Stampin' Up tote bag with craft magazines, an umbrella and a bottle of water. Probably also a few other odds and ends.

13. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Lying in bed thinking I really should get up!

14. If you could marry any celebrity today who would it be? Nope not interested in marrying any of them except maybe Paul Newman since he's shown he believes in being committed to his marriage.

15. Have you ever been to a strip club? Nope!

16. What is the best ice cream flavor? Mocha Almond Fudge or anything else with chocolate and nuts!

17. What is the last sporting event you watched? The Giants vs Green Bay game

18. Ever go camping? Since my DH loves to camp and thinks it is the only way to vacation yes. More often than you probably care to know about.

19. Last phone call? Some one in the area that wants me to provide crafty entertainment for her 7 year old daughters birthday party.

20. Are you allergic to anything? Not that I am aware of.

21. What is one thing you have learned about life recently? That it can be short and you have no idea how long your life may be or how short.

22. What do you do at work? A little bit of this and a lot of that! I work at my church and though I have an official job title my duties are "what ever no one else wants or remembers to do.

23. What is your mom's name? Vera

24. Ever cried for no reason? For some reason I rarely cry even when there is a reason. I find this very annoying!

25. Can you do the Crank Dat dance? Refer to Question #1's answer concerning age. I have no idea what you are even talking about! BUT I can do the Twist!

26. What is your favorite color to wear? Black

27. What is the longest plane ride you have ever been on? About 8 hours to Amsterdam.

28. What is the longest road trip you have ever taken? Oh my there have been so many long ones. Probably the longest though was the 5 week camping trip we took out kids on where we traveled out west and covered 8500 miles total,

29. What are your turn-offs? Not sure I have any. Can't think of any at the moment. Oh I just thought of one...people who think they know better than I do how I should live my life.

30. What was your last alcoholic beverage? A nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon

31. What are you craving right now? A nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon! But I will head to bed instead.

FLY BABY WEEKEND OF STAMPING FUN! part 2

I made a boo boo and got my challenges out of order. Lee actually gave us the third challenge. So sorry Lee. How could I have messed this up. I love making nugget boxes and of course I love chocolate and yours was to make a nugget box. Like with the Criss Cross cards; the Jan VSN was the first time I had attempted a Nugget Box. I had seen them and even received several in swaps at last years SU convention, but I never tried to make one because I thought they would be so hard. In fact they are so easy. I am thinking that I will be making lots of these for special Valentine treats. I have a whole, well almost a whole, bag of nuggets and if I give them as gifts I won't be tempted to eat them all. Back to this nugget box. This time I used designer doubles sided paper to make my box. I like the paper for the sleeve, but I think I prefer the more sturdy card stock for the bottom box.

Now back in order of challenges. Jennifer issued a second challenge. To make a card with no "BLING". I had another baby card that needed to be made and it is for a little boy so I figured this was the challenge for that. Boys don't need bling like little girls do. I used the same Baby Talk stamp set but of course this time its in blue. And since only paper and layers could be used for interest I worked with some papers I have to make things interesting. I hope Archer likes it and we'll just have to wait and see if some day he likes baseball. I colored these images with BIC markers. Nothing fancy, but I have 36 colors to choose from in my set. Lots more than I have in my selection of Copic and Prismas. They work but don't blend together well and you can see lines.

The final challenge of the weekend was from Sarah. It was a new one for me. It was to create a door card. I really had fun with this one. I decorated both the outside and the inside of the card. I used some retired SU paper from 2006-07 catalog. Paper that I love so much it had fallen into the I'm hoarding it category. The stamp set I used is also retired. It is "All About U".
I really enjoy using my retired sets, but I guess that is because I try really hard not to buy sets that I don't really really love. (If I didn't put that restriction on myself I think I'd probably end up buying them all!)

Here is a picture of the card closed. I tried something different with my oval and scalloped oval punches on this card and I like the way it worked. I didn't want to add another card stock color to the card, but wanted to use the layered oval and scalloped oval. Using the same card stock for both was not going to work it looked way too flat and I didn't like the way it looked with Purely Pomegranate under the oval. What I did was this....I had already stamped the work LOVE with green craft ink and embossed it with clear powder so I thought why not try embossing the edge of the oval. And I did. I ran the edge of the oval around on my craft pad being very careful not to get ink on my fingers and transfer it to the front of the oval. I slanted the oval just slightly so some of the ink went onto the front of the card. I then ran the edge of the card around in a pile of embossing powder. I held it with the long tweezers from my tool kit while I heat set it. When it cooled I attached it to the scalloped oval with two dimensionals just to raise it a bit. I did like the way it turned out. The LOVE oval is only attached to the door on the left side. This gave a very simple outside. When you untie the bow and open the card this is what you see on the inside. The U was embossed twice. I used the same craft ink that I used on the LOVE in the front. Embossed once with clear powder. While the powder was still hot and sticky I added more powder and heated it again. Then this time while it was still hot and sticky I sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds and heated it a third time so the diamonds would embed into the embossing.

This was a fun weekend of stamping. And I was able to get all the cards I needed to send out this week made using the challenges. ALSO I finished up the 30 set challenge that I began back in December. Since December 1 I have used 30 different stamp sets. Many of them ones that I have not used in a long time. I think I may just start on my next 30....Also I have been telling myself that I need to begin learning how to use papers not just stamped images on my cards rather than hoarding my lovely papers. I have been challenged by what I have seen friends do with their cards and papers. I have a ways to go to perfect using this new medium, but I am happy with what I did with them this weekend.

A big Thank You to Diane for setting up thse challenge weekend. And though I did not get to McFarland I think I can say I was content in my own stamp room playing with my friends in our virtual setting.

FLY BABY WEEKEND OF STAMPING FUN!

This weekend there were some SCS FLYBaby friends that had a get together in McFarland, WI. You might ask why McFarland? Well for stampers that's an easy question to answer....it's because that is where Gina K's store is located! They had such fun meeting Gina K. and inviting her to become a FLYBaby; which she did! They stamped and laughed together all weekend. Alas, many of us FLYBabies who lived further away from McFarland did not make it there, but we did stamp together using a set of challenges we issued to each other on line. Here are the cards I made for these fun challenges.

The first challenge was a sketch challenge posted by Diane. I had several cards I needed to be making this weekend to be sent out on Monday and I used this challenge to make a baby card for a special little girl named Aimee and her parents of course. It was a pretty straight forward card to make. I colored the image of the baby basket using my SU Stampin' Pastels and a blender pen. The stamp set used is a retired set called Baby Talk.

The next challenge was given by Beth. It was a lonely unloved challenge. We were to use a color card stock, stamp set and embellishment that we didn't really like and hadn't used in a long time.......The card stock was easy for me. I went right for my Bold Bright selections. They are my least favorite to use. Their name says it all. They are just too bold and too bright for my tastes. I chose Orchid Opulence for my card stock. It's really bright! The stamp set I chose was Botanicals. A very old SU set. It is a set I like a lot, but I don't think it has been off the shelf in two years. Which says a lot since I've only been stamping two and a half years. It is a set I purchased on E-Bay. The embellishments I choose where the old silver SU brads that are shaped like diamonds. I've just never found a way to use them. I'm stuck on thinking brad = round. I also used a piece of wide organdy ribbon I found languishing on the bottom of my ribbon box. I did add some Going Grey and Basic Grey card stock and Stamped the main image on water color paper coloring it in using SU watercolor crayons and an aqua painter. Guess what....when I got done I discovered I had a card I liked very very much. I only wish is didn't have to be a sympathy card that will sent to a friend who lost her young college student daughter in a car accident this weekend.

I issued the third challenge. It was simply to use one or multiple tags on the front of your card. I did two for samples. I will only show one here. On it I used a pre-made tag from SU. It was from their tag sheet sets that they don't make any more. I guess it doesn't really both me that they don't carry them any more because I have more than I will ever use and I got them in my demonstrator kit when I began as an SU independent demonstrator August 2005! Obviously not one of my favorite items to use. They are actually why I issued this challenge. I wanted to challenge myself to finally use one! I colored my image here with a compination of Copic, Prisma and SU markers. I'm still not sure which I like the best. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

The last challenge card I will show in this post was given by Jennifer. We were to make a Criss Cross card. I made my first card of this type in last weekends SCS January VSN weekend. They are such fun and I was glad for the opportunity to make another so soon. Maybe this will help set into my mind that this is a type of card to make more often. With February coming I'm finding myself making lots of hearts, love, and Valentine themed cards. I did make three of them this weekend. This is the second one here. I also used one of the hat-pins From my SU Pretties Kit. I really don't like using these. I find them very difficult as a design element. In fact the one used here with it's ribbon was one I put together to use last weekend and I just couldn't get it to look right. I am happy with how it worked on this card. BUT it will have to be a card that I hand deliver to someone. Cards with these would definitely take extra postage and probably would need to go into a padded envelope.

So those are the first four challenges. I will post the rest of my challenge cards in another post later this evening. Right now my fingers are getting tired! And I'm going to go visit some other BLOGS to see what others have been up to this weekend!

FIXING A CARD

Yesterday I was working on some cards and I came up with this as a design for a Get Well card. I really like the watercolor effect of coloring the stamp with the Stampin'Up markers, lightly spritzing them with water and stamping onto water color paper. This was the technique I used here. I was proud of my self for using one of my hodge podge paper clips. (I've only had them since 2005!) I'm not really hoarding them. I just have a real hard time getting them to look right on a card. At times I think I am embellishment challenged. That sort of like bow tying challenged which I am also. Hence the flat ribbon on this card and no bow. Still the card wasn't quite right. I finally determined that in my opinion there was too much off white. What to do?



Well what I did was I carefully removed the water colored stamps image sheet and cut apart the flowers. Then I trimmed them down and distressed the newly cut edges. This is what I ended up with after re taping the images down. What do you think? I definitely like it better with the strips of blue showing between the images. I still think something is missing. Maybe there should be a bow or maybe some eyelets or brads in the upper left corner??? But I think I am done with this card and ready to move on.....

SCS COLOR CHALLENGE & BIRTHDAYS!

I needed to do two birthday cards today and wasn't sure were I was going to get my inspiration to start. Trying to decide both layout, colors and what stamp sets to use can be the most time consuming part of the whole card making process. I didn't have a lot of time to work with so I needed some help. Tuesday's SCS challengeis always a color combo challenge. Other than during VSN weekends I've never done any of the SCS challenges and I thought why not give it a try.

Well when I went to check out what the combination of colors was for the days challenge I almost decided to go it on my own. The colors to be used were Real Red, Blue Bayou, and Soft Sky. I wasn't so sure that this would work for me. Real Red is one of those colors that other than Christmas and Valentine's Day I just can't warm up to. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it is so bright. (The Bold Bright color family is my least used and least liked.) But I decided to give it a try. Boy was I wrong! These colors are dynamite together. I love them.....So here are the two birthday cards that I came up with.

There was also the added benefit that I used two more stamp sets that I haven't used in a while. Happy Everything and Happy Harmony. I will definitely be checking out more of the color challenges in the future. I also will be checking in on the sketch challenges to help with ideas for layouts. Both of these layouts came from past sketch challenges. Several weeks ago I printed out all the past challenges to use as a quick reference. It definitely helped here. After I chose which stamps I wanted to use I flipped through the past sketches to find a layout that would work with the shape of the stamped image. I think it took me an hour to design and make both these cards. Not bad for me.

MORE GOOD THINGS IN SMALL BOXES!

Here is another little box you can make that contains a yummy treat. I have been taking part in a Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) this weekend. It is like a stamping retreat where you get together with friends to party and play together while creating cards and other paper craft items. But it is done via the internet. Lots less expensive (once you have the computer equipment needed that is) that paying hotel and eating out costs. Challenges are issued every hour and you have 45 minutes to complete each of them. Of course since no one can really check up on you the time limits are done on the honor system.....I'm sure no one EVER takes longer than the allowed 45 minutes.......well may be a few.....okay so maybe I'm the only one who is SLOW! But I don't really care for me the object is too have fun. I'm usually done in 60 minutes and that includes the thinking what to do with the challenge time.

One of the challenges was to make a special wrapper or container for chocolate. This then could become a gift for someone special. I decided to try a Nugget Box. I've heard of these little boxes and seen a few but never tried to make one. They are amazingly easy. Why have I waited so long. I wanted to get started on some Valentine gift items and so that is how I decorated this one. If you would be interested in making a box like this you can find directions here.

The above photo shows the box closed. It is a match stick type slider box and the second picture shows it partially opened. Notice even the Hershey's Nuggets have their own pretty little jackets. Now if I can just resist eating them before Valentines day! Enjoy looking. If you what to eat you will have to find your own these are mine!

I'M ROYALTY!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Grand Duchess Suzanne the Mirthful of Lower Beanthrop in the Hedge Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Now what all this means I'm not sure, but please curtsy the next time you come by!

Thanks to Susan for helping me discover my royal nature.

GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL BOXES

This is a little box that my SU upline designed for us to make at our last team meeting. It is a really cute little box about 2 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches and about an inch tall. The box itself is very easy and quick to make. I'm thinking I may make a bunch of these for Valentines favors for those that attend the Tuesday night dinners at our church.


Of course a little box though cute would not be very exciting if it were empty. And of course this little box is not empty. There is a tasty little treat inside. A yummy York Peppermint Patty...one of my favorite treats. When the box is opened you can see it through a cute little hole surrounded by a scalloped circle. There is an acetate sheet behind the punched out hole protecting the patty.

PASS IT ON!

but because she is one of the few SCS and FLYThis morning I received a wonderful surprise when I found out that Lori a SCS and FLYBaby friend gave me an award! The "You Make My Day" award. Then this afternoon I also received the award from a very special friend Lee. I can say she is very special not only because she isBaby friends that I have actually personally met. Now I would like to pass this award on to a few of those who "Make My Day". If you haven't already I hope you will stop by and visit with them on their BLOG.



Kurtis "The Kub" what can I say...he is amazing as are his cards. I love visiting his BLOG to see his new creations and reading about his new adventures as a design team member for not one but two companies now. I also enjoy hearing about what's going on in his life from his proud moma's perspective.

I just have to send the award back to Lee. She is one amazing lady, and I might add has one amazing husband. They are both such giving people. Lee is always there with encouragement for me when I am down or struggling . Her talent and skill in card making has blossomed and I hope one day to be able to catch up with her talent.

My next award goes to Susan. Talk about special! Susan was my very first BLOGGING buddy. She is a very talented card maker and she lives in Australia. I so look forward to visiting her site and seeing what is being done down under. I also very muc look forward to reading the notes she leaves for me.

Finally I would like to give the award to LadyDoc. The work she did with her students in making cards to be sold as a charity fund raiser were amazing. That she was so willing to share her talent with others in this manner was truly inspiring to me. Also I love the name of her BLOG "Tilting at Windmills" . It reminds me of Man of LaMancha every time I visit there and Man of LaMancha is one of my all time favorite plays.

There are many more that I wish I had time to list here that have been an inspiration to me. There are also many SCS friends who make my day but do not have BLOGS to visit. Thank you all. You all "Make My Day" in so many ways.

MAKING IMPROVEMENTS

Sometimes when I make a card I think its finished, but something keeps nagging at me. Even though I am done something just doesn't seem right. This card is an example of that. I designed it from a sketch challenge offered at the Gina K. new product launch party on Saturday night. The more I looked at the card the part that bothered me was that you can't really tell that you are actually seeing a strip of the inside of the card on the far right. It looks more like I just messed up on stamping the patterned background. The "Thank you" sentiment and scalloped square actually hang out over the edge of the front of the card. It just seemed unfinished to me and the more I looked at it the more I knew I had to come up with something to finish it. What to do???

Well, this is what I came up with.
I'm not sure that the color I chose what the correct one. I think I actually picked up the wrong pad. But I am happier with the fact that you can tell there is an edge here and you can see the scallops cut into the edge. So now I declare this card finished.

For those wondering I haven't given up on my marker explorations yet. Watch for more of my finds in the next few days. I think for now I will be saving myself some money!

MY FIRST BELLA!

My first Bella card. And my only Bella stamp. It's Huggabella! I still have lots of work to do on my coloring but slowly I am learning. I think part of my problem is I get to much color and try to be too realistic. I also learned too late that one should not color in Bella's mouth. It made them look like clowns. I worked with my watercolor brush to remove the color and did so with a limited amount of success. I received the encouragement today to be ready and willing when learning to color images to throw away learning projects. I maybe should have thrown this one away, but it was my first Bella and I just couldn't.

This is also my first card with a Cuttlebug embossed background. Now that I could do with little problem. Actually other than the watercoloring I like this card.

THANK YOU'S

I am finally getting around to making my Thank You cards. I am also having fun using loved stamp sets that haven't been used for a while. I am trying to keep them simple, partly because I have a lot of them to make and partly because I am discovering I really like crisp clean cards.

This is one of the designs I came up with. I love the Geometric background stamp and was sad to see SU retire it several years ago. I find it very useful when I am struggling with masculine cards. The other stamp set used here is All About U which was just retired last month. I stamped the U with night of navy craft ink and then embossed it with the Hologram embossing powder which also retired. Right about now I am thinking I am glad that I am a hobby demo with SU and I can still use my retired sets with a clear conscience. It's hard to tell from my scan but the card is done on confetti white card stock. Two eyelets and some gingham ribbon on mellow moss card stock finish off the card and at least one person will get a thank you from me "sooner rather than later!".

365 PROJECT!

I found this interesting photo project called the 365 Project and was very intrigued by it. I love taking pictures and photo journalism and was thinking about doing it. Of course I was thinking very slowly about it. Then another FLYBaby friend on SCS posted on her BLOG that she was going to do it and that was enough of a push to get me started. So....if you would like to follow my life through photos check out my companion BLOG. It's called Life Out My Window.

RECIPES FOR A MONTH

This is my first project I'm working on in 2008. It was begun right after Christmas, but around my house few things are completed the same day they are begun. This actually will be an ongoing growing project through out the year I hope.

Along with a group of SCS FLYbaby Stampers I am working toward getting my life and home in order and out of CHAOS. I am also working toward healthier eating habits and money saving in all areas including food purchases. To eventually achieve these goals I need to work on my planning and organization skills. Hopefully this fun project will help me with both.

On a Christmas Eve shopping trip my daughter found several flip photo albums at Kohl's. She had seen a picture of one that had been altered to be a recipe album in one of my catalogs, books or magazines and wanted to make some. She also gave me one to make for myself. and this is what I came up with.

I didn't really need another holder for my recipes, especially one that only had room for up to 40 of them. I have been trying to be better about menu planning and shopping lists of foods I will actually use rather than just getting what looks good in the store at the moment I'm shopping, but haven't had much success. I came up with the idea of this recipe album that hopefully will help. I think the 40 slots for recipe cards should be enough room for the recipes needed for a months worth of cooking.

Along with the album I have come up with a template in MS WORD that I am using to type my recipes into. Also I have made what I refer to as my "Monthly Index" which are simply cards with lines for me to hand write in the titles of the recipe cards that are currently in the album with the name of the month stamped along the side. Of course I've added a bit of stamping fun to the cards because this is a fun project as well as hopefully a usable one.

It's a fair amount of work setting this up. But I'm having fun going through the family recipes and deciding which ones to make cards for first. Actually my daughter helped with that as well. She found all the ones she wanted for her book and since I did them for here those are my first as well. I have some tins from Oriental Trading that the 4x6 recipe cards will fit into and eventually I plan to alter one of those into a storage recipe box for all the cards that I have produced. Not sure when I will get to that though as I still have Thank You cards to design and make as well as a Swap I need to get done. BUT it is on my list of things to do sooner rather than later. When I get it done you will see it here, but PLEASE don't hold your breath as it may be a while.

For now I have more recipes to type into word and print out on lovely colorful card stock. And looking a head to next Christmas I might just make a few of these for gifts myself. By then they will be easy because I am saving all my formatted recipes!