MORE SYMPATHY FOR PETS

It seems that there is a rash of sick and unfortunately dying pets once again; so I find my self making more pet sympathy cards. These are so sad to make because in most cases the pets lost truly were family members and even the children of the couples.

I am still so grateful to have my Pet Stack card stock pack from DCWV. IT is my first go to collection of papers for these cards.

I've made cards both for the loss of cats as well as the lose of dogs. At the moment I only need the dog ones, but I will be ready for future loses.

The cat and dog stamps are from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment on the dog card is from Papertrey. They each have a specific stamped message about the loss of a pet on the inside.

I've always wondered how these cards are received. At least until Thursday night when I saw a good friend who just lost her beloved Westie, Sherlock, last week. He was her and her husbands "little boy". They had no human children of their own. She told me how touched she was that I took the time to make a person card for the lose of a pet. That it showed them I really did care and understand what Sherlock had meant to them both.

So I will continue making these cards. I thank the Lord that he has given me this small talent that can be shared with others and provide them some comfort.

I did get my Copic Colour Challenge card done today and it is waiting patiently to be photographed. Oh and a little side note.....my mouth feels much better today. I am thinking rather than a tooth problem it was stress reated pain in my jaw.....I'm working real hard to reduce the stress that seems to be pervasive in my life at the moment.

BELLI BOOKMARK

Belli Challenge #60 was to make a bookmark. The Design Team Projects were awesome! So many good ideas and new bookmark styles and techniques.

I love to read and I love bookmarks so this was a fun challenge for me. In fact I made four of them so I have some for gifts. This is my favorite of the four.

The base of the bookmark is a double sided designer paper from a marvelous pack I found at Costco a month ago. My Costco rebate check bought it for me (along with a whole basket of groceries). It is a gray background with brown collage design printed on it. I finally used some marvelous vintage style stamps I got from Clear Stamps about 3 years ago and never used.......oops! I stamped some images with Rose Red craft ink and embossed them with detail clear powder. I used the detail powder because I wanted some shine, but didn't want a lot of height to the embossing. Then I attached three Prima flowers in various pale pink shades. (The back of the book mark is a dusty rose color.)

I like my bookmarks to be laminated. They last longer this way and I don't need to worry so much if I get them wet with spilled coffee or tea or water. I don't have a machine that laminates but I use the self laminating pouches. this is actually why I made 4 bookmarks. That's how many I can fit on a page so everything seals well and I don't waste a lot of the laminating material. The laminate was trimmed down to 1/4. WARNING: If you laminate your bookmarks don't trim them right to the edge! The laminate sticks to itself NOT to the card stock so if you don't leave a edge of laminate everything falls apart!!!!!!!!!!

The final step was to use my Crop-i-dile and place a jumbo brad at the top of the bookmark and then loops a burgundy tassel through it. Normally tassels this full and nice can be pricey, but I found a bunch of them at a yard sale for less than 10 cents each. I think they finish off the bookmark nicely!

So that's my Belli Challenge for this week. I still have my Copic Colour Challenge card to do, but was waiting for my new Copic order from Korin it arrive and it came today!!!!!! I now have pretty new colors to play with and one of them I needed for the challenge. Tonight I am still dealing with my tooth ache so maybe tomorrow. IT'S SATURDAY!!!!!!!!

EYELET AND FLOWERS

I wanted to work some more with the paper eyelet edging again so yesterday I pulled it out.

This card looks so much prettier on real life. I am not seeming to get the correct colors with my current camera.....The pinks show up correctly but the cards stock base reads way to gray! It should be Bordering Blue which is a light blue with gray tones, but is definitely blue. The gray cast here I think makes it look dirty which trust me it is not.

I places a strip of Rose Red behind the eyelet to make the holes stand out. The flower was created by layering two Prima flowers with a yellow brad.

I colored the one flower on the left with my copics and then put a touch if icicle stickles on the bud for some sparkle.

That's my card for today.......I haven't done the Belli Challenge for the week yet. That's on tomorrows stamp list. I need to make a bookmark for it. Also tomorrow I will hopefully get to the new Copic Colour Challenge. My brain just wasn't up to a challenge today. And right now I am dealing with some aching teeth after a visit to the dentist and after 4 Advil I think I just need to go to bed!

SNIFFLE GET WELL WISH

It's Tuesday night and the excitement mounts as I eagerly await tomorrows Belli Challenge. To keep myself in stamping and card making form I did make several cards today. I'm still working on cards for our quilt boutique in April and I needed a few to send myself.

Fortunately no one I know is sick right now, but I got a new Lockhart stamp last week and wanted to use it.....I thought it was so cute....a little tissue box. Even though no one is sick right now I know that someone is bound to get the sniffles soon; what with pollen and allergy season bearing done on us as winter tries to leave to make room for spring.

The XX's are from a Gel-i-tin set I purchased in KC at last summers Flybaby gathering. The sentiments from Inkadinkadoo.

In making this card I got to pull out some tools that I really like but haven't been put to much use lately...they were today and you will see the fruits of their labors in other posts this week. I used my circle and scalloped circle SU punches and one of my favorite tools of all time....the perfect layers tool. I never have figured out why SU retired this tool. It makes getting nice layers of many different widths so easy! I'm so glad I got one before they went bye bye!

So that's it for today.....now to bed so I can get up bright and early and see what Chris and the Belli DT has for us tomorrow.

YARD SALE FIND!!!!!!

I'm taking a momentary break from showing cards to post a picture of what I consider a wonderful yard sale find. I know can have all my markers withing easy reach and they are all stored on their sides so their points don't dry out. The copics don't need to be stored on their sides, but it is nice having then so since then I can see their caps with the numbers and colors. I am finding that I use my different markers a lot more having them out and accessible.

This holder is actually a retail "fixture" from our local stamp store that closed. A good friend of mine purchased it and then decided she didn't like using it. So her mistake is my gain......I don't know what she paid, but I got it for $1.00.

Not only is it a very useful organizational tool for me, but I really do like looking at the colors arrayed in front of me when I stamp. I love color.

Now I think I will go visit my markers and do a bit of stamping, coloring and card making!

ANOTHER COPIC COLOUR CHALLENGE #5

This weeks Copic Colour Challenge was to be inspired by a card from Charmed Cards and Crafts a company in the UK. To see the card go to the Copic Colour Challenge Blog. We could use any color copics as long as our coloring method was copics.


My card is a loose representation of the inspiration card. I used the idea of vertical panels and also really liked the blue at the top. I simulated it by using mulberry paper and tearing one edge of it. The stamp set I used was a new one by Stampin' Up Just Buzzin' By. The images were stamped in Memento's Tuxedo Black. I colored them in using the following Copic colors:

Y11, Y15,YR09, R09, R37, G17, BV31, E21 and Black which is 100.

Each of the three panels is sponged on the edge with a different color of classic ink. The colors I used were also suggested to me by the inspiration card.

So that's it for this weeks Copic Colour Challenge..........I still have a few other challenges to do this weekend if I can manage to get off the computer, get my grocery shopping for the week done and come up with some ideas.

BELLI CHALLENGE CARD !

The challenge given in this weeks Belli Challenge was to use wheels. The original intent was to use standard or jumbo sized stamping wheels, but a number of the design team members didn't have any so the challenge was revised to be that you could also use a stamped image that had wheels on it. For full details of the challenge you can go to the Creative Belli Blog. It is challenge #59. You have until Tuesday night, March 24 to up load your challenge card.

Personally my only problem with the original wheel challenge was choosing which of my many wheels to use. I have plenty of both sizes and really do not use them very much at all. Not sure why.....I just don't. I chose to use my On Spot one because I saw some fun possibilities for making it the main focus of the card. Here is what I came up with..........


I started out by rolling the wheel on Mellow Moss card stock using a freshly inked Mellow Moss ink cartridge. Take a helpful hint from me....if you re-ink cartridges to use with your wheels let them set for a hour or so to let the ink really soak in before you use it. Suffice it to say if you use it right away you get a rather inky mess.........

Secondly I placed the designer paper on the side.

I wanted to really take advantage and highlight the different circles made with this wheel so I found some small circle motif stamps and stamped them within the circles using craft ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder...another hint, well really tip....I don't think I will buy anymore colored embossing powders other than metallics. by simply using clear powder over colored craft or pigment ink I can have what ever color I want with only having one container of powder. Also it means I can stamp a whole lot of different colored images to be embossed and use one powder and emboss them all at the same time!

My next step was to create a little dimension so I used my little lady bug and punched her out with a small I think 1/2 inch punch (it may have been 3/4"). I stamped her in Riding Hood Red Classic Ink and colored over the antenna with a fine tipped marker. I placed them over several of the circles popped up with SU dimensionals. Additional dimension was attained by puting the sentiment under a piece of HodgePodge Hardware for SU.

The final embellishments used were a length of ribbon, a flower and button brad and then a few little pearls. This all was put on the Mellow Moss panel and was then attached down on top of a card base. I don't like my ribbon ends or brad prongs to show so when I use them I almost always make sure and use them with a layer of cardstock that goes on top of the card base.

So that is my Belli Card for Challenge #59. Thanks for visiting and looking at it!

ANOTHER QUILT CARD

I did get my Belli Challenge card done tonight, but haven't had a chance to photograph it yet so I will post it tomorrow. Instead today I am reaching back into my photo file for another of my quilt cards I made. I found a scrap of designer paper in my pile....we all have piles of scraps don't we???? I hope I'm not the only one. Anyway this scrap was perfectly spaced to fit under a row of the quilt blocks stamped side by side on a strip of vellum paper.

The old olive scalloped strip underneath the quilt blocks was made using my scallop border punch and then paper pierced. Add a couple of flowers stacked an attached with a brad and a few other images and a note card is born.

The quilt block images are from Papertrey and the "Note for You" and sewing machine are from Stampin' Up sets.

Tomorrow not only will I photograph and post my Belli Challenge, but I also hope to figure out a card design for the Copic Colour Challenge. I tried it tonight, but nothing worked........maybe after a good night sleep my mind will be better challenged.....so till tomorrow.....pleasant dreams. It's way past my bed time and I am off to crawl in.

THE NIGHT BEFORE WEDNESDAY

It's Tuesday night, which in itself is no big deal, but that means tomorrow is WEDNESDAY! That means a new Belli Challenge is posted......and you know I love those challenges. But I must be patient. And so while I wait.......................not so patiently........I will share with you a card I made for a through the mail shoebox swap I am in.

Can you tell how much I am lovin' my new Scor-Pal??? I always know I have a winner when I get a new toy and use it a lot! My Scor-PAl is a definite winner. It is right up there with my Nesties' Soon I hope to get a new set of nestie's to play with...(note to family: my birthday is coming up in case you might have forgotten. I know I'm shameless) Any way back to the card......

The images are from Inkadinkado though the leaf is from a GinaK set. I stamped all colored images with black craft ink and then embossed the flower with clear powder and the hummingbird with Holographic powder to give some shimmer. I like doing that when I am coloring small image areas. The little ridge that is crated helps me stay within the lines when coloring....especially with water colors and this was colored with Twinkling H2O's.

The card base and ribbon are the retired Stampin' Up In Color, Blue Bayou. I really miss this color and am hording what little I have left! The scalloped card stock rectangle is Riding Hood Red which is a current In Color which I will also miss after this July when it retires.

I find it interesting that when I started stamping 3 1/2 years ago I did so because I could create art without having to draw or color. I could let different colored stamped images do the work for me. NOW, though I still don't draw (and never will) I find that coloring images is quickly becoming my favorite part of card making. Do you have a favorite coloring medium? Do you even like to color images? I wish I could tell you my favorite coloring medium, but I am finding I love them all and the one I love best is the one I am currently using.

Well till tomorrow......when hopefully I will have time to take the Belli Challenge of the week!

WOOD GRAIN ON CARDS!

Masculine cards can be a challenge. There just are a limited number of stamp sets and techniques that speak "man card!". On StampTV last week GinaK had a video tutorial on creating wood grain backgrounds. I can try and explain the process, but you probably would be much better served by heading over to StampTV and watching the two videos.

Just a quick rundown on the technique:

1. Take a piece of background card stock (Gina suggested More Mustard from SU) and run a Vanilla pigment ink pad across the front of the piece. (I suggest wearing rubber gloves unless you want inky fingers!).
2. I let dry and then did the same over the top of the vanilla with chocolate chip dye ink. (I forgot the dye ink part and used my Chocolate Chip Craft ink.
3. When inks are dried draw lines for the panels. I also added dots for the nails or pegs.
4. Voila a background that looks like wood paneling or flooring.
   

I immediately thought of a trophy fish mounted on a plaque and hung on the wall and so that is what my card is of. The fish I embossed in black and then colored with my Twinkling H2O's to get the shimmery look of fish scales.

So now I have a guy birthday card when needed. There are lots of other cards over at StampTV in their photo gallery. To see them search with STVTC4. People got very creative using colors other than brown. They are worth checking out.

BELLI CHALLENGE #58 IS HERE

I love Red, Black, and White as a color combo on cards.....so that means I loved this weeks Belli Challenge. You can find the total details on the challenge on the Creative Belli Blog. I noticed the touch of green on the book cover that was offered as the inspiration for this challenge and so added it to my card as well. I really like that little extra spark it gives.

Besides the book cover for inspiration we were to use something we have in our stamping supplies and tools that we haven't used in a while. I choose to dig out my Stampin' Pastels. I've been so caught up in using my Copics, Pencils and OMS, and watercolors that I haven't used my pastels in forever!!!!! You know what I discovered???? All the things I've been learning and experimenting with in the other coloring mediums pertaining to shading and color choice has worked its way into my coloring with my pastels.......they always looked so flat to me, but I really like how this rose turned out. I did a lot of mixing and blending of colors on it and the leaves.


The rose stamp was another image sent to me from my pal Lee. It is from Meleanie Muenchinger's set A Year of Flowers that is put out by GinaK. IF you have never been to Melanie's BLOG Hands, Hand and Heart you really should check it out. She is one amazingly talented and creative gal.

Once again on this card I got to use a lot of fun toys......My cuttlebug and nestabilities; my wonderful new score-pal; my even newer eyelet border punch from Stampin' Up; ribbon and other fun punches.

The addition of the eyelet on the edge was a solution to a mess up. I'm just getting used to my new score-pal and all the lines for scoring on it and when I scored the fold I was a line off so the card was not folded in the middle. I hate to admit a mess up and like think I can work with them as a creative challenge and this is what I did to fix the lopsided card. I did need to do a bit of trimming, but I ended up with a 5.5 x 4..25 card like I wanted. I think I took a mess up and made it work and I think it worked to make a better card as well as the white of the eyelet softens all the darkness of the black. (actually the base card stock is SU's Basic Grey; the ribbon and Designer paper are true black)

Thanks for stopping by....I hope you take time to leave a comment....I love to read your thoughts.

IT'S A COPIC CHALLENGE #4

This weeks Copic Colour Challenge was to use colors:










I don't have Y08 so I substituted Y15. I also used a green (YG63) and a brown (E25). The stamp set I used for this card is a new Stampin' Up set called Wagon Full of Fun. It will be in the Occasions Mini Catalog which will be out from April 1 through June 30. This is a real cute set. It also includes a Easter egg, a heart and four sentiments.

The card stock is Soft Sky and Taken with Teal. I don't remember which Designer paper this is, but I know it is SU and it is long retired. It's a single sided paper which they haven't made for a while.

For fun I colored the duck with Frosted Lace stickles.

I really had fun making this card but it was a lot of cutting with my paper snips and I actually used my hobby knife to cut out the wagon so I could get between the slats.

If you enjoy coloring with Copics check out the Copic Colour Challenges and join in the fun!

ONE FOR LEE!

My good CO stamping FLYbaby friend Lee sent me some images last month. Several of them were House Mousies, which I had requested. She does such wonderful things with these little critters and I so wanted to try and emulate her work.....They scare the bejezzus out of me because they are so detailed. BUT I bit the bullet and thanks to a wonderful video on StampTV by Gina K I went to work.

Out came my pencils and OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits). First I did some practice cards which where a bit simpler. One was a total CASE of the coloring that GinaK did in her lesson. I will post it here sometime, but for now you can see it in the gallery at StampTV. After mastering (or at least being happy with) my attempts at shading I pulled out all the stops and one of my House Mouse images. It was indeed a challenge. I needed to come up with the colors to use all on my very own.....What color is a Pansy (not being a gardener are those even pansies???? I think so.) And what coloring do mice have. Fortunately, I have not seen any real ones recently to know!

Here is what I ended up with........
I used a combination of Prismacolor pencils and Koh-i-noor Woodless Pencils. I love the range of colors Prismacolor has, but hate the way they constantly break when I sharpen them. I love the Kor-i-noor pencils they don't break and blend really nicely but there are limited colors. So I use them both and they work together just fine. I use the Mona Lisa Odorless Paint Thinner because that is all I could find in a local store.

Lovely Lilac is the SU card stock I used and the Designer Paper is from Papertrey's 2008 Bitty Dot Basics. The brads are Antique Brass and the sentiment is from a Inkadinkadoo set.
I love the font used for it.


I am very happy with the end result. And I think I am ready and willing to pull out a few more of cute mousie images Lee sent.

Now TODAY is Wednesday and that is a day I love.....it's Belli Challenge Day and also Copic Color Challenge......and I have some swaps I need to do......so after work I sure hope I have the mojo and time to STAMP!

TIME FOR ANOTHER CHALLENGE!

This time my challenge card is for a Copics Colour Challenge. This is with a group of copics lovers and learners most of whom are participating in Korin's Copic Marker club. I am by no means a copic colouring expert....I'm not even totally sure I even have reached the novice stage yet. I still tend to want to use them like any other marker, which is to say I just don't get the blending stuff yet. BUT I am determined to learn......


I used Sweet 'n Sassy's Bee Happy stamp set for this card. I stamped the images using Memento's Tuxedo Black ink. The card stock colors I used are from Stampin' Up...Pretty in Pink and Garden Green.

The colors of the Copics I used were: Y63 and 67, Y 15 and 38, R 02 and RV11 and 13.

SIMPLE NOTE CARDS

This weekend I finished up another projects of cards. This will be a set of 8 note cards. Once again I used my Lockhart quilt block. (I really need to find out if they have any other quilt block stamps besides this one.)

As far as stamping goes these cards were very very simple. Memento Tuxedo Black ink and two rubber stamps; one the quilt block the other from Stampin' Ups set Elegant Notes (a retired set). The coloring of the blocks didn't take a long time. I did it with my Copic markers. The thing that took the longest was choosing the color combos to use for each block. I guess that is appropriate though since when making a quilt often it is the choosing of the fabrics to use that takes the longest.

You cans see an up close picture of one of the cards and then get an idea of all eight. Each card has a different coloring scheme. This makes each card look different even though the stamp is the same on each. That's one thing I really like about quilting. Even if you use the same block and even the same colors you can make the blocks look totally different just by placing the colors in different places on the individual blocks.

I have some neat plastic boxes I purchased from Papertrey a year ago or so. They hold 8 cards and envelopes and have a silver elastic cord that goes around them. That is what the cards will be packaged in.

Another quilt boutique item completed. What will be next? One of these days I really really should sew.

ALTERED JOURNALS WITH A TWIST

Another couple of projects made in preparation for the boutique at our Quilt Show in April. On the outside these look like quilt jjournals I have made before by altering composition books. But inside these are different. They are actually comp books with quarter inch graph paper rather than regular lined paper.

Why is this important you might ask.....well for quilters this is the type of book that can be easily used to sketch out quilt blocks or quilts. The usual scale would be 1/4 inch equals 1 inch when sketching a block. Using this scale you can sketch a 12 inch block using only 3 inches on the page.

Altering the first comp book went well. The second book not so well. I had a problem with this one that I often have....small sliver size gaps that let some of the comp book show through. I can't reposition the paper since I use either sticky strip or adhesive from my xyron to adhere the paper and those adhesives are not forgiving.....one they are down they are down for good! Can you see my solution???? Ribbon! Though I used it in four places it actually only covers up two oops spots. I just thought it would less like a oops cover up if I made it into a design element.

Other than the alphabet set which is of an undetermined origin all the stamps I used for both of these books are from Papertrey Ink. They are part of the Quilter's Sampler series with the exception of the images embossed in white on the Brilliant Blue. It is from the new set Background Basics: Retro.

I think composition books of all types are one of my favorite alterable items. Do you have a favorite thing you like to alter??? Do you even like to alter items?

THIS WEEKS BELLI CHALLENGE #57

This weeks Belli Challenge was to use a color that we normally don't use and have a hard time with. For me that was easy. Unless challenged to do so....like here.....I rarely use yellows and oranges. So here is my card with both shades of yellow and orange.


I got to play with lots of toys while making this card. What fun!!!!!! The stamp set is a new one I just got from Gina K. Part of her Floral Frenzy kit she made available for her StampTV site. I colored it with pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. I didn't want to do all the fussy cutting, but somehow I got color smudges on the white so needed to cut the off. The background I put through my cuttlebug and embossed and then sponged it with Really Rust ink to make the embossing stand out more.

The green layer was put through my cuttlebug and cut using a scalloped rectangle die. I then sponged it with Garden Green and pierced in each scallop. The layer of designer paper under it is from the Gina K Floral Frenzy kit. In real life it is more orange than yellow. This is all layered on more Garden green and then everything is attached to a More Mustard Card. Oh I forgot the ribbon is a yellow gold organdy. The sentiment is from the same Floral Frenzy stamp set.

IF you don't already know Chris has moved the Belli Challenges to their own BLOG. It is called the Creative Belli Blog. There is a blinky for it on my right hand side bar. You can click on it to go to the BLOG or on the link in this post.

I have had a busy and productive day stamping today so even if I don't get to stamp in the next few days I will have items to show here. So please do plan on returning. Also if you like. I would love to read any comment you might like to leave here. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you here again soon!

BACK TO QUILT RELATED PROJECTS!

Its now the time of year when I am picking up speed in order to get ready for our annual Friendship Star Quilters quilt show.

Sadly I have not done any actually quilting, well at least haven't finished any quilting projects to display in the show this year. Happily that's because I have been focusing on my papercrafting this year and learning and perfecting new techniques and skills. I will get back to quilting, I promise, I enjoy it too much to totally give it up, but fabric has gotten so expensive papercrafting is just more affordable at the moment.

Even though I haven't made any actually quilts to hang in the show and don't have time to do so at this point (registration for items to be hung was Monday night) I do have time to get things together to display and sell in the boutique. Those items don't need to be completed till the show itself which is April 24-26. (Hint: if you live in the Gaithersburg are come and visit I'd love to meet you and I am pretty much there the entire show! We are at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds.)

I am working on quilt related craft items; some fabric some not. Here is a sample of my current creations. Post- it-Note memo holders with a matching pen. I received this idea from a FLYBaby Stamper on Splitcoaststampers and love mine she gave me. I've made a variation before using 4x6 acrylic picture frames, but didn't like them as well because the frame is thicker and the pen doesn't fit on as well, but this Christmas I found the metal 4x6 frames at AC Moore and purchased a whole bunch of them so I am ready to go!

I love how the Papertrey Inks Quilter's Sampler set blocks can be used for these holders. Just another use for them other than cards. Here is a picture of all three designs I have made so far. On the green and the blue ones I also used Papertrey's 2008 Bitty Dots Basics patterned paper. I love it! Its such a wonderful weight paper. The pink is a patterned paper from a set I purchased at Costco. Lots of lovely paper for a ridiculously cheap price. It is a double sided paper but a much lighter weight. Still the price was right and the colors and designs are beautiful.

I used my Copics to color the quilt blocks. They give such nice vibrant colors.

I also get my Post-it-Notes at Costco as they are much less expensive in bulk quantities than at the office supply stores. Right now my main problem is finding the RSVP Pens that I usually use for these.......

That's it for now. I will also make some of these in non-quilt related designs, but those are for another day.... Today is Wednesday and that means its 'Belli challenge day so I am off to see what today's challenge is about. Then off to work and hopefully back in time this afternoon to do the 'Belli Challenge.

NO TIME TO STAMP BUT A CARD NON THE LESS!

I knew that the rest of this week was going to be way to busy to do any stamping or card making and it was. BUT I do have a few cards from my past card making sessions I have kept on file to share with you during busy times like these.

This card is one of those. I made it with items from my SCS Flybaby Winter Craft Kit. It was a fairly simple card to make since the stars are part of the designer paper. The only stamping was the sentiment which I stamped with Black craft ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Ribbon and three chocolate brads and it is all mounted on Chocolate chip card base. Very quick and very easy.

BELLI CHALLENGE TIMES TWO part 2

So as late as I was in getting up the card I made for last weeks Belli Challenge with inchies I will make up for it this week. You might remember my inchie card is going to a friend for here birthday today. Well last night I decided I needed a birthday present for here as well. It had to be REALLY REALLY simple to make (life is still out of control here in my world)! But of course I wanted something useful and nice as well. No one needs clutter (unusable items) or yukky looking stuff in there lives! So.........my friend is a teacher of 2 year olds (God bless her!), the Children's Ministry Director at our church and the Mother of the Bride for a June wedding (God double bless her!). You know how I purchased those inchies and never used them.......well at the same time I purchased a Monogram stamp set from Just Rite and......you're right never used it!
Note cards I thought. She is also writing nice thank you note to people who help her in her work. AND as the mother of the bride I figure nice note cards, elegant even maybe would work. So I dug out my monogram stamp set and set to work. After the prototype card was designed the other 7 to make a set of 8 were quick and easy.

Now this morning I get up and eagerly head to Chrissy's Blog to see what fun she has for us with the Belli Challenge this week (even though I don't think I will be able to take part as there is no more free time in this week for stamping. and what to my wondering eyes does appear.......Belli Challenge #56 Monograms or Alphabet sets!!!!!! I have a card! I have 8 of them....I don't have to miss a week of the Belli Challenge. Okay so maybe this is cheating......but a gal has got to do what she has got to do and I choose to think of it as a "God thing" Did you know there are no such things a coincidences they are all "Godincidences! Well this is one of those events. Here is my card for the #56 Belli Challenge.


Nesties once again....how did I ever live without my nesties???? I found the scalloped circle that would fit with my Just Rite monogram stamp and embossed the card front. I carefully stamped the monogram in gold encore ink in the center. Nice but definitely still boring. Next step scallop punch the bottom edge of the front of the card and paper pierce in each scallop. Better, but when card is closed you can't really see the scallop and the card is still boring.....place a strip of SU's Brushed Gold card stock at bottom edge of inside of the card....now we are getting somewhere, but the front of the card is still lacking something........AH HAH!...A little bow out of a lovely shiny very pale olive green ribbon I have that is edged in gold. I have just enough for the 8 note cards. Since I don't tie bows and I don't like the bulk of a tied bow on the front of a card I used my double slot punch on the top corner and thread the ribbon through is for a mock bow. Yep that's it! I like these cards and probably will be using this design again for other gift sets for birthdays and Christmas to come. Simple yet elegant and very easy to make.

Now I am sooooooo late for work I am glad that my boss (our minister is still sick and won't be there, but don't tell him that.....)

BELLI CHALLENGE TIMES TWO part 1

It's Wednesday and that has become one of my most morning of the weeks. I have totally and utterly fallen in love with Chrissy D's Belli Challenges which I can check out soon as I get on my computer on Wednesdays. If you want to check them out as well as all of her other wonderful cards and achievements the title of this post is linked to her BLOG Creating with Chrissy. I have completed all the Belli Challenges since I found them thanks to another BLOGing friend. Christy T. You don't want to miss her BLOG Story About a Girl either.

This past week has been over the top crazy in my life, but that is another story about my personal life and work which I'm sure you don't want to here since if you managed to find your way here you did so to hear about stamping not my personal crises and joys. I didn't get to work on last weeks Belli Challenge till Sunday and though I did get it posted in the Paper Craft Planet
I didn't get back till now to get it posted here. So with out further delay here is my card for the Belli Challenge #55 to use inchies on a card.

Inchies have intrigued me ever since I learned about them, I purchased some inchie blanks from a LSS when I found them, but it wasn't until Chrissy issued this challenge that I ever got around to using them.

I needed to do a simple card because of the limited free time I have at the moment. No time for fancy coloring or fussy cutting so I set to work. First I made my inchies. I stamped some scraps of designer paper (I know not where from) using Pocket Silhouettes from Stamping' Up using Almost Artichoke then punched them out with my 1 inch punch. The greeting of Friend to Friend is also from this set and the Happy Birthday is just one I found in my Sentiment file that would fit on an inchie. It's also SU but I forget which set. After gluing them to the inchies I sanded and sponged the edges. My nesties came out to cut and emboss the rectangle they are on. A little embellishment with some ribbon and a flower and I was ready to figure out what I wanted to mount all this on. It was looking rather bland so I decided a patterned background would work. No paper I had seemed right so I created my own by stamping a Ballet Blue card with the Floral background stamp once again by SU using versamark ink. The watermark image it left was to pale so I embossed the whole cover with clear detail embossing powder. I think it worked and I am very happy with the card which will be going to a co-worker and dear friend to day to help celebrate here birthday.

So that's it for my much delayed entry for the #55 challenge. I am making up for its delay though in part two of this Belli Challenge posting coming right up!

BIG NEWS!

I think that today is a very exciting day in the stamping world here on the internet. To find out what I am talking about look over to the side bar at the right and click on the Stamp TV blinkie. This is really BIG NEWS! Check it out with a click and see what Gina K is up to! You will not be sorry you did.

DOILIES ON CARDS

I am slow on getting my last weeks Belli Challenge up here on my BLOG. These challenges can be found on ChrissyD's BLOG Creating with Chrissy. The challenge last week was to use a paper doily on your card. I wasn't sure I could find a doily but I eventually did and this is the card I made. I am totally in love with the look of doilies on cards now and am very happy that it was an unopened package of 25 doilies that I found so I can make lots of cards using them.

On thing I did learn was that it is very tricky to adhere your doily to the card front. They are very fragile, or at least mine were. They were very old though and that may have made the difference.

This weeks Belli Challenge is to use inchies on your card. You can find the details here.

Edited to add: I was once again surprised but thrilled to learn this card won the Belli Challenge for last week. A gal could get used to this. Picture me smiling!

ANOTHER SPECIAL AWARD

I will actually have two posts this first one is to share this special award given to me by my special BLOGing buddy Susan. She is extra special because she's been with me since the beginning of my BLOG! She has a wonderful BLOG called Susan's Saga. If you have never been there stop on by soon. Not only will you see fabulous paper craft creations, but you will also get a view into life in Australia.

Now it is my turn to pass on this award.

The rules for passing this award on: you must post the award on your blog, name the person who awarded you, then pass the award to 6 other bloggers and leave a message on their blog that they've received the award.

Here are my 6.........
Christi
Terresa
Diane
Judy
Beth

I hope you wander over and visit these wonderful stampers and their wonderful BLOGS!

CRISP, CLEAN, & SIMPLE

A FLYing and stamping buddy MissBoo started a new weekly challenge over on SplitCoast Stampers. IT is the CAS Challenge. CAS stands for Clean And Simple. This is a challenge for those who don't want to do cards that are overly elaborate with lots of layers and embellishments and that take hours to design and make. Those fancy cards are beautiful don't get me wrong. I love seeing them and I love making them when I need a card that will not be mailed, but I also like the idea of CAS cards. IF for no other reason but that they can be mailed for 42 cents (well at least until May).

I decided to take on MissBoo's first challenge. It was to take inspiration from one of two pieces of flannel and make a CAS card. One pieve of the flannel had butterflies and the other had frogs. I choose to be inspired by the butterflies since I knew I had lots of butterfly stamps to choose from. I'm not sure I have any frogs. I could have used the colors of the flannel for my inspiration, but I wanted to do a white card. Here is what I came up with............................................

You know CAS cards are not all that easy to do. Either that or they just take some getting used to doing. There's so much white space. My tendency is to what to fill in empty spaces. But I resisted. A caution also for working with mainly white cards. MAKE VERY SURE YOUR FINGERS ARE VERY CLEAN!!!!!!!! Also make sure your work space is clean. Smudges and fingerprints really show up on white card stock.

Having made my first CAS card I wanted to try and make another. Totally on my own no jumping off point from a challenge. I had recently found this wonderful quilt block stamp from the Lockhart Co. I decided to try a birthday card with it. Here is my card. I colored it using my copic markers and I was happy that I have quite a few of the original style markers. They have a fine point nib on one end and that was really helpful in getting into the small spaces on this stamp.

IF you have a few moments of stamping time why not try a CAS card. They may not end up being your favorite style of card but they can be fun and yes they can be a challenge.

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from cards and showing you what I have been doing to my stamp room. It took some work, but I'm loving it.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

My husband is gone for the evening and I got a bit bored an so thought it was time for a change here! Also I had a suggestion to put a Follower list on my sidebar and I took that suggestion. If you would like to be a follower of this BLOG then please do sign up. I was very pleasantly surprise to find out when I did it that I already had 4 followers......thanks guys!

Also a big Thank you to my friend LadyDoc at Tilting at Windmills for this award. I love visiting her every time I see she has a new post. Never know what I'll find.....stitching news, paper crafting, wonderful YouTube videos, or just plain musings on life. I love cyberspace friendships! And I love reading all comments posted here. Plese let me know what you think of my new look!

2 MORE CARDS FOR HEROES

Here are two more of my cards designed for Cards For Heroes.

I am really getting into using designer papers lately. I don't know what has taken me so long. They are wonderfully create so much interest on the cards and it takes so little time to use them. Lots to look at on the card but not a lot of stamping needed.

Both of these cards are Happy Birthday cards. The layouts for each of these cards came from sketch challenges. I wish I could remember whose, but unfortunately I can't. Often when I find a sketch I like I just copy and past it to a sketch file on my computer. Usually it is a year or so before I actually get around to using the sketch and by them I a=have totally forgotten where I found it.

One thing I have noticed when I use a sketch is that I stick pretty closely to the sketch. I am always amazed when looking at cards people make from a sketch that I sometimes have a very hard time even seeing the sketch in the card because they have changed things around so much. I never really thought of myself as a rigid follower of rules for things, but I guess when it comes to sketches I am. Either that or I am totally uncreative!

I really like the simplicity of this second card. Boy only three strips of paper and a sentiment layered on a scalloped oval. Can't get much easier than this. Yet with the colors and designs of the papers its not boring. Also it was a great way to use up odds and ends of leftover scraps of designer paper.

So that's it for the cards I designed for Saturdays workshop. Today I played around in my room working with doilies and quiltblocks and also making a few more cards with very simple and clean lines. I will show you those in the coming days.

I'm coming up on 5000 visits soon. I know that doesn't sound like much for people who ave that many visits in a month or two or some even in a week, but for me that's a big number. I'm thinking I might just have to come up with some type of BLOG candy so stay tuned for that announcement.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A very Happy Valentine's Day to all. We don't celebrate it much here at our house, but I know for many folks it is a very important day. Since I had asked for a group of people to come out and help make cards today at our church I told them I would have a couple of designs just for them. These would be Valentine's cards they could take and give to whom ever they choose.

These were simple cards; a bit of punching and a little stamping, but nothing wither time consuming or difficult. Though simple because of the paper I choose to use for them they were I think classy. The papers I have had for several years....can we all say horde??? They came from a very large package of handmade papers I found at Costco at a price that could hardly be believed. I did two simple designs one using red paper on a white card stock base the other being a red card stock base with white paper.

I think everyone that choose to make them were very happy with them. As for the other cards we made for the Cards For Heros program, 8 of us finished 80 cards in two and a half hours. I thought that was pretty good for mostly card making novices. by this coming Tuesday these will be packaged up and mailed off.

Every one said they really enjoyed making the cards and had a good time, but I don't think I convinced any of them that they could do it on their own. Of course I think they all could if they would just give themselves a little credit for being creative! I will just have to keep working on them...........

I still have a few more designs for the project to show. I will post these tomorrow. For now I need to think of what my next project will be. Probably going back to preparing for the Spring Quilt Show!

Bye for now!

A SHEET LOAD OF CARDS!

Today was a day full of card designing and then cutting and preparations for a big card making workshop at my church tomorrow morning. We will be making cards that will be sent to Cards For Heros. At this time I am expecting 10 women and we will be working for two hours making cards. Most of these women have little if any experience making cards so I decided the best bet was to design a batch of cards and then do all the gathering of materials for them and do the cutting of the elements. So today I came up with 5 designs for the Heros and 2 card designs for Valentine cards. (Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day I said that anyone coming to help could make a Valentine Card to take home and give to a special person in their life!)

Very early on in my planning I decided that I would use some card sketches I have been collecting. The first place to go to find a design was my stand-by favorite site for making multiple cards of the same design: SHEET LOAD OF CARDS! They make it so easy because not only do they give you the sketch, but a materials needed list and a cutting chart. So the first card I am showcasing here used the sketch from the February 2009 Sheetload E-Zine. I doubled their "recipe" and now have 15 cards ready to be made plus the sample I put together. Here is the card........

It's on a white card base and all the card stock and papers are retired SU products. I know the card stock colors are True Thyme and Cinnamon Crisp, both 2006-07 In Colors. The designer papers I think were from a Simply Scrapping kit but I'm not sure. The stamps are from SU and Inkadoo. (The Inkadoo stamp is the scroll image in the corners.) I'm pretty sure both of the SU stamps are retired ones. I colored the flowers with BIC markers. I let people use a lot of my stuff, but my COPICS and SU markers are not included in my generosity; so they get to use my Sharpies and BIC markers tomorrow.

They also will be able to use my plain old colored pencils tomorrow and those are what I used on the second card.
This card is all Stampin' Up products. It is a mix of current and retired. Though the only things current are the Summer Sun and Garden Green card stocks and the brads. Both stamps I used are retired. The main image is from Nice and Easy Notes and the background is Print Pattern. I know both those names because they are both among my all time favorites.

Tomorrow I will show you the two Valentine's Cards I designed for them. They are both quite simple, but each use the wonderful handmade papers I have. So please come on back........thanks for visiting now!

A SWEET TREAT VALENTINE CHALLENGE

Thanks to a FLYing and crafting buddy Teressa I found out about a fun challenge on the Paper, Pads and Pictures BLOG. I figured if I could bake a cake and come up with a card; I could make three Valentine wishes and come up with a card. It turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would. Here were the rules......

"In honor of Valentine's Day, I am putting together this "Sweet Treat" Challenge. Everyone has a Valentine's wish list. For this challenge we will for once and for all get those items we have been wishing for all these years. Here is my wish list:

Heart Shaped Box of Chocolates
Diamonds
Pearls
Rubies
Perfume
Romantic Dinner with that Special Someone
Cruise
Day at a Spa
Latest and Greatest Camera
Emeralds
New Craft Workspace
Bottle of Dom Perignon
Shopping Spree
Luxury Car
Sapphires

Here are the rules for the challenge:
1. Players should pick at least 3 items from the above list and post it to PCP or leave a comment here with you selected wish list no later than 11:00pm EST Friday February 6th. You may "wish" for as many items as you like!
2. On Saturday February 7th, I will post what the "wish list" items equal in supplies.
3. Your challenge will be to craft a card or scrapbook page using EACH item from your wish list and ONLY those items. There are a few freebies listed below.
4. Post your completed project on the PCP site or a comment here with link to your blog with the item no later than 11:00pm EST on Friday February 13th.
5. On Saturday February 14th there will be a random drawing from all the entries for a "Sweet Treat" goodie bag! My cat, Carlie, has promised to help me with the drawing to make sure it is kept fair. :o) I will post the winner both here and on PCP that day.
6. The following items are freebies for the project
a. white CS and 1 additional color of CS
b. black ink and/or black marker
c. 1 stamp
7. A special twist to the challenge...everyone MUST use a piece of ribbon somewhere on the project."

I chose:

1. a cruise
2. A day at a spa
3. A new craft workspace

So When the translation into card making supplies was given I had to use:

1. Cruise.....Glitter or Bling
2. Day at the Spa.....Paper Distressing
3. New Craft Workspace.....Stitching either hand or machine
   

And the ribbon, white card stock and one other color CS, one stamp, and black ink. YIKES!
I am a stickler to rules of a challenge and I was determined to use nothing more. Also in my small little mind, distressing and glitter and bling just didn't work together. It was time to stretch my conservative ways.

Here is what I came up with..........

I surprised myself! I love this card. Partly because I love this stamp image. I chose it for this card for a number of reasons. I think it works well being stamped in black, it is one stamp that includes image and words, it lends itself to distressing, and I could use glitter on the wings of the dragon fly. I wasn't happy with just the white and one other color card stock. The card was looking blah and so I choose to add a splash of bold color in the ribbon. My stitching was done by hand with black embroidery floss.

So that's it: The results of my three special Valentine wishes. If I can't have the actual wishes at least I have a pretty card.

All the materials I used are from Stampin' Up and as seems usual lately everything is retired except the Whisper White card stock. Part of me felt bad about using all SU items for a challenge posted by a Close to My Heart demonstrator, but I don't have anything from CTMH at least not yet.....who knows about the future!

MONKEYING AROUND VALENTINE

Another card using my COPICS for coloring. Sometimes they work better for me than other times. This is one I was very pleased with.

I think SU's Sock Money is such a fun set. I don't ink it up as often as I'd like to. It's just one of those sets that needs the right inspiration in order to use well. The bottom border is another stamp from the set I used in my card posted yesterday; A Little Bit of Happiness. Besides the shading with pink and red COPICS I used my white gel pen and red stickles to add some detail interest. And I am so loving my rectangle nesties. That is what I used to cut out the sock monkey image and the scalloped background behind him.

The coloring on this card took a while, but other than that it was a very easy card to put together.

That's it for today.....I hope to have time tomorrow night to share the card I made for a Valentine Wish Challenge. It was a very challenging challenge because I had a very limited set of supplies I could use. So please stop back.