I'M BACK....I HOPE!

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth, though there have been days when I've wished I had.  I can't believe that it has been since April that I posted here!  In that time a lot has happened in my life and the life of family and friends around me.  There have been laughter and tears, lots of long hours working, weddings of family members and friends, funerals, even a few days off for vacation.  Through it all I have managed to get some crafting done, though never quite got here to post about the projects completed and those in progress.  I hope to do some catching up over the next few days showing some of these projects so I have a written record of them and my crafty friends don't begin to think I've become a crafting slacker...

Today I am sharing a photo of my completed quilt for my local guilds April quilt show here in Gaithersburg.  I took the picture of the quilt last week as it hung in the American Quilt Society show in Knoxville, TN.  I treated myself and my mom to a two day visit to the show.  We had a wonderful time.  I admit to having a bit of an ego.  I was amazed at the thrill I felt when I came around the corner and saw not only my quilt hanging, but also saw several women seemingly enjoying looking at it. It was a wonderful feeling of affirmation.

I feel very honored to have a quilt in this show and I feel humbled as well.  The quilts here were amazing.  I don't think even in my dreams I could ever approach the talent and skill I saw in many of them.  They were absolutely amazing and I could have looked at them for hours.  I wish I could show some of them to you.  Unfortunately I can't. Though viewers were allowed to take photos of the quilts we are not allowed to post them anywhere.  I guess due to copyright issues.  Personally, I would be thrilled to have someone want to show off my quilt, but I understand others wanting to not have that done with theirs and so I will honor this rule of the show.  So you are stuck with just seeing mine. 

I have one final photo I would like to share it is a close up of the top box on my quilt.  The name of the quilt is "Good Things Come in Boxes".  So of course I had to put something in one of my boxes.  It's hard to see this when looking straight on at the quilt, but this last picture was taken looking from the side.  The top box has a tassel hanging from the lid.  It you lift up the lid under it in the box are diamonds.  Well really crystals that are adhered to the quilt top.  You get an idea how this works in this last picture.

So there you have it. I am back to posting.  Tomorrow I will try and be back with a card or two I have made in my absence.  Though I have been mostly sewing I have done a bit of stamping and need to do more, maybe this week....we'll see.  This week is Vacation Bible School at our church and I am in charge of crafts for over 100 children.  I do have many able helpers though so hopefully even with work in the afternoon following VBS I won;t be too tired to post or to craft on my own......
So till tomorrow.......

A WORK IN PROGRESS

There hasn't been much time for sewing or crafting the past week or so, but there are deadlines looming so sleep has been dispensed with. The quilt show is coming up in April and there are challenges to be tackled and boutique items to be made. This is my work in progress for the guild challenge which it titled "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend". The rules were all sides needed to be between 35 and 45 inches. The background needed to be black and there must be at least 10 diamond shape in the quilt.

The top is almost completed I have some tumbling blocks to applique on the top but haven't decided whether I am going to quilt first of after the applique. Probably after.....so I have a bit more to do before I begin the quilting. I have until March 1 to have it ready to turn in.

I do need to make time to get into the stamp room. I sold so many cards at Christmas that I hardly have any in stock. Oh...so much to do and so little time to do it. Good thing I rarely cook any more.

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.

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!

COPIC CHALLENGE

I am taking part in a COPIC club through Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. Korin has set up a Yahoo group called SNSS Copic Junkies that is handling these clubs. The price was right and she has an advanced group where the members can choose the COPICs they want each month. This is the only type of club that would work for me since I already have quite a few and it means I don't have to worry about duplicates. There is also a lot of information on Copics and tutorials on how to better use them. Its a new group and at the moment it is a very active group.

One of the members of the group has set up a Copic Colour Challenge BLOG. The challenges will be listed every other Weds. starting on Feb 11. (They have listed the first challenge set of colors a bit early because everyone was so excited about it). The colors we were to use are

B28 - Royal Blue
V06 - Lavender
YR07 - Cadmium Orange

Or as close as you can get to there colors if you don't have the exact ones yet. I have the Lavender, but not the others so I had to substitute for them. I used

B26-Cobalt Blue
V06-Lavender
YR09-Chinese Orange

Here is the card I came up with.....


my blending with Copics definitely needs work. I think I must be too heavy handed. These were not easy colors for me to work with. I wanted to see if I could stick with just using these three and no others...not an easy task, but I did it. I love forward to learning how to be more effective in my using these markers. It will be a major art lesson for me. One that I am looking forward to participating in.

The stamp sets I used are SU sets I think both of which are retired. The large butterfly is from Bold Butterflies and the strip is from A Little Bit of Happiness.

BELLI CHALLENGE---2 CARDS!

This morning I wrote about finding a fantastic new BLOG to follow and that on this BLOG Creating with Chrissy a Belli Challenge is given every week. I also said I was going to try and take part in this challenge by making a card for it today. Guess what I did!!!!! I not only got one card done but two....though my first one isn't really a card for the challenge since I forgot one of my cake ingredients.

Here is how Chrissy presented the challenge.....

"For the week of January 28, Belli #52, we are hosting a VERY special Belli Challenge in celebration of our One Year Anniversary. ...........

We will be BAKING A CAKE to celebrate our First Anniversary of Belli Challenges.

How do we play BAKE A CAKE? Listed below is a list of cake ingredients. You all must pick 5 ingredients.

Here are the ingredients, be sure to choose 5!

Flour
Sugar
Butter
Vanilla
Eggs
Salt
Baking soda
Chocolate
Nutmeg
Milk
Cinnamon
Powdered sugar

Cream cheese
Cocoa powder
Coconut

Oil

This week to play here is what you need to do...

1. Anyone Can Play! Spread the Word! :)

2. Pick your 5 ingredients!!!
3. Find out what the ingredients equal to in Embellishments!

4. Make a completed project with your CAKE INGREDIENTS -

5. Share the link here in the comments linking to my Blog and CBC52. When you post to Splitcoaststampers or Paper Craft Planet or to your Blog, be sure and put CBC52 as the KEYWORD and mention of the challenge - with a link!
6. I will do a drawing and the person whose name I draw will be a BELLI GUEST DESIGNER the last week of February
7. Deadline for entry is Tuesday evening 7 p.m. Central time."

I have a favorite cake recipe "Flourless Chocolate Cake" so to bake my cake I choose flour, sugar, butter, vanilla, and cocoa powder as my five ingredients. I found out what these "ingredients" translated to in card making elements and got to work.

I really like the first card I made, but I guess it probably didn't taste to good because I forgot the eggs! I'll show it to you anyway since I like it..........It's hard to see in the picture here but behind the vellum is a Quilt Block made out of squares and triangles of designer paper. You'll have to trust me that you can see it in real life! I ran the vellum through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder to look like quilting stitches. Like I say I got everything in this "cake" except the eggs! Into the card inventory this Get Well card goes and back to the drawing board or rather kitchen I go to come up with another card that contains all five ingredients!

Here is my second card......Can you figue out what element the eggs are????? You shouldn't have to look too carefully. I like this card also. With the first card I tried embossing the vellum for the first time. (Hint: If you emboss vellum treat it gently it will crack and slip if you are not gentle!) I tried another new technique on this second card. It is one that I read about on the Kub's BLOG back when cuttlebugs were realitivly new on the market. (Yes that long ago and I'm just trying it.) Actually I reversed his process. He showed inking the negative on a cuttlebug folder and I inked the positive and then I embossed the vellum. Like the Kub I used chalk ink to do this. I like how it highlighted the detail to the embossing. So here is my second card.

Can you tell I'm into quilt blocks at the moment. I think its because I have quilt show thoughts on my brain. Serious planning has begun for our local 2009 show in April and I'm on the committee.

So that is my work for the day! I hope you enjoyed seeing them. Oh I suppose you would like to know what the cake ingredients translate into for the card and its emements and embellishments. Here is the list Chrissy gave us to work with......

Flour = brads
Sugar = designer paper
Butter = vellum
Vanilla = ribbon
Eggs = scallop punch/nestabilities
Salt = watercoloring
Baking soda = beads
Chocolate = buttons
Nutmeg = markers
Milk = distressing
Cinnamon = sponging
Powdered sugar = embossing powder
Cream cheese = chipboard
Cocoa powder = hardware
Coconut = flowers
Oil = glitter or stickles

So my card needed to be made with.....designer paper, vellum, ribbon, hardware, and I had to use a scalloped punch. And my missing eggs was the scalloped punch use!

Drat!!!!! I just noticed I still didn't get it right!!!!! I must have ice on the brains.....I was debating whether to use chocolate or cocoa powder for the chocolate in my cake and I just realize I ended up using both!!!!! Oh well.....it will just be a super chocolatey flourless cake!

If I have time tonight or tomorrw I will try a third cake (card). They do say third time is a charm............I hope if you take up this challenge you do better than me!

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.

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.

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?

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY CARD

So are you seeing a pattern here lately? There for a while everything I was doing was pinks, yellows, and other bright pastels. Now I've moved into the blues and browns with a bit of limeish green thrown in.

This is because I was working with the spring craft kit and now I've moved on to the summer craft kit. I will be finished with the summer craft kit much faster I think though. So far I've made 3 scrapbook layouts and they use up a lot of the supplies so no more of them I'm thinking, but already I can tell I will not have near as many cards to show either.

There is the third birthday card I've made with the kit. I also used some more of the white "eyelet paper" which I sponged to make it sky blue background. I love this stuff and will be very sad when I've used it all up. The butterflies are actually stickers that came in the kit. Normally I don't use stickers on my cards, but they are part of the kit and the worked with the design. I think they are flying through the sky above a field of flowers.

Sometime this weekend I will try and get a picture of my third layout page and a cute little box I made using a box template that was in the kit. For now it is bedtime. Sweet dreams to all!

BACK ON TRACK!

At least for the moment I seem to be back on track with my crafting MOJO! It feels so good.

I am currently continuing to work with the items from the Summer Craft Kit. Part of it was a nice wooden box to alter. I have worked with these before and love turning them into decorated containers to hold a pen and scrap paper for notes. They come in handy on a desk or by the phone.

This is what I did in altering this plain holder. Before I painted the box with acrylic paint I did need to do a bit of repair work on it. A portion of the handle was splitting apart. I find this often happens with these holders. (After all you can often find them for only a dollar a piece.) I used some crystal effects squeezed down into the crack that was pulling apart and then held the glued part together with a large binder clip while the CE dried. It worked like a charm. I used the CE because of the narrow tip of the applicator. It was easy to squeeze just what I needed in.

I used a foam applicator brush to paint the box and to give it a nicely finished look I painted the inside as well. It took two coats to get it nice. Then the holder was decorated with the paper and the letter stickers. I used a decoupage coating to give everything a nice shiny finish to it. After that was dry I tied some ribbon from the kit around the handle and placed the three flowers with brad in there centers on using the pop up glue dots from SU. (The big ones that I never seem to know what to do with. They worked really well here.)

Inside the holder is a stack of paper I cut down to size and an RSVP pen with a roll of the patterned paper in the barrel so the set is coordinating.

I really enjoy making these and think I may just need to check out Michael's and AC Moore to see if I can find some more to alter and decorated for Christmas gifts.......Christmas is coming sooner than you think!

MASCULINE HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A bit of my stamping mojo has returned.

Summer is well underway and so I decided it was time to dig into my SCS FLYbabies Summer Craft Kit. I got so excited with the bright springy colors of the spring craft kit that it has been another challenge to switch back to the more muted colors that I normally work with. I'll get there though, just be patient with me.

I decided to work on a masculine flavored birthday card and this is what I came up with. The stamps that I used are all from Stampin' Up. Ones from For Father and Terrific Tags. The punches I used are also from Stampin' Up. The two Tag Punches and the Ticket Corner one. The final items I can easily identify are Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware. I used two brads and one of the shaped clips. Stampin' Up is retiring this hardware set and it's companion sets in Antique Brass and Aged Copper. I will miss them all and may just have to stock up while they are still available and also on sale.

So this is what I accomplished today. Not much but at least something............

KINDRED SPIRITS CELEBRATE!

Todays cards are two of the ones I made using a craft kit put together by Diane, a fellow FLYBaby Stamper.

I may have mentioned before that I've thoroughly enjoyed this kit. But I didn't when I first started. I thought the colors were just to bright for me. I didn't have a clue what I was going to make with it, but then one day I just jumped in and started using it and it was not long before I was in love. Now that I have created a multitude of cards, 1 altered Comp book, 1 altered picture frame, 1 coaster album, and 1 cute little paper purse everything is used and there is nothing left but a very small pile of scraps of patterned paper. And I am so sad.

So I think there has been a lesson learned here. Never ever assume that something you do not like is unusable. Give it a chance. Let it speak to you. You may just be surprised what it says!

The card with the green squares is one of the last ones I made. That why it has lots of little pieces. Sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy and not exposed to well. My camera was not behaving well. But that will not be a problem any longer I got a new one. If you want to see what I got you will need to visit my companion BLOG "Life Out My Window." I have a lot of learning to do on how to fully use it, but the basics are pretty easy!

NOPE! NO STAMPING OR QUILTING YET.

Sometimes it just seems that life gets in the way of creative endeavors. I haven't been able to do any crafting in several days now and that does not make me a happy person. I can get real cranky if I go to long not letting my mind and hands get invloved with making something. BUT I do have something to share. And its something cute, and exciting and it resulted from a challenge that turned into a real learning experience.

Say hi to Eric! Isn't he a cutie. And look what he's holding.


He drew my name! I just love that smile and those eyes peeking over the paper. So why is he holding my name?

During May a group of us FLYBaby stampers on SCS stepped up to a challenge issued by Eric's Mom. The challenge was to not spend on crafting items for the whole month. We were take the month of May and use what we already had and enjoy using it. All of us who took the challenge admitted that we each had plenty of stuff to use. We were not putting ourselves in the position of not being able to stamp and create cards or scrapbook layouts or in my case quilt. In fact at least for me I know I have so much that at times I am unable to make a decision on what to use next. At the end of May each participant had her name put into a hat and Eric drew a name out. That person was declared winner for the month. That's how he got his picture taken with my name. I found that incredibly exciting.

More exciting than seeing Eric with my name though was what I learned during May. I learned that I do not need to purchase everything I see that I like to enjoy making things. I learned that I forget I wanted to purchase a stamp set when I first see it if I wait a day, or week or month to get it. And that this forgetting is much better on my budget than purchasing it right away, receiving it , placing it on a shelf and then forgetting it. It is also much better on my clutter problems. There have been more than a few items I have seen in new set releases since May 1 that I would have loved to get during the excitement of the release. But because of the challenge I couldn't now it's June and I am free to purchase them, but you know what? I haven't had a project I could not complete because I didn't have them and the need to have them just doesn't seem to be there any longer. They will still all be available if and when I project comes up that they are the perfect set for. And frankly I doubt that with any of those sets that will happen soon if at all. I have over ***** stamp sets. (The number is not shown here 1) because I don't really know how many I have and 2) I'd probably be very embarrassed to tell you if I did know.) With all those sets I can make beautiful cards for years I'm sure.

Now don't get me wrong. I will not go years before I purchase another stamp set or piece of fabric. I fact I am sure before June is out I will purchase at least one new one. But I think think the urge to purchase everything I fall in love with as soon as I see it has been broken. I think impulse buys will be made less often. This is what I am really excited about. I hope that this lesson sticks and I can become a responsible crafter. A crafter with good stewardship of what she already has been blessed with. I think this will leave me much freer to expand and explore my creativity out side the trap of consumerism.

Thank you Eric for drawing my name and thank you Christi for this wonderful learning challenge.

As for getting back to stamping or sewing....probably not tomorrow yet, but I hope for Wednesday to have a few free hours. Wish me luck!

THANKS & AN ALTERED FRAME

Thank you to all for the advice on whether to put more covered coasters or doubled up card stock for the interior pages of my little album. I think what I am going to do is take Susan's advice and make a set of pages using the card stock and load it with my photos and embellies and see if I like how it holds up. If it works to my satisfaction I will have more coasters for more albums.....if I judge it to flimsy to hold the embellies nicely I will redo it on a coaster.
Thanks Susan for this suggestion.

Now on to my next altered project using items from the spring craft kit. A while back I purchased a bunch of 4 x 6 inch molded plastic acrylic frames from JoAnn's for fifty cents each. Also even longer ago I received a gift from a FLYBaby Stamping friend a cute little post it note holder stand with a pen. I love it. It sits on my stamping table so I have a pad of paper always handy and the pen doesn't get lost since it clips right to the stand. The frames I purchased aren't exacly like the one I was gifted with but very similar and so I made my self a post it note holder stand and pen that I can now gift someone with.

Here is a picture of it. I used some of the patterned paper as a base and punched out two 5 petal flowers from two scraps of card stock using a retired SU punch. To give the flowers a little more texture I sponged them both with So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie inks and layered them together with a brad. The n-o-t-e-s was punched out from letters stamped using one of the stamps from Alpha Bits using a quarter inch hole punch and attached with glue dots. I did attach the post it notes pad with a piece of red sticky strip so it would stay put. When used up it can be replaced with a new one. The pen is a Pentel RSVP Pen with a piece of the background patterned paper rolled up and placed in the barrel. I love these pens. Staples and Office Depot used to carry them, but at least ours here in MD don't seem to any more so when I run out of my supply I guess I will have to resort to ordering them on line.

That's it for today. I hope everyone is having a restful Sunday and will be ready to take on a new workweek starting Monday morning! Thanks for stopping by.

COASTER ALBUM

This is my first Coaster Album and I have to say so far it has been fun to make. Once again it is made with items from the SCS Flybabies Spring Craft Kit as part of the challenge. The chip board coasters are 4 inch square and I purchased them in bulk on E-bay for a stamp camp project.

It was a very easy project, but so far it is only the front and back covers. There are no pages inside. This is partly because I don't quite know what kind of pages to put inside and I am hoping to get some advice here and on Splitcoast. Should I cover and embellish more coasters for the pages for strength? Or would card stock pages be strong enough since the pages are relatively small and so the photos will also be small? Especially if I use two sheets of card stock adhered together back to back. All advice welcome. I also plan to eventually put ribbons on the rings for decoration, but I am totally out of ribbon from the craft kit so have to wait till challenge is complete for that.

So is anyone wondering how I did this? It really was very simple. The only piece of special equipment that I would deem necessary to keep it easy is a crop-a-dile. They make punching the holes for the rings a breeze! Like punching through a single sheet of card stock. Here are the steps I followed in creating this.

1. Cut two pieces of patterended paper slightly larger than 4" square
2. Cut two pieces of solid colored card stock slightly larger than 4" square
3. Run all four squares through xyron to adhere adhesive to their backs. (If you don't have xyron use favorite strong adhesive like sticky tape or mono-multi glue)
4. Carefully adhere patterned papers to one side of each of the two coasters
5. Carefully adhere card stock to other side of each of the coasters
6. Trim the papers as close as possible to the edges of the coasters. There shouldn't be much to trim, but don't forget to round the corners.
7. Use sanding block to smooth the edges of the covered coasters
8. I sponged a coordinating ink around edge of coaster. (In my case I used So Saffron) This colors the white edge of coaster so it blends into the papers and I also sponged a bit onto the patterned paper sp it softened the edge
9. Embellish the front of album as desired. I used letter stickers that I outline with black gel pen to spell out "Mom Pics" I wanted mom's but didn't have room. I also punched out little circles with pictures from a coordinating paper (the lady bugs) and after they were attached I circled them each with a ring of Star Dust Stickles for some added bling. You may wonder why the button with flowers on in at the top of the "c"....don't tell anyone, but it's a creative boo-boo cover. (The pen slipped while I was outlining and left a nasty black line which is hidden by the button) If you want to use brads as a embellishment I would probably place them on if possible BEFORE I adhered the patterned paper to the front.
   
10. Punch your holes for the rings using the large punch on the crop-a-dile. Make sure the holes line up on the back cover.
    
11. Insert rings and decorate with ribbons as desired.
    
12. Don't forget pages on the inside for the photos.
13. It's done......wasn't that easy?

So now you know how to make these and they are so easy. Why not give it a try. If you don't have coasters head out to your favorite restaurant or bar and order a drink. They often serve them to you on a nice little square coaster. (Except at Red Robin they are round, but you could then make a round album!) Oh, don't forget to take a friend who also needs to get a drink becasue you need TWO COASTERS...........

ANOTHER HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This card is another birthday card that I made from items in my Spring Craft Kit. I've also been going back and looking at old SCS Sketch Challenges and this layout is #55. I really like looking through the older sketches.

The fun thing I did on this card is that the flower in the lower right is actually placed on the inside or the card and shows through a hole punched in the front. I also sponged Certainly Celery around the puched hole so it would stand out more.

The stamped flowers are colored with my copics. and to give them a little pizazz I used brads for the flower centers and some yellow stickles above the tulips for some sparkle. The green card stock the flowers are stamped on is layered on some burgundy mulberry paper I found laying around when I organized my paper scraps. Isn't it amazing what you can find when you clean up piles that are lying around. I didn't even know I had any colored mulberry paper!

My background was stamped in Certainly Celery with my Pattern background stamp.

So now I just need to wait for another birthday to crop up. I think it is my DS#2.

A RARE MORNING POST

Good Monday morning! For those viewers in my age bracket this is one of those mornings that brings back memories of The Carpenter's. So I have really dated my self with that comment! If you don't know about or remember the Carpenters Click on their name and you can learn more about them than you probably wanted to know. Unfortunately their musical
career was tragically cut short when Karen Carpenter died of the effects of Anorexia Nervosa. She really was the one who brought this terrible eating disorder into public awareness. More later on why these memories come back on days like this if you haven't already guessed.

Back to my morning post. A couple of weeks ago I tool up a challenge issued my my SCS FlyBaby friend Misty to organize our coloring tools so that they were more readily accessible and used more. I wanted to show you what I came up with. Another friend of mine who is the world's best bargain shopper found a bunch of planter sets made up of three little buckets on a tray. (To s how you what a shopper she is they normally retailed at $9.99 and she purchased them for $ .25!!!! Why can't I ever find those bargains???) She graciously gave me two of the sets. One of them you can see here. I have in them my Prisma pencils, Prisma markers and Copic markers. Aren't they cute? There was enough room between the pails on the tray for me to place my SU pencil sharpener.

I still had the problem of what to do with all my watercolor pencils????? I am trying to become more creative with recycling items, both to save money and our environment so I rummaged around in the box of containers I've saved from the trash can and found an International Coffee container. I wanted something tall enough to hold the pencils without their falling out but short enough that I could still find the pencils as they get shorter from sharpening after all the use the hopefully will now get. This is a closer view of what I came up with. They do lean, but don't fall out. I also keep my water coloring paint brushes in with them. (I keep my Aqua Painters in another container nearby.)

I used my Xyron to completed cover the back side of the designer paper I used with adhesive and then wrapped it around the can. The 12" length of paper was not long enough to go all around so you have to to cut a patch or add a sticker or flower to cover the gap. I didn't take a picture of my back, but I used a coordinating paper and placed a Prima flower on it for decoration. I checked and rechecked my measurements which were straight and even, but the can wasn't so there were a few gaps along the bottom. I added a band of ribbon along the top and bottom to cover those up. Finally I found a sticker from one of my many SU Simply Scrappin' kits that said create on it which I though t was appropriate and fortunately was a coordinating color. (don't know which it was, but know it is retired). After stamping Water Color Pencils on the sticker I was done. Very simple and easy.

In the first picture you can see that the boxes of SU watercolor crayons and Stampin' Pastels are still in their original containers stacked with my Twinkling H2O's which have been placed in a SU plastic container that has the dividers in it. It works perfect for the little jars I have. These will probably stay like this as they are accessible and I like their containers.

So their you have the organization for my coloring products. A big THANK YOU to Misty for this wonderful challenge. The scary thing about doing this was discovering just how many coloring products I have!!!! Now I really do hope that I use them more as I have discovered that I really like bringing out my inner child through coloring just like I use to in all the coloring books I grew up with. Hopefully my techniques have improved a bit since kindergarten, though sometimes I wonder.

Now back to The Carpenter's and today. If you haven't already guessed the connection. Or if you have and just would like a short walk down memory lane with me check this out..........Have a great Monday and hopefully I will be back tonight with another project post.

LEE CHALLENGES US TO EMBOSS!

Lee issued another challenge this week. We were to emboss something. IT could be anything and we could emboss anyway we wanted. Heated, dry cuttlebug whatever suited our card making fancy.

I have been doing a lot of embossing lately. I love using detail clear embossing powder over sentiments stamped using craft inks. The colors really brighten up and pop. I also used a great deal of clear embossing powder in working with the emergent colors technique earlier in the week. I'm beginning to think that I need to find a location where I can purchase clear embossing powder by the pound not the ounce.

For Lee's challenge I decided to use some colored embossing powder for a change. I dug around in my powder keg and found a jar of glittery red powder. It's hard to see in the scan but the circle in the center of the flower with the heart and the dots is embossed as is the "o" with the heart in it in Love.

The embossing in the flower center was fun and very easy. It is a sticky tape type decal that I rubbed onto white card stock and the embossing powder stuck to it really nice. I found this design and several more from Oriental Trading long before Stampin' Up came out with their sticky letters and shapes. I have a set of those coming on an order in mid February. I'm curious to see if they are the same type of product.

So here is my card for Lee's challenge. With Valentine's Day quickly approaching I'm working on having enough cards to send to family and friends. Fro some reason the scanned image makes the scalloped edge at the bottom look crooked. In real life it is not. Also when you open the card to the inside message the red band you see here is actually attached to the inside of the card and there is a scalloped edge at it's top.

I used stamps from four different SU sets in this card. I really need to do a better job of writing down the names of the stamp sets used as I use them. The only ones that I can remember the name of right now are Holidays and Wishes is the Happy Valentine Day and the stem of the flower is from Serene Sunflowers. All the sets I used except for Holidays and Wishes are retired sets.

Thanks for another fun challenge Lee!

A COLOR CHALLENGE FROM LEE

This is the card that I made for Lee's first color challenge. The colors to be used were Orchid Opulence, Lovely Lilac, and Mellow Moss. I promise those where the colors I used. I just need to figure out how to get a scan that shows the colors accurately.

The base of my card is the Orchid Opulence, the first layer is Lovely Lilac, though in my scan it is showing very blue! I used the Mellow Moss in the strip that goes over the tow. The mottled background is the polished stone technique Using these colors and a bit of yellow as well. I colored some white flowers from the Pretties kit using my chalk pastels. and used a bit of mellow moss checked ribbon form my "leaves".

Thanks for the challenge Lee! I look forward to others.