Ala Card

Wow, totally out of loop!

2011-03-14T01:03:00.000-07:00

So I have been out of this loop since 2009, and I miss it soo much! I have a beautiful home after moving from Colorado to VA and now to Portland OR within 2 years!

Here are some current pics of my workspace that I just posted on splitcoaststampers. douthit5 is my post name there. I think I finally found a way to organize things within reach. I admit it....I want to sit and craft and not get up too much. I have spent hours trying to figure out how to store things for cheap! I don't want to spend wads of cash on this. I also spent 2 days coming up with a way to really access and use my Papertrey Ink stamps to the fullest. I admit....ADDICT! Love these stamps because they make sense, and I can see where I am stamping. Wood blocks are so yesterday...but so are those CD cases!

Here is a rack that I bought from IKEA, so cheap! It's from the Kitchen area for pot storage, but everything is within reach and not on the back of the door. I have the stamps in rows of common punch image. Smallest to largest at the back. It works and it was cheap and it is right in front of me. The bar wth the buckets below are also IKEA as well as the button jars and two drawers and the desk. Okay...IKEA addict too...JEEZ!

but cheaper than Target and Pottery barn. I spent under $100 for all of these things! Hey, if you are willing to pay shipping, for a flat fee of $10 bucks for a tank of gas and time + what real shipping is and I will ship you anything from IKEA as long as we don't get too crazy and I can load it in my car. You pay me by Paypal and we go from there. Seriously...this store is key for storage!

I have a tutorial coming up that I hope will help those of you trying to figure out how to store these stamp sets effectively!

Here is my solution!

AHA Moments!

2009-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

As I was sitting down last night to thumb through the new Pottery Barn Catalog, I opened up to a lovely room filled with red and white and a variety of checkered bedding, and floral covered cushions etc. It inspired me. I ran to the craft room and opened up my really red pad and began wasting lots of grid paper from Papertreyink that I JUST bought... : (

I grabbed a striped stamp I bought from SU and after I got it and tried to use it, found it to be kind of ugly. I have several stamps sets that seemed like such a good idea when I saw them and the cute card or project that was made with them, but when I try to implement a project using them....ug! Serious UG.... LY!

so I grabbed this striped background out of frustration, and stamped my stripes, then rotated it and stamped again without re-inking. The photo doesn't show it all that well, but you get the idea, it really looks good in person, I promise! I felt like I just put some lipstick on my pig ha ha ha!

I only used Really Red ink, Really Red Marker, white craft and red and white paper. I tried super hard to only use Stampin UP stuff, but broke down on the ornaments and the sentiment, I used Papertreyink!

So the ornament..... I used a Spellbinder nestability to create these. How cool is that. I am sure somebody has already figured this out, I figured it out purely by accident : ) but what a great accident!

I essentially cut out the die on my bigshot. Remove the die and re-position it to narrow the frame and create the ornament. You can make it as narrow or fat as you like, and then line up your points/curves and re-cut it. What you get is a great little ornament that you can decorate any way you want it. How cool is that!

After digging through my PTI sets I found the squiggles and starburst pattern. I made the plaid with the marker and two way glue to add the glitter. I just put some pearls and rhinestones on the ornaments and I really like how they turned out!

The layout is part of the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge SC251 today!

Anyway.... have a great day! I sure will!

Better Late Than Never!

2009-10-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been inspired to craft. As you can see it's been a while since I have had the time or the desire. I haven't bought anything new, just pulled out some of the stuff I have had laying around and started stamping. I have to admit the ladies over at Papertreyink really are wonderful, and they have some amazing projects and beautiful cards. I love those stamps.

I wanted to just post some of my latest cards. They are out of sync with the season... which is funny because everyone over at Splitcoaststampers.com has posted halloween, christmas, fall, winter, but not much spring stuff.... ha ha . go figure! What's that saying "better late than never, but better never late!" Oh well.

It's fun to experiment with the background stuff and create my own designs. That's probably why I like Papertreyink so much, those acrylic stamps are just so much easier to use and create those kinds of designs. So here is my sampling of Better Late Than Never cards! enjoy!

2008-09-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

Head Pain!

2008-09-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today is a muffled day! I have a terrible head cold, and have no energy. I have so many things to do today, but can't seem to get motivated. Guess I'll go up and craft something...yeah, that's it! That's the ticket!

In the meantime, I have been spending alot of time over at Splitcoast participating in all of the weekly challenges. Here is a card I made last Sunday for the Featured Stamper Challenge

This was such a fun card to make! I started by stamping my image (which I love by the way) onto white cardstock, and then embossing it with clear embossing powder. I then used and Inkssential blender tool, and blended in Distress Ink Fired Brick. It just makes the image POP and I love that color! After I cut it to the size I needed, I took the leftover scrap that had no color applied, and used that as part of the background. I used Tim Holtz's technique to dab distress inks on my stamp, misted it, and then stamped. I love that you can get a watercolor look with just a spritz of water. The colors just blended so nicely. I then used an aquapainter dabbed in some Distress Ink, and then just kept pulling the brush apart to make it spatter. Subtle, but so fun. Crazy Card was the inspiration, and I just essentially used her layout to create this card.

Now I am off to play!

PS.. Most of the supplies I am referring to, I have recently purchased at Rubbernecker Stamps. They have alot of the Ranger products, and the Inkssentials all in one place, and if you look closely at their website, they have some fantastic sales going on right now... Nestabilities etc. On Tuesday's they have a treasure hunt, and usually have a stamp for free if you make a purchase....How Cool is That!

Distress Inks!

2008-09-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

Did I mention how much I enjoy working with Tim Holtz Distress Inks? They can do so many cool things, and the last two cards I have just really played with the stuff to get an idea of how they react. Since they are water based, they will react every time you spritz, stamp, splop water on them. Splop...nice word! ha!

So I am going to show you how I got my chicken wire background image for my Old Strawberrian card. Here are the supplies I used:

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Re-Inkers Peeled Paint
Perfect Pearls
Mini Misters
Rubbernecker chicken wire stamp
Paper

To mix the Distress Ink with the Perfect Pearls, I use 1 full dropper of ink, and then 1/3 tsp of perfect pearls. Add water to the E on the side where it spells Ranger.

Then mist the paper with this combo:

I blot off some of the color, but you can also use a heat gun to dry it. Once it's dry, mist up your rubber stamp with water

And then stamp image onto paper. You will see the color lift right back off the paper, it's like bleaching the image without having to use bleach! HOW COOL IS THAT?

Then heat set it and the image becomes even more apparent:

While the image is still wet you can emboss it. That's another great thing about these inks. You don't necessarily need to use a seperate embossing pad to emboss with. These inks stay wet for several minutes, so it would allow you to stamp several images, and then go back and sprinkle them with embossing powder.

More on the techniques later. I need to actually make a card! haha!

Wintery Days!

2008-08-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love the paper, the swirls the trees?? I just finished working last weekend for Rubbernecker Stamps, and this tree set was one they sell. I love it, and we did the coolest demo with it which I will have to post later. I got to play around with the Distress Inks from Tim Holtz (ranger industries), and just love that they react to water. Sadly I forgot that when I when to soften my tree by spritzing it... ha ha! Those were not Distress Inks. Anyway, the blender tool that I used is also from Ranger, and it comes with two pads. They absorb the color, and then you lift up the inside edge as you scuff the edge of your paper. I just love the look and how soft and wonderful it is. I may have to demo that tool here as well....awesome, and for $5 it's worth it!

I stamped the large tree in kiwi, then wento over it in old olive. After I cut it out, I used the liquid applique to soften the branches with "snow" which by my looking at needs a little help...oops!

I used several dimensionals to pop it up. I also stamped the smallest tree in the package, and stamped again for a softer image behind the darkest one. I lightly tapped again on my color, and then stamped again, and then the lightest image. I cut a piece of acetate, and mounted it over the top. Once I had my card figured out, I cut a circle on my Belle Rose paper by laying the large tree on it to determine where to cut the circle, and I used my nestabilities and cuttlebug to cut that out. I attached the trees, and then mounted it on the white cardstock. I should have edged the white cardstock before I mounted the images, but oh well, that's the way it goes! Anyhoo, I used Fired Brick to get the red color, and it matches the Belle rose paper so well. I just think it made the whole thing look like the Belle Rose paper and images were laying on a bed of snow. I used Papertrey ink Blush to use as the card. I went back over it and stamped the white swirl with white craft, then I just embossed it with white embossing powder, and mine had silver speckles in it too. I think it just looks so wintery.

Hope you like it.... stay tuned for a tutorial on some of those Distress Inks. If you have never seen them or understood what makes them so cool, I will show you.

Inky Hands

2008-08-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey people! I spent the last two days working for Rubbernecker Stamps at a Loveland scrapbook show! What fun! Of course I am fried today, but it really was an experience that I will soon repeat. In fact, I'll be traveling to the Springs this weekend to be a demo again. Perhaps you have a need to get dirrrty with me.

I gotta say, I was not super pumped for the demo I ended up having to do. In fact, to me it was a real dog, but people seemed to think it was the best thing since sliced cheese. I sold alot of product, and I was using the crackled paints from Distress Inks, and the Tim Holtz products from Ranger. Never ever used them before, but they are fun!

So by Sunday, the first demo we were highlighting, sold out of product, so we had to come up with a new one. Cindy.... aka Mothermark... Yeah I know, I was working with a Splitcoast Celebrity! So exciting, and she is extremely funny! I think at one point we went to hold our hands up, and hers were black and mine were dark red...uck!

Back to the story, I decided I really needed to dress up my "dog", or should I say... "put some lipstick on my pig". I just couldn't make it another day making those ugly cards. So I went back to some of Tim Holtz's techniques, found at timholtz.com, and found a layering technique that would highlight several products that don't move all that well. Honestly, we did such a good job the day before, we really needed to focus on some other things. Dave from Rubbernecker Stamps is such a wonderful and encouraging person, you just want to help him sell stuff.

Now many of us tend to layer layer layer with cardstock, so imagine coming up with a design with no layers but stamping, embossing, inking, misting, painting, daubing, blending etc. Nothing else. NO Paper layers. It's hard! But the products were fun to work with, and I think by the end of the day we all had some success selling our products.

I know that MotherMark, as I will refer to her, didn't really dig her demo either, she thought it was a little ugly, but it was Halloween, and I thought it looked great. Maybe we are all a little too critical of our work? Ya think? It sure was fun, lots of laughs, and sore aching feet by the end of the weekend. So now I am off to play with some of the goodies I received! Post a card later. Big Ups to my chica's Madeline, and Cindy/MotherMark! It was fun!

Card fun

2008-06-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

I love that new sneak peek set, and found a way to create a stamp from the petal cutout on the card. I used a scrap piece of rubber, and traced the petal onto it, and cut it out.

I then stamped the flower and cut it out. Once I cut it out, I flipped it over and then punched the center flower with a Martha Stewart punch. I sponged around the edges to add a little color, but I really like how the simple flower and layers turned out.

I also double stamped the Dreams sentiment, first in the sweet blush then I stamped off once and stamped over the top with the Berry Sorbet, both from Papertreyink. I added the dazzling diamonds by going over the sentiment with a 2way glue stick.

Hope you like it!

Another one, same challenge

2008-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

That's right, two in one week, same day for that matter. This card was pure fun! Bright, cheery and easy. I used a Cuttlebug to emboss the bottom part of the paper, but stamped the images first. I used some dazzling diamonds on the bird, and also the rock and roll technique for the variations of the color. For the orange, I stamped off twice, and then rock and rolled the edges for more color on the rim.

I used crystal effects to get some shine on the orange segments, and used my trusty blender pen for some shading on the leaves and the segments. I like this challenge. I find it one less decision to make, and quite frankly, I am on decision overload, so this was great! Check out some other cool cards at splitcoaststampers.com, great site for stampers.

I'm BACK

2008-04-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah,

That's it, I am back! I love cards, and I have missed it. Last year, not so great, this year...magic. So I have been playing on Splitcoaststampers challenges this week, and this is what I have come up with. So fun.

This was from the limited supplies challenge, use only white and one color. It's actually easier than it sounds. I got this idea off of March Pottery Barn Catalog. It's gawgeous! A yellow quilt with this leaf image, and a beautiful yellow linen pillow with a simple flap and a wood button. It is so refreshing! In this time of snow and muck and cold, I find it uplifting.

I used a blender pen dipped in the stamp pad to make stitch marks, but I would have preferred a marker. It works though, so no complaints. I popped the button up with a dimensional, and then roughed the edges to make it look fabric. I added the silver hodge podge detail in the middle, don't you just love that stuff?

I used a crease from my bone folder to make it look like a seam on the yellow cardstock, and then went back through the crease with a blender pen to add stitching detail. Enjoy!

Been a month YIKES!

2007-12-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Yes it has been nearly a month since I posted anything... what a drag! But today is a new day and I have lots to post. Here is a Christmas card I am working on for mass mailing. It's a bit detailed, and as usual I am over ambitious, so need to scale it back. I did have fun making it, and playing around with some of the embossing stuff to get some texture.

This card was inspired by AKJUDA at Splitcoaststampers! Here is her nice card:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/635636

I really love these classic colors for Christmas....of course Certainly Celery is included....obviously! I got the swirl thing from a junk email I received over the weekend, I think it just adds something fun to the card.

I started by stamping my image on white cardstock from Papertreyink, then coloring it in with markers and blender pens. Blender pens are great if you aren't wanting lots of hardcore color in one blop! I used my 2 way glue to adhere the white embossing to it, and that made the stuff crackle and thick. I then went back in after heatsetting it and used a thick clear embossing powder to add some dimension to the snowman, and although it didn't work out like I wanted to, it did adhere to the white embossing powder, and melted together, giving the little cap some streaks and gloss. I did the same on the scarf.

The background was stamped by placing all 3 snowflake stamps on an acrylic stamp pad, and stamping the background by dipping in the celery ink, then the versamark. I have an extra pad just for this purpose because it tends to leave the ink on the pad. I embossed it in thick embossing powder to give some "wetness" to the snowflakes. I went back in with the Merry and Bright snowflake background stamp, and lightly stamped the background, you know stamp on stamp off, then on your paper!

The red scallop tag was stamped in Papertreyink Borders and Corners Circle loopy stamp in white, then dazzling diamonds added. After I mounted the snowman to the scallop circle, I went back with the stitched circle from Papertreyink to add some more texture. You could make it easier on yourself by putting that detail on before you punched it out... but hey I don't think that far ahead sometimes.

Wrapped it in celery ribbon, and then attached the circle with some of that new stretchy silver cord from SU. Have fun making your own card! I sure did.

Life happens!

2007-11-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

What can I say, Life got in the way, and I have not even had an inkling...hee hee, to get to this blog. I literally have fallen off of the earth. One thing I am thankful for is my family! Our family has been to heck and back, and if my Sisters, Dad and Brother-in-law had not been there in our darkest times, I don't know what I would have done.

With that said, my favorite sister asked me to make her some cards for a Theater production she was helping to create costumes for. She is UBER talented, and makes some amazing things from fabric. These cards were for cast members she had designed for, to wish them luck.... or as they say in the theater.. Break a Leg! The production is a spoof on Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, so the look she was going for needed to fit that.

The layout and inspiration for this card came from Nichole Heady, and her super cute ( does she do anything bad???) bag design on the front page of Paper Craft magazine. I stamped the background image first, then printed the Break A Leg sentiment on cardstock. I stamped it with Borders and Corners and then punched it out with a Marvy Giga punch. I found a coordinating Nestabilities to add some depth to the card and a little punch. I love the little bling, and the soft velvet, it just feels so Dickens to me.

When my sister was here, she slipcovered a chair AND an ottoman out of fabrics I have been hoarding. How amazing is that... and it's sooooo CUTE! LOVE IT!

One piece I had leftover was a red ticking stripe, and it just looked so cute with this card. Since she only wanted to write a quick note on the flipside, she didn't need a full card, so I decided to stich the outside border of the card in red, so that when you flip it over it has a red stiched border to write a note in.

I hope she likes it..... she means the world to me! SISTAH!!!

The never ending card!

2007-10-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been ions since I have crafted a card, and you can tell! Ha ha! I have been so busy with work and kids and activities, that I can't find a spare moment. That said, I finally found a few HOURS to make ONE card....how sad is that! Seems like the longer you stay away from this stuff, the longer it takes to make one....you want to make it perfect, AND use all your cool stuff!

So this card I wanted a Halloween card, and I had been thinking about this for awhile. I like the idea of interjecting the turquoise into this color scheme, it just makes it different.

So I started with my Cuttlebug and my Spellbinders Nestabilities. I embossed the center of the card. I used a pre-cut and scored cardstock from Papertreyink, and it just turned out so nice with little effort. Those Nestabilities are awesome, and if you don't have any, I would encourage you trying one set. They seem to fill in where the punches leave off, plus I LOVE the embossing capabilities.

I then cut a piece of computer paper out to a 4.25 x 5.5 piece, and then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities to remove the center rectangle. I used that to MASK off the area that I didn't want my Cheesecloth Stamp to print on.

Once that was done, I painted the outside of the embossed frame with my Certainly Celery marker, and then lightly ran my Versamark Marker over it and embossed it with Silver. I didn't want a heavy coat of the Silver Embossing because I wanted to see the green underneath.

I stamped the witch in White Craft on Black paper first, and cut it out. I didn't really define the edges that much, I really just left it more as a outline of the image. Then I stamped the Witch again, and colored it in. That's when it happened.... I went Silver Stickles crazy.... eeeeek!

I needed some bling, so I just added it where it fit. I also used a white gel pen in her eyes, and dress, and broom just to jazz it up a bit and give some more dimension. I cut out the image, this time paying closer attention to the the image, and cutting more away. The idea was to create a shadow. I used StampinUp Dimensionals to give the depth to the two pieces.

Initially I had cut out and embossed the circular moon, but it just didn't look right, so I used my StampinUp punch 1 3/8 to cut the circle out, then used my Stampin Pastels to color the Moon! I blended 3 different colors to get the look. I used one of the sponge applicators to move the Silver Stickles around, I just wanted a little shimmer on the moon.

Before applying the witch and shadow and moon, I went back to my embossed cardstock and used the Stickles in the "ditch" of the embossed frame, to add some glitz, and also dimension. Stickles!

I then decided that some funky circles would be nice on the outside, so I pulled out my Green Thumb set from Papertreyink, and used several circles stamped around the edges. I didn't want the interior stamped, so I just used a scrap to cover and mask the interior of the square when I got close to the edge, and that worked out okay. It still needed something else, so I went back in with the circular piece from PRICELESS from StampinUp. Yet it STILL needed something.... wait for it.... wait for it... YES! STICKLES! See what I mean about that never ending card thing?! So I just went back again, and filled in the circles with some Silver Stickles.

I then cut a rectangle piece with my Marvy Super punch, and stamped "spooky" on a piece of white cardstock. I have always thought that "ransom note" look would be fun to try, so here is my attempt. I just used markers to color where I wanted, stamped the image from the Papertreyink set, and then cut it apart. I used some black eyelets to attach the ribbon to the tag, and attached it to the card. I guess you could say it's "spooky" with all that SticKles! haha. Enjoy, I sure did while I was making it. Man I need to get back in the cave and be creative!

Meet CHEETO!

2007-09-28T10:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have been out of it soooo long. I have created nothing..... what can I do with nothing! I promise to have something here soon, perhaps this weekend, well maybe not.. we have paper routes to deliver this weekend... not gonna lie it's not my most favorite time, except for the fact that it traps my teenager in the car with me for several hours with nothing to do but talk.... so I guess that's a good thing! Ha! We also have a new puppy! YEAH! Like I need another dog, but this one was too cute to ignore. Her name is Cheeto, and she is a 4 month old pug. She is a little terror! She has two speeds, Tornado and dead! She is just a crazy girl, and we love her so much. Weenie our male pug is protective of her, and biscuit our Westie, well let's just say she is NOT so thrilled. So we are working on adjusting that and making sure everyone gets lots and lots of hugs. So here are a couple of photo's I just took.... what a face...what's not to love!
The family that had Cheeto and named her Cheeto Bandito....hahha! were ALL allergic to her! Can you imagine? So we rescued her..... wink wink! It's a dirty job but someone had to do it right? This is my birthday present, and actually she has become my husband's dog in a way. She ADORES him. We love her.. and the kids are getting lots of laughs.. actually we all are! EVERYTHING is a chew toy for her, paper, hair, pillows, furniture, plastic, stuffing carefully removed from stuffed toys.... you name it... she can chew it! She also has the funniest bark, it sounds like a cat being run over! Her favorite thing to do is to sit on top of the ottoman or couch and smack Biscuit over the head then run off! Maybe that would explain why Biscuit is less than loving this. She has also figured out how to run through certain places in the picket fence to the next door neighbor's house. They have two little girls and magically the exit from their yard is usually blocked by a beach ball once Cheeto "wanders" over to their side! Cheeto runs in circles and the little girls follow her. Needless to say it poops her out for awhile.

New Papertreyink Forum

2007-09-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey all you papertrey fans..... Nichole and her crew have a new forum! It will be the place when she has her new release coming up. You can post comments and start threads etc. Looks kind of fun... I'm game!

Here's the link:

http://papertreyink.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Easy Please!

2007-09-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

So I needed a stack of cards quick, and had favorited this card from Inglishrea to change up in honor of her Featured Stamper :

DTGD BEate Sketch Card

Yeah, I am a little late making the deadline.... but it's the thought. I really like this new set True Friend, so many possibilities, and I combined it with Papertreyink Borders and Corners to make it more interesting. I used a very small teardrop shaped piece, not sure which Borders and Corners set...oops, to trim out the scallop, then stamped over it with the larger circle image. It was a goof originally, but I like how it turned out. I am not a big fan of Cranberry Crisp, really tried to embrace last years IN colors, and honestly, they were OUT for me.... just never really liked them. But Cranberry really worked with the DP I had and it used up some of my ribbon. Honestly, I really like this color combo and will use it again. It looks very ethnic and I like that it is a bit unusual, or unexpected from what I usually do.

It went together quickly, and I will use the layout again!

Farewell Beautiful Friend

2007-09-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

This card was for a personal friend who passed away last week. He started the company I work for .... J.T. Posey Company truely from the back of his car. A wonderful character and a very warm spirited man. I am proud to work for his company, and have gotten to know him. In this day and age, it's hard to find a company that is still family owned and operated. His son Ernie is alot like his dad, and has done so much to not only grow the business, but maintain the quality and integrity his Dad built.

It is a little feminine, but as I mentioned, the company logo is a Posey flower, and I just thought it fit. The company colors are also green, and adding just a little of that back in really seemed to work. I used the Nestabilities I just got a few hours ago from Papertreyink.com and really had a good time playing with them. It did take a few minutes to figure out the "sandwich" you have to build. In case you haven't seen it on Nichole Heady's blog here it is...

Cutting Sandwich for a Cuttlebug... because that's what I used:

plate A

plate C

die with the ridged side facing up

paper/cardstock

plate B

Embossing Sandwich:

plate A

plate B

die with ridged side up

beige mat from Spellbinders

3 pieces of cardstock

plate B

I really like these things, and I think I will find alot of versatility in using them. I embossed the so saffron layer, and you can barely see the edge of it, kind of looks like I embossed a circle there. I also embossed the olive piece. Once you cut it, you just remove the excess, change your sandwich around and emboss it. It really is that easy....

I used the Linen background stamp from SU on the river rock, and then stamped my flower image. I love those little velvet flowers from Maya Road, purchased from Papertreyink.... they have everything! The sentiment is also from the new release from Papertrey... beautiful flowers or at least I think that's what it's called. The pearl finished off the flower, and I bought them from target... KC and company. Tres Chic was stamped in the background, and I just love how several of the words really fit this card and what I was trying to convey. Hope Ernie and his family like it!

Road Kill

2007-09-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

I feel like roadkill! SEriously! I have been so out of it for the last several weeks, seems like I just can't get it together. Got sick, and that has just about wiped me out for 2 weeks now. So I never uploaded a photo that I promised details for, and after reading my description on SCS about it, people must be so confused, not that anyone is even looking at my site, but jeez, I could at least get it updated.

So here is the card that I did last. I really like the look of Vellum over a card, but have a hard time using it for some reason. I was working on a sketch challenge from Genie 1314 and cut a scallop circle out of the wasabi cardstock. You can't see it because I covered that cut with the black cardstock. I then placed a piece of the floral cardstock behind that cutout, and then glued the black background to the front of the card, that way it covered the circle cutout on the interior, and the floral cardstock circle I had glued to it. Make sense? I embossed the wasabi scalloped circle with the cuttlebug template I just got, and then dry embossed a piece of vellum using the metal bodacious bouquet template that I had. I had the green brad leftover and thought it would add such a nice touch. I also used eyelets in the corner to finish it off. I don't really like the placement of my words on the vellum, but hey, I guess you can't have everything. So here is the interior of the card

It does look like I just glued a piece of the patterned paper to the inside, but I didn't really, it was cut first with the scallop punch on the green cardstock, then the DP placed behind it. I love how that little bird is just hanging out. So there it is, my only card AND post in weeks. I need to get to the creative cave and get busy. I have all my new stamps from Papertreyink to play with and the new release is next week. I also think my Nestabilities have been shipped, so I cannot wait to play with those!

I don't know about you......

2007-08-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

But getting things done around here has turned into total chaos! With 2 kids in school, and starting a diet... ugh!, my life is crazy! I wonder what I was thinking signing up for a swap! At any rate, I FINALLY got mine out, and hopefully they arrived. For this card the challenge was to use only Papertreyink stamps. I used 3 sets, Greenthumb, Faux Ribbon, and Borders and Corners.

Unfortunately the pic is so dark, you really cannot see that I stamped my image in Wild wasabi, then went back over it with a Versamark marker. I then clear embossed it. After that I stamped the peas, and then dry embossed them to pop them up and give some texture. If you are like me, you don't own a light box, so I got out my paper piercing pad, and then outlined the peas and rubbed over the interior area with my embossing stylus. Flipping the card over, I could see the outline of the pea, and again embossed the interior area. The white stock is not the best, it's so thin, but I still got a nice popped up look to add dimension.

After the peas were dry embossed, I used two way glue to add some DAZZLE with dazzling diamonds. The scallop at the top in apricot has a dry embossed small dot in the curve. I used my Crop-o-dile to achieve that,... and may I say that is a quick thing to use and add some extra texture. You just set the cropodile on A1 and the smaller eyelet piece, and it works great! Give it a try, it's so fun.

The ribbon is tied and glued on with glue dots, and I added the little safety pin to it to tie it into the theme.

I love how bright and cheerful this card is, hope the other ladies agree!

FIX that HEADER!

2007-08-16T09:51:00.001-07:00

Ack! I hate how my header looks but can't figure out how to make it look so uber cool. Need to find a good layout or get help...... anyone got some ideas? I want to use my own script because I just love this font, just don't know how to make it nice. Help me help me!

All Jacked Up!

2007-08-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

So I need to need to need to come up with a design, and then get cards out. Not sure why I have a mental block right now, but I need to get mooooving! I have had my Starbucks, from my new Barista machine I might add... YUMMY! We got it on clearance and boy is it good, the only thing is, now I am drinking coffee every day, strong yummy coffee, and I am jacked up on caffiene now ; 0 Maybe that is what I need to get focused and moving to the creative cave.

One day when I get things in order down there I will actually post a photo, but for now... so ugly!

New SU goodies!

2007-08-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I waited extremely long to order from the new SU catty, and that's sad : (

Honestly, I have found so many other distractions to purchase that I now need to catch up to SU! I just love these new sets! So the goal was to try and I say TRY loosely, to create my own patterned paper. If you have not seen Nichole Heady's ideas for this, you are missing out, the lady is pure genious. She makes it look sooooo easy! I'm not gonna lie, it took me ALL DAY, okay at least Half a Day to make this one piece of background paper...YIKES!

Anyhoo, I started out by stamping the swirls in a square pattern, then filled in the open squares with the butterflies. I used the little flower stamp in cool caribbean to fill in the swirls, and used the round stamp with the flower in chocolate chip to go over where the swirls intersected. Since it still looked to bare, I used versamark to stamp the larger flower image in the background. Of course to make my card, I only used about an 1 3/4 of the paper, so you don't really see this so well. My Bad!

I had attempted a different card using this lovely tulip image from Anna Griffin Designs, don't you just love how BEEEautiful it is? Now if I could only learn to color. I just had to use it on this card. I stamped my Tres Chic onto the Not quite navy paper, and then stitched,... yes stitched! It took me awhile to do that since I have never done real stitching on my cards, and had to fiddle with the tension ( note to self, a new pointy needle and tension at .5 seemed to do the trick). So I glued the pieces down, and then stitched the card. I stamped the SO KIND sentiment by stamping on and then off and then ON again! heh heh! I sound like such a pro..... NOT!

I used a "pig punch" for the placement of the ribbon. For those of you who don't know what a PIG PUNCH is.... it is the double rectangle punch! My friend Lori calls it that and I thought it sounded more fun than the "double slot/rectangle punch"! BAM! Just kickin it up a notch!

The ribbon is from the new Martha Stewart line. I have been trying to use this since I bought it a month ago. Not sure why I waited so long? Guess the pressure from "MaKe iT SPARKLE Missy" Martha Stewart made me really think about it! It really was a fun card to make, and not really all that hard. Now..... back to the creative Cave to do my next card..... and I do mean CAVE! My only good light source burned out and I am in the basement by the light of a window well and one overhead bulb.......someone bust out the violins!

D-tales D-tales!

2007-08-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just uploaded 2 cards over at SCS and put a link to my new blogspot..... guess I didn't really think that through so well. Oh well live and learn. Now I can play catch up so everyone can get the D-tales... hee hee!

So I am doing a Papertreyink Swap, and here is my idea, although I hope I planned enough time to get these done...egad!

I used a curved ruler to mark the edge of my card about 1 1/2 inches from the fold on the underside, then I used my scallop scissors to cut the edge. It really helps to draw a line first, makes cutting a breeze! Then I cut out a Large scallop circle, and stamped the scallops with another little design from the Borders and Corners set, unfortunately I cannot tell you exactly which set it came from.... I have mixed and matched all the little pieces so much they are all MIXED UP! ooops!

I stamped the dotted circle over the scalloped DP circle, cut out a smaller scallop circle, and added my cake. Once I colored it in with blender pens, my favorite thing to use as opposed to a marker! You can get more control in the shading and colors. I popped the smaller scalloped circle up, and then added a sentiment also popped up. HOpe it fits the envelope ; )

I finished off the edges using the Faux Ribbon set in Pumpkin just to trim things out, and then filled in my scalloped fold with another little doo-dad from Borders and Corners. Tied a big fat bow on it and called it Bright.... and done!

Let's add some photo's

2007-08-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

This was a fun card to make! It has lot's of little layers, and special touches that made it a nice card to give. I always seem to end up with a small piece that is my focal point, and then build the card around it. Probably why it takes me so dang long to create one.

2007-08-10T09:30:00.001-07:00

Well this is new for me, and I am trying this out to see if I can make it go! ha ha! Bear with me while I figure things out and try and customize this baby!