My Favorite Things and Day 5 Winner

First things first, the winner of day 5 (Friday) is: Mary Duffek (post#25)

Congrats! Send me your info please and your items will go out in Monday's mail.

You gals drink some interesting things! Someone even said Tim Horton's coffee, you must be Canadian or a local person as we have TH's around here too. Truth be told my morning cuppa is Diet Coke and I see from the comments I am not the only one. Thanks for that, now I don't feel quite so odd :)

I am fresh out of cards to post at the moment but thought I would talk a bit about some of my favorite things....

I have lots of things I like and use but I thought I would keep it to 5 things I use a lot.

1) my beloved ATG tape gun, a bit wieldy at times but economical and keeps things stuck, just like I want them! Got mine at http://www.framingsupplies.com/ .

2)Dimensionals....I know, I know, I've told you that a million times already. It's still true!

3) Sponge daubers, love them! Stampin' Up carries them in a 12 pack for 10.95 which is a good deal. I have slowly built up my supply so I have almost one per color. Used my label maker to help identify them. They do wash out too so if you have a limited supply, you can wash them and use them with another color. So many things you can do with them!

4) Aquapainters. I use them most every stamping session I have. Watercoloring is therapy for me.

5). Refill bottles of ink. I think I am on my third bottle of certainly celery, it is probably one of my most used/loved colors. Don't care for celery much as a vegetable but the color...scrumptious! I love that you can extend the life of your pad and save yourself money. If you have wheels/cartridges then you know you have to have a refill to go with it. I use mine to drop ink in the lids of my ink pads when I watercolor. Many techniques can be done with a bottle or two of ink. I think they are a bargain considering all they do!

That brings me to Saturday's question...what are some of your stamping fav's/must haves??

Leave a comment on this post and I will again pick a name at 11pm EST.

Blessings on your day.

Thursday Winner

The winner of goodie bag #4 is Yvonne C!! (post #9)

Email me your info please, stuff is on its way!

It sounds 50/50 on the cake vs. pie. I like my dutch apple pie cause my favorite part is the crumb topping and I never put less than a double recipe of crumbs on my pies! A good cake is hard to pass up though and my friend, Jackie, makes some of the best tasting and looking cakes. So, as a woman has the right to do, my mind changes often on the matter, lol! Basically, it's whatever is before me at the time, hahaha.

My card today is a paper piecing feature. I love this large mug of Anna Wight's by Whipper Snapper and usually I enjoy coloring it in. But I was in that simple mode and thought I would see what it looked like stamped onto designer paper. I prefer coloring it, but like this well enough to try out some other papers in the future. The paper is from a retired SU hostess scrap kit. The bright color combo of certainly celery and cool Caribbean (also retired) makes me happy, the touches of black just make those colors all the more vivid. The sentiment is from another retired SU host set, So Many Sayings. Retired was the theme of the day I guess because the coffee beans on the celery layer are from the set, Like It A Latte. I like that set a latte, I am still sputtering over its retirement!

So today's (Friday) question goes along with my card...what is your favorite cuppa?? I have never liked coffee or tea so my answer is hot chocolate...with a good dollop of whipped cream.

Leave your answer in a comment to this post and I will draw a name at 11pm EST for goodie bag #5.

I hope you are enjoying this week as much as I am! Thanks for taking the time to visit and leave a comment! Have a great day!

Day 3 Winner & Birthday Card

The day 3 (Wednesday) winner is: Nicole (post #36) Congrats!!

Send me your addy and I will get your goody bag ready!

Feedblitz subscribers---make sure you are posting to the current day, I think FB updates run a day behind and I don't want you to miss out by posting to the wrong day!

I loved reading your responses to yesterdays question. Here were some of my fav's:

Allison said Brittney Spears so she could set the poor girl straight. Funny!! But I think you may be a bit optimistic if you think a day will straighten up the mess she's in, lol!

Lilian said Gene Kelly, what a great choice! When I first met my DH, his roommate was a old movie buff and made us watch several Gene films. What a great talent that man had!

Oprah was a fav choice, and I agree that she would be an interesting person to spend a day with. As a pastors wife, I loved that people chose a biblical person or God. You ladies had good things to share, thank you.

Thursdays question is simpler...pie or cake???

Leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name at 11pm EST.

Today is my moms birthday. She just discovered my blog recently. She doesn't have a computer but a friend has been kind enough to help her out on occassion. So, "hi" Mom, hope your birthday is a great one!! This was the card I sent her. I hope it got there in time, I never leave enough time for my mail to reach Germany, the New Year always catches me off guard. Since it had so far to go, I didn't bulk it up with lots of embellishments. Simple and sweet!

Thanks for stopping in, have a wonderful day!

Day 2 winner ...

is:Lisa K (#5 picked by Random.org) Congrats!
Please email me your snail mail and I will get some goodies out to you!

I enjoyed reading your comments, it brings home the importance of loved ones. And the importance of telling them they are loved.
Let's make today's question a fun twist on yesterday's. If you could spend one day with anyone, not related to you/close friend, who would it be? Leave your answer in a comment by 11pm for the day 3 goodies. I can't wait to read them!
When I was in high school I used to buy those teen magazines and would even write to some of actors. I had a pile of signed photographs that I got in return, probably signed by some assistant. Remember I am turning 40 so I am dating myself, but I got ones from Scott Baio, Tom Selleck, The Hazard boys Tom Wopat and John Schneider. I did get a few handwritten notes from Timothy Gibbs, anyone remember him?? He was in the TV show Father Murphy. Once he became more well known the form letters started showing up in place of the hand written ones and I was heartbroken. My room was wallpapered with the pictures from the magazines. Most of that stuff is just a fun (or maybe funny??) memory now. I'm gonna let you in on my secret...I still have a crush on Jon Bon Jovi, LOL!!! Hubby knows, he's not fazed. It's all innocent! I think it would be fun to spend a day hanging out with him.


Here's a card I made last night. I pulled out an old Hero Arts stamp I have and colored away with markers. The blush blossom piece is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. I love the look of blush blossom with sahara sand. The sentiment is from Circle of Friendship, I just added a fancy brad to the center.


Have a great Wednesday!

OSW & Day 1 Winner

I thought about posting a picture of each days loot but decided I would rather have it be a surprise!! I think it is more fun that way. Here are some of the packages stuffed and ready to mail.


Mondays winning name is: Jacque (SCS: Petals)

Please email me your address and I will get one of these packages out to you soon.


At 11pm tonight I will draw a name for day 2's package. Leave a comment on this post. Today's question: If you could spend an entire day with anyone you wanted, who would it be (hubbies are a given!)?

My answer...lots of people came to mind, but in the end I would say my dad. He passed away 8 years ago this month and there were many more conversations yet to be had.

Now for some stamping. I made a one sheet wonder during my KISS stamping craze. OSW are great for cranking out a pile of cards. I started with a sheet of white card stock, wheeled it with the Petals jumbo wheel and soft sky ink. I added some stamps from the Polka Dots and Petals set using groovy guava, purely pomegranate and blue bayou. I used those same colors when I assembled my cards. I got 5 cards from the one sheet, but I used large pieces. You could stretch it way farther than I did here. On three of the cards I used last years SAB set, So Very and on the other 2 I used Circle of Friendship. A little ribbon, a few punches and voila! OSW's make it easy to make sets for using or giving and can be varied just by changing colors.

Don't forget to leave your comment! Have a great day!

You've Got Mail!!

The countdown is on..... For what you ask?? The countdown to 40! Gasp, I am going to turn 40, deep breath, I can do it, deep breath....how did that happen?? Just yesterday I was walking the halls of my high school. Next Monday is the big day, January 14. On that day in 1968, in Whitby, England, I was born to Anneliese and Paul Laverack. My father was in the Air Force and was stationed there at the time. I think I have shared before that my mom is German and they met in Germany while he was stationed there. He spoke little German and she spoke little English but somehow they managed. England was only one of many places we lived, oh to be able to travel to some of those places again now that I can appreciate them more. Anyway, that is just a little peek into my life. Why do I tell you all of that?? Not sure really, other than I figure if I get a head start on the 40 thing I may be able to survive it once Monday comes, LOL!

In the meantime, I am having a daily drawing for some goodies. When I cleaned my stamping space a couple of weeks ago, I found a lot of treasures, way more than I can use so I want to share some of it with you! You get some fun goodies and I get to reclaim some of my space. That's what they call a win-win. Can't tell you exactly what it will be cause I am still putting it all together. Some stamps, some embellishments, some alterables just to name a few things. This gives me something fun to focus on this week as I brace myself for 40.

Here's how it's gonna work...each day I will post something, probably with a simple question, and if you'd like in on that days drawing, post a comment. I will draw a name and post the winner in the next days post. I will draw a name at 11pm EST just so there is a cut off.

I made this mailbox just for the occasion. This is more proof that I am a hoarder. I bought this mailbox at Target more than a year ago and never did anything with it. I hear that Target has them again, my store was cleaned out when I was there the other day. I only bought one at the time thinking I would try it first and only buy more if I liked them. What was I thinking??? This was way fun to make! I used some Cosmo Cricket, Hey Sugar, paper, the front is the reverse of the piece used on the side. I covered some SU chipboard with vanilla card stock, rubbed it with some tea stain Distress ink, stamped it with a long ago retired set called, Vintage Postcard, rubbed the edges with walnut Distress ink and adhered it to the front. I used the Carte Postal set for the sentiment on the side. The ribbon is SU burgundy grosgrain and the heart on the flag is a retired SU punch. I added a couple of small rhinestones to the flag hinge and sentiment. These really would make fun gifts filled with chocolate or little note cards. I may need to be content with the one unless I luck out at Target. If you want a closer look, click on the photo.

Post a comment to this question if you want to be in today's drawing: What is the best place you have traveled to or lived in??

Paper Trey B-Flies

Cards #3 & 4. My scrap bin has lots of left over pieces from workshops and classes. I love that everything is cut, I just need to decide which stamps I will use. I tried to go back to some stamps that have set idle for awhile so all week you might feel like you are strolling down memory lane.
I used the PaperTrey set, Butterfly Kisses for both cards. They have the same basic ingredients: Kraft, chocolate chip and very vanilla card stock. The others colors are soft sky and coral cameo. The butterflies are made up of 2 stamps, the floral body is stamped in brown and outlines are stamped in coral and soft sky. To give a bit more color, I used an aquapainter and ink to color in the centers of the flowers. The tails are just pierced. The coral cameo panel is stamped with some of the small flower images in the PT set, using cameo and chocolate ink. The soft sky panel is wheeled with the SU jumbo wheel, Petals, using soft sky ink and then some chocolate flower accents. The ribbons used are SU chocolate grosgrain and American Crafts chocolate polka dot satin (ooohhh, yummy stuff!).
Although I do not make New Years resolutions, I am setting a goal of sending more cards. I am really close to being dubbed the card making gal who never sends cards, sad but true. Sometimes I have trouble parting with cards that I make, especially the ones that are time consuming. The above cards are exactly the kind of cards I need to have on hand to send when the whim strikes. Or when the soft voice whispers in my ear. Does that ever happen to you?? You think of someone out of the blue, or you hear of someone who is under the weather and you say to yourself..."self....send that person a card". Then you go about your business and forget about it or just don't do it for some reason. I know God whispers names in my ear a lot and I sadly go about my business. I want to be better about listening to those whispers. It is after all one of the reasons I got into stamping in the first place.
You WILL want to come back tomorrow, I am kicking off a week of something fun. See you then!!

Wild About You!

Ellie has been gathering dust unfortunately, it was time to bring her back out! This is a really simple card but the small touches make it fun. Remember, I said I was going back to basics. I used some of the new Bali Breeze designer paper. Don't have matching ribbon or don't feel like bulking up your card?? Then designer paper to the rescue, just use a coordinating strip to create the look of ribbon. Easy peasy and it is a great use of those small pieces we all have lying around. Ellie is stamped in going grey ink but her ear is pomegranate, cut out and up on a dimensional. Again, a great use of those small scraps. I gave her a googlie eye cause she looks so much more fun with one! Can you figure out where the dangling heart is from?? I used a black marker to ink up only a portion of a stamp from the host level 1 set, Eventful, the one with the hanger and hearts. It was cute enough but I have some new heart brads for Valentines Day so I used one over the stamped heart. The stamped panel is up on dimensionals. DO NOT underestimate the power of those little foam adhesives!!!! Just that little bit of lift can set a card apart. I hardly ever make a card without at least one dimensional on it, seriously.
Have a great Saturday! Thanks for visiting.

Time Well Spent

Happy New Year...a few days late, LOL! Time just flies by. I have been busy stamping for the upcoming Dirty Dozen gallery. I am lovin' my projects but they have been involved, lots of coloring, details and thought. I love that being on the DD stretches my creativity to a new level. But my brain was starting to sputter a bit and needed some simpler, just for fun stamping. I set my scrap bin on the desk and went to town! This weeks posts will be back to basics: stamps, ink and paper. Nothing too fancy or complicated. I hope you enjoy!

Here is card number 1. I appreciate that SU sent its demo's this set, Time Well Spent, cause free stamps are good, but I have had trouble warming up to it. I took a non-coloring approach this time around. I stamped the flowers on pomegranate, guava and saffron card stock, highlighted some of the areas with a Versamarker, cut them out and mounted them on dimensionals. The wasabi stems were stamped right onto some soft sky designer paper. The guava card base has some small flowers stamped in guava ink. The sentiment is from the Celebrate Everything set, punched out with the key tag punch and mounted behind the main panel. That punch is great for adding sentiments of medium size. To get the sentiment straight, stamp first, then punch.

I hope your new year is off to a good start. I spent an entire day cleaning my stamping space. It feels so great to have it organized again and I even found some treasures I forgot I had. I generally hate when I go into my regular grocery store to find they have "rearranged" things but it does work, you see things that you didn't before. Hence, you buy more stuff, just like they planned. That is what re-organizing does, it refreshes your perspective, makes you see things you may have been overlooking (never mind that they were buried sooooo deep they couldn't be seen, LOL). But in this case, you may save yourself from buying some stuff 'cause you realize you had it already!

Enough babbling for today. Have a good one!

Card Gift Set

Yes, I am still making Christmas gifts! Thank goodness our festivities are spread out over the course of the week. We were at the in-laws last night for dinner and left the boys with them until we return on Saturday. DH and I worked a half day today and then set about doing errands and puttering around the house. It feels so good to just stamp or work without having to worry about dinner or putting kids to bed. I was so productive which makes it even more satisfying. The boys had a chance to have a play date with some old friends which they were so looking forward to.

I made a set of cards as part of my MIL gift. I did two of each of the following designs. I didn't do a lot of embellishments so they aren't a hassle for her to send out. I used various pieces from the Porcelain Prints designer paper. I really like the color scheme of that paper, it's very soothing. They each use a scallop border that I created with a Martha Stewart border punch I got at Michaels. I like how it punches and embosses and fit the look of my cards perfectly. The stamp sets I used were Roses in Winter, Garden Silhouettes, It's your Birthday and Fancy Flexible Phrases. The FFP is such an awesome set, I can't believe SU never put it into the catalog. The rest is pretty self explanatory.

Don't forget to place your orders for retiring stamps, there are only a couple of days left. I just double checked my own list and placed an order for some of the plastic storage cases. I use them to store my miscellaneous stamps and embellishments. They are also great for storing card projects in process.

Thanks for stopping by.

Square Pair

After Christmas greetings!! I hope your day was filled with joy and you were surrounded by those you love! We had a nice relaxing day at our house, the in-laws were here to celebrate with us. We ate too much that is for sure and we don't even cook on Christmas!

Hubby bought me a beautiful KitchenAid food processor! I have been eyeing a food processor for several years but can never bring myself to spend the money. He said the deal was too good to pass up. I can't wait to try it out. My other gifts were all stamping related! I am so excited to have gotten a Scor-Pal and some Spica glitter markers!! I had to try out the Scor-Pal before the day was over.

Here is what I came up with... I took a 6" square of shimmer white card stock and scored it diagonally into a grid pattern. You could use a ruler and bone folder or a scoring blade on your Fiskars cutter if you don't have a Scor-Pal. I punched a 1 1/4" square out of a sheet of copy paper and used that as a mask to sponge on color. I used soft sky, wild wasabi and river rock inks. I then cut it into 2 pieces to use on my cards. Everything on these cards is SU except the white Liquid Pearls I used on the left card.

The card on the left uses Stem Silhouettes and Everyday Flexible Phrases. The card on the right uses Embrace Life and Celebrate Everything, both sets in the upcoming catalog. Click on the photo for a close up. The card stock is the same as the inks. White grosgrain ribbon finishes them off.

I can't wait to try the Scor Pal out on some boxes. We are off to Rochester for a dinner with family and friends. Maybe tomorrow will be more time to play.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's a Boy!

How are you?? I hope that as Christmas nears you are finding yourself ready and not over stressed. I am finding I have to choose this mindset rather than it just coming to pass. One of my pastors favorite things to say is, "breathe in, breathe out". I rather hate it when he tells ME that but I do need those reminders, LOL!
This afternoon we leave to go see my brother's family for 2 days. They welcomed their second son into the world on November 29th. We are all very anxious to see the new baby! I had made birth announcements for their first son and asked if she wanted some this time as well. I had purchased a 6x6 pack of Cosmo Cricket paper called Little Boys. At the time I had no particular plan for it but just loved the color scheme and worn look of the paper. I showed it to Melissa along with some ideas and she chose this airplane stamp from the now retired SU set, Toy Box. The colors were dictated by the patterned paper. I had parts of the design done but life and Christmas cards took front stage these last two weeks. Since we are going to see them today I was pressed into action last night. Lucky for me I had the energy and desire to make it a fun process. When it came time to type up all the info on the computer I was struck with the idea of doing it flight related to coordinate with the airplane. You should be able to read it or click on the photo for a larger view, but here is what it says

Announcing the arrival of

Logan Daniel_______

On flight 11.29.2007

Arrival time 3:51am

Baggage dimensions

7 lbs 2 oz

19.5 inches

Co-Pilots Chris & Melissa

Ground Crew Ethan

Sometimes a plan comes together and makes you smile!! I hope they like it! I printed it up on SU's vellum cardstock and set the ink with my heat gun. (after smearing the first 2!) There is a 3/4" strip of card stock that I ran through a Cuttlebug embossing folder so could I place my adhesive under that strip to keep it from showing through the vellum. I really need a circle punch to layer with the 1 3/8" one I have, I wanted to layer the airplane but have nothing close that would work. That would be my only complaint on these. There are dimensionals to pop up the circle. They plan to attach a photo to the left side to finish it.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Have an "ice" day!

The Dirty Dozen has started doing monthly challenges. It is open to all current and former DD. Each month we have a theme, a required element and a restricted element. This month was a penguin theme, the required element was ice of some kind and the restricted element was blue. What??!! Ice and no blue?? That is a challenge!

Well, put on your sunglasses, friends, my card is full of bling!! I knew I wanted to use this stamp by Whipper Snapper. I love the larger size of it and that I could do some coloring. My penguin selection is decent but most of them are smallish in size. I embossed it in black EP and watercolored him with a combination of watercolor crayons and inks. The ice is Icicle Stickles and it does look icy blue, but believe me it's just the Stickles. As much as I wanted to sneak a bit of blue in, I didn't cheat, LOL! I used Liquid Applique for the snow. I did use a snowflake stamp around the penguin that I embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. And it's all on shimmer white card stock. I couldn't let it rest there, though, I used the Cuttlebug snowflake folder on the pomegranate panel and added Dazzling Diamonds glitter with a Quickie Glue pen. The faux ribbon on the bottom uses a polka dot border stamp by Denami Designs. The silver accent is a Cuttlebug small embossing folder in a circle shape. I used silver card stock and cut off the corners so it wouldn't overwhelm the space. I highlighted the "cool" words with a black glaze pen.
This card was fun to make once I got over pouting about the blue restriction, LOL.

If you have a moment you should check out the other creations by the girls. There is such amazing talent in this group and I love to see how differently people interpret the challenge elements. See them here. More will be uploaded through out the day.

Have a great day!

Christmas Ornaments

So, I showed the ornament that I made for my host club exchange. The ladies were kind enough to send me theirs and the package arrived on Saturday. It was like Christmas!! I was so thrilled and awed by the beautiful ornaments they made!! I just had to brag on them a bit and show them to you!

The first one was made by Bev. It is one of those swinging ones, the proper name escapes me at the moment! I think the snowman is a Cornish Heritage Farm stamp. It says Merry Christmas on the other side. I love how the star is popped up and the little gems hang from the bottom. Isn't it wonderful??




The next one was made by Bonnie. She actually made a cute ensemble. She used gorgeous paper and a beautiful teal shimmer paint on the box and ornament. The jewels dress it up so pretty. Inside the box are really small wooden cubes that spell out "Joy".



The next one is from Gloria. She was one of the pastors DH worked with at our last church. Wait til I tell you her clever idea! She found sanding blocks that had a burgundy surface on them. The centers are gray foam. She covered the front with a stamped image and dressed it up with ribbon. But after enjoying it on the tree, it can be used to distress a stamping project! Isn't that the bomb??!!












Next up is Karen. Her and I love snowmen so this was so appropriate!! The mulbery type paper doesn't show up like I had hoped but the red and green colors and glitter are so perfect! She also used sparkly ribbon to tie it all together. That little snowman is one of my fav's he is so cute!







Last but not, least is Sue. She has been stamping way longer than me and has such great ideas. I had tried unsuccessfully to master these paper stars but Sue was able to do it. She used this beautiful ivory and gold paper and made it 3 dimensional by adhering 2 stars together. It is so fancy!



These ladies are such a joy to me. Now that I have moved, I look forward to those monthly get togethers when we have host club. We pack a lot into 2 hours!
Thanks ladies, I really love all of your ornaments. You are amazing!

Snowman Ornaments

Last year I ordered an ornament kit from Ellen Hutson's store. I never found the time to make them until this year. The kit came with frames, frosted glass and a stamp of my choice from the Lockhart ones she carries. I followed the instruction she included in the kit. Boy, were these fun to make! I had never worked with the frosted glass before and I just love the look of the clear embossing over the frosted side. I stamped the snowman in black onto white card stock and used Prismacolor pencils and my small assortment (5) of Copic markers to color them in. Once I had them colored it was just a matter of assembling them and adding a ribbon hanger.
I made these to exchange with my host club this month. Unfortunately, bad weather prevented us from meeting but I have sent the ornaments out for them. I hope I gave enough time so I haven't spoiled the surprise for them!

Tomorrow is the unveiling of a new Dirty Dozen gallery. This months theme challenged us all but you will find something for everyone I am sure!
Thanks for stopping in!

Again??!!

I probably won't get a chance to post tomorrow since I am working so I'm posting again today. I am sure you don't mind!

Anna, aka SweetMissDaisy, posted a sketch challenge on her blog and it was just the springboard I needed. Mr. Brown stopped by my house this morning with a box of new goodies and one of the things I ordered was a host level 2 bundle called, Spring Solitude. I loved that it came with a matching wheel. The stamp set itself is a bit weird, I think, it has some nice flowers and then this bird and a branch. It makes me feel like singing the Sesame Street song "one of these is not like the others". Boy, I hope you don't have that tune in your head all night now, LOL! Anyhow, I was determined to use the set without adding any stray stamps into the mix. Doesn't it look like it belongs on the Partridge family tour bus??? The colors and design are a bit out of the box for me and I am not entirely sure I like it. The groovy guava panel is wheeled with the coordinating wheel called, Solitude, using purely pomegranate ink. Part of the sketch was to round the 2 corners. I wanted to use the bird and the branch but there was way too much white space for my liking so I stamped the 3 flower stamp in sky blue for a subtle backdrop. I think that flower stamp makes a great background. The sentiment is the only one in the stamp set so I didn't have a choice there. I added a bit of pomegranate ribbon, used the ticket corner punch on the main panel, popped it onto dimensionals and called it good.

I like to try to make at least a few samples where I only use the stamps that come in the set. This gives people/customers a good idea of the possibilities.

Thanks for stopping by!

Makin' Stuff...

with my two sons. We have been making ornaments the last couple of years for them to give out at Christmas. This year they saw someone at AC Moore making Pearl Ex ornaments and they were excited to try them. Now mind you my boys are 9 and 11 and sometimes don't have the patience crafts require, but I give them an A for effort! It seemed simple enough, spray the inside of a round glass ornament with adhesive spray, add some Pearl Ex and shake it until it is fully covered. The spraying ended up to be a bit trickier than it looked. If you spray too much you get splotches and streaks where the glue builds up. But for a 9 and 11 year old I think their efforts came out pretty good. You an see by the bottom right ornament what I mean by splotching. We added a blue and a silver color to that one and the two tone looks great if it weren't for the wad of blue on the one side. I think my favorite is the burgundy one. We added burgundy Pearl Ex but needed to add more so we decided to add some gold and now it has a beautiful marbled look that is oh so classy looking. They were impressed with their efforts and that's all that counts.



Last month at host club we covered some of those containers I got from my SIL. We used the Wintergreen designer paper. In addition to the paper, we used sage shadow card stock for the tops, the scallop circle punch and celery grosgrain ribbon for an accent on the top. The ribbon acts as a pull to remove the lid. We adhered everything with sticky strip for a quick and mess free project. At the time we filled them with candy but we brainstormed other ideas for what to fill them with. Ornaments were suggested. The ornaments the boys made fit perfectly with just enough room for some tissue paper. I think the presentation will be lovely and then they will have a way to store them after the holidays or they can re purpose the container for something else. I love it!

Baby Cards

I was asked to make a baby card for someone having twins, a boy and a girl. I bet that would be a difficult card to try to find off the store shelf! I was up for a challenge eventhough I am a bit limited in the baby stamp department.

The first card I made used the SU hostess set, Eventful. Those peas in a pod are too cute! I figured celery was a neutral color for a baby card, personally yellow is not a favorite color. I used the celery Prints DP for the front, the polka dots were calling my name. The peas were stamped onto celery, bashful blue and pretty in pink. I cut them out and layered them onto a white scallop oval. The peas are on dimensionals and the edges are sponged just a bit. Since I definitely didn't have an appropriate sentiment for twins, I created my own using Karen Foster snap stamps, I think these were the 1/4" size casual ones. I used the Making Memories button brads in the corners.

I was going to leave it at one card but at the last minute did a second. Choices are good. This one has a completely different feel to it. I used a Fabriano notecard, those are wonderful for coloring. I stamped the stork from Buggies and Booties twice, one is delivering a girl and the other a boy. It is a simple card that gets it's wow factor from the notepaper and watercoloring. Of course stamped envelopes to match make it fun too!

I hope they fit the bill!

Thanks for stopping by, have a marvelous Monday!

Be Good Part ll

Good Sunday morning to you! Here is the second set of cards I made with the sheet of Cosmo paper. I did a bit more variety on these ones. Like yesterdays cards, these are a vanilla base, mellow moss, pieces of the designer paper and accents of chocolate chip.
Snowflake: I embossed the large snowflake with vanilla EP and rubbed some mellow moss over it for depth. The center has a small brown brad. I added the Denami stitching stamp and some chocolate grosgrain ribbon.
Moose cards: one uses the trees from the retired, Pines, set and the other the tall pine tree from Lovely as a Tree. The trees were stamped in mellow moss and accented with an artichoke marker. The moose is stamped in chocolate craft ink and embossed in clear EP. The bottom card also has a faint stamping of the geese from the Pines set. The last card uses a stamp from Block Party. I inked it in mellow moss and used artichoke and chocolate markers to highlight some of the lines. The ribbon is the taupe grosgrain ribbon that SU retired last year. Come to think of it the chocolate grosgrain is also no longer available in the narrower size. I thought that was a big mistake on SU's part and I stocked up while I could.
I like the more subdued colors of these cards and that they would be good choices for men in my life.
I am off to church! Have a great day.

Holiday Cheer!

Is anyone still out there??? I am sorry to have been absent for so long. Life sorta overwhelmed me there for awhile. Truthfully, it still is but who isn't feeling it this time of year? It didn't help that I had a bit of a stamping melt down. Ever had one of those?? It's not pretty, let me tell ya! I really just needed to walk away from my craft for time.
Last night I just stamped for fun, no plan in mind. I have been eyeing my pad of Cosmo Cricket Be Good paper that I got from Jacksonbelle. I just love those vintage type papers. I made these 4 cards using the same paper. I wanted simple and not necessarily Christmas. I used the pinecone from Peaceful Wishes and the pine needles from the now retired, Pines set. The pinecones were stamped with chocolate chip craft ink and embossed with clear powder. The pine needles were stamped in mellow moss. I added some Liquid Applique and let it set overnight before heating. TIP: be careful when applying LA over top of an embossed image, if you heat it too much the LA runs as the embossing melts. I used one of my new favorite stamps for the stitching. I got it from Denami Designs on-line. It is almost the full length of a card and I love the look of the stitches and how speedy they are compared to the machine stitches! Each of my cards is finished just a bit differently. I stamped the sentiment in choc. chip craft ink and embossed with clear EP so it would show up over the paper.

Tomorrow I will post what I did with the other half of this yummy paper.

Blessings on your day!