Sunday, September 30, 2007

Best Witches

Another busy weekend is coming to a close, whew! I was so tired this afternoon I took a nap... Now I can stay up later! I'm excited to share this card with you today. This is an image by Copper Leaf Creations, we just got these in at Scrapbooker's Corner and I'm working on coming up with some cards for a Halloween class there.

I plan to use a watercolor technique with this image for the class. I had to try coloring her with my Prismacolor pencils first though!

I love the Copic Spica glitter markers too, they add a nice sparkle and are easy to control the application of that sparkle.

Supply List: Stamps - Witch image, Best Witches! by Copper Leaf Creations. Paper - Sorbet Orange, Black, White. Ink - Palette Noir. Prismacolor Pencils - Orange, Spring Green, Violet, Light Peach, Beige, Sienna Brown, Yellow Ochre, Black. Accessories - Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder, Michael's Halloween Ribbon, Regular & Scalloped Ovals by Spellbinders, Copic Spica Orange & Black glitter markers.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Season Of Joy

I've been "working" at Scrapbooker's Corner so I've been away from home and will be again today.

I missed my blog post last night. This deal of working away from home takes organizational skills! It's been several years since I've had to do anything at any certain time other than my time. It's a challenge! On to my card~
This was my swap card for our Stampin' Up! demonstrators meeting. I haven't purchased very many sets from the new Stampin' Up! catalog and when I saw this one in the Holiday Mini Catalog I really (reealllyy) liked it and had some ideas of what I wanted to do with it.

I used Bad Sherry's cool sketch again, it's a keeper!

Supply List: Stamps - Season Of Joy, Paper - Light Pine Green, Old Olive, White, Ink - Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Cranberry Crisp. Accessories - Cranberry Grossgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges, Copic Spica Gold marker (for the star).

Have a great day!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Stampin Up Demonstrator Meeting Today

Today was our monthly Stampin' Up! Demonstrator meeting at Judy's in Lake Havasu City. We always have a wonderful time and today was no exception! Kim showed us how to make a Jacob's Ladder. I haven't taken a picture yet because I haven't decorated the outside of mine. Soon... This first card is Dagmar's swap card. You'll notice a common theme to these swaps that wasn't even intentional. Almost everyone really likes the new In Color Purely Pomegranite. Me too! I liked it so much I don't have any left...
This next card is Kim's swap. She was worried I might make a criss cross card for our swap but I didn't! We both totally enjoy Splitcoast Stampers and spend lots of time there so it's possible we could duplicate things.
This next card is Judy's, she's our upline and the meeting is at her house. She spoils us by making lunch for us. Usually some new wonderful recipe she has!
This card is made by Lanette who is Kim's sister. Lanette is our long distance Stampin' Up! buddie who lives in Laguna Hills, California. I hope one day we'll get to meet her in person when she comes to visit her sister if our timing for a demo meeting is right. That would be fun!

I'd like to ask you to pray for my friends today. I have a few who have lost loved ones in the last few days, others going through difficult times and even friends of a friend in another country who need our prayers for safety and strength. Thanks and have a great day!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Quickie Cards

Pam and I made our Monday trip to Lake Havasu this morning to Stamps & Stuff and Scrapbooks & More to make their Quickie Cards. This first one is from Stamps & Stuff, we used watercolor pencils on the stamp and spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it on the paper. Hmmm, I'd never tried that with watercolor pencils... watercolor crayons yes but not the pencils.

I think I'm trying to say I did something new today!

This card is the one we made at Scrapbooks & More, I believe she said the paper is by Heidi Grace and there are boxed sets of cards ready to make up available. The paper is flocked so it has a great texture.

I think I was rather distracted looking at the sketch challenge they'd posted. Oh I wanna play!! I have a stampers attention span... Oh look! and I'm on to the next thing.

I hope you have a great day, thanks for stopping by to visit!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Very Merry Classics

This is a card I made using Cambria's Criss Cross pattern. These are kinda fun!

Don't worry I'll try not to get carried away!
Supply List: American Traditional Designs Paper that's a couple of years old at least, Real Red and Garden Green cardstock, Stamps - I'm sorry I don't know it wasn't mine, Accessories - Round Tab Punch, Sizzix Holly & Berries die.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

BasicGrey

This is Beate's weekend sketch challenge, it's supposed to be square but I only had one sheet of Not Quite Navy left and it was already folded and cut into a card body so I went with it. I'm having fun with the Basic Grey papers I've brought home from Scrapbooker's Corner. My son Michael loved this paper with the rocket ships all over it and begged me to get it. He hasn't seen the card yet, I hope he likes it!

I started out cutting a rocket ship out of the 12 x 12 sheet of paper that looked like a good size to use for my focal image. I then used my Versamark pad and UTE on it to give it some shine and body. It looks better IRL! Oh well.

The sheet of paper is called Oh baby! Boy Dawson. I used Confetti Vanilla to put my Rocket on, that was the last thing I did though. I also have the tag sheet that goes with this paper called Oh Baby! Boy Tags (duh) , that's where the patterned paper with the small stars came from, it's actually a tag that I matted with Not Quite Navy. The next patterned paper is called Oh Baby! Boy Garic and it's matted with Apricot Appeal believe it or not.

I used the SU large Oval punch and two circle punches for the Happy Birthday tag, the eyelets are Cantalope Orange and came from Eyelets And More. The Happy Birhtday stamp is from Touche Rubber Stamps, the Grossgrain ribbon is bright orange just like some of the spots in the Garic paper. I wonder if I'll ever use all 100 yards of that?

Anyway, there's my sketch challenge card for Beate's blog.

Friday, September 21, 2007

The Trouble With Elephants...

is I can't seem to stop making them! There are 9 different cards on my table right now using this sheet of paper from Basic Grey. It all started with a fascination with this sheet of paper and how I could use those cute little elephants!
So guess where I just came from? Celebrate Recovery... but I forgot to mention all this in the small group meeting. I think they probably already know all about me anyway!

Anyway, this was a card sketch from Splitcoast Stampers awhile back that was a lot of fun.

I'll try to make something different tomorrow, I promise! I bought a sheet of Basic Grey patterned paper with space ships on it today... *grin*

Supply List: Stamps - Wild About You - unknown maker & unmounted, Paper - Basic Grey Oh Baby! Girl, Oh Baby! Girl - Sophie, Stampin' Up! More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, Ink - Elegant Eggplant, Accessories - Marvy Mega & Giga Scalloped Circle Punches, Circle punch.

Oh! I worked for a couple of hours at the LSS, Scrapbooker's Corner today and set up a blog for Diana and did some other fun stuff too!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Loads Of Love

I had to look in my Stampin' Up! catalog to see if this stamp set was retired yet, nope! Good for me!

It's been a crazy busy day and I've been on the run, I really don't like days like this but they happen sometimes.

I haven't used my Loads Of Love stamp set very much since I bought it, I haven't known how to color the truck and make it look good. I'm loving the Prismacolor pencils now! I also have 2 more Copic markers in shades of blue that I colored a left over truck with today. It's an interesting mess! I'll keep practicing...

Supply List: Stamps - Loads Of Love, Circle Of Friendship, Paper - Always Artichoke, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, PSX Evergreen Trees, Ink - Noir Black, Always Artichoke, Accessories - SU Photo Corners punch, Circle punches, Chocolate brad.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Wild About You!

Or maybe Pink Elephants, or could this be a "One Sheet Wonder"?

I spent some time at our LSS today with Diana "my boss" (insert big grin here) and have had my eye on this piece of paper for awhile. The first time I saw it I imagined cutting out the little elephants with my Oval and Circle punches. So today I took a sheet home with me and managed to punch and die cut 18 elephants out of the 12 x 12 sheet of paper. I think you could call that a "One Sheet Wonder" in Stampin' Up! talk. Cool!
I'm patterned paper challenged so I'm really happy with how these turned out! Most people I've noticed don't use the patterned paper as the focal point either. What can I say? It's a fun kind of weird!

The sheet of paper is by Basicgrey, it's called Oh Baby! Girl. The body of the card is Cameo Coral, the second layer is Certainly Celery and I had to go deep into my file drawer to find a sheet of Confetti White, it's been a long time since I've used Confetti White!

The oval shapes are cut out with my Spellbinders Nestabilities dies, did I tell you how cool these are?! I just love them!

The stamps I used are Palm Fronds by Stampendous and the Wild About You! is an unmounted stamp that came in a bundle off of E Bay. I also used some of my pretty May Arts ribbon in Celery.

Oh, the ink for my background paper is Creamy Carmel, Certainly Celery and Old Olive. The sentiment is stamped in Old Olive.

This one was fun to make too, kind of a stand by sketch for me too. This is one of Beate's sketch challenges and I've used it for many different cards.

Paper - Certainly Celery, Bazzill Light Blue, Confetti White, Basicgrey Oh Baby! Girl, Ink - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Stamps - SU It's Your Birthday, Stampendous Palm Fronds, Accessories - May Arts ribbon, Circle Punches, Marvy Scalloped Mega Circle, Carl Rotary Cutter with scallop blade, Cuttlebug Ribbon Slide die, paper piercing tools.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Miracle Of Christmas

It's Sunday and there's a challenge going on at Bad Sherry's blog! It's a sketch challenge and she was kind enough to say I inspired it.

I was browsing several days ago and came across an awesome card she'd made on her blog and just had to make one using her layout. I liked it so much I sat down and drew it on paper. I linked my first card to her challenge in the comments section and kept thinking about the sketch. I'm trying to focus on Christmas cards right now so I thought I should try the sketch as a Christmas card. I like it!

Supply List: Stamps - Miracle Of Christmas, Antique Lace both retired Stampin' Up!, Paper - Ice Blue, Nut Brown, White, Ink - Basic Brown, Creamy Carmel, Accessories - Chocolate Grossgrain Ribbon, SU Corner Rounder Punch, SU Photo Corners Punch, Chocolate Brads, Stampin' Sponges, Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Louie's 2007 Myanmar Mission Trip Scrapbook Pages~

I have 2 more scrapbook layouts to share with you today. I'm also working on my Pastor's mission trip scrapbook and have kind of neglected it lately, I'm so close to being finished with it too! Maybe I'm having separation anxiety, I think I like having the scrapbooks around for some reason.

This layout was fun. I was at SCS this morning checking out the sketch challenge and a Ways To Use It challenge and came across Julia Stanton's tutorial on how to make a scalloped edge with the Stampin' Up! slit punch. Very cool! I sat here and practiced for awhile and decided I'd better get to work! Usually when I scrapbook I have no idea what I'm going to end up with and the above layout was one of those. It's difficult to make scrapbook layouts with pictures from another country because we don't have the same stuff. I like to pull the details out of the pictures and use them for embelishments.

The two ladies in these pictures are wearing they're native dress. They're tribes colors are black and red so those are the colors I chose for this layout. I used my Lizzie Anne Designs Jolies Fluers stamp set to make my paper and the computer to do all the names and title. I used Stampin' Up!s small and large oval punches as well as my new Spellbinders Ovals dies and of course I couldn't resist using the Stampin' Up! slit punch for a scalloped border. A little paper piercing was fun and the finishing touch was 10 red eyelets in the scallops. Did I keep it masculine enough by using the hardware? I hope so! I'm really happy with the way this layout came out, I hope Louie is too.

This layout was fun too! They were leaving Yangon and heading for Bangkok to spend the night and then fly home the next day. I think he said it was a 15 hour flight.
The first picture is in Yangon, I loved the sunset and the palm tree. And... I remembered that the Cricut cartridge I was using yesterday at the LSS had a palm tree in it. One of my girl friends was working there today and I needed to stop and take her some lunch so while I was there I cut out a couple of palm trees. I brought them home and used my SU Weathered background stamp on the trunk of the palm tree in Creamy Carmel and I have a Palm Frond stamp by Stampendous that I inked with Old Olive and used on the palm fronds. I sponged around the edges of each before I put them together. I used 2 layers on the palm fronds and foam tape for added demension. You can click on the pictures if you'd like to see the details up close and personal.
Oh... the things that entertain me...
The sign for the airport in Bangkok intrigued me with all it's arrows and I realized I had a Zip' E Mate die that had arrows on it too. Cool! It did take me 2 tries to get them cut out, it's been so long since I used the die I had it up side down. It works a lot better when the blades are against the paper! Duh, lol.
The next page is a picture of Louie at the airport under a sign being silly and a cute story to go along with it that I copied and pasted off his blog. I swiped his words and used them in his scrapbook, it makes the journaling easier! And of course the picture of that big air plane they came home on.
It's been a good day, I hope yours is too!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Melissa's Wedding Album

Today is my oldest son's 18th birhtday, seems hard to believe that much time has passed! Happy Birthday Daryl!!

I've worked at the Scrapbooker's Corner for a few hours the last couple of days and totally enjoyed myself. I've been learning how to use their Cricket machine, playing with Alcohol Inks (not very successfully!) and made up a couple of cards to use for classes I get to teach.

I'm looking forward to staying home Thursday and working right here on scrapbook projects.

I have two layouts from Melissa's Wedding album for you today. I've used my Fancy Pants Pollen Dust clear stamp set to make the paper for the pages. All of them are the same and it gets to me at times.

I thought since this is a wedding album it needs to be elegant so the pages should be tone on tone. Which is really White card stock and Sahara Sand ink. I received my Spellbinders Nestabilities preorder from PAPERTREYink. the other day and I must say, they rock! All I'd been doing with this album was making paper, printing and matting pictures and sticking them down. Now that I have those new dies I've really started adding some detail to the pages.


Another great thing about those dies is they go through my Zip' E Mate (whew!), I thought they would but had never tried that brand before. I used my Lizzie Anne Designs Gettin' Hitched stamp set and the Copic Spica glitter pens for the Groom's toast on the first layout.
While I was out today I saw the Pastor of Grace Assembly Of God church here in town and he wants to see me about making Christmas cards for his church again this year. I've made all their Birthday, Anniversary, Get Well, Sympathy, and Pastor's note cards this year. It's truly a blessing to have that job and I'm excited to see what I can come up with for Christmas for them this year.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Rudolph & Santa In Arizona

I started this project almost a week ago and I finished up last night. I had to put them away to wait for my Copic Spica markers from Ellen Hutton LLC to arrive. I've placed a couple of orders there now and love their quick shipping!

Above is a picture of part of the process of making 2 dozen Christmas cards. This was one of my top selling cards last season, they are rather time consuming and I have to charge more for them but my customers don't seem to mind.

This year I've changed them just a little. I've never colored them with Prismacolor pencils before because last year I didn't have any. I should have put a picture of last years card in too, there's quite a difference. The Prismacolor pencils add so much more depth to the image, I love it!

Here's my finished card. Rudolph and Santa are a stamp from Eureka Stamps, the Cactus is a separate stamp from The Stamp Mill and the sentiment is by Copper Leaf Creations.

I colored Rudolph, Santa and the Cactus with Prismacolor pencils. The bells on Rudolph's collar and Santa's buckle and the lights on the Cactus are colored with Copic Spica glitter markers. Rudolph's red collar is colored with a Copic marker, ah, the only one I have...

I'm really pleased with the way my cards turned out and really happy to be done with them too!

I have lots of stuff to share with you but I'll save it for another post. I have a couple of friends I'm talking with online tonight so I'm going to get back to that for now. Have a good one!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Melissa's Wedding Album

I'm working on Melissa's Wedding Album today and just finished this layout and wanted to share it with you. The pictures were taken New Year's Eve 2006, this is her future husband Shelvy proposing to her. I love the smile on his face that was captured by the photographer, what a sweet moment.

I used the Doodle This stamp set for this layout, I like the flourishes and this was a casual affair they were at. I have an EK Success mini flower punch and thought it would be perfect to cover the flowers in this stamp and give the layout some depth. Melissa's birth stone is the Pearl and I just happen to have some "Pearls" with adhesive backs for the flower centers. I'm not all that crazy about my own handwriting but I did my best with that part.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

There's a challenge going on...

Hey! There's a challenge going on over at Inky Paws today. It's all about bling! You know, glitter, irridescent ice embossing powder, stickles and the like.

This is the card I made for the challenge, now I need to figure out how to put a link to my card in the comment section on her blog. You can also put your card in your SCS gallery with the title JBWW and add a link in the comments section to enter. There are no prizes for the winner just the chance to challenge your creativity. Sounds like fun to me!

The details on my card: Stamps - are all by Touche' Rubber Stamps, Paper - Navy, Brocade Blue, White, Ink - White Craft Ink, Night Of Navy, Accessories - GG Ribbon, Glitter & Clear Embossing powder I mixed together.

I noticed last night that my cards have all been square lately. This one breaks the pattern!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

...c.a.s.e.-ing Bad Sherry

First things first, I have exciting news to share today! I have a new job teaching classes at our local scrapbook store!! I'm so excited!! I'll teach two classes next month and we've scheduled classes into the first week of December. I'd like to work in the store one day each week too so I can learn all I can about their "stuff", because it's a little different than my "stuff"!

I think it's going to be fun and challenging, I'm going to learn how to use designer papers on cards - my biggest struggle! She'd also like me to teach technique classes, I can do that!

I was blog browsing this morning and saw a card on Bad Sherry's blog that I thought was just stunning and felt the need to c.a.s.e. it. I hope she's flattered, she made hers for the Limited Supply Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. You can view Sherry's card by clicking the link above.

The first card is an Oops, Can you see it? Leave a comment if you can!

Supply List: Stamps - Stampin' Up! Paisley background, Hope Is (retired), Paper - Pretty In Pink, White, Ink - Pretty In Pink, Accessories - White GG Ribbon, Pink & White Brads.


Thursday, September 6, 2007

Best Fiends

I love this stamp set! My picture isn't the best today, I made this card last year for a friend and all I have now is the picture. When I saw the booquet in this set, that jar of eyeballs I have popped into my mind, had to have it! ...but it's a fun kind of weird...

I've been busy with my Prismacolor pencils coloring Christmas cards and I don't have a finished card yet. My wrist is sore... this getting "older" thing stinks sometimes. Here's the deal, I'm making 2 dozen cards so that's why they're not done. Assembly line production, when one is done they'll all be done, what could be better?

I've also been on line learning about alcohol based markers, aka Copic markers. I really think I want some of those! I've found some good tutorials by "googling" what's on my mind, I've also found single markers from $4.69 to $5.99 so shopping around is a good idea. I don't have much of a budget to work with at the moment so I'll put them on my Christmas wish list.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Joyful Greetings ~ Hero Arts Clear Stamps

Can you tell I have Christmas cards on my mind? August was a slow month for me and I've been thinking I need to spend my spare time making Christmas cards. When that busy time comes it will be easier to fill my orders.

This is the new Joyful Greetings clear stamp set from Hero Arts. I like all the images it has and there are 3 verses with it. Very versatile.

I used a Sizzix die called Square Set to cut out the square because it fit so nicely inside the Marvy Giga Scalloped Square Punch outs.

To color the image I used a Copic marker R29 Lipstick Red. I thought it was a nice compliment to Stampin' Up!s Real Red card stock. The stars on the image are colored with a Gold Copic Spica marker because they sparkle.

I used Brilliance Gamma Green Pearlescent ink on the white panel because it matches the Astrobrites Gamma Green card stock beautifully. The SU equivalent would be Glorious Green.

The swirls on the Real Red are stamped in Memories White die ink and I used my Carl cutter with the scallop blade to trim the White panel in Gamma Green.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Return of the lost girl...

I feel like the lost girl. Is it because of the long weekend with kids? Maybe ~

I didn't do any stamping today until after dinner. It wasn't going so well at first either! I almost tossed this image in the trash because I didn't like the way I water colored the background. At the last moment I thought, hmmm maybe I should cut it out. Saved!

This was an image my friend Pat in California sent to me for my birthday in June so I didn't want to waste it! Thanks Pat!!

Supply List: Cardstock - Real Red, Basic Black, White, Watercolor paper. Stamps - Cruisabella, Su Paisley background, retired SU Highways & Biways background, Hello Girlfriend by Hero Arts. Accessories - Dotted organdy ribbon, Black brad, silk flower painted with Stampin' Write Real Red marker, Aquapainter and SU Classic ink pads and Encore Silver Metalic.

I do have something else I'd like to share about my weekend, it started with an e mail from a friend I lost contact with 17 years ago.

She "googled" my name and found me at Splitcoaststampers then linked off of there onto my blog. How cool is that?!

We lived in Lake Havasu City, AZ and were close friends in junior high and high school. When we graduated we went our separate ways then reconnected in Tuscon Arizona and ended up working for the same place at the same time. I got married and moved and the last time we were together I was pregnant with my first child. She was in the midst of changes in her life too and we lost contact. I kept my phone number the same for almost 15 years in hopes of hearing from her again and she found me through the internet. Wow!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

...and the winner is!!

Cheryl KVD! Fabulous blog candy! Totally Tabs!!! I have to have it. I think it's a great idea to add to the tab punch that I have. I can't wait to get it! Thanks!!Cheryl KVD
August 30, 2007 5:55 AM

Cheryl please send me your snail mail address so I can send your package of goodies!