Carte Postale...bye! bye!

Happy Monday! Here's another stamp set to bite the dust...Carte Postale! I honestly never used it that much, but it is very pretty. I think it was in a mini catalog first, right? I'm a huge sucker for those mini catalog sets!

I made this yesterday for the Splitcoast Featured Stamper 73 challenge. The featured stamper is chelemom and you can see the wonderful, simple card that I cased here. She used that scoring technique for her background that I've been wanting to try since I got my Scor-Pal. It is very easy! I also used my scallop square Nestabilites to emboss the center square. There's a bunch of great videos on You Tube to show you how to do it with your Cuttlebug, I watched this one by Angie Kennedy Juda.

I used her layout, but I changed the colors, I used the scallop square in the center instead of a straight-lined square, and I attached a greeting to the ribbon, since I didn't have room in my center square.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to answer! I told dh I'd fix him dinner again (I know, I'm so wonderful! lol!), so I have to dash! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Don't forget to enter the blog candy post right here! You have until midnight tonight (CST) to enter!

Recipe
Stamps: Carte Postale
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Purely Pomegrante.
Ink: Versamark, Purely Pomegrante.
Accessories: Sherbert Designer Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Heat & Stick Powder, Heat Gun, Rose Pink Fine Cosmo Glitter, 1 1/4" Square Punch, Ice Circle Rhinestone Brad, Dimensionals, Square Scallop Nestabilities by Spellbinder, Cuttlebug, Scor-Pal, Silver Ring thing unknown (maybe 7Gypsies?).

Big Pieces & Little Pieces...another goodbye!

Happy Sunday! Here are more retiring sets for you: Big Pieces & Little Pieces. Sigh. I bought Big Pieces back when it first came out in a mini catalog, and I believe this is the first time I actually used it. Sigh. Now that I've made this card, however, I can see using it for scrapbook pages. (I know, I know, I do SO many of those!)


This card design is from the April Stampin' Success (a SU magazine for demonstrators). It's a perfect sketch if you want to work with circles. It also worked out well for this week's Splitcoast Limited Supply Challenge #174: Brads are not the Pits, where you have to incorporate brads into your design...they cannot be just an accent, AND...this is the kicker...NO ribbon or any other kind of accessories! Ack! No ribbon! Inconceivable!

Also, a quick toot...can't believe I won Card of the Week over at 2 Sketches 4 You! How cool is that! There is some amazing talent over there, be sure and check out all of the cards!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Stamps: Big Pieces, Little Pieces.
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Summer Picnic DSP.
Ink: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive.
Accessories: Circle Punches (3/4", 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8"), Brads, SAB Rub-Ons.

More Retiring: Polka Dots & Paisley & Be Happy

Good evening/morning! Hope your Friday was great! I left the house (shocker!) and spent the day with my fabulous teacher friends shopping and dining in historic downtown Waxahachie. I'm afraid my schedule is a little off, if you could call what I had a schedule, I'm not sure actually! lol!

Anyway, after a nap from 8:00 to 11:30 pm and then catching up on Google Reader, I pulled out some more retiring sets to play with. For this first simple card I used Polka Dots and Paisley and made myself use a non-normal color for me, in this case, Almost Amethyst. Am I the only one who falls into the trap of using my favorite colors over and over?!

That glittery Pretties kit flower has been laying rejected on my desk for several months now, and even though it was colored in with Pale Plum and Aquapainters, the color worked okay, probably because it was covered in glitter! I do like the way my little "ticket" turned out. Have you noticed these "tickets" all over the place lately?! I rolled the Confetti White cardstock with the My ABCs wheel and then used the Ticket Corner Punch on it. I may experiment with some more designs tomorrow! I mean today! hee! hee!

For this card I used the Be Happy stamp set, trying to stick with similar colors: Pretty In Pink, Almost Amethyst and Basic Gray. The chipboard flower is from On Board Blossoms & Basics, and that Almost Amethyst ribbon is from the Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals.

If you have any questions let me know, and I can post the recipes later if anybody wants them. I better get to bed now...if dh catches me up this late, I'm going to be in big trouble! lol! Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Don't forget to enter the blog candy post right here! You have until July 1 at 12:00 a.m. to enter!

Dare to be Darling: Kazan's Sketch 3

Schwooo! I barely made it back in time today with a card featuring a retiring stamp set! I don't know where this day went! Well, I know some of it went on the sofa, but a lot of it went on cleaning and organizing my stamp room, because I could NOT stand it one minute longer! lol! And wait! Some of it went to me cooking dinner! Yes! I surprised dh and cooked my first meal since I've been on summer break: spaghetti, yummy! (Well, I've cooked frozen pizzas and made a few salads, does that count?!) Don't feel too bad for him, he has had cookies, brownies, banana nut bread, etc.

But I digress! This card is made with the retiring set Dare to be Darling. This poor set never got a lot of love from the stamping community, but I've always loved it. It was set up for failure in this current catalog, I just went through twice looking for it and couldn't find it. (I confess, I could not remember the name!)

For the card layout, I used Kazan's Sketch 3. Have you been over to the 2 Sketches 4 You blog? Great stuff and sketches! They have sponsors and give away prizes, so go check it out and give it a try!

In case you're wondering about the 4 circle openings on the card...I punched out 4 circles from computer paper with the 1 1/4" punch. Then I stuck the circles down on top of my patterned paper with temporary Mono adhesive. Once I had them arranged and placed evenly, I punched right on top of them again with the 1 1/4" punch. Easy peasy! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't forget to enter the blog candy post right here! You have until July 1 at 12:00 a.m. to enter!

Recipe
Stamps: Dare to be Darling
Cardstock: Old Olive & Whisper White; Bali Breeze, Jersey Shore & Rose Red Prints DSP.
Ink: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Purely Pomegranate.
Accessories: Felt Flowers, Vintage Brads, Jumbo Eyelet, Old Olive Poly Twill ribbon, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Slit Punch, Earth Element button, Glue Dots, Dimensionals.

Blog Candy Time!

I finally made it to 50,000 hits the other day, so it's time for some Blog Candy! Thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving your kind comments! It's been wonderful getting to know so many of you out there!

For this candy, I decided to offer up the 38 cards I made at the Splitcoast Arlington Shoebox Swap. Yes, these 38 cards represent 12 hours spent stamping one Saturday in May! As you can see, these are REALLY GOOD cards! I hope if you win them, you can put them to good use!

Just leave a comment telling us which color set below most appeals to you! I think everyone knows by now I am a Bashful Blue girl! I describe them below as Blues, Pinks, Soft Skys, Oranges, Greens, Brights, and Masculine. I will announce the winner at 12:00 am on July 1!









Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

EDITED TO ADD: I did not design these cards! I can't take credit for that! At a shoebox swap, each person designs a card and cuts & prepares all of the supplies for it, then puts it all in a box of some sort with their sample card. When you get there, you put your box out, then you move around from station to station and just quickly stamp the card at each station by copying from the sample. Does that make sense?! Sorry if that was confusing or misleading!

Drawing closed to announce winner! Thanks for visiting!

So Much...a sad goodbye

Happy Wednesday! Hope everyone is having a good week! I slept way too late then made this card when I got up! (Life is good!) Continuing with my pledge to use retiring stamp sets until the end of June, I used So Much for this card...click on it for a better view. I love this set and should have bought it sooner, but it will be staying with me so it will still have a life!

I was trying to multi-task since I have stamp club tonight, so I got the colors from Kristina's Color Inspiration 13 (never got around to trying one of her challenges before, don't know why, because she rocks!) and the layout from the Unity Sketch Challenge (I don't own any of their stamps, but they are giving some away free if you try this sketch & post it by 8:00 CST tonight) going on here at Splitcoast.

To make the flowers on the card, I stamped the flower once in Regal Rose, then turned the stamp the other direction and stamped over the first flower in Purely Pomegranate. It kind of made a "full" flower that way...and it reminds me of Spirograph...did you have that when you were a kid? I *loved* Spirograph!

Okay, gotta get moving...must get dressed and put on some make-up since girls are coming over for Stamp Club tonight! hee! hee! Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

*Edited to add another picture, is it any better? Not sure, but oh well! Do you ever really like a card but think the photo doesn't do it justice? When I showed the card to dh when he came home from work, he replied by shouting "HI" at me! He cracks me up!


Recipe
Stamps: So Much.
Cardstock: River Rock.
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose.
Accessories: Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon from SU. "HI" letters from Paper Studio at Hobby Lobby. White solid eyelet things unknown.

So Happy Splitcoast Color Challenge 172

Happy Tuesday evening! I'm glad some of you liked my vintage treasures down below! I managed to get one quick card done today to share! When I saw the Splitcoast Color Challenge 172: Wild Wasabi, Taken with Teal, and White, my initial reaction was ewwww, because I am not a Teal fan. But, I perused the gallery and saw some cute cards with a LOT of white, so that's what I went with too! lol! Plus, I only found two small scraps of Teal cardstock I could even work with.

I'm going to try and *showcase* some of the retiring stamp sets from now until the end of June. I was thinking of doing it longer, but let's face it...once those new pre-order sets are available, I'll be moving on! lol!

So for this card I used the set So Happy and the Dilly-Dally Friends wheel. For the center of the flower, I stamped the circle in Wild Wasabi on white cardstock, then punched it out with the 1" circle punch, covered it with a big blob of Crystal Effects (same as Diamond Glaze stuff), then poured the green glitter over it and waited for it to dry. I like the texture and the way it's raised up, three-dimensional like.

Okay, ta-ta for now! Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Stamps: So Happy, Dilly-Dally Friends wheel.
Cardstock: Whisper White, Taken with Teal, Wild Wasabi.
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Taken with Teal.
Accessories: Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Green Chunky Glitter, Paper Piercer & Mat Pack, 1" Circle Punch, Eyelet Setter, Dimensionals.

Vintage finds aka little treasures!

Warning: not stamping related, but will be back later today with stamping!

Happy Tuesday! Thought I would share a few vintage treasures with you today! When I was organizing/cleaning/purging my teacher mess last week, I was looking for a place to store some more junk and noticed an old antique suitcase in my bedroom, perfect! I bought it in on one of our trips to Missouri when we had the car (instead of flying...I learned the HARD way about antique shopping when flying when we first got married and I bought several LARGE items that were either carried on the plane or shipped back to TX and DH about divorced me!), which I realized was December 2006. When I opened it up, I found all these treasures that I had sort of forgotten I had stored inside the suitcase. Click here to see individual photos over at flickr if you like.

There was a yummy box of ephemera that I investigated more closely yesterday. It's from a drugstore in Mexico, Missouri, and mostly filled with canceled checks, bookkeeping reports, some litigation documents with Butterick Pattern Company, etc. But my favorite part that you can see on top is "Prohibition Reports 1928, 1929, 1930". Inside are these reports that documented all the medicinal alcohol sales...what they were, what the alcohol content was, etc. So cool!


Mostly I'm posting this because I found a great blog last week that you will love if you're an antiquer/junker, etc. It's called Fresh Vintage and is written by Colleen, and let me tell you, she is HILARIOUS! When I read the bottom of this post about her dad and electricity I was laughing so hard, tears were running down my face.

Okay, I better get moving this morning! I'll be back later with something stamped and some blog candy for passing 50,000 hits! I had been watching, but then it kind of snuck up on me and I missed it! Thanks for stopping by!

Crop Challenge Cards & Scrapbooker's Natural Habitat Video

You may remember when my friends and I crop, we like to have last minute, timed challenges before we leave. (I'm sure the store loves this, as we're always the last to clean up and leave! lol!) Anyway, we had one challenge at 11:30 and one at 11:45. This card I made was my favorite, based on a picture in Lori's Country Home magazine (I asked dh to buy it at the grocery store yesterday, but he said they didn't have it. Bummer!). Anyway, the walls had this green damask wallpaper, the furnishing were mostly white/cream, there was an antique wicker coffee table with a Cool Caribbean vase on it, and the walls were covered with old white/cream plates and platters. It was gorgeous!


I didn't have many stamps with me or any 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, so I gave everyone a card cut from this fabulous green Amy Butler paper. It matched the room walls perfectly!

Here is Beverly's card, love her 3 circles (like the antique plates) and the yummy crushed velvet ribbon:


Here is Margaret's card, could her oval die-cut image be anymore perfect?!


Here is Lori's card, great idea to use the oval punch (like the antique platters) and bring in the touch of blue like the vase!


Now...on to the other challenge! This is my card:


In my attempt to "use up my stuff", I decided to give everyone a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of the BoBunny paper I had just used on my Element page (one post below) that I had used to cover the chipboard girl piece. (Lori was kind of enough to lend me some brown textured cardstock for the card base, thank you!) I ended up stamping the "fabulous" (Heidi Swapp) on the back of my paper and showing the front of the paper on the arrow.

Here is Lori's card, love the way she chopped of part of the flower on the side and that ribbon is to die for!

Here is Margaret's card, she had another perfect die-cut and the SU stretchy ribbon is so cute too!

Here is Beverly's card, love the way she punched out the flowers with the Boho Flower punch to match the paper!


Doesn't that look like fun?! Don't you wish you had been there?! lol! If you're still with me at this point, I want to share with you a video I found last week while blog surfing (I did a LOT of that last week!) that I was telling the girls about. It's from Emily Falconbridge's blog, she's a designer for Scrapbooks, Etc. It's done by her husband about a "scrapbooker's natural habitat." It is so funny, I love the "scrapbooker's droppings"! His accent makes it so awesome, it could totally be featured on PBS! Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

my Element

Hi guys! Hope your weekend is going well! This is a quicky post because I'm still getting ready for Stamp Club at 2:00. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "How is she not ready for stamp club? She's not working, she's home all week, etc." and believe me, that's what I'm asking myself too!

I went to a crop with the girls last night and this is the ONE 12x12 page (we did make some challenge cards, I'll be back to post those later!) I made. Sigh. Scrapping is such a challenge for me! I was so stressed by the time I got there, because of the packing of the supplies. It's just too much! How do you know what to take? From now, I'm just working on swap cards that are already designed and ready to go. Remind me of that later, okay?!

Anyway, the page is mostly SU stuff, including the original Office Accoutrements designer paper and It's a Date set. The little chipboard girl (isn't she cute!) is from Maya Road, the paper on her is from Bo Bunnyy, the chipboard arrow and bracket are American Crafts, and the foam letters are from Paper Studio from Hobby Lobby.

I had to show you real quickly what happens when you're trying to photograph your page and your husband is shooting you with the Batman Disc Launcher toy from the Honey Nut Cheerios cereal box and you're ignoring him...he decides to insert himself into your photo right as you snap it. Sigh. Boys!


Have a great Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!

Patriotic June Stamp Club

Happy Saturday! I guess I was feeling very patriotic this month so all the June Stamp Club projects turned out patriotic! I was trying to get the old-fashioned look with this card (I couldn't resist adding an antique button, I've collected jars full of them), and I'll show the members how to make a paper ribbon:

I love using brown paper lunch sacks, and I had this idea as I was falling asleep one night. I wanted to put a "star on a stick" (it's a bamboo skewer), and I thought it would be cute poking through a gift bag as a decoration. It would really be cute to decorate them differently and make a "bouquet" of stars for a centerpiece too. I used the SU arrow punch for the edge on the top of the bag, just punched it, then folded it down.


Lastly, I was trying to find a way to incorporate the sneak peek set Fresh Cuts since it's on special this month, but I wanted it to fit the patriotic theme, so this is what I came up with. I didn't actually use the Fresh Cuts stamp set, but did use the die-cut notecards at least!


If you have questions about any of the projects, just email me or ask in the comments and I'll get back to you! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Triple Challenge Card: Peace

Happy Friday! Thanks so much for all the nice comments on yesterday's card! It feels so great when you get comments and you know your card isn't a stink bomb! lol!

I had the best time making this card in a little late night challenge with Tara over at Stampalicious. I've noticed her up late some nights and told her to email me if she wanted a late night challenge, so this was our first one! I'm thinking it might be a new thing...we can see how it goes. So if you're up at midnight and want a challenge, email me and you can play along!

Okay, as I titled the post, it was a triple challenge:
Splitcoast Color Challenge #171: Kraft, Soft Sky & Basic Black
Laura's Sketch 2 over at 2 Sketches 4 You
Splitcoast Ways to Use It #171: Rick Rack revisited (optional, in case you didn't have ric rac)

I first attempted this color challenge on Tuesday when it was announced, but I gave up...just didn't like it and couldn't make it work. Then last night it just clicked! I think it was the challenge/deadline part that got me motivated. The stamp is from Tim Holtz for Stamper's Anonymous, I had been wanting to try it with Black Embossing Powder. The little tag is from Pockets and Pieces (page 192 of SU catalog), they're really cute and I kind of forgot about them. The black label is from a Dymo label maker and the black ric rac is Basic Grey that I received free at a Recollections crop long ago.

Okay, better get busy. I have Stamp Club Sunday so better pick up the pace on organizing and cleaning up my boxes. On a side note, I had my favorite recurring dream last night: you find an extra empty room in your house that you forgot you had! Does anyone else have this dream? It was even better last night because I found 2 rooms: one was empty and one was filled with extra furniture I forgot I had! I had so much fun moving stuff and decorating in that dream! Alas, no extra rooms here in real life. sigh.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have you stamped something today!

Recipe
Stamps: Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous.
Cardstock: Kraft, Soft Sky, Basic Black, Soft Sky Prints DSP.
Ink: Versamark.
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Black Hemp, Pockets & Pieces, Ticket Corner Punch, Eastern Elegance Rub-On, Library Clip (retired), Dimensionals. Others: Basic Grey Ric Rac, Dymo Label Maker.

Two Challenges: BIC18 and SC181

Happy Thursday! I have to admit, last night I had to ask DH, "Is this Tuesday or Wednesday?" and it really didn't make any difference to me! Love that! I have been working on my June Stamp Club projects (which I did finish and will photograph later when the rain stops and there's better light), but I took a little break last night to work on Beate's Be Inspired Challenge #18 and the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge #181. (Oooh, look how those numbers coincide?!) The Be Inspired Challenge was based on this cake, isn't it fabulous?!


You know it wasn't hard for me, since Bashful Blue is my favorite color. I did break out of my Whisper White box and use Very Vanilla for a change. I can also happily say I used Fresh Cuts again...the little green flower/vine stamp is from Fresh Cuts. The sentiment is from Fun & Fast Notes...another set that we received at Convention last year, like Wanted, that has been sadly neglected by me!

Okay, off to do some more organizing. I'm slowly getting the teacher pile in the dining room organized and put away. It stormed Tuesday and the power went out for an hour, so that got me started, luckily. I'm proud to say I waited ONE more hour and kept working before I turned the comptuer back on! hee! hee!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Fun & Fast Notes.
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue & So Saffron Prints DSP, Ginger Blossom DSP.
Ink: Certainly Celery, Ruby Red.
Accessories: Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Bashful Blue Brads, Three for You Flower Punch, Dimensionals.

Fresh Cuts...finally

Happy Wednesday! I finally did it...I mounted and used my Fresh Cuts set after having it for a week! I've seen a lot of pretty cards with this set, so I broke down and ordered it, but it's not my normal style and I haven't felt inspired to use it. I decided to try to use it and make it my style!

The main background image was stamped on pink Berrry Bliss paper in Brown Staz-On ink. It needed something, so I punched a flower from Chocolate Chip cardstock, covered it in Versamark, then Heat & Stick Powder, heated it, then poured on the pink glitter. I added an antique button to the center to fnish it off. I do like the antique touches.

Speaking of antique touches, I wanted to respond quickly to a comment I received on this card that expressed concern over using an original photo on a card. As I mentioned in the details on that post, I purchased that photo at a flea market and it had no personal meaning or value to me. I would never use an original, valuable family photo on a card. Just wanted to make that clear!

Also, here's a little more information on the new SU Decor Elements line. It looks really cool! Demonstrators can pre-order items and brochures today, which I'm off to do next, and customers can order them starting July 1. If any of my customers would like a brochure, send me an email! When I get my order and apply my "elements" I'll post some pictures for you to see. You're going to love them!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today!

Recipe
Stamps: Fresh Cuts
Cardstock: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Confetti Cream, Berry Bliss DSP.
Ink: Brown Staz-On, Versamark.
Accessories: 5-Petal Flower Punch, Heat & Stick Powder, Heat Gun, Light Pink Chunky Sprinkles Glitter, Brown Poly Twill Ribbon, Cutter Kit (for distressing edges), Pop Up Glue Dot, Mini Glue Dot, Dimensionals, antique button.

Take a Number: July 4th

Happy Tuesday! Here's a little 4th of July card I made last night with the Take a Number wheel. I really do like this wheel, there's a lot you can do with it. I used my Scor-Pal but somehow missed the center of the card (it's great, but it doesn't physically pick up your hand and put it on the right line, so there can still be "user error" with it!), so I just left it as a lop-sided card and added a little red Summer Picnic DSP to the inside. I like the way it turned out, one of those happy accidents!

Oh, Stampin' Up! just made a big new product announcement today: they will be offering a line called Decor Elements featuring vinyl elements you can apply to your home walls. Sounds interesting, I've seen it in magazines a lot lately. I don't know many details yet, there will be more info tomorrow, so I'll keep ya posted.

One quick question: where do you keep the butter in your house? My husband has apparently decided to start keeping it here:


Hee! Hee! Cracked me up when I opened the cabinet to get my sinus meds this morning. I'm not surprised, this isn't the first time he's decided to store the butter outside of the frig, it's just usually in the pantry! He is the ultimate absent-minded professor, just not a professor though...

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Stamps: Take a Number wheel, Full Calendar.
Cardstock: Kraft, Summer Picnic DSP.
Ink: Night of Navy ink cartridge & classic pad.
Accessories: Real Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Aquapainters, metal-rimmed office supply sotre tag.

Papercrafting meets Quilting

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a good start!

Here's a quick card I threw together last weekend when I was cleaning and purging in my stamp room. I decided it was time to part with my fabrics and quilting stuff...I haven't touched it since I started stamping six years ago. I found this little mini quilt I had pieced together and started to throw it away when it hit me that I could put it on a card! I'll probably send it to my mom since she's still an avid quilter and runs a successful quilting business. She'll appreciate it, right?!

Off to work on some more stamp club projects for this month. I came up with one maybe card last night while watching Knocked Up again on HBO until 3:00 am. *sigh* So much for getting to bed earlier! I should turn the tv off so I can concentrate but My Fair Lady just started on TCM and how can you turn that off?!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Cardstock: Kraft, Night of Navy.
Accessories: Photo Corner Punch, Paper Piercer Mat Pack, Dimensionals.

FS71 "Wanted" & Retirement Special!

Happy Sunday and Happy Father's Day! Hope everyone is having a good day! At the coffee shop drive through window earlier, the young boy told DH "Happy Father's Day". I loved it. I told DH he should have said "You too!" lol!

I've been a pretty big slug today, this staying up until 3:30 may be getting a little bit too late, even for me! I did get a chance to play along with the Splitcoast Featured Stamper Challenge 71, this week is Denise, aka dinidill. I copied this card of hers (cute stuff, check it out!), and I have to thank her because this is the 1st time I have used my Wanted stamp set! Shocking, I know! I used her layout, just changed the colors, stamps, paper and I didn't have room for the Photo Corner Punch pieces behind my horse piece because I had made it too big. Maybe I'll try using the set again, since it's already out and all. I'm lucky it didn't retire! Speaking of retiring...have you heard?

The SU Retirement List is out! You can see it here. Here's a little Retirement List Announcement Special for my customers: from now until Saturday, June 21, if you order any 2 retired stamp sets, you can choose any color from the 48 colors in the color families or In Color family and receive either a FREE 8 1/2 x 11 pack of card stock or a FREE classic stamp pad! No limit, applies to every 2 retired sets purchased! This offer valid through Angie Tieman only. Call or email me with any questions!

Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?

Recipe
Stamps: Wanted.
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Confetti White, Afternoon Tea DSP.
Ink: Chocolate Chip.
Accessories: Star Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Paper Piercer & Mat Pack, Chocolate Chip Poly Twill Ribbon, Vintage Brads, Dimensionals.

Gangster Urban Owl Challenge

Yes, you read that correct...a gangster urban owl challenge! I needed a Saturday night project and stumbled upon a mention of these owl challenges from Tracy Durcan's blog (she has a great simple style that I love!) that are going on over at Splitcoast in the Odd Bird Planet Forum by Just Johanna stamps. I've never used their stamps (they are really cute), but she's so nice to let you do the owl challenges with any brand of stamps.

There's a list of 10 different challenges, but the graffiti one caught my eye because I have the SU Spring Break DSP and some cool Elsie Flanagan Riley stamps (50% off at Hobby Lobby and since I know Elsie I feel like I should support her, lol! I took one class from her!). Elsie's stamps had never been used, so I know she'll be pleased!

Other breaking news: look below at what I got for Christmas today!


Yes! A Scor-Pal! Yes, for Christmas! DH and I are not very romantic at Christmas, we just kind of tell each other what we want (I learned a LONG time ago that's the best way to get what you want!). Anyway, I had trouble committing this year (I decided on an iPod Mini for part of it a couple of months ago), but the rest of my gift was between a Scor-Pal, Bind it All, or a laminator (for school use). I realized I'd better hurry up and decide as my birthday is coming next month, and I may end up forfeiting last year's Christmas gift totally! Yikes! Anyway, it works like a dream! The picture below is me trying to show how even and perfect my card turned out!

Do you like that photo? Are you wondering about the bug-eyed ghost with wings? Well, one of the owl challenges is to draw an owl that they can use for artwork to make an owl stamp. Seemed easy enough and the prize was pretty good. So yea, that's how my owl drawing turned out. And that's why I decided to go for the gangster urban owl challenge instead. Wise choice, huh? (Get it?! Wise choice! hee! hee!)


Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today? (Come on! There's still time, it's only 11 p.m.!)

Bamboo Skewer Mini Album Tutorial

Happy Saturday! Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend! Here's a quick tutorial on the bamboo skewer mini album. Thank you, Sarah Jane, for reminding me to post this. I'm so bad! I had totally forgotten that I promised to show this...I must starting writing things down! Sheesh, getting old is rough!

Step 1: Score a sheet of 12x12 cardstock in half at 6". Then cut at 6" the other direction. (There is a score mark there, it's just really hard to see, sorry!)



Step 2: This is how the "pages" will look when laid upon each other. Note: you can use another sheet of 12x12 cardstock to make more pages.


Step 3: Punch a 3/16" hole (the larger one) with your Crop-a-Dile on both ends of the album.
Note: you can also use a 1/4" punch (I used the one from SU last year before I had the CAD.)


Step 4: These are the materials you need to bind the album: a bamboo skewer and some elastic hair bands.


Step 5: You will need to cut off the end of the bamboo skewer, so you can make a guide mark to show you where to cut (like shown) or I normally just put it next to the book and hold it with my finger where I need to cut.


Step 6: Using regular or heavy scissors, cut the end off at the mark.
NOTE the DANGER: the sharp, pointed ends go flying when cut, so be careful! I would not do this with children around. Even when I attempt to hold it low to the table and close to me, some still go flying!


Step 7: Take the elastic hair band, starting at the inside of the album, and pull it through the hole to the outside of the album, looping it over one end of the bamboo skewer.

Step 8: Take the other end of the elastic hair band and pull it down through the other hole (it will be a little tight and stretchy!), looping it over the other end of the bamboo skewer on the outside of the album.

Step 9: When finished, this is what the inside of the album will look like.


Step 10: This is what the outside edge of the album will look like. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)


Lastly, decorate the inside and outside pages as you wish! Here is the book I made for myself to have my students sign. I used two 12x12 sheets of cardstock (one blue and one red/white patterned paper), and I layered them every other sheet. For the student books I used one 12x12 sheet of blue, and 1/2 sheet of the red/white patterned paper. I wanted mine a little bigger so I could add more photos. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or post in the comments and I'll respond.



Thanks for stopping by! Have you stamped something today?