Monday, December 31, 2007

One More Pinwheel

Happy New Year's Eve! Thought I would share this card before I head out for a night of serious partying. Ha! Ha! I don't think that's happened since I was 21! As DH says, we always enjoy a very "exclusive" party...we're the only 2 invited!

This is the first card I tried making the star punch pinwheel, but I decided it was maybe too simple for Stamp Club, so I made this box a few posts below. It's a case from a Convention demo, but they used Groovy Guava & Blush Blossom cardstock and Groovy Guava Prints DSP, which I didn't have, so I switched to Not Quite Navy & Soft Sky cardstock and Old Olive Prints DSP. I think most of the Stamp Club members liked this pinwheel, but a few thought it was too tedious and too much trouble. They did seem to feel this other pinwheel was easier and had some great ideas on how to use it. I liked one of their suggestions to have a batch made and ready to go for package adornments, etc.

Okay, enjoy your New Year's Eve and be safe if you go out!

Recipe Stamps: All Holidays. Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Soft Sky, Kraft, and Old Olive DSP. Ink: Not Quite Navy. Accessories: Not Quite Navy Brad, Dimensionals, and Star Punch.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Challenge Cards from Stamp Club Members!

We had a great Stamp Club today! Thanks to those who came, and we missed you girls who couldn't make it! Every month I give the Stamp Club members a challenge to complete...this month they had to follow this sketch from Beate and use the materials I gave them...Real Red and Very Vanilla card stock, as well as Dashing DSP, Real Red Eyelets, and Artichoke & Red Grosgrain Ribbon. They could use any stamps they wanted and add anything else to the card. Only two girls actually completed the challenge, but I know how crazy life is in December, so I just hope they get a chance to use the materials for something fun later!

Love this card from Beverly Mohler...she used one of my all-time favorites Alphabet Stew...it's a retired set I had to keep, being a "letter/font" junkie!

This awesome card is from Lori Franklin. I love how she cut her Dashing piece of paper up and used both sides, and how the eyelets mimic the circle design on the paper!


I hope (and think!) they enjoy these challenges, because I know I do! It's so cool to see how people use the same materials in different ways, like how they used the same sketch here, but oriented the cards in different directions. I think it's Creating Keepsakes magazine that has a column like this, and I always love it too.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more new stuff, hopefully! I went to my all-day crop yesterday, well ended up being there 9 1/2 hours and made a one page layout and a two page layout. Yep, that's it! ha! ha! But I talked and shopped and talked and ate and talked...a great time either way...and I'll have some scrapbook pages to show again...maybe it's time to reinstate Scrapbook Sunday again...or maybe I'm getting a little too cocky after one week off work...or maybe I shouldn't type on my blog every random thought that comes into my head...hmmm! =)

Friday, December 28, 2007

December Stamp Club

Guess what? I didn't go to the movies today! lol! I finished working on Stamp Club projects this morning, then started working on the house. Ugh! The Christmas tree was so dead, I wanted to take it down the day after Christmas, but DH was poo-pooing that plan. So today while he was busy playing on the computer, I stripped it down, hauled it outside, and packed everything away. When he finally wandered into the living room, it was a bit of a shocker for him! Then I've been playing with the furniture arrangement. You know how everything gets messed up when you have to work the tree into the room? So when putting things back, I tried something different, but DH is not happy because the sofa is not EXACTLY in front of the tv. What is up with men and that?!

Anyway, here are the projects I finally came up with...finally! And I had to resort to "borrowing" the little take-out box that Jaron presented at the SU Convention last summer. I wanted to show that pinwheel technique with the star punch, but I thought it looked too plain on the first card I came up with, so I added it to Jaron's box. Also had to change the colors to find a color of 12x12 cardstock that I had enough of. Taken with Teal! A color I never use! lol! It's a little plain, but I do like the way it turned out. The box is 9x9, so it's actually perfect for the old SU cardstock that was not quite 12x12. I'm so glad they changed that now!

For the second project, I kept with the "pinwheel and packaging" theme it seems! I wanted to make this bigger pinwheel, but then wasn't sure what to do with it. I liked the idea of using it with a brown paper bag and clothes-pin for the closure. While trying to decide which stamp set to used, I noticed this Block Party stamp had a row of pinwheels at the bottom! Perfect! I love this stamp set, it was on my first catalog order last summer...of course, that was when I got my free $500 Artisan Award shopping spree...man, don't I wish that would happen again January 1!


This photo shows the close-up of the pinwheels and dry-embossed edge border. I saw this here on Kristina Werner's blog and had been wanting to try it. It's the perfect little dress-up when you "plain layer" your cards, like I always do!


Okay, better get back to the kitchen. It's the next room on the list, and I have some sugar cookies to finish baking for Stamp Club on Sunday. *wink* I know they're counting on it! I'm going to an all-day crop tomorrow...10 a.m. to midnight...so lots of packing to get ready! The most challenging part of crops...the fear that you might *NEED* something you don't have with you...so you take everything with you!

Have a fabulous Friday night!

Take-Out Box Recipe Stamps: All Holidays. Cardstock: Taken With Teal, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, and Whisper White. Ink: Taken With Teal and Certainly Celery. Accessories: Star Punch, 1 1/4' Circle Punch, Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads, Paper Piercer, Apricot Appeal Grosgrain Ribbon, Stapler, Dimensionals.

Lunch Sack Recipe Stamps: Block Party. Cardstock: Wintergreen DSP, Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, and Whisper White. Ink: Always Artichoke Craft Ink. Accessories: Paper Piercer, Silver Brad, Always Artichoke Button, Linen Thread, Large & Mini Glue Dots, Stylus, Wooden Clothes-Pin, Brown Lunch Sack.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Stamp Club Rejects

No finished projects to show, so thought I might as well show the pile of rejects! At the SU Convention last summer, Amy Y showed a great presentation, creating with type, and she did something like this. She showed how to lightly trace a circle around the center letter (hers was the background monogram lower-case a) and use that pencil line as a guide to stamp letters in a circle; when done, erase the pencil line and perfection! Not so much with mine! I could never get one I liked...couldn't get the spacing right on "happy birthday"...trying to be clever with the "TU" but decided it looked stupid...thought about switching to "TY" but was too tired of it by then, ugh! On to Plan B...whenever I think of it! lol!

So dh takes me out to the movies again today and to a few shops to think about spending some of the Christmas gift cards we received. Keep in mind, we're going to the $5 movies playing between 10:30 - 11:00 a.m. He decided to brave Sweeney Todd, and I have to say it was really good. Loving Johnny Depp, like I do, definitely made it easier! One reviewer had said the gore was comparable to Saw, which is totally untrue. Saw is just like gruesome, grotesque torture and mutilation (in my opinion anyway). In Sweeney Todd, it was always a cut to the neck, and yes, the blood spurted, but more like in an exaggerated cartoon way (I still kept my eyes mostly closed during those parts).

The best part was that feeling like you've just been to see a Broadway musical. After leaving, I was in full-singing, narrating-the-next-events-of-the-day mode. Does anyone else do this after seeing a musical? For example, we were looking for the Chili's in the area (I still had an unused gift card I received from my company LAST Christmas), so I'm singing "Where is the Chili's, or where can it be?...Is it near or is it far?...I see it! I see it!" Of course, it's hard to get the full effect without hearing me, just try to imagine it! *wink* Dh had a good laugh anyway!

Ta-ta for now...need to head back in the stamp room and see if I can come up with that Plan B or maybe a Plan C!

Recipe (sad as it is) Stamps: Letterpress Alphabet, Typeset Lower Alphabet. Cardstock: Whisper White. Ink: Not Quite Navy, Old Olive. Accessories: none (ha! ha!)

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Last Christmas Card


...for a few months anyway! You know I like making Christmas cards year round, but I'll try and lay off for awhile now. I made this card yesterday with my new Winter Jelly Cuttlebug embossing templates. (Am I the only one who feels they must use the Joann's coupon on something when they go?! And they're catching on to me and putting the magazines at 10% off so I can't even fall back on my normal standby!) I had this scrap of Dashing paper on my desk, plus the Real Red card all ready to go, so it just worked out. Did I make my Stamp Club projects? No. Did I made my new catalog preview set swaps (that need to be mailed tomorrow)? No. Arrrggghhh!

But I have seen a few movies. Sunday we saw I Am Legend. LOVED it! (I am a science-fiction, end-of-the-world kind of girl, though.) Dh wanted to see Sweeney Todd, but he's been waffling due to reviews of excess gore. So today we saw The Golden Compass. It was perfectly fine, just formulaic and following the current trend as of late. (I'm sure you could say that about I Am Legend too, but I LOVED it!)

On the rented video, or I guess I should say dvd now, front I watched two movies, the first being Chalk. I'd never heard of it, it just caught my eye with me being a teacher and all. Plus, the box compared it to the style of Waiting for Guffman and the Office, both highly positive in my opinion. I thought it was really funny, but I don't know if others would. Dh thought teachers and their spouses would think so.

The other rental was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I loved the first one, the second one was okay, but I last saw it July 2006. I didn't know what the heck was going on in this one. And it ended still not being finished. Whatever. Oh, and we watched Flags of Our Fathers on HBO. That was very good, but a real tear-jerker. Now you see why I haven't been getting much stamping done. lol! It's okay, I've been catching up on my rest and will soon be rarin' to go!

What have you seen recently? Which chick flicks do you recommend? Dh won't go see those, so I'm saving those for the girlfriends. Okay, happy stamping or movie-watching or just vegging out to you!

Recipe Stamps: Oops! There are none! Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, and Dashing DSP. Ink: none! Accessories: Old Olive Brads, Crafter's Tool Kit, Dimensionals, Cuttlebug Winter Jelly embossing template, and DYMO label maker.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!


Happy Holidays! I hope you are all having a wonderful day! We have a beautiful, sunny day here in Dallas. Well, I'm looking at it through the window, but it sure looks nice! lol! We just finished our Christmas lunch...the most unhealthy kind...all "yellow" dishes, nothing "green"! But it's Christmas, right? It's been different staying in Dallas instead of visiting family. Dh is SO happy, words can't describe. I'm trying not to cry every 15 minutes and ruin it for him! lol! Today is actually a little better, maybe 'cuz I know we're wrapping things up and moving on.

I finally managed to stamp last night. I have NOT been feeling the mojo, if you know what I mean. I couldn't get this card where I liked it, so worked on it a little bit more this morning and finally gave up. Maybe because it's not a Stampin' Up! stamp? ;-) I rarely buy other brands, mostly because I just don't find many I like as well. But this one caught my eye at Recollections (if you're in the Dallas area I'm sure you know they're going out of business, everything is 20% off right now, but will be going lower) the other night, and I don't have any others like it. He is a cute little snowman.

Okay, I'm off to the stamp room to see if I can find that misplaced mojo! I have Stamp Club Sunday for my 2 clubs that are ending their six-month go around this time. I'm planning something very festive...we'll have my famous Christmas sugar cookies...and the new Stampin' Up! catalog, of course! I just need to come up with the killer cute projects now!

Happy Holiday hugs to you and your family!

Recipe Stamps: SU Tiny Talk and Hampton Art. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Basic Gray, and Confetti White. Ink: Bashful Blue, Going Gray, Certainly Celery, and Staz-on Black. Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-o-Dile, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, 2-Way Glue Pen, Stampin' Flock, Aquapainters, Stickles, Snowflake Embossing Template & Cuttlebug.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Good Mail Day

We received a package of Christmas goodies from dh's sister's family and the contents of my gift sort of fell out of the gift bag while opening the box. Oops. So be it. I received the new Autumn Leaves Designing with calendar (this is my 4th year for their awesome calendars, it's like a fantastic idea book in a desktop page-a-day calendar format), Autumn Leaves Jenni Bowlin stamps (these will be great for scrapbooking, come next summer, of course...), and a Marshall's gift card. Merry Christmas to me!



Fortunately, dh's gift remained in tact, and I made sure it stayed that way! Since we're staying in Dallas this year for Christmas (I'm trying to be brave, but I am a little worried...I already cried twice yesterday at the last day of school before the break started...me, who was counting down the days, hours, and minutes left all week!) we've received a nice assortment of gifts to put under the tree. It is soooo hard with no grown-ups here telling us we can't open the presents yet. We try to take turns "playing that role" and keeping each other in check, but it's not easy (as you can tell from the pictures posted above!).

Okay, that's it for today. I did get the house cleaned up and in order today, so I can enjoy myself tomorrow. And stamp!! Yaaay! It will be squeezed in around a trip to the movies and Pei Wei Asian Diner. Yummm. The planned trip took some serious negotiations. I wanted to go to Pei Wei a few weeks ago, and dh wouldn't go at the last minute, so to appease me he promised 2 trips there over Christmas break. (And you can bet I didn't forget!) Then the movies...what an ordeal...so we compromised and it now involves seeing 3 movies over the break...1 he really wants to see, 1 I really want to see, and 1 we both want to see but he wants to see more I think. Confused yet? Me too, I'll let ya know how it works out!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Aloha!

Aloha! No, I'm not in Hawaii, even though one could draw that conclusion from my lack of posts. (Get that drawing conclusions? 3rd grade TAKS teacher talk!) So why Aloha? Well, I'm going to use my microscope slides today...like the one above that is assembled with sticky strip and microbeads...BUT I'm going to be learning how to solder them!

Prepare to be jealous...I'm heading off to the studio of TexasGrammy, aka Bev, the soldering expert!! Whoo! Hoo! I received a soldering kit several years ago for Christmas after I fell in love with the art of Sally Jean, but I've never attempted to try it by myself. I'm so excited to be learning today!

Is my tree decorated yet? No. Have I bought one Christmas gift yet (including the ones that must be mailed to Missouri?) No. Do I have stacks of paper to be graded before grades are due Monday? Yes. Is my house a mess? Yes. Am I worried? No. When TexasGrammy calls, you go!

I'll share the (hopefully wonderful) masterpieces I made tomorrow! Have a super Saturday!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Merry with Martha

Martha Stewart ribbon, that is. I mentioned in my last post (daaaaaayyyys ago, lol!) that I had bought some Martha Stewart ribbon at Michael's, this is from the other package. It's actually ribbon tape. It's okay, but I still kind of like traditional ribbon, because you can add sticky strip to get the "tape" effect if you want, but still make it into bows for more dimension if you prefer. This ribbon did allow me to get the Green Galore card stock out...it used to be such a favorite along with Gable Green, until Certainly Celery came out, and I abandoned all other greens, sigh. And it's hard to see in the picture, but there is a pretty flourish stamp under the white circles on the upper, left-hand side.

Is everyone ready for the holidays? I still haven't started shopping yet, yikes! We did go and buy a tree last night, but it's still standing "au natural" in the living room right now. The plan is to quickly throw the lights and ornaments on it, I mean adorn it beautifully, during The Amazing Race at 7:00.

I tried to convince dh to get the tree last weekend, he said it was too early. December 1, too early? I disagreed, but to back up his argument, he offered this little pearl of wisdom: "I think it's easy to ruin the season by trying to make it last too long." Huh? Maybe if you leave the tree up until March 1. I immediately got a piece of paper and wrote it down, telling him "That little baby is going on my blog." (You can never have too much good material.)

Anyway, before tree shopping yesterday, I had to get the paper out and read it to him. His reply, "It's not nice to remind people of the stupid things they say." (FYI, he just walked through the room and commented, "Hi stampers, it's me Angie!" See, I told you he really does that!) Actually, he got off really easy on the tree acquisition expedition. I looked at ONLY three trees and bought the first one I saw. In years past, I've been known to visit 3 or 4 different tree lots across town before committing to one. I think I'm mellowing with age. Or not. It's hard to say. I haven't budged on the mustard, for example.

Have a super week!

Recipe Stamps: Season of Joy. Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Green Galore. Ink: Real Red, Green Galore. Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Red Eyelets, Green Galore Brad, 1/2" and 1/16" Circle Punch, Dimensionals, Martha Stewart Ribbon.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Cheers

Hi stampers! It's me, Angie! Thought I'd try that little greeting again! lol! I have to say that Katy's comment on my last post: "Hi, Angie. It's us stampers!" cracked me up!! I laughed sooo hard, thank you for that!

I had a chance to make two cards last Sunday evening during my weekend of severe slacking (which I'm now paying for dearly, like I knew that I would!). I wish the photo was better, but had to take it at night. My new Martha Stewart pink ribbon from Michael's inspired this card.

When did I get new pink ribbon? Well, let me tell you. When I came home from work Friday evening around 6:30, one of the neighbors was getting their carpet cleaned. I've never witnessed this before (we have hardwoods), but this equipment machine in the street was SO loud, our entire street was vibrating. Even inside our house the noise was deafening. I have "noise issues" (along with my "smell issues"...remember the mustard?!) so after 30 minutes I told dh we had to leave the house immediately. Luckily he's a saint...we were already in our loungewear (aka pajamas), but he agreed so we went to Border's, which just happens to be next to the Michael's and Recollections. You get the idea, right? There wasn't much selection, though, and I only bought two ribbons and a magazine, shocking!

Okay, off to try and get through Wednesday. Things have been a little challenging with the precious darlings, normal for this time of year. I had to break out the Teaching with Love and Logic book, which my dear friend Mendy lent me when she quit teaching and I started...and I haven't returned in two years, yikes! It's very good, though, and helping already.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Recipe Stamps: Glad Tidings, Three for You. Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa DSP. Ink: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink. Accessories: Star Punch, Sherbert Designer Ribbon, Vintage Brad, Dimensionals, Martha Stewart Ribbon.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

merry {again}


Hi, stampers! It's me, Angie!

What did you think of that greeting? Every time I am writing a blog post and dh sees me, he says "Hi, stampers! It's me, Angie!" It always cracks me up, he's such a funny (strange) boy. In a good way. I think the thing we say most to each other is "You're not normal." I guess it's a good thing we found each other then.

Today I share my last card from my big, stamping extravaganza last holiday weekend. I need to get myself in the stamp room for a repeat of that at some point today, as I did absolutely NOTHING yesterday, what is wrong with me?! I mean NOTHING!

This merry card is very similar to Wednesday's merry card, except on this one I did not color the letters in with the Versamarker. This card is a little plain, even for me who likes plain cards, but I think I couldn't think of anything else so just gave up. Oh well, they can't all be out of the park, right?!

Okay, here's to doing SOMETHING today! Are you with me?!

Recipe Stamps: Jumbo Outline Alphabet. Cardstock: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, and Dashing DSP. Ink: Real Red. Accessories: Snow Blossom Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1/8" Circle Punch, and Always Artichoke Grosgrain Ribbon.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Season of Joy


Happy Saturday! We're off to a good start...woke up at 8:30 with the sound of dh coming in the front door with coffee. Yummmmm, nice. Been lazing about, checking out the Stampin Up! retired list, you can view it here. I lost some more, but I'm getting used to it as it's bound to happen after "collecting" tons of stamps over the last 5 1/2 years. I was quite relieved to see I didn't lose any brand new sets that came out this last July. I'm most devastated by Typseset Alphabet Lower, I use it a lot, darn!!

I can't believe the Holiday Mini Catalog is over, boo hoo! I barely used this Season of Joy stamp set enough! I started this card last Saturday while spending the day stamping with my two fellow 3rd grade teachers. In 6 hours, Vina made 3 cards and wrote personal Christmas messages to all 18 of her students, Eva made 30 Christmas cards...and I made 1 1/2 cards. Serious lack of output! Probably because I was so concerned and busy being the hostess, right?! I did heat up some canned soup for them for lunch. So much for the hostess theory.

This is the 1/2 card. I started it in the afternoon and finished it later in the evening. It's hard to see, but I did emboss the image with the words in the background. Embossing is a major event for a lazy stamper like me! I stamped the image in Versamark, then in the retired Cranberry Crisp ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder. That's one of the first stamping tricks my upline taught me years ago, still love the versatility of that Versamark pad!

Okay, I should get busy and try to do something productive today! Perhaps I better go and prepare my pre-order from the new Stampin' Up! Preview Brochure. Do I *need* any of the sets? Probably not. Can I resist an extra 15% off? Absolutely not! Have a super Saturday!

Recipe Stamps: Season of Joy. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Cranberry Crisp, Very Vanilla, and DCWV Winter Stack paper. Ink: Cranberry Crisp, Wild Wasabi, and Versamark. Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Paper Piercer, Vintage Brads, Dimensionals, 2-Way Glue Pen, and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.