Wednesday Dig it Out and Use it Up #3!

Happy Wednesday! Time for another Dig it Out and Use it Up! (I didn't post last Wednesday, so I really blew it for this challenge, ugh!) Since I worked on those desk nameplates the day before, I had lots of "scraps" and parts left out to play with...so it made this card easy!

I used the same ABCs wheel to run the lines, love this wheel and how it looks! As I mentioned yesterday, it was very liberating throwing things together and not worrying about the colors matching, which is what I did here, and I love how it turned out! The large stars are punched out of old paper...that's what I dug out to use up! So, let's see what you can dig out to use up this week! Post the link to your creation in the comments below...no one has actually done this yet, but I feel confident that someone eventually will! lol!

Thank you so much for all your sweet comments yesterday about the desk nameplates for the students! You really made my day! The students did love them...almost as much as the cool jumbo polka-dot pencils I gave them! I think the test went well, I hope so at least. They worked long and hard which makes me think they did all of their "strategies"...I guess time will tell! The principal was so nice to let us leave at 3:30 yesterday, so my fellow 3rd grade teachers Myrick and Nguyen, and I went to an early dinner at Hunky's in Oak Cliff, yummy! If you live in Dallas, you should go, they have one Uptown too. It was so nice and enjoyable, especially compared to our quick 10 minute conversations in the lunch room, trying to talk over loud eight year olds...lol!

Hope you have a great day! Try to dig something old out and use it up today!

Recipe Stamps: My ABCs wheel, So Much. Cardstock: Kraft, misc patterned paper. Ink: Handsome hunter ink cartridge, Chocolate Chip. Accessories: Large Star Punch, 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Ruby Red Brad, Dimensionals.

"You Did It!" Desk Nameplates

Well, I guess you can see what I did last night! I got the idea around 8:00 (why can my ideas never come earlier?!) to make the students special nameplates for their desks for the Math TAKs test today. In the past, I have a design I made on the computer and I usually print those out and use them, but this time I decided to make handmade "scrappy" ones. I like them to walk in on test day and have special nameplates and new pencils and erasers waiting on their desks for them.

I won't list the whole recipe, because it's a lot of odds and ends, but here are a few details: the big chipboard letters were from the Target $1 Spot, SU Typeset Lower Alphabet & My ABCs wheel, "You Did It" star stamp from Michael's $1 bin, assorted patterned paper...guess that's most of it. The wheel was in Handsome Hunter ink, the letters in Chocolate Chip, and the Star in Old Olive. It was very liberating using a lot of random things and different colors, I like the way they turned out. I definitely fight being "too matchy" with my supplies and ink so I think this really helped me.

Also, I owe a big apology to Beverly and Margaret from my Stamp Club challenge cards posted on Sunday. I left off Beverly's (it was lost in the abyss of my stamp room, ugh!) and attributed Margaret's to Beverly! Sorry again, ladies! I fixed them on the other post, but here they are to give them proper credit!

Beverly's card:

Margaret's card:


Hope you have a terrific Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by!

A Little Birdie Told Me...It's Your Birthday!

Happy Monday morning! If today is your birthday, you can consider this card for you! ;-) It may look familiar from here, which was my first attempt at a birthday swap card I had signed up for. I had cut all the parts, except for the polka dot strip, but wasn't crazy about it, so I tweaked it some this weekend and came up with this.

I ended up making the polka dot strip larger and cut the pumpkin pie and white pieces down smaller. I got rid of the zig-zag banner and just made one row...probably should have scrapped it totally, but it's how the card started, and I refused to give it up. Do you ever do that? You know you should abandon something that's not working, but you refuse to do it, causing yourself hours of torture and frustration?! lol!

Hope your week kicks off to a great start! We have the Math TAKs test tomorrow and the Reading TAKs retake on Wednesday...and then it will all be behind us...ahhhhhh!...at least until next year. We have some really fun things planned for our hard-working students, including a field trip, which they've never experienced before, so it should be fun ahead! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Spring Break & Wild Wasabi Prints DSP. Ink: Not Quite Navy pad; Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie & Garden Green markers. Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch, and Dimensionals.

Some Awards and Thank Yous!

Two posts in one day?! Yes, it's true! Some wonderful, sweet blogger friends had passed on some awards to me, so I wanted to say Thank You!!


First, I was recently given the Arte Y Pico award by Beate at Fresh & Fun, Jenn at Stamp Your Heart Out, Donna at Serenity in Stamping, and Sara at Desperate Stamper. Thank you ladies, such an honor coming from great artists like you, and I can't tell you how good you made me feel after some rough teaching days!

Now, this is getting a little bit older (February 2008, yikes!) but my dear friend, teaching advisor, and soldering tutor TexasGrammy at Savor the Journey gave me this E for Excellent rating. Thank you, Bev! Looking forward to having more time to stamp with you this summer! Just 5 more weeks!

Lastly, this one is going way back to last fall, my sweet friend and fellow Artisan Award winner Mary Jo at Beauty Lies Within gave me the Rockin' Girl Blogger. I'm sure you're all familiar with MJ by now, she's a true artist and destined to win the Artisan Award again this year, I have no doubt! Hugs, MJ!

Thank you so much ladies! It feels good to catch up on these things! I think it's a phase I'm going through...I won't even admit to what I did last weekend with some of my Christmas cards (not the handmade ones, of course, and I don't mean throwing them out either)...

Have a great night!

Stamp Club Challenge Cards

It's that time of month again! I just finished up my second monthly Stamp Club class today, and I received their March Stamp Club Challenge cards so I can share with you. Andretta won the random prize drawing and received a nice little bag of assorted chipboard pieces for the monthly prize! Thanks for playing ladies, great cards as always!

They started with a card of Basic Black, a strip of Soft Sky Prints DSP, Soft Sky ribbon, a white 5-petal flower, and a black flower rub-on. They're free to add anything else to the card, they just have to use some of each part given to them.

Vina's card:




Hoai's card:Margaret's card:

Andretta's card:

Michelva's card:

Lori's card:

Beverly's card:

And a few random shots from today that I took and am posting...without their permission! hee! hee! First is Eva and Robyn, the second picture is Hoai and Vina. Thanks for coming!

Hope your weekend has been great! Mine has been busy, but not as "productive" as I would have liked...and I think you know I mean "productive" in the stamping sense! lol! I sat at my stamping desk a good three hours last night trying to stamp, but too tired to pick up anything and try it. Ugh! After complaining to dh about it, here's how our conversation went:

DH: Don't worry, take the night off!

Me: But I don't have anything to put on my blog (insert whining noise here).

DH: Don't worry, just post this: "Hi stampers, Angie here! Sometimes a girl feels tired. See ya! Signed, Angie"

Yes, the guy sure is good for laughs. And yes, I did write it down so I would remember (hey, I needed material!). Have a good Sunday night!

{Life is good

Happy Thursday! We had a great Stamp Club last night, thanks for coming girls! After club, I always want to stamp so badly, even though I know should go to bed. So I stamped, but you know how it is when you're so tired you can't think of anything? But I'm stubborn and refused to give up...which resulted in me staying up way TOO late...this is what I managed to complete, finally! lol! I took this photo this morning in my dining room for a change and it turned out pretty well, considering it's still dark outside.

I started by rolling the Dotted Jumbo wheel in Pumpkin Pie on a Kraft cardstock, and it turned out PERFECT! I was stunned. I couldn't get anything I liked with it, though, but I refused to abandon the perfect wheel job, so it eventually got cut down and made into this card. I was thinking how much I enjoyed my friends and how lucky I am, so I got out the level 1 hostess set Make It Count and decided to go with the "Life is...good." I was also trying *not* to use patterned paper...it's become like ribbon, I can hardly make a card without it!

Okay, off to school now. I've been a bad blogging friend, and I'm way behind (I have 134 unread posts on my Google Reader!), but I'll be catching up tonight. Tuesday night I was entering grades in the computer until 11:30 p.m. (darn procrastinating girl!) and last night dh powered down all the computers at 9:30 because of the storm rolling through, so I couldn't even surf after stamp club (most inconvenient for me!).

Have a great Thursday!

Recipe Stamps: Make It Count, Jumbo Dotted Wheel. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Kraft, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Only Orange, Pumpkin Pie. Ink: Real Red, Wild Wasabi. Accessories: Real Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Bashful Blue Die-cut Bloom, Scallop Circle Punch, A Perfect Day rub-ons, Slit Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Foo-fa-La red button, Dimensionals.

Another Birthday Banner Attempt

Happy Wednesday! Thanks so much for stopping by recently and leaving your comments! I really appreciate it, you don't know! Yesterday I had entered exhausted, panic-stricken, breakdown phase and y'all really helped make me feel better, so thanks!

I started working on some birthday swap cards Sunday night and this is what I came up with so far. I'm still not completely satisfied so it may get tweaked some more. You may remember from this post, I wanted to use a party hat turned upside down to make a birthday banner. I found this party hat from the set "A Little Birdie Told Me" and I had seen a card on the Papertrey website where the banner went in rows like this (can't find it right now to link, sorry), so I tried it this time. I'm thinking of changing the "happy" circle to the bird stamp and then adding one of the sayings. I'll post the revised version when I finish it.

I hope your week is going well! I have Stamp Club tonight at 7 p.m. and can't wait. I love the laughs and times with my stamping friends, and I even baked something! So much for fitting into that bridesmaid dress, sigh. lol!

Thanks again for stopping by! Have a great Wednesday!

Recipe Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me, It's All Good. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Spring Break DSP. Ink: Not Quite Navy classic pad; Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie & Garden Green markers. Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Designer Label Punch, Horizontal Slot Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch.

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #44

Well, Monday came way too fast. It always does, I don't know why I'm surprised! I did manage to complete Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #44 last night, but the lighting was not great for this photo. (I still need to get one of those light tents, and TexasGrammy commented before that I need to speak to her before doing that, so I must call her!) I also made this card for a group challenge "Something Old, Something New"...the something old is the Looks Like Spring set, and the something new was my Nestabilities square scallop die-cut, which was awesome by the way, so I see *more* of those in my near future!!

Anyway, back to the card, it's fairly straightforward...Afternoon Tea DSP and even splurged on a Build-a-Brad. I used the Argyle stamp from Looks Like Spring behind the flower focal point, but you really can't see it. When I showed dh he said, "Well, it's certainly busy." So I added the paper piercing in the corners, just to show him. lol! He's actually very supportive, he just prefers the clean and simple style.

Okay, better get ready for work now. I did manage to walk a mile this morning, after a 3 day hiatus, shame on me! I *HATE* to admit it, but I do feel better when I do it. Ugh! Have a great Monday!

Recipe Stamps: Looks Like Spring. Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea & Wild Wasabi Prints DSP. Ink: Versamark, Wild Wasabi. Accessories: Heat & Stick Powder, Heat Gun, Celery Fine Cosmo Glitter, Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, Build-a-Brad, 3/4" Circle Punch, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, Slit Punch, Square Scallops Nestabilities.

Scrapbook Sunday #13

Well, it's been awhile since Scrapbook Sunday, but I finally have some scrapbooking to share! I made this page about a month ago actually, but I had a hard time getting a decent photo of it. I finally gave up! lol! I made this one Sunday while looking at the April issue of Creating Keepsakes. I saw a great one-photo layout on page 54 by Jennifer McGuire (LOVE her!), and I thought "I could do that!" It was very easy to take the basic layout and then make it my own, so try it!

Also, I prepared all the photos from Robyn's Bridal Shower crop on Friday night. There are a lot of photos, so I made a collage to show here and you can see them all here at Flickr. The photos did not turn out great, unfortunately, I should have taken them out of the plastic page protectors. Of course, I waited until the last minute, then I'm trying to photograph, make a 10 minute challenge card, go check out, and pack up my stuff! Argh! Typical Angie stuff!

I'm about to hit panic phase as I face the next few weeks with grades to be entered by Tuesday, stamp club preparations, upcoming bridal showers, final TAKS testing April 29 & 30, starting the last six weeks of school and packing up a classroom of stuff, argh! But did you catch that "starting the last six weeks of school" part? Oh, yeah, it's all gooooood!

Hope you have a great Sunday!

Family Recipe Stamps: Letterpress & Straight Up Mini Alphabet (retired). Cardstock: Basic Gray 12x12 textured, Going Gray, Bordering Blue, Le Jardin DSP (retired). Ink: Jet Black Staz-On, Bashful Blue marker. Accessories: Pretties Kit flower, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Black Scallop strip from a Jenni Bowlin kit, Foo-fa-La buttons, thread, stapler.

Inspiration Challenge

Happy Saturday! Hope your weekend is off to a great start! I got up early and hit the house cleaning, but faded fast and went back to bed until 12:30! How decadent! lol! I guess it's because I didn't get to bed until 1:30 after the crop, but we had a great time, and it was so worth it!

Even though we were mostly doing our 8" x 8" scrapbook pages for Robyn's wedding album (which I will show tomorrow for Scrapbook Sunday), the girls wanted their 10 minute challenge before we left, so I was scrambling to come up with something. Luckily, I saw Robyn's fabulous purse (isn't this purse killer cute?!) so we used it as an inspiration challenge and below here are our results.


Here is my card using Kraft & Chocolate Chip cardstock, Spring Break DSP & small oval punch (for the leaves), Pure Color Pencils (to color the big white flower by Heidi Swapp), and the other flower and green paper are from a Jenni Bowlin kit.

This is by Beverly Mohler:

This is by Lori Franklin (sister of the bride):

This is by Michelva Evans:

This is by Valerie Guilbert:

They are all so springy and fun! Some girls left before the challenge, but we die-hard croppers are always the last ones to leave. I think I'm pretty much the last one to pay my tab and check out every time, I'm sure they love me! lol! And what was I paying for when I checked out? What did I buy?! Well, I bought my first set of Spellbinder's Nestabilities, thanks to Beate (enabler almighty!)! They only had a couple in stock, but I bought the scallop squares and Beverly bought the scallop ovals. I'm off to unpack my stuff and give them a try now, I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for stopping by and have a super Saturday!

Whoo! Hoo! It's Friday!

I think this title says it all! Excuse the not-so-great photo, it was taken at 12:30 with a lack of light, and the design of the card did not allow it to stand up. Yes, 12:30. The last two nights I could not stay awake and took short naps, then somehow managed to stay up until 12:30, resulting in 4 hours of sleep. I felt okay Thursday, but this morning is not good. Doh! But enough crying, back to the card, lol!

I've been seeing so many great owl cards, I had to use my little Woody once again. The base is Wild Wasabi with More Mustard on top. I cut 1/2" off the top layer and rounded the corners, since I was using a lot of circles. For the large circles on the background and around Woody, I used the circle stamp from So Much (see, trying to use it some more and make the most of my *investment*!). The Woody circle was cut out using the Coluzzle, and the other circles are 1 3/8", 1" and 3/4" from the East Coast Prep paper.

I colored Woody with the Pure Color Pencils. The other day Donna mentioned coloring images with Pure Color Pencils on Kraft cardstock like she did here using Pun Fun, and I wish I had thought of it because I loved the way it looked. Reaching for that Whisper White is like a crutch for me, I need to break free more often!

Okay, off to finish getting ready...definitely need time to stop at Starbuck's for a muy strong Venti something today! I'm going to a special bridal crop tonight from 6:00 to midnight. My friend Robyn is getting married next month and her sister Lori put this together where we all make a two-page wedding layout and then put them in an album Lori bought, so at the end of the night Robyn has a wedding scrapbook all ready to go! Isn't that a great idea?! Hopefully I'll have lots of great pictures to share of it tomorrow!

Have a fabulous Friday! Whoo! Hoo!

Recipe Stamps: Just Celebrate, So Much. Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, More Mustard, Whisper White, East Coast Prep DSP. Accessories: Coluzzle, 1 3/8" & 1" & 3/4" & 1/8" Circle Punch, Wild Wasabi Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Pure Color Pencils.

So Much

Happy Thursday! Here's a quick and easy card (my favorite kind!) I made last weekend with the SU set So Much. It had been on my wish list for a long time, and I knew it was a set that SU was using and giving at the Regionals events this year, so I thought I would get it then and never ordered it. Alas, my sister's wedding was the same weekend as the Tulsa Regional in March (she didn't consult with me, obviously, or I would have made her change the date! lol!) so I didn't get to go. I finally broke down and ordered it last month with my stamp club order. I have a thing for circles, and it'll be a really great set for scrapbooking (and I clearly do so much of that...in my dreams anyway!).

Here I stamped the flower four times in Chocolate Chip ink. I didn't even use the circles yet, shocker! I stamped the center dot with the solid circle stamp from Enjoy Every Moment using Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, and Wild Wasabi (stamped off once though because it was too dark). I also got the Lots of Dots wheel last month, so used it across the bottom of the card. Ummm, I won't tell you how many cards I tried because it kept going crooked! Note to self: maybe you should invest in that wheel guide! Lastly, I used the white rub-on "thinking of you" from A Perfect Day rub-ons in the SU Occasions Mini Catalog.

Hope your Thursday is great! Just remember like I will...all day long...it's almost Friday! Hooray!

Recipe Stamps: So Much, Enjoy Every Moment, Lots of Dots wheel. Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White. Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi. Accessories: A Perfect Day rub-ons, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals.

Wednesday Dig it Out and Use it Up #2!

Happy Wednesday! Hump Day, thank goodness! You may remember last Wednesday I started the Wednesday Dig it Out and Use it Up! challenge. Of course, now I'm not sure how appropriate the "Use it Up" part is as we don't really "use up" or stamps, I guess I was thinking more of my paper and ribbon hoarding, but I like the way it sounds, so I guess I'll stick with it anyway!

I had started working with masking and circles using my Coluzzle last weekend for this project I showed on Monday. I ended up going a different direction with that one, but when finished I started working on this project. I pulled out the Tres Chic background, which I hadn't used since this card last August. (I know, I know, please tell me I'm not the only one who hasn't picked up a certain stamp in 8 months?!)

Anyway, to make the mask, I cut a circle out of regular copy paper using the largest ring of my Coluzzle circle template. Then I used temporary adhesive to stick it down to the card front. Lastly, I inked up the background stamp and stamped the card front over the template. When finished, pull the template off and voila, you have your masked circle!

The whole card is oversized at 5"x7". I think I'm going to add some photos inside and use it as a Mother's Day card for my grandma. If I do that, I'll have to redo the "spine" with some jumbo eyelets probably and maybe run the ribbon through them. The glittery heart is just like the one I posted on Monday, I ended up changing colors on that project and had the heart left over. Waste not, want not! lol!

Hope you have a great Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe Stamps: Tres Chic, Always. Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Pale Plum, Spring Break DSP. Ink: Not Quite Navy, Versamark. Accessories: Coluzzle, Heat & Stick Powder, Crystal Iris Chunky Sprinkles glitter, Heat Gun, Pretties flower, Slit Punch, Sherbert Ribbon Originals, Ice Circle Rhinestone Brad, and Dimensionals.

•Father• Oh Wise One

Happy Tuesday! Yesterday I showed one of the April Stamp Club projects, for the mother, so today I'm showing the other project, for the father. You can slip a gift card right inside this one, if you're like me and give your dad a Lowe's gift certificate for every Father's Day, birthday, and Christmas.

You can see a tutorial for this great project template over at Splitcoast here (but if you're in my stamp club, don't look and act totally surprised and think I'm awesome when I show you how to do it next week! lol!). I used the Just Celebrate set from the SU Occasions Mini, something about that little owl and the "oh wise one" just hit me and seemed perfect for Father's Day. I colored the owl with the Pure Color Pencils, they are still one of my favorite coloring tools and I wish they came in more colors. I used my little scissors to cut the jagged edge border around the owl pieces (still don't have those Nestabilities, so have to improvise!), and I managed to find a way to sneak some ribbon on there, even though it's a dad's card!

Guess I need to finish getting ready for work. I'm feeling like a pile of warm goo (dh's favorite sickly term) with a head full of goo (also his). Started on Sunday with a sore throat, etc...don't know why I'm surprised, I had two kids out sick Thursday and Friday. Man, I thought this junk was behind me for this school year! Hope y'all have a happy and healthy Tuesday!

Recipe Stamps: Just Celebrate, All Holidays, Straight Up Mini Alphabet (retired). Cardstock: Kraft, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Spring Break DSP. Ink: Chocolate Chip, Not Quite Navy. Accessories: Pure Color Pencils, Earth Elements Brads, Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Paper Piercer, Coluzzle, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals.

Thanks Mom Carousel Note

Hope your weekend was great! How do they go by so fast?! I spent part of yesterday creating this project that will be one of the April Stamp Club projects. I came up with a Father's Day project the previous weekend, so I guess we'll have these holidays covered!

I hadn't played with my Carousel Notes from the SU Occasions Mini Catalog much, but they really are cool and come with the nice Chocolate Chip envelopes you see pictured behind the card. I stamped and cut the heart out from the Always set on Groovy Guava carstock, then covered the whole thing with the Versamark pad, then Heat & Stick Powder and heated with the heat gun, then poured on the Crystal Iris Chunky Sprinkles glitter (also from the Occasions Mini Catalog) and heat set one more time with heat gun.

For the "thanks", I've been wanting to try one of those little banners that are popular now. I cut the triangles out of the end free-hand, but I have noticed if you punch an arrow out of the end of a narrow piece of cardstock, it leaves the cardstock looking like that too. I distressed the edges, then curved and rolled the piece around a watercolor paintbrush. I rolled one side up and the other side under (if that makes any sense!) then secured with brads to hold the shape.

A few other notes, I cut the Chocolate Chip "circle ring" that goes around the flower using the Coluzzle, by just using the two largest rings. Don't move the template until you're done, then cut them both out. I paper pierced holes inside the ring, but you can't see it much here. Lastly, I made a "faux" button by punching the Double Circle Punch on the Afternoon Tea DSP, then punching around those holes with the 3/4" Circle Punch. I also punched a 3/4" Circle Punch out of chipboard (the kind that comes in the DSP packaging) and adhering it to the back of the "button" to make it firmer. Hope all that makes sense!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks especially for all your great comments recently! You really make a girl feel good! Hugs!

Recipe Stamps: Always, So Much, Alphabits (retired). Cardstock: Carousel Notes, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Confetti White, Afternoon Tea DSP. Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip. Accessories: Coluzzle, Vintage Brads, Paper Piercer, 3/4" & 1/4" Circle Punch, Heat & Stick Powder, Crystal Iris Chunky Sprinkles glitter, Heat Gun, Three for You flower punch, Double Circle Punch, Soft Sky Double Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals.

Dilly-Dally Banner

It's the weekend! Has anyone else been as lazy as me?! Yesterday I managed to make one card, grade a lot of papers, and take two short naps. That was it for me! So back to the thing that was most fun...making the card! You know I love banners, going way back to here, and I had seen this new stamp set from Paper Trey that I loved and was wondering how I could create something similar. (I think Nichole Heady is one of the *best* stampers out there and so far I have resisted starting a new addiction, but she makes it harder and harder for me every month!)

So, I searched through the Stampin' Up! catalog looking for a "triangle" shaped stamp that I could turn upside down, and voila, there was the party hat from an old favorite, Dilly-Dally! I decided to poke holes with the paper piercer so that I could "sew" a string for my banner to be hanging from, but without thinking I made the holes very close together...if you try it, spread them out a little more!

By this time Saturday Night Live was over (I'm an old married woman who lusts after Ashton Kutcher, what can I say! It's purely physical and best when he doesn't talk.) and I needed to wind it up, so I borrowed another idea I had seen from this card at Paper Trey. I loved the way she did the greeting on top of the ribbon, so I did my version of it.

I'm off...probably for a repeat of Saturday...with a little laundry thrown in too. We've had a GORGEOUS weekend here in Dallas...cool mornings...warms up to low 70s...cool evenings. We only have about two of these a year it seems like, the next thing you know it shoots up to the 100s! Hope you have a great day!

Recipe Stamps: Dilly-Dally, It's Your Birthday, Straight Up Alphabet (retired). Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Regal Rose, Whisper White. Ink: Blue Bayou, Regal Rose, Old Olive. Accessories: Linen Thread, Paper Piercer & Needle, 1/2" Circle Punch, 5/8" Regal Rose Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage Silver Brads, Dimensionals.

Be Inspired Challenge #8

Happy Friday!! Hooray! And I got a chance to try one of Beate's Inspiration Challenges last night. This is Inspiration Challenge #8 based on the picture below. (I love that dress, but it's definitely not made for a short, round person!) At first I started to replicate the inspiration piece very literally, but then decided to be a little more funky and have fun with it. I wanted to use a green ribbon originally for the flower stems, but I could not find one narrow enough with a color I liked, so I used the paper piercer to punch holes diagonally and make faux stitches.

Two last things...were any American Idol watchers shocked about Michael Johns going away last night? Boo! Hoo! I was worried about Brooke, so I voted for her, never dreaming Michael would be in trouble. I don't think he's the best, but he's definitely better than three others I can think of. Darn! And second...if you go to Starbucks I tried a new drink you might like. I usually get the White Mocha (I'm a sweetaholic!), but I tried one Caramel pump in place of one White Mocha pump, and it was the yummiest!! Another coffee shop I go to has a drink like that so not sure why I never thought to have Starbucks try one like that.

Okay, that's it for now! I'm afraid I'm going to regret staying up until 12:30 last night...somehow convinced myself that it would be okay since I had a 30 minute nap and today would be Friday. The kids will be testing this morning, then I'm interviewing new teachers for next year from 12:00 on, so I guess I'll make it! Hope you have a great Friday!


Recipe Stamps: Always. Cardstock: So Saffron, Night of Navy, Whisper White, Jersey Shore & East Coast Prep DSP. Ink: So Saffron, Bashful Blue, Versamark, and Always Artichoke marker. Accessories: Heat & Stick Powder, Heat Gun, Light Blue Fine Cosmo Glitter, Dimensionals, Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, 1" Circle Punch, Paper Piercer, small orange brad from Target $1 Spot.

Friendly Flowers

Do you ever fuss with a card for hours and can never get it right?! That's how I felt Sunday when trying to make this card. I wanted to use this new K & Company ribbon I had bought at Michael's with my 50% off coupon and my new Lots of Dots wheel (I've had Friendly Flowers for quite awhile & not used, it's a hard one for me!). The wheel never worked and the ribbon barely did! (I started out trying to use the one with blue and green circles.) I finally gave up in frustration at 6:00 and went to make dinner and finish schoolwork to get ready for Monday. Then I came back Monday night and just threw this card together in about 15 minutes. Still didn't LOVE it, but at least it was done...a huge relief since I couldn't get anything I liked on Sunday. Here are some rejects and a picture of the ribbon.

Okay, I better run, bad storms and rain still...makes for a very unpleasant and sloooooow drive to work! Have a happy Thursday!

Recipe Stamps: Friendly Flowers. Cardstock: Pink Passion, Gable Green, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White. Ink: Pink Passion, Green Galore. Accessories: Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, Slot Punch, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" & 3/4" & Scallop Circle Punch, Heat & Stick Powder, retired glitter, Ticket Corner Punch, K & Company Margo felt ribbon, Dimensionals.

Wednesday Dig it Out and Use it Up!

I posted a comment on someone's blog last week (my pea brain can't remember which one now, grrr!) because she had got something out and used it finally, and I said I need to do that and should make it a weekly challenge on my blog. So I decided to do it! Every Wednesday I'll challenge you to dig (in my stamp room, the "dig" is appropriate because that is what is required to find stuff usually!) something out that you've never used...or haven't used in the last year...and make something with it! I hope you'll play along and post a link to your creation here!

While surfing over at Splitcoast last weekend, I saw this beautiful card by criminalgrace. I loved the bird stamps she used and when I went to look at what it was, I was shocked to realize that I own that stamp set! Doh! It's a clear stamp set, Birds Galore,by Inkadinkado. I had bought it awhile back with a 50% off coupon (before I had my SU owl!), but when I inked it with the SU classic and craft pads, it did not do well. Long story short, I went to Michael's Saturday night with a 50% off coupon, and all the stamp pads were on sale 40% off, so I decided to buy a few of the little Brilliance and Versamagic combo sets. These inks worked much better with these clear stamps.

I was not having a creative weekend, I'll spare you the details, so this is what I came up with. I also wanted to use my new SU Spring Break paper, it's so fabulous! I used the "a" from the SU Always set, it's still one of my favorites right now.

Okay, I now challenge you to Dig it Out and Use it Up...and share it with us, of course! Can't wait to see what you create! Have a great Wednesday!

Recipe Stamps: Always by SU, Birds Galore by Inkadinkado. Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Spring Break DSP. Ink: Versamagic Spanish Olive & Aegean Blue. Accessories: Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Dimensionals.

Tutorial: Mini Photo Book

Schwooo! The computer and I had a little battle this morning, but I have emerged victorious! I wanted to finally post the tutorial for my March stamp club project, so I spent two hours recreating the project and taking pictures. (As I mentioned before, the cover design is from the Stampin' Up! Demo Website under Bulk Buy projects where they used it on a long card. I came up with the little book design.) After uploading them and starting to edit them in Photoshop, they disappeared, the iPhoto library disappeared, bad noises were emerging from the computer...it was not good! DH worked on it a lot and all is well. Schwooo, that was a close one!

Let me warn you, this is a crazy amount of photos! I took 45 originally, but I narrowed it down to 29 here, yikes! I wanted everything to be clear, but now I think I should have just made it a video. If you have any trouble reading the directions on the photos, click them to enlarge them. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll answer as soon as I can!






























I can't wait to see how your projects turn out! Post the link to your finished project here in the comments so we can see! Happy creating!


Edited to add: Splitcoast asked me to make a new version and tutorial of this project for their website, you can see it here.