Sneak Peek

Happy Wednesday!


Stampin' Up! Convention samples done and shipped, check!


Air-conditioning restored, check!


Compiled list of Dallas hotels you should never stay in, check!


Saw Eclipse, check!


Now, what for the next project....


Housework, hmmmm, not feeling it...


Reorganize and clean craft room, hmmmmm, intriguing...


First, do lots of research by looking at other people's rooms here.


What are you up to?

Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act #35

Happy Thursday!


I whipped up this little card yesterday for Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge #35, fun colors, right?!


This card is memorial for two reasons:

1) I finally made one of those scrunched up flowers! I think I'm the only person left in paper-crafting land that hasn't attempted one. My friend Val gave me a couple she made, so I tried to copy hers. I scrunched and obsessed, scrunched and obsessed, and finally gave up. She told me last night, however, there's a tutorial on Dawn McVey's blog, so I need to go check that out!


2) After my big-mouth bragging about not using a stamp-a-ma-jig the other day, I went to stamp a greeting on the bottom left corner of this card AND it was crooked AND it looked bad there! Argh! So, I just slipped some patterned paper over my boo boo and voila!...mistake covered up and the card actually looked better with the patterned paper. So, a stamping lesson reminder: happy accident! There's always a solution to a stamping mistake and it often makes a better card in the long run!


Okay, Chatty Cathy has to roll now...still lots more SU convention samples to make, unlike Diana and Cindy, grrrr, who are finished! I really am trying to finish early (somewhat early) to avoid my usual last minute expensive shipping charges, it's just hard for a Last Minute Lulu like myself! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Apple Blossoms
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Green Galore, Cameo Coral, Pink Flamingo DSP (retired).
Ink: Garden Green, Chocolate Chip.
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Corner Rounder, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds, Glue Dots, Tempting Turquoise button, DMC perle white floss.

Happy 75th, Don!

Happy 75th Birthday to Don!!


Don is the dad of one of my bffs, Beverly, and she asked us all to make cards for him at our last retreat. She and her twin sister, Barb, were hoping to flood him with birthday cards today, and it worked...she said he had already received over 100 cards! Isn't that awesome?!


I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Don!


Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Little Bunny welcomes home baby!

Happy Tuesday! I'm back...first, I left my camera at a bridal shower Saturday night and just retrieved it tonight so I haven't been able to photograph, and second, I've been working on display samples for the Stampin' Up! Convention, which I can't wait to share with you next month!


In the meantime, here's one last card I made while in Missouri last week. I used a Tim Holtz bunny, isn't it the sweetest?! Do you like the crocheted scallops? Remember I told you about Danielle Flander's faux-chet crocheted flowers? Well, I punched a 1 3/4" circle, then cut it in half, covered it with zip dry glue and glued the faux-chet crocheted yarn down. I may have to learn to crochet yet, I'm really loving the yarn!


Oh, and do you want to hear about a stamping miracle?! Sure you do! That sentiment I stamped on that sticker?! Well, the two lines are on ONE wood-mount stamp. I inked up the "hello little baby" with the marker and stamped it on the top line, cleaned the stamp, inked up the "welcome home" with the marker and stamped it on the second line...all WITHOUT a stamp-a-ma-jig!! Kids, that was scary, dont' try it, especially if that's your only sticker that matches! Yikes, was I lucky or what?!


Okay, that's it for now...back to the stamping grind! It's a good place to be! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Tim Holtz, sentiment retired Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Early Espresso & Blusing Bride (NEW SU colors, yummm!), Kraft, October Afternoon Thrift Shop floral paper.
Ink: Staz-On Brown, Chocolate Chip marker.
Accessories: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Linen Thread, October Afternoon sticker, cream yarn, glue dots.

My Teacher Thanks

Happy Saturday! Have you checked out the new Paper Crafts July-August issue? It's a really good one, and you'll find this little card of mine on page 23! And the extra special treat is that I'm sitting right next to this adorable hi card by my buddy Amy!


How is your weekend going so far? Hubby's been working hard in the yard this morning, so I felt compelled to work on some more house cleaning projects, sigh. Of course, I'm taking this *short* blogging break right now! *grin* Last night we finally watched the movie Up...oh my, it's so good. I bawled like a baby a number of times, not expecting that at all.


Okay, better get moving! Hope you have a great day! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Cardstock: SU Basic Gray and Crushed Curry, October Afternoon Report Card patterned paper.
Accessories: October Afternoon Report Card stickers, SU Linen Thread, Autumn Leaves red button, American Crafts Thickers, Cuttlebug & Swiss Dots embossing template, Circle Cutter, Janome Sew Mini & black thread.

Live the Life...

Happy Friday! Yes, it's still happy even if I didn't make the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Top 10...it was such a great experience and I've made some wonderful friends...definitely one of the *friendliest competitions* I've ever been in. A huge congrats to the Top 10 winners! And THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me and supported me through the contest! I feel so blessed, it overwhelms me sometimes!


I've been unpacking and trying to clean up the house today, but my Mac and high-speed internet sure have been tempting me away! ha! I found this one card I made back in Missouri so thought I'd take a *short* break to share it! The picture is a little crooked, the wind was blowing outside and messing up my photo shoot! How dare it?! I used some Tim Holtz stamps, yummmmo. It's pretty simple, somehow the only accessories I packed on my trip were buttons. Note to self for future vacations: throw in some more accessories!


Okay, better get busy again...more cleaning and some errands to run. Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Tim Holtz
Cardstock: SU Basic Gray and Whisper White, October Afternoon Thrift Shop yellow paper.
Ink: SU Daffodil Delight Marker, Staz-On Black, Versamark.
Accessories: Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters.

ETBKS #17 Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday! I'm heading to the airport soon, time to go back to Texas! I had to squeeze one more card in this morning while I was supposed to be packing up! lol!

I used this fabulous sketch from Winter over at Everything but the Kitchen Sink, go check it out! I bought this colorful ribbon at Wal-Mart yesterday (my folks are in the country at the Lake of the Ozarks, but I find a reason to go to "town" everyday...I hit the Sonic at happy hour too!) and thought it would make a nice flower. The background was a little plain and I don't have any embossing gadgets with me, so I stamped that leaf from the new SU hostess set Apple Blossoms.

I hope you're having a great week! I have lots of catching up to do when I get back to Dallas, including 627 posts on my Google Reader...after I check on dh and the dog, of course! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Apple Blossoms.

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Kraft.

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Staz-On Brown.

Accessories: Tag Punch, Tiny Tags, Linen Thread, cream yarn, Wright ribbon, Buttons Galore button.

Yellow Yarn Goodness

Happy Wednesday!


Just a quick little card I made with some Cosmo Delovely and some of Grandma's yarn and one of Mom's quilting pins. It pays to have crafty people in the family!



Dial up is still a nightmare...thanks for checking, Savitri! It took 30+ minutes to get the computer on and running, photo uploaded, Explorer started, Schwooo loaded, etc! And my iPhone gets 1/2 bar in the country, it takes 5 minutes to open and load each email! Argh! I'm definitely spoiled in Big D! lol! But I still wouldn't trade the time with family, know what I mean?!



Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Tiny Tags.
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Cosmo Cricket Delovely paper.
Ink: Staz-On Black.
Accessories: Tiny Tags Punch, Black Satin Ribbon, yellow yarn, yellow quilting pin.

2S4Y: Happiness Always

Happy Tuesday! Hope you are having a great week!

I got a chance to make one card yesterday using Laura's Sketch #54 over at 2S4Y! I used lots of miscellaneous goodies...Cosmo Delovely paper, heart and words by The Girls' Paperie, cute little stamp by Red Lead. I know a few soon-to-be brides that this card would be perfect for! *wink*

So, yesterday Kathleen made an interesting comment about making my card with limited supplies since I'm at my parent's house. She's very astute! I spent more time packing my carry-on paper-crafting bag than my big bag of clothes, it was agonizing deciding which supplies to take! lol! Just for a reference, my big bag of clothes weighed 40 pounds at the airport (I threw the hair dryer and diffuser out at the last minute!) and my small, paper-crafting bag weighed 38 pounds! That cardstock is heavy, you know!

Well, we're off to spend the day with grandma in the nursing home, about a three hour trip one way. What a hard situation since my grandpa passed recently. I'm not sure she'll know me, but I'm grateful to spend some time with her.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Red Lead.

Cardstock: SU Old Olive, Cosmo Cricket Delovely, pink & polka dot American Craft paper.

Ink: Staz-On Brown.

Accessories: SU 1 3/4" circle punch, Mays Art ribbon, The Girls' Paperie heart & words, dimensionals.

Gallery Idol Top 15

Well, I'm back for the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Top 15! I couldn't believe it and I thank you all so much for voting for my card! I really appreciate it!

Our challenge for the Top 15 was a masculine, "garage inspired" card! The card needed to have items from the garage or images of things found in the garage. Yikes! I'm still in Missouri visiting my parents and luckily my dad has a huge garage filled with handyman stuff, so he helped me scrounge around and go shopping! He's a lot cheaper than the local scrapbooking store, by the way!

I used washers and black electrical wire to make the "dad" letters, plus wire mesh for the fence, and a bolt just because I liked it! lol! The green paper is Cosmo Cricket and I liked the way the rectangles across the top kind of looked like garage windows. I started off using a Kraft card background, like usual, but then I noticed the "1" was kind of purplish, so I tried the new Stampin' Up! color Concord Crush and it kind of popped. I asked my Dad's opinion, and he liked the purple better, so I went with that. Since he's getting the card for Father's Day, seemed like the least I could do! lol!

Just like last week, be sure and visit the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol page to vote for your favorite card!

Of course, I'll appreciate it and love you forever if you vote for mine! *wink* It's tough, I know you'll be amazed by all the submissions! I have been getting to know the other gals and they are just the nicest, sweetest, most supportive group of women ever! It's making the whole experience that much better!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Tim Holtz

Carstock: SU Concord Crush, Cosmo Cricket green paper, Sassafrass blue paper.

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: Sassafrass chipboard numbers, garage items: washers, black electrical wire, bolt, and wire mesh.

More contenders...

Happy Friday! I'm back with two more cards that I made...and then rejected...for the Gallery Idol. Luckily I'm on summer break or I wouldn't have had time to make all these possible cards! lol!


I was toying with the idea of "I'm here for you", "I'm here if you need me", "You are not alone", etc. I liked the bright colors of the top one, but then I was afraid the "me" stickers at the bottom made it look all about "me" instead of about being there for "you".


The next one is similar. First, I tried printing the word "me" repeatedly over the whole flower background, but the font I used was kind of cursive-like, and by the time I put the stuff on top, it read like "men" instead of "me". lol! I gave up on that. So then I tried using that tandem bicycle stamp in the background to represent "you are not alone", but then the words "not alone" (made in Word and ran through printer) were too hard to read, so I just scrapped the whole idea. It wasn't meant to be! ha!


Anyway, there's a little insight into my thinking and agonizing over cards! lol! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

p.s. I just saw that I made it into the Gallery Idol Top 15! Thank you soooo much to everyone who voted for me, I really appreciate it! My next challenge for Monday is masculine cards inspired by things from the garage...definitely a challenge, but I'm in the perfect place at my parent's house...you should see my dad's humongous garage/building/workspace thing! I can surely find something out there! lol! Thanks again!

Wishing You Sun

Happy Thursday!


Recipe
Cardstock: Kraft, Prima Umbrella paper.
Accessories: Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type stickers, Thickers, October Afternoon Cherry Hill label sticker, SU corner rounder & linen thread, Buttons Galore button.

Thinking of You

Happy Wednesday! First of all, let me say: What was I thinking when I booked a flight at 6:05 am?! YIKES!! Luckily I do a lot of sleeping on the plane...


In the meantime, here's my 2nd runner up card that I almost submitted to Gallery Idol on Monday. It was the first card I made, but then I got my new Stampin' Up! goodies, and after a few consultations with my buddy Beverly, we decided to go with the new Stampin' Up! card. I do love this little bird, though, that came along with the other frames too, from a K and Co Ephemera pack. It's a yummy little pack if you like ephemera!


Okay, toodles for now! I'll be entering the world of dial-up, egads, so send me your best wishes as I try to keep up with y'all! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Cardstock: Kraft
Accessories: Big Shot, SU Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate, SU Canvas Cuts & rub-ons (retired), Linen Thread, PTI ric rac die & brown felt, vintage lace, Buttons Galore button, glue dot, dimensionals.

Kazan's Sketch #54: Amour

Happy Tuesday! I just got my air-conditioning repaired, so it truly is a HAPPY Tuesday!


I did manage to make this little card early this morning in the heat (it was too hot to sleep!) for Kazan's Sketch #54 over at 2S4Y. I used some more new SU goodies, Artistic Etchings and Newsprint designer series paper. I *heart* this paper! Doesn't it look just like old book print?! The other patterns are great too! The two little strips are supposed to be the Argyle texture from the Big Shot texture plate, but you can't really see them in the picture, darn!



FYI, to get the ruffled edge that looks like crepe paper around the oval, I cut a couple of strips of 1" card stock, then broke the fibers down by pulling it against the bone folder. After that the strip of cardstock easily divides into two pieces, which I randomly folded, pleated style and taped to the back of oval, working around the oval as I went. Hope that makes sense, let me know if you have questions! I think it might have turned out a little bit neater if the air-conditioning had been working! lol!



I'm heading out to Missouri tomorrow to spend some time with my folks, yay! My dad recently had a heart attack and a couple of surgeries and he's doing well, but I'm hoping to help them out some. Guess I better start packing and attacking the cleaning I put off when the air-condo was broken! The real question...how much and what paper-crafting supplies to pack?! How much do they charge for extra bags and pound overage?! Yikes!


Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Artistic Etchings.
Cardstock: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Newspring DSP.
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Staz-On Black.
Accessories: Big Shot, Ovals Die, SU Backgrounds 1 Texture Plate, Black Satin Ribbon, Linen Thread, Dimensionals, vintage button.

Blog Candy Winner!

Thanks to everyone who played along with my School's Out for Summer Blog Candy! I really enjoyed reading your comments about school, thanks so much for taking the time to do that!


Here's the lucky winner:



GEL-Oh said...

I always loved school so the end of the school year was sad but I loved summer vacation more.

June 5, 2010 1:38 PM

Email me your info and I'll get your goodies out in the mail today!

Gallery Idol Top 20!

Happy Monday! It's finally here! The Gallery Idol Top 20 reveal! Our theme was "Creativity Heals" so we made sympathy, thinking of you, etc. cards. You'll be blown away by the entries, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't lose any sleep over this card! *wink* Over the next few days, I guess I'll show you all my cards that didn't make the cut, although some are still in piles of bits and pieces and will need some final assembly! lol!


For this card, I used all Stampin' Up! sneak peek goodies that will be available in the new catalog coming out July 1! The new colors and designer series papers are gorgeous! The leafy stamp is from the level 2 hostess set Apple Blossoms and the paper is called Greenhouse Gala. The blue is a new color called Marina Mist, sigh, I LOVE blue! I used the new 1/8" Marina Mist ribbon to create the flower...you can see a faux-chet crocheted flowers tutorial here from the fabulous Danielle Flanders, and I wondered if it might work with narrow ribbon, and it did!

And now for the non-paid advertisement:
head on over to the Gallery Idol page and
vote for the card you like best...or my card...
that would be fine too! Hee! Hee!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!


Recipe
Stamps: Apple Blossoms
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Whisper White, Greenhouse Gala DSP.
Ink: Staz-On Brown, Poppy Parade & Pear Pizzazz markers.
Accessories: Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon (colored with Poppy Parade marker), glue dots, dimensionals.

You Are Fabulous!

Happy Sunday! Summer vacation is off to a great start! Here's a little card I started the other night and put some finishing touches on this morning. I used a few new goodies from The Girls' Paperie, yummy!


So yesterday I hung out with this guy:



Okay, maybe I exaggerated a wee bit with "hung out", but I did get some pictures of him! I met some friends at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington. We got a lot start, but we did squeeze in one class with Technique Tuesday (a 2-page scrapbook layout designed by Ali Edwards) and some fast marathon shopping! I seriously wanted to buy every single Tim Holtz stamp, it was painful!


Okay, gotta dash, dh says brunch is ready! Am I lucky or what?! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Don't forget to check out the
blog candy here!

Blog Candy: School's Out for Summer!

School's out for summer! That means blog candy for you! Thank you so much for checking out my blog and putting up with my sporadic posts during the school year, I really appreciate it!! Just leave a comment to be entered...feel free to share any end of school year memories you have, or not, either way, no worries! As much as I countdown to the end of school every year and go on and on about how excited I am, when it actually happens, I'm always a little sad and mopey. But probably a long, Friday night nap, followed by stamping will help cure that!


I'll draw a winner Monday night at midnight and mail out the goodies on Tuesday!


Thanks again for visiting! Hugs and happy stamping!

Sip by Sip

Happy Thursday! Couldn't quite get around to posting this morning, but wanted to go ahead and post these two cards I made with the retired Sip by Sip set. Amy has made me fall in love with this set...why did I never pay attention to it before?! Doh! I was at a retreat recently and luckily one of my friends had the set with her, so I got to play with it...


So I decided I had to post these right now, because as soon as school is out tomorrow, I'll be stamping with some NEW goodies from the NEW Stampin' Up! catalog! Yes, I expedited my order and got it today! You know I had to see that new catalog and it's FABULOUS! I've looked through it once quickly, but now I have to finish some stuff for the last day of school tomorrow...I can't believe the end is so near! I'm in the mental stage of "There's NOOOO way I can do this again next year, I can't, I can't, I can't!" lol! But I guess that's what the summer's for...so I can decide I can do it again next year! ha!


Okay, that's it for tonight! Check back tomorrow for some fun stuff! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!

Sticker Sneeze: thank you

Happy Wednesday! Three more days, people, three more days! Sweet relief is in sight...


For today, how about a sticker sneeze thank you?! I haven't thought of that term for awhile, but since I dug out some OLD stickers and used them on this card, it seemed appropriate. The "you" is stamped with the new Stampin' Up! Rough Type alphabet, it's a good one! I especially love that it comes with the unmounted option now! If you want to see an amazing blog post with lots of ideas on how to use your old stickers, check out this one by Brenda Weaver. I starred it in Google Reader awhile back and I plan on trying some of her ideas this summer, I have LOTS of old stickers that need to make themselves useful!


So our 2nd graders finally got a field trip yesterday to the Museum of Nature & Science. They are seriously wound up right now since school is almost over, but they did a good job, and it worked out well since there were only three schools there! When I've been before, it's been teaming with schools and students, very stressful for teacher! We saw the new Water exhibit and the IMAX movie Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk. I need to remember to go to the movies there more often, they are so good! Today we'll be working on our end of year awards ceremony performance, Hello Goodbye, from the Beatles. Luckily we have a teacher with great experience in dramatic arts (NOT me!), we want it to be like Glee! hee! hee!


Okay, ta-ta for now! Thanks so much for stopping by! Hugs and happy stamping!