Been a month YIKES!

Yes it has been nearly a month since I posted anything... what a drag! But today is a new day and I have lots to post. Here is a Christmas card I am working on for mass mailing. It's a bit detailed, and as usual I am over ambitious, so need to scale it back. I did have fun making it, and playing around with some of the embossing stuff to get some texture.

This card was inspired by AKJUDA at Splitcoaststampers! Here is her nice card:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/635636

I really love these classic colors for Christmas....of course Certainly Celery is included....obviously! I got the swirl thing from a junk email I received over the weekend, I think it just adds something fun to the card.

I started by stamping my image on white cardstock from Papertreyink, then coloring it in with markers and blender pens. Blender pens are great if you aren't wanting lots of hardcore color in one blop! I used my 2 way glue to adhere the white embossing to it, and that made the stuff crackle and thick. I then went back in after heatsetting it and used a thick clear embossing powder to add some dimension to the snowman, and although it didn't work out like I wanted to, it did adhere to the white embossing powder, and melted together, giving the little cap some streaks and gloss. I did the same on the scarf.

The background was stamped by placing all 3 snowflake stamps on an acrylic stamp pad, and stamping the background by dipping in the celery ink, then the versamark. I have an extra pad just for this purpose because it tends to leave the ink on the pad. I embossed it in thick embossing powder to give some "wetness" to the snowflakes. I went back in with the Merry and Bright snowflake background stamp, and lightly stamped the background, you know stamp on stamp off, then on your paper!

The red scallop tag was stamped in Papertreyink Borders and Corners Circle loopy stamp in white, then dazzling diamonds added. After I mounted the snowman to the scallop circle, I went back with the stitched circle from Papertreyink to add some more texture. You could make it easier on yourself by putting that detail on before you punched it out... but hey I don't think that far ahead sometimes.

Wrapped it in celery ribbon, and then attached the circle with some of that new stretchy silver cord from SU. Have fun making your own card! I sure did.

Life happens!

What can I say, Life got in the way, and I have not even had an inkling...hee hee, to get to this blog. I literally have fallen off of the earth. One thing I am thankful for is my family! Our family has been to heck and back, and if my Sisters, Dad and Brother-in-law had not been there in our darkest times, I don't know what I would have done.

With that said, my favorite sister asked me to make her some cards for a Theater production she was helping to create costumes for. She is UBER talented, and makes some amazing things from fabric. These cards were for cast members she had designed for, to wish them luck.... or as they say in the theater.. Break a Leg! The production is a spoof on Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, so the look she was going for needed to fit that.

The layout and inspiration for this card came from Nichole Heady, and her super cute ( does she do anything bad???) bag design on the front page of Paper Craft magazine. I stamped the background image first, then printed the Break A Leg sentiment on cardstock. I stamped it with Borders and Corners and then punched it out with a Marvy Giga punch. I found a coordinating Nestabilities to add some depth to the card and a little punch. I love the little bling, and the soft velvet, it just feels so Dickens to me.

When my sister was here, she slipcovered a chair AND an ottoman out of fabrics I have been hoarding. How amazing is that... and it's sooooo CUTE! LOVE IT!

One piece I had leftover was a red ticking stripe, and it just looked so cute with this card. Since she only wanted to write a quick note on the flipside, she didn't need a full card, so I decided to stich the outside border of the card in red, so that when you flip it over it has a red stiched border to write a note in.

I hope she likes it..... she means the world to me! SISTAH!!!

The never ending card!

Okay, so it's been ions since I have crafted a card, and you can tell! Ha ha! I have been so busy with work and kids and activities, that I can't find a spare moment. That said, I finally found a few HOURS to make ONE card....how sad is that! Seems like the longer you stay away from this stuff, the longer it takes to make one....you want to make it perfect, AND use all your cool stuff!

So this card I wanted a Halloween card, and I had been thinking about this for awhile. I like the idea of interjecting the turquoise into this color scheme, it just makes it different.

So I started with my Cuttlebug and my Spellbinders Nestabilities. I embossed the center of the card. I used a pre-cut and scored cardstock from Papertreyink, and it just turned out so nice with little effort. Those Nestabilities are awesome, and if you don't have any, I would encourage you trying one set. They seem to fill in where the punches leave off, plus I LOVE the embossing capabilities.

I then cut a piece of computer paper out to a 4.25 x 5.5 piece, and then ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities to remove the center rectangle. I used that to MASK off the area that I didn't want my Cheesecloth Stamp to print on.

Once that was done, I painted the outside of the embossed frame with my Certainly Celery marker, and then lightly ran my Versamark Marker over it and embossed it with Silver. I didn't want a heavy coat of the Silver Embossing because I wanted to see the green underneath.

I stamped the witch in White Craft on Black paper first, and cut it out. I didn't really define the edges that much, I really just left it more as a outline of the image. Then I stamped the Witch again, and colored it in. That's when it happened.... I went Silver Stickles crazy.... eeeeek!

I needed some bling, so I just added it where it fit. I also used a white gel pen in her eyes, and dress, and broom just to jazz it up a bit and give some more dimension. I cut out the image, this time paying closer attention to the the image, and cutting more away. The idea was to create a shadow. I used StampinUp Dimensionals to give the depth to the two pieces.

Initially I had cut out and embossed the circular moon, but it just didn't look right, so I used my StampinUp punch 1 3/8 to cut the circle out, then used my Stampin Pastels to color the Moon! I blended 3 different colors to get the look. I used one of the sponge applicators to move the Silver Stickles around, I just wanted a little shimmer on the moon.

Before applying the witch and shadow and moon, I went back to my embossed cardstock and used the Stickles in the "ditch" of the embossed frame, to add some glitz, and also dimension. Stickles!

I then decided that some funky circles would be nice on the outside, so I pulled out my Green Thumb set from Papertreyink, and used several circles stamped around the edges. I didn't want the interior stamped, so I just used a scrap to cover and mask the interior of the square when I got close to the edge, and that worked out okay. It still needed something else, so I went back in with the circular piece from PRICELESS from StampinUp. Yet it STILL needed something.... wait for it.... wait for it... YES! STICKLES! See what I mean about that never ending card thing?! So I just went back again, and filled in the circles with some Silver Stickles.

I then cut a rectangle piece with my Marvy Super punch, and stamped "spooky" on a piece of white cardstock. I have always thought that "ransom note" look would be fun to try, so here is my attempt. I just used markers to color where I wanted, stamped the image from the Papertreyink set, and then cut it apart. I used some black eyelets to attach the ribbon to the tag, and attached it to the card. I guess you could say it's "spooky" with all that SticKles! haha. Enjoy, I sure did while I was making it. Man I need to get back in the cave and be creative!

Meet CHEETO!

Okay, so I have been out of it soooo long. I have created nothing..... what can I do with nothing! I promise to have something here soon, perhaps this weekend, well maybe not.. we have paper routes to deliver this weekend... not gonna lie it's not my most favorite time, except for the fact that it traps my teenager in the car with me for several hours with nothing to do but talk.... so I guess that's a good thing! Ha! We also have a new puppy! YEAH! Like I need another dog, but this one was too cute to ignore. Her name is Cheeto, and she is a 4 month old pug. She is a little terror! She has two speeds, Tornado and dead! She is just a crazy girl, and we love her so much. Weenie our male pug is protective of her, and biscuit our Westie, well let's just say she is NOT so thrilled. So we are working on adjusting that and making sure everyone gets lots and lots of hugs. So here are a couple of photo's I just took.... what a face...what's not to love!
The family that had Cheeto and named her Cheeto Bandito....hahha! were ALL allergic to her! Can you imagine? So we rescued her..... wink wink! It's a dirty job but someone had to do it right? This is my birthday present, and actually she has become my husband's dog in a way. She ADORES him. We love her.. and the kids are getting lots of laughs.. actually we all are! EVERYTHING is a chew toy for her, paper, hair, pillows, furniture, plastic, stuffing carefully removed from stuffed toys.... you name it... she can chew it! She also has the funniest bark, it sounds like a cat being run over! Her favorite thing to do is to sit on top of the ottoman or couch and smack Biscuit over the head then run off! Maybe that would explain why Biscuit is less than loving this. She has also figured out how to run through certain places in the picket fence to the next door neighbor's house. They have two little girls and magically the exit from their yard is usually blocked by a beach ball once Cheeto "wanders" over to their side! Cheeto runs in circles and the little girls follow her. Needless to say it poops her out for awhile.

New Papertreyink Forum

Hey all you papertrey fans..... Nichole and her crew have a new forum! It will be the place when she has her new release coming up. You can post comments and start threads etc. Looks kind of fun... I'm game!

Here's the link:

http://papertreyink.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Easy Please!

So I needed a stack of cards quick, and had favorited this card from Inglishrea to change up in honor of her Featured Stamper :

DTGD BEate Sketch Card

Yeah, I am a little late making the deadline.... but it's the thought. I really like this new set True Friend, so many possibilities, and I combined it with Papertreyink Borders and Corners to make it more interesting. I used a very small teardrop shaped piece, not sure which Borders and Corners set...oops, to trim out the scallop, then stamped over it with the larger circle image. It was a goof originally, but I like how it turned out. I am not a big fan of Cranberry Crisp, really tried to embrace last years IN colors, and honestly, they were OUT for me.... just never really liked them. But Cranberry really worked with the DP I had and it used up some of my ribbon. Honestly, I really like this color combo and will use it again. It looks very ethnic and I like that it is a bit unusual, or unexpected from what I usually do.

It went together quickly, and I will use the layout again!

Farewell Beautiful Friend

This card was for a personal friend who passed away last week. He started the company I work for .... J.T. Posey Company truely from the back of his car. A wonderful character and a very warm spirited man. I am proud to work for his company, and have gotten to know him. In this day and age, it's hard to find a company that is still family owned and operated. His son Ernie is alot like his dad, and has done so much to not only grow the business, but maintain the quality and integrity his Dad built.

It is a little feminine, but as I mentioned, the company logo is a Posey flower, and I just thought it fit. The company colors are also green, and adding just a little of that back in really seemed to work. I used the Nestabilities I just got a few hours ago from Papertreyink.com and really had a good time playing with them. It did take a few minutes to figure out the "sandwich" you have to build. In case you haven't seen it on Nichole Heady's blog here it is...

Cutting Sandwich for a Cuttlebug... because that's what I used:

plate A

plate C

die with the ridged side facing up

paper/cardstock

plate B

Embossing Sandwich:

plate A

plate B

die with ridged side up

beige mat from Spellbinders

3 pieces of cardstock

plate B

I really like these things, and I think I will find alot of versatility in using them. I embossed the so saffron layer, and you can barely see the edge of it, kind of looks like I embossed a circle there. I also embossed the olive piece. Once you cut it, you just remove the excess, change your sandwich around and emboss it. It really is that easy....

I used the Linen background stamp from SU on the river rock, and then stamped my flower image. I love those little velvet flowers from Maya Road, purchased from Papertreyink.... they have everything! The sentiment is also from the new release from Papertrey... beautiful flowers or at least I think that's what it's called. The pearl finished off the flower, and I bought them from target... KC and company. Tres Chic was stamped in the background, and I just love how several of the words really fit this card and what I was trying to convey. Hope Ernie and his family like it!

Road Kill

I feel like roadkill! SEriously! I have been so out of it for the last several weeks, seems like I just can't get it together. Got sick, and that has just about wiped me out for 2 weeks now. So I never uploaded a photo that I promised details for, and after reading my description on SCS about it, people must be so confused, not that anyone is even looking at my site, but jeez, I could at least get it updated.

So here is the card that I did last. I really like the look of Vellum over a card, but have a hard time using it for some reason. I was working on a sketch challenge from Genie 1314 and cut a scallop circle out of the wasabi cardstock. You can't see it because I covered that cut with the black cardstock. I then placed a piece of the floral cardstock behind that cutout, and then glued the black background to the front of the card, that way it covered the circle cutout on the interior, and the floral cardstock circle I had glued to it. Make sense? I embossed the wasabi scalloped circle with the cuttlebug template I just got, and then dry embossed a piece of vellum using the metal bodacious bouquet template that I had. I had the green brad leftover and thought it would add such a nice touch. I also used eyelets in the corner to finish it off. I don't really like the placement of my words on the vellum, but hey, I guess you can't have everything. So here is the interior of the card

It does look like I just glued a piece of the patterned paper to the inside, but I didn't really, it was cut first with the scallop punch on the green cardstock, then the DP placed behind it. I love how that little bird is just hanging out. So there it is, my only card AND post in weeks. I need to get to the creative cave and get busy. I have all my new stamps from Papertreyink to play with and the new release is next week. I also think my Nestabilities have been shipped, so I cannot wait to play with those!

I don't know about you......

But getting things done around here has turned into total chaos! With 2 kids in school, and starting a diet... ugh!, my life is crazy! I wonder what I was thinking signing up for a swap! At any rate, I FINALLY got mine out, and hopefully they arrived. For this card the challenge was to use only Papertreyink stamps. I used 3 sets, Greenthumb, Faux Ribbon, and Borders and Corners.

Unfortunately the pic is so dark, you really cannot see that I stamped my image in Wild wasabi, then went back over it with a Versamark marker. I then clear embossed it. After that I stamped the peas, and then dry embossed them to pop them up and give some texture. If you are like me, you don't own a light box, so I got out my paper piercing pad, and then outlined the peas and rubbed over the interior area with my embossing stylus. Flipping the card over, I could see the outline of the pea, and again embossed the interior area. The white stock is not the best, it's so thin, but I still got a nice popped up look to add dimension.

After the peas were dry embossed, I used two way glue to add some DAZZLE with dazzling diamonds. The scallop at the top in apricot has a dry embossed small dot in the curve. I used my Crop-o-dile to achieve that,... and may I say that is a quick thing to use and add some extra texture. You just set the cropodile on A1 and the smaller eyelet piece, and it works great! Give it a try, it's so fun.

The ribbon is tied and glued on with glue dots, and I added the little safety pin to it to tie it into the theme.

I love how bright and cheerful this card is, hope the other ladies agree!

FIX that HEADER!

Ack! I hate how my header looks but can't figure out how to make it look so uber cool. Need to find a good layout or get help...... anyone got some ideas? I want to use my own script because I just love this font, just don't know how to make it nice. Help me help me!

All Jacked Up!

So I need to need to need to come up with a design, and then get cards out. Not sure why I have a mental block right now, but I need to get mooooving! I have had my Starbucks, from my new Barista machine I might add... YUMMY! We got it on clearance and boy is it good, the only thing is, now I am drinking coffee every day, strong yummy coffee, and I am jacked up on caffiene now ; 0 Maybe that is what I need to get focused and moving to the creative cave.

One day when I get things in order down there I will actually post a photo, but for now... so ugly!

New SU goodies!

Okay, so I waited extremely long to order from the new SU catty, and that's sad : (

Honestly, I have found so many other distractions to purchase that I now need to catch up to SU! I just love these new sets! So the goal was to try and I say TRY loosely, to create my own patterned paper. If you have not seen Nichole Heady's ideas for this, you are missing out, the lady is pure genious. She makes it look sooooo easy! I'm not gonna lie, it took me ALL DAY, okay at least Half a Day to make this one piece of background paper...YIKES!

Anyhoo, I started out by stamping the swirls in a square pattern, then filled in the open squares with the butterflies. I used the little flower stamp in cool caribbean to fill in the swirls, and used the round stamp with the flower in chocolate chip to go over where the swirls intersected. Since it still looked to bare, I used versamark to stamp the larger flower image in the background. Of course to make my card, I only used about an 1 3/4 of the paper, so you don't really see this so well. My Bad!

I had attempted a different card using this lovely tulip image from Anna Griffin Designs, don't you just love how BEEEautiful it is? Now if I could only learn to color. I just had to use it on this card. I stamped my Tres Chic onto the Not quite navy paper, and then stitched,... yes stitched! It took me awhile to do that since I have never done real stitching on my cards, and had to fiddle with the tension ( note to self, a new pointy needle and tension at .5 seemed to do the trick). So I glued the pieces down, and then stitched the card. I stamped the SO KIND sentiment by stamping on and then off and then ON again! heh heh! I sound like such a pro..... NOT!

I used a "pig punch" for the placement of the ribbon. For those of you who don't know what a PIG PUNCH is.... it is the double rectangle punch! My friend Lori calls it that and I thought it sounded more fun than the "double slot/rectangle punch"! BAM! Just kickin it up a notch!

The ribbon is from the new Martha Stewart line. I have been trying to use this since I bought it a month ago. Not sure why I waited so long? Guess the pressure from "MaKe iT SPARKLE Missy" Martha Stewart made me really think about it! It really was a fun card to make, and not really all that hard. Now..... back to the creative Cave to do my next card..... and I do mean CAVE! My only good light source burned out and I am in the basement by the light of a window well and one overhead bulb.......someone bust out the violins!

D-tales D-tales!

Okay, so I just uploaded 2 cards over at SCS and put a link to my new blogspot..... guess I didn't really think that through so well. Oh well live and learn. Now I can play catch up so everyone can get the D-tales... hee hee!

So I am doing a Papertreyink Swap, and here is my idea, although I hope I planned enough time to get these done...egad!

I used a curved ruler to mark the edge of my card about 1 1/2 inches from the fold on the underside, then I used my scallop scissors to cut the edge. It really helps to draw a line first, makes cutting a breeze! Then I cut out a Large scallop circle, and stamped the scallops with another little design from the Borders and Corners set, unfortunately I cannot tell you exactly which set it came from.... I have mixed and matched all the little pieces so much they are all MIXED UP! ooops!

I stamped the dotted circle over the scalloped DP circle, cut out a smaller scallop circle, and added my cake. Once I colored it in with blender pens, my favorite thing to use as opposed to a marker! You can get more control in the shading and colors. I popped the smaller scalloped circle up, and then added a sentiment also popped up. HOpe it fits the envelope ; )

I finished off the edges using the Faux Ribbon set in Pumpkin just to trim things out, and then filled in my scalloped fold with another little doo-dad from Borders and Corners. Tied a big fat bow on it and called it Bright.... and done!

Let's add some photo's

This was a fun card to make! It has lot's of little layers, and special touches that made it a nice card to give. I always seem to end up with a small piece that is my focal point, and then build the card around it. Probably why it takes me so dang long to create one.

Well this is new for me, and I am trying this out to see if I can make it go! ha ha! Bear with me while I figure things out and try and customize this baby!