It's What I Do...

WMS Birthday Party

2011-05-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Waltzingmouse Stamps is turning 2, and is having a Birthday Tea Party to celebrate!

Here is the tea favor I made, using Claire's free Tea Bag Baggie template.

I used some Anna Griffin paper to make the baggie. The stamp is from American Crafts that I got a while back on the clearance rack.

Since this is a party, Rose and Betty had to make an appearance, as they love parties (Rose is on the left, and Betty is on the right).

A very "Happy 2nd Birthday to You," WMS!!!

Yesterday...

2011-04-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

...I took the Ladies to get their permits!

We got to the DOL when it opened, so we wouldn't have to wait too long.

Just long enough to get a little nervous, but not long enough that anyone got sick.
After 30 minutes, we were done, and my Ladies can get behind the wheel of a 2-ton vehicle and make it go vroom-vroom.

So yesterday they also received some driving practice from me & Steve. And "thumbs up" from people in the neighborhood.

So Easter is almost here, and I am so unprepared. I made some cute baskets a few weeks ago.

Pippin kept a lookout while I photographed this one. I don't know why I made it, but it was so much fun.
Sparkles on the egg make me smile.

That's probably as festive as I'll get this year. Too much going on this week to make more. But that's okay. :)

Thursday

2011-04-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

Peter had his first visit with the orthodontist today; they put in spacers (ouch!). I took a photo of the inside of his mouth, but he'd kill me if I posted it, so just believe me when I say that they're in there.

On the way home, I picked up these tulips. They are actually for Peter's science experiment, but I thought it was neat how they matched my purse.

When the Ladies were younger, that shade of pink was their favorite one in the Prismacolor pencil box. I think it was called "Process Red," which is an unfortunate name for a color that is so happy. In Copic-speak, it is "RV17 - Deep Magenta," and is really close to being SU "Melon Mambo." I'm not sure those are happy names either.

I made these last night. They are little 3x5 notebooks (the one on the left is from Target, and the one on the right is from Walgreens). I just Mod-Podged some BG "Curio" paper on them, and let them dry overnight.

Anastasia needed the one on the right to use as a "Dibs Book." That's where you write the name of all the guys you think are cute. I think there are some other rules for Dibs-ing, but they get kind of complicated, so I won't write them out now.

Nuttin'....

2011-04-12T19:36:00.001-07:00

....absolutely nothing got done today, and my desk has a pile of paperwork on it. Ziggy's allergies seemed really bad this morning, so I thought I'd drop off some Zyrtec and eye drops at his school. I managed to see him in the lunch room, and he looked awful. The lunch aide looked at him and said, "That looks like pink eye!" Fortunately, the Health Center is across the hall from the Lunchroom, and we immediately went there. Long story short: he's home tonight with eye drops and a new nasal spray. Poor guy, the school campus is absolutely beautiful with the billion blossoming trees and spacious green grass, it just makes him sneeze all the time.

This weekend wasn't too bad though: We went to Goodwill , and I managed to find this pack of coasters for $1.99 !!!

I am super excited, as I was wanting to work with coaster board. I've been using the ones from Michael's, which are cardboard and a bit too thick. And I have made some from thick Costco boxes. I was about to order some actual coasters from some company back east, but they only sell in lots of 1000, and that's a bit too much, me thinks.

Anyways, these should do me fine for a spell, and if I don't alter them, they aren't too ugly to use...maybe.

Ladybugs & Lemon Bars

2011-04-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Pippin helped me with today's photos...basically, she sat in my sunshine, but that's kind of her talent.

Anyways, I made these over the weekend, using a fab tutorial by Dawn. The ladybugs are made with scalloped circles and are so cute!

This afternoon, I made some lemon bars with this recipe . I was going to take a picture of them, but we ate them all! I can't believe it...the recipe makes a 9x13 pan of bars, but we managed to scarf it all down in one sitting. They were so good and I will be making these again. Such a fresh taste that makes your mouth happy!

Easter Baskets

2011-04-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Angie showed us how to make the cutest little baskets out of 6x6 paper. They are 3" x 3" x 1.5".

I didn't have any bunny or chick stamps, so I used Tommy Turtle. I like it, but I needed a basket that had taller sides so that the Georges could use them to collect eggs or candy or Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

I did some fiddling with the measurements and made a taller basket. Then I found a cute chick stamp in the dollar bin at Craft Warehouse.
This basket is 3" x 3" x 2", which will suit the Georges just fine. I colored some with my Copics.

And I colored some with my Twinkling H2Os, for some shimmery fun.

Card Class

2011-04-07T15:42:00.001-07:00

Tuesday night was Card Class and the theme was "vellum." Leslie showed us how to make cute vellum luminaries for electric tealights. I didn't finish mine yet, so I can't post a photo.

I did bring other vellum ideas, though. The first two are from Nicole Heady:

Stamp design on back side of vellum with Versamark, then emboss with white EP. Sponge ink on design, and wipe of excess. The sentiment is stamped on front of vellum with Stazon.

Stamp image on back of vellum with Hawaiian Shores ink (PTI). Adhere it to card base with Scor-tape. The glitter strips are made by putting 1/8" Scor-tape on either side of colored cardstock, then sprinkling glitter on it.

I messed up on my first vellum background, so I decided to use it to make a flower embellishment. I cut out the shape using my (favorite) Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. The center is a Making Memories gem brad.

My third card used a pattern from Paper Crafts magazine. I cut the apron shape from vellum, then ran it through my Big Shot with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Finished pressure washing the driveway and sidewalk today! My arm is killing me, but IT IS DONE!!!

Yesterday

2011-04-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

We had some sun! Jenifer loaned us her pressure washer, and it is awesome. I so {heart} this thing! On the left of the picture is before cleaned, and on the right is AFTER

Seriously, our driveway was black and now is gray with black. Driveways out here in the Northwest get that way, and it is not unusual to see people out cleaning their driveways.

I am a bit sore today, though.

Cards for Robin

2011-04-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Just sent a batch of cards to Robin. I had a lot of fun making these, because the colors were so Spring-like.

Some of the designer paper is from last year. I remember buying it, and making sure I had matching cardstock, but I seriously can't remember what I intended to make with it. I hate it when I do that.

Stampin' Up! had a cute set that I had to get. The silhouette of the girl reminded me so much of my Ladies when they were younger and every day was a sparkly rainbow tea party.
Thought I'd throw in some generic Easter cards for Robin, too. I love these egg images.

Now, I love blossoming branches, and they do remind me of Spring. But I like images of these branches more than the real thing. The trees are blooming like crazy now, and my allergies are just awful. Poor Ziggy has puffy eyes and a sore on his eyelid from rubbing it too much. Peebs has been rubbing his eyes, too.

Tonight is pizza night, so I'd better get busy and find out what kind to get...Caesar's, Papa Murphy's, Costco, Round Table?

90% of real crafters make real messes....

2011-03-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is: where I craft. I guess it might look messy to some people. Like my friend, who peeked in, then said: "Hmm, I could never stand having open shelves like that!"

It doesn't really bother me.

This is the cleanest that my craft table will ever look.

All I really care about is that my paper cutter has no gunk on it, and that my craft mats have no grimy residue from that last craft project.

The Random Shelf holds random stuff: tape, new ribbons, sanding blocks, a new punch that doesn't fit in the punch drawer, and a couple of keychains (!).

My desk is about the same as the craft table, but I'm happy with it. I can sit in my pink chair, and do my stuff. Usually, one of the dogs will be sleeping in their cage.

The shelf does need a bit of reorganizing, but I never seem to get around to it.

On the weekends, it's a little more tidy, because the calendar & homeschool stuff isn't on there. But the coffee mug is usually there.

And there is a Random Shelf above my desk, too. It holds important things like glitter, ribbons, folders from long ago, and a stuffed unicorn.

I also noticed this today...book, craft, jar of dried flowers (?) and pencil basket with stuffed unicorn...all on premium shelf space. I just don't make sense!

And this is the bit that drives my husband bonkers: my printer sitting on top of Scooby's cage (but I put a red blanket under it, so she can't mess with the electronics). He's okay with me setting my craft totes on Pippin's cage, though.

This is as clean as it gets, and if it were any tidier, I'd probably be too nervous to make anything (especially if it involved glitter).

So, no excuses. This is where I do what I do.

Thanks for stopping by!

2011-03-31T15:53:00.000-07:00

Cleaning Up

2011-02-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like we finally got some snow! My poor rhodies are quite confused, and I hope they don't decide to forget about giving me a pink show this year. Even the Georges were confused:
They sat at the window all morning, waiting for Santa to arrive. I don't think he came, but somehow, they got candy anyways.

I had a few minutes today between lessons, so I thought I'd put away all the Valentine craft things. Like these hearts that I started...I'll work on more of these throughout the year, because they were fun; I just need more practice.

I put all the Valentine card-making stuff away (sniff, sniff), and managed to get this card in the mail for my SIL's birthday. I used some of the "Beloved" (MME) paper and "Just the Ticket" (PTI) stamps, and a Kristina Werner layout:
I was goofing around with the inside, and Peter said it looked neato, so I kept it that way.
Now, on to the next project: making a pillow cover with yo-yos. I stitched up several yesterday during piano lessons, and a few today during Anastasia's doctor appointment. Now I just need to find a pattern for the cover.

Okay, time to go make dinner...

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T16:15:00.001-08:00

Just a few hearty-pinky things today. Steve left for a week-long trip yesterday, so he left these for me (I think he made the card using some scraps from my wastebasket!)

New Cutterbees that I had to get, but I waited until today to use them!

And I bought a cute pink purse! Yay, Anastasia and Sophia are excited: this one replaces my Eddie Bauer gray one, which replaced my Eddie Bauer black one. They were very, um, practical and weatherproof, but not cute. I was so excited when I found this one...I'm not sure if it is totally cute, but it definitely has more color.

And I have been really enjoying my heart Nesties! I used them here to decorate the ribbon on a vase of flowers for my friend:

I made Ziggy a heart-shaped card, super-quick. And George made me some pink hearts, too.

I have to show a card...this one is Kristina Werner's design, I just swapped the colors, and followed her video tutorial (it is so much fun!):

And the heart garland...well, I was going to sew the felt hearts to a crocheted chain. So I crocheted a long chain, and after sewing on 3 or 4 hearts, I realized that I really had no place to hang a garland (!). So, this morning, I cut off the hearts and undid the chain, and just placed the guys on the foyer's sideboard:
Lousy photo, but there is no sun outside today, so there you go. Think I'll leave these guys up a while, because hearts are so cheery.

Heart Stuff

2011-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

It must be close to Valentine's Day, because look what Anastasia found in the potato chip bag:

I bet that Nick Jonas put it in there just for her!!!

Today's card is a "tent topper" card, made with the little mouse from "Happy Heart Day" (Stampin' Up! ). I bought this set off of Ebay last month, and even though it is a retired set I still think it is cute, and not too outdated :)

Pink Stuff

2011-02-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Just in a girly mood today, I guess, but I felt like posting pink things. Here is Pippin, all snuggled on the laundry pile.

I made these cute boxes using a video tutorial by Angie. I used some old K&Co. Berrylicious paper, and unknown SU pink color (I bought it at Goodwill, and it had no name on it). The flowers were made with my favorite Tim Holtz "Tattered Florals" die (I love this die!). The sentiment is from Lockhart.

These boxes are about 3 x 3 on the top, and are a good size for treats, or...

...just the right size for some music flash cards! Peter is so thrilled to have them stored in there.

Henry!

2011-02-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

Seems like Henry is showing up in a lot of my cards lately. Well, he is fun to color, and he insists on sparkles, so that is even more fun.

I love putting him in this layout. I used it for Christmas cards, and here it is again. Really simple layout, and I get to use patterned paper, too.

The first one was done with BasicGrey "Nook & Pantry" dp, and the second one was made with October Afternoon's "Thrift Shop."

Feeling the Love...

2011-02-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

I'm still having fun making Valentine's embellishments. Hopefully, these will make their way on to some cards. If not, I'll store these happy bits into the Valentine Box for next year.

I really enjoy making these happy, little pieces with no end project in mind. And adding glitter to unexpected places has become almost an obsession as of late. Stamping, cutting, gluing...I think the kids are getting annoyed with it :)

Here are some finished Valentines, made with my "One and Only" stamp set (American Crafts), using kraft cardstock and dp from American Crafts and BasicGrey. The BasicGrey (Curio) paper was a bit too bright, so I sponged Antique Linen distress ink over it (I may have added Vintage Photo, too).

Today I'm crocheting a chain for the heart garland. Hopefully I can finish that up tonight. Anastasia has a Valentine's Bunco party on Saturday, so I'd better get busy and make her heart headband, so she'll be properly attired for the occasion.

Bits and Pieces

2011-02-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

No finished projects to share; just bits and pieces, here and there...

Felt hearts, cut with my Nesties, will soon be a garland. Anastasia wants me to make her a headband with them, too. I started sewing the layers together, but it was too difficult for me, so I ended up gluing the layers together.

The Valentine's Inspiration Box is full of embellishments, waiting to be made in to cards.

And my desk is covered with this beautiful collection of My Mind's Eye "Be-Loved" paper. I love the colors in this collection!

Just Bits & Pieces, but they make me smile.

This Weekend...

2011-01-26T09:33:00.000-08:00

...I made some of these. Quick, super simple, and cute (even Steve liked them). Photos courtesy of Anastasia.

These were made with leftover BG "Urban Prairie" paper, and clothespins from the dollar store.

Henry

2010-11-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

Henry is helping me get ready for Christmas this year; I think he wants lots of sparkly decorations, so I'll oblige him since he is the happiest mouse that I know.

I put him in 2 different layouts using CTMH dp. Nothing fancy; just showcasing Henry, in all his cuteness.
He is super fun to color, and it is very exciting to add glitter on to the Christmas ornament, too.

SUPPLIES:
Stamp...Henry with Christmas Bauble (Whiff of Joy)
Ink...Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper...Solar White, Natural White (Neenah); Lipstick Red (Gina K.); Mistletoe dp (Close to my Heart)
Misc...Classic & Scallop Circles Nesties (Spellbinders), Scallop border punch (Fiskars), quickie glue pen (Sakura), Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin Up!), Copics

Summertime Vintage Picnic

2010-10-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

I've never been too excited about Fall and autumnal colors (orange just doesn't do it for me). I keep trying, but it's not as exciting as Spring and Summer, and I just can't get inspired to make those cards.

So, I thought I'd post some summery cards today, made with PTI's "Vintage Picnic" set. I think the first one was CASEd from Nicole Heady here.

The others are just variations of her design. The daisies and strawberries really remind me of a summer picnic, although I've never taken strawberries to a picnic, they just seem "picnic-y"...

Happy Birthday

2010-09-21T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sunshine again today! I thought I'd post a happy card today in honor of our 2 days of sunshine (it's a big deal out here in the Northwest). It's also a cause to photograph some cards without artificial light.

I made this one with Whiff of Joy's "Henry with Muffin." Something about Henry just makes me smile. And he is also super fun to color.

Had to add some stickles to the cupcake top, for Anastasia.

SUPPLIES:
Paper.....Solar White (Neenah), Sunflower (Prism), Teal (Unknown), Thrift Shop (October Afternoon)
Stamps.....Henry with Muffin (Whiff of Joy), Birthday Wishers (Amuse)
Ink..........Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Misc........Classic and Scalloped circle nestabilities (Spellbinders), border punch (EK Success), Diamond Stickles, Copic markers

It's Been A While....

2010-09-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

....since I last posted. Actually, it's been over a year.Too much happened to explain in a short space, so I think I'll just move on, and start with today:

A Good Day, even for a Monday :)

It's a bit cloudy today, and there is Monday Night Football tonight, so that puts me in a Fall mood. Here are a few Fall cards I made with my PTI "Vintage Picnic" stamps; I {heart} this set!

SUPPLIES:
Paper....Kraft (Speckletone), Solar White, Natural White (Neenah), Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado (PTI), Jack Stripe (Reminisce), Mellow (BasicGrey)
Stamps.....Vintage Picnic & Vintage Picnic Sentiments (PTI)
Ink.....Tuxedo Black (Memnto)
Misc....Classic & Scalloped square nestabilities (Spellbinders), Jute (May Arts), yellow satin (Michaels), Copics

Birthday Excitement

2009-07-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

I made this little guy 2 months ago, and am just now getting around to posting it...woo hoo! His expression just makes me smile, because it's one I make a lot around my kids.

The images were stamped separately and cut out, then glued on to the card. I computer-printed "Happy Birthday" inside the card. I had the hardest time getting smooth, blended coloring on the owl image with my Copics, so I think I'll have to find a better way to color Hooty next time; maybe just stamp him on light brown paper.
SUPPLIES:
Stamps.....U R A Hoot (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink....Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper....Solar White (Neenah); Kraft & black (unknown); Urban Prairie (BasicGrey)
Misc...clear embossing powder, dimensionals, classic circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Copics, glitter (Martha Stewart), Quickie glue pen

Little Things...

2009-06-15T21:35:00.001-07:00

I made these a couple of weeks ago, but am just getting around to posting them....

They are really quick and easy. I got the layout from Michelle Wooderson here. She calls it her Postage Stamp Layout, and I think that it is so cute!

I didn't use bows on my cards, though, because the Post Office has really been charging me extra for anything slightly not flat (even a Braille dot was charged an extra penny!). I really like the look of bows, though, so maybe I'll go back to that and pay the extra postage, because the cards look not as happy as I'd like them to...

I don't know who made up this quote, but I think it is so true in life. Enjoy the little things in your life today!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps...IB Birds (Lockhart)
Ink....Noir (Palette)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), Aqua Mist (PTI), Urban Prairie (BasicGray)
Misc...classic & scalloped square Nestabilities, Copics, ribbons (stash), computer generated sentiment

Slowly...

2009-05-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

...learning about photo editors. Maybe if I just practice more, it will get easier. That's what I always tell my kids, so it must be true!

This is another card I did with my Fluffles the Cat stamp. The layout was inspired by this card from Michelle Wooderson.

SUPPLIES:
Stamp...Fluffles the Cat (Stampendous), polka dot backgrounder (CHF)
Ink.......Noir, New Canvas (Palette)
Paper....Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket),; Intense Teal (Prism); Kraft, Aqua Mist (PTI)
Misc......Copics, Classic & Scalooped Nestabilities, Threading Water Border Punch (Fiskars), aquamarine crystal glitter (Martha Stewart), flower punch (EK Success), button die (Sizzlet), white satin ribbon (May Arts)

Memorial Day

2009-05-26T23:28:00.001-07:00

Well, usually for Memorial Day, we go to a service at the military fort near our home. But I was still wiped out from last week's chemo, so we couldn't go this year. Kind of a bummer, because I really like attending that service. And I was too tired to have people over for a cookout.

But my crew still found a way to have a good Memorial Day, even if we did stay home all day.

We ended up playing Tripoley for quite a while, which was surprisingly silly. I was kind of tired, so I just put a sleeping bag on our deck and lay there next to everybody (I still had to play, though).

I know this next photo is unbalanced, but I like it because it shows each kid being themself: Peter, kicking back...Ziggy, sorting his cards...Anastasia, giving me "the eye,"...

Pippin was so funny, and was excited that we were all outside. She finally fell asleep, and it was so cute, because she pretty much slept in the middle of the deck (not next to me on the comfy sleeping bag!).

After the game, we mustered up some picnic grub: brats, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, and jello. I did sneak in a green salad for Peter and me, though, because I had to have something fresh...if you know what I mean...

The girls and I made rice crispy treats with sprinkles and flags (which Peter & Sophia made), just to make it more patriotic. My ladies sure helped me make some delicious picnic food.

Us 3 girls decided to wear kind of patriotic colors...sort of. Sophia didn't have any red, white or blue clothes, so she figured pink camo would be just as good; I thought so, too. And of course, Anastasia would only wear those colors as ACCENTS to yellow, which is fine by me.

Here's us 3 bandana girls, in a photo lovingly taken by Peter....
Left to right: Bandanastasia, Dianabandana, Sophiadana

So, not a typical Memorial Day for us, but we still managed to pull a party together with just us, and it turned out okay...and the weather was awesome!!!

Testing photo editors

2009-05-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

1st photo.....

2nd photo...

both done with auto-fix, just different editors....

which one do I like?

Mother's Day Card for a Friend

2009-05-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but every Mother's Day, I also hand out a few cards to the Moms in our life that aren't really our Mothers...one is the greeter at church that knows us by name (there's 6 of us, so it's no small task), and she likes to give the kids candy every once in a while; she's our Church Mommy.

Another is the kids' piano teacher, who shares her love of music with the kids every week, and also her passion for card making. She likes soft colors, and seems to like cards that have tiny elements on them.

This year, I made her a cherry blossom card, using PTI's Out on a Limb set. I wanted some dimension to the flowers, so I used my new, cute little flower punch. It was too hard to punch through vellum, so I used some parchment paper (I bought it in the Mexican food aisle at the grocery store; it's the kind used to wrap up tamales). Before I punched the flowers, I colored the parchment with two swipes of Copic R20, to give it a soft pink tint.

After the blossoms were glued on the card, I added a dot of Stardust Stickles to the centers. To keep things shiny & sparkly, I also lightly edged the image rectangle with a silver paint pen...very lightly, because I wanted just a hint of silver.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI)
Ink..........Charcoal (Palette), Tea Leaves, (Versamagic chalk ink)
Paper......Solar White (Neenah), Sweet Blush (PTI)
Misc........Classic rectangle Nestie (Spellbinders), Stardust Stickles, glues, silver paint pen, flower punch (Punch Bunch)

Now I Know.....

2009-05-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

....why there are 2 windows in our homeschool room.

Spring Fling Sketch and a Question...

2009-05-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ellen Hutson is having a sketch challenge over at the CLASSroom, so I thought I'd play along. Here is the sketch:

I wanted to use my Lockhart Picnic stamp for the image, but wanted to use softer colors, to give it the feeling of a Spring picnic. The main card color of yellow was inspired by Anastasia, who vacuumed the stairs yesterday. She said to me, "Mom, you looked tired, and the stairs looked really dirty." Since she's my Yellow Girl, I chose that as my main color.

While I was coloring, I kept thinking of my Mom's strawberry-rhubarb pie that she used to make. Oh, I wish I had a piece right now! Since I don't, I tried to make my pie look like Mom's...

SUPPLIES:

Stamp...Picnic (Lockhart)
Ink........Noir (Palette)
Paper.....Solar White (Neenah), Homespun (Memory Box),
Guava Dots(Lasting Impressions), Spring Moss (PTI)
Misc.......Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), buttons #5 Sizzlets (Sizzix),
white Opal Liquid Pearls, clear glaze pen (Sakura), clear Atyou Spica,
coral rose grosgrain(Offray), Copics

And now for the question:
This card was supposed to have a bow and a tag with the word "celebrate" on it (instead of buttons). But the grosgrain I use is too thick and stiff to make a cute bow. Does anyone know where to buy thinner weight 3/8" grosgrain ribbon thant's easy to tie?

Thanks for stopping by today!

PTI's Spring Fling Challenge

2009-05-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Papertrey is having a Spring Fling Challenge this weekend, to create something based on one of their designers' inspiration pieces. Lisa Johnson's piece really spoke to me.

For some reason, the tulips this year have been spectacular in our area. And they are still blooming! We have even had some appear at our house that were not here last year.
These 2 in particular helped me choose colors for my card. I call these guys "My Soldiers." It's just the two of them, standing next to a bush in our front yard, guarding the house. I can see them through the window by my front door, and it is 2 pops of bright, orange-red, even on cloudy days.

Spring makes me think of flowers, putting away winter things, and don't laugh, but clean linens! I really want to go buy some soft, fresh-looking sheets right now. I wanted my card to have a crispness to it (like new linens), so I just used a plain, natural color for the base. I made score-lines on the card base to give the look of the piping on that top sheet.

Fresh flowers and clean linens...what comes to mind when I think of Spring today. And that is reason to smile and to celebrate!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps......Blossoms (Inkadinkado mega pak from Costco), Mixed Messages (PTI)
Ink............Noir (Palette), Versamark
Paper........Natural White (Neenah), Geranium (Martha Stewart)
Misc..........Seafoam White Embossing Powder (Ranger), Classic rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Scor-Pal, foam mounting tape (3M), corner-rounder punch

CPS 113

2009-04-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Yay! I finally got a chance to participate in the weekly sketch at Card Positioning Systems! This week, it is sponsored by Cornish Heritage Farms, and I wanted to make a card using one of their stamps.

For the main image panel, I paired some images from Crafty Secrets' "Fairyland" set with the most used stamp in my craft room: CHF's "Thank You." The sentiment was heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I sponged Antique Linen Distress ink on the image panel, then lightly edged it with my gold paint pen.

You can't tell from the photo, but the bird's eggs have a coat of Glossy Accents on them, just for fun. And I scored two lines on one of the center strips of DP, just for fun, and to distinguish it a bit from the lace DP.

This card ended up being 5x7, and it was actually kind of nice to work with the bigger space.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Fairyland (Crafty Secrets), Thank You (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Noir (Palette), Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)
Paper: Natural White (Neenah), Mushroom (Royal Resource ), Everafter DP (Cosmo Cricket)
Punches/Dies: Lace Border Punch (Fiskars), Curved Rectangle Nesties (Spellbinders)
Misc: Glossy Accents (Ranger), Copics, foam tape (3M), buttons (my stash), Scor-Pal, ecru embroidery floss, clear EP, Gold deco-color paint pen (Marvy)

Thank you for stopping by!

"Happy Belated Birthday Blog Post, To You...."

2009-04-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm only 2 months late on this one...but after much persuasion (um, nagging) from both my Ladies, I finally got around to posting the cards I made them for their 13th birthday in March!

This photo was on their birthday weekend, and they were dressed up to go to a piano competition (do we know how to kill a celebration, or what?). Sophia is on the left, and Anastasia is on the right. Yes, they are twins...I know, I know: it's like seeing double! (groan) But don't they look lovely?

On with the cards:
Sophia is doing Pink and Brown for her theme colors this year, so I thought I'd make her a card with those colors. She also loves House Mouse stamps. I bought her one for a birthday gift (this one), and made her card with another stamp that I purchased at the same time (this cutie)...I intended to use different DP that was strictly pink and brown, but it just didn't look right with the cupcake on the stamp, so I used Basic Grey's "Two Scoops" instead; which seemed very party-licious to me....

The sentiment is computer generated with a Inkadinkado stamp in the center, and cut with a classic circle Nestie. I added sparkle to some of the dots on the DP with my stardust pen, and stickles to the cupcake frosting and sentiment swirl...I just wanted it sparkly!

Had to decorate the inside, too:

SUPPLIES:
Stamps....Make a Wish (House Mouse), swirl (Blossoms Inkadinkado Costco mega pack)inside sentiment (Marcella)
Ink...Noir (Palette), Pink Petunia (Versamagic Chalk)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), Pink Blush, Dark Chocolate (PTI), Two Scoops (BasicGrey)
Nesties....classic circle, classic rectangle, scalloped rectangle
Misc...Threading Water border punch (Fiskars), diamond stickles, sakura star dust pen, pink rhinestones (KaiserCraft & Joanns ), heart pins (Heidi Grace), earring ends & sheer ribbon (Joanns), Copics

Did you know Anastasia loves yellow? She does...actually she breathes yellow. And basically, yellow was probably created just for her to enjoy (at least, that's what I've been told since she was very young). Anyways, no problem deciding on a color scheme for her card...

She also loves to read. Every night at bedtime, I go to tell her good night, and she looks up from the book she's reading, and says, "I know, I know: it's bedtime. Just let me finish this chapter." Which really means, "I'd really like to finish this book, so say 'goodnight' and be on your way...wait, where' my hug?".

When I saw this Whiff of Joy Stamp (Melinda reading book), I knew it would be perfect for her! The sentiment "Just One More Chapter" is computer generated and printed on vellum. I used some Floral Elegance digi-download paper from Gina K., which went perfectly with our yellow theme even though they are darker yellows (Anastasia says to me, "I've been kind of in a yellow ochre mood lately, and I don't know why..."). Added a few sparkly swirls (you're never too old for sparkles...even if you are a teenager), and gorgeous satin ribbon with some butterflies hanging down (because Anastasia is my yellow butterfly!).

And the inside of Miss Yellow's card:
SUPPLIES:
Stamps....Melinda reading book (Whiff of Joy)
Paper...Natural White (Neenah), Vellum (PTI), Yellow (DCWV), Floral Elegance digital paper (Gina K.), Catarina (7Gypsies)
Ink...Noir (Palette), Antique Linen Distress
Punches...Lace border punch (Martha Stewart), Swirl Flourish (EK Success)
Nesties...classic & scalloped rectangles
Misc...satin ribbon (unknown gorgeous color, free with Sept. order from Ellen Hutson), stickles, sakura stardust pen, Copics, butterflies (Jewelry Essentials at Joanns)

Okay, both girls gave me their enthusiastic 'okays' and 'thumbs up' to post the following photo (they are teenagers now, you know, so I have to ask their permission regarding these semi-embarrassing matters).

Now, to me they haven't changed all that much: when I see this photo or the one at the beginning of the blog, it's still my Ladies looking back at me, and they don't look too different (except more hair, and one is wearing glasses). But really, I don't see a huge change. I don't know why that is...

You all might be able to notice a change. I guess the height difference is a bit noticeable. Maybe they do look more similar to each other in the baby photo...

Anybody want to try and guess who is who in the baby picture?

Nope, I can't still can't see a huge change: it's still my two Ladies, born on the same day, but so uniquely different that I have no problem telling them apart...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

SOPHIA

&

ANASTASIA!!!

and my sincerest apologies to both of you for the tardiness of this post...but it will most likely happen again, though, because it's what I do...

Quick Notes

2009-04-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

Every year around this time, my husband and I have the same conversation:

Me: "What should we have for Easter Dinner?"
Steve: "I don't know, what did we have last year?"
Me: "I don't know...was it ham and something else?"
Steve: "I don't know...probably..."

So, a couple of years ago, I started writing down the "menu." Nothing fancy, just a hand-written list of foods we ate for Easter, plus the days that I started preparing them, and other newsy tidbits. I wanted to write on something other than plain, white paper, so I used some cute note cards I got from Target. These cards really make me smile: pinks and greens, flowers, mixed patterns.

Then I put the card, plus the recipes in a page protector. I guess it could go in a binder (what my mom would want me to do), but I just stuff this packet in one of our 4 Easter Decoration boxes. It's just what I do because it works for me.
I was looking at the notecards this year, and realized that I could actually make a cute one with some of my new Making Memories "Flower Patch" papers and my Fiskars lace border punch. No stamping on this one. These patterned papers are so springy and really make me smile!
I put some DP on the inside, too, just like my pre-printed ones...
I suppose that if I wanted everything tidy, I would use a fancy computer font and print out our menu for the inside of the card. But I don't like everything tidy (just come visit our house sometime, and you'll know what I mean). So, I just quickly hand-write it. Here's the inside of this year's notecard:
Then I put all the cards and recipes in a new page protector, and it went in the Easter Decoration Box. It's like a little bouquet, waiting to give me a blast of springtime smiles next year.

Bookmarks

2009-04-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, a bit of a break from Hawaii photos today...

I made these for my niece just before we left on our trip. I don't know, I just wanted to make a bookmark. My niece says she used to like blue, but now since she has to wear it all the time for a school uniform, maybe she likes green instead. So I decided to put both colors in the bookmark, because I don't think you could ever completely despise your first "favorite color." :)
These were really fun to make. I sewed the ribbon loops between the DP and the cardstock, hoping to give some strength.
SUPPLIES:
Stamps...IB Birds (Lockhart), Green Thumb (PTI)
Ink...Noir (Palette)
Paper...Urban Prairie (BasicGrey); Solar white (Neenah); Sour Apple, Blue Raspberry (PopTones)
Misc...Copics, ribbons from stash, sewing machine, nesties

Okay, staying with the theme of birds, I just had to include this picture from our Hawaii trip.

We were walking down the street to the market, and some guy had these 2 birds which he placed on a street tree. I didn't know they were real at first, because the colors were so striking, and the birds weren't flying away. We stood there staring at the birds, and the guy jumps up from behind me and said, "Would you kids like to hold my birds?" Umm, is that sanitary? I mean, do parrots get vaccinated? Or even, washed? Plus, how much would he charge for that? ZOINKS! So I just politely refused his offer and shuttled the kids down the street.

Anyways, here's some "Not So Itty Bitty Birds" that I saw in Hawaii:

Hawaii Trip: USS Missouri

2009-04-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is kind of Part 2 of yesterday's blog entry: We first visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Then we ventured over to the USS Missouri ship; not a memorial, but a decommissioned ship that you can take a walking tour on. These are kind of located right next to each other.

Here she is, sitting in the water:

We had to take a shuttle bus out to the island where she is anchored. But before that, we got to look at some old torpedoes that were displayed in the yard. Ziggy had fun with that:
I was worried about how accessible this would be for Ziggy (like would everything be behind glass, or non-touchable?), but we found plenty to look at...HOORAY! When we first arrived at the ship, a guide handed us a Brailled brochure for Ziggy...my heart about stopped! Do they know how special that makes him feel? Oh, it was super!

Here are the kids, checking out the RACKS/bunkbeads for the crew; my kids decided that they would not like to sleep on the bottom bunk...look how low that is!

I just had to put this one in here...See, this door under lock and key? What's it have in there, gold or something?
Here is a closeup of the doorplate. It's SODA!!! Guess on a ship, that just might seem like gold. (I think it says "Starboard Soda Storeroom"). I just thought it was too funny...
We spent forever looking around the inside of the ship, at the various mess halls, rec rooms, quarters. All very interesting, but, um, cozy. I didn't put all the photos in here, because they are all, um, greyish, and guyish, and this is a girl blog...but if you need to see them, I can post them; it's just there's no flowers or swirlies anywhere!

I did have to put this picture in, though. They actually have this model inside the ship...a boy can never look at models too much, can he? What is the fascination?

Then my "crew" decided to venture outside, and upwards. Okay, since having babies, I have really bad vertigo, so I opted to not go up the ladders to the top of the ship. Ziggy gallantly stayed with me. And it was really windy, too (he doesn't dig the wind, which is another reason he stayed with me; I was worried about my wig flying off, and about him losing his grip on his cane and it going in to the water; oh, that would be interesting). He and I found a cute little bench to rest on:
This shot is after our adventure on the USS Missouri; Peter was soo happy!

So, on our last day in Hawaii, we spent 6 hours at Pearl Harbor...time well spent, I think, even though our feet really hurt :)

Here are my 2 fearless leaders, Ziggy & Daddy:
And here are my Teeny Boppers and my Caboose (Sophia, Anastasia, & Peter!)Now, let's go get some quick dinner, and go to the airport!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Trip to Hawaii: Part 1

2009-04-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

ETA: One of my readers was inspired by this blog post, and wrote a lovely poem, which I have attached at the end of this entry...

Hey, we went to Hawaii for a few days! So, bear with me, as the next couple of posts won't have any cards, I think...

I'm kind of doing this in reverse order, since our last day is freshest in my mind, so I thought I'd post it first.

My 10 year-old son, Peter, is fascinated by World War II, and has really studied the events surrounding Pearl Harbor for the past couple of years. So we just had to see the USS Arizona Memorial while we were in Hawaii! We decided to take a taxi, rather than a tour group, so that we could spend as much time as we needed at Pearl Harbor.

The weather was absolutely beautiful that day, a little windy, but still gorgeous.
Here is a view from the shore...first, we watched a video, then we rode a ferry out to the memorial. It was a very somber ride, and I felt kind of guilty for going to look at it.
The memorial sits above the sunken Arizona, and the ship still holds the bodies of the fallen men inside it. I took a few pictures of the water, and parts of the ship, but felt weird about posting them...just seemed too, I don't know what, so I won't show those...

Anyways, at the far end of the memorial is a Shrine Room, with all the names of the fallen shipmates engraved on the back wall. The room was filled with visitors, so it was kind of tricky getting just my guys ( I didn't want to break any privacy laws). Here are Peter and Daddy, reading the names:
There are plenty of places to look down and see the USS Arizona, I mean it really is close to the surface of the water...
It was a lot more sombering than I thought it would be, and afterwards, my little guy had to sit under a coconut tree and think about it. (Don't worry, we went to the gift shop, and he got a cool set of ships so that he could set up and do re-enactments. Also, Anastasia found a cute photo book of soldiers and their dogs, called "Buddies"...I love that book! A couple of hours later, we went over to the USS Missouri ship and had a lot of fun, and I'll try to post that tomorrow):
When Ziggy was very young, he taught himself to read raised print. He especially loved to read license plates in parking lots, and since he was my first-born, I had enough time to give him lots of practice doing that.

Anyways, that skill has come in handy many times, and the Arizona Memorial was no exception. He was able to read the plaque...love those wonderful hands! There wasn't much for him to see at the memorial, so I wasn't sure how much he got out of the experience. But he did read this plaque:
I love that last line: "May God make His face to shine upon them and grant them peace"

Peter was so solemn...the Memorial was filled with people, and there was virtually no talking. It's alot for a 10 year-old, I think. I started taking pictures upward, because I found the ceiling so interesting. I told Peter that these guys that died would want us to remember them, but not so much in a sad way; maybe in an honorable way, but not sad.

He thought I was silly to take ceiling photos, but I said these sailors would be looking up at the sky and out across the water, and that's what I wanted to remember. I took a bunch of ceiling pictures, but couldn't get our country's flag completely in the picture until I moved over and let the Sun in the picture...

And there it is: God and Country. Two things worth fighting for and dying for, I think.

May God make His face to shine upon them...

(poem submitted by one of my readers):

God's Eyes

People who have died
Lie in their graves
Looking
Up
Into God's eyes.

People who have died
Would not want us to be sad
But look
Up
Into God's eyes.

Dad's Birthday

2009-03-17T19:48:00.001-07:00

So my dad's birthday was earlier this month, and I actually knew what stamp I wanted to use on his card, since Dad is a big fly-fisherman...I had been thinking about getting this Thomas Kinkade stamp for almost a year, and finally took the plunge and bought it. I meant to show a photo of all my messed up stamped images (just so you know things don't come out perfectly the first time, and I do waste a lot of paper), and I should have shown a photo of my inky fingers (I'm kind of messy), but not this time.

This is a beautiful stamp. It is also quite large. I inked it with a pad, then smoothed it with a brayer. I tried several times to stamp on to the paper, with the paper on my craft table, but couldn't get an even image, so I ended up inking the stamp, then placing my paper on top of that and finger-pressing the paper...like you do with backgrounders.

I played around with different ink colors, too, just for fun...

For Dad's card, I used Adirondack Espresso Ink on Ivory card stock. I tried to highlight the fisherman by sponging around him with Distress Inks.

Since I was hand-delivering this one, I could make it as big as I needed to, so I had room for an embellishment! I found these swivels in the fishing department at a store, and thought they'd work. Tied them on the card with some fishing line that was unknowingly donated by Peter from his fishing box.
Dad liked it!!!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps....It Doesn't Get Much Better (CHF)
Ink....Espresso (Adirondack); Antique Linen, Vintage Photo (Distress Ink)
Paper...Dk Brown, Gold (DCWV); Natural White (Neenah)
Misc...Edge Distressor (MM), Fishing Line (Peter's fishing box), Brass Swivel (South Bend)

So then I decided to use up some of my extra images, and I made this one. It is standard size (4.25x5.5):

SUPPLIES:
Stamps....It Doesn't Get Much Better (CHF)
Inks....Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper...Black (Paper Accents), Mystic Medium (Prism); Solar White (Neenah)

I really like this stamp and am so glad I was able to make my Dad a card with it!

Word Inchie Inkling Challenge

2009-03-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge at Inchie INKlings is to create an inchie that uses a word (or words). Ellen created some lovely inchies with words that described different aspects of herself...that kind of inspired me to find a word that I would use to describe someone: my oldest son, Ziggy, who is blind.

The one word that always comes in to my mind for him is "faith." He even has a shirt with this verse on it, which pretty much says what he feels:

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1)"

When Ziggy was younger, one of his favorite shapes was stars, so I thought I'd put them on his Inchie. He tells me his favorite color is blue, so I chose a dark blue, like a night sky, where the stars are placed.

We've talked about the sky and the stars and how, above all of that seemingly endless canopy of stars, is God. And He placed each star in its spot, and He made Ziggy exactly like He wanted, and He loves Ziggy...and Ziggy has faith in God. And it's not a faith like he needs something as a last resort to cling on to, or because there's nothing better out there to believe in...but faith because it's the truth, and he can depend on it, always...and I can't argue with that...

So I put the word "faith" in Braille on top of the Inchie, so Ziggy could see it first (now, I hate showing stuff that others can't produce themselves, so I apologize for that, but if you ever need something brailled, let me know, and I'll see what I can do to get it to you).

I wanted the Braille to look like stars in the night sky, so I highlighted them with my stardust pen. Added a few stars, and the print word "faith."

SUPPLIES:
Stamps.....Everyday Blessings (PTI), Special Occasions Mega Pack (Inkadinkado)
Ink....Noir (Palette), Night Sky (Versamagic chalk ink), Versamark
Paper...Inchie squares, Solid Indigo (DCWV)
Misc...stardust pen (Sakura), Braille writer, glue

So, it's kind of a simple Inchie, but that really is Ziggy: simple faith in the God who is above us all...Good night, my Sweet Prince...

Lockhart February Sketch

2009-02-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

I finally finished this month's sketch over at "Fans of Karen Lockhart" on PCP. It was kind of fun, but a little difficult for me. The biggest hurdle for me was using blue...I just don't get happy with blue; I know a lot of people love it, but I really have a hard time with it.

I made this card with my kids' art teacher in mind. She loves blue, and most of her house has blue in it...so I just thought of her while I made it, and it made coloring so much easier....

For some fun, I stamped & colored 3 Itty Bitty apples and applied Glossy Accents to them. I cut them out, then glued them to the lower right of the card...you know, because teachers like apples? The sentiment was computer-generated and I wanted it to look like a tab on a file folder.
SUPPLIES:
Stamps...Pencils, IB apple (Lockhart)
Ink....Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper...Natural White (Neenah), Blue Awning (K & Co.), dark blue (Martha Stewart?)
Copics...YG03, YG91, E55
Prismacolor pencils...violet blue, lt. cerulean blue, cream
Misc....sentiment (AFL Nonmetric font), Glossy Accents (Ranger), dimensionals, rectangle & Labels 1 Nesties (Spellbinders)

I just realized that most of my posts start with a close-up of my card, followed by the entire card...that's getting a bit predictable, so I'll try to not do that next time :) Just for variety, you know...

CPS 104

2009-02-24T22:13:00.001-08:00

This is the first time I've done a CPS sketch...I check their sketches every week, but I never seem to get any done.

This card was inspired by the gloomy weather we are having, and somehow, PTI's Summer Sunrise paper reminds me of a delicious, sunny day.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps...sun (Inkadinkado "Blossoms" mega pack from Costco)
Ink....Thatched Straw, Mango Madness, Persimmon (VersaMagic Chalk Ink)
Paper...Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart (PTI), Solar White (Neenah)
Misc....Clear (Atyou Spica), computer generated sentiment, Labels trio (Nestabilities), corner rounder punch, Scor-Pal

Anastasia's Baptism

2009-02-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Anastasia's baptism! She's my yellow girl, so I wanted to make a card that was mostly yellow to celebrate the occasion.

I have to laugh at this one, because I originally intended to make a yellow card with black accents, because I think that combination is really striking...but I had this shimmery yellow-gold paper that was screaming to be used, so I just had to use it. I completely copied the card design from Debbie Olson's card here. Once again, I am so thankful that people are willing to share their designs online; it helps so much when I can't figure out what to make!

You can't really tell from the photo, but the paper is so shimmery! I added some Liquid Pearls to accent the ends of the cross, and a bling for the center (I didn't have enough rhinestones for the entire cross, so I just did the center)
SUPPLIES:
Stamps....Everyday Blessings (PTI)
Ink....Noir (Palette)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), shimmery yellow gold (unknown manufacturer, from LSS)
Misc...Liquid Pearls, yellow bridal ribbon (Joann's), dimensionals
This photo was taken during the reception afterwards...her youth group leader gave her the prettiest rose...

Flower Inchie

2009-02-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

Last month's Inchie Challenge was to create an Inchie with a flower image. I didn't feel like doing the lavender one again, so I used a portion of my Lockhart Picnic stamp. I stamped it on some Memory Box Homespun paper, and colored it with some Copics (they did okay on this paper, but not great). Added some Sakura Stardust to some of the flowers, and GLITTER to the edge of the Inchie...

The little pearls are just snipped off from a strand of pearls (you can buy them at Joann's), and I put them there to cover up a bare spot :)

SUPPLIES: Stamp...Picnic (Lockhart), Tiny Words (Clearly Wordsworth)
Ink...Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper...Homespun (Memory Box)
Misc...Rose Quartz glitter (Martha Stewart), Mono-multi glue, Copics, Sakura Stardust pen, white pearls (Joann's), white Inchie squares

And, today...we had sunshine!!! My furry girls looked so sweet out in the sun, so I snapped a quick photo (one of the few times that they weren't chasing eachother). They look so much better today; yesterday, their beards were covered with yellow paint, because both of them decided to eat a tube of yellow artist oil paint. And I had nothing better to do than spend a few hours at the Vet's office and shampoo a few carpets...oil paint is really hard to get out of the rug, I might add...

But today, the sun did shine, and we had no disasters :)

Sparkle Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

2009-02-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

A few more Valentines...just some I made for my other kids. I found a neat website that has free! vintage images, so I just downloaded some of those and printed them out for cards. I was in a hurry, so I didn't make the images smaller, and ended up making fairly large Valentine cards (which isn't a huge deal, since I'm not mailing these guys).

These are really easy cards, that have a WOW effect just by adding glitter to the mat. It is best to glitter up the mats on like-colored cardstock (which I forgot to do this time, and it took so many coats of glitter to hide all the white paper)...it also is a good idea to do the glitter process the day before card assembly (to give the glue time to dry)...

Peter's card (5 x 7"):
SUPPLIES: Paper...Wild Cherry (PopTone); Glitter...Garnet (Martha Stewart); Misc...Embossed Floral Vines border sticker (K&Co.), red ribbon (stash)

Sophia's card ( 5.5 x 8")...
SUPPLIES: Paper...Rose Light (Prism), Solar White (Neenah); Ribbon...Pink Blush (PTI), Glitter...Rose Quartz (Martha Stewart); Ink...Pixe Dust on edge of border (Versamagic chalk); Misc...Lace Border punch (Martha Stewart), Wavy blade on my paper cutter

Finally, Anastasia's card...she LOVES yellow, and I found a vintage print that was yellow; too exciting!...
SUPPLIES (card size 5.25 x 7.5"): Paper...Sunflower Medium (Prism); Glitter...Yellow Barite (Martha Stewart); Ribbon...bridal ribbon Joann's)

They loved the sparkle. The layout of the cards is so basic and easy to put together, but by adding glitter, it makes it such a "Happy, Wow" card...

Okay, so today was Valentine's Day, and it being the weekend, seemed weird (we do more with it when it's during the week for some reason). I'm still kind of tired from surgery and wasn't sure what to do as far as celebrating goes. The kids made cards for everyone (including some stuffed animals), and people brought us dinner (with 2 desserts!). I wasn't sure what Ziggy wanted to do, since he is 15 now.

What he wanted most was to look through our Valentine collection, which is 2 boxes filled with different hearts (paper, wood, stone, boxes, etc). Hearts are his favorite shape, and even at 15, he still loves to took at them; so that's what he did...here's a photo of him looking at a heart book (I made it for him when he was 4 years old, and he still loves it)...

I guess that's all you really need on Valentine's Day: a box full of hearts to look at...

Although chocolate is good too...

Piano Teacher's Valentine

2009-02-13T13:09:00.001-08:00

Quick post today, because I'm late...this morning I realized we hadn't made a valentine for the kids' piano teacher...not usually a big deal, but she is actually the person who got us interested in papercrafting, so it seemed appropriate to make her a card. Now, she's not really in to patterned paper cards, and she seems to like pastels. I thought it would be neat for each of us to decorate a heart and put it on the front of the card in a row...

Now, the hearts are made with my Martha Stewart punch, and 4 hearts in a row is kind of long, so this ended up being a non-standard sized card (not a big deal since we will hand deliver it today during piano lessons); finished size is 4.25" x 7"...

So, from left to right, we have a heart designed by Peter (red & pink w/ Sakura stardust pen), Sophia (diamond stickles), Anastasia (pearls, each one glued on individually), and me (tee hee, it's a leftover heart from previous projects). Ziggy doesn't take lessons from her, so he didn't have to make a heart :)

I think she'll like it, even thought the colors are a bit different. Yes, it kind of has a baby shower look to it, but she likes the lighter stuff, so there you go...Hope the Stickled heart dries quickly, because we have to go to piano lessons soon (please dry, Stickles, you can do it!)

SUPPLIES:
Paper...Razzleberry, Wild Cherry, Cotton Candy (PopTone), Pink Carnation (Martha Stewart), Solar White (Neenah), Yellow (stash)
Misc....swiss dots embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Heart punch (Martha Stewart), threading water punch (Fiskars), Sakura stardust pen, diamond Stickles, string of pearls from Michael's, white paint pen, dimensionals, fuschia satin ribbon (stash)

Sweet Valentine Peas

2009-02-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

I decided to try and make one more Valentine before the weekend...I used my Peapod of Hearts stamp again, but this time I tried to make it a bit more sparkly and sweet. I guess the sparkliest part is the matting behind the image: I cut out a Labels 1 mat, coated it with tacky glue, and drenched it in some Martha Stewart Rose Quartz glitter. That didn't seem sparkly enough, so I did a 2nd coat of glitter.

I wish you could see the ribbon in real life...it is really shimmery, and is made of green and raspberry fibers; the photo doesn't show the shimmer.

I wanted some bling, but am out of pink jewels, so I used some dew drops...

Had to do something for the inside, so used some leftover hearts from yesterday's card, paired with a $1 stamp I bought at Michael's last year:
Easy Peasy!!!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps...Peapod of Hearts, Sentiment (Lockhardt); inside sentiment (Michael's $1 bin), polka dot backgrounder (CHF)
Ink...Versamark, Tuxedo black (Memento)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah), RazzleBerry & Cotton Candy (PopTone)
Misc...Labels 1 (Spellbinders), heart punch (Martha Stewart), threading water punch (Fiskars), ribbon (May Arts), rose quartz & garnet glitter (Martha Stewart), clear dew drops, white paint pen

Valentine Peas, Country Style

2009-02-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, finally got Mom & Dad's Valentine card done! I made it on Kraft so it wouldn't be too girly for Dad.

Mom & Dad love gardening (especially vegees in the summer), so I thought the Peapod of Hearts image was perfect for them! I kind of messed up on the polka dots, but they'll forgive me. Finally go a chance to use my Scor-Pal and Labels 1 Nesties on it (Christmas presents from dh!)...the vine ribbon is May Arts from a craft store, and I dressed it up by attaching punched hearts with jump rings (found in the beading section at Joann's).

For the inside I punched out some Martha Stewart hearts, and doodled on some dots and dashes for fun:

Peter said he's glad I used Kraft paper on it because" it's like dirt, you know, and the bean is like growing in the garden in the dirt."

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Peapod of Hearts, Peas Be Mine (Lockhart); "valentine" (Inkadinkado mega pack from Costco); Polka Dot BG (CHF)
Ink...Tuxedo black (Memento), New Canvas (Palette)
Paper...Solar White (Neenah); Kraft (PTI);RazzleBerry, Cotton Candy (PopTone); green (stash)
Misc...Labels 1 (Spellbinders), ScorPal, Heart punch for inside hearts (Martha Stewart); vine ribbon (May Arts); jump rings (Darice), Copics (R81, R83, YG13, YG21), Pen-Touch white pen

Kidspiration #10

2009-02-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Maybe a better name for my blog would be "A Day Late, and a Dollar Short," because I can't seem to post things in a timely manner...I still have things from October that I haven't posted yet...

Anyways, last week was Chinese New Year, so my girls decided to make some cards for the occasion. I had purchased some cute, gold dragon stickers at a huge discount in November when our LSS was going out of business (sniff)...these stickers really made it easy for my girls to make nice looking cards.

After the cards were made, Anastasia got inspired and decided to make a few twinches (2- inch Inchies) using a new doggie stamp she got for Christmas (from moi!)...

Nice job, ladies!

New Whiff of Joy Stamps

2009-02-10T12:50:00.001-08:00

Isn't this jester cute? He's from the Medieval Collection, which will be released on February 14th from Whiff of Joy (Katharine gave us permission to post this photo of her card on our blogs). Katharine's blog, Stamping with a Whiff of Joy, has more details on the previews for this cute set, and some really cute card samples.

On The Needles

2009-02-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

I don't know...I hate having nothing to do. So whenever I have to sit and wait for my kids (like at piano lessons), or watch TV, I knit....I'm not a great knitter, but I enjoy it...only squares and rectangles, though; I have never tried anything fancy.

So right now I'm working on this cute baby afghan. It's a feather and fan pattern, and is one of my favorites. When we lived in Michigan, I would knit this in a wool/acrylic blend. Now that we live on the West Coast, I just do it in baby soft acrylic (it doesn't get that cold here)...
I have the hardest time finishing these though; like what if it is for a big baby?...this one is close to being done, but I keep measuring and I think, "oh, just a few more inches would be better..."

Stamp Something Valentine Challenge

2009-02-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

This week at Stamp Something, the challenge is to make something for your Valentine...so I thought I'd show the one I made for my daughter, Anastasia. She loves yellow and dogs, so that's where I got the color scheme. The DP was just scraps I had, and the stamps are from Amuse.

This is the first time I've done the challenge at Stamp Something, so I hope I'm doing it correctly...

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Bitty Dot Sketch challenge

2009-02-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still recovering from surgery, so can't do much in the way of papercrafting, but I couldn't resist this one from PaperTrey...after I took the photo, I realized I cut the base for the hearts crooked, but I'm too sore to do it over; hope that's okay...

I just had to put the 3 brads at the top left...Ziggy likes them there, and when they are arranged that way, they form a Braille "L"...for "Love"...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Mixed Messages (PTI), Polka Dot BG (CHF); Ink...Moonlight White (Brilliance); Paper...Kraft, Berry Sorbet (PTI), Wild cherry, Razzle Berry (PopTone), Black Small Dots (MM); Misc...heart punch (Martha Stewart), Threading water border punch (Fiskars), white brads (LSS)

Christmas Remnants

2009-02-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to make any cards this week, so thought I'd post one that I made last month for my son's bus driver...I must have been in a scalloped border/image lower right mood, because it looks like the same layout as yesterday's card...oh well, I still like it, and made a few more to have ready for next year...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Mouse (Art Impressions); Ink...Noir (palette); Paper...Solar white (Neenah), red (stash), Vellum (PTI); Misc...ribbon (KI Memories), snowflake punches (green Marvy, Martha Stewart), Stickles (Stardust & Diamond), Copics, Prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, Classic square Nesties, threading water border punch (Fiskars), Snowflakes folder (Cuttlebug),

December Birthdays...

2009-02-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this card was obviously done last month, but I didn't want to post it until I was absolutely sure my sister-in-law received it...she has a mid-December birthday, so thought I'd do a holly-type card for her. I used Ellen Hutson's stamp-of-the-month (for December 2008) idea. Really easy and fun card to make...

And for the inside, I printed this using Curlz MT font on my computer:

SUPPLIES: Stamps....Holly Cupcake (Lockhart), Pretty Pattern BG (CHF); Paper...Meadow, Chili Pepper (Memory Box), Solar White (Neenah), Jonquil (Martha Stewart); Ink...Noir (Palette), Versamark; Ribbon (May Arts); Classic circle Nesties; Threading Water border punch (Fiskars); Clear EP...COPICS: YG21,YG63, YG67, YG91, R20, R27 (basically the ones recommended by Ellen here )

Centies!!!

2009-01-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

So what do you do with the tiniest die in your square Nesties set?

Well, my daughters saw me making some Inchies, and thought it would be neat to make some smaller-scale ones for their dolls...so they used the smallest square Nestie die and made some Inchies; only these are smaller than an inch...more like a centimeter? So we decided to call them "Centies."

Sophia was able to find a small flower stamp for the red one. Her doll, Kit, wanted a Centie with a cupcake image, but we didn't have a tiny stamp, so Sophia just drew it...ahh, those were the days, before reading glasses, sweet...

And here is Kit with her 3 Centies...they fit nicely in the pocket of her shirt. If we make any more for her, though, we'll have to make a Centie binder or something...hmm, or maybe a Centie box, or display board?

Bible Verses

2009-01-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know how I got so lucky, but the people that surround me have been so supportive about my cancer. Some will email me a Bible verse, and some hand write them and send them to me...

With my diagnosis comes a fair amount of medical appointments and papers that I don't want to lose, so I decided to make a cancer notebook to keep everything in. I take it to all my appointments and the papers they give me go straight in there. It's just a simple white binder...nothing fancy or decorated, because I want to be able to get rid of this notebook one day, and would hate to throw away anything cute.

Anyways, besides medical stuff, I put some personal things in the binder. That way, when I'm at an appointment and start to get nervous, I just look at these things and can re-focus on what really matters. I have my favorite photo of my kids, taken on an especially happy day (it's the last photo on this entry). I also put all the verses people give me. Handwritten ones are in there, unaltered...it's like that person is with me holding my hand.

One verse was emailed by a dear friend, and I wanted it a bit more fancy than Times Roman font on copier paper, so I made a simple verse card. I had to laugh, because usually when I make a card for someone, I spend a large amount of time picking a color they would like. Then I remembered this was for me, and I love pink! so no-brainer on what color to make this in:

So much fun and really easy! I used Chopin Script for the font, and a little Inkadinkado bird for the image.

I'll take my binder with me tomorrow for surgery and my little pink card will be in there, and my photo and other verses, and I will be good-to-go! Okay, I'm also bringing my pink Ipod with Michael Buble on it, (I have to have a little bit of bubbly, even during the day...right, Anastasia?).

My Little Chickadees....

2009-01-19T17:04:00.001-08:00

Anastasia informed me that I have not posted to my blog in a few days, and that instead of playing a mindless video game, I should spend my time in a more productive way...Okay, my little chickadee, here we go:

This was a fun and easy card made with my Inkadinkado Christmas birds. I used versamark and sparkly gold embossing powder for the image (regular gold gives better coverage, though). Image was cut with Labels 2 nesties and I used a gold paint pen along the edges. DP is Basic Grey Wassail. The snowflakes were punched with Martha Stewart punch, using leftover "messed up" paper from my parents' 50th anniversary card (I had embossed it and put gold perfect pearls on it, and it looked BAAD).

I don't know what kind of bird it is, but it reminds me of a chickadee...

And here are my other chickadees, basking in the glory of springtime flowers (okay, flower garlands at Michael's the other day, but we can pretend).

Was this post okay, Anastasia? Now to get back to my video game...I'm almost to level 6, then I get absolutely nothing for winning!

Happy Birthday, Orly!

2009-01-13T13:01:00.000-08:00

Guess whose birthday is today? That's right....Him!

Anastasia (Orlando Bloom aficionado extraordinaire) informed me that it was his birthday today, so I thought I'd give him some blog time.

Now here's an interesting tidbit: his favorite color is yellow...and that is Anastasia's favorite color too! He has a dog....and so do we! The list of similarities is endless.

Anyways, Happy Birthday, Orlando, and thanks for stopping by for a photo-op with Anastasia!

Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary

2009-01-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

Last month was Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. It seems like I did this project forever ago, and can't believe it took me so long to post it...

I wanted to do something fun for their anniversary gift, since they've been a bit run-down with my Dad's cancer treatments. I knew I couldn't visit them until after Christmas, so thought I'd send sort of an "anniversary care package" filled with gold & wedding-ish things.

First, the card...didn't turn out like I wanted, and looks kind of like a typical card after all that work. I did make it as big as I could, so the finished size is 5.75" x 8.5". Construction is pretty straight-forward. The ivory paper is actually a pearlized paper that I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and it has a cute shimmer to it.

Sorry about the photo: I finished this project up late at night and had to get it out in the mail the next day, so I couldn't get a great picture...

Next, Anastasia and I made a little remembrance gift: For the last 18 months, this quote from C.S. Lewis has been floating thru my head. Ever since Dad got sick again, I realized how absolutely precious each event with someone is. A few months ago, my dad said that he didn't want a big anniversary celebration because "fifty years is pretty commonplace, and not really a big deal." HA! It is a big deal to me, and wanted him to see what 50 years is, and each year's anniversary is the sum of the previous ones.

So we made this jar full of 50 wedding rings. On each ring is a tag with a year written on it (by Anastasia). Then a label on the outside. Really simple project. The hardest part was finding a jar that looked acceptable. After shopping all afternoon for one, I told Anastasia that it was a dumb idea, and we should forget it. She said, "No, let's get the heart bottle because anniversaries are about love." How cool is it to have your 12 year old daughter help you out like that?
Here's a close-up of the inside, because I can see Anastasia's cute printing of all the 50 years:
I wanted Mom to get giddy, like a new bride might be, so I made her a bouquet. I know it's not like her actual wedding bouquet, but I'm not too talented in the flower arranging department, so this is it. White roses, white tulle, and gold ribbon.
I also put some silly stuff in the care package: Anastasia and I found two old 50th anniversary plates at a thrift store, so I thought those would be fun. Then I got a 50th wedding cake topper and adhered it to a revolving/lighted base (from Michael's, with a coupon on 2 separate weeks, oh yeah). My parents are both diabetic, so I didn't want to send a cake, but at least they could have the fun topper!

All these were wrapped pretty, and put in a box that I had lined with a few yards of shiny gold fabric. I made a bunch of tulle bows (like the kind you would put on the ends of aisles in the church for the wedding) to fluff up the box. I threw in a few handfuls of Bride's ivory flower confetti, then carefully covered it all with the remaining fabric. I just wanted it to be an outburst of sparkly wishes when they opened the package. Before I sealed the box, I printed out "Happy Anniversary" in Chopin Script on ivory cardstock in the largest sized font on my computer, and put this on top of all fabric."This moment contains all moments." I still get teary-eyed when I read that. From 18 months ago, when they said he wouldn't live 6 more months, to now, when he and his bride celebrated 50 years together...December 13, 2008 contains those moments, and so many more...it is a big deal; a HUGE deal.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

The Big One-Oh

2008-12-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

No way: my baby is 10? How did that happen? It seems like just yesterday that I was holding this little one...

Well, December 18 came, and this year it meant that Peter was turning 10 years old...he's in the double digits now; very exciting. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to make a very exciting card for him.

Peter has always been my Mighty Warrior, ready to defend me, so I thought I'd make him a knight-ish kind of card. Since I didn't need to mail it, I was free to make whatever card size I wanted...yay!! This one is 5.25 x 6.25, and single layer...sorry, Peter.

I used a cute Amuse stamp for the front:

The Inside was printed with Old English Text font, then I drew in the pole and flag with a black pen. I just had to add something sparkly, so I used a glitter gold gel pen for the flag fringe, and outlined the card with my Sakura glitter pen.
Happy 10th birthday, Peter!!!

Advent Calendar

2008-12-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

My kids really enjoy having an Advent calendar every year. I like it because it's like they get to open a giftlet every day, and it helps relieve a little pre-holiday tension.

I remember having Advent calendars when I was younger...the kind where you open a little door, and there would be a cute little picture in the opening. Then, on Christmas Day, all the little doors would be opened!

I wanted to be able to have Ziggy share in this type of excitement, too. Over the years, we've used different kinds of calendars. For a few years, we used the Playmobil advent sets. These are cute: each day has a little figurine in a box, that you place on a cardboard base. On Christmas, the Christmas scene will be complete. Ziggy did okay with this (the other kids loved it!), but he got frustrated not knowing what the figures were, and we always had to explain it to him...

This year, I was in a time crunch and found this at World Market for $1.79!!!! Thought I'd give it a go...
Behind each little door is a holiday-shaped chocolate. Once the chocolate is removed (and eaten), the shape can still be felt (it's like the base is the candy mold), which is cool.

So, how does Ziggy know which door to open? Sighted kids just read the printed numbers on the little doors. So, for Ziggy, I just apply some clear Braille labels on each door.

It's really easy...I use some special paper (kind of like laminating sheets, only thicker and stiffer...like really thick Scotch tape); it's clear and also adhesive on one side. I emboss the Braille numbers on to the sheets with the Braille writer (or "brailler" for short). Then I cut out each number and stick them on to the appropriate door...

Here's what the paper and the brailler look like:

It only takes a few minutes to do this...

I love the way Braille looks, so had to show this close-up view of this year's calendar:

I think Ziggy likes this calendar better than previous years' because of the chocolate! I guess the bad thing is that since there are 4 kids, we have to rotate who is the door opener, so nobody gets candy every day...

Guy. Birthday. Card. Ack.

2008-12-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was my husband's birthday. He is a computer guy, so I can't really give him a card with a sports or outdoors theme. I saw this card using Amuse stamps on Julie Ebersole's blog a few months ago and loved the sentiment, and thought it would be perfect.

A few weeks ago, Craft Warehouse was having a 50% off sale on Amuse stamps, so I was able to get the set I needed to make a card for Steve. Hooray!

Sophia colored the computer with a black Prismacolor pencil. I added Glossy Accents to the monitor. I thought it would be cute to make the card look like it was on tractor-feed paper...even though it's not used much anymore, it still says "computer" to me. Before I folded the card base in half, I used my perforated-line blade and "cut" in about 1/2-inch on the left and right sides of the paper. Then I folded it in half. Next, I made holes every 1/2 inch with my 1/8-inch hole punch. They came out a bit crooked, but it was okay.

He liked it!!!

Now, "bits" are 1's and 0's, and "bytes" are 8 bits...so I decided to make a bunch of bits in the background. This was actually printed (with the laser printer) on the card base before I made the tractor feed.

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Mainly Men (Amuse); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...Solar White (Neenah); Misc...black Prismacolor pencil, Glossy Accents (Ranger), Beeb Mode One font, hole punch.

Steve's birthday was fun, but we were pretty tired the next day. Three of my ladies spent the morning relaxing in the morning sun. I had to post this photo because Scooby was getting a bit irritated that Pippin gets more photo-ops than her, and that's just not fair....of course, Pippin still managed to squeeze into this photo...

Art Class Christmas Party

2008-12-10T13:56:00.001-08:00

Well, this actually happened last week, but I just got around to posting it today....

Last Thursday was my kids' Art Class Christmas Party. What do you do at an Art Party? Well, eat snacks, for starters. We brought fudge and chocolate delights. The fudge recipe was from the back of a marshmallow creme jar; it was so yummy, and I don't even like fudge that much! The cookie recipe is from Emily Giovanni's blog.
I made these cookies so many times last year; they are really easy. I found that half of a bag of almond bark will cover one tube of Ritz crackers; perfect for a plate of cookies.

After eating, the kids then got to paint Christmas cards! I wish I was there to see exactly how these were made, but I think they painted with watercolors on watercolor paper, then adhered the painted images to card bases. Aren't they cute?

That night for dinner, we had kid fondue! Whenever Steve is out of town, I try to serve fondue for dinner just for fun. This time, we had 3 pots: melted Velveeta, spaghetti sauce, and official fondue mix from World Market (our first time to try adult fondue!). For dipping items, we used french bread cubes, meatballs, smoky links, and fresh veggies...Fondulicious!
Pippin couldn't have fondue (because she's a dog), so she had a snake instead....

Decorating the Tree Together

2008-12-09T17:03:00.001-08:00

We finally put up the tree! I've been so behind with holiday festivities this year. This year, the kids did most of the tree assembling and decorating, so that was nice. I think they each had areas of the tree that they were in charge of, so that added to the excitement. So far, the puppy hasn't bothered the tree too much (some, but not as much as I had feared).

My dad called and said that they had their tree up, but not decorated yet. So we decided to send them a a few ornaments to get them in the mood to put up more. I wrapped the ornaments in tissue paper and sealed them with a silver shimmer circle that had been stamped and sparkle-embossed. The card is one that Sophia made last week when we had a card-making afternoon. She used images from our Mega Inkadinkado set that we purchased at Costco (the girls love Inkas!). You can't tell from the photo, but she highlighted all of those snowflakes with a Sakura glitter pen and Copic spica pen; it is so sparkly! I wrapped the whole ensemble in shimmery silver tissue paper...

Lovely card, Sophia!!! Can you make me a set of 12?

So since we all decorated the tree, we all had opinions about what should go on top: star or angel? Actually, we never can decide, so we did what we always do: PUT UP BOTH!

Kidspiration #9

2008-12-03T16:06:00.001-08:00

My kids used to get so upset if they were doing a craft and things didn't turn out as expected, or if they messed up on a drawing...really upset. So I made up an "art motto" to ease the tension:

In art there are no mistakes...there are Embellishment Opportunities

We had such a fun Embellishment Opportunity a few weeks ago...

I was showing my daughters how to cut and emboss a scalloped circle with the Wizard. Anastasia cut a circle, but when she went to emboss it, the paper got misaligned in the die, and embossed in a weird spot. She was a little annoyed, so I said that it looked kind of "like a granny face."

I had to go and fix dinner, so I left the girls to practice. Just a note here: we do most of our crafting on the floor, so that's where the Wizard is when we cut/emboss. The plates have a tendency to come out powerfully, but the carpet catches them softens the force of their ejection.

Anyways, I was fixing dinner, and I could hear the girls talking excitedly about something, and the Wizard was ratcheting away. This went on for almost an hour. I kind of forgot about all this until after bedtime, when I went in the craft area to straighten up. I found this on the craft table:GRANNY HEADS!!! I think Anastasia was in charge of cutting/embossing, and Sophia did the art work. They even used Glossy Accents for lipstick...and some have their hair in a bun!

Definitely a successful Embellishment Opportunity. Okay, what do you do with them? Well, I was thinking magnets or something. But they decided to send them out as "prizes" to people who commented on their homeschool blog! Is that fun, or what?

Here's my art crew, sitting in our little art area...

Cheers!

Why Do Dogs Have Fur?

2008-12-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

No card today...just a question: isn't fur supposed to keep you warm? If the answer to that is "yes," then why does my puppy insist on sleeping in front of the heat register by the kitchen sink? I don't get it: it's not even like it's a quiet/dark area, but she ALWAYS takes a morning nap there (as long as the heater is on).

I was just wondering....

Giggle

2008-11-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

Zoinks! Looks like I forgot to post this one...Way back on November 12, Tracy hosted the weekly color challenge for the PTI forum; this time it was an inspiration challenge, based on this photo:
I really liked the plates in this picture, and wished I could be sitting at the table, having a party with that table setting. So I decided to make a plate on my card, and put it on a busy table cloth.

Mom likes the sentiment on the inside, so I printed a sentiment in Chopin Script:
"Hope your day is blissfully sparkly."
The card is really more square shape IRL, and is a bit larger than usual (5x5.5). Anastasia announced that our Christmas Crafting Colors for this year are green and silver (last year they were red and white). So, I had to put the silver glitter on the edge of the plate.

SUPPLIES: Stamps...hummingbird, flower garden (Inkadinkado); Ink...Pearlescent Poppy (Brilliance), Antique Linen Distress; Paper...Neenah Solar White, red from my stash, DP (Scenic Route); Misc...plain & scalloped circle nesties; white satin ribbon (Joann's); sterling glitter (Martha Stewart)

I'm going to send this to Mom tomorrow to get her in the holiday mood. She likes red, so I hope this will give her a giggle.

And here's something that gave me a giggle...it was in the window of a store (I won't say the name, so they won't get embarrassed). It just struck me as funny; like saying "food is good to eat," or "cold weather can make you cold." Hope it makes you giggle, too.

Autumn Pearls

2008-11-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Well, once again I needed a quick card. Maybe that's how it's going to be for this year: quick & simple...as long as I don't get sloppy, it should be okay. This one is for Mom & Dad for Thanksgiving. Their cards have to be mailed (they live 600 miles away) and the Post Office has been giving me quite a hard time with cards with bows and brads. So, I've started making their cards less layered and a bit more simple, just so I can mail it straight from my house (and not go in to the Post Office).

This one features my Inkadinkado set "Fall Season." I have used this set so much this Fall; I really thought I'd use it only for the tree, but I think I've used all of the images...

You can't tell from the photo, but the leaves are shimmery! This was the first time I used Perfect Pearls, and it is so much fun. You just stamp using the Perfect Medium (instead of ink), then brush on pigment powder to the wet image, then brush away the excess powder. After all images are pigmented, spray the whole thing lightly with water or hairspray (I used hairspray).

Here is a photo of the set I used and my little travel size hairspray. I applied the pigment powder with the smaller brush, then brushed away excess powder with the larger brush.

I colored some images with copper and some with bronze powder. I definitely need more practice with this stuff, though. I had some smudges and unevenness in pearl coverage, but it was still a lot of fun.

SUPPLIES: Paper...Natural White (Neenah), Caramel (Paper Company); Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Font...Harrington (printed in dark brown on laser printer); Misc...ribbon tag dies (Spellbinders), brick piped ribbon (Martha Stewart), Antique Linen distress ink, Perfect Pearls (bronze & copper), Dove hairspray

And for absolutely no reason at all...

This a weird photo that I took the other day at the Costco parking lot. It just struck me as pretty: dark bird on dark branches against a gray sky. That bird was in no hurry, too. There were tons of cars in the parking lot and lots of traffic, but he just sat there...sat long enough for me to grab my camera out of the car, which really irritated the guy who wanted me to leave so he could have my parking spot (so he finally gave up and went somewhere else; the bird, however, stayed).

Somedays, it really helps to find "pretty" wherever you are; even if it is at a Costco parking lot.

Quick and Simple

2008-11-22T11:51:00.001-08:00

Last week was the final session of our homeschool co-op for the Fall semester. So, the kids and I decided to make some Thank-You's to give to their teachers. I had a few cards in my stash that they could use, but we made a few more: simple, quick, easy!

The first one was inspired by this card from Michelle Wooderson's blog. I stamped an Itty bitty Lockhart apple on cardstock, then had the kids color it (I think they used a Copic marker). I thought it'd be cute to have "An apple for the Teacher" as a sentiment, so I had Sophia be in charge of putting all those tiny PTI Simple Alphabet letters on the grid block (she has young eyes to see tiny things, and nimble fingers to grasp those little guys). We stamped the sentiment on about 6 card bases, because we might as well mass-produce while we had the supplies out. I showed them a couple of layouts, and this is the one they picked:

Very quick and easy!! Plus, they made it themselves (I only cut the cardstock).

SUPPLIES: Paper...Solar White (Neenah), Berry Sweet (K&Co), Love Bird (Martha Stewart); Ink...Noir (Palette); Stamps...IB Apple (Lockhart), Simple Alphabet (PTI); Misc...Classic & Scalloped square Nesties, dimensionals, Copics

This next card is one I've been making a lot of lately. I sometimes leave the "Thank You" off and use it for a note card. Really simple, and it looks nice too! I have to laugh at this stamp set: It was Stamp of the Month at CHF in January 2008. I wasn't going to buy it, but put it in my cart so that I could get free shipping on my order. Little did I know that this would become one of my most used stamp sets!

I make these in white cardstock with black inked images as well as ivory cardstock with brown ink....Anastasia prefers the latter.

Just make a card base, emboss rectangle Nestie, stamp, color and done! I did also heat emboss the sentiment, because I like to do that.

SUPPLIES: Paper...Natural White (Neenah); Ink...Brown (Palette); Stamps...Image and sentiment (Stamp of the Month 1/08 Cornish Heritage Farms); Misc...clear EP, Prismacolors, OMS & blending stumps

And this is why my cards have to be quick and simple:I think I spend most of my time letting Pippin in and out of the house, and entertaining her...doesn't leave much time for very involved crafts!

Touchable Things

2008-11-16T13:20:00.000-08:00

I made a couple of Inchies in September (wow, was it really a couple of months ago...seems like yesterday) for Ellen Hutson's "Inchie Inklings Challenge." The theme was 3-D Inchies...This challenge was alot of fun, and I actually had tons of ideas. I ended up making 2 inchies. Peter thought they were cute...which is sweet, because he never really comments on the cards we make, but these were worthy of his close-up examination; how sweet is that?

Anyways, the first was made using the Itty Bitty Lavender stamp. I found this neat product called "Flower Soft" (www.katysuedesigns.com) at my LSS. It comes in a variety of soft colors, but when I saw the lavender, I knew I just had to use in on my Lockhart stamp.

To use it, just apply glue to paper, and sprinkle the product on...let dry, then fluff it up a bit (kind of like you do with Fun Flock). I also decided to make some mini lavender stems for my daughter's doll. This was done by dipping small pieces of floral wire in glue, then pressing the Flower Soft on glued area.

The second inchie was done by stamping a Lockhart IB butterfly on vellum. I colored it with colored pencils, covered the image with versamark, then mixed glitter and clear embossing power together, and heated it. The result was sort of opalescent; kind of neat. Background paper is Ariel from Memory Box. I first stamped the sentiment on the paper, but messed up, so covered it with sentiment stamped on vellum. Sentiment is from PTI's Mixed Messages. I wanted more sparkles, so I applied glue and crystal glitter to the edges of the inchie...Then I glued the little butterfly on the paper so that it looked like her path was one of the swirls on the DP.

And for some more Touchable Things...
Ziggy's school had an Open House, and we got to check out some of his classes. The school recently opened a new permanent exhibit, which I absolutely love. It is called "Sensory Safari" and is a room filled with taxidermied wildlife for the students to touch. With each animal is a printed and brailled description of facts pertaining to that animal (as well as an audio description, which can be listened to on headphones).

Here are Ziggy and Peter checking out one of the animals:
I am so excited about this exhibit...when Ziggy was young, I had no way of showing him what wild or exotic animals looked like. Most children can watch a video, check photos on the internet, find a picture in a book, or even go to the zoo to see these animals. But blind children have no way to do this. I used to try to give him a sense of what these animals were like by using small toys. I would also "make" exotic animals by describing an animal based on known animals' parts (like a giraffe has neck kind of like a horse, but much longer...a lion's paws are like the cat's paws but 7 times as large). I know it seems like a trivial thing; there are other issues to worry about. But to not have this basic knowledge or exposure to nature is just one more thing that sets these kids apart as different. And it bugs me...

When Ziggy was 6 years old, we got to visit a sensory safari at a conference for the blind. I cried tears of joy to see him finally touch a lion...and it was quite a sight to see him with one hand in his mouth, and the other in a bear's mouth, comparing teeth! I hoped that it wouldn't be the only time in his life that he would see these things, though.

So now, he's 15, and gets to see the animals again. But not just the one time! The exhibit is there permanently..and not just for him, but for the other young blind students at the school. And that warms my heart...

These are some touchable things I love to look at.

Quilting Pieces

2008-10-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the other day I was thinking it would be cool to have a stamp with a crazy-quilt design. I have a few friends that do alot of quilting, and thought it would be neat to send them some notes. But I couldn't find a stamp that was crazy enough (I did find several that I really like, though). So I thought I'd just make my own crazy card. I found a template off of a quilt web page and just reduced it to fit my card. Then I photocopied that onto the backs of 5 different pieces of coordinated patterned paper. Cut out the quilt pieces and tried to randomly assemble the blocks. Here's my favorite block:
I went ahead and machine-stitched all 5 blocks. This was alot of fun, but next time I think I'll do a few things differently: Die-cut the scalloped square first, then adhere the paper pieces to it, then sew (for this card, I put the pieces on paper, stitched, then cut out the square with a straight-edge, then put the pieced-square on a scalloped square...I didn't quite like the way it looked in the end). Also, I would straight-stitch the outside of the block (rather than zig-zag), just because I think I'd like the look better. Maybe reduce my template a bit more, if I want to make a card with a sentiment on the outside.

Okay, enough card...Here's my little bit of ridiculous for the day. Pippin is so opinionated and is going through her Terrible-2's, I think. She kept scattering her toys everywhere, so I got out this tub to hold her toys. She decided it was a much nicer napping place than her crate...especially since Unicorn is in there. Tuesday night will be her first class of Puppy Kindergarten; hope the class will help the living situation at our house...

White Cane Day and Halloween

2008-10-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

Well, this is way late...last Wednesday (October 15) was National White Cane Day. We actually didn't know this was an official "day" until we attended this event! The students from Ziggy's school walked about 2 miles from the school to a park downtown. Then there were refreshments and a mini ceremony. The mayor actually gave a speech! Very cool!

The students also set up a little table with samples of braille, notetakers, etc. One student had a braillewriter, and she would write your name in braille for you. Ziggy had her braille his name; he was a riot!

Okay, onto some cards...Here is a batch I did last week. A friend of mine wanted some "Vintage Halloween" cards, and this is what I came up with. I didn't have any vintage stamps so I used printed images that I got at my LSS. I got this idea from Lisa Zappa's Halloween cards
I bought some cool Martha Stewart glitter, and used that to sparkle up the mats. I had a bit of a problem with it warping, so maybe will have to use thicker cardstock next time.

I liked this one, with the dog. This uses My Mind's Eye papers (Night Lights and Spooked Pumpkin Patch).

Not sure about this one, because the red didn't really go with the orange and brown, but hopefully she'll be okay with that.

Kind of a plain vintage...Just thought the image was cute enough without patterned paper competing with it.

And a final shot of my crew, at the White Cane Day festivities!!!

Pumpkin Stuff

2008-10-14T19:38:00.000-07:00

I was really busy making cards and such last week, and didn't have time to post (bad blogger). Finally catching my breath, and found a bit of time to load some photos.

First, are some recipe cards: I just started doing these, and they are so much fun! I got most of my inspiration for these from Michelle Wooderson's and Sharon Harnist's blogs. The gingersnaps and pumpkin dip recipes came from Nicole Heady, and the pumpkin fluff dip came from Sharon Harnist. I tried Nicole's gingersnaps and Sharon's dip, and both are so yummy! I decided to make recipe cards for myself and my mom, using scraps of BasicGrey Ambrosia and Karen Foster autumn paper. The images are Karen Lockhart itty bitty pumpkin and $1 pumpkin from Michael's. I printed the recipes using my latest FAVORITE Font Combination: Porcelain and Typinoksidi (both are free downloads). (Note: the recipe cards are 4x6)

Well I couldn't just send Mom the recipes without a note, so I had to make some note cards. Again, I got this idea from Michelle Wooderson's blog...she makes these alot, and I finally decided to try them out. They are so much fun to make!
SUPPLIES: Stamps...IB Pumpkin (Karen Lockhart), pumpkin ($1 Michael's); Paper...Ambrosia (BasicGrey), Autumn (Karen Foster, probably retired...I got it from closing of LSS), Orange Poppy (Martha Stewart), Natural White (Neenah); Ink...Noir (Palette); Misc...square and circle nestabilities, prismacolor pencils, OMS & blending stumps.

And now, our little baby is getting so big...I love it when she sleeps; the house calms down and I can get something done! Here is Pippin with her unicorn (and what little girl doesn't love sleeping with a unicorn to give her magical dreams?).

Bye-Bye, Web

2008-10-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

I found this beautiful spider's web on our trampoline, and just had to take a photo before Steve got rid of the web (he hates spiders, but I think they're pretty). It's been raining alot today, so maybe the web got washed out before Steve got there...
And I think it's about time I wrap up my Autumnal-themed cards (since I really only have a few of those stamps)...we'll see. Anyways, here's one I did in a fun layout that I like to use with patterned paper that I don't want to cover up. This time, I added a strip of chocolate paper, pierced with my Ornare template, to kind of echo the swirly of the leaves falling from the tree. The patterned paper is Basic Grey "Mellow," and I think it is so cute, with kids and dogs running around outside during an autumn day...

SUPPLIES: Stamp...Falling Foliage (Hero Arts); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Mellow (BasicGrey), Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate (PTI); Misc...Classic Rectangle Nesties, piercing template & equip (Ornare), prismacolor pencils, OMS & blending stumps and W1 (Copic).

I wish I was a better photographer, but hopefully this will do...just wanted to preserve my spider's art, before it goes away...

Swirly Days

2008-09-30T15:05:00.001-07:00

Somehow, this time of year is busy and "swirly" for me. Lots to do, weather changing, holidays approaching...not a calm autumn like it used to be when the kids were younger. I'm starting to see swirls and movement in everything now, including our last science project: Peter's Mars volcano...who knew that a little food coloring, vinegar and baking soda could be so much fun? Anyways, last week I tried paper piecing for the first time, and it was so much fun! Anastasia gave it a go, too (although she didn't finish her card, so I can't post it). I found a cute pumpkin stamp at Michael's and just had to piece it with Basic Gray's Ambrosia paper. Yes, it is a busy card, but it kind of fits my mind and mood right now...
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Pumpkin (Michael's $1 bin); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...White (GP 110#), Ambrosia (Basic Gray), Orange Poppy (Martha Stewart); Misc...glue pen (Martha Stewart), craft knife (Fiskars), Rectangle Nesties

I made this next one as a joke for my mom...she's not into the patterned paper thing, or combining patterns on one card, but I just had to make her an autumnal greeting card...plus, I added gray satin ribbon, which is close to black, and according to her, "black makes everything classy." So, yeah, it's a busy card, but I still like it.
SUPPLIES: same as above, except used Summer Sunrise (PTI) for base and Gray satin ribbon (Joann's Bridal ribbons) and circle Nesties

And here is our swirly volcano activity...this is after Peter had calmed down, so it's not a very ridiculous picture...although I do still have those in my possession...

Thankful Again

2008-09-29T15:32:00.000-07:00

Well, it got warm here today, but I'm not complaining, because it will give my tomatoes a chance to ripen. Usually at this time of the year, it is routine to have cloudy and misty mornings and gray days, so I am thankful for a few of these unusually warm, sunny days. Here's a photo of a little rose that popped up out of nowhere this year...it had the prettiest color, and I would just stare at it and smile. I hope it comes back next year...I worked on a few Thankful cards and tried to use some new techniques: distressing with ink and paper-piercing. I couldn't decide on one layout, so did three similar-but-subtly-different styles:

Center image with pierced swirl:
Center image with pierced straight line:
Off-center image, no piercing, but with ink-distressing:
I don't know which one I like best...kind of like them all. I still need to practice the ink distressing more, because I get such inconsistent results (sometimes too much ink, or ink in the wrong spot)
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Falling Foliage (Hero Arts), Out on a Limb (PTI); Ink...Brown (Palette), Antique Linen (Distress Ink); Paper...Vintage Cream, Kraft, Dark Chocolate (PTI); Misc...Segoe font (16pt, brown) for sentiment, rectangular & tag Nesties, prismacolor pencils/OMS/blending stumps.

And here's my little reason for not getting much done lately...Pippin! She's 14 weeks old now...I can't believe how big she has grown. Puppies are a lot of work, and it has been a little difficult shifting around activities that I used to do (like getting laundry done) to make time for her and clean up her accidents. Last night we moved her crate out of our room and into the computer room; I gots me some sleep last night!!

Kidspiration #8

2008-09-22T16:04:00.001-07:00

Looks like it's time for another Kidspiration entry! I think this was actually done 2 weeks ago, but since I was sick last week, it just didn't get posted (a lot of stuff didn't get done last week).

First up will be Sophia, and her card inspired by her obsession with monkeys and chimps:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Curious George (All Night Media), Simple Alphabet (PTI); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...stash; Misc...brads (Making Memories), brown grosgrain (Joanns)

Next, is Anastasia's card. inspired by her LOVE of yellow (or is it an obsession?) :
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Garden Flower (Inkadinkado); Paper...Yellow #3 (DCWV), White (Georgia Pacific); Ink...black (Marcella); Misc...button, yellow satin ribbon (Joanns)

And I just had to put in a photo of my yellow guys...they are just now looking like they are getting ready to go away for the winter, so I thought I'd preserve them with a photo. They live in front of the house and always greet me when I drive up; their color is so striking, it just makes me smile when I see them...

Preserving Some Flowers

2008-09-17T19:31:00.001-07:00

I've been working on cards with browns, oranges, and autumnal colors lately. I don't mind those colors, but needed some bright colors to make me happy again. So I decided to use these ones for Papertrey's weekly card challenge: Spring Moss, Lemon Tart, and Christmas Red (not really sure if that's what it's called; it was a scrap in my "Red" folder). And white...can't forget that, because somehow it reminds me of crisp, clean linens...

I wanted to do an image of a flower, but I really don't have any flower stamps, so I used the little ones from "Boxes, Bags & Tags"...stamped them in the lighter shade first, then rotated the stamp and stamped in the darker red. I think I could have added something to the centers, though. I used a stem from "Green Thumb", and stem leaves are from "Out on a Limb". I kind of messed up the sentiment, so I just covered it with a new sentiment on a Spellbinders tag. The Lemon was stamped with the solid leaves from "Out on a Limb" in Versamark. The bow is a faux bow that Tracy told me about (she gave me this link, which has a good video tutorial). It seems that I learn a few new things about card making every week, but don't always use them. My latest goal is to do at least one challenge and use at least one new technique a week. We'll see how long I can do that...anyways, here are my happy flowers:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Out on a Limb, Boxes Bags & Tags, Green Thumb , Mixed Messages (PTI); Ink...Noir (Palette), Spanish Olive (Versamagic Chalk), Chianti & Scarlet (Colorbox), Versamark; Paper...Lemon Tart, Stamper's Select White (PTI), Red (unknown scrap); Misc...Tag Trio, Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), White grosgrain (Joann's)

Now, I just had to take some photos of my friends in the back yard, as a way of preserving them, so that I can look at them in the winter and smile...

These guys are SO TALL...like 7 or 8 feet. They are funny, because they bloom only at the top and their tops are almost too high to enjoy. But their blooms are gorgeous...
So I just lifted my camera, and started shooting...this is what the birds get to see. It's like the flowers are blooming just for them...Hello, Roses! (Sorry, I really like roses...)

Autumnal Thanks

2008-09-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I was inspired to do another Inkadinkado card...I know, enough already, but I certainly am getting my money's worth with this stamp set! This time, I combined it with PTI's Everyday Blessings, to try to make a Thanksgiving card. I hope it will work. There are so many cute Thanksgiving sets out there, but I just don't have the funds right now to invest in them. But I'm thankful for the stamps I do have :)

Of course, the brads on this card form a Braille letter! This one is the letter "c," which has nothing to do with the theme of the card; it was more for balance. The photo makes the ribbon appear kind of gray, but it is actually a sage green IRL, and matches the green in the DP.

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado), Everyday Blessings (PTI); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Mellow (Basic Grey), Summer Sunrise & Dark Chocolate (PTI); Misc...rectangle Nesties, silver sage twill (Martha Stewart), brads (Making Memories)

And here's a picture of one of the things I'm very thankful for: my oldest son, Ziggy! This was taken on Thursday evening, after we went to a bike event at the School for the Blind. Since it was dinnertime, we decided to go to McDonalds for a Big Mac Feast (can't beat 2 Macs for $3 on Thursdays)...yes, we ate a total of 8 Big Macs (although Peter opted for salad, of course).

More Inky Trees

2008-09-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

I was having fun stamping my Inkadinkado stamps on some Basic Grey paper, and made a few more Autumnal cards. When I stamped the tree in black ink, Anastasia said it looked "too much like Halloween," but in brown ink she said, "ooh, pretty!" I kind of like the brown ink ones, too.

I didn't put a sentiment on them so that they could be just note cards, and I didn't want to cover up any of the pretty patterned paper!SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Harvest (DCWV), Mellow (BasicGrey), Coffee Bean (Martha Stewart); Misc...Classic circle Nesties

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Brown (Palette); Paper...Summer Sunrise (PTI), Coffee Bean (Martha Stewart), Mellow (BasicGrey); Misc...Classic circle nesties

Here's the trio, together. Looks like I'm in a more Mellow, than Ambrosia mood. I am really enjoying these two sets of patterned papers.

And now a bit of puppy business: A while ago, we put Scooby's water and food up on a box so that she would have an easier time eating (since she's an older dog, it's hard to bend and eat). Pippin decided that she needed to eat and drink this way, too. We even put her dishes on the floor, but she still goes over to Scooby's box-thingy, and eats "just like Scooby does." What a riot!

"B" is for Bunny

2008-09-11T08:00:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's because I'm in a Back-to-School mood, but decided to post another Braille Embellishment card. Again, with "B", because repetition leads to memorization (right, Anastasia?). The pearls on the lower right form a Braille '"b", and "bunny" starts with "b".

This is actually a card I made a few months ago, for my mom, who likes bunnies. She always wants black/gray cards that are serious...so I kind of made it formal on the outside, with no color: And not so formal on the inside:
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Bunny (Inkadinkado); Ink...Noir (Palette); Paper...Stamper's Select (PTI), others from my stash; Misc...prismacolors & OMS, Pearls (Martha Stewart), paper piercer, plastic canvas, Giddyup font (dafont.com).

And a quick picture of Pippin, waiting patiently for her first appointment with the Vet...

"B" is for Branch

2008-09-07T22:21:00.001-07:00

Whenever I see brads on cards that are arranged in groups of 2 or 3, I think of braille letters (my oldest son is blind, so I'm around Braille all the time). The brads on this card make the letter "b"...

There was a color challenge on the PTI forum using Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate and Kraft.

I think I should have done something for the background, but I wanted the card to look simple, and I only have a polka dot backgrounder (I think burlap or rice paper would look cool).

I really like the Out On a Limb set. It gives a view of nature that please me. When I was a girl, I was outside all the time, and had a panoramic view of nature. Ever since my college days though, my view has been pretty much out of the window of my room. Sometimes I could see an entire tree from my window, but most of the time it was a portion of the tree, just like this branch. Even after college, this has been my view...especially when my kids were little; somedays I didn't get a chance to go outside, but I could look out a window at a tree. We actually had a house that had a view like this card in our bedroom; only it was a crabapple tree, but it was so nice to look at...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Out On A Limb, Mixed Messages (PTI); Paper...Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Kraft (PTI); Ink...Dark Chocolate (Palette), Scarlet & Cranberry (Colorbox); Misc...Nestabilities, brads (Making Memories)

Yeah, I don't know about this one either, but it was fun

2008-09-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to try stamping on patterned paper today. My first attempt was with butterflies on some cute Memory Box paper, but the results were awful...

So I decided to stamp on "sort of" patterned paper from Basic Grey's "Ambrosia" (wow, I like this set...and I'm not an orange person). I stamped my tree on the non-patterned solid paper from the pack and mounted using a traditional layout...not really satisfied with the results, but Anastasia liked it, so maybe it's okay...

SUPPLIES: Paper...Ambrosia (Basic Grey), Black (Memory Box), Orange (DCWV); Stamps...Fall Season (Inkadinkado); Ink...Noir (Palette); Misc...black satin ribbon (Joann's generic), dimensionals, classic circle Nesties

I forgot to post a photo of our new puppy, Pippin, so here she is:
Steve brought her home as a surprise last Friday...he'd been out of town all last week, found an ad for a dog breeder, and picked her up on his way home...kind of a nice surprise, and I've been wanting a second dog for a long time...I think our other dog, Scooby, is going to get a lot of exercise with this new puppy running around.

Celebrate Today

2008-09-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Steve is going out of town for the week (again), and Ziggy starts school today...my other kids started homeschool yesterday, and I think it went okay; we even managed to take the new puppy to the vet. Right now, I'm just trying to feel energetic enough to have a good attitude. So I decided a happy card might do the trick. The sentiment I chose was "celebrate today," and why not? The fact that it is indeed Today is more than enough reason to celebrate.

When I saw this Confetti paper (My Mind's Eye), I just smiled. Don't know if it is the dots or the colors or maybe both. It was one of those impulse buys (sorry, Steve, don't growl too much at me), and I even bought coordinating ribbon. I really haven't made much with the paper yet, because I get happy just looking at it. But I just had to put my Lockhart butterfly on it (because she's kind of dotty, like the paper)...maybe I should name her "Dotty" or "Confetti"...hmm...

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Butterfly (Lockhart), Large Polka Dots for envie (CHF), Mixed Messages (PTI); Ink...Berry Sorbet , Noir (Palette), Aegean Blue (Versamagic chalk ink); Paper... Confetti (My Mind's Eye), Stamper's Select white (PTI); Misc...small circle punch, oval coluzzle, dimensionals, prismacolor pencils, OMS, blending stumps, scarlet prismacolor marker

Beginning...again

2008-09-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

School starts for my kids this week. Ziggy's classes start on Wednesday, but my other kids want to start on Tuesday. Now the hectic schedule starts again, and I get tired just thinking of all the running around we'll have to do this year, with everybody's music, art, and sports classes. And squeezing in night activities while maintaining regular dinner and bedtimes gets exhausting. Then there's Christmas, which is fun, but a lot of work to get everybody's gifts (especially when I don't have much time to go shopping). It's only September, and I'm starting to have a hard time going to sleep at night...

So, today's card is to remind me to settle down and enjoy what matters most. I used the first sentiment stamp I ever purchased...."peace." I combined it with my new Out on a Limb stamp, and added pine needles to the branches so that it would be wintery. I showed it to my mom and she said I should add some red berries for color, but pine trees don't have berries..."Oh, no one would notice..." Sorry, Mom, I just couldn't do it; wouldn't be fair to the pines, and hollies might get mad.

Anyways, it's my wish for now...PEACE.
SUPPLIES: Paper...Stamper's Select white, Dark Chocolate (PTI), Green (DCWV); Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI), Peace (Amuse) ;Ink...Espresso (Adirondack); Misc...olive green prismacolor pencil, gold & ivory organdy (Joann's)

At Ease, Son

2008-08-24T21:56:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at the cute monogrammed cards that people have posted on their blogs.....someday, when I have the funds and when I can decide which font I like, I'll get a monogram stamp. But until then, I'll just have to make due with what I have.

For a test-run, I decided to make Sophia a monogrammed card using my Hero Arts alphabet set. She likes pink & brown and owls, so I thought Sassafras Lass' "Owl Pals" would be perfect. Okay, this is a lousy photo, because trust me, it really is cuter IRL...
SUPPLIES: Paper...Dark Chocolate, Stamper's Select (PTI), Owl Pals (Sassafras Lass); Stamps...Small Variety Alphabet (Hero Arts), Boxes Bags & Tags (PTI); Misc...dimensionals, classic circles nesties

After I made Sophia's card, Peter was all bummed, because "they don't really make monograms for boys." Partly true, but think about how many boys would really use a set of monogrammed cards for something other than things-that-get-stuffed-under-your-bed-when-mom-says-"clean your room" and that's not a huge market for boy-appropriate monograms.

But since Peter is my youngest, I didn't want to short-change him on a monogrammed card or miss the opportunity develop his hidden talent for letter writing. Peter loves all things military. And how cool is it to be 9 years old and your favorite color is Camo?
I actually had some camo DP in my stash. I found a cute font online (USAAFCStencil) that looks army-ish. I just printed his initials on to cardstock, then cut them out with my nesties. To give it an aged look, I sponged on some distress ink (I really need some practice with this stuff, because my results looked dirty instead of aged...the kids really like the look, so I'll probably have to do more of it).

SUPPLIES: Paper...Kraft (PTI), Georgia-Pacific 110# white, Green Camo (creative imaginations); Font...USAAFCSTENCIL (dafont.com)

A big Thank-You to Peter for loaning me his comforter and his room for this photo! I wish photos could capture the wonderful 9 year-old boy aroma, too...he uses this quilt year-round, and it is awesome!

Kidspiration #7

2008-08-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

Seems like my girls have been more inspired than me lately. Sophia got up one morning, and started making a card ("No reason, just felt like it"). Of course, this inspired Anastasia to be inspired...so, here are the latest from my Ladies:

Sophia's card began by cutting the green paper into blades of grass, then she found the ladybug stamp and voila!

Anastasia noticed that our new clock stamp matched some printed paper bags that someone gave us. She stamped and cut out the clock and put it on the clock image (with dimensionals) on the background paper:

Thank you, Ladies! Maybe I'll get inspired soon, too....

Sarah & Sierra's Birthday

2008-08-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

My kids have several dolls, and every few months, I am informed that it is one of their birthdays. I usually make something for the doll (after all, I am it's Grandma). Sometimes we make a dessert (something small, because dolls are small). And usually all the dolls show up on my kitchen counter for the entire Birthday: kind of fun.

Anyways, a few weeks ago, it was Sarah & Sierra's Birthday. I think they're twins. One likes pink and the other likes green. I'm a lousy grandma, because I can't tell them apart.

I didn't have time to make them a gift, so I made some quick cards. These are small cards...I used my Marvy scalloped square punch to make the base, and used a birthday sentiment from PTI's Mixed Messages for the inside of the card...For their birthday "cake", I sliced up a Little Debbie Swiss Roll (like a Hostess Ho-Ho) and put them on tiny plates for all the dolls; it was quite the party!
Happy Birthday, Sarah & Sierra!!!

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Birthday Cupcake (Inkadinkado), Mixed Messages (PTI); Ink...Palette Noir; Paper...pink & green (The Paper Company), Berry Sweet designer mat pad (K&Company); Misc...Marvy Scallop punch, Square (Whale-of-A Punch), prismacolor pencils, sakura glitter pen.

Easy Thank-Yous

2008-08-12T13:57:00.000-07:00

Looks like it's been a few weeks since I posted...we went to visit my parents a few weeks ago, and I feel like I've been playing "catch up" just to get things back to normal (whatever "normal" is).

Anyways, here are a couple of incredibly easy thank-yous I did for my aunts, who put together a really nice family reunion...I really should have made them fancier, but I was in a hurry, and my stamping "space" is a joke right now (so I'm making my cards on the floor now)...I used my favorite, old stand-by layout: Image on the left, sentiment lower right.

Note to self: I used clear EP on the image and gold on the sentiment...still don't know if I really needed to emboss the image, but it did make the card a little more fancy. Organdy ribbon could have been cute, but I didn't have any, and needed to get these in the mail.
SUPPLIES for Aunt Annette's card: Stamps...tulip (Anna Griffin), thank you (CHF); Ink...chianti, evergreen (Colorbox), versamark; Paper...Vintage Cream (PTI), DP & dark green (Basic Grey "Sugared"); Misc...gold EP, clear EP, dimensionals

SUPPLIES for Aunt Bea's card: Stamps...tulip (Anna Griffin), thank you (CHF); Ink...chianti, moss green (Colorbox), versamark; Paper...Vintage Cream, Spring Moss (PTI), DP & burgundy (Basic Grey "Mellow"); Misc...gold EP, clear EP, dimensionals.j
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Kidspiration #6

2008-07-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

The other day, Anastasia said that she just felt like she needed to make a card. A few days after she made the card, she informed me that I needed to post another Kidspiration entry. The next day, she displayed her cards on my desk, with the inks that she used, next to each card...guess I'd better post her cards:

First one has sentiment embossed (she likes doing that):SUPPLIES: Stamps...Green Thumb (PTI); Ink...Aloe Vera (VersaMagic chalk); Paper...Stamper's Select, Lemon Tart (PTI); Misc...ribbon (Joann's generic), EP

This next one she combined Out on a Limb with a bird I found at Michael's...The stamp shows the bird colored as a robin, but she colored it to be a finch (our state bird):

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Out on a Limb (PTI), robin (All Night Media); Ink...Spanish Olive, Jumbo Java (VersaMagic chalk); Paper...Spring Moss (PTI), leftover braille paper; Misc...Prismacolors, rub-on

Hey, Anastasia: I posted your cards!

All Thumbs

2008-07-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

ETA: The second card in this post received Honorable Mention for Papertrey Ink's July contest. I am so humbled; my card is so plain, but Nicole was kind enough to display it on her blog...very sweet!

Here are a couple of cards I did a few weeks ago, after I received my Green Thumb set from PTI...I really like this set, and it's versatile enough to do birthdays, thank-yous, and just-because cards.

This first one is because it rains so much here in the Northwest, that you might as well walk around in style. I made it in my two favorite bright colors, Berry Sorbet and Summer Sunrise...
SUPPLIES: Stamps...Green Thumb (PTI), Polka Dot BG (CHF); Ink...Berry Sorbet , palette Noir (PTI), Mango Madness (VersaMagic Chalk ink); Paper...Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, Stamper's Select (PTI); Pencils (for shoe heel)...Spanish Orange, Carmine Red (Prismacolor pencils); Misc...Berry Sorbet Satin ribbon (PTI), dimensionals; OMS & blending stumps

This next card was inspired by one of the pots on my front porch...I have 5 pots, and 4 of them are happily growing flowers or tomatoes. The seeds just will not sprout in the 5th pot. If I ever see any sprout in that pot, it will be a joyous day, indeed!

I wanted this card to look really plain, except for the pop of color on the flower. This card was so much fun to make. The watering can was cut out and adhered to the card because that was the safest way to get a totally gray can: I stamped it, cut it out, sponged the image with the stamp pad (to get a solid color). I also made the top of the can curved by stamping a piece of flower stem, curved to match the bottom of the can.

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Green Thumb (PTI); Ink...Pallete Noir, Berry Sorbet (PTI), Moss Green, Antique Pewter (Color Box); Paper...Kraft (unknown source), Vintage Cream, Stampers Select (PTI); Misc...paper piercer, dimensionals, corner-rounder punch (EK).

Hiking and Birds

2008-07-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of bird cards I did for Mom...need to post them, so if she needs more, I'll have an idea of what I did. The first one is pretty much designed after this one by Tammy Hershberger (I showed Mom the photo of Tammy's card, and she wanted me to make a set for her...I did this one without the flowers, though. I'll make her a black one with red flowers as soon as I get my Nesties).

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Birds Galore (Inkadinkado), Boxes, Bags & Tags (PTI), Thank You (Fiskars); Paper...Bohemian Memories & My Journey (My Mind's Eye); Ink...Coffee Bean (Tsukineko Brillance); Misc...brown ribbon from Mom's thrift store.

This one is the same layout, but with old buttons (from a thrift store) instead of ribbon. This one was fun, because Mom volunteers in a thrift store, and the name of the patterned paper is "Thrift Store." The paper is adhesive, so it was really quick to put together. Steve said it's "too busy", but I wanted it to look eclectic, like a thrift store :)

SUPPLIES: Stamps...Birds Galore (Inkadinkado); Paper...Thrift Store adhesive mats (Autumn Leaves); Ink...coffee bean (Tsukineko Brillance); Misc...clear EP, Martha Stewart border punch, old buttons.

Steve was on another business trip, and I needed to do something with the kids, so we decided to go on a little hike to Wahlclella Falls, which is about 40 miles from home. What fun! Ziggy was a little nervous at first, but decided that if Erik Weinmeyer could climb Mt. Everest, then he could manage this 2 mile hike. It was a bit tricky, since most of the trail is just wide enough for one person, so it was hard to guide Ziggy, but we managed. Another hiker (and her dog) offered to take a group photo of us at the end of the trail (have to laugh at this one since I'm standing on low ground I look short...I'm actually 5'7", but it's kind of neat not being the tallest in a photo)...What a fun day!!!

Gift Set for Mom

2008-07-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, this will be short because I am so behind in errands today, and have got to get them done before it gets too hot outside...so another Lockhart cherries stamp, I know, but I really like this one and why not get my money's worth?

Anyways, my mom likes dark colored stuff, and I like brighter ones, so this is kind of a happy medium (although black doesn't make me smile like pink does). This is a post-it note holder and beaded pen set that I made using Emily Giovanni's tutorials. I had some leftover images that I accidentally trimmed too much to use in a card set for my mom, so I decided to use one of them here for a post-it note holder. Stuck it in a cellophane bag and...cute little gift!
SUPPLIES: Paper...Textured black (DCWV), Sanrio Dots paper (Sandylion); Stamps...Lockhart cherries; Ink...Palette Noir; Misc...micro beads from Michaels's, terrifically Tacky tape and paper, dimensionals

Cheery Cherries

2008-07-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm really liking this Lockhart cherries stamp...I don't know, it just seems refreshing. We lived by a cherry orchard when I was a girl, and I remember eating tons of fresh cherries, right off the tree. Even though cherry season is over, I still think of it this time of year...

Anyway, I made a cherry card for my mom with darker patterned paper (here's a photo of the card). She really liked it and had me make a set of 6 for her to give as a gift. After making that, I decided to make a few cherry cards with brighter colors, just to show her that bright looks nice, too. I think she still preferred the darker ones, but at least I got a little happier after making these.
SUPPLIES: Stamp...bowl of cherries (Lockhart), cherry for envelope (Fiskars Thankyou set); Paper...Homespun DP, water & hollyberry cardstock (Memory Box), Stamper's Select (PTI); Ink...Palette Noir; Misc...scarlet lake, crimson red, spring green, grass green (Prismacolor markers), cool gray 30% & 50%, cloud blue (prismacolor pencils), OMS & blending stumps, white grosgrain (Joann's generic holiday brand), dimensionals

Stamp of the Month: June

2008-07-01T13:33:00.000-07:00

Looks like I haven't posted in a while...been busy making cards and stuff for Mom. Hey, I got the June's Stamp of the Month kit from Ellen Hutson, and made all the cards in the kit! Don't know if I will have time to do this every month, but it was so much fun to have all the supplies ready, and a layout to follow. I changed the card construction a bit, from Ellen's sample, but really the layout looks the same as hers. I took a photo of the sheet of images that I colored: I don't know, it looked so cute, I just had to...

Here's the finished card...

So I did these cards in mass production mode, and it was kind of fun. Here's some of the finished guys...I don't know, just wanted a photo so I could see that I actually got something done last week (sometimes it seems like I work all day, but get nothing done).

SUPPLIES: Paper...Holly Berry, Sapphire? (Memory Box), Neenah Solar White Paper and envelopes; Stamps...Picnic, IB Watermelon, sentiment (Lockhart); Ink...Palette Noir; Coloring...canary yellow, spring green, grass green, scarlet lake, lt cerulean blue (prismacolor markers); spring green, limepeel, canary yellow, goldenrod, spanish orange,carmine red, process red, crimson, copenhagen blue (prismacolor pencils); sakura glitter pen; Misc...Ornare corner flower piercing template, paper piercer/mat, OMS, blending stump.

Too Buzzy?

2008-06-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

I hope this card isn't too busy...I thought it looked okay, but Steve said, "Hmm, that's alot of bees." It's just that I was in a yellow-and-black kind of mood, so this is what I made.

I was going to put a bow on the left, but figured the card had enough going on already.The sentiment is printed on the card interior, because this card is for my mom's stash, and she likes the sentiments in, rather than out. Doesn't matter much to me, I just like making cards!Here's the inside. I used Giddyup font for this because Anastasia said the swirlies on the letters look like the swirlies of the bee trail:

SUPPLIES: Paper...yellow note card (colorbok), black perf (DCWV), yellow gingham (making memories),110# white (Georgia Pacific); Stamps...IB Bee (Lockhart); Ink...Noir (Palette); Misc...Martha Stewart scallop punch, dimensionals, Marvy scallop square punch, square Whale of a Punch.

Red, White, and Blue

2008-06-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

Don't know why, but I feel like doing things in red, white, and blue during June and July. Maybe it's the power of suggestion from all the displays in the ads and stores. Anyways, when I saw Nicole Heady's blog for her Memorial Day party, I knew the design she used was just what I needed for some thank-you notes. Her design kind of makes me think of band playing John Philips Sousa in a gazebo in the park (don't know why). Which is what I was looking for: Americana with Class.

I don't have Photo Shop, so it ended of to be kind of a pain to print out just what I wanted. I printed out her blank invitation documents. Then I made a Word document of "Thank You" in Chopin Script and printed that on the invitation paper. I printed it so that the cards would be horizontal because I wanted the stars to be a little "tilty". I really wish I could have resized her template, because the note with the zig-zag is too big for a standard envelope, and I had to make my own (which is not too hard, but I can't do 10 of these guys, and get them done before Christmas time). The zig-zag idea is from Debbie Olson, using a Martha Stewart punch.

The patriotic star motif was also perfect for a gift card enclosure for a set of napkins that I sewed for my mom. I got this cute fabric at Joann's last month, and finally got around to sewing the napkins last week. Also picked up a cute towel at Target that matches the set! So I made a gift tag, and also printed a blank invitation-sized card to write Mom a short note.
SUPPLIES: Paper...Stamper's Select (PTI), Textured Blue (DCWV); Misc...zig-zag punch (Martha Stewart), Chopin Script font

A Card for Daddy

2008-06-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, short post, since Steve is out of town, school's out, and Ziggy has no one to talk to...Here is the card we made Steve for Father's Day...He's not really outdoorsy and doesn't do sports or grill or fish, so I decided to do something office-y (which he does do).

I got the idea for our card from this card on Kristina Werner's blog. I didn't have the "Hello my name is" stamp, so I printed the tag using this cool website (you can print the name tags in any color you want). The website makes sheet of 6 tags for you to print. After I printed out a sheet, I made a mini tag for our "logo" on the back of the card by color-copying and size-reducing the original (and to have some cool name tags for my daughters' dolls).

Anastasia was in charge of layout and stamping on the cover:Sophia did the stamping on the card interior:
Of course, we had to have our logo, with Scooby on it:

SUPPLIES: Paper...kraft (unknown), SK Woodcut Collage Flat (don't know cuz I accidentally cut of the brand name, which is annoying because I like this paper), old business cards of DH; Stamps...Mixed Messages (PTI), small variety alphabet (Hero Arts), date stamp (Walmart), Basic Font Clear (Fiskars); Ink...Noir (Palette), Espresso (Adirondack); Misc...corner rounder punch,Sakura stardust pen, mini file folder (JoAnn),paper piercer.

Father's Day

2008-06-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the card I made for my dad...kind of funny that this is the same layout of the first card I ever made; I guess it's my "go to" layout. You can't really see it in the photo, but the trees are clear-embossed, and the image edge is lightly sponged.

So Dad prays for everyone in the family every morning, and says each person's favorite verse before praying for that person. So I wrote all the verses, consecutively, in Optimus Princeps Semibold in light gray (set the margins so they would fit in 4.25x5.5 space), and printed it out twice. Then I wrote the sentiment in Chopin Script in dark brown and printed that on one of the verse papers. I used the other verse paper to line the envelope (and act as a cushion for the card).After I loaded this photo, I noticed a smudge in the photo, and long story short, my camera is at the Canon repair center now :(
Whenever I send a card to my parents, they want our "logo" on the back. It's basically a scottie dog with 3 dots on either side, but to my mom, it's our "trademark"...gotta love my parents, they're my biggest fans!
SUPPLIES: Paper...textured dark brown (DCWV), Brown Damonds (Paper Pizazz); Stamps...Mixed Messages (PTI), Winter Woods (Rubber Stampede); Ink...Espresso Brown (Adirondack), Jumbo Java (VersaMagic chalk) Antique Linen distress ink; other...brads (Making Memories), clear EP, gelly roll stardust pen, dimensionals.