August & September Workshop Projects

Hello again. Meant to post this last night but didn't get around to it. I did get a new card made last night, but it's one I can't share till it is received. So for now, I'm going to share the projects that my club members made this past Sunday, and the other half of the group made back in August.



We made this Scallop Cupcake card. I kind of followed the layout of a card from the new catalog. I wanted to show how to use punched circles to create a scalloped border along a curve or circle. I also showed how to cut a slit in the middle of the card front to tie the ribbon through. Stamps used were from the Big Bold Birthday set. Colors are Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango (cupcake frosting), Chocolate Chip (cupcake base and greeting).
This was a fun card to make.


And then we made this "Box in a Bag" There are samples of this all over Splitcoast, but I found my directions here by Stampin' With Di. You basically make a small, square box bottome and then tape the paper of the bag around the box base, and then tape a scalloped border (which is now so very easy with the new SU Scallop Edge punch) around the bottom. You are supposed to use the Round Tab punch to make the tabs to tie the bag together, but since I don't have that punch, I substituded a scallop circle punch-out folded in half. Typically these are made using the double-sided designer paper, but I can't use that for my groups because of the large quantity needed, so I improvised and we made out own designer paper using whisper white card stock and a stampin' wheel. The wheel we used was Forever Flowers, and the "wreath" stamp is from the Together Forever set, and the initial is from the Lovely Letters set.



And our third project was this card, using the "ghosting technique". I CASED this entire layout from a sample in the Stampin' Success magazine that I receive as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator. I loved everything about it and new I had to do it. The ghosting technique is where you brayer ink on vellum cardstock, then use a clean, dry stamp and stamp on th wet ink which will take ink OFF the vellum, leaving a sort of "negative" image. I thought it almost looked like a pressed leaf used with ink, like we did as kids in school. I had just received this stamp set, Wonderful You, and the matching jumbo wheel, so it worked out perfect. All of my club members seemed to really love it, and I made several of these cards as thank you cards for my personal use. I think its one of my favorite cards I've ever made.

I used Bashful Blue for the card base, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive cardstock and ink, and cardstock vellum, as well as whisper white to adhere the three pieces to so there would be white behind the inked vellum, made the color pop much nicer than against the blue. That also allowed me to pop it up on dimensionals. The ribbon is the Chocolate Chip taffeta.

If by chance you are reading my blog and are not one of my customers, and have any questions about any of the creations I share, please feel free to contact me and I'll answer your question as best I can. I know I don't always explain things as well as I should or could.


Thanks again for visiting, and hope you have a blessed and safe week!

Birthday Cards

My family had a couple of birthdays this past week. And they were both men. Masculine cards are not my strong point. But I recently purchased a new Stampin' Up set called Nature Silhouettes and got to use it for the very first time to make my husband this birthday card. I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it (and had to show it off to everyone), so that made me really happy.

I got the inspiration from a post on the Splitcoast website. Here is the card that inspired me - by member cmc2stamp. I didn't use quite the same color blues and didn't get my background as dark, and my moon was smaller but what a great idea to do with this set. I also used the new Curvy Label punch and one of the stamps that come inthe bundle with the punch. I am disappointed that there isn't another size of this punch to allow for layering, but I compromised by punching out two additional black labels and layering them behind the stamped label to give a layered look.
Then I used one of the oval label holders from the Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware set. The background I used - Weathered - is unfortunately retired. I also used the Photo Corners punch and in each one I used a star brad, also from the Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware set. The cardstock is an old In-Color - Buckaroo Blue. There are so many blue shades in the In-Colors but I do love this one, and I thought I had ordered an extra package of it before it retired, but I could only find a few sheets of it, so I guess I won't be using it much more!
Oh, and I used glossy white card stock, embossed the tree and grass stamp with black, also embossed the wolf, then cut him out and popped him up on dimensionals. The photo corners are also popped up with foam tape.

And there is the card I made for my stepson Ben, who turned 18 on Sunday. I struggle with knowing how to make cards for men, but teenagers are even harder.
There's an old SU set called Pocket Fun, which I've never owned, but my awesome sister (and fellow stamping addict) Kathy had let me stamp a bunch of pockets from her set onto some demin patterned paper - a LONG time ago, and I pulled that out to make this card.
I used the new Riding Hood Red card stock, and used the Linen background stamp (which I'm also very sad to say is now retired). I also used the Photo Corners punch once again, but this time added some star eyelets. Wow, has it been a long time since I've used eyelets, but it was fun to get them out again. I used a Sale-A-Bration stamp set (I think it's called Lots of Notes, but not totally sure on the name - sorry) for the greeting and used markers to ink it up in different colors.
If you look close you might notice that it's only a one dollar bill in the pocket, that is because I had to send this card in the mail and didn't want to send cash, so I wrote a check and then wrapped a dollar around it so it would like a pocket full of cash. I used foam tape around the edges of the pocket to make an actual pocket out of it, and silver brads in the corners to mimic rivets on jeans. That's it!
And the best part - I actually got both cards to the birthday boys on time. Made my husband's the night before so I could give it to him before he went to work on his birthday, and my stepson's I actually got to him two days early. That's unheard of for me, I'm always late. Like with my stepdaugther Heather and her husband Brandon's wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow, and I *thought* was Saturday (ughh 40 is hitting me hard I tell ya!) and still haven't gotten a card made to mail. I'm so bad, but she understands, since her dad is the same way, well no he's actually worse, in regard to procrastination. But I will make a *fabulous* card for them and get it in the mail, it will just be a few days late. Sigh.

Ok, now I'll leave you with a picture of my husband, Joe, and I before I took him out for dinner on his birthday, which was this past Friday. We actually got a bit dressed up and that doesn't happen very often so I had to document the occassion. Besides, I will, someday, get back to scrapbooking. I will. Someday.

I have so many things to post, I had a great workshop for one of my hostess groups yesterday so I can post about those projects, and a few to catch up from my non-blogging time, but I can barely sneak time to get the current stuff posted. So much going on right now, and this is the busiest time of year for me at work. I've been working late and trying to get in early this week. I should be in bed by now, I'll be dragging in the morning, but this always takes longer to do than I expect. Hope you all enjoy it, I was feeling like I was doing this for nothing, but then I got so many comments from my club members yesterday (Hi gals!), saying how glad they were that I was blogging again, so that made me feel like I should continue. Even if they are the only ones that look, at least I know someone is.
Ok, that's it for now - take care everyone!

New Stampin' Stuff!

Hi everyone! Hope your week is going well. Mine has been busy. I did get my SU order yesterday. I took some pictures of all my wonderful new "stuff"! I love to just look at it all! I did get a card made, but I spent way too much time just sitting at everything and trying to decide which stamps to use first, and trying to make myself actually use some of the new embellishments. I don't really consider myself to have a hoarding problem, but I'm just afraid that if I use things up I will have a better use for them later on and be disappointed that I don't have anymore. C'mon, I know I'm not the only one that faces this problem! ;-)

Anyway, here are my new stamps, punches, ribbon, and embellishments.

And here are my new Designer Series double sided papers. I limited myself to two sets for now, because I don't use them up before they "retire", and because I was hoping to get more holiday papers from the Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this paper, but again, I'm afraid to use it for fear I may want/need it more later on.

I really love the Green Tea paper (the blues/greens one), but I realize now that it coordinates with a couple stamp sets which I don't have. I know it can be used with others, but you all know how I am about "matching".

I also love the Curvy Label punch. But it's very very small. A lot smaller than I thought it would be from how it looked in the catalog. I also wish they would have two sizes of it for layering. I feel the same way about the scallop circle and scallop square punches. I didn't get the scallop square yet, but am now wishing I'd have gotten that one first and waited on the curvy label punch. Oh well. Hopefully I'll prove myself wrong and find lots of uses for it.

I really love the Button Bouquet buttons and the Filligree and Flower Designer Brads. Ohhh, and the Flower Fusion felt flowers, which now are also available in Chocolate Chip (yum), Pink Pirouette, and Baja Breeze. Gorgeous!

So anyway, this is the card I ended up making. Hardly any stamping. The only stamp I used is from the hostess set I earned, Best Yet, which has great greetings and sentiments. I just loved the colors in that patterned paper from the Green Tea series and wanted to use the felt flowers, and the Old Olive ones from the first Flower Fusion set matched perfectly. I really wanted to use Baja Breeze ribbon, but for some reason I didn't order any in that color. So I used Celery grosgrain. I also used a Flower Designer Brad and a Kiwi Kiss button from the Button Bouquet.

Not a bad card, I just really am itching to get back down and use some of my new stamp sets, but unfortunately that didn't happen tonight. I've been working all evening on balancing my checkbook, paying bills, working on my budget, and working on some SU "business" duties. Such fun! ;-) And now it's getting time to call it a night. Arghhh, I really wish there were more hours in the day!!

Well, thanks for stopping by and please take time to say Hi and let me know you were here. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to show tomorrow. Have a great day!

A Productive (and fun) Weekend

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. Mine was relaxing, busy, fun, and very productive! My only complaint is that it flew by way too fast and now tomorrow is the start of another work week. And it's going to be a busy and stressful one I have a feeling. But I have a few hours left of the weekend so I'm pushing thoughts of the upcoming week away for now.



I have lots to share! So go grab a snack, put up your feet and get comfy!

I stamped for a while on Friday night. I got some more overdue thank you cards made, I had done five earlier in the week but then thought of three more I needed to get sent out. I can't share that card design with you quite yet though as it's also a project for my upcoming workshop and I know some of my club members read this so I don't want to give anything away!



But I also finally "prettied-up" some fliers I had printed out months (possibly years) ago. I've been wanting to put some up around town and try to get some new customers. I think part of me is almost afraid of getting too much on my plate and overwhelming myself, but I would really love to do workshops for some fresh new customers. (Not that I don't still love my loyal, dedicated club members - Hi Girls!)


So this is what I did. I just tried to make them colorful and eye-catching. If any of you are local and have suggestions of places I could put one of these up, please let me know.

Saturday morning I tried getting down to my stamp room all morning, but one thing after another came up. I finally did get down there in the early afternoon though and made a couple cards. I made a birthday card for my stepson, but am waiting for one finishing touch on that so didn't take a picture of it yet. Then I made a wedding card for my brother to take to a wedding he had to go to. It looks like it took a long time, but it went very quickly. I CASED it from the new catalog. I had been wanting to make one like it since I first looked at the book, and a wedding was the perfect occasion.

Looking at it now, I wish I had used Pretty in Pink for the card base instead of the Almost Amethyst (which I know looks like Bashful Blue in the picture). The flowers were stamped in Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink and Almost Amethyst, with tiny self adhesive pearls in the centers and attached with dimensionals. The swirl was done in Certainly Celery. I pierced two rows of holes at the top of the card base. The ribbon was a tiny scrap which was all I had left of the Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon (which I'm so sad is no longer available). I really love this card and want to make more, in different color combinations.



After dinner I snuck in a couple hours more in my stamp room and made another thank you card for a lady at my church who blessed me with some clothes which will come in very handy. I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated it.


This card gave me a bit of trouble. I had fun watercoloring the images, but then just didn't know what colors to use with it and how to embellish it. I like the holes punched in the scalloped edge but they sure aren't very straight or consistent! I used a stamp from a retired hostess set (which I just received with my last big order before the new catalog period started) called A Little Bit of Happiness. Colors used are Really Rust, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and More Mustard.















And, since I was on such a roll, I made another card that I had been meaning to make for several weeks for another lady from church who is going through chemotherapy treatments and having a lot of rough days. I wanted to send her a little card to let her know we are praying for her and hopefully brighten her day a bit. I thought the Everyday Blessings stamp set from Papertrey, Ink would be perfect.

I used Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip, more of the self-adhesive pearls, and some white-dotted chocolate satin ribbon from American Crafts. On the inside I stamped another sentiment from the PTI set that says "Someone remembers, someone cares, your name is whispered in someone's prayers."


I didn't stamp at all on Sunday. We took a ride up to Marquette for the day. We did a little shopping (I "splurged" on a new pair of shoes (even though I badly needed some new "winter" shoes) and a new purse), and a few other things, but nothing too out-of-control. We also went out to dinner with my neice Tara and her boyfriend Colby and got to see thier new apartment. That was nice, and way overdue, since I hadn't seen them since my wedding in March of 2007! And we only live an hour apart. Isn't that sad? Life just gets so crazy busy.



After we left the restaurant (We ate at a newer restaurant in downtown Marquette, at least it was new to me, called Aubree's...the pizza and breadsticks were very yummy and it looks like their sandwiches and salads were very good also. I definitely recommend it.), I thought Joe wanted to head home, but he decided to take a drive through Presque Isle Park first and then the sunset was so beautiful we had to get out and walk around on the rocks, as we do almost every time we are there, but I was sorry we hadn't told Tara & Colby that we were going there so they could come with us, because I had specifically taken my camera with me to get some pics of them and of Tara and I and I totally forgot about it until we got to the park. Darn it! We did get some nice pictures of us, well I got some nice ones of Joe, he got some horrible ones of me (it's the subject -not his photography skills), and a very nice lady took a good picture of the two of us. I'll share the one of the both of us and one of the gorgeous sunset, but none of me, they are too awful!














It was a very nice day, spent with my husband, and with the chance to relax, shop, visit with family and see beautiful scenery. Such a blessing.

We didn't have any plans for today so we slept in this morning and took it easy. I really wanted to do some more stamping, but it was so nice outside that I didn't feel like being in the basement. So I collected a bunch of stuff and worked on a big project out on our deck. It figures that as soon as I got set up out there, the breeze picked up, so it was bit tricky keeping everything weighted down and chasing after things that flew away, but it was nice to be outside. I spent all afternoon working on these:
















Our church is going to have a booth at a craft show in November and I'm going to make things to donate to be sold - we are trying to raise money for our basement renovation project. I want to do some Christmas items, and am having a little bit of trouble getting myself to think about that yet, with the weather as nice as it's been.



But yesterday in Marquette, I picked up these cute little notebooks at Big Lots. They were 10 for $2.00. They have plastic covers (front & back) and were in fun, bright colors. So I decorated them up with my most-used items of late - my Big and Little Flowers stamp sets and my Scallop Circle Punch. They were fun to do, I just wish I had started off making my own background paper with the little stamps because the ones I used patterned paper on, I had a very hard time getting colors and embellishments to match. And I'm very particular about things matching, as many of you know!


I thought these would be cute for little girls or teens and would make great, inexpensive stocking stuffers or gifts to give classmates. What do you think? Here is a close up picture of a few of my favorites.











I'd welcome any suggestions for things to make cheaply and quickly that you think might sell well at a craft show. I have some ideas, but what I struggle with is knowing how many of each item to make - I want to have lots of something if it is popular, but don't want to be left with a lot of things that won't sell well.



So yeah, I stamped A LOT this weekend, and it felt great! Now tomorrow night I will hopefully receive my order of new fun goodies from Stampin' Up! and that should keep me motivated to keep stamping. Plus I have a workshop coming up on Sunday to prepare for. So stay tuned!


I did think about saving some of these pictures for posts later in the week, but then I remembered I'd be getting my new "stuff" and would be making fun new things to share. So you got it all at once, hope I didn't bore you too much! Thanks for stopping by.


Happy Labor Day!

P.S. I really apologize for how this post looks. I have been trying for over an hour to get the alignment to look better, I don't understand how this thing works. When I go to edit, it looks like the spacing is right, but then when I publish it there are spaces where there shouldn't be and no spaces where there should be. It's driving me crazy, but I don't know how to fix it. So this is as good as it's going to get, at least for tonight! Sorry!

Inspired by a button....

I made this card last weekend, for my niece, who's birthday was August 13th. Yeah, I'm a bad aunt. At least she got a card, I usually am so late I don't even bother. My excuse is I have a very large family. I do mean well, though, and have the best intentions.

Anyways....

I knew I was going to make a blue & brown card because she loves those colors. I was making a quick browse through the craft section at Walmart one night and stopped to look at buttons. I saw these really cool blue & brown buttons. My mind started thinking how I could use them on a card. So this card was totally inspired by the button I used. I first thought of stamping circles onto the cardstock but I wasn't getting good coverage on the solid dots. So I decided to use various sized circle punches to make my funky polka-dotted background. (ever wonder how polka-dots came to be named polka-dots? Something to do with a German dance? Hmmm...)

Anyways....

I was going to use a scallop circle under the button but I thought it clashed with the other circles. So I just used a plain circle. In the picture the button doesn't look centered on the backing circle, but it's just the angle of the shot. I mimicked the circles from the button with the circles on my card. It's kind of busy and crazy with a lot going on, but I like it and I think it fit for my neice. I've heard from her that she received it and liked it very much.

The card size is 5 1/4" square.

Thanks for stopping by again....hope you all are enjoying the "end of summer" holiday weekend.

Color Inspiration Re-Do

Wow, thanks everyone for visiting my blog and for all the great comments! I'm even more excited to keep it up now.

Here are some better pics of my card from last night. The lighting was so much better today!



Thanks for visiting again!

KWerner Color Inspiration #20

Well hello again everyone! Not sure who "everyone" will be since I've been away from my blog for so long I doubt I have any readers anymore, but I'm hoping to get back to posting more regularly so hopefully I can coax at least some of you back, and if I'm real lucky, maybe even a few new readers. I'll post soon to get you all caught up on the past 3 months or so since I've last blogged. But for now, on to what inspired me to (finally) post again......


I love the KWerner Design Blog. Kristina is my HERO. She's young and pretty and witty and an awesome stamper, and.....to top it all off....drumroll please......she "works" at Stampin' Up!!! I'm not sure being employed there could be considered work, but I suppose it is. If you click on the underlined name above it will take you to her blog - you should really go check it out, it's great!


Anyway, she has been posting (almost) weekly Color Inspirations for a while now, and I have been wanting to post one for a long time, but never seem to have time to do it before her deadline, and then never go back to do it afterwards either. (But then who am I trying to kid, I haven't been stamping a whole lot this summer period.) Hopefully that will change.


Well, tonight I decided I was going to stamp "just for fun", and before I started I checked my email and clicked on a few of my favorite blogs. I saw Kristina's Color Inspiration and saw that I had till tonight to get it posted, and it was some of my very favorite colors, so I just HAD to do it. And I did!!


Here is the inspiration picture and swatches from her blog:

And here is my card:

The bad thing is that because I had to photograph it tonight to be able to meet the deadline for posting, I had to take it with artificial light and the colors are really off. It looks so much better in person, and tomorrow I will take pictures in the daylight and post them. Unfortunately, this is the best I can do for tonight. And I'm a horrible photographer. Maybe I would post more if I could take better pictures of my work. Or if I could figure out how to do more with this blog. It still frustrates me.

When I decided to do a card for this "challenge", I was determined not to copy or "CASE" anything. I don't get much time to stamp so I admit I do "CASE" a lot. And I'm sure what I've done is not anything that hasn't been done before, and I drew my ideas from things I've seen somewhere along the way, but I didn't have something that I was copying from. And it took me forever!!! I kept changing things and not liking this or not liking that, I seriously worked on this card for three hours tonight. That's crazy. But I'm never satisfied. I do like this card, but as I sit and look at it I see things I wish were different. It's my curse.

Overall though, I'm happy with it, I just wish it had photographed better. For those who want the details, I used the following Stampin' Up sets - True Friend, Boho Backgrounds, Always, and Holidays & Wishes. I used the following Stampin' Up card stock - Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla and the same inks, except I cheated and used Pretty in Pink ink on the Pink Pirouette card stock as I just didn't like the Pink Pirouette ink. It was too washed out. I like the card stock, but not the ink so much. I also used Versamark on the Regal Rose pieces because the Regal Rose ink was way too bright and just didn't work with the rest. The ribbon is the Chocolate Chip taffeta, which unfortunately is no longer available.

Oh, and the card size is 4" X 9", and it fits into a business size (No. 10) envelope. Sometimes it's fun to make different size cards.


If you have any questions, please leave a comment, and actually, if you are reading this, please leave a comment to let me know you were here -PRETTY PLEASE! I am so sorry I was silent for so long, but I plan to really try to do much better. Especially since my new stuff from Stampin Up will be here next week, and I will have lots of new "toys" to play with and make pretty things with. I am so bummed it isn't going to get here before the long weekend, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait.


Thanks for looking and hope you'll come back. Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

Edited to add: I don't know why you can't click on the pictures to open them up for a bigger view. I can on my older posts, and I didn't do anything differently tonight. Grrrr. And the spacing is messed up still. When I edit there is proper, consistent spacing between paragraphs, but then when I publish it gets all crazy. Very frustrating. I wonder if it's just my lack of knowledge or if everyone has the same issues. Oh well, it's the best I can do for now. Sorry.

Mother's Day Card & Some News

Hi everyone. So sorry I haven't posted sooner. I keep thinking I'll do better, but then I don't. But I want to. It would help if I was getting more stamping done too. I am posting the card I made for my mom for Mother's Day last weekend. I also made her a little gift, and it turned out so cute, but by the time I got to give it to her, it was falling apart and I haven't been able to fix it enough to get a good pic of it. Darn! Hopefully I will do that soon. But probably not too soon. ;-)


Anyway, here is the card I made. I got the idea from the Splitcoast gallery, but changed it up a little. I can't find the poster to give credit to, sorry. It was just so perfect for my mom since she loves to play the slots and we took her to the casino for Mother's Day (the night before). Then I needed to do some shopping in Marquette, so we took her with us there on Sunday and had dinner at Red Lobster. After waiting an hour and twenty minutes to get a table! They told us it would be forty minutes, then "forgot" us on the list somehow. Joe was not pleased! We did get a free appetizer though! ;-)


Ok, ok, here's the card. I used the Tart & Tangy set, a square punch to make the frame for the slot machine windows, and typed up the wording on the computer. I used some of the Summer Picnic Designer Paper too. And some of the Fire Rhinestone Brads. I am pleased with how it turned out and I think Mom enjoyed getting it.


And now for some news. I've recently found out about a stamping event being held in Baraga on August 1 & 2. I haven't been spending much time on the Splitcoast forums, but I read about it on Sharon's (notimetostamp) blog. I am planning on going. I think it will be fun. I've not had the opportunity to attend anything like this before and since it's not all that far away, like 2 1/2 hours from me, I can't resist. I have met Sharon before and she's great, so I look forward to seeing her again, as well as meeting other fellow "yooper" stampers. It's not a Stampin' Up event, any stamp companies can be used. I plan on making cards to swap and designing a card for the shoebox swap. Here is the link to the thread on Splitcoast with more information. Why not think about going if you are able to? Maybe we can work something out to car pool up there or something. I think it will be a blast. I'm very excited. That's the week of my birthday so I'm giving myself the gift of spending the money to go! Anyway, just wanted to share that with you all.


Well, tonight I did manage to get a birthday card done for my mom (for tomorrow). Nothing like last minute, right? I also needed to get one done for my stepson, whose birthday is on Sunday and he's in North Carolina, so I don't think that one is going to get to him in time, since I will have to try to get it made tomorrow. I spent two hours after dinner working on bills and my SU accounts, etc. Then went for a short (half hour) walk, it was SO nice out tonight here! So by the time I got downstairs to stamp, all I had time to do was the one for Mom.


I will try to share that tomorrow if I get a chance to take pics, but not promising anything. I may not be able to post at all for the next week or so. I have a lot to do before we leave on Sunday for a trip downstate. I have a conference for work next week and am the only one going from my office, and I am a big chicken when driving to "big cities", so I'm dragging my husband along to be my chauffeur. LOL Well, it will be a cheap little "vacation" for us, since work pays for the hotel and it's a really nice one, and we will be able to have a (very very short) visit with my stepdaughter and son-in-law on Sunday. I think it will be fun. And I'm looking forward to the conference too, the agenda looks like it will be interesting and very educational.


But I will really try to post again before I take off. I'll have Mom's birthday card and hopefully another birthday card to share. And I hope that after the trip I'll be able to get back to stamping more and blogging more. Wish me luck on that. Thanks for reading this and thanks for hanging in with me during my absences. At least I *think* I still have a couple readers! ;-)


Have a great day everyone!

Workshop Card

Hello again my loyal readers. I really thought I would keep up on this better, I'm sorry I haven't been posting more lately, but then again, I haven't been making anything to write about! :-(

I'm just having a really tough time getting back into the swing of things with stamping. I hope to get my momentum back soon, but have a busy few weeks coming up and a trip to take for work, so not sure how good I'll be able to do. For now I've got a card to post from my workshop last weekend, and then I have to go and try to get a Mother's day card made tonight. And then a birthday card too, my poor Mom's birthday is always a few days from Mother's Day so she often gets a combined gift, kind of like a kid who's birthday is two days after Christmas (right, Skyler?). Anywho.....

Here is one of the projects we did last Sunday. I tried to demonstrate the "scratch-n-sniff" technique on the strawberries, but it wasn't very successful, in fact I think most of the stampers just skipped that part. Some attempts worked and the room definitely smelled like strawberries, but it's kind of a hit & miss thing and very messy. I had to experiment a lot and found the best mixture was 1 part sugar free jello to almost 2 parts of the ultra thick embossing powder. When I used the regular clear embossing powder, the "stuff", as well as the color, seemed to scratch right off.

I have to admit that this card is almost a total case from the gallery at splitcoast. I didnt' change much. So I'll give credit where it's due and link to the inspiration card by Wendybell.

We used So Saffron, Black, White, Real Red, Only Orange, and Wild Wasabi card stock. The stamps were from Tart & Tangy of course. We also used the "sweet" from last years Sale-A-Bration set So Very. The sweet was punched out with the small SU oval punch and layered on black punched with the large oval punch. I just tied the gingham ribbon around the focal image panel. I also used a small circle stamp from the Always set and stamped a border on the black layer and then embossed with clear embossing powder. That did not photograph well at all, but in real life, it gives a very subtle pattern and really makes that layer "pop" on the card. The strawberries were inked up with red and green markers and stamped, then cut out and popped up on dimensionals to the front of the card.

I really loved how this card turned out. I was a bit hesitant to use it as a workshop project since it was almost a total copy, but I just liked it so much that I couldn't resist.

I have one more card from weeks ago to post, but I need to get a better picture of it first, hopefully I will do that in the morning. I'm off to try to get a couple cards done tonight, and hopefully can stamp a little in the morning also if I get up and moving early enough. I'm getting my hair cut at noon. Yay! I'll try to come back soon, and thanks for hanging in here with me! Enjoy your weekend!

Yay! I made a card!

Well, tonight was my first night stamping in weeks - way too long!! Ughhh. Last weekend didn't go as planned, and I still wasn't feeling well, so I didn't get down there. Now my workshop is coming up quick and I'm under pressure to get things prepared again, seems I can never plan ahead. I'm such a procrastinator!!

I did get a card made tonight, and it was pretty much a total case, but I love how it turned out and it felt so good just to ink up some stamps after so long! It's too late to take pics of it now, but I will try to do that tomorrow, but am not sure I can post it yet, as it may be one of the workshop projects, but I'm not sure yet. I did play around a long time tonight with a new technique I want to demonstrate, but was not very successful, it was frustrating. Maybe tomorrow it will go better.

Anyway, just wanted to check in and let you know I'm still here and still struggling with this darn cough/cold and still struggling to get back into stamping mode and still struggling to learn how to use my camera better!

I'll be back soon with something to look at. Take care everyone.

Frustrated

Just wanted to make a note that as much as I love this blog site, it can be very frustrated at times, although it could just be that I don't know everything about using it. But I get my post all typed out and looking the way I want and then I publish it and the spacing gets all wierd.

There will be no blank lines where I put some, or there will be blank lines where I didn't put them, the pictures get moved around. Very frustrating.

So yeah, I know things look very run together and not well spaced, but I've tried and tried to edit and put spaces in but then when I hit publish again, it's back to being all messed up. Sorry!

Some stamping....finally!

Well....it's not as good as I'd like it to be. Speaking of my health and of my pictures I have to post tonight. But they are both an improvement at least!

I got worse Monday night after I posted and have barely touched my camera. I didn't go to work on Tuesday and still wasn't feeling good at all on Wednesday but had to go in anyway. And I had made plans for last night, took my coworkers out for pizza, which was great but I came home and was exhausted and didn't DO anything the rest of the evening. Thankfully I am feeling much better today, still coughing quite a bit, but not nearly as much as before.

My husband has played with the camera and read some of the manual and I just took it and put it on "auto" and snapped some pictures tonight of my cards. The light wasn't the best as it's dark and gloomy outside tonight, and I think I need to "practice" a lot more with the camera (and come up with a better system for a "backdrop", but at least I got some pics taken and downloaded so that I can share 3 of the 4 latest cards I made. The best of the 4 just didn't get photographed well, so I will re-do that one tomorrow or Saturday and post it later. For some reason, the best pics I could get tonight were if I held the card in my hand to shoot it. Not the best way to do it, I know, but it seemed to work better than anything else tonight.

I don't know, the pics seem a little "blurry" to me, just not really in focus, but I am so NOT good at photography - AT ALL, and I guess I just need some lessons or something to get any better with it. And as fairly inexpensive as the camera I bought was, it has alot of features and settings that I just am scared to even try!!!

But without further ado....I'll get to what you all come here to see (yes I do realize you don't come to hear all my babbling nonsense, even though knowing it doesn't keep me from babbling all the more!)....some cards!

The first two are made using the heart from the Always (SU) set. And I used some of my Afternoon Tea designer paper. Loved these colors (Certainly Celery, Groovy Guava & Chocolate Chip) together. I embossed the heart with copper embossing powder and then used a sponge dauber to rub Certainly Celery ink onto the white cardstock. I also stamped the heart onto the Guava card stock and then layered the embossed cut out heart on top of it, leaving the dotted outline to "frame" it. I used some 5/8" Chocolate Grosgrain ribbon, and used scalloped scissors to edge the Choc. card stock layer. The words are rub-ons from the SU SAB set.

The second card is basically the same except I used Groovy Guava ink to fill in the heart and I messed up the last letter of the sentiment, and tried to "fix" it by filling the "u" in with a Chocolate Chip marker. Didn't work so good! :-(

The third card is using the SU set One of a Kind. The background is a floral stamp from the set Boho Backgrounds. I used Soft Sky and Blue Bayou card stock. I stamped the Flower three times onto white cardstock, using fluid chalk ink (because it stamped a deeper color than the classic brown ink), and I stamped it two additional times onto scrap white cardstock. I colored the flowers in with ink and an aquapainter. I cut out and layered with foam tape on the middle flower. I stamped the three-flower image onto white cardstock with Blue Bayou ink and punched out the one flower with the Boho Blossoms triple flower punch. I put silver brads in the center of those and also attached them with foam tape in the center of the right and left flowers. In the top layer of the middle flower I placed a flower brad from the new Hodgepodge Styled Silver hardware set. The ribbon slide is also from that set. (thanks Kathy for sharing so generously with me!). The ribbon is the Chocolate Chip twill from the Occassions mini catalog.

Please let me know if you have any questions about my cards or how I did something. Also please share any photography tips with me that you might have! I need all the help I can get!!!

One or two of you may be surprised to see one of these cards in your mailbox sometime soon. I just couldn't wait any longer to post them after being so long since my last stamping post, so I couldnt' wait till they were sent out and received. Sorry.

I'm hoping to get A LOT of stamping done this weekend and work out some projects for my upcoming workshop. I will be back soon, I promise! Thanks for reading today!

On My Way Back....

Hello everyone....

I hope I haven't lost the few followers I had. I am very sorry for the long absence from blogging. I knew it had been a while but it's actually even longer than I had thought. Several things have kept me away. First of all my camera died, right after I made some really great cards that I've been dying to share. I tried to use my scanner but couldn't get that to work properly either.

Then I had a week of meetings and obligations with no time for computering or stamping. And then I got sick. It started out the weekend before last. Just a sore throat. Then the sniffles. Then stuffy, clogged head. And aches all over. Then the worst happened. A cough started. At that point I knew I was in trouble. Because when I get a cough, it takes me *forever* to get rid of it. And I get it BAD. Ughhh. I missed a day and a half of work last week, and had to miss an important meeting. I managed to stay all day on Friday but it was tough and I don't think I really accomplished all that much.

Saturday I was still feeling pretty yucky but able to get out of the house and do a few things. Saturday night I hardly slept and woke up with a throbbing head from coughing all night. Had to go to church because we were signed up to do something, had a couple rough spots there with the coughing. Felt a bit better yesterday afternoon but then started coughing again in the evening and was so tired and my head hurt so bad I didn't think I'd sleep again, but I ended up sleeping pretty good. Made it to work this morning but as soon as I got there I started feeling worse again. Like it was starting all over. Runny nose, stuffy head (which had gotten alot better). Then I got a call from my Dr.'s office and found out I had strep. They had done a culture when I was there on Friday morning and it was negative but they still wanted it tested at the lab. And that test came back positive today. So now I'm on antibiotics. And now my throat hurts again. Go figure. It hadn't hurt since Tuesday...till I heard I had strep. Everyone at work is now giving me a hard time about contaminating the place. Ughhhh.

I just get so wore out from coughing so hard and so much. I've had NO interest in stamping for a couple weeks now. And I'm not liking that. I sure hope I get back to normal soon so I can get my stamping "mojo" back!!! But I do have some good news....when I went to pick up my antibiotics at Walmart tonight, I was able to get my new camera. I had picked one out on Saturday but they were out of stock, so while I was there tonight I checked and they had one so I got it. I got a Canon Power Shot A590IS. It's supposedly a newer model and it seemed to fit my needs. And just to let you know how out-dated my old camera was....this new one is 8.0 Megapixels....7.0 seemed to be average in the amateur level cameras....and my old one was....2.0!!!!! LOL I had no idea it was that bad. I just never paid any attention because I knew I couldn't afford a new one, until I didn't have any, then of course I figured out a way to get one. LOL So I'm sure I will notice a BIG difference in the pictures this one takes. IF I can ever figure out how to use the thing. It looks way more complicated than the old one. Or at least has more features.

But after the coughing spell I had on the way home from the store (almost caused an accident), my head is KILLING me and I'm going to lay down, maybe even go to bed. So tomorrow after work, I will have charged batteries, and hopefully a better head, so I will try out my new camera on those cards I made a couple weeks ago and hopefully be able to post pics of them tomorrow night. If I still have any readers to see them. I really am sorry I've neglected this blog. And Kathy if you are reading this, I KNOW I am way overdue with an email to you and it will be coming SOON, I promise. I'm probably behind on other emails and stuff too. I'm so behind on EVERYTHING! I never did get my basement stamping room rearranged and organized and now I have a workshop coming up soon to prepare for. I'm getting stressed out just thinking about it all. I'm off to take my drugs and go to bed and try not to think about it till I can do something about it all!!!

And it was a GORGEOUS day out here today, finally. The weekend was pretty nice too but today was awesome. It was so hot in our office building, I think the air system was still on winter mode. I so wanted to go for a walk tonight but just didn't get a chance to or feel up to it. Maybe tomorrow. I can hope to feel well enough for that at least!

Thanks for not giving up on me! (I'm assuming that if you've come back to read this you haven't given up on my totally!) ;-)

Stay tuned for some stamping posts real soon! Take care everyone!

Name Frame & Matching Card

Hi everyone. Ughhh, what a week! I haven't had time for anything. Work has been crazy, and every night this week I've had something to go to or do. And I've been extremely tired this week for some reason, I seem to be getting enough sleep but still feel tired all the time.

And I still have no working camera. I have some new cards that I'm dying to post but can't. I think I've found some money out of my budget to buy a camera, but now I just need to figure out which one to buy. I want to get the most for what money I have to spend. But anyway....

This is something I made a couple weeks ago but didn't want to post until it was received. This was part of a gift for our god-daughter Hannah. I thought it turned out very sweet, and almost hated to part with it. I can't help but acknowledge that the name is stamped very crookedly though. It shows up even more in the picture than in person. Other than that, isn't it just precious though? I was tickled with it!

I used the (retired) SU Letterpress Alphabet and the SU set Unfrogetable

I colored in the snail and the frog with ink and an aquapainter - then punched them out with the 1 3/8" circle punch and then layered onto Regal Rose card stock punched out with the Scallop Circle Punch. I glued "google eyes" on both critters. I also used the new SU Boho Blossoms punch for my flower accents. Then on two of the flowers I used some crystal flowers from my stash and on four other flowers I used Making Memories brads (round and flower shaped) that I coated with glue and pink Fun Flock, to make flocked brads. I got the idea from this post on Taylor's blog.

The background paper was from an assortment I got on clearance from a local store but I can't remember the manufacturer's name. And the ribbon is celery dotted grosgrain that I bought a while back at Michaels. The frame is from Walmart and I love using this size to do my name frames.

And I made the card to match. I had actually made a card like this before, in fact we did it at one of the workshops I gave last summer so some of you will recognize it. The only thing I changed was that I used the Boho Blossom Punch flowers instead of the circles I originally used for the background of the card. I just punched out flowers with Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Whisper White and glued them onto the card base.

The little "matchbook" opens up to read "hoppy birthday" inside.

I hope I explained everything well enough, if not I apologize. It was board meeting night for me and I didn't get home till after 9:00, had some dinner and was going to go to bed but wanted to come and post something "fun" here before I lose you all for good. Hopefully I will get a camera SOON. Wish me luck and please share any advice you might have regarding a good but inexpensive camera to purchase.

Tomorrow is TGIF!! And I will be very glad to end this week!! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Sunday Stuff

Hello everyone...I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Mine has been pretty good overall, I just wish it could be longer! ;-)

I'll get to the "Sunday stuff" in a moment, but first I have a bit of bad news to share. My camera died. I had trouble with it last weekend, but thought it just needed new batteries. We have some rechargable ones that are well-used and need to be replaced. But I bought some regular batteries and they aren't working in the camera either. We've tried everything. I guess it's done for. Grrrrrrrrr. It was getting old anyway, but I just really can't afford to buy a new one right now. And yet, I'm going crazy without one. Because I stamped a bunch of cards (okay, 3)this weekend and can't take photos of them to share!! Oh no!!

I have to buy camera - have to! But there are so many out there and I know nothing about what to look for really. I mean a lot of them will not be possibilities just due to cost. I dont' take a lot of pictures, other than of my stamping projects, so I can't see investing too much in a camera. Yet I don't want junk either. Ughhh. I don't know where to start, and I know I'm not going to be patient about waiting either. So please wish me well with this latest "challenge"! And until I decide what to do, I will not be able to post any stamped stuff, unless I scan it. Grrrrrrr. *pout* ~whine~ LOL

But anyway, it's Sunday and I'd like to share a couple excerpts from my "The Word for You Today" devotional. My intention was to share these on Sundays but I haven't been very consistent on that. Sorry. And I looked back over the last week's readings and can't seem to pick just one, so I will be sharing two this week. I also am adding a "song of the week" feature. I absolutely love Contemporary Christian Music and would like to share some of my most favorite songs with you. If you've not heard this genre of music you will be surprised at how much it sounds like other popular types of music - but with an awesome spirit and message. At this point my plan is to leave one song that I'd like to "feature" for the week on my playlist (which you will find and can control at the bottom below all the posts on this page) and change it every week. But I may decide later to just post several on the playlist and then add or delete from time to time. We'll see. Please let me you know what you think - and if you just don't want the music to play at all, you can stop it down below. Hope you enjoy!

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Rejection-proofed

"Our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are. - 1 John 3:1 NLT

Ever wonder how anybody could find you lovable? For many of us the question becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fear of rejection is so intense that we protect ourselves by:

• Vowing never to let anybody get close enough to hurt us again. Sounds good in theory, but by closing others out we close ourselves in, and all our relationships suffer.
• Putting on our best "game face". I'm tough! Who needs other people anyway? As a result nobody meets our needs.
• Pushing others away. When we feel rejected we imagine we're being attacked even when we're not. So we put on our boxing gloves and come out swinging.
• Trying to buy rejection-protection by doing favors for people. Or by putting up with abusive relationships because we think it's what we deserve and it may be our last chance to love.
• Practicing perfectionism. Give it up! God already loves you unconditionally, and human standards vary so much that you'll never make everybody happy however hard you try.

As long as you keep trading with a diminishing sense of worth, you'll keep attracting the wrong people. So listen up. "Our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are" And "that's only the beginning...when Christ is...revealed, we'll...become like him" (1 Jn 3:2 TM). If your self-worth comes from any opinion other than God's, you'll always be vulnerable. Your critics will diminish you; trying and failing will keep you from rising again. Worst of all, you'll never discover or be discovered for the unique and wonderful person God made you to be.

Overcoming procrastination!

"Find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to." - Ephesians 5:17 TLB

To overcome procrastination you must:

• Take responsibility for your life. No matter how hard you wish, the tooth fairy isn't going to come while you're sleeping and replace failure with success. Great souls have wills, feeble souls have wishes. You need to do something!
• Examine your excuses. An excuse puts the blame on something other than you, which means the solution is beyond your reach. Excuses are like exit signs on the road of progress; they take us off track. It's easier to move from failure to success, than from excuses to success. So examine your excuses and eliminate them.
• Focus on the benefits of completing a task. To get you over the hump, focus on what you'll "get out of it" when you do get it done. Will it bring you benefit? Clear the way for something else you'd like to do? Be a milestone in your personal development or the completion of something bigger? Will it help to clear the decks for you emotionally? Admiral Willam Halsey said "Problems become smaller if you confront them. Touch a thistle timidly and it pricks you, grasp it boldly and its spines crumble."
• Ask for help. Columbus didn't discover the New World on his own, he needed a crew. Speaking of the church, Paul writes, "Each part...helps the other parts grow" (Eph 4:16 NLT). There's no way to value the assistance others can give you when it comes to breaking old habits and beginning new ones. Yes, it means taking a risk because you will be vulnerable in sharing your hopes and fears. But the risk is worth taking.

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These are both lessons that I need to keep learning. And probably always will. I think I waited so long to let Jesus into my heart and to start following his example for my life because I didn't feel "worthy". But because of the price he paid for our salvation we don't need to be worthy. We can't be worthy. And our Father's love for us is unconditional - if we come to Him through Jesus. That is such an awesome thing. Because we all fall short of His glory. I am trying to do better with the life I've been given, but I'm more of the "feeble soul who has wishes" than the "great soul who has will". My intentions are always great, but my follow-through stinks! But as long as I keep trying, and praying (with thanksgiving and praise) for help from our Lord, I know I will improve. And any amount of improvement is better than none.

I'll try to post this week and share some older stamping projects, until I can get a camera to take pics of my lastest creations. Please don't go away and not come back! I promise I'll get something figured out as soon as I can!! As long as I can keep my procrastination at bay. ;-)

Have a good week everyone!

Putting Things into Perspective

So I've been having a case of the "blues" lately. Not really depressed or anything, just a little bummed out. Tired of winter. Stressing about bills and how the cost of everything keeps going up and up and UP. Feeling like we don't have the money to go anywhere or do anything. Stuck in a rut. A big ol' deep rut. Feeling like I have nothing to look forward to. If I ever get to take a few days off work, it will only be to stay home and do some much overdue spring cleaning. Feeling like a failure at some things that I feel are very important to me, but I'm not acting like they are important to me at all. I have wonderful intentions all the time, but never seem to do anything about them. Feeling responsiblity for some things that I don't mind being responsible for but not feeling like I'm up to the challenge. Knowing I need to change my eating and excercise habits (once again) or I am going to have some serious health issues down the road. Knowing that and knowing that I don't do anything about it which makes me really mad at myself, but evidently not mad enough to spur me into action. There are more things I could list too, but I'll stop here.

But....anyway....BIG DEAL! Poor me, right? Yeah I'm so pitiful. I have it so rough. Everyone should feel sorry for me....me feeling sorry for myself isn't enough. My life stinks.

NOT!!!!!!

But I was feeling like that for a few days. Nothing like a good slap in the face to put things into perspective. And I firmly beleive that God is always behind those "slaps in the face". This time he used my compulsive blog hopping to slap me. Which, by the way, I am beginning to think that reading all the blogs was feeding my "woe is me" attitude. Sometimes it seems like *everyone* has so much more than me, more "stuff", a happier life, awesome vacations, more opportunities, more time to create, nicer weather, etc. etc. etc. I need to quit thinking about what I don't have and focus more on what I DO have. I have A LOT!!! And I'm not talking about just material things either!

Anyway, back to my "slap in the face". I was hopping from blog to blog, and 99% of the blogs I go to are stamping themed - but even those also have other things on them sometimes. I was on Jami Sibley's blog and saw this post and it just stopped me in my tracks. I had to get to work so I couldn't read too far into the blog but I did read quite a bit down and the little synopsis that he provides for anyone new to get caught up on their story. Wow. Talk about perspective. Talk about making my cares and woes seem SO insignificant. Wow. Reading his story about his wife and premie baby just totally broke my heart. I can't imaging having to face all of that day after day, week after week, month after month. And stay so hopeful and positive. It's sad and inspiring all at the same time. Please check out Nate's blog.

It makes me want to help them. But what can I do? I will make a small donation to his fundraising effort, but that's all I can do financially. I want to do more. There's those "good intentions" popping up again. But what can I do? I have no clue. Wish I knew. I know I will for sure keep them in my prayers. And hope that some of you browsing my blog will feel inclined to do the same.

And yes I know there are thousands of people out there going through the same thing, and thousands going through much worse things, but this family's faith and love for each other and strength for each other is just so touching, at least to me. Just really got to me today. I think I will not be so inclined to "whine" about my life, at least not while this is fresh in my mind.
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Well, I wrote the above before I went to work this morning, and now it is 11:00 p.m. at night. I never got a chance to finish it. I just went back to Nate's blog and there are a lot more posts since this morning, so you might have to read down a ways to get to the heart of their story. And I received another "slap in the face" since this morning. I found out late this afternoon that my good friend's father suffered a heart attack on Thursday and had surgery to have a stint put in. He's doing ok but he and his family have a long road ahead of them and many changes to make. I feel so helpless and wish there was something I could do for my friend, she and her family have been through a lot in the last couple days. Again, all I can really offer are my prayers.

Hearing about that was a "slap in the face" for me because of my health issues that I've been ignoring for months. Her father has diabetes and wasn't taking good care of himself. I know the risks for me and I have a lot of fear about what could happen to me, and yet I still don't change my habits. I don't exercise. I eat all the wrong foods and way too much of them. I'm so scared I will have major health problems, and at an early age, if I don't change my ways. But do I? I do good for several months and then I fall off the wagon and go back to old habits. I just hate exercise and love food too much. But do I hate/love them more than I love life? I don't think I do, but that's how I've been acting. What is wrong with me??? :-(

Oh, and there's more still. I got a third "slap in the face" this afternoon too. Right before I found out about my friend's dad. Got a call from my Dr.'s office. I had some lab work done the other day and my blood sugar A1C level was way up (they didn't tell me what it was) and they said I need to go get a prescription to increase one of my medications again. The one that gave me lots of stomach problems. Yay. It's my own fault though. I have to increase it for two weeks then go back for more labs and go see my doctor. I'm hoping I can do better with diet and exercise and get back off it, that medication really did not like me.

So, yeah it was quite the roller coaster ride of a day today. I put in a half hour on the treadmill tonight. I didn't want to do it, but had motivation tonight plus when I felt like quitting I thought about Tricia (from the blog link above) and all she's going through and that made me feel lucky to be able to walk on a treadmill at all. It's a start. I need to keep at it. Sigh.

I did some stamping tonight also, but nothing I can share with you yet. The plan is to do something tomorrow that I can post. Not promising, but am going to try. No plans tomorrow other than getting on the treadmill again, paying some bills, and hopefully going out to dinner and maybe doing something fun with my husband afterwards. No kids this weekend and we need to spend some time together. I'd *like* to start a rearranging and reorganizing project in my stamp room, but not sure this weekend is the best time to start that.

I'm sorry for the long, rambling post with no projects to look at. I know most of it was nothing anyone really wanted to read, but I do feel better for writing it, and I do hope you will try to check out the blogs I linked to - I guarantee it will make you appreciate your life more. And inspire you. At least it did me.

Wishing you all a happy weekend full of blessings. I'll be back soon to share something stamping related, I promise. Take care.

P.S. I don't know why the spacing is all messed up on this post. The first part is like double spaced and then the second part I added tonight doesn't even have spaces between paragraphs. I've added blank lines but they disappear when I publish. I don't know what's wrong but I'm too tired tonight to play around with it any longer. Sorry.