Christmas in May
19 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Back in December of last year, I challenged myself to “re-purpose” some of the Christmas cards I had made years ago but didn’t make the cut for sending out. I even humbly posted some before and after pictures.
Well, making barb’s card yesterday kind of sparked some creative juices in me so I’m back at it today. It feels pretty good actually.
I don’t have a “before” picture of this one, but the original card was 4×4 and had the greeting underneath the image. I cut out the image and made the greeting seperate, adhered it to a red base and added a row of glittery hearts that I cut out with my new PTI die cut.
My dear friend barb
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in misc. B.S.
I have not been in a creative mood for a while now.
Until I got a cute card from my friend barb yesterday. I wanted to send her a card back but, honestly, did I want to buy one with the gazillions of stamps and supplies that I own??? No.
So I dug through my stash and came across one of the first cards I ever made. Back when I had fun making cards and it wasn’t a “job”. Back before I didn’t care if it was “perfect” or not. It spoke to me. Maybe because I had to put one of my horses down on Tuesday and I really connected with this image. I suddenly felt the creative urge to “update” this old card into something I could send my dear friend barb.
I met barb when she had first found out she had stage 4 breast cancer. She wanted to know if she could still attend my card classes. Hello?
She became my biggest fan, cheerleader and made me feel as though my classes had saved her life! Me and my “students” got to walk through the horror of this dreaded disease that also took the life of my husband on January 30th of this year. Was God preparing me???
Anyway, barb has been an inspiration to me and I love her dearly. Thank you barb for all you’ve done for me!
By the way, barb does not capitalize her name because her belief is that there is only One who’s name is worthy of capitalization!
Have a Great Day!
19 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in misc. bs
I made this card a while back, but I needed to remind myself that everyday is a gift, and not to ever take that for granted.
Birthday Card Trio
25 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I did not plan to do 3 cards, it just turned out that way!
I needed to make a card for my middle son who just turned 31, so I had to make the much dreaded masculine card.
That is when I decided to do something with the woodgrain background that I won from an Amuse challenge I participated in. Since he has recently taken an interest in photography, I decided to use an Imaginesce camera stamp that I’ve never used as well as a Heidi Swapp “smile” stamp that I have had forever and never used 
On the first card, I had the camera in the middle, smile on the bottom and woodgrain over everything.
I then decided to make the card again, but have the camera directly over the greeting because I felt the camera got a little lost in card #1 . Also, I decided to mask the camera so that the woodgrain would not show up on the image.
Still not totally happy with the card.
So, for card #3 I decided that I would use black chalk ink instead, and color the camera in with copics.
Did not like it.
Thank goodness for clear stamps, because I was able to stamp over the chalk ink images with my black Versafine ink and emboss with clear powder. The camera had been stamped before the woodgrain, so it still shows on the camera, but I re-stamped the greeting after the woodgrain (over the chalk ink) and embossed with clear powder and I like how it turned out!
Clear as mud?
My vote is for #3
Happiness is…
13 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in misc. B.S.
A whole new boatload of craft stuff I don’t need!!!
The unfortunate side of that is, another store bites the dust. Very sad. Paper Zone is closing its’ doors and that is sad for me not only because I love their stuff, but it was one of the first stores where I shopped when I first started stamping. One by one, stores are closing, very sad indeed.
Last week, their inventory was 30% off so I decided to hold out for 50% since I really didn’t ***need*** anything. Yesterday I received the e-mail that the merchandise was 50% off so I made the trek up to Bellingham (63 miles) to get my coveted boxes of 250 ct. Neenah linen text envelopes and Neenah Solar Crest paper reams. Well guess what??? They had sold out all the paper and envelopes I wanted!!! Boo hoo hoo. (luckily I still have a big stash, we crafters are like that!)
So here’s my loot!!!!
- 2 sheets of Basic Grey hello luscious alpha stickers, because who can’t use more alphas, right?
- 1 pk. 50 ct. Eams 80 lb. cover A-2 folders in natural white furniture weave. Looks more beige, which I like, and love the fact that they are pre-cut, pre folded, ready to go!
- 6 bottles of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I have always wanted to try them, but since I am not teaching at the moment, I couldn’t bear to pay the 6.99 a bottle for 2 oz.
- 2 Tsukineko embossing powders in black and gold. I did not need these, but I figured I used these colors, for half off, I’ll get them! It’s not like they’ll go bad or anything and you never know when I might decide to teach again, right? I thought so!
- 1 Stampendous Pearl White embossing powder. See above explanation plus I don’t have Pearl White, just white!
- 6 full-sized Memento inks, just because I love Memento inks and can use them with my Copics. Nevermind that I have a numerous full-sized ink pads in every color, every brand. But hey, I love Memento!
- 2 Versafine full-sized ink pads. Once again, see above explanation. One extra comment… I did not have Spanish Moss or Imperial Purple. Love, love, love Versafine. Best with acrylic stamps AND you can emboss even though it is not a pigment ink. Nuff said!
- 7 spools of American Crafts ribbon. Never mind that I have more ribbon than I can use in a lifetime, I didn’t have these particular ribbons! Need I say more?
- 1 Judikins wood mounted rubber stamp. Too cute, it’s a jeans pocket, I don’t have one like that!
- 4 Meri Meri tags…….. Just because.
- 4 cardboard magazine holders and 2 cardboard boxes, because I need the magazine bins!,
- 2 American crafts med. eyelets just because I like med. eyelets.
So there you have it. Told my hub it was an early birthday present to myself. Then I saw a BEAUTIFUL purse I could have gotten for the same price. Maybe I can talk him into both? We’ll see!
CCC12 February Card #1
11 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Tis the Season~ Paper; Speckletone Kraft, Bazzill~ other; We R Memory Keepers Floss, Big Shot, Sizzix embossing folder, Tim Holtz ruler, paper piercer, tag
I believe this could be the first time I have ever hand stitched on paper. Now I’m hooked!!!
I used my Tim Holtz ruler and my paper piercer to poke my holes evenly. I decided to do a Christmas card, so I chose traditional colors for my floss. I ran my paper panel through the embossing folder and Big Shot after I had completed the stitching. Love how it turned out! I found a tag in my tag stash that had similar colors as the floss and adhered it to the middle of the card.
This was a fun card for me since I was trying something new, even though clean and simple cards are so hard for me to do.
4 to go for February!
DS Challenge #81, Love~
10 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Our DS Design team assignment for this two-week period is to made a “love” themed card. I am also using these for a new challenge that I joined on Splitcoastampers for the All Occassion Card challenge. I’ll be making 5 all occasion cards per month as well as my Christmas cards. All these cards will come in handy throughout the year!
Pucker up!~ Paper; Neenah, Bazzill, K & Co.~ Stamp; Inkadinkado~ other; K & Co. Smitten chipboard
I absolutely love the K & Co. Chipboard! There are 35 pieces in a box. All are two-sided, most of which are glittered, for some beautiful cards, scrapbook or altered items. The same supplies were used for the card below except I didn’t use a stamp on the outside of the card. I also added “pearls” with my Viva Pearl Pen to my homemade scalloped border.
Since I don’t have the need for too many Valentine cards, I try to not use greetings until I have the need for a particular card. Then, I can often use them for Anniversaries, Wedding, Thinking of you or even Birthdays depending on the card, of course!
I might just keep going with this “love” theme since I have tons of Valentine/Love stamps from my years of card classes!
SCS Christmas Card Challenge 2012/January
06 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I got my 5th card done for the CCC12 over at Splitcoaststampers. I signed up for 5 per month so I have met my goal! I’m going to keep going while I’m on a roll, and credit them for February and so on, so that by fall, I will have (hopefully!) completed them and won’t have to worry about it over the holidays.
What a concept!
This card was a pain in the behind to make. I don’t know why some cards come together so easily and others are a struggle until the bitter end. This one was definitively the latter. Not that it was hard, it just would not come together easily. The colors were hard to match, the reindeer were awkward for a card, the sentiment placement was going to be tricky, etc. etc. etc…. It almost found it’s way into the garbage, but I am stubborn that way!
Reindeer Greetings~ Paper; Bazzill, K & Co.~ Stamps; Rubber Soul, Inkadinkado~ Ink; Versafine Red Satin~ other; red gems, glitter, Glossy accents, Bobbin ribbon from Michael’s
After putting my first greeting on the reindeer (MM rub-on) it looked very lonely and lost on the card. So after trying NUMEROUS ribbons on the side of the card, I settled on this one since it seemed to make the greeting stand out a little better. (The ribbon color looks a bit ”off” in the picture, but it really isn’t too bad!) Next, I get the bright idea to find a few small greetings to put underneath the original greeting but still be close to the same color and scale. I then added red gems to the reindeer noses, and filled in some of the little dots on the patterned paper with Glossy Accents. After those dried, I decided to use a glitter pen and loose glitter to fill in the remaining dots. After drying, they kind of disappeared, so I put glossy accents over those also. Now, I wish I would have done that with all of them.
Anyhow, it is what it is, I’m putting it in the DONE box!
CCC12 #4 and A Muse Studio Challenge
03 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I have my fourth card for the January Christmas Card challenge over at SCS done! I also used it for the A Muse Studio embossing challenge.
I embossed the Great Impressions Poinsettias with red embossing tinsel and embossed a Stampendous notes background stamp over the top of the whole panel with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder.
Season’s Greetings Poinsettia~ Cardstock; Bazzill, Neenah, Basic Grey ~ Stamps; Great Impressions Stamps, Stampendous ~ ink; Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ other; Martha Stewart baker’s twine, Ranger red Embossing Tinsel, glitter, Ranger Glossy Accents, blending tool, Making Memories rub-ons, Judikins clear embossing powder
It is pouring down rain outside, so I didn’t know if I could get a descent picture that would show the detail, but I guess this didn’t turn out too bad.
After I stamped the poinsettias and distressed the paper, I felt like it was missing something, so I stamped the musical note b/g over the panel and heat embossed it with clear EP. I then used a rub on from MM for the sentiment and made my own “dew drops” with Glossy Accents.
One more to go for January!
Christmas Card Challenge 2012
31 Dec 2011 3 Comments
One of my “go-to” websites is having a Christmas Card challenge for 2012. You choose how many cards you want to make per month and then post them to Splitcoaststampers website. It’s totally low-key and is intended to help ease the pressure of card making in the Christmas season. I have done 2 of the 5 cards per month that I am going to make, and one is doubling for a “numbers” challenge at the A Muse Studio challenge blog.
12.25 Corrugated Tree~ Paper: Bazzill, Paper Zone, patterned paper from scraps~ other; Cricut for numbers and star, Art Institute glitter, Viva Decor Pearl Pen, corrugated cardboard, Heidi Swapp adhesive paper ribbon
I have been seeing a lot of corrugated embellishments on the blogosphere and I have been itching to make something with corrugated paper/cardboard, so I cut the tree into a triangle, made a trunk and used my Viva pen for bulbs. The numbers were cut from my Cricut and glittered with Art Institute glue and glitter. This takes a while to dry because the glue is thick and tacky, but it is the best way to have your glitter stay in place after it dries. The music notes are adhesive paper ribbon from Heidi Swapp, I believe.
Noel Tree ~ Stamps; Great Impressions ~ Paper; Neenah, Bazzill ~ Ink; Versamark, Versafine, Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ other; Viva Decor Pearl Pens, Tim Holtz blending tool, Judikins clear embossing powder, May Arts ribbon, K& Co. acrylic sticker
The GI tree was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed with Judikins clear EP. I then masked the tree and embossed the snowflake b/g with Versamark and embossed with clear EP. Then I took my TH Distress ink and blender tool and “colored” in my b/g over the embossed image. Next came the Viva Pearl Pens in various colors. These take a little time to dry thoroughly, so don’t be in too much of a hurry! After letting it dry overnight, I added the burgundy and white MA ribbon to the front panels and taped to the back before adhering to card base. I found a cute little acrylic sticker by K & Co. to adorn the ribbon and mimic the Pearl Pen bulbs.
OK, now three to go, but I have all of January!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
