Say Cheese

Hello everyone. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was just that.. Wonderful all wrapped up in a little box.. I spent my weekend working on my shoebox swaps and my regular swaps for the upcoming Central NY SCS get together. Theresa and I are venturing out to Syracuse on the 20th and well.. You know me, I want to be prepared. Stay tuned for pics of what I finished.

Today when I was taking pictures of my swaps Cater came out and decided to sit next to me on the porch. How could I resist not taking a few snap shots of him. I told him to 'say cheese' and well, this is what I got. How adorable is he????
Well, I'm off. DH is cooking tonight so let's see where he's taking me. TTYL

Look at me...

and then there's this one.. How cool is this???

Check out this link if you'd like to give it a try..

PS.. Thanks Theresa

288 pieces of card stock & 960 stamped images later..

Can you say... Oh my aching hands... back... arms... eyes.. neck.. Yack.. The good news is that after 288 pieces of card stock and 960 stamped images later... my calendars are done... finished.. fin'e'to.. Well that is except for a little assembly but trust me.. by Saturday afternoon they will all be together. Here's the official unveiling. Tell me what you think.

All images (except when otherwise noted) are stamped in black stazon on Whisper White Card Stock. These are 5x7 calendars purchased off of eBay. I didn't pay attention and these are printed on white confetti card stock. I would have preferred solid white. But the speckles add a little dimension.



January...
Card Stock.. Bordering Blue
Stamps.. Let it Snow (Whipper Snapper), SUP the World Over
Ink/ Markers... bordering blue, olive green, red, brown, lavender
Accessories.. Liquid applique for snow...





February...

Card Stock... Real Red
Stamps... Swirls & ? SUP
Ink/ Markers... Real Red, Green Galore
Accessories... n/a




March...
Card Stock... Mellow Moss
Stamps... Misc. Michael's $1 stamps, Hearts from Like it Latte, stem from Green Thumb / Papertreyink
Ink/ Markers... Mellow Moss
Accessories... n/a

April...
Card Stock... Groovy Guava, Stamps... Agapanthus Bloom (EclecticPaperie/ Stampendous), Rhonna Farrel
Ink/ Markers... Buckaboo Blue, Groovy Guava
Accessories... n/a








May...
Card Stock... Green Galore
Stamps... Garden Whimsy
Ink/ Markers... black, pink passion, green galore, groovy guava
Accessories... Stickles












June...
Card Stock... Real Red
Stamps... Dog Gone It
Ink/ Markers... Real Red, Grey, Black
Accessories... Dog brads, Crystal Effects










July...
Card Stock... Night of Navy
Stamps... Text Box/ Papertreyink
Ink/ Markers... Night of Navy, Real Red
Accessories... Stickles











August...
Card Stock... Taken with Teal
Stamps... Fishy Friends
Ink/ Markers... Green, blue, pink passion, banana, orange, Sahara sand, teal
Accessories... Glue & glitter, hole punch











September...
Card Stock... so saffron
Stamps... Bee trio, snap stamps, whimsical alphabet
Ink/ Markers... more mustard, eggplant envy, old olive, blush
Accessories... black marker
Technique... squiggles

Can anyone figure out why I used this image for September? I thought I was being a little 'smarty pants'... LOL









October..
Card Stock... Pumpkin Pie
Stamps... Witch Legs & sentiment (Lockhart), bat
Ink/ Markers... grey, apple green, only orange, purple, turquoise, mellow moss
Accessories... stickles







November...
Card Stock... More Mustard
Stamps... Autumn Harvest, Sentiment ?
Ink/ Markers... Images stamped in Timber Brown Stazon.. colored in.. pumpkin pie, more mustard, olive, basically a little of this and a little of that from Copic and Prisma markers for the shading
Accessories... pop up glue dot
Technique... masking off









December...
Card Stock... Cranberry Crisp
Stamps... Rose Stocking (Lockhart), Sentiment ?
Ink/ Markers... Bravo Burgundy, always artichoke, mellow moss
Accessories... red stickles, Martha Steward floral punch

Ways to come up with $1000 very quickly

OMG OMG OMG... Jumping up and down.. How (hitting self in forehead) on earth can I come up with at least $500 by November 22nd.. What is the going rate for a kidney? Do I really need 2 lungs? Anyone interested in a slightly used, car enthusiast, grease under his nails.. but does clean up quite nicely husband? Why you ask?

I NEED TO BE STAMPING AT SEA WITH EMILY, GINA AND NICHOLE... What could be better, hanging out on a 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise with the stamping queens...

Check this out..

Hang out and party for a week in the tropics with Emma Bella, Gina K. & Nichole Heady.
October 19 - 26, 20087-Night Western Caribbean Cruise

Leaving from Port Canaveral, Florida and sailing to Labadee Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; George Town, Grand Cayman; & Cozumel Mexico. Plus there are 2 Stamping Days at Sea!!
Royal Caribbean'sMariner of the Seas
Offering:
Fun Classes
30 Different Make & Take Projects
Hundreds of dollars worth of free products from Stamping Bella, Gina K. Designs and Papertrey, Ink.
Surprise Gifts & More!
Cabin options:1st & 2nd Passengers:Inside: $859 per person Promenade View: $909 per person Ocean View: $969 per person Balcony: $1069 per person
3rd & 4th Passengers: $599 per person (Call for details 1-800-645-1481)
Rates include your cruise, port charges and your stamping participant fee. Government taxes are additional at $51.77 per person. Rates are based on double occupancy. Travel Insurance is optional (Details on Travel Guard travel Insurance: Document of Coverage & Reference Guide).
Deposit per cabin: $500
Rates are good through November 22, 2007. After this date, rates are subject to change.
Ready to Book?When you are ready to book, fill out the information below then hit submit. The "Submit" button will lead you to our Secure Shopping cart where you can enter your credit card information. We will charge your card with-in 5 business days.

If anyone has an idea how I can pull this off and come up with the much needed $$$ PLEASE let me know... :)

Please send nourishment .....

I'm alive.. I'm alive. Some of you are probably wondering where I've been (at least I hope you have).. tap tap tap .. is this thing on..

I am alive. Besides nursing a toothache and going to the dentist... I've been locked away in my craft room working on 12 count them 12 5x7 calendars for my up coming vendor fair. I'm on September.. Please stay tuned this week for completed pictures...

In the mean time.. PLEASE SEND FOOD and WATER.... I didn't realize just how long these were going to take. 12 calendars x 12 months = a whole lot of coloring.. LOL

Grateful

How grateful are we... and what are we grateful for? I think some times we loose sight of the big picture by focusing on all of the little things.. HMMMM... Ok enough of my limited encitefulness.. LOL I am very grateful though.

Last night I played around with my new Autumn Harvest set. I like how this came out. Tell me.. What do you think of my coloring? I've been practicing with my markers and trying to get the shading just right.

This card used..

stamp sets.. Small Script, Autumn Harvest

card stock... more mustard, really rust, very vanilla and cosmo cricket (wonderland) ds paper

ink.. timberland brown stazon, always artichoke, really rust, more mustard, and pumpkin pie (markers) along with my copic colorless blender

accessories.. hodgepodge hardware, artichoke grosgrain ribbon, large pop up glue dots, I kan' dee (candy dots) in green and orange), swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder (more mustard and walnut stain (tim holtz) swirled on with a sponge to bring out the swirls)

A new day... Another Card...

How could I let the week end without a least 1 more picture of this cute little guy... He's one of the little fellas that just grow on you. Isn't he? This is a 5x5 square card. Even though I only get 1 card out of an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of card stock, I do like the looks of these...

Stamps.. Ice skating snowman, Let it snow sentiment and Sparkly Snowflake (All from Whippersnapper Designs)

Card stock.. Sky Blue, Bo Bunny DS Paper and Whisper White

Ink.. Black Stazon

Copic Makers.. Grey, Red, Green and Black

SUP markers.. Bashful blue (for highlight)

Accessories.. Liquid Applique, Hodgepodge Hardware

Punches.. Large and Small oval

Versa Mark

Hologram Embossing Powder

I hope you all have wonderful plans for the weekend. I will be a little busy (hopefully stamping for my upcoming craft fair..) .. See you on Monday :)

Don't forget to go to Papertreyink tonight after midnight to see what 4 new sets Nicole is revealing..

Snowflake Swap

Don't forget to check out THIS POST... to see what amazing thing I have FOR SALE !!!!

I normally don't get too involved in swaps... I have really good intentions but then I get busy and oops... my swaps are due in a week... This time though I'm prepared... YIPEE... thank goodness for 15 calendars and lots of sticky notes.. LOL I love snowflakes, snowmen and Santa's... so when I saw this swap I had to join.. And it was a little one too so I didn't need to prepare a lot of cards..

Oh sorry.. for those of you who are not familiar with swaps.. On SCS we have a swap forum. What you do is.. some one plans a swap (in this case snowmen or snowflakes).. They are the coordinator. If you join up for the swap you send the coordinator what ever you sign up for. I signed up for a 3x3 swap and a full card swap. It was a 5 + 1 which means I send the coordinator 6 identical cards. The coordinator keeps one (for hosting the swap) and then she will send 5 other players one of my cards.. In return, I will get back 5 cards. Some times you get 1 of your own back. Other times you wont. In this particular swap I wont be getting mine back.

Here are my swaps.. for the full card I used old olive, real red, dashing (SUP DS paper) and whisper white card stock along with "The world over" and "Perfect Presentation (Hostess)" stamp sets...The snowmen were stamped in black stazon and colored with old olive, ruby red, chocolate chip and sahara sand SUP markers. For the center I used my 1 3/8" circle punch and the small 3/4" circle punch. December 25th was stamped in ruby red on whisper white.... To adhere the circles and give 'em a little pop I used a large and small dimensional glue dots.. And finally, before I adhered the whisper white to the dashing DS paper I used my ticket corner punch on the corners... When I was done it seemed just a tad plain.. So I whipped out my spritzer and added a little old olive and ruby red spritzing for a little added dimension.. I like it..

For my 3x3 card swap I wanted to do something a little different.. So I made a mini accordion card.. Since it was only 3x3 I didn't want it to be too thick cause then I'd have trouble closing it.. I used the snow fall and festive favorite stamp sets with sky blue and whisper white card stock.. All images were stamped in Blue Bayou.. After I stamped the front snowflake in the blue bayou I stamped my versa mark all over the entire image and embossed a little heat & stick powder to it. I then covered the entire image in fine glitter... "Wishing you many magical moments this holiday season" was stamped in the center fold. For a little something different with the back image I, after stamping the image I applied 4 layers of glassy glaze embossing powder ... No not all at the same time.. I'd apply 1 layer, let it cool then apply the next until I had built up 4 layers.. I then placed the card stock in my freezer for about 7 minutes. Then when it was done (the image starts to curl up a little) I gave it a little snap to flatten it and the clear embossing powder will crack. This is called 'crackle glass'.. It's very cool to see.. The glitter and the crackle glass are definitely 'wow' projects... Finally I used my 3/4" circle to punch out a couple notches in the center fold. By doing this I just took a little of the bulkiness out of the card..

I hope my swappers like these.. I can't wait to see what I get..

For Sale !!!

I know I know.... Gotta have it.. But I've never used it.. What could it be???

A Cricut..

I have a brandy spankin new (but not in the box) Cricut that I received at Christmas time but have never used it. My motto is.. If I don't use it, get rid of it... So what does this mean to you??? A huge savings..

For those of you who don't know what a cricut is... Allow me to briefly explain.. The Cricut (a personal electronic cutter) is the future of home crafting. Simply by touching a button. Cricut can cut beautiful designs and alphabets for card making, scrapbooking, and paper crafting. No computer is required, just plug it in. Place your favorite cartridge in your Cricut and choose from over 250 designs in 11 different sizes; ranging from 1" to 5-1/2"! Plus there are 6 feature keys which allow even more variation; that's thousands of possibilities! Cutting customized shapes and alphabets has never been easier.

In addition to the cutter.. I am including the following cartridges... George & Simple Shapes and Mini Monograms... These cartridges retail for $49.99 - $89.99...

On the Provocraft website this entire package retails for $389.99 plus shipping and handling.. I am willing to sell it for $225.. This price includes shipping to the US.. For areas outside of the US (Canada, Europe etc).. there will be a nominal additional fee to assist with the shipping.. If your interested or have any questions please feel free to email me..

Whoops... I fell

Is this not the cutest little guy.. He's another adorable snowman from Whippersnapper Designs..

For this card I've used.. SUP Bundle Up (BRRR) and Whipper Snapper Snowman Ice skater.. along with old olive, ruby red, dashing (SUP DS paper) and whisper white card stock... The ice skating snow man was stamped in black stazon and colored with Grey, Red, Green. pink (for those rosy cheeks) and Black Copic Markers and highlighted with a little bashful blue. BRRR was also stamped in Black Stazon. The corners of the ruby red and whisper white were cut out with ticket punch.. I then added a little hodgepodge hardware and a little double stitched ribbon... Are you ready ... Click on the image to make it bigger (and easier to see). I stamped Sparkling Snowflakes (also Whippersnapper) and a few small snowflakes in versa mark and then embossed them with halogen embossing powder for the added twinkle effect.. For a little extra snow I've added a little liquid applique..

What is your favorite designs for your holiday cards this year???

Peaceful...

I so love the fall here in the NE.. The cool crisp air.. The leave changing color (there's already changes in Red's and Orange's and it's not even the middle of September yet)..

Do you know what creates the spectacular fall colors? Why your Oak tree may have been yellow last year but a brilliant shade of red this year? It all has to do with the amount of rain, temperature and the strength of sunlight.. How it works.. You've got me.. But I do know it's spectacular...

This card uses the CTMH and Peaceful Wishes stamp sets.. Chocolate chip, close to cocoa, really rust and very vanilla card stock. Really rust, chocolate chip and close to cocoa ink. 3 copper jumbo eyelets and satin ribbon. I kept it plain to reflect the simple sentiment ... Peaceful...

Oh Happy Day.....

Happy Monday... Here's hoping you all had a fabuloso weekend.. I spent my rainy Sunday (yep another day of gardening or should I say weeding at this point in the pooper.. Oh well) in my stamp room. At least I was able to make a few cards.

I borrowed this CTMH set from my pal yesterday and made a few cards with it. It's very similar to Stem Silhouette's from SUP. Personally I like the looks of this card better in person. The picture kind of doesn't do it justice..

This card uses Blue Bayou, River Rock and Very Vanilla card stock.. River Rock, Blue Bayou & Close to Cocoa ink and a little walnut stain around the edges for distressing. CTMH and Warmest Regards stamp sets, 3 pearl brads and a little blue bayou ribbon.. It's warm and perfect for fall..

What did you do today???

Happy Saturday..... Here we what the 3 H's again... Hazy... Hot... and say it with me.. Humid.. Oh how I dislike this weather. There's so many things I'd like to get done in my garden (weeding comes to mind) but as I stand in my kitchen and slowly slide open the sliding glass door.. NOPE I'm staying in the A/C... quick slam the door.. don't let any heat in...

I spent the day in my friend's stamp room.. She's been working for quite a while to turn her guest bedroom into a guest bedroom / stamp room and she was finally to the point of "organizing" her stamping supplies.. I have been promising her I'd help and honestly it was fun. We shared lots of laughs and fabulous stamping talk. When we were done she was all organized. Keep watching this week for pictures. She promised me she would take some this weekend for me to post. I have to say though... if you thought I was addicted to stamping supplies.. I am a novist compared to Pat.. LOL She could not buy so much as another sticker for the next 6 months and still never run out of paper and supplies.. :)

Are you starting to wonder if I'm just going to ramble on and on.. NAH... I do have some fun pictures to post.. but a quick story first. I've talked in the past about my secret sisters and how wonderful they've all been. I've actually made 2 friendships through the process.. One is Heather (who I may add is due to have a little bambino any day now !!! I can't wait).. and the other is Deb.. Each secret sister round runs for a couple months.. Last round Heather ended up with Deb as her little sister... So Heather and I played a trick with Deb and had Deb convinced that another secret sis was her big sis.... Well.. I think we all know what pay back is right... Well, didn't Deb get me as her little sis again this round and ohhhhhh did she mess with me. She enlisted another secret sis to send cards to me from all over the US.. You heard it right.. All over the US.. so each time I got a card (let me tell you all how much she royally spoiled me and I received many) it was from a different city and state.. Then when I wanted clues to who she was.. She was as vague and she could get.. She kept me in the dark the whole time and I had no idea she was my secret sis again.. I should be calling her by her new name.. The BEST secret sis EVER !!!!.. At the end of each round we send a 'reveal' package. Wanna see what she sent me?

A making memories apron
roll out calculator
eyelets in a nail polish bottle
a snowman ornament with my name on it
a cross pen and a
you're awesome plaque..
a butterfly flag for my garden
chipboard
an altered frap jar with my blog logo on it and a picture of litt'le ole me..The jar was filled with peanuts but they were YUMMY..
the coolest trifold card
her reveal card...
pumpkin pie, bashful blue and always artichoke grosgrain ribbon
3 more packages of ribbons
candy dots brads
embellishments up the wazoo

sticky notes
pink and orange clips
and a candy tin
an altered acrylic paint can filled with
highlighters
brads
eyelets


jewels and
ribbon
rubons
cards oh mania and embellishments...

PHEW.. I hope I didn't forget anything. Thanks Deb... You ARE the BEST !!!

Tent Topper Cards

Howdy... I hope your all having a fabulous week.. Now that it's almost over and we can concentrate on fun stuff... Like HHHHHHMMMMMM stamping?

I've been working on making a few cards to send out this week... Mostly to my September DDSS birthday gals.. So I gave a new (to me) technique a try.. A card topper. If your a SCS member, there's an excellent thread under Demo Chit Chat entitled "Tent Card Toppers" that gives a few good pointers and measurements.

My cards are 4.25" X 8.5" so that when I fold them they were 4.25" square. To align my toppers I used my grid paper to ensure they were not more than 5.5" when completed. This really helped. And, they still fit in my square envies...

To make these cards I used up some of the designer papers I've used in a couple previous projects.. The Webster "Graham Cracker" from my journal and the orange/ brown polka dot from my Halloweeney Advent calendar.
What you can't see here is that just as in the orange card, there are star burst flowers but in sky blue.. Sorry.. they were a bit light for the scanner to pick up..

Here's the supply list(s)...
Blue...
Card Stock.. sky blue, Webster 'graham cracker', chocolate chip and very vanilla..

Stamps.. all holiday's & Canvas (SUP) along with Green Thumb (Papertreyink)

Ink.. sky blue, creamy caramel & close to cocoa
Ribbon.. blue bayou double stitched (SUP)

Orange..

Card Stock.. pumpkin pie, ds, chocolate chip & very vanilla
Stamps.. all holiday's & Canvas (SUP) along with Green Thumb (Papertreyink)
Ink.. pumpkin pie, creamy caramel & close to cocoa
Ribbon.. chocolate chip grosgrain (SUP)

Halloweeney Advent Calendars

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO... I hope you all had a spectacular holiday weekend !!!! Mine was crazy to say the least.... You know how sometimes no matter what you do, everything just seems to out of control despite your best intentions.. That was my weekend in a nut shell..

I was able to get a little stamping in. I headed up to my "Happy Place" and knocked out a couple Halloween Advent Calendars. I'm not sure if you've checked out any of the blogs in my blogroll under "You have to check these out!" .. If you haven't go ahead and take a stroll on through. These are my current favorite bloggers that I check out regularly.. Pay attention in particular to Katy's. She has some fabulous tutorials and this was where I got my "ahh ha" moment. In particular check out her altered clipboard advent calendar.. Katy.. I hope I did you proud. Thank you for your inspiration. These were fun to make and a huge hit....

Both were made on a standard 9 x 12 1/2" clipboard.. The clipboard was covered using orange and brown polka dot paper I found at my LSS.. the bottom is SUP DS paper (sanded chocolate.. its the back of looks like spring).. The swirls were stamped in chocolate chip and eggplant envy. The tags were punched using my regular and small tag punch. The background is pumpkin pie and the top is eggplant envy or chocolate chip.

I used Katy's pdf file to print out the #'s and saying (Days till, Halloween, Boo and Trick or Treat). I printed 1 sheet on Kraft paper and the other on Very Vanilla. Before cutting I sponged on pumpkin pie, eggplant envy, close to cocoa and a little walnut stain to distress them all.

Holes were cut in the tags using my crop-a-dile and then I tied each with purple twine.

The large tags , corner stickers and tab stickers are from the Gypsy Harvest collection of die cuts.I tied SUP chocolate chip & eggplant envy ribbon along with orange/cream may arts ribbon to the chip of the clipboard to finish it off. The remaining stickers I picked up at Wal-mart.

Here's a few tips and tricks..

The twill tape wa s applied using a large glue dot that I brought around the back of the clip board and adhered...

Each # has a small flat magnet on the back...

I glued 2 flat washers to the die cut tag for the numbers to stick to...

I glued 4 larger magnets to the back of the clipboard so that it can be stuck to the refrigerator...

And finally.. I adhered a luggage tag to the back of the clipboard using Velcro to hold the extra numbers...

Now it's your turn to give it a try...