Big Pieces Thank You,...Grrr...

Editted at 8:13 AM to add last picture and comments


I really wanted to make something special tonight but my coloring skills were way out of whack. Not sure why but nothing was blending right and I couldnt find my pencil sharpener to give me a sharp tip. I am sure I'll do better when I can straighten up my craft space and find my tools. my children have been working on a few end of the year projects and nothing is where I could find it. The image to the right is what I came up with. Not my best work. I am not happy with it, but tomorrow I will try doing another one and tweak the card. I always like when I can tweak and show the differnce a good nights sleep can make. So until tomorrow I hope you'll enjoy this substitute.





It was like an oven in my craft room, no breeze to be found, and very muggy tonight. I wanted to have a new card that wasn't cased, so when the roses I wanted didn't turn out I created this. Actually three other base images and this was the best of the three( again not saying much for my abilities tonight). The roses would have been better if I had stopped before I added the brown edging. Sometimes knowing when enough is enough makes all the difference.


This card uses a light blue background I am not certain the color it came from the stash pile, and SU Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used my Cuttlebug Spots& Dots A2 Embossing folder and a brayer to add SU Chocolate Chip ink, on the blue matting. I used my Riveting set and a SU 3/4" punch to make the circle sentiment and layered it on circles stamped with SU 1 1/4" & 1 3/8 " Punches. This was slid over the knot tied with Offray "Dippy Dot" ribbon in Brown & Blue. I wanted to round the image matting but didn't have a cricle punch the right size to slip the strips into, so I just used the spool of ribbon as a guide lining it up with a ruler and tracing it.
I added stitch marks with a Chocolate chip marker. The flower was stamped in Bashful Blue and then the edges dabbed with a Teal Pigment inkspot and then embossed with Stamp'n Stuff Kaleidoscope Irredecent embossing powder and mounted on a dimesional over the white base. It is a lot more shimery In Real Life. It has a nice bluish glimmery sheen.

I used M'bellish Brown Rivets to attach the image to the base.

I tried coloring the center of the flower but didnt like how it turned out, another laps in judgement, so I punched a 1/4" circle of Choc Chip cardstock and glued it on. A lot of trial and error took place tonight, (alot of error). What your seeing is definately not my best work, but isn't that what makes this craft so much fun because every once and awhile it clicks and you know its finished. Tomorrow I intend to "FINISH" this card. I'll add it to this post when I do.....

....so check back maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised. Until then ...Happy Stamping.....

PS... I am going to post some more blog candy when I get close to 2000 Hits.

Edit:

Okay I am tired. I made the mistake of going back in my craft room last night to pick up a few things before I went to bed. I finished the card at a round 1 am. I decided to stamp the image from Both Way Blossoms on watercolor paper with Timber Brown Stazon ink. I then watercolored it with my new pin point H2O painter I picked up at a local hobby store.

I used my Generals Watercolor pencils and some Crayola watercolors to paint the image.

I also brought the image up on the back ground and moved the three rivets to the side edge of the picture. I knew, I would love the roses more. Other than the ink getting on my background when I brayered it I think this card is definately "finished". I just didn't want to stay up and wait for my computer to reboot to crop and post my picture, or I would have posted it around 1:30. Hope you like the Change, let me know what you think! .....and Once again Happy Stamping!!!!

Cricut Blooms

Well it has been a long morning and evening. I was a panicing parent because my DD #1 was missing. Sometimes when they are 23 they just don't want you to know anything, but she finally checked in and now I am not a nervous wreck. So to make a post since,I couldn't even think last night to get a card made I am going to use some cards I made with my cricut.

They were inspired by some flower cards Debbie Olsen made on her Blog(see link below) with the SU Big Bloom stamp from SU SAB '07. I dont know if I can find the link any longer it was a while ago.

I cut the flower with the George cartridge using the silohuette and shadow feature. I added ribbon and a button like Debbie did, I have since bought the nice ticket corner punch like she used on hers, but for these I improvised. I hope you enjoy them and I will try to have something new posted tomorrow....Kids gotta love them!

After the flower was cut I mounted it on a piece of White cardstock and trimed it to fit the top layer. a paper piercing tool was used to pierce the corners. The multiple mats do a lot to bring out the colors of each card. I used various Stampin Up Stamp sets to make these cards. I used " Big Pieces", "Little Pieces", "Sweet Spot", "Mini Mates" and "Happy Everything".

All the ribbon came from various ribbons picked up at Wal-mart. A Micro spool of Black & White gingham, they also have a Brown and Carmel one that is adorable. 1/2" Lilac dotted organdy & 1/4" light blue organdy by offray

I used MM blue safety pin for the baby Boy one, and MM Brads in pastel colors onthe corners of them all. They were fun to make and turned out very nice. I just love the inspiration I get from Deb Olsens Blog Thinkin Inking. It is definately in my Favorites she does wonderful work and inspires me everyday.

Thanks for reading ..... Happy Stamping .....

Cutting with my Cricut

I wanted to have a new blog to post today. I thought I would find some time to spend in my stamp room, and I did, but..... I didn't quite create something fun. I have a girls camp I am responsible for this summer, and I have a lot of little projects I am making for the 16 girls when we are at camp. There are a few things I wanted to do that have been nagging me to get them started. I have been putting these projects off because they are a little tedious. Kind of like weeding my flower pots and strawberry beds and planting my flowers.

Well today I got most of them done, plus I served a great a Bar-B-Que lunch in the afternoon. Then I found some free time, and I went into my craft room, and setting there was one of those projects I have been putting off.

So instead creating a fabulous card.

I started the project.


I did this --->



Well not exactly that. I did cover the one composition book, I still need to cut out something to cover the corners. The green Bind it All book is a sample of what I am making.




<----- This is what
I actually did.
I cut out the papers in order to make 16 each of the above projects.


For the Composition books, I cut 16 rounded squares with my George cartridge, at 4-1/2". I am so thankful that my Cricut made these projects easier. I also cut 16 rectangles of the striped paper to
3-3/8ths by 4-3/8ths.

I cut 64, 3 1/2" circles with the same cartridge, of the Terra Cotta Paisley, and 320 circles the same size in white copy paper. The white ones will be for pages. The Terra Cotta print ones for the inside and outside covers to go over the round coasters.


In order to get 6 circles from
one sheet of 8-1/2 x 11 " paper. I had to fool the cricut. It helps to be smarter than a machine sometimes. I had to offset the sheet of paper by about a 1/4th of an inch. so the cricket would think the paper was 6 x 12". ^^^
Sorry the picture is blurry.

<-------You can see how tight the tolerance was to get the 3 circles cut the circles rest on either end of the paper. All in all I had a very productive Memorial Day I got alot of projects off and running, and now I just have to complete them. And do the fun part...Decorating!!! Well at least after I punch them with the Bind it All.

I will do another post in the future when I get some of these projects finished, but I may not get all the binding done for a while. I still have some more things to cut out. I have some of the girls coming to help assemble things once school gets a few days a month. I have about 20 projects to get at least semi assembled, before the camp this summer. I hope you wont mind the ocassional posting of these projects, mingled with my others for the next few months.

The paper's I used, except the white copy paper, I purchased at Micheals. It is beautiful paper.
I needed something with a little hint of green in it since, Lime green is our camp color.

The striped one didn't have a name on it, but it was made by Amscan, Inc., and was kept in the same general area as the other two colors.

The other two were; "Brown,Pink and Green Polka Dot" by K & Company, LLC
and "Terra Cotta Paisley" by Creative Imagination, and Sonnets Studios.

Until tomorrow... Happy Stamping... (and cutting he,he)!

Special Thank You Card

The fourth and final card from my Pizza,Music & Stamps Party on Friday Evening.

It uses the "Office Accoutrement" Set from the Spring Mini Catalog. I like this set and I think it is very versatile, but I don't own it(this is me frowning), but I know a friend who does and who is generous enough to share. (me smiling) We do that sometimes, because we both know you just can't buy everything.(me frowning again)! I am so thank ful I have people whom I can share witha nd borrow from. (Me smiling Again)

This special thank you card is time and tool consuming. Alot of supplies, but very beautiful, and worth the effort.

I began by stamping the two big flowers from "Big Blooms" also in the Spring Mini, in Old Olive and Pretty In Pink. Everything else on the card was stamped in Chocolate Chip. The yellow/green sheet of Petals and Paisley's designer paper was punched one time with the Spring Flower Punch. A piece of SU the pink designer series paper, was stamped with the "important" stamp, and punched out with the roundtab punch. Whisper White cardstock was stamped with the "memo" and the "all my thanks to you" from the designer label punch box tin, and then punched with the designer label punch and the horizontal slot punch to make a ribbon slider. The Spiral Punch was used to punch the edge of the White memo sheet and a 1-1/2 x 5-1/4" strip of old olive. The Moring Marigold Card stock was stamped with the "doodle" from the Doodle That stamp set. Once all the stamping and punching has taken place, and the large flowers are cut out. You can start the layering process. The slider is thread on a piece of Choc Chip grograin ribbon and then adhered to the old olive with dimensionals. The memo piece of white paper should have the pieces assembled with the star flower, the round tab punch pink piece and a brad the tab covering the word memo. Punched with a 1/16th circle punch using a gold antiqued brad. The two large flowers should be cut out and punched with a brad in the middle. I line up the flowers right on top of each other punch the hole for the brad and then turn them to off set the flowers and add the brad. The last two flowers from the Spring Flower punch the large one is green up and the smaller the yellow print up, pierced and a brad. A paper piercer works best to center a hole for the brads with these small flowers. After they are all asssembled carefully mount them to the card front being sure to leave room to stamp the "Thank you". the flowers were all adhered using adhesive dots. I find they work best when you have brads on the items to adhere. The memo piece, layered first then the old olive strip making sure the choc ribbon end are tucked under the olive strip. Lastly adhere the small and large flowers.

This is a very special thank you, the extra effort it takes to assemble really lets the reciever know how thankful you are.

Until tomorrow, Happy Stamping....

Simple Shapes & Farm Fever

The first card is basic & simple. The SU stamp set "simple shapes" used for this card will not be available after the End of June. It is amazing how just a few basic shapes can look so nice just by using a few different colors.



The colors for this card are, Ballet Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgandy. The card base is Ballet Blue with Bravo Burgandy to mat the images that are stamped randomly on Very Vanilla cardstock. The Birthday Sentiment is from Sincere Salutaions stamped in Bravo Burgandy and Night of Navy paper matted the sentiment. We used the Rich Regals Bordering Blue Rivets from Stampin Up, and raised the sentiment with dimensionals. The great thing about this card is that you can make it with so many coordinating colors. and it would be very versatile with any phrase. Its a great card style to have at your disposal. A few could be make up just waiting for a sentiment to stamp on it, for those occasions when you need a card and just dont have the time.


The second card uses the fun "Farm Fever" set, and a few items(marked with *) that are in the current SU Spring Mini Catalog. The Spiral Punch* was used to punch the top of the Whisper White cardstock, after the "Petals" jumbo wheel* was used to decorate it, with Pretty in Pink. The main image was stamped with Black Craft Ink, on Pretty in Pink cardstock, and then embossed with Black embossing powder. At home I would have just embossed with clear embossing powder, the effect is the same. after the embossing powder is set with a heat tool then the image is lightened, by using a paint brush to brush bleach on the image. Be very careful when using bleach it does not take a lot and it continues to work after you have painted it. The image was then mounted on Black cardstock and the Horizontal Slot Punch was used to make the hole for the ribbon at the top. "Friend" was stamped with Basic Black Classic ink on a piece of Pretty in Pink Cardstock that was punched with the Round Tab Punch*, cut in half and mounted to the back of the black matting. The ribbon is SU white organdy and Light Pink Gingham. a piece of Confetti white paper was cut to 4 x 5.25" and mounted on the inside of the card for easy writing on the Black cardstock base. I cant figure where this first day of my Memorial weekend has gone. It has just flown by. I am hoping to find some time on Monday to play in my craft room.

I restate today that these cards were cased by my SU Demo from either SCS or SU amgazines or Catalogs and I made them at a party Fri. evening. Thanks again to whomever first designed them for the wonderful ideas and LO's.

And Happy Stamping.....

"Sweet Lemonade"

For the next few days, I am going to post some cards I made on May 24th for a PMS (Pizza, Music and Stamps) Party at my SU Demos Home. I made 4 cards 2 of each design. We had a few more people there than usual and had a great time. I would highly recommend it if you haven't tried it. I noticed she is priming us for her "retirement party" next month. Quite a few of the sets she had us use are being retired the end of June. How sad is that! Not only for me but for my pocket book also, hehe.

I decided that I would use these cards this weekend for my post, since I have two flower beds to prep, weed and plant. I also have a craft room that needs a clean up so I can work in it again.

So tonight I want to call it

"Sweet Lemonade"!

My demo said it was cased from an old SU Catalog or Magazine so its not original, but it is original to me. We used the lovely lemonade colors of Preety In Pink and Barely Banana. We used the Baby Wipe technique. which I find to be extremely simple and provides a very nice look, to put stripes on SU Whisper White cardstock. First you fold the baby wipe in half, then in half again. We used pretty in pink and barely banana reinkers to alternate pink and yellow dots only about 1 every 1/2" of the pink and then 1 yellow next to every other pink on the solid fold. Be sure to leave some white of the wipe showing. Next you drag this accross the piece of card stock. Cut about 1/2 " wider and longer than when it will be trimmed. Our trimmed piece measured 2"x2.25".

We stamped the glass of Lemonade from the SU "Sparkling Summer" set on to whisper white card stock with black ink, I would use stazon for this, we just used SU classic Black ink. We then painted the image with a barely banana, watercolor crayon and and aqua painter.

We matted the image with a mat of Barely Banana. and then a longer mat of Pretty in Pink.

On Vellum with a computer was printed,"When LIfe gives you lemons, Make Lemonade."

I always use the fast draft setting when I print on Vellum. It puts down less ink and dries quicker. The yellow card stock was cut in half lengthwise from an 81/2 x 11 piece of Barely Banana cardstock then stamped with ink of the same color with the background in the "Sparkling Summer" stamp set. The bottom of the card was folded up and the prima flower ribbon and yellow brad were secured in place then the top of the card folded down and creased with the end touching the top of the brad under the flap. The edge of the pink paper is torn long enough for the quote to fit over it and under the Lemonade image, then secured with to Pretty in Pink Brads. The lemonade glass was attached to the card with two 1/4" dimensionals. One pack of either Lemonade Koolaid or Pink Lemonade Koolaid was taped to the inside of the card.

Whoever designed this "Kudos" to you, it was a fun card to make. I am sure it will also be a fun card to give. I know so many people right now who are having a hard time with losing loved ones or just dealing with life in general. I have the perfect person to send this to.

Have a Great Memorial Weekend, Everyone and as usual ..... Happy Stamping.

*** If anyone know who should get credit for this design let me know I will post it.

I am still exploring the SCS website. Quite the place to try to find your way around on.

For the most part though I have found people to be very helpful when you have a question.

I have recently discovered the challenges and have enjoyed looking at them and the submissions. What a great source when your creativity is well....Not what it should be.

I came across the challenge last week for the LO I used today. I needed to make up a card quickly for a baby shower. I am still not quite happy with it, but Since I am still tweeking it.

I thought I'ld ask for a few opinions.

Which safety pin works the best? When I made the card I intended to use a little pink pastel one, but I have search and I cannot find one in my pile of embellishments.

I did however have a more earthy colored set with the blue one pictuerd above. I also had the large pink one at the right. The card is for a little girl. I like the big chunky plastic one because this old paper I had lying around had large Safety Pins on it. Need a vote, the shower is tonight.

I used alot of scrap stuff that I have either bought on clearence or before I knew anything about quality paper. I used SU regal Rose and barely Banana to make the Base of the card and the matting. I cut the triangles out first from the print paper then lightly traced them on the Barely Banana layer. Then lined up my old fiskars decorative scissors and folowed the trace marks to make a zigzag edge. I just decided I was a little tired of all the scallops lately. Then I mounted a square punched of white on A square punched of Barely Banana and trimed it with the same scissors. I had bought the tag circles from a store on clearance a year ago and thought I should finally used them. so I dotted the top half of the card and used the Outside circle on the bottom half. The letters were a MM ruboff lettering. Then I hand made swirly stitch marks randomly on the card. I mounted the Triangle portions to the card amking sure to line up the design on the printed paper. The sqaure was stamped with "flowers" in SU Barely Banana and "baby" in SU Regal Rose from the "Noteworthy" stamp set.

I sponged the edge of the square with "Bashful Blue" and threaded

the ribbon through it and around the card. The rivets are Provo Craft, and came with my Silent Setter. The dotted satin ribbon is Offray I picked up at Wal-mart, I loved the little baby colored spots. When tied the knot and added a piece of yellow trim I had picked up by the yard at a local craft store.

What do you think Do I need to use the mini Pin in Blue, or the large one in Pink?

My Chocolate Themed Swap Card

I made this card for a swap a few months ago. I always intended to make a tutorial of it. For me a picture is worth a thousand words....SO I took quite a few as I made the card and template.

If you are interested in supplies for this card please visit my SCS Gallery Posting #1 or Posting#2. All the inks papers and stamps are listed there.

This View--->

is to help you see the candy bar decoration when the ribbons are pulled to get the treat.

When making this card I wanted to include chocolate bars, because after all it had a chocolate theme.

The main thing I wanted to share in this post is how I made the candy bars pop up, and how I covered them. I used the same technique I had seen used in full size candy bar holders.

The paper was cut to 2.5"x7 1/2, I stamped , and cut the red strip to cover the fronts and sides and over lap the back by 1/4 inch this red strip was not scored but bent to match after the brads were attached later. The box strip was then scored at: 1-1/2"; 1-7/8"; 4-7/8"; 5-1/4" .

Holes were then punched with a 1/16th in circle punch, into the 3" section at 1 1/4" depth: at 3/4"; 1-1/2";

2-1/4" between the scored lines that make the 3" section.

The red strip was held in place and then punched again.

Next, The red strip and the ends of the ribbons were secured by the brads.

The sides of the box were then glued together, and the horizontal slot tool was used to cut the slots for the ribbon directly accross from where the brads and ribbons this does not have to be exactly across but at least above the half way mark on the card.

So you can see easier how the ribbons are threaded. I will show the box open with the ribbons, threaded through the slots. I how ever do thread the ribbon after the box is assembled.

At this point the box should look like this---->

Making sure there are no twist or turns in the ribbon.

The last step is to secure the box securely to the front of the card.

I used an unknown brand I purchased online at the "Taylored Expressions Blog", (but it is similar to, Art Accentz Terrifically Tacky Tape the 1/4" width., by Provo Craft, Stampin Up also has their own), to hold the box securely on the card because the ribbon will be pulled to eject the candy bars from the top it is important to adhere the box well. Do not skimp on the tape for this.

Next adhere the box to the card front. Be careful not to stick the ribbon to the tape. the ribbon should go down behind the box between the rows of tape, and out at the bottom. I trimmed the ribbon after I got the candy bars installed.

The candy bars are inserted into the box with the two side ones facing front and the middle being backwards if you are looking at the candy bar, packaged by the manufacturer.

Therefore the red and green strip of paper though both cut at 1.5"x3" are scored differently.The two outside pieces , in my case red, is scored at 1/2";7/8";1-5/8";2" where as the center piece,green, is scored at 1/2"; 7/8";1-7/8";2-1/4". I used zots Zip strips to adhere these around the candy bars. The seams should all be facing the back of the card. I stamped the papers with "sweet" from the sweet spot set and cut out flowers and leaves and adhered the flower to the center andthe leaves to the side. So it looked very presentable before placing it in the boxed front.

When they are inserted in the box the ribbon acts as the bottom and holds the candy bar in place. When the ribbon is pulled it raises the candy bar up. The ribbon should be adjusted until the candy bars sit behind the box unseen and then should be trimmed a little longer then the bottom of the card. I always pull and loosen the ribbon a few times to make sure it is functioning properly.

I hope this tutorial is helpful and instructive. If you have questions feel free to ask I will try to answer them. ... Happy Stamping...K

Little Lady Meets Mixed Bouquet

EDITTED TO ADD A PICTURE OF BOTH AND THE RIBBON:

First things first a little note for you penny wise stampers.

I found some dimensional foam stickers 1/4th inch square

1/8th inch thick (3 sheets to a pack) , 384 squares in all for a 1$;

I also found 9ft rolls of white organza ribbon (they had silver also) for

1$ with the brides stuff, where in the Target dollar section.

I finally purchased some Papertrey stamp sets. Why did I wait so long!
I used them both in this card. Its actually the second card I made. I undid the first one because I didn't like it. I worked really hard tonight just to make one card to post. I hate when that happens. I was getting desparate thinking I wouldn't have anything new to share. The first card seemed off, I just couldn't get it to look like what was in my head. When I became frustrated with the first card I looked around my desktop and found the left over background piece I had from the card I posted a day ago. The "Little Lady" bug I made, was salvaged from the first card so I decided to put the pieces together, and I came up with this card. The background clors are the same as previously posted. I stamped the body of the lady bug with SU classic ink More Mustard and the spots with Stazon Timber Brown. It is mounted on a foundation circle cut with my Mini Monograms Cartridge in my cricket and has a shdow the samecut the same size in Certainly Celery. after the trail was stamped in Really Rust it was all assembled and mounted on an 1/8th inch thermoweb dimensional . I stamped Celebrate with Ruby Red, and the stiching was stamped with Papertreys Faux Ribbon in Bravo Burgandy. The swiss dotted ribbon is from Walmart and the cranberry crisp Ribbon piece is from SU. After the card front was assembled, I mounted it on SU Chocolate Chip cardstock.

I just have to say I love stamping with these clear stamps from Papertrey, alot more than I thought I would. It was easy to layer and place all the images where I wanted. I flexed the
"Faux Ribbon" strips on the first card to match a wave cut in the card stock and it flowed evenly along the curve when stamped. Its just to bad my idea tanked for me and I didn't like the card. I liked the sm "Little Lady" though so I kept her for you to see. I will definately use them more.

I hope you enjoy the card. I can't say it was an totally enjoyable evening, it was a lesson in frustration, but I like the end results. I am sure something I have learned will help me in future evenings when I make another attempt to get an idea from my head to the paper.

Until then Happy Stamping Everyone, K

It's A Sign, or Two!

I didn't get much done yesterday stamping or scrapbooking, but I did get to something crafty.

I ordered the words for these two signs a month ago, and I hadn't had time to get to them.

the finished sizes of the Surname board is 8" x 24" the fisherman is 6"x48".

I finally sanded the boards and stained them and mounted the words. I was a fun project. I first saw these signs at my SIL the end of April. She had some even mounted directly to her walls. She is always so clever. The surname one I used a sanding sealer to prevent the grain from raising after I sanded then I stained with colonial pine. "An Old Fisherman".. I painted with acrylic paints, in wedgewood Blue. After it dired I sanded, to give it a weathered look, and reveal some of the wood. The Blue paint was dry before I began to stain the other boards. After staining them I used the cloth I had wiped the stain on the Surname boards( I made 2 of these) to dab and wipe the blue board, much the same as we dab ink with a sponge on a card to give it an aged look. Then I sealed the stained boards with a satin polyurethane. I sealed the blue board after applying the letters because I wanted them to be duller and more aged like the board. Then I applied the lettering. They come all nicely mounted just like they look on the boards except in two pieces for the Surname. You peel back the covering and then line it up as straight as possible, use apencil if needed and then smooth the backing out and press firmly on it. It is alot like the transfer decals and lettering that we use in scrapbooking, except a little thicker. Then you peel the backing back slowly watching the lettering for lifting. If it appears to be lifting just press on the backing a bit and peel the backing away again. I was amazed at how easy it was. then I laid the white lettering over the Surname and did the same thing. I experimented of course and the second one I raised the, " As for me..." and centered it in the middle of the lettering. I have been having my children vote on which they like better and it is split right down the middle....

The website for ordering lettering is It's A Sign , it's really nice to browse, tons of phrases fonts and colors to choose from.

I had the advantage of seeing my SIL surname sign first. The one I did is not shown as being offered. It is shown as a sign with surname and established in ****. I just email them through the contact link on there web page and they replied, the same day. through a few days of chatting back and forth I was able to decide on a color and font, they ultimately gave me 6 samples to choose from, through email before I completed my order. They were very nice and helpful, so don't be afraid to ask questions if you are planning on ordering. Then you can be confident you are getting what you want.

I just thought it was worth sharing. I love my signs. A couple of them are Father's Day Gifts, and since I recently painted my craft room I am thinking of getting a few words like Create....Inspire.... and Simplify to put on my walls. I hope you enjoy the signs and the website, it's definately worth a look.

THE WINNER IS

You all left such nice comments and yes I do have nine treasures. And I am amazed that someone came up with nine by naming the embellishments. Amazing I didn't even know that clue was there. I do have nine children and they keep me very busy.

But, you're all waiting to hear who the winner is.... Drum Roll Please... DANA.

Dana said...
I knew in an instant you were referring to your children, and when I looked and discoverd you had NINE, I gasped! You are so very blessed.My DH and I are in the process of adopting 2 of our own little treasures, and it's very exciting.I enjoy your blog and will be a frequent reader from now on!Thank you for making this fun for your readers.
May 19, 2007 10:32 AM

So Dana If you will email me your address I will mail you your little treats,but remember to also let me know what color you want the shadow scallopped circle, the scallopped circle, amd center circle to be. As soon as I can get them cut I will get them in the mail. If you click on my profile there is a link to my email there. Congratulations again Dana!!!

Thanks for cmmenting and visiting everyone, I am sure I will do it again in the near future.

I have been enjoying the challenges at the Amusapalooza Weblog, so I have posted a link just encase you're interested in participating. They are giving away alot of fun prizes, everyweek.

Morning Marigold & Mixed Bouquet Swap Card

Okay less than 24 hours until I post the winner of my blog candy.

Please comment to that post If you want to be in the Drawing.

(HINT...it's right below this one)

I just needed to make a post. It was a very busy weekend. I Finished Planting the garden, My DD#1 had a ton of friends over Fri. Evening,and a HS Graduation Parties for my nephew. Not a lot of time to make something to post. Part of the reason I chose to do blog candy.

I have been dying to post this little card I put together on Thursday evening.



I made it for a SCS swap " 'Mourning' Marigold and Mixed Bouquet". We are still looking for swappers if you're interested, in making a card with these retiring products.



I used my Cricut on this card to cut a few things. First I used my George cart to cut 1-1/2" sqaures in the 2" strip of Chocolate chip cardstock . I wanted to make something that looked like a window. I used the Zoobaloo cart to cut a 1-1/2" vine in Certainly Celery. And I used the Mini Monograms Cart to cut the circle Foundation on a Half sheet of White cardstock, I had previously stamped. I used SU More Mustard, and Creamy Caramel all Stamped off once and more spread out. The scalloped circle foundation was cut twice once as a shadow in Cranberry Crisp, and once regular in Morning Marigold at 2-1/2". I assembled the Scalloped and circle pieces using my Xyron 50. I stamped the "Get Well Soon" Sentiment from the retiring Mini Mates Stamp set, in the center of the flower using Chocolate Chip. While the Pad of Ink was out I stamped the retiring "Crosshatch" Background on the Morning Marigold Base.

Hint: I have really become fond of quite a few off the retiring background stamps from SU. I think if you are interested you should find a demo and order them before they are gone the end of June. This Crosshatch one is really handy to use in combination with other Backgrounds.

I stamped the mixed Bouquet randomly over a 8-1/2 x 11" piece of White cardstock, using More Mustard, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip, and Only Orange(stamped off once). This was cut into 2" strips and adhered to the Back of the Chocolate Chip Window with the Certainly Celery cardstock vine attached in between. I faux stiched the vine with the fine tip end of a SU Mellow Moss marker making very tiny stitch marks. I cut a strip of Cranberry Crisp cardstock at 1-1/2 inches wide and put it throught my Zyron 150( the little X sticker maker) Then cut it into 1/8th inch strips on my paper cutter after removing the top layer of plastic. This enabled me to just peel'nStick the strips to the card front. I added faux stiching to it, with a SU Chocolate Chip marker using the fine tip.

When the window strip was assembled, I used my paper piercing Template to mark three hole for the rivets at the top. I used my PC silentsetter to cut the openings and mount the rivets. The mustard colored rivets are the ones that came with my Provo Craft Silent setter so I am not sure of the exact color name. The red rivets I got a few years ago in a christmas card making tin from Making Memories,... I told you I hoarded embellishments, so I am using my stash!!! Making these cards for the swap.

All in all I was delighted with how this card came out. I hope you like it also.

Until tomorrow be sure to enter a comment for the Blog Candy Below!

Successfully Reposting "A Few of My Favorite Things"

The past few years for me have been a journey on the long and windy road of "Paper Crafting".


I started out just wanting to emboss a few homemade cards. As I traveled I became an embellishment junkie. I collect anything I can find. I just love embellishments, I just love the craft. Some of it is so hard to part with. KWIM! Along the path I have come across a few things I really love. I've decided I would do Some blog candy and share some of my little treasures with you.

I love my Cuddlebug, I love its versatility, so I cut 12 large pink flower die cuts. I love my Sakura quickie gel pen, it comes in so handy when mounting the little die cuts from my Cricut, Cuddlebug and QuiKutz, so I am giving one of them away also. I love the tiny Button shaped brads I have found, they look so cute on cards , so I am including 6 Large and 6 small white ones. I love eyelets also. I have 3 Happy Holidays and 3 Merry Christmas, and 1 "Children are Lifes Little Treasures", eyelet plates from MM to include. I love Stars also and I really think they are going to be hot this year so I added 6 metal stars. I really like when I can find fun ribbon, and two of my favorite finds this year were the Chocolate grograin with colored stitching, this one in teal on the wood spool I found at Michaels, and the little micro spools, especially this one Chocolate and Carmel gingham, love it love it love it. I have way too much ribbon in my collection. Finally, I love chocolate and carmel. This year I learned to stamp little images on address labels and then secure them around little "Treasures" chocolates, so I have included some of them also. I am also adding the extra "Mixed Booquet" card I posted on Thursday. I revisited it and added 4 little celery brads in the corners on the Elegant Eggplant layer. I didn't have enough on hand to do that for the swap. I just love the embellishments, and I hope you'll love this card and the Blog candy I have put together.

Today I was working on some cards and I just love these scallops I cut with my cricut, so I decided I would add 6 of each to the blog candy, you can pick the SU color you would like for each.

Here is a sample of one I used on a card this morning.

Finished size is about 2 1/4"


To be eligible I just want you to leave a comment telling me, "How many of Lifes Little Treasures I Have?", There is a hint is in this post, and the picture of the blog candy and elsewhere on this blog. I will have one of my treasures randomly pick from the number of correct post. I will do the drawing before they go to bed on Monday evening at 10pm. Central Time. I will post the winner on Tuesdays post. Good Luck and Happy Posting!

***If you commented previously to me re-doing this dont worry I still have your comments, It was just bothering me to make everyone scroll the thread to find the comment bar.***

Mixed Bouquet & Cheesecloth

Please read my announcement at the bottom of this Post.

I am definately a glutton for punishment, and this time I went full steam ahead straight at it. I signed up for one more card in the "Goin' Out in Style Swap"(There were still 4 spots open when I last checked). Making a total of five cards I have made for this swap. Then to make it even better I made this card. Cutting out a total of 9 flowers for each of the 7 cards.

This card took a little bit of time to make, but to me the beauty of it makes the effort worth while. In real Life you can see all the glitter, shine and dimension of the card.


To start I made the base of the card using Perfect Plum, trimming the corners with a small corner rounder. Next I cut the Certainly Celery & Elegant Eggplant layers and trimmed their corners with the ticket corner punch.

I cut the white layers at 5.5x4.25 then stamped it with SU Certainly Celery Ink using the SU Cheesecloth Background.(retiringthe end of June) After stamping it I trimmed it to its finished size 4.5x3.25, Then trimmed the corners with the ticket corner punch.
After trimming it I stamped "happiness" in Elegant Eggplant ink, and mounted it to the Elegant Eggplant cardstock. I tied the Celery grosgrain ribbon, I got at my Michael's, around this and secured it with one small "Zot" glue dot on back of the knot. I then mounted it to the Certainlt Celery card stock.

I next stamped the Large rose, daisies , circle blooms and the leaves with "Timber Brown"Stazon ink. I usually paint with reinkers, but I hate that this tends to waste a lot of ink.
I have a hard time pressing the lid and getting enough ink to paint a project,so I have developed a method of using my ink pads that I prefer. I press the ink pad onto a large piece of foil. Then I use my aqua painter and wet it up then dab it onto the inked foil. I start with the lightest color and re-ink the foil if I need to. Today I started with barely banana and used it to paint the center of the daisies, and then Certainly Celery to paint the leaves. next, I used Pale Plum to paint the daisy petals. After painting all the daisies, I used Aleens Paper glaze to dot over the daisy centers to make them shiny. I set this aside to dry while I painted the other flowers. Perfect plum was used on the circle flowers and Ellegant Eggplant on the large roses, I would probably reverse this the next time I make these cards.

I used an old paper piercer to get the top off of my Stickles so I could paint with them. I used "diamond"on the petal outlines of the large rose images, just to add some shine. A paint brush seemed to work better then the tip for me.

**Help** I have had a lot of difficulty using Stickles, everyone uses them and loves them, but the tip is constantly clogging for me, I find it very frustrating. Please, If anyone has any hint on how to use Stickles or make them work better leave a comment and let me know.


After everything was dry I cut all the flowers out. The leaves and circle flowers were mounted direct to the background of the card using mounting tape. Next, I mounted the large Rose using a large Therm O Web foam square(1/8" thick). The daisies were mounted next using a small (1/16"thick) EK 3-D Dots. Last,but not least, I added a little bit of bling using a purple HeroArts self stick Gemstone to dot the "i" in Happiness.
This card it was fun to make, and it makes me "Happy" to share it with you!


In honor of being so close to 500 on my hit counter, I am going to post some blog candy at Midnight Thursday.

I think I should hit post 500 by then!

So please come back and check it out.
Thanks for visiting!!!

Tri Fold "Find Joy"

I signed up at SCS to do 6 Swaps in June & July. So I am hurrying to get them all done before my children get out of school for the summer and I get swamped. This is a card I signed up for, because I had done one previously in a card group. I wanted to try one on my own because these little 3.5 cards just look sooo.... cute. The Technique was posted on SCS by Beate Johns. She seems to have a lot of neat things posted on the SCS site and presents a very thorough tutorial if you want to make your own card. I chose to use the same colors my friend had selected when I made these previously, because I love the colors. I also wanted to keep the card "springy" and stay away form black & brown. For the base I used SU Barely Banana. I also used it to mat the word sentiment. SU Cool Carribean was used to mat the image base. The triangle pieces that go on the triangle folds were cut from the same SU designer paper I posted a link to in Mondays Post. I cut the cute pink flowers from a flowers using a Cuddlebug die cut, and I mounted them with My Silent Setter that a friend sold me when I was looking for a quiet way to set eyelets in the mid-night hours when everyone else is sleeping!(Thanks Lori, my DH thanks you also) I decided to mount the flower to the white base stamped with SU's Polka Dots & Petals stamp set using their Barely Banana & Mellow Moss inks. The stem was stamped using the flower from the Polka Dots & paisleys stamp set. By attaching the flower with the yellow brad, then mounting it to the CC matting allows the Cool Carribean card stock to show through the eyelet center. I think this makes the flower center look like it's two toned.

I attached the light pink dotted ribbon to the back of the card, then tied it around the whole card, before mounting the sentiment piece on the front of the card. I tucked the ribbon behind the flower and the sentiment is on dimensionals allowing the ribbon to move freely away from it when the card is opened. I sponged the sentiment piece with Mellow Moss to bring a little more of that color into the card, helping to accent the decorative paper background. The corners of the matting and white pieces of Card stock were all trimmed using SU's ticket corner punch. I just like the little extra touch it gives.

I then took my pictures and cropped them and got them ready to upload. Looking at them they just seemed to be begging for one more thing.

I decided the pink in the white print paper didn't show readily on all the cards.

I thought I would make a triangle of pink by using a Hero Arts gemstone in pink to dot the "i" of "it". The triangle helps draw your eyes to all the other pink elements of the card, the flower, the bow, & shiny little pink jewel. Which in turn guides you right to the sentiment. I think this should say find joy in everything. So, did you notice it? There was no "bling" in the first picture!

Joy Fold Card Revisited

FYI: This post has been editted to add,

extra pictures and text and to correct a link to supply information. at 5pm the same day as the original posting

Before I separated my Crafts from my family blog I posted this card (scroll to March 14th & earlier).

I had made it for a SCS Get Together in Central MN.

Last night was very hectic for me with Baseball, concerts and award ceramonies involving 4 of my children.

I realized last night that I had forgotten to make cards for a local swap tomorrow night. I decided to re-vamp the shoebox to meet the criteria for the local swap(masculine or graduation). I also wanted to use the 8 shoe box swaps I had left after the Central MN Get Together.

The remake of the card is a lot simpler than the original card, so please use this link to look at "Magnolia Paper Paisley". and to get paper info. I was really pleased with the card.

The changes I made are minimal. I used the 2 piece Grad Cap die from QuiKutz, to cut SU Chocolate chip and Certainly Celery CS. I cut the Numbers with my Cricut using the George cartridge, set at 1", and SU Chocolate Chip CS. On the inside I stamped "Happy Gradtuation" with a stamp I bought at a local craft store, and I moved the paisley piece to the other side of the card.

***this is the inside of the original shoe box card.

This is a side ways picture so you can see the fold action. **also from the original card.

I really need to go and plant my garden before it rains. I worked so hard to get it tilled last week. I need to get it planted before I end up tilling it again. I love spring and summer, but there is always so much more outside stuff to do, that uses up my craft time. I will see about transferring the other post to this Blog later. I don't know if I can do that, but I'll try. If its possible, there are a bunch of craft post I would like to move. If I can't they are all posted in my SCS Gallery, and of course the other blog. Thanks for visiting.

Mothers Day treats

I was so busy yesterday. I had a wonderful Mothers Day. I wanted to post a sample of the little hand out I made for my Little church class of 4 yr olds to put together for their moms.

I forgot something though and I didn't realize it until We put them together at the church, and you'll note it isn't int he picture.

I had made a little flower tag for the purse, I guess in the rushing around of the last few days I forgot them. I was going to attach them with my new little tool I picked up in Utah. I never got it done because of all the activities on Sat.

THe kids colored the Mother I love you sign and then rolled it up around the chapstick and attached the flower band around it. They also thought the purses need a bit mor so somehow they managed to stuff one more smartie in. We took pictures to go in the magnet frames.

The purse 5 1/2" , frame(square letter"O") 4" to mount on a four inch coaster which had to be trimmed slightly on the corners, and flower tag 2" with the window mirror option.were all cut out with my Cricut using either the Tags, Bags, Boxes & More or Mini Monograms cartridges.

I'll take a picture of them all assembled later and upload it later.

See I did it. Whew another thing off my list of things to do.

Supplies: SU Petals and paisley cardstock from the SU Spring mini Catalog. Cuddlebug dies Flower #1 set of four dies, I purchased at ALL THAT SCRAPS they are out of stock currently, but that should change in the next week, if you email her she will let you know when they will be in stock. This is one of my favorite online stores.

and one little MM flower brad.

I also used my new tool from "Around the Block". It's called a Paper Tagger. My SIL insisted I needed to get it on a trip to Roberts! (somewhere I always visit when in Utah he he he.) It comes with various colored taglets(my name for them) that come in a strip, they attach things to your projects like they attach price tags to clothing in the stores. It is easy to use. I shot one little piece out onto the paper so you can see what it looks like unattached. If you click the image you can geta close up look at the way its attached and the itty bitty pink piece in the front. It is a lot of fun and I think I will use it more, maybe even at a garage sale.

Bothway Blossoms and the Crosshatch Background

Sorry I took so long to post today. It has been a very busy day for me.

I finished the last of my cards for the Goin' Out in Style swap I mentioned 2 post ago.

There is a link posted there if you think you'ld like to join.
I think there are alot of great swappers in the group.



I just love this simple card.
I used the "For You" stamp from Mini Mates, because it's a versatile statement. This card could even be used for Mother's Day.
I stamped in SU Chocolate Chip ink to match the base of the card, and the matting around the main image.

I stamped SU Crosshatch background on Certainly Celery Cardstock using Certainly Celery Ink. A local Craft store, if your consider an hour drive local, had this cute chocolate dotted ribbon , and this Celery colored baby rick rack in Celery. I just had to buy them both. I tied them together and attached them to the background before attaching the main image. I just love adding a touch of rick rack to my knots. The focal point of the card is the image from SU Bothway Blossoms set, I am so glad I have it. I love the simplicity of the flowers in the set. I love using the stamp to add multiple flowers this way. I stamped them in Timber Brown StazOn. I colored them with SU Markers, in Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal and Blush Blossom. For a little shimmery shine I added Diamond Stickles over the areas I colored Blush. The picture makes it hard to see the blush color on the flowers, but it is there and IRL, WOW they pop. I am really happy with how this card turned out.



I also designed a Logo & watermark yesterday. I just love the versatility and usefulness of the computer. How else could I share all of these neat projects with my friends.


I probably won't post tomorrow. I just wanted to wish all of you women out there a,

Happy Mother's Day

Please leave a comment if you can. I would love to know who is visiting, and what you think of my cards.

"Itty Bitty Borders" Card

THIS POST WAS EDITTED on the 11 May 2007

Edits are in Blue Font HTH

Well I made another of the four cards for the swap I mentioned yesterday.

I am not quite sure it is done. I also messed up my Photoshop elements so I couldn't add kbo 2007 and identify the Stamp art work as Stampin Up as usual. I need to fix something that will take awhile and require me to shut down. I am going to do that after I make this post.(editted May 11th, 2007)





I am still not completely satisfied with this card but I have been tilling my garden all day and I don't think I will back to this card to tweek it until after the weekend. I think it needs more yellow around the gem for the sun and some faux stitching, and or maybe a brad or ribbon. I will re-upload the picture here later if I change it.

(I tweaked this card and rather then re-upload I decided to post a before and after this is not the same card tweeked but one from the same swap. I didnt pay attention to that when I took the picture, and saying that it may be the same card, KWIM added 5-11-2007)

In tweaking this card I added faux stitching With SU white gel pen. I used a yellow " Gel'nRoll!" pen to add yellow around the gem for the sun. I also added 2 green Making Memories flower brads. I started to use the pink flower brads and I even counted them all out, but the little green dots on the paper caught my eye so I tried a green flower brad. The green really made everything on the card pop. I debated adding some more faux stitching on the insides of some of the plain EF circles on the pink but decided to leave well enough alone.

This is the simplest layout pattern I know. I picked up this KI Memories paper on clearance last weekend. When I saw it I thought of the Cuddlebug embossing Folder "Bloom Dots" which I used on the SU Regal Rose cardstock. I used SU Elegant Eggplant and Cool carribean cardstock to tear and layer and mat the stamped image from the retiring set "Itty Bitty Borders" & I colored them with variuos SU markers Elegant eggplant, regal rose, Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Old Olive and Bashful Blue. On the stamped image I also used one gold Heroarts Gem Stone in the center of the tallest blue daisy. I just love these little stones for Bling. The Gem for the sun was a Target "dollar isle" find from last fall. I love the simplicity of this layout. What ever colors I use with it always seem to give me a great look. It can be Playful and Elegant. I love it.

This set it was the first stamp set I ever bought and I have had so much fun with it and made so many cards with it.

"Goin' Out In Style"

Every once in awhile I get overly excited and I do something a little crazy. I signed up for four swaps in one online swap. Don't get me wrong I am so looking forward to it. This swap is for all the discontinued stamps SU is not going to sell anymore after the 30th of June. They wanted everyone to see the Stamps used before they are no longer available. I decided I would make just 2 swaps. One for In Honor of the first stamp set I ever bought from Stampin Up. The other for the last background I ordered, which should be getting here this week. I thought that was a cute idea. Then a few other people signed up to do four and I got caught up in the hype so I am doing four also. I just added the link to the swap and noticed someone is thinking of doing 5, I just love her cards. Thirty cards for one swap I just love this hobby, and I love that other people love it as much as I do. This first card is a card I cased form SCS. I saw one link that lead me to another link . and I have actually chatted with the person who designed it (Thanks CindyH).

I decided with this swap I was going to case the cards that made me want to buy the stamp set, but in this case it's a card that definately would have inspired me to buy the set, since I had bought it earlier in the year when it was on sale. It had been on my wish list for over a year. I had to make it right away because I thought Cindy's card was so darling. I did make a few changes. I wish I had the darling ribbon she used instead of the one I used. I think mine still works, but I love the dark turquoise. I picked up mine up at Michaels, on a wood spool. I chose to use the same colors as Cindy, because I thought they looked so good together. Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery and Cool Carribean. I will miss Cool Carribean, when it leaves the catalog in June.

I used my Cricut and cut the scalloped squares with Mini Monograms in 31/2, 3 & 2 1/2 sizes and Fabulous finds to cut the Heart Charm at 1" as well as it's insert.

I used my Cuddlebug to emboss Cool Carribean with the D'vine swirl A2 Embossing folder. I chose to use it because it matched the little swirls on the hearts. I thin used a brayer to add white craft ink on top of the raised image. I used a make up sponge to add some white distressing to the edges of the scalloped square and heart charm.

I stamped the hearts from the (SU Mini Mates set being retired) in Tempting Turqouise and Certainly celery stamped them off once and them outlined with an Elegant Eggplant marker. The small heart comes form the same set I colored the heart on the music note with the Tempting Turqouise marker and then stamped it on white Card Stock and then punched it out with a 3/4" circle punch.

Added a few white brads I purchased from ALLTHATSCRAPS one of my favorite online stores. I get my embossing folders from her also. She gives free shipping for orders over 10$. A great deal in my book. I have yet to spend less than 10$,(WINK) (If you order mention my name it helps enable me to buy some more cool stuff.)

This second card sold me on Buying SU's retiring set ALL THAT I'VE SEEN. The minute my Demo made this card, I have modified it a bit but the colors are the same, I had to have it. This isn't the first tiem I have cased this card. (Did you notice that both of these cards have the same basic LO.)

I used SU's Perfect Plum, Sage Shadow, and Barely Banana card stock. The card base was stamped with SU Canvas Background. I cut the book plates with my Cricut Fabulous Finds Cart cut at 1 ". I love the way these word sentiment stamps,( SU Warm Words) stamped with Perfect Plum, fit perfectly in this oval book plate. I stamped the flower image in Sage Shadow and then colored with Elegant Eggplant marker along the edges of the image. I Just Love that Technique! Did you notice it was used in both cards. I trimmed the image down with a paper cutter and then used my corner rounder to round the corners. The matting for the image was cut on the Cricut also, using Mini Monograms, rounded square foundation, at 31/2 and 4". Making Memories pewter Brads were used to embellish this card. I hope you like how it turned out.

My Demo had too small knotted ribbon pieces tied vertically around the straight strips above "cherised". I didn't feel I had the right color of ribbon to do this. I chose to add the extra brads the rounded corners and the bookplates instead she used the Oval punches from SU. If you are interested in any of the SU products shown here feel free to visit my Stampin Up Demos Site . She'ld be glad to help you purchase any of the SU items shown, including those that will no longer be available after the end of June. I know she takes credit cards and she can ship most places. JUst visit her site and drop her an email.

6x6 Scrapbook pages

On the first Wed of the month I usually go and make 2 scrapbook pages to go in my little 6x6 album I have been working on. Because we were busy last Wed we made them today. As usual no picutres, because I might be using this album for a gift Ican't decide. These are the 9th and 10th pages I have made. Maybe I'll post more in the future.

Craft inkwas used on these pages. I just assembled and followed directions.

My demo decides what we do, and the LO's.

She gets them from her SU upline or magazine or from SCS. I dont know the source. I don't really remember the colors I used. I know everything is SU materials. I know we used craft stampin spots, brads of various colors, and papers all from SU. These were simple pages and I got them made quickly.

On this one it is harder to see the SU Alphabits stamps that were used on the different colors along the left edge. They show up better in real life. It was very simple and you can see where I miss punched the hole, Talking too much I guess. I will add a ribbon to cover this up later to coordinate with the picture.
MY demo had a nice picture of her daughter getting off the Bus for this page.

I have some great pictures of my daughter pouting as she's getting on the bus her first day of Kindergarten. That was years ago she'll be 22 this summer. You see I have alot of Scarpbooking to catch up on.