Karpen Diem Stamps

Class Holiday Card...

2011-12-16T05:40:00.000-06:00

Since I'm not going to be able to be at my son's class holiday party tomorrow, I was volunteered to make the card for his teacher from the kids. To keep it pretty holiday neutral, I chose a snowman and winter theme. My "go-to" snowman are drawn by Zlatoena- you can tell I love them because I have so many of them:))

I used paper from My Mind's Eye "The Merry Days of Christmas" set for the background layers and to paper piece his scarf- I've been hoarding the last few sheets forever, but decided it was time to break them out for this card! The last bits were colored with Copics and some snow and a sparkly snowflake give him a little sparkle. A added a greeting from Verve's "Glad Tidings" set- need to break that one out more often!

I was under the gun to get this card delivered to the class mom who is taking care of the gift and party, so no pictures of the inside. I adhered white card stock on both the upper and lower panels of the inside so there would be plenty of room for 22-3rd grade (i.e. not so small) signatures:)) and added the greeting "Happy Holidays from all of us" which says it all!

Hope you're having a good day- as the days are marching down, I'm just trying to remember to breathe!

Supplies:
Stamps: Fluffy Snowman (Zlatina), Glad Tidings- Verve
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: "The Merry Days of Christmas"-MME, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, MS snowflake punch, Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Rhinestone Brads, dimesionals, MS tinsel glitter

Beautiful Season...

2011-12-11T06:44:00.000-06:00

The days are dwindling fast toward Christmas and I am definitely WAY behind! I extracted my Christmas decorations and outdoor lights from our storage unit (may need a chiropractor after this episode!) and decorated all the bushes in front of the rental house we are in. I would be SO much more enthusiastic if I were decorating my own house, but my kids expect Mrs. Santa to make wherever we are "festive"!

I tend to be more of the Santa Claus, snowman and jingle bells kind of Christmas card maker, but this set, Beautiful Season, from Stampin' Up really appealed to me when I saw it. The main image was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, heat set then colored with Copic markers. An embossed rectangle border was created with a Nestability rectangle die using a Sizzix Big Shot. I left the die in place and sponged the background with Sahara Sand ink. A little leftover paper from Basic Grey Figgy Pudding, a double bow using Artichoke Seam Binding ribbon and some antique brads finish off this CAS card.

The inside was finished with a repeat of the patterned paper, seam binding ribbon and a die cut greeting from the set. This was so fast and pretty- I will definitely make several of these to mail out to friends and family!

Today is the day to tackle the tree- we'll see who wins:))

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Season
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Sahara Sand
Paper: Figgy Pudding, Sahara Sand, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestabilty dies, antique brass brads, Artichoke Seam binding ribbon, dimensionals, sponge

Frosty Day

2011-12-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

Good morning! I don't know about you, but today is definitely a TGIF kinda day for me- what a crazy week! I'm capping it off as the "math volunteer" in my son's 3rd grade class this morning, which I was really looking forward to, until my son told me there would be a substitute teacher today- bring on the Advil-lol!

Now back to posting the card I started with yesterday. I just received a huge box of Stampin' Up goodies last weekend and haven't even sorted them out before I began to dig around for this adorable set called "Polar Party"from the Idea Book & Catalog. I love the fact that you can create a whole scene with the clear mount stamps on the block before stamping it- then it's guaranteed to line up on the paper!

The scene was colored with Stampin' Up markers, most from the new 2011-2013 In-Colors set (LOVE those shades!). I added a little snow on the ground and around the edges and some glitter overlay to the tree ornament. I opened up digital paper from the "Frosty Day II" set, resized it for 6x6 to make the pattern appropriately sized for a card, then printed the pages on my Canon printer. The layers were stitched together on my sewing machine. A little ribbon bow made with the Melon Mambo Scallop dots ribbon and some rhinestones complete the card.

The inside was finished with the leftover paper I printed out, a strip of Melon Mambo punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch (it makes it look just like ribbon!), some stitching and a layered die-cut greeting. I like the alternate Christmas colors, especially the turquoise and pinks!

This weekend will be a blur of decorating, shopping and planning for Christmas, but I'm planning to sneak some good stamping time in, so stop back by!

Supplies:
Stamps: Polar Party
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Frosty Day II (Digital), Early Espresso, Pool Party, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine, nestability dies, Melon Mambo Scallop dots ribbon, basic rhinestones, snow glitter, dimensionals, Tombow liquid glue

Frosty {Sneak Peek}

2011-12-08T09:40:00.000-06:00

It was certainly a frosty morning here in Atlanta- 29 degrees-brr! I had to scrape ice off the windshield of my car for the first time in 12 years- luckily a little elf bought me a scraper and left it in my car (thanks honey:))

Speaking of frosty, here's a sneak peek at a card I finished last night...

Forgot to upload pictures of the inside, so stop around tomorrow to see the rest! Check out all the wonderful Christmas sets in the Stampin' Up Idea Book & Catalog and the Holiday Mini (links to the left). Stampin' Up has some great deals in their online store, including the digital set "Frosty Day" which I used to make this card- check it out by hitting the "Shop Now" link!

You Warm My Heart

2011-12-03T13:05:00.001-06:00

I thought I was on cruise control this morning when I had completed three round trips to the swim club to shuttle kids to and from practice and picked up our Christmas tree, when I got the call that the tree removal guys had hit the water main in front of new house-dooh! Instant derailment. Our neighbors must hate us now because they had to shut off water to the entire street while they get it fixed-yikes! I will have to make some special Christmas cookies to make up for this!

OK, finally onto my card for the day~ This card may look like a repost of the one from yesterday, but it is actually a MIM (More is More) version of that cure little bear. After I made the first one, I realized what things I would change/add, so I decided to make a more embellished version and put it out to you all to vote which one you like better.

Changes: the plaid pattern was sized well for his shirt, but it was too small for the base of the card, so I sized the digital paper to 6x6; layers were stitched together; bear was cut out and layered onto light plaid oval for additional layer; added multilayer snowflake with chunky glitter, rhinestones and sparkly ribbon; changed greeting.

Some more stitching and Glimmer Brads were added to the inside as well as a different greeting. These cards just show how a little "more" makes a big difference!

Have a great day!

Countdown to Christmas!

2011-12-02T10:12:00.000-06:00

Good morning! It's a chilly 28 degrees here in Atlanta this morning and there is a thick layer of glistening frost on the lawn, bushes and rooftops. My poor little southern children thought it has snowed-lol! This cool weather has finally gotten me back in the mood for stamping and creating- it's been a long time since my craft room has seen any action!

I am challenging myself this holiday season to make (and post!) at least one project every day from now until Christmas- that's going to be a bit of a hat trick for me since I will be working in the NICU the last two weeks of December, but I'm going to give it a shot!

The first card of the season is a true hybrid of digital and real elements. It starts with this adorable digital image from Birdie Brown (Torico). The bear was printed twice- once on Whisper White and once on paper from SU's Frostwood Lodge digital collection. I opened the plaid "paper" in Photoshop, re-sized the paper from 12x12 to 4x6 (which made the print smaller and more appropriately sized for the bear's shirt). The shirt and hat were paper pieced onto the white image after he was colored with Copics. Rule of thumb: color before gluing! I used some white flocking powder to give the edges of his hat some fluff:)

The rest of the card went together pretty simply- the Garden Green background was embossed using the Houndstooth textured impressions folder, the snowflake edge done by a MS punch and the layers cut with Nestability dies. Spoiler alert: Stampin' Up has finally joined the nested die world and will be coming out with some great dies in January in the Occasions Mini- stay tuned! A few Glimmer Brads in the corners and a some fluffy tinsel over the Real Red satin ribbon and it's done!

The inside was finished with a computer generated greeting and another strip of the Frostwood Lodge paper sized for 6x6. I was going to keep this card on my desk as a start to the holiday mood, but a colleague at work really needed that bear hug yesterday, so it's on her desk instead:))

Come back around tomorrow- I'll have this card as a "More Is More" version- super sparkly and cozy!

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bear with Cocoa- Birdie Brown (Torico)
Paper: Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Frostwood Lodge DP (digital)
Ink: Canon MX850 printer
Accessories: Houndstooth embossing folder, Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine,Nestability dies, Real Red satin ribbon, white flocking powder, dimensionals, liquid glue, snowflake edge punch

Trick or Treat- if you dare....

2011-10-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Good morning! It's a nippy 38 degrees in Atlanta- a true taste of fall and I'm finally starting to get into the Halloween mood! The Stampin' Up Holiday Mini catalog is out and there are some fabulous papers and sets for all the upcoming holidays. This year there is a larger variety of digital kits/stamps/paper, which are really great if you're budget and space are tight. I have no room to store anything while we're in temporary housing, so digi works great for me:))

I challenged myself to make an "all SU" card this time and resisted the urge to use my Nestie dies, etc. I started with the digital kits "Pick Your Poison" and "Piece of Poison" to make the main image. These digi kits are great because they can be used in My Digital Studio or in other programs like Photoshop. I layered the elements together to make the gravestone, printed it out on Very Vanilla card stock and layered it onto some Basic Black.

I printed paper from the "Frightful Sight" collection, resized to 6x6 inches so the pattern would be a good size for a card, and added a punched border of Cajun Craze. I used the awesome "Simply Scored" to make the fan from paper in the "Wicked Fun" set, scoring every 1/4" of a 1-1/4"x12" strip. A thick glue dot holds the fan together at the back and another attaches the designer button to front. A little bakers twine and a few of the black rhinestones left from last year finish it off.

I repeated the theme on the inside, changing the size of the skeleton and adding a spooky greeting. Super fun to do and the images are "stamped" perfectly every time! Hybrid card making is definitely something to try!

I'm off to watch Emily swim a mile race- I can barely run a mile- can't imagine how this kid can swim one-lol!

Have a great day~

Supplies:
Stamps: Piece of Poison, Pick Your Poison
Paper: Frightful Sight, Wicked Fun, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla
Ink: None!
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Simply Scored, Baker's Twine, black rhinestones, Trim lace, dimensionals, 3D glue dots, sewing machine

Something Blue...

2011-09-29T06:19:00.000-05:00

My sister emailed me last week and asked for help with a wedding card for some friends of hers that were getting married. She had searched the stores and couldn't seem to come up with the right card for a couple with an alternative lifestyle, so little sister to the rescue!

I searched some quote sites for a bit before I came up with a quote that I thought really summed up their relationship- not too mushy, not too religious, but meaningful. I used two fonts in Photoshop to accent the important words and fit the words to fit the die I planned to use. I stamped an image from the The rest was fairly simple- some pretty flocked background paper, cream silk ribbon, and some pearls.

The inside was finished with a simple "congratulations" on a die-cut mat and some more of the pretty flocked paper. A clean and simple card in 10 minutes! The card is much prettier IRL, but I was rushed to get pictures of it before I sent it off to my big sis in the mail- she'll vouch for me:)

Hope your day is off to a good start!

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin' Up: Note to Self, Warmest Regards
Paper: Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, "Garden Party"-DCWV
Ink: Baja Breeze
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, silk ribbon, Basic Pearls, dimensionals,

Hey Toad Sister...

2011-09-26T05:46:00.000-05:00

This is what happens when I use the tween's music list for running- I get her tunes stuck in my head, lol! I was inspired by Linda McCain's awesome Halloween card found {here} and decided I had to make a card of my own with this stamp!

I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. The background was paper from the retired Stampin' Up "Night & Day" paper pack, stitched to some Gable Green and Basic Black cut with Nestability dies. Sewing in a circle was stressful for me, but looks cool! The ravens were cut from a page in the My Mind's Eye "Spider's Web" pack- I think they add to the anxious look on his face. I wasn't keen on the greeting that went with the stamp, so I printed one out my daughter came up with using Photoshop.

The inside is finished with coordinating papers, stitching and a computer-generated greeting. My son loves this card (or at least the idea of turning his sister into a toad!) so this may be his for Halloween.

Hope your Monday is painless!

Supplies:
Stamps: Toad Sister (Eat Cake Graphics)
Paper: Basic Black, Gable Green, Whisper White, DP- K&Co
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, sewing machine, Baker's twine, button, silver brads

Sizzle My Circuits!

2011-09-05T09:23:00.001-05:00

Rain, sweet rain! We have lived in Atlanta for almost 2 months now and, with the exception of a few short rain showers, this is the first rainy day we've had. I wish it were tomorrow instead of my holiday, but hey, I'll take the water!

We have a bunch of birthday parties coming up, so I figured I would get a jump on making some cards so I'm not caught short the day of the party (also makes a gift card much more attractive!). I started with this adorable robot image from Torico's "Birdie Brown" shop and dug out my "Cogsmo" paper from Cosmo Cricket- what a great match!

I didn't want to cover the robot in the background of the paper, so I cut out my little guy and attached him with dimensionals. Because this is going to a boy, I had to keep the embellishments simple- a bit of cool stitching, silver brads and a die cut greeting - definitely NO ribbon!

The inside is finished with a coordinating strip from the paper pack, another die cut and a computer generated greeting.

Since I get questions about this, here are the Copic colors I used on this card...

I'm off to enjoy this rainy day in my craft room:))))))

Supplies:
Stamps: "Robot with Balloon"-Torico
Paper: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Buckaroo Blue, Peach Parfait, "Cogsmo"-Cosmo Cricket
Accessories: Copic markers, Sizzix Big Shot, Nestabilities, Sewing machine, dimensionals

Bring on the Cake!

2011-08-30T08:57:00.000-05:00

Last week I bought whole bunch of digital stamps from Torico's Birdie Brown Etsy shop- it was hard to stop at just a few;)) Her images are whimsical and just downright cute! I decided to give this birthday pup a try since I have several boy birthdays coming up.

I like the color combination in the "True Blue" patterned paper pad from My Mind's Eye and colored the pup and his presents with Copics to match. I ended up with more layers than I planned, but it's only postage, right?! The greeting was generated in Photoshop and accented with an orange button from the Brights Collection-Stampin' Up. When it was all laid out, it looked like it needed something more- a strip of Espresso cut with the ZigZag border die from MFT fit the bill perfectly!

The inside was finished with a strip of the number paper, a coordinating zigzag and a punched greeting. It's my nephew's birthday today, so this one will be a bit late- hopefully the present will make up for it!

Hope you having a great day wherever you are!

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Dog- Birdie Brown by Torico
Paper: Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, MME- "Fine & Dandy-True Blue"
Accessories: Copic markers, Open Zigzag dienamics die (MFT), Stampin Up: Sizzix Big Shot, Modern Label punch, Designer Label punch, Designer Buttons-Brights, dimensionals, hemp twine

Stars in Heaven...

2011-08-29T09:45:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Hard to believe it's Monday already- weekends go by so fast! I'm sure my friends and family on the East coast wish this weekend had gone a bit faster- a lot of flooded basements and some trees down (thankfully none on houses) for people I know, but after cleaning up from Ike a few years ago, I can certainly sympathize!

The topic of sympathy, unfortunately, brings me to my card for today. Over the past few weeks, I have had two friends give up their fight with cancer. Both have been fighting unbelievable battles for several years and both will leave incredible holes in their families and communities. I wanted a simple, elegant look, but was at a loss for a stamp with the perfect sentiment. Google to the rescue!

I started by searching for "sympathy quotes" and found this one which I think is perfect for my friend who left a 7th grader daughter behind. I know they watched her suffer for several years, but the end is still so hard to deal with, especially as a pre-teen. I formatted the quote in Photoshop using several different fonts and sizes and printed it in Early Espresso ink onto Vanilla card stock. A little tip for Stampin' Up fans- you can import the color codes for all teh Stampin' Up colors into Photoshop and make yourself a custom "Swatch book" so when you print, the colors match their card stock exactly!

The card was finished simply with layers of some pretty patterned paper I had in my stash, some crinkled seam binding ribbon and an antique brad from Stampin' Up. Now the hard part comes- finding the words to write...

Hope your week is off to a good start and that those in the Northeast get power soon!

Have a cool day...

2011-08-28T11:30:00.001-05:00

Good morning! I hesitate to say this knowing that half my friends and family are sweltering in the Texas heat and the other half is dealing with Hurricane Irene, but boy, is is a beautiful morning in Atlanta! It is a cool 64 degrees, clear blue skies, light breeze- absolutely gorgeous! We took a family bike ride before it started it heat up and discovered just how steep the hills in our neighborhood are (and just how out of shape I am-lol!).

Now that several people have voted on the penguin dude, I decided it was time to finish my brother's card. It's very frustrating having half my life in storage- I couldn't find the paper I wanted or a stamp for another card I am working on, so time to improvise!

I started with this week's MFT Wedensday Stamp club sketch pulled out some Hawaii themed papers from an old stash. I love the way sketches get you jump-started on a card! I expanded mine to a square to give me a bit more room to play.

I used the blue chilly dude since he was a better match for these papers and added some layers of DP and coordinating card stock, stitched together on my sewing machine and sponged to give them a weathered, beachy feel. I couldn't find my crimper (storage, I suppose) so I scored a piece of Kraft card stock and sponged it with brown ink to make it look like beach wood.

The inside was finished with the coordinating striped paper, a surfboard and a "cool" birthday greeting. Now the big challenge- getting it into the mail!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend~

Supplies:
Stamps: Penguin in Summer (Birdie Brown by Torico)-digital
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Soft Sky, Cajun Craze, Hawaiian DP (can't remember name)
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Curly Label Punch, Marina Mist Seam Binding ribbon, button, hemp twine, Nestabilities, Dienamics, dimensionals, sewing machine

Chilly dude...

2011-08-25T09:49:00.003-05:00

Good morning! I know my friends and former neighbors in Houston are dancing the rain dance after getting a big storm blow through last night, dumping 1-2 inches of sorely needed water. Since we still own our home there, we share their enthusiasm-keep it coming!

Today is my brother, Pete's, birthday (52, if we're counting:) and I am behind on making his card. I planned to get it done last night, but minor surgery on my face (youch!) derailed me- I decided that a glass of wine and an Alleve was more in order. Hence, no card finished for Pete today.

I did start planning his card over the weekend when I found this adorable digi stamp by Birdie Brown- I love her images and bought a whole bunch (hee, hee). I had a clear idea of how I wanted his shorts to look, so I began coloring the image with my Copic markers without picking the paper first-danger Will Rogers! After I got his shorts colored and shaded just the way I wanted, I was a bit stuck over what color to do his body.

I ended up coloring one with a traditional grey-toned body and one a little funkier in a cool blue. Now I can't decide which of these guys I prefer, so I thought I would bring it to you all to decide. Leave me a comment and vote for which cool penguin you like better and what you think his name should be! I know you guys are creative, so I can't wait to see what you come up with:))

Have a {cool} day and here's praying for more rain!

Floating some love your way...

2011-08-22T13:23:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! It's certainly hard to get back in the groove after a good weekend and this one could definitely be categorized as good. We were invited up to a friend's lake house, just north of Atlanta on Lake Sidney Lanier (crazy coincidence that this is the name of the middle school my daughter just left in TX!). We had a wonderful day of swimming, eating and boating-both my kids tried water skiing (moderately successful) and tubing (huge fun!). For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, Lake Lanier is a 20 mile long lake formed by damming a portion of the Chattahoochee river- clean, clear water and sandy bottom- definitely awesome! Forgot the camera, so no pics unfortunately:(

I digress- back to the card at hand. I started this card two days before our move began in Houston and stuck all the pieces in my craft room desk drawer for the move. The image is a digi stamp from Zlatoena's Etsy store- I totally {heart} her bunnies! I had been in a super rush when I started it and my coloring was pretty sloppy, so I printed a new image and took a bit more care coloring this one.

I had picked my papers ahead of time from a My Mind's Eye paper pack in my stash and coordinated my coloring to match- much easier than coloring first, especially when one finds out the paper you have in mind is in storage-lol! I die cut some of the elements and used pre-cut pieces that came with the paper pack as accents. I felt like it needed a greeting tag hanging off the button/bow but I wasn't ready to commit to the sentiment until I had an intended recipient- I like to keep my options open for cards until I am ready to send them!

The inside was finished with coordinating papers and a simple greeting that can be used for birthday, hello, pick-me-up card- lots of choices!

That's it for today- hope your Monday is going well!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Rabbit Traveler-Hot Air Balloon"-Zlatoena, "Well Scripted"-Stampin' Up
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, MME "Just Dreamy 2"
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Stampin' Up: Sizzix Big Shot, White organza ribbon, heart brad, Designer Buttons-Brights, dimensionals, Nestabilities, Dienamics, hemp twine, sewing machine, heavy duty thread.

Thank ewe, mates!

2011-08-17T12:54:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I know my friends in Texas are going to throw tomatoes or rotten eggs at me, but the last 3 days in Atlanta have been sooo gorgeous! Mornings in the low 60s, days in the high 80s, sunny and so pleasant! I found a great little garden at work, outside the cafeteria at the Emory Children's hospital, where I have been taking my lunch each day to catch a few minutes of this beautiful weather and pretty scenery:) Another day I will share a picture of this little oasis...

Last week was the birthday week in our house, husband and son, one day apart; many dinners and a big BBQ with friends and new neighbors. Now it is time to write all those thank you notes! It's hard to find cute notes for boys to write- so many girly things out there, but not so much for the masculine half. I also wanted to make something quick and fairly simple since "we" have a bunch to write (i.e. mommy makes us write)!

I started with a sheep image from Zlatina which I absolutely adore! Since I have to produce a bunch of these, I kept it pretty simple. The image was printed on Whisper White card stock and colored with Copics- no time for paper piecing and faux sheep wool on these thank yous- they need to hit the mail ASAP! The Crumb Cake background was embossed with the "Seeing Spots" embossing folder to give it some texture and the little sheep was layered onto red and black mats to make him stand out. I added a computer generated greeting, a punched heart and some black baker's twine for a little accent- so cute, right? My son said he would mail these to grandparents and relatives, but he would never give these to his friends. Next card, please...

OK, now for the more manly version... I used another pirate image from Claire Keay to go along with Matthew's pirate themed birthday for thank you notes to his friends- I love her illustrations! The image was sized in Photoshop Elements to fit my card, printed on Whisper White card stock and colored with Copics. I used simple layers of black and red again which stand out on the neutral background. The greeting was computer generated with a punched star and button tied with baker's twine to spruce it up a bit (definitely no flowers or hearts here!)

These were made as flat cards- his friends will promptly throw them away (much as I want to believe they will treasure them:) so no point in wasting extra card stock-lol! I used the same backing for both cards, making mass production easier.

That's it for today- have a great one!

Seize the cake!

2011-08-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Somehow all the nights this week slipped by me and left me making my son's birthday card on the day of his birthday (at breakfast this morning "no cards or presents now, sweetie, we'll do that at dinner, i.e. mommy hasn't made your card yet!). I did get up early this morning with the plan to finish it before I left for work, but ran into a snag- more on that later.

Here is my birthday boy when he was born- I know everyone says this, but I can't believe how the time has flown. He was the most beautiful baby, and as a neonatologist, I know babies:) Somehow though, he whizzed from being a sweet, cuddly toddler into a skinny, gangly boy overnight- how that happened, I have no idea! He is into pirates right now and turning our moving boxes into all sorts of magical ships, so I thought this digital image by Claire Keay was perfect for his birthday card!

I decided I'd better pick my papers before coloring, which was really smart because the black and red papers I envisioned must be in storage, so this pack from an old SU scrappin' kit were the next choice. The image was printed onto Whisper White CS on my Canon MX850 printer (the really awesome Pro Photo printer went into storage *sniff*) and colored with Copics. I stitched the various layers together on my sewing machine and added some brads and buttons for detail.

Now the frustrating part-I was adding just a little bit of shadow on the image when the grey marker let go a blob of ink and ruined the image-aaahhhh! I tried to fix it with the blender pen, to no avail, so had to reprint the image and color it again- hence, not finishing the card until now.

On a time crunch, I finished the inside simply with some of the patterned paper and the greeting. Our son is a 9-year old boy and won't spend much time reading the card, so I didn't need to leave a lot of space for writing-lol!

Hope you are all enjoying your Friday night- we're off to a birthday dinner!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Pirate Box"- Clair Keay
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Buckaroon Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Scrappin' Kit
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, buttons, sewing machine, silver brads, Copic markers, dimensionals, hemp twine

Back in the saddle again...

2011-08-08T10:09:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone! It's been a long time since I've been able to post anything- moving does have a way of getting in the way of crafting! We are finally settled in our temporary home in Atlanta, where we will be for the next year, and have begun the search for a permanent home. The boxes are unpacked, we started back to work and we have made lots of new friends in our neighborhood.

The momentous part of the move came today with the start of school (way too early for me, but probably better to get the kids jump started making new friends). My middle schooler forbade me from bringing a camera to school (mother!), so I quickly snapped one of her in front of the house. I walked my my little guy to school, which is a unique experience for us coming from Houston- it reminded me of walking to school as a kid- crossing guards, 5th grade school patrol and all! There were nervous smiles all around, but I'm sure they will be real smiles by the end of the week.

As a back-to-school tradition, I usually make a nice card and little treat for the teacher (goodness knows they probably need more than chocolate by the end of their first day back-lol!).

I found the perfect back-to-school image from Meljen's Designs, appropriately named "Apple for Teacher"- such a cute digi! I re-sized the image to fit my card in Photoshop, printed in onto Whisper White CS and colored it with Copics. I dug through my stash to find school themed papers from various packs and scrap piles- I am trying to be good about not buying new supplies, especially since my temporary scrap room has no closet-yikes! For those of you who sew, you can see the awful stitching on the card- after I was done with one side card I realized that the bobbin must have come unseated during the move-oh well, too late for this one!

This is the first time either of my kids have had a male teacher for their main homeroom, so I tried to steer away words that were too feminine or sweet and this quote seemed to fit perfectly.

To go with the card, I made a couple "special" pencils which are made with a pack of Rolo candies and a Hershey's kiss for the point (see my "No. 2 Pencils" post from last year for directions). I made a quick little tag using the coordinating "Checkered Apple Frame" and some black gingham ribbon. My son was so proud to give his new teacher such a cool little treat today:))

That's it for my first post from Atlanta- come back around tomorrow to see the card I sneaked into my daughter's lunch bag...

Supplies:
Stamps: Meljen's Designs (digital)
Ink: none!
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black, School Days DP (DCWV), scraps
Accessories: Copic markers, sewing machine, silver brads, black gingham ribbon, notebook edge punch, Modern Label punch, Nestability dies, Sizzix Big Shot, Crop-a-dile, stapler, dimensionals

Birthday Girl

2011-06-26T12:05:00.000-05:00

It's been several weeks since I have lifted a marker or made anything in my craft room, but sweet Aunt Cathy's birthday was the perfect excuse for some Sunday morning crafting. I reached for a perfect MFT stamp that a friend gifted me with awhile back- I love this image and it is simply perfect for her birthday card. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics- if you look closely you can see how out of practice I am-lol!

I defied my cardinal rule, which is to pick paper before coloring, so I had to seriously dig through my stash to make something work- I ended up with a combination of papers from Sassafras Lass and MME. I stitched around the edges with the very last of my heavy duty thread- this may be the last thing I will be stitching on before we move next month! I kept the rest pretty simple with a punched greeting and some rhinestones for glitz.

;

The inside was finished with matching DP and a heart-felt "Happy Birthday"- we won't disclose any dates or ages, but simply wish Aunt Cathy a wonderful day!

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend- we're off to a goodbye party at a friend's house and hope that that we get a buyer at the open house today:)))

Supplies:
Stamps: MFT- a la modes: Birthday Girl
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, MME-"Fine & Dandy-Tickled Pink", Sassafras Lass "Sunshine Lollipops"
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: SU: Circle punch, Designer Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Rhinestones, dimensionals; Janome sewing machine, Coats Heavy duty thread

Time flies!

2011-06-06T06:40:00.000-05:00

Whew! I just looked at my last post and can't believe it's been two months since I posted a card or at least some silly musings!

Things have been crazy in the Karpen house since April 5th. My husband and I have accepted jobs in Atlanta at Emory University in Pediatrics and the Karpen family will soon be saying goodbye to Houston. More to come on that...

The first of our goodbyes happened last week when our son and daughter had the last days at their schools. We have been at River Oaks Elementary School for the past 7 years with one or both of our kids and will miss it dearly- what a special place!

My daughter left her middle school party early to go back to her elementary school to say goodbye to all her former teachers and be at her brother's party (sweet girl!). Matthew loved his teacher this year (she is so fab!) and we will miss her so much!

Such a special teacher deserves a very special card (and then some-lol!) so I went to work making her a card for her keepsake box!

When in doubt for the cutest teacher cards, look no further than Heather Ellis' "Pure Innocence" and "Boy and the Dog" images. I purchased these digital images from her last year and use them every time I need a cute teacher card.

Since I was starting these at 10pm and I needed to be up at 5am the next morning (ugh!), they had to be quick and clean. I used Photoshop to print the letters on the black/white boards and resized the images to be about 3"x3". I printed the images on my Epson 3800 which prints in pigment ink, heat set them then colored with Copics. I used some simple layers of DP from the "Playdate" paper pack from Stampin' Up- so perfect for school related cards and scrapbook pages! A die cut layer for the image, a few buttons, some red striped twine and it was done- super fast!

The inside was finished simply with some of the number strip paper to leave lots of room for Matthew's note to his teacher (he has a lot to say, sweet boy!).

Emily's card was for her science teacher, Ms. Moore, who was the favorite this year. This card was very similar but I added flower shaped buttons to make it a bit more girly:))

That's it for today- tomorrow I will have pictures of my VERY clean and neat craft room to show you- its' hard to get motivated to create anything because I know it all has to be spiffed up each day since we are trying to sell our house! Here's keeping fingers (and toes!) crossed!

Supplies:
Stamps: Heather Ellis- Pure Innocence
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Real Red, Playdate DP
Ink: Epson 3800 Printer, Copic markers
Accessories: SU: Buttons, red twine, dimensionals, Sizzix Big Shot; Nestability die

Hey Chick!

2011-04-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

Good morning! What a bright, sunny day here in Houston (aka a total crime to be inside at work:)'. The storm that blew through yesterday took all the humidity and clouds with it so we have some nice spring weather for a bit longer before the heat and yuck sets in. Have to figure out a way to sneak some moments outside in the middle of my work day to enjoy it!

I have another card to share made with a stamp designed by Janet Kline that I won from Stampotique and the Catered Crop. In addition to her flower girls, she has some other super whimsical images, including this funky bird. I colored several versions of him before I settled on the yellow, black and red which just happened to fit with this week's Color Throwdown challenge- don't you love when that happens?!

I used simple layers of paper from SU's "Love Letters" collection, paired with Basic Black and Kraft card stock. The image had a bit too much white space for my taste, so I hand drew some lines with squiggles since I didn't feel like changing the thread in my sewing machine to black;)' A computer generated greeting, some brads and pearls and black stitched grosgrain ribbon finish it off.

I repeated the patterned paper on the inside but left it blank so I can commit to a greeting later- I want to keep my options open on who I send this to and when-lol!

That's it for today- hope your day is going well!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Bird Legs"- Stampotique
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, "Love Letters"-SU
Accessories: SU: Black pearls, silver brads, dimensionals, Modern Label Punch; stitched grosgrain ribbon, Copic markers, Copic multiliner pen

You grow girl!

2011-04-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

Morning everyone! Hard to believe it's Monday already- what a fast weekend. We had a pretty relaxing couple of days in our house (probably the last one for awhile with swim meets restarting, etc)- playdates, friends over for dinner and a crafting date with one of my buds- lots of fun! It was a rough one getting out of bed this morning, though- I was looking for one more snooze button cycle-lol!

OK, onto the card to share with you today. In February I won the weekly challenge over at Catered Crop for my Happy Heart Day card and won a $30 gift certificate to Stampotique-yay, more stamps! Their site has stamps from a variety of artists, but I really fell in love with these flower girls by Janet Klein and picked up several super cute stamps.

I started with my favorite, called "Grow Girl" and matched her to papers with colors that remind me of the sunflowers growing in the fields in Provence. After working primarily with digi images over the past few weeks, it felt really funny to actually stamp again (took a few takes to get it perfect, too-lol!). I stitched around the edges, but kept the layers pretty simple so the focus would be on my little sunflower girl. Some brown taffeta grosgrain ribbon and a yellow twine-tied button balance out the large image.

I used some of the patterned papers on the inside, but left it blank so I can stamp a greeting later when I decide what to use it for (if I actually mail it:)

That's it for today- hope your week is off to a good start!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Grow Girl" Stampotique
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, K&Co "Wild Saffron"
Accessories: SU: Corner rounder punch, bronze brads, dimensionals, Big designer buttons, hemp twine; scallop edge punch, brown taffeta grosgrain ribbon, Copic markers

Got eggs?

2011-03-31T07:25:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Somehow the calendar is playing tricks on me and it's almost April- March was just a blur! That little reality check means that Easter is almost here (not to mention tax tine-boo, hiss!) and I need to get working on Easter cards. I think my kids have caught onto the Easter bunny deal (they are 8 and almost 12 after all-lol!) but they still enjoy the egg hunt and all the candy, of course:) My absolute favorite bunny images come from illustrator, Zlatina, whose Etsy shop I frequent a lot! I bought a few of her spring/Easter bunnies and decided this guy was perfect one to start with.

I sized him to fit my card using Photoshop Elements, printed him on Whisper White card stock using my Epson 3800 printer and heat set the image before coloring him with Copic markers. I printed another image onto Close to Cocoa card stock, stamped over the image with a "Canvas" background stamp and cut out just the basket to paper piece over the colored image- it's a much more realistic texture to the basket and better than my coloring would have done!

The image was cut out so that his ears fall outside the cut lines and added some grass cut with a great little grass die from MFT. I sewed layers of paper from the "Tickled Pink" collection by MME together and added silver brads, some wrinkled ribbon and a yellow button tied with baker's twine. I wracked my brain for a cute greeting and came up with "Got Eggs?". A little search of the internet yielded the "Got Milk?" font and voila- it was done!

A smaller version of the bunny image is on the inside, along with a greeting using the same font and some more of this great flower-power paper- so springy!

Hope you're having a great day-

Supplies:
Stamps: Eastern Bunny (Zlatoena), Canvas background (retired SU)
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky, Whisper White, "Fine & Dandy- Tickled Pink"-MME
Accessories: SU: Medium oval punch, Scallop circle punch, Curly Label punch, Big Designer buttons, silver brads, dimensionals; wrinkled ribbon, Baker's twine, grass die (MFT), Copic markers

Bubblicious!

2011-03-26T10:39:00.001-05:00

Good morning! It's finally so nice to have a quiet Saturday morning with no where to go, nothing big on the agenda and nobody sick in the house anymore-yay!! On top of this, hubby and I got to go out for a date night last evening which makes this an even better start to the weekend:)

Onto my card for the day~ I purchased a bunch of digi images about a month ago and decided to take this adorable image from Michelle Perkett, aptly called "Cutie Patootie Birthday Mermaid", out for a spin.

Not a big stretch for those of you that know her, this image reminds me of Emily- sassy, sweet and swimming:) Her birthday is coming up fast so I might actually be ahead of the curve! I opened the image in Photoshop Elements, re-sized it to fit the space I wanted, then printed it on my Epson 3800. I usually heat set the image for a few seconds to make sure it's really dry before coloring with my Copics so there's no bleed from the image outline.

I used a color palette from this delicious MME paper set called "Dreamy 2"- I love this set so much I've been hoarding it for extra special cards-lol! I kept the layers and patterns pretty simple because I wanted the main image to stand out. I added some flowers cut out with the MFT flower die and a greeting from SU's "Teeny Tiny Wishes" punched out with the Curly Label punch.

The inside was finished with a computer generated greeting, some matching paper and more flowers with clear rhinestone centers- gotta have a little glitz on this girl's card:)

Hope you're having a relaxing weekend- I'm off to tackle my daughter's closet- I made need a search and rescue team to get me out!

Caught a bug??

2011-03-23T12:49:00.000-05:00

I am finally rejoining the living after a horrid week with Influenza-yuck! My son and I were stricken on the last night of our ski trip (which made for a fun trip home from Colorado-not!) and have spent the better part of the last week with fever, cough, headache and generally feeling like we were beaten with a baseball bat:( Try to explain to the 8 year old why the shot I made him get last September didn't prevent this- he's feeling a bit gypped!

I was looking for a bug in a jar image to make him a "get well" card, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted (or what I thought this flu bug should look like) so I decided to draw my own. Now to be fair, I had a lot of inspiration from Anna Wight's bug and several others, but this one was completely hand drawn by me- no tracing, no cheating!

I started with a pencil drawing on Whisper White CS, then outlined the image with my 0.3mm Copic multiliner when I had the image the way I wanted it. I scanned the original so I could resize it and print it again if I didn't like my coloring the first go round.

I used Jen Del Muro's sketch from I {heart} Stamps and paper from a very old pack called "Rebecca". The little circles in the pattern remind me of what viruses "actually" look like- geeky, I know! The greeting was computer generated and accented with a red button and twine.

The inside says it all- "Feel better soon!!" During the worst of it, my poor son just cried and asked "when is this gonna be over?!" Luckily he's on the mend now and feeling a bit back to himself and can find some humor in my little flu bug:)

Hope you're having a great day- I feel a nap coming on...

5-minute wedding...

2011-03-09T11:10:00.000-06:00

Good morning! I can't quite believe it's been a week already since my last post, but life's been a bit crazy around here to say the least! I was reminded of the time that had gone by when I received several messages from people wondering if I was OK- are you sick or what??!

The last week has been filled with a trip to Atlanta for work (fun but exhausting), a long weekend camping trip with my Girl Scout troop, now a crazy week at work and scrambling to leave for our annual ski trip tomorrow-whew! I am going to fall apart on that plane tomorrow!

To add to the start of a busy morning, my son needed a card to go with the wedding shower present for his teacher- hence a 5-minute wedding card was born!

I like to trade stamped images with friends- this expands my repertoire, while keeping my stamp closet {somewhat} sane. I used the image and greeting from the MFT set "It Must Be Love" that I recently swapped- perfect for a quick card! I quickly colored her with Copics and added glitter from a clear Spica glitter pen to her diamond- so sparkly IRL! A few layers of paper from my scrap stash, some ribbon and rhinestones and it was done. Nothing fancy, but quick and cute! I would show you the inside, but my husband whisked the card out of my hands while rushing the kids out the door for school- the nerve!

That's it for me today- hope you're having a great day!

Happy Day...

2011-03-01T05:22:00.000-06:00

Good morning! Hope you're all enjoying some nice weather where ever you are~ spring has certainly hit south Texas and everything here is starting to bud and leaf out!

The ladies over at CDAC (Center for Digital Art Center) have posted a Digi Freebie challenge and there are lots of great free digital stamps up for grabs from a variety of artists. I chose to use an image from a different challenge there which was to use two different prints/patterns in your card design and it included this free cute cupcake image!

I printed the cupcake on Whisper White card stock using my Epson 3800, heat set it for a few seconds and colored it with Copics. I had picked my papers first, so I had a palette of colors to work with- there is nothing more annoying than getting an image colored and not being able to find paper to go with it! The image is layered onto a piece of Poppy Parade and Early Espresso cut with a nested scallop die.

I used paper from My Mind's Eye "Just Dreamy 2" collection and pieced it together with straight and zig zag stitches. I used the "Unscripted Sketches" challenge as a guide for my patterned paper with my inspiration from The Spotted Hen's card "Here's To You". I tied it all up with some wrinkled ribbon, a button from the new "Sweet Stitches" Big Designer Buttons collection and some baker's twine from the Twinery. The computer generated greeting was punched out with the "Curly Label" punch.

I used the same image on a smaller scale and at 50% opacity for the inside, along with a computer my own greeting- kinda ties the inside and outside together! A strip of the flowered paper (which qualifies it for the Crazy For Challenges- Use Flowers Challenge:) and some Poppy paper cut with the Open Scallop Border die from MFT and it was done!

Have a good day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Designed2Delight "Spring Cupcake"
Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, MME- "Just Dreamy 2"
Accessories: Open Scallop Border die (MFT), Scalloped rectangles die (Spellbinders), Copic markers, wrinkled ribbon, Baker's twine, SU: Sizzix Big Shot, Curly Label punch, Big Designer Buttons, dimensionals

Go Texan Day!

2011-02-25T07:48:00.000-06:00

Good morning! It certainly is a beautiful one here today- a sunny 58 degrees now with a high of 76 this afternoon, birds chirping, buds opening- a crime to be inside at work today!! It is a great day, though, for "Go Texan" day and the official kick-off of the Houston Rodeo month. This is also the day that all the trail riders (people actually riding horses into Houston from distant spots in the state) come riding into town- an amazing site!

My kids were pretty jazzed up this morning to get dressed up for school- not as decked out as usual since some of our cowboy boots don't fit:( but festive, nonetheless. We used some tissue paper to help Emily fit into a pair of my boots (notice she doesn't care about what I will wear today-lol!)- by next year, they'll probably fit (a bad thing for me since she'll be in my closet for sure!).

Matthew may be the only "native born son" in our house, but Emily sure does have more Texas style- definitely gonna have to watch her at the rodeo-lol!

Hope you're having a great day~ back to crafting tomorrow!

Birthdays- Boy and Girl Style!

2011-02-17T15:23:00.001-06:00

Good morning! I have two cards to share today that we made at my stamp class last week- both birthday cards, but each very different. The first is a hybrid card- half digital and half real. As you may recall from last week's post, my Stampin' Up box was lost in two snowstorms and came the night before my class. Digital stamps to the rescue!

I used a retired Simply Scrappin' kit for the paper- great primary colors for a boy card! I digitally "stamped" the greetings from the "Bring on the Cake" set (which you can buy as either a digital or as a "real" stamp set) on Whisper White paper. I colored the letters with Ballet Blue, Wild Wasabi, Real Red and So Saffron markers- we figures out that the only limitation to this set is that you can't easy do double years (i.e. 11, 22, 33, etc)- luckily I need a card for an 8-year old, so I'm good to go!

The inside was kept pretty simple because, despite what I want to believe, this card will be thrown away almost instantly after it's read!

This was the girl birthday card we made using the new "Create a Cupcake" stamp set and "Create a Cupcake punch"- very fun! The Blushing Bride background paper was run through the Perfect Polka dots embossing folder to give it a bit of texture and I kept with a simple pink, Vanilla and Espresso color scheme. I outlined the diecut edge with an Early Espresso which is a nice look.

The inside here is also kept pretty simple, even though I am sure the girl who gets this will treasure it-lol!

That's it for today- hope you're having (had) a good day!

Happy {Heart} Day!

2011-02-14T08:52:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your day is off to a good start with lots of chocolate and {smooches}! I got a nice wake-up call from my two little Valentine's with lots of hugs and smooches- too early for chocolate- must each them to make coffee:)'

I was up super late last night finishing all of the Valentine goodies for my son's class, and realized that Emily was going to feel a bit left out since they don't do these things in middle school. I decided to make a quick card to stick in her lunch bag to give her a {hug} from mommy at lunch.

I printed a digital image that I recently bought from Claire Keay and colored her up with Copics to match with some paper from MME called "Love Me Do". The heart dots paper is pretty busy and bold and I didn't want to distract from the main image, so I just used strips of it on the top and bottom and used a more neutral piece for the middle.

I kept the embellishments simple- a few brads, a greeting from a retired set called "Fancy Flexible Phrases" cut out with the Curly Label punch and a heart punched from red glitter paper with the Small Heart punch.

The inside is pretty simple with strips of coordinating cardstock, more red glitter hearts and a greeting from "Teeny Tiny Wishes". For an under 10 minute card, this turned out pretty good-lol! I know she'll smile when she sees this little cutie in her lunch bag.

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Girl and Heart"- Claire Keay, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Fancy Flexible Phrases
Paper: SU: Real Red, Whisper White, Red Glitter paper; "Love Me Do"-MME
Accessories: Copics, Curly Label Punch, Small heart punch, brads, dimensionals

Secret Valentine

2011-02-14T08:31:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Whew-it was a total crush to get everything done and everyone out the door on time this morning! Hubby is out of town (he liked his "Chemistry" card that I slipped into his bag and sent me a Valentine email this morning:)

I have a bunch of stuff to post this morning, so I'm gonna get right to it- the rest will come in another post! Matthew has a "Secret Valentine" lunch exchange at school today (so much fun!). The kids fill out a sheet with their desired lunch, snack,fruit, etc with any dislikes and allergies as well. Then they pick a name out of the hat, decorate a box to put the lunch in and use the box to collect their Valentine's in after they eat. Such a great tradition at their school!

Matthew picked a little girl from his class (who he thinks is very nice:) so we made a very special box for her. Disclosure: I have won the best box in my kids' classes 2 years running, so I was not going to let that title go, so we went all out on this one-lol!

The box was covered in patterned paper from a Valentine's pack I bought last year. The lid is the bomb, though. The edges were covered in red glitter paper with a great piece of patterned paper for the top. We punched a lace heart border with a MS punch to make it look like a paper doily (that actually covers the raw edges where the papers come together:) I dusted off my Cricut and cut her name from the red glitter paper, as well as a crown from pink glitter paper. Matthew decorated her crown with jewels ("every princess needs jewels, mommy"- that boy is going to make a good husband someday!) and we popped it up on dimensionals to it sits up over her name, He also made her a card for the inside that says "You Rock" and a sweet message from him on the inside.

We added some tissue paper to the box and nestled her very special lunch inside- PB&J, big strawberries, Gianna cookes, Pirate's Booty and his card- yummy!

For his class mates, we covered boxes of Sweethearts with red paper and glued this cute little robot image from Claire Keay on the front with a greeting that says "Happy Valentine's Day My Human Friend"- nothing too mushy from a second grade boy:)

Darling Daughter was a bit sad to be in middle school where they don't do things like "Secret Valentine" lunch, so I packed her a bit of love in her lunch bag- but that's another post!

It's all about the chemistry...

2011-02-13T09:38:00.000-06:00

Good morning! What a beautiful day it is in Houston- a bit cool right now, but a high around 68 degrees later today and not a cloud in the sky! I'm planning to pack my Girl Scouts up for an outdoor meeting this afternoon and soak up some Vitamin D:)

The folks over at Crazy 4 Challenges have made this week's challenge super easy- make a card with hearts somewhere on it. If you haven't made any Valentine's yet, this is the time to get on it! My Valentine will be out of town, but this card will be tucked into his bag (shh!).

My husband and I are both in science and medicine so I know he will appreciate the geeky humor in the card! The background papers are from My Mind's Eye "Be Loved" collection, layered onto Bermuda Bay cardstock (a retired color from SU). The layout reminds me of a heating block, with the sqiggly paper representing heat (go with me here!).

The flask was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics. I colored over the pink hearts with a clear Spica glitter pen to make them sparkle and added Crystal Effects glue to the red heats to give them some shine. The red heart outside the flask was popped up on a foam dot to give it some dimension.

The inside was finished with matching papers and a cheeky greeting which I'm sure he'll appreciate! My son told me he didn't get the joke- I referred him to my husband for explanation:)'

I'm off to make the "Secret Valentine" lunchbox for my son's little friend at school- he picked a very nice little girl out of the hat, so I get to make something super girly and sparkly this year-yay!!

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday-

Supplies:
Stamps: "Chemistry"- There She Goes Stamps
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, MME-"Be Loved"
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, large scallop edge punch, Copics, Spica glitter pens, Crystal Effects glue, dimensionals

{Love} you...

2011-02-12T17:50:00.000-06:00

It has taken me most of the day, but I have finally cleaned up my craft room from my class last night and made up any remaining kits-whew! We had a great time, as always- what a great group I have!

This is one of the cards we made last night- at the time I put it together I wasn't sure how it would go over, but people loved it:) The set is called "Valentine Defined" and is a super cute new set from Stampin' Up in their new Occasions Mini catalog.

Since some of the other cards were a bit more involved, I decided to keep this one clean and simple in design. It's a bit hard to see in these pictures, but the red background was embossed using a hearts embossing folder, with some patterned paper from the new "Love Impression" set to give it a perk up.

The main tree image was stamped once on the white rectangle, then another time on a scrap. The heart tree canopy was cut out and popped up on dimensionals to give it some body. The greeting was inked with markers and cut out with the large oval punch.

The inside has a little conversation heart (so cute!) stamped above the greeting and some coordinating paper at the bottom. This has already been snagged for one of my daughter's teachers and it was barely dry-lol!

Hope you're having a great weekend- we're having awesome weather here in Houston, so we're off for a family bike ride!

Supplies:
Stamps: Valentine Defined, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Love Impressions DP
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Sizzix machine, hearts embossing folder, large oval punch, dimensionals

With Sympathy...

2011-02-09T12:20:00.000-06:00

Well, Mr. Brown did not show up with my Stampin' Up package last night so I had to do some improvising for my class coming up this Friday night. The box is scheduled to be delivered today, which wouldn't be a big deal, except that I am on call and won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, when I will brain dead. Digital stamps to the rescue!

Stampin' Up got into the digital frenzy last year when it brought out it's own program called "My Digital Studio" which makes it easy for people who have never used digital software to create cards, calendars, etc or use the digital elements to make a "hybrid" project (digital and real elements) as I have here. The nice thing about digi stamps, paper, etc is that once you purchase them, you can download and use them immediately, with no shipping charge- gotta love instant gratification!

For this card, I digitally "stamped" the main flower image from a set called "Elements of Style" on my digital workspace in Soft Suede and printed it Very Vanilla card stock. The image was colored with an aquapainter using Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz and Close to Cocoa ink refills which gives it a soft watercolor look. The main image was cut out with an oval nested die and sponged with Close to Cocoa with the die in place to leave a clear edge.

I used some paper from a retired pack called "Parisian Breeze" for the background and layered a piece of Blushing Bride card stock which was run through the "Vintage Wallpaper" embossing folder on my Sizzix machine to give it a shabby-chic look. One of the really nice things about digi stamps is that you can size and print them anyway you want. The greeting on this card turned out a bit too large for where I wanted to put it the first time, so I made it smaller and printed it again- perfect! A little Vanilla seam binding ribbon tied in a double bow finishes it off.

The inside was finished pretty simply with some matching patterned paper and a simple greeting. I need a few sympathy cards, unfortunately, but this could also be used for a Mother's Day or a special friend's birthday.

If you're coming to my class Friday night, we'll be making this beauty!

Supplies:

Stamps: Elements of Style (digital)

Paper: Parisian Breeze, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride

Ink: Blushing Bride, Pear Pizazz, Close to Cocoa; Soft Suede (on computer)

Accessories: Aquapainter, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, scallop edge punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, Sizzix machine, Vanilla seam binding ribbon

Recycling...

2011-02-08T11:13:00.000-06:00

Mr. Brown has failed me this time! My big box of Valentine's goodies (which I need for my class on Friday) left Salt Lake on January 31st. It made it to Oklahoma just in time for their big snow and ice storm. There it sat for a week. Then it got to Mesquite, TX just in time for an ice storm there. Someday I hope to get my box so I can make the cards for my class this Friday night!

Since I ripped the image off the card I was going to share with you this morning (don't ask- bad coffee moment...) I decided to share two old cards that I posted on Splitcoast 3 years ago (crazy how time passes). I had just bought a few Copic markers and these were some of the first iamges I colored with them- clearly need some technique help!

Both cards use a poppy image from Flourishes that I love- it's so pretty and fun to color! I stamped the background words on an acetate sheet which gave it a cool look.

The second card was kept super simple, with just an embossed white background and a monochromatic color scheme which make the orange poppy real stand out. I love both of these cards for their simplicity and the beautiful flower image. I definitely need to pull this stamp out again- it's a perfect for Mother's Day or adult birthday card.

Hope you're having a good day- pray that Mr. Brown shows his face soon!

Perk Up!

2011-02-07T10:28:00.000-06:00

I don't know about y'all, but this morning was definitely difficult to get everyone moving, especially me lol! I appreciated the long weekend due to our "snow day", but it was all that much harder to get going today. Coffee to the rescue!!

When I saw this set called "Morning Cup" from Stampin' Up, I knew it had my name on it! Anyone who knows me well is aware of my coffee habit:) The main image was stamped in Staz On Timber Brown and colored with reinkers and blender pens. Blender pens allow more shading than markers and give you more color options. I used some leftover paper from last year's "Sending Love" designer series paper collection on a Kraft background. I kept embellishments pretty simple with a double row of scallops and an Early Espresso satin ribbon bow.

The inside is finished with my favorite line from the set- "Caffeine isn't a drug, it's a vitamin!" Perfectly apropos for me as I use caffeine as a drug in my Neonatal practice and sometimes I wish I could have IV caffeine!

After my class on Friday, I'm going to mail this one off to a friend in Boston who is an even greater coffee-holic than me-I'm a rank amateur compared to her!

Have a great day!

Supplies:

Stamps: Morning Cup

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, "Sending Love"

Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, various reinkers

Accessories: Blender pens, Early Espresso satin ribbon, scallop edge punch, dimensionals, Sizzix Big Shot, nested dies

Vintage Valentine...

2011-02-06T09:33:00.000-06:00

Good morning! It's so nice to finally have a morning that I can stay in my PJ's, drink coffee and enjoy the view of some blue sky form my craft room. I did some major cleaning in here yesterday (don't fall over dead...)- mostly to get rid of old magazines, catalogs, etc. I found some old scrapbook projects that I may tinker with today (it's amazing what you find under the piles-lol!).

I did get a few cards done for my upcoming stamp class next Friday night. If you haven't RSVP'd, please let me know if you're coming and if you can't make it, let me know if you want a kit. If you're an out-of-towner and want a kit, I can mail it cheaply in a padded mailer, so let me know:)

I love the vintage style of the images from Stampin' Up's "Greeting Card Kids" set and decided to go for a black and red color scheme with paper from the "Love Letter" set. I wanted to teach my class about paper piecing, so I stamped and cut her dress out of the red polka dot to overlay on the image after it was colored. This image reminds me of Emily when she was little- all chubby legs and big cheeks!

The image and the layers were cut out on my Sizzix Big Shot with a variety of dies and the greeting was punched out using the Modern Label punch. I ran a basting stitch down the middle of the black striped ribbon to give it a gathered look, which I think works well with the patterned paper. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can get a similar look with red line tape.

The inside is finished with some matching DP and a strip of black punched with the Eyelet border punch. I left it blank so people could decide on another greeting inside, or leave it blank for their own message.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday morning!

Supplies:
Stamps: Greeting Card kids, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Love Letter DP
Ink: Staz-On Jet Black; Markers: Riding Hood Red, Daffodil Delight, Blush Blossom
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, Sizzix Big Shot, Modern Label punch, 1-1/4" black grosgrain ribbon, black rhinestones

Love Ewe...

2011-02-05T13:04:00.001-06:00

Happy weekend! I can actually say "happy" now that we are above freezing and the ice is melting-yay! It also means I could kick my housebound children out to swim team practice to work off their pent-up energy and I can have a few moments of peace and quiet!

I started this card last weekend, but somehow the week got away from me and I had trouble fitting the image into a sketch and putting all the pieces together until today. I finally decided to use last week's Sweet Sunday sketch, stretched into a square to make it work for my image.

I used an image from my favorite illustrator, Zlatoena, called "Sheepish Love"- so adorable! I colored minimally with Copics and added some glitter to their hearts to give them a bit of sparkle. The image was layered onto Kraft card stock, then onto an eyelet square cut from Riding Hood Red CS, with some small pearls as accents.

The card base is a 5.75" square layered with Riding Hood Red and papers from MME's "Be Loved" set, stitched together around the edges on my sewing machine. I used some of the fun new Baker's twine I bought on Etsy recently to tie on a button from SU's "Deck the Halls" Collection. The greeting was generated in Photoshop, cut out with a Labels 14 nested die and sponged with Blush Blossom ink with the die in place to leave a white edge.

The inside was also finished with a Photoshop generated greeting and matching papers. I was talking to my brother and sewing-not a good thing to attempt, obviously as my top seam was crooked-lol! A scalloped edge to the rescue and it hides my mess up- there are no mistakes in stamping, just opportunities for embellishment! This will probably be hubby's V-Day card this year:))

Hope you're enjoying your day- I definitely have to get out of the house today before I go completely bonkers!

Have a good one~

Supplies:
Stamps: "Sheepish Love"- Zlatoena
Paper: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, MME-"Be Loved"
Ink: Blush Blossom
Accessories: SU: Sizzix machine, dimensionals, "Deck the Halls" big buttons, Basic Pearls; Nested dies, scallop edge die (MFT), "Sugar Coating" glitter, Baker's twine, sewing machine

Scoops of love...

2011-02-02T11:43:00.000-06:00

Brrr! It was a chilly 21 degrees this morning in Houston- definitely a bit lower than I've seen in a few years! We're supposed to get a few more days of this freeze and perhaps some sleet/snow by Friday. My kids are praying so hard for a snow day-lol!

Today I have another digi stamp card to share with you- this time from the Stamping Boutique. When I saw this sweet scoop full of hearts, I fell in love!

I printed the image on Whisper White card stock and colored it with Copics. I added some shine by overlaying the red hearts and bow with Crystal Effects glue and some glitter to the pink hearts with a Spica glitter pen- the shine is so much better IRL! After the image dried overnight (key to success- don't cheat!), it was cut out using the Labels 15 nested dies on my Sizzix machine.

The base card is a 5.75" square (my favorite size!), layered with some retired SU designer papers from the "Night & Day" and "Sending Love" collections. I pinked the edges of the white layer with the Pinking Hearts punch border punch and added some really cool black ribbon and rhinestones to temper all the red. The greeting was computer generated and punched out with the Modern Label punch.

The inside was finished with some matching DP and a computer generated greeting cut out with nested heart dies. This card will probably go to my little 8 year-old son- he deserves scoops of love!

Keep warm!

Birthday Sprinkles...

2011-01-29T13:32:00.000-06:00

I wish I could still say "good morning" but the day has already begun to slip away from me. I was up at the crack of dawn (5:30am) to take my daughter to a dance competition and am just getting back to my computer. What is is with these early morning sports competitions- don't they know parents need their rest, too??

I have another bunny to share with you today from my friend Zlatina- such fabulous illustrations! She invited me to join the "Crafter's Digital Art Center" which is a site for people who create or just love digital art/stamps- what a nice group! One of the challenges involved using this stamp (which I had just purchased-yay!) so I thought I would give it a whirl.

I used some more of the yummy paper from Basic Grey's "Hopscotch"collection- I love the peachy pinks and cool blues paired with brown. I stitched the background papers together and added some crinkled ribbon with a button to bring out the blue in the paper. I printed the image on my Epson 3800 twice- once on Whisper White and once on a brown piece to paper piece the bottom of the cupcake. The top of the cupcake was colored with Copics (and Spica glitter pens for the sprinkles:) and completed image was mounted onto a blue piece cut with the largest square eyelet die on my Sizzix machine. The front was finished with a computer generated greeting layered onto coordinating circles and some pink pearls and rhinestones.

After the card was completely finished, I went back and layered Crystal Effects over the cupcake icing to give it a smooth, shiny texture and embedded some red rhinestones in some of the sprinkles. The most difficult part of using clear glue to make an epoxy finish like this is truly not touching it overnight- don't test it, it's not dry before that-trust me!

The inside is finished to coordinate with the front, using a smaller version of the main image. To make it easier to place the image where I want and re-size it, I convert the original drawing to a brush and save it in my custom brush folder in Photoshop- this makes it just like a "regular"stamp!

Hope you like my little bunny- he makes me smile every time I see him!

Have a great day~

Supplies:
Stamps: "Rabbit in a Cupcake"- Zlatoena's Designs
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Basic Grey "Hopscotch"
Accessories: SU: Sizzix Big Shot, Deck the Halls Big Designer buttons, basic rhinestones, dimensionals; Eyelet Square nested dies, Copic markers, pink pearls, crinkle ribbon, hemp twine, sewing machine

I {heart} you...

2011-01-26T09:21:00.000-06:00

What a busy start to the week! I was on call Monday and am just surfacing today-craziness! I am finally beginning to think about Valentine's cards and bought some fun new images from Zlatoena- I do have a fond spot for her rabbits:)

I printed the rabbit image on Whisper White CS on my Epson printer and colored it with Copics, adding a little yellow Spica Glitter pen on the flowers to make them sparkle. The bow was colored with Copics and Spica glitter pen and popped on dots to give it dimension- so cute IRL!

I used the sketch from MFT which fit perfectly with this long, narrow image (a little late now that it's a new Wednesday, but better late than never-lol!). The background papers are from a MME pack called "Love Me Do" which I've had in my stash for awhile now. The top border is trimmed with a white strip punched with the "Pinking Hearts" border punch and some thin, red ric rac. The flower is punch using a retired SU flower punch, centered with a brad from last year's Valentine's stash. I hand wrote the greeting (a million times before I liked the look of all three "letters" and cut it out using the smallest Labels 14 die.

The inside is finished with matching paper and the greeting stamped onto the blue dotted paper, cut out with a larger Labels 14 die to tie in with the outside.

This card will probably go to my daughter (who has already had her hot little hands all over it:) for Valentine's Day.

Hope you're having a great day- sunny and 60 here in Houston!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Rabbit with Daisies"- Zlatoena
Paper: Whisper White, Cool Caribbean, Real Red, MME- "Love Me Do"
Accessories: Copics, Spica Glitter pens, Copic Multiliner, Pinking Hearts punch, red ric rac, brads, flower punch, Sizzix Big Shot, Labels 14 dies

Wedding Wishes...

2011-01-23T08:07:00.000-06:00

Good morning! Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. I have a few extra minutes this morning because hubby took my daughter to her swim meet for the warm-up time of 7:30am so I can enjoy my coffee at home instead of on a bleacher today! Em has a terrible cold and her parents would not have let her compete today, but she has become a determined little pre-teen, so we compromised to 3 of 5 events- we'll see if we live to regret that decision tomorrow!

Onto the card for today~ I have a dear friend who is getting married next week in Seattle and we just can't make our schedules work to be there, so I wanted to make her a special card to let he know how much we love her, miss her and wish her (and her new hubby:) the best on this adventure called marriage! When I was making my bathroom drapes last week, I saw some fabulous trim at the fabric store and immediately had a vision of this wedding card. The lady helping me gave me a "generous" sample of this trim when I told her what I wanted to use it for- love her!

I dug through my paper stack and found some paper from the Basic Grey "Periphery" collection that matched.I kept the card pretty simple because I wanted this pretty trim to be the focus. I generated a greeting in Photoshop, cut it out using an oval nested die and layered it onto a Buckaroo Blue piece cute with the Labels 14 die (love this shape!). A few pearls and some sponging and the front was done.

The inside was finished with pieces of the same patterned paper and a sponged Labels 14 shape, left empty so I can write our own personal wishes to the happy couple.

This card is so much prettier than in the pictures, but I hope they like it nonetheless! I'm off to the swim meet- hopefully the decongestant kicks in before Em has to swim the fly- otherwise, not a pretty day for anyone who lives with her!

Sewing project...

2011-01-19T13:13:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! It's been a few days since I've had anything to post and that's because I have been working on something other than paper- don't say it's so! We finished remodeling our bathroom just before the holidays and I've been meaning to make some drapes to soften some of the "hardscape" of stone and cabinetry, so the long weekend was the perfect time to tackle this project (I needed that long so I could remember how to thread and use my serger-lol!).

I found a great fabric store here in Houston, called "Best Fabrics" up on Fondren- they have a huge collection of drapery and upholstery fabric and beautiful trims, all very nicely priced. I settled on a transitional print of a chocolate brown leaves on a sage green ruched background- the brown really goes well with the brown stone. I decided to keep it simple and make sheers for underneath with a simple swag piece over the top, draped over the rod- like a big scarf, actually.

The best part is definitely the trim- oh, la, la! Gorgeous beads and tassels- even my husband, who is not a frilly kind of guy, thought this looked amazing when they were done (I think it also helped that the entire project cost less than $200:).

The bathroom needed something to soften the hard look of the glass from the shower and make the tub seem more inviting and private.

I made a smaller version for the toilet area- you can see a bit more of the texture in the sheers here- they also have a bit of ruching and sparkle. I kept thinking what a beautiful bridal veil this fabric would make- too bad all my friends are past that point!

That's a look at my little sewing project- it was nice to get out my machines and sew on fabric for a change instead of paper-lol!

Coming up next- some Valentine's creations~ have a great day!

Sparkly Winter Wishes...

2011-01-12T11:45:00.000-06:00

Good morning! It was kind of nice to wake up to some real winter weather here in Houston today (I'll probably be egged for saying that!). I have to say I am a bit jealous of all my friends in the northeast who are socked in with snow and having a snow day- would be kind of fun to have a sledding day with the kids. I'm saying that from here, of course, because I don't have to live through the rest of the winter up there!

Onto my card for today~ I've been inking up some new images I bought recently and decided to give this cute little skater girl a whirl on the ice. I chose some paper from Basic Grey's new "Marjolaine" collection- the leaves in the background pattern look almost like funky snowflakes. The background papers were stitched together and distressed on the edges a bit. I realized I had stitched the argyle piece down before deciding to add punched borders, so I added some stitched ribbon to cover the transition zones.

My little skater girl was colored with Copics and cut out with an oval nested die. I added some snow glitter to the rim of the main image and to the snowflakes under the greeting to give it some sparkle.

The inside is dry embossed with some snowflakes using the "Northern Flurry" embossing folder from SU. I left the rest of the inside blank so I have plenty of room to write a note.

That's it for today- here's hoping for a snow day in Houston!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Girl Skater" Claire Keay, "Glad Tidings"-Verve
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, "Marjolaine"-Basic Grey
Accessories: Stampin' Up: Sizzix Big Shot machine, Norther Flurry embossing folder, basic brads, Buckaroo Blue stitched ribbon, dimensionals; Ornate border punch, snowflake die, nested oval die, snow glitter (MS), Copic markers

Warm Wishes...

2011-01-11T13:07:00.000-06:00

I didn't realize as I was writing this post how much I would want "warm wishes" this morning- it was a cold 35 degrees and windy when I was getting the kids off to school. That's not so cold by many people's standards, but here in Houston that's chilly! Brrr!

It's dangerous to color and image before picking the paper because invariably something that you colored doesn't match the paper you want to use. I broke that rule when I had printed and colored a bunch of images this past weekend and am now left with the task of making them work with paper I have. I colored this little "Eskimo Rabbit" with a peachy pink, light browns and turquoise blue and added some white flocking to the collar and cuffs- so fuzzy and sweet!

Luckily, Mr. Brown just came with some paper I ordered over the holidays (so much for the resolution to use paper I already own:)' and the Basic Grey "Hopscotch" papers worked perfectly-yay! Some machine stitching and distressing later and the background was done. I embossed a leftover die cut piece with a small polka dot embossing folder, added some peach color pearls and a ribbon tied button for accents.

I finished the inside with some more of the patterned paper, a scalloped border and a computer generated greeting layered onto one of the new Spellbinders shapes, called Labels 14- such a great shape!

This little bunny is going to an old friend's mother who has been battling colon cancer this past year and who would miss my usual holiday greeting, even if it is late.

Hope you're staying warm wherever you are- time for some cocoa!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Eskimo Rabbit"- Zlatoena
Paper: Cool Caribbean, Close to Cocoa, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Basic Grey-"Hopscotch"
Accessories: Stampin' Up: Sizzix Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Candy Cane Christmas Big Buttons; scallop edge punch, brown dotted organdy ribbon, Labels 14 and 16 dies, sewing machine, peach pearls, white flocking (MS)

Flurries of love...

2011-01-10T09:43:00.000-06:00

Good morning everyone! It's a dreary, chilly morning here in Houston and it was like moving earth and planets to get my kids out of their snug beds and motivated for school today . My poor hubby flew to Atlanta last night and landed in the middle of a snow and ice storm- not pretty! He said there was some very creative driving by people unaccustomed to snow on his 2-hour drive from the airport to the hotel-crazy! We're hoping it all gets cleaned up by tomorrow to get him back home safely!

Although the snow may be messy and unwelcome in some places, I love it on my cards:) I am still making "winter greetings"/holiday thank you cards and this little snowlady caught my fancy.

The image is another illustration from Zlatoena- I absolutely love her snow people! I printed the snowlady onto Whisper White card stock and colored her with Copic markers and Spica glitter pens for the red dots and the snow- so sparkly IRL! The ink in my Canon printer behaves like pigment ink and doesn't run or smear when coloring with either watercolors or alcohol markers, which make it perfect for printing digi stamps. The rest of the card came together with scraps from other projects and some sparkly red ribbon and rhinestones- a girl's gotta have bling:)

The inside has a computer generated greeting and some more of the patterned paper and sparkly ribbon. A simple, quick card but one that will brighten my AIL's (aunt in-law) day.

Hope you're having a good day~

Supplies:
Stamps: Snowman with ribbon (Zlatoena)-digital stamp
Paper: Real Red, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas (Stampin' Up)
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine, Dotted embossing folder, Metallic Velvet ribbon, rhinestones, Copic markers, Spica glitter pens

Missing you...

2011-01-09T09:57:00.000-06:00

Today was a day of missing, for sure- missing Mojo! I had colored the sweet "Eskimo Rabbit" from Zlatoena, had paper picked out and decided to try the first sketch of the year from Jen del Muro at "I{heart}sketches".

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Awesome sketch and all the other elements most of the way there-not! I spent most of the afternoon fitching with this card and I'm still not sure I love it, but it's done.

The bunny started out with a pink coat, but after it was all together it made the card seem too pink and blue, so a little marker magic and her coat changed to red. It's hard to see in the picture, but I added some white flocking to the cuffs and hood of her coat to make them fuzzy- this got some serious praise from my daughter! I sponged the background with Soft Sky and Going Gray ink then cut the image with an oval nested die.

I goofed around with a bunch of background shapes for the image and for the vertical piece, but finally ended up with simple shapes of ovals and rectangles- the fancier shapes competed with the patterned paper. I stitched around the plaid and added scalloped borders on the top and bottom, with some pink rhinestones for sparkle:) The Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon gives it some contrast while the pink snowflake and tinsel pom-pom ribbon add some extra glitter.

The inside was finished by "stamping" a smaller, lighter version of the original image and adding a computer generated greeting- this is the beauty of digital stamps- they can be resized to suit your needs with the click of a button! Some more of the plaid paper, a scalloped border and some more bling and it was finished.

Now I must finally tackle the job of un-decorating in earnest- really sad because it finally feels like winter in Houston-lol! A good day to light (or click on) a fire and snuggle with my bunnies:)

Enjoy your day~

Supplies:
Stamps: Eskimo Rabbit (Zlatoena- Etsy)
Paper: Bashful Blue, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, "Eskimo Kisses"-Basic Grey
Ink: Soft Sky, Going Gray, Copic markers
Accessories: Stampin' Up-Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon, Sizzix Big Shot die cut machine, dimensionals; nested dies, Open Scallop strip die (MFT); pom-pom tinsel ribbon, pink and clear rhinestones (M's); white flocking (MS), sponges, sewing machine

Sweet bundle of joy...

2011-01-07T16:38:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday- it's finally here! I'm so ready for the weekend, although I suspect most of it will be spent "un-decorating" my house- a sad chore, for sure. Luckily it goes faster than the decorating part!

Onto the card for today! One of the women in my husband's work group is having her first baby and yesterday was her shower. We sent the gift from her registry, but I wanted her to have a pretty card to open at the party.

I pulled out an old Stampin' Up baby set called "Bundle of Joy" which has been my go-to set because of the super cute giraffe and bear images. The giraffe was stamped in Memento "Tuxedo Black", colored with Copics and cut out with an oval die. The background of the card was made with layers of Bashful Blue, Barely Banana and patterned paper from the "Sweet Pea" collection. I used a scallop edge punch to make the top and bottom borders, dotted on some small pearls and tied some ribbon I had in my stash around both ends for symmetry. The greeting was stamped on a scrap of the polka dot print and cut it out with a small circle die- I like the look of a patterned background for the words!

The inside was finished by cutting nested ovals out of the center of both the yellow and polka dot layers- it makes a nice little frame for the greeting and is a look I will definitely use again!

That's it for today- our weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy, so I'm looking forward to some relaxing time in my craft room this weekend- give me a fireplace in there and it would be perfect!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bundle of Joy- retired SU
Paper: Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Whisper White, "Sweet Pea" DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, Basic Pearls, Sizzix Big Shot, dimensional, nested dies, Copic markers, blue ribbon

You're the best...

2011-01-06T11:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Thursday everyone! For a short week (we didn't go back to school until Tuesday) this one has felt very long. It's been hard for everyone in my family to get back into the routine- early mornings, homework, swim team, work deadlines- I think I'm more tired than before the break!

The last few evenings I've been finishing up some projects that I'll show you over the next few days, most of them using images from my friend Zlatoena. Her digital images can be found on Etsy and some of the images have been turned into real stamps by The Cat's Pajamas.

I absolutely love her bunnies and there are so many cute ones to love! This one could be used for Valentine's but I decided to use him for a special thank you card, since that is my immediate need-lol! I resized the image in Photoshop, printed him onto Whisper White card stock then colored him with Copics. I wanted him to be a white bunny, so I colored around his ears with a little of the lightest blue to make them stand out.

After I cut out the image with a square nested die, I left the die in place and used it as a guide to draw a black line border around the image- that made the world of difference! The image was layered onto an eyelet square die cut piece and finished with a computer generated greeting (with all the stamps I have, I couldn't find a greeting that suited me- go figure!).

The inside came about kind of accidentally, but I liked the way it turned out so I left it- sometimes the best things happen that way!

Hope your day is going quickly- one more day until the weekend! Stop back tomorrow for a look at a sweet baby card...

Supplies:
Stamps: 4U (Zlatoena), Thank You Kindly
Paper: Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Cosmo Cricket DP
Accessories: SU- white organza ribbon, Candy Cane big buttons, pearls, dimensionals, Sizzix Big Shot; Nestability dies; Copic markers

A new look...

2011-01-05T10:10:00.000-06:00

If you stopped by yesterday, you may have noticed I was goofing around trying out different blog backgrounds and themes. It's a new year and I felt it was time to change the look of my blog up a bit. I'm not entirely sure I'm in love with it, but it works for now!

Since I didn't have time to get out official Christmas cards, I'm taking the opportunity to send out some "Happy Winter" cards to friends and family that will miss getting a card and using some of these for holiday thank you notes as well.

I have some super cute digital images from a new favorite illustrator I met on Etsy, named Zlatoena, that you will be seeing more of in the coming weeks. This little snowman has been sitting patiently on my desktop all through the holidays just waiting to be used:)

He's printed on Whisper White card stock, colored (or very little actually) with Copics and cut out with a circle nested die. I added some sparkly "snow" for him to stand on- somehow appearing a little pink tinged in the picture- ah, the wonders of digital imaging!

I kept it pretty simple because I didn't want to hide any of this great patterned paper from MME. I did add a strip of Riding Hood Red cut with a ric rac die and a rim of snowflakes cut with a MS edge punch, with some clear rhinestones to give it some sparkle. The main accent is the snowflake made from a layered snowflake die with chunky glitter adhered onto each layer.

The inside is finished with the plaid patterned paper and a strip of snowflakes with some more rhinestones. I left out a greeting for now, so I have plenty of room for a message/thank you. I'm sure most of my friends up north are getting a bit tired of all the snow and "winter", but it's nice to have a little sparkly snow, at least on my cards:)

Have a great day~

Supplies:
Stamps: "Fluffy Snowman"- Zlatoena
Paper: Marina Mist, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, "The Merry Days of Christmas"-My Mind's Eye
Accessories: Sizzix Big Shot, Nestability dies, MS Snowflake punch, rhinestone brad/small rhinestones (Stampin' Up), ric rac die (MFT)

Year in Review...

2011-01-04T13:10:00.000-06:00

Goodness it's been a long time since my last post! The holidays were so busy around our house, really a blur this year. There were many things I did not get to do this year: I did not mail out Christmas cards except to immediate family (a shocker given my hobby!), I did not make cookies and I did not get lights up outside. Things I did manage: went to the Houston Ballet's "Nutcracker" with my kids, mother and friends; made my famous eggnog to give to neighbors (serious yum!) and watched my children narrate the Christmas story at church on Christmas Eve- definitely a highlight!

As part of my New Year's reflection, I thought it would be fun to look back on my favorite things I have made this past year.

January: an alternate color for Valentine's Day

February: the first time I was asked to be a guest designer- thanks Sue!

March: Made my first easel card

April: fell in love with Pure Innocence images

May: School was out before I knew it

June: a simple card that became one of my favs

July: I finally made a good looking guy card!

August: a fun card for Emily at camp

September: a card to cheer my mom after her knee replacement

September: haunted house- my favorite project this past year!

October: became friends on Etsy with a new favorite illustrator, Zlatoena

November: bought my first Verve stamps-so pretty!

November: my favorite Christmas card of the year

December: Christmas was nigh...

December: gave up on paper cards and created a digital card to email

Well, that's my look back on the year- it's been an interesting one, challenging at times, some sad moments and many great memories. I'm not really one for New Year resolutions (too easily broken, I suppose) but there are some goals I have for the coming year: submit something I make for publication in a craft magazine; find ways to be more productive and happy at work- not an easy task some days; do more things with my kids- they're great and they're growing up fast!

What's your goal for the New Year? Leave me a comment with your resolution/goal and I will draw one person from the list for a little New Year's blog candy:)

Have a great day!

Angels We Have Heard on High...

2010-12-15T15:46:00.000-06:00

Happy hump day everyone! Knowing that I will be off at the end of this week is making time go so slowly... I am ready to be home finishing up all the things I haven't yet done and beginning to enjoy the holidays (the hardest task!).

Today I have a card to share that we made at my class last week. For the holidays, I tend to make non-religious cards, Santa, snowmen, etc, but I was drawn to this angel stamp from the Stampin' Up "Angelic Joy" set. It's a nice size and the detail lends itself to watercoloring.

The angel was stamped using Memento Rich Cocoa onto Very Vanilla paper and colored with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and an Aquapainter. She was cut out using a deckle edge die, sponged with Creamy Caramel, then layered onto Always Artichoke and Early Espresso. The background layers, from the "Deck the Halls" DP series, were tied together with some Vanilla seam binding ribbon and the greeting tied on with some gold twine. I added a few pearls in the corners to finish it off.

The inside was finished with a strip of the patterned paper and a die cut greeting, also from the "Angelic Joy" set, leaving lots of room for a holiday note.

It ended up to be a very pretty card and easy to make- good thing because I still have a lot to go!

Gift card hat...

2010-12-14T12:42:00.000-06:00

Holy cow- it's only a little over a week until Christmas! Each year promise myself I am going to be more prepared than the previous year, but then I'm not. I finally got my tree decorated this weekend, I haven't even taken my holiday card picture (much less made the card) and haven't put any lights up outside other than the ones in the garland around the door.

The top of the list for this week is teacher gifts- most of them will get a small ornament but I like to give them a gift card or some money for all they do for our kids all year long. I saw a tutorial over at Splitcoast for these cute beanie cap gift card holders and decided to give them a try for my class last Friday.

These hats were made from the Holiday Thyme paper set from a few years back, with Cranberry Crisp as the contrast paper. I used the Circle Scissor to cut the 5" circles then cut them in half on my paper trimmer to form the top of the hat. A little faux stitching with a Uniball white gel pen, a hand cut felt tassle, some ribbon and rhinestones and the outside was finished. Note: I wrapped the rhinestone brad around the center of the bow and used it to hold the card together instead of an eyelet.

I stamped Merry Christmas from the "Christmas Greetings" set leaving a small space for a note. The gift card sits in this slot between the greeting and the hat band- too cute! Definitely try one of these- other than cutting the circle, they're super fast. If you don't have a circle cutter, find a plate to trace!

Hope you're all doing better on your lists than me~

White Christmas...

2010-12-09T11:19:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! This is going to be a super quick post today with a super quick, CAS card today! I was inspired by a card by Amy Sheffer seen here and decided to make a version of this for my class this Friday night.

The top white layer was cut by placing the ornaments die in the Movers and Shapers die before cutting. This is the first time I have used this die combo and it was really cool. It allows you to cut a shape from the front of a card or a layer exactly where you want it to be, and further into the card than punches can reach. After the ornament hole was cut, the top layer was run through my Sizzix machine with the Fleur-de-lis embossing folder- it's amazing how much embossing adds to a card!

The ornament from the Tags Til Christmas punches set was stamped in Cherry Cobbler so that it lines up with the hole (hint: make a pencil outline of the hole on the bottom white layer to guide stamping). The top and bottom white layers were adhered together with dimensional dots, silver brads were added to the corners, then it was layered onto a Cherry Cobbler layer, then the white card front. The card was finished off with a greeting from the Four the Holidays set and a ribbon tied from Cherry Cobbler Seam binding ribbon.

Have a great day and hope to see you tomorrow night at my holiday class!

CAS Season's Greetings...

2010-12-07T12:01:00.000-06:00

I am finally finished with the grant I was writing and felt an enormous sense of relief when I clicked send yesterday afternoon- now I just need to dig out from all the things I put off while I was writing that-lol!

I have a quick CAS (clean and simple) holiday card to share with you today that we will be making at my class on Friday night. We have many friends/family who do not celebrate Christmas and try as I may, I never get Hanukkah cards out on time, so "Season's Greetings" it is!

The card starts with a 5.5" Soft Suede square base (which requires 20 cents more postage, BTW...). The Very Vanilla panel was stamped with snowflakes from the Serene Snowflakes set in Soft Suede and Champagne Mist Glimmer Paint (so pretty IRL!). I heat set the shimmer paint with my heat tool, then tied a burgundy silk ribbon/bow around the snowflake layer before adhering it to the card base. "Season's Greetings" from the "Many Merry Messages" set was stamped in Soft Suede, cut with a Nestie oval die and layered onto Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede die cuts. All the Vanilla and Suede layers were sponged with the Suede ink- this defines the edges of the brown paper and softens the edges of the Vanilla paper.

The inside was finished just as simply with a stamped greeting, two snowflakes and some sponging. This card was not at all what I had in mind when I started, but I like the outcome so much (and the small time commitment required) that this may be the main Christmas/Holiday card I make this year.

Thanks for stopping by~

A good hot soak...

2010-12-03T11:03:00.000-06:00

Good morning! I don't know about you all but I am sooo glad it's Friday! I am almost finished with my grant and now my hubby gets to shred (I mean edit:), it over the weekend then it's done! This has left me zero time this week for stamping/crafting and I am ready to make some cards and decorate my house for Christmas! Speaking of decorating, I figured that since I didn't have any cards to show you today, I would share my other major projects that I've had going on- redoing my bathroom!

Our house is 17 years old and although we've been redoing some rooms bit by bit, others still scream early 90's- especially our master bathroom. Our good friend is a builder and got his guys together for a super fast rip out and redo- he's the man! Here are a few before and after shots that I took-

The old shower had glass block, a shiny brass rimmed door and really *pretty* flowery wallpaper (old owners, BTW) The new shower was rebuilt to have a more open feel and a clear glass enclosure. It's physically the same size but feels so much bigger with the wall on the left side gone and the clear glass!

This is my vanity before and after. We got rid of the boxed fluorescent lights, trimmed out the cabinets with extra molding and replaced the tops with a pretty brown marble.

The painters are my new favorite people:) They did the most amazing glazing on the cabinets- it's incredible how different the whole bathroom looks with the white cabinets turned all creamy and chocolatey! You can just see a peek of my chandelier hanging from the middle of the room- a little indulgence that makes it fabulous to sit in the bathtub. Speaking of which, I threw out my back sealing all the new tile and grout (2 coats of really smelly chemicals-yuck!) so I took the first bubble bath last night- pure heaven!

Now I have to figure out my next project:)'

Have a great day~

Christmas Wishes...

2010-11-30T10:54:00.000-06:00

Good morning everyone! It's a cold (50 degrees), windy, cloudy day here in Houston and I am so thankful that it has finally cooled off again- bring on the 40's baby! When you live with super heat all summer, you are so ready for some cool air when it comes. If only I could stay home and snuggle under a blanket *sigh* and enjoy it.... A quick post, then I'm off to beg for money, oh, I mean write a grant:)

Sometimes I cut shapes for a card, then find they don't work, so I keep an ever growing pile thinking I will use eventually use them. I decided to dig into that pile last night and found some matching scraps/shapes which were perfect for this card.

The main image was stamped with the Santa image from the "Christmas Mail" set by Craft Secrets- I love their vintage images! The image was colored with Copic markers, except the key in Santa's hand which was colored with a gold Spica glitter pen- it sparkles IRL- so cool! After cutting the image out with a circle Nestie die, the image was sponged with Creamy Caramel ink with the die still in place to leave a clear edge. The rest of the shaped layers were also sponged before layering them together.

The card base is layers of Early Espresso, Very Vanilla and a sparkly snowflake print from MME "Wonderful Winter", tied up with some soft brown suede ribbon. The greeting cut out by hand and mounted onto a Espresso oval from the scrap pile. A few bronze brads finish the corners.

The inside has a scrap strip of the same sparkly snowflake paper, a mail register mark and a vintage greeting from this set as well. This card is nice because it doesn't have too many layers and should make it into a standard envelope (yay- less postage!).

Hope you're having a great day~

Joyful Season...

2010-11-29T11:00:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's Monday already- I am sooo not ready to go back to work and start what I know is going to be an insane week. I have a grant to write (which I have not yet started...), hubby is on the inpatient service at the hospital and we have a 3-day finals swim meet over the weekend- I'm tired already! Such is life, I'm sure for everyone at this time of year~

I was playing around with some stamps I recently bought from Verve and trying to get the hang of getting well inked images with clear polymer stamps (there were several versions in my recycle pile-lol!). I made the card base from Old Olive, Whisper White and some Bazill red card stock that came with a kit years ago. I stitched a piece of patterned paper from Basic Grey's Blitzen collection to the top layer and added a piece of the red stripe across the card with an eyelet border peeking from underneath.

The tag was inked with Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist markers, stamped on WW card stock then cut out with their matching die. The word "Joy" was stamped along the top and the whole tag was layered onto a hand cut piece of red card stock, then tied with a green taffeta ribbon from last year's SU Holiday mini. The snowflakes were stamped in Marina Mist, cut out by hand and attached with brads- the big brad has a snowflake image and is part of the SU Antique Brads set- so perfect for this card!

The inside was finished with snowflakes down the left border, a greeting from this set and a strip of paper to match the outside. I didn't want to add any more embellishments to the inside because I want to get this into the mail without any extra postage:)

Hope you enjoyed my card today- have a great one!

Supplies:
Stamps: Glad Tidings (Verve)
Paper: Old Olive, Whisper White, Bazill red, Basic Grey "Blitzen"
Ink: Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: SU- Scallop Trim border punch, Antique Brads, silver brads, green taffeta ribbon, dimensionals; Sweet Scallop die- Verve; sewing machine

Let the season begin!

2010-11-28T10:28:00.000-06:00

The last few days have been a blur of activity- I didn't even get a chance to post a Happy Thanksgiving (serious cooking going on in my kitchen)! I've spent the past two days recovering from rich food, great wine and lots of company- fun, but tiring. It's taken me until now to become motivated enough to get into my craft room and think about holiday cards and teacher gifts.

I usually make some special gift for my kids' teachers or buy a special ornament and make a gift box for it to go in. Now that my daughter is in middle school, she has 9 teachers- this makes gift making/giving a bit more complicated (not to mention expensive!). I saw the tutorial for these double ball paper ornaments on Splitcoast Stampers and decided that this might fit the bill perfectly.

I used paper from the "Wonderful Winter" paper pack by MME that I bought last year and a hat pin from the Stampin' Up Pretties kit. I added some beads at the top and bottom for a bit of sparkle and a long ribbon with a bow for hanging.

For this one, I used a turquoise and pink combo with a pink glass bead I pinched from my daughter:). These were a quick, fun project and definitely something I can make a bunch of! Because these use very little paper, they are a great way to use scraps from Christmases past.

I'm off to dig further into my daughter's bead stash to make some more of these- enjoy your last day of holiday break!

Merry little snowman...

2010-11-22T12:52:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you all (y'all here in Texas:) but I can't believe it's Monday already! I had to work this weekend, but thankfully there were no emergencies and I didn't have to go back to the hospital after I was done rounding on my patients (which is really a credit to my fellows who need to stay there- thank you!). Still, somehow the weekend slipped away with the arrival of my FIL and AIL (aunt in law) for the holidays (both in their 80's), a Girl Scout trip to a Masquerade Theater show (which had content that I will be "explaining" for some time to come...) and building 3 gazillion piece Legos with my son.

I had hoped to get a bit further along in making my holiday cards and teacher gifts, but all I managed to finish was this card- an achievement all in all-lol!

I've had a big pack of My Mind's Eye paper from last year sitting on my craft room table, so I've been digging through these fabulous sparkly patterns for all my cards lately. I loved these trees so the trick was not to cover all of them with my image and accessories! The snowman is digital image from an artist named Zlatoena whose drawings I just love- so whimsical! The snowman was printed on Whisper White and colored with Copics. The ric-rac is actually patterned paper cut out with a ric-rac shaped die (this one is definitely going to see some more use!). The ribbon is the new seam binding ribbon from SU- love how beautifully this ribbon ties- just gorgeous!

The inside was finished with the same polka dot/ric rac theme with some photo corners to provide balance. Because the patterned papers took up so much room, I decided to stamp the greeting directly on the white background and not mat it so I have "some" room for a note.

Hope you like my sweet little snowman as much as I do- he makes me smile every time I see him!

Heidi

Believe...

2010-11-20T16:40:00.002-06:00

As Christmas approaches and we begin to discuss what might be in letters to Santa (trying to get some hints so I'm not scrambling at the last second!), I am waiting for my middle school daughter to ask the dreaded question... is there really a Santa? I think this conversation is imminent since she has recently given up on the tooth fairy, although she plays along for her little brother. I'm totally not ready for them to lose the magic and am determined to hold onto it for as long as possible, so definitely some extra steps this year (more to come on that!). She's a good sport, though, so I am sure if there is disclosure, she will maintain a good front for Matthew.

Since I was in a Santa mode, I pulled out some stamps from Crafty Secrets that I bought awhile back and have yet to see ink. I do love some of their images, but I really am not a fan of clear polymer stamps- a red rubber girl for sure (sounds kind of kinky, actually-lol!).

The main image was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink on Very Vanilla card stock, then cut out using a circle nestability die on my Sizzix machine. While the die was still in place, I sponged Creamy Caramel ink around the image, revealing a clear border when the die was removed- I love how crisp this comes out! The image was layered onto a larger circle of Early Espresso and a "Labels 13" shape cut from Cherry Cobbler.

The edges of all the layers were sponged with Creamy Caramel to make them match the vintage feel of the image. The card was finished off with some pearls and a bow made from Early Espresso satin ribbon.

The inside was finished with a computer-generated greeting cut with the same Labels 13 die and a strip of the glittery snowflake paper- very sparkly IRL!

Hopefully lots of Christmas and Santa cards and decorations will keep the magic alive for another year~

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Christmas (Crafty Secrets)
Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Wonderful Winter (MME), Early Espresso DP
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Basic Pearls, Early Espresso satin ribbon, nestabilities, Sizzix machine, Stampin' Sponges, dimensionals

Northern Snowflakes...

2010-11-18T11:11:00.000-06:00

Oh, what a beautiful morning...OK, people up north may hate me right now, but this is the time of year that Houston makes up for the long, hot, humid summers! I am definitely going to need to find an excuse to walk across campus today....

This is the last card in the series from my class last Friday night and was probably the favorite (funny how the simplest ones are often the big hits!). The card is simple layers of black, white and a snowflake print from the "Holiday Thyme" Designer Series paper pack from Stampin' Up a few years back (trying to whittle down my stash:)

The bottom edges were clipped with a corner rounder punch which gives it a nice look. The snowflakes are from the Level 1 Hostess set from the new Holiday Mini catalog, called "Northern Hearts" and has some nice patterns for quick cards and gift tags. The snowflakes were inked with Bashful Blue, then over-colored with Basic Black for accents, then stamped on Whisper White and cut out. The top of the inset panel was stamped with a greeting from the "Bright Christmas" set (love these!) and dots were make with a black marker and the mat pack as a guide. A little black dotted organdy ribbon with a double bow and it's done.

This card could be jazzed up with some silver brads, layered snowflakes and machine stitching, but it works the way it is for a quick, pretty card!

Hope you're having a great day- I'm trying to convince the painters that they really can finish my new master bathroom before the onslaught of in-laws for Thanksgiving:)

Christmas Bells...

2010-11-17T10:37:00.000-06:00

Good morning everyone! It's a beautiful, cool breezy morning here- I'm loving this 50-70 degree range we're in right now- finally!! Just a quick post this morning to share another card we made at my class last Friday night.

This card started with a Cherry Cobbler and Kraft base, layered with patterned paper from the "Deck the Halls" set. Stampin' Up has put out some fabulous matching fabric this season which is perfect for accents on cards and small sewing projects like Christmas stockings, quilted coasters, etc. I used a strip of the fabric for a ruffled ribbon by laying down a strip of Sticky Strip and pleating the ribbon over the top. You could also stitch the pleated ribbon on top of the card for a fancier look.

The bells from the "Bells & Boughs" set were stamped on Very Vanilla card stock with Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics- for the class we colored the image with Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and More Mustard reinkers using an Aquapainter, which looked remarkably similar. The image was cut out using a circular nested die on my Sizzix machine and sponged with Creamy Caramel while the die was still in place to leave a clear edge. The image was matted onto an Artichoke circle and a Cherry Cobbler die cut and mounted with dimensional dots.

A quick and easy card that could be dressed up with some machine stitching and some Prima flowers, but elegant the way it is.

Hope you're having a great day~

Supplies:
Stamps: Bells & Boughs
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls DP, Deck the Halls Designer fabric
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel reinkers
Accessories:Sizzix machine, nested dies, Aquapainter, Stampin' Sponges, red rhinestones, dimensionals

Jolly Old Santa...

2010-11-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

I just looked at the calendar and somehow it has become the middle of November and I am really not clear how that happened so fast. I am convinced that the days between Halloween and Christmas move at a different speed than the rest of the year- maybe Einstein needed to explore that theory of relativity!

I'm beginning to think about my holiday cards, teacher gifts, etc so I am not completely backed up by this time next month. I think I have nailed down the treats for my son to give out to his class (more to come on that another day) but am unclear what to do about my daughter's teachers- is it cool to give teacher gifts in middle school??

My stamp group met Friday night and it was a good time for all, except poor Janice who broke her hand:( We stamped her a kit so she can assemble it when she feels better!

This tag is a different version of my moose/reindeer tag I made a few weeks back. I started this one with the large Santa image from the "Jolly Old Saint Nick" stamp set in the Holiday Mini catalog- I love this set (i.e. you will be seeing more of it-lol!). Santa was colored using an aquapainter and Watercolor Wonder crayons. I used Real Red for his hat, Very Vanilla for the trim, Whisper White for his beard and Blush Blossom for his face.

The tag base was made with Sahara Sand cut out with a "Labels 8" die and embossed with a Snowflake embossing folder on my Sizzix Big Shot machine. Patterned paper was added from the retired sets- Holiday Lounge and Holiday Treasures, with a white scalloped trim layer in between. The hole in the top was punched with a Crop-a-dile and set with a large Pewter brad through both the greeting and the tag. It's finished off with some wide striped grosgrain ribbon tied with some hemp twine.

This layout is good for a variety of different main images and will likely be the mainstay for gift tags this year.

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday- hubby took my 8-year old to his swim meet today, sparing me the 6am wake up call- he is a good man!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick, Christmas Greetings
Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Holiday Lounge (retired), Holiday Treasures (retired)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Jumbo Pewter brads, 1-1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, Crop-a-dile, Scallop trim punch, Sizzix Big Shot, nested dies, snowflake embossing folder

A Snowman Bearing Gifts...

2010-11-13T17:12:00.000-06:00

Happy Saturday Everyone! Boy, this started out as a rainy, cool, yucky morning (which didn't stop me from packing my kids off to swim team practice- outdoors...) but it has turned into one of those Houston fall gems. It makes me a little sad that my kids are now past the point of wanting to go to the park- it's a perfect swing day! I'll have to hijack my 8-year old to go outside and throw a football for a bit so I can get out and enjoy it.

Today I wanted to share a card that has been sitting on my craft room desk for the past few weeks waiting for me to finish the last bits. This was made with a digital stamp that I bought on Etsy from the illustrator, Zlatoena- she has some super cute images.

The snowman was printed onto Kraft card stock and colored with Craft ink refills and an aquapainter. The Craft ink is thick enough to be semi-opaque on the Kraft paper and keeps it's color better than markers. I paper pieced his scarf and cut the image out using a nested die on my Sizzix machine, then sponged the edges with Craft Whisper White to make them stand out.

I used Basic Grey "Dasher" patterned paper which has been in my stash for a few years- I loved these patterns so much I have been hoarding them waiting for the right card-lol! The borders and snowflakes were also cut with Spellbinders dies. It's hard to see in the picture, but the white layers of the snowflakes were coated in chunky ice glitter and they really sparkle!

The inside was finished with some of the same paper and a greeting from the "Christmas Greeting" set.

I really like the way this card turned out so I am sure this cute little snowman will make an appearance on some other holiday items this season!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Santa Tag card

2010-11-10T11:16:00.000-06:00

For some reason my family is having a difficulty adjusting to the time change this year, with the worst offender being my 8 year old son who is waking at 4:30am-ugh! Once I'm awake at 5am, it's hard to get back to sleep so I've been piddling around in my craft room finishing projects, like this one, that have sat on my desk since the weekend. A good use of time, but I'd still rather be asleep:|

Stampin' Up has several great vintage sets for Christmas this year, including this "Jolly Old Saint Nick" set, which make beautiful tags and gift packaging easy to do.

One of the techniques I wanted to show my class this week was how to color on Kraft card stock and the different looks that can be achieved with Craft ink, Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Classic ink.

The tag was hand cut from a 3x4" Kraft rectangle with a strip of paper from the "Deck the Halls" paper set at the top for contrast. Santa was stamped in the middle using Staz On Timber Brown- I love how you can position the new clear mount stamps perfectly every time- no more wood blocks for me! Santa was colored with an aquapainter and Real Red, Whisper White and Creamy Caramel Craft reinkers. The Craft ink gives a semi-opaque finish which is nice on the Kraft card stock. I couldn't find my Black Craft reinker, so I used a Watercolor Wonder Crayon for the black pieces and it gave a very similar look.

The tag was finished with some Artichoke Seam Binding ribbon tied with some hemp twine and a strand of the cool Silver Tinsel trim (love this stuff!). The Kraft card base was layered with Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler, which had been run through the "Petals-a-Plenty" embossing folder on my Sizzix Big Shot machine to give it a look like poinsettias, with some silver brads added to lighten up the corners. A little hand cut banner for the greeting and one of those cool "Big Deck the Halls Buttons" and it was done! These tags would also look pretty on the front of a gift bag or tied onto a kraft paper wrapped package~

Hope you're having a good hump day- 2 more to go!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick
Paper: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Deck the Halls Designer Paper
Ink: Staz On Timber Brown, Craft ink refills: Real Red, Whisper White, Creamy Caramel; Black Watercolor Wonder Crayon
Accessories: Seam binding ribbon, hemp twine, silver brads, Big Deck the Halls Buttons, Silver Tinsel trim, Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder, Sizzix Big Shot machine

Cute Christmas Snow globe...

2010-11-09T10:50:00.000-06:00

I have to say it is a bit hard for me to get into the holiday spirit when it's 75-80 degrees here in Houston and the foliage (what there is) hasn't even really begun to turn. I think that disconnect between what I expect (i.e. the New England fall that I am used to) versus the warm sunny days here make me procrastinate about getting holiday planning and shopping done- or so I like to think:) That's my story and I'm stickin' with it!

I have seen some really cute snow globe cards recently and thought that this would be a fun card for my stamping group to make this Friday night. I used the layout from the Mojo Monday sketch and paper from the Candy Cane Christmas paper pack. I love colors in this set- Baja Blue, Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Blushing Bride- perfect for something different than the usual red and green.

The snow globe was made by punching a 1-3/4" circle in blue snowflake paper, then lining it up over the Whisper White square to stamp the snowman in the middle. After he was colored, I poured some chunky ice glitter into a round Sweet Treat cup, popped it in the hole and glued the two layers together. The snow globe was layered onto a scalloped square shape cut with my Sizzix machine and popped up on dimensionals. The greeting is from an older set called "Short & Sweet" punched out with the Word Window punch and layered onto some Baja Breeze punched with the Modern Label punch. A red satin ribbon bow and some red rhinestones and it's done. My kids had so much fun shaking this guy around last night- poor thing must be dizzy!

Check back tomorrow to see a vintage tag card we'll be making this week. If you can't make the class or you don't live in Houston, email me and I'll send you a kit so you can join in the fun!

Christmas Deer Tag

2010-10-27T10:16:00.001-05:00

**OK, correction- he's a Christmas Deer not a Moose- although he still looks a bit like a moose to me!**

Hello Everyone! Just a quick post today to share a Christmas tag I made over the weekend with another digital stamp I purchased from Zlatoena's Etsy store. When I saw this moose, I immediately fell it love- so many cute Christmas cards and tags floating in my head!

The wonderful thing about digital stamps is that you can resize them to fit your needs or amend the image. Here, I opened the Moose in Photoshop, added text boxes over the labels hanging from his antlers and added the words "Do Not Open", then printed "'Til Christmas" on another sheet. This customizes the image a bit and is super easy to do. After I printed the altered Moose onto Whisper White card stock, I colored him with Copics and cut the image out using a nested label die on my Sizzix machine.

The rest of the tag went together very quickly- the base is a Kraft tag cut with a larger labels die, run through a snowflake embossing folder and sponged with Whisper White craft ink to accent the snowflakes. I added papers from an old stash of Basic Grey "Dasher" and a white strip punched with the Scallop Trim border punch. A jumbo pewter brad was placed through the tag and greeting with my Crop-a-dile (best tool on earth!) and it was finished with some pretty red silk ribbon.

This tag should go on my SIL's presents 'cause she's a cheater!

Hope you're having a great day-90 degrees here in Houston today- bring on the cold front!

Let Them Eat Cake!

2010-10-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

I was cruising around Etsy last weekend when my daughter and I saw this cute digi bunny stamp from the artist, Zlatoena, and it was love at first site (or bite!). Now, if you've never been on Etsy you MUST go now! This is a site where people can sell anything handmade- unbelievably fabulous! I am not responsible for any obsessions with handmade jewelry, fabric or vintage pieces that occur as a result of this recommendation...

OK, onto my cute little friend! I printed the Birthday Rabbit on Whisper White card stock and colored him with Copic markers, pulling colors from the patterned paper. I wanted to keep the rabbit white, so followed the lead of others who have posted using this stamp and colored a halo around his ears so they stand out. I added sparkle to the cake stripes and candle flames with Spica glitter pens and made the icing shine by coating it with Crystal Effects glue- it makes the icing look so real my kids keep feeling it!

I had two random pieces of this pretty sparkle dot paper, which seemed perfect for a girlie birthday card, but no coordinating pieces. Sizzix machine to the rescue! I embossed a sheet of Cool Caribbean with an argyle embossing folder which makes a nice combo with the dots (I think that machine gets more use than my dishwasher-lol!). Each of the pieces was layered onto Early Espresso then onto a Pretty in Pink card base. A few silver brads, a double-tied bow and a computer generated greeting done!

Since kids don't tend to write a lot on the inside of a card, I used some more of the sparkly dot paper for the background and stamped a birthday greeting on a smaller inset. Darling daughter has requested this card for her birthday (which is not until May...) so I am sure this rabbit is going to see some use!

Hope my little rabbit made you smile and that you're having a good day!

Arrgh Matey!

2010-10-25T10:12:00.000-05:00

Good morning! It was a busy weekend as usual in the Karpen house- swim meet, Girl Scouts, homework projects- but I managed to sneak in some stamping time anyway:) As many of you know, I am a huge fan of digital stamps- they can be easily re-sized, colored digitally and, best of all, they don't take up any space in my stamp room! I indulged myself in a bunch of new digi stamps this weekend and I have some fun cards to share with you this week.

I need a boy birthday card for a party next weekend and thought this little mouse from Heather Ellis was so perfect- cute but not girl-ish (no sweet cards, mom!). I dug through my paper stash and found some bright paper from Scenic Route I've been hoarding (2006 purchase...) and paired it with some simple accessories- black velvet ric rac and silver brads- clearly no bows for this one, lol!

The little pirate mouse was colored with Copics- I had the worst trouble deciding on color combos for his hat and shirt and I'm still not sure that this works, but I am quite sure that the 8 year old boy who receives it will not notice! I colored the treasure with gold and red Spica glitter pens- they're so sparkly and shiny IRL- my son thought that was so cool!

The greeting on the front was computer generated and punched out with a Word Window punch. The inside is finished with some of the striped DP and a birthday stamp from Stampin' Up. This was super cute and fast (other than coloring 3 mice to get the right gray and best shirt/scarf combos-lol!).

Hope you're having a good start to your week~

Droopy whiskers...

2010-10-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

My very elderly aunt (93 years old) was just hospitalized last week and they are having trouble figuring out what's wrong with her (except, as she says, getting old and wearing out!). As the only physician in the family, this makes me nuts because I never really get the clear story and I have seen poor practice can be in outlying areas compared to major medical centers. All I can do from this far away is pray that she gets good care and support them by phone. Oh, and make a card!

My kids decided to "help" me make a card for her to cheer her up, so hopefully that explains the stamp and color choices of this card-lol! I started with the Wednesday sketch challenge over at Splitcoast and this adorable "Mouse in the House" digital stamp from Heather Ellis.

My kids picked cotton candy sweet papers from the "Pawsitively Prints" collection from Stampin' Up, not my taste, but I went with it. I colored the mouse pretty simply because there is a lot going on in the patterned papers.

With a sketch, the rest goes together pretty easily- just plug papers into the right dimensions and you're good to go. I added a few extra layers and a punched edge to make it a bit more frilly-my aunt is a girlie-girl at heart (pink lipstick, pastel colors in her closet) so I am sure she will appreciate this! A computer generated greeting and a layered button tied with hemp twine finish it off.

The inside is finished with some of the floral paper and a "get well" wish. Hopefully this will cheer her up a bit- she's a great, tough lady and I hope she's out and about soon!

Thanks for stopping by~

Vintage Christmas...

2010-10-20T11:35:00.000-05:00

Today just seems like one of those days that no matter what you try to do, you get derailed! My car is in the shop (no word for 2 days on what they think is wrong with it- that's not good), one of the toilets I ordered online for my new bathroom came cracked (and they think it's not their problem) and hubby is on his way for another 4 day trip so no backup there-ugh! I think that no matter how successful a woman becomes, or how much her husband helps out at home, when stuff comes up, the wife gets to deal with it!

OK, enough griping abut toilets- down to some stamping. I am starting to make some cards for my next class and wanted to use this sweet vintage set called "Greeting Card Kids" from Stampin' Up. This is probably my favorite set from the new Idea Book & Catalog- the images are great for coloring and there's one for each season. I stamped the image onto Very Vanilla card stock using Memento "Rich Cocoa", colored it with Copics, then cut it out using a nested die on my Sizzix Big Shot. While the die was still in place, I sponged some ink lightly in the background to make it feel a bit more aged, while leaving a clear rim to set it off. The image was layered onto another nested shape cut from Early Espresso- this is such a perfect brown color!

I usually pick my papers before I color and image and now I know why: when I got this image all done, I realized that the patterned paper I wanted to use, "Deck the Halls" has a more burgundy red in the mix-aah! I wasn't coloring a new image, so I dug through last year's paper and found this pretty red flocked piece from the "Christmas Cocoa" set. The flocking was bright white (which didn't go with the vintage feel), but a sponge and some light brown ink to the rescue and now it matches with the other papers! I used some of the new Seam Binding ribbon (wow, this ribbon ties beautifully!), a button from the "Deck the Halls" button set and some pearls to finish off the front.

The inside was finished with a greeting from the "Bright Christmas" set (gorgeous fonts!) stamped in Early Espresso and Riding Hood Red and a border of the Christmas Cocoa flocked paper punched with a scallop edge punch.

My daughter said it was way too early to start Christmas cards, but somehow the weeks between Halloween and Christmas seem to disappear. I am determined to get a few more projects done this year- so we'll see...

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by~

Supplies:

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Bright Christmas

Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Christmas Cocoa DP (retired), Deck the Halls DP

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Copics, Seam Binding ribbon, Deck the Halls buttons, Basic Pearls, hemp twine, dimensionals

Thinking of you...

2010-10-19T12:43:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! Just a quick post today to share a sympathy card I made for a friend lost her sister unexpectedly. I pulled this pretty paper from Cosmo Cricket out weeks ago and had a vague idea of what I wanted the card to look like. There it has sat gathering dust, awaiting some inspiration. The papers are so detailed and pretty that they seemed to compete with every image I tried.

Eventually I went with this beautiful background stamp from Unity Stamps and a word greeting from a retired SU set, All Year Cheer I. The filigree background was stamped in Cajun Craze and sponged liberally with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The greeting was stamped in Early Espresso, cut out with an oval Nestability and sponged with the same Distress ink. An Early Espresso satin ribbon bow with long tails and some copper brads finish it off.

The inside is finished simply with one of the other coordinating prints and plenty of space for a hand-written note. This layout would be pretty with holiday papers and a pretty embossed Christmas greeting. Hmmm, I feel another card coming on...

Hope you're having a good day~

Happy Fall

2010-10-18T10:39:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Boy it's been awhile since I've posted- too much going on in the Karpen house! Hubby has been traveling a lot (6 trips in 6 weeks-yikes!), swim meets, homecoming, Girl Scouts, etc. To add to the chaos, we ripped out our master bathroom last week ("we" being a good friend who is a builder) so hubby and I are "sharing" my closet and a small bathroom in our playroom- good thing he's traveling so much this month :) All of this has left little time for me to stamp and not much Mojo to go with it.

While I was searching for some inspiration, I came across this week's SFYTT (sketch for you to try) and decided to give it a whirl. Starting with a sketch is the easiest and fastest way to get a card done- look a the sketch elements, pick the papers, pick the stamp set, then just add the accents at the end- done! It may seem weird to pick the papers before the stamp set, but I often get more inspiration that way- it's also a good idea to dig through your patterned paper scraps- you'll be surprised at what combinations leap out of the box.

My scrap box yielded this fall combo from some scrapbooking left-overs from a few years back and I decided to pair them with this "Pure Innocence" digital stamp from Heather Ellis. I stitched a simple zigzag stitch across the bottom of the brown leaf paper then just layered the papers as in the sketch. The sketch didn't have an easy place for a greeting so I made a strip in Photoshop with "Happy Fall" (or "Fall Happy" as I now realize it looks like on the left-lol! Some felt flowers and leaf buttons from my stash finish it off.

The main image was printed out on Very Vanilla card stock, colored it with Copics, then her polka dotted dress was paper pieced over the top. when paper piecing, it is key to color first then glue the paper pieces on last- otherwise stray bits of glue can act as a resist when you try to color. I sponged a bit of So Saffron over the background- it's not as dark IRL and gives a soft glow.

The inside is finished with a strip of the brown leaf print and a strip pf the pumpkin patterned paper punched with the scallop trim border punch from Stampin' Up. I left it blank inside for now so I can decide whether to use it for Halloween or, more likely, Thanksgiving.

That's it for today- I'll be back tomorrow with a simple sympathy card I made for a friend. Have a great day~

Birthday Fairy...

2010-10-07T08:25:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness it's Thursday! This means that the week is almost over and I have survived another birthday! For some reason this birthday hit me in a funny way and I was absolutely not enthusiastic about it. I turned down a fancy dinner with my hubby, didn't want cake- just generally cross all around. I ended up making a nice dinner at home (shrimp scampi with gelato and champagne for dessert- my kitchen is the best restaurant I know-lol!). I decided I needed to make myself a birthday card to cheer myself up!

I had borrowed a couple MFT stamps from a friend awhile back and stamped a whole bunch of images to keep in a stash for "later". I decided to pull out one of those cute Jolinne stamps- Fairy Sweet" for my card. The image was stamped in Memento "Tuxedo Black" on Whisper White card stock and colored with Copic markers. The polka dots on her leggings were made with a darker shade of purple to mimic the polka dot paper underneath.

Her wings were colored with a very light yellow-green, then colored with Versamarker and Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give them sparkle and shine! This close-up shows that either I need a Copic coloring class or she needs a die job-lol! The card was put together with a Perfect Plum 5-3/4" card base and patterned papers from the My Mind's Eye Penny Lane Collection- so sparkly and fun!

The inside was finished with a birthday greeting and a coordinating mix of the patterned papers, scallop punched edges and stitching. All in all, a great card to give myself, although it will probably go to whoever is my daughter's next friend with a birthday:)

The best part about birthdays: they only come once a year and they beat the alternative!

Simple Thanksgiving

2010-10-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! Just a quick post today to share the last in the series of cards we made last week at my stamp class. By the end of last week, I was completely out of creative Mojo and could not for the life of me come up with a great Thanksgiving card. I played with several fall sets and finally decided on Autumn Splendor with a simple layout.

The card base is a single sheet of 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" Cajun Craze onto which I layered a standard A2 Whisper White card, trimmed just an 1/8" on each side to fit onto the Cajun backer. I used a single layer backer on cards like this because the white card stock doesn't generally feel sturdy enough to support all the other layers on the front.

The windows were made by punching 1-3/8" squares evenly spaced in a 5-1/2 x 2-3/4" white strip and 1/2" strips of each color were added on the top and bottom edges. The leaves were stamped in Old Olive, So Saffron and Cajun Craze, cut out and mounted on double thick dimensional dots to stand out from the frame. A greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set was stamped with Basic Black ink and punched with the Word Window punch.

Super simple and easy to mass produce for the holidays!

Hope you're having a great day~

Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Splendor, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, So Saffron, Cajun Craze
Ink: Old Olive, So Saffron, Cajun Craze, Basic Black
Accessories: 1-3/8"Square Punch, Word Window Punch, dimensionals

Feeling corky...

2010-10-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to sneak in a quick post before I head outside to putter in the garden- it's such a beautiful day it is here in Houston- 85, sunny and low humidity- just gorgeous! It's been such a long summer (a good thing unless you live way down south, then it's just way too hot for way too long!) that we're glad to feel the cool off and be able to ride bikes and play outside again.

OK, onto my card for the day. I bought some cork sheets awhile back that have been sitting on my desk waiting for some Mojo and my monthly stamp class was the perfect excuse I needed to break them out. I was inspired by a card in the Idea Book & Catalog that used the "Pick a Petal" set and changed it up to suit my style.

The flower petals were stamped in Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip- I have to admit this set used to be hard to position, but after converting it to a clear mount set with thin EZ Mount cling foam, it is much easier to see where the petals will fall, so to speak! I am in the process of converting my favorite sets from wood to cling, but it's a slow process!

I stamped the open petal image on the cork sheets and cut them out with regular paper scissors- a bit thick, but soft so they cut easily. The rest of the card is CAS (clean and simple)- the edge of the Saffron paper punched with the scallop trim border punch and a greeting from the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" set punched with the Word Window punch and layered onto a Modern Label punched from Saffron.

Hope you're having good weather where you are and get a chance to relax before the week starts!

Supplies:
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Cork sheets, Scallop Trim border punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch

Awash with flowers...

2010-10-01T12:42:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo it's Friday! I am absolutely ready for the weekend and it looks like we will finally have perfect weather (60/85 degrees with low humidity) after a very long summer! I am actually feeling motivated to get out in the garden to do some much needed clean-up and fall planting. In keeping with the sunny weather, I was in the mood for something bright and cheery and finally inked up this set, appropriately named "Awash with Flowers".

At each class I try to introduce new techniques to the group (and re-visit them for old-timers)- this card uses two-step stamping, masking and sponging. To give myself a sense of borders, I die cut my white shape before stamping- the new clear mount stamps make it much easier to position images! I first stamped the black outlines of the flowers, then stamped the "filling" for each flower. Each flower outline was then stamped onto computer paper and cut out to use as "masks". The mask is applied over the image with re-positionable adhesive- this allows you to layer images and protects it from stray marks or sponged colors. I left the masks in place while I stamped the flower stems and sponged the background with Marina Mist ink.

The Chocolate Chip card base was made layered with Whisper White, Daffodil Delight and pattered papers from the "Greenhouse Gala" set, separated by a strip of Poppy Parade ribbon. The image was layered onto a Marina Mist die cut shape and paired with a simple little greeting- I intentionally left the inside blank so I can use it for a birthday or other occasion as I need.

Tomorrow I will share another version of this card that showcases the "More is More" idea- more layers, more embellishments, more stuff- and you can decide which one is better!

Have a great weekend~

VIntage Halloween...

2010-09-29T10:03:00.000-05:00

I finally got my baby out of the Apple Store hospital, complete with new hard drive, so I'm up and running again-yay! I've been an Apple user since about 1984, so not much surprises or impresses me at this point- except the Time Machine backup system. Now, my computer has been set to do the automatic backups to our Time Capsule and I haven't been 100% confident if there was really an issue that this would work out. Yesterday, however, I took the plunge and let it "restore" my entire computer from the backup- applications, settings- the whole deal. Results? It took a really long time, but when it rebooted, it was exactly where I left everything the day it died, down to my desktop picture and the web browser pages I had open- seriously amazing!

OK, onto stamping! This Friday is my monthly class so I am trying to make cards that are not too complicated and can easily be finished while we gab and eat, because that's a part part of the deal-lol! Restraining myself from lots of layers and embellishments is a major challenge- I have a hard time feeling like a card is finished without some extra bling!

This set called "Greeting Card Kids" was one of the few from the main Idea Book & Catalog that immediately grabbed my eye- I love the vintage feel and the cute, chubby little kids- too sweet! I dug through my Halloween paper for some not-so-scary looking paper to go along with her and found some perfect pieces from a retired pack called "Halloween Nights". I used some simple layers with silver brads in the corners to set them off.

I stamped the little girl witch in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored her with Copic markers to match the background papers. The image and the background layer were cut out using nested dies on my Sizzix machine. A sheer dotted ribbon bow and a greeting from the retired "All Year Cheer" set finish it off.

The inside was finished simply with a bottom border and a leaf from the retired "Autumn Harvest" set- definitely an old favorite that will be converted to clear mount!

Have a wonderful day- enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather if you're here in Houston- it's about time!

If the shoe fits...

2010-09-27T07:30:00.000-05:00

Every Halloween I don this fabulous pumpkin colored sweater with hand crocheted bats around the collar and cuffs, a witch hat with a sequined pumpkin and black cat on the front and a black cape that my mom made me when I was a teenager. My kids asked recently why I always dress as a witch- I told them you need to go with what you know-lol! There was no disagreement, BTW...

When I saw this image from the "Wicked Cool" set I knew it was one I needed to add to my collection. Now I already have an insane number of Halloween stamps, and the worst part of it is I almost never get any of the cards I've made into the mail. Maybe this year...

This card started with a Rich Razzleberry card base onto which was layered Basic Black and the striped paper from the "Wicked Fun" designer series paper pack. I hand gathered a 10" strip of the Raven lace trim and adhered it to the green polka dotted paper strip with 1/4" Sticky Strip. The greeting was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and punched out with the Large oval punch.

I used Craft Basic Black to stamp the witch's shoes and embossed with clear EP, then colored with an Old Olive marker. The shoes and the Razzleberry layers underneath were cut out using nested dies on my Sizzix machine. Her hat was stamped in the Craft Black, but embossed with Iridescent Ice EP to give it some sparkle, then finished with Tangerine Tango for the brim. The hat was cut out and popped up on dimensionals and some rhinestones from the Black Flourish set accent the scallops of the background piece.

The inside was finished with a strip of the polka dotted paper and a spooky candelabra in the corner. The greeting was cut out with the Large oval punch, layered onto a Fancy tag die cut piece with a few of the black rhinestones added on the flourish for sparkle.

I love this card so much it probably won't make it into the mail either-lol!

Hope your Monday is painless~ praying that I get my computer back today....

Heidi

Sparkly Christmas...

2010-09-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone! I can't believe it's already been a week since my last post- how time flies! This weekend has been the usual business of swim team practice, homework, play dates and helping my mom with her physical therapy. The wrench in all my tenuously balanced life came when my computer began acting wonky on Thursday then all out died on Friday-ugh! Now most who know me would expect me to appear a bit more over-wrought that my darling MacBook Pro had died- except two very lucky things. First, I had just backed everything up in 3 different places a few days before (whew!) and it's still under warranty, so the nice people at the Genius bar are busy replacing the hard drive as we speak.

I have been busy making cards for my class this coming Friday that I can finally share with you now that I stole back my old laptop from my children-lol!When I start preparing for a class, I first pick the stamp sets I want to use and any patterned paper that is special or just came out. The hardest part for me is often getting the stamps and paper into a "card" and that's where sketches can be very helpful. This morning a sketch from Jen DeMuro (SFYTT) came out that seemed a perfect place to start.

I wanted to use the tree stamp from the "A Cute Christmas" set and some sparkly paper from the "Candy Cane Christmas" pack, both from the new Holiday Mini catalog (so fabulous, you must check it out!).

Although I really liked the original sketch, I had to turn it sideways to make the tree image work. The trees were stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi, Real Red and Soft Suede markers. I used a deckle edge die to cut out the main image and the rectangle underneath on my Sizzix machine. The greeting is from the retired set "Warn Words", punched out with the Modern Label punch.

The flower was made by die cutting two different flower shapes out of the "Candy Cane Christmas" fabric- yes, Stampin' Up has finally made some fabrics to coordinate with their paper-yay! There are soooo many projects in my heard for these (Christmas stockings, holiday decorations, hair bows...) and they come in the versatile "fat quarter" size. The flowers were sewn together with some Linen thread and a button from the Candy Cane Big Designer button collection.

This is one of the cards we'll be making at my class on Friday, so hopefully you can make it- if not, let me I can pack you a kit to go! I will be posting more cards each day this week that we will be making Friday night, so stay tuned...

Enjoy the last bits of your weekend~

Heidi

A girl's gotta have bling!

2010-09-19T14:50:00.000-05:00

I bought this cute little chipboard purse pencil holder from Kaiser Craft awhile back and was planning to make it (someday...) for my daughter's desk. I convinced Emily that it would be a great gift for a birthday party she was going to today (which also meant that I could avoid going shopping-lol!). We made a trip to Michael's yesterday for lots of extra bling and sparkly paper to decorate it, which always makes my girl happy!

It comes unassembled, so I started by painting the individual pieces with pink acrylic paint. The purse was covered on both sides with patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye "Penny Lane" collection using Gloss-Luster Modge Podge, which really helped keep the sparkle of the paper showing through.

To assemble the purse, I used E6000 glue, which will hold anything together (including fingers as my daughter discovered- thank goodness for baby wipes!). My husband has these little clamps for woodworking that were perfect for holding it together while it dried, but you could easily just put it under a stack of heavy books instead.

Now came the fun part- adding all the glitz! We added clear rhinestone swirls to each corner, pink, green and blue rhinestones to random dots on the flap and handle and a white flower from the SU Paper Daisies pack with an enormous pink rhinestone brad in the middle- serious bling!

This is a view of the caddy in action- not the most glamorous shot, but darling daughter was itching to leave for the party so I was lucky to get photos at all! Before I assembled the purse, I coated the inner box with Modge Podge so pencil marks would wipe off the painted finish.

The other half of her gift was an iTunes gift card which we tucked inside this cute little purse card, CASEd directly from Melody's blog- luckily I had a friend with this set I could borrow!

I didn't like the font the set came with, so I generated my greeting in Photoshop- sorry MFT! I used the Word Window punch to create a pocket for an iTunes card (my VISA card was only for show, or so I had to tell Emily as she tried to make off with it-lol!).

Here is the set together- my daughter loved how it turned out and even better, her friend did too! Now I have to buy another one for Emily's desk (and maybe one for me too)- you know, every girl's gotta have some bling!

Now I'm off to conquer a World Culture project with Emily... it never ends! Have a great Sunday~

House of Spooks...

2010-09-17T12:04:00.002-05:00

Last Christmas I made a whole bunch of these tall boxes to hold Christmas ornaments for our kids' teachers. I think the teachers liked the boxes as much as the ornaments and they were really fun and easy to make! I wanted to make something similar for Halloween to contain some treats and had a vision of a spooky house. After lots of computer paper and gnashing of teeth, I finally designed a roof for the "house" rather than the flat top the box pattern came with and was ready to decorate my spooky house.

I used a black Copic multiliner to draw the clapboard lines on the sides of the roof and punched 3/4" x 3" strips of Basic Grey paper with a scalloped edge punch to make the shingles. Everything was sponged with black ink to give it a worn, spooky feel. Now for the house details: The fence was made using a strip of Halloween night DP punched with a MS edge punch. The front door was black card stock folded in half punched with the wide oval punch with an aged copper brad for a door knob and a monster from the "Booglie Eyes" set inside (love the way he's peeking out the door!). The windows were made by stamping ghosts from the "Twick or Tweet" set, punching out in 1" squares and layering on black 1-1/4" punched squares, with slivers of black cardstock for window panes.

Count Dracula is tip-toeing through the grave stones (wide oval punch trimmed up to make headstones) in the side yard- he cracks me up! I added Black Diamond Stickles to the headstones to make the R.I.P. stand out a bit.

No spooky house is complete without a black cat and my "creative consultants" at home (i.e. mom and kids) decided a half-moon window would be a nice twist! The background for all the windows and doors were sponged with Daffodil Delight for a soft yellow glow.

The other side yard is occupied by a bewitched pumpkin and some bats glittery bats. It's hard to see in the picture, but the hat and the bats are covered in Black Diamond Stickles and are so glittery!

The best part is that the roof comes off to reveal the treats, leaving the lovely box to cherish (it better be after all this work-lol!). Although this was pretty time consuming, it was really fun to make and I'm sure the subsequent ones will go together faster- definitely going to be the cool mom in my kids' classes this Halloween :)

Until I figure out how to post the roof pattern correctly, leave me a comment if you want a copy and I'll email it to you. Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps: Booglie Eyes, Twick or Tweet, Halloween Frights

Paper: Basic Grey, Basic Black, Whisper White, Halloween Nights (retired)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Daffodil Delight, Copic markers

Accessories: Stampin' Up: 1" and 1-1/4" square punches, Wide Oval punch, Scallop Edge punch, aged copper brads, Stampin' Sponges; Lattice punch (MS), Black Diamond Stickles

A little birdie told me...

2010-09-14T11:13:00.000-05:00

I realized as I was frantically searching fro a birthday card this weekend that I am seriously low on girl and boy birthday cards. Now this is not to say that I don't have tons of cards that need stamps and a good home to go to (lots made, few sent...), but most of them are geared toward adults or are ones I am not giving up to a child who will promptly throw it away! My daughter's friends are a bit more discerning (and love to come play in my craft room) so I am willing to put a bit more effort into their cards.

I started with this cute flowered paper from Bo Bunny that's been sitting in my stash for awhile and added the polka dotted piece with ric rac for whimsy. This card was all out together, brads and all, waiting for a main image. I was trying to get away from using my favorite Pure Innocence stamps, and found these tree and bird stamps from my Unity February 2010 kit of the month. {The fact that I belong to a stamp kit of the month club is a sickness in itself- I tried to tell my husband that my stamping habit is cheaper than cocaine, but he's not sure about that-lol!}

The image was colored with markers before stamping and the buttons and brad were added to give the iamge some dimension. I couldn't find a greeting I liked, so Photoshop to the rescue!

The inside was finished with some of the same patterned papers, stiched around the edges and a computer generated greeting cut out on my Sizzix machine. One of Emily's friends has already laid claim to this as her birthday card, so I need to get moving to make some more!

An update on my mom: she is moving about a bit better and started PT yesterday at our house. I get to stay home this week to care for her, which is a blessing to be able to do, and I am sure will make me appreciate going to work more next week-lol!

Have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Unity Kit of the Month- February 2010
Ink: Soft Suede, Almost Amethyst, Melon Mambo, Gable Green
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Almost Amethyst, Bo Bunny DP
Accessories: "Sending Love" brad, Button Bouquet, white ric rac, silver brads, 1-3/8" circle punch, Sizzx machine, nested dies

Rest, Relax, Recover...

2010-09-11T08:44:00.000-05:00

Why is it that it takes ten times longer to check out of a hospital than into one?? I spent 10 hours at the hospital yesterday trying to determine "if" my mom was going home, arranging all the pieces for her home care, then waiting 6 hours for the doctor to get out of surgery to sign her discharge orders-ugh! I don't think I like being on the patient side of things-lol!

This was the other card I made for my mom and her personal favorite. I used some of the last pieces of my Cosmo Cricket "Dutch Girl" paper that I have been hoarding (now that's love!) and paired it with Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze card stock form Stampin' Up. The base layers were stitched together on my sewing machine using a longer stitch length and heavy duty thread to make the stitches stand out. I layered some red ric rac over white organza ribbon- I like the way layering different ribbons look (and it helps justify my enormous stash-lol!).

Cuppie was colored with Copics, then cut out with nestie dies on my Sizzix machine. I think the coolest accent on this card are the little homemade buttons in each corner. They were made by punching out a little flower shape with one of the Bitty Punches which match the shapes of these little clear Bitty Buttons- so much easier to make coordinating buttons than layering shapes and covering with clear glue!

The inside was finished with a strip of patterned paper and the greeting cut out with an oval die, layered onto a label die cut.

I'm off to play nurse, physical therapist and cook (and hopefully sneak in some stamping time!)- have a great weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Doctor's Orders (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Riding Hood Red marker
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White (SU); Cosmo Cricket "Dutch Girl"
Accessories: Sizzix machine, Nestie dies, scalloped edge punch, Bitty Buttons, Bitty Punches, ric rac, white organza ribbon, sewing machine

Get well Cuppie....

2010-09-09T11:28:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to post- utter craziness around our house! My 80 year old mother had a total knee replacement on Tuesday and was up walking across the room less than 24 hours later- she is definitely the toughest person I know. I would still be in bed complaining-lol! She really has been a trooper, but today is the day that the pain is expected to be the worst and she is feeling the combined effects of poor sleep and bad hospital food. I have been bringing her a card each day when I go visit to cheer her up a bit and who better to make her smile than Cuppie :)

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch as a quick place to start and threw in some coordinated papers from the retired "Sweet Slumber" designer series paper pack. After the various layers were assembled, I stitched around the edge and added some shiny brads as accents. Cuppie was colored with Copic markers, cut out with nested dies on my Sizzix machine and layered with some white satin ribbon. The bow was "tied" with some hemp twine and a button from the "Deck the Halls" collection in the new Stampin' Up Holiday Mini catalog (what a great mini catalog this year- definitely check it out!). A hand cut tag completes the sketch.

The inside was finished with strips of the same patterned papers and an encouraging message. Hopefully this card and a visit from her grandkids will bring a smile to her face!

Have a great day~

No.2 Pencils

2010-08-29T21:04:00.000-05:00

I am definitely tired of filling out forms and picking up school supplies after this first week of school- someone stop the madness! With all the tech savvy out there, cannot we not make these forms electronic and saved year to year?! My address, my kids' names and birthdates and my spouse have not changed in all these year- must I write the same forms (x2 kids) every year??

OK, enough of my school year tirade- I'm just cranky because I must submit my life to the school calendar once again and it plays higgly-piggly with my life. The only plus is that we have great teachers this year and it appears to be shaping up well. Matthew has a fab 2nd grade teacher and he is super excited to go to school each day, so who can ask for more.

I wasn't organized enough to send first day of school treats in with him (and not clear that the middle schooler would think that appropriate!) so I am sending a "thanks for a great start" card and treat with him tomorrow.

I love this boy from the Pure Innocence digital stamp set- Heather Ellis is a wonderful illustrator! I sifted through my patterned paper stash (under the guise of reorganizing!) and found these matching prints. The card base is the new Early Espresso from Stampin' Up (a great rich brown!) with layers of River Rock and a patterned paper piece similar to Riding Hood Red stitched together. I punched binder holes in the notebook patterned paper with the spiral border punch and added a mini library clip as an accent. The lettered paper is from a paper pack called "Homeroom" purchased long ago, with some twine and a button tied around.

The digital stamp was printed on Very Vanilla Cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The lettering on the blackboard was added in Photoshop prior to printing.

The inside of the card has strips of the same patterned papers with a computer generated greeting punched out with the wide oval punch and set on a Baja Blue die cut shape.

Now everyone who has ever taken test knows that you need two No.2 pencils...

These pencils are a real treat, though! The pencil was made by scoring a 3.5"W x 4.75"H piece of So Saffron card stock at 0.5" intervals and wrapping around a tube of Rolo candies. The eraser end was made by adhering a 0.3/8" strip of Pink Pirouette and a 1/4" strip of aluminum foil with a 3/4" Pink Pirouette circle at the top. A Hershey's kiss forms the pencil point and a hand-written "No.2" finishes it off! Now that my middle schooler has seen how fabulous these are, she wants 8 for her cluster teachers!

Hope you're surviving the beginning of school!

The new white meat...

2010-08-27T11:46:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a few weeks it has been since I last posted! We had the most amazing vacation on Cape Cod and in the Berkeshires of western MA and it's been very hard to come back, start the new school year (already!) and get back to the regular routine. My mind is still very much on vacation-lol!

This is a card I started more than a year ago with some stamps I bought from Rubbernecker and has been on the shelf half done since then. It was one of the first times I used my Copic markers and was just learning some techniques, so you won't find much shading in these images! After I colored the scene, I sponged Bordering Blue and Brocade Blue for the sea, as solid coloring with markers was too "dense". It's always good to look back on you prior work- the sponging on this piece would certainly not pass muster now!

After I finished the card, I realized I need some hungry fish to complete the joke, but by the time I got around to ordering them and they arrived, I was on to other projects. When I retured from vacation I was in clean-up mode in my craft room (a daunting task for sure!) and decided to stamp some fish and get this card done. Cutting them out was a challenge, because cutting them close would loose the bubbles and swimming lines, so I ended up cutting them out in a larger shape and sponging the background. Not sure I like the way this turned out so there is a high chance I will go back and cut them out closer and hand draw some bubbles.

This is a close-up of the crab- the combination of his sign and the facial expressions of the clam and the starfish crack me up! This is one of those cards that will likely never be sent, but will sit on my desk to amuse me when I have a bad day.

Hopefully I will be able to get into the swing of stamping again this weekend- I feel some Halloween cards coming!

Have a great Friday!

Start each day with "whee"!

2010-08-09T08:07:00.000-05:00

This is totally how I feel this morning- "whee"! It was pretty painful to be up at 5am to get to the airport for a 7:45am flight to Boston, but now that we are on our way it feels so good to really be on vacation! A few more hours (well, more than a few-lol!) and we'll be on Cape Cod smelling the cool salt air breezes and getting ready to eat lobster-yum! Get my sand chair ready!

I've had this Pure Innocence image from MFT for some time now and haven't had a chance to ink it up yet, but this cloud paper by Cosmo Cricket inspired me (see what happens when you leave a paper pack out on your desk?!). I'm not very good at making scenes, so this is my modest effort.

I started with a Kraft 5-3/4" square card base and layered on a 5-5/8" square of Very Vanilla. I added the sky and grassy green papers, with extra layers of green strips hand cut with fringe to make it look more like grass. I fashioned a fence out of a strip of Very Vanilla punched with a MS edge punch- I like how that turned out actually. The tree was hand cut from tree bark paper in the Cosmo Cricket "Mr. campy" set and punched leaves from Old Olive and Pear Pizazz using an old SU punch. The girl was colored with Copics and popped up on dimensionals to make her look like she is in the air.

The inside was finished simply with a strip of the grass paper and the cute greeting- whee! I'm going to mail this from Chatham when we arrive- we'll see if my daughter notices the different mail stamp and figures out we're nearby:)

Probably not too many cards from me for the next week or so, but hopefully lots of pretty pictures from the Cape!

Hope your day has some "whee" in it!

Have a windy day!

2010-08-07T15:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Saturday Everyone! Boy was I glad to roll over and "sleep in" until 7:30am this morning, leisurely drink my coffee, then do some shopping at the Galleria (a place so fabulous that it cannot be referred to as a "mall"!).

We heard from our daughter Emily by snail mail and she appears to be having a very good time, has a "BFF" for a tentmate (yay!) and loves the water and wind- all good news! I have slacked a little in my quest to mail a card every day so last night I sat down with my glass of wine, or two:), and made this card.

I have to confess up front that there was no stamping involved in this card- shockers, I know! I found this cute border in the Cosmo Cricket "Mr. Campy" pack, which was perfect because her camp is on a huge lake in the middle of the Cape. The card started with an Early Espresso 3.5"x 6.5"base, onto which I layered Very Vanilla and the plaid patterned paper from the "Mr. Campy" set. I hand drw the sail boat with a Copic multiliner pen, colored in the boat, and cut out some of the patterned paper for a spinaker sail. The final touch is the sail numbers which is her birthday!

I used Photoshop to create a custom greeting using SU colors in my color palette and a SU font. S imple little border of the patterned paper finishes it off.

Hope you're having a great weekend- I am off the pack for our trip to the Cape. I can't wait for cooler weather, the beach and great New England food!

'Smore Fun!

2010-08-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone- happy Hump Day! I now have 1 on-call night and 3 work days between me and vacation!!! Can you tell I'm looking forward to the break?!

I woke up extra early this morning (husband banging around in kitchen at 5:30am...) so I decided to work on a card for Emily who is at Girl Scout camp on the Cape for the next two weeks. I had my heart set on using the 'smore image from the "Under the Stars" set, but was at a loss for the rest of the card. Mojo Monday sketch to the rescue!

I always talk about how great it is to start with a sketch, and even better to start with a great sketch- this one's a keeper! The other fabulous thing about sketches is that they can be turned, amended or just used as a jumping off place to get your Mojo started.

I dug through my card stock stash and found the Cosmo Cricket "Mr. Campy" set I bought a year or two ago and have been saving (i.e. hoarding)- perfect for a camp themed card!

I started with a Kraft card base and added a layer of Early Espresso behind the card for contrast. I hand cut a wave in the leaf print patterned paper, adhered it to a layer of Riding Hood Red and added some aged copper brads in the corners before layering it onto the card base with dimensional dots. The red dot and tree bark paper were cut and corners rounded per the sketch with two changes: I reversed the sketch so the best part of the leaves would show and I ran the ribbon under both top layers so the tree bark would show. I also added a computer generated greeting with a button that wasn't in the original sketch because it seemed too bare without one.

Now for the best part- the 'smores! The 'smores were stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on Very Vanilla card stock, punched out with a 2" circle punch and colored with Copics. I added a second layer of cracker top popped up on dimensionals to give it some depth. The marshmallows were filled in with cream colored Liquid Applique and heated with a heat tool to make it puff up- so yummy in real life!

I used another strip of the leafy print paper for the inside- leaving just enough room for a note! I love the way this card turned out- hopefully my daughter and her friends think it's as cool as I do-lol!

I'm off to get this into the mail before the postal person picks up- have a great day!

Supplies:
Stamp: Under the Stars (SU)
Paper: Stampin' Up- Early Espresso, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red; Cosmo Cricket- "Mr. Campy"
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: corner rounder, 2" circle punch, Sizzix Big Shot, nested scallop circle die, button, hemp twine, liquid applique, striped ribbon, aged copper brads