Monday Morning Hellos

What a weekend I had here! The ceiling in my daughter's bathroom fell on Sunday! Ack!! A long story short: We had a leak last fall, the roofers came and "fixed" the leak, but left a bucket in the attic. I guess to catch anymore water or something??? Well, the bucket caught a lot of water apparently and then fell, hitting the ceiling of said bathroom, cracking the sheetrock and spilling lots of water everywhere. My husband went up and tried to stop the leak. The roofers were called. Almost a week later, when there was more rain and more water on the floors and walls in the bathroom(!!!), they were called again and finally came. The bucket was put back in place until they could fix the roof again. (Say what??) Then on Saturday we had VERY heavy rains...And sure 'nough the sheetrock was so soaked, that it fell, leaving a lovely view from the bathroom into the attic. Today I am still waiting on roofers and now sheetrock people to show up. Fun times. (OK, OK that wasn't *really* short, but hey, I tried.)

On Saturday, since it was too nasty to go out, I participated in a Mini Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) over on SCS. (yes, yes, that site again.) There were 6 challenges throughout the day. The theme was Viva Las VSN and so we had "Pit Bosses" who posted the challenges and each was based on a hotel in Vegas. Lots and Lots of Fun!! If you participate, for each challenge you have a set of rules specific to that challenge and you have 45 mins to create a card or project. I was able to participate in 5 of the 6. I did have a lot of fun, but by the end I was exhausted and my stamping area was a WRECK! It really pushed me to be creative and 45 minutes went by very quickly.

Are you curious about what I made?? Are ya?? Are ya?? Well, here they are then!

Challenge #1 Inspiration: Circus Circus. Special rules: Orange had to be used somewhere on the front of the card. I made a bird on a tightrope.


Challenge #2 Inspiration: The Bellagio's Lobby Ceilings. Special rules: Must use flowers somewhere and must use a transparency somehow. So I used a technique where I used a baby wipe and reinkers to make the background paper. It didn't really turn out like I had envisioned, but that's OK. Next time - when not under a time limit, I can play with it until I like the colors better. It's hard to see, but the transparency is on the outside of the celery card and the "heartfelt" is embossed in white on it. The ribbon holds it all together.


Challenge #3 Inspiration: The Venetian's Grand Lobby. Special Rules: Use the colors found in the lobby of Blue, White or Cream, Yellow or Gold, and Burgundy. Here is my card using the Soft Summer set that will be available April 1.


Challenge #4 Inspiration: Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef. Special Rules: Use a playing card somewhere on the project. It could be real or fake. I had to use a fake one, because I couldn't find a real one right then. And anyway, I ended up really liking the patterned paper that I used as my card back. This card was made for a friend who recently had a baby boy.


Challenge #5 Inspiration: The Paris. Special Rules: Make a View Finder Card. Wow! I had never made one before, but had seen several gorgeous examples on line. We were provided with a tutorial and it took me a little while to get it going. But now that I've made one, I think the next time will go faster. As you can see, I used the A Good Egg stamp set again. I am telling you I love this chick!!


Sorry the pictures aren't the best. It's hard to photograph when it's so dark outside. I don't have a professional type set up like some do. I rely on natural lighting and in times like this, I wish I had a better set up. Still, I hope you can enjoy them and I would love to hear what you think!!

Also, I am working hard to put the finishing touches on my Birthday to Go Kit. I hope to have it up by next week. Hope you have a Stamptacular Day!

A quick gift idea

Morning! I see that Blogger is going to be down for a while today, so I am popping in with a quick post. I just wanted to share with you a little gift I put together for my hostess tonight. (Ginger, if you are reading this, look away...I mean it... shoo! Besides, you'll get to see it in person tonight!) If I do say so my self, this turned out really cute!! I found the basic idea over on SCS (yes, I spend a lot of time there!) and just changed some things to fit my needs. I ADORE the A Good Egg stamp set and find myself wanting to use it all the time! I just love chicks (man - for you Soup fans). They are so cute. Especially this one.

This is super fast to put together and you know teachers would love this. In fact, I think this is what I will be giving to the kid's teachers this year. (oh - goodness... if you happen to teach my kids...look away! Follow Ginger and shoo! Don't ruin the surprise already!!) Now, for those of you who are still with me, here it is:



Stamps: A Good Egg, Oval All Paper:DSP Delicate Dots(SAB), So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand Inks: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Brocade Blue, Pumpkin Pie Marker Other: Large Oval and Scallop Oval punches, Medium Cello Bag, Organdy ribbon, Pop dots

Basic instructions for the box can be found HERE.

I added the DSP to the front and back panels of the little box/pouch thingy. I stamped the For You stamp (from Oval All Set) twice, once on Sahara Sand with Sahara Sand ink and once on Bashful Blue with Brocade Blue ink. I punched out the SSand with the Scallop Oval and the Blue with the Large Oval. The chick is stamped twice also, once on DSP and once on So Saffron cardstock. I popped the egg up from the chick and the whole chick up from the pouch. The ovals are also popped up from the pouch. I filled the cello bag with mini robins eggs whoppers candy. Yummy! I had to try one... or two... ok, ok a handful. I had forgotten that I like whoppers. But I had plenty, so not to worry, Ginger won't be getting just crumbs. So there you have it.

I'd love to hear what you think! Have a Samptacular Day!

Don't Pass Out!

OK - watch out... I am going to post more projects today. I know you are shocked, and that's alright. After the crazy week I had, I am just so excited to be stamping again. And I just can't wait until tomorrow to share.

Here's a card I made this morning and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I hope you like it, too.



Here's a close up so maybe you can see the scallop details.


Here's a peek at the inside. I'm telling you, it's rewarding to decorate the inside of a card. It finishes it off nicely and it really doesn't take a lot of effort.
Things I used: Stamps: Soft Summer and Oval All - both sneak peaks at what is coming out in the new mini catalog in April! Ink: VersaMark, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana Papers: Whisper White, Rose Red, Barely Banana, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery Other: Black Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Corner Rounder punches, Tool Kit, Pop Dots, Sponge, Bleach and Paint brushes.

The technique used here is Bleaching. I stamped the outline image onto Baja Breeze paper using VersaMark ink. Then it is embossed with black powder. Next, I brushed the bleach on with a fine paintbrush. Try your best to stay in the lines. The embossing contains the bleach so it doesn't spread too much. As the bleach dries, the paper will fade. Each color will react differently, so it's always good to test the bleach on a scrap piece of paper first. After the bleach has dried, I colored in the leaves, stems and centers with colored pencils. The ones I used were not SU - sorry, I try to use only SU as much as I can. You could color in using watercolor crayons or ink and an aqua painter. I left the petals of the dogwoods natural (just the bleach) because it's such a nice effect. I wish you could see it in person!! Don't you?

I cut out the Baja Breeze paper so that a little of the image hangs off the sides. Isn't that a neat look? I matted it on Cocoa and then on Rose Red. I paper pierced on the Red. I used the Scallop Oval Punch - also a sneak peek- and the Large Oval Punch to make the sentiment. The Oval All set has 4 stamps, two fit the scallop and 2 fit the large oval. Of course, you see that the large oval fits into the scallop. (Told ya they know what they are doin' out there!) The sentiment is up on popdots as is the Rose Red. It took 3 popdots on the right side of the oval and 1 on the left to get the frame to be even.

For the edge of the card, I used the corner rounder punch to create the scallops and then I backed it with a strip of Baja Breeze. Then I punched the holes in the centers of each of the scallops.

For the inside of the card, I simply used the ticket corner punch on Rose Red and Whisper White papers. I sponged on Barely Banana along the edges of the White paper. Then I used a Close to Cocoa Marker to ink up just one of the dogwood blooms to stamp on the bottom corner. I colored in the center with a colored pencil again here too, just a hint of color.

So there you have it. I'd love to hear what you think.

I'll be back later in the week with some more projects! Have a Stamptacular Day!

It's Time!

Since the open house is over, I can finally show you the projects I planned. You can pick yourself up off the floor, yes I am actually going to post pictures of stamped items today! I hope you stuck with me this last week since I didn't post much. And I hope you enjoy the projects! Let me know what you think.

Here's the first one. It's a fun birthday card that works well for men or women. Sometimes it's hard to find good masculine birthday cards. You know, ones that don't have fish or deer or Dale Jr on them. Not that there's anything really wrong with that, cause ya know, round these parts those come close to the trinity. Sooooo, anyway, when I was planning this one, I thought these colors would work for either a man or a woman. And even Junior would like it, I bet.



I got the layout from a card I saw on SCS, but to my eternal shame, I cannot find the original post. I try my very best to give credit, as I hope any who CASE would do. So, original designer, if you see this card, please let me know it's yours. And I will keep looking so that I may add the name if I can find it. It's hard to see in this picture, but the top of the candle has glitter on it. It's super cute. Also hard to see, the cupcake top (the icing) is up on pop dots. I used the coco ink on coco paper and then cut out the icing. But then I turned it over so the inked side is not showing and I used the coco marker to add little sprinkles. I also think glitter on the sprinkles would be cute, but since I was going for a more masculine card, I reigned myself in and kept the glitter to a small area.
Stamps: Big, Bold Birthday Inks: Certainly Celery, Close to Coco, Baja Breeze, So Saffron Marker Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Close to Coco Other:Tool kit, Pop dots, Large and Small Oval Punches, Word Window Punch, Sponge, Two Way Glue Stick and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

Next is a Happy little card that could come in handy for all sorts of occasions just by changing the sentiment. The stamp set from SU is called Happy Everything and has several different sayings to go along with the Happy! Well, idn't that just happy, she says in her best southern drawl.

Here's a picture with the Top Note Die Negative.





I don't have a big shot yet, but I am ordering it this week!!!! I am really excited! There are so many projects that I am just itching to try. Since I don't own one yet, I asked someone to cut me out a few and when she mailed them to me, she included, as a neat surprise, the negatives and a picture of a card using this sponging technique. I changed a few things about it to make it my own, and I am very happy with the outcome. I taped the negative over my white cardstock and used a sponge with So Saffron Ink and sponged the heck out of it. When I pull away the negative, which acts as a mask, I am left with the crisp white border. I know! Neat, right??!! BUT, before I took the mask/negative off, I went ahead and stamped my background images. This way, the images look like they are behind the white border. ummmhmmmm, I see you nodding in agreement. Here, I used a SaleABration set called Polka Dot Punches. It is called that because the stamps coordinate perfectly with our punches.... yes, they know what they are doing out there in Stampin' Up! land. It's cool I tell you. I used Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, the tool kit, sponge; Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral and So Saffron Inks and Papers, and Chocolate Chip (yummy)Ink.

And last, but certainly not least (actually it's one of my faves) is an adorable little box for chocolates. Everything's better with chocolate right? And this box perfectly holds 3 Ghirardelli Chocolate squares. Now, if you don't eat the whole bag (umm, I'm not speaking from experience here, nooooo) then you can make several of these boxes and fill them using one bag of the squares. Six to Seven boxes, actually. Plus, they are really fast after you make the first one. They would make great gifts for teachers for Easter or just for a little thank you or even a RAK (random act of kindness). And who wouldn't love a gift of chocolate. If they don't love your gift of chocolate, maybe you should consider crossing them off of your gift list...and then eat the chocolate yourself! There is a tutorial HERE on SCS by the fabulous Beate where you can learn how to make the box, then you can change the colors and theme to fit your needs.


and here it is open...don't drool on my chocolate, mmmm k?



I used A Good Egg stamp set on mine. Inks: So Saffron, StazOn Black, Pumpkin Pie and Regal Rose Paper: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Whisper White and the patterned paper is from the SAB pack. Other: Word Window and Corner Rounder Punches, Aqua Painter, Brad, Pop Dots, Tool Kit and the little flower is from a retired punch, but there is a really cute current one that would work as well.

Whew! What a long post. But after the week plus of non posting I have had, it's nice to get some stuff out there. I hope you enjoyed it, and comments are always welcome. Have a Stamptacular Day!

Almost there!

Ok, so the Open House is tomorrow and after that I'll be able to breath a little easier. Not a lot to report today, still running crazy in preparation for tomorrow. But over at Stampin' Up! Shelli has created a great new video tutorial on how to use our Decor Stencils. I have added a link to the video in my side bar. Be sure to check it out! And I'll be back Sunday I hope with all the projects we are doing at the open house. Did I mention that chocolate will be involved??

Good Afternoon. Well, sort of. I hope you don't think I have abandoned you! I know it has been over a week since I last posted. It has been a doozy of a time around here. I am getting ready for my Open House this weekend. It's insane! I can't believe it's already Wednesday! I was out of town last weekend and Monday. So I was already behind on Tuesday. I do have my projects planned, and the stuff to make snacks has been purchased. Now, if my house would just clean itself all would be OK. Well, that and the kids could get themselves ready and off to school/soccer/scouts/church/etc! Oh and maybe the dinners could fix themselves also. That would be great! Then today, of course, I have a terrible allergy/asthma attack and now my eyes are swollen and my head and throat are killing me. I have to put off stamping for a little while. I am so missing doing the challenges this week, too! As long as I am better by Saturday it'll be OK!

So, I am sorry I don't have any new projects for you today, but after the open house, I'll have several! Please don't give up on me. I promise I'll be back with lots of fun stuff soon! Hope you have a Stamptacular Day!

More Challenges! Yea!!!

Just a quick drop by to post my card I finished this morning. I'll be back with more details after the little man stops demanding to use the computer to "go to my dot com games". lol OK - I'm back (1:30ish) to add details about today's card. Sorry I couldn't do it earlier! Forgive me???

Today's card used Tuesday's Color Combo Challenge from SCS. Rose Red, Always Artichoke, and Black. I love that combo. How fun! But I used a layout from Mojo Monday's from January 5, 2009. I love this layout. Isn't it pretty? So, let me know what you think of my card.

Here's the front


And here's a close up of the cracked glass technique used on the flowers. I hope you can see the detail. It's one of my favorite techniques but I don't use it as often as I should!


And this time, I decided to decorate the inside also. I always add a piece of white or vanilla cardstock inside of a card if the base is dark. But after seeing so many beautiful samples of decorated insides (mostly over on SCS again) I decided to step it up a little. Sorry the pic isn't great.


Like I said, I'll be back soon to give more details. I'm a little slow on the computer, so this has taken me quite some time to upload, and now the little man is *Really* making demands. Too bad Handy Manny couldn't last a little longer.haha

Here are the deets: SU only. Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, All Holidays (for you). Paper: Artichoke, Black, White, Rose Red. Inks: Rose Red pad and marker, Artichoke marker, Saffron pad, VersaMark. Other: Black grosgrain ribbon, Glassy Glaze Enamel Powder, Heat Tool, Sponges, Ticket Corner punch, Small and Large Oval punches, 1 1/4" circle punch, Vintage Brads, Pop Dots, Glue Dots. Umm I'm pretty sure that's it.

For a great tutorial on the Cracked Glass Technique go HERE. SCS has some awesome tutorials over there!!

And some tips from little ole me:

• When using the BG technique, I like to use the versa mark pad inbetween each application of Glassy Glaze Powder. It's easier and it gives better coverage than trying to get the next layer of powder on while the paper is still warm.
• You will need to use a good amount of adheasive when you stick down the image that has been cracked. Here I used my ATG (like a double sided tape gun) and put about 6 strips on the back of the flowers and then again on the back of the black mat. And the strips went from edge to edge. Use more than you normally would to make sure that your image and mats will stay flat.
  
• Sometimes when you crack the glass, it takes bending the paper almost in half. Just go slow and you'll be fine.
• For the brad placement here I used a pencil and a ruler to put little dots where I wanted the brads to go. That way, I could check the spacing before I punched the holes and not have to start all over with a new piece of paper after I punched the holes and found that they were lopsided. (Who me? Do that? Noooo.) Then I used the 1/16" punch to make the brad holes where my pencil marks were.
• I sponged the sides of the flower image, the sentiment oval, and the white cardstock on the inside. This adds depth and is so easy to do. Just use a quarter of a SU Sponge to dab onto your inkpad, then swipe it over the edges of the cardstock. Start out gently at first until you get a feel for how much sponging you want. You can always add more, but you can't take it off, right??!
• When you are wanting to stamp a sentiment onto a punched out shape, don't forget to stamp the word first and THEN punch it out. That way, it's a breeze to get the word centered. In fact this works for anytime you have an image inside a punched shape.

• For a quick and easy background paper like the Rose Red paper you see here, just turn your ink pad upside down and gently drag it across the paper. I used the Rose Red pad on the paper, but this also works with different combinations, like a lighter cardstock with a darker pad in the same color family. I hold the cardstock in my left hand and the pad in my right hand (I'm right handed) and then just drag the pad across the paper a little at a time. Sometimes on the edge, to get the darker lines, and sometimes on the flat surface to get more of a shadow. Try this on a scrap of cardstock to see how it feels. Then go for it!!

And if you try these techniques, I'd love to see how you did! Thanks for stopping by and have a Stamptacular Day!!