Busy, Busy, Busy!

Hi all! Thanks to those of you who have been sticking around while I've not been posting! So sorry, but sometimes stamping has to take a back seat to the real world...work, work, work (and some fun in between!). Well, I had my stamp class last night, so I have several cards to share with you. It was a hectic rush to get them done, and I had to case two of them because I was running out of time trying to design my own. In fact, when I was finished designing card #3 for my class, I realized that I wasn't going to have enough dp paper for all ten of my girls that were coming. So, I went to my favorite blogs and cased! Well on with the show!

I wanted to do at least one Halloween card, and came up with this one. It uses last year's retired SU Halloween dp because I have three packs of it and wasn't going to invest in the current dp. One of my girls, Judith, had purchased it and graciously brought it with her for "show and tell". It uses Batty for You stamp set and All Holidays for the sentiment which was embossed with white ep. I used black and pumpkin pie inks and paper. The layout is from a Buried Treasure Challenge #BTC02. I don't know where I got this from. When I surf the blogs, I always print out sketches cause I LOVE them...they are so helpful! I always write down the name of the sketch to give credit to the rightful designer of it. The images were punched with a 1 1/4" punch and backed with a 1 3/8" punch and were placed on dimensionals. I used the spider web cuttlebug folder for the background. The spider was strategically placed in the middle of the web! Three black brads finished it off.

This next one uses one of my favorite dp papers that SU has put out. It's called Autumn Vine and is in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I think I have three packs of it because it's so pretty! I used Pocket Silhouettes for the image and PTI's Simple Little Things for the sentiment. (I did not have this sentiment stamped on the card for my class, as I had to use SU stamps. I put it on after because I am sending this to a colleague who has been out on leave for a surgery. She had a set-back and will be out for a longer period of time than anticipated.) I used Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip markers to color the main image, then over-stamped it with Sanded in Creamy Caramel. There was too much white on the oval and after several other attempts to compensate for that, I came up with this idea. I used Marvy oval punches and used a white gel pen on the scallops of the brown oval. The photo corner punch filled in the right corner. The sketch came from Holly's (Toy) Dare to Get Dirty challenge DTGDHolly08.

OK, so this is the one that almost gave me an ulcer when I finished it. I wanted to use this gorgeous Urban Garden paper, the Vanilla HPH, the Kiwi Kiss textured cardstock, and the matching lucious satin ribbon. Oh, and also the "thumping" technique. After much consternation, I made it all work and got all of the above into one card! The only problem was that the dp I used is the same double-sided dp! Therefore, with only two pieces in the pack, I was not going to have enough for all ten I had to prepare! UGGHHHH! This all came to light at about 12:30 in the morning...on a work night! I left my craft table all frustrated knowing that the next night (the night before the class), I had to come up with two more cards and cut and prepare the paper for all four cards! I didn't sleep well that night! Anyway, I do love this card. I stamped both images (from Fresh Cuts) in Kiwi Kiss, then "thumped" my Not Quite Navy marker on them to get this cool watercolor look. I'll have to find someone to send it to!

I really wanted to use this new set, Humor in Heels, for my class and cased this card by Dawn Easton. I loved it when I first saw it a while ago, and figured I'd use it. I thought I should change it a bit, so after I stamped the main image and sentiment, I scalloped the bottom edge. In hindsight, I should have scalloped it first, then stamped (which is what I told my stamp club to do last night). The shoes were colored with a bliss blue and so saffron marker, then a glue pen was used to adhere the glitter. This really made it sparkle in the light! The dp is Washington Apple and the ribbon is bliss blue grosgrain. I backed the saffron brads with pumpin pie circles. It's really a cute card.

And last, but not least, is this card. I cased this card from SCS. I went through the SU Take Three gallery on SCS and found this. I just loved it because it used my favorite dp right now, Autumn Vine, and these fall colors. The card below is an exact case, and on this one I changed the stamp. I used more mustard and chocolate chip markers and added the brown brads for the center. On the card below, I used more mustard, really rust, and chocolate chip markers. Both are lovely cards! Thanks, Angie for posting such a lovely and easy card to do...it really helped my mojo at the last minute. Well, I hope you enjoyed my post. Sorry for the rambling! On to more cards later! Have a great fall weekend! Oh, one more thing...my friend, Cheryl Rowley, just started blogging (yeah Cheryl)! She is uber-talented and you must stop by, say hello and drool at her creations! Her blog is called Cottage Creations. You won't be disappointed!

Karen Lockhart Class

Before I show you what we did in the Karen Lockhart class I took at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, I have to show you the cutest picture of my little Lizzie. My husband has a pretty extensive garden in the summer and also grows pumpkins for the kids. He picked them today and had them in the wheelbarrow in the back yard. I'm always showing him cute pictures of animals, kids, and gardens that all of you post on your blogs, and he suggested we take a picture of Lizzie in front of the wheelbarrow of pumpkins and post it on my blog! I ran for the camera and we had Lizzie pose for this adorable picture. She wasn't bred as a show dog, but she sure thinks she is when she poses for the camera! Oh, and look at hubby's pumpkins...aren't they wonderful? After I took the picture, I thought we should have washed the dirt off of them! Oh well! On to the Karen Lockhart class.

You are probably wondering what the heck kind of card is that? Well it's not a card, it's my scratch sheet of coloring that Karen had us do. She uses Prismacolor pencils for all her images and is a pro at it! She showed us how we can see the range of color we can get with each pencil. We used the same pressure to get the color on the paper, but to get the darker colors we went over the same line more times and lightened it up as we created these "tornadoes" as she called them. We practiced this with the images she provided for us.

This is the first one we colored. I had a hard time getting the yellow to shade properly. I wanted more shading on the criss-cross design as well. She provided the patterned paper and cardstock and I put this together tonight. I had a really difficult time pulling this card together. It just needed something, and I'm not sure the snowflake is it, but it seemed to work. The sentiment is from SU's Home for Christmas, which can be found in the Holiday Mini Catalog.


This is the next image we colored. I really like this tree. It didn't take long to color, so it would be an easy image to mass produce. I used these prima poinsettia flowers I got at Michael's and a Martha Stewart fern punch using SU's garden green paper. The sentiment is from PTI's Believe and is stamped in real red. I used a glitter dot in the center of the flower. Funny story about this card...when I had it all put together, I realized I did it upside down on the card! How many of you have done THAT before? I had to cut it down and layered it on PTI's shimmer cardstock! Boy, does that stuff shine! So pretty!

This is the last one and the one that gave me the most trouble! I needed to have her card in front of me as a guide, and the other side of the table kept taking it! I guess they needed it more than me! I do like it more than I did that night, but I wish I would have colored the leaves more green. Karen's had some red and brown in them and mine just came out muddy-looking. I do like the way it looks all mounted and dressed up, though. I used PTI's First Fruits for the sentiment, primas, and dew drops.

Well, that's all folks! I enjoyed the class and wish I could have had Karen give me more one-on-one time, but I guess so did everyone else! Thanks for stopping by today!

Spooky Greetings!

Here's a "quick" card that took a couple of hours to accomplish! I wanted to do today's Sketch Challenge because I really liked this sketch. I had some time to start the card before I went to a class taught by none other than Karen Lockhart! (I'll post about that tomorrow cause it's late and I'm tired!) I had the image stamped and embossed and the papers chosen and partly cut. When I came back from my class, I started pulling it all together, and that's when it took more time. It's always the accessorizing that bogs me down. The sentiment is from MFT's Monster Squad. I placed two glitter dots on either side of the sentiment and added the prima flowers and another glitter dot in the center. The dp is SU's retired Creey Crawly. I have lots of it cause I really liked it back then and still do! I'll have to use it up this year. I decorated the inside as well with Clear Art Stamps Halloween Fun (which also takes time, but is so helpful when you want to send a card out quickly...it's all ready to go). I hope you like it. I wish I would have colored the moon in an orangey-yellow...hindsight is 20/20! Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to have a post tomorrow about the Karen Lockhart class!

Recipe

Stamps: Halloween Trails (Inkadinkadoo), Monster Squad (MFT), Halloween Fun (Clear Art Stamps)

Paper: Pumpkin pie, black, whisper white, Creepy Crawly (SU retired)

Ink: Versamark, Versafine onyx black

Accessories: Primas, glitter dots, black ep, dimensionals

So Long, Sassy

My sister-in-law and her family had to bid a sad farewell to their beloved Sassy last week. Sassy was a cockapoo and was seventeen and a half years old! The vet could not believe she lasted that long, and it was only recently that she really started failing. I loved that dog because she was always smothering you with kisses! I wanted to make a special card for them, but was hesitating because I didn't have the "right" dog stamp. I happened to have about an hour yesterday to pop into my LSS and found this one by JudiKins. It was perfect! This is just what Sassy looked like in her youth! The ears were always up and the tongue hanging out.

I started putting this card together using Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday #55 sketch. I decided to use this ribbon I just got at Michael's dollar bin. It is off white, so I had to use vanilla paper for the main image. I then pulled out this DCWV All Dressed Up pack and decided on these two patterned papers. I love the turquoise with the vanilla and black. I colored Sassy with Prismacolor pencils and gamasol and outlined her with a copic marker. The sentiment on the outside is from GinaK's Autumn Leaves and is on dimensionals. I added the black metal dots I got at JoAnn's dollar spot. The sentiment on the inside is such a lovely saying that I got from DRS Designs. I added a piece of the turquoise dp to the vanilla piece and a pawprint in the corner.

I hope this card lets them know how much we are going to miss Sassy and makes them feel better. Thanks so much for stopping by and reading about Sassy!
Recipe
Stamps: JudiKins (dog), Autumn Leaves (Gina K), DRS Designs (inside sentiment)
Paper: Tempting turquoise, black, vanilla, DCWV All Dressed Up dp
Ink: Adirondack black
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, gamasol, blending stumps, ribbon, metal dots, small oval punch, dimensionals

Heart to Heart - World Alzheimer's Day

I've been reading Carolyn King's blog (Cammie) for some time now, and find her to be a very talented artist. She has designed stamps sets for GinaK Designs and is featured in magazines all the time. She recently posted on her blog that she lost her grandmother to Alzheimer's disease. She designed a stamp set for GinaK Designs called Whimsical Autumn, of which she is donating 100% of the proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association. I felt an immediate connection to Cammie, as my father died of Alzheimer's in 1994 at the age of 73. He was diagnosed when he was 65 and my mom was his caregiver for many years until she was no longer able to care for him. We were fortunate that the Veteran's Administration hospital took care of him for the last six years of his life. This was a terrible loss to our family as my dad was a great man...intelligent, funny, and a walking sports encyclopedia! He is missed more and more each day as our family grows and they miss out on knowing such a great man.

When I saw what Cammie was doing, I immediately bought the stamp set and emailed her about my dad. She sent a very nice message back to me. Now, she is hosting a HUGE blog candy give away. You can read about it here. I felt like I needed to enter this contest, so here is my card. The stipulation for entering the contest was that you had to make a card for someone who is or was a caregiver and send it to them. Obviously this is going to my mom.

I used Cammie's Whimsical Autumn and SU's new Autumn Vine dp. It will be available in the Holiday mini beginning October 1. I used four of the designs on this card. I used SCS Sketch Challenge #194 for the layout. It really allowed me to use up and showcase a lot of the dp! I colored the main image with copic markers and added the antique faux brads (something I picked up at Michael's jewelry section on sale). The sentiment is from PTI's Out on a Limb and is perfect..."Everyday is a gift". We should all live by that motto!

Take a peek at Cammie's blog candy giveaway and enter if you can. Thanks for stopping by and reading my story.

Recipe
Stamps: Whimsical Autumn, Out on a Limb
Paper: Chocolate Chip, whisper white, Autumn Vine dp
Ink: Adirondack Espresso, copic markers
Accessories: faux brads, mini glue dots, dimensionals

It's Been Too Long.....

....since I last posted! It's a pity when work gets in the way! Well, I can't really blame it all on work. I spent last weekend at a hotel/spa near Rochester with three of my best friends. We had a really great time. We hung out at the spa on Saturday, went on a wine-tasting tour, had a great lobster dinner, watched "Sex and the City" in our room (the perfect movie to watch on a girls' weekend), and ended with a shopping spree at the local outlet mall. We had a great time and are already looking forward to the next one. We used to do this frequently in Toronto with a limousine as our transportation (we are in Buffalo, only an hour and a half from Toronto). Now with our dollar not as strong, we have to do stay in the states. Today we went to the Buffalo Bills game (Go Bills! We beat the Raiders with 3 seconds to go!) so the whole day was unavailable for stamping again!

Anyway, "stuff" has gotten in the way of my stamping! But I do have a few cards to share with you. The first two I prepared for my stamp class two weeks ago. This first one features the new Upsy Daisy stamp from SU and their new Parisian Summer dp. The base of the card is baroque burgundy and the scalloped piece is sahara sand. I originally stamped the image in baroque burgundy, but it didn't look right. So I used cranberry crisp (retired In Color) and it looked much better. I sponged sahara sand around the main very vanilla panel. I punched a piece of the burgundy cardstock with the large oval punch and then folded it over the main panel. It filled in the space nicely. I added a piece of pink taffeta ribbon on top. The scallop piece was run through the swiss dots cuttlebug folder.

This is the other they made in my class. I just love this stamp and the way this card came together. I sponged more mustard on the petals, then chocolate chip on the middle part. I inked the leaves with an old olive marker and stamped the image. The grass stamp was inked with an old olive ink pad and stamped over the top of the flowers (it was stamped twice to fill in the space). When this was done, it needed "something else", so I sponged in the clouds. I was going to do a tutorial for this, but the pictures came out blurry and I didn't want to post them. I will do this tutorial soon. It's very easy with a scalloped circle or oval. It's mounted on baja breeze, chocolate chip, and more mustard, and I used the ticket corner punch and placed brads in the corners.

This last card is one I made for one of the ladies in my stamp class. She gave me a jar of "freezer jelly". I guess you can freeze it for a few months or it keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. It was strawberry and was very delicious! So I pulled out my Tart and Tangy SU set and PTI's Green Thumb set for the sentiment. The sentiment is stamped on a Spellbinder tag. I also used my rectangle scallop nestability and cuttlebug folder for the embossed package. I just trimmed it down to fit. The dp is SU's Summer Picnic. I just love the certainly celery and red with this paper! I also added stickles to the strawberry, but it doesn't show up much in the picture. The ribbon is something I picked up at one of the craft stores.

Well, that's it! I'm not leaving a recipe for these cards. If you need more info, just let me know! Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Fishes

Hi everyone! It's been too long since I've posted something. School started for me. It's back to work...enough said! My time is LIMITED! Anyway, I made this card for my nephew Ethan who celebrated his 4th birthday last week! Bad aunt, I know! I got this stamp from Rubbernecker and his name is Sammy. Let me tell you how I got this stamp. I was on Linda's blog, Linda's Works of Heart, and she asked the question "are you glad school is back in session, and if yes, why?" Well I responded "no, because I'm a teacher and have to go back to work", which doesn't leave much time for stamping! Well, I was randomly chosen. I saw that I had won a day or two after Linda posted that I was the winner, but I still didn't know what the heck I won! Turns out I won a $10 shopping spree at Rubbernecker! Cool, huh? I got a bunch of stamps and went over the free $10 two-fold, but I'm in love with this one! I chose this especially for Ethan because last week my DH took him fishing for the first time. He had so much fun and caught four fish! Here is a picture of Ethan with the little bass he caught (of course Lizzie had to be in the picture too!).
I started the card by choosing my dp. I knew I had some fish paper, and my DH chose this one. I took the green, blue and brown colors from the paper. I matched up the copic markers to the paper and colored away. I find these markers are so fun and soothing to color with. The final product looks so professional, and believe me I'm not a pro by any means! I also used the Spica silver glitter pen on his button and the fish hook in his hat, red glitter pen on the feather, and clear glitter pen on his cheeks. I placed the main image in the corner so some of the fish could still be seen...Sammy is a pretty big stamp! The "birthday fishes" is from PTI's Pond Life sentiments. It was perfect for this card. I stamped it then punched it out with the small oval and layered it on the large oval. The dew drops were the perfect color and looked like bubbles. I got these at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff. Here is the inside of the card. I hope Ethan likes his card. I also hope he forgives me for getting it to him so late! Thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow I should have a tutorial for you. See you then!

Recipe

Stamps: Sammy (Rubbernecker), Pond Life and Pond Life Sentiments (PTI), All Year Cheer II (SU)

Paper: River rock, always artichoke, whisper white, Paper Adventures by Carolyn Holt Designs

Ink: Adirondack black, always artichoke, river rock, baja breeze, copic markers

Accessories: Spica glitter pens, dew drops, punches: ticket corner, small and large ovals, twine, dimensionals, mini glue dots