Saturday, May 29, 2010

Just Us Girls Wild Card Challenge - Dry Embossing

Hi everyone! It's been a week since my last post...very busy week for me. I'll tell you about that later, but for now I'm here with the Just Us Girls Wild Card Challenge. This week Alicia challenged us to do some sort of dry embossing on our cards. That's easy with Cuttlebug folders, Spellbinders dies, and whatever else you use to dry emboss. I tried the letterpress technique with an Impressability which I saw on Gina K's Stamp TV video.
I inked up the Impressability (I don't remember which one) with Pink Pirouette ink, then embossed it onto Pink Pirouette cardstock. In the process, I cracked my C-plate because I had the incorrect sandwich! What a sound that made! But it came out very pretty, I think. Then I sponged some Sahara Sand ink around the panel to distress it a bit. The image is a new one from Paper Makeup Stamps called Faith, Hope, Love. I used Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery inks to color it directly on the stamp. You can't see it because the lace is covering it, but I stamped the grass image on the bottom. So easy, but very pretty! The crocheted lace I picked up at AC Moore. The flower was in my stash and was already spritzed with a sparkle spray that I cannot remember the name of (I'm at my cabin and can't look for it). I added the pretty pink pearls and was done. The sketch is from SCS and just what I needed...nice and simple.

I made this a sympathy card because of the deaths of two people I knew this week. My next-door neighbor passed away on Tuesday. She lived there by herself and was a lovely woman. She was from Spain and I loved to hear her talk! She loved to garden and we would always be talking over the fence about our gardens. Then, our best friend's mother passed away on Wednesday, less than three weeks after his father died. And she died on his father's birthday. His death was sudden and she had cancer and not long to live. We think he left early to get things ready for her in heaven! It was a very sad day for our friend and his family.

On a lighter note, I went to the Sex and the City premier on Thursday. There was a party before and after the show at a bistro next door to the theatre. So much fun! The movie was great, and there were about 100 women in attendance drinking cosmos beforehand! Afterward, my friend Maria and I went to The Chocolate Bar for martinis and sat outside. A great night out with the girls, and it was a lovely evening weather-wise.

So today I came to our cabin for the Memorial Day weekend. I'm sitting on our lovely porch writing this listening to the birds sing. It's so calming and lovely here. Tomorrow a bunch of our friends are coming out for the day. I've invited my stamping friend, Cheryl Rowley, because she lives about 15 minutes from here! It'll be a fun day!

Stop by the JUGs blog to see what the girls have in store for you. Teresa Kline and LeAnne Pulgiese shared their final cards with us today. They have been fabulous guests and I want to thank them personally for joining us for the month of May.

Thanks for stopping in today and have a great weekend!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

NEW PMS Card Kit: Celestial Possibilities!

Paper Makeup Stamps unveiled a new product on Thursday. We are going to be carrying card kits (and in true PMS style, we are calling them "Makeup Kits") with all the basics and embellishments that you will need to create a bevvy of beautiful cards or scrap pages! It's called Celestial Possibilities, and believe me...there is a variety of fun possibilities included in this kit! Here's a picture of what's included in the kitI just love the colors that Katie picked for this kit. It really compliments the beautiful fairy image, called Celest Fairy. The ribbons are scrumptious, especially that velvet ric-rac ribbon! Here's what I did with the kit.I just love these Beautiful Day fairies! It's what turned me on to PMS! This one I think is over the top beautiful! She's so ethereal hanging out with the moon and stars! She's colored with copic markers, and I added star dust stickles all over the image making it more ethereal. The brads have a sort of star image in the middle, matching the dp nicely. I love how shiny the ribbon looks, too! The sentiment is beautiful. Think of all the possibilities for its use: graduations, new baby, new job, etc.

So here are the details. The kit is being sold at a special price of just $20 (add $2 if you want the stamps mounted on EZ mount). It retails for $25, but since it's our first kit, we gave it a special price. And on top of that, Katie, in her infinite kindness, is adding a $5 coupon off a future $20 purchase. Here's a list of what's included in the kit:

1 Image Stamp: Celest the Fairy
1 WordArt Stamp: Dwell in Possibilty
8 Sheets of 6x6 double sided patterned paper (by Kaisercraft)
8 full sheets of 8.5x11 Cardstock (by Bazzill)
1 pack epoxy brads (matches paper, by Kaisercraft)
1 pack Paper Flowers (dont be fooled, flowers are stack on top of themselves, theres a lot)
4 yards of delicious ribbon (May Arts)
20 star shaped brads (by Creative Impressions)
4 Star Spiral Clips (by Creative Impressions)

Want to see what the DT have done with this? The Senior Makeup Artists are showcasing this kit over on the PMS blog. We started with Katie's on Thursday, Christi's on Friday, Tangii revealed hers yesterday, and mine today. Tina will be revealing hers tomorrow, so don't miss that one!

Thanks for stopping in today! Enjoy your Sunday and have a fabulous week!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Just Us Girls - Template Challenge

Hi! Happy Saturday! The challenge at Just Us Girls this week is a template challenge. We are using any My Time Made Easy template of our choosing. I made these a few weeks ago for the Western NY stamping event that occurred on May 1st here in the Buffalo area. I participated in a 3-D swap and made 10 of these, 2 each of 5 designs. It's the Welcome Home template and I made it into a "Stamp Store"...perfect for a stamping event, don't you think? These were cut with my Cricut and SCAL program. I added the MS latice punch, which looked like a fence, and the MS tulip punch. I colored them with copic markers. The sign was computer generated. I put an Inkadinkadoo single stamp and a roll of ribbon in each one, and tied it all up with a coordinating ribbon. Everyone loved them, and they looked so cute all together on the table! The girls once again have some fabulous templates to share with you. Stop by the JUGs blog and their personal blogs as well.


Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy your weekend!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today I'm participating in the first ever Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past blog hop! I've always loved Taylor's sketches and thought this would be fun to do! We are hopping cards made with TE stamps released prior to this year. At the bottom of my post are all the players, so you can the lineup. You should have come from Jane Weaver's blog and you'll go to Rosie Hughes' blog next.

We were given a sketch to follow as an option, and I LOVE sketches, so I used it! I changed it up a bit.I used an image from A Year of Sweets 2 and the sentiment is from A Year of Sweets Sentiments.I started with this great paper from We R Memory Keepers called Hippity Hoppity (perfect for a blog hop)! I took my colors from the dp to color the image. (I think I added too much pink to the cuppie's head!) The butterfly is on a small dimensional, and I added the yellow prima flower and button strung with floss. I stamped the sentiment on the dp, added some star dust stickles, and was done! I'm sending this to my friend who has had some bad luck recently and I want her to know I'm thinking of her.

So now you need to continue on the hop. I have all the participants listed below. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your hop!


Sunday, May 16, 2010

Makeup 4 the Weekend and Copic Creations Challenges

Paper Makeup Stamps Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge, hosted by DT member Danni Bindel, is to use three flowers on your creation. PMS is also sponsoring the current Copic Creations challenge, which is to use the monochromatic theme. I used both these challenges, in addition to the Taylored Expressions current sketch challenge, to create my card for today. I used a new image from PMS from a new line called Retro Cutie Critters. This little cutie is called Lucy. I think the sentiment is paired perfectly with it, don't you think? We have more critters coming out in the June release, so if you like this one, wait until you see the others!

I colored Lucy with the W-copic markers for the monochromatic look. Katie Cotton, PMS owner, has a great tutorial on her blog of how to color an image in this manner. I sponged around her with Sahara Sand ink, then went over it a little bit with Regal Rose. It sort of made it brownish in color, which is not the effect I wanted, however I kind of like it! The dp is SU from a hostess pack and I paired it with basic gray and pink pirouette cardstock. The dp was cut with the new large scallop Dienamics die from My Favorite Things. I cut and embossed the image with an oval nestie, mounted it on a scalloped oval in gray, and then placed it on white piece that had the image stamped on it as well. This was so the tail could remain part of the whole image. I added those three flowers (from the bridal section of Michael's) and placed a gray crystal in the center.

So that's it for today! I'm off to get ready to spend the day at our cabin. All the boys are there, and my friend and I are going to join them. I'm not sure they like girls there, but they don't have a choice!

Why not try out these challenges? You can find the M4TW27 challenge here and the Copic Creations #28 challenge here. Katie is giving away a $35 gift certificiate to one lucky winner, so why not try out a new technique and possibly win! Thanks for stopping in today, and enjoy your Sunday!

Recipe
Stamps: Lucy and sentiment (PMS)
Paper: PTI white, basic gray, pink pirouette, SU dp
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, sahara sand, regal rose
Copic Markers: W000, 1, 3, 5, 7, R20
Accessories: Nesties, big scallop die (MFT), flowers, crystals, star dust stickles, dimensionals

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Just Us Girls #33 - Color Challenge

Hi everyone! The Just Us Girls color challenge is being hosted by me this week. I thought with Memorial Day coming in just two weeks, I'd choose patriotic colors. I also just found out, from reading LeAnne's post, that today, May 15th, is Armed Forces Day! How perfect to honor our armed forces with these great colors!
I love red, white, and blue. And the addition of kraft is such a fun option! Here's what I did.I chose these colors a while ago, so I was on the hunt for a great image and paper to work with. I found this image (by Whipper Snapper called Grill Sergeant) at my LSS, Buffalo Stamps & Stuff, and decided it was perfect. What better way to start off the summer months than with grilling? I printed the sentiment on my computer on the kraft paper since I did not have one that fit the bill! (Gotta love technology!) The paper is by Magnolia Ink (the same company that makes the Magnolia Tilda and Edwin images). Again, a perfect find! One sheet is blue with white dots (sort of covered up) and the other is the striped red and white. I added a touch of the ribbon and the patriotic stars.

The JUGs girls have really knocked it out of the ball park this week with their challenge cards. You can see them on the JUGs blog and on their personal blogs.


Hope to see you playing with Just Us Girls! Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Something You Don't See Everyday....

I teach in a school in a town just outside of Buffalo, NY. The airport is about two miles from the school, so we have airplanes flying overhead all the time. We get a great view of them flying in from our faculty lunch room window. So guess what I saw flying in today?


Yep....Air Force One carrying President Obama! He visited Buffalo today for a few hours and this big bird flew directly over our school! I wish our kids could have seen it, but their lunch room does not have windows. One of our 5th grade teachers took his kids outside for lunch in anticipation of seeing it, but it started to rain!

It was definitely a cool site to see! Something you don't see everyday...

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