Trip to Vegas

A few weeks ago I was in Las Vegas for training for work.  While there, we took in a Blue Man Group show.  I have absolutely no idea how to describe it, but we really enjoyed it.  After the show I bought a program and this guy "signed" it for me.  When I asked for the autograph, he took some of the paint from the back of his head and made a mark on the book for me.






This is a picture of the chocolate fountain at the crepe' restaurant in the Bellagio hotel.  The next picture is of the dessert crepe' that Dian and I had for a snack one night.

I had never been to Las Vegas before, and now I don't ever need to go there again.  It was way too much for me.  Too many people, too much noise, too many things to try to look at all at once. Some of the hotels were beautiful and I loved the M&M store.  We stayed at Ceasar's Palace and our conference was there also.

Christmas Card Buffet

My Christmas Card Buffet was a hit, so I'll probably be doing a Spring Card Buffet also.  Here are the other cards that we did.

This card was the simplest to make and I think it was the favorite for the day.  Stamped on Very Vanilla with Lovely as Tree in Cherry Cobbler ink and embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper folder. Also has Early Espresso ink, CS & ribbon in it.

I taught the Fossil Stone technique with this card.  Again, Lovely as a Tree.  Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White & Glossy CS and Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, Certainly Celery & Black ink with Navy ribbon.

This card was cased from one I found on SCS, but I can't find the link again.  I think that the original card had Silver where I have red CS.  Whisper White & Real Red CS; Real Red & Black ink; Delightful Decorations stamp set and the Petals a Plenty embossing folder. Also used the scallop and ornament punches.

This card teaches the pinwheel which I think that I found on JanTink's website.  Lots of fun.  Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler & Very Vanilla cs.  The only stamping is the sentiment.









Emboss Resist technique using the Snow Swirled stamp set.  Night of Navy, Shimmery White & Whisper White cs.

Holiday Happiness stamp set; Wild Wasabi, Whisper White & Rich Razzleberry cs.  Wild Wasabi, Rich Razzleberry & Daffodil Delight ink.  Embossed clear acetate with Petals a Plenty embossing folder and then sanded with the sanding block.

Baby Blue

 These pictures are of a feral (used to be) kitten from our neighborhood that adopted us.  He is very sweet and has a laid back, "whatever" type personality.  He is determined to be friends with our Raven, but she's not cooperating.  She's friends with the dog, but not with any cats that I know of.

He is very sweet and seems to think that I'm his new mom.  When I'm outside he follows me around talking to me and waiting for me to pet him.

You can't tell here, but he has very striking, beautiful blue eyes, so I've been calling him Baby Blue.

Sneak Peak

This is one of the cards that will be available to make at my Christmas Card Buffet at the end of the month.  It uses Snow Swirled and has a Polished Stone background.  The colors are much more vibrant in person.

October Stamp Club

Here are the three cards that we made at our club this month.

The first 2 cards are very simple, but still pretty cards.  This first one is made with Autumn Days. I used Pumpkin Pie & Chocolate Chip CS, Pumpkin Pie DSP, & Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip ink pads.  Finished with Pumpkin Pie taffeta ribbon.

 Card # 2 is made with one of my favorite stamp sets, Lovely as a tree.  Masked and sponged the background with Marina Mist and Always Artichoke ink, then stamped with Early Espresso ink.  Embossed with the Lattice folder and the word is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  This card is totally cased from splitcoaststampers, and can be found here.

Card #3 is Just Believe.  Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron, Early Espresso & Very Vanilla CS, Real Red dsp, Early Espresso & Old Olive Ink, and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. This card also came from splitcoaststampers and can be found here.

I just love splitcoaststampers.  There are thousands of ideas there, which I really appreciate when my brain is design challenged and I need ideas quickly.

2011 Calendars

I've been working on these calendars for quite a while now and am very glad that I finally finished, although I'm sure that I will be making more.

The top 2 pictures are of the coaster book calendar that I made.  These use the 4" square chipboard coasters with patterned paper attached.

I also made 4" and 6" calendars that have cardstock for a base, then sit in an easel.  The 3rd picture is of the box that I made to put the 4" calendars into.  Picture #4 is the bunch of them together. These are a lot of fun to make and I sell quite a few of them at work.

Christmas Card Buffet

I've been reading about card buffets on Splitcoaststampers and decided to have one of my own.  I'm hosting a Christmas Card Buffet on Saturday, October 30, 2010 from 10am to 2pm.  Come join me in choosing from an assortment of 10 different Christmas cards to make. You may make one of each, 10 of one, or any combination that you choose.  Bring a friend who is a new customer for me and receive a free gift.

I'll be serving light refreshments.  Please bring your own adhesive and scissors or paper cutter.  Please rsvp to me by October 23rd if you'd like to come join us.

Emboss Resist

Another favored technique.  Clear embossing powder with cream CS and the Upsy Daisy stamp set.  Concord Crush & Perfect Plum CS and Soft Suede & Perfect Plum ink pads.  Sentiment stamped with Concord Crush ink.  SU Cream Satin Ribbon.

Baby Wipes and Reinkers

I'm in love with this technique!  I used glossy card stock which always seems to make the colors pop out, baby wipes and reinkers (Not Quite Navy, Old Olive & Tempting Turquoise) with the SU Upsy Daisy stamp set.

September Stamp Club

These are the three cards that we did at our stamp club last week. The techniques used were Smooch Spritz, baby wipes with reinkers and clear heat embossing.

Card boxes

August is a busy month for me as far as birthday's go.  I have several friends at work with birthdays this month, and of course I didn't plan ahead like I should be.  This card box is one that I made for one of the girls.  I got smart this time and made one to give and one to sell and sold the extra the same day. 

This card set is made with Taylored Expressions card box and her Discover Your Wings stamp set.  I really enjoyed making them and the recipient loved it.

All of the cards inside the box have the smaller nestie square and the card with the top note die is the one that I used for her birthday card.  I only made 2 of that one at the time, so I need to make more.

Horse Cards

This first card is a horse card that I made recently. I had stamped several images and watercolored them to make the second card, but I don't like making multiples of the 6 inch square cards.  They are just too big and use up alot more supplies than a regular card.  I found the idea here on Yvonne's blog (you will need to scroll down to August 18, 2009 to see hers).  My square one looks pretty much like hers, but the smaller one is different.  She uses spellbinders dies on all of her cards and every one of them is beautiful.  She is inspiring me to use my "dusty" dies that I just don't take out often enough.

I love horses and was delighted to find this card and was also able to find the stamp to purchase. This horse stamp would also be pretty in black and white, so I'll be working on that soon.

I watercolored the horse using my aqua painter and markers.

Enjoy!

Another Card Box

Here's my latest card box from Taylored Expressions.  I have a friend at work who turned 50 today, so I made this for her.  I see from looking at these pictures that I really need to work on my photo editing.  Too little time, too much to do!

Wedding Card

This evening I was browsing through my card ideas and came across this card.  I don't remember saving it and have absolutely no idea where it came from, so my apologies to the original artist.  The only change that I made was to add the ribbon.  I would have preferred wide sheer ribbon, but I don't have any, so I went with this instead.  All supplies, except for the ribbon are from SU.  The card is much prettier in person than in the photo.

Stationery Box

I found the tutorial for this stationery box on Splitcoaststampers.  Te box itself was very easy to make, and then I made the cards and tags to put into it.  It is make with double sided heavy weight patterned paper. I have lots of patterned paper, but found that not much of it is heavy enough, so I made a trip to Craft Warehouse to search some out.  I found several options there and decided on this red and black.

I made the box as a birthday gift for a friend.

Scrapbook Cookbook

For several years I've been wanting to make a scrapbook cookbook.  I have all of my mom's recipe cards, which include some of her own recipes, but also recipes from my grandmother.  The cards are in their handwriting.  It's my intention to make this book to pass down to future generations.  I'm going to make one for myself and one for my daughter.  I think that my sisters are planning to make their own also.

So, I've been collecting paper, stamps, stickers, embellishments, etc for several years now and this is my first page.  It's using elements that were meant for our stamp club, but we didn't get to finish.  (See the 2nd picture of the recipe card holder).

These are both made using the Voila stamp set that is retiring soon.  I had a lot of fun making these and I'm very excited to have finally started my cookbook.

More Stamp Club Photos

I had 4 cards and 2 other projects created, but we ran out of time, so we completed these 2 cards along with the Father's Day card that I posted previously.

There was a card in my Stampin Success magazine that had a birdhouse on the front that looked like this card.  I modified it so the whole card is the birdhouse instead and I like it much better.  This bird punch is so much fun to use!

Supplies:  Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla CS; Autumn Traditions DSP; More Mustard Ribbon.

The next card came out of the previous mini catalog.

Supplies:  Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, Regal Rose CS; Word Window Punch, Butterfly Embosslits.

We had a great time and I'm really looking forward to our next meeting.

Stamp Club Sneak Peak!

Here's a sneak peak of one of the cards that we'll be making at my stamp club next week.  This card has minimal stamping (only the word) and was very fun to make.  I love this bird punch!

Old Olive CS & DSP, So Saffron DSP, Rich Razzleberry CS, Old Olive 5/8" ribbon, White CS

Another Card Box

Here's another card box.  This one is using the Greenhouse Garden stamp set from SU with Certainly Celery, Perfect Plum and Pale Plum.  It took me most of the day, but I'm set for tomorrow.

Gift Card Box

I've been wanting to make more of Taylor's card boxes, but she is currently out.  I remembered that I have these other boxes that I purchased a couple of years ago from Pepperberry Keepsakes that I had not yet used.  They are quite a bit larger, so it took more items to fill the box than just the 8 cards.  I put a divider inside and made a matching notepad and bookmark, then added a pen to match. When I opened the box to take a picture of the inside, the lid was way too white, so I went back and added the pink gingham paper and a pocket for postage stamps.

I have a few more birthdays at work, so I'll be working on these for the rest of the weekend.

I used the "For All You Do" stamp set from Stampin Up!, Pixie Pink & Old Olive CS & Ink and the patterned paper is some from Close to my Heart that I've had for a long time.

I'm very please with the way that this box turned out, but I've had so much going on that it took me two weeks to get it all done.  I still need to make a matching birthday card to give with it.

Thanks for looking!

Cards for our troops

I've been looking for a while to find a way to use my card making as a ministry.  I finally found a way.  In my last scrapbooking magazine, they had a small blurb about Operation Write Home.  OWH sends cards to our troops all over the world.  You can check our their website here.  I can send them cards and they will send them to our troops to use to send home to their loved ones.  You can also send what they call "Any Hero" letters.  An Any Hero letter is a note to our troops, either thanking them, or encouraging them in some way.

Last Thursday, I sent my first box of cards.  I managed to come up with 48 cards and 3 Any Hero letters to send. If you're interested in joining me in this, let me know, or you can check out the options on their website.

Joseph's Coat Inside Out

I absolutely love this technique!  I found this idea on a blog (and I'm VERY sorry that I can't remember where I found it).  I thought that this stamp was okay, but when I saw this card, I just had to borrow the stamp from my sister to try this out. It was a little labor intensive, but very rewarding as I was very happy with the end result.  This is a technique that I'll be teaching in my upcoming stamp/scrapbook classes.  I went to Jan Tink's website to find the tutorial on the technique.

Stamps used:  SU Medallion background & French Script Background (Word stamp is from CTMH)