Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Thinking Spring


My daughter and son-in-law (Hibillies in Training) are experiencing their first winter in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and, as luck would have it, it's been one for the record books. They've been snowed in for well over a week, and it looks like they'll be snowbound for at least a week more. Quite a change for my SoCal born baby girl!

With that in mind, and with my upcoming Easter/Spring card class this Saturday, I've had cheerful Spring-themed cards on the brain. This is one that I think fits the bill. The branch of blossoms in Indescribeable Gift makes me think of fruit trees all abloom, with the promise of delectable harvests later.

The blossoms were colored with Blendabilities markers. Gosh, I love coloring! And apparently, coloring is becoming all the rage now in Europe. They've discovered what I've known for years .... that coloring is a great stress reliever!

STAMPS: Indescribeable Gift, Lotus Blossom (greeting - free SAB item)
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Irresistibly Yours DSP (free SAB item), Brights DSP Stack
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo Blendabilities, Crumb Cake Blendabilities, Wild Wasabi Blendabilities
ACCESSORIES: Whisper White 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Monday, February 23, 2015

To A Classic

Yesterday afternoon was our Five Card Stud class. No, we didn't play cards, but we did make cards! The theme was masculine cards, hence the "stud", and we made five of them, so........


I showed a sneak peek of one of the others a month ago. My inspiration for this card came from one I saw on Pinterest, but I did change it up a bit. I thought the Argyle embossing really suited the classic car.

That Guy Greetings stamp set is awesome! Having a classic car is perfect for my needs, since I'm at the age where most of the men I know are old timers "classics".
Smiley from Millan.Net

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Greatest Is Love

The office manager at my dentist's office has me make cards for her. She LOVES hand-crafted cards, but has no interest in making them herself (no matter how much I try to convince her she should try it, haha). Today she wanted me to bring an assortment of Valentines and birthday cards to choose from, and a few sympathy cards as well. Between her and the other girls in the office, the entire batch was taken! Plus I came away with an order for thank you cards and a groom's card for a bride-to-be to give her husband. I love my job!


This was one of her favorites out of the selection. She said she's going to give it to one of her Bible Study ladies. That made my heart happy!

STAMP: Non-SU (Inkadinkado)
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Real Red, Stacked With Love DSP Stack
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities (for rhinestones)
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Hearts Framelits, Rhinestones Basic Jewels

Friday, February 6, 2015

Adventure Awaits!


Did you notice the Large Kraft Journal on page 25 of the Occasions Catalog? It's kind of easy to miss due to the fabulous chalkboard paper and ink pads, and the big stamp set on the opposite page. Trust me, you don't want to miss this! At 5" x 8-1/2" it's a great size for jotting notes, or making sketches, and there are 32 double sided grid pages, very lightly lined in gray. (Note the description says 8-1/4", but it measured 8-1/2".)

I needed a "landing place" for all the things I think of that need to be handled before we retire and move. These thoughts occur randomly, and I just know if I don't write them down I will forget them. And it's important stuff, like updating the contact info for our dog's microchip. But not obvious stuff, like notify the cable and power company, though that will be included, as well.

Since these things frequently come to me as I'm trying to fall asleep (naturally), I'm going to keep this on the nightstand along with this pen, so I don't have to turn on the light.

So many things to think of, I don't want to forget something!

STAMP: Adventure Awaits
CARDSYOCK: Wild Wasabi, Adventure Bound DSP Stack, Best Year Ever DSP (and how appropriate is that name?!)
INK: VersaMark
ACCESSORIES: Large Kraft Journal, Big Shot, Adorning Accents folder (retired), Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, White Stampin' Emboss Powder, Project Life Corner Punch, Sticky Strip, 1/8" Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon (retired)

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Paper Pumpkin Sweetness (& a DEAL!)

https://mypaperpumpkin.com?demoid=2054459

I must say, the past six months or so, the Paper Pumpkin kits have been extra fabulous, and the January kit was no exception. We got everything needed to make TWENTY-FOUR of these adorable Valentine treat holders......all I needed to add was the candy. They went together super quickly, but then I had the problem of what to do with all those treats. I don't have children in school anymore, and my grandkids live in another state. What to do, what to do........


Solution? Start handing them out to everyone I encounter for the next couple of weeks! I started today by taking some on my daily pilgrimage trip to Starbucks and gave the baristas a treat for always being cheerful and treating me with my caffiene fix. They were surprised and delighted!


So, what is the "deal"? If you buy a pre-paid three month subscription to Paper Pumpkin during Sale-A-Bration, not only will you save $5, but you will qualify for a free Sale-A-Bration item! Now that's truly sweet! A little bird mentioned that they saw the next two P.P. kits and said you do NOT want to miss out (and they may or may not involve accordian folds and stitching, but you didn't hear that from me, hee hee!).

So hop on over to Paper Pumpkin and try it out. Be sure to put me as your demonstrator, please! If you want, you can try it for just one month. Then if you decide you like it, you'll still have time to jump on the three-month deal before S.A.B. ends on March 31st! (Sign up before the 10th of the month to get the current month's kit.)

Oh, and I almost forgot! If you join P.P., you'll be able to order select kit refills (minus ink and stamps), which means you could get the kit shown here! You could use your own ink and stamps to dress it up, but you'll still get the cello bags, die-cuts, twine and clips.

Monday, February 2, 2015

I've Been Nominated - Creative Crew Blog Hop!

How fun and exciting for me to be nominated by Tandra Boyer over at A Little Inkalicious for the creative Crew Blog Hop! It's an honor to be nominated, and has a few simple rules. First I have to create a project exclusively for the hop, answer a few questions, and then nominate two other stampers whose work I admire!

For my project, I chose to do some watercoloring on Shimmery White cardstock. After seeing the stamping demonstrations from Leadership a couple days ago, I was inspired to try several things they demonstrated. (And a big THANK YOU to Stampin' Up! for making it available via live streaming for those of us that couldn't make the trip to Florida!)


I chose the branch of blossoms in Indescribable Gift, because it is perfect for coloring, whether using watercolor or Blendabilities alcohol ink markers. It's easy to pick up just the amount of color you want when using the Aqua Painters, and really creates such a lovely effect. The ribbon was cut in half lengthwise to make it narrower, and not so overpowering on the card. These were the supplies used:

STAMPS: Indescribable Gift, Simply Wonderful
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Shimmery White, Coastal Canana, Best Year Ever DSP
INK: StazOn Jet Black, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry marker
ACCESSORIES: Best Year Ever Accessory Pack, Gold Baker's Twine, Aqua Painters

I ended up giving this card to a dear friend who cooked yummy chicken enchiladas for dinner and brought it over for me and my husband. She said she wanted to practice her cooking skills, so inside the card I told her we would be willing guinea pigs any time!

Okay, enough about the card. These questions were the hardest part of this whole process for me, so here goes.
1. What are you working on? This weekend I spent some time creating the projects for my upcoming classes this month. And in between creating (and creating a mess), I'm trying to purge "unloved" craft supplies and make my craft room more organized. Wish me luck!
2. How does your work differ from others in your genre? I don't really think my work is all that different. My creations range from simple, classic cards to elaborate how-much-more-can-I-add cards that generally need extra postage. I do tend to favor cardmaking over other papercrafts, though I have been known to make boxes and home decor.
3. Why do you create what you do? I'd say it's to keep my sanity, but we all know THAT'S not true, haha. I think the main reason is to give my creativity an outlet, and cardmaking is pretty much instant gratification. You sit down with a few supplies, get the creative juices going, and in time (sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 4 hours) you have something that will put a smile on someone else's face, or give them a virtual hug that they need. I love sending cards to friends and family. There's a lot of power in that little piece of paper!
4. How does your creative process work? That was a tough one to answer. It usually comes out all willy-nilly. Sometimes I get a vision of something in my head and it translates to paper just the way I envisioned it. Other times I'll draw a complete blank, and waste spend a lot of time looking for my mojo inspiration online. And occasionally, I'll be out running errands and see a particular pattern or color combination and it sparks inspiration. I usually start with a color combination, sometimes derived from our Designer Series Paper, then choose the stamp set based on the occasion, and then try different layouts, moving elements around until it looks right. Sometimes it never looks right....you'd be surprised how much ends up in the recycle bin!

For my nominations for next week's Creative Crew Blog Hop, I'd like to nominate these two very talented gals: Krystal Van de Leeuw at Krystal's Cards and More and Janice Adams at Perfectly Paper by Janice. They should have their blog hop posts up on Monday, February 9th. Thanks for stopping by!