Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Catching Up


Hi everyone!


Well, I'm back! I think I've finally kicked the flu... for now at least, we made it through a BIG snowstorm - with one more on the way (Yippee! Snow Days!!!) and we got the house smelling better after I told my daughter that the bread machine made a two pound loaf rather than a one pound loaf. I was gone, and the smoke pretty much filled the entire house. I guess that's one way to get me to clean!! I'm also starting - slowly - to get a handle on my daughter's celiac disease. Uggh! I gave her a headache tonight by feeding her rice that was apparently dusted with flour of some sort. Poor dear! And I feel awful. What a mean mom. I know I'm rambling and if you aren't familiar with celiac, suffice it to say that it is a toxic reaction to anything containing even trace amounts of wheat, barley, and rye... in any form. She was just diagnosed recently and it is a whole new way of life and cooking for me!! So - if I'm not on here as often as I'd like, I'm probably in the kitchen. :)


Here's a card that I pulled out of my box for a friend who needed a "generic" man's birthday card. I need to make some more of these. They're quick and easy and "manly".


Tuesday, February 20, 2007

A Hint of Spring

I sat down to stamp a couple cards last night. I made one for my father-in-law that would not be photogenic no matter what I did, and then I played with my new SAB sets and came up with this one. I like it better anyway! :) I used some of the self-adhesive diecuts from the Simply Scrapping Kit, the flower from Delight in Life stamped on some of the Designer Cardstock and cut out, some ribbon I picked up at the $ store, some of my new Artichoke mini brads (I'm SO excited about these!!!), and the verse from the Happy Harmony set. It was fun and looks even brighter and "Spring-i-er" than the picture. I think I might have to frame it and put it on my desk. It's a good reminder to be thankful... even when I'm sick!! :)

Monday, February 19, 2007

UFO's





Here's one of the UFO's (Unfinished Objects!) that I worked on while I've been sick. I decided to finish a small tablerunner for show & tell at the quilt guild meeting next Monday. The top has been sitting in my cupboard for almost a year waiting to be quilted and bound. It felt nice to finish something. Now I have to decide if I'm going to keep it, give it away or sell it. Hmmmm....

I also finished my Precious Moments cross stitch for Love Quilts. If you are a cross stitcher, be sure to check out their site. What a wonderful cause!

Now - on to stamping. I plan to actually sit down a little later and stamp - especially a belated birthday card for my father-in-law. We'll see if that happens, or if I play with my new SAB sets. :) Check back soon!



Saturday, February 17, 2007

BLEAH!!!

I wanted to have something new posted by now... but my 12 year old shared his "bug" with me and my brain is "fuzzy" with a cold. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll at least feel like cutting out my new sets. You know you don't feel good if you don't even want to stamp! I'm going to take a nap now! Hope you're all having a good day!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Fun Stuff!!



Yippee!! I got fun stuff today! My order came from Stampin Up & I finally got a new set to play with. I'll probably take out the stamp or two that I really liked and give the rest of the set away. I have GOT to keep my room under control. Anyway, I hope I'll have time to play tonight! The pictures for today are from yesterday's color challenges on SCS. The first was Cranberry, Celery & Saffron and the second was Pretty in Pink, Not Quite Navy & Garden Green. I used a TAC stamp & a stamp from Biblical Impressions on the Cranberry Combo. It was really quick and easy, but the second one took more thought. I really don't like those colors together, so I decided to soften up the look by focusing on the pink part of the combo, using pastels over Versamark for the flowers and stamping off the NQ Navy for my accents. The softness of the ribbon helped, too. So, how about you?? Have any of you gotten any stamping done lately?? Used any of your mystery box stuff?? I still have a few sets left. I may have to resort to Ebay! :)


Well, off to get my taxes done! Happy stampin!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Meecy Mice!














Here's a challenge for you! Use one set (I chose Nice Mice - circa 1998), one word set (Warmest Regards), one background stamp (Houndstooth) and one color combo - Bliss Blue, Certainly Celery, to create 4 cards. It was so fun!! I pulled out an old set that I love for Valentine cards... although it worked great with the Thinking of You and Thank You stamps as well... got out my watercolor pencils and blender pens and started to play. You could use any color combo, but only one, so I decided to limit the pink to my watercoloring only, so the card could be used for a guy or a gal. My favorite touches are the dry embossing and the corners of the Thinking of You main image. I used the ticket punch on the white section, then centered a scallop from my scallop scissors over the blue corner and cut. After using my paper piercing tool it left an interesting layered corner. (If you double click on a picture I think it will show a larger than life picture of it, so you can see the details.)

I would highly recommend this challenge to you! I plan on doing it again soon.

Happy Valentines' Day... unless I make more tonight that I just have to share!! :)

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Shades of Yellow


When I'm looking for a card idea, I'm beginning to turn more and more often to the SplitCoast Stamping challenges. www.splitcoaststampers.com I love the color challenges and I'm working here and there on making my own version of the color challenge book that was a prize for color challenge 100. It used a Stampin Up ATC book and gave 100 different color combinations. How fun!! You can see more info on it in Leigh Obrien's blog www.sunflowerstudio.typepad.com. Today's card is from Sketch challenge 110. It took a little thinking to get the layers right, but I liked it because I could use up scraps!


By the way. I seperated all of my scraps into a large d-ring, 3-ring binder. One page protector for greens, one for blues, one for reds, one for purples, etc. Then I put all my white and cream paper scraps in 2 of the 8-1/2 x 11 plastic envelopes that SU sells. It works really well & encourages me to use up the scraps rather than cut into a new sheet. :)


Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Not My Colors!




This card is SO not me. I got the color combination off of the last SplitCoast Stampers Color Challenge... Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip & Cool Carribean. Well, I don't have any Cool Carribean, so I used Turquoise... It was close. And, actually, I like the card now that it's done. Since I didn't have a Giga Scallop Punch, I just used my scallop scissors and my piercing tool. I like the effect. I sponged the Blush cardstock with Cameo Coral and Chocolate Chip to add some texture, and I used watercolor & chalk pencils on the picture.




Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Lots of Love


I found this sweet valentine (pun intended!) when I was cleaning. I think I made it a year or so ago. No - the candy was NOT there for a year... I actually pulled it off sometime cuz I was starved for chocolate! :) The sets I used are old, but the idea is still good. Maybe even a good idea to try for a friend that you'd like to do something special for - or a child's birthday card. Just remember to mail it in a padded envelope.
For those of you that were interested in my list of stamps... I have it done, but I had one gal overseas that was interested in a mystery box, so I'm letting her see the list first. For what she's paying in shipping, I don't want to send her anything she won't use! :) When she decides what she would like, I'll send out the list to everyone else. First come, first serve. See you all later!
Oh - here's a fun website I found yesterday: http://www.livingonadime.com All sorts of good ideas for people living frugally - notice I did not say we were cheap! :) Bye!!





Monday, February 05, 2007

I'm Back! :)



What a week! My husband and I had to take a trip to Green Bay on Saturday and I was able to pick up the wooden set of drawers for 1/2 price at JoAnn's, and TA-DA!! My room is in order!!! :) Of course, I didn't show you the couch. It has another Rubbermaid tote with more things to go. Some of them are current sets - I can only trade those. Some are older sets and then there are things like assorted watercolor pencils, old style stamp pads, lots and lots of miscellaneous Stampin Up stamps (where I kept the stamps I use all the time and am getting rid of the others) and a gob of saying stamps. Please email me if you'd be interested in seeing my list of things to go. I'd love to get enough money to order the sets of stampin' spots. I kept half a drawerful (is that a word?) of large stamp pads, but I really don't use the other colors enough to warrant full size ink pads of them all, so I'm going to take Angie's advice and just get the ink spots. I have most of the reinkers already, and they'll take up less space. The only thing that doesn't work for is the natural colors and the in-colors. I'll have to buy large size pads of any of those that I don't have... but I think the only one I need is Sand. OH - have you heard? Starting in July, Stampin Up! is going to have a new catalog twice a year!! :) How very fun! Two retired lists... two wish lists - and two mini catalogs! Sell-A-Bration will change though. They said they'll still do something like it, but it won't be at the same time each year. So be sure to place your Sell-A-Bration order for this year soon!!! :)

OK - I've got to get to work. There's no school today because of the frigid temps up here and I have a list a mile long that I need to get to. Have a great day & thanks for reading!