Saturday, August 30, 2008

A Baby's Announcement


After visiting a friend and her baby in the hospital, I felt very inspired. Mine are 7 and 8 years old now, so there is no more tiny cutsie clothes or the smell of Baby Magic in our house. I don't plan to have anymore, so getting to see this little one was quite a joy. I do pretty good at the not wanting more, but every so often I do get the itch. It won't happen, so I'll just continue to hang out with the friends that are. I'll get my baby fix that way.

I wanted to do something for them, other than the traditional baby outfit or blanket, so I offered my services to make some announcements. They were sweet, and seemed pleased with the idea. So I jumped on it as soon as I got home. Now after I had gotten the pink pirouette paper and ribbon in my recent order, I struggled with what I might do with it. I wasn't sure I would ever use it up. I was on Splitcoaststamper earlier and found this idea. After making these, it is safe to say that using it is not a problem. I actually have no more of the ribbon, and the paper is almost gone as well.

Stamps:
Wild About You, All Year Cheer II
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rose Red DSP, Murfield DSP
Accessories: circle cutters, sponge, Pink Pirouette ribbon, old olive eyelets, linen thread, crop-a-dile

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

More Christmas


Well, here is yet another challenge card. Since I have a hard time making one card at a time, I made two. This challenge was from the Splitcoaststamper website, and the challenge was a card sketch.
Stamps: I didn't use any. . .HA. . .I only used Word Flurry Rub-ons
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Holiday DSP, Riding Hood Red, Baja Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Hodgepodge


At least I am getting some Christmas cards done. This card was obviously done the same way, except the rubons are opposite.

The Sock Monkey Craze


It's an end of August day, hot and sticky here in Georgia and my air conditioner wasn't working this morning. Thankfully, the repairman was able to come and fix it today, but the problem of a water spot on my ceiling now remains. He gave me a solution, so we'll see if it works. Because we took the day off of school due to a lack of air circulation, I made some cards. Here is one I made for a color challenge I found on the KWernerDesignBlog .

The challenge was to use Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, and Very Vanilla.
Stamps: Sock Monkey, Heard From the Heart
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Regal Rose Stampin' Write marker, blender pen, felt flowers, Certainly Celery brad, Pink Pirouette ribbon, distresser

I think I'm in love with the Sock Monkey!


I have had so much fun creating cards with this set. Two of the new colors were used to make this card, but I also used some retired DSP. The colors I used were, Baja Breeze and Tangerine Tango. The DSP was Fall Flowers. The monkey was stamped on the white card stock and also on the DSP. I then cut out the images I wanted to use from the DSP and pasted them to the white card stock.



I have really been trying to use up all of my old DSP, in order to justify buying the new stuff. So, I made this card and envelope. I made the envelope using the 5 in 1 template, and then made a 3x6 card to coordinate with the envelope. Usually people do it the other way around. . .lol. The flower is a rub-on, with a brad through the center.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Challenge of the Day

I was feeling inspired by today's Splitcoaststamper challenge. It was a color challenge, and the colors were kraft, black, and rose red. This combination of colors is so beautiful.

Stamps: Friendship Flowers
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark, and Rose Red. Paper: Kraft, Basic Black, Rose Red, and Rose Red DSP
Accessories: circle cutters, black brads, black grosgrain ribbon

I had been trying all morning to get a chance to play for this challenge, but since I home school my kids, time alone is a precious thing. Even when I am trying to get a shower there always seems to be a knock at the door with a question about something. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to do this with and for my kids. They are an amazing gift from God. I guess this is why I enjoy crafting so much. It is some alone time. Time to myself and time to play. When I get a chance, I will take some pictures of my "Craft Closet". It is my little haven in the house. I guess I'll have to clean it up first. . .lol.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Christmas in August

I was on www.Splitcoaststampers.com this morning (which has quickly become my favorite website), and I saw that the challenge was faux dry embossing. So I decided to give one of these challenges a try. It is really a beautiful technique that gives you the ability to make any stamp look dry embossed. I used the One of a Kind stamp set along with Heard from the Heart.

To get this look I first stamped my background image in white ink. Then using my Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped the image back over it above and to the right using the color of my paper. The papers I used were sage shadow, whisper white, and 2 kinds of retired DSP. I distressed the edges of the sentiment, and tied a ribbon around the DSP. There you go. Very simple card that I feel looks pretty elegant.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

My card holder

I was messing around with my retired DSP, and discovered this way to use it and make a great gift in the process. Yes, everything pictured here is retired, but it was sure a fun way to use up what I had. I used tabbed notecards and an old hostess set, along with gold brads and chocolate chip ribbon.

So I'm taking the plunge. . .

I've decided to finally start a blog. After looking at so many wonderful blogs with so many wonderful ideas, I thought I might venture into the blog territory. It's exciting and scary all at the same time. Sharing ideas and posting pictures of my projects is very exciting, but what if my ideas aren't very good? Oh well, I guess I'm doing this more for me than anything. Who knows what possibilities and opportunities might arise.