It's a Berry Christmas

Here's another card I made this last weekend. I think it looks a little like a window with a curtain valance above. The little bird is popped up on dimensionals.

Supplies I used for this card:
Real red cardstock (#102482, $5.50)
Close to Cocoa cardstock (#101341, $5.50)
Christmas Cocoa DSP (#------, $9.95)
Whisper white (#102851, $7.50)
Real red grosgrain ribbon (#109034, $4.95)
Close to cocoa stampin' pad (#103139, $5.95)
Green galore stampin' pad (#102122, $5.95)
Gable green stampin' pad (#101673, $5.95)
Glorious green stampin' pad (#103040, $5.95)
Real red stampin' pad (#103133, $5.95)
Dimensionals (#104430, $3.95)
Scallop edge punch (#112091, $15.95)

Blessings and Autumn Days pheasant

To all the veterans - both retired and active service, at home and abroad - thank you. I appreciate your sacrifice. To the families of veterans, your sacrifice and support is so important. Thank you. I'm participating in my first blog hop on Saturday. It is in honor of Operation Write Home, a blog that sends mail to military members around the world and whose main mission is to provide them with homemade cards to send to their loved ones. Keep checking back. I'll have a few special creations to share in my little corner of cyberspace. After the blog hop, my cards will be sent to Operation Write Home and mailed to military heroes around the world. Are you interested? Be sure to check out their blog and find out how you can get involved.

This card is very much out of my comfort zone! The sketch is very different than one I would normally make. Roy really liked this card and a some of the details I included. It is one of the few masculine cards that I've made lately. I need to make more of these!

Supplies I used for this card:
Soft suede cardstock
Very vanilla cardstock
Crushed curry cardstock
Rich razzleberry cardstock
Autumn Traditions DSP
Crushed curry stamp pad
Soft suede stamp pad
Dusty durango stamp pad
Brads
Paper piercing tool and Mat pack

You only live once

Here is another card that I created last weekend. It doesn't really look how I envisioned it, but I think I like it.

The items I used are:
Very vanilla cardstock
Basic black cardstock
Watercolor paper
Basic black stamp pad
Melon mambo stamp pad
Crushed curry stamp pad
Aquapainter
Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set

Autumn Days Birthday MM103

I was super-productive today so I decided to reward myself with a little time downstairs in the scrapbook room. I found the Mojo Monday Sketch 103 and fell in love with it! I made a card that opens at the top and combined a lot of things I don't use very often.

Stamps: Autumn Days, Upsy Daisy
Inks: rich razzleberry, soft suede
Papers: soft suede, rich razzleberry, taste of textiles, very vanilla
Accessories: clear button, natural hemp, glassy glaze

More New Creations

I spent the day working on a few things I've had on the back burner. I joined a Rolodex scripture swap a while back and I've never made my cards. They are due by the end of the month. I finally bought the Rolodex (and thus the cards to make my swaps) last week. Making them was a little easier than I thought it would be. I ended up making my swaps (6+1 for the hostess + 1 for my mother + 1 for me) plus an extra card (one for me, one for my mother, one for the hostess) that wasn't truly a scripture, but I really liked the verse. I also made another card from a new spring catalog hostess set.

God writes the Gospel

I made this card for my own file. I thought it was a beautiful sentiment and could be used as a divider card within my file.
Paper: whisper white

Ink: close to cocoa, old olive, ballet blue, regal rose

Stamps: Friend to Friend, Season of Friendship

Accessories: dimensionals, regal rose grosgrain ribbon

1 Corinthians 13:13

I've always loved this set and could never bear to get rid of it when it retired. I am definitely not a soft (and/or) subtle person, but these colors jumped out at me when I started visualizing this card.

Paper: whisper white, bashful blue, pretty in pink

Inks: bashful blue, certainly celery, pretty in pink, almost amethyst, basic black

Stamps: Peace and Love, So Very

Accessories: tab punch, stamp-a-ma-jig, scallop punch

Rustic Rooster

I fell in love with this guy when I first saw him. I tried not to get him, but I couldn't resist. I don't even particulary care for roosters, but this one is French. Must have been his accent I fell for!

Paper, ruby red, chocolate chip, so saffron, very vanilla

Inks: really rust, chocolate chip (stamped off once)

Stamps: Rustic Rooster

Accessories: 1" circle punch, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, pastels, distressing kit

It's a New Catalog!!!

So many things have been happening. First, the new SU catalog is out and I'll post the link tomorrow. I've made several things over the last few days including some using new stuff! Here are the new things in my gallery.

love you lots! page

Paper: whisper white, old olive, pink pirouette, riding hood red, raspberry tart dsp (NEW in the spring catalog)

Ink: kiwi kiss, pink pirouette, riding hood red

Stamps: Doodle That, Best Friends lower alphabet

Accessories: Big Shot, top note die, kiwi/vanilla satin ribbon, dimensionals

Notes: I cut the top not die out of the raspberry tart paper with the intention of cutting it in half and having a different layout. I couldn't bear to throw away that beautiful paper so I used the negative space to create a different block.

Pacific Love You Much

I've seen so many beautiful cards using this stamp set and pacific point/baja breeze. I wanted to create something simple that my customers could make easily and quickly that was not too girly and not too Valentine-y. This is what I came up with.

Paper: pacific point, whisper white, real red

Ink: pacific point, real red, bashful blue, mellow moss

Stamps: Love You Much

Accessories: scallop punch, triple heart punch, real red grosgrain ribbon, stampin' markers, dimensionals, tab punch

Bella Bookmark

I fell in love with these bookmarks last fall and have wanted to use one ever since in a class. I bought the hodgepodge bulk buy just to make these. I finally made it for this month's class.

Paper: whisper white

Ink: riding hood red, old olive

Stamps: Bella Blooms

Accessories: vanilla hodgepodge hardware, vanilla brad, button boquet, linen thread, baja breeze double stitched ribbon, crystal effects

Happy New Year!

We're having a mini-VSBN at SCS today. So far I've completed 3 of the challenges posted. I'll post pictures now and update with details later. Come join us!

January 1, 2009


Stamps: Bella's Bloom, Independence Day, Fall Flair, Merry
Paper: basic gray, confetti white,whisper white, so saffron, baja breeze, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango
Ink: so saffron, baja breeze, tangerine tango, kiwi kiss, basic black
Accessories: kiwi kiss ribbon, baja breeze ribbon, pumpkin pie ribbon, 2-way glue pen, SU microfine cosmo green glitter, journaling computer generated

Holiday Baking




Stamps: big deal alphabet
Paper: holiday treasures dsp, whisper white
Ink: baja breeze
Accessories: aspen ribbon, old olive grosgrain, chocolate chip taffeta, riding hood red taffeta, brad Techniques: sewing

Playing Lincoln Center


Stamps: Elegant Notes, Headline Alphabet
Paper: whisper white, basic black, elegant eggplant
Ink: basic black
Accessories: recycled buttons, scallop punch

Two More Layouts!!

I'm on such a roll right now! If only I didn't need to work, I could scrap all the time! I joined a kit club a long time ago. I finally stopped when they were piling up and I wasn't making the pages. They just didn't match my style and I didn't care for some of the stamps that were with them. I ran across these last week and decided to challenge myself to complete the pages using only the precut pieces available in the kit. I've long since lost any directions or pictures that went with the kits, so my goal is to use as much of the materials as possible to complete double page layouts. It's turned out to be harder than I thought it would be. One of the kits had seventeen pieces in it! Here are the products of two of these kits.

Bling Queens

Paper: bashful blue, whisper white, basic black, certainly celery

Ink: bashful blue, certainly celery, basic black

Stamps: You Make Me Happy, Short Order Alphabet

Accessories: bashful blue grosgrain ribbon, photo corner punch, stampin' journaler

Zoo Fun

Paper: tempting turquoise, whisper white, gable green, apricot appeal, ruby red, some unknown (don't remember) SU dsp

Ink: tempting turquoise, basic black

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Well Worn Alphabet

Accessories: scallop punch, red bead duo, white grosgrain ribbon, crystal effects

Technique: paper piecing

Oh Christmas Tree

I've been really busy today in the scrapbook room! I made one more DPS during Friday Night Scrappin'. I'm not completely happy with it, but it's done. I have a bunch of unassembled pages from clubs and kits. I took one of these sets and created this page (I didn't use all of the items). It really taxed by brain because the paper was already precut and I had to work with whatever they had planned (any instructions were long since lost).


Paper: certainly celery, bashful blue, basic black, whisper white
Stamps: friendly flowers, headline alphabet
Ink: basic black
Accessories: simon lower chipboard alphabet, basic black grosgrain ribbon, white gel pen, brads

Journaling: Christmas 2008 --- I was up late one night working on a paper. I looked over at the tree and thought it was a most amazing sight. The pictures don't do it justice. The plant lights shone on the tree at just a perfect angle to cast a large intricate shadow.

Christmas Day 2008

We went to my aunt & uncle's house on Christmas Day this year. It was a little impromptu, but we had so much fun! I got some time today in the scrapbook room and was able to make to double page spreads (DPSs) from that day. The girls had so much fun decorating gingerbread men and houses and we really enjoyed catching up with family we don't see often.

Paper: close to cocoa, ruby red

Stamps: Sweet Memories, Hung Up on the Holidays, whimsical lower alphabet

Ink: close to cocoa, ruby red, almost amethyst, gable green, summer sun, pumpkin pie

Accessories: dazzling diamonds

Paper: gable green, purely pomegranate, whisper white

Stamps: Sketch It, whimsical upper alphabet, whimsical lower alphabet, whimsical numbers

Ink: purely pomegranate, gable green, green galore

Accessories: purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon, brads

Merry Christmas!

Merry belated Christmas! I haven't written anything on the blog in the past couple of days! We've been so busy, but we've had a lot of fun. I'll update later on Christmas, but I do have a sneak peek from the Love You Much bundle.

Stamps: Love You Much
Paper: ruby red, pink pirouette, whisper white
Ink: ruby red, pretty in pink
Accessories: riding hood red taffeta ribbon, triple heart punch, fire round brad, dimensionals

Christmas pictures at church

Our church is always decorated so beautifully. Since the girls were in their Christmas dresses today, I wanted to take advantage of all their lights, poinsettias, and trees. I ended up only getting seven pictures, but I thought they turned out so cute! I uploaded them and had Wal-Mart print the larger one in an 8x10.

Stamps: Hung Up On the Holidays, Live Your Dream, Big Deal alphabet

Paper: ruby red, old olive, whisper white

Ink: old olive, close to cocoa, brocade blue, summer sun, ruby red, old olive craft

Accessories: glassy glaze, simon lower chipboard, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Technique: heat embossing

Family Album

I've thought for years about creating a family tree album. I've just never gotten around to it. Last night there was a Micro-VSBN on SCS. I decided that there was no time like the present and got started last night. I created two pages using two of the challenges which were centered around the twelve days of Christmas. The first will be the title page of the album.

The challenge (...a partridge in a pear tree...) was to include a tree or bird. I included both by using the Season of Friendship stamp set. Because I stamped directly on the paper, it was a little stressful. I messed up one page as I stamped the title (the *very* last thing) and had to start completely over!

Stamps: Season of Friendship, Whimsical upper alphabet, Whimsical lower alphabet

Inks: basic brown, green galore, regal rose, garden green, brocade blue, riding hood red, tangerine tango (stamped off once), summer sun, baja breeze

Paper: whisper white, chocolate chip

Accessories: aged copper hodgepodge, chocolate chip taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch

The second challenge (...two turtle doves...) was to place pictures side by side. An optional sketch was provided, which I mostly followed. I found two pictures of my paternal great-grandmother. The quality is horrible! It's probably the result of them being in acid-ridden albums for the past twenty years. I created the page and felt something was missing. I remembered that I had scanned in photos to my genealogy program several years ago. I found a younger picture of her in there and was able to print off a really good picture.

Stamps: Short Order alphabet

Inks: bayou blue, black stampin' journaler

Paper: rose red, bayou blue dsp, baja breeze

Accessories: crop-a-dile, eyelets, love & happiness rub-ons

Late night scrapping

Last night Momma and I stayed up to scrapbook. I was commissioned to "design" her two cards. How do you design something without making it? Basically, she wanted me to make those to cards for her. Durn. Nonetheless, we had a really good time. We stayed up until 2 a.m. Yikes! That's for people who don't have to go to work in the morning! I had a terrible time trying to get up.

I found one card we made a couple of months ago at the September Stamp a Stack. It has been one of my favorites since then. The set is a Hostess level 1 called Organic Grace. The sentiment comes from Much Appreciated. Paper: close to cocoa, really rust, mellow moss, very vanilla; Inks: close to cocoa, really rust, mellow moss; Acessories: dimensionals, twill tape. It is SUO.

The next card was one we made some time ago. I believe the stamp set is All Holidays. The only addition I made to it was to add the metal tag. The sentiment is from the Mini Mates set. Paper: chocolate chip, mellow moss, unknown SU DSP (retired); inks: chocolate chip, closet to cocoa, mellow moss; accessories: chocolate chip ribbon, river rock ribbon, round metal tag, brad. It is also SUO.

In the middle of all this, I made two scrapbook pages. The first is reminiscing about Box-a-saurus (see earlier post in November for more details). I thought the layout was a perfect way to showcase the progression of the project throughout the night.

The final dps was a the fall festival at the FBC South Campus. Each year my aunt and cousin ask to take the girls. It's a lot of fun (as evidenced by Beaver's huge grin) with bouncy houses, dozens of booths, a hayride, campfire, and literally tons of candy. It's always a highlight of the girls' year.

Aunt Cindianne's Christmas Card

Cindianne has just started stamping. She tried it once at a card class one weekend when she was visiting. She loved it and placed her first order for supplies to make a Christmas card. She wanted something that she could make fairly easily but that still looked nice. She brought her supplies back to my house this weekend for me to help her with the design. This is what I designed for her. She also has ideas on how to alter it to make adaptations on this card.

Paper: real red, bashful blue, whisper white

Stamps: To You & Yours

Ink: basic gray

Accessories: bashful blue taffeta ribbon, dimensionals, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds

The rest of my WOW technique class items

Whew. We had a really good club meeting. I started off with three and at least one who was out of town today and will come to later club meetings. In addition to the scrapbook page I posted earlier today, club participants also made a card and a hanging treat box holder.

The card, Near and Far, was my attempt to teach reverse masking. I included several other techniques as well: heat & stick powder, masking, sponging, and dyeing ribbon.

Paper: baja breeze, whisper white

Inks: baja breeze, versamark

Stamps: snow burst, star-studded season

Accesories: coluzzle, heat & stick powder, dazzling diamonds, heat tool, white grosgrain ribbon, aquapainter

The hanging treat box was a lot of fun! It turned out to be quite a hit. Everyone thought it was neat and would be great for Halloween. It's a really good idea for a quick and simple Secret Santa.

Paper: tangerine tango, whisper white, haiku dsp

Inks: basic brown, chocolate chip, close to cocoa, more mustard, ruby red, summer sun, old olive, garden green

Stamps: Happy Blessings

Accessories: 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop punch

Finally! Some pages uploaded!

I got up extra early this morning to upload some pages to my SCS gallery. I'm not counting any of these pictures in my November scrapbook challenge totals because I actually completed them last summer. I do, however, have as one of my goals the insertion of these pictures into albums. You'd think that would be a simple thing to do, huh? Not so much for me. I just never got around to doing it.

You Are Priceless

Stamps: Priceless

Paper: basic black, taken with teal, real red, whisper white

Inks: real red, basic black, taken with teal

Accessories: brads, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, simon lower chipboard letters, scallop punch

Deviled Eggs

Stamps: A Good Egg, taffy alphabet

Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white, pretty in pink, wild wasabi, bashful blue, so saffron

Inks: chocolate chip, bashful blue

Accessories: slit punch

Pool Fun

Stamps: I don't remember this set! Someone, please help me. I know it's retired

Paper: old olive, soft sky, so saffron, whisper white

Inks: old olive, so saffron, soft sky, blue bayou

Accessories: old olive 5/8" ribbon

Summer 2008

Stamps: Tart & Tangy

Paper: whisper white, summer picnic DSP, bashful blue

Inks: only orange, real red, wild wasabi, real red stampin' marker

Accessories: 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch