Saturday, September 29, 2012

Winter Christmas Cards

I finished the other 3 cards I needed for an upcoming Christmas card class in November.  I'll save one for my next post in case I don't get any stamping done this weekend.  Are you ready?  I need to start my Christmas shopping as we're going to celebrate it with 2 of our 3 kids at Thanksgiving.  Gotta get busy!  Anyway...


Again, I used BoBunny paper, the Mistletoe collection and the Stampendous set, Winter Trees.


I'm thinking I should have used my Stardust Clear Gel pen on the ornaments for some bling.


I distressed the edges of some of the papers.


I added some silver sequins for some bling and to fill in those 2 kinda open areas.  I also added a dot of Stardust Clear Gel pen to the snowflakes around the tree.  I like how these cards turned out. Now to get my directions/supply list put together...

Friday, September 28, 2012

Winter Scene

I am starting to work on a November class I plan to teach at the AZ Scrapbooking store in Green Valley, AZ.  Debi, the owner, chose the paper.  It's by BoBunny  in the Mistletoe collection.  The stamps are from the set Winter Trees by Stampendous.


I used the Beaded Ovals die by Spellbinders and my Wizard and a cool pine tree border punch (E K Success???).  I colored a white satin ribbon with a Copic marker but I think a strip of the red card stock would work better.


I cut 2 of the same size Beaded Oval but cut the beads off the white one and sanded the edge to make it more uniform.  I stamped the background with Starry Night Palette Hybrid ink and the deer with Burnt Umber PH ink.  I pop dotted the deer.  I think a more vintage paper would be in order but I like how this card turned out.What do you think?

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

WOYWW 173

Ah... another Wednesday!  Another opportunity for me and you to view other's desks and see what they're working on or how they organize or whatever.  My desk hasn't changed but I've been learning my Cricut Expression again and having a ball.  Nothing made other than the letters for the scrapbook page in my previous post but hopefully will get further along soon.  Just pop on over to the Stamping Ground and visit Julia's desk then check out the links at the end of her post.

But the last couple of days I've been working on prepping my cards to sell at AZ Scrapbooking.  Debi is needing cards for the walk-in customers to purchase.  Here's a few that are assembled.  I stamp an envelope to try and match (I've sold some of the stamps I used to make the cards) and stamped some cards inside.  Then I place envy and card in a clear sleeve, attach a sticker telling what text is inside and my name, then seal.


I've cleaned out my stash a bit but still have about 10 - 15 to go.  Debi sells them for $3.50 and I get the $3.00.  I think it's a pretty good deal. I can only send out so many and it is nice to get back some of the cost of paper, etc.

PS.  My posts will go live a half hour later now that my hubby is starting to work "winter" hours.  Of course, there's not much winter here in the southwest but the farmers are about done with hay harvest.  He needs the break and it would be nice to get some honey-do's done!

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Grants

This past Memorial Weekend we met our oldest granddaughter and her family in Phoenix, AZ along with our son (her dad) and his family.  I posted a group picture of us in June (I think).  Christen and I are friends on FaceBook and we play Words with Friends together.  This past month she posted some wonderful pictures of her, her hubby Sky, and our great grandson Ryan.  I did save the pic of Ryan to my cell phone and it's the main wallpaper.  Anyway, I wanted a scrapbook page that shows their love of horses and cowboy things.  Seeing some of her pics bring back memories of when I had my horse and all the trail rides, parades, and more that I enjoyed.  I'll have to do some digging to find pics of me and my horse... So, without further ado...


The pattern papers are from the Sarsasparilla collection by October Afternoon.  I used my Cricut to cut out their names and a stamp set by The Angel Company for the cowboy embellishments.  You can click on the page to see it bigger.  And isn't little Ryan the most adorable cowboy ever!!!  Happy great granny here!  If you do enlarge, check out her horse's breast collar!  Her grandpa on her mom's side made that.  It is a wonderful work of art!


I added dots of my Stardust Clear Gel pen to the horseshoe nails and on the spurs of the cowboy boots.  I'm kind of a minimalist when it comes to scrapping.  It took me about 4 days to get this layout to work to where I was satisfied.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Winter Scene

I made 1 card with the stamp set that was on my desk Wednesday.  The set is called Winter Trees by Stampendous.  I purchased it and plan on using it for a November class at the AZ Scrapbooking store in Green Valley, AZ.


The stamps are clear which I'm not overly fond.  I prefer rubber but I know MANY people like clear for ease of placement.  I had a bit of trouble getting the tree to stamp cleanly.


I added a dot of Stardust Clear gel pen to the snowflakes and embossed the base card with a snowflake cuttlebug folder.  And I used a Fiskars border punch on the blue edge.  I seen a card similar in style and thought it was pretty cool.  I don't know if this design will be used for the class yet.  I'm thinking about it.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

WOYWW 172

I'm in shock!  And you will be, too!  My work desk is mostly clean!  Oh my gosh! Don't faint!  I spent an hour yesterday trying to clean up the paper piles.  Are you ready?  There still is a couple - the one on the left is for upcoming classes (and some still needing to be sorted and put in the basket), and the one on the right is because I got tired (would only take 1/2 minute to put in bucket).  There is a stamp set that I purchased that is begging to be played with.  I'm getting there.  I've got more to do but I've got other plans right now...


Now that you've probably picked yourself up from the floor or cleaned your screen from spitting your drink in amazement, go to Julia's blog, the Stamping Ground, and view more desks.  Now I'm going to play with that stamp set!!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Sit Quietly

Do you like to take some down time and sit in a comfortable chair, have a cup of your favorite beverage, and just veg out?  I do this occasionally but I do not have a beautiful wicker chair like this...



I do like to sit outside at our patio table and "talk" with the hummingbirds.  We have a couple that seem quite friendly.  They come right up to your face and chatter!  I have put out my finger as a perch a time or two but they're not quite that friendly.  Anyway,  this card was made for my Technique Junkies 1 on 1 swap this month.  I used a technique called Acrylic Block Taping technique and a stamp set called Sit Quietly by The Angel Company.


Here you can kinda get an idea of how the technique looks.  I sure enjoy the newsletters I get from the Technique Junkies.  Lots of fabulous ideas and the website  is great!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

7 Gypsies Pretoria Cards 2

I finally finished the 4th card and boy, my brain is pooped!  Glad I have the One Sheet Wonder template! Anyway, here's the other 2 cards for the class...

I did find my other inks, my little Dew Drops of both VersaMagic and Momentos and there are some that will work with the gorgeous papers better than what I used.


I found some spiral clips that looks really cool with the ribbon threaded through them,.


Whatcha think of this card??


I like extending some of the handstamped pattern through as embellishments.  And the 3 different sizes of rhinestones under the text  adds that tough of bling that I like. Now I need to get some swap cards and some cards to sell at the AZ Scrapbooking store completed.  Those for the store consist of those I've made and some swap cards as I don't have room to keep oodles of cards!!


Last week we had a visitor.  This quy is about the size of my fist.  Tarantulas are wonderful for getting rid of spiders and other nasties! We like them!

Friday, September 14, 2012

7 Gypsies Pretoria Cards

I have had this stamp set sitting on my desk for almost 2 weeks.  The stamps are cool but I have had such a brain burp on them.  I tried going to the 7 Gypsies web site but it has been down - something about GoDaddy having technical issues or having been highjacked. Bummer.  I was hoping to see some samples using this set to jump start my mojo.  Well, then yesterday as I was driving to meet hubby at IHOP I got to thinking..... 1 Sheet Wonder cards!  I've done a class on these before and thought this was a good way to show a majority of the stamps in the set as there is a bunch!  After I stamped my sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" card stock I realized that I didn't match my inks to the paper I was using! Oh NO!!!  Oh well.  I'll just put in the description that better coordinating inks will be used in the class.  So, are you ready to see a couple of the cards??


You don't see much of the strip from the stamped sheet. But I like the layout of this card.


This card was coming along nicely when I apparently touched that middle panel with a finger that had ink on it!  Sure screwed that up! LOL!  I've still got 2 more cards to go.  The class will only make 4 cards out of the 9 that the template does.  And I'm doing cards that I didn't do in the last class (a little over a year ago).
So what do you think of these other than using the wrong inks?

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

WOYW Week 171

This week has been interesting.  I've had no motivation to stamp other than finishing that set of 4 Halloween cards for an October class.  Our instructor meeting is tomorrow and I still have another set of samples to make for my second October class.  Debi wants me to use a stamp set by 7 Gypsies called Pretoria and it's sitting at my computer where I look at it constantly but, alas, no ideas at the moment.  But I digress.  Today is Wednesday! Hump Day! Or, the day you get to look at my desk and others should you want!


My desk is a mess.  The little white/red book is the instruction book to my new cell phone. I got a simple one, no smart phone for me as I didn't want to pay the $35 more per month for internet.  I got a Samsung flip phone.  This one has a memory disk and now I can get the pics off the phone!  I had a picture of our youngest granddaughter on it from 2009!

To the left you see 3 new stamp sets.  The top is a set from Stampendous that I plan on using for a November class.  The 2 sets of red rubber under it are from Red Rubber Designs.  I won a card challenge and received a $10 certificate.  One set is a Christmas wreath set and the other is patriotic.

Now, pop on over to Julia's blog, the Stamping Ground, scroll down and see all the links to other's desks.  And hopefully I'll get some ideas this week to have something to show you on Friday!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Ghosts and Pumpkins

I "finished" the other 2 cards I made in class last week.  Are you ready??  I love this design and hope to make more.


The ghost and words were all cut on a Cricut. I did add some black Stardust glitter pen to the eyes and mouth.  The ghost is affixed with those wobble springs I showed you recently.


You can kinda see the wobble spring behind the ghost.  And how do you like my little ghostie with the rhinestone eyes?  Plus the word BOO...  Isn't this just cute?


And here is the final card.  The pumpkin and leaf are embossed.  The leaf might be from a Spellbinder die, I'm not sure.  I added the gold crystals for the final touch.


Here you can see the little leaves on the steps.  They're from a punch.  The text is from a stamp but I don't know who by.

This weekend we seen a fabulous movie called Monumental.  It was an amazing documentary about the early history of America concerning the pilgrims and the basis of government.



And there was some info on an wonderful monument in Plymouth, MA....


Here's a link with more info and pictures.  This is amazing!  I never heard of this monument in any of my history classes in school!  The movie actually gave more information about this monument than the website.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Boo!

Yesterday I got to take the class that was postponed from last Wednesday! Oh my! It was fun!  We made 3 cards but I want to "step up" the other 2 a bit so will show just one here....


I believe the pumpkins was a Stampendous stamp.  I don't know about the flourishes and they are black embossed.  The BOO! was cut on a Cricut.




Here you can see the "steps"!  Camille cut this design on her Cricut.  When folded it will fit a standard A2 envelope.


I added black rhinestones as eyes and can see the medium-sized pumpkin is having a problem.  His eye is slipping!  I'll fix that.  Must have happened in transport.

I tried to get home yesterday after the class at 3 pm but we were having a flash flood and our gully was running deep and also down the road.  By 4 pm it was deeper. (Wished I had a photo to share.) I went to our pastor's home and had a great visit.  When Dean arrived about 7 we cooked the Papa Murphy's pizza I had purchased and we all had a good dinner.  Dean and I headed home at 8 (left my car at pastor's) in Dean's big work truck (about 5 ton service truck with a crane and lots of mechanic stuff) and BARELY got through the gully.  The flood had just barely ended but the the weight of the truck just sank it in the soft wet sand.  This morning Dean had to pull a car out of the gully so he could go to work.  He didn't have near a much trouble getting through but we are expecting more of the rain today.  We are way over our average rainfall now.  Wished I could send this wet stuff to eastern WY!  Dad is out with his road grader this morning and trying to make the road passable.


These was my view about 7 this morning. Tucson is getting nailed and there are flash floods all over from here to there and clear up to Phoenix. I love the rain but not the floods. 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

What's on Your Workdesk Week 170

Hello Wednesday!  And I'm ready!  I'm pretty much over my cold.  Had a horrible time with the cough but much better.  My desk is a wreck.  I've been working on some Halloween cards as you can tell from previous posts plus making card kits for a class today - we're making those little Halloween monster treat boxes. Remember these?  I really need to clean my desk as I am now finding it difficult to work around the mess!


Today's card is on my desk and I'm using the skewer to curl the scrappers floss.


The pumpkin is made from 2 2" circles.  I lightly sponged brown around the edges of both, stamped one with the face, and cut the other in half. Stamps are by Inky Antics.


I don't have any oval punches but then, an oval wouldn't be large enough for the face image.  I think this class will be a go.  The cards are turning out so cute.

Now, pop on over to Julia's blog, the Stamping Ground, and visit other crafters' workdesks and even get a glimpse of some projects!  And if Julia's desk is busy just go to last Thursdays post and see her desk CLEAN!  I REALLY need to do this!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Little Monster Treat Box Kits

I received a call today from the scrapbook store where I teach.  My Wednesday class has been canceled!  Bummer!!! I had 5 kits made up and ready to "students" to stamp and assemble. So I stamped and packaged the 5 kits for sale.  The store will get a couple as 1 is already spoken for.  I will keep 3 and try to sell here.  Oh, 1 is already spoken for so that leaves 2 available.  Trying to remember what these little guys were?


I have all the ribbons and cordings, rhinestones, and little pieces all stamped. There are many little pieces that need to be cut such as the white eyes and teeth.  I did include my directions that I would have used in class.


They come like this!  Each kit is in a plastic envelope that's 6" x 8".  And they sell for $14 each (includes shipping).  If you are interested send me an email through the "contact me" button on the left top sidebar.  I can only take checks or money orders. Now I'll work on some other card kits for the store.  I didn't go to work today as our gully was running about a foot deep and we got over 1 1/2" of rain in the past 24 hours.  It's now 4 hours after I initially tried to go to work and the gully is probably dry but hubby is home with the cold I had. I tried not to share but, oh well!