Thursday, April 30, 2009

Power From The Past

Last Saturday we attended the Pima County Fair southeast of Tucson. The photos for the page were taken on my cell phone and they turned out pretty good! This page is also from a challenge on Paper Wings! This is a great resource for TAC™ samples! Check it out!

Anyway...



I used Pop Rockz SWIC for the pattern paper, alphabet, and tag. It is very busy paper but I really wanted something with John Deere green! The blue for layering is from the DCWV Brights cardstock stack. Except for the retired tractor image, this page took about 20 minutes to make! I used Just A Note images for the journaling. There is also journaling on the tag under the bottom tractor. I colored the tractor with my Prismacolor pencils and used Noir and Bordeaux inks for stamping and edging of the letters. There is an Antique Copper eyelet on the tag.

What are you going to make in honor of National Scrapbook Day this coming Saturday??

Fancy Bowling!

No, we're not playing with bowls! But my dad is on a bowling team during the winter and a nice young man, a semi-professional photographer, was at one of the league days taking pictures of his mom, another bowler. I was asking him about his camera then asked about his taking some pics of my dad. He totally refused any kind of payment and emailed what he came developed. (Bad pun!) Anyway, here's the finished framed photo.


I used a very retired alphabet set for all the text and used Azure Staz-On ink to stamp the frame. I purchased these bowling stickers for embellishments. His birthday is today! I think he'll like it! I'll be giving it to him sometime today. What do you think?? Is it good enough to hang??

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Yard Bird Revisited

TAC™ has 6" x 9" albums but, I don't have one at this time. Naughty me! Anyway, I do have an 8 1/2" x 11" album so I remounted my page to fit what I have!


Here you can see how I placed my page kinda kittywaumpus on purple Bazzil cardstock, added another strip of the black cardstock strip and more flowers. I was thinking of addy more embellishments but I think this is a case of less is more. What do you think?? Have you tried taking a smaller page and creating a larger page to fit whatever album/s you have?? This would even work in a picture frame! Hmmmm, I'm thinking Christmas gift.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Yard Bird

We are having a wonderful time with our own Paper Wings National Scrapbook Week. (If you are a TAC™ angel I highly recommend joining Paper Wings!)

The challenge here was to start with a 6" x 9" white cardstock and NO squares allowed! I can see where I should have stamped my Edge Designs around the purple differently, like mitering the corners. Well, live and learn. The purple and brown pattern papers are from our fun Winchester SWIC package. I really like the colors in the paper! I also used Black Cardstock Strips for the scallops. These are fun to use as embellishments! The text is computer generated. The flowers were placed to hide a boo-boo and are made by Prima. The brad is Making Memories. This is one of the many quail that live in our yard! Have you tried scrapbooking the wild life around you??

Monday, April 27, 2009

Discontinued Paper Collection

This came from the TAC™ office today:

The Angel Company™ regrets to announce that due to unforeseen printing difficulties, the Genevieve™ Fly With It Collection™ has been immediately discontinued from the current TAC™ catalogue and is no longer available for ordering purposes. Additionally, Genevieve™ will not appear in any future TAC™ catalogues. We loved the paper line as much as you and are sad to see it go!


It's just been one of those days!

This has been one weird day! I did work out at Curves this morning and took my mom shopping. That was all fine. The trouble started when we decided on the dates to go to Wyoming to help a friend next month. Dean called me from work to tell me the dates he's off so I could book the airline tickets. That's when it all began! Over 2 hours later I finally got us booked on Frontier going and United coming home. What a pain! My internet connection was a PIA!!! And from the time we talked about air fees at noon to the time I booked our returning flight on Frontier was sold out!! That was about a 2 hour time frame! Amazing! So, by the time it was all done the cost was $50 more than when we first looked.

So, needless to say, I didn't get much creating done! I did manage this simple little card using up some scraps.


I used the new set Beautiful Day from our Serendipity magalogue. This didn't turn out quite as well I as hoped but wait until this weekend's post!! A bunch of us angels are doing a Scor-pal blog hop! I created a Diamond fold card using this great set and Reece SWIC! I bet you're going to love it! And the Scor-Pal is such a great tool!! It rarely leaves my worktable! So stay tuned!

And don't worry about our trip to Wyoming. We won't be leaving until May 23 and I'll have some posts prescheduled for your viewing pleasure! And I will try to get online a couple times while gone. We're going to be seeing our daughter in Cheyenne and our son is supposed to come there with his girlfriend so we can meet her. I'm so excited! I'll have pictures!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Getting ready for Christmas, in April??

I'm part of a challenge on Paper Wings to make 11 Christmas cards a month so that I will have enough by Christmas. I enjoy doing non-traditional colors (besides, who decided that Christmas colors were red and green?) and had lots of purple so I decided to use up some of that purple!

Here's the card. I used my Fiskars Treading Water border punch to create the scallop striped border. I also used Country Cottage Designer paper (which has been retired) for the 2 strips on the side. I punched the scalloped circle using the Giga Scallop Circle punch and inked the edges. I stamped the Christmas circle using French Lilac PH ink on white and sponged the inside to make my image stand out more and punched using the Mega Circle punch. The tree is from the All Season Swirls (retired), stamped with Versamark ink and I used Christmas Gold embossing powder that I've had forever! The close up below shows how cool that e.p. looks and it does have red and green in it. I used pop dots to attach the tree to the center of the circle. Our challenge was to use Whimsical Greetings so I stamped the Rejoice at the bottom right. Whimsical Greetings set is on the retiring list so if you want this fun set you need to order it quickly!



Here you can see that I used Crystal Stickles on the circle scallops and Souffle Gelly pens on the little hollys. I also used the stickles for the dots on the "i" in the word Rejoice. Lots of bling! Very different looking card, don't you think??

Friday, April 24, 2009

Sun and Cactus

This is a card I made way back when and realized I've never posted it or anything. I made it right after we moved here in 2007.


I used DCWV Neutrals white core cardstock only. I love the way you can sand it for a distressed look. The cactus is a Sizzix die. The text is retired. This was a fast and easy card yet I like the look very much! And there is a minimum of stamping as you can see! We have lots of saguro cacti here along with prickly pear, ocitillo, jumping cactus, and more. And lizards, tarantullas, black widows, quail, and roadrunners! You don't walk around barefoot and you definitely wear sunscreen! How about making a card to celebrate your landscape?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Pine trees in a row

This is another Zindorf-inspired card. I do have a link to her in the menu. Anyway, again the colors that I ended up with are not the colors I used! I just gotta get a new brayer!! I've had this one for about 12 - 14 years! I'd say it was time, wouldn't you?? Anyway.....

Stamps: Good Timber
Paper: white and black cardstocks
Inks: various PH, Noir PH
Misc.: Brayer, brads


Have you played with your brayer lately?

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Lonely tree

I really enjoy Michele Zindorf's projects and this card is so inspired by her work. I think I need a new brayer as the colors I ended up with were not the colors I started with! My yellow turned beige, my orange turned reddish brown, and so on. Anyway, here's what I ended up with!


Stamps: Good Timber, Be Still
Paper: white & black cardstocks
Inks: various PH colors, Noir
Embellishments: Black ribbon
Tools: Black Prismacolor Pencil, brayer

The birds in the upper right corner were made using a regular black ink pen. You can barely see them but I need to balance the picture and I didn't have any little bird stamps. I do like how this burned out. What do you think??

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hey There!!

I've been struggling the last few days trying to come up with something. Must be the heat!! Our air conditioner has been coming on the last couple days and I'm not ready for triple digit heat!! Anyway, I seen this layout on a blog and had to try it.

Paper: Purple & white cardstocks, and Tuscany Spice Designer paper
Stamps: Squiggle Ladybugs & Feel Better hostess set
Embellishments: Lilac paper posies, purple ribbon, Prismacolor H20 pencils, Niji Water brush
Ink: Noir PH

Have you checked out the Discontinued List?? Really great way to get those sets you want at 25% off!! If you go through my Ecommerce site/shopping cart the prices will automatically adjust. And don't forget the Grab Bag special!! Just enter the code tacbag when ordering! Real easy to do!

And please remember to vote for my messy room! I'm entry #29 and just click HERE to vote! I know I don't have a chance as some of the rooms have over 2000 votes but, they've earned them!! WOW!! I did clean my work table a bit as I do have some special projects I need to get made and need the room. When I can post these I will do so. Anyway, I guess I need to get back to the worktable! Happy stamping!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Laughter is the best medicine!

I think our granddaughters are the most beautiful granddaughters in the world! And to get all 3 together like this is not an everyday occurrence! Our granddaughters are: Rylie, age 8, Rowan, age 4, and Christen, age 23. We don't know Christen very well. Have only met her a few times.

My challenge for today was to create a scrapbook page using our great Hostess sets and GWPs. I was mostly being goofy myself in the creation of this page so it's not a great layout or anything.

This is an 8x8" page with the base using Mimi SWIC. I also used Assorted Bitty Blossoms, some paper posies, Hillary Emb. jar flowers, buttons, and white scrappers floss. The text is stamped on some light blue scrap cs and punched with the Mega Scallop Oval punch.

Friday, April 17, 2009

The vines have it!

I purchased the April SOTM Floral Vines and wanted to play with some acetate that my friend Becky Sheppard (an angel in Sierra Vista, AZ) sent me to experiment with.

I stamped the image with Black Staz-On but I didn't really get a good image (should have cleaned the stamp good before using). After drying I used my Crystal Lacquer and loose glitter to color in the open areas. I used small purple brads to attach the acetate panel to the scrap yellow from my paper bucket and layered this on a piece of purple cardstock scrap. The text is from our Inspirational Sayings set stamped in Noir PH ink. The card base is from our Natural Cardstock Assortment. This is a rather simple card and I hope to play more with the acetate like running it through a Cuttlebug embossing folder and such. Hopefully next week I'll get something done.

Watch for another blog hop starting Saturday night! We will be making scrapbook pages using our hostess sets and GWPs. Mine is a rather silly card showcasing our 3 granddaughters.

And please don't forget to vote for my messy craftroom! Click HERE and cast your vote for entry #29! Thanks! I know I can't win but it's fun to see how messy some of those rooms are! Makes me feel good about mine!!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Fore You!

Here's some more masculine cards that I promised. These 3 cards use the Fore! set which has 6 stamps for $10.95! Great set if you have a golfer in you circle! And here in southern Arizona we have more golf courses than you can believe!! Seems like there's one every 5 miles!

This card uses a sketch from Mojo Monday. I also used a retired Designer paper pack as I do need to use it up. The golfer is colored with my Prismacolor H20 pencils and Niji Water Brush and the images are stamped with Noir PH ink. I used some ribbon we used to carry by Making Memories (which I'm also trying to use up) and the dots are done with my 1/4" hole punch and Crystal Lacquer. I think this one is my favorite of the 3.

This card was made using a sheet of the Scallop Cardstock Stack. It fits great in a 4 1/8" x 9 1/2" envelope so no extra postage is needed. The light green is from the Neutral Cardstock Stack and I used my Paper Piercer on both ends of it and on the upper right corner of the stamped image piece. Again, the ribbon is from a Making Memories package. The golf bag is colored with the Prismacolor H20 Pencils and the Niji Water Brush.


This card was made when I stamped with the group Tuesday. I used the Giga Scallop Circle Punch and the Mega Circle Punch for the golfer piece. He's colored with Prismacolor Pencils. And the strip is from the Red Cardstock Strips and wrapped with red, white, and black scrapper's floss.

Is there a set you're interested in seeing samples? Our Paper Wings gallery (click on link in left side menu bar) has something for everyone! And if you want to see something special here on my blog (and if I have the set) please let me know! I enjoy challenges and keeping my readers happy!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Take Pride!

I joined my friend, Joyce Lambert, at Green Valley, AZ stampers group yesterday. I was so excited to be able to stamp with people (I usually stamp at home alone) that I forgot my acrylic blocks! Do you know that the lids to the Palette Hybrid inks work great in a pinch?? And I only took a couple sets to play with as I needed some masculine cards for birthdays and Father's Day. Today I'll show the ones I made using the wonderful Take Pride set. There are only 3 stamps in this set and it sells for $10.95! I used all 3 stamps in these cards.

I used our great free downloadable paper patterns for all three cards. I think the stripes and diamonds are great for "manly" cards! This card also used the red cardstock strips! What do you think??

I also used various cardstocks such as black, yellow, red, and yellow/orange, some of which were from my scrap bucket.

This one I used an edge distresser and a paper piercer.

I also made one card using our Fore! set but I'll post it when I get a couple more cards made. And speaking of golf, I see my dad has lobbed a few golf balls in our yard and is out retrieving them. He's going to play tomorrow with a friend at a nice golf course in Tucson tomorrow. The friend is getting a surprise birthday party on Saturday and I'll use one of these cards today for his birthday card.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Mini Chest of Drawers Tutorial

Last week I said I would work on a tutorial for this fun little drawer set so here goes! I hope you can understand this. If you have any questions please contact me.

First I cut 6 pieces of decorative paper (white on the back side) to 5"x5" and scored at 1.5" on all 4 sides on the pattern side.

I used my 1.5" circle punch (1" punch works great, too!) to punch a 1/2 circle out of the front of the drawer. I also cut flaps along the score lines. Look closely at the photo below for placement of these. Adhere to flaps to create the drawers. Remember to fold away from your scores. Use your bone folder or something to give you a nice crisp fold.

Now for the drawer holders. Cut one 8 3/16" x 5 1/2" of white (or whatever) cardstock for each 2 drawers made. You can make this any height you want but I rather like the 6 drawer (3 high design). Score each piece at 2" on all 4 sides.

Here you can see me using my trimmer to cut the flaps so I can create the holders. Again, remember to fold away from your scores. Again, use your bone folder for nice crisp folds.

After adhering the flaps you can start assembling your holders together. Use some good adhesive! I put the drawers in the holders for more firmness while adhering these together. The drawers may fit a bit tight.

Now start decorating! I added a back to the top by folding some cardstock cut to the width of the "chest" and adhering to the top and back. Just play!! Go back to my original post (dated April 2) for ideas. I did cover the sides and back to hide the seams. I would love to see what you come up with! If you have a blog and post please link to me and provide me with your blog address so I can have others see your creation. If you don't have a blog how about taking a picture and emailing it to me and I'll post your creation here! Have fun and get crazy!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Resurrection Day!

Today is the day we celebrate our blessed Savior's resurrection from the grave to live again!
He was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins as His blood was shed on the cross to atone for our sins! You, too, can have a relationship with the one true God by believing in Him, repenting of your sins, asking Him to come into your life and heart as your Lord and Savior, and trusting in Him. You do not have to be "perfect" or work at your salvation as He will accept you as you are!!

So, in honor of this precious and holy day I made these 2 cards.

I used 2 stamp sets on this card, Our Savior and Edge Designs. Do you recognize the free downloadable pattern in the paper? I also used my Labels 1 nestabilities from Spellbinders and my Wizard die cut machine. There is also a piece of yellow ribbon for more embellishment.

Sunflowers are my absolute favorite flower but to me they are Sonflowers! Here I used the "Sonflower" die from Spellbinders to create for focal point. The words are created from our Simple Bet. I dug through my scrap bin for the papers. The leaves were cut from green cardstock that had striped texture so the embossing really doesn't show up.

Yesterday it rained and was gloomy. It made me think of Jesus' disciples as He was laid in the tomb, how their hearts were breaking over the death of their Messiah, not understanding why their Lord had to die. It breaks my heart that He had to be beaten and crucified for us but it was all in God's plan for our salvation. But today is beautiful and we celebrated with a "Sonrise" service at church and I rejoice in the fact that today we celebrate the empty tomb for Christ is ALIVE!! And He's coming back to take His children home to live with Him in Heaven! For those who do not accept Him as their personal Savior, they will be judged and dealt with. But, as for me and my house, we will serve Him and rejoice. If, after reading this, you decide not to visit my blog again, so be it, you will be missed. I am a Christian, a Biblicist (I believe in the entire Word of God), and I cannot separate my faith in Jesus from my creative life as He created me. If, after reading this, you want more information on Jesus, please contact me. May I be His light in this world and may my light shine brightly for all to see.

Friday, April 10, 2009

May 12 class projects

I'll be teaching a class on May 12 from 6 - 8 pm at the AZ Scrapbook Store in Green Valley, AZ.
Here are the 3 cards we'll be making. I used a stamp set from Hero Arts (I must use the store's products, darn) that is rather comparable to our Little Cupcake set. You can't see it here but all 3 cards have Stickles on them. I used only 3 pieces of cardstock, 1/2 piece of glossy white cardstock, and a 1/2 sheet of white cardstock to create these. The class cost is about $14 which includes the paper, using the stamp set and reinkers, and beverages. I'll be teaching a technique called Reinker Splash and I'm looking forward to teaching again. I must use the store supplies since the store needs to sell their products through the class. The other teachers are with SU! and CTMH so I want to see TAC™ also represented. I have many ideas I hope to teach. So, if you're in the Green Valley/Tucson, Arizona area and have questions please contact me.

Fun Video

One of our great angels on Paper Wings came across this video. It's an absolute hoot! Click here to view and turn on your speakers! Does this get you in the mood to create? How about working on your Christmas gifts?? I don't have a Cricut™ machine but I can stamp!!

Memo Pad Holder

While working on my "Winger" project for Paper Wings (an angel site with great samples of our wonderful sets) I made this!

I have some memo pads that have been in my craft supplies box for ages and decided I needed to do something with them. I plan on making a bunch and clean out my box a bit. Maybe I'll add a slideshow of stuff for sale.

Anyway, I used some chipboard as the main backing, added my Amberley Grace cardstock and SWIC. I added the ribbon and used my Crop-a-Dile to add the eyelets. I stamped the tag with a stamp from our Inspirational Sayings set. You can put a magnet on the back and it can be put on a fridge to write grocery lists, to do list, whatever! I just love how the way TAC™ coordinated the SWIC, cardstocks, ribbons, and hardware for us so that our projects look good!

Well, back to finding something to make for my project!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Grab bags are back!!

Please click on the picture link in the left menu! These are great deals and go quickly! Email me to get yours ordered now!

Beep, Beep, there goes the roadrunner!!

We have a small flock of roadrunners in our area and 2 came to visit the other day! I seen them coming so I grabbed my camera and hurried to a spot where I thought they'd come by me. I stood very still with my camera up and waited, almost holding my breath! The first one came to about 10 - 15' of me. It didn't spook when I clicked the camera. In this picture it stopped and looked at me! I was so amazed how it just stood there! So, here is what I did with it's picture!

I used Angelee SWIC, cardstock, and ribbon along with Just Because set. I really like how this turned out! I did use my Treading Water border punch for the decorative paper. The Angelee paper had the colors that are in the background of the photo, light green and browns. Just perfect!

I seen Rita's blog using photos for cards and was so inspired! I have so many pictures of the flowers, tree blossums, and cactus that grow here that I'm starting to use them. Give it a try!!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Gridded Card

I was playing with my Scor-Pal when this card came into being. What do you think??


Stamps: Petal Pack, Just Because
Inks: L'Amore & Starry Night PH
Misc: Scor-Pal, ribbons
Paper: red, white


Have you voted for my messy craft room recently? Please do and thanks!!!

Monday, April 6, 2009

FREE Download card example

I played with another sheet of our free download patterns. Isn't this cool!! There are 5 different patterns to use! I hope to create another soon.
Stamps used: Aged Ornaments, Thank You GWP
Ink: Noir PH
Paper: white & black cardstock
Other: black/white ribbon, Giga Scallop Square punch

Have you voted for me recently for the messiest craft room?? Here's the link so just Click Here!
I am entry # 29. Just click on the check mark!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sweet, Delightful, and Sassy!

My personal challenge this time was to use stamps in some way on my scrapbook page! Well, I rarely don't use stamps. I figure since I'm a stamper I use stamps on everything in some way or other. So, this page of 2 of our loverly granddaughters uses stamps for the background, embellishments, and journaling! We will be going to see these 2 little cuties next month! My photo here is a bit off-color due to the lighting but in real life it is very clear and colorful!


Supplies used:
Stamps: This Girl, Starburst Florals, Just A Note
Paper: DCWV Neutrals cardstock stack, white cardstock
Ink: Noir PH (I stamped off once before stamping on my white to get a grey, less bold, look.)
Misc: Impress Brights markers (would you believe that my set was purchased in 2002 and it's just now starting to dry a bit!)

Reinker Splash cards

I'm preparing to teach a class on May 12 at our AZ Scrapbook store here in Green Valley, AZ.
The owner, Dawn, seen this technique on my blog from January 2008 or so and thought it'd be a good one. So....

This card uses Little Cupcake for the stamped images. I tried to match the background colors in the cupcake with my Prismacolor pencils. I think it worked pretty good. I also used Icicle Stickles on the cupcake for more bling. I also tried to match my cardstocks to the colors used. And, if you look close enough (click on picture for a larger view) you can see paper piercing on the green along the coral mat.

For this card I used a larger piece of the reinker splash background and layered it on some Bazzill cardstock. I stamped the Fancy Curl in Noir PH ink on the edge (I should have had that image a bit more to the right. I stamped the Gerbera Daisy on white, colored it with the Prismacolor pencils, layered it on the same cardstock and used some cording to wrap it. Other than having that flourish over a bit too much I like how this one turned out, also.

If you want to know more about this technique I highly recommend subscribing for the Technique Junkies newsletters! Just click on the TJ logo in the left side menu. If you subscribe, please tell Pat that I sent you!

So have you voted for me today for the messiest craftroom? Please do and thanks!!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Beautiful girl!


This scrapbook page used one of the free downloads from TAC™! Just click on the TAC™ to go to the main page, then click on Downloads for what's available!

Anyway I stamped our granddaughter's name and the 2 right side corners. This was fun to put together!
Stamps used: Alpha Grunge, Decorative Corners
Paper: red, white, black cardstocks, black & red cardstock strips, free download sheet
Ink: Noir PH


Have you played with any of the 5 free black & white download sheets?? They are just too cool. Try printing in sepia tones for a more vintage look.

Friday, April 3, 2009

He is Risen!

Easter is coming and I needed a simple but elegant card. I chose red cardstock as the base card color because Jesus shed His blood for our sins and died on the cross as a sacrifice for us.


I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the pink background and lightly wiped it with my Brilliance Moonlight White ink to make it pop. The text, He is Risen, is from Our Savior set and stamped with L'Amore PH ink.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Free Downloads!

The Angel Company™ has another free download for your playing pleasure! Click HERE then click on Downloads. The black & white paper is SO cool!!! It may take some time to download as it is a BIG file for more clarity. Have fun and if you create something using that paper send me a scan and I'll post it here! Please use TAC™ stamps if possible!

Do you need more drawer space?

Have I got a cutie for you! While blurfing yesterday I came across a blog that had one of these cute set of drawers and, well, you know, I just had to give it a try.


So, what do you think?? Can you see some of the things I have on it? And I have chocolate in the bottom drawer for those frequent snack attacks! The ladybug on the bottom left side has wire antennas but it is hard to see that. Anyway, here are the supplies used:

Stamps: Tag Tidbits, BooKoo Blessings, Treasure It, Squiggle Ladybugs, Spring Dream
Inks: Noir PH, Black StazOn
Paper: Pop Rockz SWIC
Punches: Extra Jumbo and Super Jumbo Flower punches, small flower punch
Misc: white scrapper's floss, Crystal Lacquer, Icicle Stickles, rhinestones, miniature dice, buttons, and wire