Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Displays, Desks, and Flowers

It's a GORGEOUS Wednesday morning here in the southwest desert of AZ.  So great to have cooler low temps but still supposed to be in the triple digits F. for a high today.  Hope the forecasters got that wrong.  Anyway, I'm taking a bit of a break so will show my "desk" from yesterday.  Well, actually a display for a small presentation at a HOA (home owners assoc.) coffee of about 40 people.  And, as you know if you've been following me, you have the opportunity to view desks all around  the U.S. and Europe.  Julia, head desker, put this blog tour together over 6 years ago, and gathered all us deskers to her blog, the Stamping Ground.  Please head over there after you're done here.


Last week I showed you my almost complete display.  I finally finished it last Thursday morning before I headed to the Scrapbook Expo in Mesa, AZ.  I volunteered at the FSJ booth on Friday teaching a Make "n Take.


The class takers had the option to make this card or one with a heart and coordinating sentiment but same paper and supplies.  I think we did about 12 classes on Friday.  I was absolutely pooped but it was great!  I enjoyed working with another coach, 2 FSJ staff, and the company owner, Richard Garay.

I'm keeping this kinda short and, hopefully sweet today.  Please head over to the Stamping Ground to view other desks.  And if this is all new to you, when you get there click on What Is WOYWW? for more info.  (And can you believe today is the last day of Sept.????)

Monday, September 28, 2015

Color Crushing

FSJ Coaches have been challenged to do a Color Crush project.  I have been so busy this month that I just couldn't think about it until it's almost too late!  And I decided to use it as my sketch challenge (fsjsc8) from a fellow Coach.  The one thing that was required by FSJ is to take a pic or video of myself with me crushing it - interpretation up to me.  I will be promoting FSJ in the morning and the Color Crush flyer is on my display board.



I made up my own set of colors, Whip Cream, Black Licorice, Citrus Cooler, and Grape Fusion card stocks.  Yep, the colors for a Halloween card.  And my photo of me with my card...


I don't photo well and this pic proves it.  I'm standing in the shade of my house, hair pulled back and still in my work clothes.  I really needed to be working on dinner instead of doing this.


Here's a better picture of the card.  I used the You're Batty (hmmm.... picture didn't load for me when I tested the link) set and Citrus Coolor color splash from the mixed media products. There is a coordinating die (another hmmm... out of stock) for this set and you can get the stamps and die as a Bundle and save some money.  I guess I'm supposed to add the hashtag,  #fsjcolorcrush , but don't know if that will work from here.  I do have to send an email, too, so will add the link to this post also.

I think I'm pretty much done making Halloween cards.  I need to do some Thanksgiving cards for the adult family members and start on my Christmas cards.  Have you started on yours?

On Display

Tomorrow I'll be giving a presentation at a friend's ladies group coffee.  I had to made a display board so that they can have a visual of what I do.



There are a few things I made that I have not yet taken pictures of to share with you.  Can you recognize them?  I used new (to me) dies....  Hmmm... 5 to be exact.  Some of the projects used multiple sets. Here's one of the new projects on the board...


I used 2 different dies on this package topper, or gift tag, or whatever you want to use it for.  I used the Chubby Stocking die which comes with 2 dies and 2 texture plates.  And I used the Create A Bow Mini die using a piece of paper from the Winter Fresh Prints 6" x 6" pad.

I do have some GREAT news to share from my day working at the FSJ booth at the Mesa Scrapbook Expo.  I have 2 wonderful new gals join my team, Gayle and Carla!  Well, they're the first to join!  I hope I got some new customers, too, as I handed out retired catalogs with my FSJ website on them.   I have sent an email to headquarters with a couple team names for consideration.  I enjoyed working with Richard, Julie, and, oh my gosh, I forgot the other FSJ crew member's name!  We were very busy teaching a Make 'N Take every 1/2 hour with 12 gals per class.  I headed home at 6 pm and arrived at 8:30.  Since I had to be at the Expo by 8:30 am Friday I went up Thursday afternoon and stayed at a nearby hotel.  Saturday was dental appointments and Sunday was lots of church activities.  Can you say... busy?  LOL!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Stuck On You

I was needing a couple cards this week.  One for the Technique Junkies 1 on 1 swap and 1 for our oldest son's anniversary.  I used the same technique on both, the Bleeding Tissue technique.  Turned out pretty good!


For this technique to work you must use a tissue that bleeds when wet.  Mine was made by Spectra. I used the Stuck on You stamp set and coordinating dies but I bought these as a Bundle. Oh, you need glossy card stock, too.  I have not tried this on regular card stock as I have a whole ream of glossy and I do like the effect.


I added some of the smallest Pearls to the tops of the cacti and to a smudge on the pot.  I colored with Copic markers.


I used my Stardust Clear Gel pen on the cacti flowers for this card.

Today I'm in Mesa at the Scrapbook Expo.  I am a volunteer with the FSJ booth so if you happen to be there today stop by and say hi!  We'll be doing a Make 'N Take!  Should be great fun!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Desks and Displays

This week is extremely busy for me.  Today I have off but we are going to go see War Room prior to church (at least that's the plan) tonight.  Thursday I work in the morning then head to Mesa to be at the Scrapbook Expo bright and early Friday to help at the Fun Stampers Journey booth.  Saturday is our dental appointments, a Fiesta where we're to help hand out water with our church, and I have to pick up 7 BIG bags of Kettle Korn (a sweet popcorn) for Sunday at church.  Then next Tuesday morning I give a presentation at a friend's ladies coffee.  So today's desk is all about prepping for Tuesday.  And if you don't know about What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday please click on the WOYWW logo in my left sidebar.  This fun tour of desks (and many GREAT projects) is brought together by Julia at the Stamping Ground!  She's been doing this for 329 weeks!  I have "met" many wonderful crafters through this venue.  Ok, I better get to my desk...


I am working on stamping and die cutting flowers to decorate my Display Board.  I have stamped my flowers and am cutting them.  Got my Grand Calibur out and it's been busy.  You can see the dies right in the middle on the white sheet with the strip of magnet.  Since the dies come in a nice packet but loose I cut a piece of card stock to fit then add the adhesive magnet.  Keeps the dies together pretty good.  I have friends who buy the magnetic vent sheets but the adhesive magnetic strip is fairly cheap.


You'll have to come back Friday to see the completed board.  I will have that post prescheduled but won't be able to moderate comments until Sunday or maybe Saturday night.  Depends on my time availability and exhaustion.

And I did say on Monday's post that I'd show the final 2 cards of the 12 I had to make using the 3" square focal pieces that a group of us swapped.


These 2 are my favorites of all the ones I made (with the exception of my own focal piece card).  All stamped images by FSJ.

Ok, you've reached the end.  Please head over to the Stamping Ground and continue the tour.  Have your favorite beverage handy as you have the opportunity to see many desks from around Europe and the U.S.

Monday, September 21, 2015

6 More Challenge Cards

My last post I showed you 3 cards (plus mine) I made from the 3" x 3" focal pieces that 12 of us swapped out.  Are you ready for more?  I'll be showing you 6 today.


I struggled with the pink bunny piece.  I ended up stamping the Script background on the Bubble Gum layer then adding some Journey Whip Cream Thread and some Pink World Sequins.  I don't know who made the focal point, she forgot to sign it. The bunny is from the Spring Fling set which has coordinating dies and you can get is as a Bundle.
The little girl is from the Birthday Girls set.  I embossed the Lemon Drop back layer with the Petal Wall folder then flicked some Cranberry Bliss Silk on it. The focal piece was made by a Denise.
The cute seagull is from a retired set, Nautical View.  I used the Ink Splat stamp and Cool Pool ink and Silk along with the Journey Rectangles piercing element, which is embossed rather than cut.  Again there was no name on the focal piece.



The purse in the first focal piece is from the August KOTM set called Forever Friends.  Marlo Knox colored and Glazed the handle.  I stamped the back strip and flicked some Bubble Gum Silk on it.  This card was a bit more of a challenge.   The Bicycle card was fun.  The focal piece was made by Shara-Lea Ming.  The bike is from the Beautiful Ride set.  The bees and text are from the Hello Lovely set.  I embossed the white base with the Above the Clouds embossing folder and die cut a couple clouds from the Cloud Dreams die set the sponged with a little Cool Pool ink.
The last card was a piece of cake for me.  The focal piece was made by Yvette Ramirez and she used the Hello Scoop set and Yummy Prints paper.  I used the same paper, Whip Cream Thread and Pink World sequins.  Oh, and Bubble Gum Silk, too!  She did Glaze the ice cream on the cone.

Wednesday I'll show the final 2 cards which are my favorites that I completed.  Are you enjoying these?

Friday, September 18, 2015

The 3" x 3" Focal Point Cards

Now that the swap is complete I can show you my card and the cards I made using the 3" x 3" focal pieces.  This was a fun challenge and I have only seen 1 of the 11 cards that was made using my cowboy boots.  Here's my card....


I used my favorite masculine set, Wild West and it's coordinating dies.  You can get these as a Bundle which will save you some money over buying these individually.  I also used the Star-Dom Dies and matching Piercing Elements dies.  I also used Journey Whip Cream Thread and Glaze on the focal point and the Gold Silk lightly splattered on both Pineapple Smoothie stars.  The pattern paper is the Basic Neutrals 12" x 12" paper and it's layered on Whip Cream and Cocoa Powder card stocks.

Here's 3 of the 11 cards I made from the swap pieces.  I'll share some more with future posts.


 I don't know who made the first card's focal piece.  I added the cactus from the Stuck on You stamp set and coordinating dies (Bundle) and the words. I have not yet found the stamped circles and I gave up looking.   The middle focal piece was made by my friend Kim Hannan.  She used the flower from the Wonderful Day set.  I embossed the Whip Cream layer with the Petals Wall embossing folder.  The pink rhinestones and pink floral strip Kim sent along with her piece.  The 3rd card's focal piece was made by Maria Wagner and the flower and bee are from the Summer Garden set. I used Cranberry Bliss and Gold Silks on the banner to match what Maria used on the focal piece.

This was a challenging project and I've been enjoying seeing the what's been done so far.  I hope you're enjoying what I've done, too.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Batty Treat Pocket Card and Desks

Wednesday the 16th.  Seems just yesterday it was March 1st.  This year is going way too fast.  I think the older I get the faster it goes.  And today is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Yep, again!  Seems this weekly blog hop comes faster than weekly, too!  But, thanks to Julia at the Stamping Ground you get the opportunity to view desks in various stages of tidiness or messiness all over Europe and the U.S.  And, if today is your first time visiting, please click on the WOYWW logo in my sidebar as to how to join or what it's all about.  Ok, now my desk.


I actually took this picture yesterday afternoon as the light is better and I was busy (for once).  So, on the far left in front of my red Cricut is a pocket die that I used, next left is the pocket card completed and it's sitting on a stamp set that I'm using.  Center are 2 stamps and a tag for the pocket card.  Far left is my Grand Calibur.


Here's the completed card except for putting a candy bar (probably a Hershey bar) in the back pocket.  There are 2 pockets and I have a tag in the front one.  I'm thinking maybe I should decorate the front orange panel.... what do you think?  Seems bare now that I have it here.


Here I have the tag removed.  Hmmmm.... maybe some bats on the front....



I added some Stardust Black Gel pen to the eyes for some glimmer.  My old Canon camera refused to do the close-up of the eyes so I used my smartypants phone.  Not bad but I emailed the photo to me and it was HUGE!  Oh well.  BTW, all stamps, papers, and dies are from Fun Stampers Journey.  I plan on making more of these for the grandkids and great grandkids.  The adults will get Happy Harvest cards which I'll start soon.

I have purchased so much stuff to start into mixed media.  Looking forward to learning the ins and outs of medium, paints, and more.  If you want to see the goodies you'll have to look at my last post.   I will be decorating 3 little wooden houses (along with a friend).  Never tried this before so I'll be showing you the finished projects.  You can click Here and scroll down to the "Bundle 2" and see what I'll be doing.

Ok, now you've reached the end of my post so please click on over to the Stamping Ground and check out the blog tour of desks. You'll even get to see projects of ALL kinds so start touring!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Houses, Tools, Paints, and Splashes

Fun Stampers Journey is now into Mixed Media.  I have never done this so when they put bundles together for us and any customers to purchased I jumped in!


If you go to the FSJ Specials page (tab just under the header at the top of my blog)  you will see all the bundles available.  When I seen these little houses I started thinking CHRISTMAS!!!  A friend wanted to do these, too, so I purchased 2 of the House to Home bundles and, gulp, all the tools, color splashes, paints, and mediums to decorate them.  The houses have 2 stencils and a set of stamps along with punched flowers, some other embellishments, and the link to the online class for making these. 


Now that I have these things I will be getting rid of all my walnut inks, Pinata paints, and oh so much.  Gotta make room!  The outgoing stuff will be taken to our local thrift store.  The box is quite full!


These 11 color splashes are quite vivid!  I hope to play some with them later this week. I even know where my watercolor paper is!!


And finally the tools.  The soft rubber brayer is quite large compared to my regular hard rubber brayer.  And the "spatula" is metal while my old one is plastic.  The brushes are really nice, so much better than the really cheap ones I have for water color painting.

Friday, September 11, 2015

You're Batty!

I did manage to get a card made from the large order I showed recently.  Just couldn't help myself but need to work on some commitments after this.


I have the You're Batty Bundle - stamp set and coordinating bundle.  How fun.  I do cutesy, no scary, for Halloween for the kids in the family.  Funny but the picture doesn't come up when you click the link so to see the stamps go to the You're Batty stamp set. (If that one doesn't work go to Stamps, Holiday, then scroll down.)  I used the cool new Treat Time Prints 6" x 6" double sided paper.  These products are in the new Holiday mini catalog.



I used my Journey Ovals die set for the Black Licorice and Lavender Fusion card stocks, Black Licorice ink,  and some googly eyes from my stash.  A fun and easy card!

Today is a sad remembrance of an event that took place 14 years ago.  Our nation was under attack by radical islamists and many people were killed. That day is etched in my mind. Please take time today to pray for our nation and the families of all involved.  May God have mercy on the United States and bless His people.

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Desks and Bags

Wonderful Wednesday.  Looks like rain, which we need.  Our drought conditions are lessening as we're now abnormally dry to moderate drought.  When we moved here almost 8 years ago we were in extreme drought.  But I digress....

Another thing about Wednesday.  It's the day I show you my desk!!!  Yep, and me, along with about 60 others, are brought together by Head Desker Julia at the Stamping Ground.  And this is week 327.  Yep, that's a LONG time and I've been taking part a bit under half that time.  If you are new to this please click Here for more info.  But I need to get it in gear and show you my desk.


Not a lot happening but on the far left is a stack of 8 cards sitting on my paper trimmer in front of my red Cricut that I just finished.  They are part of a swap where 12 of us made 3" x 3" focal points which were swapped then we complete the cards, kind of a Round Robin swap.  There's been discussion about swapping them back or not.  I voted not.  I still have 3 cards to complete by this weekend. (I can't show these yet but will when we finalize the details of this swap.)   The 3 little pieces are just to the right of the completed cards.  Center stage is my FSJ September Kit of the Month but my actual work spot is only covered with scrap paper.  Boring.  I just opened the mailer and have been looking through the kit at the 4 sheets of directions and the cards.  Looking forward to these!  I just finished the last of the August cards a couple days ago.








I got in a huge order of stamps, dies, inks, paper and stuff this weekend and you can see all the goodies in my previous post.  I really want to play but need to finish some commitments first.  Bummer.  Anyway, pop on over to the Stamping Ground and take a tour of desks.  You'll be in Europe along with the U.S.  Have fun.  Oh, and grab your favorite drink or munchies as you can spend a bit of time.  I do have a potluck lunch to go to so I'll be desk hopping for a bit this morning then again this afternoon.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Lots of Goodies

The end of last month I took advantage of the double hostess special at FSJ.  This weekend my order arrived.


Here's the 3 card stocks, 2 pattern paper packs, 4 Silks, a mini flower die, and star elements.  The stars were free as an incentive.  FSJ has a bunch of small things available for free for each $50 you spend.


I got more dies.  The Heart-Felt piercing dies,  the Gift Card Window Plates to go with my Gift Card Sleeve, the Create-a-Bow Mini die, 2 more free incentive items, and the Scalloped Pocket die.



The here are the stamps.  I got the Stuck On You Bundle (stamp set and coordinating die set), the You're Batty Bundle, the Ugly Sweater set, the Lead Me inspirational set,  Be Strong and Artful Feathers ATS stamps and another incentive stamp, the Mermaid Wishes.

I do have to finish the cards using those 3" x 3" focal pieces as they need to be mailed in a week or so plus I have to make 10 ATC cards for a different swap.  I'll be busy!

I hope you are enjoying this Labor Day holiday.  We'll be going to a picnic at my dad's this evening.  A couple cousins and a friend and his wife will be joining us.  I have a small cake made. 

Friday, September 4, 2015

Fence Posts and Cowboy Hats

I've been playing with one of my favorite sets, Wild West.  I'm a native-by-choice of Wyoming and currently displaced in Arizona (and hoping to move back in a couple years).  I've had a horse, moved cattle, rode in parades, chased wild horses, and more I'm quite "western".  And even though I no longer have any horse gear except my hat I'm still a country girl at heart.



I stamped the images (sentiment from Greet & Shout) on Whip Cream card stock with Black Licorice ink and layered on Black Licorice and River Stone card stocks.  A bit of burlap for that country look.  I smudged some River Stone ink and added some gold Rub On from my stash.  Added 4 gold eyelets with my Crop-a-dile and a simple card is born.


Here you can see the gold Rub On better.  This would be a great masculine birthday or special occasion card.