Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Hybrids


I attended a downline meeting at Marcia's house this weekend.  It was fun.  I got to meet some of her new demonstrators.  Always so good to talk to other women as crazed as I seem to be about paper crafting.  We were talking about My Digital Studio and I mentioned I really liked the look of hybrid projects - starting out with something from MDS and then taking it up a notch with some stamping and embellishment.

So I thought these tags from one of the blogs I visit daily (me, my stamps and I) were a great example of that.  Can't wait to try these out.

And can't wait for my evening at the shop tonight.  It's been way too long!  See ya' soon.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Friday Freebie

It's a joyful day!  Congratulations Val !!! You're a free woman at the end of the day today!!!!  Hope there are wonderful, grand adventrues ahead for you.

This digital image is one that was posted on StampTV.  Here's the link if you want to grab the .pdf.  Thought it would be a really fun one to color and embellish.  Here's a gorgeous card that someone over on SplitCoast posted which uses the image.  How cool, huh?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Transition


This is another card from the Lovely As A Tree set.  I thought it was a good transition card between Fall and Winter for the weekly family newsletters.  Kind of looks a little wintery without being too Christmas-y.  The outlining technique is one I stole from Simplicity - my favorite clean and simple blogger.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Last of the Fall Cards


Here's how my watercolored card turned out.  Thank you Mona! for the help with the blending technique.  I added some mossy green under the tree which I thought added a nice color balance.  And then because it looked a little drab mounted on plain cardstock I randomly stamped a branch stamp in Early Espresso ink to create my own patterned paper.  Can't quite decide if I like it or not??

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Lovely As A Tree


Have had my Lovely As A Tree stamp set out for the last few weeks.  Made this card  for one of the weekly family cards.  Loved the gold embossing.  Used the Dazzle sticker lines to outline the tree and the sentiment.  Wish I would have done something a little different on the quote - different font? different alignment? ???  but I just ran out of time. 

Here's another version where I used a different patterned paper. 


Have been trying to go to my scrap folders first before cutting anything new.  That's actually been kind of fun and something I want to do more of in the New Year.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Gratitude


Feels like a long time away - away from this blog, away from my gal pals, and away from being able to breath.  I've been struggling with a really nasty cold for over a week now.  Early last week I thought I was on the downhill side of things but then Thursday I really bottomed out.  Have been home and quiet for 3 days now.  Although still very congested, my energy feels a little better than it did on Friday.

I'm trying find quiet things to do and to resist being up cleaning or wrapping presents.  I feel so behind on everything for the holidays which makes me so sad and disappointed but I'm trying to find the lessons in all of this - maybe that you just can't control anything and just have to accept and go with the flow.

So I'm cleaning off my desktop and will be posting some of the weekly cards to the family.  Some you've seen at the shop and others - maybe this one? - will be new to you. 

The word panel on this one is a jumbo wheel stamp from SU.  Of course I can't use the rollers to save my soul so I unmounted this one.  Then took my watercolor crayons and randomly colored the words.  I misted it with water before I stamped it.  I loved how it turned out.

Hope your week gets off to a good start.  And this is a very special week for our gal pal Val - her last week of work in the looney bin.  After Friday she's a free woman - free to define whatever next chapter she chooses.  I'm so excited for her!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Dilema Solved?

You know how we've been talking about what to do when Val retires with the "library" of stamps sets we co-own???  Well I have a suggestion to run by you. . . .

I stumbled on this concept while blog surfing on SplitCoast
Did you guys ever see that movie?  "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"  Well a link on this stamp company's web site describes something similar to do with stamp sets.  You take a stamp set make something with it and then forward it on to the next person. 

Well I'm not sure we want to put that kind of creative pressure on us but we could do something similar. . .

Maybe split the co-owned stamp sets into 3 sets and then each of us would take a set for 4 months.  At the end of four months we would swap/rotate sets.  That way over the course of a year we'd all get a little dedicated time with the stamp sets.

Maybe we can talk about it a little more on Tuesday night.


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Easy, Peasy


This is the card I was making at the shop a couple of weeks ago.  I got the idea from the Simplicity blog where she was using pieces of patterned paper or just one piece of a big print patterned paper to make a focal point for a clean and simple card.  Loved how this one turned out using the Fall BoBunny papers.

Looking forward to craft night tonight although I'm just bringing something to color tonight.  No Christmas cards or assembly work this week.  Just need a break from that. 

See ya' soon!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Away Too Long


Boy!  I've been away from blogging too long and away from my SU Demonstrator duties too long.  This one snuck up on me.  I was catching up on personal e-mail and all my web sites and saw this SU event which starts today.  I'll bring flyers with me to the shop on Tuesday or you can see what's on sale by going to the main Stampin Up website and clicking on Shop Now.  I know Mona and I placed an order last week and it sounds like Val's been hitting HSN a little lately ;-) so the timing for this might be off.  But there's a couple of nice bargains on this if you are interested.  If you do end up wanting something from the sale, you can place your orders online at my Stampin Up website or let me know what items you want and I can log the order for you. 

I'll be back to posting card samples and other fun things starting tomorrow.

Have a good start to this short week!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Scraps Day #14

Saw this card on this blog - a link from a  post on the PaperCrafts blog - and thought it was "interesting".  It's kind of busy - especially since I've been in a very Clean and Simple design mode these days, but I love the concept of using up tiny scraps in a clever way.

Hope you Wednesday, Hump Day, is a good one.  I may not post again this week as I'm off to Florida in the morning.  But if I get stuck in an airport somewhere (God forbid!) you may see me back here.  Until next time. . . Take care.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Last week's family card


Wanted to show you how the card I was making a couple of week's ago for the family newsletter turned out.  Remember I punched the little leaves in the wrong color and didn't have the sentiment block done.  I thought it turned out pretty nice.  Will be putting together the one for next week at the shop tonight.  I'll actually be in Florida this Sunday when we typically write the letter and send the card so Allan's agreed (i.e. got drafted!) to do it in my absence.  I'm sure the family will enjoy hearing the news from his point of view for a change.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Free Download - It's Cool!

Not much time to blog today but wanted to make sure you got the e-mail from Stampin' Up last week about the free digital download.  I pulled it down this weekend and it's got some really cute stuff in it.  So if you haven't downloaded it yet, be sure to do that tonight after work.  Here's the link.

Have a great Monday!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Losing Steam

Happy Friday Gal Pals!

Have you noticed I've kind of lost steam for posting on Thursdays and Fridays these last 2 weeks?  I told someone earlier this week that I recently discovered Thursday seems to be my hardest day of the week.  The day when I notice I'm starting to feel a little empty.  Friday's aren't as bad as it feels like I've really reached the end of the work week and have thoughts of fun things to do at home on my mind.  For example, I'm really looking forward to this weekend as I don't have anywhere I have to be.  So naturally my thoughts turn to the craft room.  And for a little inspiration I turned to my favorite blog.  Because I follow this one every day, I went back this morning to blog posts from 2009 and found this beautiful card that of course reminds me of my Jewel of the Pines.  And the best part about this one is that I think? I thave the stamp set. 

So hopefully in between cleaning the house, doing laundry and paying bills - things I'm actually looking forward to so I can feel a little more organized and caught up with my life - I can squeeze in some time to make my version of this one. 

Hope you all have a good weekend.  See ya' next week.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Scraps #13


This post was on my favorite Clean and Simple blog, Simplicity.  Thought it was such a clever and elegant way to use up some coordinating scraps.

Had a good time at the shop last night as always.  It's fun to think about the possibility of Val spending all day there in just a couple of months if she so desires.  Can't even begin to imagine what the life of retirement leisure is going to feel like for her.  Lucky, lucky lady!!

Here's the link to the Stampin' Up Clearance Rack I was telling you about.  The designer paper I had at the shop last night is gone but they have another couple of cute sets and boy! at 3.99 that sure seems like a good deal.  Let me know if you need anything.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Give a Book a Hoot


Here's a sample of the Halloween bookmarks I made for the pre-school kids that came through the office yesterday.  Apparently there was one student that had a very, very bad nut allergy so they asked that we give non food items.  I thought since I work for an academic department that a bookmark would be an appropriate trinket.

I made 25 of the bookmarks and had them all stacked in cute plastic cup.  I used the owl punch and added some "googlie" eyes which made them fun.  Found some old punched ghost and bat elements from a card class long ago.  They sure were fun to work on.  Might have to do some again in a different theme to give to my parents for their students. 

Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween


I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Mine went way too fast.  Looking forward to the Halloween festivities today.  This is the picture of the Halloween card I sent the family last week.  I used the cute a la carte stamp out of the Holiday Mini.  Thought it was so cute.

Will have some Trick-or-Treaters come through the office.  I made some Halloween bookmarks for the kids.  I hope they like them.  Will post a pic of those tomorrow. 

Cricut Man also got very creative this weekend and seems to be prepared with his costume and bag of tricks
for whatever scheme they've got going on in the Registrar's Office.  I think this might be a first for him.  Peer pressure must work sometimes! :-)

Have a Spooktacular Day!!



Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Scraps Day #12 (For Smart Kids)

Mona was telling me last night about Bryton and how he's reading now and sounding out words.  That boy is one smart cookie - you could tell years ago just by looking in his eyes how bright and curious he was about his world.  It will be so much fun to watch him grow up.

So when I saw this on the Paper Crafts blog this morning I thought what another cool way for Mona to use her paper scraps - making something creative but educational and spending time with her favorite little boy.

Have a wonderful day.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Card Creations #1


Sometimes it's so much fun to go back to the very 1st cards I ever made.  This one was a copy-cat card from the very first issue of Card Creations.  I think they are now on #9.  This was obviously back when eyelets were big - remember that?  And I love the cheezy, cheap, Michaels card stock.  The flower punch was one of my one and onlys for a long time.  Used it on everything.  Hard to believe looking at my current stash that there was ever a time when I only had 1 punch.  :-) 

Short on time this morning as we've got an early appointment on campus for WellCheck.  See you tonight.

Monday, October 24, 2011

A Twist for Tomorrow

A little late getting a post out this morning.  But didn't want to skip it as I wanted to remind you I'll be bringing card kits with me tomorrow for us to make a card or two with our shared set Berry Christmas.  Here's the stamps in that set. . .


In planning for the kit, I thought it would be kind of cool to combine it with the Monday challenge on SplitCoast.  This Monday's "Try a New Technique" challenge is Stamped Borders.  Here's one of the sample cards.  Cute, huh?! 


So bring a Christmas-y border stamp with you tomorrow and we'll do a Berry Christmas card with this twist.

Have a great Monday!

Friday, October 21, 2011

Money Holders

Sifting through old craft projects and stumbled on these 2 money holders I made for my neice and nephew several years ago.  They were at that age when spending cash was all they really wanted but it just seemed to cold and impersonal to put cash or check in an envelope.  So I made these 2 money holders and used Jolee's Boutique sets to quickly embellish the fronts.  Really liked how they turned out. 

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I've declared it a "free" weekend - minimal chores, no obligations to anyone, just planning on floating whichever way the wind blows me :-)

See you Monday.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Berry Christmas


I have an idea I want to throw out to you. . . .since we're about 50 days and counting until Val retires, which means our co-owned stamp sets are going to move out our her office desk drawer. . . let's start jointly playing with them on Tuesday nights.

I'll bring the kits to make at least one card with the set and a few card sketches so we can free form others if we want.

Let's start with this cute set of gift cards that use the "Berry Christmas" set we got last year.  I love the brown and red.

Hope you might be up for this.  Have a good day today.  Only one more day until the weekend.  WhooHoo!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Scraps Day #11


This is another scraps post for Mona.  We missed you at the shop last night.  Hope you're feeling better.

I made this flower pot (and another just like it) for my neighbors Marilyn and Judy several years ago with scraps of Christmas papers.  Some of the scraps where already small, others I just tore so there were a similar size.  I then decoupaged them on a clay pot that I had base painted and some cute ribbon around the rim.  Lastly I planted a little plant in each.




It still tickles me to this day to walk in Marilyn's kitchen and see the pot sitting on her windowsill.  Just because I'm in a Halloween mood right now, I'm thinking it would be so cute to use scraps of Halloween papers and do the same only put candy in the pot and sit it on my desk at work.  How fun!


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Autumn Leaves

This is one of Mona's cards from last yearr that I thought was just perfect for this week - well it's just perfect for anytime :-) - but especially perfect now given that our wallks through the University district on our way to and from work are so beautiful right now with all the maples in various stages of their color change.

See ya' tonight!  I'm really looking forward to getting back on schedule.

Monday, October 17, 2011

A New Week


I have a set of 3 blogs that I read every morning to try to start my day on a positive note:  GreatDay.com, Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac and The Happiness ProjectThis link was in a post on the Happiness Project a few weeks ago and I've been meaning to share it with you.  Thought there was some really cool stuff in there - some funny, some insprirational, all true.

So after saying good-bye to a very busy week last week and facing the freshness of this new week ahead, I hope you'll join me and take a minute today to review a few of these pearls of wisdom.

This one is one of my favorites. . .

7. Cynicism is easy and boring. Letting your inner child out to play is way more fun. It's cool. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise

Will be looking forward to a little "play time" tomorrow night.

Until then. . . .Happy Monday!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Lovely Colors


I was walking through the University district yesterday because I had to park almost on Higgins (that will teach me to come in late!). But the good part about that was that I got to take a nice walk through all the maple trees which are the most beautiful color of red and gold right now. Just like the colors in this card.
I used the new BoBunny papers I picked up in the shop a couple of weeks ago. Loved how the leaf patterned paper made beautiful punched leaves. Trimmed it off nice and neat with the new brown ribbon from the SU Holiday Mini catalog. I really like it. I ordered it in the brown and the red (Cherry Cobbler).
I've got a busy weekend on tap but am really hoping to find a way for a little time in the craft room. It feels like it's been way too long.

Hope you all have a great weekend too.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Stitches


Here's an oldie I stumbled on while cleaning up some folders on my laptop.  It's one of my very first cards I think I made my mother many years ago.  She was quilting a lot back then and the colors and sentiment just seemed perfect. 

I printed the sentiment on my computer, paper pieced the hearts and blocks and then faux stitched with a pen around the heart.  And back then in card making everything had to have some metal on it so I finished it off with some antique brass eyelets.  Kind of a fun little stroll down my memory lane of card making. :-)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Scraps Day #10


Hope everyone had a good evening last night and didn't work too hard - either chasing numbers for the financial statements of chasing a sweet baby girl :-).  Can't wait to hear what Kody thought of the Miranda Lambert concert.

Today is scraps day.  Here's a cute card with some hearts punched from scraps but the blog post it came from has some really clever ideas and other photos of how to use scraps from a sticker sheet.  Thought that was kind of a cool twist for scraps day.

Have a good one.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Inspiration


Back in the saddle on the Gal Pal blog after a couple of days off for my Fall Yellowstone trip.  Feeling very rested and renewed and anxious to continue working on Christmas papercrafting projects.  Although we are skipping the shop tonight because I'm playing a little catch up at home, Mona is baby sitting and Val is getting financial reports done, I'm can't wait to get back into the craft room as soon as possible.

This picture is a kitchen towel my neighbor Marilyn made for me last year.  Isn't it cute?!  I love the Christmas fabrics and the blanket stitching she used.  She said it was super easy.  I'm posting the pic as I'm thinking about using this as inspiration for one of the 10 Christmas card designs I'm dong this year.  Wouldn't it be so cute to replicate that on a craft card base with some of the cute S.E.I papers we bought and then find a matching pen to do the faux stitching?

Maybe I'll have one done by next week when we all get together.  Until then. . . have a great day!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Recharging the Soul


Am heading to Yellowstone today for the weekend.  Am feeling a little battle weary these days so it will be good to get to my "holy ground" and recharge my soul. 

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Fall


This post goes out to Val who recently bought this Leaves of a Tree stamp from the new Holiday Mini Stampin Up catalog.  When I saw the stamp I thought it was so beautiful but I worried about how you could use it with multiple colors.  It seemed like it was going to be hard to quickly color some of the individual leaves so there was some variety in color when you stamped it.  But it looks like others are finding a way to get multiple colors in the image.  I thought this card was a beautiful example.  I snapped the picture from the blog and now can't find the blog to be able to give credit.  So please just send a virtual thanks out to all the card makers doing really great things, making the effort to share them and in the end inspiring us.

Have a good one today!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Scraps Day #9


Yet another really cute way to use up small scraps of coordinating paper.  Loved this one.  Here's the blog post it came from.  Had a good time at the shop last night.  Hopefully I can get those Santa Claus toppers done soon.  Have a good Wednesday/Hump Day.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Homecoming


Decisions, Decisions??!!  It was two big events on the same day last weekend. . .UM's Homecoming and World Cardmaking Day.  Unfortunately, football and homecoming won out.  I can't wait to get to the shop tonight to find out how things went on World Cardmaking Day.  There were some really cool Make-n-Takes Staci and Debbie had planned.  I guess there's always next year.  Will make sure to save the date WAY in advance so I can figure out how to do both. 

Sharing this card today - one from the 9/18 family newsletter.  We had another Griz football story to share so it only seemed appropriate.  Love the maroon checked paper which I found in my stash from a very long time ago. It was leftover from a project I made for the Systems Team - a scrapbooked CD cover with memories of our team.  I burned a mix of songs we had listened to during one of our team partyies.  I thought they turned out really cute.  Those sure were the good old days, huh Val?!




Friday, September 30, 2011

Homework for the Weekend


So my quest for more card sketches for Christmas cards continues. 

Here's a really cute one I found on another one of my favorite Clean and Simple sites.  Love the colors.  Was thinking that Naughty and Nice paper I bought at Memory Lane Tuesday night would be really fun to use on this one. 

So my self-imposed homework assignment for the weekend is to use this sketch to make 6 more Christmas cards.  Wish me luck! 

And have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Remember When. . .


Remember when we were baby card makers and taking lots of classes from Jen at Angie's place?  I ?think? this is where we got this pattern from.  I used it here for a Father's Day card.

All I remember is that I made a bunch of cards for different themes from this pattern.  And I think it was a "go to" pattern for Faythe and Val too.

Here's another of the same sketch with a birthday theme:


And yet another that was my Christmas card one year.



Have a great day today.  Only one more day until Friday and the weekkend - YEAH!!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Scraps Day #8


I think this week's scrap card is really cute.  I love the texture of the embossing on the left side plus the stitching which anchors the "flags" to the card.  Hope you enjoy both the card and Wednesday/Hump Day.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

New Paper Toile

This post goes out to my best-est Gal Pal Val. . . . .

Uh-Oh! Val - you may be in trouble?!  Did you see the latest video on Paper Wishes with the new paper toile kits that have?  Over-the-top beautiful!.  Check it out if you have time.  Here's the link.

See ya' at the shop tonight.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Bring Your Punches!!!

Take a look at this project. . . . .

How cute is that!!!!  Let's make a few Tuesday night!  One of Marcia's other downlines forwarded this blog post to our SU team this weekend.  Thank goodness for the sharing spirit.  

I think I have all the punches except for the ornament punch which I think Val has.  Mona - do you have it too?  I'm definitely ordering it now.  After the cute fish idea Debbie showed us a couple of weeks ago (here's a YouTube that's similar) and now this, I just have to have it!  I'm going to order it this week plus the cellophane bags that hold the red vines.  My team mates are just crazy for red vines so this is going to make a really cute gift for them.

Here's the blog with all the instructions and list of punches.  Bring what punches you do have.  I think between the 3 of us we have them all.  But I'll check in with you Monday afternoon to see if we're missing anything.

Happy Monday!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

This Year's Gift Card Holder

One other Christmas project coming up is to get some gift card holders made. Cricut Man usually gives his nieces and nephew a gift card for Christmas. Since we've been together I've tried to do something a little crafty to deliver them in. Last year I made these little gift bags/boxes. This year I think I'm going to go back to an old pattern I used years ago. It's kind of a tri-fold holder with fold out flaps. I thought putting the gift card in the center and maybe some old pictures of them or of winter in Montana on the top and bottom flaps would be neat.

Here's some pictures of the last one I made like this (for a very special Gal Pal to thank her for her generosity :-) ).  You can see it has a band around the outside that holds it all together when it's folded up.  Until I stumbled on these pictures, I kind of forgot how cute it was.

Hope you have a good day.  Today is my Friday sort of - will be taking off work tomorrow to take care of Cricut Man.  So I'm not sure if I'll be posting tomorrow.  If not, hope you all have a great end of the week and a good weekend.