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 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?

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.

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??

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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. 

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!!

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.

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.

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!

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.