Two winners!

My grandson Connor chose the winning names and they are:

For the Santa card featuring the new Spellbinders Labels 5 dies and the Stampers Anonymous Just Believe stamp set, the winner is Jill!

HELLO my name is Jill said...
i want to win this card!! and of course im a follower. i love santa, wish i could say the same for christmas. im working on my christmas attitude :)

For the Lacey Edge card created with the Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2 dies as well as the Spellbinders Lattice borderabilities, the winner is Rufus:

Rufus said...

I love the lattice! For that alone I'm just gonna have to get a die cut machine. Then, of course, I'll need ALL those lovely spellbinders dies. Well, my birthday is coming up~~!

Congratulations! You have 24 hours to comment on this post and let me know your snail mail addresses so I can get them in the mail to you!

Thanks for stopping by! Come back real soon!

Hugs,
Karen

We have a winner!

Good morning, and thanks for stopping by! I have chosen a winner for my Christmas Tree card. And the winner is:

Melanie!!!!! Melanie said... oh you are a meaney - can't wait to see them! hehehe.


Thanks for visiting my blog Melanie. You have 24 hours to leave a comment here and your snail mail address. If I don't hear from Melanie by 9:00 tomorrow morning, I will choose another name.

Another lacy edge

I really like the card I created which is similar to this (which will be given away very soon! Scroll down to find the card giveaways!) and so I made this one which is very similar but showcases another of the dies from the new Ribbon Tag Trio 2 set just released! Aren't they beautious?

For this one, the card is Blush Blossom. I cut/embossed the edge with the Lattice borderabilities, added the strip of designer paper, then embossed it with cuttlebugs Textile Texture folder. The two ribbon tags are cut/embossed with the new Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2 and the ribbon is threaded through both and popped up with dimensionals. I cut/embossed the flowers from Spellbinders Flower Bouquet using the dp once again and popped them up as well. I added a bow and heated the ribbon just a bit.

How do you like this one?

Thanks for stopping by!

A reminder

Just a reminder that the Spellbinders New Die Reveal is still going on. You won't want to miss a day of it. There are so many beautiful, inspirational projects showing off the fabulous new dies!To see previous reveals, or to go to any of the blogs of future reveals, feel free to visit the following:
7/9 Debbie Olson
7/10 Michelle Wooderson
7/11 Karen Hunsaker
7//12 Kazan Clark
7/13 Linda Duke
7/14 Heidi Blankenship
7/15 Kimberly Crawford
7/16 Julie Overby
7/17 Sherry Cheever
7/18 Debbie Seyer
7/19 Lesa Rapp
7/20 Becca Feeken
7/21 Jennifer Davis
7/22 Keri Lee Sereika

For all the details and how to WIN free dies, scroll down to the official posting I did on the 10th/11th!

And another . . .

I am having such a great time creating with the new Spellbinders dies, and this card uses the Ribbon Tag Trio 2 that was debuted yesterday by Kazan as well as the Lattice borderabilities that came out with the pendants. Fabulous. I love love love how this card turned out and this one will be hard to part with.

If you would like to win this card, leave a comment telling me what you love about it. lol I will choose a winner for this one on July 18th.

If you have suggestions for another creation, let me know.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love hearing from you!

Labels 5 card giveaway!

I told you I had more cards created with the new dies. This one uses the same die I premiered, Labels 5. I love this vintage Santa stamp, so I aged it - a lot - with inks, added some embossing and a bit of trim to create this special Christmas card.

Leave me a comment on this post saying you would like to win it, and you will be entered into a drawing for it! If you are a follower of my blog, you get your name put in twice, but only if you tell me you are a follower! I will leave this contest open until Saturday, July 18 at 9 AM PST. The winner will have 24 hours to respond with their information so I can get it to them. If I don't hear from that winner within 24 hours, I will choose another name.

There is another card giveaway a little further down my blog. There is still time to enter that one too.

Thanks for stopping by and GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Hugs,

Karen

New card giveaway

Jillian said...
You are such a tease...but it looks like the end result will be well worth all the teasing we endure. lol Lovely card! Can we see more?

Yes Jillian, I will be posting another card made with these dies within the next 12 hours or so. Check back on the details of how to win it.

But remember you still have several hours to enter to win this whole set of dies. See the official rules in the following post.

Spellbinders Release

Spellbinders Introduces:
Sneak Peeks on CHA Summer Trade Show Release Dies!
July 9 – July 22, 2009

Commenting on this post is welcome but does not enter you into the contest. This contest is sponsored directly by Spellbinders Paper Arts. Please read the post to find directions for entering. If you have any questions, please e-mail ContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us.

Welcome to the 3rd day of Spellbinders CHA Sneak Peek Blog Frenzy!

Spellbinders is revealing 17 new die templates to be released at the Craft and Hobby Trade Show on July 28, 2009, with some of their greatest fans…YOU! From July 9 – 22, 2009, you will have the opportunity to be a part of these world wide sneak peeks through visiting the Spellbinders designer blogs listed below and trying your luck at winning spectacular die templates! You will have a chance to win the die I’m introducing AND the dies previously revealed in this CHA Blog Frenzy by entering the contest at the end of this post. This is a progressive prize, each day the daily prize grows! Be sure to read all the rules before entering! You still have until July 11th, 11:59 pm EST to enter Michelle Wooderson’s blog at: http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/ and until July 12th, 11:59 pm EST to enter mine.

To see previous reveals, or to go to any of the blogs of future reveals, feel free to visit the following:

7/9 Debbie Olson
7/10 Michelle Wooderson
7/11 Karen Hunsaker

7//12 Kazan Clark
7/13 Linda Duke

7/14 Heidi Blankenship

7/15 Kimberly Crawford

7/16 Julie Overby
7/17 Sherry Cheever
7/18 Debbie Seyer
7/19 Lesa Rapp
7/20 Becca Feeken
7/21 Jennifer Davis
7/22 Keri Lee Sereika

After the entry deadline is reached, Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each Blog Frenzy reveal as stated in the “Rules”. Winner will be contacted by e-mail within 24 hours of the contest deadline. Winner will have 72 hours to reply to that e-mail to claim the prize. If Winner fails to respond within 72 hours, a new name will be drawn for said prize. Winner will receive the new die templates being revealed on the specific daily blog post they are entering.

Entrants visiting all 14 Spellbinders CHA Blog Frenzy Reveals and correctly entering their information into the separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a full set of the CHA Summer 2009 die templates and Impressabilities releases, 29 products, with a retail value of $561.71.

My reveal today is the beautiful new S4-229 Labels 5 die template. What a beautiful and versatile new shape! The beauty of the Spellbinders Nestabilities is that you get not one, not two, not three, not four, not even five, but SIX sizes of the shape. I absolutely love that! And they take up virtually no space at all in your storage! Now that is my cup of tea!

The project I am sharing with you today is a home décor item.

Here are the supplies I used:

S4-229 Labels Five
S4-127 Classic Scalloped Squares Large
S4-128 Petite Ovals Large
I2-1001 Impressabilities Paisley
7gypsies paper and chipboard letter alphabet
Robin’s Nest Dew Drops
2X4” wood piece, approx. 16” long
Mod Podge
Glue Dots
Black cardstock
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paints – Caramel Candy and Brown Oxide
Hot glue gun and glue
Approximately 4” sheer dot ribbon

I want to have distressed looking blocks, spell out “HOME” on them and have a few of my favorite home quotes included. Using a 2X4 (which by the way, is neither 2 nor 4! lol) cut it into 3-3/4” lengths. Sand the blocks, be careful to really soften the edges and corners.

Paint the blocks with the caramel, let dry and then paint another coat with the brown oxide. Let dry thoroughly. Sand to distress again.
.

You will do this next step four times.

From black card stock, cut a Scalloped Square. Leave the card stock in the die template, then build a sandwich to emboss the cardstock with the die template and the Impressabilities Paisley:

White Master Mat
Impressabilities Paisley
Classic Scalloped Square die template, cut side facing up, with black cardstock inside die template
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Feed sandwich into Spellbinders Wizard. Use Mod Podge to glue embossed paper to the blocks. Allow to dry thoroughly. Apply another coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface and allow it to dry.

With the S4-229 Labels Five die template, cut/emboss 4 labels from the decorative paper. Use Mod Podge to adhere these over black scalloped squares. Let dry thoroughly. Apply another layer of Mod Podge over the front of each block and allow to dry. Use hot glue to attach chipboard letters to the blocks. Use glue dots to attach Dew Drops.
Print home sayings onto designer paper.

The sayings I used are:

Home is a starting place of love and dreams.

My home is not a place, it is people.

Home is peaceful moments, precious memories, and time with family and friends.

Bless our home with love and laughter.

Center the S4-128 Petite Ovals Large die template over the saying, with the cut side facing down. Secure die template to paper with low tack tape, as pictured. Cut/emboss as usual, with sandwich listed above and die template facing up in the sandwich. Cut 4 more ovals from black card stock. With Mod Podge, attach printed ovals to black ovals and allow them to dry, repeat with another layer of Mod Podge. Tie a ribbon in a knot and attach it to the top of one oval with a Glue Dot. Glue that oval to top left corner of h block. Attach the other ovals to the the tops of the remaining wood blocks.






This project combines the fantastic S4-229 Labels Five die templates and flower pounding on a card.


The supplies used on this project are:

S4-229 Labels Five
S4-123 Flying Beauties
The Paper Company papers: purple shimmer and buttercup
Core’dinations colored core cardstock
3D Foam Squares – Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Creative Impressions – Bits of Bling
Watercolor paper
Sanding Block
Ribbon
Black cardstock


The flowers shown in the photo are the same kind of flowers I “pounded” for this card. Pink cards = purple impressions. Who knew? The flower pigments are transferred onto watercolor paper. Cut/emboss with the Wizard and S4-229 Labels Five die templates and mat onto the purple and yellow cardstock. If you would like to learn how to do the flower pounding technique, come back next week for step by step instructions.

The die template I introduced today is:

S4-229 Labels 5 Die Template Here are the measurements for these die templates, largest to smallest:
3 3/4 x 4 1/8”
3 x 3 3/8”
2 3/8 x 2 5/8”
1 3/4 x 2”
1 1/8 x 1 1/4”
5/8 x 5/8”

Be sure to read all the rules (shown below) to qualify for this contest.


Rules
Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders CHA Blog Frenzy give-away must adhere to all of the following rules. We are happy to welcome US and international blog guests for this Frenzy.

To enter each drawing on sneak peeks between July 9 and July 22, visit the reveal blog and click on the contest link to reveal an e-mail window. In the subject line of the e-mail, enter the die template name being revealed. Each blog reveal will remain open for 48 hours. Only 1 entry per blog is allowed and participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry, no exceptions. Please consider whether you will have access to the same e-mail address from July 9th through July 22nd and plan accordingly.

Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawings.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the CHA Blog Frenzy Grand Prize must enter all 14 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.

Please note:

*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.

*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.

*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communications
other than to contact the winner.

*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage SpellbindersPaperArts.com and sign up for their newsletter.

Spellbinders CHA Blog Frenzy drawing

CLICK HERE TO ENTER

(If you use an e-mail client that does not work with this pop-up box, you may copy and paste this address to send your entry to: ContestDay3@spellbinders.us

For more Spellbinders new product release information go to: http://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com/new

If you have any questions regarding the contest, send an e-mail to: ContestQuestions@spellbinders.us

Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the drawing! I hope you win!

Hugs,
Karen

I am such a tease!

So, here is the first card I will be giving away here on my blog. I used S4-220 Nesting Pine Tree that Michelle introduced on her blog - Day 2 of the frenzy.

If you are interested in winning this card, please leave a comment here and I will choose a winner on July 17th! If you are a follower of my blog, you will get an extra entry. If you post a link to this giveaway on your blog, you will get another entry! Come on, give me some lovin' on your blog and post a link to it here so I will know you did it. Hmmmm, what am I getting myself into? lol Who cares? It will be fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Karen

And two more!

I have made two more cards for my giveaway! I am going to have a very hard time giving one of them away. I love it!!!! Well, I like them all, but I LOVE the one. Is that wrong? lol

Day Two of the blog frenzy is posted. Be sure to visit Michelle's blog featuring the newest release.

In about 24 hours, I will post the first giveaway card and give you a chance to win! Check back! The excitement is mounting!

Hugs,
Karen

Two new cards

I have finished two new cards for my giveaway. Are you excited? You'd better keep checking back.

Hugs,
Karen

Let the blog frenzy begin!

Today is the day and it has already started! Be sure to check the Spellbinders blog and the designer of the day blog to see the new reveals and have a chance to win!!! Did you see that the grand prize is worth over $500! Wowzers.

So here are the blogs you will need to visit. The links are on the Spellbinders blog:

7/9 Debbie Olson – http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/
7/10 Michelle Wooderson – http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/
7/11 Karen Hunsaker - http://www.karenskreativekreations.blogspot.com/
7//12 Kazan Clark – http://nunutoolies.blogspot.com/
7/13 Linda Duke – http://www.lindaduke.typepad.com/
7/14 Heidi Blankenship – http://embellished-dreams.blogspot.com/
7/15 Kimberly Crawford – http://www.kimberly-crawford.blogspot.com/
7/16 Julie Overby – http://joverby.blogspot.com/
7/17 Sherry Cheever - http://sherrycheever.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
7/18 Debbie Seyer – http://www.debbieseyer.com/
7/19 Lesa Rapp – http://paperpossibilities.blogspot.com/
7/20 Becca Feeken – http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/
7/21 Jennifer Davis – http://www.preservationarts.com/
7/22 Keri Lee Sereika - http://pinklemonade.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Did you see me? Yep, my name is on there too. How exciting is that? And to add to the excitement, I will have some cards using some of these new dies to give away to you, my followers over the same time period. I'm also going to offer some fun tutorials in the future, so be sure to become a follower and check back often. If you are a winner, you will need to respond within a short period of time.

Now go blog hopping and enter to win!

Hugs,
Karen

Exciting news!

I told you to keep an eye out here. Well here it is!!!!!! I get to introduce one of Spellbinders new dies! But the best news is, you can win win WIN!!!!! You will want to see the gorgeous new dies coming your way, and the designers presenting them do such awesome work! Mark your calendars!!! For complete information check out the Spellbinders blog each and every day. You won't want to miss a thing.


CHA Summer 2009 Blog Frenzy
July 7th, 2009 Yes, that’s right! Spellbinders is doing it again, and it’s bigger and its better than before! You didn’t think we could stop with the new Pendant Collection did you? Oh no! We’ve got 17 more new Spellbinders products to reveal from July 9 – 22, 2009. And we want to share them with you!

Each day we will direct you to one of our talented Designer’s blogs where you will be introduced to our latest and greatest Spellbinders Die Templates. Enter to win by sending an email to the address listed in the blog. Daily winners will be chosen randomly from eligible entries. But wait, there’s more!

This time the prize is progressive! On Day 1, we give away the Day 1 release. On Day 2 we give away the Day 1 and Day 2 releases! The prizes grow each and every day for 14 days!! By entering each day from each blog, you become eligible to win the Grand Prize… COMPLETE set of CHA Summer 2009 Die Templates and Impressabilities releases, a total of 29 products with a retail value of more than $560.00!!

Check out this line up of talented Designers on the dates noted and then enter for your chance to win:

7/9 Debbie Olson

7/10 Michelle Wooderson

7/11 Karen Hunsaker

7//12 Kazan Clark

7/13 Linda Duke

7/14 Heidi Blankenship

7/15 Kimberly Crawford

7/16 Julie Overby

7/17 Sherry Cheever

7/18 Debbie Seyer

7/19 Lesa Rapp

7/20 Becca Feeken

7/21 Jennifer Davis

7/22 Keri Lee Sereika

See the entire line of Spellbinders products on the Spellbinders’ website.

Status report

Just a little status report. I got a lot accomplished today, after working on getting an internet connection for about 2-1/2 hours! Grrrrrrrr! I hate technology when it isn't simple. It is 2 AM and I just finished a layout, a 3D item and a card. There is something else too, but I can't say. lol Wahoo! I feel good - even though I'm tired. Let me just say once again - stay tuned to this blog for some great stuff coming up this week! You won't want to miss it! Am I mean, or what? Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

I'm sorry

I haven't posted anything new. I'm busy working on some deadlines and being with family for the holiday, so I haven't had anything to share here. How sad. It will get better, I promise. This week is gonna be good, so be sure to keep checking back!!!!

Hugs,
Karen

Let's try that again -

I'm sorry to say I never heard from Cre8tive Granny, so I had to choose another name to win the card.

Drumrollllllllllll

The winner is Yvette! Yea Yvette! I need your snail mail address so I can send this card off to you!

If I don't hear from Yvette by July 5th, I will try again! Or maybe I will just keep it. lol

Hugs,
Karen

UPDATE: Yvette has already sent me her snail mail address. Congratulations Yvette.

And the winner is . . .

Cre8tive Granny who said...
Karen, your card is lovely. I like the colors you used and the pearls really make it. Becca's blog is one I read daily. She is sooooo talented and so sweet. The woman is just amazing and I hope someday to meet her. Thanks for the chance to win your beautiful card.

Please contact me with your snail mail address and I will get the card into the mail for you.

If I haven't heard from Cre8tive Granny by Wednesday night, I will draw another name.

Thanks for stopping by. Please keep coming back. I have lots of fun things coming up that I want to share with you!

Hugs,
Karen

A little clarification on the card giveaway

It appears to me that some people are commenting on the card I made to give away thinking that will enter them into my drawing. NOPE! You've gotta read the fine print. Actually it isn't really even fine print. To enter the contest, you must comment on my post day 1 of the Spellbinders contest where Becca's talent is linked. That is the place I will choose the name from. So, if you want to possibly win this most stunning card (lol, I'm so humble) please scroll down a few posts and enter the proper place. I will draw a name sometime Monday, June 29th, so you'd better hurry.

New Spellbinders die card giveaway!

This is the card I am giving to one of my lucky followers. Is it you? I hope so. If you are the winner, you can tell me if you would like a sentiment added to the card and I will do that before sending it to you.

This card is a 5-1/2" square and features the new Spellbinders die Fleur de Lis! Isn't it purdy? I love this new die!!!!! For this card, I stamped French Script onto the vanilla card base and then aged it with Tim Holtz tea dye ink, Memento Rich Cocoa and Memento Tuxedo Black inks and a sponge. I cut the Pendant die using Kraft card stock and used my inks again to age it. I then cut the Pendant die again, from black card stock, cutting out the center. The center is a separate piece, so you can cut it or not. I didn't cut it out of the craft card stock. I turned the black pendant on the kraft one to really set them off. I used dimensionals to pop up all the die cut pieces so that the shadows add even more dimension. The center piece was cut from vanilla card stock and distressed with the inks one again. I added the rose button to the center with a glue dot. I added half pearls to the black pendant for just a bit more ooomph! So, what do you think? Do you like it? If so, you'd better read down a few posts to find out how to have a chance to make it yours. It is a card, but it would be beautiful framed and hung on a wall too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Karen

Oooo ooooo ooooo DAY 2!

Another new pendant die is being released today - Eyelet Pendant and borderabilities! Oh they are so cute. It takes me back to little girls and pinafores. How about you? Be sure to stop by Debbie Olson's blog and enter to win some FREE dies! Nothing is better than FREE, am I right?

I'll be back in just a little while to post the card I will be giving to someone! It might be you, if you read my entry yesterday and left a comment!

Hugs,
Karen

You will be awed!!!

Oh my friends, you must visit Becca's blog and see what she has done with the new pendant that was released by Spellbinders today! And be sure to enter the contest to win a FREE die, and keep following all week to win ALL of the new dies! Oh my!

Here is a link to Becca's blog.

Let me know what you think and I will enter you into a contest to win a beautiful card made by me with this new die! I will choose a random name from anyone commenting on THIS post. I will draw the winner from commenters on THIS post on Monday, June 29th!

Hugs,
Karen

Cute shoes!

The inspiration for this card is this little girl's shoe.

So, here is the card I created.

I stamped the flower using Perfect Plum ink and cut it out. The center was pierced and popped up with dimensionals. The swirls are stamped with white craft ink. I used Spellbinders Labels One to cut/emboss the panels and then I stamped the sentiment on the Pale Plum one. The card front is embossed with the cuttlebug birds and swirls folder.

Don't you want to wear these shoes? I do!!!!!

Ooooo, ooooooo, ooooooo!

Exciting news! There are some new dies coming from Spellbinders and they are awesome!!!!!!! Check out all the information about the sneak peeks coming next week by going to the Spellbinders blog. You won't want to miss it I tell ya!

And here is a card I want to share with you today. It was created for a challenge on SCS to use a foreign language. I don't seem to have any stamps that have a foreign greeting, but I did have this cuttlebug folder which has French, German and Spanish on it, so I used it! I didn't want to cover up the embossing, so I just made a little flower to decorate it. I stamped the flower from Fifth Avenue Floral onto Blush blossom card stock using versamark and Tangerine Tango ink, then clear embossed it. Using Spellbinders Peony die, I cut and embossed the image before sponging the edges with the Tangerine Tango ink and coloring the center with Summer Sun marker. Get the water bottle ready and then spray! I really got it wet. Then I added color with my aqua pen and let it flow. It is such a great way to color. I added some ribbon to the card front and popped the flower up with dimensionals. I added three loops of ribbon to give the impression of leaves. Did you think they were leaves? lol That's it - a pretty simple card.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you will come back next Tuesday or Wednesday and see my sample of the new die Spellbinders will be sneak peeking on Monday! It's gorgeous!!!! See you then!

Oh yea!!!!

I am making this post from my new laptop! Yea!!!! It was ready for me when I got up this morning, but dh was still asleep, so I didn't know that. This will be great. I'm so excited to have all the functionality of this baby! Now to learn all the ins and outs so I can use it to the best advantage. Look at me go!!!!!!

Still waiting . . .

It still isn't ready and it's challenging to get anything done in my craft room right now. There are wires draped over my keyboard while the process continues. But I couldn't leave you hanging with nothing new to look at - so -

This card is showcasing a hostess stamp from the new SU! catalog. Yes, a sneak peek. I used markers to ink up the stamp for this fun effect. I then cut/embossed it with the Spellbinders classic scalloped rectangle before mounting it onto ruby red card stock. The other panels are embossed with different cuttlebug folders and mounted onto the designer paper.

For this next card, I used colors suggested by the color challenge, and surprisingly I like the combo. What do you think of it? The sentiment is stamped with Baja Breeze ink. I added the three red brads to balance the top of the card. The bottom panel is embossed with the cuttlebug textile texture folder and the top edge punched with the EK success Fleur de lis border punch. I backed that edge with the baja breeze card stock which was embossed with swiss dots. It's a very simple card and one that might actually go through the mail easily. lol No one wants to pay extra postage, right?



Well, that's all I have for you today. Thanks for stopping by and I love reading your comments.

Hugs,
Karen

Slowly . . .

So, my computer has been giving me fits lately, truly tempting me to pitch it through the nearest window. I didn't though. My dear son Ben took pity on me and came and took care of things for me, time after time. He's such a good kid. And it doesn't hurt that he actually knows what he is doing! lol Anywho, my dh got me a new PURPLE laptop! Oh joy! However, it is taking all day for him to get it all updated and ready to go, and now it is transferring all my files from the dinosaur to my new computer. It will be great to be able to take her wherever I want and still surf. I'm also going to add a few rub ons to personalize the little darling. Now won't that be fun? Oh yeah! Eventually anyway. So, that is why you haven't seen much from me for the past couple of days. Check back tomorrow! You might get to see before and after pictures of my purple lady, AND I will upload some cards I've done. Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Karen

A new technique.

I tried a new technique this morning, and I have to say, when I first saw the instructions, I thought OH NO! But let me tell you, it worked beautifully and I really like the results. This one is called faux handmade paper.

First I will let you look at it and then tell you how to do it.



What do you think? It is so hard to capture the texture and sparkle in a photo, but let me assure you, it looks really interesting. In fact, if you click on the photo, it will enlarge a lot and you can get a really good view.

So, how to do it:

I used two different shades of brown, black and one metallic finish acrylic paint. Squeeze about a nickel size glob of each onto a sheet of wax paper. Next get the very technical wad of toilet tissue (fresh is best! ha ha ha ha!) and dip it into the lighest of colors and dab it onto the card stock. I used a creamy caramel color card stock for this one. Dip into the next darker color and dab where you didn't dab the first time. You will see bits of the toilet tissue sticking to the card stock. That's a good thing! Keep going. Now, I dipped into the black and added a bit of that. Lookin' good! Now dip into that metallic paint and add that on top of it all. Yep, that's it. I heated mine with my heat gun because I'm way too impatient. To use mine, I cut it into three strips to add a little more interest and mounted it onto the black card front. Next I stamped my tree image with versamark ink and clear embossed it. I wish I had stamped it in a darker ink. Maybe next time. I then dabbed a bit of my metallic paint (and a little of the black still showed) around the image and especially the edges of the tree panel. I mounted that onto black card stock and distressed it with my fingernails. Oh yeah, I embossed a strip of black card stock with the cuttlebug tiny mosaic folder before attaching it about half way on the card. I stamped the sentiment with versamark and clear embossed before cutting/embossing with the Spellbinders double ended tags die and then mounting on the black card stock. I added some brads and that is about it. I really like the look of this. What do you think?

And the answer is . . .

No, I couldn't sleep in. I did stay in bed until 7:15, but I wasn't sleeping. Oh well.

So, here is another card creation for you. The stamp was colored with markers and blended to get the two tones on the flowers. I mounted it onto the rose red cs that was punched with Fleur de Lis border punch. The sentiment was stamped, then cut/embossed with the Spellbinders Petite Ovals LG. To get just the small border of the rose red, I carefully trimmed the embossed edge off the vanilla layer and then attached it to the rose red oval. They are both cut with the same die. Get it? It is easier to do than to explain. lol I added a few lovely jewels and mounted it onto the CB swiss dots layer and then onto the rose red card. Oh yeah, the little corner embellishments are the scraps made when I punched the border. May as well use them, eh? Waste not, want not!



Thanks for stopping by!

Off to bed - can I sleep in?????

Yeah, right. I wish! I just can't sleep in. What happened? I used to as a kid, but . . . no more! If I'm still in bed at 7 AM, someone needs to hold a mirror under my nose to see if I'm breathing! lol Well, I'm going to try to sleep in tomorrow anyway. Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, the card. I'm not usually a fan of blue roses, but the challenge on SCS was to use shades of blue, green, grey and neutrals (sand and water, ya' know!). So, I stamped the rose with versamark ink and clear embossed, then I wet the card stock quite a bit and floated some color onto it with my aqua pen. It's a pretty cool technique, but I'm not sure the blue rose shows it off the best. I cut the rose out and then curled the edges of the petals. It is mounted onto the Pacific Point which is cut/embossed with the Spellbinders Labels One die and also embossed with the Flowers Impressabilities. It's pretty hard to see in the photo. The organdy ribbon was also colored slightly with the Pacific Point ink before being heated and mounted onto a strip of the card stock and onto the Sahara Sand layer. The image panel is attached with rhinestone brads, then I pierced along the edges of the ribbon panel. The sentiment is stamped with the Pacific Point ink and cut/embossed with Spellbinders Petite Ovals LG and then onto a panel cut/embossed with the Spellbinders Labels Four dies. The corners of the Sahara Sand layer are punched with the wrought iron punch and that is mounted onto the Pacific Point card stock.

All righty then, I'm off to bed. My eyelids are getting heavy, I'm getting sleepy, my body is heavy and I'm dozing off! Well, that's the plan anyway.

Goodnight!

Good morning!

So, I guess pink is another of my go to colors. I really do like pink - just look in my closet.

For this card, I used core'dinations color core card stock for my crinkled flower. First I stamped the large rose using Rose Red ink and then tore the circles, crinkled, sanded, and layered with dimensionals. I also used the tear, crinkle, sand technique for the leaves as well. The bottom border is the EK success Fleur de Lis punch, with a white one backing the pink card front. The sentiment is stamped onto white card stock, and then cut/embossed with Spellbinders petite ovals lg, and matted with the next larger size in rose red.

I hope you like my crinkled flower. Thanks for looking. Have a happy day today.

New stamps!

I love getting new stamps to play with. This is a new set that will be in the new SU! catalog. I think it is lovely, and it has so many nice sentiments.

For this card, I kept it a simple silhouette, using black and white and that's all. The image was stamped with black craft ink and clear embossed (I know, I hardly ever do that! lol LOL) I love the simplicity the b&w combo gives. I added just a touch of ribbon to the sentiment panel.

Thanks for dropping by! Come back soon.

Hugs,
Karen

Unfortunately I am finding myself in need of lots of sympathy cards lately. I used today's challenge on SCS to create this soft, simple card.

The image is stamped with versamark and then white embossed it. I then sponged over the image to make it show up. White on white is beautiful, but hard to see. I used the Spellbinders Labels Four to emboss around the image. The sentiment is stamped with Baja Breeze ink. Simple, but I think very nice. What do you think?

Masculine creations

Masculine type cards are harder for me to come up with. Yes, I love my flowers and all things girly. BUT this card has a masculine touch, don't you think? For this one I ran the caramel colored card stock through the wizard with the Paisley impressability and then lightly went over it with black ink to highlight the embossing. It almost has a tooled leather look to it, I think. The black panel is a color core card stock and was wadded up (I know that is a very technical term, but . . . what can I do?), smoothed out and run through the wizard with the same Paisley impressability and then sanded. Distressing at its best. The sentiment was stamped with versamark and clear embossed and the border was stamped with black. I had to add some ribbon, but the black and white gingham isn't too girly, is it? I thought it was okay - even for a guy. I added a few strips of the distressed black to the inside of the card and a sentiment there too. What do you think? Manly enough?

Little Lu

I'm sharing my April layout with you today. This is my grandniece. She is a dolly pie and so photogenic. Her Mommy took the photos. For this layout I used Spellbinders 12" border, Classic Lace Border Grand. I so love this border, and it matches Little Lucy's dress! I cut another of the cut/embossed borders to make the corner details and the "leaves" behind the flower on the one photo, and on the title. You will be seeing more of this little doll.

Did you miss me?

I've been at my daughter's house playing with the grandkids, so didn't get any projects done lately. I do have something to share with you though.

Here is one of the projects I did for Spellbinders in April.

The black background is embossed with the Spellbinders Butterfly Impressability. Actually, so is the smallest black panel. For the smaller one I used Core'dinations card stock and sanded it to bring out the design. Isn't that awesome? I love that paper. The panels are created with the ever wonderful Labels Four nested dies. Ooooo, I love that shape.

And here is another creation. This is actually a little container, so you could gift someone with something small and wonderful. I ran the designer paper through the cuttelbug for more texture before adhering it to the box shape. Then I added some little vellum butterflies. Oh so soft and pretty!



I hope you like this creation. Thanks for stopping by!

Flower pounding

Did you know you can make a print by pounding flowers with a hammer? You can - but even better than that (and much quieter too) is to use your Wizard. Yes, you heard me right!

My pink card uses these Spellbinders dies: Classic Lace Border Grand, Labels One, double ended tags.

I went into my yard and collected some blooms and gave it a try. Some flowers work, some just don't. The drier type flowers seem to work the best. I live in Phoenix, and the ones that worked best for me were the Bougainvillea and the Vinca. You can see creations using both of them here. The pink card uses the bougainvillea (there are some of the petals around my finished card) and the bottom card uses the vinca.

I am planning on creating a video soon, to show you just how this is done, but for now, here are the steps.

1) go into your yard (not your neighbor's - they may get mad) and pick some blooms.

2) get all the bugs off of them before you bring them into your house. (Ask me how I know! Ewwww)

3) This is how I stacked my sandwich:
White Master Mat
Watercolor paper
Flower- right side down on the watercolor paper
Waxed paper (you could use another piece of watercolor paper, a folded paper towel or just some scrap paper.
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

4) Run this through your Wizard and your flowers are pounded. Just remove the poor squashed flowers and voila! you have a print of your flowers. It's gorgeous.

Now here are a few things I learned:
Do not attempt to use your waxed paper again. It has pigment from the previous project and may mess up what you are trying to do. Don't ask me how I know. lol

Try different flowers, realizing some will not work at all, they will just leave a slooshy mess. I tried it with leaves too. They left a very very light impression.

Light colored flowers really don't leave much of a pattern at all. Use deep colored flowers for the best results.

The colors will change. The blooms I used on both cards were a dark pink. The vincas made a purple print. Interesting.

Experiment with with you have. If you try it, leave me a link to your creation. I would love to see what you come up with!



On this purple card, I used Spellbinders: Butterfly Impressabilities and Petite Ovals LG.

My purple card is featured on Spellbinders blog today. Why not pop over there and check it out.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's hip to be square!

I've had these citrus color square buttons for a while, and today I got a chance to use them.

This is a CAS (clean and simple) card, I think. I cut and embossed scalloped squares from the same colors of cs as the buttons are with Spellbinders Scallop Square dies and layered them a few times. The sentiment stamp is colored with the markers to make it match the buttons.

I think this is a fun summer card. What do you think?

It just couldn't end.

Yesterday was such a great day with family, I guess I just didn't want it to end, so I posted photos, and of course made a card all in the wee hours of the morning.

Now these are not colors I would normally choose, but it was the color challenge on SCS so I had to give it a try. Last night I didn't care much for it, but this morning, I don't think it is so bad! lol

This card is also a hinge card.

For the top panel I reverse embossed using the Spellbinders butterfly impressability. I do like that element. For the bottom panel, I used the cuttlebug textile texture folder and then went over it with the white craft pad. The top is punched with the MS arched lattice punch. One of the small butterflies is hiding the brad. The main butterfly was stamped with pumpkin pie craft ink and clear embossed before being cut out. I popped the wings up with dimensionals onto the Spellbinders label one nestie which was also embossed with the swiss dots folder.

Have a great Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by.

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

So, what do you do on a holiday in Phoenix? Get in the pool, of course. Here are some photos I took today to show how the family cools off!

Fun in the sun!

Gosh I love my family!!!!

Hinge card

This is a hinge card. It is a really fun and easy card to create. I did another one weeks ago that is a bit different - with a main panel that slides when you open it.

For this one I didn't want to hide that great daisy border, so I didn't use a large image panel over it. The Spellbinders die was used to cut the wavy bottom edge, and then that panel was embossed using the same die. Now wait! I also used that die as a stencil, coloring the embossed portions with copic markers and spica gel pens. The sentiment is stamped with Tangerine Tango ink. The bottom portion of the card is embossed with the Sizzix eyelet folder. The inside has a tiny little daisy stamped in the upper right corner and I sponged around the edges.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday's circle challenge

Today's challenge on SCS is to use circles on your card and the limit is to use only one stamp set for the image and the sentiment. I chose Inspired by Nature.

I kept my card quite simple by stamping the grass with Memento black ink which was stamped off once before stamping onto white cs. I then inked up the flower image with black craft ink, stamped and then - surprise, surprise - embossed with clear ep! I know it's shocking, but it's true. hee hee hee I use it like every day! lol I then cut/embossed it with Spellbinders circle nestabilities and mounted it onto black cs. The sentiment is also stamped with black craft and clear embossed before being cut and embossed and matted with black. The whole card is matted with black. I then added the little touch of ribbon. I usually create very feminine cards, but, hey, this might work for a masculine card. What do you think?

Good morning!

I guess I'm in a pink mood this morning. I am working on a scrapbook page and it is pink, and then I created this card with two shades of pink.



For this card, I embossed a circle using my Nestabilities circles to keep the shape, then stamped the image repeatedly around that shape. The flowers are cut and embossed with the Spellbinders Flower Bouquet pansy and then I used the stencil feature of the dies to add my copic marker color and Spica glitter pens. These flowers were glued to the image, making sure the stamped images peeked from behind. The lightest color flowers are popped up with dimensionals. I then stamped the image in the center of the wreath and added the ribbon. Do you love that wavy scalloped bottom? It was created using the scalloped Paisley die to cut and emboss it.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back soon!

A giveaway!

My friend Jennifer Davis has a set of punches she is giving away. All you have to do is visit her blog and leave a comment about why you like your house. Stop by and enter: Jenn's blog

Purple makes me happy!

I just love purple. It's such a charming color. Lilacs are purple, beautiful irises are purple, lavender is purple . . . nice.

I chose to color my image with purples today. I really like the stamp set from Crafty Secrets called Glamour Girls. It's so vintage and I'm all about vintage.

I stamped the image with black craft ink and clear embossed before coloring with Copic markers and using the Spica pen for a bit of shimmer. I used the EK success border punch on two of the corners of the image panel as well as a double border on the next layer. I used another of the stamps from the set on that layer also. The next layer is embossed with the cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The ribbon is doubled with the lavender colored one being looped a few times before adding the button, which was also colored with the copic marker. It's so feminine, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

A friend dropped in!

I forgot to tell you that my friend Wendy (Wendybell) came to visit me last week. We were talking on the phone and I told her she needed to get away, so first thing you know, she was at my door! lol We had a great time visiting, creating and laughing. We even took time to create a pasta dish Heidi had mentioned on her blog. This photograph shows us enjoying our pasta. Thanks Heidi - it was delicious.

Ahhhh, roses!

I love this Roses in Winter stamp set, and it worked beautifully for the color challenge posted on SCS today. I don't usually enjoy using the bold bright colors, I'm more into pastels and softer colors, but I think I got them to work on this card. I inked the stamps with Only Orange ink and then rock'n' rolled them in Rose Red ink to soften the orange color. I also heavily sponged the edges of the card stock with the orange ink and then again with the rose red ink. I think it really softens it and makes it look so nice. I used the same techniques on the sentiment panel also cutting and embossing with Spellbinders Labels Four die. I even sponged the rose red ink onto the orange ribbon to soften that as well. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Monday morning!

Today's card is a labor intensive card, but it is so much fun. It really isn't difficult, it just takes some time, and you have to figure out what you want on each of the 9 panels. The designer paper is enough decoration on many of them, so I left it at that. What do you think of this fun fold?



This weekend I got to see my darling little granddaugther perform in a dance recital. Oh, she was cute and very good too! Her Mom had an injured eye, so had to go all Hollywood, wearing the shades. lol

I'm on a roll!

My card today started out as a masculine card. Well, that's what I was aiming for, but . . . femininity just kept sneaking in. I can't help it! I didn't use any clear embossing powder on my card today though. Now that is a shocker! lol

Even though it didn't turn out to be a more masculine card, I like it.


My dear friend Wendy (Wendybell) is staying with me for a few days. We both got up at the break of dawn and came directly into my stamp room to create cards for today's SCS sketch challenge. No wonder we are friends - we're both crazy stampin' addicts! lol I, at least, brushed my teeth. I'm not sayin' what Wendy did or didn't do. lol

Now go and have a happy Wednesday.

Colorful Tuesday

I created this card using the colors on the SCS challenge today, Summer Sun, Only Orange and Kiwi Kiss.

The image is stamped in orange, then I used chalks to get the yellow around the image before cutting and embossing with Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four. To get the tiny little mat, I cut and embossed the orange layer and then using scissors, cut the outer edge off so the green would be very slight. The sentiment is stamped and clear embossed, and then embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dot folder. I added orange ribbon and bows.

I like the combination of the shape and the image. I think it has a vintage flare, don't you? I hope you like it.

A new technique for me!

I tried the bandana technique today. It's gonna take a little more practice to look really good, but I'm pretty happy with this result - and as always it looks better in person than it does in a photo.




I used a brayer to ink my Spellbinders Paisley Impressability before embossing the red card stock. I then went over parts of the design with my white gel pen, adding dots, lines, etc. I used just a strip of the result on my card, matting with black and tying a black gingham ribbon around the strip. The sentiment is Hero Arts Thoughtful set, inked with black craft ink and clear embossed.

I think this is a more masculine kind of card. After searching through all my cards the other day, I realize I need to make a lot more masculine cards. Obviously I am drawn to flowers and feminine images and colors. Today - I went more masculine.

I hope you like today's card. Have a great Monday!

Happy Mother's Day

I created this card just for you to wish you a very Happy Mother's day, filled with delightful surprises, love and family.

I used the Spellbinders Peony die and vellum cardstock for the main flower, sponging on the color to create depth. The main card panel is embossed with Spellbinders Butterfly Impressability, then sponged on color to bring out the gorgeous embossing.



I hope you like your Mother's Day card!

Hugs,
Karen

Saturday is a special day

I'm so bummed. I've caught a cold and I'm feeling lousy, so I haven't gotten to do anything fun. All I'm doing is cough, sneeze, blow nose, repeat. At least I got a good night's sleep after taking Nyquil last night. What a relief. So, I'm taking it easy today. Hopefully I can create soemthing too. If so, I'll post it for you to see. Later though. Oh, I know. I'll make a Mother's Day card for all of you! Come back to see it. I'm sure it will be fantastic! lol

This will make for a lousy Mother's Day - home alone and sick!

Happy Thursday!

Want to see something nice? I love the combination of kraft card stock and black and red. I decided to make it a butterfly card and use my wonderful Labels Four nesties. That is such a beautiful shape.

For this card I used black craft ink and clear embossed the butterfly and sentiment onto kraft card stock. I colored the embossed edge on the butterfly panel with a marker to get a more layered look without the bulk of more card stock. I think the rest is pretty easy to figure out, but if you have any questions . . . ever . . . please email me.

I hope you like my butterfly card today. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Karen

A birthday cupcake

Here is the card I created for today's SCS sketch challenge. What a fun sketch. This one can be used for so many things.

The cupcake and the dotted card are Sizzix embossing folders from my sweet freind Terri! Thanks Terri!

I paper pieced the cupcake liner and the candle, used some liquid pearls on the icing and Stickles on the glow from the candle. The scalloped punch is by Martha Stewart.



Have a happy day!

Do you think she will like it?

I don't think my granddaughter ever looks at my blog, so I'm pretty safe posting this. Her birthday is coming up, so I was playing around with my dies and came up with this birthday crown for her. Her favorite color recently changed from pink to blue, so I made it blue just for her. Now you must know, this is a girly girl for sure, so I had to add some bling. I don't think it is blingy enough for her yet, but . . . maybe I will add more later, or let her add some more. She would like that.

I think I've fixed it!

Whew! I think I finally found what the hangup was on this blog! I had added the reactions thingy under the comments. That was causing all kinds of troubles. I took that off and VOILA! It's all better. I'm so relieved.

Thanks for sticking with me through this difficult time! lol It will all be better now.

A week later!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been a week since I updated my blog. Yes, I can. It is still a little wonky and so I get annoyed trying to update. Well, I haven't been idle that whole week. I've worked on lots of things, but I can only share one of them with you today. This is a gift set I've been working on and I finished it and got a photo taken, so I thought I would share it with all of you today.

A new card

I got up very early (not because I wanted to but because I just woke up!) so I created a card using the colors on the SCS color challenge: real red, basic black and old olive. I need some notecards, so I created this one. I am trying to make cards with less bulk so they can easily be mailed. Here is what I came up with.



I love the fact that the JustRite stampers and the nestabilities are the perfect sizes to go together! It makes life so easy. And don't you just love that bottom border? So easy to do with the Spellbinders daisy border. Just cut and emboss and it looks maaaaahhhhhvelous!

Now I need to check my coupons, make a list, and go do a little shopping! Oh joy!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Creating!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I've been so engrossed in creating my projects for Spellbinders and learning some new technology to size them, stitch together scans and lots of new things that I haven't had much time to create projects to share on my blog. I did take a few minutes this morning to do the SCS technique challenge. Take a look at the card I created and see if you can tell what the technique is.



The technique is using marbles and reinkers to create your own background paper. On my card it is the layer behind the oval. I used Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery and So Saffron reinkers. I opened an empty plastic clamshell case (My SU! stamps come in them) and added a few drops of each of the colors. I did each one separately so the colors wouldn't muddy up. After each color, I wiped out the previous color from the inside of the case and the marbles, then added the next color. The card stock you wish to create is taped to the inside lid of the box. Tilt and shake the box to get the ink onto the marbles and the marbles to roll all over your card stock. When you are happy with the results, remove your card stock and create something. It really is a fun technique. For my card, I glued that piece onto the certainly celery base card. Using Spellbinders Nestabilities Scalloped Oval, I cut and embossed the oval. I then stamped the sentiment and the little flowers onto the oval, drawing doodles to connect them with a marker. I added some stickles to the centers of the flowers for a little bling. It was a little too flat for my liking, so I cut/emboss/stenciled a little purple flower to add to the oval. I popped that up with a dimensional and added a yellow circle of card stock and more stickles. Oh yeah, that's much better.

I hope you like my card. Check back soon! I'm happy to have you visit!

Wonky site????

I am sorry I can't post much of anything right now, but this Blogger site is wonky to say the least. I've spent way too much time fighting with it and now will just leave and wait until they get it taken care of.

In the mean time I am working on my Spellbinders assignments. I actually finished one today that I am pretty happy with, but I can't show you until . . . who knows when. Maybe I'll get some time to just play a bit later. Then I can show you some of the coolio new things I received! You will want to see. I got some awesome goodies!

Hugs for now,
Karen

Vintage in black and white

I love this stamp set by Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps called Glamour Girls. I used that as my inspiration on this card, matting it with Spellbinders Labels One and Scalloped Rectangle made into a square. The patterned paper is by Me and My Big Ideas.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to sign up to follow my blog. Scroll down to see why!

Have a great Wednesday!

Follow my blog!

Since I have finally begun my reign on the Spellbinders Design Team, I will be stamping a lot and using tons of new and wonderful products on my projects. Things are going to be hopping here, so you might want to sign up to follow my blog because you just never know when I am going to do a drawing from my followers and gift them with a little blog candy. I may announce it, I may not. That should keep you on your toes. SIGN UP, SIGN UP, SIGN UP!!!!! You won't want to miss it!

Using new products

I got a lot of my new goodies organized and wanted to play with a few of them on today's card. What fun! Here are the new things I used on this card:

Spellbinders Impressabilities (these are sooooo cool!)
Hero Arts Thoughtful Stamps (the sentiment)
Smooch (used on the butterfly for the dots)

The card base is rose red cs. I cut and embossed the pink pirouette panel using the new impressabilities and then used a sponge to highlight the high areas with rose red ink. Gosh those Impressabilities are impressive! lol I also sponged the edges before mounting onto the basic gray cs. The flowers are cut and embossed with dies from Spellbinders Flower Creations which I shaped a bit with the handle of a paint brush and colored with markers, then added stickles. It caused the ink to run a bit and I really like that look. It just softens the edges a bit. I added ribbon and a bow. The sentiment is stamped, cut and embossed with Spellbinders Nestabilities and mounted onto the rose red scalloped oval nestie and popped up with dimensionals. I added a Spellbinders butterfly from the Flying Beauties set which was dotted and the body outlined with my new Smooch made by Clearsnap. I think you will love Smooch. You might even smooch it! hee hee hee

Thanks for stopping by!

Gardening

I just went to a fantastic gardening seminar and learned so much! You should check out this information. You can get 10X the yield from your garden, be it veggies, flowers or whatever. lol You know the seminar was fantastic because I sat in the 94 degree heat four hours listening to the guy.

What is the Mittleider Method?
The Mittleider Method combines the best features of soil-based gardening and hydroponic gardening, but without hydroponic expense! It's a complete, easy-to-follow plan that eliminates guesswork and ensures success anywhere: an apartment patio, a city yard, a country lot, or a farm.

The method is based on maximum utilization of space, time, and resources. Crops are large because plants are close together, nourished by supplemental feedings of natural mineral nutrients (as in hydroponics), but with no special equipment.

Also, unlike hydroponics, the Mittleider Method gives plants access to the natural soil for nutrients as yet unknown or that, while not essential to plant growth, are useful in human nutrition. You can use the Mittleider Method by raising crops in either soil-beds or grow-boxes.

Here is a link to the information. I believe it will even give you a bit of a discount on the products if you click this link.

http://plantingk.mittleider.hop.clickbank.net/

This is a link to a blog created with wonderful recipes using the bounty of your garden.

I am now

a Copic Certified Designer! Check this out! Marianne was a great instructor! I'm ready, willing and able to share what I learned. One thing though, I need lots and lots more practice. Copic markers are awesome tools!

Wow, Wow and WOW!!!!

So here is a picture of the bounty I received at the Spellbinders Design Team Retreat!!!!! I hope I got it all because everytime I look at what I brought home I find something else to add to the photo!!!!! We were spoiled big time (Thank you Stacey!)!!! Yes, I know I keep using exclamation marks, but honestly, there aren't even words to describe it! Anyway, take a look and I'll be back a little later to add more information about all the wonderful companies that so generously gave us product! It's amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm home!!!!

I am home. It is 12:48 AM and I am TIRED! I am also overwhelmed, awed, amazed, and have a bunch of new friends. I feel totally and completely spoiled and happy as can be. OOooooooooo eeeeeeeeee!!!!!! Wait until you see all the goodies I got at the retreat. I'm too tired to post it all right now, but I will oh so soon. Check back!

Hugs,
Karen

I'm off to see the WIZARD!

Hee hee, and that title really fits. I'm off to the retreat for the new Spellbinder's Design Team! You know, their "machine" is called the Wizard. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I get to meet all the other gals that are on the team and find out even more about Spellbinders and their fantastic products and how to use them and . . . I don't even know what all! It's going to be great! So be sure to come back next week! I should have all kinds of wonderfulness to share with you! I'll be singing that tune for the next several days! Come on, sing it with me! I'm off to see the wizard . . .

Can you believe this is a soda can?

Today's technique challenge was to use a soda can in the creation. Oh fun! Here is the card I made. I embossed the main panel and the sentiment with the cuttlebug textile texture folder and then used punches on them. The sentiment was flattened out after embossing, but it still leaves some texture. It looks really cool in person! I hope you like this fun card. Let me know what you think.

Oh my goodness - It's been a long time

since I updated this blog! How did that happen? I guess time flies and . . . it's forever since you updated.

I've been busy with this and that and one thing and another. Yep! It's true. Today is Easter Eve and I'm having my two local kids and their families over for Easter Festivities. We were planning to go to a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and party, but it is cold and rainy today! What? It hasn't rained in forever and today - RAIN! Oh well, we can have indoor activities and be just fine.

So, I got up this morning, ready to get things done ahead of time. It should have been easy peasy, all I had to do is prepare two easy dishes ahead of time - but NO!Unfortunately, I had troubles with both.

#1 In making the eclair cake, I just could not get the ingredients to blend for the creamy filling. FRUSTRATION!!!! I threw it down the drain and sent Allen to the store to quickly get a couple of ingredients so I could start over. Okay, all is well. But not so fast –

#2 Making potato salad - just ready to add the mayo and sniff, sniff, that does not smell quite right. I take a little taste - ACCCKKKKK - rancid mayo!!!!!! Good thing the kitchen sink can take all the misses! Throw that down the drain quickly! Luckily I hadn't mixed it into the other ingredients, so I just had to open the new jar of mayo and all is well. I hope the ham doesn't have any problems! I mean seriously, who can mess up a ham? Well today, it might just be me!

I am so thankful to know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to show us the way to live, and that He died and was resurrected so that I can repent of my sins and can again live with Him, my Heavenly Father and all those I love!

The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles

Have a wonderful Easter!

Wowie Zowie!

I'm getting a great response to this card I created in the middle of the night - when I couldn't sleep.

This is a hinge card. You get to see the card closed and open in the same photo. Am I tricky, or what? The top of the card just turns up so you can see the inside (the message once I figure out who to send it to). It hinges at the flower on the left with a brad through it. I also like the top edge looking like a fence and the flowers going down behind it when it is closed. The main image was stamped and embossed before adding a little color with a blender pen and the ink from the lid of the pad. I also cut out two small flowers from the dp and glued one on the inside and the other is popped up with a dimensional over the flower on the main image.

So, do you like it? Don't tell me if you don't. I only want to hear the positive! LOL ; )

Keeping it simple

I really do love simple, quick cards as well as all the fancy folds and tons of embellishments and ribbons. Well, today I made two quick and simple cards. Take a look!

Never ending!

This is a never ending card. You open one way, then another, then another and another and then you get back to the first one. It's kinda crazy, but kinda fun. Kids of all ages love it.

I just had to!

I just couldn't stand it! I had to make the back of my spring blocks say EASTER - so I did. These blocks are addictive. I just can't quit. lol I hope you like them as much as I do.

Too much fun!

So I was so happy with my spring blocks that I decided to make my summer ones. I think I like them even more. Don't tell Spring though. lol I love the look of the red check. Doesn't it remind you of a summer picnic? And the white picket fence too!!!! Just the cutest. I had to take close ups so you can see the detail. It's too good to miss.

Has Spring Sprung?

I think it has! Well it has here in Phoenix anyway.

I created this project for some friends of mine to make tomorrow. I am really pleased with the way these blocks turned out. Now I want to make a few more - you know - summer, autumn, winter. Isn't that convenient that all the seasons have six letters in them? That way I can use the backs of the blocks and make them reversible, saving storage space.

Anywho, here is the photo of my spring blocks. I would love to know what you think of them.

Here are a couple of cards I've made the last few days. I've been busy working on a Spring project for my crafty ladies coming on Thursday. As soon as I finish it I will post a picture. Be sure to check back. I'll bet you will like it!

Welcome Spring!

Today is the first day of spring, so in celebration I made these two cards. I hope you like them.

Cotton Scraps

Today's challenge was to use a sticker. I picked up a few at Michael's really cheap and so I had to find something to go with it.


I chose this cotton scrap by Crafty Secrets. I cut it out with a scalloped rectangle Nestabilities die and mounted it onto Riding Hood Red card stock. I embossed the White card front with a Sizzix folder. I used Red Riding Hood taffeta ribbon and then the sticker, framed with the vanilla hodgepodge hardware. I think it looks pretty good - what do you think?

Good morning!

Here are a couple of cards I just created. Take a look!




The blue butterfly card was inspired by an ad I saw recently with this beautiful blue butterfly on it. It was really striking, so I tried to capture that with this card. I inked up the Spellbinders butterfly die with brilliant blue craft ink, cut and embossed and then used clear ep and heat embossed. The panel behind it is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. The panels are embossed with D'Vine Swirl cuttlebug embossing folder. The black butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch. I'm likin' the way the blue pops from the black.

I was visiting at my daugther's home and used her new stamps to create the rose card. I stamped the main rose with black craft and clear embossed, then masked it to stamp the other roses. I watercolored them yellow and then added the Riding Hood Red to the main image only to make it pop a bit. I mounted the roses onto black cs and cut around the stamped images, leaving a slight black border before mounting onto the Kraft. The sentiment is stamped with black craft and clear embossed and then I added just a touch of riding hood red before mounting onto the scalloped mat. In honor of my friend Wendy, I dangled the sentiment with black grosgrain, then added an organdy bow which was curled with the heat gun.

I'm thinking of giving away some of my cards on this blog. Blog/Card candy. Is anyone interested?

Happy Monday!

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by.

I woke up about 4 AM and kept trying to go back to sleep. It didn't work, so I got up about 5. I'm gonna need a nap today!

As long as I was up, I had to check out SCS for the newest challenge. It was there waiting for me, so I just had to try making a ribbon frame. Isn't it pretty? I inked up the stamp with markers and then stamped. The brown second stage is also embossed with clear ep. I distressed the edges of the white panel with my fingernail before mounting to the brown frame. The main card is embossed with a Sizzix folder my sweet friend Terri sent me! It came with four more small folders too. I'm so blessed! Thanks {{{{Terri}}}}. I am lovin' it.

I hope today starts off a great week for you! Thanks again for stopping by!

Hugs,
Karen



And, I have to show you the card I created on Saturday. I thought it turned out so cute! I took inspiration from a cute little teapot found here.

I cut the shape out using a template found on the internet, then water colored most of it and used chalk for the cheeks and ears. I used my markers to sharpen up the lines on the design, and a sharpie for the mouth and eyes. The sentiment is supposed to resemble an egg.

And where have I been?

Playing with grandkids! That's just about the only thing that gets me away from my addiction, er, I mean hobby!

Sunday I went to my grand niece's birthday party. Hey, I didn't even take a photo of the birthday girl. Oooo, I guess I'm not much of a great aunt! She's 2!

Tuesday night I got to go to my grandson's band concert. He plays drums. It was amazingly good, especially after having attended a few elementary school band concerts. lol Sorry, no photos of him either. The percussionists are in the way back and you can't even see them on the stage!

Thursday was my youngest grandson's birthday! Oh what fun! I gave him one of his gifts (a hula hoop) a few days early, and he learned to use it within minutes! Not long after that he had his and his sister's hula hoops going at the same time! He is an amazing child! He is super coordinated and smart! I told his Mom she could have sent him to kindergarten as a four year old and no one would have known he wasn't 5. lol He asked his Mom to make him Cookie Monster cupcakes, and she did a great job on them.

And last but not least, I got to see my youngest little granddaughter. She is walking all over the place now and so much fun! This photo was shot as she was enjoying her dinner of avocado and yogurt! Yum!

So, as you can see, I had a great time with the kids!

Sneak a peek!

Here is another sneak peek of a set being released by Treehouse Stamps this Friday! This set is Birthday Cupcake. I added the sprinkles on the cupcake with both the stamp included with the set and stickles. Gotta have a little bling, don't ya? I dangled the sentiment once again. It's kinda cute that way, I think.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sneak Peek!

Now why aren't these words spelled the same? The English language is so confusing sometimes.

Anyway, this is a glimpse of a new set being released by Treehouse Stamps this Friday, yikes! It's Friday the 13th!!!!!

I used the "MY MOM" set which has this lovely lily and some sweet sentiments. I stamped the flowers with black craft ink and then clear embossed before watercoloring. Don't you love that new border punch by SU!? It's so saaaaweeeet! Don't you just love the dangling sentiment? I picked that up from my friend Wendybell. It isn't exactly the way she does it, but close. It's a fun way to add a sentiment, I think. So, I hope you like this card. If you would like me to send it to you, just leave a reply and I will randomly choose a winner. That is if I get more than one comment. lol

Thanks for stopping by!

Congrats to Judy!

My friend Judy was the featured stamper on SCS today and I made this card, casing one in her gallery that I admired. The brown snowflakes is Judy's and mine is the pink one.

I will have to come back later for details.

Thanks a bunch

I created this card for the SCS Inspiration challenge.

I colored the image with my SU markers. The sentiment uses several different punches and layers them with the leaves and banana which is really popped up. Don't you like the corners being punched? It really adds an amazing amount of interest to the whole design.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Make it quick!

Dawn's challenge on SCS was to make a card in less than 30 minutes. Since I made an ATC (artist trading card) on Thursday and didn't know what else to do with it, I used it to create one of my cards for Dawn's challenge. The ATC is the small 2-1/2"X3-1/2" portion on the card. I stamped the blush blossom cardstock with the same color ink using a flower stamp. It is very subtle, but looks good. The sentiment is stamped with Ruby Red ink and mounted onto a small piece of the ruby red card stock and applied to the blush blossom card. I then punched two holes with my handy dandy crop-o-dile and added the ribbon. The gorgeous butterfly is created by reverse embossing the butterfly using a Spellbinders die called Flying Beauties. If you need info on how to do the reverse embossing, just ask. I then watercolored the butterfly, added some dots and then a bit of glue and dazzling diamonds. Butterflies gotta have glitter, right? I added a small half bead for the head. I layered my ATC onto a rectangle of ruby red cardstock which was cut with deckle edge scissors and then embossed with the swiss dots cuttlebug folder. This was all mounted onto a cameo coral card which was embossed with the cuttlebug folder divine swirls.

Fast cards are great, so I created another one. The Almost Amethyst card was created using a Cuttlebug border folder and some lovely designer paper. I added some purple rhinestones to the centers of the flowers and a sentiment with the ribbon through the center, creating the look of a button. I didn't have the right color ribbon, so once again I colored the white organdy ribbon with my marker. Perfect every time!

What do you think?

A new week

And using one of my favorite sets, Roses in Winter. Lynn's SCS challenge to day was to make a crimped envelope card. I've done these before and they really are fun.

I cut a window through the front of my envelope with a Spellbinders Nestability Label One, then lined it with vellum. I stamped the sentiment on the vellum with always artichoke craft ink and used clear embossing powder. I stamped the smaller flower images around the cut out on the outside of the envelope. The card inside is stamped with the large rose and leaves. I added one embossed piece of cs to the top of the envelope, a punched lace border and heated organdy ribbon bow. I colored the white organdy ribbon with markers.

This is also for Janette's Sweet 'n' Sassy challenge found here.

My Spellbinders Submissions

These are the projects I created for the Spellbinders Design team application. I love love love the Spellbinders dies and they really are easy to use and look terrific, don't you think?

Ring, ring, ring

So I posted yesterday at 9:05 AM - anticipation! Then look what I saw on the phone at 9:11 AM!!!!!!! My heart started pounding and I could hardly believe my eyes and then my ears as I was told I had been chosen to be on the new design team. But the final test!!!! I couldn't tell anyone until they posted it on their blog the next morning! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-gony!!!!!!! lol My dear friend Wendy called me so many times and I couldn't say a word! Ask her how well I did at keeping the secret! It was excruciating. But now - EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I made it. I am so excited and honored! Now I'm nervous - hoping I won't disappoint them! Happy day!!!!! Okay Jill, bring me the chocolate! LOL

tick tick tick

Oh the agony! I am watching the clock ticking and wondering what time Spellbinders will make the calls. The time is crawling by! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Today is the day!

Today is the day to find out if I made it onto the Spellbinders' Design Team. I'm a little nervous and just keep remembering the old adage, "Blessed are they who expect nothing for they will not be disappointed!" lol I am hoping I will be shrieking with delight, but it is out of my hands now.

Spellbinders' next contest

Spellbinders has some challenges up and they are giving away some FREE dies. I have submitted these projects - a layout, a card and an altered item. I would love to know what you think of them.

Another reject

This is another card I created for the Spellbinder's design team try. I didn't end up using it, but thought you might like to see it.

One of the rejects

Here is one of the projects I rejected. Hmmmmm. I hope I made the right decision. I had a great time dreaming (and I mean literally) of the projects.

I cut and embossed the scalloped heart into the front of the card and lined the inside with Vellum card stock which had been punched with the Martha Stewart border punch. Oooo, it's pretty! Then I stamped the sentiment in the lower right corner. The inside is lined with a beautiful designer paper and a butterfly and heart were mounted inside the card. The butterfly shows through to the front of the card.

What do you think of this one?

Where have I been?

You mean, besides thinking of my final creations for Spellbinder's Design Team? lol Well, I took a few days and went to visit my daughter, grandchildren and sister. That was fun, but still in the back of my mind was - what should I do? Actually, I created my project last week as soon as I got my supplies, but wondered if I would come up with something better. So, I've tried several but keep coming back to my first. I can't show you though, not until it is submitted anyway.

But I did get another project done which I will share with you. It fits the sketch challenge and the ways to use it challenge (stripes). Can you see the stripes on the card base? They were made on my scor pal.

I changed up the sketch challenge by making my card a gate fold. I don't have a good circle to use, so I used my heart Nestability.

The image stamp was inked with versamark and then colored with markers before stamping and clear embossing. I cut the rectangles with scalloped rectangle nesties and layered them. The butterflies are embossed with my cuttlebug textile texture folder and then punched with the MS butterfly punch. The mellow moss band across the bottom was made with the MS punch and embossed with my cuttlebug.

So, back to creating and seeing if I can come up with something better. Wish me luck!

I'm a card maker

and apparently a card hoarder. I didn't send out any Christmas cards this year, though I had made quite a few. Oh well, I thought to myself, I will get busy and send out Valentines. Now I have made several valentines, but did I get any mailed? Well, one I can think of. lol

Alas, here it is Valentine's day and I said to myself, "Self! You need a valentine for your dh!" You must understand - he is my biggest cheerleader. He has really been encouraging me lately and helping me a LOT! So, I got up this morning and made him a valentine before he woke up. I also gave him a shirt and tie I had bought on sale weeks ago, but I saved them for today. hee hee hee, aren't I sneaky? When I gave them to him, he said, "You bought me a gift?" We don't usually give each other gifts, so I really took him off guard. A while later I went out shopping and had this 50% off coupon in my purse calling to me to use it. So, I went to Michael's and bought the lace doily border punch. When I got home I showed it to dh and thanked him again and again for getting me something I wanted! And he even used a 50% off coupon, saving $. What a guy! He laughed! Well, that was a good way to get another punch, and give him credit for it. What a good wife I am. lol

Anywho, here is the card I created for him. I found this beautiful flocked paper by 7 gypsies and thought it would make a great valentine. I tried to keep it more masculine. I also used a card by Sharon (notimetostamp) as inspiration.

I stamped the love with black craft and clear embossed, then colored in the letters with my Stardust clear gelly roll pen from Treehouse stamps. Boy I love the look that gives. Sorry you can't see that very well in the photo, but in real life - mmmmmmm, so nice!

I cut and embossed the scalloped heart with my nesties. The black layer behind was cut with the deckle edge scissor. Since the red on this paper is flocked and oh so nice, I punched out three small hearts from the red flocked area and used one where the hat pin went through the heart (covering up a small tear - er, I mean, using a creative opportunity, another for the o in Love and the last one on the inside near my signature. What do you think? Is it masculine enough?

Oh, and Happy Valentine's day to all of you!

Changing it up!

For this card I tried something different and it worked. For the sentiment panel, I used the Labels One die, but changed the shape. I really didn't want a square shape, so for this one I used the shape only on the top and bottom of the panel. Hey, it worked! Then after embossing it, I used my marker to highlight the embossed area to give it a layered look without a layer. What do you think? Did I achieve it?

The image and sentiment is from a newly released set by Treehouse called butterfly kisses.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon!

Crafty Secrets Panel

Oh fun, I tackled two challenges with this card. First is the Crafty Secrets challenge. Now I love their products and I've had some of the cotton scraps for a long time. I actually found them today and used one on this card. I used a little batting behind it and did some quilting around the image, as well as stitching along the outside edge. I love the dimension it added. The other SCS challenge today was Julia's and that was to use fabric. Since these panels are fabric - ta dah! A two-fer!

The mat for the fabric panel is cut with deckle edge scissors. I layered two ribbons behind the panel. The sentiment is stamped onto white cs, and then cut and embossed with the Spellbinder's die and then I cut it out by hand on the inside. I then mounted it onto a Perfect Plum die cut and added a jewel. The bg is cuttlebugged with the textile texture folder and inked to bring out the design.

Oooo, I love lilacs. Now I need to scent it to match! Oh yeah!

Butterfly Kisses

This is a sneak peek of a new set being released by Treehouse Stamps Friday, Feb. 13. There will be a release party on Thursday night beginning at 9PM on the Treehouse site. Just click the link to the right and you will be transported over! lol

I really like this sentiment and that it is in two different fonts. Cute stuff. There are four butterflies in the set. I chose one of the largest for this card. It is stamped and clear embossed and then colored iwth marker. If you would like more details, check out my SCS gallery.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back soon!

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek of two of the new sets being released at Treehouse stamps this Friday. There will be a release party on Thursday night from 9-11 PM EST. Be sure to drop by Treehouse and check out the fun. You can click on the link to the right to get there in a hurry!

The new sets being released Friday by Treehouse Stamps are Butterfly Kisses and Count Your Blessings.

I inked the butterfly with Pink Pirouette and then sponged over the edges with the Perfect Plum. The scripture is inked with the Perfect Plum marker. I also colored the ribbon with Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, and Perfect Plum markers before heating it. I think this one qualifies as a CAS = Clean and Simple card too. What do you think?

Eeeeeeee! I can't even sleep!

I am still so excited about being in the finals for Spellbinder's design team that I couldn't sleep when I went to bed last night. Luckily the color challenge was up on SCS so I got up and created this card.

The stamp is a new one I got by Inkadinkado. I colored it with markers before stamping onto watercolor paper. I then went over it with a paintbrush to add a bit more color to the image. Then I cut it out with the Spellbinders' Label One and also embossed it. The embossed edge is colored with a paintbrush and the Pretty in Pink ink. I mounted that with dimensionals onto the card base, which is also cut with the Label One die, leaving just the top connectef for the hinge on the card. I also stamped the little rose inside the card for the finishing touch! I mounted that onto the Perfect Plum card base. I am loving my dies from Spellbinders. They are such a great bargain, as you get six sizes of each shape, they cut, emboss and you can stencil with them, and they store in the space of nothin'! If you haven't gotten any yet, you'd better get to it! They are the bomb baby, the bomb!

My darling daughter!

This is my darling daughter Wendy wearing her cute cute apron I made her for Christmas!

Oh my!!!!!

My stomach is in a knot and I can't breathe very well! I made it into the finals for the Spellbinders Design Team! OH oh OHHHHHHHH! I feel like a silly little school girl, I am soooooooooo excited! Okay, I have to take some deep breaths and relax! Ohhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm! lol

Whew!

All right, here are the projects I submitted. Now I wait for them to send me a die and make one more project and submit it. Ooooo, I wonder if I will be able to sleep at all for the next 11 days. I know I will be dreaming layouts and color combos and such! lol

Anticipation! Anticipation!!!!!!

Almost Amethyst

I really like this color of Almost Amethyst. That's why you get to see two cards made with it. I made the multi butterfly card first, and a scrap was left on my table, so I used it for the friend card.

For the large butterfly card: I used Nestabilities Flying Beauties, I die cut three butterflies from the border piece and layered it onto the white. The swiss dot border was made with the Cuttlebug Just My Type border embossing folders. The main butterfly is also cut and embossed with the Nestabilities and mounted only at the body to give it more dimension. I added the sentiment using versamark and white ep.

For the friend card: I used the Cuttlebug Stylized Flower embossing folder, cutting out a border. It worked quite well for this challenge. The sentiment is stamped with Almost Amethyst and I added a small ribbon and a butterfly which was cut with Spellbinders Flying Beauties. I added a little bit of embossing to the butterfly with my stylus. Clean and Simple, don't you think?

Oh what a fun challenge on SCS today!

Pile on the embellishments! I am usually a hoarder, but I got over it today! I really layered on some embellishments on these two cards.

On the butterfly card, I used the wrought iron punch on the white strips behind the flower and butterfly, and the cuttlebug frills folders to create the dimension on the card. Then I layered the ribbon, the flower from the pretties kit which I stamped - OH there is stamping! lol I added a ribbon knot to the center of the flower. The butterfly was created in layers by brayering the textile texture embossing folder before running the white cs through it, then cutting out the butterfly with the Nestabilities Flying beauties. I layered on the silver dome thingies, and that is it. It actually is a pretty simple card. I hope you like it!

On the black and pink card, I layered lots and lots of embellishments on this one! Let's see, my embellishment layer is: brad, paper circle cuttlebug embossed, prima, ghost flower, cuttlebug die cut and ribbon. Now if that isn't layers, I don't know what is!

The sentiment (from Treehouse Stamps) is stamped onto ww cs and cut and embossed with my Nestabilities Labels Two. I added layers by punching 1/4" dots of black cs and putting the pink brads through them in each corner.

The season of love!

Valentine's day is getting close and I am in the mood to make Valentines. This one was made for the sketch challenge on SCS today. It's a great sketch, don't you think?

For my main panel, I stamped love with real red and put the flowers from noteworthy into the V vase, coloring the stamp with markers before stamping it. It is mounted onto a scalloped square made with my Nestabilities rectangle. Did you know you can create a square with them? Coolio, eh?

I used some of the SU paper packs for the red papers. The white layer is embossed with the cuttlebug diamonds in the rough folder. I also embossed the largest panel with swiss dots and sanded it. I love the red gingham ribbon with it. Now, does it look more like a Christmas card since I chose always artichoke? Hey, it's the color of the stem for the flower. What do you think?

I'm too excited to sleep!

I decided to apply for the Spellbinder's design team, so I've been busy creating my projects and taking pictures. It was so hard to decide which projects to submit! I finally hit the send button on my application. Now I have to wait and see. I am not posting any of my projects until after I hear that I have been chosen! How's that for positive thinking?

Well, this is one of the cards that I thought of submitting, but in the end another one ended up going in. I hope I made the right decision! lol

For this one, I stamped French script on the main card which is Pretty In Pink. The heart lock is cut out with the Timeless Heritage die, using the die as a stencil, I sponged on chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossed. I sponged the edges with the chocolate chip ink and clear embossing powder. I tied a knot of the satin ribbon through opening.

The brown panel is embossed with the key. The key was cut out and reverse embossed onto the pink card stock using chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossing powder. It is mounted onto a panel cut out with the deckle edge rectangle. (This is a brand new die which my friend that is on the current design team let me use. The pink panel it is mounted on is embossed with the textile texture cuttlebug folder and then stamped with the French Script and I sponged on more color to highlight the embossing. The corner is punched with the wrought iron corner punch. I added chocolate chip satin ribbon with a metal slider.

What do you think?

Thank you Kelly Jean!

I got a blog award from my friend Kelly Jean. Go check out her wonderful blog. She is inspiring and creates such wonderful projects. And she is cute as a button too!Kelly Jean's blog
And thank you for recognizing my blog! I so appreciate it!

Here are links to seven of the blogs I like to check out!
Wendy's
Sharon's
Paula's
Leslie's
Amber's
Ann's
Kelly's

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Ooooo, the weather is so bad - well, not here, but across the midwest and east! Brrrrr! I'm so sorry for all those people without electricity! I hope they have gas heat or at least fireplaces.

Ashley Bowen (Treehouse stamps) has no electricity and isn't able to fill orders. So if you are waiting for an order, it will be delayed a bit, but she will get them out as soon as possible!

I hope you are all staying warm!

Bella Rose Dreams

Julia challenged us to add to designer paper and create a card. For this one, I used this piece of the beautiful Bella Rose paper and stamped the French Flair bg stamp with versamark and embossed with silver ep. I layered the ribbons, a silver mesh and a pink velvet. The sentiment is stamped with versamark and silver embossed before being cut and embossed with the Label 2 nestability from Spellbinders. I just got it and had to use it. It is layered onto a glittery silver cs. I added a fun corner using silver cord and a rhinestone brad from the pretties kit. I think it is a simple card but oh so nice. What do you think?

Dreaming of roses!

I looked at the sketch challenge on SCS just before going to bed and then dreamed up this creation. I really like monochromatic cards and to use it in layers just took it over the top for me.

I stamped the image on the large panel with chocolate chip craft and clear embossed, overstamping with French Script and classic ink. The edges are sponged. I made the long thin panel, using the same method. The rose bud is stamped and embossed on vellum and punched out with the scallop circle. The sentiment is embossed and sponged, and the hardware is distressed with chocolate chip craft ink.

Happy Valentine's day cupcake!

I'm back from my daughter's and so I had time to stamp this morning. I used the colors from the SCS color challenge, bravo burgundy, regal rose and kiwi kiss for this card. The stamp was colored with markers, omitting the holly on the cupcake. I watercolored the image with my watercolor wonder crayons and added stickles. Ya gotta have sparkle! The hearts are punched out and I used the bravo burgundy marker on the edges to give them definition before adding more stickles to them and layering them with dimensionals. The image is embossed and cut out with the nesties rectangle, and I also used it as a stencil, sponging on the regal rose color, which leaves the white border. I love how that looks. The regal rose is cut with the scalloped rectangle. The Bravo Burgundy layer was embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dots folder. So, what do you think?

The image is by Treehouse Stamps - Christmas Cupcake. Click on over to their site to see other fun new stuff! Lots and lots of fun new stuff!

Hmmmmm, how do you use kraft, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy? I don't usually care for blue flowers, so I tried to find a different image to use and came up with this bird. I stamped it with versamark onto the kraft cs which was cut with the top notch die, and then clear embossed it before coloring with watercolor pencils. I stamped the Itty Bitty backgrounds splatter with the Baha Breeze and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy. I stamped the sentiment onto the Baja Breeze cs with Not Quite Navy ink and cut the ovals with nesties, of course. I added the rhinestone brad and loops of silver cord before popping it up with dimensionals. The main card is embossed with the cuttlebug stylized flowers folder. How do you like these colors together? Thanks for stopping by!

Card 'o' the month!

Kristine asked me to make a card for each month as a gift for her mother. I hope she likes what I came up with. Today I figured out a fun way to package them. I really like it. I hope you do too!

These show the packaging, January and February.

Here are March, April, May, June and July!

Here are August, September, October, November and December.

BLOG CANDY

Hey, do you want to win some blog candy? I do!

Sally has a great prize she is giving away, so go check it out on her blog: http://sallyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-candy.html

Check this one out by Rach: http://papercraftsbyrach.blogspot.com/

Michelle has some: http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentine-blog-candy.html

Doris has some too! You have to hurry! http://stampingtower.blogspot.com/


Good luck!

Touch my heart

Today's challenge on SCS is to use hearts and red. I think I've accomplished that with this card and I love how it looks. I used heat embossing on the vellum layer and I love how it has a slightly transparent look to it. I inked up the stamps used on the vellum with versamark, then real red ink before stamping, and then embossed with clear ep. The layer underneath that is white card stock. Again, I inked up the stamp with versamark ink and then inked it with markers using real read for the roses and always artichoke for the greenery and heat embossed with clear ep. To distress it a bit, I stamped the splatters from Itty Bitty backgrounds in red and then went over the edges and further into the center with tea dye distress ink and then again just on the edges with real red ink. I attached the vellum layer with my atg glue gun under the ribbon and also attached it with the red heart brads in the lower corners.

I think I met the challenge to use hearts and red. What do you think?

Isn't it fun when you think of a new way to use a stamp? I did that today and it actually turned out pretty well!

I first stamped the flowers onto the white card base with versamark and Tangerine Tango and clear embossed. I stamped the stems from Both Way Blossoms onto the flowers, using my stamp-a-ma-jig, of course. I stamped the flowers again onto barely banana and tangerine tango cs and clear embossed. I punched out the stars from the stamped flowers and cut out the centers and layered on before adding a gold brad to the centers. I used itty bitty backgrounds around the main panel and onto the sentiment. The sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes and punched using nesties and then I colored the edges with sponging and blender pen with ink from the pad.

Star flowers! Yeah, that's it.

Another fun sketch

I made this card for the sketch challenge on SCS today. I was so inspired by Rox's sample. It is a beauty for sure. Well, I couldn't do anything but flowers and butterflies on my card today.

. . . and purple! I used a piece of Anna Griffin dp for the main panel. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch done in very vanilla and Elegant Eggplant, embossed with the cuttlebug swiss dot folder and glued together with the wings up a bit. I used some iridescent ice ep for the bodies of the butterflies and the center of the flower on the Love you panel - I colored it with my blender pen and markers. The very vanilla layer is embossed with the cuttlebug textile texture folder and the Lovely Lilac layers are reverse embossed with elegant eggplant ink in the cuttlebug birds and swirls folder, and then I brayered on a bit of elegant eggplant ink on the lower portion for even more dimension. I hope you like it!

Tacky glitter!

I hope my card doesn't fit the title too well. lol

I made this card for today's tacky glitter technique challenge and the Sweet N Sassy sketch challenge. I used two colors and texture of glitter. The brown is Martha Stewart's brownstone glitter and the bigger chunky glitter is Treehouse Stamps new Black Onyx chunky glitter. Boy do I love that stuff. You must try it. I also used it on the black butterfly.

The main panel is Heritage Postcard by Kathy Griffiths and Provo Craft. All the panels are embossed with the textile texture embossing folder.

The sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink and clear embossed before being sponged with Creamy Caramel and Tye Dye distress ink.

I applied glue dots and the brownstone glitter behind the black brads. I hope you can see it.

So, what do you think?

I've been busy today!

I created another card using the colors for the Sweet N Sassy color challenge, pink, white, gray, black and red.

This is a new Valentine set by Treehouse Stamps called Owlentine. I stamped them with basic gray ink and colored with Watercolor crayons and markers before cutting out and mounting on the shimmery moon and grey background (glitter cardstock) from DCWV. The shapes were cut out and embossed with nesties. I created the little ribbon cluster using a crystal brad from the SU! pretties kit.

I hope you like it!

More roses

So yesterday's card used the paper tole technique, and I used it again on these roses.

I stamped the image with basic grey ink onto the pretty in pink paper, cut and embossed the oval with nesties. I then stamped the roses again with real red ink and versamark and clear embossed before cutting out and adding to the image. I popped up the bigger rose and the smaller bud has one petal cut out and popped higher. I used glue and dazzling diamonds on the image. I stamped the sentiment from Treehouse (I've been wanting to use this since I got it. I love what it says)stamps onto the corner of the main panel and heat embossed before embossing the whole panel with the textile texture folder in my cuttlebug. In case you are having trouble reading it, it says: Life life passionately, Laugh until your belly hurts, Love unconditionally. I then sponged the edges and highlighted the embossed pattern with basic grey ink. I added some ribbons and I heated the pink taffeta to get a bit more dimension.

The bottom photo is to show you how some areas are popped up. I hope you can tell.

A few of my favorite things!

Judy challenged us to use some of our favorite things to create today. Well, that's exactly what I did. I love the Roses in Winter stamp set, my cuttlebug (especially the textile texture folder) and ribbon (especially heated organdy ribbon). For this creation I stamped my image several times onto very vanilla card stock and then overstamped it with the Fine Lace bg stamp. I then ran that layer through the cuttlebug with the textile texture folder and sponged around the edges. For the main flower, I stamped the image several times and cut it out, layering and molding each layer. I also used one of my favorite punches in the Martha Stewart line for some of the greenery. I used the mellow moss card stock and then sponged that with the always artichoke ink for a bit more dimension. The vanilla organdy ribbon was colored with my elegant eggplant marker and after tying into the bow, I heated it to make it curl (a favorite technique). It is very vintage looking, don't you think? That is another of my favorite things.

Thanks for looking! I appreciate you stopping by and leaving comments. I love to read them.

Hugs,
Karen

Happy New Year!

So, the challenge today is to use silver on a card. Well, I got these new butterfly dies and wanted to use them, and of course, I thought of this grass being embossed with silver. Oh yeah, that works. I used a bit of silver on all the butterflies too. The small ones are Martha Stewart punches and the large one is a Spellbinders die. I'm just learning how to use them, but having a great time.

I stamped the image with Pacific Point ink and then again, just barely off with the versamark and silver embossed so it has a bit of a shadow. I like how that turned out.

So, this is my theme for the year - Live With Passion! What is your theme going to be for this year?

Happy New Year!

So, you know I make lots and lots and lots of cards. Yes, I made lots and lots and lots of Christmas cards this year, but didn't get even one mailed out before Christmas! Horrors! Well, now it's too late, right? So, I am going to make some New Years cards. This is the first.

I just got some new Spellbinders die/stencil/emboss sets and I love them. This is my first try with this one called Timeless Heritage. If you want more details of how I did it and what I used, check it out in my SCS gallery at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1174001?cat=all&what=keywords&si=SC209. I'm too lazy to type it all out again today. hee hee hee

I truly do hope you all have a very very Happy New Year! Me too! I'm due for a really good one!

Hugs,
Karen

Treehouse Stamps - sneak peek!

Hi there! I am back from my wonderful Christmas holiday. We had a great time and I think everyone was happy! Isn't that fabulous?

Here is my first card since getting back. I stamped this new image from Treehouse (being released soon) with versamark and clear embossed. I highlighted two of the words in the sentiment by stamping in the Bravo Burgundy and cutting out and popping up. I also colored the heart she is holding and used stickles to really pop it out. I added the beautiful organdy ribbon bow with a pearl button for the center.

Be sure to run over to Treehouse to check out the new releases this month. If you're Irish, you will be very pleased with the other set being released in January! What a hint! lol

Prayers and good thoughts

This card is for Francesca's parents - to let them know prayers are being said for their sweet baby girl. Please check Andrea's blog for details: http://craftyengineering.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-candy-for-cause-ii.html
She is giving away blog candy for cards sent to her friends. Can you send a card and a prayer? Or just a prayer! There is power in prayers.

Merry Christmas!

Recycle and reuse!

Dawn's challenge to us today on SCS was to reuse and recyle. Well, I had made this tree some time ago, but it was in my reject pile. It had some other stuff on the top of it. Maybe that is why I didn't care for it. Anyway, I took that off and added the sentiment with the boughs behind it and the designer paper. I also added some chunky glitter called snowy slope. Isn't it pretty? It's a new addition over at Treehouse Stamps - be sure to click on over there and check out the great deals going on right now. You'll find a link several places on my blog.

Have a great weekend!

A Christmas gift for you!

Treehouse stamps is offering a great gift just for you! A 20% discount off of everything!!!! Can you believe that?

AND - ***PLACE AN ORDER BETWEEN DECEMBER 10TH AND JANUARY 1ST TO BE ENTERED TO WIN A $30.00 TREEHOUSE GIFT CERTIFICATE!***

Monday Magic!

Here is my project for today. Well, I actually did a couple of things. Should I show you both? Oh all right, you don't have to beg!

I made the wine glass vellum lamp shade by cutting the scallop edges with my good old Fiskar decorative scissors. How long has it been since you used those? Goodness, we used to use them all the time. I also embossed it with a cuttlebug folder. I love that wreath, and almost forgot I had bought it a few months ago.

The second project is using my Stampin' Up! Decor Elements. I used paint and a sponge to age this canvas before applying the lettering. The ribbon is also a Stampin' Up! product. I left it quite simple, and hung it on the purple wall in my dining room. The tree is in there too. Ooooo, I worked on that today too. I should take a photo!

I went to Salt Lake City for my aunt's funeral last Saturday, and while there visiting my cousin, she and I went to the festival of the trees! Oh my goodness, there were some awesome trees there. One I particularly loved had the nativity nestled into the tree, so I did the same when I came home. I really love it. What do you think?

Good morning!

Ahhhh, it's so nice and cool outside. I'm loving this change in the weather, without the big change of snow and ice, that is. lol The high today is supposed to be 73. Perfection!!!!!


So, here is my card for the day. I actually used some lovely wrapping paper I got at Hobby Lobby last week. It is such a nice heavy weight and has a slight glimmer to it. I attached the panels of that onto the Bravo Burgundy cardstock before running it through the cuttlebug with the snowflakes folder. The bg for the sentiment is also the Bravo Burgundy cs with a Martha Stewart punch snowflake attached before embossing it. The sentiment is stamped with versamark and then embossed with gold. I curled it a bit so it would have that nice shape. The bow is gold organdy ribbon which was heated slightly with my heat gun to get that texture. How do you like it?

Two for you!

So I got up early and started stampin!

The top card is using three neutrals. I love this look. The creations look so classy and elegant. For this one I stamped the swirls from Baroque Motifs using black craft ink onto the Sahara Sand top note shape. Now, the die for this has a perforation just inside the shape, so I just used scissors to trim using that line, and then mounted it onto the black one. I ran all that through the cuttlebug using the textile texture folder. The sentiment is stamped using the black craft and then clear embossed and cut out, embossed and mounted onto the black layer using the nesties. I backed the sentiment with just a little ribbon to set it off. This card is for my Aunt Flossie's family. She passed away yesterday. She is such a dear and will definitely be missed.

The second card is for Dar's challenge to make postcards and save some $ on postage when sending out your holiday cards. I couldn't resist participating, so I came up with this one. I love this Santa image from Stamp Francisco. I used close to cocoa ink for Santa and for the branches from the Peaceful Wishes stamp set. Then I overstamped that with the sentiment which was inked with close to cocoa craft ink and clear embossed to make it stand out just a little. I sponged more close to cocoa around the edges to give it a more vintage feel.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I got to stamp again today!

I do enjoy stamping and I took the opportunity this morning to make this little card. I used images from Treehouse stamps to create this frosty looking card. I stamped the tree image several times, using versamark, vanilla craft ink and then making sure those were dry before stamping once more with versamark and embossing with white. I sponged around the edges with versamark and white craft and then used more embossing powder for that frosty window pane look. I love how that turns out. I mounted that onto night of navy cs. The sentiment was stamped with ballet blue ink, as were the snowflakes on that layer. I mounted it onto more night of navy cs and the bottom scallop was embossed with my cuttlebug, then I cut around the scallops. Crazy, I know, but it was worth it. It wasn't very difficult. The largest blue layer was stamped minimally with the same snowflake and embossed with white ep. The whole thing is mounted onto a white card base. Now this will be an easy mail card, but I think it looks pretty good. What do you think?

New stamps are coming!

I just got some new stamps that are being released from Treehouse all the month of December. I thought I would give you a sneak peek at one of the sets today. It's called Owlentine and is obviously meant for Valentine's Day, but it worked well with today's color challenge on SCS and the sentiment is perfect for my dh (Al) pronounced Owl by the little ones. lol

SNEAK PEAK ALERT! I stamped the image with basic gray, coloring in with my Watercolor Crayons. I used the cuttlebug for the backgrounds and the break between the image and the sentiment.

How do you like my owls?

There are other things!

So, you know there are other things than cards to create, so I wanted to show you my altered clipboard. The challenge on SCS was to use chocolate. Well this paper is really a beautiful showing of chocolate, don't you think? This was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I just took the 12X12 paper and cut it to fit the front of the clipboard. Now, how do you go around that clip? I just notched out the top of the paper so it would slide right up to the clip. Then there were two bare little triangles left, so I just took a bitty scrap and glued it under my main paper there. You really can't tell when all is said and done. I used mod podge to glue my paper down and then applied a couple of layers to the top of it. The trick was finding a way to keep that clip up while it dried. I tied it open to allowe drying time. I added a beautiful ribbon bow and some punches of the same paper. Now I wish I had mod podged them too, just to make them a bit sturdier and the same sheen. Oh well - lesson learned. The problem with it now is, it is just too pretty to cover up! lol What do you think of my chocolate clipboard?

Stamping day!

Okay, so I haven't accomplished much - except for stamping today. I'm still in my pj's and I must confess, I've had a great time.

So, here are the cards I came up with.

The pick up is for a friend whose 15 year old son has been really sick and in a lot of pain for weeks. He really does need a pick up.

I loved a card on SCS by ponygirl40, so I did my interpretation of it, using stamps I have. I don't have the ones she used, but I like how my vintage postcard turned out.

And then the believe card was for the ways to use it challenge on SCS to use pearls. I wasn't sure I like the pearls added to this, but it really does help balance that big bow!

I hope you enjoy my cards today. Thanks for stopping by.

Tag!

My daughter Wendy got tagged and has now tagged me. So, if you want to get to know me a little better, read on. If not, read no further.

Four places that I go to over & over:
Church
Wal Mart (it is the closest grocery store to me. I wish I had other options.)
Allen's work (when I choose to keep the car, I have to drop him off and pick him up.)
Mesa (to see my kids and grandkids!! Oh happy day!)

Four people who E-mail/call me regularly:
Wendy
My sister Kathy
Julie N.
Allen

Four of my favorite places to eat:
Joe's Farm Grill - YUM! I love their Ahi Tuna sandwich (we are NOT talking canned tuna fish by any means!)and their sweet potato fries.
Carrabba's - The scallops are delish!
PF Chang - The spicy dishes are my favorites
Rancho De Tia Rosas - Oh man, the salmon fish tacos are exquisite! Not to mention the chips and salsa.

I just thought you might like to know what I order there.

Four places I would rather be right now:
With my kids and grandkids
Casa Rubio (with my kids and grandkids)
At a park enjoying this beautiful day (with my kids and grandkids) Do you see a trend here? lol
Eating lunch with friends

Four people I love:
Allen
Wendy (and her children) that counts as 1, right?
Ben (and his baby) same rule applies here
Jed

TV shows I watch: (when I get a chance)
Dancing with the Stars
Pushing Daisies
Good Morning America
Everybody Loves Raymond

Four people I tag:Oh gosh, these people have to have blogs, huh? And read mine! lol Uh oh.
Kelly Jean
Terri Honz (you don't have a blog, do you?)
Ashley Bowen
Vicky Gould

We will see how this goes. lol At least I did it, right Wendy?

Busy, busy, busy!

Doesn't it make you go - hmmmmmm? When you are so busy and there is no time to stamp (or whatever else you like to do) but you can't really tell what you are so busy doing? Sheesh, it feels as if my wheels are spinning, but I am not getting anywhere! lol

I did take a few minutes last night to stamp, and I created this card. It is such an easy sketch and works up so quickly. Give it a try! For this square card, I used textured paper and stamped using versamark and then embossed with irridescent ice which is so nice for that ice crystal effect.

Thanksgiving Decor

More Thanksgiving decorations

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I really love Thanksgiving and like to decorate for that more than Halloween! GASP! Yes, it is true. So, before Halloween I start putting up fall decorations - nothing really Halloween at all, and then once it is over, I pulled out the Thanksgiving decorations. I even found a few more I just love - like these Pilgrims. I put the Decor Elements on a floating frame and a few autumn leaves between the sheets of glass.
I have been wanting a small entry table, but my entry really is too small. Well, I had made this autumn wall hanging several years ago and it hung below this little shelf. Then I said to myself, Self! You can hang that shelf in the entry - so I did. I love it. It's just right for this small entry area. But now I need to get busy and make my other seasonal wall hangings. It's on the to do list.
I went to my sister's this week and she has this incredible embroidery machine, and I made this gorgeous cross-stitched kitchen towel. Isn't it awesome? I love it. It took quite a while, but nothing like it would take to do it by hand. Thanks Kathy!

The Have mercy turkey and the other wood thingy is from years past. I had to re-glue them, but they have found great places in my home.

Anyway, I hope you like my Thanksgiving decorations. I'm pleased with all of them.

Mail Friendly Thanksgiving card

I needed a mail friendly card, so I kept this one simple.

I used a scalloped oval nestie to cut the designer paper and then the wrought iron punch was done only in the center top and bottom. I connected them with my craft knife to complete the oval to frame the sentiment. That is stamped in chocolate chip. I sponged cranberry crisp ink around the edges. The inside has autumn leaves stamped inside with the sentiment, "Happy Thanksgiving". What do you think?

Watercolor paper

Watercolor paper always adds so much texture to a project. For this card, I used the top note die cut and watercolor paper. I dampened the paper before stamping the flowers. The stamp was inked with markers in four different colors before stamping. I then used black craft for the detail stamp and clear embossed that before blending the colors with a dampened paint brush. I used itty bitty backgrounds for the splatters and then a damp sponge and bravo burgundy ink to soften the edges. The black strip behind the main panel really makes it pop and then I added just a touch of the gingham ribbon. How do you like this?

Candle Boat

I put up a shelf in my entry today and I needed a candle there. Well, what's a girl to do if the candle just doesn't go? You make a candle boat for it!

I inked the leaf image with Marigold Morning and then rock n rolled in Cranberry Crisp. I stamped them onto the vellum card stock and embossed with clear embossing powder. The sentiment is stamped with chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossed. I cuttlebugged the side panels and punched through with the crop a dile and tied with ribbons. What do you think?

Oh my word! Treehouse stamps is exploding with new WONDERFUL products. I am so excited! Papers and ribbons and containers - OH MY! Be sure to keep checking the Treehouse Stamps website. There will be a big coming out party on Friday, Nov. 28th and the release will be on the 29th! You won't want to miss it.

Here is my card for today, combining the SCS sketch challenge and Ashley's blog color challenge using Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze! They look great together, don't you think? I stamped the snowman using the Baja Breeze ink and then went over some of the details with markers. I highlighted the snow with dazzling diamonds. Of course the card base is cuttlebugged. I love my cuttlebug!

November project

Here is the project you crafty ladies can make for November. The center of the turkey is a peppermint patty, sandwiched between two scalloped circles. I used an old calendar for the tail feathers on this one, but who knows what the next one will look like. Wouldn't they be great for name cards on your Thanksgiving table? Come make a few!

I'm back!!

Oh, I have had such computer problems! I lost a hard drive, but I am back, thanks to my dear son, Ben! Thanks Ben!

Here is my challenge card for today. I absolutely love this image of Santa and thought it was perfect for today's sketch.

I stamped the image with Riding Hood Red ink and distressed the edges. I mounted it onto Bravo Burgundy and then onto basic grey's figgy designer papers. The Bravo Burgundy layer also has irridescent ice snowflakes on it. I wound the ribbon around a pencil and baked it for a few minutes to get the curl, but when I opened the oven - oh what a surprise! I didn't know you could melt a pencil! Well, here's the proof.

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Halloween!!!

I just had to post a picture of my cute grands all ready for trick or treating! Oh they are precious!

Pink Chocolate Kiss

I am not so sure I like this flower done with the light pink. I guess I just prefer it in more intense colors. Not that it isn't pretty, I mean, how can you go wrong with this stamp set? I really do love it. Oh well, these were the colors we were to use for today's color challenge. I used daubers to ink up the stamp before staming it. Amazingly I used cuttlebug embossing on it. I'm not sure I can make a card without it. lol Anyway, this is what I came up with for today.

What a great day! Well, almost!

Oh what fun! I got together with Terri, Me, Barbara, TJ, Melissa, Jean and Chat for lunch and a swap. Awesome cards, but even better is the friendship. Thanks ladies! I just love getting together with you! Here is a photo of my friends at lunch! Sorry it is so out of focus!

TJ (Mel's little boy) developed a HUGE crush on Barbara's daughter, Kelsey at lunch. What a cute couple they are! Look at those TJ eyes! Mmmmmmm!

But just before I was leaving my house I got a call from my sister telling me she had broken her back! Oh my word! I couldn't believe it. The poor dear! Yikes! She was riding in a speed boat when they slammed onto the quake from another boat and bam, she broke her back in two places. She lived with it for a couple of days before going to the hospital and finding out what had happened. Oooooo, I feel so badly for her.

More blue snowflakes

So this card was made for the limited supply challenge. I masked a square and sponged blue onto the white cardstock, then embossed white snowflakes on top of that. The top layer is vellum on which I embossed an irridescent ice snowflake. The dp is one of SU's from last year I believe. I really like that paper, and it was perfect for this challenge. I attached the vellum using eyelets, and I had to do it the old fashioned way, as I loaned my crop a dile to a friend. Wouldn't you know I would need it for this. I added the stitched ribbon as well as the taffeta ribbon to this one. I like the combination.

I love snowflakes, but only on paper! lol I don't enjoy living in the snow and ice, but cards made with these beautiful snowflake images work for me! I used the Snow Swirled stamp set with Bashful Blue classic and craft ink. I heat embossed with white to give it a frosty look around the edges. The ribbons are blue taffeta and white organdy together. I like how that looks, do you?

Have a great Wednesday!

You can't go wrong

with Pink, White and Black, can you? I love this color combo and had such fun making this card. I really cased a great card by Susie B.

The right side of the card was embossed with my cuttlebug floral fantasy folder and then I used my dauber with chalk to enhance the design. The flowers on the left are also a cuttlebug folder with metallic dots added to the centers. The whole card is mounted onto the black cs and the black and white gingham used to tie the stems together.

How do you like this look?

Fun technique

Today's technique challenge was this fun fold called stair step. That is what it looks like when you have it horizontal, or it can be a vertical card and then it is more of an accordian fold. So fun.

When I looked at the samples, I immediately thought of a tiered/layered cake, so I made a birthday card. I used pale plum card stock and then added perfect plum scalloped icing. That was a fun look, then I thought of these fun silver thingamajigs that Terri sent me for my birthday. Thanks Terri! I added them to the scallops. Then I thought that back layer needed a bit of somethin', so I used one of the cuttlebug folders on it. Oh yeah, that looks like some nice icing detail, don't you think? I cut a slit in that top fold to add the candles which are just strips of cs run through my cuttlebug. I then used one of the petals from the old SU daisy punch as each flame with a little yellow stickles added to that. Oh, I like that look. What do you think?

For the Wedding Cake, I used the cuttlebug to add dimension to the layers, then used the taffeta and organdy ribbon and added layers of the flowers from the pretties kit with a clear rhinestone brad for the center. I stamped the love and embossed it before punching it out with an oval punch and then mounted it onto an embossed scalloped oval. There is plenty of room to write a message for the happy couple.

So, what do you think of today's creations?

The weekend is coming!

Are you looking forward to the weekend? I am. I get to go to my daughter's house and play "Stamping Bunco". Oh, that is going to be fun. I am generally the biggest loser, but even the loser goes away with a prize, so . . . even I can't lose! I'm really looking forward to it. And as long as I'm there, I get to see my grandkids too! I love those kiddos and miss them so much, even though I'm only 60 miles away I don't get to see them as often as I like. Hugs and kisses, coming your way kids!

So, this is my card for today's challenge: ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! Hee hee, isn't that fun? Lol. Judy challenged us to limit our supplies today to scissors - which can be a straight cutter or decorative edge scissors only. Okay, I used the decorative scissors. I hadn't used these in a very very long time. Paper - any paper at all, including decorative paper. I used a bit of the decorative paper. And ROCK - was to be hardware or anything with bling. Okay, I may have stretched this one a bit using diamond dust on the liquid applique, but diamonds are rocks and of course diamond dust is just ground up rocks! Right? And I used the diamond (oooo, that's good too) brads in the corners.

This image is a new one released today from Treehouse stamps. Isn't he cute? I colored him with my watercolor crayons. I love those things. Even I can color with them and make it look pretty good. Oh yeah, I love success. lol So, this is it for today.

Have a great weekend! I will!

Another Christmas card ready to mail

This time of year I find myself making a Christmas card here and there and then use those to send out to friends and family. This year is no exception. In fact, I have a little gift bag I throw all of them into so I can be ready when it comes time to mail them. This one will be added to the stash.

This is a sketch challenge on SCS. I wanted the sentiment to be the main focus for this card, so stamped it onto the real red cs with versamark and embossed with white. I also added a little touch of dazzling diamonds. I used the ticket corner punch on all the corners before adding the white dot border with my signo gel pen. I added the red heart brads and poopped it up. The white layer is stamped with the sprig from Peaceful Wishes and white embossed, again adding some dazzling diamonds for a bit of shimmer before cutting with the nestie rectangle. The red layer is embossed with the cuttlebug folder, Textile Texture. That may be my favorite/go to folder. It is so versatile and lovely. I also used the ticket corner on that layer and added the white heart brads. btw, thanks to Judy for those brads! Hmmmm, I wonder how many Christmas cards I have now. I'll have to count.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Another look at those colors

So, I just couldn't quit with the color challenge colors and made one more card. Look at what a difference when you use more of the one color! This time the emphasis is on the Kiwi Kiss color. It's perfect for Halloween. I seem to make a lot of Halloween cards. Maybe I should actually send them to folks! Yeah, that's it - I'm actually going to send them to people.

Anywho, I just love this little witch hat stamp by Treehouse. I stamped it with black craft ink and clear embossed, then went in with my craft knife and punch to cut out all those holes. I also stamped the image onto the Tangerine Tango cs and used dazzling diamonds on the holes so that would show through the green hat. The large spider is part of the Creepy Crawly image, but the little web and spider are a $1 Michael's stamp. They were also stamped with black craft ink, and clear embossed with just a hint of dazzling diamonds added to give it that web glisten. So, is it creepy?

Warm fall colors

Well cards are the only place I will be seeing fall colors around here! These colors were the color challenge on SCS this week, but I didn't really want to do a fall card specifically. In fact, this is a birthday card for a friend. Oh all right, a late birthday card for a friend if you must know. Oh well, it just keeps the celebration going! Right?

I love this stamp set. I have used this lovely flower for so many different cards and with so many color combinations. It is always just right. Don't you just love those butterflies!

A card presentation

The mini pizza box was so fun to make I had to try another. I changed the measurements so that regular sized cards and envelopes will fit into this one. Now to make the cards to go inside.

I used one of Treehouse stamps designs as the main element, using Handsome Hunter craft ink and clear embossing. I then sponged the color around it to make it seem to glow. Do you see the glow? lol It was cut out using a scalloped oval nestie before popping up with dimensionals. I added dimension on the other layers with cuttlebug embossing folders, of course, and then a little glitter around the edges of the main panel and on the star atop the tree with stickles. It looks like an old fashioned Christmas to me. What do you think?

Frankie, you blockhead!

Oh what fun this little project is. Why? Cuz it's easy peasy! This is a mini pizza box and the perfect shape for a Frankie, don't you think?

I used circle punches to create the eyes and nose and a black marker for the stitched mouth and scar. Oh so cute.

I created the screws by using the round tab punch, cutting out a notch for the screwdriver and running it through the crimper for the threads.

You may need to make a few of these for your favorite trick or treaters.

Pink & Red Rose

This card was created as a CASE (copy and steal everything) from Love Stampin!!!!!!!! 's gallery on SCS.

I just love my Roses in Winter stamp set and looked forward to using it again. I used watercolor paper which changes the look. I inked the stamp with pink pirouette ink and then rock and rolled it in riding hood red ink before stamping. I masked that and then used my overlooked background stamps, cheesecloth and weathered using creamy caramel, kiwi kiss and always artichoke inks. I then sponged the edges with the greens too. The main image is mounted on riding hood red card stock before being placed onto the pink pirouette card front. That was embossed with the Just my Type cuttlebug folder and then the beautiful pink taffeta ribbon was added. The sentiment is stamped with riding hood red ink.

What do you think of my rose?

Frankie box and card!

Aren't these guys just too cute? Is cute a good thing for a monster? lol Well, I had such fun making these, I thought you might like to make them too! If you would like to make them at my craft night October 9th, 16th or 23rd, just let me know ASAP. The card is 40 cents and the box is 35 cents. Give me a call, or email me if you would like me to prepare kits for you.

Happy Saturday!

Awwww, a nice, quiet weekend! I love it. And the weather is cooling a bit - FINALLY! I'm so relieved. It's been a long, hot summer.

So today I needed a gift card holder for a niece that is getting married next weekend. Sharon has a gorgeous one posted on her blog - http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/category/gift-card-holders/ I just love Sharon's style and this design is easy to duplicate and oh so nice.

I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs and then ran it through my cuttlebug with the birds & swirls folder. Oh so nice, don't you think? I used the elegant eggplant, as that is the color used on the wedding invitation. Of course the Paradise Bakery gift card will be replaced, but it's what I had on hand. How do you like this one?

NO, NO, NO, PUT THAT DOWN!

hee hee hee, this was the title of today's challenge on SCS. You know you say that to children all the time. So today's challenge was to simplify - NO embellishments at all. Now that should be easy, but . . . somtimes it's difficult not to add all those beauties we have lurking in the cupboards and drawers! lol

So here is my card for the challenge. The card base is very vanilla and stamped with French Script with Riding Hood Red ink. I then sponged on more riding hood red and a little creamy caramel. I then stamped the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled set with versamark and embossed with copper again. Ooooo, pretty!

For the tree, I used versamark to stamp the tree and embossed it with Copper embossing powder. That really looks nice on that red. I then cut it out and mounted it onto scalloped rectangles made with my nesties. The sentiment is also using the nesties, and I did paper pierce around the edges for even more detail, since we couldn't add ribbon or any other fun embellishments.

I hope you like it and I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Beautiful Christmas!

I hope today's card redeems me after the last fiasco! Yikes!

I really love beautiful Christmas sentiments, and this new one from Treehouse Stamps is a definite favorite. I wanted that to be the main focus of my card, so I stamped it on the inside and used my nesties to cut and frame it on the outside of the card. I used rose red, whisper white and always artichoke card stock. I stamped and embossed the sentiment and little holly sprig. For the bow, I layered satin ribbon and organdy which was heated. I just love the look that gives to organdy ribbon. Ooooo, maybe I should have used some of my pretties kit on this as well. Hmmm, I may add a bit to it. This is definitely a hand deliver type of card. I would hate to mail it with this bow. So, what do you think?

Cooking? It's not really my thing anymore.

So now that there are just two of us at home (okay, so I'm making excuses) cooking is just not that much fun for me. We go out to eat a lot, and it's pretty expensive. So, I thought I would try to cut the costs a bit, going to a local place where you make your dinner entrees and freeze them. My daughter had gone to this one and thought they were very good. Okay, I'll give it a try. $156 for 12 dinners for 2-3 people.

So last Saturday my daughter and I went and prepared our meals. Now I have a tiny freezer, so I only brought home a few of mine and left the others in my daughter's freezer.

Sunday evening I cooked our first one - Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas. I made some Spanish Rice to go with them and heated them according to the directions. Well, I don't really like red enchilada sauce all that much, so I am not crazy about this one. My dh said he prefers my old sour cream chicken enchiladas, but of course they are way way unhealthier than this recipe. We ate only half of them and saved the other two for another day. Now when we eat them I will warm up some green enchilada sauce and add that. I'm sure I will like it more.

Last night we had a guest for dinner and I made the Balsamic honey glazed pork medallions. It is a very easy recipe and it smelled oh so good. I also made some oven roasted red potatoes and a salad. There was plenty for the three of us and I even had left overs for my lunch today. I think I over cooked the pork just a bit, but it was really good and I will enjoy having this one again!

I really love having a quick dinner ready to make. This is a great idea and is really pretty economical for the two of us. It was fun putting them together with my daughter. It really was easy, as everything you need is right there, all chopped, cubed or whatever and ready to assemble. As MS would say, "It's a good thing." lol

OH NO!

Well, this wasn't what I had pictured in my mind at all, and I'm not sure it's even a good result. I'm still mulling this one over. lol Maybe I should have stopped back a step or two.

So, for the snowman panel, I stamped him with white craft ink. I stamped him again onto the ruby red paper and cut out the hat, scarf and carrot nose and glued that on. Okay, that looks good. So, I punch out the buttons out of the brown and glue them on. Okay, not bad. Well, the white snowman just didn't show up all that well. Hmmm, what to do? I know, I'll go over the lines with my white gel pen. A little better, but still not so hot. So, knowing it still needed something, I punched out the snow flake and backed it with white to show up. Hmmm, too symetrical, it doesn't look good. So, why not run it through the cuttlebug with the snowflakes folder. I rather liked that, it was definitely better. Well, we can't leave well enough alone, so I used my glue pen and added flocking to the snowman. Sorry you can't see that step, but that is exactly why it wasn't so great! So, I came back and added liquid applique. Mmmmmm, I don't know. So I used my trusty glue pen to add sticky and throw on some dazzling diamonds. That has to help, right? Well, actually it did! I'm liking it better. I know it's not my greatest creation, but it is finished. I promise I am not going to do another thing to this one. Oh yeah, I glued the snowflake I punched out to the inside and glittered it up. I like that a lot. Well, if you've read through all this you're a brave soul. Thanks for stopping by. lol Have a great day!

Happy Fall with a little Breeze

This card is for the SCS color challenge: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze.

I used markers to put the three colors onto the sentiment and onto the small leaves (by Treehouse) before stamping, mounted it onto the chocolate chip cs and then onto the scalloped square photo corners in Baja Breeze. I popped that up onto the really rust cuttlebugged card front and the organdy ribbon (heated slightly). That is mounted onto a Baja Breeze card which is mounted onto the chocolate chip backer. I thought it needed something more, so I embossed one more pumpkin and cut it out and popped it up on the corner of the sentiment.

What do you think of these colors together?

Don't forget to visit Treehouse stamps and take advantage of the 10% off! Just use the promo code FallFun!!!!!!!

Moo-ey Christmas!

The challenge on SCS for the limited supply challenge was to use an animal and make a holiday card. Well, this cow seemed perfect to me, so I added a little hat and here you go! She makes me laugh anyway. All stamps are from Treehouse and you'd better head on over to their website. They are running a 10% off special on all orders from now until October 5th. Don't miss it!

I made the card for the limited supply challenge, and the only embellishment allowed was ribbon. So, after I posted it on SCS I added some more bling, just for fun - liquid applique to the hat, and red stickles to the tree and the gifts and around the sentiment. I'm posting both photos. Which do you like best?

Olivia the Snow Owl

So, today's SCS challenge was to use a charm on your card. Well, do I have any charms? I thought and thought and couldn't think of any, but them I went through some drawers and found a few, but nothing terrific. Then I thought of all my old jewelry. Surely there must be something in there, and sure enough, there was! I found this little charm bracelet that came with a DVD my dh bought and the Christmas cardinal was perfect. Oooops, I think I called it something else when I posted it on SCS. lol Oh well, eventually the right words come to my mind.

So, this is Olivia the owl from Treehouse stamps. I wanted to make her all white since she is a snow owl. Aren't those beautiful birds? I stamped and embossed her with white ep twice, cutting out the wings and popping them up. I then stamped the eyes with black craft ink and clear embossed before cutting them out and popping them up too. I love the "LOOK" she has now. I overlayed the stamped scarf she is wearing with the red gingham ribbon. I mounted her onto this scalloped oval of a basic grey paper, being sure it looks like she is perched on a branch of the paper. See, I even curled her little toes so she wouldn't fall off! lol The card base is embossed with the cuttlebug snowflake folder, and the sentiment is embossed and cut out with my nestabilities.

BWC and SC

Oooo, a combo card here. This is to meet [url=http://www.ashleyscreativecorner.com/] Ashley's blog brain wave challenge [/url] and for Rox's sketch challenge on SCS.

What do you think of this. I used clear embossing powder and stickles for shine and dimension. I am very happy with the look of this card. It has a very vintage feel to it, don't you think? If you want more details, you can check it out in my SCS gallery.

And here is the inside of the card. I love the new sentiments that Treehouse is releasing for the inside of cards. They are really lovely. Be sure to check them out.

Alzheimer Caregiver Thanks

So today's card was made using the cc from SCS, but also to fit with Cammie's challenge found on her blog here: http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/ Check it out. She has an amazing BLOG CANDY give away! WOW!

I stamped the flower from Eastern Blooms and used the butterfly trail from Flight of the Butterfly as the stem. I like how that works, and that sentiment is perfect for an Alzheimer caregiver, don't you think? It says: One person can make such a difference and that person is you. I stacked some scalloped squares to pop the main panel up and then used a cuttlbug border folder on the card base. I added a Martha Stewart punched butterfly, which I added depth to by sponging on some color on the edges of the wings and a blender pen to add it to the body.

What do you think?

Happy Friday!

Things are getting better, hour by hour and day by day. I'm so grateful. My dh is doing better and feeling better and I am coping better too! What a relief!

Today's SCS challenge was a white out and this is the card I came up with. It is using a new Treehouse stamp from the set Christmas Favorites. I love this flower and think it will make some lovely, lovely cards.

I stamped the flower with black craft ink and clear embossed three times, cutting two images out and layering them with dimensionals. I added the red stickles to the center, and of course the three red ribbons on the side. The sentiment is stamped with red and clear embossed also.

I hope you like it. I hope you have a great day, filled with love and joy!

Hugs,
Karen

It's been too long!

No wonder I've been stressed. I haven't stamped for more than a week. Well, today I took the time to stamp. So what if I had to get up earlier to make it happen. lol

So I made this card for two challenges, the SCS ways to use it challenge, incorporating silhouettes, and Sharon/Tammy's challenge to make a warm and cozy/stamped simply card. I think it fits both categories. What do you think?

Now I need to get busy using my new Treehouse stamps. I just got a load of new ones and they are soooooo cute! Check back to see what I create with them.

What a Monday!

Yikes, it's been a long, tough day. My dh had an out patient procedure on Friday and was soooooo uncomfortable (in great pain) all weekend long. He called his Dr. this morning and they said to go to the ER for an x-ray, so we did. Of course we both thought it would take maybe two hours and we would be home and he would feel better. NOPE! They informed us he had a perforated bowel and would need immediate emergency surgery. Oh my word, we never expected that! So, here it is - midnight and I am finally home and he is resting in the ICU. He wasn't breathing really well, so they wanted to keep a close eye on him all night. I think now he is there I can rest easier myself. Well, I'm going to try and get some rest. I may not post anything for a few days. We appreciate any and all prayers in his behalf. His name is Allen. Thanks!

Oh such fun!

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