"Recent" cards...

Things have been somewhat busy for me lately and I have been a "slacker" at posting. Right now my camera needs batteries so I am posting some recent (defined as anything since the last time ) cards that I haven't posted here yet. These happen to be from the Dirty Dozen Challenges on SCS. I actually got every one of the challenges done that week!




If you would like to see the details for these cards, just click on the "see my art at SCS" picture in the right column. All the details are there.

New Background Color

Well, I finally got fed up enough with the background color I had...definitely time to change it! I had to play with the hex colors (googled the codes, just like I do for everything else I want to know something about!) a lot to find the color I wanted but I liked this one. So what do you think?

Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday Challenge 10

Cindy posted a really cute little teapot, maybe I should say TINY teapot, for her Teapot Tuesday Challenge today. Visit her blog to see this week's challenge. I decided to use the colors in her teapot and tray to make my card. I also did some scoring on the front of the card and on the image. The image and sentiment are popping pastels in Pixie Pink and Garden Green. Paper is white (of course!) and Pixie Pink.

Ice Cream Scoops...a convention 08 special...

When Lynda posted her kodak gallery with the sample boards from convention, there was this ADORABLE ice cream cone. Well, I just HAD to figure out how to do those scoops. So I did some playing around this morning. We may find out later that there is an easier/better/different way to do these, but this is what I figured out...

First you punch out a piece of post-it with the glue, or, as I did, a piece of cardstock circle. Use the 1-3/8 inch punch and put some removable double-stick tape on the back. Make sure it is removable tape!!!

Then put that circle on a piece of cardstock for your ice cream scoop.

Punch with the scallop circle punch. Make sure your circle is centered in the punch. (I apologize for the blurry picture here, but I think you get the idea)

Here is where a steady hand is needed. Your scallop punch has 14 scallops. You want to cut 7 of them off, following the outside edge of the circle. You'll need to cut in from the edge, between two scallops, then cut along the edge of the circle until you have removed the 7 scallops, then back out to the edge.



Voila! An ice cream scoop!

Make three of these, decorate them with versamarked polkadots and stack them up on top of a cone, or in a dish, or as scoops on some banana, add a cherry or two...
How do you like your ice cream?

Color Throwdown Challenge

A wonderful Monday morning to everyone!

I just found this site today! Check it out if you really love doing color challenges. It is just starting up, with new challenges each Wednesday...so the current colors are:
Pretty in Pink
Sage Shadow
Regal Rose
I will post a card here and in my SCS gallery...when I get one made...LOL!

Demonstrating Stamping at the County Fair

I got the call about demonstrating rubber stamping at our county fair again this year. I did it a last year and the only difficult thing was getting my stuff in to the exhibition hall in a reasonable number of trips! I had fun, talked to a bunch of people, did NOT do any hands on, but had a LOT of samples for folks to look at. This year a friend will be joining me for part of the time, and I think I will be making cards for challenges. In fact I may challenge my friend, on the spot, as well. Make it fun for both of us. I'll let you know how it turns out. It's in just 3 weeks.

Saturday Sampler March Block

Here is the March block for my Saturday Sampler Quilt. It is limited in its colors, so it was a bit more of a challenge.

I think I have figured out why I really don't like my quilt squares on my blog...the background of the pages is definitely NOT complementary to these squares. I'll just have to live with it for a time.

My dad's card

I realized I never posted my card that I did for my dad for father's day. I used the KK Originals chili pepper only this time it is done by coloring the stamp with Watercolor Crayons, misting with water then stamping.

Paper: Kraft, Ruby Red, White, Certainly Celery
Ink: Ruby Red, Old Olive
Watercolor Crayons: Assorted Reds and Greens from SU Watercolor Wonder Crayons
Stamps: KK Originals, SU Itty Bitty BG and Wonderful Wishes.
I also did some sponging on the white with Ruby Red and on the Celery with Old Olive.
He loved it!

Saturday Sampler February Block

Thought I had better post another block from my Saturday Sampler Quilt.

I like this block a whole lot better.

I found the block I want to use to replace my January block with. It is called "Bird's Nest". But I think I'll wait until the last month of blocks (September, I think) so that I can use my September fabric in two blocks. So you will have to wait to see what it looks like! Sorry!

Prismacolor matches for SU In Colors....

How about my 'wild' and 'off the cuff' estimates (ala JanTInk) as to which colors might match the new 2008-2009 In Colors? Anybody interested?



Here's what I think. Please be forewarned that I am working with MY printer's interpretations of what MY monitor had on it from SOMEBODY's camera took a picture of. (Hmmmm...what does that say about my guesses???) Oh well, it is STILL just a guess!

Pink Pirouette...I'll send everyone hunting for another discontinued color...1014 Deco Pink
Riding Hood Red...hard choice but I'll try...923 Scarlet Lake or 924 Crimson Red
Tangerine Tango...921 Pale Vermillion or 1001 Salmon Pink (pink???)
Kiwi Kiss...1005 Limepeel (will this be a darker shade of River Rock?)
Baja Breeze...1087 Powder Blue or 1023 Cloud Blue
Pacific Point...1100 China Blue

So, we'll see how I came out when I get my paper!

Just an FYI...Here is the thread at SCS that has the Prismacolor-SU matches:

Sisterhood 19!

I am now "official"! Part of Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers Group 19, that is. So welcome to my sisters, and I am looking forward to visiting you all regularly. I have already made the rounds once this morning, but I really NEED to get busy on some chores. So I had best sign out and get busy!

Bright Baby Card

This is a card I made a while back, but didn't get to post it yet. I was messing around with some scraps of "stuff" I had hanging around...this is a piece of unused OSW that begged to be used. I also had an extra "baby girl" from my daughter's baby announcements. "Eureka! They both used Cameo Coral! Wonder if I can use them together?!" So, with the addition of some patterned paper this is the result. I kinda like it!
You can see the deets in my SCS gallery here.

Rubbernecker Blogger Challenge RBC14

Was browsing my favorite blogs and picked up the Rubbernecker Challenge for this week on Jeanne's Inky Paws blog. Here is the post for the challenge...check it out...it was a bunch of fun this morning!
I love black and white...but this challenge was with a "pop of color"...and you need to use either a Rubbernecker, KK Originals, or Jeanne Streiff collection stamp. At least they do if you want to be eligible for the monthly prize!
Here is my card.

I used:
KK Originals chili pepper 49-14 Southwest Spice...
Black and white paper
Cuttlebug Swiss dots folder
Double stitched ribbon
SU Craft ink in Real Red and Green Galore
Clear embossing powder
SCS sketch challenge SC164

The Saturday Sampler Quilt--January Square

The Fig Leaf, one of our local quilt shops, has a Saturday quilt club called the Saturday Sampler. It costs $10 to join and the quilt you make has 9 larger squares. Each month you make one square from the provided pattern and fat quarter (plus any other fabrics you may desire) and bring it to the next meeting. The kicker is that if you finish your block and come to the club meeting, you get the next fat quarter free. If not...oops! you pay for your fat quarter! Keeps you quilting!
While the patterns are the same for everyone (I'd guess about 120 are doing the club) we had three color combinations to choose from. The first was the colors of the sample quilt, in rose and sage colors. The second was fabrics for Christmas. The third was called Tulip Nouveau after the fabric line from Northcott fabrics, and this is what I chose to work with. The focus fabric is a large tulip pattern fabric in reds, yellow, green, and black. I chose extra fabrics in those colors with a background in white-on-white.
I didn't join until later, but I got my January square done just in time for February. This is it:

I'm not absolutely loving this square. By the time I finish them all I am thinking I will replace this square with a different pattern. The rest of the squares are more "star" or "pinwheel" shape patterns.
Have a great day!

Inspiration Challenges

I seem to like the inspiration challenges...get my creative juices flowing a bit more than some of the others. So, here are a few from the last few days. This first one is SCS inspiration challenge 117...details on the card are in my SCS gallery.



This next card is for SCS inspiration challenge 107...again the details on this card are in my SCS gallery.



My last one for today is for Beate's inspiration challenge 17...see my gallery for the details.

Tour of my "Workshop"

I thought you might like to see where I work. This picture is of the cabinet and shelves that has all my stamping and scrapbooking 'stuff' in them. The shelves have paper, art supplies, layout books, quilting books and patterns, knitting books, sewing books, and some of my genealogy books. On top of the cabinet are some bins that have things to alter and all my oldie stuffed animals are on top of the bookcases. I have all my dolls (from when I was a kid, as well as my mother's and grandmother's dolls) on shelves on the other side of the room. Alas, even since I took these pictures, I cleaned up and rearranged the shelves just a bit!

This is the lower section of my cabinet. I just made the new shelf unit because I was tired of the 'mess'. I keep paper in full sheets and half sheets on the shelf, along with some larger card/envelope sets. On top I have my templates, extra grid paper, and my Scor-Pal that I *just* got. I LOVE it! In the drawers are ribbon, hardware, reinkers, etc...stuff I don't have at hand all the time.

This drawer worktable is also in the lower section of my cabinet. Since I took the picture I added a whole lot of punches! Now they are along the 'back' of the table and the small ones are in a basket.

This is the upper section of the cabinet. I have corkboard on the doors and some metal strips to hold magnetic baskets. I think I need a few more! Yes, there are really 72 drawers in here...I bought the Sterilite 3 drawer units and tossed the plastic thingy the drawers came in. I had a friend build the cabinet especially for those drawers. All my stamp sets, stamp pads, heatgun, EP, tools, brads'n'stuff, sponges, quarter-sheet and smaller paper, etc are all here, believe it or not!

This is a closeup of some of the drawers. I stamped the images and reduced to 25% and placed them all on the front of the drawer. Works as an index of sorts.

And this is what the inside of one of those drawers looks like. My sets are all unmounted. I have stamped the images on a card, put the name sticker on the card, and put the rubber (on EZMount) on the back of the card, behind the image. I haven't yet unmounted the wheels. I think I plan to, though.

This is what the lowest drawers are like. Bottom row holds tools. Next up is paper, then stamp pads and prismacolors, then embellishments and sponges.

This is a paper drawer. In the front are all quarter sheets. I try to keep the paper colors together. In back are scraps. This drawer looks pretty neat right now!

I didn't include pictures of the insides of my other drawers or of the drawers with neutrals but they're similar to what I have here. It is a comfortable place to work...when it is clean! (it doesn't look like these pictures today, though!)
Enjoy!

Taking time...

I am realizing that if I want to do this right, I will have to "make the time" for what I really want to do. I am definitely not a journaler, and I have a 'learning difference' that makes it difficult for me to get what is in my head down on paper...or in the case of this blog...on the computer screen. But I will have to JUST DO IT! as the saying goes.

I quit my job to be available to my kids...being a grandma...and that is what I am doing. It gives me lots less hours in the day to do other things, but it is oh, so rewarding. I love my little ones...Owen and Eden, Emerson, and Danika and Maeilyn. They are little miracles! And the oldest just turned three...the youngest is three months old! Three came in just 4 months!

I'm doing a sampler quilt class/club right now. The quilt has 9 large squares, all different. We had a choice of three different color themes: Christmas, rose/green, or a black/red tulip design. I chose the last one...and am having fun with it! It is TOTALLY out of my comfort zone for colors. I'll post some pictures of my squares in a couple of days (hopefully)!

I made a collection of cards this morning. I have decided I prefer the clean and simple style. I like looking at the complex ones, and I make a lot of them, but I think I like the simple look better. My hubby does, for sure! Here are some of them. I apologize for the dark pics...will use a bit more light next time.



This card has no layers! The stamp set is Time Well Spent, from Stampin' Up. Stamped with Basic Black and colored with watercolor pencils and an aquapainter. It is for SCS Inspiration Challenge #68.



This is one of the graduation cards that I made for all the guy grads at church. The girls got the Swiss dots CB folder instead. Simple, but elegant. The stamp is from Hero Arts, and the mortarboard is from a package I got in the scrapbooking section at WalMart.

Thanks for visiting today!

Inspiration everywhere!

Yesterday at church I was sitting behind my daughter's childhood friend and her family. Beth had on a cute blouse that just begged to be inspiration for a card! It said, "Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip" to me, and I could not resist trying out the combination in a card today. Here is what I came up with...



Have a great week!


See details in my SCS gallery post

I'm in over my head!!

Greetings to everyone who made it this far!

I decided to take the plunge and start a blog. Don't ask me why...probably because I thought it would be fun. You really don't want to know the frustration it took to get to this point though!

I don't plan to limit myself to what I include here. You may find some cards and some scrapbooking, some quilts, maybe some books I'm reading...even family, faith, and friends.

Stay tuned!