Love

Here is another card from my Box of Unsent Cards.  I think when I made it, I intended it to be an anniversary card.  What was I thinking?  If I don't remember send Birthday cards, what makes me think I'm going to send Anniversary cards?  Yeesh!  Anyway, it's still a great card and the whole layout makes me smile.  Again, the pictures are crummy, but I think you can still get the idea.

The torn edge with the contrast behind makes me smile.  I also like the way the word LOVE is scratched upward along the side.

This was one of the first time I used Bazzil paper.  I have been hooked ever since.  I stamped the rectagle background first in a brown slightly darker than the paper, then colored the flowers with markers and stamped it on top of the rectangle.

Yep, even with the bad picture color, this card is a keeper.  (Apparently literally)

Bouquet of Gratefulness

This size card, with the rounded corners on one side has become a favorite for me.  It makes super cute cards very quickly.  I have used this stem and flower stamp numerous times.  I love the shading you get from a two-step flower.

You can never have enough Thank You cards, in my opinion.  And this one is like sending along a sweet bouquet of flowers tied up with a little string.

Paisley Wishes

This is one of my favorite cards; that's probably why it's still in my box, I can't bear to send it off!  I love the simple colors and the clean lines.  The pictures are terrible and do not do it justice.  What can I say?  I'm just getting this photography thing figured out and these were taken before I even STARTED trying to figure it out.

I think the simple little sentiment, wish, says it all.

With a photo on my blog, maybe I'll send the card out now.  Who will be the lucky Birthday Girl?

Happy Birthday Good Friend

I dug into my card box and found some cards that bring back sweet memories of stamping with friends.  Someday, I will get to stamp and play again, in the meantime, I will look back at what I've done with fond remembrance and share some pictures with you.

I'm pretty sure I cased this card from a stamping magazine, but it was quite a ways back and I have no idea where I found it.  If it's yours, let me know and I'll be sure to give you credit!  I love the three little flowers nestled together in the corner with the antique brads. 

I think a Good Friend would love to get this card on their Big Day!

Branching Out

I saw a card similar to this in the back of a stamp catalog, I think it was Stampin' Up!, but I'm not sure.  I just had to try it out.  This card is an odd size, it's a bit larger than the usual 4 1/2" x 5 to accomidate the size of the tree trunk and the circles.  

I used various sizes of circle punches on different papers I pulled out of my scrap bags.  It took me a bit of shifting things around until I had a layout that I liked.

From there, I pulled out my brads, buttons and other embellishments.  The white velvet bird is {PERFECT} perched on the branch.

I used a ribbon instead of paper across the bottom and a Sharpie Fine Point Marker to outline the white layer.  My friend Lark was with me when I made this card and conned me into making another one for her ;).  Now I need to make one more to keep so I can send this one out.

It's All in the Details

Those 5 little words say so much about how I think!  Making this card was SO fun!  I haven't spent time on cards like this in a long time.  When I saw this set in the Stampin' Up! catalog, I just HAD to have it.  This is the only card I've made with it so far, but I've used bits and pieces on other projects. 

The paper clip tied with a snippet of ribbon is so whimisical!  I keep borrowing the Notebook border punch from my sister-in-law, I think I'm going to need to get my own soon.

This is BY-FAR, one of my favorite cards that I've created in the last year or so.

A Quiet Joy...

I love to watercolor when I am stamping.  The Aqua-Painters from Stampin' Up! make it super easy and mess free.  This simple stamp set is such fun to color.   I was very pleased with how the card turned out.  I wonder if I'll ever mail it...

A Stamping Pear

Last October, I drove my mom to Washington for her birthday.  I left all five of my kiddos at home with my AMAZING hubby and we spent a glorious 9 days with my sister.  While I was there, I got to spend a WONDERFUL afternoon with my friend Shalyn, stamping.  I have talked about Shay in a few of my earlier posts.  We had such a wonderful time.  In addition to palying with paper, we chatted and ate and she taught me to make REALLY yummy White Mochas at home.  I didn't have any of my own stamp paraphanalia with me, so I had the chance to stretch my imaginantion and play with all of HER fun stuff.  

This is the first  (and my FAVORITE) of the two cards I was able to create that day.  I love PEARS.  Not to eat...blech...but to STAMP.  Aren't the cozy and friendly looking?

I love the colors on this card.  The golden yellow and that deep red just make me feel like Autumn.  I didn't have a brown waterproof stamp pad with me, so I just used a regular one.  It bled a little on one of the pears, but I fixed it with a brown pen.  I think it turned out pretty good.

The little bronze hanger is from the Hodge Podge set from Stampin' Up!.  I have never had a chance to use these before; I may have to add these to my wish list.

This is the second card (REMEMBER: you can click on the image to see it larger).  It's actually the FIRST card I made that day.  I really llike the paper, but am not in love with the over-all card.

 

I was going for that really rustic grunge look...I'm not convinced that this card pulled it off.  Something about the checkered ribbon is a bit too country.  I also thought I was being clever by tying the bits of twine to the ribbon, but when I look at the card, it makes me think of stitches.  I don't HATE the card, it's just not my favorite. 

I do love ALL of my fond memories from that October Journey with my Mama.  I think it's about time for another road trip!

Stay tuned...I plan on posting more of my cards throughout the next few days.

Happy stamping!

Crafting Weekend 2010

Surprisingly, I got invited to spend another weekend this year crafting in Hagerman with my new crafty girlfriends.  This year I got to sit next to someone new and loved every minute of it.  Gwennie is aDorabledaze's newest follower, "Welcome, Gwennie!  Make yourself at home."  Her real name is actually Jennifer, but somehow she got the nickname Gwennie and that's what we called her all weekend, so that is how I think of her.  She is not only a fellow crafter, but a fellow blogger as well.  Take a minute and check out Gwennie's blog, but don't forget to come back!


As I said, I got my first taste of Bella and PRISMACOLOR last year, and renewed it this year.  I didn't make as many cards this year because I spent the first part of the weekend working on Christmas gifts.  Now, don't get excited, I'm not an over-achiever, these were gifts from LAST YEAR that I still needed to finish.  See, I AM a loser!  Luckily, my family (whom the gifts were for) still loves me.  The pictures of the scrapbook will be yet another post.  See, I may have FINISHED said Christmas gifts, but I have YET to mail them.  Can't have you seeing them BEFORE they see them, right?  This post will be filled, once again with my love, adoration and longing for PRISMACOLOR markers, and more pictures of cute cards.

When I was creating this card, I had my friend Shalyn in mind.  She was the friend that was with me when I had my first taste of stamping.  We have spent hours together at my dining room table, bent over, crafting our hearts out.  She lives in Washington now, and I miss her dearly. 

If there is one thing other than crafting that makes me think of Shay, it's coffee!  I so wish she and I could sit down for a cup and a chat!

Look at the great color on her dress!  I'm telling you, these markers are NOT your mother's crayola markers , baby!  I whole heartedly believe that EVERY artist should begin buying these if they haven't already.  And look at the background paper, isn't it fun?  It's from a set that my mom got me for Christmas from Costco.

Pink, orange and blue are some colors that I NEVER thought I would use, but how cute are they?  I'm in love with them.  It has NOTHING to do with the Boise State Bronco colors of orange and blue.

This next card is another line from the same website as the Bella stamps.  It's probably not one I would have picked up by myself, but during the weekend, Kathryn (who I also loved meeting) used it to make some of the cutest cards.  I wasn't the only one who was struck by this little Pipi Longstocking like girl, many of us took turns stamping out pages to bring home with us.  It didn't matter what color combo you used she was too adorable to pass up.

I find that because I don't get to stamp as often as I used to, my cards have become much simpler with less technique.  It seemed to me, that all my cards were beginning to look the same and while they were still cute, nothing wowed me about them.  For this card, I challenged myself to dig deep and dust off my imagination. 

The ribbon here, looks like I pulled it up through the button, but we all know I'm much too lazy to mess with that.  I just tied a knot and glued it to the top of the button.  Super cute, no?  (Thanks, Nej for letting me peek through your ideas!)

I crumpled and inked the background paper to give it a more grunge feel, I think it fits in well with the little girls funky hair and patched pants.  I also used my paper piercer to poke holes in a pattern across the bottom of the paper.  This turned out to be my favorite card of the weekend.

The weekend was, again, filled with much laughter, tons of delish food, and very little sleep.  It was as fun as last year!  I look forward to next year, if I get invited back!

Go.  Create something!

Original Intent

It's been a while and my oldest daughter has been nagging me to post something new, as apparently she is bored by what's been up. When she turned 16, she also turned very bossy. It's OK; I think she gets it from her mother. I have lots of things to blog about and they are all swirling around and making a mess in my head. Let's hope that I can get them cleaned up and into a few interesting posts before they all flitter away.


One of the main reasons I wanted to do a blog was to share my favorite hobby with you. I love to stamp! I got hooked on it when I was 16 and a dear, dear friend and I stopped at a little kiosk and the kind lady there showed us how to heat emboss. We were hooked and bought our first stamp that day-it was a carousel horse-along with a tub of bronze embossing powder that we would heat up over a burner in our kitchen. We've come a long way baby!


I still play with paper and ink as often as possible, though not as much as I would like.  Last year another dear friend of mine, who also shares my obsession with paper and all things crafty, invited me on a Ladies Crafting Weekend where I got to meet 14 other amazing crafting maniacs, just like me. We laughed, we ate and we stayed up late. We even did some crafting. I thought I was pretty up on what's happening in the paper, marker, stamp world, but these ladies showed me a few things. Two things I fell in love with--PRISMACOLOR Markers and Bella Stamps! I had the chance to play with them both for an entire weekend.


Here are a few cards I created last year using Prisma Markers and the adorable Bella Stamps. Not too shabby for my first attempt!

The markers give rich color and blend beautifully!  You also don't get the stroke marks like you do with other markers.  It's a little hard to see in this photo, but I took my Stardust Glitter Pen and added some accents to the mirror.  Love the Stardust Glitter Pen!

I love the color combination on this card.  This card makes me want to steal one of my daughters retro-bikes and go for a summer ride.  Thankfully it's too cold for that kind of nonsense right now.  Is it wrong to be jealous of stamp's hair?

Again, with the Stardust Glitter Pen on Bella's cool, green bike!

Here's a confession; I actually made this card for a new friend who takes FABULOUS photos, but I never mailed it.  What can I say?  I'm a card horder. 

I generally never write my own sentament on a card, my handwriting has it's ups and downs, but this one turned out pretty cute and it was exactly what I wanted to say.  Maybe someday I'll put it in the mail.  Maybe not, but you still make me smile, Jenn!

The next card isn't a Bella, it's a stamp I bought for something like $2 just because I loved the cute birdie.  This was the first time I used it also and I did use the PRISMACOLOR markers on it and it was from the weekend last year, so it fits in with this post as well.

Well, now that's irritating.  The picture is the right direction on my computer, so why not here?  I will have to look into that, but you get the idea, right?

Can't get enough of that glitter pen.  The kids put two more in my Christmas stocking last year!  They know what Mama likes.  I also love the look of that gathered up, wrinkled ribbon, but let me tell you, it's kind of a lot of work to get it glued down like that.  maybe there is a trick I don't know about.

All in all, I was very much in envy of both the stamps and the markers.  I left the retreat last year, determined to begin purchasing at least the markers.  I never did and then began to wonder if they were really as wonderful as I first imagined.  Well, I got invited back again this year and returned home even more determined than ever to begin my collection.  The cute cards I made with them this year?  That will have to be another post.

Happy crafting, friends!