Flowers for You

This card is for my friend Jenifer J. We are both January girls. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Stampin Up! The bottom scallop is a Martha Stewart border punch. The center is made from photo corners which I joined together to make a square and the center flower is actually a sticker. Very simple card but I am just lucky to be doing cards right now so I am trying to get back into the swing of things. Jewelry making has taken over at this point but I am still trying to keep up with my cards. So hopefully I will have some better ones coming up soon. Happy New Year Everybody.

The Same But Different?

Here is another card which is the same but with different background and different ornament. Easy Peasy... but I just had to post something. It has been a super duper long time since I have done anything to this regard. I hope everyone is gearing up for the holidays and I hope more than anything that you don't let the hustle and bustle take over the real meaning of Christmas. It's not about finding the right present and wrapping it to perfection with a fancy bow. Remember that Jesus truly is the reason for the season and please take time to celebrate His birthday by acknowledging Him throughout this season. My God bless you and yours and may you have a blessed year in 2009.

Can It Be? Really Me?

Hey look! I did remember how to post to my blog. Ok so it's a cheesey card but hey I did one. I embossed the flap of the envelope with my Cuttlebug Snowflake template and highlighted with gold ink. The ornament on the card is actually a 3-D sticker from Michaels but they are soooo pretty. Anyway I didn't really do much here but I at least made a card and maybe will get back into it a little more. I have a new hobby of making jewelry and so all of my time has been devoted to that. I will post some pics of that as soon as I get some good ones. I have found that the jewelry brings in more money than the cards and me being poor.....well.... I have to do what brings in the most money. Dig it?

The Birthday Couple!

Ok so here's a funny story! Here is Bo and Tanya! Their birthdays are like 4 days apart. I'm mean Pullleeese give a poor gal a break! Ok so this was actually to celebrate Bo's birthday and what he is holding up is the gift I bought him. It is a bicycle chain and a bike license plate . So here's the funny story. I have asked Bo for about 3 years if he would fix my bike chain and of course he has no recollection of any of this. According to him nobody has ever mentioned a bike chain to him. So this is the drama that we have been going through for quite some time so, of course, I have to bring it up every chance I get so for his birthday I got him a bicycle chain for my bike so he would fix it.......ha ha hee hee belly laugh. Ok so maybe you have to know all of our weird senses of humor or maybe you just had to be there but it was funny I'm tellin' ya. So maybe, just maybe I'll get my bike fixed so I can get my large white asterick on it and lose some weight that I have steadily put on. I must have gotten a memo in my sleep one night about the world going to quit making sweets or something cuz I have been going crazy like a spider monkey jacked up on mountain dew. It's crazy....but I am going to stop and start eating better....ok? Do you hear me? I am! I swear! Soon! I'm going to start soon! No really! I am! Really guys!

Happy Birthday Dork!

Ha ha ha ha ha! I made this card for my BFF's husband Bo. He has a red truck and he is a dork so this was perfect. LOL just kidding you know I love you BoBo! I colored the truck with my Prismas and blended with Gamsol. I added Glossy Accents to the window and mirrors to try to make them look like glass. I put Dew Drops on the tail lights for dimension. I love this stamp and this is the first time I have used it because it is new. It is great for a guy card though don't ya think? Those are always a challenge for me.

Stamp: Printworks; Paper: Paper Studio; Inks: Black Memories Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, Dew Drops, Glossy Accents

Happy Birthday To My BFF!

This is the card that I made for Tanya for her birthday this year. I stamped the bow with light pink ink and then stamped over it with a plaid stamp with a darker shade of pink. Then I outlined the bow with Cotton Candy Stickles. This kissing technique works better on a solid stamp and this bow stamp isn't exactly totally solid. You get more of the design with a solid stamp. I still like how this one turned out though. Happy Birthday BFF!

Where O Where Have I Been?

Well I went on vacation to Louisville, KY and Cincinnati, OH and have been hot and lazy ever since I got back. You know Texas summers aren't really that much fun when you are as white and hot natured as me. I mean I sweat just walking to my car in the mornings....no lie. We had a great time and got to spend time with family and friends. Get this.....my best friend moved off in 8th grade and she now lives like 9 miles from my Aunt Marlene. How cool is that? Check out some vacation pics and I will have some cards to post soon I hope.

This is my friend Kyla and her large family. Tom, Kyla, (her mom and dad), Donna, Tommy, Abigail, Thomas, Samuel, and Henry. They were a handful but were sooo much fun. Kyla is a great little mommy. This is her dad's restaurant and it is very very yummy. He had to introduce everyone up there to beef BBQ. They were all used to Pork. Very very good.

Me and the Big Boy at Frisches. So the trip was basically centered around all of the old places that I remembered and loved to eat as a kid. We moved from Cincinnati to Texas when I was in 4th grade. Can't beat a big boy and a vanilla coke. Mmmmmmm Mmmmmmm.

Again.....I love to eat as you will notice my size in the pics. This is the famous Cincinnati chili at Skyline. I had a 4 way. Spaghetti, beans, chili, cheese. Of course and a chili cheese coney. OMG AWESOME. Totally AWESOME.

Here is my mom and Aunt Marlene (my Dad's sister) with their bibs on at Skyline.....hee hee It can get very messy but Oh so worth it.

Her is my cousin Steph and her gang. Yes she has 4 kids also. Me, Steph, Dad, Mom, Morgan, Megan, McKenzie, and Matt. OK that might be Megan and then Morgan....I don't know they're twins so who can actually tell? ha I suggested a tatoo of their name on their forehead but it was a no go...LOL

Here are my other cousins Larry, Debbie, Kathy, and me. Uh they're crazy but it was great seeing them. It has been a long long time. We had lots of fun! We laughed and cut up the whole time. Trouble makers is what they are....hee hee

I got to see the Reds play. "Thank you Daddy." I love baseball. We got to see Patrick Henry's Home Makeover Edition House and Band Field. Saw Papa Murphy's big ole house. We toured by our old living places in Amelia, Ohio. We went to the Louisville Slugger museum. We went and ate at Claudia Sanders restaurant. That is the Colonel's wife's place. It was really nice. Of course we ate and ate and ate really really well. It was a very pleasant trip and was great to catch up with family and friends.

Watch for some cards coming soon!

Birthday Boy

Finally! I have been trying to upload for a week and evidently blogger was having issues or my end was having issues or something. I tried every day at different times and nothing would upload. Oh well now it has. This is a card I made for a guy birthday. The orange background paper is from K1 & Co and not sure about the retro one. They both came from Hobby Lobby though. The Happy Birthday to you is a stamp from Penny Black and I matted it and mounted it with pop dots. The Dew Drops are clear. Very simple card but colors work for a guy and not too fufuey. I'm going to be going on vacation next week so not sure if I'm going to have time to upload any more cards before I go but I should have some ready when I get back. Happy Day!

Just-A-Chalkin' And A Pouncin'

I'm baaaccckkk. Been a few days since I have posted a card so I thought I would play around with the SCS Technique Challenge this week which was chalk pouncing. I have to say I love my chalks and have used them in several different ways but never by pouncing. I was using the pearlescent chalks which are very light so you had to pounce a lot. I pounced the whole background first and then stamped the flower with Marvy Matchables Grey Ink. I thought since the chalk was so pastel that I would need the image to be a little bolder but black would be too much. After I stamped the image I went back over the flower with my chalks to darken it and highlight it more. The actual image is a little shimmery because of the chalks but it doesn't show in the pic. Overall I am pleased with the results but I think if I do this again I would use my regular chalks which are a lot brighter.

Size: 6x6; Stamps: Printworks, Cornish Heritage Farms; Ink: Marvy Grey, Marvy Markers; Paper: Doodlebug Designs; Accessories: Ribbon, Brads, Chalks

I Love Me Some Rascal!!!

My BFF and I went to Dallas this past weekend to go see Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift opened for them. She was really good too. She's just so stinkin' cute and sweet.

As you can tell we had really awesome seats!

The only thing was it was outside and well it gets very hot and humid in Texas. I'm a wimp so I was sweating from head to toe. Other than that though it was awesome. They always put on a really good show and did I say that I love them? I'm not one of those crazy acting a fool people when celebrities come out and all of that but I gotta tell ya I come pretty close with Rascal. I think if I ever got to talk to them I would probably be one of those screaming, crying, passing out chicks....LOL just kidding but ya never know. My BFF took 205 pictures so she's probably considered a border line stalker or something..hee hee but we had a blast. It was a great weekend. Now I guess I should make a card or something.

She Sells Seashells By The Seashore

HA now you know every one of you are going to be saying that over and over in your head. Can you actually say it 5 times really fast? LOL. I made this card for my Aunt JoAnn who lives in South Carolina. She loves seashells and has some very pretty ones around her house...or she used to. This is actually a new stamp line that I got recently from Impression Obsession and have been wanting to play with it. I stamped the seashells in Gray Marvy Ink and colored with chalks to give it a soft muted look. I have to tell you what I stamped them on and you are going to laugh but hey that's what crafty people do right? Try to be creative? I didn't have any smooth beige paper so I used the back of my checkbook. Yep go pull it out and see the back is a little thicker paper and it was beige so rather than throwing it away I stamped my shells on it....hee hee I popped them up with pop dots onto the brown paper. The striped paper is from K1 & Co. then I added the gray dew drops to help blend and tie in the gray in the shells. I hope she likes it even though I am late in getting it sent out. Happy Birthday Aunt JoAnn! I love you! Happy weekend everybody....I'm going to Dallas to watch Rascal Flatts in concert....love love love them...Hopefully I'll have some cool pics to share next week.

One More Fab Flower

Ok just one more Fab Flower and I promise I will find another stamp to use. It's just that while I had it out playing, I figured I might as well try several different colors and ways to see which one I liked the best. Know what I mean? I colored this one with Marvy markers and spritzed with water. I colored the tips yellow and then filled in the rest with red. After I stamped the image I went around the yellow with a gold gel pen to highlight but it doesn't really show up well in the pic. So it gave it a little sparkly touch. The red background paper is from Daisy D's and the stamp of course if Fabulous Flowers from Stampin' Up! I added the Prima flower with a black brad to bring out a touch more of black and also fill in the blank space. I attached the large flowere with a yellow brad in the middle. Thanks for looking!

Playin' Around

Well this fits the SC181 challenge for this week. I actually had the main image done for a couple of weeks but couldn't figure out how to mount it on a card so when I saw this sketch I knew it would be perfect. I started out with a white piece of cardstock and stamped the baby's breath in white ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Because the paper and ink were white it made the flowers white. If you were to use white ink on colored paper and clear EP you would just get a darker shade of the color. I didn't have any white emobssing powder so I had to improvise and as you can see this worked just fine. Anyway after I embossed the flowers I began inking my background with Tim Holt's Distress Inks. I started out with Peeled Paint, then added some Pine Needles, and Tea Dye. I stamped the dots with Walnut Stain. Then I stamped the fancy smancy thingy in the top right corner and added white dots with a gel pen. The ribbon is a result of me fixing a boo boo. Then for the separate piece on the left I stamped my sentiment and then added the dots with Walnut Stain and white gel pen. Then added more Peeled Paint with a sponge. Added the arrow brads for filler and mounted it on the brown background paper. I was actually just playing around but like how it ended up for the most part and I hope you do too.

Stamps: Cornish Heritage Farms, Printworks, Penny Black; Paper: Sweetwater; Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Peeled Paint, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain, Pine Needles, Black Memories, White Versa Ink; Accessories: Gel Pen, Ribbon, Arrow Brads

Binkies, Bracelets, & Bows!

What could be sweeter than binkies, bracelets, & bows? I made this card for one my friends that had a boy......needless to say she never got the card. It's a long story but the whole time she was pregnant I thought she was having a girl so I'm out buying cutesy little dresses and obviously making a pink card and then my BFF calls to tell me that our friend had a boy. You can imagine my surprise. The whole time she was pregnant my BFF kept saying that she wanted it to be a little girl and I thought she said it was for sure a little girl...anyway jokes on me. Of course they thought it was hilarious but when I was out at the last minute scrounging around for a boy gift it wasn't too funny. Actually it was. Don't know the company name of the paper but got it at Hobby Lobby. The Baby Shoe stamp is one that one of my friends gave me a long time ago. Anyway next person who has a girl gets the card I guess....LOL

Greatest Dad of All Time

Well finally here is my Dad's Father's Day card. I was pushing the time limit on this one a little bit. He actually gets more excited about the card than the present. Normally because I usually write a poem. Ok back to the actual card. I stamped the diamond background first and then stamped the clock over it. I decided to ink the edges only after a big blob of brown ink got on the bottom of the clock (and as you know every "mess up" is an embellishment opportunity of some sort). So I ended up inking up the rest of it to match and then inked the edges. Voila the mishap is taken care of with no one the wiser. hee hee. I actually cut the darker green square first so I could properly place the other clock stamp on the sides. The two little clocks up at the top are from Spare Parts that I had left over from another project. I also added some green ink to the sentiment to tone down the white. This was also this week's sketch challenge at SCS.

Size: 5 x 7; Stamps: Stamp Camp, Cornish Heritage Farms; Ink: Memories Soft Leaf; Tim Holtz Walnut Stain, Tea Dye; Paper: My Mind's Eye; Accessories: Buttons, Spare Parts Clock Faces

Always Fabulous

Here is another Fabulous Flower. I stamped the flower with white ink on the blue paper and then clear embossed. I outlined it with my white gel pen to make it stand out more. I really wanted a white flower with a pop of blue showing in between but I don't have any white embossing powder and can't find any locally so I had to improvise. I matted my designer paper on black and then mounted the flower on the black square and added the white brad in the center. Pretty simple card but I just love this Fabulous Flower stamp set. It is sooo fun. Hope you are having a great day. We are having storms here.

Size: A2; Stamps: SU! Fabulous Flowers, Misc; Ink: White Versa Fine, Black Marvy Marker; Accessories: Brad, White Gel Pen, Clear EP

Inspiration Challenge

This is my first time to do the Inspiration Challenge at SCS. They give you the inspiration based on a room, dress, purse, bedspread, painting, ( you get it) and then you make a card using the colors, images, design or whatever strikes you. It's pretty neat but this is the first one that I have actually gotten any inspiration out of. It is a beautiful room as you can see below. Anyway this is what I came up with and I hope you like it.

SCS Challenge 179

This was another challenge from Splitcoast. I colored my stamp with markers and then spritzed with water. Then I inked the whole flower with versa mark and embossed with clear EP. I cut the flower out 3 times and layered with pop dots for dimension.

Size: A2; Stamps: Fabulous Flowers SU, Curvy Verses SU; Ink: Black Memories, Versa Mark, Marvy Markers; Embellishments: Ribbon, Buttons, Pop Dots.

Get Well Soon Trooper

Ok so you're gonna think I'm crazy and the truth is.....I really am! I made this card for Trooper. Who is Trooper you ask? One of my BFF's dogs. Yep that's right I made a card for a dog. CUCKOO! The funnier part is that he goes to the mailbox with her and brings the mail back in his mouth. Yeah. So he gets to bring his own card in from the MB. You can't say mailbox outloud because he goes crazy. Anway he is the calmest lab you will ever see (he's a mama's boy) LOL and he loves going to the mailbox. He had to have a little surgery on his leg and now has an infection in his face. So poor little fella just isn't felling good. When Troop isn't following his mommy around the house you know he doesn't feel good. So I made this card for him from (the even crazier part) my dog Boscoe. The things you do when you live a boring single life. My BFF will think it's funny and her husband will shake his head and say I'm a dork. Deep down he knows who the real dork is....bahhaaaaa

Here is a pic of the whole tag insert. Isn't this like the cutest dog ever? I colored him with Prismacolors.

Here is the spoiled rotten Trooper. Isn't he sweet? I'm telling you he is the ultimate lab. Get better soon Troop!

Little Last Sheep

Ok so here is my little last sheep. I promise I won't post anymore for "ewe" to see for a while. hee hee. I'm not real fond of how this turned out as far as the red sheep goes but it will have to do. This was another sketch challenge which really helps a brain delayed girl like me out. I was going for black and white with a pop of red but didn't get any warm fuzzies when I was finished. Anyway the sketch again is below:

Told you I've been busy playing with all of Lisa's stamps that she is letting me borrow.......I'm havin' a ball just-a-inkin' and-a-stampin'.

More Sheep

I did this one for the Splitcoast sketch challenge. I just love these little sheep. This one is pretty much self explanatory by looking at it. We have a phrase at our local stamp store that we say "if you can't figure it out by looking at it then ya don't need to be stamping". It was one of those in the class moments and now that's the new coined phrase. Anyway one more sheep to post and then I will lay off the ewe word plays.

Following is the sketch thanks to Julia showing me how to add these.

Happy almost Friday day!

Here's Two Ewe

Baaaa Haaaaa! Don't you just love a good play on words? Ok well maybe it's just me. Look at how busy I've been playing with Lisa's stamps.....thanks again Lisa. See story below if you don't know about the stamps. Anyway I just had to use this sheep stamp and I saw plaid sheep for some reason. What can I say I'm a city girl. I thought they printed out pretty good though on the plaid. I originally went around the card with my white marker but it didn't stand out enough so I added the Stickles over it. I made the scallop with my corner rounder. You have to have one that the paper guide is removable in order to do this. Then I punched holes in the center of each scallop..... and voila City Sheep are born.

Size: A2; Stamps: (Lisa's ha) Annette Allen Watkins; Ink: Black Memories; Accessories: Corner Punch, Felt Flower, Stickles, Shiny Sticky Things?, Paper Piercer

Butterfly Note

Love the colors in this card. The paper actually came from a set that someone gave me for something not too long ago. I stamped the butterflies on the striped paper and then used the circles for the background. I cased this from the Featured Stamper from last week. You take a card from her gallery and then case it putting your own twist on it because you know you can't copy it exactly. That's like Stamper's Faux Paus or something. Anyway the card that I cased from her is here. This is one that I started late and of course couldn't go to bed until I finished it. Yawn! I put Dew Drops in the center of the butterflies which you can't see very well. Then also added them out beside the sentiment. I added Cotton Candy Stickles to the butterflies as well to give them some sparkle. Maybe one day I'll become a better photographer and be able to capture that sparkle a little better. The card size is actually 3 1/2 x 7 1/2. It started out as 4 x 8 but I took the matte off and just used the circle paper and so I wasn't going to waste the piece I had already cut. Anyway I am pleased how this turned out and have been wanting to do a butterfly card for a while. Hope you like it too.

Size: 31/2 x 7 1/2; Stamps: Stampin Up!, $1 bin Michaels; Ink: Black Memories; Paper: K1 Memories; Accessories: Dew Drops, Stickles

Greatest Dad

Nudder Father's Day card and once again no I don't have 3 dads. I haven't even started on my dad's yet. The DAD is actually prettier in real life because it is embossed in gold and the shimmer lost something in the photo. Greatest was printed out on the computer and then I went around the edges with my Gold Leaf Pen. The rest is pretty much self explanatory. This is my last one for the shop so now I can try to get my Dad's done.

Size: A6; Stamps: Darcy's; Ink: Versa Mark; Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, Brads, Word Punch, Gold Leaf Pen

Father

Well we are having storms today but thankfully not like Iowa had yesterday. My heart and prayers go out to everyone that was caught in those tornadoes yesterday. This has been a very stormy season for us here so far. I don't like them at all. Of course neither does my wimpy dog. Well here is another Father's Day Card. Love the colors in this card. The blues and browns look really masculine. You can't see it very well in the pic but there is brown ribbon separating the two background papers. Didn't want to make it prissy so I didn't tie a bow, I just put a strip of ribbon to separate the two papers. The paper is from The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby of course 50% off) The circles at the top were put there in place of brads for a challenge over on splitcoast. Of course as you see I still snuck some brads in...I couldn't resist. Well hope your day after a holiday is going well. Thank you to all of the veterans out there and to all of the men and woman in our military who have fought and are currently fighting for our freedom. You are truly heroes in my eyes. All of you! Thank you not only for what you do but also for what you are willing to do!

Go Fish Dad

Here is one of the Father's Day cards that I am doing for the shop I have my cards in. These are some more of the freebie stamps that I am getting to play with. I stamped the lures onto the circles and added the white dots with gel pen. Then attached them with pop dots. I stamped the fishy on white paper and then inked with yellow ochre and green. Added the dots with my navy marker. Stamped the Dad sentiment on the plaid paper and added the Gold Dew Drops. I haven't figured out what sentiment I am going to put on the inside yet so I will have to finish that up. Hope to have all of my other Father's Day cards finished by Monday. Have a great and safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Graduation Money Holder

outside view

inside view

OK so I have to tell you this story because it is sooo cute. My friend's son Joe (who are like family to me) is graduating from high school this year. Can't believe it. But I have to tell this story on him. When he was 5 he took me out on a date. He bought me a corsage and everything and we even had our picture taken in front of the TV which is where every date couple got their picture taken before they left. Anyway his mom drilled him and drilled him and told him how to be a gentleman and open my door and order for me at the restaurant (sure can't find any of that these days) anyway and her last instructions were "whatever you do Joe DON'T TAKE HER TO MCDONALDS." So with Joe in the backseat (hee hee) and me in the front we are off to dinner so I ask Joe where he wants to go eat and he says "DaDonalds" and I said "Joe don't you want to go to Red Lobster" (which he loved) and he said "no I wanna go to DaDonalds" So this went on with about every restaurant in town and guess where we went? To DaDonalds. His mom couldn't believe it! Then we went to Toys R Us and bought him a bow and arrow which he later got taken away because he was shooting it at his little sister. Oops. Now my little JoeJoe is going to be heading off to college. They grow up fast don't they? He is a wonderful young man with great morals and character and I am so proud of him. Precious memories...O how they linger. I love ya Joe and I wish you the best! Thank you for the best date I've ever had!

More Grapes

When I was "stomping/stamping grapes" I did several but rather than cutting this one out in an oval I just framed the image. The felt flower is something I picked up around Easter at Hobby Lobby. They were in a package of about 12 or so and of course on sale because I buy nothing unless it is on sale. My Uncle Bub would be proud of that. Hey Uncle Bub...love ya! These flowers are really cute and add dimension to your cards. Hope you like this one too. I'm really having fun playing with all of these free stamps.....weeeeeeeee

Tooty Fruity!

Look at me. I'm playing with the stamps that I posted below that my new friend Lisa is letting me borrow. Whewhoo! Go ME! Ok anyway thought I would "stamp out some grapes"...ha get it? Ok so maybe I'm a little fruity today but hey it's a holiday weekend so I'm entitled. I colored the stamp with Marvy Markers and then spritzed with water for muted watercolor look. I chalked around the oval to tone down the white. The sentiment is embossed with Bridal EP and I added the lines around the edges and ribbon to fill in the blanks.

Stamps: Rubber Stampede; Inks: Versa Mark, Marvy Markers; Accessories: White Gel Pen, Ribbon, EP

Doggie Days of Summer

Here is another card I did with white ink on dark paper. I did this one a while back. This is called the pencil over technique. You stamp your image in white ink on dark paper. Then you color with Prismas coloring over the outlined image. Hence the name pencil over. This gives it that highlighted, neon look. Pretty neat look huh? My favorite card with this technique can be found here. Love it. Anyway it's a different look than the norm- black ink on white paper. Hope you like. Give it a try!

God Is, And All Is Well.

How awesome is that statement...Pretty much sums it up for me! Wish I could remember that more often when I am in a frantic worrisome state. Anyway I saw a card over on Splitcoast in hbrown's gallery where she had done this technique and so I had to play too. You can see the sparkle better in her pic. I have had this stamp for a while and never used it so I thought I would break it in, ink it up and get it dirty. You stamp your image on dark paper with white ink. Then I put stickles on the leaves which you can't see in this pic but they are all sparkly. I love stickles. Really dresses up and pops things out. Very easy and fast card and you know that's what I'm all about.