A Twisted TLC

I didn't twist it - the hostess did.

Our technique today was Paper Tole - which is generally done with flowers and making them 3 dimensional. Our assignment was to do the Paper Tole, but no flowers. Add dimension to other stamps.

I immediately thought of the animals from MFT - especially the lion. The lion was stamped on white cardstock 3 times. I colored the pieces I wanted from each image with Prismacolor pencils and cut them out. The mane and face are attached with dimensionals.

I tore pieces of Certainly Celery cardstock to create grass so the lion wasn't floating in space. I chose Blue Bayou and Soft Sky because they worked well with the Certainly Celery and the colors of the lion popped against the Blue Bayou.

I used my Coluzzle to cut the ovals and ticket corner punch on the edges.

I smeared the Stickles in the top corners. There is also Stickles on some of the flower centers in the DP.

I'm honestly impressed with my bow. I can't tie bows worth beans. It's actually tied free of the paper - I glued it on, so I had more play with it while making it.
Stamps: MFT - It's a Jungle Out There. Paper: Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Blue Bayou (cs and dp), white. Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black. Accessories: Stickles, Coluzzle, Prismacolor Pencils, ticket corner punch, dimensionals.

It's a stormy day here today - thundering, pouring rain and all. Not very fun, kinda gloomy. Here's hoping for sun shining on the rest of you!

Life's marching on

I'm so grateful for the weekends. Time relax and take life a little slower than the rest of the week.

And it's a great time to look for wedding presents for one of my college roommates. I really hope she and her husband like what I found and ordered today.

I've mentioned that I have an addiction to ink pads when they're on sale, right? Guess who picked up a new black ink pad? Yep. Me. Not that I didn't have 3 already - SU Basic Black (hate the thing - can't seem to get rid of it), Stazon Jet Black (dried up - threw it away when I got home), Versafine Black Onyx (doesn't dry well on SU's vanilla and white cardstocks). So added into the collection is: Brilliance Graphite Black. We'll see how this turns out.

Today I took the time to do Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge. I changed it up a little - mostly because I sketched it from what I thought I had seen. The card's 5.25" square.
Stamps: MFT - It's a Jungle out There, Stamping Bella - sentiment. Paper: Rose Red, Old Olive, Taken with Teal, Bali Breeze, white. Ink: Rose Red, Brilliance Graphite Black. Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, ribbon, big eyelets, dimensionals.

When I was a Walmart earlier this week, I picked up 2 black picture frames for $3 each. It wasn't a bad price and I wanted to see what I could do with them, altering-wise. So dug out my Foil, Glitter, Flock kit from We R Memory Keepers that I found at my LSS awhile ago and started playing.

This kit's really interesting because it's rub-ons in a 2 part system. You rub on the pattern you want first - it's sticky on both sides. Then you take a foil, flocking or glitter sheet (you get 3 of each in various colors) and rub that onto the pattern that you put down. For this project, I chose to use the glitter sheets - pink and green. The harder you rub on the sheets, the more glitter sticks to the adhesive. I like how they turned out.

Supplies: Black $3 photo frames from Walmart, We R MemoryKeepers Foil, Glitter, Flock kit.

Oh, just remembered to add this about a previous project: If you're making an acrylic post-it holder with a photo frame, use the Super Sticky Post-it notes. They hold SO much better.


Hope the weekend's nice and relaxing for everyone,

Sketch Challenge Quickie

A very quick post because I need to go scrape the frost off my car before I head off to work for today.

I got the sketch challenge card for today done - it's pretty and it uses some of the stuff I bought at Hobby Lobby last night.

One thing I've learned, I'm a sucker for ink pads when they're on sale. I picked up 2 Tim Holtz Distressed Inks yesterday.

Sketch Challenge. Thanks to Roxie (Sketch Challenge queen on SCS) for posting her measurements. I couldn't have made this card as fast as I did without them.
Stamps: Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Basic Grey Scarlet's Letter - She Walks in Beauty. Ink: Ruby Red, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distressed ink. Accessories: paper distressor, brads, dimensionals, sponge.

Good thing about today is it's supposed to be about 50 this afternoon! Yay! More snow's gonna melt!

Hope everyone's having a beautiful early spring morning (or early fall morning if you're in Australia)

Catch-up

Time to show off some of the projects that I've done recently but been too lazy to take pictures of when I finished. ;)

And while I did attempt the Technique challenge for yesterday, I realized that there's a reason Rose Ann (who created the tutorial for Scor Pal) said you needed magnets or Velcro (that idea came from Faith). I'm heading off to Hobby Lobby after work to see if I can find some of those Basic Grey magnets. The card's being pulled apart so I can get it to work properly. I'll post it later.

Anywho, I did the Featured Stamper challenge on Sunday but never got around to taking the picture of the card. The Featured Stamper on Sunday was Pickle Tree and the card I chose to CASE is: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/739284

Stamps: SU: Friendship Blooms. Paper: More Mustard, So Saffron cs and dp, Always Artichoke, Whisper White. Ink: More Mustard, So Saffron, Always Artichoke. Accessories: primas, brad, silver dot, ribbons, reinkers.

Well, it's Tuesday so it's the Color Challenge - today's colors are Soft Sky, Basic Gray and Whisper White.
Stamps: Papertrey - Little Lady. Paper: Basic Gray, Soft Sky, Whisper White. Ink: Basic Gray, Soft Sky. Accessories: ribbon, slit punch, dimensionals, Cuttlebugged paper, Stickles.

Hope today is good and that there's no snow where you are,

Lent's Over... Let the SHOPPING BEGIN!

Not really.

Honestly, there's not much I HAVE to have.

Things I'm going to get when I get around to ordering:
SU cardstock - I'm running low on some colors
SU Designer paper - I want some of the new designs
It's a Celebration stamp set at Papertrey
Framed Flowers stamp set at Gina K

That's about it. Nothing major. I think the whole experience was a good exercise in restraint. Plus my bank account is plumper because I didn't have the impulse buying.

And it's officially over because I went to my LSS (local stamping/scrapbooking store) today after work. I spent under $10. I bought my first ever bottle of Stickles, a pack of rub-on letters (they're going on the olive oil bottle in the kitchen), and 5 sheets of paper - some of which are for a project coming up.

All in all, it's been a good experience.

Time to grab a bite to eat and head off to the Dungeon to play with the Stickles. :) Then watch Dancing with the Stars.

Is this too much to ask?

I don't live alone. There are other people who live with me - and have access to the Dungeon.

All I ask is for them to respect my space and clean up after themselves - put the Stampin' Scrub where it belongs, put the stamp sets where they go, stamp pads, etc.

I come down to the Dungeon today to find the Scrub down on the table (it generally sits up on my ink pad caddy), stamp set on the table (missing one stamp - that I couldn't find), ink pads in the wrong spots, and a 3-ring binder sitting on the floor open.

I want to throw a tantrum like a 3 year-old.

I think that my space (even though the space may belong to someone else, I own most of what's down there) should be respected. If I want things to be back where they were, put them back. Yes, I leave a mess sometimes, but it's MY stuff.

It's just frustrating.

It's also been a long week at work with sick people and oh, yeah, we have 3 inches of snow - it started snowing at 2pm (it's about 6:30 now) - and it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon. 1-3 inches from 2pm today to 8am tomorrow, my butt. I respect meteorologists, but seriously they're playing a guessing game at most.

Have a great Good Friday and terrific Easter!

A quickie post

I need to be to work in about a half hour and I'm not completely ready to go.

Color Challenge today by TruCarMa - Carole Burrage: Kraft, Sage Shadow, Orchid Opulence. I shudder when I see Orchid Opulence listed. Mostly because I can never find anything to go with it. I think I'm alone in this problem because I've seen some really spectacular color combos with Orchid recently.

Anywho. Card. I'm here to quickly type stuff up about the card. :)
Stamps: SU - Natural Beauty, Flourishes LLC - Damask. Paper: Creamy Caramel, Sage Shadow, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White. Ink: Orchid Opulence, Palette Charcoal. Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, slit punch, ribbon.

Hope today's good for everyone!

Due to some technical difficulties...

Also known as I don't own a Cuttlebug, I couldn't do the Technique challenge for today.

BUT - I did play around with a nugget tin and pretty-fy it. It's not going to hold Hershey nuggets, I think I'm going to put hard candy in it and keep it at work.

I'm astonished - I only had to take 1 picture of the tin. I thought that there was going to be a reflection of the flash on the clear top and I wouldn't be able to see the DP inside, but it looks fabulous!

It took me about 20 minutes to do: mostly messing around with Tacky Tape to tape the 3/8" strip of Ginger Blossom dp around the tin. The designer paper (dp) inside the tin is the opposite side of the strip going around the outside.

The ribbon is permanent - I made holes in the sides of the lid with my cropadile and threaded the ribbon through them. I tied knots in the ribbon and then tied them on top. The ribbon doesn't have to be undone to get into the box.
Paper: Ginger Blossom dp. Accessories: cropadile, tacky tape, ribbon.

I really like how this turned out.

Weekend Sketch Challenge

Ahh... the weekend. What a wonderful time to relax - and work on Beate's weekend sketch challenge card.

I liked this sketch. It was fun work with it and create a card with it. Spring's in the air - temps are 40 and above for most of the coming week. I had to use some spring colors and sets.
Stamps: SU - Fabulous Flowers, Garden Whimsy. Paper: Gable Green, Regal Rose, White, Ginger Blossom dp. Ink: Regal Rose, Gable Green. Accessories: dimensionals, brads, extra jumbo scalloped oval punch, paper piercer, Quickie glue pen, Martha Stewart glitter.

The next project I made kinda goes with my card - I loved the Regal Rose and the Gable Green together. So here's the Post-it Note holder. Can anyone give me a hint on making the post-its stay ON the picture frame? My problem seems to be that a few notes from the bottom tend to unstick and the majority of the pad falls off? What's the trick?
Stamps: SU - Fabulous Flowers. Paper: Regal Rose, Gable Green, white. Ink: Gable Green. Accessories: silver cording, Post-its, clear plastic 4x6 photo frame, corner rounder punch.

That's it for Sunday. Hope to show something tomorrow.

Life's gonna get interesting

I had my interview for a position at the daycare with more responsibility yesterday. I was so nervous - which surprised my boss and her boss (who were doing the interviewing.)

I finished the interview and went for a fast shopping spree to blow off some nervous energy before I went into work at 1pm (I finished the interview at about 11:15.)

I went into work at 1 and was called in the backroom by my boss - who squealed quietly and gave me a hug and told me I got the job. :)

I'm excited and still incredibly nervous. It's going to be a lot of work.

I can't wait to get started.

I'm BAAAA-CK

With projects done and ready to be posted.

It's Thursday, Ways to Use it Challenge day. Today's challenge is Patterned Paper galore. In the words of the guest hostess today, everything but the base. I think I accomplished the goal.

I was blog hopping and found a gorgeous card by Shelly (her blog's over in my list) where she cut the background up and I thought it looked great. I inked the edges with Palette Burnt Umber ink so that the cuts would stand out. I also wanted to try an experiment with this week's Technique challenge - Faux Cloisonne. If you can do it with magazine pages, why can't you use patterned cardstock? So I stamped the flowers from SU Natural Beauty (retired) onto some Basic Grey Romani paper and embossed it in gold. I cut it out and glued it onto the papers, then added some Diamond Glaze so that it would shine.

Stamps: SU - Natural Beauty. Paper: Georgia-Pacific White, Basic Grey Romani. Ink: Versamark, Palette Burnt Umber. Accessories: gold embossing powder, brads, dimensionals diamond glaze.

The other thing I have to post is a card and Frappuccino bottle. I've been slowly working my way through a 4 pack of Frappuccinos (I'm not really a coffee person) and I finally have something to show you with one of them.

The dp is Sweetwater - Fresh collection - and it's wrapped around the bottle and also on the card. The other colors are pulled from the dp. The top of the bottle (which can't be seen) is painted with white acrylic paint with some Certainly Celery reinker in it to turn it the right color of green.

Stamps: Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, white, Sweetwater dp. Ink: Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel. Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" square punches, marvy mega scallop square punch, coluzzle, chipboard, tacky tape, ribbon, baubles, dimensionals.

I'm still alive

Just wanted to do a quick pop-in and say yes, I'm still alive and am around - though not blogging or chatting on SCS at the moment. Life's a little zany (as it generally is), but I hopefully will have some new projects to share and be around more.

I have an interview for the job on Friday morning!

Weekend Sketch Challenge

I generally don't do much stamping on Fridays - I think it's from the 2 months I did the Visualize Verses challenge. I'd stamp Thursday night so I'd be ready to post Friday morning - which took up enough time that I didn't really want to stamp.

But I looked at Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge today - and I liked the layout. I like the idea of color blocking a background. Oh, and I'm stuck on a monochromatic kick since yesterday's My Favorite Guest Designer challenge.

I got the background - Flourishes LLC's Damask stamp - in the mail yesterday. I was a little confused when I got it because I think it's my prize for winning the Cake Decorating Contest on SCS, but it's not the stamp set I asked for. Anyway, it's pretty and I had to get inventive to use it because I don't have acrylic blocks the size of this stamp - it's 4.25"x5.5" I flipped a SU background stamp upside down and used the block.

The primas were originally all white. Shelly - papermoon04 on SCS - taught me how to dye primas a while ago when I was new on SCS. I put about 10 drops of Soft Sky reinker into a container and sprayed some water in to thin the ink out. I dropped a prima in, let it soak up the ink, and moved it out of the way, pulling some of the excess ink out of the prima by setting a dry prima on top of it and letting the dry prima absorb. I dried them with my heat tool and decided to arrange 2 of them with white primas on my card.

The sentiment is also Flourishes LLC - from Flourished Words.

Stamps: Flourishes LLC - Flourished Words, Damask. Paper: Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Georgia Pacific white. Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky. Accessories: primas, brads, dimensionals, stardust gel pen.

Tutorial: Paperclip Bookmark

I had a blast making one of these paperclip bookmarks this morning, so I decided I wanted to make another and turn it into a tutorial.

Supplies I used: Brilliance Moonlight White ink, Versafine Black Onyx ink, 2 - 1" chipboard circles, 1" circle punch, SU scallop circle punch, Marvy extra jumbo scallop circle punch, E6000 adhesive, giant paperclip, Martha Stewart Glittering Glue, scissors, My Favorite Things Punny Farm stamp set, Blue Bayou cardstock and prints designer paper, Soft Sky cardstock and prints designer paper, Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, Georgia-Pacific white cardstock.

I coated the edges of my chipboard circles in Brilliance Moonlight White ink so the grey didn't show. I think it looks better this way.

I punched out all the paper I'd need. I decided that the 2 sides would be opposites - one side with 2 pieces of Blue Bayou and the other with 2 pieces of Soft Sky.

I stamped my little mouse from MFT's Punny Farm on the circles of designer paper and then stamped them on the white paper. Not shown: I colored them in with a grey Prismacolor pencil and cut out the body of the mouse, then glued it into place on the designer paper.

I assembled the sides using Martha Stewart Glittering Glue.

A side fully assembled.

Turn one side upside down, dab on some E6000 glue and place the paperclip on top of that, making sure to smush it into the glue firmly.

Place the other side on top to make a paperclip and glue sandwich.

Let it dry and tie a piece of ribbon on it - if you want.

Life's Taking Over!

How's a girl supposed to be crafty? Honestly.

As I stated in an earlier post, work's kinda crazy right now, but hopefully it will calm down soon. I applied for a new position at work yesterday, so I might have some news next week whether I got it or not.

I missed the My Favorite Things release party - glued to the television because the Project Runway finale was last night. I'm not surprised at all by who won - it was the person I guessed would win after Kit left.

BUT, with the release being last night, today's the day that we have to do the My Favorite Guest Designer Contest. The challenge this month is... Monochromatic. I'm really glad I have the SU Color Coach - I don't seem to use it for anything other than monochromatic color matches.
On SCS I've seen these cards that are full cards, but they have pockets on the front and I thought "Isn't that adorable?" I had to try one and put another handy little creation I've seen on SCS in it: a giant paperclip bookmark.

**I've just been called into work early, so I'll add onto this post when I get home from work**

I'm home!

So, here's what the card and the bookmark look like:

Color Challenge!

Armed with a can of Febreeze Air Effects, I braved the Dungeon and sprayed the air EVERY time I got a whiff of Eau de Pepe.

The can's still down there for future problems.

I did the color challenge! The colors for today's card were Wild Wasabi, So Saffron and Purely Pomegranate. Not a bad color combo.

I also tried a technique that I've been interested in for a while - Faux Silk. Beate has an amazing tutorial on SCS under Resources and Techniques. It's actually really easy to do. Stamp on tissue paper, color if you need to, crumple it up and glue it onto a piece of neutral cardstock, trimming the edges. I had a bit of trouble with Mod Podge - it dried too quickly initially and then when I reapplied in places, I glopped it on and made the ink bleed. Oh well.

Stamps: SU - One of a Kind. Paper: Wild Wasabi (cs and dp), So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla, tissue paper. Ink: So Saffron, Purely Pomegranate. Accessories: Mod Podge, ticket corner punch, brads, ribbon.

Work's been kinda crazy lately. People resigning, new people probably coming in, etc. I'm ready for the week to be over, and Tuesday is just ending.

The Dungeon REEKS

I went down there about 8:20 tonight - and stayed for a VERY small amount of time. It smells NASTY down there!

But I did get some stamping done. And I thank heavens that I haven't taken down the bits and pieces I brought upstairs to finish off my recipe cards, I wouldn't have lasted very long downstairs. My laziness has worked in my favor.

So... my card for the Featured Stamper challenge. Here's the original: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/802247?perpage=48&thumbsonly=0&thumbcheck=

Here's mine

Stamps: SU - Be Happy, Papertrey - Out on a Limb. Paper: Soft Sky (dp and cs), Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Whisper White. Ink: Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke. Accessories: Ribbon, 1 1/4" circle punch, scallop circle punch, dimensionals, mat pack.

Attack of the skunk

No, I haven't personally been attacked, but about 1:30-2am this morning, the unmistakeable odor of Pepe le Peu started drifting into my bedroom. It has now infected the rest of the house. There's a family of skunks living under the deck and we think that the motion sensor light startled one of them and it went skidding around the house, spraying all the way home.

Yuck.

I haven't even thought about going into the Dungeon to stamp because I'm afraid of the possible smell.

On the upside, it's above freezing here, things are melting, and it's supposed to be warm for the next few days. Which makes a nice respite from SNOW.

Another upside is that my color challenge card was put into the Weekly Favorites list on SCS and I won a Flourishes LLC stamp set through the Cake Decorating 101 contest. I'm thrilled for both.