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.