Another Sunday card

It's not a Featured Stamper card though. I went through the gallery and didn't find a card that I wanted to try to CASE.

I went shopping yesterday. It was to get a present for my best friend who has a birthday on Friday - which I did get - but I wound up getting a lot of stuff for myself too.

I found 3 more Copics that I "needed" (aka - didn't have, were on sale and not too dark in color), I bought a non-stick craft sheet, a Tim Holtz ink spreader thingy, refill pads for that, some Distress Embossing ink, Distress Embossing Powder, 2 colors of Liquid Pearls, 2 Tim Holtz mini masks, and an Inkadinkado clear stamp set.

So... I wanted to ink up my new set. My fairy is stamped in Palette Noir and colored in with Copics. I then added some glitter on her wings and the trail. It's very sparkley in real life. She's cut out and layered with Oval Nestabilities.

The background is a piece of Bashful Blue dp that I got in a 6"x6" as a SU hostess gift last year. I ran it through my Cuttlebug and then made it visible by dragging my Certainly Celery pad over it.

The sentiment is from Stamping Bella.

Stamps: Inkadinkado - Beautiful Fairies, Stamping Bella - Thank You Fairy Much. Paper: Bashful Blue cs and dp, Certainly Celery, Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Certainly Celery. Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, glitter, dimensionals, ribbon, Cuttlebug, paper piercer.

I have the urge to make some more cards, so hopefully it'll be a 2 post day.

Frugal Stamper

Today's WT challenge was to be frugal and find things that help us save. I think Julia was talking about embellishments, but I tried my best for my entire card.

Items I didn't buy:
Ribbon - it was given to me by my boss. She knows I make cards and apparently she's been saving ribbon for me.
Felt Flower - it was part of my reveal gift for the VSN Secret Sisters last August. It's one of the things I dug up when I was cleaning the Dungeon on Sunday.
Damask background - I won a contest on the Flourishes forum on SCS a while back. I don't think it's what I asked for, but I use it A LOT.
Dimensionals - part of a package from a CCRAKer.

Imogen the Fairy is stamped in Palette Noir on PTI Cream. She's colored in with Copics (very carefully, I had bleeding of both the markers and the ink.) The background is another piece of Cream, embossed in clear and sponged with Pure Poppy ink and Fired Brick Distress ink.

**NOTE: As you can tell, Palette inks (Pure Poppy is one) stick to embossing powder. This was a bad move on my part and this isn't what I wanted the background to look like.**

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Imogen the Fairy; Flourishes - Damask. Paper: Real Red, PTI Cream. Ink: Versamark, Palette Noir, Pure Poppy, Fired Brick DI. Accessories: Copics, clear ep, dimensionals, ribbon, felt flower.

It's pouring outside. I'm hoping that we're not about to wash away.

Wishing everyone a dry few days.

A mid-week challenge

And a quickie post because I have to be to work in an hour and I have a headache.

Today's Thursday and the challenge today was to use stripes - striped paper, striped ribbon, striped stamps, create your own stripes, etc. Which is right up my alley because I have a LOT of designer paper in all sorts of patterns: stripes included.

I also have stamps that I haven't used before. Which isn't as big of a shock as it would have been last year - I've been so tired. So I felt required to show some love. Flowahbella is stamped in Dark Chocolate Palette ink and colored in with Copics.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Flowahbella. Paper: More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, white, My Mind's Eye dp. Ink: Dark Chocolate Palette. Accesories: adhesive pearls, dimensionals, Copics.

Grandma's doing better - she's out of the hospital and in rehab at a nursing home. Hopefully she'll be able to get enough strength to go home to Grandpa soon.

Wishing everyone a good rest of the week,

2 Christmas cards

Or prototypes more specifically. I'm trying to be a good stamper and get my ideas solidified before it's too late and I have to *gasp* BUY cards.

I was talking with my best friend about unusual color combos for Christmas cards and yellow and green came up as a possibility. I pulled out the one image I'm positive I want to use - the Christmatini stamp that I bought from Stamping Bella. I made the card, thought about it for a moment and decided against it. It just didn't look right.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Christmatini, PTI - Snowflake Serenade. Paper: So Saffron, Spring Moss, Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Spring Moss, So Saffron. Accessories: Argyle Cuttlebug folder, Twinkling H2Os, dimensionals, aquapainter.

After thinking about the first card, I realized that it needs a stronger color than just pale yellow and green. Red works. I switched around the layout and made the CB'd background only about half the card. It's still not quite where I want it to be, but it's definitely closer.


Stamps: Stamping Bella - Christmatini, PTI - Snowflake Serenade. Paper: Real Red, Select White. Ink: Palette Noir, Real Red. Accessories: Argyle Cuttlebug folder, Twinking H2Os, Aquapainter, Corner rounder punch, dimensionals, Burgundy and Crystal Stickles.

That's as far as I've gotten with my Christmas card creation ideas.

Wishing everyone stamping success,

Good evening Tuesday!

I'm generally getting out of work about now, but I switched hours so I worked this morning instead of this afternoon. Not a bad trade - I've had an open afternoon. Which I spent shopping for non-stamping items and watching some television.

I finally got to the color challenge this afternoon. The colors today were Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie and Orchid Opulence. I have to admit, my nose wrinkled at the thought of this combo, then I saw the sample. Okay, this will work. It's tropical - can I have the weather too? It's snowing again, I'm sick of snow.

I came up with this card sketch/idea while at work today and I think it turned out well when I actually made the card.

Stamps: Embrace Life, Stamping Bella - Bikinibella. Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence. Paper: Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie dp. Accessories: mat pack, dimensionals, brads, Sakura stardust pen, Prismacolor pencils.

GRRRRR... I was starting to fill in the blanks on my SCS gallery upload when I was told that I'd timed out. So mad that I have to start OVER again.

My Favorite Guest Designer and Ways to Use It card

It's the beginning of the month, and it's time for another My Favorite Guest Designer project. This month's challenge was to create a candy holder - nugget box, slider, pixie pouch - basically whatever your heart desired.

My project: A milk carton. :) We got a lot of snow yesterday and I really wanted to use my Winter Blast set - those penguins are adorable! So with the help of Beate's milk carton tutorial in the Resource section of SCS, I created my own.

I had a blast doing this and I think it looks adorable!

Stamps: MFT- Winter Blast and Essential Sentiments. Paper: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Georgia-Pacific white. Ink: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Versafine black onyx. Accessories: brads, Marvy mega scallop square punch, ribbon, stapler, tacky tape, stylus, paper piercer, prismacolor pencils, word window punch, silver cording.

I also made a card for the Ways to Use it Challenge - DOTS. I think I did a pretty good job on this card and *gasp* No embellies!!!

Stamps: Stamping Bella: Cuppacakeabella and Obey all the Rules. Paper: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Really Rust, Watercolor paper, Fall Flowers dp. Ink: Versafine black onyx, Really Rust, Reinkers: Really Rust, Old Olive, Soft Sky. Accessories: corner rounder punch, ticket corner punch, aquapainter.

Update on my problem from yesterday. Talking it over with my friends on SCS and hearing what they had to say - as well as those who posted here - I've come to the conclusion that papertrimmer blades don't count as stamping supplies - they're more of stamping necessities. So I'm going up to Hobby Lobby tonight and just buying blades. I did make it through the MFT release party without buying anything last night!

Doesn't this ALWAYS happen? Lent, Day 1

So today officially starts my buying moratorium on all things stamping - except One of a Kind (I mentioned this earlier.) I realize - as I'm cutting the pieces of my card for today - that the blade on my paper trimmer is getting dull. I don't have replacement blades.

*palmtohead and headtodesk*

I can't believe I didn't think of it. I have plenty of adhesive, I just started a new roll of Tacky Tape, I have an extra pack of dimensionals. I have more brads, ribbon and primas than I know what to do with, I just ordered a bunch of cardstock before I decided to give stamping stuff up.

I have a 25 - 6x6 recipe card swap due in the middle of Lent as well as my regular cardmaking.

I'm wondering how I can get around this problem.

On a better note, I made a card today. It was for the Sketch Challenge on SCS. It's also a sample bridal shower card for my future SIL. The wedding's not until next year, but since I'm designing and probably making most of the paper stuff (invitations, bridal shower invites, thanks you cards, etc), I want to get a head start.

Stamps: Stamping Bella - Bridalpartybellas; Papertrey - Piece of Cake. Paper: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla. Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, SU Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow. Accessories: Prismacolor pencil - jade green, Sakura Quickie glue pen, Martha Stewart glitter, May Arts brown satin ribbon, brads, paper piercer.

While I was waiting for the card to load, I went to the Post Office website to look at where some of my packages are - I'm a BIG fan of delivery confirmation since one of my swaps went missing for 3 weeks. Something confused me and honestly, it doesn't take much today. WHY, if all my packages are heading west from here, are 2 of them (specifically the ones heading to Utah) in BALTIMORE?

More VSN shtuff

A little more fill-in on the weekend. VSN's officially over - all cards up for honors were supposed to be in at 11pm EST last night. Over Saturday and Sunday, I got 7 more challenges done - for a grand total of 10 challenges out of 18. Not bad, but still, not that good. I haven't been able to play along with the VSN as it goes along. I always seem to play catch-up.

Now that all the cards are in, time to choose the honors gallery. Not winner's gallery, honors. The 2 cards each hostess liked the best out of her challenge. Personally? I had it easy - I had 43 cards in my challenge gallery and 10 of those were done by hostesses - who can't be chosen. I feel for the people who had 90-100+ in their galleries. Only choose 2?

My choices were made and my private message with my choices was sent to the VSN coordinators. The honors gallery list will go up later this week.

Here are the rest of my cards/projects from VSN:

STVV04 - I'd rather play at...

Hug o' War!

It's another Shel Silverstein poem this week. One that's a lot shorter than "The Unicorn."

I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

• I decided to make a Big Buckle card. Tutorial by Beate is here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/bucklecard.php
• Card base is Always Artichoke
• Inside is Real Red and Dashing DP
• My strap is Chocolate Chip
• Huggybellas and "need a hug" are both by Stamping Bella. Huggybellas are stamped in Versafine black colored in with Prismacolor pencils on Very Vanilla.
• Brads finish it off.

Don't forget - one day left for blog candy!!!!

A Unique Inspiration Challenge

Jessica, (knutsen24) who is the first hostess of the STIC (Stalker Inspiration Challenge), has come up with some really interesting inspiration ideas. It's not just a picture of some bedding or a picture frame - last week she had us sorting through our favorites gallery to CASE a card there.

Today - we're searching out blogs to find a card that we want to CASE.

So off I went stopping off here to start with the list of blogs I read. And I found this card at Mabie Stampin' - http://mabiestampin.blogspot.com/2007/12/another-quick-card.html

It's pretty. I love it. It's also quick.

Now, my card is completely different from Silvia's. I think the only things we have in common are image placement and the fact that we used organdy ribbon.

I just got my package from Stamping Bella that I ordered about 10 days ago - how could I resist using my brand new Bellas?

• Card base is Georgia-Pacific White. It's heavier than SU Whisper White (110lb vs. 80lb) and Versafine black sinks into it beautifully - no smearing.
• My brand-new Cuppacakeabella arrived yesterday (along with other Bellas) and I was itching to use her on a card. She's inked in Versafine black and colored in with Prismacolor pencils.
• "Enjoy Life" is another one of my brand-new Bella stamps and is inked in Cameo Coral.
• The cherry on the cupcake and some of the spots on Bella's dress are coated in Sakura Clear Glaze pen. A lot easier to use than Diamond Glaze.
• Celery organdy ribbon finishes off the card.

Don't forget about my blog candy! I'll choose the winner Friday night/Saturday morning, so it's still up for grabs!