Say it With Stamps

I won! I won the October Unity Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge!! :)

2011-10-07T16:13:00.001-04:00

Happy dance, happy dance! I'm so excited. I win the awesome prize that Unity offers for their Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge. I get a past Kit of the Month of my choice and 100 other stamps. I'm going to share these with my daughter since she helped me enter. :)

I just love their kits. Here is a look at their October kit. So much cuteness!

Okay, so I have some work to do on my terrarium!

2011-09-17T15:13:00.000-04:00

Check out this great article about terrariums. These are beautiful!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/garden/03terrarium.html

My terrarium just didn't make it, but I will try again! lol And there will be pictures to share. I also plan on finding a cute little gnome to place in there. Maybe a mushroom too...

So these Unity Sketch Challenges Are Addicting!

2011-09-03T12:41:00.002-04:00

The September Unity Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge is up and I am D-U-N --Done! :)

My little helper wanted to make her own card for this challenge too, so I said, "Have at it!" and let her loose in my craft stuff. Here is her lovely creation!

We both chose the February 2010 Kit of the Month to take on this challenge. It's the first kit I ever purchased and it's still one of my favorites. I just love those little birds! My card is actually a card front. I think I might use it on a scrapbook page. I'm all about making things that I can use and keep. I'm also way behind with my scrapbooks, so really I should focus any craft energy on those.

These nests are great to make. You really can't mess them up and all you do is layer (and layer, and layer) strips of paper together, round out the bottom, and cut the top to the desired shape. And there you go. A nest! I also dug through my scrap pile for the paper piecings. It's so liberating to get rid of those scraps that I've been hanging onto for these sorts of occasions. I think the orange dotted paper is Creative Memories paper that I've had forever!

And there you have it! This is what a Friday night looks like around here! Mom and daughter sitting around at the craft table. She is so my little clone and I just love her!

Back to School: Tag for Taylor's Bag! :)

2011-09-01T08:59:00.000-04:00

There are so many great things about being a parent, but I just love how I can make cute things for my kids that they can use. Taylor, my little crafting buddy, gets a lot of things that I make. It's not that I don't like making stuff for my boys. Taylor just likes appreciates them a little more, I guess!

Unity Stamp Company has a challenge going on right now for back to school and I decided to make a tag for Taylor's book bag! And here it is:

I didn't have that cute Unity schoolhouse stamp, so I drew a school bus and cut it out. I also dug around in my Kits of the month and pulled out a variety of stamps from past months for the background collage.

Back to the bus: I'm so proud of it! I drew the basic shape of the bus and cut it out with my wonderful Martha Stewart scissors. Those things cut like buttah! I then punched out some labels using my EK Success Large Photo Labels Paper Punch for the windows. I trimmed them down and sponged them with CTMH Heavenly Blue ink. After that, I punched out a couple wheels, sponged some White Daisy around the edges and took out my black pen to accent the bus. When it was ready, I took out the VersaMark and sprinkled clear embossing powder over the entire bus. I love how it turned out!!

After that I used my Cricut to cut out Taylor's name. I used the packaging from a pack of rhinestone stickers for the plastic sleeve for the tag. Works perfectly and it will keep it nice and clean!

This was a fun project and I'm glad that it has a practical use.

Button, Button, Who's Got The Button?

2011-08-26T18:29:00.001-04:00

I do! I love using buttons on my projects. I never throw an old shirt away without salvaging the buttons first, either!

I made an amazing discovery today: Sorting buttons is only fun the first two minutes. After that, well, it's work. And lots (and lots) of tedious repetitive work! My button sort project has been long overdue. I know I'm certainly not the first person to sort my buttons by colors, but hey, I'm here now! I was lucky enough to have one of my little helpers with me who actually enjoyed putting the buttons in their proper jars.

I've been gathering these little jars for a few months. Glass jars have been on my GoodWill hunting list ever since I got the itch to make a terrarium. I love grouping items together that are not alike, but similar and I think these jars look so pretty together.

Some of the jars have lids, some don't. A couple are cute old milk bottles. Love them! I also love how the next time I need a button, I won't have to dig around for the right color! They're all here, organized and will look pretty on my shelf when I'm not using them!

Now that I have these buttons all sorted, I think I need more buttons to get these jars filled to the top! :)

I finally did a Unity Stamp Company Sketch Challenge

2011-08-25T21:28:00.000-04:00

My email inbox is a dangerous place to be if you're a message. I always have the best intentions to read my emails, but too often, they get "saved as new" only to become one of the many other messages buried underneath hundreds of other emails.

That's what usually happens with my Unity Stamp Company emails too, but a couple days ago I noticed a message that said, "Six Days Left for the August Challenge!" It was about the Unity Kit of the Month Sketch Challenge and I decided to print it up and actually do it this time! Besides, I was needing a little inspiration. What better way to get the juices flowing than with a sketch?! My first sketch ever at that!

So, here it is! I used my June 2010 Kit of the Month, Fly Free. I just love the beachy feel of this kit. It's so "California".

I gave it sunrise/sunset colors. Love those warm colors that you feel when thinking of the sun. You probably can't tell from the picture, but I actually broke out the embossing powder for this card too...twice! On the soaring bird and on the sunny waves below. I found a button in my jar with a sunburst look to it so I knew that needed to go on there too!

Ballard Designs Made Me Do It!

2011-08-21T22:17:00.004-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I got the sudden urge to finally take care of the ugly powder blue striped walls in my daughter's room. They were dingy, didn't match anything and were really dated. I've hated them since we moved into our house... nearly six years ago! Well, before the urge left me, I hopped out of bed (I happened to be trying to take a nap at the time) and grabbed the keys, and called out to the kids, "Come on kids, we're going to Lowe's to get some paint!"

Since it was her room, I let her choose the color (within reason of course). I had heard about the Valspar paint with primer in it already and since we've had great luck with Valspar paint in the past, I made a beeline to their signature wall. She went straight to the inch worm green and I approved.

Hubby was out of town and I'm not sure if that helped me paint or made it harder. I'm gonna say it helped because if he were here he would have talked me out of painting in the first place. Although my aching body tells me that it hurt because he usually works the roller while I cut in around the edges with my Purdy paint brush. I swear you can paint a room with just a drop cloth, paint roller, tray, and a Purdy. No tape needed if you have a steady hand and a good paint brush to go around the edges. Trust me. Our first home was nothing but a huge painting project and I've tried everything! (gasp for air now! ... now onto my post.)

Have you ever flipped through a Ballard Designs catalog?! Beautiful stuff in there and it's full of lots of inspiration to get you motivated and decorating. Well, I came across something in the catty that inspired me. The Newspaper Dress Giclee Print. It is adorable, but at $299 plus added shipping charges due to its large size, there was no way I was going to have Master Card (said in my best British accent) handle this transaction! So... I improvised and made my own version for my Taylor!

Of course, it's not the same style dress, but since it was for my little girls room, I wanted to make it more of a child's dress. Taylor just wanted to add a purse to it.

First, I pulled out an old picture, removed it from the frame and painted right over it with left-over paint from Taylor's walls. I then moved on to piecing the dress together. As we were going through our newspapers, I found a misprint page that I thought looked neat. The page was mostly black and I used it for two pieces of the skirt.

I then looked through the pages making sure not to use pieces with words describing unsettling medical conditions, obituaries, or just plain weird stories. The Lifestyle section seemed to be best for these kinds of things.

For my own touch, I added buttons for a little color. Taylor helped me choose these.

And here's Taylor's favorite piece, the hand bag! She made a special request that it be clipped from the comics. I complied. :)

The (I can't believe I had a reason to make a) Tomato Card

2011-08-16T18:27:00.001-04:00

Tomato season is in full swing right now and I couldn't be happier. There are two kinds of people this time of year. Those who have grown and are enjoying their own succulent tomatoes, and those like me, who are more than happy to help a neighbor with too many tomatoes on his hands. Our nice neighbors happened to be outside the other day at the same time our kids were outside playing and lucky for me, he was picking his tomatoes. My daughter came running inside saying that Mr. Fox wants to know if you want some tomatoes. I managed to blurt out a "definitely!!" before I started salivating so much that my speech was impaired.

That night, I feasted on a Tomato sandwich and thanks to 90 degree weather, it was still warm from the sun! YUMMY!!

Those tomatoes were so good that I just HAD to make the Foxes a thank you card to show my appreciation. They are not stampers, so I'm pretty sure they have deemed me insane. I guess I am a little crazy...crazy for home grown tomatoes that is! There's nothing better this time of year...besides back to school!

For this card, I cut out circles with my Creative Memories Circle Patterns. (An oldie but a goodie!) I punched the little green leaves with my, again oldie but goodie, star from the Creative Memories Galaxy Micro Maker. I then stamped the cute faces on with a face stamp made by Peachy Keen Stamps. I bought those cute little faces right when I first started stamping. They're probably one of the first five stamp sets I've ever owned, but I still love them and use them whenever I can. I even stamped the outside of my home made envelope using Close To My Heart Doodle Alphabet, another set I've had forever and still use often. The shapes for the tomatoes stamped on the envelope came from a Stampin' Up! Playful Pieces Hostess set.

My Newest LandMark Letters

2011-06-24T08:40:00.002-04:00

When we went out of town this past spring break I came across some neat letter finds. Here are some of them!

This C may very well be my favorite for now. It was just a matter of luck and timing that we came across this new Ferris wheel under construction in Myrtle Beach. It's actually nothing to sneeze at either. It's the SkyWheel and it's the tallest wheel in the Eastern part of the US. Here is an article about it. It looked like this before lunch and by afternoon, the full circle was complete! I got my C and I'm so happy.

In Washington, DC, we walked around to the museums and I snapped a few photos. I found this L when I looked across the roof line of a building with the Washington Monument in the back ground. I was needing some good L's so I took it!

O's are pretty easy to find, but as we were walking into the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, I couldn't resist snapping this O found with the Colossal Head. So tribal. So neat! So Olmec!

This L came from a South Carolina marsh. It's just a pipe and wood to some people, but to me it's an L.

At South of the Border, you'll find some craptastic junk inside the buildings. But outside... well, that's another story! Here's an A. It's Pedro and he's welcoming me to take his picture!

LandMark Letters in Sepia for The Finchers

2011-06-15T22:08:00.001-04:00

My husband's best friend has the most amazing parents. His dad calls my husband his other son and they were so kind to give us the keys to their mountain home for the weekend. To show our appreciation, I made them a LandMark Letter gift.

Since their mountain home has a rustic interior, I didn't think the typical black and white would do, so I switched it up and printed these in sepia and framed in white, rather than black. I matted each photo on white card stock and used cream textured art paper for the background.

Look closely at the C. I absolutely love this. I was so lucky to happen upon a ferris wheel that was under construction in Myrtle Beach when we were there for spring break. When we drove by later on in the day, they were finished and the C had changed to an O.

I usually print my photos on 4x6, but this time I made them wallet size since a last name with seven letters would require a really big frame if printed at the larger size.

The frame was a thrift store find that I spray painted off white. Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely love spray paint? Well, I do!

I also made them a little thank you card to go with it.

I used CTMH stamps. I believe it's the Roughin' It set, but I can't remember if that's the correct name. I also stamped on a CTMH covered button, which I think turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. Those buttons are fun!

How I Solved my Linen Storage Problem with $2

2011-06-14T07:26:00.000-04:00

There are so many things about my home that I just love, but if I could change something on the inside it would be my laundry area. It's not even a room. It's just this closet with shelves and since the closet is a further into the interior of my house, forcing the dryer hose to be over 13 feet long, nothing dries quickly! urgh.

Oh, and not to mention the fact that this closet is right beside my bedroom. It never fails that if I'm drying something with lots of buttons or buckles, that's the night when I have to go to sleep with the dryer still running because I forgot to turn it on earlier in the day or it's running for a second time because it didn't dry all the way the first go-round.

Clothes dryer rant aside, this closet has also served as my linen closet and it has been a mess since we moved here...over five years ago! Well, yesterday I decided to change that.

Here's what I had to work with. In this photo I had already started pulling sheets and blankets from the shelves because it looked so bad. I even found the paperwork to our washer and dryer that had been there since we moved into the house. It was untouched. Those shelves have basically served as a catch all for junk, but they were somehow so full that I had no room for laundry detergent, hence the basket of bottles on top of the dryer!

Here's where the $2 comes in. I found these wire baskets at Goodwill yesterday. When I got them home and took a closer look at them, turns out they're chafing dish holders, tee hee. Now they have an entirely different use. :)

And here it is all neat and organized. I have a big bag of crib sheets and bed skirts ready for Goodwill too. I don't know why I was hanging on to those for so long! I also made enough space on my shelves for my cute hot pink cooler, beach bag that I just got from Barnes and Noble and my monogrammed Land's End tote bag.

Since my husband likes to drive me crazy by throwing his sweaty hats on top of the dryer at any given moment, I decided to stick some nails into the wall to act as pegs for him to hang his hats on. I also pulled out an old coffee can, cut a slit into the lid and placed it on the shelf. It is perfect for stashing loose change and buttons as they come off into the wash. ...now if only I can keep mommy's new change can a secret from the kids!

Funny thing about that little hook the basket is hanging from. It was always there but I didn't know it. After clearing this shelf, I discovered that it was upside down. The hook was on the top side serving no purpose so I flipped it over and now I have something to hang my fabric softener sheets (that I never use) from. I also put a nail on the wall for the occasional belt that I have to yank from pants before they go into the wash. Today's belt was my son's baseball belt.

And there you have it. My newly organized laundry/linen closet. My actual linen closet is upstairs, but I hate going up the steps just for a pillow case, so this is where my sheets will remain. Nice and neat!

Making a Hummingbird Feeder with My Little Hummingbird.

2011-06-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

We spent the weekend in the mountains and not only did we get to watch the sun rise over the mountain tops Saturday and Sunday morning, we were also entertained by all the hummingbirds coming to eat at the feeder hanging from the porch. I nearly drove myself insane trying to capture one with my camera. I did get one shot, but it's really no good.

Not only did I enjoy the hummingbirds, but my daughter did too. I tell you, if she were a bird, she would be a hummingbird too! These birds pretty much live on sugar and so does my sweet Taylor and she's as small and quick as a hummingbird.

This morning, Taylor and I made our own feeder for our porch. This is what my kitchen table looked like at 7 a.m. today (I'm still on watch the sunrise over the mountain- time).

We used an empty water bottle, Gatorade cap, hot glue, tin foil, and non-toxic paint. Also, we used some twine for hanging, but that's not pictured here.

Since hummingbirds drink nectar, they needed some sort of flowers to pull the sugar water from. We used tin foil to make the petals, but first we painted the foil with non toxic paint. Here are Taylor's little hands in action.

After the paint dried on the foil, I folded the foil in half and free handed the petals with my handy Martha Stewart craft scissors. Love those things! I then opened the petals and crossed them to make an x. Next, I took a poker and put a hole in the middle and glued the petals together.

Here are the petals glued to the cap. I touched up the paint and then went a little crazy with the other colors.

And here you have it! A hummingbird feeder made by Taylor and me. It is filled with sugar water that is 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. We hung this up this morning and we've already had a hummingbird come to feed!

I found the instructions on making hummingbird feeders at this site: http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/feedersmake.php. Check it out. It has lots of helpful information and more detailed instructions than I gave you!

A Gift for Ms. Keri

2011-06-07T11:50:00.000-04:00

My youngest son has had a wonderful speech teacher this year. Her name is Ms. Keri and he has loved working with her. I asked him why he likes her so much and he told me that it's because she plays games with him. Well, I like her so much because she's helped him find his L's and she's working on his K sounds.

Tomorrow is his last day with her. Next year he'll be in elementary school and will probably have the resident speech teacher so we will be saying farewell! Here's a little something that I made for her as a gift to let her know how much we appreciate her. My first swing at giving someone my LandMark letters as a gift!

I pulled out my architectural letters for this one! I even got to use some of my new ones from our last vacation. I even re-purposed an old frame to be 100% crafty on this project!

I printed my pictures at the Walgreens 1-hour photo lab yesterday. I then matted them on 4.5 x 6.5 white cardstock. I used a large sheet of black paper that I bought in the art section of Hobby Lobby as the background.

The frame itself came from this really neat thrift store that just opened. They take old junk and re-purpose it to make nice new things. I picked up the frame from the warehouse in the back for a dollar. The paint even came from there. It was a small, half-full can of high gloss latex paint. I paid $1.25 for frame and paint! This project cost me under $5.

One great thing about architectural letters is that they are everywhere! The K came from one of the barn doors at Atalaya in Huntington Beach, SC. (Yes, that's South Carolina. There's one there too!) The E is a traffic light in Savannah, GA. Of course you know, traffic lights are everywhere too. The R was a horse mount in Savannah, GA...or was that Charleston? Okay, so I can't remember where that one came from, but both cities are very similar! The I is one that most people know of. Taken in Washington, DC. The Washington Monument!

One reason why having a well stocked craft room is beneficial to your family.

2011-06-07T07:25:00.002-04:00

It's the last week of school and my son has one final project to complete. It's due Wednesday and last night it hit me that he pretty much had NOTHING done. On Sunday, the kids and I made a paper mache mountain, but other than that, we had a semi-dry paper mache mountain and a piece of raw plywood. After thinking about our busy schedule for the rest of the week, I realized that he only had last night to work on it so I herded the kids and hubby upstairs to my craft room and we got to work! ...well, after the spray paint dried on the plywood and mountain.

I've never really done paper mache, but I knew that there was a way to do it using strips of newspaper and watered down glue, so we went with that. Thank you Martha Stewart for that nearly dried up bottle of glitter glue that has been in my craft stash for a couple years. It now has a good use! We used my old, or should I say vintage in order to sound fancy, Sears Merry Mushroom napkin holder as the mold.

Then I fired up my Cricut, making the Hollywood letters, Zoo sign, these waves and that fierce shark. I pulled out my Martha Stewart (Thanks, again!) scoring board to score the bottom quarter inch of these waves so I could fold them to make a base so they would stand up. The surf boards are from an old TAC stamp set.

The road was cut on my old Creative Memories wavy paper trimmer and I just drew in the dotted lines with my Uni-Ball gel pen in white...Love that pen!

I kept the kids busy with Legos while I was playing with paper. ...I mean helping my son work on his project. They built the people and props with them. They stayed busy the rest of the time picking up all the Legos that that they dumped on the floor in the process!

A long time ago when I saw that Jolee's Boutique San Francisco sign on clearance at Hobby Lobby, I knew that it would some day have a purpose. Well, here it is! Eighty cents well spent! The gold 49ers corner of this project came together very well with my son's Legos.

The large items are held down with glue dots. Man, I love those things! They're even securely keeping that Hot Wheels Porsche from rolling around! The paper pieces are just held down with my handy Scotch ATG tape, which I do believe is one of my best purchases!

Can you guess the theme of this project? I bet you can! It's California and it takes a look at some of the places in Cali that make it interesting. We have Hollywood of course, San Francisco, the PCH, San Diego Zoo, La Brea Tar Pits (black t-shirt paint worked nicely for that tar!) and finally, the beach. It is on wheels and ready to go in the parade. All of the kids had a state to make a float so I'm looking forward to seeing them all together! (And to see how our project compares to the others....oops, did I say that?!)

So you see, when you buy tons and tons of craft supplies and tools, you're not only buying something for yourself. You're buying emergency items to help bail your son out of procrastination! :)

I do believe this is my favorite one yet! (More Caboodles craziness.)

2011-05-27T22:01:00.002-04:00

I decided to swing by the Goodwill on Wednesday before picking my son up from school and look what I found! It's pink with peach hardware! So 90s fab and I love, love, love it! I really hope to find a black and white one with a hot pink handle one of these days. These are so much fun to collect! I just hope my husband doesn't call me out on to this madness.

I was so excited to snap a photo of this baby that I didn't even notice that I missed a couple spots when I was drying it off. oops!

Stampin Up! Meets Pottery at Bisque N Beads!

2011-05-27T13:47:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of helping out with our church's Girls in Action group this year. The girls were amazing, but what was more amazing was the work and dedication of Mrs. Lisa, the group's leader. I knew there was no way to thank her in a way that could begin to match the time, talents and resources she put into the group, so I did the next best thing. I made her something!

Last Friday, I loaded my Stampin Up! Boatloads of Love, along with my All in the Family stamp sets into my craft bag and headed to Bisque n' Beads. This year's theme was Anchors Aweigh, so a nautical themed plate was perfect!

I was so excited to get started on this gift for Mrs. Lisa. I mean really excited. So excited that I showed up about thirty minutes before the place even opened! Now I know. Bisque n' Beads does not open until 10 a.m.. Matter of Fact, NOTHING (except for the little pharmacy) opens before 10 a.m. on the square in downtown Hickory. Hmph. Luckily the weather was nice last Friday morning so I walked down to the pharmacy, bought a Coke and sat on a bench and waited for the store to open.

Once they let me into the store, I went to the wall, picked out a big plate that would be the perfect size for Lottie Moon cookies and got started. I stared by stamping the images directly onto the bisque. I used Memento Tuxedo Black (my favorite). It really didn't matter what ink I used at this point. The ink will fire out. If you want your line image to work directly from the stamp, you have to stamp with actual pottery glaze. In this case, I traced back over the lines with a fine tipped squeeze bottle of pottery paint. This was a good thing because I accidentally stamped a cloud a little too close to where Mrs. Lisa's head was supposed to be stamped! I had a little bit of overlapping going on for a while!

After that, I painted, and painted, and painted! I was there for over two hours, but here it is. My gift for Mrs. Lisa. I gave it to her on Wednesday night and she loved it. There's just something about hand painted pottery. Love it! :)

My little terrarium.

2011-05-23T21:02:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to make my own terrarium for about a year now but never got around to it. Until today, that is! I found this little glass jar this afternoon at the thrift shop and knew that today would be the day to make my very own terrarium!

The jar is a little Anchor Hocking candy jar. It probably sat on some cute little old lady's coffee table for years filled with stuck-together-in-one-solid-lump hard candy. It is now filled with rocks, marbles, potting soil, a little bit of moss from the yard, and a little plant that my son gave me for Mother's Day. Not exactly an edible switch, but neither is that old hard candy! I also hope to find a mini mushroom and cute gnome figurine to place inside. I'll probably find these items on Etsy. I'm sure of it.

This is such a fun and easy little project. I see a few more terrariums in my future! If you're a friend of mine, I hope you like them too. Don't be surprised if you get one from me as a gift. :)

I'm officially Caboodles crazy!

2011-05-19T14:20:00.003-04:00

Since buying that pretty blue Caboodles (and that big Sassaby) less than a week ago, the wheels have been turning. There are so many things that I can store inside a Caboodles, so I was thrilled to find two more today!

The pink and lilac one is my favorite, but boy was it a mess! It was covered in scuff marks and grime, but nothing a bottle of orange cleaner & degreaser, an old toothbrush and my Magic Eraser couldn't handle! Also, a little furniture polish works wonders when it comes to removing old stickers and gunk.

What I love about this pink and lilac beauty is its size. It is made just like the caboodle that I used to have back in the day too! My old buddy, oh how I miss you! It has two tiers of shelves, a removable tray and a mirror. You could call this the deluxe model! :) Now that it's all cleaned up, I've decided to move my makeup over to this baby! I need that mirror.

I do have one word of caution about cleaning your Caboodles with a Magic Eraser. Don't wipe it over the logo. I'm pretty sure I did that on this one. See where it's a little rubbed off on the top? It doesn't take much elbow grease to either! I didn't realize I had done that until I was drying it off. Sigh.

Here's how the oval shaped caboodle opens up. I'm really not sure how old this one is. When I look on eBay, I see that some people are saying this one is a style from the '80s, but I don't agree at all. The mirror looks brand new and the plastic doesn't look very old. It also has a recycling symbol with the number 5 inside. That's a dead give away that it isn't as old as the others. I think I shall call this one my new nail polish kit!

These boxes are just so much fun. They come in some funky colors that I'd really like to have so my quest continues! Meanwhile, I'll be happy with the ones I have for now. I'll also be happy to share them with my daughter. You know Caboodles crazy tends to run in the family. :)

Vintage 90's Makeup Storage à la Caboodles!

2011-05-16T15:00:00.001-04:00

If you were over the age of 12 at any point during the '90s, then you probably had one of these! I know I did and I toted my Caboodles with me every time I went to sleep over at a friends house and when I went off to summer camp. I packed it with all of my make-up, trinkets and items to trade (remember trading?!), Rave extra super mega hold hairspray, curling iron, crimping iron, and Lord knows what else!

These cases came in so many sizes and had so many compartments (see below) that you could fit lots of stuff inside! This art deco beauty below is not a Caboodles, but competing brand Sassaby. While Caboodles where on top back in the day, I have to say that the Sassabys with their art deco styling just might be my favorite today!

I actually picked up this Sassaby at the Good Will this morning for a buck fifty! It has all of its compartments and dividers and after a good cleaning with some household cleaner, toothbrush and a Magic Eraser, she cleaned up nicely! I originally bought it for my daughter, but I'm tempted to keep it for myself! Still debating on that one. :)

I believe the Caboodles I actually used in the '90s is still at my parent's house. I might hit my mom up for that one as it's bigger than the one I just bought. I can't believe I ever stopped using it in the first place! After years fumbling around, digging for make up in the many, many make up bags I've had since ditching my old Caboodles, I'm glad to have a new one in my possession!

I know they make newer models that you can buy at WalMart and Target, but there's something about the old ones. I just love them!

Architectural Letter Photography

2011-05-03T11:41:00.002-04:00

Now, I don't get out much, but I just love historic cities like Charleston and Savannah or Washington, DC. I love walking the streets of these places just so I can take in all the beautiful buildings. There's just something special about a structure that someone has taken a little more time to build. Not only is it interesting to just look at these buildings. It's also fun to see how many letters of the alphabet the shapes of these building's (or bridge's, fence's, or whatever's) archways, windows and roof tops can make.

I decided to sit down and play with Photoshop for a bit today and spelled out a couple names (Vicky and Charity, or my mom and me). It's also great to print these as regular 4x6 photos so they can be matted and framed. They make great wall art!

That '70s Chair

2011-04-18T14:13:00.005-04:00

...Well, I'm not really sure how old these chairs are, but one things for sure: They are are from a decade that is long gone!

I found these simple oak chairs this morning at the local Goodwill store. I really wasn't looking for chairs, but there they were! Goodwill Gold! (And at $4 each, they were even more perfect!)

I love the worn look of them. They remind me of the chairs you'd see in a college library. Imagine how many hung-over college students sat in these chairs over the years!

After giving each chair a little wiggle to make sure they weren't too wobbly, I soon came to the conclusion that they only needed one or two screws tightened and a good old cleaning. So off I went to the register with one chair in each hand! And let me tell you, these chairs were hea-vy! I nearly broke a sweat!

I didn't even bother carrying these chairs inside when I got home. Nope! They first needed lots and lots (and lots!) of cleaning to get through that layer of grime so the "patina" can show through. I left them on the front porch and brought out my arsenal of buckets and sudsy water and then I scrub, scrub, scrubbed for about 30 minutes.

After their much needed cleaning with a little sudsy water, and then some Murphy oil soap, I gave these chairs a rub-down with some Old English furniture repair polish. After that, I used some regular wood furniture polish to really make them shine.

Wow! Talk about a power combo! Soon these chairs were just shining in the sunlight coming into my front porch. Are they perfect, museum-quality chairs? Well, no. Did I want perfect, museum-quality chairs? Absolutely not. After all, I did pick them up at Goodwill! These chairs look great in my office, replacing the mismatched chairs that I've been wanting to replace.

With this $8 investment, I am so pleased! And now I have matching chairs for my kids to sit in when they're all playing on the computer together. I have to say it was a good (will) day!

Doin' the Paint Shelf Shuffle!

2011-04-11T12:56:00.008-04:00

So I was stalking my friends, Natalie and Heather's blog the other day and saw this project that they just finished. Now, I'm not one who jumps at the chance to paint a room and I certainly don't enjoy painting furniture, but I do likes me a furniture make over every now and then! Well, with this shot of inspiration this girl decided that it's high time to roll up her sleeves and find something to paint!

I've been needing a wooden shelf (well, actually this house has so many built-in shelves, I really don't, but that's beside the point). Anyhoo. I've been on a closet organization mission and thought a shelf would be perfect to organize my shoes, so I found this shelf for only $36 bucks at the Habitat for Humanity store:

I know first impressions are everything when it comes to furniture shopping and this poor thing didn't stand a chance to become much more than kindling if left in the state that I found her. There was a thin layer of furniture stain, complete with drip marks, and she was rough to the touch. Also, when they loaded her up in my car, only then did I see the spider webs and eggs covering the bottom and in all her cracks and crevices. I had the heebie jeebies the whole way home. I kept getting that feeling that there was a spider crawling on me. (Shudder)

Well, I managed to get this big old gal out of my car all by myself without getting one spider on me. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is intended to be one unit, but luckily the guys at the Habitat store keep a screw gun handy so a few zips here and there and she was broken into two pieces that slid into into the back of my vehicle.

After my daughter and I pulled her outside, we began wipe the cobwebs away and clean the heck out of this thing. I did not want to bring any unwelcome visitors into my house with this thing so we got rid of all the webs and checked the cracks for spiders. Once we got the all-clear we began to paint, and paint, and paint! This shelf took three coats and I'm sure I could go back for more touch-up!

And here it is! Ain't she a beaute?!

Remember how I mentioned that this shelf was bought with the intentions of closet organization? Well I changed my mind.

I decided that my office was in greater need of some shelves because, well, it didn't have any. I figured that if I got my printers off my desk and found a place for my stacks of books and miscellaneous items, my desk could be a nice, wide-open space. And I love big, clean desks!

I also decided that I like this unit better separated so I shuffled the pieces around.

Here it is broken into two pieces. The smaller one now holds my printer and scanner and the larger piece is filled with my favorite books including my new obsession, John Jakes. Well his books really aren't new at all, but after picking up that copy of North and South, I'm hooked!

And here you go! My new (to me) shelves with paint so fresh it still has that new paint smell!

The Season of Friendship - Is just around the corner!

2011-02-04T08:12:00.002-05:00

As I'm sitting here on this three-hour school delay morning, I'm dreaming of spring. Now, I'll be the first one to admit that I love a good snow day, but after having two months in a row heating bills that were so high that I nearly fell out of my chair upon opening, I'm ready for a nice warm front.

So in my daydream believer style, I whipped up this card to entice spring to move on in. After all, Mr. Groundhog's shadow was nowhere to be found this February 2nd.

For this card, I used my beloved Season of Friendship stamp set that Stampin Up! offers. Love that set.

For the leaves I just stamped, stamped, stamped away to fill out the tree and I love how it turned out. And what tree would be complete without a few blossoms and a sweet yellow bird perched on top? Not this one!

I love me some Circle Circus!

2011-01-09T17:55:00.002-05:00

I have to admit that I can't tell you how many times I've flipped past Stampin Up's Circle Circus in the catalog thinking to myself, Pssht! Who needs to spend twenty eight dollars on a bunch of circles? Well, Self, you do; that's who!

I recently became a Stampin Up! demo and when I was putting my first order together, I did a quick search to see just what the dealio was with this set and I was just floored by all the fun projects other stampers have made with this fun set.

Here's a thank you card that uses a bunch of inks and every single one of the stamps in that Circle Circus set. I have to say that this is now one of my favorite sets!

Love this nest.

2010-11-20T10:06:00.004-05:00

I love making these simple nests. It's just strips of paper, but the overall effect is just lovely. (If I must say so myself!)

This nest also makes a great embellishment on a scrapbook album title page. When my youngest was born, I used one of these nests with the title, "A new bird in our nest." Sigh. So sweet!! Now my little bird is five years old! Whew. Time really does fly on by when you have kids! (Pun intended. Get it... birds, nests...flying?)

Shark! Halloween costume.

2010-10-03T20:48:00.005-04:00

I got into the Halloween spirit a bit early this year and this weekend I was given the opportunity for uninterrupted craft time. (Hubby was out of town!)

So naturally, I ran down to Hobby Lobby and picked up some supplies to make this shark costume. A friend of mine from school that I'm now friends with on Facebook, has this adorable picture on her page of her and her little brother from a Halloween many moons ago. In this picture I was given the inspiration to take a stab at making a shark costume for my youngest child. Her mother, who was my elementary school art teacher, had made this glorious shark costume for my friend's little brother. I took the picture and figured up a pattern. After a couple hours of sewing and a little bit of hot gluing, here's my cute Chase posing in his new costume! I may sew the glued items down later on, but for now it will do!

The second photo gives a better view of the sleeves/fins. Chase was asleep when I finished the costume so his big sister tried it on for me. This was before I added a few more teeth!

Blog Candy at Playing with Paper!

2010-08-23T09:09:00.004-04:00

Check out the awesome blog candy that's being offered at Playing With Paper!

NES Controller Birthday Invitations

2010-08-07T08:06:00.003-04:00

My son will be 10 a week from today! I can't believe it! This is probably the last year he'll let me make his party invitations, so I wanted to make something that he would really like. Here's what I came up with and he LOVED it!

I love it too! Obviously it's a simple design. I used my paper cutter for the base and background. For the buttons, my Cricut Sans Serif cartridge proved to be very useful! My little Xyron was a life saver for all of these tiny parts. This was a fun project and I love how it turned out!

I made a skirt! A real skirt!

2010-08-06T08:20:00.003-04:00

Alright so I've played around with making pillows, sewing buttons on and little things like that, but this is the first thing I've ever sewn from start to finish using a pattern. And it wasn't terribly hard! Just a little tedious and time consuming at most.

When I first pulled out the pattern I almost stuffed it back in the envelope and walked away from it. I was just so over stimulated with it all, but then I sat down and took one step at a time.

I started by cutting out the pieces that went with the skirt that I chose to make from that pattern. (Skirt C) And then began pinning the pattern pieces to the fabric.

Here's where I almost stopped again. Pattern lingo is so simple that it's confusing to a beginner! I didn't know what the heck "Cut 2 on Fold" meant. I called my mom (the master seamstress) and she didn't answer. I tried her 3 times! I even tried calling my dad to see if he could put my mom on the phone. Then I finally Googled it.

So here it is. I can't believe that I didn't mess anything up. I almost did a couple times, but I kept my brain on and here it is! My creation. And my beautiful daughter posing in it. It's a little longer than I thought it would be, but I'm still proud of it!

Digi Stamps, Anyone?!

2010-07-13T22:58:00.002-04:00

My Stamp-Shack friend, Kirsty, has just launched a blog where she's sharing her digi stamp creations! Check it out and be sure to leave her a nice comment. She has some cute images on there and it's so sweet of her to share! :)

http://kirsty-j-freedigistamps.blogspot.com/

LandMark Letters

2010-07-06T06:42:00.006-04:00

I opened an Etsy shop that I call LandMark Letters a couple weeks ago where I post photos of letters that I've seen in architecture and nature. Here are couple of my favorites that I took on a hot day in Savannah, GA.

Here you see the letter J that I found at the top of a building, an A that I saw standing in front of a fountain, and the letter H found on a bridge.

I have my last name framed and it looks so neat! In fact, I have several good friends that will soon be receiving their last name in LandMark letters as gifts from me! Check out my shop!

Father's day card for my awesome dad!

2010-06-25T08:28:00.002-04:00

I just love this image from Unity's June kit of the month. It makes me think of all those old photos of my dad from his surfer days growing up in San Diego. Like so many other dads, my dad is a sucker for tools. I do believe that's where I get my paper crafting tool obsession from!!

Cards for Teachers

2010-06-24T15:04:00.004-04:00

This school year has flown by! Whew. I was in such a hurry to get these cards made that I did them assembly line style. I just love that Teachabella image by Stamping Bella. So cute!!

Home sweet home!

2010-05-13T18:55:00.002-04:00

Home sweet home! I just spent the entire day on a zoo field trip with my first grader and my four year old tagging along. It was hot, it involved lots of walking and I'm exhausted! The kids behaved extremely well and did great on the two-hour (each way) car trip. It was a fun day, but I'm so glad to be back home!

Here's a scrapbook page I made with my daughter. I let her do most of the stitch marks with my Uni-ball Signo pen. I think she did a great job!

Mother's Day card with Sweet n' Sassy Stamps

2010-05-11T13:40:00.003-04:00

I was out of town for Mother's Day attending a wedding and my awesome mom (and dad!)was wonderful enough to drive to our house all the way from Florida to stay with the kids. I left her gift on the dining room table with this card attached to the box and she had the hardest time waiting until Sunday to open. She did confess that she opened the card early. She just couldn't take the suspense any more! I love this sweet image by Sweet N'Sassy Stamps. Unfortunately, this stamp is no longer available. She's pretty much all digi now. (I'm not!) I believe she may make this available as a digi stamp to those of you who have moved into 21st century stamping.

I be Scrappin'!

2010-05-05T13:34:00.001-04:00

I haven't scrapbooked since last June, so I'm so pleased with myself for starting up again! Here's a premade page that I whipped up for some family photos. My parents live in Florida so we have lots of Florida pics. I layered the ocean waves and used dimensional foam to make them pop. I used Jolee's stickers, which I love. They make scrapbooking so easy! I'm also a big fan of that paper. I found it as a stack at Michael's--and it was on sale!

Wish you were here!

2010-05-04T20:50:00.002-04:00

I made this card with some scraps that were leftover from something I was scrapbooking. I couldn't resist that pad of paper at Michael's. K&Co. I believe. I used an old Creative Memories paper cutter to make the waves. The palm trees are from Stampin Up. Prehistoric Pals. I bought that set right before it was retired. I knew it would get lots of use. The dolphin and sentiment are from the Ocean Treasure stamp set by Close To My Heart. The Sun is from the Daydream stamp set by CTMH.

Quick and simple!

2010-04-19T18:18:00.002-04:00

I wanted to ink up a stamp set that I just got in the mail, but I didn't want to go through all the thought process of choosing coordinating papers, cutting them to size, trimming borders, etc. So I just made a simple card using brown ink, some ribbon, Kraft paper and a couple rhinestone stickers.

Here's my creation! I kind of like it. :)

Thinking of You

2010-04-15T13:21:00.002-04:00

This fun image came with Unity's March 2009 kit of the month. I did a little paper piecing on this one and had fun with it. I love how the soft yellow paper goes with that Kraft background.

I also broke out my Martha Stewart border punch for this one. I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of her clear stamps, but her border punch designs always tend to be my faves.

You're the Cherry on Top!

2010-04-09T22:01:00.003-04:00

I used paper from my scrap pile for this. To me, sometimes it's easier to do that. Some papers are just too pretty to cut to pieces so when they're already all cut up, it takes the thinking out of it. "Hmmm...should I cut this up for a card now or save it for something bigger later?" is always my thought process.

When it's already in my scrap pile, I'm rescuing it from the trash and therefore it's my mission to make use of it.

The stamps are from Unity's June 2009 kit of the month. (Someone on SCS sold it to me at a great price!) I also used a Fiskars edge punch on this and I believe the paper is by Cosmo Cricket.

Inked up my SU Chocolate bunny (finally).

2010-03-30T19:28:00.003-04:00

Here's the lone Easter card that I have made so far this year. I love that chocolate bunny stamp that's in the current Stampin' Up Mini Catalog and I'm pretty sure that lots and lots of stampers have this in their stash. Who could resist?!

I stamped this image with my Tsukineko Galaxy Gold Brilliance Stamp Pad onto vellum. I then cut out the image and glued it onto the tag that I cut out with one of my Nestabilities sets. I added a handful of Primas, some pearls and some bling and here you go!

Mommy and Me time with Sarah Kay/Stampavie

2010-03-29T14:31:00.004-04:00

My daughter had a birthday party to go to this weekend, so we sat down together and made this card for her little friend. I stamped the Stampavie image by Sarah Kay called Rosalie's Bicycle and my six-year-old daughter colored it with my Copic markers. I think she did a fantastic job!

While she colored the image, I put the background together, using my Nestabilities die and an old Creative Memories corner punch that I have in my stash. We had a great time working on this together.

We're going to a wedding today!

2010-03-27T08:37:00.002-04:00

I just love weddings! Here's a card that I made for the bride and groom. I always try to keep wedding cards simple. I just used some Stampin' Up! card stock that I had on hand for this.

I cut the frame with my Cricut Sweethearts cartridge and the stamps that I used are a Studio G set that I picked up over a year ago at Michaels. I've gotten well more than my $1 worth with that set!

I stamped the image with Palette ink, stamped again with Versamark and heat embossed it with frosted embossing powder.

I love that Tiffany box look with the white satin bow. Especially for a wedding card.

Home is Where Your Story Begins.

2010-03-26T09:27:00.003-04:00

I went for a simple card and I think that's what I got! All I used for this card is half a sheet of card stock, ink, stamps, ribbon and maybe ten minutes. I used Stampin' Up's Good Neighbors set for this--a set that I earned for free through this year's Sale-A-Bration. (Going on through the end of this month.)

I'm still trying to get the hang of getting everything aligned, but I like how this turned out despite a couple crooked roofs. Perhaps a Stamp a Majig will be my next must-have item.

The sentiment and sun stamps are from Unity Stamps. And the inks that I used are CTMH.

Followed my heart and found you!

2010-03-25T17:15:00.003-04:00

Alright, I'm really on a Unity kick. But really, these sets that I have are so big I have to make lots of cards to use all of these awesome images!!

This card was made using stamps from their February 2010 Kit of the Month, Nothing but Blue Skies. The sentiment was a freebie they packed in my starter kit that comes from the August 2009 kit of the month, Following My Heart... And by the way, that one is their most popular kit sold to date. I don't have it yet, but I want it!

I used lots of Stickles on this card and just had fun with it. I started with a white card base, added a wavy strip of green grass and sponged the white sky background. I added a little bit of a string bow in the corner to finish it off.

Oh, and that bird nest is a creation that I came up with when I ventured past the paper crafting aisle at Hobby Lobby yesterday. Those eggs are ceramic and to make my "nest" I used a roll of raffia from the party aisle. It's all held inside a votive bowl, which I found half off. Just about everything's half off at Hobby Lobby at least one week out of the month!

Love, love, LOVE this stamp!

2010-03-25T07:22:00.002-04:00

I earned this stamp for free as a referral credit when my friend, Cindi, signed up for Unity's Kit of the Month. I picked this stamp named So & So Loves.... I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. So cute!!

It's just colored in with Copics and the sentiment is also Unity. It's another freebie that was thrown into my welcome kit. It took me a while to figure out what it said because I was trying to look at it upside down!

Long time, no post!

2010-03-24T14:05:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted in ages, but I've recently been bitten again by the stamping bug.

Last month I joined Unity Stamp's Kit of the Month Club and man oh man is it fantastic! Each month I get a new kit and the kit is HUGE. Many come with over 20 really cute stamps. Check it out.

I made this set using stamps from their "enjoy YOUR STORY...laugh" kit. I am a sucker for good tree images and that deer put me over the top.

The deer is paper pieced and I colored in some places with my Copic markers. Fun, fun, fun!!

Martha Stewart Let Me Down a Bit

2008-12-21T19:46:00.002-05:00

I nearly tripped over myself trying to get to this stamp by Martha Stewart the moment I saw it hanging on the rack at A.C. Moore.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed when I inked it up because the ink kept beading up on it. I tried several tricks to condition the stamp, but nothing worked. Oh well. I still cranked out about five of these cards and I think they turned out alright. I just wish the image was more crisp. Sigh..

Still Love Loads of Love

2008-12-20T19:18:00.002-05:00

I made these cards for my son's preschool teachers with my trusty Stampin Up! Loads of Love stamp set.

The trucks are colored with Copics (of course) and cut out. I used dimensional foam adhesive so the trucks pop a bit.

The little puff of smoke is from my Close to My Heart Little Builder set.

Rubbernecker Stamp Oasis Reindeer's Flight

2008-12-19T17:04:00.002-05:00

I have been absolutely terrible about posting lately. Well, lately is an understatement. Since October!! Sheesh!

I made several styles of Christmas cards this year and have yet to mail any, but I will. Probably tomorrow and I am not looking forward to the line at the post office!

I bought this stamp over the summer. It is called Reindeer's Flight by Stamp Oasis at Rubbernecker.com

I used my trusty Copic markers and sponged the background blue. I love this whimsical stamp although I do have to admit that the eyes look a bit creepy to me.

Oh, and did I mention that these stamps are on sale right now?! Well, just about everything is on sale right now, but that's beside the point. :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! The Oscar the Grouch Way.

2008-09-25T20:06:00.004-04:00

Who doesn't love Oscar the Grouch. He's the ultimate recycler.

As I drove through town today, passing by all the gas stations with no more gas and the long line of cars at the one station in town that did have gas, one word kept popping up in my head, well actually two.. Consumption and PANIC!! I was also reminded of how simple life is in Sesame Street. Sigh!!

For this card, I pulled paper from my scrap pile. The dandelion paper came from a Miss Elizabeth's paper pack that I bought several years ago. I recently opened it when I was making crafts with my daughter. I crumpled the paper and distresed it with some CTMH ink in Bamboo. It's gotta look a little dirty to go on a card with an Oscar The Grouch stamp! I colored the image with Sharpie, Bic and Copic markers.

I got this stamp for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. It's called Oscar Loves Trash by Stampabilities.

Rubber Stampede Santa Collage Card

2008-09-21T16:49:00.003-04:00

I was at Michael's on Friday night and happened upon this Rubber Stampede Santa Collage stamp. I was so excited because I had heard this stamp was discontuined and I didn't know that they started manufacturing these again.

I have seen it on eBay and of course it was going for ridiculous prices so I was thrilled to pick this baby up for $7.99 at Michael's. I didn't have a coupon with me so I had to pay full price, but hey, I still think it was a great deal for this fantastic stamp! LOL

For this card, I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on white cardstock for the background. I stamped the image with Versamark and sprinkled it with silver embossing powder. I love watching embossing powder cure. It's so pretty.

I made a batch of these for my Christmas card stack. I'll probably crank out a few more, but I would really like to find a good nativity stamp for the cards that I will be passing around at church.

A couple Bellas

2008-09-20T09:19:00.003-04:00

Just like most people, I was in love with all the Bellas at http://www.stampingbella.com/ the first time I saw them. I have a binder full of them from the last time they offered free shiping. Here are a couple cards that I put together this week.

With it being Football season, I have figured a great way to spend time with my husband without complaining about having to watch ANOTHER football game with him. I just stamp all over an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock and color them in with my copics while the game is on. It works out beautifully. He doesn't complain about me not paying attention to him and I don't complain about not being able to watch my shows.

I used Prezzibella for the first card. This Bella looks so much like my older sister I can't help but think of her when I see it.

Mamabella adorns card number two. This is for a friend of mine who just had her first child.

PeachyKeenStamps What's So Funny?

2008-09-13T09:27:00.004-04:00

PeachyKeenStamps has some really cute images. Here is an image from my What's so Funny? set. This is exactly how I feel when it snows. I just want to hug the ground.

I sponged some yellow and pink in the background for that sunset effect. I also added some diamond stickles to add a little shimmer to the snow.

Just Chicken in with SU! Best of Cluck

2008-09-12T13:54:00.002-04:00

I love the Stampin Up! Best of Cluck set. It's an older set that I bought off eBay a while back. Here is the first card that I made using Best of Cluck. I really don't know what took me so long to whip out this set. There are so many cute stamps in it.

I used only paper from my scrap pile to make the front of this card. I hate throwing bits and pieces of paper away so I've been holding onto these pieces for a long time. I need to use up more scrap pieces, so I'll try to reach for the scrap pile until I can get it down to a more manageable size. One good thing about reaching for the scrap pile is that the paper is quite often piled as I had previously coordinated them for other projects, so it creates a short cut for me. No thinking about what matches this and what goes with that.

The chicken was stamped with clear embossing ink and sprinkled withe black embossing powder and heat embossed. I then colored the wings, tail and headpiece with my Copic markers. I took a light grey Copic and drew around the image to make it pop a little.

Of course, nothing goes better with a chicken stamp than a table cloth patterned paper. That table cloth vellum came from a Martha Stewart pack that I bought on clearance at Michaels last year. The chicken wire background stamp is made by Rubbernecker stamps.

Scrapbook Page using Stampin Up! Bundle Up stamps

2008-09-09T18:14:00.002-04:00

I got this SU Bundle Up set for a steal on ETSY. I love that site.

Here is a two-page 12x12 spread that I made. The patterned background paper is from my My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus pad and the ribbon is just some stuff that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

Perhaps one of these days, I'll actually stick some pictures onto these pages, but for now I'm just having fun making the background pages for my albums.

SU Unfrogettable "Have I toad you lately that I love you?"

2008-09-06T18:53:00.005-04:00

I challenged myself to make something with my unused Stampin Up! Unfrogettable stamp set. Here's what I came up with. I don't know why this set has been neglected for so long. It is absolutely adorable!! I colored the frog with Sharpies and used my Copic blending marker to finish it up. I used a mixture of Copics and Sharpies on the other stamped images. To accessorize, I cut out some flowers from the scrap paper and pop dotted them on there for added dimension.

Stampin Up! Shellebrate Card

2008-09-06T18:53:00.004-04:00

I just got this set yesterday. Here is my first creation with the surfing snowman from the SU Shellebrate stamp set For the background, I rubbed Versamagic dew drops on the waves in Agean Blue and Sea Breeze. I also added Diamond Stickles and Aleene's Glitter Snow to the water. I used a circle stamp from my Lizzie Anne Designs Out of This World set and rubbed a little yellow straight from the pad to give some sun beams in the sky. The board is paper pieced.

I used Close To My Heart Serendipity paper for this.

Getting some Scrapbook Pages Made

2008-09-05T21:08:00.002-04:00

I have really been neglecting my scrapbooks. This week I have focused a lot of my attention toward making pages. Here is something that I made using my Basic Grey Mellow Collection pack.

I love those Basic Grey paper packs. I added a few brads and pieces of ribbon here and there, but for the most part, everything on these pages is from the pack. I inked the edges of the pages and rubbed some brown ink on the background paper to make the white background blend with the BG paper. I'm having fun making these pages and I feel like I'm getting something accomplished... now if only I could sit down and organize my photos...

Happy Haunting!

2008-09-02T19:24:00.003-04:00

I know it's a little early for Halloween, but I just had to post this card that I put together yesterday. I have had this CTMH Happy Haunting stamp set for a while now and have never made anything with it.

I used copic markers to color the house and inked the edges of the ghosts with green for that ectoplasm aura. :)

The moon is made by Lizzie Anne Designs.

For the background paper, I just took a white piece of cardstock and rubbed a dark blue dew drop ink pad all over it.

I Wish I Looked So Good on a Bike a Bella

2008-09-01T17:24:00.003-04:00

I love all of the Stamping Bella Stamps. They are absolutely adorable. This one is aptly named "I Wish I Looked So Good on a Bike a Bella." Cute name... cute stamp.

I colored this using a combination of Copic and Sharpie markers. The sentiment is by The Angel Company and the ribbon came from Dollar Tree! Love that.

Hot Cocoa

2008-08-30T08:34:00.002-04:00

The cocoa looks like it's a little too hot for that cup! I made this ATC using paper from my MME paper stack and textured background paper.

The stamps are made by PeachyKeenStamps. I just love all the expressions that Kathy Jakopovich gave these little marshmallows when she designed this set.

So long, Summer!!

2008-08-28T08:41:00.003-04:00

Time to pack up the campers and bid happy trails to Summer!!

I made this using my Stampin Up! Happy Camper stamp set. The sentiment came from one of my Cat's Pajamas sets. I thught it was very fitting for this card.

I used CTMH background paper and I roughed up the edges of the red background paper with my sanding block to tie it all together.

Fall Card with CTMH Autumn's Gifts

2008-08-23T08:43:00.002-04:00

I put this together last night using BasicGrey paper, my Copic markers and CTMH Autumn's Gifts stamps. I also used a couple Sharpie Markers and I must say that I am impressed with them. They are just as great as Copics and are much less expensive.

I finished it off with some cream satin ribbon, a safety pin and a pewter charm. I also added some stickles for a little extra detail.

This card is part of a four season swap that I'm participating in. Obviously, I chose Fall and I can't wait to see what other creations where made for Winter, Spring and Summer.

Christmas Card with Paper Inspirations Father Christmas

2008-08-22T17:56:00.002-04:00

I found this stamp at Hobby Lobby and just had to buy it. It's made by Paper Inspirations. I think it's so neat and it doesn't require any coloring so that's a real plus when it comes to making sets of Christmas Cards.

I made about 10 Christmas cards the other night using my new stamp. Here's what they look like.

The Merry Christmas stamp is one of the first stamps that I ever bought. It's made by PSX and I haven't used it in years, but I still lub it.

Stamp Shack Santa

2008-08-21T08:31:00.003-04:00

This year's Limited Edition Holiday Stamp Shack stamp is called Moonlight Snowman and it was designed by Paul Gunson. You can see the stamp by clicking here.

Pre-orders are being taken now through Friday, August 29th. Only one run will be done to make this stamp so once they're gone, they're gone. You can order this even if you're not a Stamp Shack member. Dont' be shy!

Popsicle Penguin ATC

2008-08-19T20:30:00.004-04:00

This penguin image was sent to me as part of a mystery image ATC swap. It's completely adorable, but I have no idea who makes it.

I colored it in with my Copic markers and added Stickles in various places for added detail.

The background stamp is by CTMH and the sand castle is by Lizzie Anne Designs. The sun is by Inkadinkado. The sun was originally hollow, so I took a pencil eraser and stamped the inside. It was the perfect fit!

UPDATE:

** Thanks to Jen at The Stamp Shack, I now know who makes this penguin stamp. It's Imaginisce and the are such a great value! Just 99 cents each! **

Gina K Owl ATC

2008-08-18T14:32:00.002-04:00

I'm getting caught up with my ATC swaps and have completed 7 different swaps since Friday. I'm so proud of myself. I was really far behind and I'm just about caught up.

The stamp is by Gina K designs and I stamped it with StazOn Timber Brown ink. I colored it in with Copic markers and addd Stickles here and there to embellish. I also used clear dimensional glaze on the eyes. The ribbon came from Michael's.

Paper Pieced Image with Magazine ATC

2008-08-06T21:07:00.002-04:00

I made this for an ATC swap that I'm doing. It uses paper piecing from a magazine.

I used CTMH stamps for this and a little bit of American Crafts ribbon.

I really like how this turned out, but I think if there was anything that I would change, it would be the actual magazine page that I used. The only magazine that I had on hand, that I was willing to cut up, was a medical magazine and if you look closely at the paper, you'll see some "icky" words.

Oh well, maybethis makes me giggle because I'm still a little bit immature. LOL

CTMH Play Time

2008-08-01T17:28:00.002-04:00

Close to My Heart makes so many adorable stamp sets. Here is something that I made with their new Play Time set. Isn't it precious?!

I tried to make the sentiment look like a flower with the ribbon stem and all.

I colored this image with my trusty Copic markers and used my white Uni-Ball pen to do the stitching around the edges.

Grin and bear it

2008-07-31T21:42:00.003-04:00

I'm participating in a virtual card swap at The Stamp Shack where we all were sent this adorable Teddy bear image to color and create a card with.

Here is my creation. I had so much fun coloring this guy in. I'm afraid I don't know who makes this stamp, but I think he's absolutely adorable. The sentiment is by CTMH stamped in White Daisy ink.

I used a white Uni-Ball Signo gel pen to "stitch" around the edges and accent with dots. The ribbon is the one and only Miss Elizabeth's from Dollar tree.

Christmas in July with Happy Hoppers

2008-07-29T08:04:00.003-04:00

I love the Happy Hopper stamps by Stampabilites. They are designed by the woman who makes the House Mouse stamps... which I also adore!

Here is a Christmas card that I put together with an image that I colored a while back. Isn't it sweet?! I used colored pencils and sponged the background. I also added diamond Stickles to this for a little extra shimmer.

Lily at the Beach

2008-07-16T21:04:00.002-04:00

I think Rachelle Ann Miller is a brilliant illustrator and I'm so glad her images are available as stamps.

I made this card using one of her Lily images. I colored this in with Copic markers and tried a little blending here and there.

The scrap pile on my table was getting pretty high and I found these background papers mixed in there. I had the image colored in already, so this card was so quick and easy to make. I really like how this turned out.

I have not decided what to stamp on the inside of this card. I might leave it blank until I figure out who I want to send this to.

Elisabeth Bell for Sugar Nellie

2008-07-12T19:24:00.002-04:00

I am participating in a virtual image swap at the shack. I was sent this fantastic image to use on my card and here is my creation. I'm too cheap to pay international postage, so I don't own any Elisabeth Bell and/or Sugar Nellie stamps so it was an extra special treat to receive this image to use.

For the background paper, I used paper from one of my My Mind's Eye paper stacks. The flowers are from my Iced Got Prima's jar and the ribbon came from some roll that I picked up at Michael's. The sentiment came from my new Close to My Heart Daydream set. I also used diamond stickles to make the clouds and to enhance the flowers on the background paper.

I rarely take pictures of the inside of my cards, but I like to decorate the insides as well. Not only does decorating the inside of the card add more detail, but it also gives the card more weight so it feels like an extra special card.

Card using Alcohol Ink

2008-07-10T11:43:00.002-04:00

I love playing with alcohol inks. Here is a card that I made using one of my AI experiments.

The stamps are by Basic Grey. This is the first time I've used clear stamps on AI pages and the first time that I have used these particular stamps. They were a little slippery on the paper. I'm going to take them for another spin to see if I can get the hang of stamping with these on slick paper, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

I used Palette hybrid ink in Noir and just added a little bit of hemp string as an accent. The "You Rock" sentiment is from my CTMH Dino Roar set.

Hip Hip Hooray

2008-07-06T19:35:00.002-04:00

I was playing with my embossing folders and made this card the other day. The stamps are by Gel-a-Tins. Aren't they cute?!

I used a little clear glaze to trace the black outlines on the hippo and just filled it in with some fun colors.

Frogetful Sam - SweetNSassyStamps

2008-07-05T16:59:00.002-04:00

I recently placed an order with SweetNSassy Stamps

and she was so kind to add a few stamped images to my package. This sweet image is one of their June releases called Frogetful Sam.

To color this in, I just used copic markers. The paper is by My Mind's Eye.

Lily & Milo Holding Hands - Rachelle Ann Miller

2008-07-04T20:20:00.002-04:00

I just adore Rachelle Ann Miller's illustrations and her stamps are wonderful!

Here is Lily and Milo. Aren't they sweet?! I colored this in with copic markers and decorated with Prima flowers and adhesive backed rhinestones. This was such a fun card to put together!

The sentiment is by Studio G. Love those little $1 stamps!

Like Magnolia Stamps? Then have a look at this blog.

2008-07-02T10:47:00.002-04:00

Pretty Pressings is offering a Magnolia Stamp blog candy! If you look through her previous posts you will also see some adorable cards that she has made with her Magnolia's.

When, oh when will these stamps become widely available in the US?!

Police Officer Training Graduation Card

2008-07-02T09:48:00.002-04:00

A friend of ours had his graduation ceremony from Police Officer Training last night. I had no police themed stamps and my husband made me promise not to make him a Girlie card, so I came up with this idea. Get it? Donuts and coffee... police officer? :)

For the donut, I just used my Creative Memories CCS circle patterns. I frosted it with my DecoArt Snow Writer and used Stickles to give the donut a few sprinkles. I used a scalloped circle punch to take a bite out of the donut.

The coffee stamp is by Inque Boutique and I just colored it in with some Copics. The sentiment is by Close to My Heart and the background paper is something I had in my Creative Memories photo mat pile. I believe they came as a free gift for something.

Sellabella- New Home Card

2008-06-30T08:16:00.003-04:00

A friend of ours just bought his first house. We went to his housewarming party yesterday and here's the card I made for him. I know it's a little girlie, but I just couldn't resist using this stamp. I mean, come on! If I didn't use it for him, who knows when I would have another opportunity to use it.

I colored the image in with my Copic markers and used some old buttons that I resucued from a pile of clothes that we were about to throw out.

Cruisabella

2008-06-29T13:58:00.003-04:00

One of the gals at http://www.stamp-shack.com/ sold me a bunch of her old (yet still awesome) Bella stamps. Thanks Angie!

This one is called Cruisabella... isnt' she fantastic?!

I made this as my monthly challenge card. This month's challenge is "Road Trip." The sentiments are by Scrappy Cat.

The picture doesn't really show it here, but Some of the flowers are cut from the background paper and glued onto the card. For some of these pieces, I used dimensional foam adhesive.

I also used clear glaze over the red portions of the car and I used stickles in silver on the bumper and diamond stickles on the headlights. Fun, fun, fun!

Pregabella- Celebrate!

2008-06-28T10:26:00.002-04:00

A good friend of mine has just found out that baby #2 is on the way. Now that's something to celebrate!

For this card, I used one of my new Bella stamps called Pregabella. I also used paper from one of my 8x8 TAC stacks, prima flowers and some cell phone bling that I bought at Dollar tree!

I colored the image in with some copic markers and inked the inside of the card with some CTMH ink. The Celebrate sentiment is by Studio G.

Celebrate in Style

2008-06-26T09:09:00.002-04:00

I made several pieces of background paper while experimenting with my alcohol inks. This piece is much lighter than the previous card that I posted. This one is probably from the third or fourth time I ran the paper through the ink.

This image is from my Stampin Up! Celebrate in Style set. I colored the image with copic markers. I also used nestabilities for the background.

Alcohol Ink Technique

2008-06-23T19:41:00.002-04:00

There is an awesome tutorial at www.Stamp-Shack.com that shares how to use alcohol ink for scenery cards.

For this card, I used Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol ink in Butterscotch, Stream and Wild Plum. This made the "sunset" background. It looks like they're watching evening fireworks on the 4th of July.

The stamp is by Stampabilities and it's just one I found on the sale rack at Hobby Lobby.

This technique generally calls for glossy cardstock... Well, I didn't have any of that and live nowhere near a store that carries any. I decided to experiment with posterboard and it worked beautifully! The posterboard comes in sheets of 11x14 inches and comes with five sheets. Works for me!

Dollar Bin Treasure!

2008-06-22T20:47:00.001-04:00

I fell in love with this stamp the moment I rescued it from the dollar bin at AC Moore. Makes me think of being in Florida! I love layering cardstock and using my Martha Stewart punches. I stamped the background using CTMH Taffy ink and for the focal piece, I layered the orange with dimensional foam adhesive. I love the way it pops. I also used diamond stickles to sugar coat the orange. (Or it could be a sugar coated Grapefruit too!)

Pink Cat Studio Billy and Monkey

2008-06-21T17:47:00.002-04:00

I made this little card using my new Pink Cat Studio Billy with a little sock monkey that came in my Dress Up Billy set.

I added clear dimensional glaze to Billy's clothes and the red portions of the monkey just for a little added detail.

This is such a cute little guy.

Perk Up!

2008-06-20T08:22:00.002-04:00

I found this stamp while rummaging through the dollar clearance stamps at AC Moore. It's made by PKS.

I embossed the brown paper with one of my cuttlebug embossing folders and just used some rickrack ribbon to embellish.

I stamped this using CTMH ink in Desert sand and Amethyst.

Pink Cat Studio Tweet

2008-06-19T21:18:00.002-04:00

I made this ATC using a stamp from my Pink Cat Studo "Tweet" set. This little bird is so adorable.

I also used the Gamsol coloring technique for this as well. I just bought a set of 24 Koh-I-Noor woodless color pencils at Michaels earlier this week so I could give Gamsol a try. It was so easy and I really like the way it turned out.

I also had the opportunity to shop in a real local scrapbooking store on Saturday (not one of those chain stores) and I found stickles on the shelves. I picked up a bottle of diamond and baby blue stickles. I used diamond sticles for the tail and some of the background.

I used my Birds & Swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder for the pink background.

Card for my Dad

2008-06-17T17:58:00.004-04:00

My dad used to be a California surfer, so this card is perfect for him.... well if there was one thing I could change, I would give the surfer on the card long blonde hair.

He's not the easiest dad to make a card for since he's not big into "typical" man things like fishing, cars or sports. He does like tools, but I don't have any tool stamps!

For this card, I used my Hang Loose set by The Angel Company and Hang Ten by Close to My Heart. I used my copic markers to color in the surfer and CTMH ink in Bamboo and Crystal Blue for stamping.

Pink Cat Studios Q.T. Hooty Owl Stamps

2008-06-17T10:33:00.002-04:00

Pink Cat Studios just released this cute owl set. Here is a birthday card that I made with one of the owls in this set.

I love the sentiment. Hoot Hoot Hooray!

I colored this in with copics and used metallic textured cardstock. The ribbon came from the Target dollar spot.

Lizzie Anne Designs "By the Sea"

2008-06-12T15:41:00.002-04:00

I just finished this set of 9 ATCs for a swap that I'm participating in. I used Lizzie Anne Designs "By the Sea" stamps which is an adorable set of stamps.

I also used my new Stampin Up Ticket Corner punch and paper by My Mind's Eye.

Whoop Dee Doo! It's your Birthday.

2008-06-11T11:36:00.002-04:00

I can't say enough great things about Rubbernecker stamps. I get perfect images every time I use them. It's amazing!

Here's a funny one that I picked up with my last purchase. I love the expression on her face.

The embossed background came as a free gift with some stamps that I ordered from a seller on eBay. I love free gifts. I believe this is a cuttlebug folder that she used.

I colored in my lady with copic markers. They're my favorite! The sentiment is by CTMH and I inked it with CTMH Sunflower.

Stampin Up! Dreams and Dragons

2008-06-09T12:08:00.004-04:00

I love this set by Stampin Up! called Dreams & Dragons. I had to pay a lot for it on eBay, but it's well worth it.

The sentiment is from Lizzie Anne Designs Once Upon a Time, which is also a fabulous set. If you look back into some of my recent posts, you'll see a card that I made with my Lizzie Anne set as well.

Here is a card that I made for my daughter's little friend, Ella. Ella's mom took them to lunch and to the nail salon to celebrate her 5th birthday. Taylor was so excited to spend the afternoon with Ella today. They just left a few minutes ago.

Oh, Rubberneckers!

2008-06-08T15:51:00.004-04:00

I just love Rubbernecker stamps. I couldn't resist buying this funny old guy from them. I giggled the entire time I made this card.

Fun Fun Fun!!!

Pink Cat Studio ATC - Lily & Tweet

2008-06-07T18:05:00.002-04:00

I'm participating in my first ATC swap. I made four of these today using my new Pink Cat Studio stamps. This is from the Lily & Tweet set. The sentiment is from the PCS Crafty Kitty stamp set.

This was so quick and easy to make. An ATC is an Artist Trading Card and it measures 2.5 X 3.5 inches.

Altered clip boards and notebooks -- teacher gifts

2008-06-06T09:43:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple altered items (Clip Boards and Notebooks) that I made for my son's teachers. For the clip boards, I used Mod Podge, CTMH From Me to You stamps and so me ribbon. The paper is by My Mind's Eye.

The coordinating card's stamped image is by Stampin' Up.

Rachelle Anne Miller - Lily Springtime

2008-06-01T18:18:00.003-04:00

Here is a set of borders that I just put on eBay. I used one of my new Rachelle Anne Miller stamps called Lily Springtime.

She is a fabulous artist and all of her stamps are adorable.

Friend-Ship

2008-05-28T16:43:00.002-04:00

I stamped the images on this card using my Stampin' Up Boatloads of Love set.

This was such a simple card to make. I just tore the "water" pieces to give it that choppy ocean look. I then stamped the boats onto white cardstock, colored and cut them out.

Since the rope on the tug boat and the antenna on the top of the boat were so thin, I just stamped the boats directly onto the base before I glued the boat cut outs onto the card. This way, I didn't have to worry about cutting out those skinny lines. I used my sponge dauber to color in the sky.

Lizzie Anne Designs Out of This World

2008-05-27T11:56:00.002-04:00

Check out this fun little card that I made yesterday for my daughter's little friend Cooper. See how the alien appears to be levitating? LOL

I used the new set by Lizzie Anne Designs called Out of This World. Oh, I know I'll get lots of use out of this one!!

This set also comes with a rocket ship, a couple planets and some cute sentiments. Another great thing about these is that they came in a CD case, so I didn't have to figure out how to store them.

They actually inspired me to put some of my other sets in CD cases. I found a box of at least 50 empty CD cases from my college days out in our garage. I was so excited when I found them. They've been that box for years and I had forgotten all about them. I was about to head out to WAl*Mart to go pick some up when my husband reminded me about them. I just had to remove the inserts and pop out the cd holder and they wer good to go! Now I'm organized and it feels great!