Monday, July 23, 2007

Here a chick, there a chick....


I love chickens and so does my friend, Cindy! She was the Featured Stamper on SCS last week and this is the card I made from her layout, which you can see here. This set is a retired Stampin' Up! set called Roosting. I haven't used it much, but after making this card, I think I need to keep it out for awhile!

I watercolored the images after stamping in Basic Black ink. I used my Cuttlebug on the Real Red pieces and the Whisper White strip. I like the gingham ribbon with the chickens! The hardest part for me was cutting the paper to fit!

Be sure to come back and read tomorrow's post for some news and fun! It will be my last post until a week from now!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Tapestry of Life

Here is a new technique for me -- Tapestry -- which you can read about here. I think I need some more practice with this but it was fun!

I am not sure I like how this turned out, but since it is my second try at this technique, it will have to do for now! The other one is in the circular file -- I think it really makes a difference with what images and colors you use~ so I will continuing to scout out other cards using this technique, because I like what everyone else is doing! :)

The paisley is stamped in Eggplant on the tapestry piece, and in White on the Eggplant piece, then Black is the base cardstock color everything is layered on -- it's hard to tell the difference between the Black and Eggplant in the picture~ The tapestry piece is very glossy! The little charm says "Love much." The white strip is from Doodlebug's Paper Frills.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Boats That Float


This is the first new set (Boatloads of Love) that I bought from the new Stampin' Up! catalog. I loved the style of the artwork, and knew that I could think of all sorts of things to fill the boats with. Today's tugboat is transporting little puppies! I used the SCS Color Challenge from this week (Night of Navy, Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss) to watercolor the images with, and added Basic Grey Skate Shoppe Designer Paper (DP) to resemble waves in the water under the boat. The clouds are from a stencil I handcut and have had for years. What do you think?

Friday, July 13, 2007

Message of Joy


What a busy, crazy week! I am a music teacher; therefore, I have most of my summer off from teaching. Of course I do other things, and might even take a summer job. But this summer has been filled with lots of stamping time.

Until this week.

I have been working on re-writing our music curriculum and the week just got away from me! My sister is also visiting from Arizona (FUN!)! So I haven't updated my blog at all since last week. Apologies are due - so to all my regular readers --- sorry for the delay!

Here is a card I made this morning very quickly (for me anyway!). Our challenge today (Message Bouquet) was to use flowers, 2 embellishments or less, and make the sentiment part of the flowers. My sentiment is my leafy vine~ I also used the colors from Tuesday's color challenge: Real Red, Green Galore and Tempting Turquoise. The border on the top and bottom are Page Frills by Doodlebug. The red and turquoise flowers were made with my Cuttlebug!

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Wow! Where did Saturday go? I guess I was busy shopping and buying paint and painting my daughter's room! She starts high school next month and we are redecorating with new color and new furniture! Whew! I think I need to sit down and enjoy some refreshment:

My first Bella card! She looks like she is having fun. This was actually inspired from this Christmas ornament:

I was inspired by the colors and the triangle shapes (in the martini glass too!) -- so I used a triangle layout and added some lovely Primas!!

Friday, July 6, 2007

Copy and Steal Everything

"CASE" is a common term heard in the art world of rubber stamping. It means Copy And Steal Everything -- in a nice way, of course, and as long as credit is given to the original artist who inspired you. Today our challenge was to CASE a card from the new Stampin' Up! catalog. I chose a card on page 96. If you don't have a current catalog and would like one, please let me know. I kept the same layout and stamps, and just changed the colors. I used Pumkpin Pie, Not Quite Navy, Apricot Appeal and Always Artichoke. I love this set too -- it makes beautiful cards no matter what you do!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Slides, Film, and Digital Wonders

Are you old enough to remember slides? That is all my parents took of our family early on, and then we had a few pictures later. When I got married, we took slides for seven years -- no photos, because we liked how the scenery pictures turned out on slides better. After seven years, our son was born, and then the pictures took over (and LOTS of those!). Now in this age of digital photography, you hardly find film! So I had forgotten about this Kodachrome Slide stamp (by JudiKins) that I had until I rummaged through my older stamp boxes, looking for something to use for today's challenge: Ribbon Revisited. The challenge was to use ribbon in a different way than you normally do and this is what I came up with:
The little froggies loved having their pictures taken! I am so glad for digital photography. What did we ever do when we had to WAIT to see what a picture looked like? I can remember having my kids go to JCPenney or KMart or wherever and getting their pictures taken, and then having to wait and choose 3 weeks later when the pictures came in. It's nice now to see them right then! And photo-editing is a marvel.
I was talking to a friend today who is making a book for her 50 year HS class reunion. She had scanned all the yearbook pictures and then those attending wrote biographies about what they are doing now. One of the women didn't like her hair in her HS picture, so my friend just added in bangs! It was funny. Technology. Love it and hate it!
I hope you all had a Happy 4th of July! For those of you that read my blog, you know I love poetry. Here is a poem my sister wrote yesterday -- I think it is amazing and I hope she doesn't mind me posting it here. It won't format like it's supposed to on Blogger, but the italics will help, I hope!

Freedom's Just Another Word For Something Left To Lose

O-oh, say can you see
Independence
Party night
By the dawn's early light
Fireworks sparking
At twilight
What so proudly we hailed
Sparklers twirling
Shining bright
At the twilight's last gleaming
Roman candles
Sharp quick light
Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Bottle rockets
Hit the height
Through the perilous fight
Bursting rainbow
Shining light
O'er the ramparts we watched
Cascading streams
Burning white
Were so gallantly streaming
Booming, popping
Through the night
And the rockets' red glare
Soldiers firing
In the fight
The bombs bursting in air
Bullets flying
Avoid the bite
Gave proof through the night
Young boys dying
Protect what's right
That our flag was still there
Saving others
Help their plight
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
Red, white, blue
Colors of right
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave
Cost of freedom
Is not slight

Never forget the cost of the celebration.

Partial credit: Francis Scott Key
This picture was taken in Washington D.C. - It was a hot day and we were at a fountain in a garden by the National Archives.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Check out my Slide Show!

The Birth of a Nation and the birth of........

Happy Independence Day to all in America!!
I love the Fourth of July -- the yummy food, friends and family get-togethers, fireworks, pride in my country, red/white/blue!
I should have made a R/W/B card today, but I did on Sunday! So today I made a Pink/White/Blue for the birth of a baby! One of my SCS friends is expecting and I made this card for her.

Enjoy your day and enjoy some pictures that I took in our nation's capital!

Looks like I didn't upload my R/W/B card the other day, so here it is! This was a card I made for the Featured Stamper Challenge. Faith Hofrichter made this card that I cased. Enjoy your day!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Expect the Unexpected

I love surprises. My family is always getting after me because I can guess gifts and surprises a lot of times. (And no I don't peek anymore, Mom!) Here are some pictures of a beautiful surprise I did not expect at the wedding I went to this weekend.
We drove to Minneapolis for the wedding of our good friends' son, who just graduated from West Point. The reception was at a beautiful clubhouse adjacent to a golf course that was full of flowers and huge trees of all sorts. One of my favorite flowers is the hydrangea and there were lots of them all over the place!
The blooms were huge and so perfectly round! They made a welcoming and elegant entryway for the reception.
I didn't expect to find fabulous Mexican food on this trip either. [I am not a food photographer so we will skip that part. :) ] In Ames, Iowa, there is a fabulous Mexican restaurant. If I could only remember the name! It's right off of the interstate. Growing up and living in Arizona for a large part of my life left me with a desire for spicier foods and REAL Mexican food. We have yet to find that here..... a lot of our friends will recommend restaurants that they think is great Mexi food, but, alas, it's not. This place was so good we ate dinner there on the way up and lunch there on the way back! Yum!

And speaking of yummy, unexpected things, my dogs love this card.

The SCS Technique Challenge was to use an unexpected (even weird!) embellishment. I peeked at a few cards before I started (which I never like to do before I make mine), but I just wasn't sure what types of things would be used! I found 4 cards that had very different embellishments and set to me thinking what I could use. We have dogs and they are a main part of our everyday life. So, this was what came to mind for the "unexpected."

So you all are dying to come eat at my house, right?? :) I DO make a good chicken enchilada casserole and I don't even put any dog bones in it...

As I was taking the picture for this, my two year old lab comes running in my stamp room (where she is not allowed) and starts sniffing everywhere, trying to get to this card. So I guess I am going to have to box it up and send it away to another SCS dog!! Otherwise, it will be shredded in moments when she gets ahold of it!

The little dog and dish are mounted on dimensionals and I handwrote the dinner invitation to match the font of the border stamp. Even though I didn't use the "I LOVE MY DOG!" stamp, I had to include it in the picture, because, after all, she was standing right there watching!

My dogs expect to get this card. They need to expect the unexpected: NOT!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Just a Note...


Here is a card I made for the SCS Sketch Challenge last week -- since then I have been out of town, but am now back, so check back later today for some new stuff! I had never used this large stamp before. It was a gift, and I thought it was perfect for my long card. It is stamped with Basic Black ink and then watercolored using several different colors. The piano and keys behind it are then brushed with Pearl Ex for a shimmery look (which the photo does not pick up!).

AND THE BIG NEWS: The new Stampin' Up catalog is here!!! And it has some wonderful new accessories and great new sets!! Contact me or leave a post here if you are interested in having your own copy. There are hundreds of samples and examples for inspiration too!