Baked with Love~

Baked with Love, a new Kim Hughes set for CHF, is coming out on Thursday, April 3rd....I toiled yesterday on this covered chipboard cookie recipe book and am really pleased with how it came out. The only drawback, it will probably go to someone who actually enjoys baking! LOL A baker I am not, I enjoy the end result, but not the journey!

The book began as chipboard backing from a pack of patterned paper. My LSS sells them for really cheap and I try and pick up a pack every so often. I trimmed it down to 4.25" x 6.5" and corner rounded the corners, adhered the patterned paper, cut, corner rounded, and stamped the inside pages, and bound it all together with my Bind it All.

The main image panel was first stamped with the Lined Paper Backgrounder and trimmed to size, and then stamped with images and words from Kim's new set. I had to carefully mask the "s" from another sentiment in the set to make Recipe plural. "Cookie" letters were cut using the Red Tag Alpha and the Cuttlebug. A few Cuttlebugged letters are adhered to chipboard for a bit of elevation, the chocolate chip images are also raised up on dimensional foam circles.

Assorted ribbons by May Arts adorn the spine and a hand cut tag is attached with hemp twine.

Inks are all water resistant inks, I wanted them to be "run" resistant just in case damp hands handled the book. Palette Burnt Umber and ColorBox Fluid Chalk inks: Creamy Brown, Chestnut Roan, and Olive Pastel are the inks used.

Happy Monday!

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Baked with Love by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms, Lined Paper Backgrounder, Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, ColorBox Fluid Chalk ink: Creamy Brown, Chestnut Roan, Olive Pastel, Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Natural White, Prism Intense Kiwi, Season's Greeting patterned paper by Pebbles Inc., Accessories: Copic Marker, Cuttlebug, Red Tag Alpha, Bind it All, "O" ring, Assorted May Arts ribbons, Twill Tape (unknown), Fiskars scallop blade, Metallic eyelet, Corner rounder, Dimensional Foam, Chipboard

A Mish Mash Scavenger Hunt~

If you are wondering what these 2 pictures are doing here, you'll have to scoot on over to Mish Mash and participate in her scavenger hunt for blog prizes! If you name these pictures, you'll know what catalog Mish wants her home to look like. Have fun checking out the other blog links on Mish's blog for more scavenger hunting!

Love ya, Mish!!

No card post from me today, we are off to Sea World!

V.~

Tyson's advice~

Is a good one. I've been trying to take his advice and made this tag as a reminder to do so. Not to get caught up in the online world and to be more present in the real world.

Stamps are the upcoming Stamp of the Month (SOTM), available on April 1st, are by CHF and are designed by Kim Hughes. Papers are Prism: Iced Teal, Intense Kiwi, Intense Orange and Neenah Classic Crest Solar White. Tyson is stamped in Adirondack Espresso and colored in with Copics: YG23, YR15, BG01. Tag is hand cut, grass is hand snipped, scallops are punched circles adhered to the back side, and the translucent flower was given to me by a dear friend. She made it with a quilt blank and this die set: Wizard Flower Creations Die.

Take time to enjoy your day!
V.~

I'm back with the winner!

I interrupted Brett playing The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, where he was deep in a quest, to have him pull the name from the basket. He pulled a name from the 19th:

Pam/Iris said...

Oh, LOVE the bird cards Val, you always blow me away!

March 19, 2008 2:14 PM

Pam, you've got some shopping to do! *grin* Have fun at eP! I'll be contacting you via your email on how you can redeem your gift certificate!

V.~

Feed Your Creativity~

Joy and Daisy are two of my favorite people, they feed my soul with their friendship and feed my creativity with their wonderful online store. I thought it would be fun to reward one of my blog readers with a gift certificate to eP so they, too, can feed their creativity by selecting their own merchandise, instead of me purchasing things for blog candy that they may or may not like to use.

I've been pondering for several days on how to approach today, my blogaversary. Do I post a thread and ask for comments like I have done in the past, end up with 100's and 100's of comments, and then use a random number selector program to pick the winner? Or, do I do something different and offer the prize in a new and unusual way? Now I know upward of 500 people subscribe to this blog, that number is available to me through Feedblitz, , that seems like quite a number of people and not something I expected when Beth made my banner, sent it to me, and then I started this blog. However, since I don't use a counter or a tracking system, I have no idea who actually stops by unless they leave a comment on something I've posted.

After pondering my options, this is what I have chosen to do. I'm putting all the names of the people who've commented on any upload (as of right now, Saturday, March 22, 8:13 a.m.) I have done in the past week into a basket and having my handsome and smiling son, Brett, select the winner. If you commented more than once this week, more chances for you! Thanks for a great year!

I'll be back later with the winner!

V.~

Pink Skelly Tag~

I've a birthday dinner for a good girlfriend tonight and who wouldn't appreciate a gift card to Victoria's Secret?! They give you a nice bag and really high quality gift card holder as part of the purchase. I thought about altering the card holder, instead decided to make a funky skelly tag.

After cutting a rectangle 3" x 4" out of SU! Regal Rose card stock and covering it with Rusty Pickle Pirate Princess patterned paper, I notched the tops purposely asymmetrical ( just for fun, the wild side of me coming out!) and then inked the edges with Color Box Fluid ink Charcoal.

The Skull in Love (Love is Toxic set) and Scalloped Write Box (Me,. Myself & I set) images are by Unity Stamp Company, ( I see Angela's still running strong with weekly giveaways!) they have some funky and fresh images that I just love. After stamping the write box in Charcoal, I stamped the skull in Color Box Fluid Chalk ink Rouge, then I stamped the Happy Birthday by SU! in Brilliance Graphite Black ink, dtp'd the edges with charcoal and layered it on Regal Rose. After adding 2 silver eyelets I layered it again on Basic Gray card stock with dimensionals and adhered it to the tag. After setting a jumbo eyelet, I threaded this fun tag with a pink/silver ribbon to attach it to the gift bag.

On the back, where we will sign our names, I added another strip of the striped paper, inked all the edges, and stamped the Bracket Left (Me, Myself & I set) by Unity Stamps in Charcoal.

It's a rare night out without the kids tonight, I can't wait! Jay's been out fishing all day, I hope he can stay awake past 9pm. *grin*

V.~

Raffle Prize, check!

Almost a full month before a fun bash put on my some of my best SCS pals and I am finished with my raffle prize and have my shoebox swap stamped, cut, and bagged. It's a record I tell you!

I was inspired to play in Jen's LSC this morning, well one thing led to another and this ensemble was created. Often times that is how I operate, no agenda except making a card and it evolves in a project like this. Luckily I have no where to go or be today until later, so I had ample time to stay in my pjs and stamp.

So, like I mentioned this is a raffle prize, everyone brings something small, value under $10, to donate to the raffle table. The coordinators call out winners periodically throughout the day. It's tons of fun! This project is simply a decorated tin filled with 4 scalloped note cards and envelopes. The scalloped note cards come pretty blank and boring, so I dressed them up using SU!'s Spring Silhouettes DSP, some punches, taffeta ribbon, and the SU! set Carte Postale. I added a designer paper flap to the envelopes by gluing on a scrap of the paper and carefully trimming, following the existing envelope flap. The inside bottom of the tin has a piece of Soft Sky card stock as a liner.

I hope whoever wins this enjoys it as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

V.~

A Duckie and a Stork~

Here's two more samples with Anna's Wight's Bundle of Joy set by Whipper Snapper Designs. A bit of paper piecing on both samples, one colored with Copics, the other with SU! reinkers and a watercolor brush.

Duck card:
5.5" x 5.5"
Stamps: Bundle of Joy
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Adirondack Denim
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Prism Classic Red, Nautical Blue Dark, Making Memories Eliza Stripe patterned paper
Accessories: Copics: C1, B93, YR12, May Arts ribbon, Red mini brads, Dimensionals

Stork card:
4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: Bundle of Joy
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Certainly Celery, K&Co Designer mat pad
Accessories: SU! reinkers, watercolor brush, Making Memories pastel mini brads, Scallop blade (Fiskars trimmer), Making Memories Distressing tool, Dimensionals

V.~

Hello, again~

Jami's March DD challenge combined with yesterday's Sketch Challenge:
DCON308 Hello

Have a wonderful day~
V.~

Asela's Bird Sampler

I mentioned in last night's post that I would share examples today from Asela Hopkins Bird Sampler set that is available today over at Cornish Heritage Farms, so here they are; a gull and a hummer. These are 2 of the 3 images in this set, the Many Thanks sentiment is included, as well as a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Gull card layout is from a sketch challenge over at Taylor's blog from March 14th, I thought it was such an interesting layout. I chose to keep the very clean and fresh, kind of like a day at the beach. Although keep that gull away from my lunch!

The Hummer is colored with Copics onto Neenah Solar White, cut out and attached to the pink layer with dimensional foam. A little background: I know there are hummers out there in all sorts of colors, but I really wasn't aware of how many. I had already colored the flowers in with a few shades of pink Copics and decided I better see what a hummer really looks like. So I googled hummingbirds, and there was a picture of an orangish hummer sipping nectar from pink flowers that looked pretty much like the ones I had just colored, so that is why you see this hummer in orange and green. His body is sparkled up with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen to emulate the shimmer of a hummingbird. Oh, and image that ribbon isn't crooked, I noticed it after I had taken the picture and run in through Photoshop!

Gull card:
Taylor layout, finished size 5" x 5"
Stamps: CHF Bird Sampler, Tulle Backgrounder
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Adirondack Latte
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Prism: Iced Teal, Tawny Dark, Nautical Blue Dark, K&Co Classic K Bailey patterned paper
Accessories: Copics: W1, yr12, Aqua mini brads, Hero Arts clear button, Thread, Offray brown gingham check, Dimensional foam

Hummingbird card:
Finished size 4.25" x 5.5"
Stamps: CHF Bird Sampler, Scalloped Lace Backgrounder
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, ColorBox Fluid Chalk Rouge, Adirondack Lettuce
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Prism Iced Pink, Intense Kiwi, Baby Pink Medium, Iced Kiwi
Accessories: Copics: Y21, YR12, R83, RV10, RV13, RV81, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Rose mini brads, May Arts dotted sheer ribbon, Dimensional Foam

V.~

Hello Garden Friends~

Tomorrow, March 19th, marks the date for the release of Asela's new images over at Cornish Heritage Farms. Above are 2 cards that show images from Garden Friends, 7 garden images and the Hello sentiment ( I adore the font she chose!) complete the set.

The lady bug card, using the leaf and lady bug from the set, revisits a layout I have done previously. I stamped the leaf off 2 times so that it would be a pale version of the original color and would allow me to stamp the lady bug directly on top without showing through. The lady bug was stamped again on a piece of the dotted pattern paper, the wings cut out, adhered to the bug, and accented with glossy accents.

The butterfly card is a "Z" fold that stays closed with a Basic Grey magnetic snap. After stamping the butterfly and the sentiment, a quick color with Prismacolor pencils was all that was done. Patterned paper, a unique fold, and circle and scallop die cuts complete this card.

CHF stamps are deeply etched red rubber and come both mounted and unmounted. The more I work with unmounted red rubber, the more I like it, especially when it's deeply etched like these stamps. In addition to the garden set, Asela has 2 more sets being released: Bird Sampler and Small Pleasures. I'll share samples of those tomorrow!

A little note, I've accepted an exclusionary design position, along with many other wonderful designers, for CHF. I am very excited to see the direction this wonderful company is going,
and the owners,*waving* Richard and Liz, are such wonderful people! I'll still be creating with the Thomas Kinkade images as well as other lines they carry. I'm looking forward to what the year will bring!

Of course, I'll still post cards and projects using other stamp manufacturers, there are so many out there that pull at my wallet, although I am fairly restrained in my purchases. What can I say, I've finally applied the *I don't have to have it all* approach to my purchases after clean sweeping my craft area not too long ago. It was a pretty sad state of affairs, the things I had packed away because they were the in thing of the moment. Peter would be proud of my sweep!

Additionally, you might see me show up as a guest designer every so often, as I am right now with Anna Wight images for Whipper Snapper Designs.

As my blogaversary approaches I want to take this time to say thank you for coming by this last year! Also, stay tuned, a little blog candy give-a-way is in order, don't you think?

Ladybug Hello
Finished card is 5.5" x 5.5"
Stamps: Garden Friends
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Adirondack Lettuce
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Natural White, Prism: Tawny Dark, Spring Willow Light, K&Co Classic K Bailey patterned paper
Accessories: Glossy Accents (for ladybug wings), Antique mini brads

Butterfly Hello
Finished card is 4.25 x 5.5
Z-fold instructions may be found here: Scor-Pal, tutorial by Rose Ann Reynolds
Stamps: Garden Friends
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Adirondack Terra Cotta
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Prism: Frosted Yellow, Suede Brown Medium, Crate Paper Cowgirl Collection
Accessories: Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Nestabilities Circle and Scallop dies, Basic Grey Magnetic Snaps, Brown eyelet, May Arts sheer dotted ribbon, Dimensional foam, Scor-Pal

V.~

You're the Berry Best ~

It's Sunday morning and a hard to get moving morning today. It's very quite around here, Jay and Morgan have been gone since Friday night at a tournament up north. Yesterday, Brett, his friend, Alec, and I took in Horton Hears a Who. It's a fun movie for the kiddos and adults, too.

Anyway, I played this morning, even though I didn't feel like it. One dad comes home from the hospital, another one heads in. My dad was admitted last night to Kaiser, we're awaiting results to see why there is internal bleeding going on. So, needless to say, I was a bit distracted and tried to stamp. Nothing like distraction to make you fiddle with an easy layout - I just fiddled with that oval/ribbon area for too long. Tried a BAB like the example, nah, tried a Ice brad, nah, tried the double layer of cs like the example, nah, ended up simply with a blue oval punch and ribbon accent.

The SCS Featured Stamper Challenge is taking a card from the selected gallery and changing at least 2 things. Well, I generally change more than that, but the card itself is usually visible somewhere. For this card I chose Leaping Lop from the gallery Beth selected. I kept the overall layout, but the rest of the card has been changed from the sets to the colors to the position of the oval punch accent. I also substituted a bow on the oval instead of a Build a Brad. The strawberries are from the SU! Occasions mini set Tart & Tangy, which should have been a 2 step set imo, it would have been much simpler to stamp those berry tops in olive instead of cutting them out from white that has been stamped olive. The rest of the card is pretty self explanatory, so I'll leave it at that. The all SU! supply list follows:

Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Polka Dot, A Little Birdie
Ink: Real Red, Olive Olive, Bashful Blue, StazOn Jet Black
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories: Oval Punch, Red Striped Grosgrain, Ticket Corner Punch, Paper Snips, Sticky Strip, SAMJ, Dimensionals

V.~

Sweet Pea~

My little Sweet Pea! So many call their little girls by that nickname. I know we did, until it was no longer appreciated by the recipient; a gentle roll of the eyes was the clue!

This little cutie is another image from the Bundle of Joy set by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs. She's stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black onto Neenah Solar White and colored in with Copic markers. Her onesie has white gel pen dots and her pea pod is coated in Crystal Effects. The sunshine around her is simply banana reinker, diluted and quickly applied with a flat watercolor brush. After completing the image and ticket corner punching the corners, she's matted on amethyst. An eyelet is set to thread the ribbon through before tying the bow and adding the little banana safety pin accent. The completed panel is attached to a banana layer with dimensionals.

For the card base I started with a 6.5" square of Neenah Solar White, scored it with my Scor-Pal, so it becomes 3.25" x 6.5." Striped patterned paper from SU! Flowers for You is attached and an amethyst strip is added. The sentiment and small heart are stamped in the lower right with Brilliance Graphite Black and the image panel is attached to the card with dimensionals.

Simple, fresh, and clean.....just like my little sweet pea~ (just don't tell her I said so, she's a teen now!)

V.~

Happy Mooo Baby!~

Today's card is another image from Bundle of Joy, the newest release by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs. Dixie, as I call her, named by Anna herself for me, is stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black, heat set, and colored in with Copic markers (E31,E25,R81,RV10). Her saddle is paper pieced from the same pattern as the coordinating flowered strip, the flowers are colored in with Souffle pens, and the dots and scallops highlighted with a white gel pen. It's no surprise the saddle is up on dimensionals! *grin* She is matted onto the same stock as the base. Rose mini brads and 3 ribbon flags are added before matting the completed panel onto a SU! Regal Rose layer.

For the card base, Prism Iced Yellow card stock is stamped in Adirondack Lemonade with a background stamp by All That Scraps called Plaid. The plaid pattern is the perfect pattern to go with the big polka dots and subtle flower print from a designer mat pad by K & Co, Brenda Walters Small Wonders Girl. This little pad is filled with wonderful double sided, textured, card sized prints, perfect for card making. I scalloped the bottom edge of the polka dot pattern with a scallop blade in my old and ancient Fiskars so it would tie into Dixie's scalloped saddle. The sentiment is stamped and punched out with SU!'s large oval punch and attached to the card.

This card is 5.25" x 5.25."

V.~

Welcome. BABY!

When Anna Wight, aka Sweet Miss Daisy, my stamping idol, asked me if I would be a Guest Designer for her new line of stamps with Whipper Snapper Designs, I hyperventilated a bit, got my wits about me, and said yes! I adore Anna, her stamping skills, her whimsical drawings, her photography, and every bit of talent she squeezes into her brain. She is as warm and generous as she is talented. Are you blushing, Anna, I know you are! *grin* So I've been secretly playing, waiting for the release which was intended for tomorrow, but we were given the go ahead for today! YAY!

This month the release is called Bundle of Joy, and if you guessed images for the babies, or soon to be babies, in your life, you are correct.

For this card, I used the cute little boat and geared the card for a baby boy. I stamped the image in Adirondack Espresso ink on Neenah Solar White card card stock that had been cut and embossed with my Cuttlebug and a Nestabilitie Circle die. A second image was stamped again on a white scrap piece. Both were colored in with Copic Markers: YR15 Pumpkin Yellow, BG01 Aqua Blue, and C1 Cool Gray No. 1. The sail from the second stamped image was carefully trimmed and mounted with dimensional foam for added dimension and interest. The completed image was layered on another die cut circle which was layered on a die cut Nestabilitie scallop (from the reverse side of the patterned paper) with dimensional foam. Which was layered again to the card base with dimensional foam. Not sure where I would be without dimensionals!

The wonderful patterned paper is called Muffin Man and Georgie Porgie from the Baby line by American Crafts. The card base and light blue matting behind the image is Prism Baby Blue. White grosgrain ribbon was tied in a bow hiding where the patterned papers meet, and 2 aqua blue brads from StarlitStudio are added in the upper left. The sentiment, also from this set, is stamped in Espresso ink onto Prism Baby Blue, punched with the Word Window punch, and adhered to the card. Finished card is 5 2.5" x 5.25."

Be sure to check out the rest of Anna's newest March/April Guest Designers:

Meg Shumaker : WAXYO

Shellie Daniel : shellied

Michelle Boyer : Shell9999

Yvette Ashe : yvette

Stay tuned for more fun samples with Bundle of Joy! I can't wait to show you what I've been playing with!

V.~

Grandpa's Picture Display~

I made this picture display for Jay's dad last night. I wasn't sure if I was going to post this here or not, but in the end decided to. Grandpa's in the hospital recovering from undergoing a quadruple bypass on Monday. He's been moved from ICU to a regular cardiac room and I thought pictures of the kids with him on one side, and with grandma on the other, will brighten his hospital room now and can be taken home with him when he is discharged. This has been a rough couple of weeks for our family, his ill health and the surgery have weighed very heavy on our hearts. He came through with flying colors, so we are very grateful.

Anyway, this picture display idea was taken from the front of the current SU! catalog, changed just about all of it, but the idea is the same. I started with chipboard backing from patterned paper and cut it to 6 x 7 and corner rounded the corners. The papers are from my stash and have been corner rounded to fit the chipboard. The stripe is Boho Chic Fancy Free from the Urban Window collection by WeRMemory Keepers, and the other is Backyard "My Journey" Brocade/Brown from Bohemia by My Mind's Eye, other card stock is SU! Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, and Neenah Classic Crest Natural White. The rust layer has been scalloped using the corner rounder, the chocolate and natural white have been distressed using Making Memories distressing tool.

Minimal stamping is involved, just the words on both sides. Love from SU!'s Wonderful Words and XOXO from SU!'s Define your Life are stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia, the Build a Brad has 100% True from SU!'s Make it Count stamped in Olive Pastel ColorBox ink so both hopefully will be more fade resistant than regular dye inks. Jumbo eyelets by SU! with brown twill tape tie the 2 panels together so he can prop them up on his side table. The layered pictures and the sentiment layer are up on dimensionals for added interest.

Feel better soon Grandpa!


V.~

What fun to wake up this morning and discover that I have been inducted into the QK Bloggers Club! The idea behind the QK Blogger's Club is to bring stampers and scrapper together in one blog, a place for ideas and inspiration.

http://qkdbloggers.blogspot.com/2008/03/valerie-from-california-usa.html

Buggin' You

Celebrate your day, buggy style! I made this card for Beth's Featured Stamper Challenge over on SCS. Now this challenge is a Sunday challenge and Beth lives in NY, so it's Sunday there, but not here in SoCal, we're still fairly early on Saturday night. While Jay was out playing poker and Morgan at a friend's birthday party I played along, Brett was hanging out on the couch giving me color suggestions. Well, just one, he wanted a purple party hat on the orange buggy.

I chose this card and kept the layout and ribbon placement, but changed everything else. It's pretty straightforward stamping using one of my favorite stamping tools, the Stamp a Majig. It makes for lining those bugs up perfectly on the letters and the little hat on the pumpkin bug. Oh, and a straight sentiment, too! This card is for my niece who loves blue and green and nothing frilly, it will be perfect!

Keeping this short and sweet, Herbie is on the Disney Channel and Brett and I have been watching it together while I was stamping.

ETA: someone asked the dimensions, finished it's 6.5 x 3.25.

V.~

Supplies are almost all SU! Stamps: Bugs and Kisses, Celebrate Everything, Small Sayings (hat, retired), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, SU! Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Lovely Lilac, Taken with Teal, Old Olive, Paper: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Flowers for You DSP, Accessories: Turquoise grosgrain, Distressing tool, Dimensionals

Unity for FREE!

Yes, you read that right, Unity Stamps for free! I've talked a little about this new, innovative block system and appealing stamp line and now you have the opportunity to win a free stamp kit. I'm not associated with Unity Stamp Company in any way, I just enjoy Angela and Christian and their product line and wish them well in their new endeavor!

Here's the details for the contest:

Unity will be doing a weekly give away till the official release of their line of stamps and handles. Their "Gift of the Week" will be kits of un-mounted red rubber stamps from their "Only Me" sets. These un-mounted red rubber kits will work with your current acrylic blocks as well as their new handles debuting in May. Each week Angela from Unity will post her "Gift of the Week" kit on her blog.

If you would like to be considered for the drawing you simply *need to leave a comment on the "Gift of the Week" blog entry*. You can qualify for the first "Gift of the Week" starting tonight. Angela will post Gratitude = Joy set on her blog at 5:00 Central Time. The winner will be chosen at random Tuesday at 5:00 pm central time. Unity will ship your product directly to your door.

BONUS! Between now and April 30, if you subscribe to her blog you will also be added to a large drawing being given away May 1st that will include a *full* set of her handles as well as 3 Unity Stamp Kits.

Since the weekly contest is open to US/Canadian addresses only, we will offer a separate, international ONLY, winner on Thursday April 10th.

Click here to be taken directly to Angela's blog!

Good Luck!
V.~

Baby Steps~

I've a confession to make, I've been scared of rub ons...completely petrified! I've had a set from the catty for some time and I ordered the SAB ones as one of my freebies back in the beginnning of SAB. They've been sitting, taunting me from the shelf. Today, last minute Lucy that I am at times, needed to make a small hostess thank you for a little get together in a few hours down at the school district. I decided that today I would face my fear.

A little story, while at CHA, Shelli Gardner, yes, that Shelli Gardner, popped into the Scor-Pal booth after being told by her people to come and have a look. Don't read anything into this, I've no idea or speculation on this. She stayed and chatted for quite some time with us, we talked about SU! product and how the Scor-Pal works, they loved seeing SU! images and papers on some of the projects. The topic turned to rub ons and I said I was a bit terrified to use them as they are a one shot deal, no do overs. It was Shelly who said try them, but use your bone folder to apply the pressure, not the popsicle stick that is provided.

Well I did, on both counts. Why was I so chicken? Fear of the unknown can certainly play with your mind, eh? Sheesh, they are wonderful. Rub ons will never take the place of stamping for me, but I can certainly see the possibility in them now.

Anyway, that's my story today and the pic is nothing special, but I just wanted to share the picture of the project that conquered my fear! :)

V.~

Supplies: Stamps NONE!, Ink: NONE! Paper: SU! Cutie Pie DSP, Accessories: SAB rub ons, Bashful Blue Grosgrain ribbon, Sticky Strip, Tin (unknown source, it was gifted to me), Sweet Tart jelly beans (YUM!)

A Joyful Blue~

I don't know about you, but sympathy cards can be one of the more difficult cards to create. And so much of it depends on who the card is intended for; whether you should be reserved, serious, somber, deep, simple, complex, the idea of hope, or a joyful celebration of life. So many factors to consider. For this card, and its twin, as I made two of them, a celebration of life is what I choose to portray.

The images are from Beautiful Morning, a stamp offering by Unity Stamp Company. I love their unique hybrid blocks, and appealing stamp line, but haven't been able to play with them since returning from CHA. Tonight after dinner, they were calling to me. I stamped the Mid Sized twig and Bitty Bird in Adirondack Espresso and colored them in with Copic markers. The sentiment, also stamped in Espresso, is from the SU! retired set Warmest Regards, I think I'll have that set for a long, long time, it is a great little word set. The image is layered simply on a chocolate mat, pierced beneath the sentiment and for the brads, and adhered to a base covered in an SU! DSP (from a retired 6 x 6 sampler pack which name escapes me). A length of SU! taffeta ribbon is knotted around the card to finish it off.

Well, it's time to say goodnight,

ETA: Judie asked for the Copic colors numbers. As I own just 25 at this point and time, my choices are rather limited. For this card I used: Leaves: YG23, YG63, YG95, limb is E31, bird is B21 for the body and YR12 for the beak.

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: Beautiful Morning © Unity Stamp Co, Warmest Regards ©SU!, Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Natural White, SU! Chocolate Chip, SU! Designer Series Paper sampler pack (retired), Accessories: Copic markers, Mini brads (StarlitStudio), Mat Pack and Piercing tool, SU! Taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals

A Bird Case~

The second bird card for Friday is a case of a card I made a few weeks ago. I changed the colors and papers, but essentially it's the same card. The SU! sets Always and Make it Count combined with Ginger Blossoms DSP, River Rock, Guava, Ruby Red, and Vanilla complete the color scheme on this version.

A short and sweet post this morning, kids are due up in 4 minutes, and then the morning chaos will begin.

Happy Monday Morning!

V.~

Scalloped Clamshell ala Mish!

My good friend Mish posted this fun scalloped clamshell project on her blog and I thought it was such a fun card idea that I would include it in my Stamp Nite project for Friday. Of course, I asked her if it was alright, she's so generous and said sure thing. So this is my version of her idea, it uses the SU! set Spring Solitude, Fall Flowers DP, and Soft Sky cardstock. It's pretty self straight forward stamping, so I think I'll keep the how to chatter off this time around. I used the Nestabilities Large Scallop for the base and 2 smaller circle dies for the patterned paper and card stock.

I've 2 gals that come here that just love bird stamps, so this is the 1st of 2 cards we are doing on Friday dedicated to the bird lover.

V.~

Supplies: Stamps: SU! Spring Solitude, Inks: SU! Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Paper: SU! Soft Sky, Whisper White, Accessories: SU! Soft Sky ribbon, Mat pak and piercing tool, Dimensionals, Nestabilities

ETA: ATTN: Barb. I read your comment but have no way to contact you about using this for a regional swap in Tulsa. I've no problem with that, and you modifying the shape, the only request I have is to not drop it into any SU! sanctioned swap basket. Swapping with attendees is fine.

Val~