Stamping Therapy

Ready, Set, Recline!

Hi All! What have you been doing today? We took the "Kiddies" to see "UP". It was a really good movie and the effects were awesome! I highly recommend it.

I also had some "stamping" time today...Hurray! Yay!... and I whipped up this baby for Tracy's Sketchy Thursday, ESS # 39. I got to use some of my new stamps that came in the mail a few days ago. (Woo Hoo!) I cased part of this card from a card that came in the mail with some of my A Muse stamps, artist unknown. The person that made the original card used this palm tree and a scalloped circle for an island surrounded by water. I used a patterned paper scalloped oval for my "beachy" island and some patterned paper for my water, then I colored in some Doodlebug Paper Frills to represent "waves". Next, I added my other images and sentiment. For the coconuts, I colored some Hero Arts clear gemstones with a dark brown Copic marker, a tip I got from visiting a few different blogs (I can't remember which ones..)...Have a good "relaxing" night.

Card Deets: Images by A Muse (palm tree, sun, recliner) and Hero Arts (postcard and sunglasses); sentiment and notecard by A Muse; cardstock by SU; patterned paper from stash; Memento black inkpad; Copic markers; Spica Glitter pens; Paper Frills from Doodlebug Designs; Marvy oval punch;  gemstones from Hero Arts; dimentionals from stash.

Happy Birthday "Glam Girl" ~ A Book for my SIL

Hey Gals! I finally got that little mini book for my SIL finished! Yay! I think it turned out pretty good considering it is the first time I made one. I got the idea for this "mini book" from Becky Rusher's blog, www.thepolkadotcafe.blogspot.com. (Check her blog out when you get the chance. It's amazing!)...Can you guess what this "mini book" is made of???...It's made of toilet paper rolls!...It's the truth! I swear!

In a nutshell: I started out by "flattening" 3 toilet paper rolls (I gotta figure out how to make these rolls "flatter".) to make my "pockets". Then I painted the edges of the rolls with acrylic paint and covered them with patterned paper. Next I embellished my "pockets" with rubber stamps, stones, buttons, pearls, rub-ons, primas, etc., adhering flower eyelets to the left side of my "pockets" to close them on one side. Then I made my "inserts" out of cardstock to fit into the "pockets", also embellishing my "inserts" and adding flower eyelets and ribbons to the edges. I then "bound" my "mini book" together with binder clips and ribbon...Voila! Done!.. I also found "tons" of instructions on how to make these cute little books by doing a "Google" search. Becky even made a gift card pocket/envelope out of one toilet paper tube and added a gift card! What great ideas!

I'll post the "Deets" of what materials I used to make this "mini book" another time when I am not so tired. I start my new job tomorrow and I have a few things to do yet. Have a good night and wish me luck!

 

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Hey Guys! How is your l-o-n-g weekend going? Having fun? We pretty much ran errands today and also rented "Night at the Museum", the first movie. Will and I liked it. The kids got kinda antsy...We also have a new addition to our family, a new Kitty from the shelter, whom we've named Bella, from the "Twilight" series. I don't think Moxie, our sweet siamese, is very thrilled right now. There have been a lot of growls and hissing going on with both of our "girls". No bloodshed. So that's good. Hopefully, they'll get along soon, but Moxie has refused to set foot in our bedroom and "Bella" has been sleeping with us for the last two nights and then she hides for the rest of the day. Moxie is running the kitchen and living room area. I can't wait to see how this is gonna turn out....

I also had time to make a card for Tracy's Sketchy Thursday, ESS # 38. I used my recently acquired Saltbox Studio "April Banner" set, plus an old rubber stamp "tomato can" that was my sister's and got added to my stash. I also love this paper from Basic Grey's "Offbeat" Collection. I colored my images to match the patterned paper. I like the looks of this card. It also looks different from what I normally come up with, which is fun....Well, in the words of Bugs Bunny, "That's All Folks!" and have a good night!

Card Deets: Images by The Saltbox Studio and unknown ("Best Tomatoes" can); sentiment by The Saltbox Studio; notecard by A Muse; patterned paper from Basic Grey; cardstock from SU; Copic markers; Spica Glitter pens; dimentionals from SU.

Have the Funniest Birthday Ever!

Hey Guys! Happy Wednesday!....I'm still around just very busy. Believe it or not, I am on a major cleaning binge, tearing the house apart, mainly the garage. I just want to get everything in "ship shape" before I go back to work, which is in 7 days, (but who's counting...Ha! Ha!)...I'm telling you guys, I'm finding things I didn't even know I had, mainly good "crafty stuff"...LOL!...and all this moving around IS helping me lose more weight!

I'm pretty dead, so I'm gonna keep this post short and sweet....I made this card for Tracy's Sketchy Thursday, ESS # 37. Yes, another one...I was also inspired by an "I Spy" book I am making for the kiddies. Then I thought, "Why not make an 'I Spy' card?" I see some cute kid's birthday cards in stores that are "interactive", so why not? The coolest thing about this card, I think, is that you can use all sorts of images, papers, and colors! Things don't even have to "match" or go "together". What a great excuse to take out those stamps that have never seen ink! Or use those patterned paper pieces that you've "horded", but never used!...This card also reminds me of the beautiful murals that you see in San Francisco's Mission District, busy with lots of color....All the writing on this card, both the front and inside, were done using word. I got the idea for the sentiment from A Muse, but since I didn't have this stamp (yet!) I typed this out using word as well...Hey, can you find all 10 images?....Well, that's all for now. Have a good evening!

Card Deets: All images by A Muse; inside sentiment from A Muse (printed out in Word); inside writing printed out in Word; pink patterned cardstock and white cardstock from A Muse; blue patterned paper from stash; Memento black and brown inkpads; Copic and SU markers; Spica glitter pens; white gel pen from Fiskars; dimentionals from Target's dollar bin; blue highlighter from stash.

Wild About You

Hey Guys! What's new? I've been out a bit visiting my kids school, seeing my FIL in the hospital; (Thankfully, he's home now and doing better) and running errands. Of course, I also had a trip to Michael's, buying some crafty stuff to finish up a few projects. I'm working on a few mini books that I hope to have finished soon. I'm also halfway done reading "Ecclipse" the third book in the "Twilight" series...Soooo good....

I had a little stamping time today so here's a card I made for Tracy's Sketchy Thursday, ESS # 37 . The leopard print cardstock is part of an old greeting card that I saved. I knew I'd find a use for it someday. LOL! Then I stamped my images onto white cardstock, framing them in black, and adhering my sentiment to a metal edged tag. To me, this card looks looks like the velvet ribbon and tag are around "Kitty's" neck....Have a good evening!

Card Deets: Paw print images from Michael's; all other images and sentiment by A Muse; black cardstock from SU; white cardstock from A Muse; leopard print cardstock from recycled greeting card in stash; Memento black inkpad; Copic and SU markers; black and yellow Spica glitter pens; metal tag and velvet ribbon from SU; twinkle sticker from A Muse.

Life is Good

Hey Guys. This is my motto these days, "Life is Good". Funny how easy it is to say when one is on vacation! LOL! But I'm gonna try and make this my "permanent" motto, even when I get back to working full time.....

I wanted to try my hand again at Tracy's Sketchy Thursday # 36, this time staying "truer" to the sketch. I've had these images in my head for a while now, cause when I'm not stamping up a "storm" I'm reading "New Moon", the second book in the "Twilight" series. (I'm becoming obsessed!) Just give me a good book, some good food, some stamping time and a few movies about babysitters going nuts and chasing the man of the house while the nice, gorgeous, and incredibly strong wife is protecting her family, and I'm a happy camper.....I love the colors and images of this card. I just think I should have moved the primas over a bit, or left them out entirely?...What do you think?...Time to get "poopskins" off to beddy-bye land and I also promised Tyler a mean game of "CandyLand"...Have a good evening!

 

Card Deets: All images, sentiment, cardstock, patterned paper and pretty little papers by A Muse; Memento black inkpad; Copic markers; primas from stock; glitter brad from Target's Dollar bins; button from Basic Grey; jute from stock; dimentionals from SU.

Have a Super Day!

Hey Guys! Happy Monday! I'm soooo glad that I have some time to myself at home today. I am feeling all the pre-menstral signs of life. I'm just glad that I don't have to "interface" with the "public". Ha! Ha! Will is bringing Hailee home early from Preschool, so he can go to his job interview at 1 pm today. It looks really promising and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! (If you guys can, please send some well wishes our way. Thanks so much.)....

Switching gears to a creative note, Mother's Day made me think of these images from A Muse...Why you ask?... Because last year on Mother's Day my SIL, Michelle, gave me a card that had a Superwoman in front of some buildings. This inspired me to make this card using Tracy's Sketchy Thursday # 36. Once I got into this card, my focus changed a little bit and I started imaging a scene from a comic book. I made the "action" words using a letter dial stamp that I bought from Michael's ages ago. I just stamped my words onto SU's summer sun cardstock and cut them out in a jagged way, raising them on dimentionals..."Voila!"...I think I may have veered off the sketch a bit, but I'm really happy with how this card came out...I'm gonna see what kind of trouble I can into before my family comes home...Have a great day and I'll see ya in the funny papers!

Card Deets: All images by A Muse; sentiment by A Muse; "Action" words created from a letter "dial" stamp from Michaels; notecards and ribbon from A Muse; cardstock from A Muse and SU; Copic markers; Memento black inkpad; Fiskar's white and gold gel pens; dimentionals from SU.

MOM

Hey! Happy Mother's Day, Ladies. Have you been having a great day? Will and the kids took me out to a nice lunch today. The weather was a perfect day, sunny with a slight breeze. I also got some cool gifts. Tyler and Hailee made me some really awesome cards they made in school. Will got me "Ecclipse", the third book of the "Twilight" series and a new cookbook I've had my eye on, "Cook Yourself Thin". I've been in the mood to do some cookin'. We'll, see....So much I want to do and a little time for a change? Well, I am on vacation, after all, right?.....

Here's a card I made for my Mom for "Mother's Day". I just finished it today and haven't given it to her yet. She never sees my blog, so I think it's safe to post it today. I got the idea for a "garden" theme, because it's the thing my mom loves most in the world: gardening and plants. I think she'll really like this card. The outside says, "Home is where 'Mom' is" and the inside says, "Happy Mother's Day"....Hopefully, I'll have more to share soon. I have some great card ideas for "Tracy's Sketchy Thursday", but I'm having "camera issues".....Have a great night and I'll talk to ya soon!

Card Deets: Images by A Muse; Hero Arts and Stampin Up; sentiments (inside and outside of card) by A Muse; Memento black inkpad and SU garden green and apricot inkpads; cardstock by A Muse and SU; patterned paper by A Muse; primas and silk flower from stash; pearl embellishments from Hero Arts; glitter from SU; glitter glue pen; dimentionals from SU.

Mmmm....chocolate

Hey Guys! I'm BBBBBAAAAACCCCKKKKKK! So you thought I'd forgotten you guys, hmmmmm? No, I haven't forgotten you guys, just a lot of "drama" going on. I think it's just about ended, though.....Fingers crossed.....Yesterday was my last day of work and it was totally "grueling" and "stressful" right to the bitter end. I'm telling you guys, it took all of my energy just to get through those last 4 days! LOL! On top of that, my FIL has pneumonia and was in Kaiser's ER for 9 hours 2 days ago. He's home and on the mend, but at age 82, that stuff is very scary. We've all been soooo worried about him. Also, Will, Hailee and I have been sick again, off and on. The only one who has been unaffected is Tyler (lucky guy)....Can you guys tell that I am ready for a long, long vacation?! Ha! Ha!

Well, there hasn't been any card making time lately, so here's a card that I mad a while ago. I cased it from my LSS, just making slight changes here and there. I think it would also make a great "birthday" or "girlfriend" card. I totally could eat everything on that card right now! Yummy! It reminds me of that saying, "Life is stressful. Eat dessert first". Sooo true, because chocolate makes everything better, right? LOL!

Well, what are you up to today? We are going to my nephew, Paris', birthday party later today. That means, hopefully, that there will be some time to make a card or two and read "New Moon"? (I totally loved "Twilight" and read it in 4 days!) Also, playing with the "kiddies" is a definite must....I'm also hoping to get a picture of my 75 year old mom in a jumper today and put it up on my blog. Ha! Ha!...Have a great day!

Card Deets: All images, sentiment, notecard and ribbon by A Muse; cardstock by SU; Copic and SU markers.

Happy Birthday Paris

Hey Guys! Happy Saturday!...Yesterday was my nephew, Paris', 8th birthday, so I whipped up this card for him using Tracy Sketchy Thursday # 35. I knew I wanted to use my "Harry Potter" guy with purple and black as my colors. Tracy's sketch made it all come together easily. (Thanks, Tracy, for your inspiration!)...However, there's something about this card...I don't know what it is...., but it looks "off" to me and I'm not really happy with it. Will says the colors look too "dreary" especially for a birthday card...Maybe....I think it might be the middle patterned paper. Maybe it looks too "yellow"? What do you think?...I hope my "mojo" isn't leaving me. Maybe the rain is affecting my mood, or maybe it's work-related stress? LOL! I have another idea for this sketch, but I don't have the stamps I need. Maybe it's time for some retail "rubber stamping" "shopping" therapy!...Have a great day!

 

Card Deets: All images, sentiment, notecard, cardstock and patterned paper by A Muse; Memento black inkpad; Copic and SU markers; Fiskars gold gel pen; twinkle stickers by A Muse; ribbon by A Muse; yellow highlighter.