Talk Turkey (SC189)

Today's Sketch Challenge was just rectangles aligned to the left side of the card. It was OK to flip it and have the rectangles aligned to the top. With this kind of sketch, you have to find a larger image or use patterned paper. You could also use several smaller stamps, but you need to be able to fill up a large amount of empty space on layer #3.

I got this turkey image from someone on Splitcoaststampers.com through the "Pay It Forward" thread. People go there, read a list someone has posted, and try to be the first to "snag" one of the images from the list. The person who had posted the list acknowledges the "snag", and then they communicate through private messages. The "snagger" has to give an address to the list poster in order to get the stamped images. The "snagger" now has to post a list to allow someone else to snag one of their images. I did it a couple of times. When someone snags from you, you stamp the images with Black Stazon unless they request something else. Six 1/4 page pieces can be sent for $0.42 postage, so you can stamp six large images, twelve smaller images, and so on. It was fun, and I like what I got. Now, about this card, I trimmed the white to fit the sketch and water colored the image. That's the only thing that took any time at all. I sponged with Chocolate Chip and layered the main image on Chocolate Chip for a mat. I added the checkered ribbon and then adhered to Summer Sun and then to the Pumpkin Pie base card. I added the bow, and that's it! Thanks for stopping by today!

• Stamps: Let's Talk Turkey by Whipper Snapper Stamps
• Papers: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, GP White
• Black Stazon
• Accessories: WCW Crayons (Earth Elements), Aqua Painter, Checkered Ribbon

Ladies' Night Out August Projects

Our first project will be this card done with "Inspired By Nature". The base card is Summer Sun with a layer of More Mustard on which I stamped the grass with More Mustard and the flowers with Whisper White Craft. Now, it does look pretty good if you just leave the white, but I chose to use chalks to color the flowers. The sentiment is stamped with Chocolate Chip on white, punched out with the Designer Label Punch, sponged with Chocolate Chip, and then matted on Chocolate Chip. I used two Vintage Brads and popped up the sentiment label on Dimensionals over More Mustard Grosgrain Ribbon. This card is really very simple, and there are lots of options here.

• Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Sweet Serendipity
• Papers: Summer Sun, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, White
• Ink: More Mustard, Whisper White Craft, Chocolate Chip
• Accessories: Designer Label Punch, Sponge, More Mustard GG Ribbon, Vintage Brads

Our second project will be the same card as for my Tuesday Nighers Club because I just love the card and know my ladies will love it, too! That card may be found here. Thanks again for stopping by!

Dreams & Wishes (CC179)

I was so busy yesterday with appointments and errands that I didn't get a chance to do a challenge card or upload anything. That being said, I did do today's Color Challenge which was to use Elegant Eggplant, Taken With Teal, and Old Olive. I like how the Teal looks against the Eggplant. While I was out and about yesterday, I went to JoAnn's and took advantage of some 40% off sale items. One was a Fiskars Antique Elegance Circle Border Punch. What a pain that thing is! It comes with a plastic circle template which you use to trace either a 4" or 6" circle, then you have to cut the circle out, and finally, you punch all the way around the circle. It was hard to punch through SU!'s thick paper. I think I should have just bought and small doily! LOL! Anyway, I stamped the main image in the center of the border punched circle and colored it with a Blender Pen and the ink pads. I paper pierced in the upper corners and popped up that doily looking thingie on Dimensionals.

• Stamps: Dreams du Jour, Heard from the Heart
• Papers: Elegant Eggplant, Taken With Teal, Old Olive, Naturals White
• Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Taken With Teal, Old Olive
• Accessories: Blender Pen, Fiskars Antique Elegance Circle Border Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Tuesday Nighters August Projects

Project #1 for this Tuesday's Club will be this card that I CASEd from a Wow Swap card I got at convention. The lady's screen name was happystamper09, but I couldn't find a gallery for her to link to. This is using a new Level 3 Hostess Set, and I thought it was so clever to make siding behind the window! This card will take some time because you have to get that siding spaced apart equally. I've already stamped the shutters, but my ladies will stamp the window and use the Stamp-a-majig to line up whatever stamps they want to use in those windows. They don't have to stamp the cat, water color it, cut it out, and pop it up like I did. The original card had the vases with flowers in the lower window, and the birdie was stamped directly on the lower right of the bottom siding panel. They will have a choice of sentiments, and they can make their cards for fall with pumpkins, Christmas with snowmen, or just general with the vases and flowers. Since this card is so involved, I made the next project a bit easier!

• Stamps: Window Dressing
• Papers: Naturals White, Sahara Sand, GP White, Baha Breeze
• Ink: Sahara Sand, Baha Breeze, Not Quite Navy
• Accessories: Snips, Dimesionals, WCW Crayons, Aqua Painter, Stamp-a-majig, Caramel Gingham Ribbon

Project #2 is a non-card item by request! Since all the ladies in this club work at the same elementary school (mostly teachers), I thought it would be fun to make a kind of teacher appreciation gift for themselves! This bookmark is made with a jumbo paper clip. I colored the stamp with markers, stamped on white, and punched with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch. I matted that on a scrap of Always Artichoke that was punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch. Then, I punched Real Red with the Scallop Circle Punch. After putting it all together, I did the same thing again for the other side. I put two Dimensionals (on top of each other) in the center plus Sticky Strip to adhere to the paper clip. I added red Gingham Ribbon as a final touch.

• Stamps: Tart & Tangy
• Papers: Real Red, Always Artichoke, GP White
• Ink: Real Red and Garden Green Markers
• Accessories: Jumbo Paper Clip, 1-1/4", 1-3/8", and Scallop Circle Punches, Red Gingham Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today!

Scrap Book Evolution

First of all, please let me apologize for the crumby photos I took this morning! My camera is low on batteries, and I got in a hurry, but you'll get the general idea here. The photo above is of a 6" X 6" layout. The photo is three of my grandchildren at Disneyland during the holiday season. I used non-traditional colors even though it was Christmas time. I hand wrote the year with an SU! Journaling Marker. If you look closely, you can see hand embossed circles at the bottom of the page. I used Pretty In Pink Textured card stock and Green Galore for the matting.

Here's where the evolution takes place. The 6" X 6" is added to a sheet of 8-1/2" X 11" Green Galore and another picture is matted on pink. Stickers were added to complete the Disneyland theme. So, if you don't do 6" X 6" scrap books, but you do 8-1/2" by 11", even if you do the smaller layout at a club or something, you can convert it to the larger size.

Finally, there are many people who prefer 12" X 12" layouts. The 8-1/2" X 11" was simply added to a sheet of 12" X 12" patterned paper (WaMart). The banner at the bottom was printed on the computer with an SU! font (font CD). I also added the present in the middle of the page as an extra embellishment. I pulled that present off of a birthday card I received. Scrap bookers don't throw away anything! So, there you have it; from 6" X 6" to 12" X 12" in three easy steps! Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Just Bee-Cause (LSC180)

Today's Limited Supplies Challenge was to make "Lunch Box Notes". These little note cards are ATC size (2-1/2" X 3-1/2" after folding). I used scraps from last night's club make-&-takes; that's why it's yellow and black. This is for my 13 year old son, so I tried not to use flowers and girly things on it. It will be in his lunch or pencil pouch on the first day of school, August 25th. He's going into the 8th grade and has been home schooled for the past few years due to learning disabilities, so I bet he's a little nervous about it all. I know I am! He will have an IEP and lots of services, so I know they will try to make him comfortable there. Anyway, we were to get bonus points for using our $1 stamps. I think I got the bee stamp in a set of three for $1. There was a bee, a butterfly, and a ladybug. The sentiment is an acrylic stamp I got for a White Elephant gift. It works perfectly with the bees!

• Stamps: 3/$1 Bee stamp, unknown acrylic sentiment
• Papers: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, White
• Ink: Black Stazon
• Accessories: Word Window Punch, Snips

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Thursday Nighters August Projects

Well, I'm home! My son picked me up at the airport on Sunday night. He brought me home and had my hubby helped him with a lube job and oil change. His three kids were here so I had to entertain my grand kids while the men were in the garage working on his car. Then, yesterday, I got sick! There's a tummy bug going around I guess. My hubby was sick while I was at convention and my son was sick the day that I left. Now, it's back to work for me!

Card #1 for Thursday night's club is shown at the right. We will be using a retiring set for this one. I love the bright yellow with the black! We will be doing a bit of dry embossing and some crimping.

• Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley
• Papers: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, White
• Ink: Basic Black; Yoyo Yellow Marker
• Accessories: Crimper, Ticket Corner Punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dot, Basic Black GG Ribbon, Classy Brass Template "Dots", Light Table, Stylus

Card #2 is done with a set that just came out in the 2008 Spring/Summer Collection, but it's in the new catalog, too. I know my ladies aren't crazy about using eyelets, but I think eyelets just seem to work so well with a nautical theme. I'll do the eyelets for those that don't want to or can't, but they are so easy! Remember, these are Stampin' Up! eyelets and they are so easy to use with the 1/8" and 1/16" punches! After stamping the image of the sailboat, I tore all around it and sponged with Chocolate Chip ink to make it look burnt. The sentiment panel is popped up on two Dimensionals.

• Stamps: Winds of Grace
• Papers: Night of Navy, Sahara Sand, Naturals White (Line the inside with white, too.)
• Ink: Night of Navy
• Accessories: Sponge, Dimensionals, Basic Eyelets, Natural Hemp Twine

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Challenge Chasers

This photo was taken in front of Wendy's (Wendybell) house in Salt Lake City. She had invited all the Challenge Chasers that were going to Convention to her house for some Friday night fun. The two sexy ladies in the back are Karen (Imastampin) and MrsBoz (me!). LOL! I think this was the highlight of my convention. I really enjoyed meeting many of the ladies that have become my online friends. We ate a great dinner (Thai food) and had loads of laughs! It was a blast!!!

Old, New, and Idea Room

Yesterday, we went on a tour of the Stampin' Up! facility in Riverton, Utah. I was so tired at the end of the day that I didn't even post to my blog; sorry! I took this photo while on the tour. The catalog shown is twenty years old! It's the very first Stampin' Up! catalog. This convention is celebrating twenty years of Stampin' Up!

Ta Dah! This is this year's catalog which will be available on August 11th. I will be having a Sneaky Peek Open House on August 8th though. The orders won't go in until the 11th. I LOVE the new sets and accessories!! I can't wait to demonstrate them! ALL of the new sets are die cut which makes it so much easier to mount the stamps. I'm going to have a Stamp Camp the end of August, so I hope to get to order some new stamps to use for that. You should see all the great new Hostess Sets! It pays to belong to a club or have your own workshop to earn them!!

During the tour, we visited the "Idea Room". There's a part of it that has three walls that are floor-to-ceiling dry erase boards. They gave us dry erase markers and let us leave our messages!

Here's a photo if what I wrote! Did I put Fernley, Nevada, on the map? LOL! We've had such a great time at this convention and there's still so much in store for us. We went to two classes today plus a Demonstrator Theater. We're back at the hotel for some down time and to change clothes for tonight's Awards Night and Entertainment. Wow! What a full schedule they've had for us! Maybe I'll post some photos of the beautiful cards on display if I can find time tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Dinner With Friends

As promised, I'm posting a little blurp each evening while I'm at the Stampin' Up Convention. Tonight was when most of us flew in and got our hotel rooms. These ladies are all from Virginia and are mostly my sidelines. The blonde lady in the back is Carolyn, my 4th level upline. We met and went to Olive Garden for dinner. I was glad to get to know some of my sidelines and to finally meet Carolyn. She's been my Stampin' Up! inspiration! We had a wonderful time. We had a nice dinner! We were all just like a bunch of old friends even though this was the first time I've ever met any of them! Tomorrow is the first day of convention. I can't wait! We get our convention bags with the new catalog and three new stamp sets! It will be great! I think tomorrow is the day we go on the tour of the Stampin' Up! facility in Riverton, Utah. I'll let you know how the day went tomorrow night.

Enjoy (Convention Swap)

I'm in my hotel room in Salt Lake City having a little down time. There are SU! Demos EVERYWHERE!!! I sat with a demo from Reno on the plane, and the airport shuttle had 10 of us that needed to get to various hotels. This is going to be fun!!! I got my laptop running on the hotel's wireless network and remembered that I never uploaded one of my convention swaps; so, I got out my trusty camera, went into the bathroom where there's plenty of light and took this picture of my swap card. The card is in a transparent envelope. That's why it's shiny. It's sitting in the soap dish in the corner between two mirrors. It's not the greatest photo, but it will have to do! The "Enjoy" was stamped with Versamark and then with Pink Passion and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. The shine from the envelope takes away from the shine from those letters. I only made six of these, partly because I ran out of time, and also because I really didn't like how this card turned out! Oh well, they can't all be gems! LOL!

• Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment
• Papers: Pink Passion, Basic Black, Whisper White
• Ink: Versamark, Pink Passion
• Accessories: Clear EP, Basic Black GG Ribbon, 3-4-U and Double Rectangle Punches, Brad

Thanks for visiting today. I'll try to keep blogging while I'm at the convention if I can find the time.

Kind Word (Convention Swap)

I'm signed up for the Wow Swap for convention along with 149 other people! I'm only making 30 cards. Some people are making 100 or more! I just don't have the time. Anyway. it's supposed to be a card that a person would say "Wow!" when they see it. I think that water coloring usually is pretty impressive. I showed this to my hubby who said, "I think it's really pretty." From him, that's a wow! LOL! I used the new In-Colors: Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette, along with water color paper. The designer paper is the new Bella Rose and I also used the new Scallop Border Punch. The ribbon is Very Vanilla Taffeta. I hope this passes muster on Friday morning!

• Stamps: Serene Spring (Level 2 Hostess Set)
• Papers: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Water Color Paper
• Ink: Black Stazon
• Accessories: WCW Crayons, Aqua Painter, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch

Thanks for stopping by! I might post from convention but there won't be photos.

Friend (FS77)

I didn't upload anything yesterday because I didn't make a card! Imagine that! I was on my second day of a two-day Stamp Camp, and when it was over, I was just too exhausted to do anything. There won't be much uploading done around here until next Sunday night when I get home from the Stampin' Up! Convention. I'll probably have a card or two from convention I can upload when I get back.

Today is Featured Stamper day. Julia (artystamper) is our featured stamper this week. What a great choice! I've admired Julia's work for some time now. Hey, Julia, I know you tagged me back in March, and I didn't participate. I'm sorry about that, but I just got so busy, I just didn't have the time!!! Congratulations on being chosen for the Featured Stamper!! Julia's card that I chose to CASE (Copy And Show Elsewhere) is shown above. Julia has lots of Bible verse stamps. I like that. I also liked the simplicity of her card which focuses on the verse.

I used a lot of non-SU! supplies on this one. I changed the stamp set and the colors (which includes paper, ink and flowers). My base card is SU! Perfect Plum, and it's layered with DCWV Mat Stack (Pocket Full of Posies) that I got from my Elf for Christmas. I stamped the sentiment from "God's Blessings" with Perfect Plum and sponged with the same ink. I had the yellow flower, but the purple one was originally white; I dyed it with the Perfect Plum ink pad. I added the baby blue brad to the flower center and adhered the flower with a Pop-up Glue Dot.

• Stamps: God's Blessings
• Papers: Perfect Plum, DCWV Mat Stack, Light Blue, Bright Yellow, GP White
• Ink: Perfect Plum
• Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Primas, Blue Brad, Pop-up Glue Dot

Thanks for visiting my blog today! I hope to be able to upload a couple of cards before I leave for convention on Tuesday!

Monkey Birthday (LSC178)

Today's Limited Supplies Challenge was really a challenge! It had to have a birthday theme, four or less layers, NO coloring supplies, and the only embellishments allowed were ribbon or cord (I think the thread I used was OK).

I stamped the monkey with Close To Cocoa on Naturals White and paper pieced him with various designer paper scraps. The eyes were punched from Basic Black. The ribbon is Purely Pomegranate Wide Satin Ribbon. I'm still using up my In-Color stuff! The balloon is Pomegranate. The base card is River Rock with the Twill background stamped in Pomegranate ink. The sentiment came from Birthday Whimsy (SAB set). Having to paper piece this little guy took more time than water coloring him, that's for sure!

• Stamps: Sock Monkey, Birthday Whimsy
• Papers: River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, GP White, Basic Black; Afternoon Tea, Ginger Blossom, Rose Red Prints DSP's
• Ink: Purely Pomegranate
• Accessories: Pomegranate Wide Satin Ribbon, Snips, Thread, 1/8" Hole Punch (eyes)

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Negative Cuts (WT176)

Today's Ways To Use It Challenge was to use 'Negative Space'. I created negative space with punches. First I punched the Basic Black panel with the Five-Petal Punch. I popped up the panel over Real Red to emphasize the negative space. I added punched, embossed flowers using the Spring Bouquet Punch (retired). I also added rhinestones to the centers of the embossed flowers and the stamped flowers. I created more negative space at the bottom with the Martha Stewart Doily Lace Border Punch. I lined the front of the card with Real Red card stock. On the inside, I stamped three more flowers from the "Fresh Cuts" set and added the "Thank You" sentiment.

• Stamps: Fresh Cuts
• Papers: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black
• Ink: Real Red
• Accessories: Five-Petal Punch, Spring Bouquet Punch (retired), MS Doily Lace Border Punch, Peel-n-stick Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Thanks for visiting my blog today!!!

July Christmas Card (CCC08-July)

I'm so busy with my next Stamp Camp and making convention swaps that I almost forgot to do my July Christmas cards for the Christmas Card Challenge. I only made 10 of these and they were very quick to make. Just mat a piece of Wintergreen designer paper on white; wrap Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon around that and add the knot; stamp the image from "So Many Scallops" (Sale-A-Bration 2008) with Sage Shadow on white card stock; punch out the image with the Scalloped Circle Punch, and then assemble the card using Sage Shadow base card and add a large rhinestone in the center of the snowflake. That's it!

• Stamps: So Many Scallops
• Papers: Sage Shadow, GP White, Wintergreen DSP
• Ink: Sage Shadow
• Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, WW Taffeta Ribbon, Large Rhinestone, Quick Dry Adhesive, Pop-up Glue Dot

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!!

Dropping By (SC186)

The photo shown at the right is the Sketch Challenge layout. I really like this one and plan to use it again very soon. I might even use it for one of my swaps for convention!

The base card is from the DCWV Glitter Pack. The horizontal rectangle is from the DCWV Mat Stack "Pocket Full of Posies" that I got from my elf for Christmas. I think I matted it on Lavender Lace, but I'm not sure. It was just a piece of card stock in my scrap basket. The same goes for the matting behind the main image. It was in my scrap basket, and I think it was Cranberry Crisp which was last year's In-Color. The main image is stamped with Stazon Timber Brown on Very Vanilla and then colored with markers. The parachute was colored with the one and only Copic marker that I have. I got that from my ellie during the White Elephant Stampede. The monkey's clothes were colored with SU! markers and I did the polka dots on the parachute with Elegant Eggplant marker. The ribbon is Elegant Eggplant layered on a strip of Wild Wasabi. The hot pick brads came from an assortment of Prima flowers and brads that I got online. It's pretty colorful, isn't it?!!!

• Stamps: Older & Wiser
• Papers: DCWV Glitter Pack, DCWV Mat Stack, Lavender Lace, Cranberry Crisp, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
• Ink: Stazon Timber Brown, Copic Marker, SU! Markers
• Accessories: Elegant Eggplant GG Ribbon, Hot Pink Brads, Dimensionals

Thanks for visiting my blog today!!!

Western Birthday

I made this card for one of my grandsons who will be 13 soon. It is 5-3/8" square. The base card is striped card stock from DCWV's "Nana's Kids". Some of the card stocks have embossing and others have glitter. In fact, each of the little stars on the blue vertical stripes sparkles if you hold it at the right angle. I got a tablet of 48 sheets of really cute patterned card stock as a gift. The main image is stamped, stamped off once, and stamped off twice to get that fading effect. The small stars were stamped with Ruby Red and then punched out with the Small Star Punch. They were layered on larger stars that were punched out of Close To Cocoa card stock with the Large Star Punch.

This card is actually a gift card holder. The photo at right shows the inside of the card. I used a piece of "Western Sky" designer paper, notched the top with the Small Oval Punch, and applied adhesive to the sides and bottom, leaving the top open for the gift card to slide into the pocket. The sentiment is from "Sweet Serendipity."

• Stamps: Wanted, Sweet Serendipity
• Papers: DCWV "Nana's Kids" Pack, non-SU! Tan, Brocade Blue, Western Sky DSP
• Ink: Close To Cocoa, Ruby Red
• Accessories: Small & Large Star Punches, Ticket Corner Punch, Small Oval Punch

Thanks for stopping by today!!!

Seasonal (CC176)

I came to my computer to upload a birthday card I made for my grandson and realized I had not yet posted today's Color Challenge card. That was almost an "Oops!" for me! LOL! I love today's colors, too! We were to use River Rock, Very Vanilla, and Soft Sky. I've used these colors making Surprise Pop-up cards. If you're one of my ladies, you'll remember that! I think we used Naturals White instead of the Very Vanilla though. Either way, I love these colors together. I'm going to miss them! I called this card, "Seasonal," because I used the Seasonal Whimsy stamp set. Doesn't it look soft stamped with River Rock?!!! I used a silver glitter gel pen on the cut out butterfly's dots to give it a little sparkle.

• Stamps: Seasonal Whimsy
• Papers: River Rock, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
• Ink: River Rock, Soft Sky; Silver Glitter Gel Pen
• Accessories: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, Very Vanilla GG Ribbon, Snips

Heartfelt 20-30-40 (TLC178)

Today's Technique Lover's Challenge was really three challenges in one. It was called "20-30-40" because it was a combination of TLC20, CC30, and SC40. TLC20 was a technique challenge in which the baby wipes technique was used. For that technique, you use ink refills and drop ink onto folded baby wipes. You can pounce, dab, or swirl the inked baby wipe onto Glossy White card stock. I did mine differently. I dropped the ink onto the folded wipe and treated it like a stamp pad. I inked up my stamp on the inked wipe and used the regular Burgundy stamp pad for the second step of the 2-step stamping. CC30 was a Color Challenge to use Bravo Burgundy and Creamy Caramel. I thought that color combo was very masculine, but I wanted to make a feminine card, so I used flower stamps, fancy corner punch, fancy border punch, and ribbon. SC40 was a sketch challenge with a strip on the right hand side of the card with three circles over that. I added the main image panel as well.

• Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks
• Papers: Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel, Glossy White
• Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Creamy Caramel Refills; Bravo Burgundy Classic Stampin' Pad
• Accessories: Freshen Ups Wipes (like baby wipes but meant for adults), Fancy Corner Punch, 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" Circle Punches, Fiskars Elegant Fountain Embossing Border Punch, Creamy Caramel Gingham Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today!!!