2-fer Tuesday

I've been a busy girl today. I visited with a friend I haven't seen in awhile. We were chit chattin' and having a great time. Then it dawned on me that Grace gets out of school early on Mondays. HOLY COW BATMAN!!! I made it out of there in the nick of time.

Yep, I forgot about my child. Mom of the Year Award coming my way ;) She has no clue I forgot, so don't tell on me.

I also went to work and had a Brownie meeting and made dinner and I stamped. Never a dull moment around here.

Anyway, here is the sketch for the Stamping 411 site this week. Pretty easy huh?



Such a good sketch, I made 2 projects to go with it. First, a little sparkly halloween.

Scary Skeleton stamp set. Basic black, pumpkin pie, perfect plum and Cast a Spell DSP. Basic black ink and whisper white craft ink. Scallop circle punch, black grosgrain, 2 way glue pen and dazzling diamonds.

Here is the sparkly up close.

I also added some glitter to the DSP in some spots. I swiped the whisper white pad along the edges of the black and the DSP. I used the Scallop Circle Punch for the base of the little bat. Just punch out your scallop, then put it back in the punch, line up the scallops so that they punch into the scallops. Clear as mud? Let me know if you don't understand. I'll take pics and explain it better.

On to card #2. I promise, this is the last of the purple flowers you'll see for a long while. I told you I had colored in a bunch. I broke out the sponges again.

Country Morning and Sincere Salutations. Kraft and choc. chip cardstock, old book page. Choc. chip and creamy caramel inks. Misc. buttons, Choc. chip striped grosgrain, corner rounder, scallop edge punch, hemp and dimensionals.

I used the cracked glass technique again. I wasn't going to but it seemed to go. See here for a step by step how to do it.

I've seen so many samples using old book pages. I have tons of books and sacrificed one for crafting. It wasn't a very good book anyway. The thing is, the pages are so yellow! But they match the glassy glaze perfectly.

I used the corner rounder for the scallop on this circle. I would have taken pics of how to do that but it was late and it was a little hard to see. Cut your circle then take the guard off the corner rounder and punch out a scallop. Then slide the punch over until you see the edge of the scallop in the corner of the punch and punch again. Keep doing this until you've gone all the way around. Now, I know that sounds confusing. If you'd like to know how to do it then drop me a line and I'll take some pics and get it up here. Or you can come on over and I'll show you :)

I've been itching to use the wide striped grosgrain for awhile now and decided to try it here. Overall I like the end result. But it was touch and go for awhile there. A million interruptions later and I'm done.

We got our birthday invites done. I'll show those in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,

b.

shabby? dirty? country?

This card has been sitting on my desk for a few weeks. I'm not sure why I started it now, but there it sat..........looking forlorn and unfinished...............just waiting for some attention.

I originally wanted something clean and simple.

It didn't have the background stamp on it, but I took the pic as an afterthought. I wasn't going to put a sentiment on it. I wanted the tree to be the focal point. But it just looked too naked. So I started fiddling.

First I decided to sponge around the old olive. Then I took of the tree panel and sponged the vanilla panel.

Then I decide to add some faux stitching. I would have stitched some real stitches but my sewing machine won't work because it needs to be cleaned and lubed and the guy wants $89 bucks to do that. Are you kidding me? I can get a whole new machine for that price! Its on my Christmas list. Santa, are you reading?

See my gothic crow again? Sorry, can't help it. I know, I can hear you now, "get off the crows, Beth!"

Then for the finishing touch, I added a sentiment, a bow, and a button. If you're gonna go for it then go whole hog!

Branch Out and Warm Words. Soft suede, really rust, more mustard and old olive inks. Very vanilla, soft suede and old olive cardstock. Kraft taffeta, dimensionals, linen thread and button from the Playground set.

I think I like the extra effort card better. I love that background stamp. I love the tree. And, I'm gonna say it, I love the crow. Okay, I'll try to make some other kind of bird next time. Geez...........

Thanks for stopping by today.

Blessings,

b.

I found the apples!

Geez! They were hiding from me.

This is the same tree from yesterday but, I cut out a mask and sponged it in, making a very FULL tree. Genius, I know. This was one of the first ideas I had with this tree and I have never seen anyone else do it. Yes, I did send it in for one of SU!'s monthly contests, but I didn't win. :(



This is the one with a cute little cardinal. We don't have cardinals around here.



And, here is the apple tree. I used our ruby red buttons, we don't sell them anymore. The red buttons we sell now would look great because they are shiny. Like shiny red apples. YUM!

I tied each button with some natural hemp. I don't like naked buttons. There was actually a time when I hated buttons on cards. Now I love them! Go figure.................

Lots to do today. I'll catch ya on Monday.

blessings,

b.

the calendar says its Fall but.................

..............its 105 degrees today. So I'm pretending that its Fall.

I turned down the air to 79 degrees and I'm gonna make the big kids get in the attic tomorrow morning and get the Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations down. We'll see if that helps.

So I was looking at my Season of Friendship tree stamp and remembered that I used it last year to make this little cutie pie bag. The saying says, "The season of friendship lasts forever"

Season of Friendship stamp. More mustard, really rust, choc. chip and basic black inks. Conf. white and choc. chip cardstock. Choc. chip wide grosgrain ribbon, natural hemp, dimensionals and brown lunch sack.

I cut 2 inches off the top and then folded down an inch or so. That reinforced the ribbon handles. We did some sponging/masking for the ground.

I didn't get all my little birdies quite sitting on the branches, so I used my black marker and gave them little legs. I think I like the one with legs better anyway.

I love this set! It comes with leaves, flowers, snowflakes, the little birdie and the sentiment. I made an apple tree with it too. I'll have to find that pic and upload it tomorrow.

I gotta run. Tonight is homecoming and the band is performing for the first time in their uniforms this year. I'll be working the snack bar though so I won't get to see probably. I'll have 15 take a pic for me. Yeah, like that will happen.

Thanks for stopping by. Yak atcha later!

blessings,
b.

cracked up flowers

Sorry about the absence. I've been battling a migraine for days now. I decided to stay home today and just take it easy with my meds. It worked! I still have a headache and will have a migraine hangover for a day or 2 but I'm so much better. And hopefully that sucker won't be back for a long while.

So remember, I told you I had a few more ideas for these flowers? Pretty huh?

Country Morning. Kraft, perfect plum and watercolor paper. Versamark, Pale plum, going gray, old olive, more mustard, creamy caramel and brocade blue ink. Aquapainter, kraft tafetta ribbon, glassy glaze, stampamajig.

I was reminded of an old technique by reading Heather Nichols blog several weeks ago. (She is one of my stamping idols. She is awesome!) I did this technique years ago at a class. Its called "cracked glass". Here is how you do it.

ink up the entire image with Versamark.

then press the whole thing into the glassy glaze powder. Glassy glaze is a coarse embossing powder (thats kind of an oxymoron isn't it?) Don't mind the red stuff on my thumb. I had just made koolaid and..................... I'm a slob.

then you heat it up with your heat tool. It will look all bumpy like this. Just repeat using the versamark, powder, heat.

I did this one 4 times. It will come out really smooth and thick.

stick it in the freezer for about 5 min. If you live somewhere other than the surface of the sun, like me, then this step may not be neccessary. It was over 100 again the day I did this and all it would do is bend. Freezing it makes it easy to crack.

see? Just bend it and it will crack. If it cracks in a way that you don't like, all you have to do is heat it up again and then freeze and crack.

I didn't seem to take a pic of me rubbing in the creamy caramel ink. Use your sponge to rub ink into the cracks and age it.

viola!

This is a really cool technique. One of the oldies but goodies. Please let me know if you need help with it or anything else.

I have another idea for this image. Hopefully I'll get it put up tomorrow.

Blessings, b.

Monday already?

Good morning peeps!





I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I had big plans but just didn't feel like completing them all.





The little one and I did get some quality stamping time in today. Thats more important than chores right? We are trying to design her birthday invites. She turned 9 a few weeks ago and she wants to have a sleepover.





We have the general idea down but have hit some technical difficulties. I'll show you what we're doing as soon as we're done.





I also did the Stamping 411 sketch again this week.

Kind of a funky little thing ain't it?

You should go over and check out what others have done with it. Everytime I've tried one of these sketches I always think, "what the heck am I going to do with that?" I guess just because its not one of my standard layouts. But so far, I've been able to pull something out of the hat everytime.

So here is my take on it.

Country Morning. Choc. chip, kraft, pale plum, perfect plum and watercolor paper. Black Stazon, brocade blue, choc. chip, old olive, pale plum, going gray inkers. Top note die cut, white gel pen, brads and dimensionals.

So what do you think? Country Morning is a Level 1 Hostess set. I originally got it because I like the chicken that it has. And, I did start with that image but had a hard time coloring the rooster. I need to get an actual pic of one and then try it again. I love chickens. Someday I will have chickens. Although my dear hubby has said he will move out if I do. So I gotta work on him some more. The other funny thing is, I realized as I was trying to color that rooster in, that my grandmother collected chicken salt and pepper shakers. She used to raise chickens when my mom was small. I laughed out loud when I came to that realization. Funny, the things you can remember. In fact, I even call my children "my little chickens". I'm not sure why. I even got them little stuffed toy chickens one year for Christmas. Hmmm.........

The banner says, " There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy. - Ralph H. Blum"

I like that saying. I like calmness and try to be thankful for every little thing. Its sometimes hard to see God's blessings but I'm always looking for them.

I used my beloved Aquapainter and ink. Just press the lid of the ink pad together and when you open it up you'll have a little smooshy pool of ink in there just waiting for you. I used the white gel pen to add some centers to the flowers to give it a little more dimension.

I colored a bunch of these images and have another idea or 2 in mind for them. Hopefully I'll have time to play with them some more. But after work tomorrow I gotta finish the chores that I slacked on doing today.

Thanks for visiting.

Blessings, b.

last minute sketch challenge

I wasn't sure I'd be able to find time to play with the new sketch over at the Stamping 411 site.

It has been a crazy busy weekend and week. So I really made myself sit down and play today. Isn't it sorry how as adults we don't feel entitled to relax and play? We put things off because this or that needs to be done. Laughter makes the world go 'round baby! Actually, I've always believed its "love that makes the world go 'round" but you don't feel very loving if you're not in the mood to laugh, and you are probably somewhat relaxed if you feel like laughing and...................... or well.............. whatever...............you get the drift right?

Back to why were here. This is the sketch this week.


and here is my take on it. I have another card that follows this sketch but I'm not quite done with it yet and I wanted to make sure this got posted on time. I did promise you stamping today and I don't want to be that kind of person who says one thing and does another.

Flight of the Butterfly, Sincere Salutations and Polka Dot background. Soft suede, brocade blue, and whisper white craft ink. Paper piercer and dimensionals. Easy peasy!

I really like the soft suede with the brocade blue. And of course, kraft goes with everything. I had made some cards using these same stamps and colors to make some thank you cards last week. I sent them out without taking a pic, sorry. They were really cute too.

Anyhow, I'm gonna go work on the other card that goes to this sketch and if I get it done in time I'll post it here. Otherwise you'll see it another day.

Blessings,

b.

you knew this was coming.................

didn't you?

Marching season is upon us. This is a pic of my beautiful boy at last years championships. We came in 1st place for our division!!!

he is so tired here

Here he is marching at Disneyland last December. He is the snare drummer on the end here.

My little drummer boy.

Okay, I show you those so you can understand our weekend. And also to understand why no stamping got done this past week.

My husband has been organizing a golf tournament for my son's high school marching band for the past 2 1/2 months.

Nope, thats not much time to get something really big together and boy did we feel it. Because California's state budget is what it is, the marching band no longer gets any state money. If you want to march and compete then by golly, you'd better raise some money. It costs alot of moola to compete.

So after asking countless companies to sponsor a hole or donate product we finally had the tournament this last Saturday.

The weather was glorious! It stayed under 100. Actually I think it was in the low 90's. We raised over $2200 for the band! We were wishing it was more but I'm so proud of my husband for pulling this off almost single handedly. He really worked hard.

Here are the little goodie bags we gave to each golfer. I had to make 64 of them.

They got filled with a water bottle, lifesavers, tees, various coupons and a ball marker.
Of course I had to try and make them cute. I know, men could care less what the bag looks like. They just want to know whats in it. Now, there was only 1 woman golfer there but I know she appreciated the decorated bag. I just know it.

I bought xs basket bags and stamped them with an old golf ball stamp I had with black stazon. Then I printed the band logo out and punched it with the 1 1/4 circle and then punched a 1 3/8 circle out of real red.

Then tied up those cute bags with red curling ribbon. I just couldn't justify using grosgrain knowing those men would just toss it.

Now I did stamp 2 gift bags. Fred had 2 combo prizes (shirt, balls, hat, towel) and needed bigger bags. I took white handled bags and stamped them with the grass from Inspired by Nature on both sides. Then I printed out the logo again only bigger and Fred sketched a tee in the grass and put the logo on the tee like a golf ball. Sounds cute right? Yeah, not so much. I wouldn't even take a pic of them because they didn't look so wonderful. I did use some real red wide grosgrain on the handles of those. That did help somewhat.

So I know you're just waiting on the edge of you seat for pics from the tournament. Well, I had planned on being there for the BBQ lunch they were going to have, cause you know me, I never miss a meal. Especially if I didn't have to cook it. But God laughed, HA HA HA!!!!! He gave me a migraine so I wasn't able to go at all.

And, I called Fred a few times and said, "take pictures" but did he? NO!! So I didn't get to see anything!

I'll leave you with this thought because I know you're tired of listening to me, but I found this funny. A pic would have been worth a thousand words here.

The son of one of our really good friends was golfing a few groups behind Fred and lets just say he was "over served" if you know what I mean. So was the friend, that was driving the cart with the son. Apparently they drove off the side of a bridge (low bridge) and crashed the cart! Are you kidding me? So the golf course manager comes up to Fred and he's like "dude, one of your players crashed the cart. We had to tow it in"

The boys ( I say "boys" but they are 25-27 years old) did fess up to the crime and will take care of the damages. BUT, the son of our good friend, actually went to urgent care because he thought he broke a rib falling out of the cart! He only bruised them, but he will be out of work for 2 weeks.

Um.......did we learn anything here? Drinking and driving (even a golf cart) really isn't a good idea.

Okay, enough for today. I will have some stamping to show you tomorrow. Promise :)

and last but not least

the final card from last, last Thursday.

Isn't it great? This one is my favorite from that night. It came together so easy! It still makes me wonder why that happens sometimes.

Branch Out, Sincere Salutations and Woodgrain background. Soft Suede, Crushed Curry and Very Vanilla cardstock. Old olive, always artichoke, black Stazon, soft suede and crushed curry inks. Wide oval punch, mini library clips, dimensionals and natural hemp.

Branch Out is on the Dormant list. I'll add that to the bottom of this post. Print it and keep in your catalog.

I thought this card would be good for a man. Nothing girlie about it. I put a crow/raven/blackbird in the tree because we don't have any bluebirds/blue jays or cardinals or other colorful birds around here. Except maybe pigeons but this is just a little stamp and I'm just not that talented. We do have ALOT of crows. This would be a great card for someone who is a fan of Edgar Allen Poe or Alfred Hitchcock. Anyway, I thought it came out great.

We had a very busy weekend. But I'll tell you all about another day. Here is the dormant list. Print it out and put it in your catalog for future use. It didn't copy and paste here very nicely. Let me know and I'll email you a nice one.

Catch ya tomorrow. B.

Dormant Lists
The Dormant List contains stamp sets that, while they have not been retired, are not listed in the current catalog. These sets are available for purchase during the listed timeframe and may or may not be listed again in future catalogs.

Stamps
Item #
Stamp Set
Last Publication this Set Appeared in
Page #
113407
Backwoods
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
102
114492
Beautiful Baby
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
114486
Birthday Wish
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
113200
Branch Out
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
100
114496
Celebrations
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
113732
Central Park
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
106
113206
Classic Sketches
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
119
113226
Classy & Fabulous
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
51
113750
Easter Beauty
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
29
114024
Bella Pascua
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
29
114498
Flowers in Silhouette
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
113405
Font of You
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
46
113216
For the Bride
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
61
114028
Para la novia
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
61
114494
Forever
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
109425
Friend by Definition
2008 Fall-Winter Idea Book & Catalog
135
114488
Fun Flowers
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
113716
Garden Greetings
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
55
114490
Glad Friends
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
208
111580
Grand Soiree
2008 Fall-Winter Idea Book & Catalog
126
113242
Hit the Road
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
103
113710
Lexicon of Leaves
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
101
113236
Man's Best Friend
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
72
114423
Ocean Commotion
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
97
113728
Playful Petals
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
99
109276
Polka Dot
2008 Fall-Winter Idea Book & Catalog
135
111544
Putt Putt
2008 Fall-Winter Idea Book & Catalog
81
113240
Quilt Quips
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
53
113754
Really Retro
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
132
113403
Sip by Sip
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
51
113726
Sweet Stems
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
99
113250
That's Funny
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
63
113688
Wonderful Watercolors
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
85
114032
Acuarelas Maravillosas
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
85

Wheels
Item #
Wheel
Last Publication this Wheel Appeared in
Page #
113836
Fashion Forward
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
51
111259
Pinch Me
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
28
107559
Spot On
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
120
107560
Watercolor Vine
2009 Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog
84

merry medallion

Medallion background, Warm Words. Basic Gray, Melon Mambo and Whisper White cardstock. Melon Mambo and Basic Gray inks. 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter, fire rhinestone brads, stampamajig and dimensionals.

This is card #3 from last Thursday. After doing 3 other cards with fallish colors (I know you haven't seen #4 yet, I went out of order) I thought that we should do something girlie and sparkly. What do you think?

It kinda morphed into a little 4x4 card. In real life it is just adorable and sparkly. Perfect sized card to give someone to perk up their day. AND, you can get 4 4x4 cards from 1 sheet of 12x12 cardstock.

Now I know "be merry" is generally a holiday greeting but I thought to myself, "this card makes me feel good just looking at it." So I choose "be merry" because whoever I give it to, I want them to feel good too. Just sharing the love......

I'll be showing the last one tomorrow. Hang tight!

blessings, b.

more blessings

Bright Blessings jumbo wheel. Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry and Kraft cardstock. Dusty Durango and Choc. chip ink. Choc. chip wide grosgrain, button from button latte, dimensionals, distresser from the cutter kit.

This is another card we made last Thursday. We had a heckuva time lining up the wheel so we could get just the right words. Sorry ladies. They were real troopers though and didn't throw me out. Everyones card came out very nice. I kinda ripped this idea out of the Idea Book and Catalog and threw my spin on it.

Here is another card using the same wheel.

Bright Blessings jumbo wheel. Kraft, crushed curry and dusty durango cardstock. Choc. chip ink cartridge. Paper piercer and distresser.

This one I'm not so sure about. There is something that needs to be changed. Let me fiddle with it some more and I'll let you know how it works out.

Thanks for visiting, now go stamp something!

blessings, b.

Papercrafts hi-jack

I've been stamping again. Or should I say "hi-jacking" again? See this:

Thanks for Everything set and itty bitty backgrounds. Very vanilla, choc. chip and Cast-a-Spell DSP. Pumpkin pie and choc. chip inks. Leaves #2 die cut, Old olive wide grosgrain, misc. button, natural hemp, pop up glue dots and reg. glue dots.

I got the idea from pg. 59 of the Sept./Oct. Papercrafts mag. Go get your copy and check it out. I'll wait...........................................................................So what do you think?





I saw the felt leaves and said to myself, "hey, you just cleaned out the downstairs closet and found all that felt left over from making a million and one soccer and baseball banners, (award winning ones, I might add). You could make those cute little leaves using your Big Shot."





So I tried it. They came out great! The only fallish colors I had were bright orange, (Tigers baseball), dark chocolate and milk chocolate colors ( puppy outfit for school play).

I just realized that this pic is going the wrong way. Pretend you don't notice that.

So get your Big Shot out and try some different materials. There are so many that will work. Check out this list from the SU! website:

Big Shot Materials List for Bigz and Originals Dies
The following materials work well when creating die cuts with the Big Shot machine and Bigz and Originals dies. Please note the maximum thickness of several materials. As a rule of thumb, you can cut a material with your Big Shot machine and Bigz or Originals dies if you can cut it using your Craft & Paper Scissors.

Thick corkboard
Thick chipboard (59 mil)
Colored magnet
Ruffle board
Paper wood
Balsa wood (3/32")
Bass wood (1/16")
Metal mesh
Aluminum (.016)
Tin (.008)
Adhesive and non-adhesive mat board
Drawer liner
Shelf liner
Vinyl
Static cling vinyl
Shrink film
Fine sandpaper
Clear acetate (20 mil)
Vellum
Card stock
Patterned paper
Flocked paper
Contact paper
Textured paper
Metallic paper
Linen paper
Suede paper
Embossed metallic paper
Self-adhesive glitter paper
Fabric
Canvas
Iron-on fabric
Soft plush fabric
Burlap
Velvet
Corduroy
Lace
Heavyweight denim
Terry cloth
Funky fur
Thin leather
Quilt batting
Warm & natural batting
Fusible fleece
Self-adhesive craft metal
Self-adhesive cork
Self-adhesive foam
Self-adhesive magnet
Self-adhesive felt
Adhesive and non-adhesive rubber
Pop up sponge
Poly foam
100% pure beeswax (cut with parchment paper on top & bottom of beeswax.)

Now you have a bunch of ideas huh? Let me know if you have any questions.

Blessings, b.

the "other" card..............

I made for the Stamping 411 sketch challenge.

A very few people wanted to see this one now. I'm all about pleasing people.

Thanks for Everything, Polka dot background and Cheep Talk sets. More mustard, old olive and choc. chip inks. Old olive, more mustard, choc. chip and whisper white cardstock. Old olive grosgrain, antique brass brads, paper piercer tool, dimensionals, stampamajig.

Nothing special. Just a cute card. So which do you like better, soft flowers or thanks?

cherry blossoms

Eastern Blooms, Polka Dot background and Bright Blessing Jumbo wheel. Old Olive, Choc. chip, whisper white and rose red cardstock. Choc. chip, regal rose and old olive markers. Old olive grosgrain, 2 way glue pen, cutter kit and dimensionals.

I know cherry trees don't actually bloom until March or something, and now that I think about it, aren't cherry blossoms white? Oh well, lets just say some kind of flower bloomed in my craft corner today.

This is another sketch from the Stamping 411 site. I orignally had made another card but I had moved the back panel over to the side and I didn't know if they would accept that or not. I am a rule follower and don't like being in trouble. Yeah, I hear some of you laughing. But sometimes I just can't help being in trouble. So I'll just show you that one another day. eta, you can see the "other" card on the post above, 9-8-09.

sorry for the fuzzy pic. I just couldn't get a clear one.

I don't know what made me think to do it but as I was putting this together I remembered something I saw on Andrea Walford's blog. Now I've never actually seen Flower Soft so I'm just gonna pretend that this is just like it.

When you use the distresser tool on the cutter kit it leaves you with little fuzzies. I used my 2 way glue pen and plopped some fuzzies on each flower. I think its so cute. Making french knots with embroidery thread would have looked cute too, but that is neither here nor there.

Here is another one I had made. Trying to keep everything centered. I'm not sure which one I like better. What do you think? I kept wanting to put brads or something in all that white space but I didn't want to detract from the soft flowers. Ha, get it? Soft flowers, Flower Soft?

For the sentiment, I drew a pencil line where I wanted to saying to be, then I just inked up the "Blessings" part of the Bright Blessings wheel and rolled it on. Pretty slick huh?

Thanks for dropping by and I'll have more goodies to show you tomorrow.

blessings, b.

Happy Saturday!

This is going to be a great long weekend! I just know it!



First of all, its a long weekend :)



Second, my watercolored pumpkins were chosen to be in the top 5 on the Stamping 411 site. How cool is that? What a great thing to wake up to. Everyone left such nice comments. Thank you. Go check out the other players' cards and see how talented they all are. They also have another sketch for everyone to try out.



And third, Grace went to a birthday party today and let me leave her there. (Which is why I am posting here on a weekend.) She is really growing up. She gets so nervous going somewhere new and usually I stay there and chat and help out. But today she gave me a big hug and kiss and jumped in their pool (pool party. Not that she would normally jump in someone's pool just because.) Next thing you know I'll be shipping her off to college. :( They grow up so fast.





Okay, let me tell you that I met the nicest group of ladies on Thursday night. I had such a good time! Here is one of the cards we made:



Scary Skeleton. Pumpkin pie, basic black, whisper white and Cast-a-spell DSP. White Craft ink and Stazon black ink. Black gingham ribbon, white ep, Square Scallop Die (love it!), large oval punch and dimensionals.



Isn't he/she cute? He is just the happiest little skeleton. I know I have a little white blob by the top of his head. Pretend you don't see that okay? I had cut a piece of pumpkin pie cs 10x5, folded it in half and cut it with the Scallop Square die. Just put the fold right up to the top scallops without touching them and it will only cut 3 sides.

For the tag I used the lg. oval punch and rubbed the edges in the stazon. Actually Grace helped me design this card. She used to always say that when she grows up she is going to do Stampin' Up! Start 'em young!

Thats it for today folks. I have some more cards to show you this week coming up. But first I want to try and get the new 411 sketch done and a color challenge I found using colors I love.

Okay, your turn, go stamp something!

Blessings, b.

'Tis the Season

Its finally here! The moment you've all been waiting for, the start of the .........................

Holiday Mini Catalog

(and the crowd goes wild!!)

Jewelry, Build A Bear, Holiday DSP, Sweet Treat Cups, Halloween DSP, Fall DSP, 2010 Calendar kit, Holiday Chipboard, Pop Up Christmas Trees and ....................wait for it.........................My Digital Studio! (and the crowd goes wild again) Now, My Digital Studio won't be available until Oct. 1st. But in the meantime, check this out

the Sweet Rewards promotion is happening until Nov. 30. Host a workshop of $250 or more and get anything (except hostess sets or My Digital Studio) for only $10 out of the Holiday Mini. What a deal!

The Growth Chart special is still going on too. But, only until Sept. 30th.

I have a workshop going on Thurdsday night so I'll be sharing our projects for that later. So for now, go forth and stamp something! b.