November?

How did November go so fast?  I can't believe today is the last day. 

Tomorrow I'll be starting my December Daily.  Yes, I love Ali Edwards.  Here are my past Dec. Dailies, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 to inspire you.  I'm not at all ready for it this year.  I have been so preoccupied lately that I have nothing together or planned for it.  I'll worry about that tomorrow and show you what I get together. 

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?  19 came home on Wednesday morning and went home tonight :(
 I cooked up a storm on Wed. and Thur. and brought it all to my in-laws house.   We even did a little shopping on Thanksgiving. 

Yesterday 19 took me to see Catching Fire.  AWESOME MOVIE!!  I just got done rereading the book and a lot of the lines in the movie were straight from the book.  Really good.  But I saw that they are dividing up the last book into 2 movies.  That seems to be the thing to do lately. 

Alrighty then I wanted to show you a card I made a few months ago for 19. 

No Stamps!  Crumb cake, choc. chip and very vanilla cardstock.  Crushed curry ink.  Big shot, square lattice embossing folder, finishing touches edgelits, sweater weather DSP, gingham wheel, scallop circle punch. 


Now those of you that are One Direction savvy, know this phrase.  19 loves 1D.  

The sunburst is really easy to do.  I'm trying to remember but I think I cut the DSP into 1.5" x 2.5" rectangles and then cut them on the diagonal. 

Okie dokie that is all for tonight.  Thanks so much for stopping by and getting cozy.

Blessings, b.

I used the current leaf die this time!

Hey everyone!  I'm just hanging out tonight waiting for 19 to get on the train.  I can't wait to hug and kiss on her tomorrow. 

So I thought I'd show you a card I made with the Autumn Accents die.  Just in time for Thanksgiving.

Woodgrain background, Blooming with Kindness and Banner Greetings sets.  Very vanilla, choc chip cardstock.  Crushed curry, marina mist and crumb cake inks.  Big shot, chalk talk framelits, autumn accents die, naturals designer button, linen thread and sweater weather DSP. 

I have a pic of a Mini Muslin bag with these leaves on it.  There is no watermark on it so I have no idea of where I got the pic from, but that is where the inspiration for this card came from. 

After I got the tag part made I had to adjust the size of the card.  I ended up with a 3.5" x 5".

I don't have any Crushed Curry cardstock so I used my brayer and some very vanilla cardstock and made my own.  I then inked up the flower in Blooming with Kindness in Crushed Curry and stamped it. 

I also don't have Soft Sky ink which is what is in the Sweater Weather DSP.  So I took my Marina Mist pad and stamped off once and then stamped the tag.  It doesn't match perfectly but pretty good.  By the way, Soft Sky ink is on sale this week ;)  Apparently I need to place an order.

Alrighty then, she just got on the train.  Only 33 min. late.  I'm going to bed so I can get up really early to go get her. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Blessings, b.

chalky seasons greetings

So today we are doing a 2 fer Tuesday! 

First up is a card we did at one of my Holiday Card Classes.

Greetings of the Season.  Old olive and basic black cardstock.  White craft ink.  White embossing powder, linen thread and Season of Style DSP, big shot, and deco labels framelits.


Super easy card to make.  I wanted so badly to put a button on the linen thread but I didn't have enough for everyone.  I think a little red button would just finish this card off nicely. 

At the same time I was designing this card I needed a thank you card.  So I just used the same design.

Another Thank You photopolymer set.  Crumb cake and basic black cardstock.  Whisper white craft ink. Designer naturals button, linen thread, sweater weather DSP. 


One of the ladies at the card class put the banners a little wonky and I liked it better so I did that on this card.  That is one of the things I love about stamping with people.  They take your idea and make it better. 


Alrighty then, thats it for tonight.  I just finished rereading The Hunger Games and now I want to watch the movie before I reread Catching Fire.  Yep, I'm gearing up to go see it next week.  I'm going to wait for 19 to get home for Thanksgiving so she can go with me.  Gotta love Peeta! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

to bling or not to bling..........

...........that is the question. 

I am not a blingy type of girl.  I don't wear jewelry.  Well, save my wedding ring and a pair of earrings my kids gave me a looooooong time ago. 

But I can appreciate pretty sparkly things. 

I wanted to do something sparkly for my last card class.  Because its not just all about me ;)

 
Christmas Collectibles, music wheel and Endless Wishes stamp sets.  Pool party, smoky slate and whisper white cardstock.  Pool party, smoky slate and real red inks.  Silver ribbon, silver glitter, 2 way glue pen, christmas ornament punch and white twine. 

Okay, confession time.  I had a heck of a time getting this card together.  I mussed and fussed and tried a ton of different color combos.  Just trying to get something sparkly. 

So I put it down and got out the colors I tend to use ad nauseam. 

Christmas Collectibles, music wheel and Endless Wishes stamp sets.   Cherry cobbler, whisper white and crumb cake cardstock.  Whisper white, cherry cobbler and old olive inks.  Christmas ornament punch, cherry cobbler twine and rhinestones. 


Now this puppy went together lickety split.  I even have a sparkly rhinestone in the center of the ornament.  I really like this card and may use it for my cards this year.  I might use Baked Brown Sugar cardstock instead though. 

So, I went back to the other color combos and came up with this Pool Party/Smoky Slate combo.

I took this pic after the class and you can see in the upper left corner that it somehow got a little red ink on there.  I know I should take pics before the class but I always forget.

Check out that bling!  The silver ribbon is really sparkly too.  The gold and silver glitter in the Holiday Catalog is really fine like the Dazzling Diamonds. 

Alrighty then, time to get some chores done before bed.  Thanks so much for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.

snowflake wreath

Happy Veteran's Day!  Let me just say thank you to all the people who put their lives on the line every day to defend our country.  Thank you to their families too.  Its very humbling to really look at all the freedoms we enjoy every day.  Big cyber hugs to all of you!

So, I had my last class of the year on Friday.  We had a great time, but I'm sure the ladies are still cussing my name. I'm kidding.  I'm sure they never cuss ;)

Each card by itself wasn't too hard, but put them all in one class and they really got to feel like they got their monies worth. 

I loved each card we did this time.  Usually I will have a favorite.  But I like them all.  Here is the one we started with. 

Endless Wishes photopolymer and Greetings of the Season sets.  Crumb cake, real red, whisper white and old olive cardstock.  Basic grey, old olive and white craft inks.  Cherry cobbler seam binding, big shot, square lattice embossing folder, bird punch, pearls.


Now I purposely started out with this one because I thought it was the hardest.  Okay, not hardest but most involved.  Putting those berries on was going to take patience.  Grace and I punched them all out ahead of time otherwise my ladies would really be cussing my name.


We used a roll of masking tape to trace a circle on the base.  I LOVE the photopolymer stamps because you can see right through them.  Makes it really easy to stamp along the pencil line. 

We took the medium snowflake from the Endless Wishes set and stamped around the circle.  We then used the small snowflake to stamp around again in the whisper white craft ink. 

You can see the white here.  It just gave it a little more depth. 

We ended up using Early Espresso ink for the words because I thought it looked better than the Basic Grey.  We just attached the bow with a glue dot. 

I colored the pearls with a Sharpie.


See, not very hard just a little involved. 

Alrighty then, I'm on my way to Costco.  Blech!  Thanks so much for stopping by and getting comfy. 

Blessings, b.

"those" people

Let me just warn you that you may need a snack to get through this post.  It came out long.  

Apparently I've become one of "those" people. 

You know, the people who buy things and then forget they bought them? 

aaarrrggggg.......

I'm really very stingy with my money and think pretty hard about my purchases before I make them.  My problem here is that I just haven't been a very ambitious stamper this year. 

Here is the beginning of my story:

I needed a thank you card.  I wanted it to have a fall theme since...... it is fall.

Here is what I ended up with;

 Another Thank You photopolymer set, dictionary background and gorgeous grunge sets.  Crumb cake, cajun craze, old olive and very vanilla cardstock.  Early espresso and old olive inks.  Big shot, delicate doilies die, designer naturals buttons, leaves #2 die (retired), sweater weather DSP,  paper tea doilies, modern medley DSP, linen thread.  

I really like how it turned out even though its really not my usual style.  I love love love this particular pattern in the Sweater Weather DSP.  I love plaid.  And I love yellow......and orange.....and brown.

I also love love love the photopolymer sets.  They are awesome!

Don't look too closely (well, I know you're going to now) but can you tell that the dictionary stamp is upside down?  No?  Then forget I said anything.  Not like you can read it anyway.

On the cajun craze leaf I wrinkled the cardstock so much that it started to separate and so I split it in half.  It feels nice and soft like suede now.  If that doesn't make sense to you just give me a holler and I'll explain it better.

Okay so here is the rest of the story.

Today, after I've mailed off my card.  I happen to open an email and this person was submitting a card for a color challenge.  The very same colors I just used!  So I thought I would submit my card also.

Fab Friday Challenge Blog






I happen to admire all the people on their design team.  So I'm looking at their samples and see that the leaf die cuts on Amy O'Neill's card are different than mine.  Hmmmmmm........

So I look in the catalog and see that indeed.........I have the old Leaves #2 die that I think retired last year.  Oh well, it will be fine.  My friend can substitute the leaves if she would like to recreate it.  The Autumn Accents leaf die is current (and happens to be on sale this week).  Which I happen to like better than the Leaves #2 die........ but whatever.

Later I'm trying to design cards for my card class this Friday (because I procrastinate) and I go to get my Fun Flowers die and guess what I pull out instead?

The Autumn Accents die.  Seriously?  For real?

Well the card is gone and there's not a darn thing I can do about it.  So Charmaine, if you're reading this, those leaves are now considered vintage.

Moral of the story?  If you want to make sure you use current things.......put the retired ones elsewhere.  Or put a sticky on them.  Or better yet sell them.  Anybody want to buy a Leaves #2 die?

Alrighty then, thanks for listening to what a dork I am.  You guys rock!

Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

birthday hairballs

So today I'm supposed to be designing cards for my last card class of the year happening this Friday.  What am I doing instead? 

Watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.  

I am stamping during the commercials.  But instead of Christmas cards, I stamped a thank you card that I needed 2 weeks ago.  Can you say procrastination?

Yes, it did take me all day.  I'm a slow stamper anyway but show a movie I haven't seen before and I'm a whole lot slower.

So you might think that I'd show you the card I just made......... but no.   I want her to see it before I put it up here.  Not that she reads my blog but you never know. 

So I'm going to show you a birthday card I made a few weeks ago. 

Giggle Greetings and Dictionary background.  Crumb cake, pool party, pear pizzazz, whisper white and watercolor paper.  Soft suede, black Stazon, crumb cake and crisp cantaloupe inks.  Big shot, argyle embossing folder, chalk talk dies, aquapainter. 

See the groovy frame around this cute little kitty?  I was on Wendy Weixler's blog and she had done this.  I thought it was so neat!  Just lay both your framelit dies on the cardstock and run it through the Big Shot one time. 

It did leave a line from the inner framelit but I just turned it over and ran my bone folder over the line and it disappeared.  Magic!

My friend has cats which is why I choose this stamp.  I tried to color the kitty similar to hers but I had a heck of a time.  He is still kinda cute. 

I inked up just the image first with the Stazon.  Then cleaned the stamp and inked up just the words for the banner. 

Then cleaned the stamp and inked up the other words. 

Okay, one more thing before I go.

Grace laid out and separated her candy from Halloween so we could check it and she left this note for us to see in the morning.  Yes, Dad has a bit of a sweet tooth.  He is like a Hoover. 

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love when you do that.

Blessings, b.