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.

what?!

How did so much time go by since my last post?  I know, you guys are used to it from me.  But really, its not my intention.  I have lots to show you.

In the last few weeks lots has been happening.

1.  The Boy turned 21.  He went to Vegas to celebrate.........without us.  I have no pic to show you because he is a dork and won't let me point a camera at him, and Heaven forbid he take any himself!

2.  I had my 2nd Holiday Card Class.  (I'm such a loser.  I still haven't shown you the cards from the first one yet.)  Here is the bag tag from the 1st one.

Thats the Ticket set.  Cherry cobbler, old olive and whisper white cardstock.  Old olive and crumb cake ink.  Sticky pearls, bird punch, ticket punch, burlap ribbon, cherry cobbler twine and season of style DSP.  


I usually give my guests some kind of bag to put their finished cards in.  Keeps them from getting lost or squished.  

 

This tag was made back in September and I thought I was fairly clever coming up with the idea of using the wing from the bird punch to create the poinsettia, but recently I saw somewhere someone else (I don't remember who or where eta: it was Mary Brown)  had done it also.  But she used 6 petals on each layer and it looked much nicer.  So if you make one, use 12 petals.

Teeny Tiny Wishes set.  Crumb cake, daffodil delight, basic black and whisper white cardstock.  Soft suede, whisper white and black stazon inks.  Big shot, woodgrain embossing folder, oval punch, bird punch, owl punch and white gel pen. 

This is the bag tag I made for the 2nd class.  I saw this cute little bat on Diana Gibbs blog.  She is a stamping/punching genius.

I inked up the woodgrain embossing folder with the soft suede ink before I ran it through the machine.  I think it looks cool. 

3.  The Hubs and I were invited to a concert at a winery by our house.  It was fun and I did have a little too much to drink.   My camera takes crummy pics. 

4.  On the 12th, Grace had Cosmic pajama bowling with her band class.  They got to bowl in their jammies and eat candy and got a ton of glow bracelets/necklaces........at 7:00 in the morning.  Did she even comb her hair? 

.............and The Hubs had his first official 100 mile ride.

Super proud of him.  He even got a medal.  Such a stud!

 5.  We had our 24th anniversary.  But because we've been so busy we didn't actually get to celebrate until last night.  I surprised him with a night out.  I never get to surprise him!  He guesses everything all the time.  I can't put out Christmas presents for him until Christmas Eve because he will guess what they are just by holding them..........even when they're disguised..........its freaky, I'm telling you. 

Anyhow I made plans for some friends to meet us for dinner and then we went to a comedy club that has opened by our house.  As soon as we got close to the restaurant he knew what we were doing.  BUT, he didn't know our friends were meeting us there.  SURPRISE!  We had a great time!

These are the flowers he gave me.  So pretty!

Here is the card I made him.

Yippee Skippee set.  Pool party, real read, whisper white and crumb cake cardstock.  Soft suede and black stazon inks.  Big shot, expressions thinlits, woodgrain embossing folder, deco frame framelits.

Everything I make him has some sort of wood component.  I inked up the "I freakin'" part, stamped, cleaned it, inked up the "you!" and stamped again.  I freakin' love it!  I know some people did not like the words on this particular stamp but I got a chuckle out of it.  I just freehand cut a heart out.

Alrighty thats it for today.  I do have all the holiday cards we've made at the classes.  Look for those this week.  Plus, Grace and I are working on a project to send to 19 for Halloween.  Never a dull moment around here.

Thanks so much for coming by and hanging out.

Blessings, b.

bird revisited

Howdy!  I hope you all are having a great week so far.  I had 2 card classes this weekend.  I loved catching up with my friends. 

Remember the bird/groovy square card I showed last week?  Well, I changed it a little for my classes this past weekend.

Fresh Vintage (SAB) and music notes wheel.  Crumb cake, soft suede and very vanilla cardstock.  Baja breeze and crumb cake inks.  Bird punch, pearls, wheel guide, label framelits, stipes embossing folder, big shot, dimensionals and sponges.

Its the same focal image but I turned it and used the music notes wheel.  I was inspired by a card by Dawn McVey. 

I used a black sharpie to color the pearl for the eyeball.  I had to use the wheel guide to make sure I got the music notes straight.  I put off buying that wheel guide for years but I finally broke down and now I'm wondering why I waited so long.  It sure makes using the wheel sooooooo much easier. 

Alrighty then, this is going to be a quickie post today.  I have a union meeting tonight.  UGH!  Sometimes I really don't like being a grown up. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'll be putting up the rest of the cards this week. 

Blessings, b.

Oh Geez!

Nothing ever goes as planned. 

I have no December Daily pages together........yet.  I do have pics, well, except for one day (ahem....Michele, just when you get around to it ;)) and stories picked out, I just haven't had time to sit down to do it. 

I'm going to "getRdone" tonight........I hope........I think.......I'm going to try.

But, I do have another Christmas card to show you.  This one was fairly quick.  I got 3/4 of it done in about 25 min. while waiting for a buddy to come pic me up last night. 

Now see, I did sit down to work on the Dec. Daily today but, this card was sitting on the desk unfinished so I had to finish it first.  And of course I got nothing else done.

NO STAMPS!!!   Whisper white, old olive, pear pizzaz, wild wasabi, garden green and real red cardstock.  Bird punch, cropadile, hemp, jewelry tag punch, black journaler and misc. button. 

Cute eh?  I saw an idea like this several weeks ago.  I don't remember what they used exactly (because of course I don't remember when or where I saw it) but I thought the wing from the bird punch was perfect. 

With a pencil I lightly drew a circle and used that as a guide.  Then I just went for it.  I used the large hole punch on the cropadile to make the little holly berries.

I decided to wrangle some hemp to do my will.  Hemp is not always user friendly.  It started out looking like a hemp spider on my wreath....but I tamed it.  I found a red button in my stash and used the jewelry tag punch for a little "joy".  I had no joy stamps so I had to wing it. 

After I was done, I decided it needed a little something something.  So I drew the black line around the border.  Now it seems finished. 

Alrighty then, thats it for today.  The Boy just came home on his dinner break and announced that we had to go to Target when he gets home from work because he needs something for school. 

Yeah, great.

So, no, I won't be working on the Dec. Daily tonight.  But, tomorrow is another day....................

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Blessings, b.

owlie birthday

Hey stampers!  Just a quickie post for you tonight. 

A friend of mine had a birthday last week.  So I made her a card.

Season of Friendship, Woodgrain background and A Word for You.  Cajun craze, not quite navy, early espresso, whisper white, basic black, daffodil delight and crumb cake cardstock.  Early espresso, not quite navy, whisper white and crumb cake inks.  Cutter kit (distresser), Owl punch, vanilla seam binding (holiday mini), 2 step bird punch, small oval punch and dimensionals.

Cute huh?  She came to the card class a few weeks ago and fell in love with the little owl punch.  And she LOVES Halloween.  So I combined them. 

I cut out a circle and used it for a mask.  I sponged crumb cake ink onto the crumb cake cardstock to make the moon.  The Season of Friendship tree makes a perfect size branch for our cute little owl. 

I used the wing from the 2 step bird punch and a small oval brushed with whisper white ink for the hat. 

I'm loving the seam binding!  I aged this ribbon with some water and crumb cake ink.  Crumple it up and let it dry.  Instantly aged!  Thats kinda how I feel most days.......instantly aged.  Hmph........

Alrighty then, we've had 2 celebrations lately.  I'll get some pics and show you those cards this weekend.  I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.  And, I had a short week this week!

Thanks for stopping by.  You warm my cockels.  

What are cockels? 

Blessings, b.

blue eyes looking at you

Hey everybody!  I hope things are going well with you all.  Fall has decided to vacation here for a few days.  Its been awesome!  The high today was 61 and breezy.  Beautiful!  BUT, it will be in the high 80's again by the weekend.  So I'll take what I can get. 

I had my card class on Saturday.  We had so much fun!  I really miss stamping with my friends.  It wasn't a long enough time to catch up with everyone so I'm going to have to get everyone together again soon. 

Here is card #4 that we did. 

Woodgrain background and A Word for You sets.  Crumb cake, whisper white, old olive, early espresso, pacific point, real red, basic black and bashful blue cardstock.  Crumb cake, early espresso and bashful blue inks.  Extra large owl punch, extra large bird punch, corner rounder punch,  Scallop square duo die (holiday mini), big shot, sponges and dimensionals.

Here's ol' blue eyes looking at you.  Isn't he cute?  I love that scallop square duo die from the Holiday Mini catalog.  This is the bigger one of the two and it measures out 3x3.  We used the cloud sponging technique from this post.

 

I will say that I originally wasn't going to get this little cutie punch.  BUT, Grace wanted it.  I'm so glad we got it.  He really is adorable.  I've seen so many people get creative with him.  We'll have to see what we can come up with. 

This card measured out 3.5 x 5.  It fit the scallop square perfectly.  Now, that being said, don't be afraid to change the size of your base to fit the elements you want to use.  I wanted to use the square and it just wasn't making me happy in a regular sized card.  So I changed it.  Big deal!  It still fits in a regular size envelope so I don't pay extra postage.  Works for me!  I think this was everyone's favorite card they made. 

I have one more to show you and then I'll post the details of the card kit. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I get such warm fuzzies.  (I mean that in a good way)

Blessings, b.

thanks so much

Howdy!  Quickie post tonight.  I wanted to show you another Artisan card entry since AGAIN I got no stamping done. 

It always makes me happy to see a bunch of cards completed.  I actually sent these to people too.  Imagine that!

Trendy Trees stamps.  Crumb cake, old olive, whisper white and melon mambo cardstock.  Whisper white craft and Black Stazon inks.  Corner rounder, scallop edge punch, little leaves die, big shot, 2 step bird punch, black gingham ribbon, stampamajig, polka dot embossing folder (wart maker) and dimensionals.


I had made a bunch of these to send as thank you's for my birthday.  I decided they were so cute, I made a few more and sent one in for the contest.  Talk about easy to make!  Quick, quick, quick!

I used the 2 step bird punch to make the flower.  Can you see it?  I punched out the wing 3 times and glued them together. 

I'm so sad they retired all the gingham ribbon.  I liked it.  You can see here that I only tacked down the stem  of the little leaves die.  That way the leaves could reach out, (and touch someone, ha).

After I used the polka dot embossing folder I swiped my whisper white craft ink over the raised dots.  Since they took away my polka dot background stamp set I had to figure out a way to get white dots.  I'll show them!

Alrighty then, I'm off to bed.  The boy finally got home from band camp and I can go to sleep knowing he is safely home. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking in.

Blessings, b.

Artisan contender #5...........(I think)

Hey everyone,

We've been gone for the last week camping and am now trying to get back into the goove of things.  You didn't even know I was gone did ya?

So now I'm trying to catch up, laundry to do, email to catch up on, grocery shopping, senior pictures (God help me!), dentist and eye dr. appts, etc...........


I actually posted this card in March and then decided a few days later to use it for the Artisan Award.  So I took it off my blog.  I'm going to repost it now and hope it comes out right.  I hope to have new stuff for you in a few days. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Blessings, b.



Happy Spring!

I know those of you on the East Coast aren't seeing any signs of spring yet but it is getting here real quick.  We hit 70 degrees today and the Swallows are redecorating their nests under the eves.  My weeds are very happy.  I need to get out there and get rid of them..............the weeds, not the Swallows.

So anyhow I thought I would make a springy card today.  I have a thing for Robin birds.  Our oldest daughter's name is Robin and she had quite the collection of Robin bird things.............until she decided she hated her name and either got rid of most of them or they are in hiding.  Ahh, such is the life of a teenager. 

So anyway, I went to the Stamping 411 site to see how easy their sketch was this week.  Verdict: very easy.  So here is my card:

Sanded and Woodgrain background stamps, Itty Bitty Backgrounds and Trendy Trees.  Kraft, old olive, ruby red, whisper white, brocade blue, bashful blue, and choc. chip cardstock.  Bashful blue, choc. chip, ruby red and sahara sand ink.  Little leaves Sizzlit die, 2step bird punch (occasions mini), 1/8 circle punch, small heart punch (occasions mini), large oval punch and small oval punch.

Ever since I got the bird punch I've been wanting to make a Robin bird.  There has been alot of punch art around the web lately so I thought I'd jump in too. 

I had a few issues with the nest.  I couldn't quite figure it out at first.  So I looked at pics of real nests and came up with this. 

I made the eggs with the small heart punch in the Occasions Mini.  Here is how I put the nest together.

1 large oval in kraft, 1 large oval in choc. chip., 1 small oval in choc. chip and a sliver of a large oval in kraft. 

Layer the large choc. chip oval behind and below the large kraft oval.

Layer the small choc. chip oval on top.

Layer the sliver on top of the small choc. chip oval.  Ta Da!

You can see here how much everything sticks out.  I put dimensionals under the nest and under the bird. 

I wasn't sure about this sentiment.  I kept thinking of putting it on the white part but was too afraid of messing up the whole thing.  So I played it safe and put in underneath.   Yeah, I'm so not a "living on the edge" type of person. 


Alrighty then, the finale of The Bachelor is on right now and so I gotta go see who he picks.  I'm sure it'll be Vienna.  I was sorry to see Ali go. 

Thanks for stopping by and checking things out. 

Blessings, b.

wrinkly roses

Hey everybody!  I hope everyone had a great day.  I just got done putting the finishing touches on the make 'n' take and the goodie bags for tomorrow.  I only got one more tag done today.  Its awesome! 

Medallion and Favorite Thoughts (summer mini).  Not quite navy, sahara sand, old olive and NEW Poppy Parade (In Color).  Black Stazon and white craft inks.  Paper piercer, Little Leaves die, white taffeta ribbon, scallop edge punch, curly label punch and hemp.

Pretty huh?  It came out even better than I planned.  Which is cool because that never happens. 

I had the idea of making some wrinkly roses but that was it.  I decided to use a new In Color.  I love this Poppy Parade.  Its a bright reddish orange.  Well, I wasn't sure what colors would go with it (besides Crumb Cake) so I looked at the NEW AND IMPROVED COLOR COACH.  Check this bad boy out

You get a swatch of every color!  Look at the backs

Awesome!  On the back of each color swatch it gives you 2 different color combos.  I used the bottom 3, Sarhara Sand, Not Quite Navy and Poppy Parade.  After I looked at the colors I thought, "hey, those could be kinda patriotic."   Anyway, I love how it turned out.

I started thinking about making the Medallion look like a lace doily.  So I stamped it in white on the Sahara Sand and then cut it out and paper pierced eveywhere there was a dot. 

The words look crooked here but they really aren't.  Its just my mad photography skills showing off again.  For the top I just punched out a Curly Label and folded it in half.  Rocket science. 

Now here is the fun part.

They're so pretty! 

So you want to know how I made these?  Check it out

The biggest flower is a 2 1/2" circle.  The smaller ones are punched out with the 1 3/8" punch. 

Get your aggressions out and crumple the heck outta that circle.

Cut around and around and around in a spiral.  The smaller the width of the spiral the flatter the rose.  I cut this at about 1/4".  Does that make sense?  The wider the width, the higher the rose will sit.  I'll show you what I'm talking about in a minute.

Now starting with the outside edge, roll it in on itself.  Like this

Just keep rolling until the center of the circle sits on the bottom.  Like this

Sorry for the fuzzy pic.  Moving on.......

See how tight it is?  It won't stay that way.  Just let it go and set it down.

 It will start to loosen up.  Now, if we didn't scrunch the heck out of it first, then it would really be loose.  Sometimes I have to help it relax a little by taking the center with my tweezers and unrolling it a little.

Once you like the look of it.  Take your wonderful Tombow Multi Glue and smear some on the bottom flap.

Fold it up.

It will only take a few minutes to set. 

Now remember how I was saying if you made the spiral wider?  Here is what that will look like

Still very pretty but it sits much taller.

The one on the right is what I made for the tag.  The one on the left is what I made for one of my Artisan Award 3D entries.  I'll show you someday. 

They look basically the same on the top. 

So go make some wrinkly roses and show me what you made.  I would love to see.

Remember the bird tag from yesterday?

I wanted it to say something but I couldn't figure out what.  Look what I came up with

I think its cute!  I used the "hello" from  the "hello again" set. 

Alrighty, all the goodie bags are ready to go. 

I'm hoping I have to make more.  Every person who buys some retired stamps gets to choose one of these.  That goes for people I have to ship to also.  So go check out those retired stamps and let me know what you want. 

Okie dokie, I gotta get up early so I'm going to bed. 

Thanks for stopping by.  You make me feel all warm and fuzzy when you do.

Blessings, b.