Final Cake!

Here is my final cake from Cake Class (the Wilton Course 1) I will be taking Course 2 in October.

It's chocolate cake, with chocolate layers and chocolate icing. I HATE chocolate, and the sent of it made me feel ill, but it's pretty! Brian will be taking it to work as usual.

Alien Butt

This is for a "Cards with Humor" swap. The Alien is by Viva Las Vegastamps. I find it amusing, I hope the other swap participants do too! The "Well la de da" is a phrase from some TAC set that I've long sense forgotten... I think it had sassy cats on it or something.
I stamped the alien on glossy cardstock and clear embossed him. Then I colored with tombow markers, I love the way the tombow markers color on glossy paper. I put Ranger's glossy accents over the eyes, and Tulip Fasion Bead paint on the scallops. Some quick cuttlebugging and versamarked phrase and I was done.

Cupcakes in class tonight.

Here's me if you were wondering who I am. (note the great hair!)
Here's what I amde in class tonight. I really like the drop swirl flower, HATE the rose, I have issues with pressure control. I love the clown too.
close up of clowns. I don't understand how that could be scarry, just look at them! These used cone striping, where you take a brush and put straight icing color in the bag, then fill it with white and it comes out in stripes. I love that look! I did a swir on some and it sort of lined up as I went around like magic! LOVE it. :) I need more heads on pics if anyone sees them let me know where. Wilton only makes clowns and stupid barbies. I want other cute things like witches, animals, Santas...
Here's the rose, see how the tips of the petals sort of broke? That's because I don't have enough strength in my hand to keep even pressure. It was sooooo painful to make this rose. Please admire it! hehe. This is my color matches for cool caribbean and gooovy guava by the way. :)
Bear. Brian loves bears. :)(note mixed up icing we had left by then)
And that's it for today, you can see a bit of "Shell border" on the bear pic, I like that border a lot, and was pretty good at it.

Next week is ALL stupid roses, we shall see...

Scrappy.

I made some scrapbook pages last night. :)

Another cake!

This one is for my friend Lani (who made me the apron). I wanted to make one in more fasion forward colors. I'm not sure these are what I had in mind, but I DO like it and that the colors are more custom. I was going for more of a SU Cool Caribbean and Cameo Coral, I did fix the aqua left overs to be exactly Cool Caribbean, it took a bit more blue. Anyhow you will see THAT later, look at this cake now. I was practicing pressure control (which would make all the stars uniform, if I had it down perfectly, which I don't) and frosting the cake flat, I am VERY happy with that this time, I need more work, but it's way better than last time. In case you want to imagine, this is chocolate with chocolate chips, and a chocolate pudding filling. :)

I also made chocolate, chocolate chip cupcakes that I injected with the pudding, I will ice them tomorrow though, I'm going to make chocolate whipped icing, me and Brian are just about buttercream icinged out! I can't make it till tomorrow though because the whipped topping falls after a short time, so I'm gonna make it right before our dinner guests come. (Our friends Brian and Shara are back in town, after being gone for two months.)

Ladybugs

Look what stamps I'm using... Little Lady by Papertrey. It's been a few weeks. This is probably my all time favorite image set. (Have other favorite word sets)
These ATC's are for a swap on SCS. I glittered each and every dot on each and every buy and all the blue dots too. I love that glitter pen. They are fairly simple ATC's but I think they work ok.
Then this card is for the hostess. It's a CASE of this card. I used the same sheet of glittered ladybugs that I cut up for the ATC's. I still have enough to do another card like this and maybe one more with a different design too.

The bugs are all Papertrey Ink, the words are all Green Grass Rubber Stamps.

Nice Matters Award.

So maybe once or twice... or a hundred times I've mentioned Jason Sampson. He is a designer for Gina K, responsible for some of the cool farm animals. (or all of them, I get confused?) And he has that story-in-cards The Chicken Who Did It. Which I think is super funny. Anyhow he's pretty much a big name, celebrity in the blogging/stamping world. At least MINE anyhow. He has this cute wife Kelly and she's crazy talented too and they even show each other love on their blogs, which is adorable. Ok, so you know who I'm talking about now right? Well apparently he ready MY blog! *swoon* AND he gave me an award for niceness! AND the award is pink! Lemme show you:

Isn't it lovely?

So I'm to give the award to 5 bloggers who I think are nice too. And away we go...

Brandy (Inkerbells) - Brandy is fairly new to blogging, and I'm sure glad she has one because she makes cute stuff. (LOOK at that blanket she made for a friend from a Bow Chicka Bow Wow thread we do on SCS)

Belinda (Belinda's Stamping Space) Belinda has 5 kids! It is amazing to me. I can't keep track of my 2. She's also a very successful SU demonstrator, you know the kind who really does have regular parties and camps and stuff? Amazing! You may know her if you are on the Demo Side of SCS, she's a mod there. (I'm not, they won't let me in because I'm not a demo *sniff sniff*)

Mary (Shack-a-lackin Blog) is a sweet lady with a great kid and cool husband. (who once fixed my car AC for almost no cost!) She is a great photographer in addition to being a great stamper.

Sherri (Flip-Flop Blog) is one of my best friends. (I hope that's not news to her! hehe) She's really genuine and fanatstic and always positive and bright and I love that. She is also great with pattern paper, she uses it a lot and it looks so effortless. (I have issues with pattern paper)

Angie (Stampings of the Shug), do yall know this girl? If you do you KNOW why she's so special. She simply amazes me. Angie works in the hospital with critically ill young children. When she says she had a hard day at work it breaks my heart. It's not like when you have a hard day because your boss is a jerk or you get an extra file, it's... well you know... BUT that's not what is sooo amazing, the thing with Angie is that she's so cheerful. She always is there to cheer me up! I mean I'd drown in dispair if I had her job but she is better for it and I know those kids are too, and their families. She's amazing. She has a fun blog with jokes, games and cute cards.

SHEESH I didn't mean to ramble on about everyone! I don't usually do these things, but when this one was for niceness I thought of some of the nice people I've met through blogging and message boards and It was HARD to only pick 5. Course I'm so long winded if I had not limited it then I'd be here typing all day while my family just had a fun Saturday without me!

Well it's time to take the kids in the pool, then head to our favorite Chinese resturant for Sushi! Have I mentioned that life is good?

(Oh ladies, I just left clicked the image and saved it then put it in like I do cards and other photos. This has been a great mystery to me, how people get these badge thingies on their blogs. I'm sure you all already knew, cuz you are all smart as well as nice.)

ETA: Jason says he does not work for Gina. I coulda had sworn he designed those farm animals he uses in "The Chicken Who Did It" but apparently not. Sorry to the actual designer, I didn't mean to give your credit to Jason. Whoever you are they are adorable animals.

Stamping again! Hurray!!!

So I've been busy and having a bit of stamper's block (probably becaues of being busy) and haven't stamped. But today I was DETERMINED to get something done and I made a mini journal! It could be an album too, I don't care what the person I give it to does with it.

The cover is based on a Just Johanna Sketch. All the patern paper is from the Rustic Chic paper by TAC and the stamps are Just Johanna, moped and birds, and Green Grass Rubber Stamps for the words.

It's actually really easy and quick. I have the front and back covers on chip board. My crop-a-dile cut throught the whole thing in one pass! I was impressed with that. No having to measure to line up.

This seems to have broken the block, I have a few other things I need to get working on and ideas are coming to me for them. :)

Pink cake... pink pink pink.

It starts with an apron. My good friend Lani made me this apron. I was supposed to make it under her supervision, but it didn't work out and she ended up taking it home and making it for me. I'm so thankful because it wouldn't have been this cute if I'd made it I'm sure. (I thought you left basting stitches IN and other things that made her sigh at me.)

Is it not the most adorable apron you've ever seen? (nod you head)


Then to cake class, where I made a pink cake. I like pink, did you know that?

Citi is Brian's work and he's taking all but that one piece to work tomorrow. Because what does a man want to take to work more than an PINK heart cake? I didn't think that through did I? There is pink cake (strawberry) with pudding and real cut strawberries inside. FOUR layers! It's all wonky on the sides but you must ignore that because I'm new.

Next week is cupcakes! Hurray! They will have clowns and flowers on them.

(still haven't stamped.)

Sorry it's been so long.

I feel terrible. I feel all wandery and lost. Then I figured out why... It's been DAYS sense I've stamped! SHOCKING. I will make sure I make the time tomorrow!

I did get awesome mail to show you today though. I got my Asela Stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms. Asela, as you know, is this cool artist who lives in my town. (Which means I have extra special claim on her and can name drop and all ya know?) Anyhow these farm animals are her designs! I love them. And look how big they are. Now they DO have the measurements on the website and they are right, but I was in a buying frenzy and didn't read them. These are fun sizes and I was suprised and thrilled they were so big. They come already mounted on EZ mount cling stuff and trimmed too! How cool is that.

Also shown here are some I got from Green Grass. I've been wanting a great font for scrapbook titles and I LOVED both of these ones. They are Essential Monogram and Back to the Futura. I also picked up a new one called Dream Today Always, which are BIG words with smaller words you can layer over. These come as sheets of rubber but come with the right size sheet of EZ Mount foam too.
I got both of these orders LIGHTNING fast. I believe I ordered the Green Grass Friday, may have even been Saturday. I did order CHF earlier but I was preordering them, they didn't come out till Friday and I got them both today! (monday)


In cake related news, I decided to make a nice tall cake for class tomorrow. FREAKING DISASTER. First of all Stephen got into it:



He ate all that. I was so angry I didn't know what to do. He woke up from his nap with a tummy ache too. :(

Then when I iced it it was all wonky and horrible and made me cry. :(

Also our satilite thing for TV is out and I missed Ice Road Truckers, The Hills and will miss all day craft stuff on QVC tomorrow. AND we have to pay for them to come out to fix it! WHAT THE???

That's poop on a stick in a fart basket.

Practice Cake

I'm taking a cake decorating class. The first one was last night. I didn't make anything in that one, just watched and learned what all we would be doing. It was very cool. I am the only student. That's mixed on the one hand I was looking forward to meeting other people, on the other I get all one on one private lessons. I'm going to take full advantage of that. The teacher Jodie is great! LOVE her.

This is a practice cake. I didn't want to wait until just before my class to find that I can't flat ice a cake or something. I do need more practice. I think this would be good enough for me to work on in class though. I also practiced the star thingie used for filling in shapes and all. I think I did ok on it. Some of mine are wonkie but again, practice.

Brian is loveing this cake business, practice cakes, lesson cakes, the whole thing is great to him. :)

Birthday and cupcakes.

Stephen and Ethan's friend Neesa has a birthday party this weekend. She loves monkies so:

Then we have this cupcake card. It uses my new Inkspirations stamp, of the large cupcake and also the cherry for on top. The "cupcakes oh what yum" is by Eat Cake Graphics. For the cupcake I colored it with prismacolor markers, then cut out the top part and mounted it on foam tape, then the cherry and mounted that on foam too. I covered the cherry with glossy accents. OH I just realized I used the A Muse small oval on this card too. I love that thing and had forgotten about it.

This side view shows hot the layers are lifted up a bit with the foam tape.

Thanks for looking guys!

Huggeronies.

Voyeur day

I do have some stuff to show you soon.



I thought for a change though I'd show my home. This is my house as it exactly now. No fancy cleaning up for you or anything. I like the idea of wondering where people are when they blog, what they live in, where they come from.



You decide for yourself what my home says about me: There are my boys, a cup on the bar, cup on the floor. Boys are not wearing pants, one kid has no shirt. They are watching TV. It's darkish because I'm trying to save energy by keeping the house cool by not opening the windows much. I have to open them some the boys love to look out.
On top of my mantle; unknown object, can of bug spray, bottle of sunscreen, toy truck, clock and wooden cat. Only clock and wooden cat belong.
This is if I turn 180 degrees from where I stood for the other pictures. This is where I type, you can see through the open doorway to where I craft. This desk is ALWAYS trashed like that. It's because we reuse scraps of paper over and over, so we never throw them away until they are covered with printing and writing. I guess that makes it an environmental mess? More likely just a mental mess! I'm sure we COULD stack that suff neatly.


And This... is... the... way... I... Live! (like that song that's out now ya know??)

More things to share.

Just a super quick post:

These stamps are Eat Cake Graphics. I have this new template for faux postage and it's shaped like this. I was just playing with hit, this isn't my very favorite card.
These stamps are by my friend Sherry Graves company Inkspirations. Arn't they cute! I just made two ATC's because I was short on time.
This one is for a "Virtual Swap" over at The Stamp Shack. Sherry Graves (yup, same one from the Inkspirations site) designed the image and we all printed it out and made cards.

Ok, family is looking at me like I'm supposed to go eat with them.

Happy... Halloween, you guessed it!

I'm going to do a Halloween Class featuring the Eat Cake Graphics stamps at the LSS. Here's what they will make in class.

This is one of the spinning cards, he's right side up on the other side so it looks like he's turning a cartwheel. He's colored with prismacolor pencils.
This witch is colored with prismacolor pencil then blended with gamsol. The "Happy Halloween" is by Hero Arts. I used the clear stardust glitter pen to add some glitter to her broom and outfit, just a touch though.
This guy is my favorite. Can you read it? If not it says, "Halloween Tip #63: Don't eat all the candy in your plastic pumpkin at once." THIS is exactly why I love Eat Cake Graphics, the stamps are just funny! I colored this one with the "watercolor with marker ink" technique. The black card base comes like this, it's by Bazzill and you just fold it in half and you get this cool scalloped card.

So those are the cards. I'm really hoping more people take this one, I've had stinky attendance and I really want to make a little bit of money, you know, break even at least. But whatever, it's fun anyhow! :) (local girls you all sign up or we can't be friends anymore! just kidding)

Erin gets inspired

So I did this swap with a group of friends on Split Coast Stampers. It was for ATC's. I love to swap ATC's because I have a special binder for them and I look over them again and again. Cards end up in a box and that makes me sad. (I won't use swap cards I'm a freak like that)



So anyhow everyone ROCKED. And it occured to me that I should use them all as inspirations for full sized cards. I picked up the first on in the stack and it was this one by Belinda King. (edited to make Belinda clickable to see her blog!) I love the colors she used. (I believe she used all SU products)



So using that color scheme I made this card.

The images are actually not mine, another good friend, Sherri (Edited to make Sherri clickable to her blog.) sent them to me. I think that bella is supposed to be holding a martini or something but Sherri stamped me a stack of them with her holding nothing. Then I can put whatever I want in her hand, in this case a cupcake. The phrase "got cupcakes" is by Eat Cake Graphcis. I colored with prismacolor and copic markers. I didn't plan this but the piece the girl is on is actually ATC size! I filled in some of the circles on my cuttlebug embossed background with my new SU white gel pen. It works really well. I also used my stardust clear glitter gel pen to accent the cupcake.

I will be doing all the ATCs into cards, so expect to see more.