love you much

So I just found out that the challanges at the Cards Blog are open to everyone. I know if I had just carefully read them I would already know that. I kinda thought it was just for some DT they had or something. Anyhow I'm excited to play along. The new challange is to make a Valentine's Day card but with no red or pink.

I made this card for the challange. The card is big. Hold on I'll go measure it. Ok I'm back. It's 6.5"x5". I found it a little funny that using some of my most tiny stamps I made an oversized card. I have to tell you guys figuring out how to make an envelope for any sized card has changed the game for me. I still make mostly A2 cards but I don't think twice if my idea wants a different size. The reason I made it big (if you are curious) is because I still wanted a clean look with a lot of white space, even though I made a medium sized element with the house and such.

All the stamps and pattern paper are Stampin' Up! the white cardstock is Papertrey Ink. Ink is Vivid! Dye ink.

In other news: Brian is on vacation all next week. We are doing one of those Stay-Cations. Now I'm loving the idea as I'm a homebody and don't really like trips. I think Brian prefers travel, but we will have a traveling vacation in a few months. The reason I tell you all this is I don't know how it will affect my blogging. I mean I should be still able to get stuff made and posted, but maybe not ever day. So if it seems I'm missing know I'll be back in full force the week following.

Paper Garden Projects

In my blog reading this morning I came across this post at Paper Garden Projects. It's a challange to make a Valentine/Love card with ribbon. Double credit if you use a button. I am trying to do more fun challanges. Especially on blogs as I LOVE blogs.

Well no button for me because I wanted to play with my new heart punches more! haha.

This is a second post for me today. So don't miss the other as it has Valentines Day cards my kids made!

Valentines for Daddy

So we like to get things done ahead here. Me and the boys have already made our Valentines for Brian.
First up Stephen's it features Perry the Platipus and a gem and also he wrote "Daddy" himself. (those backwards "h" looking things are "d"s just so you know) (stamp from the dollar section at Michaels last year)

Then we have Ethan. Ethan had a particular amount of fun selecting cardstock and embelishments for his card. I wrote "daddy" lightly in pencil and he traced it. Then put a huge flower over half of it. (stamp by The Angel Company)

And mine. Get it? He's the Brown heart, I'm the pink, and we made two little hearts... get it? (background stamp Cornish Heritage Farms, heart punches by EK Success bought from Gina K, cardstock and print paper Stampin' Up!)

In other news: I'm working on my submission for the Papercrafts Stamping Royality contest. I enter every year. I have not won. But I like to think I'm getting better and better, so maybe this will be the year? You never know!

of the earth simple cards

This Of the Earth set is the HOstess level 1 set I selected in my Stampin' Up! order.

I made this card by stamping the Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain (I promise I'll make a card without it very soon) in light pink, then stamping the flowers, also in light pink, then the greeting in dark pink. Corner Chomped the corners and done. The card is 4.25"x4.25".

In other news: I haven't made anything (worth showing) in a few days. I've been REALLY tired. I did paint my nails purple so that's pretty fun.

Clean and Simple with pattern paper

This week the Clean and Simple challange is to use print paper on your CAS card. Here is mine:

Kinda fun. The stamps (dot and leaves) are from the Kim Hughes Collection at Cornish Heritage Farms. The print paper is by Making Memories. This photo also features Stephen in the background for your viewing enjoyment.

AbFab

I punched a ton of green shades with the SU scallop circle punch to make the leafy part of this tree. The trunk I just freehand cut. I actually made cool branches, but added so much leaves you can't see them. Of course I had to use my Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain background stamp so I did it on the tree trunk. The greeting is Papertrey Ink from the Mega Mixed Messages set.

Congratulations

This card is for a girl I know who just had her baby. She loves these colors. I actually am really likeing them as an untraditional baby color scheme. I stamped on the inside as well.

The flowers are Papertrey Ink, the words are all Cornish Heritage Farms and the background on the front is... Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain background.

I was inspired by a card by Ashley Newell in the new Stamp It Cards magazine. See my card happening to sit on my desk with this magazine under it. That purple/pinkish card is Ashley's. Fun stuff.

In Other News: The package glut has come to an end. I received my last package today from my crazy ordering spree. Today's package was a bunch of Gina K's white cardstock, three punches and a paper piercer. (Brian broke my last one trying to open a spring to fix my old sewing machine.) The punches are heart punches that go nicely with the Gina K heart stamps I have. Super cute.

Just for Suzi

And anyone else who is interested.

The Hero Arts designer woodgrain stamp is wood mounted. I fell in love with it on KWerner's blog. (I've mentioned I love her right?) I thought it was cling, but I was wrong it comes only in wood. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll move on and go to using it only occasionally, but so far I've used it on almost every single card I've done. There are a TON of stamps in the new Hero Arts catalog I love.

It is my ONLY wood mounted background stamp. Almost all my other background stamps come from Cornish Heritage farms. And all of them are cling mounted. (Like the newer Hero Arts ones.) I have a huge background sized clear block I stick them on. I have heard you don't need the block you can just lay them face up on your desk and push your cardstock into the stamp. I have not have the best luck with this. so I mount them on that huge background sized clear block. (I got that one with most of my other ones in a kit from The Angel Company.) I've been working with the leaving the stamp flat and putting the cardstock on the stamp. I'm not sure I prefer it. Still working on that.

On the bird card in my last post I did ink the one stamp with two colors. Easy goes to peasy!

Love you Suzi!

Love birds, under a grid tree.

This card is actually a collection of some of my favorite stamps. I am of course still totally in love with the Hero Arts designer woodgrain background stamp, the birds are from a new Gina K set that is adorable, and this graph tree is by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms and a longstanding favorite of mine. I really did think I was the most clever with this background stamp inked in green and blue to make grass and sky. I ment to order the Hero Arts cloud background stamp too but now I wonder do I even need it. The inside of the card says, "How tweet it is to be loved by you" Super cute!

I decided that with Valentines day being so cute and my having a lot of new fun Valentines day stuff that I want to send cards to friends and family. I was going to focus on only "friend" type greetings, but I'm over it. So this card is going to a friend, not my husband. I mean my friends love me too. Also they appreciate cute birds and graph trees.

Oh, can you see cute Ethan in the background of this photo? Adorable! Good thing he's out of focus or he would steal the show.

thanks

Get ready, the Designer Woodgrain background stamp by Hero Arts will be in a lot of my cards.

This one uses the little "thank you s" sizzlit die that is in the Stampin' Up! catalog. I make a TON of "Thank you" cards. People are good to me. I have lots to be thankful for. So I knew I'd make good use out of this die.

I tried to do it with chipboard and it wouldn't cut through it! BUMMER. But then I had my most clever idea ever. I stamped the woodgrain on cardstock, then backed the cardstock with miracle tape, (Miracle tape is double sided tape with a release liner. I get it at www.stamp.com and HIGHLY recomend it, it's very sticky and very cheap. Actually until I got my ATG I used it for all my sticking.) didn't remove the liner and die cut. The result? Diecut sticker letters. YUMMY. The card is otherwise crazy simple. Cool fold where the top flap isn't as big as the bottom. This was because I had only exactly this much Crushed Curry cardstock, but turns out I love it!

And this flower inside. Now I'm not totally sure the flower "goes" might have been better to just stamp the woodgrain on the inside brown part? I dunno.

In other news: I know with all my recent ordering this is going to sound obscene, but I'm thinking of joining one of those monthly clubs. I used to do Self Addressed and liked it. I really like to have fresh stuff to work with. And if it all went together I feel like I'd just make and make and make with the stuff. I don't know that I need stamps in the kit, I have tons, pattern paper and embelishments mostly. I have $100 a month as my "crafting budget" which also includes makeup... so I don't want to spend any more than like $40 including shipping. I mean that would only leave me with $60... I just LOVE getting packages. LOVE IT.

So I'm thinking about Studio Calico. Does anyone have other suggestions? I quit Self Addressed because the stamps were always Purple Onion and they were just not my taste. I don't need 12x12 papers because I almost always make cards. And I don't do digital. AT ALL. I respect it as an art, I just don't enjoy it.

bride & groom

This is the first card I made with my new Stampin' Up! goodies. These are all rub-ons. I have the most serious love for the interlacing circle rub-on here. Why oh why isn't that a stamp? I don't care about the ten similar stamps out there, I want THIS particular image made into a stamp. haha. I also used my new Hero Arts wood grain background stamp. Which I love. Above all other stamps. That's really all there is to say about this card. I love Crushed Curry. I did not expect that would be the In Color I'd fall for but I have.

I also made about 30 new double sided pattern paper envelopes yesterday. I LOVE the fancy envelopes.

Skech Challange 264 Butterfly and Bird

I made these cards for the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challange 264
The first one uses a butterfly by Cornish Heritage Farms. I have this weird shimmery paper. It is a light silvery color, it feels sort of like wallpaper. I'm not sure where I got it, but I thought it might be nice with the butterfly. I smeared orange, pink and red inks on it, heat set that, then stamped the butterfly. I wanted to emboss just the butterfly, but even after heat setting the colors were wet enough to make the EP stick. So I went with it. The end result is very odd. It looks like fabric, but feels like thermal embossing. I decided to keep it though and finish the card. Oh and FOUR pattern papers! It's a record for me I think. This one is much simpler in construction. Stamped a scene on the pattern paper, colored with blender marker and markers. I really like coloring a scene stamped on a subtle pattern paper. These stamps are by Cornish Heritage Farms in the Kim Hughes Collection. This one also uses four pattern papers. The long blue is just stamped cardstock, but with the main piece being a pattern I still got four in.

In Other News: Both my small Hero Arts order (a wood grain stamp and the actual catalog) and my fairly large Stampin' Up! orders came in yesterday. Woohoo! I LOVE my new stuff. I already made some projects that I'll be showing you over the next few days. And the Hero Arts catalog ROCKS. If you like simple designed cards you should consider getting that catalog. Really fun sweet cards in there.

CAS50 Teal

I like to participate in the Clean And Simple challanges over at Splitcoast Stampers. I'm a huge fan of "CAS" cards and the challanges are so fun. This week it was to use teal, white and a third color. (I chose gray, I'm not counting the black) I'm not sure this card can be called "CAS". It's really pretty though. I'm in LOVE with my new bow tieing abilities. And that heart pin I've had a pack of those forever and always forget to use them.

Overall I am very happy with this card.

In Other News: According to the diligent tracking that I do at UPS.com my Stampin' Up! order will arive today! I cannot WAIT for this order. I usually order SU only once a year (much to the dismay of my demo I'm sure) so I do a pretty big order when I do. I think I already told you what all I ordered. I'm excited to try the clear mount stamps. I generally love unmounteds. I'm also trying the markers for the first time. I ordered the In Colors pack of markers. Oh did I tell you I'm suddenly In LOVE with the In Colors. I started putting those shades together, then realized where I had seen them in the SU catty as the In Colors. How funny, it takes poor Erin 6 months to get on trend.

Also I have a Close To My Heart catalog now. A very nice girl on Splitcoast sent it. There are a few things I will have to have in there. How are the inks? Do they work great with clear stamps? I'd assume they would right? Some inks don't do clear so well...

Technocolor Valentines

I think it's more the photo came out weird than actual brightness. But I did let the boys pick the colors and papers and inks and such for these so they are definately BRIGHT.

Here is one up close. Pretty fun way to decorate a simple tootsie roll.
And these are for Stephen's class. He wanted to give bubble gum and tootsie rolls so we did envelopes and put all the candy inside. Then the stamped, punched dohickies like envelope seals.

In other news: Look at these fun new stamps I got.

I was looking at these and you know what would be cool? A really huge backgrounder sized butterfly. Actually after seeing such cool stuff done with Stampin' Up!'s medalion huge stamp I think I'm suddenly very interested in VERY large stamps.

Noteworthy Winner

The winner of my Noteworthy Blog Candy is...


Suzi!!!

Suzi please send me your address and I'll get this package right out to you.

In other news:
I sold one of my cards on Etsy! Very exciting. Also I have new cards I expect to show you later today. And some Valentines me and the kids made.

Aqua and Orange

I love orange. Actually my fingernails are orange right now. (I like to let my kids pick, last week it was yellow.) And I have a well documented love of aqua of course.
I had to mix them up with lots and lots of white when I used my new Gina K Designs stamps. First on this little square card.

Then on this regular sized card with a punch button flower and a hand drawn stem.

And finally on this oversized 8.5"x5.5" card. (This is a size Roniece needs a lot for cards that are from a group of people who all want to sign. I find this size to be VERY difficult so I was working on a new sketch of the size to help us design those for her.

Special cards need special envelopes.

I want to talk about the envelopes more. I told you two weeks ago I found all that pattern paper at Tuesday Morning. It was packs of 25 sheets of American Crafts double sided paper. For $1.99 each pack. But what will I do with 25 of any paper. Well first stop was to split them with Roniece. But still... a LOT of paper. So I made envelopes. I LOVE it. Making envelopes from double sided paper ROCKS. Auto-lined baby!

See look at some I did last week:

How much fun would these be to get in your mail? TOO FUN.

Don't forget my Noteworthy Blog Candy if you are intersted.

Noteworthy Blog Candy

This {note}worthy pack is so cute from Making Memories. I found one about two weeks back at Tuesday Morning. Well today it was FURHTER marked down! So I got you one. This blueish ribbon really goes well, I know it doesn't look like it does, but I found it went swell. I have about 100 yards of this ribbon, found it at a thrift shop. The orange I got today at Tuesday Morning, it's by American Crafts and goes well too. So I thought you'd enjoy having those ribbons with your new paper. Here is a Thank You cardset I made with the papers. I only added kraft paper and some buttons. I don't have any more of that green stripe (ohmyheck it's YUMMY) or I'd share that with you too. It's by Stampin' Up if you feel you must have it.

Hmmm. I will add some buttons to your package, I forgot those.

Anyhow if you'd like this pack of paper and ribbon and buttons let me know. :) I'll pick a commenter on Monday and ship it right out.

Tomorrow I'll be posting the adorable cards I made with my new Gina K goodies. Is it ok to fall in love with one of your own cards? Cuz I did.

ETA: the Thank you sentiment stamp is by Papertrey Ink. It's part of the Giga Guidelines set. There are several large mixed font sentiments on that set. It is my current favorite for that reason. Thanks for asking TJ.

thanks thank you very much

I got this phrase set by Heidi Swap the other day. It's clear and cute. It was supposed to be corners, so it was two sets of thank you groupings that sort of turned a corner. I cut each in half so I have four thank you word groupings. Clear as mud? Anyhow it's totally cute and it was only $2.99 so that's fun.

I'm recently in love with adding a small touch of this rasberry type color to cards. I mean I've had this ribbon for ever and it's been dead to me, but it definately has new life.

I also used my FAVORITE Stampin' Up! set Pocket Silhouettes. I try not to imagine a world without this set.

In Other News: The packages have started to roll in. You know from all that insane ordering I did earlier this week. Yesterday I got my All That Scraps order and one of my two Gina K Designs orders. YUMMY. I got that new heart set from Gina K, ohmyheck it rocks.
Also I think I'm going to stick some cards up on the Etsy and see what happens. I know some cardmakers have pretty good success with that and some totally do not. I already have the store so I'll give it a go.

Sunset

I know I'm the last stamper on earth to get this set but I just got Lovely as a Tree this week. And I love it as much as I knew I was going to. :)

For my first LAAT card I did a sponged sunset card. Easy goes to peasy. You can't tell but I also stamped the trees in white on the white card. I mean you can tell in person, but not online. This card is crazy simple, was super quick to make, and I like it that way. In other news: I sent a bunch of cards by email to Cards Magazine. Who knows if they will choose any but I really think they are all very good cards.

Also look at this: Now I can't possibly need over three THOUSAND yards of bakers twine right? I mean that's obscene right? Because I want it. I mean I WANT the stupid twine. I have this thing about buying things in bulk. I mean Papertrey sells paper in 50 sheet packs as the largest and it hurts my brain. I'm all, "But I want a 500 sheet pack". I solve the issue by buying several packs of course. I buy rice in a 50lb sack. Always. Flour too. And sugar I get just 10lbs at a time. I REALLY like buying in bulk. So three thousand yards of bakers twine appeals to me so much. And it's really not very expensive. If I get it I PROMISE to share it with you guys. Oh I also saw a place today that I can order the white gel pens in bulk. (Because I, like all of you, watch KWerner videos. I could do a whole post about how much I love her.)

My best card... EVER?

So this card got HUGE rage reviews from my family. I want to say first that the piece that looks green is much blue-er in real life. I mean it DOES go with that jade ink. Anyhow Roniece loved it, said it "stopped her heart for a moment" Stephen and Ethan both thought it is my best card ever with "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, SIX" gems on it! So what do you think? It is almost a total case of THIS card by Amber Hight. Amber's card ROCKS! So why am I just now caseing a card from last year at this time? Oh because I just found it in Roniece's AWESOME book I keep telling you about. I'm really sorry that Roniece is between houses and has to have most of her stamp stuff here at my house. It sucks for her to be doing a move and such, but this book is the best "Your best friend is basicly homeless (not really) perk" ever! It makes me wish I had a color printer. And a ton of ink.

I love this card, but because it's SO close to Amber's card I can't send it to any magazines or anything. So I'm going to actually have to... mail it to a friend! Shocking! haha.

In other news: Well I placed my SU order today. Because I'm on CRACK and want FIVE large stamp supply packages to be arriving at my house next week. So it's officialy rediculous if I buy anything else. I also got great perfume last night, after TEN YEARS of searching.

So here is what I went with:
2 packs of in color carstock
throughly modern paper pack
pumpkin pie stripe ribbon
dots and designs rubs
chit chat rubs
chat room rubs
sizzlit die many thanks
grid paper
two white gel pens
stampin dimensionals
just perfect alpha
well scripted
Free stuff:
tree trimmings
fox and friends
good neighbors
of the earth
welcome neighbor.

what do you think?

Hello and Smile

First here is what I made with the pile of stuff on my desk the other day. I kinda love them. A lot. (They are heavily inspired by Mish Mash and all those little dohickies she is always making)

Today's cards are inspired by Dawn McVey's post HERE. I loved what she did and knew I'd be doing something similar. She's one of my favorite sources for layout inspiration. I've actually been busing out TONS of cards, but I'm going to try to get them published so I can't show them yet. I'm pretty happy about them though.

In shopping news: It's been a weird shopping week for me. I got ages without buying much then go gangbusters. I recently ordered a few punches from Gina K, a few new Valentines day sets from Gina K and of course a few packs of her FAB white cardstock. I also ordered a pile of odds and ends from All That Scraps (some copic glitter pens, some inks, a punch). AND I ordered the new Hero Arts catalog and a Hero Arts stamp from my LSS. But wait, there is more! I bought the Lovely As a Tree set used from another blogger too! I think that's all but sheesh isn't it enough? And that's just stuff I haven't actually gotten yet! It is weird isn't it? Usually I try to spread those spending sprees out a little bit!

I was recently poking around looking for blogs and found a new-to-me blog by Mary Fish. She had the most adorable card using the new SU set Fox and Friends. I knew that 1. I was going to need both of those stamp sets and 2. It couldn't wait, I'd have to make something with a similar feel NOW. It's a whole handful of stamp companies here. The robot is from the Kim Hughes Collection at Cornish Heritage Farms. The heart borders, both top and bottom are by Papertrey Ink and the "So Happy in Love" expression is by Green Grass Rubberstamps. I added red flocking to the hearts on top. Love it.

And here is what's on my desk right now. I"m working on some new goodies that I will then have on hand to add to cards or whatnot. Layered atlas flowers. With vintage buttons. Yummy.

Stampin' Up! Wish List

So its Sale-A-Bration, or Sell-a-Bration, whatever.. that time when you can get free crap at Stampin' Up. It's like, my favorite time of the stamping year.

So here is my list of things I'm pretty sure I'm getting. Keep in mind I have not ordered anything from the "new" current 2009-2010 catalog.

In color combo paper pack 2 of them
upsy daisy
throughly modern paper pack
medallion background stamp
pumpkin pie strip ribbon
chocolate chip ribbon
modern label punch
dots and designs rub ons
chit chat rub ons
sizzlit die many thanks
double rectangle punch
grid paper
white gel pen 3 of them (tried others, really like these best)
stampin deimensionals (two packs, I have tons of foam tape but used these at a retreat and they rocked)
Well scripted from the mini stamp set


Free crap:
Tree trimmings stamp set from the main catty (love that you can get main catty stuff)
just perfect alpha (this is my $20)
Good neighbors stamp set
Of the Earth Hostess set
then two other free things for SAB.. what do you recomend (those of you who are really reading this still)

Some Thank You cards

I have not gotten my Christmas Thank You cards out yet. the horror! I've been working on it though:

Five cards with one sketch

So my friend Roniece has this book. It's sort of a big deal around these parts. She prints TONS of card ideas off the internet, in full color, pretty big pictures, then has them all in a 3 ring. I'm talking about thousands of samples. The thing is that Roniece has the BEST EYE for finding cards. You cannot believe the stuff she pulls, it's the best cards ever.

These cards are all inspired by one of her pulls. The problem? She doesn't always note who made the inspiring card. So I can't say who inspired me, but the card was so great and I loved the general layout so much I made a sketch and made these five right away. This first one (above) uses Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms. This paper comes from one of those stack thingies they sell at Joannes. Actually all the print paper today does.

This one is almost the same card, only a woodgrain paper instead of that other paper.

This super cool cat is by Pink Cat Studios. This cat stamp is one of my all time favorites.

This is another favorite stamp for me. It's by The Greeting Farm. I LOVE Alice in Wonderland. I put her in different colors this time so she would match the papers I picked for her.

Ok I give up, these are all some of my favorite stamps! This is by The Greeting Farm too but I'm not sure they still sell it. I saw it in the clearance section shortly after I bought it. The bears are supposed to be pandas but that didn't work for me so I made them cute brown bears. Also I'm proud of myself for doing the apples green. I have always gone for the obvious red in the past so this was fun.

ETA: The ribbon/button treatment was totally inspired by Mish Mash. She does this all the time and I LOVE the look. Thanks Lindsy for pointing that out!

Another thing I did on all these was choose the pattern paper FIRST. This is something I never remember to do. I end up with a fun colored image that doesn't match any of my pattern papers. So I don't use pattern paper on it. And I do like pattern paper. But picking the pattern paper first I can assure it will match. (or close enough at least)

In Other News:

I'm excited about the new Stampin' Up! SAB and Mini catalogs. I have a hugenormous list going. I will have to edit. I have not ordered yet from the main catalog so it's pretty exciting to me still. Although I did score a great deal on Lovely as a Tree FINALLY! I haven't gotten it yet but I found it for sale on someone's blog. I've wanted that set forever.

Tuesday Morning of all places had some really great paper today. It's weird because they have it in whole 25 sheet packs, but Roniece and I will split them up so it's not so bad. Still... But seriously the whole pack was $2 for American Crafts and Making Memories double sided papers! We figure we can make envelopes with the excess.

Close to my Heart

Are any of you a Close To My Heart demo?

I need a catalog. I don't know any demos. Unless I do know them but don't know they are a demo.

If you are one can you email me? About getting me a catalog? Because I hear there is cute stuff...