Sunflowers and Dragonflies and Paper Works

I just got a brand new stamp from Paper Works.

Isn't he CUTE??

I wanted to play with the sketch challange by Sunflowers and Dragonflies, so here's my card:

ALFALC swap

I was in a swap recently on Flickr. A little fabric, a little chocolate. So I was to buy some fabrics and goodies for my partner. Also some chocolate.

Well first my partner let me know that she's also a Heather Ross fan! THEN she complimented me on my sewn bags! So you KNOW I had to sew her a Heather Ross bag! Here it is.

And here is all her other goodies all packaged up. I was in love with her, due to the Heather Ross and my bag love, so I sent her plenty. Also I just really love wrapping little gifts! :)

My partner Susi is all the way in Germany so I might not get mine for a bit of more time. It took forever for poor Susi to get hers from me. But how fun to be expecting a package from Germany!

Aprons for Sale!

Several of the aprons I made a few weeks back are for sale in my Etsy shop. They are all just $12 so a steal. I decided apron making is just a stashbusting thing for me. I have way too much fabric! So whenever I'm bored I'm going to make an apron and sell it for $12.

HERE is a link to the sale.

Doll Quilt Swap 7

Here is what I made for my partner in Doll Quilt swap 7. This is just the quilt top of course.

Gothic Mommy

Remember when you were a preteen girl and playing with makeup was super fun. That never stopped being super fun for me.

Swap and teenage sewing

Here are some of the goodies for a swap I'm in. This is mostly fabric, a few other things. (Can't tell you of course) There is also one other large thing, but I didn't have any wrapping paper (this is all patern paper) so I can't show you that thing wrapped. I hope my partner, all the way in Germany, likes all this stuff. :) And look at this painfully adorable bag!

I didn't make it. I helped my good friend Annette's daughter Emma Lucy make it. Emma Lucy is a teenager and wanted a cool bag for her stuff. I think this fits the bill. She had this fabric, she went through my HUGE button and ribbon collection for the button and ribbon. It's the Tiny Happy bag. This bag is so easy and quick that I think I've made almost ten or more even of these bags now. It's basicly my go to gift. I tell people it's a "Library tote" but of course you can tote anything at all in it. In my own one I tote my supplies for church. Stephen is using his for back to school bag, Ethan uses his for the library. Kim has one, not sure what she uses it for (I've made Kim several bags, she probably has to rotate them). Marcia has one for the library...

Mom, have I made you one? I need to if not. Anyone else need one? They are the most fun to sew.

quit a long

I'm probably kicked out of the quilt a long for not participating. But that's not going to stop me. My personal deadline is "before it gets cold" which here in FL is not going to be until November probably. I did do these. I also wanted to show you, I'm not going to use white sashing afterall. I'm going to use this beige. I love this idea. I already have a beige bedskirt and curtains. Also I saw a quilt made with beige sashing (sorry i can't remember who did it.) and LOVED it. So beige it is!

Erin Comments on the SU catalog

Well the new Stampin' Up! catalog is here and I'm ready to comment on it. I don't mind if you skip this whole wordy post.

Cover, it does feel weird. I think it's kinda cool. Brian thinks it feels like wax is on it. I think it's pretty.

Family pic, cute as usual, poor Shanna couldn't make it apparently. (she's an inset, this inset circle theme carries throughout the catalog, making me wonder if they did that just so Shanna looked like part of the design)

I really like the color family swatches on pages 6 and 7. Actually I'd like a set of those. Can someone make me one? I'll make you an apron or a tote bag.

Hostess sets by level:
I love Of the Earth for level 1, the others are ok just not for me.
For Level 2 I would probably get Asian Artistry, but I also like Christmas punch (and love the sample for it) and Wings of Friendship.
OHMYHECK. I have never wanted a single stamp set as much as I want Kind and Caring Thoughts Level 3. I've never had a $500 order. I don't know what to do about that. I dont' like the other Level 3 stuff.

The section opening pages are like a sheet of one of the DP they sell. Is anyone else tempted to use them on cards?

I love Halloween, but even I think there are a bit too many Halloween stamps.

I've wanted Autum Harvest for a while. My BCBW friends tell me it's horridly ugly though. Maybe I'll get the Fall Harvest wheel instead?

Page 29, the Merry Christmas card with the dot stamping on just the edge? I'm going to use that idea for a card soon.

Page 35 Scenic Season is the most lovely Christmas set ever.

My friend Roniece freaked when she saw the Monogram Sweet set. She uses the snot out of the Together Forever so it will be great for her. She's also ON BOARD with the personalized stamps that they have there.

I will PERISH without Look Who's Turning. I mean that octopus is CUTE.

Don't surf but must have Extreme Surfboard. I like that that one and also Extreme Dirt Bike you can stamp in a variety of positions and it will still work. FUN.

I'm totally torn on Lots of Bots and Greetings Earthlings. I think I have enough similar, but I do love them. Samples for those rock too.

Ronnie is also gaga over Pony Party. It's way cute. I don't need it.

I was gungho for Animal Stories until I read online that the giraffe looks like it's pooping. I guess I have enough cute animals anyhow.

I still want Upsy Daisy and don't have it yet.

I have Pocket Silhouettes and I'm glad I do because the sample for it rocks.

I'm sure Flight of the Butterfly will be really hot. I can't spend that much, $32 for the stamp plus $16 for the punch... Not for me.

Will this be the year I buy Lovely as a Tree? Only time will tell.

I WILL buy the MOdern Label punch.

Pendant Park rocks. I have so many tree sets though...

Love Seeing Stars. Do I need it? Not sure.

That huge Medallion background stamp is going to be HOT.

Not sure on Hard to Say. Like to think I wouldn't need to say any of that enough to buy a stamp set of it...

Just Perfect Alphabet really is perfect. I'm getting it!

LOVE the In Colors. I always do.

Love the Thoroughly Modern papers.

Might get the ones that look like graphic line drawings.. Storybook Speciality.

If I get the Seeing Stars I might get the star punches. I need to decide if stars are a fad for me or if I really love them forever.

Ok kids want me to help them clean and Ronnie will be here soon.

Fun with stickers.

I got a sheet of stickers on clearance at a LSS here in town. I have made two really fun cards with them:

You are seeing the outside and inside views. The one with orange has an image by Gina K Designs and a phrase by Cornish Heritage Farms.

And this green one has a phrase by Stampin' Up!

I really enjoyed working with the black/white/gray plus one color palette. I think I'll make some more of these.

Also Ethan, my youngest is potty trained! I need to take some pictures of him so I can make this scrapbook page. I won't do him ON the potty, but him just being proud near the potty. :) His little overnight pullups he uses have robots and robot dogs, so of course this paper was perfect to make a theme. I hate that all potty training paper products are so baby-ish. Kids who are potty training are not baby-ish anymore! It's like the great begining of kid-hood. At least my kids feel that way! :) So this is a nice "big boy" theme.

Cover inspiration and eastern influence

I'm going to go ahead and finsih up my Color and Design Trends book inspiration today. I've had a few questions. The book is one of those little free booklets you get in the paint section. This one is by Beher. Of course any paint company would have some. I actually got a few. I am seriously looking at paint for my bedroom so I was getting ideas. This particular one was the most inspiring on a card design level.

On the cover see the room with the red wall? It has this rose artwork done on the wall that is just black on white. I loved that and decided to make a card inspired by it. My roses are stamped on glossy and then mounted with foam tape. I sorta love this VERY simple card. Stamps by Stampin' Up!

The final page of ideas was this one called "eastern influence". This one gave me troubles. The purple color is "deep aubergine". I didn't have anything very close to that. I settled for plum.

The card turned out fun though. It's probably my least favorite of the ones I did for this challange, but it still works.

And there you have it. The full color inspirations challange collection. Overall I'm happy with them.

graphic elements

Today I'm sharing the card I made inspired by the "graphic elements" section of my paint sample booklet. This is my number ONE favorite card I've made in a long time! As you may notice it's directly inspired by the little section of the idea page that is in the top left of my photo. And here is a closeup. The color on the left is sahara sand. My photo doesn't show the color so well.

And the inside.

I'm not sure exactly why, but this simple style is REALLY pleasing to me. It doesn't hurt that I LOVE that Pocket Notes SU set.

The Pocket Notes is by SU and the Open Circles is by Cornish Heritage Farms.

In other news:

I decided I'm not going to join SU. I'm going to place a rocking HUGE order of course, but I don't need to be a demonstrator. I really like using the handful of other companies that I love, I don't want to have parties or worry about quotas. I feel good about this. I also cut down my wishlist a ton. Wanna know it? Of course you do!

Scenic Season - although I'm considering not making Christmas cards. I really enjoyed doing the photo cards last year and I generally don't like making the same card 50 times. So I think I'll not get this one and not make Christmas cards at all.

Wellness Wishes - I've read that people hate this set. I LOVE it. It doesn't hurt that I don't have ANY get well stamps! I'm not sure how that happened. But I guess I need this stamp set!

Look Who's Turning - Hello, it has an octopus! Done!

Extreme Surfboard - I don't surf. But I cannot resist this lovely stamp. It's a must have for me.

Upsy Daisy - not new, still wanting it

Lovely as a Tree - not new, still wanting it

Seeing Stars - I'm a bit obsessed with stars as of late.

Just Perfect Alphabet - I'm not a huge alphabet person, but this particular one really is "just perfect"

All the in color paper. I don't like SU's inks. So just the paper, maybe some of the ribbon. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the new In Colors. OHMYHECK I love them. Even that purple one.

Holiday Lounge paper. (although not if I'm not going to make Christmas cards)

Thoroughly Modern Papre. - Heck I might get two packs of this. I love it.

Thoroughly Modern gusseted envelopes - I recently took over bills here at the house and I need these to help me stay organized and also they are SO lovely.

Dots and designs rub ons.

Modern Label punch

I may be low on black cardstock, I'll have to check.

Vintage Chic

The next color combo has a rust color, brown, tan and cream. This combo is lovely but didn't WOW me. Here is the card I made with this combo.

And the inside. I stamped the background stamp then added a million tiny dots of brown to it. I like how it brings it to life.

The background stamp is by Cornish Heritage Farms, the flower and prase is by Stampin' Up!

In other news:

OHMYHECK I saw the new SU catalog. I've heard some folks are not loving it. I tell you I love it SO much. I cannot stand it. I seriously may be signing up to be a demo in the next few months. I want about twenty of those stamp sets. Sheesh!

Modern elegance

The first color combo in the paint book was this one they call "modern elegance". I actually LOVE it even though there was a lot of purple. Here is a shot of just the card. I did the black embossing on the purple in a really roundabout way. I inked a white glossy sheet with orchid ink, then stamped the backgrounder stamp with versamark and clear embossed. Then I ran a black inkpad over the raised area. I really like the look it gave. And I did a little detail on the inside too:

I'm sure you all already knowbut the gray is HOT right now. I don't think much about orchid/purple at all, but turns out it looks fab with gray. I actually love this purple card.

All these stamps are by Cornish Heritage Farms.

Pretty neat

So this card. I could not get a good picture of it. It looks really cool in real life. I stamped background stamps on glossy,t hen stamped the black stars and cut them out. Very simple, but cool. In real life. In this photo it looses a lot of it's umph. Also I'm sharing this sneek peek. I worked last week on making cards inspired by this paint color combo idea book I got. (I need to paint my bedroom.) I said, "Erin you HAVE to make at least one card with each and every color combo in there." That sounded cool until the first one was PURPLE. SHEESH.

So over the next few days I'll share more photos of these cards and tell about how I made them and all. I really like all of them and found the challange to be super fun.

93 bottles of beer on the wall...

I'm finally healthy. I'm taking it easy one more day, then tomorrow I'm back to full activity. I DID go to the wedding I was wanting to go to. I was very tired, but I had a fantastic time.

Here is an apron I made for a darling little girl I know. She likes pink.

And I made more squares for my quilt. I do NOT like the top left square in this first pic.

I'm up to 93 squares now. I need about 150 of them. So it's coming right along, but there is plenty more to go.

I want to do a lot of stamping this week. I just have a hankering for some nice stamping sessions.

Pneumonia and bronchitis

Past few days I've been feeling sick again. Downward spiral. I went back to the dr today. It's still Pneumoni and Bronchitis but it's antibiotic resistant. So I now have a super strong $150 antibiotic that is just five pills. My insurance did cover some and the Dr gave me a coupon, so I didn't PAY $150, but the idea that each pill is $30 makes my head spin. Or maybe that's just lack of oxygen because I can't breathe.

It really stinks because I have a wedding this weekend that will have family that I've not seen in 20 years. I'm going to be really bummed if I can't see them.

I had a point in telling you guys this...

well I forgot it.

But in good news Marcia got her quilted kitty cat laptop bag today and she loved it.

Oh and here is a fun picture of Stephen. He's such a preppy rockstar! He was so proud of this outfit, he put it together by himself. Right down to tucking in the shirt. So we had to do a photo shoot and this is what I got:

Fish and a Shameless CASE

First of all have I ever showed you guys my cool halmark embosser? I got it at Swoozies. It's a little stationary and other high end crap store. Very cute in there, pretty expensive. Anyhow this thing was a small fortune, but my father felt that I needed it. I didn't argue. *wink* I've had it for over a year but I'm not sure I've showed you. Today I made two cards. This first one uses Gina K stamps. Have I mentioned I really like Gina K? Really I have not? How odd...
I stamped the scene and colored with copics and the glitter pens by copic. Then covered it all with embossing powder. I used watercolor crayons to color the background. It didn't look vivid enough for me, so I did direct to paper inking with my turquoise ink pad. Then wiped off the embossed images and here you go:

The orange tissue paper has been in my stash for over a year. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a single sheet of orange tissue paper totally flat in a mess like mine for an entire year? I seriously love that paper though. So I punched some circles from it for the inside then stitched them on. *to punch from tissue paper you set it on some regular thin cardstock and then punch through both layers. Works like a charm and doesn't tear the tissue.*

Ok this next card is a shameless CASE. I like to browse the Splictoaststampers galleries in the morning while my kids eat breakfast. I saw THIS card by Gretchen Belknap and knew I'd make the same card today. I usually don't make a whole exact case like this but seriously! I HAD to do it. So if you love this, go tell Gretchen because it's her idea. And also she has better kraft cardstock than me! Where does she get that? DRATS. Oh she has a blog HERE. No shortage of cute in her world.

I did this for the inside.

Have a great day!

Mess and Work

Look at my craft area: I share the room with the kids, and then all the sports garbage on the walls belongs to Brian (and this is NOT all his sports garbage either) And look how clean the kid's craft area is:

So someone (Erin) needs to get her crap cleaned up tonight. SHEESH. How can I be expected to create in that mess. Really I don't have room for all my junk. But that doesn't mean I need more room. I need less junk. I mean seriously I have WAY more stuff than I could ever use. Like cardstock. You can see I have about three feet of cardstock on that shelf behind my desk. What you don't know is there is that much again inside the black cabinet. And we all know I'm going to buy the new SU In Colors. *sigh* haha. So anyhow I have to clean so I can fit it all in. Might have to get rid of some too. *gasp*

Onto some stuff I made. So I ordered that fabric for my quilt. Then I made these blocks. I LOVE them.

I'm totally healthy now. Back to my morning walks and everything. I'm so grateful. It felt like I was going to be sick forever. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. :)

Fun stuff.

First of all I'm FINALLY feeling better. I'm sleeping all night and not coughing tons. I'm still tired easily, but WAY better.

So Marcia picked out this cat print ages ago. I was going to make a simple little bag. Then she got a laptop and decided she wanted a custom tote that would hold her laptop, her cords and mouse and maybe a bit more. The whole outside of the bag is quilted with a meander pattern. The bag is large, she didn't want it snug on the laptop. There is a quilted divider inside that will protect the actual computer from the cords and such. Also two inside pockets for whatever. And a magnetic snap closure.

In other fun news I ordered two Neptune charm packs. I LOVE the Neptune line. I got these for a song at Pink Chalk Studio. I highly recomend them for fabrics, also their patterns are unique and fun. I am going to make a baby quilt with these.

I also ordered 18 fat eights from Fabric Closet on Etsy. Besides having a FAB selection of fabrics she will cut you a fat eights of anything she has! Which is perfect for my ongoing 9 patch for my bed. I wanted all these fabrics, but not necessarly whole fat quarters ya know? SIGH fabric bliss. Actually I'm already thinking of ordering more from her.

Both Pink Chalk and Fabric Closet shipped super quick. I had ordered from Pink Chalk before so no suprise there, but I'm so happy to have found a new seller that I can trust too. *for the record I have had nothing but great experiences from Etsy*

So it looks like I have some sewing to do!

Giveaway

Not mine this time.

Ok remember when I made Kim's quilt? That fabric line I LOVE. It's called Katie's Jump Rope.

The Fabric Shopper is giving away a huge set of fat quarters from that line! It's such a fun line to work with. I hope I win it and can work with it again. If not I hope YOU win it. :)

click HERE to enter.