new rubbah!

isn't this just the cutest?!? i got new stamps from TAC and then have been BEGGING me to use them! i haven't created anything in awhile, i just transfered, again, to another 'new' job (same company this time). i have been learning lots and it has been very humbling to go from knowing everything and being great at it all, to having to admit that i'm new and know nothing! to be honest though, i'm tired of making mistakes! =)

recipe:
ink- SU Ccelery, Rred, and Bblue. SU markers Cchip & Ssaffron (for the tree trunk & bird beak/legs)
paper- DP is from autumn leaves, SU Ccelery (textured), Bblue & Wwhite
stamps- TAC "springtime"
accessories- small flower punch, SU Wwasabi ribbon, dimensionals, sanding block (sanded edges, corners, and some misc. parts of the DP)

well, it's tuesday, almost september. the kids are almost back in school. is it wrong of me to be looking forward to stamping on my days off while school is in session? that and watching the price is right! have a super week!

tape transfer method

so after i posted the challenge and link to the tutorial, i had yet to participate in the tape transfer method. here it is! i got this cute little chicken from some home magazine (it holds your kitchen scrubbies in it's butt, i cut that part off!). once i saw it, i knew that i had to use it with black, red, & white for a card using this method. i actually made this card last week sometime and just haven't had time to post it yet.

thanks to my candy winners for not yelling at me for my lateness in sending out their winnings, i just worked 8 days in a row, all of the days averaging 11 hours each! i promise i haven't forgotten you!

recipe:
paper- SU Bblack & Wwhite CS, DCWV DP
ink- SU Rred
stamps- SU "carte postale"
accessories- ribbon, white gel pen, black gel pen, SU Rred marker, scallop punches, window punches, corner rounder punch

so i am about to embark on a HUGE stamping change, i am going to fax in my demo application for TAC on monday. i'm going to be an angel! SUPER excited!

have a great weekend!

monday makeover challenge & BLOG CANDY!

andrea over at 'sunny stampin' had a monday makeover challenge and i decided to play! her challenge was to take a card or some other project that you really like and is non-SU and re-make it using only SU products!

this first pic is of one of my favorite cards! it was featured in the feb. '08 issue of 'cards' magazine, found on page 112. jennifer roach did a fantastic job on this card, i could ever only hope to not disgrace her! so here is my only-SU version. there are a couple of big diffrences... i don't have any SU rhinestone brads on hand (i buy 'em, i use 'em!), so i used crystal effects w/ dazzling diamonds glitter instead. card is 4.5" x 7.5"
recipe:
ink- Llace, Wwasabi, Ssaffron, PIpink, Ccelery, & versamark
paper- textured Wwasabi CS for CB, Llace, Wwhite, and DSP is enchante'
stamps- new hostess level 3 set "hapiness always"
accessories- new scallop edge punch, wasabi ribbon, crystal effects, dazzling diamonds, corner rounder, sponges (for ink distressing the edges of CS), and pastels (for chalk distressing the oustides of the center panel)

so, i have finally answered another challenge! and did you see my funky fingernails?!? i just LOVE them! my stamping friend does my nails and she just got this fabulous new green acrylic called 'sour apple' and i think i will always have green fingernails now! =)

enjoy your week!

OH! don't forget about my challenge for the two (2) stamp sets & a whole lot of misc. embellishments! click here for my blog candy giveaway! hurry, ends 8/1/08!

shabby, baby!

well, we all know that jenn really likes her stuff to look... old, used, distressed, shabby. so here's the newest "used" project.

recipe:
ink- jim holtz 'walnut stain' distress ink
paper- SU Wwhite CS, TAC DP, lined notebook paper
stamps- SU "doodle this" (stamped flower on backside of DP & cut out) & sentiment is from SU "spring solitude"
accessories- bling blue rhinestone, corner rounder punch for scalloped edges, crop-o-dile for small circle punches in the scallops, sponges for applying the ink to the edges of EVERYTHING!

the new 'batman' is out! can't wait to go see that! or wall-E is out, too! my sister is coming to visit this weekend, haven't seen her since she got married last year! so my weekend is full! whatever you do on yours, hope it's safe & fun!

marker-ing your stamps

have you ever wondered how to get multiple colores on your stamped bold image? you use markers! that's what i did for my little bird and my branch & leaves.

the bird is actually 4 diffrent colors. i started by coloring his legs with the paint brush side of my SU Aappeal marker. for his body, i started by coloring BashfulBlue all over, then used BalletBlue on most of his back, then finished him up with BrilliantBlue on only the middle of his back.

for the branch, i colored with the paint brush side of my Cchip marker, then colored the leaves with the Oolive marker.

the flowers on the side of the card were done with the '2-step stampin' technique. i stamped the outline of the flowers in SU Ssaffron, then stamped randomly the bold flower image on top to fill in the large flowers with SU Bblue.

recipe:
ink- SU Aappeal, BBlue x 3 (see above), Cchip, Oolive, & Ssaffron
paper- SU Wwhite. colored CS is from the cheap-o colored CS pack from wal*mart
stamps- SU "spring solitude", sentiment is from 'stugio G' ($1 michaels acrylic set)
accessories- blue/yellow ribbon is from $1 bin at michaels, used small circle punch on corners

keep checking back! i'm starting to gather stuff for the fabulous BLOG CANDY that i'll post when i get to 5000 hits! have a super week!

using flower punches

so i, probably like most of you, have these flower punches (at least 4) that i hardly ever use. in fact, i think it was the first time i used one of them! so i decided to put them to use!

swirls are so in right now, vines, flourishes, doodles.... i picked one and added my little flowers!

recipe:
ink- SU Oolive, stazon black
stamps- vine & sentiment are from 'studio g' ($1 bin at michaels)
paper- SU Ssun, Bblack, Rred, Ssaffron, & Wwhite
accessories- flower punches (???, i've accumatled them over the years), circle hole punch (for flower centers)

so i challenge you----- get out your unused punches and see what you can create with them!

photo distressing

found some old pictures of my youngest after bath time, she used to just love to be naked!

i have seen lots of cool arrows lately and have been wanting to try one out, so i did! took a piece of chipboard (the kind that comes in the back of packs of papers to keep them from bending, they're like a bonus in the pack of paper!) and freehanded drew an arrow. over and over i drew the arrow until i got it to look half decent, then used craft knife to cut it out! covered it with DP, sanded the paper, attatched some ribbons, whala! is that how you spell it?!

saw the photo scratching in a magazine lately and wanted to try that for a photo-distressed look. i took a thumb tack and scratched the edges of the photos downward to the edges. i rubbed walnut ink on the scratches, then dabbed the ink off with a cotton ball. i gave you a close-up of the edge of a photo so you can see it a bit better. i really like the look it gave my photos!

ingredients:
paper- SU scrap pack, lined notebook paper, cardboard (tore it open and used the insides outward for the photo corners), brown packing paper (for title mat)
ink- jim holtz walnut distress ink, SU Cchip
stamps- SU 'baroque motifs' & 'headline alphabet'
accessories- chipboard, misc. ribbons, SU spriral (for the notebook paper) & tab (for the journaling block under the middle photo) punches, sizzix flower dies w/ my cuttlebug (sanded the edges, used dimensionals to pop up the diffrent layers), big green brad, sanding blocks (used on all DP). used misc. chalks on edges of photo mats for soft distressing.

well, today was the first day of the rest of my life. and it went well! thanks for all the well wishes! have a great day!

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)

just some fun little simple cards without sentiments (for now) so i can add them later.
recipe:
ink- stazon black, jim holtz 'walnut' distress ink; frog is stamped in Oolive
paper- Wwhite CS; DP is from 'autumn leaves'
stamps- both are from little sets that i got in the $1 michaels bins
accessories- ribbon is a $1 michaels find; used SU scallop punch & 'emagination' circle punch; colored bird w/ NEW prismacolor pencils & blending pencil (outlined both images w/ grey pencil for depth); added some dots & squiggles to the scallops; ink distressed all DP; used small SU circle punch for scalloped paper edges

NEW prismacolor pencils story- so for those of you who have been following along know that i don't pay full price for anything. but i just have to get these pencils! so... i didn't have a coupon, but that's ok because open stock pencils were 25% off at michaels (well, the sale was suppossed to be over, but they left the sign up by the pencils so i got the discount). so i sat in the isle (yes, i sat there on the floor) looking at the backs of the boxes for the 48 and 36 count. i figured out which colors were not in the 36 box and bought those open stock so that i could come back when i had a 50% off coupon and get the 36 box for cheap and still have all 48 colors! arn't i just the smartest little girl?!?

well, time for bed. DH is already there and undoubtledly upset that i let him go to sleep by himself. have a great monday!

cosmo bella birthday card

so this didn't turn out the way that i wanted it to. i am a bit disapointed. however, due to the lacking number of posts that i have, i feel obligated to post this, as un-appealing as it is to me.

recipe:
paper- CB is from some generic set of blank cards w/ envelopes (5x7). rest of CS is SU bold brights & Wwhite
ink- Ppink, versamark, & stazon black. colored image w/ sakura souffle pens in bright colors.
stamps- "cosmobella", & "cheers" by penguin pants (this is a great set! i got this at the stamp show a few weeks ago!)
accessories- bright blue eyelets (used crop-o-dile to set), corner rounder, silk flower, wide green satin ribbon, and narrow hot pink ribbon.

road trip with grandma

some other older photos came out and got used this last weekend.
my mother took the girls to see my aunt and uncle a year or so ago, they had so much fun that weekend!
saw this super cute idea using the SU "abc" wheel to make a road, and got to try it! used SU Bblack CS & Wwhite craft ink w/ the wheel to make my 'road' and used the truck from the SU set "loads of love". i used the girl from the SU "loads of love accessories" to make my little ladies. i colored their shirts the same color as my mom and the girls were wearing in the photos to make them more recognizable. coloring was done with colored pencils and OMS. since my girls are still young, i printed out a map and directions using map quest and used it in the page also.
have a great day!

oh!!!!!! trivia! last question was, "there were a bunch of stars in 'reality bites', can you name 4 of them?" here are the popular ones: wynona ryder, ethan hawke, ben stiller, janeane garafalo, and steve zahn.

current trivia question: from the movie 'the rocky horror picture show', what were the names of the characters played by tim curry & susan sarandon?
have fun!

wonderful flower card

once again, faith has been my inspiration. you can see her card here. once again, hers is SOO much better, however, i'm happy with the way mine turned out.

recipe:
paper- SU Oolive, Ccameo, & Vvanilla
ink- SU Oolive, Gguava, & stazon black
stamps- SU "in full bloom" and "weathered" and "warm words"
accessories- both window punches, sponge & stipple brush, silk flower & leaves, brad, glassy glaze embossing powder, sakura gel pens, $1 michaels ribbon, coluzzle cutting system.

my DD Bday party was today, she had an absolute blast! she had a couple of girls stay the night last night, so needless to say, none of us got much sleep! tonight is a much earlier night, and i feel so accomplished today! i worked; set up, had, and tore down a birthday party; played with d (that's her nickname, just 'd') and some of her new toys (i thought that maybe if i played with the hannah montana barbies or DVD games or listened to her CD or play the new HM board game, i'd "get" her. didn't happen); watched part of a movie (then it got suspenseful, not my style); then checked out faith's gallery on SCS; then this beauty came out! i'd call that a pretty productive day!

hope you all have a great rest of the weekend! and faith, just in case you actually read this, you amaze me! thanks so much for your inspiration!

punch pals stamp-a-stack cards

i have my first holiday stamp-a-stack scheduled for this week. for this one, i'm going to be using punches, and what better set to go with punches? punch pals from SU!

all supplies for both cards are SU. papers are Bblue, black, and Wwhite. inks are Bblue and black stazon (i think i use stazon with everything!). used ink pad and blender pens to color the tree and penguin.

punches used were scallop, 1 1/4" and 1/2" circle, and both small and regular tag punches.

almost everything on both cards are popped up with dimensionals, i just love that look!

to make sure that she gets credit, i cased this second card (z fold) from palmettostate on SCS. you can see her card here.

have a great night! (christmas went well, by the way! now that she has her gift, i can post it! i guess i'll have two posts for today!)

brayering technique / favorite snowflake card

i learned a new technique and had to try it out. this technique kinda combines emboss resist and layering using a brayer, i'll go into detail about this technique in just a minute. i found the snowflake stamps (cube stamp w/ 4 sides) for $1 at michaels. used SU Bblue, Wwhite, and Bblack CS, and SU Bblue & NQnavy inks. ribbon is also a $1 michaels find. so now on to this cool new technique..............


step one: heat emboss images (bold images are best, i used versamark ink and embossed w/ glassy powder).

step 2: ink your brayer w/ a the lightest color of ink that you want on your card and bray your cardstock. (wipe off excess ink with a tissue)

step 3: use a sticky note to cover portions of your paper (i used large circle punch w/ my sticky notes in 3 spots, and very small circle punch in 3 spots). if you don't have circle punches, the "coluzzle" system works well, too!

step 4: ink your brayer with a darker ink and bray your cardstock.

step 5: remove sticky notes and look what you've got!

*you can repeat steps three & four many times, progressing towards darker inks.

hope you all have a great week and give this new one a try! when you do try it, let me know how they turn out! have fun!