What?! A Blog post after 2 years???

Well, what miracles have occurred to get me posting after a two-year hiatus? A friendly challenge! Yesterday, Mama Kate set off a series of events with a simple post on Facebook about a new scrapbook store opening in the old Friend'z location. JoLynn saw the post, I saw the post...and soon, we were both at the store reuniting with other crafters who were there scoping out the scene. JoLynn mentioned to the new owner and employees that Kate was responsible for the mad rush! Well, it was kinda funny running into JoLynn and as we perused the items and started collecting purchases, we lamented about the fact that we hardly ever make the time to craft! So, a challenge was issued. We had to make something using some of the products we purchased and post our cards before this weekend ended! Here's the first card I made featuring a glitter paper by American Crafts. This paper is a DREAM--I absolutely love the texture...it's very fine and smooth. The glitter doesn't flake off when you cut the paper...it's fabulous. The pattern reminded me of Thirty-One gifts 'Paparazzi Dot' which is what led me to the idea of a monogram card. I kept it simple with just a vinyl Thicker...also by American Crafts. I love this glitter paper and will definitely be collecting more. Madeline loved it as well and used a piece to make a card for me. Isn't she the most precious little peanut in the world? She drew a peace sign on one side because of course NO art project of hers is complete without one. You see me over there on the right with the fabulous eyelashes...the two little girls are her and our next door neighbor Kenzie.

One of the other items I picked up at the new store was a set of printed fabric Thickers from American Crafts. I used the number 5 on this quick and easy birthday card. I had some Sale-a-Bration paper/sticker die-cuts left from this past year so I decided to put those to use. The sentiment is from the new hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes from Stampin' Up!

Be sure to pop on over to JoLynn's blog to see what she crafted this weekend!

Let's see if another two years goes by before I post again...
Happy stamping,
Karen

Publications: Round 2

I could not find the photograph of this card on my computer believe it or not! I ended up photographing the layout since I no longer have the actual card. Once the publishers sent me the card back along with my complimentary issues of the magazine, I sent a copy of the publication along with the actual card to my grandpa in Florida so that he could put them with my grandmother's ashes. When I bought this stamp, I was actually pregnant and I envisioned making some lovely handmade gift for the baby's grandmothers. Of course, that never happened and it wasn't until I saw the call for grandparent projects for this September issue that I knew this stamp would be used for a project honoring my grandma. September is a difficult month. Obviously, Grandparents' Day is in September and that in itself is tough. My grandmother was born in September and she also passed away in September...so in general, September has always been a month where I find myself mourning her loss rather than just thinking of her or remembering her as I do throughout the rest of the year. I don't mean to get so personal with this post, but this was a personal project so I can't help myself! So just because, I'm going to end with some happy thoughts about my grandma because now I'm sitting here all teary-eyed...

• My grandma used to love to record my sister and me singing...I remember singing Lionel Richie songs into her little tape recorder!!
• I loved her camera and all of the pictures she would take. I can't believe I once asked her if I could have that camera when she died! I think I was about 9 or 10--old enough to know better, don't you think?
• My grandma loved playing BINGO and my sister and I used to love to fling her BINGO chips all across the room.
• Kim and I used to enjoy posing with our grandma's wigs on for photographs...even my brother posed for a pic once!
• Some of my fondest times spent with her were just at the kitchen table playing Scrabble when I was older and visiting in FL. She would let me cheat and use the dictionary because I could never beat her anyway. How she had the patience to play with me and/or Kim for that matter, I will never know :-)
• My grandmother and I used to write letters back and forth...I wish I would have kept more of them.

My grandparents have always been such a cherished part of my life. You might remember my grandpa from some entries last year--I feel so blessed that he is still here and that Maddie has been able to spend time with him. My grandpa is always giving my sister and me advice about life, finances, even softball and bowling over the years--he just seems to know a little about almost everything. Of course, the best thing about grandpa is that he loves food and a good chocolate as much as I do and so we always indulge in special treats when we're together. Which...come to think of it, I'm sure Maddie and I are due for another trip sometime soon ;-)

CC185: Take TWO!

I can hardly stand it--I got another card made before the peanut woke up! She's awake now so I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. She's eating her breakfast so I have a few minutes :-) Since I already had the papers and ribbon out, this card was another quick one. I incorporated a piece of 'flair' from American Crafts. I am lovin' the flair--can I just tell you that? What's that movie where Jennifer Aniston is working at a Bennigan's/Friday's-like restaurant and she gets in trouble for not having enough flair on her uniform? I can't think of it, but everytime I hear or see the word 'flair', I think of that movie! So, yes...paper, ribbon, flair--that's it!

Shoebox Swap

Verve Visual is Splitcoast's newest member company and they are giving away two $15 gift certificates to their store. If you'd like to win, all you have to do is make a card using stars and upload it to the Splitcoast Gallery using keyword VSCSTAR by Tuesday. Since I needed to make a card for the Shoebox Swap on Tuesday, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone--you know how much I love doing that! And really, three birds because I've been wanting to use this Bella ever since my last order arrived! The sentiment and little star flourishes in the corner are all stamps from Verve and they're included in a set called Starlight Starbright. I really love the assortment of sentiments offered by Verve and I think the typeface they use is great. Rockabella was purchased from Stamping Bella and I think the stamp is the perfect match for this sentiment. The card could be used to congratulate someone or I think it could also work for a birthday card.

DSP is from American Crafts' Metropolitan Collection

SC182: American Crafts

Hello, my name is Karen and I hoard my American Crafts products. Whew! Felt good to just get that out in the open. I know I'm not alone in this--we buy papers and embellishments because we think they're so beautiful and then we just stockpile them in our studios never to be used. For those of you who have been 'with me' for a while, you know that I made a New Year's resolution for the first time in many years and that was to use my STUFF. I have gotten better, but I find that I have accumulated WAY TOO MUCH!! Well, when I saw today's sketch I thought it would be great to use up some DSP that I've been hoarding. This particular American Crafts print lended itself to the sketch because I could cut out these squares and arrange them for an interesting background instead of using a variety of patterns which is what I had originally planned. I broke out the Thickers to finish off the card and decided to use this 'happy birthday' stamp since it was still out from the SAS yesterday. I suppose I should start cleaning all of that stuff up now....
Finished card size is a 5" square. DSP squares measure approximately 1 3/8" and the Chocolate Chip mats are 1.5". The center panel has a base which is a 3" square.
Paper: Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, American Crafts DSP (Play Collection: Kick the Can)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Birthday Basics by Papertrey Ink
Accessories: Felt Thickers (can't remember the name of this font and I no longer have the package--sorry!)

Busy Day!

I HAD to squeeze in the Splitcoast Challenge this morning even though I knew I didn't really have the time--it's an illness of sorts! The challenge was Ways to Use Photographs and I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make a page to complement the page I made a few weeks ago which can be seen here. I had printed these pictures a weekend or two ago thinking I'd make the page and I never did. I figured I could get the page done in 10 or 15 minutes since I only had the few pics to work with and already knew my colors, etc... Of course, it took more like 30 minutes because the page just looked so BLAH, which led me to add the dots of patterned paper which were punched out with the 1/2" circle punch and mounted on the black 3/4" circles. After looking at the photograph, I did bump down that circular photo about half an inch so that it was more centered in that quadrant. I have a hard time thinking outside of the box when scrapbooking and all of my pages look the same in the sense that they're all quite linear.

Well, I probably won't be posting much this weekend. My dad and Steve's parents are getting into town tomorrow then we have more family arriving on Saturday and then all of the other guests arriving for the fiesta on Sunday so ya...I won't have much crafting time. I will post pictures from the party next week so all of you faithful cake followers will see how it turned out for the big day :-)

*Don't forget--orders for the Subtotal Sale are due Monday. The retired list is coming out on Sunday and will most likely be posted on http://www.stampinup.com . I will e-mail it Sunday night to anyone on my mailing list.

SC179

I had no idea what I wanted to do for today's sketch and after much deliberation about papers and stamps, I ended up using these owls by Amuse with some paper by American Crafts. The owls were colored with Copics. Speaking of Copics, can I just say I'm so EXCITED about going to the Copic Certification class in Chicago next month? Woohoo! I'm really looking forward to learning some new techniques because from what I've heard, there are many to learn. I can't wait to share everything I've learned with all of you who are interested.



Stamps: Nature Set by Amuse

Papers: Basic Gray, American Crafts (Metropolitan Collection)

Ink: Basic Gray

My friend Ann joined me this morning for a little stampin' fun, but our fun was cut short since Maddie wasn't really in the mood to be neglected while Mommy stamped. We got our challenge cards done and Ann also had time to make a quick card for her niece, but I did feel like we were rushed a bit. Sorry Ann! Here's the challenge card that Ann made this morning for a co-worker who recently tore her rotator cuff. OUCH! She decided to use this Changito stamp which I thought would go perfectly with the sentiment, "You're never too old to do goofy stuff" and I added "like tear your rotator cuff" and while it was totally ridiculous, I kept repeating it and eventually Ann just went with it for the card. HA! I think her co-worker will get a kick out of it.

Stamps: Changito, Smarty Pants, Polka Dot Basics (used to create dots on the Turqoise)
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, American Crafts DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise and Copics

I have some CUTE cards to share with you made by another friend who tried her first Splitcoast Challenge on Monday, but unfortunately they're on my other camera which is sitting with dead batteries. Of course. SO, I will have those for you tomorrow so you'll have to come back to see those! Thanks for stopping by!

WT168: Pack it Up!

For today's Ways to Use It Challenge, we were asked to use packing supplies on our project OR have a project related to packing and travel was brought up as a potential theme for one's project. I thought about an upcoming trip to Florida which of course made me think about all of the wonderful experiences I had with Madeline on our last trip. I decided to make a scrapbook page which is really unlike me! I printed a couple of pics from Madeline's first trip to the ocean and just went from there. I decided to use my own handwriting only because the journaling I had typed out and printed with my photos ended up not working out with the layout I ended up using. It wasn't my original intention to have the page laid out this way, but it's how it all came together. I had trouble with the journaling the first time I tried writing it and so I covered it up with the smaller pic and tried again over to the left. The second time, I used a wavy line template that I had in order to help keep my writing to look a little neater on the page--I thought the waves worked with the ocean theme, but I think I would have preferred straight lines. Oh, well--I'm just happy to have a scrapbook page done and seeing that this one was completed pretty quickly, I might have to make another to go with it in my album.
Materials: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, American Crafts DSP and Thickers (vinyl), Zig

Two Challenges

I was so busy yesterday with errands and cleaning that I didn't even get a chance to complete the challenge so I combined it with today's challenge. Yesterday's challenge was to use scissors and today's challenge was to make a square card using scrap paper and ribbon. We were also to use one additional embellishment which I forgot about.
When I was cleaning out some of my older stamp sets for the online garage sale, I came across this Dancing Candles stamp by The Artful Stamper. Kate bought this stamp for me when we both worked at the Pocketful of Memories Stamp Store and I always knew I wanted to make a card with it where all of the candles were cut out and popped up on dimensionals. Well, you know how it goes, the stamp was put away and I forgot I even had it! I took it out and put it on my table so that I would think about using it. When I saw the challenge to use scissors, I knew this was the perfect opportunity for me to work with this image. I had a number of failed attempts with this card mainly because I was coloring with Copics and I wasn't patient enough and I was getting a lot of feathering with my black ink. I probably need to start trying my Staz On because Stampin' Up!'s Basic Black just ISN'T permanent enough for me! I ended up stamping the candles with my Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed it in black. I thought this would make it easier to color the image, but I seemed to have black embossing powder everywhere and it didn't help the coloring go any better. So, like I said...think I'll be trying a different ink to use with my Copics. The DSP is from American Crafts as is the scrap of ribbon. Both are from the Celebration Collection. I bought them in Peoria, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Keepsake Element or Friend'z carried this particular collection. It's fairly new so I doubt you'd find it at Hobby Lobby yet, but I could be wrong.
In other news...
I ended up having to put most of Maddie's new toys together by myself, but it was worth the effort because she really is enjoying having some fun things to play with in the backyard! These pics were taken this morning. She could literally spend the entire day out there on her swing or playing at her water/sand table. My Dad told me that the swingset he bought for my sister and me was his best investment--I'm beginning to understand why!

Route 66

So, I didn't peg myself as a Hanna Stamps kind of a gal, but here I am the proud owner of three new stamp sets. This Route 66 set just grabbed my attention right away. It isn't everyday that you find a feminine motorcycle stamp and while I don't own a motorcycle, it'd be nice. I figure this stamp will be the closest I'll ever get. Making this card took a lot more time than I had anticipated--coloring that motorcycle is a pretty laborious process! I wasn't happy with the first one I colored so I tried again and added some paper-piecing. Yes, I am all about paper-piecing right now--it's a phase I'm going through! I had some of this paper left from a project I hope to share with you soon so I used it for the background of the card and on the girl's helmet and tank. The rest of the image was colored with Copics and Copic Spica Glitter Pens (LOVE THESE!). I got my glitter pens from My Favorite Things and while I didn't know if I really needed them, I am really glad I got them because they add a nice shimmer to any project. They sell them individually as well as the whole set so take a look around their site if you're interested. I have ordered from My Favorite Things a couple of times and have had nothing but positive experiences.

I tried using Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge for this card, but I had to modify it slightly. I didn't want my sentiment piece to cover up the back wheel so I moved the panel a little higher than what she had on her sketch. I have another card I made for this sketch and I'll post that shortly.

I hope to have another Hanna project to share with you soon!

Stamps: Route 66 and Things Hanna Would Say by Hanna Stamps

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, American Crafts DSP

Accessories: Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Copics, Copic Spica Glitter Pens

EDITED TO ADD: I almost forgot--free ribbon slides are going to Ann, Kelly and JoLynn! Since I only had three people comment before the deadline, you can all get some!

LSC152: Leftovers

For today's Limited Supplies Challenge, we were asked to use leftover materials--scraps and such. I had this card base left from our class a couple of weeks ago and the patterned paper (American Crafts) was from the ornaments we made at the holiday party. I used the Photo Corner Punch to add a pop of black since I had layered the stamped image on black. Looking at it, this card has a "Minnie Mouse" feel to it, doesn't it? This particular stamp is from a Level 1 hostess set For a Friend.

Wooden Block Ornaments

One of the other projects that we made at our last gathering was a wooden block ornament. We used an unfinished 1.5" block, some patterned paper, pictures, Mod Podge, ribbon and little screw hooks and in return had an adorable little ornament for the tree. JoLynn was kind enough to share this picture of her ornaments--she was hooked and came back the next day to make some as gifts. If you're interested in making more, I have a bunch of extra blocks! The little screw hooks were found at Wal-Mart and could also be found at any hardware store.