Just a quick note

Once again, I appear to be slacking on posting on my blog but really I'm not. My uncle got sick and died in November so I didn't do any stamping. Then on December 1 my computer died when my DH installed more memory. I still don't have my computer back (hopefully, in the next couple days I will get it). I've been going to my sister's a couple days a week to check my email but don't have time to post any projects on here.

I really wanted to post a 12 days of Christmas project that my sister and I did a couple years ago but the pictures are on my computer. I was going to post the project in memory of my uncle who died since my sister and I did it for him and our aunt. If I'm still blogging this time next year, I will be sure to post it.

In case I don't get my computer back before Christmas, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Some cards I made over the summer

I managed to stamp a few cards this summer but never got around to posting them on here so I thought I would do that now.


Stamps: CTMH Free Spirit, For Every Occasion
Paper: CTMH Sunny Yellow, Bubblegum, Topiary
Inks: CTMH Bubblegum, Topiary, Dutch Blue
Accessories: CTMH Just Blooms, gold brads

For these next two cards, I got the color inspiration from the CTMH Fall/Winter 2007 catalog. This first color combination is from the Life Delights My Reflections kit:


Stamps: Papertrey Ink Little Lady, Green Thumb
Papers: CTMH Blush, Chocolate, Lilac Mist, Sweet Leaf, Colonial White
Inks: CTMH Blush, Chocolate, Lilac Mist, Sweet Leaf

The color combination for this next cards is from CTMH Enchanted My Reflections Kit. I don't think I care for this combination.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Little Lady, Green Thumb
Paper: CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Garden Green, Smokey Plum, Sunflower, Colonial White
Inks: CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Garden Green, Smokey Plum, Sunflower, Colonial White

The next two cards use paper by Cosmo Cricket. I was in Pat Catan's one day and saw the one with flowers and it reminded me of the flowers from Paper Trey Ink's Little Lady and Green Thumb sets. It took me awhile to find inks in my supplies that coordinated with the papers but I think I found some that were pretty close. I'm not sure that I really like the colors of this paper. Definitely not a color combination that I would put together.



Stamps: Papertrey Ink's Little Lady, Green Thumb, Paper Tray
Papers: Cosmo Cricket's Miss Molly, Peggy Sue, some unknown cardstock from Pat Catan's
Inks: CTMH Grey Wool, Color Box Roan Chestnut and one of their reds
Accessories: CTMH bigger brads, red grosgrain ribbon from Pat Catan's

I finally got to stamp today!

My two dds and I were finally able to make it over to my sister's house to do some stamping this afternoon. I needed a couple thank you cards to send to my cousin and my aunt and uncle to thank them for the Macy's gift certificate my cousin sent me on behalf of all of them for my birthday which was in September. Normally I don't get a present from them, but since my aunt and my uncle have been in assisted living and my sister and I do all their shopping, taking care of their meds, etc. since my cousin lives in Texas, they have gotten us gift certificates for our birthday the last couple years.

Ever since another CTMH consultant (Kathi Carlson) posted some cards she made using the floral dimensional elements and the Floral Elements stamps set, I have been wanting to play with the set. The two thank you cards are cased from a couple cards that she made. I used a different color combination than she did and I also added the stem and leaves to the one card. I was having so much fun playing with this set that I went ahead and made another card.





Stamps: CTMH Floral Elements
Paper: CTMH New England Ivy, White Daisy, Barn Red
Inks: CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Sunflower, Barn Red, New England Ivy
Accessories: CTMH White Daisy Grosgrain, Bigger Brads, Flower Garden Dimensional Elements

I had so much fun stamping today that I just want to keep stamping. Unfortunately, all my stuff is at my sister's house, my DH is being a monster at Cedar Point and my dds are in bed so I am stuck here at home. I happened to look at Nicole Heady's blog today and saw the beautiful slider card that she made and so want to make one right now. I guess I'll have to just keep blogging to keep my mind off making that slider card. Hopefully, my dds will be good tomorrow and we can go do some more stamping.

Alzheimer's Memory Walk

My sister and I are participating in the local Alzheimer's Memory Walk on September 29. I decided to form my own team instead of joining someone else's because I have a few family members (my mom, two uncles and an aunt) who are suffering from Alzheimer's.

I have set a goal to get $500 in donations for the walk, but so far I have only managed to raise $90. That is a looong way from $500. My sister and I have a little friendly competition going on to see who can raise the most. The loser will have to clean the other's house. So far my sister is beating me by $10. If you would like to help me (and, of course, the Alzheimer's Association), you can make a donation here: Memory Walk. If you are not comfortable donating online, there is a link to a form that you can print and mail in. Any donation big or small would be greatly appreciated.

I also have a goal to have a total of 5 team members but so far I only have 2. If you are near Sandusky, and would like to walk to benefit a great cause, please consider joining my team Friends Together Against Alzheimer's.

I'm Back!

Boy, I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted. Now that summer is over and the girls are back in school, hopefully, I will be able to post on a regular basis. I didn't get much stamping done this summer but I did scan the few cards that I did manage to do. I will get those posted when I have time.

We didn't take a big family vacation this year but we did go to the hot air balloon festival in Jackson, MI, in July. My DH took some great pictures and when I can the disk that he put them on, I will post some of the pictures. I'll post more about the festival when I post the pictures.

We also took a trip to the Cleveland Zoo. It had to be the hottest, most humid day in July that we went--it was at least 90 F. Fortunately, we remembered to take a cooler filled with bottles of water so that we didn't get dehydrated. We skipped going into the Rainforest because we were too hot and tired after going around the rest of the zoo. DH also took some great pictures at the zoo that I will have to post (when I find them).

It's great to have the time to blog again. I hope I didn't lose too many readers during my down time. More to come shortly.

A couple TAC cards

I went to a TAC gathering last night at my friend Paula's house. Awna (the TAC demo and another friend of mine) designed a couple cute cards for us to make. I am in awe of anyone that can color. I don't know what it is but when it comes to coloring stamped images, I just am not that good at it. As a kid, I loved to color in coloring books but as an adult, I just am not impressed with my coloring skills. Also it didn't help that last night I was feeling a bit shaky for some reason--not a good thing when trying to color detailed images!

I was so proud of myself that I did not buy anything at the gathering. It isn't that I didn't want to but financially, I really shouldn't be spending money plus I made myself a promise not to buy new stuff until I use some things that I bought a long time ago and never used.

Let me tell you, it wasn't easy not buying the Haute Couture stamp set that we used for the second card. This set is retiring plus since it is retiring, the price was discounted. When TAC first came out with this stamp set, I just thought it was OK, not really my style, but the more of Awna's artwork that I see with this set, I really, really like it. It was so hard not to buy the set last night but I'm sure if I really want to make some cards with it, I can sweet talk Paula (she is buying this set) or Awna into letting me use their sets.;)

I'm a Slacker!

I know I promised to post more cards a couple weeks ago but when it comes to using a camera, I put it off as much as possible. A photographer I am not. It doesn't help that DH got a new Cannon Powershot S315 a couple weeks ago and I haven't even touched it yet. He told me that this camera was going to take a lot of learning to use--not something that I want to hear. I'm not good with regular digital cameras and now I have to learn how to use a fancy one.

I still have the Kodak camera that my sister passed on to us when she got her new Kodak but my rechargeable batteries barely hold a charge anymore. I really need to get out and get new batteries so I can continue to use that one.

So today while I was scanning a couple other cards that I want to post, I decided to scan the ones that I made a couple weeks ago instead of taking a picture with the camera. They are shadow box cards to they don't look the greatest when scanned, but that is the best I can do right now. Here they are:






For these cards I used:

Stamps: CTMH Life is so Good, Birthday Script
Paper: Sunkiss Yellow, White Daisy
Inks: Key Lime, Spring Iris, Hollyhock, Sunkiss Yellow, Sunny Yellow, Grey Wool, Heavenly Blue
Accessories: White brads, silver brads, white organdy ribbon

It is hard to see but on the inside, I lightly sponged heavenly blue ink using a piece of paper with the same size oval cut out as the front for my mask.

Simple Graduation card

I made this quick graduation card today for my DH's coworker's son. I really don't have any graduation stamps (it is extremely rare that I know anyone graduating so why buy graduation stamps!) so I decided to use the high school initials and the school colors. I hope the ribbon doesn't make it look too girly.

I forgot to scan the inside of the card but I stamped "congrats" in blue and then had a graduation cap stamped in orange and slightly above and to the right of the "s" in "congrats."

Orange and blue are definitely two colors that I wouldn't normally put together but they are the school colors--thank God I didn't go to that high school (I can't believe I will be going to my 20th class reunion this year!) because I really do not like the color orange!

For this card, I used:

Stamps: CTMH Rustic Alpha, The Works Alpha, Geometric Thoughts
Paper and Ink: CTMH orange, star spangled blue, white daisy
Ribbon: CTMH Dutch Blue grosgrain (I think this ribbon matches star spangled blue better than Dutch Blue)

I did make two more cards today after the graduation party but I will have to post them later. They are shadow box cards so I couldn't stick them in my scanner. By the time I got home it was too dark in my house to take good pictures.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Awna. You can check out her blog at http://allinkdup.blogspot.com/.

Yourself: uninteresting

Your Partner: Jeff

Your Hair: too thick

Your Mother: Betty

Your Father: deceased and deeply missed

Your Favorite Item: can't think of one right now

Your Dream Last Night: don't remember

Your Favorite Drink: water

Your Dream Car: something with room for more than 5 people

Dream Home: one with a stamp room

The Room You Are In: living room

Where You Want to be in Ten Years: too far away to think about

Who You Hung Out With Last Night: my kids

You're Not: outgoing

One of Your Wish List Items: more stamps (Papertrey and Gina K Designs)

The Last Thing You Did: took my dds to Wendy's

You Are Wearing: shorts and a t-shirt

Your Favorite Weather: warm and sunny but not hot

Last Thing You Ate: Pringles

Your Life: boring

Your Mood: varies

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: answering this

Your Car: red

What Are You Doing At The Moment: typing my answers

Relationship Status: married

What Is On Your TV: Looney Tunes DVD (kids are watching)

What Is The Weather Like: rainy
When Is The Last Time You Laughed: don't remember

Sympathy Card

Just before I went to get my haircut today, my sister called to tell me that my hairstylist's mother had died (my sister works where the hairstylist's DH works). No one ever called to cancel my appointment so I went to my appointment and the hairstylist was working. There is no way that I would have been able to work after my dad had died.

I already had planned to go to my sister's house afterwards to do some stamping so I just changed my stamping plans and made my hairstylist a sympathy card.

For this card I used:

Stamps: CTMH's Sweet Flowers, Comforting Thoughts

Paper: CTMH's Simple Pleasures, cocoa, bamboo, colonial white

Inks: CTMH's cocoa, bamboo, twilight, desert sand

Ribbon: CTMH's cocoa grosgrain

For the inside of the card, I did reverse masking and sponging:



I am getting myself into the habit of making more than one of the same card when I make a new design so after I completed this card, I made three more. For the last card, I didn't want to cut a new sheet of the B&T paper so I used a different piece of B&T from the Simple Pleasures kit:

Taste of Home Magazine

This is totally not stamping related but I wanted to see if anyone was interested in getting (or renewing) a subscription to Taste of Home Magazine, Simple & Delicious or Every Day with Rachel Ray.

I am a Taste of Home Entertaining Charter Consultant and I am offering discounts on subscriptions to these three magazines but only for this week. A one year (6 issues) subscription to Taste of Home is regularly $12.96. I am offering it for $11. A one year (6 issues) subscription for Simple & Delicious is regularly $12.96. I am also offering it for $11. A one year (10 issues) subscription to Every Day with Rachel Ray is regularly $18. I am offering it for $16.

If you are interested in a subscription to any (or all) of these magazines, please contact me by June 8.

The Earth Laughs In Flowers

The Papertrey Green Thumb set is quickly becoming my favorite stamp set (at least for the moment). I just love the variety of stamps that come with this set.

Again, I was inspired by a card I saw on Splitcoaststampers. I just love this layout and will have to use it for some more cards.

I was finally able to get my hands on the Spots and Dots (I think that is the name) embossing folder for the Cuttlebug. I love this folder.

This is the first time that I have done a curved line on my cards. I drew it with a pencil and then cut it out. I'm not sure that I like this method. If anyone uses any tools to do their curved lines, please let me know what you use. I did see a flexible ruler by B0-Bunny in an ad in I believe the last Paper Crafts magazines. Has anyone used this ruler? If you have, let me know what you think. It would make drawing the curves easier but I would still need to cut it out by hand so I'm not sure I would like that part.

I used SU's slit punch to make my scallops at the bottom. For the center of the flowers, I used CTMH's liquid glass and sprinkled a little prisma glitter.

For this card I used:

Stamps: Papertrey's Green Thumb

Paper: CTMH's key lime, sunkiss yellow, hollyhock, white daisy

Inks: CTMH's key lime, spring iris, sunkiss yellow, hollyhock

Ribbon: CTMH's spring iris

Another Green Thumb card by Papertrey

I was finally able to purchase the oval and circle scalloped punches. These punches are certainly hard to get a hold of because they always seem to be sold out. Luckily, I found a site that you can receive notification when the item is back in stock so I ordered these as soon as I got the notice.

This is the first card I have made with the punches. This card is similar to the Friendship Flowers card I just posted but instead of making a smaller triangle for the right side, I just made another larger triangle.

For this card I used:

Stamps: Papertrey's Green Thumb

Papers: CTMH's black, clover meadow, white daisy, holiday red gingham

Inks: CTMH's holiday red, clover meadow

Spinner card

I needed a card for my youngest daughter's 4th birthday. We had the party yesterday but her birthday isn't actually until tomorrow. I was going through some old cards I had made and came across this one and figured it would be perfect for her. She loves the color pink.

I found the directions for this card in a Paper Crafts magazine. Basically what you do is stamp your spinning image on two circles and then sandwich a string (or thread) between them. Make sure though that you have one image right side up and the other image upside down when you put them together. That way when you open the card up, the back image will be right side up in the card. You will also need to make a cover with a circle cut out for the inside front of your card so that the ends of your string are covered. When you are completely done making your card, you twist your image around a few times and then hold it while you shut your card. When the recipient opens the card, the image will spin.

For this card, I used:

Stamps: CTMH's Kid's Art-Party

Papers: CTMH's watermelon, hydrangea, white daisy

Inks: CTMH's archival black, baby pink, watermelon, hydrangea, chocolate

Baby card

This card is for a friend of mine who had her second child last week. This card was inspired by a card on Splitcoaststampers.

For this card I used:

Stamps: CTMH's Classic Caps, Geometric Thoughts, Botanicals Superset

Inks: CTMH's blush, breeze, buttercup, spring iris

Papers: CTMH's breeze, buttercup, white daisy

Ribbon: CTMH's Spring Iris

Friendship Flowers pop up card

I finally got around to scanning my artwork to post. This is the first time I have done a pop up card. They really are quite easy and I will definitely be making more in the future. It adds a nice surprise to the inside of the card.

After I made this card, I realized that I should have just inked up and stamped the "i'd pick" on the stamp since I already had the "U." I guess it is OK the way it is because your eye automatically goes to the big "U" instead of reading the word "you."

For this card, I used:

Stamps: CTMH's Friendship Flowers, Rustic Alphabet, Spunky Greeting
Inks: CTMH's hollyhock, twilight, goldrush and garden green
Paper: CTMH's Best Friends Forever My Reflections kit and My Stickease (large flower on front), twilight, colonial white

Ebates

I have added an Ebates link to My Links. If you sign up for Ebates (make sure to use my link or put me in as your referral using ladybugb919@yahoo.com) and shop at the stores they have listed, you can earn cashback on your purchases. Plus when you sign up for
Ebates, you automatically get $5 cashback when you make your first purchase.

For those of you interested in subscribing (or renewing your subscription) to Paper Crafts magazine, you can get a great deal through Ebates. Sign up for Ebates, then go to Magazines.com and purchase your Paper Crafts subscription. The Paper Crafts subscription is $11.92 through Magazines.com and you will earn 22% cash back when you purchase your subscription. In addition to that 22%, you will also get $5 credited to your Ebates account. So after your cash back and credit, you end up only paying $4.30 for your subscription to Paper Crafts.

Happy Shopping!

Blog Candy

I've been thinking about doing some type of blog candy but I'm not sure how successful that would be since I have only had 3 people make any comments on my blog. So readers, if you are interested in getting some type of blog candy, please start commenting on my artwork. Once I get about 20 comments on my blog, then I will seriously start considering what I can offer to my readers.

If there is anything that I can do to improve my blog, please let me know.

I do have some more artwork to add. It is just a matter of getting some pictures taken and download to my computer so I can post them.

Frappr Map

I have added a Frappr Map to my blog. Please scroll down to the very bottom of the page and add yourself to my map so that I can see where everyone is from.

Papertrey tunnel card and another CTMH Rustic Flowers card

Yesterday I made my first tunnel card and I also used my new Papertrey Green Thumb stamp set for the first time. I am going to have so much fun playing with this set. If you don't already have it, you really should check it out at Papertrey Ink. This is the first set that I have purchased from them and I will definitely purchase more.

I found the pattern for the Tunnel Card on Splitcoaststampers. I really like how the inside turned out, but I am not sure that I really like the front. After I had adhered the white for the inside of the card to the petal cardstock, I had decided that I really didn't like the canvas stamp for the background but I was running out of time for stamping (had to pick by 3 year old up from preschool) so I just left it. Any opinions on what I can do to the front to make it better?

For this card, I used:

Stamps: SU! Canvas and Print Pattern background stamps, Papertrey Ink Green Thumb

Papers: CTMH Petal, Honey, Garden Green and White Daisy

Inks: CTMH Brown Bag, Chocolate, Garden Green, Twilight, Petal and Honey

Ribbon: CTMH Sunflower


I made this Thinking of You card last week. It is very similar to the Mother's Day card that I made.

I didn't have time to finish it the first time I was working on it. I had decided that I was going to mat the oval with crystal blue but when I went back to finish it, I forgot about the mat. Of course, the adhesive that I use is not forgiving and will not allow for things to be moved so I just left it unmatted.

I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the background and used liquid glass and prisma glitter for the flower centers.

For this card I used:

Stamps: CTMH Rustic Flowers

Papers: CTMH White Daisy, Chocolate

Inks: Chocolate, Heavenly Blue, Crystal Blue

A better picture

I used a different camera this morning and got a better picture of the shadow box Mother's Day card. As always, pictures never do artwork justice. Enjoy!

I've been challenged!

I was challenged by Awna to make a Mother's Day card this week using pink and green. Amazingly, I was actually able to come up with something that was worthy of the challenge.

It is kind of hard to tell from the picture (sorry it isn't the greatest but I am not a great photographer) but the card is a shadow box card.

The flowers are CTMH's Rustic Flowers and the sentiment is from Paper Impressions (I purposely looked at the company name but now I can't remember if Impressions is right or not). I used CTMH sweet leaf, pink carnation, baby pink and archival black. The sentiment is stamped on acetate. I also used liquid glass on the flower centers and sprinkled with prisma glitter.

I am pretty pleased with the results and can't wait to make more shadow box cards--they are so easy. Hope you enjoy the card and PLEASE post your comments so I know if you like my artwork or not.

No Artwork--pics of my dds

I was going to post this on Wednesday but got busy and forgot. On Tuesday my dds each had 8 inches of hair cut off. Instead of donating their hair to Locks of Love (requires 10 inch minimum), we will be donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths ( requires 8 inch minimum).

This is their hair before :









And this is their new do:



Both of them said they didn't like their shorter hair but I think they do but just won't admit it. My oldest wanted her hair to be shoulder length but she was sitting crooked so it had to be cut shorter to even it up. My youngest told me today that she likes her hair "a little."

I hope to get some more artwork posted soon. My stamping time is limited since I keep my stuff at my sister's house and can't get over there very often. I was challenged to make a Mother's Day card using pinks and greens so, hopefully, I can get to my sister's tomorrow to do some stamping.

For You

Sorry, I didn't post any new artwork last weekend as I promised. Friday night, I did get to stamp but I didn't make anything new. I have decided that when I make a card, I am going to make a few more of the same to have on hand. So Friday night I made three more of the car card. I actually did make another card that night but just wasn't happy with it when I looked at it later so I decided not to post that one.

I didn't get to do anymore stamping last weekend because I was so tired from the events of the week (my uncle is still in the hospital). Yesterday I was finally able to get to my sister's house to stamp while my youngest dd was in preschool. Unfortunately, in the 1 1/2 hours I had to stamp, I only got one card done!

I did get to try out my new ATG gun that I got this week. It is going to take a little getting used to but I think I am going to like it and it is going to end up saving so much on the cost of adhesive. If you don't have one, I suggest getting one.

OK, now for the card that I made yesterday. This card is inspired by a card I saw on Splitcoaststampers by its_kristy (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/538060). The striped paper is CTMH's Rough 'n Tumble, the other paper is CTMH's outdoor denim, Indian corn blue and white daisy. The ribbon is CTMH's outdoor denim grosgrain. The flower stamp set is CTMH's A Friend Is... and the sentiment is from CTMH's April SOTM For Every Occasion. I used my blending pen(which is almost dry) and Indian corn blue, outdoor denim, clover meadow, sunny yellow and cranberry ink. To make the scallops, I used my slit punch that I got from SU! This is actually the first time I have used the slit punch for scallops and I think I am going to need a little practice to get it right. I then used a 1/8" punch to punch the holes in the scallops. I am definitely going to need to be somewhere with a lot of light so I can see to center those holes better.

This was a fun card to make. I will definitely make a couple more of this same card and then play around with different colors and different flower stamps.

I hope you enjoy the card!

Sorry I haven't posted any more artwork!

This has not been a good week for stamping. Tuesday evening my sister and I had to take our uncle to the emergency room (he fell at the assisted living place where he lives and had a bloody nose and lip--he doesn't know if he passed out or not). We got him there at 7:30 p.m. It took until almost 1:00 a.m. to get him admitted to the hospital.

Wednesday, I was too exhausted to do any stamping and then yesterday I had to get my uncle from the hospital.

Well, my uncle is now back at the hospital because he has pneumonia. My sister is at the ER with him now and he will definitely be admitted again.

I WILL be stamping tonight (unless there are some unforeseen circumstances) so check back this weekend for more artwork.

My first artwork post

This is the first "real" boy card I have made. The paper is CTMH Rough 'n Tumble and the stamp set is Flyin' High.

I used the coluzzle to make the circles and a Cuttlebug to emboss the swirls on the yellow circle. For some reason when I scanned the card, the scanner reversed the embossing detail. I actually flipped the circle over so that the thicker swirls were embossed.

How did I do with my first boy card?

I can't believe I have created a blog!

I never thought I would be one to create a blog, but here I am! I am sure I will be a delinquent blogger and not post much but you never know, I may prove myself wrong.

I am hoping that having a blog will give me the boost I need to get creating. Speaking of which is very hard for me. I keep all my stamping supplies at my sister's house. It seems that whenever I go over there, the stamping bug leaves me.

Hope you enjoy my blog. I just ask that you leave me feedback on my artwork. Also please do not copy my artwork to submit for publication, contests, etc.