Well, you all may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a few days.   I have some BIG NEWS!

After months and months of prayer, we have decided to move to Loveland, Colorado to be near my family.   Our decision came quickly and the move is coming even quicker.   We are leaving New York on August 23rd.

Needless  to say, my studio is nearly packed already.   Since we are selling most all of our things at a garage sale this weekend and next, we have had to move pretty quickly.   I am selling over 75 stamps sets!!!  

Along the way to Colorado, I will be meeting up with a couple of SCSers!

I will be without internet for awhile, but should be back online soon after arrival in Colorado!   I’ll miss ya’ll!!  

Peace and ABUNDANT blessings, all!

Dare to Get Dirty Day #4

    G’day mates!

I just made an observation about my cards.   I make a LOT of thank you cards.   I like to say thanks.   In fact, I want to say thanks to you!  Can you believe I’ve been blogging for nearly a year?!  Yup, going to have a blogaversary at the end of next month.   I’ve got a little suprise in store for ya…. but I can’t give it away just yet

I do have a secret (kinda) that I can share with you!   Today I’m hosting a Dare to Get Dirty Challenge!!   You can see the challenge HERE.   I’m also going to have a *chat* thread… so if you’re not doing anything, drop by and say HI!   It will be posted by 12pm EST…. and it’s a fun one :).  **note: the link to the challenge will only be visible to SCS Fan Club members.   If you’re not a member and would like information, you can find that HERE.

Let’s talk about layouts.   I’m drawn to layouts quicker than anything else.   I see layouts in all kinds of things.  I especially like to watch those cheeky home improvement shows (like clean house).   I tend to look for room layouts  and  color schemes.   I think I mentioned before that I like geometrics.   They always feel balanced to me and that it soothing for some reason.  I like balance!!   After I receive the inspiration, I use a program that most everyone has on their computer… ms Paint… to create my layout.   Try it out, if you haven’t already!   Where does your layout inspiration come from?

Ok, remember the card at the top of this post? LOL.. well this is my submission for today’s challenge.  

I wanted to create something elegant and interesting.   Of course, it’s a thank you!   I have really shunned this set (Carte postale) since I purchased it.   I love the images, but couldn’t  quite make them work for me.   Then, the other day I was in Joann’s and they had their dp on sale.   I found this piece of dp and just went WOW!  There is a richness AND a coolness to it, at the same time.   I wanted to keep it rich, so I pulled the chocolate chip out and went to work.   The focal image is first stamped with French Script (Hero Arts) in chocolate chip.  Then I added the small floral in black.   The bird was stamped on very vanilla in versamark and embossed black.  I cut it out and popped it up.   I used both sides of this gorgeous DP…. turning a corner down to reveal the “merci” and then as a 1/2 mat.  Then I added the velvet chocolate ribbon for a little more richness. 

Here’s the deets:

Stamps: Carte Postale (SU!) and French Script (Hero Arts)

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, DP

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories: vanilla brads, chocolate velvet ribbon, oval scallop punches, mat pack (for piercing), black EP, dimensionals.

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Dare to Get Dirty Challenges Day #3

   Welcome to Wacky Wednesday!

Ok, so why is it wacky?   I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.. at 4am sharp.    What to do, what to do.   Couldn’t go back to sleep, especially KNOWING my DH would only wake me at 5am  anyway.     So…. I snuck into the DDA forums and decided to get a jump start on today’s Dare to Get Dirty Challenges.    I had three cards made before 7am.   Two of which,  you will never see! LOL.   I really need a life.  

Today’s sample is from Jenn’s (jbalcer) Inspiration challenge.    I wish I could post a pic of the inspiration piece here, but since the DTGD challenges are for Fan Club members only, that would be a no-no.   Awww!   More reason to join the SCS Fan Club, if you aren’t already a member!   You can gain Fan Club membership here.

My cake was made using Brocade Basics…. stamped in versamark on basic black and then embossed in white.   I lined the layers with little pearls and added a bow.   This is the third day I’ve used Kiwi Kiss.   I am not a ‘green’ kinda girl, but I absolutely love this color.   I wish I had a more elegant ribbon to use, but even with a boatload of ribbon, I am lacking when it comes to the greens.

My question to you is…..what inspires you?   I am often inspired by colors… be it a tv ad, a blouse someone is wearing, or nature itself.   I’m a very visual person and geometric shapes also inspire me.   It helps that I have 2 brains (an analytical one and a passionate one)… one time I will see something for only what it is (the analytical part) and the next I will see the same thing with passion and it takes on a whole new meaning.   So tell me…. what inspires you?

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  Brocade Basics (SU!) and sentiment by My Favorite Things

Colors:  GP White, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss

Ink: Versamark, Brilliance Graphite Black

Accessories: ribbon, dimensionals, corner rounder punch, swirls and birds EF, 1/2 pearls, white EP.

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Dare to Get Dirty Challenges ~ Day #2

  Happy Tuesday!

Ok, so there are three Dare to Get Dirty Challenges this morning…. I knew with my schedule, I could only pick one today.   I wanted to do a combo, but couldn’t quite wrap my brain around that!  So…. I went with the toughest one for me….. JulieHRR’s challenge. 

This was HARD!   First of all, I am a layer girl and ya’ll know that.   I didn’t even know where to start, so I studied Julie’s gallery for awhile and I think I ‘get it’ now.   I was scared to stamp on the white piece of cardstock in front of me, at first, as I knew this was it!  I couldn’t cut it out or pop it up or layer it.   I was sweating! LOL  

For this card, I chose this Pretty Petals set by Kitchen Sink Stamps (www.kitchensinkstamps.com) .  I first stamped the flower center in Kiwi Kiss, then alternated petals in Regal Rose and Bali Breeze.   I punched my trusty ribbon punch on the side and ran some green piped organdy ribbon through… added a sentiment and popped on a 1/2 pearl and voila!  This took me all of 10 minutes to do, after I figured out the ‘concept’.   I really really love it!  Thanks to Julie for all the inspiration!!

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  Pretty Petals by Kitchen Sink Stamps, sentiment by My Favorite Things

Colors: GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Kiwi Kiss, Bali Breeze, Regal Rose

Accessories: 1/2 pearl, ribbon punch, ribbon

*******************************************************

A Little Funny for You:

How to Tell the Sex of a Fly

A woman walked into the kitchen to find her
husband stalking around with a fly swatter

‘What are you doing?’
She asked. ‘Hunting Flies’ He responded.
‘Oh. ! Killing any?’
She asked.

‘3 were on a beer can,
2 were on the phone. ‘

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

Wanna get dirty…. or play like it anyways? :)   Well then, I dare you to play along with the Dare to Get Dirty ‘08 challenges on SCS this week!   The first challenges have been posted only moments ago and there will be multiple challenges each day from now through Sunday the 27th!

Oh, wait, but that’s not all!   Read this important announcement by Jenn Balcer!   You’ll want to play in all of the challenges this week to get in on some awesome prizes!  Yes, that’s right… prizes!!  Not only is every Fan Club member encouraged to play along, but if you’re not yet a Fan Club member, now is an awesome time to join!   See Fan Club information HERE.

I’ve decided to do Jody’s (Texasjodylynn) challenge first today.   Jody is all about ribbon… a true ribbonista.   I have tons of ribbon and even more ribbon bits (scraps)… so, here is what I did :

   Now before you choke on the ton of ribbon I used, let me add that it’s all my scraps from a recent project.   I had about 7″ of ribbon left over from a big pack of matching ribbon and thought I could use these scraps to make a ribbon bow.  Each piece is folded under and adhered on each end, then adhered in a layering pattern.   Oh, yeah… this one will defintely be one of those ‘hand deliver’ cards … lol.   I used my new Wow Flowers set to make the center and for the sentiment.

Speaking of ribbon scraps, how do you store yours?    I purchased a small (1.5 gal) fish bowl from my local craft store.    I just stuff my ribbon bits in there and can see what I have at any time.   I’d be interested in hearing your creative storage ideas!

Here are my deets:

Stamps:  SU’s Wow Flowers

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, MME DP, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black

Acceessories: ribbon pieces 7″ long, circle punches, scallop punch, brads, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, tiny prima.

TFL!~  and have a blast today!! 

  It IS a good morning!

We are spending today with family and friends at a barbeque, so I anticipate a good time to be had by all :).   We are still reeling a bit from the events of this past week, but we are faithful that our hearts will be mended.   Thanks to all of you who are sending up prayers….. it is exactly what is needed!

Today’s featured stamper on SCS is Susiestampsalot!   You can check out her gallery on SCS here.   I chose THIS card to case.   I love so much about her card that I really kept to it’s integrity.   I used similar colors ( I chose the new IN COLORS), changed the image and sentiment placement and because I loved Susie’s gorgeous butterfly, I added one on, too!

I’m in the middle of making a big crockpot full of calico beans and boiling up some ribs…. busy busy!   I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday, too!

Here’s my deets:  (I call this OLD meets NEW)

Stamps:  Natural Beauty, Make it Count (SU!)

Colors: Pirouette Pink, Kiwi Kiss, GP White, Bella Rose DP

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Pirouette pink, Kiwi Kiss, copics

Accessories: brads, ribbon, dimensionals, scissors, oval scallop punches, mat pack (for piercing)

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

     Well, it’s Saturday…. not yet ready to call it “Good” yet, though…. and I’ll tell you why in a moment..

I really needed a distraction this morning, so I decided to check out the IC challenge and see what I could come up with.   You would think that with 1000’s of stamps in my studio, I could find a rooster, but nope!  I did have an outhouse, though… so I went with that.   Besides, I haven’t played with my Hambos in a few days and was beginning to feel the withdrawals. 

Unfortunately, my mind is not on stamping or much happy things this morning, as we have had a major tragedy hit home.   My ‘adopted’ son (Mike) returned from Iraq yesterday for what was to be a very happy homecoming (although only a 1 month leave).  Well, Thursday night, his mom’s fiance was killed in an auto/train collision.   Mikey is my Zeke’s best friend for years and we basically adopted him as he spent so much time at our house.   We, as well as our community, are in shock.

Sorry, I don’t feel very chatty this morning..

 Here’s my deets:

Stamps: Outhouse Pig and sentiment by Hambo Stamps (www.hambostamps.com)

Colors: Chocolate Chip, Pirouette Pink, Bella Rose DP, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, copics

Accessories: brads, ribbon, HPH, dimensionals, ticket corner punch

TFL!~ and have a blessed day

   Happy Friday!

So…. a few us (DD/DDA) were chatting about all of our stamping friends heading off to CHA in Chicago and leaving the rest of us behind.   We had a momentary pity party, then decided we would have some fun while they are all gone.    So, Emily came up with the idea of some blog challenges to keep us busy.

Today I went with Diane Z’s (cookiestamper) sketch challenge seen on her Papercookies blog.   Holy cow was this a tough one.   First, I was stumped by the ‘heart’…… I took it literal and went with the only heart stamp I could find.   Then I had to work around my lack of wide ribbon.   This ‘christmasy’ ribbon is all I had, so it really dictated the colors I had to use.   Hmmm… I think it came out ok, but after looking at Diane’s sample, now I wish I had added something in the bottom left corner… I may still!

Here’s my deets:

Stamps:  Always by SU!

Colors: Garden Green, Real Red, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, versamark, garden green, Tim Holtz firebrick red distressing ink

Accessories: brads, wide ribbon, dimensionals, scissors, green and red EP, HPH,  stipple brush

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

   It’s Thank You Thursday!

Ok, so you can’t set your calendar by me…… we are going to use this opportunity (a rare moment of downtime) for this week’s sketch challenge :).   I know, I know, it’s not Friday yet, but I have been having some really crazy Fridays lately, so I figured it’s better early than not at all

Here’s the sketch:

  this is THSC18…. hard to flip this one, but if you do… more power to ya!  Have fun with it and remember to use the keyword and/or link back here so we can see what you came up with.

For my card, I stamped the image on black and embossed in white, then I colored the flower with irridescent watercolor paints (similar to H2Os).  The Pink Passion and Garden Green layers are stippled with Tim Holtz tea bag distressing ink.  I probably should have left out the doodling, but it’s a case of 20/20 hindsight.   I will likely need a 12 step program for 1/2 pearls after awhile…lol.    I am STILL thanking Vicki for such a timely giftie!

Here’s my deets:

Stamps:  Oh So Lovely and Fancy Flexible Phrases

Colors: Basic Black,  Pink Passion, Garden Green and GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Versamark, Tim Holtz tea bag distressing ink

Accessories: 1/2 pearls, ribbon, ribbon punch, stipple brush, circle punches, white gel pen, watercolors, dimensionals

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!

  Is it Wednesday already?!

Here is my submission for this morning’s SCS Sketch Challenge.   This card wouldn’t have come together without the friendship of Vicki B (justcrazy on SCS).    I have been searching all over for 1/2 pearls.  I’ve been to Michael’s, ACMoore and JoAnn’s without luck.   Well, yesterday I opened my mail and this is what I received:

  would you look at all those 1/2 pearls???    Vicki rocks!!   So, I decided to use her gorgeous card as inspiration for today’s SC card.    I feel very honored to have received such an awesome RAK.  WOW!

It was a great mail day… I also received this cutie pie from Tracy (LodiChick):

   My DH did some work in Tracy’s new kitchen and she sent this as a thank you.   Well, Tracy, it was our pleasure…. sharing talents is what life is all about :).

Ok, here is the deets on my card:

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs (SU)

Colors: Basic Gray, Basic Black, GP White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, SU Craft White

Accessories: ribbon, 1/2 pearls, oval punch, HPH square clip, dimensionals

TFL!~ and have a blessed day!