Where Your Heart Is

This is the stamp set I won from OWH (see sidebar) . It's designed by Melanie Meunchinger over at Hands, Head and Heart.  StampTV had a release party this weekend for their newest stamps and I wanted to use Melanies creation for all the challenges.  It was a bit intimidating as I've never used this set before and I was nervous about coloring the hands so they would look realistic.  (can you imagine me sweatin' it over that???)  I just decided to DO IT.  Here are my creations.   This set is SO versatile I know it will be a favorite go to set for many occasions. All the stamp sets from Gina K Designs @ Stamp TV stamp so beautifully.  I've never worked with any others that stamp this nice. There's just a softness to them and yet they are so clear.  So here we go, One image, three ways.

Okay, first up was the color challenge.  Use green and yellow and one neutral color on your card.  This was the most difficult one for me as I know they are primary colors and I do love yellow but I'm not real fond of green.  I managed though and was glad I had this ribbon and these large brads on hand.  I'm still in the process of "using things up" and I really got to do a lot of that with these three challenges today.

Next up:  Use string, twine, jute something besides ribbon. When I think of string or twine I think of autumn and hay bales. I want to play with these hand images some more and this is what came to mind. I cut out the hands completely  then traced around them on the pumpkin image then trimmed the pumpkin image to glue behind the hands. Then layered them on top of the first stamped image which I left uncolored. This will go to my neighbor who grows and sells us such wonderful organic produce all summer long. I will give it to them at the end of this years harvest season. I love it when what is in my head comes out of my hands. :)


The final challenge was to make a card like this sketch. 
This card is for a wonderful couple in our Sunday meeting that have been sixty-three years together.  In fact, this morning he spoke about their years together and how it takes wanting to do things for each other to stay a priority. On a daily basis not to try to get the last word.  It doesn't always happen but if we are aware of the Christ nature being first in our lives we will be more willing to have the right spirit about things.  We had a newly wed couple in our meeting this morning who's wedding we all attended yesterday.  I think he was talking to all of us though. The inside of this card says "the example you set. "   This will be a very fitting card to send to them next month. It was a fun challenge for me.  I've never tried that before, to use one image for all three challenges and this was the perfect image to do that with.  Thanks Melanie for your creation.  

inspiration challenge

We were given this picture to inspire us to create.  With this kind of challenge it doesn't have to look like the picture at all.  You could just use the colors or shapes or whatever comes to your own mind when you look at the picture. As soon as I saw this beautiful bouquet and the setting I knew I wanted to use a piece of acetate. I also wanted to pick up the brown stones shown in the background. I stamped and masked and stamped and masked and stamped and masked my tulips on the acetate. Turned it over and colored it with copics and a bit of alcohol inks. I sponged the paper that comes in between the acetate sheets, with a cloud stencil and Voila' here is my card. I love tulips, they are my second favorite flower.

When stamping with Acetate you need to use a product like Staz-On so the ink doesn't smear.  Before coloring it I also give it a quick blast with the heat gun so the ink doesn't smear as it is placed face side down to work on. Here's a picture of the acetate sheets I use in case you have never seen them. Hope you get the same pleasure out of looking at this as I do. :)

odd size cards

While listening to beautiful violin music by Sarah Chang I had a relaxing evening making these two odd size cards.

I really need to make about eighty more of this size. They are 4 1/4 x 3 7/8 Our reg A2's measure 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 Several years ago a stationery store was going out of business and they had these beautiful heavy weight envelopes for almost nothing. A box of 100. I thought they were A2 size--oops they are not.

I have made a few cards this size but then I get tired of it b/c there doesn't seem quite enough space to do the things I want with them. The winter one is for my friend in CA who always "thinks" she would like to live where there is snow! Otherwise, I'm tired of snowmen and flakes and winter. It was fun to try something a bit different. I thought I would try Gina's sketch of the week again too. oh and a little hint: if you have DP where the flowers grow UP, it doesn't work too well if you cut the paper sideways. I live and learn...

Attached Thumbnails

     

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #42 and Grab & Go #11

I like the stamps I've won from Speedy Cat.  They stamp so beautifully and they are see through acrylic so it's very easy to line them up. I'm going to have to try some of their heavy weight paper the next time I need to purchase as I've heard it's v-e-r-y nice.  I'm starting to run out of some of my colored card stock and I'll be visiting Marks Finest Papers which is where Speedy Cat lives.

This week Vicki Dutcher posted a sketch challenge for us.  I like sketches because it really stretches my mind.  Here's the sketch and here's my card.  Thanks Vicki.

 

SSIC and Grab and Go #10

Every once in a while I grab my stamps by Judith.  She has fun little stamps that just make you smile.  They are interactive meaning you can make a whole scene out of several different stamps.  Like here, I used the fence post, the two bird houses, the flower stems, lady buy, dragonfly, and the pink flower. Put altogether it makes a nice little scene. I also used a cloud stencil on this one and colored the scene with my Staedler Water Pencils.  I forgot how much fun they were, we get so used to the markers nowadays. This is for my friend Molly who just found out she will have to do an extensive round of Chemo and I thought it might bring a smile to her face on a day when she may not be feeling to well.
SSIC this week is a one layer card.  It's supposed to be KISS keep it simple sister but one layer cards are never that simple for me.  They always look so bare!!  I keep trying to fill up the white space.  That's why I stenciled the clouds, then added the foreground flowers, then sponged the green and on and on.  LOL!  And it's no longer a "simple" card.  :)

ODBD and Grab & Go # 9

This weeks challenge at ODBD 

This week the challenge team would like to see your creations using our "Have a H.E.A.R.T." recipe.  You must use three of these ingredients.

H= Hemp √

E= Embossing √

A=Any Our Daily Bread Images or Sentiments

R= Ribbon or lace

T= Tearing or distressing √

It's so much fun to use embossing.  This card is dry embossed through the cuttlebug with a Fiskars plate.  I really get a lot of use out of those plates I purchased for $1.00 at Fleet Farm many years ago.  This also has wet embossing done on the dragon fly and the tag.  The torn edges are distressed by sponging ink onto them.  When you put it altogether it just turns out.  There is olive green sponge all around the cream cardstock too but it seems the flash washed out the color.  It looks better IRL. A row of faux stitching ties it together and keeps the top layer from looking like it's floating off the paper..  I also fulfilled my commitment to myself to use some designer paper every week.  That's been coming along well though I do find it a challenge to work it in.  Thanks for looking. 

Why I'm doing Grab and Go

Someone said, "you must have a lot of stamps".  Well....here is a portion of them.  I forgot to take the ones that were sitting on top of the bed and the seasonal ones that were sitting under my table and these don't include any of the alphabet stamps or the sentiments which each take up a box of their own.  These containers are stacked seven layers deep. IN the second box there are fourteen plastic storage boxes about 1.5 inches deep.  Each box holds six to eight individual 3 in. stamps.  I have them grouped in some semblance of order. Flowers, fun, animals, nature, hearts, winter, large background stamps.

 I went through and took out all the sentiments from my Stamping Up sets.  I  grouped them all in their own boxes like Get Well, Thank You, Wedding, Baby, Birthday, Sympathy.  I find I get much more use out of them since I did that.

Now when I say Grab and Go you will get more of an idea of WHY I decided to do that.  I just stick my hand in a container and pull out a box and then pull a stamp out of that.  Sometimes I do it blindly and sometimes I just take the top pack.  Today's cards were all made with the Grab and Go agenda.  I did however have a couple of challenges I wanted to meet and I just made the stamps I picked up fit into the challenges.  I will be posting them each separately as each one needs it's own URL tag.

Love Without Words and a pin from Paris WWII

From Dad to Mom WWII 1943-44 hand blown glass birds

SSIC #75 Make a card that says love w/o using any words.  Going through my stamps I found these Parisian stamps.  The city of love.  Look at the cute heart shaped chairs.  I masked the table set and stamped the Eiffel Tower behind it as if it is in the back ground.  My dad was in Paris in WWII and sent my mom the cutest little bird pin from there that mom has passed along to me. I like to think that he was thinking loving thoughts of her while he was there fighting a very difficult war. So young to see so much.

Stamping at age 93

Edith at a Stamping Up party with hostess Irene 

This is my friend Edith Boreen. She is ninety three years this past October. Doesn't she look great?  She is a very positive and active person.  She has been stamping for about ten years now. I know the first time I stamped with her was at her 85th birthday party when her daughter and grand daughter brought all kinds of goodies to the party they gave for her and set up long tables and all the ladies made cards.  Slowly I started getting into stamping and Edith and I started stamping together off and on.  A couple of years ago we joined the stamping club in Shawano.  Sandee Voigt got us involved with them before she died. They meet once a month on a Monday and always have a project to do.  Edith and I enjoyed our time with them and learned a lot but we hardly went this whole last year.  Always something would come up to keep us from going.  We don't much like going in the winter anyway, it's cold and dark for the drive home and we're never sure about the roads.  Edith still likes to purchase things for stamping and treats herself at least once a month from her daughters store.  The Stamp Shoppe in Weston, WI.  Edith is a former teacher and you can see her attention to detail in the cards she stamps.  Now isn't this a really cute card that she put together? She sent this to Gilbert for his birthday.

She used textured paper and three layers.  She has taken the time to color the candles like a pepermint stick.  She has given the image layer a very nice edge with decorative scissors and tied the sentiment to the image with the same decorative touch and embossing. There is glitter on the candles and stickles on the little guys fiery breath.  She has even shaded the hot peppers with two different colors and made them realistic. Her card base is embossed with a cuttlebug folder.  Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks.  Edith recently purchased her cuttlebug die cutting machine and I see her using it quite often.  She's my role model and I hope to live a long and healthy life like she does.   Apart from stamping together we quite often play Rummikube and in the summers we take two mile walks together.  I hope she keeps hanging around with us for a long time yet.   Here's to you, Edith!

Make your own flower

Make your own flower, they said over at MFP and Speedy Cat's  #41 challenge.  What??? Make my own flower?  How do you do that?  Oh look, we'll give you some ideas!  Hmmm.  I don't have the talent for any of that and I don't have the right punches, the only felt I have is grey..  Make my own flowers...Ta Da!  Okay, here's what I have on hand and here is the extent of how my brain worked for this challenge.  All in all, it was one of the most difficult challenges I have done because none of it wanted to come together.  It looks simple though!  :)

Grab and Go #8 SSIC 74

I was itching to be creative tonight.  The wind is howling, it's cold outside, snow is coming, what's better to do than stamp?  I did the Grab and Go tonight. I just closed my eyes and stuck my hand into one of the bins and pulled out a set.  I was so glad I picked up this set that had something springy in it. I paper pieced the flower pot, stickled the butterfly, glazed the lady bug and then spritzed the whole thing with my home made smooch. I do love the pearlized effect it gives to my cards. You can see it pretty well if you click on the image and view it full size.  This smooch was made with yellow liquid Pearl-Ex.  I think I'll enter it as a 2nd entry into GKD as it fits the sketch she has for us this week.  Guess I must have liked it, eh?  Well, here it is!
Also entering this in SSIC 74 challenge-green and blue

Creative Inspiration

Creative Inspiration

The Result - ODBDSLC46 Challenge

It's just in us, isn't it?  If we love to stamp we are creators, artists, skilled imagers or whatever you want to call us.  I don't know about you but I am always looking for inspiration.  I see things and think "I can make a card like that"  sometimes I take a picture, sometimes I just take a mental picture.

Today was one of those days.  We were in La Cross at a little restaurant called Hackberry's Bistro up above The Peoples Food CoOp.  While we were waiting for our delicious food choices to come out we were observing the decor and all the elements of the place.  It was unique without being weird.  Softly modern with hints of old.  I liked the ceiling and took a picture of it with my camera phone.  It's not too clear of a picture but it will give you the idea of why I was inspired.  In the picture you can't really tell but they had these elongated lamps lit up over the bar and that's where I got the idea for the drapery cord on my card. The cord is an embossing stencil from Dream Weaver.  I punched the different circles out of card stock scraps using my Creative Memories circle punches. They were the perfect tools for this job.

By the way; the food....It was soooo good.  Gilbert had the minestrone soup and 1/2 of a Monte Cristo sandwich.  I had the Juevos Rancheros.  Didn't think to take a picture of either of them I didn't realize I was going to be blogging about this.  :)

So tell me, what inspires you???

On the way to Iowa and Red Cowboy boots

Gilbert and I are on our way to Sioux Center, Iowa to attend the funeral of Justin Ray Remmers, our nephew who died unexpectadly last Sunday morning from a heart attack.  He was at Mayo in Rochester waiting for open heart surgery scheduled for this past Monday.  He had an attack on Thursday and the local hospital life flighted him to Mayo.  Who could think it would turn out like this.

A moment to remember; first time for me to be blogging while riding in the car.  We have an electric battery plug in box that plugs into the lighter and then we can plug the computer power source into that and I can blog, FB, play games, look up whatever.  Someday this will be extinct but for now it is one of those, "I remember the first time....." things to store away in my memory box.

We decided to make the 8.5 hour trip in two stages.  We would go up to Minneapolis on Thursday evening and spend the night and then shop a bit and head down to Sioux Center about noon.  All went as planned.  We went to Dania furniture store last night to look at some new dressers for our bedroom.  Got that checked off our list.  We stayed at the Fairfield last night, had a good breakfast this a.m. and headed out with our list and GPS to see what we could find at the Value Village Stores.  I LOVE to thrift shop.  I looked for some stamps and ribbons there too but didn't see anything that I thought I needed.  (yay me!)

I did score on two nice green tops for spring both Chicos.  Likin' that deal!  Green tags so half off the already good prices.  Found a nice coral colored fitted jacket for spring annnnd the pair of black leather boots that I have been looking for for about five years.  I wanted heels but not skinny ones, not tall ones, not wedgy ones, these are just right.  the brand is Blondo and they are made in Canada.  Gilbert is a leather lover, he loves to polish shoes and hand bags, and he can tell good leather.  He thought they were a great bargin.  They fit perfect and are just what I was looking for.  Glad I waited.  Not green tag but still a very attractive price.

RED COWBOY BOOTS:  The other day in Wausau at a resale shop I saw a pair of Red Cowboy boots and then again today.  It brings up a poignant memory for me.  I remember many years ago, maybe twenty? Because Dad's been gone thirteen already.  Anyway, way back then I found a pair of ladies red Cowboy boots at Good Will for five  bucks!  I bought them.  It was so out of character for me.  I'm not a cowboy boots sort, but for some reason, I just knew Dad would like them on me.  I couldn't wait to show him.  I had several things that just went with that particular height of boot and I wore them quite often.  Sure enough, when we got to Tennesee and I was able to show Dad my new boots (he wore cowboy boots back then; we're talking a Ford Motor Detroit City Man, here) he chuckled in the way he did, and what I remember best about him, and THAT moment still brings a smile to my face today.  If this was physical journaling, I would paste a sticker of some red boots right here!

Using things up

Ah Spring.  On gray days like this I have to think of spring.  I believe someone posted only 51 more days til Spring.   I love those first spring flowers that pop out in the woods.  Such promise of glorious days ahead. 

 While sitting here at the Toyota dealership waiting for tires to be put on, I'm bummed!  I was planning to digi scrapbook and when I got into the program I realized I completely forgot to bring the external drive that has all my pictures on it.  Ah, what to do now to keep from being bored.  Hmmm....I could blog!  So here it is.  I've been thinking of doing a post on this anyway.  My mantra this year is USE IT UP.  That means everything.  That's part of why I started the Grab and Go challenge for myself.  I have a "small" store of  designer papers, inks, embellishments, ribbons, rub-ons, punches, pencils, crayons, stencils.  Now think about that.  Do I need any more?  So use it up.  

Looking around our home I see other areas that need the use it up principle.  How many hand lotions, hand sanitizers, furniture creams, polishes, oils do I have on the premises.  How many facial products?  How many different toothpastes? Why do I have so many?  I am a marketers dream.  Ha. Ha.  I love trying new things to see if it works better, If I like it better, I like to recommend things to people and if I'm not 100% plus satisfied, then I'm looking for it in another version of the same type of product.  Call it RESEARCH!!  For you!   I have been consistent with this using it up mode since the beginning of December.  I have one tube of toothpaste almost gone. I have one moisturizer almost gone, I have already tossed two hand cream tubes.  (they were almost used up) This is what happens, I get the new and then the old one gets pushed to the back and doesn't find it's way to the surface again until I clean that drawer out.  It doesn't help that Gilbert likes to try new things too.  So now we have BOTH of us doing this research.   Now I have put all the hand creams in a drawer except for one tube in both bathrooms and the bedroom.  When the current ones are gone I will go to the stash and bring out another.  I'm excited about doing this as I don't like to waste things.  But it doesn't do a bit of good to have money spent on things and then have them lying in a drawer waiting to be used.  That's like putting your real money in a drawer and not getting the interest.  Well that's my post and thoughts for the day. I do have some pics of some of the tubes to add interest to this but they are on my desktop computer and I can't access them from my spot here at Toyota. 

One Layer Wednesday #37

Whew!  How can something that looks so simple be so difficult.  OLW challenge was to use two or more sentiments and nothing else on the card.  I needed a quick Thank You card so I dug out my stash and colored the sentiments because a lot of my Thank You stamps have other words on it too.  So here is what I came up with.  I wanted some color as no images just doesn't seem right!  LOL

 One of Sarah's clients who is a Stampin Up demonstrator picked up some graduation photos here instead of having to drive to Green Bay and when I asked her if I could purchase some Creamy Caramel re-inker or a stamp pad, she GAVE me the bottle of re-inker, her used Creamy Caramel Stamp pad AND the SampNWrite marker. She did allow me to purchase the pack of dimensionals for popping things up on my cards.  I've tried other brands but truly SU has THE BEST dimensionals ever. I never feel I over spend for those, they are such nice quality.

ODBD Sketch Challenge and Grab and Go # 8

ODBD had this sketch challenge happening this week.  I really enjoy doing sketch challenges as it really forces me to think outside my box.  I couldn't just grab this time because I needed an image that would fit the oval shape of the pattern.  I haven't used this cute little girl for a long time though so it still was refreshing to stamp with her. Her dress is paper pieced a technique we used on VSN and I like it and have used that technique but I tend to forget about using it. The background is a tiny little stamp of lilacs and stamped all over in pink and then added a few splashes of the same stamp in green for some contrast.  It ties the paper in with the scalloped oval. What do you think?  Does it look a lot like the sketch?  Two more stamps used from the collection.   (smile)

Grab and Go #7 for Speedy the Cat challenge #39 sympathy

As I'm digging through my large collection of stamps I came across this one.  This was one of the first that I had purchased from a store instead of a SU party.  I remember the technique and always thought it was pretty.  You emboss with white on the front of the vellum and then turn it over and color it.  It is such a beautiful and soft look.  I don't remember how we attached the vellum to the CS though b/c this time the adhesive showed through.  Thus the reason for the scalloped frame. (aha!) The verse inside simply says "Remember the lilies."  It's a favorite verse of mine and comforting to think about.  Maybe that's why the Lily is my favorite flower. GRAB and GO--one LARGE stamp accounted for Chllnge: Speedy the Cat # 39 Make a SympathyCard Thanks for looking.  

Grab and Go #5

This one took 43 minutes.  Whew!

About ten minutes

I love how this turned out.   About twenty minutes from idea to finish

This one was fun but I didn't know if I made ladybugs or buds.  Either way I liked it. 

Whee! What a great time.  Have you ever gone to a Virtual Stamping Party?!  Split Coast Stampers hosts one variety of these called VSN Virtual Stamp Night. It was a blast.  Everyone is on their computers at their home with their stamping room, snacks, CS and a list of supplies ready.  Then on the hour the hostesses give a challenge and you have forty-five minutes to complete it.  Can't you just see everyone tearing off to their stamp rooms?  You make your interpretation of the challenge and post your card to your gallery there. It's free, it's fun, there's lots of chatting back and forth in the forum and you find out how really creative you can be....or not!  ha- ha.  So here's my cards, good and bad, and I got to put marks on some more of those stamps that I'm using from my stash.  I actually used seven of them. What a fun way to do it!   I'm marking them with pink as I use them b/c I know over the year I will lose track.  It doesn't mean I can't use one again, just that I know that I have used it. Thanks for stopping by.  See you next week.

Grab and Go #3 & #4

 What fun.  I actually used nine stamps for these cards.  The set off to the left was a gift to me from my daughter Sarah.  It's called Bitty Bouquets from Stampin Up from way back in 1999.  She found she wasn't using them and she had a bag of goodies for me to go through.  I, of course, can't resist a "free stamp set".  I really like this set as I am a sucker for little stamps.  That was always a challenge for me.  I would purchase all these little stamps and then not know what to do with them.  I so love my Cuttlebug and the die cuts that make it easy to use small stamps.

 The frames on the two cards were made from the Fancy Tag dies from Nestablities.  Stamp TV has a great tutorial that Gina did.  What beautiful results with this technique. I love it when something simple turns out so gorgeous. (sigggghhh with a smile)

 I decided I would go through all my winter stamps as 'tis the season.  I really found it hard to get into the winter stamping this year so it was a good challenge for me to start in that box.  Maybe I can still send some out while it's cold and give people a warm winter cheer up on these -17 degree days.  Even though the sun is  shining brightly it's pretty nippy out there.  I think everyone gets a smile when they go to their mailbox and find something personal there, don't you?  And I hope you get a smile while viewing these fun snowmen off on the right. Well, I'm enjoying my personal challenge and I hope you are too.  Thanks ahead of time for all your sweet hugs via comments. :)

Grab and Go (using up what I have) #2

Card # 2:  I used Designer Paper (DP)  well, this is one DP that I have used several times.  I got an opened pkg. at a rummage sale a couple of years ago for fifty cents. .  It is Stampin' Up (SU) and it's reversible so I chose to use both sides. I don't have much left of this paper, I don't think, unless there's more hiding in that big stash somewhere. I embossed the little snowflakes on the white paper.  Total stamps used THREE!  I'm not counting my sentiments stamps in this project as I do use most of what I have quite often.  I'm on my way!