K.I.S.S.

I really wanted to post this card earlier today but I had a sinus headache that put me in bed for a couple of hours. I've still got the stinkin' headache, but I'm not going down until this post is done!

This is a birthday card that I designed specifically for my sister, Anna. Her birthday is on Thursday & she absolutely LOVES 80s metal & glam rock (Ozzy, Poison, Whitesnake, Twisted Sister, Metallica, AC/DC, you name it). That's her music & it always will be. She also loves purple - fitting, since amethyst is February's birthstone. With all of that in mind, here's what I came up with:
The background is from DCWV's Rock Star mat stack, flowers are from Prima, my COPIC marker V17 (amethyst) to color a clear rhinestone & half pearl, and some black Roller Rink "Thickers" by American Crafts.
Inside, I used some more of the background, punched out with an EK Success wavy border punch, the guitar stamp is from one of Studio G's clear mini sets, & I wrote her a little message. Hope she likes it!

Don't forget to look for changes to my left sidebar, starting tomorrow. The new issue of Serendipity Street goes live on the 1st & believe me when I say that you're gonna LOVE some of the goodies we've got for you!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Vintage? Yes. Valentine? Ummmmm....

Well, it WAS going to be a vintage Valentine. At least, that's the direction I started off in. I even had some color inspiration to play with - soft pink, soft blue, white, & silver - courtesy of the Colour Create Challenge Blog.

Somehow, it took a turn at a fork in the road that I don't remember, then another turn yet, meandered through a lovely little village and became this...It still has that pink, blue, white, and silver FEEL to it, only it's really not white, but more CREAM, and the "soft" of the pink and blue has turned out to be more "dusty." It DEFINITELY has that vintage, shabby chic flavor though. Oh and it has dimension...
LOADS of dimension. Something I'm not normally very good at. I've used 1/2 pearls, Ranger Distress Inks (tattered rose, faded jeans, & antique linen), button brads, rhinestone brads, 2 different MS branch punches, Prima flowers (roses, fabric, sweet peas, sugar-coated), some little posy-style flowers that I punched and stacked...speaking of "punched and stacked"...
See that pink flower there? That's my very first layered flower that I built all by myself! *LOL* I used my Cuttlebug flower dies & cut it out of the same stamped pink cardstock that I used to cut out the butterfly. The stamp is from a Level A hostess set called "Build a Background" from The Angel Company & I stamped it onto the pink cardstock with Versamark ink. After it was dry, I used my butterfly & flower dies from ProvoCraft, then inked 'em up with Ranger Inks. I also ran the butterfly through the Cuttlebug with my new "flourish" Impressabilities.
Didn't really end up where I expected to, but hey! The journey was a blast & I'm pretty happy with where I landed. Hope you like it, too!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!

An altered book to share

I've been storing this little gem of a book for a while now. Had it about half done and today, while going through some boxes, I found it & decided to finish it out. It's 3.5 inches square, so it's tiny. I picked it up at the DI (Deseret Industries), which is a Utah thrift store, for about 25¢. It's totally BLANK inside and it's a hardcover (the cover was UGLY), so when I found it I thought, "Yeah, I can probably do something with it."

Here's what the front looks like now. I used some plain cardstock on the spine of the book, some blue patterned paper from a pad I picked up a Wal-Mart, my swirly stamps from Inkadinkado, an initial stamp from Studio G, and the little hummingbird is coming out in the new issue of Serendipity Street as part of a Level A hostess set called "Swirled Spring Life."

It was too bright so I grunged it up with Ranger Distress inks in Weathered Wood, Faded Jeans, & Vintage Photo. I even stamped some on the back.
I used my buttermilk Atyou Spica pen on the outline of the bird & my initial for some sparkle.
And finished off the inside with some distressed dotted paper from K&Co. The corners are punched with a Fiskars 3-corner punch called "heritage."
Since it's blank inside, I think I'll keep it here on my work desk to write card recipes in...it's tiny so I'll set it up here on my COPIC marker cubby & it'll be handy all the time!

Tomorrow, I should have a vintage Valentine card ready for ya to peek at. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Thank You!

I've had these stamps for a about a month now, but as you know, I'm in "stitchin' mode." *LOL* Last night, though, I got to looking at her SWEET little face sitting on my work table & I just HAD to make something with the set. It's from The Angel Company & it's called "Hello There." The sentiment is from "Ordinary Greetings." Recipe & product links for the card are below.

I'm using something on this card that TAC will release for sale in February through our new spring catalog. Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed, NESTABILITIES, you're absolutely right!!! We'll carry Labels 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, & Large Labels. We'll also offer the Wizard, some Impressabilities, and we're carrying the COPIC Ciao 72-marker sets in the new issue of Serendipity Street. Watch for my links in the left sidebar to change this weekend.

Here's a close-up of the little sweetheart - for this card I wanted her to look like she was about to "sign" thank you in ASL. You could also have her blowing kisses or giggling, if you chose...she's darling any way you look at her!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

RECIPE
5x7 pre-made base
Gingham paper - TAC's "Uptown Girl" WingIt Collection
Floral paper - TAC's "Tuscany Spice" Designer Collection
COPIC markers - W3, C1, YR04, YR65, YR68, YR00, Y08, Y11, Y21, Y26, E02, YG03, YG06, B00, BV00, V01, V04, RV02, RV11
Nestabilities Labels 1 - the 3 largest of the set
"HELLO THERE" stamp set from TAC
"ORDINARY GREETINGS" stamp from TAC
floral lace from JoAnn's ETC

K.I.S.S. - Monday Edition

Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend. I did...sorta....the Colts are headed to the SuperBowl, but my other favorite, Brett Favre, had a serious letdown. They were GREAT games, though, even with all of the missed calls & weak offensive strategies. *LOL* Sorry, hang on a sec, just lemme switch back to......'K! I'm back into crafting gear!

I started this late last night & finished it up this morning so I could share it with you. It doesn't LOOK simple, but in reality, it is. I used a set of stamps from The Angel Company called "Petal Pack," the sentiment is from "Hello There," the inside sentiment is from "Ordinary Greetings," then I threw in a few different VersaMagic inks, some Stickles, some mini buttons from Jesse James, a corner rounding punch, and....presto! Birthday card.And, the card's inside....Cute, relatively quick, and SIMPLY...fun! I'm almost done with the embroidery project...just have some little flowers to stitch in, then turn it into a pillow...or maybe frame it. Hmmmm...not sure WHAT I'll do to finish the project just yet, but I'll share it probably by the end of the week.

Don't forget to visit my online store - the 40% off Retirement Sale ends on Sunday the 31st. Also, on the first our next issue of Serendipity Street goes LIVE & OMGosh, have I got some FUN things to share with you!!!!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

I'm crafting again...

...but taking a bit of a break from paper, stamps, cards, and inks. I've gone back to my very first craft ~~ hand embroidery. My great gramma taught me how to do this craft at the tender age of 6 & I've always loved "stitchin" things up. Some peices I put in frames, others end up as quilt blocks or pillows. Chris carries a piece of stitched muslin in his vest pocket when he's on his motorcycle that says "families are forever." Not really sure what I'm going to do with these two, though...Maybe I could stitch up a couple more & fuse them onto a shopping tote with some cotton laces & patchwork. They're pretty similar in color, so it could work & be really cute. Here's a close-up of the flutterby - it's a variegated floss on tea-stained muslin & I'm just a sucker for French Knots. I once made a pillow case in the 9th grade that had 144 of those lil babies on it!I started a 3rd piece last night, but it's quite a bit larger, so it's going to take me a couple more days to get through it. I'll give ya a peek....
It's "prim," absolutely adorable, & from "By My Hand" which is a division of Country Stitches out of Storm Lake, Iowa. I have two hanging folders of her patterns, I love 'em so much. How could you not with a saying like this...Stay tuned...this little sweetheart just might become my first ever blog candy. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

*sigh* I got nuttin!

I've been so out of whack since the weekend, I completely forgot my KISS post yesterday (sorry gang!), and today with the kids home for the day, the last thing that I've felt like doing is being creative, even for a minute. I'd much rather crawl under a quilt and daydream...too bad they won't even let me do that!

Maybe tomorrow will be better...

A Few Pics...no crafting today

I think my blood sugar is even lower than it normally is. I woke up SUPER tired today, felt pretty muzzy-headed and listless all day & even after a nap around 5pm and a good supper, I still have a raging headache that seems to be concentrated in one particular spot on the top of my head at the moment (earlier today it was across the back of my head).

I sure didn't feel like crafting like I started out this morning, but I am going through my embroidery pattern file cabinet to take a break from playing with paper - I'll let ya know what I decide on later. For now, I wanted to show you some pictures that I took out in my yard this afternoon...

We've had some pretty heavy fog the last couple of evenings, but last night's was the worst. It actually lingered till almost 1pm this afternoon. That's when I ventured out into the yard. You can see the fog line as it lifts against the mountains.
That's what I see every day when I open my front door - it's nice & it's NEVER the same view twice. I've looked at the Wasatch Mountains every day since April of 1997 and have never been disappointed - even when there's inversion. I mean, LOOK at what God gave to us!

So I took a few minutes & decided to give myself a little perspective, which I think He wanted me to have. This tree is on the south side of my house and you can see the sun just breaking through the clouds to give the promise of warmth. If you'll look closely, you can see what drew me outside today...
The fog left a PRESENT! It was so cold and the fog was so heavy with moisture, there were ice crystals on all of the trees & bushes. They were AMAZING to look at up close!This is a small sapling in my front yard and this is as close as I could get to the crystals without the images getting blurry (made me wish I had one of those light-filtering, high-powered zoom lenses attached to a camera that could handle it). My little KODAK Easy Share did well enough. I just LOVE how they look like crystallized thorns on the branch.They made some of the bushes in my yard look like they were budding out...And then, after school my oldest son, Cordell, wanted to show me something. He didn't want me to get upset, because he KNOWS how I am about what he did...YES, the boy DREW ON HIMSELF with red & black ultra fine markers. He's come home "doodled up" before, which is WHY he knew I wouldn't be pleased. And I wasn't - he should have been paying attention in class; he should have been writing in his composition books and taking notes; NOT drawing on himself.

So, after a long, deep breath, I recalled The Lord's lesson today on perspectives and looked....REALLY LOOKED at what he'd done. The artist in me was in AWE. There's no disputing it - the kid's got skills. It was stunning and the thought that he put into the piece was remarkable. NO ONE can tell me that kids with ADHD are lazy or thoughtless. Scattered, yes...disorganized, DEFINITELY...lazy, no...thoughtless, ARE YOU CRAZY?!? I broke down into a diagram below exactly WHAT he did & I think you'll be as surprised as I was. {if you right click the photo & choose Open in a New Window, you can get a better look}

I made him keep it till Chris came home and had a chance to see it. He tsked over the fact that Cordell drew on himself again. Said, "It's nice, Son, but is that REALLY how you should spend your time in school?," then he left for his usual Friday night activities. He called me about 5 minutes later & said, "Please, please, PLEASE, tell me you took pix and recorded that! There's gonna be a day that he wants to make that real & I don't want a single detail left out!" *ROFL* BIKERS! Yes, I took pictures. I even had him lay his arm on my scanner bed to get the actual dimensions...I'm no dummy...I know art when I see it...even if it's in the form of graffiti.

Thank you, Lord...got your message, loud and clear. I love You, too.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

One card - two challenges

I was hoping to be able to share two cards with you this evening, but it's been a crazy week & I only managed to finish one of the cards I wanted to enter some challenges with. This one SHOULD qualify for two - Digital Tuesdays challenge #41 (digital image AND embossing); and Copic Buzz challenge #25 (red & pink for Valentine's). I used a darling free image from Inger called "My Valentine"; my COPIC markers (colors pictured below); some K&Co paper; cardstock from The Paper Company (in the pic it looks plum but it's really a deep, blood RED); Prima flowers; Red Stickles (on the flower centers, dusted on the flowers, & the words); my deckle scissors; a cutout & embossing folder from Cuttlebug.I took a bit of the background paper & another glittered piece from the Cuttlebug cutouts & dolled up the inside....
I used all of these colors on that image.
That's it for me tonight...I'll let ya know if I win either challenge! Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Keepin It Simple Sunday

I've got two cards for you tonight. Both of them combined took about 40 minutes, start to finish, to assemble. This first one uses a rubber stamp & a set of clear minis from Studio G out of the $1 bins at JoAnn's. An ivory A2 pre-made base, a piece of K&Co paper, some VersaMagic Inks from Tsukeniko in Jumbo Java and Sahara Sand, & you have a simple but lovely Valentine's Day card. Could be for newlyweds or an anniversary, too, as I didn't use "traditional" colors.

This one I did directly on the pre-made card base. I used some green VersaMagic Dew Drop Ink in Niagara Mist, TAC's stamp "Running Stitches," a few flowers from Prima, some gold Liquid Pearls by Ranger, and a sentiment stamp from my TAC Grab Bag that I purchased last summer.
So....you like? I hope so! Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Crafty, but not a card...

I promised a craft project that wasn't a card...and here it is! I had a denim tote bag, some printable fabric (JuneTailor), and my PC Crafter graphics (Laurie Furnell). After that, it didn't take long to figure out what I wanted to do. A shopping tote! This just happens to work into Kerry's challenge over at Three Clovers Designs "New Year's Resolutions card or project that represent your goals for 2010." I don't always remember to take my totes with me into the store (they're in my car) but I think if they were all this pretty, I'd be less likely to forget...I'm really sick of all the plastic bags, too, so this is something I'll get better about this year.
Here's a close-up of the graphic I used. Isn't it pretty? It's big, too, nearly taking up the entire 8.5x11 fabric sheet! I dressed it up a bit with some bling on the wings of the bugs & the dots down the sides.

And I just had to show you what I got for Christmas. My girlfriend/neighbor had her hubby make her some storage for her 8.5x11 cardstock to go in her craft room. He had some birch scrap left over & made both of us cubbies for our markers. He took a router to the openings and all of the edges so nothing to snag or get splinters from. It was so sweet that they thought of me & my COPIC marker addiction. I have 68 Sketch makers & as you can plainly see, I have room to grow!Tomorrow is Keepin It Simple Sunday, so I'll see you then. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!

Shameless plug time!

While you're patiently waiting for my "non card" craft project, and I promise that it's coming - it may even work for the newest challenge over at Three Clovers - check out these great deals from TAC:

1) Serendipity Catalog (Spring 2009) Retirement Sale (Jan 1 through 31) -
(prices before shipping & taxes - normally within the US, but if you're interested, contact me via e-mail & we'll work something out.)
"A Kind of Gratitude" (T3032), set of 11 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17

"Beautiful Day" (T3031) set of 17 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17


"Bird Cage" (T3057), set of 6 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77


"Build an Owl" (T3084), set of 8 stamps, normally $12.95, now $7.77

"Creative Inspiration" (T3014), set of 23 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17


"Fairy Tales" (T3051), set of 11 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17


"Feline Fabulous" (T3075), set of 10 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Flower Patches" (T3085), set of 6 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Fishy Friends" (T3019), set of 10 stamps, normally $12.95, now $7.77

"Flower Patch" (T3027), set of 6 stamps, normally $8.95, now $5.37
"Growing Love" (R2045), set of 5 stamps, normally $13,95, now $8.37

"Happy Girl!" (T3072), set of 8 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Hoppy Day" (T3089), set of 6 stamps, normally $8.95, now $5.37

"Hotel Signs" (T3033), set of 4 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17

"Island Trees" (T3049), set of 4, normally $12.95, now $7.77

"Memo Fun" (T3016), set of 11 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Little Stinkers" (T3055), set of 4 stamps, normally $12.95, now $7.77

"Mice Day" (T3071), set of 8 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Playful Parenthesis" (T3048), set of 5 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Showers of Love" (T3036), set of 11 stamps, normally $12.95, now $7.77

"Some Bunny" (T3068), set of 9 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77

"Special Delivery" (R2040), set of 18, normally $22.95, now $13.77

"The Renaissance" (T3030), set of 8 stamps, normally $21.95, now $13.17

"Today & Forever" (T3086), set of 7 stamps, normally $17.95, now $10.77
2) January Stamp of the Month "Leafy Trees" - only $9.75 with a $30 order (and YES, you can use the 40%off Serendipity sets to qualify!).

3) January Vintage set "Hogs and Kisses" - $9.75 with no minimum purchase.

4) The GIGA Bag - this is a KILLER deal! I did the "regular" TAC Grab Bag last summer & got nearly 40 stamps for $15, so you can imagine just how many you're gonna get for $50! This is a fantastic way to build your stamp stash, fast.

and, 5) The Tutti Frutti Soar With It Collection - tags, alphabet stickers, papers galore - 2 packs for the price of 1 ($19.95).

If things go the way I hope, I can finish this project & share it by Friday afternoon or first thing Saturday morning - it's really neat & very handy...I think you'll like it. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!