Word Art with ATTITUDE!

Not much going on here today. Swamp cooler has been blowing hot air for the last week & it's been miserable in the house. Yesterday got as high as 94° inside. Had a friend come over today & look at it for us...the water pump had quit. A quick $25 fix and she's back up and running & I'm relaxing & recovering from a light case of heat exhaustion by playing around making word art to share with you. The high temps made me kinda cranky this last week, so your gifts today have some "tude" about them. Enjoy!




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

Late KISS & two quick projects

I can't believe that it's Wednesday already! I had two cards made on Sunday to share for my KISS post & by the time I was ready to sit down and type it all up, it got CRAZY here! I have dealt with mold in my bedroom (had to have the wall cut out & replaced), had to make sure Cordell was still enrolled for online home school beginning this August (got a phone call from them asking why we had canceled when we DIDN'T - turns out a bitter ex-employee canceled quite a few students out of the system & we were one of them), and trying to keep the boys occupied and out of trouble...all while getting the day-to-day things done. Is summer OVER yet?!? *LOL*

Anyway, here are the cards I made on Sunday. This first one is in Palette Burnt Umber ink, on a natural A2 base, using the tall tree & sentiment from The Angel Company's "Good Timber." It's perfect for masculine cards & this one was for Father's Day.

The next one is using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored pencils, an oval punch, and images from TAC's "Garden Joy."
I kept the oval punch, stamped the image, colored & place it inside the card to peek through.
Now the two quick projects I put together last night (for de-stressing purposes) could qualify for a KISS post, too. This first one, I took a 3x3 cut of paper from The Paper Studio's "Mirabelle" mat stack (Hobby Lobby) for the background, a resin sunflower from Jolee's Boutique (lightly rubbed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink) and put them in this already shabby frame. It's weighty too...iron, I think.This one has a 3x3 opening, too & the frame came already whitewashed, just as you see it. I took another piece of paper from "Mirabelle," a raspberry colored chipboard "N" from a boxed set that I had lying around, and a rose from Jolee's Boutique (rubbed lightly with Vintage Photo Distress Ink). Turned out SO PRETTY & I'm glad I found these frames in a drawer while looking for something else (that was never found)! Don't ya love it when that happens? *LOL*
I was going to put these two pieces in my upcoming boutique, but they look really nice sitting around the house, so I think I'm gonna keep 'em! I've got the blue one on my computer armoire here in the she-cave, right where I can see it, and the sunflower is on a bookcase out in my living room.

I'm working on a special gift now, FOR ONE OF YOU, in honor of my blog's 2nd birthday (TODAY!), so be sure to come back & see what I've made. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

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

A card & some sneak peeks

Happy Monday! Well, okay, maybe not...the jury's still out where I'm concerned. It's been one of those "mixed bag" kind of days, if ya know what I mean. Got bad news about our escrow account being short & property taxes going up, which meant that my payment went up. Didn't have it in the budget, but short of selling myself down on 2nd street (ewwww!) not too many options but suck it up & deal with it and PRAY that it doesn't continue to rise. Chris is leaving in the morning for a road trip...good & bad again for me...good that I get a bit of a break because lately he's been such a grumpy BIKER, bad that I'm a single parent and the kids will be cooped up inside, because they're predicting rain the entire time he's gone. I've got Starbuck's mocha frappuccino & Ben n Jerry's 'everything but the...' ice creams on hand, but will one of each be enough to see me through three days with the boys? {feeling a nudge of panic trying to set in} May have to run to the store by tomorrow night...cross your fingers and say I prayer that I don't...my jeans will thank you for it later! *LOL*

I wanted to get another project done for Thespa's contest over at Vintiquities but that didn't happen...will have to settle for just the one entry. I did manage to get a Father's Day card made last night before bedtime. Hopefully, I can get another one made tonight so Chris can sign it before taking off, then I can make 3 more while he's on the road. This card will be from the boys and go to his dad down in Texas.

It's from The Angel Company set called "Wonder & Joy" (T3254, 10 stamps for $19.95) and I think that this little boy is just too stinkin' cute for words! I stamped him with Memento tuxedo black ink, colored him with COPIC markers (list at the end of post) and did a Crissy Armstrong-inspired "dotty background." He's cut out with #5 of Large Labels Nestabilities, then mounted onto some forest green cardstock with a bit of tan Scrapper's floss. The striped paper is from My Mind's Eye. The sentiment below, stamped inside the card, comes in the set, too.Here's a close-up of the little guy. I really hope we get more like him in the catalog coming out July 1st, because he & his female counterparts are some of my favorites. I just love their expressions!

And if you haven't placed an order for any of our retiring sets, go over to the KILLER Deals page to see what we've got. Everything listed is 25% off till the 25th - just e-mail me for pricing or if you have any questions. And just to get you excited about the new catalog, here are some sneak peeks at new sets....








Aren't they great?!? We're adding something for everyone's tastes, which always makes me happy. If you'd like to pre-order a catalog, hit the e-mail me pic toward the bottom of the page. Price with shipping inside the US is $8. If you're outside the US, let me know where you are, so I can get the correct international rates.

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

COPIC markers used: colorless blender, C1, C5, C7, W1, W3, W5, W7, E33, E37, E02, E00, YR00, G24, G21, B000, B00, B21, B32, B34, YG03, YG11, Y11, Y00, BG10, BG72, BG75, & E50

K.I.S.S.

Hey there! Ya doin' allright? Me? Well, the weather's cooler (hanging in the mid-to-upper 60s), the sun's finally shining after 72 hours of rain, thunder, & tornado strength winds, & I got to play in my she-cave this weekend, so I'm doin' just dandy! *LOL*

Here's what I made for you today:
Natural A2 base, images from The Angel Company's Level A hostess set "Swirled Spring Life" (TA3239) stamped in Burnt Umber Palette ink, and the dges lightly distressed with VersaMagic Wheat.

Inside: I used the top of the flower used on front stamped in the lower corner, sentiment from Hostess Level A set "Bless Your Heart" (TA3238) in Palette Burnt Umber and again lightly edged in VersaMagic Wheat. Very simple and very pretty!

Wanna see what I'll be turning into cards later this week while Chris is on a road trip making deliveries/sales for his company?



I really enjoyed just sitting and coloring while the rain fell. And here's that cute kitty that I stamped last week, then colored with OMS & pencils. Isn't he darling?!?
Any guesses what this is for?
I'll let ya know on Tuesday! {insert wicked chuckle here} Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Freebie Word Art

Sorry I don't have a few more for y'all, but my back is really bothering me & it hurts to sit here for too long. I'll be back if I can get some made up tonight. Right now it's time for more Tylenol & a warm rice pack....

Enjoy!

K.I.S.S.

Told ya I'd be back! *LOL* It got REALLY HOT here earlier (85° inside with the fans on) and I just about lost all of my energy. It's still hot in here & I hope it cools off before bedtime...this chubby chick CANNOT sleep when it's hot! Kinda wish that I could take all of this "winter insulation" and mold it around on my body to where it actually looks GOOD! *ROFL*

I did manage to make 3 simple projects that will look pretty mounted on a card or hanging from a gift.

This first one uses the 2 smaller pieces that I told ya about a couple of days ago out of the "Life So Big" stamp set that is a Limited Edition release from The Angel Company. I took an ATC, stamped the branches in staggered pattern to make the background (Wheat VersaMagic Dew Drop), then stamped the butterfly on randomly (Jumbo Java VersaMagic Dew Drop), and shot it with my newest mix {#6} of homemade glimmer mist.
It looks wet, but that's the shimmer of these mists. I love 'em! I'll share the mix recipes this week on my Helpful Stuff page, along with Tim Holtz's video that I used, for those of you that are interested.
These are just a couple of price tags, like you'd use in a garage sale, stamped with "handstamped by" & "a cherry hello". These are available now AT NO COST TO YOU. That's right, for every $30 you spend, you can choose 1 of 4 different gift-with-purchase stamps. {Handstamped By - Wheat VersaMagic around the edge, image Memento Rich Cocoa} {A Cherry Hello - Memento Ladybug Red, Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, & Ivy Green}

Now, I'm gonna go think cool thoughts & color this little sweetie that arrived last week...
Think I'll use colored pencils & OMS for him....

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

Another thrifting share & a gift

Hi, All! I'm still working on today's KISS project, but I wanted to share another thrift store find. I picked this little gem up the same day I got my scissors, but every picture I took of it kept coming out fuzzy (thought at first it was my eyes, but nope - it was the photographer's crummy skills)...so I waited & decided to try again today. Finally, decent pix!

I was going to paint it white & antique it a bit, but Cordell insisted that I leave it the original blue for a while. "It's actually pretty this way & already fits in with your craft stuff, Mom." Okay, sold...you smooth talker! *LOL*

I just loved the carving on the doors. Kinda prim & vintage-y at the same time. And lookie...it holds all of my MS glitter jars perfectly!
It even has this little drawer on the bottom for my smaller tubes of glue & pots of flocking.
AND....it's already got this "chippy" and whitewashed finish on it. The ONLY thing it needed was for me to re-glue one of the little knobs that had broken off. No biggie! If you look you can see the price tag - $4 for cute storage. Gotta love it! As I walked through the DI with my treasure, I actually had women stop & ask me if they could have it. Ummmmmm......no, sorry. I was taught a phrase a long time ago growing up around drag racing ~~ ya snooze, ya lose ~~ I was just tickled that something worked in MY favor for a change! *LOL*

And this is my very first try at word art. It's a saying that I stitched on a pillow for Cordell a few years back. It's kinda simple and I hope that it's easy for you to snag. If you use it on a project, please leave me a link in my comments box so I can stop by and see it...or send me a pic by email & I'll post it here for ya. If y'all like it, I'll try to put together some more & maybe offer up a couple a week for ya to play with. Just right click to open it in a new tab or window, then right click again & Save Image As to a file folder of your choice.I'll be back in a little while with my KISS post. Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your day!!

Challenge worthy?

This was a HUGE undertaking for me. Even more ambitious than my altered composition books. Usually, if I do a "big" project, it's an embroidered piece, furniture or curtains...something of that nature. I started out with an idea for Thespa's hymnal pieces over at Vintiquities Workshop and ended up with something that I could enter at Sir Stampalot, as well. Let's do the breakdown & you'll see the complete piece at the end of the post. Here we go:
Upper left corner: punched border made with MS 1" wide doily punch; cotton crochet lace; 8x8 square paper doily (grunged up with Ranger Distress inks & homemade glimmer mists); antique buttons from my Bestest Sistah; Scrapper's Floss; pearl swirl from Basic Gray; black cardstock; digital image from Digital Two For Tuesdays (colored, distressed, & antiqued with Ranger Distress Inks); background mat from K&Co, punched with Fiskars heirloom corner punch & distressed with Ranger Vintage Photo; wooden "button" from my friend Myrna in Oklahoma {waving}; punches under flowers two different MS branch & rose leaf; roses a mix of Prima & some I found at Big Lots a couple of summers ago, colored with my homemade glimmer mists.
Lower left corner: tag from K&Co, distressed with Ranger Tumbled Glass & Vintage Photo; pearl brad, antique buttons & crocheted flower from Sharron {waving}; Scrapper's Floss; butterfly stamp from The Angel Company (Life So Big), stamped in Ranger Tumbled Glass, flowers again a mix from Prima & Big Lots, colored with my homemade glimmer mists; foliage a mix of the MS branch punches & rose leaf; another pearl swirl from Basic Gray; silver pieces are flattened bead caps & spacers from Hobby Lobby's jewelry section
Lower right corner: vintage polka dot paper from K&Co; edged with Fiskars ladybug scissors & distressed with Vintage Photo; two pieces of my homemade vintage seam binding (1 pc colored with COPIC BG10 refill & 1 pc sprayed with my homemade glimmer spray mix #4); flowers from Prima; foliage two kinds of punched branches from MS
Upper right corner: hymnal piece "The Sunshine of My Heart" from Vintiquities Workshop; crocheted heart from Myrna {waving again!}, distressed with a touch of Vintage Photo & sprayed with homemade pearl glimmer spray; flowers from Prima & Big Lots; wood bead from Myrna; foliage, again MS punches; large white double flower with rose center from Prima; rose leaf punches; creamy white antique button with Scrapper's Floss; blue button from Making Memories

Here's a look at the entire 12x12 project....The chipboard in the back was painted Folk Art "twill" then antiqued with Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo, & Faded Denim, and finished with a light spritz of Walnut Ink. The brown paper is from K&Co. I used some antique pewter jumbo eyelets & my Big Bite to set them through all of the papers & chipboard, then used three strands of twine to make the hanger.
And here it is, hanging from a shelf in my she-cave.
I'm linking this to:
Vintiquities Workshop - contest to use Thespa's vintage hymnal titles - got one of 'em in there!
Sir Stampalot - punch it - punched the HECK out of it! *LOL*

While Chris is on a Memorial Ride with his Club tomorrow, I'll be crafting some more, so stay tuned. I have a poll over on the right & I'd really appreciate it if you'd vote & help me make a decision. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!