I've been M.I.A.

Sorry I've been gone...it seems like forever. Last week I got hit with a rogue trojan carrying what I call "ransom-ware" ~~ I'm sure you've seen it. Comes in looking like your virus protection, says it caught some bugs, asks you if you want it removed and if you say 'yes' it takes you to their payment page, basically forcing you to make a purchase you don't want or need.

Sad thing is, some people actually fall for this attack. They pay the ransom, the people holding you for ransom PRETEND to remove the problem, but really leave the problem in the background and take off with your credit card information to shop, spend, and shop some more. My middle son got hit with it a week before I got hit with mine, so we had two laptops down till this last Sunday.

A friend of ours came over & we tried doing a repair with the main OS (operating system) disc, but it was so deep in the registry that we had to scrub and rebuild everything. Sucks rocks! Especially when you have as much on your computer as I did. It's Wednesday & I'm STILL loading programs and websites in here.

These hits can be totally random, not just from a new site you visit or an accidental click...I got mine leaving a site that I visit daily (sometimes several times in a day) so my friend figured that it rode in on a tracking cookie. EMPTY YOUR CACHES daily if you surf online a lot! Some of your browsers, like IE 7 & 8 or Google Chrome can be set up to dump cookies every time you close your browser (look under 'tools' then 'options')...set it up to do just that! Save yourself some headaches & lost files.

Now, while I was without my electrical lifeline to the outside world, I had some time to work in my office. I sorted out a few boxes lying around and was bitten by a crafting bug. I still have sewing to get done, and I'm working on it (HONEST!), but I had this papier mache dress form sitting on my work desk, and it started calling my name. So, I'd like to introduce you to...Yvette! (or maybe Holly Golightly, since I love "Breakfast At Tiffany's" so much...)

She LOVES everything vintage, and you can tell by the postmark that she loves to travel!
She has a deep appreciation of all things 'artsy'...
And all things 'timeless'...
She's classy, too. Loves her lace and gramma's pearls, like any proper lady should. Never mind the butterfly tattoo...she got that when she was young, carefree and a bit wild!
But, as you can see, she's settled and seems very happy living among the antique buttons and Prima flowers. I hope she decides to stay with me for a long time.
Thanks for stopping by & have a fantastic rest of your day!!

supplies used: papier mache dress form; tissue paper; stamps from Stampabilities, Mod Podge; Ranger Distress Ink (vintage photo); StazOn ink in black; wooden candle cups; E6000 glue; black spray paint; homemade shimmer mist sprays; flowers from Prima; tea stained vintage seam binding; paper doily cut to fit around neck; adhesive-backed half pearls

Some cards, a challenge entry, & a break from paper

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July holiday (US), Canada Day, or just a fantastic weekend, in general. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous here - loads of sun, enough of a light breeze to stir my wind chimes, & the temps never made it over 75°...my kind of weather! Today it's breezy and sunny, but back to what July in Utah is traditionally...flippin' HOT.

While it was so pretty yesterday, I felt quite creative, so I dug out some images that I already had colored & waiting, found some papers that I liked, and set about making some cards for you. Ready?

Image is from Beccy's Place; papers from K&Co; COPIC Sketch markers used - 0, B000, BG10, YG11, YG03, G24, RV11, W1, E50; Nesties Labels Four

Image is from Fairy Coloring Pages; paper is My Mind's Eye "Totally Girl"; COPIC Sketch markers used - E50, YR65, YR68, E09, E37, YR61, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9, YG11, G21, G24, Y21, E00, YR00, V04, E04; Nesties Labels One; Ranger Distress Ink "Vintage Photo"; Sakura Stardust Clear Gel pen

Image from TAC "Gerbera Daisy" (retired); Nesties Labels Four; Ranger Distress Ink "Vintage Photo" & "Tumbled Glass"; paper from My Mind's Eye "All Boy"; Brown flocking from Studio G; COPIC Sketch markers used - E25, YG03, G24, G21, R08, R29, R39

Image is from FunkyKits UK "Manga Boy"; paper is from Best Occasion (a Wal-Mart brand); COPIC Sketch markers used - E02, YR00, YG11, YG09, YG06, C9, C7, C5, C1, YR68, YR65, YR61, BV00, BV04, BV08

This is my card for Challenge 38 over at the Sugar Bowl (below). We were given a sketch to follow & an option of adding an additional theme of scallops.
I used "Demure" by Elisabeth Bell for FunkyKits. Background paper is from My Mind's Eye "Signature Series" paper pack. I used a paper doily for the circle shape, sponged lightly with Ranger Distress Inks in Vintage Photo & Tumbled Glass. I took my MS doily lace border punch to some spotted paper from My Mind's Eye "Totally Girl" paper pack for the horizontal strip. The striped paper, behind the image is also from MME's Signature Series. {LOVE those grungy, distressed colors!} I placed two pearl drops from The Robin's Nest in the left side corners (bottom pearl is obscured from view by the stand - sorry).
COPIC sketch markers used to color image - YR00, E00, YG03, E31, E33, E04, B32, RV11, BG10, C1, B000, Y00, Y11, Y21. I rounded the corners then sponged on some more Vintage Photo & Tumbled Glass.
Finished it all off with a patterned flower from Prima (sponged with Tumbled Glass) and a pearl brad.

Now, the short break from paper shouldn't last more than a week or two. I hope. I've got loads of sewing projects piling up that have to be done. Curtains for windows, gifts for a swap, and tote bags for a boutique I'm doing at the end of August. One of the sewing projects will be my birthday blog candy here, so stay tuned. I'm not leaving you completely! {wink}

I'll have more paper goodies to share after I'm finished with my annual Christmas in July swap on the 25th (can't show her ahead of time what she's getting!). If you haven't entered MY First Challenge, there's still time & I'd love to have you come play. Please be patient & know that if you have any questions or need anything, I'm just a quick e-mail away.

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!!

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!!

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!!

Cards and Thrifting

It's been a crazy week & haven't felt much like crafting, but I did manage to get out of the house the other day to keep from going completely bonkers.  I ended up at the Harrisville DI (aka Deseret Industries, a Utah thrift store owned by the LDS church).  I was searching for a shelf to go in the master bedroom on Chris' side of the bed, but ended up with these yummy treats instead...for a whopping $4.25!

I was very pleased with my haul.  I have plans for a couple of the pieces...can you guess which ones?  Lemme help ya out:

Any guesses as to what I plan to do with those pieces?  I also will be putting a pewter drawer knob that I found at another thrift store with them.

I'm not one for collecting china or stray saucers, but these two sweeties were sitting on the shelf just calling my name...for 50¢ and 75¢, so how could I leave them behind?

The gold on the top one is PERFECT, nothing chipped or scraped off & the bottom one had such lovely detail and the best shade of soft blue for the background, it just made the vintage girly-girl in me positively giddy!  I'll be finding some plate hangers & putting them on my she-cave walls soon.

I did make a couple of cards this evening.  I needed a sympathy card so I came up with this:

I used 3 of the largest dies out of my Labels Four Nestabilities, a MS butterfly punch, some paper from Provo Craft, my Cuttlebug folders (textile & script) for the die cuts, some pretty pearl swirls from Basic Grey, and my homemade glimmer mist (made of water & Perfect Pearls).  I sprayed the butterflies with the glimmer mist before mounting them onto the card.  Here are some close-ups, so you can see the details:

This card (below) will be traveling to London.  My "fan-girl crush," David Tennant, is celebrating his birthday on Sunday and, according to some interviews I've read and seen, one of the people he's always admired is Audrey Hepburn.  I did some searching on the web, found this lovely image of Ms Hepburn & printed it out onto some white cardstock.

I distressed the edges of the photo with Ranger Distress Inks (vintage photo & walnut stain), cut a paper doily in quarters, inked the doily bits with Ranger Distress Ink (tattered rose), found some background paper from my scrap stash that picked up the colors and tones in the photo, added a few half pearls and I have a lovely birthday card.  Hope he likes it!

Hope you did, too!  I'll share what I do with those glass pieces in a day or so - it's about half done as I type this post.  Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

'Bout Time!

My crafting mojo's been dried up for about a week now & I was beginning to wonder if it was going to come back. Last night, though, just as I was ready to shut down the house for the night, it came back to me. Like a semi doing 105mph...in the dark...with NO running lights. *LOL* So, before going to bed, I put together my K.I.S.S. cards:

For this one (above) I figured I'd let the paper do the work. It's from DCWV's "Garden Party" Mat Stack. I stamped the wording with Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, using TAC's level A hostess set "Bless Your Heart" (TA-3238).

Now this one (above), doesn't LOOK simple, but technically it is....IF you have a stash of already-colored images sitting in a box, waiting to be used! *LOL* Dotted background paper is from K&Co, some tan Scrapper's Floss from Karen Foster Designs (via The Angel Company), & Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. The Gorjuss girl image "Guardian Angel" was stamped onto an ATC a couple of weeks ago & I colored it with pencils & OMS.

Now for the cards that I put together today....

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE Sarah Kay images - they remind me of Holly Hobbie. They just SCREAM "simple, country life" & they're a joy to color. I used colored pencils (no OMS), two crocheted laces, some antique buttons (thanks, Sharron!), more tan Scrapper's Floss, & two blue roses from Prima. The sweet calico floral background that reminds me of a dress I had as a little girl is from Making Memories.

This one could qualify for K.I.S.S., but I didn't get the stamps till today, when I was at JoAnn's with a friend (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those $1 bins at the beginning of the month!). Background is from the "Nursery" collection of papers by Prima, the clear mini stamp set is from Inkadinkado, & I inked it with Ranger Vintage Photo.

What can I say about this one? I'm finding a deeper appreciation for Manga, thanks to my boys. I downloaded this digital freebie off of Deviant Art & colored her with pencils (no OMS), inked the edges with Ranger Vintage Photo, then mounted her at an angle onto some K&Co. It looks amazing in real life, & I give all the credit to the Manga artist, Princess Elemmirial, for drawing some lovely images. I'll be playing with them more in the future, that's for sure!

Another sweet Sarah Kay, colored with pencils & OMS, then cut out with my Nesties (Labels Two), trimming it ever-so-slightly along the edges with a Krylon silver leaf pen. Add in a K&Co background paper, some crocheted lace, and you can't lose!

This last one is a nod to my biker hubby. I snagged a vintage ad (sorry I can't remember from where - I can tell you that it was the result of a Google search), colored the printed image with Ranger Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, & Weathered Wood), then mounted it & a frame of black cardstock onto some K&Co paper.
I really like it! Hope you enjoyed my "share" today. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!