fresh & fun

I haven’t stamped as much as I wanted this week. Rick is home all week taking an internet course. He has lots of breaks. Lets just say it’s not helping me stamp. LOL

Yesterday I was gone all morning. I took Austin to his preop appointment in the clinic. Seeing the doctor only took a few minutes…after we waited almost an hour for him in a super cold room! Then we were off to see the nurse. After that we sat for over an hour waiting for his meds in the Pharmacy.

I was worn out and frozen solid when we got back. I couldn’t believe how tired I was from just sitting and waiting all morning.

I am not good with seeing blood. My blood pressure drops and I get all whoosy. So Rick took Austin this morning. Please keep Austing in your thoughts. I think his operation is at 9:00 a.m. I know it’s no biggy to get Tonsils and Adnoids removed….but it’s scary to me no less. My baby is being operated on. No matter that my baby measured 5′ 10″ yesterday.

You should have seen all the pain meds they gave him yesterday. Oh my goodness!

Here is another card I made with Julee Tilman’s sketch.

I started with a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Old Olive cardstock folded in half. It was layered with a 4″ piece of Fall Flower Designer Paper. All four corners were ticket corner punched and the edges were stamped with All in a Row to create the Faux Stitched look.

For the main image, I used a 2 1/2″ square of Confetti white cardstock. I stamped the bottom of the cupcake from Big Bold Birthday in Old Olive. Next I inked up the cupcake top in Soft Sky and kissed it with the background stamp to take the ink off the stamp. Then I lined it up the cupcake bottom and stamped it on the cardstock.

I ticket punched the corners and added three lines of the small happy birthday saying on the left side in Sahara sand. The other three edges were paper pierced.

Next I layered the piece on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Old Olive and again on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Soft Sky cardstock. I added Pewter brads in three of the corners.

For the saying I stamped three candles in Soft Sky on a 1 1/4″ Confetti White circle and stamped Make a Wish in Old Olive over it. It was layered on a 1 3/8″ sponged Sahara Sand Circle and a sponged Soft Sky scallop circle.

I added a Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware ribbon holder to the left of the scallop punch, punched a hole all the way through the card with my eyelet hole punch and tied Gray Taffeta ribbon all the way around.

Last I added Dazzling Diamond Glitter with my Liquid Glue and two small Sahara sand flowers, one on the cupcake and one on the sentiment circle.

Mary Jo Albright sent me this absolutely stunning card.

There are so many details on it.

You can see more of her fabulous work on her blog Beauty lies within.

Today’s tutorial on Splitcoast is Reflection technique.  This super simple technique allows you to create reflection/mirror images. I made this card when I wrote the tutorial.

When in doubt, I always reach for my old trusted Chocolate Chip as card base.

This time was no different. I started out with a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate chip that was folded in half and sponged around the edges.

Next is a 4″ square of bordering blue that was stamped with the medaillon as well as paisley and star from the Wanted stamp set. I distressed the edges with the cutter kit and sponged around them first in Bordering Blue, then in Chocolate Chip.

I taped it to my card base and added Faux Stitching with the All in the Row Argyle stamp.

Next is a 3 1/8″ x 3 1/2″ piece of Old Olive stamped with the stripes from Happiness in Old Olive. The edges were distressed and first sponged in Old Olive, then with Chocolate Chip.

For the main panel, I stamped the horse in Chocolate Chip on Natural Ivory cardstock. I inked it up again, stamped it on my acetate, flipped that over, lined it up with my solid horse, layed the acetate down and rubbed over it to transfer the image.

Next I doodled the grass line with my brown micron pen and colored it with Aqua painter and Old Olive. I colored old olive really softly under it, to make it look like reflection and added Bordering Blue scribble lines around the reflected horse to simulate water.

I cut that piece of cardstock down to 2 3/8″ x 2 3/4″. I cut the reflected horses head of on purpose, to keep the main focus on the “real” horse. I punched the corners with the ticket corner punch and sponged around the edges with Bordering Blue softly.

The stamped piece was layered on a 1/4″ bigger chocolate chip cardstock piece that was distressed and sponged. I added Pewter Brads to the corners.

For the saying I used Good Luck from Fundamental Phrases. I stamped it with Chocolate Chip on Bordering Blue cardstock and punched it out with my small oval punch. It was sponged with Bordering Blue and just a hint of Chocolate chip and layered on a sponged 1″ Old Olive circle. Both those punchouts were centered on a Chocolate Chip Designer label punchout that was stamped with the medaillon and sponged around the edges.  I added two more Pewter brads and was done.

Easy Peasy!

Random.org picked #55. That is Wendy (Joelysmom) with this fun card.

Wendy, please email me your snail mail address and I will get the goodies out to you.

 Thanks to everyone who participated!

I always love to check out your work! All the cards turned out great! Hugs and smiles

Yesterday’s color challenge was wonderful: Old Olive, Bashful Blue and More Mustard

I thought immediately of the Serene Sunflowers. I have this set for a while now and it has never seen ink. It was time to get it dirty! Of course…using that set was the perfect excuse to use my favorite neutral color: Chocolate Chip!

I haven’t been able to do Julee Tilman’s sketches lately. I really like them. So I pulled out her newest one and used it for my layout.

I started with a 4″ x 10″ piece of Old Olive cardstock folded in half.

I stamped the striped background in Old Olive with part of the Happiness background and sponged the edges first with Old Olive, then with Chocolate Chip.

The main image layer is a  3″x  3 3/4″ piece of Confetti White Paper.

 I stamped the flower petals in More Mustard, some leaves in Old Olive and the flower center in Chocolate Chip.

Next I added bashful blue ink all around it with help of my Aqua Painter. Over that blue I added some speckles in Bashful blue with the marker and the Color Spritzer tool.

The layer was adhered to a 1/4″ bigger layer of Chocolate Chip and another 1/4″ bigger layer of Bashful Blue. I added a small photo corner that was sponged in Chocolate Chip and faux stitching with my Argyle stamp from All in a Row.

For my sentiment I stamped the F from Wild West Alpha in More Mustard on Confetti White cardstock. Over that I stamped My Friend with stamps from Fundamental Phrases. It was punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch and sponged first with More Mustard, then with Chocolate Chip. It was layered on a sponged 1 3/8″ circle and a Chocolate Chip scallop circle. I added Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware to the left side and wrapped Blue Taffeta ribbon all around the card. I tied the end together with Linen thread.

Last I added a bit of Dazzling Diamond Glitter with 2 way glue over my flowers.

Charmaine is so sweet!

She sent me this awesome multilayered Halloween card with a special surprise.

There are so many amazing details on this card.

Thank you so much, girlfriend!

I sent this book in to SU for my application as display stamper.

 You had to send one 3D item. I had fun making it.

I love that paper. It was so pretty, I didn’t have to do much more then adding the medaillon, the photo corner and some ribbon on the wire.

You can find step by step instructions for this BIA book HERE.

On the insides, I stamped each index card with River Rock ink and the swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs.

Here is the recipe for this book.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Office Accoutrement, Simple Serif Alpha

Inks: River Rock, Always Artichoke, Chocolate chip (of course)

Paper: Shimmery White, Basic Black, River rock, Always Artichoke cardstock,  Baroque Background Designer paper

Acc.: Round Tab punch, vintage brads, 1 3/8″ circle punch, Scallop circle punch, black gingham ribbon, Beachfront Ribbon Original, black grosgrain and River Rock Double stitched ribbon

Remember the baby double pocket card I made for my friend Stephanie Nagel?

Well…here is the cute thank you card I got from her.

Isn’t it adorable?

You can see more of her work on her new blog Seminole Stamper.

The weekend just flew by and I didn’t have a chance to do the Inspiration or the Featured Stamper challenge yet. I hope I can catch up during the week.

The stamp camp was fun. I think everyone enjoyed it. After the girls left, Rick and I went to go shopping for a new TV. With the new season starting up today, I wanted to have a TV in my stamp room. That way I can stamp and watch the shows!!!

Well….my man had the great plan to upgrade the TV we have in our bedroom (we can’t watch TV in our living room, the AC unit is right there and super loud…lets just say the living room isn’t being used much). I got the LCD TVfrom in there and we went shopping.

Well…after looking at LOTS of TV’s  we finally came home with a 50″ Plasma TV from Panasonic. Let’s just say it’s SWEET!

After we got home I prestamped the leftover card kits from Stamp camp. Then it was like 11 p.m. and I was pooped.

Sunday wasn’t much better. I packed up the card kits, worked on SCS emails and newsletter and then made a dozen of these cards. I did make a scrapbook page with the WSC20 layout later yesterday afternoon. I will share that one next Sunday.

I don’t know why, but when I make 3″x3″ cards, I seem to always go back to this layout.

I used the Darling Doodles Designer paper. I recently ordered it and I LOVE the color combo in there.

The card base is a 3″ x 6″ piece of textured Purely Pomegranate cardstock folded in half.

The designer paper measures 1 1/2″ x 2 7/8″ and has the bottom two corners ticket corner punched.

Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon is rapped around it.

The butterfly from Just like you is stamped in Groovy Guava on Whisper White ink, punched out with a 1 1/4″ circle punch and layered first on a 1 3/8″ Wild Wasabi circle, then on a basic black scallop circle. It was adhered with dimensionals. A little Dazzling Diamond glitter was added with the glue pen.

Last I stamped the Thank you from All Holidays on the bottom right corner.

Thank you to Lynda Benden, who sent me this gorgeous card.

You can see more of her great work on her blog, Stamp Act.