Coaster Box

I thought I would share the coaster box that I made for my stamp camp in February. My guests got to choose their own colors of DS paper from the Loves Me paper pack in the Winter Mini catalog. I can't believe today's the last day for ordering from it!! I really like a lot of the items in it and REALLY hope that at least the Fancy Flexible Phrases that I earned as part of hostess benefits one time come back in the next SU! bi-annual Idea Book and Catalog. I also really like Small Sayings stamp set for the "sayings" stamps and wouldn't mind having it back either but I doubt it will be.

Enough rambling. As for how I made the coaster box: I used Mod Podge to adhere the patterned paper to 5 coasters. I sanded the edges after trimming the corners of the paper with my paper snips to round them like the coasters are. I then punched holes in each of four coasters (boy do I need a Crop-A-Dile!!!) with my SU! 1/4" circle punch and my hand sure was sore after that!!! These coasters are medium weight so the punch works, it's just VERY hard unless you find a good hard spot in your hand to punch all 40 holes. I had my guests only do 3 holes on each side - that is much better than four!! :) LOL After punching the holes I tied my ribbon through and created the four sides. Lastly, I got out some really strong glue that I bought at Wal-Mart called 527 Multi-Purpose Cement. I love it - it works really great when I need an extra strong adhesive. When we made the Pinewood Derby car for our girls (see this post), we used this glue to glue in the butchered Polly Pockets (one of them had to lose her legs because they didn't bend and thus she couldn't sit as long as she had them). Anyway, after gluing the bottom on I filled it with what is actually some "grass" from the Easter section in Wal-Mart. I then filled an organdy bag that I found in the wedding section (also found at, you guessed it, Wal-Mart) with various chocolate yummies. I hope you like it! The ladies at the camp really enjoyed making it. Take care and have fun with another silly quiz!

What Your Hands Say About You

You are logical, analytical, and rational. You have good verbal skills. Flexible and broad minded, you can fit in to any situation. There's no telling where your life will take you. Consistent and reliable, you like to count on structure and routine in your life. Your emotions tend to be nervous and potent. Your energy - both positive and negative - deeply impacts your life.

What Do Your Hands Say About You?

Inspiration from the things around us.

So, if you read my post yesterday, you'll see that I was inspired by Nichole to start with colors first, and go from there when creating a card. I bought Emma a shirt from Target that I LOVE and the colors are not ones I necessarily would have put together, but it's really lovely. So, I basically thought instead of just using the colors as inspiration I would also use the pattern. I thought that the SAB set "Delight in Life" was very close to the flowers on the shirt (the picture above) and I went from there. On a piece of Whisper White CS, I used the Linen BG to stamp (after stamping it off first) on the whole piece and then I stamped my Delight in Life flowers with Black StazOn on top of that, doing a lot of masking along the way. I colored in the images with my NEW prismacolor pencils, and blended them with a blending stump and baby oil. For some added dimension, I popped up one of the larger flowers with a dimensional. I used some Olive grosgrain that I got in a swap with Taylor V. and matted the piece on some Old Olive CS. After that, I took the little dotted circles "mini background" stamp that's in the Delight in Life stamp set and stamped them along the bottom of the Regal Rose card, in Regal Rose ink. Next, I punched my elongated Word Window piece of paper (Summer Sun) and stamped the words Just because (from my PaperTrey stamp set, Paper tray) in Summer Sun. I made a piece of faux thread out of Cool Caribbean CS with my AWESOME tabletop paper cutter (from SU!) and tied it through the button and stuck that on the word window strip. That's all! I think it was a lot of fun to use a shirt for inspiration. I did it once before for a card in this post, and really liked that one too. You should try out Nichole's method!!! If you do, I would love to see a comment from you with a link to your picture so I can see what you made. Take care, and here's my card:

Things that make you go HMMMMM......

Well, most of us have definite ideas about what we believe and don't believe. I'm not going to try to preach to you now, just show you one of the silly quizzes that I like to post. I think that this one really does encourage some thought though, and makes you realize whether you are able to stand up for what you believe in or not, and if you are perhaps too judgmental or maybe not judgmental enough. I liked it because it made me reaffirm what I know to be true about myself and what I stand for. Take it with a grain of salt, and for whatever it's worth to you, here's the quiz and my result:

You Are 48% Open Minded

You aren't exactly open minded, but you have been known to occasionally change your mind. You're tolerant enough to get along with others who are very different... But you may be quietly judgmental of things or people you think are wrong. You take your own values pretty seriously, and it would take a lot to change them.

How Open Minded Are You?

Inspiration for Project Design

Nichole Heady had a GREAT post today about where she draws her inspiration from when she goes about making a project. I know that personally, I am in a slump right now, and find that all I've been doing since about January is CASE'ing everything. I would love to have a great idea for a design of my own. That's what I'm going to try to do today. I'll post what I come up with tomorrow. For today's post, though, I thought I would share the post from Nichole's blog {capture the moment} with you. Click here to read what she said and perhaps be inspired yourself to create something new!

Doodle This

I just got my very first set of PrismaColor pencils, and I LOVE THEM!! I decided to use them on this card that was inspired by Gina K. who made a cute card that made me want to play around with my new pencils and new Spring Mini stamp set Doodle This (see the card on her blog here in the post dated Feb 23rd). I'm still trying to get the hang of blending the colored images with my blending stump and Baby Oil (since I'm pregnant and Odorless Mineral Spirits while odorless, are still not a good thing to be inhaling). I think that over time my image will be more "blended" with practice. I used Black StazOn to stamp the Doodle This images. I used my new PaperTrey stamp set "Paper Tray" for the sentiment at the bottom, and my SU! Word Window punch to punch the elongated piece of whisper white paper for the words. On the middles of the flowers I used Icicle Stickles, but I don't think that you can see them too well. The background paper is double-sided (is also in the SU! Spring Mini) and is called "Petals & Paisleys". I hope you like it, and I'll be back on Monday as usual! It's going to be in/near the 80's here in Del Rio today, so we're going to have lots of fun family time outside. Have a great weekend!!!

So I do have a few minutes....

I thought I would post a link to a gorgeous card that made me look at a stamp set in a completely different light. The stamp set in question is Mixed Bouquet by SU! and I don't really like it. Well, this card made me look it up in the book to see which one it was because I love the card so much. I'm really hooked on simple cards - they're just hard for me to make. This card is made by Chris Smith, and here is the link to it in her blog. She's got a great blog, by the way, so check it out!!!

More PaperTrey

So if you didn't see my first post on PaperTrey, see it here. I LOVE this stamp set! It came a couple of days ago and I've only gotten to play with it once, but can't wait to get it out again soon! Go to PaperTrey's site to order it for yourself. It's only $15 (plus s/h and tax) and is so worth it! It's extremely versatile and it makes some really clean and striking looking cards. Check out Nichole's blog {capture the moment} for some great projects made with the set, or PaperTrey's website listed above for samples that are also posted there. I've loved everything I have seen made with this stamp set so far, and that's not very normal (at least for me) to like EVERYTHING everybody makes. :) Anyway, enough rambling. I LOVE this set so check it out to find out why for yourself!

Here's the quick little card I made for my niece Katie. Her birthday is this Saturday. She really likes purple and I really like the stamp set (LOL) so I used it. It's super easy to use and line everything up, and stamps very crisp, clear images. Can you tell I really like it? I should be a spokesperson for it!!! :)


PS- I cheated and dated this post for tomorrow (Friday) so that I could cheat and not post tomorrow. I have a busy day - we have a doctor's appointment (we might find out the sex of the baby) and a "date" right after it, so I've got lots to do before leaving for the afternoon/evening. If you're seeing it on Thursday, no, you're not crazy! :)

PPS- I started using the SNAP program that allows you to see a pop-up of all external links within my blog. If you don't like this, simply click on the top right-hand side of the pop-up where it says "Options & Disable" and you can turn off the SNAP pop-ups. Hopefully you like them though!!!

FS01 AGAIN....

I just love the very first Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. Krabearkub (Kurtis) was the first artist featured, and his clean, simple style is really appealing. Please reference my first post on FS01 for more details. Here is the card that I made, and it's actually the 2nd of my Spring Mini swap cards for the group of swappers I'm in. The first is in today's other post. Here it is:


I had so much fun making this card! I used the Spring Mini set called Doodle This, and I'm absolutely in love with it! I love the style of the doodles and all of the possibilities there are for coloring them in, or simply stamping them on different papers and backgrounds. I colored in the flower with my re-inkers (Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, and Regal Rose) and a watercolor brush. I then cut it out and put it on a dimensional. The streaks of color on the white card base are done with my stipple brush and re-inkers in Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink, and Regal Rose. I stamped the word "happiness" from the Warm Words stamp set and also "For You" from Happy Everything on a piece of vellum and adhered that to my white base with a staple and a glue dot (hidden behind the piece of pink organdy ribbon). I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think!

Coasters have Shipped to YOU!!! Why I've been gone....

Thanks to our lovely little pug, Oscar, I've had no internet since Tuesday! He CHEWED up the internet cable that connects from the yard to the house. He started to chew our satellite cable but the internet guy said that one has current through it, so he probably didn't chew it as much because he was probably getting zapped. I DON'T feel sorry for him!! The little stinker won't come inside when we call him, so he sits outside for hours at a time and this is why I guess - to chew up all of our stuff. Countless toys of the girls have been eaten, anything we forget to get out of his reach gets destroyed. When will it end!?!?! I hope soon - he's over a year old now so hopefully the urge to chew will lessen. Anyway....

I shipped all of the coasters yesterday except for Dale Anne's and Lois P.'s. If you two ladies could please e-mail me, I'll let you know why and get them out ASAP. THANKS and enjoy them! Let me know if you have any questions once they arrive.

I've made a couple of cards the past few days. I think that I will share one that I made for a swap I'm in with a group of ladies from SCS. I love this swap group, we get such great cards in it, and I can't wait to see what I get!!! This card was made for a Spring Mini swap, and here it is:


The stamp set used was Bunny Hugs. I can't wait to use it for "welcome baby" cards too. I think it will be more versatile than just being used for Easter cards. I put a white puffball on the tail. I colored the ears with my Pretty in Pink marker. The bunny was stamped with Black StazOn, and I used VersaMark to put little Easter eggs all over the background of the card (on the Cool Caribbean layer). You can't really see them, sorry. I used some of the GORGEOUS double-sided paper from the Spring Mini that coordinates perfectly with a couple of stamp sets in the Mini. It's called Petals & Paisleys. I love it!!! I stapled some pink grosgrain ribbon on, and ta-dah! It was a pretty simple card to make, but so far everyone who has seen it things it's adorable. I really like this set and know I will use it more for babies than Easter. I'm not too huge on "Easter bunny" Easters anyway. That's not the point of Easter. My kids have fun with that part, but we definitely talk a lot with them about what Easter is really celebrated for.

Well, I hope to be back to posting almost every day, and would love to hear from everyone. Take care, and thanks for reading!!!

FS01 and the Pinewood Derby

Well, this card is another one that I made for the Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS. For details about Kurtis (the featured stamper) see this previous post. The card I CASE'd this time can be seen here. I only changed the colors and the stamp set used (I used Delight in Life from the SAB catalog). I stamped my sentiment vs. printing it as Kurtis did and I made it a top-fold card. I think I basically kept everything else the same. To get the color behind the vellum at the bottom I used my stipple brush to "swipe" the color across. I just dropped a drop of re-inker in the lid of my ink pad to dip the stipple brush into and then "swiped". The blossom I colored in with my pastels and a blender pen and adhered to the card with a dimensional to give it some "pop". I used Black StazOn on both the blossom and the sentiment. I stapled the left end of the vellum down, and hid a glue dot behind the ribbon tied on the right end of the vellum. It was a fairly simple card to make, but it's so eye-catching. I love it! I used this card today at my Stamp Camp. All of the ladies were so impressed that its original creator was a GUY!!! :) Kurtis really is an inspiration and I made sure to refer the ladies to his gallery on SCS.
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This afternoon we got to go to Church for a Pinewood Derby. Usually Pinewood Derby's are for Boy Scouts, but our Branch (group that meets at our Church at the same particular time on Sundays - there are 3 Branches here in Del Rio so that the meeting isn't ever too crowded for people to attend - the Branch you attend is determined by where you live) doesn't have any Boy Scouts so they decided to make it a family affair (really, that was just the dads excuse to get to race the cars themselves!) Anyway, we wanted to make our car a definite "girl" car since girls don't usually get to make them. Our kids are too young, but we made it for them, and put little red-headed Polly Pockets in the drivers seats so that they would know it was theirs. It won the award for the car with the most "Girl Power" and it did okay in the races. We weren't in the top 8 though that went on to the finals. The girls had a blast and it was a fun way to spend an afternoon together. Here are some cheesy pics of the girls and their car:

Emma

Sarah

Emma and Sarah saying "cheese"

The girls' car is on the left - it was so much cuter than the competition!! :)

PAPERTREY

What is PAPERTREY you're asking (or perhaps you already know)? Well, they are a trio of women who have gotten together with "excitement and passion "to provide excellent quality materials" to those of us in the paper-crafting world. Nichole Heady has a blog called capture the moment that journals her experiences and projects with this company, PAPERTREY.

I've been following Nichole's blog for a while now, and PAPERTREY has come out with their very first stamp set! Let me say, I am EXTREMELY loyal to SU! and don't usually even spend much time looking at other company's stamps. If I do, it's because I've seen something made with them that perks my interest. Well, Nichole has made some things with their new stamp set that have more than perked my interest. I've already bought the set and it's debut was TODAY!!! It is an adorable set, and if you visit her blog you can see samples she has made with it over the past two weeks. You can also check out Heather Nichols' blog post at pine is here. for another SUPER cute sample made with this stamp set. She is one of the design team members for PAPERTREY.

Anyway, without further ado, here's a picture of the stamp set, and take some time to visit Nichole's blog or the PAPERTREY website for more great samples or to purchase this awesome set!

Swap Card

Here's a card that I made to swap with my local demonstrators who are in my downline and upline. I don't think all of the details are that visible (like the sponging and Linen BG), so I'll explain. I used SU!'s two largest square punches (1 3/8" and 1 1/4") for the whisper white and basic black pieces that the frogs are on. I stamped the froggies in black StazOn and colored them in with a Gable Green marker. Next, I put the little googlie-eyes on with some glue (I hope they stay!). I then stamped the card front with my Linen BG stamp and sponged the edges. I next applied another layer of Gable Green CS to put the frogs on and pierced along the edges of it and also distressed the edges with my handy SU! distressing tool. I used my brand-spanking new Round Tab punch that will be in the SU! Spring Mini Catalog (items in it available for purchase on March 1st) and stamped the sentiment from the froggie stamp (from the SAB set Very Punny) in white StazOn. Next, I just stuck the froggies and tab on to my card and lastly, the card has a basic black backing so that it really pops. WOW - my thumb looks FAT!!! LOL ;)

Featured Stamper Challenge #1

I made this card (10 of them) for a friend who's moving. I got the inspiration from a challenge on SCS called the Featured Stamper Challenge which is a new challenge on that site. This week's featured artist is krabearkub who is one of the few males on SCS. His style is simple, but his cards and other projects are extremely striking! There is a link to his website on the right-hand side of your screen in my Blogs I Like to Browse section, under Stampin' Kub. Here's the card he made and the details I changed are the colors, obviously. I used the Itty Bitty Background stamps for the texture on the Buckaroo Blue (I'm pretty sure he used a Color Spritzer that SU! sells). I also used a different stamp set for the main image (from the On The Move stamp set) . I sponged the outside edges of the scalloped oval with So Saffron. The layout is gorgeous on his card, and it works for mine, but I'm not as impressed with how mine turned out. I didn't have anything cute to attach with a brad on my scalloped oval, so I left that off too. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and so does the receiver of my cards!

"The Bug"

Do I, or don't I? This "bug" sure does appear to be very contagious!!! I am sure that most of you reading this blog have heard of the now infamous Cuttlebug (a.k.a. CB, "the bug", etc.) diecut/embossing machine. I have resisted the temptation thus far to add it (or a machine compatible with it's dies/embossing folders which I LOVE) to my stock of stuff I use in my paper-crafting. I say this because it's not something I can demonstrate (well, I can, but it detracts from SU!'s embossing items and even Background Stamps, etc) in a SU! workshop/event, and I probably wouldn't put it in cards/projects I show for samples at workshops or other SU! events either. I think it's so cool though, and I just love all of the samples I'm seeing by other stampers on their blogs and on SplitcoastStampers!!!! For those of you that don't know what it is, the picture above of the green machine is the CB. The tiny one below is the Big Shot (sorry for the size!). After reading Julie Ebersole's comparison of the CB and the Big Shot, I'm leaning towards the Big Shot - if I get one at all. As Julie points out in this FAQ list about the Big Shot, it can use Cuttlebug, Sizzlet, Sizzix and of course, Big Shot dies. It can also use Cuttlebug embossing folders which are what I'm drooling over right now, and Big Shot Emboss and Cut folders as well. At JoAnn's the CB retails for $89.99 without any coupons or discounts, and the Big Shot beginners kit retails for $119.99 without any coupons or discounts. I'm sure if you can find a trustworthy seller on good old eBay, you probably stand a chance of paying less there but that's a gamble because "Buy It Now" prices seem to be retail prices on these diecutting machines. So - should I give in and buy one? I'm definitely leaning towards the Big Shot after reading about Julie's experiences with both, but how much will I really use it? I would love to hear any and all opinions and experiences with either of these machines from you. Thanks!

Heart Attack!!!

I went to check on my littlest one, Sarah. She's down for a nap right now, and I went in and her bed was empty! I knew she hadn't come out because her door was shut and it creaks when opened and I hadn't heard a thing. I scanned the room a couple of times (it's also my craft room and after my recent workshop it's "kind of" a mess - LOL) and didn't see her. I was thinking, "oh my gosh, where is she?!?!" Well, about the 4th time I looked around the room, I noticed a little girl face-down in a pile of blankets and stuffed animals at the end of her bed. It's a small space where I keep extra blankets for her between her toddler bed and my supply cabinet. Well, I guess she was reading there (see the book?) and fell asleep. The white pillow in the pile blocked my view of her from the door almost totally, but you can't really tell from the angle of the shot. Anyway, funny, but scary for a moment! What a little stinker!! She's back in her bed now, of course! :) Here are the pics:

Emma's Valentines

Little miss Emma made some Valentines today for her friends. I am so proud of her. She's going to be a better stamper than her Mommy soon! She did everything herself except cut the hearts out. I wanted to make sure that the words showed when she didn't get them on the heart, so I cut around them and I think she would have just cut them off. The hearts are a little small, too, for an almost-4 year-old to have the dexterity to cut out. They are for her friends Claire and Skyler (as you should be able to read inside of them!) who she gets to see today and do some Valentine's activities with. Emma is doing so well with her writing and learning the sounds of letters. We bought the Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten Learn to Read kit. It wasn't the largest kit they have, but after just ONE lesson with it, she has about 2/3 of the letter sounds down. Of course, we'll see if she still remembers them tomorrow, practice makes perfect, but I was a little skeptical if the HoP would work, and it seems to be doing great! My only criticism of the program we bought is that they used flashcards in conjunction with a CD, and even for an adult it's a little hard to turn the cards fast enough to keep up with the letters sometimes. It's great other than that, so far! Anyway, today I wanted to spotlight Emma's little cards, so here they are! She used the stamp set Sweet Talk, the pocket notes from the Winter Mini in Chocolate Chip, some Real Red and Whisper White paper, Classic inks in Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal and Gable Green. The hearts are each popped up with dimensionals. For the writing on the inside she used a white Crayola crayon. :) Enjoy!

Coaster Share - They've Shipped!!!!

Just to update all those of you in my coaster share. They shipped on Friday and will be here this Friday (the 16th). I will do my best to get them out Monday/Tuesday of next week. I have a Stamp Camp this Saturday, so please bear with me. They will be on their way AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!!

Just for fun, another one of those silly quizzes:

You Follow Your Head

You're rational, collected, and logical. Generally, it takes you quite a while to fall in love. In fact, you've even been accused of being very picky. While you're cool, you're not ice cold. You just know what you want, and don't mind waiting to get it.

Do You Follow Your Head or Your Heart?

WE HAVE A WINNER!!

Little miss Emma drew number 15 out of the "hat" and that is Joyce! Here's what Joyce said she was doing with/for her significant other this Valentine's Day:

Joyce T. said...
My hubby and I will be celebrating 40 years in November. He works out of town through the week so we will just be sharing our e-flowers and I will make him a special card. We don't do gifts for each other, but usually go out to eat and spend special time with each other.
Hope I win because I would love to coaster to play with!!

Joyce, please e-mail me your mailing address, and I will get those coasters out to you in next week's mail. There should be an e-mail link in my profile at the top right, I believe.

So, what am I going to do for my husband? Well, I got someone to watch our kids, we're going out to dinner, of course he gets a card, and basically since we both don't need anything, we decided not to waste our money on things and just enjoy some kid-less time. We've got some big home-improvements coming with our house we own and rent, to sell it, so our money would do better going there than buying flowers that will die in a week, or chocolate that will make my pregnant physique even less attractive than it already is! :) Thanks so much for all of the great ideas! I think we found what will work best for us, and your inspiration was much appreciated and fun to hear!

Here is a card we made last night at my workshop. It was a simple one because I had beginner stampers, and I wanted to showcase the punch that will be leaving us when the Winter Mini goes away. The small tag punch "might" come back in the July Idea Book and Catalog. I would put money on it being in there, but you never know! We used my dusty crimper and the Tag Time stamp set, and that's about all there is to this card! Enjoy!

Here's another of those silly blog quizzes. I saw this one on Allison's blog and thought I'd post it here to tide you over till Monday with both a card and a quiz!

You Should Rule Jupiter

Huge and hot, Jupiter is a quickly turning planet with short days and intense gravity. You are perfect to rule Jupiter, because you are both dominant and kind. You have great strength and confidence, but you never abuse your power. You are always right. Even if you make mistakes, you compensate for them... before anyone knows it. Headstrong and ambitious, you always have a goal in mind. You are optimistic and believe thing things will always work out.

What Planet Should You Rule?

MY 1ST BLOG CANDY!

***The time/date stamp on this post will be edited each day to keep it at the top (I don't know any other way to keep it there) so check below for newer posts and pictures.***

***I had a workshop get scheduled for tonight after I posted this, and realized I'll have to extend the contest a little. I'll have my daughter draw tomorrow (Sat) morning at 8 a.m.***

So, I'm sitting here thinking about how Valentine's day is only about a week away, and I have no idea what to do/get my hubby!!!! I thought that since quite a few people actually check in with my blog (still not sure why? LOL), maybe you could help me figure something out. I would love to hear what you are doing/getting for your significant other. Obviously, you don't necessarily know mine very well, so asking for suggestions might not work well, but I thought that perhaps what you are doing or giving yours will inspire me on what to do for mine.

So, leave me a comment and tell me what you're getting your hubby, and this will be how I give away my very first BLOG CANDY!!!!! I will have my daughter, Emma, draw a comment out of a "hat" to get the winner on Saturday the 10th at 8:00 a.m. central time. Get your comments in before then!!!

What's the blog candy you're probably wondering? Well, I am doing a coaster order as many of you know, and I will send you TWENTY coasters to do whatever you please with! These blank coasters are all the rage on SCS and can be turned into boxes, books, calendars, albums, and all kinds of other things. Here's a link that has some good pictures for you to give you ideas. If you go into the "forums" section of SCS and type in "coaster" in the forum search, you will come up with hundreds of posts on them. So.... tell me what you're getting your significant other and you'll be entered to win 20 coasters! Just so you know, if you make one of THESE SUPER CUTE boxes, it takes 5 coasters. That means you can make 4 of them out of the coasters I'm giving away! If you want to make one of THESE really cute Mini Books, you only need 2 coasters, so you could make TEN of them!!!

Also, here's another one of those goofy quizzes that I like to post on here every now and then. My girls like Sesame Street alot, so I thought this one was relevant to us :)

You Are Big Bird

Talented, smart, and friendly... you're also one of the sanest people around. You are usually feeling: Happy. From riding a unicycle to writing poetry, you have plenty of hobbies to keep you busy. You are famous for: Being a friend to everyone. Even the grumpiest person gets along with you. How you live your life: Joyfully. "Super. Duper. Flooper."

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Feb. Group Meeting Make & Take

Here is the card that the ladies who come to our February Group Meeting will make. I really like this Winter Mini DS paper a lot!!! I thought a Valentine would be fun to make so this is what I went with. There is paper piercing, sponging on the DS paper, and other than that - nothing really fancy about the card at all. I used the Level II hostess set "A is for Adorable", and the Winter Mini stamp set "Fancy Flexible Phrases" for the sentiment on the bottom of the card. I was thrilled to use some hostess benefits to get the Fancy Flexible Phrases for free - being a hostess myself every now and then is great! I didn't want the make and take to be too complicated or time consuming and I think that the card turned out pretty cute. I hope they like it!

At least I have a card....

Well, as you can see in my very first blog candy giveaway (if you want a chance to win 20 alterable blank coasters all you have to do is post a comment in my blog candy post), I don't know what to do yet for my hubby for Valentine's Day, but at least I finished his card today :)

You can't see it very well, but the top right heart has distressed edges. Each heart is popped up with a dimensional (you can sort of see one under the bottom left heart - oops!). All but the bottom right Chocolate Chip squares are popped up on the big glue dots. I didn't pop up that fourth one so that the hardware could sit on top of it.

I used the Mon Ami stamp set - all of it - for the hearts. I used Well Worn Words for that darker square of Buckaroo Blue behind the four chocolate chip squares. I embossed the top left heart with Gold e.p. on Buckaroo Blue CS. The top right and bottom left hearts are just stamped in Buckaroo Blue on Buckaroo Blue CS. The bottom right heart is also on Buckaroo Blue CS, but I used Chocolate Chip ink to stamp it. I did some paper piercing along the four corners, and used Fancy Flexible phrases for the "Love You" in the hardware. I used my trusty small oval punch to punch that sentiment out so that it fit perfectly in the hardware. The ribbon I used was chocolate and french blue grosgrain made by SU! There is a SU! vintage brad on the top right heart. On the little piece of vellum under that same heart, I used the word "love" from the Everyday Flexible Phrases set, and it matches the font on the heart perfectly. I also distressed the edges of the vellum to match the heart on top of it.

I hope that he likes it and you do too!!!

Coasters Have Been Ordered

I'm still missing money from some of you. I WILL NOT send them to you if I don't have your money by the time the coasters arrive. I guess that just means more for me (I'll be SWIMMING in coasters!). See this post to find out if I've received your money. If I get it after they come, I will shred your check and let you know. Thanks.

I ordered the coasters today, and there was a price increase.The coaster prices went up since they last quoted SCS users. I just wanted to let you know that there was an increase so that you aren’t surprised if you try to do one of these shares again and the prices are different. To my best guess, they’ve increased as such (but I’m not a math whiz) and this is JUST AN FYI (it probably will be less than $1 per increment of 50):

50 - $6.55
100 - $10.05
200 - $15.10
300 - $18.10

I do appreciate all of the cute cards so far, too!!! Thanks, ladies!!

BRAK

What is a BRAK you may ask? It stands for Birthday Random Act of Kindness. Stampers just seem to love sending people stuff for no reason, and I am definitely included in that statement. Hence, the acronym RAK. Well, when someone has a Birthday, you can do the same thing, send someone you perhaps don't know, or don't know well, a birthday card. This card is for a certain someone who's on SplitCoastStampers, that is a really great girl and an inspirational stamper. I hope she likes it. I had a lot of fun making it. The Sell-A-Bration set I used was Very Punny (for the bird) and it was the stamp set I thought I would like the least out of SAB, but I find I'm using it the most! The paper I used is the Winter Mini Designer Series paper called "Loves Me" and I love IT!!! Anyway, for a little contrast between the pink polka-dotted sheet of paper and the card base, I did some light sponging around the edges of the DS paper. On that DS paper, I used the sentiment from Love Ya Bunches to say "happy bird-day to you!" I got that set when SU! offered it for 1/2 off recently. I used my Giga Scalloped Circle Punch made by Marvy Uchida for the Taken with Teal layer. For the DS paper circle, I used my Mega Circle Punch, also made by Marvy. I used SU!'s two largest circle punches (1 3/8" and 1 1/4") to make the layer for the stamped image and the Regal Rose layer behind it. I did some piercing on each scallop but decided not to outline the holes with my Signo Gel pen as I almost always do :) Thanks for looking, and I would love to hear what you think!

*****COMING SOON - my very first BLOG CANDY contest for my blog hitting 5000 views! I never saw that day coming - certainly not this quickly!

I'm a Bad Best Friend

I came across the card I had made (and even written in!) to send to my best friend, Cheryl, and it was tucked in with a bunch of sample cards that were out during my last Stamp Camp. Oops!! Her birthday was the 31st. I didn't get to call her that day either, so I stink at this best friend job! Anyway, she and I share a joke from high school concerning frogs, so I thought that this Sell-A-Bration set (Very Punny) has the perfect little froggie to congratulate her on both her birthday and getting her white jacket at P.A. school. They have a ceremony to receive their jackets, and she called and told me she had gotten her jacket (that's all she said), and I said, "what jacket?" Dumb me. Well, I told my mom that Cheryl had "gotten her jacket," and my mom said the same thing, "what jacket?" I must say, Cheryl is the first P.A. in training I've ever known, so I didn't know that there was a ceremony to get the jacket and that it was kind of a milestone in their schooling. Anyway, CONGRATS Cheryl, and happy birthday!! Your card went in the mail today!!! :) I guess this spoils the surprise of the card, but you can't see what's written in it at least, and then this way it's not two-three more days late!!!


This next image is another name frame that I made for a friend who's having a little boy sometime in the next week. She has 2 little girls, and her family is so excited to be blessed with a little boy next. I'm so happy for her!! Here's little Clark's frame:

Another No Layers CASE

I thought I would show you the difference a spectrum pad makes. My masking didn't work so well. I used post-it notes to mask out my rectangles, but on both images ink managed to get underneath the sticky part in some spots. I've heard of using masking tape, but wonder if that could rip the paper? Maybe SUPER sticky post-its would work better. Anyway, when you use a spectrum pad, the blending between the colors is so much more smooth and subtle. Not as much of a "line" between the two shows as when you simply brayer each individual color on as in my previous CASE that you can see here. The original card I CASE'd by Jen del Muro can be found here. I hope you enjoy them!!

This first card uses the SU! Cotton Candy spectrum pad, Black StazOn, Happy Hearts stamp set (retired) and the also retired stamp set A Light Heart for the sentiment.


This 2nd card uses the SU! Celebration spectrum pad, Black StazOn, a Basic Black marker, and the Happy Harmony Sell-A-Bration stamp set.