The Snowpocalypse and More Love

Hey all! I've been a little distracted this week with the 6" of snow that the good Lord dumped on the Atlanta area Sunday night. I've been responsible for getting the store's workforce to the building each day, since I'm the only one with a large vehicle capable of traversing snow with 4 wheel drive. The shift supervisor stayed at my house for 3 nights because she lives too far from the store to make it in in this weather. We were open 3 hours on Monday, 5 hours yesterday, and will be open 8 hours today. Three days later there are many still trapped in their subdivisions, since those roads haven't been plowed at all and they're hilly and glazed with ice.

It has been quite an adventure, and I hope that things will get back to normal by the weekend. The boy hasn't had school all week, and who knows if he'll go Friday. All the built-in "inclement weather" days the school system had in the calendar have been used, and it looks like we'll be losing some extra days around President's Day and Easter. Michael could care less what it means for the future; he's just happy to have had all the time in the world to play computer games!

Before the storm struck, I did make some cards, which I'll share with you over the next few days.

My last post was of a card using Lots of Love Letterpress Plate for the Big Shot, and this one is another example. This is a CASE of Lydia Fiedler's card. I used Crumb Cake and inked the plate with Whisper White craft ink. I love the look! I mounted it on Cherry Cobbler and added the heart from Always, also stamped in Cherry Cobbler. I added some Victoria Crochet Trim and Cherry Cobbler seam binding and made it wavy by adding tape to the back and scrunching it against the card stock as I went. I'm still not sure how I feel about this way of adding ribbon to a project, but I'm going with it and hoping it'll grow on me. What do you think of it?

A Birthday and Retro Birdies

I've been quiet here for a week because, aside from celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary last week, we also celebrated my only son's 16th. Yes. The big 1-6. (He's the one in the white shirt in front of the bowl of ice cream with candles.) He wanted to have some friends over to play a MMOG (massive multi-player online game), so that was his party. They brought their computers (hard drive towers and monitors, not laptops), and set up in our basement. It went on all night long, but I was in bed. But with all the planning and partying, there wasn't much time for stamping.

Then I spent the early days of this week cleaning my house for out-of-town guests that arrive Friday. You know, fun stuff like mopping hardwood floors, cleaning bathrooms, and laundering sheets and towels. Today, I'm all caught up, so I was jonesin' for some crafting.

I scrolled through my saved posts in my blog reader, and came across this photo that I loved and wanted to try to replicate in a card. It's by illustrator Wayne Pate, and I was drawn to it by the retro feel and the whimsy.

Here's the card that resulted. I used my 2-Step Bird Punch, Whisper White and Concord Crush card stock from the new InColor Collection. I layered them on Poppy Parade card stock, also from the InColor Collection, and matted that on Whisper White. The base is 4.25" x 11" scored at 2.75" in from each end.

I used one of the sentiments from the Always stamp set and used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to place each part of the sentence where I wanted them on each bird. I was able to ink up just the words I wanted using the Concord Crush Stampin' Write Marker. I also used this to add the legs. For the white legs, I used something that didn't work out like I'd tested it. I used a White-Out pen. I have yet to find a really good, reliable, non-clogging white pen, but I made do.

The hearts are from the inside of a security envelope and were punched with the Small Heart Punch. I used the little flower buttons from the Designer Buttons Neutrals Collection. So cute! But I couldn't leave well enough alone. I felt like the button needed some thread so that the holes wouldn't glare at me against the Concord Crush birdies. So, I cut some very thin strips of Whisper White and used them as thread. Don't ask me how many tries it took me to get a simple tie, but it was worth it! I adhered them with Mini Glue Dots.

Well, this was a fun exercise. I'd love to see your take on Wayne Pate's birdies.

Hip to be Square!

I struggle coming up with creative titles for my posts! But this card has lots of little squares and I grew up in the 80s, which was synonymous with Huey Lewis and the News, for me at least. It's how my mind works.

This card was really inspired not by Huey, but by Mary Fish. I chose this card's color scheme to give some time in the spotlight to a few colors that are retiring at the end of next month: Really Rust and Sage Shadow.

The retiring colors will be available until June 30, or while supplies last. We demonstrators were informed last week that some card stock has already begun to be depleted, so textured card stock in the same color is being substituted until it runs out too. The reinkers will be restocked until May 30, and then once the stock is depleted, they will not be replenished.

I stamped images from these sets, just pulling out what I liked and what I thought went well together. All were stamped in Chocolate Chip classic ink, which is being moved from the Earth Elements family (which is being renamed the Regals Collection), into the Neutrals Collection.

These 1.25" squares were mounted on the Really Rust card stock, and accented with Sage Shadow .25" grosgrain ribbon, and a butterfly stamped in SS and mounted on top of the same image, creating a shadow of sorts.

Thoroughly Modern Always

I had the great pleasure of facilitating a workshop with a group of friends last Saturday (hey ladies!), and this was one of the cards I taught them to make. They all like birds, so the Always stamp set was a logical choice.

I featured a unique use for the Thoroughly Modern File Folders that are part of a unique office organization collection, featured on pages 116 and 117 of the Big Idea Book & Catalog. I had ordered the file folders for this project, and had some of them left over. Gotta make use of what you have, right? I cut those folders up and made a cute card using the folder pieces as I would Designer Series Paper.

The 3" square featuring the bird image is stamped in Soft Suede, one of this year's InColors that is being incorporated into the new Color Collection as a neutral. The base is Melon Mambo, also an IC that is being added to the core line of colors as part of the new Brights Collection. (To read more about the Color Renovation, see this post and this post.)

I used the Scallop Circle punch and some of the folder to make a great little accent element. The always stamp was colored direct to rubber and punched out with the 1.25" circle punch. A little hemp twine bow adhered with a glue dot, and this card was DONE, quickly and easily, and it was very well received.

Now that things have quieted down, you'll see more posts. There's a new Summer Mini Catalog that has cool stamps in it, including one featuring ICE CREAM!

One Husband's Adventure in Card Making

My friend Nina's birthday was yesterday, and her husband Scott wanted to communicate to her how much he loves her and asked for my help. He sent a message to me through my husband a few weeks ago and asked me to design 3 cards for her that he would make and then give to her throughout the day. Isn't that SWEET?!?

Of course I told him I would, but that was one of the most challenging assignments I'd taken on in some time. I didn't know what he was looking for, and I don't have a real good read on her style either, even though she's one of my friends and a fellow crafter.

Scott arranged a ruse, with the help of my husband, so he could come over here last Saturday--men need help from other men with things around the house, like with painting (wink wink). Needless to say, he was amazed at all the different techniques and tools I incorporated into the cards he made! He thought it was unique that he would make his own "Hallmark" on the back and include his signature of his art, but I stressed that these cards would be kept by his wife for a long time, and that she would want to remember the year he did this.

Here are the cards I designed, but that he created. The first one used some rub-ons from It's a Loop Thing, and he said when he saw it that it would be his wife's favorite. I know Nina LOVES bees, so I that's why I'd chosen these images. This is a gate fold card base with More Mustard card stock, stamped with the flower stamp from Loop to Loop set. The rub-ons were mounted on Whisper White and matted on Chocolate Chip. The accents on each side are scraps from a Simply Scrappin' kit.

The second one was made using some special extras I'd hoarded. Cool Caribbean is one of my favorite InColors of the past, and it's the base for this card. I used the Stampin' Around Petals jumbo wheel (retired) inked with Versamark to create the very soft subtle background. The color scheme was determined initially by this strip of flowers in Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Cool Caribbean. The sentiment is from God's Blessings, and Scott LOVED it.

The third card took me back to the coordinating DSP that went with the rub-ons and the stamp set from the first card. Who says you can't breathe new life into stashed stuff? The base is Pink Pirouette, and I fashioned the card so that it would look like a wrapped package (I did tie the bow for the man--those are hard for large hands!). The scalloped squares are punched in Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, and PP. The sentiment is from Always, stamped in Riding Hood Red.

When I spoke with Nina yesterday, she told me about the cards and how she loves the bee one, and how what he said in the card brought tears to her eyes. I believe Scott hit the bull's eye on this birthday! Feel free to copy this post to your husband, and I'll help him too. It's not too late for Valentine's Day!

A Good Color Combination Goes a Long Way

I was casting about this afternoon for something that would move me to complete my prep work for my SAS tomorrow (ssshhhh....don't tell that I tend to work best under deadline pressure), and I saw this color combination on SCS. It's a Cameo Coral base, Whisper White, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, and Lavender Lace.

I had also pulled out my Always stamp set. It's still in the catalog (which, news flash (at least to me), is the ONLY ONE we'll have this year), and it hadn't seen any ink in a long time. It's always--no pun intended--a good idea to go through your stash of stamp sets regularly to see if you can use one you haven't in awhile. Use a new layout. Use an existing layout. Use a new color combination. Any or all of these refreshes the set, making it seem "new" again. Try it!

The best detail of this card is the ribbon. It's threaded with two Flower Ribbon Slide Hodgepodge Hardware pieces that are retired, but that I never got around to using until today. When you cast your bread upon the water, good things happen. I'm not sure what that means, but my I'll leave that to your personal interpretation.

I laid down some adhesive to keep the ribbon in place after I threaded both slides and positioned them. They're the perfect touch that I was looking for!

I'm breathin' easy tonight; no early rising for me until Monday! Going to stamp tomorrow with the gals, eat lunch and go boating with the volunteers from church, and try to really relax. Be on the lookout for a way cool Christmas offering, coming soon!

February SAS Card #2

The Always set has been one of the most popular of the Spring-Summer Collection, and here's a second card that was made using it. (See this post for the first card.)

I've seen a few cards with this color combination of Chocolate Chip and Groovy Guava, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I also had saved a card in SCS that had mentioned being able to heat emboss with classic ink and versamark and a stamp-a-ma-jig. Normally a craft ink, which is pigment based and not water based, is used as a base for embossing powder. But who has every color SU! makes in both craft and classic inks? Not I! I also knew I needed more practice with the stamp-a-ma-jig, so I tried this to see if it would work.

Like a charm, it did!! All I did was stamp the image with the CC ink, aligning the upper left corner of the stamping block with the T-square and the clear plastic sheet. Then I replaced the clear plastic sheet with Very Vanilla card stock and stamped with the same CC ink again. I cleaned the stamp and without moving the VV or the T-squareI re-inked my birdie with Versamark and stamped it again over the classic CC ink. Perfect alignment and a super glossy result! I think you'll enjoy learning to use this tool.

The ribbon in the corner and the layers being asymmetrical just sort of happened. More fun than the original layout of someone's that I was going to adapt, I think! What do you think?

My husband has rehearsal tonight with the band for the Sunday service at our church, so Michael and I are on our own this evening. Can you say "pizza"? (Homemade though.) The boy has a project to do about a poet, and it's due next Tuesday. Having just completed a speech for the same class, he's not all that enthused about another deadline, so there will have to be some creative "hand holding" to get him started on this next project.

Perhaps there will be time for more stamping this evening, but I probably should wait until tomorrow. My shoulders are telling me that I've been spending too much time looking down today! The things I put myself through for the sake of crafting! If anyone has any suggestions on how I can alter my environment to ease this pain, I'm all ears.

Everything...Always

One of the hottest sets from the Spring-Summer 2008 Collection is the set called Always. The set of 11 has really struck a chord with stampers and demonstrators alike, and I decided to see if I could be as convinced as the rest were.

I AM! This set has a very good combination of images and sentiments, especially if you need to make a card that's romantic for that holiday that's coming in just 5 days.

For this card, I knew I wanted to do something different. Different size. Different color scheme. So, I searched my vertical file folder stash of papers for a new combination. The first card stock I came to that I had lots of was Bordering Blue. Okay, that'll by my base, and it's in the Rich Regals family. A quick look see at my ink pads, which are organized by color families, and I knew my options. I grabbed Regal Rose, So Saffron, and Always Artichoke. Lovely.

Next I wanted to try for myself something I'd seen on Fran Sabad's blog, franticstampers (isn't that a great play on her name?). So, I made each of the colors beside the base into 2.5" squares and scored them every .5" to create mini tiles. Stamped the heart image, with its wonderful detail, on each in its own ink color and I had a good design going.

In my perusing of the SCS gallery for this set, I'd seen someone add an arrow to it. The "everything" stamp seemed just the right width and length to serve the purpose. The tip is just free handed. Then for the most challenging part of the entire card: placing the words "you mean" and "to me." I dug out the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, and have to admit there was operator error with my first attempt. So, I went back to eyeballing it and was successful.

Since you've been so good to humor me and read to this point, I'll share the detail I put on the inside of the card. It's a nice unifying feature to repeat the color scheme on the interior of the card, and the little circle flower details worked just great for this. I'm going to be purchasing the .5" circle punch, though, because cutting those little babies out by hand was NOT fun!

I'm cookin' up an opportunity for YOU to get your hands on this set and get a FREE stamp set to boot! Stay tuned...