Bind it all extravaganza

Recently my next door neighbor rang my doorbell and asked me if I would like to help her with some Christmas gifts. I had given away a notepad I had made as a prize during one of our monthly Pokeno games. Everyone I play Pokeno with was totally impressed. LOL. They are not crafty , they don't stamp or scrapbook so they had nothing to base their impression of them on. Lucky for me! Anyway, she wanted them to be personalized with her recipients names. I had a hard time coming up with a way to do that. I cheated and borrowed an idea from a previous project. I told her I would make them each different, no 2 alike and she liked that idea. It really only took me about 4-5 hours total to make these. I got faster as I went along. They are filled with plain copy paper that I had cut at the Office Depot, then I just bound them using the Bind It All. The chipboard is mostly from Stampin' Up. Most of the paper is basic grey, different 6x6 paper packs. I used PTI papers on 2 of them. I hope she likes them.

My heart is a flutter

A little something I threw together to celebrate my 23 wedding anniversary.

Spooky Card

This weekend was super busy. I was Co-host for the Austin Texas SCS Shoebox swap and wow, am I tired. Tonight as I was going through all my doorpizes and cards and stuff I was motivated to stamp. I won this Unity stamp set called Unlucky 13. I have to admit, it's the first Halloween set I have ever owned. I always think Halloween cards are so cute but I know I would never send anyone a halloween card...until now. My daughter is away at college and I will send her a little something this year. I had no idea where to begin so I just went for it. The ribbon across the top is bats...how cute is that?!

This view shows the embossing

I know it's kind of plain but I am a Halloween card virgin so try to cut me some slack.Maybe I will dream up something more elaborate tomorrow.

The final piece

Here is the final piece of my doorprize. No one really wants just a bunch of homemade stuff so I am including a giftcard with my prize. I love to alter tins, they just have endless possibilities. Again, matchy matchy!

Doorprize

Hello everyone. I know it's been a very long time since I posted. I have had some major changes in my life over the last couple of months and stamping and crafting have taken the biggest hit. I had to just let it all go for awhile but hopefully I can get back to it soon. I do have a couple things to show you. This weekend is the Austin Texas SCS shoebox swap and I am co-hosting with a couple other SCS'ers. We are having 38 attendees this year and we are doing something different. It's going to be at a retreat center in Georgetown instead of our usual location. That means we will be staying overnight, well actually, 2 nights.Not everyone is staying over night but we do have the facility all weekend. So I have my card ready and most of my doorprize ready.I decided to use a color theme for all my projects...it simplified my life. I need simple right now. I am recovering from major surgury, a hysterectomy, followed by a major post-op bladder infection. Not fun. I hope to be ready to have fun this weekend!

This is the first section.

This is the second section for projects other than cards.

The chip board album is from Jody Morrow she sells all kinds of cool diecuts and chipboard products. I was able to use my CB to cut out the chipboard letters for the cover. When I ordered the album I went ahead and purchased a 12 x 12 sheet of black chipboard and I used the CB Redtag alphabet. The nightlight was a Target dollarspot item that I covered and altered. I plan to have one more item that I haven't got yet (yikes)but will be ready on Friday for sure.

I used PTI CS in Razberry Fizz and Black. Razberry Fizz ribbon. SU oval punch and scalloped oval punch. All stamps are penny black stamps. Images colored with Copic markers.

Inspirational tree

Starting to try to stamp again this week but not sure I can keep it up or not. My daughter is leaving for college on Friday and we have stuff to do this week.

Stamps: Unity Pocket Full of... and ...Another Sweet Day

Paper: Basic grey Lemonade, PTI white and rasberry fizz

Ink: Mommento, colored with copic markers

Accessories: PTI ribbon, Sworovski Crystals

Heading out

I will be without computer access for a few days while I take my son and a friend to Port Aransas, Texas to the coast. I will also be without my stamps. I will probably need therapy and detox by the third day. Good thing I have my Smirnoff Green Apple drinks and a couple girly, romance books to read and my iPod charged and ready to go. I plan to sit under an umbrella and pretend the water is blue and relax. Be back next week when I plan to knock out some more Unity cards.

Karen

Unity daisy

So my good friend Jody recently enabled/pushed/enticed/coerced me into to getting into the Unity stamps. Now I have successfully avoided going down the Unity path for over a year while I was busy getting over my A muse and MFT addictions. But Jody has a way of making every stamp she uses look so fabulous that I must follow her like a lemming and get whatever she is using at the time. its like stamp crack or something. Anyway, I am now the proud new member of the KOTM club. That means I will be buying whatever they throw out there for me once a month. It's great, there are like 25 images per sheet of unmounted rubber. Woohoo. This is the first one I inked up. Its from the Perfect in Every Way set. I pared it up with some Basic grey Junebug paper and some SU pumkin and grey. colored with Copics. I am still using outdoor lighting for taking my pictures. I have not set up my light box in a couple months. I will eventually get it out again. I am waiting until it drives me crazy enough to force my hand. I am weird like that.

I stamped...its a heat wave miracle

I finally stamped again! I think I broke my creative muscles or something this summer. I just haven't had the urge to stamp. I needed a birthday card ASAP and I wasn't about to go buy a card! I also had to install my photo editing software on my new computer before I could even post a picture. It's been rough LOL. Anyway, here it is. I used the SU set Trendy Trees. The sentiment is from A Muse. Paper is from Basic grey Lemonade 6x6 pad. Hope you like it. I even broke out the buttons. I have been hording them for awhile now!

Another Fathers day

Here is the next one. This time I used Park Avenue and 5th Avenue sets from SU. DS paper from SU too. Gotta run quick because I have 3 birthday cards to make as well.

Fathers Day rush

Working feverishly quick to get my Fathers Day cards done. One down 2 to go. This is for the hubby. Its a long card, 6.5" so I can put a gift certificate inside. I am in a mad rush to get these done before we leave for the lake on Thursday! Yikes!

MFT challenge card week 3

I decided to finally participate in a challenge on SCS again. This time the MFT weekly challenge, week 3 Trifold or gate fold card. I had received a few diecuts from my friend Jody and I have been wanting to try them out. I don't have my light box set up right now and I decided to try to take a picture in full daylight. I am not sure you can see the details or not so this is a test.

Stamps: MFT wind Down Annie Lapont stamp, Time for the Bubbly, Girls night In

Ink: Mommento Black, Baja Breeze

Paper: Baja Breeze, Blue Bayou, PTI White

Accessories: Su ribbon, brad, and linen thread, Colored with Copic markers and Spica pens

Major Award

I am so so excited! My major Award package came by UPS just now! If any of you ever get a chance to stop by and read my favorite non-stamping related blog, go now and read Confessions of a Pioneer Woman . It is the best blog ever! She has very creative and wonderful stories of her family and life on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. She has contests for lots of cool things all the time too. Sometimes its a kitchen aide mixer, sometimes its bath and body products from Sephora, sometimes its gift cards from Amazon. You never know! Anyone that knows me knows I love to win stuff! (hello- Vegas) I know it doesn't seem all that exciting but it sure made my day! This stuff really does small great! When I finish cleaning today I plan to use these products and luxuriate(new word) away the evening LOL. I love that it came with free samples of perfume too. There is Donna Karan Cashmere Mist, Cosmedicine Primary Care Multi moisturizer, and Ralph Lauren Ralph perfume. She even included a little note card saying:
Congratulations Karen! I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
Love PW

WooHoo! Now I need to go play the lottery or something!

Pinkie Rockstar

I heard my niece-inlaw was having a Rockstar themed birthday this year so I made another Rockstar card for her this time. Hope she likes it.

Rockstar Graduate

This card was made for my DD's graduation this Sunday. I needed a card using the school colors but it was really hard to find Royal blue paper so I decided to use Brilliant Blue which is close enough. She won't mind at all.

Inks: Glimmer Mist spray, Copic markers and Mommento Black.
Stamps: MFT BZ Dyzns Hey Chica
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Reminisce Graduation Day Paper and Hats off Stripe by The paper Company Studio, Silver
Accessories: Silver Brads, Spica glitter pens, Stickers by Doodle-bug shin-dig, SU oval scallop punch and oval punch, Chipboard by Bazzil

Organizing my copics

I have been struggling with my copic storage for awhile now and I really needed something new.
When I fist started collecting them I ordered a clear acrylic marker holder from copic but it really only works for the original(square) ones. Because I love A Muse so much, I thought I was going to buy all originals. Well once I got started I realized that I liked the sketch copics better. They wobble in the acrylic holder and didn't stay put very well. Then I started buying too many to fit in the case for 72. So I had them stuffed in between the slots...it was a mess. I knew my friend Jody had bought a set of cubes from Office Max that had a big X in the middle and so I started looking for them. They are 6x6" cubes that have a metal clip you can use to hook them together. I went to my Office max store and they were no longer available, then I tried Office Depot and Target looking for them. No one had them. They are made by Rubbermaid so I thought they would be easy to find. Nope! I ended up ordering them online. I hate paying postage but I wasn't having any luck finding them. I have to say, Office Max has incredibly fast shipping, like almost overnight. Now when I look at my Copics divided up by color group, I realize I need more LOL! I am really lacking neutrals and I never have the right shade of green either. I have no idea what I will do with my acrylic copic holder so for now it is sitting on top of the blocks on its side and I am sticking a few frequently used inks on it.

If anyone needs an acrylic copic holder for Original(square) markers let me know, maybe we can trade something.

Hoot Hoot

Here is the second card I made from the Hero Arts Big Owl stamp. I was stamping the image to borrow and when I stamped it off the edge thinking I wanted to have just the top so I could cut out the eyes and pop them up on another card, I took one look and liked it stamped off and it gave me an idea for another card. (sorry about the run on sentence, hard to explain) Basic Grey DS paper and some pumpkin paper were used to complete the card. Thank you for letting me borrow him Jody!

Tattered Trio

I have new stuff, can you tell? LOL. I bought this stamp from Stamp Salado, it's a Penny Black stamp, I love those stamps and I have a nice collection of them now. I think it is called Garden Poems. The store also carried the Distressed Crackle Paints from Ranger and I used that on the background of the flowers. The color is called Shabby Shutters. You brush it on , wait for it to dry and crackle, then you stamp over the top. I painted it over a Pacific Blue CS so that it would show through in spots. The designer paper is from My Minds Eye, Bohemia collection. I experimented by coloring the image using copic markers and I like the way it turned out. I distressed all the edges of the card layers with my distressing tool. The sentiment is stamped in Versa mark then embossed in Judi kins Chocolate Sparkle EP. I think next time I want more crackle so I need to figure out how to achieve that.

Big Owl

While my friend Jody was here this week, we went stamp shopping and she bought this Big Owl stamp from Hero Arts and the branch. I wasn't sure I wanted to buy him or or not so I borrowed him while she was here and stamped him a few times. He is so original and cute I just wanted to try him out first. i think I have three other owl sets already LOL. The sentiment is from a PTI owl set that I have never used before. His eyes are colored separately and popped up for added interest.

I am determined to start stamping again. We have been having alot of stuff going on in our lives and I have gotten away from my stamp time. I really need it in my life to keep me sane. I just need that creative outlet. I am ignoring the three loads of laundry that need to be folded right now and doing this instead. LOL. Oh well, atleast I washed the clothes.

Little Birdie Box

Don't faint! I made something! LOL. MFT has a new template for a cute little easel box created by my friend Jody Morrow and it's

FREE!

I used Chipboard from SU's Tweet Talk se, covered in DS paper from Hello Sunshine. I haven't put a treat inside the box yet but I think maybe a gift card would be cute inside this or even money. Hope you like it.

I am not dead

Yet.

Sorry about my absence from blogging lately. I haven't really stamped much of anything lately. My MIL had a second stroke and has been in the hospital so we have been busy. She was moved to a rehab hospital here in Austin and my FIL is staying at my SIL's house. We have been going to the hospital and then to have dinner with them pretty often. I also have my daughter about to graduate from high school so there have been things for her going on as well. I am working on getting the announcements addressed and mailed. Someday I am going to have time to stamp for fun again. I did make my mother a mothers day card. It was cased and so I didn't feel right about posting it. I am hoping I have another Mothers day card in my stash to give to my MIL tomorrow. Yikes, I guess I better go check. Anyway, I am still alive, I just have life getting in the way of my favorite pastime.

Here is a picture of my beautiful daughter that I had made for her graduation pictures. I am so proud of her.

Poll is open for week 3 MFT IDOL

Vote Here

MFT Idol Week 8

This weeks challenge for the MFT Idol contest was to use the new unreleased stamp set "Girl's Night out". I decided to make a card box set with 4 cards using the set. It was harder than it looks. Ha! I have been sick for the past 4 days and didn't really get to work on this until Monday which was really last minute in my world. very stressful for me! Its very hard to photograph the whole set so this is what I came up with. *This card box is created using A Timeless Template from PTI & Lauren Meader.

Pretty in Pink and Basic grey papers. Colored with copic markers. Heidi Swapp ghost flower, Paper Studio glitter brad, May Arts ribbons, SU tag makers, and SU designer prints papers.

Pattern Paper is from MFT summer collection, SU red and Pink, tempting Turquoise as well. SU scallop punch, Clear Spica pens give it a shimmer.

Another MFT Pattern Paper choice here, EK Success Border Punch, Paper studio brads, May Art Ribbons.

MFT paper, SU red and White, SU window punch and Scallop border punch, Paper Studio brads, SU ribbon, Cuttlebug swiss dot embossing folder.

As usual, voting will begin tonight around 8pm EST. in the SCS forum. Thanks for looking.

Vote on SCS in the MFT forum

Vote HERE
Thanks for your support

MFT Idol Contest- Week 2 - Masking

Here it is, my week 2 contest entry. This weeks theme is masking. I masked off the carrots that normally ride inside the wheelbarrow and added a cupcake. The grass was also masked. This gift set contains a card, a Petaloo Magnetic Gift Tag, and an Altered Shopping list.

The card uses the new MFT Summer collection designer paper paper. Red Riding hood CS and chocolate CS, along with Pink Pirouette CS. SU felt flowers, a prima, a paper studio glitter brad and colored with Copic markers.

I received this Petaloo Magnetic tag in one of my First MFT orders and it has taken me along time to use it. Its real cute with its scalloped edge.

Here is the outside cover of the shopping list. It also uses the MFT Summer paper. I picked this littleshopping list from a shopping trip over the holidays to Pier 1 Imports. I had intended to alter it some day and today was the day. Here is a shot of the inside too.

I hope you enjoy my little project for this week. Voting begins at 10pm EST on SCS in the MFT forum.

Welcome home Sugar

The worlds biggest rabbit hutch is finally finished and today was move in day. He is scared to death right now and doesn't know what to think about it but he needs to get used to it fast because he is no longer a house rabbit. I think he will be fine. there is shade and protection from the elements and it backs up to the north side of the shed so there will be protection from the wind. He looks slightly disgruntled about it right now but it will get better soon.

Next up, Rosie moves in. It won't be until later though because DD had to work at 5 and won't be home until late tonight. She will get her walking papers tomorrow!

Woohooo for me!