tonight's the night

parachutist's bad day

you know you're having a bad day when ...

SU Color Lab

Check out My Create Ink's SU Color Lab link listed at the Sites I Visit on the bottom right side of my blog. It's similar to the Scrapitude Color Combo site of days gone by. You can select colors, right-click to lock them, then have the "picker" select others. I plan to use it to play with color challenges.

More info, snipped from their site:
This site enables you to cross-match colors from various companies.

To get started, select your 'From' and 'To' choices at the upper left of the screen.

The lower left will present you with options for selecting specific color groups.*

*For Copic, you can optionally choose specific sets to match from/to..

Once you have made your selections, click 'Match Colors'

The matches with the highest rating will be displayed with the search results.
Δ means the match listed is based on color quantization (mathematics).
♥ means the match listed was recommended by a user.

You can suggest and vote on additional matches under the 'Advanced' links.


Thank you to all the people who have donated.
Your support keeps the ColorLab up and running.

If you would like to make a donation to help support and expand the ColorLab, just click the link to the right. Your donations are greatly appreciated.

We wish everyone a happy new year and hope you enjoy this new utility!

SC320 let's chat

To say that my sister inspires me is an under-statement, in more ways than one. She commented on one of her friends' Facebook pages the other day about a video the friend had uploaded - a humorous one about avoiding people you no longer wish to chat with ... so I posted a comment on my sister's page noting how that it made me think about when was the last time we'd chatted ... which in turn inspired today's card.

I printed and cut the various DPs last night but assembled the card this morning, as we're all home due to President's Day weekend for my eldest and snow days for my youngest and me. I downloaded all the DPs from Jessica Sprague's online shop just last week. I love gray and yellow color combos. I also love sketch challenges. This one's from SCS' latest, SC320.

stamps: PTI's On My Couch and On My Couch additions; paper: Carina Gardner's daisy jane digi DP collection; ink: Color Box's Antique Pewter and Charcoal; tools: Fiskar's threading water border punch

welcome baby, hybrid-style

I love the digi images from Pink Petticoat! When I spotted their recently introduced baby boy version to match last summer's baby girl buggy, I was right there, figuring it was only a matter of time before someone needed a baby boy card! LOVE their stuff! And ... I've gotta admit, I felt the need to break away from Valentine's cards! It felt good to make a non-V-Day card today!

I paper-pieced the baby buggy using some beautiful Crystal Wilkerson (of Creativity by Crystal) digi-DP from the August 2009 Collection at Jessica Sprague's online shop. I printed some 4x6" and wallet-size pictures of the DP, so it'd have a smaller pattern on the buggy than what was used for the background piece. And the best part of going the digi-BK route?! How about eight (count 'em ... 8!) different patterns in nine (yep, 9!) different colors, all for $1 ... and I can use and reuse 'em any time I like!

The baby's watercolored. I was going to curve the vellum sentiment to pop it up a bit, but I'm not sure whether the receiver of this card (Hi Susan!) will be mailing or handing the card to the future Mom at a baby shower ... so I tucked that under the scallops of the background. Each layer's popped up using dimensionals and I've had really good luck using Tombow's Mono Vellum adhesive to attach vellum paper and card stock to cards. Nichole's Make-It-Monday #2 challenge was to use a vellum strip for your sentiment; I didn't use any PTI product for today's card but that inspired the vellum portion! And the scallops? Check out this week's SCS CAS106 challenge!

edited to add: woot! woot! this card was posted as a hybrid gallery standout on mesoscrappy's blog!

stamps: Pink Petticoat Baby Boy Buggy; paper: Creativity by Crystal's Fresh Florals DP, Staples' white and SU's Sahara Sand card stocks, The Paper Co's vellum card stock; ink: PC-generated sentiments, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Pink Hedgehog's sky blue brads (w inside sentiment); tools: my latest and greatest Spellbinders Nestabilities Big Scalloped Rectangles LG (they were on sale this week at my local Hobby Lobby - 40% off! - and I controlled myself and only purchased this one set!)

got pets?

... the things I would miss out on if it weren't for my younger brother ... sigh ... and I'll be back with a card to post later (grins)!

SUCH a grin ...

... 'nuff said (thanx for the grins, Allison; I HAD to share!)

Happy Valentine's Day

Saturday's make -'n- take project at CAM were these cutie tubes that we filled w candy which I'm planning on giving my sons on Valentine's Day morning. I have two sons, so my stampin' buddy Pat was kind enough to make one and I made the other. Thanx, Jill, for the cute project!

simply sublime

Today's is a birthday card using a cute sub stamp that I picked up recently from the kind folkes at AMuseArtstamps and a Paula Best sun stamp that I'm not sure where I found. One of my favorite shows is Sunday Morning on CBS, and I'm often blown away by the collection of suns they highlight between station breaks. This stamp immediately made me think of my show.

The sub made me think of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine song; it begged to be yellow. I stamped it a few times - once on the card base, again on bright yellow, and a third time on white card stock. I had to color in the propellers silver and made what I think is supposed to look like a window white.

I made the waves using a couple colors - aqua mist and turquoise - using a sponge and a scallop guide I'd punched from a piece of plastic, then kept moving the scallop guide up the card and repeating the sponging. It creates cool waves, don't you think? I think I first spotted this technique on Hero Arts' blog.

stamps: AMuseArtstamps' Simply Sublime, Submarine, Paula Best's a sunshine face, Gina K's Many happy re-turns (inside sentiment); paper: The Paper Co's white card/envelope pack, Staples' white card stock, SU's (so appropriately named) Summer Sun; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, PAPERTREYink's aqua mist, SU's Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Summer Sun, Turquoise

blog candy enabler post

If you want to learn to watercolor with distress inks, then this is the CANDY for you! Angie's offering 1 free membership to her Distress Inks Class 1 on CMC Classroom. If I don't win, I think one of my readers should!

happy White Shirt Friday

It's White Shirt Day, probably most well-known in Flint MI as it commemorates those who participated in the sit-down strike of 1936-37 when GM workers sat down on the job. The strike began on Dec 30 1936 at the Fisher 2 plant when about 50 men sat down to protest the transfer of 3 inspectors who refused to quit the union. GM workers demanded better working conditions and pay, and eventually won UAW recognition from General Motors as its sole bargaining agent.

thar be blog candy

ENABLER ALERT: Jacque of Jacque's Joie de Vivre blog fame is participating in a Whimsy Stamps blog hop, and you know what THAT means! Jacque almost always offers blog candy during her hops! So hop on over by 2/13 midnight EST! Clicking on the photo will take you there, and I'll leave the blog candy notice on my sidebar 'til Sunday as well! If I don't win, I hope one of my readers does!

new notepad

A quick post tonite to share the notepad from a class held after work at CAM using some pretty DP and a new-to-me Ranger die. The die fashioned the circular "flower" that adorns the notepad. It cut 2 pieces - the one that's scored and a smaller starbust circle. The scoring on the strip (about 1"x11") meant it was easy to fold into an accordion shape, then we red-taped the two ends together and flattened it into a circle. We put a drop of glue down the center to make it maintain its shape, then added the small starburst circle to the top of it. We covered both sides of two 3x3" chipboard pieces, sanded and inked the edges, then used Jill's Bind-It-All to assemble the finished project!

Easy peasy, and I've another notepad! I love to keep these on hand and usually have one by my PC and one in my purse. Thanx, Jill - sweet project!

OLW39 Love Muffin

A two-fer today, the inside sentiment on this card reads,

"OK, so technically it's a Love cupcake ... but
Happy Valentine's Day!"

I used my neglected Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up most of the repeated stamp for the border but threw caution to the wind and just winged it on the top line. After all, it was a clear stamp, right?! I'm counting the heart rain dots and baker's twine as bling, so here I go, stretching all the rules in another challenge. Hey, it was INSPIRED by Susan R's One-Layer-Wednesday challenge, anyway!

You know that ultra creamy and light whipped frosting that's methinks mainly whipped confectioners sugar? Well, that was what we got to play with on Friday in the Great Court where I work (insert shameless plug for Kettering University here). Provided were heart-shaped sugar cookies, 3 different color frostings, and a variety of sprinkles for decorations. I made a couple cookies for my two sweeties who picked me up from work. It was also my boss' birthday so the Sodexo group who run the cafeteria at work had made her a chocolate-chocolate cake, which I got to sample (and take 4 slices home for dessert!). So ... I'm figuring it was a good idea that I put in some extra walking over the weekend; don't you agree?! (grin) Anywho, I used SU's white shimmer paint to mimic the frosting (long story short, you say?!). We had a special heart smart promo going on and one of our gifted carpenters/woodworkers fashioned a pretty kewl heart backdrop for assorted pictures. We were encouraged to wear red, decorate cookies, and have our pics taken. Well, I did 2 out of 3, anyway ... but here's a picture of my scrappin' buddies (L-R) KimmiR and Brit (and KimT - and they're all lunch buddies too)!


stamps: Inkadinkado's Birthday Cupcake, The Cat's Pajamas' Loving Mew; paper: SU's Kraft Crumb Cake card stock; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Kraft Crumb Cake and Whisper White; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots, The Twinery's Maraschino baker's twine

OLW39 You Light Up My Life

Susan Raihala's one-layer-Wednesday challenge this past week was a CAS-ification of a gorgeous card by Vanessa Menhorn that was published in the current issue of Papercrafts Magazine (see page 74 or Susan's post here). Here's another pretty darn literal CAS-ification of it. We were to use 1) an image, 2) a border stamp (or stamped border), and 3) bling (rhinestones or glitter). Hmmnn ... in this case, my image is a stamp and my border ("stamp (or stamped border)") is actually PC-generated using my CK-Ali's Handwriting font and the sentiment, "You light up my life!" repeated for 5 lines, with one highlighted in red ink. I chose to use the 3 bling as the 3 crystals closest to us on the chandelier.

I dunno if this will even qualify for the challenge, but I have another card under way that will if this one doesn't! Thanx for stopping by, regardless. It was fun to get a little inky this afternoon!

stamps: My Mind'e Eye's Lost & Found; paper: The Paper Co's white cards 'n envelope set; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Hero Arts' asst'd sizes gemstones

it's all about pink

Today's card is from a make -'n- take that I went to at Capture-A-Memory in Flint MI. They hold an inexpensive deal most Saturdays that's free for store members and only $2 for non-members. Lately we're making two items - usually one's a card, and one's a project from one of their large assortment of dies. Today's project was a scalloped heart die made into a small candy holder. We attached ribbon to it and it's hanging in my living room. I figure it'll go to which ever of my boys notices it first!

I picked up some sparkly ribbon that I'd planned on using on a card today, and I don't know why, but I had trouble sleeping last night. Now I'm beat, so instead I'm gonna catch a cat-nap while my DH is out shopping w my youngest and my eldest is busy in his room watching a DVD. Catch ya later! Hopefully the spirit to be crafty will return tomorrow ...

25 yrs ... or ... it all started w a lamp

It seems amazing to me that it could be 25 years already, but today's the 25th anniversary of Pixar. I first became familiar w the firm when they started making shorts for Sesame Street, which I was watching w my youngest. Doesn't it go by in a wink (read more)?!

a 2nd post on the 2nd ...

(scroll down for today's first post)

just a quick note to share w you that I'd intended to pull out one of our DVDs to watch today - Groundhog Day - and learned that the Encore channel is playing it repeatedly today.

From 12 midnight in the wee hours of Wednesday to 12:30 a.m. Thursday, you're bound to find a time to fit this cool movie into your day. Snipped from tvguide.com, "Bill Murray shines as an obnoxious weatherman who finds himself reliving the same 24-hour period." It stars Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, and Bill Murray; directed by Harold Ramis, 1993, 105 mins.

Catch it when you can!

Happy Groundhog Day!

It's Groundhog Day, and the celebration is upon us! Regardless of Phil's announcement it's bound to be a good day, as my work place has shut down for a snow day! So throw another log on the fire, DH! No alarms today!

Every year the world turns its attention to Punxsutawney PA to learn the prediction of their most famous resident, Punxsutawney Phil. At sunrise, Phil emerges from his burrow at Gobbler's Knob, and his handlers announce whether or not Phil has seen his shadow. If Phil sees his shadow, legend has it that we can expect six more weeks of winter weather. No shadow indicates an early spring.

Phil Says Expect an Early Spring!

Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2011, at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA:

Here Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Groundhog Day, February 2, 2011
Punxsutawney Phil was raised from his burrow
By the call of President Bill Deeley.
He greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting an inquisitive eye towards thousands of his faithful followers,
He proclaimed that the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!

Back to the business at hand...
He surveyed his surroundings carefully and found that there was no shadow around,
So, an early spring it will be.

p.s. You've gotta check out Dana's cookies at this post! SWEET!