Memorial Day part deux

My DH has two brothers, Dale 'n Dennis. I'd mailed Den (who lives in New York) the card from my last post, and this one's for his local brother Dale (who lives in Michigan). I know they're similar, but, hey! ... so are his brothers - they're twins! Based on this weekend's sketch challenge (here) from the lovely and talented Jen Del Muro, I used most of the same paper as my last post. The colors only look different as I had to scan this one ... I left my camera at work by mistake yesterday! This weekend's sketch challenge is a special edition one, as the Challenge Gals are stamping Bellas, but (insert shocked face here) I don't own any!

stamps: none; paper: A1's Natural White cardstock, CTMH's Outdoor Denim cardstock, Rusty Pickle's Primitive Hearts DP; ink: CTMH's Outdoor Denim; accessories: Heidi Swapp's Midnight chipboard star shapes

happy Memorial Day!

We didn't go check out parades today, which is really not like me. I'm a big museum, parade and zoo fan, as you can ask my kids, having terrorized them for years now. We didn't have a cookout today either! It decided to be rainy and cloudy this morning, so we just cooled our heels here and had a big brunch of scrambled or fried eggs, sausage, hash browns, juice and toast. PB did venture out for some shopping - new golf balls are sure to improve the golf game this week ... and I settled in and made this card. Boy, the day has sure improved! It's beautiful out right now!

This card's based on this weekend's SFYTT sketch provided by Jen Del Muro (love that gal's stuff!). The picture I used for the main element has floated about the Internet about this time of year the last few years, so this time I saved it to use it on a card. I'd picked up the Rusty Pickle DP last year during MegaMeet and still had some left, and I picked up the star chipboard pieces at THIS year's MegaMeet. If you've not been to one, hundreds of vendors and local stores set up booths in expo centers thruout the States and thousands of cardmakers and scrappers converge to take classes, stroll about, and see what's new in the scrappin' industry. I went with a couple friends from work, and met a couple others there, earlier this month. A fun time was had by all.

edited to add: just blog rolling this a.m. and spotted addt'l blog challenges this card fit - these wild card and red, white, and blue challenges!

stamps: none, sentiment's PC-generated; paper: CTMH's Outdoor Denim cardstock, Rusty Pickle's Molly Striped Pajamas and Primitive Hearts DP, A1's Natural White cardstock; ink: PC generated dark blue; accessories: Heidi Swapp's star-shaped chipboard shapes

Let them wear white!

It's Memorial Day Monday ... banks are closed, I'm enjoying a long holiday weekend from work, and it's the unofficial kickoff for Summer vacations (tho' Memorial Day's actually this coming Friday, and the first day of summer's timed with the summer solstice; for most of the US, on June 20)! I can tell it's Summer vacation time 'cuz we're cat-sitting for both our next-door neighbors while one side's out on their boat and the other side's up at their trailer.

I've made this card to kick off Summer. Boy, doesn't it just seem like Spring started?! I swear that time speeds up exponentially as we age!

stamps: A Muse Artstamps' sentiment, Lockhart's Adirondack Chair, ProvoCraft's Summertime, SU's Sun Moon & Stars; paper: A1's Natural White CS, SU's Whisper White and Tempting Turquoise CS; ink: StazOn Jet Black, SU's Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Old Olive, Sage Shadow and Summer Sun; accessories: beach umbrella from prom decorations of a prom held at the school where I work (thanx again, Kim); tools: brayer (my first attempt - I'll get better at this, right?!)

back from Jessy's b'day

My niece Jessy is celebrating her birthday today and we went to the daytime portion where we enjoyed a t'riffic potluck meal with family and friends. I contributed what's become my mainstay - a green bean casserole - Mark grilled some Italian-seasoned chicken, Monica brought lasagna, Mom brought pistachio pudding dessert, and her beau David brought fresh fruit he cut and arranged (being's he's a chef it was definitely the nicest looking creation we had). YUM! Some friends and local family are celebrating tonight with a bonfire but we didn't stick around (pun intended - get it, Mark?!) for that part.

Jessy's enjoyed gothic and Renaissance designs and I knew this cute line from Stampotique Originals would be just her style! The artists are Jill Penney & Daniel Torrente and I think they're wonderful! My card's inspired by the May 3rd post here from the lovely and talented LaurenM.

stamps: Stampotique Originals' Gooseneck, PC-generated sentiments; paper: Basic Grey's Vagabond DP (I hate the thought of eventually running out of this - LOVE it!), CTMH's Outdoor Denim, SU's Kraft and Shimmery White cardstocks, Paper Co's clear vellum; inks: Tri-C watercolor markers; tools: Provo Craft piercing tool

sneak peek fall/winter 08

All together now, say "Oooooohhhh, sweet!" I was just blog-rolling and found June's sneak peek of the soon-to-be-released Fresh Cut stamp set from the fall/winter 2008 catty ... and, yeah, it's another die cut stamp set! I SO love the collage look of this stamp set!

Crystal, if you're reading this, put me down for a set (stamps AND die cut notes) in your earliest June order! Others, if you can't make out the deets on the picture, read more about it here!

an early Father's Day

My buddies will tell you that I'm usually quite adept at procrastination, but a few challenging blogs inspired me to make PB's Father's Day card early! I'd picked up some pretty blue, cream and greens paisley DP and coordinating ribbon at my fav LSS the other day and thought I'd use it for one of Beate's challenges ... yet ended up pulling it together with vintage violet for a color challenge (I LOVE purples and greens together - it's my absolute favorite color combination and just last week I switched my bathrooms' towels to them). So, the layout's from Jen's SFYTT challenge, the color's from Papertake's color challenge, and the subject's HOT, which is Caardvark's recent subject challenge.

The sentiments both inside and out are PC-generated, using a kewl font I'd picked up from someone's blog called CK_Alis_Writing. I love it and will update this entry if I find it or someone lets me know where it came from. I watercolored the BBQer dude using my Kuretake water blender w SU inks and as usual, pre-poked (izzat a word?) the eyelet holes with the Provo Craft piercing tool my buddy Claudia gave me (thanx, Claud - I can't tell you how often I pick this little baby up!). My sweetie's a BBQer extraordinaire, so this stamp's perfect! All this stamping food's gotten me hungry!

stamps: A Muse Artstamps' BBQer, BBQ tools (inside), Provo Craft's Summertime (ass'td stamps on green cardstock); paper: A1's Natural White cardstock, BasicGrey's Boxer DP, SU's Bashful Blue, Old Olive, and Vintage Violet cardstocks; ink: StazOn's Jet Black, SU's Always Artichoke and Vintage Violet, Versamark, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: eyelets from one of Hedgehog Ink's eyelet shares; tools: Kuretake water blender, and don't you just love that Crop-A-Dile?!

another make-'n-take

Here's another make-'n-take from my fav local stampin store, CAM (see link at right). I ended up inviting my eldest son Geoff to come with me to this one, after work one day last month, and hadn't uploaded it. He joined me and made his own version of the card, which he gave to his Grandma for Mother's Day this past weekend. I think she was impressed!

I don't recall what supplies were used ... but we enjoyed having a Mother/Son crafty moment!

Afterwards Geoff and I supported the local economy and picked up additional supplies for future craft projects.

Which TV Mom Are You?

Which TV Mom Are You?

My Result: Marge Simpson

You are Marge from The Simpsons. You may not share Marge's blue bouffant, but you do share her animated style of mothering. Sometimes the pressures of maintaining a happy home may push you toward the edge, but at the end of the day, you believe in your children wholeheartedly, even when they're being rather, um, spirited.


You encourage your kids' creativity and individuality, whether that means watching them perform the saxophone or helping them raise exotic lizards. You may sometimes say things that sound like old-fashioned parenting clichés, but when it comes down to dealing with domestic disasters, you can be a pretty together, modern mama.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=tvmomogt&c=50652

make my day!

... at least, this sentiment MAKES me think of Clint Eastwood and probably will each time I use it!

The card was inspired by Beate's grid technique tutorial posted at splitcoaststampers.com, and I'm using it to thank someone for a Mother's Day gift. I used the scoring blade and Fiskar's cutter to make the grid, and the Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots embossing folder to make the background, matting everything on either either SU's Whisper White or Pomegranate card stock. The sentiment's from Inkadinkadoo's Round Frames stamp set. The bling's provided from Amuse Artstamps' mini dot creative candy twinkle stickers at each of the grid's intersections ... alternating two colors - outer rim in light pink, next rim in dark pink, etc. And it's hard to tell from the pic but the white circle with sentiment is embossed using Cuttlebug's Decorative Circles embossing plates. Well, KAZ will be able to see 'em!

Simple yet elegant!

if it's Wednesday ...

... I SHOULD be golfing, but I'll admit I'm a "fair weather" golfer. Instead, I told my partner (and DH) he could go ahead if he liked but I'd stay here, thank you very much, and play on PC and make cards instead. I've been fighting a cold for the past two weeks and didn't want to play when it'd been raining most of the day ... up 'til about 15 minutes ago.

I've been catching up on a little light reading ... blogs, that is ... and came across a new Web site of interest (at least to me - see link at right) called VerveEarth that displays bloggers by location. I peeked at the code (aka "widget") that they install on your blog and it's simply a picture that links to your registered blog at their site. Isn't modern technology wonderful?!

2nd Tues make-'n-take

If it's the 2nd Tuesday, it must be make-'n-take day ... my fav LSS, Capture-A-Memory, holds make-'n-takes every 2nd Tuesday and 3rd Wednesday from 1-3 and 5-7. Stop in if you're in the Flint area! They've a t'riffic supply of DP and it's not often that I don't walk out without a few sheets when I stop in.

I stopped by after work today and here's the card we made - slightly altered, as Pat L knows I can't NOT slightly alter stuff - and Pat L led the group in making today's card! The "For You" sentiment's one of my own Gina K Designs and stamped with StazOn Jet Black ... other than that I've no recollection of what type paper nor whose flower stamp we used and it was all supplied by the shop. The circles were stamped using a pencil eraser with a Chalk ink ... what color I dunno tho'! Cute, eh?!

This one's for my Mom, who brought me a pair of my fav shoes this Mother's Day weekend. We had a nice leisurely time visiting this weekend. She stayed over a couple nights and we headed to my card club meeting on Saturday, then to a local nursery where we both picked up stuff for our yards, had donuts and coffee on Sunday, visited w extended family, and my DH drove Mom back home yesterday. Nice weekend! Hope ya'll had a t'riffic Mother's Day weekend!

got Cuttlebug?

Have you picked up a die cut machine yet? If not, run, don't walk, to visit the kind folkes at Creative Xpress. They're offering the Cuttlebug for only $35! Now, some naysayers may say it's only a sales ploy to get you into their Web so you look around and purchase other items. Well, that works for me! I've told a couple of my friends of the deal and they've made the leap ... and thot I'd share w others ... such a deal!

1st explosion box

This was the first explosion box I attempted making, for my sister as last year's Christmas present.

I used Cosmo Cricket's Be Good cardstock collection and clear stickers from Cloud 9 Design. My fav LSS, Capture-A-Memory, provided the dies to make the graduated sizes of the box's bottom, box top, and some tags I used to decorate the box. Super simple - just super time-consuming! I picked up enough cardstock to repeat the pattern ... do you want to guess whether I've got that one made yet?! NOT!

just back from club mtg

... and here are the cards the lovely and talented Crystal (see link at right) led us in making today! I've already mailed my Mother's Day cards so I'm not sure who'll be the lucky recipient of today's one. We used an awesome stencil that the kind folkes at Stampin' Up! had in their latest catty. I'd ordered it from our last club meeting as I thought I'd cheap out and not bother to purchase the Nesties if I had this for a while ...

Anywho, for the light blue/brown card we used the Punches Plus brass template to both emboss and punch around the square where we'd stamped the little flower from the equally awesome Blooming With Love stamp set (I keep telling myself, I already picked up some flowers in vases sets, and have topiary $1 stamp from Mikes'; do I REALLY need this set?! BUT it keeps calling to me!). I like the effect.

The "celebrate" card used some cute stamps too ... and we watercolored the elephant, then used markers for the flowers. MY elephant has white toenail polish, in case you didn't notice! LOL! We used the Crop-A-Dile to emboss a few circles below that stamp. Both cute ... and quick ... and simple cards! Thanx again, Crystal - both for the cards and letting my Mom, who's up visiting for the weekend, participate today!

Happy Mother's Day, KAZ!

This card was inspired by one published in the Spring 2008 edition of paper creations designed by Lindsey Botkin. I used SU Purely Pomegranate and a dollar stamp I'd picked up from Mike's recently, and printed the sentiment from my PC on white cardstock I had on hand.

Kept it simple, as it's also inspired by Sharon Johnson's ssnotime33 challenge. We were to keep it simple and use pink, green, and a flower. Hope my sister likes it as it's off in the mail tomorrow to make it to her by Mother's Day!

stamps: Kolette Hall designed for studio g; paper: SU Purely Pomegranate, unknown white cardstock; ink: SU Purely Pomegranate, StazOn Jet Black, Tri-C watercolor marker

what's Texas got? ...

Well, it's got Doug & Keith, two friends of the family who recently moved to be closer to THEIR immediate family. I made this card to accompany a cricket I picked up for the guys. It's supposedly a good luck charm to have a cricket on your hearth ... did you know that? I've procrastinated in sending this, but picked up the Jolee Texas 3D stickers on my most recent trip to my fav LSS. When I saw the "Texas" oval, I knew it would be perfect for this week's SC173 sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers.

stamps: Artistic Outpost's Home; paper: SU Kraft cardstock; ink: StazOn Jet Black, PC for sentiment; accessories: Jolee's boutique dimensional stickers - Texas, natch'!, twine Ellen Hutson's included free w my last order

scheduled posts

I've signed on to the draft version Blogger to use this function and am glad to see it's available in production now. It's nice to have the ability to schedule a post for a day when you know you won't be available ... or to use it to make a post "sticky" - that is, to make it stay on the top of your posts.

Way to go, kind folkes at Google - it's much appreciated! Rather than repeat everything here, read more about it here.

whooo loves ya?

My Mom loves soft blues and I thought of her when I spotted this paper last weekend. The inside sentiment reads "Whooo Loves You?" and is a slightly altered Kim Hughes' stamp. I wanted more heart-shaped letter Os in the word "who" so I reinked just that portion. I inked the edges and the embossed blue portion a bit. This is based on Amy's AMYRS21 sketch challenge - thanx for the inspiration, Amy!

stamps: Inkadinkadoo's Birds Galore; paper: Basic Grey's Perhaps, Prism's blue and green cardstock to match, misc white I had on hand; ink: Color Box Creamy Brown chalk ink, Tri-C watercolor markers; tools: Cuttlebug w Stylized Flowers embossing folder and QuicKutz vines, Nestabilities' Classic Rectangles Sm

nat'l scrapbooking day

Here's wishing everyone a happy National Scrapbooking Day! There's activities everywhere - both at scrapping stores and online. I'm cooling it today but hopefully will get some card making in. If you'd like to see what events are happening around you, there's a repository of events at http://www.nationalscrapbookingday.com/. Enjoy!