thanks for everything

My thank you note to Nicki (see yesterday's post) uses some new-to-me Cosmo Cricket DP I'd purchased this month but not used 'til now ... what's up with THAT, you ask?! ... and the CPS124 sketch.

The Cosmo DP was a spot-on match color wise to some CTMH Aspen DP I had on hand, and I distressed the ivory card stock a bit using some Ranger distress ink, then faux stitched around all the borders with a CTMH Cranberry marker and punched out a snowflake for the accent. Easy peasy!

stamps: clear & simple's thank you 2009; paper: A1's natural white card stock, CTMH Aspen DP and card stock, Cosmo Cricket's Oh Joy: Frosty DP; ink: Ranger antique linen and black soot distress inks, CTMH's cranberry marker; tools: Paper Studio's snowflake punch

RAK from Nicki

It was least expected, but much appreciated! In today's mail I received a free stamp set and a "Thank You for your business" card from Nicki Jackson, one of the co-owners of Clear & Simple Stamps. SUCH a sweetie! Here's the card, pictured at left, and the stamp set I received appears to be a special edition, 'cuz I can't find it at their online store (at least, YET!)! I'm outta here to play; catch ya later!

let it snow!

Yep, it's snowing outside as I type this, and I've gotta admit, it's lookin' mighty pretty! No, don't confuse the "pretty" talk with someone who enjoys winter - I'd like it if it'd be winter for 2-3 months max, but it seems to extend its welcome here all too often! I talked with a friend last night who moved to the UP (Michigan-speak) a couple years ago, and she reported that they got 4' of snow in a recent storm, while we trolls (that's what they like to refer to those of us who live "below the bridge" as) only had about 1" of the white stuff to contend with here. This is one of my New Year's cards - that's what I'm calling the cards that I procrastinated on and didn't mail before Christmas. This card started out as a tag from CAM that's grown into a card.

My DH called me over to the kitchen earlier this a.m. when he spotted 5 male cardinals in our small plum tree outside our kitchen window. It's located way too close to the house, actually, and he's forever trimming branches from hitting our garage roof. Those who planted it apparently didn't give it much chance for survival into adulthood, eh?! But I love it - we've put a couple bird feeders around it and our next-door neighbors posted a "Beware of Attack Squirrel" by it (that's a whole 'nuther story!). Here's a lousey shot thru the screen and dirty window of a few of 'em. Two are on the right (2 in branches, 1 below pines), and one's in the top third of tree on the left. They're tricky to catch on film or my photo-taking's a bit below par ... which do you suppose?! ... but they're sure a beautiful bird! Our state bird's the robin but heck ... they leave the state in the winter, folkes!

countdown to Christmas

Christmas Countdown - Christmas Layouts

the tree 2009

This year's tree is all decked out in white and clear decorations. I'm not usually into themes, but my style is generally country and our tree usually consists of mainly hand-made ornaments. I've exchanged stitched ornaments with friends and teachers over the years and have quite the collection. This year I used a couple containers of simple ivory ornaments that I'd purchased a couple years ago, added our kazillion glass icicles in varying sizes, then looked thru my stash and used only the white/ivory ornaments I had. Yep - enough to pretty much fill the tree!

Merry Christmas!

Not a card, but a family story to share with you tonite ... those of my extended family who are local got together at my sister's house today. We dined on a yummy ham, mashed potato, green beans, some strange corn dish, rolls, butter - a pretty t'riffic feast. When I'd finished my meal, my DH, brother and I all noticed my youngest working on a "project" of sorts with his mashed potato. It was akin to Close Encounters of a Third Kind but with a holiday theme.

Can you spot Santa on the right and the words "Ho Ho Ho" on the left? Yep, that's my son! Santa's hat's a bit strange, but methinks that was because my son was spotted working on this crafty item and by then he was acting a bit sheepish ...

happy b'day, Beth's friend!

Every now and then I'm called upon to make a card for someone at work, and this one's for Beth's friend. They travel a lot together, so I used the boat and loaded presents in the little dinghy. It's based on the CPS144 sketch. I'm hooked on sketches and almost always start cards using 'em. So, do the papers I used make you think of starry skies, sandy beaches, and the water? Sigh ... it didn't to my DH! The "sandy" background is stamped repeatedly using a "birthday" definition stamp, and the circle and square and puffs of smoke are all popped up using dimensionals of varying heights. I smudged ink around the circle piece to give it a bit more definition.

stamps: Hero Arts' birthday definition, SU's Boatloads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, and Heard from the Heart (inside sentiment); paper: BasicGrey Dasher, My Mind's Eye Bohemia, SU's Kraft; ink: Ranger Black Soot distress ink, Tri-C watercolor markers, Versamark; accessories: Basic Grey metal art, Hirschberg Schultz cord trim

stamp simply

This mass production is killin' me! No, not really ... I don't mass produce, but, inspired by the lovely and talented Julie Koerber, this card joined my Christmas card stash today. I'm such a slacker, I've not sat down and adressed envelopes, so that's my goal for today. Get the cards ready for Monday's mail, Sue! I'm in the Christmas spirit but have had a cold these past few days and been sucking down the Hall's cough drops. I didn't even make it to my usual Saturday make-'n-take this weekend. I really feel much better today ... just in time to return to work Monday, right?! Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

whoo hoo! uploaded to SCS 7/2010 and was selected as a CAS favorite of the week!

stamps: SU's Cold Play; paper: The Paper Co's white card (I use these or similar product for the base of most of my cards and affix a card front to them - which extends my supply of card stock stash); ink: Ranger's Black Soot distress ink and SU's Pumpkin Pie, PC-generated inside sentiment (yes, it's a snowman in a snow storm!)

secret Santa 2009

We celebrate the start of the holiday season with a fun week of Secret Santa where I work (insert shameless plug for Kettering University here). Generally, it consists of exchanging small value gifts the first 3 days, and a larger gift on the 4th day during a lunch get-together. Here's the card I made to house a PC-generated gift certificate for my final day's gift. It's fun sneaking about to hide your gifts the first 3 days, and on our 4th we try to guess who our Secret Santa was before we open our last day's gift. We even all bring our final day's gift to the restaurant in a plain brown grocery sack with the name hidden on the bottom of the bag! As usual, a fun time was had by all! So, what do you do to celebrate where you work?

I punched the dove and sprig out on both cardstock and cardboard, glued 'em together, and popped 'em up using dimensionals. Then, crafty me, I stapled the tag to hang down inside from the top of my grocery sack, and adhered my card (with gift certificate inside) from that. It was, needless to say, probably the lightest gift there!

stamps: studio g (inside sentiment); ink: studio g; paper: deconstructed Bath & Body Works gift bag, accessories: tag - from the Bath & Body Works gifts (a 2-part lotion and soap set in matching plaid containers), ribbon - (you guessed it!) from the Bath & Body Works gift set, peace - a JoAnn's dollar find from last year, dove - Cuttlebug and QuicKutz 2x2" set

sparkle

Christmas-time is near ... you just listen to my eldest son on our morning drive to school and work! He's been picking out Christmas music for the past month to play en route. Here's a clean & simple card I made today, to add to my growing collection of Christmas cards. I haven't regrouped recently to check how many I have altogether - there's some remaining from last year, some that were returned for additional postage that I put aside, and those I've made recently. I think I should be pretty much set, but it seems I can't get enough of Christmas-related stamps. I TRY to hold back ... really I do! grins ...

Recent stamp releases I've spotted while blog trolling has me thinking Valentine's Day and I'm itching to switch!

speaking of Christmas ...

On Christmas day Stampin' Silvia (hey, that's my Mom's name too!) will be drawing one lucky winner to take home the loot pictured at left, in honor of her 2 year blogoversary. Stop by her blog some time before now and then ... only 10 days to go! I can't believe time's flying by so quickly! So much to do and so little time!

enablin' I will go ...

I happened upon some t'riffic blog candy this evening while I SHOULD have been making the last of my Christmas cards and thought I'd share my find. Visit Lifestyle Crafts' letterpress give-away post by Dec 21 if you agree this blog candy ROCKS! And good luck, all!

winter 09 issue's out!

The kind folkes at Scrapbook & Cards Today have released their latest issue - available at your local neighborhood scrap stores and booksellers ... AND at the magazine's free download site! Check it out and enjoy!

go Disney!

My eldest and I had a "date" today! We went to see a matinee showing of Disney's The Princess and the Frog, followed by eats at Qdoba and sundaes from MickeyD's. The movie was great - a Cajun version of The Frog Prince set in modern-day New Orleans. Great music, characters, and story telling. The voodoo references and bad guy getting sucked out of the movie at the end by the spirit shadows was a bit creepy, reminding me of a similar scene in Ghost, and made me question the G rating, but overall, I'd give it a 4.75/5 star rating! I know we'll be quick to pick up the DVD when released!

nontraditional Christmas colors

If my buddy Pat hadn't been with me today, I'd have thought this card to be a perfect one to give her this Christmas ... if it had a little bit of bows and glitz?! My buddy loves pinks and this one fits that order in a big way, eh?!

Today's make-'n-take from Karen's, there are no deets to share today - all materials were supplied in the class.

happy blogoversary Sheetload!

It's been crazy busy at work and I'm just dropping into a chair when I get home, but I WILL stamp again soon - honest! 'Til then, I'm blog trolling this evening and happened to check out the kind folkes at Sheetload ... and see they're celebrating their blogoversary by offering blog candy, some of which is pictured at left. So stop by, leave a comment, visit a spell ... and I'll talk at ya tomorrow!

SU news, part deux

Blog-surfing this a.m. I happened upon some more sneak peeks of changes to come in January, pictured here. Interesting ... looks like ek success-styled punches in our immediate future, doesn't it?!

I'll be back with a card post later ... off to play!

the blind side

A few friends and I went to see The Blind Side today and grab some eats afterward. If you're unfamiliar with the story, it's a docudrama based on the life of NFL offensive tackle Michael Oher. Tho' these types of movies are never 100% true to the facts, it was an interesting flick and I'd recommend it. I laughed. I cried. I laughed again. I'm a huge fan of Sandra Bullock, but my major fault with the movie is that it seems to be more a movie about Leigh Anne Tuohy than it is of Michael Oher; maybe that's to be expected tho'. And it was still t'riffic, maybe a 4/5 star rating.

enabler alert re color inc

Hi folkes! Just a quick stop to let you know that Donna Downey and the kind folkes at Color Incorporated have teamed up to offer some sweet blog candy on her blog - giving away each of their three products (a stand out, framed print, and gallery wrap canvas) to Donna's blog readers. All you've got to do is leave a comment on her blog post by 10 p.m. EST Sunday to enter.

SU news

Had you heard the news? Starting January 5th you'll be able to purchase SU stamps in your choice of wood or clear mount. The new clear mount stamps store in DVD cases made especially for them. They'll be cheaper than buying wood mount, tho' both stamps use the same kind of rubber. I'm pleased! I'd recently been debating removing my stamps from their original wood blocks and mounting them on cling vinyl, mainly for storage issues.

blog candy at JB's

Hi, it's your friendly neighborhood enabler ... checking in with a quick post before hitting the hay to let you know that Jenn Biederman of Created by JB fame is offering some blog candy, so stop on by some time between now and Sunday, December 6th! (so what are you still doin' here?! I'll catch ya later!)

Operation Write Home

I mailed a package - this time with 44 cards and a donation to offset mailing costs - to the kind folkes at Operation Write Home this past week. They in turn will mail them to deployed service people to use to be able to write to their friends and family. OWH can use a variety of themed cards so I think it's good to occasionally weed thru the cards in our stashes and think of our heroes. If you've been making more cards than you can use lately, please think of them, won't you?!

happy b'day SueS

I hang with a couple other Sues ... it made life interesting when we bowled on the same team some years back ... who's up? Sue? Sue? ... or the other Sue?! Or Barb, Debbie, or Laurie?! And another coincidence? When I was pregnant with my first born, so were Barb, Debbie, AND Laurie! And the same doctor from a group practice of three delivered both mine and Barb's babies, just 4 days apart! We were recommended to this group practice from different primary care doctors, however. What a grin, eh?!

But, back to the present - for Sue's birthday I decided that since it's December AND I recently purchased these cool self-adhesive candy dots (a.k.a. snowballs), a snowman birthday card was in order! My stamping buddies Pat 'n Kim 'n I recently took in a stamping show in Birch Run MI where I spotted these cuties and snatched 'em up. I stamped and embossed the snowflakes background, stamped and colored the snowman, matted the image and outside sentiment, and used a combo of Inkadinkado and SU stamps for the inside sentiment, which now reads "a little note on your special day ... the chill of winter is warmed by friendship. Happy Birthday." We're getting together to take in a movie this weekend and eats later where I'll be able to hand her the card rather than risk mailing these "snowballs." Heck, they could melt, y'know?!

stamps: Inkadinkado's picket fence, SU's It's Snow Time; paper: SU's Night of Navy, Whisper White; ink: StazOn Jet Black, SU's Dusty Durango and Old Olive, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Pebbles' candy dots

NORAD Santa tracker

In its 54th season of tracking Santa Claus on his annual journey around the world, the North American Aerospace Defense Command annually provides a minute-by-minute update on Santa's travels.

The Web site - at www.noradsanta.org - features the history of the program, information on how NORAD tracks Santa, and interactive games - available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Tune in on or after December 1st to check it out!

happy Cyber Monday!

Had you checked out all the online wheelin' and dealin' going on this weekend? I did - at least on some of the scrapbooking offers out there! So, here's a quick post with a link to enable you all ... 'til midnight, or in some cases later ... compliments of the kind folkes at Craft Critique!

... and, did you ever wonder where the term "Cyber Monday" originated from, OR whether it truly IS the highest volume of online sales? Here's an interesting read for that as well! Enjoy!

on family traditions

Ah ... family traditions, old and new. Mine (the "old" example) is to watch Miracle on 34th Street. Mark and Jessy's (the slightly "new"er example) is to watch Trans Siberian Orchestra's The Christmas Trilogy. We did neither this year - they forgot their DVD, I couldn't find either of mine (b&w nor colorized; tho' not to worry - they'll have sprouted legs and gone into Geoff's room, I'm sure!) of my fav, and my sis was in favor of watching Elf. BTW, the Elf CD has some t'riffic Christmas music on it!

I spotted this on the Web today and HAD to share - enjoy!

December's cards

I just returned home from today's make -'n- take at Karen's, and it'll be no surprise to my buddy Kim nor Joann as to which card's posted this afternoon, I'm betting! I loved this one the moment I spotted the snowflake Cuttlebug background and colors - they're my favs! This color combo is thought of more as a country color combo, methinks, and it's one I prefer over the bright, more traditional "Christmas" green and red combo. We stamped the single stamp with some studio g green and used a marker for the red-brown acorn, then stickled the berries. I popped my focal stamp up on dimensionals, tho' the class sample wasn't. The class sample also used stickles on the snow background, which looked awesome. This would be a nice card to mass-produce for Christmas, don't you think?

deets are minimal, 'cuz this was a class project - stamps: a home-grown one - Karen's sells their own creations and do custom order stamps; paper: dark green, dark red, white card stock; ink: studio g green, unknown marker; accessories: Xmas Red stickles, Cuttlebug with snowflakes embossing folder, dark green sheer ribbon

hippo birdie 2 ewe, Pat!

I'm no artist, but I occasionally try to be one while at work! I attempt to draw a series of animals ... yep, you guessed it ... a hippo, bird, and sheep ... as my standard happy birthday greeting on joint cards. Well, I purchased some animal stamps while at the Great Lakes Mega Meet this past spring while with some friends, one of whom had a birthday this past week, so these stamps finally got inked! I used Flower Soft for my first time too.

stamps: Stamps by Judith's D-02 and O-29, Saltbox Studio's Sheep; paper: SU's Whisper White; ink: StazOn Jet Black, SU's Crushed Curry and Dusty Durango, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Flower Soft's Ivory

happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanks giving, all! I hostessed our family get- together today, and both my local sibs, a niece, and my Mom were able to attend. My older brother will be in town over the weekend so we'll get to see him too, but it didn't work out for him to stop over today.

After company left this evening I got time to play and made this card based on Karen Diron's sss45 sketch and the latest OCC color challenges. I love the way these three unrelated stamps seem to go so well with one another!

I'm off to watch the latest Bourne movie w my sweetie so this'll be a quick post. Hope you and yours had a t'riffic Thanksgiving. Here's my e-card to you all! I have a subscription to Jacquie Lawson's cards - she's amazin' and you should check her out!

stamps: Hero Arts' Antique Brocade, Inkadinkado's Autumn Leaves mini, SU's Holiday Best; paper: SU's Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White; ink: Versamark, SU's Chocolate Chip; tools: Spellbinders and Cuttlebug, ek success' scallop diamond border punch

happy b'day Robin

My cousin's birthday was this past weekend and I'm posting her card early thru the miracle of modern science (ok, that and Google's timed post option), but I've delayed its post date as I'm mailing it late. I don't think I've seen Robin since she got married! BAD cousins! My sister and I flew together to VA where they lived then and joined the celebrations with my folkes, who I believe drove over earlier for an extended stay. Methinks they had their pop-top camper conversion van then, but I recall we all stayed at a hotel intended for guests.

No deets to share today except that this was today's make-'n-take at CAM. Garrett and I stopped there on way to errands at Barnes & Noble, and Best Buy. We got some Christmas shopping done and picked up a late lunch / early supper on the way home ... and I'm making this a quick post as I SHOULD be cleaning. We're hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. So much to do and so little time, y'know?!

blog candy alert

This sweet package is available only 'til 10 p.m. EST today ... so run, don't walk, to check out Donna Downey's sponsor giveaway, compliments of the kind folkes at Coordinates Collections!

incompetech "graph" paper

The kind folkes at incompetech provide free online "graph" paper ... and a whole lot more! Think background DP! Check out their site and experiment - you select different dot weight, grid spacing, radius multiplier (just play around here - it's fun!), different output paper size and colors, and it'll generate a PDF of your output. Me likey! You will too!

Here's a sample I made using their circles options:

give thanks

Here's another class project from October's stamp camp w Mary. I've no deets except that it's mainly SU product, is a small (approx 3x2") bag made from Choco Chip card stock ... but I DO have this t'riffic poem to share (enjoy!):

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.
--Unknown

p.s. I've temporarily pulled my "countdown to Christmas" post after some gentle ribbing from my brother ... and it'll reappear after Thanksgiving!

Crystal's got blog candy!

Just a quick "heads up" to let you know that Crystal's got blog candy in a big way ... and if I don't win it, I think one of my blog readers should, so head on over by December 9th, her wedding anniversary!

nuts about you!

I stopped by one of my local stamping stores a few weeks ago after seeing a similar acorn on the Web and thought I'd e-mailed myself the link to give credit where credit's due ... but now can't find that e-mail. Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most, y'know?! This cutie is made using a couple die cuts - I folded the lighter card stock in half and used a large uppercase "U," and I folded the darker card stock AFTER using a labels die. It may be hard to see the clear stamp next to the card - it's another squirrel, this time part of a Hero Arts set, holding out a heart, and I used the Kitchen Sink's "nuts about you" sentiment on the inside of the card. Right now it's buried within a group of Sudoku puzzles next to my DH's favorite chair.

Have you ever used any of Kitchen Sink's 3-step stamp sets? I purchased this one because of the squirrel but it also contains two sizes of acorns and two different leaves. My DH has been known to be pretty loud when shouting at squirrels to keep them away from our bird feeders. He's even used a squirt gun and an air gun aimed out our kitchen window. It'll come to no surprise to my close friends to know I seized the opportunity to tease him about it a couple Christmases ago by purchasing everything I could find squirrel-related. I picked up a pretty darn expensive squirrel-proof bird feeder, "will work for nuts" coffee mug and matching hat w picture of squirrel, a squirrel informative DVD, etc. ... get the idea? Now, I think the squirrels are pretty cute, and we have one that'll walk up onto our deck in the back yard and peek inside the house ... BUT ... can we talk about the woodpeckers who seem to thrive on our wood siding?! sigh ...

stamps: Hero Arts' Whoo Loves You, Kitchen Sink Stamps' 3-step Autumn Squirrel; paper: don't recall brown card stocks; ink: SU's Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip; tools: unknown die cuts borrowed from Capture-A-Memory (see link at right)

an after-school project

Today's after-school project was stamping some winter-y cards with my eldest. He made 5 cards in the time I took to make one, LOL! Truthfully, it was just fun watching him - he was SO determined! I don't remember now where I'd ordered this stamp set - somewhere online, I recall tho' - as well as some crafty supplies to make my own paper molds. Hey, maybe I'll get to THAT this year too!

This stamp set has a globe on base, and 8 other stamps to build a scene, three of which are a snowman-cat, snowman-dog, and snowman-bunnie. It was the bunnie that sucked me in!

After stamping the card, I ran it thru my trusty Cuttlebug using an embossing folder while placing a cut-out wood frame as the top part of the Cuttlebug sandwich. That way you only emboss the edges of your card and the oval cut-out portion isn't embossed. We made a card using this technique at last month's stamp camp w Mary Allen (sorry, no blog or Web site to share). Gotta give credit where credit's due! Thanx, Mary!
update: here's a tutorial on the process ... and I purchased my Lara's Crafts oval and square frames at Michael's also!

stamps: Plaid Enterprises' Holiday Snowglobe, SU's Cold Play; paper: SU's Whisper White; ink: SU's Old Olive, StazOn Jet Black, Tri-C watercolor markers; tools: Cuttlebug w QuicKutz' snowflake embossing folder, Lara's Crafts' 6x5" Frame w Oval

Nov scrapbook page

Hi folkes! Here's a cute scrapbook page from this past Saturday's make -'n- take at Karen's - where a few friends and I are winding down a series of two 6x6" scrapbook pages we've been meeting to make every other Saturday. You could make a similar turkey page using punches, but these are made with a combination of punches and die cuts. Cute, eh?! The opposite facing page was green with the brown stripe and the word "November" in a cute scripty font from another die set.

no deets today - except that the waddle was made from a paint splotch, the feathers from a glove, and the eyes from a hand-held punch. We cut a triangle for the beak and I'm not certain about the turkey body. Did you learn a new word there? The "waddle" is the section of floppy material hanging below the turkey's beak. I'd not known that 'til Saturday!

thinking of Dad

As it got closer to Thanksgiving, and continuing on to Christmas, my Dad used to answer the phone and / or greet OR leave folkes with "peace." I'll probably always make a special card for my Dad tho' he passed away 5 years ago in early November, and picked up this "peace" sentiment from stampingfreak.com back in '07 (aka Gina K Designs). So, here's Dad's clean & simple card for '09!

stamps: CTMH's Festive Frills, StampingFreak's "peace" sentiment; paper: SU's Old Olive card stock; ink: SU's Real Red, Versamark; accessories: Mark Richards' 3mm metal nailhead stickers

Saturday's class project

This birthday card was my fav project from Saturday's class at Karen's, where I've stopped with friends every other Saturday the past few months. We've been working on a 12-week project, making a 2-page 6x6" scrapbook spread themed on a different month each weekend, along with 2 mainly unrelated cards. Fun projects, the next class will cover December and we'll be thru with the year. I'd picked up a small 6x6" scrapbook at Hobby Lobby to contain all my pages, and will do a wrap of the months' scrapbook pages when we've finished the year.

another inchie card

Here's another inchie card for today, this one using all 5 stamps from my latest Inkadinkado mini clear stamp set, Nativity. I don't recognize the store price sticker so methinks I'd picked this set up from the last Mega Meet in Novi MI, held this past spring. A few friends and I hit that the last couple years. We went after work yesterday to a Great Scrapbook Events scrapbooking and stamping show in Birch Run. I spotted a couple items on my wish list and picked up some more scrapping supplies and a few stamp sets. I'm hoping to ink some up tomorrow!

This card's based on Beate's current weekend sketch challenge, WSC106. The card measures about 3-1/2x7" so it's just a bit too large to fit into a small one but will fit with room to spare into a business #10 envelope.

stamps: Inkadinkado's Nativity; paper: SU's Brilliant Blue and Whisper White card stocks; ink: Color Box's Blue Iris chalk

rejoice

A clean & simple card for today, this one's based on the CPS141 sketch and uses a new Inkadinkado clear mini stamps I'd picked up recently. I like silhouette -type stamps lately, and this one inked up very nicely with my chalk inks. Earlier I met for breakfast with a stampin' bud, took in a stamping class, then booted out of there to work an open house at the university where my day job is (insert shameless plug here for Kettering University). I'm relaxing with a cup of coffee now and will make this a short post as I usually catch up on my banking on Saturday mornings and didn't yet today ... so take care and have a t'riffic weekend, all!

stamps: Inkadinkado's Nativity; paper: SU's Brilliant Blue and Whisper White card stocks; ink: Color Box's Blue Iris chalk; tools: Fiskar's trimmer with scoring blade

a brayered Christmas

Another card from last night's stamp camp w Angie, this one uses a couple blues that I didn't make note of and brayering technique. I'm brayer-challenged; I'd picked up a brayer more than a year ago and I don't think it's seen ink yet! Even tho' I stamped and embossed the images a bit too soon after brayering, I'm still pleased with the results. We brayered the lighter color blue background over a circle placed over the card to get the moon effect, then lightly sponged a darker color blue around the moon to make the sky more dusky (izzat a word?!).

All SU unless otherwise noted - stamps: Branching Out, Wandering Words; paper: Whisper White card stock; ink: unknown blues, Versamark; accessories: black embossing powder

a shimmery Christmas

I'd not played with these shimmer paints before, but I quickly became hooked! We used the Frost White shimmer paint to coat the blue card stock, then the Platinum to add some snowflake and swirl stamps, added some bling and mounted the card stock. I loved all 5 cards from tonight's stamp camp with Angie, so had my DH pick out which was posted tonight!

No deets today - all materials supplied in class and I'm looking forward to sitting back a spell with a nice cup of amaretto coffee! See ya tomorrow!

Veterans Day

Today's card is a simple red, white, and blue one as it's a federal holiday in the U.S. and we're honoring men and women of our armed forces. In keeping with Veterans Day tradition, President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, saying, "While it is important and proper that we mark this day, it is far more important we spend all our days determined to keep the promises that we've made to all who answer this country's call."

On Veterans Day, I thought it was appropriate to site some statistics about veterans and mental health:

• Almost one in three veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq confront mental health problems.
• On an average day in this country, suicide claims another 18 veterans.
• Approximately 30 percent of veterans treated in the veterans health system suffer from depressive symptoms, two to three times the rate of the general population.
• More Vietnam veterans have now died from suicide than were killed directly during the war.

I watched a special on HGTV about some vets receiving home make-overs and these NAMI statistics really drive home that we must support our veterans!

I thought I had a stars embossing folder ... but alas, I guess I don't. My hand held star punch and my Silhouette were in the master bedroom where my DH was taking an afternoon nap, so I winged it with the dots - inspired by a card I'd spotted on Kim Dellow's blog the other day (here - thanx for the inspiration, Kim!) and all square shapes based on Sharon's ssnotime110 square challenge. Well, hope you have a t'riffic day, folkes! I'm off to gather more leaves in our back yard before we lose our daylight!

stamps: studio g's series 30; paper: SU's Real Red, Whisper White card stocks; ink: Color Box Blue Iris chalk ink; accessories: Cuttlebug with Swiss Dots embossing folder

Sesame Street turns 40

How time flies when you're having fun, eh?! It was a pleasant drive in to work today, listening to NPR talking about the changes Sesame Street's undergone thru the years. We left off at the 7th change and I'd meant to tune my PC to the show when I got to work, but got distracted and forgot ... I hope I can catch a repeat of the show.

edited to add: Know who the first guest star was who appeared on Sesame Street? This and 39 other interesting tidbits can be found here!

My kids loved the show (yes, so did I) when they were young. I purchased this Elmo Cricut shape at CAM's "new to you" sidewalk sale this past summer. Elmo was my eldest son's fav character and we've got an Elmo collection somewhere in the house still ...

If you visited Google today, here's what their logo image looked like:

sweet, eh?!

giving thanks

My hybrid card today uses one of my latest CTMH stamp sets - Grateful Hearts. I don't recall now where I'd first spotted this printable but it's available in both color and b&w versions from the kind folkes at Everything Creative's Etsy shop. Today's is a quick card; I simply printed the printable's color version on ivory card stock, mounted it on chocolate chip, popped that up on ivory card base, added a couple little sentiments, and voila! Easy peasy. I'd meant to do more stamping today but instead we did some much needed cleaning - the guys tackled the leaves outside, while I tackled some of my piles inside. I'm a hoarder and had started a pile of magazines behind my end table next to my fav chair in the living room and I've got to admit it was getting pretty large. Some hit the recycle bin and some are headed in to work with me tomorrow. I occasionally drop some mags off at a break room at work. Then there's the pile of "to do" things that had grown on my PC table. I'm glad to report that both piles shrunk considerably today!

Anyway, clearing out the mags, doing my bank reconciliation, and posting the past week's banking entries onto Quicken took most of the morning. I'm a creature of habit and usually do my banking on Saturday mornings but yesterday we switched routers on our main PC. THAT corrected a problem we'd been experiencing where we kept getting disconnected from the Internet, then automatically reconnected ... I'd kept track and some days it was every 20 minutes or so. For someone addicted to the Internet, this is not acceptable! We tried switching our modem first - we rent a cable modem from the kind folkes at Comcast (IMHO friends don't let friends use dial-up!) - but that was last weekend's project and it didn't resolve the issue. Well, I'm glad to report that, after some hiccups yesterday, it appears we've been successful! Whoo hoo! But ... I'm rambling now, aren't I?! Sorry 'bout that! Back to today's card ...

stamps: CTMH's Grateful Hearts; paper: A1's Natural White, SU's Chocolate Chip card stocks; ink: SU's Chocolate Chip; accessories: Everything Creative's Giving Thanks printable

so thankful

Here's today's make -'n- take project from when I stopped at CAM with my youngest on our way to errands at Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. I've got this stamp set, but that's about it by way of deets today! The scalloped circle and leaves are from die cuts and I distressed the edges with some chalk inks before using glue dots to adhere the leaves to the card, then bent them slightly so they'd appear to be more "in flight."

stamps: Autumn Leaves' 'tis the season

Shout Out To Sheet Load

There's only a few online mags that I devour religiously. This one, Sheetload of Cards, provides not only sketch layouts but tips to efficiently mass produce those sketches - a t'riffic idea for Christmas (or whatever holiday, for that matter) cards. This month's issue is now available - see the November '09 issue at this post - and they also have a link on their blog to the archive of past issues. Check 'em out! This month they're offering a FREE printable quotes file, folkes!