make a wish

I picked up a new punch this afternoon - the sweet cupcake that I used for today's card. I'd planned on punching out some kraft cupcake liners, but then couldn't resist BasicGrey's Two Scoops DP, nor the crimper. The "frosting" is from some hand-made paper my stamping buddy Pat gave me last year. It goes well with the natural white card stock base but is thicker, and a little swirly-looking, like frosting, don't you think?! I added a bit of stickles and glitter to the frosting, popped 'em up, then stamped the sentiment (it's from a collection of used stamps I purchased earlier this month - thanx, Nichol!) and voilà! - a CAS birthday card!

stamps: savvy stamps' sentiment; paper: A1's Neenah Classic Natural White card stock, BasicGrey's two scoops DP, hand-made DP; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; tools: Fiskar's Cupcake punch

at the movies

I flexed some time this week so that I could head home after a mid-afternoon appointment for some lab work. My DH and I took in a late afternoon showing of The King's Speech, with Eve Best, Claire Bloom, Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Guy Pearce, and Geoffrey Rush (who was also one of 6 executive producers). Quite an ensemble cast, and a great movie!

The film's title is a double entendre, as the future king of England is treated by various experts for a speech impediment, and he's called upon to deliver speeches in service to his father and current king, played by Michael Gambon. The docudrama delves into his personal past, and life-long friendship that develops between Firth's and Rush's characters. Great cast ... but I said that already, didn't I?! And a great period piece! See it if you can!

OLW37 meets CAS102

The lovely and talented Susan R (aka LateBlossom on SCS) of Simplicity blog fame issues a One Layer Wednesday challenge weekly, and this week's OLW37 (check her post if you're planning on playing along) is to use at least two sentiment stamps and no images to create a one-layer card. She mentioned we could use ribbon if we must ... and, well ... YEAH! I'd recently picked up a ribbon share per sé of 15 yd sections of 8 different colors of baker's twine from The Twinery and had been itching to use it!

It was either this winter-y collection of sentiments or a heart-shaped collection of "love-y" sentiments similar to the card I made a couple days ago for another sketch challenge, but I spotted that the heart idea had already been used by a few people ... so ... what do you think?! Me likey the way it turned out!

The "meets CAS102" portion of the post title is for this past Wednesday's Clean And Simple challenge at SCS, and this week it's a sketch challenge based on one of design team member cindybstampin's recent cards. So, today's card is a "two-fer!" I probably will file this one away to use next Christmas, but I've left the inside blank in case I pull it out for a winter birthday card.

stamps: Art Journey's Noel, Amy R Stamps' Snowflakes; paper: Staples' white card stock; ink: Color Box's Teal pigment pad; accessories: The Twinery's Caribbean twine

happy b'day Maria!

a b'day card for my Facebook buddy and next-door neighbor, Maria, based on SCS' CAS102 sketch challenge to make a card based on Cindy's original card. Some kept true to the original card in minute detail but I chose to pop up a die-cut piece rather than a rectangular base. And I HAD to add a cat sitting on the sofa 'cuz Maria's got cats. I went nuts w pop dots here; the sofa's popped up, the cushions popped up a bit more, and the cat's popped up separately and added to the sofa as I got to use my new sofa die!

stamps: PAPERTREYink's on my couch, on my couch additions, studio g (inside sentiment); paper: BasicGrey's green at heart DP; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's soft suede (I added to sofa legs after this pic was taken); accessories: unknown ribbon

did someone say pie?!

Today is nat'l pie day - not to be confused with March 14 (3/14 ... get it?!) which is nat'l pi day (more info). Thanx for the "heads up," Mark!

cuppa soup

Today's make-'n-take from Capture-a-Memory is this ensemble piece - a cute container for a cup of soup and another that perfectly accommodates a mini package of tissue to match! The lovely and talented Jill led the group in making this set, and did you catch the cutie patootie mini thermometers on the soup container? I'd picked up a few from a Mega Meet in years gone by and hadn't used them yet. The only bummer from today's make-'n-take is that I'd MEANT to pick up a coordinating sheet of card stock to make a matching get well card and once we were done, that thought flew right out of my head.

I told a coworker buddy of mine's daughter about the make-'n-takes and she was there - Brit, who brought a couple friends - and methinks they'll be back.

Lately CAM's been making a card and die project as their Saturday make-'n-take projects. Good move, folkes! Also, I've commended them for including a photo of their upcoming project in their weekly newsletter. If you don't already get that and you're local to Flint MI, visit their shop Web to sign up (link in my side panel)!

I met up with stamping buds Pat and Kathleen for b'fast beforehand, then we headed to scrap, and (shocker!) I headed home afterward. I think I'll make it a point to head to the mall to walk a couple laps after next week's make-'n-take. I've been adding steps to my days and have been doing pretty well during the work week, but am trying to incorporate more walking into the weekends. I've got a Gazelle down in my basement but it's missing a screw or two and I've not gotten around to checking to see if we (that means my DH!) can repair it or if I need to just give up and replace it.

gingercake

Don't you just love this gingercake DP from memory box? It's intended for Christmas ... with "cinnamon reds, pine greens, and holiday magic," but I snipped a bit to use in today's Valentine's Day card. I have two birthday cards due in the mail this weekend but haven't been able to drag myself away from making these. I've more than I need; some will hit the mail and the remainder will go to the kind folkes at Operation Write Home (see link on sidebar). I'm a sketchaholic, and today's card is based on Clean & Simple's 1/14 sketch, FTL123.

edited to add: woot woot! I just learned this was selected as a Clean and Simple (CAS) Favorites for the Week Ending January 23, 2011! cool beans!

stamps: Lizzie Anne's Valentine's Saying, Unity Stamp's Love Grows; paper: Memory Box's gingercake DP, Staples' white card stock; ink: SU's Real Red, Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: Offray white satin ribbon; tools: Fiskar's apron lace border and Marvy Uchida super heart punch

free v-day subway art printable

You familiar with Jessica of Craftily Ever After blog fame? Well, she's giving away one of her latest uber cool subway art printables ... and all you have to do is help spread the word by posting about it!

Thanx, Jessica - LOVE IT!

happy b'day Cary

It's Cary Grant's b'day today - born on this date in 1904, so I'm pulling out a Christmas present I bought for the household (ok ... me!): Grant * Hope Comedy Collection - and planning to watch one of the following tonight:

• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Charade (1963)
• The Amazing Adventure (1936)
  

So, which would YOU pick?

Nat'l Nothing Day

This un-event is one of those "Hallmark" sort of holidays; I don't think it's ever been made a "national" day, which requires an act of Congress. It was first observed in 1973, created by newspaperman Harold Pullman Coffin "to provide Americans with one national day when they can just sit without celebrating, observing, or honoring anything." Funny that this desire for uneventfulness should come from a man whose entire career depends on something happening every day, eh?!

Celebrate this day by doing ... nothing! We didn't - we had a nice family get-together at my sister's house where we dined on spaghetti 'n sauce w sausage and salad ... YUM! ... and visited w my eldest brother who's in town for the week, watched How To Train Your Dragon, and Jenn use the Wii. Fun day.

Procrastinator's Club of America

I'm sure that the Procrastinator's Club of America is looking for me ... or they will be, when they get around to it! I'd MEANT to post this card for the WMSC29 sketch challenge by the lovely and talented Lisa over at the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge blog, but when I finally got around to it, realized I'd missed the deadline! Well, it's made, so I'll post a quick link at the comment section and let it be at that. Sigh ... quicker posting for the next challenge, Sue!

stamps: SU's Holidays & Wishes (inside sentiment); paper: Fancy Pants' Frosted Collection DP; A1 Neenah Natural White, SU's Kraft Crumb Cake card stocks; ink: CTMH's Outdoor Denim; accessories: American Crafts' pink fabric Thickers

had you heard?!

I heard from friends out East that they'd received a record two feet of snowfall overnight and HAD to share some photos, don't you know?! LOL! (thanx for the grins, Mary!)

hugs & kisses

and holiday wishes! Tonight was stamp camp w Angie, and pictured at left is my fav project but it was awfully hard to just pick one! Don't you just love the new glimmer paper?! I sure do!

all supplies SU unless otherwise noted

stamps: XOXO; paper: Real Red Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack, Glimmer Paper, Basic Black and Whisper White card stocks; ink: Real Red, Basic Black; accessories: Basic Black satin and Real Red taffeta ribbons; tools: 1-1/4", 1-3/8" circles and 1-3/4" scalloped circle punches

lovestruck 4 ribbons

It's all about the ribbons on this card! That's because the latest blog post I read this evening was that of Jen Del Muro's of I{heart}2stamp blog fame informing us that the kind folkes at The Cat's Pajamas are challenging us to use ribbon in a fun, unique and creative way. It's their TCP Tuesday challenge, and I'd been meaning to make a ribbon card, so here it is! Thanx for the inspiration, Jen!

stamps: TCP's Loving Mew; paper: Staples' white and unknown black card stock; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; accessories: assorted Mike's and SU's Real Red grosgrain double stitched, grosgrain polka dot, and grosgrain striped ribbons

did you know? ...

A couple of my coworkers and I always remind each other of the significance of these "special" days - it's just a matter of who thinks to e-mail the others first - so I HAD to post a timed entry in honor of today, don't you know?!

it's 1:11 p.m. on 1/11/11

Pantone unveils Color of the Year for 2011

I'm on a quest these past few days, making Valentine's Day cards in advance of when I actually need them ... I know, what a concept, eh?! My brother still teases me about the time he announced a girlfriend had pulled into our driveway, and rather than head to the door, I sprinted to the bedroom to wrap her Christmas present! Hey, why rush things, I figured ...

I made today's card last night just before heading to bed, from a kit I'd won as blog candy from a Paper Crafts mag blog post last year. I hadn't pulled it together as I had no need for it yet (you see, things haven't changed much here ...).

I just realized today that, as I'd been missing the green DP heart they used in the kit, that I'd printed off LAST year's tribute to Pantone's 2010 color of the year - some turquoise digi-DP I'd ordered from Jessica Sprague's One Buck Wednesday offerings - the DP's Orchard & Broome's West 4th collection in cool tones (7 coordinating DPs in 12x12" jpg format). It may be a little hard to tell from the small picture, but the blues in the heart reflect the blue stripes in the brown ribbon ... and the brownish-gray in the heart's DP seems happy paired w the ribbon as well. So, isn't today's card timely?!

As we celebrate a new year, Pantone (the industry standard for all things color), has named honeysuckle as its new color of the year - a beautiful reddish-pink that they describe as courageous, confident, and vital. Look for it to pick up steam in the fashion and crafting worlds. I don't lean towards bright colors often but this looks like a great color to pair with black and white, kraft, or browns, just to name a few color combos. Doesn't viewing it automatically make you think that spring can't be far off?!

stamps: n/a (PC-generated sentiment); paper: BoBunny's Blush Dot, My Mind's Eye Happy Days, Orchard & Broome's West 4th collection, unknown white card stock; ink: n/a (pre-printed sentiment); accessories: American Crafts' Stitch ribbon; tools: Marvy Uchida corner rounder

i love you, alice b toklas

tee hee ... thinking Peter Sellers here! Another couple CAS Valentine's Day cards on a similar theme. The 1st one's matted and worked for both the current Paper Craft Planet sk010811 sketch challenge as well as Lucy Abram's New Year's Eve posted sketch challenge. She doesn't provide a "code" so I'm nicknaming 'em - let's call it LAsketch4, shall we?! The 2nd one was made in response to checking Lucy's sketch challenge.

stamps: Unity Co's Love Grows; paper: ColorMates' Light Berry Red, Scenic Road's Surprise; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink; tools: Marvy Uchida's jumbo heart punch

all u need is L-O-V-E

Today's make-'n-take card from Capture-a-Memory is my 2nd post of the day - a mix of DPs all cut into twinchies and rounded with an item long ago added to my wish list - the corner chopper. I chose to pop the DP pieces up, and used the Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers to cut some thin cardboard to back it, rather than use pop dots. It cut thru like buttuh! Yes, I MUST get myself one of these! Thanx, Jill, for sharing your cool tool! And for helping me get another Valentine's Day card ready!

no deets today - I didn't check out the DP maker as I had my youngest son waiting on me in the car, hot to trot off to Best Buy to spend some Christmas cash that was burning a hole in his pocket. I dunno what they cut the letters from either. SUCH a slacker am I! We made a cute rouned box from a die and repeated stamping that's not pictured here.

repost to the king

Bobby Fischer won the US Chess Championship on this day in 1958


and the king of rock 'n roll was born on this day in 1935.


Now, I dunno about you, but I immediately thought to myself, "hey, I have a card to celebrate that!" I know, it's a sickness ... {grin}! So ... it's a repost, but you know I HAD to do it!

College Town Holiday Food Drive

Woot woot (see Sue grin. see Sue doing the arm pump action)!

Congrats to all who helped return the coveted College Town Holiday Food Drive trophy to Kettering! Kettering donations topped 40,000 pounds for December's Food Bank of Eastern Michigan food drive.

The four schools collected a total of 107,016 pounds of food to feed the hungry in the region! And what was the final tally, you ask?

• Baker College - 28,505 pounds
• Kettering - 40,691
• Mott - 12,400
• U of M - 25,420
  

and the award goes to ...

I'm an award show junkie, so you know where I'll be tomorrow night. Yep! Sitting right here in my living room watching the People's Choice Awards (at 9 p.m. on CBS)! If truth be told, I'll be checking the scene out on the red carpet beforehand too. All the while munching on pizza and amaretto coffee, 'cuz Wednesdays are pizza night at the Blondin household.

Yep, I'm in the zone, folkes! Don't bother calling here after 9 p.m. 'cuz I won't even bother answering the phone!

an inspired valentine

Inspired by Susan Raihala of Simplicity blog fame (see this and that post), here's another Valentine's Day card in one of my favorite color combos - black and white with a splash of color - and that of my most frequently used splash of color, a bright red.

It was intended as a smaller (4-1/2") square card, but I found a couple red and white scraps when I went to my card stock stash that weren't much smaller, so it ended up as a 4-1/8 x 3-3/4" card. I stamped two envelopes, then cut one envelope out and popped it up over the other. I matted the envelope and sentiment on black card stock, and popped up that matted envelope and sentiment section onto a red base. I have some pop dots that are only 1/16" thick so this will still fit in the mail easily.

I find these Forever in Time 1/16" thick pop-dots at local dollar stores; they're 1/4" wide and are my preferred pop dots now. It's probably my most frugal scrap-related purchase, as I even save and cut apart the backing to use as pop dots as well!

stamps: Hero Arts' Just A Note, Unity Stamps' Love Grows, and SU's Holidays & Wishes (inside sentiment); paper: Color Mates' Light Berry Red, Paper Reflections' black, and SU's Whisper White card stocks; ink: Ranger's black soot distress ink, SU's Real Red; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots self-adhesive accents

a CASE study

My first card of the new year is a case study of sorts! I'm forever inspired by Susan Raihala of Simplicity blog fame, and today's is CASE'd from this post. I'd been planning on inking up the Basic Grey "just because ..." stamp for a Valentine's Day card using a punched heart, but found these cute heart rain dots when I went to my punch stash. Using one for the dot on the J and popping up the notebook page adds a bit of dimension to today's CAS card. Thanx for stopping by! And thanx, SusanR, for the inspiration!

stamps: one of Basic Grey's unnamed value minis, Hero Arts' Just a Note, SU's Holidays & Wishes (inside sentiment); paper: SU's Bashful Blue, Whisper White; ink: PTI's Aqua Mist, Ranger's black soot distress ink, Tri-C watercolor markers; accessories: Cloud9 Design's heart rain dots self-adhesive accents (65 assorted sizes to the pkg); tools: McGill 1/8" circle hand-held punch

New Year's day mail

I'm back with a 2nd post today, but still with no card of my own making! In my mailbox this a.m. - as neither my DH nor I thought to check it yesterday - were a couple of card-related items. I've gotta say, I love Reenee & Nicki of Clear and Simple Stamps. Not only do I LOVE their stamps, but they've such a nice business plan. Last year was my first time ordering a couple of their stamp sets, and at year's end I rec'd a beautiful "thank you for your business" stamp set in a card. This year, even though I didn't make any purchases, they still sent me the beautiful card pictured at left with the sentiment stamp used in the card. The sets they send as thank you gifts are custom and not available on their site.

The red rhinestones bling was included in a Hero Arts order that I ordered online that was fulfilled by the Simon Says Stamp company. They also included a $5 off coupon ... which I'll have to hold aside for later! I'd ordered a couple stamps from Christmas cash from my DH - the swirly Magical Background and Wreath of Leaves stamps (Tami won't be surprised - I've been gazing at a Christmas card they had in their office every time I stopped by these last few weeks, commenting that it reminded me of this stamp) and will have to get busy stamping now! Catch ya later!

check sidebar for blog candy

Just a quick note to remind you to check the sidebar for blog candy offerings ... I've added a couple more in the last week (and I hope to be back with a card a bit later)!

happy new year, folkes!

'nuff said, and inspired by the lovely and talented Kim Hughes ... it's just a picture now, but I'll have to mat it and send out a couple cards.

we're bringing in the new year in a calm manner - I sent out jacquie lawson e-cards earlier this evening, we touched base w family by 9:00 p.m., then settled in to watch a movie we'd rented (Salt w Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbaychski, and Andre Braugher) and switched to viewing the countdown moments before the ball took its plunge!