blog candy alert

I'm hoping for some crafty time this weekend to participate in Angel's "18 days of Angelosity" and thot you'd be interested in seeing what the blog candy's amounted to so far (here). I've only had time to make a card based on one sketch so far ... more to follow soon!

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is a card I made at our closest Archiver's last year. I went to a make-'n-take there with a few friends to support the local economy. It was my first time using flocking on a card ... on one of the bats. All supplies were from Archiver's. I like 'em all, and will prob'ly CASE this again some time!

We just returned from trick-or-treating, and am back to enjoy the fruits of our labor! I'm restricting myself to just eating the bite-size milky ways ... the rest go to Geoff, my eldest. This year he decided we should take in a neighbor's haunted house ... make that their haunted garage. They go all out and this year have a chain saw murderer in there capturing unsuspicious people (really, they're other neighbors who join in the fun). Complete with a graveyard leading up the driveway where folkes have to line up to enter (it's getting more popular every year with the locals), some decide right then and there to turn back! This year we'd just entered the garage and made our first turn in a small maze, where Geoff freaked out when a person in a prison reached out, asking him to please help her outta there ... that was enough ... so we had to backtrack outta the place! Maybe next year ...

Innovator of the Year

I've been a fan of Pixar Animation Studios since the early days when they created amazing shorts for use in Sesame Street shows ... you know the mom and kid swing-arm table lamps now made famous as their branding used at the introduction of their movies?
And what movies, you ask?! WELL ... glad you asked:

• Toy Story (1995)
• A Bug's Life (1998)
• Toy Story 2 (1999)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Cars (2006)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• WALL-E (2008)

Wowzer, eh?! Snipped from Mike's October 23rd post at The Pixar Blog, "The Hollywood Reporter today named Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter as its Innovator of the Year for 2008.

Citing his role as a "key player" in the production of Pixar's WALL-E and Disney's Bolt (in theatres Nov. 21), and the studios behind them, the publication concludes the obvious: "Lasseter has become not only the most prominent successor to the Nine Old Men, but arguably the most important figure in animation since [Walt] Disney himself." " (read more here)

blast from the past

I love Halloween! It's ranked right up there after Christmas for my stock of household decorations; I have multiple costumes; it's NOT just for kids in my home! This year I'd made more cards than I actually needed to send ... and ... sigh ... same as last year! Here's one I never posted from last year that's finally getting a new home this year; I've decided it's one of my more "manlier" cards so it's heading to a lunch buddy on Friday morning!

no specific deets; the DP was 2-sided, with the word using (methinks) the opposite side ... either that or we used coordinating papers. all supplies were from a card class at capture-a-memory, link at right ... it's sweet, eh?!

boo to you!

This card went off in the mail today! I'd made it quite a while ago but hadn't uploaded it to my blog, from a shop hop of days gone by. I don't recall now even which shop led us in the making of this card, but IMHO it's STINKIN' CUTE! I'd hung on to it in hopes of using it as personal tutorial of sorts, but having the pic on the blog will suffice!

no specific deets, however - black cardstock, white cheesecloth, cute Halloween stamps, and COURSE I had to grab those purple brads, don't 'cha know?! I used a silver CM/Precious Memories gel pen for the inside greeting

new PaperCrafts edition

Had you spotted news of the latest PaperCrafts addition in blogs lately?

They're coming out with a new edition called PC Gourmet with wonderful paper crafts AND food recipes! Here's a sample of one of the recipes and projects you'll find in this issue, designed by Papercrafts Pro, Alisa Bangerter: Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits:

This a perfect recipe to pull out if you're short on time because there is no rolling or cutting. The cheese and garlic add extra kick to a plain biscuit, and kids love them. They're the perfect accompaniment to serve with soups or stews, and aregreat served with a salad.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 c. flour
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2/3 c. butter or margarine
• 1-1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
• 1-1/4 c. milk
• Chives (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry cutter until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until just moistened. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle top with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.

Now we all know it's all about the packaging, so Alisa made this adorable tag to go with her yummy biscuits!

Enjoy Halloween TagDesigner: Alisa Bangerter

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: (ivory) Dye ink: (Black) Stewart Superior Corp.; (Summer Sun) Stampin’ Up! Specialty ink: (Mango Lemonade color wash) Stewart Superior Corp. Color medium: (black chalk) Craf-T Products Accents: (black brads) Making Memories; (chipboard bat, moon) Melissa Frances Fibers: (black striped ribbon) Pebbles Inc. Font: (Black Family) http://www.dafont.com/ Adhesive: (foam tape) Finished size: 3" x 4-1/2"

1 Make tag from cardstock. 2 Crumple tag and smooth out. Spray edges with color wash; let dry. Apply chalk. 3 Ink chipboard moon; let dry. Chalk edges and adhere. 4 Ink chipboard bat; let dry. Adhere with foam tape. 5 Print sentiment on cardstock; trim and tear edges. Chalk edges and adhere with foam tape. Attach brads. Attach ribbon with brad.

There are 8 more projects to enjoy. Interested? Follow THIS LINK as it's not on the newsstands but currently only available to preorder!

happy holidays

This was my fav of the cards we made at yesterday's Christmas Stamp-a-Stack class at Crystal's (see link at right) house. I'll have to break down to get these couple stamp sets sooner or later - they're just SO STINKIN' CUTE, y'know?! Last year we'd used another in making these cards. When we're making 2 cards of each design I usually make one in each orientation - portrait and landscape.

stamps: SU's Big on Christmas, Christmas Chatter; paper: SU's Certainly Celery, Real Red, Whisper White; ink: StazOn's Jet Black, SU's Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Summer Sun?; accessories: SU's Real Red 5/8" and Certainly Celery 1/3" grosgrain ribbons

blog candy alert

FYI - stop by and leave a comment (here) by November 3rd for Lori, of By LORI Designs blog and etsy shop, and you'll have a chance to win a kewl plate similar to the one pictured! Thanx for the chance, Lori, and happy blogaversary; I've got my fingers crossed!

"fall"ing for you

I'd not had the chance to make any sketches 'til today to celebrate the 18 days of Angelosity! Sometimes work and just plain life just gets in the way, y'know?! Well, today's the day ... this is for sketch #1. I'd not yet inked this l'il cutie scarecrow I'd picked up recently from the kind folkes at ShortCuts who've lately been offering entire series of the latest studio g releases. Now, that's my kind of deal ... 20-25 mini stamp sets to a series at $1 ea. This was from their early October offering if I recall correctly; mainly Halloween stamp sets, it also included 4 that were "clearly" Thanksgiving-related. I popped the l'il scarecrow dude up using dimensionals.

My Mom's up visiting and we're getting ready to head out to my fav local Italian restaurant for supper, but I hope to stop by again to post tomorrow! I just rec'd ShortCuts' studio g calendar offering in today's mail! Whoo hoo! Happy to countdown w you, Angel ~ had I told you how glad I am you're holding another countdown?!

stamps: studio g, paper: Graphic45's Botanicabella collection DP, SU's More Mustard, Chocolate Chip cardstocks; inks: StazOn's Jet Black, SU's More Mustard, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, and Chocolate Chip, Tri-C watercolor markers

The Stamper (I can relate!)

THE STAMPER by Jackie Saxby 1999

I started out with just one stamp
and when I bought some more
I decided that a shoe box
Would make an ideal store.

Then as I added inks and pens,
My stamp collection grew
So I bought a roomy plastic crate
It would last for years, I knew.

Embossing then became my thing
With powders and a heat gun,
Metallics, tinsels, pearls and clear,
I soon had every one.

By now my lovely plastic crate
Was spilling everywhere
And my glitter glue collection
Lay scattered on a chair.

My husband started muttering
And said things had to stop,
So I bought a huge old wardrobe
At the local charity shop.

But after a while,
I couldn't shut the door
And I put shelves in the spare room
To accomodate yet more.

Our house is now for sale,
Something larger being sought,
By the way, did I show you
The latest stamp I bought ...

Octoberfest 2008

Sounds like a beer festival, doesn't it?! NOT! I attended Octoberfest 2008 at my LSS this past weekend (CAM, link at right) where we made 3 t'riffic projects pictured at left! I'll cover 'em in more detail over the next few days, starting w the Live, Laugh, Love, Learn booklet ...

This was my favorite project, and measures 3-1/2 x 5-3/8". It was simple to make but doesn't look it (I LOVE those types of projects!). The binding was made from a single piece of 3-1/2 x 12" cardstock, scored at 2", then 8 times scored at 1" intervals, leaving 2" at the opposite end. We used a pretty DCS for the covers, a few complementary cardstock colors and an open ended folder die cut for the 4 interior pages, and inserted ready-made tags into those folders (exchanging some pretty ribbon for the usual strings on those tags). We stamped the covers and folder pages with the Live, Laugh, Love, Learn sentiments and a few flower stamps. I'm a chalker so I rounded corners and chalked edges. The hardest part was probably punching thru all those layers of cardstock! I ended up using the Crop-a-dile and taking it a couple pages at a time, aligning the holes as I went. We closed 'em with some pretty ribbon (being careful to not tie 'em too tight, as we still want to be able to open the booklet) ... Voila! Easy peasy! There's still room enough on each of the 4 folder pages and on the tags to be able to add either pics or quotes or a combination of both.

an SC199 wedding

I made this card for a gal I know at work to use for an upcoming wedding she's attending. It's based on SCS's SC199 sketch challenge using its intended recipients' wedding colors and flower (navy and silver, and white roses). I found the flower image on the Internet and printed it on vellum cardstock, then triple matted it on silver rouche (BEAUTIFUL stuff!), then brilliant silver and navy cardstocks, and used dimensionals to pop it and the ribboned piece up a bit. I printed their special song to be used at their wedding ceremony in a dark navy ink as the inside sentiment. Here's wishing the them love, laughter, and happy ever after!

stamps: studio g's flourish; paper: WorldWin's silver rouche, Prism's navy speckled and unknown silver mirror cardstocks, and SU's vellum cardstocks; ink: CTMH's Outdoor Denim; accessories: CTMH's Outdoor Denim organza ribbon, Masterpiece Studio's glitter brads