I've Been Painting!

Wow! I have been super busy the past few days! Bob and Larry (the worker guys) have finished their portion of my bathroom remodels. Larry's is already back home in Florida, which I am sure pleases him to no end. We had some of the coldest and snowiest weather since he came up to New York to do this job! So, I have been doing the painting, which is what I agreed to do and the hardest part is choosing paint colors! And, I must say that I am pretty happy with what I chose. I should be able to finish up tomorrow and then later this week I promise I will post the pics! Gorgeeous!!

I do have some projects that I wanted to post pictures of. Here is one of those Target mailboxes! This is the first one I have ever done. I have seen so many of them that I finally had to give it a try. All of the products used (besides the mailbox itself) are SU! The paper is the Hawaii Papaya dsp. Too bad it has retired already. I wish more of the designer series papers were in the catalog for more than 6 months. I still might add something to the front cover cuz it looks a little bare don'tcha think?

The card I made was actually for the Sketch Challenge at SCS. Here is the recipe:

Stamps: crazy for cupcakes
Paper: Green galore, Rose red, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, My Mind's Eye dp, watercolor paper
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, Black Stazon
Accessories: Beads from my stash, Button from my stash, Stickles, Ribbon, punches, stapler, aqua painter

I gave this card to my girlfriend for her birthday.

Ok, well that's it for now. I am glad I found a few minutes to post someting to my blog. Thanks a bunch for stoppin' by!

A Color Challenge and Some Thank Yous

Good morning!

Well, I was up till 3:00 am painting one of my bathrooms. Still needs another coat on part, but it is looking so nice! I did some stamping yesterday, but didn't have a chance to post. First I worked on the Color challenge for the day over at SplitCoastStampers. This was such a pretty color combo: Bravo Burgundy, Reagal Rose and Kiwi Kiss.

I made this for my oldest daughter's birthday coming up. Here is the recipe (all products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Stamps: Crazy For Cupcakes

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Basic Grey - Sultry dp

Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Black Stazon

Accessories: blender pens, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, spiral punch, scallop circle punch, 1 1/4 '" circle punch, Crystal Effects, Maya Roads chipboard flower, dimensionals

I stamped the image in black Stazon and then colored in using a blender pen and the lids to my ink pads. The cherries have a dot of crystal effects on them to make them shiny and give them dimension. The left edge is punches with the spiral punch. I cuttlebugged the Regal rose panel with the swiss dots embossing folder. I stamped the sentiment twice in bravo burgundy so that they were in a circle and then punched out with the scallop circle punch. The little chipboard flower is covered with dp and then has a coat of crystal effects. The sentiment is on dimensionals. I really like how this turned out and I hope she does too.

I also made some quick thank you cards for my customers who put in an order at my last stamp class. I try to always give them a handmade thank you with their order to let them know how much I apprecieate their business.

I had some of the Ski Slope DSP left over so I decided to use the tangerine tango side for my thank yous. I went to the IN Color combo chart on the SU! website to choose this combo. Here is the recipe (All products are SU!):

Stamps: Sweet Stems, A Little Bit of Everything (incentive set)

Paper: Pacific Point Textured, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Ski Slope dsp

Ink: Basic Black, Pacific Point, Tango Tangerine

Accessories: Blender pens, 5/8: Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, eyelets, crop-a-dile, circle punches, dimensionals, linen thread

The image is stamped in basic black and colored using blender pens and ink pad lids. Sentiment is stamped in tango tangerine, punched and layered using circle punches and has an eyelet set with the crop-a-dile. These cards are 3 x 6. These were vere quick to make.

Well, that is all that I have for now. Stop back again soon!

Non-Cheesy Valentine

Good morning all!

I can't believe I got some stampin' done and it's only 10:15 am. The card I am posting this morning is one that I made for today's Limited Supply challenge over at SCS. We were to make a valentine that could easily be replicated to make 30 cards so that they could be handed out for a grade school class. Now, having 4 kids myself, I happen to know this ritual all too well. And even though my children are all grown up now, I remember sitting with each child and trying to go through class lists and getting all the "to's" and "from's" filled out. It would have been so much easier to do it myself. I would have to start 2 weeks before Valentine's day to make sure they all got done. And it always started off with each child choosing which box of valentines to get! I gotta be honest and say that even now, I would probably go for the SpongBob or spiderman boxes before making our own. So, here is mine. It only took me about 20 mins to come up with and complete. As specified in the challenge, use punches instead of hand cutting and limit the layers, which I did. I used my marvey punches for the image and scallop circle. I used my brand spankin' new Big Shot to die cut the envelope, and i cuttlebugged the white layer with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. When I first went to take the picture it didn't look quite finished so I added some stampin' glitter to the little hearts with my 2-way glue pen, though it doesn't show up well in the picture. My girls always tried to find valentines that were glittery! I used the Owl Together Now stamp set by Stampin' Up! It's such a cute set and the sentiment reminds me of a typical valentines' saying. The image piece will actually tuck down into the envelope more and the back of the image is a perfect spot for the "To and From". the owl and hearts were colored in using SU! makers.

Here is the complete recipe:(All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Stamps: Owl Togehter Now

Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Kraft

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red

Accessories: markers, offray ribbon, marvey punches, cuttlebug and embossing folder, Big Shot and Scallop envelope die, dimensionals, glitter, 2-way glue pen

Thanks a bunch for stoppin' by! See you soon!

Working on Some Cards for January Birthdays

Good morning, oops it's now afternoon by 4 mins! My mission today is to get all of my January birthday cards finished. Thankfully all of these birthdays are at the end of the month. The first one I completed was an easy one for my father-in-law and I combined 2 challenges from my fave site SplitCoastStampers. I used today's Ways to Use It challenge in which we were to use either a color wheel or a color combo website to push us away from our usual color combos. I used this site. I also used yesterday's Sketch challenge for my layout. Here is my card. Want the recipe? Everything is Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

Stamps: Changito B-day by Stampendous, On Your Birthday

Paper: Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Confetti White, Not quite navy DSP

Ink: Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Black Stazon

Accessories: Spiral clip(unknown), Aqua painter, dimensionals

My image was stamped in black stazon and then colored in using an aqua painter and the lids of my stamp pads. I love this technique for watercoloring and it really works well with SU!'s confetti white cardstock.

I have an aircompressor right outside my craft room and it keeps turning on and off and I jump outta my seat every time it turns on! Wow! It's really loud! But, my bathrooms are looking gorgeous!

I am gonna get back to my card making. Thanks a bunch for stoppin' by!

Winter Fun Stampin' Up! Class

Wow! Is it ever cold here in upstate New York! Single digits are all we're getting here. I had my first SU! class for 2009 on Thursday night. I was worried that more people were going to cancel than actually did due to a snow storm. But, 8 ladies braved the elements and we had a super fun time. I had some regular customers and some brand new ones too! I just love meeting new people who share the same creative outlets as I do. Thanks to all of my guest for making it such a terrific night!

Here is a picture of the projects we made. The top right card with the love birds was a total case of this awesome card that I saw on Splitcoaststampers. Thanks Beth Ann. Everyone one loved my version of Snowman Soup! And I got to give everyone a closer look at the Big Shot! I plan on having an instructional class on how to use this super tool sometime in March! I've gotta finsih up my calendar and get it posted on my SU! website.

I still have lots going on at my house with the bathroom remodels. The tub for the master bath that we had to special order had a chip out of it. So that has to be exchanged which means further work there is on hold until the tub can be installed. I'm not real happy 'bout that set back. But, Bob and Larry keep working away. They are good boys!

Well, I am freezing as I sit here at my PC, so I think I will go snuggle up with my husband who is asleep on the couch with football on the t.v.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'm Back With a New PC

Okay! I am so much better now! My wonderful son, Alex, has picked out a new pc, hooked it all up for me and comes running every times he hears, "Aleeex" coming from my stamp room. So, I can finally add a new post to my blog and upload pictures, WooHoo! Here is a sneak peak for my first stamp class for 2009 which is tomorrow night. I wanted to have a football card since we are in the middle of the playoffs and Super Bowl Sunday is just around the corner. I didn't have a design in mind so I decided to use the sketch challenge layout from SCS and I love how it turned out. Here is what I came up with.

This was an easy layout to work with and doesn't have lots of added embellishments. Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Just Football, Sporting
Paper: always artichoke, more mustard, pacific point, whisper white, hostess print pack
Ink: always artichoke, more mustard, pacific point, close to cocoa
Accessories: dimensionals

I have so much to do to get ready for this class. I will post a pic of all my projects later.

As for my bathrooms, the guest one is done and gorgeous. I still need to take some pics and upload. Bob and Larry ( you know, the worker guys) are working on our other 2 bathrooms at the same time. My husband and son spent time over the weekend doing some of the demo to save on labor and they did a darn good job. So, where we have always been used to having 3 bathrooms we are now down to one. But I think we can handle it for 2 weeks! Well, I better get going and do some cutting and cleaning. Thanks a bunch for stopping by!

My Computer is Very Sick!

I haven't been able to post anything for a few days cuz my poor PC is broken. My son has been trying to get it back up and running, but he says that it is time for a new one. I am on my husband's PC, but I really can't do anything. So, that's where I have been. Hopefully I will be able to get a new one soon. I am lost without it!