Snowed In and Stampin'

Well, I had big plans to get out today and run the 103 errands that are on my list and I woke up to a blizzard. 8 hours later and it is still coming down! I want summer back! I really don't know why I live here in Upstate New York! Anywho, I stayed in and did some chores around the house so I could feel less guilty about doing some stamping. I checked out the Sketch challenge over at SCS. Here is my card.

I wanted to make a card that would brighten my day so I grabbed this cute Stampendous Patty Chick stamp and yummy Basic Grey Sugared dp. I colored in the image using an aqua painter and my SU! classic ink pads. Here is my recipe:

Stamps: Stampendous' Patty Chick, sentiment from Sock Monkey
Paper: Bazzill cs, Basic Grey's Sugared, confetti white
Ink: black stazon, various SU classic ink pads
Accessories: ribbon from my stash, aqua painter, SU classic ink pad lids
Techniques: watercoloring

While I was making this card I accidently tipped over a full can of Diet Pepsi Max and it went all over my Earth Elements classic ink pads. What a mess! Some how the soda got into the pads so I had to open them all up and clean the inside as well as the outside! At least my table was pretty clean so i didn't ruin any paper or tools. Well, I have been having issues with my PC the past week or so where it keeps freezing up on me so my baby boy is going to take a look at it for me and clean it up! He takes good care of me! So, I am handing the keyboard over to him. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you do so again real soon!

Today's Color Challenge at SCS

Well, I got some of my housework done so I was able to squeeze in the Color Challenge over at SplitCoastStampers. The colors we were to use were Handsome Hunter, So Saffron and Bravo Burgandy.

Here are the deets:

Stamps: Sock Monkey, A Happy Heart
Paper: handsome hunter, so saffron, bravo burgandy, confetti white, cloud 9 dp
Ink: handsome hunter, so saffron, bravo burgandy, black stazon
Accessories: aqua painter, punches, brads, dimensionals

The image panel and all the hearts are on dimensionals. I had a fun time with these colors and this turned out to be a great card for my husband because it's not too frilly! Here also are a few pics of some of the scraves I have crocheted. This is one of my fave things to do while I am watching t.v. They make great gifts for all the ladies in my life, especially my 2 daughters. I told them that they could each pick one scarf and they had a hard time choosing just one! That really makes me feel good! I also brought them to my SU! demo group so they could pick one for a Christmas gift. Not everyone was at our Holiday gathering so I will bring them to our next meeting. well. Bob and Larry are pretty much finished with the guest bathroom. There are just a few odds and ends to do. Thanks so much for stoppin' by! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Took The Tree Down Today

Whew!! Another Christmas has come and gone! I took my tree down today and packed up all the christmas decorations and ornaments. That is such a chore for me. But, I do like having my house back especially when I've still got home improvement projects to do. I've had Bob and Larry (the 2 worker guys) here just about every day for the past 2 weeks remodeling our guest bathroom. It's one of those deals where I say to Bob, "How long will this take?" and he replies, "We'll be done by Christmas." Ha! Then one problem arises after another and we forget that there ever was a budget, etc. you all know where this is going, right? I must say though, it is looking absolutely gorgeous! Man can those guys lay tile! I'll post pics in a few days when it is finished! I didn't make any cards today, but I did make some cute little coaster calendars. I am going to use these as door prizes at my upcoming stamp class. I ordered the coasters from Eclectic Paperie and I printed the tearoff calendars from a link at SplitCoastStampers found here. Everything else is Stampin' Up! I think I will put a magnet on the back so it can be hung on the fridge. These would be a great project to do at a stamp class. I will have to keep it in mind for next year. Well, another short post, but this is getting me into the blogging/posting groove! Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon!

Still Finishing Up Christmas

Well, here I am, the day AFTER Christmas and I am still making gifts. We don't celebrate with my family until the Sunday after Christmas, so I have a few more days to prepare. I worked on some gift card holders today. I gave alot of these this year as I find it harder to pick out the perfect gift especially for my nieces and nephews. The 2 holders in the top photo are for my nephews who are 10 and 13. Target is one of their favorite stores so that is where the gift cards are for. I didn't follow anyone's instructions for these, I just figured out what size I needed and went from there. I am a very visual person, so I don't do well with instructions. I think it has alot to do with the fact that I am left handed and I have always had to figure out how do do things so they work for me. My holders are held closed with a bellyband and then decorated with a Santa made with Stampin' Up! punches. Actually all the products for them are from SU!. The second gift card holder I made is for an iTunes giftcard for my daughter's boyfriend. She got him an iPod shuffle for Christmas. This is an A2 size card with the bottom on the right side folded up and held together with some brads. It is made from 3/4 of an 8 1/2 x 11" piece of cardstock. The image is a stamp by Stampendous called Pookie Skates. Isn't he just adorable? I wanted to do the Limited Supply challenge over at SplitcoastStampers today, but I'm not sure I am going to be able to fit it in. I also have to start working on some card samples for 2 classes I will be having in January. I feel like I am perpetually behind and just can't get caught up! Yikes! Well, thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at what I have been up to. Take care!

It's Been How Long?!

I can't believe that it has been 4 months since my last post! I am embarrassed to call myself a blogger! I have been so wrapped up in our house remodel and the everyday issues that arise from being a mom, wife, daughter, sister, etc. that I have totally lost track of time. I have been stamping and crafting as much as I can, just haven't posted to my blog. So, as part of my New Year's resolution I am gonna try much harder! I have some pics of the things I have been creating.

This first pic is of a bunch of Christmas cards that I made with the leftovers from a stamp camp that a friend of mine hosted. All of these were used as some of the cards I sent to family and friends. At the camp, each guest made 2 cards of each design. I then had them make the folder shown in my other two pics.I had seen similar folders at various sites but of course when I wanted to find one to case I couldn't find one. So I just made mine up from memory. After a few trial and errors I came up with this. I made it using one - 8 1/2 x 11" piece of cardstock. All the ladies loved them. Several of them even stamped and decorated their envies! I purchased the new Big Bite a couple of months ago and used it to set the large SU eyelets! That tool is amazing! You can reach anywhere you need to with it! Well, this is gonna be short, I gotta ease back into the bloggin' world! I hope to be back tomorrow to show some more things I have been working on! Happy Holidays!!

2 Challenges in 2 Days

Woo-Hoo!! I have completed 2 SCS challenges in as many days. A wonderful feat for me as it is hard for me to make time to sit and stamp. First, take a look at the cards I made...

The one with the Glad Heart angel was made yesterday for the weekly sketch challenge at SCS. This was such a super sketch to work with and it was perfect for this sweet little angel, don'tcha think? It was made using only Stampin' Up! products except for the Stickles!! here are the deets:

Stamps: Glad Heart, Holidays and Wishes
Paper: Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Whisper White, Green Tea DSP
Ink: Stazon Black, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Blush Blossom, So Saffron
Accessories: blender pens, stickles, dimensional

It's hard to see in the photo, but i stamped the image twice and cut out her arms holding the heart and popped it up on dimensionals. After I finished it using blender pens and ink from the tops of my ink pads I wished I had used my aqua painters instead to give her more of a watercolor look!! I will remember that for next time.

For my second card, the one with the suspicious owls, I made for today's Ways to Use it challenge. We were s'posed to use colored pencils in our project. Since my oldest DS and his wife gave me the 120 pack of PRISMACOLOR pencils for Christmas last year, I decided to use them to make their 1 year wedding anniversary card. I just got this stamp set from SU! and I couldn't wait to use it!! Aren't these owls just the neatest? MY DS and DDIL are such a fun loving couple and these 2 owls reminded me of them! Here are the deets:

Stamps: SU Owl Together Now and Painted Posies
Paper: Bazzill Textured cs, Basic Grey Infuse, SU whisper white
Ink: SU basic black, close to cocoa
Accessories: PRISMACOLOR pencils, heart brads, spiral clip, ribbon, sponges, SU oval punches, SU dimesnsionals

I just love this line of paper from Basic Grey. It is called Infuse and I have been hoarding it for quite some time! I do this all the time and I don't understand why...can anyone please help me with this affliction?!? I take it out and look at it (which can take hours cuz I have TONS) and then I put it back and usually wind up not using any at all! So silly... anywho, I sponged the edges of the image and sentiment with the close to cocoa to try and match the distressing on the dp.

So, don't be afraid to tell me whatcha think, I'd love to know!

The reason I haven't had lots of time to stamp is because I have taken on the task of doing some remodeling in our home. We have lived here for over 15 years and have done next to nothing to update/upgrade our home. I recently finished laying a hardwood floor in our living and dining rooms. I also painted the ceilings and the walls and installed all new mouldings and baseboards. I kinda just self taught myself everything as I went along. Let me see if I have any pics to show you.

Yup, there you go.

This project was way more than I had bargained for, but I saved us over $2000 by installing it myself. Course it took me a couple of weeks to complete, but that was while I was working full time outside the home. I had to repair where our fireplace meets our ceiling-now that is a whole other story that I must tell sometime. And now I have moved into the kitchen and foyer. I can talk about that some more in my next post!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and please come back again soon!

Dreams Du Jour Color Challenge

It has been a few days since I lasted posted. I had a huge project to tackle over the weekend and yesterday. I had 3 very large windows in my living room that needed to be sanded, resealed and painted. I will hafta upload some pics so you can see just how big they are. These windows will need to be replaced in the next year or so, but I thought I could by them a little time! So, I finally got to the color challenge today over at SCS-(I missed the Try a new Technique challenge for yesterday)-to use Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa and Ruby Red. I decided to try a Big Buckle card. I have seen so many on SCS and I just love them! I know there is a tutorial, but I just kinda winged it so my dimensions may be a little off, but I really like how this turned out, and this color combo is just perfect for this new SU set!! My image is colored in using my ink pad lids and blender pens and the edges are distressed using scissors. The sparkly butterfly was first stamped in blush blossom and then stamped with versamark on top and heat embossed using iridescent ice. Here are the deets (All products used are Stampin' Up (r))

Stamps: Dreams Du Jour, Sanded
Paper: Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Whisper White
Ink: Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Versmark
Accessories: Blender pens, heat tool, Iridescent ice, Scallop circle punch, Word Window punch, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 inch punches

Sorry this is such a short, but sweet entry. It's getting late and I am beat!

Thanks a bunch for stoppin' by!!