Why I Blog

Hello Again,

A friend asked me why I started a Blog page, and more specifically why I search blogs. I started looking at other artists blog pages because I wanted to see what people were doing, I also find them very inspiring and when my mojo is low....they get me up and moving.

My daughter got me going on my own blog page. I did this mostly to be able to display the projects I've created and reach out to other bloggers through Sketch Challenges. I must say I wasn't prepared for what happened when I started following blogs.

The first blog I followed is http://simplysouthernsandee.blogspot.com/ She has always been very encouraging and gave me "The Beautiful Blog" Award. What a boost to my ego that was.

Check out the other blogs I follow. I hope you'll find some you really enjoy. Let me know what they are....there's always time to follow more...

While checking out more blogs and I found out about Sketch Challenges. What better way to keep making cards. The card in this blog is from Mojo Monday Week 106 - want to play along? Here's the link: http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/ Another sketch challenge that I just found is: http://www.kgiron.blogspot.com/ I entered a card this week.

Through blogs, I can travel the world and never leave my studio. I've met great people, I've seen thousands of beautiful cards and scrapbook pages and I'm constantly inspired to try something new, to get out of my comfort zone and create. My daughter said she is so surprised that I never seem to tire of card making. Well now you know why.....Blogs keep me moving.

So....what did I use to create this card? Spellbinder dies. Cosmo Cricket - More Jolly by Golly card stock and an older Stampin Up rubber stamp. I also used a Krylon gold leaf pen. The ribbon is from my stash.

Happy Blogging...Happy Wednesday and Happy Creating.

See you soon!

Card Class - 10/13/09

This will be a very fast blog....(do you believe I am capable of this?) I wanted to post photos of the card projects that I will be teaching at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique on October 13th. For more information, contact Karen at: 530-876-8037 or at: info@paradisescrapbookboutique.com
Kits will ONLY be available for people taking the class. I hope to see you there.

Have a great evening.....Happy crafting to everyone!

Season's Greetings

Today's card was inspired by a Sketch Challenge at: http://kgiron.blogspot.com/2009/09/sweet-sunday-sketch-challenge-37.html

This challenge was a fun one. I love it when the challenge sends me into my craft room to pull out those loved items that have been waiting patiently to be called into service.... Am I giving my craft supplies too many human traits? OK....I know they are only paper and rubber....( I only talk to a few of them :-)

Getting back on track.....For today's challenge, my card base is Parchment designed card stock of unknown origin. I also used a brown card stock scrap to frame the sentiment card....My card is accented with pieces of card stock by K and Company - Christmas Cheer Stripe Foil Paper and October Afternoon - Peppermint Sticks. The gold snowflakes were cut using my Sizzix Sizzlit Snowflake die and the center of the snowflakes are gold metallic Dew Drops. The ribbon is from a ribbon I saved from a gift I received (gotta love recycling).

I don't know about you, but when I craft, I think about memories from my childhood, and of memories my children created for me. I think about friends and how precious each one is and of people who have slipped into and out of my life, but while passing through left wonderful memories. The "Season's Greetings" sentiment brought a great memory.

My mom was a true lover of Christmas. My folks would start saving for next year's Christmas the day after Christmas. Every year the house would begin smelling like Christmas in the fall. My mom would start baking months before and store her iced sugar cookies in metal coffee cans in the basement freezer. Do you know how good frozen cookies are? Ask my sister. She and I would swipe a few from each can...

My mom always decorated the house...every space was filled with some little knick knack. Every year something new or different would be added. On one particular Christmas, my mom decorated the living room closet door with beautifully colored foil. She carefully traced and cut letters to express the joy she felt for this special season. (Yup....tracing and cutting....For you young people this was the way lettering was done before the BossKut Gazelle and Cricuit were born)... We all loved my mom's door and the shiny paper and the beautiful lettering. We were so taken with it's beauty it took us weeks to realize there was a tiny spelling error...My mom spelled Season's Greetings..... "Sesson's Greetings". That memory is from the mid-60's... What is best about the memory, we all remember it and we all talk about the Christmas door. Though my mom and dad have passed away, as has one of my sisters and one of my brothers....they all remain with us because of the memories created as part of every day life.

When you share something you've created, you are sharing yourself and you are creating a memory of you. Happy creating. Happy memory making....see you soon!

Get Well Card

Hello and Happy Saturday.....Before I get started.....I have some FANTASTIC news.... I'll be teaching an afternoon card class at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique....I'm really excited and my first class will have two cards using Flower Soft. The first card I'm teaching is the card from the post on 9/25/09. It was a fun card to create. The second card will be a surprise....mostly because I haven't created it yet :-) The date of the class is - Tuesday - October 13 at 1:00 PM. I hope some of you will be able to attend. There are plenty of exciting events during October. Most important it is a chance to celebrate Paradise Scrapbook Boutique's 3rd Anniversary.

Check out Karen's blog for a look at what's happening: http://paradisescrapbookboutique.typepad.com/

Now on to my Get Well Card. Today was another play day. I used a very old rubber stamp, it's was manufactured in 1996...an oldie, but a goodie. Embossing Arts Co., #1277-J Window box Flowers. I used many of the same Tombow markers as in my previous post. The stamp had curtains in the window, but I wanted to put my own curtains in the window, so I used an X-acto to cut them out. I put mylar behind the opening and "hung" my own lace curtains. The Get Well Soon stamp is from Hero Arts. Both stamps were cut using Spellbinders's Labels Four. The background paper is from Sonburn Designs, Sweet Baby Collection - Playful Plaid for Boys. I cut mounting tape to give the window and the tags a 3 dimensional look.

That's about it.....I'm off to my craft room to clean up my mess and think about the second card for my first class....Have a WONDERFUL weekend!

Flower Soft

Good Morning,

Today was my "at home" play day. I've been reading about Flower Soft and yesterday Karen of Paradise Scrapbook Boutique lent me a video that showed many uses for Flower Soft. I must say...I was hooked. Karen will have Flower Soft products available SOON.....Karen was kind enough to let me play with two sample colors - Pale Green and Spring, and the Flower Soft Adhesive. The video stresses using a thick glue that dries clear.

I know that Flower Soft has many quality graphics available...but for play day I used a PSX rubber stamp (K413). The sentiment is a Stampin-Up stamp. To stamp the images, I used Versafine - Onyx. I always double stamp. To do this, you need a stamp positioner. The one I use, I've had for years. It is a "Stamp-ograph", by Mostly Animals. Of any I've tried....I like this one best. The Tombow markers I used are: N81, 158, 228, 177, 245, 743, 725, 905, 873, 985, 055. I used a Gelly Roll - Silver Glitter pen around the top of the wreathe. It's really shiny, though it didn't show up nearly well enough in the photo. (click on the image to see a larger photo.) Did I tell you I like shiny? To blend my markers, I used my Stampin-Up blender pen. The dimensional daisies were cut using the BossKut - Blossoms die. I cut them using my Sizzix Big Shot. I've yet to find a die it won't cut. I love that machine! The card stock and the ribbon on the inside of the card, are from my stash. On the inside I also used a Fiskars border punch....


I'm heading back to my craft room.....I'd like to play a little longer. See you next time.

Birthday Card For My Brother-In-Law And Mojo Monday

My brother-in-law is having a birthday in just a few days. I wanted to make him something special....mostly because my sister-in-law enjoys the cards I make...gotta love my sister-in-law!

This sounds silly, I couldn't sleep last night thinking about what I would make. I knew the stamps I wanted to use, and I also knew that I wanted to join the Mojo Monday Week 105 Challenge. I was stumped by what papers I would use. After tossing and tuning for what seemed like hours, I got up and started.

This is a half fold card. Bigger than most of my cards. The stamps I used are from Gina K Designs - "Tickle Your Funny bone!" This collection is my first from Gina K Designs. When they arrived I did a big moan because I had to cut them out. I went to her blog page and found a video on just how to do this. It was sooooo easy! The best part, there was no sticky business to mess up my scissors. The stamped images are deeply cut, which is WONDERFUL! I can't wait to use the other sets I ordered.

So....what else did I use? Well....I used Adornit - Carolee's Creations - Cumberland Stripes paper and I also used Infuse by Basic Grey. The green card stock and the brown behind the Spellbinder square and rectangle is from my scrap bin... I don't know who made those card stocks. The orangeish card stock was also part of my stash and I don't know who the vendor for this cards stock is. The image was stamped on Strathmore 140 pound water color cardstock. I used Momento Tuxedo Black to stamp my little man and Tombow markers to color him.

I stamped the sentiments in Tim Holtz Walnut Stain. The water color paper was edged using Tim's Antique Linen ink. EK Success was used to create the borders. Of course I used Dew Drops.

The inside of my card has another one of Gina K's stamps, from the same collection. The Sentiment from me and my honey to my brother-in-law was created on my computer, using Print Shop 22. The outside cardstocks were repeated inside.

So...that's what I did. Now it's time to get this card in the mail....I wish all of you a wonderful week filled with many creations.

This Was Fun

This card reminds me of my home in Northern California. We are surrounded by pine and oak trees.

I was playing with my suede paper and wondered if I could use dimensional paste on it. I can....well....we all can. Here's what I did. I taped the edges of my Dreamweaver Brass Stencil to my suede paper. I applied Dreamweaver Metallic Gold Embossing Paste to the stencil. I carefully removed the stencil and to my delight....the process works. Not only works, but works well. The black suede frame was cut using my Spellbinder dies, which are quickly becoming one of my favorite tools. I used the Sizzix Sizzilit Architectural corners as an accent and the Merry Christmas ribbon is from my stash. It's one of those items I wish I'd purchased much more of, because I haven't been able to find more. The pine cone is another one of my stash items. It's funny how you accumulate these items, you wonder why you bought them and then weeks, months or years later, you actually use them.

In a few hours, I'll be off to San Francisco. My daughter and I are taking a mini-vacation. We are meeting up with my youngest son, Dan, and we are off to play on the coast.

Have a wonderful week.

I'm Thinking Christmas and it's going to be 90 degrees today!

Good Morning....

Amy (my daughter) is home for a visit and she is helping to improve my photos by taking them in a photo booth and making appearance improvements in PhotoShop Elements. She is teaching me to straighten them, as well as improve the lighting....Well, at least while she is sitting by me it's working! Thank You Amy....she's being very patient with me and I think she is beginning to realize that age has dulled my ability to remember steps. Amy is a professional photographer, see her web pages - http://www.amylynnschereck.com/ If you want to see great photos, that would be the place to look.

The ornament card was listed previously. If you want to know more about it, go to a previous blog post.

I made the sleigh card a few months ago. My memory of what paper I used for the base of the card is faded and of course, I have no sheets to compare it to...I'm sorry about that. I do want you to know the glittery areas were already on the card stock. One of my New Years resolutions is to work on keeping better records....The sleigh was cut using the Spellbinder sleigh. I embossed it and then using black liquid chalk I colored the embossed areas. I added the silver cord to give the card dimension. The runners on the sleigh were cut from silver card stock and chalked. The Spellbinder was again used to cut the hexagons which surrounded the stamped "Merry Christmas".

Amy also taught me how to make my watermark...thank you again Amy!

Today we will be resting up for Brianne's wedding (my girlfriend's daughter) which is tomorrow and then on Sunday we are off to San Francisco to visit my son, Dan and to have a few days to play.

If I don't see you for a few days....keep creating, I'll be excited to see what you've done. Have a wonderful weekend.

Tell Me About The Good Ole Days

IT'S RAINING.....and boy do we need it.....and now on to a great challenge!

I love mornings that inspire me. Thanks to Gina K. Designs Challenge and Stampin Sisters In Christ BLOG.GINAKDESIGNS.COM/2009/09/14/sisters-in-christ-challenge-sponsor.aspx this card came to be.

For those of you who know me, snow people are my very favorite. When I saw the Sketch Challenge....I thought snow people and the rest is history. The rubber stamp is an older one, but one I love. It is a Sandi Gore Evans stamp licensed to Uptown Rubber Stamps. The name of the stamp is S'mores. To me it is a dad sharing stories with his child. The striped paper is unknown, it is affixed to Suede paper from Hot Off The Press, and of course... Dew Drops. The Hexagon is from Spellbinders as is the corner die. I used Tombow markers to color the image and Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink to highlight the hexagon. The edges were all chalked in Pumpkin, by Color Box Fluid Chalk . If anyone is looking for a great selection of suede papers, my favorite place is: www.franticstamper.com Fran has tons of colors and two sizes of paper to choose from.

I'm off for a day of play with my cropping buddies. I am sure it will be a day of laughs and much productivity! I'm hoping to get a good start on my Christmas Cards, and work with Carolyn on a scrapbook page.

Have a wonderful week.....

Halloween Page - Updated

Update:

Hello and Happy Sunday....I'm just doing an edit to this page. I decided to add a cute little pumpkin to my page. I'm sure when my grandson sees this he's not going to recognize himself. He's now 10 years old. I think his sister will love this page. She'll get to see her brother as a baby! So...nothing new. Just an added photo.

Good Morning,
I spent part of the day making cards at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique....check her blog to see what we made: http://paradisescrapbookboutique.typepad.com/ When I came home I decided to work on my Halloween page. I finished it last night...with the exception of the drop cut border, all other graphics were cut using my BossKut Gazelle. There was quite a bit of chalking to do, but without it, the graphics are quite flat looking.

Off to cleaning the mess I made in my craft room. Enjoy your day!

Friendship

Happy Labor Day....What a great weekend we had. My son came home for the weekend. My husband loves Dan's cooking....lots of spices and heat....so, as a treat Dan will occasionally cook dinner for his dad. We also went shopping. I used my coupons at Michaels, we drooled as we looked at the TV's at Best Buy and came home to have a great BBQ.

Dan and Richard spent most of the late afternoon and evening in the garage. Dan went through boxes he's stored for years in the garage. It's amazing how much you really don't want and don't know why you saved it in the place.

Today there was a get-together at Elise's, where everyone brought projects to work on or finish. I didn't make this one. Dan stayed for part of the day and after he left I got busy working on my Friendship Album that I started at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique. This is the owner, Karen's design. I've changed it a bit....added lots of "bling"....even I'd say maybe I got a bit carried away. Many of my pages are out of order, which caused the need to make changes to the layout. Karen did a great job creating this layout. I'm thrilled with the outcome of mine and can't wait to start adding photos.

Are you ready....here come the photos......

I hope you enjoyed the photos. I really enjoyed working on this album. Karen thank you for sharing.

Have a wonderful week. Tomorrow is the day I go to Paradise Scrapbook Boutique for a day-time get together to make cards. Can't wait to see what Karen has in mind for us....

Thanks for looking at my blog!

Let It Snow

I am loving the sketch challenges. I get to think less, create a card and share it with you....win-win in my book! This will be a very short blog. My son is home and he is out in the garage going through his boxes from high school and college. When the kids move out....they don't always take everything with them, and then years and years later they go through the boxes and wonder why they saved 90% of the items. While Dan is playing...so am I.


The link to today's sketch is: http://www.papercraftplanet.com/group/sketchchallenge/forum/topic/show?id=2076575%3ATopic%3A657665

I made my card to fit a #10 envelope. It's pretty flat....I might just get by with one first class stamp.

The snowflakes were cut using both the Spellbinder snowflakes and the Sizzix snowflakes. I used white card stock and also fun foam. I then ran them through the Xyron and glittered half of them. I added bling to the centers of the snowflakes, added a piece of ribbon and affixed everything to a piece of scrapbook paper that looks like the sky with clouds, which was then placed onto a piece of white card stock. "The Let It Snow" stamp is from a stamp collection by StampIn Up. The hexagon die is from Spellbinders.

I guess I should think about getting dinner under way. Have a great day and a wonderful remainder of this long weekend.

Blog Challenge

Hello, Hello, Hello,

This morning I got up early and decided to be very productive (housework wise). But what could it hurt to read one blog....right? I put in a load of laundry, got a cup of coffee and made the mistake of reading just one blog: http://paperfections.typepad.com/paperfections/2009/09/wsc96-unity-friends-with-flair.htm Ok...so Sharon introduced me to this week's sketch challenge.

My first thought was...why did I look. You know I can't pass up a challenge. It seems this challenge was brought to us by Beate at: http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Well what could I do? Laundry forgotten, still in my jammies I was off to my craft room. I looked at the mess I'd left from yesterday and toyed with the idea of cleaning and then starting my project (after I cleaned house of course!) Then the little angel on my left shoulder said...it's already a mess, why not just clean it once. That made perfect sense and I was off and running. After all, a friend's anniversary is coming up in another week and I need to make a card....why not today!

Is anyone getting sick of all the kudos I give Karen from Paradise Scrapbook Boutique? Well here's another. Below is a card made with papers I purchased yesterday from her shop. The Bling is Heidi Swapp. Now I have to admit to something silly....The name of the card stock is glued down. So, Karen or anyone out there, if you know what the line is....please share.

Here is the card. I'll be posting my link to Beate's. You will want to check out the sites I've listed. There is soooo much great inspiration there.

Yikes....I'd best get moving. My son is coming home for the long weekend and I should at least make it look like I've done something in the house since his last visit!

Enjoy this long weekend. May you all be safe. See you later!

Moments

Happy September Everyone! I wish I could say I can feel the coolness of the morning and smell the change of season in the air....but I can't. It's been hot and humid and today is hotter and more humid. The weatherman says it's going to cool down and maybe we'll have a shower or two this weekend....We'll just have to wait and see.

My card today was inspired by the butterfly....but more than that, it was inspired by the girls at Weight Watchers and Karen from Paradise Scrapbook Boutique. I always start my Thursday at Weight Watchers. Today I had success....It wasn't great success, but I was successful I have now lost a total of 16.3 pounds...Yippee for me! And like the butterfly....Iam beginning to feel the change in, not only my body, but my whole self.


I was fighting the temptation to go to Paradise Scrapbook Boutique...which is on my way home (well it's on my way if I turn right when I leave the WW meeting :-) I do have other options! Well, back to the story....I was able to spend some time with Karen, between customers and a son that brought her beautiful flowers! What a nice boy!


Karen and I got onto the subject of creating...I strongly believe we all have the need to create. And I strongly believe if we don't create, we are not a fulfilled person. Creating comes in many forms. I choose paper. My husband creates beauty in our yard and on canvass. My sister does needle point, my friend Edy quilts, Dani and Barbara work in their yards and Jeri bakes. It seems my other friends choose paper as their medium.


Whatever we choose, the need to create exists in all of us. Creativity gets me up in the morning and puts me to bed at night. And I firmly believe as I draw my last breath, I will be asking God to please put me in the paper craft section of heaven! So get creating, because it feels so good!


Since Mother Nature isn't quite ready to let go of summer, I decided to give fall a little push and I put myself into a "Fall State of Mind". The colors of the paper make me think fall.


I used everything in this photo. The paper is from the Amber Road Collection by PinkPaislee. What's interesting is the ink used is soy based. And it doesn't have that strong odor....very cool! The paper, butterfly and ribbon were all purchased at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique.

The gold shiny dots are Dew Drops - Metallic. They come in a bottle with several metallic colors. The title was cut using Labels 4 by Spellbinder. Both of these items were purchased from: http://www.7kidscollegefund.com/

I used a Martha Stewart border punch and a Paper Shapers corner punch. The Title was rubber stamped using Tim Holtz Walnut Stain and I embossed over the title using a clear Top Boss ink. I also chalked edges using Color Box Chestnut Roan. The rubber stamp is from SonLight Impressions the 1994 Collection. And here it is.......

Now....onto a short story. Karen from Paradise Scrapbook Boutique: http://paradisescrapbookboutique.typepad.com/ created a beautiful Friendship Album. Carolyn, Virginia and I saw it and had an uncontrollable urge to attempt to duplicate it.... :-) Well to make a long story short....I messed up one of the pages. Actually when you mess up one page, it throws off the entire book, so I'm having to make small adjustments. I really wanted to start over, but Karen always says, there are no mistakes in scrapbooking. I guess I was having a happy accident! Briefly....One of the papers was to be used as the cover of the album. I used the same paper twice, once on the cover and again inside...silly me. To fix the problem I changed the inside page and below is my correction. When I finish my album. I'll take photos and you'll get to see the entire album . Karen did an amazing job thinking up this project and I thank her for sharing it with us. I hope she puts photos of her album on her site....the album is BEAUTIFUL! Here is my one page....Lesson....don't give up, make lemonade from lemons.....

Have a wonderful day and may your weekend be safe and spent with those you love.