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Apr 29, 2007

Polka Dot Crazy



This card is one that I did for a card exchange for my Stamp Club. For our exchanges I allow them to use anything they want, it doesn't have to be exclusively Stampin'Up! products. I absolutely love the Reverse and Polka dot background stamps from Cornish Heritage Farms. The flowers are from the Sassy Stems set (SU). I stamped the background with Green Galore ink. The card base is Only Orange and the flowers were colored with my Prisma Colored pencils and blended with Gamsol. I added some speckles in Bashful blue using the Itty Bitty background set. The flower centers are highlighted with Stickles. I tied on some Tangerine Grosgrain ribbon and added a silk flower by Bazzill with a lime green brad in the center. The sentiment is by Whipper Snapper. It's a cheery card that I hope brightens up your day.

Ida

Cattitude Monday - Born To Be Wild



No Stamped Card today but you've got to LOVE this card (well at least I do). This is a card from my "cat" card collection. It's by Leanin' Tree and the artist name is, Don Roth. He titled this particular illustration, "Touring Tabby." - I just love all the little "details" on this card. Check out the little mouse (complete with biker gear) on the front of the bike. Then on the side's of the card you have cat's taking photographs of each other and a cat fishing off the bridge. It's a very whimsical card.

Since my hubby is an "Avid" Harley rider and has manage to get me on the bike a time or two this card is so fitting for us. Yesterday we had the chance to take the bike out for a little spin. We drove over to the Wildhorse casino for a little gambling. Notice I said a "little" gambling as we rarely go over there and when we do we don't take all that much money with us as we usually end up losing it all. We each had $60 and I took $10 out of my stash as well to play the slots on. I seem to have pretty decent luck on these things and have gotten smarter over the years at knowing when to cash my credits it. I'm happy to say that I actually came out ahead and ended the day with $107.50 to my credit!! (More money for stamps!)

We had a nice meal at the Denny's in Pendleton, OR before heading on home. It was a nice day out and I was plenty warm in my leather jacket. Now I just need to get those weird looking leather chaps and a pair of decent riding shoes & before long you can call me, "Biker Mama!"

Have a great Monday. Ida

Apr 23, 2007

Cattitude Monday - An Actual Card


Yippee! I have a card to share today. - Seems like time just gets ahead of all my good intentions but I was finally able to get a card created so without further ado here it is:


Stamps used: Cat & Bird, Lovely Day Garden (Whipper Snapper) and Aida Cloth BG (SU)

Card Stock Used, Close To Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Pixie Pink, Whisper White (SU) - Background paper, Funky Brown Floral by Paper Salon

Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink, So Saffron

Other items used: Mega Circle Punch, Giga Scallop Punch (Marvy), Chocolate, Taupe, Celery Grosgrain ribbon, Celery, Pink & Blue brads, Paper Piercing Tool, Prisma Colored Pencils, Gamsol & Blending Stump.


I absolutely LOVE using my Prisma Pencils now. I had colored with them before for years but then I learned about using Gamsol and a blending stump and decided to try it out. I can't believe the difference it makes. Plus I am not that great at Watercoloring and have tried all kinds of methods but just don't seem to have much of a knack for that technique. I find though that with the pencils and the blending stump that it's easy to create a nice watercolor like image and I'm usually pleased with the results.


This card is just a FUN card (IMO) - I love the colors (reminds me of ice cream for some reason) and what could be more Yummy then ice cream? - The cat with the little bird on his tail chirping merrily just reminds me of spring and I hope brings a smile to your face as well.


Have a great week. Ida

Reunion


As I stated when I first started my blog I wanted this to be a "mixture" of sharing my faith and my love of stamping. Today's first post covers the sharing of my faith. I hope and pray that if you read this post and are a Believer you will pray for this ministry. I grew up attending the Mountain View Free Methodist church and gave my heart to the Lord at a very young age. Over the years many pastors came and went and eventually through a lot of different circumstances our church closed it's doors and sold the building. Recently one of the former members got the idea to hold a "reunion" potluck and we were able to attend this special event in our old church which is now an Evangelical Baptist church. It was a wonderful evening of fun, food & fellowship. Several former Pastor's were able to be there and a good time was had by all.

Yesterday there was a special meeting for those interested in starting a new church fellowship. One of the former Pastor's, Dan Willms has felt led by the Lord to move back to Walla Walla and start a new church. We are excited about this and want to ask for Prayer that in the coming months God will lead everyone involved in the way He sees fit and that through this venture others may come to Him. Thank you for letting me share this. To God Be the Glory! Ida

Apr 19, 2007

Strawberry Fields Forever


One of my favorite things about summer is the arrival of our local Klicker Strawberries. This is a family business that has been here forever and they grow the most delicious and delectable strawberries (in my opinion) in the entire world! As a kid I picked strawberries from age 11 (back when kids could actually work then) every summer through my Senior year in High School. I made good money at it too & was able to buy a lot of my own clothes for school as well as have some of my money for something personal that I wanted (usually records). All those years of very hard work picking berries never did tire me from enjoy how delicious they were and still to this day they are my favorite of all fruits. I know you can buy berries in the stores but I seldom do because they just don't taste the same so I live for the months of June-July here where I can buy these particular berries and eat them on a daily basis.

That's what I had in mind when I designed this card using PaperTreyInks new Green Thumb stamp set. I love the colors of this card and was "enabled" by Debbie Olson to purchase both the Reverse Dot & Polka Dots Background stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms. These are such cool stamps and can really add a quick and fun background paper to your cards.

For this card I used Real Red, Green Galore & Shimmer White card stock (SU). I stamped the Reverse Dots background on White card stock with Lime Pastel Fluid Chalk (Color Box) and stamped the Polka Dots Background with Lipstick Red Fluid Chalk ink. I stamped my strawberries (large & small) with the same inks but while the ink was still wet on the large strawberry I sprinkled it with some Iridescent Ice EP (SU) and heat set it.

I punched out the small strawberries using my 1 1/4" Circle punch and 1 3/8" punch.

For the large strawberry I used 1 11/16" Punch (McGill) and my Coluzzle Cirle template to get the larger red circle. I stamped 2 large strawberrys and cut out the berry portion and mounted it with foam tape over the original image for added dimmension. I stamped the sentiment in black ink & tied an Apple Green grosgrain bow on the side. It's a simple but fun card and I can't wait for Summer to get here so I can once again enjoy Strawberry Shortcake.
Till then I will have to be content to enjoy my strawberries by using this stamp again & hope you enjoy this card. Have a great day. Ida

Lucky Girl!



Aren't these just GORGEOUS! - What a "lucky" girl I was yesterday to receive these beautiful flowers from my DH of 15 years sent these to me for our Anniversary (which was yesterday-18th). There were 12 red roses and 3 yellow roses. The vase is Crystal & very beautiful. I so rarely get "real" flowers so this bouquet is being cherish and I just had to share a photo of it.

Ida

Apr 17, 2007

Shimmer Butterfly Thanks


This card was the 2nd card that I enter in the Papertreyink Guest Star stamper contest.
I used the set, Butterfly Kisses for this card.
My card stock was Perfect Plum, Pale Plum. The background piece was a piece of handmade paper that I've had for years (source unknown). I embossed the line butterfly image with silver detail ep and cut it out. I used my Giga Scallop punch and Mega Circle Punch for this card. I stamped the stars (that's what I'm calling them) with Pink Encore Metallic Ink. It has a nice shimmery look to it and I felt it went well with the silver & purple color scheme. I tied pieces of silver cording around the center background piece, pierced holes in the scallop and dotted them with a silver paint pen and highlighted the edges with the perfect plum ink. The sentiment was embossed as well with the Silver detail EP. I mounted the butterfly with mounting tape and added some antennae with the silver cord. This card is much prettier in real life. I sure wish I had a better camera to take pictures with but I'm making do with what I have. Tomorrow I'll post the card I did with the set, Green Thumb.
Have a wonderful day & Happy Stamping, Ida

Apr 16, 2007

Butterfly Kisses


Spring is in the air (finally)...Actually it's been pretty much a typical spring here. Lots of rain, a day or two of sunshine and then more rain. I will admit though that it has been a bit cooler, especially at night then normal. Anyway I think this card is a bit of fresh air and very spring like. I used a set called Butterfly Kisses by Papertreyink for this card. It was one of 2 that I submitted for the Guest Star stamper contest (sadly I didn't win). I'll post the other card tomorrow. For this card I used Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Shimmery White card stock (SU) and DCWV patterned paper. I stamped the butterfly image with Tempting Turquoise Ink and colored the flower centers in with an Apricot marker. Then I highlighted them with a little glitter. I mounted this to the Apricot & Pumpkin Pie squares and used some Celery grosgrain ribbon and Apricot brads to add to the corners. I stamped the sentiment with Turquoise ink and added the small flower image in with Apricot ink and punched it out using my large Oval Punch. I stamped 2 small butterflies with Pumpkin Pie ink, cut them out, highlighted them with glitter and mounted them to the background paper with mounting tape. I also used my Cutter kit to add some rough texture to the card stock as well as DTP the edges.
I hope you are all enjoying some Spring weather and see beauty all around you. Hugs, Ida

Cattitude Monday - The other cat


Well I thought she deserved a post all her own after what she's been through. This poor little cat came from a home where the people just weren't capable of taking care of her properly. They had some mental problems and the owner tended not to feed her properly (if at all) and by the time they moved and told us we could have this little cat she was nearly starved to death. She had super bad diarrhea as well which we found out was caused by a parasite in her stomach from drinking bad water. Her fur was falling out and she had been abused as well by the husband so she is a very skitish little cat (afraid of most people & especially men) We took her in but as I stated she is scared to death of our other cats & while the 2 females are just "curious" about her the big male cat (18 1/2 lbs.) tends to corner her if he gets the chance and literally scares the "crap" out of her. Yes, one day after I let her in from outside I forgot to take her straight up to her room when I heard this horrible commotion and discovered that he had her cornered in the upstairs room my husband uses for his office area. She was so scared that she messed all over the closest floor. Needless to say it was NOT very pleasant to clean up but I did it anyway (holding my breath for most of the time) and got her situated in her room where she promptly hide under the bed. She is a super loving cat (to me) and boy can she purr but she spends most of her time in a little bedroom all by herself and I go up several times a day to pet her and clean her litter box, feed and water her and occasionally she ventures outside but not for long as the noises outside tend to freak her out. Her original name was, "Baby Girl" but my mom (who lives next door to us) refused to call her that so we renamed her, Blackie and that seemed to be okay with both of them. Hope you think she is as special as we do.

Cattitude Monday - The 3 Stooges


Okay, I admit this isn't a card (I really am trying to work on some) but due to lack of ideas, or matching paper, or cat stamps I'm a little slow getting any cards made to post for this feature. However as I stated when I started my blog (which was on my old sight) that I would always try to have something cat related on Monday morning be it a story about cats, a cat quote, a card, or whatever as long as it was something to do with cats. So without further ado I give you what I have dubbed, "The 3 Stooges!" - These are memebers of our family and while we have one more cat she is NEVER in the same room with these three as she was an adopted/abandoned type stray cat that we took in when her owners moved and couldn't take her with them. She hates them and they hate her so she has a room all to herself. I'll post her picture too so you can see what she looks like. These 3 I caught sleeping on the couch together yesterday which is rare since the fluffy one on the left is rather persnickety and doesn't usually lay near the other two. Here are their names, Snickers (doesn't she remind you of a Snicker's candy bar?) Nuisance (need I say more?) and Miss Dottie (also self-explanatory). They certainly look comfortable don't they? Ida (aka - The crazy cat lady!)

Apr 9, 2007

Cinnamon Roll Cherry Cobbler



I always like to try somethin "new" for holiday dinners so that we don't get stuck in a rut having the same thing every holiday. This year it was the dessert that I changed. I found this wonderful recipe for, Cinnamon Roll Cherry Cobbler on www.tasteofhome.com and had to try it out. It is absolutely YUMMY! You melt red hot cinnamon candies to mix in with the cherries. Very unique and flavorful. The family loved it and I hope if you try out the recipe that you will too. Enjoy, Ida

Cinnamon Roll Cherry Cobbler

From Taste of Home


Red-hot candies and canned cherries flavor this memorable dessert from my childhood. I hadn’t had it in years, so when I found my mother’s recipe, I had to make it to see if it was as good as I remembered…and it was! —Betty Zorn, Eagle, Idaho
INGREDIENTS
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) pitted tart cherries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons red-hot candies
CINNAMON ROLL TOPPING:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
LEMON GLAZE:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

SERVINGS
8
CATEGORY
Dessert
METHOD
Baked
PREP
30 min.
COOK
25 min.
TOTAL
55 min.
DIRECTIONS
Drain cherries, reserving juice; set cherries aside. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, water and reserved juice until smooth. Stir in red-hots. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook 1-2 minutes longer or until thick and bubbly and red-hots are melted. Stir in cherries; heat through. Transfer to a greased 8-in. square baking dish. In a bowl, combine the flour, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening until crumbly. Combine egg and milk; stir into crumb mixture just until blended. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3-4 times. Roll into a 14-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spread with butter; sprinkle with pecans. Combine cinnamon and remaining brown sugar; sprinkle over top. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a short side. Cut into eight slices; place cut side down over cherry filling. Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cobbler. Yield: 8 servings.

Easter Darling


Well I just can't get enough of this little girl. Yep, it's my granddaughter, Coleen. She is my all time favorite subject to photograph. Such a little "ham" for the camera and just about as cute as you can be. Of course I might be slightly biased on that account being that I'm the "Grandma" but I think you might agree with me that she really is a "cutie pie." Her mom did her hair with the cutest little braids on the side (which don't show in the photo) but her hair is naturally curly and tends to be fly away hair so the braids helped to keep it under control. The dress was bought by Great Grandma and has butterflies on it (Coleen loves butterflies). Her Easter basket is a lady but that Grandma Ida (that's me) bought her last year. She's been called, "The Bug" since the day she was born. I tell her it's because she's a "LOVE BUG!"

Cattitude Monday - Good News Card


Happy Monday! - Well being that is was Easter weekend and I also caught a cold while trying to recover from a Sinus Infection (do I hear little violins playing?) I was unable to stamp at all so no stamped card today :o( for Cattitude Monday. However I have a card to share, This card is titled, "Good News" and was put out by SummerTree Press. The art work was done by Mark Weissbach. I love this card. Can you just imagine being this cat and thinking that the rain drops were really fish falling from the clouds! The colors are so fun in this card & the fish are a nice shiny embossed gold which really adds to the card. I love the expression on the cat's face.

May all our dreams be this good!

Apr 3, 2007

Sassy Bouquet


Took some time today to just stamp for FUN and came up with this card.

Stamp Sets used: Sassy Stems (Stampin'Up!)

Paper Tray & Butterfly Kisses (Papertreyink) - These are some really cool stamps. If you haven't already checked out their new Spring Release "Green Thumb"head on over & check it out. It's AWESOME!

Card Stock: Only Orange, Gable Green, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye

I stamped the flowers with black ink & used Prisma Color Pencils, Gamsol & blending stumps to color them in. I added some Angel Dust glitter (Art Institute) to highlight the flowers and vase and used my color spritzer tool to add the splatters.Then I doodled a frame around the flowers and mounted time image with dimensional tape.

I stamped the butterflies with Ruby Red ink & added the butterfly trails with my Crafter's Tool Kit (SU). The brads are from Making Memories. I used the ticket punch to punch the corners where the brads are. I love spring & flowers and hope you enjoy this little bit of spring time fun with me. Hugs, Ida

Apr 2, 2007

Cattitude Monday - One Cool Cat


It's "Cattitude" Monday - This is a favorite feature of mine. I absolutely adore cats & have 4 very fun and unique little furry feline friends living with me. They are such a joy & sometimes a real "pain in the butt" but we love them to pieces. To honor cats everywhere I am dedicating Mondays as "Cattitude" Monday day! Here is a card I did a couple of years ago and really liked how it turned out.


For this card I used: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel Card Stock

The stamps I used were: Cool Cat, Alphabits, Daisy Wheel (not sure of the name of this one & can't locate my old mini catalogs) so if you know what this wheel was called drop me a comment & I can change this post.

I stamped the cat with Chocolate Chip ink on Creamy Caramel card stock & mounted it to a piece of Bashful Blue cs. I stamped the small daisy pattern with Bashful Blue ink on and dotted the centers with a Close to Cocoa marker.

Then I used Craft White ink to stamp the wheel and the dots on the blue piece. I stamped the word HELLO and punched out the individual letters and mounted them to my card.

This is a really SIMPLE card but I still like it.


Hope you all have a wonderful MONDAY! Hugs, Ida

My first Posting

Hello, This is a new blog for me as I decided to switch from where I was blogging so please bear with me as I learn the "ins & outs" of this sight. I will be posting pictures very soon so check back often. Ida