In Loving Memory

Cascade's Dixie "Rebel" - February 3rd 1992-December 23rd 2007

It is with a very sad heart that I say good-bye tonight to a dear and old friend. We had to make an extremely hard decision today to have our dog put down. - For the last few weeks he's been having problems breathing and passing out. We thought he might have had a tumor or growth in his throat. Yesterday my husband took him to the Vet and we were told that his heart was going bad. We had hoped that medication would help him but the poor thing was having such a hard time breathing and the least little exertion was just wearing him down. So tonight we called our vet and had him put down.

We had many many happy years with him and at times would get so aggravated with him because as we often joked, he "barked" to hear himself bark. He loved marshmallows, digging, barking, playing with our other dog Angel, being petted & going for car rides. He was always a HAPPY dog and we will miss him a great deal. He had lots of nicknames (Buddy Dog, Barky, Happy Dog, to name a few). It's a sad time of the year for this to happen but he's in a better place now & while we grieve he will not be forgotten and we have the memories of those happy times to cherish in our hearts.

GoodBye Rebel - Forever in our hearts!

We Have A Winner!!

Good Morning! - Since there were only 20 comments on my blog candy it wasn't to hard to pick a winner. I still haven't figured out how to use a (random number) picker - Anyone out there know a good sight that does that? So I did it the old fashioned way...I called my husband at work and asked him to pick a number between 1-20 and the number he picked was 14 and that comment came from:

Summerthyme Studio said...
Like you, my Favourite Christmas Carol is Oh Holy Night. I love to hear Luciano Pavorotti singing it.I would like a new heater for my bed for Christmas!!!!Hope you get your Christmas Wish!!!
December 7, 2007 4:00 PM

Way to go Vicki! - Send me your snail mail address and I'll get your goodies mailed off to you.
Congratulations & thanks everyone for playing. I hope to do more Blog Candy in the future.

Angels We Have Heard On High

My mom bought the Holy Triptych stamp set (Holiday Mini - Retired 11/30/07) and wouldn't you know it I've used it for several of my own Christmas cards. This happens to be my personal favorite of all the cards I've made this year. I hope you like it as well.

I had an entire package of Cranberry Crisp card stock 2006 "In-Color" that was needing to be used up and discovered that my Figgy Pudding (Basic Grey) DP was perfect for this color combo.

I used Prisma Color Pencils & Gamsol to color my Angel which was stamped on Shimmery White Card Stock. The sentiment is from Star Studded Season (Holiday Mini - Retired 11/30/07). I punched out the Folk Star (SU-Retired) in Barely Banana cs and embossed it with the Versamark Pad & Gold Fire Opal EP (Embossing Arts). All images were raised with foam dimensionals.

Recipe: Always Artichoke, Cranberry Crisp, Shimmery White, Figgy Pudding DP Basic Black Ink, Cranberry Crisp ink, Prisma Color Pencils, Gamsol & Blending Stumps, Paper Piercing Tool, Mega Circle Punch, Giga Scallop Circle Punch, Folk Star Punch, Always Artichoke Grosgrain Ribbon, Foam Mounting Tape, Gold Fire Opal EP, Icicle Stickles (on Angel's wings).

Winter Watercolor Wonderland

It's time for the weekly Blogger's Challenge and this week we had to use Watercolor on our projects. It could be any watercolor technique. Since I basically stink at watercoloring with crayons, pencils, paints...I decided to go for something easier. I chose the wet-on-wet (watercolor wash) technique with a bit of a "twist" in that it also uses table salt.

I started with some watercolor paper and took 4 different colors of watercolor crayons and scribble them across my paper. Then I misted the paper with water until the colors begin to bleed into each other. While this was still pretty wet I sprinkled on some table salt and then let the paper dry. After it had dried I brushed off the salt and it left the little star-like marks you see on the image as it picks the color back up off your paper. Then I embossed the Snowboarding Penguin (Stampendous) with Black EP and a Versamark Pad.

I rounded the corners with a large corner rounder and layered it onto some Basic Black CS. My card base is, Lovely Lilac, Basic Black & Tempting Turquoise which was stamp with the Polka Dot BG (Cornish Heritage Farms) I added some stitched ribbon (May Arts) Then I stamped the JOY sentiment (Studio G) with Tempting Turquoise ink on Shimmery White CS, punched it out with a 1" circle punch and layered it with Lovely Lilac, Basic Black also punched with 1 1/4 & 1 3/8" circle punches. Then I punched out a small snowflake and added a faux jewel to complete my card.

I love the wonderful winter feel this card has.

Be sure to check everyone's blogs for their creations and don't forget to leave a comment on my Blog Candy post as well for your chance to win some goodies.

Blog Candy Time

Okay, I bought a few things the other day that I thought were fun and thought it would be nice to have a little "Give-Away" on my blog.

Here's what you need to do to have a chance to win the goodies:

Leave your name (first only) and a comment on what your favorite Christmas Song is or what you hope to get for Christmas this year.

Mine of course is (Oh Holy Night) which is playing on my blog and I'd love more Stamping Stuff (Copic Markers for one)

You will have until midnight (PST) on December 9th to leave your comments. I will draw the winner & post it Monday morning. Pass this information on to others and lets have a good bunch of comments

A Different Point of View

This week the Blogger's Challenge group was asked to create 2 different cards with the same stamps but showcase them in different ways to show the versatility of the stamp(s). I had in mind what I wanted to use but just needed to find some time to get my cards made.

My first project for today was completing some of my Christmas cards before I could start on the challenge. I wouldn't have felt right other wise.

The stamp set I chose to use is: Star Studded Season (Holiday Mini) which of course expires today. The image I used was the super large Star. Now you are probably wondering why on earth did I chose that set since it was mainly Sentiments and a very large solid star. I know one would think there isn't much you can do with a huge star but I think after you view my cards you may change your mind.

Card #1 is a Christmas Card: I used last year "In color" Cranberry Crisp for my card base. I distressed the edges with Cranberry Crisp ink & stamped the Sanded BG with Cranberry ink as well. Then I used a layer of Always Artichoke and a layer of Basic Grey Figgy Pudding Designer Paper. I pierced the Artichoke card stock with my paper piercing tool and added some stitched Cranberry ribbon. I stamped the Sentiment from the set on Shimmery White card stock with Cranberry ink and added 3 diamond brads (Vintage brads) and layered this on a piece of Artichoke card stock. I stamped the star in Versamark Ink on Shimmery White cs and then embossed it with Iridescent Ice EP, cut it out and glued it down on some Cool Caribbean card stock (also a retired "in" color from last year) and cut it out again and distressed the edges. I mounted the star with foam dimensional tape.

Card #2 is a Birthday Card: I started with a base layer of Chocolate Chip and then a layer of Brushed Gold. Then I stamped the En Francais Backgroun Stamp in Chocolate Chip ink on Naturals Ivory cs. I then stamped the Large Star & a smaller star (Hero Arts) with Versamark ink and embossed them with Gold Fire Opal EP (Embossing Arts Co. - retired now I believe).

I then stamped the Large Star again in Versamark this time on a piece of Chocolate Chip cs and embossed it with the Gold Fire Opal EP and cut it out. I stamped the birthday sentiment ( All Holidays) in Chocolate Chip ink on the NIvory and added a layer of Chocolate Chip. Then I pierced some holes and added a Star brad (JoAnn's). I mounted the star & sentiment with foam dimensionals and added a sheer Gold bow to complete the card.

I love how both card turned out and hope you do as well. Be sure to check out the other challenge members cards (found on my side bar) to see their projects. This was a super fun challenge.

Shining Star of Inspiration

Gosh I was so stressing myself out today trying to figure out what I could use as an "inspiration" for this weeks challenge. With the Thanksgiving holiday this past week I just didn't find time to be inspired by a single thing. I was just sitting here when I suddenly remembered that last week I created this card for my Stamper's 10 Club to make and it was indeed "inspired" by a card that I had seen in the November issue of Paper Crafts magazine.

The card I was inspired by was done by the fabulously talented Nichole Heady. I'm hoping it's okay to post a picture of it.

For my card I chose the color scheme of Chocolate Chip & River Rock. I stamped the Print Pattern Background stamp with River Rock ink on River Rock card stock. I then traced a line on the backside of the card stock using a bowl as my guide then cut off the portion I didn't need and distressed the edges with the Cutter Kit. I Stamped the Fine Lace Background with Chocolate Chip ink on River Rock card stock & glued a strip to some Chocolate Chip card stock also distressed with the cutter kit. I layered these pieces onto a card base of Chocolate Chip & stamped the sentiment (Star Studded Season) with Chocolate Chip ink.

I stamped the star (also from Star Studded Season) with River Rock ink on River Rock CS and then cut in out and pressed it into a VersaMark pad and covered it with Iridescent Ice EP and embossed it. Then I stamped the small star from (Star Struck) with Chocolate Chip ink and cute it out. I used a brad from the Pretties Kit for the center of the star and mounted this with foam mounting tape onto my card.

It's a very different color combo for Christmas but I really like it & hope you do as well.
Don't forget to check out all the other great projects on the Blogger's Challenge Group.

Warm Winter Wishes

For this week Blogger's Challenge group we had a "color combo" challenge. We had to use:

Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive & Pumpkin Pie on our card/project. What an interesting & fun combination. I also decided to combine this challenge with another one from another group I'm on using the Cuttlebug.

My card base is Chocolate Chip layered with Old Olive. Then I ran a layer of Brocade Blue through the Cuttlebug using the Snowflake Embossing Folder & highlighted it with Craft White Ink.

For my main image I used: Snowy Snowman by Penny Black & colored the image directly on the rubber with Watercolor Wonder crayons. I spritzed a piece of Whisper White card stock lightly with water along with my colored stamped and stamped the imaged down. Then highlighted some of the snowflakes with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I layered this to a piece of Pumpkin Pie.

I used a Cuttlebug Die to cut out my tag and stamped the sentiment (Polar Pals - retired) with Chocolate Chip ink & distressed with Old Olive. Then I used a piece of Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon to tie it onto my card. I covered 2 white snowflake brads with glue & dipped them in Nirvana glitter (Art Institute) and added them to the side of my card.

It's a really different color scheme for a winter card but I love the cheery look it seems to have.

Be sure to check out the other Blogger's Challenge group members blogs to see how they interpreted this color challenge. Have a great week.

Turkey Talk

I had so much fun with this card. I found the template for it over on Maria Bell's blog:

http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/2007/10/rest-of-batty-for-you-halloween-cards.html . I started with a card base of Pumpkin Pie and added a layer to textured rust colored card stock (Bazzill). Then I added a strip of Old Olive & the Polka Dot DP (Bo Bunny-Fall Festival Mini Dots). I added punched circles of More Mustard & Really Rust with a Mustard Brad.

For the focal layerI used a piece of Old Olive then More Mustard that was stamped with the Linen Background stamp in mustard ink & added a strip of this really cool striped ribbon (KI Memories) that I found for $1.00 at JoAnn Fabric. I was so excited when I saw it because it matched the dots in my designer paper just perfectly.

My main image is this adorable little turkey stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms called, (Let's Get Stuffed). I colored the turkey with Prismacolored pencils & blended it with Gamsol & a blending stump. Then I masked the imaged and sponged the oval which I punched out with the small oval punch and used as a template. I also sponged more mustard around the image and rounded the corners with a small corner rounder punch. I layered that to a punched out scallop square of Chocolate chip & mounted it to the card with foam mounting tape.

I really like how this card turned out & hope you do as well.

Just Being Silly

Have you figured out yet what this is suppose to be? - Keep reading & you'll find out. See my husband has this really weird sense of humor at times and so I'm playing along with him. Lately whenever his French Vanilla creamer is out he's been writing little messages on the empty container and leaving it next to the coffee pot to remind me to get more. This morning the container was upside down with the words: "Dead" and "Belly Up" written on it.

So I suddenly had this brain storm to create a new container so of like how (Frankenstein) was created out of body parts (YUCK) but mine is less gross. I pulled off the tab on the old container and hot glued it on for the nose. Then added some eyes, a mouth (which is actually the grin of the Cheshire Cat) and some hair with bows. Coleen thinks my little doll is, "CUTE"...now let's see what hubby thinks!

Okay I know it's silly but that's part of the fun of being married to my husband...we are always doing silly stuff like this with each other. Hope you are amused too. Oh I almost forgot...

I'm calling her a "FRENCH TART!"

BCG - Simplicity

This week for the Blogger's Challenge Group we were challenged to use photos or pictures from magazines on our projects. I knew right away what photo I wanted to use but somehow I couldn't seem to get at making my card until today.

I found this wonderful card by Jenn here:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/698112?cat=10726 that I really liked the layout so I decided to use that as the basis for my card. The hard part was trying to find papers that matched my photo but I think what I ended up choosing works for this card.

I took this picture a few weeks ago just down the street from us. There are a row of these gorgeous bushes that turn red in the fall and a single leaf from another nearby tree had fallen in the bushes. I really liked the contrast of the colors so I snapped a close up of the bush and the leaf. I printed it out on White Matte card stock and then sized it down to a reasonable size to work with on my card.

Next I matted the photo on Handsome Hunter card stock and distress the edges then added photo corners punched with textured Ruby Red card stock & pierced. I stamped the Sanded BG on Handsome Hunter CS with HH ink and then Embossed the sentiment (Hero Arts) with Detail Black EP. I wanted to add some yellow to match the focal leaf so I chose Barely Banana and added a layer of pattern paper (source unknown) and the I punched out the border using my Fiskars (Sunburst) punch on Certainly Celery card stock & added some cream brads (JoAnn Fabric). I mounted the photo with mounting tape & tied on a piece of Cream Grosgrain ribbon to complete the card.

Fall is one 2nd favorite season so I just couldn't resist sharing this wonderful photo with you.

Please be sure to check out all the other creations from the other group members. They are listed on my sidebar.

BCG - Embellished Snowman

For this week's challenge on the Blogger's Challenge group we had to use Embellishments (Brads, Buttons, Eyelets, etc....) for our projects. Last year I bought these adorable 3-D stickers and saved them to use on Christmas projects. I decided this was the perfect time to get one out and put it to use. Yesterday my new paper from Basic Gray (Figgy Pudding) arrived and this snowman pattern was just to cute to resist using along with my little snowman sticker (Paper Bliss).

I tried to match up as much of the colors on the designer paper as possible. My card base is Cranberry Crisp (retired "in" color from 2006) and distressed the edges with Cranberry Crisp ink. Then I added a layer of Soft Sky a current "in" color that I distressed with my cutter kit. I layered the snowman paper and a strip of the reverse pattern and added some stitched ribbon (retired SU - Prep School). Next I added 3 snowflake brads (Making Memories) that is covered with a glue pen and some Summer Sea (Art Institute) glitter. The brads are normally plain white.

I distressed a square of Cranberry Crisp card stock and added a layer of the Soft Sky that I pierced, faux stitched & ran through my Cuttlebug and added my little snowman embellishment. I lightened the Christmas tree up a little with some white craft ink & mounted the piece to my card with foam mounting tape. The only stamped part on this card is the sentiment (SU Holidays and Wishes) stamped in Cranberry Crisp ink.

Don't forget to check out all the other great cards/projects for this weeks challenge. You can do so by using the Blogger's Challenge Group on my sidebar.

Blog Header Information

Many of you often ask where my pictures come from so I'm going to try and let you know when I post a new header. This photo was taken about a block from where I live. The people have these absolutely stunning trees in their front yard. I stopped and talked to the owner of the house when I took pictures and she explained that these trees are, "Flame Maples." They are so beautiful. The colors were magnificent. There were red, orange, yellow, burgundy and green leaves at the same time on these trees. I wish photo's could show the true beauty but you can get the general idea.

Our little "Princess"

Halloween is over for another year but I couldn't resist sharing this photo of our, "Little Princess" with you all. Coleen could hardly wait for her mommy to get off work last night so she could put on her costume & go "Trick-or-treating" - Of course they had to stop by Grandma & Grandpa's and (Granny's) house. Our camera was really acting up last night but I managed to get couple of photo's of her in her costume and I love how this one turned out.

This month I want to try each day to say one thing that I am thankful for and so for today I am "Thankful" that the Lord gave us such a sweet and wonderful little Granddaughter. I pray that we will always be a special part of her life and that she will always know how much we love her. She is indeed a precious gift from God.

Witchy Woman

Don't you just love the look on this witches face! - I love Halloween and thought it would be fun to feature this card today in honor of the holiday.

I started with a card base of Basic Black and added a layer of Pumpkin Pie. The next layer is Basic Gray that I ran part way through my Cuttlebug machine and then highlighted the circles with a white craft pad. I added a strip of the Creepy Crawly designer paper as well. I stamped the greeting & Witch with Basic Gray ink and colored my witch with various markers (Really Rust, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Gable Green, Blush Blossom). I then punched the witch out using a 1 3/8" circle punch and distressed the edges with Mustard & Summer Sun Ink.

Next I punched out a larger circle (2 1/8" - McGill) from textured More Mustard Card stock and a punched star of Pumpkin Pie. I edged the star with Pumpkin pie ink and mounted it onto the mustard circle with foam mounting tape. Then I added 3 black brads. When I glued the witch image down I tried to make the mustard circle look like a crescent moon. This piece was then mounted to the card using the foam dimensional tape to complete the card.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone.!!!

BCG - Designer Poinsettia Wk. 18

You know I was going to "skip" this weeks challenge just because I really didn't feel like doing it and then this morning I looked at all the other's blogs and said to myself, "You can't skip this week" now so I thought about it awhile & this is what I came up with.

I had just got the 5-Petal punch yesterday and decided I would use it for my card. I started by punching 2 flowers on some light-weight cardboard and then punch 2 more flowers on designer paper (SU Dashing) and glued them on top of my cardboard flowers. - Then I sponged the edges with some Purely Pomegranate ink and highlighted them with Frosted Lace stickles. I layered them on top of each other to form my Poinsettia and added a Rhinestone brad (SU Fire Collection) to the center. Then I punched 2 small ovals from another piece of the DP and shaped them to form my leaves which I also distressed with some Old Olive ink.

My card base is Real Red layered with Old Olive that I stamped the (SU Aida Cloth BG) stamped and distressed the edges. To that I added a layer of the Striped DP. Then I cut a strip with decorative scalloped scissors (Fiskar) of the Red Dotted DP and stamped the sentiment in Old Olive ink. I glued this down on some Real Red card stock and used the decorative scissors to cut a border of red card stock under the designer paper. Then I added a piece of Red Grosgrain ribbon and used dimensional tape to raise my Poinsettia up. I added large photo corners (Photo Corner Punch) also stamped in the Aida Cloth BG with Old Olive ink and added a Red Brad to the corner, then mounted them with the foam dimensional tape to complete my card.

I think it turned out pretty cute. - We had a couple of new members join this week so be sure to check out their creations as well. I've added their names to the Blogger's Challenge Roll on the sidebar on my blog.

Butterfly Friendship

Last week was my monthly Stamper's 10 Club meeting so I thought I would share with you the cards we made at the meeting.

I try to keep my stamp club cards a little less complicated then some of my other cards due to the time frame that would be needed to create more elaborate cards/projects. We usually do just 2 cards per meeting. Even then it's often close to 10:00 pm before the last one leaves & I start cleaning up. It's FUN though.

For this card I started with a base of More Mustard and stamped the Large Swirl from (Priceless) in the lower right hand corner with Basic Gray ink. Then in the upper right hand corner I stamped the sentiment (All Holidays) with Versa Mark ink.

Next a smaller piece of Old Olive was stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp in Craft White. I added a strip of Basic Gray card stock stamped with the Aida Cloth background stamp and Basic Gray ink. Then I punched out a scallop of Old Olive, pierced it. The butterfly from (Pricless) was stamped with More Mustard on Whisper White twice. Then one was punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch and the other was cut out & layered to the punched one with a piece of foam mounting tape so that the wings could be liften up.

BCG - Teapot Inspiration

It's Friday once again (what a fast week this has been) and time for the Blogger's Challenge.

We are now on Week 17 of the challenges and this week was "Inspiration" week where we create projects that were inspired by something in nature, a picture, magazine article, piece of clothing, even another card project done by someone else.

A few days ago I happened to be at my mom's house in her kitchen when I spotted her tea kettle and a "light bulb" suddenly went off in my head. I just knew that I was going to use her tea kettle as the inspiration for my project this week. I started out trying a totally different stamp set and idea but didn't like what I was coming up with and was starting to get very frustrated that nothing I was trying was turning out right. Then I thought about a card that I had received from one of the ladies in my Stamper's 10 Club and what she had done with it and I also liked the layout of a card on the cover of the Stampin'Success magazine that we "Demo's" receive so before long I was creating again and am happy to say I love the way my card turned out. So this week I was inspired by 3 separate things that all came together to create one card.

#1 - The Tea Kettle for the Colors & the Apples.
#2 - Karen Okerlund's card for the portion of the Apple Bucket.
#3 - The Stampin' Success magazine card for the layout of my card.

Materials Used: White Card Stock (Papertreyink) as it's heavier then Whisper White and I was layering so I wanted a sturdier card stock.

Ruby Red Textured Card Stock, Creamy Caramel, Handsome Hunter & Very Vanilla Card stock.

Ink Pads & Markers: Creamy Caramel, Handsome Hunter, Basic Black, Ruby Red, Craft White

Stamp Sets: Give Thanks, Holidays & Wishes, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Wonderful Weaves (retired) & So Many Sayings.

Punches: Mega Circle & Giga Scalloped Circle (Marvy) Horizontal Slot

Other: Paper piercing tool, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Scallop Scissors, Plaid Ribbon (Santa's Workbench - Purchased at JoAnn Fabrics), Crystal Effects.

I used Paper Piecing to do the bucket and covered the Apples with Crystal Effects so they are very shiny in real life.

Be sure to check out the other members of the Blogger's Challenge group - found on my sidebar to see what they have come up with for this weeks Inspiration Challenge.

BCG - Ornaments

This week the Blogger's Challenge Group was assigned,
Ornaments for our projects. I have to say that I am very CHALLENGED in this department as I tend to mainly be a card maker and so seldom get out of that mode to make something other then a card. Also this week has been an extremely BUSY week for me. I've had something going on every day of the week and just didn't have the time nor the energy to come up with an Ornament idea.

Plus I have limited supplies on hand with which to create an ornament as well and the idea that I had needed a few things that I didn't have. So where is leading to....well let's just say I am presenting an OLD idea that I actually made last year. I was challenged by this tutorial (Amanda Sewell) http://inkspirations.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-here-tutorial-for-pinecone-balls.html created and I actually managed to make ONE of these which I hung on our Christmas tree last year. It was certainly a labor of love as I had sore fingers from pushing in all the pins this ornament requires and working with a thimble isn't my forte either so needless to say I didn't make any more of these babies after the first one. Still it was fun & I did like how it turned out.

If I find time later this month to come up with another ornament idea I will post it as well but for now this will have to do for my challenge entry this week.

Please check out the other Blogger's Challenge groups blogs (listed in my side bar) to see what they have come up with for this challenge. I know you won't be disappointed.

Halloween Music

I couldn't resist after seeing Julie's cute little Halloween box & her "Boris The Spider" image to add the actuall song by The Who to my blog for October only. Enjoy!

Black n Orange aren't just for Halloween

It's that time of the week again...Time for the Blogger's Challenge Group to post all their FABULOUS creations. This week our theme was to use (Black n Orange) for our projects. Of course with Halloween just around the corner my first thought was to make a Halloween card as those are pretty much standard colors for the event. Then I thought why not stretch my imagination a little and create a card that wasn't for Halloween but still used those colors. So this week I have TWO cards to share with you!

Card One is my Halloween card. For this card I started with a base of Only Orange card stock that I stamp the bat from Papertreyink (Spooky Sweets) set with Versamark Ink. Then I layered a piece of black/orange/white plaid designer paper (source unknown) and added a strip of black card stock with "faux stitching". My focal image is this really cool epoxy sticker from Creative Imaginations. I layered it to a circle of Only Orange and then onto a square of Basic Black that I also faux stitched. This was raised up on dimensional tape to complete the card.

Card Two is an Autumn card. I found my inspiration for this card from none other but fellow Blogger's Challenge Member Lori Tecler. You can find her great card here:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAs1cwIMcX4kcHE0TLhnG0i4f9-8n-kNUscdpI6iGbIXeSgsJg59j1uQ06M40Cs4ztw5Z2VPZPo9W9D_x92kzV-oupT62AsJij_3nY6LLte3U8Km6zhsNGcmWe7elbAWpueJ-vno9YS7HT/s1600-h/AGCC003-Batty.jpg - Thanks Lori for the inspiration.

For my card I started with a base of Pumpkin Pie card stock and stamped the Weathered BG stamp in Pumpkin Pie ink on it. Then I took a piece of Glossy White card stock and created a Polished Stone effect using, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange reinkers & Metallic Gold (Tsukineko). This is a fun but rather messy technique but I loved how it turned out. I cut the finished piece in three strips and layered them to Basic Black Card stock. On a second piece of the polished stone paper I stamped a leaf from Autumn Leaf Prints (retired) with Basic Black ink, cut it out & layered it to another piece of Pumpkin Pie card stock. I cut it out again and edged the leaf with a Pumpkin Pie marker for a little more definition. I added a piece of Black Grosgrain ribbon and mounted my leaf with foam dimensionals. To the upper left hand corner I punched out a photo corner in Basic Black and added two 1/4" circles of Pumpkin Pie card stock. I stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts) with Basic Black ink to complete my card.

Hope you enjoy my creations. Do check all the other blogs for what I'm sure promises to be another fantastic week of great stamping. You can find the Blogger's Challenge Group on my side bar.

Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys

Today's entry is a combination of a couple of challenges. I belong to a fantastic stamping group known as (Sensational SU Swappers) or (SSUS) and our fearless leader Kerry challenged the group to a sketch challenge with a bit of a "twist" in that we had to use designer paper and stamp on it (sentiment excluded). Then I happened to be browsing some of my favorite blogs today & saw where Anna (Sweet Miss Daisy) and, Lindsey (Jacksonbelle) had done one of their fabulous "Showdowns" with each other. They both did Western Themed projects but had to use "leather" of some form in their project. It could be real leather, faux leather, leather lacing etc...so once again I thought why not do a card that also matched their challenge to each other.

You can see their great creations here: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/2007/09/jacksonbelle-sh.html

and here: http://jacksonbelle.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2007/09/29/its-a-showdown-with-anna/

I so admire their artwork and while my card isn't near the caliber of theirs I do like how it turned out.

I chose Chocolate Chip for my card base & followed that up with a layer of this cool leather looking card stock called (Football) by The Paper Company which I just happened to purchase at a JoAnn Fabric's store a couple of years ago and had yet to use it. I added some extra matting layers to Kerry's sketch to complete the overall look that I wanted. The left hand side layer is Sage Shadow with a piece of Outlaw Designer paper stamped with the spur image from the retired set (Wild Wild West) in Sage Shadow ink. Then I layered the reverse side of the designer paper onto a piece of Really Rust card stock & stamped the swirl image from (Bronc Buster) with Chocolate Chip ink and added 3 brads (Little Black Dress) that I dyed with a brown permanent sharpie marker to match the rust tones. I colored the Cowboy image with various colors of ink pads and a blending pen and then added a small amount of Aztec Gold pearl ex powder to the vest and sealed it. It's hard to see in the scan but it has a slight shimmer to it. I matted that to a slightly larger piece of Chocolate chip card stock and then raised the image with foam mounting tape. I couldn't decide if the card needed a sentiment or not so I left it blank.

This was a lot of fun & I say thanks to Kerry, Anna & Lindsey for the great challenge.

Cattitude Monday - A bit of a yarn

You know I keep forgetting to post my "Cattitude Monday" entries but I found a cool look rug this morning while looking through a magazine and I thought to myself, "Hey that would make a great entry for Cattitude Monday. You can purchase this rug here:http://www.potpourrigift.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=R76031

It caught my eye because of the various colors of the cats and the circular pattern. I bet it would look fantastic in real life but I'm not about to spend $100 to find out!

I've also included picture of one of our own cats, Miss Blackie taken while she was outside for a brief time this morning before she headed back to the security of her own little bedroom. She's a "wary" cat for sure and you can see that in her eyes. Ever on the lookout.

Have a great day!

BCG - Frosty Winter Spectrum

Ah Friday already! Gosh it seems like I'm always "late" getting my card posted but it's at least up before the end of the day. This idea actually came to me this morning after I browsed a few web site's on ideas for using a Spectrum pad. Yep, that was Week 14's challenge, Using a Spectrum (multicolored) ink pad on our project. I own several of them but don't often use them although I don't know why. I found a great tutorial on SCS done by Beate Johns http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/brayeredbatik.php for Brayered Batik using a spectrum pad and I thought that sounded like something I could do. I started out thinking about using a particular piece of Designer paper that I had but after brayering my card stock I opted to go without the DP and really like what I came up with.

My card base is Whisper White card stock with a layer of Orchid Opulence ( a seldom used color for me) that I distressed with the cutter kit and edged with the spectrum pad (Berry Blaze by Kaleidacolor). I followed Beate's instructions for my snowman image and colored him in with a white watercolor pencil and a wet Q-tip as that seemed to help the water color pencil move around better. I added some Frosted Lace stickles to the snowman's hat. I must say that stuff is cool but seems to take forever to dry. I layered the snowman image( Big on Christmas) to a larger piece of Whisper White also distressed and edges with the spectrum pad.

Then I brayed a piece of the Shimmery White card stock the same way and misted it so the colors would bleed together somewhat. Then I dried it with my Heat tool and ran it through the Cuttlebug with the Snowflake embossing folder (I'm so liking that folder right now) - Which reminds me if you haven't already seen the new upcoming folders that Cuttlebug is coming out with check them out here:http://www.allthatscraps.com/index.php? - I can't wait to get my hands on some of these babies!!! Okay back to the card details...

Next up I added 3 snowflake brads (Making Memories) that I also applied the Frosted Lace stickles to so they would sparkle. I added some ribbon (May Arts) to the corner of my snowman image and raised it up with Foam mounting tape to complete the card.

So that's it for this week - Don't forget to check out the other Bloggers Challenge Group members website listed on my side bar as I know they have some fantastic cards/projects waiting to be "Oh'd & Ah'd" over!!!

BCG - Peace, Love & Joy

Wow time goes by so quickly any more...Here it is Friday already and I hadn't even started on my Challenge card. Yesterday was a BUSY day as I was trying out different bread recipes since I'm going to be in charge of the Continental breakfast for our new church that is starting next month. I had a serious FLOP with the first bread and had to start all over. Then we had a planning session last night at our house so I had no time to stamp at all yesterday.

Today it seemed like our dogs (who love to bark constantly) and Coleen (who wanted attention every 5 minutes) were conspiring against me as I was frantically trying to figure out something for this challenge. I had an idea in mind but it wasn't coming together like I had envisioned - Anyone else ever have that happen?

I persevered though & finally got a card together that I really like. Our challenge this week was to use embossing on our card. It could be Dry Embossing (with stencils or machine embossed such as a Cuttlebug), Wet Embossing (with powders) etc...I had so many different ideas but alas not enough time to come up with more then one card so I hope you like what I ended up with.

My card base is Night of Navy with a layer of Creamy Caramel embossed with the Snowflake Cuttlebug template and distressed (DTP) with a Craft Vanilla Ink Pad. I then layered a piece of this wonderful designer paper, (Which I believe is by Heidi Grace by right now I can't find the paper information) I'll check around and if this is wrong I'll edit in another post. I loved the colors in the paper and the snowflake patterns so I went with that for my color scheme. I embossed the sentiment (All Holidays) with a Close to Cocoa craft spot & clear EP then layered it to a slightly larger piece of Night of Navy card stock.

For my medallion image (which reminds me of a fancy snowflake) I embossed it with Cobalt Tapestry EP (PSX) and then colored the image with Bashful Blue and Bordering Blue Markers, highlight it with Waterfall stickles and added a Tan Brad to the center. Then I layered this onto a piece of Night of Navy card stock punched with a 2 1/8" circle punch (McGill) and pierced with the Crafter's tool kit. It's a very different Christmas color scheme I think but I really like how it turned out.

Be sure to check out the Blogger's Challenge Roll on my side bar & see what everyone else created for this challenge.

Book Cover - Samples that got rejected

As I was trying to recreate the look of the tree on the book cover I tried various techniques and thought you might want to see the ones that got rejected.

The sample on the left uses Versa Mark & Super-Russet Pearl Ex Powder brushed on & sealed.This actually looked shiny like the book cover but wasn't as red as I wanted it to be.

The middle sample used Terra Cotta Tapestry EP (PSX) but I didn't like it at all.

The far right sample was Heat & Stick powder with Red Fun Flock. It was the best match for the red on the book cover but the details of the tree got lost so I rejected it for that reason.

It's amazing how many things you have to try sometimes to get the look & feel you want and it's little wonder my stamp room looks like a tornado went through it after I'm done creating a card!

BCG - Inspired by a book cover

Hallelujah!!! - Yes I have my card posted finally. I was suppose to be cleaning my messy stamp room but as I was picking up a couple of library books to take in to lay by the night stand in our bedroom I suddenly had a "flash of inspiration" to recreate the cover of one of the books I am planning on reading.

The cover of the book reminded me a lot of a "sunset" so that is what I tried to capture on my card. I did add a little to my design that didn't appear on the book cover with the "flourishes" and rhinestone brads but they just added to the over all look I was hoping to achieve.

I started with a card base of Basic Black and then added a layer of Ruby Red that was distressed with the Cutter Kit. Then I took a piece of So Saffron and sponged various colors of ink (More Mustard & Color Box Yellow Citrus to achieve the tones on the upper portion and Ruby Red, Really Rust and Color Box Tangerine for the bottom portion) I stamped the flourishes from (Priceless) with Basic Gray ink in the corners and the saying (Refuge & Strength) as well. Then I added 3 small Fire Rhinestone brads in the lower left corner.

For my tree image (Lovely As A Tree) I embossed the tree with Chinese Red EP on Basic Black Card stock, punched it out with a Mega Circle punch and then layered to a larger circle of Ruby Red also distressed with the cutter kit and mounted it with foam mounting tape to my card.

I really like how this turned out.

Blogger's Challenge Week 12

Sadly I will not be posting for this weeks challenge - I have had such a HECTIC week that I barely had time to breath much less stamp. I will try to do the challenge & post it if I can but it will of course be LATE. However be sure to check out everyone else's blogs for their fantastic creations. This weeks challenge was an Inspiration challenge to create a project from something that inspired you (picture, clothing article, magazine photo, etc...) and post the Inspiration piece and your Inspired creation. This is a lot of fun and teaches you to really look at things in a different manner. The Blogger's Challenge Roll is on my side bar. - Ida

Cattitude Monday - Gone to the Dogs!

What a morning...I was RUDELY awakened by the sound of snapping & snarling dogs (our dogs to be exact) I jumped out of bed and ran out the door to try to get them separated as they were really going at it. I finally managed to get one of them outside and the other one calmed down. After a few minutes I let the other dog back in & sat down to drink a cup of coffee when they started in on each other again. So I ran back out there & grabbed up the first thing I could find to bang on their dog gate to see if that would get their attention. Well needless to say it was our dust pan and it shattered into a bazillion pieces and they were still going at it. Worse yet was that the older dog had started to choke so I had to get the female away from him and try to help him breath. He's been having problems lately where he gets food stuck in his throat and chokes, even to the point of passing out. You have to grab him and shake him around until he starts growling as that seems to clear his air passages enough he stops the choking. He's getting old (almost 16) so I'm thinking we may have to switch to soft dog food before long. Since I'm allergic to both (cats & dogs) and haven't been taking my allergy shots the dogs really bother me so I ended up sneezing & sneezing for about 20 minutes. My morning has completely, GONE TO THE DOGS! My photos are of both dogs & one of the cats. I couldn't get a decent picture of the old white dog (Rebel) so you get a sort of spooky looking picture of him and our large cat, (Nuisance). In case your wondering we have a Chow (Angel) and an American Eskimo. (Rebel)

Music Removal

Okay after much thought I have removed the "Music Playlist" feature on my blog. It seems that people on Dial-Up are unable to view my blog because the music takes forever to load and it kicks them off the blog. So I have created a new blog (Wishes, Dreams and Other Things) that I put my play list on. This blog will be for all kinds of stuff, personal pictures, music reviews, book reviews, chatty stuff, jokes etc...whatever hits me at the moment to post. If you want to visit that blog you can do so here: http://wishesdreamsandotherthings.blogspot.com/
I may include a little stamping from time to time as well.

Ida

Blogger's Challenge Week 11

This week I actually didn't "whine" about the sketch challenge although I did "alter" it a little. For this weeks challenge we were to use the layout from Pg. 12 of the Holiday Mini Catalog (Star Card).

You can view that sketch on Stampin'Up!'s website.

I actually did 2 cards this week!

For Card #1 I wanted to do a Fall/Autumn theme so I chose the Apple Cider designer series paper from the Holiday Mini for the color scheme. I started by tracing a leaf on some chipboard and cutting it out with an X-acto knife then glued on a piece of textured Really Rust card stock that I stamped the Sanded background stamp on. I stamped the 2 small leaves (Great Impressions) with Rust ink on River Rock cardstock & then embossed the word "Hello" from Autumn Leaf Prints (now retired) with a Garden Green stampin spot & embossed with clear EP. I punched that out with a 1" Circle Punch and layered it to a 1 1/4" Circle of Garden Green that I pierced with the Crafter's Tool Kit. I added a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware, a Old Olive Brad and tied on some Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon.

My card base: Really Rust, followed by a layer of Garden Green that I stamped the Sanded Background on in Garden Green ink. Then I layered my 3 pieces of designer paper on slightly larger pieces of River Rock card stock. I ended up tying my bow at the bottom of the card instead of the top because I did an "OOPSIE" at the top and had to cover it up with my leaf so there wasn't room to put the bow at the top of the card. I added 2 small leaf charms on the side to complete the card.

For card #2 I used: Real Red Card stock followed by a layer of River Rock stamped with the Linen BG stamp in Old Olive ink. I used the "Dashing" designer paper mounted on Old Olive and added 2 Real Red brads to one side. For my focal point I punched a Giga Scalloped oval of Real Red dotted with a white gel pen. Then I layered a Mega Oval of Old Olive stamped with the Linen BG stamp on top of that. I bought a bunch of little wooden ornaments from JoAnn fabric last year and never used them so I thought this would be the perfect way to show them off so I used one of the little Santa Images. I tied a bow of Olive Green ribbon (May Arts) at the top this time. I did add the sentiment (Perfect Ending - retired) at the bottom right corner which wasn't part of the sketch but I like how it turned out.

So there you have it for this weeks challenge. Don't forget to check out all the other great blogs to see what everyone else came up with for this challenge. They are listed on the right side of my side bar under Blogger's Challenge Group.

Going Batty

I've been buying all these really cool stamp sets from Papertreyink and then just leaving them sitting around without doing to much with them so when I bought the Spooky Sweets stamp set I decided that I was actually going to do something with it and so far I'm having a wonderful time creating some fun Halloween cards. This set was actually designed to decorate bags, tins, treats etc...but since I love making cards I decided that would be my first usage of this very versatile stamp set.

For this card I started out with a piece of light olive 12x12 Designer Paper (source unknown) and decided that I was going to create my own "custom" designer paper using stamps from the Spooky Sweets stamp set. I first stamped the 2 Bat images several times using Palette Noir Black ink (also found at Papertreyink) then I stamped the Sentiment with Old Olive ink (SU) and distressed the edges and added a few smudges of the olive ink as well on the stamped area. Then I layered this to a 5" square of Only Orange card stock that was stamped with the Sanded BG by Stampin'Up! (I love that background stamp). I layered this to a 5 1/4" Square Card (Old Olive and added 3 Lg. Black Eyelets and the Olive/Orange Stitched ribbon (Autumn Inspirations - JoAnn Fabrics) I added Large Photo corners that were punched with SU Photo corner punch and pierced with the Crafters Tool Kit.

Then I punched out a 2 1/8" Circle (McGill) of Summer Sun card stock that was also stamped with the Sanded BG in SS ink and edged with the ink to give it a little glow around the edges. I had this really COOL puffy bat that someone had sent me on a card that I took off & saved so I added it to my MOON and then glued on some crystals eyes and mounted this to my card with mounting tape. I really like how this turned out & hope you do as well.

Cattitude Monday - The Cats in the Bag

Today's cat entry is a "TRUE" story since it just happened this morning. No photo's were available for this event due to the fact that this particular cat was not in any mood to have her picture taken!

We have this cat named (Blackie) who came to live with us because her former owners couldn't care for her properly and then they moved and couldn't take her so they said we could have her. No mind you when we took her in she was skin & bones and very sick with a nasty parasite in her stomach that caused horrible diarrhea. After a few trips to the Vet & pills being stuffed down her mouth for 2 weeks she begin to heal up & has since been living a very cushy life in one of our upstairs bedrooms. She stays there because she is a huge "Chicken Liver" (basically afraid of every one and anything that moves) and she just HATES our other cats. She occasionally likes to go outside and generally comes in right away when you call her. This morning she was out on the back fence in a stand off with another cat and she jumped off the fence into our back neighbors yard and being de-clawed she wasn't able to climb the fence again. I tried a few times to coax her back and even went to the yard with the cat carrier and tried to lure her over with lunch meat but she wasn't having nothing to do with me and that carrier. I finally called my daughter to come and help me and after a few attempts we managed to get her out from under the car she was hiding under and the my daughter grabbed her & I had a pillow case ready to "bag the cat" and we headed back home with her. Let me tell you it was NOT EASY getting her home but I'm relieved to say she is once again "safe & sound" in her little room and she's not going outside again for a few days since she seems to want to chase off any neighborhood cat that comes within a 100 yards of her!

Spooky Greetings

I played some more today with my new Spooky Sweets stamp set by Papertreyink and came up with this fun card. I wanted to keep the "circular" pattern going on the card and think that I achieved the look I was hoping for.

I started with a card base of Basic Gray (SU's newest "neutrals color) which I just love. Then I embossed a piece of Basic Black card stock with the "Dots & Spots" Cuttlebug embossing folder and light ran it over a Craft White ink pad. I embossed the Circle stamp (which was designed to use on Avery Address Labels) with Bold Black EP on Green Galore, Lovely Lilac & Only Orange card stock and cut them out leaving a slight border around them. Then I stamped the Pumpkin Image with Orangerie Hybrid Palette ink on White Card stock (this is the heavier card stock that Papertrey carries. I stamped the stem with Green Galore ink and punched the pumpkin out using a 2 1/8" circle punch by McGill and distressed the edges with Basic Gray ink. The face of the pumpkin was stamped with Noir Black Hybrid Palette ink and highlight with Icicle stickles which I applied with a tooth pick so I could move it around where I wanted the glitter to go.

I want to make a note here that this set is so cool to work with because Nicole has created separate pieces (pumpkin, stem, face) that you can stamp in whatever colors you chose and know exactly where you are stamping them. If you are "Stamp-a-ma-jig" challenged like I am (never could figure out how to use that thing) then these clear stamps are just the thing you need.

Now back to my card...I punched out a Mega Circle & Giga Scallop (Marvy) using Basic Gray & Green Galore card stock & pierced holes using the SU Cutter kit. I added a Green Galore brad and some Tangerine Grosgrain ribbon and mounted the image with mounting tape.

I stamped the "Spooky" sentiment with Green Galore ink & punched it out with SU's Large Oval punch then added 2 Only Orange eyelets and filled the centers with the Icicle stickles so they look like glowing eyes to complete my spooky creation.

Creepy Crawly Spiders

Ewwww.....I absolutely detest Spiders so you're probably going to wonder why I used them for my card. These kind don't creep me out like the real live one's do so I can handle them.

Today is Bloggers Challenge Day and we are on Week #10 - Our challenge this week was to use the layout from Pg. 92 (Pocket Train card) in the new Stampin'Up! Fall/Winter collection. When I first saw the challenge card I said, "No Way" am I ever going to participate in this weeks challenge since I hated the card sketch. I mentioned this a few times & several of the members of the group said they didn't care for it either but that's why it's called a "Challenge." A few of them even went so far as to e-mail me and say that if they participated in the challenge I had to too. (Thank you so much Anna)...I'm really glad now that I took them up on the challenge since I love how my card turned out.

I didn't do the "pocket" card but then we didn't have to. For my card I chose to use a brand new set from Papertreyink called, (Spooky Sweets). I stamped both the Large & the Small Spider imaged with Versa Mark ink & embossed with Bold Black EP. I punched on the Lg. spiders with the 1 3/8" Square Punch and mounted them on a slightly larger square that I cut using my paper cutter. I distressed the edges of the squares that the large spiders are on with the Cutter Kit. The Small spiders were punched out with the 1" circle punched and raised up with mounting tape.

My card base is Basic Black which I layered with More Mustard stamped with the Sanded Background in Versa Mark ink & Layered with a piece of the Creepy Crawly DP and a punched scalloped border (using the slit punch) of Basic Black. My spiders were mounted on various colors (More Mustard, Only Orange, Really Rust, Basic Black). I stamped the "Boo" sentiment on Only Orange with Basic Black ink & punched it out using the Word Window punch. I added 3 Black Brads and pierced the top portion of the card to complete the sketch.

Hope you enjoy it & be sure to check out all the other fabulous challenge cards. Use the Bloggers Challenge list on my side bar to do this.

Card Information Change

In the previous post I stated that the stamp set I used for that card was Autumn Apparitions and have since realized that the set I actually used was Seasonal Whimsy. Sorry for my mistake but at least I caught it!

Colorful Autumn

This card is was for a Color Combo challenge that I participated in on another stamp group that I belong to. The colors we were to use were: Only Orange, Taken With Teal & Green Galore (or Gable Green) - They are an unusual color combination but once you combine them they really do look nice together.

For my card I chose to use Autumn Apparitions (SU) - My card base is Only Orange then I paired it with a layer of Gable Green, Taken with Teal and Whisper White. I stamped the large leaf image several times in those colors and then overlaid it with the Sanded Background stamp in Only Orange ink. I distressed the edges with the Cutter Kit, added a piece of Orange Grosgrain ribbon and 3 Green Galore brads.

For the main focal image in stamped the image first in Green Galore ink, then rock-n-rolled the imaged with the Teal ink and wiped off the pumpkin with a Q-Tip and inked it with an Only Orange marker, huffed on my stamp and then stamped on Whisper White card stock and cut the image out. I then pressed the image on a Versa Mark pad & sprinkled with Glassy Glaze Powder, heated it and repeated those steps about 3 times. Then I put the image in the freezer for 15-20 minutes took it out and bent it to give it a "Cracked Glass" effect. I mounted the image on Only Orange & Taken With Teal card stock & raised it up with Dimensional tape.

I didn't include any sentiment as I figured my partner could either add an Autumn saying or a Halloween saying of her choice.

Cattitude Monday - Kitten Capers

I use to do a thing on my blog on Mondays called, Cattitude Monday. I had hoped to get some stamped images of cats because I don't have a lot but no one sent me any so eventually I stopped posting my cat cards on Mondays. However I think I'll start again with at least something "Cat" related on Mondays. Today's post are photo's of those 2 little adorable kittens that we took in last Tuesday. Hard to believe they have almost been here an entire week.

My how they have changed!

The one that was so feisty & spit at me all the time the first day I named, Spitzer and then my husband thought we should call them Wellington (Spitzer) and Melrose because those are the names of the streets where the Apartment complex is being built and that's where the kittens were left by their mother. Well (Spitzer) now Wellington is anything but feisty now. He's such a mellow little guy and just loves to be held & petted. He's a purr box and a half.

The other smaller little guy, Melrose is now quite feisty and just loves to climb all over you & slide down your arms, legs, feet etc...so needless to say I have quite a few battle scars already & me being allergic to cats (yes you read that right & it's a LONG story) but I take allergy injections and have for 6 years so I'm able to be around the 4 cats that we had before we took in these two little guys and thankfully all the scratches from the kittens haven't really bothered me to much. I'm thankful though for the makers of Benadryl!

We have already found a wonderful home for them. Sadly we just can't keep them with 4 adult cats already in the house. However a clerk at the grocery store we shop at has fallen in love with them & he wants both of the kittens. His old cat was stolen and he really misses having a cat so we're happy that they will be going to a good home with someone who adores cats as much as we do.

I took several photos of the kittens today and wanted to share them with you.

Photo 1 is the 2 kittens actually sitting still! Melrose is on the left & Wellington is on the right.

Photo 2 is me feeding Wellington while Melrose is playing at my feet.

Photo 3 is the two of them playing rough & tumble games with each other.

Have a great day!

Let's Get Punchy - Part 2

I had some extra card stock/paper left over from my Punch challenge card so today I thought I'd do another version of the same card but I changed out a few things. All card stock & Papers, Inks are basically the same as my first card. The things I changed though were: The size of the card, This one is a standard 41/4 x 5 1/2" (The previous card was a 5 1/4" Square card)

I also changed the Creamy Caramel punched border and this time used a Fiskar's Border punch (Flowers). Then I punched out the same pattern on some Chocolate Chip card stock but this time I just took the 3 small flowers left over after I punched the border and used them as the centers for my 3 yellow flowers and added a light green brad (Bazzill Refined Rounds). I also punched out some small Chocolate Chip circles and glued them down on the Creamy Caramel border in the center of the punched out flowers. My sentiment is from Hero Arts (Take Good Care Greetings)

I think that I actually like this card better then my first card. What do you think? - Ida

Music & Blog Header

First off I want to say that I blog for my own pleasure but I also hope you get some enjoyment as well out of my blog. I know there are a lot of people who don't care for music on blogs and that is understandable however...it is so easy to just turn the volume down on your computer so you don't get blasted away by the music. I for one have found it to be inspiring to me. In fact when creating the card this week for the Blogger's Challenge I logged on to my blog and just let the music play since the stereo in my stamp room doesn't play that well and I feel more inspired at times by having some music to listen too so for now I'm leaving my music up until I feel it's time to take it down.

Last week my blog header was a picture of Multnomah Falls, OR and I had several people comment on how pretty it was & asked where the picture was taken etc...I'm not sure how long it takes for my photo's to load but I enjoy having something other then a "generic" blog header and I can't afford to have someone design one for me so I do the pictures instead. This weeks photo is the Spillway at Bonneville Dam. I hope you enjoy it. - Ida

Let's Get Punchy - Blogger's Challenge

I'm LATE, I'm LATE for a very important date!....Yes I'm finally getting around to posting my card for Week 8 of the Blogger's Challenge Group. Last week was so busy and a lot of time was spent taking care of those little orphaned kittens we took in. Which I'm happy to say are doing quite well & starting to grow like little weeds. Anyway I finally managed today to have some free time to stamp. This weeks challenge was to use punches on our cards/projects. So without further ado here is my card:

This was not at all what I had originally thought of doing. My first thought was to doing something with stars so I could use the new SU Star Punch but when I tried yesterday (Friday) to come up with an idea nothing looked right. I put it away and today got out my papers etc...and turned on my blog so I could listen to my Play List (which I'll address at the end of this post) and was inspired to create the following card.

Card Base: Sage Shadow stamped with Sanded Background in Sage Shadow Ink. Layered with a piece of the Outlaw designer paper and a row of scallops punched with the "Slit Punch" on textured Creamy Caramel card stock. I added Chocolate Brads to the scallops.

Then I used the Small Scallop (SU) to punch out the Chocolate Chip portion of my flower and the 1 3/8" (SU) circle punch for the flower center which was punch out of So Saffron Card stock and stamped with Itty Bitty Backgrounds in the Saffron ink to create sunflower like speckles. I stamped the butterfly image from Priceless with Sage Shadow Ink and then stamped on my Versa Mark pad and onto the Sage card stock and quickly sprinkled Clear EP and heat set then cut out. I just glued down the body portion of the butterfly so that I could raise the wings up.

I stamped the flourish with Chocolate Chip ink onto the pattern paper and then punched out 3 small flowers from the Three For You punch kit on Saffron CS and then punched out Chocolate Chip centers with the 1/8" Handheld circle punch and glued them down. I raised the edges of the petals up a little by curling them with my fingers. The corners of my card were rounded with the Large SU Corner Rounder (now retired & I have no clue why as it is such a neat punch). The sentiment is from: All Holidays and was stamped with Chocolate Chip Ink.

There you have it...If you haven't already taken a look at everyone else's challenge cards/projects be sure to check them out using the Blogger's Challenge list on the side bar of my blog. Hope you enjoy. - Ida

Crazy Cat Lady

This morning I received a phone call from DH who started off the conversation with, "If I tell you about this you can't keep them." Weird huh? - Anyway he want on to tell me that they had discovered a wild mother cat & her 3 kittens this morning under a pile of lumber at the construction site he is working at. The mother grabbed up one of the kittens and took off with it and just left the other two kittens there under the wood pile. When he called me it had been almost 3 hours and she hadn't returned for them. He wanted to know if I could come get them and then take them to the Humane Society when they opened at noon. I went and got the poor little things and brought them home. Then I called our Vet and was told that the Humane Society more then likely would put them down since they are so small and not weaned. Well naturally I couldn't let that happen (I'm to big of a "softie" when it comes to cats & small helpless animals).

The Vet gave me a recipe for "kitten formula" and told me to feed them every 3-4 hours. I had to go buy some kitten nursing bottles and the stuff for their formula. I could have bought already made up formula at the Pet Store but our Vet has always been good a recommending things that work just as well but cost considerably less money. The one kitten took to the bottle right away but it took some coaxing to get the other kitten to eat but it finally did. I'm thinking that both kittens are males (near as I can tell but I could be wrong). We have given them names. The one on the left in the photo is the smaller, shier one and we are calling it, Melrose and the one on the right I named Spitzer because it spits at you every time you try to touch it. Hubby thought we should call them Wellington & Melrose because those are the names of the streets where the construction site is located so Spitzer is now Wellington Spitzer and Melrose doesn't have a 2nd name yet.

They were pretty dirty & had a lot of fleas (UGH!!!) so I had to give them a bath to get the fleas off since they are too young yet for flea medication. They'll probably need another bath tomorrow since I didn't get all the fleas off but they are much cleaner & happier now.

Aren't they CUTE!!!