Catching up on challenges

Hi again. This is the last one of the day, I promise!! I wanted to do a couple of the challenges on splitcoast and combined 2 into 1. The "ways to use it" challenge for this week was to incorporate staples into your card and I used the sketch challenge for the layout. Enjoy!

The details:
Stamps: In the spotlight, Happy everything
CS: mellow moss, designer series, river rock, really rust, more mustard
Ink: choc chip, versamark
Other: earth elements brads, 5 petal punch, ticket corner punch, distressing tool

Gift Box

I found this tutorial laying out on my crafting table and decided to give it a try. This will make a perfect hostess gift for Monday's workshop. It is packed with a little surprise inside! Go to Nichole Heady's site to find the tutorial for this cute little box. Enjoy.

The details:
CS: choc chip, choc chip designer series
Stamps: riveting
Ink: choc chip
Other: misc organdy, choc grosgrain, scallop punch, 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 circle punches

Snowed In!

Hello stampers! I have a day off today due to snow. The schools are closed and I just wasn't in the mood to take them to work with me - that would be a nightmare. I doubt too many people are going to be out getting xrays today anyway - unless they are in the emergency room!

I am doing a home workshop Monday night and decided to work on the projects today. This is one card that I made. I found this idea from here in the splitcoast gallery - I only changed the stamp set and sentiment. I thought it would be a very good project for new and seasoned stampers. It uses several different kinds of stampin up products for them to play with - ribbon, brads, punches, etc. The stamp is the same from the last post out of the Fun & Fast Notes set which would be a perfect purchase for anyone.

The Details:
Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes
CS: blue bayou, soft sky, soft sky designer series, whisper white
Ink: choc chip
Other: photo corners punch, large oval punch, paper piercing set, soft subtles brads, white gel pen, blue bayou stitched ribbon, markers

Another Early Morning Card

Hello stampers. I was up again waaaay too early so I thought it was fit to do an "early bird" card! I case'd this card from here in the splitcoast stampers gallery. The bird and sentiment come from the Fun & Fast notes set from Stampin Up. You may notice that the sentiment I used is not the one with the bird in the catalog. That is because I mounted my sentiments seperatly so that I could mix & match. Enjoy!

The details:
Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes
CS: Purely Pomegranate, choc chip, pretty in pink, w white
Ink: black stazon
Other: SU markers, soft subtles brad, berry bliss designer paper, ticket corner punch, scallop scissors

Card of the Day

Isn't this just adorable!!! This is a dual purpose card. It is for my new nephew that is scheduled to be born this coming Wednesday and also for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge! I case'd the idea of fringing the Giraffe hair from my Cousin-in-law and upline, Donna Ross. Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Bundle of Joy, Word on Word
CS: Soft Sky, Choc Chip, soft sky designer, w white
Ink: black stazon, choc chip, markers
Other: choc grosgrain, hobby blade, misc polka dot ribbon

Advice for Cricut Owners

Hey gals! Hope you all have had a great weekend. I haven't been out of the house since Friday! It is so cold and gloomy outside, I just want to stay in the house! Anyway, the reason for my post is: Those of you that know me, know that I have never really bonded with my Cricut! One reason was the mat is not sticky enough for me. It was really sticky the first 2 or 3 times I used it, but not since then. I was thinking about what I could do to make it sticky again to get me through 'til I get a new mat and I remembered one of my old banking tricks (We used this technique on the belts of the ATM machines to give them more grip), I put alcohol on a soft cloth and wiped the mat down. VOILA! My mat is sticky again!!!!! I guess the alcohol removes the grime and teeny tiny paper particles. Maybe someone has thought of this before, but I didn't know about this trick. At least I will get more use out of my mat and can spend that money on more stampin stuff!! Enjoy.

Quick Card of the Day

Hey all! I got up way early for work this morning because I couldn't sleep....again. I made this card before waking up the boys. The layout is from this week's splitcoast sketch challenge. Obviously, I wasn't totally awake because later, I noticed it was a little plain! I don't even think I will post this on splitcoast, it's not exactly my proudest moment to post it here! I wanted to have something to post tonight because tomorrow night is stamp camp and I won't have time to do anything on the blog tomorrow. Have fun with the sketch! Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Happy Heart Day
CS: pretty in pink, purely pomegrante, berry bliss designer, w white
Ink: black, purely pom, pretty in pink, basic gray
Other: cuttlebug embossing folder, ribbon, tag punch, blender pen

Card (pocket) of the Day

Hello stampers! I saw this cute idea today on Paper Pleasing Ideas & couldn't wait to try it! I wanted some kind of 3D project for stamp camp and I think this could be it! It may also be what I make for the kids' valentines! Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Riveting
CS: blue bayou, soft sky, soft sky designer series, w white
Ink: blue bayou
other: 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 circle punches, blue bayou stitched ribbon, fiskars corner punch

More tiles

Hello, hope you all had a good Monday. Here are a couple more tiles that I worked on over the weekend. These things can be addicting. I still think the flower one that I posted yesterday is the best one. I want to thank my friend, Gina, for letting me use her craft inks over the weekend so that I could decide what I wanted to do for my tile class - thanks stampin' buddy!! Enjoy!

Weekend Sketch Challenge #31

Another great sketch by Beate! You can view it here. I didn't know if I was going to get to it this weekend but I finally did! I embossed my flower image with Black Embossing powder before watercoloring it with classic ink. The little white tag was cut out using my Cricut. I haven't really used it much considering I have had it since the Cricut's first came out. I'm warming up to it now. Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Doodle This
CS: rose red, old olive, pumpkin pie, w white
Ink: rose red, old olive
Other: cricut, Flower Fusion (felt flowers), silver brads, distressing tool, piercing tool, choc. grosgrain, hemp twine, cropadile

Links Added

I just wanted to let you all know that I have added a bunch more links on the sidebar to help you with inspiration. You have to get there from the actual blog, it won't show up on the email updates. You can get to the blog page just by clicking the title in your email. The links are on the right side, listed under "Blogs & Websites I like to read".

Tile Class Project

I will be having a tile class on Friday, Feb. 8th and I have been working on some tiles this weekend. I think that this is the one we are going to do this time. The cost is $8 for the first tile, and $5 for each add'l tile. All supplies will be included in the fee. You will get a free tile with a $50 order in addition to a free stamp set from the Sale-a-Bration collection! Let me know if you would like to attend, I have several openings still left. Enjoy!

Another Card

I may not get around to posting tomorrow so I thought I would do an extra one today! I just couldn't wait to use my new felt flowers that are in the catalog!!! They are so cute! I saw an adorable idea for using flower punches to make different flower shapes, go here for the tutorial. Enjoy!

{details}
Stamps: Doodle This
CS: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red
Ink: Vanilla
Other: Felt Fusion Flowers, silver brads, flower punch, scallop punch, paper piercing tool

Card of the Day

Hey stampers! Sorry I haven't had much time to stamp this week, work has still been crazy with people being sick and family emergencies. These things just can't be helped but I sure am tired! I worked on stamp camp projects today and thought I would give you all a sneak peak at what we may be doing. This idea came from the blog "No Time to Stamp". Enjoy!

{Details}
Stamps: Happy Heart Day
CS: purely pomegranate, pretty in pink, choc chip, w white, berry bliss designer series
Ink: versamark for embossing, black stazon, markers
Other: black EP, scallop edge scissors, pomegranate stitched ribbon, white gel pen

Sketch Challenge

This week's sketch challenge was posted today. I was so tired from work but I forced myself to stamp just one card. I will probably attempt this sketch again later in the week, I liked it. This set is from the sale-a-bration catalog and you can get it for free with any $50 order Feb. 1st thru March 17th. Enjoy!



The Details:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy
CS: barely banana, certainly celery, bashful blue, w white
Ink: certainly celery, bashful blue
Other: cuttlebug, ice brads, ticket corner punch, large & small oval punches, dimensionals, dazzling diamonds

Card of the Day

Happy Sunday stampers! The weather is cold and rainy today and it just makes you want to put your pj's back on and crawl under the covers! I did get one card done today but will probably do the pj thing in a little while! This card was inspired by a tutorial I saw this weekend on the {Capture the moment} blog for a unique background. Enjoy!

The details:
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Sincere Salutations
CS: Vanilla, Wild Wasabi
Ink: River Rock, Wild Wasabi
Other: markers, brads, ticket corner punch, dimensionals

Weekend Sketch Challenge

I couldn't wait to participate in Beate's weekend sketch challenge again! Here is my version! Enjoy.

The details:
Stamps: baroque motifs, so many sayings, In the spotlight
CS: w white, black, real red
Ink: black stazon, black, white craft
Other: white taffeta, paper crimper, black brads, photo corner punch, flower punch

Card of the Day

Hi Stampers! I hope you all are having a great weekend. Sorry I have been out for a couple of days. Work was wild this week and my grandfather had to go to a nursing home after having another stroke. After visiting the nursing home today, I was almost too depressed to stamp anything. It was horrible.

Anyway...on a brighter note, I did manage to stamp a couple of things tonight. This card was shamelessly cased from this card here by Laurie Schmidlin at "Just give me stamps" blog. I thought it was just adorable so I CASE'd it using Stampin Up Products instead of Verve Visual. I used my Cricut to cut the hearts. Enjoy.

The Details:
Stamps: Sweet Shapes, Holidays & Wishes, 1" circle punch
CS: Real Red, Pretty in Pink
Ink: White, Real Red
Other: White taffeta ribbon, ticket corner punch, 5 in 1 envelope template, Cricut

Card of the Day

I didn't think I was ever going to get a card done tonight! Between chores I needed to get done and my kids running wild, I just couldn't get into a creative spirit. I used the sketch by Beate that I posted previously as inspiration. This is all I managed to get done.....I know, it's pitiful! Maybe I can pass it off on one of the desperate men at my work on Valentine's Day when I know they still haven't been out to get anything for their wife. Enjoy (if you can)!

The details:
Stamps: So Much, small script
CS: real red, basic gray, black, w white
Ink: real red, basic gray
Other: black grosgrain, silver cord, large oval punch, cuttlebug & cricut

Blog Candy Winner

The Winner is.......Stamp & Scrape! You have 24 hours to notify me of your mailing address to receive your fabulous Valentine Package which includes 6 sheets of valentine paper, 3 valentine stamps, and 12 felt heart in pink, red, and white. As a bonus, you will receive the unclaimed blog candy prize from last week. Contact me fast!! Thanks to you all who participated in my 2nd giveaway!

Today's Inspiration

Hey girls! Is it Friday yet? I wish it was, I would rather be stamping than working the next couple of days! After a long, stressful day at work, I got on the computer to find some inspiration to do a card to relax. In my email, I had a post from Maria Bell with a sketch I decided to try. Check out her blog here. My colors came from today's color combination challenge on Splitcoast stampers. The challenge was to use wild wasabi (can substitute garden green), barely banana, and blue bayou (can sub bordering blue). I thought these color were great together so it wasn't much of a challenge. The little hedgehog is embossed with clear embossing powder - I didn't have any brown or choc chip embossing powder so I inked my image with versamark first and than inked in choc chip. This works alot like craft ink and works in a pinch if you don't have the color you need in powder or craft ink. Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes, Under the Weather
CS: blue bayou, wild wasabi, barely banana, w white, soft sky
Ink: versamark, choc chip, (markers: creamy caramel, purely pomegranate)
Other: ticket corner punch, scallop circle, 1 3/8" punch, brads, clear EP, blue bayou stitched ribbon

Card of the Day

I hope everyone had a great Monday. For those of you that do not know me, I am an xray tech during the day and Mondays are always a little hectic. At least I didn't have any crazy people today or convicts (they bring them from the jail sometimes), there was just one old lady who chose to strip down naked without shutting the door on her dressing room or pulling the curtain to the room that goes to the dressing rooms! That was interesting, especially considering that the man that picks up the biohazard stuff was about 3 feet away! Enough about that.

I did manage to get one card done tonight. It is a double challenge card using TLC149 & SC154, these random letters and numbers make sense to us that do the challenges on splitcoast! I combined a technique lovers challenge with a sketch challenge to get this cute little card. The technique is called "split negative" and you can find a tutorial here. It is much easier than it looks.

I challenge you to give this technique a try this week. Enjoy.

The Details:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Eat Cake
CS: Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, Choc Chip, Choc Chip Print
Ink: versamark, choc chip, vanilla craft
Other: Large oval punch, organdy ribbon, cuttlebug, clear EP
Technique: split negative & embossing

Another Card

It's me again stampers! I wanted to post one more card for the weekend. This way if I don't get to post tomorrow, I won't feel like I am behind! This card was inspired by this set of cards here on splitcoast. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder just on the edge of the card and sponged on some Choc. chip to make it pop. Enjoy!

The details:
Stamps: Simply Said, Fun & Fast Notes (sentiment only)
CS: Misc. from Hobby Lobby, Cool Carribean, Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa
Ink: White Craft, Choc Chip
Other: Cuttlebug, grosgrain, large & small oval punches, fiskers corner punch, white gel pen, copper EP
Technique: embossing

Card of the Day

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. I have been checking out some of the sketches offered on the stamping blogs and this is the one I chose to play around with today. I love the sketch, don't love my card! I have never like this stamp set since I got it. It was probably the 1st set I bought and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but at the time I didn't really know anything about stamping! It is definitely going into my auction pile along with the matching punch. I thought I would give it one more chance to redeem itself, but it didn't.

Here is a link to the site where I found the sketch. I hope you have time to play with this one. Enjoy.

The Details:
Stamps: Looks like Spring, So Many Sayings
CS: so saffron, choc chip, cameo coral, w white
Ink: so saffron, choc chip, cameo coral
Other: grosgrain ribbons, cuttlebug
Technique: none

My First Criss-Cross Card

I am trying lots of things this new year! This was my first attempt at a criss-cross card. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. My son has already claimed this one for his little girlfriend at school. The tutorial for this card can be found here. If you have time this weekend, give it a try! Enjoy.

The details:
Stamps: Riveting, Holidays & wishes, Doodle This, Party Punch
CS: Misc from my stash, w white, more mustard, rose red
Ink: Rose Red, more mustard
Other: 1 3/8" punch, 1 1/4" punch, round tab punch, purely pom ribbon, corner rounder
Technique: criss-cross card

Card of the Day

I am really getting addicted to the challenges out there on the web! I decided to participate in Beate's weekend sketch challenge for the 1st time. I really like this layout. It didn't take me long at all to complete it. I can't help myself but to use flowers on almost every card I make. What's up with that? Here is a link to Beate's blog. Have a good weekend & stamp something! Enjoy.

The details:
Stamps: garden whimsy, riveting, linen BG
CS: Regal Rose, More mustard, rose red, w white
Ink: regal rose, rose red, garden green (used mostly markers)
Other: silver brads, 1 3/8" punch, 1 1/4" ,punch, 3/4" punch, purely pomegranate ribbon, grosgrain ribbon, tool kit, cuttlebug, dimensionals (I didn't realize that I got that much stuff out!)

Where'd ya get the newspaper?

HA HA! A few of you have asked where I got the newspaper clipart. It is located here. It is a really cute idea, you can put in whatever text you want to. Have fun with it!

On another note: The drawing for the valentine blog candy will be January 9th, so be sure to leave a comment on the previous post on your suggestion on how the drawings should work in the future. I will post a picture of the prize soon and if the winner of the 1st prize has not come forward by that time, I will throw in that prize as well.

Blog Candy Winner & more candy to be given away!

The 1st Blog Candy Winner is.....Jessica! Jessica please leave me another comment or email me at lhines1971@yahoo.com with your address. I couldn't find it on your blog site or in your comment. I am new at this blog candy thing so I am going to have to figure out a better system. Instead of keeping all of the emails that came to me thru feedblitz, I just printed out all of the comments, cut them apart, and drew a name. Unfortunately, that doesn't give me the emails of the people that left the comments. I would gladly take any suggestions on how to do this better next time!

In fact, leave me a comment on how I should do this better and you will go into my next blog candy drawing. I will come up with a prize with a Valentine theme (paper, embellishments, etc).

Take a peak at the winner's blog here.

Jessica - please send me that address and I will mail your prize right away!

Thanks to all of you for participating!

Card of the Day

Hello stampers! On Thursdays, the challenge on Splitcoast is "Way to Use it" Challenge. Today, the challenge was to use flowers. This was my submission for challenge WT147. Several of the products I used are now retired so it is nice to find a reason to use them again! I embossed the watering can on the vanilla cardstock and then stamped and embossed more flower images on scrap paper to cut out and adhere with dimensionals to make them pop. The can was watercolored using a mixture of river rock ink with a little close to cocoa around the edges. Enjoy.

The details:
Stamps: Friends are like flowers, Everyday Flexible Phrases
CS: groovy guava, river rock, ruby red, vanilla
Ink: versamark, river rock, close to cocoa
Other: Copper EP, ribbon, hemp twine, ticket corner punch, word window punch, cuttlebug embossing folder
Technique: embossing & watercoloring

My first splitcoast challenge #SC157

I don't know if all of you aware or not (just in case you have been living under a rock) but, splitcoast stampers offers daily challenges to help all of us stampers stay inspired. I don't know why, but I have never, ever participated in a challenge. I decided that I would start and that would give me more things to post here on the blog. Here is the link to this challenge if you would like to give it a try. Enjoy!

The details: (and there's alot)
Stamps: Time well spent, double line doodles, so much
CS: misc from hobby lobby, rose red, w white, basic gray, pixie pink
Ink: rose red, gray, markers on the heart
Other: ribbon, spiral punch, corner rounder, word window punch, large oval punch, silver EP, rich regal brads, heart raised up with dimensionals(told there were lots)

Card of the Day

I am getting an early start on my Valentine's cards this year. Last year, my co-workers swooped up my cards as fast as I could make them (about 25-30 that week) so I decided to go on and get started. I made 4 of these last night and took them to work today and sold 3 of the 4. I am a cheap cardmaker, I only charged them $1.50 for it! I will have a few more cards to share in the next few days. Enjoy!

The Details:
Stamps: Double Line Doodles (retired), Holidays and Wishes
CS: Misc print from Hobby Lobby, Real Red, W White
Ink: Real Red, Versamark, Black
Other: Scallop Punch, 1 1/4 punch, small oval punch, black EP, ribbon

Case of the Day

I stamped again today! That is like, 2 days within a week, that must be a record! Okay, okay....so...I did CASE this...but at least I stamped something. I CASE'd this card from the blog Taylored Expressions. I hope you all enjoyed your New Year's Day! Enjoy.

The Details:
Stamps: Time Well Spent, everyday flexible phrases
CS: Regal Rose, W white, Lavender Lace, Misc print from a slab
Ink: Stazon Black, regal rose, lavender lace, certainly celery, apricot appeal
Other: small oval punch, ribbon
Technique: masking (for stems)