...Continued

Cards I Wanted to Save For a Rainy Day...

...and since it's close enough to rain here in the desert, here they are...enjoy! :)

Thank You Olivia

This is a card I made for someone I consider to be a friend. Her name is Olivia. I came in to work the other day soaking wet cause I had a flat tire and I wanted to watch the tow truck guy fix it so I could do it on my own next time. So since I was wet and my administrators were not taking my bait to go home early, I stayed in the break room crouched up next to a floor heater that CeCe let me borrow. So while I was in there trying to dry up, Olivia came in and made me some hot tea. How sweet was that!! So, this is the least I could do. I hope she likes this card as much as I liked her tea. I will get to Ce-Ce's card next...

RETIRED STAPIN' UP! LIST IS HERE!!

GO TO STAMPINUP.COM FOR THE RETIRED LIST. AHHHH! GET YOUR ORDER READY...THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!! MARTHA'S PARTY IS ON DECEMBER 15 AT 1PM.

2007 Christmas Cards

Today is another dizzy day! Well this time though, I am literally DIZZY. For those of you who know me, you know that something is happening to my body...not any type of serious illness or anything like that. I'm sure it's just something out of whack! Tests are already being done and no alarms have gone off so I'm not worried, just irritated. I had to miss work today cause I'm dissy and can't focus my eyes or else I'll tip. Wa-Wa-Waa! I sound like Debbie Downer.

Anyhow...just thought I'd share with you why I haven't put too much up lately. But I took pic's today and here are some things I have been working on. I hope you like them...

When is our next SU workshop?

Saturday, December 15 at 1 pm. Martha's house....look for your evite coming soon! We will be making a Christmas decoration for your Christmas cookie table. Martha and I think that you will love it. Hint: you might want to take advantage of the paper sale going on this month so you can do this for a friend or your office. I should be getting a pic out soon of what it is....gotta get my paper in also. Talk to you all soon.....

Black and White

Okay, who loves the SU gel pen? MEEE! Is my skirt showing? I hope you all like this....

My Baby's Eye!!

What do you think she's looking at? Her mann!! This is my baby girl's eye and her fiancee is in her sight...literally. This is a beautiful picture!

Marble Coffee Coasters

This is one that I didn't upload right away. Why? I don't know. However, I've been talking to people about how these came out but I sold them the minute I pulled them out at our fundraiser! They were all similar pic's but just colored differently. Thanks to Hari and Sherry, these were a "direct hit!"

Stamped Tile

This is an example of what we will be doing at our next SU workshop. I remember when I was afraid of detailed stamps. They always cought my eye but what would I do with them? How would I color them? Well, I stuck with it and here is a great! example of what to do with them. I actually borrowed these stamps from Karin (thanks Karin :x). She's a trooper!

Also, I copied this "tiles" idea from here. Talk at you again soon.

Thank you...

....for Fall!! Mann, this summer was pretty crazy, huh? That heat wave did me in. How creative did I feel when I got home from work smelling like sweaty dirt! I always took a shower right away but then I would fall asleep for at least an hour. My hubby bubby and the kids were very understanding and supportive through it all. So now, the weather is GREAT, work has slowed down to a normal pace, and I feel good. My creativity has bloomed! However, now my hari (pronounced hottie) is not so happy that I get so much pleasure making stuff! Cause as you all know, we don't just make cards. So since I have been able to get these new products...I want to see them used to perfection! Well in my eyes anyway. I must add that he doesn't mind, too much. Just a little.
I want to tell you a little about this flower. I colored it with pastels and a blender pen. For the center, i used 3 brads. I put a mini glue dot on top of each brad and dipped them each in some shaved soap (japanese pear is my fav right now. You can purchase them by clicking on the link below for Mia Bella Candles. Look for Dawn Ramirez scented candles and click on the link). Then with the blender pen, i just dotted some yellow dots a few times on the brads. Twine was wrapped around and tied in a knot right under the flower and Presto Chango! The card was complete.

happy birthday to me...

This is not a card to myself, but i guess it is a proper time to bring it out
and show you all this cute little thing. I copied it from "who knows where." I fly through so many blogs to find the perfect project and techniques to show our stampin' club. But in the passing, i loved this little saying...it goes perfect with the lady bug and the flower paper.

By the way, i'm 37 today, woo-hoo!!!

Happy Birthday Dad...

...wherever you are! He is on vacation right now and i will see him this weekend. Anyhow, I thought I could pull this pic out of the wood-work now. I made a set of 10 of these puppies and gave them out as a door prize at my first workshop. It was very easy and fun to stamp. The snow hills i made using the scraps of rubber trim from trimming my stamps. I also use them as sand. This is a retired stamp set so don't look for it in the current su catalog. Also, the ink is su white craft ink. This happens to be a wonderful investment...I use it soooo often. I finally was able to order the craft stampin spots, earth elements, along with a few other goodies...i can't wait to receive them at my door step!!

So speaking of vacations, this is a very recent photo of my hubby-bubby and my Leo. We're at Lake Gregory here in the San Bernardino mountains, courtesy of my dad, "Thanks Dad!" Hit the picture with the arrow and see how handsome these boys are...and you should see my other two kids, gorgeous! Keep an eye out for them in my upcoming posts.

Well I hope you had a wonderful weekend and i'll write again soon...

Hi guys! I hope all of you are doing well. This little number here is a 4x4 note card and says so much and at the same time, nothing at all. The inside sentiment says "best friends listen to what you don't say" and it has 2 little lady bugs crawling around eachother. Too cute and too true!! It came from the Stampin' Up! set Garden Whimsy, pg 101 in your SU catalog. I colored the front stamp with stampin' write markers. I used the new In Color textured papers blue bayou and soft sky. Also used here was the pearls from the pretties kit (love it!) and have I mentioned that to stick those on, it is easiest to use mini glue dots. I have? sorry...just thought I should mention it again. So to top it off and give it a completed look, I used ......pa-pa-ra-ra!!! Double stitched blue bayou ribbon. EVERYTHING...Stampin' Up! Babeee!! Have a good evening everybody....SMACK!x

Find Joy

Hello all! I have been a bad blogger and neglected to post any posts lately. How many excuses do I have? Well it's about the same number of excuses i have for not going to the gym...however, my heart is always headed towards my work space, just not my feet.
Anyhooo, this is a card that I worked on very slowly. I absolutely loved coloring this stamp and seeing how it came out once I stamped it. I used the SU Abundant Joy stamp set and used rich regals SU Stampin' Write markers to color them. I scribbled the colors and used ones that didn't quite match (in my mind) then when i stamped them, Oh My Goodness!! What beauty! So i took my time putting this beautiful art work on something nice. So this morning, i think i am satisfied. I hope you like it as well. Click on the picture to get a better close up of the detail of the markers. For the faux stiching, I used uniball white gel pen and ran it across holes that i punched with the paper pierce-ing (sp?) tool. When you run it across, make sure that you stop at each hole so the lines will not look like lines. You want them to look like stiches. Perfection is not the key to this technique. I like that. Type to you all soon...

Customized Name Frame (Example)

I say example 'cause there are soooo many ways to do this. So, I have a friend who is 5 and very "girly." She is a princess and is gorgeous!! I think that she would like this. I just don't know if I should wait until Christmas or just give it to her...but if I wait too long, I'll want to change something and do it over again and AHHH! okay, I'll give it to her. Thanks for listening.

Scratch n Sniff

This is something that you can try for yourself. I was thinking of doing it at a workshop but...it's a little too easy for my stamp club girls. However, it is worth it to give it a go...
You'll need: a bold style stamp set
a VersaMark pad
A sugar-free DRINK mix (not jello like I did!)
Clear Stampin' Emboss powder
A heat tool

mix: 1 sugar-free drink mix to 1 1/2 clear embossing powder.

...finish just like any other embossing project, stamp, pour, and heat. It's just that simple.

Hint: try different combo's for different flavors as long as it does not have sugar in it. Examples are cocoa, cinnamon, even powdered creamer.

I haven't done all of that but I cann0t wait until the winter...I have a beautiful coffee set that I just love! But I have done it with the kool-aide and it is just fine.

more birthday petites

I just can't help myself. These are my fav's! right now. Who didn't know that they were going to love these when they purchased them? And if you haven't seen the new su in color collection in person...get them...you will not be dissapointed! Don't forget your double stitched ribbon...did i say that in the last post? I don't remember cause I might have been talking to someone in person...that does happen sometimes you know. I am still trying to perfect my picture taking. Emily has told me to keep it in the natural light, but like some of you know...my house doesn't have much light to it. I'll probably try to set something up outside. My workshop is next on the list. Martha and I switched months and that worked out best for both of us. So start looking for your evites sometime next week. Talk to you all soon...

Birthday Petites

Shannyn!! This is for you! U used the textured paper purely pomegranate, along with its double stitched partner. U also used the petites and to hold them together, u used the brad that comes in the kit. But when u use the pearls, the mini glue dots and pop up glue dots work well....gotta go!

Two of my new stamp sets

Hi guys! I know that some of you have seen this one already. This is an invitation that I sent out to some family and friends who live farther away than most. I didn't have much of an inspiration except that I wanted to use some new product from SU and my husband, of course...
I really wanted this to come out like a masculine invite and look festive as well. I think this came out better than I planned. I used the new antique brass jumbo eyelets from SU and played with the Big Celebrations stamp set...also SU. The background stamp is Aida Cloth with white craft ink. Don't think that I didn't use the awesome crop-a-dile!! It works perfect with the jumbo eyelets..
This card is probably obvious what I used, except that I wanted to point out what I did with the twine...it's braided. I also wanted to work with colors that I wouldn't usually mix but I ended up pretty happy with this....


Don't you hate blogs when the person says "I" about 20 million times!? Maybe for my next post "I" will put "U" in place of it...we'll see.

Nathalie's Workshop

Hard workers! Or maybe you all are getting tired of me taking pic's...I just get so excited!
This is Ophelia's. We were using the Prints Designer Series Papers, Zoofari and Polka Dots & Paisley stamp sets.
We also had a chance to use the new Rhinestone Brads along with the uni-ball Signo Gel Pen as Karen shows off on one of her cards.
This is Bessie's. This card is definately a one of a kind. She is the artist of the group, obviously! She used the Big Celebrations stamp set and colored with the Stampin' Write Markers. She also used the ZIG Painty. "Get down Bessie!!"
I want to send a shout out for the salad we had...it is always a pleasure to have lunch with you ladies.

Hi guys! I just wanted to let you all know that the next workshop is coming up this Saturday. It will be at Nathalie's house and some of the new product will be on parade! Please be sure to note that the time has changed to 1 pm. Don't forget to rsvp in your evite. If you didn't get an evite in your email, please don't be shy to put a response in this blog or even email me. See you soon!

Happy 4th of July!

I have the day off today and boy it's been a hard week so far. Work is heavy duty right now but I am thanking the Lord every day that I have a job, and a good one at that! Anyways, my guys are sleeping and I have a little time to write...
Have you all looked at the new Stampin' Up! Fall-Winter 2007 Collection catalog? If you don't have one in your hand yet, let me know and I can get one out to you. SU will be publishing 2 catalogs a year, one in July, another in January. The purchase price will still be ten dollars however you will not miss the opportunity to ooh and ahh over all of the pictures and examples they have put together in this catalog! SU has also put in LOTS of new designer series papers to choose from and more accessories to play with...beautiful! And have you seen the crop-a-dile? That is a tool that has the punching power, precision and ease that we all need when we are on a creative flow! You can't miss that one. Anyways, here is the Stampin' Up! website so click here and have fun flipping the pages...http://stampinup.com/ .
Talk to you all later....

Nathalie's creations

These are Nathalie's creations. I thought they were so pretty so I asked to put them up for you all to enjoy. Thanks Nat!

The WINNERS!!

The first name drawn was BESSIE! You've won "Reason to smile" stamp set.

The second name drawn was Martha! You've won "Blooming with happiness" stamp set.

And the last but not least was Jean! You've won "Basket full of fun" stamp set (of course).

Congratulations to all of you!

Stamp Club Members ....

Due to demand (much of it being my curiosity!), I went ahead and drew names for our months to host a party...here are the results:
Nathalie = July
Martha = August
Ophelia = September
Karen = October
Mary M = November
Christina=December
Bessie = January
Please get in touch with me asap so that we can set some dates to make sure that we can all have time off from work or our vacations planned or b-day parties settled.....etc.

Erin's Stampin' Up! Workshop

These are some of the projects that we had this weekend...you all did a wonderful job!! I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Remeber, just two more days and I will post who the winners are for the $50 raffle!

Father's Day Card

This is my a card I made for my Dad. I really love this stamp set! I want to stress that even though your stamp sets may retire, if you liked it to begin with, it will always be that good.

So on this card, it's kind of hard to see from the picture but the word celebrate and the purple swirl are embossed. I used the versamark for the ice cream so that I could place the embossing powder exactly where I wanted it. I really like how easy that worked. Also, I know you can use the versamark pad to emboss your stamp space but I am very pleased with the way the Stampin' Up!'s white craft ink works! Can you tell that the ice cream cone is raised? I used dimensionals. "Love Them!"

Question:

If you were to create your own ice cream flavor, what would it be?



My answer: Coffee flavored ice cream with graham cracker, roasted almonds, and brownies, NON-FAT with all the flavor!!

Pinwheel Card

This took me all day to do. I had to do it over and over, because my husband, who has great judgment, didn't like what I was doing. He finally approved of these cards. He liked the fact that the wheels spin.

This is my dad's Christmas card that I sent out to him but I put the wrong address and it came back to me. We were going through some papers this morning and found it and I am glad we did. My dad knows that it got lost somewhere but he doesn't know that I had it all along. Neither did I! I guess we need to go through our junk mail more often...

I love the Stampin' Up!'s white gel pen! For some reason though, I think of Lay's potato chips when I use it..."you can't eat just one." This card is a prime example of going over board, but I still liked it.