Show and Tell

The final be mine

Past time to put away the pink, red, and hearts for another year. Gotta move on. Sad, but true.

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I made two of these gift tags for little Valentine's Day gifts that we would be giving to our daughter and our "adopted daughter" (who is also our regular Monday night company). Ken was in Raleigh on business last week so he got to have dinner with Britt one night and she got her little gift then. (I think he must've looked extra cute carrying a little gift bag with a pink glittery tag into the restaurant!) And, the regular Monday night company cancelled on us last week (gasp!), so she'll get hers tonight. Since both of them read my blog, I decided to wait until they had them in hand to post the pictures. Inside the gift bag? A kitchen towel with red stripes and a pair of red "stay at home" socks. Oh, and some dark chocolate and peppermint candy. Wouldn't be Valentine's Day without at least a little candy now, would it?

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Damask Designs, Background Basics: Hearts, Heart Prints, Daily Designs Sentiments); cardstock is PTI (Kraft) and Stampin' Up (Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip); printed cardstock is Heidi Swapp; ink is Stampin' Up (Pink Passion, Craft White) and PTI (Dark Chocolate); ribbon is PTI (Dark Chocolate swiss dots); glitter is Martha Stewart (Tourmaline); also used Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge for the tag shape and an EK Success border punch; tags are tied to the bag with random ribbon scraps.

Today was rainy, rainy, rainy. Yesterday was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. So gorgeous that our street held an impromptu get-together-and-cook-out night.

Nothin' like hamburgers and hot dogs outside with the neighbors. Kids everywhere. On bikes and skateboards in the street. Running here and there. In and out of wagons. In the trees — but promptly ordered down by the mama.  I said, "Matthew, you are a really good tree-climber. You were way up there." He smiled and said, "I can go higher. But not when my mom's watching." Gotta love kids.

Hope you had a great weekend and that your Monday has been full of sweet memories of it to tide you through another week. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!   

hey there, chickadee

Happy Monday! Just kidding — I know it's Thursday... It's just that our regular Monday night company is coming over this afternoon and she and I are going to watch our DVR-ed 24 episode. We have to get it done before Ken comes back in town so we're caught up and ready for the new hour on Monday night. (He's a stickler for staying on track!) 

Anyway, here are a couple more cards inspired by Clean and Simple Stamping sketches.

The first one is for Fall-to-Layout 76. Incredibly, that is the layout for this week. Finally, after playing catch-up for quite a few weeks, I'm current again. I love being current. It just seems that my usual mode of operation is running behind... (Obviously Ken's stickler-ness for staying on track has not rubbed off on me over the past 29+ years!)

 

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Can you tell I've been having fun with heart punches?

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits); cardstock is PTI (Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst); patterned paper is PTI (Bitty Box Basics in Spring Moss and Bitty Dot Basics in Spring Rain & Sweet Blush); ink is PTI (Hibiscus Burst, Fresh Snow) and Stampin' Up (Basic Gray); ribbon is PTI (Fresh Snow twill); also used Creative Memories heart punch and Kaiser clear rhinestone. 

Here's another, this time with heart-punched cherries, for FTL27.

I'll be using both of these cards as Valentines, although they certainly could be used for other occasions, too.

 

 

 

 

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Once again we have bad photo syndrome. Oh, well.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush); ink is PTI (New Leaf) and Stampin' Up (Basic Gray); also used an EK Success medium heart punch and a Sizzix Large Argyle #2 embossing folder. 

You know, I don't think I really have anything else to say today. I'm going to get this posted, do a few things around the house, and get ready to have some pre-dinner brownies while watching 24. :) (Isn't it great being an adult (especially an adult with no children at home)? If you want to spoil your dinner with brownies at 4:00 in the afternoon, it's A-OK. You can even make brownies your dinner if you want to. Yes, adulthood has its benefits!)

Hope you are having/have had a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at what I've been up to! See you tomorrow (after I've worked my tail off trying to get rid of all the brownies I ate today)!

Happy Valentine's Day, Inside & Out

The theme for this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop is "The Total Package." Meaning decorate your card inside and out. (Oops — I just reread the challenge. It also mentions decorating the envelope. Didn't do that...) The Moxie Fab blog also has a similar challenge going on, to decorate a card inside and out. Since they dovetail so well together, I'll link up to it, too. Don't you love killing two birds with one stone?! (Boy, now that I wrote that, it sure doesn't sound very nice, does it?)

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This card started out as a nice white 4-1/4" square card. Completely clean and simple. But then I tried something around the embossed border on the inside and it just didn't work. It was awful. Unsalvageable. Well, maybe not quite. I cut it all apart and mounted the stamped and embossed pieces on a 4-1/4" x 4-1/2" hibiscus burst card, added a little red, a little glitter, and rescued it all from the garbage (or from being punched into little shapes — see this post if you don't know what I'm talking about...).

Here's the inside.

I thought I might write a little note above the "Always" and then sign the card below. I hardly ever decorate the inside of my cards — although, I do like the way they look all fancied up like this. I do, however, usually sign the back — along with some stamped image that relates to the rest of the card. So, here's the back of this one.

 
AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, Heart Prints); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White, Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy); ink is PTI (Hibiscus Burst) and Stampin' Up (Kiwi Kiss, Real Red); also used a Scor-Pal for embossed lines, a Fiskars border punch and an EK Success heart punch (medium), a Cuttlebug embossing folder border, and 1/4" Scor-Tape with Prisma glitter.  

It's been so long since I had time to participate in a PTI blog hop — can't wait to see what everyone else has done. However, it is Monday night and that means our regular Monday night company will be here (Southwest Steak and Potato Soup has been simmering away in the crock pot all day, making the house smell really yummy) and we'll be watching 24, so I may have to wait until later to get hopping.

But, tomorrow I'll be back here again with more Valentines — two using sketches from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great evening and I hope to see you back here soon!

Puppy Dots

and an owl.

I wanted to make sure I didn't miss another Everything but the Kitchen Sink challenge. And I wanted to make some Valentines to send to Winter's collection for St. Jude Hospital. (Read about it here. Well, as I was looking for that post I read this one. The St. Jude goal was met so cards are now being sent to Texas Children's Hospital. Isn't the card-making community wonderfully generous?!)

  

 

 

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That's the owl. Here are the pups. Which is your favorite? (You can click on them to make them bigger.) I kind of like the weiner dog. But Fifi the poodle has attitude.

   

Instead of layers of cardstock for each area of the sketch, I stamped different sized polka dots to delineate each section. I decided to stick with the polka dot theme with the embossed strips and the ribbon. Fifi was yipping for polka dot ribbon. :) Had to talk her out of a bow, though. The cards are supposed to be gender neutral. Not sure I accomplished that, but I tried. Sort of. 

All of them are stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" inside — with one exception. That last puppy? His card says, appropriately, "Smile". And those wiggle eyes? I bet they're at least 15 years old. Never know what you'll find in the far reaches of your closet. Well, that's true for my closet anyway.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Background Basics: Hearts, Polka Dot Basics, Blooming Button Bits, Mega Mixed Messages, Everyday Classics, Vintage Picnic Sentiments, Heart Prints); cardstock is PTI (white, Pure Poppy), Stampin' Up (Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise), and Creative Memories (Metallic Gold); ink is Stampin' Up (Pretty in Pink, Real Red); also used the Paper Pups, Plantin Schoolbook, and Storybook Cricut Cartridges, Spots & Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, ribbon and very old wiggle eyes from Michaels. Oh, and clear Kaiser gemstones.

So, I haven't done cards for a "cause" before. If you have, do you write a message inside or leave them blank? I was thinking of writing something like, "Love from North Carolina". What do you think? Not very personal, but I have a hard enough time writing to people I know, much less those I don't... Especially when there is to be no reference to the recipient being sick or in the hospital. Any thoughts and ideas are welcome! Hopefully just the puppy (and owl) cards will cheer them up. Those wiggle eyes are a little goofy. (And, yep, you guessed it... Fifi refused to have eyes that wiggle. She'd rather have no eyes at all.)

That's it for now. It's Monday night. The regular Monday night company is here. Dinner (Cream of Broccoli Soup and Chicken Sandwiches) is over and cleaned up. She's knitting. Ken has a bad cold and is sniffling in the chair. I'm trying to finish this post up during commercials while we're watching 24. Just when one disaster is averted another arises. Hooked for another season...

Thanks for stopping by today. It's always good to "see" (hear from) you!

Another Birthday Celebration

Tonight we'll be celebrating a birthday... again. Our regular Monday night company is turning 25. We celebrated with her parents Saturday night. And, although, her actual birthday isn't until Friday, we'll make a special meal for her tonight and leave Friday up to her {many} friends.

We also have a gift to give to our new little homeowner. Maybe this will enable her to check an item off her wishlist.

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To make the gift card holder, I followed this tutorial for a double-pocket card on Splitcoast Stampers, taking my color and pattern cues from the IKEA gift card. I've got a few more pictures for you.

This one shows the card along with the tag and gift card.

Here's a better one of the tag. I'll write a brief message on there.

This one shows the tag inserted in its pocket. See that blinged-out flower at the top? Well, it's covering up some doodling gone bad. The top of the tag looked too plain so I pulled out a pink marker and knew almost immediately that that was a bad idea! It looked a little like it had been done by one of the 2nd graders that the Monday night company teaches. (No offense intended to the 2nd graders out there — it just wasn't the look I was going for!)

Here you get a peek of the inside of the card. I can write a little more of a birthday message to this special girl in here.

If you decide to make one of these, the card part could easily be omitted. The front with the two pockets, one holding a tag and the other a gift card, would really be plenty. Just leave a little more room to write on your tag than I left on mine.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Stampin' Up (Think Happy Thoughts, Seeing Spots, Little Pieces); cardstock is from Stampin' Up (Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Only Orange, Positively Pink, Summer Sun) and Heidi Swapp (the green and all the prints were in a pack I bought at Tuesday Morning some time ago) and Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White); ink is from Stampin' Up (Real Red, Summer Sun, Positively Pink, Craft White); ribbon is from PTI (Fresh Snow twill); rhinestones are also from PTI (orange); also used the following punches: from Stampin' Up (Scallop Border, Scallop Circle, 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" Circles) and Fiskars (Apron Edge).  

That's it for now. Time to get dinner going for tonight (although, I'll schedule this to go live at dinner time since the Monday night guest is one of my readers — gotta let her be surprised!).

If you're in the States I hope you're enjoying summer's last hurrah! Thanks for stopping by here today — I'll be back with another post in the morning. See you then!

with Sympathy

There comes a time when you really have to do what you don't want to do. Know what I mean? I don't like the idea of making sympathy cards. But, the reality is that sometimes you just have to have one. Or two. Or, in this case, three.

Now, I have a stash of Hallmark sympathy cards, but when people know that you make cards — well, Hallmark cards just won't do. So — this weekend in the little bit of free time that I had, I forced myself to make sympathy cards. I used the same stamps and cardstocks on all of them — so once I got started, finishing wasn't all that hard. Now, if I can just get them in the mail...

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(clicking on the above pictures makes them larger)

AND TELL: stamps are from Unity (Bevy of Butterflies); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream, Kraft, Hibiscus Burst); ink is Stampin' Up (Sage Shadow, Rose Romance, Tangerine Tango), Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream) and Versamark; gemstones are from K&Co. and Paper Studio; tag is a die for the Cuttlebug from Provo Craft.

On another note, besides Bible Study and Stamp Club on Saturday, here is what kept me (us) busy this weekend:  our regular Monday night company moved into her "new nest".

Every 24 year old buying her first house should be lucky enough to have 2 sets of parents help her move in and set up, right?

We were blessed with the opportunity to host her family (brother on his way to University of Kentucky included) for the weekend.

And by the way, isn't that a great headboard?

Here's "our girl" learning yet a little more about home ownership. You may have painted, changed hardware, gotten new windows, refinished floors, put in new countertops, tile floors and backsplash, and an abundance of other things before you even moved in, but the work and the list-making never ends.

So, she slept in her new old house for the first time last night. Tonight she'll be over for dinner and watching the last two episodes of the first season of 24

Then after she leaves, Ken & I will be catching up on the Carolina Panthers first preseason game. And sometime this week we'll have to watch tonight's episodes of The Closer and Raising the Bar. What did we do before DVRs?

Hope you have a fabulous Monday! Thanks so much for coming by!!

Surprise for Krista

Our regular Monday night guest, who we also refer to as our adopted daughter, took possession of her "new nest" this week. Then after a day of frenzied cleaning, she took a long-awaited, long-time planned, trip out of town — while her parents came into town to clean, paint, and do a variety of things (all written down on a l-o-n-g list by their daughter). Now — those are some great parents!

But, she's a pretty special daughter, too. For weeks she's been talking about having me help her make a gift for her mom's birthday — something useful and pretty and handmade personally by her. She got her ideas together and came over last Monday (more here) to execute them. The goal was to complete a notebook that her mom could use for note taking during church.

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We used very much the same methods as I used in making the little gift books for the school staff (here). But this notebook is larger; the inside pages are 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" (half sheets) and are cut from office supply store cardstock. Each page was stamped at the bottom with a Bible verse, a nice sentiment, or just some decorative do-dads. We spiral bound only the middle portion of the top — mainly because I'm not smart enough at night to figure out how to do anything beyond the basic. Couldn't even read it and figure it out; the brain just doesn't function in any sort of technical capacity after about 7:00 p.m. (Keep in mind the whole working at night thing — neither of us looked our best. I'm just glad I was the one with the camera — but doesn't she look proud?!) Below are pictures of the front and the back.

AND TELL:  stamps that you see used are from Papertrey Ink (Damask Designs, Simply Stationery, Trajan Monogram Edition, Simple Alphabet) and for the inside pages we used so many from Verve (Because of You and lots of the Plain Jane scripture stamps) and from PTI (Heart Prints Sentiments, Mother); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Lavender Lace) and PTI white; printed paper is from Making Memories; ribbon is PTI (Fresh Snow grosgrain); pink gemstone sticker is from my stash; we also used circle and scallop circle Nestabilities with the Cuttlebug, Craft-a-board for the covers, and the Bind-it-all with antique silver rings.

Today before Ken and I left to check out the progress at her house, I decided to whip up a little token birthday gift using the same color scheme as was chosen for the notebook.

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These were very Michelle Wooderson inspired (see here) and are purchased flat cards embellished with paper and stamps. The cards are cream. The only envelopes that I have to fit them are white — so I mixed the white and cream and am really liking the way it looks. When finished I just tied the stack of four together and stuck them in a gift bag along with the notebook.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Borders & Corners Circles, Trajan Monogram Alphabet); cardstock is PTI white and Stampin' Up (Pink Passion); patterned paper is Making Memories; ribbon is from Michaels; flat cards were purchased by the boxful at a local stationery store that was going out of business; envelopes are from Paper Source; ribbons are from Michaels; punches used are the yellow Marvy scallop circle and the 1-1/4" circle from Stampin' Up. 

So — Krista, I hope you have an incredibly happy birthday (and that your muscles aren't too sore from all that painting and cleaning)! Your daughter loves you very much and I know she's so appreciative of all you both did for her this weekend! (And we're so thankful that you share her with us!)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Hope you've had a great weekend!

I just heard!

Intriguing title, but sorry to disappoint. It's just the name of the card for the Cuttlebug Countdown to CHA Be Inspired #39. The challenge was to use a woodsy creature, something from nature, and these colors:

 

 

 

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I've told you that I obsessively save most of my scraps. Well, here I put one to use: the green frame from Stampin' Up's Top Note Die.

The sentiment and then the arrow were both afterthoughts. After I had assembled everything I realized that I hadn't really thought it all through — it was looking a little plain. So, first of all I stamped the sentiment (a little difficult on a popped-up section, but you know how I'm against taking things apart!) — but it seemed to be placed a little too much to the left. So I stamped a little doodad from another set to the right and that just looked plain old goofy. Not being one to give up easily when I'm making a card, I started cutting out arrows from orange patterned paper freehand. On the third try I came up with this one and I think it works. Lesson learned (think a little more before starting), but card finished.

And then a word about photography and aging eyes. When looking at this card with "my bare eyes" the coloring looked pretty good to me. After I took the photos and put them on the screen, I thought, "Oh, my goodness! Where did all those holes in my coloring come from?!" {Big sigh.}

AND TELL:  stamps are from Unity (June 2009 Kit of the Month) and Stampin' Up (Absolutely Fabulous); cardstock is all Stampin' Up (Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Only Orange, and Confetti Cream); patterned paper is a random scrap; ink is Stampin' Up (Chocolate Chip); markers are Stampin' Up (Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust); then there's that stick from the parking lot outside Curves and I also used Provo Crafts' Divine Swirls embossing folder with the Cuttlebug. Oh, and I also used a gold metallic pen to enhance some of the owl's feathers. 

Here are a couple photos from our crafting session last night.  

Our regular Monday night company wanted some help on a little birthday project for her mom. I'll show the results later — probably over the weekend.

Thanks for visiting with me today. Have a great evening!

A New Week, A New Challenge

It's a rainy day here. I have the house entirely to myself. And I can see that I'm going to have to eventually force myself to get out of my PJs. Do you ever have days like that? Where you'd just like to lounge around and be kinda cruddy looking all day? I do have our regular Monday night company coming over tonight, though, so I am going to have to clean myself up sometime before she gets here! No 24 watching tonight. Ken won't be here so instead she and I will be working on a little crafty project. A surprise for someone. Something I can share later on in the month.

Moving on, I found a new-to-me sketch site that really speaks my language. My favorite kinds of cards are ones that are fairly simple with few layers. The Clean and Simple Stamping blog specializes in just that. It looks like they have a new card sketch every week — put on there for the sole purpose of inspiring stampers and cardmakers. No prizes, no sponsors, just plain old sketches done for the love of crafting. Simplicity. Ahhhh.

Here is this week's sketch:

It said butterflies to me — and remember how I told you in this post about my problem with throwing away scraps? Because of that I have a bag of Martha Stewart punched butterlies. I've seen plenty of cards similar to this before and decided that it would be a great way to use up some of those scrap butterflies while following this sketch (Fall-To Layout 50). 

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AND TELL: stamp is from Stampin' Up (Very Versatile); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White) and a Heidi Swapp yellow; patterned paper is from my stash, as are the little pearls and the ribbon; ink is PTI (True Black); butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart.

While I was at it, I decided that it would be fun to play "catch-up" with these sketches, so I found their Fall-To Layout #1 and created a card using it and some stamps that I don't remember ever using before.

To the left is the sketch.

And here is my take:

 

 

 

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AND TELL: stamps are from Stampin' Up (Bold Shapes, Occasionally, Upsy Daisy); cardstock is PTI (Stamper's Select White); ink is Stampin' Up (Real Red, Pink Passion, Green Galore); ribbon is from Autumn Leaves (several years old); gems are from my stash; also used a Provo Crafts Stitched Squares little embossing folder with my Cuttlebug.

Fun and easy cards — and now I'm ready for two birthdays, too! Michelle Wooderson is always referring to her stash of cards and I'm thinking that's a good idea — create a stash to pull from and then DO IT! Give those babies away!   

Thank you so much for coming by today. I love it when my real-life friends and family and my new-found-through-blogging friends take the time to comment on my blog. It's so meaningful to get the feedback and to make that little connection. Just wanted you to know that I appreciate you! :)

Have a great day!! 

what the little birdie told me

Remember this post from last week? Did you wonder what the little birdie had told me? Well, now it's revealed — here's the inside of the card:

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Last night we gave our Monday night guest the "little birdie" card with a small gift card to Lowe's, knowing that as a new homeowner she'll be making many trips to home improvement stores.

Our special dinner was quite simple, but I knew Brittany would like it because I know that she loves grilled cheese sandwiches — and these are The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwiches... gooey with melted cream cheese, mozzarella, cheddar — yum, yum. We also had a green salad that included strawberries, mandarin oranges, almonds, and a sweet oil & vinegar dressing. Oh, and Buster Bar Dessert after watching the our first 24 episode of the night (Hour 5 of Season One). Mm-mm. And, yes, the scale did tell me this morning that I had eaten too much. Oh, well. It was a great, yet simple, celebration — so it was worth it. And today it's back to Curves and back to healthy eating. But, what would life be without a splurge now and then?

AND TELL:  the inside was stamped with the Impression Obsession set used before, also in Stampin' Up's Creamy Caramel ink. I watercolored the eggs with SU's Cool Caribbean. Refer back to the other post for the rest of the details.

Thanks for coming by today — and I hope to see you tomorrow, too! Have a great one!