Very quick post for you today. I sat at my desk, in front of my PC for 13 hours today. I need to get up and walk around and clear my head. I know you will all forgive me for making this short. In fact, there are many of you who may be saying... ABOUT TIME, WOMAN!
I bought a stamp set from a non Stampin' Up! vendor. I bought it with some of the sentiment sets I purchased. I love it's versatility and thought it would be very cool to color. It was... but.. it took me 4 goes to get it right. This was my first attempt - and it wasn't right. However, I do love the colors. Again... pushing myself to use colors that I don't often use!
Here's what I came up with
Prayers tonight for Rose, Adelle, Maria, Germaine. For those on the east coast of both the US and Australia.
Well, y'all know by now that I am really trying to use different stamp sets - ones that really don't get enough love - and also trying different things. It's great that one of my new year goals is on track! Now, I have to work on the exercise one ! :-)
Tonight's card is another one for the troops. I know that there are many men who really don't like giving really feminine cards to their wives. Sometimes, their wives or family members just aren't into very feminine cards. Sometimes men just aren't comfortable with all that pink and bling and all the stuff that I love. So, I decided to try something entirely different tonight. A little distressing, a little less feminine. Colors I don't generally use. Altogether - right outside of my comfort zone.
I saw this great sketch across at cardpositioning systems and decided it was an ideal one to use with the FYI set. This set is such a great set and I really don't use it often enough at all. You can see that I put the sketch on its side to make best use of the FYI.
I also decided that it was about time that I used Define Your Life. I really wanted to feature it on the front. Next thing I decided - I really wanted to show an empty bird cage. I first started with stamping and cutting out the birdcage from the Nature Walk set, but it was just too small. Then I decided to pull out the Botanical Gazette DSP and cut around one of the bird cages on the DSP.
Why the birdcage? Well, I thought the I MISS YOU went really well with an empty bird cage. :-)
I used one of the antique brads for the attachment to the birdcage. However, it was way too brassy looking, so I used one of my Copic markers to color it Early Espresso.
Here's what I came up with
Card recipe - all ingredients Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:
Card stock: Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
DSP: Botanical Gazette -the cage, the focal point backdrop and the script are all from the Botanical Gazette DSP
Accessories: Early Espresso ribbon, Antique Brad
Tools: Distressing Kit, Stampin' Dimensionals, Copic marker (non SU) to color Antique Brad, Oval Punch for the FYI sentiment
Stamp sets: FYI, Define Your Life
On a personal note:
looks like this week isn't going to be that much easier than last week. I was assigned another project today that meant a 13 hour day today and will probably mean that for the rest of the week, too. So, no stamping for me this week! At least Lou is home so he can pick up a little of the slack for me on the household duties, which really does help a little.
Prayers tonight for Rose, Adelle, Maria, Germaine. For those Australians who are expecting yet another massive storm - a Cyclone with expected speeds of 175mph and expected to drop 3 feet of water. For my readers on the East Coast who are dealing with yet another major storm. Warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.
As always - thank you for visiting my blog. You know I really appreciate it. I also appreciate those of you who commented on my card last night. Seems like a pretty even split on whether the card with the bow or without the bow is better. I was surprised that it was such an even split!
Have a fabulous Wednesday everyone. As Cherie would say - Happy Hump Day
Hi Everyone. Happy Wednesday night. I hope you all had a great day. Tonight's card was actually created for the CAS-tastic challenge. The challenge was to create a blue and white card with a little bit of yellow. Well, I managed to follow the instructions - a clean and simple card with those colors.... what I didn't manage to do is get the card loaded for the challenge before they closed the linky... One day, I'm going to get my timing right :-)
Actually, I made two cards for this challenge, so you will get to see them both over the next couple of days... they are very different cards and use very different stamp sets.
tonight's set, is the level 2 hostess set - Cute by the Inch. So, it is a sneak peek for one more night! The catty should be loaded and available sometime after 2am MST. For my customers, the care packets are almost complete - I have a couple of things still left to finish up and they will be packaged up, wrapped in a bow and sent off to their new homes. For my non-client blog visitors, next week, I'll show you some of the things that I put together. I really did have great fun putting together the packages.
So, here's tonight's clean and simple blue and white, with a little bit of yellow, card.
Punch 4 squares of Pacific Point card stock with the 1 1/4" punch
Ink up the pattern stamp with Pacific Point marker
Ink up the bird/thinking of you stamp with Daffodil Delight and Pacific Point inks and stamp onto Whisper White card stock. Punch out with the 1" punch
Stamp the sentiment from the FYI stamp set "you make me smile" onto the card base using Pacific Point ink.
Score two lines 1/4" apart above the sentiment and wrap a piece of Daffodil Delight ribbon around the card. Secure to the card base. Remove the legs from the rhinestone brad and secure to the card stock using your favorite glue or lots of little mini glue dots :-)
Adhere the 1" squares to the 1 1/4" squares using snail. The adhere the finished squares to the card base using dimensionals.
Tips:
Use a T-square and your black SU cutting mat (or whatever mat you use that has measurements. It really does help tremendously when positioning things like this. Mind you... my top one wasn't quite perfect. But considering my inability to do anything in a straight line - it's considerably better than when I don't use the t-square
The 4 square layout is a classic clean and simple fall to layout - you have seen me use it many times.
The new thin ribbon is perfect with the inchies. Anything wider would draw too much away from the stamped images.
On a personal note: It's cool again tonight- but that hasn't been enough to kill the mossies off! They are biting me as I sit on the deck trying to finish off this post. The fireflies are dancing around the garden - what amazing little things they are. They absolutely fascinate me. Mother Nature certainly knows how to put on a wonderous show! Perfect!
I'm off to try to finish up my care packages and also read through my order for tomorrow. There are a couple of absolutely must have sets for me and I can't wait to play with them. I am also ordering some accessories and, of course, much more paper! So, I am all excited about that. Unfortunately tomorrow is going to be a very long day at my day job.... we really need to win the lottery!!! - so I won't get much chance to run through my list tomorrow to make sure it's OK.. so I have to do it tonight.
This weekend, we will be doing things around the house and going to get a water fountain for the garden next to the deck and doing all sorts of fun things like that! I'm off for most of next week - apart from some meetings I have to attend, and am hoping to get lots of time in my stamping space.
NOW>>>>>> QUESTION for you all...... (thanks to Trish who has already sent me an email giving me her thoughts).... .I am really looking for feedback on what you would like to see on my blog. And... if there is anything that you wouldn't miss if you didn't see it again... I'd like to hear about that too. It is my belief that blogs should evolve, but not too far away from what makes it what it is. So, please could I ask you to think about it and send me an email - or leave a message. I will share with you all some of the thoughts that you have sent to me. Missy - you will be pleased to know that Trish thought about you when she sent me her suggestions... she said the one thing I should do is a video on how to tie bows :-)
So, please let me know what you think.... I really would appreciate it.
Prayers tonight for Trish, Germaine, Pri, "T", Missy, Rach and Arthur. Robin - still thinking about you and hope that things go well tomorrow.
Have a wonderful Thursday everyone. If any of you are traveling tomorrow, travel safe. Otherwise, have a day filled with love, laughter and time spent doing the things you love - with those you love the most.
As always, thank you for spending s a little time in my area of the stamping blogosphere. Your visits are always much appreciated.
Quick card for you tonight. Another one of the cards I've made for my card drive. I found another great site this weekend and made a card based on their sketch. It's a site called stampinroyalty and the sketch really had me thinking, because I don't normally do tags. So, out came my FYI set. I decided to make Bermuda Bay my card base color - something else I don't normally do. That meant going out of my comfort zone twice for this challenge! You can see my other FYI cards here. I've also used the Happy Moments set for the cake image.
Before I show you the card though, I wanted to show you a pic I took out of my family room window yesterday. We haven't determined whether he is a Cooper's Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk. Both of them occur in our range and they are very similar. So.... all I can definitively tell you.... he's a hawk :-)
The cats ignore him through the window.... the squirrels don't mind him at all because they are too big a prey for him... the sparrows however, HATE him. He's incredibly stealthy and comes swooping in at a rapid speed and dives into trees or bushes, or wherever the sparrows are hiding. He's generally unsuccessful, but that doesn't stop him from trying. The shepherd's hook normally holds bird seed and he loves to use it as a perch! He sits literally 6 feet from the family room window and will pose for about 10 minutes or so.
isn't he gorgeous???? Talking about birds....I found a fellow crafter's site. She does amazing works with sponging and masking - you really should check out her calendar - and then browse around at her other works of art. Clare is really a talented lady! you can find her creations here.
Anyway, back to cards and crafting. I managed to take some pics of the cards that Cam and Adelle sent. They will be featured over the next couple of days. I'm so excited to share them with you. So, remember to come back for some new inspiration from these talented ladies.
I was really pleased with it... :-)
Card recipe:
Bermuda Bay, Whisper White and Melon Mambo card stock - i picked up those colors from the DSP I used - you can see that on the middle layer!
FYI (114365) and Happy Moments (119125 clear mount, 118664 wood mount). The Happy Moments set is another set which is free during sale-a-bration. For more information on sale-a-bration you can click here. Basically, for every $50 you spend on SU product (excluding shipping and handling) you can choose a free set from the sale-a-bration brochure - this year that includes stamps from the main 2009/2010 Idea Book and Catalog. Happy Moments is one of those sets and comes in both French and Spanish versions, too!
Welcome Neighbor DSP - another sale-a-bration free choice! It comes in 6x6 sheets and matches many great colors (pumpkin pie, crushed curry, bermuda bay, melon mambo, old olive, kraft and pretty in pink). I'm loving using it!
I used the Tag punch to create the white tag and stamped the cake image three times. Once on Whisper White card stock and then twice on two different scraps of the Welcome Neighbor DSP. I then used my snips and cut out the three pieces and layered them on top of each other.
I used two different sizes of half pearls to decorate the top layer of cake (in the original image there are little dots there). I think I must have been watching too many episodes of Cake Boss on TLC!!!
I then used my perfect layers to create two more layers - one in Bermuda Bay and one in Melon Mambo. My perfect layers tool is one of my favorite finds.... unfortunately I bought it and it sat in my drawer for months before I remembered I had it.... what an amazing little tool it is!
I then used some more of the Good Neighbors DSP to create the horizontal element and typed FYI andthe "today is your birthday" sentiment in StazOn black ink.
I used my new scallop border punch - yet another free choice during SAB! - with Whisper White card stock to create the lacy borders and backed it with Melon Mambo card stock.
A quick and easy card. The "hardest" part was having to cut the pieces of cake out and assembling them... and even that is, if you will excuse the awful pun, a piece of cake!
Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone. I hope you get to spend time doing the things you love with those you love the most.
Thanks - as always - for stopping by. Don't forget - blog candy is up for grabs - leave a comment and you will be entered into the draw!
My apologies for not posting yesterday. It was a very long day and my time management was not what it usually is. This morning we started off our weekend with a funeral. Not a good way to start a weekend, but then not a good way to start any day! I have to make a card to celebrate the birth of twins, hopefully that will get my mind into a better place!
Today's card is one of the cards that I'm making for the card drive for the troops. I got the FYI set a little while ago and had never used it. I really like the set and it has such great sentiments! For this card, I decided to create a one layer card and use water coloring, a little shimmer paint and a few small half pearls to create the interest.
I found my stamp-a-ma-jig was very helpful for making this card :-)
Whisper White card stock
FYI stamp set (114365)
Regal Rose, Rose Red and Old Olive inks for the flowers and Soft Suede for the sentiment
I stamped the bunch of flowers twice using StazOn ink and then colored them with a blender pen and the two pink inks. I added a little shimmer paint to my blender pen tip whilst I was coloring in the flowers. This allowed the shimmer paint to blend in with the inks, instead of on top. So, shimmer paint first, then the colored ink - then to paper.
I stamped the FYI in Rose Red and the "you are awesome" in Soft Suede
Other sentiments in this FYI set include "you make me smile", "today is your birthday", "i'm really sorry", "i miss you", "i'm expecting!", "i care", "it will get better", and "i owe you big time".
The shimmer mixed with the ink looks really pretty and the crisp clean feel of the Whisper White paper was perfect for this one layer card.
This morning, I received a box of wonderful home made yummies from Bev. The bottles had been beautifully decorated and I know the contents inside the jars are going to taste delicious. Bev is an extremely talented and creative lady and her box of goodies made me so pleased that I had purchased two fabulous Longaberger market baskets from her! I mean, I love the baskets... there's something cool about going to the supermarket with my own beautiful basket, but receiving such a thoughtful thank you present was the cherry on the top! So, thank you Bev!
Last night Bailey - my big wuss of a cat - jumped up onto the window seat to watch the birds (as is his usual want at around sunset), when up popped the head of a doe. I don't know who got the bigger fright the deer or Bailey! She had come close to the window to check out the contents of the bird feeder, which is positioned right outside the family room window. It was really funny to watch them eye each other up through the glass! The deer saw me and decided to make a quick exit. Bailey then started to chitter at her as though he had successfully chased her away! Oh it's so wonderful to have a guard cat!
I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday and get time to do the things you love - with those you love the most. Me, I'll be making cards for my card drive and taking Lou to the airport. Yep, he's leaving town again. This time he's off to Argentina. So, I should get lots of time in my stamping studio next week.
As always, thank you for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere. Your visits are always greatly appreciated.
Hugs
Jaydee
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This is my personal blog. I am an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and responsible for its content. Stampin' Up! does not endorse the use of or contents of the classes, services, or non-Stampin' Up! products I may offer here. Almost all stamps are copyright of Stampin' Up. You are welcome to CASE my projects, but please follow the code of blogging and give proper credit. It's the right thing to do :-)
