Watercolored Winter Card

Often when my family camps, I take stuff to watercolor with me, so that I have something to do without packing an extra trailer full of stuff. I have a small space that is my Stamping Cubby, and it is just right to bring my watercolor crayons, colored pencils, and Aqua Painter brushes and clipboard. That's how I found time to come up with a card with all the watercoloring detail in December, that part was done last August! Wanting to keep a coutry homespun look to it, I opted to use the Ivory Naturals card stock and cuttlebugged the dotted texture onto the card...I love how these textures look on the Naturals card stocks. The Stampin' Up! set "Quilted Quotes" was a Level 3 Hostess set of 4 ~ Way. way, way back in 2001. Has it been that long?

C-Ya Later!

Cheryl

Flopsy Bunny & Puppy Cards

These cards were the result of a sketch challenge tangent that I went on a few weeks ago. Splitcoast Stampers skech challenge (SC207). I have a box full of pieces of work I started and then went a different direction, or stamps several of one thing and put these aside until 'later' when I figure out what to do with them next. In my flipping through looking for one I could use on this card, I had pulled out a few possibilities and when I was done with the first one, I finished these also. The panels are glossy paper, with the background being made by scribbling a few markers on acetate, a quick spritz of water, and squashing the glossy side on it. (Can't think if the name of that technique!) Then I stamped the critters over the background and watercolored them, punched the corners, layered them and stored the in my S&F box, until now. Knowing how to mount them with the ribbons made it a quick job to do these two cards...wonder if I'll get that box emptied by next year...naaww! not a chance! :)

P.S. The little stuffed animal images were from 'The Angel Company'

Sheetloads of Cards Challenge

This is the card I did to get the December Challenge Card done, before the month's end. I found this great fun little blog in November and have become really enthused about it. They have taken card making to a new level of creativity, by coming up with these card sketches, once a month. I do quite a few challenges to broaden my idea pool, and a sketch is kind of like a map that gives you a layout to use for your card. "Sheetloads of Cards" has gone one step better and besides giving us the sketch, they give you the measurements for one card, and also for a batch of cards. This sketch gives you the cutting guide for 8 cards, last month it was given for 6. i think it goes by the convenient size to get the most out of your cardstock and pattern paper. They (SOC) even tell you exactly how much ribbon you will need. You can read about this here. Please look at a few posts to get the gist of it, clicking on the e-magazine you can save it or view it...it's a free publication and you can go back to their earlier issues as well too.

I love "free" and sharing "free" is fun too!

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C-Ya Later!

Cheryl

Very Fast Ornaments on Cards

I finally finished mailing out all my Christmas cards yesterday - I did it a little differently than I usually do this year. I wrote out all the envelopes first and wow did I have a lot to mail out! I had made many cards throughout the year, but not quite enough to fill them all. So, when I was looking last Friday for some quick cards to mail to local friends and relatives (I mailed the out-of-state and Lower Peninsula cards last week), I came across a few challenges I thought I would like to try - but NO inspiration at that moment. Later in the day, when I was at the local St. Vinny's store, picking up some furniture for my daughter's apartment, I saw they had Christmas stuff marked 75% off...so I took a look and as soon as I saw these ornaments, I "saw" my cards.

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The challenges were (1) to make a card that was at least 75% blue, and only one embellishment that wasn't paper...which would is the single brass ornament. (2) to make a card that was beyond quick, or average about 5 minutes per. I set my timer for 30 minutes and went to work.

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Once started, the framing and attaching took a bit longer to figure out how to get the look I wanted, because the ornaments I used were slightly varied in sizes, and I had to use a combination of a colluzzle circle first, and then the scallop punched around the circle hole to make the frame. Next I needed to figure out how to attach the ornament so that it would be simple to take apart, and not show the string on the front. So, I when I attached the ornament, I pierced a hole through the middle of the card front and poked the string through it, pulled the string up (which would be down on the inside) and taped it with clear tape, and then covered the hole with the scalloped frame on the front, which makes it nearly invisible. As I was finishing my first card, the timer went off. I was amazed time went so quickly, but realized I had to put some design-time into the "little glitches" which seemed to be worked out.

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So I re-set it, and started on the remaining 5 and was done with them before the timer went off. A set of Nestabilities Circles would have definately made things much quicker, but I don't have the circle set in my collection yet!

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So there you have them! And they are all on their way to dear friends or family. Today - my daughters, Gretchen and Natalie and I are going to do all our baking, so I better clear the decks!

Enjoy your day!

Last Minute Gift & Tutorial (attempted)

Today Splitcoast Challenge for "Ways to Use It" was to come up with a last minute gift that would be quick and easy to get done, little coloring and other fal-da-ral and foo-foo. I skimmed through my mind all the ideas I have meant to try to get done, and as I poured myself another cup of coffee, my eyes stopped on a magnetic phone number thingie on my fridge...you know the kind of thing that school kids bring around on flyers to raise money for camp or new playground stuff? Anyway, when I got this thing, I really liked the idea of it because it kept my phone numbers hidden, some of which are unlisted numbers and was very easy to flip it open, like a child's 'little golden book.' I had planned to try do one "someday" which might turn out to be today. I looked at it again and wondered how quickly I could figure out how to cut and score the cardboard and get the covering designer paper to adhere without flubbing up at the corners and folds...quick? Not quick enough for me...so I ditched the idea and came back into my stamp room and saw a CD case...AHA! Now I could carry on with the idea of making a phone # case but use a different avenue to get there.

Here's how I did it!

Materials you need:
1 fat CD case (not the skinny ones)
5"x 6" Pattern Paper (or whatever you have planned
Image/Sentiment to fit on PP
I used UHU Twist and Stick glue - needs to be clear
A business card sized magnet

First of all, my CD case measured 5-7/16" x 4-5/8" for the FRONT/LIST TOP and 4-13/16" x 4-3/4" for the BACK/LIST BOTTOM.

Please, measure yours and see if they are the same!

You will have to carefully remove the disc holder portion so you have a plastic box.

Now, let's get started!

1- Measure carefully the Larger side of your CD case and trim to fit as perfectly as you can. Add your Image/Sentiment to the front and set aside. (Keep the theme good for all year).

2- Next, create your Name/Phone List. I did this by setting up a paper (I used generic white cardstock) to print in an area 4-5/8" wide, then change all the margins and headers to "zero". Start the line in Bold and Underlined "Name & Phone" in the type you choose (I used Harrington 24). after the first line I just help down the underscore key and ran it down to the bottom of the page. Print it out.

3-Trim the sides of the down to the larger width of your CD case (my larger width was 4-3/4"). Then trim on the top of the list to where you want the Name-Phone list to start. Measure top to bottom and cut the list to make a perfect fit (or use your Image/Sentiment front to size). At this point, you can adhere the Image/Sentimet and the list top together but please MAKE SURE the Name/Phone list bottom is attached to the top of the Image/Sentiment, or it will be wrong when it is opened. Now, the bottom should fit as it is the wider piece.

4-Adhere the pieces to the case. I used UHU Twist and Glue and it worked great! The adhesive dries clear and it is almost invisable. If you have something else that works, use that.

5- I glued a business magnet to the back, and it was actually the thinnest one I could find, just to see how well it would hold, and it did. There really won't be any added weight to this, unless you count ink!

This would be a great gift for anyone with a refrigerator or metal file cabinets!

Please, if you make one, please send me a link to see yours!

Thank You ! Happy Stamping!

Cheryl

Pattern of Friendship & Accident Update

This is a Sketch Challenge Card for today that I started out with the front most panel (from my S&F box, so it was already stamped, pieced and sponged), and worked to the back. My biggest challenge was deciding what colors to compliment the paper-pieced dresses with. My cold is still miserable and I am truly challenged for picking colors when I am sick. When I got to the ribbon, I was stumped, so I asked for the helpful advice of my stamping buddy, Natalie, who is also my 4&1/2 year old daughter. I gave her about 5 choices and she chose the one I least liked and based her decision on the white flowers matching the pinked white layer and daisies, and the pinks daisies matching the dress. I had asked, so I did put it on, added some buttons and made it "our" card. It's a cheery looking card if nothing else!

An update on my parents, who were in a car accident last week: I can not express my gratitude to all who have prayed for them...and me. All I can say is that God is truly merciful. My mom's face is continuing to bruise, but she is doing all right...probably overdoing it if I know her. My dad's shoulder and wrist pain brought him to the doctor's office yesterday to be examined again, and his wrist was broken after all. His shoulder also looks to have some rotator cuff?/cup? (not sure what she said) problems as well. So he is looking at having his wrist cast tomorrow, and not sure how long he'll have to wait for help on his shoulder. I dearly wish I could be out there to help out more, but until I recoup from my cold, I'm keeping my distance. The woman in the other car, has some neck injuries, 2 fractured neck bones, but not paralyzed, thank God! Still, she is restricted on what she can do, so Ill be continuing to pray for her too.

It's just Stuff!

I had a pretty life-shaking experience on Thursday night. My Mom and Dad had their truck packed and ready to leave for the rest of this Michigan winter to their winter place in Mission, Texas. I always dread to see them leave as I know how much I will miss them over the holidays and during the winter when things slow down and there would be more time to play cards, dominoes, and other games we like to play; time that is not so easy to find in the business of summer. We agreed to meet them along with my oldest sister, who also lives in the area, at the local pizza parlor and have a few pizzas as a going-away dinner, kind of a tradition for us, and they will leave in the early morning. My sister joined us for a while and left a little early as her son (a star player!) was playing in the basketball game at the high school, and we finished up the dinner and the pumpkin pie my mom brought along for desert.

Earlier on Thursday, I had taken my 4 year-old daughter to my good friend, who is very good (and very patient!) with her camera, to get in on the Christmas background she had set up for her own two daughters Christmas photo shoot. I planned to print out a picture of Natalie so they would have a new photo in-hand when they arrived to show-off to all their friends in Texas. Tammy was to e-mail me the pictures so I could print them on our printer...but they hadn't arrived in my e-mail when we had to leave, so my hope was to have my folks drop by after dinner to print it out then, if my dad was willing to do that...otherwise it would have to be mailed.

So as we were leaving, the plan was to head up the hill to our house, and we got in our cars and we backed out of our parking spots and I followed. I had driven down the hill with my mom and my husband had ridden with my dad, so I assumed it would be the same going back up, but Mark jumped in the passenger seat and my mom got into the truck and we were right behind my folks. I watched them start across the road and pulled forward a bit and in the swirl of snow, I saw a car in the ditch down the road, a wheel traveling by itself down the road and a man jumping out of a car down the road a ways from where I was. I looked ahead and saw another vehicle in the ditch backwards, and debris flung everywhere. I surveyed and tried to make sense of what I was seeing. My husband jumped out of the car and ran and was across the highway when it finally struck me that I was looking at my Dad's truck. OH JESUS! To say I freaked out would be mild. I couldn't run...my daugher was in the back seat. My husband was running around the truck and waved me to cross and put on my flashers by the truck to warn other drivers. Natalie was very quiet...and promised she would stay in her seat and not move...and she kept that promise. (A policeman gave her a stuffed moose for being good)

My dad got out of the truck first, with blood on his hands and mouth where the seatbelt must have restrained him. and a large lump forming on his head. He went to see about the other car, parents of people my sisters and I went to school with...My mom was tangled up between her coat and seatbelt and the mangled door. That the car had not impacted at her door was truly the Hand of God because the truck box was anihilated. Once freed, she started going around and picking up stuff. I did too. Police cars filled up the roadways, ambulances came. What else could we do? It was icy cold outside. She had a bump forming on her forehead, now the size of a small orange. It was freezing cold, and we were digging and kicking our feet through snow with socks on hands and shoes not made for snow. BRRR!!! Every plastic tote that they had packed shattered. Several pieces of Tupperware shattered like glass too. (I picked those up too, as they are lifetime garaunteed, and as a TW dealer, I can do that for them) I picked up my dad's socks, my mom's bras, shorts, spices, vitamins, chocolate chips, coffee grinders, shoes, sewing table, cookbooks, quilt projects and started pitching it in the back of my van. Others pitched in and found all the golf clubs out of the caddy and the caddy too. Shoe bags, a broken lazy suzan, both sets of binoculars were found (and although the tops and bottoms were blown off the cases, the binoculars were both in perfect tact!). It was amazing how much stuff was found. Really, at that time, there was nothing else we could do.

My parents agreed to go to the hospital as did the other couple (that woman needed a stretcher). After 6 hours, my parents were released from the ER and I brought them home and stayed with them until the next afternoon. My sister from 2 hours away came to check things out too. My sister that was out of town at her son's college graduation will be home today. I'll be calling my parents often as I am now thoroughly sick and don't want to pass that on to them. They are pretty banged and bruised up and will be sore for a while. My mom is predicted to have the bruise on the whole right side of her face, and it seems like the lump on her forehead slid down to her eye. My dad's wrist is terribly sore, but no broken bones for either of them. This whole thing could have been so much worse. God is so good!

My parents will heal. (The other couple will too.) I will recover from the severe cold I now have. But when I think how quickly they could have slipped out into eternity, I realize that I haven't told my parents (sister, brother, husband, wife, daugter, son, friend--insert your own word) nearly enough how much I love them...how thankful I am that God saw fit to make me their daughter (son, grandson, grand-daughter, husband wife, brother, sister, friend, parent--insert your own word)...and how much time and energy I have wasted in my own life on things that don't really matter.

...Like I said before, we didn't know what else to do, so we kept picking up stuff but if not one thing was found from the accident it wouldn't have mattered. If we had found everything in perfect condition and nothing missing, that wouldn't have mattered either, because the four most important things that mattered weren't things, they were people...The rest? It's all just stuff.

C-ya Later!
Cheryl

Cedar Moose Card

I did a dozen of these cards in about an hour last week. So easy and simple, yet I do like how they turned out. I am a "gadget girl" and this card helped me play with a few of them, but it did make the job go quickly. I began with half sheets of Natural Ivory cardstock, creased with my Score-Pal, and then I cut my Chocolate Chip cardstock into 5.25" x 4.0" size. Next I used my Nestabilitie Ovals on the center of each. When that was done, I used the Stressed Stripes cuttlebug Folder on brown frames. I adhered the frames to the front of my cards and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the moose...(***HINT: Do not lift the handle of the Stamp-a-ma-jig until you are satisfied that the image is dark enough! If you keep holding it in place with one hand, you can re-ink the moose and restamp until you get it as sark as you want it!***) Lastly, I decided to send a piece of "Home" to my friends and kin that are afar off at Christmas time, and picked a danglin little branch of cedar of a tree in our yard, picked it apart and and attached pieces and bowls with "Fabri-Tac" glue - (wonderful stuff at WalMart in the crafts - which also works great for gluing bulky stuff on cards, mending clothes, purses and gluing velcor back on my little girl's shoe straps. Like hot glue with out the hot!) On a second look back on the stack, I realized they would not be the same without some 'snow'...so with a little two-way glue on the branches, I added Dazzling Diamond Glitter along the top parts and these cards are good to go!

CHEAP TRICK: Save the ovals with your Nestabilities or with your Colluzzle templates, and you will save the time and paper of re-doing it when you need brown ovals or layers. Of course you were probably going to save them somewhere anyway, but if they are there with your tools, you may be able to use them sooner.

A Di Hickman Sketch Challenge

I was able to participate in a Sketch Challenge posted by Di Hickman and this is the card I came up with for it. This sketch challenge celebrates her 2nd anniversay for doing her card sketches. Di Hickman is the author of one of my favorite blogs for inspiration and simplicity. She does a combination of digital and stamped pages and cards and one of these days I will figure out more about the digi-part of paper arts. (Right now, I'm still working on blogging-eese.)

This card is great to use up all those little scraps - My snowman was from SU's retired "Tags and More" set, and I think 'Happy Holiday's was from "Frosty." I used blue and green glitter to bring it to life. Although I wasn't sure of it, I did have a few people see it and tell me they liked it...so this is the one I am putting up from the chalenge.

One of the perks of getting in on her sketch challenge was getting a free bottle of glue from UHU, a manufacturer of several types of glue. I was limited on choices and chose one I might not have normally chosen, but it was a good thing for me to try. I got the UHU "Twist & Glue", which came in a 3.21 ounch bright yellow plastic bottle, which makes it easier to find for its size and color on my very cluttered table. When I pulled the chunkier-looking top off, I was surprised to see that inside was a slim nozzle (much like sewing machine oil) sticking up to do the detail "spot-specific" (how do you like that term?) gluing I often need to do. Then, when I saw the arrow on the nozzle cap, I gave it a twist and the top raised itself up to make itself into a great glue spreader! It was a much thinner adhesive than I expected and flowed freely and quickly from the bottle and adhered all the pieces very quickly - so quickly and fast drying that I I had to start over again! ...oops! Knowing this though, I took heart that this isn't one of those products that you are going to squeeze and squeeze and wait and wait, so it is great for quick gluing. I did glue down the 5 area lightwieght pattern paper pieces onto my card and it did warp my card. I wouldn't use it for gluing lightweighted stuff to a card front, but I would use it on a heaver cardstock and get the strength one needs for good results. It would also work great for gluing things on your projects. Lastly, when I was to put the top back onto the bottle, I wondered if the nozzle would tend to get plugged and that's when I noticed that UHU designed the top to "put the needle in the nozzle" for you with a stem that goes in when the top goes on. This glue is great and the design of the bottle is terrific!

Chistmas Snowman

I made this card as a result of a fun-looking challenge at SheetLoad. Although it should have been a quick card, it took way longer than I thought it would, but only because I was 'finger-inking' the black & white gingham ribbon and kept smudging red on my Bordering Blue card. The stamp is an older PSX image I got when I was a newer stamper, and the greeting is from SU's 'Heard from the Heart' set. I watercolored the snowman, using SU's Wonderful Watercolor Crayons and the Neutral Crayons, which is where I got the white from. I Liquid Appliqued the carrot with orange, and fastened my finger-inked ribbons with red brads.

'Finger-inking' is my own name for a technique I use to color ribbon to match my need without having to buy every shade and variety of color...but you wouldn't know that from looking at my ribbon stash! LOL I did not make up the technique, but gosh, I have to call it something when I am explaining it! I simply take my ribbon, (usually it's white grosgrain or satin but in this case, gingham) and the ink color pad that I would like it to match. Then I hold the ribbon end tightly between two fingers with one hand and push my index finger over the top of the ribbon, close to my gripping fingers, and pull the ribbon through the inkpad. Flip it over and do the other side for 'evenness.' (is that even a word?) You may have to do this a couple of times for the color you want, and then let it dry a bit so you don't smudge the paper when you attach...then be sure to wash your hands well before going back to work on your project. Soap doesn't always get the darker colors out, but use a cleaner like 'Awesome' (from Family Dollar or a dollar store - works great on everything and CHEAP!) directly on your skin and it should come right off.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your weekend!

Silhouette Nativity Peace Card

In my last post, I told you about the new Blog I found called Sheetloads of Cards. Here is my card I am entering for the contest. I am having trouble getting it on their gallery, but when I do, this is the one following the sketch this month. I first chose the Stripe Pattern Paper, and upon searching for a coordinating pattern, I cam across a sheet I stamped last year for some of the One-Sheet Wonder Projects I was working on...so that's what I went for. With the snowflakes on the front, I began to dig in my winter/Christmas drawer to find the right sized image for the squares I had cut out, and the Nativity Silhouette stamp was what I chose. Not your typical Christmas card colors, but I do like how they turned out. The batch to cut made 6 card fronts. So, tell me what you think!

SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out

I found this neat Blog this weekend called SheetLoad of Cards. It has a free monthly

e-magazine with ideas for a new card sketch each month and the cutting diagram to get the best use of your paper and make your cards quicker, by batches with your colors, patterns, stamps, embellishments and let you spend more time having fun with your hobby, and less time figuring it all out. I love this place and its concept! Anyway, they are giving a few good prizes away, and you might want to stop by and see what SheetLoads of cards is about. You have until the November 16th to get your card entered!

C-Ya soon!

Wil Wild West Cowboy Card

This was my card for yesterday's Sketch Challenge #202. I made it using the retired set of Wild Wild West and watercoloring the images. I'n not sure I like painting over images that are so shaded as this one, as the lines don't seem as natural as layering darker colors to get the effect of shadows., but it's is a good guy card. The copper squares on the bottom of the pictures were a part of the sketch and I grabbed a scrap of leftover Heated Pearls from a PearlEx class I did way back when. With all the re-arranging things going on in my stamp studio, I am findind a lot of long-forgottens and needs-to-be-used-up stuff! Have a great day!

Enjoy the Little Things!

This is the Sketch Challenge card for Splitcoaststamper this week. I really wish the photo showed the sparkle it has, but many, many pictures later, this was the best one.

I really kinda fell into the design before I even realized it was the card I thought I wouldn't be able to think up. Everyone has seemed to be doing these neat square frames from the border punches, so I was playing around and found a way to elongate the square (could I just say rectangle? :). Then I dug around to find something that fit the size I had made..."Enjoy" worked like a charm. I embossed it with some black embossing powder that had glitter in it, and stamped "the little things" in black stazon. Still having the cupcake stamp in the table from a previous card, I put one in the middle and colored with gel pens, popping up the cherry with Red PolyMark (very cheap at Walmart!)

I am not sure why I felt the the card base had to be Cameo Coral, must have been the way the cupcake paper looked...but then I needed pattern paper to anchor the two colors together. I ran into this same problem last week with a color challenge using odd colors together, I found that making my own background paper was the most handy. Surely I must have sweet little candies in my stamps somewhere!!! Oh yes! here they are, haven't seen daylight in a few years, but I used the candy border from retired "Fun Frame Borders" at an angle and then painted them with the green and coral to match the solid colors...it looked okay, but after I added that sugary Dazzling Diamonds, it looked great. I stuck them together and I was done! Yay! Now, on to other things! Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Harmony Card

Yet another Angelosity Sketch Challenge Card #11! One more after this and then I am done! When I was working on these cards, I just seemed to pick up parts left froma different card - using up the scraps so I dont have to put them away! This set 'Happy Harmony' was one of the most beautiful Sell-A-Bration sets in my opinion. Having these 3 simple flowers in a grouping, and several really nice sayings, I stamped it all over with the springy flowers I imagined (desperately hoped) to see soon, in the chilly everlasting February days when Sellabration took place. But I never "saw" it though in terms of a nice fall set as well a spring set. Until today. I used the direct to rubber technique, using the markers to color the rubber for the stem (olive) and blooms (rust). I used Stazon for the words...in my opinion, lettering just comes out better. The Navy and Rust colors on the card make it sing "Autum Card!" Unless I come up with a better one, I think may use this for my parents' anniversay card this month...58 years! I love them both very much!

One more entry to do tonight! See ya there!

Another Angelosity Challenge Card

Wish Big Card

I have had a great time working on her challenges at her blog this week. I didn't do them all, as I found this site about half-way through, but it did inspire me to try some...I expand my spectrum of creativity when I force myself to use colors I wouldn't think of, or sketches I hadn't considered.

This was a sketch that required a small image or phrase in the center of a card. Once I found the phrase in the Short & Sweet set, I used the little cupcakes to embellish the work. Colored with markers, I used tiny dots of Red PolyMark (from Walmart and it's cheap!) to pop up the cherries.
For the Barely Banana background I stamped the retired background stamp called "Birthday Greetings" with So Saffron ink. Seriously lacking the sugary sparkle it needed, I used a stray ribbon from my drawer and topped it off, with a real bow...which is funny for me though, because I am usually a 'knotty' girl!

Off to another card post!

Coast to Coast Lighthouse

Angelosity's Day 17 Challenge Card

You may recognize this image and the way it's watercolored as being very similar to a card I posted a while back. That's because once I pull oout the image and the Stazon, I feel like it makes more sense to stamp several images and clean the stamp once. Then, as long as I have the Aqua Painters and Watercolor Crayons out, it is super quick to paint the extra images and the brush is all ready with each color I'd probably pick the next time anyway...and it does help me get some card put together quick.

Do you do this? Do you have a time-saving secret you would share with me? Post it in the comments for this card and you may win some images from this retired Coast to Coast set for you to have ready for a quick card set! I'll draw a name on December 1st - a long time away I know, but traffic here isn't too busy, and I really would like to find extra time when I stamp - can't we all? Please share!

On to the next entry!

One Sheet Wonder Card

Another challenge from Angelosity brought this card out of the corners of my imagination. The challenge was to use Olive, Red, Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue all on the same card. Not in my wildest imagination would I have ever thought this up on my own, but after trying to lay my papers together in a variety of ways, I decided that a One Sheet Wonder might help me tie these shades together to come up with something. It came out a bit retro-looking...reminds me of vintage wrapping paper.

In case you are wondering, a "One Sheet Wonder" is rather like making your own hand-stamped background paper that you would use in projects, like cards, journals, scrapbook pages. By using your own images and colors, each print is unique and ideal to make sets of cards and accessories. More on that later.

Here is where I found the card challenges, when I was blog-hopping the other night and found a great site that has not only a lot of great ideas, but right now a celebration of 18 days of Angelosity with prizes, sketches and treats! It's not too late to join the fun!

C-ya Later!

Cheryl

Angelosity Sketch Challenges #1

I like to blog-hop around when I have some quiet time to really look and think. Last night, I was checking out a blog and found a link to a new one which happens to be having and "18 days of Angelosity" celebration and I was drawn right into the challenges...I did these two card sketches, the lower sketch being closer to the sketch and the upper one is the same sketched turned on its side. The color for that day was red, and I chose to work specifically with Riding Hood Red. I put Sticky Diamonds on the flower centers of the "Simple Florals" card, which background paper was from the K&CO McKenna Collection. The "Reverse Prints" card is just solid paper, Riding Hood Red, Black and White...I topped the image with a flourishy thing from the "Frames with a Flourish," added a black satin ribbon and had 2 very easy cards!

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Make it a good day! Take time to stamp today!

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http://angelosity.blogspot.com/ and you may have to go to October 20th to get the details...we have until November 7th to participate...so pop in over there and check out the fun! There are prizes...

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C-Ya Later!

Cheryl

Golden Days of Fall

I did this card at a recent Card Camp I held and after searching for an image that would fit this scallop punch, I was delighted to find that these birds from SU!'s retired "See With the Heart" set are an excellent match in art style for the Bella Toile background stamp, new in this season's catalog. Done in the splendid autumn gold of More Mustard and Whisper White, add the help of a ticket corner punch and a Coluzzle circle and an organdy ribbon, this card was done in about 5 minutes...if you don't count the thinking time - sometimes that takes me a little while!

Twinkling Snowflake Card

Ther SCS Sketch Challenge today is my fist card in about 2 weeks or so. I tried and tried to catch the sparkle of the rhinestones on this card, and they still look like brads! I used the snowflake from SU's retired "Perfect Presentation" set and the Cuttlebig Snowflake embossing template in my Big Shot. I punched the squares with what I thought was Baja Breeze, and turned out it was Soft Sky (last year's In-Color). Since I already had the snowflakes stamped in Baja, I decided to combine the 2 colors, as they do blend well together, and used Baja Brezze cardstock on the card's bottom side. The Black ribbon, is actually paper, and I had grosgrain in a light blue that matched. I added the sparkles, on the ribbon and on the snowflake centers. Easy card!
Although I wanted to put a greeting on it, there didn't seem to be a place for one that looked right without being overmuch. Suggestions would be welcomed!

IN THE PINK AGAIN!

After 2 weeks of not participating in any challenges, I am back to making cards again. I saw the Pink Week come up and I absolutely couldn't bring myself to jumping on the bandwagon when I knew that I myself, hadn't had a mammogram in over 5 years. (Yikes!) In that period I had a pregnancy and extended nursing, but had put it off an extra couple years. I felt to participate would have been kinda hypocritical and I made an appointment for myself on that first pink day - and yesterday I finally had the "squish." In and out in 20 minutes - why do some of us procrastinate? We really do owe it to ourselves to take precautions. Our daughters, grand-daughters, nieces, and mothers might just follow our footsteps! So, I kept busy with another project.

THINGS TO PILE UP, DON'T THEY???

I have been re-arranging stuff in my stamp room for the past 2 weeks. My sweet husband was able to get a hold of a desk-hutch from his workplace about 2 weeks ago so I finally have a good place for all my 12x12 Stampin' Up! card stock and designer papers. scrapbooks & kits and stuff like that. I got that all set up and then he brought home another one! This was a bigger project because, I had this huge place of stacking stuff and tower-style piles of things in various containers and things jammed on top of my stamp sets drawers, which was where it needed to go... Excited to begin, I took everything off the top of my cabinets and filled 3 tables 1 foot and a half high with stuff...Oh my! I have been sorting, gathering and making use of this new-found storage space, and am down to a half a table left to clear. Monday, my husband the brought home the last of the 3 hutches they were getting rid of at work...but this one is going over HIS desk area, because now that my space is looking pretty good now, his space is looking pretty bad.

Well, I have typed way too much and realize I should have split this day's entry up a bit... and now I find I cannot 'copy' and paste on another entry.

Hope you didn't mind...have a great day!

For Unto Us a child is born...

Today's Featured Stamper was Anne Ryan, and while I don't always have time to stamp much on Sundays, I did get a quiet time this afternoon and set off to play. A Featured Stamper Challenge is when a certain talented person is chosen and stampers wanting to play along are sent to their personal gallery on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ Players then select a card they wish to 'CASE' (which means Copy And Steal Everything) and copy it MOSTLY, but have to change at least 2 things about it, and tell how we did it, and what we changed about it.

First of all I 'flipped' her sketch (turned it sideways), and then I went with an old retired Christmas image (SU's A Gift From Heaven) that seemed like fun watercoloring to do on an embossed image. (This image reminds me of "The Friendly Beasts" children's carol - Does anyone know it?) I opted for a banner instead of Anne's string of beads. I also used a pattern paper instead of a solid background. Anne Ryan's card is found here. So now you can compare and see how they are much the same, yet very different.

Have you tried this? I do this often with the Stampin' Up! Catalogs, when I need a good idea...find the card design you like and re-make it with your own stamps and colors.

C-Ya Later!
Cheryl

"C" is for...

Coffee, Cocoa, Chocolate, Cup, Company, and Cheryl. Working on a Monogram Challenge last week, I decided if I were going to do my own monogram, I wanted to personalize the frame to reflect a bit more of myself, and I am a true Coffee Craver. So I used the little cup from Flourishes' Coffee set and put the "c" on the cup. I made a set of them, but will plan to send some to a friend that I happen to know who not only likes coffee, but shares my initial too.

C-Ya Later!
Cheryl

5 Minute Framed Snowman Card

My friend Jody dropped by the other day with a new border punch she wanted me to check out. (It was from Micheal's and was light blue in color) ...The funny thing was that I was at the very moment she arrived, fooling around and trying to come up with ideas to use with my own Border Punch Collection, including Stampin' Up!'s new scallop border punch...so I picked up one of my precut white pieces and gave her punch a whirl and in about 10 seconds had the frame done. Since it had the snowflakes, I grabbed a little snowman image from the Merry & Bright set and stamped it in the middle, touched it with a couple markers and pulled out the red ribbon...decided I also needed a red backing for the white piece, so I used a scrap. At this point I wished I had used light blue on the little guy's hat, but I went with Bashful Blue anyway (It does look more like Cool Carribean, doesn't it? That would work good too, but it is Bashful!). I ran it through my new Big Shot with my Cuttlebug A2 Snowflakes Template to add a tough of frostiness to it, attached it to the front and Voila! My quicky card! How do you like it?
C-Ya Later!
Cheryl

World Card Making Day with my Daughter

This is my youngest daughter,
Natalie Miracle, who is not quite
4 and 1/2 years old. She is truly
a miracle girl as she was the baby
I was told by doctors that I would never have another. But God had other plans. Usually when you
ask God for something, the answer
is 'yes' or 'no.' In this case, His
answer was 'wait.' And wait we did!
I also have 3 other daughters, who are now 30, 23 & 21 years old...
and 3 grandchildren, 12, 11, & 4 (almost 5) and one on the way.
What a joy and blessing she is to my husband (Mark) and me!




Natalie has been very involved in my stamping business since day one. She gets her own little stampers and art supplies (even a sidekick) and we work together at times...all right, I don't get as much done myself, but that's all right, I'm raising a stampin' buddy!

What amazed me today is how much she put things together without alot of direction. I started by helping her die-cut the first heart and put tape under it. She decided it all from there out.


She practices the the layout...

Studies for what to do next.

Makes a goofy face while thinking.

It is now a butterfly and it needed a head.

Making his ears (antenaes)

Gluing on his legs.

Having a good time!

TA-DAA!!!!

This momma is very proud!

Hope you had a chance to stamp today! See ya soon!

My Artist and her Work of Heart!

The finished work!

Espresso-ly Inspired Card

This espresso can has been hanging around my kitchen all summer as an unbreakable vase for my little girl to keep filled with forget-me-nots, dandilions, daisies, Queen Anne's Lace and other such rare teasures that might be found in a backyard.

When I found the reindeer stamp for a dollar at Micheal's last week, I instantly thought of that can! It took all of a few minutes to cuttlebug the snowflakes and layer the deer with some square scallop punches. I layered blue grosgrain over the chocolate organdy and it was done!

I used almost the same method of operation on this card as the one with the three silhouettes. This leafy one is just too big to fit in the Key Tag Punch, so I Scallop-Circled it. I have a couple of friends that have birthdays in the fall...Hmmmm...
I wonder if one of them is reading this entry?

Back to Upsy Daisy set again...I think the designer paper doesn't look so hot with the Real Rust in this photo, but IRL it really is a great match. Paper ric-rac and those ovals again...no mistakes, I actually planned this one and went with the bandage idea after this one was done.

Pocket Silhouettes are such a fun card for quick cards...I used a fall designer paper stack for the pattern paperm and those tiny little acorns were a great match for my leftover retired River Rock paper. I used the Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip and Tangerine Tango on the keytags and matched the bases. The ribbon was a strip of paper, to accomplish a challenge card today on SCS...where we were not use embellishments on our cards...only paper. I used a real ribbon last night when we made cards, so now I have 2 of the same.

Autumn Harvest of Cards

Stamping with friends! Who can think of a nicer way to spend a cool Autumn evening together. Last night we had fun laughing and talking while we whipped up a few fall greeting cards (no two alike) and I want to show you what I came up with.


The set is called "Upsy Daisy" and I am so liking all these new silhouette stamps! On this card I also used my new Big Shot with the Top Note die cutter to make the Rust layer on the bottom and the vanilla layer on top. This die has stitch lines around the edges, so after I cut the vanilla layer, I used the stitching line for a cutting line and made the layer a smaller size. How easy is that? I originally stamped the phrase onto the panel and it didn't come out so good, so I used my small and large Oval punches to put an oval shaped "bandage" over it and now it's all better.

The Big Shot that I am talking about is featured in Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini Catalog that you can see here. Once there, Click on "SHOP." This Mini Catalog is only the beginning of Stampin' Up!'s line of die cutting machine, and we can expect more exciting tools to use on this marvelous machine in the future. This Big Shot can use a variety of different die-cutters, so it will be my one tool that enables me to use all of my old sizzix dies and embossing folders, my fiskars texture plates, my cuttlebug dies and embossing folders, my Nestabilities...and the regular Sizzix dies are able to cut through a list of 50 materials!!! (thin and wafer types)
Other die-cutting machines offer a variety of layers of varying thicknesses of layers to accomodate other manufacturer's dies. But Big Shot made it easy by giving you one tool to use to accomade all the rest. Resembling a book, you don't need to try and remember the combination and look for the right assortment of layers, you just find the die or folder you want to use on the layers that are hinged like pages, and it is printed which page to use and which ones to leave open. Even I don't have to rely on my memory and that is a good thing! The Big Shot is ideal for righties or lefties, just turn it around, but to tell the truth, cranking the paper (or whatever of the 49 other material you can use) is so easy, it doesn't matter which hand I use to turn the handle.


You'll find the Big Shot in Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini Catalog here, and be sure to check out the sales and promotions too. You can now order directly through me - online - see my website for more details. Call me if you have any questions or want me to do it for you!

Christ is Born!

I made this card using one of the 2 new sets I got for Christmas Card making this year. As the title of this posting proclaims the good news, 'Christ is Born' is the name of this set. Over the years I have collected many images having to do with Christmas and Winter themes, so when I saw this new word image, I knew it would be a good addition that I could make good use of by combining with my other sets.

This card was my Technique Lover's Challenge card that charged us with using glitter and a background stamp on the same color paper as the glitter. I used an "Essential Glue Pad" to glue the glitter onto the Garden Green card stock with the retired SU! background stamp called 'Holiday Print'.

(SU! also had two called 'Special Day' and 'Birthday Print' which all had a background made of words pertaining to their themes). While the glitter dried, I stamped the words with Real Red onto white cardstock, a few times with my Stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure the image was dark and crisp. Layering that onto green and red cardstock, I wish I had thought to trim out the corners before attaching them...and I will next time. After attaching that to the left side of the card, as it is a gate-folded card that opens in the middle, I then wished I had centered the panel up-and-down to make room for the star so that it wouldn't have had to crowd it onto the corner of the panel...but that's what I love about stamping...I learn by doing, and even more by re-doing.

TIP: If you have/get an Essential Glue Pad, make certain that you keep the clear plastic cover over the pad under the pad's cover to keep the moisture in. These pads are sold dry and you get the refill with the pad itself when you first buy it. Ink it up and use it, but before you put it away, be sure to spritz a couple of sprays of water onto the pad, to keep the moisture in. This has helped me save on refilling as often and knowing that unless it has been a while since I've used it, it is juicy when I want to take it out again. Also, I store it upside down.

Have a great day!

350 Lighthouse Cards!

I have good friends in Hancock, Michigan that are building a new church! I am excited for them as can be and when I thought of what I might be able to do to bless them and take some pressure off, I volunteered to make the "Thank You" card for them...all 350 of them! I knew that it had to be single layer (or drive myself crazy trying to keep count of how much I need, how much I need to cut, how much needed to stick all together...you get the idea, So I decided upon an image first, and of course a Lighthouse is what it HAD to be, because the church is to be called "The Lighthouse Church." I thought brayering would be a great way to get the color on, and so I chose this TAC set because it had a non-existing landscape I didn't have to worry about. Then I made a stencil and went to town. The stamping was done with Basic Gray. The beach is chalked, the sky is bayered with a 'Late November' Spectrum pad and the light and roof are watercolored red and yellow. Enjoy your day!

Sock Monkey Swap Card

Here's my swap card that I gave at the "Stampin' in the U.P. of Michigan" weekend. Having just gotten Stampin' Up!'s new set Sock Monkey, I just had to play with it. I used Chocolate Chip to stamp Weathered background on So Saffron card stock. I stamped the monkey in Brown Stazon and watercolored him, The "ribbon" is actually strips cut from some K & Co. Designer Pattern Paper. Cupcake is backed with the 1 1/4", 1 3/8" circles and the Scallop Punch. Corners are punched out with the Corner Ticket Punch. I made a Sock Monkey when I was in High School...and have made a few over the years for the special children in my life when I am lucky enough to find the Rockford "Red Heel" Socks. The "smile" on the mouth is actually the heel of one sock...and the monkey's butt was the other heel, but not marked on the stamp, but it was easy to marker the color in place. I love this nostalgic set!

Stampin' in the U.P. of Michigan Challenge Cards

Three challenges were given at this weekend event, and here are 2 that I did third. The one above is a challenge by my friend Debbie (DeborahLynneS), who I grew up with and went to school with from kindergarten-first grade & on. Her challenge was to use acetate and she gave us a half sheet of this wonderful sturdy stuff. (I'll find out where she got it from if anyone asks). It is difficult to see that my card has the acetate stamped with the stems (Garden Silhouettes, retired) in Black Stazon, and overlaid the pattern paper with the greeting (Elegant Greetings, retired) on the underside. (I guess you could see it if you clicked on the card and examined the holes at the top.) I punched holes with my Cropadile and 'sewed' the pieces together with some narrow black ribbon I brought along, and then attached that to a neutral card base that I scalloped the bottom edge with my then fresh-outa-the-box Stampin' Up! Scalloped Edge Punch. There were many beautiful cards...obviously the ideas are unlimited with acetate.

This other card was a challenge given by JoAnn (SarahZoe), who shares my hometown that I have gotten to know over the years. She gave us each a 6x6 square of black & white patern paper, and a half a sheet each of Basic Black, Whisper White, and Cool Carribbean, retired, along with a peice of black or white ribbon. All I used of my own was the Scalloped Edge Puncher, piercer and the Stem Silhouettes set, retired, and I loved this challenge! I even loved this card I did. What was the most amazing discovery for me, was how, when all our cards were put together, they looked like a huge set of elegant cards - all individually and uniquely beautiful, a gorgeous set...I'll look for a photo if someone else posted it, and link it here. They were all terrific!

The third challenge I didn't do a new card, as I was the one to throw out that challenge. My challenge was to use at least 2 different sizes of circles in a non-concentric design (not layered like a target) and so my sample card was one I posted here on July 17th.