Bits and Pieces

February Spotlight

2012-02-02T06:05:00.000-08:00

It's February 2nd and time for another a muse|studio spotlight. All stamps in the February spotlight are on sale until February 29th and can be ordered through my webstore. Be sure to contact me if your order is over $150 so that you can receive hostess benefits. Can I just say that I absolutely love this month's spotlight? It includes 2 of my older favorite stamps set and my newest favorite stamp set :-) Of course, all the stamps are gorgeous and I {heart} this month's color pallette.

January Spotlight

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's January and time for another a muse|studio spotlight. Starting this year, the spotlight runs from the beginning to the end of the month instead of the 15th to the 15th. All stamps in the January spotlight are on sale until January 31st and can be ordered through my webstore. Be sure to contact me if your order is over $150 so that you can receive hostess benefits.

Top Ten Must Haves

2011-12-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

Between December 1st and 15th, you can get our Top Ten Holiday Must-Haves at 20% off! Whether you need stocking stuffers, thank you gifts, or goodies for teachers, co-workers, hostesses or friends, there's something for everyone here!

The promotion begins on December 1st and ends at 11:59pm EST on December 15th, or while supplies last.
Visit my webstore or contact me to place your order.

a | s Spotlight - An Autumn Harvest Dinner Party!

2011-10-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

Every month A Muse Studio showcases a variety of creative projects featuring a selection of stamp sets paired with a beautiful color palette called A Muse Studio Spotlight.

But what's best of all, you can purchase the October Spotlight stamp sets and Fall Harvest coordinating assorted paper pack at a reduced price from October 15th through November 14th. The Fall Harvest paper pack includes 4 sheets of squash, toffee, orange, currant & french roast (#PASTA11).

Click the link to read more about the October a|s Spotlight and see some gorgeous creations made with the featured stamp sets and color palette.

Details about this month's spotlight products can be seen on my a muse studio webstore.

October Studio Stampers Blog Hop

2011-10-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Studio Sampers October Blog Hop, if you are joining us in the hop you should have come here from Angela's blog, if not why not start at the beginning with Karen and hop on down until you get back to me.

Here's another Fall card for your viewing pleasure. I don't think I can get enough of these colors and leaves. I started out with a Pebble card base and then decided to go with a Cranberry, Pumpkin, Wasabi, and Vanilla Scheme. I took a piece of Vanilla cardstock and stamped it with the Woodgrain background stamp in Pebble before I stamped the leaves and outlines from Fresh Foliage in Cranberry and Pumpkin and then the smaller leaf from the same set in Wasabi. I wrapped a couple of pieces of Holiday Washi tape around this piece before I mounted it on a piece of Cranberry cardstock. This is popped up on the cardbase with 3d dimensional adhesive. I die cut a label is cut from Vanilla cardstock with the Labels die before I stamped it with a Vintage Labels matching outline in Pebble. I stamped off a leaf from Fresh Foliage in Wasabi ink on some scrap paper before I stamped it onto the die cut. Finally, I stamped the sentiment from Contemporary Greetings in French Roast on this die cut before it was mounted on the card front with 3 d foam adhesive. It probably took me longer to type up this post than it did to actually do the stamping but it's another card that I love that has major "wow" going on without taking hours to complete.
Thanks for visiting and next on the hop is Lisa Chapman, if you get lost, or there is a problem with the link here is the complete list.

Karen Crisp
Angela Schellenberg
Kathy Hatzke <===========YOU ARE HERE
Lisa Chapman
Kristen Watson
Veronica Zalis

SuppliesCardstock: Pebble, Cranberry, VanillaStamps: Fresh Foliage, Contemporary Greetings, Woodgrain BackgroundInk: Cranberry, French Roast, Pebble, Pumpkin, WasabiAccessories: Holiday Washi Tape, Vintage Labels Die, 3d Foam Adhesive

A Muse|Studio WCMD Challenge: Buttons

2011-10-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

I love Fall! We have Indian Summers here in the Bay Area and generally have our best weather in September and October. Plus, it's football season and one of my favorite things to do is to hang out and tailgate with family and friends. There's nothing better on a gorgeous Fall Day.

Besides tailgating and football, I also love the gorgeous colors of Fall. Yellow and Orange have always been my favorite colors and I love when the leaves turn colors. This card is my entry into a muse|studio's WCMD Challenge to use buttons on your card. All supplies are from a muse|studio and can be purchased 24/7 from my webstore.
Here's the details on the card. I started out with a Pebble card base and added a piece of Vanilla cardstock which I'd stamped with leaves from Fresh Foliage in Wasabi, Pumpkin, and Currant. The leaf outlines were stamped after inking the stamped and the solid inner portion was stamped after stamping off on scratch paper once. I added a strip of Slate Woodgrain cardstock across the center in lieu of ribbon and then topped it off with 3 pumpkin buttons. The sentiment from Fresh Foliage is stamped on the Pebble portion of the card in Slate ink. Easy peesy lemon squeezey! I hear this card--Pebble is such a great neutral color and the autumn leaves make me happy when I look at them. Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back again real soon.
SuppliesPaper: Pebble, Vanilla, Slate WoodgrainStamps: Fresh FoliageInk: Wasabi, Currant, Pumpkin, SlateAccessories: Pumpkin buttons

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 4: Paris Inspiration

2011-09-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

Have you visited a muse|studio's facebook page yet? If you haven't you should definitely check it out. They have weekly challenges right now during A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA. This week's challenge was to create a card that was inspired by a photo of Paris. I took the greys and greens as well as the trees as the staring point for my inspiration.
All supplies used are from a muse|studio and can be purchased from my webstore. The layout for this card is from the Clean and Simple Stamping Blog and is FTL 158. I started out with a Pebble cardbase and added a couple pieces of Holiday Washi Tape to it for the front strip. I don't know if I'll be able to make a card that doesn't have Washi Tape--it's addicting. The focal piece is stamped with images from Spooky Boo Day in Pebble, Wasabi, Slate, and French Roast inks. I inked up the tree in Pebble ink and then added the Wasabi for the leaves with a sponge dauber to get both colors on the image. The owl and sentiment are stamped in French Roast. The bats and grave markers are stamped in slate--the grave markers were stamped off once prior to being stamped on the Sugar Cardstock. I added some red micro twinkle stickers for a bit of bling before I rounded the corners and attached this to a piece of Wasabi cardstock that also has rounded corner. This whole piece is popped up with 3d foam adhesive to the card base.
There you have it! I love Spooky Boo Day and will be playing with it a lot more from now till Halloween. Thanks for visiting.
Supplies Stamps: Spooky Boo DayCardstock: Pebble, Wasabi, SugarInks: Pebble, Wasabi, Slate, French RoastAccessories: Holiday Washi Tape, Micro Twinkle Stickers, 3d Foam Adhesive

September Studio Stampers Blog Hop

2011-09-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the a·muse|studio blog hop with my a·muse "cousins". We are all lucky to have Krystie as our upline. You should have come here from Kristen's blog but make sure that you follow all the links to see lots of a·muse|studio goodness.
Dh needed a card for a friend who's recently had a baby. All supplies used are from a muse|studio and can be purchased through my website or by sending me an email. I couldn't wait to pull out the little crib from Sleepy Sighs and put it to use. I stamped the crib onto Sugar cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black. While I love Memento Tuxedo Black and use it 99.99% of the time, I find that the Versafine gives a nice, dark, rich, true black. I colored in the crib with copics (RV21, RV25, E33, and E29) and spica glitter pens. I added some Washi Tape from the Spring collection to the piece and tied some sheer onyx organdy ribbon above the tape. I then stamped the sentiment from Sleepy Sighs onto the piece. This is layered on a piece of Bermuda cardstock and the focal piece is mounted onto a Blush cardbase with 3d foam adhesive.
There you have it, a quick and cute baby card that will bring a smile to someone's face!
Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out all the rest of the stampers on today's blog hop. Next up is Karen's blog but if you get lost, here's the complete list of blog hoppers.

Studio Stampers Blog
Krystie Hersch
Kristen Watson
Kathy Hatzke --------you are here!
Karen Crisp
Kari Bell
Lisa Wakabayashi
Veronica Zalis
Lisa Chapman
Lianna Vigil

Angie Schellenberg

August Studio Stampers Blog Hop

2011-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the a·muse|studio blog hop with my a·muse "cousins". We are all lucky to have Krystie as our upline. You should have come here from Krystie's blog but make sure that you follow all the links to see lots of a·muse|studio goodness.

All supplies are from a muse|studio unless otherwise stated and can be purchased from my webstore 24/7. I'm always in need of thank you cards and when I saw this super cute typewriter in the Just My Type set, I knew I had to have it. I stamped the typewriter in versamark ink on onyx cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I then carefully cut it out and then cut a tiny slit in the top of the typewriter so that I could put my sentiment through it which is also from the same set. It's stamped onto sugar cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added a small heart twinkle sticker to it as well. The typewriter is popped up with 3-d foam adhesive on a piece of School Lined paper that is punched with a spiral notebook punch. This piece is put on to a bubblegum polka dot card base. I added 3 bermuda buttons to the card and there you have it! A quick, cute, and super easy thank you card to add my stash of cards for a time when I need to show my appreciation to someone.

Now, you're off to Karen's blog. Here's the complete list of blog hoppers today so that you can feast your eyes on all this a muse|studio goodness.

Krystie Hersch

Kathy Hatzke <-------------You are here!

Karen Crisp

Kari Bell

Lianna Vigil

Kellie Maggio

Angela Schellenberg

Veronica Zalis

supplies

stamps: Just My Type

paper: sugar, onyx, school lined, bubblegum polka dot

ink: versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black

accessories: white embossing powder, bermuda buttons, heart twinkle sticker, spiral notebook punch (not a|s)

Studio Challenge-Kathy

2011-07-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that I'm the Studio Star of the Week. One of my favorite techniques is masking because it’s one of those relatively simple techniques that gets a big wow. You can add depth to your stamping, frame an image, fill in images, and even selectively use parts of your stamps to get more mileage out of them. My challenge to you is to create a card using the masking technique and then share it at the Studio Stampers blog-it can be basic masking, reverse masking, or even masking a part of your stamp. The only thing you need to do is use some type of masking on your card.

Here's my sample. All supplies are from a muse|studio and can be purchased from my web store. I stamped the Marigolds from Marvelous Marigolds on a kraft cardbase in Cherry and also stamped them on some eclipse masking tape that I've had forever in Memento Tuxedo Black. I cut out the Marigolds from the masking tape and used them to cover up the Marigolds on my cardfront. I then stamped the Woodgrain background stamp over the card front in French Roast and some leaves from Marvelous Marigolds in Grass. I removed my masks and added a label that I had die cut from Cherry cardstock and stamped with the matching outline from Vintage Labels on the cardfront with 3d foam adhesive. The sentiment from Contemporary Greetings is stamped on a piece of Sugar cardstock with French Roast ink and mounted onto the label. Finally, I lightly sponged the center of the Marigolds with Sugar ink and added a couple Vanilla Pearl stickers to the centers of the flowers. There is about as close to a one layer card as you'll get from me!
I love how all the masking and layering on of stamps and images adds so much depth to this card.
Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon to let me know you played in the challenge. I can't wait to see what you create.
Suppliesstamps: Marvelous Marigolds, Vintage Labels, Contemporary Greetings, Woodgrain backgroundpaper: kraft, cherry, sugarink: cherry, french roast, sugar, grassaccessories: vanilla pearl stickers, labels die

Studio Star of the Week

2011-07-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Have you seen it? I'm the Studio Star of the Week. Be sure to check out my challenge and come back here for a step by step on the card I made.

Studio Challenge-Ronnie

2011-07-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Have you checked out Studio Stampers? We're a team of a muse|studio consultants who all share the wonderfully talented Krystie Hersch as our upline. Last week, Ronnie, was the Studio Star of the week and had a lovely inspiration challenge for us. Fortunately, Krystie has decided to keep the challenges open for two weeks and I got some time to play along. My card is inspired by the lovely pink table and vase in the upper left as well as the gumballs/candy on the right.

All supplies used are from a muse|studio and can be purchased from my web store. I stamped the gumball machine from Sweet Love on sugar and sage cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in the gumballs and heart with several pink and green Copics, paper pieced the gumball machine, and then went over the heart and parts of the gumball machine with a clear Spica glitter pen for a hint of subtle shimmer. Hello is from Just My Type and is also stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. This piece is layered on sage cardstock. I added a piece of Washi tape from the summer assortment and sugar polka dot organdy ribbon before I popped the focal piece up on 3d foam adhesive.
There you have it! If you've got some time, come visit and play along. There's a new Studio Star and challenge this week and I'm hoping to find some time to play along again.
Thanks for visiting and come back soon.
Suppliesstamps: Sweet Love, Just My Typepaper: sugar, bubblegum, sageink: Memento Tuxedo Blackaccessories: Copic Markers, Spica Glitter Pen, Summer Washi Tape Assortment, Sugar organdy polka dot ribbon

July Studio Stampers Blog Hop

2011-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the a·muse|studio blog hop with my a·muse "cousins". We are all lucky to have Krystie as our upline. Today, I'm first on the blog hop but make sure that you follow all the links to see lots of a·muse|studio goodness.

Dh needed a card for his grandfather and I wanted something elegant, simple, and appropriate for an older gentleman. It's really hard for me to not pull out some bling or glitter so this was definitely a challenge for me. I love how this one turned out and think I might have to challenge myself to work on some more masculine, bling free cards in the future.

Here are the details on the car. All supplies used are from the a·muse|studio spotlight and can be purchased through my a·muse|studio store. I started out with a lichen card base and stamped the little coral stamp from Sea Shells on the card base in versamark across the middle. It's really hard to see but so subtle and nice in real life. The sea shells and star fish from the Sea Shells set are also stamped in versamark on kraft, embossed in white embossing powder and then cut out. I stamped "Papa" from the Classic Alphabet set in Bermuda ink on Sugar cardstock. I tore a piece of sage cardstock and attached it to this piece and then tied on some toffee twine to this piece and attached it to the card front. The cut out pieces are attached to the front with 3d foam adhesive. There you have it! An elegant, simple summer card that can easily be adapted for the recipient since you're using alphabet stamps for the focal piece.

supplies used:

stamps: sea shells, classic alphabet

paper: lichen, sage, kraft, sugar

ink: bermuda, versamark

accessories: white embossing powder, toffee twine

Thanks for stopping, now you are off to Karen Crisp's blog

Here's a complete list of the blog hop:

Kathy Hatzke <----- You are here!

Kari Bell

Have a Whale of a Day

2011-06-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, it's June 28th and we're expecting rain and drizzle in the Bay Area. Can I please just get some summer? We didn't have Spring since it rained virtually every day. We have had some pleasant weather but can it be consistent? Waaaaaaah!
Enough whining from me. I'm on break so I should be happy, right? I'm transitioning between jobs right now--I left my former school/district and will be working in the school/district very close to where I now live. Exciting times! Of course, we went by my new school yesterday and the kids saw that the start time is earlier than where they currently go so they informed me that they really need to go to the school where I work. . .While it was convenient in so many ways, it's actually better for them to not have me as their principal. It's better for me to just be mommy to them.
Are you done listening to my chit chat? You came for a card, right? Today's card is made using supplies from the a|s Elegant Summer Spotlight and can be purchased in my a muse|studio store. I adore these colors and images--perfect for summer! Here are the deets--I stamped the leafy image, fish, and bubbles from Keep Swimmin' in lichen, sky, and bermuda on sugar cardstock and then added some clear twinkle stickers over the bubbles. The sentiment from the same set is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black near the bottom of the focal piece. The little fish is also stamped on sugar cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored in with Copics, cut out, and mounted on 3D foam adhesive. The focal piece is matted on sage cardstock. The entire piece is popped up on 3D adhesive on a bermuda cardbase that has a strip of lichen cardstock added to it. There you have it, easy, peasy, lemon squeezey! This card is perfect for so many occasions and it happened to go to our neighbor's son for his birthday.
Thanks for vising and be sure to come back again soon.
Supplies used:Stamps: Keep Swimmin'Paper: Sugar, Bermuda, Lichen, SageInks: Bermuda, Lichen, Sky, Memento Tuxedo BlackAccessories: Copics, Clear Twinkle Stickers, 3D foam adhesive

a muse|studio Elegant Summer Spotlight

2011-06-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I simply adore a muse|studio. Every month from the 15th-15th, you'll receive a 10% discount on selected stamps and papers. And as you can see, you'll also get a ton of amazing inspiration.

The Seaglass Assortment Pack contains four sheets of each of the following colors of cardstock:

Bermuda
Sky
Sage
Lichen
Latte

Be sure to check out my a muse|studio website for more ideas and inspiration using the spotlight sets and to place an order.

School has wrapped up and I'm wrapping up some odds and ends before I get my summer break and more glorious time to stamp. I'll have some goodies to show you later this week using some of the Elegant Summer Spotlight items.

Thanks for visiting!

a muse|studio spotlight

2011-06-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Have you all seen this? Every month selected stamp sets will share the spotlight on the a muse|studio website with a gorgeous color palette to create projects that showcase the versatility of paper crafting.

For one month, you can save 10% on the stamp sets used to create these fabulous projects!

Classic Alphabet
Sea Shells
Keep Swimmin’
Life’s a Breeze
Mad for Plaids

And, for a limited time, order the special Seaglass cardstock assortment pack - an easy way to get the look showcased in this month's spotlight.

Seaglass Assortment Pack contains four sheets each:

Bermuda
Sky
Sage
Lichen
Latte

You can order these products as well as anything else that catches your eye through my webstore. Be sure to contact me prior to placing an order if it is going to be $150 or higher so that you can take advantage of hostess benefits. Don't forget to check back because I'll be showcasing the versatility of these stamp sets and gorgeous colors over the next month.

Studio Stampers June Blog Hop

2011-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's time for the Studio Stampers June Blog Hop. Once a month, Krystie Hersch and her downline will be showcasing projects made with a muse|studio products. Krystie will able be selecting one person who comments on one of the blog posts to win some a|s goodies. Be sure to visit everyone and give them some love for your chance to win.
You should have come here from Ronnie's Blog but if not, feel free to go back to the beginning and start at Krystie's blog so that you don't miss out on any a|s inspiration.
Can I just tell you that I absolutely love the card that I'm sharing with you today? The picture doesn't do it justice and I really wanted to just keep this one for myself and not send it away. I stamped the flowers from Marvelous Marigolds in lemon whip and blackberry onto sugar cardstock. This is mounted onto a blackberry cardbase. The sentiment from Contemporary Greetings was stamped onto vellum cardstock with blackberry ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder and then I cut the notch onto the ends with scissors. I layered this on top of a piece of washi tape from the Fall collection on the front of the card. I added a blackberry button on top of the sentiment tag to cover up the bit of adhesive used to attach it to the card. To finish it off, I added some sugar pearl stickers to the centers of the blackberry marigolds and then randomly on the focal piece as well. Tah Dah! Simple and stunning!
Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon. There's going to be some exciting a|s news on June 15th and I'll be showcasing some of the products that will be highlighted for the month.
Your next stop on the hop is Kelly Spivey's blog but in case you get lost, here's the list of all the blog hop participants in order.
Krystie Hersch http://www.cleanandsimplecards.com
Lianna Vigil  http://llamatales.blogspot.com/
Kellie Maggio  http://iscrapyouscrap.blogspot.com/
Kari Bell http://karikards.blogspot.com
Kristen Watson  http://branchandsky.blogspot.com
Veronica Zalis  http://lk2thestarz.blogspot.com
you are here----->Kathy Hatzke  http://www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com
Kelly Spivey  http://www.southpawpaperarts.com
Lisa Wakabayashi http://dragonfliesandcats.blogspot.com
Karen Crisp http://www.papernstamps.blogspot.com
Kristie Hartfeil  http://krismybliss.wordpress.com
Angela Schellenberg  http://gypsypaperie.blogspot.com
Heather Wroe  http://wroedeo.blogspot.comAll supplies are from a muse|studio and be purchased through my webstore. stamps: marvelous marigolds, contemporary greetingspaper: sugar, blackberry, vellumink: blackberry, lemon whipaccessories: fall washi tape, blackberry buttons, sugar pearl twinkle stickers

Clever Girls OLC

2011-05-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

I think this may be one of the first one layer cards that I 've made that I'm actually pretty happy with. One layer cards are really, really difficult for me to make. I don't know why since when you go to buy a card, 9 times out of 10, it's a one layer card. I actually was about to get rid of those one until dd told me to add some "diamonds" to the flowers and you know what? She was right!

All supplies are from a muse|studio and can be purchased from my webstore 24/7. Be sure to contact me if your order is going to be $150 so that you can earn hostess benefits.

Stamps: clever girls, contemporary greetings, vintage labels

paper: sugar

inks: apricot, bermuda, ocean, memento tuxedo black

accessories: summer washi tape, clear twinkle stickers

FS221

2011-05-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've played in the Featured Stamper challenge over at SCS but when I saw that the FS was Susan, AKA LateBlossom, I knew I had to play along. I've been a fan of Susan's work for quite some time. She is the Queen of Clean and Simple as well as doing an amazing job of embracing the white space. This was a challenge for me and I've never done a white on white card before but I love how it turned out.
All supplies are from a muse|studio and be purchased at my webstore 24/7. Don't forget that if your order is more than $150, contact me directly so that you can get your hostess benefits.
Susan made two cards with the same layout and different colors and shared them on her blog. I love how the vibrant colors just pop off the white. I will say, I'm still scared of the white space and had a few choice words to share when I got a fingerprint on the top of my card. My 6 yo suggested I just erase it--if it were only that simple, right? I did carefully wipe at it with a baby wipe and got it off but the card is a little messed up where I wiped it off. It's barely noticeable but bothers me especially since I was already done and admiring my handiwork.
Since I already had a bunch of stuff out, I decided to give a one layer card a try--that was a challenge and you'll have to come back soon to see how it turned out :-)
Thanks for visiting!
stamps: clever girlspaper: sugarink: blush, bubblegum, papaya, orange, bermuda, ocean, slate

a muse|studio mega blog hop

2011-05-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the a muse|studio consultants mega blog hop. If you are participating in the blog hop, you should have come from Nancy's blog and if not, then you should start from the beginning with Samantha's blog until you come to my blog.
I absolutely love the tini time stamp set and can see so many great uses for it. This layout was inspired by one that I saw on on Stephanie's blog. Here are the details on my simple but fun card :-) All supplies are from a muse|studios and can be purchased through my webstore.
I added some washi tape from the summer collection onto a sky card and then adhered a piece of sugar cardstock that was stamped with the circles from tini time in bermuda ink. Then I stamped the sentiment from tini time with bermuda ink onto the cardfront and added some twinkle stickers under the word thanks. The martini glass was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black unto sugar cardstock and then filled in with the triangular block from the same set with lime ink. The cherry was stamped with cherry ink on the drink and then I added some diamond glitter on the rim of the glass. Appletinis, anyone? I cut out the drink and added it the the card front with 3D foam adhesive. There you have it--easy peasy, lemon squeezey--a fun thank you card in a short time that packs a big wow.
Thanks for visiting. Now on to your next stop Katie's blog.

Studio Stampers May Blog Hop

2011-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Studio Stampers May Blog Hop. The amazing Krystie Hersch and her downline are hopping along today to show you all sorts of a muse|studio goodness. If you're interested in any of the products needed to make any of the samples shown in the hop, be sure to visit my a muse|studio store.

For my card, I decided to get a little cutesy and do some coloring and paper piecing. I love all the dimension on this card and this layout is sure to be one of my faves that you'll see quite often. I added a piece of french roast gingham to a kraft card base and then rounded the corner of the card with my Corner Chomper. Then I cut a piece of sugar and grass card stock with my Circle Nestabilites--I've forgotten how fun the classic shapes could be and I'll be pulling out my circles, squares, and rectangles a lot in the near future. I stamped an oval from ovalicious onto the sugar circle in grass ink for the ground. The tree from woodland friends was stamped onto french roast and sage polka dot cardstock . The leaves of the tree were popped up with 3D foam adhesive. The hedgehog from friends fur-ever was stamped onto sugar cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored in with Copic Markers before being cut out and placed near the tree on 3D foam adhesive. I had to color her flower in with a Clear Spica Glitter pen for a little bit of bling even though this card has pretty neutral and subdued colors :-) The sugar circle was adhered to the grass circle with Tombow Mono Aqua glue and then adhered to the cardfront. Finally, the sentiment from woodland friends was stamped on the front of the card with french roast ink.

Thanks for visiting!

Your next stop is Kelly Spivey.

If you get lost, here is the complete list:

Krystie Hersch

Kathy Hatzke -you are here

Liane Vigil

supplies

stamps: friends fur-ever, ovalicious, woodland friends

paper: french roast, grass, kraft, sugar, french roast gingham, sage polka dot

ink: french roast, grass, Memento Tuxedo Black

accessories: 3D foam adhesive, Circle Nestabilites, Copic Markers (E51, E55, E57, E59, RV14), Clear Spica Glitter pen

Tuesday Trigger Time

2011-04-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

When I saw the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World this week, I knew I had to play along. I'm a sucker for flowers :-) Here's my take on it. I used the colors and flowers for inspiration and wanted to make a soft, pretty, and feminine card.
All supplies are from a muse|studio. I think that just because is probably my favorite stamp set right now. I keep reaching for it and I love everything I do with it. It's seriously my go to set right now and I have to remind myself that I really do own other stamp sets. Here's the deets. I die cut a piece of vanilla cardstock with a Spellbinders Nestablility Labels Four die. I then stamped the mesh background with latte ink over the die cut and then stamped the leaves and flowers from just because in lichen, apricot, and lemon whip over the background. I highlighted the leaves and flowers with a clear Spica glitter pen for a bit of shimmer. The butterfly is a piece of shell cardstock which is die cut with one of the butterflies from the butterflies trio die. I colored a few pearl twinkle stickers with an RV95 Copic and attached them to the butterfly body. The butterfly is adhered with a little bit of Tombow Mono Aqua on just the body so that the wings can fly free. I attached a piece of lemon whip cardstock to the latte woodgrain cardbase, stamped the sentiment from just because in french roast, added a piece so washi tape from the spring collection. and then adhered the focal piece on the card with 3d foam adhesive. I looked at it and it needed a little something else so I rounded the bottom corners of the card with my corner chomper. Voila! A card with a few of my current faves: stamp set, washi tape, rounded corners, and sparkle. What's not to like?
Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon!
Suppliesstamps: mesh background, just becausepaper: latte woodgrain, lemon whip, vanillaink: latte, lichen, lemon whip, apricot, french roastaccessories: spring collection washi tape, butterfly trio dies, Spellbinders Labels Four Nestabilities, Clear Copic Spica Glitter pen, Pearl Twinkle Stickers, RV95 Copic marker

You're a Rock Star

2011-04-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

My little ones went to a birthday party the other day and here's the card I made for the birthday boy. All supplies are from a|s unless otherwise stated. I {heart} this stamp set which is called rock star. It's going to be getting a lot of use in my house :-) This one's pretty simple but I absolutely love it. This color combo might be one of my new favorite combos and I'm sure you're going to be seeing it some more in the very near future. It's hard to see in this picture but the wings and stars have Rock Candy Distress Stickles on them. It's a nice way to add something without making it too blingy and taking away from the boy factor.

Since I've had the chance to play around with my a|s inks lately, can I just tell you how much I love them? They're a pigment ink but they actually dry fairly quickly and are very similar to chalk inks once dry. I love how you can layer them on each other and they're still somewhat opaque plus the colors are just gorgeous.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon!

stamps: rock star

paper: orange, bermuda, sugar

ink: orange, bermuda, ocean, memento tuxedo black

accessories: Rock Candy Distress Stickles

Vintage Clever Girls

2011-04-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another card made with the clever girls stamp set. I'm going to have a lot of fun playing with this set and love how you can get so many different looks from it. All supplies are from a|s.
I attached a piece of onyx vintage cardstock to the onyx cardbase and then stamped the images with blackberry, blush, and slate into onto a piece of vanilla cardstock. I stamped and die cut the label with a vintage label die with one of the matching images from vintage labels in sugar ink. The sentiment is also from clever girls. I added some clear twinkle stickers that were colored with a black copic marker and then punched a hole in one side of the label and threaded some slate stitched grosgrain ribbon through it. The label is attached to the cardfront with 3d foam adhesive.
Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon!
stamps: clever girls, vintage labelspaper: onyx, blackberry, vanilla, vintage onyx ink: blackberry, slate, blush, sugaraccessories: clear twinkle stickers, slate stitched grosgrain, vintage labels die

Clever Girls

2011-04-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

This originally started out as a one layer card inspired by one that Nichole Heady made. But, I screwed it up because when I stamped the sentiment over the circles and flowers, you couldn't really see it. Sooooooo, I decided to cut the card in half and use the other side to stamp the circles and flowers. After I stamped them, I decided they'd look better in the top left of the card instead of the bottom right so I flipped it, punched out some holes in the center of the circles with my crop a dile, stamped the sentiment, adhered some washi tape under the sentiment, die cut and glittered a swallow and popped that up on 3 d foam adhesive. Then I rounded the corners of this piece and the card base with my corner chomper and mounted it with 3 d foam adhesive. The colors were picked by my 6yo dd and this card is going to go to her one day :-) Unless I decide to keep it for myself since I think it's pretty darn cute.

All supplies are from a|s. Feel free to click the link in my sidebar for my a|s store to purchase the supplies needed to make this card.

Stamps: clever girls

Paper: blush, lime, bubblegum

Ink: lime, bubblegum, memento tuxedo black

Accessories: a|s dies set swallows, diamond glitter, washi tape-summer collection

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon. I've got another card with the same stamp set that has a totally different look to share.

Just Because

2011-04-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a card I made for my oldest son's grandma. She just had knee surgery and came home from the hospital. I love the simplicity of this card and how it all came together.

All supplies are a muse|studio. I stamped the leafy image onto sugar cardstock in sage and stamped off twice. The flower is stamped in blush ink on the cardfront. I stamped the sentiment in french roast and then added some washi tape from the Spring collection, sage gingham cardstock, and bubblegum buttons. This piece is matted on sage cardstock and then put on a blush card base. My dd wanted me to add some glitter and the butterfly from the set but I decided to embrace some white space and keep it simple.

Thanks for visiting!

stamps: just because
cardstock: blush, sage, sugar, sage gingham
ink: blush, sage, french roast
accessories: spring collection washi tape, bubblegum buttons

Dude, You Rock!

2011-04-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

I had a little time to play around with some of my a muse|studio goodies and came up with this one. Masculine/Boy cards are always a little difficult for me but I think this one might work. With a 12 year old and soon to be 9 year old, I think this set might be getting a lot of use in my house hold. I'm going to play around with this set some more and some different colors so be sure to check back and let me know what you think.

The card is pretty self explanatory and all supplies used are from a muse|studio. The wings and flagged sentiment piece are popped up with 3d foam adhesive

Stamps: Rock Star
Cardstock: Kraft, Buttercup, Blackberry, Vanilla
Inks: Buttercup, Lichen, Blackberry

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon!

$99 Starter Kit Special

2011-04-07T06:30:00.000-07:00

Interested in joining the A Muse Studio Family?

For a limited time, you can get get the A Muse Studio Starter Kit for just $99.

A Muse Studio carries an exciting lineup of new, exclusive products with the quality you've come to expect from us. Rubber stamps are still the cornerstone of our product line; they're now available in cling mount sets and come in a handy DVD-style case for easy storage. We also have a beautiful line of custom printed papers, a brand new line of color-coordinated ink pads, satin ribbons, custom dies, impression plates, and so much more.

To join, visit my website and select "Join our team" or "Start a Business". If prompted, enter my consultant number 1117.

I would love for you to be part of my team.

We have a winner!

2011-04-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

I asked dh to pick a number between 1-16 and he picked 4. So, Judy, be sure to email me to claim your prize!

Thanks for visiting.

Pink Birthday Wishes

2011-04-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another card I made while playing around with my starter kit. I really like how this one turned out. This is another card that's going postal for an SCS BRAK.

Flowers and pearls are colored with copic markers and the bulk of the card is pretty self-explanatory. All supplies with the exception of the dark gray mat layer are from a muse|studio.

Supplies
Cardstock: shell, sugar, PTI Smokey Shadow
Ink: bubblegum, memento tuxedo black
Stamps: birthday greetings, polka dot patterns
Accessories: sugar pearl stickers, lime stitched grosgrain ribbon, meadow mix paper flowers, copic markers, corner chomper, 3d foam adhesive

Don't forget that there's still time to enter for a chance to win blog candy here.

Thanks for visiting!

a muse|studio blog hop

2011-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

I hope you're enjoying hopping along during our blog hop and discovering lots of a muse|studio goodness!

You should have arrived here from Lisa's blog. Be sure to leave comments on all the blogs for your chance to win some blog candy from Krystie.

This card was inspired by a sample that I got from my amazing upline, Krystie that can be found here. Here are the deets on my card. Cardstocks used are cherry, sugar, and sky. The focal piece is cut out with a Labels 8 nestie and then stamped with the branch and flowers from Sushi and Wasabi in French Roast (stamped off once) and cranberry. BirthdayWishes is from Contemporary Greetings and is also stamped with French Roast. Rhinestones are a muse micro twinkles--can you tell I can't get enough of them right now? I punched a couple of holes near the branch and threaded some sky stitched grosgrain ribbon through it. This pieces is popped up on the card front with 3d foam adhesive and mounted over a strip of sky cardstock that is scored and lightly sanded and then the cherry cardbase.

Expect to see more birthday cards because I've got a lot of Spring birthdays in my circle of friends and family and I'm a new sender in the SCS BRAK group.

Be sure to visit everyone to see all the wonderful creations the Krystie's team created for you:

Krystie - www.cupcakemartini.com
Kelly- www.southpawpaperarts.com
Lianne - www.llamatales.blogspot.com
Kari - www.karicards.blogspot.com
Lisa C. - www.piesafepapergoods.blogspot.com
Lesa - http://www.thepaperpundit.blogspot.com/
Veronica - http://lk2thestarz.blogspot.com/
Lisa W. - http://dragonfliesandcats.blogspot.com/
Kathy - http://www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com/ that's me!

Thanks for visiting and be sure to leave a comment. I'll pick one person randomly who comments and they will receive $25.00 worth of a muse|studio goodness from me. This offer is limited to US residents only since we can't sell/ship outside the US. This contest will close at 10:00 am PST on Wednesday, April 6, 2011.

The count down begins. . .

2011-03-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

At 12:01 AM PST, my a muse|studio website will go live. You'l be able to click on the link in my sidebar to place an order 24/7. If your order happens to be over $150, you qualify for hostess benefits and will need to contact me directly.

Interested in a catalog? Click here for the pdf link or email me for a hard copy.

Be sure to check back tomorrow at 3:00 PM PST because I'll be participating in an a muse|studio blog hop. Blog Candy will be up for grabs!

Thanks for visiting!

Birdie Birthday

2011-03-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a little bit of sparkly goodness I created with my a muse|studio starter kit the other day. I think this little bird is so sweet and had to glitter it up so she'd shine in her cage.

All supplies are from a muse|studio. My web store will go live this Friday so feel free to click the link on my sidebar Friday if you'd like to place an order. If you'd like to order before Friday, feel fee to email me. Cardstocks used are Fern, Ocean, and Sugar. Ink is French Roast and Ocean. Glitter is diamond glitter. Rhinestones are microdot twinkle stickers that I've been hoarding for awhile. I've decided to stop hoarding after reading this post over at Susan's blog. Right now, I don't think I can make a card without using my twinkle stickers--they're the perfect amount of bling and so easy to use.

I think the details are pretty self explanatory but I do have to say that I adore this card. Even though the colors aren't super feminine, this is a girly card because of all the sparkle and bling! Sometimes, you gotta move away from the "traditional" girl colors but still make a girly card.

Thanks for visiting!

Birthday Butterfly

2011-03-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

This card is completely inspired by Julie's card. We've been having a ton of rain and I couldn't get enough light to do this picture justice but trust me when I say it's gorgeous and I absolutely love it!

All supplies used are from a muse|studio. The card base is a piece of French Roast cardstock and the patterned paper is a piece of Cherry polka dot carstock. I stamped the leaves from beautiful botanicals 2 onto some Sugar cardstock with Grass ink. The butterfly was inked up with sponge daubers in Papaya, Cranberry, and French Roast ink and then stamped near the leave. The sentiment is from contemporary greetings and is stamped with French Roast ink on the cardfront. I colored some clear twinkle stickers with a copic marker and then added them to the leaves. Finally, I tied some French Roast striped grosgrain ribbon around the front and put it all together.

Gosh, it feels good to get stampy again! Thanks for visiting.

Tuesday Trigger

2011-03-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

I absolutely loved the bright and happy colors of the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World and knew I had to play along this week. We've had a bunch of rain in the Bay Area and I'm so ready for Spring. These colors put a smile on my face and helped me face the gray, clouds, and torrential rain since I know it won't last forever.

All supplies are from a muse|studio. The card base is a piece of sage polka dot card stock and was obviously inspired by the polka dotted cupcake liners. I added papaya and orange cardstock to the bottom of the card base to match the yellow and orange background behind the cupcake liners. The golfer and sentiment are from swingin' day which is going to get a lot of use in this household since many members of my family are golfers. He's grounded with an oval from ovalicious. The golfer is stamped on the reverse side of a piece of orange cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with copic markers. I masked him off and then stamped the oval with grass ink which had been stamped off once to lighten the color up a little. He's about to hit the ball which is a pearl twinkle sticker. I stamped the sentiment in orange ink of the papaya cardstock and then stamped the golfer in orange ink on the envelope front to help bring it all together. The focal piece is popped up with foam adhesive after the corners were rounded. Finally, I rounded two of the corners of the card base. There you have it, easy peasy lemon squeezey! I hope this brightens up someone's day when it arrives in the mail.

Thanks for visiting!

Graphic Sunflower

2011-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

I had a little bit of time to play around with Friday's Free For All Challenge at SCS. It's been raining a lot in the Bay Area and I'm so ready for Spring and the sun. Friday's Free For All Challenge was to be inspired by the sun.

All supplies used are from a muse|studio. I absolutely love yellow and orange together and sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. I inked up the sunflower from Graphic Sunflowers with papaya and then rolled it in orange and stamped onto Sugar cardstock several times before reinking and stamping again. I outlined the petals of the flower with a quickie glue pen and then sprinkled on some diamond glitter. Smile is stamped with French Roast ink--what a yummy and rich brown color! The rhinestones are clear twinkle stickers that were colored brown with a copic marker. The corners were rounded and then the focal piece was matted on Orange cardstock that also has the corners rounded. This piece is popped up on the Papaya card base with foam dots. Finally, I rounded the bottom corners of the card base to finish it off.

I'm having so much fun playing with the items that came in my starter kit and just wish I'd have gotten the deluxe starter kit instead of the basic kit.

Thanks for visiting!

A•Muse|Studio

2011-03-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

A Muse has launched itself into a new venue called A•Muse|Studio. Their new business adventure and product line is elegant, sophisticated and fun offering a variety of cling rubber stamps and accessories. Just like their former product line - their new stamps, ribbons, paper, buttons (the list goes on!) are simply irresistible!

There are two ways you can join me in the fun

If you are interested in being a consultant:

by joining my team now you'll be at the start of what promises to be a fun and rewarding hobby adventure or side business with the potential to be as big as you want it to be.

It's a great way to set your own hours and earn money doing something you love. The starter kit deal is phenomenal right now - only $99! I'll be able to offer you support, design ideas, and more. To join my team, you will have to sign-up with A•Muse directly through their website. BUT ALSO need to contact me directly at kathat@pacbell.net - since we are in the early stages of all of this, I have to make contact on your behalf to mak

e you an official part of my team.

As a customer

You'll be rewarded for ordering through me as your consultant since I'll be able to take care of the details for you and offer you great incentives and gifts for doing so. In addition, as things settle down a bit and I finally unpack and slow down, I'll be active hosting a variety of workshops, parties, etc. that you can participate in with the biggest goal of letting you get away from it all and just have some crafty fun. I can even assist you in hosting your own party! My official A•Muse|Studio website will be open in April, but if you can't wait to get your hands on some new product, I can help you with orders now!

To request a catalogue, place an order, or for general inquiries just shoot me an email at kathat@pacbell.net.

This is a fabulous team with a top notch product line that I'm proud to be a part of! I hope you'll join me.

A Muse Studio

2011-03-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

So, if you're wondering if I'm still around, stamping and blogging, the answer is yes! I know I've been very sporadic about it and I plan to start blogging more often.

We've moved recently and it has been amazing! I love our new place and our neighborhood!!!!! Moving has helped me see how many things I have that are stamping and papercrafting related and I really feel that having

too much can sort of paralyze you--it gets overwhelming in a way and you just don't know where to get started.

When I saw that A Muse was making the change of selling through retail stores and going the catalog/home party based business, I decided I needed to take the plunge and signed up to be a consultant. A Muse is awesome and did you know that Julie Ebersole is their Director of Education? How could I not do it?

So, if you're interested in placing an order, want a catalog, or want to be a consultant, send me and email and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Happy Stamping!

Amuse Calendar Project

2010-09-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

2011 marks the 4th year of the amuse Calendar Project. Since it's inception, this project has raised over $11,500 for three different organizations - The Scleroderma Research Foundation, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Water 1st.

If you're looking to get crafty and need calendars--and who doesn't need a calendar? You should definitely check it out. For a small donation to a worthwhile cause, you'll get oodles of downloadable calendars that you can customize.

I can't wait to make my own cute little desk calendar as well as start making calendars as Christmas gift. With 3 kids, I have oodles of teachers and support providers who need gifts :-)

Check it out and get inspired here: 2011 Amuse Calen dar Project.

Winner!

2010-09-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone who visited and left comments this week. I had a lot of fun sharing some Unity with you and I really appreciate the comments you all left. I'm glad I've discovered some other blogs to browse this week :-)

JanetZ is the winner. Be sure to email eryn@unitystampco.com to claim your choice of one of the following Unity Kits:

Margarita Moments

Along for the Ride

Berry Good Life

Grow Yourself extraordinary

Growing in Unity, Day5

2010-09-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's the last day of my week in GIU. It's been a lot of fun and I'm glad I'm back blogging. I don't think I can commit to every day but I'll be back 2-3 times/week.

This is another card that the pic doesn't do justice to. I absolutely love the fonts and sayings in many of the Donna Downey kits from Unity. Here are the deets on the card: Cardstocks used are SU Crumb Cake and SU Naturals Ivory (hope that is still the name). Inks used are Versamark Dazzle Champagne,
Brilliance Graphite Black, and Versamagic Hint of Pesto. Ribbon is PTA Terracotta Tile Grosgrain. Rhinestones are BasicGrey.

The focal piece is die cut with a Spellbinders Labels 4 die from SU Naturals Ivory and then sprayed and misted with Glimmer Mist in an orange and yellow color (can't remember the exact names and can't find them on the glimmer mist site--think it's pineapple and tiger lily). The sentiment and leaves are from Unity Store Kit that I can't find on the website but here's the bigger version: http://unitystampco.com/stamps/2454-UK438A_The_Artist_in_You Sentiment is stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black and the tree/trunk image is stamped and stamped off wth Versamagic Hint of Pesto. The cardbase is stamped with the bigger image in Versamark Champage and I thought about clear embossing it but was going for a softer look.

I punched a slot out of the focal piece and spine of the card to thread the ribbon through and as much as I love PTI and it's grosgrain, I wish this ribbon was a wee bit smaller.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win a Unity Kit.

Growing in Unity, Day 4

2010-09-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

I know I said it yesterday but this week is flying by. It's been busy, fun, and hectic and I'm so looking forward to a family fun filled three day weekend!

I love coloring in the images from this Unity Kit, Berry Good Life. One of my biggest challenges with my Copics is coloring things that are red or pink. I get a lot of bleeding when I use reds and it's really bugging me. I started out with this image a couple times before I felt that I nailed it.

Here are the deets on this card. Cardstocks used are PTI Aqua Mist and Neenah Classic Solar White (which is my absolute favorite for Copic coloring at this time). Patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety Collection--another source of patterned paper I need to use and stop hoarding! Buttons are PTI Pure Poppy Vintage Buttons and ribbon is PTI Pure Poppy Satin.

The image from Unity's Berry Good Life was stamped onto Neenah Classic Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored in with Copics and Spica Glitter Pens. The background was airbrushed with a Copic BV000 and air can. . .I think it's the D60 which has the little screw on thing on top. . .and it's way cuter in real life but since I'm taking pics at night with no real light, you're missing a few details. I rounded all the corners and bottom corners on the card base with my corner chomper. The focal image is popped up with dimensionals. I struggled to tie an semi neat and nowhere near bow (note to self, tie the bow before you cut the ribbon!) and then added 3 buttons to the bottom. To finish off, I'll line the inside of the card with more white cardstock, a strip of patterned paper, and then a handwritten note.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to leave me some love for your chance to win a Unity Kit--one of them might be Berry Good Life which I used here. Be sure to come back tomorrow for my last day of GIU.

Growing in Unity, Day 3

2010-09-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

This week is flying by! Today is my kid's first day back to school. I cannot believe I'm now the mom of a middle schooler! How did my baby boy grow to be almost as tall as me and starting middle school? He's beyond excited and I'm excited for him. It's going to be odd not going to school with the kids this year. I really liked being the principal of their school and having all three in one place made life a lot easier. It's going to be crazy this year with the kids in two different places and me going to a different place as well but we'll manage.

Enough about me. . .you came to see some Unity, right? Today's card was for UAC #16. I love ATCs and couldn't wait to play along with this challenge. Since I'm pretty busy, I like to have a stash of ATCs on hand so that I have a quick focal point for a card for those days when I need one and don't have time to make it. This was a fun card to make and the pic doesn't do it justice.

Here are the details: Cardstocks used are PTI White & Lemon Tart as well as SU Basic Black. The patterned paper is from my BasicGrey Origins 6X6 pad--love this paper and have been hoarding it since I don't want to use it all up. Buttons are PTI Lemon Tart, Plum Pudding, and Spring Moss vintage buttons. After folding and scoring the white cardbase, I embossed the Lemon Tart piece with my Tim Holtz Sizzix Woodgrain embossing folder. Oh my! What deep impressions this embossing folder left. I almost didn't want to cover it up. This piece is popped up on dimensionals. I added the patterned paper and a small strip of black cardstock which had been punched with an EKSuccess Dotted Scallop Edge punch. I added a thin strip of Be Creative Double-Stick tape and sprinkled on some Doodlebug Designs black glitter. It's hard to see but it's so cute in real life. My ATC is another piece of the BG Origins patterned paper. I stamped the image from Unity's March KOM {Rockin' It Unity Style} with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on PTI White and then colored in the leaves with Copics. This piece is matted on SU Basic Black. I added the buttons and then rounded the corners of the ATC. To finish off the card, I mounted the ATC to the cardbase with dimensionals. I absolutely {heart} this card and it's going into my stash that I hoard since I can't bear to part with it :-)

Thanks for visiting and be sure to leave a comment to let me know you dropped in and be entered into a drawing to win a Unity Kit. Be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I've got in store for you.

Growing in Unity, Day 2

2010-08-31T03:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are with my 2nd day of Growing in Unity. Thanks to all of you who visited and left comments yesterday.

I made this card for Mojo Monday 154. I rarely make square cards so this was a bit of a stretch for me. I don't like to pay extra postage so this one measures 4" by 4" and will still fit in a regular envelope.

Here are the details. Cardstocks used are SU Kraft. . .um, I mean Crumbcake, PTI Rustic Cream, Hawaiian Shores, and Smokey Shadow. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Max & Whiskers collection. The little bit of ric rac is PTI Black Felt that I die cut using my ric rac die. Stamps used are from Unity's February 2010 KOM {...nothing but blue skies}. I stamped the bird image onto PTI Rustic Cream and colored it in with Copics and Spica glitter pens. I really like how this one turned out and it's always good to have an extra card around to add to my stash.

Be sure to let me know you visited by leaving a comment and come back again tomorrow to see what else I've got in store for you. Thanks for visiting!

Growing in Unity, Day 1

2010-08-30T02:45:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be in the Unity spotlight this week. I hope you all had a chance to check out Tracy's creations last week. She really rocked it!

I know it's been forever since I've blogged but one of my resolutions of the new year is to get back into it. Since I'm in education, the new year always starts in the Fall for me.

I kind of fell off the blogging bandwagon since work was a little stressful. I just started a new job and don't expect it to be less stressful but since stampin has been my stress relief, I might as well make the most of it :-)

Today's card is a clean and simple one. I find CAS hard to pull off but once I got this one done, I was bouncing in my seat since it worked! Don't ask me how many times I had to stamp the image to get it straight and in the right spot--one of these days I'll get over my Stampamajig fear and maybe I won't waste so much cardstock. Here's the deets on the card. The image is from Unity's July Kit of the Month, Happily Ever After. Cardstocks used are PTI's White and Stampin Up's Basic Black. Ink is PTI Fresh Snow. Ribbon is PTI Raspberry Fizz satin. The corners of the cardbase and black layered are rounded with my Corner Chomper. I colored in a few of the berries on the tree with Smooch Sassy Pink to match the ribbon. This card was made for the Unity Addict's Challenge #15: Black and White with a POP of color. I knew when I saw this challenge I had to do it since I looooooooooooove how hot pink just pops off black and white.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back tomorrow.

Bittersweet Ketto

2009-08-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I hope that today is a great day for you. We're cooling down a bit in the Bay Area but overall it's still pretty nice out. School starts in less than 2 weeks now--can you believe it?

Here's a card I made for a birthday party dd went to recently. She's in a button phase and asks me to use "lots and lots of buttons" when I make cards so I decided to oblige her.

Here are the details on the card. Cardstocks used were SU Soft Suede, & Melon Mambo as well as Neenah Classic Cream. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Bittersweet collection. Buttons are Making Memories.

Tatiana Ketto is stamped onto Neenah Classic Cream in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with Copics and Spica glitter pens. I have a lot of trouble when I use reds and pinks while coloring with Copics--they inevitably bleed outside of the lines so I use a lot of colorless blender to try to push it back. Any idea why it happens with those 2 colors? I grounded her with an Amuse Oval that was stamped in Memento Desert Sand. The sentiment is from SU's Amazing to Zany and stamped with Melon Mambo ink. Everything else should be straightforward but feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Wisteria Tulips

2009-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

I made this one for one of dh's coworkers. I hope that she finds comfort in it and knows that he's thinking about her and her family.

Sympathy cards are always really hard for me to make. I want them to be elegant but tasteful and not over the top. I think this one does the trick.

Cardstocks used were SU Soft Sky (retired) and Neenah Solar White. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Wisteria collection--this paper is simply beautiful and I didn't want to cover too much of it up. I stamped the tulips from PTI's Wishing You onto Neenah Solar White with Versamagic Purple Hydrangea, Aspen Mist, and Aloe Vera. The sentiment from the same set is stamped over one of the stems in PTI's True Black. I then cut and embossed it with one of the Labels One Nestabilities and attached it to the cardfront with Soft Sky striped grosgrain and dimensionals. I finished it off with three purple dewdrops and that's it.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come by again soon!

Colorful Monsters

2009-08-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

As soon as I finished this card, I had a JanTink moment and had to exclaim "YILM!" ( also known as yes, I love myself in JanTink speak). I think this is my favorite card that I have made in quite some time and wish the pic actually showed just how awesome it really is. This is going to one of my 7 yo's friends for his birthday. I hope he likes it :-)

Here are the details on the card. Cardstocks used are SU Bermuda Bay, Green Galore, and Neenah Solar White. Patterned Paper and brads are from BasicGrey's Lime Rickey collection. Stamps are from October Afternoon's Nite Lite clear set. Inks used are Memento Tuxedo Black, Brilliance Sunflower Yellow, and Brilliance Lightning Black. Copics and Spica glitter pens were used to color in the monsters. The corners were rounded with my SU corner rounder and the holes on the green layer were punched with an EK Success Swiss Cheese border punch.

I stamped the monsters on the Neenah Solar White in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored them in with Copics. After matting it on the Green Galore layer and adding the brads, I fiddled with how I wanted it on the card front since if it was straight, it would be a little too long. I decided to angle it slightly and then added the brads and popped it up on dimensionals. It was still missing a little something so I stamped the arrow onto Neenah Solar White with Brilliance Sunflower Yellow and then stamped the word over it in Brilliance Lightning Black, cut it out, and popped it up on dimensionals as well.

When I was finished, I was bouncing with excitement since it turned out pretty stinking cute! My 7 yo keeps asking to look at it and I'm fairly certain he wants to keep it for himself instead of giving it to his friend.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come by again soon!

Cupcake invites

2009-08-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

My daughter turns 5 at the end of the month and here are the invitations I made for her party. I had to do 2 different colors because she wanted the boys to have blue ones and the girls to have pink ones. I kept them fairly simple since I had to make a bunch of them but I do like how they turned out.

Here are the details. Cardstocks used were SU Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, and Naturals White. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Lemonade collection. Ink is Versafine Onyx Black. I did a few in Memento Tuxedo Black and didn't get as rich and crisp of a black as I did with the Versafine so I'm wondering if I need to reink my Memento pad or if the Versafine is just a deeper black color.

I used my Hero Arts cupca ke set for this one and stamped the cupcake onto both Naturals White and the patterned paper. I paper pieced the cupcake wrapper since I knew that I wasn't going to color in 24 cupcakes. The tops of the cupcakes are colored in with a combination of Pearlescent Watercolors and Smooch so they're nice and shimmery. The cupcakes are cut out and popped up on top of dimensionals on Naturals White which is matted with Basic Black for a little pop. It's hard to see but I stamped a row of circles from PTI's Background Basics: Retro on the cardfront in Versamark Frost Dazzle before I popped up the focal piece on dimensionals. It's pretty subtle but adds a nice effect.

So there you have it--something pretty easy to mass produce but still packs a nice wow since it's got the shimmer :-)

Thanks for visiting and come by again soon.

Button Trees

2009-08-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here's another card I made with PTI's Everyday Button Bits. The images in this set are so darn cute! I made this for my boss who recently injured himself--hope he's feeling better soon.

Here are the deets on the card: Cardstocks used are PTI's New Leaf, Scarlet Jewel, and Dark Chocolate Bitty Dots as well as SU Naturals White. Inks used are PTI New Leaf, Dark Chocolate, and Fresh Snow. Buttons are New Leaf Vintage Buttons and ribbon is Satin Scarlet Jewel. If you like buttons, I recommend that you get some from PTI--there are so many different gorgeous buttons in each bag that they send you. The main image is popped up on dimensionals but other than that, it should all be self explanatory.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Cherry Buttons

2009-08-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today's my first day back to work but I just wanted to share a little of what I did over my summer break. Fortunately, I got some card making done and was able to preschedule some blog posts since I know my free time is going to be much more limited now. This card is going to a really super sweet person who RAK'ed me recently.

I love, love, love PTI's Everyday Button Bits! I will be reaching for this set alot! I saved my last piece of the Cherry paper from BasicGrey's Lemonade collection just for this card :-)

Here are the deets: Cardstocks used are PTI New Leaf, Berry Sorbet, and Scarlet Jewel along with SU Naturals White. Patterned Paper comes from BasicGrey's Lemonade collection. Inks used are PTI New Leaf, True Black, and Scarlet Jewel. Buttons are PTI Berry Sorbet and ribbon is PTI New Leaf Top Notch Twill. After stamping the stem/leaves and sentiment on Naturals White, I cut and embossed it with a Labels Three Nestability and then mounted it on a piece of Scarlet Jewel which is also cut and embossed with anothe die from the set. The buttons are attached with mini glue dots and this piece is popped up on the cardfront with dimensionals.

I know that I already said that I love this set but one of the things I love the most is the sentiments in this set--I love the fonts used and think they're super cute when they're inked up in different colors. Since most of my PTI inks are the cubes and I have many different dewdrops (Memento, Versamagic, Brilliance) I see many multicolored sentiments coming in the future. I also love that I have an excuse to use more buttons on my cards!!!!! I love the PTI Vintage Buttons and think my dd does as well--she takes them from the little baggies and puts them in containers for me and does NOT want my help :-) Here's a little snippet of my buttons. I do admit that it bothers me that all of my jars don't match and I'm going to change the containers that have the colored lid and put those buttons into containers that match so that they're all pretty and coordinated for me to look at when I'm stamping. You can see a teeny bit of my messy area since I had just finished doing some marathon stamping before I snapped this pic.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Blue Monster

2009-08-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

I really, really love these little monsters from October Afternoon! They are so much fun to color and with 2 boys, they're going to get a lot of use in this household.

This is another pretty simple and straightforward card but you know that's my style. Here are the deets: Cardstocks used are SU Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango (both retired) and Neenah Solar White. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Marrakech collection. Inks used were Memento Tuxedo Black and PTI Fresh Snow.

The little guy is stamped on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with Copics and Spica Glitter pens. I went over his eyes and teeth with a white Souffle pen and in hindisght, I probably wouldn't have done it again since it didn't turn out exactly like I was thinking it would when I did it. He's cut out with one of the Nesties from the Labels Four set and mounted on another cut and embossed piece in Tangerine Tango. The sentiment from the same set is stamped on the bottom of the card in PTI Fresh Snow--love that white!

Since this is a kid card, I kept it fairly simple and didn't use too many embellishments since I know it probably won't be saved.

Thanks for visiting!

Domain Name issues

2009-08-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I'm going back to the blogspot domain name: www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com

Even though I'd registered it without the blogspot, it's pointing to a different site.

Weird, since it's not like I have thousands of readers/followers. Hopefully, it's just a mistake.

Boys will be boys

2009-08-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do stamp! I've just been pretty busy and haven't blogged much lately but plan to rectify that right now. I've got a bunch of stuff photographed and will preschedule some blog posts for your viewing pleasure :-) That is if all of my readers haven't disappeared since it's been forever since I've shared with all of you.

I made this card for my 10 yo. He really liked how it turned out. The image and sentiment are from Elzybells Boys will be boys stamp set and are both stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah Solar White. The little guy is colored in with Copics and Spica Glitter pens--I added the DGK to his shirt since it's my son's favorite skateboard company. He's cut out and embossed with a circle Nestability and mounted on SU Basic Gray which is cut out with my Nesties. Other cardstocks used are SU Tangerine Tango (retired) and Summer Sun. Patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Ambrosia collection. I think everything else is pretty self explanatory but leave me a message if you've got some questions.

Easy Peasy and just my style! Thanks for visiting!

Cleaning Up

2009-07-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, I know it's been awhile since I've blogged. I've been stamping when I can but the blogging has fallen by the wayside a little. I started to lose the joy of doing it when for a little bit. It's hard when you have a job that is more public and people start to scrutinize your personal life and make some judgements, right or wrong.

Anyway, I'm cleaning out the stamp room and found some stuff that is new and unused that needs to go to a new home. Let me know if you're interested. Prices are fairly flexible.

SU 2009 Retired 12X12 In Color Textured Cardstock (NIP) $11.95
SU Retired DSP Good Morning Sunshine (NIP) $9.95
SU Retired DSP Urban Garden (NIP) $9.95
SU Retired Simply Scrapping Kit Island Blossom (NIP) $19.95
SU Retired Simply Scrapping Kit In Full Bloom (NIP) $19.95
SU Retired Accordion Book Kit (neutrals-NIP) $9.95
SU Retired Saddle Stitch Book Kit (neutrals-NIP) $9.95

PTI Borders & Corners-Circle (never used, in CD case) $20

I'm published!!!!!!

2009-05-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Woohoooooo!!!!!!

I got a copy of The Stamper's Sampler Catch Up Issue in the mail yesterday and was a little baffled since I didn't remember ordering it--then it hit me!!!!! I'm published!!!!!!! I submitted a few cards last summer and one of them made the catch up issue.

I'm on p 35 and soooooooooooooo excited right now! I've been in a bit of a stamping slump since I've been super busy at work and my parents were visiting from out of the country for awhile but now I'm so motivated to stamp again.

Tim Holtz, Part 2

2009-04-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

So, Tim posted on his blog today about his weekend in Berkeley and posted a couple links to others who took the class. Lo and behold, I saw myself :-)

Check it out!!!!! Here's Tim's update: http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/thank-you-scrapbook-territory.html and you can see a tiny bit of me working in the 16th picture on Susan's blog: http://theartfulmama.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-with-tim.html

I {heart} Tim Holtz

2009-04-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know it's been forever since I've blogged and I did say that I wasn't going to leave you all hanging after my last blogging break. . .

What can I say? Life got crazy :-) My parents have been visiting from Thailand and have sort of taken over my stamping area which makes it a little harder for me to get in and play with my stuff. Work has been busy--I love my job which makes it ok but it truly has been really busy around here the last couple of months and as we prepare to wrap up the school year and plan for the Fall, I don't see it slowing down much.

I have done some stamping and I'll have to edit and post those pics for you in the next couple days. One of the highlights of last weekend for me was taking a class with Tim Holtz at my LSS. If you ever get a chance to take a class with Tim, I highly recommend it!!!!! He is just the nicest guy and I learned so much from him. The class I took was Generation Grunge and I got to get grungey and make a grunge book. I'm really happy with the way mine turned out and the 4 hours of class just flew by. I really wish I had the chance to take more of his classes when he was out here but I'm so happy that I got to take the one class that I really wanted to take.

Thanks for visiting and I promise to be back with some stamped goodies before the end of the month :-)

Silent Auction Donation

2009-02-06T23:04:00.000-08:00

I made 2 different sets of 6 cards for the PTA's Silent Auction. I wasn't going to do it since it feels a little weird to me for a few reasons. Part of me doesn't feel that my cards are that amazing--you know what I mean? Don't get me wrong, I know they don't suck but are they really good enough that people would bid on them? Actually pay money for them? My friend suggested I do it and thinks that they'll definitely sell since they're made by *me*. Someone will bid on the principal's cards, right?

Both sets contain cards that are all pretty similar to each other so it made it pretty easy to crank out 6 at a time. Set #1 uses PTI's Teacher's Apple. Cardstocks used were Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, and SU Naturals White. The patterned paper is BasicGrey's Offbeat collection (see, I told you I love this paper). Inks used were Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, and Versafine Onyx Black. Ribbon is Pure Poppy Satin. These cards are pretty self explanatory but I like how this set turned out. My dd wanted to help really badly and her job was to check the apples out and decide if they looked ok or needed to be restamped :-) She was a little more of a perfectionist than I was when it came to picking out the best apples for the cards. I didn't decorate the envelopes but did add some Naturals Ivory cardstock and a strip of matching patterned paper to the inside of the card to finish it up. All 6 cards and envelopes are packaged up in one of PTI's Clearly Creative Card Boxes.

Set #2 uses PTI's Beautiful Blooms. The cardbase is PTI's Stamper's Select White and this is as close to a one layer card as I get :-) Inks used were pretty much the whole rainbox of PTI's inks: Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Lavendar Moon, Plum Pudding, Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Berry Sorbet, Raspberry Fizz, and Sweet Blush as well as Palette Hybrid Noir. A few flowers are popped up on dimensionals and the glitter used is Doodlebug Designs Sugar Coating glitter. All ribbon is PTI as well. The popped up flowers and sentiment are stamped on SU Whisper White.

PTI Over the Rainbow Challenge

2009-02-06T20:10:00.000-08:00

If you follow my blog at all, you know how much I love Papertrey Ink. Nichole is a genius and I've admired her work since I started stamping. Yesterday, she posted a challenge with the chance to win over $100 worth of PTI cardstock. You know that I couldn't pass up the chance to play along, especially since it's such a great challenge. We were supposed to use Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, and Ocean Tides to create a project and then link up to her blog post. These colors are gorgeous together and I'm pretty happy with what I made.

I used Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, and Pure Poppy cardstocks as well as SU's Naturals Ivory. The patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Offbeat collection which is my current favorite. I popped into my LSS earlier today and they didn't have anymore 6X6 pads of this paper and I don't know what I'll do when I completely run out (they did have Porcelain and Marrakech which I can't wait to play with). The flowers and little owl from Wise Owl were stamped onto Naturals Ivory in Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ocean Tides, and Memento Tuxedo Black. I colored the owl in with Copics and then added some white Doodlebug Crushed Velvet to his belly. The sentiment, which is also from the same set,is inked up with Memento Tuxedo Black and Versamagic Red Magic-I only have the full size Pure Poppy pad which made it difficult to selectively ink the word I wanted and I'm too lazy to Stampamajig it :-)-and stamped onto SU Vellum cardstock. I used a square punch on the end of the strip to make the little tail and then adhered this over the flower stems. I finished up with some Making Memories buttons that are tied off with SU Linen Thread.

Tah Dah! All done! I love when something I have in my head works out.

Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon.

Bright Elzybells

2009-02-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

We're going to a 1st birthday party for our friend's daughter this weekend and I made this card for her. All I can say is "Wow, it's pretty bright!" I knew I wanted to play around with circles, use an Elzybelle, and my BasicGrey Euphoria paper and this is what I came up with.

I used Pixie Pink, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, and Neenah Solar White cardstocks as well as BasicGrey Euphoria paper on this card. All the circles are cut out with Nestabilities. I used Memento Tuxedo Black and Angel Pink inks. I inked up my Elzybells Stardust and Moonbeams set and colored the girl in with Copics and Spica Glitter pens. The Primas are from my stash and have a dot of Stickles in the center. It's hard to see but there is also Stickles on the heart and swirl underneath the sentiment.

This card was really fun to make and my dd really wants it for herself :-) I may have to make one for her. Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Bittersweet SFYTT

2009-02-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

I hope you all are enjoying Superbowl Sunday! I'm battling a little cold and hope that I feel better soon--dh is travelling this week so I'm flying solo with the kidlets. I had a little time yesterday to play along with Jen's SFYTT. I was pretty excited when I looked at it but it was actually much more difficult than I thought it would be once I got started. I thought about giving this to dh for Valentine's Day but it seems a little too feminine so I'll have to try again for him.

I used PTI's Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fizz cardstocks as well as Neenah Solar White. The patterned paper is BasicGrey's Bittersweet. I stamped the images from TCP's Puppy Love onto the Neenah Solar White in Memento Tuxedo Black and PTI's Raspberry Fizz, colored them in with Copics, and added some Shimmerz to a few parts (wings & hearts). These are punched out, matted on Raspberry Fizz, and popped up on dimensionals. The ribbon is PTI's Raspberry Fizz Satin and the brads are from the SU Retired Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware.

Thanks for visiting! I've got a long day on Monday but hope to get back into my stamping room again later on in the week :-)

Amazingly Fast Shipping!!!!!!!

2009-01-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to point you all to the Shimmerz Blog and Store. I've been looking at Shimmerz since they came out and was really hoping my LSS would start carrying them and I could look at them in person before I got some. Well, they haven't started carrying them and I decided I'd go ahead and place a small order since they're relatively inexpensive. I ordered 3 on Sunday, got a shipping notice that day, and they were on my doorstep on Wednesday!!!!!!! Unfortunately, I got home rather late last night and didn't get to play but plan on leaving work at a reasonable hour today and will play with them later. I can't wait and have a feeling I'm going to need more colors :-)

Thanks for visiting!

A Poochie SFYTT

2009-01-26T18:35:00.000-08:00

You know that I love Jen's sketches and this one is pretty cool and I couldn't wait to give it a try of my own. With 3 kids, I'm always needing a birthday card so I decided to go with some bright and kid friendly colors for this one. I'm still on a Baja Breeze kick and paired it with Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red for this card. The colors are a great match with the patterned papers from BasicGrey's Offbeat Collection. I'm so addicted to all the wonderful 6X6 paper pads from BasicGrey--they are so perfect for card makers!

Poochie, the space ship, and the sentiment are from The Cat's Pajamas It's a Mod, Mod World clear set and are stamped on Confetti White with Versafine Onyx Black. I added a teeny bit of red Spica Glitter pen to the top of the ship and went over the glass area with a Clear Sakura Glaze pen. I used my Circle Nesties, SU's photo corner and scallop edge punches, some Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon, and a button from Making Memories. I really like this card and almost don't want to give it away. Then again, it does me no good to just keep it for myself now, does it?

Thanks for visiting!

FS103

2009-01-25T18:10:00.000-08:00

I had a little time to play along in today's FS Challenge at SCS. I was inspired by this card of Vicky's. I changed the Cuttlebug folder, stamp, ribbon, and used dewdrops. I also added some liquid pearls and stickles. Easy peasy lemon squeezy--I have another card to add to my stash.

Here are the deets: Card base is shimmery white and other cardstocks used were Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette. I used the Floral Fantasy embossing folder on the lower half of the Pink Pirouette piece and stamped the branch from Stem Silhouettes on the top in Chocolate Chip. I sponged the edges and went over the embossed area with Tattered Rose Distress Ink. I tied some Chocolate Taffeta around this and matted it on a piece of Chocolate Chip that is edged in Versamagic Pixie Dust. After I attached this piece to the cardbase, I added some White Opal Liquid Pearls and Cotton Candy Stickles to the branches. Finally, I added 3 dew drops underneath the ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!

Urban Floral Frenzy

2009-01-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

How is everyone doing today? This card did not end up anywhere near what I was thinking of when I started to stamp. I went in a completely different direction than my original thoughts but like the end result so much better than what I originally planned to do. It's nice when I have some time to just play around and stamp for fun.

Cardstocks used are PTI's Pure Poppy and Aqua Mist, SU Whisper White and Basic Black, and BasicGrey Urban Prairie patterned paper. The flowers from PTI's Floral Frenzy are stamped onto the Whisper White with Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, and Ripe Avocado Pallette Hybrid ink--these inks work so great with the PTI clear stamps!!!!! The sentiment from the same set is stamped with Pallette Hybrid Noir. All the squares are cute out with my Square and Scalloped Square Nestabilites and are mounted to the card front with dimensionals. The ribbon is PTI's Pure Poppy Satin ribbon. I struggled with it a bit since I was trying to tie a bow and just gave up and tied a knot. I'm seriously bow impaired right now but my plan is to keep trying and eventually I'll get it.

The inside is decorated to match as well but I didn't get a pic of it. Another heavy, multi-layer card!

Thanks for visiting!

Something Old, Something New

2009-01-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

I got this Bella image RAK'ed to me awhile ago and colored it in the car on one of our trips to LA. While I was straightening things up, I found it and decided it needed to be made into a card instead of just being neglected :-) I apologize in advance for not letting you know which Copic colors are used but I can't remember since it was awhile ago and we were in the car which also explains why the coloring isn't *perfect*.

Cardstock used was Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze, Brushed Silver, and Whisper White. The patterned paper is from the Groovy Guava Prints collection. I grounded the Bellas with one of my amuse clear Essential Ovals with Memento London Fog--I'm so glad that I got this set since there are several ovals of various sizes!!!! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages which is also stamped with Memento London Fog-black just seemed too dark with these soft colors. This is cut out with Circle and Scalloped CircleNestabilities and popped up on dimensionals. The rhinestones are Amuse Micro Twinkle stickers that I've had for awhile. Flower and button are Making Memories.

A pretty simple card which makes me happy! Ok, it's taken me awhile to get into this year's SU In Colors but now I'm finding that I cannot put Baja Breeze away. I adore this color and it goes so well with so many different colors. I'm going to be said to see it retire this summer so I think I need to get my use out of it before it's gone forever.

Thanks for visiting!

Yes, We Can!!!!!

2009-01-20T07:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Inauguration Day to you all! I'm so excited about what the future holds for our country. Barack Obama has a long road ahead of him with the troubles that face our country currently but I'm confident that we'll pull through. I love that I can tell my children that they can indeed be whatever they want to be-even the President!!!!!

So, no matter what your political affiliation or whoever you voted for, please join me in celebrating the inauguration of our 44th President!

2 Challenges, 1 Card

2009-01-19T18:07:00.000-08:00

I love 3 day weekends! It feels like Sunday to me. This is a very exciting week with the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday today and the Inauguration tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that our assembly will go well in the afternoon and the kids will be able to see the inauguration--it would be much better to be able to get a live feed at school but no local TV access and the stern warning to not stream it since if we all did Districtwide, it would crash the server, makes it hard to do.

Anyway, on to the card I made :-) When I saw that Lori Craig was this

week's Featured Stamper at SCS, I was determined to play along. Lori's work is awesome!!! I picked this card to CASE. Since I still had my BasicGrey Granola pad out, I also decided to do last Tuesday's Color Challenge as well. So, I kept the same layout that Lori did but swapped out the colors and stamps used. Instead of a little rope of hemp in the corner of the focal piece, I popped mine up on top of a few flowers. Cardstock used was Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, and Kraft. The image from Pocket Silhouettes is stamped in NQN on the Kraft and cut and embossed with my Labels Two Nestability. Buttons and flowers are from Making Memories Poolside Buttons and Blossoms box and the ribbon is Kraft Taffeta. I sprayed the whole card and the Kraft piece with Copper Glimmer Mist and dried it with a heat gun. Finally, I covered the Kraft piece with Ranger's Crackle Accents (Lori used the Cracked Glass technique on hers). This piece is attached to the card front with dimensionals. I also decorated the inside of the card as well. I love doing this to use up my little snippets of DP but dang, my cards are getting heavy since they have so many layers now :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Wise Granola Owls

2009-01-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Did you think I was going to disappear again? Hah--have no fear, I'll still be here. There's no way I'm stamping and posting everyday but since I've started getting my stamps inky again, I have no plans to go on hiatus again in the near future.

I made this card this morning and I really like how it turned out!!!!!! This card is for one of my kidlet's friends--we had a birthday party to go to today and you know my mojo works best under pressure so I had to do it before we walked out the door. Even though it doesn't look like a typical kid birthday card, the recipient isn't your typical kid so I think it will really be appreciated.

So, here are the details. Cardstocks used were PTI Ocean Tides, SU Naturals Ivory, and SU Basic Gray. The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Granola collection--another one that I love! Who am I kidding, I love all the BasicGrey papers, especially in the 6X6 pads! Stamps are from Wise Owl by Papertrey Ink.

I stamped the owl onto Naturals Ivory with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored him in with Copics, covered his belly with some Doodlebug Designs Crushed Velvet flock, and then cut him out. I'm ashamed to admit that I bought this set right when it released and this is the first time that I inked it up. My 9 yo was with me when I made this card and I let him pick out the eyes and belly for the owl :-) The owl is mounted on dimensionals to some ovals that are cut and embossed with my Petite Oval and Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities. The sentiment is from the same set--I just went over the word hoot with a Copic marker for a little pop and then pierced a few holes under the word birthday. This is popped up on dimensionals. Buttons are from my Making Memories Poolside Blossom and Button Box. I found out about this cool little jar of flowers and buttons from Kristina Werner and got the Poolside and Rouge collections at my LSS--I seriously want the other colors since the jars are so stinking cute but I'm doing the best I can to exercise restraint right now. The last little bit to the card is the piercing on the side. I'll admit, I had to do this since I screwed up when I was scoring my cardbase--I did it in the wrong place and almost grabbed another piece of cardstock to start over but decide to just go with it and use the score line. It's right next to the patterned paper and then the piercing line is along the edge--genius!!!!! It's true when they say that there are no mistakes in stamping since it's just a reason to find a way to fix it (or something like that). Finally, I had to fancy up the inside since my 9yo also wanted me to use one of the small owls so to oblige him, I stamped it inside the card with PTI's Perfect Match Ocean Tides ink.

Whew, I just realized I've been blabbing up a storm! Thanks for visiting and come back again soon.

SFYTT

2009-01-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

I {heart} Jen's sketches and always plan to play along when she does her Sketch For You To Try but as you all know, I've had limited stamping time lately. Well, I feel like I'm back. I got to spend a lot of time stamping over the past few days and when I saw Jen's latest sketch, I knew that I just had to try it out. I love, love, love how this card turned out. I cannot tell you how many times I stamped, colored, and circular filed this image because I couldn't get it right--the color I wanted the skirt wasn't working so I ended up paper piecing it instead.

Here are the details. The card base is Pink Pirouette and other card stock used was Rose Red, Mellow Moss, and Neenah Solar White. The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Bittersweet collection and the edge was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. I also used matching BasicGrey Glazed Brads on the card. I stamped Mwahbella on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored her in with Copics, and then paper pieced her skirt. The heart on her purse, trim on her shirt, and ribbon in her hair are highlighted with a Pink Spica Glitter pen.

I grounded her with an amuse oval from the Essential Ovals set that was inked in Pink Pirouette. She's matted on Rose Red and attached to the front of the card. I punched circles out of Mellow Moss and Rose Red, attached the BasicGrey brads, and then popped them up on dimensionals. I used my Large and Small Star punch to punch out some stars, stamped the sentiment from PTI's Mixed Messages with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah Solar White, punched this out, and attached them all together. This is also popped up on dimensionals.

Tah-dah!!!!!! All done. I'm sending this one off to Julie at Dallas Baptist University as my entry for Jen's Massive Blog Tart giveaway. If you don't know what it is, you must check out her blog entry here. All you've got to do is make a card to donate to Dallas Baptist University's International Student Services Department and let her know and you may be the lucky winner of over $450 worth of goodies.

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration Challenges

2009-01-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today's Inspiration Challenge at SCS was very inspiring :-) It was to use tenugui to inspire us. I found two different things to inspire me and made two very different cards. For the first card, I was inspired by this piece. It ended up going in a different direction but I'm glad that I stretched myself and did it. The card base is Pink Passion and the patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Euphoria collection. I started out by taking a piece of glossy white cardstock and brayering it with my retired SU Celebration Spectrum pad. Then I stamped the flowers from Upsy Daisy on it in Versamark and embossed it with Clear EP. After I did this, I brayered over it with Basic Black and then wiped the ink off of the embossed portion. My poor brayer is filthy!!!!!! Even Ultra Clean is not helping right now. I and embossed this with a rectangle Nestability and matted it on a piece of Lovely Lilac that is cut and embossed with a scalloped rectangle Nestability. I adhered this piece to the front of the card over a piece of purple grosgrain. I stamped the circle friend from PTI's Floral Frenzy on Whisper White with Versamagic Pretty Petunia and then attached it to the front of the card with some Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware. I finished the card off with 3 circle Ice Brads. This card is very bright!!! Then again, it was a gorgeous and sunny day in the Bay Area.

The second card came together really quickly for me and was more up my alley and in my comfort zone than the first card. Here's what inspired it. I used Whisper White, River Rock, and Black for this one. I embossed a piece of Whisper White with my Distressed Stripes embossing folder and then rubbed Versamagic Wheat over the embossed portion. I distressed the edges then I adhered this to the card base with dimensionals. I stamped the grassy image from Inspired by Nature in Versamagic Wheat and then stamped the sentiment from All Holidays over it in Versamagic Midnight Black over it. This is cut and embossed with a circle Nestability and layed on Black and River Rock circles that are also cut and embossed with my Nesties. I attached this to the front with dimensionals. Finally, I stamped the bird from Always in Versamagic Wheat on Whisper White and cut it out. It's also on dimensionals. It seemed like it needed a little something else so I added 3 dewdrops to the bottom. I really, really, really like this card :-)

Thanks for visiting! I don't remember the last time I got the chance to play around with my stuff for as long as I did today and since I just noticed that the Featured Stamper Challenge is up at SCS and dh is playing his new Call of Duty game, I may go do a little more stamping.

The winner is. . . .

2009-01-09T21:40:00.000-08:00

J's Place said...: I would love to be a check in buddy. I need to lose about 150 lbs and I will be 40 April 30, 2009. I will only be able to get about 25-30 lbs off by then but I am trying hard. I need to get 15 or so lbs off my son too. I think your blog is fabulous. I also intend to update my blog more and stamp more.

Hugs
Jaunice Minor
Utah; January 4, 2009 11:07 AM

Congrats Jaunice! Send me your snail mail addy and I'll get your goodies out to you in the mail.

Bittersweet Wedding

2009-01-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

So, a couple of my teachers got engaged over the holiday break and I wanted to make them a card to congratulate them. They're both planning their weddings for later in the summer and I'm amazed at how they're going to pull it off so quickly!

This card gave me a chance to play with some new goodies. I got my PTI order and had to break open the new Raspberry Fizz cardstock--isn't it gorgeous? This is a color I think I'll be reaching for a lot! I also used SU Shimmery White and the patterned paper comes from my new BasicGrey 6x6 Bittersweet pad--yummy paper! The image is from amuse and is stamped on the Shimmery White with Versafine Onyx Black. I highlighted the bride's dress with a teeny bit of a Copic Marker and Doodlebug Sugar Coating Glitter--mine is the variety pack but I think the color is called Lily White. This image is cut out with my Labels One Nesties and mounted on a piece of patterned paper that was cut and embossed. The ribbon is from SU-I think it's the Theater Ribbon Originals pack and then I finished it off with three pink self-adhesive pearls. There you have it!

Speaking of amuse, anyone have any tips or pointers on using those teeny images? I love this image and think it's really sweet but just wonder if it gets a little lost on this card. When I look at this card, the image fits perfectly. Does this mean that I've got to start using my amuse images on notecards or cards that are sized smaller than an A2?

Finally, don't forget that I've still got blog candy up for grabs. Thanks for visiting!

A twofer challenge

2009-01-07T22:53:00.000-08:00

I combined yesterday's color challenge and today's sketch challenge at SCS for this one. I don't think I would have put these colors together on their own but I guess that's why it's a challenge. However, with 3 kids, there's always a birthday party coming up and the colors screamed "boy" to me.

Here are the details. Cardstock used was Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Garden Green, and Neenah Solar White. The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Offbeat collection--I LOVE this paper!!!!!!! The little rocket from Pun Fun is stamped onto the Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored in with Copics,
and then accented with a Gold Spica pen. The sentiment was stamped onto the Neenah Solar White with Memento Danube Blue and has 3 Only Orange eyelets added underneath. Both of these pieces are popped up on dimensionals.

And there you have it--this was a pretty easy and quick one to make, especially since I had my colors and layout already picked out for me.

Thanks for visiting!

Where is the time going?

2009-01-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

So, I just enrolled my littlest one in kindergarten and it's really hitting me that she's not a baby anymore and the days of having babies in the house are over. I know that she doesn't start school till the Fall and in so many ways it's such a great thing since she's so excited about school and can't wait to be here-plus, it's not like she's going out of my care when she comes to school since I'm the principal! Life will be so much easier next Fall when all 3 kids come here to work with me and I don't have to do the preschool dropoff and pickup. I just don't know how the time went by so quickly. How did my baby girl turn from a tiny helpless baby into my very independent and self-assured little girl?

I know that this is just another step in her journey and mine but in so many ways it's a bittersweet moment.

FS100 JulieHRR

2009-01-04T20:44:00.000-08:00

Her Royal Rubberness, Julie Ebersole, was the Featured Stamper over at SCS today and you know I just had to play along. I absolutely adore Julie's work and she makes Clean and Simple look so easy--it's not and I feel like I suck at it! If I can nail it, I'll be happy as a clam. So, here's my CASE of Julie's card that can be found at SCS and on her blog. I changed the colors, stamp set, border punch, and didn't put my sentiment on a tag.

I started by stamping the little tree image from the Amuse Sushi set with Soft Sky on a Square Cabana Blue notecard. I stamped the sushi from the same set on Georgia Pacific White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it in with a few copics. I highlighted the sushi with some Stickles and went over the chopsticks with Ranger's Glossy Accents and then attached it to the cardbase. I used my new Martha Stewart Star Border punch on a piece of Pumpkin Pie and then attached that to the cardbase as well. I cut a small slit in the seam of the card and threaded through some striped Pumpkin Grosgrain and then tied it off in a knot. The sentiment from the same set is stamped on the bottom of the card in Brilliance Starlight Black so it would be a little shimmery as well as the sushi and tah dah--all done!

My 9yo really likes this card--gotta love him! I've had sushi on the brain since we went to Sushi yesterday and it was sooooooooooooooo good, plus I've wanted to ink up this set forever and since Julie is the Queen of Amuse and enabled me to buy this set, I'm glad that I got to use it to CASE her. I think I'm probably going to try another one out tomorrow depending on how I feel in the evening--it's my first day back to work after 2 weeks off.

Thanks for visiting and don't forget that I've got blog candy up for grabs!

Look Ma, No Stampin! and some blog candy for you

2009-01-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

I finally got my stamping room cleaned up yesterday and had some time to put a card together. I've had these grungeboard letters that I sprayed with Glimmer Mist for several months and finally decided to use them on a card. Here's the deets on this card. The card base is Pink Pirouette and I also used Bravo Burgundy and Georgia Pacific White. The patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Eva collection. I also used a BasicGrey rubon from the Euphoria Olio collection on the white piece. I added a tiny bit of highlighting with a clear Spica glitter pen on the rubon to match the shimmer of the grungeboard letters. Since I glimmered the letters so long ago, I can't remember for sure which Glimmer Mist color I used. I'm not sure if it was Kiwi or Seafoam or both of them layered on each other. Finally, I finished it up with a few buttons from the Making Memories Rouge Paperie Blossom and Button Box that I was completely enabled to buy because of Kristina Werner's last MACM post on her blog. All supplies, other than SU were purchased at my LSS, Scrapbook Territory, but I added some online links for you. If you visit the Bay Area, you definitely need to check out my LSS--it rocks!!!!!

So, this was a super easy card and I really like it. My only bummer is that I cut the inside piece of DP slightly too small but was too lazy to do it over--the UCLA Pac-10 opener was starting and I wanted to watch it with dh :-)

But that's not all! Since I cleaned up my room, I found a few things that I've had for awhile that I haven't used that need to find a home that will show them some love. So, how about some blog candy for you? I'll leave this open until Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 9 pm PST when I'll pick a random winner for these goodies. One thing I'd like to do is lose 30 pounds before I turn 40. If I lose more, that would be great but I figure if I can lose 30 pounds, I'll be in much better shape and I'm giving myself almost a whole year to do this!!!! Leave me a comment letting me know one of your goals for the year. If you want to be a virtual workout/check-in partner, let me know and I'll give you 2 chances to win. Here are the goodies you can win if your name is picked. A new and unmounted retired SU Hostess set Make it Count, a retired SU Accents and Elements Sweet Nothings set, 2 Mono refills, a few random buttons, Love Elsie mini ribbon, yellow Making Memories eyelets, Crystal & Copper Stickles, Wild Plum Alcohol ink, and a few random buttons. All items and new and unused by me and need a new home. Show me the love and good luck!

Thanks for visiting!

New Stuff to Come

2008-12-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

Clare is set to starting a new product line. She's also looking for DT members so pop on over and visit http://clarecurdsignaturerange.blogspot.com/ to see what is in store. Her banner is super cute and is a little preview of what is coming.

Check her out!

Season's Greetings!

2008-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

My nephew is here today playing with the kidlets. He's a cutie but definitely a handful--good thing I love him!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. My brother, sil, and nephew came over Christmas Eve and the kids all opened presents together in the morning. Much fun was had by all. Here's a cute pic of all the kidlets in their matching pj's Christmas Eve.

DD and I went to see The Nutcracker in San Francisco Friday night. She was really good and just was engrossed in it up till about the last 20-30 minutes when she was a little chatty.

I hope to get some stamping done this week so be sure to come back and visit!

Offbeat Bday Card

2008-12-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

My 4yo has had quite the social life lately and I haven't managed to get pics of all the cards I've made since many of them have been last minute. I did manage to get this one which is not one of my faves but dd loved it a lot :-)

The cardbase is Baja Breeze and the patterned paper comes from my BasicGrey Offbeat 6X6 pad. In hindsight, even though the papers all coordinate, I'm not sure if I like these two patterns together on this card. Then again, it was glued down and we had to get out the door so that's all she wrote!

I stamped my little buckaroo from The Cat's Pajamas Havin' a Pow Wow with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah Solar White and colored him in with Copics.
I highlighted him with a couple Copic Spica glitter pens and cut him out with my new Nesties Labels One. This is mounted on a piece of Tangerine Tango that is also cut out with a Nestie Label and then attached to the card front. The sentiment is from the same TCP set and is stamped with Tangerine Tango on a scrap of Neenah Solar White and punced with my Key Tag Punch. I attached it to a slightly bigger Baja Breeze scrap and rounded the edges then cut one end off. I added a couple Really Rust eyelets and then tied some black hemp through the eyelets and mounted this on the cardfront with dimensionals. Like I said, I like it but don't love it but my 4yo had the biggest smile on her face when she saw it and was happy to give it to her friend.

Thanks for visiting!

Christmas Card #3

2008-12-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

This card is completely CASED from Beate. I fell in love with her version as soon as I saw it and knew that I had to make one myself. Dh saw me looking at hers when I was putting mine today and was a little surprised that I CASED it. My secret is out--he really thought I came up with all of my ideas on my own :-)

Here's the deets on my version of the card. I used Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, and Kraft for the card. I cut a rectangle out of a piece of acetate with a rectangle Nestability and used that as my mask when I sponged Whisper White craft ink onto the Kraft cardstock. I stamped the row of trees from Lovely as a Tree onto the sponged portion and then removed the mask. I inked up the tree in Kiwi Kiss and then colored the trunk with a Chocolate Chip marker and stamped it over the sponged portion. Then I paper pierced around the rectangle and stamped the sentiment from So Many Sayings in Riding Hood Red. I attached a jumbo Antique Brass eyelet to the card over a punched Riding Hood Red circle and then tied some Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon through the eyelet. The Kraft piece is mounted to the card on dimensionals.

I must say, this is my absolute favorite Christmas card that I made this year. Even though it wasn't my original idea, it blows me away that I made a card that looks like this :-)

Thanks for visiting! Come back soon because I'll have more to share with you!

Christmas Card #2

2008-12-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

This card started out when I saw LSC197 over at SCS. After I finished it, I realized that I didn't follow the challenge rules completely since my sentiment is more than one word. Oh well, at least I stamped!

The card base is Regal Rose and I'm sad to say that I used up the last of my Regal Rose making these. Regal Rose is my favorite of the pinks that SU has available and I don't like being without it. Now, if I still were a demo, I'd have put a few things together and just went and ordered it but not that I'm not a demo any longer, I'm really thinking about my SU purchases and I've decided to wait until the new catty comes out before placing an order. Then again, I may just *need* some Regal Rose cardstock and will have to give my friendly demo a call :-) I randomly stamped the snowflakes from Snow Burst on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White with the Cotton Candy Spectrum pad. The sentiment is from Heard from the Heart and is stamped with Rose Red. The snowflakes are highlighted with Cotton Candy Stickles and White Opal Liquid Pearls. I tied some wide Rose Grosgrain around this piece and then mounted it to the card front. . .but then I looked at it and it seemed to be missing a little something so I pulled it off and added the thin Basic Black mat for a little pop. Tah Dah!!! All done. Another Christmas card that makes me smile even if dh isn't really into a non-traditional card like this one.

Thanks for visiting. Check back tomorrow for my last Christmas card.

First of the Christmas Cards

2008-12-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, I decided to make my own Christmas cards--little did I know that was just the start to this wonderful hobby/obsession :-)

The first couple years, I made all of my cards the same and did it assembly style. I got really tired of making the same card over and over again so 3 years ago, I had one design but did it in 3 different color combos. I did the same thing last year as well. This year, I changed it up a little more and just made 3 different designs for my cards.

Here's card #1! I was inspired by a card that I had recently seen in a Papercrafts magazine and I can't remember which one exactly right now. The cardbase is Certainly Celery and I stamped the Canvas background stamp on it in Versamark Dazzle Frost--this pic doesn't capture the subtle sheen but it's so pretty!!!!!! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon and is stamped with Brilliance Rocket Red. I stamped my Hero Arts birds on Whisper White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them in with a blender pen and the following ink pads: Real Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, and Baja Breeze. I also used a few Copic Spica pens for some shimmer on the ornament and leaves. The middle bird is on a cut out square which is edged in Going Grey and then mounted on dimensionals. This piece is layered on top of Basic Gray and then a scalloped piece of Real Red.

I really like how this one turned out. I love these birds and only used them on one card last year so I was glad that they got inked up this year. I made 20 of these so it was a fair bit of coloring that I did but it didn't have to be "perfect" and time consuming since I was going for a more watercolored type feel on this one.

Thanks for visiting and check back since I've got 2 more Christmas designs to share in the next couple of days.

Slowly but surely

2008-11-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

I'm getting back into it. My 4 yo has been invited to several birthday parties and making the birthday cards is getting me back into the swing of things. I didn't get a good pic of the one from last weekend and while I'm not thrilled with these pics, I decided to share with you all anyway so you don't think I've vanished.

Today's card is for one of her classmates who celebrated his 5th birthday at Chuck E Cheese's. Man, it was crazy there today but all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and dd and my 6 yo have decided they want their next party at Chuck E Cheese's--we'll see :-)

Here's the deets! The card base is River Rock which is a retired SU In Color. I had it put to the side since I'm deciding if I want to sell off my retired In Colors right now or not but had to use it since it goes so great with the BasicGrey Archaic paper which is a perfect match for the SU Prehistoric Pals set. I rounded the corners of the patterned paper and the cardbase with the SU small corner rounded. The dino is inked up in Versamagic Sahara Sand and then I went around him a little with Versamagic Gingerbread for a little more depth. He's stamped on Very Vanilla and cut and embossed with a circle Nestability and mounted on a Close to Cocoa circle. I lightly sponged some Memento New Sprout and Summer Sky over him and then mounted the whole piece to the front of the card on dimensionals. The sentiment uses the same cardstocks and is from PTI's Mixed Messages which is stamped with Brilliance Coffee Bean and then lightly sponged with Memento New Sprout. I added a few dew drops and tied some Taupe Grosgrain ribbon on the side.

Since I've been seeing how people are also doing the inside of the cards, I decided I'd have to give it a try as well. I added some Very Vanilla cardstock with another strip of the BasicGrey Archaic paper to the inside. The dino is stamped with Memento Desert Sand. I actually think it turned out cute and plan to do this more often since it really doesn't take much more time to do it.

Thanks for visiting! I think I'm going to go play a little more tonight since dh decided to go to the gym and play basketball for most of the day and is now paying for it "resting" on the couch. I think he's realizing his body can't do the same things he was able to have it do when he was younger without having to give it some recovery time.

Tagged

2008-11-24T11:52:00.001-08:00

My blogging buddy, Marie, just tagged me. This is actually a pretty fun tag. In this tag, you post the 4th picture in the 4th folder of your picture files and then tag 4 others. Since I haven't been stamping much, I can do this one :-) Last month, we went to see the Blue Angels when they were in San Francisco for Fleet Week. Here's a pic of the kids eating their lunch in the back of the car while we're waiting on the planes.

How is everyone? This weekend, we took the kids and my nephew out to the beach for a photo shoot. My SIL and I want to give my parents a nice pic of the grandkids for Christmas. The photographer got some great shots and if you want to see the sneak peek, you can check out her blog here: Angela Chandler. If you're in the Bay Area and looking for a reasonably priced good photographer, check her out!

So, for this one, I'm going to tag the following peeps:

Colleen

Simone

Malieta

Brooke

Thanks for visiting!

Get out and Vote!!!!!

2008-11-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already done so, please go out and vote! Every vote counts so make sure that your voice is heard. As a woman of color, the right to vote is extremely important to me. Voting is a privilege that many people in this world don't have the right to take part in. Do your part--get out and vote!

It feels strange. . .

2008-10-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

to not stamp and blog regularly. . .I'm having withdrawals and waiting for life to slow down so I can find the time to stamp or workout or do something for myself again. . .but I don't think it's going to happen unless I make it happen.

Right now, I'm in the final days of my SU demoship. I've been in pending and I just don't have enough that I want to buy from SU to get myself out of pending, nor do I have a couple hundred dollars to spend on SU stuff that I don't absolutely love when there's a world of other stamping goodies out there. I posted a goodbye at the demo threads at SCS and took myself off the demo groups--it's weird to go to the SCS forums and not see the demo threads. I'll survive though.

Until then, I want to thank those of you who are still following along. I will be back as soon as I can squeeze out a few precious moments in my stamping area.

I know, I know. . .

2008-10-23T17:36:00.001-07:00

I said I was going to post more regularly but I still haven't gotten a ton of crafting done lately. I started a project that I'm hoping to get to later this evening.

However, I am working with one of my teachers to do some art on a grander scheme. We have the opportunity to work with an organization to create a large wall mural with a group of students. This whole project is fully funded and an artist will work with some of our students for 16 weeks in all aspects of the design and creation of the project. This is all happening rather quickly since they had a school they were set to work with fall through. Now, I'm scrambling to put everything together and get board approval for this project.

I think this is going to be an amazing experience for a group of kids here at my school!!!!! This is set to be a service learning project which will take what they're doing in the classroom and enhance it while giving them the opportunity to create a work of art that will enhance the community. Can you imagine the chance to do something like this at the age of 8? What an incredible way to boost achievement--they'll learn a subject, do artwork that is linked to the curricular unit they are studying, design a mosaic, and then finally create the mosaic which will be here for years to come!!!!!!!

I am beyond excited about this opportunity and hope that I can dot all my i's and cross all of my t's correctly so that this project can be approved.

Have you missed me?

2008-10-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

I'm still waiting for things to slow down and it's just not happening. I generally do my stamping late at night when the kids are asleep or settling down but I'm beat most nights and falling asleep early. I know it will balance itself out eventually. At least I love my job and the kids are doing well.

Here's a card I made for a friend of Miles from camp. He recently went to her birthday party and I whipped this out pretty quickly.

The cardbase is PTI Stamper's Select White and the patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Eva Collection. It made this card come together quickly!!!!! I spotted some Elzybells at my LSS recently and finally got them. They're cute and I've wanted them for awhile and when I saw them in person, I couldn't resist much longer. So, Princess is stamped on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored in with Copics. I glittered her up with a Quickie Glue pen and Doodlebug Sugar Coating Glitter--I got the assortment pack and these little jars hold a lot of glitter! She's punched out with my key tag punch and popped up on the card front with dimensionals. The ribbon is PTI's Double Stitched Sweet Blush which is such a great color! Finally, I stamped the sentiment for SU's Upsy Daisy with Brilliance Moonlight White on the dp. It showed up better in rl and I just couldn't get it to show up any better in the pic. Eazy peazy lemon squeezey!

Thanks for visiting and bearing with me during my stamping drought :-) I'm thinking it's time to change my blog since summer is over but may hold out a few more weeks since we generally have our nice weather right now.

I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth.

2008-09-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

I know it's been ages since I've blogged and I really want to jump back into the swing of things. I've done some stamping but one card was last minute and I didn't get time to set it up and take a pic of it so you'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you how cute it was :-) The other one is on my camera and I'll work on getting it put up for your viewing pleasure.

Life has been hectic lately. I love the new job--my staff is awesome!!! I'm really blessed to have such high quality teachers on staff. They are so hard working and work together really well. It's amazing to walk around and pop into the classes and see just how much learning is going on. The kids are really engaged in their work and it's just such a great feeling. I can honestly and truly say that I feel comfortable with my own kids here and I would have no problem with them being in any classroom on campus.

It's convenient having the boys here and we all often carpool together with dh dropping us off or me taking him to BART and keeping the car here. Of course, even going together, we're generally not leaving work early so it's between 6:30 and 7 when we finally make it home. Add in checking to see that homework is done and dinner, baths, walking the dogs, etc and that just doesn't leave a whole lot of time for much stamping in the evenings and I'm really having WITHDRAWALS!!!! I say I'm going to stamp every night but when things wind down, I'm tired. Maybe tonight will be a little different.

On to other things. My blogging buddy, Colleen, tagged me and I love these so I'm definitely going to participate. Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here's my randomness

1. Like Colleen, my 2 front teeth are fake :-) I went face forward down a flight of stairs on Christmas day when I was 8 and broke the two front teeth. I had them capped and as an adult, my uncle who is a dentist redid them and I have porcelein veneers on them now.

2. I love to travel which is fortunate since dh does as well. Before the youngest kidlets were born, dh and I took off a lot for quick trips. We still try to get away as much as possible but since airfare is pricey for a family of 5, we do a lot of car trips.

3. I never thought I'd work in public education as long as I have, especially with little kids. When I first got into teaching, I only wanted to teach high school and I was only going to do it for 3-5 years and then go back and get my doctorate and become a college professor. Ironic that I'm an elementary principal given what I originally started out thinking I'd do.

4. I don't like geese. When I was little, we went fishing and as I was walking by the water, a bunch of geese attacked me. I remember standing there crying and my mom running and getting me away from them.

5. I love warm weather. My ideal place to live would be somewhere that was 65-85 year round. I don't ever want to live somewhere that has 4 seasons! I don't need snow and extreme cold or extreme heat either!

6. People often think I speak Spanish but I don't.

7. I switch back and forth between glasses and contacts. I want to look into getting LASIK soon.

Now I'm going to tag

Marie

Renee

Katie

Malieta

Lynn

Cindy

Mary

Thanks for visiting!

Good Intentions

2008-08-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

Man, I have not stamped in about 2 weeks and had every intention of doing so tonight until I really looked at my space and decided I need to straighten and organize it a little bit. Mind you, I am not the most organized person on the face of the earth and don't mind a little clutter here and there but I seriously could not carve out a card front sized piece of space to work on so it was time to get to work. Ok, I do admit I left my desk and space in a bit of a shambles during the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges so I had a lot to work with.

I did get all of my paper, ink, ribbons, punches, and acrylic blocks put away as well as the stamps (which need to be organized and cataloged at some point). I just gotta go through the remainder of the scraps and stuff (random embellishments, dimensionals sheets that that have to be put away, left over dew drops that I find in random places, etc) and then I can create.

Other than that, this is part of what we've been doing this summer. Enjoy and thanks for visiting!

Busy Busy

2008-07-29T19:49:00.001-07:00

No Eye Candy today. I'm busy and at a training for the next few days that includes homework so I'm not getting much online time right now. I probably won't do much blogging this week but I'll be back next week (or sooner if I find some time)

More Dirty Challenges

2008-07-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more cards for the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges. I'm so far behind but hope to get some more stamping done today and tomorrow to catch up.

The first card is a combo of Jenn and Sharon's challenges. I love this card! It does look much better in real life than the picture shows. The card base is Green Galore and I added a piece of Basic Black that I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Floral Fantasy Folder to it on top of dimensionals. I went over the CB'ed piece with Brilliance Moonlight White to highlight the flowers and embossing. I stamped the words from Wonderful Favorites on a piece of Whisper White with Memento Tuxedo Black and Green Galore and then punched the corners with a ticket corner punch and layered it on Gable Green. I added some Ice Circle brads to the corners and then mounted this piece on dimensionals on top of Green Galore. This is also on top of dimensionals on the card. I thought about using some ribbon but decided it didn't need any more embellishing. I love it when it turns out better than what I had in my head!

The second card is also another combined challenge. I used Lauren and Holly's Challenges for this one. I started out by looking through my BasicGrey 6X6 packs to find a piece of dp to use and settled on this piece from the Sugared Collection. I rounded 2 corners and sponged the edges with Creamy Caramel and added it to a Pink Pirouette cardbase that is also sponged with Creamy Caramel. The flowers from PTI's Floral Frenzy are stamped in Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, and Creamy Caramel on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White and then cut and embossed with a Petite Oval Nestie. I sponged around the edge with a little more Pink Pirouette and put it on a Regal Rose cut and embossed scalloped oval which is sponged with Creamy Caramel. I placed this on top of the dp and then stamped the hello circle on a Cryogen White scrap with Versamagic Gingerbread--I couldn't get the Creamy Caramel to stamp without being blotchy but since the stamps are brand new and I had to ink them up without doing the eraser treatment to them, I'm not complaining. I cut this out with a circle Nestie and then put it on top of another Regal Rose circle and Creamy Caramel scalloped circle and added it to the card with dimensionals. I finished it off with 3 pale pink dew drops and voila--all done!

Thanks for visiting and I'm off to try to get some more challenges done!

DTGD Challenges

2008-07-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

So, I got the challenges from Monday and Tuesday done. I still need to do yesterday and today's and then get up to do tomorrow's. . .I think I'm going to have to combine more challenges but I really want to get them all done!

This first card was for Jody's Challenge. Can you believe I did a completely Stampin Up card? and there's no coloring involved on this one! This one was fun to do and brought me back to my original falling in love with stamping days. I combined some of the new In Colors with retiring River Rock. The card base is Kiwi Kiss and I also used Baja Breeze as well as the River Rock and Very Vanilla. I used inks in the same colors as well as Riding Hood Red (which I want to call Red Riding Hood Red). The stamps used are from Enjoy Every Moment as well as the coordinating Daisy Dash Jumbo wheel. Everything is up on dimensionals and the rest if pretty self explanatory. I do like these colors together and love how the red really makes it pop!

Card #2 is a combined challenge card and really was a challenge for me. This one combines JulieHRR and Michelle's challenges. One layer and masculine cards are difficult for me. I used Verve Stamps Seeing Stars for this card. The card and envelope are PTI's Stampers Select White. Inks used are Memento Tangelo, Danube Blue, and Bahama Blue (for lightly sponging the rectangle) as well as Versafine Onyx Black. I drew the square around the sentiment after stamping everything with the help of my Tim Holtz Design Ruler and then drew the little dots and dashes inside with the ruler as well--I'm not even really going to try my hand at doodling since I'm not artistic! I shaded around the left side and bottom of the square with a Cool Grey Copic marker and then lightly sponged the Bahama Blue ink around the square as well. I was trying to give it a little dimension since it was kind of flat. I had a really hard time not sponging and inking this up some more. So, I like it but don't *love* it since it's so different for me.

Card #3 was also a challenge for me and was Christine's challenge. I have not watercolored in forever!!!!!! I think that since I've discovered Copics, I don't look at any other coloring medium. I'm definitely out of practice with my watercoloring and actually tossed the first one I did. The card base is Baja Breeze which is the one In Color I didn't think I was going to be thrilled with but absolutely love! The patterned paper is from an SEI pack that I got that I can't remember the name of right now. I stamped Bettina Buttercream from Stampin Bella on watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black and colored her in with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Pearlescent Watercolors. I also added a little more shimmer with some Copic Spica Glitter pens and went over the little cherries with Ranger's Glossy Accents. This is cut and embossed with Rectangle Nesties and mounted on a Chocolate Chip scrap that was also cut and embossed with Nesties. This piece is is mounted with dimensionals on top of the dp which has a scalloped piece of Barely Banana under it. The ribbon is from SU's retired Flirty Ribbon Originals. The sentiment is from SU's So Many Sayings and is stamped in Versamark and embossed with Detail White EP. I finished it off with dew drops in the top right and bottom left and tah-dah! All done.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon.

DTGD08Laurie-Got Vellum?

2008-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to get one of the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges at SCS done earlier today and hope to get the other one done this evening.

This was Laurie's challenge to use vellum on your card. I don't use vellum very often but love the effect of it when I do use it. I used Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart for the cardbase and layered on some Summer Sunrise. The sunflowers are from SU's Serene Sunflowers which is retiring--I absolutely love sunflowers and had to get this set but I'm not great at some of these 2-step stamping sets so I haven't used it very much. I stamped the sunflowers, centers, and leaves with the following Memento inks: Dandelion, Cantaloupe, Tangelo, Potter's Clay, and New Sprout on Whisper White. I used my ticket corner punch on this layer and the Summer Sunrise layer and then attached SU's Vellum Cardstock over it with black Vintage Brads. I stamped the sentiment from SU's Heard from the Heart (available August 11th) with Brilliance Starlight Black on the vellum and tah-dah! All done! I like having the vellum over the sunflower layer to soften it up. This is a fairly simple card but it was hard for me because of the 2 step stamping. It seriously gives me a hard time. I remember following all the thread at SCS about how you couldn't mess up Terrific Tulips and Roses in Winter and just laugh because I can't make nice things with them. This is also one of the first cards I've made in awhile that hasn't used my Copics! Gasp! It is possible, huh?

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Late CC175-Almost Wild Saffron

2008-07-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

I started this card last Tuesday and didn't get to sit down and make it in one sitting, start to finish. In some ways, that really bothers me because I love to get in a groove and create but in some ways, it's not so bad because it gives me time to step back and think about what I'm doing.

I started this card for last Tuesday's Color Challenge at SCS--Almost Amethyst, Wild Wasabi, and So Saffron. Now, other than the Wasabi, these are not colors I'd pick to use on a card but I decided that they didn't call it a challenge for no reason.

My card base is Wild Wasabi Textured Cardstock. I added a piece of Almost Amethyst that I scalloped with the new SU Scallop Border punch and some BasicGrey Euphoria paper to this. I tied a piece of Double Stitched Wasabi ribbon to the front and applied the sentiment from the SAB rubon set to the card. I stamped Fifi from Stampin Bella on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it in with Copics. This is cut out with rectangle Nestabilities and matted on Almost Amethyst and So Saffron which are also cut out with Nestabilities.

I love this card and love this image!!!!! This is one of my first Bella purchases and it's soooooooooooo cute!!! My dd also loves this card and is claiming it for herself :-)

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

TECC25 with new In Colors

2008-07-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

I've been playing to take part in one of Taylor's Cupcake Challenges for awhile and finally did one this weekend. My blogging buddy, Donna, is this week's Featured Cupcake Sampler so I knew I just had to give it a try! Plus, this is a super cute sketch!

I finally broke into some of the new In Colors for this card. I used SU Pink Pirouette, Red Riding Hood Red, and Neenah Solar White for this card. The red panel is run through my Cuttlebug with the Spots and Dots Embossing folder and then I rounded the corners with the SU Small Corner Rounder. I attached this to the pink cardbase. For the central circlee strip, I used a couple of Heidi Swap Ghost flowers and several punched circles of Pink Pirouette and Red Riding Hood Red. The larger circles are up on dimensionals. I outlined the ghost flowers and some of the circles with Fruit Punch and Crystal Stickles as well as went and highlighted some of the embossed circles with Fruit Punch Stickles.

I stamped the cupcakes from Hero Arts Clear Design Cupcakes on Neenah Solar White with Memento London Fog and colored them in with Copics. I cut them out and highlighted them with Fruit Punch, Cinnamon, and Crystal Stickles as well as Ranger's Glossy Accents. The sentiment is stamped with Red Riding Hood Red on Neenah Solar White and then attached to the card front with dimensionals. The cupcakes were also attached with dimensionals. It seemed to be missing a little something so I added 3 dew drops to the top left of the focal piece and that definitely helped.

Fun, fun challenge and I probably have not glittered up one of my cards this much in some time!

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Check this Blog Candy Out!

2008-07-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

You gotta go check this out. Marie at From Combat Boots to Rubber Stamps is giving away a Lavender Vanilaa Scrapbook Kit from Go.Be Creative and I want to win it. All I had to do was post THIS link to Go. Be Creative here and I'm in the drawing for the kit. Check out GBC if you have a minute :-)

and make sure you browse all of Marie's wonderful creations. Her stuff rocks!

Thanks for visiting!

Pink Paislee Rocket

2008-07-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday's card was too girly and this is the one that met with ds's approval and was boyish enough for his friend.

The card base is textured Wild Wasabi and the patterned paper is from the Hostess Prints Pack. I'm going to miss the In Colors from this past year but have a feeling that it will only be fleeting because the new In Colors ROCK!!!! Other colors used are Blue Bayou and Neenah Solar White.

I stamped the rocket from Pink Paislee's Vintage Pop on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it in with the following Copics: BG000, BG10, BG72, BG75, YG11, YG17, and G21. I went over the eyes and smile with a Black Copic Spica Glitter pen for a hint of sparkle--boys like things that sparkle, too, right? The rocket is cut out with an oval nestie and mounted on a Blue Bayou piece that is also cut out with an oval nestie. I placed this piece on dimensionals and mounted it a little askew so it looked like it was blasting off. The sentiment is from PTI's Pond Life Sentiments and is stamped with Blue Bayou on Neenah Solar White. I used my small corner rounder to round one side and a small square punch to clip out the other end. I got this idea from Natasha's blog. This is also mounted on dimensionals. Finally, I cut a little slit in the fold of the card and tied some Striped Wasabi Grosgrain through it. This was a fun card to make and I really, really love my Pink Paislee Vintage Pop set. I can't believe I've made 4 different cards with this set. I'm infamous for getting a set, using it once, and then moving on. My goal is to try to use everything I have for more than one card from now on.

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!