Did you miss me?

Hi all, I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I've barely been able to get online--I've been in a due process hearing for the past week and haven't had much time to get on at night either--my google reader was so full that it was overwhelming and there's no way that I could catch up on that many blog postings so I apologize for not leaving comments. I'll be back to normal soon!

After my morning meetings, I came home to get some work done because there's a huge protest outside my office. I didn't want to deal with the building lockdown and all the noise. I actually was much more productive here than I would have been in my office.

I'm in the middle of making Valentine's cards for the kids and decided to take a cuttlebugging break to pop in. Here's a card I made for some of my staff members involved in the hearing. They've been great about rearranging their schedules and testifying. Most of them have been a little stressed and anxious about the process so I wanted to let them know I appreciate the work they're doing.

This is my last Paper Pretties card box and I love this stamp. You all know that I'm partial to Rubber Romance and being an educator, I can see this stamp getting much love from me in the future. I love having everything precut--all I had to do was stamp, color, and assemble! Here's the deets: Stamp:Rubber Romance Teacher Cardstock: Bazzil White, Bazzil Black, and ultrasmooth white Designer Paper: CTMH striped, dotted, lettered Ribbon: White with Black stitching Embellishments: Bazzil flowers, Dew Drops, Black photo corners

I stamped the Teacher Stamp in Pallette Hybrid Noir on the ultrasmooth white and colored with Copics and Spica Glitter Pens. Then I assembled--easy peasy!

Thanks for visiting. I'm skipping eye candy this week but will have someone for you next week. Don't forget, you can always suggest some eye candy by emailing me at kathat at pacbell dot net. Take out the spaces, change the 2nd at to @ and the dot to .

Have a great day!

Another Thursday Throwdown Card

So, my Changito Banana was the first card I posted for Colleen's Thursday Throwdown but I knew I wanted to do something else for it. I really, really, really love these Rubber Romance images. They are so much fun to color and they're gorgeous as well. I cannot take the credit for the layout, colors, dp, etc since this came in one of my Paper Pretties card classes. I don't think Christie is still doing her card class in a box and I quit my subscriptions but this is what I got in my November box.

The stamp is Rubber Romance Judy. I stamped her with Black Craft ink and then embossed her with Hologram Highlights EP for some extra sparkle. I colored everything with my Copics, added glitter to her top, and then sponged the outside with Bravo Burgundy and Basic Gray--I used the Gray because I had some ink on my finger and it messed up the paper but as *they* say "there are no mistakes in stamping". The corners are punched with a ticket corner punch and there are swarovski crystals in each corner. I'll get back to you with the cardstock and dp deets but I can just say that I love having a layout planned and everything precut. It was super easy to just stamp, color, add some extra bling, and adhere everything together :-)

Here's a closeup of the focal piece so you can see the sparkle. Want this card? Leave me a comment and I'll randomly draw on Monday 1/21 at 9 am PST. If you win, this card will be coming your way. Thanks for visiting!

Limited Rubber Romance Challenge

I had some time to do the Limited Supplies Challenge for today which was to use no white or vanilla cardstock. Now, I love using Kraft cardstock so I immediately thought of doing something with Kraft but since this is a challenge I decided to not use it. Blush Blossom is one of the colors that I rarely use. I think I'm still on my first pack I bought and I think the Soft Subtles families is one of the first families that I wanted to complete since they were some of the first colors I used prior to becoming a demo. Ironically, I rarely use them now.

The cardbase is Ruby Red and the patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Infuse collection. I stamped Jane from Rubber Romance onto Blush Blossom with Pallette Hybrid Burnt Umber and colored her in with my WWC (Old Olive, Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, and Chocolate Chip) and aquapainters. I lightly sponged around the outside with Creamy Caramel and highlighted her jewelry with Icicle Stickles--it's a good thing I'm messy and don't put all my stuff away since it's forcing me to use it up more often :-) I stamped the sentiment from PapertreyINK Faux Ribbon with Chocolate Chip ink on Blush Blossom and then punched it out. I admit, I really don't use the ribbon pieces but I love all the sentiments in this set! Then I added the little flourishes above and below it and a dot of stickles in the center of each flourish. I matted this on a punched out Chocolate Chip circle. This is mounted on dimensionals. I felt like it was still missing a little something so I added some paper piercing in the upper right corner. Voila!!!!!

I'm hoping we don't lose power--there are thousands of people in the area without power which probably won't be back on throughout the weekend! I know it's not snow and ice but we're having a major rainstorm right now. Dh says that if we lose power, he thinks we should leave and go to a hotel. That's great for us but I do worry about the dogs :-)

Thanks for visiting.

Limited Supplies Challenge

Wow, I've had a really productive stamping day. I actually got 5 cards done today :-) We ran a few errands today and I picked up the Winter Take Ten and every time I look at it, I resolve to submit some entries. Today, I actually decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and got some cards done that I'm going to label and mail off for consideration. Wish me luck! One of my goals is to get published this year so we'll see what happens. I know I don't do the most intricate or detailed oriented work but I do think that I do a pretty darn good job some of the times.

I had a little time to try the Limited Supplies Challenge over at SCS today and this is what I came up with. The guidelines were as follows:

Stamps:
one stamped image that can be colored
optional: sentiment
optional: an image to ground the main image like an oval, grass, etc

Paper:
any shade of white
2-3 patterns of designer paper
NO other colored cardstock


Tools:
no specialty tools
any coloring tools
sponges ok

Embellishments:
One piece of ribbon

This was a piece of cake for this simple stamper :-)

I started out with a PapertreyINK white card and adhered a couple of piece of BasicGrey Infuse paper to that. The ribbon is from the Theater Ribbon Originals. I stamped Rubber Romance Bunny on Whisper White with Pallette Hybrid Noir and colored her in with Copic Markers and a black Copic Spica Glitter Pen. I also went over the coffee cup with a clear Sakura Glaze pen to make it shiny like a coffee cup. I sponged the edges of this piece and the card base with Creamy Caramel. I decided not to go with a sentiment for now but may add one at some point.

Thanks for visiting!

Rubber Romance FMOP

I was going to take the kids to a movie this afternoon while dh played basketball but dd fell asleep and ended up taking a looooooooooong nap. . .so, I got a little stamping done. Since I had already prepped a full sheet of glossy cardstock for Faux Mother of Pearl, this was pretty simple to do.

I brayered over my Lumiered piece with Blush Blossom and stamped Jane from Rubber Romance and the sentiment from Warm Words over it in Versafine Black Onyx. Since this image is so big, I couldn't really figure out what else to do with it but since it's so shimmery and awesome, I decided to keep it relatively simple. I colored her in with my aquapainters and Watercolor Wonder crayons and then went over her jewelry with my Sakura Stardust Clear pen for a bit more sparkle.

The card base is Blush Blossom. I mounted my focal piece of a sheet of BasicGrey paper from the Perhaps collection and then punched 3 holes with my Cropadile and set some Blush Blossom eyelets in it. Then I attached this to the card base. I love this one! This image is so elegant and the Faux Mother of Pearl really adds to it. I like how simple and elegant this one is and how it really doesn't need a lot of extra embellishment.

I have to go back to work tomorrow :-( My one week off went much too quickly! Remind me to not work summer school again. The extra money is nice but I really, really could use some time off.

Thanks for visiting.