Playing with Grungeboard

So, I made this the other night while dh was at his basketball game. It's a little different for me but I like it.

The cardbase is PapertreyINK . I used Cut 'n Dry foam pads to sponge on a variety of Distress inks. I started out sponging on Antique Linen and Tattered Rose and then added some Fired Brick. I set it aside to dry since the Distress inks are really wet and juicy. I then took my Grungeboard skull and sponged on Black Soot. I popped the eyes out and then embossed the skull with Crystal Clear embossing powder. I attached it to the card front and then filled in the eyeholes with Crystal Effects. I put Crystal Effects on the eyes and set them aside. I took a piece of Kraft cardstock and crumpled it up and then sponged on Fired Brick Distress ink. I distressed the edges and edged them with Black Soot. I used my Cutter Bugz to pierce holes around this piece and in the top corner of the card and faux stitched it first with a Black Copic Spica glitter pen and then with a Black Glaze pen when I decided the glitter pen wasn't dark enough. I stamped the sentiment from MissyB Designs on this piece and added 3 clear Making Memories rhinestones brads. They were a little too sparkly so I sponged on some Black Soot to dirty them up a little. I took the sponged and randomly rubbed it on some parts of the card base as well to add some black highlights and then added the eyeballs as accents on the side.

I like the way this turned out and can't wait to play some more with my Grungeboard, especially since I picked up some Crackle paint and Distress embossing powder earlier today :-)

Thanks for visiting!

What a mess!

I was going to make this Grungeboard Part 3 but my desk is such a mess!!!!!!

You can see a little Grungeboard but I've got to clean up before I can get a decent pic and show you what's going on.

I guess I could clean up a little more but I'm engrossed in my SU Spring-Summer catalog which made its way into my mailbox today.

I think my most favorite new set is only a whopping $12.95 :-) Gotta love that. I see a lot of things I want and now I'm off to see what I really need :-)

I'm thinking that I will wait on the Grungeboard for a little bit since you know what Tuesday is :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Grungeboard, Part 2

Ok, I lucked out and got grungeboard at my LSS. I have the most amazing LSS that I go to in Berkeley and since I'm mobile during the day and visit a lot of school sites, it's easy to pop in occasionally.

There's also a thread at SCS that has some sites that have grungeboard. You can check it out here.

I did play with mine a little bit last night and it's pretty darn cool. I finished up late so I didn't take a pic and hopefully can get a decent one when I get home to show you. I got the Grungeboard elements in swirls and think I'm gonna have to get an alphabet as well. . . and some Distress Crackle Paint, Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, more Distress inks, Distress Embossing Powder. . . .oh, and maybe some Alcohol inks, too :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Tim Holtz - Grungeboard

Ok, I had to go buy some Grungeboard after seeing what Tim did with it during his 12 days of tags. I found this video and hope it inspires you, too.

Ok, off to open my Grungeboard now!

Quick Pop In

I'm taking a quick break from assembling my Christmas cards to pop in and show you what they look like.

I'm feeling frazzled right now--my youngest is sick and I worked at home part of the day Thursday and Friday to be with her. Dh was able to come home early on Thursday so I could go to a meeting and then he went to the boys' school for the afterschool performances. DD and I have been attached at the hip since she just wants me. I love her but I need a little break. Dh took DS to the basketball game last night and he's at the football game with his buddy. I think I'm going to my LSS for the new Hero Arts catalog release and make and takes tomorrow!

Ok, here's the details on the cards. I did 3 different color schemes. You can see the original here. I used the Snowburst stamp set and the sentiment is from So Many Sayings. The sentiment is stamped in Versamark and embossed with Detail White EP. The various snowflakes were stamped all over a sheet of Paper Accents Pearlized White CS and then punched out with a scalloped rectangle punch (don't know for sure what size but it's the blue one). One card is Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, and Real Red with Red Grosgrain ribbon and the other is Purely Pomegranate, Basic Grey, and Groovy Guava with White Taffeta Ribbon. I like how this one turned out and the most time consuming thing is punching out all the rectangle and putting them on dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting!

Tag Time!

Katie tagged me so I'm about to post 7 random things about myself. I love reading these tags and finding out a little more about the bloggers I browse :-)

1. I'm seriously addicted to my Blackberry! I have the Blackberry Curve and it's the most awesome thing ever--I love having instant access to email, the web, my phone, etc in such a light and cool looking package.

2. I have never taken an art class in my life. When I was in school, I was really serious and took extra science and stuff like that for electives.

3. I thought I was only gonna be in public education for 3-5 years before going back to school to get my PhD in History. . .well, I'm still in public education and no Doctorate right now.

4. Which leads to this--I do plan to get my PhD in Education. I'm just waiting to see if dh is going to go to Business School. We both can't be working and in school because who's gonna mind the kidlets?

5. Growing up, I never thought I'd have dogs but now I'm totally a dog person. We have 2 at home right now and I stay away from dog adoptions otherwise I'd be tempted to bring another home.

6. I'm currently working on my Christmas cards :-)

7. The very first concert I ever saw was Bruce Springsteen for his Born in the USA tour at the Los Angeles Coliseum. I was in high school and missed volleyball practice to go and got benched for missing practice.

Now, it's my turn to tag some others so how about:

Vicki
Melanie
Julie
Ema
Cassie

and YOU if you want to be tagged!

Thanks for visiting.

Holiday Bella Birthday

Believe it or not, I own no Bella stamps. I've had several in my cart for quite some time and went and updated the other day after the party Friday night and the new additions. I just can't quite hit submit at this time. I think they're really cute but do I *need* them? I swapped images with another stamper to get some Bellas and was also RAK'ed some from a blogging buddy. I think this will tide me over for now. I'm working on coloring some of them and we'll see if I really, truly *need* them or if I can hold out for a little longer.

This is a birthday card for my Secret Sis at SCS. She says that she doesn't normally use Bold Brights and since her birthday is in December, I went with Christmasy colors. The card base is Green Galore. I ran a piece of Real Red through my Cuttlebug with the Happy Birthday embossing folder. I really want to use it more but it seems like unless I use a tiny image, I can't get both Happy and Birthday to show at one time. This piece is popped up on dimensionals. The Bella is colored in with Copics and Copic Spica Glitter pens. She's also popped up on dimensionals. I tied some Pink (Pretty in Pink?) grosgrain around it and knotted it and then added Apple Green and White Grosgrain as well. I think it turned out cute :-)

Speaking of Copics, I buy mine individually at Dick Blick since there's one in Berkeley. I get a 10% discount which is nice. Well, I actually went and bought a duplicate the other day since I buy them individually and in no particular order :-) Oh well, guess I just had to go back to Dick Blick today to exchange it and pick up a couple others. I wrote down what I have in a little notebook I keep in my purse and think I'm gonna make a little sheet that I can email to myself so it's on my Blackberry and I can check it out when I go shopping again.

Thanks for visiting!

Sending you smiles

I got the chance to stamp and color in some of my Stampendous images that I got from Eclectic Paperie last weekend. I love these little Changito stamps :-) The little monkey is so darn cute! I think this is a really happy and cute card and it brings a smile to my face.

The card base is Summer Sun and the patterned paper is Old Olive Prints DSP. The image is stamped on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and hit with a heat gun to help it dry. I colored in with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol and then highlighted the vine and flowers with Stickles. I matted it on Elegant Eggplant and tied Eggplant Grosgrain around the patterned paper. The saying is from Verve Visual's Thoughtful Phrases and is stamped on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and punched out with my word window punch. It's up on dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting! I hope to get my Christmas cards done this weekend--I did start them in what, October? My plan was to have them done Thanksgiving weekend but my drive to do them just wasn't there.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

I recently joined another group and it seems like it will be fun. It will motivate me to update my blog regularly and help give me encouragement and hopefully some constructive criticism as well. I love the pats on the back I get from my visitors and I'm sure you've all had the "yeah, babe, that's nice" comment directed your way as dh barely glances at what you're trying to show him. So, I stumbled across this group and it seems like a nice way to get encouragement and offer encouragement to others as well. In addition to this, I'm trying to work on using what I have and not buying anything else that is stamping related at this time so I'm going to try to stop visiting the bloggers who are on a variety of different teams and who make me feel like I gotta have it all now for awhile. I'm also still not sure where I'm going with my SU demoship. I haven't made my minimum this quarter--I've got about $85 to spend before the end of the month or I go into pending and have to spend about $185 in January to remain an active demo. Yeah, the new catalog is coming out but I can guarantee you that I don't have that much in my stamping budget after Christmas. If I can scrape together a few orders before the end of the month, I have another quarter to hang in before I go into pending :-)

Anyway, some of you know bits and pieces about me but here's my introduction for my group. I'm Kathy and I live in the Northern California Bay Area. It's atrociously expensive here but it's such a great place to be because of the diversity and vibe to this area. I'm a military brat--my dad was in the Air Force and we travelled alot. The longest time I lived anywhere was LA and that was because I went to UCLA and then started teaching there so I was there for 10 years. I'm at 9 years here in the Bay Area now so I've almost caught up to my Southern California time.

Dh and I have been together for 7 years now. He and I met a couple months after my divorce was final and Mason was 15 month old--I left Mason's dad when I was about 20 weeks pregnant but the whole getting divorced took longer. He is the most amazing guy ever and I can truly say I've found my better half. It's so true that when you're just not looking, it will come to you. Ironically enough, we both went to UCLA and know many of the same people. He's 3 years younger than me and I never would have looked at him when I was 21 and he was 18--what a difference 10 years makes though. So, we've got Mason who is 8 and spends the weekends at his dad's house, and Miles who's 5, and Maya who's 3 so it's definitely busy around here. We've also got 2 dogs. My hands are full!

I started out teaching in LA. I taught middle school history and then went into Special Education because I started getting all the Special Ed kids mainstreamed into my classes and developed a soft spot for them. After 3 years in middle school, I graduated and moved to working at a high school. My ex and I left LA to move to Las Vegas because we weren't going to be able to afford a home in LA on our salaries. Las Vegas was the beginning of the end. I was miserable there--I didn't like my job, missed LA, and my ex and I just didn't get along. I decided to leave while pregnant after having a conversation with his mom and she was completely apologetic to me when I told her what was going on. I remember her saying "I'm sorry, I thought he'd be different but he's just like his dad" and just knowing that I was not going to have the same conversation with my daughter-in-law in 30 years. I wanted to raise my son differently so I left. It was hard but it was the best decision that I could have ever made.

I moved back to California to a suburb of the Bay Area where my parents were living. I found myself and grew up so much in a short time period. While pregnant with Mason, I got a great teaching job and still chuckle at the fact that I got hired 4 1/2 months pregnant by people who knew that I was gonna go out on maternity leave before the school year ended. After he was born, I taught for another year and a half when I got the opportunity to move into administration. I became a middle school Assistant Principal and then eventually left that district and moved closer to where dh and I settled down and currently work as a Special Education Administrator in Berkeley. I LOVE Berkeley!!!!!!! It's a challenging place to work but it's never a dull moment.

I had never stamped prior to November 2003. My friend and upline got me hooked one day while looking at Christmas cards. I thought, how hard can this be and decided to make my own Christmas cards that year. I learned alot from magazines :-) and the SU catalog. I decided to become a demo in May 2004 before Maya was born to save money. Snort, I'm sure you all can relate, right?

So, that's me in a nutshell! Thanks for visiting and I look forward to getting to know my other blogging sisters.

Me, cook?

I made this card for my dh the other night :-) He does 99% of the cooking in our house and when I saw this sentiment, I knew I had to get it. The image and sentiment are both by River City Rubberworks. I discovered the site through SCS one night while browsing a thread about "edgy" sayings. They definitely have some great sayings that match my sense of humor and I'll have to break them out more often.

The card base is Old Olive and the patterned paper is from the Phoebe collection by BasicGrey. I love the colors of this particular paper and it has a funky/retro vibe that I thught would match the stamp I used.I stamped the lady and saying on Whisper White with Pallette Hybrid Noir ink and then again on a piece of patterned paper. I paper pieced her dress and this is actually a really great way to get a lot of wow for not too much work. She's colored in with Copics. I also used my Sakura Black Glaze pen and Clear Stardust pen to highlight a few areas. The sentiment is punched out with my key tag punch. Both the sentiment and image are lightly sponged with Cool Caribbean ink. I punched out 3 small (not sure what size) circles from Cool Caribbean cardstock and attached black brads from the Vintage brad collect and then attached them to the card. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals.

I don't normally do vintage type stuff but I just love this image!

Thanks for visiting!