TLC149-Split Negative Boho Blossoms

One of the bad things about not going to work is that my sleep cycles tend to get wacky. I end up staying up way tooooooooooo late. I know that next week is going to kill me! Dh naturally gets up super, super early--he goes to the gym before work a few times a week. Pre-kids, I used to do this and it was great. I always say I'm going to get up when he does so I can get some exercise done and I do it for a little bit before sleep calls me :-) Once again, I'm resolving to start getting up early so these late nights are going to end for me soon.

The good thing about being up late is that I got a head start on the Technique Lover's Challenge at SCS. TLC149 was to use the Split Negative Technique but not to use black and white. So, I decided to use red and vanilla. I stamped the heart from MFT's Boho Blossoms in Vanilla Craft on Real Red cardstock and embossed it with Crystal Clear embossing powder. Then I stamped it in Real Red Craft on Very Vanilla cardstock and embossed with Crystal Clear embossing powder. I cut them apart and lined them up and then matted it on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I love having a tiny mat and always use my Perfect Layers tool to get a 1/16 inch mat. I stamped the word "friendship" from the same stamp set with Chocolate Chip ink on Real Red cardstock and punched it out with the word window punch. I attached it to the heart with some gold cord and a gold brad. The card base is Kraft cardstock and is edged with Real Red craft ink. In hindsight, I probably should have used either Chocolate Chip or Real Red Cardstock instead since this went a different direction once I got started but I already had the cardstock cut and ready. I stamped the Fine Lace background stamp on Very Vanilla cardstock and then punched the corners with my Ticket Corner punch. I tied wide Chocolate Grosgrain around this and then attached it to the cardbase. Then, I attached the heart and small tag to the card with dimensionals. It still wasn't quite done so I added some Liquid Pearls to the corners of the card.

This was a fun technique but now I'm beat and about to hit the hay. The kids decided to "camp out" which means they're all sleeping downstairs. They stayed up late as well and the 5 yo is supposed to go to work with daddy tomorrow. Somehow, I don't see him waking up to do that :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Another FS47 Card

We took down the Christmas trees today and I had a little free time to stamp so I decided to do another Featured Stamper Challenge. I'm so glad that Danielle was the Featured Stamper because it definitely gave me a new gallery to look at. Her stuff is awesome.

Here's the card I CASED. I kept the layout but changed up the colors and image. I also didn't have room for ribbon and used eyelets instead of brads. My cardbase is River Rock and I cut 1/2 inch off the front of the card so you can see the inner edge. I wheeled the So Swirly wheel in River Rock on the inside edge of the card. I rounded the corners with the small corner rounder. I paper pierced and scalloped the edge of a piece of Loves Me Designer paper and attached that to a piece of Pixie Pink paper and then adhered it to the card front. I got the idea to use Pixie Pink with River Rock from the famous JanTink. The focal image is an American Art Stamp design called With Flower and designed by Karen Stolper. I stamped it on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and then colored it in with a Blender Pen and Pixie Pink and Pink Passion inks. Then I went over a few areas with my Melon, Black, and Pink Copic Spica Glitter pens. This is matted on Pixie Pink and then River Rock. The River Rock layer is sponged with Close to Cocoa and pierced around the edges. The eyelets are from the old small flowers collection that is retired.

I'm so glad that I have one more week off so I'm sure that you'll see more stamping coming from me.

Here's a little update on the new dog. I think we've decided we're going to keep her. She's so little that she's really not in the way and the kids (and I) want to keep her around. Dh doesn't mind so now we have 3 dogs: Shango, Isis, and Josie aka Josephine Bruin :-) I do have to make some time this week to take her in and get her spayed and shots updated. I have no idea how old she is but hopefully the vet will have some idea.

Thanks for visiting!

Ain't they sweet?

Ok, my dh and I have been having a debate about our kids and who they look like. Ds is a much paler version of dh and at one point, ds and dd looked a lot alike. Right now, I don't think they look a lot alike but dh thinks they're almost identical. Tell me your thoughts. I think they look related but they're definitely not twins.

I'm on a roll

Here's my take on the Featured Stamper for Sunday. This card is totally up my alley and I love what what I did with this one. Here's the card I CASED. I changed up the colors and stamp sets but kept everything else the same.

Here are my details. The cardbase is Certainly Celery. I used a piece of Old Olive Prints paper and matted it on Old Olive. I didn't want to use Real Red Grosgrain so I colored a piece of Whisper White (?) Tafetta ribbon with one of my Copic markers to make it red.

The sentiment is from Wonderful Favorites and is stamped on Very Vanilla with Versafine Onyx Black because I wanted a really crisp and dark black ink. I matted this on Real Red and used my perfect layers and a craft knife to get a 1/16 inch border around it. This is my favorite matting border and mine is getting a little raggedy since I've let others use it and SU doesn't sell it anymore and I'm stressing about where I'll replace it when I can't use it anymore.

The flower is from PapertreyINK's Beautiful Blooms. I stamped this with Real Red on Very Vanilla. I don't know why some people say you can't use SU Classic inks with acrylic stamps since I've never had a problem with PapertreyINK and SU Classic ink. I guess that's why Nichole is a genius! I punched out another piece of Old Olive DSP and attached it to one of my Build a Brads to put in the center of the flower and then attached it with a glue dot.

I'm so gonna copy this layout again! Thanks for visiting!

Elegant Inspirations

I'm really enjoying my Winter Break and the chance to stamp!!!!! I did today's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS. This is my first inspiration challenge--I usually follow the challenges but don't get to do them because work gets in the way of stamping time :-) The inspiration for this piece is a gorgeous dress that I'd love to own when I lose a little more weight.

I don't normally do elegant cards but I really, really like how this one turned out. You can't see but the cardbase is River Rock. I embossed a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock in my Cuttlebug with the Textile Embossing folder. I stamped some flourishes from one of my Autumn Leaves clear dollar sets (I think) on Bravo Burgundy in Brilliance Galaxy Gold. Then, I attached these 2 pieces to the front of the card and cut a slit in the side for ribbon. I used a piece of wide organdy ribbon that is long retired and I'm not sure what color it was--maybe Cranberry?--and a tiny piece of narrow gold organdy . The sentiment is from All Holidays and I admit, I bought the set just for this one stamp and sadly, this is the first time I've inked it up. I first inked it up with Bravo Burgundy and stamped it on Very Vanilla but it wasn't quite what I wanted so without cleaning it off, I reinked with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and then stamped it on Very Vanilla and loved it! I punched this out with my Mega Circle punch and then matted it on Bravo Burgundy which was punched out with my Giga Scalloped Circle punch. I dotted each of the scallops with Gold Liquid Pearls and then mounted this to the card front with dimensionals. I love how elegant this turned out and think I'm going to go into my stamp room and play a little more.

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!

Whimsical Sketch Challenge

I don't do the Sketch Challenges at SCS that often even though I always intend to. I find that I generally stick to a few sketches that I use all the time so sometimes it's good for me to break out of a rut and try something different. Here's my take on SC156.

I love Garden Whimsy but have a difficult time getting it to work for me all the time. I will not let it conquer me so I think I'm going to have to play with it a little more :-) The card base is Black Textured cardstock and the patterned paper is Soft Sky Prints paper. I traced a dvd on Whisper White to get my circle and then stamped the butterflies in Soft Sky which was rock and rolled in Blue Bayou. The saying is stamped in Blue Bayou. The ladybugs are Purely Pomegranate and I went over the antenna with a Basic Black marker--I didn't reink between stampings since my Purely Pomegranate inkpad is super juicy and the third ladybug doesn't even look that pale to me :-). I used a sponge dauber to sponge on some Blue Bayou on the edges of the circle. It was still missing something so I added a few Fire and Ice Circle Rhinestone brads and then mounted the partial circle on dimensionals. This was a hard sketch for me but I guess that's why they call it a challenge.

I have to go pick up my oldest since he spent Christmas at his dad's but I think I'm going to try something else with this later on this evening.

Thanks for visiting!

Crazy Changito

This is one of the stamps that I got from Eclectic Paperie's Stampendous Coterie. I actually spent an afternoon stamping and coloring in the images with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol so I'd have some stuff ready to make into cards. I love this little monkey--he's so cute and sassy! This card did not end up like I thought it would initially. I actually pried the monkey off my original card base and then matted it on the Pretty in Pink layer. I rounded those edges and punched holes in the corners to tie some Black Gingham ribbon through. I attached this to the a Whisper White Textured cardbase with a Pretty in Pink brad and then popped up the image on dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment which also came in the Stampendous Coterie in Versafine Onyx Black on the bottom and tah-dah! I'm done!!!! This is my take on a clean and simple card and I actually like how it turned out much better than what I originally planned. I think I'm going to do something similar with some of the other images since they're all relatively small.

In other news, we still haven't found "Josie's" owners yet. I've had some people express interest in her if the owners don't turn up so I'll give it a few more days. She is cute and pretty sweet but she's definitely much more dominant than my other dogs--it's funny to watch her snap and snarl at my other dogs (a pit bull mix and rottweiler mix) since they just seem somewhat amused by her. They do back down when snaps and it's kind of funny to see.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Do NOT open your presents early!!!!!

I saw this over at perezhilton.com and thought you could enjoy the laugh. This is funny in a twisted way!

Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!! We've still got the extra dog and if we can't find the owners, I've got a few takers.

Filed under: Headline of the Week > Wacky, Tacky & True

"Woman stabs husband over Xmas present"

True story! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

Woman stabs husband over Xmas present

An American woman has stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife in an argument that started when she accused him of opening a Christmas present early.

Misty Johnson, 34, of Rock Springs, Wyoming was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony, and misdemeanour domestic battery.

Her husband, Shawn Fay Johnson, 34, was treated at a hospital for a wound to the chest, police said.

Misty Johnson made an initial court appearance in which she requested a court-appointed lawyer, authorities said. She was released after posting bail, which was set at $US7,500 ($A8,760).

Authorities said Shawn Johnson called police to report that his wife had stabbed him. He told police that his wife started arguing with him over his opening a Christmas present, according to court records.

As the argument escalated, Misty Johnson accused her husband of having an affair, authorities said. Police found a marriage licence in the couple's apartment stating they were married in late September.

Police Detective David Thompson said he did not know what the present was, or if it was intended for the husband.

Posted: December 24, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Look what just ran in my house!!!!

OMG!!!! My doorbell rang and it was someone from the neighborhood wondering if this little guy was mine since he was shivering near my front door. Definitely not my dog but it bolted in the house and was so terrified. I've got him cornered away in a hallway right now but my dogs are going crazy right now. . .they're friendly but they're big and this little guy has been shaking every time they bark.

Dh and the boys went to the barbershop and grocery store. Dd is taking a nap. AND we've got people coming over in an hour and a half for the UCLA-BYU Las Vegas Bowl game. . . ACK!!!!!

I don't want to call Animal Control because what if nobody claims him and he gets put to sleep? But I can't keep him because I've already got 2 dogs. Guess it's time to make some signs and go around the neighborhood to see if he belongs to anyone.

Crap--what would you do? Call Animal Control or keep him for a couple days? I'd hate for the family that has him to have kids who might be distraught that their dog is gone at Christmas time.

ooopsie--just discovered that *he* is a she since she finally let me pick her up.