More is More

Wow! It’s ben almost a week since my last post. I got really caught up in getting stuff done and uploaded for my very last Dirty Dozen Gallery on SCS. Maybe I’ll talk more about that whole experience in another post. Today was a decompression day (translate “lazy”). Curt and I went out for a wonderful seafood dinner at a place right on the marina. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of the view. It’s dinners like that that make me love California so much!

I do have a card I wanted to share with you. This is a simple Thank You to everyone who ever made a comment on any of my cards in the DD Gallery. Your encouragement meant more to me than you could imagine! It was born from scraps of stuff from one of my DD cards. I was playing with some Prismatics cardstock (this yummy Razzleberry shade I used for the card base) and a new background stamp (Reverse Dots) from Cornish Heritage Farms. I used chalk inks to stamp the BG stamp on Whisper White (for the green) and on Shimmer White for the pink – those were left over pieces. At the Rubber Stamp Convention last weekend I picked up a package of these adorable acrylic flower charms. They are actually pierced so you can stitch around them, but I covered those holes with this wonderful big pearly brad. The charm started out clear. The gal I bought them from said that they could be painted with a number of products including Twinkling H2O’s. Well, I tried that and it DIDN’T work. So I moved on to Brilliance Opalescent Orchid ink which worked like a charm (pardon the pun)!

The sentiment in stamped in the same Brilliance ink. If you have not tried these, you must! They have the most wonderful pearly finish! This card is sooooo not my normal style. I kept staring at it and several times I tried to add something, but eventually I had to call it finished. LOL!

Product Info:
charm www.sundayint.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=191
Prismatics cardstock www.prismpapers.com
Reverse Dots BG Stamp www.cornishheritagefarms.com/index.php/cPath/22_290
Sentiment and other cardstock is Stampin’ Up!
Brilliance Dew Drop Inks www.eclecticpaperie.com

My sweet friend Sam is moving back to the East Coast next week.  Tonight a bunch of us are getting together for dinner after the Rubber Stamp Convention in Carson.  My friend Joy coordinated a special gift for Sam – a Bare Essentials Danelle book.  You can see a naked one here.  We saw this one all done up at CHA and we all fell in love with it.  In fact we (or maybe I?) could not stop fondling it! There are 12 tiny individual chipboard books that fit into the large book.

So for Sam there are several of us each making up a little individual book for her to remember us by.  Here are some pics of the one I made.

These little boks are just 3″ x 3″ and so much fun to work on!  They are just plain chipboard so there are so many possibilties!  I can’t wait to see what the other gals have done!  I started by using a green chalk ink direct to chipboard to paint all the edges.  Then I cut up and adhered some Basic Grey Phoebe paper from a 6×6 pad (LOVE those pads!).  I kept things pretty simple with some photos and sentiments and minimal embellishments (I KNOW!  Do you think I have a fever?).  On the last page I made the picture into a pocket to hold a tag so I could write a hidden personal message to Sam.  She really is a ray of sunshine and I’m so glad we’ve gotten to be friends!

I went in the bathroom tonight to take a shower and when I moved the hamper a little lizard scurried out!  Boy did that FREAK ME OUT!  I screamed like crazy and Curt was up and running.  I’m not generally afraid of lizards really, but in the bathroom?  Freak out!  I still can’t figure out how he got in there!!!  Curt caught him and named him Roger *roll eyes* before I made him take him out to the backyard and leave him in a flower bed!

Having the right tools for a job makes everything go so much more smoothly!  I have a few tools that I keep within arms reach at all times at my stamp table.  I figure anything that makes stamping more fun or easier is worth sharing.  As I was working on a couple of projects today it dawned on me how much I use my little Cutter Bee tweezers and how such a little thing can make me so happy!  They are reverse grip which means you squeeze them to open them or let go of something and at rest they remain closed.  I think I use them almost every time I stamp!  Today alone I used them to separate tiny prima flowers and to place on them on a project.  I used them to place teensy rhinestones.  And I used them to hold an image I while I heat embossed several layers of Glassy Glaze for the cracked glass technique.  (I wish I could share the project with you, but it will be revealed next week in the March Fan Club Gallery on SCS. *wink*)  The tip has a non-stick coating so sticky embossing powder wipes right off. 

Some other things I use them for – dipping buttons in craft ink to change their color, embossing mini brads to change their color, pulling ribbon through small holes, placing embellishments such as buttons when I use hot glue…and I’m sure there are more…like I said I use them pretty much every time I stamp!  So what little stamping tool do you love and use all the time?

ETA: I wrote this yesterday and the forgot to “publish” -*roll eyes* – noobie dork! LOL!  I’m off to work. Happy Thursday!

So there are two things in life you can’t avoid…I guess taxes aren’t so bad compared with the other one, huh?  Today was my day to get everything prepped to send to our tax accountant.  It was a dreaded day and almost as bad as I had anticipated.  Last year was a very rough year for my family and for a good part of it I barely kept my Stampin’ Up! Club going.  I would get the order placed and throw the forms in a pile somewhere (or actually multiple piles in multiple places).  Same with receipts and such.  I never printed any reports or tracked anything!  Yikes!  My tax lady is very thorogh and wants everything broken down into very specific categories.  I finally finished everything a little after 10pm tonight and BONUS…I didn’t even cry this year!  Seriously – tax time is one thing that makes me think about giving up being a Stampin’ Up! Demo.  But then when  I see the amount of stamping supplies I was able to get without spending any money…well, I decide to hang in awhile longer. *wink*

Wishing you a breezy prep and a BIG ol’ refund!!!! 🙂

Phew!  Busy week!  I hosted a Spring Mini Swap for SU Demos on Splitcoast.  They were due Monday so I sorted and got them back out in the mail earlier this week.  I just love hosting swaps and my swappers ROCK!  The gals are still in the process of uploading, but you can see them so far here.

Last night was my monthly technique class.  We did Mirror Image/Refection and also Paper Piecing. In addition to 2 techniques I usually also have a bonus project.  Last night the bonus project one of the new Long Notes from the Spring Mini.

Recipe: So Saffron Long Note + cardstock Whisper White, Old Olive, Caribbean, Petals & Paisleys Designer Paper; stamps Polka Dots & Paisley, Petals Jumbo Wheel

I am really loving these new Long Notes – what a great size.  Today I played with them some more with two brand new sets I got from My Favorite Things  – a relatively new stamp company with some super cute images!

This first card uses a set called Let’s Go For a Walk.  These are clear unmounted stamps and I have to be honest and say I really do not like clear stamps, however these images are so adorable that I’ll suffer – LOL!  The base of this card is another So Saffron Long Note.  I paired it up with designer paper from the SU Tree House line.  I liked how the polka dots in the paper coordinated with the polka dots in her dress.  I also thought the earthy colors went well with the pooches.  The image was stamped on white glossy cardstock with black craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I hadn’t used glossy cardstock in quite a long time so it was a fun change.  I simply colored in the image with markers.  The sentiment was also stamped on glossy and then punched with a 1 1/4″ circle punch and layered onto a True Thyme 1 3/8″ circle. I punched a square of Cranberry Crisp and snipped the corners with the Ticket Corner Punch.  Brads are from Queen & Co – Brown Trios.  Images are popped up on foam tape.  Did you notice that the pooches are wearing party hats?  I just love this image!!

This next card started with a Cool Caribbean Long Note and a MFT set called Say Charge.  I added some of the new Petals & Paisleys designer paper and some Rose red cardstock.  I love how the Rose Red pops with this!

This time the image was stamped on whisper white and colored with a combination of watercolor and marker.  It might look like it is layered on a piece of Old Olive cardstock, but it’s not.  The image has a fine line black frame around it. I colored outside the frame with an Olive marker and then trimmed with pinking edge scissors.  I really liked how it gave a faux layer effect.  Beaded swirl clip was purchased at Target awhile back on clearance.

Hope you are having a terrific weekend!

First I want to give a *Standing O* to a fellow stamper, blogger and SCSer – Joan thank you for your heartfelt post .  And no you’re not the only neurotic one!!!

And now on to the Bella Bandwagon.  Bellas (these cute girl images) are EVERYWHERE it seems.  This is my one and only Bella image and this is my first card using her.  She was stamped on my very favorite Shimmer White cardstock and colored with an aquapainter and markers.  Her hair was colored with a copper Sakura gel pen.  My very favorite part though is the Cuttlebug copper background!  My hubby ordered me some copper sheeting from McMaster Auto online.  It is soooo cool to run through the CB with various A2 folders – gets a really great impression!  For this card I used the Happy Birthday folder.  Then I rubbed the surface with Stazon Blazing Red dtp – which actually looks more like Pink Passion.  The card was finished off with some striped ribbon from the big box o’ ribbon I got at Costco along with a square page pebble I picked up at Big Lots some time ago.  Seems like no matter how many birthday cards I make, I never have enough!  I’m just happy that I seem to finally be caught up…for the moment.