Congratulations Jenny

An egagement congratulations card for a young lady I've known for 30 years... in fact her mom & dad were in my wedding many years ago! I'm so excited for Jenny and Randy. This card was made with Purely Pomegranite paper (SU) and the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set and embossing folder. (also from Stampin Up!) The large rose image is stamped on the Pomegranite paper repeatedly, and then a piece of vellum is run through the "Big Shot" machine and layered onto the top of the cardstock, with ribbon added along the edge to cover the area where the vellum was attached. (This card is CASED from a card made at Jami's house a while back at one of her club nights.)

Catching up on Birthdays

You can never have enough Birthday Cards, right? I'm filling up my stash, plus making some to give to a family member, so here's what I've been working on. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this beautiful paper and the colors. The designer paper is from "American Crafts" and it's called "Amplified." I used SU Lavender Lace, Melon Mambo, Cool Carribean, and Purely Pomegranite for the cardstock and colored the images with both Copic markers and SU markers.




Stamp Set: Crazy for Cupcakes (SU!)



Stamp Set: Pun Fun (SU!)



Stamp Set: Time for You (SU!)

TESC131 Halloween Kitty Card

Here's this week's contribution to the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge... something I almost always MAKE but hardly ever get uploaded in time! Love this little pumpkin/ kitty image, even though I have no idea where it came from. It was given to me in a big box of stamps that someone was getting rid of (can you even imagine!?)
It is colored with Copic Markers and it features the "Paper Tole" technique. The pumpkin is stamped 3 times, and them "bumped up" twice... once for the whole pumpkin and once just for the lid of the pumpkin. Hopefully you can see that in the image below. The paper is from Imaginesence. Love the bright colors!

Cards & Photos to prove what a busy month it's been!

This has been the busiest month ever! My daughter's 18th Birthday.

We had a HUGE party at Monte Verde park with about 75 kids, a DJ and a Taco Man... and celebrated with her best friend HALEIGH, who's 18th birthday was the day after Emily's.
Here's the CARD I made her for her birthday....




Her starring role as "Belle" in Beauty and the Beast at Lakewood High School! The thrill of a lifetime!








Fun events at church.



Mother's Day! Choosing/ deciding on a college for Emily for the fall (Azusa Pacific was the choice) Prom Dress shopping and preparation for summer... whew! Was all that in the past month! Yes!

Here are some cards and photos to prove it!






Mike's Birthday Card (using Taylored Expressions).

I Love It When This Happens!

I've had some good stamping time the past week or so.... and I even had time t straighten up my desk area. After grabbing up some fun new items at CHA, it was fun to get some stamping time. Here are a few things to share with you. The Sewing card was made for a very sweet family at church, the Streelmans, who are sadly moving to Portland. I am in LOVE with their 2 little girls Becca and Natalie and am so sad to see them go. Karen was one of our brand new helpers in Children's Choir and it was so fun getting to know their family and getting to serve alongside of them at church. The good news is, it's always good to have friends who live in fun places so we can go visit them! Card Details: Kraft card base, retired designer paper, sewing machine, buttons, Oval Punch, Scalloped Oval Punch, Puns from the Past SU Stamp Set (stamped in Chocolate Chip Ink), Twill ribbon, twine from Paper Trey Ink, Pirourette Pink SU cardstock for the scalloped oval and some old buttons from my stash.

The Polka Dot Thank You card was super easy but super fun. It's just a bunch of "Bold Bright" circles punched with my various circle punches, and glued to white cardstock. The bottom of the front panel was cut with wiggley scissors, and then the words "Thank You" from the retired SU stamp set called "Wonderful Words" was stamped on the back inside of the card so it shows when you close the card. I made a bunch of these to keep on hand because they were so fun and so easy.

Thanks for looking!

So Very Blessed

Made this card yesterday for a very special guy. My daughter has been shopping for her first car for a while, and 2 people at our church helped us in the search. First our pastor found a great car on Craig's List (a 2001 Accura Integra) and then my friend Dave went with us to take a look at it, drive it around, look under the hood, etc. He said it was a good deal. After we scraped together our money, we went back and got the car! Her very first car. She is on cloud nine. (She's 17 1/2 and has had her license for 6 months and during that time, she and I have been sharing my van and I've been driving her to school and work.) After we got the car home, Dave (he collects and restores antique cars) decided to bless Emily by going one step further... taking the car home with him for 2 days and sanding and repainting the scratched up bumpers. They look brand new and now the car that we paid $3350 for, looks like we should have paid $5500 for it! So obviously, Dave needed a special card to know how much we appreciate him.

This old SU set, called "So Very" did the trick. The paper is from a brand new matt stack from DCWV that I got for my birthday (thanks Michelle) called Glitter Sweet Stack. It also uses Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel paper, same colors of ink, and a little snippet of ribbon, button and twine (copied from PaperTreyInk website); with some distressing around the edges of the paper layers. Oval punches and bronze colored brads finish the little details.

Thanks for looking. Pictures of Emily in her new car will be coming soon!!!!!

Clipboard Carnival

These are the first altered clipboards I've ever done and they were so fun. They are for some special ladies in my life, and I hope they love them as much as I loved making them for them. It was fun picking out various designer paper to fit their personalities and their office spaces. The paper is "mod podged" onto the clipboards. Ribbon added to the top, a pad of sticky notes included, some fun clips, a small piece of coarkboard, and a small calendar. The corkboard was a sheet of 18 x 24 corkboard from Joanns that I cut into small pieces and just adhered to the clipboard with tacky tape. The small calendar was the biggest challenge. I typed it in "word" and then just kept adjusting the margins, font size, etc . Not fun but I didn't have time to shop for any or order any online (like smart people would do.) My only "wish" is that I could find some "shallow" thumb tacks for the corkboard. The corkboard is very thin and a regular thumb tack is too deep. Or I should have layered (doubled) the corkboard on top of itself to make it thicker. Live and learn.

Enjoy!

A couple of cards that have been hiding in my camera

What happens when it's too hot to go into your stamp room and then you also can't find the cord that you use to upload pictures from your camera to your blog? It means you don't post anything for a very long time. I finally found my camera cord yesterday, (darn those kids!) so here are a few cards from the past few months.

This card is for my new friend Lilly, who just turned 4. Her dad is my "boss" and one of our new pastors at church, and Lilly's mom is a new friend that I really love hanging out with! Lilly is fun and smart and adorable, has blond hair and loves looking cute, so I made this card with my brand new "Cricuit" machine for her for her birthday. :)

This card was made for Karra and Craig for their engagement. I've known Karra for 10 years, and have watched her grow up from high schooler, to college student to young adult, from being my kids first babysitter here in California, to one of my day camp counselors, then one of my day camp directors, to now having her own classroom as a teacher.... and now I get to help celebrate her marriage to a great guy named Craig! This card is made on Basic Gray cardstock, with printed vellum on top of it. The black strip is punched with the Martha Stewart eyelet punch, then I added some rhinestones,buttons, and a few different kinds of ribbon. Congratulations you two! I am so happy for you!

And finally, this card is for my friend Chuck that lives in Atlanta. He and his wife (Pam my very best friend!) share the same birthday!!! I didn't have a guy card that looked like Chuck's personality, so I thought this goofy pair of monkeys said it all. The DP is called "East Coast Prep" from Stampin up! and the cardstock is More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, and Tempting Turquoise. The sentiment is a separate stamp, but made to coordinate. Cool huh! I think I'll get lots of use out of these 2 stamps. (From Stampendous!)

Happy STamping... hope you don't lose your camera card anytime soon. It's not a good thing!

A couple of challenge cards

Emily was away this weekend on a Carnival Cruise with her choir group (Madrigals) to Catalina (supposedly to Mexico, but that didn't happen!) so I had a very quiet house... TOO QUIET actually... but at least I was able to squeeze in a little stamping time. Here are two challenge cards: The Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge card and the "Sketch for You To Try" card.

Here is TECC69:

The base of the card is "Lovely Lilac" followed by a layer of Green Galore, and then the FUN paper from DCWV called "Nana's Kids." It's already covered with sparkle and texture, so it really packs a punch! This is for a couple at church who is expecting their first baby, and they don't know the sex of the baby yet, so I was going for "gender neutral." The buggy is colored with an SU marker, then highlighted with a glaze pen, some Tiny Twinkles from the Taylored Expressions store, & some blue star buttons. The green dotted ribbon adds some finishing fun!

The next card is for "A Sketch for You To Try" from iheart2stamp.com. This is the first time I've posted to this sketch, so I'm so happy that I had some extra time this weekend to play along. The "trick" was to do something unique with the right hand edge of the card, so I decided to use pearls along that edge and make this into a wedding card. I also used by brand new background stamp from StampinUp! called "Bella Toile." The BG is stamped once on white paper and once on Pink Pirouette paper, and then the layers are "matched up" and adhered on top of each other. The cake stamp is from "Fun and Fast Notes." (SU!) one of my favorite sets. There are also mini pearls on the scalloped oval punch (marvy), some glitter pen and stickles on the cake image, and a stick on flower (I think I got it at Big Lots.)

Hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend! (even if it didn't include a Carnival Cruise!)

Dearest Friend

Here's a simple card using the new SU set "Forest Friends" from the Spring Mini. The deer is stamped with Sahara Sand, (I think the first time I've used this stamp pad) and one of the individual stamps from the back of the caty! It says, "So Glad You Are One of My Dearest Friends." A special family just recently got laid off (the dad) and I am really hurting for them, so this is just to give them a little extra encouragement. Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Sky!!!

Wouldn't that be awesome? (Remember the song, "If all the snowflakes were Hershey Bars and Milkshakes?") This is for Taylor's Cupcake Challenge, TECC68. Here's the original post so you can see the sketch first hand. It's a great sketch, and fun to work with. I love this beautiful loopy flower stamp from Stampendous, and thought it would be perfect for the circle image in the sketch. The paper used is Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Soft Sky, and Baja Breeze. The chocolate layer is clear embossed using chocolate chip craft ink (SU!) and the Filigree Background Stamp (retired SU). Several layers are pierced and the scalloped Baja Breeze layer is made with a corner rounder.

Make it a Grande

As soon as I saw this new set "A Little Caffeine Set" from Just Rite Stampers I had to have it! I usually wait a long time and think about my stamp purchases for a while before jumping in, but not this one! I ran right over to Taylored Expressions and got me some adorable coffee stamps! I put some ink on it right away, even though I didn't have the right size of wooden mount. So what did I make? A gift card holder for a Starbucks card, of course!

I used Chocolate Chip and Groovy Guava paper, along with Vanilla from SU! The Designer Paper is called "Paisley & Petals" from SEI. A super simple layout, with just a few simple additions: ribbon, scalloped punch, corner elements, and scalloped scissors (for the circle around the main image on front of card. ) I'm really looking forward to getting ink on the rest of the images in this set!

Fabulous Riding Rood Friend! TECC65

Another Cupcake Challenge from Taylored Expessions (TECC65) using Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette. What are we gonna do when those colors retire in a few short months? I love them paired with the Bella Rose paper. This card also used the "Friendly Words" jumbo wheel, and the new set "Oval All" and scalloped oval punch. There is a double layer of the scallop border, the one underneath is "Riding Hood Red" and the one on top with the "Friendly Words" wheel using R.H.R. ink. The final touches: Pink Pirouette ribbon, and some paper piercing in the corners. Thanks for another fabulous sketch Taylor! This week was so full of birthday celebrations, preparation for our children's choir musical at church (which happens next Sunday, May 3, which I direct), and a potluck dinner for single moms, that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to squeeze in some stamping time or not..... Yeah for stamping! A weekend without stamping is never a good weekend! I just wish the weekend could be longer, don't you???

Two "Challenging Cards"

Since Emily was on Spring Break this past week, I took a few days off myself, and in between driving her to her friends' houses, or shopping for "Sharpay" outfits for her upcoming show "High School Musical," and some major house cleaning (I guess you'd call it reorganizing) I was actually able to do some "Splitcoast Challenges!" I haven't been able to do those in a long time!

The first one was the color challenge.... CC214.... Bordering Blue, So Saffron, and Pink Piriouette). When I laid all 3 colors out on my desk, they made me think "Baby Card."

The background of the card is stamped with the dots and daisy background stamp, using pink pirouette ink. The scallop is made with the fiskars "Threading Water" border punch, and the saffron layer is scalloped on the edge with scalloped scissors, and then "poked" with a paper piercer. The giraffe is stamped double and popped up with tiny pieces of foam tape, and tied around "her" neck with pink gingham. Three little buttons from my huge collection of buttons and some saffron grossgrain ribbon add the finishing touches.

Deets: Cardstock (all SU!) Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, Whisper White, Threading Water Punch and scalloped scissors (Fiskars), Buttons, floss (DMC) Saffron Grossgrain Ribbon (SU!) Paper Piercer, Dimentionals, Pink Gingham Ribbon.

The next challenge was the "Sketch Challenge" (SC224)

This was a little difficult because I couldn't find a large/ tall image that would fit the layout exactly, so I turned it on its side. The 2 stripes in the layout are "mimicked" with the saffron layer covered with the black ribbon layer. Black and Saffron are great together, don't you agree? The bird is a RUB-ON! Cool, huh! It's a little hard to photograph though.
The deets: Black and Saffron Cardstock (SU), Saffron Designer Paper, BasicGrey Periphery Rub-ons, Ticket Corner punch, black micron pen, dimentionals, silver heart charm, black organdy ribbon, saffron colored yarn.

A Word From Romans 12

This is my card for this week's Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. This is a great layout for so many images. I had this sheet of flowers already water colored with the set "In Full Bloom" (on Very Vanilla paper... which turns out YUMMY!) The colors used are Saffron, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, and Vanilla cardstock (SU!) and Regal Rose DP. The flowers and bees are outlined in glaze pen, the edges of the Bible Verse are distressed with the edge of my scissors, and then a piece of Saffron ribbon is attached with a silver swirl clip. This is such a simple, yet profound verse of Scripture. I've had my share of hardships and afflictions in life, but nothing compared to many other friends I know. And obviously nothing compared to the people Paul was writing this letter to when he penned these words through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But this verse gives such basic instructions... by JOYFUL in hope, PATIENT in affliction, and FAITHFUL in prayer. If we did those 3 simple things each day, I think our lives would be transormed! :)

Happy Easter!

I needed to make a few Easter Card yesterday, so I was happy to see Taylor's quick, easy, and simple layout featured this week on Taylored Expressions. This is Cupcake Challenge #63. Where has the time gone??? The image is from a RAK I received from Joy and Daisy at eclecticPaperie. I think it's from Stampendous. Isn't that the sweetest little bunny? The DP (from DCWV) provided the inspiration for all the colors I used: Certain Celery, Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, and Lovely Lilac. The blue twill is from Taylor's store, and the coloring is done mostly with markers, and a little bit of aquapainters. The buttons are from my big stash of buttons. I also added a little bit of Sakura Glaze pen to the flowers and Stardust pen to the border around the image.

We're on our way to our Youth Pastor's wedding this afternoon which is being held at the Japanese Gardens at Long Beach State. I'll be back later to share the wedding card I made for he and his bride. In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter weekend! He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!!!!!

Pomegranate Wish

This is probably the quickest easiest card I've ever made... or at least in a very long time. It helps when you are provide with the sketch, (Thanks to Taylor and her weekly Cupcake Sketch Challenge!) and helps even more when you are using a little bit (or a lot) of designer paper. I've had this beautiful "Making Memories" paper, called "Maddi Paisley" for a very long time because I'm always drawn to peaches and corals... I loved the fact that it looked so great with Purly Pomegranate (an 08 in-color from SU!), plus it looked like it was MADE to go with Groovy Guava. The "Whimsey" wheel is wheeled with Groovy Guava ink onto the G.G. layer, and then the designer paper is mounted onto P.P. squares. Isn't that yummy?

The butterfly from "Garden Whimsey" is stamped twice, cut out once with a coluzzle, and then just the butterfly is cut out with scissors and mounted on top of the first butterfly with the wings bent up just a tiny little bit. I also tried something new for the scallops around the butterfly circle. I refuse to buy "nestabilities" and other big "wish list" items until I'm out of debt for a large expense I had to make last year, so I keep playing around with things I already have to get the same look. This is the corner rounder punch used to go all the way around the pomegranate layer to get the scalloped look. A little time consuming, and not "perfect" but hey, it's a handmade one of a kind piece of art, right???

Final details: Star Dust Stickles, white brads, "Small Script" stamp in the corner, paper pierceing "swirly thing" in the upper right hand corner (I drew it on a piece of paper and then pierced on top of that as my pattern onto the Groovy Guava layer), and glaze pen on the butterfly antaenna.

Here's one more card that doesn't need much explanation... just that is uses DCWV "Nana's Kids" Paper that I am in love with!

Lovin Me Some Baja Breeze

Baja Breeze (from SU!) is such a peaceful, warm, relaxing color... and since I can't go to Baja in person, I'll just have to stick to using it on my cards! Cardstock is Baja Breeze and Basic Gray. This flower stamp is from Stampendous; and it is water colored with an aquapainter using Baja Breeze stamp pad. The circles are cut with a coluzzle, and the scalloped edge around the flower image and the oval image at the bottom are cut by hand with scalloped fiskars scissons. The thank you image (rub on) and the designer paper are both from the SU "Hand Drawn Bundle." And for the finishing touches: 2 prima flowers, a rhinestone brad, some basic gray ribbon (from Fabric Barn) some paper piercing around the edge of the cirlce image, and some Taylor's Tiny Twinkles in the middle of the flower. (Click here for a link to Taylor's Store.) Thanks for stopping by today for a look. My son just arrived this morning for his Spring Break visit, so I'm looking forward to hanging out with him this week (not to mention a few days off work!) I'm sure I'll get some stamping in somehow! Have a great weekend!

Boatloads of Love

I've been having a lot of fun with "Boatloads of Love" the past few days. I started out with the smaller (one boat) image and then when I went to put it on the card, I wanted to use the sentiment "I'm pulling for you." to send to my friend Mike who just lost his job after 10+ years at Disneyland, and I realized that that sentiment didn't make much sense with just the one boat, so I started over with the 2 boats hooked together. That obviously led to a much bigger card/ layout so that card grew to a full size 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 size card (1 piece of cardstock folded in half.

The one image card turned into Taylor's Cupcake Sketch: TECC61, (www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com) using Real Red and Bordering Blue and Bordering Blue designer paper from the Saleabration Set. The main image is stamped with black craft ink and embossed with black embossing powder (both cards) which made coloring so much easier and makes it really POP when you see it. This card is also part of the Stamp Simply #80 challenge "Let's Forget the Rules" http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ Take a close look and you'll notice: white gel pen dots around the red cardstock, white gel pen doodles on the scalloped circle punch, black faux stitching on the main image, crystal effects on the water and the life preservers, silver pen on the anchor, and a stipe of white ribbon to add to the "nautical" look. I love that bordering blue color. I don't use it nearly enough and I love the way it looks with red and white!

The larger card uses Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, and More Mustard Cardstock, East Coast Prep designer paper. The "I'm pulling for you" sentiment is punched out with the circle punch, and mounted on the round tab punch on the side of the stamped image. There is also paper piercing around the turquoise layer, silver brads in the corners, and some red and turquoise ribbon. The main image has crystal effects on the water and life savers on the side of the boat, some silver pen on the anchor, paper piecing on the heart inside the 2nd boat and the puffs of smoke coming out of the smokestack are double stamped and mounted on tiny little pieces of dimentionals. I don't think I've ever worked so long on 2 cards as I did these, but I had so much FUN!

Cards for Kristin

A few weeks ago, our very sweet, wonderful, talented pastor's wife, and friend, Kristin, took some amazing photos of my daughter Emily for her headshots she needed for an audition. Here is a link to Kristin's blog and the post with Emily's pictures. (Look for the Feb. 22 and the Feb. 24 posts... several amazing pictures of Emily in both posts) http://kristineldridge.com/blog/?p=1043

I've been wanting to do something extra special for Kristin, so I decided to make her a set of notecards that she can hopefully use when corresponding with her clients. There are 6 cards and even though they all use Wild Wasabi and Not Quite Navy Cardstock, along with Porcelain Prints Designer Series Paper, they are each individually unique. Each card also uses the monogram from "Just Right Stampers."

Now I just need to go out and find some ivory colored envelopes before packaging up the whole set so I can give them to her on Sunday. I'll be back tomorrow to share some fun cards I made with "Boatloads of Love." I've had a bad sore throat for a few days, and have missed a lot of work, but I sure have enjoyed my stamping time!