My rub-on experiment

The other day I was cleaning up my stamp room and discovered that I had a ton of rub ons laying around that I had done NOTHING with. I'm such a hoarder. Anyway, I decided to see how they would turn out on these cute little metal buckets I got from Oriental Trading. I used a couple of the rub ons from the set in the Occasions Mini. It was much harder to get them to stick to the bucket than I expected, but I finally managed with only a few minor flaws (thats really good for me!). Part of the inspire rub on didn't stick right, so I covered the mistake with the rubon butterfly. I also used several strips of ribbon and a diamond like brad from the Pretties Kit (you thought I was finished with that didn't you) to make a bow. I filled it with tissue (had to take up a little space, I couldn't give away ALL my chocolates!) some shredded and crimped card stock and then a few chocolates on top. This will be going to one of my hostesses in June. Although with the added incentive of an extra 20 or 40 dollars in free merchandise (Don't know what I'm talking about? For every workshop, catalog show, or online order between $250-$399 you recieve an additonal $20 in free merchadise and for shows $400 or more you get an extra $40) they are already pampered! Would you like to be one of my pampered hostesses? Just leave a comment and I will get right back to you.

He's just a friend Mom!

Ok, my 10 year old daughter has a twin, ok not really but it sure seems like it. They do everything together. Ride bikes, walk to the bus, run around the neighborhood, EVERYTHING! His name is Chase and he is 10 too. We tease her about her "boyfriend" which always brings cries of "He's just my friend, Mom!" Well, being as we are both military families, it was bound to happen. Chase will be moving in just a couple of weeks. Katie is heart broken. She was so upset the other day that I thought it might do her some good to make him a card. (I'm also planning on framing a picture of the two of them as a goodbye present). Anyway, after much discussion of what was too Mushy, we came up with this card. I think it is pretty good. We did have a hard time with the embossing powder on the embossed paper, but Katie said it worked. She said it looked like we spray painted it. What do you think? Is this too Mushy?

Another polkadot CASE

I saw this cute card as one of the entries for the LNS circle challenge a few weeks ago and fell in love with it. I just had to CASE it. As usual I forgot who it belongs too. If you created it let me know so I can give you full credit! I love the pretty in pink, certainly celery and chocolate chip combo...Don't you?

LNS Challenge 20

For those of you on Late Night Stampers, are you wondering why you didn't see this card in the challenge? It's because I had a massive brain fart. I made this card in plenty of time for last weeks challenge, and then totally forgot to post it or upload it to the challenge folder. Oh well. I wasn't really sure I liked it anyway. This color combo, regal rose, chocolate chip, kraft, and old olive was a difficult one for me to figure out. At least I got to use my Upsy Daisy set again.

My All Natural Card

Ok, this set is on the dormant list. Most of my customers don't take the time to look at that list during my workshops so I thought I would make a few samples to show them. I don't really like how this turned out, although the technique was fun to do.
Remember those woven placemats you made as a kid? Well I did the same type of weaving with some DSP and then placed it behind a cut out portion of the daisy (check out the close up picture). I am going to have to try it again and maybe perfect it a little more. Let me know if you think this type of paper piecing would be worth making a video tutorial about. I've never tried one, but i think it's about time to step into the next generation of blog tutorials.

A Tisket a Tasket....

a black and pink basket. I saw this card and thought it was adorable. The original arranged the colors a bit differently, but otherwise this is a straight up CASE from my files. I love how putting those 1/2" black circles inside the flowers really made them pop. The basket if from the basket and blooms die and the flowers are embosslits. I keep finding myself making more and more cards without any stamping. Maybe that is why my wishlist is mostly non stamp sets at this point. I hope you enjoy!

Memorial Day Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Memorial Day Blog Hop sponsored by Cards for Heroes. Cards for heroes mission is

To support our nation’s armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them.

For those of you who don't know, my husband is Active Duty Air Force. I am what you would call a horrendous military wife. I can honestly say that I HATE moving all the time, I DESPISE the fact that he is gone for months on end, and I DETEST all the time I have had to play both Mom and Dad. Now, having said that, I have never been PROUDER or more AMAZED and HONORED to be part of this life. The men and women who give their time and their lives in order to fight for my freedom need to be remembered, recognized, and respected. I believe that cardsforheroes.org does just this. I am grateful to be a part of this mission.

Ok, enough of my babbling, on to the card. I made this card to send to Cards for Heroes. I am extremely grateful for everything these military members do, and I wanted to show my appreciation. The card uses Stampin' Up!'s real red, brilliant blue, and whisper white card stock. The small star stamp is a retired one, but the larger group of stars in the corners are from the current "Starring You" set. The blue star is made from SU!'s small star punch and the dog tags are punches as well, the key tag punch. The greeting is from the Upsy Daisy set. If you would like more information on any of the products I have mentioned here, feel free to click on the catalog located on the right sidebar.

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my blog. If you would like to start this tour from the beginning, click here. While you look at this tour please remember those who have given the ultimate sacrafice to allow you the freedom you enjoy today. To too many people, Memorial Day is just a free day from work. As you enjoy your BBQs and get togethers, please say a quick prayer for those who are still there, supporting our freedom. Thank you for looking. Your next stop will be Kelli from Illinois. To check out her blog and continue this tour click HERE.

Circle Card

Yet another CASE from somewhere in the land of Internet tubes. I found this in my stash of cards to CASE. I had to change it somewhat because I don't have the circle cutter yet and was unable to make circles as large as the original (I know, I know, it's on my wish list...which is back up to over 700 dollars...and doesn't include any stamps!). Anyway I used one of the scallop note cards that came in my You're Hired box from Sherril Graf. This card also has Upsy Daisy on it. I've owned this set for a while and never used it. Now it doesn't feel so neglected. What about you? I challenge you to get out a stamp set you've been neglecting and ink it up. Once you do, let me see your creations! What are you waiting for? Quit sitting here internet surfing and go stamp!!!! I mean it, GO!

Everythings just Beachy

Well, its getting warmer here. We finally had the Ice Holy (ok, that is a really rough translation). It is the opposite of an Indian Summer, and Germany seems to have one every year. It gets relatively cold for three or four days in May and then we have great weather for the rest of the summer.

Anyway, with the weather turning so gorgeous, I was in a summer mood. It was definitely time to use my Just Beachy set. This card actually did double duty. I am a member of VCRocks (stands for Virtual Convention). One of our challenges was to create a card using six different colors from the same color family. Obviously I used the bold brights. What do you think, does it look bright enough?

My cute little penguin

Isn't he adorable? This penguin is from the Animal Crackers stamp set. I fell in love with him and a couple other animals from this set, but I've never found the time to actually use them before. All that changed, and now I'm hooked. These stamps are perfect for simple cards that look amazing. One of the items I recieved from Sherril Graf in my "You're Hired" package included grosgrain ribbon in every color that SU! sells. I was so excited to use it that I used three pieces on this card. I kinda like how
they look. What you do you think?

Beautiful CASE

Now for something completely different. First it was the Zombie Apocolypse, and now it is a CASE from our amazing blog tour. I hope you all had a chance to participate in the tour. There were some amazing artists. Here I am trying to clean out my CASE file, and I added a million more. Oh well. You can never have too many great ideas. I wish I could remember where I saw this card. I'm so sorry if it's yours. As always let me know and I will give you credit. On to the card.....

This card uses the Sweet Slumber DSP and the Summer Sky stamp set and Baja Breeze buttons from the occasions mini (better hurry, all that stuff goes away the end of June!!!). I thought this card was totally breathtaking when I first saw it, and even with my jerky pastel painting attempts, I still think this is one of my favorites. I was trying to figure out what other stamp sets would work with this card. Any ideas? This is one of the cards I will be sending Sherril Graf in the "You're Hired" series. I know she will enjoy it...I hope you will as well.

It's the Zombie Apocolypse!!

Ok, I know...weird card. For those of you new to my blog, Welcome! You will find that we are a strange crew. (for proof check out the post where my son turned himself into a transformer with adhesive rubber, or when I had the song from Aqua Teen Hunger Force stuck in my head for days!). Anyway, today is no exception. This past weekend we celebrated one of our friends 25th (I know..he's such a baby) birthday. He has been on a zombie kick recently, so I made him this beautiful Zombie card. It uses the top note die, several punches, Pick a Petal (for the eyes) and Tasty Sweet (for the nose). Isn't it gorgeous??

Final Watercolored Roses....so easy a five year old could do it!

Are you tired of the watercolored roses yet? Me neither. My son really liked the technique as well. If he, at age 5 can create one (using the wrong side of the paper and everything) than you can too. Take a peek and let him know what a great job he has done!

Blog Tour!!!!

Welcome to the May 15th & 16th Blog Tour

Welcome to the May 15th & 16th Blog Tour. Stop #9, Tour #6
This tour features 22 blogs! Each blog will show case a beautiful project using items from Stampin' Up!'s - Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog.
Don’t forget to bookmark your favorite blogs as the links that make up this tour will disappear at midnight on May 16th.

Thoughts and Prayers

While this is a beautiful set, it took me a long time to purchase it.

Once I saw all the versatile things you could do with it,

I had to buy it myself.

Sweet and Simple

Silver embossing powder and a colored to match bow give this simple card a quiet elegance.

Chalked

Using SU! pastels behind the branches of the tree gives this card a new depth.This set lends itself to many different techniques.

Tiled

These images can be broken up a number of different ways. Tiling the flowered branch is

just another way to utilize this set.

Just Say It

While the images have a very formal feel, by using only the words the entire set can change its vibe. Pairing the sentiment with bold colors can make these stamps appealing to a whole new crowd.

The tour has ended. Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolored Roses Part II

Yesterday I told you I would show you my watercolored rose that I made. I actually used this for a card for yet another LateNightStamper challenge. This challenged us to CASE a card from the list Mom, Sherrill Graff's, website. You can see the card I CASED here. She didn't use the watercolored rose, but I had to. It was too beautiful not to. So, without further ado....here is my creation.

Watercolored Roses

If you have looked at any crafting blogs in the past few weeks, you have to have see the new watercoloring technique shown here. This was such a cool technique that I had to try it. I did it with a rose (which I will show you tomorrow) and I did it with a couple of butterflies. Aren't they super pretty?Once I had them made, I had to find something to put them on. I decided to make an adorable watering can and fill it with Toblerone candies. I really like the way it turned out. Let me know if you have an idea of what I can do with gold butterfly. Who knows, you may get a copy of whatever it is you suggest !

Another Mother's Day Card

Ok, now I can post this one. This is the Mother's Day card that I made for my Mom. I really liked the look of the four tiles on the front of this card. I CASE'd this from Sandi MacIvers blog, but it actually came from a picture on her blog from an idea board at the Seattle Regionals. Can I just say, as a SU! demo in Germany, that any demonstrator who is willing to share pictures from regionals or convention or leadership is tops in my book. I get to go to convention this year, but most of the time we are so far away over here that attending any of the events is impossible. Without these posts, I wouldn't have nearly as many cool tricks up my sleeve!

Another Convention Swap

Here is another swap I am doing for convention. You know all the gorgeous punch art out there.....various items made out of punches, well I've joined a swap on SplitCoastStampers for a punch art book. I will make 20 pages with one piece of punch art and exchange them for 20 different ones. I decided to do the Hula Girl I CASE'd from Jen Young's blog. I also found a whole bunch more that I would love to do....so.....If you would like to join us, check out This link.

Flower Pen

Here is a pen I altered. I CASE'd this from the technique junk I was going to make these as swaps for convention, but after seeing all the work that goes into them, I decided it was way to much work let alone trying to figure out how to get all of them in my luggage. Next plan is to use it during my Shoebox swap pre-convention event with Late Night Stampers. They are doing a whole bunch of cool stuff before and after convention. Want to join us? Just click on the owl logo to the right of my blog. Anyway, this is my first attempt and it is definately going to need some refining. I am open to any and all suggestions. Please let me know what you think.

Thinking of You

Remember me talking about the Thinking of You SAS someone has asked me to put together? Well here is the next card I have put together. Once again it is CASE'd from some unknown artist. I used Hunter Green and Chocolate Chip along with the Trendy Trees stamp set. I am unsure if I like the color combination. Let me know what you think.

Happy Birthday to you???

Here is another card out of my CASE to do list. It was a quick and easy one. I actually made this one while I was on the phone talking to my friend and potential new customer. She was amazed when I told her I had put this card together during our conversation. She was so impressed she decided to host a show for me! Anyway, this card uses Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, and Pretty in Pink DSP. You can't get much simpler. Unfortunately no one I know has a birthday anytime soon, do you?

Mother's Day

Well, here it is almost Mother's Day, and I haven't posted any Mom's Days cards. This card is the one for my Mother-in-law. It's ok to post, because she is here visiting and won't be checking my Blog. Yep, you read right, we have company yet again. I am still keeping with my CASE'd theme though. This was a card shared on LNS a while ago, and I had emailed and asked how she did it. She was kind enough to share, but of course, while I kept the directions, I forgot to write down the creators name. Sorry abou that! If this is your creation please let me know so I can give you credit.

Thinking Of You

One of my workshop participants approached me about doing a Stamp a Stack for her FRG (group of military wives) whose husbands are going downrange this summer. She wants to make at least 14 Thinking of you, or Missing you cards so they have something to mail at least one a month. This is the first one I made. I don't know if I will be using it for the SAS, but I really really liked the color combinations. This also satisifies the only CASED items, I challenged myself with. This uses the Parisian Breeze DSP, Baja Breeze Ribbon and Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip Cardstock. The inside of the card says "of you.". Do you think this would work as part of a SAS?

CASEing The Good, The Bad, and The filling?

My husband is having a fit. You see, I have two computers and between them I have over a Terabyte of storage (for you non-computer literate people that is 1000 GB). I am running out of room. I keep finding these cute cards and scrapbook pages online either through my LateNightStampers group, Splitcoaststampers, or just random blog surfing. I don't want to lose the idea, so I save the picture to my computer. Start to see the problem? Last night I was trying to run a program from work on my computer and got an error stating that I had no memory left to run the program. My husband doesn't understand. His question was "Why do you have all this stuff?". When I told him it was for inspiration and to copy from he asked "So how many of these cards have you actually made?" Ummmm, I had to admit at that point that of the thousands of cards I have stored I have only actually CASED 3. Yes, you read that right, 3. So, here is my new challenge, for the next several posts I will only post cards that I have CASED from someone whose picture is stored on my computer. Since these have been stored for a while I may or may not have the original artists information. So.....I apologize if I have CASEd your card and not given you credit. Let me know and I will be happy to update my post with your name as the idea owner. So...One to my newest CASE.

This card was cased from someone (she goes by SpeedyStamper) on my Late Night Stamper group. She made it for the 3D flower challenge. You can see the original card here (if you are a member. If not, go ahead and sign up!). It is a pretty simple card once you cut out all the flowers. The flowers are from the Basket and Blooms die. I am going to be using this as a Make N Take for a Mother's Day workshop I am doing. I like the red, but I am taking lots of colors so Everyone can choose which one they would like to do. Which color would you choose?

My Favorite- The Orange Card

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry. I think my camera was having an issue with the brightness of this card! This is definately a bright one, but it is my favorite. Probably because orange is my favorite color. I used the Smart cookie stamps on this card as well. I think that is the first time I've ever used them. It's about time I get them out of the box!

Apple Card

I got to emboss while I was making this one. I used the little apple stamp from Smart Cookie and embossed it with white embossing powder. The saying is also from Smart Cookie. I still have to work on getting backgrounds more random. I always seem to clump them all together. Does anyone have a secret tip they can share on how to make them spaced more evenly?

Strawberry Card

This card was very simple too. Just two 1 3/8 squares in Glorious Green and Real Red and a 1 1/4" square of Whisper White for the strawberry. Personally this is my least favorite. I think I may add some brads in the lower right corner. Do you have any ideas on what I can add to make this card better? It is definately missing something!

LateNightStampers Bloggin' Stars

I know, I know, I talk about LNS all the time now. Well that is because it is such an amazing group of talented stampers. I'm so grateful to be a part of them. Sherrill Graff, list mom, is so encouraging. Creating cards for my "You're Hired!" series is really making me step outside the box. Anyway, LNS has come up with yet another way to help us encourage each other. I am now a lucky participant of the LNS Bloggin' Stars group #2. This is a talented group of bloggers who spend a little time each week encouraging each other via blog comments. You would not believe the amazing group I am with. Every time I see something remarkable on their site I will make sure I let you know. With this group I can almost guarantee that will happen constantly! If you are interested in following their blogs, you can always find them listed under the Latenightstampers Bloggin' Stars #2 Logo located on the right hand side of my page. Now, get to blog hopping, get inspired and get stamping!

Cherry Card

This is the first of 4 cards which will be housed inside the box I showed you yesterday. This card uses Whisper White ribbon, the cherries from Tart and Tangy, a very very very small piece of red gingham ribbon, two scalloped circle punches, and that is it. Super simple, and really easy! Don't you love it when projects come together so quickly?