Tag!

My daughter Wendy got tagged and has now tagged me. So, if you want to get to know me a little better, read on. If not, read no further.

Four places that I go to over & over:
Church
Wal Mart (it is the closest grocery store to me. I wish I had other options.)
Allen's work (when I choose to keep the car, I have to drop him off and pick him up.)
Mesa (to see my kids and grandkids!! Oh happy day!)

Four people who E-mail/call me regularly:
Wendy
My sister Kathy
Julie N.
Allen

Four of my favorite places to eat:
Joe's Farm Grill - YUM! I love their Ahi Tuna sandwich (we are NOT talking canned tuna fish by any means!)and their sweet potato fries.
Carrabba's - The scallops are delish!
PF Chang - The spicy dishes are my favorites
Rancho De Tia Rosas - Oh man, the salmon fish tacos are exquisite! Not to mention the chips and salsa.

I just thought you might like to know what I order there.

Four places I would rather be right now:
With my kids and grandkids
Casa Rubio (with my kids and grandkids)
At a park enjoying this beautiful day (with my kids and grandkids) Do you see a trend here? lol
Eating lunch with friends

Four people I love:
Allen
Wendy (and her children) that counts as 1, right?
Ben (and his baby) same rule applies here
Jed

TV shows I watch: (when I get a chance)
Dancing with the Stars
Pushing Daisies
Good Morning America
Everybody Loves Raymond

Four people I tag:Oh gosh, these people have to have blogs, huh? And read mine! lol Uh oh.
Kelly Jean
Terri Honz (you don't have a blog, do you?)
Ashley Bowen
Vicky Gould

We will see how this goes. lol At least I did it, right Wendy?

Busy, busy, busy!

Doesn't it make you go - hmmmmmm? When you are so busy and there is no time to stamp (or whatever else you like to do) but you can't really tell what you are so busy doing? Sheesh, it feels as if my wheels are spinning, but I am not getting anywhere! lol

I did take a few minutes last night to stamp, and I created this card. It is such an easy sketch and works up so quickly. Give it a try! For this square card, I used textured paper and stamped using versamark and then embossed with irridescent ice which is so nice for that ice crystal effect.

Thanksgiving Decor

More Thanksgiving decorations

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I really love Thanksgiving and like to decorate for that more than Halloween! GASP! Yes, it is true. So, before Halloween I start putting up fall decorations - nothing really Halloween at all, and then once it is over, I pulled out the Thanksgiving decorations. I even found a few more I just love - like these Pilgrims. I put the Decor Elements on a floating frame and a few autumn leaves between the sheets of glass.
I have been wanting a small entry table, but my entry really is too small. Well, I had made this autumn wall hanging several years ago and it hung below this little shelf. Then I said to myself, Self! You can hang that shelf in the entry - so I did. I love it. It's just right for this small entry area. But now I need to get busy and make my other seasonal wall hangings. It's on the to do list.
I went to my sister's this week and she has this incredible embroidery machine, and I made this gorgeous cross-stitched kitchen towel. Isn't it awesome? I love it. It took quite a while, but nothing like it would take to do it by hand. Thanks Kathy!

The Have mercy turkey and the other wood thingy is from years past. I had to re-glue them, but they have found great places in my home.

Anyway, I hope you like my Thanksgiving decorations. I'm pleased with all of them.

Mail Friendly Thanksgiving card

I needed a mail friendly card, so I kept this one simple.

I used a scalloped oval nestie to cut the designer paper and then the wrought iron punch was done only in the center top and bottom. I connected them with my craft knife to complete the oval to frame the sentiment. That is stamped in chocolate chip. I sponged cranberry crisp ink around the edges. The inside has autumn leaves stamped inside with the sentiment, "Happy Thanksgiving". What do you think?

Watercolor paper

Watercolor paper always adds so much texture to a project. For this card, I used the top note die cut and watercolor paper. I dampened the paper before stamping the flowers. The stamp was inked with markers in four different colors before stamping. I then used black craft for the detail stamp and clear embossed that before blending the colors with a dampened paint brush. I used itty bitty backgrounds for the splatters and then a damp sponge and bravo burgundy ink to soften the edges. The black strip behind the main panel really makes it pop and then I added just a touch of the gingham ribbon. How do you like this?

Candle Boat

I put up a shelf in my entry today and I needed a candle there. Well, what's a girl to do if the candle just doesn't go? You make a candle boat for it!

I inked the leaf image with Marigold Morning and then rock n rolled in Cranberry Crisp. I stamped them onto the vellum card stock and embossed with clear embossing powder. The sentiment is stamped with chocolate chip craft ink and clear embossed. I cuttlebugged the side panels and punched through with the crop a dile and tied with ribbons. What do you think?

Oh my word! Treehouse stamps is exploding with new WONDERFUL products. I am so excited! Papers and ribbons and containers - OH MY! Be sure to keep checking the Treehouse Stamps website. There will be a big coming out party on Friday, Nov. 28th and the release will be on the 29th! You won't want to miss it.

Here is my card for today, combining the SCS sketch challenge and Ashley's blog color challenge using Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze! They look great together, don't you think? I stamped the snowman using the Baja Breeze ink and then went over some of the details with markers. I highlighted the snow with dazzling diamonds. Of course the card base is cuttlebugged. I love my cuttlebug!

November project

Here is the project you crafty ladies can make for November. The center of the turkey is a peppermint patty, sandwiched between two scalloped circles. I used an old calendar for the tail feathers on this one, but who knows what the next one will look like. Wouldn't they be great for name cards on your Thanksgiving table? Come make a few!

I'm back!!

Oh, I have had such computer problems! I lost a hard drive, but I am back, thanks to my dear son, Ben! Thanks Ben!

Here is my challenge card for today. I absolutely love this image of Santa and thought it was perfect for today's sketch.

I stamped the image with Riding Hood Red ink and distressed the edges. I mounted it onto Bravo Burgundy and then onto basic grey's figgy designer papers. The Bravo Burgundy layer also has irridescent ice snowflakes on it. I wound the ribbon around a pencil and baked it for a few minutes to get the curl, but when I opened the oven - oh what a surprise! I didn't know you could melt a pencil! Well, here's the proof.

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Halloween!!!

I just had to post a picture of my cute grands all ready for trick or treating! Oh they are precious!

Pink Chocolate Kiss

I am not so sure I like this flower done with the light pink. I guess I just prefer it in more intense colors. Not that it isn't pretty, I mean, how can you go wrong with this stamp set? I really do love it. Oh well, these were the colors we were to use for today's color challenge. I used daubers to ink up the stamp before staming it. Amazingly I used cuttlebug embossing on it. I'm not sure I can make a card without it. lol Anyway, this is what I came up with for today.

What a great day! Well, almost!

Oh what fun! I got together with Terri, Me, Barbara, TJ, Melissa, Jean and Chat for lunch and a swap. Awesome cards, but even better is the friendship. Thanks ladies! I just love getting together with you! Here is a photo of my friends at lunch! Sorry it is so out of focus!

TJ (Mel's little boy) developed a HUGE crush on Barbara's daughter, Kelsey at lunch. What a cute couple they are! Look at those TJ eyes! Mmmmmmm!

But just before I was leaving my house I got a call from my sister telling me she had broken her back! Oh my word! I couldn't believe it. The poor dear! Yikes! She was riding in a speed boat when they slammed onto the quake from another boat and bam, she broke her back in two places. She lived with it for a couple of days before going to the hospital and finding out what had happened. Oooooo, I feel so badly for her.

More blue snowflakes

So this card was made for the limited supply challenge. I masked a square and sponged blue onto the white cardstock, then embossed white snowflakes on top of that. The top layer is vellum on which I embossed an irridescent ice snowflake. The dp is one of SU's from last year I believe. I really like that paper, and it was perfect for this challenge. I attached the vellum using eyelets, and I had to do it the old fashioned way, as I loaned my crop a dile to a friend. Wouldn't you know I would need it for this. I added the stitched ribbon as well as the taffeta ribbon to this one. I like the combination.

I love snowflakes, but only on paper! lol I don't enjoy living in the snow and ice, but cards made with these beautiful snowflake images work for me! I used the Snow Swirled stamp set with Bashful Blue classic and craft ink. I heat embossed with white to give it a frosty look around the edges. The ribbons are blue taffeta and white organdy together. I like how that looks, do you?

Have a great Wednesday!

You can't go wrong

with Pink, White and Black, can you? I love this color combo and had such fun making this card. I really cased a great card by Susie B.

The right side of the card was embossed with my cuttlebug floral fantasy folder and then I used my dauber with chalk to enhance the design. The flowers on the left are also a cuttlebug folder with metallic dots added to the centers. The whole card is mounted onto the black cs and the black and white gingham used to tie the stems together.

How do you like this look?

Fun technique

Today's technique challenge was this fun fold called stair step. That is what it looks like when you have it horizontal, or it can be a vertical card and then it is more of an accordian fold. So fun.

When I looked at the samples, I immediately thought of a tiered/layered cake, so I made a birthday card. I used pale plum card stock and then added perfect plum scalloped icing. That was a fun look, then I thought of these fun silver thingamajigs that Terri sent me for my birthday. Thanks Terri! I added them to the scallops. Then I thought that back layer needed a bit of somethin', so I used one of the cuttlebug folders on it. Oh yeah, that looks like some nice icing detail, don't you think? I cut a slit in that top fold to add the candles which are just strips of cs run through my cuttlebug. I then used one of the petals from the old SU daisy punch as each flame with a little yellow stickles added to that. Oh, I like that look. What do you think?

For the Wedding Cake, I used the cuttlebug to add dimension to the layers, then used the taffeta and organdy ribbon and added layers of the flowers from the pretties kit with a clear rhinestone brad for the center. I stamped the love and embossed it before punching it out with an oval punch and then mounted it onto an embossed scalloped oval. There is plenty of room to write a message for the happy couple.

So, what do you think of today's creations?

The weekend is coming!

Are you looking forward to the weekend? I am. I get to go to my daughter's house and play "Stamping Bunco". Oh, that is going to be fun. I am generally the biggest loser, but even the loser goes away with a prize, so . . . even I can't lose! I'm really looking forward to it. And as long as I'm there, I get to see my grandkids too! I love those kiddos and miss them so much, even though I'm only 60 miles away I don't get to see them as often as I like. Hugs and kisses, coming your way kids!

So, this is my card for today's challenge: ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS! Hee hee, isn't that fun? Lol. Judy challenged us to limit our supplies today to scissors - which can be a straight cutter or decorative edge scissors only. Okay, I used the decorative scissors. I hadn't used these in a very very long time. Paper - any paper at all, including decorative paper. I used a bit of the decorative paper. And ROCK - was to be hardware or anything with bling. Okay, I may have stretched this one a bit using diamond dust on the liquid applique, but diamonds are rocks and of course diamond dust is just ground up rocks! Right? And I used the diamond (oooo, that's good too) brads in the corners.

This image is a new one released today from Treehouse stamps. Isn't he cute? I colored him with my watercolor crayons. I love those things. Even I can color with them and make it look pretty good. Oh yeah, I love success. lol So, this is it for today.

Have a great weekend! I will!

Another Christmas card ready to mail

This time of year I find myself making a Christmas card here and there and then use those to send out to friends and family. This year is no exception. In fact, I have a little gift bag I throw all of them into so I can be ready when it comes time to mail them. This one will be added to the stash.

This is a sketch challenge on SCS. I wanted the sentiment to be the main focus for this card, so stamped it onto the real red cs with versamark and embossed with white. I also added a little touch of dazzling diamonds. I used the ticket corner punch on all the corners before adding the white dot border with my signo gel pen. I added the red heart brads and poopped it up. The white layer is stamped with the sprig from Peaceful Wishes and white embossed, again adding some dazzling diamonds for a bit of shimmer before cutting with the nestie rectangle. The red layer is embossed with the cuttlebug folder, Textile Texture. That may be my favorite/go to folder. It is so versatile and lovely. I also used the ticket corner on that layer and added the white heart brads. btw, thanks to Judy for those brads! Hmmmm, I wonder how many Christmas cards I have now. I'll have to count.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Another look at those colors

So, I just couldn't quit with the color challenge colors and made one more card. Look at what a difference when you use more of the one color! This time the emphasis is on the Kiwi Kiss color. It's perfect for Halloween. I seem to make a lot of Halloween cards. Maybe I should actually send them to folks! Yeah, that's it - I'm actually going to send them to people.

Anywho, I just love this little witch hat stamp by Treehouse. I stamped it with black craft ink and clear embossed, then went in with my craft knife and punch to cut out all those holes. I also stamped the image onto the Tangerine Tango cs and used dazzling diamonds on the holes so that would show through the green hat. The large spider is part of the Creepy Crawly image, but the little web and spider are a $1 Michael's stamp. They were also stamped with black craft ink, and clear embossed with just a hint of dazzling diamonds added to give it that web glisten. So, is it creepy?

Warm fall colors

Well cards are the only place I will be seeing fall colors around here! These colors were the color challenge on SCS this week, but I didn't really want to do a fall card specifically. In fact, this is a birthday card for a friend. Oh all right, a late birthday card for a friend if you must know. Oh well, it just keeps the celebration going! Right?

I love this stamp set. I have used this lovely flower for so many different cards and with so many color combinations. It is always just right. Don't you just love those butterflies!

A card presentation

The mini pizza box was so fun to make I had to try another. I changed the measurements so that regular sized cards and envelopes will fit into this one. Now to make the cards to go inside.

I used one of Treehouse stamps designs as the main element, using Handsome Hunter craft ink and clear embossing. I then sponged the color around it to make it seem to glow. Do you see the glow? lol It was cut out using a scalloped oval nestie before popping up with dimensionals. I added dimension on the other layers with cuttlebug embossing folders, of course, and then a little glitter around the edges of the main panel and on the star atop the tree with stickles. It looks like an old fashioned Christmas to me. What do you think?

Frankie, you blockhead!

Oh what fun this little project is. Why? Cuz it's easy peasy! This is a mini pizza box and the perfect shape for a Frankie, don't you think?

I used circle punches to create the eyes and nose and a black marker for the stitched mouth and scar. Oh so cute.

I created the screws by using the round tab punch, cutting out a notch for the screwdriver and running it through the crimper for the threads.

You may need to make a few of these for your favorite trick or treaters.

Pink & Red Rose

This card was created as a CASE (copy and steal everything) from Love Stampin!!!!!!!! 's gallery on SCS.

I just love my Roses in Winter stamp set and looked forward to using it again. I used watercolor paper which changes the look. I inked the stamp with pink pirouette ink and then rock and rolled it in riding hood red ink before stamping. I masked that and then used my overlooked background stamps, cheesecloth and weathered using creamy caramel, kiwi kiss and always artichoke inks. I then sponged the edges with the greens too. The main image is mounted on riding hood red card stock before being placed onto the pink pirouette card front. That was embossed with the Just my Type cuttlebug folder and then the beautiful pink taffeta ribbon was added. The sentiment is stamped with riding hood red ink.

What do you think of my rose?

Frankie box and card!

Aren't these guys just too cute? Is cute a good thing for a monster? lol Well, I had such fun making these, I thought you might like to make them too! If you would like to make them at my craft night October 9th, 16th or 23rd, just let me know ASAP. The card is 40 cents and the box is 35 cents. Give me a call, or email me if you would like me to prepare kits for you.

Happy Saturday!

Awwww, a nice, quiet weekend! I love it. And the weather is cooling a bit - FINALLY! I'm so relieved. It's been a long, hot summer.

So today I needed a gift card holder for a niece that is getting married next weekend. Sharon has a gorgeous one posted on her blog - http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/category/gift-card-holders/ I just love Sharon's style and this design is easy to duplicate and oh so nice.

I stamped the flourish from Baroque Motifs and then ran it through my cuttlebug with the birds & swirls folder. Oh so nice, don't you think? I used the elegant eggplant, as that is the color used on the wedding invitation. Of course the Paradise Bakery gift card will be replaced, but it's what I had on hand. How do you like this one?

NO, NO, NO, PUT THAT DOWN!

hee hee hee, this was the title of today's challenge on SCS. You know you say that to children all the time. So today's challenge was to simplify - NO embellishments at all. Now that should be easy, but . . . somtimes it's difficult not to add all those beauties we have lurking in the cupboards and drawers! lol

So here is my card for the challenge. The card base is very vanilla and stamped with French Script with Riding Hood Red ink. I then sponged on more riding hood red and a little creamy caramel. I then stamped the snowflakes from the Snow Swirled set with versamark and embossed with copper again. Ooooo, pretty!

For the tree, I used versamark to stamp the tree and embossed it with Copper embossing powder. That really looks nice on that red. I then cut it out and mounted it onto scalloped rectangles made with my nesties. The sentiment is also using the nesties, and I did paper pierce around the edges for even more detail, since we couldn't add ribbon or any other fun embellishments.

I hope you like it and I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Beautiful Christmas!

I hope today's card redeems me after the last fiasco! Yikes!

I really love beautiful Christmas sentiments, and this new one from Treehouse Stamps is a definite favorite. I wanted that to be the main focus of my card, so I stamped it on the inside and used my nesties to cut and frame it on the outside of the card. I used rose red, whisper white and always artichoke card stock. I stamped and embossed the sentiment and little holly sprig. For the bow, I layered satin ribbon and organdy which was heated. I just love the look that gives to organdy ribbon. Ooooo, maybe I should have used some of my pretties kit on this as well. Hmmm, I may add a bit to it. This is definitely a hand deliver type of card. I would hate to mail it with this bow. So, what do you think?

Cooking? It's not really my thing anymore.

So now that there are just two of us at home (okay, so I'm making excuses) cooking is just not that much fun for me. We go out to eat a lot, and it's pretty expensive. So, I thought I would try to cut the costs a bit, going to a local place where you make your dinner entrees and freeze them. My daughter had gone to this one and thought they were very good. Okay, I'll give it a try. $156 for 12 dinners for 2-3 people.

So last Saturday my daughter and I went and prepared our meals. Now I have a tiny freezer, so I only brought home a few of mine and left the others in my daughter's freezer.

Sunday evening I cooked our first one - Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas. I made some Spanish Rice to go with them and heated them according to the directions. Well, I don't really like red enchilada sauce all that much, so I am not crazy about this one. My dh said he prefers my old sour cream chicken enchiladas, but of course they are way way unhealthier than this recipe. We ate only half of them and saved the other two for another day. Now when we eat them I will warm up some green enchilada sauce and add that. I'm sure I will like it more.

Last night we had a guest for dinner and I made the Balsamic honey glazed pork medallions. It is a very easy recipe and it smelled oh so good. I also made some oven roasted red potatoes and a salad. There was plenty for the three of us and I even had left overs for my lunch today. I think I over cooked the pork just a bit, but it was really good and I will enjoy having this one again!

I really love having a quick dinner ready to make. This is a great idea and is really pretty economical for the two of us. It was fun putting them together with my daughter. It really was easy, as everything you need is right there, all chopped, cubed or whatever and ready to assemble. As MS would say, "It's a good thing." lol

OH NO!

Well, this wasn't what I had pictured in my mind at all, and I'm not sure it's even a good result. I'm still mulling this one over. lol Maybe I should have stopped back a step or two.

So, for the snowman panel, I stamped him with white craft ink. I stamped him again onto the ruby red paper and cut out the hat, scarf and carrot nose and glued that on. Okay, that looks good. So, I punch out the buttons out of the brown and glue them on. Okay, not bad. Well, the white snowman just didn't show up all that well. Hmmm, what to do? I know, I'll go over the lines with my white gel pen. A little better, but still not so hot. So, knowing it still needed something, I punched out the snow flake and backed it with white to show up. Hmmm, too symetrical, it doesn't look good. So, why not run it through the cuttlebug with the snowflakes folder. I rather liked that, it was definitely better. Well, we can't leave well enough alone, so I used my glue pen and added flocking to the snowman. Sorry you can't see that step, but that is exactly why it wasn't so great! So, I came back and added liquid applique. Mmmmmm, I don't know. So I used my trusty glue pen to add sticky and throw on some dazzling diamonds. That has to help, right? Well, actually it did! I'm liking it better. I know it's not my greatest creation, but it is finished. I promise I am not going to do another thing to this one. Oh yeah, I glued the snowflake I punched out to the inside and glittered it up. I like that a lot. Well, if you've read through all this you're a brave soul. Thanks for stopping by. lol Have a great day!