Sunday, December 30, 2007

Featured Stamper Challenge FS47

This is one of SCS challenges that I always avoid even looking at, but being that I am in a new house with a new craft room I decided I would try all the challenges over Christmas break. Now for a little background on why a chose this project from Danielle's album. My kids got a game from my mom, Gibby is what the kids call her, called Go Diego Go 123 Game. It is a counting game but it is done with animals, since we are talking about Diego here. And of course my husband and I have never heard of most of them and naturally the kids want to know about all the different animals. So this morning we played a round of the game and then I got online at SCS and peeked at the Featured Stamper's album. And I found this wonderful Happy Holidays Picture Book and the light went on. Make the kids a book to go with the game. We could read about the animals as each one is drawn.
So here is my Go Diego Go 123 Game Animals book that I made for Regan and Alek.

I still need to print out the information on the individual animals but I couldn't wait to share. Thank you Melissa for letting me borrow your Bind-It All, I finally found something to use it for.

Here is a picture of one of the tabs as well and that is one of the game boards in the background:



Recipe:

Paper: black, pumpkin pie, tempting turquoise, green galore, white
Ink: Basic Black

Stamps: Zoofari, Silly Sealife, Rough Edges Alphabet, Brushstroke Upper, Lower, and Numbers
Accesories: Ribbon: Black, Orange, Turquoise
Tools: Bind-It All

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Blog Candy to Celebrate my New Room

In honor of my new craft room I am going to offer up my first blog candy. While unpacking I found out that I had three duplicate acrylic stamp sets, so they need a new home. Will it be yours? To qualify to be in the running please leave a comment on this post about what your New Year's Eve/Day plans are. And please sign in to my guestbook. Thanks. I will choose a winner during nap time (around 2 PM EST) on New Year's Day. Here is a picture of these wonderful sets. You can even see my new paint color.


Limited Supplies Challenge LSC148

Here is the other card that I made last night in the wee hours. I made this one for SCS's Limited Supplies Challenge.

The Challenge (LSC148) Follow the list #6

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 (No punches, No CB, No Piercer, etc)
any coloring tools
sponges OK
Embellishments
one piece of ribbon
Dimensionals are an adhesive!
My Card:


My Recipe:

Stamps: Voila and Backyard BBQ (retired)
Cardstock: Whispering white (sponged with Apricot Appeal)
DP: unknown (I do know that I bought it at AC Moore last summer)
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Green Galore,
Tools: Blender Pen and Aqua Painter (haven't bought the markers yet, they are on my list)

Splitcoast Stampers Challenge CC146

Well I finally decided to break down and stamp in my nice new room. I have done a couple of SCS's challenges in the past and decided that was the quickest way to get my juices flowing last night. I decided to try the color challenge (cc146) because I hardly ever use my SU Bold Bright colors. I even had to open the Glorious Green ink pad. I love how the card turned out.


The Challenge (CC146) was to use Glorious Green, Green Galore, and Real Red as the color combo.



Recipe:

Cardstock: Whispering White, Real Red, and Green Galore

Ink: Real Red, Green Galore, Glorious Green, Basic Black

Stamps: Paint Prints (retired)


I sponged the Green Galore ink over my stamped image because the white was just way to bright for me. I don't think I will ever get rid of this stamp set. I love it. Plus one of my closest friends sells Creative Memories and I use it for all of her tags that she uses for her business. (Hi Pammy.)

Friday, December 28, 2007

Painted

Last Friday my room got painted. It took 3 coats to cover my 3 little walls. The paint was super thick. It took a week before the room didn't reek of paint. Sorry little brother for the stench during your visit. I have been very slowly putting stuff away, mostly during the kids nap time. I stole an idea from one of my sister SBS3 with how I have my stamps displayed. THANK YOU and I'm sorry I can't remember which one of you posted the picture. It took me two weeks to find a CD holder that would fit in the space that I have. I haven't taken the holders for the stamp pads down at the old house yet so my inks are in baskets. I have two more cubes to put together that hold 12 x 12 paper. I have lots of space so any ideas on how to move stuff or display stuff would be greatly appreciated. I have lots of boxes to unpack still.

Friday, December 21, 2007

NO SCHOOL

Well today is the first day of Christmas Break and it snowed. Okay not that much, just a dusting. But it was enough to get me back in the holiday mood. My kids are at their preschool/after school program today to give me a day off and so Regan can go roller skating with her friends.

Last night Baker and I painted the corner of my room. It took three coats and was the thickest paint I have ever seen in my life. My mother-in-law will be here at 9 AM to help me get the house in order before my mom gets here tomorrow. I am hoping to get to unpack THE ROOM as Baker calls it today. If I do I will post some pictures. I might even get to do some crafts. I am so in withdrawal.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I've been Tagged

My new SBS3 friend, Chris, has tagged me. So now I have to tell you 7 things that you don't know about me. To my friends and family in the outside world none of this is new, but it is all new to my blogging friends.

1. I was born in Bitburg, Germany and lived there until I was about 4 years old. In my 20's I returned and went to school in a small town, Staufen, to brush up on my German after years of taking it in school.
2. I grew up in the town that the movie Grosse Pointe Blank with John Cusack and Minnie Driver was filmed in: Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
3. I lost touch with my best friend from high school and she found me 2 years ago through the internet and it turns out we had both moved to the South and lived about 2 1/2 hours from one another.
4. We are not Jewish but celebrate Hannakuh every year because two of my close friends are.
5. I am a total neat freak at work but love to have my piles of junk all over the house. It drives everyone but me crazy.
6. I used to say the word crap all the time and then I had kids and I started to spell it out instead of saying. The only problem is that I was spelling carp not crap so now I just say carp and everyone just stares at me and it makes me smile everytime.
7. Today is my 8th anniversary. I married my wonderful husband Baker 8 years ago today. I still ask myself how I got so lucky.

Now I guess I have to tag people. Here goes: Melissa, Malia, Marie, and Maren

Thursday, December 6, 2007

All Packed

Sob! Sob! I finally packed. I cannot believe how much stuff I had in my space. Here are pictures of my empty, packed up space. Tomorrow Baker is moving the boxes and cubes while I'm at work. Then I will move the little stuff.




This is the view from the stairs. I only packed the cube that had albums. Other wise I just pulled them apart so they could be moved.


Don't the shelves just look so sad!



6 big boxes. And a bunch of little things, like baskets, bags, and paper holders.

My New Space

The house is ours. Baker was nice enough to take pictures before he started unloading boxes this morning. This is my new craft room. The picture with mirrored doors is the side of the room that the day bed is going on. The second picture is where my area is going to be. My colors are going to be teal, green, and purple. The main color is teal. All the bedding and curtains are from my Mom who changed her mind on what color she was going to do her guest bedroom in. I am thinking about painting my corner teal as well and leaving the rest of the walls white. What do you all think?






Monday, December 3, 2007

My Craft Space

I still can not believe that this is my craft space. 5 years ago when we moved into this house I had two Creative Memories bags, everything fit into it. I used the dining room table when I wanted to do anything. Now I have the corner of the basement which we finished into a family room. While I love my corner, I love my new space in our new house. I get to have a craft room, 15' X 17', that I am sharing with the kids. They each have a table and an art easel. Tonight is the last time I will be making anything in my current space. Starting tomorrow, I have to pack it all up. We close on our new house this week and are moving this weekend. Anyone have any suggestions on a good way to pack all this stuff up? Anyone have any ideas on how I should set up in the new house? I will not be having an L-shaped desk at the new house, it is being divided into 2 desks.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

I found this group in a very round about way. But I am glad I found it. It will give me a chance to meet more bloggers that are interested in crafts. I am also hoping that it will motivate me to work more on my crafts. That it will make me take time out of my busy schedule to remember that I need me time to. If you want to find out more click here.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Marie you made my day

This morning I woke up and realized that I had to go back to work after having 5 days off from my wonderful 7th and 8th graders. I decided to check my e-mail instead of waiting until after school and guess what I found? An e-mail comment from a fellow blogger that just totally made by day. This is what Marie sent:

Yay! you are back! These mailboxes are cute cute cute...what a great idea.Congrats on the new house! We move into out new home in three weeks! :-)Again, so glad you are back posting.Cheers,Marie

I started this blog so that I wouldn't be "annoying" my husband with all my banter about stamping, scrapbooking, and various other crafts that I do. I must say that it has made my home life a lot happier. I love it that other people like what I make and I love looking at what other crafters are making. So thank you again Marie for making my day.

Please take a moment to go visit Marie's blog Stamp Lounge.

Friday, November 23, 2007

My Advent Calendar

Every where I look someone is making an advent calendar. I love the one that Beate did for her tutorial on SCS, and might have to make it once we move to our new house (Beate's Advent Calendar). But for now I needed one that was small, easy to make, and portable (since we are moving in 2 weeks). When I was putting up the Christmas presents that I bought today I found a bag with 3 Target Dollar Bin Mailboxes from last January in it. I thought these would be perfect, and I had enough to make one for each kid so there would be no fighting. Baker even thought they were great.


Recipe:
Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab IV , SU whispering white, and Real Red
Stamps: Alphadots (retired) and Perfect Presentation (hostess set) both Stampin Up
Ink: Real Red
Other: Crystal Effects, double sided tape, glass pebbles

Saturday, November 17, 2007

SU Preview Catalog

I ran into Melissa, my SU demo, when I was picking up the photos for my card this morning. I asked her about the preview catalog and she was telling me about the great new papers. So I just got done scrolling through my subscriptions on google reader and found a link to the preview catalog and I wanted to share because I was so excited.

SU Preview Catalog

CM Christmas Card Workshop

Wow! Time has flown by. I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in 3 months. Well I went to a Creative Memories christmas card workshop at TJ's today. I got to make a card and catch up with old friends I haven't seen in awhile. Here is the card that I made. I love how it turned out. Now TJ takes it to the printer and they shrink it to size, add Merry Christmas, and put our names on to. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!





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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

At the Beach

This is the last week of summer vacation for me as I start work again on the 13th. We are spending the week in Sandbridge, Virginia just south of Virginia Beach. We have been having lots of fun going to the beach and to the pool. Today we took a break from the sun and went to the Virginia Aquarium. The kids loved it and it was super kid friendly with buttons and windows at their height along with a couple of touch tanks and lots of other things to do. Here is my favorite picture from today, Baker took it.


Sunday, July 29, 2007

More Jam Today

I got two more batches of jam finished today. One batch of blueberry jam, it was on sale every where this week. I usually like to pick my own berries but I just didn't have time this time. Then the kids helped me make a batch of blackberry jam from berries we picked in the backyard. We had a lot of fun, even Alek decided to help.



Here are the two batches of jam:







Here are some pictures of the kids helping:



Saturday, July 28, 2007

Christmas Stamp Camp "It's a Wrap"

Today I went to what I think is the best stamp camp ever. My demo Melissa is great. She and another demo held a stamp camp at our local library from 10-2. We made a ton of items and it was all for Christmas. Melissa is coming to be posting more about how we did everything on her blog, The Stamping Chick, later this weekend. Here is a group photo and some individual shots of what we made.



The first thing that I made was a whole bunch of gift tags using the new level 2 hostess set Perfect Presentation. We also used the new In-Colors Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, and Blue Bayou.



The next item that I made was the Five in One Template Box using the new Baroque Motifs set and the new Pretties Kit. We painted the flowers and it was so much easier than I thought. Got to use one of the pearls and the hat pin too.

Next up was the wrapping paper using the All About Christmas wheel. And then it was on to the cirlcle tote that Melissa won an SU contest with. I am thinking about making these as the favor at Regan's birthday party.



After that we made one of Cambria's gift tag holders. Melissa premade the holders for us so all we had to do was stamp and glue. After that I got to make a Christmas Organizer using the On Board 5X5 Art Journal so that if we own the spiral punch it can be refillable year after year. I think this was my favorite Christmas item that we made today. I believe I will be making some as presents.



Only two more items to go. Next up was a nice little gift tin. I even have some left after the spa kits I made last year. And last but not least was the Joy gift bag. I know I will be buying plain bags and dressing them up from now on, it was so easy.


Whew!!!!!!!!!! All done. And the most amazing part is that we got all that for $25. I can't believe that I got all this done in about 2 1/2 hours. Check out Melissa's blog, The Stampin' Chick, later this weekend for more indepth details.

Friday Dirty Girl Challenge - Camria's Pink, Pink, Pink

I have only got one of the Dirty Girl Challenges finished yesterday and it was Cambria's Pink, Pink, Pink. I used a new technique that I recently learned called Faux Tearing because I only had one piece of pink cardstock. I even wrote a tutorial for it, check it out. Here is my card:





Supplies:
Stamps: Paint Prints
Paper: Pretty in Pink
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Non-SU white craft ink
Technique: Faux tearing

Faux Tearing Tutorial

I recently learned how to do this from my demo and I loved it. Faux Tearing is so easy to do and it comes in handy when you do not have a lot of cardstock in a certain shade or hue.


Supplies:


Card base
Ink to match
brayer
paper/cardstock to rip



Step One:




Fold cardstock base in half and decide which way the card is going to go, vertical or horizontal.


Step Two:



Take your piece of paper or cardstock and rip it in half, making sure that there are some curves in the paper.


Step Three:




Place your ripped cardstock on top of your card base so that the part of the card showing is where the ink will go.


Step Four:



Ink up your brayer.


Step Five:



Hold down the white paper and run your brayer over the base card. You will have to reink it several times to get full coverage.


Step Six:




Finish your card. Here are two examples.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Thursday Dirty Girl Challenges

Today I only did 3 of the 4 challenges on SCS's Dirty Girl Challenges (I didn't have any flocking).


Challenge 1 was to make an elegant card and to say why we thought it was elegant. Here is my card:







Stamps: French Script and Too Terrific Tags
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Basic Black and non-SU silver (came from one of those scrapbooking mat stacks)
Other: Sterling Silver embossing powder and silver square brads (three in each corner)
Why it's elegant: I always think of anything French as being elegant and anything that is embossed so I combined the two.


Challenge 2 was Beate's sketch challenge.










Stamps: Carte Postale, Sincere Salutaions, and Leaves a la Carte wheel
Ink: Basic Brown and Versamark
Paper: Pale Plum and Heidi Grace double sided patterned paper
Other: Non-SU ribbon (brown)


I love how this card turned out. At first I didn't have any ribbon underneath the stamped flower of the wheeled background but the card needed something. I added the background image and that still wasn't enough. Then I thought about making a bow with some thick brown ribbon that I had and that was awful. That is when I got the idea to use smaller ribbon and make petals that woule make it look like a flower. Each petal is an individual piece of ribbon. The back is a total mess but I love how it turned out.


Challenge 3 was to only use clear stamps. This was the perfect excuse to break out my new stamps from PapertreyInk.








Stamps: Butterfly Kisses and Thanks (Clearly Wordsworth)
Ink: Almost Amethyst
Paper: Almost Amethst and Palette o' Prints
Other: Primas, brads, and ribbon


I am having a blast with all of these challenges.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Busy Day

Today has been a really busy day. And I didn't have my kids after 10 AM until about 6:30 PM. Baker got the kids fed and I got them dressed. While they were eating, I cleaned my dining room. This is the room where I just dump stuff on the table and walk away. VERY BAD HABIT. So today it got cleaned and dusted. Wahoo!!!!!!!!! Here's a picture.

After the kids got picked up it was time to make jam. We have a slope behind our house that has a ton of wild blackberry bushes. Baker and I have been picking them for days to try and get enough. We didn't quite make it so we had to add a few half-pints of store bought blackberries to the mix. As it turned out we didn't have enough sugar so I ended up having to go to the store and buy some, and of course a few other items like sushi (spicy shrimp and soft shell crap), Brie, and French bread. Then I came home and made jam. The recipe made 8 containers of Wild Blackberry Jam.

After that I had a late lunch and then went to work on the SCS challenges that I posted earlier. Baker came home right after I finished them. I took my pictures, uploaded them to SCS, and then made my blog posts. I also made Beer-Can Chicken for dinner. I learned how to make it last month when I visited my friend Pam in PA. Thanks again John. We loved it and it was so easy to make.
Whew!!!!!! I'm wiped out and it's not even bedtime yet. I will try to be better about posting to here and to Smugmug's, which I will be doing after bathtime.