Fast and easy

---and no layers, ribbon, glue....etc.
My new stamp arrived yesterday and I had to let the rubbaaaah hit ink! Well in this case, more like Versamark. I can not wait until I have some more free time to spend playing around with the stamp. I added a small micro gem to the center of the bow and also a bit of stardust stickles in the center of the knot. The scalloped edges were sponged with craft white.
TFL

Stamps: Impression Obsession, Su wonderful words

Paper: SU pink passion

Ink: Versamark

Accessories: SU craft white, white ep; fiskars scallop scissors, Micro gem, Stardust stickles

Watercolor challenge

I decided to dust off my watercolor pencils and give it a gander. I had to use water instead of gamsol(seeing that I dont yet have my gamsol) and I don"t know if I like the end results.

Maybe once my gamsol and stumps come in I might do better? Hopefully what they say about practice makes perfect will work for me. But where and when will I find the time? Hmm.
Wonder if the guys will allow me to announce YO YO (AKA: your on you own) night AAAAGAIN? If I tried to push off making supper one more night the boys might protest - including the dog. LOL.

I used stickles on the petals and stem of the flower. I also flicked black ink on the white card stock.
The layout for this card I got from this site: http://poeticartistry.blogspot.com
TFL!

Stamps: Hampton arts

Paper: SU barely banana, real red, black, white, creamy carmel

Ink: SU black

Accessories: SU punch, colored pencils, dimentionals & paper punch; Stardust stickles

Red, White, & Blue Bella

This was one of the designs that I submitted for the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA contest challenge.
I just love entering contests. It 'gives' me a reason to justify why I have to stamp and not get things done around the house.
Since the Stampin Up retirement list came out, I realized how many stamps of mine are now retired. Boo hoo.
But on the up side, I can start looking for new stamps. There are soooo many stamps that I would love to add to my small gallery of stamps that I don't know where to begin. I guess I will have to wait until some of the new releases show up on the websites. Oh how I hate to wait.....

Supplies: Bella, A Muse, Karen Foster Stamps; SU brocade blue, red, white, black, DD, chalks, pencils, punch, brads and ribbon; Micro gem, Cuttlebug EF

Just for you

This is my version of a 5-10 minute card challenge over at SCS.
One thing that I have found is that it's difficult for me to leave well enough alone. I wanted to add more to the design but I knew I "had" to refrain otherwise I would be defeating the purpose of the challenge. LOL
It is hard to see from the pic but I used SU shimmer cs. My camera makes the layered shimmer cs a lot whiter than the rest of the paper. Hmmm.
I "touched" the little balls of the flower with Sakura glaze pen and followed the stem with Stickles glitter glue. (you can tell from my terminology I do NOT know the intricate parts of a flower. (hehe)

Supplies: SU shimmer, black, coral cs, markers & black ink, Michaels $1.00 stamp, ribbon, Karen Foster Snap stamps, Sakura black glaze pen, Stardust Stickles.

Sketch challenge 3

This is my second entry for sketch challenge #3. This card is sweet and simple and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it!

I made the sun using half of an oval template and sponged with yo yo yellow. I then sponged some glue from a glue pad and sprinkled DD. Nice and sparkly!

The outside edges of the card have been sponged with white craft ink to give it a softer feeling. I like the way the simplicity of this card turned out. Off to buy more stamps!

Supplies: SU certain celery,ww, black ink, yo yo yellow,white craft ink,dd, punches; Marvy scallop punch; A Muse stamp, micro dot, paper; Michaels ribbon

Round and round ruff.

This is one of my cards for the A*Muse A * Palooza design challenge. Ever since I bought this little guy, I can't get enough of him! Although you can't see it, the last dog is popped out using a dimensional and he has a micro dot on his eye.

I couldn't figure out why I had such a difficult time with this layout. I was never satisfied with using the standard 5.5 x 4.25 card size. The only thing for me to try was to break out of my shell and try another size. Gasp.. ME change?

I am glad I made the switch! All of the A Muse stamp layout designs are now easier for me using a 4.25 x 4.25 card size.

I will add another card sometime this weekend. TFL!

Supplies: SU green galore, only orange, pink passion, ww, yo yo yellow, black, punches, black brads, linen background, noteworthy, inks are the same colors as papers, dimensional; A muse micro dot gem, stamp; Michael's ribbon; Sakura black gloss pen

Happy Easter!!

This is the last, (I hope) for my black and white kick. This is one background stamp I hardly if ever used. I also used magic mesh on this card. Another gotta have it but never used it item! Although the silver magic mesh is discontinued I thought it went well with this challenge. I embossed the houndstooth on black card stock using white ep and lightly brush the swirls with craft white . I also added a strip of black grograin ribbon to seperate the mesh from the houndstooth panel. TFL!

Forgotten background stamp II

After playing around with stamps for the sketch challenge over at SCS, I realized that I do not have nearly enough variety of stamps. After making the hard decision to drop demo-ship with SU, I sold many of my stamps sets. And since then, (about 1.5 years) I have never replenished my stash of stamps. Now I don't feel guilty in supporting another stamp company when I want to purchase one of their stamps. But enough of ramblings.

I agonized over this card. I wanted to do something different and use a stamp that no one used at SCS challenge. That is when it hit me like a ton of bricks. I NEED MORE STAMPS.
Guess what sites I'm visiting today?!

The white in on the card isn't white but bashful blue. TFS!

Forgotten background

WOW! April 4th already? It does not seem like spring to me yet. We have had high wind warnings since last night and the winds have not diminished as of this morning. I think the entire household, including four legged ones, had a hard time sleeping. The wind rattled the windows all night long. With all that wind it is COLD this morning. I had to get the winter coat out AGAIN. YUCK.
Well one good thing is that the colder weather is keeping me indoors so that I can stamp! Along with having TWO, I say TWO consecutive days off!! I actually feel like I get a free day all to myself. Yeah!
I decided to blow off the dust from this background stamp and see what I could create with it. This is my creation using the color challenge at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/.
TFL!

Silver anniversary

I used a layout challenge from http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com for this card. Once I found how to use the reverse image from the Cuttlebug die cut, I couldn't stop. I cut two different colors from the paper and then pieced them in the color order as shown. I used a versamark pen for the candles and then silver embossed them. This adds a very nice touch to the candles. A great card to give a couple for their silver anniversary IMO. Sorry for the darkened image. I wanted to show how glitzy the card is IRL. TFL

Black & white 50th Bday

I tried to stay away from "frillies" (no glitter??? Oh nooo) in making a masculine 50th birthday card. I used dimentionals to raise the white CB panel along with the cake. I cut two different colored die cuts and then pieced with the colors shown. The cake base is the negative of the die cut. FYI, the one candle was left without a flame on purpose. My guy "kindly" pointed out that I forgot to color one of them. At 50, who has that amount of breath left in them to blow out ALL the candles at once??!! TFL

Baby shower bootie favor

I made this baby bootie favor using a white paper cup. I randomly sponged apricot appeal & certain celery craft ink and quickly dusted with halogram ep and heat set. I tied the bootie with apricot appeal grograin ribbon, and then tied the charm on using silver cord. The charm was a great find in the baby isle at Michaels. 24 charms for 1.00...!!!. the bootie sparkles a great deal IRL. The gurlz in the office went ga-ga the first time I made this bootie for an office baby shower. TFL

Cuttlebug Freckled Baby

I have been on a Cuttlebug craze so baby had to meet Cuttlebug!

I randomly sponged Apricot Appeal and Celery Green SU ink on the embossed parts of the card. I then went over the remaining white spaces with vanilla distressing ink (cool stuff). Punch was made using the Marvy scalloped punch (not giga size). At the end of each swirl, I added a small amount of DD. The scan did not pick up on how glittery the front of the card looks like.
Baby was popped out using a dimentional. I used the 1/16 hole punch to punch holes on the babies outfit to give it a two dimentional burst of color. Freckles for the baby was mandatory!

Supplies: SU WW,certain celery,creamy carmel, apricot appeal CS,inks,chalks,marker,1/16 hole punch dimentional, DD,scallop punch & apricot grograin ribbon, A Muse Gem, Michaels $1 stamp.

Floral Sympathy

I liked the way this card turned out. Very soft and simple. The left over designer paper was begging me to do something with it. I found the gorgeous velvet ribbon at Micheals and when "a" met "b", I came up with this card!

I printed the sentiment from the computer and die cut it using the oval Cuttlebug die cut.The buckle die almost looks real by using the Halogram Highlights EP.
The only thing that was difficult about the card was getting the center oval to attach to the oval frame. This is where a Xyron machine would have come in handy! And if only I had a 40% coupon to purchase one.

*** This morning sitting on my office desk was a 40% coupon from Michaels advertisement! Was someone listening to me? Any who, thank you very much Dusty!

Supplies: SU Very vanilla & Choco Chip CS, Halogram Highlights, Versamark & dimentional, Michaels designer paper & ribbon, Cuttlebug Die cut.

Bella Meets Cuttlebug and then some....

This card is the exact opposite of the first Bella. I used the sketch challenge from SCS and lookie what I did. A little much? Overall Cuttlebug count? THREE!!
My husband likes this card so much better then the clean and simple Bella. Go figure. LOL

Supplies: SU WW, black & red CS, ribbon, brads, marker, DD, chalks, dimentionals, punches, liquid applique & Signo Gel Pen, Bella stamp, Michaels charm, ribbon and stamp, A Muse Stickles gem.

Bella meets Cuttlebug

I love my Bella's. My first attempt at Bella meets Cuttlebug. Very clean and simple. One Bella. One Cuttlebug. Simple. Right? Hmm.
Supplies: SU WW card stock, ribbon, marker, chalks, and dimentionals, Bella Stamp, Micheals ribbon, stamp & charm, Cuttlebug EF, A Muse Stickle gem.

Before and after laundry room

Here is what I have been working on between one FT and one PT job. It took many many conversations with my husband to convince him to let me paint the ceiling some other color than white.

Guess who won?
He likes how it came out so much that "now" he wants ALL the ceilings in the house painted. WHAT? What have I done??? lol.

I designed this laundry room to have a cozy feeling so that I would "want" to do laundry. Am I ill? Laundry? Who in their right mind "wants" to do laundry? And by the way, no; the room doesn't seem smaller with the darker walls. :)

The fluffy rug provides a soft place to stand on while trying to find matching socks. (I happen to go down the wrong isle in Wally World and found the rug for ten smack-a-roos!)

I swear, I think the my machine eats socks. Where do the mates go?
Knowing my frustrations with matching socks, I found the perfect border.
Lost socks!

Summer Flamingo

This is my first card using the A Muse Stamps! Yahoo!!! Everything about this card, layout, size and stamps are all new for me. I have found it easier to stamp when using the 4.5 x 4.5 layout, but setting this card next to the traditional 4.25 x 5.5 cards that I usually make, will take a little getting used to. The square card looks so tiny next to all my other cards....

I decide to try another spin off of Julie E.'s challenge. I used an oval template and used my "new" Cuttlebug flowers template. This card I think turned out very summery!

Cuttlebug Flowers

I decided to try the Julie E. challenge. I made my own template using a square punch and my new Cuttlebug flowers template. Not sure I like how this card turned out.
I do, however, like the colors of the card. Nice and springy.
SU WW, Gable Green and Pink Passion CS. Gable green, Tempting turqouise and Black Classic ink. Dimentional used to pop up the head of the flower. I free handed the stem of the flower using SU marker in Black. Brads from Michaels-Making Memories.

Cuttlebug Thank You

Ok, I know. This must stop. Enough is enough. I promise, these ARE the last cards I will create using this folder. In the mean time; enjoy.