And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who left a lovely comment (on any of my posts).   Maria is one of my most frequent commenters, and she has a heart of gold when it comes to helping both dogs and people, so I think the random number generator did a good job. BTW, if you're a dog lover, you should definitely pick up "A Dog's Purpose."  You might want to get a box of kleenex while you're out, too.  (Maria, I still haven't grown enough courage to pick up Merle's Door.  Maybe I'll just read the first 85% of the book and imagine that all the dogs involved continue to live forever [just like corgis do, right?].)

And what mystery prize did she win?  I must admit, I think it's a good one...

one stamp set from the a muse studio catalog!!!

See the catalog here and then email me your choice!

Now, don't feel bad if you didn't win, because you still get the chance to see an awesome card.  I am in love with it, but the pictures don't do it justice.

Yes, I cut out all of those leaves.  Yes, I did have claw hands for the rest of the night.  Yes, I did tear the paper as I was cutting the SECOND-TO-LAST leaf.  I stamped and embossed the tree (from PTI's Through the Trees) onto SU Whisper White, and the shimmery loveliness is just pure happiness.

I am now hard at work on a anniversary project.  I am currently in the "Seriously, one can of spray paint won't coat a two-foot-square piece of wood?" step, which I think is step 5 of 16.  Maybe it will be completed by Thursday.  Or by next year's anniversary.  We'll see.

Time for a little Suess

Because really, doesn't everyone enjoy a little Suess now and then?  This card is a whole mish-mash of stamps: Taylored Expressions "Oh the Places You'll Go" for the sentiment, PTI's All Booked Up for the book, and A muse for the grunge sunrays.  A little Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red, and shazam, don't you just feel smarter by looking at this card?

This was actually a card from the ACAD submissions.  I fear my Silhouette has drawn me over to the dark side.  I tried stamping a card yesterday and I don't want to talk about it.  I Silhouetted a card today and I can hardly wait to show it to y'all (but there are spying eyes who can't see it yet, so you'll have to wait). 

And, appropriately enough, now it's Book Report time!

Book #16: The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall (click on the pic for amazon link).  First of all, I'm glad DH got me a Kindle for an early anniversary present because the hardcover version was a bit heavy (yes, I'm a book weakling).  This book was a bit slow to start, but once it got rolling, I couldn't put it down.  The author wrote the original Big Love article for Esquire, so he seems to know his business. That being said, I'm not sure I could recommend this book.  It takes a lot for me to recommend any book over 400 pages, because that is a lot of pressure to tell someone to devote that much reading time.  At 600 pages, it better be jaw-dropping and/or have a stash of gold hidden at the end of the book for me to recommend it. Which it wasn't and it didn't, so I won't ¹.

Ok, are you still reading?  Good, because I, on the other hand, do have a stash of gold hidden at the end of this post.  Well, not really "gold" as much as some blog candy.  I just realized when I started this post that my blogoversary must be coming up, and what do you know, it's today!  So everyone who comments on this post between now and, let's say, Sunday noon (central) will be entered to win a mystery prize.  Of course it's a mystery to keep up the suspense, not because I had not prepared for my blogoversary, right?  Right.

¹In Bruges, anyone?

Happy Home

Man, I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post.  I've been busy making cards to submit to magazines, which means I can't post them.  However, fate was calling my name this weekend.  I had to make a card for a housewarming, and, shazam!, the One Layer Wonder challenge this week was for a new home card using at least two ink colors.  After some trial and error (and smudges from inky fingers), this is what I created:

It's a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 with the top cut into a roof.  The mailbox is from Unity's Hodgepodge of Happiness, the sentiment from PTI's Enjoy the Ride, and the tree from PTI's Out on a Limb.  I had the hardest time figuring out where to put those tree limbs--I should have put the first one down a little bit so I had more room for the top one, but this was the second version of the card and the party time was quickly approaching. The bricks are super easy to make-score horizontally every 1/2 inch, then go back and score 1/2 inch apart vertically, skipping every other row.

I taught my last lesson on Thursday--yippee!  Now it's just review and a couple tests.  Then I'm going to stamp, stamp, stamp like a baby ant and blog, blog, blog like a baby dog!

You Did It!

This quick CAS card is for my brother-in-law.  He's running the Boston Marathon as a fund raiser for Elixir, a organization focused on cancer patient and caregiver support.  You can read more about the organization and my BIL's fund raiser here.

Since I do not run unless chased by velociraptors, I did not have any running stamps.  So I went online and found a free font, 4yeo Sport Font, that had this image in it. I printed it onto PTI cardstock, then stamped my new A muse Grunge Sunrays stamp using Chomomile Fresh pigment ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder (I used the end of my embossing spoon to gently scrape away the embossing from the silhouette).   Added a PTI Lemon Tart border and adhered it with foam tape onto a Spring Rain base, stamped with a sentiment from PTI's Enjoy The Ride. 

I've also been hard at work at somebody's birthday card but I don't want to ruin any surprises, so I'll wait until the weekend to post it. 

Follow The (Ink Blended) Edge!

I combined two challenges in making a card this morning: Splitcoast's Try a New Techinique "Follow The Edge" and PTI's Make It Monday "Ink Blending."

I first stamped PTI's Through the Trees tree using A Muse's French Roast and Fern ink, then clear embossed them.  I then used the Fern ink, along with A Muse's Sky ink, to ink up the background.  The sentiment, from PTI's All Booked Up, was stamped in French Roast.  I cut out the side (for the "Follow the Edge" challenged, adhered it to the Dark Chocolate base, then cut the base to match.   I wanted the inside to look book-y, so I added some Antique Linen distress ink to the edges, then stamped PTI's Text Style I using SU Crumb Cake ink.  I used PTI's Mat Stack 1 die as a mask for the PTI Enjoy The Ride birthday sentiment:

I didn't even plan it, but the curve of the mat stack die matches the curve on the outside.  Sweet!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Blog Follower (that's you):  Um, seriously?  She is not going to show more St Patrick's card, is she?  I don't think she even made this many Christmas cards.  I've also seen her use $24 sets less than she's used this $5 PTI Luck of the Irish set!
Blogger (that's me): Yes, yes I am going to show you more St Patrick's Day cards.
Blog Follower: Really?  Why did you not just put all of them in one post?
Blogger: I'm trying to extend the joy of the green, my friend.  Plus I was trying to wait until they reached their destinations, but I guess the last two people will just have to act surprised when they open their mail today or tomorrow.
Blog Follower: I'm not sure if you're using "their" correctly.  It's not their joint mail, is it?
Blogger: Ok, you got me.  I never know what to use in that situation.  But at least I know that you go to an isle for vacation and you go to an aisle to get a new thingamabob at Hobby Lobby.
Blog Follower: Well, I never would mistake one of those for the other!
Blogger: And that's why I'm....

lucky to count you as a friend!

Blog Follower: Wow, that was a lot of effort to get to that card.
Blogger: But wasn't it worth it?  Do you not see that fabulous retired Kiwi Kiss papers and ribbon going on here?  The white embossing?  The multiple dies?
Blog Follower: And the white inking!
Blogger: I know-white inking!  I told you it was worth it.  But should I have corner chomped the top right corner?
Blog Follower: But what if it had not looked good and you already did all the fancy stamping with the PTI vintage labels flourish and all that paper and ribbon adhered?
Blogger: There's the rub, my friend.  So I left it as is.  Hey, want to see yet another card?  If you say yes, I'll tell you a secret afterwards!
Blog Follower: Ooooh, I love secrets!

Blogger: Tada!
Blog Follower: Um, seriously?  Why are you putting black on a St Patrick's Day card?
Blogger: IT'S HUNTER GREEN.
Blog Follower: Of course it is!  That makes more sense.  Hey, what ink colors did you use?
Blogger: I think Memento New Sprout.  Or maybe SU Certainly Celery.  I know the dark is Peeled Paint Distress ink.
Blog Follower: Yeah, even I know it's Peeled Paint Distress Ink.  I'm a follower and that's the only thing you've mentioned in the all these St Patrick's Day posts.  What's next--a card using Echo Park paper?
Blogger: Uh, way to ruin tomorrow's surprise!
Blog Follower: Oh, was that your secret?
Blogger: No, my secret is that Amuse Art Stamps is having a 50% off EVERYTHING sale with code 50gone!  I think they are going to shut down their web presence and focus only on the new Amuse Studio (which will have its ordering website up and running April 1st).  Pssst....you didn't hear it from me, but you can get  some great deals when you click the "sale" category (at the end of the stamp category listing).  We're talking 20 sheets of paper for $2.50!  Stamp sets for $2.50!
Blog Follower: Ok, that was a pretty good secret.  Do you get anything from that sale since you're a demo?
Blogger: No, I'm just that nice.
Blog Follower: Hey, I have one last question.  Are you perhaps wearing sparkley green shamrock antennae right now?
Blogger: You know me too well, Blog Follower.  You know me too well.

What is Black and White and Green all over?

This post!  First the green:

This card is for PTI's Make It Mondays challenge of using partial embossing.  Instead of just leaving part of the cardstock off of the impression plate as shown in their video, I cut a scrap piece of paper using the fillable frames #4 die and placed that between my green cardstock base and the impression plate, as shown here.  Then I placed the embossing mat & B plate on top and sent it on through.  It still left a slight impression--maybe I'll try some chipboard (aka Quaker Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie box--people, have you tried these yet?  They are so yummy!) next time.  The stamping was all done with Peeled Paint distress ink. I used the Mat Stack 2 die to cut out some Echo Park paper, and the Limitless Labels dies to cut the circle & scallop circle.  The paper & ribbon are Ripe Avocado.

This one was made for a VSN challenge.  I used some more Echo Park paper for the Limitless Labels and Mat Stack 2 dies.  The small frame around the sentiment also came in the PTI stamp set.  I added some ribbon tails, but something was still missing, so I picked out a card-sized piece of kraft paper and was about to run it through the cuttlebug to emboss it when I ended up turning it over and seeing this already pre-stamped on it!  I had made it for another card, but the flourishes ended up not lining up right or something, so I had put it back in my scrap pile.  It ended up being perfect for this card!  Luck of the Irish, indeed!

Now for the black and white part: I've gotten a lot of books read in the past couple of weeks, since it was state testing at school (which means no planning to do!) and this week is my spring break (woohoo!).

Book #5: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.  Man, talk about a tough life--for both the mom and the kids!  Very interesting memoir about being a Chinese mother in the US, but I must admit the last few chapters she kind of wimped out and went all Sesame Street "I guess we can learn and adapt from both types of parenting."

Book #6: A Red Herring Without Mustard: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley.  Now this series is just a pleasure to read: a smart little girl (who dabbles in chemistry), 1950s England, and a little mystery.

Book #7: The Sound of Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey.  A quick read about a woman confined by illness and the pleasure she gets from her new roommate: a common garden snail.  Not a book for everyone, but a nice way to spend an afternoon.

Book #8: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  Believe the hype: it's as good as everyone says it is.

What are you reading or creating?  Let me know in the comments! :)

Don't Tell the Welsh Corgi

...but St Patrick's Day is near and dear to my little Irish heart.  So I got the $5 Luck of The Irish set from Papertrey Ink with my last order, and I think I've gotten my money's worth out of it!  So as not to overwhelm you with green, I'll just show you a few today.

This was the only bit of sunshine I saw this weekend:

I heat embossed the circle using white embossing powder, and used the sun from Unity's July '09 KOM to "mat" it--the circle was the perfect size!  I added two clouds, cut from Rustic White paper using PTI's Cloud Die.  I hand cut the hills from PTI's Bitty Boxes paper, and heat embossed the sentiment.  The front hill, as well as the sun, are popped up using foam tape.

This one is for my DH.  I was looking for a heart punch to make a four-leaf clover and then I thought this Martha Stewart Valentine's punch would be perfect!

I simply punched out the four hearts and attached the points together using small glue dots, then adhered it over the hand-cut stem.  I cut a frame using the largest nesties label four and adhere with foam tape.  Since he already knows I'm Irish, I felt I didn't need to add that part of the familiar phrase, so I went with this cute "lucky in love" sentiment from the PTI set.  I stamped it onto Simply Chartreuse to brighten up the Ripe Avocado.  

The final card for today is a two-in-one birthday and St Patrick's Day card for my DH's grandfather:

I cut PTI's Fillable Frames #4 from Echo Park paper, then stamped the fillable frame frame using Peeled Paint Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics, and the shamrocks are from Luck of the Irish.  I used PTI's letter impression plate for the background.  I tried doing a letterpress technique with it, but, as you may have guessed by now, it didn't turn out too well-too much white space between the letters that the ink fell into.  Oh well, this is a nice CAS look!

Do you make St Patrick's Day cards?  Eat corned beef and cabbage?  Wear green glittered shamrock attennae?  I do two of those three, can you guess which two?

PTI Favorite

Yup, throwing my hat into the ring to win the ultimate card kit from PTI!  Here's my favorite PTI card of the past year:

Made with Out On a Limb, with Vintage Picnic sentiment.  See the original post here.

Good luck to everyone, and if you do happen to win, I would be more than happy to take some of that extra loot off your hands!! :)

Thank you!

Yippee!  Banner dies for Christmas!  Stamped using The Cat's Pajamas Coolvetica alphabet onto Echo Park Paper.  These banners end up being a bit big--this is an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 card.  I also wish I could have figured out how to make the "you" string sag down instead of going straight across, but when I loosened the string it didn't work well.  Any ideas?  The birdie stamp is from a set I picked up for $1 at Big Lots.

So consider this my big thank you to all my stamping peeps who sent me wonderful handmade cards for Christmas:

Holy guacamole!  Can you believe all the awesomeness Meredith (aka Crafty Math Chick) fit onto this card?  The ribbon wrapped presents, the funny sentiments, and then to top it all off with that fabulously colored Eat Cake Graphics image?!?!  Plus she tucked in some new stamps and a couple Nylabones for Addison, which she certainly appreciated!

This fabulous CAS card came from Lindsey (of Bashful Blogging)  It's hard to see in the picture, but there is some wonderfully festive glitter accents going on.  I'm going to also assume she gave Addie and myself red stockings, and added the green one for DH.

Kraft?  Check.  Stamped background? Check.  Touch of sparkle?  Check.  Snippet of twine? Check.  Great layout? Check!  Yup, looks like Angela (of Paper Cupboard) made sure all of the appropriate Christmas card boxes were checked off with this wonderfully cozy card.

Thanks again, gals!

PS--notice anything about these pictures?  We gave ourselves a new camera (a Panasonic G1) and I'm in love with it!  I'll have some botanical garden pictures to share later in the week.

CAS 89 Guest Designer

Yippee!  I was chosen as a Splitcoast CAS Guest Designer for the fall, and this week is my week!  It was based on a super sketch by kstamper, a card that was already in my faves (love the hand drawn cord border and the wonderful "glow" she sponged around the bulbs).  I was a bit stumped when I sat down to make a card, so I asked my DH for some ideas.  He suggested using a branch in place of the bulbs, and then this card resulted (ok, to be honest, two and half fails resulted first, and then this card):

This card makes me want to put on my fall boots!  I started by masking the left side of the card with a 3/4 inch border.  I also masked off part of the top, just so I could eyeball the top leaves to break the border. I used PTI's Out on a Limb stamp set, and I found it easier (read: fail number one) to stamp the leaves first and then the branch.  I used SU Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, and Really Rust classic ink for the leaves, and Really Rust for the branches.
The set also comes with individual leaves, so I stamped four of those falling from the tree.  I tried to be really artsy (read: fail number two) and have one of the leaves be behind the sentiment, but it ended up looking better just above the sentiment.  After stamping the PTI Vintage Picnik Sentiments sentiment (ha) in Pumpkin Pie, I used a ruler and SU Really Rust marker to draw the border.  Fail 2.5 involved the left side not being lined up perfectly, so some of the branches came out the other side of the border.  As Ben Franklin once said, "When life gives you branches outside of the border, just make your border thicker."  Such a wise man, that Ben.

After the first card, my mojo started working on its own, so I made this one for my DH.  I masked off a 1/2 inch border all the way around the card and used a paper towel to sponge in Fresh Ink Blue Slate.  I stamped the sentiment, from PTI's Tiny Treats: Valentines, in SU Chocolate Chip, then hand drew the border with the Chocolate Chip marker.

The airplanes flying in formation are also from Tiny Treats, stamped on Riding Hood Red with Crystal Effects applied (a little silver and pink prismacolor pencils, too).  I threaded one piece of brown and white twine through the eyelets and tied the planes on, so you can pull one down and the other will go up.

I hope you're inspired to try the sketch out this week!  Thanks again to the fabulous CAS DT team for picking me as a guest designer!

(Random blog question: do you need/like/want the in-depth description of the card making?  Or should I assume I'm dealing with fairly well-educated stampers that can figure most things out on their own, besides a few supplies and such? I always say I'm not going to write a novel about a card, and then I end up with War and Peace.  I teach teenagers, so seriously, you can't hurt my feelings with your opinion on the matter!)

Mojo Monday 159 and SCS Sketch 300

This week's Mojo Monday sketch looked like a fun one, and it was a contest week, so I decided to play along to make a birthday card for my nephew, who is also a dog lover.  I ended up rotating and flipping the sketch to make it work.

I'm trying to be less of a hoarder and more footloose and fancy free with my patterned paper, so I pulled out some of my favorite patterned paper of all time-SU's Sweet Slumber.  I stamped and colored Rowley from Eat Cake Graphics, then masked and stamped the party hat from The Cat's Pajamas. The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas, too, and I handcut the border to match the wonkiness.  The cake stamp is from Rubber Soul, which brings me to my newest Stamping Issue:

RED

All I want is a nice red colored pencil, copic, and ink.  Not too orangey.  Not too purple.  Not too pink.  Not something that looks like blood stains.  The red on the party hat I got by layering C3 copic under R29, which turned out ok.  I tried to use Colorbox Warm Red for the cake, but ended up having to go over it with R29.  Please let me know if you've solved the Red Issue!

Last week was also the 300th SCS Sketch Challenge, so I played along to make a thank you note.  We recently got tile in our wing of classrooms and it just so happens the parents of one of our students make desk feet, and they were so generous in donating enough for all of us.  What a perfect excuse to play with my new Crate Paper School Spirit 6x6 paper pad!

This card just made me giddy as it all came together!  I paper pieced the PTI Vintage Picnic basket & apples, adding some highlights and green to the apples with colored pencils.  I couldn't find a blue, brown, or green to match the patterned paper, so I ended up using the polka dot paper as a mat for the report card.  Look at me being all funky!

Hope y'all are having a fun and funky weekend as well!

Embellish Magazine Challenge

I finally played in one of the Embellish Magazine challenges; this one was yellow, black, gray, and white plus background stamping.  The inspiration pictures made me want to go in a funky/modern direction, and this is what resulted:

...and I think I like it!  The background stamps are the gingham stripe from Waltzingmouse's Pic-nic Patterns, stamped in Memento Dandelion and Fresh Ink Slate Gray.  The flowers are WPlus9.  The PTI Butterfly is stamped on PTI's Harvest Gold, and I totally stole Emily's idea of making a wire body/attenae for it.  I even had some black rhinestones I've been meaning to use that were perfect.  I corner chomped two opposite corners to add a modern look.  Fun times!

In other news, remember how I was all enamored with Gap's jeans?  "Oh, they don't gape in the back and fit perfectly..."   I take that back.  They don't gape in the back for the first hour.  By lunch, I am constantly pulling them up because they stretch so much.  By the end of the day, it looks like they are at least two sizes too big.  It's worse with the lighter wash, and not too bad with the darker wash.  So I'm still on the hunt for the perfect jean, and found a new contender yesterday at Talbot's of all places.  I know what you're thinking, but really, they're not old lady jeans or even mom jeans.  They're even a funky distressed gray!   I know many of you were wondering how my jean situation has been, so I hope you can sleep a little easier tonight.

In other other news, we went to see The Social Network yesterday.  I would rate it a B+.  I guess I was expecting A Few Good Men since it was written by Aaron Sorkin, but it wasn't that awesome.

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!  Cross your fingers--I may get another post up later today!

Birthday Goodies!

Some more birthday cards came my way this week!  Yippee!

This gorgeous creation was from Emily.  It uses a beautiful PTI impressions die (that did not want to be photographed) and -OMG- is that butterfly perfection or what?  I love the twisted wire body!  She's a clever one, that Em! 

This card is from a coworker who is a scrapper that I'm trying to bring over to the dark side.  She knows I love any and all October Afternoon, so she filled my card with all sorts of cuteness!!  I think every girl deserves a pink polka dotted flower on her birthday.

And I finally sat down yesterday to make a card with some of my new birthday goodies!  The paper is from one of my three new Echo Park paper packs--I'm in love with all of them.  The blue paper is the back of the floral, and PTI Hibiscus Burst matched perfectly for the base.  The sentiment and frame is PTI Fillable Frames #4.  I had to handcut it since they were out of the die (what a shocker).  I stamped it with a dark brown, even though it looks black in the picture.  Here's a trick for sewing the edges without sewing the twill ribbon: lay it across the front of the card, but only adhere the portion that will fold over to the back.  Then cut the ribbon on the front where it will be hidden by the sentiment panel and let the two ribbon ends hang off the sides of your card.  Stitch around your card (I did two rows), then adhere the ribbon across the front.  I then used my fingernail to ruffle up the edges.

So here's something weird.  I bought all three of the new Crate Paper 6x6 paper pads (school spirit, snowy days, and restoration).  Now most of the 6x6 paper pads I buy are scaled down versions of the original.  I've never bought one that is actually made up of 12x12 pieces that have been cut and glued into a pad.  Which means (a) none of the papers are exactly the same piece, which doesn't really bother me, (b) the patterns are not scaled down, which only partially bothers me on a few, and (c) some of the patterns don't work at all--as in, the snowy days one has 3/4 of a tree on one page and the top 1/4 on another.  Has anyone else run into this weirdness from other paper companies?

Hope everyone is enjoying the three-day weekend!  We are about to take the corgi to the park and enjoy the beautiful weather.  Happy crafting, everyone!

New Stuff!

I finally got all my packages delivered Friday from online orders that I placed two weeks ago! I am now the proud owner of October Afternoon Thrift Store and Fly a Kite 8x8 paper pads. Why did I not think I needed them when they first came out? And it just so happened that they had some great patterns to use with this week's 100th Color Throwdown celebration, although since leaving some comments on a few of the blogs involved I feel my chances of winning are slim to none (ETA: I meant that as: "wowza! there are a lot of people entered and leaving comments," not as a complaint.). Nonetheless, I think I like this card, but I'm not sure. I used this week's Card Patterns Sketch and I liked all of their cards but mine feels wonky. I added the pink clips at the top and that seemed to help, but maybe it needs a sentiment tag off the button? Pink ribbon instead of twine? Red twine? A mat for the image?

This next card was for Friday's Free For All Challenge--use something new! Not a hard one for me!

I used my new Best Wishes & Blooms set from Unity, my new My Mind's Eye Love Me Do paper pack, and my new Martha Stewart hydrangea punch. The sentiment is from PTI birthday basics, stamped in Memento Rubarb onto PTI Hawaiian Shores, with two dots of yellow stickle accents.

I also submitted two cards I made Saturday for a magazine call. It's my first time to submit anything. Have you ever submitted a card? Ever been published? Do tell!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July to everyone, especially those with brave family members in the military. I love this stamp from Eat Cake Graphics and went right to it when I read Late Blossom's One Layer Wednesday patriotic card challenge.  I stamped it with PTI True Black onto PTI kraft, then used my Staedtler Watercolor Crayons and an aquapainter to color it in.  I wanted the flags to be the standout, so I kept their clothes fairly muted.  I used one of those horrible-finger-pain-inducing discount tiny punches to punch out the stars. A few landed on the paper and  I thought it'd be a fun way to add some subtle interest to the top of the card, so I glued 'em on-I hope it doesn't put me over my one-layer limit! 

Yesterday was a "no-computer" day for us (we spent the day watching movies, swimming, reading, and playing Wii instead!), so I have a couple more cards to share from the last few days.

I was still in a "pretty" mood on Friday, so I made another embossed & waterpainted flower, this time using PTI Delightful Dahlia.  After embossing it on SU Whisper White, I used SU Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose markers scribbled onto a CD case to watercolor with my aquapainter.  My "tip" is to have the aquapainter tip mostly dry, that way you have more control over where the paint goes.  I squeeze out one drop of water, then use a rag to dry it off.  I pick up some color from the CD case, then do one or two quick strokes onto a scratch sheet of paper and then start painting.  I covered the whole thing with Pretty in Pink, then added some shadow with Regal Rose, then went and added some more Pretty in Pink.   Get out your favorite flower stamp and try it-you'll feel like such the artist!

I decided to use it on a corner bookmark, which was this week's tutorial on SCS.  I used some SU dp for the base, covered with PTI Ocean Tides card stock, stamped with PTI's Text Styles in Versamark.  I layered some white ribbon with PTI Sweet Blush and Ocean Tides, and punched the border using Martha Stewart's Cornice Edge border punch.

Due to the no-computer rule yesterday, I had to-gasp!-try to make a card without using a challenge!  I was updating my stamping index and realized I hadn't given Wplus9's Funky Foliage the true inking it deserves.  I started by brayer the sky with Memento Summer Sky (good name!), using torn post-its to mask the bottom.  Then I covered the sky and brayered the grass using Memento New Sprout.  I guess I didn't do a great job of lining up the post-its since I was left with that white line, but I decided it looked kind of funky (in a good way).  I stamped the trees using Memento Rich Cocoa and Bamboo Leaves, cut the image into 3 strips, and matted onto PTI Dark Chocolate.  For the bottom layer, I tore the edges of PTI Spring Rain and SU Certain Celery, and added a white strip between them.

Wishing everyone a safe and delightful Fourth of July!

Groovy Ride, Man!

My DH thinks I'm addicted to this PTI Enjoy the Ride car.  Ok, well, maybe I am, but with good reason--it's just so gosh darn cute!  This is the fourth card for this month's Viva La Verve challenge, so only one more to go for me.  The second bedroom was full of bright flowers, which led me to this October Afternoon Detours paper (the stripe paper is also from the same collection).  I first planned to have a Scarlet Jewel car, but then got to thinking how groovy a flower-child car would be and stamped it out of the patterned paper.  The headlights and bumper I stamped, colored (silver prismacolor pencil, yellow copic, frosted lace stickles) and cut out from some white paper, and then I found two blue blank spots on the patterned paper for the window & license plate.

I stamped the sentiment using Memento Rhubarb Stalk onto Gina K cream paper, and cut it using the L5 oval nestie, with a Kiwi Kiss scallop.  The orange paper is the new SU Peach Parfait in-color (my super nice demo sent me samples of all the in-colors and new core colors).  I embossed it with a Sizzix texturz plate.  Added the red brads and foam-mounted the panels.  I'm going to use my best Austin Powers voice for this next line:

Groovalicious, baby!

I got my new SU catalog the other day and have made a big wishlist.  Only a couple new stamp sets really won me over, but I'm going to pick up some dies and some new colors. I like most of the new colors, but it seems like there is a lot of overlap--there's three light pinks, two light greens, and two rusty reds.  Plus I don't understand Early Espresso at all--would have much rather them kept Going Gray instead.  The ribbon selection was just sad and made me appreciate PTI's ribbon selection and price.  Are you an SU fan?  What do you love/hate about the new catty?

Dear Don Draper

I'm sorry I said I wasn't thrilled with the beginning of Season Three of Mad Men and that it seemed to be moving a bit slow.  Ever since "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency*," this season has been awesome!  I don't think we'll be able to wait until the DVDs for Season Four; I'll plan on seeing you July 25th!
Yours fondly,
Corgi Creations
*best episode title ever

Is anyone else a Mad Men fan?  If so, have you seen this Don Draper's Guide to Picking up Women from when Jon Hamm hosted SNL the first time?  "I saw him dancing...until the accident" makes me pee my pants every time.

Anyway, onto the card!  I finished the last two cards for the Verve Challenges, but the last one is just too meh to post.  But I did like this one:

The paper (including the die cut) is still October Afternoon Daydream collection.  I stamped "i miss you" from Wplus9 Funky Foliage using PTI Ripe Avocado ink, then masked it and stamped PTI Background Basics: Hearts in Versamagic Aegean Blue chalk ink.  Sponged the whole thing with Colorbox Creamy Brown chalk ink, then rounded the corners and mounted on PTI Ripe Avocado.

Whew, I think I am all creatived-out for today; I guess it's time to go visit some blogs & the SCS gallery for inspiration!

Doggies and a Bug

Ok, how cute are these pups in the VW? This card is for my dad for Father's Day. I had a fire-engine red 1972 Beetle when I was in high school and always drove around with my two goldens in the back, so I know my dad is going to love this card! This is also for a Viva La Verve challenge. I hope to finish all five VLV challenges this month.

I stamped the VW from PTI's Enjoy the Ride, then used a post it note to mask while I stamped the dogs from PTI's Tiny Treats: Valentines. I colored the VW with copics (adding a little frosted lace stickles to the headlights) and coated with glossy accents (I really should buy stock in glossy accents with the amount I'm using it). I cut it out and layered it onto a cream circle (small nestie circle #5), then cut out a square (small nestie square #6) from my "practice sheet" of clear embossed wood grain (from Wplus9).

The stars dp is from October Afternoon and the red strip was versamarked and clear embossed with PTI Polka Dot Basics II. The sentiment from Enjoy the Ride was stamped and embossed with black embossing powder (also proving my theory that black embossing is much easier to do on smooth patterned paper rather than card stock..almost no strays here). The whole shebang is mounted on PTI Dark Chocolate.

I get an unexpected treat this week! My mom found a last-minute deal on a flight so she is coming to hang out for a few days. Looking forward to lots o' shopping and food and girl talk, so my blog may be quiet for a wee bit. Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Love is in the Air

...because it's our 3rd anniversary today!  I cased this card from Vanessa Menhorn because it's so adorable and I knew my DH would LOVE it (he's a big fan of planes.  BIG fan).  I stamped the PTI Tiny Treats: Valentines plane onto PTI Ocean Tides cardstock, colored in the propeller & heart with prismacolor pencils, cut out, and glossy accented.  The hearts are from the Fancy Pants Little Star set (which, even though it is a "baby" set, is actually a useful all-around set with hearts and stars and leaves and birds and swirls).  I stamped them onto PTI Berry Sorbet with versamark and clear embossed.  I used embroidery thread to tie around the hearts and adhered the thread to the back of the plane.  Then the plane and hearts were all popdotted.

For the clouds, using a stencil cut with a scallop circle nestie, I sponged PTI Fresh Snow onto PTI Sweet Blush and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Matted with Berry Sorbet and mounted with foam tape.  For as clean as my black embossing was on my medallion card, after a few attempts embossing the sentiment, this was as good as it got.  Maybe it doesn't like the cardstock and prefers the smoother dp?  Hmm...

Inside I put five coupons for free hugs.  See why here: Modern Family

So for our third anniversary, I hope you indulge me in a little top three list of why my DH is the bestest.

 He can finish the line to the song I'm singing from Dr Horrible.

 He makes me feel like somebody loved.

He is my shelter in the storm.