Embellishments, Cameras, and Books!

To explain the following card, DH gave me the fabulous Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook for Christmas.  It has so many creative ideas (puff paint in buttonholes instead of threading = genius!) that it made me want to break out all of my embellishments at once.  Especially stickers, since Echo Park has made me like them again.  And I could. not. stop. using. stickers.

I was inspired by this card by Linda of Catered Crop (also a fellow ECG DT member).  I started with the simple idea of CASEing her card...did a little coloring and cutting of the Eat Cake Graphic image, then picked out some fun papers.  Then I saw the tree sticker.  And the flower stickers.  Hm....the top right seemed a little bare.  So I added the "true friends" sticker (I think from a K&Co sticker sheet).  Well, that seemed sad by itself, so I kept adding more.  Too much more?  Never!

In order to balance out this moreness, I made a CAS thank you card-my friend wanted a couple for her husband to use to thank some close friends after the passing of his father.

I versamarked the flowers from Wplus9's Woodgrain Silhouettes onto PTI's Ocean Tides and clear embossed them.  Then I tried out my distressing inks some more--this time using Vintage Photo.  I also stamped the sentiment (from SU's Upsy Daisy) using Vintage Photo.

As promised last week, I have some photos taken with our new camera (Panasonic G1) to share.  I am in love with this camera.  It is so easy to use, takes fabulous photos in any lighting (the thank you card above was taken at night in my kitchen, which has both fluorescent and incandescent bulbs--but look at that gorgeous color!), and has some sort of awesome rubbery finish that I could pet all day.

Here are some photos I took at Denver's botanical gardens:

Same photo, cross-processed in Picnik:

and one of the corgi on Christmas night:

Tee-hee, I love the school photo/Olan Mills pose she has going on.  "And tilt your head just a little...and look over here...now back this way...and smile....{click}..perfect!"

Finally!, this year I'm going to try recording my book reading on here, just so I can remember what books I've read and also let you know of any must-reads. 
Book #0: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron  Technically I finished this book on December 29th, but it's so good I had to mention it.  There are PIPs (pets-in-peril) and you will need your hankies, but, oh, the warm furries!
Book #1: The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz  I have devoured all four books of the Spellman series all in the past two months.  They're a great vacation read, kind of like Veronica Mars ten years after graduation.

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!

DTGD Day Three

Whew!  What a fun cardmaking day I had yesterday!  I'm so glad SCS kept Dare to Get Dirty in July so I can play along!  I ended up making 3 cards yesterday, with a fourth one planned to finish up this morning.

This card also uses Dawn's Color Cue Challenge 6: vanilla, coral (Berry Sorbert here), kraft, and brown.  Oh, how I love a Neapolitan color combo.  Funny story: my wedding was a Neapolitan wedding and my wedding cake was white with pink & brown stripes.  6 months later, I give my parents their album, and my dad shows it off to his friends.  He calls me up and says, "Did you know that your cake matched the bridesmaid's dresses?  I didn't until a lady pointed it out to me!"  Ah, men and their lack of recognizing a theme.

One more item before I start explaining this card: I must give props to Dawn of Wplus9.  I was stamping my stamping index when I noticed there was a manufacturing defect on one of the stamps (there was an extra dollop of plastic so it wouldn't stamp right).  I emailed her, ready to provide pictures and/or send the set back.  Instead she replied that she would be sending along a replacement straightaway, and when I get the package, she had sent an entire replacement set!  So I will be taking the perfect stamp out and sending the rest to my sister in my attempts to get her to come to the dark side.  Yea for fantastic customer service!

Whew, now onto the card making deets: I stamped my now-perfect big leaf image from Wplus9 Woodgrain Silhouette Additions on PTI Berry Sorbet with PTI Vintage Cream for the background, and stamped the flowers from Woodgrain Silhouettes.  The brown paper is another flocked piece from My Mind's Eye Lush collection.  I used my new SU Butterfly embosslet to make the butterfly from October Afternoon paper, adding three self-adhesive pearls.  The sentiment is from PTI Delightful Dahlia, stamped with Rich Cocoa onto PTI Cream, notched with a square punch.  A cute little bow from some generic kraft colored ribbon finished it off!

It's official: I do not have a "card style."  You can almost hear the record scratch as you scroll from the nice, elegant pink card to this craziness!  This was supposed to be for the CAS sketch challenge, but it was one of those project that just kept growing..."I'll use this fruit paper...no, wait, I'll make a patchwork with it...and sew it...and emboss it with basket weave!" :) The image is from Unity Hodge Podge of Happiness, stamped on PTI Rustic White using SU Markers, then colored with copics. The sentiment was stamped with Memento Rhubarb and I colored in the letters for "apple."

 And then it's back to cute for this girlie!! I stamped Sugar Nellie's "Catch a Falling Star" on PTI Rustic White, colored with copics, and cut out. I also paper pieced her skirt and the star from October Afternoon paper. The wire is from an old Christmas ornament project-I applied a little adhesive behind her hands to hold it, as well as just a smidge on the end to hold it in the same place it was drawn on her skirt.  I added an eyelet to the star, then threaded the jute twine through.  I added a drop of Crystal Accents on the back of the star where the twine was so the star wouldn't lean forward.

 The other paper is also from October Afternoon, and the sentiment is from MFT; I wish it would have stamped darker!  The ribbon is I think American Crafts.

I'm seeing quite a few familiar faces over on the DTGD challenges--aren't they fun and inspiring?  If you're a fan club member, be sure to check 'em out!

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!

Prettified

(ETA: Ok, for some reason this post was here and then it was gone so I hope it stays now!)
Sometimes you just get a hankerin' to get all prettified, y'know what I mean?  Not only did I straighten my hair yesterday for about the first time in 3 weeks (love curly hair summers!), but I also went all girly and pretty for my card:

I love the look of those gorgeous wet-paper-and-reinker Fifth Avenue Floral roses in the SCS gallery and sat down to experiment, even though I don't have shimmery white paper or reinkers.  I ended up using my SU Regal Rose and Rose Red markers to watercolor it instead. I stamped and embossed the rose onto SU Whisper White with white embossing powder.  Then I scribbled the Regal Rose marker onto a CD case and used my aquapainter to watercolor the rose, then went back and added the Rose Red for some shading.

At first I thought it was going to end up with a weird texture because the paper started to get goosebumps, but as it dried, the goosebumps went away.  After I had the rose, I went looking for a layout to use and chose this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I cut out the circle using a Nestie, and then used a new Spellbinders Lattice Medallion behind it.  The medallion is not a perfect circle, so I tied knots on the longer ends with Hobby Lobby rufflly ribbon.  That was mounted using popdots onto a 4x4 square of Swiss Dot embossed paper, which was matted with another white square, which was mounted onto the 5 x 5 1/2 card base.  I punched the butterflies out of my first "trial run" rose (note: cameo coral was not a good plan with these colors)-there was just enough painted portion to punch all five!  I adhered with popdots and added two pearls to each.

I also don't think I've shared this card here yet; I made it a couple days ago for the Viva La Verve June Challenges.

I was in a very cheerful mood making this one!  The flowers along the bottom are from Wplus9 The Birds & The Bees set, stamped in Memento new sprout, dandelion, lulu lavender, summer sky, and PTI Sweet Blush. The sun is from Unity July 09 Kit of the Month, stamped on PTI bitty dot paper and cut out, with a PTI spring rain circle behind it. The PTI Sweet Blush strip was punched with Martha Stewart border punch, then stamped with the Wplus9 sentiment in Lulu Lavender. The PTI Lavender Moon butterfly was embossed then punched with MS Butterfly Punch.

I hope all my Canadian readers* had a wonderful Canada Day yesterday!
*okay, so I could have just replaced that phrase with "Emily," but doesn't it make my blog sound so international the original way? 

Two for the Price of One!

This week's Res-Q-Challenge was to use emboss resist. I was playing around with different ideas and ended up with two panels that I liked, so I went ahead and made two cards.

This first card is also for the Taylored Expression Sketch Challenge. (Hey, did you notice that badge over there --> on my sidebar? I was chosen as top crop for my Medallion Anniversary Card. Yippee!) I stamped the Wplus9 flowers with versamark onto SU Baja Breeze and clear embossed, then rubbed some PTI Fresh Snow ink around the flowers, then rubbed it off the embossed flowers. The tag is punched from PTI Melon Berry, stamped with PTI Mega Mixed Messages sentiment. The SU Baja Breeze button is tied onto some generic kraft-colored ribbon with some linen twine. I punched the PTI Kraft & SU Baja Breeze scalloped strips using Fiskar's Threading Water punch, then placed some self-adhesive Hobby Lobby pearls on the punched holes. The background layer is Cosmo Cricket Core'dinations paper, sanded.

I went with a cleaner-and-simpler layout for my second card, using the CAS25 sketch from last summer that I think is my favorite sketch of all time. After clear embossing the flowers on Baja Breeze again, I brayered Not Quite Navy over it. Since I liked the look of the white halo in the first card so much, I added it to this card too. The sentiment is from Verve Forever in Our Hearts, stamped on SU Baja Breeze. The ribbon is the reverse of some American Craft polka dot ribbon--I love the softness of the dark grey instead of black. The image is matted with PTI Smokey Shadow. The dp is Stampin' Up from last year.

Here's my odd encounter of the day: DH and I were outside trimming hedges and suffering heat stroke, when DH says, "there's something you don't see every day" and I come around from behind the hedges to see two horses walking down the sidewalk (they were being ridden, I mean, this is a nice neighborhood, we don't let wild horses just roam here. ;) ). They were visiting the people next door. So, uh, that was weird.

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!

CAS72 Craziness

Today's SCS CAS Challenge was a sketch challenge and I went a little crazy with it.  (Did you see Guest Designer (and fellow Alabamian) Melina's shabby chic card? Fabulous!)  This is the first card I made, which turned out not very CAS-y.  I also used the colors for Wplus9 Color Challenge (aqua, brown, green, orange) again.

I stamped PTI Dark Chocolate with Wplus9 woodgrain using Memento Rich Cocoa, then freehanded the tree and branches and cut out.  The bird is from the Wplus9 Woodgrain Additions set, stamped using Memento Cantaloupe onto PTI bitty dot paper in Summer Sunrise.  The sentiment is from Verve, with a PTI Vintage Labels border.  I die cut the orange using Nesties Label One, then traced around the outside of the die cut for the Kiwi Kiss border. The floral paper is PTI Green Tea Leaves.

I thought I should probably do a cleaner-and-simpler card and found these great Jenni Bowlin mini papers buried in my patterned paper drawer, which then led to two more cards!

Aw, look at the cute lil' puppy!!  I just picked up this stamp 40% off at Joann's and this puppy has been sitting on my desk pleading me to use it since then.  I stamped it using Memento Rich Cocoa, then used an aqua brush and a brown watercolor crayon to color it.  Some inking on the edges and called it done.

Finally, this was actually the stamp that started my whole card-making plans today!  It is the first time I've inked up the Wplus9 Funky Foliage.   The sentiment is from PTI Mega Mixed Messages and the papers are more Jenni Bowlin.

JoAnn alert: I saw in the paper yesterday that all Fiskars is 60% off.  I think I may have to break down and buy that new fancy paper cutter with the wire guide.  I have a tonic but I can't stand trying to read the measurements and I do love my old school Fiskars when I break it out.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Another Anniversary Card

First of all, the mystery has been solved: Dawn of Wplus9 was sweet enough to leave a comment and explain what Wplus9 stood for: 

Wplus9 is short for my last name "Woleslagle". W plus 9 letters. No one can ever spell it or pronounce it, so Wplus9 sort of became a nickname. (thank goodness it's not the Kate +8!)

 Although that does bring up a whole new mystery, how do you pronounce "Woleslagle?"*  In honor of the solved mystery, I made another card with the Wplus9 Woodgrain sets:

Edit: I got an accidental sneak peek of the Res-Q-Challenge for this week in my google reader.  Then I made the card and went to link to the post only to figure out the new challenges are posted on Fridays.  Doh!  I tied the twine around three times. 

Yes, this is another anniversary card, but no it's not for my hubby.  It's for my parentals--43 years next week!

This paper was the back of the October Afternoon Daydream ledger paper I used for my card yesterday, and I was just in love with it.  Not only that, but it's a perfect match for PTI's Aqua Mist.  I stamped the flowers with Versamark and clear embossed.  And then--then!!--I stamped the woodgrain onto Dark Chocolate with Versamark and clear embossed.  The result was heavenly; I almost hated to cover it with the image panel!  Extreme closeup:

Although I think my clear embossing powder has been tainted with some white, unless there's another explanation for the white specks that I'm unaware of.  

And did you check out that fabulous burlap twine?  Emily (aka Stampingout) was sweet enough to send me a bunch of it in different colors after I left a comment saying that I need to get some after seeing her wonderful rainbow card.  Thanks again, Emily!  The button was from PTI Ocean Tides stash, with the shank dremmeled off by DH.  Punched the tag and stamped Happy Anniversary from PTI's Mixed Messages.  

Are you still reading?  Well, my friend, have I got some blog candy for you:  in recognition of having over 100 hits (watch out, Beate!) and because this was a good book that wasn't worth much to sell on Amazon (wow, are you feeling the love?), one lucky random commenter from this post will win a gently-read copy of Addition by Toni Jordan.  I really enjoyed it as a nice summer read.  You may also choose to substitute Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl, neither of which I read more than 100 pages and therefore would not recommend, but hey, maybe they're right up your alley.  If history is any indication, you could possibly have a one-in-four or up to a one-in-one chance of winning!  I'll do a random number generator tomorrow evening.  I'm reading quite a lot this summer, so there may be more chances in the future for you as well.

A CAS challenge made for me!

This week's CAS challenge is to use a quote, verse, or saying as the focal point of your card.  I love quotes of any size or shape. At school, I keep a collection and write one on the board every day.  I don't talk about it unless one of the kids asks about it, but I know for some kids it's the best part of their math class.  And the warm fuzzies I get when I see them copy one of them down, well, let's just say I like posting quotes more than I like posting the objectives of the day.

Enough jibberjabber, onto the cards!
Here's the first and my favorite one:

This quote is just perfect for today, when we have to go buy Addison a 20-lb bag of her special vet dog food ("But I'm worth it, Meg!" "You're right, Addie.")   I stamped the quote using Memento Rich Cocoa and Rhubarb Stalk.  I covered "dog" and "rich" with a post-it, then took the post-it off and very carefully used the tip of the dew drop ink pad to ink them.  And it just so happened the stamp fit perfectly in the this column from some October Afternoon paper.  The little doggy is from Eat Cake Graphics, I colored her with prismacolor pencils and baby oil, then cut her out.  And then lost her on my desk, which led to a joyful rendition of "Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" which then led to my real dog leaving the room.

Anyway, the background paper is from a new pack of Cosmo Cricket Core-dination paper.  It's pre-embossed so all it needs is a little sanding.  Adhered to a Riding Hood Red cardbase, then popped the sentiment & dog up using mounting tape (my new love!).

Up next, a card for both the Technique Lover's challenge and CAS card:

sentiment: "you make my heart flutter"

A fun card to slip into DH's overnight bag.  My current favorite technique is heat embossing, so I stamped the butterfly trail in Ripe Avocado & Versamark, then clear embossed.  I colored the sentiment with markers, as well as the butterfly.  I added some polka dots to the butterfly, because really, if you have a chance to add polka dots and you don't, you're wasting your time here on earth (see, I told you I was full of quotes.  Except I'm pretty sure the original mentions something about "make the world better" rather than "add polka dots," but we stampers know those are one and the same.)

And the third and final card that I actually made for the CAS guest designer challenge yesterday, but fits in with the theme:

 sentiment: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, 

but by the moments that take our breath away.

It was for the "sparkly" challenge.  I stamped the leaves and sentiment using colorbox bronze & versamark brilliance sky blue inks, then clear embossed.  I stamped the butterfly using Versamark onto the dp, which has the live/love/sing/dance words in metallic.

Supplies:
Card One: Eat Cake Graphics Dog stamp, Cloud9 dog quote stamp, October Afternoon Daydream paper pack, Cosmo Cricket Core-dinations, SU Baja Breeze & Riding Hood Red, Prismacolor pencils, baby oil


Card Two: WPlus9 Bird & Bees, Unity August KOM sentiment, PTI bitty box paper and Spring Moss cardstock, versamark, markers, clear embossing powder


Card Three: WPlus9 Woodgrain Additions, PTI Out on a Limb sentiments, PTI kraft cardstock, Kaisercraft dp, Colorbox bronze ink, Versamagic Sky Blue Brilliance Ink, Versamark, clear embossing powder

New Stamps! Woohoo!

Someone mentioned Wplus9 stamps on Splitcoast the other day and I bought a few sets as a consolation prize for myself for not making the CAS DT finals (but I did end up winning a guest designer spot! yippee!  and the three gals that won made some a-maz-ing cards!).  I ordered on Wednesday and got my stamps yesterday in the mail.  I must say I am impressed by the quality of them, and can't wait to ink more of 'em up.  Does anyone know what W plus 9 stands for?  I keep thinking of Kate Plus 8.

These wonderful flowers are from the Woodgrain sillouettes and Woodgrain sillouette additions sets. She's having a deal where you can get both sets for $33, which saves you $5.  Add another $19 set and you've got free shipping at $50!  And these are BIG sets, ones that would cost you $24 each at other clear stamp companies.

I was inspired yesterday by this crib bedding at the inspiration challenge site (Heck, I was inspired by the whole site.  Inspired to win the lottery!).   That nursery with the huge windows and glider almost makes me want to have a kid. Maybe I'll just take the windows and glider and trade out the crib for a dog bed.

I stamped these flowers with some Colorbox pigment ink and added clear embossing to make it a bright card for the Fireworks CAS challenge.  I matted with both Kiwi Kiss and black, then added some Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain because it's so yummy!

BTW, here is my $1 foam-core board "light box"

I got it from somewhere on SCS. The nice thing about it is that you can fold it half to store it.  Yes, I'll probably upgrade some day, but for now it's working for me.

(to my blogger friends: have you tried using draft.blogger.com?  It has many nice feature upgrades!  Like being able to choose a picture right from your picasa albums instead of copying & pasting links and fun customizable layouts.)