Happy Valentine's Day- Card and Owl Treat bag

 This was a fun little Valentine that we made as a bonus during our February workshop.  The basecard is real red with a strip of Sending Love DSP on the side.  Diecut the right side with the Love Notes framelit.

You want to emboss with Falling Petals embossing folder but put the embossing plates from the Big Shot only to where you want the texture to go so you don't encroach on the hearts to the right.

Stamp little hearts with Sealed with Love set and diecut them out- I like the little white around the edge that offsets it from the background with this die.  Stamp Happy Valentine's day in red ink onto a Stitched Circle cut out of whisper white CS.  Layer on top of the lacy doily.   It looked a bit empty so I was playing with silver thread and cord and ftinally settled on the Sunshine Wishes thinlits dies - I used the flower looking thing because I liked the loop de-loop  of the thicker glittery shimmer paper over the thread that seemed be lost.

I was vising with Mercedes Weber on her workshop in San Jose and she gave me this adorable treat from the February Paperpumpkin kit. Details on her blog here:  http://mercedesweber.blogspot.ca/2017/02/valentine-owl.html

Now that my kids are older they are not doing Valentine swaps- where did the time go? - now I have to justify buying all the Valentine stuff -   Anyhoo,  I just loved it and I thought I should make it for my office staff who work so hard all the time.  With the kit it was super speedy although diecutting the wings with the heart die from the Love Notes framelit took the longest.

The Owl is done with Pink Pirouette CS- the body is made from the Best Badge punch with the heart that comes with the kit stamped with sentiment from same.  Love the little heart outline that fits inside the heart and the sentiment  and the heart nose is from the owl builder punch in Peekaboo Peach.  Take 3/8 inch strip and punched a bunch of hearts in a row to make assembly line style.

Googly eyes and tiny clothspins from local craft shop Beverly's. (Love my Mother in Law who gave me a gift card this year for my birthday to this store- all used up already!)  With this precut bag already with tape on it, it was really speedy once I finished all the owls-  So Sweet!  That's why Mercedes is Artisan again this year! A badge Owl.......so creative.
see my basket of owl valentine treats for my wonderful staff.....

Punched and layered sweet flowers

This was one of the cards I made this month as a thank you for orders.  I was just playing with banners again diecut with the banners framelets using the Sweet Sorbet DSP from Sale-a-bration.  The base card is whisper white with a layer of Pistaschio Pudding then another layer of whisper white which was embossed just on the bottom with the Honeycomb Embossing folder.  I layered where I wanted the banners then added Crisp Cantelope punched with the dotted scallop ribbon punch then a layer of DSP in a strip.  Stamped the sentiment from Lots of  Thanks set in Crisp Cantelope and the pansy and the petite petals in same color. Each of the flowers- I have 2 layers of pansy and one petite petals  that I curled slightly using a round chopstick and layered with dimensionals and added the crystal in the center and I think it is oh so pretty!

Life keeps getting in the way of my stampin!

Every day I wake up, do some work, feed my kids, get them to school, go to work, get home, make dinner, wash dishes, fold laundry, try to get the kids to do homework and piano practice, read them to bed and do some more work and the cycle starts all over again- don't you just love the glamorous life of a doctor? - Once a month on a friday night, I have a workshop that I just love but posting on my blog and Stamping in general just took the backseat to everyday life.
I got an email from Mary R whose words of concern really touched me and let me know that this is a community from which I had fallen out. I really needed her words to kick me back into the reality I want to make for myself - I know I am happier when I am being creative and that reflects on how I deal with everything else so thank you Mary from the bottom of my heart!

This is a little something I had for my workshop this month inspired by the owl I cased from Michelle Suit from Stampin connections- Demo only website from SU.
1. Diecut Fancy Favor box from 1/2 sheet 12x12 black cardstock
2. Stamp happy halloween from teeny tiny wishes set in versamark (white craft works too) and heat emboss using the Tangering Tango embossing powder.
3. punch out 2 1/2 inch circle in daffodil and stamp the branch from Out on a limb (the cute set with the little witch in the holiday mini) in black. Punch an owl and a large oval from black cardstock. Cut the oval in half and then holding the cut side, slide the half oval into a 1 1/4 circle punch from the punch opening to get the nice rounded edge. Hope this makes sense to you.
4. Sponge the edge of owl and wings with white craft and make the face with white gelpen and add white eyeballs and black pupils.
5. I cut 3/4 inch strips of tangering tango textured CS and attached it with brads to secure.

It is a easy and darling project that my class (and kids) loved!
Enjoy!

Lynda

Flower Fest on a Fence

I was dropping off an order at someone's house and as I was backing out, I saw this little fence with red geraniums peeking through and I thought I've got to make a card that reminds me of this.





I admit when I first saw this set I thought this set was too "crayon" but the matching punches was just too irresistable, and I have seen some examples that looked elegant and gave in. This is a sample I made to play with the idea of the fence- using 1/2 inch left over white strips that I put into the pennant punch to make consistent triangle tips.

The clouds were punched from the cupcake punch. The butterfly was embossed white onto saffron and punched with little pearl jewels. The flowers were poppy embossed with white and then daubered in the center to add some dimension. punched with circle punch then scissor cut closer.

Sentiment from Heard from the Heart set was also embossed with white
onto the bashful blue base cardstock.

Happiness is not getting what you want but wanting what you already have.... if this would only be true with my stamping habit...

Lynda

My Playdate

I have a few girlfriends who asked me for a playdate- my kids have them, why can't I? Just casual, bring stuff to play with -sort of thing. It was so much fun. Margery brought over a make and take of this dog card- above using the Owl punch for the face and large oval for the body- is he not the cutest? The right side is the close up of the face and if the dog is sick, the variation on the right. Does he not look absolutely ill?

These are the incredibly creative ladies at work, Makani to the left, Margery, and Sachi- who made this most yummy salad that even my KIDS ate it!

Bonnie, Makani and Sheryl made the trek over a big hill to come play. Bonnie is holding the make and take I made- a little notebook holder- I will post details on that later.

We had been playing with the idea of the owl punch being used as a face of Rudolf in the December workshop and Margery was playing with it and made a squirrel face so I went NUTS- and had to make the whole squirrel with it (hee hee). Here is the detail on the squirrel, holding the nut from the Day of Gratitude set.

The background is Woodgrain in Soft Suede. Ribbon is pumpkin and DSP is from Margery. I was at the Used stamp sale at Cranberry hill last year and I bought this ziplock bag full of cut up paper from Marsha- I bought it because it had some flocked paper and I thought I would it use it -some day- and the day had come at last- I punched out the owl body and the large oval for the body, black and white CS for the eyes, pretty in pink for the nose- heart is form M*chaels- $1 punch- used a black marker for the facial expression. The hand is from the Boho blossoms punch that I free form cut from the small flower leaving just the 3 scallops. I tried to figure out how the tail should be after I made the body by drawing it on a scrap paper and used it as a template to make a tail- I had my kids decorativve scissors near by so I grabbed it to make the scallop part. The sentiment is from PTI- My Punny Valentine set. The scallop and oval is made using Nestab*lities.

I love how the exchange of ideas took the little dog into this squirrel. Each of us kept egging each other on, adding the background, the tail, the nut, looking for the perfect sentiment all came out of us just being together and talking. This is Margery's version with the curly tail.

I love you girls!

Lynda

a simple christmas card

I am in love with this waffle paper. I wish they would change the name though to something more glam though. I wanted to show you a very simple christmas card you can change up with any accent you wanted.

Here I took a real red basecard. Took a strip of Deck the halls DSP 1/2 inch wide, added a 3/4 inch strip of real red behind it, added sticky strip to the 2 edges in the back and used waffle paper strips to add some pleats. I also used sticky strip to stick the whole thing on to the base card. Remember that there is a shiny and matte side to the waffle paper and use the side you want to show on both sides. I stamped the dec 25 image from tags for christmas set in red craft ink onto crumbcake to sort of match the DSP, then embossed the whole thing with clear embossing powder to make it shine although hard to see here. The whole thing was punched out with the matching decorative label punch- Don't you just LOVE the matching punch thing? The tag was mounted with some dimensionals to make it pop a bit and easy peasy card for a monday. I love these really simple cards. You can add any accent piece where the tag would go, the ornament punch, a large circle, or whatever. I may try some different ones too.

Happy Monday!

Lynda

I'm BA-ACK!

I now physically feeling the pressure from the last few months finally lift from me. The old office is completely closed- I turned in my key after spending 2 weekends from dawn to dusk, started at the new work- and the people have been super supportive, and my computer system maybe up and coming soon.

My parents flew in from Florida to watch my kids- which I really appreciate.

Life is Good.

And despite it all I wanted to make sure I held my monthly workshop for my loyal friends and customers. Stamping keeps me sane and a vital part of my mental health care. This is something I came up with to show faux letterpress technique although it was a bit messy. Base is basic black. I took the spider embossing folder and used the versamark to LIGHTLY ink the raised portion of the spider web. Embossed the paper, then into the impressed area I sprinkled some silver embossing powder, brushing off any excess.( you could use the brayer but do not press too hard or you will get a lot of silver on the non-web areas as well- although with the things on top it matters little.) (You could emboss with the folder, then wipe the versamark pad over the raised area then use the EP as a variation of this as well)

I punched an owl and a bat in basic grey, cut the bat in half and stuck the wings on the back to make the bat owl.

I started out with intention to make EEK but the letters were too big to fit. The BOO using all caps did not fit either. So I diecut the letter B from serif essentials, then took 1 1/4 inch circles and they fit the space better especially with the bat on top. I liked 3/4x15/16 oval punch from the holiday mini so I used that to punch the center of the circles- but it is much easier if you punch the small ovals first before you punch it out with the 1 1/4 circle punch.

Added a white circle from the itty bitty shape punch for the eyeballs and a fun little halloween card!

I sincerely appreciate all your encouraging words and support during these trying times.

Thank you all!

Lynda

Enjoy Every Moment October Blog Tour

Welcome to the enjoy every moment october blog hop! I hope you have been having fun visiting all my fun and talented friends who have put this together for you. I myself have been thinking of some holiday ideas to use for the owls and these are 2 little ideas I wanted to show you.

The base is real red with bashful blue DSP in polka dot that I thought resembled snowfall. Whisper white was torn to make it look more snow like. Put a little glitter with glue and the back ground is ready to go. The sentiment is rough type from the summer mini. The owl body is chocolate, with hat and scarf from a retired SU DSP.

The songbook is from the First day set also from the summer mini that I cut out and stamped with the holly from the new holiday mini tag set in green. I put a little gold on the spine to make it look more booklike. I cut out another one in white and layered in underneath to look like pages in a book.

Pretty easy owl card- I thought it would be fun to put maybe 3 owls standing underneath a lamppost or a tree- I will have to try that next time.

This is another one that was swimming in my head for a while. I thought a reindeer wannabe owl- Used the snowflake punch to make the antlers and the circle from the new designer DSP to make the nose. the body was punched in crumbcake and scallops stamped from PTI background retro set. the branch was die cut with bird and branch sizzlet strip in olive that I ran the soft suede pad to paper direct technique. Added some liquid applique in white and glitter. The back ground was airbrushed in B32 Cop*c with a circle masking the moon.

Wandering words set for the santas sleigh ride separated from the words.

A little liquid applique, glue and glitter and voila! another not too difficult card!

don't you just love owls?

The sentiment is a partially inked stampset from saleabration earlier this year.

A little bling to make it a little special and it is a cute card. We can all dream!

Now get going to the my wonderfully talented friend Mercedes here: http://mercedesweber.blogspot.com/

Sorry folks I just could not get that next blog icon to work by just clicking- I'll try better next time!

Lynda

Sick Owl

Hi, everyone! BLT left me a comment that she wanted a sympathy owl and I had been thinking about it anyway so I thought I would show what I came up with. Yes, I read every comment and really appreciate the love that people have left me- I am addicted to you!

This is also for the CAS86 cookiebacker sketch and CC290 color challenge with basic grey, rose red and daffodil delight as well on splitcoast.

The base card is Basic grey with white layered on top. A put a layer or daffodil with a strip of white on top with gell well sentiment from teeny tiny wishes set.

The inset is made with bashful blue base and the bed is my MS halloween fence punch that I cut out all the bats and doodads to make it look like a bed.

The owl was punched in basic grey textured. I also punched 2 wings from the bird punch and wrapped one of the wings with whisper white I sponged with daffodil to make it look for like gauge. I gave him a black eye by making one of his eyes a different color and cut out a blanket and hotwater bottle out of rose red DSP retired- the blanket, the hot water bottle and the bottle cap was freehand cut. I did prop the arm, the waterbottle with dimensionals. Doesn't the daffodil eye make him look absolutely jaundiced? heh heh- I think I should have given him a pillow now that I am looking at it- I will have to take this apart and add that on- Yes I do stuff like that a lot!

I have more owl creations that I've been working on to show you this coming week. Some of my stamping girlfriends have planned a really fun blog hop and I will be revealing some of my new Holiday owl creations on October 1st in celebration of my new work starting and the blog hop to kick in the holidays- it should be a blast and I hope you join us in on the fun and do some blog hopping!

Lynda

Makani's Wizard and my Wizard Owl

My friend Makani called to see if I had time to play and I had so much fun last week, I just had to say yes! Besides ME having a ball (totally selfish- I know) , she bring over her teenage son who patiently plays with my kids who just ADORE him. My DH gets out of watching the kids and the whole family is happy happy. But through all this I did 2 loads of laundry, gave the kids all a bath and got the little ones to sleep on time- Makani was probably wondering why it takes so long to get a inkpad from a room down the hall though each time I disappear.



Look at this card- is it not just darling? She layers this -I believe- Imaginesce paper that is such hoot with the glittering owls on it and layered it over lovely lilac CS. She stamped the wizard from LaLa Land Cr*fts- I love the little owl on the top of the staff. She colored it with cop*cs and cut it out. She then layered some grass and the new Halloween fence punched from MS using dimensionals to lift it up and it is a really cool card.



She then stamped a few wizards for me so I could make some cards in the future and of course the owl lady in me came out. I mean look at that hat and the outfit! Would it not be the perfect size for my owl?

So I cut the hat, gown and the staff and colored it in using her exact color palette- why invent the wheel when it has been so conveniently done for you?

But the wizard just looked a bit lonely. She had also brought over some Cuttleb*g Mickey Mouse dies for the halloween and it had a broom and the summer beach one had the buckets and my little twisted mind kept crawling back to the sorcerer's apprentice idea so I had to try it. I am not sure how it worked but it is slowly growing on me. The broom was cut out 3 times and the bucket twice (I was trying to do 3 different brooms but they got too busy on the card). Cut 2 extra brooms to make arms for the first broom guy and I used Cop*cs to color in the raised ares to add some texture. Makani sat there and die cut and embossed all these pieces for me so this is a total collaboration card!) I stamped 4th of July (summer mini SU- gone at the end of this month! ) and embossed it in silver EP after stamping with versamark pad. Used some liquid appl*que (same white as I used yesterday on my ski bunny) and colored it with my B32 Cop*c (my favorite for sky and soft blue) to make it look more like water sloshing around and dribbling on the floor.

The owl was punched in crumbcake and the wing from the bird punch in same. Cut out the wizard outfit from the above and cut a slit in the arm to slide the wing in. I raised the whole thing on a couple of dimensionals to really make it pop out because it just seem to need the dimension.

I think I need to fix the nose though looking at it from here.

Here is the detail on the bewitched broom!

May your weekend be Magical!

Lynda

Owl Snow bunny

I just love playing with the owl and now that I started changing up the belly to point one direction or the other, there are endless possibilities for activities and expressions!

The F4A27 at splitcoast was snow with some distressing so here it is.

The base card is bashful blue sponged with some same shade with the scallop circle technique to create some cloud feel. I ripped a whisper white ona angle, glittered the edge with 2 way glue pen. The sentiment is from Cool Yule set from Cat*s Pajamas stamped in pacific blue. The owl is punched from textured Razzleberry. The wings are from the bird punch with sponged edges. The hat is from cold and cuddly - a retired SU set colored with current in-colors. I used the same markers to stripe up some white cardstock and punched it to create the matching belly "sweater". The skis are Pacific blue CS edge punched with dog tag punch to create the curve. The ski poles are just 1/16 inch strips of brushed silver CS that I fed through the little circles rounds that I cut out after punching the same paper with 1/16 inch hole. I then added some swishes if white liquid applique to add texture on the skis and on the slopes.

It is so hot today, this feels almost good to make this card!

Enjoy!

Lynda

Owls at the bar

I've had more owl dreams and here is one of them. It's 2 owls at the bar sharing a drink. I LOVE the splitcoast sketch295. It is really simple and perfect for what I had in mind. The color challenge this week was Pacific, Razzleberry and Olive which I thought was great as well.

I wanted the owls to be facing the side so I took the belly and put it sideways onto a owl body and cut the body out to create a new belly to have the beak point more to one side.

The base card is Pacific Blue, the background is daffodil embossed with square lattice folder. The bottom panel is Island Oasis DSP folded over. Sentiment and the drink is from Cheers to you. I took the drink, drew another straw with the razzleberry marker and and colored it in with melon and daffodil and covered it with crystal effects to make the glass more real. The wings are from the bird punch and I sponged it with the same color ink as the CS to add a little shadow.

Isn't it cute?

Thanks for looking!

Lynda

More Margery's Owls- using wings from the bird punch

You saw the card my friend Margery made for her mom and dad's anniversary last week but these are 2 more she made which I thought were clever and different than anything I saw from anyone. She used the wings from the two step extra large bird punch add some extra movement into these owls which I thought darling/ Above one saying HI would be really cute and on this one she put double wings. The branch with leaves are from the bird punchset as well. The tree I believe was free hand cut.

I am so blessed to have really wonderfully talented people in my life. Thanks Margery for sharing your creations with us!

Lynda

Owl Baby

I swear I only have a few more of these left to show you. I could not get this one out of my head though. I saw these cute carriages made of scallop circle at bunch of places- I honestly could not tell you where I first saw it but I thought it was darling. Then, of course the owl baby thing took over. Owl babies is a book I read to my boys when they were younger and one of our favorites so I could not help myself. The color inspiration came from the beautiful SU Sending Love DSP -Now retired- boohoo!- diecut with the large scallop using the big shot. The basecard is chocolate chip 5 1/2 square. Very Vanilla 5 inch square on top and stamped with sentiment from a retired SU set as well. I put a strip of vanilla under the pink satin ribbon to make it not show the pattern underneath and wrapped the ribbon around, added a button using a glue dot thne tied the ribbon and glue dotted that one as well. The handle is SU swirl scribbles sizzlet diecut used partially. The wheels are chocolate chip 1 1/4 inch cicle punched then 1" pretty in pink circle and the unknown company pink brads. The owl is punched from crumbcake with the belly punched out of the same DSP sending love but the backside of the carriage. The buttons are from an unknown company as well- the bag was unlabeled! The nipple on the bottle is from the now retired horizontal slot punch from SU as well- just goes to teach you to get what you need before these guys retired it! The wings are crumbcake punched with the scallop circle punch then cut in half to create the wings. Doesn't she look like an excited little baby asking to be picked up? I love this one....

Thanks for looking.

Lynda

Margery's Owl surprise

My friend Margery came by to show me some real WOW owl cards yesterday and I had to share it with you- with her permission of course. She took the bridal couple idea and gave flight by adding wings using the wings from the bird punch. She is

absolutely adorable and so is the card!

The gems on the necklace and the sentiment makes it just sparkle more. The vest on the groom I am told is silk paper. It is just so cute in real life I just couldn't wait to share it with you all!

Thank you Margery for sharing this with us!

Lynda

Farmer Owl

I confess I have become the Owl lady- I keep dreaming different owls when I sleep and see owls in things that have nothing to do with owls.

I was thinking about doing overalls with owls for a farmer then a splitcoast challenge came up for using buttons on a card and I thought - I have those tiny buttons for a baby card I have been hoarding and thought I would bring them out. I think I would like to try it for a baby owl card as well- I think it could be cute- but that's another card, another day.

This used a base white cardstock, stamped with crumbcake, the corn- can't remember whose stamp that is- no markings, sorrry!

then sponged with baja using scallop circle technique. Punched a bunch of grass from MS by EK success in pear pizazz and added it on. The barn is from Pink Cat Studi*s in Poppy, stamped in black and cut out. The owl is in crumbcake, the bib in bajablue, the pocket is word window punched out in baha, sponched and I used the baja marker to add some stitching lines, The hat is daffodil punched out with a pot punch and the bottom of the owl belly cut off and embossed using the square lattice to make the texture and popped up using the dimensionals. The sentiment is from forest friends set from PTI. Enjoy!

Andy Warhowl inspired

I was called into Jury duty and most of you probably know there is a LOT of waiting- and waiting- as nervous as I was about missing work and having to reschedule all my poor patients who had already waited for their appointments- it did give me opportunity to peruse through my well worn stampin up catalogue and idea book for things I wanted to case, buy and lots of ideas to jot down for future use and this is one of them.

I have been playing around with the Andy Warh-owl inspirations and his colors are oh so vivid so I thought I would play with the idea and it really is fun. Punch the owl in 4 different colors- here is daffodil, real red, tempting turquoise and pacific blue and cut out 2 inch squares of the same colors. Adhere to the card as shown. The sentiment is from PTI Wise Owl set stamped in pacific blue. This really is a 10 minute card- although I find I cannot do it without my tweezers and my tombow multomono to get that fine dot of glue where I need it for the eyeballs and the eyeball dots always seem to disappear into some mysterious 4th dimension where I can never find it again.....

Have fun with this! Thanks for looking!

Lynda

Owl Week- Superheroes

Jumping Jellybeans, Batman, It's your birthday!

I was inspired by this picture for my last in the owl week installation for you. It was my twin boys' first halloween and I had all these fantasies to dress them all cute with this and that but they thought it was pure torture- trying to get the mask on was quite an ordeal. Now I know I will never have another opportunity to dress them like this, sigh... they grow up so fast....they are now only interested in being cool.

So, this may not be as cute but it was fun to make. I was inspired by the count dracu-owl's cape to try making the cape crusaders. the eyes are blue underneath the masks. the city scape is from starving artists and BATDAY sentiment is made from an alphabet set from PTI. The bat on the chest of the batman is from Pink Cat Studios Billie superhero set and the R is an alphabet set from a long retired Buttons alphabet set from PSX. The chest pattern on Robin's chest if half a dog bone cut lengthwise. His hair and mask is freehand cut. Well, at least the owl punch was from Stampin Up.

I hope you all enjoyed this run. I hope to make some more in the future for you but this is all I had time to make to show you from this twisted mind of mine....... Thanks for visiting!

Lynda

Owl Week- Halloween Lineup

No, this is not a 10 minute card- I think it is more like 5 hour card. I was playing with different colors for the different characters and this is the final lineup- Count Dracul-owl 's cape was made by punching 2 more owl bodies in red and black, cutting it in half , chopping off the bottom and attaching it like a cape. The fangs were free hand cut. the Ghowlish ghost was cut out by laying a owl body over the white CS and drawing the drape and cutting it out. I used river rock marker to add some lines to make it look a little drapey. The mummy owl was punched out in crumbcake and used vanilla CS strips distressed and laid randomly. The Frankenowl knobs were cut out freehand from brushed silver CS. The scar was hand drawn with black marker.

The base card is pumpkin pie that was partially embossed with a spiderweb to add some texture. The sentiment is from a retired SU set- Booglie Eyes - with googly eyes added on for fun. The DSP is Ghostly Greetings retired SU- the middle band punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch.

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Owl Week?- Not! It's a Penguin

Ok so this is not an owl- but it did start out with the owl punch. The base card is Bliss blue with Bliss Blue DSP on the top and behind the right side scallop border punched edge. Added tiny crystal jewels.

I took a whisper white CS and used sponge to add some marina mist ink to make it look like snow capped mountains. The north pole, the ice float, the hat and the fishing pole is from a retired SU set Cold and cuddly- I cut the ice, the northpole sign and the hat out after stamping. the fishing pole was stamped after I assembled everything and paper pieced a red CS to make the present stick out. To make the penguin, punch it out in black, white and pumpkin pie and piece it as shown. The sentiment is from amuse heat embossed with white EP. Tied the tafetta blue ribbon to accent the side even more.

I am having so much fun with this punch- would you believe I have more ideas still? It just takes the time to take it from my sketch to the actual card- if only I could do this for a living....

maybe I should tell you my ideas and challenge people to make the owls - would anyone be up for this? Thanks for visiting!

Lynda

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