Wednesday Sketch Challenge!

Oh how I love Wednesdays! I just love doing the sketch challenge in Splitcoast Stampers! The routine of it is all so fun! Everyone makes the same card, posts it, and then comments on everyone else's cards. I just love the comments I get and the fact that I can comment on others' cards. It is just such a great community! Well, if that didn't convince you all to become stampers I don't know what will!

We are counting down only days until demonstrators can pre-order from the new Stampin' up catalog. I am most excited about the new colors and the new stamp sets! Friday is the day to order. I already have my list ready! CAN'T WAIT for that box to come in the mail. The fedex man has become a very important person in my life! Don't worry, Matt isn't concerned! :) He's pretty sure that if someone stole me away from him they would bring me back because I am too expensive!

I have to get myself back in the mindset to go back to work tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, right? Actually, I am looking forward to the routine of my life. I like my job and my co-workers so it is not too tough to convince myself to go.

Well, back to stamping! The supplies I used with this card are:

Stamps: My Favorite Things, Papertrey, Ink, Printed Pattern from Stampin' up

Ink: black pallete ink

Accessories: copic markers, white grosgrain ribbon from SU, brads from local store, cuttlebug and an A-2 embossing folder

Paper: orchid opulence, lovely lilac, whisper white

I tagged me!

I tagged myself because I never have played any of the tag games. The object of this game is to answer the questions with one word answers.
You can only type one word. No explanations…
Yourself: Reflective
Your Partner: sweet
Your Hair: curly
Your Mother: cheerful
Your Father: industrious
Your Favorite Item: laptop
Your Dream Last Night: None
Your Favorite Drink: latte
Your Dream Car: mini
Dream Home: city
The Room You Are In: Living
Your Fear: conflict
Where You Want to be in Ten Years: therapy
Who You Hung Out With Last Night: sweetie
You’re Not: quiet
One of Your Wish List Items: Paris
The Last Thing You Did: sneeze
You Are Wearing: Sweats
Your Favorite Weather: fall
Your Favorite Book: Evanovich
Last Thing You Ate: danish
Your Life: blessed
Your Mood: content
Your Best Friend: Matt
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: homework
Your Car: mini
What Are You Doing At The Moment: talking
Relationship Status: Married
What Is On Your TV: Oblivion
What Is The Weather Like: dark

Tuesday color challenge

Well, I am just about the biggest dork ever. I was out all day today so didn't get the chance to do my card for the color challenge until this evening. I had checked out the challenge this morning and then went out for the day. So after I uploaded my card and I sat down to see everyone else's cards. I thought to myself, "hmmmmmmmmmmmm.......why is everyone else's cards a different color green than mine?" Then I thought, "duh........everyone else's color IS different than yours!" I feel badly because it was a particularly difficult color combo to work with so I feel like I cheated. I really don't have time to do another one tonight or I would. I am normally anal about following all the rules in the challenges!

Supplies for this card:

Paper: glorious green, stampin' up dp spring flowers

Ink: black palette ink

Stamps: bees from stampendous, Papertrey, Ink

Accessories: brads from scrapbook store, mega giga scalloped square punch, chocolat ribbon

from Stampin' up, scalloped scissors

Blog Candy Winner: Patty H.

Well, girls, you are serious about your blog candy, aren't you? I had so many fun responses and had so much reading them! I will have to do blog candy again soon. What a fun experience! My husband (the math genius) put together a random number selector on my computer so I used that program to select a commenter randomly for the blog candy winner.

The winner is Patty H! I tried to track you back from your comment, Patty, but was unable to so shoot me a comment or an email at Melissawohlers@charter.net to claim your prize. I will also throw in one of my handmade cards! I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend and for you Canadians, I hope you had a nice weekend. I learned that in Canada they have a holiday similar to Memorial Day in the US, but it is a week earlier. It is called Victoria Day. How interesting! Thanks all for playing and hopefully you will check back again for my next blog candy give away!

Featured Stamper Challenge!

Well, normally I wake up on Sunday morning and do the Sunday Challenge, as we so affectionately call it in the Wohler's household, but tonight, I couldn't wait. I know, get a life, right? I took a much needed break from a difficult paper I am working on and used some of the new toys I got this week! I bought the die cut and the matching paper this week having a feeling a day would come when it would come in handy. Well, girls, that day came soon than later. This was the perfect combo for the card I chose to case from KED's gallery on Splitcoast.

I used bashful blue from Stampin' up, bow and brads from Michael's, and the rest is from the Magnolia collection. I did not stamp the main flower. It came like that. Nice, huh? This one was easy easy easy. I am thinking I will do another card tomorrow on another break from writing.

This is my most favovite challenge of the whole week.

BLOG CANDY!!!!

Well, I reached 4,000 hits yesterday so I think it is time to give away a little blog candy. I was at the local scrapbooking store this morning and they were running a little special. I you bought a few things from American Crafts, you got a gift with purchase. I thought this would make an excellent blog candy give away. I will send you the things I bought as well as the free gift if you leave a comment on this blog entry!

I will be pick a winner on Monday so make sure to leave a comment by then! In your comment tell me what your favorite thing to do on Memorial Day weekend is! There are a few ribbon spools, brads, buttons, some chipboard die cuts, some rub-ons, a special pen (not quite sure what it does but look pretty!) Also, not in the picture is a set of chipboard letters that would be fun for scrapbooking or cardmaking!

Good luck to you all!

Patchwork planet

This is a card I made for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I made a card similar to this one last week, but it fit the sketch challenge so well that I thought it deserved another go. I had this patchwork idea going around in my head these last couple of days ever since I sewed on my card last week. I think what would be really fun would be to make a quilt block on a card. I never got too much into quilting, but I know someone who could probably help me with that. (You know who you are!)

This card is very straight forward: I used a square punch to punch out the squares, then taped them to the cardstock, sewed it on zig zag stitch with the sewing machine, and the stamped and colored my image. I used regular stampin' up markers for the coloring. The brads and paper are all from Stampin' up as well. Most of the paper comes from the Stampin' up 6 x 6 sampler pad, which I thought was perfect for a project like this one.

Well, everyone, have a great Thursday. I have the day off tomorrow so don't be surprised to see more cards posted!

My Favorite Day

Hello all! I came home last night from school and Matt had cleaned out the whole garage and put up a new shelving system. He also cleaned the house and did laundry. After a long weekend at school that was the best thing ever! I can't tell you how much it helps take the load off! So, today, I woke up, made us french toast and stamped on and off throughout the day. I did have phone calls from just about everyone I know for, for some reason, all on the same day. So, I chatted and stamped the day away.

I participated in the Sunday challenge today and I also did some stamping just for me. I got my new bella stamps in the mail so I have been dying to rip into them. I had some fun after I figured out how to mount them. That threw me for a loop. I had never heard of using double sided tape to mount stamps. I think I will get some of the ez mount to attack to them. I think I will like that better than the double sided tape.

My first card is a case from Kyla Maestas's gallery on Splitcoast. She is amazing. She has been one of my favorites for quite a while so I was excited to hear that she was the next featured stamper.

Supplies:

stamps: bella from stampingbella

paper: basic grey perhaps, old olive, bravo burgundy

ink: pallete hybrid black

accessories: joann's green ric rac, su cranberry crisp ribbon, earth elements brads, paper piercing tool

Bella #2
So, this was my second bella attempt. I didn't make it for a challenge but just for my own fun. I'm a little lukewarm on this one, but that is normal for me. I was thinking I should make the brads holding the primas purple. I have never tried that but have heard it does work, but is time-consuming.

For this card I used:
Paper: whisper white, orchid opulence, SU print sampler, green galore
Ink: hybrid palette black ink
Accessories: pale pastel brads, prima flowers, round corner punch
prismacolor pencils, gamsol, stump, SU markers same as paper
Stamps: stamping bella, dotted background stamp from SU

Saturday

Hello there out there everyone! I am in Minneapolis again this weekend for school killing a bit of time before I have to go to class. My computer comes in so handy sometimes. I can even blog at school! I have one class from 1pm-5pm today and then I will go home to spend the rest of the weekend with my sweetheart. We both so look forward to our Sundays at home together vegging out and doing nothing. Then it will be time for the Sunday challenge. Can't wait for that!

I did this card last Sunday for the Sunday Challenge but didn't post it to my blog. I thought it might come in handy some day when I didn't get a chance to blog. I used some new DP that I got from Ellen Hutson's online store. It is from memory box, I believe. I am not home so I can't look at the packaging. I also used SU ribbon and the Easter Blessings set also from Stampin' up. I also used my Marvy giga circle and scalloped circle punches. I believe the base paper is pretty in pink. Nothing too fancy. This is actually a case of one of Candy Williams' beautiful creations.

Wednesday Challenge

Well, I am going to try this again. Do any of you bloggers out there ever get tired of not having alot of control over editing on the blogger program? Or, is there some trick I haven't figured out yet. I will edit it in blogger, but then when I publish it it looks nothing like how I formatted my post in edit mode. Drives me crazy!

Well, this is my Wednesday sketch challenge card. The sketch we were to use for the challenge was on the funky side so I didn't know quite what to think or even how to make it, but will a little faith I persevered and I like the results. This is my new paper from Basic Grey. I really like this particular piece. It is me! I had fun playing with it! I pulled these retired selabration stamps out too. If there ever is a case for saving old stamps after they retired this is it. Sometimes you need just the right stamp to go with a paper. So, I am going to have to rethink getting rid of retired sets, I think. That means, I will need a bigger stamp room, I think. Oh oh, my husband is not going to like this one.

Color Challenge 114 - The World Over

Well, it is Tuesday evening and I decided to give myself the evening off from reading to do the Tuesday color challenge. For non-stampers, the Tuesday challenge is when they give you the colors to use and then you make a card with the chosen colors and post it on Splitcoast Stampers. I love this challenge and look forward to it all day.

I actually used the sewing machine on this card. I find that sewing with the zig zag is much easier than sewing straight on cards. So, zig zag it is! I am off tomorrow but have a busy day planned. I have a doctor's appointment, an appointment with the decorator's and a date with my close friend's 6-year-old. She is very crafty and wants to MAKE CARDS! I have to take her to church too, but I am thinking we can get some stamping in before that. I am so excited that she is very interested in crafts. I don't have kids of my own, so I live vicariously through my friends' kids.

Prismacolor marker update: I already got my new markers today in the fedex. I couldn't believe it since I ordered them like on Sunday I think. The big selling point was that they were supposed to not leave any brush strokes and when I tried mine they did leave brush strokes. I was also disappointed that the tip of the marker was huge. So, since they were so expensive, I decided I am going to return mine and stick to my Stampin' Up markers.

The supplies for this card are as follows:

Stamps: The World Over from Stampin' up

Paper: all the designer papers are from stampin' up as well as the

green galore, whisper white, and tempting turquoise CS

Ink : basic black and markers

Accessories: SU markers: tempting turquoise, green galore, rose red, almost apricot

apricot ribbon, earth elements brads, ticket corner punch

Amy's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Since I hadn't had quite enough stamping after finishing the Featured Stamper Challenge today, I decided I do Amy Westerman's sketch challenge that she does every Sunday. She comes up with some really great sketches, then I make one and post it on my blog. (Just in case some of you non-stampers don't know what a sketch challenge is). So, I used my new paper I got from Ellen Hutson's online store. She has the fastest shipping ever. It is awesome!

Supplies:

Paper: very vanilla, rose romance (a blast from the past), memory boxco dp

Ink: rose romance

Stamps: riveting, and I'm here

Accessories: SU celery ribbon, SU circle punches, pale pastel brads,

slit punch, celery marker

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Well, I am not a mom, but I have a mom! Hi mom! Hope you are having a good day! I couldn't post this card until today because I didn't want my mom to see it before today. It was for a color challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. The challenge was that you could only use pink. Of course, you could use white, black, or craft along with it. It was a challenge, but of course with my obsession with flowers I used it as an opportunity to pull out some flower sets that don't see the light of day too often.

I am sitting in my craft room today craftin' away. Matt went to visit his family in Omaha for the weekend and I stayed home. I had class on Friday night and Saturday afternoon so I couldn't go with him. He got to actually spend mother's day with his mom today so I am sure she enjoyed that. As you may have noticed I haven't done any stamping since last weekend. I had a big paper that took all of my attention this week. By the end of the week I was pretty crabby and ready to get in the stamp room.

I have been hemming and hawing over getting these new Prismacolor markers. They look SO nice when stampers use them on their cards. The give such a complete and seamless rich look. I am a very bad girl and ordered them online today! Naughty! I went to Michael's to compare with the online art store prices and they seemed much cheaper online, even with a Micheal's coupon which was not in the paper today :(

So, I caved in and ordered them online. I hope I like them and feel they are worth the splurge. I should be saving my pennies for the the new SU catalog comes out. I am getting excited to be able to pre-order some of the new toys! I have seen the colors and they are totally beautiful, trendy, and fun! I am also excited about the new bling they are coming out with! I haven't been able to find any good bling here in my hometown!

Supplies:

Paper: pretty in pink, regal rose, whisper white

Ink: pretty in pink, regal rose

Accessories: SU pale pastel buttons, round tab punch, glue dots

Stamps: heartfelt thanks, all year cheer

Amy's Sunday Sketch Challenge

Well, I was visiting Amy Westerman's blog today and I saw that she does a Sunday sketch challenge where she posts her own sketch and then you can make your own card using her sketch and post it to your blog. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with studying (are you sensing a theme here) I thought I would try one.

Matt thought I shouldn't have made all the flowers the same colors. He said that photographers are taking pictures they try to find ways to break the pattern and that I had too much of a pattern. What do you think? I may make another one taking Matt's recommendations into considerations and post that and we can see if he knows what he is talking about! He is always so patient and looks at every single card I make and ooohs and ahhhhhs appropriately.

For this card I used:

Paper: Designer paper from Chatterbox, morning marigold, old olive

ink: morning marigold, bashful blue, cranberry crisp, pumpkin pie

Stamps: bodacious bouquet from Stampin' up

Ribbon: all from SU, pale pastels from SU, ticket corner punches

Sunday Featured Stamper's Challenge

Happy Sunday! I love Sundays! Sunday is the only day of the week that Matt and I can spend together. We sometimes don't even get dressed. It is the best! We have both had a busy weekend. We both have big projects due this week that we are working furiously on. Why and I blogging if I am working so furiously on a project you might ask? Very good question, a question to which I do not have a good answer!

We went out to our new favorite restaurant, Prescott's last night with some friends and we had a great time. Matt was on a roll and had us all doubled over laughing the whole night! After three hours I think we all had stomachaches! It was really fun! Then when we got home I decided I couldn't very well study at that hour so why not get started on the Sunday Featured Stamper's challenge a little bit early?

This is the card I came up with, and I should mention that this card is cased from Sunday's featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers website. The card was originally done by Alli Miles and here is the card of hers that I cased: Alli's card

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Big Blooms, Dotted background, papertrey sentiment
Paper: SU choc. chip, sage shadow, almost amethyst
Ink: SU choc chip markers: same as paper
Assessories: marvy giga scalloped square punch, mega square punch
SU oval punch, SU ribbon

A New Trick

I was over at my friend, Cheri's house the other night as I promised I would show her how the whole gamsol and a stump trick worked. She loves to color images so the technique was right up her alley. She we got to coloring and realized that we didn't really know how to purge the stump of one color before going on to another color. We also noticed that the smaller images were sort of hard to get at with the stump.

So, Cheri got the bright idea (I am probably the last one to figure this out) to use sandpaper to clean off the stump and to sharpen the stump to make the end more pointy so it can reach the smaller places on a stamped image.

This tricked worked really well and made coloring with gamsol alot easier. What other tricks are you all using to get at this problem? Leave a comment if you have any tricks to share with gamsol. I will hopefully be posting a card later in the weekend. I made two cards this week for Mother's Day, but can't post them because I don't want my mom or mother-in-law to see them!

Have a great weekend!