Between the stuffing and the pie

I made time to tackle 2 SCS challenges! And a new tradition, a Thanksgiving card to my family! (My family; husband and kids. The one’s that dont get enough cards from me) Inside the card I will write what we had for dinner, any highlights of the day and special things I want to remember. A mini-scrapbook if you will.

My new faux-turkey is the oven and soon my stuffing and potatoes will go in. I still need to throw the sweet potatoes and rolls together. Pictures of our meat free feast will come tomorrow! Super cool, for sure!

Have a happy day everybody! Be thankful for your warm house, clothes, food and family!

The DEETS:

Stamps: turkey and sentiment-Gina K designs
CS: creamy caramel, chocolate chip, wanted DSP-SU   papertrey white
Ink: brilliance graphite black
Accessories: copics, paper piercing template

A limited supply challenge and the weekend!

Thank goodness it’s FRIDAY!!!!!! 

Today was indeed a super happy mail day! I received my Gina K, candles and my FREE SU! set!!! Woooo hooooo! I got the set AFTER I had already made my card for the LSC, so I will make something later with it for Beate’s sketch so you can all see it! It’s not a set that Im initally drawn to, but I see the potential and want to do it justice! And you can NEVER knock free goods, can you?

And I will briefly tell you that the S/S stampin up catalog went up online for demo’s today and the new paper is GORGEOUS!!!!!!! There will be rub-on’s in some of the most BEAUTIFUL designs I have ever seen! Plus the handful of stamps that they have shown are very cute and springy! Not everything is doodlie in the preview (although the new SU! set I got which is a new level 3 hostess set is on the doodlie side) and there are 2 pretty flower sets that I will definatley be getting.

Oh! And if you are a hostess in January or placing an order in January then you’ll get an extra treat!

Now onto the limited supply challenge card I made. You were to use 2-3 stamps, one with a heart or a sentiment and then either DSP or an embellishment (this is my goof, I thought it was both) and any coloring tools while limiting your layers. So I rummaged through my stamps and found my ‘Priceless’ set which has a heart in it that I have NEVER inked up! Sad, no?

I embossed the sentiment onto the DSP to keep the focus on the heart trio, and I also stamped the small flower onto the flowers in the DSP that matched the size. It worked out nicely and is a teeny tiny touch that looks swell IRL.

Instructions:

1. Starting with a piece of groovy guava CS cut and folded to standard size.
2. Then I cut a piece of rose red DSP to 4×5 and stamped the small flower from “Priceless” onto the medium flower on the DSP in rose red ink.
3. Using versamark ink, I stamped the sentiment on the bottom right hand corner and applied white EP to it.
4. Then I mounted the DSP onto the cardfront and placed 4 vintage brass (or maybe copper, I dont know they are making memories) in the 4 corners.
5. I then used my nesties to cut 3 white rectangles and 3 scalloped rectangles in Papertrey white and wild wasabi, then adhered them together.
6. Using rose red ink, I stamped the heart 3 times then cut it out and adhered them to the center of the rectangles.
7. Next I placed the rectangles onto the cardfront using dimensionals.
8. And finally I placed a smidgen of crystal stickles onto the small flower on the heart.

Now I need to go mount my new free stamps and get working on my sketch for Beate’s challenge! See you later and happy weekend everyone!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Priceless-SU
Ink: rose red, versamark-SU
CS: groovy guava, wild wasabi, rose red DSP-SU   white- Papertrey Ink
Accessories: rectangle straight and scalloped nesties, white EP, dimensionals, vintage brads from making memories

Timeless joy

Tonight I decided to tackle two challenges, the new MFT sketch challenge and the ways to use it challenge which was to use hoarded brads.

I HOARD lots of different things; brads, paper, ribbon, my pretties kit, hodge podge hardware……..lots of stuff. Sometimes I buy things and they are so pretty I deam them too special to part with. Im sure you do that too.

When I started this card, it had been a few hours since I had read the challenge rules and only remembered to use something that was hoarded. So my first question was WHAT am I picking? LOL! I based the colors off the two ribbons and then decided to throw in some red for a POP! It was at the end that I realized that I was supposed to use a brad as my inspiration….duh! So I threw in one of my large ice rhinestone brads in the center of the heart.

The card front is cut halfway down so that the layered rectangles are half on the cardfront and half off……neat, huh? The layout is from the MFT sketch challenge this week. 

Last night was the release of Papertrey’s latest and greatest…………did you see the new sets? Did you get anything? I got some new sets, most importantly ‘Spiral Bouquet’!!!! I cannot WAIT to get it! I LOVE it oh so much!

Tomorrow will be a super happy fun mail day for me! I have my new Gina K coming, some candles I ordered from Illuminations (I had a wicked deal of $15 off $60 or more and buy 2 get 1 free!) and my free SU! set!!!!! And tonight SU! will release the S/S preview catalog online for demo’s only. I’ll report back tomorrow on what I see! Im so excited!

I hope your week is going well, my wrist is finally feeling better! I should be back tomorrow with something special!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Boho Blossoms -MFT stamps
Ink: real red, taken with teal-SU
CS: river rock, taken with teal, old olive-SU    white-Papertrey
Accessories: Nesties, punches in; 1 1/4, label, ice rhinestone brads, “flirty” velvet ribbon-SU, ribbon from Michaels

Dreams of chocolate

Here’s a quick little number I threw together for the SCS sketch challenge.  You’ll notice my other CB folder used on the purely pom CS, it’s swirly!

I saw this sentiment from MFT’s “Essential Sentiments” and just had to put it with the chocolatey chippity chip from ‘How sweet it is’! It totally reminded me of that commercial where they ask “DO you dream in chocolate?”………..sometimes!

Im so happy that the nests cut through watercolor paper! It’s thicker so I was worried, but there were no problems.

Ok, now my wrist hurts so no more creating for me today. See you later with something cute!

Doesnt get much quicker!

Todays color challenge was kraft, purely pom and white. I dont have any kraft so I was able to substitute creamy caramel. These are definately nice colors, and the card made Sean say “Oooooooooooh” but this isnt something I would think of. And the style of the card is nice but it sure isnt me! I dont know who I was chanelling when I made this but it was definately someone else!

I had 2 new cuttlebug folders arrive today and I decided to play with my “textile texture”. I sponged a little extra pom ink over the raised image for even more POP! I loooooooooove it! I dont know why it took me so long to get a cuttlebug, it’s awesome! I also got to use my nesties again and I just love them so! I love the cutting and embossing and all the different sizes. I dont know if it’s even possible to get all the different sizes in punches. I also dont think it would be possible to have them coordinate so well.

I have another cuttlebug folder that came and Im sure it will make it’s way into my cards very soon! Sean had the camera today so I could have posted sooner, but alas the camera wasnt at home!

I also had an appointment with a new hand specialist and was basically told there’s nothing wrong with my hand just a sprain. And I was sent on my way. Of course if I keep having pain I’m supposed to call them and come back in. The whole experience left me in tears. I dont go to the ER for fun, I dont think anyone does. So to tell me “there’s nothing wrong” is just really depressing because something IS wrong.

I was given 2 referrals at the hospital and Im thinking I will call the other Dr they referred me to. I broke my wrist a year ago and I’ve had wrist and hand pain off and on that is not going away. I just dont know how someone can say to me that nothing is wrong. I cant even imagine if this were more serious how I would feel. I guess Im lucky that it’s not.

Anyway, not to be depressing but it’s just an ongoing saga……my wrist. And I dont think I’d care so much if it wasnt my dominate hand.

In SUPER happy news, my free stamp set from SU shipped today! So that should be here on Thursday or Friday!!!!! It’s one of the new hostess sets from the S/S catalogue, it’s a level 3 I believe. And soon the preview catalogue will be here and I can share a little more of what’s inside! AND I can order from it!

So far there is some AWESOME DSP, cherry blossoms in beautiful pinks! And the SWEETEST little bird. And what looks like a larger scallop circle punch, not that I need that anymore!

Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with something new and cute!

Fluffles and a quiet weekend

I finished this card late last night for the limited supply challenge on SCS. I had used one critter stamp, one sentiment, one background stamp, 2-4 layers and no embelishments. Im glad I got it done last night, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

I love little fluffles!

So I spent the afternoon in the emergency room after my wrist was getting worse in the last 24 hours. I had an accupuncture appt. and she told me to go get an x-ray since I was having so much pain.

Nothing is broken, but Im in a splint (basically a temporary cast) for the next 4-5 days. So needless to say my blog will be quiet since typing with my left hand is tough and I cant make anything one handed.

 So if you dont hear from me over the weekend it’s because Im in bed on drugs. Take care and have fun creating! I’m already itching to get my hands on the Papertrey sets!

Im dreaming of a crustacean Christmas!

Ah, Im in a weird mood today! Im not quite sure why, maybe it was the almost total lack of sleep last night! Oh that would do it wouldnt it?????????

Yesterday my nesties came in the mail which caused me to bust out a dance at the mailbox, the dude next to me must have thought I was crazy…..and I just might be! Yes, and from here on out the “Spellbinders Nestabilities” will be called nesties. I cant be bothered to type that long name and it deserves something cute. I know it sounds a wee bit like something naughty, but I dont care! It’s my blog and Im calling them nesties.

Today I managed to make some cookies for Ava then she decided she wanted to go down and play Yoshi while I stamped. I cant complain with that offer really. I loaded up Laurens guide to using her nesties on her blog and it worked! Thanks Lauren! There’s nothing fancy pants going on today with them. This is oh, my 3rd time using my cuttlebug and my first try with the nesties, Im just glad I didnt break anything!

I went ahead and tackled yesterday’s SCS color challenge and todays sketch challenge. The colors are soft sky, wild wasabi and rose red. Can you feel a Christmas card with those colors? I know I can.

Does this little crabby not make you happy or what? I would giggle if I got it in the mail! I love him. And ric-rac is just the ultimate Christmas ribbon to me. When I was little my Mom had us make ornaments and some of them were adorned with ric-rac, that’s probably why I associate it with Christmas.

Instructions:

1. I started with a piece of wild wasabi CS cut and folded to standard size. Then stamped 2 of the snowflakes in versamark and embossed with white EP.
2. Next I adhered 3 pieces of SU retired “flirty” ric-rac ribbon to the center of the card.
3. Using my 1 3/8 square, I puched 2 squares out of rose red DSP.
4. Then I cut 2 soft sky squares about 1 1/2. I stamped one of the open snowflakes in versamark on the soft sky and embossed it with irridescent ice EP and adhered that to the rose red square.
5. Next I inked up the “sandy claws” part of the sentiment only in stazon black and stamped that onto one of the squares. After cleaning off the stamp I then inked up only “is coming” and stamped that onto the next square. Then with my black marker I had drew the exclamation point and adhered those to the card with dimensionals.
6. Using my rectangle nesties I cut out a piece of watercolor paper. Then stamped the crab in black stazon.
7. I used a mixture of classic ink and markers to watercolor the crab, real red, wild wasabi, black, rose red for the hat and soft sky for the sky around him.
8. Then I used my liquid applique and more irridescent ice EP on the hat and wrist cuffs.
9. I highlighted the hat and parts of the sleigh with stickles for a frosty look.
10. Finally I adhered the crab to the card with dimensionals.

I’m definately going to have to make a few cards with my crabby friend, he’s too cute to just keep to myself!

Luckily my accupuncture yesterday helped my ankle and wrist a LOT! Im still a little sore today, but what are you going to do? I fell down the stairs.

Oh, and on a totally seperate but SUPER fun note, Sean and I are going to Disneyland! For sure this time! Every time we try to go I get pregnant and your not really supposed to go while your pregnant. SO…..since we want to have another baby we decided to plan a trip around wanting another baby, if that makes sense. Our trip is sometime in March which is when we wanted to start trying for another baby. Yippee! And it’s only us, no kids.

And I cant believe that it’s November 7th and I havent made the official it’s 18 days to my birthday yet! I usually start on November first and countdown the shopping days left. This year I’m turning 30. I dont feel weird about it, I guess I started to feel adult when I had kids, so 30 doesnt mean much to me. That and Im still younger than my husband and my sister! I’ll always be younger than my sister…….that’s fun!

Ok, enough rambling. Time to go get Audrey and play with the kidlets.

The DEETS:

Stamps: crab and sentiment-Gina K designs, Snow flurries -SU
Ink: stazon black, wild wasabi, soft sky, real red, rose red, versamark-SU
CS: wild wasabi, rose red DSP, soft sky, watercolor paper-SU
Accessories: white EP, irridescent ice EP, dimensionals, square punch, rectangle nesties, retired “flirty” ric-rac ribbon, stickles, liquid applique. 

What a day!!!!!

First I need to share a bit about our weekend. On Friday night I was cold in the house, which isnt uncommon. But I was standing next to one of the vents (we have forced air) and it was blowing cold air even though the thermostat was at 74. Sean didnt feel cold and said it never feels like hot air and that was that. Then on Saturday I was really cold and I had the temperature held at 75 but the thermostat was reading 71…..something was wrong. So we spent a cold Saturday night here. Oh, and our fireplace is still broken. The repair people are 6 weeks out and it’s $250 JUST for them to come. I’m thinking a NEW fireplace might be cheaper.

So yesterday the girls came home and the house was cold. At night we bundled them with extra blankets and went to sleep. This morning the temp. was 66!!!! Holy cow, it was COLD in here! So I got on the phone with our heat people and they sent a tech out fast, like within an hour. Anyway, the part that was broken was under warranty so we only had to pay for labor. For 5 minutes of him being here can you guess how much we paid? $100!

But that’s not all. While he was here I fell………again…….down the stairs……..again……..

The really AWESOME thing (and that’s completely sarcastic) is that the dude was at the bottom of the stairs, and his instinct wasnt to HELP me as I fell and try to catch me or anything but to step out of the way. NICE! I smacked right into the front door scraping my wrist and elbow, twisting my right ankle….again. My wrist was nice and swollen today with a welt, and my ankle was swollen.

But in really HAPPY news, my new MFT sets came today. Hurrah!! So I finished last weeks color challenge, last weeks MFT sketch challenge and todays technique challenge for a pocket card all in one! WOW, that’s a lot!

What a fun set, and Ava really loved it! She had me stamping a scene for her to color. The hat was her favorite, I have NO idea why.

And I really need more copics. I only have 48 and I need more colors to blend and do all the fancy pants stuff with. I’ll have to add that to my list! LOL!!!

I hope your week is off to a better start than mine!

The DEETS:

Stamps: By the seashore-MFT
CS: tempting turqouise, real red, white, so saffron-SU
Ink: palette noir, tempting turqouise-SU
Accessories: scallop circle, 1 3/8 punch, ice rhinestone brad, dimensionals, copics, corner rounders, sherbet ribbon.

Season of joy and late night SCS party

Last night there was a lot of excitement on the member forums at SCS. My favorite things and Gina K both had fabulous release parties.

MFT had 2 really fun challenges, the first was a sort of treasure hunt with clues about the DT. And the other was a limited supply challenge which consisted of; white cardstock, 1 stamp and whatever scraps you had laying about that you could embellish with. You can see my card HERE. When I was done making it I ran like a mad woman from my craftroom to the laptop and Sean asked me what the hurry was…..free stamps, that’s what! I know he thought I was silly for running around so crazy.  And guess what? I was the first to submit a card for that challenge and won a free MFT stamp set! THAT ROCKS MY SOCKS!!!! 

Then the time came for the new sets to release and of course I could not resist by the seashore. Every year Sean and I go down to Cannon Beach and stay at The Stephanie Inn, this reminded me of our wonderful times there. If you ever go to Cannon Beach there really isnt a more beautiful, relaxing, pampering and wonderful place to stay then the Stephanie Inn.

Ok, and then the Gina K release. Man that was a whirlwind!!! One thread for all us hyper typers, chatting, sharing and chanting for stamps! She revealed a special code for special goodies! Ooooooh la la! I was so happy to get that! And then of course her new fabulous store revealed and I snagged some more Gina K stamps. It was a lot of fun.

The limited supply challenge is up over on splitcoast and it’s a fun one. The challenge is to make a flat Holiday card that doesnt require extra postage, so no hardware, bows, dimensionals or anything like that. We could use ribbon, just as long as it was flat.

So I decided to toy with an idea I’ve had for a while. My original plan for the Christmas cards has LOTS of hardware, dimension and sparklies. Well, I wanted to see how satisfied I was making a card with no hardware but still sparklie. And I do like the general idea, although I still want SOME dimension! So here’s what I came up with:

Instructions:

1. Starting with a piece of delicious Papertrey white CS cut and folded to standard size, I paper pierced the upper right hand corner.
2. Next I stamped the flourish from “Season of Joy” in certainly celery.
3. Then I stamped the large flower and small flower on top of the swirls in real red ink.
4. Using my versamark pen I inked the middles of each large flower, covered it in heat and stick then heat set it. Afterwards I applied red glitter and heat set it again.
5. To the centers of each flower I added a dot of red stickles.
6. Then I layered a piece of celery grosgrain ribbon on top of red 5/8 grosgrain ribbon and cut to the length of the card and adhered it with snail.
7. Next I stamped the sentiment in real red ink and cut around it. Then I used the ticket corner punch on the edges and then sponged celery and then red ink on the edges.
8. I layered that onto celery CS and cut that out then used the ticket corner punch again.
9. Finally I layered that onto red CS, cut around it and adhered it on top of the ribbon.

Simple! I really like the flower bottom and I think I’d like to do an ornament with this. Slowly……the ideas are coming back to me. A limited supply challenge is just what I needed tonight! Maybe tomorrow I will get to the new MFT sketch on SCS and then it will be time for Beate’s weekend sketch!

I hope everyone had a great Thursday and is ready for the weekend….I know I am!

The Deets:

Stamps: Season of joy-SU
Ink: Real red, certainly celery-SU
CS: White-Papertrey, real red, certainly celery-SU
Accessories: versamark pen, heat and stick powder, red glitter, red stickles, red 5/8 gg ribbon, celery gg ribbon, ticket corner punch, sponge.

Groovy, fruity flowers

Here’s my card for todays sketch challenge and I DIDNT use ‘True Friend”! I was proud, since I had been grabbing that set the past few weeks.

I got some little swarovski crystals and I used them in the center of the flower, along with some fruit punch stickles on the edges of the flowers. Im happier with how the flower looks with a touch of stickles instead of covering it in glitter.

I’m so tired and sore today. My trainer had me doing pull-up’s yesterday which I havent done since I was in Junior High about 15 years ago. And along with those she had me do some lovely push-ups and work with a medicine ball. I told her to not even think about making me climb a rope……it’s not gonna happen. But thankfully today was just cardio, 50 minutes on the elliptical and then another 15 on the bike. Yippee.

Tomorrow Im hoping to tackle the new MFT sketch challenge on the forums. I hope you’ll join me in the fun!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Tres Chic, Baroque Motifs, Fabulous flowers-SU
Ink: cameo coral, mellow moss, chocolate chip-SU
CS: groovy guava, mellow moss, chocolate chip-SU
Accessories: ticket corner punch, fruit punch stickles, swarovski crystals, dimensionals, ribbon from Michaels, sponge