Card Patterns sketch...

I found another sketch challenge site...so this weekend I played around a bit to distract myself while I was waiting for my catalogs to arrive (UPS tracking number says they'll get here tomorrow!). I made these little flowers from a cuttlebug die and Martha Stewart crepe paper...later I discovered they matched our Miss Moxie paper perfectly! I really felt I was forcing the sketch, but after a couple of different attempts (and some last minute paper swaps!) I finally ended up with this and I really like it. I think it's close enough to the original idea to count!




Card Materials:
Stamps: Little Stinkers
Accessories: Miss Moxie Soar with it Collection and cardstock, buttons, CB die, white gel pen, BIC markers, ribbon

Hope you had a great weekend!

Real Sneak Peaks!

Woo hoo!! Last night I was out with my husband and son to see the Transformers movie and my daughter (who's too embarrassed to be seen with parents at the theater! crazy kid) stayed home...Mischelle Smith, owner of The Angel Company, called to congratulate me for winning the Heart of The Angel Company award! How neat is that? I'm really honored and excited.

Mischelle also did some posting on her blog, Savvy Projects over at The Angel Company's main website. She's released pictures of the NEW catalog and has some great sneak peak cards posted below.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside Back Cover

Why am I showing you the back of the inside cover? It lists the names of the contributors to the card samples within this year's catalog - and I'm there! Another big woo hoo!! Like the song goes, "I'm floating on sunshine!"

Have a great weekend. Thanks for letting me share my exciting news!

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Just in case you were wondering where I've been, I was lost in Blog Land!! Last Friday I was the sponsor for Friday Sketchers (link down below in my sidebar) and I made it my goal to comment on every participent's entry. There were 200 blogs that I visited since Monday and boy did I have a treat looking at all of those wonderful creations...

Today I needed to rush and get a birthday card in the mail for my Brother In Law so I found the CPS sketch to be very inspiring. This was such a quick card to make...but I have a very funny confession to make. See that star? This set retires today and I never cut it out until TODAY because it just didn't really "grab" me. In the last month or so though I have seen some wonderful cards featuring star stamps and I found that this was perfect after all. So, today is the last day to grab this great set, Trendy Holiday Tags. In fact today at 5 pm is the last chance you have to buy any of the stamps featured right HERE!

I just want to highlight two things here. Transcendence powder allows you to emboss with Palette (ie. dye) inks and so the stars really shines. And, what I love about the Die Cuts With a View paper that The Angel Company carries is that is has a white core so when you lightly sand it - voila, it really pops!

Last sneak peak from me - I am crossing my fingers that I'll get my demo copy this weekend and I should have all my catalogs early next week so it's not too late to still pre order your copy!

Sneak Peak #6

PLEASE NOTE: The online catalog will be down starting tonight at 5 pm until Tuesday at 5 pm.

More Friday Sketchers Fun!

Bea had such a great sketch over at Friday Sketchers that I wanted to play along again! This time I went back to the card size that I am most comfortable with and the sketch worked perfectly. I had bought a little hand held sewing machine so I wouldn't have to drag out my big machine but the stitching gave me LOTS of trouble today - so don't look too closely! (wink, wink)

The colors are really a lot better in real life but again today, I just can't find a good spot for a photo...still, I'm going to post it so that I can share another sneak peak with you too!

Card Materials:

Stamps: Some Bunny

Accessories: Angelee Soar with it Collection and cardstock, In Bloom Blossoms and Blooms, nestablilites, prismacolord pencils

Only a few more days until The Angel Company catalog is released! Please don't forget that if you want any of the on sale stamps - you must order by 5 pm CST, Friday, 26 June.

Sneak Peak #5

Happy Father's Day!

Hope you are having a great day celebrating with your husband, father or significant other! I got cards out in the mail late this year - for some strange reason I was thinking Father's Day was next weekend. So my cards were done, but just not mailed in time. argh...

I did whip out a quick Father's Day card for my husband...since his birthday was just Thursday, the celebrations are kind of close together and he gets short change. But I found a great photo cube at AC Moore and I filled it with pictures of the kids and some shots of our favorite vacations. I think he'll like it! To go along with that "happy scene" I was setting for him, I used a retired stamp set that I still love. The papers are normally featured with Christmas stamps but this Amelia paper pack is perfect for masculine and vintage cards. It's great!

Card Materials:

Stamps: Light the Path (retired), dad from current GWP

Accessories: Amelia Soar with it Collection and cardstock, eyelets from our hardware packets, twine, pop dots

I don't normally do square cards but this is quite large at 5 1/2 by 5 1/2. I played along with the sketch over on Friday's Sketchers - I'm the sponsor this week! You really need to see some of the cards over there - the design team is awesome! The sketch was posted on Friday and you can play along until next week.

Munchkins in the House!!

This weekend I'm babysitting my sister's two little children (I should include my two kids in that because they are a tremendous help and are watching Veggie Tales right now so that I have a moment to update my blog!!). Gosh, I forgot how early 3 and 5 years old wake up - ready to go!!

This week I had a chance to play with the SplitCoastStampers card challenge and then had to wait a day for the rain to clear enough to get a decent picture! I call it "Happy Cow" because it reminds me of the TV commercial...

Card Materials:

Stamps: An Udder Birthday

Accessories: Crystal Lacquer, Stickles, Lilly Anna Soar with it Collection and Cardstock, Fiskars and CB embossing plates

Sneak Peak #4

And of course I didn't forget you were due another sneak peak!! Have a great weekend!!

Win a Blossom & Buttons Embellishment Pack!

Today is just crazy so I'll be back tomorrow to share a cute card I just finished for the SCS Wednesday sketch challenge. I have to wrap presents, bake a cake and make a birthday card for my darling husband - tomorrow is his birthday and I just finished shopping just this minute! eeck...talk about waiting until the last minute!

If you are a procrastinator too, that's okay! Tomorrow is my last day for my pre order catty special...and to sweeten the deal, I'm drawing one name from all of the pre orders and you have a chance to win a Blossom and Button embellishment pack from the Serendipity catalogue - your choice of colors!

So email me by midnight, 18 June to reserve your copy of The Angel Company's newest catalogue! You'll be tickled by the inspiration you'll find within it's pages...

New Catty Sneak Peak

as promised, every four days I have a sneak peak from The Angel Company's new catalog coming out 1 July!

Sneak Peak #3

I also wanted to share a card I made a few weeks ago for one of the Stampin Out Alzheimer challenges. I really found these sketches to be so inspirational and think these are some of my "better" cards. I hope you think so too!

Card Materials:
Stamps: All Things of Nature, Oh How (retiring this month! on sale now...)
Materials: Genevieve paper (retired), DCWV Robin #1, Ribbon, Pastel Princess Brads

I'm heading out the door for church so I don't have time to post links but all of these items are available online... http://chris.ismyangel.net But please send me an email if you want to ever order anything because I can make sure you get the best shipping rates and free stamps if you qualify!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Getting Ready for Father's Day

Today for my hostess club we made an all brown Father's Day (except for Juliet - she made her's green but she marches to her own drummer! :) And, I always love the results!!). I won't show it yet because the rest of the group is coming over on Tuesday so here is the card I made for my Dad. I don't know why, but I am on a cardboard kick right now and this card is heavily influenced by a beauty from Julia Stainton. I don't think there's a better "manly" set than this Mountain Scenery one from The Angel Company but it's retiring this month. The only good news about that is that it's on sale until 28 June!



Card Materials:
Stamps: Mountain Scenery, Trendy Greetings
Accessories: Winchester Soar with it Collection and cardstock, In Bloom buttons, Nestabilities and cardboard!

Some of you are familiar with my tales of woe - we're trying to eat healthy. That can be tough on the cook (ie. me!!). I'm always on the look out for a recipe that tastes good and is easy to put together. We are a dessert every night type of family so my options are very limited (and I'm sorry but I don't count fruit as dessert!). I was super thrilled to find this recipe for healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now before you despair that they just can't be any good - they are marvelous and disappeared quickly - thumbs up from my husband and son alike. I loved them too and am ready to make another batch. (PS. I didn't have wheat flour so I used plain white and added some ground flax seed in it. Very sneaky!!)

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! And don't forget - the retiring stamps will only be available until 28 June and I just pre ordered 100 catalogs. Reserve yours before the 15th for an extra little thank you from me.

Another Sneak Peak!

Drum roll please!!

Sneak Peak #2

And I wanted to show you a multi layer card I just made last week...this is very unusual of me but by following a sketch, it forced me out of my box. And I love it! It's hard to see but I stamped that little bow a second time, cut it out and stuck it on top to give it some more dimension.

Card Materials:

Stamps: Some Bunny

Accessories: Lilly Anna Soar with it Collection and cardstock, MS punch, ribbon, CB embossing folder, Prismacolored pencils and gamsol

This is a rather short post today...I think I'm still pooped from yesterday! I won't bore you with the details but it ranged from pleasureable chores like making belated birthday cards for my two sister in laws (I'm still spinning that it's June already!), some thank you notes to bailing buckets of water from my crawl space last night after a terrific storm. Anyone have experience digging a french drain?!? Yikes!

Thank you to everyone who left such encouraging notes about my glass etching project...

Home Decor Blog Hop!

Last month (or could it have been longer?!) I participated in a scor pal blog hop with a group of angels...I had so much fun that I immediately signed up again to participate in the Home Decor blog hop.

What was I thinking?! No, really, it's been a lot of fun and I'm going to first show you my original project...stamping on fabrics! I love Palette inks because once you heat set them with an iron, they stay wonderfully! Here I prewashed a Martha Stewart white kitchen towel from KMart...then I used Deco Designs (retiring this month so it's on sale now - this is one set that is an absolute MUST have. I normally don't say, "buy this or that" but this set is one you'll reach for over and over). The nice thing about palette inks is that they come in 36 colors and I've bought the 4 spot packs as a quick and more affordable way to collect all of the colors. As I mentioned, once I stamped my design, all I had to do was heat set it with an iron. This works on aprons, pillowcases, onesies and even a white T shirt.



Since I had previously done this project, I wanted to "challenge" myself. So, I decided that I was going to etch glass! Phew...it looked simple enough, at least when the pros did it! Here is my first attempt, and I am embarrassed to say I'm going to post it - flaws and all! - so that you'll learn from my mistakes. And, because I just don't have time to redo the project!!

Materials:
Etch Bath (you can find this at Michaels but use a coupon!)
Glass Jar or vase
Embossing pad
Clear embossing powder
Painter's tape
Centering ruler (optional if you have a good eye!)
solid rubber stamp image



My first step is to tape off the area (two sides in this case) that I wanted to have frosted in the end...that's how I had seen it done. I will probably skip this procedure in the future OR try regular masking tape!



Wipe off your glass with a static remover, ink up image with embossing ink and carefully and with some pressure, stamp your images on the glass. Try not to slide across the surface - it happened to me the first time and I wiped it clean and started over. Sprinkle with embossing powder - I had to still use a small paint brush to clean off the stray powder - do this very carefully!



Heat emboss and repeat on the other side.



At this point I followed the manufacturer's instructions, sortta kinda! I brushed the solution on my area and let it sit a bit longer than called for. When I washed away the solution...the embossed area peeled right off and everything looked great. Until I removed the tape!



To my shock and dismay, the etching had seeped under some of the tape. Not sure if that's because I left it on too long or if it was the tape.

llllllllllll

After sleeping on it, I realized that my tape probably loosened up from the heat gun when I melted the embossing powder. Since this was now my practice piece, I decided to follow the directions on the bottle (tee hee) and planned on submerging my glass jar two-thirds of the way down into the etching liquid "bath". I embossed the two untouched sides with a new and busier pattern and then went outside to begin etching.

I set the jar down into my empty bucket and began to pour the etching liquid in. Darn it, it splashed up on the jar and even thoughI pulled it right out and hosed it off...but it had already begun to "frost" the glass.

Be sure to wear the rubber gloves they warn about!! I had to go grab mine at this point.

So, I filled up the container and set the glass jar down into the bucket. It sat real nice and flat, but as soon as I let go, suddenly, like a cork, the jar popped up and flipped over on it's side!

Are you feeling my pain at this point? Okay - on to plan #3!! Frost the entire jar...

It worked! I just kept turning it and flipping it (and some of the liquid seeped inside and frosted parts of the inside as well) for 10 minutes. I rinsed it off and let it dry...ta da...

Be sure to check out all of the other talented ladies on this blog hop. I can't wait to see what they are up too!

Melisa - http://paperliciousdesigns.blogspot.com/
Barb (barb2780) - http://fosterdesignhouse.blogspot.com/
Ellie (AngelEllie) - http://www.elliesstampgarden.com/
Jamie (Inkspots) - http://inkspots101.blogspot.com/
Rita W (stamp2stamp2) - http://stamp2stamp2.blogspot.com/
Kim Sears - http://angelatmydoor.blogspot.com/

Carol Norby - http://stampincarol.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sneak Peak Time!

Every four days I plan to show you a little sneak peak from The Angel Company's new catalog coming out 1 July. I can't wait to get it myself and I know that June will seem to take forever until that big box arrives at my door.

Sneak Peak #1

From the little I have seen, it looks like there will be something for everyone's tastes...so don't forget to preorder yours and beat the rush.

There are some fantastic samples posted on the company's main website for this month's Spring into June stamp specials. Here is just a snippet of them but if you click here, you'll go straight to the link and you can enjoy them full size. They range from fun and funky to quite elegant!

And lastly, I hope you'll join me on Monday as I participate in a Home Decor blog hop with some very talented Angels! I'm putting the final touches on my project right now and can't wait to share it with you!

Mass Production time!

There are some folks that automatically make two or more of a card every time they sit down to create. And, I know I should do it but I rarely do! But on Tuesday our school nurse called me from Hallmarks and said, "the cards here are all yucky - can you make me 9 thank you cards for our Lacrosse coaches?" I didn't have a lacrosse stamp but once she gave me the colors scheme I knew I could do it.



Oh, and they were getting gift cards so I made them into holders right away!

Card Materials:

Stamps: Thanks (from TAC's Gift with Purchase stamp set), stars (retired), Coach spelled out with Simple Bet

Accessories: pennant (clipart), Orange DCWV papers, palette ink, ribbon, foam dots, Jumbo star punch, scor pal

Once I finished my first card the way I liked it, I was able to quickly cut and stamp everything in assembly line fashion. If you need the directions for this type of gift card holder, I'd be happy to send them to you, it's really quite easy!

PS. I've started taking preorders for the new Angel Company catalog coming out 1 July! If you order before 18 June I'll include a little thank you and all orders will include a coupon for $4 off your first order.

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge!

I found out about this new (well, new to me!) sketch challenge site from Chris Olsen's blog...and I have until tonight at midnight to post my card. I started working on this around 3:30 - kept piddling around with it, went to part of my son's baseball game and then raced over to see my daughter get inducted into the Junior National Honor Society, came home with McDonalds in tow, walked the dog and finished tying floss through the buttons and rearranged my bird for perhaps the 3rd time. Oh, and I stamped the little flower on the green panel to give it a little more "umpf". You can check out the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge here: http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/2009/05/midnight-madness-sketch-challenge-mmsc3.html

Phew! I did it! And now I am off to snuggle with the kiddos...ah....

Card Materials:

Stamps: The Angel Company (retired), sprig from Deco Designs (retiring this month and now on sale!)

Accessories: Mulberry Meadows (retired), ric rac, buttons from In Bloom collection, scor pal, Tombow markers for watercoloring

Be sure to check out my sidebar for this month's special sets. Tonight a new set popped up at The Angel Company - it's a sneak peak from the July 2009 catty and it's available for purchase this month.

Perfecting the Flower Punch

I love the look of flowers on my cards and often use the bitty blossoms that you can find on the stems of a dollar bunch. But I also have my two punches, the Extra and Jumbo size blossoms, and I want to use them as often as I can. Sometimes they just look kinda "flat" to me so I like to top them with a button. My friend and fellow angel, Barb, gave them some color to make them look more dimensional - she won a TAC contest using that technique and you can see her work here: http://www.theangelcompany.net/CW_June09_BundleJoy.html

Then a week or two ago, I read a posting by Dawn McVey and she overstamped her punched flowers and crinkled them up! Easy, easy and such lovely results. I used her card to CASE (Copy And Steal Everything!) - her card was more bright, if you are familiar with her work, but I'm so happy with the results!



Card Materials:
Stamps: Artsy Elements (retiring soon! so sad), You Are, Script, Swirlies
Accessories: Cardstock from miscellanous Soar with It Collections, button, ric rac, marker, Aspen Mist Versamagic ink, Nestabilities die, Extra Jumbo and Super Jumbo flower punch

Commerical announcement:

1. I emailed my monthly newsletter today with all of the TAC specials - let me know if you'd like to start receiving it! There's NEVER any pressure to buy!

2. Don't forget to order your retiring stamps before 28 June.

3. I've begun to take catalog preorders! I'm adding a little thank you to all catalogs ordered by June 18 - and as always, I'll be including a $4 off coupon.