My Take on an Old Idea

I know you have probably seen a zillion cards where folks use a button for a cherry...make it a zillion and one now! tee hee... Still, I couldn't resist using my new Level B hostess set from The Angel Company. This fruit set is FREE when you have a $250 show and right now they are offering DOUBLE rewards (so that's two free sets, and two half priced items -- of anything in the catalog!), and on top of all of that, you can earn free paper kits and stamps. Now that sounds like a deal with a cherry on top! ha ha, I know - you are saying "stop it!!"

For the background I used my Scor Pal to make a cross hatched background...and a bit of polka dotted ribbon to make it bright and cheerful!

I've been wanting to share this recipe for a long time...it's absolutely delcious but be forewarned, it makes a lot! It does save well in the refrigerator though and you'll be happy to have left overs!

BEAN AND FETA DIP
2 cans white shoepeg corn, drained
2 cans black beans, rinsed & drained
2 packages of crumbled feta cheese
1 bunch of green onions, chopped

½ cup extra light olive oil (not extra virgin)
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup sugar
garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl.

Combine last 4 ingredients and pour over mixture.

Refrigerator until ready to serve.
Serve with Frito Scoops

Ode to Summer

I had a great trip with the kids to Splashdown waterpark in Manassas, VA...only, I forgot my camera! oh well... instead I'm going to bring back some of my favorite Gerbera Daisy cards that I made a long time ago. I still love them and the Gerbera Daisy stamp set continues to be offered at a great price from The Angel Company. I think it's probably one of their best sellers!



This must have been my "blue" phase...



The stamps on this card are also from The Angel Company and include: Running Stitches and Squiggle Ladybugs. Images are colored in with colored pencils and gamsol.

Are your kiddos back in school already?! We have just over a week and then it starts up for us here. The Angel Company came out with the cutest, FREE download and just in time for the start of school. You definately should check it out! http://www.theangelcompany.net/Downloads_SchoolLabels.html

So Squirrely, So Cute!

I finally got my Stamp of the Month for August...yippee! It's so cute that I've even blogged about the set before I had it! And, even though I am desperately hanging on to these last days of summer, I couldn't resist making up a card with him. Plus, you only have a few more days to order this set before it's gone forever!! So I didn't want you to miss out. The sayings are perfect for that "nuts"!

See that dark brown for the card base? That's brown cardstock from The Angel Company - it's heavy and oh so rich looking. I purchase the kraft and scarlet cardstock regularly but finally decided to give the brown a try too - boy am I ever thrilled with it!

We're off to the water park tomorrow...I promised my son we'd go this summer "some time" and the days are getting numbered. sigh... Hope you are having a great week so far!

Excitement on Inspiration Avenue!

Yup...The Angel Company's latest magalogue (that's a funny name for a catalog that is like a magazine - and truly it is!!), Inspiration Avenue, is creating quite a buzz. I don't think I've seen this much excitement from the demos in a LONG time! I've begun shipping my copies out to those of you who preordered...and it's not too late to get a copy!

You can get your copy of Inspiration Avenue 4 different ways:

Buy your copy for $3.50 - that's less than my actual cost and includes shipping! Shipping outside the US will be just a bit more.

Join my Hostess Club! We're starting back up in September and could use two more players!

Have a FUNshop - and get it FREE! You can do a book party, or have a real party - it is up to you! Don't forget about DOUBLE (and extra free) hostess benefits through the end of September!!!

Order your copy of the base catalog and Inspiration Avenue and save on shipping! One low cost of $10.50 gets you both of these plus a $4 off coupon! Overseas shipping is more but you still save!

How do you get your copy?! Just e-mail me!

And now for my card! I used this same stamp in my last post and just love it...it's great for making quick cards when you need to send someone a note to let them know you are thinking of them.



Card Materials: The Angel Company
Stamps: Watercolors Plants, More Abundance
Accessories: Lemonade Buttons and Flowers, twine, Cha Cha cardstock (bazzill), tombow pastel markers

CPS129

It's been awhile but I finally had a chance to play along with the CPS sketch and I really liked the layout. I tried making the card a bit vintage or distressed looking (figured it would go with the look of the papers) so I sponged on some brown and purple markers. It left blotches of ink rather than shading like I wanted, but by distressing the edges it helped soften up things. I hope!




Card Materials: all stamps and papers from The Angel Company
Stamps: Watercolor Plants
Accessories: Angelee Soar with it Collection and cardstock, Lemonaid Buttons and Flowers collection, cuttlebug emboss plate, twine, lace ribbon, tombow markers




EXCITING NEWS!! I received my preorders of Inspiration Avenue, the latest magalogue from The Angel Company and I am not kidding when I say it's wonderful! 42 new stamp sets plus lots of great project ideas. TAC has really out done itself and included little mini color segments to make it feel more like a magazine than a catalog. You won't be disappointed! I will be shipping copies out on Monday to those of you who preordered them, but if you'd like to order a copy - please get with me! I still have the base catalog on hand (which includes a $4 off coupon) and if you buy both together - you'll definitely save on shipping!

Taking a second look...

It's a funny thing. I thought I had all the stamps I wanted from the old catalog but when The Angel Company went back to 100% image sizes, suddenly I saw some of the older sets in a new light!

Linear Sentiments is one of those sets! I think it also helped that I remembered seeing Michelle Wooderson (Mish Mash blog) use them brilliantly and she is the master of mass production!

So here's how I did it...step one was to cut a border on paper cut to the width of the card size I wanted. Step two was to ink up the stamp(s) and stamp!

By punching both ends of the paper, I could do two strips right away...and even play with the color combinations.

The 3rd step is to trim your sentiment strip and then add it to a card!

This card is easy to whip up and perfect for mass production! And look at all of the sentiments that come with this set...plus some great bold images that make wonderful focal points when cut out or quick and easy backgrounds!

So, here's to second looks! If you want to have a copy of The Angel Company catalog, I have some in stock and I'm waiting on my shipment of the Fall Magalogues! All stamps and papers from The Angel Company.

Viruses are bad, very bad!

I know human viruses are bad and now I know how bad computer viruses can be!! I spent almost 8 hours working on my computer yesterday and finally a lovely lady from Microsoft was able to come into my computer long distance and finally purge it of some sort of Trojan virus that kept multiplying and was shutting down my computer. Exhausting but success was sweet! I also learned to clean out my Temporary Files daily -- never had done it in a year and I had over 41,000 temp files clogging up this poor machine and it provided a festering ground for those viruses!! So, enough about my pain and on to the drum roll and a winner....

Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence: 8

Timestamp: 2009-08-17 13:30:29 UTC

Congrats to Doramyi -- you won my Long Distance Open House Blog Candy Raffle!!


I also wanted to post a fun little card I made combining the new owls from Be Square and I used the branch from Artsy Owls. I had a little paperpiecing fun and then embossed the whole card after that with a cuttlebug folder to make it all a bit more interesting!



Card Materials: all supplies from The Angel Company
Stamps: Be Square, Artsy Owl (I found them under animals on the online catalog!)
Accessories: Kraft paper pack, Rustic Chic, Red DCWV, ribbon, button, twine, MS border punch, CB embossing plate

I just finished a card this morning that I can't wait to share with you. See you soon!

Don't Forget!

I have a blog candy going on and the last chance to enter is midnight tonight! So, be sure to scroll down to the next post and check it out...

I hardly feature a Stamp of the Month but this one is just too, too cute to miss!

And, if you click HERE you will get some terrific ideas to get your creative juices flowing! The side bar has some samples with names underneath and if you then click on them, that opens a window to even MORE samples!!

I've been busy this weekend cutting my new stamps from The Angel Company's latest catalog and even had time to make a couple of cards. Check back tomorrow to see them and see who is the winner!!

Open House Fun!

Thanks to all who were able to stop by! If you don't live locally and you know me...you will remember that I like to have a raffle (now called blog candy!) for those of you not close enough to come to my Open Houses and participate in my drawings there. Phew! That was one long sentence but bottom line: Check out the blog candy at the end of this post!

Here are some of my projects featuring our new Purchase with Purchase stamps:

I made these little albums using supplies from The Angel Company! Did you realize that we carry such a variety of paper, album kits, Bind it All and wires, acrylic covers, flowers, ribbon, and the scor pal? And that's just to name a few things that I used here!

This bottom album (with the belly band), the Natalee Accordion Kit, is a twist on how to put it together and I'm featuring it as a class...I still have room for two more if you are interested! Also coming in September/October I have a 5 birthday cards for $5 class and a really, really exciting class that I created with the Willoughby Soar with it Collection. It features 12 cards, each using a tag from the tag sheet that comes in the paper set. I'm so pleased that my samples really got some oohs and aahs!

And now for the "goods"!! You have until midnight, Sunday (16 Aug) to post below to enter my blog candy. I've got two very sassy sets, some white scrappers floss and a mini album kit using Cha Cha for you to put together.

Angel Fun

I had a wonderful day last week! I have many online friends and I finally got to meet one of them in person! Rita W was in town visiting her son and she made time to come see me for the day. It was so much fun to just sit and chit chat (and I made her sit and look at all of my cards since no one in my house really cares about them - THANK YOU Rita!). I also enjoyed sharing ideas and thoughts about projects and possible classes with Rita. She's a real Angel and the day flew by...



The other fun thing is that Michelle is beginning to show some sneak peaks (this is a clickaable link!) from the upcoming Fall Magalogue...called Inspiration Avenue. I can't wait to see it 1 September but in the mean time, I guess these samples will have to do!

Don't miss out on all of the great specials from The Angel Company!

• Surprise Boxes
• Super cute fall stamp of the month - I love that squirrel
• Double Hostess rewards...and more than just double rewards - there are extra goodies!
• $50 sign on special - I love being an Angel!!

Sunday, Sunday...

Sunday evenings are always so nice - the week a head is full of promise! For me, my son starts football season and that means practices every night, two hours long. Sometimes I walk laps and other times I read...and always look to catch his eye and give him a thumbs up as he checks to see if I'm watching.

I saw Diana Maldonado use this brilliant idea of cutting our DCWV Scalloped Stack into fourths for using on the front of a card. The pages are 8x8 so you can also fold them in half if you want to make a pretty long card. But this card is a stamp lift of her quick and easy idea...just the colors and images have been changed. I blended two different pink markers for a perfect match...

Card Materials: from The Angel Company

Stamps: Little Stinkers

Accessories: Kraft cardstock, black ribbon assortment, stickles, DCWV Scalloped Pack, cuttlebug dots

The Angel Company's Surprise Boxes are back!

psst!! that puts you $25 away from being a $100 level hostess with double rewards!

Everyone loves a great surprise, and we have gathered a wonderful array of our favorite products from past TAC™ catalogues and put together some amazing Surprise Box Collections for you! These fun bundles of discontinued product and stamps have a retail value of at least $150. Available only while supplies last, don’t miss the opportunity to surprise yourself with the great papercrafting goodies found in these one-of-a-kind special boxes.

This special Surprise Box promotion is available from August 10-August 28 or while supplies last so don’t miss your chance to own some great products at a fantastic price. And several GIFT CERTIFICATES have been randomly placed into several Surprise Boxes. These Gift Certificates will be for T-Coded rubber stamps only. The lowest Gift Certificate amount is $50. The highest Gift Certificate amount is $100.

SB 2009 Surprise Box Assortment $75.00

Let me know if you have any questions...

Another Fun Sketch

I found this sketch over at Card Patterns and it called for stars inside the circle but I thought the homemade candles fit perfectly! This is actually a sheet of paper from the Kaleidoscope Girlz pad from The Angel Company but I think this would work for a boy's card as well! I hand drew the flames and then just filled them in with some yellow gel pen...super easy and very "birthday-ie". I say that because my husband thinks that birthday cards should always be with candles or cakes!



Card Materials: (stamps and paper from The Angel Company)
Stamps: Date Disks
Paper: Kaladioscope Girlz (only $6.95 for 36 8x8 pages!), palette ink, edge distresser

Well, I'm off to drive about an hour for my son's immunization shots. He and I are both dreading it!

Time well spent...with you my friend

I've been so busy prepping for my Open House that I just wanted to stamp for "fun" today. I checked out a couple of sketches this morning and will be trying my hand at a few more, but today's SCS sketch was super easy for me as I've had this Gerbera Daisy colored and cut out for more than a year -- time to use it, wouldn't you say!?!

Card Materials: (stamps and papers from The Angel Company)

Stamps: Time Well Spent (retired), Gerbera Daisy

Accessories: Juliette Soar with it Collection and cardstock, colored pencils, Burnt Umber palette ink

Confession time...I was talking on the phone with my parents while I was taping all of these layers down. Somehow I dropped my burnt umber ink cube, face down and it bounced twice - yup, across the card! I ended up pulling all the layers apart and inked the edges to help blend it in. It actually looks nicer this way - phew! Lesson learned, do NOT multi task when working with ink and tape! tee hee... Thanks for visiting with me today - I appreciate it, friend!!

A Winner!

I wanted to announce the winner for my July's raffle! Congratulations to Kathy Manchester - you won a free Fall Magalogue (coming out 1 Sept!) and a $10 gift certificate from me.

I've been a bad blogger lately but I have been so busy working behind the scenes and creating new projects for my Open House on Wednesday, 12 August. If you are in the area, please contact me so I can send you the details...it's going to be so much fun!

Last week I mentioned that The Angel Company's famous Double Hostess rewards were back! They have some album kits and special, Limited Edition stamp sets available for hostesses so this may be the time for you to have a show with your friends... I have to say the stamps are wonderful and they are only available for two weeks at a time so I would plan your party with a calendar in hand!

Here's just a taste...but to see all the free goodies go HERE!

God Bless America

Tea Talk

Reindeer Food