Showing posts with label Cards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cards. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

And...we have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to take a peak at my tutorial. It was a lot of fun for me.

And now, with out further delay -- congrats to Orna A! Please send me your mailing address so I can get these stamps, buttons and flowers on their merry way to you!!


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I'm lucky that I get a few special orders for cards from time to time (and it's not from my family, tee hee! but I am lucky that they like them as well. In fact, my sister told me the other day that I just keep getting better and better. I guess practice does make perfect!). One of the secretaries at school needed a beach themed card for the principal and I thought immediately of our retiring set, Pull Up Anchor. psst! All retiring stamps are now on sale for 25% off...

The center shell is popped up and they are watercolored with a peach and hot pink marker. I think the gold stickles looks like sparkly sand! I also was too lazy to pull out a brayer so I just sponged the areas of the sky and sand...I did mask everything off though.



Card Materials:
Stamps: Pull Up Anchor, More Abundance
Paper: Kraft, Tombow and Impress markers, Niji Watercolor brush, gold stickles

Monday, March 30, 2009

Cherry Blossom Time!

ah...the sun came out after several days of rain. It's a perfect start to the Cherry Blossom Festival here in Washington DC. I made this card last week with the SCS Wednesday Card sketch in anticpation of the blossoms. It's a beautiful time here!!

I used watercolor paper and heat embossed the image. This branch is from Artsy Owls - and it's my favorite stampin the collection! I dressed things up a bit (trying to be artsy myself!!) with a stick pin, bead and some ribbons. I hope you like it!



Card Materials:
Stamp: Artsy Owls, saying retired hostess set
Paper: Lilly Anna Soar with it Collection and Lilly Anna Cardstock
Accesories: Martha Stewart punch, Tombow markers and aquabrush, stickpin/ribbon

Saturday, March 28, 2009

CPS Sponsor - Last Day!

sigh...this has been an exciting week for me. I have been delighted with the different cards the design team came up with over at the Card Positioning Systems (CPS) blog. They picked from a variety of stamps and papers from The Angel Company and then did their magic!!

Many thanks to:

CPS Design Team
Tami Mayberry (sketches)
Charity Hassel
Debbie Olson
Jeanne Streiff
Kandis Smith
Keri Sereika
Laura Williams
Lea Lawson
Linda Beeson
Melissa Phillips
Sherry Wright
Stacey Kingman

The sketch itself was super and I enjoyed playing along too -- I hope you'll post your card over there with Mr Linky if you haven't already! Here is my last card but if you have time, please check out my last 3 posts...they are all very different takes on the sketch this week.



Card Materials:

Stamps: Butterfly Bits, The Angel Company

Paper: Mimi Soar with it Collection and cardstock

Accessories: palette ink, dew drops

Thursday, March 26, 2009

CPS Sponsor - Part 3

I can hardly believe that I am half way through my week of sponsoring the card sketch over at the Card Positioning Systems (CPS) blog. I have really enjoyed going to see everyone’s take on the sketch and I can’t wait to find out who will be the lucky winner of the stamp set, Life is Short. It’s got some really neat sayings that are perfect for both scrapbookers and cardmakers. If you haven't heard about my offer yet, you may pick out a free jar of Stickles with just a $30 order (and The Angel Company throws in a free stamp!) but you must email me with your order...

My take on the sketch today is a bit more true to form. Sewing machine stitching is so popular right now, and the Running Stitches from The Angel Company makes it quick. I don’t have to worry about hauling out my Husqvarna sewing machine that is currently wedged between the organ and a wall, covered by countless Lego boxes! The card itself is really easy. I wanted the beautiful papers from the Soar with It Collection to take the main stage and so I just embossed my elephant to give it a little “umph”. Did you know that we carry TRANSCENDENCE POWDER which allows you to emboss with Palette inks?


Card Materials:
Stamps:
Take Pride, Running Stitches
Papers: Hemingway Soar with it Collection and cardstock
Accessories: twine, embossing powder, Transcendence Powder

There is still time to upload a card for this week’s sketch! It’s really super easy.

1) Create your card using the sketch...
2) Upload your card to either your blog, SCS gallery or Flicker account.
3) Go to the CPS blog and under Sunday’s post, you’ll find MR LINKY where you type in your name and then paste in the URL of where your picture is!

Hope you’ll join us! And if you have a moment, please check out my last two posts as they contain more takes on this week's CPS sketch!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

CPS Sponsor - Part 2

My last post featured All Things of Nature, one of my first stamp sets from The Angel Company. This stamp set is another old favorite of mine! I have had so much fun this week, not only as the sponsor of the Card Positioning System (CPS) blog sketch, but also playing along with my own creations!

For this card I brought out the “big” tools that I bought as half priced items when I was a “hostess” for a party sized order with The Angel Company (TAC). With TAC, not only do you earn a free stamp with every $30 you spend, but as the hostess for a $100 show...you earn a free stamp set, can get a hostess discount of 20% and earn one item (anything in the catalog!) for half priced. What a deal.


Card Materials:
Stamps: Flower Collage Trio
Paper: Catelynne, DCWV Green #1 and Pink #1
Accessories: Bind it All, Scor Pal, Tombow Markers, twine, buttons, Palette inks

Have you checked out the design team's creations over at the CPS blog? You can find out there how to WIN a free stamp set valued at $19.95 - just by playing along with this sketch. And don't forget to check out my last post...I'll keep adding my sketch cards this whole week! I am having so much fun - I hope you are too!

Friday, March 20, 2009

More fabric - more buttons!

The Pink Elephant has a sketch challenge to use buttons. My branch was a bit bare looking, so I thought that the flowers with the buttons as centers were perfect. They helped draw in more of the color scheme and gave the card some pop I think....plus, maybe you won’t notice that my owl is stamped a bit crooked?!?

This was another card I featured at my hostess club get together this month – and the main thing was stamping on fabric, muslin, to be exact! My following post has more details about stamping/coloring on fabric for a card...


Card Materials:
Stamps:
Artsy Owls, The Angel Company
Paper: Misc, Bazzill
Yellow and Green DCWV
Accessories: flowers from Ava embellishment, assorted buttons, Martha Stewart punch

This following card is from one of my club members...Donna. (She’s the kind of woman you love to be around, positive, silly and always uplifting. If she were to make a “mistake” she looks at it as an opportunity and worst case, says, “just lower the lights, everything looks better in the dark” or something to that effect. She has me laughing every time we get together) Most of the gals used the owl stamp or cow from my last post, but as usual, Donna did her own thing and I loved it. She used my beloved branch as a tree...and then stuck some flowers at the base. These are retired flowers (also from The Angel Company) but they were meant to pop out of a vase and I love the curved effect they have at the bottom of Donna’s “tree”.



My inlaws arrived yesterday so I was busy cleaning and making beds but I did sneak in time to finish a card for SCS's Wednesday sketch! I hope you’ll pop back in on Sunday because I have a really neat surprise!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Wow...100 posts!

Gosh, for being a reluctant blogger when I started up, 100 posts came quickly!!

For my hostess club get together this month I decided to do some stamping on fabric with my ladies. This technique was featured in The Angel Company’s supplement that recently came out, Serendipity; and when I saw the cards, I had to run out to Joann’s and buy some white and cream cotton muslin! It’s really not very expensive at all.

I used the sketch on the CPS blog for this week. I’ve never made a long card to fit into a regular sized envelope so this was a real “stretch” for me. (ha ha) I feel like something is missing but I hope you can see the embossed stars on the blue panel. I stamped with Noir palette ink (make sure your pad is juicy – I should have reinked mine in this case!) and then colored in the image with watercolor pencils. The secret trick to blending it all is to use a Dove blender pen. Did you know that The Angel Company carries the Dove liquid refill and tips as well as reinkers for all of the Palette inks?!?

you can't really see my poor cow in this card...it was tough to get a good picture!



Card Materials:
Stamps:
An Udder Birthday, “oh baby” from My Journey, stars (retired)
Paper: Bazzill monochromatic packs
Yellow and Blue
Accessories: Martha Stewart punch, ribbon,
clear embossing powder, buttons, scrappers floss, Dove blender pen and refill/tips

Be sure to check out my button tree (following post) if you like buttons~~that is the sketch challenge over at The Pink Elephant this week!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Thoughts on cooking and stamping

I had a moment of self discovery this morning...I was putting together a batch of muffins, and grabbed my Southern Living Cookbook. I’ve made these muffins a zillion times but I still have the recipe out in front of me each time; I just am a “recipe follower” by nature. The interesting thing is this recipe is for Blueberry Streusel Muffins and my “version” is without streusel /blueberries, but instead I make it with chocolate chips! So, I follow but adapt.

I think my card making is a LOT like that too, whether it’s following a sketch or saving a beautiful card for future inspiration, it’s basically a “recipe”. Take this wonderful card by Laurie Schmidlin...there were so many elements that I loved and I thought, “Hey, I have a tree stamp that would work great like this!”

Laurie Schmidlin's card:



Here is my “adaptation”!



Card Materials:
Papers: Basic Grey, DCWV
Robin’s Egg #1
Stamps by The Angel Company:
Tag Tidbits, Spring Time
Accessories: Nestabilities, ribbon (Joanns), buttons from
Ava embellishment collection

And now to share my Chocolate Chip Muffins...easy and quick!

1 ¾ c. flour
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
½ c. sugar
1 large egg
¾ c. milk
1/3 c. oil

Combine the dry ingredients and stir well (baking powder clumps taste bad!) and make a well in center. Combine egg, milk and oil; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened (this is the KEY to good muffins). Add 1 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon into greased muffin tins – dozen. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 min. or until golden. Remove from pan immediately and enjoy!

Friday, March 13, 2009

One Tough Critic

My daughter is tough on me...so why do I keep taking my beloved creations to her for her seal of approval?! Lately it's been more in the vein of "gee Mom, did you really make that?" but yesterday it was back to "that is the ugliest card ever!

I'm going to risk showing it here to see what you think. I actually liked it and worked hard to match the bee's color to the rest of the papers. They are a bit brighter and bolder than I like to work with but I thought they suited the little guy well. This is from this week's card sketch on Splitcoaststampers (SCS) and I thought it would be a fun layout. I sparkled him up and layered the colors, and even learned from my friend Silke in Germany to add some white accents! The bee is just part of the vintage set that The Angel Company will be offer next month!




Card Materials:
Paper:
Miss Moxie patterned and cardstock
Stamps:
April’s Vintage Limited Edition, words from: My Journey
Martha Stewart punch, Circle Nestabilities, felt flower:
Ava Collection, black and icicle stickles

Speaking of SCS, they are holding a "non-raffle" to raise money for the bushfire in Australia and all funds go to the Red Cross...what a great community. I donated a terrific stamp set (Forever Family) so I can only encourage you to play along! I do know someone who won last time they did this for the flood vicitims in the midwest...just click on the image and it'll take you right there!



And lastly, (I'm must be channeling a lot of SCS right now!) you must check out my friend Franca's gallery...she has done amazing things with the tree from TAC's Love and Laughter set! She has promised to tell me her secret for the mugs and her work is really beautiful.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Color Challenge

Over at the Pink Elephant blog they issued a color challenge vs. a sketch this week: pink, green and brown. I realised my butterfly card from last week's CPS sketch fit that but of course I wanted to make a new card since those colors are so great together! You may not see it, but I used cyrstal lacquer to give him shiny eyes. This Artsy Owl is in the Fall Supplement, so if you are ever browsing the online catalog, be sure to check out that as well as the Serendipity category, etc... there are wonderful stamps tucked in everywhere!




The other day Karen, one of my downlines, sent me a quick and easy note - it was so sparkley and I loved it! Of course, the next time I needed a mini-notecard, I copied her all pink version and used some chalk inks that I had. For just $5.95 you can NOT beat the Gerbera Daisy stamp from The Angel Company! And, the Thank You stamp is one of the free stamps you get when you place a $30 order. I was able to get 8 notecards out of one sheet of paper by cutting it once in half the long ways and then cutting those two sheets 4 times roughly at the 2.75 inches mark and folding the slices in half.



Monday, March 9, 2009

Feeling Springy!

It's unbelieveable that last Monday we had over 6 inches of snow and today I just ran in a T shirt and shorts - it's a balmy 60 degrees and rising! It feels "springy" so I wanted to share this card I just made. I really loved playing with the tutorial from Melstampz that I featured a few weeks back - and I thought this retired hat set from The Angel Company would be perfect for that vintage feel. I used the Naturals paper pack from TAC and a brown DCWV that we also sell.



Congratulations to my blog candy winner: Barbra from Green Bay, WI - I often fly in there when I visit my parents in Eagle River, WI. Small world!

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Friday, March 6, 2009

Another sketch and "project"

I'm loving sketches these days...I should've known that I would! (if you are here to check out my CPS sketch...it's the post below - and I have blog candy!) When The Angel Company came out with its design call for their upcoming catalog, they put out some sketches for us to use and it really, really got my creative juices flowing. I was thrilled to have 3 cards in the last catalog and I'm crossing my fingers that I will have something in the next one this summer! Ah...but I digress!

This sketch is from the SCS Wednesday card sketch and I got to use my brand new bunny from TAC. He's so cute! I also paired it with the patterned paper from the Gentle Beginnings pack which is part of this month's special. :) Aren't my home made buttons cute? They make it a perfect match and they are not too bulky to mail!



I was also playing around with the Gentle Beginnings paper when I came up with this little Easter treat pouch! The directions are on SCS under projects but I am happy to send them to you if you need help... The bunny is from The Angel Company. Can you see the fun flock on his tail?!? It is too cute in real life!!




Here is the paper special (with a cute stamp and hardware too!) just in case you missed it!

Have a great weekend everyone! Don't forget to enter my blog candy by Sunday and I'll be back on Monday to announce a winner!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Coloring Mabelle's Style!

I was just tickled with Mabelle posted a link to her blog when during one of my Serendipity "sneak peaks" here, I talked about my love (and growing collection!) of Mabelle RO stamps featured by The Angel Company - they are the R coded stamps sprinkled through out. I have seen some of Mabelle's finished artwork in the past but you will be blown away by the samples she has posted of her latest stamps from Serendipity! I can't promise you'll become a "mini-Mabelle", but hopefully, like me, you'll pick up some great color combos and shading/coloring techniques! Enjoy her blog and I hope you like my card here! It's very simple but I wanted the little girl to steal the show...



Be sure to visit The Angel Company's homepage - they've updated it with more goodies, including a new Downloads section!! How cool is that!?!

http://www.theangelcompany.net/Downloads.html

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sharing "Good Things"...

I rarely talk about this but I’m reading an incredible book for bible study, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. In truth, I fluctuate between being a super busy, perfect Martha type to being a care free Mary…but I’ve already discovered so much in just two chapters! Chapter two is entitled, “Lord, Don’t you Care?” and one of the last paragraphs in it reads:

He knows the journey is difficult. He knows life is rarely fair. Jesus fought the same frigid winds of distraction, discouragement, and doubt (Joanne Weaver calls these the Three Deadly Ds of Destruction) that keep us from knowing God’s love. But like the Father, he longs to gather us in his arms…The Lord Jesus invites us to cast our doubts, our fears and anxiety upon him, to discover how much he really does care.

Some of my regular readers may remember that my cousin recently lost his wife and I made this card for him and his two children, Jimmy and Elizabeth; just a little note to let them know that I am thinking of them. He has been an incredible example to me of keeping his faith and walking with God, and I think that’s why this book is so eye opening to me. Well that was food for your soul, how about something else to “feed” you?


retired TAC set, Mind's Eye paper (still using up papers from the huge pack of papers from Costco!), snowflake CB embossing plate on DCWV paper (also from TAC - I love that I can buy my favorite colors in bulk!) and stickles!

Short on time? Want more time to stamp and still feed your family a decent dinner? I made this last week and it was delicious…couldn’t have been easier and everyone was happy!

Slow-cooker sausage lasagna – Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine

1 pound Italian pork sausage, casings removed
1 pound ground beef (I used ground turkey to make it “healthier”)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in puree
9 lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella (8 oz)

In a heavy pot, cook sausage and beef (or turkey!) over medium-high heat, breaking up meat with a spoon until no longer pink, 4-6min. Add onion, carrots, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion has softened, 3-5 min. Stir in tomato paste, then tomatoes; bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Spoon 2 cups meat mixture into bottom of a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Layer 3 noodles (breaking them up as needed to fit), 2 cups meat mixture and ½ cup cheese; repeat with two more layers. Refrigerate ½ cup cheese for later.

Cover slow cooker, and cook on low, 4 to 6 hours. Sprinkle lasagna with ½ cup cheese. Cover until cheese has melted, about 10 minutes.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Pocket Full of Love

boo hoo! A while ago I mentioned I was entrying a TAC demo contest and my entry didn't win but I wanted to share it with you all the same! Basically I do like it but in hindsight, as I re-examine it for what went "wrong", I see that I should have tied more ribbon to the two side tags and really gone crazy with flowers on that front purple piece. I'm a minimalist and have a hard time really decking things out! :) A tragic flaw! tee hee... Still I hope you enjoy the idea of my card.




For my card pocket and tags, I used Miss Moxie patterned paper and matching cardstock, the new Showers of Love stamp set from Serendipity, and ribbon, hardware, clips and scrappers floss all from The Angel Company!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

CPS104

I've really enjoyed the sketches over on the Card Positioning Blog (CPS) and finally decided to "officially" play along! Nothing like a sketch to jump start your card making. :)


For this card I used Deco Designs and some words from TAC...and the paper is from our Angelee Soar With it Collection, both the patterned and matching cardstock. It was easy to match my palette ink with it (Violette) and the eyelets are from the Amelia package of hardware. I love how I can mix and match collections within TAC.

Friday, February 20, 2009

XOXO

During my last post, I alluded to a card I was working on...normally I make a card in bits and pieces...a little here and there, as I find a few minutes to steal away. Finally it's done and I love this card!

Here is the card (http://comestampwithme.blogspot.com/2007/06/tac-cards.html) that got the idea intially swirling in my head and I couldn't wait to get started.





This is a retired stamp from The Angel Company (colored in with BIC markers) but the circle and XOXO are from current sets! I also used some DCWV cardstock, lime green scrappers floss and a fun button. I used the word window punch from SU. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Monday, February 16, 2009

A Special Card

Last week I received an email from my MOM's Bible Study Group at church...

Cassidy has been battling cancer almost from birth.

Now the last tests have shown that she has new tumors that are inoperable and her body has suffered so much damage from her treatments that they can't do any more. It is so heartbreaking to think that we are going to lose her after all she has been through.

She will be celebrating her 4th birthday on the 17th of this month. Two years ago many of you sent cards to her and passed her address on to friends and family. She received over 150 cards. I am asking not only for your prayers for her and her family but if you could send her a card, I know that is something she would enjoy.

Her address is Cassidy Schuttinga, 205 Rossburg Dr., Calera, AL 35040
So here is my card for little Cassidy.



For this card I used the retired "Hello Ewe" set from The Angel Company plus cardstock from Lilly Anna. If you like this little lamb, I noticed that it's very similiar to this month's Vintage stamp set offering from TAC!


Friday, February 13, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day

Just wanted to share the Valentine I made for my hubby...I used a retired Gift With Purchase stamp (heart - did you know that you get a free stamp from TAC with every $30 you spend?!? But, you must email me your order!) and the word "forever" from the very, very popular set, Love and Laughter. It's definately a must have set!! My ribbon comes from, of course, Heidi's store: Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts!

Do you ever find yourself racing out to the supermarket for something that you don't necessarily need for the house, but you saw someone use on a really great card? When I saw Mel Stampz's tutorial for using wax paper and the cuttlebug, I just had to get my hands on some and try it out...Check out her work!



Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Add a little sparkle!

My niece will be celebrating her 5th birthday next week and so I thought this would be a cheery and bright birthday card. I used the retired Surf Shoppe paper pack from TAC - if you've never tried our 8 x 8 paper pads, they really are a great value. Plus, I can help you match them up with solid cardstock - no problem!! Here I used some of our DCWV and Bazzill cardstock packages. To make it extra special, I added some black and icicle stickles to really make the card sparkle.


I wanted to share a wonderful blog with you...Silke lives in Germany and has been making the most incredible cards with some stamps from The Angel Company. She's super talented so be sure to check out all of her cards!! http://silli-silli.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Angel%20Company

I look forward to sharing some other friends' blogs with you in the upcoming weeks - please let me know if you have posted any cards from TAC and I'd be thrilled to feature your blog!