Merry Christmas

I know I'm a day late with this but Netzero has been down for 2 days. Thank goodness it's back up and running. I had a marvelous Christmas. My kids bought us a Wii and a Wii Fit. We are having a ball. My goal is to get back in shape and you sure get a work out with this program. I also have my last card for the Dawn D challenge it was due to be posted on Wednesday but Wednesday at work I slipped and landed flat on my back. I'm a little beat up but will survive. I would have gotten it posted yesterday but no internet but here it is. The item was the blue flower on the top flower. It was made out of a plastic. I had some similar punchies and decided on some layered flowers.



I will be back tomorrow with a picture of my mosaic stamp and what I made with it. Fun foam worked just fine.

Day 4 and there's only 1 item left in the bag

I've gotten used to this routine. What will I do when I pull out the last thing tomorrow?? **sigh** Well today a little wooden angel fell out of the bag and I knew exactly what image I would use. I had colored it weeks ago and had plans to use it on a Christmas card but hadn't gotten to it. Merry Christmas everyone.

Day 3/ How sad its almost over

When I pulled out my item today I realized there are only 2 things left. That is sad. I have enjoyed having an excuse to make myself work each day on something. I am going to make time everyday for creating. That is not going to stop. Even if its only 5 minutes. I have already started piecing my mosaic stamp together for the technique Splitcoasters showed last week. I will have a card ready to show in a few days. I am using fun foam. However if this doesn't work I will have an excuse to go shopping for a full sheet of unmounted rubber stamps. Right now I'm working 11-8 all week so it will probably take me all week to piece this thing together. Looking forward to the weekend. I have taken all 3 days off. A mini Christmas vacation. OK now for todays card. The item was the plastic peppermint candy in the center of my flower. I found the flower already attached to the card stock in my box of images. I had made quite a few of these about a year ago when I was in the folding circle craze. Thought the candy made a great center. Added some leaf punch outs and stickles in the middle of the peppermint candy.

Day 2

Well todays item really gave me a problem. I had to go back a few months for this one. Had to get out the thinking cap. I'm not a Halloween card maker. I do like Fall but not really into Halloween so my supplies are limited. The results made me smile so I hope who ever gets it next October will smile also. A Frankenstein button. What will they come up with next. :O)

Week 2/ Day 1 -Dawn D Challenge

We're off to look at Christmas lights this evening but I wanted to get this posted before I left.




Todays item is the green circle in the bottom corner. I really thought hard on this one and was having a hard time deciding what to do with it. So while I was thinking about it I decided to clean out the box and put everything away so I could start out fresh tomorrow. At the bottom of the box I found the other 2 circles and the poinsettia and this paper if you look real close has circles and poinsettias on it. Not sure I like my results but the agreement was to make a card. Not like the card I make. LOL. I think it's the Holiday Greetings that just doesn't work for me but oh well It's done. Now I'm off to ride around with Mom, Dad & Hubby looking at all the lights in the Snow Bird parks. Its a big thing in the town my mom lives in for the parks to decorate big time. See you tomorrow with another card.

Day 7- Wow I have been doing this for a whole week.

I have really been enjoying this daily challenge. I hadn't been making time for myself and that is one thing we all need to do.
Todays item was a little bag of plastic snowflakes. This was easy!! Snowmen!! Since my box has lots of Christmas & snowman card items in it this one went together really quick. I had made this background sometime ago. It's a water color batik. I made several with the same stamps. Hated them all and have ignored them until today. This one seemed perfect. The little snowmen image was one I received in a swap. I really like it. It's on my list of things to find. Colored it with Copics, pounced with Versa mark, then poured on the heat and stick powder from SU, heated it and then poured on the glitter and reheated. So they are all sparkly. A very easy card.



In looking through my box to make these cards I came across an oval I had stamped and distressed some time ago. It cried out use me so I had layed it out on my desk. Last night I found a cuttlebugged background made with that wood frame with the oval opening i just had to have and haven't used since this trial run. Sponged it with mustard and vintage photo distressed inks so it matched my flower oval. Mounted it on 2 matching card stock pieces. Now I needed some thing to finish it off. Took out my Martha Stewart Butterfly punches and my technique stash and started punching. Nothing worked then I found a Polished stone piece that was just the right colors and walla. Added a few beads for the butterflies bodies and I was done. I have 2 other stamped images that were started and never finished sitting here calling out to me. I will be sure to work with them this evening if I have the time. I will be getting home late today. Everyone I challenge you to take 5 minutes a day to start working on something. Just 5 minutes a day for some Me time. You will enjoy it. I promise.

Day 6

Todays item was a red paper Valentine doily. I was all set to make a Valentines card and I remembered an image in my box I saw the other day that was a heart collage. I thought it would be perfect. Little did I know it was a Christmas heart and it was perfect. Fit right in the middle of the doily like it belonged there. Some gold star stickers and a gold Merry Christmas outline sticker finishes it off.

Day 5

I thought I'd start today showing you the bag. See it's not very big but it has lots of interesting things inside of it.


Today the item was a flower brad buddie. Pretty simple card for me but after I grabbed this paper I couldn't bear to cover it up.

Day 4/Dawn D Challenge

Last night after posting my card for Monday I decided to pick my item for Tuesday. Big mistake. It was too late at night for that. My mind went to working. I got out of bed several times to go and look for something to put my card together. Today I was finished before I had to leave for work but I lost quite a bit of sleep. All those ideas. So I won't pick my item until morning for now on. I thought I would show you where I work. Here's my desk.


See the box on the right? That's what I work out of. Every couple of months I empty it and put everything away. Then I gather a few things to start out with. A couple of stamps and a few pieces of paper. As I work making cards anything I use gets put in the box until it's full. It's really full right now from all my Christmas card making.



Now for the card. I pulled out the cute little butterfly charm from my challenge bag. Laid it on the desk and went to bed. Was there less than a minute when I thought I needed a flower image to go with it and I remembered there was a rose in my box. When I found the rose it was laying next this daisy image that was already colored. I liked that better than the rose so laid that on the table and back to bed. Dozed a little and then woke up again because I needed a background. It needed to be bright but not busy. Found a Coredination piece I had Cuttlebugged liked it and added that to the stack growing on my desk. Back to bed. Dozed a little and woke up again. Wouldn't it be cute to punch a hole on each side of the flower stems and thread a ribbon through them for a bow. Cool now back to bed. Nope back up because how cute would a little tag look with For You written on it. Well this morning after all my planning through the night went together perfectly. I added a piece of a Salted Background I found for a little more color.



I am waiting until Wednesday to pick my next item. Have learned my listen.

Day 3 of the challenge

Well it's almost 11pm but I have Mondays card finished. The owl is Inkadinkado and the saying is from the set I received Saturday from my Secret Santa Denise. My item today was the little paper flowers.



Got some great news today. My oldest son, my daughter in law and my 2 grandsons will be here Feb. 15th. Keeping my fingers crossed nothing changes this.

Day 2 of Dawn D challenge

Here is my card for Sunday. The item was a small piece of paper with tiny butterflies on it. I was really hoping they were rub ons but no I had to cut them out. Again I used what was sitting on my desk and there was my Secret Santa gift from Denise. A great set of stamps from CTMH. Used 4 of them on this card and pop dotted the butterflies. Can hardly wait to pick out my item for tomorrow. Come to think of it I'm not even sure how many items are in this little bag. Wonder how many days this will go on and will I miss it when I'm done. I will probably be begging for a refill to keep me going. Love a challenge. Thanks Dawn.

I'm Back with piggies and a challenge

After 2 weeks without a computer it is good to be back. A new computer is in our future but this one will do us just fine for now. It's been re-energized just like I need occasionally. We've been busy getting ready for Christmas. We're decorated, cards have been mailed and packages wrapped. Now just waiting for Santa's arrival and we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. A few days after Thanksgiving we had some new babies. Here they are all lined up under a lamp to keep warm. There is Yeepie ( after my baby sister), Pulley ( son suggested the name- He likes Pulled pork), Petunia, Barbie Q, Riblet and The Porkster ( originally named Porketta but turned out to be a boy).



Yesterday my friend Dawn D gave me a little bag filled with pieces parts. Challenged me to not look and each day to pick out something and make a card. So here is my card for Saturday. I pulled out a bag with 3 buttons in it. They were her Grams. Using the pieces parts all over my desk I made this card. The ribbon was wrapped around my Secret Santa package I received yesterday from Denise. I've already picked out my object for today from the bag and will have another card to show you later on today.

Let's use a background stamp

Here's a quick background. To start you'll need a background stamp, a piece of smooth white card stock and Versa Mark or black pigment ink.



Next use black embossing powder and heat gun to finish off your background stamp.



Now for my favorite part. Smooshing!! You need dye ink and daubers.



Using your daubers and working in a circular motion you are going to work the ink into the card stock. This is called burnishing. Push down when you are working in the ink but remember to work in little circles. You don't want dauber marks so keep moving.



Spread the colors where you want them. You can go back over each one to darken it. Finish up by using the lightest color all over to blend the inks together. This is what you will end up with. A finished background.



Here's my card.



I still have Christmas cards to finish and this is one that sort of uses the same idea as above. I used the SU Lovely as a tree stamp. Stamped it in parts with Versa mark and embossed in Silver. Then worked 3 shades of blue into the card stock working lightest to darkest from the center.

Christmas times a coming

I had an unscheduled day off on Monday. No where to go and nothing to do. It was glorious. My Mom and Dad came out for the morning. Dad bush hogged the pasture and Mom fed treats to the animals.






Then I sat down and spent hours working on Christmas cards. I thought I would show you a couple. This snowman is from Whippersnapper. The blue cards background is pad direct to raised areas after embossing in the CB folder. The black cards background uses the same folder but is made with Coredinations CS and sanded. Popped up the Poinsettia and the little bird and added a little Stickles Frosted Lace.




This next one I saw on a couple of blogs this week. Thought wow that is cute and began cutting out pieces. Then began to assemble. For me this was more of a pain than cute in the end. Got one to turn out right and gave up. But it is a cute idea.



This card I received from Debi Pippen in a swap. I am casing it for sure.



My last card uses an image I received in a swap. Santa is chalked and the little tree is a Cuttlebug die.

This sketch said Christmas to me

As soon as I got home from work today I checked out my email and the Mojo Monday Sketch. My goal to not miss a Monday sketch has not gone so well lately. This sketch though when I saw it said Christmas to me and in a matter of a few minutes I had another Holiday card made. I really like the design of this sketch. It has lots of possibilities. The poinsettia is stamped twice, embossed in gold, cut out and layered. I used a Sparkle and Sprinkle embossing powder I have had for quite awhile call Christmas for the Happy Holidays. I plan to make a few more of these.

Wow! it sure has been awhile.

I hadn't even realized how long it had been seen I stamped last. These weird hours I'm working are not leaving me with a lot of play time. I have made a promise to myself to show you something at least once a week. Let's see how I do. Today I want to show you some card stock I bought a month ago. Finally played with it this afternoon. It's called Coredinations. For those of you here in Florida, Linda sells it at Scrap and Stamp Art Studio in Lecanto.



Have you heard of it? I'm sure you have. But have you worked with it. Coredinations card stock comes in a bunch of colors. One side is textured and one color. The other side is smooth and another color.



Today I'm going to show you how to use it with your embossing folders. Cut a piece to size, stick it in the folder and run it through your machine.



Now take your sanding block and rub over the design. The back color will start to show through.



Examples of some of the looks you can get. It makes a nice soft background.



Here's a Halloween card I received yesterday from my friend Trish using the Coredinations. This is a great idea for those of you who don't like the ink pad to paper look when working with your embossing folders.

I finished a Mojo Sketch

I've been looking at this sketch all week wanting to do it. I was determined to get it done this morning before I headed for work. I already had this paper attached to the card stock for a project I never finished so decided to start from there. The stamp is from I Brake for Stamps. I used Gamsol and my Prisma pencils to color it.




Here's my attempt at a masked brayered Zindorf. Needs work. She must have a magical brayer.

A whole day to myself

Wow!! It's been awhile since I had a whole day where I didn't have to be somewhere else. So after I cleaned the house and did the laundry I went straight to my desk. Where to begin. After coloring several images and mixing and matching papers and backgrounds I started to complete some cards. Here are a couple. The first background is a piece of glossy card stock. I stamped with Versa mark a leaf background stamp and then embossed in white. Then using a dauber colored here and there with some Adirondack inks. The crackled layer is actually a paint chip. Didn't have to do anything to it. Came that way. Cool!!The leaves were cut out of a piece of a Salted background. The photo doesn't show what the salt does to the ink but it leaves pits in the ink. To do this technique wet a piece of glossy card stock. Paint it with some dye reinkers. Wet again. Sprinkle with salt either Kosher or Table. Let dry. Wipe off the salt.



I received this cute nest image in a swap. I really like it. Used Gamsol and prisma pencils to color. Inked the edge in dark blue and used a light blue pastels to shade around the image. Found a background I had made a long time ago. Wrapped it with an olive green ribbon and added to a white card base.



This next image is another one I got in a swap. Colored the same as the nest. Pressed a Versa Mark pad all over. Poured Heat and Stick powder on it. Heated it up and then Sprinkled with glitter. Easy to do. Sparkly too look at.

Finally some Mojo time!!

After missing the last 2 Mojo sketches I was determined to get this weeks finished. This work schedule has got to change soon. Leave here at 11 and get home at 9. I have no play time and I have so many ideas and projects in the brain. This is a Inkadinkadoo stamp. I searched for days online to find it. You'd think there would be lots of Santa and the reindeer flying images out there but there is not. I was thrilled when I finally found it. So was my husband. He was tired of seeing me glued to the computer all hours of the night. This years Christmas cards will make use of it. I got the idea from the Halloween witch card I posted last week.

It's almost Halloween

My work schedule has made it impossible to work on anything. I did get a few minutes on Sunday and I pulled out a set I bought last Sept after seeing what Michelle Zindorf did with it. I love this. It was so easy and looks like you did a lot.




Today I have all morning off but haven't been able to talk myself into doing anything. Do have some Christmas ideas in my head for an upcoming class. I'm going to try and work on those.

The Demo that wasn't or was it?

First my apologies ladies for not making it to our get together today. I'm sure you were all real disappointed I didn't make it. Or maybe you didn't even know I wasn't there. No I'm going to believe you missed me. Even Gerri missed me I'm sure. I think something or someone was telling me to stay home today. First I had a bad night. Woke up with blood squirting out of a hole on my rear end. I was rubbing my hip which is sore and felt this hard thing and flicked it off. Next thing I knew blood was squirting everywhere. I mean everywhere. Have no clue what it was. We couldn't find anything. My husband got the bleeding to stop and stuck a bandaid on it. It's not sore so who knows. So that was our night. Robin had to be up a 7 this morning. I got up, woke her up and laid back down with the dog. Was still awake when she left at 7:30. The next thing I know it's 9:10. Now I have to leave at 9:30 to get there so got up and dressed. Everything was already packed and I was on my way. Got to the road and the tire went flat. Backed up real slow to get back in the drive and then I gathered up all my stuff and walked home. Next thing I know there is a Sherrif helicopter circling the area where my car is. I'm guessing they think someone is hunting or something because there is a car on State land. Go to get on the tractor to drive up to the car and the dang thing wouldn't get out of park. So I walked back up there. Called the Sherrif's office. Told the dispatcher to tell them it was my car and it had a flat tire. She said to me no one had called in about a car with a flat. I said Maam they are in a helicopter. My car is on the ground. I don't think they can see if I have a flat. She says, guess not well OK. That was the end of the conversation. He left, I walked back home and 15 minutes later he came back. I walked back to the car and sat there waiving at him and then started walking home. He left. Has not come back and I pray when I go and get the mail that my car is still there and hasn't been towed. So that has been my day. I did get my laundry done but didn't want to disappoint all of you so I decided to do a online demo for you. I know it won't be the same. But I will know that you are picking on me and whining as you do the technique at home. So here is the project. The technique is called Bleached Polished Stone.

This is what you need. A bottle of alcohol if using a cotton ball or a spray bottle with alcohol if you have one of the Ranger distress tools and a piece of glossy card stock.


You will also need 2 Dye ink reinkers and a metallic reinker. Now if you use one of the Ranger metallic mixatives you will not need to seal the project when your done. If you use a pigment reinker or gold leaf pen you will need to seal it so it does not rub off. I use Krylon Fixatif Spray when I seal things.

Wet your cotton ball or felt piece with the alcohol. Then add a few drops of the lighter color.

Stomp it pounce it ,or whatever you want to call it, around until you have real good coverage.

Now add a few drops of the next color and do the same thing.

if you feel it is getting dry and the inks are not moving add a little more alcohol.


Now add a few drops of the metallic and a little alcohol and pounce that around till you are happy with the results. .



Let it dry about 5 minutes. Now take your embossing buddy and wipe it across your polished stoned card stock. Ink your stamp with Versa mark and stamp it.



Put black embossing powder on it and then heat emboss.


Next comes the fun part if you haven't already been having fun. You are going to need a small paint brush and some bleach.

Now paint with the bleach between your lines. Let dry a few seconds and add a second coat of bleach. In about 10 minutes this will be your results.

What you have left is the white of the glossy card stock and the metallic reinker. It has a real nice shine to it. I hope you all enjoyed your lunch. I bought Chinese take out after work last night so finished that off. I missed our time today. Looking forward to next month. Give this a try. It's a fun technique and will be the theme for our monthly swap. .