Tarkle

Christmas is around the corner and...

Thanks to SCS, I actually have some of my Christmas cards made.  Not as many as I should, since I am way behind... but some :-)  I'm supposed to be making 8 cards a month, but I have missed a few.  Here are the 3 newest designs I made.  I was inspired by, wait for it.... pinterest!  One of the cards on pinterest was a valentine's day card that I made into a Christmas Card.  Then I used the positive of the cut out to make another card.. rather ingenious I think... ;-)

This card is the one inspired by pinterest.  Obviously, I took the idea of the negative and positive cut out.  I used the 2010 Holiday Tree Nestabilitie and the Ornament Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I used Gina K Cardstock in White and Fresh Asparagus.  I used a Gina K sentiment on the small tree as well.

I took the piece of the nestability tree that I cut out for the card above and used it as the focal point for another set of cards.  There are 4 of each of these designs.  I used the corner stamp from Gina K Very Merry Christmas set (illustrated by Teresa Momber) and stamped the two top corners of the white panel using Memento Bamboo Leaves.  I used the snowflakes cuttelbug embossing folder on the tree.  The designer paper is Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  The cardstock is Gina K  (Tan Leather, Fresh Asparagus, White, and Dark Chocolate.

The last one for today is one I made a couple of months ago.  This also uses Gina K Cardstock (White, Fresh Asparagus, Cranberry, Gold and Kraft).  The image is a Christmas collage stamped with Memento Rhubarb Stalk on Kraft for an old timey look. 

I have the makings of a couple more on my table.. hopefully I'll get to those and back to here before Christmas.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by!



Baby days

Well, it seems I hit another creative dry spell... HA! But the summer has been fun. We even managed to get a quick weekend get away in.

One of my co-workers is about to be a dad for the first time. We finally got him to agree to a baby shower. So, off to Pinterest I go. I found some A-DORABLE diaper cakes, wreaths, etc. I also found a great Dad's survival kit.

So if you go to Pinterest and type in Diaper Wreath.. you will get a wealth of ideas. I kind of took a little from a lot of pictures and made mine.

I bought a styrofoam wreath "frame" from Hobby Lobby.  I used two different size diapers 2 and 3's.  The 2's covered the base and the 3's filled in the gaps :-)  Since we don't know the sex, I had to go neutral.  I added just a couple of little things to the wreath for some added interest (Baby Magic Bath, Baby Magic Lotion,  Baby Shampoo, Johnson and Johnson Bubble Bath, a teether and some pacifiers.)  The baby's last name will begin with a G so I bought a Chipboard letter G (also at Hobby Lobby).  I used sticky strip to cover the letter with wood grain designer paper on both sides.  I used felt ribbon to cover the edges.  This was so super easy and fun to make. 

I also thought that a first time Dad should have a little survival kit, as if all the women haven't been giving him advice for the last 6 months... Again.. a ton of ideas on Pinterest, but this is the one that I really used as inspiration and a little copying...  Go tip junkie!!  Now she made super cute little tags for each of her gifts.. I just wrote the reasons for the choices in a card..I ran out of time :-(

For this kit, I picked up the little basket at the Target dollar spot.  I figure it can be used in the future for something.  What I included was:

1. Coffee mug and Via instant coffee, for when Dad needs a pick me up and fast
2. Granola Bars for the breakfasts he will miss
3. Burp cloths for the messy stuff that comes out of baby after eating
4. PB crackers for a midnight snack
5. Hershey's hugs and kisses to remember that both Mom AND Baby will need lots!!
6. Rubber Duck for Daddy/Baby bath time
7. Lifesavers to remind Dad that he can and should be Mom's lifesaver (at least sometimes)
8. Book for when Daddy puts baby to bed (Hello Bugs!; cute board book in black, white and gold) and...
9. Adult beverages in shot size - no explanation needed :-) (4 different kinds as I wasn't really sure what his preference was)


The card I included is a little ducky.  The image is from Gina K Designs and colored with copics.  I used some Spellbinders to cut out some ducks out of felt and colored it.  I used faux stiching on the designer paper to simulate a quilt.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hopefully I'll get some creative mojo going now :-)

More Anniversary....

I'm back with 3 more cards for the Paper and Such Anniversary Challenges. This first card is for the Black and White +1 challenge. I went with the Song in My Heart set from Paper and Such. I just love these birds. I really kept this very CAS. I thought about adding embellishments but felt it would detract from the beauty of the image and sentiment itself. A true friend knows who you are under all your embellishments! ;-) The paper in Gina K and I added some shading with Copics.

This card is for the sentiment only challenge. These tend to be difficult for me for some reason. This one came together pretty easily with the help of the Paper and Such Just Sayin' set. I created this card as a mommy card. Sometimes being a mom can be challenging..but upon reflection, it's way beyond worth every challenge/problem that could present itself. I went with pink..because it was my daughter with the challenge at that particular moment.. LOL!

Last but not least is the monochromatic card. I was pleasantly surprised with how this one came out. Masculine cards can be difficult to find especially for friendship cards. Admittedly, there are some flowers on the DP, but I don't think it makes the card overwhelmingly feminine. I pulled the Song in My Heart set again. I "colored" the heads of the birds with bleach. I wanted there to be a slight color differentiation.

Thanks for stopping by, and there is still time to get in on the Anniversary challenges at Paper and Such...

Paper and Such Anniversary

A very Happy 1st Anniversary to all the peeps at Paper and Such! It's been a great year and I'm so happy that I've gotten the chance to participate in some of the challenges from the Design team this weekend. Go on over and check out the blog a get yourself a chance to win some new stamps. This is the first time I've stamped in about 5 months... so be gentle ;-) The first challenge was to make a birthday card.

For the birthday card I chose to use my Paper and Such poppies set. I colored the poppies with copics and broke out Spellbinders dies. This card is actually 5*7 so I could highlight as much of the image as possible. I "antiqued" the focal image with Tim Holtz distress ink.

The second challenge was a sketch challenge. Frankly, I hope I'm close on this one. I looked at the sketch Friday night, but didn't stamp until last night.. so I was working from memory.

I know, I know it's too early for Christmas. But I'm trying to be organized this year and am waaaaaaaayyy behind on the Christmas Card Challenge, so I decided to make this my Christmas card for one month. On this card I tried to combine traditional and modern by using the swirly trees image.

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully I'll have more later to help celebrate the Paper and Such Anniversary.

Mini Chicken Pot Pie Muffins

I saw this great looking recipe on Pinterest, Betty Crockers mini Chicken and Broccoli Pie. After reading the reviews, I noticed the main theme was that the pies were tastless, so I read up on some Chicken Pot Pie recipes and decided that would add flavor to the chicken... then.. why not just add the pot pie type veggies too (except the potatoes) and so was born Mini Chicken Pot Pie Muffins. There are still a couple of tweaks to be made... but overall these turned out pretty good. Served with a side salad, it would make a good take and go lunch or supper. Oh, and I ate a "pie"/"muffin" a little later after dinner and it was really good. My biggest issue was getting the muffins out of the tin whole. I probably should have let them cool a little longer and shouldn't have used a sharp knife to loosen the edges. I will probably try these in muffin liners next time and see if that works better. It's not as much work as it looks like ;-)

Mini Chicken Pot Pie Muffins
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken (I used thighs) cut into bite size pieces
3 Tbsp margarine
Bay Leaf
½ large onion chopped finely
Celery rib chopped finely
2 tsp Poultry seasoning
1 tsp minced garlic
Salt
Pepper
Cr of Mushroom soup
Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp Flour
1 c. frozen mixed veggies
Shredded cheese
¾ c Bisquick mix
¾ c Milk
2 eggs

1.) Preheat oven to 375
2.) Melt margarine in sautee pan over med heat
3.) Add chicken and bay leaf and sautee/poach until chicken is no longer pink
4.) Add onion, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning
5.) Sautee until veggies are soft
6.) Add flour to pan and stir
7.) Add ¼ can of Cr of Mushroom soup and ¼ c of Chicken broth to add some moisture. Don’t want it to be too wet.
8.) Remove pan from heat and let cool slightly
9.) Add 1c shredded cheese (optional)
10.) In a med bowl mix bisquick, milk and eggs until combined
11.) In a greased muffin tin, add scant tbsp of batter at the bottom
12.) Top with approx ¼ cup of chicken pot pie mix
13.) Add another Tbsp of batter on top
14.) Bake approx 30 minutes

Catching Fire

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazing, Intense, Mind-Blowing...

Loved this book - I finished this book in one day..if I had had the third one already, I probably would have been up the rest of the night reading.

I can't stand the suspense in not knowing how this is all going to play out. I am invested in these characters. WOW!

View all my reviews

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed a lot of the tent descriptions. I enjoyed parts of the story itself...

I didn't care for the timing in the chapters.. jumping from one year to another, I see where it adds to the "confusion" that is the book itself, but it was bothersome for me.

I finished the book and said, "what was that really about?" However, I do think a movie would be great.

View all my reviews

Paper and Such Challenge!

Time for another challenge at the Paper and Such blog. This one stumped me for a bit. No color??? Seriously? Well at least it was only for the main image ;-)

Just in case you are thinking that black is a color... technically, it's the absence of color :-) For this card, the snowman and the sentiment are stamped on acetate. The acetate layer is adhered to a layer of white. I used a stencil and Perfect Pearls sprits to create the subtle background on the white. I added some stickles to the brads for a little additional snowy sparkle! Thanks for stopping by and come on by the blog and play with us!

Thanks so much to the Paper and Such team for allowing me to play along with them this month!




Recipe:
Stamps: Snow Folks (Paper and Such)
Paper: Silver Lining, Wine with Everything, Layering weight White (GKD); Acetate
Ink: Stazon Black
Accessories: Spellbinders Create a Flake 3, brads, Silver and Burgundy ribbon, Hampton Arts holiday stencils,                    Ranger Perfect Pearl spritz, Icicle Stickles

The issues with Papercrafting

Let me just say.. Christmas is an excellent time to get into Papercrafting. Many people send Christmas cards, sometimes it is the only time said people catch up with other people. I got into papercrafting right around Christmas a number of years ago. I started off with a couple of all around great stamp sets and a couple packs of paper from SU. I mean really, once you have one stamp set that has a holiday stamp, a happy birthday stamp, a thank you and a congratulations.. what more do you really need? You can make any type of card with those... Yeah right! I, and I think some others, have a compulsive need to add to my stash. I remember that we used to have stamping days at my SU consultant's house. I started out bringing a clear tote that contained all my supplies.. then it grew to two... now it's to the point that there is no way I could ever take all my supplies somewhere.. so what do I take, what am I going to need? Perhaps I should trim down some so that I don't need to make these difficult decisions........ NOT! I have, and I will admit this, enough Christmas/Winter stamps to make individual cards for people I know for YEARS to come. Why is it then, that I eagerly await each new year's Christmas/Holiday line... what is it that FORCES me to spend money on more Christmas sets? Why is it that I decide in August what I think my cards should look like.. until I see something else and that would look so cool? The reason I bring all this up, is that I had a coupon for Michael's where from 4-9 pm yesterday I could get 25% off my entire purchase. Hmmm.. I am in a secret santa exchange (I have everything for that)... I am hostessing the winter VSN (already have everything for that)... but, but... So I went. My secret santa recipient now has a little more bling... Did I need anything I bought? No! Do I want it ALL? YES! It's an addiction and I think it should be treated as such. Oh and by the way.. just because you might need this someday in the future AND because it's free (So who cares if you'll need it at all, it's free, you can't pass that up): Free "Santa's Magical Sleigh" card making template from Card Carousel To claim your free card making template, please do at least one of the following things: TWITTER USERS: Follow us and retweet this tweet; or FACEBOOK USERS: "Like" our Facebook pageand Share this post; or BLOG & FORUM USERS: Write about us on a blog or forum. Include the following text: Get a free "Santa's Magical Sleigh" card making template from Card Carousel. Just visit www.cardcarousel.co.uk/free/sleigh.html

Paper and Such Challenge Time!

It's time for another challenge at Paper and Such! This week's challenge is to create a card or project that uses the paper piecing technique. Isn't the snow angel PERFECT for piecing?? I paper pieced the wings, scarf and hat.  I used blue copics to add a little color to the body of the snowman.  The brim of the hat has ultra fine white flower soft for some texture.  Thanks for stopping by today and make sure you get over to Paper and Such to participate in the fun challenge!



Recipe:
Stamps: Snow Folks (Paper and Such)
Paper: Pure Luxury Cranberry, Fresh Asparagus, Ivory; Simple Stories DP
Ink: Memento black, rhubarb stalk
Accessories; Copics, Fleur de Lis Rectangle Nestabilities, Copic Spica, Flower Soft

Snow Folks

Oh my goodness!! I have the honor of being Guest Designer for Paper and Such this month. Today, I'm highlighting the new set Snow Folks. This is such an AWESOME set. I totally love it~ I decided to go a little bit of a different way with this set. I, yes me, I, on purpose, made a 3-D item. Can you believe it? I found this tutorial for the box on splitcoast. It's a 2-5-7-10 box. I used acetate for the circle in the center so it became a little sneek peek box. Isn't the Snowman ADORABLE!! Perfect accent for this sweet little chocolate gift box.

I stamped the box with some of the snowflakes from the snow folks set.  I stamped the snowman with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  He is colored with Copics and then I added some stickles to simulate the snow on his arms and hat.  I fussy cut him out.  One of the awesome things I love about this set is that the arms of the snowman are thick enough to cut around without cutting right through them.

Thanks so much to the Paper and Such team for allowing me to join them as a guest designer!!

Make sure you check out the other amazing projects using this versatile winter set.

Kim - http://paperperfectdesigns.blogspot.com/
Janice - http://inkeepaws.blogspot.com/
Pattie - http://pattie-g.blogspot.com/
Mindy - http://journalofamadstamper.blogspot.com/
Amber - http://ambersantics.blogspot.com/

HYCCT and CPS

Cool sketch huh?? This is the Card Positioning systems sketch 239.



I quite enjoyed this sketch.  It gave me the perfect avenue for creating another card for the HYCCT challenges.  This challenge was about friendship.  We were challenged to use pink and ribbon to create a card that celebrates friendship.  I don't know about you, but many of my friends give me strength.  That is one of the marvelous aspects of friendship.  Short, sweet and to the point!  If you haven't gone to SCS to check out the challenges, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???

Thanks for stopping by!!





Recipe:
Stamps: Believe (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Neenah White
Ink: Memento Rose Bud
Accessories: Nestabilities circles, big scalloped circles, Fancy Tags 2, ric-rac, Recollections crystals

You are so Kind

I was very honored to be asked to make a sample card for my friend Lori's HYCCT challenge. I have to admit, I breathed a little sigh of relief that I wasn't going to use pink.. lol. Lori's challenge is a color challenge: "The colors Green and Yellow represent Hope and Brown represents comfort (we all want the strong ladies fighting this battle to be!). " So in honor of all the ladies full of hope and needing comfort, I inked up the sunflowers from Gina K's Autumn Splendor stamp set. I have used this set A LOT this year...

I pulled out my sheets of sketches and I found this CPS sketch.. Isn't it awesome??  The image is colored with, let's all say it together, COPICS.   I stamped the script in Desert Sand and then stamped the flowers over it and colored.  The circles were made by using two standard circle nestabilities.  I added the raffia for the country/autumn feel.

Thanks for stopping by!  Come join us for the HYCCT challenges... your cards will bring a smile to people who really need some smiles!!




Recipe:
Stamps: Autumn Splendor (GKD)

Paper: Pure Luxury Dark Chocolate, Sweet Corn, Kraft, Green Apple, Ivory; DCWV Naturals DP
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Accessories: raffia, double stitched ribbon, copics, Nestabilities

More Cards of Hope

It's a late post today... Boy has it been rough around here. Thankfully there is some light at the end of the tunnel for today. Still, I think it's going to be a KFC dinner tonight. :-)

Check out this card I made last night for the HYCCT Challenge, Real Men Wear Pink. We were tasked with making a masculine card BUT we had to have pink on there somewhere.

I really hope this is masculine enough. I pulled out Mugs and Kisses (Gina K). I also used a CPS sketch as a basis for the card. The mug is paper pieced as is the spoon. there are two pink layers and the spoon also has pink in it. I also added a little pink to the sponging on the sentiment panel. Really simple as you can see.

Thanks for stopping by!!



Recipe:
Stamps: Mugs and Kisses (Gina K Designs)
Paper: Crumb cake, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, White, Granola DP (BG); Jolie Chocolat DP (SEI)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Desert sand, Angel Pink, Versamark
Techniques: paper piecing

A Pink kind of Day

Happy Sunday to all of you! I hope you all got to spend a little time playing and creating with your stamps, ink and paper yesterday. I was able to make a couple of cards AND have a lovely picnic in the mountains with my family. It was a really lovely day. Today I am showcasing the 2 cards I made for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at Splitcoaststampers. You might be sick of them by the end of the month, but these cards that are being made by so many people are really going to bring a smile to someone's face... I just believe it!

The first challenge of the day had us creating pink animal cards. I opted for a pink teddy bear. I just love these Milton stamps from Wild Rose Studios. I used my favorite pink copic combo (R81, R83, R85, R89) for the bear. My daughter requested that I use the pink glitter pen (Spica) so I added some pink glitter to Milton's nose. The image panel is sponged with a little pink ink in order to hide the smudge from my fingers... didn't work perfectly, but I guess it's proof that it is a homemade card ;-)

The third challenge of the day was entitled Encircled with Love -- the challenge, should we choose to accept it, was to create a circle card. At the last VSN I was introduced to these telescoping cards.. They are so much fun.. so I went with this idea for my circle card. This picture shows the card open. Once closed, it looks like a bunch of circles stacked on each other. If you can't read the quote, it says "Once you choose hope, anything's possible - Christopher Reeve". I felt that quote was perfect for this challenge. It may not be a card to send to someone, but perhaps it could be an encouraging decoration for a wall....

Now, I'm looking forward to the rest of this month's challenges. It was good to get back into my stamp area! Thanks for stopping by!




Recipes:
Pink Teddy
Stamps: Milton with Tulips (Wild Rose Studio)
Paper: PTI White, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Autumn DP (DCWV)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: jewel flowers, copics


Telescoping Hope
Stamps: Hopeful Hearts (Gina K)
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip; PTI white, SEI Jolie chocolat DP
Ink: Memento Rich cocoa, Angel Pink
Accessories: Nestabilities Big Scalloped circles, standard circles, brads, suede ribbon, sakura stardust gel pen
Techniques: telescoping

World Cardmaking Day!!!

Happy Saturday! Happy World Cardmaking Day! Isn't it just the coolest that we have a whole day to celebrate papercrafting? I just love it!! Today marks the start of another AMAZING challenge as well... Hope You Can Cling To. The HYCCT challenges are being posted on Splitcoaststampers. This is a month long challenge to make cards... Today kicks off with 3 challenges.. from here on out there will be one challenge per day. The really cool thing, it that this is also a card roundup. All these cards are being made to send to Breast Cancer unit at MD Anderson. These cards will be used by patients to send to family, family to give to patients, staff, etc... Think of how many smiles can be generated by our love of our craft!

In honor of the first day of HYCCT.. and since I don't know today's challenges yet, I am showcasing a card with pink poppies.  Easy peasy card here.  I colored the image with copics and I used some suede pink ribbon and Say it with Crystals to accent.  The inside sentiment is a simple "Thinking of You"!

Thanks for stopping by today and please enjoy the rest of your World Cardmaking Day!!



Recipe:
Stamps: Poppies (Paper and Such)
Paper: Pure Luxury White (Gina K Designs), Pink Pirouette (SU), Innocent DP (DCWV)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Say it with Crystals; Suede Ribbon, Copics

Blast from the Past - September 2011

Welcome to the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog hop for the month of September. I'm fairly new to Taylored Expressions, but boy have I fallen in love! This month's theme is birth and birthday both to celebrate Taylored Expressions 3rd birthday and the beautiful new addition to the Taylored Expressions family, Madelyn Grace. Happy Belated Birthday Madelyn!

I chose to make a birthday card that also included butterflies. To me, butterflies have always been a symbol of new life , so in that way I was able to combine the birth and the birthday themes.  I used my Memento markers to "thump" the ink on the stamp.  I like the thumping because it gives a bit of a watercolor look without making the paper all wet :-)  I used the same technique, with a little more blending to stamp the butterflies.  I cut out the butterflies adhered them and added some twinkles.  After adding the sentiment, I added a little rhinestone sparkle with some additional twinkles and that was all she wrote on this card.  :-)  As an aside... make sure that you are holding on to the container really well when you are moving from one twinkle color to another... if you don't... well... you might be on the floor with a magnifying glass and your embellie gellie trying to pick them all up ;-)  A CAS card, but this would be a good fit for someone who enjoys the beauty of nature or who wants to "Discover their Wings".  Please continue on to visit all the amazing blogs and see those gorgeous projects that are waiting for you!! Sarabeth is next on the list!





Thanks for stopping by!



Recipe:
Stamps: Discover Your Wings
Paper: Pure Luxury White, Fresh Asparagus
Ink: memento markers
Accessories: Twinkles

VSN Technique - Faux Leather

Happy Monday!!  Today I'm showing a VSN card.  For the last VSN, the challenge I hosted required the use of the Faux Leather technique. There were a number of different ways to actually accomplish this.  I chose to use the masking tape technique that Beate created a tutorial for on SCS.  I have to say this was a lot of fun!!  I used a Taylored Expressions stamp set.  I made my faux leather using a scrap piece of cardstock I had on my table.  I ripped up the masking tape in little pieces and placed them on the cardstock randomly but making sure to cover the whole piece.  Then I covered the masking tape with color by using direct to paper with several different inks. I stamped the cover of the wagon on the scrap paper and cut it out.  Then I punched the star out of the same scrap.  I adhered the wagon cover onto another stamped image of the wagon (paper pieced).  I really love the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Recipe:
Stamps: Wild West (TE)
Paper: Pure Luxury Lipstick Red, Kraft, Green Apple

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Autumn Leaves Kaleidecolor, cantaloupe, desert sand,
Accessories: twine, clear emboss powder, masking tape, copics
Techniques: Faux leather with masking tape

A Beautiful Winter

Howdy! Another WRAK card to send to Operation Write Home. This challenge was to make a winter card and to use our dies or punches. I have been itching to use this new Northwoods stamp that I recently acquired (sounds better than bought doesn't it ;-) ). I also broke out my Labels 18 and Standard Circle Nestability Dies. I fell back on one my favorite things to do.. which is cut out portions of the image and layer them on top of each other... The middle and top images are popped up with pop dots.

A winter card, for me.. isn't a card until it has something to represent snow. This time I opted for Icicle stickles, which I put on the tree limbs. In deference to OWH regulations... I only used the stickles on the small top level of the image... less glitter to worry about :-) In retrospect, I probably should have sponged the background.. but a lesson for next time. The sentiment comes from the Gina K winter Stamp TV kit, Winter Wonderland. The inside of the card has the whole sentiment: "Winter waves a magic wand over this world and behold, everthing is softer and more beautiful. "

Thanks for stopping by today!!!



Recipe:
Stamps: Northwoods; Winter Wonderland
Paper: Pure Luxury Silver, White, In the Navy, Little boy blue
Ink: Versamark, Memento Rich Cocoa, Paris Dusk
Accessories: Nestabilities, rhinestones, Copics, stickles, white gel pen