Noble Deer on Milk Paint

Just wrapped up the November Technique Class tonight and we did Milk Paint as one of our techniques. I love the look and think the Noble Deer look great on it. I added the chocolate chip taffeta ribbon and a hardware buckle. Actually we found the weathered background stamp was a great addition, but thought of that after I made this card! Now it's on to getting ready for the packing of cards and goodies for the troops in Iraq on Saturday. I hope many of you will stop by to help. We have a lot of cards to put the finishing touches on and hopefully lots more items. We have another name of a local man serving there, so he will be receiving some of our packages as well. Any help will be very welcome 1- 4 at my studio in Tully.

Good old Frosty

Every year I depend on "Frosty" for at least one of my Christmas cards, he is so dependable! This time he is under a used dryer sheet and doesn't mind at all. I always have to relate my story about a friend's husband saying to us that when we girls can do something crafty with dryer lint, he will be impressed............well, I think this is pretty close! Stamp a card with whatever you like, snowflakes work well, Lovely as a Tree of course is an excellent choice too and color as you like. Then run the card through the Xyron or spray with adhesive spray, add a little Dazzling Diamonds and slap on the dryer sheet. The glitter doesn't show well in this scan, but it is there. You have to be careful not to use too much glitter or you will lose the stickiness of the Xyron. I used a red grosgrain ribbon also, but you can add eyelets or brads. A fun card and one your friends will enjoy. Stop in again soon.

Punch Tag Star

Isn't this a beauty? I admit when I first saw these directions I quickly decided it was way too much work. Then I decided to try it and it really is a piece of cake! I'm not sure where I saw it, but I'll look again and see if I can find the website for you, I used Almost Amethyst and Shimmery white for cardstock. Actually the vellum is some retired snowflake that I wanted to practice on, but then it was so easy, I continued using it. The flower is from the Pretties and also the brad. Just a little Almost Amethyst marker on the flower and the words are from Peaceful Wishes, that wonderful set that came out last year. There you have it! I'll check to see where I found the directions, but I can tell you it uses both of the tag punches. And here is the website for the directions:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tag_punch_star/ Go ahead and try it, it really is simpler than it looks.

Zoofari Fun

This card was inspired by a card I received in the Convention swap this summer. The original was created by Jan Delfel and to be honest hers is using better colors! She used Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive, mine is More Mustard and Always Artichoke. This stamp set is such a cute one and I love using it, but not often enough! I don't make cards for kids very often and guess this really doesn't have to be for kids........we all have a little "kid" in us quite frequently. Speaking of kids, don't forget our boys and girls in the service. We'll be packing boxes again at my studio on Saturday afternoon. It's a great day to come to the village of Tully..........Craft Show at the High School and then drop in at my place and help pack boxes for the troops. The dry socks I ordered arrived today, so they will be ready to send. Busy week.........technique classes on Wednesday and Thursday. Thanks for dropping in today.

Free Spirit

I had such a nice afternoon yesterday with my downline. We did the five techniques that will be this month's addition and then we did this beautiful card that Virginia showed us. She had made it for her son's birthday card and you can see it in full size with the medallion on her website. Can you believe we started with River Rock and added the colors with the brayer? Of course we masked the moon with a post-it note and the horses are from Wanted.....the trees from Stem Silhouettes. I added a little hardware to the hemp and mounted it on both a tiny bit of Chocolate Chip and then Creamy Caramel .......a gorgeous card. thanks Virginia. By the way, I think you will like this month's techniques, looking forward to seeing the group again this week. Thanks for stopping by this morning.

New pinwheel!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving........I had an especially fine day at my son's house! I first I hadn't had all the family here in many years, and it was great. Of course I ate too much, but that is what you are supposed to do. Anyway, last night I was going through the cards from Convention again and this pinwheel took my eye. Can you believe it is only two three inch squares cut and folded? I have to thank Lisa Courter from Fayettevile, NC for this great trick. Another way to use the double sided Designer paper. This was Rose Red and I used Pale Plum as a background........then stamped the flowers and words with Pomegranate ink.

Just a quick reminder.........Technique classes resume this month and will be held this coming week, Nov.28 and 29. Five more techniques to add to your books.

Also we will be packing boxes for the troops again on Dec. 1 at my studio........1 to 4PM. Mark your calendars.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Day!

Happy Turkey Day to you and in our family it's Happy Birthday to my first grandchild! I still get all choked up when I remember hearing that baby cry over the phone from the hospital!! That little baby is nineteen today.......so quickly she grew up and off to college. One of my other grand-daughter's and I made this card yesterday. Yes, it does look a bit like a Christmas card, but we liked the idea of the flower made out of designer paper. That is the Doodle This flower again, surely comes in handy. A little bit of dazzling diamond, red grosgrain ribbon on a strip of navy and then the words from Hugs and Wishes. There you have it. Well, the turkey is in the oven, the pies are made and I'm looking forward to a great day with family. May you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving............we have so much to be thankful for.

Time Well Spent

This is a new stamp set sent to us by Stampin' Up which will be a Hostess Set in the new catalog coming out in January! Great to receive a free set in the mail. Some cutting and some punching on the flower with So Saffron behind the Pomegranate and there it is.........pretty isn't it. SU suggested using the Versamarker on the edges of the flower to give it some depth and after I found mine, it does do the job just fine. I never thought to do that before and it is pretty simple. Some colored brads here and there and the Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon finishes the card. Oh yes, I did add a little Doodle This on the corners. Well, it's off to bake the pumpkin pies! Stop in again.........our kitchens will be aromatic for a couple days!

Debbie's Illuminations

I received this yesterday and I think it is striking. Doesn't that little bit of Dashing Designer paper just do the trick? The Thanks from Illuminations has been embossed in gold and double mounted on red and Old Olive.....lots of corner ticket punches too. The swirls are from Doodle This and what a nice card. Thanks Debbie, have a wonderful holiday with your family! I wish everyone safe traveling and lots of turkey. I need to shop this morning to finish the food gathering!

Mark December 1 on your calendars for the next gathering to package and send more cards and goodies for the "Support the Troops" event. 1 - 4 pm again at my studio.

And while I'm reminding you of important dates, the November Technique classes will be held Wed. AM

November 28 and Thursday evening November 29. Five more techniques to add to your books. Get your calendars marked!!

Debbie

I can Scrapbook!!

I know this is a surprise, but I almost can get hooked on this scrapbooking thing!! Once I get started, I do find it is addicting. This is my page from Tampa Regionals, you can see it only took me from last March to get this in a scrapbook!!! Yes, that is Shelli with me on the left, Debbie and her first downline that attended on the top right and on the bottom is the picture of all her downline that went to Tampa. It surely was a fun trip and I'm so glad I had the chance to go with them. We learned so many great ideas and met other demonstrators from all over the country!

Beautiful Designer Paper!

These are some of the bows we made at Stamp 10 on Tuesday night. So easy and addicting. We have such beautiful double-sided paper and it is a great special this month at Stampin' Up. Buy three sets and the fourth is free. I think one of these bows will be gorgeous on that special Christmas gift!

Judy's Patriotic Card

This is one of the cards we made on Saturday at the " Support the Troops "Stampathon. Judy Tinker created this one and I think it is especially appropriate for sending to our troops. Much of the card is retired SU now....the stamp set and the star eyelets, but it just seemed perfect. Now this leads me to remind people to snatch up a stamp set before they retire if you like it..........I've been looking for the set called "Godspeed" now for some time and I get little response. I did hear from one person who was asking a ridiculous price!! Anyway, the moral of the story.........get them while you can!

We are planning another session of goodie packing and card sending on Dec. 1..........so gather your supplies. We have a couple of new names to send packages to in Iraq, so if you know of someone you would like us to include, get those names to me, with the correct address. I understand the address has to be very perfect to get to them. Thanks and stop by again.

Dashing Criss Cross

Good fun at the Stamp 10 meeting last night.........four projects and this was one of them. It was Scrapbooking night, but some aren't into that form of stamping, so we made this card and a couple other cute things. This is a Criss Cross card that I found on Beate's blog, but sized a bit different on Cambria's site! I would have liked to have used white inside the card, but I had used all my white cardstock on Saturday! Hence, the Sahara Sand that I had already cut for the "troop" card. Dashing dbl sided paper and the Build a Brad in the center of the scallop punch. What did I ever do without the scallop punch? We used it on three out of four of the projects we did last night..........it seems to be attached to my hip at all times! And yes, Lyn, that is Old Olive ribbon and the circle behind the brad. I started with Always Artichoke because I had some of that cut from Saturday too! There you have it, remember Stampin' Up has a wonderful offer this month, three sets of Dbl sided paper and the fourth is free! So many pretty ones to choose from, I'll not tell you how many I ordered!!

For those of you who are into the scrapping, hop over to Virginia's blog and check out her clever page she posted yesterday.

A Change of Pace!

Today I'm showing you a picture that was taken on Saturday at the "Support the Troops" Stampathon at my studio. On the left is Tammy Ayers with a picture of her son, Douglas and on the right is Jaylynn Boyce with her husband, Jason. Both men are serving our country in Iraq at the moment. The boxes are the work of all the great people who either came, stamped and packed or gave money to send them. I'm pleased with the effort that was shown that day and know that all will be gratefully received soon! Thanks again to those who helped in so many ways. We plan to meet again Dec. 1 to fill more boxes for more troops. I will be glad to receive other names of men and women serving outside the United States and include them in our mailing. Let me know.............thanks again.

And another reminder that tonight is Stamp 10 starting at 6 o'clock. I have so many projects.......I think you will be happy. This month is scrapbooking but I have three other projects besides the page for your book. Come and bring a friend!

Godspeed

The "Support the Troops" Stampathon on Saturday was such an overwhelming success I can't wait to tell you all about it! This is the card some of you made, and yes it is retired from back in 2005, but Sandi Browngardt lent it to me and I thought it was perfect for the occasion. I don't think I ended up with either Tammy or Judy's card, but I think there are still some at the studio. We packed nine boxes of goodies and cards, eight will go to Iraq and the other will go to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. Can you believe we sent 770 cards in those boxes!!! We still have lots more cards, but we ran out of envelopes, so we plan to get together Dec. 1 to pack some more boxes for Christmas. We all wrote cards to the troops on Saturday also and the day was really an exciting event! I think we had about twenty people and we worked feverishly to get the boxes all packed and ready to go. Thanks to all of you who made this possible, I know the troops will appreciate your generosity.

On another note..........tomorrow night is Stamp 10 at my studio. We will do a scrapbook page and three other neat projects, so check your e-mail to see what you need to bring to help the evening move along smoothly. We are meeting at 6.......see you there, all are invited!

Boatload of Christmas

Quite some time ago I saw this set with the Christmas wreathes on the boat and I thought it was pretty clever. I don't know where I saw it so I can't give the credit, but at the time I didn't even own the Boatloads of Love set! Then Diane Zechman made that cute boat with the CD envelope with this set and so of course I had to order it myself.........it's a great one! Last night I got out my watercolor crayons, Stazon and had a great time. My blue water seems to look washed out in the scan and you can't really tell that I used my gold painty pen on the anchor and windows but in real life it looks better. The words and the tree are from the other Loads of Love set......you know the one with the truck. I cut the words apart and mounted the Merry Christmas on the end of the block so I could use it separately. Anyway it was fun to sit and color this card.........those watercolor crayons have had quite a vacation. I'll have the cards that we make on Saturday here to show you next week. Looking forward to the "Support the Troops" stampathon at my piano studio tomorrow 1 to 4...........have I mentioned that before?? See you there! Bring an empty box to fill to send to our troops.

Thanksgiving Reflection

I'm borrowing another of Virginia's creations......a real beauty for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Lovely as a Tree always takes my eye you know and every time she uses the Sanded background stamp I think......maybe I really do need to order that one! How nice it looks behind the words on the Key Tag punch..........another "I need to have!" The words are from Holidays & Wishes and that's tied on with a piece of jute. Thanks again and again, Virginia.

Our "Support the Troops" response is unbelievable and I'm moving the stampathon to my Piano Studio in the village of Tully on Saturday! We'll have more room to stamp and package up the supplies we have gathered to send to our men and women in Iraq. Thanks to all who have donated so far.........I'm really looking forward to this Saturday............hope to see many of you there. Any questions, give me a call.

In the Spotlight

What a time I've had this morning with this image! I finally was able to show this download, but it took me forever today. I can't believe that I haven't shown this card from the Stamp a Stack back in October. It was one of the favorites that session. It is the Faux Tearing technique and is really just white cardstock with Mellow Moss ink sponged on the left side. The words are from Solemn Stillness. The embossing was with Iridescent Ice, but it doesn't show up in this scan very well. At the first class, Virginia suggested the "one hole " ribbon which we used instead of this one with the mellow moss grosgrain. What a great shortcut that was! No mini dots to hold the bow in place with her idea and it looked better than this one. Thanks Virginia! This card works well with the Snowflake Spot also.

Debbie's Doodle This

I love this especially because Debbie Moczek sent it to me with a gift certificate for $20! Those are the cards we love to receive, don't you agree? She always uses colors that are not my usual choice and they are so nice. Here she used Going Gray and Pretty in Pink, with a dash of yellow in the center of the flower. Brads are pink on the gray and yellow in the center too. The swirl and flower are stamped in black and colored with a crayon or marker, I'm not sure which. Anyway, thanks Debbie for the card today and double thanks for the gift certificate!



And on to other notes of interest on the home front. We are really gearing up for the "Support the Troops" Stampa thon on Saturday here at my house.........1 - 4 in the afternoon. We will each make three different cards for the troops and the same to take home. Our bundles of cards are coming in like crazy and hopefully the other suggested items will be coming on the week-end. Monetary gifts have been flowing in also.....much needed for postage. Hope to see many of you on Saturday!

Virginia's Lovely as a Tree

This was the card that Virginia did for the Gathering......my favorite stamp set you know! And,she used the dryer sheet method too. Her recipe goes like this: Paper - Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke DSP, Whisper White. Ink: Certainly Celery, Always Artichoke. Stamps: Lovely as a Tree and Punch Pals. Accessories: Irridescent emb. pwd and Non SU string.

She has tied the string in the middle of the scallop punch and circle of certainly celery for a neat focus on the card. Thanks Virginia, you always give me inspiration and ..........computer help too! Don't forget to check out her great blog over on the right...

Tres Chic #2

I told you I was going to use this great stamp!! I also made this with the Z fold which was on Beate's website I think. Anyway, this is one color Cardstock, Sage Shadow, but it looks like two different shades here! Choc Chip with the white craft ink for the words, a piece of white cardstock with the slit punch making the scallop. I used the Horizontal Slot punch to run the white taffeta ribbon through. The swirls on the side are from Doodle This and stamped in Choc Chip ink. This background stamp is a great addition to my collection of stamps........I'm glad I started to use it, hope it doesn't get retired in January!! Have a nice week-end.