Tracy's Sketch Challenge

Pop on over to Tracy's blog, she has her month of July card sketch challenge and yes I made a card to enter. Lol, this card I like to entitle "One Handed" because that is pretty much how I made this card and how I drew the stems on the card with my left hand since my right is out of commission. I couldn't stay away from her challenge.

The base of this card came from one of those box of cards from Michael's, then I used Certainly Celery cardstock for the two side pannels of my card and 2 strips of patterned paper from "Crate Paper" that I also got from Michael's. I used the "Doodle This" stamp set for the flower and I doodled the vines and I doodled the stem. Loved this challenge, ty Tracy :)!

Cute arm eh??

Well, it is a good thing that I got to Kim's SU night because I had hurt my thumb/hand the night before but I thought I sprained it or just bruised it (my right hand that I write with) but it kept throbbing. It was quite painful last night I went to the ER, turns out I broke me Safroid ( spelling is wrong I am sure) bone in my thumb and I got a stern talking to about waiting 48 hours to go in. They said you can't tell on my xray, but they are sure it is broken because of how tender it is in that area...it will show up later when it starts to heal. Soooooo, lucky me gets a splint sorta cast from the tip of my thumb down to just about my elbow for a week perhaps longer. No stamping/card creating, unless I don't care if it is sloppy :(! I can only take Tylenol or Ibprophen for pain because I am still nursing my 7 mos old dd....times like this breast feeding isn't a good thing :)!

My mom is coming out here every day to help me, cook and watch the kids...can't change bums etc with one hand or you may get more involved than you'd like to with the diaper. Thanks Mom :)!

Kim's SU Night

Kim from Creative Diversion blog, had a wonderful SU night at her place Tuesday night and an awesome fruit tray/ cheesecake dip to munch on too. Thank you Kim for the wonderful night, looking forward to stamping with you again sometime soon :)!

Here are the two cards that we made:

The first card was made with Blue Bayou for the base of the card... I think (could be wrong about that, sorry if I am) and maybe Cameo Coral cardstock . We used gold ribbon that melted when heat was applied, so it gave the ribbon a crinkled look :)! We also used a gold brad to attach the two flowers together and a dimensional to raise them off the card, which I thought made the card even more amazing. We used the stamp set called Baroque Motifs, and used Versamark to emboss with gold embossing powder, what a beautiful stamp set and a beautiful card for several special occasions.

The second card we made was out of Groovy Guava ( for the base), and River rock for the second layer of this card. We used 3 brads of ou choosing, the stamp set called Pick A Petal (which I ordered that night), and a sentiment from another stamp set I am not familiar with. We also got to draw our own stems and leaves onto our flower, which I thought was fun but there were a few grumbles about having to draw it ourselves. In the end all the cards turned out amazing :)! I can't wait to use this card idea again and again!!

Cards to go with my brother's Anniversary gift

I know, I know I am late getting these done...should have been done 2-3 weeks ago but family illnesses arose and life happened too. So here are my cards that go with the card box I made a few weeks ago, and it is a good thing I made em when I did...you'll see why in one of my posts I am doing today.

The first card I made, I used my first ATC that I have made...I cheated I know, but thought they could use a girly card for their 2 neices they have. I used Barely Banana that I got in my last order from SU, and I posted the recipe for the ATC part of the card earlier. I used my Crop-a Dile for the holes in the card and also for the eyelets, and the ribbon I used I had picked up from Michael's. The stamp set is called "Tu-Tu Terrific"

The second card is made with the Cuttlebug embossing folder called "Stylized Flowers", ribbon from Michael's $1.50 bin, used my 1 3/8" circle punch from SU and also used the sentiment from the clear Acryllic stamps from Michael's. I really like this Cuttlebug folder, can be used for so many occasions :)! I also used the Barely Banana cardstock for the base of this card, lol, sort of forgotten to say that.

My third card is made is made from Certainly Celery cardstock for the base, some Barely Banana for the strip under the stamped image. I used the stamp from the "Blooming With Happiness" another SU set, but this one is a hostess set ( one of many hostess sets) you can get if you host a party at your home.

The forth card I made out of Certainly Celery cardstock, the ribbon was from Michael's $1.50 bin and the stamp set I used was from the "Best Blossoms" set (same as the sentiment). I also used some dimensionals to make the image pop out...thought this would be a great anniversary or just because card :)!

The fifth card I made was a Birthday card for a boy from the stamp set "Tu Tu Terrific", I used a scrap piece of blue cardstock that I had left from another card project and I used 2 pieces of left over Barely Banana and Certainly Celery. I cut the edges of the card and the sides of the two scrap pieces using my Fiskars rotary paper trimmer and one of it's jagged blades. I also used dimensionals under the dog, and used the sentiment from the acrylic $1.50 Michael's stamp sets. The sixth card is one I posted before with the box I made to go with these cards!

I got my title thingy back :D

Yesterday, I was thrilled because I found a card in my mailbox and I needed a card in my mailbox that wasn't a bill or a flyer. I recieved this lovely card from Rebecca Bence, and I just loved the cat stamp that she used on the front of this card. I also loved the stamp that she used on the back of the card that states the following:

" Enclosed is a Handmade card as such it deserves a place of honor and respect in your home and should not be casually discarded like an ordinary store bought card"

Lol, isn't that great :D! Thanks again for the great card Rebecca :), it put a smile on my face and made my day.

"Shopping Tote Tutorial..."

Isn't this a great gift bag idea, or a gift for someone??? Please go check this neat shopping tote tutorial out over at this site: http://prairiepaperandink.typepad.com/amyr/2007/02/shopping_tote_t.html.

I will make one of these in the next couple of days and get the pictures up here for you all to see :)! Oh the possibilities :)...

"Coaster Tutorial"

Want to learn how to make these?? This post is going to be a tutorial on how to make coasters :D, sounds fun right? What a perfect wedding, house warming, bday gift you could give :)!

First you need to go to your local Home Depot (or any other BIG hardware chain), and pick up some tumble tile. It comes in lots of styles and colors...pick one out that suits you and the project you are doing. These tiles come in small boxes of 9-10, and are about $5.99 a box, I got 2 boxes of 2 different styles and colors.

Next, you need to go to your Michael's store and get some "Acryllic spray" to spray your coasters with once you are done stamping/coloring them. The spray's directions are pretty clear, so follow them closely and this is the brand I did use in the end...pretty happy with the outcome. You can either get glossy or matte, just like the pictures you get developed.

You also need a thin roll of cork board, they have a lot to choose from...so pick the thickness you would like. The spray is $9.99 a can, and the cork board is $13.99 because the stuff I used is self adhesive (I cheated I know)!! This stuff has a grid on the backside of the cork, so that you can measure it out and cut it more accurately which I thought was pretty niffty.

Once you get home you need to take your tile out of their boxes and give them a good scrubbing with water and a scrub brush, or do what I did get my 5 year old son to help wash them. Then I had him lay them on the deck to dry, they dried pretty quickly which was nice because I was sort of getting antsy to get this project started.

When you are waiting for your tiles to dry, you can pick out the stamp sets that you will be using for this project. I chose the "Doodle This" stamp set, the "Blooming With Happiness" stamp set and a stamp I had picked up from "Carousel Rubberstamp" store. I used "Stayz on Ink", and "Tombow" markers to color them in (but it ran a bit on one of my tiles) so use something like "Stayz on Ink" !!

Once you have stamped on your images, you need to take your tiles outside and spray them in a well ventilated area 10 cm away from your tiles and then let dry. This spray dries pretty quickly too, which is also nice :)! The tiles have dried now, so you will roll out your cork roll and place one tile onto the grid that is on the back of the cork...cut it to fit the bottom of your tile. Peel off the plastic layer, put the sticky side of the cork on the tile and press firmly!! Your tile should look something like this in the end!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and will give this fun project a try...I dare you :p!