Thank You

The whole family is on Christmas vacation for two weeks, even though I love having them home, it really cuts into my stamping time. I did manage to find time to make one really quick thank you card, now I need to make a few more to send out as Christmas thank yous. I used a SU set that I have had for ever and love. The thank you is from Hero Arts and speaking of Hero Arts, I just received their new catalog and I am really bummed! Almost all of the stamps I have of theirs are discontinued!!! I know they do this to keep things fresh and to get us to buy more, but I teach classes and now need to spend a bunch of money replenishing my supply. Don't get me wrong, we all love to get new stamps, I just need to do it quickly for my classes in January :)
I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year! I will start posting more cards in January when I can get back to my regular routine :)
Recipe
Stamps-SU, sentiment Hero Arts
Inks-ColorBox Chalk ink in wisteria, lime and yellow, VersaFine black
Paper-buff, black, white (from Kelly Paper)
Plus-glitter glue, ribbon

Inspire

I have this great decorative paper and thought I would design a card around it. This Fluffles stamp hadn't been used for a while, so it was time to dust it off! The image is colored with watercolor pencils and the snail and flowers have Crystal Lacquer on them to give them dimension and shine.

Well I finally got the last of my Christmas cards mailed out yesterday! I hate waiting til the last minute so my New Years Resolution will be to make a few Christmas cards each month and maybe even address a few envelopes while I'm at it. That would take a lot of pressure off and I'd have more time to just enjoy the holidays :)
One thing I did do this year that has really helped is wrap the presents before Christmas Eve! There are only a few more to wrap and that will get done this weekend.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year!

Recipe
Stamps- My Sentiments Exactly, Stampendous
Ink- black VeraFine, Adirondack cranberry and meadow
Paper- pack from Michael's
Plus- gold brads, ribbon, Crystal Lacquer, watercolor pencils

Merry Christmas

I'm still making Christmas cards! Nothing like waiting till the last minute, each year I say I will start earlier but it doesn't seem to happen. Maybe it's because I go shopping like I did today. I meet my friend Pam at the mall, went shopping and had lunch, we had a great time, it's always fun to have a girls day out :) So back to the card, I was pleased with the way this card turned out. I used my Sizzix die for the little frame thingy. It is hard to see but there is a snowflake background on the green card.

Recipe

Stamps-Print Works, Stampendous

Inks-VersaMark, ColorBox Chalk warm green, Adirondack mushroom

Plus-Champagne embossing powder, white medium brads, red star sticker, red satin ribbon

Paper-misc green white and gold paper, decorative paper ( I don't know where I got it from)

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers 5

Well this week I joined the Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers 5. It is a group of ladies that stamp and have blogs. We visit each others blog for inspiration and encouragement, it sounds like a lot of fun. We are supposed to write a little about ourselves so here it goes :)
I live in Southern California where I was born and raised, married at 22 and have been married for 20 years! And yes I would do it all over again. I worked for the Costco buying office for six years until my daughter was born and I became a stay at home mom. My son was born three years later and when he was 3 months old, I started stamping and found it very relaxing.
In January of 2000 I was hired by Stampendous! rubber stamps to be on there design team which consisted of two of us, me and Pam Hornshu. I worked from home for 5 years until 2005 at which time they only wanted their designers to work at Stampendous! So now I am a Girl Scout leader, room Mom at my sons school and teach rubber stamping at Stamp Fever in the city of Orange which I have been doing for about 8 years.
I look forward to getting to know all of the ladies in SBS5 and will add links to their blogs when I figure out how to do it :)
I don't have time to upload a card today, I'm teaching a class tonight and have to prepare for it, so check back tomorrow :)

Happy Birthday

We are celebrating my brother-in-laws birthday at the Cheesecake Factory on Sunday, so when I made his birthday card, I thought I would use the SCS Sketch Challenge layout! Now I need to make a card for my sister-in-law (my husbands sister) and her son, my nephew. All of their birthdays are about six days apart! This makes for a very busy and expensive month. So for Tom's card I had to pick colors that could be manly (not always my favorites) but I'm happy with how this turned out. I stamped Fluffles with brown ink, heat set and used my watercolor pencils. Love my pencils, they are one of those things I can't do without :) Glitter glue was added to the bow and dots.
Recipe
Stamps- sentiment from Inque Boutique, Fluffles from Stampendous
Ink- VeraFine Sepia
Plus-SU punch, watercolor pencils, circle stickers-Stampendous
Paper- DP-The Slab, other paper is misc., I get it from Kelly Paper where you buy it in packs of 250 (boy do I have a lot of paper in my stamp room!)

Coal Again?

This card is a combination of two challenges at SplitCoastStampers, SC153 the sketch challenge and WT143 Ways To Use It challenge which is to use tape of any kind on your card. I used red liner tape on the panel under the stamped image and sprinkled it with brown glitter.
I stamped Fluffles on a white square with VersaFine, heat set it and colored it with watercolor pencils. I then applied Crystal Lacquer to the ornaments and glitter glue to the top of the stocking. Since I am way behind on making my Christmas cards, I decide to make one.

Recipe
Stamps-Stampendous
Inks-VersFine Sepia
Paper- decorative paper-The Slab, green and white card stock
Plus-watercolor pencils, Crystal Lacquer, white and brown satin ribbon, brown glitter, red liner tape

Birthday Tile Coaster

The tile I made yesterday was so much fun, I decided to make one for my sister-in-law's birthday. She just turned 40, that's why all of the little forties are on it! I hope she doesn't mind :) I stamped the cake and sentiment with black StazOn ink, heat set and colored it in with regular markers (not permanent). I stamped the forties with Adirondack dye inks then took it outside, sprayed it with matte sealant, sprinkled it with glitter, sprayed it with gloss sealant, let it dry and sprayed it one last time with matte sealant.
I don't think I will be able to stamped today, the kids have a minimum day, I only have an hour left before they get out of school. Hopefully I won't get stamping withdrawals :)
Recipe
Stamps-cake and sentiment-Stampendous, numbers-Hero Arts
Ink-black StazOn, Adirondacks-pool and citrus
Plus-markers, glitter, matte and glossy sealant

Tile Coaster

This was made for Mondays challenge at SplitCoastStampers TLC145, what a great challenge. I went to Lowes and bought a bunch of 4x4 tiles for 32 cents (what a deal) and started creating. I stippled the Brilliance inks onto the tile, heat set and then stamped the agapanthas with StazOn and heat set again. A little chalk was added to the three open flowers then it was sprayed with matte sealer and it is done! It is so easy and the possibilities are endless, I think I will make a few sets for gifts. The only thing that still needs to be done is to put felt or rubber feet on the bottom, another trip to store, luckily Michaels is just two miles away. Maybe that's not so good :)

Recipe

Stamp-Stampendous

Inks-Brilliance-Ivy, Crimson, Copper

Plus-chalks