Sneak Peek for September

I was sitting here trying to use up some scraps and came up with this card. The stamp used is from Hero Arts. It is from one of their clear sets. I will be using this set for my class in September and thought I would give you a sneak peek at a couple of the images. We will not be making this card in class though. You will have to wait for the September Cat's Meow Newsletter to see what we'll be doing in class. For this card I used three print papers from three different companies.

Here are the details:

Stamps: Hero Arts
Cardstock: Bazzill
Print Paper: K & Co, My Mind's Eye, and SEI
Ribbon: Unknown
Ink: Khaki and Lagoon Blue VersaColor
Bling: Hero Arts Rhinestones and Sakura Stardust Pen

Just an Update

Well, I thought I would pop in with a little update. Dad had a rough patch on Friday and ended up in the hospital. He was very anemic and they gave him 3 units of blood. Although he said it helped, he was still having trouble keeping food down. On Saturday, they were giving him another unit of blood when Shell and I got there. What we saw when we got there wasn't pretty. Needless to say, Dad's Dr. ordered an EGD (scoping of the tummy) and found that Dad has several ulcers in his stomach and one of them was bleeding. They cauterized the bleeders and gave Dad a couple more units of blood and some platelets. Now for the good part. Dad got to come home today and he is keeping his food down. Yea! We will need to keep a close eye on him and make sure he is eating good. I want to send big THANK YOUS to everyone for their calls and support. My sister and I really appreciate it! Dad does too! :) I will get back to stamping a bit, but need to catch up on work too. Stay tuned!

Not stamping much

It seems I was on a roll there for awhile. I will try to get something new up in a couple of days. Need to finish my samples for class next month. I have a project in mind that would be great for the "Red Hatters" also. Let Sharon know if your group would be interested. I am at my Dad's house now. He has had a rough spell since he started chemo last Friday and my sister has been here round the clock to help him out. Dad got pretty dehydrated and has been going daily for hydration. He has been snoozing pretty good since we brought him home today. I will spend the night with him tonight. On a different note, I was at the store yesterday when the Memory Box "What's in the Box" boxes arrived. Lots and lots of good stuff. Watch for Sharon's card blitz class in August, it is going to be a good one! Hugs to all!

Paradise

I made this card using a layout from one of our talented stampers at the store. Ginger did her card in an Asian them with Black/Gold and Cream and her image was of cranes. I really loved her card. I wanted to try the layout with a different theme and this is what I came up with.

Supplies used:

Paper: Bazzill, Collage Press

Stamps: Penny Black

Ink: Colorbox-Violet

Ribbon: May Arts

Embellishments: Prima and K & Co Bling

Jon and I are going to town today. Jon has 2 paychecks that he hasn't deposited yet. He is saving his money to put towards another car. (He has a 280zx that he has been working on) Now he thinks he needs a little 4 x4 pick-up because of the snow we get in the winter. He has an appointment to get his license on 8/15. Keep your fingers crossed! He is a good driver and I think he will do fine. Not sure how I will handle my "baby" driving though. Dad starts his Chemo today, please add him to your prayers.

Shoebox Swap--The Rest of the Story

The last three cards were designed by: Jann, Me and Ginger. Jann card was bright and cheery. Jann had us use the Cuttlebug ---ya gotta love the bug :) for the white background on the card. Sorry, it didn't scan too well. It really is bee-u-tiful! The next card we did was mine. I created this card/layout a few weeks ago, but I think it will work great for Captain Crafters Challenge #19 also. I used cardstock from Wild Asparagus and Colormates. The little bird is from Hero Arts. The words were originally coming out of the birds mouth but I liked them better underneath. Great thing about clear stamps, you can do that with ease.. The last card we did was Ginger's card. I just love the colors and her card was a card with a card. The image on the front opened up to reveal a Penny Black saying. The flowers on the front are also Penny Black. I love how Ginger uses the thinnest strips of cardstock as an embellishment. The card was finished off with a gold dragonfly and some ribbon.

Shoebox Swap--Part 3

Tonights cards are from Anne, Peggy and Sherrie. This is Anne's card on the left. The flower and words are from Hero Arts. A little red ribbon adds a sweet touch. The next card is from Peggy. The rosebud is fromInkadinkado and we used watercolor crayons to color the image. The background paper is from one of Carolyn Holt's NRN collections. The last card for tonight is Sherrie's. Sherrie used papers from My Minds Eye and Prima flowers. I know I have said it before, but this swap was really fun! I will upload the last three tomorrow night.

Oh, some other news of note: Jon has an appointment at the DMV for his drivers license on 8/15 @ 9:15am. Keep your fingers crossed :)

Shoebox Swap--Part 2

Tonight I will show you 3 more cards from the Shoebox Swap.

The first card is from Carol. Recently we all attended The Great Yosemite Stamp Escape and one of the instructors, Michele Charles, demoed a technique using Stazon Inks, Glossy cs and Galaxy White Markers so Carol brought everything for us to do the technique.By using just 3 colors and overlapping them the result is this vibrant, colorful card. The Hero Arts Image is stamped with black Stazon. The next card is Robin's. Robin also used bright colors, the Hero Gratitude stamp and Galaxy White marker. Robin's polished stone background is premade cardstock from Murdock Country Creations. I just love this stamp! The next card is from Liz. Her card would make a great gift card holder. The top flap of the card is tucked under the top of the tag. When you open it there is a place for a message or gift card. The paper Liz used is from Daisy Bucket. I just love the little lady bug that she embellished with.

Shoebox Swap---Fun!

A group of us got together and did a Shoebox Swap at The Cat's Meow (my lss). We had 11 players and each person was to create a card that could be made in 10 minutes or less. Each player precut and packaged enough supplies for each person to make their card. During the swap, we gave away door prizes and even stopped to eat some yummy Banana Split Ice Cream Cake. Over the next few days, I will be uploading pictures of the beautiful cards that we made. The card on the right is the one that Dixie designed. The image is from Hero Arts and the Eiffel Tower and clock are popped up with foam tape. The next card we made was Diane's card. The swirl image is from the Bella Brush-Fancy Pants set. I don't know where the flower image is from. I can't tell you how much fun this was. Not sure when we will do it again, but I'm ready.

A Million Thanks

I made this card from the Printworks Collection July SOTM. This is one stamp with many images on it that can be used in several different ways. For more ideas, go to their website and you will be able to see their July SOTM Board. What's really cool about this months stamp is that it was designed to help support our troops. At my local store, we are collecting cards and will send them together in one package. For more details visit: A Million Thanks and help support our troops!

Stamps/supplies used:

July SOTM-Printworks, Flourish-Fancy Pants
Bling-Star Dust Stickles
Inks/Paints: Black VersaColor, Twinkling H2o's
Cardstock/Paper: red cs, white cs, Rock Star Print from Daisy Bucket

Nature Night

Woo Hoo! E-ticket ride last night. I went to pick Jon up from work last night and when I was driving up the driveway I saw a white plastic bag in a bush and the first thing I thought of was the bear had been back. Then it dawned on me, there wasn't a bush between those trees. I backed up and shined my car lights and there was the Black bear holding my trash bag. He looked like a kid with his cold lunch at school. :) I never thought I would see "The Bear" in person. I drove to the top of the driveway, turned the car around and honked the horn a couple of times. The bear turned and started to walk away. I called my house to tell my hubby that the back door was unlocked, the bear was outside and that I wanted him gone before I got back. DH had gone to bed at 8:00 and it was now 9:40. No luck. I couldn't wake him up so to Miller's I went. On the way, I saw about 3 bats. Not too unusual, but they usually don't swoop down in front of the car. After Jon got off work, we saw a little spotted fawn going down to the lake for a drink. I sure hope his Mom was with him! A little further up the road was something with a black head and glistening eyes in the foliage on the side of the road. Maybe a cat, possibly a raccoon. We turned off of the highway and were about 1/8th mile from the house and what crosses the road in front of us. THAT DARNED BEAR!. It was now 10:40pm and he crossed in front of us and stopped and looked at us like we were nuts for being out that late. Oh the joys of living in the mountains! ETA: It was the bear I wanted gone before I got back, not DH.........he can stay. :)

The Bear

We moved to this house in August of last year and a couple of months ago we came home in the middle of the afternoon to find that a bear had been in our trash, having the proverbial feast. We called the Fish & Game and were told to put Pine Sol and ammonia all around the can because it would mask the smell of the garbage and would help to keep the bears away. Here are a couple of pictures that we took. The first one is the trash lid after we pulled it out of the bin. We are guessing that he sat on this side and went on his treasure hunt from the other side. The next pic is of the paw print on the front of the can. It was about 6" x 7 1/2". There have been a couple of visits since then, but nothing like this. That was until last night, The Night of Nature! More about that in my next post.

Captains Challenge

Here is my challenge card for the sketch on Captain Crafters blog. You were to use his layout and your image had to be something living, but not a flower. I really enjoyed creating this card as I have been wanting to use my Crate Avenue cardstock for some time. It is hard to tell, but the bee is sparkling with Lime Green Stickles. Here is what I used: Cardstock: Crate Avenue Collection Ribbon: Both are May Arts, I bought the leaf ribbon at The Cat's Meow and the Black/Cream stripe from Jacksonbell's store. Stamps used are: Marcasite Bumblebee from Custer's Last Stamp (I have had this stamp for years and am not sure if they are still in business). The Thanks words are from Rubber Soul. Ink used: Black Brillance Bling: Lime Green Stickles

4th of July Planter

For my last class we made these adorable 4th of July planters out of the much loved blank coasters. The papers used were from Daisy Bucket. They have the neatest texture, kinda like wallpaper! The stars were cut from the Cuttlebug Stars Die Set. I used UHU's scrapbookers adhesive pen to attach the paper to the coasters, this worked great as you had a couple of minutes to move the paper if you needed too. I sanded the edges with my Ranger/Tim Holtz sanding block. The star stamp is from Stampendous. I used the Glue Pad from Tsukineko to apply the glitter to the stamped image and the yellow star. The red and blue stars were colored with Tombow markers before the glitter was added. The ribbon is from May Arts.