HELP WANTED!

I am beginning to outgrow the space in my stamping tower and would like some suggestions on how I could make it better. For pictures of my space, use the link for Fox Mountain and open the archives for November 2005.

Thanks for the help!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing all of you all of the best of Christmas blessings. See you back here in the New Year!

I've Been Tagged!

Here are 7 things about me that you might not know:

1. I love chocolate (who doesn't?)

2. My favorite color is yellow, and I hate pink.

3. I love cats--we have three of them.

4. I enjoy traveling and hope to get back to Italy some day soon for a third visit.

5. I love to drive--anywhere, even in New York City.

6. I host a February Blues Bash with a different theme each year.

7. I hate to exercise, but do it anyway.

Did I mention that I also enjoy being concise? Here are the 5 people I'm tagging:

Amy G.
Rochelle
Dawn
Lauren
Dee J.

INSPIRATION CARD

A friend gave me a beautiful box of licorice, and it inspired me to make this card. Thanks Jane! Of course, being a cat lover, I used my SU Cool Cat set and dove into my stash of Basic Grey dp for the background.

(The licorice is delicious!)

Home from Prague...

...with a bad case of stamping withdrawal! Can't wait to get back to my stamps and inks, but first I need to recover from jet lag.

Stop by again soon!

OFF TO PRAGUE!

I won't be posting again for awhile; but I did mail all my Christmas cards today! Snail mail is still good for something...

HAPPY STAMPING!

One Bright Star

here's a card I made with a friend who brought her stamp to the Tower. Sorry, I can't tell you what company makes it. We stamped out several on white glossy cardstock with dark blue ink and added a Mrs. Grossman's crystal in the main star. The image was mounted on dark blue, then onto a metallic blue and then on the dark blue card. The greeting inside was stamped on white paper over a light blue gleaming star and reads, "Beneath the silent beauty of one bright star, the light of the world is born."

Thanks to Evelyn for such a wonderful design idea!

Easy Christmas Card!

Here's a quick card you can mass produce in record time! Just stamp the tree toward the right side, color the decorations, add a freehand border, tie a ribbon around the left side of the card and add a message inside. Done!

Kinkade Church

After seeing so many beautiful cards done with Kinkade stamps, I just had to try it. Unfortunately, the colors don't reproduce well on my scanner.

This card was done with an Adirondack spectrum pad (Cabin Fever) on white cs. It was cut into an oval using the Creative Memories system and was then coated with Versamark and embossed with Antiquities Frosted Crystal ep. (The only coloring was done on the windows and the reflection on the water below.) A larger oval was cut in the center of a pinkish-beige textured cs, silver twine was tied on the side and it was then mounted to a dark brown textured card with double stick tape. The four silver brads were attached at the corners, and the image was secured to the card with SU pop dots.

The hardest part of this card was deciding on the cardstock colors! (IRL, the yellow is softer and the texture more interesting. Click on the image for a better view.)

Thanks to Amy Celona...

...for this wonderful card idea--what an inspiration! (See amycelona.com.) For my version, I used the large pine tree stamp from Stamp in the Hand. My card has a top fold (Amy's fold is better, I think) and the matting is reversed. To make the trees more lifelike, I used a dark brown marker to highlight the bark and some of the branches. The sponge daubers worked fine for the white at the top, but not on the trees; so I just used a Q-tip for them. The snow was done with Dazzling Diamonds, which I added while the white pigment ink was still wet. Tearing the bottom of the paper added to the illusion of snow on the ground.

I plan to send this one-of-a-kind card to the dad of a one-of-a-kind friend!

View from the Tower

We woke up to 6" of new snow here in Northern New Jersey today--looks like good stamping weather!


(Second photo was taken from the tower window this morning.)

Snow Scene Card

Yes, I turned the snow scene photo into a lovely card for my parents. (See post below.) The only thing I added was a snowflake brad in the upper left corner after triple mounting it on black, silver and green cardstocks on a white card. Of course, I neglected to copy it, but you get the idea...

First Dusting of Snow

Brrrr...it's too soon to be thinking about winter! Wouldn't this scene from yesterday make a great card, though???

Birthday Card for Li'l "O"

Happy Birthday Owen! Unfortunately, your card will be arriving a few days late. I hope you enjoy making the lights flash on this race car. We miss you, but will be seeing you in Prague soon!

Sticker of Blessing

Lucienne, affectionately called "the Queen of France" by her friends, had to have minor surgery this week. When I found this blinking crown sticker at Michael's, I couldn't resist turning it into a GetWell card. If you look closely, you can see one of the lights lit (at the top of the crown.)

In addition, I found the "you are the queen" stamp for $1 and used it for the inside. The girls at Bible Study each added a note of cheer to enclose. We gave her the card when we picked her up from the hospital today. Needless to say, she loved it!

Notice how the card-making class members are concentrating on their cards... They have learned that a hand-made card can be used to bless someone in a special way.

Tunnel Card Revisited

Here is my Christmas version of the Autumn tunnel card shown below (see post for Oct. 25.) The front reads "How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given."

(The blue looks a lot softer IRL.)

The Rule of Thirds

When I first made this card, it was full size (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) but just didn't look right. Then I remembered the rule of thirds used in photography; so I cut off some of the bottom to make it more proportional. Notice the top third is the pink cardstock, the middle third is the dry embossing and the bottom third is the sentiment and brad. Happy with the adjustment, I then made a new envelope to fit the scaled-down size.

Sometimes, corrected mistakes make the most beautiful cards!

A Quick & Easy Christmas Card

This card was made using a leftover three-dimensional poinsettia sticker and a pre-cut card. The sticker is placed on the inside so that it shows through the opening. The ribbon was tied and fastened to the white overlay (also precut)and fastened to the card front. I added some Stickles to the center of the flower, stamped the greeting at the bottom and also stamped a verse on the inside (under the opening); and there you have it!

November 1st Already?

Where did October go? It's my favorite month, so I'm sad it's over. November brings us closer to winter and all that goes with it: bare trees, cold, northerly winds, shorter days and less time outdoors. Of course it's not all bad. There's more time for cats on my lap or stamping next to a sunny window or sitting in front of a toasty fire...and Christmas on the horizon. That reminds me--I'd better get back to making more Christmas cards!

Did I Have a Good Time in Sturgeon Bay?

As they say in Wisconsin, "You Betcha!"

Door County hospitality was first-rate, the stamping techniques were top-notch, and the Silver Stamper gathering was...well, intimate. "Bug" de Vos flew in from California, I flew in from New Jersey and Lynn and Denny Rick drove down from Minnesota. Shown is our group in front of the fireplace at the Bridgeport Resort.

The weather was unseasonably warm, which gave us a chance to explore the peninsula and enjoy some outings for meals and shopping. Saturday morning was very windy, as you can see by the white caps on the bay in the photo taken from the car. (click photo for a closer view.)

One of our activities for the weekend was a "Challenge" where we had to create something within a frame using only the stamps, papers, and embellishments provided. I'm so proud of Lynn, our Silver Stamper president, for taking FIRST PLACE with her Nostalgia Sisters design! All the entries were so well done, it truly was hard to pick one winner over all the others. Congratulations Lynn!!

I got home Sunday evening exhausted from the trip, but sooooo glad I went! The whole weekend was just filled with outstanding projects, new things to learn and wonderful people who saw to it that we all had a good time--and we did!

OFF TO WISCONSIN...

...FOR THE DOOR COUNTY RUBBER STAMPING ESCAPE WEEKEND! See you here with photos when I get back...

Ginger's Technique-Tuesday-Held-on-Wednesday Class

Evelyn, Mary and I took this class last night at Ginger's house, where Ginger "de-mystified" the techniques used to make these cards. The middle one is a slider card, and was the hardest to make; but it was well worth the effort (shown opened here.)

The red card is a shadow box card, which was easy to do once we saw how it was done. The autumn card is a tunnel card, and it was also easy to do. Could it be that it's just because Ginger is such a good instructor? (Thank you, Ginger!)

Evelyn is new at stamping--only a couple of weeks. She and Mary had stamped earlier in the day here at the Stamping Tower, and she's making fast progress. After admiring Evelyn's cards last night, Mary cracked us up when she said, "You're the only stamper I know who's gone from Beginner to Advanced in one day!"

Cuttlebug Poinsettia

It seems that no matter which Cuttlebug design you use (almost), if you use white cardstock, it looks elegant. The Poinsettia was watercolored, then coated with white twinkling H20's, with gold glitter added in the center. I cut out the middle petals and popped them out with foam tape, then glued it down over a piece of sheer white ribbon stapled underneath to the side of the oval. An appropriate verse or greeting can be stamped on a lighter cardstock, as shown here, with the embossed cardstock placed over it.

Christmas Card Surprise

The surprise is on me, since I didn't really like this stamp at first. I guess I just didn't know what to do with it. So I started with coloring it, then added stickles and a tree brad for the "A" and mounted it on metallic gold paper. I tied a gold cord around it, but then what? It was too small for the card, leaving a lot of empty dark space. Since I had a sheet of trees already stamped, I cut one out, added gold brads, popped it out below the main image and voila--I have a card!

Even though I like it now, it's going to be one of a kind since there are too many steps to mass produce it.


(Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do the bling justice!)

SHIMMERING CHALKS

You can't see the shimmer, unfortunately, but this card was enhanced in a subtle way with Shimmering Chalks on the flowers. I ordered them over the internet from An Angel's Art in St. Paul, MN and was very impressed with the way they were packed and shipped. They arrived without so much as a hairline crack in any of the chalks!

AUTUMN THANKS

Here are two cards I recently made to use as thankyous for the birthday cards I received.

The card on the left was done with a maple leaf stamp and coordinating punch. The DP underneath has maple leaves, one of which shows through the punch. The stamped ones are colored with sponged fall-colored inks and then spritzed with a brown ink "blow gun" (as I call them.) The oak leaves were done the same way, except for the punch. Both have light green cardstock beneath, tilted on the maple leaf card. The ribbons on the left are two different Martha Stewart Halloween ribbons (plain) and the one on the right I pulled from my ribbon drawer.

These were really easy to make and will serve well for my thankyous!

(Click on the photo for a closer look...)

World Card Making Day

Today was my workshop, and it was quite a disappointment. Several of the people who said they would be here never showed. Maybe because it was such a beautiful day to be outside???

Those who did attend found the cards easy to make and were delighted to go home with so many ready to mail. They even stamped the envelopes to match!

Scroll down to the Oct. 1 post to see the cards we made.

TFL!

October: My Favorite Month

Don't you just love this time of year? Warm days, cool nights, explosion of color!

This card was made using some background paper that I found in the bottom of my drawer...must be at least 4 or 5 years since I put it there! Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't do it justice. The leaves and swirls are outlined in gold, and the gold-embossed leaf is colored with glimmering chalks. As you can see, I finally found a scalloped oval punch (and also a scalloped circle) which I found at Amazon.com, of all places.

I'm enjoying sunny days in my stamping tower with my loyal cat for company!

Tuesday Stamping Class

This week at our Ladies Bible Study "fun" elective (a card-making class) we made 3 variations of this card suitable for sympathy or encouragement. "Refuge and Strength" from Stampin' Up has some really nice sayings to stamp over the cross, and this verse is my favorite from that set. For the inside, I shared my collection of Bible verses and other sayings for the class to use. One of our members has been out sick for quite awhile, so we decided to shower her with our cards to let her know she is missed.

Stamping is more than just a hobby for me. I consider card-making in particular a way to minister to others, especially these days when letter-writing seems to be a lost art.

World Card-making Day Is Almost Here!

October 6 has been designated as World Card-Making Day. Does anyone know by whom??? Surely not Hallmark!

Anyway, it's as good an excuse as any to host a workshop. I've designed some Fall and Christmas cards for my fellow stampers to make. The Christmas ones are all done with peg stamps from Rubberstamp Tapestry. It was a challenge to vary them so they didn't all look alike.

The Thanksgiving card could also be used as a Fall birthday card by changing the wording on the front. It is a "kickstand" card using the "Give Thanks" set from SU, and we'll be using colored pencils for the apples and the pail. Stampers will be making 4 autumn cards and 2 each of the Christmas cards, for a total of 10 cards for $10.

I'm looking forward to seeing what variations they come up with!

SILVER STAMPER VISIT

One of my Silver Stamper friends on tour from Minnesota stopped in for an overnight visit yesterday and today. Since it was such a beautiful day, we took a walk up the road near our house. Linda, Steve and "Mac" posed on the edge of a cliff for this photo with the valley in the background. Afterward, we all enjoyed an evening of good food and conversation around the dinner table well into the night. It's amazing how much Silver Stampers and their husbands can have in common!

This morning, Joan came to stamp as usual; and Linda was able to join us in the "tower" where she taught us how to make tiny folded boxes and encouraged us to use them as gifts of encouragement. She explained how she has given them as thank-yous, pick-me-ups, and other impromptu occasions with little candies or notes inside. What a great idea!

Next Stop...Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

As a member of Silver Stampers (for stampaholics over 50) I'm looking forward to the Stamp Escape weekend in Door County, Wisconsin next month! I've got my reservations made at the resort where the stamping events are being held and booked my flights; so I'm good to go. It should be fun to meet Silver Stampers from other parts of the country!

I plan to bring some cardstock, ink, stamps and other supplies to "play" with while I'm there.

Now, what shall I pack...

Silver Stamper Thank-you's

As a member of Silver Stampers, I received almost 50 birthday cards and will be busy sending out a thank-you note for each one of them. This is just one of the designs I came up with. (The card is done on white cardstock--the polka dot paper behind it was just for contrast in the scanner.)

Thank you Silver Stampers for making my day so special!

STAMPER'S BIRTHDAY

When Mary came over to stamp this morning, she took my picture to post here. Then she, Joan and I stamped all morning... Now that's my idea of a great birthday!

Another Christmas Card

When you send out 100 Christmas cards, you need something quick and easy. This tree was gold-embossed on dark green cs, mounted on metallic gold cs and layered over green and red background papers split down the middle and glued to a beige parchment card. It was easy to do; but a bit time-consuming with all the cutting and layering, so I'll only be making a few.

For the rest of my cards, I plan to use a combination of two SU sets: City of David (on order) and Wondrous Gift (posted on Sept. 6, below.) With so many to do, I like to design a variety in order to keep things interesting. Starting in August also helps!

Little by Little...

...I've been making Christmas cards and stashing them in a special drawer until it's time to mail them. Here are 2 cards made with background papers and a diamond punch. The blue one was mounted over a snowflake cuttlebug design and centered with a snowflake button. The green one was done the same way with a green button for the center.

Speaking of Snow...

I, for one, am not looking forward to those cold wintry days of chipping ice off the deck. However, I do love the bright sunshine that leaf-less trees allow to penetrate through the windows--great for stamping!

Here's a peek at one of my Christmas cards for this year! The blue "snowflake" at the bottom was punched from blue cardstock (the same used as background for the JOY snowflake) and attached with a silver brad in the middle.

Leftover card from last winter

Here's a card from last year that was fun to make and could be used for Christmas or a winter birthday:

Stamp snowflakes and trees in white on navy cardstock. Add torn white cs to the bottom, tie silver twine around it and set aside. Stamp blue snowflakes on white cardstock and mount the blue image over it. Highlight the branches by adding "snow" with a white gel pen.

Total time to make: 5-7 min.

HOLIDAY CARD MAKING

This year at Ladies Bible Study, we're doing an elective for card-making. Since not all the ladies are stampers, I pre-stamp the appropriate pieces and make kits for them to assemble after they color in the images. This is the one I designed for Thanksgiving using the Pomegranate card stock from Stampin' Up.

First they will crimp just the front edge of the card. Then they will color the main image with markers, attach it to a slightly larger rectangle of pale green and wrap embroidery floss around it, securing the floss on the back. Next, they will stamp the verse and smaller image, color the berries and leaves, punch it out with a circle punch and tie a bow with matching embroidery floss. After taping the rectangular piece to the card, they will attach the "tag" with a pop dot...easy!

I like the unusual colors for this Thanksgiving card--what do you think?

Criss Cross Card

The Criss Cross tutorial on Spit Coast Stampers was easy to follow, so I used it to make an anniversary card for my daughter and her husband.

The pullout card has "Happy Anniversary" in the lower left corner. The swirls from the Cherish (SU) set in the upper right corner was stamped with VersaMark and clear-embossed. The "tab" at the top is a flower from the same set stamped twice and mounted back to back.

Christmas Card Design #1

This is one of my designs for this year's Christmas cards--EASY!

First, I stamped the tree on green cs and gold embossed it. After cutting to size, I punched holes in the tree for "ornaments" and taped it to red paper, leaving a narrow border. Next, I gold embossed the gift package on a scrap piece of the same red cardstock, cut it out and attached it to the card with a pop dot. The star was punched out of a piece of metallic gold cardstock and attached to the treetop with a mini popdot. The finished image was taped to the natural cardstock with the fold at the top. The inside message is: "It was a simple gift of love that changed the course of the world."

Stamps used: Wondrous Gift (SU), City of David (SU), Gift for You (TAC)
Cardstock: Dark Green and red, natural, metallic gold
Ink: Versamark, Deep Green (ColorBox) inside
Accessories: Long reach punch, pop dots, gold tinsel EP (Stampendous)

Blue Ribbon Card

This is the card that won 1st place at the county fair this summer. Don't get too excited--I was the only one who entered! (sad, really...)

HIGH-SPEED INTERNET IS BACK!

I'll be posting my latest creations again as soon as I remember how! My scanner, camera and computer are all waiting to be put to good use. What fun!!

Still Unable to Post

Except for an occasional brief (unpredicatable) window of opportunity, we are still without our wireless internet service for yet another week! I can access my email via dial-up, but that is painfully slow and ties up the phone line. Strangely, the scanner/printer is also not operating--yikes!

How is it that we've become so dependent on things that weren't even available just a few short years ago???

As soon as my electronic life is re-installed, I'll post my latest creations...hopefully, by Christmas!

UNABLE TO POST

As of the last post on April 17, my mom wound up in the hospital with congestive heart failure for 2 1/2 weeks. When I finally got home and tried to catch up, my computer was down and will not be back up for another week. I'm using my dial-up laptop for tonight, but will have to wait for the rest of the week to update this blog.

Needless to say, things have been stressful for the past month; but everyone is recovering nicely so far, including my Dad from pnuemonia, my siser from Influenza B and me from back problems related to all the sitting, driving and stress. More later...

Mothers Day Card

This is the card I made to send my mom for Mothers Day. The rose (TAC) is colored with Twinkling H2O's. The image is wrapped with gold twine and green embroidery floss, then mounted to the card with foam tape. The scalloped band is a self-adhesive "sash" by DMD that I picked up at Target. Inside is "Happy Mothers Day" and the outer saying is by Stampin' Up.

New Toy!!

A Marvy scallop punch was not to be had--it's sold out everywhere! So I picked up a lone Fiskar's Circle Border Punch at AC Moore, the "Antique Elegance" design. Unfortunately, the card I had to make was a sympathy card, but it turned out great...one of a kind, as they say. (Hopefully no more sympathy cards will be needed for a long time.) I also punched the ends of the floral piece and inked the edges to give it a more antiqued look.





Mary was here the other day with her Cuttlebug which seems to be all the rage lately. Joan and I used the embossing folders and stored our card-sized pieces for future use, which is today. The bird is mounted on embossed parchment. The green card was embossed on cardstock which I sanded to highlight the delicate pattern.

RAINY DAY FUN!

Since today is Wednesday, Joan and Mary were here to stamp as usual. Mary brought her Cuttlebug for us to try, and we were amazed at how easy it was to create beautiful embossed backgrounds in seconds!

What was UNusual today, is that none of us finished a single card. Instead, we were sharing techniques. First, as shown in the tree and herb cards, we learned about resist stamping using two different embossing powders: one with clear embossing, and the other with black embossing. Both were done the same way by first embossing, then sponging appropriate color over the surface, then wiping off the excess ink with a tissue to bring out the image. Ink may also be applied using a brayer.

Next, we talked about covering a slide frame with background paper. Start with a piece of bg paper cut about a half inch larger than the frame. Next, trim the corners diagonally across and fold the paper over the back of the frame, securing with double stick tape. Then cut an X in the middle, trim the triangles and fold over the back of the frame, securing with ds tape. After tying yarn or ribbon around the side of the frame (optional) tape or glue an image on the back and attach to the card.

All in all, it was a delightful morning high and dry in the "tower"...