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"...

Squirrel Card

The squirrel is one small portion of a larger stamp, stamped on white cardstock and watercolored. There is an acorn, also watercolored, on the inside left of the card (behind the squirrel.) The inside right has the other half of the greeting, "...there's always room for more." This will eventually be sent to welcome a new Silver Stamper to the group...

Dry Embossing Card

Using a brass template, the Mothers Class made flower cards with a word "stem" and dry embossed flowers and leaves. We finished the cards with a brad flower embellishment in the lower right corner, added some dry embossing on the flap of the envelope, and will use them for Mothers Day cards!