HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

EXCERCISE FOR AGING STAMPERS

Now that I'm starting to feel my age more and more these days, I don't have the energy (physical or mental) that I used to. (forget about tennis!)  However, I now appreciate participating in the "sport" of stamping.  I get my exercise stretching to reach something that falls on the floor, aerobics jumping out of my chair to get a stamp set from across the room and muscle-building applying pressure on a stamp or cranking out a die cut on my Cuttlebug.

Praise God for a sense of humor!

BIRTHDAY COFFEE

The UPS man arrived today with my precious SU order--YAY!  After sorting all the guest orders and bagging them, I ran upstairs with my new toys and started making some cards.

This one combines the Perfect Blend and Endless Wishes sets...hello Scrap Drawer!  After stamping the cup on a piece of light green, I stamped the lid portion on white and the collar on light brown using Smokey Gray Versafine ink.  For the greeting, I curved the polymer stamps to line up with the curve of the cup and stamped the top part in black and the larger word in light brown.

Since the card is a side fold, I ran the front through the Cuttlebug to emboss the birthday greetings.  Then I added a piece of brown textured cs from my Scrap Drawer, already zig-zag cut on the right side, after wrapping some natural hemp around the top.

Once I add the inside greeting, this should make a nice masculine birthday card!

THANKSGIVING CARD

Using a long-retired SU set, "Bountiful Blessings", this is the card I came up with for the members of the Mothers Class this year.  Rather than color in the image, I decided to keep it simple and rustic looking.  After tearing the edges, I sponged brown ink on the sides, then added some black sponging just on the very edges over the brown to give it a little more definition.

For embellishment, I used 2 pearls and a gem in the lower right corner.  Inside, I first stamped the wheat sheaf of the set in brown, then stamped "bountiful blessings..." in black over it.  The embossing folder on the front gave it a bit more texture.

I am so thankful for the members of my Mothers Class.  They truly are an inspiration and make Wednesdays the highlight of my week.

SIMPLE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

For the next Mothers Class, we'll be making these Christmas ornament cards--soooo easy!

After punching out a circle of dsp,  add a gem in the center and set aside.  Next, take a piece of white cardstock cut to
3 3/4"x5" and stamp the greeting on the bottom in an ink to match the cardstock base (SU Choc. Chip in this case.)  Then attach a piece of red metallic cord on the top of the card, taping it securely on the back.  Use a dimensional to attach it on the front underneath where the ornament will go.  Then add the  ornament on top of the dimensional.

The "pine branches" are done with a Martha Stewart fern punch and glued into place with TomBow mono glue.  A bow is added for the finishing touch with a glue dot.

Although you could use red or green cs for the base, I thought this dark brown made it a little richer looking and a bit more unusual--who would have thought!

WHITE HOLLY BERRIES

I just HAD to CASE this card shown HERE!  (10/29/13 post)

Holly trees do have red berries, but the white looks so much better here.  It's ok to be creative, right?

First, I ran the Penny Black holly die through the Cuttlebug using Pear Pizzaz cs.  Then I sponged the ends of the leaves with Color Box Olive Pastel chalk ink.  Using the same ink, I sponged the left third of a textured white panel and tied the natural hemp around it.

After stamping "Christmas Blessings" with Versafine Olympia Green ink, I mounted the panel on the card front with dimensionals.  TomBow mono glue was used on the left end of the branch and three leaves to hold it in place.  I slid the branch under the hemp, leaving the rest of the leaves and branch free so that it gives some dimension to the card.   After adding tiny pearls for the berries, the card was done.  This, by the way, took very little time to make--which means I'll be making more!

Thanks, Birgit, for such a wonderful design!

NEW TOY, OLD TECHNIQUE

The new die that I ordered from Penny Black came the other day, and I finally got a chance to try it out today!
This is the design I came up with for Mothers Class next week.

Using scraps from our previous Christmas bargello card, we'll snip them and place them on a piece of cardstock that was run through the Xyron machine.  Leaving spaces between the pieces, we'll add gold embossing powder on the remaining glue and heat.  After trimming and mounting the mosaic piece to the upper left of the card, we'll color the holly sprig and gently glue it to the card, add the tag and gold or red twine bow.

UPDATE ON JACKIE:  She should be home this weekend, thankfully, and plans to be in class next week.  Meanwhile, one of the other moms was in the hospital with an obstruction--what are the odds of two from the same class being in the hospital with the same problem at the same time.  Her issue resolved itself without any drastic measures, however; and she was released on Tuesday and in class yesterday.  Thanks for all of the prayer support that I'm sure helped in their recovery!

Birthday Card for a Good Friend

This was a fun card to make, and it didn't take very long.  I made it a folio card that "hinges" on the left.  The stamp is from a SU set, "Have a Seat."  Since my friend has this kind of furniture in her house, I thought it was just right.

The sun was very strong today, so this card photographed  a lot brighter than in real life.  It was fun making the cushion and pillows out of scrap dsp.  Inside it reads "The most valuable antiques are old friends."  I added that the older the antique, the more valuable.  We've been friends for over 30 years.

SIMPLE SATURDAY #31

BARGELLO CHRISTMAS CARDS...

...TWO FOR ONE!

Next Wednesday, the Mothers Class will be revisiting the Bargello technique which they learned last year and requested that we do again.  (See Splitcoast Stampers for this technique.)

After cutting all the pieces and mounting them on a piece of white cardstock, we'll run it through the Cuttlebug with the Christmas Tree die.  Using the negative space shown on this first card, we'll cut some trees from Pear Pizzaz cs to place in the opening.  Students will have the choice of taping it to lie flat or using dimensionals to raise it above the background.  After gluing sequins, a star and the greeting to the front of the card, we'll go to the second card.

Using the tree that was cut out of the Bargello panel, we'll then make a horizontal card.  (The red background is a richer shade of cardstock than it looks here.)  After attaching the star and a lime green gem, the tree and greeting will be mounted with dimensionals.  This one should take no time at all to complete!

I just love the way this came together so that none of the bargello panel was wasted.

SPECIAL NOTE:  Jackie will be missing some classes because of being in the hospital.  Instead of heading for a trip to Oregon to see her new grandchild as planned, she had to have emergency surgery to remove a blockage in her intestines.  She was in a lot of pain and is still recovering.  We're hoping she'll be out of  ICU soon.  Please keep her in your prayers.

FUN HALLOWEEN CARD

Here's the card we'll be doing at Mothers Class today--too cute!

The Candy Monster is from a set I just received in the mail from Taylored Expressions, along with some orange candy dots.  The matching die made this card super easy to do.  The small details are colored in with Gelly Roll glitter pens.  Jackie is bringing her large googlie eyes to class--they'll look much better than the small one I had on hand.

The polka dot dsp behind the circle opening is from a 12 x 12 K & Co. pad I picked up last year.  (Unfortunately, it looks washed out in this photo.)  It is mounted on the inside of the card to show through the die-cut circle behind the one-eyed monster.  I attachd him to the card front with a piece of foam tape below the opening.  Notice his green teeth, probably rotten from eating too much candy *lol*!

Should be a fun class!

WORLD CARD-MAKING DAY COMES TO A CLOSE

We enjoyed another sunny Indian Summer day today, so I was outdoors for quite a bit.  I did manage to make three new cards for pastor, though.  This is one of them.

It won't be long before all the leaves are off the trees and the days grow colder.  That's the best time to stamp.  Christmas cards, here I come...

I hope you all had a creative day today in honor of World Card-making Day!

GUESS WHO'LL BE GETTING THIS ONE!

Although the design is simple enough, the creative process took well over an hour.  I was experimenting with the stained glass look, but it didn't come out the way I'd hoped.  (I'll give it another try later this week.)

After gold embossing the leaves on vellum and coloring the back with markers, my first attempts at finding an adhesive that didn't rub off is what took all the time.  I finally ran the bottom leaf through my Xyron Label Maker, but I wanted the top one to be a little looser.  Nothing else worked, until I tried my TomBow Mono Glue down the center of the leaf.  The acorn was done on cardstock, so it was easily adhered with a dimensional.

Please click on the image and take a closer look!

HAPPY STAMPERS!

 Today at Mothers Class, I not only remembered to bring my camera; but I also remembered to USE IT!






Evelyn donated her card to the package I made up for the pastor.  I had only three, so hers was the fourth.  Thanks, Evelyn!

Jackie gave the camera a big smile, while Bambi finished working on hers in the background.

Kim's card came out great!

Each stamper used a different Bible verse for her card, so it was a nice variety.

Finally, the class worked on their Christmas cards.  Nicole is on the left.  Although she arrived late, she caught up quickly and finished all three of her cards.  (We do two of the Christmas cards each week so that everyone has a nice stash by December.)


If you click on the photos, you'll see why they're called the Advanced Class!

MOTHERS CLASS CHRISTMAS CARD

This should be an easy card to do in class.  First, we'll stamp the image in Versamark and gold emboss it.  Then with just red and green markers, we'll color in the word and the holly leaves, mount it on a green panel and attach it to the card base with dimensionals.

This is the original card I came up with but later modified it a bit to improve the scale.  The card base is a side fold, and the stamped panel is cut smaller.  I also rounded the bottom right corners of all three layers instead of using the diagonal strips.  One strand of red embroidery floss is wrapped around the left side of the top panel with a small bow at the top, allowing the image to stand out more. 

For the inside, we'll be stamping "Wishing you all the blessings of this happy, holy season."

Mothers Class Cards

This Christmas card is a great way to use up some scraps.  Using a hexagon die, I brought a batch of pre-cut hexagons to class for this simple card..  I got the idea from Kim Singdahlson's blog, September 8th post.  Be sure to visit her HERE!

The Fall card was very easy to duplicate also.  The leaves were inked on a Kaleidacolor pad, fussy cut and mounted on the card front with ds tape.  Twine was wrapped around the panel before mounting to the card.


TIP:  When wrapping twine or ribbon around a panel, start with a small piece of ds tape on the back to hold it in place while you tie it on the front.  Most of the time, it will be looser on the front than you'd like.  Just turn it over, snip the twine or ribbon and tape it down again with regular Scotch tape.  Then adhere the panel to the card.  Easy!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

When I walked into the dining room earlier, something caught my eye.  It was Jenny!  She had climbed into the gift bag on a chair and was quite happy with herself. 

BACK FROM MY BIRTHDAY TRIP

Just got back this morning from an overnight birthday trip with Rick to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.  The weather was just perfect for walking around outside and watching the sailboats go by.  Our room at the Steamboat Inn was delightful, except that the bed was a bit scary being 4 feet high!  Dinner at the local pub down the street was wonderful.  We even got home in time this morning to get all the garbage out for pickup as the truck was making its way toward our street.  Even though we were only gone a total of 30 hrs., the cats were delighted to see us back so they could go out.

I'm looking forward to getting some cards done later on today before "Stamping Withdrawal" sets in!

FINALLY BACK IN THE TOWER!

To bring you up to date, here's what's been happening since my last post:

First, I was able to "erase" the damage to my car on my own with a spray bottle of Orange Blast and a paper towel.  All that's left is a tiny scratch or two that need some touch-up paint.  This is after 2 estimates of $1200 and $1400 from the collision repair shops--what a rip-off.  No wonder our insurance rates are so high.  I also saved the $500 we would have had to pay as our deductible--that's a LOT of stamps!

Sunday (the 8th) we were able to get to church, and I'm so glad we didn't miss it.  We usually go to the early service, so we don't often get to hear the choir.  They sang four times during the early service, which was just beautiful; and the sermon was outstanding.  It felt really good to be back after missing 4 in a row because of my fall and being on vacation.

Speaking of vacation, here are a couple of pictures:  The first sunrise from our bedroom windows and the pool the next day.  The house was very comfortable for all 10 of us, and we already reserved it again for next year!

Back at home, we are having a new heating and A/C system installed, so the house was "invaded" by workmen for the week.  We still have one more installation to go, and then we can get back to normal.  

BUT, the "fun" really started Thursday night with a line of violent storms that came through and knocked out power for two days.  Thankfully, the generator enabled the workmen that were here to keep going the next day.  We had heat overnight on Friday, and we could see a huge improvement over the old system!  Saturday we still ran the generator (on and off) all day, but went to our daughter's house for a hot dinner and some laughs.  By the time we got home, the power had come back on.  Yesterday was bright and sunny in the 70's with no wind, so I was able to sit on the deck with the Sunday Times crossword and enjoy the weather one more day before it gets too cold.

Stamping has resumed, so check out my next post! (below)

FOUR MORE PASTOR CARDS

Autumn is in the air, as you can see by these designs.  (Please click to enlarge!)

The green one was pretty straight forward and took very little time to make.  The red leaf one was also quick to do, using a piece of dsp from my stash.  The other two took a lot longer.

The "faith" card started out with the letters mounted individually over the leaf pattern on another card front; but I couldn't get it to work.  After scrapping the original card I intended, I came up with this one using the negative strip and a piece of neutral background paper with a lined texture to it.  The orange leaf is from a set with the matching dies by Papertrey Ink.  After using some matching embroidery floss to highlight the verse,  I like how it turned out.

The striped cardfront was even more of a design challenge, but I also like the way it finally turned out after fussing with it for over an hour.  The verse on that card was curled to give it some depth, attached with ds tape on the left side only.

Thanks for stopping by!