Celebrate SOG

***Note- Today is the last day to enter to win the StampNation & Some Odd Girl blog hop.  Clicky if you missed that post.  It's going to be something to celebrate.

This morning I decided to play in my stamp room before doing any other work.  A great way to start your day, don't you think?  I came up with this card for the Retro Sketches challenge.  Unfortunately the colors are really off in the picture.  I need natural light, but it's a gray morning here in SouthWest Washington.

rs#108

There was a little strip  of the balloon paper on my table as I was cleaning up so I decided to add it to the inside of the card.

This card will be going into my OWH box, so I tried to keep it pretty flat for mailing.  The "Celebrate" sentiment is perfect because it can be used for any kind of cerebration and not just birthday.

Supplies
Stamps: Everyday Smiles (Some Odd Girl)
Ink: Gumball Green
Paper: Birthday Basics DSP (SU), Basic Gray, Very Vanilla

Reminders
Today is the LAST DAY for Sale-A-Bration.  Be sure to order early so you don't miss out.

Today is the last day for StampNation members to use their 50% off coupon code for the Basics & Beyond class.

Today is the last day of the design team blog hop with Some Odd Girl, Kristy.

Today is the last day of March.  April starts tomorrow and that means it is almost my birthday month!  YAY APRIL!!!  :)

Sew Sunday ~ ALYOF

Can you believe March is almost over?  It went so fast.  April promises to be another extremely busy month.  Thankfully I chose an easy goal this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

ALYOF March

At the beginning of the month I had the goal of turning this pile of ripped, torn, and worn out jeans into pieces I could make into a quilt top for baseball season.

The actual collection of jeans amassed over the past 7 years was at least triple the size of this pile,but tucked safely into drawers.  Having two growing boys means lots of jeans with holes in the knees.  :)

I'm happy to report I have enough 5.5" squares to make that  quilt top, plus leftovers for a second.  I still have enough left over to possibly make a 3rd lap quilt.  Now if I can just find the time to turn these into picnic quilts we should be much warmer this season sitting out watching Michael's games.

Embossed Embossing Paste ~ Video

I've been wanting to make a card like this since I took the Holiday Card Workshop 2013 last fall and watched Debby Hughes do a similar technique.

Yes, the calendar says it is Spring, but the weather is a little more like winter outside.  I thought today was the perfect day to try out this technique and make a Christmas card.

Note:  If you are reading this post in your email or on a reader you may need to visit my blog to view the video above.  :) Click on the post title to go there now.

Isn't that a fun technique?  So many possibilities.

The embossed embossing paste is so pretty and sparkly in real life. I wish I could have captures that in the video, but this close up picture shows it very well.

MM#101

This card is going up in the current Merry Monday challenge.  It's the card I wanted to make earlier in the week, but didn't have time to also film a video for you.

Supplies:
Stamps: More Merry Messages (SU)
Misc: Wooden Bird, Leafy Branch (Savvy Dies), Snowflake Stickers, Dreamweavers White Embossing Paste, Silver Embossing Powder (SU)

Color Me Happy ~ StampNation Blog Hop

When I was a little girl the first thing I played with on Christmas morning was my new coloring book and box of crayons.  As an adult I still love coloring images.  Last Christmas I treated myself to a small collection of Copics and have been adding a few more each month.  Copics do come with a learning curve though and that's why I'm so excited about today's announcement!!!

We are introducing a new teacher to our StampNation Classroom, Kristy Dalman from Some Odd Girl.  She will be doing exclusive coloring and Copic tutorials for our members and we couldn't be more excited!!!!

To kick things off Kristy will be bringing us a new lesson every Friday for the next 5 weeks.   After that she will bring us an exclusive lesson on the last Friday of the month.  (As if Fridays needed to get any better!)

The first five lessons will cover:

1. Intro to the markers (types, nibs, etc)
2. Color system
3. Smooth Coloring
4. Blending, 3 Color Basic Blend
5. Shading Basics

If you haven't yet joined StampNation, what are you waiting for?  :)  Click HERE to learn all about it.

To welcome Kristy with a BANG the StampNation design team is doing a blog hop with cards we each made using Some Odd Girl stamps/digis.  Here is my card using Everyday Smiles clear stamp set and Guitar Kody digital stamp.

Be sure to hop along to everyone else to see what they have created and leave a comment on each blog for your chance to win...

PRIZES!!!!

We've hidden two 1-month subscriptions to StampNation along the hop...comment on each design team members blogs in the hop to enter to win.  Two winners will be announced on Monday, March 31.

Catherine

Chupa
Heather >You are here<
Kristie
Kristy
Maureen
Shea

The design team is also using SOG stamps in our StampNation challenge this week.  Here's a peek at my card.  

StampNation members that participate in the challenge this week will have the chance to win their choice of one Some Odd Girl (SOG) stamp set or 3 digis!!!!  (You do not need to use SOG products to win, but if you have them we would love to see them.)  Winner will be announced on April 9th.

Now get hopping.   See you in the challenge forum today and Kristy's classroom tomorrow.


Supplies Used:
Stamps: Guitar Kody (Some Odd Girl), Everyday Smiles (SOG), Boy's Best Friend Tobie (SOG)
Paper: Crumb Cake (SU), Neenah Solar White,  Very Vanilla, Blue Denim PP (CM-Retired)
Misc: Scallop Tag Topper Punch (SU), Various nuetral ribbons from Stampin' UP!, Essentials Clips (SU)

Fabulous Gift

When I shared pictures from my husband's company dinner last Sunday, Kristie asked me what was in the little blue bag.  Clicky if you missed that post.  I never thought I would get jewelry from Tiffany's.  That's like something out of a movie, but thanks to my husband's wonderful company I now have a bracelet and earrings to match the necklace they gave us wives last year.

Here's the card I made to thank the Emmerson family for their generosity.  A fabulous card for a fab gift.  Click on the picture for a close up and you will see that I put little rhinestones inside the sequins.

P.S.  Scroll down or hit "older posts" to see yesterday's card using some of the same supplies to make a Christmas card.

Stamps: Million & One (SU)
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Simply Fabulous Simply Sent Kit
Misc: Crystal Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Silver Ribbon (SU), Basic Rhinestones, Silver Embossing Powder

1/8" Silver Ribbon

Simply Fabulous Simply Sent Kit

Merry Monday #101

Check out this quick and easy Christmas card.  It went together super fast thanks to a couple of cheats.  ;)   I used the Simply Fabulous Simply Sent kit for the white die cut panel.

Next I pulled out my Christmas Lodge stamp set.   I'll be selling it soon, so I wanted to use it one last time.  The Merry Monday challenge chose the colors for me.  All I needed was a little pop of red.  To turn my basic rhinestones red I swiped my Copic R29 over the top and it was instantly turned into a ruby.  So easy!  Now I want to color all my rhinestones.  :)

MM#101

Not only did I get my creative juices flowing again, I have another card to add to my Christmas stash.  This would be a great card to mass produce and lays fairly flat for shipping.  No extra postage required.   There's no glitter on it, so it is also OWH safe.  In fact it might just go straight into my OWH Holiday pile. 

Stamps: Christmas Lodge (SU)

Ink: Versamark, Copic- R29
Paper: Simply Fabulous Simply Sent (SU), Smoky Slate

Misc.:  Silver Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Silver Embossing Powder

Simply Fabulous Simply Sent Kit

1/8" Silver Ribbon

Sunday Share

Can you believe it's been almost a week since I've been in my craft room or sewing room to create something?  As I mentioned in an earlier post I spent part of last week working on our taxes.  What I didn't mention is that I was also preparing for our trip down to CA for my husband's annual Manager's Meeting and Reception.

The company recently bought a new jet, and we were flown down to the meeting yesterday in style.  I'm not a big fan of flying, but I have to admit this was the smoothest, most comfortable flight I have been on.

When we walked on the plane this was the wet bar.  I had bottled water.  :)  Hey, it was a 8:40am and I didn't want coffee. It's well stocked, I am told.  Isn't the marble and wood beautiful?

Look at those plush comfy seats, and lots of head room.  I didn't go to the back of the plane, but there is a bathroom, sink and closet back there.

The seats swivel if you want them to, but I get motion sickness, so I kept mine facing forward.  Someone has to keep an eye on the pilots, right?  It was such a smooth flight that I didn't feel nauseous once.  :)

Nikki took this picture of the cockpit.  The picture I took is not as good, but it shows the backs of the pilots as we were flying.  My boys asked me how I got that picture and it dawned on me that they have grown up in the era where the cockpit is off limits.   This was a private plane so the doors to the cockpit were left open.

Flying over Mt. Shasta on our way into Redding.  It was nice to see snow on the mountains.  

My favorite part of the meeting, is the little gift we got.  We have not had gifts every year.  In fact there were a couple of years we didn't even have the meetings, but it sure has been nice to get a little something for the past 3 years.

Who can resist a little Tiffany Blue box?   Sorry I don't have a picture of what is inside, but I am impressed I remembered to take this picture before untying the bow.  :)

Crater Lake?  I think?

My cell phone doesn't take the best pictures, but it was awesome to have fairly clear skies and fly so low to see the beautiful landscape of CA, OR and WA.

Mount Rainier below as we were flying into the cloud bank in Olympia.  It was a short, quick trip, but cool to fly so close to the mountains.  We were able to see Mt Rainier, Mt St. Helens, Mt Hood, Mt Shasta and Lassen along with others on both flights.  Now that I am home I think I will take a nap and then perhaps head out to the hobby room.  Or not.  There's always tomorrow.

Challenge Day

It's time for a new challenge at StampNation.   Here is a sneak peek of what the design team came up with.  Can you guess what this week's challenge is?

If you want to learn more about becoming a StampNation member, click HERE.
If you are a member and want to see the new challenge, click HERE.

Close up of my sneak peek.  I discovered a new paper pack for this one and have had fun using it.  :)

Sale-A-Bration Reminder...

Stampin' UP!'s Sale-A-Bration ends March 31st.  For every $50 you spend you can choose one free SAB item.  Did you know that Stampin' UP! puts out a new weekly deal every Tuesday?  Check out this week's deals.

I'm not much of an "Orange" person, but I love the soft peach of the Crisp Cantaloupe color and the stretch that this trim has so I will be getting a spool of it.  If you don't own the Scallop Trim Border it is a MUST.  I've had mine for 3 years and still use it all the time.  :)    My supply of Vintage Trinkets is low, so I'll be ordering another pack of these sweet embellishments. Just wanted you to know the scoop so you don't miss out.

Click on the Shop 24/7 button at the top of my page to visit my Stampin' UP! website anytime.

As for my personal challenge?  I'm working on taxes this week, so no time to play in the stamp room since Monday. :(  My goal is to get my work and errands done today so I can release some creative energy on Friday.  How about you?   Have you had any play time this week?

Oh, Scrap

After I finished creating on Sunday I had scraps and pieces that didn't work on my original cards everywhere.  As I was putting things away and throwing things out I decided to use 2 of the pieces to make a new card.  THIS is why my space never gets fully clean.  I clean to the point that I find something I just have to play with.  ;)

In this CASE I was about to throw out the pink woodgrain that I decided I didn't like and I uncovered the Seattle watercolor tag that didn't work on a card a few weeks ago.  Bingo Presto, I put them together and added a few sequins to make this card.  It's not my favorite card ever, but it's good enough to brighten someone's day.

Ok, so my stamp room looks like a bad case of "Hoarders", but there IS creativity going on in there.  Now, where did I put my scissors????

Supplies
Stamps: Hardwood (SU), Sending Love... (Impress)
Ink: Blushing Bride + ????
Misc.:  Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Strawberry Slush Ruffled Stretch Trim (SU)

Hello Handsome 4 OWH

Yesterday afternoon I got to spend a few hours in the hobby room working on some upcoming design team projects.  After I was done with those I wanted to make a card from my scraps so I turned to the new OWH sketch.

OWH #216

Did you know their sketches have measurements?  Talk about quick and easy to put together.  I did change up the mats on the center panels because I wanted them a bit thinner, but that's the beauty of sketches, you can change them to suit your style.

The best part was I created 7+ cards and half of them will be going in my OWH box.  :)  That's a good 3 hours in my book.

Supplies
Stamps: Year Round Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Paper: Sew Lovely (Carta Bella), Cherish (Authentique), Very Vanilla (SU)
Ink: Night of Navy
Misc:  Natural Chevron Ribbon (SU), Oval & Scallop Oval Punches (SU)

CAS Classroom

There are so many "hidden" benefits to becoming a StampNation member, and one of them is The Classroom.    Catherine has hired some amazing teachers that bring us the latest and greatest trends, lessons in design, tips & techniques to take your paper crafting to the next level and so much more.

One of my favorite classrooms is Maureen's Clean & Simple classroom.  (from Mama Mo Stamps)  Why?   Because I have always struggled with CAS design.  It seems like CAS should be easy, but that isn't the case, at least for me.  There are so many little elements that go into the perfection of this style of card and Maureen teaches us how in a very clear & easy-to-understand way. 

If you see me make a CAS card you can bet I have taken at least one element I've learned from Maureen and used it on my card.  Her lessons are timeless and relevant, so the classes she put up two or three years ago still work for me today.  Here is a peek at her latest class on movement and flow.

She has 31 lessons in the CAS Classroom alone, and there are a total of 8 classrooms open right now, including a room that is for all SN members to add tutorials to.  Here is a peek at Mo's classroom:

As a StampNation member you get access to ALL of the classrooms for just $9 a month!  Less than Netflix and I bet you'll use it more often.  ;)  Plus you have access to the "teachers" so they can answer any questions you have.  Look what else is included in your membership:

• Maureen's CAS Classroom
• Kristie's Spotlight on Trends
• 400+ exclusive videos
• 130+ Challenges
• 17,000+ projects in the gallery
• the most amazing community of world-wide paper crafters on the internet and so much more!

See you in the forums!

Stampin' Celebration!

It's time for a Stampin' Celebration.  Today I get to let you in on a little secret I've been so excited to share. I've been invited to serve on the design team at Stampin' Celebration for the next 6 months!   What an honor to create alongside these talented ladies for such an inspiring monthly challenge.

SC76S

If you are new to Stampin' Celebration, it is a monthly challenge. On the first of every month there is a new photo inspiration released and on the 15th a sketch is released.  Each release comes with loads of inspiration from the design team.  You can choose to make your project based on the photo or the sketch or both.

Are you ready to see what I came up with?

The great thing about this CAS sketch is that it can flipped, rotated, twisted or turned and it will still work.   This one is going in my keeper binder.

You have until the 27th of March to submit your project based on either the sketch released today or the photo inspiration released earlier in the month.  Clicky if you want to check that one out.

Thank you Stampin' Celebration for inviting me to play along with you.  <3

Supplies:
Stamps: Kind Words(Penny Black)
Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU), Sweetness Paper Pack (Authentique), Whisper White, Basic Black
Misc. Stampin' UP! Supplies: Baker's Twine, Dazzling Diamonds, Fancy Fan Embossing Folder, Small Heart Punch, Vintage Faceted Buttons,

Tattered Tangles Quilt + Giveaway

This week Tattered Angels is sponsoring StampNation and they sent each design team member a box of their new line, Tattered Tangles, and a few paints, and other goodies to see what we could come up with.  Here is one of the cards I made using their new line.

Zentangle is so popular right now, but to be honest, I'm not much of a doodler, so these papers let me easily jump on the trend.  When I saw the piece above I instantly thought "quilt" and colored it in like I would a nine patch, and cut out around the outline.  Then I used the clothespins and yarn Tattered Angels sent me to string my "quilt" up.

Check out the splatters of Glimmer Glaze in the background.  It was really easy to splatter the paint.  Their Tattered Tangles paper is thick and a bit glossy on the front so it holds ink and paint well.  I used SU markers to color in my pieces and they did not bleed to the back.

Below is a sneak peek at the card I made for today's StampNation challenge.  You can really see how I used the Glimmer Glaze to color my card.

If you are a StampNation member head on over to StampNation to see what the design team came up with using their box of goodies.

PRIZE ALERT!!!!!

Tattered Angels and Catherine Pooler are sponsoring a giveaway.  Clicky to go to Catherine's blog for all the deets.  :)  Good luck!

Card Recipe
Tattered Angels/Tattered Tangles: Boucle- Cream  and Quotes (Pure Mistable Papers), Yellow Clothespins and Hemp Rope Cord (Canvas Corp), Glimmer Glaze - Desert Sun

SU Colors: Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzaz, Pistachio Pudding, Basic Black

Punches: Artisan Label Punch (SU), 1 1/4" Scallop Circle Punch

Lovely Lilac Tulips

Yesterday I spent a little time out in my flower beds pulling weeds and checking out the bulbs that are starting to push up.  It's so fun to see the dead looking flower bed start to emerge with new life from the roots buried beneath the soil.

That's what inspired me to pull out this tulip stamp and my Copic markers.  Right now there are just green leaves poking out, but soon my flower bed will be awash with color.

Linking up with 2 fabulous challenges today:

CAS*ology


Stampin' Celebration



Stamps: Blessed Easter (SU), Tiny Tags (SU)
Copics: G21, RV93, V12, V15, YG63, YG67
Ink: Trunk Bay Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels), Tuxedo Black (Memento), Wink of Stella Glitter Pen
Misc.: Garden Vines Stencil (Memory Box), Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon (SU), White Baker's Twine, Jewelry Tag Punch, Scallop Trim Punch (SU)