What Kind of Shoes Are You?

You Ar Clogs

You are a solid and down to earth person. You seek – and almost always achieve – a really sound balance in your life. You are stylish yet comfortable. Mellow but driven. Excited yet calm. You are the perfect mesh of contradictions. No matter what happens, you have the ability to stay well grounded in your life. People know that they can truly depend on you. You should live: In Europe You should work: At a company dedicated to helping the world

What Kind of Shoe Are You?

This is a lazy warm day for me. I went for a walk around the mall. I am taking a break from papercafting today. Just want to enjoy the day.

Happy 70th Birthday - Hugs to You

I made this for Terry, YuRee putted in a requested on SCS "Need a Lift Forum". She needed 70 cards for her father's 70th birthday. YuRee said her father's tag line is "I need a hug" thus this is what I made. The stamp is from Gina K, "You know you are old when..." set and the sentiment is from Penny Black. I have been admiring Faith Hofrichter aka Markie's Mom on SCS. Check out her cards, it is awesome. I love how she used the white gel pen (Signo pen) on the borders of all her cards. I love it and wanted to try it and I tried it here. Mines off course its as complicated as Faith's cards. I don't make many masculine cards. I hope this doesn't look feminine.

I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend. My DH and I went out fishing at Tempe Town Lake with our friends this weekend. We caught some touts and a carp. The weather is getting warmer over in Arizona. It will start to get HOT in mid-May. TFL

Recipe:

Stamps: Gina K and Penny Black

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Colorbox Red Lipstick and Chocolate

Paper: Espresso DCVW cs, Olive Brazzil cs, Light blue cs, and Basic Grey dp

Accessories: prismacolor pencils, cuttlebug slider die cut, ribbon, crystal effect, clear copic spica pen.

Yesterday was VMAA

Yesterday night was the Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts which I missed! Today, I made it up and was only able to play for a little while as I have to make time to post the challenges. I did two challenges. A Muse stamps are so cute. I got hook on them a year ago. They are so fun and simple to play with.

The Challenge #4: Saturday Night Fever , which was to use only black and white. I used the A Muse animal acrylic stamps, the cow and the sentiment. I did my own background by making cow prints. I punched out two photo corners and decorate on with black brads and the other is stamped with the "holy cow" sentiment. I recyled the cripple black cs which was from the incense boxes.

The Challenge #3: Do the Hustle Challenge, which was a sketch challenge. I used the Elzybells stamp, "Girl in car". I stamped her twice, one in white cs and the other one in left over scrap dp. Cut out the car from the dp and glue it on the white cs. Use the left over black cs as the road by adding white lines. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

I am glad I was able to play even though it is only for a little while. I will be doing the other challenges when I have more time to play. Thanks for looking.

Flower Butterfly

I was at Stamp Works yesterday to find inspiration, see Nic, and buy a few things. I wanted to do some quick cards that I can give in packs as gifts. Nic showed me a sample card she did in one of her make n' take and I totally have to CASE'D it. It was so easy and fast. I am thinking of donating my handmade cards to our local no kill cat policy shelter, "Hope for Cats" for them to sale to get some funding. This is where we adopted Shui Di and Rusty. We have been donating dry cat food and liter every week to help, but I thought this may bring in extra money for all the vet bills, foods, and liter expenses.

During this week's stamping, I found the Brilliance Graphite Black ink comes off the acrylic, mounted, and unmounted stamps so easy unlike the Stazon Black or Memories Black dye ink which I have to really scrub the stamp to get it clean and I have to clean it right away otherwise the stamp is stained. I have a few stamps that are stained because I was too lazy to clean it right away. Before, I usually use the Versafine Onyx Black or the Stazon Black, but now I am always reaching for the Brilliance Graphite Black. For fine detail stamps, I would still use the Versafine. This is my two cents.

Recipe:

Stamp: Stampendous "Flower Butterfly", See D's sentiments

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black.

Paper: White and Scarlet Red cs

Accessories: prismacolor pencils, diamond stickles, odorless mineral spirits, paper piercer, mat, and grey souffle sakura pen

Lots of Goodies to Show

Update, Lay and Kutsu is almost fully recovered, they are both back to doing their routine activities. Thank goodness. I am home for another day. Last night we locked our bedroom door, so the two younger cats can't come in and bother us. I got a long and restful sleep, no disturbance throughout the entire night.

I got lots of goodies for my Color Me Happy (CMH) swap Sister on SCS. I altered the Target mailbox to incorporate her colors and used my left over dp. I wouldn't tell you what her colors are otherwise she will know who she is. I made her a card also. The stamps are from A Muse. I am planning to use this set for my Asian ATC swap also. I really like the sentiment from this stamp set, "Roll with it", sometimes this is just how life is. I hope my CMH sister like what I got for her. I wanted to do this for awhile now and finally got around to doing it. I have been meaning to send out "Need a Lift" cards. Why not give others a lift and a smile for a day with cards. Today is SCS Sketch Challenge, SC173. This is what I made, I am sending this to Shelly. Her friend Tammy putted a request on the SCS Need a Lift forum. Shelly is battling breast cancer. The stamp is from Gina K "Make a Wish" Stamp for a Cause set. I purchase the handmade velvet dp papers from Costco for awhile now. Finally got around to using it. Love all that stickle, but you probably can't see it unless you enlarge the card.

TFL. I am off to making another "Need a Lift" card for a 70th B-day card. YuRee putted a request for her father's 70th birtday, to shower him with 70 cards.

Welcome Lil' Cutie

I did this card last night. I am so exhausted today. My two younger cats have been a tick for the last two nights. I kept waking up because Shui Di kept playing with the blinds until I finally kicked him out of the room then Rusty stepped on my body. Thus kicked both of them out of my room. Stupid me forgot to lock my room and Shui Di has this talent of opening doors, thus both of the cats came back in. Shui Di went and played with the blinds again. Finally, kicked him out and lock the door. After that, I haven't been able to go back to sleep and it is already 7:00AM, so time to wake up. I am still home today to keep an eye on Lay and Kutsu, they look better. This also means more time to stamp.

Ok, back to my card. This is for the Gina K's April Release Challenge #1 by Carolyn King on SCS. Did another baby cute with the Gina K's "Stamp for a Cause" set. I got to play with my Gina K stamps a lot more. I purchased 4 sets already and barely inked any of them. I am drooling over the new sets, but I already spent TOO... much in stamping supplies this month. I need some self control. I will have to wait till next month. I love the peace and comfort and the hip-hop accessories sets the most. I am not much of an owl person, but love the branches and flowers on the branches. I love their new bling (screw brads) also.

I think I am going to use my Gina K stamps all this week to celebrate their April's new release sets. Counting the days till next month...10 days and counting till I can buy the new stamp sets.

Recipe:

Stamps: Gina K's "Stamp for a Cause", Memory box for sentiment

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, French Blue Colorbox

Paper: white, light yellow bazzill, dp (purchased in Joann's), cirtus, light blue

Accessories: cuttlebug tag die cut, prima flower, drew drops, light blue velvet ribbon, Marvy Giga scalloped circle punch, white pen, piercing tool, prismacolor pencil, baby oil, and clear copic spica pen

Techniques: faux thread and gamsol technique

Baby Gift Card Holder

Happy Monday. I am home for today. Lay and Kutsu seems better, but still have runny nose. Still need to monitor them to make sure everything is ok. Finish running errands today and went to the public library to borrow some books. I have decided to use my public library again, its been awhile since I have been there. I need to use the resources that are available to me. Why buy books and waste money when I only read them once. The library is just so close to my house, so there isn't any excuse for me to not use my library.

Monday's new technique is to make a gift card holder, TLC165. I combined TLC165 with Gina K's April Release Challenge #2 (sketch) on SCS. The gift card holder turned out to be so CUTE. Jim and I are so behind in sending a gift to our friends who have their first baby in early February. I used Gina K's "How sweet it is", a Cause for a Cure set which the company donates a portion of the sale of this set to the diabetes foundations. Using my left over dp scrap paper which I have for over a year now. I stamped the image and sentiment with Brilliance Graphite Black ink and colored with prismacolor pencil and used the gamsol technique. Instead of using OMS, I used baby oil since it was ready available in my craft area. I used my clear copic spica pen to make the image glitter/shimmer. Wow, what a difference this pen makes. Love this pen! I have 4 other colors and still have to buy the other 8 colors. I putted dew drops on top of the baby blue velvet ribbon. The inside of the gift card is very simple, just added dp inside. This gift card was so easy to make.

TFL.

Card Holder Box

I am so productive today. I finished a card holder box which I am filling it with some cards I already made. I am planning to give it to a few people as gifts. I think I can put about 5 or 6 cards inside the box for other people to use for "Thank you" or "Birthday" or just a quick "Hi". I got the box template from A Muse Addict Message Borad by Geeta Sugg. She made it to hold A Amuse cards which is 41/2 x 4 1/2 but standard A2 cards are 41/4 x 5 1/2, so I change the measurements to fit my cards. I stamped the red cardstock with Brillance Black ink pad and embossed it with clear embossing powder (ep). The stamps are from Hero Arts BG Silhouette on the bottom half of the box and the cover is a stamp from Stampendous. I used the round corner punch. I added velcro so you can open and close the box and velcro was the cheapest way to make closers. This was actually quite easy. No embellishment on this one as this was my first one, maybe the next time.

I made this card to go into the card holder box. I decided to do some simple cards. I got this stamp yesterday at Stamp Works. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. Another silhouette stamp. The sihouette stamps are ready popular right now. Almost everything stamp company has a few that just came out. I just stamped the image 3 times in 3 different colors (Marvy ink pads), but 2 of the colors are so much similar, you probably can't see it here. I stamped the butterfly a couple of times, cutted them out, added rhinestones on them, and sticked them on the card. I also used my paper piercing tool to make some holes on the bottom where the birthday sentiment is, but you probably can see them, but as a butterfly trail.

This is all for today. I have some more cards I have to make on a few more challenges on SCS.

See you later this week. Have a good work week.

Hippy B-Day Giraffe

I have been waking up early for the last couple of weeks and today is no exception. Shiu Di was playing with our bedroom blinds. Lay and Kutsu is still sick. Lay is feeling better, but Kutsu still have runny nose and nasal congestation. If he doesn't get better by tomorrow, I will have to take him to the vet to get some medication. It's funny how everybody talks about their children this way, but for me, I talk about my cats. They are my only children until I get pregnant again.

Since, I got up so early, I was able to do Artfully Ila's candy blog sketch challenge this morning. I have so much left over scrap papers, I decided to use up some of my scrap papers and since tonight is Gina K's 4 new set release and one of the new set is going to be "Hip-Hop Accessories", merger of the Hippy and Hoppy sets (baby hippies and hoppies); thus what a better way then to use my Hippy sets (Melanie Muenchinger is the designer for the "hippy & hoppy" set, so check out her wonderful and creative work). I got out the giraffe, the heart ballon, and the "Hippy Birthday" sentiment. I used the masking technique and stamp the ballon twice. I drew 2 lines (ballon string) with my black pen to make it look like the giraffe is holding them by his tail. I colored the giraffe and the ballons with prismacolor pencils, no gamsol this time, just color pencils. I just bought the dew drops from Nicolette at Stamp Works yesterday as well some new stamp sets. She had this stuff for a long while now, but never knew how to use them until I see everybody else using them on their cards. I added prima flowers on the corner and a yellow button in the middle of the flower.

Jim's been telling me my cards are more SOLID and he doesn't like it because it no longer looks like a card. I ask for explanation and what he meant is that my cards have too many layers, embellishments, and etc and that it no longer looks like a card where it is suppose to be simple... one or two layers and minimal embellishments if any. Jim did say my cards are getting better in coloring, color coordination, and overall presentation. That is a compliment from him. I have been challenging my creativity by doing a lot of challenges from SCS and other blogs.

TFL (thanks for looking) and I hope to get some more paper projects done today.

Hugs to You

Yesterday night before going to bed, I was able to see SCS's Friday challenge, Limited Supplies (LS164-Long Tall Sally). This morning, my goal was to do this challenge and maybe incorporate other SCS's challenges from this week. When I am done with my card, I did challenges SC172 and WT62-Acrylics instead. My card is 4x81/2, but I added design pattern paper and maybe too much layers and embellishments, thus disqualify from completing LS164 challenge requirements. Most of the stamps are from Great Impressions April Month stamps (bird, nest and vine stamps). The sentiment "hugs to you" is from Hero Arts. I used my cuttlebug swirl folder. I added acrylic red gems and pink flower from Heidi Swapp. I added a button and thread in the middle. I pop up the bird and the eggs in the nest with foam. I colored in the leaves in the vine with green souffle gel pen. I colored the image with Twinkling H2O which gives it a little shimmer. I distress the edges. The dp is from DCVW, the Christmas dp slab.

I had problem uploading the baby shoes picture. I made this last weekend. The baby shoes template is from SCS's Barbra1224 . I wanted to do this for awhile now. I made this for Charlotte, my newest niece. I have to mail this out to her parents which I haven't have the time to do yet.

Busy Week

I had a busy week this week. I haven't have time to play. I did something last Sunday, but haven't have time to upload. I will do it tomorrow when I have get some time to play. I want to do this week's SCS challenges. Maybe I will have some time tomorrow.

My cats have been sick, first it was Rusty which was sick about 2 weeks ago, then he passed on to Shui Di, and now it is Lay and Kutsu. They have been really needy for the past month since Rusty got injured which cost me an arm and leg on the vet bill. Shui Di pushed Rusty off from the play tree while Rusty was asleep and he landed hard on the carpet. He was having problems walking, so we took him to the vet. Likely, his left hind leg was just bruised and sored, and nothing serious. Rusty is fine now, but hasn't went up to the play tree or anywhere really high since his accident. He started playing with his mice and running around the house again which is good new. Right after his accident, he got sick, sneezing quite a bit. We thought he has allegeries since it is Spring, but he stopped after 3 days and then Shui Di started sneezing and this is when we knew the "cat flu" is being passed around. Kutsu has been very needy, he actually slept with us on our bed yesterday. He usually doesn't sleep with us nowadays. I don't think Kutsu got much sleep and he looked sick and so does Lay. Lay was sleeping quietly by himself all day for the last three days now. Lay usually like to bother us and scratch the blinds and "meows" to go out or to get some attention, but he hadn't done that for the last few days. I worry for Lay and Kutsu because they are so much older than the other two and they look miserable. I have to keep my eyes on them to make sure they are ok.

On Tuesday, I had jury duty. I didn't get selected to be a juror, but the people next to me all got selected. Thank goodness, but I wouldn't have minded, but the case was expected to last to the end of April (12 day trial). It was boring and I actuallly spent a whole day for jury service as I was selected to be on a jury panel for a criminal case (murder case) and the judge asked some questions which there were quite a few answers, thus took a whole day.

I have started going to work with Jim a few days a week to save some trees and to keep myself busy.

Window View

Another early morning for me, but not as early as yesterday. Today, my youngest cat, Rusty decided to wake me up and get me out of bed by stepping on top of my body. I got some chores done and got to finish my card which I started yesterday. This is my first try after getting a lesson from Nic, Stamp Works, on this product from one of her make n' trade cards. This stuff is called Flower Soft, an England manufacturer and it is so fun to play ith. You just put some craft glue on wherever you want to put the flower soft on and pour or use your fingers and put the flower soft on top of the image and shake off the excess. Make sure you let it the glue dry first before shaking off the excess. It gives it a 3-D effect. You probably can't see it in this picture, but you can see it in my close up picture of this product. Isn't it gorgeous? I wanted to pop up the flower pot, but I already putted the flower soft on the image, so I decided to add a blue bird and pop it to give it a more complete look. I probably should have added some more embellishments like brads or something on the card, it just look so plain right now. I will try another one on a later day.

I don't really like this asian fan iris fold ATC, not the iris folding put, but the overall ATC card. I did an UGLY card, but I will share with you anyways. This is my first try outside of class. It should be for cards, but I signed up for an Asian ATC swap at SCS, so I thought this should be fun and creative to do. I used my expensive origami paper, per 6x6 piece is $0.50/$0.60 each to do the iris folds. I colored the fan handle with my gold spica copic pen (I got some more colors just the other day from Stamp Works, they finally have more in) and added crystal effect. I think I am going to change the white cardstock to black or a dp and do better work on the gold marker outline, LOL. I will show you another picture of the iris fold once I have decided what changes to make.

It has been really nice in Arizona, the weather is warm, not HOT! Get out and enjoy spring.

SCS Weekly Challenges

The weekend is here, but unfortunately, my two younger cats woke me up REALLY early this morning. I went to my craft area to play. I want to combine most of this weeks challenge into one card. I have never combined so many challenges into one card and since I I haven't been playing with SCS's challenges for awhile now, I thought this will be a good chance to do it now. This week's SCS challenges are Try a New Technique, TLC163, Stacked Ribbons; Card Sketch, SC 171; Ways to Use It, WT161, eyelets; and Limited Supplies, LSC163, DIY DP.

I wanted to play with my new Penny Black hedgehog which I have purchased for awhile now and haven't got to inking it. I used the gamsol technique with is coloring my image with prismacolor pencils and then rub the images using stumps and odorless mineral spirits. I liked the Hanko flower stamp, so I decided to make my own DP, by stamping pink Colorbox ink on white cardstock. I don't really like to work with eyelets, but this was extremely easy, just added on the lounging chair where the screws usually are placed on a lounging chair. I distressed the ovals and edged the dp,ovals, and lime green circle ribbon with pink Colorbox ink. I stacked pink w/red circle ribbon on top of the lime green circle ribbon. That it, this was a really easy to make.

I am going to be going to Stamp Works, my local stamp store where I buy tons of my stamping and crafting supplies from for the last year and a half. I I have been spending less this year because I haven't been playing much, but also not much spare money. Nicolette, the owner has a make n' take for $2 on Saturdays. I also take classes there. I just took an iris folding class. I had never took it before and it is really easy and fun. I did an asian fan artist trade card (ATC) for a swap. It takes awhile to make, but very fun! I will upload it tomorrow or next week. Nic's store gets really crowded on Saturdays especially with her make n' take and classes. I support my local craft stores rather than the big stores unless it is for a really big purchase which I use the coupons for. For those of you who knows me, you know I know all about the mom & pop stores that doesn't make it because of the big chain stores. Have a good weekend!

Acetate Collage Cards

Happy Wednesday, I stayed up late yesterday to get a sneak peek of the Gina K's new stamps. They are fabulous and I love Gina's new line concept, love the stories behind the cards and stamps. Can't wait till mid-night, April 10th to view the stamps in her online store.

I will be heading off to Xpedex in Tempe to see what I can grab as they are discounting their craft department. They are a paper store, but I go their to buy their stamps and inks. They have the best price in town. I am SOoooo SAD they will no longer sell the craft items, but I guess it will be good for my pocketbook. I am wondering if I can use my 20% off card in addition to the 30% sale they are having. This will be an AWESOME bargain if they do. I will have to see when I go there after this blog entry.

Now onto my cards. Yesterday, I was playing the Hero Arts Blog weekly challenge. I combined last week's challenge of using acetate and this week's challenge of using collages. I used the Hero Arts collage stamps and swirls. This is actually the first time a made an acetate card, so thanks Hero Art for the challenge to get me to try a new techniques and to use my acetate/transparency paper and glitter mist. I brayered the white glossy using the kaleidacolor ink pad with a brayer and stamped the collage image stamp with black dye ink. I stamped twice and cutted our the butterfly so I can pop it up. Color the butterfly with the gold copic spica pen. Currently, I only have that color. Stamped the swirl around the edges of the acetate.

This one I also used Monday's Try a New Technique, on SCS, TLC163, Stacked Ribbon as the Hero Arts acetate and collage challenge. I so love to play with my cuttlebug. I embossed the front card with the embossed swirl folder. I stamped the collage in white stazon on acetate and then stamped again in the brayered white glossy paper in black dye ink. I just layer the acetate on top of the glossy paper and attached crystal brads to hold them together. I popped the word "Create". I layered the ribbons with black on the bottom and multi-color on the top. I got those ribbons for $1 dollar and the embossed swirl folder for 1/2 off at Michaels, they are having a huge craft blow out this week.

Thanks for looking, now off to Xpedex to see what I can grab.

Monthly Card Swap

I am currently in a monthly card swap which consist of 6 people per group, hosted by Melissa Craig from SCS. Each month the hostess will send out an image and designer paper (dp) for the other 5 people in the group to use on their cards. Embellishments are optional. Finally, got the time to upload my monthly swap cards.

This one is from February. It is quite plain, but love the scalloped circle, reminds me of a flower with the circle. I used bazzill cs and my giga scalloped Marvy punch. The bee image (Stampendous), dp and eyelets were provided by the hostess. Truthfully, I don't like to work with the eyelets as I don't like the pounding I have to do because I don't have the pink or green dile setter which everybody has these days. I don't have the money to invest in this think yet. It's on my wishlist, but my wishlist is currently very long, LOL.

This was the March swap. I also have this spa bella image. Bought it awhile ago. Makes me envy those ladies who can afford spa treats like this where you get pampered like a queen. I am trying to use up all my old cardstocks which a purchased at my local Xpedex store before buy new ones. I have purchased a few (wink.. wink) packs which consisted of 250 cardstocks (cs). When am I ever going to finish using these things, LOL. I cheated already as I purchased new bazzill cs in January. The hostess for March was really generous, she gave us so much goodies. I added faux crystal, paper flower, and lime green brad. Another simple card for me. I haven't really been creating anything the last two months.

Finally, my April card. This dog (Penny Black) image is just so cute. I love the designer paper (dp) also. It is just so fun to do this card. I used the gamsol technique to color the dog, which is prisma color pencils and odorless mineral spirits. I finally purchased some embossing folders from Michaels last Sunday for 50% off. Finally, I get to play with my cuttlebug. I purchased the cuttlebug in January and never touched it until now. Shame on me as it was a big investment. I paid $60, including shipping for this thing as it is now $40 at Michael because of the 50% sale. Anyways, like I said, trying hard to use up all my old cs, my prism flowers and brads, so I can buy MORE new ones, LOL.

I need a job to feed my stamping, crafting addiction.

What a Lame Blogger....

I am such a lame blogger. I haven't been stamping or crafting for almost 2 months except to do my monthly card swap. I am feeling so much better after my miscarriage. I finely got the "all clear" after 1 1/2 month of going to the lab to get my blood withdrawal every week to test my HCG level. I am back in action and getting my groove back. I just finish reorganizing my craft space and finish my month card swap for April. I have a lot of stamping and crafting to catch up on as I spent quite a bit of money on the cuttlebug embossing folders and dies at Michaels on Sunday because of their "BLOWOUT SALE". I finally get to use my cuttlebug. I had bought it 3 months ago and never play with it because I didn't have any embossing folders. I have so many new stamps I haven't ink yet.

I will be uploading some of the cards I made within the following days.

Thanks for looking at my blog. Leave me a message at the below link to tell me what you guys are up to.