Bonjour

It's the middle of the work week. One more day of work for me and I am off for 3 day weekend especially for this 4th of July holiday. I can't wait for the weekend to begin as Eclipse is out in the movie theaters. I can't wait to see it.

I would like to mention that Sparkle Smith, a creative and crafty girl is starting her own stamp line called Spakle Creations Rubber Stamp. She will be selling bare rubber stamps and EZ mounts. She is previewing her stamps this week and her store will be open on July 10th, midnight. She is currently having free giveaways. My order from Stamp and Create came today with the Whiff of Joy new release stamps (City Girls 2), The Greeting Farms, and High Hopes stamps and some wonder pattern papers from October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket. I love shopping at Stamp and Create, they have a great selections of stamps, papers, and embellishments, shipping is quick, free shipping over $55, and Lacey is such a great gal. Stamp and Create also have weekend blog candy, monthly challenges and the Wags n' Whiskers have weekly challenges.

On to my card, I stamped this card with the new Amuse release "Everything's Rosy" stamps. I love this Queen Anne Lace stamp. I used Tim Holtz's distress inks, spun sugar and worn lipstick. The leaves is from GinaK Design and the little butterfly is from Cornish Heritage Farms by Kim Hughes, Nature Silhouettes. For the background colors, I used chalks for a soft look. This is a simple card, but just love how it looks. The lines are done with the score pal. The inside of the card is pictured on your right hand.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Card Deeds:

stamps: Amuse, GinaK, Cornish Heritage Farm

Ink: Tim Holtz distress inks, Momento Tuxedo Black

Paper: PTI

Accessories: Scor pal

Candy Blog @ Melanie Muenchinger

Go on over to Melanie Muenchinger's blog to read her some fun tips for her new Little Tees stamp set (Gina K Designs). She is also having a candy blog for her 150,000 blog hits, so go on over to her blog to enter to win.

Geeta's Grey's Anatomy Challenge

The challenges go by so fast. This is Geeta's challenge .... make a card that has something to do with love. I love elephants. Thanks Geeta.

Playing Again!

I was actively playing with my stamps yesterday. I think I spent the entire day making these two cards. I have been wanting to try the pull-up pop-up card technique tutorial, shown by the talented and famous Jennifer McGuire in the Hero Club Blog. I just got to try it. I did it with my new Magnolia stamps I received at the end of June. I was so EXCITED to receive my new Magnolia stamps that I shown it to my DH and telling him how CUTE and ADORABLE they are. My DH wanted to cut the rubber because the stamp images are in a whole sheet. Off course I won't let DH cut the rubber because I will be very sad if anything happens to my Magnolia stamps. I decided to let him stamp the images on white cardstock for my file. This is just one of the first stamps I received. I signed up for the Magnolia's Stamp club which they will sent out 4 times a year (about $50 per quarter). I already colored (prismacolor pencils and baby oil) this Tilda last month, but didn't do anything else with it until now.

Like I said, I have been trying to use up all of my scraps as much as possible before going for a new piece of paper, so the color combo is the same for both of these cards. I actually did the SCS New Technique challenge first before doing the pull-up pop-up card. This was yesterday's new technique (LSC179 - Blintz Base). I have to say that I didn't really like this fold that much. I used Gina K's Just So Hippy stamp set. Love this set, but haven't play with it much. I finally inked up the hippo stamp. The umbrella and the sentiment is from My Favorite Things (MFT). Love their stamps also, but only has this set for now. This is the first time this set has been inked. This card is just so cute, just love the shorts on the hippo and the faux zig zag lines. I don't know how to sew, so don't have a sewing machine, so I have to do make faux lines with my pens to mimic sewing threads. Maybe one of these days, I will buy a sewing machine and learn how to sew. As of now, I have too much on my plate to take on another hobby.

I have to admit that I have purchased quite a bit of stamps and accessories over this pass year and haven't even inked it up. Shame on me, throwing so much money and not play, but I do have a very good excuse! I better go play... running to my craft area!

Gina K July Sketch Challenges

I fianlly got my hands dirty again. This past Saturday, I went to Stamp Works, my local stamping shop, for some motivation and inspiration. Nicolette, the owner of Stamp Works is such a talented lady. I usually do the make n' take from Nicolette every Saturday. Yesterday, I finally clean up my crafting area, but now it is mess again after do last night's cards. While I was cleaning up and going through all my crafting items, I have so much things I hardly even touched. Some things are still seating there in their packages for over a year now. I really need to use up all the pattern papers, cardstocks, and embellishments before I buy anything new. I am such a HOARDER and these things can't be collected because it gets dusty and discolored by the dust, incense fumes, and our cat furs and rubs. I still have tons of papers and embellishments since I start stamping almost 2 years ago. Wow, I can't believe I have been doing this for 2 years now. I know I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this hobby. I am slowing down with my purchases because I need to tell myself if I will use, is it worth it, can I find an alternative item I already have, and can I wait. I have so much scrap paper laying around. I need to start using my scraps before going for a new piece of paper.

I finally got back into making some cards. Since last Thursday, I wanted to play with my Gina K stamps after seeing the sketch challenges on the Gina K forum on SCS. I have to say that some of this stamps are not inked. I am so bad, I like to collect rather than play with them. This first card took me at least 2 hours to make such a simple card. I couldn't decide on the paper, rubber stamp, and ink. I just couldn't decide what to do. I guess after 2 months of not playing, it gets rusty. The next card, took me 30 minutes. That is an improvement. I haven't bought any new stamps from Gina K Designs since January. I LOVE her stamps and check out all the monthly releases. They have some talented designers.

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.

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.

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.