Monday, March 30, 2009

Bye-Bye Bunnies

I'm so sad...I know, I know...I was whining about losing my parsley to the bunnies but I miss them. Thursday morning, all the bunnies were in the nest but by mid-afternoon, the smallest two were gone. Friday morning....no bunnies. At first I thought they might have left on their own but our young friends, who raise rabbits for 4H, said the mother probably moved them. We hadn't touched them but we had lifted the parsley for photos and I'm sure my scent was there.

Kinda like your children leaving home for the last time. Sad day but you know it has to come. At any rate, I have the pictures so here's what I'm doing with them for Easter. I'm hoping our grandchildren will be pleased.




I really didn't want to cut or cover them too much or add anything that might draw the eye from the picture. I may not use the dots on the remaining...what do you think?

The base is PTI white, first layer is PTI Hibiscus, layered over with Sweet Blush and finally Leaf Green. The green matches the parsley perfectly.

The ribbon is PTI Leaf green. The sentiment & bunny come from the Tags for Spring set.

Thanks for stopping by. Busy week ahead.



Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene











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Thursday, March 26, 2009

A Onesie, A Bunsie and a Bunny Update

Well, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter are still under the parsley. (If you didn't see yesterday's post, just scroll down). Our Goldendoodle, Chloe, sniffed out their momma yesterday in the front yard and chased her into the bushes. Thankfully, Chloe doesn't venture in there and comes when called, (um, make that MOST of the time) so Momma escaped unscathed. They don't seem to have moved much last night. I was a bit worried because the sprinkler system came on last night. My DH assured me they'd be fine. We just have a drip line in the herb bed so they don't look like they got wet.

Now onto my project....
I've been absolutely dying to make a onsie card and a Bun in the Oven (Timeless Templates). I just needed the baby!! While I was at the chiropractor's office, a friend of mine said one of her clients was having a baby boy sooooo...I had a baby!!

Oh my gosh, I just LOVE making gift sets! I think it's my favorite thing to do. The oven has a little acrylic door. It actually opens from the bottom up or the entire door piece will just pull out. Inside I rolled up two pair of baby socks to look like a bun, roll or cupcake and put them in a cupcake liner. A third pair of socks is underneath.

I stamped the "burners" using Papertrey's Background Basics Stars. The baby's name is stamped with JustRite Stampers Brayton Font. I made the little "hotpad" tag with a Spellbinder's tiny tag die and chipboard covered with DP. I stamped "happy new baby" using SU's Tiny Talk set.

The onesie base is Papertrey's white CS. The little boat is from SU's Nursery Necessities. The DP and silver brads are from Michael's. The stamp on the bag is from Michael's $1 bin awhile back. The ribbon is American Crafts that I found at Big Lots of all places.

Thanks for stopping by. I'd love to know what you think!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter... in my garden!!

I'm still here...just swamped with Stamp camp projects to cut out and I'm making 12 of those adorable baskets for the teachers at the school where we're holding our church services.  Spring break here begins next week so have to get them finished for Monday.

I went out to work in my herb garden on Monday....look what I found!!  A smart momma bunny had her babies right under my parsley.  A ready made food source after they're finished nursing.  I think by the time they start demolishing my herbs, I may have to encourage them to leave...it's taken me two years to amend that Florida sand to grow decent parsley!!  There are 4 total.  They have just moved from the original nest  just behind the parsley to being totally hidden underneath the plants.  I had to lift the stems so my DH could  get this shot. 

I'm going to send this photo to our grandchildren.  They will love it!  Wish they were here to see them. 

I'll be kind of sad to see them "leave the nest".

Blessings,

Charlene

ps...I'll have a Timeless Template project tomorrow.  :-)
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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Easter Stamp Camp Samples

Where did March go?! I spent most of it in the chiropractor's office but at least I'm not leaning to one side anymore and my back pain has subsided to a dull murmur. Now, if I could just get these heart palpitations to quiet down.....

Stamping always relaxes me so after my DH headed for slumberland last night, I whipped up some samples for my very late Easter Stamp Camp. I just love that tiny basket that Waltzingmouse shared the template for. I ran the basket base through my Cuttlebug using the Dotted Swiss folder before taping everything down.

I found the card templates in the demo section (Mercedes Weber) on SU but changed them up a bit as usual. :-). I changed the dimensions on some, the colors, the stamps, the greetings, and the card bases. I've found that older people have a hard time with dark interiors...our eyes can't focus as well...present company included in that group! :-(

Don't you love that cute bunny on the egg crate? It's from PTI's Tags for Spring set. I added the tiniest pom-pom cotton tail. I haven't filled the eggs yet....any ideas?

I kept these samples super simple so my ladies, who are at various levels of stamping ability, could successfully accomplish them in 2 hours.

Thanks for visiting! Your comments are always appreciated.

Blessings,

Charlene

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Name is a Name

You know what I love about stamping?  You can make anything at all extra special.  I was asked to make nametags for our Bible study group.  We're doing the Beth Moore study on Esther.  (Don't you just LOVE Beth Moore!?) 

After a  moment of utter panic, I decided to look at our workbook for inspiration.  Each page and each segment of the video has these beautiful flowers that I'm sure are probably crepe myrtles in a soft green that reminded me of Certainly Celery.  I found a dogwood stamp that looks close enough.  What do you think? 

These are those plastic tags you can get at the office supply store that have the little snap on clips on them.  I used my printer to print the names onto Very Vanilla cardstock.  My Certainly Celery marker was used to draw the lines at the top and the bottom..I think it made them look more professional. 

I stamped off my  floral onto scrap and stamped again onto the Vanilla to create the background.  I had some retired SU DP (sorry, can't remember the name) that I used to accent under each name. 

To make the flowers that are  Scor-Taped to the front, I used Mono-Multi to glue the Vanilla cardstock to a piece of chipboard pulled from the back of a package of SU DP, stamped my images in Certainly Celery, cut out each one, highlighted with Crystal Effects and then glued those tiny pearls (a big bag found at Big Lots for 50 cents!) with Crystal Effects to the centers.  I used the " Ribbon Blossom" technique to hide the plastic part of the clip.   At first I thought of using ribbon to go around the neck instead of the clips but figured the names would have ended up in our laps..LOL

Thanks for taking the time to visit. 

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene
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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Yummy Gift Set

Don't you just love it that when you can stamp, you can turn everyday mundane things into "rockin'" gifts? After I finished Patty's card, I decided I wanted to give her something a bit more special and something that her DH might also enjoy since he worked so hard on our props.

I had an empty can from some yummy almond roca...do not ever throw away a good container! Just the right size for some of these awesome chocolate chip cookies!
I used wide Scor-Tape to adhere a piece of (yes, I did it again!) Sabrina paper to the tin. Using 1/4" Scor-Tape I ran black satin ribbon around the top and bottom edges, and 1/8" Scor-Tape to run the pink grosgrain around the base. The ribbon on the top is actually applied to the rim of the lid.

I cut and embossed the label with my Rectangle Nestibilities after stamping and embossing with the new SU Hostess set. (LOVE it!) I used Sabrina button brads on 3 corners of the label. The lid was decorated first with the largest Nestie plain circle in SU black, then concentric Nestie scalloped circles in alternaing pink and black. I stamped and embossed the ENJOY border from the JustRiteStampers Baking Ensemble and cut just the border (no center) with circle Nestie. Those yummy flowers are Daisy Doodles that I picked up at Michael's with a 40% off coupon. :-) The same ribbons were square knotted on the bag. I'll tuck Patty's card in there too!

Stamps: SU
Paper: SU black, pretty in pink, Sabrina DP
Accessories: can, bag, plain and scalloped circle Nestibilities, rectangle Nestibilities, Scor-Tape, Daisy Doodles flowers, Sabrina brads, ribbon

Thanks for stopping by...love to know what you think!


Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene





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Saturday, March 14, 2009

SC218 - You Rock!

One good turn deserves another so I decided to create a card for Patty and get a sketch challenge worked in too. I've been saving this hoping Patty would get her card before I posted it but we keep missing each other. Don't peek, girlfriend!

I just can't seem to get enough of the Sabrina paper pack...love that pink and black! I had an embossed guitar left over after I finished the DVD cases so instead of tossing or storing it, I thought I'd just try to use it in this sketch. We gave away a blow up guitar (who knew!) as a gift so it has a special meaning. This is one of the images in the Inkadinkadoo Rock Band clear stamp set. Lots of other cool images in that set as well.

The bling is Martha Stewart self stick gems and I purposely let the dots around the solid pink center panel "rock" a bit. I popped the guitar up on dimensionals.

What do you think

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo
Paper: SU pretty in pink, black, Making Memories Sabrina
Accessories: Embossing powder, dimensionals, MS gems, SU black marker
Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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Friday, March 13, 2009

RAK from Patty

Blog candy winner one post down!

Just had to share this sweet card with you. My BGF, Patty gave it to me after the party. Notice the colors...the pink and black we used as school colors and the great artwork onthe inside. Wish I could have captured the sparkle she used on the balloons...they really twinkle IRL.

Thanks, girlfriend!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

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Blog Candy Winner

And the winner is......

Random Integer Generator


Here are your random numbers:



7

Timestamp: 2009-03-14 02:05:39 UTC


Congratulations Gretchen! Send me your address and I'll get your chalks to you right away.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a comment.

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene
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Thursday, March 12, 2009

More Dinner and a Murder Mystery Pics

Don't forget...there's blog candy two posts back! The drawing is tomorrow evening EST.
Hope I'm not boring you all to pieces with the pictures. Here's just a few more... Yours truly tying balloons onto the arch Patty's super talented DH constructed for us. I told you he's super talented!
This my DH and I in costume (yes, that's my costume...I was a science faculty member, he's a retired principal) Is that arch not simply FAB-U-LOUS? Cost just pennies compared to what we saw for sale.
Here's all the guys and......all the girls!
Hey, who needs collagen injections when we've got wax lips!!
And, finally, the winner of our bubble gum blowing contest with her prize!
Thanks for stopping by....hope you got a chuckle and maybe some inspiration to host your own dinner and a murder....we had sooooo much fun!
Blessings,
Charlene
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dinner and a Murder Mystery Pics

Don't forget to leave a comment on the previous post for the blog candy drawing to be held on Friday.
I promised you all pictures of the dinner and a murder party we hosted with our best friends...so here we go with just a few. I may have to use two posts as blogger has limitations on how many pics can be used and I need to get to bed so will add more tomorrow. Thanks go to my DH for his photography.

The first couple of photos are of the front entry. We flipped an old banner over to write our greeting..you can see our school "mascot" on the sides. Our real high school mascot was a panther and since our colors were pink and black, our mascot was, of course, the pink panther! We had the silver tinsel hanging over the door to signal they were to assume their characters upon entering.

Isn't this just the most creative idea? My BGF, Patty and her DH saw this cute root beer mug filled with balloons as foam on the internet for nearly $200. Way over our budget but way cute. They had this old soy sauce barrel at their house...I know, you all just have these lying around, right? Someone gave it to them and Patty's DH always has a use for nearly everything. They painted the barrel brown (it was blue), made a handle out of heavy cardboard, then we added the balloon foam and "straws" made from pvc pipe (yes, he had that too!) wrapped in hot pink duct tape. Our sign says, "Welcome Class of '57, Think Pink". The pink panther just happened to be wearing shades and a black leather jacket....perfect!

The next photo was the MOST fun! The tables! We used inexpensive paper placemats and stamped musical notes on them, wrote "Go Pink Panthers" in one corner and "Class of "57". Old 78 records were our plate chargers, 50's sunglasses were our napkin holders. Our centerpieces were old fashioned sundae glasses filled with 50's candy...pixie sticks, marshmallow cones, and wax bottles filled with that sweet liquid in different colors...we had candy cigarettes by the guys places and wax lips by the ladies.


We used a computer font to generate the place cards, printed on SU pixie pink and mounted on black. Patty found those GORGEOUS gerbera daisies at a nursery in town. We put them in some footed glasses I had and used straws to support their stems.

The screen room was "wrapped" in a 50 ft. "scene setter" and banner to set the mood. We had "I love Lucy" dvd's playing on the TV with no sound and 50's music playing in the background.

Since I can't get all the photos here and the rest are people shots, I'll finish up tomorrow. I'll have a card for you too.

Thanks for stopping by,
Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Blog Candy Alert!!

There are two posts today so don't forget to scroll down and look at the DVD holder...Rockin'!

I am humbled beyond belief that you all have taken the time to visit my little corner of the stamping world.  I promised blog candy at 5.000 hits and we've long passed that so I thought the "candy" needed to be something nice.

I have a brand new set of SU's Stampin Pastels (and maybe a couple of surprises thrown in with them!). 

All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me why you love stamping.

I'll choose a winner by Random Number Picker on Friday, March 13th.

Thanks again for stopping by my little sandbox!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene
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I'm Baa-aack...with Blog Candy and a Project

Wow...I can't believe it's been so long since I've even looked  at my blog!  I promised you pictures of the party (for those of you taking a new look...we had a dinner and a murder party set at a 1957 Class Reunion) and as soon as my DH gets them converted from RAW format to jpeg, I'll get some of the photos posted.   It was SO MUCH FUN!  We were actually sorry when it was over...the planning, the shopping, the decorating and best of all, time spent with my BGF, Patty was the BEST! 

Our friends all came in the best costumes and really took their parts quite seriously...they found all the weapons but only one murder was committed...and by the most angelic face there!  We had great detectives and one couple even came up with song and dance routine in keeping with their characters. 

I would recommend this type of party for any kind of group.  We did alot of research and this company has games that are suitable for even church groups (we are a Bible study group).  You can find more info here.

I made this cd holder to hold the DVD my DH made of the photos.  He even put them to music.  Can't wait to give them to our friends. 

There were a total of 10 couples so I made one for everyone.  The cd template came from Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates from Papertrey Ink but I did them all by hand.  Super simple!  .

The DP is from the Sabrina pack that I used on my friend's anniversay gift set a few posts back.  Since our colors were pink and black...it was perfect!!

 The "Class of 1957" was stamped with JustRiteStampers Brayton Font in Versafine Black then heat embossed with clear EP from Ranger.  The labels were cut and embossed using the label dies from Spellbinders.  The guitar and notes were stamped, heat embossed and cut out.  They're from a clear set by Inkadinkadoo.  The gems are Martha Stewart self stick that I picked up from Walmart....60 of those beauties for about $3.  I cut a round velcro dot in half and used it to keep the holder closed.

Thanks for stopping by...and be sure and check the next post for the blog candy!

Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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