Sunday, August 31, 2008

With Sympathy

Hi,

I don't know anyone who enjoys making sympathy cards, however, they are a necessity in life.

These are simple, yet elegant, I think and could be used for birthdays, thank you's, or other occasions with a sentiment change

The card on the left is 4-1/2" square. The one on the right is a regular A2 size. Both were made using Papertrey's white cardstock. This is a heavier weight cardstock and forms a deeper impression when embossed than does the Stampin' Up Whisper White. Both cards were ebmbossed using the Spellbinders square dies. They are stamped with SU's Oh So Lovely (retired), colored with Prismacolor markers and highlighted with Sakura glitter pen. I used the piercing technique on the corners and a stick on pearl.


Let me know what you think. Remember, you can click on the photo for a closer look.


Blessings and Happy Stamping,
Charlene
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Friday, August 29, 2008

Ann Goes to School


My little granddaughter, Ann, is going to school!

Gosh, it seems like just yesterday she was a tiny little baby. Her school doesn't start until after Labor Day so I can get this card in the mail in time.

Yep, that's right...it's a card. It's called a Free Standing Pop-Up card and it folds flat for mailing. I used the adorable Lily from Pink Cat Studio. I just love her sweet face! She looks so innocent.
I know these aren't traditional school colors but they're Ann's favorite colors. Lily comes with lots of accessories but no school supplies so I used a stamp from Inkadinkadoo that has alot of school things on it. I cut them out and used dimensionals to add some of them to the base of the pop-up. The apple is shiny with Crystal Effects and I wrote her name on the book. I colored Lily with Prismacolor markers and placed the pencil in her hand. Her dress and the flower on it are lined with glitter pen although it doesn't show up in the photo.

Let me know if you like it. You can find the instructions to make your own here. If you do make one, link it here. I'd love to see it.

Supplies: Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape, PCS Lily & Inkadinkadoo stamps, SU cardstock, Nana's Kids DP, Scalloped Circle punch, circle punches, Crop-a-dile, eyelet, ribbon, dew drops, Crystal Effects, dimensionals, glitter pen


Blessings and Happy Stamping!




Charlene




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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Thank You Teacher!



Hi!
Our church is starting a new branch in our area. They're holding services, for now, in the high school. We wanted to say "thank you" to the teachers who have graciously allowed us to use their classrooms.
Today's project is nothing new or exciting for you seasoned stampers, however, I thought you might like to see another use for the JustRite StampersSmall letter kit.
When I first got mine, my first thought was, "You've got to be kidding!"....the letters are so tiny and my eyes are so old! The tweezers should have been a dead giveaway, right? Was I surprised!!!
The kit is ULTRA easy to use. The beauty of it is that you can say literally anything you want to say. I didn't know the individual teacher's names so I used the initials of the school. (just click on the photo for a close up)
I had only a couple of hours to think first of what to make, (that's always the hard part for me) for 11 people and then to actually do the creating. I wanted a close approximation of the school colors but was limited to my stock on hand. Additionally, the gift had to work for both men and women...there went all my bling! Everyone loves chocolate, or knows someone who does, so I decided to wrap those giant Cadbury bars. I like the silver paper on them.
This paper by American Arts was a deal at Big Lots...$2 for an entire package of 24...all the same pattern but for $2, I figured I'd find a use for it, right? LOL! The reverse side is solid blue and because I didn't have a ribbon to match, I just made a "belly band". The circles are all cut with my Spellbinders circle dies and Cuttlebug. I popped the center circle up on dimensionals. I recommend using Scor-Tape to make sure the wrapper stays put.
We placed these on packages of printer paper. We hope they liked it.
Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Complete Book of Chocolate

Edited to add: If you'd like the pdf download, visit SCS here. There were soooo many requests I couldn't keep up. Please note: This design is copyrighted and may not be reproduced for sale or publication.

Good Morning!
Now I know there are many books out there all about chocolate but how many actually have real chocolate INSIDE and a list of reasons to consume it without guilt?? ;-)
I came up with the design for this book a while ago for a birthday gift. I have since altered the Table of Contents so it can be used for ANY day...after all, chocolate has no limits, is good for us and calms the savage beast, right?

For this one, I used what is nearly the end of my Stampin Up Ginger Blossom DP. In the original, I used a belly band to keep it closed. There's a picture of it in my gallery on SCS. This one was a special order for a doctor so I wanted it to be a bit less cute and a bit more elegant....Of course, once it's opened the fun begins:
There is a "Table of Contents" that prints out on the first page, the last page is blank so your personal greeting can be added. This is a close-up of the inside wording. Sorry for the glare, I took this late at night and just couldn't capture the colors accurately.

Supplies:
SU Ginger Blossom DP, SU Textured Groovy Guava CS,
SU Very Vanilla CS, Groovy Guava & River Rock ribbon
Scor-Pal, Scor-Tape, Mono-Multi, SU Full of Life stamp set, SU Polka Dots & Petals, printer
I'd love to know what you think!
Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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Monday, August 25, 2008

My Little Black Bag



Hi,

How fun is this? A friend showed me how to make these cute purses from placemats. This is one of my favorites. I wanted something to go with it so I wrapped a box of candy with Martha Stewart paper, added the checked ribbon and Martha daisy then used my JustRite Stamper to add my friend's initial which I heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I treated the little Target notebook to the same MS paper, ribbon and daisy, and added a beaded pen to complete the set.


What do you think?
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Saturday, August 23, 2008

Blog Candy Winner!!

Hi everyone!

I was having computer problems last night, couldn't get on at all after the random number draw. Not sure what the problem is but it's still really slow today as well. Took forever just to get Internet Explorer loaded. Computers are wonderful...unless there's a problem, that is.

The winner of the blog candy is:



Here are your random numbers: 6


Timestamp: 2008-08-24 03:03:04 UTC

Tracy Durcan said...
This is super cute!! Congratulations on your new blog!! :)
August 19, 2008 8:58 PM

Tracy....please send me an email with your address so I can get your blog candy to you.

Thanks everyone for your sweet comments.

Blessings & Happy Stamping,
Charlene
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Friday, August 22, 2008

Tooth Fairy Boxes


Whew..busy day today. Spent alot of the morning on the phone trying to find someone to claim responsibility for the massive amount of standing water beside my house...not massive as in flooding, thank goodness, but if we got any more heavy rains from TS Fay...we might have had waterfront property. What a sweet surprise to find our HOA president supervising a crew digging a trench to the lake for the ditch to drain into this afternoon. God bless him.


Then I spent all evening rearranging my stamp room...again!! Does anyone else do that? It's driving me crazy. I need to get all the paper, all the inks and the embellishments in one place...oh well. Someday!

I pulled these from my box of things I'm getting ready for the fall craft shows. Every boy and girl needs a special place to keep that first (or second, etc.) tooth that awaits the Tooth Fairy and a place for the treat the Tooth Fairy leaves behind.

The fairy is from SU's retired Fairy Nice set...I love it especially now that we have a granddaughter. She's all sparkly IRL but my camera just didn't pick it up. The frog is Inkadinkadoo. His crown is sparkly too. I stamped the background using unmounted rubber from Cornish Heritage Farms but I don't think they have it anymore. I used Crystal Effects at the water line. The little tags come out and can personalized with the child's name right at the craft show.


Everything is adhered to the metal boxes with Scor-Tape . I honestly don't know what I'd do without it. I use it whenever I want a strong bond on paper, metal, acetate, plastic, etc. A great deal, too.

Thanks for visiting. Don't forget to leave a post on my Welcome page for the Blog Candy drawing tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

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Blog Candy Reminder

Hi!

Just a quick reminder that I will drawing a random number from my very first post (click here) on Saturday at 10:00 p.m. eastern time.

I've got a full day Saturday. Our church is starting a new satellite branch closer to home (yeah!) and we've got a work day there. My DH is on a men's retreat team and they're having a team dinner on Sat. evening for which I have to cook today, so I won't get to check my computer until late in the evening. Thanks to all of you who've taken the time to visit my little corner of the playground so far. I am humbled beyond words.

Blessings and Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Bella Rose meets PTI Flower Garden



This card is for the SC190 Challenge on Splitcoast. I wanted to use Stampin Up's new Bella Rose Designer paper. I love it! I can't decide how I feel yet, about the Riding Hood Red and Kiwi inks but the paper is beautiful. Wish there was ribbon to match as this one isn't quite right...close, but not perfect.

The card size is 4-1/4" X 4-1/4". The base is acetate because I wanted both sides of the Bella Rose to show. I used Martha Stewart's opaque markers to make the white dots on the backgrounds of my squares and circles. They are lighter than I'd hoped but I haven't been able to find another white marker or pen that is reliable. (if you have one you love, let me know).

I used Papertrey's Flower Garden because the blooms match the Bella Rose almost exactly. You can't tell in the photo but I edged each flower & center dots with a red Sakura Glitter Pen for a bit of shimmer. Two of the flowers are popped up on dimensionals. The circles were cut with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders dies.

Thanks for looking! Don't forget to leave a comment on my Welcome post to be eligible for the Blog Candy drawing on Saturday.



Supplies: Clear acetate, Stampin Up Riding Hood Red & Kiwi cardstock, Whisper White, PTI white (for circles & flowers), Red Riding Hood & Kiwi ink, Sakura Red glitter pen, Prismacolor Blush Pink, Martha Stewart Opaque marker, ribbon, Stampin Up Horizontal Slot punch



Blessings & Happy Stamping!
Charlene
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Blog Candy Reminder

Hi Ladies,

I will have a card to post later today...just crashed last night. I guess all the storm prep and worrying about flooding finally caught up with me.

Thanks to everyone who's left a comment so far. Just want to remind you, however, that a comment has to be left on the "Welcome" post to be counted in for the blog candy. The number generator can't do multiple posts.

See you later today!

Blessings & Happy Stamping,
Charlene
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Blog Candy Alert

Gosh, I actually did it. I'm a blogger. My kids will be very proud. I can hear my granddaughter now...."Nana, what's a blo-gger?" How to explain that one?


As promised, here's the Blog Candy I have for you.



A Stampin Up Paper Pad
A package of embossed window cards
with envies
A baby girl album kit
2 pkgs. clear stamps
1 pkg. pearl brads
An assortment of dew drops
A Cuttlebug Floral Frenzy embossing folder
4 piercing templates
An assortment of stamped images and shapes
A pkg. of chipboard letters & matching ribbon and....
my Boards & Beams acetate box filled with wrapped Hershey nuggets!

I'll also include a piece of the heavy acetate so you can make your own box and I'll round out the box with few surprises as well.

Thanks for visiting and good luck! Don't forget to leave a comment on my first post to be included in the drawing.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,
Charlene
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Monkey Business



I just loved Monday's Try a New Technique Challenge on SplitcoastStampers - TLC 182. Basically, we were asked to make an acetate box based on the instructions found here: AND we were to fill it with something unique. I loved my first box but my Hershey nugget filling wasn't exactly unique.


While I was digging through my box of Target $1 spot finds, I found a package of Curious George pens...light-bulb moment!!

I dug out my as yet un-inked Stampin' Up Monkey Business stamps, then with pens in hand, went looking through my stash of paper, using the pens for inspiration. I altered the height of the box to 5" to accommodate the pens and some tiny post it notes and scored with my fantastic Scor-Pal. What little one wouldn't love to have a special box like that with a clear bag of M & M's for good measure?


I stamped the monkey in Chocolate Chip ink, the bananas in Apricot Appeal and the vine in Garden Green. The DP is SU's now retired, Jersey Shore. The solid base is Garden Green. I edged the bananas with a Prismacolor beige marker and highlighted them with a glitter pen. I used the glitter pen on the vine as well. The ribbon handle (Jersey Shore) is attached with Scor-Tape found here.


Don't forget to leave a comment on my first post to be included in the blog candy drawing!


Supplies:

Stamps - Stampin Up Monkey Business, Ink - Stampin Up Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Garden Green, Prismacolor marker, Sakura glitter pen, Paper- Stampin Up Jershey Shore, Garden Green, Acetate - Dick Blick
Scor-Pal


Blessings and Happy Stamping,
Charlene






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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Welcome to the Paper & Ink Playground!

Ok, here I go...plunging into the deep water of the blogging world. Trembling, worrying that I won't be able to post daily, but paddling into the pool of stamping addicts like myself, anyway.

I'll be sharing a bit about my passion as a stamper, products I love, samples I've made and a page for my stamp camp ladies so I don't have to fill their boxes with email.

As a welcome to whoever stumbles into pool or onto the playground with me, I'm giving away some cool Blog Candy. There will a picture in my next post. Lots of cool goodies, I promise. Just leave me a comment and I'll use a random number generator to draw a winner on Saturday, August 23rd.

I'll post the rest of the "candy" later but here's a challenge project I just finished for Splitcoast Stampers, Try a New Technique Challenge TLC182, that will be included just to tease you a little.

We were to make an Acetate Box (basically a 2,4,6,8 box) using clear acetate for the center portion. I used Papertrey's Boards and Beams for the image and sentiments. I just love that set and of course the awesomely wonderful SCOR-PAL The beautiful ribbon came from Target's wedding department. A perfect match for the PTI Chocolate paper since I don't have the Chocolate ribbon....yet. ;-) And you get 15 yards for about $4!

Thanks for taking a peek and come back later for a look at the blog candy!


Supplies: PTI Chocolate Cardstock, PTI Chocolate Remix Designer Paper, heavy acetate, SCOR-PAL, SCOR-TAPE, PTI Chocolate Palette ink, Target ribbon, corner rounder, Prismacolor markers.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,
Charlene




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