I always check out the clearance aisle at Michael's (shoot, I check out clearance everywhere...who am I kidding?!) :-)On one of my forays, I found this set of K&Co. note cards...That's 6 cards, 6 classy envelopes, 6 envelope seals, and a sheet of rub-ons for....drumroll....$2!!! At $.33 each, that's what I call a deal.

I decided not to use the rub-ons, so I'll save those for another day.The pink and green textured strips are Bazzill CS from my scrap drawer...ditto the ovals and ribbon. I just used my Spellbinders Oval dies, stamped them using Stampin Up's Elegant Thank you with Tim Holtz Distress Walnut ink, sprinkled on some clear embossing powder, sponged the edges and glued them on. Don't overlook those card kits (especially if they're on clearance!) when you need multiples in a hurry.

Thank YOU for visiting...I appreciate you and your comments.

Charlene

Someone's NOT Happy

This is Chloe. Chloe is our 3 year old (going on 6 months!) Goldendoodle. Chloe is NOT happy with me. I had to mop the floor. I mean, there's only so much doggy drool on the hardwood I can stand and I was at critical mass.

Chloe does not care if the floor is wet. She just wants to BE where I am...I mean in the exact spot where I am standing or in very close proximity. Now try mopping a floor with a 45 lb. dog attached to your side. I know, I know....I did it with kids on my hip but they grew up and live in houses of their own. This "happy dancing" puppy will be with us for a long time. (Will explain happy dancing later)

I ordered her to her "place"...and she went dutifully, but this is the look I got when she got there...Now just how much guilt is one mother (I just actually called myself my dog's mother...geesh!) supposed to handle?

I'll be back with some stamping later...we start on the laundry tear out tomorrow...any guesses where Chloe will be?

Blessings,
Charlene

IC182/WT219 - Kaleidoscope of Color

I finally found a work around to uploading my images on blogger. It's a great service but when it's down....it's so frustrating!

While trying to dredge up some Mojo, I went to SCS to see what the Inspiration Challenge for Saturday was. What a super cool challenge. We were to find a book cover and use it as our inspiration piece. I immediately drawn to this cover with all of that beautiful color. I probably never would have combined all these colors without that inspiration. WT219 (Ways to Use it) asked us to find ways to use a single stamp over and over....or in this case, and over, and over, and over...... ;-)

I used Papertrey's Text Boxed for the background and image panels. The colors are: Real Red, Pink Passion, Tango Tangerine, and Green Galore. To bring in the blue on the boys shirts I matted the background on Bashful Blue and used black as my neutral. Card is 5-1/4" x 5-1/4". I used the Ribbon Blossom technique...I actually realized I forgot to add the green to the ribbon blossom at the last minute so dug through my stash for this piece of fuzzy stuff to add to it.

It makes me happy to look at it. Hope you enjoy it and give this challenge a try. There are millions of book covers to inspire you. :-)

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

A Wedding on the Beach

Please forgive the background! I was so anxious to use my new photobox, I totally forgot to put the background in there...UGH!

This project is a wedding day survival kit I made for bridal shower gift. The lovely couple have planned a wedding on the beach in June. Doesn't it sound divine?

I took a new 1 gallon paint can (Lowes) and removed the handles. My DH then drilled larger holes where the old handles were attached. The rope is knotted on the inside of the can. I used the Luxury DP from DCDW and attached it with Scor-Tape. The rope and shells were attached using hot glue.

I printed their names and the date with my computer then cut it out with the Label die from Spellbinders. Inside, is a scroll that describes the contents of the can plus a poem I wrote. There is everything in there from a First Aid kit to deodorant, to ...CHOCOLATE...about 40 items. They're in travel sizes so they can be taken on the honeymoon as well.

Thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy your comments. You never know when I may pick someone from a random post for some blog candy! (wink)

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

150 Teacher Gifts!

Here are some samples of the Teacher Gifts we made for the teachers and staff of the school where our church is meeting temporarily. The clear calendar cases are 4 x 6. Thankfully, our church has a machine that can cut entire packs of paper at once so I didn't have to cut the DP or the calendars.



Many thanks to CAT at SplitcoastStampers for the calendar template. Our campus coordinator thought it would be nice to run the calendars from June of '09 to June of
2010, basically the school year. She then found quotes that related to teachers and teaching and made them to fit the same "tear-off" template size. There is a quote for each new month. We didn't do any stamping because there were so many to do. We bought stickers and tags, then I embellished each one so that no two were alike.

It made a really nice presentation in the clear cases and is something we thought they could keep on their desks.

Love to know what you think.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Edited to add: You can find the calendar cases here: www.calendar-case.com

Birthday Cards in the Mail

Thought I'd share a few of the handmade cards I received for my birthday in addition to the one from my DH. This beauty is from my friend, Marybeth. I didn't measure it but I think it's about 8" high. I love the chipboard flowers and the beautifully colored image. I think she used some kind of tissue paper for the checked background.

The next card is from Janet. I just love the sweet cupcakes and the sparkly DP she used!

This one is from Karen. She used a Cuttlebugged birthday cake image as her focal point, vellum for the sentiment and threaded the ribbon through eyelets. Love that happy DP, too!

And finally, a gorgeous card from my dear friend, Patty. I love the Swiss dot background, the happy colors, her ribbon treatment, the pearls in the center of the flowers. It's just beautiful.

I still have a few shadows as I'm learning to use my new Photo Box to take my pictures. I'm using my Ott lights instead of the lights they sell with some of them because I read those are not strong enough. Got mine on ebay for 19.99 and free (fast!) shipping.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Stamping Out Alzheimer's and Candy

It sure feels nice to be talking with you again. I hope you noticed the Stamping Out Alzheimer's button on the right side bar. You can go here to find out all the details. While I don't have anyone in my family who has suffered with this awful disease, I can only imagine the heartbreak associated with it. Please consider donating if you are able. 100% of the monies collected will be donated to the Alzheimer's Foundation.

I have some blog candy to give away to inspire you. Now that summer is here, I think this set of stamps will be great addition to someone's collection. It comes with a red ink pad and an acrylic stamping block so you can get stamping right away.

To enter, visit the SOA site, then come back here and tell me what you like best about it. I will draw a winner using a random number selector on Friday, May 29th.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

He did it again!

Sorry for the long absence...I had a ton of teacher gifts to make...150 to be exact and some issues with my bp going too low which makes my brain not work too well. Considering my age, any added complications mean my brain isn't working at all. At any rate, I'm doing better, seeing the doctor this week and hope to get in my stamping room this evening.

Check back tomorrow as I will have some Candy to celebrate. :-)

At any rate, I had a birthday this month. My DH asked if he could use my room to make a card. I pointed him to my scrap drawer, my Scor-Pal, Cuttlebug and ribbon and look what he did...in 30 minutes!! It would take me an hour to think up a design, another 30 minutes gathering supplies and another hour fussing with everything.

I'm thinking I may have some serious competition here...or perhaps he won't mind spending $$ on stamping supplies now??

Thanks for being patient.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Mojo Monday #84...um, make that a Saturday Picnic!

I offered to make some invitations for our Bible Study dinner group. Two couples pair up every few months and plan a "gourmet" dinner (see our turn here and here.

This month's couples have decided to have a picnic and bike ride to the beach. How fun is that?!! We can't wait. The two couples plan the menu, send everyone a recipe then we all show up with our goodies and have fun.

I saw this Mojo Monday sketch and decided my Whipper Snapper BBQ chef would be perfect for the invites. If you check the link you'll notice I didn't put my brads down the side...just didn't work with this guy. (You know how men are! :-)

I printed the red & white striped paper on my printer from a freebie download on Vintage Glam Weddings...a great site not only for brides but ideas for money saving that can be used for any type of party or event. I knew this cool paper would come in handy some day. I stitched the red and white to a piece of black before adhering it.

The base cardstock is SU Ballet Blue. The SU Brilliant Blue rectangle is versamarked and clear heat embossed using one of the designs from SU's Little Pieces set. The sentiment is computer generated. I stamped the dots using Papertrey Ink's Circles and Borders in SU Real Red. I mounted the sentiment on Real Red then the black scallop then popped up the bottom of the scallop on dimensionals.

Don't you just love that little chef?! He's so much fun to color! The Whipper Snapper stamps have colored images on the tops so you have some place to start. I used my Prismacolor markers and colorless blender to color him. I'm still working on getting skin tones right...need more colors. His chef's hat is cut out using the "out of the box" method. There's a great tutorial here on SplitcoastStampers. I used Crystal Effects on the edges of his hat as well as the tops of his shoes.

All the invites are complete and delivered.

Happy Derby Day, Everybody. I have a post here of a card I made for Derby Day last year. Didn't have a chance to do one this year but I think this lady might be cute for Mother's Day...what do you think?

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Sweet Baby Cakes

I just ADORE babies! I think my two grandchildren are the only ones we're going to have, so I get all excited when someone tells me they know someone who's going to have one. I immediately offer to make them something. Lately, I've been hooked on little gift sets. Isn't that tiny bib the cutest? It's made with the largest scalloped circle Nestibility from Papertrey White CS. It has a nice weight. (All supplies are PTI unless otherwise noted.) I cut another scalloped circle from PTI's Sweet Blush DP and layered it every so slightly just above the scallops. The neckline is cut with the 1-3/8" SU circle punched placed about 1/2 way into the top crease.

If you click on the picture, you can see that I added tiny pearls all around the edge after I sponged it. I inserted the ribbon by making slits in the fold, and taping the ribbon to the inside. They make the inside look cute too! Those little flowers came from JoAnn Fabrics. The butterflies are all punched with the Martha Stewart butterfly punch in Sweet Blush, layered with another butterfly punched from a really old SU swirled vellum, the edges are sponged and then I added three tiny pearls for the bodies.

The little Bun in the Oven is a Timeless Template. The sentiment on the oven is from SU's Nursery Necessities (best baby set they've had I think). I sponged all the edges, used the remaining flowers for burners and added more pearl accents...I left the door slightly ajar so you could see how the box opens if you're unfamiliar with it. There is a clear vellum window accented with more butterflies. See my little sock "cupcake"? I finally made one I'm happy with. Takes a bit of practice to get it just right but it's not hard.

The little gift bag is simply a white lunch bag cut down about 2-1/2 inches. I punched the handle with the SU oval punch. Covered first in Sweet Blush then DP. The ribbon wraps around the entire bag, through the handle and ties in front. I cut one of the flowers from a scrap of the DP and placed it on the tag along with another butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by...

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Tim Holtz once again

So sorry for the long absence!  We switched IP carriers and the new one did something to our computer to cause it to crash...completely.  Nothing like a blue screen to raise your blood pressure...thankfully, we have Carbonite online backup.  We just signed up a few weeks ago...thank goodness!

I love this Tim Holtz set so much, I decided to do another card using the car instead of the truck this time.  I used the same color combo as before (Baha Breeze, Chocolate Chip Parisian Breeze Specialty and white.  I stamped the car and sentiment in Tim Holtz Distress Walnut ink.  While I was playing, I tried swiping the car with the pad to see the result...  see the car on the bottom?  Same ink, but swiping rubbed off some of the ink leaving cool lines and a lighter shade of the walnut. 

The car on the top was stamped in the normal press on method.   These stamps have really great details and textures on them.  I like both images but decided to use the darker one on my card.    I used my little Janome Sew mini to meander the stitching around the edges...it was quite fun to deliberately make wavy stitches. I'm usually stressing out trying to get my stitching straight! I used my SU distressing tool to distress all the edges and then sponged them in walnut ink.   I'm loving those big SU pewter eyelets too.  Gives the the card a more masculine feel.

  I wish I had thought to take a picture of the inside as there is a really cool sentiment that I placed off to the side beside strips of the DP....they say the mind is the first thing to go......

It's nice to be back...I have another baby project coming.  I can't wait though for a photo box...my lighting is terrible!

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Flowering Birthday Notes

Don't you just love red and black together?  I know I do.  When I first set up housekeeping, those were my colors.  Red plates, black placemats, even a red and black kitchen table and chairs..um, that would be back when they were chrome and plastic...yep, I'm old!  I've since transitioned into more earthy colors with pops of black, but I still add a bit of red in when I can.  I didn't realize even realize that until I started thinking about it just now.  Isn't it funny how our minds work?

At any rate, today is my friend Renee's birthday....Happy Birthday, Renee!!  I know she likes red so that was my starting point.  I have this package of black and white papers from Making Memories in an 8 x* size which meant no piecing on my box (Timeless Templates).  The stamps are Papertrey's Women of Life, the CS is Papertrey black,  Poppy Red and white.  I like the heavier weight for box construction especially.  The notes are resume paper cut into fourths.  The message on the notes are stamped with JustriteStampers Brayton font...oh how I wish there were more vowels in those sets.  I had to go back and stamp the final E separately and there are about 50 notes in there!! 

The flowers on the notebox were cut out, layered and popped up on dimensionals.  I made the leaves with those cute flowers you can find in the wedding department at Michael's.  A real deal!!  I colored a couple with my SU Certainly Celery marker, cut them apart, then glued them under the popped up flowers.  Those cute black and white flowers are paper Primas from PTI with brads from the Target $ spot.  Those are button at the base of the flower panel.  I left them without stitching because they have 4 holes that look like flowers and the red CS shows through.  Sorry for the shadowy photo...it's almost birthday time so I'm hoping my DH remembers my photo box....some major hinting may be in order!  Those white dots were added with a Sakura gel pen.  Thanks for visiting!  As always, I appreciate you and your thoughts.

Blessings and Happy Stamping,

Charlene

Enjoy the Journey

Do you struggle like I do with "guy" cards?  We girls are easy...give us flowers, butterflies, cute little critters..doesn't matter, we're happy.  Guys are another story!  So I was thrilled when I found this cool Tim Holtz set at Michael's.  The images are already shaded and beautifully done.

I always find it easier to start with a sketch so when I saw this Verve sketch challenge, I'd thought I'd use one of the sketches as a starting point.  Now I can't submit it for the challenge and the image is a bit large for the placement they chose but overall, I'm happy with how it came out.

The base cardstock is SU Textured Chocolate Chip, the layers are Baja Breeze and SU's new Parisian Breeze Specialty Textured DP.  Love this paper!! 

I stamped the truck and sentiment  in Tim Holtz's Distress Walnut ink onto watercolor paper and heat embossed both with clear embossing powder.  Then I distressed the edges with the SU distressing tool before sponging them with the Walnut ink.  The truck panel is popped up on dimensionals.  SU large eyelets were added using my Crop-a-dile.  Easy peasy...for once!

Thanks for visiting!

Blessings & Happy Stamping!

Charlene

Bunny Cookies Hatching Everywhere!

Edited to add:  I've had some questions about the quantity for a cake.  The author says she makes two batches when she wants to cover a cake.  Unless yours is a single layer, I recommend doing that.  It's so easy it wouldn't take much extra time.  Also, Gillian's bunny is the first addition of pink gel color,  I just kept adding more white instead of more color to make the pinks, making lighter bunnies.  Hope that helps.

A super quick post today...lots to do and no time to get it done. The story of my life. We're getting ready to gut and remodel our laundry room ourselves...so if my posting suffers, I apologize in advance. I'll post before (YIKES!) and after pictures though.

On to the bunnies. Apologies for the background...I just grabbed the last tiny bit of Easter grass I had left to keep the overhead lights from blinding you....missed a spot as it got pretty thin.

These aren't paper and ink bunnies...they're sugar cookies covered with my very first attempt at fondant. Oh my goodness...so easy and soooo much fun. Kinda like playing with Play-doh. I found a Mini-Marshmallow Fondant that's super easy and inexpensive. I had read and heard that fondant very often doesn't taste good and can be tricky to make but since this is made with mini-marshmallows, it's yummy, took almost no time at all and can be made several days in advance. What's not to love about that? Just be sure to roll it thin as it is sweet. One thing I found is, that depending on the humidity, you may not need all the confectioner's sugar called for in the recipe. You'll end up with a too dry product that will tear. Start with 3/4 of the 2 lb. bag the recipe calls for and only add more if it feels too sticky.

I used Royal Icing made with meringue powder to decorate. Kids and adults alike LOVE to see their names on anything and cookies are no exception. The cookie cutters are Martha Stewart's Hatching Bunny that I found years ago and just love. I think you may still be able find it on ebay or other online sites but the prices have gone way up.

The fondant is rolled out and cut with the same cookie cutter so it makes you look like a pro. I made about 18 of these guys...they pretty big, 8" x 5" so there's cookie enough to share.

Give it a try and link your creations here....this fondant can be used on cakes as well. The recipe instructions are clear and give lots of good tips.

Happy Easter, Happy Baking and Happy Stamping!

Blessings,
Charlene

TLC215 - Hello Friend

Yeah, I finally got time to do a Technique Challenge on SCS.  I rarely get them finished the day they're issued, but I do like the challenge of trying something new.

Monday's challenge was to make a flower pot pocket card using the directions found here.  The original was a bit too small for me, so enlarged the top to 3-3/4" instead of 3-1/2".  The scoring stayed the same.

I used SU Brocade blue for the base.  The DP is Making Memories "Chloe's Closet", pretty blues, greens and yellows just right for spring.  Some of the flower bases are from the same line as are the buttons and ribbon.  I almost never treat myself to a complete line, but they were on sale and what's a girl to do?

 I punched  the rest of the flowers  using Punch Bunch small and medium daisy punches and  Brocade Blue and the Chloe's Closet paper. I added the saucer at the bottom.  The leaves, border and butterfly are all Martha Stewart punches.  The tag is from the Cuttlebug small tag set.  The leaves are Certainly Celery and Old Olive.  I adhered the leaves and buttons, which are tied with embroidery floss, using  Mono-Multi.  Don't you just love how the flowers just "bloom" right out of the pocket?  The sentiments are from Papertrey's  "Friends til the End".  Thanks for stopping by.  Love to know what you think!

Blessings and Happy Stamping Friends!

Charlene

LSC214 - Life....

This card was inspired by Friday's Limited Supply Challenge 214 on SCS. It's a 1-2-3...1 piece of CS,
2 kinds of DP, 3 embellishments.

I made the card with a few friends in mind who are going through some challenging circumstances but isn't just the perfect sentiment for us all? Remember when we were kids and playing in the rain was FUN? We didn't worry about wet hair or clothes or what anyone would think about us. No wonder Jesus told us to "consider the little children..." in more ways than one, they teach us how to love and live.

Off the soapbox and onto the card! Pretty simple. I distressed all the black edges with the SU distressing tool. The DP is Papertrey Everyday Blessings and the polka dot piece is actually not DP at all but cut off the ED Blessings paper wrapper!

The stick-on pearls are from Michael's. The sentiment is heat embossed on Vellum that has tiny, tiny irridescent dots that are barely visible but reminded me of raindrops. The ribbon is Michael's sheer black - 1 inch and I paper pierced the corners. Inside has a strip of black overlaid with a strip of the striped DP.

Love to know what you think! I'm working on creating a signature for the blog but I am sooooo NOT techy!!

Have a beautiful weekend,

Blessings and Happy Stamping!

Charlene

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

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

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.  :-)

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