May Arts/Paper Crafter's Library & Ribbon Giveaway

                                   


May Arts Ribbon is being featured on Paper Crafter's Library this week.  One of our very own newbie designers, Nicole Martel, has a sweet project and the Ribbon Lady is graciously giving away ribbon just for popping over to say hi.  There are 2 chances to win so be sure to read how.  I promise you'll like it.

If you're wondering why there's no Foodie Friday it's because I was playing chase with this cutie patootie, aka, Bentley...who is need of a haircut...and managed to damage a tendon in my ankle.  Soooo...knee brace on one leg, boot on the other.  Sigh...moral of the story...do not chase puppies in sandals.

Another May Arts Tutorial! Trash to Treasure Teacher Gifts

My DIL is a teacher so I have it on good authority that teachers can only use so many coffee mugs and apples but they LOVE food.

Head over the May Arts blog to see what I did with these berry containers.

May Arts Tutorial - DIY Tote Bag

Head over the May Arts Blog today.  I've got a super awesomely easy tote bag idea for you.  I take mine shopping, to the Post Office when I'm mailing lots of packages and even to the beach.  Got a half hour?  Let's make one together!

May Arts Kid Fun

I've got a super quick and easy project for you on the May Arts Blog today.  A few minutes of your time plus a bit of ribbon and you can make a game to keep the kids busy on a rainy day,  at a picnic or a day at the beach.

Here's a sneak peek.

Teapot Tuesday - James' Pirate

I haven't had time to play Teapot Tuesday MMTPT211 for awhile but this week's challenge broke my heart.  James is a little boy dealing with the grown up disease of cancer.  He has multiple tumors on his spine and brain.  You can find James' Caring Bridge page at this link.  His sweet smile will melt your heart.

James loves dogs and pirates.  I've been hanging onto my Billy stamps from Pink Cat Studio..now I know why.  I'm in big trouble, though.  We have to walk the plank if we bring skulls and crossbones...YIKES!!

I did bring pieces of silver...ok, they're bling but who's counting?

If you'd like to send James a card, his address is:

James Siedenburg

c/o Heather Bedford
2701 Judith
Champaign, IL 61821


Thanks for stopping by...hope you can help brighten James day.  If you have a blog, could you please spread the word? 

Clean & Simple Monday - Hello Muddah!

This week's SplitcoastStampers CAS183 challenge is a sketch by talented DT member, Tenia Sanders-Nelson.

I made a card with (GASP!)....no stamping!!  I spied my well loved and almost used up (sniff) October Afternoon Campfire Collection on the paper stacker and here's the result.

What?  You've never heard of a singing fox?  ;-)

Runway Inspired Water Stamping

I did it.  I tried a "messy" technique.  I am so not a let go and just do it stamper...I think I have to have too much control to enjoy the creativeness required to have fun with this.  I also think a smoother cardstock may have allowed the colors to blend easier. I used Neenah 110 lb. card. 

Fellow Rubbernecker teammate, Bev Gerard, aka TexasGrammy on SCS has written an easy step by step tutorial for a technqiue she calls, Water Stamping.  Bev is a "Dirty Dozen" alumni and her cards are just amazing! 

Here's my feeble attempt at her technique which for anyone else is super easy:

You basically just sponge color onto your cardstock, wet your background or other images and then stamp on the inked cardstocked.  I refuse to tell you how many attempts I made at this!  The shiny things are actually clear bling but they photographed solid. 

I wanted to use the colors from the Runway Inspired Challenge #17 Carlos Miele.  Mine are a bit bolder.

Bev's tutorial says to use a wet paper towel as a stamp pad to ink your stamps but my image couldn't hold enough water that way so I just misted it with water, then spread the water with my fingertips until the image was wet. 

I tossed the wet paper towel into the waste basket on top of the um, uh, let's say, multiple false starts at this technique.  Look what I found this morning.

I rather like the muted watercolor effect and believe it or not, I used the same colors on both pieces but placed them differently and got two totally different color blends.  I'm going to press these out and trim them down for other cards, I think. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Supplies:
Stamps: Rubbernecker Flourish Tree, Sentiment
Ink - SU Tango Tangerine, Eggplant Envy, Certainly Celery
Paper - Neenah; SU
Other - May Arts 1/8" velvet ribbon; Martha Stewart clear bling

Foodie Friday - Dinner's Ready!

I can't remember where I got this recipe...sometime back in the mid-80's or so...(Yikes!. I just had a small moment of panic at the realization of how looooong ago that was.) 

Ahem...ok, I've re-gathered my composure, well, mostly anyway..back to the recipe.

I never really like pork chops until I found this way of cooking them...they were usually just dry and tough.  The best part is that even when I'm busy, I can put a nice dinner on the table with almost no effort and the pork chops are absolutely divinely fork tender and flavorful. 

Toss some baked potatoes in the oven with the chops (I scrub mine, pierce with a fork, then put them in a zip loc bag with a bit of olive oil, coarse salt, and fresh garlic, rub them around then pop them into the oven.) steam some broccoli or other green veggie of your choice, add a salad and dinner is served.

You can find a printable recipe for Lemon Pork Chops here. 

Bon Appetit!!

WOYWW166

It's time for another WOYWW (166) at Julia's Stamping Ground...we get to snoop onto the workdesks all over the world. Clean or messy, it doesn't matter...

My workdesk is a mess as per usual...I snapped a photo of the set I used for the May Arts/Our Craft Lounge Blog week...did you know they're giving stuff away?  Oh yes,they are!!  So am I, so if you have a chance pop in and answer my questions to win.

This set from OCL  made me laugh out loud when I got it in the mail. 

Happy WOYWW ...don't forget to check my blog candy post while you're here...if you're follower!

May Arts/Our Craft Lounge Blog Week and a Giveaway!

 It's time for another super blog week with May Arts Ribbon and Our Craft Lounge!  Be sure to check out the posts for the entire week on both blogs for your chance to win ribbon, stamps and other fun stuff!!

Here's a sneaky peekie at my project for the hop.  It makes me giggle every time I see it...and I've got a giveaway on my post.  Just pop over over to see all the projects and see how you can win May Arts Ribbon, Our Craft Lounge goodies and more!! 

                             

Clean & Simple Monday - Color Challenge

This week's Clean & Simple Challenge (CAS182) on SCS is a color challenge...Dark Blue and White.

Here's my card for the challenge:

                           

Yes, you are seeing double.  I stamped the trees in Versamark, then dried them with a heat gun. Stamped again slightly off then added White Detail Embossing Powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle

Stamps - SU Lovely as a Tree; PTI Made of Snow

Ink - Versamark

Paper - Neenah; SU Night of Navy

Other - White Detail EP

Rubbernecker Inspiration Challenge SS20

It's time for another challenge at the Rubbernecker Stampin' Sisterhood Blog. 

Here's our challenge photo for this month and my take on it.  I decided to go with more muted shades of the challenge colors for a card with a fall like theme. (wishful thinking!)

I used one of Rubbernecker's new Wildflower stamps called Floral #6 and a sentiment from the new Best Wishes set.  I kept with the rustic fall feel by adding a simple strip of May Arts Woven Burlap ribbon.

Be sure to take a look around the NEW Rubbernecker Stamp site.  It's Awesome!  You'll be able to search for your favorite stamps, click to larger images and find a gallery of cards to inspire you.   Mr. Rubbernecker is still working on the site so some images may not show up yet.

You've got an entire month to play along with the challenge.  Just pop over to the Sisterhood blog and link up your creation for a chance to win a STAMP SET OF YOUR CHOICE.   

Supplies:

Stamps - Rubbernecker Floral #6, Best Wishes Set

Paper - PTI Kraft, Leaf Green

Ink - AMuse

Other - May Arts Woven Burlap

Foodie Friday - French Breakfast Puffs & Candy!

My apologies for not posting this month's Blog Candy as promised yesterday.  I got new heavier wires on my braces and my mouth hurts so badly even my head hurts.  A sip of water brought tears to my eyes.  I don't know how the little kids do it!

I did bake these lovely treats on Wednesday for an upcoming May Arts Blog Hop.  Wait til you see what I did with them!  hee,hee...

                        

I adapted the recipe from The Pioneer Woman a couple of years ago and believe me when I tell you they're worth every single calorie!!  I've got the recipe here so you can print it out and make some for yourself...and the rest of your family but only if you can't hide them fast enough!

Now for this month's Follower Blog Candy...I've got a $10 gift certificate for

Just leave me a comment on this post and let me know how you're following!

Thanks much..now get those muffins in the oven!!

Time to Meet the May Arts New Ribbonistas and a Giveaway!

                                 


As the Ribbon Lady says,  this is a bittersweet time...time to bid farewell the beloved Ribbonistas who are not returning and time to say Welcome Aboard to the new Ribbonistas for 2012-13.

Head over the May Arts Ribbon blog and welcome the new team...the Ribbon Lady is giving away ribbon to one lucky comment leaver.  It could be YOU!  Then head to the May Arts Facebook Page for another chance to win.  Woo, Hoo!!

WOYWW165 & Make it Monday & BC Winner

It's Wednesday and that means it's time once again to hop around the world to snoop at workdesks on Julia's Stamping Ground (WOYWW165).  I've sufficiently recovered from the pineapple escapade from last week!  ;-)

I thought you might be getting bored with my desk so I thought I'd share the new decal I put on the laundry room wall.  Now, mind you I do my laundry and ironing (I HATE ironing but I iron everything!) within 2 days but I did think this was fun.  It's on a wall above the window in the laundry room.

I found it on Etsy at a shop called Walls that Talk.  My only complaint is that it took ALOT of rubbing to get the letters to stick so it took over an hour to get this up. Otherwise, I love it and will probably buy more from this shop as she has some great sayings.

I also grabbed a few minutes..ok, more like an hour to make a card for Papertrey's Make it Monday #76 challenge. Yes, I know it's not Monday, but I didn't have any creative time the past two days.  This week's challenge is called "Double Time Bleach Stamping".  The idea is to bleach stamp then use ink over the bleach.  I figured most people would do flowers so I chose something different.  I had a hard time getting the bleach to take on some of the PTI paper colors for some reason but it liked the Melon Berry.

I stamped small solid circles with ink on the solid bleached circles.

Supplies:

Paper - Neenah Ivory; PTI Melon Berry

Ink- Versamagic Pink Grapefruit, Versafine Black

Stamps - PTI Polka Dot Basics, Signature Sentiments II

Other - bleach; PTI Fabulous Frames dies; ribbon

Finally, I have the winner of July's Blog Candy. 

Random Integer Generator

                                                          Here are your random numbers:


                                                                                   2


                                                   Timestamp: 2012-08-01 02:58:47 UTC


Ellen said...

Oh my Charlene! Love your use of twine and your colors of the rainbow! Awesome!! Off to dig out my twine and try and play along. I have such a hard time keeping it CAS. Have a good night girl!

July 15, 2012 11:29 PM

The Spellbinders Impressabilities will be on it's way to you, Ellen!  Please PM me with your snail mail address.  Thanks for commenting and following.  I'm tucking in a few extra surprises, too.

I'll have August's Follower Blog Candy up tomorrow.  :)

May Arts

In case you missed it the first time, hop on over to the May Arts blog to see one of the projects I created for Round 1 of the DT search.

I've been keeping a secret.....

Woo, Hoo...I've been a keeping a secret for awhile now.  I've been published in Bead Trends Magazine!

My project featured the beautiful velvet ribbons from May Arts Ribbon.  Many thanks to my fellow May Arts Prima Ribbonista, Jen Shears for the push.  :-)

Foodie Friday - Tabouleh!

My DH requested one of his favorite dinners this week.  You should understand that my guy came from a meat and potatoes family so when I say this is one of his favorites, it's a big deal because it's totally vegetarian! 

He loves Tabouleh or Cracked Wheat Salad served with Hummus, raw vegetables and pita bread.  I grew up on it so it's one of my all time favorites as well.  It's also super refreshing on hot summer days as well as loaded with healthy fiber and you can prepare the entire dinner early in the day in under 30 minutes after you soak the cracked wheat.

Enjoy!! 

July 2012 Papertrey Blog Hop

I'm in under the wire but so wanted to play with the beautiful colors in this month's July Papertrey Blog Hop.
We are to pair floral images with the beautiful colors.  I didn't have any inks other than Berry and Sorbet so I let my DP do the floral for me.

The rose silk is closer to Berry Sorbet IRL.

Supplies:
Stamps - Papertrey Signature Greetings II
Paper - PTI Simply Chartreuse; Graphic 45 Little Darlings
Ink - Versafine black
Other - PTI Fabulous Frames die, Filigree Border die; May Arts Rose Silk & Crochet Lace (new!); sewing machine; paper roses

WOYWW164 - Who Dunnit?

It's Wednesday...again!!  If anyone has a way to slow time down...(like to about where it was when we were 10 and it took FOREVER for any big event to arrive), I wish they'd put it in a bottle and sell it.  I'd buy the lot!

Wednesday means it's time for WOYWW164 over at Julia's Stamping Ground across the big pond.  Here's a peek at the worktable top this week...a tooth fairy box almost to completion for a customer and a mess all around that I've managed to get straightened up now.  Does anyone have a foolproof  (that would be me!) way to store unmounted rubber?  I've tried everything.  My notebook panels work until the notebook gets too thick and sometimes the stamps lose their grip and fall off.

I've been terribly amiss and keep forgetting to post these awesome ATC's (my very first) that were a RAK from Eliza of Queenartoypia.  They're just so awesomely creative!  I keep them on my desk where I see them for inspiration...maybe one of these days, I'll give it a try.

This card was a surprise RAK from Tickle a Teapotter Tuesday (SplitcoastStampers)  teapot member, scrappinmama72inpa aka Emily.  The last Tuesday of each month, the Teapotters are sent a secret member by the moderator to send that week's challenge card to.

Isn't this just too sweet?

Emily has added so many details to create a fun card that just makes me smile.

Now for my "Who Dunnit.(hee,hee...not you, Julia!)  I've been growing and nurturing some pineapple plants for 3 years...3 years!  It takes that long for the plants to mature enough to produce fruit...one single beautiful, sweet pineapple.  I've been watching and waiting for the first one to ripen. Checking each day for that blush of yellow that says it's time to pick.  Here's what I found today:

I am so stinkin' MAD!!  Some critter, picked the pineapple...oh yes, took it right off the plant...tore into it and ate AROUND the core!   Unbelieveable!!!  I have one more out there which I plan to watch like a hawk. 

Our grandson suggested putting a camera in the garden...I'm thinking more like barbed wire, electrical wire, the jaws of death.....