Running With Scissors…

I made a quick card tonight because, though I didn’t have much time to stamp, I wanted to make something.  This may not necessarily look like a quick card but it’s one of those sketches I had previously worked out on my computer.  It’s a pretty typical layout.  It’s just that I had every detail worked out — all the layers exactly as they look here, the tab, the row of eyelets and the ribbon placement.  When I decided I wanted to use this Playful Christmas set, new to me from Kitchen Sink Stamps, I saw that I could use my sketch.  Now, if I could just make some time to work out more sketches I’d be stamping quickly more often!

This tree is actually two stamps — a simple triangle tree which I stamped in Certainly Celery, and the flowered overlay stamped in a cranberry pigment ink and embossed with Stampendous Stardust EP.  It’s very sparkly in real life.  The “peace” is from Stampin’ Up!’s Glad Tidings and the zig zag is Hero Arts.  The tree is cut out and mounted on dimensional tape.  I was trying to put this on a Real Red card base but there was something about it that just didn’t look right.  As soon as I tried it on Chocolate Chip I was much happier with it.  The designer paper is BasicGrey Figgy Pudding.

Well, that’s one more of my many new Christmas sets I’ve made at least one card with.  I have a couple more to go yet.  What was I thinking buying so many Christmas stamps this year?  Have a great day and happy stamping to all!

Stamps:  Playful Christmas, Glad Tidings, Hero Arts zig zag

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Real Red, River Rock, Whisper White, BasicGrey Figgy Pudding designer paper

Ink:  Certainly Celery, Colorbox Cranberry pigment ink, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery marker

Accessories:  Ribbon, eyelets, Stardust embossing powder, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

…there are new stamps at Flourishes!  Of course, you may have already seen some of the sneak peeks here and there.  I finally got around to using my new Open to Love set.  There are 14 stamps in the set and I used four of them on my card — the vase, the bird, the sentiment, and the “XOXOXO” stamp that’s barely there in Craft White on the pink panel under the sentiment.  These little bird and vase stamps are just so darn cute and itty bitty!

It was very simple to mask the vase so I could position the bird behind it.  With the variety of images in Flourishes’ newest releases a lot of different combinations are possible.  The simple line drawings make for pretty easy masking and that, in turn, makes for virtually limitless possibilities.  This was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this set of stamps.  The bird and vase together are just so sweet!

I colored the image with markers and grounded it with Blush Blossom chalk.  There’s *Spica sparkle* on each of the hearts and the flower, which I cut from the BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper.

Just a little note:  The folks at Flourishes would love to see anything you might be doing with their stamps.  They’re a new company and they started out as just regular old stampers like you and me.  Flourishes is the realization of a dream for them and I’ll bet you can imagine how exciting this is for them.  It must be absolutely thrilling for them to see their stamps in use!  With that in mind, they’ve provided you with a keyword to use when uploading to your Splitcoastampers gallery (if you have one).  In the keyword field of the upload description type this:  FLLC.  It will assure them of finding your cards among the thousands of other wonderful things there are to see on SCS.  If you’d like to see a few other cards with Flourishes’ newest stamps, click here.

I have to run now so I don’t stay up too late.  I’ll be back soon with more stamping.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Open to Love by Flourishes

Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, BasicGrey Phoebe designer paper

Ink:  Palette Noir, Craft White, markers for coloring, chalk for grounding

Accessories:  Stampin’ Up! taffeta ribbon, Spica clear glitter pen, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Hello, friends!  I was a little scarce online this weekend but less time on the computer allowed me time to clean and decorate the house and get a little Christmas shopping done.  Lights are twinkling inside and out and there’s presents waiting to be wrapped.  There’s also a present sitting under the tree for me.  Hmmmm…I wonder what it is?  My husband seemed pretty proud of himself when he toted it home.  I know what I hope it is…it’s about the right size…he shouldn’t have spent all that money, though…well, maybe he didn’t.  Oh, the suspense is killing me! 

In spite of all these Christmas activities I don’t have a Christmas card for you today.  Instead, I have a birthday card.

The folks at work have enjoyed the convenience of my portable card-shop-in-a-basket but I’m afraid it’s become woefully understocked.  I spent a little time last week stamping and coloring a few images so they’d be ready to turn into the bright, fun, sparkly birthday cards that everyone seems to love.  I didn’t figure I’d be using this cupcake for one of my Stella cards but it’s that time of the week again already.  So…Stella made her first cupcake card.

There’s nothing new here–I used the SU! set, Treat Yourself, that’s retired and the All About Birthdays wheel that’s on its way out.  Gee, they don’t last long, do they?  They still serve me well, though.  I made a very simple layout and used this particular piece of Stella Ruby paper because it’s rather colorful.  I used the 1/4″ square punch to make notches for the ribbon and the “HB” has a page pebble over it.  The cupcake’s frosting is dotted with Cinnamon Stickles and the candle flame is sparkled with Crystal Stickles.

I like to keep these cards-for-the-basket lightweight and without too much bulk.  I’ve made of point of learning how to reset and use the postage scale in our mailroom so my coworkers won’t have to concern themselves with these things.  If I do sell a heavier card I’ll always weigh it first and mark it as requiring 58 cents postage, etc.  Even with the inside sentiment panel lined with Whisper White and a protective sheet of cardstock placed over the card front, this card will not require extra postage.  Because of the protective sheet, the toothy card-eating machine at the post office won’t realize what a tasty little morsel just slipped through its grasp.  Score one for the stampers.

I will be posting more this week so I hope you’ll come back.  I know everyone’s pretty busy right now…  Stay well and enjoy your holiday activities!

Stamps:  Treat Yourself, All About Birthdays jumbo wheel, It’s Your Birthday

Paper:  Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper

Ink:  Basic Black, Summer Sun, Creamy Caramel, markers for coloring

Accessories:  Taupe grosgrain ribbon, Caramel gingham ribbon, page pebble, eyelets, 1/4″ square punch, slot punch, large oval punch, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Hi, there!  I spent a little time performing some administrative duties tonight.  Heaven knows, I have plenty of other things to do but sometimes a person just has to take a minute, you know?  Quite some time ago I settled on a three column theme for my blog.  It was the only three column theme available that wasn’t in use by several other people.  Gee, maybe because it wasn’t very pretty or interesting.  I couldn’t do anything with the header except change the color, and most of the colors were ghastly.  Even with the less offensive colors I selected my blog had more the look of a newsletter than the quiet, relaxing, feminine online stamping sanctuary I hoped to share with my friends.  I despaired of being stuck with it, though, because every time I tried to change it my posts went all wonky.  I still see some wonkiness here and there but I think from here on out it will (maybe?) be okay.

I believe I feel comfortable with this theme.  It has a light and airy feel.  The type is easy to read.  The comments are nicely separated one from the other.  Best of all, I can customize the header any old time I want to.  As of this writing I have one of my garden photos up there — not a very wintery scene, but pretty.  Yes, I think I’m okay with it.

Regular stamping will resume shortly.  Promise.  Have a wonderful day!

Hi, there!  I just realized it’s been quite a stretch since I posted anything and thought I should check in.  I’ve been a little busy…  Sorry about the absence!  I do have a few things cooking that I’d like to share later.  I’ll have a few cards this week, but I’ll be doing a couple of tutorials after that — some designs I’ve been figuring on.  Please bear with me!  Have a great day!

I thought I’d do another floral card today for a little break from Christmas and while I was at it I wanted to use colors I haven’t used in a while.  This is Elegant Eggplant and Bordering Blue, colors that used to show up a lot on my cards, but it seems like I gravitate toward SU!’s Earths and Subtles these days.  This was nice for a change.

I didn’t know where I was going with this when I started, only that I wanted to use several images from my Fantasy Floral Garden set and try for a simple, lightweight layout.  It took a while to stamp, color and shade the floral panel but I did that part while relaxing on the couch after dinner, visiting with my husband rather than sequestering myself in my stamp room.  I think I’d like to try this approach to stamping more often.  I love to color and it was pretty easy to do this with just markers and chalks.

I stamped a little SU! Itty Bitty Background here and there when the coloring was finished, then gave it a quick spray with matte sealer.  The layout’s pretty simple so it went together quickly.  I must say, I didn’t wear myself out creating this card and my stamp room doesn’t look too bad, either.  During the Christmas season it’s nice to simplify whenever possible, isn’t it?

I hope you all have a nice weekend coming up.  I think I’ll get serious about the Christmas decorating and do a little shopping.  I have a few things I can check off my list…  It’s right around the corner!  Take care!

Stamps:  Fantasy Floral Garden, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Bordering Blue textured, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Palette Noir, markers for coloring and chalks for shading

Accessories:  Eggplant ribbon, Antique Brass Hodgepodge hardware, small oval punch, mat pack and piercer, spray matte sealer

Another Christmas card, imagine that!  I still have quite a few new Christmas stamps.  Good grief!  How did I wind up with so many?  I’ve always had a policy to buy one new Christmas set per year and I’ve managed to stick pretty close to that in the past.  But something just got hold of me this year.  Honestly, I’m thinking I didn’t need to do the Christmas Card Challenge on SCS earlier this year…

This is my new Fancy Pants Blissful Season set for which Lindsey was taking special orders recently.  It’s a HUGE set, like all the Fancy Pants sets.  Many of the images are large so they’re perfect for scrapbooking.  I’d say they’re good for backgrounds, too, but they’re too pretty to cover up.  I used four different images on this card — two trees, the word, and the stars and swirls background.  I stamped the stars and swirls in Soft Sky just so I could barely see them, then colored the stars with a silver Sakura Stardust glitter pen and traced the swirls with a white Sakura Souffle pen.  The ink from the Souffle pen is what gives the embossed look.  I traced once, let it dry and traced over it again for extra puffiness.  The hillside was made by cutting a wavy edge on plain paper and using it as a mask for sponging.  Oh, and the tree stars were sparkled up with my Copic Spica clear glitter pen.

The ribbon is from a collection by We R Memory Keepers and the designer paper is BasicGrey Figgy Pudding.  Mine is a 6 x 6 pad.  Rather than cut into fresh sheets, I used scraps left over from other cards so I didn’t mind that I had to cover up most of it.

I’m off to start another card with this set now.  Something different this time.  I’m not sure what yet…

Storm update:  As you may be aware, it got pretty bad on the Oregon coast yesterday (Monday).  Miraculously, my immediate area was relatively unharmed.  Just a few miles north and south of us they weren’t so lucky.  There was quite a lot of damage to property and the environment.  Naturally, along with the hurricane force winds, there was extensive flooding and coastline erosion.  The highway on either end of town was blocked by downed trees, power lines were waving in the wind — the usual hurricane stuff.  During the storm my husband was two hours north of here in the worst of it but he’s okay, too.  Although heavy duty windstorms are a matter of course in an Oregon coast winter, we don’t get many hurricanes.  How do you do it over there in Florida?  Take care and have a safe and happy Wednesday!

Stamps:  Fancy Pants Blissful Season

Paper:  Old Olive, Ruby Red, Whisper White, BasicGrey Figgy Pudding designer paper

Ink:  Old Olive, True Thyme, Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, markers:  Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa & Summer Sun

Accessories:  We R Memory Keepers ribbon, swirl clip, brads, ticket corner punch, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

When I think of Stella Ruby I think of the pretty papers in the collection but, as you can see, I didn’t use any of them on this card.  A friend asked me for a masculine birthday card and, of course, I don’t have any that I’ve made ”just because”, so I tried to put a quick one together and combine it with my Ruby Tuesday post.  It’s not as much fun as the pretty cards but, darn it, we all need a guy card once in a while, don’t we?  She wondered if I had anything “sort of beachy” and this SU! retired Stipple Shells set is still one of my no frills favorites.

All of the images are embossed and color was applied with sponge daubers.  The background is a piece of Stella Ruby wheeled with By The Sea in Close to Cocoa.  I’d rather have done more with the layout and layering but I had to keep it lightweight.  Sometimes I get to fussing too much with a card and it takes me forever.  I really had to hurry with this so I told myself to just start sticking the pieces on there and see what happens.  Well, there’s a reason why I don’t like to do that — it never seems to come out quite right.  This one will have to do, though, because I’m out of time!  I’ll try to do something prettier the next time I stamp.  See you soon…  Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Stamps:  Stipple Shells, Riveting, By The Sea

Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla, BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper

Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Groovy Guava, Versamark

Accessories:  Offray trim, copper snaps, rust and brown embossing powders, 1 1/4″ and 5/8″ circle punches, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Hello!  I’m still here.  I haven’t blown away yet.  I wish this storm would quit fooling around and make up its mind.  It blows in a little squall and then recedes.  All day it’s been repeating itself like this.  Apparently we can expect it anytime between now and late Monday night.  So far I’m unimpressed.  It’s windier than this in the summertime!  It’s been a good day to stay in and stamp but I feel like I’ve been waiting for something all day…

I made my card for the CPS sketch, sponsored this week by Flourishes.  I used Fantasy Floral Garden which I haven’t picked up since I got started with all those Christmas cards.  Flourishes is featuring this set in a combo pack right now, which includes this 23-stamp set, a 6×6 pad of BasicGrey Infuse designer paper and two yards of ribbon.  In the midst of all the Christmas rush which is now officially underway it’s nice to have a little floral moment now and then.

This is my first tall card.  I wasn’t exactly sure of the usual measurements of a tall card but this one is 8 1/2″ x 3 3/4″ so it fits comfortably in a standard #10 envelope.  I thought about breaking up the “tallness” of it but then I figured, heck, if I didn’t want it to look tall I might as well have just made a regular-size card.  I used pretty Chatterbox papers and colored the flower with markers.

Well, that’s it for me…  It feels like it’s been a long day so I’m going to wrap up the weekend and get ready for work in the morning.  At this point, if we do have a storm, I’ll probably sleep right through it!  Have a wonderful Monday (as Mondays go)!

Stamps:  Fantasy Floral Garden (Flourishes)

Paper:  Creamy Caramel, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Chatterbox designer paper

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, markers for coloring

Accessories:  Martha Stewart ribbon, eyelets, mat pack from Stampin’ Up! and white gel pen for the faux stitches, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape

Or so they say.  This is from the National Weather Service:

COOS BAY… NORTH BEND… REEDSPORT…
COQUILLE… BROOKINGS… HARBOR… GOLD BEACH 141 PM PST SAT DEC 1 2007 … HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM SUNDAY TO 10 PM PST MONDAY…
A POWERFUL STORM IS DEVELOPING OFF THE OREGON COAST.  THIS STORM WILL APPROACH THE COAST SUNDAY MORNING…  A SECOND… MORE POWERFUL STORM WILL DEVELOP SUNDAY NIGHT, INCREASING SOUTH WINDS ALONG THE COAST EVEN FURTHER.

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. IN THE CASE OF THIS STORM SYSTEM… WIND SPEEDS ARE EXPECTED TO REACH LEVELS SELDOM SEEN. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF NEAR 65 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 85 MPH OR MORE CAN MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS AND LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT PROPERTY DAMAGE.

And this is what’s outside my back door:

More specifically, this is what towers over our living room.  It’s seen many a storm and I’m sure it’ll weather this one just fine, but I can’t help but wonder…  I took these photos on Friday, the day I learned of the ominous warning.  The scene looked innocent and peaceful enough at the time.  We were having freezing nights and clear days.  Today, however, the rain began, progressing to thunder showers and blustery conditions in the evening.  It has all the earmarks of an approaching storm.

I have stood at my back patio door during a storm and watched a tree topple in those woods.  We’ll have a yard full of debri and a few branches down, lots of thumping on the rooftop and the sides of the house — hopefully nothing more serious than that.  Others in the area won’t fare so well, as is always the case.  There will be mudslides and roads washed out, flooding, trees down.  The boats in the harbors will be thrashed by the wind and the churning waters.  We’ll most certainly lose power so I’ve filled the oil lamp and I have candles and flashlights at the ready.  We have wood heat so I’ll be toasty warm.  The house is clean and cozy.  I’ve battened down the hatches and I’m as prepared as I can be.

I may be stamping by candlelight for a while and with that in mind I was inspired to make this card.  I have all kinds of new Christmas stamps I’m anxious to use but I just felt like making this one today.  These are the candles from SU!’s Level 1 hostess set, All About Occasions.  It’s not a Christmas set but with some help from my Figgy Pudding paper these birthday candles became Christmas candles.  The “peace” is from Glad Tidings.

The card base is Bravo Burgundy.  I stamped Linen on the Always Artichoke panel.  Have you seen SU!’s retiring list yet?  Horror of horrors — Linen is retiring!  Am I wrong to love this background so much?  I don’t know why I should worry, though.  With all the designer papers and textured cardstocks there’s always something new and wonderful at our disposal.  I was just a little shocked when I saw it on the list…so sad…

Well, keep your fingers crossed for the folks on the Oregon coast…  If I get swept up in the tempest you may see me “flying by with a holiday hi!”  I’ll be back as soon as I can.  Take care!

Stamps:  All About Occasions, Glad Tidings

Paper:  Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Whisper White, BasicGrey Figgy Pudding designer paper

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Barely Banana, Mellow Moss, Basic Black, markers:  Ruby Red & Summer Sun

Accessories:  Ribbon, rhinestone brad, word window punch, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape