Running With Scissors…

Welcome 2009!  Any resolutions on your list?  I make resolutions all year long – some I keep, others I break, usually because I forgot I made them in the first place — so I don’t necessarily make New Year’s resolutions.  However, this year I’m thinking I need to resolve myself to earlier bedtimes.  It doesn’t sound like a lofty goal, but there’s more there than meets the eye.  It will impact my quality of life in terms of health, spirit, relations with friends and family, creativity — on and on, with endless sub-categories.  I love mornings, too.  Oh, boy!  I can’t wait to get started!

I made this card with pieces from my scrap drawer — bits of this and that which I hope work well together.  The scalloped border was made with Stampin’ Up!’s slit punch per Julia’s tutorial here.

The banana split is part of the Life is Sweet set from Our Craft Lounge.  It’s watercolored on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper with Stampin’ Up! inks.  The dollop of whipped cream is colored with a white Sakura Souffle pen, which makes it a little puffy, and there are sugary sprinkles of glitter on the vanilla ice cream.  The satin ribbon is something I found at Wal-Mart.  It’s printed continuously with the “Hugs & Kisses”, so I let that be the card front’s sentiment.  Cute!  The flowers are Prima Sprites.

This is the inside of the card.  I made it into a Valentine with an old PSX sentiment and a pocket for a gift card so a sweet friend can have a banana split on me.  Now, I just have to hope Baskin-Robbins or Dairy Queen sell gift cards . . .

I must run now.  I’ve got more stamping to do, as well as other things too numerous to mention.  Wishing all my stamping friends a sweet and fabulous first day of 2009!

• Stamps:  Life is Sweet (Our Craft Lounge), So Swirly jumbo wheel (Stampin’ Up!), Valentine sentiment by PSX
• Paper:  Neenah Classic Solar White, watercolor, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, scrap of retired SU! DP
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, Real Red, various SU! inks for watercoloring
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Sprites Prima flowers, rhinestone brad, Sakura Souffle pen, Stardust Stickles, ticket corner punch, slit punch, scallop border punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, Cuttlebug Bloom Dots embossing folder

Hello!  I’m thinking ahead to Valentines so I thought I’d get a few made in case my friends at work need a little something.  I’ve always enjoyed sending Valentines.  I only have one sweetie but I think it’s a nice time to let anyone know how special they are to you.

This sweet little heart is from Stampin’ Up!’s retired Doodle That set.  I think it’s just as cute now as when it was brand new.  I colored it with my Prismacolor markers and accented it with a gold flower brad which I ordered from the Paper Wishes catalog.  The sentiment is from another retired SU! set — Love Matters.

This card size is 7 3/4″ x 3 3/4″.  I have envelopes this size so now and then I like to make a card to fit, and the design seemed suited to a tall, narrow card.

About the Cuttlebug embossing:  In order to fully emboss the long, white panel I inserted the paper in the folder as far as it would go, and embossed through the Cuttlebug.  Then I turned the paper around and embossed the other end.  I was able to match up the pattern just fine.

I hope you enjoyed this card.  It’s one of my favorites, but so very simple.  Have a wonderful day!

• Stamps:  Doodle That, Love Matters (both retired Stampin’ Up!)
• Paper:  Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White, Neenah Classic Solar White, gold mirror metallic
• Ink:  Palette Noir, Prismacolor markers for coloring
• Accessories:  Offray ribbon, brads, Spellbinders scallop circle die, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

I don’t know what it is about cupcakes and scallops that seem to go together.  Maybe it’s because they’re both sweet?  Today, I used a stamp set that’s fairly new to me — Life is Sweet from Our Craft Lounge.  These cupcakes look like they’re dressed up for a party so I made this into a birthday card.  The sentiment is two stamps from the set, with the “Mmmmmm” stamped three times — one “Mmmmmm” for each cupcake.

The cupcakes were watercolored with Stampin’ Up! inks, then frosted with a Sakura Souffle pen.  The pen ink soaked into the watercolor paper a little bit, so I went over it again when dry to make it a little more puffy.  I love those pens!  All the cupcakes are cut out and popped up on foam mounting tape.

The designer paper is My Mind’s Eye Kaleidoscope which, I think, is no longer in production.  This is a beautiful paisley print, but it’s so bright it needs to be on a party card.  I’ve sanded it before to tone down the brightness, but today I just sanded the pale chartreuse Memory Box cardstock.  This cardstock is colored only on one side (white on the other) so the sanding works perfectly on it.  It’s a rather lightweight cardstock — too lightweight for a single layer card, but ideal for multiple layers.  It comes in a lot of beautiful colors and I’ve found it very nice for stamping on.  If you’re interested, Ellen is having a sale on Dec. 29th — 20% off your entire order.

I thought I’d try to keep this short and sweet today, so I’ll leave you with the recipe.  Have a happy Monday!

• Stamps:  Life is Sweet (Our Craft Lounge)
• Paper:  Memory Box Pale Chartreuse, Stampin’ Up! Pink Pirouette, My Mind’s Eye Kaleidoscope DP, watercolor
• Ink:  Jet Black Stazon, SU! inks for watercoloring, Palette Noir
• Accessories:  Ribbon, Brenda Walton rhinestones, Sakura Souffle pen, Stampin’ Up! scallop edge punch, 1 3/8″ square punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Hello!  I hope you all had a very nice Christmas and have settled down to bask in its afterglow.  It’s always nice when the gifts have been exchanged and the dinner is done.  It seems like the house goes quiet for a while on Christmas evening and everyone does their own thing.  My thing, of course, was to go to my room and do a little stamping.

I can hardly express how excited I am to be sharing something other than a Christmas card.  For this card I brought out an old All Night Media stamp just so I could color something pretty.  I cannot tell you the name of this unlabeled stamp, other than it’s an Anna Griffin design.  Its beauty is timeless, and I’ll just bet you’ve got lots of old stamps, too, which haven’t seen ink for quite a while but would look wonderful with today’s papers, colors and accessories.  I’ve decided to make an effort to work my way through those old stamps.  After all, there must be a reason why I kept them, right?

This is the rose basket stamped in Palette Cognac.  I colored this image with my Prismacolor markers.  When I purchased my first set of these solvent-based markers, I wrote about them here.  The image I colored in that post was my very first attempt with these markers and I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to achieve beautiful results.  Subsequent experiences have been more frustrating than successful and I was all but ready to give up when I said, “wait a minute; there has to be a reason for this”.  What was the difference between that first image and everything I tried afterward?  Then it dawned on me — the one difference was the paper.

What I know about Copics you could fit in your eye, but one thing I remember hearing (and I could be wrong) is that they work well on Neenah Classic Solar White paper — better than Stampin’ Up!’s Whisper White.  Naturally, I immediately bought a whole ream of Neenah paper, and I love it — so white, a good weight, and it’s fabulous for stamping on.  Now, I don’t know exactly what the difference is between Prismacolor markers and Copics, but I have found that I have better luck with Whisper White paper when using my Prismacolor markers.

The most remarkable difference is that the ink blends smoothly with no bleeding on Whisper White.  It seems I have more control of the ink, and since I’m an extreme amateur with these markers, I need all the help I can get.  The following is a comparison of the marker ink on the two papers:

You can tell by the difference in the line width how the ink soaks into and spreads on the Neenah paper.  I was having a heck of a time trying to stay within the lines of my stamped image!

So, now I’m happier with my Prismacolor markers and I dashed right off and purchased more here.  You can either buy them in sets or individually.  When you buy six or more markers, they’re only $1.85 each.  I share this information, not to dissuade anyone considering Copics, but as an option if Copics seem too expensive to experiment with.  I also realize there are a lot of Prismacolor owners, too.  I had no idea how many folks had these markers until I’d brought it up the last time!

Anyway, I’ve got a lot to learn yet, but I’ll keep working with them.  I sure did enjoy coloring this pretty rose basket — so much, in fact, that I’m very excited to sit down with them again!  I can fully understand why everyone loves their Copics so much!

I promise my next post will be less wordy.  I’d love to just do some stamping and share the results.  I can’t resist sharing the information, though, when I learn something new — just in case it’s new to you, as well.  Finally, the card recipe is listed below.  Thank you for visiting!  Happy stamping in these remaining days of 2008!

• Stamps:  All Night Media Anna Griffin Rose Basket
• Ink:  Palette Cognac, Prismacolor solvent-based markers
• Paper:  Really Rust, PTI Spring Moss, Wild Asparagus designer paper
• Accessories:  PTI ribbon, copper Kaiser flat-backed pearls from Flourishes, 3/4″ square punch (to make the photo corners, cut on the diagonal), Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Merry Christmas Eve!  Are your stockings all hung by the chimney with care?  This is my last Christmas card this year and my last post before Christmas, so I’ll take this opportunity to send glad tidings and wish you all the most wonderful Christmas.

This was an exceptionally quick and easy card with a very simple image, requiring only the tiniest bit of coloring with Stampin’ Up! markers.  Thank goodness for that Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder for these quick cards.  I’ve sure gotten my money’s worth out of it!

Layers on layers — vanilla, white, and red — are all there is to it, but the main image panel was pressed into my Versamark pad to totally coat it, and then embossed with Stampin’ Up!’s Glassy Glaze ultra-thick embossing powder.  That stuff is so amazing!  Everything you use it on winds up looking like a resin sticker or an element you might purchase in a craft store.  I just love it!  I didn’t crack the whole image, but when I punched the holes to insert the brads, it cracked the corners a bit — just made it a little more interesting.

I’ll be back stamping and sharing again after Christmas.  Today, I’m making fudge and cookies.  I hope you’re enjoying yourselves, too!  Merry, merrier, merriest Christmas to all!!

• Stamps:  Sidekick Sayings (retired Stampin’ Up!)
• Ink:  Timber Brown Stazon, Versamark
• Paper:  Shimmery ivory, Shimmery White, Real Red, Very Vanilla
• Accessories:  Brads, Glassy Glaze embossing powder, Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder

My friend, Jami, sent this image to me and I finally had time to color and dress it up properly this weekend, so I’m sharing it today.  The image and sentiment are from Taylor’s Home Sweet Home set.  It’s so cute and lots of fun to decorate!

I don’t know what I was thinking when I colored the gingerbread house blue.  Blue gingerbread?  I think I had Santa’s workshop in mind.  No chance for a do-over, though, since I only had the image, not the stamp, itself.  All the candy parts are colored with Sakura glaze pens and the Liquid Applique is sprinkled with glitter.

The button is one of Stampin’ Up!’s clear buttons which is adhered with Crystal Effects over a peppermint punched from a sheet of Figgy Pudding paper.  I just love a traditional Christmas image like this, and I believe most of my non-stamping friends and family would probably appreciate it, too.  To look at it brings to mind the magic and delight of a child’s Christmas.  Thank you, Jami!  This was fun!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with me today.  I know it’s a busy time for everyone, but I hope it’s a “good” busy.  Everyone around me seems to be in good spirits — exchanging gifts, delivering home-baked goodies, dropping in for a visit.  It’s a wonderful time of year!  See you again soon!

• Stamps:  Home Sweet Home
• Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Real Red, unknown white (possibly Neenah), BasicGrey Figgy Pudding designer paper
• Ink:  Unknown black, Creamy Caramel for sponging, Bashful Blue
• Accesories:  Ribbon, linen thread, button, 3/4″ circle punch, Liquid Applique, Sakura glaze pens, glitter, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Finally, I stamped!  I was beginning to wonder if I would finish my Christmas cards but I had so many other things to do — shopping, wrapping, decorating, cleaning, candy making . . .  I decided to put the stamping on hold while I caught up with those other things.

Today, I pulled out my Kitchen Sink Stamps Playful Christmas and made a couple of cards with it.  I had “snow” much fun with this first card!  I layered a rolling hills background with my BasicGrey Figgy Pudding paper and edged the layers with glitter.  The trees were all stamped with Mellow Moss ink, then overstamped with the various patterns and colors.  The tree tops are all glittered, too, and so is my entire stamp room, my clothes, my hair . . . you know how that goes.

The foremost tree is popped up on foam mounting tape.  Notches cut with a hole punch will help keep the silver cord in place as the card slips in and out of the envelope.  The card base is Cool Caribbean and the sentiment is stamped in Bravo Burgundy.

This card isn’t nearly as sparkly, but it has rhinestones, a Cuttlebug Snowflake embossed background and a Martha Stewart punch border.  More Figgy Pudding paper, too.  These trees were stamped directly onto Shimmery White without stamping the solid base first.  I love the versatility of the many trees in this set.

The cardstock and ink colors are Bravo Burgundy and Kiwi Kiss — a little different, but I like it.  After I made the first card I was dazzled by all the glitter and I thought this one was somewhat plain, poor thing, but it grew on me.

I need to get back to work on those “other” things now, but more cards are coming soon.  Yes, they’re Christmas cards.  The last of them will be in the mail on Monday and I hope they reach their destination before the 25th.  I vow to be more timely next year.

I hope you’re enjoying the countdown days till Christmas!  Happy holidays!

I sincerely appreciate the thought that went into your comments on my Scor-Pal and tote blog candy post.  I read every one of them and was quite moved by many.  This random number generator has selected a winner:

#340 — Debbie Fisher

“I don’t have a Score-Pal and would LOVE one! I love what everyone does with them. Ü

My Christmas card list has gotten smaller and smaller and the relief of stress that that brings is wonderful!”

Congratulations, Debbie!  Please contact me to claim your prize.

Thank you all so much!  Enjoy your day!

I made this card today with someone sweet in mind.  It reminds me of her, so I hope she likes it.  I’d love to start right now and make a special card for each person on my Christmas list.  The trouble is, by the time Christmas is over, I’m a little tired of making Christmas cards.  It’s a nice thought, though, and it bears thinking about some more.  If only I could keep the end result in mind . . .  Of course, they’d all be made with this year’s stamps, and next year will bring new stamps.  Oh, but then I’d have more time to play with the new stamps!

This is one of my new sets I absolutely love but didn’t have much time to get acquainted with, since I was so busy making multiples of quick cards.  Actually, it’s a combination of three different sets — the ornaments from Flourishes’ All That Glitters, the greeting from their Sleigh Ride set, and the snowflakes from Fancy Pants’ Blissful Season.

The ornaments are silver embossed and very lightly watercolored with Stampin’ Up!’s Pink Pirouette and Sage Shadow inks.  The decorative inset of the pink ornament is glittered with Stardust Stickles, and a pink rhinestone set in the center.

That’s it for today!  I’m wrapping this up so I can have an early bedtime.  It’s icy cold outside and I’m pretty sure I’ll balk at getting up early to go to work.  Brrrrrrrr!  Stay warm, and happy stamping!

• Stamps:  All That Glitters, Sleigh Ride (Flourishes), Blissful Season (Fancy Pants)
• Paper:  Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
• Ink:  Sage Shadow, Pink Pirouette, Handsome Hunter (greeting), Versamark
• Accessories:  Offray ribbon, SU! silver elastic cord, eyelets, Stickles glitter, rhinestone, SU! scallop edge punch, silver embossing powder, Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Hello!  I’ve been enjoying your comments on yesterday’s blog candy post.  The general consensus is that most of us do send Christmas cards but receive fewer every year in return.  As stampers, I think we’re more likely to hold onto this tradition for the pleasure of our craft, but some have curtailed the practice, at least temporarily, with the most frequently cited reason being that of time constraints.  It seems the modern world has given us freedom in some areas and constricted us in others.

When I say “modern world”, yes, I’m thinking about washing machines, electric or gas ranges, vacuum cleaners, supermarkets, air travel . . .  We don’t spend from dawn till dusk scrubbing on a washboard.  A trip to town and back is no longer a day’s journey.  Families can be spread across the country, yet it’s within the realm of possibility to be together from time to time.  We shop for pleasure, go on vacation, take the kids to the park.  And how about those craft shows, stamp clubs, parties, movies, dinners, concerts?  We’re “free” to work outside the home or further our educations.  We dash in and out of each other’s lives through high speed electronics.  These are good things . . . right?

We’re fortunate to have these options — the opportunity to make choices within the scope of our circumstances, and that’s a very individual matter.  As long as we know what fits within our boundaries and don’t willfully cross them . . .

Today, I came home from work, caught my second wind and made four of these exceedingly simple cards.  I layered white on white, with only a stamped sentiment (Flourishes’ Holiday Greetings), 2″ of designer paper, and a glittery snowflake embellishment.  The snowflake center is a ribbon slide.  I threaded the ribbon through the slide, then the ribbon ends through a hole in the center of the snowflake - front to back, and taped the ribbon ends behind the card-stock layer.  The snowflake is held snugly flat against the card with the aid of Alene’s Tacky Glue.  The card requires only 42¢  postage and can be machine cancelled with a crimped card-stock sheet protecting the front.

The 2″ of designer paper was inspired by Sharon Johnson’s challenge here.  Thank you, Sharon!  I needed that!

Tomorrow, my first priority will be to address and mail the 40+ cards I’ve made thus far.  I was surprised to find I have so many, but it’s not nearly enough.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today!  Have a happy holiday season!

• Stamps:  Holiday Greetings (Flourishes)
• Paper:  Neenah Classic Solar White, Diane’s Daughters Green Snowflake designer paper
• Ink:  Bravo Burgundy
• Accessories:  Ribbon, glittered snowflake, SU! ribbon slide