My grandson's birthday card

Back on Sept 26 was my grandson, Colin's 7th birthday.   I made him a card (OF COURSE!!) and never took a picture of it.   Well, tonight I called my daughter and asked her to take a pic of it and send it to me so that I could forward it onto my blog readers.  She did and here it is:
 

The background DSP.....hehehe About 5 or 6 years ago (yes I save everything!) my computer at work started printed all these papers with characters, all different letters and symbols, over and over...SO, I pulled that paper out and matted onto Pacific point card and black mat.  I stamped the robot from Lots of Bots on Whisper white cardstock and colored him with aquapainters and blue and yellow inks.  I added some dazzling diamonds to the balloon - just a little.  Tied a knot with some retired pacific point ribbon

Owls, Owls and more Owls

Here are some bookmarks that I have been making for our Women's Retreat at Church.....There were 4 of us that started covering the composition books with DSP and cutting these cute bookmarks with the Big Shot and the new Owl punch....we finished the composition books and completed 40 bookmarks.    It took me 2 weeks to finish the bookmarks...why, because I kept looking at the box of supplies, but never opening it....Finally, I opened the box on Thursday evening and began punching, punching and more punching....They are all finished..85 of them!!!

Aren't they Cute???

My Swap from Regionals

I thought I sent this post a couple of weeks ago, but found out that I never finalized the post.   SORRY about that.   I am really struggling with getting organized with my posting.   I know I will get better...
This was my swap from the Baltimore Regionals from last month.  ...How come I forget to keep one for myself... I will try and make another one to share without the glare!   Regionals were AWESOME! Regionals are mini conventions held for Stampin' Up! demonstrators all over the country and this time it was right here in Baltimore! There is stamping, swapping, sharing, demonstrations, make and takes, presentations, door prizes and of course a free stamp set...the set we received free is the - Day of Gratitude from the Holiday mini....We used it to make a bunch of cards for our make and takes....

ENJOY!

Chrstimas Card #4 from SAS

This card was CASEd from Cindy Fodor.  

This card uses Cherry Cobbler for the card base.   I placed the widest side of card in the Petals a Plenty embossing folder, halfway, up to the arrow on the embossing folder.   Then I ran it thru the Big Shot and it embosses so nicely....If it should be crooked ( like mine), don't worry, the ribbon and stamped image covers it......I used a white gel pen to dot the centers of the embossed petals, using a light touch so that it doesn't look stark white, more vanilla to match the color theme.   I stamped the poinsettia branch from the Bells and Boughs stamp set from the Holiday mini, using crumb cake ink.   For the Greeting "Peace on Earth" from the set, Four the Holidays, I used a piece of a sponge and cherry cobbler refill to ink the stamp and stamped over the poinsettia branch and sprinkled clear embossing powder on top, Heat set and your done.   Just assemble.

Christmas Card #3 from SAS

Here is the 3rd card from my SAS, also CASEd from Ronda

This card is on its side, because I forgot to change the direction when I inserted it....BUT maybe that is a good thing.    The card is very vanilla, then a layer of Riding Hood Red.   On a smaller piece of very vanilla, I stamped the holly sprig from the stamp set, Peaceful Season from the Holiday Mini catalog that is a Hostess Level 2 stamp set  and the Merry Christmas from, the stamp set, Bells and Boughs, also from the Holiday mini catalog.    I inked the holly sprig using always artichoke ink pad, the using a Q-tip, I removed the color from the berries, then using the Riding Hood Red marker, colored directly onto the stamp, gave the stamp a good "huff" and stamped the image on the very vanilla panel.  I stamped the Greeting in Riding Hood Red ink.  The tricky part of this card is the punched layer of crumb cake....I punched both sides with the scallop trim border punch.   I put the victorian crochet ribbon thru the punched holes and then tied a knot.  In addition, I added some of this wonderful artichoke seam binding, found on pg 21 of the Holiday Mini.  This is not like the seam binding you use for sewing....It is kind of a cross between silk ribbon and twill...oh so nice..  The cost is great too.   You get 10 yards for $6.95, now add on shipping and tax, it comes to $8.11.   That is 81 cents a yard and you don't have to drive around to a few stores to find something that goes with the cardstock, BECAUSE!!!  all of Stampin' Up!'s ribbons match their cardstock and their inks and their markers, oh and the pastels and don't let me forget watercolor crayons too.  

Any questions about this card or anything Stampin', just ask me......

Christmas Card #2 from SAS

Here is the 2nd card made at my SAS

This one was also CASEd from Ronda Wade.   The card is Very Vanilla with a layer of Cherry Cobbler....Don't you just LOVE that new color.....Baja breeze better watch out!  
I punched out 1 3/8" squares from Jolly Holiday designer series paper and embossed with the dots embossing folder, Old olive cardstock.  Alternating the squares on each row.   Again, using the victorian crochet ribbon and the "Joy at Christmas" from the Perfect punches stamp set from the BIG catalog and stamped in cherry cobbler and punched out with the scallop circle punch...Don't FORGET....always stamp before you punch out...It is so much easier that way.   DONE!!  super simple card, but beautiful


ENJOY!

CHALLENGE!!!!

Good Evening Readers.....I am putting out a challenge to all the readers of this blog..   Make a hand stamped card - fall theme and send it to me.   I will have a non stamper choose the winner and the winner will get to pick a goodie from my "OOPS" Basket....These items are stamp sets or accessories that were ordered and never used.  Some are new and current, other items are retired.    The winning entry will be featured on this blog and all the cards entered will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House - Baltimore.   There are no rules...just handmade by you and a fall theme.  Do not sign the inside of the cards since they will be used by the guests at RMDH.   I will supply the envelopes for the cards.

Challenge deadline:   Nov15th.    Mail challenge entries to:  Carol Valentine, 4519 Salem Bottom Rd, Westminster, MD 21157.

Here are some of the guests at Ronald McDonald House - Baltimore this past summer....They told me they were going home to Malaysia last week after spending 4 months here in Baltimore.     

SO THIS CHALLENGE IS A WIN WIN FOR ALL.  

ENJOY!

My Mom's creation

Here is a picture of a card my Mom made:

The card is Cherry Cobbler (hard to see, sorry...), the mat is River Rock and the dictionary is from Newsprint DSP #117166, pg 175 and put one of those adorable Antique Brads #117273, pg 187.  She stamped the flower from Happiness Shared #120534, pg 100, in Sahara Sand ink and colored it in with Stampin' Pastels #120962, pg 194 and cut it out with the Paper snips #103579, pg 199.   My Mom said before purchasing these AMAZING  scissors, she could never cut out anything...because her arthritic fingers could not fit in the scissors for her to use!!!   I love how the dictionary page is about flowers and she used a flower as the stamped layered image....WAY TO GO MOM!!!

Christmas Card Stamp a Stack

Over the last month, I have held a few Christmas card Stamp a stacks, (SAS).   These SAS are always a big HIT.   Some people come and make the cards and then duplicate them to send to all of their friends and family.   Some make the cards and it gets them inspired to create more Christmas cards.

The cards this year were inspired, OK, CASEd from fellow demonstrators, Ronda Wade and Cindy Fodor.   I kept them simple this year and I think my gals liked them better this way....No extra postage needed to mail these cards....

Isn't this beautiful???  It is one of my favorites....  Stamp set:  Gifts of Christmas, and Heard from the Heart..My favorite color....Baja Breeze...I also used basic gray ink for the verse and I sponged around the vanilla and baja breeze cardstock to help it stand out from the vanilla card. 
The SAS takes about 2 hrs to make all 16 cards, 4 different cards, 4 of each card.   The cost is $25 and it includes a roll of victorian crochet ribbon that you use on all of the cards and keep whatever you have leftover...   I am having the 3rd SAS on Nov 6th starting at 9am.   I have 2 spots open if you want to join in on the fun.    Contact me for more information.    I will send pictures of the other cards later this week.

ENJOY!!!