Dream

For some reason, I just loved this dream catcher die when I saw it. So, I ordered it:) I'm not really sure what to do with it, but here is my first card. I cut it out of a textured cardstock. I used a piece of ivory cardstock and a Memory Box die for the matting for it, and then I used foam squares to mount it. The background cardstock is from The Paper Studio. (Mirabelle. I love those patterns!) The "Dream" stamp is from an old Inkadinkado set. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the card opens from bottom to top.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

More Dies!

Another new die, and another simple card. I cut the die from an off-white panel. I matted with slightly patterned paper. The sentiment is from Inky Antics and is cut with a Memory Box die and mounted on foam squares.

Edited to add: Here is the link to this die that I bought from Amazon. I have bought many dies from Amazon and also from eBay. There are multiple sellers selling them. I haven't been linking, because I think these companies are making dies using other company's dies as patterns. Not sure how they can do that, but I have seen some that I've recognized from "major" companies. Wherever they come from, they work really well!  If you are interested, please allow lots of time for looking, because there are lots of dies. Also, they ship from China, so they take a long time to get here.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Baby Card

I received several new dies on Tuesday (and I still have another batch coming in a few weeks.) One of my new ones was this little train. I just thought it was so cute. I cut it out of textured blue and used a sanding block to highlight some of the features. The "Congratulations" was cut from the same cardstock. The train is mounted on foam squares. The background cardstock is from an old Die Cuts With a View matstack.

We've been keeping so busy! We just painted our kitchen. That took about five days to sand walls, wash walls, tape, paint (two coats!), untape, touch-up and put things back. I do love the color. As soon as we finished that yesterday, we started getting ready to have work done our floors. We have hardwood in the kitchen and entryway. We are going to have it refinished darker. We are also going to add a "hallway" to our dining room (which was the sunroom, but we put our dining room table in there) and also put hardwood in the dining room. In order to do that, we have to empty everything from the kitchen, the dining room, the entryway, the area outside our bedroom and another small area outside the office and a bathroom. Whew! We are also removing the trim boards ourselves (well, mostly Jim, but I'm helping!) and will clean and refinish them. Should look nice - I hope! They will start September 11 and I think they said it would take about a week. More disruption, but it will be worth it.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Fall-To Layout #30 - Take Two

I actually had some "extra" time earlier this week (not sure how that happened!) and I opened up some of my older stamping bookmarks. Imagine my surprise to find out that Natasha had reactivated her Clean and Simple Stamping blog with Fall-To Layouts:) I just had to make a card with this week's sketch. You can find it here.

The patterned paper I used for this card is from The Paper Studio. I love that stack! I matted with a deep, rusty orange. I added some olive rick-rack along the right edge. The stamping was all done with SU! inks and Papertrey Ink images. I cut the circles with my Circle Nestabilities and mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Fall Birthday and Hello

This die-cut and folded piece has been in my paper drawer for years. I thought about tossing it, but instead made it into a card. I matted it with a deepish red. I don't know who made the die. I'm not even sure how it got into my paper drawer! :) The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! and is matted and mounted on foam squares.

While I had that sheet of paper out, I made another card with it. It is almost fall, after all! I matted with the same deep red as the first card. I die-cut the hello out of the same red, and also twice out of white to stack it. My Ott light doesn't seem as bright as it used to be. I wonder if they can kind of "wear out."

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Musical Birthday

I bought some more dies, and this one arrived a few days ago. I cut out two colors and made them into cards right away. I used the same layout for both. This one is black and red.

This one is blues and grays and uses ancient paper:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Thoroughly Thankful #2

Here is the second card I made with the Stampin' Up! set called "Thoroughly Thankful." The flowers and sentiment are all part of the same stamp. There were two other small stamps that I did not use.

I colored the image with my new Spectrum Noir Sparkle markers. I didn't do anything "fancy" with them - just used them as markers. The sparkle from them is so pretty! It's like having Wink of Stella built in:) I think you can see the shimmer better in this small photo. I mounted the image panel on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Thoroughly Thankful #1

I really wasn't ready to start another stack of Stampin' Up! stamps (in my quest to use them all) but I was looking for something to color and thought this would work. I was wanting to use my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I still haven't used them in any way except like "regular" markers, but I did enjoy coloring this image with them. This set is called "Thoroughly Thankful." For this card I used the main image, the greeting on the front of the card, and the sentiment on the inside.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

My Stamping Room - Done!

  

OK. Here are pictures of my stamping room. Whew! I'm so tired of looking at pictures of it to share - I just want to be in there! :) Sorry if there are too many. I did delete several more.

Above is the view from outside the door looking in. (I will put the descriptions of the pictures below the pictures.)

This is outside looking in - in the other direction.

Starting to the left behind my table and going around the room. Just after we bought our house (before we even knew if we were going to get it) someone had these two teak shelves for give away at the end of their driveway. We gladly picked them up! My stamping table and hutch are teak, so that was perfect! (The table and hutch bottom were our old dining room furniture. We gave the hutch top away years ago.) On this shelf are flowers and buttons, tablets of patterned paper, miscellaneous older markers, some eyelets, ink pads, tape runner, binders with my stamps, binders with colored cardstock. The six-drawer unit has more misc stuff and some punches.

My table. On the left is a nine-drawer container for my copics and other markers, my foam squares, etc., gems and pearls. On top of that is an Ott light - that's where I take pictures of my cards. My acrylic blocks and small stamp sets are in the wood trays, along with my blank and finished calendar pages, Stickles and Liquid Pearls. My "lazy susan" storage holds scissors, glues, stamp-a-ma-jig, brayer, paint brushes, blending tools, etc. Also, my PTI stamps are in CD cases in a revolving CD holder. Also in CD cases in that same holder are my first Nestabilities - the "plain" shapes with scallops.

My wood-mounted stamps. These are all Stampin' Up! The closed doors hide more wood-mounted stamps - non-SU! The SU! stamps are arranged by size and then alphabetically. I have the last two stacks on the second to the bottom shelf and the bottom shelf left to use.

The view from my table. In the left corner is a storage cube and my Cameo Silhouette. Then my desk. This was about the first thing that my mom bought after starting work. The TV came from Jim's mom's place and the computer was my dad's. The next unit holds my punches. It also came from my dad's place - it's for VHS tapes:) The doors open out. The black storage shelf holds our photo albums and the remains of my former crafts. The painting on the printer was done by our daughter in tenth grade. It was hanging up but fell down a while ago. Jim will try to figure out a better way to hang it!

I don't have a window in my room, but if I keep the door open, I can see outside through the family room.

With the doors closed, this is the view. The Starry Night painting was done by me at a "Paint Pub." The scenery picture is a crewel stitchery done by me many years ago.

My bulletin board with some cards I have received. It hasn't been updated for quite a while. :( In the colored drawers are my embossing powders, eyelets and snaps, stickers, extra supplies and miscellaneous items. Also there sits my Grand Calibur, which I rarely use.

Last picture - behind my table. We got the upper cupboards free through FreeCycle. I think they match quite well! They hold finished cards, ribbons, white and off-white cardstock and much more. The hutch holds envelopes, several boxes of cards I've received over the last many years, my ScorPal, some punches and a few other things. The six-drawer unit on the left is FILLED with 12 x 12 paper - which I very rarely use. The three-drawer unit hold alphabet stamps. Next comes more paper. Then my BIGkick, MISTI, dies, Washi tape, and card parts. The binders on the right hold my embossing folders and Cuttlebug dies. 

I think that's about it! Please ask if you have any questions.

And I even have the family room back:) And it amazingly only took about two and a half days.

   

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Daisy

I think this card is pretty similar to one I posted a month or two ago, but I'm just using up some more "card parts." This daisy was cut with a die when I was in Des Moines in June. My how time flies!! The die cuts the window, the daisy with stem and grasses, and also an extra daisy for popping up on top. I did the coloring with my sparkly Spectrum Noir markers. I added some blue patterned paper underneath and also some scoring with my Scor Buddy. I used a black enamel dot for the flower center. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. This card is going to an on-line friend who should have already received it. Happy Birthday, Gloria!

The die is from Poppystamps/Memory Box - called Floral Stem Collage.

The stamps/die set that I used for yesterday's card is from Hero Arts/Sizzix and is called "Frames with Sprigs." Here is a link to it on eBay in case you want to see what it looks like.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Anniversary, Kris! (And My Stamping Room)

This is the card I made for stamping group friend, Kris. Happy Anniversary to you and Ron! I made the second card first, but decided, even though I liked it, that it needed "a little bit more." So I made this top one.

The flower stamp and die are from a Hero Arts/Sizzix set that I've had for quite a while. I colored it with markers, spritzed with water, and stamped on ivory cardstock. I mounted them on foam squares. The sentiment is an old one from PSX, stamped on the same ivory cardstock. I matted with a matching purple. The card base is ivory, also, with a layer of kids watercolor cardstock on the bottom. to the left is the one without the purple matting. Just a bit too plain.

My stamping room is done!!! We went out of town overnight Tuesday night and came back Wednesday, but I still finished putting it back together late Wednesday afternoon. I'm so excited about it! :) I have posts scheduled already for the next few days, but soon I will push them back a day and show you pictures of my completed room. I love it! There are some things that I need to "purge" but for now I just put everything back. I was going to reorganize, but I liked it the way it was.

Edited to add: The Sizzix/Hero Arts set that I used for the flowers is called "Frames with Sprigs." Here is a link to it on eBay in case you want to see what the set looks like.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Thinking of You

I stamped this "Thinking of you" sentiment last week while working on another card. It was the wrong size for that card and I, of course, couldn't throw it away:) It was stamped in my favorite brown - Soft Suede. (The stamp and ink are both from Stampin' Up! and likely both retired.) The flowered paper is from a matstack from The Paper Studio and the bottom layer of patterned cardstock is from an old matstack by Recollections. I do believe that is my last sheet from that stack - possibly the only matstack I have even come close to using up!! (Actually, now that I think of it, I think I may have one more sheet.)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

My Stamping Room

We've only lived in this house for four and a half years, and we painted my stamping room right away. I do like the color, but with the teak furniture (old dining room table and old hutch bottom), everything was too much the same color. (I used a flash for this picture, and the room looks more rose-colored than it actually is.) So, I bit the bullet and moved everything out on Sunday so that I could paint it! This is what things looked like while I was waiting for Jim to help me move out the big furniture.

This is what our family room looks like! How did all of that stuff actually fit into my room - and how will I get it back in?!? :)

Ready for painting! I'm anxious for it to be done. I'm sure it will need two coats. Hopefully it will go back together as quickly as it got emptied, but I don't really think that's possible:)

I had this ready to post, but we actually got it painted yesterday, too! First we did have to remove the table and the desk with the computer. I was hoping to not have to move them, but it was fine. Here are a couple pictures of it painted. And it actually was done well with only one coat of paint!

Now today I will remove the tape, replace the outlet covers, etc., vacuum and start moving stuff back in. I'm so excited ... and amazed that it went so quickly!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Die-Cut Thanks

When I was in Des Moines in June, I used a friend's die to cut these two pieces. So pretty, I think! For this first one, I had cut the piece with ivory cardstock, and then I matted with some Recollections dotted cardstock and mounted on the card base.

For this second one, I had used the die on patterned paper. I added it to an ivory base. I had lost the little triangle for the "A", so I added a matching gem.

Edited to add: This die is from Simon Says Stamp. You can find it here.

Also (with encouragement from Darnell) I am entering these cards into the Inkspirational challenge, which is "Wave."

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Spring Garden #3

Card #3 and the last using the Stampin' Up! set called "Spring Garden." The stamps from the set are the sentiment, the flowers, and the stems. I again used kid's watercolor paper and spritzed the flowers and stems before stamping. I embossed the matting with a Darice border folder on the bottom.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Spring Garden #2

Card #2 made with "Spring Garden" by Stampin' Up! The stamps I used for this card are the stem with leaves, the flowers, the butterfly and the butterfly body. For each of them, I spritzed with water before stamping on kid's watercolor paper. The sentiment is from another SU! set. I cut it out with a Memory Box die. I mounted the sentiment on foam squares. The card base is ivory.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Spring Garden #1

Here is the first card of my next Stampin' Up! set. Making progress! :) (I think after this set, which completes another stack, I will work on "card parts" for a while.)

This set is called "Spring Garden." It consists of ten stamps, which I will use on my cards over the next three days. The stamps I used for this card are the stems and the flowers. The sentiment is from another SU! set. I used some kid's watercolor paper for the stamping. I inked up the stamps with markers and spritzed with water before stamping. I matted with black. The entire card front is covered with paper from Recollections. The image panel is mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparkling Season #4

Card #4 and the last one using the Stampin' Up! set, "Sparkling Season." I wasn't sure I wanted to use this stamp, but I did:) The stamp is the three bulbs with tops. I drew the cord with a Tim Holtz black marker. I colored the bulbs with markers for stamping. I added Wink of Stella to each bulb. The sentiment is from a SU! set, also.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparkling Season #3

Card #3 made with the Stampin' Up! set called "Sparkling Season." The stamp for this card is the ornament with hanger. First I inked up the hanger part with a Versamark marker and embossed it with detail silver embossing powder. Then I used a green marker on the ornament and "thumped" it with a turquoise marker. I spritzed with water before stamping on a scrap of white cardstock and then I cut it out. The sentiment is from another SU! set and is embossed with the same silver embossing powder. I matted with shimmery silver paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparkling Season #2

Card #2 using the Stampin' Up! set called "Sparkling Season." I inked up the star and the trunk with markers before stamping on a piece of white cardstock slightly smaller than the card front. Then I inked up the stamp again with green and stamped it on a scrap of white. I cut out the tree and mounted it on foam squares and added it to the star and trunk. I added "ornaments" using Liquid Pearls. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Sparking Season #1

The first of my cards using the Stampin' Up! set called "Sparkling Season." I bought my set used and it only consists of four of the six stamps that came with the set. I'll be using three or perhaps all four of them - we'll see how it goes:)

I stamped the mitten with a Kaleidacolor pad and added a bit of Wink of Stella to the star/snowflake in the mitten. I used the "warmest wishes" from another Stampin' Up! set, also with the Kaleidacolor pad. I matted with dark blue and added some doodles around the edge with a white gel pen. I mounted on foam squares. The background was embossed with a Sizzix folder.

I think this card could be used as a Christmas card, or it could be used as a winter birthday card.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Snow Swirled #2

Here is the second card I made with the Stampin' Up! set called "Snow Swirled." The stamps I used are the three different snowflakes, and the same greeting as yesterday's card. I stamped the greeting with versamark and a slightly darker ink than the snowflakes, and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. The sentiment was then cut with a Memory Box die and mounted on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Snow Swirled #1

The next stamp set on my way to using all of my Stampin' Up! sets. This one is called "Snow Swirled." It consists of six stamps - this tree, this greeting, a sentiment for the inside of cards, and three snowflakes.

For this card, I stamped the tree with Versamark ink and embossed with detail gold embossing powder. I trimmed around the edge and mounted it on foam squares. I used the gold embossing for the greeting, too, and also mounted it on foam squares. The matting layers are shimmery gold paper. I embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

August Calendar Page

Wow - it's August!! :)

Here is my calendar page for this month. The picnic basket with blanket stamp is from My Favorite Things, as is the sentiment. I paperpieced the blanket with paper from an ancient Die Cuts With a View matstack. (The very first matstack I ever bought!) I colored the basket with Copics markers and sponged ink around the edges.

I'm doing horribly with my calendars so far this year:( I try to do them a year ahead (doing January of 2018 in January of 2017, etc.) but so far I have only done January and February. One of these days I need to get moving on them!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!