Untitled

Good evening! Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! I just wanted to make a real quick post. My blog looks seriously screwed up right now, but I've been working on it for a while and just don't feel like messing with it anymore right now =). Anyway, Just thought I'd let you all know I don't plan to just leave it this way, lol. I'm trying to put little headers on my sidebars for each section, but I can't figure out how to get rid of all that extra space between them and the next thing. Does anyone know how? Oh, what do you think of the new colors? Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip...Loving those colors! I've got to get Baja Breeze! I may still work on my banner some more...I chopped off the bottom to make it not look so cluttered, but now it just looks...well like someone chopped off the bottom, lol.

Also, what do you think about the two side bar headers I have so far (the about me and Stampin up catalogs thingies)? Are they too busy? Oh, I have another question too =). I want one of those signatures that posts automatically every time you post, but I want to make my own in photoshop so it matches everything else. How do I do that? Does it go in my template somewhere or something?

ETA:

Whew, I'm all done! =) That was a lot of work! Oh, and I figured out the signature thing too! I got the directions HERE if anyone is interested. It's so EASY!! I just added the picture to this one from my computer though, since it won't put them in previously published posts.

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning and Happy Halloween! Can you guess what this week's theme for the Stamp Something Challenge is? Yep, Halloween!

I don't send out cards for most of the holidays, so I don't have any Halloween stamps! Can you believe it...not a single one! I figured I could at least find a happy Halloween Somewhere in my stamp room! So this is what I came up with with. I used the Muchas Gracias clear stamp set by Inkadinkado, and just colored his sombrero in Halloween colors. I used chipboard letters for my sentiment and just inked them with my palette black ink pad. I really should have sanded the edges first. I didn't realize how obvious those little stubs were until now, lol. Oh well =).
-Stamps-Inkadinkado Muchas Gracias
-Paper-Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock; Bali Breeze (I think) DSP
-Ink-Palette Black, Creamy Caramel; Only Orange & Basic Black markers
-Accessories-Black organdy (retired SU), 1/4" Pumpkin grosgrain, Blender Pen and Chipboard letters

Make sure you check out the Stamp Something Challenge and see the beautiful projects the rest of the girls came up with!

A wish for peace

Hello! I got this stamp set a week or two ago and still haven't made anything with it, so I thought it was time =). I'm really happy with how this card came out! I know my
dove looks kind of funny flying off the card, but it just looked too off balance
when I had him on the other side =). I stamped my image in Palette brown (I can't remember the actual color name) and then colored it with old olive and going gray. Then I just covered the whole thing in versamark and used heat and stick powder and Martha Stewart glitter. Am I the only one that all along has been using heat and stick and holding the paper with tweezers or my fingers? OMG, this is so much easier!! I just taped a little tab to the back of the paper. It worked wonderfully, and there are no spots where my fingers or the tweezers knocked off powder.

Oh, I had another idea today too! I was trying to figure out how I wanted to layout this card, so I was just kinda sketching it on my grid paper, but I was getting all aggravated erasing lines and all that, when I though, why not use acetate and a marker for this? So I cut two pieces of acetate. One is 4.25 X 5.5 and the other is 4.25 X 4.25. I colored the edges with a sharpie (so I can see them easier and not lose them) and now that's what I'm using to figure out how I want to lay my card out. I just put it on top of the grid paper so I can still see the lines and draw on it with a non permanent marker, and when your done just wipe it off!

-Stamps-A Wish For Peace, PTI Take a Bough
-Paper-Kraft, Whisper White and Riding Hood Red cardstock; Riding Hood Red patterns and Summer Picnic DSP.
-Ink-Palette brown, Versamark, Going Gray and Old Olive
-Accessories-Stampin' Dimensionals, Heat and stick powder, Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter.

Inkadinkado Dogs

I just love this dogs set by Inkadinkado! They are all so cute! I made this card a week or two and just forgot to post it. I found a couple of others too, but those weren't posted for a reason lol.

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Dogs
-Paper-Whisper White, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose
-Ink-Palette Black, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose classic ink & White craft ink
-Accessories-Regal Rose Ribbon

Oh, I almost forgot. Make sure you stop by my friend Erin's blog. She is celebrating a year of blogging with some great blog candy!

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

Candy Jar

Hello! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! The only stamping I got done was this candy jar. I made it to sit on my stamp table =). This thing took no time! The jar came from IKEA. The Sweet is from Impression Obsession cupcakes, I just omitted the rest of the sentiment and then put dots with my Real Red marker. The top of the strawberry is on mini glue dots.

-Stamps-Tart & Tangy, Impression Obsession Cupcakes
-Paper-Whisper White and Real Red
-Ink-Real Red and Old Olive
-Accessories-1 3/8 circle punch scallop circle punch, and mini glue dots

If you have a minute, make sure you check out my friend Denise's blog. Not only is she mucho talented, she's got blog candy up for grabs to celebrate her first year of blogging! =)

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! This week There She Goes is hosting the Stamp Something Challenge. Their challenge theme is 'For the Birds'. So anything with birds goes! I still have a few more Christmas cards to do (can you believe I'm almost done?!) so I went with this cute little penguin =).
-Stamps-Inkadinkado Penguin Pandemonium and Christmas Characters
-Paper-Riding Hood Red, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Pink Pirouette patterns DSP
-Ink-Palette black and Riding Hood Red
-Accessories-Martha Stewart Glitter, Elmer's glue and paint brush, Offray ribbon

Head on over to the Stamp Something Challenge blog so you can see what fabulous projects the rest of the DT came up with and to play along with us!

Post it note holders

Aren't these adorable? These have to be the easiest thing I've ever made! Just cut a sheet of cardstock to 3 1/4 X 1 mark shy of 6 3/4...I think that would be 6 13/16. Anyway, then score at 3 1/8. Instead of scoring at another hard to find measurement, I just flip the paper around and score at 3 1/8 again =). Easy peasy. Just stick some magnets on the back and decorate it. When you put the post it notes in, make sure you they are not too close to the fold. They won't stay there if they are. It took me a while to figure out why my post its kept falling out.



-Paper-PTI white, Washington Apple and Chocolate Chip patterns DSP
-Accessories-White and Saffron 1/4 grosgrain.

Scrapbook pages!

WooHoo! I got two more scrapbook pages done. I recently started getting a subscription to Scrapbooks Etc. and that magazine has so many great ideas! Both of these pages were inspired by layouts in there. Hopefully you will be seeing scrapbook pages a lot more frequently here. Who knows though. I must be the worlds slowest scrapper. I haven't done any journaling yet because I don't like my handwriting and my printer is out of ink. These pictures were taken about 8 years ago when my husband and I started dating. Still hard to believe that was so long ago. I was only 15 then!

I'm actually really happy with how these pages came out. Well aside from the title. I started off using chipboard letters that I made white with a white craft pad. The wouldn't ever dry! I was getting so darn frustrated. So finally I decided to go to Michael's and go buy some chipboard letters that were already white. Well, they only had one font, and I didn't like it at all. So I got these letters by Colorbox. I do like the letters, but I don't think they fit in. Wrong style or something. Now I'm kicking myself for not just putting the wet chipboard letters on there. Oh, well. It looks like I'm 'stuck' with them now, lol.

ETA: I just realized I forgot to mention, the large circle on this page was made by using a circle cutter, and the scallops were made from the 1 1/4" punch.
-Stamps-A Beautiful Thing
-Ink-Versamark
-Paper-Soft Sky, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy and Kraft cardstock; Fall Flowers DSP
-Accessories-White thread, sewing machine, Sticky Alpha Stax by colorbox, white grosgrain ribbon, circle cutter and 1 1/4 circle punch

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! I hope you've all had a great week! Katharina Frei, of Whiff of Joy Stamps is sponsoring this weeks Stamp Something Challenge. She has a great sketch for us! I think I'll be using this one again! Head on over to the Stamp Something Challenge blog so you can check out what the rest of the design team came up with, and of course to play along!

-Stamps-Upsy Daisy, PTI Papertray, Inkadinkado Birthdays are good for you
-Paper-Whisper White and Chocolate chip cardstock; Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip patterns DSP
-Ink-Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip
-Accessories-1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches, Chocolate Chip twill ribbon, White brads

Give Thanks

Hello! So apparently my fortune cookie lied. I didn't make anything Friday, lol. Well, I did color the apples on this card, but that's it. In case your wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I posted a picture in my last post of my fortune cookie. It said "On Friday your creative side will shine forth with exceptional ideas". Maybe it meant next Friday =).

Oh, hey! Did you notice the blogger bar at the top of my screen is gone?! I came across THIS blog the other day that had the directions for doing it. It's very simple! I think it looks much better without it. You have to go to blogger.com to get to your dashboard though. I've been thinking of ways to make my blog look better. I'm getting tired of looking at the same banner and colors, but I can't for the life of me decide what colors I want to change to. I've got lots of favorite color combos, but some of them just don't look right outside of paper. I'm thinking maybe browns and blues, but I don't know. Any suggestions?

-Stamps-Give Thanks, and Inkadinkado thinking of you
-Paper-Whisper White and Old Olive cardstock; Summer Picnic DSP and watercolor paper
-Ink-Stazon, Old Olive-Markers-Close to Cocoa, Summer Sun, Real Red, Going Gray, Old Olive and Bashful Blue
-Accessories-Aqua Painter, Styled Silver HPH, Bashful Blue Ribbon

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! It's Friday, so time for a Stamp Something Challenge. This week's theme is "For a Friend".

I got an SU order last night with some yummy DSP and a few other things. I just love the patterns of the new solid color DSP. Way better than last year I think. I actually really like them all! -Stamps-Boho Backgrounds and Impression Obession Cupcakes
-Paper-Whisper White and Chocolate Chip cardstock; Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red DSP
-Ink-Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette; Close to Cocoa, Going Gray and Chocolate Chip markers
-Accessories-Blender Pens, Stickles, wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain

Oh, I almost forgot. My husband and I had Chinese food earlier this week, and they always put some fortune cookies in the bag. Look what mine said! I don't think I've ever seen such a specific fortune. So I guess I have to make some cards today to see if it's true =).


Don't forget to check out the Stamp Something Challenge blog to check out the rest of the DT's fabulous samples!

Another acetate card =)

Good afternoon! Here is another acetate card I made last night. I am lovin acetate cards! I think I've finally got the picture taking thing down. I know a lot my pictures don't have true colors, or they are too dark so I've been trying to figure something out. Anyway, the first part of my problem is the colors on my screen weren't right. I remembered that Dawn McVey always has amazing looking pictures, so I found a card on her blog that used all SU colors so I could compare my paper to it and adjust my screen around that. Worked pretty well. Hubby has an nivida video card, and it gives you a lot of options for adjusting your monitor color. Then I decided I needed a new way to take pictures. Outside never works for me for whatever reason. I've been taking them in a chair, but they just don't look very good and normally I have to do a good bit of editing to make them even look halfway presentable.
So here's what I did. That light you see is part of one of those Japanese paper lanterns. I took the paper cover part off, since it didn't match my stamp room and it blocks too much light. It looks pretty bad this way, but it gives me a lot more much needed light. Anyway, so it hangs right next to the top of a bookshelf that sits on my stamp table. I just set my card up on top of the bookshelf and pulled the light away from it a little bit to reduce the glare. It worked like a charm! The colors probably still aren't perfect, but I think it's an improvement at least. All I had to do to the picture was lighten it a tiny little bit to make the white brighter. I had no idea how much difference a little bit of close light makes! I think I may make something a little more permanent to put up there.

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Christmas Characters
-Paper-Old Olive, Real Red and Whisper White cardstock; Dashing DSP
-Ink-Palette Black, Old Olive-Markers-Real Red, Creamy Carmel and Old Olive
-Accessories-Acetate, Retired Silver ribbon

More Inkadinkado Christmas cards

Didn't I tell ya I love these stamps =). Especially this penguin from Penguin Pandemonium. I just can't get enough of him! The layout of this card was cased from THIS gorgeous card by Lauren Meader. -Stamps-Inkadinkado Penguin Pandemonium
-Paper-Real Red and Whisper White cardstock; Summer Picnic DSP
-Ink-Palette black, Versamark. Markers-Summer Sun, Only Orange, Close to Cocoa and Real Red.
-Accessories-White embossing powder, White grosgrain ribbon, Elmer's glue Martha Stewart glitter.

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Christmas Characters
-Paper-Ballet Blue, Night of Navy and Whisper White; Summer Picnic DSP.
-Ink-Ballet Blue and Night of Navy
-Accessories-White grosgrain ribbon

Inkadinkado Christmas cards

My new Inkadinkado stamps came Friday, so I've been stamping away =). I just love these stamps! They are so adorable!

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Penguin Pandemonium
-Paper-Real Red, Whisper White and Bashful Blue
-Ink-Palette black, Real Red-Markers-Summer Sun, Only Orange, Real Red and Close to Cocoa
-Accessories-Elmer's glue, Martha Stewart glitter and Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon


-Stamps-Inkadinkado Christmas Characters
-Paper-Real Red, River Rock, Old Olive and Whisper White cardstock; Dashing DSP
-Ink-Palette Black, Real Red -markers-Real Red, Old Olive
-Accessories-White Grosgrain ribbon

I hope your all having a great weekend!

Stamp Something Challenge 21

Happy Friday! Becky Carafa is hosting this weeks Stamp Something Challenge. Her challenge to us is Fancy Folds. The possibilities are endless, and you might even learn something new. Check out the tutorials on SCS if you need some ideas. I did the triangle fold.

I was having a heck of a time taking a picture of this thing open. Sorry I couldn't get a better one.

-Stamps-PTI Take a Bough
-Paper-Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla cardstock; Dashing DSP
-Ink-Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and Close to Cocoa & Going gray marker

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the team came up with on the Stamp Something Blog.

More Christmas cards

I finally made an acetate card! I saw a really cute one on Lorie's blog yesterday, and it reminded me again that I need to make one! You can see Lorie's HERE. I didn't have much luck taking pictures today though. It's kinda hard to tell where the card ends, lol. It looks a lot better in person though. I think I'm going to have to make more of these. I really like them!

-Stamps-Crazy for Christmas and Season of Joy
-Paper-Real Red and Whisper White cardstock;Summer picnic DSP and Acetate.
-Ink-staz-on, Real Red & Old Olive markers & ink pads
-Accessories-White grosgrain ribbon

This one was for Beate's weekend sketch challenge 59. Her sketches are always so awesome!

-Stamps-Seeing Spots, Snow Flurries and Perfect endings
-Paper-Bravo Burgundy, Mellow Moss and Whisper White
-Ink-Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke
-Accessories-Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon & Styled Silver HPH.

Upsy Daisy

So are y'all getting tired of seeing this set yet? I just love it! I finally used that weird little hodgepodge hardware piece! I never knew what to do with these things.
-Stamps-Uspy Daisy
-Paper-Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky and Whisper White
-Ink-Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky
Accessories-Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Pewter HPH.