Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! This weeks theme for the Stamp Something challenge is Black Friday! Just make something using black. That's simple enough right?

The layout for this card comes from an past sketch challenge on SCS, 143. I stamped the image in Pink Pirouette and then again with Purely Pomegranate, but I don't think you can see the Pink Pirouette. I didn't move over enough.

-Stamps-Upsy Daisy and Polka Dots & Paisley
-Ink-Pink Pirouette, Purely Pomegranate and Palette Black
-Paper-Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate and Pink Pirouette.
-Accessories-black brads, Pretty in Pink taffeta

Don't forget to check out Stamp Something to see what everyone else came up with, and to play along!

SC204 and a recipe =)

Aren't these monkeys adorable! I've been wanting this set for a few months, so when I saw it at Hobby Lobby last night I had to get it! I got 4 more Copics and a Brilliance ink pad too. This one is working great. I don't know whats up with the palette. I've seen a bunch of people say that's what they use, but it runs like crazy for me, even if I heat set it. This card uses the sketch challenge on SCS, 204.

-Stamps-Mindy's Zoo by Autumn Leaves, It's your Birthday
-Paper-Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White cardstock; Washington Apple DSP
-Ink-Brilliance graphite black, Wild Wasabi and Copics.

I wanted to share a great recipe with you too. I'm actually making this right now, to bring with us tomorrow. We are going to NC to see hubby's family. This is one of my favorite deserts! I'll warn you, it's rich, and I'm sure it's horrible for you .

Caramel Pie
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
Graham cracker pie crust
Small container of Cool Whip
Mini Chocolate Chips (or shaved Hershey's bar) to sprinkle on top

I always double this recipe, since it's not trouble at all to make more, you just need a bigger pot.
Remove the labels from the cans of sweetened condensed milk. Scrap off the glue with a fork or something. It will leave a nasty very hard to remove ring in your pot if you don't. Boil the cans of sweetened condensed milk ON THEIR SIDES (just in case they bust) for 2 1/2 hours. Make sure they are fully covered with water at all times because they could cause them to burst. Rotate the cans every half hour or so. Drain the water, and once the cans are cooled off, put them in the refrigerator. Wait at least 2 hours before you open the cans. Empty the cans into a bowl and stir. Then just put the caramel into the pie crusts. Top with cool whip and mini chocolate chips. Let it sit in the refrigerator a few more hours or overnight if possible to firm up. It tastes better later too.

Oh, and if you want to knock off some of the calories, you can use one can of reduced fat sweet condensed milk and one regular for each pie (I've never tired doing both). You really can't tell. It just makes it slightly less rich. I actually prefer it this way, but I forgot about that when I was buying sweetened condensed milk yesterday.

BTW, I've never had a can burst, but it's always best to be on the safe side. If you don't feel comfortable with this method though, I've seen a recipe where you empty the cans into a slow cooker and cook for 6 hours. I've never tried it though.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Bloomin' Beautiful

Good morning! OMG, I am loving these Copic markers!! These things are so fun to color with! I love to color, but a lot of the other methods are just frustrating. I love watercoloring, but I'm not very good at it. Now I just need more stamps that are better for coloring. I've been kind of avoiding them.

I've been reading everything I can find about Copics and watching every video I could find on Youtube. Wow! Have y'all seen the videos by amyreederhadley? She is amazing with these things! You can check out her Copic videos HERE and HERE. She says that she colors on color copy paper. I'm not exactly sure what that is...is that regular printer paper, or something more like Georgia Pacific? Anyway, I started off using PTI, but I got to thinking that PTI cardstock is taking a LOT more ink to color, since the paper is supposed to be saturated and that paper is thick! So I tried GP, and it works great! It actually seems slightly easier to blend, and it's faster to color. I don't know about you, but I am NOT looking forward to they day that I have to fork out a ton of money for refills, lol. so I'm trying to put that off for as long as possible .

Anyway, onto the card . I got this image in WishRak's on SCS. Erin sent me some images a while back, and I loved them so much, I wished for some more in WishRaks. I really need to buy this stamp set, lol. I'm not sure what kind of paper was used. It's not anything I'm familiar with, but Copics work great on it. It's pretty thin, and the color wants to go out of the lines, but as long as you stay away from the edges, it works great! I didn't realize that at first though, so I had to cut this out . I put mini glue dots under it. I just tore some of them in half and stretched them out so they'd fit on the stem.

-Stamps-Bloomin' Beautiful, A Beautiful Thing
-Paper-Riding Hood Red, Kraft, So Saffron, Basic Black and White cardstock; So Saffron prints DSP
-Ink-Black
-Accessories-Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Black brads, Offray ribbon, mini glue dots, Copic markers.

BTW, Hobby Lobby has their Copic markers 30% off this week (pretty sure they only carry sketch though).

Check out Debbie's blog candy!

Wow! I just saw the link on Cheryl's blog. Debbie has awesome blog candy up for grabs! And wow, her cards are gorgeous!

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! So it's time for another Stamp Something Challenge! This weeks theme is Thanksgiving or Thank you. I don't send out Thanksgiving cards, so I went with the Thank you.

I stamped the image in Palette black, and embossed it with clear EP to make sure the ink doesn't run. I think I need to get a different kind of ink to use with the copics. So I know my shading doesn't look so hot, but hopefully that will get better. I've been practicing like crazy with these things, so hopefully I'll get the hang of them soon.

-Stamps-Give Thanks and Artfully Asian
-Paper-Real Red and PTI white cardstock; Polka dots & Paisley DSP (retired)
-Ink-Palette Black, Close to Cocoa
-Accessories-Copic markers, clear EP, hemp twine, Styled Silver HPH.

Don't forget to head on over to the Stamp Something challenge blog to see what the rest of the DT came up with .

Glittery snowmen

I got my Copics yesterday!! Those things are neat! I spent like half the day just playing around with them. They definitely aren't what I'm used to, but I really like them. I'm kinda kicking myself on some of my color choices though. I didn't get a skin color ...or grass...or sky, lol. The browns I got were a lot darker than I expected too. Oh well...Maybe hubby will get me some more for my birthday or Christmas . I've only made one card with them so far, but that one is for this weeks Stamp Something Challenge, so you'll see that tomorrow.

Want to see some really cute stamps?! My friend Denise has started her own stamp company called Whimsey Stamps! Isn't that exciting! The website doesn't launch until next week, but she is offering a preorder on her blog, and a chance to win one of the new stamps!! I'm telling you, these stamps are CUTE!! You can see THIS post on her blog to enter to win and for details on how to preorder.

-Stamps-Wishing You Cheer, PTI Take a Bough
-Paper-Whisper White, Real Red (textured), Pretty in Pink and Old Olive cardstock; Bashful Blue, Real Red and Pretty in Pink Prints DSP (retired)
-Ink-Palette Black
-Accessories-White grosgrain ribbon, Elmer's glue, Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter, Paper Piercer, Mat pack & Real Red, Basic Black, Only Orange and Old Olive markers

Remember THESE ornaments I made? I made a tiny one! I didn't realize quite how tiny it would be though! Or what a pain in the but! It's only 1 3/4". It looks really cute hanging on my tree though.


Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sketch cards

Good morning! I hope you are all having a good day. Guess what? I finally ordered some Copic markers! OMG, I am so excited! I've been dying to get some for a while, but I was scared to start buying them and then getting sucked in and feeling like I need them all, which I'm sure will happen . I got 16, so I'm hoping I can get by for a while with those colors. I can't wait to get them! They shipped yesterday!

Yesterday my best friend Caroline came over to stamp with me. I managed to get two cards done! Both of them use the CPS sketch from last week-CPS90. I LOVE this sketch! It's so versatile, and has a bunch of layers.

The image on the first card I made few weeks ago. Just one of those things I couldn't figure out what in the heck to do with.

My blog is doing that double spacing junk again, but it's so weird! It's only doing it under the pictures. It's fine where I'm typing right now. It won't let me change the size of the text down there either, but it will let me change the font and the color. So anyway, I just didn't skip spaces, because it was just too long!

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Dogs, Upsy Daisy -Paper-PTI white, Basic Black, and Pink Pirouette cardstock; Pink Pirouette patterns DSP.-Ink-Palette black, Pink Pirouette -Accessories-blender pen, offray ribbon, paper piercer, mat pack.

-Stamps-Season of Joy, PTI Take a Bough -Paper-Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla cardstock; Dashing DSP -Ink-Real Red, Old Olive -Accessories-Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain.

Oh, and I got two blog awards. I always forget about these things. Normally when I get one, I just keep telling myself I'll post it later, but by the time later comes, I forget !

I got The Kreativ Blogger award from Cheryl. Thanks Cheryl! You can check out her blog HERE.

Tiffany sent me the I love your blog award. Thanks Tiffany! You can see her blog HERE.

Make sure you check them out! I'm tellin' ya, their blogs are great! Okay, so now I'm supposed to pass each of these on to five other people, but I'm gonna be lazy instead haha. I'm tired, and I think most of you have already received these anyway. Besides, it's way too hard to pick my favorite blogs! My favorites grow like everyday!

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! TGIF! You know what Friday means! This weeks Stamp Something Challenge is sponsored by Queen Kat Designs. They have a great sketch for us. I love sketches!

I couldn't get a good picture of this card. The background is stamped in Real Red with the polka dots from Itty Bitty Backgrounds, but it won't show up. All of the penguins hats are paper pieced with the prints paper from last year. Whoops...I just noticed that I forgot to color in the penguins noses. I also meant to put some stickles on their hats, but I got distracted and then forgot. I guess it's just one of those days .

-Stamps-Inkadinkado Christmas Characters, SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds and Many Merry Messages.
-Paper-Real Red, White and Old Olive cardstock; Real Red, Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky Prints DSP
-Ink-Palette Black, Old Olive and Real Red
-Accessories-Sewing machnine, Pewter brads

Make sure you check out the Stamp Something Challenge blog to see what the rest of the team came up with!

Glittery flower

I made the flower for this card a few days ago, but I couldn't figure out what the heck to do with it. I love glitter! Can ya tell? I stamped and cut out the flower 3 times, and glittered them using heat and stick powder and Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter. The layout was inspired from an old SCS sketch challenge, but I can't remember which one and I'm too lazy to go look .

-Stamps-Fabulous Flowers, So Many Sayings
-Paper-White and Black cardstock; Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette patterns DSP
-Ink-Riding Hood Red, Basic Black and versamark
-Accessories-Offray Ribbon, Heat & Stick powder, Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter, paper piercing tool, mat pack.

Oh, and Cheryl asked to see my Christmas tree, so here it is =). Can ya tell I'm a little bit of a Hallmark freak? My mom and I always hit for Hallmark first thing the day after Christmas . She has TONS of them! Her tree is gorgeous! Whoops, I just realized I chopped the angels head off, lol. The top strand of lights isn't working. I just got this tree last year, so I called the customer service number, and they said they would send me a new top (it's 3 pieces). Well it came a few days ago, and wasn't the right top...It would't fit. Only I didn't realize that until I had undecorated the top of my tree and had it off. So I had to redecorate it, and I get to do it again when the right top comes...oh well. My walls are Cranberry Crip BTW. I'm thinking of repainting though. This color looks really funny in certain lights.
Hope you all have a great day!

All Done!

Good morning! Wow, I don't think I've ever actually posted this early before. All of my early morning posts have been scheduled . I'm so not a morning person! Anyway, I still haven't decided if I like the way this one turned out. I started with a totally different layout, but I screwed that up and came up with this .

-Stamps- Inkadinkado Dogs and Christmas Characters and Papertrey Take a Bough
-Paper-White & Kraft cardstock; Certainly Celery and Real Red prints DSP (retired)
-Ink-Palette Black, Certainly Celery and Real Red marker
-Accessories-Scallop circle punch, 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches and white grosgrain ribbon.

I am all done with my Christmas cards (36)!! Woohoo! I don't think I've ever gotten done so early! I'll probably still make some more though. Christmas cards are my favorites to make! Didn't I tell ya I love Christmas! Seriously, I'm listening to Christmas music right now.

Oh, I mentioned in a previous post that I already have my Christmas tree up, and someone asked if I take it down early, since I put it up so early...Nope! It will be there till at least new years, but it might be even longer than that.

Well I'm off to watch Desperate Housewives online. Once again, I forgot to watch it last night when it came on! Seriously, I can't for the life of me remember to watch it when it's actually on, and it's my favorite show!

Hope you all have a fab day!

Stamp Something Challenge

Good morning! This weeks Stamp Something Challenge is to Stamp Simply. Make a one layer card! I love one layer cards. They are so easy! I thought this would be a good one for a man.

-Stamps-A Wish for Peace, PTI Take a Bough
-Paper-Whisper White
-Ink-Dark Chocolate Palette, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa
-Accessories-Sponges, Aqua Painter, Chocolate Chip twill ribbon

Make sure you stop by the Stamp Something Challenge blog and see what the rest of the team came up with and to play along!