What's a girl to do?

Do you ever have one of those days, or even weeks, when you feel like you're moving 100 miles per hour not because you choose to, but because you have to? Well, this week seems to be turning out that way for me. At work we are, all of a sudden, super-busy. I like it when it's busy, but boy, when I get home I am so exhausted! I try to carve out time to create; and I hate being rushed when I'm creating. I need to take my time and think through what I am doing. I'm neurotic about things being "just right" when I create. Call me Type-A personality. That's me..... things have to be "just right" or else, I won't be happy with the piece.
I did rush through this card. I like this card and how it turned out, but I have to admit to myself, it's not one of the nicest ones I think I've ever made. I know I could've done some things a little more differently. If I wasn't rushed to get supper cooked this evening I would have added some stitches around the stamped image. I'm sure I could've done a few more things to complete this card. Again, it's not a "bad" card...... I just know I could've done better. Do you sometimes feel that way about your work (or am I just being waaaay to neuoritic?) LOL!
I stamped this image (Stamp Francisco) with Archival Ink on regular cardstock. Then, I used colored pencils on her hat, overalls, skin and lips. I like that "punch" of color.

***Also, don' forget to check out my blog candy for a chance to win a terrific EK Succes Decorative Corner punch.***

Gothic Arch challenge for this week

Dawn, the Chatty Stamper, is this week's host for the Gothic Arches challenge. What a terrific challenge this was! I couldn't wait to start working on it. I knew I wanted to use this "clock lady" as the focal image of my arch, but I didn't anticipate that one thing would lead to another, and I would end up with a Halloween Theme, also. LOL! I colored her with bright colors (COPICs) and since I had this awesome glittery lime green paper, I knew it would be a perfect back-drop for her. The bottom looked plain, and that's when the idea of adding the pumpkins popped in my head. And why would she be standing amongs pumpkins, you ask? Well, she's trick-or-treating, of course! This is when I had to improvise and create a jack-o-lantern bucket for her. I tell ya....my brain is wired in such a weird way. I don't know why or how I come up with the strange things that I do. Thanks for stopping by!

Bohemian Rhapsody

No matter how much I try to avoid the temptation, I will inevitably bring home one paper pack each year. This year, it was K & Co's Wild Saffron collection. I have tons and tons and tons of paper left. I also have this butterfly sticker pack that I want to use up. This is a moment of redemption for me. LOLOLOL! If I can use up my paper and stickers, then I can go out and buy another pack of paper, right? Ha! Ha! Honestly, though, I'm swimming in paper and I need to use them up before I should even be tempted to buy any more. I hope you're able to get out and enjoy the outdoors, this week. I hope it's not raining in your neck of the woods. We have a few more weeks of pleasant weather before the cooler air descend upon us.

***Also, don' forget to check out my blog candy for a chance to win a terrific EK Succes Decorative Corner punch.***

TGIF!!!

Yippee! It's Friday!

Yay! We made it to the end of the week. Although this week has been relatively uneventful at work, I simply look forward to Fridays. Why? Because the following day is Saturday, and Saturday morning is when I have the luxury of choice: choice to either stay in bed until my stomach says get up and feed it; or the choice to get up at the "crack of dark" and begin creating. I love working on cards and such during the wee hours of the morning. The house is quiet, and I can really focus on my project uninterrupted (I know the boys won't get up before eight o'clock). But, it is Friday...and I do have to go to work, at least for eight hours. I hope there is a lot for me to do, today. It helps to make the day go by faster. I always feel so good after a very productive day, whether it's at my paying job or at home. I colored this image with COPIC markers. I confess, this is one of my most favorite House Mouse images. I feel like I'm the jumping mouse on the right. LOL!

***Also, don' forget to check out my blog candy for a chance to win a terrific EK Succes Decorative Corner punch.***

Woo-hoo! Hero Arts gave me a big honor!

I received an honorable mention for my card . I joined the Hero Arts Flickr Group after my friend, Andi suggested to submit this card into their current contest. I didn't expect anything. No recognition. No prizes. Much to my pleasant surprise, my card got an honorable mention! Isn't that exciting? I have been on Cloud 9 ever since! Thank you, my blog friends, for your continued support and encouragement. It means the world to me. Thanks to Andi for pushing me towards this! I really owe her a lot for showing me this opportunity!

Singing to be stamped

I know of many rubber stampers who will not buy another rubber stamp until they've used what they already have at least three times. Do I do this? Not really. If I see a stamp I like, I'll go ahead and buy it. LOL! I do think, however, that I'm pretty good about using what I *do* have. It just might not be at least three times before I go ahead and add to my collection. This pretty bird stamp (by The Angel Company) has been sitting on my shelf, un-inked, for quite some time. It was singing (forgive the pun) for attention. I stamped it with dye ink, colored it with COPIC markers and Stampin Up markers. Such a pretty focal image for any card, don't you think? The paper has been in my stash for some two years or so. I'm chipping away at it, but little by little, I am getting around to using my supplies wisely. Thank you for stopping by, today!

*** Also, don' forget to check out my blog candy for a chance to win a terrific EK Succes Decorative Corner punch.***

Dust off your old stamp challenge

Over at the Stamp Shack, Charity posted a challenge to take an old stamp....one that hasn't been inked in a while, and to use it in some fashion. I chose this old stamp (one of the first stamps I've ever owned) of a fashion diva designed by The Angel Company. Also, I used an old "Barn Star" stamp by Purple Onion Designs. These are definitely two stamps that haven't seen ink in a very long time. I think the last time I used the fashion diva stamp was in 2005. Perhaps earlier than that. I combined these two stamps with a new stamp "Your Rock" by Inkadinkado. Have you been to Michael's, lately? They have some 50 new clear stamp sets! This was part of a "Rock 'n' Roll" stamp set that I just had to have. My son is a percussionist, so I bought it to make cards for him.
Anyhoo....back to the card.....I took my scalloped circle Nestabilities die (the largest one from the Large Set) and cut out a base card. After cutting out a circle in the center, I added some vellum to fill in the window Now, when you attach vellum to your card stock, use a glue stick (borrow your child's glue stick.) The glue dries clear. So, when you open the card up, you don't see the glue marks like from regular adhesive tape or some other type of glue. Glue sticks are cheap (you can get them for 10-cents at the moment). It's good to have one or two handy.
I stamped the diva's gown on some awesome "skull and crossbones" paper that I picked up recently at Hobby Lobby. Trimmed her gown, gloves and the little dress-straps, and glued them onto the base image (which was stamped on white cardstock). A little flourish die-cut (Sizzix) and voila! She's done!

***Also, don' forget to check out my blog candy for a chance to win a terrific EK Succes Decorative Corner punch.***

Blog Candy Time: EK Success Punch

Sable, my cat, would like to give you some blog candy. I know I'm not the only papercrafter who has renewed interest in these fabulous corner paper punches. Here is the card I created using this punch; and here is a tutorial by Becca Feeken for how to create an eight-point star with this punch. So, here's your chance to win the EK Success Graceful Heart punch. Deadline to post your comment and/or project is Saturday, 20th September, 2008 at 11;59 PM, Central Standard Time (United States). Here are several ways to get your name into this drawing:
1) Link my blog to yours mentioning this blog candy post. This gets your name in the drawing once. You need to come back to this post and leave me a comment to the link to your blog. If you don't have a blog, don't despair. If you link this post on a message board, come back and inform me of that direct link to the message board post. This will get your name in the drawing once. ** You don't have to INITITATE the message board post. All you have to do is tell me that you replied to a message board post, and that's how you found out about this blog candy. This will get your name in the drawing.
2) If you link this blog candy post on your blog AND on a message board, AND you link your blog and the message board post back to this post's comment section, your name gets into the drawingTWICE.
3) Create a card, tag, moo, inchie, ATC......whatever your heart desires....with a Fall/Autumn theme (if you're in the Northern Hemisphere); a Spring theme if you're in the Southern Hemisphere. Mention this blog candy on your blog post. This gets your name in the drawing three times. Again, you must come back to this post and show me the link to your creation.
When you reply to this post, please make sure that you check the box that will allow me to contact you by email. I can't give your blog candy if I can't contact you, so please make sure you *check* the box.
This contest is open to anywhere in the world. I can't wait to see your creations!

Punch Love

I pulled out another EK Success decorative corner punch and played with it yesterday. This was a little more time-consuming than I had expected. Lots of measuring, and punching, and cutting; and then measuring, and punching and cutting again. I think I went through three sheets of cardstock before I was finally happy with the dimensions of my frame. Yet, through it all (and through the sore forefinger), I enjoyed the process of experimenting. The Gibson Girl stamp is by Non Sequitur. A pretty face to frame, I thought.
I used pop-dots beneath the frame. What, you say? Ethel using pop-dots? Never! LOL! If you're ever at a loss for what to buy me for my birthday or Christmas, I can give you a hint...... All Night Media pop-dots and 3M ATG refill tape. There you go. I'm easy to shop for. LOL!

Here are the basic supplies I used to make this card. The only things missing from the photograph are pop-dots and a metal edge ruler.

If you decide to go out and purchase some of EK Success' decorative paper punches, take a look at the back of the package for ideas. I know that I've missed the back of the package, and I stare at the front of punch, trying to envision how to use it. I didn't realize the versatility of the punch until I looked at the back of the package.

Thank you for stopping by! To my friends and readers along the Carolina coast, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Stay safe and I hope your neighborhoods will come through Tropical Storm Hanna, unscathed.

One word game

I got this from my friend, Sandy on her blog It's a Colourful World. If you play along, please let me know by linking to this post.

You can only answer with one word. Not as easy as you might think . . . leave me a link if you play along!
1) Where is your cell phone? Purse
2) Your significant other? Sean
3) Your hair? Short
4) Your mother? Sleeping
5) Your father? Reading
6) Your favorite thing? Family
7) Your dream last night? Fuzzy
8) Your favorite drink? Tea
9) Your dream/goal? Photojournalist
10) The room you're in? Bedroom
11) Your ex? Who?
12 Your fear? Tornadoes
13) What do you want to be in 6 years? Content
14) Where were you last night? Home
15) What you're not? Tired
16) Muffins? No
17) One of your wish list items? Coach
18) Where you grew up? Overseas
19) The last thing you did? Blurf
20) What are you wearing? Sleepshirt
21) Your TV? Noisy
22) Your pets? Cats
23) Your computer? Mac
24) Your life? Fulfilling
25) Your mood? Content
26) Missing someone? Yes
27) Something you're not wearing? Pants
28) Favorite store? Coach
29) Your summer? Busy
30) Like someone? Absolutely
31) Your favorite color? Red
32) When is the last time you laughed? 9:50
33) Last time you cried? Yesterday

Birthday Card for a dear friend

I made this card for a friend celebrating a birthday very soon. It seems that September is a very popular birthday month within my own family and amongst many of my friends. Hmmmm.........I wonder why that is? I used Avian Toile by Stampin Up for my focal image. I used (sort-of) the Spotlight Technique. I used my Marvy punches around the sentiment (Inkadinkado). There's something about the combination of red, cream and chocolate that is really pleasing to me.
I love having an Archiver's store nearby so I can stock up on these delicious chocolate square envelopes. I heat embossed the toile flowers on the envelope using Ranger's Seafoam White. I hope my friend likes it!

I love layers!

Inspiration for this card came from an awesome Becca Feeken creation. I chose to make my circular frame a little different. I didn't know that Becca had uploaded a tutorial on how to make her frame. That's why mine ended up with five points and hers ended up with eight. We also used different size circles. For my frame, I used the second to the largest circle from the Large Nestabilities Circles set. On the back-side of my circle, I traced the fourth largest circle, and used that as a cutting-guide as I went around and punched out the hearts. Just like Becca, I used the heart corner punch by EK Success. I'll have to try Becca's tutorial, sometime. She makes it look so easy!
Before I started cutting up my frame, I heat embossed a "hearts and swirls" background stamp on my blue cardstock. I used Hero Arts circle stamps, using heat embossing on all of them, and lots of pop dots. I embossed the background with my cuttlebug folder. I love making cards with lots of layers and lots of texture. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I don't know what I'll use this card for, or who I'll send it to. It's a nice "all-occasion" card. I guess I'll be ready when that one special occasion presents itself.

Mini Pizza ~ Nugget Box

Here's a twist on the mini pizza box. I combined it with the cute Hershey's Nugget boxes I've seen on many creative blogs. I don't have exact measurements, as I just made this up as I went along. I took the height of the nugget (it's approximately 3/4" high). Then, I took out eleven nuggets and arranged them as I wanted them to fit into my box. I took my ruler and measured length and width, and that's how I figured out the dimensions of my box. If you know how to make a 'basic box' then you can pretty much improvise how large you would want your pizza box to be. I also took into consideration the size of my stamped image. Isn't this one of the cutest Halloween images you've seen? I was able to purchase it for the low, low price of $3.00 on an online "garage sale" (no, not eBay). It was an unmounted stamp, so double the good fortune for me. As you can see, I used my Fiskars Threading Water punch on the sides of the box (and on the back, also, but you can't see it). I added pop-dots beneath my stamped image (colored with COPIC markers, by the way), and threaded ribbon beneath the stamped image and under the box. I had to work quickly to photograph the outside of the box, whie still outdoors, as the sun was starting to shine down on my table and causing quite a glare. I took the photo of the nuggets inside my house, so I apologize if it's darker than the other pictures. I had so much fun making this. Quick and simple. Thanks for stopping by!

Wow! Thank you!

I've been featured on Inspirational, which is a blog that features inspirational blogs from around the world. Thank you to Julie for thinking of me. I follow in the footsteps of so many talented artists. I invite you to check out Inspirational and see all of the wonderful, creative folks who have been featured before me!

Once in a while, you just have to make yourself laugh

I'm not feeling too good today. I've had a wicked headache and sore throat and stuffy nose since Saturday. One of my coworkers was really sick last week; and since I touch the medical charts, I'm pretty sure I caught something from her. I try to be careful, always, even when other folks aren't sick. I'm always washing my hands, and trying to be careful not to touch my eyes. But, once in a while, I'll forget to wash my hands, and I'll start eating something (which may be one way that I caught whatever it was that she had). Well, yesterday, I was reading Dymphie's blog, and I came across the funniest link to Photofunia. You just pick a template, upload a photograph, and voila! It'll superimpose your photograph on the template. Don't you just love it that Paris Hilton now loves my card? LOL! Here are a few others that made me laugh:


You should try it! I think it's rather amusing.

My Ultimate Summer Collage Project!

This has been one of THE MOST fun summer projects I've given myself. I'm hosting a collage swap on the Stamp Shack. It's called "Get Your Collage On! Define yourself." Each of the eight folks in my swap are to use a coaster, a piece of mattboard or chipboard, and we're to alter it. I also gave each person a LONG list of supplies they have to incorporate into their collage. At least five items from the list must be used on each collage "page." We design our pages to best reflect who we are, and what we love. For my pages, I've used rubber stamps, stickers, metal embellishments, paper flowers, chains, tags, sewing/stitching, paper clips, lots of gem "bling", skeleton leaves, buttons, a not-so-great (but it's the most decent) photograph of me, resin embellishments, ribbon, lace and lots and lots of dimensional glaze. This was also a fantastic way for me to purge a ton of hoarded embellishments. I'd say approximately six hours of work went into this project, from conceptualizing what I was going to do with each page, to rummaging through my embellishments, and finally, to putting them altogether. All that is left for me to do is to add a large eyelet on the upper left hand corner. We will be attaching all of our pages through this eyelet. I cannot wait to receive everybody else's page and put this little book together.

I made card candy! {Tutorial on how to make your own.}

I joined a Card Candy swap on the Stamp Shack. I've never done this before, so I'm venturing into unchartered territory. I thought it through, and this is what I came up with. I heat embossed all of my images. I just think they look much more "professional" and "finished" this way. I used a coin image from Stampin Up, a chrysanthemum and bird image from Curtis Uyeda. On the topper, I used a cherry branch image by Stampendous. The Chinese characters says "candy." I went on Babelfish and looked it up. LOL! Then, I just copied it and handwrote the characters on my topper.
I took the pop-dots of the sheet including the backing beaneath the pop-dot. At this point, you will only peel off one side of the pop-dot and stick that to the back of your "candy." On the other side of the pop-dot (the paper side that you didn't peel off, you'll want to add just a smidgen of dimensional glaze. If you don't have dimensional glaze, some tacky tape will work on the paper. It is very important that you don't stick the tacky side of the pop-dot directly onto the acetate. If you do this, you won't be able to peel off your card candy to use it.

Arrange them on your acetate or transperancy sheet.

This is what it looks like from behind.

Slip it into your clear envelope, and Voila! As you can see, there's some background paper in the envelope. That is a dragon background image by Stamp Out Cute. The recipient can use it as a background for a card or an ATC. I thought it would make a neat background for the candy, and it slips in the envelope right behind the acetate sheet. Add a topper to your bag, and you're all done!