Paper Cuts

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I sure did.  I dearly missed the absent family members, but it was still nice.

My card today was inspired by cinnamon sugar.  Let me explain (because I’m certain you’re thinking “Huh???”). 

I am always rushing in the mornings, trying to get my kids out the door on time.   Breakfast is usually cereal with strawberries and a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.   A couple mornings ago I needed to make some more of the sugar.  I grabbed the two ingredients, mixed and sprinkled a bit over two bowls of Frosted Mini Wheats.  Just as I was carrying the bowls to the table, I noticed the spice on the counter.  It was not cinnamon.  It was cumin.  YUCK!  I made cumin sugar!  AND I almost fed it to my children.  I’ll be honest and say that for a second I hesitated…should I still give it to them just to see what they’d say?     Sooo tempting… but nah, I didn’t do it.  (Am I evil for thinking about it?    Maybe.)  I decided it wasn’t worth the risk, dumped the cereal down the drain, threw away the cumin sugar, took a deep breath and started again.

Slow Down

I paper-pieced i-wish-i-looked-so-good-on-a-bike-abella’s outfit, basket and hair bow/flower, and I added a brad in the center of each bicycle wheel. 

After stamping the sentiment, I thought it didn’t stand out well enough so I quickly dumped some clear embossing powder over and heat set it.  (That always helps.)

To get the bigger scalloped border, I pieced together four smaller sections of Nestabilities.  I only have the squares and none are that big.  But if you overlap pieces by one or two scallops, it’s pretty much unnoticeable, especially with darker cardstock.

A little reminder:  Jacksonbelle Embellishments has 20% off your entire order through Monday, 12/1.  Use code THANK08 at checkout. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day, and may your cinnamon sugar always be made with cinnamon!!  :) 

Stamps:  Stamping Bella   Ink:  Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black   Cardstock:  Prism Black, Super Smooth White   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie   Accessories:  Copic markers, brads, Spellbinder’s Nestabilities, clear embossing powder, pop dots.  Card size 5 ½” x 5 ½”.

Julia’s challenge today is to use a theme of thanks.  It can be a Thanksgiving card or just a “hey, thank you”  kind of card or project.  I chose a set I received a while back that hadn’t yet seen ink.  Better use it now before it’s too late, eh?  A lot of dust can collect in one year’s time. 

Thankful

I used Let’s Get Stuffed from the Kim Hughes Collection.  I stamped the image onto natural cardstock, colored with Copics, cut it out and adhered it to a block of the “solid” patterned paper.  I didn’t have enough room to tie the knot and have the focal panel lie flat so I punched a little slot, threaded the ribbon through and then knotted the ribbon.  It’s an easy way to make things fit sometimes.

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms “Let’s Get Stuffed” (Kim Hughes Collection)   Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black by Ranger   Cardstock: Prism Suede Brown Dark, Natural Smooth   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Infuse   Accessories:  Copic markers, ribbon

I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I’ll be spending my day with family and friends…eating.  :)  Seriously though, I have so much to be thankful for…my family, friends, health, I’m thankful for you guys who come back here to see what I’m up to and to read my ramblings.  Any one of these things can be taken away in just a moment.  I truly appreciate all I have while I have it.  Thank you SO much for stopping by!  Big hugs to all, and have a great day! 

I had a moment this morning to play along with this week’s sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  It’s been a while…I miss having time for that challenge.  It’s my favorite.  (Actually, I should be cleaning for company tomorrow, but shhh….I couldn’t resist.)

Noel

I pulled out my favorite Christmas patterned paper for this one, Basic Grey’s new Wassail.  I got mine at Jacksonbelle Embellishments.  (From today through Monday you can get 20% off your entire order using code THANK08.)

I paper-pieced the trees using a solid paper from the Wassail paper pack and popped up the heart (also paper-pieced) on a tiny piece of a foam square.

Ok…now I’m off to clean. :)  Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms “Heart Warmers” (Kim Hughes Collection)  Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black by Ranger   Cardstock:  Prism Birchtone Dark   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Wassail 6×6 paper pad   Accessories:  Basic Grey brads, foam square, sewing machine.

Hi everyone!  TGIM!  Today’s challenge at CHF is a wordy one.  We’re to use big words, little words or both.  As you can see, I chose one tiny little word.  (Sometimes, that’s all you need.)

Hugs

I used Ranger’s Weathered Wood Distress ink for everything but the  flower stems and the tag.  I wanted to add a bit of dimension to the flowers so I stamped them a second time onto a scrap of vanilla cardstock, cut them out, distressed the edges a little and adhered them over the other flowers.   I also added a bit of shading with a gray Copic.

For a bit of sparkle (which I know you cannot see here), I added some Shimmerz paint to the flowers.  Angel Wings is the only color I have right now, but I hope to get more at some point.  I’ve decided I love that stuff!

I created the background using two of CHF’s backgrounders, Canvas and (new) Ornamental Vines.

Be sure to check out these other CHF designers to see how they used their words:

Dawn, Carole, Kim, Joanne and Lesley.

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms “Nature Silhouettes” (Kim Hughes Collection), “Everyday Petites” (Mona Lisa Moments), Ornamental Vines and Canvas Backgrounders   Ink:  Ranger Weathered Wood Distress and Espresso Adirondack   Cardstock:  Prism Island Mist Dark and Light, Natural Smooth   Accessories:  Brown Marvy marker, Making Memories “Passport” trim, Prima flower, Michael’s ribbon, Basic Grey button, Shimmerz Angel Wings paint, gray Copic marker, sewing machine, safety pin.

SO…(change of subject), I had plans to see Twilight on Saturday.  I almost didn’t get to go.  (Gasp!)  Earlier in the day I had taken my son to a friend’s house to play.  The mom opened the door, greeted us with a friendly hello and my son promptly puked all over her doorstep (slightly embarassing).  Obviously, we came right back home.  THANKFULLY my husband told me I should go ahead and see the movie with my friends.  (Even though there was a chance he’d have to deal with sickness? Really? I took about one second to think about it.)  So I saw the movie.  YAY!   

I thought some parts seemed a little “low budget” and I was a bit disappointed with a few things, but overall I loved it.  (I went in with very low expectations since I loved the book so much but it was definately worth seeing.)  I did laugh when I saw Carlisle.  For one thing, I expected him to be a little older (I don’t know why), but I definately didn’t expect him to be so white.  Holy cow.  That dude was pasty!  And I thought Edward didn’t need to look quite so creepy at times.  I realize these guys are vampires but aren’t they supposed to “blend in”… somewhat? 

When the movie was over, I didn’t want to leave.  I wanted New Moon to start right then and there.  So I’ve now bought the Twilight soundtrack and I started reading the story for the second time.  I’ve never enjoyed a series so much.  Love, love, love it!! 

If you’ve seen the movie, please let me know what you thought.  I’m curious to hear other opinions.  (Team Edward or Jacob?  It has to be Edward.  It’s just meant to be. And so complicated.  But I suppose life with a werewolf would be complicated too.  Warmer -lol- but complicated nonetheless.) 

By the way, my son is back to normal.  It was just another one of those 24-hour things (a replay of last weekend with my daughter).  And in case you’re wondering, he waited for me to get home from the movie before he puked some more.  (Lucky husband.)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day!  (Sorry to be so windy.  I just had to talk about the movie too.)

Once again, this week’s “Just Sayin’” card was inspired by my daughter.  Last weekend she had a 24-hour stomach bug and although I felt very badly for her, it was such a relief to see that she recognized that queasy feeling and was able to get herself to the bathroom.

Get Well Soon

So that you can fully understand my appreciation for her newfound realization, let me describe the last “drama of the sickies” in my house.  (I won’t go into too much detail but honestly, this is really what it is like here…thankfully, not too often.) 

My daughter was getting sick…in her room.  I was trying to catch what I could in a shirt but some of the mess got on the carpet.  My son (two years older) comes in, screams “EWW!!!   EWW!!  IT’S ON THE FLOOR!  IT’S ON THE FLOOR!”   He keeps screaming, my daughter starts crying, I’m trying to console her, quiet him, contain the mess, and my husband (ever-so-helpful in situations such as these) is dry-heaving in the hallway. 

So although I was upset that my daughter was sick, I was happy that I would not be shampooing carpet, doing laundry and taking ibuprofen in the middle of the night…at least not this time. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Stamps:  “Needs Somebody” Stamps by Judith; sentiment from “Classic Essential Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments) by Cornish Heritage Farms   Ink:  Stazon Black; Ranger Adirondack inks for watercoloring; Ranger Walnut Stain Distress   Cardstock: Suede Brown Dark, watercolor   Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye Magnolia   Accessories:  Prima flower, We R Memory Keepers eyelet, Michaels ribbon, sewing machine, pop dots.  Card size 5 ½” x 5 ½”.

Happy Thursday!  Today Julia’s challenge at SCS is to use pearls…Mother of Pearl technique, Perfect Pearls, liquid pearls, faux pearls, etc.  Since I had just purchased these little faux pearls from Michaels, and since I’d already stamped the cake and adhered the little babies in the circles, I thought I’d use that! :)  (Gotta love those head starts!)

So Happy For You

My next problem though…what to do with the cake.  Some days I feel so creative, others…nada.  It comes and goes in spurts.   I get lots of ideas of what to do with stamped images, but when it comes to layouts, and sometimes even colors, I just draw a blank. 

I have a list of stampers (in my head) whose work I truly admire and when I’m getting no clue as to what to do, I check out their galleries or blogs for a little inspiration…or a lot of inspiration which was the case here.  This layout was heavily inspired by Cindy Haffner, a very talented lady who pops out awesome cards one after the other.  I don’t know how she does it.

I tried to fit a sentiment on the front but it just didn’t work out so it’s on the inside.  I’ve always thought cards looked kind of naked without a sentiment but I’m noticing more and more sentiments saved for the inside.  I’m beginning to really like that.  What do you think?  Do cards look naked without a sentiment?   

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms “I Thee Wed” and “The Birds and The Bees” (Kim Hughes Collection)   Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black   Cardstock:  Prism Suede Brown Dark, Natural Smooth   Patterned Paper:  My Mind’s Eye Wild Asparagus “Baby Girl” Dots/Light Pink Paper   Accessories:  Pearls by Michaels, Brads by American Crafts, piercing template/needle, ribbon by Morex, pop dots.

Through blogging, we “get to know” those who share our interest in papercrafting.  I don’t share a lot of personal things on my blog, but I do have a blogging friend who often speaks of her friends, her dear husband and their adventures, her children and her mom.  I was so sad to pop into her blog the other day to learn that her mom had passed away.  My heart just breaks for her as I know she was so very close to her mom.  Of course I left a comment expressing my sympathy, but I wanted to make a card as well to let her know that I’ve been thinking of her.

He Leads Me

This is one of my favorites of the Thomas Kinkade images.  I think it works for multiple occasions…wedding, anniversary, sympathy and more.

Here, I tried a little trick I learned from my friend, Julia.  I inked the stamp, then wiped a bit of ink away where I wanted to place the sentiment.  I used a baby wipe (just because that’s what was within my reach at the time) and it actually changed the color of the ink around the edges of the wiped area.  I’m not sure if I like that or not, but the idea of wiping away some of the ink is brilliant.  (Thanks, J!)

For the background (which I realize you can hardly see as I covered so much of it), I used a new backgrounder, Flowers and Lace, which will be available this Friday, November 21st.

When I asked my husband if he liked this card, he said, “It’s alright.”  Silence.   Then, “It’s purple.”  Then I also realized it has a “crooked” layer so I probably just should not have asked.  (He’s an engineer.  Everything should be straight.  And centered.)  I think my friend will like it, but now what if she hates purple… 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Cornish Heritage Farms “Streams of Living Water” and “Still Water” (Thomas Kinkade), “Flowers and Lace” backgrounder   Ink:  Color Box Wisteria Chalk   Cardstock:  Prism Majestic Purple Light and Dark, Natural Smooth   Accessories:  Button by Tim Holtz, ribbon by Morex, sewing machine, baby wipe, Glue dots.  Card size 5” x 5”.

I had a bad day yesterday in the creativity department.  Wasted a lot of paper. Got nothing done.  It was very aggravating.  So this morning I peeked at the color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.  Real Red, Kraft and Black….PERFECT!  I needed a birthday card to go along with the Guitar Hero for my husband for his birthday.  (Only a couple more days!  Eek!)

You Rock

I used Inkadinkado’s Rock Star set.  (I just love those wacky strings at the top. lol.)  I tried my best not to turn this into a “road card” since my husband is not a fan of distressing, but I just had to run an inked sponge over the swirly embossed piece.  I had to.  It looked too plain.  (And wow, I didn’t use any patterned paper AND I finished the inside! )

This isn’t my favorite card I’ve ever made, but I do like it and I think my husband will too. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Stamps:  Inkadinkado Rock Star   Ink:  Stewart Superior Palette Noir; Ranger Black Soot Distress   Cardstock:  SU Real Red, Kraft, Very Vanilla; Prism Black   Accessories:  Cuttlebug D’vine Swirls embossing folder, Fiskars Rotary Trimmer/Deckle cutting blade, ¼” circle punch, black brads, sewing machine, sponge.

TGIM!  :)  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to play along with the Monday challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms.  I’ve missed it!  This week’s challenge is to use Sakura pens.   (You can find the challenge forum here if you’d like to play along.)

Bee Mine

I used a new set, The Birds and the Bees, from the Kim Hughes Collection.  I have the worst time photographing anything that sparkles.  I even have one of those photo tents with the big lights and I just cannot seem to capture shine.  It’s so aggravating.  You can see it a little better in this close up:

I used a yellow glitter pen for the front and back of the bees, black on the black parts, and orange and gold on the striped bee.  On the wings I used a clear glitter pen.

I wasn’t quite satisfied with the bees flat on the oval, so I stamped and colored them again, cut them out and mounted them over the first set using pop dots.

Bee (ha, ha) sure to check out these other CHF designers to see how they used their Sakura pens:   Julia, Dawn, Carole, Kim.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Stamps:  CHF “The Birds and the Bees” (Kim Hughes Collection)  Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black by Ranger   Cardstock:  Prism Super Smooth White, Black   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie   Accessories:  Sakura glitter pens, Oval punches by Marvy, Slot punch by EK Success, Ribbon, Pop dots.

As you know, I was in Disney World recently. We visited the four main theme parks, most of them more than once.  But we probably spent the majority of our time at Epcot.  At the end of one day when we’d had our fill of Test Track (which I didn’t like), Mission Space and Soarin’ (both of which I loved), we walked around the loop of different countries.

Epcot has this “International Food & Wine Festival.”  For a bit of money, we could try different foods and sample different wines from each country.  After some walking, our darling daughter had had enough.  She bellows out (yes, it was quite loud), “Why, why, WHY do you have to keep tasting wine, wine and MORE WINE?”  It earned quite a few chuckles but let me just say before you build this vision of two sloppy drunk parents pulling their children around the world that we only tried three wines that night and the “glasses” were smaller than Dixie cups. 

This card was inspired by my daughter, whom that night I also heard use this phrase for the first time.

Chill Out

So this is me, at Epcot, wishing those Dixie cups had been just a little bit bigger.  :)  I did feel (a little) bad that the walk was “boring” to some, but we didn’t enjoy waiting in a 110-minute line to see a “wad” of fairies either (our son’s words).  So we called it even.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Stamps:  Stamping Bella “Winobella” and “Chill Out”   Ink:  Adirondack Pitch Black   Cardstock:  Prism Super Smooth White, Black   Patterned Paper:  Basic Grey Urban Prairie   Accessories:  Copic markers, Sakura clear gloss pen (on wine bottle and glasses), ribbon, brads, Nestabilities by Spellbinders, pop dots, glue dots (rolled under wine bottle).