Ink-Confection going postal

Here is what Teresa will be receiving in the mail. A clear Christmas set from Hero Arts, a package of Penny Black Holiday stickers, a few 1/2 sheets of cardstock/print paper. Several yards of red/green/white ribbons, some holiday brads. A VersaCube and some Stickles. I hope she will enjoy using it all.

Scrap Cards

If you read my previous post "Challenging myself-challenging you" you will know that I had a pile of scraps and goodies on my desk that coordinated really well. I have made 3 cards so far and am just about out of the green Tsumugi cardstock that I used for an accent. I will probably file the rest in my scrap bags for the next time. For all three cards I used the following: Worldwin Treasures Cardstock in Glacier Blue, Autumn Leaves print paper, Green Tsumugi textured cardstock and Via White cardstock.

For this first card, I used circle and scalloped circle punches. Hello and the line of dots (Hero Arts) were stamped in Meadow Adirondack ink. The little bird is from Inkadinkado and was colored with Twinkling H20's. I added a little Crystal Stickles to his wing and tail feathers. You know, it just wouldn't be right if I didn't have a little glitter glue somewhere. The ribbon is from May Arts. This card is 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and would be great for a gift card.

The next card is also 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" This one was really just some layering and a few Primas.
Thank You (Hero Arts) was stamped in Meadow ink and some eyelets and Crystal Stickles were added to the Primas for a little bling. The last card is my Flower card and I used this cute little flower pot stamp from Penny Black. I stamped the pot in Cloudy Blue Seashells Adirondack ink. I had the white punchies in my stash and puched a few more out of the Treasures Glacier Blue cardstock. Some of the flowers are layered flat to the image and some are popped with one layer of foam tape and a couple have two layers of foam tape. I added some gems from K & Co. and yes, a little Stardust Stickles to the dots on the flower pot. Afterall, what is a card without a little glitter glue? After some basic layering with the green cardstock and print paper, I added a little May Arts gold edged sheer ribbon. Tommorrow I will upload a picture of the Ink-Confections that I will be sending to Teresa. Stay tuned............................

Sasha Scraps

As I've mentioned before, my kitty, Sasha, likes to "help" me scrap. Actually, she just wants to play with my ribbon and eat my flowers. Since this is so unhealthy for her, I have to keep all my ribbon & flowers in enclosed containers.

We were able to get some pics of her "scrapping" so I decided to devote a page to her fetish. I used a sketch by Becky Fleck from Page Maps www. pagemaps. com for my design layout.

And the winner is:

#7 Aunt T. Teresa, please e-me with your address and theme for your clear set and goodies. You can pick from: garden, fall or Christmas and I will get a package together and get it in the mail early next week.

I have decided to go with Debbie's idea for my give-a-way and call it Ink-Confections. I like that, nice and sweet. Yum. Debbie, be watching for a little something from me also.

This has been lots of fun for me and I can't wait for the next milestone.

1000,1000,1000!

I did it! I hit 1000. I am pretty sure I have decided on a name. It is from one of the comments that were left. I have decided for my give-a-way, the winner will receive a clear stamp set in either of these themes: Garden, Fall or Christmas and some ribbon, bling and embellies to coordinate with the theme. I will take a picture and post after the winner tells me what theme.

I will be gone for the rest of the day and will post the winner when I get home later tonight. There is still time to comment, tell a friend.

Hugs, hugs.............

Almost 1000

I just noticed that I have almost 1000 hits on my blog. Woo Hoo! When I started the blog, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know if people would be interested in the musings of a CA girl or not but I wanted to a place to share all of the things that I love so much.

So I have decided to give a little blog give-a-way when I hit 1000. Leave me a comment with name suggestions for my blog yummies and you could be the lucky winner. I will use a random number generator to pick the winner. Tell all of your friends too! I will gather some goodies and post a picture later. Remember, I work at the best stamp store around and have access to lots of yummy stuff. TTFN!

Challenging Myself-Challenging You

While cleaning off my desk (okay, only a small part of my desk) I started grouping things that went together and came up with a pretty good pile and decided to take a picture and challenge myself to use some of it up. I challenge you to do the same. If you do, leave me a comment with a link to your pile/creations. I would love to see them.

I did get one small card made last night, but I was tired and decided I would get back to the pile this morning. I will upload a pic of my creations as soon as I have a few.

Free Night of Theater

Here is a freebie that I received from Kelly. As I understand it there are free theater tickets being given for many shows all around the country. There wasn't a theater close to me, but maybe there will be one for you. Click here for details.

Red Ribbon Girls

Yesterday I had such a great time with some of our Red Ribbon Girls. 5 of the gals came by the store and made Red Hat cards. We used Linda Duke's Flap Hat Pattern (with Linda's permission) and it was so fun to see the ladies dolling up their hats. Aren't they the cutest?

Tags

I'm participating in a Chinese Whispers Challenge over on ScrapJazz. One of our challenges is to make 16 tags. I'd never made tags before so this was something new. I used the George cartridge for my Cricut to cut out the basic tag from cardstock and then covered (or partially covered) them with patterned paper and my other embellishments.

A Couple New Cards

I made a few more cards last night. Here are two of my favorites.

This Week's Card

This week we're to scrap what we're going to do to avoid failure. We were also supposed to journal what fun things we were going to do to help us. I forgot the fun stuff but I do allow myself treats -- I just plan them into my calorie count. I make counting calories and staying in my limit a game and that helps too.

Circle Journal Pages

I am mailing my circle journal tomorrow for the first stage in its journey. Here are the rest of my pages:

My title page -- The theme for my journal is the Scripture and Christian songs that provide us comfort during the difficult times of life.

Instruction page & location map -- The left page tells the ladies what I would like them to do in the journal and the right page is for each participant to put a brad on the map where they live.

Getting to Know You Page -- Each lady will decorate the front of her folder. The ladies will attach of photo of themselves and answer a few questions on the inside of the folder.

Autograph Page -- this will be the last page in my album. I've asked each lady to autograph this page.

New Technique for Me

On AC Bailey Designs they're having a celebration all month long. They've issued some great challenges. I decided to try the one that had us to use bleach to stamp on cardstock to make our own patterned paper. We were then to use that paper to make 2 cards to send to people. This was definitely stepping out of my box -- because I've never used bleach in scrapping before. Here are the cards I made -- yes, I do know how to count. I was having so much fun that I made 3 cards.

Dealing the Weight Loss Hand Challenge

I'm participating in a challenge on Triple the Scraps http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/search/label/Weight%20Loss%20Cards that helps keep those of us participating motivated. Here are the cards I've completed so far:

My title page for my cards:

Card #1 - List our goals

Card #2 - What are our keys to success?

Card #3 - Scrap a motivating quote

Card #4 - Scrap our food & drink weakness

Card #5 - What gift will we give ourselves when we reach our goal weight? The gift cannot be clothes.

Card #6 - Scrap one word to describe our weight-loss journey. Use a monogram to represent our word.

Card #7 - Use the theme of time on our card.

Card #8 - Describe our feelings about our scale. Do we use one? Is it our friend or enemy?

Card #9 - Our favorite healthy snack - what is our go-to food that won't get us off track?

Card #10 - What is the favorite comment we've received about our weight loss?

Follow-up Freebie

Did you request your Folgers coffee sample that I posted the link for? Now Kelly sent me a link to request a coupon good for 7 days worth of Coffee Mate creamer. Here is the link for the creamer http://www.coffee-mate.com/7Days/default.aspx and here to read my post about the coffee freebie.

This is a 2 page 8 x 8 LO I made for my Circle Journal about Words of Comfort. I used some flip-flop fasteners to make a flap on the right page. The butterfly on that page is actually a lift for the flap. Lots of journaling on these pages.



Left side Journaling: When the storms of life come and I find myself needing comfort, these are the verses I turn to again and again. When my heart is overwhlmed and I don't know what to pray, the chorus of the song on the opposite page runs thru my mind over & over again and becomes my prayer.

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of they wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast. Psalm 57:1

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Psalm 34:19

From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 62:1

I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

Right Side Journaling:
Lord, I Need You by Ron Hamilton

Sometimes when life seems gentle and blessings flood my way,
I turn my gaze away from You and soon forget to pray.
But when the sky grows darker and courage turns to fear,
My anxious voice cries upward with words you long to hear.

Chorus:
Lord, I need You when the sea of life is calm.
O Lord, I need You when the wind is blowing strong.
Whether trials come or cease, keep me always on my knees.
Lord, I need You. Lord, I need You.

Lord, help me to remember I'm weak but You are strong.
I cannot sing apart from You, for Lord, You are my song.
Although I'm prone to wander and boast in all I do,
Lord, keep my eyes turned upward so I depend on You.

Under the flap:



Journaling: When our son was 16, he was hospitalized to receive DHE, an IV med used to treat intense chronic headaches. DHE caused him to have excruciating pain all over his body as it affected all his muscles and caused them to cramp (and it did nothing for his headaches). This horrendous pain would last around 45 min. As I stood there by his bed, watching him struggle with the pain and do his best not to yell, that's when this song became my theme song. Because he was recovering from surgery, my husband couldn't be there the whole time. Without my usual human support, I learned to lean even harder on the Lord. Many times I prayed, "Lord, I can't do this by myself. You have to help me! Lord, I need You!"

Faith is....
Faith - Belief in the truth, value or trustworthiness of an idea, being or person. Loyalty to a person or thing.

Faith is Like a Child by Tom Fettke & Grace Hawthorne

Faith is like a child, simple in its spirit, generous and kind, willing to accept what cannot be denied...

Faith is like a child, innocent and trusting even in its doubt, Honest in its search and trying hard to find what God's about.

Faith is like a child, taking it for granted miracles can be, learning to believe in things it cannot touch or even see.

One thing, simple child-like faith and nothing more, That's all Jesus Christ has ever asked us for. simple child-like faith and nothing more.

Birds of a Feather #3

Okay, so it is not really a bird. I did use the Feather Flourish set from Stampendous to make it though. This card was inspired by a card I saw here on the net. For my card I used Bazzill cardstock for the base card and lavendar layer. For the image panel I stamped the flourishes with Lettuce Adirondack Ink. I stamped the leaves and print petals on scrap print paper/cardstock. The lavendar petals were colored with Tombow marker and then I painted a layer of Heavenly White Twinkling H2O's over them to give them a little zip. I went over the stem/flourish with Crystal Stickles. Added a little ribbon and voila! I think this turned out to be the favorite card in class.

Cards

Here are a couple simple cards I made tonight. Nothing fancy but I was able to use some quilled butterflies I've been wanting to play with.

Birds of a Feather #2

This was a fun card to create. The print paper and cardstocks for the layering are from Bo Bunny. The base card is a tone on tone white textured cardstock that we order from one of our local suppliers. I just love layering and this card has 5 layers plus the base card. The stamps are from The Feather Flourish set from Stampendous. I used Graphite Black Brilliance ink and Pink Azalea, Sunburst and True Blue Twinkling H2O's for the body of the bird. I wrapped 12" of fibers around my finger and punched a 1/8"hole in the tail of the bird an inserted the fibers and taped them down on the backside of the image. I embellished with a little Stickles on the bird and a turn mount and brad.

Tomorrow, I will upload card #3.

So much new stuff...........

at the store that is! Today at work I put out new paper from Paper Salon. There is adorable baby paper designed by Karen Neuberger (you know, the awesome jammie lady) the paper has adorable little hippos all over it and comes in a pink version and a blue version. Both have coordinating small prints also.

Also from Paper Salon is a cute, whimsical snowflake print and ice skate print. These both are glittered papers. The colors are light blue, mint green and lavender. To go along with this collection is a plaid print.

And last, but certainly not least is the foil papers. Beautiful fall leaves and a cool red/gold chicken wire foil as well. We also ordered a great mum print in fall colors, but it is on backorder.

I bought a couple of sheets of the foiled and glittered papers and hope to "play" with them soon.

Stay tuned.................Birds of a Feather #2 coming right up.

Birds of a Feather #1

I had a great time creating this card. The "hello" bird card is 5" x 7". I used Bazzill cardstock for the teal card and aqua layer. For the bird panel I used 120# cold press watercolor paper. The bird was stamped with Bark Versacolor ink and colored with Twinkling H2O's. I wet the body of the bird with water before I applied the color. This helps the colors blend a little better. The "hello" is from a Hero Arts set. The stamp actually says " A warm hello" but I needed a smaller stamp for the space, so I just inked part of the stamp. After the card was complete I went over all of the Bark lines with a Stardust Pen. I love the way the pen gives it that little extra shimmer. The stamp set used is called Feather Flourish and is from Stampendous.

I will upload another one tomorrow night.

More Princess Goodies I received this week

I received POM gifts from two generous ladies this week.

Here's what Lisa sent me:

I've already made the cards in this kit. They turned out so cute (I followed the pics on the back of the pkg) and were so much fun to make! I loved 'em and have already used them.

Isn't this a beautiful card? Lisa said she got it in a swap.

I love rubons (sorry for the bad pic) and will really enjoy using these. I also think these hearts are very pretty. I'm looking forward to using them as well. She picked great gifts for me.

Here's what Val sent me:

She sent me a very nice assortment of goodies and a very beautiful card. The inside is georgeous too.

This notebook is so pretty. I'm using it to keep track of the challenges on the various boards I frequent and to keep notes of other things related to these message boards. It will be nice to have everything in one place. I LOVE ribbon and am not sure you can have too much of it. I am just starting to enjoy stamping and these stamps are a nice addition to my small collection.

What a nice assortment of items to alter (decorate). I've been wanted to alter a clothespin since I saw some really cute ones on SNS. I've also wanted to do a "paper bag album" for awhile now. I already have the pics in mind for the accordian album. So much scrapping, so little time! lol I also can't wait to play with these embellies. So much fun!! Val also sent me a great assortment of goodies.

My thanks to both ladies!