October Inspiration #2

I saw someone on Splitcoast (sorry, can't remember who) use the solid petal from Pick-a-Petal to create a snowman's nose. Seriously cute! The eyes are made with the solid center. And that fantastic ribbon is from the Holiday mini that starts October 1. I have a thing for snowmen! Isn't he just adorable? {Snowman Christmas recipe}
Stamps: Pick a Petal, All Holidays
Ink: Whisper White Craft, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Only Orange
Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Bold Snowflakes wheel, candy cane striped grograin ribbon, riding hood red buttons, Coluzzle circle and oval

October Inspiration #1

This month's Inspiration Class uses the Pick-a-Petal stamp set. This is one of my favorite sets, and it's SO versatile. I tried to make cards for this class that show the versatility and offer ideas beyond the basic flower.

This card uses the petals as surfboards. On the green surfboard, I added white gel pen designs so it was similar to the other petals with white markings. The sand is made from torn and layered pieces of kraft cardstock stamped with the random splatter stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds. I embossed the waves with a Cuttlebug folder and trimmed layers of cardstock in a wave pattern. The sun was created with the round scallop punch (punched once, then turned slightly and punched again to created the little wedges).{Birthday Hugs & Wishes recipe}
Stamps: Pick A Petal, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Hugs & Wishes
Ink: Green Galore, Only Orange, Pixie Pink, So Saffron, Sahara Sand
Paper: Bashful Blue, Kraft, Pacific Point, So Saffron, Whisper White
Accessories: round scallop punch, cuttlebug folder, SU! markers

Better late than never...

Here it is, Lauren's Saturday Sketch! See, I told you I made it. It was so nice to stamp on Friday night. This is all I made, but it it was relaxing nonetheless. I ordered this Stampendous Tiers of Treats stamp at my local stamp store this summer, and it just came in a week ago. I forgot all about it. It was fun to color. I used my Copics for this one. See my bright blue mistake? Yep, I was too lazy to start over. It was one of the last things I colored. Totally out of place, but oh well. The sentiment is from the Stampendous clear cupcakes set, can't remember the name. This card makes me want a sweet treat!

{How Sweet recipe}
Stamps: Stampendous
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black
Paper: Certainly Celery, Groovy Guava, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Whisper White, Crate Paper
Accessories: Groovy Guava ribon, dew drops, coluzzle (oval), circle punches, Copics

Life at school is still quite busy. I went in this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday to try to catch up. I unpacked about half of the boxes I still had left to do. I also rearranged my room so it's a little more functional. Parent Night is this week, and I anticipate things to ease up a little after that.

I made the card!

I promise...I made Lauren's Saturday Sketch card for this week (and still hope to make one for last week)! Unfortunately, I realized that I took my digital camera to school yesterday, and left it there. Which means, no card. Again. But, I plan to go up to school today and work, so I will bring it home, have a photo shoot, and upload the card tonight! While you're waiting, go on and see what all those clever girls did with the sketch.
Lauren Meader
Tamara Harder
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weiman

September Stamp Club #3

This club card comes directly from the 2008-2009 Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalog, page 27. I needed a little help, already had this stamp set on hand, and I thought this card was adorable. It's the first time I've ever cased a card from the catalog just as is. {Halloween recipe}
Stamps: Hauting Halloween, All Holidays
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Garden Green Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Accessories: black gingham ribbon, black brad, word window punch, 3/4" circle punch

September Stamp Club #2

This is my first card using the Fresh Cuts stamp set and the coordinating Fresh Cuts Notes. Yes, I've had it since June. This card doesn't really seem seasonally appropriate, but what I like about it is it's flexibility. It can be used for a wedding, baby (girl), birthday, thank you, sympathy, whatever. I kept it all monochromatic using Pink Pirouette ink, paper, and ribbon. The flower in the center is from Flower Fusion 2. {For You recipe}
Stamps: Fresh Cuts
Ink: Pink Pirouette
Paper: Fresh Cuts Notes, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Flower Fusion 2, pink striped ribbon, silver brad

Keepin' it short. Still barely staying afloat at school...

September Stamp Club #1

I just love the new SU! owl set. For this first stamp club card, I used a bunch of leftover Hawaii Papaya scraps from the POM notecard set. I saw a card with a similar layout on SCS and used that for inspiration. The little owl is stamped in chocolate chip and colored in with blender pens and ink pads, except the little feet where I used the Going Gray marker. That little square scallop is one of SU!'s new punches. {Hoot-hoot hooray! recipe}
Stamps: Owl Together Now
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Hawaii Papaya
Accessories: 1 1/4" square punch, square scallop punch, blender pens, tangerine striped ribbon

I haven't yet made a card for Lauren's Saturday Sketch, but don't give up on me. Her sketch this week is so darn cute that I'm determined to play eventually! In the meantime, be sure to visit the rest of her design team to see the creations they came up with.
Lauren Meader
Tamara Harder
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weiman

Oh, and I have to give out a great big thanks to Ashley over at Heart Hugs Designs. A couple of weeks ago, she gave me an award, but I've been so busy that I haven't posted it until now. The rules...

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog
2. Link the person you received your award from
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Put links of those blogs on yours

5.Leave a message on the blogs of the blogs you’ve nominated

It so sad, but as I've said before, I haven't had time to visit my favorite blogs lately, and I think I've given almost everyone I know an award. SO, I want to pass this on to two of my newest blogging buddies.

1. Martha, she sends me nice emails and has recently started her own blog. Her work is so cute.

2. Katie, my new blogger and real life friend. Very talented girl!
3. YOU (that's right, you who's reading this right now), consider yourself awarded!

Stay tuned...

Good news! I have a few stamp club cards to share and some swaps over the next week or so. Woo-hoo! Plus, I'm working on some more cards this weekend for the next Inspiration class. So, it's safe to say, I should be back to posting a few times a week, starting this weekend. I had to finish a swap last night, so I was up late doing that instead of working on the Saturday Sketch, but I plan to make a card and get that posted today or tomorrow. Just wanted you to know that I'm still alive and well (mostly, anyway). Thanks again for hanging in there with me. Back soon!

Saturday Sketch Time Again

Well, a week has come and gone since my last post. I guess it's just that time of the year when all my energy goes towards school and the kiddos. This too shall pass. And hopefully soon, because I have this month's Stamp Club and an Inspiraton Class to get ready for. Plus, I have a bunch of swaps to get in the mail on Monday. That means soon I hope to be posting again at least a few times a week. Thanks for bearing with me. I miss all of you! I haven't even had much of a chance to visit any of my blogging friends, so I don't know what anyone's up to these days. I do appreciate all the comments I've been getting. All of my comments get sent to my email address, so I get to read each and every one. Makes my day it does!

Just in time for Lauren's Saturday Sketch and a little fall holiday action. I had these Karen Lockhart images I colored this summer. A good friend of mine (Hi, Beth!) was lucky enough to attend a Karen Lockhart class when she was teaching in Bellingham, but I couldn't go because I was scoring the state writing assessment for fourth graders. Lucky, lucky girl! Anyway, we ended up stamping and coloring a bunch of Lockhart images that day. So, I dug these out to go with our sketch and some patterned paper I've had in my stash forever. Belatedly, I realized I should have used the matching sentiment for these stamps, but it's late and I forgot until it was too late. It says this: witchie, witchie, screamie, screamie, happy, happy halloweenie. Is that cute, or what? Oh, well!{Happy Halloween recipe}
Stamps: Karen Lockhart, sentiment from SU! All Holidays set
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Green Galore, Pumpkin Pie, Solar White, Pebbles Inc.
Accessories: prismacolor pencils, black brads, giant black brad by American Craft, silk flower, white taffeta ribbon

With any luck, I'll be back later next week with Stamp Club samples. Have a great weekend!

Off you go now to visit the other Saturday Sketch samples:

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com/
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque http://www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com/
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com/
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/
Alicia Weiman http://www.happystamp.blogspot.com/

Saturday Sketch

I survived my first week (well, three days) of school. It was CRAZY, but it actually went better than I expected for my level of preparedness (which was: NOT prepared). Magically, my body and brain knew what to do, and everything seemed to run fairly smoothly. I am seriously looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning. In fact, as you're reading this, I'm probably doing just that!

For last week's Saturday Sketch, I had school on the brain. After this week, I'm ready for another vacation! I love all of Rubber Soul's stick figure images. This one is from the clear Vacation Collection set. I used some Crate paper and paired it with two of my favorite past In Colors from SU!, Cool Caribbean and Groovy Guava. I miss these colors! I just wish SU! would keep them around a bit longer. Don't get me wrong, I really like the new ones too. {Vacation recipe}
Stamps: Rubber Soul's Vacation Collection
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Cool Caribbean, Groovy Guava
Paper: PTI White, Groovy Guava, Cool Caribbean, Crate Paper
Accessories: Copic markers, paper flowers, dew drops, double-stitched guava ribbon

Stop by and see what the other gals came up with for this week's sketch:

Lauren Meader http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Tamara Harder http://tamarastamps.blogspot.com/
Maria Levine http://riacreations.blogspot.com/
Dawn Easton http://www.TreasureOilerDesignz.blogspot.com/
Kirsten Dubosque http://www.kirstendubosque.blogspot.com/
Kristy Vernon http://www.kvernon.blogspot.com/
MacKenzie Bruckler http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/
Alicia Weiman http://www.happystamp.blogspot.com/

If you have time to try out the sketch, either upload your card to Splitcoast using keyword mytimess04 or link it to Lauren's comments for today's sketch. Have fun!

September POM Close-ups

Hi! Remember me? I'm the one who used to blog here...

It's been a crazy week moving into a new school and getting the first couple of days going. My classroom is mostly unpacked. I still have several boxes floating around and nothing on the walls. Gotta get the kids to do some art to put up. The first two days have gone well. As usual, I'm still mourning the loss of last year's class, especially because I was supposed to loop up with them. I'm sure in no time, I'll be loving my new group just as much. Happens every year. I'm SO tired and ready for the weekend. I haven't even had time to read any blogs this week.

I wanted to do a quick post with the close-ups and recipes of those cards for September's Project of the Month class. All eight cards and envelopes are held together in this little faux tote that I borrowed from Katie Renz. Custom envelopes are courtesy of Cindy Lawrence. Go back a couple of posts, too tired to link...pathetic, I know.







{Notes & Tote recipe}
Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, PTI White, Hawaii Papaya
Accessories: A2 envelopes (medium from SU!), word window punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, marvy scallop punch, wide oval punch, slot punch, 5/8" striped ribbon in tangerine tango and kiwi kiss, 5/8 chocolate grosgrain ribbon, white taffeta ribbon, vanilla/kiwi satin ribbon, wide chocolate double-stitched ribbon

I'm hoping my order arrives before the class. If not, I'll be using some of the new Haiku paper for this class too.

I'll see you this weekend for Lauren's Saturday Sketch.