October Stamp Club #3 and GSG2 Swap Card

This was the third card we made this month at stamp club, and it was also the card I designed for a Great Swaps Girls 2 swap last month. This uses the Season of Friendship stamp set from the Holiday Mini. The leaf stamp consists of the set of three leaves, which were individually colored with Really Rust, Sage Shadow, and More Mustard markers. The yummy ribbon is the chocolate felt ribbon, also from the mini. {Season of Friendship recipe}
Stamps: Season of Friendship
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: More Mustard, Sage Shadow, Whisper White
Accessories: chocolate felt ribbon, gold brads, markers in Sage Shadow, Really Rust, More Mustard

Deer Friends Convention Swap

I forgot to post this card when I got back from Convention. I made this card for a small swap with some of the Great Swaps Girls 2 who were attending convention also. I love this little Deer Friends stamp set. It's a new level 2 hostess set in the SU! Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalog. You can't see it in the photo, but I added some crystal effects on the reindeer nose and stickles on the star topper and carrot nose. On my swaps, I had added stickles to my Santa. BIG mistake! He bled. The red ink just sort of spread out. I felt really bad that I had ruined my swaps. I couldn't even fix them because I was working from my hotel room the night before the swap. In this sample, I also popped up the red layer off of the white piece with the images. {Deer Friends Christmas recipe}

Stamps: Deer Friends, Heard from the Heart, Polka Dot

Ink: White Craft, Chocolate Chip Craft, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip,

Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Accessories: circle punch, chocolate taffeta ribbon, clear embossing powder, crystal effects, stickles, SU! markers in basic black, pumpkin pie, brocade blue, real red, old olive, summer sun, chocolate chip

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Santa Rosa, California to turn-in Addy, our fifth service puppy in training for Canine Companions for Independence. She's almost 17 months and ready to go off to "puppy college" so she can learn more about how to be a good service dog. It's always SO hard to let go of these dogs. We raised Addy's mom, who became a CCI breeder. We also raised Addy's half-sister (from our breeder's first litter), who decided the working life wasn't for her and is now our family pet. It's particularly hard to say goodbye to Addy. We feel like she's part of our family, especially since Tanith is her sister. At least we adopted Georgia, so Tanith won't be too lonely. Aren't they cute all snuggled up together?

I've scheduled a couple of posts for while I'm gone, including one for Lauren's Saturday Sketch Challenge.

Wow Birthday

Phew! What a crazy day! I just spent most of my day at my school with 11 amazing kids (my students) who volunteered to work hard for pizza. We had to pack up our classroom because we are moving to a new school and just found out earlier this month. It was a long day, but it's done!

This is another card I made for a Great Swaps Girls 2 preview swap. All new stuff on this card. Not sure if you can see it, but the flowers are sparkly!{Birthday Wishes recipe}
Stamps: Wow Flowers
Ink: Pirouette Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Versamark
Paper: Pirouette Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Accessories: pink brads, circle punches, iridescent ice embossing powder, white taffeta ribbon, blender pen filled with Baja Breeze reinker

Gotta keep this short! The clock is ticking! I must get to bed because I have a million things to do before I leave for Convention. I have at least two automatic posts scheduled for while I'm away, maybe three. If you are a subscriber to my blog, I've had some problems with Feedblitz not automatically sending out emails unless I go in there and send them manually, which I don't think I'll be able to do while I'm away. But, maybe we'll get lucky!

I'll catch up with you all when I get back! Thanks for stopping by.

GSG2 Hostess Preview Swap Card

I made this card a few weeks ago as a Hostess Preview Swap for the Great Swaps Girls 2. I just received my swaps back today, so I figure it's safe to post this now. This card uses a fun new level 3 hostess set called Window Dressing. It comes with a window image and several images to put in the window. I chose the little girl, the cat, and the bird. I think there's also a pumpkin, some flowers, and snowmen. There are three sentiments that curve so you can place them over the window. The chocolate polka dot paper is the new Bella Rose paper. Thank you is from Short & Sweet. Here's a close-up of the window. I stamped the window image and cut out the main panel (wish I had cut the top parts of the window too). Then I attached a piece of acetate (a transparency) behind it to make a "window". I used SU! markers to color in the window and shutters. I stamped the bird image in Staz-On directly onto the window sheet, then I stamped another bird on whisper white, colored and cut it out, and adhered it with a dimensional. The sentiment is stamped on Riding Hood Red, cut out, and popped up on dimensionals. That entire piece is layered onto a smaller piece of whisper white using dimenionals. The smaller piece of whisper white, which is in the background, is stamped with the window image. I stamped the cat directly in the window of that piece. The girl is stamped on a scrap paper, cut out and glued in on top of the cat. The curtains are made with Bella Rose paper. The panels are thin strips of paper. The valance is made with the new SU! scalloped edge punch. The DSP is adhered with Tombo Liquid Glue.
Here's a tilted photo that lets you see how the outside window is popped up off of the inside portion. I thought this would make it feel more like the girl and cat are inside, while the bird is outside.
{Window Thanks recipe}
Stamps: Window Dressing, Short & Sweet
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Accessories: acetate, 5/8" chocolate grosgrain ribbon, scalloped edge punch, SU! markers for coloring, blender pens loaded with reinkers from the new In Colors

Hope your weekend is going well. The Punch Class was a big hit. Everyone seemed to really enjoy making the cards and punch templates. They loved the handouts that I gave them. They're ones I found on this thread on Splitcoast made by Lorri Reibin (Cre8tingMemories).

I'm a Great Swaps Girl!!!

Exciting news! I've been invited to join the Great Swaps Girls 2. It's an invitation only swap group for Stampin' Up! demonstrators. I've been stalking some of these girls because I love their work so much, and now they've invited me to join them! Yahoo! You can find the website HERE or access it from the Great Swaps Girls link in the blog inspiration roll.

To add to all that excitement, I even have a card to share with you! Remember all those dog stamps I told you about? Here's one of the first. This image is from Whipper Snapper Designs. It's called Sorry Pup. It's such a large image that I couldn't really fit much else on the card. That made this one really easy. It's a fun one to color too. I used my Copic markers and tried to practice shading and blending. I still have a long way to go with that, and I'll keep trying!

My favorite part of this card is the sign above the dog. The original stamped image says "I'm sorry." I decided to change it up a bit. I used a scrap of creamy caramel paper, cut the ends with my deckle scissors, added SU!'s Weathered background stamp in creamy caramel, stamped "good dog!" with a sentiment from a Whipper Snapper set called Good Dog, hung it up with some wire, and called it good to go!

This isn't the best photo here, but it allows you to see how the image is popped up off the card. I curled the wire with needle nose pliers and used a brad for the nail.

{Good Dog recipe}
Stamps: Sorry Pup and Good Dog by Whipper Snapper Designs
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White
Accessories: Copic markers, craft wire, 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon, deckle scissors