Holiday Card Class #1

Stolen from a design I saw on Splitcoast (as were several of the designs for this class), this card uses the snowflake from Punch Pals and the tree from Merry & Bright. The tree is stamped on very vanilla, and then stamped again on certainly celery, cut out and mounted with a dimensional. The sentiment is from Many Merry Messages. {Merry Christmas recipe}
Stamps: PunchPals, Merry & Bright, Many Merry Messages
Ink: Basic Black, Certainly Celery
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Certainly Celery
Accessories: none (gasp!), unless you count dimensionals

Still hoping to round up a card from Saturday's sketch. Until then, I have some more holiday cards from the class to post this week.

Late Saturday Sketch

Hi friends! I actually did Lauren's Saturday Sketch on Sunday, but I haven't had time to photograph and post it. When I first saw this sketch, I was thinking snowflakes, but I ended up with something completely different, a fall card.

I watercolored the images using SU! Classic Inks and an aqua painter (water brush). The little leaves are Sizzix die cuts. To create the texture, I used a stylus to make the "veins" on the leaves.


{Thankful Thoughts recipe}
Stamps: Thoroughly Thankful
Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive
Paper: PTI White, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Sizzix leaf die cuts, stylus, aqua painters

I did a Holiday Card Class a couple of weeks ago and need to post those cards still. Plus, I have this month's stamp club to post. I will try to spend some time this weekend scheduling some posts because it seems I just get get to it during the week!

Thank you for all the well wishes and inquiries about how I'm doing these days. I'm feeling much better. Still constantly tired, but at least not so utterly exhausted I can't function. Half-way is quickly approaching. We'll be 20 weeks along in just over a week. We have an ultrasound scheduled for the day before Thanksgiving. If little one cooperates, we hope to find out the gender.

Saturday Sketch

Time for another Saturday Sketch. I used an old stamp set from Pink Cat Studio. First time it's seen ink though. The snowflakes are punched with a Paper Shapers punch. The silver glitter one is actually a silver glitter paper by Die Cuts With A View, and the patterned paper is by Memory Box. QT Owl is colored with Copics. Makes me almost ready for winter... {Warm Hoooliday Wishes recipe}
Stamps: QT Owl by Pink Cat Studios
Ink: Palette Noir
Paper: PTI White, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Memory Box, Die Cuts With A View
Accessories: Paper Shapers snowflake punch, silver brad, gray taffeta ribbon, circle punch, Coluzzle

Here are the other takes on Lauren's sketch:
Lauren Meader
Tamara Harder
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weiman

One of my stamp club members just started her own blog. You can see Susan's first design at Lil' Bit of Ink.

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

October Stamp Club #2

What's an October stamp club without a token Halloween card? I saw a card similar to this on Splitcoaststampers, and it looked cute and easy. I'm all about easy these days. Apparently, my photography skills are lacking because this photo and my last one are blurry. That means the next club card will probably be blurry too. Sorry about that. This card uses the Halloween Frights set from the mini-catalog and the new SU! Halloween DSP. {Halloween recipe}
Stamps: Halloween Frights
Ink: Basic Black, White Craft
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Whisper White, Ghostly Greetings DSP
Accessories: 1" circle punch, tangerine striped ribbon

Literally, as I'm typing this, I've just realized that it's Saturday Sketch time. Uh, oh! I completely forgot. I was busy this week preparing for my Holiday Card Class that met today, and the whole Saturday Sketch thing completely slipped my mind. Hmmm....guess you should go check out the design team member's submissions since I've got nothin' for ya! Bygones!
Lauren Meader
Tamara Harder
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weiman

October Stamp Club #1

This is one of our stamp club cards for October, stolen directly from one of my favorite stampers, Angie Tieman. Thanks, Angie. I needed a little help this month. Or a lot of help is more like it. The card is cut with the Big Shot Top Note die. Snowman Santa is colored in with a blender pen and white craft ink, then punched out with the 1 3/4" circle punch. The edges are inked with white craft. {Merry & Bright recipe}
Stamps: Merry & Bright
Ink: White Craft, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red (for envelope)
Paper: Kraft, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Riding Hood Red striped ribbon, 1 3/4" circle punch, Big Shot, Top Note die

I love this week's sketch! Lauren made a snowflake card with it last week sometime, and that's what inspired my version today. By the way, did you read Lauren's big news last week? If you missed it, you can read all about it right here. I'm so excited about this...another opportunity to get even more amazing ideas from the stamping queen herself.

For this week's sketch, I used my new SU! Little Flurries felt snowflakes. I like the simplicity of this one.
{Peace recipe}
Stamps: Glad Tidings, PTI's Square Borders & Corners
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Basic Black
Paper: PTI White
Accessories: Little Flurries, rhinestone brads

You can see the rest of the team's creations here:
Lauren Meader
Tamara Harder
Maria Levine
Dawn Easton
Kirsten Dubosque
Kristy Vernon
MacKenzie Bruckler
Alicia Weiman

Happy weekend! Oh, and Happy Anniversary to me (and hubby...six years)!

October Inspiration #4,#5, and #6

I decided to just plop the rest of the Inspiration card photos up here all together since I can't seem to manage to create a post during the week these days. {Mr. & Mrs. recipe}
Stamps: Pick a Petal, All Holidays
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Pirouette Pink, vellum cardstock, Parisian Summer DSP
Accessories: chocolate grosgrain ribbon, word window punch, silver brad{For You recipe}
Stamps: Pick a Petal, All Holidays
Ink: Sage Shadow, More Mustard
Paper: Sage Shadow, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Autumn Vine DSP, vellum cardstock
Accessories: circle punches, chocolate chip marker
{Thank You Tulip recipe}
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Short & Sweet
Ink: Real Red, YoYo Yellow, Basic Black
Paper: Garden Green, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Garden Green marker

Come back tomorrow for the Saturday Sketch. I've got it all ready to go in the morning!

October Inspiration #3

Lauren didn't do a Saturday Sketch this weekend, but she was working on something BIG to share with you. You can find out what she's been working on at her blog.

I almost forgot that I haven't shared the rest of my Pick a Petal Inspiration class cards with you. I saw something similar to this on Splitcoast, so I decided to see what I could do. I used my new Big Shot and Bigz scallop die to create the card base from Summer Sun. Then I stamped one of the Pick a Petal centers and added twelve petals around it, cut out the image in one piece, and adhered it to the card base. The top layer is twelve petals individually cut out and glued at the tips on top of the other petals. I used the round scallop punch and a hand held 1/8" punch to create the chocolate center of the sunflower, and punched out a 1 3/8" yellow circle to mount behind the chocolate center piece. The center is popped up on dimensionals. {Sunflower recipe}
Stamps: Pick a Petal
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Paper: Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke
Accessories: round scallop punch, 1/8" punch, and 1 3/8" circle punch

Saturday Sketch and The Truth

Welcome to another edition of Lauren's Saturday Sketch. Yes, I am on time this week! I know I've spent a lot of time neglecting my blog, and probably even more time complaining about being exhausted. It's true that every year, back to school time is so busy and so tiring. It really is the busiest time of the year for both of us (hubby is also a teacher). Moving just kinda makes it worse. This has without a doubt been the most challenging start of my career (and I thought last year was it). I come home and can't do ANYTHING, except eat dinner, veg out, and go to bed early. But, the truth...the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth, is this...We are finally (after many years and a miscarriage) on our way to (hopefully) having a baby. I've just made it through my first trimester. Turns out the whole pregnancy thing, while working full-time, is utterly exhausting! Nature's way of preparing you for motherhood, I suppose. Due date is early to mid April. Anyway, I've been very eager to let you all know WHY I've been such a slug with the whole stamping and blogging thing, but we really tried not to make a big deal of it until we got through the first trimester. I hear the second trimester is supposed to get better. I'm looking forward to THAT! And now, of course, we are happily anticipating being parents (so we can at least be exhausted together).

Lauren Meader

Tamara Harder

Maria Levine

Dawn Easton

Kirsten Dubosque

Kristy Vernon

MacKenzie Bruckler

Alicia Weiman

Visit the sketch girls, have a great weekend, and thanks for being loyal readers despite my absence from the blogging world.

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!