11.30.2016

WOYWW # 391 {progress}

Happy Wednesday (AKA Desk peeking day) :) if you'd like to play along with us the link up happens here at our hostess Julia's blog

 When I walked away from the desk last Sunday afternoon this is how I left it. I had been stamping some mostly Christmas sentiments and I left them out to "dry"
and I came up for an idea for my work Christmas gift card holders ( mostly still in my head) the beginning of that is here in this shot though.
 in this same time frame if you had stood off to the left and glanced at the never ending scraps pile, the SU plastic box I keep previously stamped sentiments on scraps that I have not gotten around to diecutting and putting away or using yet is so full its lid is above the paper cutter. ( the pile on top of that is mostly mixed media scraps) I put plain papers and cardstocks away loosely sorted by colors.
 After a couple of hours of cutting and sorting, I can close the lid on the box again.

These are stamps that need a home. ( I mean in my room they came in the mail sometime during the Booth/ds visit) and kind of got buried in the shuffle so this is me unearthing them, but I had run down to start dinner so, I never made it back upstairs. the tray on the left is holding bits and pieces for mostly Christmas / Winter things. I find it easier to make them at this time of year when it is cold.
We did the trip up to Crater Lake on Sunday and there was a cloud sitting on the top of the mountain so visibilty was limited to about 20 feet up there and we did not see the lake but, the snow was up to DS shoulders there.
He is about 5'10" ish in real life. Anyways we are just you know working at going back to that empty nester new reality again. ( the see-you-laters still bite)

11.26.2016

This weekends Christmas Cards

 Before I did the booth I accepted an order to do 7 Christmas cards ( with names ) personalized on them. ( that I could do "what ever" I wanted for them more or less)  and so, I have had that in the back of my mind for a couple of weeks now. Today this first 4 were done towards that and then 3 previously made cards were altered with a name to complete them. This one the ornament was heat embossed in gold on smooth bristol paper and watercolored with some Zig markers. the Believe diecut (Simon Says Stamp) was done with shimmery stardream cardstock and is up on foam pop dots.  The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th perfectly penned set.

 This one was jump started by the inspiration challenge this morning that headed to a journaling board Audrie has and I seen this page. ( and I loved the banner) so, the Merry Christmas is from SU and the name is also from the perfectly penned set. The snowman is from Personal Stamp Exchange and the big snowflake is an Sizzix die. The snowman panel and banner are up on foam pop dots on this one.

 The white glitter card was cut with an Birch Press Baily Ornament trio die and the base of this card is also a shimmer paper so, the whole thing just glimmers. the name is from an SU alphabet that looks like a dymo label and the Merry Christmas is from Justrite. This one is A-2 in real life.


 This is the same ornament for Olivia as used for Courtney just different colors. the Ornament and that insulation pink lacy diecut square are both from Our Daily Bread Designs. the crochet lace is unknown but, not vintage.
 This one was done with some of the scraps from Jasson's card. the Ornament dies are from Our Daily Bread Designs and the sentiment is from Justrite cut with an Nellie Snellen tags 3 die. This one is also A-2 in real life.

 A closer look at the glimmers, the top die was cut with some SU shimmery white and the solid background is Recollections glitter cardstock.

 I had spent some time the other day water coloring and these are Mondo Poinsettia's from Ellen Hutson ( cut with scissors) I tried something I do not normally do that coloring out of the lines to go fast thing, and so it forced me to cut out everything on the edges of all the petals because of the out of lines bleed. the centers of the blooms have some diamond glaze on them for dimension. the white mats are from a Spellbinders die cut with shimmery white and they are both A-2 in real life.

The gold layer (a Spellbinders die) was a scrap from those one of a kind tags and the sentiment on this one is from Our Daily Bread Designs. the base is pistachio from SU. That ribbon is from Micheal's.

11.24.2016

Holly Framed Christmas

 Good Morning, and if you are in the US and celebrating today, Happy Thanksgiving. I know this should be a Thankful post and the truth is for me Thanksgiving is the only 4 day weekend we have off from work during the year so, its also when the bulk of the Christmas cards I make for my family and friends start to happen. And for that I am thankful to have that time off, I get away with being in my studio because, the guys have gone pheasant hunting at ohdarkthirty, so I am able to get a lot done before the sun even comes up. A while back I had the Holiday Greeting set out from Two Paper Diva's and I stamped and colored a lot, (I didn't count) sheet filled with the holly leaves and berries. and I water colored them and traced over some of them with different pens and cut them all out with scissors. and I filled up a little baggie with them. when I first started this card I had intended to frame this greeting from the Mason Jar Accessories set 2 completely with the holly leaves because,there are enough of them but, as I made it around the curve of the oval ( Spellbinders radiant rectangle die) I decided I really liked how it looked with just the one end covered. the "berries" are some queen & co. goosebumps. for a little bling.

This ribbon is a recent Micheal's find and its wrapped around the front of the card and taped to the chatterbox print under the die cut. This stamped panel is up on pop dots over that for a little depth. This one finished out as 5 1/2" square on a pre made Die Cuts with a View base.
When I linked to these sets they were both still listed as in stock and are currently 40% off with the retirement sale discount, no coupon codes needed. 
So, just a quick and simple one from me today, I hope you all have a really good holiday with your families, & Thanks for stopping by.

11.23.2016

Snow Tags {finished}


 So, I don't normally do this kind of a thing but, a repeat customer asked if it were at all possible to take this card design and turn it into a tag. ( only she called it an ornament) (if you click that link to see the card, you need to scroll down its the second one in the post from that day last month. Anyways I am standing there thinking to my self yes, I remember this colors and tools and such and I am pretty sure I even have more of that same ribbon and button. and then she tosses in the kicker. can you make it 6 of them? ah, and then the mental scramble starts. but, the only thing is she wants them to say "one of a kind" I spent a couple of hours. ( not kidding) messing around with different alphabet sets and banner dies trying to find a combination that would fit on here. and finally settled on this. the letters are from a magnetic MM set called CK stenography and the Kind is a honeybee diecut on gold paper. The tag dies are from Memory box and I did cut the insulation pink layer as only the frame and the cream layers ( twice) so the top piece is textured with a cuttlebug cherry blossom folder and the second stitched circle is just smooth cream on the back sides.

 I did run out of the original gold edged sheer ribbon at about 3 tags in, so the other three got sheer skinnier gold bows instead of knots. the buttons are all tied on with some May Arts iridescent cord and the crochet lace I think may be from SU or May arts ( but it is not vintage) the buttons are craft store ones and the snowflakes (Sizzix snowflake 2, Sizzix thinlits snowflake 661540& sizzix layering snowflakes) were cut from Recollections glitter paper. ( this is thick cardstock so the thinlits die did not really do it as well as the steel ruled dies did) All of the snow is up on foam pop dots. the sentiment banners ( Simon Says Stamp dies) were just added on with glue dots.

A closer look at one of the tags with two layers of snow. I only did that with a few of them. So, hopefully she likes them.

WOYWW # 390 Snowtags

Happy Wednesday ladies, if you're curious why the mess is on display head over to our hostess Julia's blog and you can link up and play along there.  If you are curious about how the booth set up looked those mug shots can be found in this post.
 So, the second custom order I was asked about was from a repeat buyer at the booth and she picked up the card ( printed on the paper on the right) and asked it were possible to make something similar as a tag for 6 people. (nearly the same but, maybe a little different) but, the kicker was she wanted them to say "one of a kind" and so, I said sure... and the bodies of the tags went together fairly quickly, some have different snow die cuts or configurations of snow or different ribbons. So, none of them are actually identical but, they are pretty dang close. and then the stall hit. so, that is what you are seeing during the do I have a one of a kind sentiment stamp, I ended up digging out a bunch of alphabet sets to try and make the sentence fit on a banner of some kind. Peeking out under the mug shot of the card I had made you can see a few of the riley and co. sentiments that arrived last friday in the mail ( that have not been inked yet) yes, that is coffee in the mug and those whippersnapper images have also not been inked yet.

A closer look at the tags while under construction. after this was shot, I had moved everything off the cutting mat and finally came up with something that would work. It's not exactly what she asked for so, it will be unsure if she likes them probably until next week because, I am taking them to work today and we will shut down early for the holiday and be closed until next Monday. ( WHOO HOO 4 day weekend (this is the only one we get during the year where I work) And no, I will not be off in the throngs of people swarming the stores on friday. I am going to do a separate post with the how the tags turned out behind this. and now that this one is done I still have one more custom order to fill for the gpa who wants his people's names on their cards. but, I get to make what ever I want as long as I spell their names correctly. And I need an idea for my own Christmas cards I am going to send out. Or rather I need to narrow it down. I have more stamps than I have time so, I am mentally leaning towards clean and simple and you know things that maybe mail with only one postage stamp this year. *gasp* hahaha. PS my son is home on leave for the holiday so, I will be making the trips around slowly this week too.

11.22.2016

Christmas Tags


 So, the days during and leading up to the booth I did receive some happy mail, and one of the packages was some silly things from Riley & Co. this sentiment is from them. The Santa hat is a jolle's sticker. and its on a Mama Elephant ( A-2) tag that was run through the bigshot in a stitched folder.and I made these first 6 things in this post at about 4 am on last saturday morning before the booth because, I was up. and most of them did sell. ( I had told my self going into it that the things made at the last minute generally do not sell so to not bother) if I had more time I would have sold more of the you get underwear for not believing tags.

 The one on the left is 3X3 and that sentiment is from Altenew Holiday wishes and the one on the right is from Riley & Co.

 The printed paper on this one is some older stuff from Basic Grey and the Ranger kraft tag (size 8 shipping) was run through with a crafts concept folder.

 These are both from the altenew holiday wishes set and are both 3" square in real life.

 Now, I did a tag a while back similar to this . ( with this Taylored Expressions sentiment ) (from the PS you're welcome set) and a glittered wooden snowflake on it, and the base was cut with my Cricut ( a year ago haha) so, I hid all those ornaments I cut from my self and I found them in an unlikely place on Sunday afternoon while I was trying to find these snowflakes. ( I knew I had them, and I told June I could maker her some more of these tags ( all a little different ) and that changed it and made them a little bigger but, still interesting I think. the blue glitter paper is from a pad that is at Micheals for Christmas this year.


 all the stamped sentiments have some stardust gelly roll pen in the inside letters of the excited word.


 I was thinking this one may need some bling on the printed snowflakes but, I can always take a tube to work and let her decide.

 I think this one is my favorite of this whole snow series batch of tags.

 I think the stitched ribbon on this one is soft sky.

And that pretty much used up this stash of glittered snow I have but, I have packages of neekid wood I can repaint and glitter. I still have two more custom orders to do. ( the Grandpa's Christmas cards) and another lady liked that dashing through the snow card I did for Teresa's fallidays challenge but, needs it to be 6 ornaments instead of cards. I thought it was kind of interesting this year at the booth a lot of people who were buying the tags were telling me they were buying them as ornaments for their tree's or for gifts for other people's trees.

11.19.2016

Shepherd's Market Display {2016}

 As you come through the foyer of the school to the right the hallway that connects the gym to the Cafeteria is where I have a booth in the hallway. This year I left the second spinner rack at home and piled up some of the lumpy boxed cards on the other ends of the ladder displays ( that have small tags and gift cards in trays and baskets) And this year they had the best display on the wall behind my wall with alumni Veterans from the school but, the rules for this booth are you have to have walls up so, it was a shame to hide that. 

 This is a closer look at the smaller ladder on the short wall.

 The longer side of the hallway wall. The suitcase near the spinning rack is holding Thank-you, note cards and all the other non seasonal holiday cards. The suitcase you can catch a glimpse of on the right is holding, nearly every other theme I make. Sympathy, get well, encouragement, Congratulations, Love, Birthdays and humorous friendship type cards.

 One of the trays of tags.

 These are smaller ones they are all 3" square in this tray.


A few tags on the wall. This particular snowflake shaped holder ( for Christmas cards) came from a Princess house party years ago. I have three of this style.
The off white ones you see came from Kohls last year and the rectangle ones came from a Craft warehouse a long time ago.
But, this is the time of year stores put that stuff out, its usually near the photo frames.

 This one has some fold over little cards and some gift card holders.

Some Christmas themed fold over cards with a few more tags.
We did not set up ever wall hanger this time because, sometimes it just gets to be too overwhelming to my eye and I have at least half of the shoppers are a lot shorter than me so, they cannot reach over the open suitcase lids to remove a tag so, those were left as open white space this time around.
my thought is if they are meant to find the tag, they will. Most people are not shy about asking if you have a specific kind of card or tag somewhere.


This is the suitcase on the short wall holding Christmas and winter cards.

And this is the "check out" the tablecloth is hiding a little folding plastic one from Costco. and peeking out besides that stool is an vintage Army case that is holding paper handle bags that I put purchases into when they buy more than one card and or they don't insist they can fit the cards into the bag they have already from another booth. I tend to go buy the seasonal ones at Joann's really close to Christmas and just save them for the next year. These have tags that have that "Share handmade Kindness" heat embossed on them or the "handmade in Oregon" fold over tags on them.
I don't know how it turned out at the end of Friday because, BOOTS ARE IN THE HOUSE!! we had to go to the airport and the flight was canceled and they moved everyone to a flight that went to an airport 80 miles from here, so by the time we were back in town it was after the booth had shut down for the evening and I was so blessed that my friend from work was able to go and actually work my both all those hours. So, today will be the second and last day and it is open from 9-5 if you are out and about stop in and say Hey.

11.17.2016

The Light


 Good morning, today I am sharing one more simple Christmas card where the twist comes in on the non traditional colors ( for me) It's one of those things I really have to twist my arm hard on to not do red and green ( because, that is my favorite) and I do have one friend whose Christmas decor is White and Purple. So, with that in mind my colors were inspired by that. This is a single stamp from Two Paper Divas called You are the light 
It was stamped with Versafine ink and colored with watercolor markers. This panel was cut with an
Our Daily Bread Designs stitched rectangle die and has some satin ribbon tied around. I don't remember the color name of that Gingham print but, I got it from close to my heart a long time ago when they sold packages of just gingham. The base is bazzill and this one is A-6 in real life.

A closer look at the colors. There is a tiny amount of bling on this but, it was being camera shy. The Two Paper Diva's retirement sale continues and everything is currently 40% off store wide. you do not need a coupon code to get the sale price. Thanks for stopping by.

11.16.2016

WOYWW # 389 Piles & happy mail

 Good Wednesday morning, This is the aftermath of last weekend/monday after work things... If your curious about why in the world the mess is on display you can find out more here and play along at our hostess Julia's blog.  I did receive happy mail on both monday and tuesday and I carried it up the stairs this morning and spread it out a little so you can see.

 The Concord & 9th pile and the Lucy's cards pile are the newest additions. I finally caved and ordered a sequin storage box off of Amazon last night and it should arrive at the end of the week, but there is no telling when I will have time to sort and organize it all. I had intended to make a few more shakers before the booth but, this is down to the last minute here so, it probably won't happen. which is OK because, I want to make some for my people on my personal list.

 to the left of the center is um lots of dies that came out and were cut or thought about and rejected during the tag marathon. the basket contains previously stamped and die cut Christmas sentiments that I ( do that with my scraps all year) so, in the top photo above you see some new sentiments that came in the Whippersnapper package that got stamped and are "drying" we have hit that time of the year that we actually have a smidge of humidity here now and so, the versafine does not dry in 24 hours anymore. ( I let it sit and even hit it with a heat gun to die cut them)

So, on my big shot is this wooden tray ( that kinda resembles a silverware tray but, its just something I found a yard sale years ago, I have three of them) so, these things are die cut what ever's or stamped things that can work for Christmas, they normally hide in one of the file drawers on the wall but, when I am just standing there gluing things its easier to make it go faster in less time to just pull it out. and being in a tray means I can move it out of the way. so, this tray has been floating between the top of the bigshot and the file cabinet and sometimes the floor for a week now.
Tomorrow night we set up the booth and its is open on friday and saturday. So, mug shots of that will follow. Thanks for stopping by. ( I am going to be really late with return visits this week)

11.15.2016

Random Christmas heading to the booth.

 Just because, it made me smile. the elves are from Hero Arts the sentiment is from two lips stamps this one is 3 1/2" square in real life.

 The sentiment is from Impression Obsession and the printed paper is Authentique. Its A-2 in real life.

 This one is 4X9 and uses up some scraps I have had laying here for a while, the tree is the negative cut from a Tim Holtz die, the ribbon is from Micheals.

 The believe is a Simon Says Stamp die cut and the printed text through the window is from MME.

 Just more of the same, when I had the dies out of their packaging for other projects I had cut extras and ended up using some of them. the sheet music is a printed scrap. The framing and oval are from the Spellbinders

This tag is a Mama Elephant tags a lot die (that is A-2 in real life) off the top of my head I'd guess the folder it was run through is a crafts concept one. The primitive star is a Sizzix die ( the one that has a folder for it too) you cannot see the texture that was pressed into that burlap scrap, but it is lumpy. The heart is from the Simon Says Stamp stitched shapes bundle die and the sentiment is from My Favorite things.


The holly berries on this ones embossing were colored with a gold wink of stella pen. ( its fairly opaque)

I happened across the sentiment on the right as being already die cut and my mind is blank as to who makes it, but best guess is SSS. the lamb is from Clearly Besotted and the sentiment is from A Muse.



The one on the left the sentiment is from Unity Stamps, center is IO, right is Stampin' up.

Now this one, it really did not photograph well. I think red's are a bigger challenge for me than all white cards. the green mat under the noel and the framing are green foil paper. ( it could be that reflecting set off the lens hard to say) but, the Noel is from Papertrey Ink and the mat is from Spellbinders radiant rectangles. the lace is vintage and the texture paper is unknown. the stripe paper is from Basic Grey. I think if I make anything else it will be very one of things. because, the cleaning the displays and gathering all the props is going to happen in the times I would normally play over the next few days and yes, I will have mug shots. Thanks for stopping by.