WOYWW # 556 {deskviews}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 So, this morning I had the bright idea to stand on the chair I sit on to color at the sofa table that backs this plastic table I stamp on. this is that view. there is one box of unmounted stamps on the cutting board, on top of that are some new dies from a new company ( better photo below) off on the bigshot are stamps that were stamped to the 5X71/2" of plain white card to be laminated and stored away.

 to put what you see today in perspective this is what it looked like over the weekend, I did laminated something like 20 some odd cards of stamped images and put all those away before the today shot. ( there really is not that much left to do but, this sinus thing kicked me to the curb by Sunday afternoon and all I did since then was walk up the stairs and dump these new dies on the cutting mat.

now these are fun to me, both die sets will hold plastic gift cards as fun wrappers so, this was a no-brainer for me as I think they will go over well at the booth next November plus, I give a lot of gift cards for gifts so, fun wrappers are always a good thing when the people know what is inside ha ha. This company was started by Lynda Kanase, if you are a Sizzix die fan you are probably already familiar with her and her style. she has her own company now and these had their debut at Creativation this year. You can find the store on line here.

my good intentions had me using these to play with to have fun samples to show you at the same time but, the getting over the bug won out. so, hopefully soon. :) That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

A Sketch reversal

A couple of weeks ago the Sketch challenge looked like this. And I had seen that at work and reversed the shapes in my mind between the time I had seen it at work and came home and made this. the Heart is from the Simon Says Stamp floral heart set and the sentiment is from the My Favorite things smitten with your set. this was colored with some Bright clean brush markers, tombo markers that were on the table that day. It's a funny thing I actually like how this one turned out and bright colors are not really my thing, I think its because, it was so snowy and that felt like it kept going on and on last week when I was doing this. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Ferris Wheels & Carousels}

Amy has directed our attention towards the Ferris wheels & Carousels store this week as she joins the Inspiration team. and the first thing I found was some Christmas canvas tote bags on clearance ( which are on their way to me as I type this.) (yes, I am rolling my eyes) at any rate I also stopped looking after I found this fun pot holder with the eggs and text on it.

 I started with a scrap of Neenah millstone and started stamping the row of eggs stamp from the SU set called nature walk in Distress Oxide tumbled glass & bundled sage like rows of bricks, off set from each other going back and forth with the colors, from this panel I cut a piece with a Tim Holtz stitched square die and then inked the edges of that with some Antique Linen dox. ( I really liked that as is and then added some french script with the vintage photo ink. I did not color the eggs but, I did think about it off and on and finally decided it needed "something" so, out came the bird also from the nature walk set and I stamped it with some Versafine pinecone on a piece of Neenah tarragon cardstock and colored it with some polychromos and prisma colors in shades similar to the egg panel. That piece got die cut with a MFT mod stitched rect die and is up on foam pop dots.

 An angled view, the lace is vintage, the ribbon is from Martha Stewart and that sentiment is from the Mama Elephant birthday messages set. This card really is little as it finished out at 4 1/2" square in real life.

This pot holder can be found here in their store and you can find this challenge here to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

Celebrating You

Last week my oldest Niece's oldest daughter turned 18. ( don't ask me how that happened so fast I have no clue) and the ways to use it challenge last week was to do a card with an encouraging sentiment on it, and since it was K's birthday I started thinking about her. I had already previously colored the SU swallowtail stamp with pencils and glitter gel pens and I cut it out with scissors. So, this was actually a quick card for me and it was flat so, I did not have to stand in line to mail it. but, after I got it done it still took me days to write the address on the envelope and mail it so, the inside ended up with a silly belated sentiment in there. These outside sentiments the larger one is from the Hero Arts + Pink Fresh you make a difference set and the tiny words are from the Simon Says Stamp tiny words set. This printed paper is an old one I have been hoarding from Basic Grey. Hopefully she liked it. that's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW# 555 {Happy Mail}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

So, the order I placed on New Years Eve from the SSS die sale arrived yesterday ( the leafy Christmas trees set was on back order and I knew it when I bought these) 

The sorting stamps continues and if you are curious how the roses turned out that card 

is in the post below this one here. 

Off in the top left corner is the clear zipper pouch of tiny pens and images I had taken away with us thinking to color on the plane. ( I tried but, flying from west to east you lose the light quickly so, after lunch it got dark fast)  

so that still needs put away. but, it made it up the stairs to be dumped on the table.

The snow continues this week but, its a little warmer so, it should melt off each day as it goes along. so far so good. the new plan is to retire where it only snows in the mountains haha. but, I am so many years away from retirement that is just the current pipe dream. :) 

 I had bought some paper whites and Amaryllis bulbs around Thanksgiving last year, and the paperwhites bloomed at Christmas. now the Amaryllis is starting to go.

This was the view out my window last week when I was driving to get the ice for work. ( this is in the mountains,there is not that much snow at my house) whew. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

roses for my one and only

 Somewhere along the line I ended up cutting more roses and leaves and the small flowers from this months Hero Arts Monthly hero kit and watercolored them all with some QoR watercolors and made a little pile out of them. and they sat. because, this is pretty lumpy in reality, I was halfway thinking that it may be better as a tag or something. and then Sunday rolled around and Maria is this weeks Featured stamper and I found this card in her gallery and grinned from ear to ear because, it gave me an idea about actually using all these colored blooms up.

An Angled shot, the changes are there are less layers, no gems I did change the dies and stamps. This one finished out at 5 1/2" square. the felt lace is something I found at Micheals years ago at Christmas time. The oval was cut with a Spellbinders hemstitched oval die, the sentiment is from the Mama Elephant birthday messages set and cut with a Simon Says Stamp sentiment strip die. ( that is up on foam pop dots) those open leave stems are from a Memory Box die called scribble leafy.
That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

A few More Birthday cards

 This week the ways to use it is asking for white heat embossing and I needed a Birthday card for my fil next week and this is what I came up with, the Riley & Co. sentiment I did cross off the 9 with a red pen and scribble in a 6 in there because for as long as I have known him, he has admitted to being 26 years young.
(his children range from 50-60 haha) :)
the candles are from Penny Black. and this one finished out at 5 1/2" square in real life.

 I liked the one above well enough to do it again as one that is headed to the booth next November.

Another aging sentiment from Riley & Co. the butterfly paper is from die cuts with a view and has some glitter to it. the button is from Making Memories and the ribbon is unknown.

Inspired by { tote bag art}

It's my turn to host the Inspiration challenge this week and I have chosen to link you up to Google Images for Tote Bags.

One thing I have found its it rarely shows me the same bag twice when I look so there is a Pinterest board here with a few I saved.  You may have heard that Oregon passed a law that started this January first that you are no longer given a bag for your purchases at any store, now you have to buy them if you do not carry your own re-useable bags into the store ahead of time. And Hubs and I have collected a whole stack of cool art ones over time made from recycled water bottles, and they now make those with the handles also being the same material as the bag so, if the grocery clerk fills it to capacity. ( even though you handed them more bags than they would need) the handles rip right off. 

and that started a Quest for cool Canvas Tote bags. ( of which I now have a nifty pile of) one of the ones I ordered from Barnes and Nobles from seeing it on Google is still on back order. you can see it here.

 and this snarky card below was sparked by the minty camera on that bag. It totally made me remember I bought this Unity set and never used it. ( this one is going to the booth, because the truth is I do not have anyone I would send this card to but, I know it will sell) 

 The bag and the you look great are from the Unity Stamps set, old bag. the top sentiment tied to the sheer ribbon is from Simon Says Stamp tiny words set. the bag was stamped with some Versafine warm breeze and then I added some Distress Oxide broken china over that. The tiny camera stamp is from Inkadinkado and I cut it out with scissors.

 This is a peek at the inside that I think makes the card actually send able as it tempers the snark a little. these sentiments are also from the Simon Says Stamp tiny words set. This card finished out at A2 in real life.

Now this one was done because, I had come across this Harry Potter bag that was sold out. but, it prompted me to remember I had this Ink Road set called Expecto Stampo. The sentiment was heat embossed with SU white powder on some navy die cuts with a view shimmer thin cardstock. the braided trim is unknown and the base is some SU night of Navy. the bag shape was cut with a Sizzix Tim Holtz stitched rectangle die. This one is 5 1/2" square in real life. You can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us, That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW #554 {a lot of photos}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 So this was my desk saturday am bright and early with the intentions of making lots of cards. lots turned out to be 3.

 This is a mug shot that should have been here last week, ( I have a pile of photos to upload so, you are getting them all at once) the heart & sentiment that you seen last week finished out here.

 and then on monday this week, this order arrived in the mail so far the leaf has been cut and it needs wax paper in the die to release the cardstock but, cuts well.

 And yesterday the Hero Arts January kit arrived.

 These are stamps my son and his girlfriend gave me for Christmas as are the ink pads below.
( they are all on the coffee table so I can get them entered into the inventory)

 

Now hubs gave me a newer version fitbit and a big Amazon gift card and I spent part of it on this tiny Instax printer. ( it uses the same film as the little camera's ( of which I have one) and this you can bluetooth connect 5 smart phones to it. so, this was us playing with it out of the box. these are some photos from our cell phones while we were gone at Christmas and a few from hubs phone.  These tiny Polaroids just make me smile. ( the December Daily album has not been touched and is still on the coffee table) 

Which brings me to the as is look, I cut those Hero Arts dies apart last night and started coloring some of the blooms with some QoR golden watercolors and an aqua brush and I will probably be going over the tops of those later today or tomorrow with a real brush and water, they look a little blah to me like this with the first round of color on them. off to the top left corner there are a couple of cuts from that Memory box scribble leaf detail die, that I am going to mix in with these flowers I think. I had to go get the Ice yesterday instead of today, today will be another shovel snow until your elbows feel like they are going to fall off kind of a day around here. I am rolling my eyes. that's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday Duo

 Last week the sketch challenge really gave me a jump start for finishing this card for my friend at work who plays slot machines at the casino. ( the lady is Slots Jean from Art Impressions and the sentiment is from Riley & Co.) this has the strips a little wide than Diane drew in the orginal sketch but, it does squeak by. The base panel of Basic Grey print was evidently on the table some time when I had pale blue paint to use up because, there is a layer of that over the print which tones it down a little. the check-ish layer is from my minds eye. This one finished out at A7 in real life.

 This one was jump started by this week's featured stamper Kim who has this winter scene card that I just loved how colorful the sky was and those 3-d looking stars, So, a while back Anita made this awesome freehand polar bear shaped card and I loved that so much then it was maybe a week or two after I seen that I happened across this polar bear die from Sizzix in a craft store about 80 miles from my house, (yes, of course it followed me home) and has been sitting on the diecutting end of the table ever since. and when I spied the bear in Kim's card I was like Ah-Ha...
I cut the polar bear from some gold flaked mulberry paper (and the large stars too) and lined the edges of the stars with gold wink of stella pen and then scribbled the nose and eye on the bear with a grey pen. The sentiments are from an older Club scrap set called Firecracker. that same set has a couple of tiny clusters of star stamps too, so those were inked with some Distress Oxide scattered scraw and are over the pained panel sky. ( the background was done a long time ago with acrylic paints, white gouache watercolor paint and stencils). I did add some snowtex to the line where the sentiment ground overlaps the background as the hard line needed softened. 

A peek at the panel that is on the inside,those sentiments are from the Simon Says Stamp tiny words birthday set and the Ampersand is from the Simon Says Stamp Ornate Ornaments set. This one finished out at 6" square in real life. Hopefully they will be well received. :) Thanks for stopping by.

Again?

Last weekend the featured stamper was Patricia, and when I came across this card in her gallery I instantly loved the depth of the snow and knew this sheet of vintage colored snow scrap was in the bucket on the table so, since I had cut some of these Ellen Hutson tis the season sentiments when it first arrived and they were also on the table, it was pretty much one of those cards that made it self.
I did do less layers, made the card long and skinny and changed the colors/stamps.
There are a couple of Sizzix snowflake #3 diecuts up on foam pop dots that were also covered with snowtex on a few of the large snowflakes from the print. This one fits inside a regular business envelope for mailing. I inked all the edges of the paper and cardstock with some vintage photo distress oxide ink too. thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Artsy Albums}

This week Angie has directed our attention towards the Artsy Albums blog and I happened across this Home page with its cute red bug shaped car and that totally caught my eye so, I knew I had this Hero Arts Town Essentials set and so this is what happened next.

 I do love the happy fun colors of the IC seen below but, being me I tend to tone down the colors without even thinking about it and them am a little surprised when I am finished with something haha. but, the card did remain red. (yay me) :) all these stamps are from the same Hero Arts set and I did color them with some Polychromos pencils and a bit of stardust gelly roll pen for sparkle on the tires & windows. I cut the stamped panel with an Waffle flower A7 rectangle die and used a premade card base for it, so it is A2 in real life.

 

You can find this page here on the inspiration challenge blog and You can find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

 

A few Valentine cards

 This is how the Concord & 9th heart that was colored on the table turned out from the other day, the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp sending and Wishing set.
the panel under the heart was cut with a Spellbinders hemstitched rect. die, the heart was cut with scissors and is up on foam pop dots, this one is A2 in real life.

 This was done as a first attempt at this week's sketch, at SCS. the frame is a Poppy Stamps double stitched frame, the happy heart day is a lawn fawn die and was used to cut some colored dcwv cork paper.  The floral heart frame is an Altenew die, this one is also A2 in real life.

The main ( movie quotes sentiments) are one large solid stamp from the Ink Road called Subway art love. the bottom line is two sentiments from the Simon Says Stamp sending and wishing set and this one is A7 in real life.
(just to bump up the choices in the basket at work)

WOYWW #553 { random thoughts}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

 

I probably should have done the before shots of how this photo came to be, I did shoot the Christmas crafty gift loot, some other loot of interest and some happy mail and then I seen Julia's post before I did mine with just the shot and the tease of the words that things are getting organized just out of view here.  And I thought that is simple. :) The heart is a new toy as is the lawn fawn happy heart day die. ( I cut it with some dyed cork paper) but, I don't like the scale of it with this particular heart so, I am in the middle of hunting for a sentiment for this card to be. The cardboard came in a small calendar and I am peeling it to add paint to, and at this point when I stopped I think I am going to paint it as is, there is enough distressing and also some flat space left and then I think I will chop it up smaller. ( Probably it will join the ranks of the previously pained ribs exposed cardboard in the drawer with other backgrounds and stamped and die cut things but, you get the idea of what I have been up to. I am very much on the lets get back to organizing your stamps mode thing since the booth is so far out in terms of need cards and tags for it thing. I do make Christmas cards and a few odds and ends 3X3 all year so, its not a stressful thing but, a very larger corner of my brain is taken with the you have almost got these stamps under control thing and so, not one thing has been glued down in the December Daily album I started pushing things around with last month but, I did take shots and notes so, maybe if I can get this stamp mess dealt with

 I think I will complete that binder album.

So, there is mostly a lot of over-thinking going on here. :) Thanks for stopping by 

Inspired by {Murale Design}

This week Julie has found us a really cool site called Murale Design, they have wall murals. and I found this background that I just loved.

 So, I started out looking at my pale blue printed papers and found this old one with some swirls to it and cut it to 6" x 12" and just started randomly stamping pine sprigs and pinecones and leaves on it,  Stamps include some from the SU Ornamental pine & peaceful wishes sets, some of the other tiny ones are from really old sets, there is a Hero Arts mother fern in there, some Renaissance art stamps ( really large pine branch), an Inkadinkado sketch series pinecone/pine sprig, these were all rubber stamps and I did over lap a few of them in the stamping. They were heat embossed with some SU white powder. I did cut off a small piece for this card with a Waffle flower A7 rectangle die and have a large scrap left over to play with later. I did skip the tiny snowflakes in their pattern but, I chose a winter humor sentiment (ellen hutson 'tis the season) to bridge that. This was cut with a simon says stamp sentiment strip die. The base on this one is textured Bazzill and this one finished out at A6 in real life.

You can find this pattern here in their store and find this challenge here at SCS to play along with us, thanks for stopping by.

True Love

I had New years day off and so, this is my first card for 2020. This week the color combo challenge at SCS is Red, Grey & Black. And when I seen that I thought instantly of Valentine cards and I knew I had this Unity Stamps ( a guy & his truck set) waiting patiently for me to ink it up. So, this was just a simple one for that, I gave the truck a wash of very pale grey ink from a clean brush marker and some water and then added some sparkle stardust gelly roll pen to the chrome places and some of the crevices. The hearts were colored with about 5 different shades of red pens on the table. that corrugate is from Fancy Pants the printed scrap is unknown and the ribbon is from May Arts. that button is a craft one tied on with some black hemp cord and the base of this is textured Bazzill. This one finished out at 6" in real life. I was actually thinking about my son as inspiration when I made this and my husband knew that instantly when I flashed it at him and he grinned and said yeah, but does he let her drive his truck?? :) That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

A catch-up post

This was done just using up things on the table the background was done with riding hood red cardstock and a Neat and Tangled fa la la stencil with some hot foil transfer gel medium and silver transfer foil in a laminator. The snowman is a Sizzix die and the sentiment is from the mama elephant holiday messages set. ( this is A2 in real life)

now this little tag was a one of a kind one done and tucked into the raffle basket for the shepherds market booth last November. for some reason the shot never made it into that blog post but, the body is completely covered with clear wink of stella here.

These were ones I made before Christmas that I did not end up using or making personalized the holly on the right is a new one from Simon Says Stamp. the red tag on the left that flower in the center is a pre made one.

These were done as just in case back up cards which I ended up setting aside for next year, the stamps are form the concord & 9th o Christmas tree set and there is some snowtex on the boughs and along the ground of the trees.

This was done for a free for all challenge to make a Christmas card that was not red and green, and I knew I had this paper waiting to be used so, I went red, grey, black and white for this. the Die cut sprigs are from a momenta die that is a wreath and the sentiment is from Hero Arts heat embossed in some SU white powder. that printed paper is from photoplay the mistletoe line. And then I out smarted my self and this is too wide to fit in a standard business envelope. This card is 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 and I normally do 4X9 but, I wanted the white border and I think I will have to be cutting that off if I want to mail this out. ( or send it with a package inside a box)

Now these were done jump started by this cool card in Susan's gallery ( she is featured stamper this week) I knew I had this pad of paper from Kaisercraft that was black & whites and creams with Christmas so, really these almost made them selves. the hounds tooth print is from Teresa Collins and the sentiment is from the My Favorite Things bitty thanks and gratitude set. ( for Christmas gift thank you cards) These are A6 in real life. And this cleans out my 2019 folder of photos to upload haha. Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW # 552 {Background making}

Happy desk peeking day, if you'd like to see more spaces or play along 

the link up for this blog hop starts here at our hostess

Miss Julia's Blog.

There is also a new Instagram hashtag of #WOYWW

 

 So, this is the beginnings of a background for what will become an IC sample next weekend. I started this on New Year's Eve before dark so these are you know early in the evening with every light on shots.

Its a funny thing to me that these kinds of things just kind of morph into almost every stamp you can grab ends up out and used. this is an assortment of pines and sprigs and pinecones. All stamped with versamark on some old printed paper and heat embossed with su white powder.

 A closer look at that where I stopped last night. We came home germ-y probably from the flights but, are getting better and really glad we went. We got to spend the last week with our son and his girlfriend & their dog at their home on the other coast of the US. I still have never figured out how to do blog posts from my phone so, I hope you all had a blessed Christmas too. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Renaissance Ribbons}

This week we are saying good bye to Brenda as a team member of the Inspiration challenge team at SCS and she has chosen this Renaissance Ribbons as the destination.

I happened across this drawn work ribbon and I knew I had the hemstitched dies so, that was my instant ah-ha moment.

 

 I also wanted to keep it white and so, my brain said let's do snow. The stamped layer was diecut with the spellbinders hemstitched die, the Sentiment is stamped in versafine from the Stampin' Up! set called flurry of wishes and the larger Sizzix snowflake is cut from some crunchy recollections glitter cardstock and the top snowflake ( also a sizzix die) was cut from some confetti sparkled vellum. ( they are stacked together with glue dots hiding under that large SU gem)
This one finished out at A6 in real life and becomes the first one for next Christmas quota stash of cards.

You can find this ribbon here in their store and this challenge here at SCS to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.