8.21.2006

if at first you don't succeed...

re scan the card... the original scan would not upload a second time after the site ate it when i was typing in here no matter how many times i tried... this card above was done yesterday with Tim Holtz distress embossing powders and a brass stencil of a pumpkin. This card is all hero arts stamps and the snowflakes on the blue are done with the cast a way ink and heat set. (the story about this one is in the post from a few days ago) The fence is almost in ( the cedar parts ) then comes the staining then the spray painting the grass as to where the next beds will go along that fence line. and start the killing off process. Planning to pick up more trees and flowering shrubs next spring but, every single perennial we have needs divided this year... It used to take me three or four years to reach this point but, this year the yard has gone crazy. the Plum tree in the front has now had 5 branches break off of it, we've trimmed alot of the branches ( fruit is not ready to pick yet but the tree is just over loaded) Picked an entire box of Peaches yesterday. ( a few are still on the trees and not quite ready yet) Still pretty fun considering we were not supposed to get fruit from them till next year... The Pears are still growing yet. We are going to have Corn on the cob tonight with dinner that came out of the garden last night. ( First ones this year ) J's swimming lessons are in the mornings for the next two weeks worth session then School starts the day after Labor day this year. I don't know yet if they continue with lessons after the summer is over or not? I think we are mostly ready with all the supplies, just need to buy new shoes and a few odds and ends.

8.18.2006

just playing

the blogger site has eaten the first cards photo and refuses to upload it... i have been fighting with this off and on for days now... and it will also not allow me to copy and paste these words to a new post either... have you noticed that when you are composing you cannot "copy" if you highlight and right click in here?? very annoying... will try to upload more cards in there own post later... the first two cards are from this evening and i had picked up a castaway re-inker and a ranger cut it your self foam stamp pad the last time i was in the stamp store. { they can't keep the pads instock} So today i forced my self to cut up that foam pad. and then i used my heat gun on the images on the solid cardstock to activate the ink to make it look bleached. ( somewhere i read that you are supposed to use an Iron on it not your heat gun) mostly because of a time factor i think? but, these took about the same amount of time as melting embossing powder so thats not too bad i guess. they are not quite as "white" looking as i had thought they would be so now i am wondering if you are supposed to stamp only one image and heat it then do the next. ( I stamped about 10 snowflakes randomly on a blue scrap then stamped 3 flowers on a plum scrap then heated the flowers then the snowflakes... so what i am wondering is if i had heated them faster if they would look a little lighter as the ink had started to dry on the cardstock as i was heating them.? this one is all Angel Company stamps I think i picked up this set because it reminds me so much of the JustJohanna stamps. :) stamps are stamped with vintage sepia versafine then colored with tombo markers and stickles glitter glue. the pp was from a dcwv mat pack at Jo's recently. I have made a decision yesterday as i worked on this card. I had spent the previous two hours cutting out this (blue) rubber and attaching it to the cling foam ) these are unmounted stamps) and the thing is i have decided i really really do not like umounted stamps. I spent some time last month mounting my Mavinci's stamps onto wood and i find i am using them alot more now that they are permanently mounted. and it seems like the glue on the mounting cushions foam is much easier to deal with on the stuff made for mounting them to wood then to the cling foam. and hours and hours later i laugh at my self and say you know you now have no time to stamp since you spent all this time dealing with the rubber. ( if Time is equal to $$ then it doesn't save anything for me to buy just the rubbers instead of a real stamp i think when i have a choice from now on I will just gulp and pay for them ready to use.)

8.13.2006

Cleaning my room and i found some things...

I went upstairs to clean. and i noticed that the basket that i had gotten and started putting ( page kits ) IE papers with photos and or journaling for future pages was bulging. because in this last year i have been shopping and card making but, not scrapping. So, one thing i noticed is the basket turned into a dump spot for recent paper purchases ( ha bought this one last fall and just today opened the package) so then i found this journaling which is a duplicate print out from a circle journal page i did last year for a gal whose them was "betcha didn't know" so, when i opened the photo drawer this one was on top ( in the pile of me ones which is very small ) so then i thought well why not? So here it is: some of the journaling snip its read: On my birthday every year i make my family carve Jack-o-Lanterns, I am a star trek fan I own a 22 single shot lever action and i am a good target shot with it One of my most favorite colors is Pink, In fact my Wedding gown was Pink! The stamp credits go to Technique Tuesday ~ stitches, paisley and {Punctuation} MM Letters and corner stamps and metal spiral clip. Basic Grey Printed papers from the Blitzen line, Inks are Tim Holtz Distress. the green shell buttons are a recent Joann's fabrics find(green brads are from Jo's too) and the ribbon is May arts.

8.10.2006

another Halloween card

well, the idea started out as Halloween and i like the colors and such but, this one won't make it as a store card as the Pumpkin is from Stampa Rosa and I've forgotten how long they have been out of business now... the Sentiment is My sentiments exactly and both stamped pieces are colored with twinkling H2O's. so they have a lot more color and shimmer in real life. the May arts ribbon has a gold sticker on it. ( the store owner has request stickers again. ) and these ones are like 4.00 a package. that part is hard for me, i think stickers are such a waste of money haha... It's pretty though. So anyway's this is what i am messing around with is this daisy D's paper and black cardstock with that ribbon I do think i will keep that combo but, change the stamps a bit. I'm thinking Hero Arts has a pumpkin that looks sewn or something on the plain side that could be colored in. have to check the catty again though.

8.09.2006

Still struggling with the Halloween themed cards...

I was fully prepared to upload them since I have taken the day off the latest cards i did over the last few days... however, I left them upstairs and they have not been scanned yet. so in the mean time. what else is new? J is still taking Swimming lessons and i have pretty much decided to buy the whole series, each time a level ends then i buy the next one up. It just makes more sense i guess and hopefully he will gain some confidence from the whole thing too. In the beginning it was oh no! i don't want to go and now it is I can't wait to go to the pool and if i say what are you thinking about the answer comes back as Swimming. ( which is cool ) I am also going to try to figure out the code things and see if i can add links and such to this blogs templates. Cathy sent me a link to a tutorial for this one so hopefully i will not go bald play with it. there is just not enough time in the day. I also have some birthday cards done. I out smarted my self last year and started an altered Rolodex file and then sorted it by the months with either birthdays or anniversaries and I have so many cards (because I made cards of my family in there with the swapped cards) I can't put them all into it and leave it open anymore so, that is the excuse why i am so far behind on cards this year...(its possible there are photos of this in this blog from last fallish sometime?) cant remember for sure though. So, the new plan is to buy a bigger one maybe a spinning one and have it powder coated green and then, ha! on a recent stamp store trek i picked up a stamp that says " Better late than Never!" which i think i will stamp on all the birthday card envelopes and send them out anyways... hee hee... so if i missed you this year, it doesn't mean that I don't have a card for you, it just means i didn't mail it yet... ( My whole ATC circle is late that way too ) sorry guys, but, i did get my this months cards in the mail on Monday so, you should start getting them soon. I have been internet shopping this morning. Mostly window shopping but, did send in one order for a couple of fall skirts and sweaters. Coldwatercreek.com is having a spend 100.00 save 25.00 coupon sale ( if you look in the outlet section there are things in there under 10.00) the code is WJH1515 ( you put it in during the check out and it takes the money off then) I have bought a few skirts from them so far this year that way, they opened a store about 80 miles from here and sometimes the real simple and Martha stewart mags have paper coupons in them too... oh there was my enabling plug for the morning... :) have a good day! ~Stac

8.06.2006

September's Upcoming classes

Not sure if i posted these or not yet, some I may have already put at 2Peas... The first class in sept. is supposed to be "fall or autumn" cards and the one at the end of the month is supposed to be "Halloween" then the first class in October is supposed to be Christmas cards... so these are a few of the ideas i have started kicking around for that. the card above my first thoughts were that it needs something gold and metal on that red trim, but the only thing that comes to my mind so far that would work beautifully is i have an old real leaf dipped in gold that came from Grandma Joy and i don't want to stick that on this card, plus i cant duplicate it for the card packets either. but, if you have seen any metal or gold colored leafy charm type things please link me to them... :) This one i know i seen someone at 2 Peas post a card with this heart stamped on fabric of some kind a while back it was one of the cards that really pushed me into buying that stamp ( that I now use alot ) Its stamped on Burlap fabric from wal-mart in the card above. the red embossed paper is from a pack i picked up at Big Lots a few months ago and it was not labeled as to who made it. This one the trim on the side is to cover a blooper... ( remember these are proto-type cards ) I had the idea to put a sheer ribbon bow on that side of the card and the ribbon hole punch i used i got too close to the edge on one half so, the ribbon would not stay so then i added this trim to the top to cover the holes... This one the pumpkin window stamp is colored with markers and stickles glitter glue then the whole thing was turned into a page pebble type piece with diamond glaze on top. The Orange scalloped oval is a Giga size (purple) cleaver lever type Marvy punch that is just great, much easier to use than the old style punchies that some of they you may just have to put on the floor and step on to get them to punch. I think i will be collecting more of these in the future... Its Funny but, Halloween is a hard one for me, I don't know why its one of my favorite holidays to decorate for actually although last year since we moved here we only got one trick-or-treater. (at the old house i averaged between 80 something and 130 ish kids a year) (So guess who got stuck with way too much sugar in the house??) but, the thing is I don't send out Halloween cards or greetings so, card ideas is like hmmm, I may design a treat bag type thing or little tags that could be tied on treat baggies...Maybe a party invitation. not sure yet. It rained! it rained! It was almost un-believable. Its been so hot and dry here for so long now the rain was most welcome. Yesterday a huge branch broke off the plum tree in the front yard, its just been crazy how much fruit our trees have this year. Tim and James went fishing yesterday and caught a few huge trout. :) I'm headed up stairs to play before the heat kicks in so have a good one!