Simple cards (and happy mail)

I literally squealed when i opened this envelope from Louise. I was so amazed she mailed this gorgeous card to me,

Wow eh?

Now this one came to me as part of a wishrak/special weekly rak from Lynn in St. Louis, I keep staring at this trying to figure out how the colors were done, it was impossible to photograph the way the colors shift when you tilt the card, its like its green and brown at the same time. very very cool. :)

This one came to me from MereDeaux ( from the stamp shack ) its a Birthday card for me. :) Love the design so much esp. the row of brads. This is the very first birthday card i have received this year. :)

This card arrived a while ago from Tammy Jo (at splitcoaststampers) as a RAK card. the tag the sentiment is embossed and is a resist, this was so hard to photograph the card base is actually Navy blue not black.

these were tossed together from scraps. one of the things i did recently was cut some of the odd strips of cardstock i have laying around and scored them into little note cards and tag size cards, these are a little larger then all the others, the sentiments from Hero Arts and then cut out with mini pinking shears, the embossed paper flowers are from Prima, and the brads are unknown. these are 4 inches square.

Last week my mil and i went to an CTMH open house and we were flipping through the book and i said oh do you have these? ( the skeleton leaves set) and she said i don't know maybe... lol so the next morning she brought the set to work and said yep wanna play with them? so i did, ah i was the first person to play with them so i stained them but, they seem to be OK with the later color changes, the white card base is from Paper Trey. ( same as what is tested below) i had placed and order with them a couple of weeks ago due to the baaaad influences at splitcoast and got the holiday treats set too... fun stuff, so far nothing is made from it yet, but i have inked every stamp in the set. and bought some Avery labels to stamp on...

anyways, these were done last sunday afternoon. the sentiment is stamped on some green (really cool club scrap paper) that came in the caardvarks challenge prize package. ( told ya i wouldn't make the book thing out of it ) but, i am having fun with the papers. the ribbon is from May Arts, and the brads are unknown ( and SHARP) had to stop on these sunday as i poked holes in my fingers and yes one of these card fronts has blood on the back side so... good thing this cardstock is THICK! lol

These images are also from WishRak they arrived in the mail yesterday from ArtsyLori, I believe they are stamped on WW cardstock and i have colored them with Prisma Pencils ( no chemicals ) and there is some tea dye distress ink color dusted along the edges, The photo corners are from Chatterbox and the mini brads ( i have since forgotten since i started typing this novel) this is A-2 in size, the green cardstock is Certainly Celery (SU)

This was done last week? the witch shoes were an WishRak from Lynn in St.Louis, and i colored them with Prisma pencils then went over the top with some gelly roll pens. The ribbon is a newer one from May Arts, the sentiment is something i found at Michael's int he one dollar stamp bin as is the other sentiment on the gift tag sized card. that one has some stickles on the numbers as little 3-d dots which didn't photograph too well...

Paper Trey White Cardstock

Something interesting, I opened my big mouth on the wish rak forum ( what else is new eh?) and offered to help test inks if it meant more inks could be added to the approved list of items... and as it turns out one of the testers did not have time to do this round of tests, so i was sent some quarter sheets of Papertrey's white cardstock, this is some of the photos of things i did to it, if you click the photos a pop up will open with a larger view ( hopefully you can read my chicken scratchings on them)

these were all shot on top of a piece of SU whisper white cardstock. the above images are almost flat now about 3 days after, all of these were done late friday afternoon.

heart image is from Savvy Stamps

Angel Image is from SU

Flower image is from SU (art of life) this is stamped in Earth Elements watercolor crayons direct to rubber. I've got piles of things to share, but, the light has been too dark for photos here lately ( raining and gloomy out )

have more news from the hospital too, so i AM going up there in Oct, and i WILL meet the surgeon, but, i will also spend the whole day going from dr. to dr from test to test, before i meet with him. so it will happen more towards the end of the month. I guess i should be glad they are not going to rely on all the results sent to them by dr.'s here ( before they you know cut open my head) but, i wish i did know a little more. patience is NOT one of my own virtues...

Before and After and today...

cute eh? I love purses... I don't have any designer ones or anything like that, this is a recent thing i think, last year i went through a shoe phase... this year its bags... so when i seen this thread go up at peas this morning about this sketch challenge i printed out the template to trace and do one...

lots of things on such a simple looking card... :) The printed paper is from Basic Grey (Urban couture, Brocade) There is some Fresco Vatican Wine chalk ink on the edges. The Fancy Frame (A Muse) is stamped with Aged Mahogany Distress ink on Shimmery White cardstock from SU. ( now a few days ago i did a post about the cryogen White from cut cardstock.com these are a pretty close match color wise, but the stampin up is an actual cardstock so its thicker and sturdier and feels a little better, the cryogen white is a coversheet and a thinner weight (which is good for punchies and stuff like that too but it warps when you heat emboss it)

now back to our regularly scheduled card description eh?

:) the Rubber Soul thank-you is stamped on the SU shimmery with Vatican Wine, then punched with the Martha Stewart scalloped circle (which is a teeny tiny bit too small to frame the image completely) so i ended up sponging on the edges of this too to hide the mis cut. there is some stickles copper in the large parts of the frame and the sentiment is up on pop-dots. the tiny love tag is from the su set called Love is in the Air. its tied on with hemp cord from wal-mart to Martha Stewart Piped Nylon (apricot). This card is a little under 4X6 ish. the lace on the straps i don't remember if its vintage or not but i sponged some Tuscan Earth on it and both the sentiments also.

This is an "after" version of the card i did yesterday that i did not like, changed the cardstock base to an off red of Bazzill then found this scrap in the bin and went with that, added an lumpy ribbon flower (Joann's fabrics) to the dress where the sash would be i guess... I like this one better and i have no idea who makes the brads.

This is also an "after" card. the original can be seen here: Before version card

I really did just rip it apart and then it tore the pp where that brad that was bugging was inserted so i went down the card with green May Arts ribbon, and then the cream brads on the edges came from the blue and brown card from yesterday that i ripped apart today.

I DO like the after versions of these cards better, but I'm glad that i don't usually make too many cards i don't like that's kinda sad to rip them up.

anyways, i have many many images to play with and so... since tonight is the unlimited Pheasants fundraiser dinner as soon as my pizza arrives i am headed upstairs to play with them.

Have a good whats left of the weekend!

{more cards of course}

Fun stuff... :) this one is my ultimate fantasy that when i walk down the side walk ( with or without a leash i look this chic lololol) ;)

pp is from crate paper, the main image is an wish rak image and its colored with markers, the Hello is from Stampendous, and the friend is from SU (noteworthy) the tiny paper flowers are from Impress. I keep thinking this could very well be a sketch i have seen somewhere but, dang if i can find it. Lauri has the first theme challenge in the stamp shack for ( It ~ person or place so this is mine for that)

Now this was made from scraps, i bought this paper salon paper months ago. Love the colors, considered using them for a challenge but then again its one of those things that been done many times...

the cream ribbon is from May Arts, the stripe ( i don't remember) the pp is from Paper salon, the sentiment is from Art Impressions, the corset is from Rey-Fey.com, the cardstocks are bazzill and soft sky (su).

Now this card is the reason i cut up the paper finally after all these months... Nah he doesn't read my blog. ( ever ) so i can say all the what ever i want about him eh? the metal thing i think is K&Co? used an 1 3/8 size round punch on a scrap to make the mat for it. The ribbons are offray, paper salon pp, the sentiment is from Rubber Stampede, the photo corners are from Chatterbox, Eyelets are unknown,

this one i don't like very much, its a little to simple, might rip it apart and start over... not sure yet. the dress is Dawn Houser for Inkadinkado, the shoes are from Judikins ( i cut them apart) the sentiment is from Stampendous. and stamped on one half of an McGill tab punch. the velvet ric-rac may be American crafts ( not sure but its sold by the yard at an lss) the cream linen texture cardstock is from Neenah, the blue is "Soft sky" from su. tfl.

in hog heaven

or in other words Happy Happy UPS day to me... *Ü* your looking at a box of brand spankin new (no sanding required) perfect, never been used su wood blocks... I could just cry i am so happy and excited about this! Sharon, thanks so much!! on another note the packet arrived... I am NOT meeting the surgeon in Oct, I get to go do the amazing Stacy routine for a whole new bunch of Dr.s' first in person. then if these ones decide then i may be able to find out if they really will do the surgery or not... so Oct. is just another hearing test... (but since they only see people on Tuesdays or Fridays we are going to go up by ourselves and spend a couple days childless and puppy less) (our Anniversary is that weekend too) so. now one of these days I gotta do the what's near that hospital post.... ( like any good places to eat Mexican or Sushi? or even better an craft or stamp store... ) my mil is calling the dr.'s this afternoon when they go back to work from lunch to ask a few questions... my paper work says things like, bring your checkbook medicare only does one hearing test a year... ( which if you scroll down there is a mug shot of me from a few days ago... and i am NOT on medicare yet...) lol, oh im also to bring all my films and ct scans ect... now i dont know about you, but i have NEVER been given copies of my medical anything from any dr.... so this should be interesting to see if i get them or not... (yep, i paid big bucks for them months ago...)

what else i have been up to...

These are fairly new to me stamps, I think i got the swirly background ( from Baroque Motifs last July) and the Angel (holy Triptych) from the party i just had a few weeks ago... the swirls are stamped in Baroque Burgundy on cheap cream cardbase, then the burgundy textured paper is from the Club Scrap package from the Caardvarks challenges, and then the Angel was heat embossed with ranger copper powder on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White (cover stock) from cut cardstock. com {the rumor is this is equivalent to the su shimmery white. So i ordered a package to see for my self.} ( now keep in mind i have been too cheap to pay 7.50 for 10 sheets from su so i don't have any to compare it with) but, i think for the price it is a nice paper to stamp on. Its a little on the thin side which is OK for me because i tend to do a lot of layering. the copper metallic paper in this card is from Staples last Christmas had variety packs of shimmery cover sheet. this cryogen coverstock feels and looks quite a bit like that. I'm pretty sure i have some bazzill the same color but, thicker. so my guess is the su paper could be bazzill but I really don't know. She the angel is colored with tombow markers and then the ribbons are unknown, And the sentiment is from Hero Arts in Aged mahogany distress ink.

These were one of the last yard sale finds i found this summer the taller canning jars in the back with the metal and glass lids...

I ended up re-sorting my buttons and primas and such again back into color families. as much fun is it is to put your hand inside a gallon jar and just shift through it all it also takes a great deal of time to find what you want that way... since these jars were a little smaller i found it easy to let some go in raks. and thats OK too because chances are pretty high they will come out with something else that i will feel obligated to buy sooner or later... ;)

Something else, i was accepted into the wish rak user group at split coast stampers about a month ago, and (its complicated when your new) but, there are rules about what cardstock is allowed and what ink is allowed. etc etc. and it made me a little crazy to think i have that cardstock ( i think) but, i dont know which one it is... so, i ended up takeing the su round tab punch and making a punch of each color that i had ( enough of to assume i bought it in a pack) or from the packs, removed all the wrappers and just wrote the cardstock color name on the tabs, and then i put the Georgia Pacific cardstock (walmart) inside of Avery page protectors (Costco) and stapled the tabs onto the edges of the protectors and slid them between the colors.

A closer look. these are inside regular rubbermaid paper trays like from any office supply store that have been glued together with plastic epoxy and stood on end on a shelf on the wall.