Monday, June 30, 2008

This is fun

After watching Emma on Masterpiece Theater this weekend ( in bed sick, I might add) I thought this quiz would be great fun. What Austen character are you?


I am Elinor Dashwood!


Take the Quiz here!

You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.



Do you think this suits me? I think it probably does.
happy stampin'
Susan

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Fresh Cut

Wow - time sure flies! I've been quiet on the blog for many reasons - summer means more activities like amusement parks, working in the yard and trying to keep my flowers alive in the heat! I also was waiting to hear from a contest that I entered. I finally heard good news this week - one of my cards won! yay. So, now I suppose it's ok to share a few of the losers here, lol!

This card is made with the new set from Stampin' Up! called Fresh Cuts. It is a sneak peek set for the upcoming Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalog.

all images copyright SU! 1990-2008



First, brayer spectrum ink over glossy cardstock, then emboss the main image using Versamark ink and clear ep. Finally, brayer a darker ink - here I used black - over the entire piece, buffing off the color from the embossed image. Voila! A beautiful image ready for a card or scrapbook page.

To complete the card I stamped the base with versamark to achieve a subtle tone on tone effect and embossed the black strip - you could also use ribbon - and added a few punches and piercing around the sentiment for emphasis.

happy stampin'
Susan

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

New Product Announced!

I am so excited to tell you about the new product, Decor Elements, offered by Stampin' Up! This product will be available on July 1st. I should have a couple of samples by then to show! I added a link in the sidebar so you can view the brochure now!

happy stampin'
Susan

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day

Dad, we love you!

Retirement List

Here it is THE LIST : Stampin' Up Fond Farewell.
I will also include links in the sidebar for easy access --->
These retiring sets are only available until August 10th.

happy stampin'
Susan

Saturday, June 14, 2008

WSW

2peas is holding WSW - Worldwide Stamping Week - this week in the stamping forums. There are challenges and all sorts of fun going on over there. I hope to participate, but we just got home today from vacation so there is lots of laundry calling my name! If you post anything related to WSW be sure to comment here and leave a link!

In other, related stampin' news -- the SU! retirement list comes out tomorrow!! I'll post the info here sometime after church and lunch.

happy stampin'
Susan

Friday, June 13, 2008

Cyber Stamping Sisters in Christ

Dina of Mama Dini's Stamperia has set up a webring for Cyber Stamping Sisters in Christ. This will be such a cool webring because it will allow you to click and surf other CSSC'ers blogs. Thank you Dina for setting this up. I can't wait to see all the gorgeous creations by my other cyber-sisters! If you have a blog and want to join, click on the CSSC banner on the right --->

happy stampin,
Susan

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Another Father's Day card

I haven't decided which card my husband will receive, and then the other one will be for my father-in-law. Both cards are obviously very similar, I just flipped the orientation of the card which changed the placement of stickers and embellishments.


I love the vintage look of the images. Supplies are all the same as the card in the previous post.

happy stampin'
Susan

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Father's Day (June 15)

Since my husband doesn't visit my blog, I can post the Father's Day cards I made early. This card has absolutely no stamping on it! Can you believe it? I did use some ink to distress the edges of the cardstock, but that's it. I got the Bazzill cardstock on sale at my LSS, and cut the card using a die cut at the store. You may notice that it looks familiar with the circle cut out there ... like the cards HERE and HERE. Do you think the moms will notice?



The stickers are from Karen Foster and matched the cardstock perfectly. I used the SU Word Window punch and antique brads to embellish and balance out the circle on the bottom. I'll have another card made from the same set of stickers and cardstock in my next post.

happy stampin'

Susan

Monday, June 09, 2008

Tart & Tangy

I was playing around with my SU! Watercolor Crayons last week and wanted to use the new stamp set Tart & Tangy. I love this little four piece set - it just says summer to me!

To stamp the strawberry I misted directly on the rubber image, then colored using my wcc on the stamp, misted again then stamped on cold pressed watercolor paper. Sometimes if you mist the stamp again quickly, you can stamp a second lighter image. After it dried, I used a pen to outline the image and add the seeds.

all images copyright 1990-2008 SU!

The paper is a Hostess Level 1 gift called Print Pack (I think ... if I'm wrong, comment here and I'll add a correction). I used Real Red and Glorious Green to mat the image. I debated adding a green grosgrain ribbon behind the strawberry, but I think I will leave it as is ... simple.

To view 3 free watercolor crayon tutorials go visit Pat at Technique Junkies. She also publishes an awesome Technique newsletter for stampers.

happy stampin'
Susan

Saturday, June 07, 2008

photo blog

relaxin'




Friday, June 06, 2008

40?

No, not me silly ... I'm not 40! Gee.
The blog counter is creeping closer and closer to 40,000 hits. When it gets there be on the lookout for blog candy.

That's all I'm sayin'

happy stampin'
Susan

Thursday, June 05, 2008

uh oh ...

Really ... all I went in for was a duffel bag for my son.
But - Big Lots has Basic Grey Mellow chipboard shapes and Color Me Silly Ribbon packs.
So I now own chipboard and ribbon but no duffel bag.
Don't tell on me.

happy stampin'
Susan

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

organizing -- what??

I haven't shared any cards this week - but I do have a few things to post for this weekend, and next week. I took a break from blogging to make some cards for a contest, and since I can't post them I don't have anything to share!

I did spend one entire afternoon organizing my craft space - mostly sorting ribbons by color. Isn't that exciting news? Actually, it was a lot of low-key, relaxing fun. I'll post a few photos here just for the heck of it -- because it's nothing spectacular, really.


So - the other day I watched the afternoon shows including my favorite Andy Griffith, and Oprah {who I normally do not watch} and wrapped ribbon on spools and sorted it by color. Now I have a jar of blue/purple ribbon, green/yellow ribbon, and pink/orange/red ribbon, plus another container of neutrals. Oh, I keep a roll of hemp in the blue bucket you see there. (ignore those spools in the corner ... the jar was full.




Since I need to keep my SU ribbons separate from all my other ribbons, I also punched holes with my cropadile in my Stampin' Up ribbon holder so I could thread the ends through the front and keep it neater. I need one more hole for the lavender ribbon - or I need to take it out, because it's not actually SU! ribbon.



My flower collection also benefited because I took the ribbons and put them on shelves together - so then I took all my flower embellishments and put them on one shelf. Maybe now that they are sorted I will begin to use them up! Any other ribbon and flower junkies out there???



Oh, and I painted two small shelves that I got on clearance at walmart - um, 9-12 months ago - and hung them up. Once I painted the shelves with Making Memories paint they seemed too clean and bright, so I took my husband's brown shoe polish and rubbed it all over to stain and distress the wood. Then I sanded a few rough spots. Voila! Two nice shelves, perfect for something ...



For now, I am using the top one for a card display -- it's so small the shelf only holds 2 cards! - and the other shelf is holding Making Memories paint. The card on the right is one I received from Pat Huntoon (Technique Junkies) when I won a set of stamps from her Technique Trail blog. BTW - Pat gives away a stamp set every week - check her Wednesday posts for details. I was thrilled to win the stamp set, but I think I enjoyed getting a card from Pat almost as much!


I also cleaned and moved some stuff around so I could actually walk from my table to my storage drawers. It's been such a mess ... and I'm a terrible collector of "things with potential" ... that I had stuff lying everywhere. I seriously couldn't walk from one spot to another without stepping over or moving something. Not to mention that all this mess is in my bedroom - where I see it, and worse, my husband sees it every day! I figure if I keep it neater he will think I am not buying anything! Ah, a little deception goes a long way - lol.


happy stampin,
Susan