Friday, April 25, 2008

Using a brayer. Practice makes perfect...so I'm told

I subscribe to Michelle Mzindorf's (Freedom in Creating) blog, if you haven't already discovered her blog there is a link on the side of this screen, she does fabulous work! I recommend you check it out. Using her guidance, I am attempting to use a brayer with limited success, however, I will say...I do see hope.

What do you think?


Star Spangled Summer?


Two posts in one day, wow, that is a first. I wanted to post a new card today. Had no plan when I began, just rummaged through my stamps and pulled out Penny Black's "Burst of Stars". This card turned out quite surprisingly, it looks kinda like an Independence Day card meets Ho Ho Ho. Not sure what to make of it....what do you think?
The image was stamped with black VersaFine Onyx Black ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder. Then the outer bloom was gone over with an embossing pen, then embossed with red embossing powder, the inner bloom was traced with an embossing pen then embossed with blue embossing powder, the streamers and stem were embossed with gold, the leaves were embossed with green. I tried a brayer, first time, so be gentle with me, used SU Wild Wasibi on the bottom, masked the green with a post-it, then used SU Sky Blue on the top. That is the image. I dug the designer paper out of my stash, the strip is daisyd's Sugarplum Stripe, yep Christmas paper, but it worked...kinda. The upper solid green is a generic paper I found at Michaels. I dry embossed the background with Cuttlebug's Birds and Swirls embossing folder. It is exactly what you may be thinking....an embossing frenzy.
Embellished with red brads. Nothing else here. Not one of my favorite cards...maybe things will look better AFTER the vacation! I can't wait.
I fly out in the morning, still haven't packed. Not really utilizing my time very well. I better get cracking....have a great weekend!
See ya in a few days!
Teresa

Ah, vacation in the horizon

I will be leaving for a chalet in the Great Smokey Mountains tomorrow. This is a long awaited vacation and will be spent with the "girls" from my family. We have managed to leave the men and children at home, I know you feel a slight twinge of envy...it is OK, totally understandable.

Yesterday in my yard I took a few minutes to capture a beautiful sight...just look. My dear sweet mother gave me this lilac bush several years ago. It is just outside my bedroom and right now with the windows open at night...I have to tell you it is delightful.
As if that isn't grand enough, take a look at this....our crabapple tree looks like heaven. We have a beautiful yard, this is what we enjoy most about our home. I may share photos of our garden soon. I have it planted, here is praying that we don't have any surprise frosts....in Indiana you just never know.
Cards later tonight hopefully.
Blessings!
Teresa


Thursday, April 24, 2008

Flowers and Designer Paper


Greetings! I have two cards to share with you today, both are similar but use different colors schemes and designer paper.....I challenged myself by using three different types of designer paper on the pink card...not my strong suite, but I like it.

The stamp came from American Arts Stamps and is by Kym Bowles. I love flowers and really loved the stamp. I stamped the image with SU's Wild Wasabi InColor ink. The designer paper on the orange card is from a bag of scrap paper, the upper dp is from SU, the rest I found at Cord Camera and have long forgotten the name. All ribbon is from Michaels. The pink card is made with "be inspired" line from makingmemories.com, (purchased at Cord Camera also. I used Cuttlebugs "Swiss Dots" embossing folder....I love this folder. Just received the "Birds and Swirls and Perfectly Paisley" embossing folders from Cuttlebug and am anxious to use them. The inside sentiment for both cards is "Good friends are like the cream inside a twinkie....They stick together and last forever.
I am burning the midnight oil again....closing for a little sleep.
Teresa

Monday, April 21, 2008

Yipee-yah-Ky-A Girlfriend

Hello! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Here I am....back so soon! Made it to bed at 2:00AM and was up again at 6:30AM. In case you wonder what would make someone stay up all night...I can tell you in one word - MENOPAUSE. Man, mother never told me about this. I am hot most of the time and experience insomnia frequently. This goes on for several days, then suddenly I crash and sleep for hours. I am looking forward to the day when I am back to normal...whatever that is.



I hadn't stamped for a week or so and decided to dig back in yesterday but my creative juices just wouldn't flow. So I pulled out a set of stamps and hit the Internet looking for a card I liked to make. I chose MFT's "Ride em Cowgirl". A variation of this card is on their gallery. This card required a little prep and quite a bit of cutting due to the layers. But at the end of the day, I really liked the end product. I didn't have the paisley designer paper, so I created the background from SU's Wanted set. To do this I stamped the paisley design and one of the small circular stars with Versamark then embossed with black embossing powder. When that was cooled (seconds) I stamped again with Versamark, then used white embossing powder. Really created that western look I wanted. More dumb luck as I just so happened to have red and black "Cowgirl" ribbon in my stash. And of course, I used two way glue and glitter on the center of her boots and the fringe of her skirt.

Each layer on the card is 1/4 inch different in size. Imagine is:
Bottom layer (white) 2 3/8 X 3 1/8
Black layer 2 2/8 X 3
Sky Blue layer 2 1/8 X 2 7/8
Red layer 2 X 2 6/8
Image 1 7/8 X 2 5/8

Back ground
Black 5 1/4 X 4 1/4
Blue 5 X 4

Paisley DP 2 1/2 X 2 6/8

Cut the small vertical strips 1/8 X 2 6/8

Tip....cut your paper before beginning the card, it makes this card much easier to make and a lot more fun.

Click on the image to get a closer look.

Blessings!


Teresa

Spumoni Birthday

Greetings! It is the wee hours of the "evening" or "morning" depending on how you look at it. Working again tomorrow...it will come early. And here I am....taking pictures of a card to post on my blog. Hmmm. Oh well, will be posting and then will turn in.

This card is for a friend. I recently bought the stamp from American Art Stamp and just love the image. I love their site and have acquired several of their stamps, it is worth checking out. The designer paper is Brooke paisley the be inspired line by Making Memories. The ribbon....Walmart, bought it for diaper cakes (girl) and thought it worked OK with the card. This card is a 5/5 X 5.5 card and has scalloped edges. I used a white Signo gel pen to "doodle" around the image. Used SU Soft Subtles lime green brads.
Sorry for the not so great photos, I am working on this. I have a great camera and take loads of photos, they come out great except when I take photos of cards in my office. Example, look at this beautiful photo. This photo was taken in my backyard this weekend, a gorgeous magnolia bloom. Looks great, crisp and clear. but my card photos look dark and slightly blurred. I'll figure it out. You can click the photo for a better view.
Have you checked out Clear Dollar Stamps? I saw their link on SplitCoast, went and checked them out and found the cutest stamps. You will be seeing some of them here soon!
So now I will close, clean up this mess I've made...(can't figure out how I have the entire workspace in such disarray. Yawn.

Toodles!

Teresa

Friday, April 11, 2008

Spring and Bling

Hi again,

Funny I write this as if someone is reading my blog....oh well it is OK being out here alone. I am learning how to create and customize the blog site...I assure you it is going to change. And I love posting cards and having an online "diary" or collection of thoughts. It just relaxes me and believe me, my life is hectic enough...I need the distraction.

A while back a friend sent me a photo of the coolest box.... and to make it even better....it had bling. I had some dumb luck on my side, you know like the wind was at my back because, I just so happened to have recently acquired K& Company Bling pack. Very girlie paper, right down my alley. So I went to work and made boxes and cards....I know my friend got this from another blog out there somewhere, so again not an original but oh so much fun. Here it is.... (and my sincere thanks to that original blogger....out there somewhere).

The boxes were easy to make...and if anyone reads this and asks for the instructions...I'll gladly share. I found, hmmm, I mean had the coordinating stickers in my stash so I just had it made.

So...flowers and bling, just for spring.

Also, in honor of spring and me trying to figure out my new corner punch, blending, and how to use chalks...I pulled out another retired SU set...something toile...I'll update later with the real name. I had this set at the top of my pile because of a cute little bunny stamp I wanted to experiment with. But found the little girls too cute to pass up. I also created a bunny card while I was playing.


















Until later.....have a lovely weekend.



Teresa

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Off to the races

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted. There has been serious illness in the family, Mark my hubby is recovering from pneumonia....additionally working at an accounting firm during tax season presents other issues and SERIOUS demands on my time. It is almost over....have you filed yours yet?

Last weekend I pulled out an oldie...a retired SU set from 2002 called "To The Finish". I live in Indianapolis, so a race card is more than appropriate, especially this time of year. I stamped the card with black stazon and embossed with black Ranger powder. Then used an embossing pen and touched up any areas that needed the extra black embossing. Colored with Prism watercolor pencils. The photo doesn't show this very well, but the background is bright orange. Layers blues and orange cardstock (generic). I found a roll of ribbon that I thought looked like the pattern of the flags at the finish line of a race....bonus! The inside sentiment says "You are number one". Great little boy card.

Sorry about the fuzzy photos, I have a great camera (or thought I did), however, it gets fuzzy when taking card photos, odd don't you think? Probably a setting that I haven't changed.

I'll be in touch sooner than later. Hope you have a blessed and wonderful day!

By the way, it is 12:30AM and the office just called, the servers are crashing....I gotta go into the office...NOW.

See ya!


Teresa