Finally, A New Post!

It's a good thing I didn't resolve to post more cards this year - I would have failed already! I have resolved to spend more time with family, and to use up the materials in my craft room. So with DH out of town for the weekend, DS and I had some crafty time this afternoon. He did some Perler bead trucks and cars and I got to get a few cards done.

In November, I received a UHU Glue Roller sample and chose this sketch from Mary Anderson to copy. With the craziness of the end of the year, I just didn't get it done until today. I used a River Rock base, and some dp that was in my stash. The buttons are from Joann and tied with embroidery floss (and should be in a diagonal line, but I messed up on the bottom one, then the paper tore when I tried to remove it. So yes, it's different from the original sketch!) The sentiment is made with Heidi Grace rub on letters and the stitching on the ribbon is a Martha Stewart rub on. The satin ribbon is from Target's Christmas clearance LAST year.

The UHU glue roller was very easy to work with and boy, that stuff really sticks! I used it with no problems on both the paper and the ribbon. The ribbon is laid down very smoothly and is very secure under the dp panel. The dispenser was a nice size and was easy to maneuver in my hands, which can be very clumsy! I will definitely be buying more of this when I need a strong, permanent adhesive.



This card also fits the Stamp Something Challenge from Friday in which NO stamps were allowed! Hopefully this week I'll have more posts. BIG changes are coming around here, so I may be sketchy for a while, but hope to escape to the craft room a couple nights a week. Thanks for looking!

Baby Girl Gifts

Today I continued on the girly-girl path and made a monogram frame to match the card I made yesterday for our friends' new daughter.  Also today I want to show the onesies, because I want to get them in the mail this week.

I had this dollar frame in my stash of alterables for quite a while, and today it jumped out at me.  I got this great outline alphabet from Mandarin Pixie before they closed last year, and it's just the right size.  The papers are DCWV and Bazzil.  I used craft store acrylic paint to paint the frame, and the ribbon is American Crafts.  I did stamp the flourishes in Close to Cocoa, but since I don't have craft inks, it faded to a gray.  The flowers are Primas and the centers are Queen and Co Mini Sprinkles brads.

Below are the onesies. I used the directions from Taylor, but went one step easier and bought the cute patterned iron-on patches instead of using fabric with Heat N Bond.  It helped me because the patches were all coordinated!  I think I should have set the ink in the dryer before washing the onesies, because it did fade.  Any comments on this process for me?  I didn't have Palette Hybrid ink, so used Staz-On.  The diaper on the baby is paper pieced.  The butterflies are from Verve, the hearts are from Kim Hughes for CHF.

Welcome, Baby Girl!

Not in my house, LOL!  We are all boy here, but our best friends just had a baby girl the week before Christmas and I was finally able to make a card and some onesies for her today.  (K- hope you aren't reading this!)  They will be calling her Rory, and she is just too precious for words!  

I have seen this Inkadinkado stamp used all over blogland and finally found it for myself at Joann a few weeks ago.  I never go into the local store, just shop online, so I didn't realize they had these stamps.  The best part - they were only 50 cents on clearance!  For the card, I paper pieced the diaper and colored the baby with Prismacolor pencils, blended with OMS.  The dp is from DCWV Spring Stack and I added "welcome" to the bottom panel.  Velvet rick rack is from American Crafts, and flowers are Primas.  I used the tiny Sprinkles brads from Queen and Co along the top and as a flower center.  

The layout is courtesy of Mary Jo at Techno Stamper.  This is the first time in several weeks that I have gotten to complete her sketch challenge on time.  Now that the holiday madness is over, I have time to get to all the "other" things on my to-do list :)  Challenges are near the top of that list, after exercising!

I will share the onesies tomorrow.  It is late and I am ready to head to bed with a book.  I hope the New Year is treating you all well so far.  Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We are such bums, we'll never make it to midnight.  Happy New Year to all of you and congrats if you are awake to see the ball drop!

Here is a Thank You card I made for DS to send for his birthday gifts.  I kept them pretty simple - I had to make 15 of them.  This little sheep is too cute from Pun Fun, which was an impulse purchase for me but I love it.  Mats and dp are from DCWV Spring Stack.  The colors are great for year round, all-occasion projects. Good thing, because those stacks are HUGE!  I took the photo under my new OTT light with my new camera.  I am so

 pleased with the resolution on the camera, but anything is better than the 5mp that I had with my other point-and-shoot that we bought almost 5 years ago.

Happy Stamping, I hope the New Year brings everyone lots of stamp time :)  Thanks for looking!

December Aloha RAK

I don't think I posted this yet! My partner for the December Aloha RAK was Margie. She sent this very pretty card, and some Snag 'Em Stamps and Studio G winter stamps which are so cute! I love them and will use them for those non-Christmas winter-themed cards I still have to make and send. Also included in the package were some glitter brads and pink distress Stickles. Yeah for bling :)

And here is a card I made for my neighbors to enclose a gift card for their favorite restaurant. I did not have time to make another gift card holder, so I tucked it inside a full-size card. The image and Cuttlebugged background are from Angel, and all I had to do was color and run the bird and mats through the CB with the Nestabilities. I also used some red Stickles on the holly berries. They loved it and are very excited to have an excuse to eat out :)

This is a short week, with New Year's Eve and Day. I can't believe we are approaching 2009! I hope to have time to spend with my new toys here soon (Scor-Pal, Bella Stamps, ATG). There are still a ton of things on my to-do list, including Thank You Cards and a new baby gift and card for our best friends. If only I didn't work full time!

Have a good night and thanks for looking!

Too Much Christmas?

Well, the original plan was to spend Christmas home with just DH, DS, and I.  Turns out that I was feeling homesick and we decided on Christmas Eve (around 9pm) that we would drive to New Hampshire and surprise my family on Christmas Day.  I called my brother and told him to keep my parents at their house until we called to say we were closer.  Since it's a 5 1/2 hour drive, we opened our presents from Santa at home and then were packed and on the road by 10:30 am.  

It was great to see my family.  I didn't realize that it has been over 5 years since I have spent Christmas Day with them.  DS got to play with his cousins and having us there was a great surprise for my mom.

Since I have not gotten to my stamp room in the past few days, and I have to return to work, here is the summation of our Christmas.  It is a photo of DS yesterday as we were on our way from my brother's house to our best friends' house to meet their brand new baby girl.  I turned around to talk to him and he couldn't even answer me, he was so wiped out...

PS - photo taken with my new Sony A300 camera!  I am having so much fun with it and writing this post from my new MacBook.  

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Have I really not posted for 6 days? That's what happens when there's a birthday party thrown into the mix of the Holidays, I guess. Thanks to those who have stuck with me in the past year :)

Here are a few projects that I've done in the last few weeks to get ready for Christmas. The first is using the Monday Lunchtime Sketch #49 from Mary Jo at Techno Stamper. Last week she posted a fantastic double gift card holder, so I used that idea from her, too. It's perfect for that last present I had to wrap for DH. The images are from Holiday Blocks, embossed with a mix of holographic and white EP. The DP is from Making Memories (a recent RAK from Allison).

This next project was almost too pretty to give away. I finished it and wished I had purchased more of the star shapes to alter! They were from Bazzill Shapes and are a nice textured white on the back. The DP on these is from the Provo Craft Holiday Slab V that I've been chipping away at. The stickers are dimensional Mary Engelbreit stickers from Cindy. My boss was the recipient of these ornaments.

Now I'm off to run two last errands. DH was stuck in Canada this morning trying to get home from a last-minute business trip. He finally made it and I can go out without DS, who is SO excited for Santa that he can hardly sit still! Since we have no family close by, I'll probably post again tomorrow as I play with my new toys (rumor has it that Santa is bringing me a Scor Pal and an ATG!). Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you enjoy a happy and healthy holiday season!