My First Teapotter Tuesday

I've been seeing the Teapotter's on Splitcoast Stampers for over a year now, but this is the first time I have been able to participate in one of their Tuesdays. Luckily, this is a special Tuesday and this card will go to someone who needs cheering up and loves cats.

When I read that she loved cat's, I immediately thought of my uninked "Cattitude" stamp set by There She Goes. And so I went there for some inspiration and found this card. Yes, I am a shameless KopyKat aren't I? lol.

I didn't even realize that the teal was wrong until I was done, but it's still good. I also did not have a green card stock to match the pixilicious dsp, so I used a prisma pencil and went all around the edges and then used the gamsol to spread it around. I love that. I also had some seam binding that I dyed with olive green and it came out light, so this was a good match as well. I colored the cat with prisma colored pencils and used gamsol. I paper pierced around all those edges but I don't know if it really shows up well in the picture. The purple cardstock is some PTI I had in my stash, it matches the pixilicious really well. I used my SU punches for the sentiment and added brads and a heart wire.

Thanks for looking, I hope you are having a fabulous week.

It's in the bag

I saw this bag uploaded on SCS and wanted to make a larger version, I just love this. Any ideas what I can put in the bag? Oh yeah, I am sending this to Sister to put a bag of Toffeebread into for a gift. lol. It's the perfect size.

I used bells and boughs stamps on a regular lunch bag. Colored it in with Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler ink using blender pens. I also used my tags til Christmas set on the tag with C.C. ink. The beautiful silk ribbon was a gift from Linda, thank you! I used my scallop punch to punch the top of the bag and the bottom of the tag to match.

I saw this card and wanted to finally use my PTI set, on my couch. I didn't really like this dsp I got in a sampler from my friend/on line demo Jamie, until I saw this card and was inspired to use it. It's Perfect for a fall couch card! lol.

Stuff: On my couch and additions from PTI. buttons from SU, dsp: Autumn Spice from SU mini, Memento black ink, Cajun Craze ink, Spellbinders nesties, early espresso and pear pizzazz card stock. Ribbon is May Arts from my stash.

Wood Grain Tag Holder

I saw this card on SCS and wanted to try to KopyKat using my wood grain background stamp. I really like the rustic feel to this one.

I used my wood grain background stamp and stamped soft suede onto vanilla card stock. Then I sponged with soft suede, crumb cake, creamy Carmel and vanilla. I used my fancy tags spellbinders die with vanilla card stock. I used old olive and riding hood red card stock. My Martha Stewart branch punch and some dew drops I had in my stash. I also used vintage brads (retired from SU.) As well as the retired gingham ribbon in real red.

Tags some more

**************************

*******************************************I found my sizzix tags die! lol. On the prior tags I had to use my Spellbinders large scallop squares die to make the tops of the tags and then while rummaging through my stuff, I found the tags die I forgot I bought! I love that! It's like Christmas to find something you need right that minute. lol.

I used Patterned pines on these two tags and bells and boughs Christmas greeting on the one.

I have looked at numerous tags on line and so I cannot recall who did what, but thanks to all the lovely crafters out there for sharing their ideas and inspiring me!

Tag, your it!

I saw this cute little card and wanted to KopyKat it into some tags for Christmas. What a great idea to make the dsp into packages, I love it!

I used Candy Cane Christmas dsp, oval punches, and tiny tags and matching punch from SU. I got the Bakers twine from Really Reasonable Ribbons. And I used real red cardstock as well as Baja Breeze.

Queen for the Day 37, for Kathy

Congratulations Kathy, I just love this card you made. Of course I don't have that pure innocence image......yet, lol, but I did use this one. Part way into Kopykating your card, I just decided I could not cover any of more of this cute little designer paper, so I left out the other panels and made it a quick and simple card.

I got a sample of this designer paper from my on line friend/demo Jamie. Now that it's sold out I wished I would have just bought a whole pack, lol. Isn't that the way it goes though? lol.

Details: My Favorite things Pure Innocence "merry kissmas", Stampin' up Candy Cane Christmas dsp, real red and baja breeze card stock, red bling by Kaiser Kraft, branch punch from Martha Stewart. And yes, I used cool shadow copics on my snowman, lol. Dazzling diamonds glitter.

Queen For the Day 36

Congratulations to Maxell on her rein last week for the Queen for the Day challenge. My goodness, what an amazing gallery. I saw her card using the retired S.U. Peaceful Wishes and came across this upload as well. I have had these tiles waiting for me to do something with for over a year now, lol, and wanted to make some festive Christmas tiles. Maxell, thank you so much for sharing a wonderful gallery and for your inspiration.

Tiles were purchased at home depot in the flooring department. I have 4 ink pads in Craft ink from SU and used three here: Chocolate chip, old olive and Rose Red. I then used some Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint from S.U. that I mixed with rubbing alcohol and stored in a mini mister, just gives it a subtle shimmer. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes, let cool and then spray on crystal clear semi gloss finishing spray (I added some more shimmer mist while this was wet) and let dry. I will place some cork with adhesive on the bottoms.

Tags til Chrismas treat holder

This was the final project of our SU club. We used an envie and sealed it, cut it sideways at the two inch mark. Ran the bottom through a crimper, layered the top with Candy Cane Christmas dsp and real red card stock and then used real red ribbon. We stamped the tag with real red and cut out with the square Scallop punch, and layered on a piece of baja breeze. Inside is a mini bag of skittles. So cute!

Contempo Christmas Gift card Holder

We made this in our Club night as well, and I am loving the Contempo Christmas set. I told myself I had ordered enough Christmas sets and to just be good, but oh, I could not do it and for $11.95 for the clear set, I just could not be that good! lol. That top layer is adhered to the left hand flap, as well as the bottom tag. Under the top flap is a slot for a gift card. When I first saw this card sample, I was a bit confused and thought it might be difficult, but it turned out to be very easy and so cute. Love the little rhinestone brad on the top of the ornament too.

I THINK this is pear pizzazz, real red and melon mambo.

Thanks for looking

Club Tag

Hi, we made this in our S.U. club on Thursday night. I LOVE IT!!!! Isn't this a cute idea? Thank you Rhonda!

The ribbon is the cherry cobbler seam binding from the mini. No sewing required, but Rhonda had this amazing idea. First we tied on the ribbon, then we dampened the ends with water, arranged the ruffled look and held it with a fork (yes, the eating utensil fork), and then heated that side up with fork in place using our embossing heating guns. OMG, what an amazing discovery! The ribbon just stays right in place.

She cut the tag using the two tags die with Crumb Cake paper. Ran the early espresso through the big shot with finial press folder, the Deck the Hall's dsp was cut using a 1 1/4 square punch. The Always artichoke label was punched using the new Decorative Label punch, the leaves were cut with a big shot using the little leaves sizzlits die and the bird was made using cherry cobbler card stock with the two step extra large bird punch and also ran through the finial press folder, with a little pearl for the eyes for a final touch. The peace on earth is from the Four the Holidays set. So sorry I did not order this now, but you know, I gotta stop somewhere, lol. The words were stamped with Early Espresso and everything was sponged with Early Espresso. I'm loving all the tags this year and this is one of my fav's!

OMG, I'm in the basket!

Sister was out shopping the other day and saw this in a customer's cart, so she took a quick picture with her phone, (sneaky!) Isn't that too much? I'm in the basket, lol.

The Toffeebread Spread

My Sister had a Toffeebread (tm) tasting and ended up selling most of these bags, I'm telling you, it's fabulous! Once you taste it, you HAVE to have more, lol. I'm still waiting Sister! lol.

Chef-a-bella

I saw the cutest card design on SplitCoastStamper's and I had to KopyKat this! She is pure genius! I knew I had cosmo cricket "material girl" here somewhere......after the great hunt, I found it and it did not include the cute little dp sheet she had used. So I continued to hunt and hunt. I was thinking, "Okay, there must be something matchy around here somewhere." lol. I found it in DCWV The cafe Mediterranean matstack. I like it! I had one sheet of not quite so navy left in this stack and was so thrilled. I cannot remember who's blog I read the little trick to use the Spellbinders big scallop rectangle to make the borders with, but whomever it was, a great big hug and thank you to you! I used PTI cream card stock and Kaiser pearls. The ribbon is from my stash and I wanna say it's also PTI, but I cannot be sure.

Needless to say, I got very little done around here today, lol.

Thanks for looking.

Holly

Aviary

This is the cutest little stamp set, I had to have it. I saw Iliana's card and had to use what I had to come close to her design. So adorable. My on-line demo sent me little samples of the in-color dsp, so I was able to use that here. Thanks Jamie!

I had purchased some samples of the older designer series dsp and still have most of it, so I was able to find some pumpkin pie dsp for the middle layer. The top layer is pear pizzazz. I did not have the Early Espresso ribbon, so I substituted all the brown with chocolate chip, although I will admit, it looks much richer in the Espresso. I also used my teeny tiny wishes and the yummy SU pearls, I can't seem to get over these, perfect size, easy to use.

Thanks for looking.

Unity Tree

I love this Unity Tree and will never tire of using it, lol. It's one of my go-to stamps. This is a second card for the QFTD35 challenge at splitcoaststamper's. Here is Sue's card that gave me inspiration.

And here is another Theresa Momber card that I loved the design.

So I combined the two fabulous cards and came up with this. I added some bling in the tree because I loved that idea. lol.

This is another card that will be going out to Michelle, our QFTD34, for her kids. I was thinking sometimes they have teenagers getting chemo and cutsie cards don't always work for them.

I used Unity Tree by Unity. Big scallop Nestie - I did the out of the box technique and then cut down the first layer. I sponged on PTI aquamist and used the same color card stock for the background that was embossed with a cuttlebug folder. Followed by a black border and used another PTI red. I also used my S.U. teeny tiny wishes for the sentiment. And the windows and modern label punches.

Thanks for looking.

Rhonda's Christmas Tag

This is the cutest little Christmas tag I have seen! I love the pink and Kraft with the vanilla. My local SU demo made these and had them hanging from a teeny tiny pink Christmas tree. Oh it was a beautiful site. Why do I have one? Well, if you ordered enough you got to take one home and there was a folded note on the back that had a prize. My prize was mini lunch sacks that will be coming with my order. I love free stuff but what in the world will I ever do with those sacks? hmmmmm, will need to critically think about this. I do have Jeep's birthday coming up, I wonder if they are going to be big enough for goodie bags? Anyway, I made her stop everything and tell me the ingredients of this tag. She used the tags die for the shape, fancy foliage for the words on the blushing bride card stock that she cut out with the new decorative label punch. Christmas post for the mail date on kraft, dp out of the mini, boughs and bells for the background stamping, one of the new embossing folders, vintage something, lol. One of the new blingy brads in the mini and some satin ribbon that she ran some stitching through. I think it's beautiful. LOVE it. And wanted to share it with you. Thanks Rhonda!

Christmas Stamp-a-stack

My local demo, Rhonda, had a Christmas Stamp-a-stack last night. These are the cards we made. They are S.U. only. My favorite is the gate fold red and green. It was great to get out of the house and yak while doing my favorite thing. Plus, how great is it that I can go somewhere else, meet other people that are as addicted to the craft as I am, and have everything all set out and cut ready for me to stamp and assemble? Pretty darn terrific! We made three of each.

Tropical Party Sponging

This is for the Queen For the Day today, Sue. Here is her card that inspired me. I love this set and it seems I will never get tired of using it, so I am glad I bought it before it expired.

I was trying to channel Theresa Momber's sponging skills. She is the bomb when it comes to sponging a perfect scene, so I used her tutorial and this is my creation for the day.

This is also going in the mail to the QFTD 34, as Michelle is not able to carry on her mission to provide children cards to the Chemo kids and sympathy cards to the parents who lose those children. It's not too late to get involved and help out, the information is here and if you send Anne a message, she would be happy to let you know where to send any cards. Michelle suffers from MS and has not been able to recover from the summer heat so that she may continue crafting. We are hoping she will feel better soon, but in the meantime, all donations would really help those little one's and the parents out.

Stamps: Tropical party, teeny tiny wishes.

Ink: Memento black, cantaloupe, Tangelo, grape jelly, angel pink, rose bud.

also SU basic gray, and copics C5, C7, C3

Paper piercing with mat by SU, window and modern label punch by SU

Paper: SU white, no name black, PTI pink.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Hottie

Guess who's birthday it is tomorrow? That's right, it's my Hotties Birthday! And he is my biggest supporter in this hobby, lol, literally and figuratively speaking, lol. I've been so busy with work these past six days that I haven't had a chance to really think about what I would make him. I went to my "favorites" on SCS, (what a cool feature huh? A place to store all the cards I want to KopyKat later on.) And came across this one I had tagged as a favorite.

I just love the way she did her tie. I tried to get that satin to appear as relaxed as hers, but no can do, lol. I loved her card design though. I used Stampin Up's Riveting set. Pear Pizzazz and Chocolate Chip ink. I used October Afternoon's Fly a Kite dp and PTI's dark brown. And a vintage brad from S.U.

Thanks for looking. I hope he likes it!

QFTD34 Part Two; There she goes Puppy Love

This is another card going to Shellapoo/Michelle. I could not make one for a girl and not one for a boy, lol. I actually KopyKat'd another Holly! You can see her card here. She did such a fabulous job with hers, I almost hated to post this, lol, but it was a lot of fun to make. I REALLY love these puppy love stamps from There she goes, they are so adorable.

I decided to use a stamp from a retired Stampin' Up set, Bow Wow, for the background. I colored the hearts real red with a marker adn the bones river rock. Then I sponged a retired color (lol) creamy caramel on that. I used real red for the fence and used a similar punch that Holly used. Then I had to figure out how to make it look "fence like." So I used my copics Grey's to make lines and shadows and sponged on some creamy caramel onto that. I colored the puppy in copics and SU markers real red and regal rose. The other colors on the Nestie octagon are copics. I added a black octagon to layer and some Recollection bead stickers onto that. The ribbon was a great win from Really Reasonable Ribbons.

Pure Innocence Christmas for the QFTD 34

This weeks Queen for the Day is Michelle, AKA Shellapoo. She makes cards for children and sends them to a children's hospital for children with cancer. Anne Ryan explained that Michelle has not been able to make a card since May due to her M.S. So the request is to make a card for a child and send it off to Michelle so she can forward some more cards on to the hospital. As you can image, this is right up my alley and something I want to make a priority to continue to do as often as I can. Michelle, I hope you are able to make cards soon!

This card of Shellapoo's reminded me of my little pure innocents stamps begging to be inked. I did not have her image but I decided I could substitute. It just so happened that the featured card on SCS was this one. Oh it called to me, so I used her lovely card design. Okay, I totally KopyKat'd her whole card, but I did use different paper, lol.

I think my card is smaller than the original. I made it 4X51/2. I used Riding Hood Red for the bases. I used Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses dsp. Nestie oval and scallop oval, as well as the tag. A corner rounder punch for the tops. I used a snowflake punch for the corner and layered with bakers twine (that I got from Really Reasonable Ribbon) and a button. Someone asked how I paper pierced these images. It's very easy, you just stamp the image on designer paper and then fussy cut outside of the black, apply glue and adhere to another stamped image. I color first though. I water colored the RHR on the snowman and scarf, mitten and boots. I used copics for her skin and the snowman. Last I used my glue pen and added some Stampin' Up's dazzling diamonds and oh the shimmer is so much better in real life!

I am so excited to be able to send this card to Michelle to forward to the hospital.

Morning Cup

Oh yes, a morning without coffee ... is like sleep. Until someone wants something, looks at me, or starts talking, then a morning without coffee is like...Waking Vampira, lol.

I saw this card on some one's blog and then went in search for it on Splitcoast Stampers and found it! I absolutely loved her design. I added another layer and a punched border but really it was just too perfect to change. I think she might have used black brads, but they are a challenge for me to place in just the right spot, so I cheated and used pearls, lol.

Stamps: Morning Cup by SU - current (I love the new wood less stamps they sell, they are so much easier to use on an acrylic block.

DSP: Love letter - current. I love this paper and think I might hyperventilate if I run out, lol, good thing I can get more! I used Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla card stock.

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, and I used chocolate chip for sponging the edges.

Other: pearls, two punched borders, twine.

I stamped the cups and pot on riding hood red card stock and also on the designer paper and cut them out. After cutting out the pot I remembered I had recently purchased a Fiskar's fingertip control swivel knife. OMG, it cuts like buttah! Those little itty bitty holes in the cup handles were no problem and so I know I am going to be using this a lot. I stamped the coffee pot on the Very Vanilla card stock and then added the layers. The card size is 4X 51/2. I think the border reaches a little above the 4 inches though.

Thanks for looking!

Halloween 2010

This is what our Halloween looked like this year. Joe decorated the front of the house with spider webbing. You cannot see in the picture but on the front siding there are masks hanging and they look very very ugly. In lieu of a pumpkin, we opted for a pumpkin mask around a ball, looked scary when it got dark, lol. Inside the window was a Haunted House figurine that a witch and a ghoul flew around the top. We had scary music playing on the CD right under the window too.

Since we were taking Jeep out trick or treating, we put a chair outside the door with a bowl full of candy and a note that said, "The dead command you to take one, and only one candy." Jeep came up with that one, lol. When we got home, there indeed were only a few candies taken from the bowl. We don't get too many trick or treaters but we like to go all out anyway, lol.

This year Jeep's best friend Luke, wanted him to come over with some other friends and go trick or treating in their neighborhood. So we dressed him up as Harry Potter and off we went. Luke is Zorro. We took a group shot of all the boys and Joe got a picture of Jeep and Luke in the action. They had a ball. The ran, laughed, talked, argued, and laughed some more. Luke's dad owns a Little Cesar's pizza and we are always spoiled with some pizza before any group event.

Jeep is such a wonder. He has two parents dotting on his every need and still he has the softest heart and truly appreciates every little thing. He is an absolute joy to be around. Other parents know him from school and the daycare he attended prior to going to school and they will sometimes run across a store yelling, "JEEP!" just to come and say hello. He loves to talk to everyone. What a little personality.

Well this concludes my bragging for now, lol. Many thanks to kind folks that left their lights on and handed out candy this year. The kids absolutely find this whole tradition thrilling and quite fun.

God's Beauty fall card

Yippee, Hurray! I finally found some time and creativity to make a card. I'm a week late on our Queen for the Day challenge card. I saw Broom's card here and went searching for my leaf stamps. Okay, I pulled all of them and tried to think about what I would do. Then I went looking through the galleries and saw this card. And kinda used the best of both worlds here. lol.

Work is sucking the life out of me. All my energy and creativity are drained. I am tapped out. At the end of the day, I have nothing left for anyone or anything. I just don't like to live that way. If it were the actual task at hand it would business as usual, but there is lots of added unnecessary stress. Things I have no control over. And so I find myself asking myself, "Is it time to make a change?" Does God have something else in mind for me at this point in life? And so I need to explore those options. And if you wouldn't mind helping me say a little prayer, that would be so appreciated.

For this card I used:

Stamps: God's Beauty - retired from SU, Teeny tiny wishes - current SU

Ink: Crushed Curry - retired SU "in color", soft suede - current

DSP: razzleberry lemonade - retired, Bermuda bay and crushed curry - retired

Other: Beautiful wings emboss lit and border punch -both SU and current. Bermuda bay ribbon - retired. Watercolor brush, sponges.

I hardly used any of the retired "in color" things when they were in and now I'm finding that I really like how they work together for fall, lol.

Thoughts from Reed

I have not had time to create anything this week! I am so going through stampy withdrawls. lol. I did make a card last week for my grandson Reed and had to get it in the mail so it would get there on time. My daughter called me last night to let me know that Reed had actually "borrowed" a card from someone else because he liked it. And when you are four and you like something, it's yours. lol. So she coerced him into giving it back because his Grama Holly sent him his own card. So I talked with him and he thanked me. However he did have one piece of advice for me. He said, "You should put some decoration on the inside Grama Holly, instead of all those words." I nearly fell off my seat laughing. Of course I am going to decorate the inside of the next card I send him and I think for the rest of my life, I will always have something on the inside of his cards. He is "IT" for me. He is the only single thought I can have that warms my whole heart up and makes me know that life goes on. And it does. And it's even better with the decorations on the inside.