Mailable Monday - For the birds

Hey all!  Here's my last post in 2012:-)  I know I said I might take a break but I had a few minutes tonight (really all of today since I didn't manage to accomplish much but that's neither here nor there, right) to blog and I had this card sitting on my desk.  So, I'm going to try maybe doing shorter posts and may or may not include the products used.  If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me!

This was going to be my second entry in the last Colour Q challenge.

I need to use this set more, it's so cute!

Happy stamping!  Wishing everyone a safe and fun NYE!

A blogging break

Hi stampers!  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!  We had a great holiday but with family and work it was very busy so I haven't done ANY stamping and no blogging.   And to be honest, blogging and stamping have kind of been stressing me out lately sooooo I'm going to try to not put pressure on myself to do either one and if I stamp and or blog then great and if I don't then I'm not going to fret.  Who knows, maybe it will end up pushing me along to stamp and blog more frequently.  I'll blog when I have time or feel like it....sorry if that bums you out if you're a faithful reader:-)  But there are some things I need to work on personally like dropping a couple of extra pounds I seem to have found and getting my house more in order (starting with my messy stamp room, ha).  Anyway, I'm going to be working on some stampy projects today that I HAVE to get done and maybe then I'll have some time to play just for fun!

I'll leave you with a Christmas card that I made rather late in the season and didn't get to share.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Happy stamping!

Christmas colors

Hi stampers!  I have been wanting to play along at Colour Q this week!  I am in LOVE with the colors this week!

Aren't they pretty?????  I think I'm going to have to play along AGAIN this weekend when I have time!  I don't use bashful blue much since the dawn of pool party but I have to say this made me fall in love with it all over again!  They are prefect Christmas colors and would probably make a fabby Valentine too!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Snowflake soiree, more merry messages
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, bashful blue, cherry cobbler, riding hood red, cherry cobbler core'dinations
Ink:  Whisper white (craft), crumb cake, bashful blue, riding hood red
Accessories:  Naturals buttons, linen thread, woodgrain embossing folder, 2.5" circle punch, window frame framelits, bashful blue taffeta ribbon (I think it's retired)

It turned out kind of woodsy with the sponging and the use of the woodgrain folder.  I like it!  It's nice to be back to creating things that turn out well:-)  I did have to swap out the ruby red for riding hood red.  I might have some squirreled away somewhere but didn't feel like making a mess looking for it!  My studio is messy enough already!

This card might be appropriate if we have the blizzard they say we may get...let's hope not:-)  Although...if we get snowed in maybe I could stamp and wrap gifts all day?  :-)

Happy stamping!

Slight hiatus

Hi stampers!  I've taken a slight hiatus from my blog it seems.  Sorry!  I haven't stamped a whole lot lately and haven't really felt like blogging either.  By the time I work all day and then workout sometimes all I want to do is lay on the couch.  Doesn't help that my stamp room is uber messy right now either....but I don't feel like cleaning it either, ha!  And it just seems I don't have many ideas for cards, blah!

Anyway I did manage to make a card the other night that I really like!  In fact it may be one of my favorite Christmas cards I've made all year!  Yay for that!  And I like that I was able to combine some of the new spring catalog stuff into a Christmas card!  Just lookie:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  For the birds
Paper:  Real red, always artichoke, lucky limeade, polka dot parade, watercolor
Ink:  Stazon, various for watercoloring
Accessories:  Labels collection framelits, lucky limeade ruffled ribbon, doilies (spring catalog)

I got the color combo from a color challenge somewhere that I can't for the life of me remember now!  A recent Colour Q maybe?  Anyway, can you find the spring catalog sneak peek?  It's the doily peeking out there!   Fun, no?  And while you may think V-day for a doily it totally works for Christmas too!  I also used the polka dot parade paper that I haven't used much of and the for the birds stamp set!  This little guy is SO cute, why haven't I used it before???????

I'm still slowly cranking out the Christmas cards so I'll try to come back soon and share what I've been up to!  And hopefully I get some in the mail soon, hehe!

Happy stamping!

Sitting down to stamp

Hi stampers!  I'm just NOW sitting down to stamp!  Wow it's been a long day!  I lazed around a bit this morning and then ran for all of 3 minutes outside...I didn't realize how drizzly it was and ICK!  No way was I dressed to get all wet!  So the Y I went:-)  Hoping it's dry tomorrow morning!

Then by the time I got cleaned up and had lunch it was time for work....which was delayed, oh joy!  Sure, I can sit here for hours....I have nothing else I need to be doing:-)  THEN, hubby got a new Durango while I was working (yay for another car payment, NOT, lol) so of course I wanted to go for a ride immediately!  Then dinner and grocery shopping...and then cookie baking and laundry.  Phew!  Maybe I should go to bed instead of stamp!  Nahhhhh!  And speaking of the cookies, I'll have to share them on here soon!  They are so cute and yummy!

But, before I get inky I wanted to share something I made the other night with some new goodies!  I just LOVE this little elephant stamp!  And the patterns on the SAB DSP are fun and funky!  They are neat color combos too!  This is totally reminding me to use sahara sand!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Patterned occasions (SAB)
Paper:  Whisper white, sahara sand, island indigo, Sycamore street (SAB)
Ink:  Sahara sand, tangerine tango, lucky limeade, island indigo (markers)
Accessories:  Circle punch, honeycomb embossing folder

It's a totally simple card but totally fresh and fun and bright!

And now it's time to stamp!  Maybe I should have saved my peppermint mocha and my diet cokes from dinner at BWW for right now!!!!!  Caffeine!!!!!!  LOL!

Happy stamping!

A Change of Pace

Hi stampers!  I'm still in Christmas card mode although I haven't gotten many done this week.  But today I have a change of pace and a card I made last week after I got my mini and SAB preview order. You can get another DSP for SAB this year and while it's not AS pretty as last year's (and no paper EV-ER will be) it's still really pretty!  And it has sahara sand in it which I tend to forget about and it's already inspired me to use more of, yay!

Anyway I can't say that I'm in love with this card but it's springy for sure!  Which seems totally bizarre to me at this time of year, ha!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Madison avenue, fabulous phrases
Paper:  Whisper white, rich razzleberry, pool party, sycamore street DSP
Ink:  Rich razzleberry, pool party summer starfruit
Accessories:  Honeycomb embossing folder, circle punch, mini brads, large basic rhinestones, 7/8" scallop punch, bitty butterfly punch

I used a few different new items here.  The small scallop punch makes a cute flower!  I just punched a bunch, scrunched them and used a mini brad to hold it all together.  I also added a butterfly using the new punch on one card and one of the new big rhinestones in the center!

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peeks and the change of pace....now back to your regularly scheduled holidays:-)

Happy stamping!

I'll have a tall skinny peppermint mocha please

Hi stampers!  It's my current obsession....Starbucks skinny peppermint mochas!  Since I learned that there are only 100 calories in a tall and it's cold I can't stop getting them!  I really like the pumpkin spice too but it's pretty heavy and I'd rather eat the majority of my calories instead of drink them, ha!  And the place used to totally intimidate me because I had no idea how/what to order!  Some of the drinks the people in front of you rattle off are crazy, lol!  Guess this is currently taking the place of my diet coke addiction since it's cold out!  At least the diet coke is cheaper though, lol!  Anyone else have a Starbuck's obsession?  What's your favorite drink?

So, I had a rough day yesterday so on my way to the school (the second part of my job) I stopped to get one and it was BAD!  I'm pretty sure they didn't put ANY syrup in it at all!  Ummmm and I don't really like coffee, lol!  So, I need the sweetness, flavoring and the milk to make it tasty!  So of course when I was out running errands today I figured I should make up for yesterday and get another...and it was fantastic:-)  They have redeemed themselves!  Don't you just hate when you look forward to something (not to mention waste 100 calories on something...oh and four dollars....that's not even good, gah!) and then it's awful!  Sometimes that's kind of like that with stamping though I guess.  I hate when I make a card that I don't like....I feel like I wasted my supplies.  So, the other day I was running low on mojo and I decided to case a card from the Holiday catalog.   It was not a waste of time or money!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Scentsational, pennant parade
Paper:  Whisper white, cherry cobbler, festival of prints DSP stack
Ink:  Early espresso, gumball green
Accessories:  Holiday collection framelits, labels collection framelits, jewelry tag punch, gumball green stitched satin ribbon, paper peircing pack, vintage trinkets

I have not used this set near enough and I got a second pack of the DSP stack because I freak out about running out of things and guess what....haven't even opened the plastic let alone cut into it, ha!  Hi my name is Mindy and I'm a SU hoarder.....

But I loved this card in the catalog.  I did change it slightly but the idea is the same.  And I'm totally pretending it's a skinny peppermint mocha;-)

OHHH AND LOOK WHAT STAMP I USED!!!!  Ok, sorry for being all shouty but look what I found the other day!  The little merry stamp from Pennant Parade that I said I lost!  I got up the other night to cut some paper or something and noticed something under my desk!  Horray!  Guess I should post on my blog when I lose something else!  Seems to be the key for finding stuff, no?

And I'm a little OCD and it does kind of bother me that I used whisper white when the DSP is very vanilla but I didn't think I liked the way the vanilla looked with the main image....I'm going to have to put the card away because on my desk I keep staring at it because it doesn't "match" lol!

And want a quick tip today?  Normally for a two colored image we use our markers right?  Well, I wanted to use my gumball green ink pad because this is a solid stamp and the pads work much better on solid images than the markers.  Soooo if you have a stamp that you need to selectively color parts of you can do this:

1.  Ink the stamp up with the main color.
2.  Take one of our blender pens and carefully use it to REMOVE the ink off of the part you want to re-color.
3.  Use your marker to color the part you just "cleaned off".
4.  Breathe on the stamp to make sure the ink is moist and stamp!

GEENYUS!!!!  I learned this little gem from my upline and it works great!  Try it sometime!

And go get some Starbucks....you know you want to;-)

Happy stamping...and sipping!

HSS148

Hi stampers!  Another Tuesday is here and another day closer to Christmas!  Ack!  I'm usually pretty ready but not this year!  I still have a ton of cards that I need (or at least want) to make, I didn't get all my decorations out/up this year and I'm still not done shopping!  I think we need a new month right in the middle of November and December!   We were talking about that at work yesterday....what would we call it?  :-)

Anyway it's time for a new challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments today.  This week's theme is thank you....how perfect for this time of year right?  We'll need lots of thank you's for all the gifts we get:-)  I actually like using my holiday stamps to make thank you's after the holidays....makes me feel a little better about extending their "shelf life", know what I mean?

Now, with it being a busy time of year I went ahead and cheated a little bit and used MDS for my card....actually it's not cheating at all...it's just being smart! :-)  Time management!  What's GREAT about MDS is that you can take one of the pre made templates which are amazing on their own of course, but you can take it and add your own twist like I did on this card (which I just realized kind of coordinated with the inspiration photo, ha)!

Stampin' Supplies:

My Digital Studio

So, I should have saved a version of the basic template...but I didn't think that far ahead I guess:-)  Basically I made these changes:

1.  Swapped out the Christmas greeting to a thank you sentiment (which was TOTALLY easy to find with the search feature (I just typed in "thank you" and BAM...tons of options).

2.  Added the fun chevron background which was just plain before.  I really think it adds a lot of depth and texture to what was otherwise a bit boring!  And in case you are wondering it's very vanilla in color but I dialed the opacity way down for a subtle look.

3.  I added the gold brad to the center of the big snowflake.  I wanted to add a glimmer brad but it looks like I haven't downloaded all of my old downloads from when I got my new computer.  Oops, I keep forgetting to finish that.  Someone remind me in a few weeks, ok? :-)

So, with those three QUICK and simple changes I took a cute card to a fabulous card!  It's that easy! And even if you think you aren't creative with MDS you can be!  You just experiment AAAAANNNDDD if you don't like something then you just hit undo!  I wish real paper and stamps had an undo button sometimes, hehe!

Ok, now head on over to HSS and get inspired to make a thank you!

Happy stamping!

Mailable Monday - Merry Edition

Hi stampers!  I'm a bit late today but a late post is better than no post, right?  Mailable Monday has returned this week!    I'm really afraid I don't have many mailable Christmas cards to send out so I made one last night using the color challenge from the Paper Players this week.

I also combined some new sneak peek items with my "old" stuff.  It's fun to take things from the Spring seasonal catalog and use them for Christmas cards!  This way I have less guilt about not making Christmas cards in favor of playing with my new toys AND less guilt about not using my new stuff because I'm making Christmas cards, ha!  Anyone else suffer from neglected stamping supplies guilt???

I liked the combo in the picture of the colors plus crumb cake so that's what I went with...with a little early espresso thrown in for my deer.  He's (she?) just so cute!!!!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  No peeking, border banter
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, cherry cobbler, pool party, cherry cobbler and pool party core'dinations
Ink:  Crumb cake, early espresso, cherry cobbler
Accessories:  Finishing touches edgelits, circle punch, woodgrain and honeycomb embossing folders, dazzling details, cotton ribbon, sanding block

I wanted to use the word merry from Pennant Parade but lo and behold I've LOST it!  Ack!  First time ever I think!  I THINK it's probably stuck in with another set but I just don't have time to look through ALL of them.  Maybe I'll buy another one during SAB *sigh*.  For that ONE TEENY TINY stamp!  Of course about the time I do that I"ll find it, right?

But, having to improvise worked out I guess because I used the diamond pattern and merry words from border banter right on the cotton ribbon.  I also paper pieced a little scarf for him and added some dazzling details.  And do you see the little sneak peek I threw in?  It's actually the pool party banner!  It's pool party core'dinations!  I supposed the honeycomb folder is also a peek but you've already seen that on my blog.

Happy stamping!

Another non-Christmas card

Hi stampers!  So I really should be making Christmas cards, right?  But who can resist a box of new stuff just sitting there????  Not me!  So after work and dinner last night I sat down and played with my new goodies some more.

I swear I'm going to work on Christmas stuff....today....:-)

But I thought that the sketch at Create With Connie & Mary would work perfect with the hearts a flutter bundle and more amore DSP.  This may be my favorite Valentine's DSP of all time!

I just love all the prints and the soft yet vibrant colors!  The big red heart is part of the DSP. There are laser cut hearts that all you have to do is trim apart.  And there is a little sneak peek of some new ribbon too!  It's called two tone but it's just pretty and kind of shimmery!  I cut it in half on this card so it is quite wide.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Hearts a flutter, petite pairs
Paper:  Very vanilla, pool party, more amore DSP
Ink:  Pool party, primrose petals
Accessories:  Pink pirouette two tone ribbon, primrose petals stitched satin ribbon, hearts a flutter frameits, bitty buttons, pool party baker's twine

The little sentiment is from petite pairs and is actually part of a get well sentiment but it works so well for a Valentine!

Ok, time to crank out the Christmas cards!!!!  :-)

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 08

Hi stampers!  How can it be Friday already???  Oh yeah, I was sick half the week and working long hours the other half, ha!  And I've got more work on Saturday.  It's just no fair in the life of a stamper:-)

It's time for a new challenge over at Fab Friday!  We'd love for you to join us and get one more card in before Christmas!  We will be taking a short break after this challenge due to the holidays so it's your last chance to play along for a few weeks!  Check out these fun colors!

And of course I had to make a Christmas card!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  No peeking
Paper:  Whisper white, real red, pool party, gumball green, primrose petals, 2012-2014 in colors DSP stack
Ink:  Real red & gumball green markers
Accessories:  Holiday collection framelits, adorning edges edgelits, argyle embossing folder, primrose petals stitched satin ribbon, basic pearls & rhinestones

Isn't it just fun????  Now head on over to the challenge page and see all other other great design team submissions!  And then play along!

Happy stamping!

Merry Christmas to me!

Hi stampers!  If you saw yesterday's post you know that I got a special delivery yesterday!  I big (well not really as I tried to have some restraint this time, lol) box of goodies from Utah!   So it was like Christmas!  Once I was able to peel my sick self off the couch I at least sat on the floor and looked at my goodies even if it did take a while to get up the strength to stamp:-)

I think the thing I was most excited about getting my hands on was the hearts a flutter bundle and also the more amore DSP.  So, I knew those were the things I wanted to play with first!  I thought that the Sweet Sunday sketch would make for a cute Valentine's card.

And it did....it's a bit busy but I still like it!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Hearts a flutter (sneak peek), fabulous phrases
Paper:  Very vanilla, real red, pool party, primrose petals, more amore DSP (sneak peek)
Ink:  Real red, pool party, primrose petals, versa mark
Accessories:  Perfect pennants die, hearts a flutter framelits (sneak peek), pool party embossing powder

I just LOVE these colors together!  The real red, pool party, and primrose petals makes for some pretty Valentines paper!

What you probably can't see is that heart is embossed in pool party!  I don't usually do colored embossing powders but I had to have me some pool party!  Which really, it's silly since the color will retire this summer.  I'm going to cry!  I'll miss it so much!!!  Wahhhhhhh!

I'll try to have more sneak peeks but I have to work late the rest of the week and on Saturday too so I don't know how I'll fare:-)

Happy stamping!

The most wonderful time of the year....

Hi stampers!  For once I'm not talking about Christmas...which we all know I love...but I'm talking about Sale-A-Bration!!!  It's coming next month from January 22-March 22!  And I just happened to get a big box of goodies yesterday from SAB and the upcoming spring seasonal catalog.

BUT I've been SICK!  I came down with some kind of cold or flu virus on Friday and didn't even go to work.  Felt better Saturday for our trip to Chicago (which was awesome) but then crummy again on Sunday and maybe even worse Monday!  I don't think I've been down this long with anything for quite a while!  My hubby was worried, he's not used to seeing me sick!!!  You know I'm sick if I was home for two whole days and didn't even walk into my stamp room!  I was finally able to do some stamping last night so I can't wait to share everything with you and hopefully keep the samples coming (although I'll have to revert back to full on Christmas mode after a day or two)! Of course I have to work late the next three nights and work on Saturday too...perfect timing for new stamping supplies, right? :-)  I'm just hoping I can make it 12+ hours for the next three days!  This has really wiped me out!  I had every intention of going to work on Monday but after I got up and showered and got ready and made breakfast I was spent!  I had to go back to bed!  Anyone else suffering from this awful virus out there???  I hope not!

I got some Valentine's stuff and some SAB stuff but there is a lot I held off on because I won't have much time to use it since I'm still in Christmas mode and I'm trying to save most of what I want for SAB so I can earn FREE stuff:-)  But I did get a few things......So, here is a simple card I made using one of the new SAB sets. It's SO cute!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Patterned occasions (SAB)
Paper:  Whisper white, rich razzleberry, summer starfruit
Ink:  Rich razzleberry, pool party, summer starfruit
Accessories:  Window frames framelits, paper peircing pack, basic pearls

Isn't that little elephant just so cute?  I used my markers to color him/her and the flower and I finally used the peircing pack around an image.  I hadn't done that yet and I need to do it more!  I really like the look!

Oh, and I wanted to say I'm glad to see so many of you also like the show Nashville!  I forgot about having to work late tonight so now I'm sad I'll have to watch it on the DVR!  Hope I'm not too tired when I get home from wrestling (yuck, my least fave sport to cover....).  I'm so excited for the winter finale!  Scarlett and Gunnar are my favorites!  They are so cute and I love their songs, I've downloaded them all!  I just love how all the actors sing their own songs!  I have to admit I like Sean the football player too....he's rather attractive, lol!  I haven't liked a TV show this much in a long time (probably since Buffy The Vampire Slayer, lol) so it's nice to have something to look forward to one night a week!  You just learn all sorts of stuff about me here don't you? :-)

Hope everyone stays healthy out there!  I wouldn't wish what I had/have on my worst enemy!!!!

Happy stamping!

HSS 147

Hi stampers!  I hope everyone is doing well.  I've come down with some kind of nasty cold or flu virus since Friday.  Yuck!  I just feel icky and I have a horrible sore throat and cough so this might be short and sweet.

Anyway.....It's Tuesday and time for another challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  This week is a fun theme....monochromatic!

And I actually came up with something other than a Christmas card!  I love pink so this challenge was perfect for that!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  You are, affection collection
Paper:  Whisper white, pink pirouette, melon mambo, primrose petals
Ink:  Various pinks...I used so many and I've had lots of cold medicine:-)
Accessories:  Circle punch, windows collection framelits, basic rhinestones

Now head on over to the HSS site and see what other lovelies the ladies came up with!  And don't forget to play along!

Happy stamping!