Black & White, Just Like Me!

Yeah, that was just to see if you guys are paying attention. Not to be offendin' anybody or anything. Sorry, sometimes I can't think of a title and when I look at this card, that's the first thing that comes to mind. Ahem, so the card. You know, it started out this simple thing, and by the end, I had about 13, 14 random punched out flowers spread out on my desk. It was a pretty good size disaster and when it was all said & done, Darien (my go-to girl for "whaddya think about this card?) said she doesn't like it. Normally, I stop what I'm doing and ask how I can fix it. This time I said, "oh" and just left it alone. Hey, that's a big step for me. She just said that she doesn't like the pink. Ah. She just doesn't get it. The art of it all. See, it's the contrast...the starkness, if you will. It's all about the...No, mom, I don't like that color pink. Oh. Hey, don't you have homework or a room to clean or something? Darn kids.

Stamps: Simple Little Things, Beautiful Blooms (Papertrey), Simply Said (SU!), Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko), Berry Sorbet (Papertrey), Paper: Papertrey white, Basic Black (SU!), Accessories: Doodlebug Inc. paper flowers

No Peeking!

Alrighty, here I am, done 2 weeks before Mother's Day. I am quite impressed with myself. 23 cards all going to great homes. As you know, I am easily bored doing the same thing over & over again. So, I thought I'd change things up and make them all different colors. In the bottom pic, you can see the different colors I used. Of course, that didn't make stamping & embossing the same images 23 different times more exciting. And everybody only gets one, so they won't be too impressed with the rainbow variety, but the different colors made me happy, and really, isn't that what makes the world go 'round? Ok, I'm hoping I've blabbed long enough to shove the pics down, so this is your last chance (mom!) for you to visit another page (say, shopping for cowboy boots) if you don't wanna see it. Oh, I know, you're gonna look anyways, but I'll keep which color you're getting a surprise! woohoo.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention that I CASEd my own card,

which was a CASE of another card? Surprise!

Well, there you have it. Mother's Day taken care of. I do appreciate, tho, how the Post Office is waiting until after Mother's Day to raise their rates (yet again!). Now, now, there will be no PO bashing here - love you, daddy! Just sayin'.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs (SU!), Women of Life (Papertrey), Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst, Cool Caribbean, Groovy Guava, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral (SU!), Sweet Blush & Aqua Mist (Papertrey), Paper: Basic Black, Almost Amethyst, Cool Caribbean, Groovy Guava, Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral (SU!), Papertrey white, Accessories: clear embossing powder (SU!), sponge

For Me?

Okay, kids. How crazy is this? I found out that this absolute sweetheart Julie has given me the Arte y Pico Award (Art & More). Thanks girl, you rock! The idea behind the award is to pass it on to 5 bloggers whom you think are creative and contribute a lot to the blogging community. Incredibly flattering, eh? Yeah, the problem here is that I'm pretty sure I'm the last blogger on the planet to receive this honor, so who would I pass it on to that hasn't already gotten it? I've seen it float around for months (weeks? time kinda blurs for me) and I'm pretty sure all my favorite blogs have gotten it. I'm just gonna throw this out there anyway. I know for sure that at least one of these people has gotten it, but I also know that some of you have not seen their blogs and this is a great chance for you to take a peeky-poo. In no particular order, I'm passing the Arte y Pico award to:

Nichole (duh)

Julee

Lauren

Anna and

Kurtis. Yes, a guy. A really young, sickeningly talented guy who takes simple cards to a whole 'nother level.

And with that, I'm done. Phew. The weekend is here and I'm so glad. Oh, I did get some cards done. Well, technically I made about 20 cards, but it was all the same card. Mother's Day is coming up, and I struggled with this thing. Yeah, you're asking yourself, 20 cards? How many mothers do you have? Well, here's the thing. I don't make cards for all the other holidays in the year. I do Christmas and Mother's Day. I mean, I do other stuff, but the ones where you make a bunch at once, that's it. Mother's Day is just really important to me, since I'm lucky enough to have 2 great moms, and lots of the important people in my life also just happen to be moms. And since I'm soooo not known for being patient, I will be posting that card soon. So, if you're getting one of those cards from me and you wanna be surprised (yeah, right, I know you people), you might wanna skip over my next post. I'll try to post some kinda spoiler alert, but again, if you know me, that might not happen. Consider this your warning!

Oh, Finally!

Don't you just love it when a blog you visit that has had the same stinkin' post for daaaaays, finally has something new up? Oh, that just makes me crazy. There are certain people that I stalk, um, I mean visit regularly, and they just don't update all that much. But then it's so exciting to see a nice, new, fancy picture of a project that I can steal, oops again, I mean CASE. For the record, this is my own creation. I started out thinking I would do a cool emboss resist kinda thing like before. And, after 3 failed yucky attempts, I got this one. And then I hated it, so I chucked it. But Darien told me it was pretty and to keep it. Well, she's got waaay lower standards than I do, but I kept it anyway. Then I thought - Stickles! They can fix anything. So, I Stickled up that bad boy and threw this together. All 3 girls really like it. And my girls are not fans of pink, so I think that really says something. I don't think you can really see it in the picture (we all know photography is soo not my forte), but I only Stickled up the centers of certain flowers, the "body" and the antennae...antenni...antennee(?). Please, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I know you guys got all spoiled when I was posting every couple of days, but I had some crazy inspiration then. Now, I just kinda sit at my table and look at my stuff. Then I look out the window. Then I inpsect my nails, listen to some music..Oh! That reminds me. Mariah Carey's new CD. Love. It. Sorry, had to throw that out there. K, well I'm hoping as much as you lovely people, to find some inspiration soon. But I want you to know that I'm working on it.

Oh, yeah. I just wanted to say "hey" to those of you who are popping over here from Stephanie's blog. She was a little concerned that you guys weren't commenting over here, so I thought I'd say "hey" first. And welcome. And thanks for stopping by.

K, that's all the rambling you people get today. I've got some cards to make.

Stamps: Reason to Smile, Baroque Motifs (SU!), Simple Little Things (Papertrey), Ink: Versamark, Regal Rose (SU!), Sweet Blush (Papertrey), New Canvas (Palette), Paper: Sweet Blush & white (Papertrey), Regal Rose (SU!), Accessories: white embossing powder, Doodlebug brads, word window punch (SU!), Stardust Stickles

Back To Basics

Oh, happy Friday everybody! This is my favorite day of the week because it means I get to stop for a minute and rest. I know there's no alarm clock coming tomorrow and I love that. Now, on to the card. Yeah, I totally CASEd this one from Julee over at Poetic Artistry. Yeah, another stolen, er borrowed, idea. I've been stalking her site for quite some time because I find her work amazing. Anywho, there are some obvious differences between our cards, so I really just take an idea and do with it what I can. I think the only thing that's the same with our cards is the flowery thingy. She colored hers with copics and I went waaaay back to one of the first things I started doing with my cards and watercolored mine. I even used watercolor paper for this card just to see if it was any different than regular old paper. I could tell the difference, but only when I was doing the watercoloring. But when you're just looking at it, it looks and feels like textured paper. I did mean to have less of the flowery thingy showing at the bottom, but that's what happens when I'm not using clear stamps. I'm spoiled. If I can't see thru my stamp, my placement is just going to be off. I could have cut my paper after I stamped it, but I was just too lazy to start over. I do want to point out this funny coincidence. There are people who are putting a lot of effort into finding markers & pencils that match the new Papertrey colors of paper, ribbon & ink. When I was using my pencils yesterday to color my flower thingies, I realized that my pencil perfectly matches Papertrey's Sweet Blush. Huh, how 'bout that? Only, I have no idea what color it is. It just says Reeves on it. No name, no number...I don't even know where I got it. I think Michael's, but I'm not 100% on that. Gosh, that sure was helpful. Sorry. I can only give what I've got. Have a fabutastic weekend everybody!

Stamps: Embrace Life (SU!), Simple Little Things (Papertrey), Ink: Sweet Blush (Papertrey), Brilliance Graphite Black, Paper: watercolor (Canson), Sweet Blush (Papertrey), Accessories: Sweet Blush ribbon (Papertrey), watercolor pencils (Reeves), Dew Droplets (Robin's Nest)

Cool Birthday

Ok, so a couple of posts ago, I mentioned how I have all this Cool Caribbean paper left over and how I never use it. So, I thought I'd use it, by golly. Why not? I was actually inspired by this card that Amy did over at Heartfelt Greetings. Yeah, hers is purple, but it was the faded look with the embossing resist that made me think, hey, why haven't I done that? So I thought I'd right that wrong and do it. I love the look, and when I love something, you get to see it over & over again until I'm tired of it. I may do pinks next, I haven't decided. Bet you just can't wait, huh? Anyway, I wanted to point out the ribbon slide. These things come just plain ol' silver and the outside is like a hollow rim-y kinda thing. Well, that's just too boring for me, so I filled the rim with my Stickles. Love it! I can pretty much guarantee you will never see a plain ribbon slide on one of my cards (especially now that I have more than one color of stickles - yippee!) Looky, here's a close-up:

Oh, yeah. Spicy.

Oh, and only card people will care, but I mounted this whole card front onto Cool Caribbean cardstock. So there's no brad butts (yes, that's what I said) going thru to the inside of the card.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs (SU!), Out on a Limb (Papertrey), Ink: Cool Caribbean (SU!), Aqua Mist (Papertrey), Brilliance Graphite Black, Paper: Papertrey white, Cool Caribbean & Basic Black (SU!), Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware, oval punch & clear embossing powder (SU!), Mike's ribbon, Doodlebug brads

Anniversary Inspiration

No, not that kind of anniversary. I'm talking about Papertrey's 1 Year Anniversary, and this is what I get for being a complete and obsessive fruit loop about their stuff. I got my free set last week and I love it. I'm one of those people who collects birthday sentiments cuz I'm a firm believer that you can't have too many "happy birthday" stamps. You never know just which one you're gonna need. A girl's gotta have options. Anyway, I thought this was a little different for me, which is what I was looking to do. Ok, not a huuuuge stretch, but still. Baby steps.

Stamps: Simple Little Things (Papertrey), Ink: Aqua Mist (Papertrey), Lavender Lace (SU!), Paper: White & Aqua Mist (Papertrey), Lavender Lace, Flowers for You DSP (SU!), Accessories: Marvy scallop punches, Aqua Mist ribbon (Papertrey), Doodlebug brads

Purely...Stumped

Ok, I'm going to put my psychic abilities to test and tell you what you're thinking. First, you're thinking, "Hey, didn't you make a card kinda like this before?" Ok, you got me. I struggled to make a card for a whole day for someone whose birthday was the next day & after hours, all I had was that scallop. I just couldn't get it together. Sometimes I don't do well under pressure and sometimes it works for me. This time, not so much. So, I CASEd myself. Yep, copied my own card and there ya have it. I'm going to try to branch out this weekend and do something new. Or, at least, newish. Ok, now you're also thinking you've figured out my new favorite color. Well, I'm going to admit that yes, when it comes to making cards, Purely Pomegranate does have a special place in my heart. And when SU! retires it in August, I will be sad. But not terribly sad, since I will have stocked up on that stuff like nobody's business. Oh, yeah. I'll be hoarding packs of the paper, stashing bottles of the reinker and have rolls of ribbon overflowing my ribbon collection...and it won't be like last year with the Cool Caribbean. No, really, it won't. Yes, I bought 2 packs of that paper and the reinker and have used the color, um, twice, but this is not the same. Well, I don't know why, it's just not. You're just gonna have to take my word for it. But I don't have anything else that color. I don't think I would mind having things that color, I just...don't. Alrighty, well, this psychic showcase has been fun and free of charge. Be sure to tell your friends.

Stamps: Out on a Limb, Wedding Day (Papertrey), Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke (SU!), Colorbox black pigment, Paper: Papertrey white, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black (SU!), Accessories: Stickles, Marvy punch, clear embossing powder & PP ribbon (SU!)

Luncheon Invites

Alright, ladies. Here it is. Our luncheon invites. Yeah, see this is another example of something that I've looked at so much, I'm no longer crazy about it. But to be fair, I wasn't all that crazy about it in the first place. I was trying to link all these different pieces together with it, and this is how it worked. Our theme, our school colors and just making it look appealing. This is it. It's just the one piece, no inside or anything. I know there's a word for that, but I'm having this huge brain fart right now and it's just not coming to me. Anyways, I'm not sure what made me think vellum was a good idea, but adhering it to the paper posed a good sized challenge. FYI, vellum adhesive sticks well enough, but you can also see it after a while. Ack! 48 invitations later and I'm so done, it's not even funny. I think, for the first time, I'm going to explain the process, so people like Dana don't have to pull it apart once they get their hands on it. This is simple kids, anyone can do it.

First, I printed the info on regular old vellum paper in my printer. Easy peasy. Then, I cut those bad boys up with my handy dandy cutter. Just so you know how anal I'm not, I never measured a thing. I just eyeballed the size of the vellum, and guessed how much Teal I wanted around the edge. Believe it or not, they all came out pretty much the same size! I know, right?! K, then I stamped the white flowers with that fancy Stazon white ink. When I was doing my rough draft, I used my Colorbox white ink, but it wasn't as dark as the Stazon. Then, I mounted the vellum onto Taken with Teal CS. Ya still with me? I'm almost done. K, I then mounted all that onto my cuttlebugged white cardstock. Finally, I got out my little Stardust gelly pen and filled in the flowers. The reason I mounted the whole thing and then filled in my flowers was so I wouldn't chance smearing the pen when I mounted the vellum. It just goes a little faster when you're not waiting for something to dry. What's that you say? Good question. I stamped the flowers first for 2 reasons. One, that ink dries almost instantly and two, in case it goes over the edge of the vellum (which it did more than a few times), it doesn't get on the teal cardstock. See, you guys think I'm mostly a scatterbrain, which I tend to be quite a bit. But sometimes, I actually put a little thought into certain things. And, I've learned through trial & error. So, there you have it. Wow, that was a terrible tutorial with plenty of random rambling, but isn't that why you visit me?

Stamps: Piece of Cake (Papertrey), Ink: Stazon white, Paper: vellum, Papertrey white, Taken with Teal (SU!), Accessories: Sakura Stardust gelly pen, Cuttlebug, my printer (woohoo!)

I Think I Love Purple

Ok, first, no you're not crazy. Yes, I did just post this card a couple of posts down. But this one is purple. I found I don't really post a lot of purple cards, cuz I don't make a lot of purple cards, which is weird cuz purple is my favorite color. Hmmm, or is it? I may have to rethink that. I don't have purple "stuff" in my house, I don't wear purple and I hardly ever make purple cards. Maybe I have a new favorite color and didn't know it. Huh. I'll have to think on that one and get back to you guys.

And, I would just like to point out that 1) I put a link for the new Stampin' Up! In-Colors in my last post in case you missed it (go ahead, tell me what you think. I didn't come up with 'em) and 2) On Thursday I posted twice in one day (somebody call Guinness!), so unless you scroll down after the In-Colors post, you may have missed it. Don't wanna do that!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Designer Label Punch set (SU!), Mixed Messages, Boxes, Bags & Tags (Papertrey), Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac (SU!), Paper: White (Papertrey), Lovely Lilac (SU!), Accessories: Hodgepodge Hardware (SU!), Designer Label Punch

New In Colors

Hey there. Just a quick little update. This week, the Stampin' Up! demos who earned the cruise are in Bermuda. Well, at these things, (which I will never come close to earning!) they release a lot of information about upcoming stuff. The other day, they revealed the new In Colors for the new catty. I finally found a picture that doesn't suck. For those who just can't wait, here ya go: 2008/2009 In Colors.

Oooh, It's a Ramble

Ok, so this is how bad things have gotten. This week in the mail, we got that 50% coupon from Michael's. Shawn, that big ol' sweetheart, saw it & saved it for me. Of course, he had to point out that he saved it for me, "See what I did, thinking about you, girl," with that big adorable grin on his face. Yeah, I had seen it, but was thinking, what in the heck would I get with that thing? See, Michael's will put things you wanna get on sale when they have these things. And, you can't get Cricut stuff with them. And, they never have any new Cuttlebug stuff. And, I have pretty much all the stuff I need from there. And, they don't have stickles or copics or anything I want to stare at & touch in real life before I buy it. {Stephanie, I can hear you laughing at me again} *sigh* I know it sounds silly, but I was really stumped. They did have this really cool desk caddy, but I just got that black one from Pampered Chef. Actually, 2. Got one for the kitchen, too. Love it. Oh, and that big, white embellishment center that hangs on the wall. It's really cool, but I don't really have room for that (unless someone wanted to redo my work space *hint*hint*). Oh, so the point was, even tho I didn't know what to do with it, Michael's little marketing ploy worked and I went over and was there for 45 minutes, people. Oh, so sad. I ended up getting a book. Shawn thought that was truly the sad part. But no, I got The Ultimate Paper Crafts Collection. You know, Paper Crafts, the magazine Nichole was at before she decided Papertrey needed her full attention. And the card I made was a CASE of a card I saw in the book. Wow, finally, the point. phew!

Stamps: Piece of Cake, Women of Life (Papertrey), Ink: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa (SU!), Paper: Papertrey white, Close to Cocoa, Berry Bliss DSP (SU!), regular old vellum, Accessories: brads (MM), Stickles