Category: Papercrafting

Today I have a treat to share…and some stamping! One of my favorite treats to make and share at Christmas time is Peppermint Bark! MMMMMM. I love anything minty and chocolatey. Peppermint Mochas…York patties…and Peppermint Bark. It's super easy to make (although really messy) and a nice treat to give others. Everyone seems to like it. I had fun this year documenting the process for you and making some cute tags to put on the boxes and bags. I hope you decide to try it!

All you need to make Peppermint Bark is Chocolate, Candy Canes, and Peppermint Extract! How easy is that? I like to buy Ghirardelli Chocolate because it seems more creamy to me. Don't use old chocolate because it won't melt nicely.

Melting chocolate is simple, but you need to take your time so it doesn't scorch. I make it in the microwave! I like to use pyrex glass for the melting process. Put all the chocolate chips in the dish and microwave for about one minute. Stir and then microwave again at 30 second intervals…stirring each 30 seconds. To make it shiny, you can add about a teaspoon of crisco to the chocolate.

 
 

Once your darker chocolate is melted (you can use milk chocolate or semi sweet or dark – your preference! I like to mix semi sweet and dark together) spoon it onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. spread it around to try to get a nice even layer. Then put it in the fridge. You want it very hard and cold before doing the next step.  

 

 

Now, the fun part! Smashing candy canes! Put them in a freezer bag and take out your agressions! Hee hee. You want some little chunks left for decoration. Now, melt your white chocolate same as the darker chocolate. After your white chocolate is melted, put in 1-2 teaspoons of Peppermint extract and candy cane chunks and stir, stir, stir!

 
 

 

Take the darker chocolate out of the fridge and spoon the white chocolate on top. I like mine very separate, but some people wait for the hot white chocolate to melt the dark chocolate and swirl it. After you put on the white chocolate mixture, sprinkle more candy cane pieces on top! Then stick it back in the refrigerator.

 

 

This time around, I tried making some in this little silicone mini muffin thingee I have. It ended up making them like little candies instead of the traditional bark.

 

Let it cool for a long time – at least a few hours. Take your bark out of the fridge and break it into pieces. Now it's ready to eat!

 

 

I wish my computer had smell-o-vision so you could smell the minty-ness of this! It smells so fresh and yummy. Doesn't taste bad either (of course I had to taste test it, right?)

 

 

Here's how the little candy ones came out:

 

 

 
 

 

Next, to start on the tags! I used this cute set from PTI – Tiny Treats Xmas – for the first set. I used Kiwi Kiss and Real Red inks from Stampin' Up and a giant punch I have had for years.

 

 

For giving out, I used some of these boxes from Wilton. They are about four inches square and I found them at Joann's Crafts in the cake making section. Line the box with wax paper in case the chocolate melts.

 

 

Ready to go!

 

 

 

 
 

I ended up making three kinds of tags…of course, all with a peppermint theme! These were all the stamps I had that were candy cane related! Do you love that little penguin guy? SO cute!

 

 

I used a few Copics for the image. I added glitter glue to the white parts of the candy cane and his hat. I put two leaf punches together to make it look like a wreath on the bottom.

 

 

I only had a few of the boxes, so the rest of my treats went into cello bags and glassine bags. I stapled them shut and then double-sided taped the tags onto the front. Pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 
 

 

Whew! Friday it is! Two weeks before Christmas and one day before the hubs' birthday. Dang…talk about busy bees. This week went by in a flash. DH gets a wee bit jealous every year since my birthday seems to last an entire month and the poor dear only gets one day. So in honor of him, this week we have been celebrating the six nights of Markukkah aka Markmas. He has been taken out for dinner each night and also given a present each night! It's been a fun treat for us…and tomorrow is his birthday. Happy Birthday darlin'!

My card for today is a little Christmas snow globe. I had fun trying out different images inside the adorable snowglobe until I found just the right one. It seems easier than it was to get something in that darn thing. The snow globe stamp is from Memory Box and the girl/bird is from Amuse. Hope you likey. Hope your weekend is full of joy and merriment for the season.

 

 

I decided to go really bright, bold and cheery with this card. This shade of citrusy clear green is one of my all time favorite colors. How can you be in a bad mood when you see that color?

 

My Copic palette:

 

I had to bust out the stamp-a-majig to fit her in there just perfectly! Every time I get it out I think to myself…self…you need to use that more often! 🙂

 
 

I put some chunky white glitter on her coat and hat and on the tree. I used some stickles glitter glue to add some snow inside the globe. Use BG000 to edge the circle…to make it look like glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Today's card is a patriotic card I made for a young, brand new soldier. One of my favorite things to do is custom cards for people. (Actually it probably is my favorite kind of card to make!) A really nice lady I work with has a son who is in boot camp right now. She had me make a card to send him, to let him know he is sorely missed at home. Also, today is Pearl Harbor Day, so I thought I would post this card in tribute to all our veterans, current and past. It was nice to get out some other stamps besides snowflakes and trees and ink up some stars and stripes!

 

 

The font for the word Jeremy is called "Top Secret" and I found it on dafont.com! I love that site…free fonts everywhere! I am sort of a font junkie and I always will look to find just the perfect one to fit the idea I'm cooking up. Definitely check it out. I highlighted the link for you!

 
 

Partial supplies list… The stamp set is called Vintage USA and is from Close To My Heart. I like the vintage-y masculine feel to the set. Three different sizes of stars and love the flag image. I also used my versamark ink for the stars that are on the red paper background. I forgot to put that in the photo.

 

 

 

 

I jazzed up the envelope (just a little!!) to make it match the card. Printed his name larger and matted it on a piece of navy cardstock. Went a bit crazy with the stars… 

 

I printed the inside on the computer also and then left some room for writing…added some of the patterned paper to tie it together. I hope he likes the card and that it reminds him that he is doing a good thing! 

 
Lots of love, until we meet again… 

  

Hello! Christmas is rolling right along! The little craft room elves (me) have been busy working around the clock making Christmas cards. How come every single year I say I'm going to start waaaaay ahead of time and every year I don't start waaaaay ahead of time!? I'm not as behind as last year. It all gets done, though, somehow. How are you coming along on your Christmas cards? It's been a good weekend so far and now I'm just wrapping some presents, making cards, and catching up on emails and blogging. Kinda wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow…

Today's card was made using a pretty stamp from Amuse. The entire circle is one big stamp. There are so many things you could do with it. To me it kind of looks like a snow globe without the bottom part.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies…Not too many markers this time! Just a little bit of coloring and not really any shading involved. I used BG000 for the outline of the snowy hills. After I stamped and colored the image, I cut it out. Then I smashed the entire image into the Glue Pad and covered it (and me, and everything else) in microfine crystal glitter!

 

 

Layered dusty green, red and brown to pick up the colors in the cabin and trees. Stamped the snowflakes and the sentiment in Brilliance White Ink. Need to let that dry for a long time if you use it. The bottom layer was edged with a Martha Stewart punch. It's very spark-a-lay!!

 

 

 

 
 

 

Season's Greetings everyone! Today I have a fun card to share that is my entry for the Waltzingmouse Stamps Sketch Challenge #25! I have been a fan of Claire's stamps for a long time but this is my first time entering one of her challenges. I encourage you to check out her blog and her website. Her stamps are beautiful and elegant and also fun. Really high quality clear stamps that stamp like a dream. The entries into her sketch challenges are great – lots of her fans are from Europe so you get a different flair to the cards which I really enjoy.

As you've probably noticed, I've gone a little crazy for the Penny Black stamps right now. I am in a total coloring phase and just have been having a great time trying to get things just right. It's making me practice and relax and get in the zone…

Here is my finished card:

 

 

 

 

 Here is the Sketch Image:

 

A close up of my coloring…I didn't take a picture of my pen choices this time because, basically, I used every pen! It took me a long time to get the red and brown just right. These are by far two of the hardest colors to work with. Her face is my standard E000 and RV10. I used G000 for the edges of the white part of her hat to give some dimension without adding color. After coloring in the image, I added pops of glitter glue and then stamped some snowflakes in a really light blue ink.

 

 My supplies:

 
 

 

 

To tie the sentiment back to the main image, I used the same snowflake stamp on top of my words. Of course, it also needed some BLING! hahaha.

 

This is a combination of the snowflake punch (turquoise) and some pre-made embellies from my girlfriend Martha. I added some more BLING to them too!

 

 

 

 

 

Hello! Today is my last day of freedom… I have been off work for 20 days and tomorrow is when I have to go back. I have enjoyed my turn at domestic bliss, staying home, getting lots of things done, cooking, stamping and sleeping in. Now – back to reality and 5:00 in the morning wake ups! Argh. It's gonna be a tough transition. I must say that I do like my job very much. It's just that I hate morning! hahaha. I'll let you know how it goes. For today, I am enjoying some last few peaceful hours in the craft room and making cookies for the DH. Buddy is by my side. Life is good.

I bought a gorgeous Impression Obsession Christmas stamp a while ago and really love it. Actually, I love all of the images in their "house" series. I have three of them, including this one. You may recall this card I did a while back for my friend Jilli Bling, using one of the stamps. Here is my card for today…

 

 

 

 

 

That's a whole lotta markers for that one little house!!! This is my work space while coloring. I put my markers right in front of me so I can see all my choices. I wanted pops of red since it's for a Christmas card, and pretty shades of olive green… 

 

 

 

 

I added micro fine crystal glitter to the tops of all the windows, steps, and roof. you can barely see it in the pictures, but it just makes the card look a little softer…like fresh snow!

 

The glossy sticker with the sentiment and the holly were embellies in my Christmas stash. I added some gingham ribbon, because I wanted that vintage feel.

 

 

 

I got my Etsy store up and running on Saturday. So far, there are only four cards for sale on there…just testing the waters with that. Check it out! Click on the link in my left sidebar… I am very open to any tips or suggestions anyone has on this topic!

 

 
 

Greetings! I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving! What day is it? I'm not really sure… I'm coming down from an all day shopping spree for Black Friday and my time is all wonky. The DH and I have a long standing tradition of getting up at the crack of dawn and going shopping the day after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving night we lay out all the coupons and ads and strategize. Then we wake up super early and head out…not to be seen again until late at night. This year, however, we changed it up a bit! One of our local malls opened at midnight with some crazy deals. SO…we stayed up all night! EEEK. Nothing like an all-nighter to make you feel your age. Ugh! I'm still recovering! I have 100% of my Christmas shopping done, though. Now I just need to wrap and mail, and enjoy the holiday season with friends and family.

Today's card was inspired by the uber cute PTI set that was new this Winter – On Ice! It's an adorable ice skate with socks and sentiments to add. As soon as I saw it – one word popped into my head – pink! The pink snowflake paper is from October Afternoon.

 

 

You can see in the stamp set there are five different socks! How freakin' cute is that? You can really create any feel to your card with them. I love the fonts also – I like it when two fonts are combined – think that's a great design element. I used my copics to color the skate blades and to barely give some icy color to the skate boots.

 

Close up of the skates! The blades are done with Martha Stewart's antique silver glitter. The tiny pom poms have been in my stash for a while now. The white background paper is from Bazzill and I liked it because it reminded me of snow.

 

Okay, all I can say is thank goodness I bought the die that makes the little skate!!! That's a whole lot of ice skates. Looks funny like that…all laid out in a row.

 

 
 
 

 

 
  

 
 

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families…wherever you are and whatever you're doing! I hope you have a wonderful day! We are on our way over to my brother-in-law's house to hang out with the fam and eat too much turkey and watch some football!

Yesterday morning we drove up to the snow to try to take some pictures! It was 19 degrees!!! EEEK. Needless to say we did not get out of the car! We don't have snow tires or chains so we went as far as we could and then turned around. The snow is about 40 minutes up the hill from our house. I have never seen such a Winter display – magical is the word that came to mind. I did get a few pix and managed to make a new Winter bloggy banner!

Before posting today's card, I just wanted to take a moment to say "THANKS" for all the sweet and kind comments about my blog post from Tuesday. I am overwhelmed by the kindness of people, and my faith is uplifted knowing there are so many nice people out there willing to say something complimentary to a stranger. Really wonderful. Crafty girls are the best! And, I am reminded why I started blogging in the first place. Thank you! I read every comment and appreciate each one. Thank you. Thank you.

Today's card is my entry into Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #134. I love Taylor's Blog! (Just a little hint, she is having a sale tomorrow!) I have been wanting to ink up this cute little Penny Black image and the sketch seemed perfect to feature it!

Here is my card:

 

 

Here is the sketch image – notice I flipped it on it's side!   

 

 

The clear snowflake is part of the Imaginisce collection featured on Tuesday – I had some left over! The background papers are hot pink and lime green! I added some tiny blue snowflakes around the main image. That's a little stamp from Stampin' Up. Just added a little bit pop of glitter in two spots. The sentiment is from Denami stamps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what I have to put up with? Apparently the five blankets we have in the house just for him are not sufficient enough for sleeping on!? When I told him to get up, he just rolled over. What a character! How is a girl supposed to stamp?

 

 Gobble Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving!  

 

I am super excited to share some cool news with you today! I have been working with the amazing and kind Lori over at  Imaginisce Paper for a little while, and today I am being featured on the Imaginisce Blog as a guest designer! I am super grateful for the opportunity and hope to be working with them on a continuing basis. I have always loved Imaginisce products – surfing penguins, adorable snowmen, and that Apple Cider collection this year? OMG. Crazy good stuff. I hope you will go on over to their blog and check it out, and also sign up to be an Imaginisce facebook fan. You could win a prize today by leaving a comment!

Today I'm posting four cards made exclusively with the Imaginisce Cottage Christmas Collection (paper, ribbon, rub-ons, embellies) for this Winter. Cute gnomes, beautiful snowflakes, sweet little houses, and another interesting color scheme. Thanks for stopping by today and Have a great week!

Card #1 is made with my favorite paper from the collection – the gorgeous snowflakes on the bright red background. MMMMM. The stripe is the other side of that paper. All the papers are double sided. The sentiment is a rub-on that I put on some thick white cardstock. The clear snowflakes were attached with silver jump ring so they could dangle. I attached clear blingees in the center of some of the snowflakes using the i-rock tool, also from Imaginisce!

 

 

 
 

 

 

 
 

 

Card #2 is a clean and simple design. I cut a strip of the paper with the trees/presents and then layered that with a pretty red scallop border. I attached the big chipboard sentiment on the top…couldn't be easier. You could make a lot of these for Christmas cards.

 

 

 

 

 

Card #3 is made with the cute gnomes! I love their silly faces!! So festive. For this card I used two big chipboard shapes (the large gnome and the sentiment), Some strips of paper, snowflake ribbon, rub-ons, and two big bling snowflakes! There's a lot gnoming on! hahaha. Okay, not really that funny.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Card #4 is back to clean and simple design. I took a long card, made from craft cardstock and added two strips of paper – the green and the houses – and then made my own embellishment out of the stickers. I added a strip of red ribbon and a big bling snowflake to finish it off.

 





 

Thank you again for stopping by my blog! 

Hi! I've been away too long…but I'm back with a Wintery card project for today's post! I have been off work for the past week and the DH and I have been doing lots of healthy and productive things…which is great…but isn't leaving me too much time in the stamp studio. Tonight I locked myself in and got inky! I was inspired from by this cool new paper I bought a few weeks ago.

The paper and main embellies are from the "Merry January" collection from We R Memory Keepers. This year I seem to be drawn to unique color combinations for Winter and Christmas. I'm loving all the new colors being incorporated into Winter. This line of papers have a cool antique vibe that caught my eye right away.

 

 

 

Here is my inspiration palette. Many times, when I get ready to make a card, I go around my studio and get everything together that I think matches and lay it all out on my table. Then I can play around with what I have in front of me. Does anyone else love Candace Olson? I always think of her with her basket of design elements… 

 

 

The white snowflake is a cut out from Paper Source. I antiqued the edges with some distress ink and then put a sticker and a bling snowflake in the center.  

 

 

I have to be honest that I don't know for sure where this sentiment is from. I think it might be from Unity Stamps?? LOVE it.  

 

 

 
 

 

Greetings and happy Saturday to everyone! Hope you're having a great weekend so far! I have been hiding out in the craft studio making a giant paper mess…oh, and a card! Today's card features the cute stamp set from Penny Black called Betsy Bluebell! The images are ADORABLE and so much fun to color. The sentiment is also from Penny Black. For this card, I chose my purple and green color scheme first and then got out the Copics…a lot of them! Surprising how a small image uses like, 100 markers! hee hee. Hope you likey!

 

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my coloring. To get her cheeks to look faint/flushed I colored her entire face with E000. I then lightly colored uneven circles in RV10 and RV00 for the cheeks. Then, I went back over the entire face a second time with the E000, even going right over the pink. Once it dries, it all kind of blends together. Her hair is about four shades of yellow and brown. The purple was achieved using the BV01, BV02 and BV04 combo.

 

 

I finished my two main images first and then had to decide what to do with them! Originally I wanted both on the front of the card, but it was just too much going on. So I ended up saving the smaller circle for the inside. They were cut out with my circle Nesties. The sentiment here is from Taylored Expressions. So cute!

 

 

Here is a picture of the stamp set and my Copic color palette:  

 

 

I stamped the main image a second time and then cut out some of the flowers to give the card some dimension and more pow! I added ultra fine glitter to the butterflies and the flower centers.  

 

 

Here is the inside of the card! The butterflies are part of the main image….so I inked up just those parts of the stamp to make it match! 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I have to run for now! We have just enough time to get to the gym, work out, and get back in front of the TV in time for the massacre Cal vs. Oregon football game. Say prayers for the Bears!

Enjoy your day! 

 
 

Hi! Today I am sharing my second Design Team project for Eat Cake Graphics. I'm sure many of you already have snow where you live…and it's cold here…so I thought I'd do a cute snowy card. Such adorable images from ECG!

 

 

My Copic color palette and the stamp images from Eat Cake:
 

 

I always love a pop of bright red with light blue. Something about that color combination! The polka dot paper is from Bo Bunny and the Let it Snow paper is from Martha Stewart. The snowflakes are embellies from Martha too. The small sentiment at the bottom of the card is from Papertrey Ink.
 

 

 

 

 

 
  

Well, yesterday was a cold and very rainy day here in my corner of the world. The perfect day to stay home, start a fire in the fireplace and stamp! That's just what I did. DH and Mr. Buddy watched football all day by the fire and I cleaned in the craft room and finished Thanksgiving cards!

It all started with the pretty focal image which I had stamped and colored some time ago with my Copics – in warm Fall shades of olive and brown. That sort of set the color scheme for the card. Then, I wanted some printed background paper…but everything I had was in black and white and that just didn't look right…I needed cream and brown…so I made my own! Then I used some gorgeous antique lace sent to me all the way from The Netherlands (thanks Holly)! And it just all came together into a homey feeling greeting.

 

 

This card has a million little details because I kept fixing things and adding things and then distressing and inking and on and on! The stamp is from PSX. The green paper is my ever favorite Kiwi Kiss from Stampin' Up. The oak leaf punch is an oldie but a goodie from Creative Memories. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse. The lace was sent from my sweet pal Holly all the way from Europe! It's gorgeous and meaningful.

 
 

Here is my home-made patterned paper! I had fun thinking of Thanksgiving words and then typed them into my word processing program. I picked a typewriter font that I liked and then printed it out on PTI cream cardstock in brown ink!

 

 

 My supplies and Copic color palette. Not too many colors this time!

 

 

 

Have a great week everyone! Thanks, as always, for stopping on by!
 
 
 

Hey! It's a new month and time for some new crafty projects non-Halloween related! Thanksgiving sometimes gets lost in the shuffle…but I will be making Thanksgiving cards here pretty soon. Not to worry. I love Thanksgiving and all that it represents. And…it's still Fall! But today – it's a bit o' Winter here on the bloggy blog!

I want to share my excitement - and my first Winter card. This card is my first ever Design Team card!! I am in love with the cute images I got from Eat Cake Graphics and want to show you the card I made. It's featured on the Eat Cake Blog today too! Woo WOO Woo! I hope you likey!

 

 

Seriously…can you stand it? That little girl is so adorable and the little birdie with the ear muffs?? Puhleeze! Ack! I stamped the Christmas tree image to make a focal point as if she's skating outside in the fresh air. Added lots of chunky glitter stickles. Added some clouds… 

 

These are the three Eat Cake stamps I used. The sentiment is from Amuse and the little swirl behind her skates is from a clear stamp set from The Cat's Pajamas. You can see my Copic color palette. The chalk ink was for the clouds and the ouline of the sentiment. That ink is the perfect blue.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! Did you dress up? Get lots of trick-or treaters? It was pretty quiet around our house. No wild parties for us this year! hahaha. Oh…it's my birthday week! Yay! DH and I both have the day off (Wednesday) and I think we're going to go have lunch and see if there's a good movie. Can't wait. I hope you all have a good week ahead.

   

Today I have a card to share that celebrates a happy occasion for some of my friends! My friends KB and SB are a wonderful couple and they finally got their own house! Woot woot! No one is more deserving than they are. I am so excited for them! I haven't been to the crib yet but I wanted to send a card right away. I am anxious for them to have a party so I can check it out! 

 

 

This card came together with a pretty piece of patterned paper and matching circle die cut. I "popped" the die cut with a crisp black scallop circle around it and also mounted it on some foam tape. the salmon colored polka dot paper is the back side of the other paper so it matches perfectly. I found a nice piece of ribbon in my stash with that pretty slate blue color.

 
 

The saying is one that I love from Amuse – May your house always be too small to hold all your friends…that's a nice sentiment, dontcha think? I wish them many years of happy memories and good times in their new home!

 
 Happy Weekend everyone!

 

I'm taking a break today from all the Halloween and Fall projects to share a pretty pink card. Over on the WPlus9 Design Blog they are doing a color challenge for Breast Cancer Awareness. The colors are light pink, white and grey or black. I definitely want to acknowledge BCAM so I was glad for the reminder to stop and take a minute to do so. Click here to go to the WPlus9 Design Blog! Maybe you want to make a card too…there is still over two weeks left.

 

 

Here is the Trigger Image for the Color Challenge:

 

 

Here is my Copic color palette and the stamp I used. That stamp is an old favorite from PSX that was purchased in 1995!! Don't you love their images? So detailed and classy. Their stamps are timeless. I wish they were still in business. I used many shades of pink for the flowers. I started by coloring every flower the same very light shade and then added darker (tiny) parts afterwards. To get the look of galvanized steel, use your cool grey palette.

 

This patterned paper has all kinds of nice sayings having to do with gratitude. I really liked it and thought it fit nicely. I used pink bazzill doodlebug paper and of course, a pink ribbon. The heart is from a Tim Holtz package of goodness!

 

 

 

 

Does your stamping table look like this after you make something? I mean, you would think I made 50 cards…but no…just one! It looks like a hurricane went through there! I have this big table, but I end up stamping in a tiny 6 inch square of space! hahaha. Have a great week everyone! My thoughts and prayers to our loved ones who are breast cancer warriors.
 
  

Today's card was inspired by the There She Goes Clear Stamps Blog and their Color Challenge #77. The colors for the challenge are orange, black and green. Perfect Halloween colors. I had this spooky potions stamp I've been wanting to use so it was a great match! There are only a few more days to make Halloween stuff! Can you believe Halloween is next weekend? It finally feels like Fall here…and we just turned on the heater for the first time (Buddy is very happy about this development!) and we are all snuggled in for the night.

Here is my card for the challenge entry:

 

 

There She Goes Clear Stamps…Color Challenge!

 

My Copic Palette:

 

 

 

The stamp is from Whipper Snapper…and it's called "Halloween Grocery List" – funny, huh? I colored it with my Copics and then added some glitter glue to the tops of the bottles and jars! I don't know where those funny shiny bats came from. They were a sheet of stickers in the Halloween bin! I like that little furry spider!

 

The patterned papers are from a cool collection from Stampin' Up!

 

 
 

 

I have something else kinda cool to share tonight! I am a Red Cross volunteer and sometimes that means I get invited to neat events. Today was the kick off for Sacramento's volunteer week at Sacramento City Hall. City Hall is just down the street from my office and the event was at lunch time – great! To make it even better, Captain Sully Sullenberger was the keynote speaker and he was given the key to the city! DH drove down and we went together along with another friend.

He gave a great speech about what it means to be a hero. His thought is that he was just a guy doing his job when an incredible situation presented itself. He is so humble and modest. He talked about how we never know what we are capable of until given the opportunity. He thanked all the other people involved in the incredible plane landing. It was super interesting that he talked about how he felt that day and what happened in the moments right after the landing. His wife and kids were there too. (He lives about 90 miles from Sac-town). The cartoonist Rex Babin, who drew a great cartoon, was there, and presented Sully a signed copy of it. What a totally uplifiting and inspiring event!

 

 
This is Sully and the Mayor, Kevin Johnson. He used to be an NBA basketball player…and he lived in my same dorm in college! Fun factioids for you! haha. You could tell the mayor was thrilled to have Sully here in our town – rightfully so. 

  

 Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Happy Friday everybody! This was a long week even though I am not working today. I started to feel bad yesterday like I'm getting a cold. Really tired and achy…slept 10 hours straight last night. I stayed home from work today, and I'm still in my pajamas. I need to get better because we have a crazy weekend ahead of us (more at the bottom of my post).

Today's card is made with a fun Halloween Hedgie! I am in love with Penny Black stamps again! When I first started stamping 17 years ago I used to buy tons of Penny Black stuff. They used to have a booth at our local stamp conventions too. Remember when country was in?? All the stamps were so CUTE and COUNTRY! I still have a lot of those stamps even though that's no longer my style. Recently I re-discovered PB images at one of our local stamp stores. I bought this adorable Halloween Hedgie along with some cute Christmas images I will show you later.

 

 
 

I really had fun coloring this image with my Copics! To make the fur I used a bunch of different shades of brown and gray. No particular method, just kept coloring until I got it the way I liked it. His tummy is done in E000 and his cheek is RV10. Those are my two favorite colors for skin on people too.

 

I stamped, colored, and cut out a second balloon and then put some bling on it! The ultra fine crystal glitter is a fav! Then I put the second balloon over the first one to add some dimension to the front of the card. I didn't add a bunch of other elements because it's too hard to mail out. Keeping it simple and clean lets me mail out Halloween cards, easy peasy.

 

 

 

The "Flying by to say hi" image is a clear stamp from the Hero Arts Halloween words set. I think it was meant to go with a witch, but I thought it was perfect for our little hedgie too! The inside sentiment is from Amuse.

 

Okay, so I gotta tell you about our crazy weekend ahead! For part one of this story see this post from June! Part two of the Silver Surfer statue story (say that three times fast) is that tomorrow we are driving to Los Angeles (Greek Theater) to go to the Spike TV Scream Awards show! The producer of the show is the man who bought the SS statue! He has been so nice and gracious to us – unbelievably so. He invited us to be his guest at the awards show: VIP backstage access, parking, drinks… We are meeting his assistant tomorrow so she can show us around! It is bound to be an interesting evening! I'm still not sure if I'm allowed to bring a camera. You know I NEED to take pictures! DH got a new outfit (foxy!) and I just finished putting three coats of glitter nail polish on my nails. I think we're ready! I will have a full report on Monday. Take care everyone!

Today I'm back with more vintage-y Halloween stuff! I had everything out to make my card for this weekend's challenge and just kept going for this week's Taylored Expressions #131 Challenge! I love all this yummy Martha Stewart product! And I always love doing Taylor's challenges… Check it out!

 

 
 

Here is the sketch image:

 

I have never made one of these accordian circle thingees before! It took me a few attempts to get it right. I ended up cutting a strip of paper 1.25" x 12" and then scoring it at each 1/4 inch on my scor-pal. That seemed to get it the right size for a card. 

 

 

 

 

 
 

I wonder if this leaf bouquet is the reason Mr. Buddy had a tummy ache this week??? I found him munching on it. Of course he stopped and posed all cute when he was busted! 

 
 

Well hello there!! Today I'm posting my first Halloween project! I'm also continuing with the vintage theme. The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #30 this week is Vintage Halloween! I knew I had to make something. I happen to really love old Halloween stuff! I busted out all the black and orange and all the stamps and just sat there…overwhelmed… It was hard to get started. So, I decided to put the challenge inspiration image up on my computer screen (see below) and just let it speak to me! Voila! Chandelier pattern paper! and Spiderwebs! That got the creative juices kicked in. Hope you likey. Are you ready for the spooky holiday?

 

 

 Here is the Shabby Tea Room challenge inspiration image – so fun!

 
 

I decided to use the fun black and orange chandeliers to make my own background paper! Luckily I had a small-ish size chandelier clear stamp (Martha Stewart) so it was easy-peasy to alternate the black and orange!

 

  

 

The inspiration image also has spooky cobwebs so I thought I would add some! The final touch, that I think makes the background paper seem vintage, was to sponge black ink all around the edges.  I think it turned out kinda cool, if I do say so myself.

 

This card ended up with tons of different elements on it. The large focal image is a stamp I've had forever from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. Do you remember them?  After I stamped the image in black I distressed it with walnut ink stain and a sponge. Then I added this neat glitter glue that is black with flecks of green in it.  The other two stamps are also from Martha Stewart collections. I think the ribbon is too. That girl Martha loves her some Halloween goods!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was making this card I had the internal dialogue (again) about hoarding craft supplies… Some of the stuff on this card I have had for years! I threw caution to the wind…and used it all up! Know what? Nothing bad happened! I think I'll survive! I don't know why I do that. Oh well, just rambling. Hope you are having a great weekend!