Tins and More Tins (& Another Butterfly)!

I was sooo excited when I found a resource for the darling tins I saw on PaperTreyInk. They were out of stock, so I went searching. I found that specialtybottle.com carries the exact same ones (and they ended up being cheaper, as I did a HUGE order with my fellow Stampin' Up friends, so I saved a TON on shipping!) This is a 6" tea tin. The "Hugs & Kisses" stamp from the "All Holidays" set just begged to be attached to a tin full of . . . what else??? Had to make a special trip to the store just to get some!! I embossed the medallion image from "True Friend" with clear embossing powder after I stamped it with Chocolate Chip craft ink. The circles behind it were made with my Creative Memories circle cutter, but you could also use the Coluzzle (which SU sells - and we ALL know we love to show off what SU sells!). The Apple Cider Designer Series paper is just dang yummy! I love it even more in person! Now, if I can just give this baby away before I eat all of those darn kisses . . .

This tin was fun to make. I used the "Autumn Dots" wheel and the "BoHo Friend" wheel with More Mustard and Old Olive ink. I never knew that standard address labels fit so perfectly around those dang delicious Hershey's Nuggets (you'd think I owned stock in Hershey or something, wouldn't ya??)!!! The wheels are the perfect size to lay images down on the labels, too. I suggest masking off the labels and doing one "row" at a time . . . it is easier to see where the edge of the label is if you have an extra piece of paper masking off the rest of the label sheet, too! No problemo, right?? Just lay the paper down and cover up the labels that you don't want ink on (yet . . . 'cause I know you are going to want to cover ALL of the labels with images . . . that means more yummy Nuggets!!).

I am up to card #5 in my "Follow the Butterflies" challenge. This image came to me all the way from AUSTRALIA! My new friend, Anna (annablue on SCS) sent this image to me! I was so excited to color it up and send it on it's way to Devan in Germany! Boy, is that butterfly gonna have some tired wings by the time she gets to Schweinfurt (where my son will give her a new home!)! I colored the image with my non-Copic, plain ol' Stampin' Up markers! I then did three layers of Glassy Glaze (okay, I did ONE layer of clear embossing powder, then decided to do the "cracked glass" technique ) Basically, if you've never done it, you cover your entire image with Versamark, then cover with clear embossing powder or Glassy Glaze; heat set and repeat the process two more times. The Glassy Glaze is a bit thicker and gives a little better result. Once all three layers are done, put the image in the freezer for about 5 minutes. Remove it from the freezer and "break" the image by bending the paper in all directions. You can't see it very well in this picture, but it turned out pretty cool! For some reason, I couldn't get the ink I rubbed over it afterwards with a sponge to sink into the cracks . . . I don't think I "broke" them deeply enough. It still turned out pretty well, though. I immediately sent it to Devan, so he should be getting it by this weekend!!

One last card . . . I learned this neat little trick from JanTink (she rocks AND she likes chocolate when she stamps, too!) . She used a sponge dauber to fill in the tips of these flower images from "Stem Silhouettes". I thought it was sooo dang cute that I HAD to try it!! I used Cameo Coral with just a little bit of Really Rust. I love how it looks when it is finished. I also used my new rectangle Nestabilities on this card! Love, love those! I love how I can "frame" an image with an embossed edge. It really gives an elegant look, don't you think??

Now I just need to go find something to do to distract me from all of the delicious chocolate I have laying around the house!!

More Butterflies and Going Gray . . .

I can't believe I am up to card #4 in my butterfly challenge (although, I shouldn't say that, since I still have 100 to go!!). This one came quickly and easily for some reason. I had forgotten all about this stamp set ("Nature's Secret")!! So, I had an unexpected butterfly. I love the look you get when you use the "diamond row" from "All in a Row" to create "faux" stitching. I am tempted to use it all the time, now, though I try to restrain myself! I actually clear embossed the sentiment, because I ended up using craft ink, and I was getting really impatient for it to dry so I could finish the card!

This card is one I did for WT132 on SCS. I totally love grays with anything in the red family! This is the first "large" square card I have ever made (believe it or not!!). The finished dimensions are 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". I just need to buy me some square envelopes now!! I did use Marvy's giga scalloped circle punch and the mega circle punch. The pomegranate circle is actually cut free-hand, because I just didn't have anything the exact size that I wanted!! (Good thing the photo is forgiving!!) It's hard to see, but I did some paper piercing on the white strip of cardstock! Did I ever mention that I LOVE!! paper piercing??? I reach for my tools all the time!

Flutterby Butterflies

Well, here it is . . . my "Butterfly Challenge" #3 card. I am actually quite surprised at how quickly I did this card (it only took me 10 or 15 minutes, which is a personal best for me, I think!). I was really under the gun to get this one finished for Devan. I have been sending packages to him while he is in Provo at the Missionary Training Center. There is a little place (thanks, Mailbox Express!) that would same-day deliver a package, up to 25 lbs., to the MTC from here in Salt Lake for $10.50, but you have to have the package there by 11:00 a.m. I had been working on a scrapbook of family photos for him to take with him to Germany (he leaves Monday, September 17 - TOMORROW! - for Munich!) I was running out of time, but I wanted to include my newest butterfly creation, so it had to be quick! Since he is leaving tomorrow, last Friday was my LAST chance to get this to him (they don't do the same-day packge thing on Saturdays).

To create the butterflies, I first used a brayer with SU's Pumpkin Pie spectrum pad. I brayered the color onto some vellum. Next, I stamped the butterflies ("Flutterbys") using black craft ink. I then embossed them with clear embossing powder and cut them out. I love how you can see through their wings! The background is Crosshatch, while the sentiment comes from Fundamental Phrases. I cut the card into a circle shape using my new circle cutting system from Creative Memories (which I also LOVE!!) Isn't the ribbon just the cutest?? One of my friends sent that to me (I just wish I could remember which one so that I could properly give her credit! I must be getting old-er!) I thought it went just right with the butterflies! I am still trying to get used to taking photos in my photo box using my Ott-Lite . . . a bit of tweaking still going on my part! I do like how well the colors show up with it, though. Garden Green really looks like Garden Green, as the Pumpkin Pie really DOES look like Pumpkin Pie!

For the scrapbook, I tried to keep it really clean and simple. Each two-page spread is accented with the "Rough Texture" jumbo wheel and a one-inch strip of Real Red cardstock. The page on the left-hand side had the name(s) of the people featured in the layout (in this case, it just says, "my girls" because I didn't have enough room to include everyone's names! I used the Jumbo Outline Alphabet (which is AWESOME, I might add - LOVE it!!) It is kind of hard to see the words here, but I was in a hurry to take these photos! The page on the right-hand side contains one of the definitions from "Define Your Life" with its accompanying letter from "Defining Alphabet." Did I ever mention that these two were my FAVORITES!! I used a TON of those stamps in this scrapbook (a total of 20 stamps - lots to clean!). It was really, really fun!! This first picture was taken when Devan was 11 years old. He is surronded by his cousins, Emily and Alisha, and his Aunt Laurie.

These are Devan's cousins . . . this was taken the morning he left while we were taking photos after my niece, Andrea, got married (congrats Andrea and Dan!). Aren't those girls just beautiful??? I think he will tell all of his new friends in Germany that they are his girlfriends!! I wish the photos of this scrapbook had been taken in my new photo box, but I was really, REALLY pushing my luck with the time (it was about 10:30 a.m. when I took these, which gave me less than 30 minutes to pack and label the box and get it to the courier on time!)

Rockin' Girl Blogger!

Many, MANY thanks to Vicki Garrett (aka summerthyme on SCS) for tagging me with the Rockin' Girl Blogger award! (Hence, the "thank you card" pictured here, which I did as part of a VSN challenge on SCS yesterday . . . actually inked up real leaves to press the images onto the card!) Okay, well, she DID do this forever ago, I just haven't gotten around to doing anything about it! I have actually been "tagged" multiple times and am embarrassed to admit that I never did anything about it! So here is my attempt at responding to the tag (just gotta figure out who I am gonna tag now!). I guess the rules to being tagged include telling seven things about yourself, so here goes:

1. I am a pirate. Well, okay, I WAS a pirate! Honest-to-goodness! I was the mascot for my high school when I was a senior and we were the Cyprus Pirates, so that is what I was! Arrrggghhh!

2. My favorite book of all time is "To Kill a Mockingbird." Honestly, I think it should be required reading at least ONCE a year! Too bad Harper Lee never wrote anything else! (The movie was actually awesome, too!)

3. I have been teaching fitness classes for (GASP!) about 15 years! I started teaching step aerobics and have done everything from weight training to water aerobics to Spinning (which I currently do and LOVE!).

4. One of my other crafy passions is making jewelry. I have been doing it for years and occasionally teach classes at a local jewelry store.

5. I have to admit to a guilty pleasure . . . just LOVE watching American Idol (though my family and I agree that some of those AWFUL people who do totally embarrassing auditions are paid by their friends to go on there and act like idiots!).

6. I have been PTA president four times! People just know I am a sucker and cannot say NO! Actually, I have a friend who has offered to take me to a tattoo parlor every year on my birthday and have the word "NO!" tattooed on my forehead (all I would hafta do is lift up my bangs!).

7. I am a sucker for a movie that makes me cry (which, admittedly, is not hard to do!). Even "The Wizard of Oz" and "Babe" get me going! Don't even TALK about "Old Yeller"!!

Puppy Love

This is another "butterfly" card that I am sending off to Devan. I did it for LSC131, which was actually a 3-part challenge to (1) make a "scene" card, (2) use an animal stamped image that is not necessarily associated with fall/autumn and (3) make a tent-topper card. I have discovered, after making this card, that if you cut a piece of cardstock to 8 1/2" by 4 1/4", fold in in half and put the tent "topper" on it, that it is almost the perfect size to fit in an envelope! I always hesitated to make one because I didn't want to customize an envelope. I used Marvy's giga oval and scallop oval punches, plus the mega oval punch. Also, both of SU's oval punches were used, too! To watercolor the image, I used my reinkers with a blender pen. To make a watercolor image work the best, you MUST use watercolor paper, otherwise the paper will get mushy and the colors will NOT blend well! I just put a little drop off the ink in the lid of the coordinating ink pad, then use my blender pen to apply the color. (Thanks to Kittie747 from SCS for teaching me how to do this way back when!)

Why the Long Absense?

I realize I haven't posted anything on here for a few weeks, but my life has been a bit of a roller coaster! Here is a bit of an expanation (which also happens to be my SECOND post today!) . . .

Our dear, sweet Oma died last Friday. She was 96. We are missing her already. We have had my niece's wedding (which was on Wednesday, in addition to it also being her father's 50th birthday - my birthday was the day before, when we had Oma's funeral). Also, I have been helping prepare my oldest son, Devan, to leave (which he did last Wednesday - same day as wedding and BIL birthday - ya with me so far??) to serve a two-year mission for the LDS Church (sniff! sniff! - he will be serving in Germany - Munich/Austria area).

In addition to being out of town for one reason or another during the whole summer (I realized I was only in town about one week in three!), I have been doing the ordinary get-ready-for-school stuff and keeping the books at our family business, so I was going a little crazy there for a bit! Hopefully, life we be a bit more normal for a while!

While Devan is gone, I have vowed to send him a card a week. Upon further contemplation, I decided to send him a card with at least ONE butterfly image in it every week (that would be, um . . . 104 butterfly cards! Yikes!). The reason for the butterfly is that his nickname, since he was little, is Butterfly Boy (comes from when we were at Lake Powell and his older cousin, Nathan, started teasing him that he looked like a butterfly with his life jacket on - you know the ones with the little pillow flap behind the head? He HATED the name, but grew to love it over time).

Fast forward . . . trying to think of a card that would have butterflies on it and that he would like (he has, after all, only been gone a few days!). My kids and I are fabulous Harry Potter fans. They found some little animated shorts called "Potter Puppet Pals." They are so cute and silly! This card is an homage to one of those animated shorts (which in their later incarnations became actual puppet shows!).

Here is a link to one called "Trouble at Hogwarts":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1yn9mrZELg&mode=related&search=

After watching that, check out this easter egg clip, hidden in "Trouble at Hogwarts":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x64P7t-JtuA

Once you have watched the easter egg clip, this card will make sense (I even stamped the word "Weeee!" on the inside!)

You are now free to go and watch all of the other clips ('cause I know you want to!). My favorite one is called "Bothering Snape". Enjoy! (And this is probably one of the GOOFY-EST looking cards I have every made! But Devan will like it, and that is all that matters!)

(BTW, this last picture is me and Devan the day he left! Amazing that I have any makeup on at all . . . by the end of the day I had cried most of it off!)

TO SEE THE LINKS, JUST COPY AND PASTE THEM INTO YOUR BROWSWER . . . WE WERE HAVING A LITTLE TROUBLE WITH THESE, BUT THEY SEEM TO BE WORKING NOW!

Wow! Card

This is a card I did with my friends in a "Wow" card swap at Convention. There were only four of us, so I only had to cut out four sets of everything. Not too bad! (BTW, hello to Shellee, Cheryl and Charil! It was fun!)

I got the layout idea for this card from Alli Miles . . . she did a really cute green and yellow tractor card with it. Here is the link (but you have to scroll waaaayyyy down - about halfway down the page - if you want to see it!):

http://allistamps.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

Here are the dimensions. The Cameo Coral "base" piece is 5.5" x 8.5". Score a fold at 2 1/8" and 6 3/4". After scoring, make a little mark with a pencil at the center of each of the "short" ends (this is at 2 3/4"). Then, cut from the outer edge on each side of the fold, on the top and on the bottom edges, to make the "points".

Next, to make the rectangular panel, cut a piece that is 5" x 2 1/4" (this is the chocolate chip piece on my card). The layer on top of that is 4 3/4" x 2".

To make the card that slides inside the little "envelope" you have just created, cut a base pieces that is 5 3/8" by 4". You need to cut it a little smaller than the "normal" card size so that it will be easy to slide in and out. Then, you can add layers and embellish to your heart's content! I used the scallop circle punch and the 1 3/8", 1 1/4" AND 3/4" circle punches on mine. The stamp sets used were "Think Happy Thoughts", "Polka Dot" bg stamp and "Sanded" bg stamp.