Ogres Have Layers ...

Once again I got to take a turn at being Challenge Hostess over on SCS. Today's challenge was all about layers ... ogres have layers, onions have layers ... even Royal Wedding Cakes have layers (all right ... I know that's a stretch, but since today is THE Royal Wedding I had to take a shot at it!!)

Basically, the challenge is all about adding layers using punches, diecuts and whatever else you have hiding in your stash of supplies. (And I KNOW you have the punches, you HAVE the diecuts, you HAVE the technology - and for those of you old enough to remember "The Six Million Dollar Man" that last line shoulda put a smile on your face - and for those of you who AREN'T old enough ... don't even ask!!)!

This first card was inspired by my good friend, and fellow Dirty Girl - America Kuhn. She is a WIZARD at layering. Everything she does looks great, see?:

America's Baby Card

Stamps: Cheep Talk, Nursery Necessities
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Rebecca DSP
Ink: So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, EK Success ZigZag Stitch Border Punch, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Button, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder, Pop-Up Glue Dots

And this second sample is just something I came up with for my cousin's little boy. His birthday is coming up soon and I need to get this in mail! It's a little busy, but primary colors are fun with little choo-choo trains!!

Stamps: Choo Choo, Family Phrases, Right On Track (wheel)
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point
Accessories: Scallop Square Nestabilities, Inverted Scallop Square Nestabilities, Scallop Circle Nestabilities, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Basic Black Twill Tape, Tim Holtz Bricked Embossing Folder, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Paper Punched Flowers Tutorial

FINALLY!! As promised ... I was able to get my production staff (aka one of my kids) to take a little bit of time out of their oh-so-busy lives to help me film this tutorial. I dare say my son did a pretty good job, but he learned a few things and will be even BETTER next time around!! I need to grow longer fingers ... and longer fingernails ... seems my hands match my feet ("Fred Flintstone-ish!" Yabba-Dabba-DOO!)!

These paper flowers are really fun to make. Not that difficult, and they add a LOT to whatever you are doing ... 'cept, maybe a "dude" card!



Stamps: Dream Gardens
Paper: Concord Crush, Pale Plum, Very Vanilla
Ink: Concord Crush
Accessories: 5-Petal Flower Punch, Fancy Flower Punch, Nestabilities Labels Four, 3/4" Circle Punch, EK Success Tulips Border Punch, Paper Crimper, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Pearl Stickers, Pop-Up Glue Dots

All in the Family

Here it is, Easter Weekend ... and I have sooo much to be grateful for. Not the least of which is that I have my whole family home and living under one roof ... what a blessing!! (Oldest son returned home from college for the summer.)

I also have the blessing of so many wonderfully-terrific friends. Yesterday, one of my BFF's in the world - Cheryl - actually took the entire day off of work to come over and play with me!! What a great day!! We started off by running to our favorite scrapbook store (which is, sadly, closing soon) to do a little shopping. Found the ca-YOOT-est placemats for my Easter dinner table. Then, we stopped off to pick up some food (a turkey burger??? Honest, it was delicious!). Once we were back at home, we started working on this family frame project ... punches, diecuts, paper, ribbon, brads ... we spared NOTHING!!! Thanks to Dawn Derrick for her AWESOME frame that inspired our project:

Dawn's Family Frame at Perrywinkle Press

And here is Cheryl's:

Cheryl's Family Frame

Then, we headed back out to do a little more shopping. We landed at our OTHER favorite scrapbook store, with a stop off at Home Goods to look for some white dishes to go with our newly-found springtime placemats (actually, I was looking for them - she already had some!). I scored place settings for 12 at Tuesday Morning ... total cost?? $60!!! LOVE when you can find a deal on what you NEED!!

What a GREAT day!!! Thanks, Cheryl, for being my BFF ... so blessed to have you in my life!!

Stamps: Together Forever, Define Your Life
Paper: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Red Glitter Paper, Night and Day DSP, Rockabilly DSP, Slumber Party DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Cricut Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge, Scribbles and Swirls Sizzlets Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, MS Double Loop Border Punch, Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet Punch, Petal Card Punch, Heart to Heart Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Slit Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, Rhinestone Jewels, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Red Glimmerz Brads, Fluerettes, Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Glue Dots

Happy Easter, all!!

How'd You DO That??? Border Rounder!

After having posted my creations for the Control Freaks Tour the other night I have received multiple requests to show you HOW I made the border punch work in a circle ... so here goes nothin'!! I just recently learned how to do this myself, thanks to a Technique Lover's Challenge over on SCS. So I decided to pass it along to all you good people ...

First, punch a strip of paper using your favorite border punch. (I usually start with an 11" strip ... sometimes I need the whole thing, sometimes I only use part, and sometimes I need TWO strips ... it just depends on the size of your circle/oval).






Next, snip triangular-shaped notches from the bottom edge of your strip ...






Then, using a term I am borrowing from my many years of sewing, "ease" the strip into a more rounded shape (it's kinda like scrunching/"forcing" the straight piece to go all curvy!) ...



Add adhesive to the back edge of your circle, and attach your edge piece as shown. Take your time and let the paper have its way ... it'll eventually "bend" to your will (and the will of the adhesive!)!




Finally, add any additional punched strips, as needed, to complete the circle. Ta-DA!! That's it!! And, as you can see from my sample, I "double-dipped" ... couldn't resist adding a second Border Rounder (which is kind of a dumb name, but I think it pretty much describes what you are doing!!)

And you know how when you are vacuuming and you can't get the vacuum to pick up a little piece of whatever ... so you bend down, pick up the offending piece, examine it, then throw it back down on the carpet to give the vacuum cleaner another go at it??? Wouldn't it just be easier to pick the stinkin' thing up and throw it away (or at the very least stuff it in your pocket??)?? Same thing happened when I was making this card. Could NOT find the second butterfly I stamped for this card. Looked and looked and LOOKED for it!! Coulda soooo easily just diecut and stamped another one ... but NOoooooo! HAD to find it!! Guess where it was??? Stuck to the back of my stinkin' border-rounded oval!!! Sheesh!!

Stamps: Easter Blossoms, Well Scripted
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Bigz Beautiful Butterflies Die, Wide Oval Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, MS Double Loop Border Punch, Double Scallop Corner Punch (Marvy), Flower Garden Textured Impressions Folder, Rhinestone Jewels, Whisper White Satin/Organza Ribbon, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Oh ... and by the way ... I'm STILL making a video on how to do the roses I posted last week ... I just haven't had my film crew (aka one of my teenagers!) home long enough to hold the camera!! It's a-comin' ...

Summertime, and Livin' is Freeeakkk-yyyyy ...

Welcome to the Control Freaks Summer Mini Preview Tour!! You should have just come from the uber-incredible blog of my good friend, Mary Brown! Ohmygosh!!! Did she just totally BLOW YOU AWAY with her use of the Fabulous Florets set??? She is the whole reason I even OWN this thing!!

First off, I am going to do my best to give this set its due justice ... I was not EVEN gonna buy it when I saw it in the preview of the Summer Mini ... I was kinda feelin' like been-there/done-that ... WRONG!! I added a little bleach to these flowers to make them pop a bit more. I am going to have a LOT of fun playing with this set, that's for sure!!

Stamps: Fabulous Florets
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black Craft, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Circle Scissor, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Pearl Jewels, Dimensionals

Next, I am using yet ANOTHER one of my mui-fave-fab sets that is soon-to-be-available to all y'all ... The Open Sea. I {{heart}} this set, the DSP, the baker's twine ... ALL of it!!!

Stamps: The Open Sea, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, So Saffron, Nautical Expedition DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, So Saffron, Marina Mist
Accessories: Circle Scissor, Ticket Corner Punch, Large Oval Punch, Curly Label Punch, Spiral Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Early Espresso 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Antique Brads, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

And last, but CERTAINLY not least ... this little Ghirardelli Chocolate Box is for my BFF, Jan ... also known as the infamous JanTink - who is celebrating her 50th birthday by participating in this Blog Tour (you go, girl!!)! Since chocolate is a diet staple (as Jan always points out to me!), I figured she DESERVED some for her birthday ... and if that weren't ENOUGH ... the little postage stamps that are wrapping her chocolate squares have been adhered to a magnet sheet ... so she can put them on her fridge and remember how much her friend loves her!!! Happy Birthday, friendy!!! (And YES, this little box IS on its way to ya!!)

Stamps: Pretty Postage
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Garden Green
Ink: Melon Mambo, Garden Green
Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch, Scallop Square Punch, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding, Paper Crimper, Acetate

Next stop??? The equally fabulous Patty Bennett! There are sooo many bright, lovely colors in her projects that spring is SURE to show up!!

The Same ... But Different ...

Today's challenge over on SCS was to create two cards using the same image/supplies. Okay, you have all heard me say (recently, in fact), that "dude" cards are really a struggle for me. And TWO dude cards using the same stuff??? Yikes!!

This is what I came up with. I actually am really LOVING this Nautical Expedition DSP. I will probably have to buy at least ONE more package of it. At least it gives me a "jumping off" place for making a guy card!





Here is a close up of the "vertical" one ...











And here is the "horizontal" one ...

Keywords: TLC321 SUO Masculine
Stamps: The Open Sea, Punch Pals
Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Nautical Expedition DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Early Espresso 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage Brads, Pop-Up Glue Dots



Don't miss this month's Control Freaks Blog Tour, either ... it should be up and rollin' by tomorrow night!!!



Gotta dash ... 'cause I'm REALLY gonna be late for work. Good thing I'm my own boss, or I'd hafta fire myself, right??!!??

Hey, Dude ...

I think a lot of you know how I feel about making "dude" cards ... they are just such a challenge for me. I like flowers ... and ribbon tied into a bow ... and blingy stuff ...

I struggled with this card. The challenge on SCS yesterday (WT318) was to incorporate "people" into your card. First of all, I don't own a lot of "people-y" images. Again, I like flowers ... which is always so glaringly obvious when I try to reach out of my comfort zone and try to attempt a "dude" card or something. Since this card was for a 10-year-old boy's birthday (Happy Birthday, Parker!), I knew flowers weren't gonna cut it ...

The layout is pretty funky, as are the colors. And my friend pointed out to me that the baker's twine/paper clippy thing kinda looks like a fishing lure ("But I like it!," she said.) I suppose she's right ... I guess I need to stretch myself more often, and then MAYBE these types of cards will get easier ... maybe ...

I'm off with my hubby later today to fly down to Mesquite, Nevada (in our red airplane me and my daughter so affectionately call "Clifford") to spend a good portion of tomorrow (Saturday) taking scouts on short little flights for the Young Eagles program. The weather is supposed to be GLORIOUS!!! Can't wait!!

Stamps: Extreme Surfboard, Extreme Guitar, Extreme Skateboard, Extreme Elements, Smarty Pants
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight
Ink: Real Red, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Accessories: Circle Cutter, Wide Oval Punch, Paper Distressing Tool, Cuttlebug Checkerboard Embossing Folder, Mini Clip, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Silver Brads, Pop-Up Glue Dots

A Rose for You

I'm really liking making these paper roses (okay, this reminds me of the Marie Osmond song from the 1970's ... which really dates me ... and if you've never heard it before I'm just gonna pretend that I don't know how much younger than me you are!!) ... I think I wore that record out - belting at the top of my lungs "Paaaa-per Rooo-ses ... (and if you don't know what an actual RECORD is, I'm REALLY gonna pretend that I don't know how much younger than me you are!!)

I did this for TLC320 over on SCS. It was to adapt your straight border punch by notching the bottom edge of your already-punched strip so that you can "mold" it into a circular or oval shape. Pretty cool, eh? Here's a link to a little tutorial on how to do it:

Shelly Schmidt's "Punched Circle" Edge Tutorial

I also plan on doing a video on how to make the paper flowers REALLY soon ... stay tuned!! :)

We have been a one-car family this past week 'cause one of our cars is having some work done. My husband looked at the fuel gauge in the car the other day when I was driving him to work and said, "Where have you been driving? You're almost out of gas already ... " Really?? Seriously???? Like I wasn't already enough of a "Taxi Mom"??? Now I'm driving EVERYONE pretty much EVERYWHERE (including my hubby)! It's amazing how that happens ... if only I had a convertible and some sunshine to go with all this driving!!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Teahouse (background), Silhouette Sentiments
Paper: Basic Black, Rose Red, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Scallop Square Bigz Die, MS Arched Lattice Border Punch, Fancy Flower Punch, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, Scallop Trim Corner Punch, Black/White Gingham Ribbon, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Embedded Embossing

First off, I'd like to give a great big thanks and a hug to all of you for all of your lovely comments, thoughts and prayers for the sympathy card I made for my cousin. I had so many lovely personal e-mails, too. You are all the BEST! Thank you from the bottom of my heart ...

It was once again my turn to hostess the Free for All challenge over on SCS. I was having a hard time thinking up anything, and then I remembered a technique I've been seeing around lately ... one I had never tried, so I just decided to go for it. I guess you would call this embedded embossing. The basic premise is to put layers/shapes together on one layer by embossing them all at the same time. I know that sounds kinda dumb the way I worded it, but I think the pictures speak for themselves!!

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Concord Crush, Whisper White, In Color DSP
Ink: Concord Crush
Accessories: 5-Petal Flower Punch, Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet Punch, 1" Circle Punch, Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder, White Baker's Twine, Assorted Buttons, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Here's one more I did ... somehow, I had envisioned this differently. The newsprint DSP didn't turn out to look as good as I had thought it would, but I guess it's okay ...

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, First Edition DSP
Ink: Rose Red
Accessories: Lattice Bigz Die, Finial Press Textured Impressions Folder, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Medium Oval Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder, Big Designer Button, Scallop Border Punch

By the way, stay tuned for a tutorial on how I made the flowers for the sympathy card I posted on Wednesday HERE ... they are really much easier than they look!!

Heartache and Loss ...

Making a sympathy card for the death of a loved one is never an easy task. It is especially hard when that loved one is a young person ...

So goes this tale of this card. My cousin's 21-year-old son was killed in a car accident last week. He had only been married for 7 short months. This young man has had a long and difficult medical history. Through all his trials he remained faithful and strong. He was a kind young man who spent much of his time in the service of others. My heart just aches for his parents and his brother and sisters ... and particularly his young wife.

God be with you 'til we meet again, Reed ...

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Paper: Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Fancy Flower Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Double Scallop Corner Punch (Marvy), Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Folder, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Pearls, Paper Crimper, Glue Dots

Baby Bargello

After you have been making cards for a while you kinda get into a groove ... find your own style You get to a point where you feel like you've "been there/done that" ... which has been happening to me a LOT lately!! It is only once in a blue moon that i see something that is "new" to me, or that I think is super cool and fun. That is how this bargello technique has been for me. I've seen a lot of "quilted" backgrounds done in a lot of different ways, but I love the uniqueness of this technique, and how easy it really is to do.

Here is a link to a tutorial done by Joan Ervin over on SCS. Totally LOVE it!!

Joan's Bargello Tutorial

Ii actually did this as a sample to teach my Stamp Club ladies. It looks like it's going to be tricky, which can be overwhelming. My friends were glad to see that it was also easy to do. Gotta love THAT!

By the way, Mother Nature is messing with my psyche ... I was admiring the pansies, daffodils and hyacinths that have been making their way out this past week. Then ... BAM!! I woke up yesterday morning to this view out my front door ... while I'll have to admit that snow IS purdy, I am reaaaallllllyyyy getting ready for something new, aren't you??? ('cept if you are in the southern hemisphere, then you are just coming in to winter!!)

Off to start a new day ... enjoy your Monday everyone!!

Stamps: Punch Bunch
Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Play Date dsp (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Real Red, So Saffron, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Square Lattice and Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folders, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Large and Small Tag Punches, Pop-Up Glue Dots