I'm No Angel

My name is Marley and I am not an angel. I get in the garbage and pee on my mom's foot when she tries to make me do something I don't want to do like go outside to play. I always have to be beside her and whine and cry. I think she is on to me....She really yelled at me tonight because I tripped her-her leg hurts now. She didn't give me a treat or even a bit of her sammy.

She dressed me in this stupid thing. It was actually my brother Clancy's costume from last year. He died right before Halloween and didn't get to wear this . I miss him. I think mom does too. I was Darth Vader last year. She wanted me to be Superman but it didn't fit. I can fly off the deck after the squirrel tho. So I try. Now I am sulking in my chair. I still want a treat. I helped give out goodies to some kids and they rubbed my nose. Then it rained. And now I smell funky. Sigh.

I think I will go lay on her bed and get it all warm for mom. She has a heated pad and its pretty cozy. Maybe mom will read to me from her stamp magazines-she likes those and they have pretty pictures. She put this stupid costume in a plastic bag just now. So I hope I never see it again. I don't like the seat belt in the car either. I am just a little boy doggie, I guess.

Merry Thanksgivoween

Just for the record-I saw a home decorated with lights and holiday leaves last Saturday. All ablaze. Why bother to take it down anymore.

Like Hangman? Look to the right side bar and click on the skeleton and turn up your speakers while you play! Have a scary day!!

What Is Up With Google Lately?

I post something and it shows up three or four times and if I leave a comment, it gets doubled too. I am even getting multiple postings in my Google Reader and will never get caught up if this keeps happening.

Back to the games-the NBA is back!

Thinking Of You BWR

This was a new use of some ribbon. It's not tied in a traditional way. I took the two pieces and laid them on top of each other and over lapped them in the inside and just taped them flat with my Trio runner. Then I took another piece of the dotted ribbon and slid it under the two layers and tied it. I could then slide this "bow" up and down to find where it looked best. I like this way as I cannot in any way screw it up!

Starting with a red textured card stock I edged in black ink. In the process, I also got ink all over me , but remember I am stamping by candlelight. So I also got some smudges on my red stamped image piece outside the vase. It's okay as I dabbed my finger into a winter white ink pad and tapped to disguise it.

Unfortunately, the winter white dried to almost a dog peed-on-the-snow white. It really shows in real life. Enlarge this and you will see it on the left of the phrase near the bottom. I also did this on two other cards. But I hate to throw anything away-so I continued.

All my smaller edges are inked in black-the printed piece underneath is some leftover parts of a set of paper that was all black and white patterned card stock. They were also razor distressed too. I also used a stamped image of a vase pop dotted as before and covered it with acrylic accents. The flowers were inked in red and then tiny crystals were added as flower centers. I stamped a small message at the bottom before this whole layer was added to the base card but a run-on would work too.

Off to weightlifting class. I am already sore, so what's a little more. (oohh that rhymes!)

Redrawing A New Winner

Since DoverDi did not answer, I redrew. The name is Mara G. If she does not answer, I am not sure what to do. 50% of the names left no way to contact them whether thru a blog or email. Any ideas or do I just keep adding a name until it's claimed?

I am still waiting on Tamara Wheeler, too from the other contest, so let's get a move on, ladies. I am only making one trip to the PO (akin to traveling to hell).

Last Call--Where Are My Runners Up?

Last call on my 2 runners up in this guessing game. I heard from Cathy right away but Doverdi and Angel Wilde have not left me anything yet. You both have til 9PM Monday night. Then I draw again.

Three Cheers For The Red, White and.....

Black!

Tamara Wheeler was the first to post with the correct answer!

And because only one person got my last clue-newspapers-I will be sending Melissas a bitty thing too.

Both you ladies need to email me your stuff-look under the profile and you will see an email link.

I will be reshooting this photo tomorrow in sunlight-I got some horrible strobing off the backdrop for some reason tonight and this was the only good one-and its kinda bad. I just wanted to get the winners up! See ya!

ETA-reshot photo!

All edges were distressed in black and layered on red.The black vase was stamped, cut and pop dotted after flowers were stamped in red on the white and topped with "real" flowers and white brads. The vase has the large white dots with a little acrylic accents on them.

2PEAS-How Many of You Shop With Them?

I found some confusing items in a couple of blogs I read and thought it might be prudent to post the links here. I am a member of 2Peas but have never purchased anything from them. I don't know what sort of security they have on their site either. It does concern me a bit, so I thought I would let you all decide for yourself.


Here was the first I read of it.

And then I went exploring and found this.

This is the retort on 2 Peas. You must be logged in to view this link, I think.

Here is their terms of use in case you are concerned.

I am not taking side on this, but wanted to let others know what is up.

Golden Bleached Leaves

I really wasn't sure of this product at first. I heard all the buzz about the Castaway pad in the magazines and on the Internet but the local stores did not have it right away. Finally Stacey got it in and had a demo of it. This is my first time using the pad and I hope to do more with it soon. I can see my boo boo and also I have a lot of white core paper which it wont work on. You must have pure color paper so from what I read, SU card stock should work really well.

To heat this card, I used a hot iron after letting it sit a while. I can see where the ink was a bit too drippy on the right side.The intensity of the bleach out was dramatic in some spots and barely there in others. It almost has an embossed look. You can also use a heating gun for another effect. Just be careful to let it sit a bit before heating. Read more here.

Here is a close look at the card and you will see I also chalked around the aperture and the leaf inside is also chalked with various colors for a true fallish look. The card itself was a pre-cut card which I think Marco's carries and can be mail ordered. I lastly clipped off the back of a button from Dress It Up (available at Micheal's or online here).

So the herbs are frozen (except a few strands of chives) and gnome has hunkered down for the duration. Hopefully, he will return and bring friends next spring. I may get those special cards up tomorrow and perhaps announce a winner in the color contest. If you still want to guess, go here.

Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde

My Hot Date with George

I have been wanting to see the new George Clooney flick since it came out a few weeks ago. Finally, there was a situation where we had nothing pressing in the morning, so we could go to the later showing where we knew it would not be crowded. And I had a coupon for free popcorn!

So my review of the film? I don't know. We never got there. Thanks to some dumb a** who decided to half kill himself drinking and driving at almost 100 miles an hour on the freeway, I spend the last 2 and a half hours driving up I75 going but 4 miles. Yes, only 4 miles and then I was routed off to turn around and come home. A stretch that would have taken me three minutes of normal driving took me 150 minutes. Thank the freeway gods there was a rest stop in between which we got off at, I peed and right back on after a short conversation with an off duty State Popo-who was on his way to the casino (and hopefully not driving as HE had been imbibing a bit).

Here is what is posted online with a short video. The actual accident is right near the exit ramp where I was to get off for the flick. I honestly don't get why anyone who wants to kill themselves has to have an audience. I feel so bad for the unhurt driver of the semi who is now traumatized for life. Thankfully, no one else was harmed as this is an especially crowded time and area with a huge outlet mall at this exit and several football playoff games in the vicinity, too. It will be interesting to get the stats on this driver as Michigan has had hit or miss dealings with drunk drivers.

There was a bit of humor in this-it was drizzling rain and rather balmy. Just as I had to pee-so did another woman. She apparently told the driver of her car to drop her off at the rest area and keep on going, since traffic was only putzing along and she would catch up to it. When she got back on the freeway walking on the side, she could not find her passage, so she is doing an "Ozzie" on the cell phone-cursing she is NOT walking home to Mount Morris. What was funny about this? She was walking AWAY from Mount Morris!

ETA-Saw the movie late Saturday night after pizza at Uno's. Thumbs up and quite unique and intelligent. A-. Tom Wilkinson should get a nomination for supporting actor and the soundtrack was melancholy at times and intense at others. James Newton Howard is a favorite of mine. Many of you will recognize his theme to ER. As the end credits roll, the emotions running over Clooney's face tell quite a story. But leave anyone under 12 home.

Love Love Love

Here is another one from the vault. This wordy tape is from the same company that made the one I used on this card. There was also a sheet of die cuts to go with this and I usually don't get matching items but liked this. The card stock was interesting to me-it was already sewn on the edges (I used three different pieces and styles for this card). I didn't have to drag out the monster Singer (which I have since replaced after 30+ years-donated it last fall to a garage sale to raise funds for an international adoption-pretty Rosa !).

So now I can actually sew on paper and card stock if I want to as I have 2 machines! One a cheapie just for paper crafting and another a few steps up for clothing. I don't like sewing machines that sew themselves as all the fun is gone. If I need to embroider or do needlepoint or quilting, I will do it by hand as I learned when young. I am so looking forward to making Halloween costumes for my grand kids someday as I did with my own kids years ago. Wish I had kept them instead of selling them tho. The ET one was the best!

I edged all the card stock pieces with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Aged Mahogany as it just seemed to match so well with the paper. The base is a plain white card and the pieces are layered on. For the bracket in the front (a die cut) with Love You on it, I popped some brads thru the ends and cut them off on the back before gluing them down. I don't like things showing on the inside and this works for me. The printed word tape (another die cut piece) covers the seam of the papers nicely and then I took the die cut heart, edged that with ink and tied a piece of ribbon to the top of the heart before placing it behind the bracket. You could also staple it for a nice effect.

This card is a different take on the typical Valentine card as it's dark and not sparkly so it's good to give a male recipient. It used scraps well and is pretty easy to make.

Finally-A Winner!!

Ha ha ha...bet ya thought it was the guessing game about the color combo. Nope, no winner yet. Jeez-all the clues are there. Keep trying.

Anyways, I am talking about this guessing game-the one to see who could correctly select what the local wazoos would pick for best frog card. Remember that eons ago? I updated the slow moving train here. Finally packed my butt into the heated roller skate and went trekking to Waterford as my inquires were all getting no where. I don't know when the contest ended but only two entrants were still on the board. Mine and the winner. Is that a clue to who won?

No name on the card who won only that she/he received 12 votes. As for the rest of us, Nada. Did I get any votes at all? How many cards were there beyond the original 6? It would be nice to have a little validation but....... Too late.

So 25 people punched in here. A couple left no number vote at all. Several said several numbers. Do you guys always vote like that? No wonder Bush boy won. Yikes! What was needed was one vote is as to how I voted and one vote to who actually won.

There was one correct voter and she will win a nice tidy prize I am selecting when I get off this buzzy contrapton. The bestest voter on this is Cathy Meyers! She picked that I voted for #1 and that #1 would also win.

I then placed all the ones who picked that I chose number 1 and into the randomizer they went. And #7 Doverdi was selected as the 2nd prize winner.

Okay, I feel sorry for all you weird voters out there. Remind me never to run for election in your towns. I put all the other remaining names with numbers into the random selector-even those who left the selection vote blank. And out pops #8 Angel Wilde!!

So all three ladies need to contact me thru the email listed under my profile. Let me know by Sunday otherwise I draw again.And don't forget to go enter my color contest. Some of ya got two of the three right. And sign my guest book too so I can see where everyone is from. Many entries have no blogs to poke thru and I like poking, so if you have a website or blog, let us see them!

Wanna Guess Again?

Go to previous post and try try again. I need a winner here!

I Be Busy Tonight...Try Again??

I am stamping in the dark---well, by candlelight anyways. Just trying to be quiet and get some cards made. Maybe I will get them photographed and up this week. So wanna guess what colors (3 of them) I am using? First correct guesser gets something special in their mailbox. Let me know by Friday!

ETA-I am using plain old one worded colors-I have no idea what card stock SU colors are as I have never purchased any. So give me generic names-you know, like the original box of crayons from grade school.

ETA-NO ONE IS REMOTELY CLOSE!

ETA-Newspaper

Holiday Trio

I am soooooo tired. I was baking breads today and found a bug-in my pantry. So while baking, I cleaned out and scrubbed two pantries and all my cabinets and threw stuff away that I was not taking a chance with and then baked more with what was left. I made cookies too--and a big pot of carrot soup--and some Indian lentils with brown rice for dinner with Naan. It sure smells good in here but my back is killing me.

I did not get the cards photographed as I promised from last night but be sure to go take a guess on my color combo here .

Tonight you get a card I made last fall-I always stamp out of season. This is from Hero Arts.

This is a pretty easy card to figure out and it uses up scraps as usual. I personally think this one would make a great check or money holder as its about the right size for that. See you later this week but go guess before I put the cool samples up.

Emails Feeds Are Out The Door....

I have been getting over 400 feeds everyday. Many times I would get 2, 3, 4 or more of the same one because Feedblitz sucks! If I tried to add a new feed, it sometimes took two minutes to connect and I have DSL! Then I had to opt in and wait for that to apply. So I tried Feedburner which is part of Google and I really like that a lot but I had a hard time transferring so many feeds. I worked on it for several hours and just said-fergedabodit.

So Allison kept raving about Google Reader and I tried it for a few days. I had a few issues with it but I think I like it. So Saturday instead of cleaning house or going for a movie, I started transferring all my must reads over. I got 178 transfers done so far. Some I have to wait for because people only update sporadically.

I just want you to know that I am not un-subbing from your feeds! I am just moving them to a new location--moving on up maybe? I am NOT sending any of you to the cleaners. So ignore that unsubscribe notice you might get and soon I will have a new icon on my side bar for you to check out some of my shares.

Now I gotta go cook something-the sofa slug is on his way home. Hmmmm-Punjab Lentils with Rice sounds yum-o!

Free Tacos?

Many Americans will be wagering on this week's baseball World Series. For Taco Bell, the stakes are a free taco for everyone in the United States.

The fast-food chain on Monday unveiled a promotion it is calling "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco," which will run through the best-of-seven matchup.

"Millions and millions of people will be watching the Series and hopefully tuning in to see when they are going to get their taco," said Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch.

There has been at least one stolen base in every World Series matchup since 1990. When the first base is stolen, the unit of Yum Brands Inc, will announce a Tuesday afternoon when consumers will be able to walk into the chain's participating 5,800 outlets and ask for a free taco. Anyone who walks into a participating outlet during the give-away period would be eligible for a free taco.

Despite the promotion's name, stealing the taco will not be required.

A Wish From The Heart

What does Penny Black really look like? Anybody know? Or is she an imaginary person who's name just sounded cool on some rubber stamps. If you "Google" Penny Black Stamps, a bunch of postage stamps from the UK come up as links! I just cant get enough of her images and phrases-especially the calligraphy ones (I am working on some of those).

This is a pretty simple card really. I stamped both the image and the phrase stamps on white card stock that has flecks of silver embedded in it. It was colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol and I Stickled the bow with glitter. Then I ran the edge of the dried piece over a dark red ink pad to add a little depth. This was layered on olive green textured card stock with pop dots. Under this I laid a piece of thin gold metallic paper and all this went on a dark burgundy folded textured card.

Using a Trio Tape Runner from Judikins, I applied a piece of ribbon across the bottom and cut it off even on the sides. Normally I would want more sparkle on this but I think the image needs to be center stage and the black background I photographed it on lets that show thru.

Jan-ology

If you care to, check out my other blog for my newest tag. It may not be every one's cup of tea but I am trying to keep cards and life a page apart here. If you only want cards, then don't click here .

A World of Good Wishes

I wish I could do this one over-it's pretty bland. The mirror card behind the image shows better in real time but photographing it was not fun-too much glare. I also disliked the way the inked edges bled. I need to invest in better card stock maybe? Or the ink pad was too juicy.

Bear turned out nice tho-I used Gamsol with my Prismacolors and a bit of Stickles on the quarter moon. These are Penny Black Stamps and if I ever win the lottery, I am buying every one I can get my hands on along with all the House Mouse images that just came out this summer.

This is a Christmas card but maybe calling it a Winter Holiday card will give it more life. I think of a young child taking in the wonder of the holidays-and it transcends all religions and just a child's joy shows thru.

The Great Paisley Finish!

So here was my favorite of the 4 I made. Why? Because I like top folding cards. I like off set cards that aren't perfectly centered. I like the goofy way I stamped the envelope. But the number one reason I liked this card best??

My ribbon tied so nice! I struggle with ribbons all the time and I just love love love them! But I can't tie a knot without saying Ozzy Osbourne words. So when this one laid flat the first time and just looked like I thought it should, I was sooooooo happy!

Now I am going to be mesmerized by the weather radar and the continuing storms. No sleep tonight!

Paisley Treasure

This was my least favorite of the 4 cards I made. I think it's pretty easy to figure it out as I used the same inks, papers and stamp set as the previous two listed this week.

I did embellish my envelope on this one. Besides the stamping on it, I also ran a small slice of the textured paper along the flap of the envelope. You can see it if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it.

My favorite will be posted later this week of the class set. So come back then and take a look. I overdid it at the weight room tonight so my hot water bottle is screaming my name big time. Nitey nite.

Imagine Paisley

Here for your enjoyment is another paisley card from the unstructured class I took a while back-read about it here. And also read my self constructed class rules here. Feel free to add your own if you are so inclined.

Now this card has a cool wave, don't ya think? If only I had used one of those hot new pink curvy rulers that I have seen in the stores. I finally broke down and bought a generic one in the art department because I was not spending mucho bucks on the same thing only because it's pink-I don't like pink. My grey one works the same. And my waves look better than free hand ever did. But this card was before the ruler.

As you see, I stamped with several stamp images from the set listed previously and used the same inks on white after cutting my wave. Those blue dots-pencil eraser ends dipped in ink. I cut my wave and then lined up another piece of textured Tsumugi paper behind it and just nudged it up a bit to show as a lip over the white and cut the wave for it. This wave was layered on more Tsumugi-just the paper was going a different direction for the base card.

The paisley square was a larger flat square plain image stamp that was covered with ink and then the word and the paisley stamps were kissed off to leave bare spots where I stamped. I then applied the inked image to the white. This white piece was trimmed, added to a green scrap and pop dotted to my card. I will have a couple more to show you later this week using this same paper, stamps and inks.

Scrapbook Habitat--The Documentery

Courtesy of Love Your Life

ETA-This is NOT my hubby! I did NOT make this video! Visit the above link to see the real culprits and thank them!

Taking Or Giving Classes??? Wise Up Here!!!!

Dana has been asked to teach a class and when she saw my post last night about a not so great class I took, she asked me for some tips. I am not an expert and the only classes I ever gave were as a GS leader back in the 80's (I was the craft lady at Day Camp) and playing around at my SIL's with her kids and nephews. But I take a lot of classes-some for the ideas, and some for the socializing. It also helps to get the juices going when you are in a rut-plus the 10% off class day is an okay thing too. Believe me, I never pay retail-could I be part Jewish? Or would the Jewish community think I was a lightweight? It's the Scot in me a wee bit, I think.

So some rules---as a teacher or demonstrator.

1. Show up prepared. If you are teaching something, don't read the directions to yourself and try to figure it out as we are all staring at you with mouths agape. At least read the directions and put together the card, book, page, whatever once on your own-before class!
2. If you are using a prepacked kit, know what is in it, what each thing is for, and have some extra parts in case we make a mistake--and we will, believe me.
3. Know how to speak English unless you are doing a class for a group who does not speak English.
4. Don't hold up the class because so and so said she might come. If she hasn't paid you, she ain't coming. If she has paid you and said she will be late, don't penalize the other 9 ladies who are on time or maybe early by screwing up our time table for the afternoon.
5. If you allotted 2 hours and find yourself way behind, don't rush thru the rest of the class and make us feel bad. If a card is taking so long, you need to rethink how you got the idea across for next time. But admit to the class takers its taking a long time, and ask us how to handle it. Some of us may be open to staying longer and others may have a sitter at home they need to get to. Don't just tell us to hurry up because you have another class right behind us.
6. Don't smoke, don't eat, don't drown yourself in perfume before the class.
7. Hang up the phone or get someone else to answer it-we paid for your undivided attention.
8. If you are sick, stay home and reschedule the class. I don't need your germs. And if you have a sub teacher----for god's sake, make her open the paper packs before hand so she knows what she is doing. Don't have your teenage daughter do it for you. Hire someone who does this as a rule.
9. Do know that you will have different levels of experience in your class. Some newbies, so middle of the pack and some who will know more that you do (and may tell you they do, so be nice and roll your eyes so they can't see but I can :).
10. If we are sharing inks, powders, stamps etc, make sure there is an even distribution at the table. If you only have one ink pad for the entire table or one stamp image, it gets crazy. Also have some of the class supplies on hand to BUY or offer a special order if you can.
11. Enjoy yourself-if you aren't happy, then we aren't happy and why are you doing this anyways? Tell your students thanks for coming-and you hope they were happy too.

Now taking classes is a whole other ball of wax-or pad of ink or pot of powder. I love taking classes if they are fun and informative and I have happy people around me. Here are some rules for the students.

1. Show up at least 10 minutes early and take your place at the table and get ready. Go potty now! (this one is for me-potty queen)
2. Turn off the cells, say hi to all of us and don't hold places. Some of the students may be lefties and need to be on the ends otherwise you may get an elbow when you least expect it.
3. If the class sheet said to bring your own stuff-like glues, scissors, pens, anything like that--and they usually say at least bring your own fav adhesive-bring it. Don't borrow mine. I may not be able to get mine at the place if I run out-and I am very picky about my glues and tapes- go buy a new one if you forgot or better yet, bring your stuff from home.If you are interested in what I am using, ask me after class and if the store carries it. I know the stores I like inside and out-isn't that sad?
4. We need to start the class on time, so don't ask to hold up for so and so. I have an hour's drive for most classes and need to get home before night time. So and so may not show up and then we are all behind. If she is late, she can make up or catch up or we can show her what to do.
5. No perfumes, no smoking, no eating at the table. If you smoke, air yourself out before you come inside. Allergies are not fun, neither is asthma.
6. Pay attention-if you don't understand the directions, ask. Don't be gossiping and not listening, so the teacher is saying the same thing over and over just for you. She is rolling her eyes behind your back and others are laughing at your childishness. Pay attention.
7. If you are really confused--maybe the class needed a pre-req for you. Don't take the most complicated classes if you don't know what embossing is or how to heat set ink. Work yourself up thru the classes so you educate yourself to the stamping/scrapping/paper crafting. We all started at the bottom and did the scut work. Most of us are still learning everyday, so its not a bad thing to admit you are clueless.
8. If you make a mistake, say so. Ask politely if there are any extra pieces so you can make your mistake work. If not, work around it and make a note of what went wrong and then buy some extra paper. You can always redo it at home, practicing until its right. Remember, there are no bad crafters, we all make boo boos and can usually redo it later. I have a whole bucket of boo boos. Some are actually on my blog at times.
9. Tell the teacher thanks by a verbal thank you and shopping where you are taking the class. Small indy stores are almost a lost breed these days. At least buy a few items, because they usually have stuff you wont find in the big box stores or chains. Most give you a discount for taking a class anyways. 10 % or more off for that one of a kind stamp is way cool. And if you are looking for an oddity, ask and you may be surprised that they will say to shop at so and so's site or store.
10. When you are checking out, know what you are buying before hand, pay and move on. There are 9 of us behind you wanting to pay, so don't say take this off my bill and add this, then say put this back on, or hold this for later. Move on and gossip when we are all done and gone--and don't go back to the class room and rifle thru our extra stuff from class instead of buying your own.
11. Stay home if you're sick. I don't want your germs.Ask to have your class items set aside for you (homework!) or maybe reschedule for another class.

ETA-here are two more tips from Jacki " for student rules. Thanks Jacki!

• Don't try to out-teach the teacher. If she needs your advice, she will ask.
• Don't talk about what this store or business doesn't have. Teachers are to highlight what the store/business does have.
  
  So there's some of my rules-anyone want to add on? Post away and let Dana and both teachers and students know what to do or what bugs you about taking and teaching classes. Mostly Dana, have a good time. The first class will be the hardest, but you will be happy you did it.

Look What I Won-So Can You!

I have been getting this incredible newsletter for at least 3 years now. It's called Technique Junkies and is written and created by Pat Huntoon. She has in her arsenal some extraordinarily talented artists who always seem to come up with just the right think to make your eyes bug out and say "I need to do that!"

Pat is having a 5 year celebration at her blog and is giving away something special from one of her advertisers or other vendors every day. You will not believe the goodies! I won on day 6, so below is the incredible sets of acyclic stamps I received from Firecracker Designs-a company I had never heard about until this contest (a few others are new to me from Pat's blog too).

Pat also sent me this card which used a few techniques from her newsletters. The background is the Cling and Scrunch Technique from the June 2006 issue and the gold and orange areas are the Cotton Color Technique from the April 2007 issue. The butterfly used Acrylic Accents or Diamond Glaze and another technique to pop the rub on words was also utilized.


So if you like this card, and want to learn more, go visit the above links and sign up for the full color glossy newsletter-and then you get the secret password! This password will take you to another dimension where you will get even more goodies for your brain to create with.

I am so happy to have found such a wonderful creative venue like Technique Junkies-and for all of you who are in the Rubber Stamper boat, this would be a great place to plunk your dollars for some wonderful ideas

So go visit Pat's blog , enter her contests and then subscribe! Tell her Jan sent ya! Ya can't win if ya don't enter!!

Paisley Thank You

A while back I took a Hero Arts class using what was then a hot new stamp set-paisley. I was pretty excited as I had never taken a class at this store before. And I probably won't take one there again.

The teacher had never even opened the pre-packaged class kits. I believe she was a sub for the actual teacher, but that to me is still not acceptable when you are paying for a class. She could have looked it over before class started. I only take classes at two stamp stores now-- Jane's and Stacey's . At least they know what they are doing.

This card used the set Paisley Prints which was released in 2006. It's a 3 pack and retailed for less than 10.00. I see a few sets listed on EBay if you are so inclined to purchase them. They have been retired.

Paisley Prints 2006

The base card paper used on this card as on the others I will list this week is called Tsumugi. It reminds me of crepe paper only thicker and from what I have learned online tonight, they are no longer making it. It is still available here but in limited supplies and online if you do a search for Tsumugi cards. A good portion of the search shows sellers in the UK but its worth the trouble to find this wonderfully textured paper.

I stamped my three stamp images using Versacolor inks. I used the smaller size squares, and that is a nice size to "test" out inks to see if you really like them and they aren't expensive at all. You can see on this card where I over stamped with another image and color on the outside images. The tiny message stamp in the lower right is also from Hero Arts and usually sells for 1.99 or less singly.

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I have an hour's drive to a store and it's probably a good thing. So print this one off-just copy and add to word or email it to yourself this week and add your name for a goodie email every Sunday.

Wishing You Well

I found this card in a baggie of stuff. It must be at least 2 years old. Thinking I must have made it at Karen's when I was still going there on Friday's for Make and Takes, I sometimes contemplate going over there just to see what is up but the whole "business" of that business makes me sad. I miss my buds Pat and Joann but the store and owner are no longer in my compass readings.

This card used a textured base card and a torn layer of mulberry paper-something I don't use a lot but should drag out more often. A Sizzix tag was die cut and stamped with what I think is a Hero Arts double stamp background in pink and light green and over stamped with a flower stamp that I used Marvy markers painted right on the stamp. To make it moist, I "huffed" after adding the inks to the raw stamp.

Cutting a small square, I used one of the Marvy pens to edge the square and then punched a small hole near the top. Here is where I stamped my phrase image-a Hero Arts mini stamp. Tying both the tags together using some fibers, I draped them gracefully to the side. Pop dots hold the tag to the card at an angle.

Simple, elegant and a nice change of pace.

Guest Book Up-Let's Dance!

I have just added a guest book to the bottom of the page. I hope you will enter your name and blog so I can see where you are from and visit your site too! Join me for virtual apple cider and nutty donuts! Emphasis on the nutty!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wagging Happy Brithday

Yup, I be on a roll! More Will 'n Way . I like the colors on this but really could have done with out the corner ribbons. Oh well, I was just scrounging to use up bits and pieces of stuff. Lots of scraps here and I have no idea who made those little flowers holding the greeting up but wish I had more.

As with the last card I did yesterday, this also used Tim Holtz inks, Prismacolor pencils, Acrylic Accents, Bazzill and Bling papers and some odd ribbons bits.

Tomorrow is my hubby's birthday-actually he is lucky to be having one as I so wanted to kill him yesterday. It was our 35th Anny and as usual, nothing. No hi de ho, no love ya or anything. So he is not getting this card. The last time I remember even a mention of our Anny was at 25 years, and I got so sick from the skanky wine we had---at least I thought it was the wine until 3 months later when I really was dying sick and found out Oct 11 was just a warning shot-or jug.

I have noticed recently that on some papers, my ink is really bleeding like the orange on the white. Maybe it's too juicy? Oh, and I pop dotted an extra image of the food bowl on top of one and topped with Acrylic Accents on this.

Hey, who stole summer? I want it back NOW!!!!!

Asking for Help.

October 11, 1972

Hmm. Where was I 35 years ago? No longer in high school and 18 years old. I had quit my waitressing/bartending job because of sexual harassment (before anyone sued over it). Watching the Detroit Tigers in the American League playoffs (no moola for a ticket). Planning a January wedding with red velvet dresses.

So what did I do? I eloped! Got a blood test and 48 hours later, we did it.

No photos to speak of. A crappy green dress for 7.00 bucks on clearance and I had just cut my waist length hair off into a Farrah shag .I only have the receipt from the Justice of the Peace-$20 including the licence fee. No flowers either. We drove to Canada to watch the Tigers on TV (I didn't have a working one in my apartment) as it was blacked out locally . I got a horrible toothache. Then we saw Engelbert Humperdink in concert at the casino (didn't make a bet either as I had no idea what a slot machine was-still have never played one ).

Simple wedding bands in gold cost us only 12.50 a piece. I was never a jewelry person and its still the only piece I wear for the most part-nothing sparkly for me. I am still a cheap date but maybe its not appreciated much.

When your parents tell you they are NOT coming to your wedding, you do drastic things. So we eloped and used the cash we planned for the wedding and honeymoon to England (even tho hubby said he would still pay for all the wedding himself-he was back from the army after getting drafted and was in college finishing his thesis) to buy a house instead. I had a mortgage at barely 19. Insane!! I had the little pink house before Mellencamp wrote about it-the house from hell it was. Ron called his dad in Iowa and told him and his family thought he was drunk. My mom didn't talk to me for months (until she wanted something).

ETA-this comic strip is apropos.


So where do I go from here? I was the only one who remembered. It's just an ordinary day to everyone but me.

Friends

Since I made so many cards using these stamps from Will 'n Way , I thought I would post another one here. I took a lot of flack over this card. Apparently these are University of Michigan colors---and we are Michigan State people. Jeez-like I was paying attention. I was just stamping and coloring and pasting.

You can easily figure this card out. Just click on it to enlarge the photo and check out the idea close up. The only thing to really explain is the balls. They came out weird, I think. I used Acrylic Accents after coloring them and when they dried, it left a dimple in the middle of each one. I think they look like buttons, not balls.

Inks by Tim Holtz. Coloring with Prismacolors. Cardstock by Bazzil-both textured and bling. Patterned paper from drawer 2 of my bin. Ribbon from the dollar bins.

FotoFalls

Have you all seen these lately? This is the desktop one and there is also a floor one available that is almost as tall as me. It's supposed to be for photo display but my cards were screaming "Pick Me"! I first saw this item at Stacey's a few weeks ago and she said she purchased it at Kohl's. So I bust my butt to get there because they are having a big buy one get one sale----and they don't have any left.

In fact my local Kohl's never had them. I was not gonna drive an hour south to Brighton as I had just come back from an hour west in Lansing. So I tried the online shopping for Kohl's and they don't have them either. Off to eBay for a search and they are full price-with buy it nows-no bidding ones. Also the sellers want 10 bucks for shipping. If you knew how little this thing weighed, you would get my dismay over shipping. But they did have the larger tree one but its over 50 buckeroos.

Thank goodness for the Google search engine. I found it online at Bed, Bath and Beyond ! And I just happened to have one locally. And I had a 5.00 off any purchase coupon. So this wonderful little item cost me 15.00 and change. It holds 18 beautiful cards, some of mine and some Raks too.

I photographed it in my kitchen as it was raining and I just like to take photos of my stuff outside while I can, so excuse the kitchen intrusions. I was just giddy to find such a cool item. If you go looking for it at BBBY, it was on a side end cap at my store and normal price is 19.99. Its called Umbra Fotofalls Desk Photo Holder . The other larger one is called a free standing tree and holds 36 items.

So get yerself one-and have some fun.

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ETA-Amazon also has them at full price but with free shipping over $25.00---so get two and share!

Looking for Clinton Ohio

Are you out there? I got an envelope in the mail on Friday from this small city outside Akron. It contained fall colored card stock with matching envelopes, some 4 x 6 printed fall papers and some Prima flowers.

But no identifying name as to who sent it or what it was for. Was it blog candy? A random RAK? Or something done to totally perplex me (which is the norm these days).

Let me know who you are as I tried to Google the street address and got nothing. I love the colors and am looking forward to using the items assuming they were for me and not a misdirect. And let me know who the paper and card stock maker is. The colors are soooooo intense-I may want to get more!

Thank you to my mystery gifter-I will post my creations soon.

Smile Today

I have made some butt ugly cards in my recent life but this might be the worst. It was 3 AM, storming and I just was so antsy. Having a doggie image colored along with his house, I tried and tried to get something to come together and jeez, this was it. I cant wait to hear what Kayla has to say about this one.

Basically, the bits of card and paper are from my scrap bin (which isn't going down very much lately) and the ribbon bits from my baggie of odd stuff. Colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. Stamps by Will 'n Way. Roughed up edges by Heidi Swapp pink dollar thingie (can you believe I have gone thru two of those things, I use them so much?). Bland and blah. But it was next in the queue.

ETA-this one has a cat whisker-laying on the dog house.

Sharing Thanks With Our Northern Neighbors

I learned something new today. Our wonderful neighbors to the north are celebrating a Thanksgiving weekend for a bountiful year. If you would like to know more about their celebration, go here and here. My grandfather grew up in Canada (Quebec) and my grandparents were married in Ontario before coming to the US, so Canada has always has a special place in my heart.

I bet all Canadians are particularly thankful for not having to rush out on the last Friday of the month and spend every cent they can muster like us idiot Americans tend to do on Black Friday . I hope you are enjoying some great food up there! I miss my grampa's 'taters with creamed onions and my gramma's rutabaga mashed with milk and butter. Yum.

So little doggie here is sharing his bones with you and hopes you will have a bite of something in his honor. This stamp is another from Will 'n Way.

I stamped my image and word on white vellum card stock and colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. Then the pieces were cut, inked on the edges and roughed a bit. I layered them on top of some yellow gold bling paper. Using a corner punch on pattered paper, I did all four corners which I also edged with the same Distress Ink (marmalade). I placed this piece centered on textured card stock which was also edged inked and then positioned my image layer

Cutting out three bones, I layered them with pop dots under the off-set phrase and tied a small piece of ribbon into a knot and placed with a snot dot over the word. Acrylic accents on the nose and a flower bead for the id tag on the dog and isn't he the cutest? One happy dog.

ETA-I just noticed----no dog or cat hair. Woo hoo.!!

Celebrate.... World Card Making Day!

I just finished some simple cards using Will 'n Way clear stamps. I thought this one was perfect for a card celebrating "our" special day. I believe this is the first year of this soon to be annual event and it is co-sponsored by many of your favorite companies, so be sure to check out the site here
I used a royal blue textured card stock for the base card and I distress inked it with Peeled Paint ink from Tim Holtz. I also used this color on the background plaid piece, after which I used a blade to rough it up a bit. I cut a smaller piece of green bling for the frame of my images and roughed it up too

My images were stamped on white vellum paper and colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol. I cut them out and pop dotted them in place. The bone brad was originally white but I inked it with dark brown and added some embossing powder and heated it up. I did this twice to get a good coverage and poked it thru about lip level. The prongs were snipped to make them smaller. I used acrylic accents on the noses. Small snips of ribbon were tucked under the right side. The word "celebrate" was stamped and cut, then edged and layered on a bit of gold bling.

As an added bonus, there is real cat and dog hair on this-click the photo and you will see it on the lower left. It just seems to always be visible after I have put the camera and cards away.

ETA--World Card Making Day began in 2006 as National Card Making Day. Initiated by Paper Crafts to bring card makers together , it was first held on October 7, 2006. Due to the positive response it received and the worldwide popularity of card making, there was recognized the need to expand, and the holiday transformed into World Card Making Day. Now in its second year, World Card Making Day includes a web site; a larger level of sponsorship; and a marketing campaign to get the word out. In uniting the card-making communities (hobbyists, retailers, manufacturers) we celebrate the connection and creativity that is at the heart of card making.

Update on the Guessing Contest.

Well, this may become a dragged out contest. It seems the store didn't have enough entries-only 6 as viewable here-so they decided to solicit more people to enter their art work and extend the viewing and voting. I wont be making the hour trip to capture the additional entries.

I would have had no problem if there were no written rules but for those of us who went out of our way to get our stuff in on time, it sucks. This contest at the store was not some "off the cuff" thing. It's the third time for the contest and there is a monetary award altho not a generous as the first two months.It was supposed to run the month of September and have the final voting posted October 1. Each month the entries went down-15, 11 and now 6. I personally think a prize of 20 bucks is fine but maybe others don't think that is enough. The first month it was 100.

The woman who should have won that month and didn't (omg-her card was the bomb) has not entered again because I think, she wondered "what do I have to do to win anything at all" ? Other voters said they were intimidated by her work and that if they can't do it, why vote for it. What is wrong with that picture??? I can't not make a mess in the kitchen (Rachael Ray doesn't) or write a best seller (John Grisham does) or run a 5 minute mile (welcome back Paula Radcliffe ) , but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate those who do well and want to see them happy and rewarded.

As soon as I hear who won, I will post a photo and pick the names of the one who actually guessed correctly who would win (probably from a pool of guessers unless one of the original 6 doesn't win and then I will do a random and also a winner of who I voted for). There are already several correct entries on who I voted for, so at least that one is a given.

Uno's Free Pizza Puzzler

Go play here!

The DSL Problem.....

Maybe wasn't. I am set to auto updates on software and security stuff and has just done one when everything kinda went hooey. After two days, I think I figured out something.

There was a configuration problem with Google mail and Google toolbar. Seemed to be a doubling of notify in talk and mail. I don't know it all but after removing all the Google add ons, it finally started working again. My daughter said there is a thing on the bar called page rank that is a know problem with IE and that if your computer is slowing down or going backwards, click on settings and deselect page rank. Or if you are using an older version, uninstall it and get the new one. That is probably better than adding on over and over and the file is actually smaller now. So I am up and running for now-will be interesting to see what happens when I turn off for the night and get on again tomorrow. One clue was that as a user, my hubby didn't have Google anything and he was working fine until we tried to visit a Google anything. Will I apologize to SBC? Nope, 'cause they are a bunch of issues besides this one and I haven't finished with them yet.

Musical Flowers

Not one of my best as far as salvaging the sticker cards but can't fix them all. I noticed that I didn't finish glittering the top flower and it looks kinda odd. I did keep the base card with punched corners but I took an ink pad and rubbed all the edges of the matted piece and base before popping it in, so it showed up a bit more.

I did peel the sticker off a plain white card and add the greenish piece from my stash. Looking at it now-I might have toned it down a bit. I think it's kinda too limey now. I distressed the edges and probably should have inked them too because the white core of the card stock wasn't what I thought I would see so strongly.

Using two different colors of glitter pen, I filled in the leaves and flowers and added a tiny gem to the centers. The last bit was a stray piece of Christmas ribbon tied across the bottom and I pop dotted the whole piece to the front, centering as best I could. I think my choices of colors were wrong for this but tomorrow is another day. A dark base would have been better but didn't want to waste.

13.1

I did a half marathon Sunday. Haven't done one of those in many years, 10 miles pretty much being my comfort zone. At 11 miles, I was ready to quit and that is not like me at all. I just wanted to sit DOWN!!! I would have settled for an ant hill if I saw one. It was an interesting way to see the city of Lansing and a nice fundraiser for the Children's Museum . And we had a corpulent cop say we were her heroes--we did try to convince her to join us but I think she was stuck behind the popo wheel (with a box of doughnuts).

This is what the front of the shirts look like-lousy photo but I like it as it's not white and tea stains won't show. As I neared the finish line along the river (wish there had been more color in the trees and not 80F at the end) a duck on the water started to laugh at me! Ha Ha Ha over and over. Good thing I don't eat animals otherwise he may have been lunch!

I don't care what my time was, only that I finished and got my nice fake bronze medal (the paint is already peeling off). I have sore hips, shin splints and a burned face. Also some odd bruises that look like a comet exploded on my thigh but that could just be because I am a klutz. I did go to the gym today to try and work the kinks out a bit, see the half neked guys play hoops-we sometimes get NBA guys like Mo Pete and Mateen to knock around (and I got to watch the Wings game, Allison). Crazy but I heard there was another on Mackinaw Island the end of the month... Now that would be pretty and a fudge delight! Where do I sign up?

ETA-Congrats to John and Allene Tucker of Lansing-for finishing with style!! Last but NEVER least!!

Swirls and Flowers

I am having major fits with SBC DSL (or whatever they call themselves these days ). I can send and receive mail but getting a page to load in IE is maddening-the router is in slo motion I think. Hubby is having trouble too, so its not just me. He tried a brand new 'puter from Dell-and nada!

I would love to give them a swirly as my Internet is now worse than dial up ever was. I think this is a ploy to get me to upgrade my service as if paying them for a land based phone I have not used in 2 years isn't enough. If I upgrade, I am fleeing to wireless Verizon or god forbid, Comcast cable.

So hopefully this pretty will get posted before January. Here I present another in the Penny Black altered sticker cards. All I kept from the original card was the sticker and the white embossed swirly paper. I added a dark background card which is textured. It's so dark blue it almost photographs as black. Another 2 blue scraps were the backings for the sticker itself and they were distressed on the edges. I tore a piece of teal scrap that is textured, for the center cross cut as it matched the flowers in the sticker.

The flowers were colored with a gel pen and the swirl in the sticker were lined with a glitter pen. After assembly, I added these weird little plastic thingies from Hero Arts on the right side. I know Robin's Nest makes them as do a few other companies and some are in round make up type containers and others are in jars. Really cute and simple add ons. One precaution---don't expose them to heat. When this card was taking forever to dry, I put it on the dash of the car and the thingies melted to where they are almost flat instead of dome like. On some of the other cards I made that I put in the window with this one, the glue on the stickers melted and won't lie flat anymore. So be patient and let them dry on their own good time. Worth the wait-go make another card or two while you are doing that.

Going to ice my shin splints now.

Man Made Card

Only a guy would think he could make cards better than his female counterpart. Thank god for Tim Holtz.

Man Made Card

Best Blog Friend I Am!

I was nominated for the Best Blog Friend Award from Jules . I am so behind adding it and 300 emails behind in my reading this weekend and I apologize for being so slow. Please visit her blog and click thru her fun . I now nominate Johanna, Courtney and Becky. You can add this icon on your blog anywhere you want and also nominate others, too.

The blogs I have nominated above are not craft related but family related-and that's the bestest ones around! They can be visited in my sidebar when you are looking for something different.

Rubber Stamper Magazine

I have been a long time subscriber and this magazine was my favorite. Below is what I received today via email. This scenario is the 2nd time this has happened to me this year and I am very unhappy. I just want my money back because I want stamping and stamping only. No wood crafts, no knitting, no glass etching, no house decorations . There was no option given for cash refunds just as the other magazine gave none and then I got stuck with some trashy gossip magazine. I just renewed Rubber Stamper this past summer for several years and I don't want several years of a junk magazine. Most unhappy I am!

Dear Readers & Industry Friends:
I am excited to inform you that The Rubber Stamper magazine has been sold to Amos Craft Publishing. Amos Craft Publishing is a fine publishing company with a tremendous amount of experience in the creative industries. I will have the opportunity to work closely with them in the months ahead and together we will create a plan to take the magazine to a new level. The November/December 2007 issue will be the last issue of The Rubber Stamper in its current format. However, Amos Craft Publishing plans to incorporate The Rubber Stamper into its flagship magazine Crafts n Things and will continue to provide you with 75+ card and stamping projects in every issue! Amos Craft Publishing will fully honor the number of issues you have left on your Rubber Stamper subscription so you will automatically receive Crafts n Things for the remainder of your current subscription.Amos Craft Publishing has several other excellent craft magazines including, Painting, Pack-o-Fun and The Cross Stitcher. If you prefer, they?d be happy to transfer your subscription to one of these other Amos Craft publications.If you have any questions about your subscription, you can contact Amos Craft Publishing toll-free at 1-866-222-3821 or via email at customerservice@cntmag.com. Otherwise, watch for your first issue (January/February 2008) of Crafts n Things to arrive in early December.If you currently purchase copies of The Rubber Stamper in your favorite retail shop, please be assured you can continue to purchase Crafts n Things in the majority of all craft shops, bookstores, as well as grocery and convenience stores. It has been my pleasure to launch this magazine and watch it grow and mature during these 11 years. I am certain that you will be pleased with the changes that are planned and the exciting new format of your favorite stamping magazine.

Warm Regards,Tammy Keck Publisher