What...More Christmas!!

Good Thursday Morning to ya! Hope everyone is doing well so far and I'm hoping all my blogger friends in Florida are staying safe with that Hurricane coming to town. I don't want a hurricane, but if we could get just a little bitta rain, that would be wonderful--it is pathetically dry and brown here in VA. I'm typing this up (last nite) while watching the Olympics again and feeling an increasing urge to get in my bed. I am extremely tired and feel like I might be coming down with somethin' not so good--hope it passes me by, we'll see...but it's definitely slowin' me down!

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***BLOG CANDY ALERT*** If you haven't entered for my blog candy here, you still have until 11 pm EST to do so. I will be picking a winner on Friday using that random # thingy (have yet to try it--hope I can figure it out--lol) and posting by 2 pm on Friday.

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I know what you're thinking...its August, what's with the Christmas stuff? I just really love my stamps from Whiff of Joy, they are so much fun to color and you know how much I love to color--I find it so relaxing. I had seen this Joy Fold technique card on All That Scraps blog and wanted to try it out. This stamp is called "Carol Singing Charlotte", isn't she the cutest thing? I so had to use this holiday sheet music dp (from Recollections last year) that I've been hoarding and paired it with the poinsettia dp from Daisy D's. I colored her with Copics and inked around the edges with my Memento dew drop in desert sand, highlighted w/ Inkssentials pen, black stickles on the music notes and diamond stickles on her furry cap. The clip and ribbon are both from Michaels, flowers are Primas. On the inside of the card I used some of my new Inkadinkado stamps for the sentiment and the ivy (Ornate Christmas and Winter Trails). I was quite pleased with the end result, whaddya think? I'm entering this into the Caardvarks challenge--you have to use something on your card with "music"--I think this works, yes?

I have a confession--I ordered 800 coasters from a restaurant supply store 6 months ago and they sit under my desk day after day after day. I have made it a personal challenge to make a project with them once a week to justify my purchasing them--lol! I thought the quilt stamps from PTI's "Quilters Sampler" would make a wonderful Christmas ornament. I wanted to make this ornament kinda country vintage so I really distressed/inked up the edges of the dp (by Memory Box). The quilt blocks are colored with Copics and mounted on many layers of cs. The reverse side's sentiment is from PTI's "Quilters Sampler Sentiments" and I just love it. I used my nesties to cut the ovals out. The buttons are from Michaels and the delish ribbon is new from PTI (yes I got my big box of new goodies yesterday--can't wait to share)--its their new poppy color, just a beautiful red and perfect for the upcoming holidays. I have a ladies holiday luncheon every year and I'm going to make these as their favors/gifts to hang on their trees. I need to make one for myself too--I am a Christmas fanatic and I have 8 trees (this year will be 9) that I decorate every December all in different themes (I will post pictures for ya in December) and yes I am that CRAZY, but I love it!!

Alrighty, I'm outta here! Much to do, lots to catch up on and blah, blah, blah--LOL!!

Suzanne

Quilt Eye Candy!

Good Wednesday morning to you! I am just posting a quick post before I take my kids and their friends to the pool for the day. I am still working on my boy card and some other things--hopefully I will get that posted later today.

My card today features PTI's new "quilter's sampler" stamp set that was released this month. I love quilts--my mom and grandmother made many for our home growing up and I adore them. I wanted to participate in the Dirty Girl Challenge over on SCS (you have to be a fan club member to participate) and one of the challenges was to make most of your card white. I love how white just makes colors pop and I really wanted to use navy--one of my favorite color combos. And of course, Mr. Brown delivered my "happy mail" from PTI today which had all my new stamp sets, paper and ribbon inside---love that brown truck :)!! Make sure and check out all of PTI's new stuff this month--lovin' it (spent why too much money though-lol)!

So what could be better than a navy & white quilt. This set lets you create your own quilt blocks, so you can pretty much make whatever design your heart desires. I also bought the 3/4 punch that PTI sells that punches out the little squares perfectly. After coloring with one Copic Marker (I have never only used one marker--its a record) and punching them out, I glued each quilt block to SU's night of navy cs, then layered again on white cs and again on the navy cs. I made my card base w/ PTI's white cs (the only paper I use to stamp on & color w/ Copics) and embossed it with the CB swiss dots folder. I stamped the sentiment (this set comes with many good ones and they have a second set of sentiments that you can buy too) and layered that too. Both the quilt and sentiment are popped up with dimensionals. I just threaded some white satin ribbon under the sentiment and around the card and tied off to the side--ta da, it was done. Simple to do, but dramatic in effect I think. I'll definitely be using this set alot more!

Ok--I'll be back later to post my "boy" card for ya! Have a great day!

Suzanne

Good Old Countrytime!

Happy Thursday fellow stampers! Hope your week has been a good one so far! I should be upstairs packing but instead I'm still holed up in my craft room--I hate to pack & I really wait to do it. I've made all my lists, so I can just blow thru the house and round up everything--I have it down to a science now & it should only take me an hour...so in the meantime I'm finishing up some projects so you all have some "eye candy" this weekend while I'm gone. I don't want anyone missing me too much-lol!! We are headed up to Snowshoe, WV to my brother's vacation house for a few days--the weather is always cooler there which is nice. The kids run around with their cousins, we fish, sit around the fire and just visit. There's also a big chili cookoff up on the mountain this weekend & my hubby loves chili--its his favorite food & in the cooler months I make it at least once a week, so he's really looking forward to that. I'm just looking forward to no schedule and just chillin'--we all need that once and awhile!

I made my card today with the intention of using the weekly sketch over on SCS, but it took on a life of it's own & didn't end up like the sketch at all--oh well! I bought these Amish stamps from "My Heart Stamps for You" from a shop on Ebay called "The Clickit Shop" with the intention of making cards for my mom. Where I grew up in Southern MD there is a large Amish community, so seeing the buggies and kids walking to school barefoot in the morning was a normal thing for us. We always visited their local farmer's market for all of our produce and flowers (and my mom still goes every week)--they were just a part of my growing up. My mom collects Amish figurines from Jim Shore and has a few pictures around her house, so I knew these stamps would be perfect for cards for her. These stamps came on a large sheet and included quilts, hats, buggies & other Amish images. I really liked this stamp with the lil' Amish girl on it and used 2 of the quilt stamps too. The dp is from K&Co. (classic K Bailey mat pad) & I liked the worn, material look of it. I didn't want anything to detailed or fancy, as that is not the Amish way. Everything is colored with my Copics and I used my Diamond glaze on the water spray, the silo and the heart border. I added a little bit of diamond stickles on top of the diamond glazed water spray(after it had dried) so it sparkled like water in the sunshine. The sentiment is a rub-on from Cloud-9 Design that I've had forevah'! The buttons are just from an assortment that I get from AC Moore. Not too fancy, but I'm happy with the results...now just 5 more to go for the card set. So hope ya like it, Mom!!

Ok, I'm outta here to finish up my to-do list--we're leaving at 10 am so I must be in bed a decent time, no night crawlin' for me tonight :) Have a great weekend!

Suzanne