Thursday, July 31, 2008

My first ATC


So, I have been seeing on Verve Visual a lot of ATC's. They are having a parade, of sorts. They are also doing a giveaway, all the info is here.

I have only recently gotten into stamping and card-making so I wasn't even sure how to make an ATC. After making the cut for the base I had to go back and check because it looked way too small to be right, and yet it was.

I am not sure I like how it turned out but I am posting it anyway.

I started with some PP I got from the Target $1 spot a LONG time ago. I just didn't use it much because it was a bit too bright for me. I remembered reading on Lauren's blog, I think, that if something is too bright an option would be to lay some vellum on top and it lightens it up. And who would have guessed I just got some vellum from PTI.

So, I layered the PP with some vellum and faux stitched it. I messed up on the corner so I put the Target $1 spot flower with a Queen & Co. brad.

From there I used a sentiment from Verve stamps in Berry sorbet ink and Certainly Celery along the edges, the lined PP I believe is from the same pack as the base.

I had some circles on my desk that I punched out for the last card I made so I decided to even out the flower with the circles but having them plain just didn't seem right so I took a flower stamp from PTI's little lady stamp set and stamped in on all 3 with baroque burgundy.

That is basically it.

I think it is too busy but I am okay with it as it is my first ATC. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Have a great Thursday!!!

Missy

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Billy, again...


Yep, I just run to these when I want to make a card. They are just too cute to pass up on.

I started out with one of Billy I haven't used yet, Pirate Billy.

I colored him using colors from the paper that I have been wanting to use for quite a while and never seemed to be able to use.
This is fairly self explanatory and since I am so late in posting this I am going to leave it at that. I really plan on getting into the craft room/corner tonight after the boys go to bed so hopefully I will have something for you sooner than today.

I am sorry about this late posting. I haven't been feeling myself lately. Hopefully it will go away soon since I have a wonderful weekend planned with hubby for our anniversary.
P.S. DH said that the doggie in the corner looks like a referee. He is actually Billy's pirate dog. His shirt is colored to match Billy's pants.

Have a great Wednesday!!!

Missy

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Oldie...


I didn't get any stamping in yesterday but I do have something craft related to share with you. So, remember how I said that I got to spend some time with my parents last weekend.

My Mom brought me something that I haven't seen in a long time. I used to cross-stitch (a lot) back in the day. I prefer counted not stamped. I am more happy when I have definite directions and with stamped you have to decide how you are going to do parts of it for yourself.

I believe I made this many years ago for my Grandma. I could be wrong but that is how I remember it.

The "Believe" sign. My parents made that for me. Isn't it great. My parents are great. They have made so many wonderful projects for my siblings and I. My Dad does the woodworking and my mom does the painting, it is great.

I have been wanting a sign that says "Believe" for a while but just haven't found one that I like enough. I happened to mention that to my Mom and while back and they just surprised me with this sign on Saturday.

Yeah!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

Hope you have a great Tuesday.

Missy

Monday, July 28, 2008

30 years


My parents will be celebrating 30 years of marriage this week. Since we still live a little ways away my family and I traveled down to visit with my family last weekend. I figured that was the best time to bring a card down to my parents, better to give it in person than mail it when you can, right?

I have been stuck on kraft paper and now PTI aqua mist. I think they look so elegant so I just had to use them again.

I knew I wanted to use those colors so that is where I started. I kinda went with the same theme as the card I made for BIL's wedding.

I took PTI white cardstock and stamped some images from their anniversary set. I wanted more than one color so I used PTI aqua mist for the flower image and palette brown for the dotted image. I used my clear glitter pen on the dotted image. Matted that on aqua mist cardstock. For the aqua mist I paper pierced the top and bottom and used my white gel pen to faux stitch it. I love that look.

For the sentiment I used my smallest petite scallop circle nestability and cut and embossed PTI white cardstock. That was then stamped with "to have and to hold" from the PTI anniversary set (I figured that was a nice sentiment for an anniversary). That was stamped with palette brown ink and then I used PTI aqua mist to stamp the circle (from boxes, bags, and tags) around the sentiment. The swirls were only on the top and bottom but the set comes with extra swirls so I inked it up in aqua mist again and stamped them on the sides to make them more even. The sentiment and swirls/circle was also outlined with my clear glitter pen.

The ribbon is PTI aqua mist twill and I used a swirly from a craft store I got to visit in Big Bear, California a while back.

Since I love my pearls and the 30th anniversary is the pearl anniversary I got to play with them again. I used 4 small pearls on the sentiment circle, a little bit bigger pearls in the center of all the flowers, and of course, the 3 pearls on top and 3 on bottom. I just had to put something on the kraft paper, it seemed like it was missing something.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you like it and have a great Monday.

Missy
P.S. Thank you Tanya for the wonderful watermark.

Friday, July 25, 2008

MFT


I finally sat down late last night to do some crafting. I had an idea in my head. I actually sat down to do a ATC but just couldn't do it so I came up with this card. I used Lauren's floating card idea.

This card was actually quite easy. What took the most time was coloring the image. I wanted to do some shadowing but I have a LONG way to go.

So, I stamped the image from MFT's Punny Farm on PTI white cardstock and colored with my copic markers. I really liked how the walnut ink went with the last card so I used it as dirt for this card. I didn't mask the image so you might be able to see some on her boots. Lastly I inked the edges of the image with some PTI lavender moon ink.

I cut out a piece of PTI lavender moon cardstock and cut out the center for the image. The "just because" image was stamped from PTI anniversary set in palette brown ink.

The flowers are from a bottle I got from Michael's a few weeks back and the centers are brads from Joann's.

The card base is also PTI white cardstock and the edges were again inked with PTI lavender moon ink. The lavender moon cardstock and main image were attached to the base with dimensional dots.

That is it, easy peasy. Hope you enjoy and have a great Friday!!!

Missy

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

CPS challenge


OMGosh, I know everyone has heard about JustRite stampers. CPS (card positioning system) is having a giveaway thanks to JustRite Stampers. You can find all the info through the link in the last sentence.

I just HAVE to have those stamps so I of course had to participate in the challenge. It is a layout challenge and since I haven't used my Billy stamps as much as I would have liked to I pulled them out for this challenge and went from there.

I stamped Billy on PTI white cardstock with palette noir ink. He was colored with copic markers. Billy has a the "hoppy birthday" sentiment with it so I had to use it as well. I have no idea who this card is going to but figured I will use it eventually. The sentiment paper was spritzed with walnut ink.

Billy was matted with some green polka dotted Leavin' Prints PP and attached to the card base with some dimensionals. The sentiment cardstock was matted with some PTI spring moss cardstock stamped with Verve's flower center using my son's red ink pad.

I used some baubles from Michael's and colored with my red copic marker for the corners that were punched with SU! ticket punch.

The PP is a piece I got from Joann's many moons ago. I can't even remember the brand.

All of this was pieced together on SU! kraft cardstock. The card is an unusual size just to fit the layout and images I wanted to use. I believe the final card size is 6 and 3/4" by 5 1/2". Oh, btw, Billy wasn't intentionally supposed to have a black eye. I was trying to fix a mishap in my stamp but it bleed and when I saw it I thought, he looks like he has a black eye. I have two boys so I figured it was quite possible and went with it.

Also, I pointer, you may already know. If you have those baubles from Michael's and want to color them, color the bottom of it and then glue it down with crystal effects. I have been trying to color the top of them and making a mess and rubbing off the colors and then a light bulb went off tonight and I was so excited. I am sure that is how everyone else has been doing that but I just figured it out and in case someone else was like me I shared.

Hope you like and have a great Thursday!!!

Missy

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Niece birthday


Yeah, I was actually able to get some more scrapping in last night. I actually did it on purpose so you guys didn't have to wait for another project from me.

So, my youngest niece will be turning one in a few days. Since she lives in Wisconsin I am unable to make it to this great event. But my oldest niece is there so I am sure they are going to have more fun than they would otherwise. I miss them greatly. It will be going on a year since I have been able to see them (I got to go for a few weeks after she was born). But since my brother is getting married next month we all get to see each other then. We are looking forward to it.

Anyway, the card. I had something else planned. I wanted to use some animals and actually planned on making a circus train, but didn't have the right animals to look like they were in a train. So, I was going to use a couple other animals but messed it up so I went with this. The sheep are just darling. I used MFT's Punny Farm sheep and sentiment. I stamped the sheep 3 times, used some white fun flock and then colored his face and ears with my prismacolor pencils. I didn't use OMS or baby oil just straight colored. I realize now that it should have been black, but oh well.

From there I stamped the sentiment underneath in PTI lavender moon ink. Later I realized that a bunch of sheep are not herd's but flocks. Again, she is only one and I hope no one else will call me on it.

I took my white board "1" and inked it up with PTI lavender moon again, heat set it, then stamped the candle (studio g) in palette noir, heat set it again (I am too impatient) then put some glue on the flame and used some yellow embossing powder. Then I just set it all up. I did the same technique as the wedding card but switched the paper, put SU! Kraft underneath the white, used scallop scissors on the kraft paper. Oh yeah, I also used some rub-on stitching on the white cardstock (which is PTI) both underneath and on top. The kraft paper also has some lavender moon ink rubbed along the scallops.

I took my clear glitter pen (can you tell I love that pen hehehe) and traced the sheeps and the sentiment. On the "1" I used some crystal stickles on the dots of the candle and the flame.

After all that I thought it still needed something else and my self-adhesive pearls are still on my desk so I took three more and put them in the top right corner.

I little elegant for a 1 yo I think but I know they are going to love it and so do I. I hope you do as well.

Have a great Tuesday!!!

Missy

Monday, July 21, 2008

Finally...


I got some stamping in. It really isn't an easy task when I have 2 boys, 4 and 2 who want me to do this and do that and then hubby comes home for lunch and wants to talk about things that happened during the day (not that I am complaining about that part), next the boys want to go out and play in 100 degree weather to play on their slip-n-slide. I told them they were going to have to wait for the slip-n-slide until I got this done. Now, it is taking them longer because they refuse to pick up the toys I told them to pick to give me time.

Anyway, you didn't come here to hear about my parenting/spouse/stamping woes.

The creation. I soon realized it is smaller than I anticipated so I won't be able to use it for what I thought I might be able to.

To start off all the paper was scratch paper. Because of that the PP is a half inch shorter than the tutorial mentions. If you didn't get it in my last post the tutorial can be found here. I found out about this bag from Mary here.

I wanted to use scrap paper because I have so much of it. I found this lovely PP I bought at Joann's many moons ago. Of course the paper was screaming for some pink accents so I went with PTI sweet blush. Everything is in the tutorial but I do want to mention a few accents I decided to do instead of how both ladies embellished theirs.

On the bottom scallop, I don't have the SU! slit punch so I used scallop scissors, took a 1/16" hole punch and punched the wholes in each scallop and then put some crystal stickles in each hole. On the bottom of the scallop section I paper pierced it and used my white gel pen to do some faux stitching. The top, I don't have the SU! tab punch either so I made up my own little thing, cut to pieces of, I believe, SU! chocolate chip cardstock (I wanted it to be sturdy). On the part that was going to show I used the ticket punch on the bottom and then rounded the top two corners. I took my crop-a-dile II and punched the biggest whole in the center of each tag. Oh, I also used some faux stitching rub-ons for the top part of the tags and then paper pierced between each line. I believe the ribbon is May Arts. It was bought at ATS (all that scraps).

Instead of the flowers in a row I wanted to do something different. I took my bridal flowers from Michael's and colored one with light grape copic marker and a brown copic marker, I also took my buttercup yellow copic marker and gave the flowers a yellow center. The purple flower was outlined with my atyou spica pen in purple. There still wasn't enough glitter so I took my clear glitter pen and outlined both flowers.

From there I stamped my Verve butterfly from Petals and bloom set in SU! blue bliss and then embossed it with stardust embossing powder. After that I took my clear glitter pen and colored in the white part. I also took my green atyou spica pen and gave the butterfly a flying pattern. I tried to make it look like it just flew off the brown flower.

I hope you are having a great Monday. Thanks for stopping by.

Missy

Later

hopefully. I didn't get much of a chance to do any crafting this weekend. My son had a primary activity to attend saturday morning. It was really neat. He got to dress up like a pioneer and learn how to make rope and start a fire, then he got to pull taffy and they gave him a scrap material bag to put it in, and lastly he learned how to make bread and butter, yep they actually made butter, it was cool. He had a blast.
After that we had to go into town to get some things so we didn't get back home until late afternoon and since we had an early day we just vegged for a few and enjoyed each other's company.
Yesterday was church. I teach a class once a month and yesterday was my day so I was nervous about making sure I was prepared. It didn't turn out at all like I expected but I had a few compliments. I think it had a lot to do with a story I told about myself that I didn't want to share but really felt like I needed to. I hope that it helped someone.
Anyway, so all of that to explain I didn't get anything finished but I do hope to get into my craft room today and make up a few things. If I do I will have something posted later.
I saw a cute bag on Mary's blog here (she mentions in the post that she found the tutorial here) and I hope to make something for my SIL and/or my niece for her birthday.
If you get a chance to make one please let me know. It will be fun to see some others.
Missy

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Late Birthday


My SIL turned 19 last month. I am JUST now getting to making her a card. Like I mentioned in this post. We had hoped she would have been in Las Vegas and we could have seen her on the 4th of July. That is when we were planning on giving her her graduation and birthday presents. Since we didn't get to see her then I was slacking in getting things done. Now I finally have the cards done. Here is her birthday card.

I had something similar to this in my head for notecards to make for her to write notes to friends and family that are still in Connecticut. Instead I decided to make a birthday card with it.

I started with PTI white cardstock, cut it to 8X4 so the finished card is 4X4. I noticed a piece of cardstock (the Kraft strip) leftover from the last card I made so I cut it down to 4 inches. I wasn't sure how I was going to put it, horizontal or vertical, so I set it aside until I figured out for sure what I was going to do with the rest of the card. My SIL loves pink so I knew I was going to use PTI sweet blush. I used that to stamp the corner filigree on the bottom. I had to pull out my new verve stamp again (fluttering by) and stamped a butterfly on the corner with cat's eye dark brown. Next I took some sweet blush cardstock and stamped the butterfly again in cat's eye dark brown ink, cut it out and then adhered it on top of the other butterfly. I folded the wings up to make it 3D. Since I did that I put the Kraft cardstock vetical on the card. Took some Michael's ribbon and tied it around the kraft cardstock. In the small open spot I took the sentiment from PTI's anniversary set and stamped it on the cardstock. You many have noticed but I made a boo-boo so I took a Joann's sentiment frame and used some Queen & Co. brads to secure it to the card.

Lastly I had to add some bling so I took my clear glitter pen and traced the filigree corner, the sentiment and added some glitter to the wings and antennae.

I still wanted something else. The pearls from the last card are still on my desk so I took some and put it on the filigree corner stamp and the ends of the butterfly antennae.

I think that is it.

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. if you check out the Pink Cat Studio blog my entry to the guest designer is on there. The winner is also on there. What great entries. I didn't think I was going to get it. But like I have heard many times before, you never know until you try. I had fun so I plan to enter these contests again.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Here comes the bride...

Sorry this is a fairly crummy picture but I was losing daylight fast.
No, not me. I am already married. We are like an old married couple now. My brother-in-law is getting married August 3rd. When I heard when they were getting married I was a little excited and a little upset at the same time. It just so happens that August 3rd is my anniversary. My husband and I will be celebrating 6 glorious years together hehehe. I think I love him more than the day I married him.
Anyway, I digress. We are unable to make it to the wedding as it is in Connecticut and we just can't make another trip. This is why, we had already made an unexpected trip to Connecticut, we had to make an unexpected trip to Oklahoma and we already told my brother (who is getting married at the end of August) that we would be at his wedding in Kansas. With all of that and my husband being military and having to work with everyone else about getting days off it just wasn't going to work.
Again, off the topic. The card, turned out beautifully if you ask me. I am really loving how it turned out. I wanted to get a card made so I had time to get it in the mail and on it's way to my BIL and soon-to-be SIL.
I knew I wanted to stay simple in color and design because my BIL is not the type to like frilly things (but what guy does, right?)
I decided to go with PTI Aqua Mist and SU! Kraft. After putting things together I also wanted to break things up with some PTI white.
I started by stamping a couple studio G stamps. I randomly stamped both on a piece of Aqua Mist cardstock, the filigree in versamark and the flower (which you probably can't see) in palette white. Then I took some Kraft paper and stamped that with another filigree studio g stamp, decided it needed more so I took some Kaleidoscope embossing powder and embossed the filigree.
From there I decided the white needed to go under the aqua mist. I mounted the aqua mist on the white and then took my scallop scissors and cut the white cardstock. I took that idea from someone else's blog, sorry I can't remember who. If you do email please so I can give credit where credit is due. I took my paper piercer and faux stitched the top and bottom of the white and aqua mist cardstock.
I then decided that it just needed a simple sentiment on it. I remembered my Favor It Wedding set that I got from PTI and used the Happily Ever after stamp and then remembered my boxes, bags, and tags set. I found this lovely circle outline and had to use it. It turned out beautifully. From there I mounted the cardstock, mounted the sentiment on some kraft paper (both of which were cut with petite scalloped nestabilities) sponged with aqua mist. The Kraft cardstock was faux stitched with my paper piercer and clear glitter pen.
Lastly I saw on this article on Mary's blog about a site she found explaining the best way to tie bows. I had to try it. I was going to use some aqua mist ribbon but only had some topnotch twill and wanted to use something else. That is when I saw some ribbon I found at target in the dollar spot. It matched the aqua mist pretty well and was polka dot and so cute so I tied the ribbon down the rib of the card. Lastly, I saw some pearls I had on my desk and this card seemed to be screaming a need for pearls to me. So, I took 3 and put it on the bottom of the aqua mist part. That was it. I nice lovely card I am proud to send to my BIL and SIL for their wedding.
Thanks for stopping by.
Melissa

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Nothing...

for you today, sorry. I didn't get any crafts done yesterday. Instead I enjoyed a nice afternoon with my boys playing and enjoying the thunder storms. It was really great. I couldn't have asked for a better afternoon with my boys. I will try to get something done today to show you tomorrow.

Instead I will leave you with a picture of my boys.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Baseball fans, unite hehehe

I am not sure how many of you are sports fans. I grew up an Anaheim Angels fan (yes, I said Anaheim. I was so mad when they announced the change to Los Angels Angels of Anaheim, how stupid) and Dodgers fan. My husband is from Connecticut and is a die hard Yankees fan. Since we have gotten married I have been converted to Yankee nation but still hold a special place in my heart for the Angels.
Anyway, last night was the All-Star game. We sat down and started watching the game at 5pm and it didn't end until almost 11pm. Oh what a game. I swear it was a workout for my emotions. The stress level was sky high. The American League should have had the game won long before the 15th inning. Yep, it went 15 innings. I told my husband, if the game went to 16 innings I was going to bed. I was so stressed out that I couldn't handle it anymore. I swear I wanted to cry so many times. If the American League allowed it to go to 16 innings I WAS going to cry especially if the AL messed up another chance to win after getting so many players on 3rd base. It was great though, the AL pulled it out and now we have home field advantage in the World Series. Now if we can get the Yankees to start winning enough games to get them into the play offs all would be great. If that isn't the case then I guess we will have to route for the Angels throughout the play-offs and World Series, oh darn hehehe

Now don't forget to scroll down and see my latest project.
Thanks for stopping by!!!
Missy

1, 2, 3...


Oh my gosh, if you are not a Pink Cat Studio fan please go check out her blog. I have been featured on her blog for the card I made my husband for Father's Day. How cool is that.

Also, my mojo card is on Julee's blog here. It has been included in her weekly slide show of all the entries. Sadly, I didn't wind the free stamp set but I already got several from her so I am happy.

On to my next project. Like I mentioned in this post, I guess briefly,we visited some friends a few weeks back. We actually met them when we were lucky enough to be stationed in Alaska for 5 years. I watched their oldest son for about 2 years. My husband and his friend not only worked together but also went 4-wheeling and hunting together. My husbands friend has since separated from the military and they moved back to the town they both grew up in, Lake Tahoe, how awesome is that. I have driven through but haven't had a chance to really see it. My boys loved it, the men went 4-wheeling on the Rubicon Trail and us girls took 4 boys, between the age of 1 and 4 to the beach. They all had fun and it was fun watching my boys play.

The next day we all went fishing. It was a great weekend.

Anyway, we found out that due to a computer mishap they had lost a lot of pictures from our time in Alaska. We came home and set out to make them a CD of a lot of pictures we had. My husband requested I make a holder to put the CD in.

I decided to try to stick with the same theme as the card I made them, mentioned earlier.

This is fairly self explanatory so if you have any questions feel free to ask. Oh, want you may not be able to see is the bling that I put on there, the stem for the flowers, leaves, white part of the flower, the white part of the butterfly and it's antennae. I tried to make it very simple.



Thanks for visiting.
Missy

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Pink Cat Guest Designer Contest

Thanks to Lauren Meader, I told you I stalk her blog hehehe. Anyway, because of her I have fallen for Pink Cat Studio stamps. The owner, Melissa (isn't that an awesome name hehehe, I know I am silly) has issued a guest designer challenge. She has 4 sets now (well more than that but the 4 have to do with the challenge) 2 of "Lily" and 2 of "Billy". One of each is a play set, kids dressed up in whatever kids may dress up in and then another set called "Dress up Billy/Lily". I have two boys so I have both of the Billy stamps. Since I have nieces and still hope to have a girl some day I am going to have both Lily's stamps one day too.


So, to make a short story long. Melissa has challeneged her friends to create a project showing what we think either Billy or Lily's room may look like. It can be any size and shape and I believe basically any project that portrays Billy or Lily. The only catch is, if you are going to use a stamp it has to be a Billy or Lily stamp.


Melissa and her design team are going to pick a winner. The winner will be the guest designer for Pink Cat Studio for the month of August.


Here is what is posted on the Pink Cat Studio website. The guest designer will receive the new accessories stamp set and will be required to create 5 cards with the stamps and post them on her blog during the sneak peek week. She will also be featured in our newsletter, on the company blog and in the gallery.All entries for this contest will be posted in the company gallery and may be used for promotional purposes in print and on the web.


I am probably giving the "competition" a little help here (that is of course my creation is worth copying) but I wanted to post my creation for all you guys to see. I had fun making this and think it turned out pretty cute. All I know is that my oldest son loves it so I might find a frame and frame so he can hang it in his room. He says it is him. On a side note:for an extra dollar Melissa will personalize your Billy or Lily stamp set for you. In other words, she will change the name of the stamp set (for your personal set you order) with the name of your choice. For instance if you have a son named Randy and you chose to pay an extra dollar for your set. The stamp set you receive in the mail will say "Dress up Randy".


By the way, Melissa and Pink Cat Studio are located in British Columbia (which I have to say is one BEAUTIFUL place). Even with that her customer service is awesome and her shipping is super quick. I am not sure it even took a full week to get the stamps I have ordered from her, although she does say that you can expect your stamps in two weeks, I can almost guarantee it won't take that long.


Okay, you want to see my creation?.....I told you I am crazy.





Monday, July 14, 2008

Blogger errors

Sorry guys. I had this great post all typed up for you. Then I tried to upload the picture. Blogger is having some kind of issue and I have gotten the message "internal error" so many times that I have given up for the night. I will try again in the morning. Hope you all have a great night.

Missy

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Baby shower/Lauren Meader layout


Hey all!!! I hope you all had a great weekend. I have to say it was nice but they never seem to last very long.
I was finally lucky enough to attend a social function hosted by someone from my ward. This time it happened to be a baby shower. There are a lot of baby showers and babies being born right now. In my ward (congregation) there are 4 new babies and more on the way.
I "stalk" Lauren Meader on her blog daily, sometimes a couple times (just to make sure I didn't miss anything). I decided that I like her sketch she made and it was different from my norm, so why not use it for the baby card.
I knew the baby was a girl so I wanted to go girlie so I chose PTI sweet blush, lavender moon, and for the neutral I used SU! kraft paper. I have to say. I wanted to use PTI berry sorbet where the kraft is but it just didn't look right, so I tried lemon tart and still didn't work. I also thought to use PP but I just didn't think it was right. I kept saying to myself, I need a neutral but didn't want white and I didn't have black and then it just hit me kraft and it was just perfect.
The stamps were studio G except the "congratulations" that is PTI. I have to say, I really like studio G but when using them for a solid stamp it just doesn't stamp smooth.
I also wanted to add. I heard a few people mention that they have used prismacolor pencils and baby oil instead of OMS. I just happened to have run out of my OMS and the nearest craft store, period, is at least 45 mins away. And since my DH uses the car during the day I can't go until the weekend and I NEEDED this card done. So, I got some baby oil and tried it. I was surprised it worked. I do have to say though, it takes longer to work the oil in and make the pencil marks smooth but so worth it to save a little money, especially when you are working with a small budget as I do.
I think the rest is fairly self-explanatory but if you have questions feel free to ask.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Mojo Monday #45


When I got my Plain Jane stamp from Verve Stamps I also got a couple other sets. One that I ended up with is Petals and Stems, great set. I couldn't wait to play. I knew that after seeing Julee from Poetic Artistry's Mojo Monday sketch for this week, my new Verve stamp set would be perfect.

I had to make a thank you card for some friends of our family that allowed us to stay at their house for the weekend a few weeks ago. It is kinda late but I always say, better late than never.

I started out by stamping the stems in Palette landscape ink. I wanted to make this not so girlie since I was using it for a family of mainly boys so I used some unusual colors for me. That is where I got my color scheme.

After stamping the stems I stamped the blue flower in cat's eye chalk ink in azure, then masked it and stamped the other two flower in cat's eye chalk ink in yellow ochre. I stamped the center with PTI lemon tart on the blue flower and cat's eye chalk ink in dark brown for the yellow flower (I was kinda trying to make it look like a sunflower). I used the same brown and yellow of cat's eye ink and sponged around the flower image and then used my SU! ticket punch for all the corners. Then I used some Leavin' Prints orange paper (a retired scrapbook company) and matted the flowers with SU! dimensionals. From there I started putting the rest of the card together by cutting the background paper to just the right sizes.

Before I mounted the green Leavin' Prints paper I took a Studio G stamp and stamped on the orange paper with cat's eye dark brown.

For the sentiment I stamped "thanks so much" from PTI anniversary set in dark brown and then saw the little design and had to use it on the bottom and that was stamped in Palette Landscape ink. It was stamped on PTI lemon tart cardstock and then matted on some DCWV dark brown paper with SU! dimensionals.

I used my clear glitter pen on the flower for some more bling and on the dots in the center, on the leaves, the sentiment, the design underneath the sentiment and on the brown stamped border.

The rest of the bling, all the dots in the corners and the scallops is crystal stickles. I hope you like it. Although it isn't my usual color scheme I am very pleased with how it turns out. I hope our friends like it too.

Happy Friday!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Dress Up Billy Chart


My oldest son is still having issues with bed-wetting. I hear boys have a problem with this and could up until they are 8-10 years old. I hope that is not the case with my son. He is only 4 and a half so I still think he is okay but we are working on kicking it out of him (not literally). For some reason my oldest doesn't like to get me up, he always has to wake up his Dada (I know can't kick that out of him either it has always been Dada and not sure if that is ever going to change). Well, hubby is tired of having to change sheets in the middle of the night so we took the sheets off his bed and he won't get them back until he learns to go to the bathroom at night. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but you gotta teach them somehow.


So, to encourage him I decided to make him a chart of his successful nights. I was going to make it very simple but then I remembered my Dress Up Billy set from Pink Cat Studio and had to use the pajamas in the kit. I started out with generic red paper (his favorite colors right now are red and brown) and printed up a chart with everyday of the week. My goal is to get him to stay dry all night long for a week, if he does that he can have sheets on his bed again. I then took some brown paper and cut it to 8 and a half" by 11". It looked plain so I rummaged through my scrap box and found the cowboy paper from SU! (don't remember the real name but it is retired anyway). I used one scrap to go down the side and then another I cut the bottom with my scallop scissors and put that towards the bottom.


From there I found some goodies from one of my Joann's shopping and put the red and glitter corner piece down with a brown grommet (from my Crop-a-dile II stash). Then took the yellow star and glued it down with some sticky tape, it needed more so I found a red button I got from the dollar section at Target and put that in the center.


Billy was just a little more complicated. I stamped Billy and then the pajama set on PTI white cardstock. I colored Billy's pajamas with a red and brown copic marker. To get the pattern I took my colorless blender and made stripes on his shirt and dabbed it on his pants to make it look like it had texture. I also colored his hair with a brown copic. To make the skin color I took a prismacolor pencil and used OMS. Cut out his head and pajamas and glued them on to another piece of white cardstock (PTI). I sponged the edges with real red (SU!) ink and then again with Palette brown ink. Then glued it to the chart, done. It was fairly quick once I got a real idea of what I wanted done. All I know is that my son loves it and that is all that matters.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Graduation Card



I am really late on this one. My sister-in-law graduated for HS almost a month ago. We thought she would be closer (she lives on the other side of the country) and we would just give her her graduation gift. Well, that wasn't able to happen. So I figured I better make her a card and get it in the mail so it isn't even later than it already is.




This is a pretty simple card. I am still not sure if I really like it. Hubby is great and says there is nothing wrong with it. I started off with some PTI white cardstock. Took some redline star shaped tape (I got it from a sticky sale that Jody from "Confessions of a ribbon addict" was hosting. She is hosting another one now, might want to check it out)and stuck it to some yellow cardstock (not sure of the brand of the yellow or the blue), then just cut it them out and adhered them to the white cardstock. Seeing as they are stars I knew they needed some bling. So I took my white gel pen first and drew a line just inside the star and then did the same thing with my clear glitter pen. Next came some crystal stickles. I also used some crystal stickles and my clear glitter pen as a tail for the stars. I used some Michael's ribbon and a grommet from the stash I got with my Crop-a-dile II and put that on the corner, but first I used PTI lemon tart ink around the edges. Underneath that is some more yellow cardstock with SU! Brilliant blue ink with congrats (studio G) stamped above it. I used my clear glitter pen again to outline the Congrats. I used some more crystal stickles in the corners. That was it. Not what I had imagined it to be but this is what it is.


If anyone can give me info on how to make links instead of making you search for everything that would be great.


Have a great day!!!


Sunday, July 6, 2008

4th pictures




We stayed on base for the 4th since we found out that they were having a big summer bash here with fireworks. We live in the desert so fireworks are a big no-no some places. We had no desire to drive anymore but was gearing up for a drive to see some fireworks. (We have been in Alaska and for the 4th of July there really isn't any darkness so the fireworks are shot off at midnight on the 3rd, still dawn so hard to see still.

This was going to be our boy's first "real" 4th of July experience. They had trampoline ride, bounce houses, slip-n-slides, mazes, etc. Of course they had food booths, a band, and even some wrestling, it wasn't a bad event. I did get some pictures of the fireworks, they aren't great but I am happy with them.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Semper Fi CD holder


My father-in-law is a former Marine who served during WWII. His unit has a website that keeps members of the unit and family up-to-date with everyone else and also likes to reminisce about their time served. They have found a way to add pictures to the website of everyone who has pictures.

My husband and I have finally collected a bunch of pictures of my father-in-law when he was serving in the war and his buddies. We were asked to put them all on a CD and send it to one of the people who works on keeping up the website. Being the person I am I couldn't just send it as is I had to do something. So, I threw together a quick CD holder to send it in.

I wanted to make it with a Marine style since he was a Marine. I took some blue paper I had in my stash and some red (the blue wasn't big enough to make it alone). I just glued them together and used some Michael's yellow ribbon to hide the seem. I couldn't just leave it at that so I searched the web for a Marine seal and finally found one the right size, printed it, cut it out and then used my nestabilities to cut a white circle out to use as a background for the seal then just glued it on with 3-D dots. That is it easy and simple.

Introduction

My name is Melissa and a stay at home mom to two rambunctious, loving, and wonderful boys I could have ever asked for. Of course, that is on a good day. They are boys that are 4 and 2 after all and have exponentially more energy than I could ever ask for.
I have been married to my wonderful, loving husband for 6 years this August. We met 8 years ago and got married in Oklahoma, then immediatly moved to Alaska and now reside in California. My husband is military so things aren't always very easy or stable for us. But we are making do and loving the places we get to go because of it.
I have been an amateur scrapbooker for about 8 years but recently (within the last 8 months) got really involved in card-making (especially since my mother and sister are active in it and now we are so close to them) I also love to alter things.
I started out crocheting thanks to my mom and grandmother, then I started cross-stitching, love to sew and a few other "crafty" type things. Granted, since having my boys and other responsibilities I haven't had much time to do most of those things but try to squeeze some creative stuff in as much as possible.
To get an idea of what I have created recently you can check out my splitcoast gallery. I am honeybee7896 on Splitcoast and my link is:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=157571

I am by no means great at this but I love being creative and the finished product. I mainly started this blog because I have had a few people suggest I do and it is fun to have an outlet to show off even though I have a splitcoast gallery I thought it would be fun to share here as well. I might add some personal stuff here once in a while (I think it comes with the blog territory) but I will be limiting it.
I hope you enjoy coming here and we can gain some friendships through this great medium called the internet.