Ladystamper

Since I am a mother to six, I have done my fair share of scrap pages about mud, dirt, water, and other kid activities. So, when I sat down to scrap these pictures of my nieces and nephews playing in the water that turned to mud, I just didn't feel like doing the typical smeary, brown, mud pages. Or, blue water pages for that matter. I felt like the pink soccer shirt my niece was wearing was kind of reaching out to me, so I played off of that. I did use brown, but....you all know pink and brown are among my favorite color combos! My page base is Chocolate chip cardstock from Stampin' Up! For the splashy drippy feature (what would YOU call it?) I used a stencil I got from Crafters workshop several months ago. I actually TRACED the stencil onto pixie pink cardstock and cut it all out. I know, the entire time I was thinking....''don't I have something on my Cricut that will cut this out??" but, once I got started, I had to finish. So, finish I did. It wasn't s...

I had a big project to do for the elementary school Monday night. Not a 'hard' project, just time consuming. I was able to finish it after Family Home Evening while we watched a historical movie for our activity. (yay for my new high desk!) I finished before it got too late and thought, "hey! I want to do something for ME!" You know how it is, you do so much for assignments or other people that sometimes you forget why you craft at all! I decided to pull out some kits I had put together for the Scrap Expo crop I went to last month that I hadn't finished. When I say 'kits', what I mean is that I had picked out some patterned and solid papers to go with groups of pictures. It makes it easier to sit down and scrap when I don't have to dig through pictures looking for ones I want to scrap. I did a quick easy layout to get my scrappin juices flowing, and then moved onto these pictures of my daughter and her friend. I'd picked out this Bohemia paper fro...

Yesterday was a super busy day! We had two soccer games, a birthday party, a spaghetti dinner/auction, scuba lessons, and a workshop. That is my excuse for not posting. I was dead dog tired by the time I got to bed! The good news is, my daughter did awesome at soccer and my son made it all the way through the game...actually on the field! I had to bribe him and his coach did some pretty awesome pep talking, but he made it! All the parents made a point of praising him and telling him what a good job he did. Granted, he was given a spot to guard on the field and that is where he stayed. I mean, literally. His feet did NOT move, but he was out there. He cheered for his team and he tried to watch the ball, but he stayed in his spot. He awesome coach moved his spot now and then to keep him in the thick of the game. It was awesome. He had a great time! I wanted to share a really cute card that I got for my birthday. This is the card Shari made me. I like it a lot because of the colors, but a...

This week our challenge was to use Brocade blue, So saffron, Certainly celery and Chocolate chip on our project. What a great color combo! I was excited to play with it! I had to wait a bit tho, I was busy all morning rearranging my office. I know, I do that all the time, but this time it was for a really good reason. I got a new stampin desk for my birthday! Do you get excited about furniture? I totally do! I had gone to Staples the other day, just browsing around looking for a high desk/table for my stamp room. I decided I sit too much and was just 'thinking' about getting a desk I could stand at. Well, they had this really cool black high desk that I just loved! There was no price on it, so I just went home. I called the next day to ask about it and after some deal workin, the manager gave it to me for $70! The cool thing is, it was o riginally $260! It has two wings that fold out and one was damaged, so he was willing to give me a discount. The damage didn't bother me ...

In honor of my birthday, I am offering another package of blog candy! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite thing about getting older. :o) The candy includes a package of cardstock, metal edge tags, sanding block, cool metal border stickers, silver gel pen, and a set of mini gift cards stamped by yours truly. For some reason, my 'rechargeable batteries' decided not to 'recharge' anymore. I am quite distraught about that. I planned to share these pictures a couple of days ago, but....I had to wait til I bought some new batteries. I have to say tho, I was really afraid I had broken my camera! I'm glad it is just the batteries! I borrowed my friend's Precious stamp set the other day and have been having fun with it! I made this card using a square card base of chocolate chip (5-12" square). I stamped the swirlies in blue bayou onto a large piece of whisper white and onto a smaller piece. I cut out a butterfly and stuck i...

My computer decided to work! yay! I really wanted to share this cute card Shari planned for our stamp a stack last week. I really liked the colors and layout. She used the Ginger Blossom designer paper from Stampin' Up! for the squares. We punched them out with the 1-1/4" square punch. The card base is River Rock with a square of whisper white over it. The squares are roughed up a bit on the corners and adhered with snail adhesive. The bird is stamped with Cameo Coral, the branch with Groovy guava, and thank you with chocolate chip. A clear button is stuck onto a piece of GB paper with crystal effect and layered onto a square. The little bit of River ribbon in the upper left hand corner pulls it all together nicely. I haven't used this set (Spring Solitude) much so I was glad she used it for our class. She is such a clever girl! I did get to stamp today, but I sent all my creations away or they are drying in my office. I went a little crazy with the Stickles tonight. I...

You all are so clever....almost everyone got the right answer to my question about the cool hand bag. Yes, it was made with candy wrappers! Isn't that the coolest? I mean, I have seen the bags made with CapriSun or KoolAid pouches, but, this is way cooler! I remember my aunt making chains like this out of gum wrappers when I was younger, but to make a whole purse out of that idea? I thought it was very cool. Thanks to everyone for playing along. I picked a random winner........#1! Michelle said... Well, my guess is candy wrappers. I see a manufacturer but they make so many things that I can't narrow it down any better than that. It is pretty cool! Michelle, send me your address and I'll send you some goodies. :o) I have some new samples to share but my computer has been take over by alien forces. I will have to wait til we have reached a treaty before I can upload any pictures to my blog I guess. Dang aliens.

This week's challenge was to use chipboard. I totally love using this stuff! Stampin' Up! has loads of great shapes and letters as well as book boards to play with. I decided to use some floral shapes from the Blossoms and basics set for my challenge. I coverd the flower, leaves and center with designer paper in summer sun and celery. The tombow liquid adhesive is awesome for chipboard! After the glue dried, I inked up the covered chipboard with Versamark and then heat embossed the shape with clear embossing powder. I wanted to use Glassy glaze (UTEE) but, I discovered I was out. I hate that! Time for an order! I had already made my card base before for another project. It is made from textured cardstock folded in half and then in half again. It is actually a cd holder. There is a full pocket on the inside left and a diagonally cut pocket on the right for a cd to slide into. I need to send a disk of pictures to my sister in law from our spa trip and thought this would be per...

I had a great stamp a stack tonight with some really great ladies. I've said it before and I'll say it again, stampers are the best kind of people! One of the gals that came tonight brought a new purse a girlfriend had bought her when she went on a cruise. Check this out! Can you tell what it is made out of? Give it a guess!! I was amazed! I totally want one!! If you guess the right answer, I will pick a name for a prize. Look close..... We did a card similar to this one tonight....only it was guava and pomegranate, used different background paper, had glitter instead of beads and...well...okay, it was different. but, this is a really cute card! I'm off to bed before I get grounded from the computer by my husband! ;o))

I was out and about most of the day but just had to sneak into my scrap room tonight to do a scrap page. I think that since all my pictures are still out on my table, I am able to hear them calling to me better. I think the closet really muffled their voices. I better get them back in there quick! I decided to do a 'quick' page tonight. (LOL) I pulled out this sweet picture of my Niece Gwen that I had taken last fall. She is the cutest thing! I saw her only once before, at her birth, and it amazed me how quick she had grown into a little energizer bunny! I started my page with a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye - Bohemian. I LOVE this paper! The colors are great and the feel is rustic, yet,...well, Bohemian! I put my picture in the center of the paper and traced around it with my white gel pen. Normally I would use a pencil, but I knew I was going to use some white paint as a border, so gel pen would blend in. I used my Stampin' Up! Hobby blade to cut out t...

Quick post this morning. I am swamped today! I wanted to share this quick card using the metallic pencils from Stampin' Up! I think these pencils are awesome and they don't get much publicity. Part of the reason for that , in my opinion, is that they are one of the few items that don't come in the traditional SU colors. They have colors all their own. Do not despair! The colors are gorgeous and pair up easily with many SU colors. In this card, I stamped the image with Basic brown onto whisper white. I then used various colors to intensify the hash marks and lines in the stamped image. I did these fairly heavy to get a lot of lead on there. Then I used a paper towel to 'smudge' the colors around and fill in the flower and leaves. (These pencils don't erase well, but you can get a bit off if you are patient with the eraser.) In person, you can really see a shimmer on the flower. I mounted the image onto a card base of Pale Plum, scalloped the top edge with some sh...

Sorry, I am running a bit late this week with the Friday challenge. I spent the last official day of Spring Break with the kids. We went to the movie and saw Nim's Island. It was really cute! I was pleasantly surprised. Our challenge this week was to make a triangle box. I know there are several patterns out there, but I decided to make my own. I guess great minds work alike because MJ made one almost the same as mine! Check out her pattern here . Mine is a bit different as you will see. Instead of the tabs being on the triangle side, I left mine on the rectangle sides. Here is a picture of the box open. I made it with Stampin' Up!'s whisper white cardstock and then covered it with Gable green textured cardstock and some rose red designer paper. I punched a hold through the front triangle and mounted a piece of white behind it that I had stamped the strawberry from Tart and Tangy on. I used my markers to color directly onto the stamp to get the multicolored image. I punched...

Such a day I have had! I just have to share. I started the day out pretty normal for a Spring break day. That of course, means sleeping in and only getting up when you hear the trash truck coming and then sprinting out of bed to put the trash out. The way my heart was pounding after that daring dash down the stairs has got to count as some cardio for the day. After the trash, some 'faux yoga' ie. lying on the floor and thinking about my abs. Then, I was a good girl and took my vitamins (hoodia) and drank a very healthy fiber filled smoothie (sweetened with strawberry jam) and then cleaned my bedroom. Well, I vacuumed til I got to the tv....the kids were watching Super Why and, well, you just don't interrupt something like that! I called my friend Laura to bring her boys over to play because, my boys room was still clean! (have to show off things like that!) She came and we visited and the boys played nice and, well, you know what they say....everything's fun and g...

Okay, I am having way too much fun reading all your awesome birthday posts! I'm getting some great ideas for my birthday. Maybe I will have my DH read these too...hint hint. ;o) I promised to show you all some of the things I have been working on for my craft booth, so here you go! (pay no attention to the mess behind the frame...just a normal day at my work desk. ;o) ) This first one is a 6 x 12" frame I picked up at WalMart I think. (I also collect frames I'm afraid to say...) I used a simply scrappin kit from Stampin' Up! entitled Confetti. These kits have loads of self-adhesive-diecuts! Enough to do an entire mini album. The striped paper on the left is from another SS kit from last year called Primary colors. The frame, dotted stripe, dotted paper, and circle accents are all from the first kit. Since I wasn't putting pictures on this, I stuck the circles that would overlap pictures onto scraps of white cardstock and then cut them out. I then stuck them to the...

Okay, I know I promised to post some blog candy a couple days ago but, what was I thinking? The weekend has become the crazy part of my week! We have entered the World of Soccer. All you soccer moms out there will totally know what I am talking about. We are still in the little leagues of it, only one practice a week and one game. Per child of course....I'm glad my son decided he didn't want to play. Two kids is enough! It was a beautiful weekend tho. The weather was awesome. The sun got bright during the afternoon game, but every few minutes it would rain so, it kept us nice an comfy. Only in Florida can you have rain on a sunny day. It is one of the wonders of the world. I put together a few goodies for Blog Candy today. I have been having way too much fun making stuff with coasters and patterned paper lately. Stampin' Up! has made it even easier to use these two items together by offering the Tombow Liquid Adhesive. If you haven't used it, you've got to! It is aw...

At least I think it is week 41....they are flying by! This week our challenge was to use the long note sample on page 65 of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog as our inspiration. Kind of a cute little card. The first card I came up with used Kraft as the card base. I started with a square piece of cardstock measuring 6 x 6 and folded it over to make my card. This should fit in our long notes envelopes. I used the coluzzle to cut a circle from the Afternoon Tea designer paper and then again to cut a ring from chocolate chip cardstock. To get it to fit like it does, I stuck the ring onto the circle and then adhered them both to my card front with dotto. Love the repositionable adhesive! Then I simply cut off the overhang with my Craft and Paper scissors (aka the Holy scissors). I tied a strip of wide chocolate grosgrain around the front and then layered a piece of vanilla cardstock to the inside to cover up the ribbon. I stamped the branch and Thank You from Spring Solitude in b...

Now this page was fun to do! This is another example of me finding better paper at the expo once I got there. I already had the glossy black paper. I ordered it online and can't remember where from....losing my mind. Anyway, it was one of those... I know I will use it some day... purchases. The red star paper is from Rusty Pickle. I cut it down just a bit so I could put a strip of the glossy black along the outside edges. The super glittery paper is also from Rusty Pickle. I cut a strip and put it along the bottom half of the backgroud paper. It is way glittery in person! I used a die that was provided at the crop to cut the big circles for my faux records. Then, and this is the coolest part, I used my sanding block to carefully etch lines in the records. They look awesome! I don't have a totally steady hand, so the lines aren't perfect, but I thought it was cool! I traced a container from a gal at another table to make the white circles in the center and wrote the name of ...

Sometimes, even when I pre plan a page for a crop, it doesn't end up anything like I thought it would. So is the case with this layout. As I was walking (running) through the expo booths, I came upon the Rusty Pickly booth. oooo such yummy stuff there! I had planned to do a Halloween page with these pictures, you know...black and orange and all those halloween colors, but when I saw these awesome Pirate accessories, I decided to change my plan. After all, the pirate costume was the highlight of Halloween for us this year. Tip: whenever I buy patterned paper, I always buy at least two sheets. You never know what you will need it for! In this case, the paper I liked had the skull and crossbones in the bottom left hand corner and there wasn't a sheet for the right side layout that coordinated. I bought two sheets anyway. When I got down to scrapping it, I found that if I turned the paper so the skull was in the upper right hand corner, it was upside down but I had the coordinating...

I went to the Orlando Scrapbook Expo on Friday with my friend Kim. We went Friday evening thinking we would shop til we were ready to go to the crop. Little did we know the shopping ended at 6pm! Hardly enough time to see everything! I did manage to drop a few dollars in my short time there. I moved fast! The crop was much more 'profitable' you could say. I ended up getting 15 pages done! yay me! It felt SOO good to scrap! It has been ages since I was able to really sit down and focus on scrapbooking. It takes time and planning to be able to get pages done a a crop. It is hard to know what to bring. The way I do it is to group my pictures by event, or by page theme. I put the pictures in a 12 x 12 sheet protector. Then I pick the colors I want to use. I put cardstock and any patterned paper I think I will use in the protector with the pictures. Then I try to put any accessories I think I will use in the protector as well. I don't always end up with everything I want to use ...