Ladystamper

You might have wondered why my post on Monday said Hokey. Well...I had planned on sharing THIS card. I guess with all the Monday crazies and running to schools and all, I picked the wrong card. Oh well, here is my hokey card. I have wanted this word set since it first came out and finally bought it. It is so fun! It is called Smarty Pants and it is! I made this card for my mom...because, well, I think she really does over think things sometimes and get over stressed. I, of course, am nothing like her. LOL Let's all just face it. We will all become our mothers one day. Lucky for me, my mom is pretty great. Card info: base is celery, the patterned paper is retired from SU, the stamped image is from A Flower for All Seasons. The scallops are the small oval punch cut in half and glued to the back of the circle I cut with the coluzzle. The white circle is our new extra large circle punch. Enjoy!

As I mentioned earlier. My son is on the autism spectrum. I received this link from a dear friend and hope you will take a minute to watch this. http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

Monday came without warning. It always seems to sneak up on me. Surprising me with cranky kids, piles of laundry, messy rooms and older knees. I'm creaking up a storm today! I will most likely be going to the school this morning...that is probably Ben's teacher calling right now....so this will be a quick post. I had some stamping time this weekend and ....back from the school. now. What did I tell you? I'm going to take a minute and just vent on this subject. I am so frustrated with public school! What is the deal with the "no child left behind" anyway? I think it is a load of (insert word here)! My son is on the autism spectrum. He doesn't seem like he is most of the time. He goes along just fine til something sets him off. He is a perfectionist at school and falls behind because he is doing his best. His teacher only sends home notes telling me what he did NOT do, how he messed up, etc. Why WHY can't teachers actually teach? It seems to me that if a c...

Normally, I like to stamp my butterflies using pastels...yellow or orange or pink. When I was digging around in my DSP scraps, I came across this paper from a few years back. I don't even remember the name of it, but I always loved the look of it. I thought the little stitched lines kind of looked like the trails we tend to put behind butterflies, so I pulled out my Flight of the Butterfly set. I stamped my first layer using bashful blue and then added the dots and words using chocolate chip. My card base is barely banana and the ribbon is the new bashful blue stiched ribbon. The big shiney on the right is another brad from the flower assortments. This was a really quick card that was done before I knew it. I felt a little let down that it was done so fast, so I went back and added some piercing around the corners. ahh, now that feels good. ;o) Have a fabulous weekend!!

Okay, I have to admit...I am not a fan of Warhol. Sorry! I know that many people are, but it just isn't my style. That being said, I totally love how this card turned out! It was so quick and easy! My card base is black with 2" squares of ruby red, summer sun, pumpkin pie, and old olive cardstock layered on it. I stamped my little mummy (from the retired Booglie Eye's set) in basic black and was going to leave it at that but...I couldn't resist added a tiny bit of white to the eyes. I used a white watercolor pencil to do that. I wanted it subtle...and, my white gel pens are all out of ink! (aaah! What will I do?? Order more!) I used a black marker to ink up the boo to you, omitting the 'happy' that is on that stamp and stamped it, punched it and added a purple scallop under it. To make the holes for my ribbon, I used the handheld rectangle punch and punched three times in a row to make a big rectangle hole. The ribbon is a new striped pumpkin from Stampin'...

I made this sweet card for a sweet friend that just had a new baby. I have had this set for a long time, but I don't think I ever actually read what it said. "let the cute begin." That is the cutest thing ever! I love it! My card base is pirouette pink with the french swirl background stamped in white...can you see it? I added a layer of bella rose dsp with some white scallops along the bottom, punched with the scallop border punch. The cuteness is stamped with basic black, colored in with markers, colored over with the Versamarker and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I stamped the onesie again onto the bella paper and cut it out and popped it up with dimensionals. Instead of punching any holes for my ribbon, I tied my bow and stuck it on with a few glue dots. The bling is from the pretties kit. **Edited to add: The set I used on this is called Big On Spring. It was in a mini catalog last spring. It isn't in the current catalog, but it might be in the next ...

While waiting for my new stamps to arrive, I pulled out some old favorites to play with. This is a fun chalking technique I just found on the Stampin' Up! workshop wows video. It was demoed by Karen Motz. I love the easy wow it gives! You start out by stamping your image in a light color. I chose Creamy caramel. Then, you take your chalks and just randomly add colors to the image, not worrying about staying inside lines or being exact. Since this is a 'fall' card, I used earth element colors like garden green, ruby red, summer sun and chocolate chip. After I added my chalks, I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp over the tree in a darker color,Chocolate chip. This technique really makes the color pop! I added my tree to a card base of chocolate chip and mustard cardstock and added some pumpkin pie striped ribbon along the edges. This really looks better in person! Have a great day!

If you are like me, you see great ideas all over different blogs and magazines and have a hard time remembering where you saw different ideas that stuck in your head. That is the case with this idea. I don't remember where I saw it, but some clever person came up with it. Thanks! I guess these are cattails? I'm not very UP on my horticulture so I'm not sure of the exact name of these faux plants. I stamped the grass with Old Olive and then punched out the word window using Close to cocoa cardstock. To give them some dimension I sponged chocolate chip in on the edges. I wrapped some chocolate wide grosgrain around the front of the card, over lapping it and leaving a knotched end showing. The flower is from the new flower assortment brads from Stampin' Up! These puppies are big and beautiful! I stamped the saying from Best yet set in chocolate chip on white, sponged the edges and popped onto a square of close to cocoa sponged with the chocolate ship. The base of my card i...

I am really trying to get better at actually sending cards. I know I am not the only one out there that makes cards and then hoards them. You KNOW who YOU are! ;o) If you don't already know about it, there is this really cool site called birthday alarm that will email you when you have a birthday coming up. That is the only way I can remember birthdays! Lucky for me, they give me a couple of reminders so I have time to procrastinate and still get the cards out on time. This card is for a dear friend's birthday. She really IS fabulous! I started with a ridinghood red card base 5-1/2" square. I added a bit of white that I had stamped with the canvas background in Cameo Coral and added flowers in summer sun, cameo and riding hood red. I roughed up the edges with my cutting kit and sponged them with more riding hood red. The yellow strip is apricot with a Kiwi Kiss ribbon tied around it. For the flower, I stamped it three times in riding hood red, cameo coral, and summer su...

I learned something at the Stampin' Up! convention a few years ago. My good friend Stephanie brought her adorable baby Zack and I got to hold him a lot. My arms got SO sore! I didn't realize that all those hours of holding my babies I was actually working out. Since my baby was 6 at the time, I didn't have those 'mommy muscles' anymore. Today, I realized that my paper cutting muscles are sorely out of shape. Holy cow! I was cutting all the paper for the DSP paper samplers I am making my downline and my arms are dead! I am only half done, but I had to take a break and ice my arms! LOL Not really, but...I do feel like I have two wet noodles attached to my shoulders instead of arms. Not that I am complaining, I LOVE doing stuff like this for my group. They are a fabulous group of women and whenEVER I can do anything for them, I want to! Besides, the new DSP papers are totally yummy!! I hope they don't mind drool marks all over their papers..... Since it is Friday...

Have you ever read the book the Five Love Languages? I highly recommend it for everyone. It not only tells you how to better relate to others, but also helps you understand what makes you tick as well. After reading the book, I realized I am totally a "words of afformation" person. That means, when people praise me or tell me I'm doing a good job, it totally makes my day. So, that being said, my day was totally made today by Sherrie! She nominated me for this blog award. She also said some very nice things about my blog. Yes, I am feeling the love today! Thanks Sherrie!! Now, I get to pass along the love to 7 more bloggers. It is so hard to chose, so I am picking some new blogs I have found recently. Here goes! Asela Hopkins Becca Freeka Cindy Lawrence Elizabeth Wickland Kurtis Amundsen Linda Duke Mercy Kerin

I love those bumper stickers that say "I'd rather be...." fishing, surfing, sleeping, etc. I would definitely have one that said Scrapping. I just don't get to do it enough and, I don't enjoy driving much. Only because it seems I drive ALL day some days! Especially lately. I did get to scrap last week because of our stamp a stack and scrap. I need these 'assignments' or deadlines, so I can get some of my own stuff done! I had these pictures from a trip to Cocoa Village last spring break and since Shari took some of them, they actually look good! My page base is certainly celery. I trimmed some white cardstock to 10 x 10 and 10 x 10-1/2. I used the scallop border along the short side of the wider one and they ended up about even. The striped paper is from A fternoon tea DSP. The blue strip is retired blue (carribean?) with flowers stamped with versamark on it. I used my new flower die for my Sizzix to make the flowers. It is so fun to use the sizzix! Here ...

I was SO excited about this weeks blogger challenge because it was Designer paper! I love using Stampin' Up!'s designer paper because it is so pretty and easy to coordinate with the inks, ribbons and cardstock. The first card I made uses the new Ghostly Greetings paper. I have to say, although I really don't like Halloween, I LOVE this paper! It is so fun and colorful! I cut three strips of the paper to fit the front of my card, layered them onto Only orange cardstock and added that to my black card base. This card is 5-1/2" square. The vampire and greeting are from Booglie Eyes, a retired gem that I may neve get rid of. I love it! I colored my little guy in with my markers, mounted him onto black and added some olive brads along the edge. The ribbon on the bottom is from WalMart. I have to say that so far, my most favorite new designer paper from the new catalog is the Bella Rose paper. It is so pretty and girly! I had to make a card with that as well for this challe...

I've had this picture of my oldest three children sitting on my desk for months. I was going to use it for another layout and ended up using a different picture. I have enjoyed seeing their cute faces as I stamp but decided to go ahead and make a full page for it. I saw a cute layout idea on PageMaps this month and thought it would be perfect. I started by trimming down a piece of 12 x 12 white cardstock by 1/2 inch on two sides and rounding the edges. I layered that cardstock onto a full piece of Pumpkin pie cardstock. I pulled out my scrap ribbon jar and picked some random ribbons. I laid them across and simply stapled them to the page. The big flower is a die cut from Stampin' Up! I added some white gel pen dots and lines and a celery ribbon bow in the center. I had fun with the letters. The B and S are die cuts I made with my new Big Shot. The i is actually a capital I that I cut off to make lower case. I pulled out a g and s from my chipboard and inked them with craft ink...

If you are not one of the many people that is totally obsessed and addicted to Stephenie Meyers Twilight book series, go pick it up!! they are the best books I've read in a long time! If you are a fan (or not) scroll down to the bottom of my blog and check out what I have there....heee heee can't wait!!

My pictures are looking pretty bad these days...sorry! I have an excuse. I usually do my picture taking on my stamp desk under my OTT lamp because it gives great light. But lately....my desk has been just too covered with stuff to get to the lamp! Isn't that sad? It wouldn't take too long to clean it off, but I have so little time these days to create, I don't want to waste any of it cleaning. Can you relate? I made this card for a friend that has been working really hard lately. I love the define your life set! It has a definition for so many great words. This cards has the definition for Gratitude. I used glossy cardstock to stamp my flowers on to really make them pop. The colors are Tangerine, Summer sun and Kiwi Kiss. The ribbon is old olive, but it goes great wtih the Kiwi! Have a fun Saturday!

This week has been crazy. We had a fun Labor day and then actually went to school the rest of the week! The storms decided to stay away for a while. I'm glad. Our challenge this time was a color challenge. The colors are Ridinghood red, Tangerine and Pacific Point. All new In Colors at Stampin' Up! for the new catalog. I love all these colors but, together....they were a challenge! I decided to play up the red and blue and use the tangerine as a highlight. I pulled out my True Friend stamp set and stamped the large medallion style stamp all over the ridinghood red using my basic black stamp pad. It looked okay....but then I remembered the Banadana technique Pat shared in a recent Technique Junkie newsletter . You all know how much I LOVE my white gel pen, so...I went to work. I won't tell you how the bandana technique works, you'll have to visit Pat for that info. She puts out a fabulous newsletter every other month, FULL of great stampin ideas. I hear she has some gre...