Happy Birthday to my Honey!

Today was my Hubby's 38th birthday - wow he's an old man! So, I wanted to make him some cupcakes for his birthday... bring back the child in him. However, I refuse to turn on the oven for an hour worth of baking while it's 93 degrees outside and 85 degrees inside! So, he's going to have to be ok with a card that has a cupcake on it! HA!

No seriously - our a/c unit broke a few weeks back (and is getting fixed tomorrow)... at first we weren't too worried about it as it was the first week of Fall and it was starting to cool down. YAY! Then the last 3 or 4 days here in Southern California have been so blazing hot that I've wanted to just sit on the couch with a fan on me when I get home. Ick!

But on to the recipe for this fun and quick card... Hubby loved it, of course, and asked why the icing was so crunchy on his cupcake! HA!

Details, details...
Stamp set: So Many Scallops
Colors: Baja Breeze, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White
Other: Stampin' Glitter Chunky Sprinkles, scallop circle punch, 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, crimper tool and Cuttlebug / Distressed Stripes embossing folder

Has it been 5 years already?!

Five years ago today - dear hubby and I were off eloping!!! How adventurous of us! And I CANNOT believe 5 years has gone by already! 5 years?!

This week is also both of our birthdays. So, it's a big celebration week ... and I'm ever so excited to share this time w/ my hubby.

Here's the card I made for him... which I just love. And he's such a technically minded guy - where everything needs to be balanced... and I'm curious to see how he responds to this. Let's see if I've successfuly walked the fine line between perfectly balanced and "off" by just a touch with this card. Let's see what he says... I'll keep you posted.

The embossed layer of More Mustard has some extra texture as I colored inside the embossing folder (by simply turning over the ink pad and inking up the top side of the folder) before placing my card stock inside and running it through the Cuttlebug. (Tip: make sure to keep clean the folder right away by running it under water or using a wet wipe - otherwise the plastic stains.)

I may not be around much again this week... our house is in disarray still - but I'm making headway to get it back in order. Will be glad once contractor is done making a mess in my house. Will also be glad to have this work finally done - I've been in this house for 9 years and most of this work has needed to be done for that long. So it's all good. (Except I haven't had much stamp time... I'll live, I guess! But not for much longer... hmph!)

Details, details...

Stamp sets: Lovely as a Tree, Frames & Flourishes and Hugs & Wishes

Colors: More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Always Artichoke

Other: Cuttlebug / Textile Texture embossing folder, 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, hemp twine, glossy paper, watercolor crayons (more mustard, close to cocoa and always artichoke), water spray bottle and scallop circle punch

Christmas in September!

This past Thursday I went to a local holiday event... it's an annual tradition for Canterbury Gardens to throw a Christmas Open House during the first week of Fall. And that was this past Thursday. While there I saw a christmas tree ornament I wanted to translate into a card... of course!

Lately I've seen people playing with Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss - but the colors are just too bright for me. And then I saw this ornament that used a darker green - and my eyes just lit up! Since Thursday night I've been dreaming about this design... and here it is...

Details, details...
Stamp sets: Baroque Motifs and Frames & Flourishes
Colors: Baja Breeze, Whisper White and Always Artichoke
Other: White craft ink, white embossing powder, stampin' dimensionals and jeweled brads from SU

Some quick workshop cards...

Well, I don't usually give away secrets before their time is due... but I just had to this time! These are quick cards I put together for an upcoming workshop... just ordered all my supplies for it... for some 160 cards total! And thought I'd share some quick workshop ideas here.

This isn't necessarily an SU workshop... it's what is called a "Creative Cafe" at our church. And I was asked to prepare some cards for the participating ladies to have fun - since I wasn't sure of the "skill level" and since we're making over 160 cards - I kept them simple and quick. Our Creative Cafe meets quarterly... and this is the last Cafe prior to the Holidays. So what a wonderful way to get some Thanksgiving and Christmas in, eh?!

The Thanksgiving card uses a set that is so versatile... but has been retired by SU. (And I'm not too happy about it - 'cuz it's such an easy set to show off but I can't anymore, for SU workshops anyhow.)

Details, details...

Stamp sets: Holidays & Wishes, Autumn Fest and Frames & Flourishes

Colors: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, More Mustard, Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla and Kraft

Other: Stampin' Dimensionals

The Christmas card is easy squeezy! Isn't it?! And thankfully the stamp set is still active - so I'll be showing this off at a few upcoming workshops this winter. Woo hooo!

Details, details...

Stamp sets: Baroque Motifs and Frames & Flourishes

Colors: Ruby Red, Mellow Moss, Kraft and Very Vanilla

Other: Stampin' Dimensionals

Quick wall art...

Several months back I picked up a leaflet at Michael's about making your own art for your house. (And since we're getting ready to stage our house for placing it on the market - I knew I'd want to put this to use.) They showed how you can take a styrofoam square and cover it for a quick 5-min project! Ingenious! See HERE - they used cloth napkins, I used scrapbooking pages - of course!

Since our house has been turned upside down (by contractors)... the small square I've been able to clear out is of course my stamp space! I mean, why not?! I can't do much in the rest of the house until this work is done... we can't even watch tv! So, to my happy stamp space I go! Let's work on those ideas/projects that have been sitting on the corner of my work table for months now!

This one is super easy! I took a rectangle piece of styrofoam and cut it in half so I could make two 6" x 6" squares to go above my desk. I then found some fun 12" x 12" scrapbooking paper... grabbed my scissors, exacto knife and adhesive.

I scored the paper so that there were impressions for the 6" square right in the middle. Cut off the corners so I could neatly fold the paper around the square... and adhered the layers to each other. The third image above shows the BACK of the image with a little bit of styrofoam poking through.

How I'll attach these to the wall? I have so many options. I could use nails already in place and simply puncture throught the paper. I could use sticky strip on the wall and press square against it. I could simply lean it against the wall while sitting on my desk top. So, let me think about that... run some lab tests and I'll be back. After I get these up on the wall I'll come back to show an image of how it all looks.

Supplies...

Styrofoam rectangle by FloraCraft (found in the floral section at Michael's)

Two 12" x 12" scrapbooking pages of choice

Adhesive (I like to use Zig's 2-Way Glue)

exacto knife

Fall is in the air...

I just about fell off my chair when I saw this ... isn't this A for Adorable?! Talk about an easy (and quick) project! A friend emailed me this idea last month - and I'm just now getting to it. Check out the full on tutorial HERE.

Supplies

- one sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" card stock (I used SU's Pumpkin Pie, of course)

- hole punch and 2 brads

- embellishments for leaves and vine (I used two different sized oval punches and Kiwi Kiss and Garden Green card stock... then I drew on the leaves with a Versamarker to make them look like leaves)

Cutting your 8 1/2" x 11" sheet into 1" x 11" strips is easy. Then you punch a hole at both ends of each strip (about 1/2" inch in from end)... stack them on top of each other... insert brad. Then start pulling paper strips away from each other... and VOILA - your very own pumpkin!

Color Challenge... (WSCC5)

So here's the challenge - use these colors together: Bordering Blue, Kraft, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla.

Well, these manly colors came at a good time. I needed to make card this week for our contractor (who has my kitchen torn apart currently ). I'm thanking him most specifically for giving hubby and I an excuse to go out on a few dates this week! HA!

More importantly - my house is a mess and I can't really clean much. And I can't really hang out and watch tv while a contractor is here. And I can't really bake anything. So, I carved out a bit of space in my stamp room for some crafting time today! EIGHT hours of crafting time!

And fun was had by all!

Details, details...
Stamp set: So Many Scallops, Upsy Daisy and Rough Texture jumbo wheel
Colors: Bordering Blue, Kraft, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, and Very Vanilla
Other: Platinum liquid pearls, scallop edge punch, round scallop punch, small circle punch, versamark, clear embossing powder and 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon

Happy Fall!

And here is my HAPPY FALL card... and be warned, this is a direct CASE from someone's SCS gallery. I should have saved it so I could give her credit... but it was one of those days. The image stuck in my head though - so I had to recreate it!

I cannot tell you how happy I am that Fall is next week! I mean... I'm downright giddy!

So off I go to get these cards out in the mail... I want to spread the word - fall is in the air!

Details, details...
Colors: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Really Rust and Pumpkin Pie
Other: Cuttlebug / new fall embossing folder, Versamarker and large / small oval punches

A Day In the Life of Lori (WSSC#1)

A friend on mine, Steph, offered up a challenge. Take our cameras with us wherever we go that day and take pics of your day. Well, all I had planned for the day was staying around the house and stamping - but of course! So, I kept the camera close by! It was a great exercise. And something I want to do more often - maybe I can pick random days each month and do this?! Maybe I won't hold my breath... we'll see how it goes. Until then... this is the beginning of a new scrapbook. I'm in the middle of two right now - catching up with "my life with Lee" and a current album. I've learned from experience that if I go back to the beginning of what needs to get scrapped (and set aside the current stuff) none of my scrapbooks will have any journalling. So, gotta start somewhere. Why not here?!


Well, this is a layout I created with mostly non-SU stuff I had in "the stash".


So I'm not even going to list all the details as I don't think I can remember where I got this stuff. The only SU stuff on here is the Priceless stamp set, and the ink colors (Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose and Craft White - also I used Soft Sky and Not Quite Navy to color the primas).


The letters were created with my Cuttlebug and the 13" decorative strip, Serif alphabet. FUN die!!! I'm tellin' you - I don't know how I created cards and scrapbook pages without my Cuttlebug!

FYI - the keyword used above (WSSC#1) stands for "WS" being the intials of the online forum I participate in and "Scrap Challenge #1". Not sure if it's official to the online forum, but for purposes on this blog and my plan to scrap random days each month - this is what I'll use here.

ONLINE ORDERING WITH STAMPIN' UP!!!

A lil' bit of housekeeping today... no card making for me quite yet in the day.

I'm so excited to share SU's newest news! You can now order SU items ONLINE!!! It's so easy!!! So when you get that shopping urge at 1:30 am when you and your girlfriends and scrappin' away...... click here: SHOP NOW

Coolest part? You can even SHOP BY COLOR! (This is my personal favorite on most shopping sites!)

Now, how's that for housekeeping?! Now you won't get any done ... there's some serious shopping that needs to start taking place!

Decor Elements Phase II is here!!!

Very soon Phase 2 of SU's Decor Elements line will be available! I simply cannot wait to get some more of these for my house... especially "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord..." !!!

The products in the Phase 2 brochure will be available for purchase starting Oct 1!

And now SU offers more of their loved colors and more of our favorite stamp images - but in the appropriate sizes for decorations on walls and other home decor items! Check it out!

WSC57 - Beate's weekend sketch challenge

What a fun challenge. I always like participating in Beate's sketch challenges. Seems I always have a card to make... and just in time for the weekend her challenge arrives! Me, me, me... I wanna play! Her sketch is the first image - and my card follows.

This is a "congrats on a new job" sentiment for a team mate - his last day is this Thursday. And while I'm not so happy about him leaving - I am happy for him! So, what better way to say it than with a card! But I had to keep it short and sweet this morning - I've got a bunch of girls coming over to stamp today after church. So, have some cleaning up to do - which I've obviously been avoiding! Off I go...

Oh - one note, can you see the sheen on the Real Red layer? I first ran it through the Cuttlebug ... and then versamark'd the entire layer and covered it with clear embossing powder. Next, I hit it with the heat gun... and voila! More bling, more sheen and more interest! You like?!

Details, details...

Stamp set: Edge Eloquence and Frames & Flourishes

Colos: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Real Red and Whisper White

Other: Cuttlebug / Diamonds In The Rough embossing folder, black twill ribbon from package I received somewhere, non-SU star embellishment, Sizzix star die cuts, versamark ink, clear embossing powder, heat gun and ticket corner punch

My try at the Pop Up card...

Looky what I worked on last night!!!!! I've been wanting to try Mary Jo's tutorial for the Pop up card... and finally did! Thanks for the tutorial! I don't know if I could have figured this one out on my own... especially last night... it had been a long day.

Yesterday morning I got an email from a friend Debbie (who hasn't stamped in several months because of the arrival of her most recent child - and chasing a 19 month old at the same time is a bit time consuming... apparently)... her email was a challenge to try this card. Well, being that I already had the tutorial printed and sitting on the edge of my table... I gladly accepted her challenge and got out the goods to get working on this fun card!

Details, details...
Stamp: Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel, Spring Solitude and Edgy Eloquence
Colors: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Apricot Appeal and Whisper White
Other: Apricot Appeal grosgrain ribbon, non-SU kiwi ribbon, small / large circle punches, silent setter, die cut flower and watercolored prima

Late again... but wanted to play...

I was going to do this yesterday - but simply ran out of time. That's ok... that's why I took today and Monday off of work! Too much to do - too little time! So before I get going on being busy on my days off of work (why does it always seem like a break to go back to work after a busy weekend?!)... I wanted to get this posted, even if I did miss the deadline.

I like to play along w/ several challenges floating around in the blog world. Thursdays are for the Color Inspiration hosted on Kristina's blog. Her sample is the first image - and we are to use her colors for our own crafty delight. My card is the second image. And you can barely tell, but I very lightly watercolored on the white layer, behind the daisies. Can you see it?

Details, details...
Stamp set: Upsy Daisy
Colors: Bravo Burgundy, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Soft Sky and Whisper White
Other: Rose Red stampin' write marker, stampin' dimensionals, small Niji waterbrush, SU large oval punch, scallop edge punch and Soft Sky double stitched ribbon

Spring loaded card

Well, I've been wanting to try this for several weeks now and I FINALLY got the chance.... I was at my cousins's (Sarah's) and didn't have ALL of my tools with me so I didn't quite go all out like I would have wanted to... but my test worked! Thanks Sarah for letting me play with your fun stamp sets!!!!!

Di’s tutorial is just wonderful! She does such a great job on these... so I had to put it to the test.

Details, details...

Stamp sets: Inspired by Nature and Sweet Shapes

Colors: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Real Red and Cameo Coral

Other: Stampin' glitter, liquid glue, circle punch,

Arriving late for a party...

... but hey, at least I'm arriving. This past week Kristina hosted another inspiring challenge: Color Inspiration #21. Here's her sketch and my take on the challenge. Just LOVE these colors together....




Details, details...
Stamp set: Cheers to You
Colors: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Whisper White and Basic Black
Other: Cuttlebug/ Nestabilities scallop die, SU's scallop edge punch, paper piercing tool, small Niji waterbrush and some cute $1 ribbon from Michael's

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #32

Once again, having so much fun w/ Taylor's Friday challenge (Cupcake Challenge - although you don't have to use any cupcake stamps)...


The first image is the sketch of what the challenge should mimic. And then I used one of SU's new Hostess sets and did a whole bunch of watercoloring. And you can't quite tell from this picture as the flash faded it out the subtle tint... but the entire window was watercolored with a light layer of More Mustard for a warm glow. I just LOVE this color combo for autumn cards!!!


Details, details...
Stamp set: Window Dressing and Stems & Silhoettes jumbo wheel
Colors: More Mustard, Really Rust, Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Sage Shadow, Basic Brown and Garden Green
Other: SU 2 circle punches, 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, small Niji waterbrush and ticket corner punch

CC182 and WSC56

It's called multitasking... I wanted to play today... so I decided to tackle two challenges at once.

WSC56: Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #56 (Beate's original sketch provided above as well as my version of the challenge.)

CC182: Monochromatic! (all one color: pinks, purples, reds, grays, etc) This was Tuesday's SCS Challenge (yeah ... LAST Tuesday's) ... and I'm a bit late... but I still wanted to play... who can blame a girl?!

Details, details...

Stamp set: Upsy Daisy

Colors: Whisper White, Garden Green, Basic Black and Certainly Celery

Other: Stampin' Write Markers, Wild Wasabi double-stitched ribbon, double-sided paper and non-SU jewel embellishments

another take on Beate's weekend sketch challenge (WSC55)

So, I enjoyed Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge this week so much I decided to make some more cards. Seems I have lots of "guy" cards to make for the next few weeks. So I may as well, right?! For Beate's challenge I made the card a long card to fit into a regular busines size envelope - so the card stock was cut at 7 3/4" X 9 1/8".

And to highlight a technique I love - the watercolor affect for the trees was done using the watercolor wonder crayons and a water bottle. You take the crayon(s) directly to the stamp itself (here I started w/ Old Olive over the entire image) and just went back with two highlight colors (Garden Green and More Mustard) in a few places to add more spots of color... then I sprayed the stamp w/ a water bottle (hold the water sprtizer about a foot away from the stamp so it doesn't get TOO wet) ... and then stamped it off on the Whisper White layer. (Note - typically I can stamp at least two images without "re-inking" the stamp set.) So, since it's wet, set the card stock aside and let it dry well... and move on to making the rest of the card. When the water / crayon settles into the card stock it's just so pretty!

Have a try! Check it out... you'll love it!

Details, details...

Stamp sets: Lovely As A Tree and Upsy Daisy

Colors: Basic Gray, Going Gray and Whisper White

Other: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Urban Garden Designer Series paper, ribbon (non-SU), scallop edge punch, ticket corner punch and water spritzer/bottle

TUTORIAL: Designer Calendar

Anyone want to know more? Because so many of your are asking, here's the tutorial I put together this weekend: HERE.

Details, details...
Stamp sets: Spring Solitude, It's All Good, Take Three and Fresh Cuts
Colors: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Taken with Teal and Whisper White
Other: Bali Breeze Designer Series Paper, Roof Garden Accents & Elements, Blooms Again die cuts, circle punches and square punches

Happy September!

Happy September...

And I truly mean it...

September holds all sorts of goodies... an extra work day OFF, first day of Fall, my hubby's birthday, my wedding anniversary (it's 5 years this year!), starting to plan for Thanksgiving and Christmas... and a tad cooler weather.

All of these things make Lori very happy!

So, happy September to one and all!