Queen's Sketch Challenge

Today is the sketch challenge for the Stamping Queens.  I really thought I would make the card this week instead of doing it in My Digital Studio, but I am still trying to sort out my craft room and it is still a MESS!  I had planned on working on it uninterrupted all day today but that didn't happen.  After donny left early this morning to go shooting with the guys, I fell back into a deep sleep.  The phone woke me up (at 9 am!) with a plea that I was needed at the Soup Kitchen.  So I went into overdrive and got dressed, grabbed some tea and coffee and headed to the Mooresville Soup Kitchen to work.

I think this card goes along with everyone's resolutions for 2012 - or at least mine.  Get organized, stay that way and take it Day by Day .... 24 hours, 52 weeks and 365 days!!  Think you can do it?  I hope I can.  This card uses a new FREE download offered to Facebook friends of Stampin' Up called Day in the Life

Check out the other Stamping Queens creations HERE.

Every year, I make calendars for my friends and family.  Sonny makes calendar stands for me to hang the calendars on.  I'll post a picture of the stands later in the week.  If you are interested in buying one, I have a few extras.  Here are a couple of months I made using My Digital Studio.   It made making them so easy!!

2012 CALENDAR FOR YOU

Well, I am finally home and hope to get back to a more regular schedule with regards to my blog!  I know I have been very sporadic lately, but hopefully that will change once I get unpacked and my life gets back to normal ... whatever normal is!!

It is time for the 2012 OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG!!  You can click on the catalog in the side bar to see all the great products.  I will be posting some samples real soon.  Contact me to place an order OR you can order from my website HERE. 

I have made this calendar for you using My Digital Studio.  Enjoy!!

In Like A Lion .... Out Like a Lamb?

March blew in like a lion yesterday with severe storms in our area.  All we got at our house was a lot of wind and rain but a tornado touched down not too far from Mooresville - in the Statesville area.  I don't usually get scared during storms like most of my family but those winds yesterday had me a little nervous plus I was home alone.  I'm sure my mom's weather radio was blasting away at her house!  But we didn't even lose electricity so that was a good thing.

Hopefully, we are done with the cold weather and ready to start spring!!  I'm ready for it.  I've already started putting a few of my house plants outside so they can enjoy the sunshine.

Plus, now that March is here, my Ireland trip is a little bit closer!  I've read all the tour books, got the reservations made, started planning what to pack - I'm getting excited!

Make today a good day!

It's February already!

 

Happy February!!  Can you believe January is gone and February is here!   What do you think?  Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow this year?   Don't think those people up north can stand six more weeks of winter!! There's another winter storm warning for the north for the next few days.  We're watching the weather in the Pittsburgh area.  We're not worried about it when we get there - they are prepared and have the equipment to plow roads unlike the South.  It's just getting there as we will have to drive through the mountains.  

I made this cute card for Ashley back in December.  I don't remember where I found the pattern but I thought it would be perfect for her.  She's received it by now so I'm not spoiling the surprise by posting it here.  She told me that she hangs all the cards she receives over her desk so I thought this would look good there!  I even used my Button Embosslit Die for the buttons.  What do you think?   

January Stamp Club Coaster Calendars

I just have to start off by saying .... GO STEELERS!  What a great game!  Sonny was a doubter going to Big Al's on Saturday to watch the game, but his team pulled through for him.  Of course, he had to do a little clothes alterations for that to happen.  He wore his jersey that we had won a couple of weeks ago to the game.  When we were losing 14-0, he pulled it off to wear the tee shirt he had worn when we won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago.  He had another shirt on under that one - I don't know which one it was - but he was prepared to make another change if he had to!  Yes .... he is superficious when it comes to football!  And then yesterday!!  The Jets beat Tom Brady and his New England Patriots!  That was the icing on the cake.  Now Pittsburgh gets to play the Jets in Pittsburgh!!!

Ashley had a bit of excitement this weekend also although it was not a good type of excitement.  Some soldiers on her base (not in her battalion) were conducting a training exercise with the Iraqi soldiers teaching them how to launch attacks, etc.  One of the Iraqi soldiers opened fire on the US soldiers, killing two and wounding a third.  You can read about it HERE.  It certainly brings the fact that she is over there in the midst of a WAR to front and center.

My Stamp Club starts back this week.  One of the members has requested that we make a coaster calendar so that is what I have been working on.  I plan on putting mine on display but letting them make theirs any way that they want to.  It has been a while since I made one of these calendars.  I tried to make it a little different - by putting the month on one coaster and putting a stamped image on another coaster and putting them together with a 2" piece of ribbon.  But after I finished the whole year, the thing just wouldn't stand up properly and it was more trouble than it was worth.  So, I proceeded to take it all apart and remake it!  Here is the finished product:

January Calendar

Happy 2011 to you!  We had fun last night bringing in the New Year.  Today has been foggy and dreary ... a good day for doing nothing but lounging around!  We all need one of those once in a while.

As you know, I have been working on 6x6 calendars for my friends and family.  I am going to try to remember to post the month's calendar on the first of each month this year.  Or in this case, I am posting more than one January idea.  These were done on My Digital Studio.  It made making calendars soooo easy this year!!

Getting down to Crunch Time!

Wahhhh - my Steelers lost today.  I thought they were going to pull out the win but time ran away from them and they didn't get the win.  They played the Jets and both teams were fighting for playoff berths.  We play Carolina on Thursday who should be an easy team to beat considering they have only won 2 games all season, but you just never know with football!  Anything can happen - and usually does!

We're entering the final stretch for Christmas.  This is the last week to get your shopping done, bake those cookies, wrap the presents and get your singing voice ready for Christmas carolling!  I only have a couple more presents to buy; haven't made any cookies yet; haven't wrapped the first present; and don't have a singing voice!  I did make some tags tonight so I can do my wrapping tomorrow and finally put something under the tree besides dust.  What about you?  Are you ready for Santa?

I had a great time this weekend making digital calendars!  I am just so proud of them.  I subscribe to a monthly on-line magazine, Paper and Pixels.  It is fairly new and is free.  They have some really good articles and ideas.  If you are interested, here is a link to them - ( http://www.papersandpixels.com/).  Saturday, I was reading the magazine and they had information about a CD calendar.  There was a download of the calendar template and several other links to the calendar.  I downloaded all of their information and opened up My Digital Studio and that's all it took.  I created three different calendars using parts of their download and a lot of the paper, stamps and embellishments from Stampin' Up.  What fun I had!!  Here is a peek at a couple of the pages.

January - everything came downloaded on the page except - the snowflake at the top, the brads in the middle of the snowflake, the skaters (which I colored after printing it out), and the big snowman.

 February - Again, everything printed out as is.  I just added from MDS, the items in the 3 boxes and the heart stamp on the calendar.  After I printed it out, I added a real pink corduroy button where the rhinestone is.

The more I use My Digital Studio, the more I really love it!!  It really got a work out this weekend!!  I ended up printing the calendar pages on some glossy white paper that I had and they turned out super.

Oh - by the way, I didn't wake up yesterday to snow!  I never saw any snow at my house although a few areas around us got snow - just no accumulation.  My mom called in the afternoon to say she had seen some really big flakes at her house.  Oh well - maybe for Christmas!

Coaster Calendar 2011

Every year I give my hair dresser a little calendar for her work station.  Friday, I am going to get my hair trimmed and shaped up so I had to get going with making her calendar.  I also made one of these yesterday to include in my Christmas gift for my Bunco Yankee Swap but I didn't have time to take pictures of it.  I finished the calendar about 5:30 and still had to take a shower, wash and dry hair, get ready for the party and get my snack together by 7 PM!  So glad my hair is shorter now - it is so much easier to  fix!!

January uses the DSP from SU's Holiday Mini and Spellbinders Nested Mittens.  After I took the picture, I decided to glitter the mittens!

February - I got to use some SU rub-ons that were a gift from Stampin Up to me!

March - I cut up a card Sonny sent me - it is just beautiful - like Monet waterlilies.  I added a flower from God's Beauty stamp set (retired) and glitter.

April - This is some retired DSP from Stampin' Up.  The stamp set is from My Favorite Things.

May - more retired DSP paper from SU and the bird punch!

June - retired DSP.  The stamp set is called Bugs & Blooms but I don't know who makes it.

July - pretty simple just using bits and pieces of different papers.

August - another simple one.  I found this tag and stamped the saying from SU's Peace Within

September - a great place for the children from Greeting Card Kids (SU).  I colored them with my Copics.

October - another great use of Greeting Card Kids and the spider web from Wicked Cool.

November - isn't he cute?  This is Gobble, Gobble - a retired single stamp that I love!  I used different colors of markers to color directly on the stamp.

December - I had this "Merry Christmas" already colored in my stash so I adhered it to the page and I was done!  

Hope this gives you inspiration to make your own calendar!

Thanksgiving Cards

I'm playing catch up!!  I received two great Thanksgiving cards that I want to share with you.

 

This one is from Margaret.   She stamped the leaves for the background onVanilla cardstock and used the Scallop Punch to scallop the edges.  It is matted on Soft Suede.  The apples in the center are from a retired SU set.   She pricked holes all around the edges of the apples and the sentiment.  Love it!

This masterpiece is from Judy.  She used non SU stamps and embossed the leaf in the center (I think!)  It is just beautiful!

Thanks gals!

I have been working on a couple of calendar pages today for a stamp club that I am in.  We each take two months and make a full page calendar page.  When we get together, we bind them and Leslie usually makes a cover sheet for all of us.  The months I chose this time were January and October.  I had actually almost finished them last week but I wasn't 100% sold on them.  So, today it was back to the drawing board!!  Now, I'm satisfied!

 I am loving this digi-download!  I was able to copy it to my word processing program and make it a little larger.  I paper-pieced his hat and used Flower Soft on his scarf.  Here is a close up:

Here is my October page:

This is actually more digi!  I did a search for free digital paper and found this great plaid and the little tag.  I embossed the paper with SU's Spider Web embossing folder.  I found the Trick or Treat ribbon in my stash and cut it apart and secured it in the corner of the page.  The little ghost is a brad that I have had for about 5 years!  "Spooky" is from SU's Wicked Fun stamp set.  Here is a close up:

 Hope these inspire you today.

Fall Back - Calendar Time

Did you remember to "Fall Back" last night and enjoy that extra hour of sleep?  I did while snuggling under my down comforter.  I like it cold when I'm sleeping so I can snuggle down under the covers.  It's putting my foot outside of those covers when I have to get up that I don't like.  Sonny and I enjoyed breakfast this a.m. at Bob Evans since we wouldn't be headed over to the Steeler bar at noon for the game.  (They are playing Monday night so we'll be watching them from home this week.)  I've had to satisfy my Sunday football fever with watching the Ravens play Miami and New Orleans beating up on the poor Panthers.  Next week though .... I'll be watching the Steelers from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh Sunday night!!!  Can't wait!  Plus, we also got tickets for the Penguins hockey game on Monday night! 

I started working on the calendars that I do for friends and family each year.  I finished the first one today.  It is a CD calendar.  I was working so hard, I burned a hole in my embossing tray! 

 It happened while I was making these fall leaves.  I love this technique but don't do it very often.  I stamped the leaves (from French Foilage - SU holiday mini) in a variegated stamp pad (Big & Juicy pad) and cut each one out.  Then squoosh them into Versamark.  Holding the leaf with tweezers, dip each one in Extra Thick Embossing Powder and heat with heat gun.  Dip again into embossing powder while still hot & heat again.  Repeat this 3-4 times.  You end up with leaves that you could actually use for a piece of jewelry (with a pin on the back).  

 I glued the leaves onto this page using Glossy Accents.

 Used the apple from the hostess set, Apple Blossoms; punched the star & added a button.

 The trees are from Tropical Party and the dog is from a retired set that I don't remember the name of.

Purple flowers are from Awash With Flowers and the daffodils are from Abundant Hope.

Christmas girl is from Greeting Card Kids and October is Wicked Cool.

Melting snowmen - aren't they cute?  It's a Northwoods stamp.  The girl is a Magnolia stamp.

Love birds are from a hostess set in the holiday mini - Northern Hearts.  The shamrock stamp is an old Michael's Dollar stamps.