Holiday Home MDS style!

The sketch for Paper Craft Crew this week is very similar to one we did a couple of weeks ago.  In fact, I emailed the gal in charge to ask if it was a repeat!  I don't think she had realized that she had put the two sketches so close together.  I decided to make this week's card a Halloween card.  It's funny - when I first looked at the Holiday Catalog, the stamp set with the houses, Holiday Home, was not on my list at all.  But after seeing all the cute cards that everyone is making with this set, I had to get it.  Not only did I order it as a Clear Stamp, but I also ordered the digital stamp too!  Here is the digital card I made for the challenge:

I have been working on my calendars for 2015 and I also used this set for October.  This is my favorite so far!  I followed a tutorial on-line and learned a lot of new tricks for this page.  (An old dog can learn new tricks!)

I will be offering my calendars for sale.  They are $20 which includes the wooden holder for $10 for refills.  The calendars are 6x6.

Tips for Your Card Making

I love it when I learn something new!  One of my blog readers left me a comment yesterday in response to my problem of losing my photopolymer stamps.  (Thanks, Kim!)  Kim had a very good hint which I incorporated today.  Here was her tip:

I use an acrylic free standing photo frame to keep track of the loose stamps. I too clean at the end of creating. Cleaning kills the creative buzz. lol I keep the photo frame on my desk where I stamp. It's one left over from making those post it holders. I can stick those single stamps on to it, and they don't get lost. I can't see them when I drop them either. 

As it happens, I had a clear acrylic frame in my stash of Dollar Store items.  I slid a piece of card stock inside to make it a little easier to see and used it today while I was stamping.  (If you don't recognize these stamps, they are from the latest Paper Pumpkin.)  It's pretty cool - the stamps stick to the frame great!  Hopefully, no more crawling around on the floor looking for my stamps!

I also learned another tip today.  When you stamp an image and want to cut it out with a Framelit, do you find yourself going through all your framelits until you find the right size?  Well, that was what I was doing.  So, I spent a little time today solving that dilemma.  I cut some retired card stock (who doesn't have that laying around???) to 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" (whatever size works for you) and die cut a lot of my framelits.  I punched a hole in the top and have it hanging near my stamp table.  I may end up putting them in page protectors but haven't decided yet.  It already came in handy for me tonight as I was making a Christmas card and trying to decide on the sentiment.  Read the article HERE

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MDS Vintage

The challenge this week on MDS Monday is to use a vintage photo or just create a vintage page.  This is one of my favorite pictures of my Mom.  She looks so cute!  I'm guessing she was about two years old??  Well, she celebrated her 86th birthday this past July so I guess this qualifies for vintage!  I hope this page will make her smile today.  Today marks 41 years since Daddy died and I know she will be remembering that day.

I used so many overlays on this page that it was really slowing down the program.  I kept saving it - I was afraid I would lock it up and have to start all over.  I've had to do that before so I try to remember to save often.

Make sure you visit the MDS Monday blog - there are some great vintage pictures there!

Here are the elements I used to create this page.

Background
     Designer Series Paper designer series paper\Downtown Grunge - 2

Embellishments
    Paper Doilies\Paper Doilies - pool party (re-colored) Color = SOFT SUEDE
    Soft Blooms - embellishments\Soft Blooms - 4 crumb cake
    Soft Blooms - embellishments\Soft Blooms - 4 crumb cake
    Soft Blooms - embellishments\Soft Blooms - 4 crumb cake
    _Designer Kits\Fan Fair - embellishments\Fan Fair - stitching black circle 2 (re-colored) Color = CHOCOLATE CHIP

Stamps
    _Designer Kits\Downtown Grunge\Downtown Grunge - script, Color = 0,0,0
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 4
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 3
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 12
    Torn Edges\Torn Edges - flower edge
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 12
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 13
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Vintage Overlays\Vintage Overlays - texture 4
    Everyday Adventure Project Life\Everyday Adventure Project Life - oval frame
    _Designer Kits\Seriously Teen Kit\Seriously Teen Kit - grunge 4, Color = 73,56,38
    _OVERLAY STAMPS\Thoughtful Overlays\Thoughtful Overlays - memories,
    Always\Always - sentiment 2
    _HOLIDAYS\Holiday Blitz\Holiday Blitz - mom
    Always\Always - sentiment 2
    Always\Always - sentiment 2

Punches
    Basics\1.25 Square Punch

White Christmas - Two Ways

The weekend sure comes and goes fast!  We went to the movies on Saturday and saw The Drop.  Don't waste your money - it wasn't that good.  I didn't think it would be but Sonny wanted to see it since James Gandofino was in it.  I figured they are digging up all his movies that didn't make it to the box office when he was alive and showing them now.  Oh well, it was a nice outing anyway.  We went to a restaurant in Cornelius for breakfast before the movie that we had been wanting to try and it was really good.  We'll be going back for sure.

Sunday of course, we went to Big Al's to see the Steelers LOSE!  Grrrr .... that wasn't supposed to happen - to lose to a team like Tampa Bay who haven't won a game all year!  Seems we win the ones we aren't supposed to and lose the ones I think should be the easy ones.  I knew starting the season that we weren't going to have much to cheer about this year but it's still tough to see them struggle.

I did have time this weekend to make a couple of cards using White Christmas.  First I made a traditional winter card.  It's hard to see how glittery this card is.  I used Dazzling Diamonds in the trees and all over the snow on the ground.  I forgot to mask the circle for the moon so after sponging the sky, I decided to try to make a moon.  I sponged a circle with Craft Whisper White Ink and then embossed it with White embossing powder.  It worked!!  You just never know.

I have seen a few cards made with this set that were fall cards so I decided to give it a try this morning.  I stamped the trees and the deer with Early Espresso.  Then I used a brown marker to color in the trees.  For the leaves, I just used the tip of my markers - Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow and Soft Suede to put dots all over the ground and the trees.  I used the Old Olive Blendabilities to color in the grass.  I masked the circle for the sun (Daffodil) and sponged Soft Sky for the sky.  What do you think?

One thing I really like about the Photopolymer stamps is that you can arrange them on the clear block the way you want to.  Notice in the winter card, the ground that the deer is standing on between the trees is not almost straight.  (I also used a Black Marker to extend the ground.)  On the fall card, I wanted the ground to be more hilly so I arranged the stamp that way before stamping.  The trees and the ground are all one stamp.

What I don't like about the photopolymer stamps is that they are hard for me to see on my desk!!  If I don't clean them right away and put them back in the case, I end up looking everywhere for them because they will stick to things.  I have a tendency to just lay my stamps on my cleaning pad (which I leave open on the side of my desk) until I am completely done and clean everything at once.  Last week I had about 6 stamps laying on the cleaning pad and Bogart decided to check out what I was doing.  He jumped up on my desk, knocking the cleaning pad onto the floor and scattering the stamps.  I had to call Sonny in to help me.  I was missing two of the photopolymer stamps and one clear stamp.  After crawling around on the floor (both of us!), I finally found the two photopolymer ones and had given up on finding the other stamp.  Sonny had the flashlight out and as he was getting up off the floor, he spotted the stamp on the leg of my chair!

Hope you have a good day!  I am headed to the "Y" for a little much needed exercise!

Watercolor Winter Kit

I have found the best deal ever in the SU Holiday Catalog!  It is the Watercolor Winter Simply Created Kit (page 37).  With this kit and a few stamps (that you might have on hand or you can purchase), you can make at least 20 cards.  I made a lot more than that and just used additional card stock that I had on hand for the card bases.  The kit includes 20 cards, envelopes, die-cut letters and shapes, linen thread, watercolor brush and cardboard accents - all for just $24.95.  

At Convention this summer I attended a specialty class where we were able to play with the new Card Kit.  I loved this class and getting to work with the watercolor projects.  (I used a few drops of reinkers mixed with water to do the watercoloring.)  When I came home, I just had to finish all the cute cards.  The kit has enough stuff to make 5 each of 4 different card designs.  However, I didn't want the same cards so I decided to see what else I could make with it. As you can see (below), there is so much you can do with this kit and I still have stuff left over!!  These are the different cards I made with the kit.  I think I have made a total of 30 cards with the kit.  I also used the stamp set, Watercolor Winter Too.  (pg 37 - $11.95).

Freeform Text on Path for MDS Monday

My creation for MDS Monday is a page from my visit with Jeff, Darcie and Jayce last December.  I got some great action shots of Jayce eventually.  The challenge this week was to use the Freeform Tool on the text around the pictures.

Jayce had fun hiding from me whenever I got my camera focused!

My MDS page uses:

Background
     Designer Series Paper Storytime  16

Embellishments
   Designer Kits\Finest Simplicity - embellishments\Finest Simplicity - frame 2

Stamps
    OVERLAY STAMPS\Epic Overlays\Epic Overlays - lines, (along edges of project)
    Designer Kits\Days to Remember - family
    Designer Kits\Family Fun Photobook - fun 4
    OVERLAY STAMPS\Epic Overlays\Epic Overlays - best ever, 

I am going to get this page in on time this week!  Last week I designed my page but forgot to post it!!  I didn't realize it until I checked the MDS Monday blog post on Monday.

We are having a bit of FALL weather here and I love it!  Tuesday I don't know if it even got up to 60 degrees!  And today it has been misty all day and in the lower 60s - a good day for a bowl of chilli. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment in the morning and didn't check the weather before getting dressed.  I put my capris on with a 3/4 length sleeve .... my legs were a little chilly!!  

I also went to Davidson College yesterday for another testing session.  I finally FINISHED the Brain Games I was having to do at home.  I was so glad!  I was doing 4-5 of the games a week and each one took an hour of my time.  That's a lot of time I was losing!!  And they were getting harder and harder.  I will go back to Davidson in 8-10 weeks for my final testing session.  So far, I have gotten $100 for it but believe me, it is worth every penny!!

I Missed the Deadline!

Last week I did a scrapbook page for the MDS Monday challenge BUT I forgot to post it to their blog!!  Oh well - guess I didn't stand a chance of winning, huh?  Anyway, here is the MDS page I made.  The challenge was to use white, vanilla or ivory as the main color.  I thought this picture from our Alaska trip fit the bill.  I used the photo of the snowy Mount McKinley as my background.

As promised, here are a few pictures from the Steeler - Panther game that we attended on Sunday night.  It was really hot - still in the 80s when we left the game about midnight.  I had been hoping for some fall weather and had thrown in my sweatshirt thinking I would need it later in the evening but ended up not even carrying it in the stadium.  The Steelers beat the Panthers pretty handily - it was the first loss of the season for the Panthers so I was not so sure about that win in advance.

We went to the Olde Meck Brewery in Charlotte before the game for dinner.

As usual, Sonny made a few Steeler friends!

Great seats

The Panthers started leaving during the 3rd quarter!!  

Our Selfie!

Here are this week's Weekly Deals - good through next Monday.

Fall Quarterly

I had a great ... and busy weekend.  Marianne came over Friday after work and we loaded our things into her car and headed to Newton for Quarterly.  We worked on 25 Shoebox Cards and actually got them all finished before midnight!!  Since Newton is only about a 30 minute drive for me, we went home and slept in our own beds (well, technically Marianne slept in my guest bed!) and got up the next morning to head back to Quarterly for more fun.  We did a Card Swap and a Gift Card Swap and got some great cards.

This is the Gift Card that I made using the MDS version of the coffee cup from Perfect Blend (I shared the card swap in a previous post HERE).

We also had a contest that was optional.  I decided to participate in all four challenges.  We were to make a 3D Ornament, a Christmas card, an "Any Occasion" card and an "oldie but goodie" using a favorite retired stamp.  I was happy when my Ornament below won 1st Prize!!  I used the stamp set and framelits from Bright and Beautiful.  There are two pieces of chipboard in between the front and back of the ornament.

Back of Ornament

Front of Ornament 

Christmas Card using Bright and Beautiful bundle

For the Christmas card above, I embossed the tags and the stars with Gold, Cherry Cobbler and White Embossing Powder.  I used a piece of DSP from the Newsprint and layered a piece of Vellum over the top to soften it.  All the stars are popped up with dimensionals.

Marianne's Christmas Card won 1st place!!

Marianne's card - Get Your Santa On from Holiday Catalog

My All Occasion card

 The card above was fun to make and a new technique that I stumbled across on Friday morning.  I adhered the Dots Decorative Mask (page 205 in catalog - a deal for $2.95!) with Repositional Tape on top of a piece of Crumb Cake card stock.  Next using a dauber, I sponged White Craft Ink over all the dots.  I removed the Dots Mask and cleaned it.  Next I replaced the Dots Mask on top again - just moving it to the side and up a little bit and (with a dauber) sponged Wisteria Wonder, Coastal Cabana, and Melon Mambo ink on top of the White Ink.  It makes a cool background!  The cupcake is from Cupcake Party stamp set and I used the Cupcake Punch.  I stamped the sentiment from Remembering Your Birthday on Vellum with White Ink and embossed it in white before adhering it to the card.

Blast from the Past - Oldie but Goodie

This set is one of my first Stampin' Up sets almost 10 years ago - Garden Collage.  I still love it!

Sunday night Sonny and I went to the Panther - Steeler game and had a great time!  I will share a few pictures of that tomorrow.

Packed and Ready to Go!

I have been busy packing my supplies for Quarterly.  Marianne is coming over when she gets off work and we will be heading to Newton for the NC Demos Quarterly.  We always have so much fun!!  We will be super busy tonight doing our Shoebox Cards.  We have about 30 to do!  Wonder how long we will be working on those!  Since Newton is close, we will come back to my house tonight and travel back to Newton in the morning (bright and early).

Sammie thinks if she gets in my bag, she can go too (and get some peace and quiet away from Bogart!)

Instead of doing a card for my Shoebox, I decided to do one of the Tag A Bags.  I was going to buy a notepad to go in each one but with doing 30, even if they were $1 each, that would be $30 so they can furnish their own notepad!!

I used the Bigzz Flower Die, the clothespins on page 208, doilies, ribbon and two stamp sets - For All Things and Four Feathers.

Tomorrow we will be doing several projects, swaps and have a few card contests.  Here is my swap card:

I used the For All Things stamp again and stamped the leaves in Coastal Cabana, Pistachio and Cantalope.  I used the Wooden Leaves that are in the Holiday Catalog.

True Friends - Paper Craft Crew Sketch

This is my card for the Paper Craft Crew Sketch this week.  It was a fun sketch utilizing Word Bubbles.  I found this quote in MDS and cropped it to make it fit into the Word Bubbles below.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoe you have time to check out the rest of the designers cards HERE.  They are really great!