Memory Box Woodland stamp

Some of the stamps that I had to order during the NW Paper Chase finally came today. :)
I've been dying to ink them up and color! They're fabulous for Copic coloring and Prismacolor pencils! The card is simple, but I needed it flat so I could mail it w/o all the hassle that I've been going through lately with my cards and the post office.

The papers are from Memory Box too. I adore the rich colors and they're as much fun as Basic Grey!

I'll be working on some others this evening...hope you all are having a great weekend!

Hugs,
Elaine

I know some of you adore these stamps....

so why not head over for a chance to WIN them? (Debbie, I think this contest has your name all over it!)

Enter to win the blog candy at Claudia's blog, Pretty Pressings! I've been a fan of Claudia's for quite a while now - I am always impressed. She never fails to create some of the most stunning cards colored with COPIC markers and the perfect amount of embellishing! (Carrie, you MUST check out Claudia's Copic coloring...and you'll see why you need to get copic markers for your projects - Brady would love them too!)

Here's her blog, Pretty Pressings:
http://www.rosaswelt.blogspot.com/

Here's link to see the entry for blog candy:
http://rosaswelt.blogspot.com/2009/03/hudge-magnolia-blog-candy-give-away.html

That's it for now...maybe I'll get to stamp tonight before Grey's Anatomy is on!

Updatin the blog...

Oy - it's been a long, long time, hasn't it? No excuses...just busy. Part of the 'busy' was an event for crafters called "the Great NW Paper Chase"! It started last week on Friday - Of course we mapped out the course and hit 11 stores from Bellingham to Issaquah the first day! The Second day (Saturday) we hit the south end stores and the ones on the Peninsula. And finally on Sunday we hit a couple more right here in town (closest to where we live!). Notice the back of the trunk of the new car...I thought the trunk was pretty deep and pretty big but we managed to fill it up. The rest of the packages ended up in the back seat. :-/

I tend to really get caught up in paper lines and the embellishments when I'm shopping. We did the same event last year and I spent wayyyyy too much. So this year I tried to make a budget for each place and a list of things I 'needed' and tried stick to it. That worked out ok until the 5th store (the really good stores don't count, of course...we allowed ourselves more time, money, and no budget at the really good stores). What a total blast! Here are some pictures of stamps that were picked up along the way, and the three of us out and about (Debbie my friend from the Seattle PI who is now at the Seattle Times, Candy my aunt, and me - in that darn green jacket again)....how does that always happen?? LOL

Each store has a make n take and you get special discounts (which just means they're enabling you)....trust me on that one. I have more stamps on order because some of the stores were out of AMuse and Memory Box (the new line of woodland animals is fabulous), and then a Karen Lockhart stamp here and there should be mailed this week (I hope)..... and some clear stamps - which you'll probably be seeing later when I make cards! :)

I made a card for my dad, one for my son, and one for hubby. For once I used my stuff right away! Yay! It felt so good to use rather than hoard! LOL

Have a great day - it turned out SUNNY here in Seattle today! (though it was wet and miserable this morning)....I told hubby to send some of the sunshine from CA where he's at right now, and as always, he obliged. What a guy.

Take care~
Elaine

Getting Caught Up on the Week that just passed

The week passed quickly.... I'm still doing the 365 Cards Blog Challenges! But I really didn't get to do much crafting at all during the week, so I'm getting caught up while it's pouring outside.



Here's what happened THIS WEEK...

Our kids wear braces...neither of them wears their headgear as much as they should...you know what that means when they go for a check up, right? They (we) get in trouble....this time it looks bad enough that their treatment plans will be altered :(

The next day The Seattle Times had more layoffs (they were in my department - in fact it affected our team, though somewhat indirectly). The P.I. is shutting it's print publication (which isn't THAT big of a deal, but it's been a part of the Seattle Times for so long...it's hard to see the change move forward). I think today was the first day they did not print the P.I.

The next evening I attended an event for my boss at the Meydenbauer Center in downtown Bellevue - he had other commitments but really wanted the Seattle Times to have a presence, and I'm a great person for that kind of stuff! It was the Bellevue Downtown Association Awards Ceremony & Dinner with an intriguing Mountaineer guest speaker named Ed Viesturs (even my hubby knew about him).....After cocktails they served a divine dinner with a to-die for french apple dessert!!

My aunt had a birthday, and I even got her card in the mail on time!

We had a funeral for my great Aunty Mary of Mary Pang's frozen foods. There was a nice write up in the newspaper the day before the funeral. One of my many cousins officiated at the funeral and did an awesome, amazing job (it was a very difficult one because of some of the circumstances involved).

Then, the same evening as the funeral, one of my good friends turned 40 and we surprised her at a wonderful party in Wallingford at Tutta Bella (mouth-watering pizza and other italian fare). I'm not much of a pizza person, but I'd go back for the eggplant pizza...i know....Eggplant (yuck) but I guarantee you'll love it!~ We had too much wine (thus had to stay a LONG time) and a lot of Tiramisu too.

And then I got to make cards for the challenge. This one is to use 5 patterned papers (these are all from Basic Grey's Mellow line), and use 5 embellishments. It was harder than I thought!

Anyway off to craft more...enjoy the afternoon - hope you have decent weather where you're at!

Elaine :)

365 Cards Challenge Sketch #2

Yippee...I am rockin and rollin with my stampin and card making! Thanks to 365 Cards and Gingerwood!

The 365 Cards sketch is here:



and my card tries to follow the sketch pretty closely.



The Gingerwood ladies have been posting challenges about using your OLD stamps, papers, and other products that have been neglected...

On this particular card I used old RAFFIA (there's more where this came from, and they're all still in their wrappers), Making Memories' Red Label Frame (was new in the package), Tim Holtz' Grungeboard Square (that wasn't SOOO old, but in a way it was because I hadn't even taken it out of the bag yet). I also used some pearlized powdered pigments (like Pearl Ex) but it must be at least 8-10 years old...and get this...it had not been taken out of the wrapper yet (big surprise, I know). The rest of the colors in the pallete might make another card very soon.... lol

The cardstock is from the DCWV paper pad called the Green line - it's so cute! The red printed cardstock has gold dots of pearlized pigment on it. Underneath is a wood print background paper that came from a garage sale a couple weeks ago.

Hope you all get to check out the challenges this week over on 365 cards :) They're a lot of fun!

OMG - the weather in Seattle is a TRIP right now. BIG, soft pellets of snow are falling like crazy! I can't even see the lake it's so dense! They're hitting the windows outside of where I type and it sounds like little rubber peas pelting against the glass!

Final 365 Cards Challenge for the week - It's Circular!

I did it! Even made dinner for the kids in between stamping....

This is another kind of card that's out of my comfort zone. But it is pretty straightforward and simple.

Not only does it fit the 365 Cards Blog Challenge, but it's also for the anything but a traditional card shape challenge that was on Gingerwood! I love that bulletin board...

Stamps are by Inkadinkado (the flowers that make up the background paper). Thank you sentiment is Stampin Up. The bling is from a share/buy that I saw on a blog last year.

Have a great night and stay warm if you've got snow where you're at!

A huge Thank You to Amy Tsuruta, at Tsuruta Designs, for originally posting this new blog telling about the challenges, and inspiring me with her great cards. Everyone that has put cards on the 365 cards this week has done a fabulous job!

'nite everyone :)

Bling top to bottom for 365

I'm on a roll...and since a circle card is the next challenge, that's a good thing, isn't it?

Right now I have a card with BLING from top to bottom for the 365 card challenge. It uses handmade paper from Paper Zone that has glitter dotted centers. Today Paper Zone had a nice sale - 20% off anything you could fit into their bag. Amy, my enabler, told me about it...but remember how good I've been? I didn't go! That's because I think my Stampin Up order is going to be a doozie...(shhhhhh!) Anyway, the card was super simple and uses a BIG mama bling on the light blue flower that came in a bucket from Michael's bridal supplies...I've got a lot of them to use up, so you may be seeing them on a lot of other cards! Actually this could also qualify as one of the EASY cards from the last challenge. I think it took maybe 10 minutes from start to finish? It took me more than 5 minutes to find that darn BIG Mama bling...otherwise this one would have been finished in less than 5 minutes.

Weather update at 4:55 p.m. - Hailing like crazy now in my back yard and my fingers are COLD...so I better go and create my last card for the challenge for this week!

An EZ Thank you....for 365

Fast cards are good. Cards that use scraps are good. This fast card that used up my scraps is good. It was almost too easy.

Choosing the colors to put together was the hardest thing on this one. I'm glad it was an easy challenge.... I might add a little black rhinestone on the center of the flower that makes up the "o" in YOU

Inspired by an ad - 365

Next up is the card inspired by an ad - from the Garnet Hill catalog, an ad for the sweetest jammies ever. Aren't they pretty? I'd like to be where-ever they photographed the shot too...it looks tropical (a lot warmer than Seattle, where it's snowing again!).

If I had that new stamp set by Stampin up it would have been even better, but I've been GOOD and not ordering lately! That may change soon - I'm giving in I think and planning to get a few boxes of goodies!

365 Cards is so much fun - I think I'll get them all finished this week (easy to reproduce Thank yous are up next!)

Button Flower Ribbon - 365 challenge

Since the week got kind of busy, I'm hoping to catch up with the rest of the 365 cards challenges today. Here's my Button, Flower, Ribbon card for the challenge.
I've seen some great cards over there - hope you have time to take a peek at some of them - just follow the "365 cards" link above!

Crafting Haven: This is my first.......

something weird happened here... I was leaving a comment for Viv and then I was switched over to this....hmmmm... I took the comment off but if you got it, I'm not sure why or how it happened....sorry!

365 Cards Day 2 Challenge - Less is More

Today the 365 Cards Blog has a challenge to use ONLY 2 Embellishments on your card. That can be a toughie....I did my best with my Sugar Nellie stamp. I don't think she's ever been inked up before....but she's not a virgin anymore!

The edge of the card has a little bit of linear embossing mixed in with my new "swiss cheese" punch from EK Success (that's a great name for the punch, isn't it?).

Scalloped panel is from a K & Co Mat pad called, "Seaglass". The die cuts mats are colorful, with decoratively cut edges, and boy are they fun and easy to use!

Nellie is colored with Copics and the two little flower embellishments in the upper left hand corner are merely trims from the fabric store. I cut off one tiny little flower from each length of trim and glue dotted it on. The "Sweet Pea" saying is from one of the clear stamp sets at Joanns/Michaels. It's an easy, straightforward kind of card...and that's what I always end up making....easy cards! lol

Bachelor's on tonight...who do YOU think he'll choose? As long as my eye cooperates, I'll be able to watch. I got more eye drops (steroids again) blech... I only have to use them for a short while thank goodness. I couldn't stand it before - what nasty things steroids are! Not sure if my headache is related to my eye thing or if it was from my lack of caffeine today...I know how to remedy the latter though....Off to Starbucks!

hugs,
e

365 Cards Challenge

I saw the cute card that Amy did (her blog is Tsuruta Designs) and wanted to play too. It's a little more vivid in real life, but our cold, rainy weather made it hard to photograph today.

Here's my version of the card for 365 Cards March 1st challenge and the sketch:

Just about all of the stuff on this card I won from Lisa Beeson's blog, Papercutting Kind of Day when she had blog candy! She was super generous and sent a pad of Paper Salon Papers, Pink shaped tag cards, embellishment trims to coordinate, and two great inspiration magazines that I wanted! The flower was x-acto cut from one of the sheets of cardstock, the 4 patterns that make the center square show the nice variety of prints (and they're double sided as well!) Greeting was punched out with the SU word punch on one of the papers, and the circle center of the flower is the same paper that's shown on the right panel. Fun, huh? I'd never bought Paper Salon's paper products before (only their stamps), but I will definitelybe looking for them now!

My eye is still not doing well, so I'm going back to the opthamologist tomorrow. blech.

Have a nice evening...and remember to watch Desparate Housewives tonight! I missed seeing it last week with the awards show on :(

e