Helpful Site for Templates...

Hi everyone,

I have not had as much time to craft as I want to, but ran across this site with a bunch of templates. Hopefully some of you will find it useful!

http://www.teas2dine4.com/4templatelinks.html

Among the many links, this one is a favorite because of the variety all so easily accessible!
http://www.stampington.com/html/tempting_template_index.html

Have fun and let me know if you make something from one of these template links!

hugs,
Elaine

Cammie's Blog Candy

Cammie's got some incredible blog candy to check out. Have you stopped by? You must look and enter!

http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

Santa Barbara, CA - September 2008

Dedicated to Jeanne I. Phillips
1927 - 2008











We are home in Lake Forest Park now.

I miss Santa Barbara already. I REALLY miss my MIL. I know that I married not only my husband 18 years ago but also his FAMILY -- for a good reason. I found out this past week what it was like to be with the most LOVING families there could ever be during one of the hardest times that a family ever has to go through.

The Phillips family - September 19th,
2008 - Santa Barbara, CA

Single spool of May Arts Ribbon for sale

I have one spool of May Arts ribbon for sale. It is a very satiny iridescent duo-tone in Celery /Green (celery trims the edges and green is on the main ribbon part but they are interwoven to make it iridescent)- the picture shows two rolls, but I am selling just one (keeping the other). $6.75 includes shipping to you (in the U.S.)

Delivery confirmation or insurance is extra. Let me know if you want it. It is 1/4" wide, 30 yards, $6.75 - It's a VERY good deal! My email is eyp963 at msn.com

Thanks much.
Elaine

I needed a card in a hurry and just fell in love with this one, at Me, My Stamps and I, so I tried to case it! It's also a Thank you for Jennifer who sent the Cuttlebug folder and new Copic last month, and for a swap. Sort of a triple purpose card. I got my swap done, made her Thank you, and got to case a card! I know it's not as spectacular as the original, but I needed to get it done fast. I should have used the new chenille in red & brown. I forgot. We need to get a dress for my daughter to wear in Santa Barbara.

We'll be out of town for my mother in-law's service this week.

If you could say a prayer now for our little Westie, Lilo, who has been under the weather for about a week with pancreatitis. She was then diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer) yesterday. She is at the Emergency Animal Hospital where they have an oncologist specialist, so we pray that she is better and that she is not suffering or in pain.

It's been sort of a crappy last several weeks -- I hope all this sadness is over soon. Sunday is my daughter's birthday so we need to have some cheer in this place.

See you all soon.
Elaine

Stamp set is gone.

Thanks!

September 5th, 2008

The card is for Ann's Creative Nook challenge, GCA7. I have always loved her work and rarely get to play when challenges come up. This time I was able to and wanted to use the new Cuttlebug folder that came in my August RAK package from Jennifer C (thank you, Jennifer!) and my copics to color the Thanksgiving image. I know the colors are not very traditional, but I liked them!

I like having readers who come to visit too. Thanks so much for all the time that you come and spend checking out my stuff. My card says thanks - it's for the blog readers!


Update: The news is not good with my mother in law. Say a prayer, for the kids (my husband & his siblings), and my son, who is taking it very hard. Today would have been my father in law's birthday...It seems like maybe she planned to be with him on this day in heaven.

Hope your weekend is good.

Elaine

Clear Halloween stamps from Joanns

Here are the packages of clear stamps that were at Joann's last week. They're only a dollar -- that's a sweet deal.

The extra shares on the bumpy Chenille ribbon have been spoken for.
(Thanks, Candy!) I still have more of the satin ribbons (duo colors) and the leafy ribbon, and the COFFEE printed ribbon.

Hope you all enjoy and have fun!

May Arts Ribbon is here :)

That was pretty quick on the shipping! :) I will be cutting and mailing out to those who bought a share or two. Thanks much for participating! If you would like to buy a share of what is left, please let me know. I will post a picture shortly.

Also, if you could say a little prayer for my dear MIL, she had a stroke that we just found out about today. All her kids (including my husband) are heading to CA to see her. Doctors said the prognosis is not good, but they've been wrong before, haven't they? She is the most accepting woman on earth and made me feel so special and loved when my husband told them we were getting married.

Take care and don't forget to tell you loved ones how much they mean to you every day!

hugs,
Elaine

The busy week has come to an end

This past week was crazy busy. Took me until today to get out to buy batteries for my camera. I spent some time with my very good friend whose husband suddenly passed away. She was actually divorced from him but they were still very very close. She found him in his house after his co-workers had not heard from him for a couple days. I cannot imagine how devastating that would be for me if I were in her shoes.

Friday I spent the evening with my stamping friend Jill. We usually go to the Farmer's Market together and bask in the summer sun. I met lots of her stamping friends on Friday and we feasted like pigs on all sorts of delightful treats. I started some cards but as usual, did not get to finish anything.

Saturday night our neighbors took us to one of the best steak places in town- Daniel's. It's right on the water at Lake Union near my work. These are the neighbors who had moved away to France a couple years ago, then came back because there were just too many things going wrong over there. We never got to visit them in their french chateau from the 1700's, but that's ok because last night they invited us to go with them in the spring! So, we are planning a wonderful, romantic trip to PARIS in the spring! :) Yippeee ki-yay! I have never even been out of the country except to Canada so it will be very exciting!

I've got a few pictures of cards that I made before the battery died.

All the stamps are from SU, but the baubles are from the Robin's Nest (dewdrops), and the rhinestones are from a share that I found on a blog. And the ribbon on the blue/brown/white card is from American Crafts.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

hugs,
Elaine

Pictures

Hey -sorry about the off topic picture - I deleted it since it wasn't meant to go on the blog. I was trying to send it through Picassa and it didn't do what I wanted :( What you saw were pics of my daughter and her friends enjoying summer at the beach and at her friend's place.
Pics coming soon, I promise. :)

Battery shopping

Is on my list of things left to do today. I wanted to post some new cards while it was still sunny and nice out, but the rechargeable batteries are DEAD. They won't hold a charge either so I think it's time to get new ones.

We had quite a downpour this afternoon - right around lunch time. And then on and off again all afternoon. I took my kids to the mall (separately) to get some back to school items. COULD NOT BELIEVE how crowded it was! I'm telling you, it was worse than Christmas! GEEZ!!!! We got in and out as fast as we could.

We stopped at Tar-Jay too, and I found some cute stuff in the dollar spot. I'm going to see if I can spiff it up a little and it will be on it's way to a new owner that I hope likes bargain make-overs! I'll photo it before it goes out the door :)

ttfn~
Elaine

It is now 9:28 p.m. and the french doors are open, the windows are open (but screens are on) and it sounds like we might need to call Noah and the Ark....it's just pouring - I'll bet we've had more than 2 inches of rain today....August 24th - summertime (except not in summertime in Seattle).

Shares are filled & why I don't use Snail adhesive anymore....

We were able to get a 2nd share added (so a total of 8 people are involved), and I will post the other ribbon selections/style when they arrive. Thanks so much to those of you who joined in on the fun! I have one extra share besides my own that I can sacrifice in case you missed out. How exciting to know there are ribbon lovers who are addicted as me! :)

There is a big fat storm that is supposed to come our way tonight. That being the case, my neighbor, (gardener of a thousand roses), invited me to start hacking the flowers. I cut and cut and got poked and pricked! OUCH

There are no longer any empty vessels or vases in my house. I even used a big tall crock pot that we cook corn in during the summer. Now it's time to share some cards.

So my last two cards used snail adhesive. Check out the birthday card in blues/greens. Notice anything awry? It's the strip on the bottom...the mono adhesive tape runner stinks. It did not stick; rather it shifted and restuck itself all wonky like on the bottom of the card. I took the shots after cutting roses - when it was just starting to rain. Since I take the photos outside, there are specks of rain on the cards which I hope will dry up without leaving a pucker mark. There are raised layers which I couldn't get a good picture of, and the brown cupcake card is cut out and raised several times. The ribbon has a "Celebrate" sticker and some bling on it plus a pretty cherry colored pearl atop the cupcake!

It's coming down hard now, so I'm signing off. Maybe we'll have thunder & lightning!?

hugs,
Elaine

New MAY ARTS RIBBON SHARE....

If you are interested in a new May Arts Ribbon share for the bumpy chenille dot ribbon, please let me know asap. I am going to get the single row of chenille dots. The cost for 20 yards (2 yards of each color), is $22. Shipping is a flat rate - 4.80. If you are local and want to meet me then you can avoid the shipping charge. The order will likely be placed tomorrow so post here asap if you want to join. I have spots for 2 or 3 people. The chenille ribbon retails at the craft store for about 1.39-1.79 a yard depending on their markup. No pictures today for the ribbon, so you will have to trust me on this...it is FAB-U-LOUS!! Best when applied flat on a project, but can be made into a simple bow.

You won't regret getting it.

I'll put pics of the other ones on the blog when they come in. :)

Have a great (cool) night. We're down to the 60's from a 90 degree plus weekend.... :(

hugs,
Ribboner

Cards posted on Saturday night

My internet was out last night and today. In fact, the power was out for a short time too....Could it have been our 91 degree weather? I don't know. It was HOT outside though.
Much cooler inside. Cooler is better when you want to make cards. Cards using some new Stampin Up stuff! Yay!

I am a little disappointed in the new colors:
kiwi kiss, red riding hood red, and tangerine tango ...they look so close to what we already have or had. However I LOVE the new blue, Pacific Point, though and the Pink Pirouette! And the stamps that are already die cut! It's a lot easier to actually get the stamps out and USE them right away! :) And with Baja Breeze we could have kept the Cool Carribbean color and I'd have been happy. I realize they ARE different, but not THAT much!

Here are my cards to share for today:

I used the wider green grosgrain to make a bow that my mom used to put on our Christmas packages when we were little. I've always loved that style of bow! The two 'dots' on either side of the sentiment are olive green rhinestones...not that sparkly but what can I say - they were cheap.


The red/pink/chocolate card is really off in the photo. The colors are not
right and I didn't even notice until just
now...the 2nd picture with the close up shows the color a bit more accurately.

What have YOU made with YOUR new Stampin Up stuff? Do y'all like what the new catalog has to offer?

I sure do! :)

Take care and have a great rest of the weekend!

hugs,
Elaine

The Olympics....

especially funny if you are a scrapbooker and know who Cathy Zielske is.....

http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/sometimes-i-fee.html

Sunday Card & Close ups

It's been sunny and rainy off and on this weekend. Of course the car was in the driveway with the sunroof open when it started to rain at 4 a.m. - now it's sunny outside and the windows are up. I often work backwards like that.

I had a dead battery this morning too when I went to take my daughter to her friend's house. They were leaving for Richland (which is in the Tri-cities in Eastern Washington where it's HOT in the summertime) to visit her best friend for the week. It is soooo quiet in our house when she is gone! (That's both good and bad! - means I hate the kids bickering, but I miss her company). School starts soon, so things will change before I know it.

My project from last week still has no pictures so I won't show it just yet. Instead I have closeups and cards to share.

I am trying to work on my photography and just am not steady or able to take shots the way I want. So have close up shots on one card....

Here they are...

The closeups are of my favorite card made a while ago...couldn't give it away just yet, but I think my MIL may get it - her bday is next week.

The Chicken card is for someone who was battling cancer and is now in remission. I am still working on watercoloring and that card definitely has some creative colors in it! (Purple and pink chicken? Um, yeah, I don't think so)...

I've blabbed enough...

Have a great day, everyone!

hugs,
Elaine

Have you seen her?

I'm thoroughly impressed by this woman's talents:

http://jerrikay.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Go take a peek - I'll bet you are impressed by her work too! :)

Heating up....

86 degrees today. Really nice. While I'm inside in a cool, comfy air-conditioned building, my 17 year old son is down the street at a Community Center doing some volunteer work in the sun...lifting and carrying heavy tables across a field for the Cascade Community Center block party. Good for him doing that hard work...but I think he strained one of his biceps. Not sure if he was trying to show off or just lifting too much because he's lazy and wanted to do 1/2 the work. He goes back tomorrow and it supposed to be 89 degrees. (He won't take a lunch break and refuses to drink anything...does anyone see a problem with this picture?)

Here's my card for today.... It's the SU hostess set that I bought from someone on SCS. The paper is from K& CO and SEI's Dillweed. It could use some embellishing but I am not sure what kind. What would you add and where? p.s. it's not quite a flourescenty as it appears in the picture, but it IS Cameo Coral, so it's bright. I need to add pictures to the weekend project that I was working on...(the garage sale project) so that's not quite ready yet.

Have a great afternoon everyone!

In case you haven't been to Katharina's blog, check it out - she's got these beautiful angelic stamps to giveaway! I hope I win them! If I do, then I can host my own giveaway on my blog! Wish me luck! lol

Enter at:
Katharina's Blog!

hugs,
Elaine

Testing Picasa....

Hopefully this will work. I made this card for Teri Conrad because I won some blog candy from her a while back. I hope she likes it. The image is a Hero Arts collage stamp that I got off of Ebay. Copics color the background. It actually was going to be a yellow background then I added some gray tones and it came out with this mellow greenish color. Works for me... The sun is out now - so whomever sent the sun to Seattle deserves thanks!

Hugs,
Elaine

Sintra board?

Just curious if anyone has used Sintra board or even heard of it....It's lightweight and very sturdy, sort of like mdf but way way lighter. I think it has alot of possibilities but don't know just what to use it for. I have a bunch of it in 7 1/2 x 12 1/2 pieces/sheets. It's about 1/4 inch thick. I'm going to google it now and see what it's really used for. My dad gave it to me thinking it could be used for SOMETHING - it becomes bendable when heated, and can hold a shape (unless it is again re-hearted and then it will start to lose it's shape). I know it'll be great, but I'm not sure what for! Got any ideas? I'd snap a pic but it just looks like a piece of smooth white plastic finish board....

And it IS acid free.....scrapbook covers are what's going through my mind...maybe they're embossable with a stamp when they're heated....I'd like to find out.

Sunless Sunday in Seattle

Here it is...Seafair Sunday and there is very little sun! :( I've got a few cards to share because I didn't finish the project yesterday. We ended up making cookies and my daughter wanted to curl my hair with her flat iron...what an ordeal....lol.

The hot pink and black card was giving me trouble....not sure why, but I didn't care for how it turned out. Someone at work bought it anyway thank goodness. Amazing what they will buy when they're desparate!

The next one with the turkey inspired flower was sort of a case I think from Mish's blog way back... my card isn't even close to her caliber, but I tried. The color is kind of blah and off in the picture. Imagine it more colorful....because it is! ;-)

And the bottom birthday card was a bunch of scraps that I wanted to use up. There is still so much stuff that I need to 'touch' so I don't feel like it's all just sitting there gathering dust!

Hope you all have a great Sunday and send us some sun please!

hugs,
Elaine

Garage sale......

at the local scrapbook store this morning. I wasn't going to go, but then my scrapbook-safari buddy, Debbie, said to meet her there. I could not disappoint her, could I? I'm sooo proud! I only spent $22 and got a big paper grocery bag FULL of stuff! wooohoo!! The checkout lady cut my bill a little.... it was 'cash only' and I didn't have any more cash! lol....I'm working on a project now that I picked up at the sale and will share it later today! (hope I can get it finished before it's dark out!)... the weather isn't very sunny. And it's Seafair Weekend! I hope to maybe get a shot of the Blue Angels from our deck..that'd make a cool scrapbook page~

later gator!
e

Sew?

Here's my card with sewing on it. Stampendous makes those really cute bees. I got mine off Ebay and then found them locally for a lot less :(
The phrase is stamped on patterned paper and then the entire piece is covered with irridescent ice embossing so it is nice and sparkly! Patterned paper was from a (KI?) package at our local Joanns.

It's not ALL bad outside (yet) so I'm heading out for some sunning~

Happy Saturday!

hugs,
Elaine

Happy card days ahead....

the weather isn't supposed to last, so I'll be inside this weekend, probably making cards...and missing the sun.

Here are a couple more cards....

Top card has SU stamps, SU paper, and some big colored half pearls with sticky already on em!

Bottom card is Gina K. The little white strip isn't supposed to show...but it does. Oh well. See? These are not all star cards...but I got them out anyway! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

hugs,
Elaine