A Valentine for Him

This is a masculine Valentine that we will be making this weekend in my Valentine class. Since all my stampers are women I wanted to focus on a Valentine for their husband or boyfriend. We will also be making some cute and fun Valentines for the kids or other sweeties as well.

This is actually a layout from a Stampin' 411 challenge last year. I like the clean, simple look and just updated it with this year's papers and stamps. I also used a circle "window" and popped up the heart to give the card some depth and a little somethin' somethin'.

Paper - Love Letter (of course!), basic black, cherry cobbler and very vanilla card stock
Stamps - Artistic Etchings, Tiny Tags
Ink - basic black
Accessories - vintage brads, cherry cobbler seam binding, 1 3/4" circle punch, heart to heart punch, dimensionals, black floss

Paper Players Birthday Card

I thought I would use this week's Paper Players challenge for my husband's birthday card. His birthday is this Friday . I tried a new color combo and don't know if the combo is appropriate for a masculine card. - mmmm.  I like the combination and am definitely going to use it again in the future, but may try something a little more "manly" for my man. I love, love this simple and fabulous layout provided by the Paper Players Challenge. This is definitely one for the file.

Stamps - Bring on the Cake, Birthday Bakery (hostess)
Ink - marina mist, pumpkin pie, concord crush, old olive and basic black
Paper - Play Date DSP, concord crush, old olive, marina mist, pumpkin pie and whisper white card stock
Accessories - pumpkin pie brads, curly label punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, dimensionals

Stampin' Celebration with some Mojo

I have found a new challenge this week, Stampin' Celebration. The inspiration picture was so lush and yummy "chocolate and flowers" - a perfect theme for Valentine's Day. AND on Valentine's day a little bling doesn't hurt. I used the layout from this week's Mojo Monday challenge , which always has FABULOUS sketches, to create this chocolatey, flowery card. 

Stamps - Full of Life, Artistic Etchings

Ink - pink pirouette, chocolate chip

Paper - Botanical Gazette DSP, early espresso, pink pirouette, whisper white card stock

Accessories - Finial Press embossing folder, 1" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, rhinestone jewels, sticky strip, quilling tool, circle die, scallop die

PPA77 - Au Naturale

Yesterday was a tough day for Chicago Bears fans. Da Bears were shut out of the Superbowl by the Green Bay Packers within the first half of the game. I took my sorrows to my craft closet and they were quickly forgotten after immersing myself in stamping.

I turned to this weeks PPA sketch challenge for inspiration - a fabulous sketch by Margret Moody. Using the papers from Botanical Gazette, featured in the Spring mini-catalog, I created the card above. I wanted to keep the card feeling organic and natural so I kept to an earthy color palette. I colored in the flower that is featured on the paper to give it a little more life. I finished the card with a green rosette and of course the bee on the sentiment. I actually purchased the stamp set almost exclusively for this beautiful bee - >>>>>Tara Bee Ink.

On Superbowl Sunday I will, unfortunately, not be cheering on Da Bears. I think it will be the Steelers -but, there is always next year. - Go Bears!

Stamps - Nature Walk, Silhouette Sentiments
Ink - real red, old olive, marina mist, crumb cake
Paper - Botanical Gazette DSP, Play Date DSP, crumb cake, cherry cobbler, old olive card stock
Accessories- texture plate, crumb cake seam binding, dimensionals

Color Throwdown 125

This week's Color Throwdown challenge really appealed to me. I love these soft neutrals even though I usually prefer brighter colors. The flowers were made after I separated the two layers of blushing bride card stock which made them easier to scrunch. I am really enjoying the seam binding ribbon. I love the texture which has a bit of a weave and just a hint of sheen.  This can be used on a variety of projects, masculine, feminine romantic or clean and modern. The layout was inspired by Windy Robinson's layout in this month's Papercrafts magazine - a very clean yet romantic card. 

Stamps - Bella Toile, Short and Sweet

Paper - blushing bride, very vanilla and crumb cake card stock

Ink - crumb cake, pear pizzazz, blushing bride

Accessories - scallop circle punch, 1" circle punch, crumb cake seam binding, lots of tags die cut, dimensionals, small brads.

Masculine Simple Thank You

My husband needed some thank you cards and this is a quick design I came up with. I think it is elegant yet still masculine.

Stamp - Medallion
Ink - basic black, versamark
Paper - crumb cake and basic black card stock
Accessories - black embossing powder, black satin ribbon, word window punch, dimensionals

Our Old Guy

Our old guy, Dempsey, has lost his right eye due to a degenerative eye condition. He has slowly been going blind and has recently lost all sight. On Friday his right eye ulcerated and we had to have it removed. He is recovering at home and is rather pitiful. This is a picture from the vet but at home he is wearing the cone of shame - poor little guy. We are hoping he adapts quickly without site but know he has a rough road ahead.

No Card -- but Mardi Gras Raffle Boxes

I haven't been able to stamp too much due to my commitments for our auction committee. Here are the raffle boxes I made to contain our raffle tickets, which go on sale this weekend. 

Items Used

Paper mache boxes

Acrylic paints

Plastic jewels

Feather Mask

Stampin' Up! whisper white and basic black card stock.

Stylish? - Me?

This week I was honored to be tagged with the Stylish Blogger award by Nance Lempinen-Leedy Canopy Crafts. The only issue with Nance tagging me with the award is that I cannot tag her back. I just love her blog it is so happy and her projects brilliant.


One of the responsibilities of the Stylish Blogger is to share 8 things about myself. I am pretty boring but here goes.


1) I have been with my husband for 26 years ( married 16) We met right after high school and we have 2 gorgeous children Megan (13) and Jake (9) whom I cart around to sporting activities, school, piano etc.
2) While driving, I change the lyrics of songs to make my kids laugh
3) I am almost always listening to music - I love classic rock, classical, country, hip hop, the Rat Pack, singers and songwriters, almost everything. It changes with my mood
4) I wake up with a different song in my head each morning - sometimes it's something I dislike which is annoying.
5) I grew up in a very small town Wilbur, Washington pop. approx 1000. It was like Mayberry -a wonderful place to grow up
7) I think I am the only one in the country who doesn't know the Electric Slide ( but I am a master of the Sprinkler) 
8) I am an avid reader
6) I can name all the states in alphabetic order in under  1 minute


Another responsibility of a stylish blogger is to tag 8 others with the Stylish Blog award. I am sure many of these ladies have received this before, but I must tag them. In no particular order.


1) Deb Henderson
2) Leanne Pugliese
3) Linda Callahan
4) Kathy Martin
5) Sandra Farrell
6) Renee Van Stralen
7) Carrie Gaskin
8) Teresa Kline


Visit these stylish blogs. They are just full of wonderful inspiration and beauty.

Another Valentine - Best Bots Forever

Here is another Valentine that turned out a bot different than I intended ( that is not a spelling error). After creating the more sophisticated card from my previous post, I wanted to make something bright and fun. I just love this stamp set Best Bots Forever with the cute interchangeable robot parts.  I had imagined this card with softer colors, more modern and with only circles, but once I started working with my Color Coach, I decided to go with bolder colors. After I had stenciled the circles on , I wanted more dimension and to somehow incorporate the cogs into the card. This one I am happy with even though, again, it morphed into something a bit different than I imagined.

Stamps - Best Bots

Ink - basic black, tempting turquoise, pear pizzaz, peach parfait, real red, basic grey

Paper - whisper white, basic black, tempting turquoise, pear pizzaz, real red peach parfait card stock

Accessories - Cogs punch, heart to heart punch, real red glitter, 1 3/8" punch, 1 " punch, 3/4" punch, circle dies. blender pens, sponges, dimensionals

PPA Inspiration Challenge - Valentine

I have had the image of this emboss resist heart in my head for awhile. (funny how that happens with me) I was finally able to sit and stamp this morning and it was such a joy. Although not a traditional Valentine, I think this would work for a masculine recipient.

I used my Versamark pen to scribble around the stamped crown and the punched heart to create an irregular shape.  In order to keep a more masculine feel, I used the sueded technique for paper which has a very matte texture in lieu of a satin ribbon. And yes, I did stamp on the patterned paper. I wanted just a bit more texture to the card so I stamped the corners. Although it is not exactly what I had in mind, I think it turned out interesting.

Stamps - Tiny Tags, Baroque Motifs, Artistic Etchings
Ink - basic black, cherry cobbler
Paper - Love Note DSP (one of my favs), cherry cobbler, very vanilla, basic black card stock
Accessories - clear embossing powder, Versamark pen, heat tool, heart to heart punch, brayer, jewelry tag punch, dimensionals, sticky strip, black brad, black jewel

Glitter Brads, Feathers and Big Shots Oh My! - 410 Auction Invitations - Done!

I have had the pleasure to serve on our School's Auction committee for two years. Over the past two days we have been creating 410 invitations for this year's auction which has a Mardi Gras theme. It was definitely a group effort with 3 people working during the day to cut, emboss and assemble and the majority of the auction committee finishing the job last night. 

Here are a few pictures from my Iphone of our crafty committee in action.

To create the invitations we cut and scored a 5" x 10 1/2" piece of black card stock and embossed the bottom of the piece using the Big Shot and a texture plate. The mask image was created by placing a chip board cut out of a mask and placing it over the texture plate. I used a bit of adhesive to make sure it didn't move around. A small hole was punched in the top left corner of the mask using SU's Mat Pack and paper piercer. We needed a pop of color on the invitations and inserted  multicolor feathers in the hole and anchored them with glitter brads ( love, love, love glitter brads). The bottom portion of the invitation was secured with sticky strip and our info cards inserted in the pocket. The finished invitation is 5" X 7".

Stampin' Up! Materials Used
Basic Black Card Stock
Big Shot Texture Plate
Sticky Strip
Glitter Brads

Other Items
Feathers
Chip Board Mask

A Tough Start to the New Year

I have not posted a new project for quite some time due to the holidays and a loss in our family. On January 2nd we received the devastating news that Marc's father passed away while on vacation in Hawaii. We have been in Seattle for the past week with friends and family celebrating Ralph's (a.k.a. Paca) life. We returned home to California today and I hope to begin creating once again this week. As many of us know, stamping and crafting are great ways to relax, de-stress and rejuvenate. We will miss our father and grandfather.