Stamps, Paper, Scissors

Sneakin' in one last card

For da Sink!

Thank you for all the wonderful wishes for our anniversary! We did indeed have a wonderful time yesterday! After our intimate (we were the only ones in the restaurant!) early dinner at Carrino's where I had delicious Chicken Scallopini and a Bellini, we came home and had a bit of time to relax, then I went to pick up the kids from Mary's house, treated them to an ice cream cone and brought them home. Dan had already left for his gig by then. I looked at the calendar, blissfully full of Italian food, booze and ice cream, and realized...I HAVE TO MAKE ANOTHER CARD OR MARIA WILL KILL ME! Hee hee...JK!

I decided to make a one layer card, and what the heck, I would make an Anniversary card! I don't do many one layer cards, simply because they are hard to do and pull off effectively. But Kitchen Sink's beautiful 3 Step sets make it a lot easier to make a beautiful one layer card. Here's my bash at it:

Ingredients: Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Hearts & Roses; Paper - Papertrey Stamper's Select White; Ink - SU! Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Adirondack Pitch Black; Other - SU! Pretty in Pink Taffeta ribbon

Isn't this GOJUS?!?!?! (YILM!) I'm loving the new colors from SU!...the four pinks/roses together look beautiful when doing the 4 step stamping for the rose and the Kiwi Kiss, stamped off once for the first step on the leaves, stamped again for the second step, then finished off with Old Olive, makes wonderfully vibrant leaves!

Now that I've gotten my July commitment out of the way, I'm free to start playing with the next release for Kitchen Sink, which is coming on August 5th! Be there or be square! Aloha!

And they said it wouldn't last...

It's 25 years today that Dan and I got married. It's been an interesting, fun, and sometimes unpredictable journey. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if Dan and I had not gotten married. What would I be doing? No clue! Would I do it all again? Yes!

One thing is for sure and certain, since we delayed having children until we were married 11 years, we don't have any grown children to throw us a party...and even if we did, we aren't big party people anyway. So what we are doing instead is taking our two younger kids (Laurel is away at camp) over to BFF Mary's house where they will enjoy the pool and video games while Dan and I go out for dinner alone. At first, I thought we'd go to Andiamo's, a very FANCY Italian restaurant chain in this area. But after failing to get reservations at one location and then looking at the menu at another and gasping at the prices, we decided NOT to go there, but to go to Carino's Italian Grill instead. The food is wonderful, we won't need reservations, we won't have to drop a wad of money, and we don't have to get all dressed up in uncomfortable clothing. We can just be ourselves. Luckily, after 25 years, we are still pretty much in sync with our tastes and desires when it comes to these sorts of things!

We're going pretty early since my husband booked a gig for tonight. Yeah, but you know what? If I'd been able to attend convention this year, I'd have been in Utah RIGHT NOW, so I can't complain. Yes, I am not there ...I wish I could have gone but the stupid job mess left me stranded here. Hopefully I can go next year. So for those of you who were hoping to meet me, you'll just have to wait until then.

ANYWAY, I do have a card for you...I decided I didn't want to use this card to swap with, so I will go ahead and post it. I took the color combo from a cute top we got Emily at Kohl's:

Ingredients: Stamps - Happiness Always (Hostess Level 2 FW08 SU!); Paper - Baja Blue, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery; Ink - Baja Blue, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal; Other - 3/16" corner rounding punch, 3 for You punch, Apricot Appeal brads, dimensionals, sponge wedge, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain.

Isn't it GOJUS?!?!? (YILM! and YILMH (Yes, I love my husband!)) And a very appropriate card for today! Ta!

Warning: Excessively Cheerful Card!

If it's one thing I've learned from making (and even occasionally SENDING!) cards, it's that you can never have too many cards with glitter on them. Just the promise of making glittery cards will draw certain of my stamping customers to a class when nothing else would work!

However, if you are not into glitter, you find the prospect of the sparkly stuff daunting. You hate the way it gets all over you and you wish it would just go away.

People who love glitter tend to be excessively cheerful, so much so that they make people with a more sober outlook on life look grouchy by comparison. So if you are one of those people, you may just want to skip this card...don't say I didn't warn you!!!

Ingredients: Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps Playful Stars, Never a Loss 4 Words, Ready 4 Any Holiday; Paper - Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Summer Sun; Ink - Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Summer Sun, Brilliant Blue, Orchid Opulence, Green Galore; Other - Large Star Punch, 5/8" circle punch, glitter doodle ribbons (Doodlebug & Co.), star eyelets (SU! retired), dimensionals, sponge wedges, turquoise glitter, Xyron, Sakura Stardust glitter pen.

Isn't this so

I'm feeling SOO

Oh...it's coming...I can't help myself....I've been infected!!! Cute little glitter animals with big eyes are next...HELP HELP...UUUNNNGGGHHHHHH

It's probably too late for me...but RUN WHILE YOU CAN BEFORE THIS HAPPENS TO YOU!!!!

Cards for knitters

It was a couple of weeks ago. I had taken my latest creations to church to show my friends there and Dianne Iwick, our supply priest's wife, said, "Do you sell these?"

"Yes, but I can't sell these particular ones because they are new samples," I told her.

I don't think she heard me, because she said, "I need some birthday cards for my knitting group! I'll take these!"

Well, by the time I managed to coax my samples out of her hands, I had promised to make her three cards that were knitting themed since she didn't need them until after the next time her husband supplied. Since I *am* a knitter, I have a few knitting stamps and I figured, "piece of cake!"

I had one card in the stash already, but I figured making two cards wouldn't take too long. And I had two weeks...plenty of time. Right? Right?

Well it *is* plenty of time...if you actually start them before the day before you need them! And, since I am not going to be at church tomorrow since I'm driving Laurel to summer camp, I actually needed to have them done TODAY and leave them at the church for Dianne to collect. And, somehow, it slipped my mind until this afternoon! Clearly, I needed to get busy!

Luckily, my kids had their softball league all-star game and picnic today. I did my hour of concession stand volunteering, then told them to call me if they needed me, asked my friend Tony to keep an eye out for any signs of trouble and went home. Ah...a house with NO ONE in it but me! I haven't had that pleasure for weeks!!! It was WONDERFUL! There is something so nice about having a child who is not only old enough to take care of her siblings, but old enough to have a cell phone!

So, once I got home, I pushed aside my swaps and got busy. Here are the results:

Ingredients: Stamps - The Cat's Pajamas Knitting Kitty, So Much Yarn; Paper - Rob & Bob Studio PP, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Black, Apricot Appeal; Other - Large Oval Punch, Stampin' Write Markers, Sakura Stardust Glitter Pen, Sponge wedge, dimensionals, Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain.

Is this not STINKIN' CUTE?!?!?! (YILM!) I have had this kitty for quite a while...she brings back so many memories! When I was a little kid, there was a neighbor a couple of streets over that had one of these style stuffed kitties that she would let us play with when we visited. We (my sister and I) were totally in love with it! And then, of course, there was Laverne & Shirley, that sitcom with Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams...Shirley had the same kitty, which she called "Boo Boo Kitty". So that's what I think of whenever I see this fabulous retro kitty that is called "Sprinkle" at the Cat's Pajamas!

The paper is from a big slab I got free with a purchase at Scrappy Chic. They have a lot of "mod" looking designs that go so nicely with The Cat's Pajamas stamps!

After I finished that one, I made this:

Ingredients: Stamps - Basket Full of Fun (SU! retired), Canvas; Paper - Bashful Blue, Cutie Pie DP, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Whisper White; Ink - Basic Black, So Saffron, Bashful Blue; Other - Stampin' Write Markers, black gingham ribbon, paper piercing tool, Rose Red brads, sponge wedge, dimensionals.

I know...it's LUVERLY!!! (YILM!) I'm going to miss this SU! paper, which is retiring. Sigh...all the patterned paper in the SU! catalog is retiring. Dang. So I might as well use it up so I can buy new stuff, right? You know how that works, don't you? I hope so!

I got the cards done, found some envelopes, bagged them up and dropped them at the church on the way to pick up my kids from the picnic. Phew! One more thing to tick off the list! And at this time of year, with swaps to make, a new release coming from Kitchen Sink, an open house to plan for, school supplies to buy, children to chivy hither and yon...the list seems to get LONGER all the time!

Well, think of me tomorrow, in the car 3 1/2  hours to get there, check Laurel in and drive 3 1/2 hours back. Ugh. I'd rather be stamping!

Monkeying around....

Life goes on in the Tinklenberg house this summer. Ah, summer, the season of the three "D"s in my house: Dirt, Disorder, and Disagreement, all due to the constant presence of 5 people in one small house.

We're getting a bit of relief from some of the disagreement because our oldest is attending a volleyball camp for part of the afternoon for four days this week. And then next week, she's going to a sleep away camp...I'm going to miss her, but I won't miss hearing her and her brother fighting!

Anyway, I'm going a bit nuts with everyone under my feet! So yesterday I got out of the house and went to play at Sharon's house yesterday. We had lots of fun chatting and looking at the stuff we've done with the preorder so far. And I got a lot done! First I did this...wait...can't show you that because of SWAP SECRECY! Jami will have my guts for garters if I show my swaps before everybody gets theirs! And Jami likes to refer to herself as the "Swap Nazi" so I'm not eager to find out what happens if I disobey the rules!

So then I did this...ooops...same thing. I'm swapping that card too! Dang! What can I show you then?

Oh, yes! I did this Sock Monkey card the day after my new stuff came and it is so STINKIN' CUTE!!! (YILM!) I was so tempted to swap this one because it would, well, knock the SOCKS off of the people who got it with their swaps! But it is VERY time consuming to make and I just could not face making 8 of them. So here without further ado...A Sock Monkey card that will knock off your SOCKS!

Ingredients: Stamps - Sock Monkey, Twill; Paper - Sahara Sand, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla; Ink - Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand; Other - Twill Tape, Small Oval Punch, So Saffron button, dimensionals, white gel pen, linen thread, sponge wedges.

Make sure you click on the picture so you can see the details. So where are your socks?!!? Are they knocked off or are they going up and down or what? I know, I know...it's STINKIN' CUTE!!! (YILM!)

I paper pieced this monkey using cardstock stamped with the Twill background so it looks a bit like it's got a knitted texture. It's impossible to make the lines follow the monkey's body as it should, but it's a close approximation. So I had to stamp three different pieces of cardstock with the Twill background, cut out a whole monkey from Sahara Sand, then cut out the vanilla bits and the Riding Hood Red bits and stick them on. Yes, lots of work, but it was WORTH IT!!!

But it would be a one way ticket to Stamper's Burnout if I tried to do this 8 times, not to mention a big case of Swapitis. So I have come up with something else for my Sock Monkey requirement...it's ALMOST as cute and wonderful...but it's a lot easier on me! I can't wait to show you...but right now it's IN THE VAULT!

Well, it's time for me to get off the computer and let my kids have their turns and start the next round. If you haven't gotten kicked off your computer by children, you might mosey on over to Kitchen Sink Stamps...they are having a sale through tomorrow. Me, I have to go down to the swap mines and get going....Ta!

They better be ready...

At Michael's, that is. 'Cause when you see the super coolio thing I found there, ON SALE yet, you are gonna run right down and pick up some. What are they? Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Hydrangeas; Paper - Whisper White; Ink - Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Bashful Blue, Lavender Lace, Riding Hood Red, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Kiwi Kiss, Always Artichoke, Groovy Guava, Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip; Other - Glass Photo Coaster set.

Yes, I got this glass photo coaster set, complete with the stand, for only $8!! This is one of the coasters close up:

GOJUS!!!! (YILM!) The glass is about 3/8" thick and has nice little rubber feet to make your table happy.

This is what the back looks like:

It takes about a 2 5/8" x 2 7/8" piece of cardstock. Of course, you can put photos in it, but I immediately saw the possibilities for stamped pieces. I was going to use my 40% off coupon on this set, but it was already on sale. Sweet!

You can find them in the section that has the acrylic box frames in it...It's hard to miss, because it is all tied up with a bright purple ribbon.

I think mine turned out great...and now that you see these coasters, not only will Michael's have a run on them, but Kitchen Sink may just have a run on these GOJUS hydrangea stamps! I love 'em!

Well, I must be off to eat dinner! Ta!

Christmas in July

Like a lot of people, when I first saw the new In Colors on someone's blog, I thought they were going to be really bright colors. Well, they are not. If you had to put them in a color family, I'd say that Rich Regals would be the one they would go in. They are very saturated and rich colors (except for Pirouette Pink.)

I have been having an...um...interesting time trying to work with them. If I am to be honest (and I am, I am!) I have been banging my head against the wall trying to come up with good color combinations that I liked. But I have persevered. I knew it was only a matter of time before I figured out some cool combinations. The colors needed to seep into my creative consciousness.

But my big question was, "How do I make Christmas samples with these colors?" Because we crafting types are always thinking about 6 months in advance, aren't we? And even bigger was the question, "What set can I use to make Christmas samples?" Because the retirement list axed nearly every single Christmas set I have! I have one left: Baby Jesus is Born. And I haven't used that one yet either, LOL!

Of course, when the new catalog comes out, there may be one or two sets from last year's Holiday Mini that made the catalog that I can start using until I put in that first big order. But until I find out which ones, I wanted to do at least one Christmas card with a set that did not have to be colored in so I could show off the new colors. So that let out Baby Jesus is Born (but I will get to that next!) And I wanted to use the Christmas sentiment from the sneak peek sentiment set, Heard from the Heart.

So I went cruisin' in my shelf of SU! rubbah, wondering which set would have an image that would look somewhat Christmas-like. I found One of a Kind, which I'd only used once, so it definitely needed more exposure. I chose my colors and proceeded. And fell in love with myself (and SU!) all over again! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - One of a Kind, Heard from the Heart; Paper - Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White; Ink - Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Basic Black; Other - Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Boho Blossoms punch, ticket corner punch, paper piercing tool, white gel pen, gold brads, stampin' sponge wedge

Isn't this GOJUS?!?!?!?!? (YILM!) I really, really, really love this color combination and especially, the Kiwi Kiss. It just GLOWS!

Funny thing...I was checking out some of the CHA sneak peeks on other people's blogs and found something really interesting. Go have a look at the new releases at My Mind's Eye. In particular:

Just Dreamy 2
Be Merry
Snowed In

Do those colors look familiar? Looks like SU! is right in there with the pack this year! I can't wait to see what else is in that big catalog! Oh, dear...it's that New Catalog Fever again...

It never rains...

but it pours. Yeah, I'm posting twice in one day. Don't get too excited...doesn't happen often!

This time, I'm posting because I finally managed to do Kristina Werner's Color Challenge #16. Here's the challenge:

I decided to look through the shelves of my SU! rubber, searching for a set that had a lonely neglected air to it. I found Boho Backgrounds...I don't know if I've even used it yet! But it's definitely a set that deserves more than just to be featured in backgrounds! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Boho Backgrounds, Canvas; Paper - Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla; Ink - Soft Sky, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie; Other - 1" & 1 3/8" circle punches, word window punch, scallop circle punch, double-stitched Soft Sky grosgrain, dimensionals, gold brads

Isn't this GOJUS?!?!? (YILM!) I was going for a kind of patchwork look, in stripes, using hte different patterns found in the set. I love this color combination and I really HAD to play. But in order to participate, I have to submit this today by midnight! Hence my double post.

I'm going back to the card mines...time for another infusion of chocolate energy!

You must all be wondering...

Just when I will be posting some projects using the sneak peek stuff from Stampin' Up!

I decided to give you a little peek today. The reason for the blog silence: because I, somehow, managed to sign myself up for three swaps: one for 2 different sets with 8 full cards each, one for the Controlfreaks with one set for a 26 card front swap, and one for our downline group with 10 cardfronts with one set. I'm using the same set for the last two swaps, so I have to come up with a couple different options. For first swap and for the Controlfreaks swap I can't show my card on my blog until everyone has received their swaps. It kills me, I tell ya! So everything I've made so far, since I've been trying to come up with ideas for swaps, I've been keeping under wraps until I decide which designs are going to be my swaps. However, since I decided this one is NOT going to be a swap card, I will show it to you:

Ingredients: Stamps - Serene Spring (hostess set level 2 FW 08); Paper - Bella Rose DP (new FW 08), Pink Pirouette (new In Color), Kiwi Kiss (new In Color), Whisper White, Chocolate Chip; Ink - Basic Black, Chocolate Chip; Other - Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon, Button Bouquet (new FW 08), Scallop Edge Punch (new FW 08), Chocolate Chip marker, paper piercing tool, Pure Color Pencils, Goo Gone, white gel pen

Isn't it GOJUS?!?!? (YILM!) I decided to use the Pure Color Pencils and, instead of Gamsol, to use Goo Gone, which I read about on Splitcoast. It works just as well as Gamsol, costs a lot less and it's very easy to obtain. You use it with a stump to blend the colors so they look more like paint. I've heard that Walmart actually sells a Goo Gone pen, in which case you would not even need a stump.

What is a stump? These are stumps. But you want to be careful to buy ones made in Taiwan, NOT ones made in China. The ones made in Taiwan are much better. The way you clean them off between colors is to sand it off, and you use the sandpaper block shown in the list of stumps to do that (you can also use the sandpaper block to put a very sharp point on your pencils.) You can pick up stumps at Michael's or other art supply places...the place they are made in is printed right on the side of the stump, so you can tell the difference between the ones from Taiwan and the ones from China.

For coloring, yes, it's easier to use Prismacolors because they have so many different colors, but you know what? You really don't need that many. By layering and blending, you can create a very vibrant picture with just the 12 colors of Pure Color pencils. The leads are not as soft as Prismacolors, but you really do not need to lay down copious amounts of color...using the side of the pencil (which is all lead!) you can lay in large areas of light color and once you blend using the Goo Gone, it really perks up and becomes much more vibrant (as in the sky on this piece.)

Yesterday was a fun day. I got to go meet my BFF Paula at Archivers and then on to Scrappy Chic for some girly shopping fun. Now that I can breathe easier on the job front, I can actually spend a little money on myself. I didn't buy a lot of paper, but I did get some new stamps!

And the other cool thing about yesterday was: IT IS FINISHED. Softball, that is. The last two games were last night. Ahh....still the league picnic next Saturday, but all in all, I'm breathing easier!

Well, folks, the cards do not make themselves. Better get off this computer and get busy!

Some days...

You just want to crawl in a hole and pull the hole in after you!

Monday was NOT one of those days. On Monday night, we found out my husband's job is secure for the fall! Thanks to all of you who so faithfully prayed! I spent yesterday in a happy haze of thanksgiving. That's why today seems that much worse somehow.

Today was meant to be a fun day but it has not started out that way. I have had one trouble after another online. First, I have been trying to use a coupon website to print coupons; less money spent on food equals more money to spend on stamps, right? Well...maybe not, but with prices rising every where, I'm trying to use coupons. I'm usually quite hopeless at it...the coupon papers stack up in the most horrible way and when I do remember to cut them out, I usually forget to take them with me. But I am going to try again. Sunday I bought a newspaper so I could have the coupons from there. But I thought why not get some from online and have even MORE?!?!? I'm trying to use the system at CouponMom.com and they have all kinds of links to online coupons. You have to have some software that they download to your machine, which I did yesterday and it seemed to be working fine. So today  when I tried to print online coupons, it bombed every time, turned off my print spooler and I had to reboot to get it back online. I even tried using Netscape Navigator since Mozilla did not like the coupon printer, but the same thing happened. Arrgghhh!!!

Finally, I abandoned my attempts to print coupons...there must be a way to get it to work, but *I* haven't found it. Then I decided to go for a little online retail therapy! All those stamping related purchases I had put off due to possible job layoffs...I could make those purchases now!!

So I tried to sign up for the Cuttlebug Waitlist on All That Scraps, since I don't have to worry about saving my stamping money for mortgage payments and they have an error in their SQL code. And I tried to buy something from another online store and it would only let me put one item in my cart at a time. Grrrr...

Anyway, I am going to show off something I have been holding back, but since I screwed this up too, it seems fitting to put it in here. This was MEANT to be sent into a contest at Stampin' Up!...but they changed their due date on me! It used to be that it was the 15th of the month, right? But now it's the END of the previous month. So this was meant for the Brayer Techniques contest...and I didn't get it in in time. I am so lame!

Here ya go:

Ingredients: stamps - Classic Backgrounds, Twill, Big Deal Alphabet, Ticker Tape Alphabet; Paper - Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Glossy White, Kraft; Ink - Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White; Other - Brayer, Paper Crimper, 3/16" corner rounding punch, Word Window Punch, small star punch, Slit Punch, silver brads, On Board Simon Lower chipboard, Winter White EP, dimensionals

Isn't this STINKIN' CUTE?!?!?! (YILM!) If you experienced the 70's, you'll recognize this as the way us teenage types  (in the SEVENTIES...I'm not a teeange type anymore!) gave each other our props. I got the idea from all the popsicle cards that have been floating around lately...why not make a bomb pop and of course, the sentiment to go with it has to be this one!

To do this, I used two ink pads, Brilliant Blue and Real Red, placed end to end. I inked up my brayer so that 2/3rds of the brayer was on the Brilliant Blue pad and the other 1/3rd on the Real Red pad. Then when I rolled it on my glossy white cardstock, I left some white at the top, had that little bit of red, and the rest was blue.

So now that I've amazed you with this card, I feel a little bit better. I think some stamping therapy would enhance my recovery, as long as it is accompanied by a few of the Riesens I bought the other day and am carefully hiding from my children. Stamping therapy and chocolate...who could ask for anything more?