More is More

Last night was my New Catty Kick Off Night and we had so much fun!  We made two very simple, but really cute cards.  Both were from ideas that other demonstrators had shared.  I’m so appreciative of everyone who shares their creativity on the web.  I always tell my customers that you don’t have to be super creative or original to enjoy stamping as a hobby – there are so many resources for inspiration!

The first card was one I had put into my favorites gallery at Splitcoaststampers and it was created by Dawn Olchefske (dostamping on SCS).  Here’s a link to the original.  Y’all know how much I love to add a pop of black to my cards, so that and the scallops were my tweaks to Dawn’s lovely design.

We actually made this card in a choice of Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry or Melon Mambo and we also decorated a white panel for inside the card.  Everyone had their choice of sentiments from Razzle Dazzle or Teeny Tiny Wishes and then could use the oval punches or the modern label punch.  Since the modern label punch only comes in one size, in order to layer it simply take the punched shape to be used as the matting layer and cut it in half horizontally and adhere the two halves to the back of the sentiment.

The second card we made was an idea I had seen in several places, but ultimately I got the pattern from Patty Bennett who credits a couple of other people for the idea.  I’m not one of those out of the box thinkers, so I love it when I see simple things like this!

This adorable dress is made from the scallop circle bigz die with the big shot and then just some simple trimming using Patty’s pattern.  We used various colors of textured cardstock.  I love that the In Colors come in 8.5 x 11 textured cardstock – such a nice option!  Designer paper is Razzleberry Lemonade – yummm! 

Just a quick post today as we need to box up stuff and get everything off the walls in anticipation of the painters getting started on Monday morning.  WooHoo!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a great weekend!

I had some time to play in my stamp room this morning and what better way to get back in the stampin’ swing of things than to play the SCS weekly Sketch Challenge?  So I printed out the sketch and grabbed some of my new SU In-Color cardstocks and Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper and went looking for a stamp set to fit in.  Cheers to You seemed to be just perfect!

I stamped the three fun drinks on glossy cardstock and colored them with my new In Color markers.  Isn’t it so cool that the In Colors are finally offered as markers?  The sentiment *sweet treats* is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I swear that set covers just about everything!  And from what I can tell so far, pretty much all of the sentiments fit into either an oval punch, word window punch or the new label punch.

Nothing fancy to explain here – just a fun, quick card.  Cardstock colors are Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry.

Home improvement continues as three friends came over last night and helped Curt tear out the carpet in the dining/room office.  They scrubbed the floor with Murphy’s Oil Soap – that stuff ROCKS! – and it looks fantastic.  No refinishing needed.  We are thrilled.  Although I love the look of wood floors, I am a plush carpet gal (I bet that doesn’t surprise you!) so this was a nice compromise.  We’ll have the wood in here and carpet in the rest of the house.  If you have any tips on caring for a wood floor I’m open to hearing them.  I do hope someday to replace the incredibly ugly kitchen vinyl flooring with wood as well.  Unfortunately that’s the one room in the house that doesn’t already have hardwood installed.  That’s not a project for this year.

Thanks for stopping by.

On my way out the door to work, but wanted to take a minute to share this cute little 3×3 card I made for my friend’s birthday.  I spent quite a bit of time making her gift (which I can’t share here quite yet) and ran out of time when it came to the card.  But in the end I actually love this quick and simple little 3×3.

All cardstock, dp, ribbon, cupcake brad are from the Cupcake Key Ingredients at Taylored Expressions.  Looks like it sold out again for now, but hopefully it will be re-stocked once the move is complete and the store re-opens next week.  Stamped image is from a retired SU set.

As home improvement continues, tonight we plan to tear out the carpet in the dining room/office so we can check out the condition of the hardwood in this room.  It better be good, because we didn’t order carpet for in here.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by.

WooHoo!  My kitchen is RED – a beautiful dark shade of red by Ralph Lauren called Hunting Coat Red.  The professional painters will paint the white trim when they come to do the rest of the interior next week, but here’s a photo so you can get an idea.

Do you see that my kitchen is mostly windows and doors and cabinets?  Tons of edges and cutting in.  My incredible friend Darla offered to come help me and honestly she did 3/4 of the painting.  On Monday we did the prep and put up a coat of tinted primer (pepto pink).  I had to go to work on Tuesday so on Wednesday we got the first two coats of red up by working till 9:30 pm.  On Thursday the 4th coat of red was finally finished around 6:oo pm and actually some of the edges required 5 coats.  Friday morning I just did some touch up on a few spots and got all the pastic down and put the frig and stove back.  *Phew* what a week!  We finished just in time to have some friends over for burgers Friday night.

I am so blessed and thankful for a friend willing to give so much time and hard work.  And it was HARD work!  I’m so excited with the results!  I’m now on the hunt for the perfect reproduction vintage fabric for curtains.  I want that 40’s farm house look since this really is a 40’s farm house.  I’ve ordered a few swatches from an on-line source, but of course I have something pretty specific in mind based on vintage linens I’ve seen in antique stores.  I’d love to find something with a bark cloth texture and a fruit and flower print that incorporates the red, yellow and blue.  We’ll see what I can find.  If anyone has any tips on fabric sources, please let me know!

July is Home Improvement Month here at the Sibleys.  Tomorrow night Curt has some friends coming over to help him rip up the carpet in the dining room/office to reveal the hardwood underneath.  Our plan is to just clean it up (if it isn’t too damaged) and then put a large rug down.  Thursday the draperies are being taken down to be cleaned and will be re-installed in about 2 weeks after the painting and carpet are complete.

 Of course in the midst of this, on Friday night I have my New Catty Kick Off Night.  So if you are coming, please excuse the state of the house.  We’re a work in progress!  😉  I need to get some stamping done today.  Thanks for stopping by and thanks for hanging in with me through a stamping dry zone!