More is More

Happy Monday! Yesterday our church congregation presented our Pastor (and my boss) with an iPad as a gift of appreciation.  The Family Pastor asked if I would create a card to go with the gift and of course I happily agreed.  Pastor Jeff is a surfer, so I immediately went to the palm tree image from TE Hanging’ Out at the Beach along with the matching die.

I started with a piece of shimmery shite cardstock and masked 2 inches in all around with Eclipse tape and then sponged several colors to create the sunset.  Then I used my Scor-pal to create two score lines around all the edges.  I stamped the palm tree and colored it with Copics before die cutting it with the palm tree die.  Then I die cut the wave and embossed it with a CB embossing folder.  The Bible verse is from an old SU set.  Some simple liquid pearls finished off the design.  I usually have a hard time with masculine cards, but this one came together quite easily and was really fun to work on.  🙂

I’ve been feeling really crummy for the past several days.  In fact, on Saturday we decided to just do nothing and pretty much relax all day.  I feel a little better today, but still not great.  I’ve heard so many friends talking about the green smoothie craze, that when I saw an infomercial for the Nutri-Bullet I decided to give it a try.  We went out and bought one yesterday.  I still need to get to the market to get some fruits and veggies for it.  People who really know me will be shocked by this, I’m sure.  I tend to be a bit of a picky eater and I’m not a fan of veggies at all and barely even eat fruit.  So…we’ll see how this goes.  If you have a favorite green smoothie recipe that veggie-hater might like, please feel free to share it with me.  🙂  I also need to get back on my WW plan.  I just haven’t been able to focus on it since I started the new job and I’ve been eating way too much junk. So…smoothies, here I come.

Happy Friday! It’s the 4th Friday of the month, so that means it’s time for another Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge.  Today’s sketch was designed by Jen Shults and I think you’ll really enjoy playing with it.  Please remember that there are prizes up for grabs for playing and TE stamps are NOT required.  You can get all the details on Taylor’s blog (link below).

For my sample I sort of worked backwards.  Usually I choose an image or stamp set first and then look for patterned papers and color combo.  Today I knew I wanted to work with the TE London Market Project Pantry kit, so I started there.  I actually put together most of my card before I even decided what would go in/on the focal point circle.  Once I settled on the patterned paper with the crowns on it, I immediately thought of the Royal Treatment Taylored Die set.  I cut the crown out of cardstock from the kit and then painted it with Smooch Illuminate and added liquid pearls. From there I went looking for sentiments that might work and I found two (for inside and ourtside) in two different Moka Petite stamp sets – Katie and Princess Penelope.  Embellishments – all from Taylored Expressions – include Liquid Pearls in Lemon and Bisque, Prima rose and Prima stick pin.

Now let’s see what the rest of the Sketch Crew has dreamed up for today.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Hey!  Did you know that this is Administrative Professionals Week and yesterday was officially Administrative Professionals Day?  (I don’t usually go for new PC names for things, but boy-oh-boy am I ever glad the word “secretary” has gone away!  I’m more than happy to be an Office Manager, but I don’t think I could handle being a secretary!  Silly, huh?)  Shortly after I got to work yesterday, Pastor Jeff came bounding in with a huge smile on his face and 3 bouquets of roses along with cards for me and my two friends/aides.

They are my favorite hot pink color.  🙂  And the roses for Lisa and Darla are beautiful multi-colors.  I should have taken a pic of those as well.  WOW!  Talk about putting smiles on our faces and feeling appreciated!  Inside the card was a wonderful message of appreciation and encouragement AND a gift card to Outback Steak so the three of us can go to lunch together.  OH MY!  We certainly do LOVE going to lunch together!  We were all blown away!  Thanks Jeff and also thanks to Jeff’s wife, Kristy, who I’m sure was the one who knew hot pink roses are my fave!

Before I head off to work this morning, I do have a card to share.  This is another one inspired by Heather Telford’s awesome blog.  I’m running late, so I won’t go into much detail except to say that I used Shimmery White cardstock again and the TE stamp set Make It Amazing along with my very old SU French Script BG stamp.  I sponged several different shades of SU green inks and added some KaiserCraft pearls.

I hope you have an amazing day!

Happy Tuesday! Let’s see if I can get this blog post typed up before I need to get out the door to work.  Speaking of work…can I just say that I LOVE my new job?  I do!  I actually find myself excited to go to work.  Sometimes I can’t go to sleep at night because I’m thinking about things we can do or ways to do something better.  I’m really thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to be where I am.  This is not anything I sought out or would have EVER sought out and yet everyone around me immediately knew it would be perfect for me.  Our God is truly amazing.  🙂

Now, on to stampy goodness.  I have found over the last several months that I just haven’t had/taken the time to PLAY in my stamp room.  Stamping had become all about meeting a deadline or getting a card in the mail (probably late.)  For me to really enjoy it, I need to PLAY. Going back to my roots in stamping, one of the things I have the most fun with is finding inspiration from somewhere/someone and working from that.  Recently I discovered Heather Telford’s blog Bits & Pieces and talk about inspiration!  Wow!  Here style is so far from my norm and yet I feel so drawn to it.  I’ve been having so much FUN playing with it.  The first card I saw of hers that wowed me and made me want to CASE it was her London card. I immediately thought of this Rubber Romance Paris stamp that I’ve had for a long time.

I started with a card base of Shimmery White cardstock (my fave!) and laid down wide strips of Eclipse masking tape and then I just started sponging SU inks.  I’m sorry I forgot to write down the colors I used, but I beleive it was Olive, Regal Rose and Perfect Plum.  I removed the masking tape and stamped the large image stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black using my stamp-a-majig.  The sentiment is SU and I thought it fit the scene perfectly.  Ribbon is SU Perfect Plum and the little flower embellie is Prima I think.

Such an easy peasy card….I love it…instant gratification…isn’t that what stamping cards is all about?  😉  I have a couple more Telford-inspired cards to share this week.  I’m just loving this masking and sponging stuff!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thursday! I’m off work for the afternoon and waiting for the repair guy to come take a look at our frig that isn’t very cold.  We just got this frig in October, so I sure hope it’s a simple fix.  It’s totally true that they just don’t make ’em like they used to.  The frig I bought when I was single and moved into my own condo 23 years ago now lives at my previous job and is till going strong!

While I’m waiting, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share the 3rd project from my class last week.  This one features TE Fruity Friends – such a fun and easy set to work with!

I created a sampler of 4 cards and each student got to choose one to create in class.  Patterned papers are from an SU 6×6 pack.  Cardstocks are SU Wild Wasabi and TE Choice Snow White.  We used Spellbinders Lacey Square die and some SU ribbon. Each card is 4.25″ square.

Aren’t they so sweet?  I think the full set will make a great little gift!  Here’s the Copic coloring chart I made for my girls.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you’re having a great day!  It’s almost Friday!  I’ve been looking forward to this Friday for awhile now.  We’re having a de-clutter party at the office.  Cleaning out drawers and cupboards and file cabinets might not sound like fun to you, but I’m pretty excited about getting a fresh start at my new job.  Hmmmm…how long do I get to call it my “new job”?  Tomorrow will be the end of my 5th week.  Time is flying by!

Happy Tuesday! Just a quick post to share another one of my class projects from last Friday before I head off to work.  I purchased a bunch of super cute post it note folders from Pick Your Plum and could hardly wait to use them for a class project.

Here it is open.  The post-it notes and pen came in this kraft folder and all we had to do was decorate it.  Are you familiar with Pick Your Plum?  It’s this amazing site that has a different incredible deal almost every day.  You sign up for their e-mail alerts and you have to be sure to check them first thing in the morning because most things sell out pretty quickly.  Most of the items they offer are oriented toward crafts, sewing, and jewelry making.  They also sometimes have baby things and party stuff.  I just checked today and it’s satin baby rompers.  You just never know.  I’ve purchased from them a few times and shipping is always very fast.  I highly recommened you sign up for their e-mails!

So here’s the post-it folder finished.

We used Taylored Expressions Sky’s the Limit stamp and die set along with the TE Cloud Border Die and the TE Grass Border Die.  Papers are from some SU 6×6 hostess stacks.  Ink is SU Melon Mambo and a choclate chip marker for the basket of the balloon.  The finishing touch is several of Taylor’s Tiny Twinkles.

This was such a fun project and so easy too!  Of course you could easily create a simple post it note folder of your own with just a pad of post-its and some kraft cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend?  We felt like ours went by entirely too fast, but it was good!  I held my monthly stamp class Friday night and had a full house.  It was tons of fun as always.  🙂  The first class project I want to share with you is a variation of a card I made for the TE release a couple of weeks ago.  I took that card and simplified it just a bit and changed up the colors and used different images from the same set – Make it Amazing.  This card is actually closer to the original inspiration card by CAKath that I have in my faves at SCS.  I just love the pink and yellow color palette!

We used my all-time favorite cardstock, SU Shimmery White, for this card.  I figure, if it’s only going to be one layer it should be the best!  I scored a line 1.5″ inches from the left side and used the wide Eclipse tape to mask off the right side of the card.  The dandelion image was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder for the Emboss Resist technique.  Then I sponged Daffodil Delight Ink, followed by Pretty in Pink.  The mask was removed and the dandelions were stamped in Daffodil (stamped off once first).  I used gray ink for the sentiment because black was a little too stroing with these soft colors. The girls in class chose any sentiment they wanted from the stamp set.  Lots of them made this a Mother’s Day card.  The bottom corners were rounded with my beloved Corner Chomper.  Ribbon is SU satin.

I just love this card and will be doing some similar ones in the near future!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful week.