So Sorry!

I have been having issues with my computer and it is now getting fixed....I have only made one set of cards this past 12 days and Iwill try and get it posted tomorrow.....for my few followers, please bare with me I will be back.....life has gotten hectic and with no computer at home I am at the mercy of a friend who has so graciously allowed me to use her computer.....I will be back tomorrow with a post and some pictures....have a great Saturday...later gaters!

Sunday and UHGGG!!!!

Oh what a day yesterday!...For some reason I can not get my desktop computer to dial-up the Internet...so I have reverted to my laptop...which for some reason is shutting itself down.....it gets really hot and then boom...down it goes....I have not read my email for 2 days....yikes...I wonder what I am missing.....I am off to Church here shortly and then when I return I am off to work in the garden for the rest of the day...the kids thought we should get the pool ready to open....so that was our huge job yesterday.....what a lot of work....now we wait a week for the chemcial to balance it self out...the water to get warmer....we swim......lol...I also went to the greenhouse yesterday and bought all the flowers I need for the flower beds and pots that I put out all over the yard....each and every year I say....self do not do this next year....next year rolls around and what do you think I do.....yep you got it...I put all these flowers in again......oh well someday I will learn I hope!....The card that I am showcasing today is actually a 6x6 recipe card that I am doing for a swap that I am in......this card is done very simply with black and yellow paper...a little bit of stamping...but it is needing something and I am not sure what that something will be....lol...I am going to have to work on this one a little more....for the next week or so I will be posting at night as I committed myself to a project for the next week and will be away from home almost all day.....thanks for looking today and have a great week! Later Gaters!

TGIF!

This has been a super long week for me for some reason!....It is Friday and I am tired...should I not be more awake as we head into the weekend...lol...I belong to a Stampin' Up Hostess Club and I have completed the year....I was really undecided what to order for this last month...I looked at the sets that were retiring and nothing jumped out at me or cried pick me pick me......so I ordered this set from the Spring Mini called "Bundle of Joy".....now why would I do that you ask.....I was asking myself the same thing when I ordered it.....okay jump ahead almost two weeks now.....I have to make a mono-chromatic card, using Stampin' Up stamps....like yesterdays card I went through my storage cabinet to see what I had that was current that I could use....hmmmm nothing was calling me.....lol....I got a call yesterday morning from my demo and my order was in....yipee....I went and picked it up and low and behold I had this set.....so today's share is a card that I made for the swap I am in, the set is current and all things worked.....this is a really easy card to put together, just piddly (is that a word)....lol....all supplies are Stampin' Up with the exception of the brads and the background paper which was done with my cuttlebug.....oh how I love my "BUG".....The colors that I chose for this card were, Pixie Pink and Pretty in Pink.....the ink used was Pixie Pink.....I cut the background paper and ran it through my cuttlebug....I then stamped the image on a piece of Pretty in Pink paper and used my Giga Oval Punch to cut it out, I sponged the edges with Pixie Pink Ink and layered it onto a piece of Pixie Pink Paper.....I then used my Spring Flowers Punch to make the butterfly, I just cut off one of the petals from the flower, drew in the antennae for the butterfly and then punched a 1/4 inch circle out to complete the butterfly......the greeting on the bottom was done using two different sizes of circles and a small slot punch.....I then used some pink ribbon to adhere it to the card.....all in all it is okay, the idea I had in my head, just did not come through on paper as I thought it would.....but all 11 of the cards are complete, so the swap is ready to go.....well I am not sure what my plans will be for the weekend as the hubby has informed me that he is going trucking tomorrow and will arrive home Sunday...asked if I wanted to go....hmmmmm....we shall see....okay it is time to get moving for the day...hope you all have a great day and a wonderful weekend....later gaters!

Thursday Share! A Flower

Okay I have been working on swap cards for the various groups that I belong to....I decided to venture into a swap with a group that I have only been part of for a week...lol....this was for a card with Flowers, had to be a Stampin' Up set that was not retiring.....well this should be easy peasy right.....wrong!....I was looking through the Stampin' Up catty cause I had marked all of the retiring set off in the book.....I only have a handful of sets left that are not retired....well I know that is not a bad thing...means I get to buy some new stuff.....well....if I was a demo that would be okay....I am just a SU customer and now I have to buy new sets to be able to stay current so that I can swap with these ladies......hey.....what is my problem?.....rofl.....I am thinking that I have a big problem here....lol...can anyone help.....so I had this stamp set Heartfelt Thanks and unless I did not mark my sets off right, it is not retiring from the catty, so I set out to make a card with it.....again I am having issues with my scanner and I think it is winning....roflmao.....This cards was made with Taken with Teal cardstock from Stampin' Up and Black....ladies if you own these two colors go and put them side by side..... am right or am I right they are much prettier and brighter together in real life......so this card is buggin' me....it looks so fresh and inviting, then I scan it and to me it looks like I forgot to add color.....hmmmmm....I am bugging the dear old hubby to let me buy a new one...I am not sure I am winning this battle though....and here is my dilemna when I try to load pictures that I have taken with my camera....okay I take the picture, I add it to my photo files, I resize it small, and then I try to upload it onto my BLOG, it looks like it is working and working to upload it, then it tells me the page is not available.....does anyone have a suggestion for me.....lol....cause the pictures that I am taking are much sharper with the camera.......oh well....just my musing for today....I have some more swaps to finish in the next few days and then I can relax and wait for the return mail....I so love getting these swaps back......I got a couple new stamps this past week and once these have to use Stampin Up stamp swaps are complete, I will dig into this stamps and showcase some cards....have a great day!...later gaters!

Wednesday!

Good Morning! Well I am off for the day here shortly so I thought I should get my BLOG done for the day, so that I have it done .....I have art work all ready to go for about a week or so, so there should be no reason not to post.....the weather is still gloomy, no sunshine since Sunday here and I am tired of it......it stays around the 70 degree mark, so it is not cold, just not sunny....The card that I am showcasing today is one that I have completed for a swap on one of my groups that requires the card to have Faux Stitiching on it, as you can see I added the stitching to the layer around the Bella.....for this card I used some paper that I purchase from Heather Hind, she has an ebay store and has a ton of product for sale....The paper is layered on Close to Cocoa paper from Stampin' Up, I used my small corner rounder from Stampin' Up to make all the scallops on the various layers....I colored the Image with my Watercolor Crayons from Stampin' Up and layered the completed image on a piece of Bliss Blue Cardstock from Stampin' Up.....I then used my white gel pen to add all of the accents on the card.....I am going to learn to use my camera to take pictures of my work....I seem to loose the color combinations when I scan them.....I am going to make a effort to start using some of my other stamps that I own....I am addicted to these Bella's....lol....well I have to run....so I will see you all tomorrow...later gaters!

Something Different Today!

Good Morning! Well it was a dark and gloomy day here yesterday, but no rain...hmmm...well it is a little better this morning, not nearly as dark but still no sunshine.....hopefully this weather will turn around soon...I chose something different in my crafting to showcase today...I was busy yesterday working on swaps for my various online groups.....The upload for today is actually a tag that I made for a tag book that we are doing on a group.....this tag is big it is 6 inches long by I think 3.25 inches....it was a lot of fun to make and I made 10 of them....I cut my tag from pieces of black cardstock from Stampin' Up....the white layer was cut to fit and ran through my cuttlebug (although it is hard to see in the picture), I added a piece of black and white polka dot ribbon that I got from Jodi at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict, (honestly if you have not bought into one of her shares, you really need to do so, I now have the perfect color ribbon and or prima flower for almost all of my projects), from there I cut the black cardstock for the butterfly, which by the way is from the set called Butterfly Kisses and it can be purchased from www.papertreyink.com , oh how I love these stamp sets.....I then stamped the butterfly in white craft ink from Stampin' Up and set it aside to dry....the flower petals in the corner where punched from my Stampin' Up Punch and then outlined with my white gel pen(this is my favorite new toy)....the brad that I used to hold them down is one that I have had for awhile.....I then used my white gel pen to add the little bit of polka dots around the outside of the tag....all in all I am pleased with the tag...this will go off to be added to the booklets of tags that each lady does in the group....I love these little tag books that we do on the group and often use them for inspiration when I am needing some....so that was one of several projects I attempted to get completed yesterday, it was a great stamping day for me.....well I must run and get some house things completed so that I can play again later today.......later gaters!

It's Been Awhile!

Hello! to all of you that follow my BLOG and I see by the counter that there are some who do!....Well I never meant to be gone for 10 days that is for sure...lol...I did not do any stamping in those 10 days either.....My son and his family from The Northwest Territories came home and we were busy busy busy....we spent time at our daughters having a BBQ. we went shopping, he had friends from High School over, we went shopping, we cooked and cleaned, we went shopping, laughed and cried.....all in all we had a great holiday with him and his family....Did I say we went shopping... will be posting some pictures of his children shortly....once they left last week, I spent a whole day...being sad....I did not do too much...read a little, did some BLOGGING and just relaxed.....for the rest of the week I went shopping, cleaned house, made meals and all that sort of stuff.....so this card that I have posted is the first card that I have made in the past 10 days.....I was sitting her yesterday looking at the new paper that I had purchased from Ebay and thought....hmmmmm....I really need to get back into this stamping.....so this is what I did...although I have no one graduating, this little Bella Stamp in the one that arrived in my Mays' Box of the Month from http://www.paperpretties.net/, this is a new online store that is so neat...these crazy ladies offer a Box of the Month and each and every month you get one of the new Bella's that are available for sale on the www.stampingbella.com website...what an adventure to start into...in this box you get all the supplies needed or required to make a minimum of 6 cards and a pattern book with the recipes to make cards....this is so cool...and the best part of this online store is that it is Canadian....yippee.....so onto my card...the Bella that I am presenting here is from the May Box from Paper Pretties.....the paper is from a small stack of Basic Grey Paper, Scarlet's Letter that I purchased on Ebay, I stamped the Bella on white cards stock from Stampin' Up and colored here in with my water color pencils from Stampin' Up...(I need to use these more)....I then sponged the edge of the white card stock with black ink, layered this onto black cardstock...this in turn was layered onto the patterned paper that was layered onto red Stampin' Up cardstock....the ribbon is a piece from on of the shares I received from Jodi at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict......this card took me about 15 minutes to make......I love red and black tones together....and these little paper packs of Basic Grey Paper are just the thing for making one or two cards....gotta love this paper.....so this is my share for this morning....I am off to work on various swap cards that I need to complete and get in the mail....have a great day!....later gators!

SCS Challenge for Today and a Baby Card!

Hey how is that for timing...I needed to make a baby card for the Minister and his wife at the church...so I decided on this style....well after the card was complete...I went to SCS to see what the challenge was for today...teehee....well it was to use small stamps....hmmmm....how much smaller can you get then this stamp from the SAB set called Very Punny....works for me.....so this cards is a 5.5 x 5.5 square card, made it this size cause it is the card that will be used for the group gift from the congregation.....it is layered on Bashful Blue, then Certainly Celery paper was ran through the cuttlebug with the embossing folder called Baby (at least I think that is what it is called) I left the Apricot Appeal Paper bare....I then layered the stamped piece on gold shimmery cardstock and layered that on Bashful Blue and then that is layered on gold shimmery cardstock....the brads are ones that I have had for awhile, the ribbon is from Stampin' Up and the saftey pin again is one that I have had for awhile......the "Blessed" is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set.....It really is very pretty IRL.....I was happy with the way it turned out...well I need to finish some house work and then get some groceries for the house.....have a good one...later gaters.....

SCS Weekly Sketch Challenge

Okay where has this past week gone! I was off for three days with the hubby with a long haul load...got home late Monday afternoon, and woke up yesterday feeling fine....well by lunch hour something had hit me and hit me hard.....I was down for the rest of the day and am feeling

a little better today...although I am going to go to the Dr.....thinking it is a sinus infection or so....so while I was sitting here today I decided I had better do some stamping..so I decided to do the SCS Sketch Challenge for this week.....Kinda like this card, although I can not get the scalloped edges quit right using the corner rounder...more work needed there....lol....so I started with a base of Pretty In Pink Card Stock from Stampin' Up, the patterned paper is from The Basic Grey, Blush Collection (I love this paper), following the layout challenge I was able to do this card, the stamp is from The Angel Company and is part of a set of Paisley's that they offer, I love all things Paisley, so I stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on a Piece of the Pretty in Pink Cardstock, sponged the edges in Chocolate Chip and added a little dimensional Bling (found these in the Bargain Bins at Michaels last week for $1.50)...the ribbon is a piece of May Arts ribbon...so all in all it turned out okay....this is a long weekend coming up for us this week, I am thinking that I am going to have to be out in the garden...I need to get the Potatoes and things planted...it is supposed to be very warm....I hope so....well that is all for now.....later gaters.....

SCS Challenge for Today!

UHG! I am having one of those days!..I wanted to get started and do this challenge first thing this morning, but my darling hubby needed me to help clean chicken crates....yuck...for those of you that know me...know how much I hate chickens...but just real life ones...for some reason I have a thing for Chicken stamps....teehee...okay so I look at the challenge on SCS today and say hey I can do this one.....I turn and look at my paper supply and see the perfect paper...so now I have the paper...I need the stamps....these four stamps were purchased from www.stampingfreak.com about 6 weeks ago and were just waiting for ink...for some reason when I think of farm animals, I think red, blue and white...lol....so the challenge today was to use four square blocks on your card, this card ended up being a 6x6 card.....I stamped the images and colored them with Stampin' Up markers layered them on to the red and blue cardstock, also from Stampin' Up, the patterned paper is a piece that I have had for awhile from Making Memories.....the red brads are also from Making Memories, (red and blue paper, red brads, hmmmm I am thinking that I had a theme going here and was going to use them for something else...lol)....the ribbon is pieces that I had in my ribbon bin and they are from Stampin' Up...the Prima's are from the Prima Share from Jodi, (and wouldn't you know it.....I searched through all of the Prima's and I did not really have the right color red, so I used this one).....so then I decided I was going to take a picture of the card and load that onto the site, but for some reason, pictures from my camera will not load...so I scanned this one...I could not for the love of stamping...teehee...get it to scan straight.....I also hate how you can see all the spots that I missed while coloring....I am thinking that I am going to get some of those alcohol based markers..they say that you can not see the coloring marks....we shall see.....I kinda like this card in real life....again it is a challenge to myself to do something different.....well it is around 85 degree's outside, I really should be helping the hubby with things......later gaters....

Spring and Bugs Naturally!

Good Morning! And yes it is a good one here...I have been up for what seems like hours...sun was shining in my room and I thought it was time to get up...lol...it is to be a really warm day here today.....YEAH...I think spring is here finally....The card that I am showing today was one that I did for a one-on-one swap for one of my groups...it is a 5.5x5.5 square card...I found this idea at http://prairiepaperandink.typepad.com/amyr/, so I CASED it sorta...lol....I did not have the same color paper as her, but loved the idea....I laid out a piece of chipboard from the Stampin' Up On Board Accent Kit and traced the circles onto the back side of the printed paper...I used on of my circle punches to punch them out....I then laid the patterned paper over a piece of white card stock and traced the circles...this gave me the base and area to stamp the cute little bug....I stamped them randomly and colored them in using my Stampin' Up markers....I then punched out several black squares using my Marvy GIGA Scalloped Square Punch (say that fast 10 times...lol...) and put them together to form a border around the stamped area....then layered this onto Pretty in Pink Card Stock and then onto Certainly Celery Card Stock...the Prima's are from the Prima Share the Jodi did and the Brad is a Huge Brad that I got at Dollarama......oh yeah the image is one of my favorite right now and it can be found at www.stampingfreak.com...I found one thing making this size of card with this many layers...lol...the cards tend to be heavy....well that is my share for now....have a great day!....later gaters.....

Okay Another Card!

Okay well I did some weeding today...but I really wanted to play...so I came back to my craft room....another card done in the same tones....needed to use up the paper...this one I used a Bella image from

www.stampingbella.com ...colored in the image with my Stampin' Up Watercolor Crayons....the "You Go Girl" is from Michaels, one I found in the $ bin....I love these stamps as they seem to fit the Bella attitudes....lol....I added some orange brads that I had in my stash, not sure were I got them from....again I used some of the Prima flowers from the Prima share of Jodi's.....so just a another quick card using the same paper as the first share I did today......till tomorrow...later gaters.....does anyone ever read my BLOG?

I Will Get It Right Some Day!

Well I did not do too good last week at keeping this BLOG going each day...lol...that would be me..so it is a new week so I can start again....I logged onto SCS to start the week off using the daily challenges to have stuff for my BLOG....got there today and the challenge was to make something for a teacher and as I do not have any children in grade school, or better yet any left in any school.....I thought oh well I will not do this one...so back to my list of swaps that I need to complete....so I decided to do the swap that needed flowers on it....This background paper is much brighter IRL, but I am in bad need of a new scanner so things do not always seem the way they should be...the stamp is from www.stampingfreak.com, I love Gina's designs...if you have not been to her site check it, her work is amazing....so I stamped the image on white card stock and then again on the stripped patterned paper...I cut the vase out of the image that was stamped on the patterned paper and glued it to the image on the white cardstock.....very easy to do...lol...colored the rest of the images with my Stampin' Up markers, Only Orange and Old Olive....used the Ticket Corner punch and layered it onto a piece of Stampin' Up Always Artichoke Paper, then I used the corner punch on it.....the scallops on the patterned paper with the stripes were made using my Stampin' Up Corner rounder, just remove the guard....it was then layered onto the Flower Patterned back ground paper...the Prima Flowers are again some that I got from a Prima Flower share from Jodi at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict...this card took me less then 10 minutes to prepare.....one of my own challenges that I have set for myself is to start to stamp and make cards outside my comfort zone...lol...well the sun is shining and the weeds in my garden are calling...so I hope you all enjoyed todays post...see you tomorrow...later gaters......

SCS Color Challenge Wouldn't You Know It!

Well as I posted yesterday I had decided to follow the challenges on SCS to see if I could get some ideas going...lol...well after not having the proper materials for yesterday's challenge I decided to make a set of cards for a swap that I am in and hence the post for yesterday.....well low and behold I log on this morning to SCS to see what the challenge was and here it is...."the colors this week are in honor of the upcoming Avon Breast Cancer walk." Yes you got it..."Shades of Pink"...lol....so my post today is now sporting the same colors as yesterdays....lol.....just my luck....Okay the image for this card is from the lovely Em's collection of these cute little Bella Stamps and they can be found at www.stampingbella.com this is a Canadian Company that sells these wonderful little ladies...this particular Bella is called "CauseaBella", so you can color the ribbon to match whatever cause she may be part of.....today of course she is colored as part of the Breast Cancer Walk....okay so for materials used....well again it was all SU papers, Pretty in Pink, Black and White.....stamped the image in Basic Black and used my SU markers to color the image in, markers used were Pretty in Pink, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion and Apricot Appeal.....I used a little Heidi Swapp Jewel (that I got from www.noelmignon.com, cool little store this one), ribbon is a piece of shear Polka Dots that I got from a ribbon share from Jody over at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict, and I have tied a little piece of Light Pink ribbon from SU into the bow as well, as for the background sheet I ran it through my cuttlebug and this background seemed to be made for this type of card, it has words such as Extraordinary, Strong, Fine, Sweet, You, Faithful and Precious to name a few, I am not sure what the exact name of the Embossing Folder is but I love it....so this is my share for today.....

One more thing to mention today....the Retired List for the Stampin' Up catty has been released...good thing I am not a demo cause I would have lost half of my stamp sets to retirement...the list can be found here...http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/US_retiredstamps_NUMB_COLOR.pdf...okay later gaters.....have a good day!

Using My BLOG More!

Hello! How is everyone this Monday morning.....well I said to myself this weekend....self....what good is a blog is you are not going to post anything to it....so I got up this morning and decided that I would use the daily challenges on Splitcoast Stampers to make projects for my Blog and wouldn't you know it....I log on to SCS today and the challenge is to make a Batik technique with white Mulberry Paper....lol....I searched and searched have every color of Mulberry Paper except white...so then I said to my self...okay what next.....I know I will work on some swaps that I need to have done in the next while....so the card I posted today is a card that I made for a Girly Swap....I know more baby then girly.....checked with the hostess to see if it was okay that I made then and she said sure why not!....I am an avid reader of many many stamping blogs out there, I am not sure that I am capable of the work that these ladies produce....but I am going to plug along and keep trying.....okay for this card I used my wonderful Cuttlebug that I got at Michaels with a 40% off coupon.....yeah for me I was holding out for the longest time as a friend of mine had one.....the folder that I used is called "Our Baby" it has such neat sayings on it such as Gods Little Miracle, Blessed, Angel, Precious, oh well you get the picture... and I got it from "Oh My Crafts" off Ebay (oh how I love her auctions....even the shipping is reasonable to me....I never order just one folder but many and I think that is why the shipping to me is so good....) it is layered on Black and Pretty in Pink Cardstock from Stampin' Up....the image is one from Gina at www.stampingfreak.com (check out her stamps they are really good quality and come both mounted on wood blocks and unmounted), the ribbon is a piece of one of the many shares that I have ordered from Jody her Blog is http://confessionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com, check out her site, she has the most awesome Prima Flower Share going on now......well I did my duty for today....lol....I will make an effort to do this everyday.....later gaters!!!!!!!!!

I am Back!

Wow it has been a long week since I last posted...the wedding is over and they are all married off! The day was wonderful and the sun was shining.....supper was excellent and the dance lots of fun.....now that I think about it last week is all a blur...I need some down time to just play now....everything I created last week was for the wedding....my printer is not working now...I think we wore is out.....This picture is my daughter Christine and my grand daughter Julie, taken minutes before we left for the Church.....it is one of my favorite pictures...(SORRY BLOGGER will not let me up load any pictures today)....hmmmm...I will be posting more once I have a look at all the disks that people have given to me....so For the Fun thing that I want to post today....how to use reinkers!

30 Re-Inkers UsesWhat else can you do with bottles of re-inkers other than re-ink your stamp pads?

To borrow from Dr. Suess: Oh the thinks we can think, though you may ask me "why." The thinks we can think in using that dye.

1. Re-ink your stamp pads:Use the coordinating re-inkers to keep those 48 Stampin Up! Colors "alive." (Bet you already guessed this one.)

2. Re-ink Kaliedacolor pads:Use the standard 48 color re-inkers to re-ink your Kaliedacolor pads. Stampin' Up! has colors that are pretty close matches for the K-pads. You may slightly alter a few of them but at least this provides you another option than throwing the pad away.

3. Shaving Cream Technique:Use them to make your own specialty papers with a technique referred to as the Shaving Cream Technique. This technique for making unique backgrounds for your special cards requires foam shaving cream and the re-inkers. It is a little messy so I recommend wearing thin rubber gloves and working in the kitchen on newspaper. Spread the bottom of a shallow 9 X 12 pan with a layer of shaving cream (the cheap .99 cent stuff). Spread it out with a spatula to about 3/4" thick in the bottom of the pan. Take a couple of coordinating colors (such as Mellow Moss and Pale Plum) of re-inkers and put a couple drops in a random pattern all over the shaving cream. Just a couple drops to start with. You can always add a few more drops. Take something such as a marker, pencil or toothpick to swirl the shaving cream around until you get the look you want. This will give a marbeling effect on finished product. Now press a piece of white cardstock (1/4 sheet is easier to work with) face down into the shaving cream from the center out. Press it to be sure the whole surface is touching. Gently peel the card stock up and scrape off the extra shaving cream with a spatula or wipe off with a paper towel. Dry off the extra bits with a dark colored towel or a clean paper towel. The shaving cream will come off the card stock, but the ink pattern will remain. Don't be afraid of smearing the ink. It will stay where it originally touched the paper. You now have an awesome background, each one a little different from the next. You can repeat until you don't like the design you get. When it is dry, the surface is soft, almost velvety to the touch.

4. Paintbrush Technique:Select a paintbrush and palette (you can buy these in a craft or hobby store or make your own from a plastic plate.) You will actually paint with the re-inkers. No need for a blending pen. This method adds more vibrancy to your finished project and you have the ability to apply undertones and highlights right where you want them. It works best to first emboss your image. Embossing gives a nice edge for the ink to blend to. You can also mix the re-inkers and come up with your own designer color.

5. Christmas Ornaments:Make beautiful glitter bulbs! Take clear glass ball ornaments and remove the top. You will need about 10 drops of one color of our SU ink refills into each clear glass bulb ornament. NOTE: Only add one color ink refill (dye based ink) or it will create a muddy mess and won't look very nice. When you are done, turn the bulb upside down and let the excess ink drain off into a paper/plastic cup. Pour approximately 1/2 teaspoon glitter into the cardstock that is folded. (You can mix different colors of glitter to create your own custom design.) After ink has drained from bulb, pour glitter into glass bulb, QUICKLY, put a small piece of paper or plastic over opening, to protect your finger, now . . . SHAKE. NOTE: You should shake the glitter around *immediately* so that it doesn't sit in one place forming a big blob of glitter. Pour excess dyed glitter into a different plastic film container. (You can reuse it.) Put the top back on the ornament. Tie Organdy or Grosgrain Ribbon, Raffia or whatever you would like around the top or just leave it plain. These are truly beautiful!

6. Paperclay and Re-Inkers:Mix with Paperclay to make your own specialty colors. This is great for matching your embellishments to your projects! You can also choose to not fully mix the re-inker into the Paperclay and leave it in sort of a swirl pattern.

7. Crystal Effects and Re-Inkers:Besides adding Crystal Effects straight from the bottle, to give it color, add a drop or 2 of a re-inker. This will give a raised, 3-D effect to your stamp project. Add a bit of dazzling diamond glitter to the mixture and now you have a colored glitter gloss perfect for adding that extra special touch to any card or project.

8. Easter Egg Background:Do you want to spread a little spring happiness around? Try making your own designer paper using the re-inkers doing the following technique. Use a paper towel that you have "wadded" up, dip inre-inker color and then pounce it all over the US white cardstock. Doing this with 2 or 3 colors ends up looking like dyed Easter Eggs that the little kiddies do. Really pretty. to use an eyedropper, put some drops down and let them run across the page.

9. Resist Techniques:To do this technique you can use several things: wax paper, white or clear crayons, rubber cement or Versamark with clear embossing powder. The results are pretty much the same with any method. After you get your stamped pattern on the paper use an eye dropper to put some drops on the page. Hold the paper slanted down and let the ink run across the page. (Do this over a pan and save the run off ink in a plastic color palette that has a lid to seal. You can find these at art supply stores.) The ink is resisted in the areas where you have placed your wax or VM/EP. You can also use your brayer to place re-inker colors on your card stock. With a little imagination and a bit of experimenting, you can make some pretty cool patterns this way.

10. Batik Technique:Use the Re-inkers to create cards that will have the look of this ancient art form. There are two methods to batiking that use re-inkers. One utilizes Mulberry paper and the other uses tissue paper.Mulberry Batik Method: Emboss on mulberry paper using solid, bold stamp, resist pad, clear embossing powder and heat tool just until image is clear. Then you crunch the paper into a ball to crack the embossing. (This step is optional, depending on the look you'd like for the finished project.) Place on one side of newsprint and spritz with water until it's soaked but not drippy. Drop re-inker of one color is several places. Using brush dribble more water on to spread the color. Clean the brush. Now drop another color and repeat with the brush from a clear cup of water. Fold newsprint over and press and leave for few seconds. Now carefully unfold and transfer to a couple of clean sheets of newsprint in a flip flop method. Fold this newsprint over and with a medium iron press about one minute. Carefully begin to lift off the newsprint. It may stick, if so then put the newsprint down and heat that area until it releases when you lift it up. Card - Cut base card 5 ½" x 11", fold in half. On white card stock cut 5" square. Attach Batik paper as before. Color edge with inkpad. Place saying on white card stock and trim down. Stipple and then color edges with pad. Attach to a piece of the card stock left from the base card. Then attach to front of card using foam tape.** You should have a resist where the embossing is. It will have color cracks running through it like actual batik. The natural fiber lines that are found in Mulberry adds to the batik look. Beautiful!Tissue Paper and Re-Inker Batik Method: Stamp a pattern using VersaMark ink and a bold type of stamp onto tissue paper (white, or even light colors of tissue will work well.) Sprinkle on clear embossing powder and use heat tool to emboss. Then use the re-inkers and "drop" ink onto the tissue paper. The ink absorbed into the paper where there was no embossing. Be sure to protect the area in which you are doing this. I recommend using a small aluminum cookie sheet as a protector. Try different colors of tissue paper like yellow, light green, or whatever will go with your project.

11. Watercolor Brayer:Drop spots of several re-inkers onto a piece of plastic wrap. Fold wrap in half to spread ink around. Then unfold and ink your brayer by rolling it across this newly created palette of color. Then spritz with a water bottle and roll out onto your card stock for a very pretty watercolor look.

12. Liquid Applique: Using the white Liquid Applique, squeeze a bit out and mix it with your choice of re-inker. Allow it to air dry for a smooth, shiney look or "puff" it up with a heat gun. It picks up the color of the ink. Now you have 48 colors of Liquid Applique! Take several colors of your special mixed liquid applique and squirt on card and then brayer (using the lucite attachment) all over the place. Then heat with heat tool and stamp various stamps on top using black ink. Looks great with Southwestern themes.

13. Dye Mulberry:Use the re-inkers to change white Mulberry into any of the 48 colors Stampin' Up! carries. Now you will never have to worry that your colors won't "match."

14. Bubble Background Technique:Do you need the look of bubbles for your scrapbook page or card. I don't mean little bubbles but nice BIG, fat ones. Then you must try this way of using your re-inker. All you need is re-inker, dish washing soap, glossy cardstock, water, wisk, large bowl, drinking straw, refill ink, paper towels, aluminum baking dish.

15. Re-ink your 48 colors of SU! Markers:First let me say that SU! does NOT endorse doing this. It is just something some that can be done to extend the life of the markers. You do this at the risk of ruining the marker and thereby having to replace it anyway. Re-ink Marker Technique #1: Carefully and gently remove the wide tip of the marker. Fill a small container with the coordinating color of re-inker. Place the brush tip of the marker that you've removed into the container that has the re-inker fluid in. Allow to soak from 10 minutes to 24 hours depending on how dry the tip was. Add several amounts of re-inker to the barrel of the marker. Re-insert the brush tip into the barrel of the marker. Do so gently and carefully.Re-ink Marker Technique #2: Another way that has been suggested by a long-time demonstrator is as follows: Don't remove the tip from the barrel at all! If you put some re-inker into a clear film canister and let the marker sit in it for a while the marker will suck up all the ink it needs. Then wipe the tip replace the cap and allow the marker to rest flat this will allow the ink to travel to the small tip as well. It's a lot less messy!

16. Dye Radiant Pearls:You can use your re-inkers to change the color of the lighter Radiant Pearls. Just drop a drop of the color re-inker of your choice on a plastic surface like an old CD, add Lemon Chiffon R.P. and voila!--you've created a custom RP color!

17. Dye Organdy Ribbon:Use the re-inkers to dye white organdy ribbon or grosgrain ribbon to any of the 48 colors. Just be sure to have a piece of paper underneath as you add the color on top of it. This is a great way to get a coordinating ribbon for your projects.

18. Foil Paper/Re-inker Technique:Emboss an open image without a lot of detail (like balloons, hearts, flowers, jar, cauldron, Star of David, etc.) onto the front of a card. Use Black Colorbox & Clear Emboss Powder. Then stamp the same image onto plain foiled holiday gift wrap, simply using a dye-based ink and color in using re-inkers. You can cut out the whole image or parts of it . . . depending on the look you want to go for. Cut on the "inside" line of the image. Glue the foiled piece or pieces inside the embossed image on the card.

19. Paper Casting with Re-inkers:Here's something new to try. Place stamp with image side up on table. Select up to eight squares of toilet paper (any kind) and stack them. Dampen them with water and lay them over the stamp. Place a hand towel on top and gently press down expelling some of the water from the tp and molding it to the stamp image. Now paint on the color you want using your re-inkers and a paintbrush. Carefully remove all the tp at one time from the stamp and lay aside to dry. The image will appear similar to paper casting! Place in a frame, attach to a card, tag, collage work, etc.

20. Tissue Paper/Window Sheets (Acetate)/Re-inkers:On a sheet of window sheets (acetate), squeeze out a blob of clear gel glue. Spread with your finger and leave it fairly thick. Drop a few different colors of re-inkers on glue and spread around. Add more drops to achieve a marbled look as desired. Cut a piece of white tissue slightly larger than the glue/ink area and wad it up. Unroll and leave wrinkly. Place on top of glue/ink and set aside to dry (peel back a corner to check that ink is dry). When dry, peel tissue away from acetate and use whole or in pieces for a cool background. Finished paper has the look of stained glass.

21. Aluminum Foil/Re-inkers:Pull a piece or foil off the roll. Fold it in half - open. Squirt some of your re-inkers on the foil. Fold the foil in half again pressing together (with hand or brayer roller) allowing the ink to mix into each other. Open up and lay a blank card in the inked foil. Fold the foil over the card. Smooth your hand over the foil allowing the ink to get on the card. Open the foil and look to see if you need to add any more paint- if so…repeat the process again.

23. Re-Inkers and Glue with Tissue Paper:Stamp all images on acetate. Color stamped images on reverse side (non-stamped side) of tissue paper. To highlight use Marvy Metallic markers. Put drops of white glue on reverse side (once marker is dry) add drops of dye re-inkers. Use your fingers to smear glue and color as desired (work carefully over marker as it will flake off - it is worth the effort as the Marvy Metallics are really what makes this pop!). Crumple white tissue paper and adhere to glue to seal. Layer with background papers onto card.

24. "Caught in Crystal":This is a very clever use of an ordinary household cleaning product, the clear acrylic floor finish. Give it a try. Stamp design of your choice on copier transparency with Black Fabrico ink. Heat fix. Spray with clear gloss fixative. Heat to dry. Tape transparency, stamped side down onto a sheet of plain white paper. The tape will act as a barrier to keep the inks and floor finish from seeping under the front of the transparency. Pour a puddle of floor finish on the transparency and spread evenly over back. Add a light sprinkle of glitter. Tear a piece of tissue paper a little larger than your transparency. Crumple, open and smooth onto transparency. Add more floor finish - you want the surface wet so the dyes flow easily. Add drops of dye from re-inkers. Blend edges of colors together using a soft paint brush. Blot with a paper towel. You control how deep the colors will be at this step. If the tissue tears, Don't Panic! Tear off a small piece of tissue and patch with more floor finish. Heat to dry. Hold the heat gun about 6 -8 inches from the transparency -- you don't want to melt it! Add another layer of floor finish -- this is what will turn the piece crystal clear. Again, heat to dry. Cut out inside of taped area. The finished piece is now ready to be mounted.

25. Tie Dye:Cut open the bottom and one side of a page protector so it opens like a book. Dribble three or four colors of re-inkers on one side. Close and mush colors around. Open page protector again and place two half sheets of GLOSSY cardstock back to back and lay on ink. Close page protector and lightly brayer to press ink into paper. Open page protector and set papers aside to dry. Can be repeated twice more to make six papers per inking. This makes great papers for invitations to a birthday party.

26. Polished Stone Technique:Apply 4 - 6 very small dots of metallic ink (from refill bottle) onto a quarter sheet of glossy CS. Do not apply too much or too thickly or you will have a problem with it rubbing off finished project. Dip cotton ball into alcohol and squeeze out most of the alcohol. Dot 4 - 5 small drops of 1 or 2 colors of water based ink onto the wet cotton ball. Dab cotton ball in an up & down motion all over the CS as desired (colored inks will blend and metallic ink will marble-ize.) Quickly go back over the "dots" and swirl and pat ink to blend "dots" of color and spread metallic ink into "veins." Let dry. Dry with heat tool for about 30 seconds. Stamp image on top with basic black ink pad or embossing pad and powder. Spray with sealer. Or you may choose to emboss the entire thing background after stamping.

27. Other Objects for Creating Backgrounds Using Re-inkers:* Kooshball - dab in re-inker and paint; * Marbles - put in a shallow dish with drops of re-inker, roll side to side; * Rubber Ball - bounce it in re-inker and then on paper; * Piece of Mesh - dye it or use a sponge and re-inker to create a cool grid on your paper; * Bubble Wrap - dab in re-inker and then press onto paper; * Sandwich Baggie - bunch it up, dab into ink and then on card stock; * Sponges - any of the variety, dab and paint; try any household object.

28. Inks And Water Technique:Another way I like to use the inks is to spray water on my gloss card first before I sponge the card, then when I do sponge it creates a lovely washy softer ink background.

29. Inks And Baby Wipes:Another way to use the re-inkers is with baby wipes! Yes you read that right, pour a tiny amount of ink into a palette, and then take a fresh baby wipe and scrunch it into a ball. Next dab the baby wipe into the ink and swoosh the baby wipe across the card to create unique patterned backgrounds. The alcohol in the baby wipes makes the inks literally shine on the gloss card, not to mention they also add an interesting textured pattern. Try it and See!

30. Radiant Pearls and Re-Inkers:You can change the color of radiant pearls to match the SU! 48 colors by adding re-inkers to one of the lighter colors of Radiant Pears. In a palette well, put in one of the neutral or light colors (oyster or lemon chiffon) and add a drop or two of SU reinker inks and make a color that matches your SU ink or paper. Ink appears to help speed up the drying process as well. Tips:* You may want to use rubber gloves to keep your fingers from becoming a colorful part of your project.* Be sure to wipe tip on re-inker and recap before storing.*** Remember if you can "think it" you can "ink it!" ***

Later Gaters!

Holy Smoly It Is Monday and Spring Finally Arrives

And I forgot to post yesterday and almost forgot again today....yesterday was a busy stamping day for me after church...I needed to get some cards made for some swaps that I am in(no I can not share them yet)....lol....so I worked on cards and made supper and you know all the wifey stuff that needs to be done...after supper my hubby and I were sitting out on our deck enjoying the arrival of our spring weather....just behind our deck we have a little bit of a pond and each year for the past three years a couple sets of Canada Geese arrive to lay their eggs and start their yearly families...well last night I said to Trev...do you hear that the geese are having a great old time...they were making all kinds of racket...lol...Trev stands up and says holy poop, that is not our geese; but look was it coming over us....well it was thousands of geese flying over us....so at first I was mezmerised by the vast numbers...once I came out of my trance...I was able to remember that I owned a digitial camera...so off into the home I ran....grabbed the camera and took about 10 different pictures of the groups of geese that were going over us...so that is my share for today.....I wanted to post this picture cause I was so excited that I called a friend of mine (who happens to read my BLOG) to tell her about this neat thing...lol...well I got a hold of her hubby and I do not think he believed me when I told him how many geese there were.....

So on to today...well my daughter and I made a trip to Winnipeg to have a final fitting of the "wedding dress", it needed some more minor adjustments, so we thought oh great the week before the wedding and we will have to make one more trip back into this blasted city to get this dress....but low and behold they told us they could have all the alterations completed by 7:00pm tonight, so we waited and came home with the dress....yeah for us...lol....I got my shoes that I need for Saturday as well.....so that is the last of the buying that is required to get us decent for this wedding.....rofl....so just need to fold the programs for the wedding ceremony...pick up the wine glasses and napkins...anyone want to help us fold both of the fore amentioned...lol....finish the place cards for the tables....get some sleep and maybe some nerve pills and we should be good to go....lol....I will be sharing some pictures of this wonderful day next week....so stay tuned....well I am tired and need my beauty rest....lol....only 5 more sleeps and my baby will be married...Later Gaters!

Guest Artist!

Okay well here is the art work from my guest artist?...lol...yes it is from my 3 year old granddaughter Julie. I was busy working on a swap the other morning and was not really paying attention to what she was doing at her work area behind me. I stamped up some of these images and the phone rang. When I came back I was thinking hmmmmmmm self...what did you do with those images, but then I thought well maybe I didn't do them......so I was busy working on my cards, and every so often Julie would ask me for something, like her markers, some glue, how about some glitter sparkles Gramma......................what! I said what are you making....I turned and looked at her work area..................and yes she had taken a couple of my images and had colored on them.......well not to be a gramma that gives them heck for creating, I let her add the glitter to the images as they were already coated in glue......it took about 4 hours for the glue on the images to dry...once they were dry I let her pick her paper that she wanted to use and also the ribbon......can you guess she is a girly girl with good taste...she chose pink and of course the most expensive ribbon I own my precious Maya Roads ribbon...oh well nothing to good for my girl....so we worked and sweated and finally were able to put these two creations together............not bad for a first attempt (seems like I remember when my cards did not even resemble anything close to this...rofl)...this is not a very clear picture of her, cause I had to cut and paste it in as I can not figure out how to get a 2nd picture here.....so here is the guest artist our Julie! Keep tuned she has been up to some crafting today again but that is for another day! Later Gaters!

A Million Birthday Cards!

(I copied this from Prairie Paper and Ink Blog)

Do you think it's possible for one little boy to get over ONE MILLION birthday cards?? I do - and I think it's a fabulous wish to have - and what a great thing for all us stampers and paper-crafters to take up!!
There is a little boy in Ontario, Canada named Shane who was diagnosed with Leukemia and is turning 8 years old on May 30th 2007. His wish is for ONE MILLION birthday cards - you can see the link to the local radio station that has taken up this cause here:
http://www.1053kissfm.com/station_info/cartersandraboyle.jsp#20040504_105029_4288 (there is an address there too).

As well here is a link to the thread started on Splitcoast: Shane's 1 Million Birthday Wish
AND a link to a video on YouTube which has an alternate address (either one you choose will work).
Here is the addy that was e-mailed to me:
Shane Bernier
Box 484
Lancaster, ON K0C 1N0
I'm off to go make him a card - and I challenge all of you to make one and send it too! If you have a blog/website I also challenge you to post and spread the word (and if not tell your friends and family - the cards don't have to be handmade!!!).
It feels SO good to do something that means so much to someone doesn't it??


On another note, watch my BLOG later today I am going to have a special guest "Artist" presenting her art work....lol....

Later Gaters!

YIKES I Forgot

To tell you that the Fish Card was CASED from the www.stampinfreak.com website, I do not want to get into any trouble, well it was partially cased as I used different stamps and paper colors, but you get the idea...later gaters...

Thursday Ramblings!

Okay so it is a little brighter here today..so I decided to upload this colorful little puppy.....again the glitter and the glam is lost in the scanning....this card was done with a couple of different cuttlebug embossing folders....the stamps are from www.stampinfreak.com (gotta love her images) and all ink, markers and card stock is from Stampin' Up....I covered the image with Versa Mark Ink and applied Dazzling Diamond Glitter from Stampin' Up on it.....it looks like sparkling water in real life....starting tomorrow all of my cards posted will appear with a watermark....I had a watermark made for me by Cindy Keery a fellow Canadian stamper, her blog is http://watermarkdesigns.blogspot.com/, she does two for you one in white and one in black...priced very reasonable, in my opinion, my big thing to do today is figure out how to add them to my art work.....well 10 more days to the wedding....I am now getting a little edgy.....but all will go fine I am sure.....meals are ordered, flowers purchased, dresses are in.....I need shoes...and a haircut...teehee....but all is well.....later gaters....

It Is Wednesday! NO Snow

WOW I woke up this morning and yeah no rain no snow, just dreary skies.....the count down is on for my daughters wedding, just 10 more days, she is getting nervous I am just getting scared of all the last minute things that I still need to do for her....oh well it will get done....we have to make two trips next week to Winnipeg for a final fitting of her dress and then to pick it up.....her dress kinda looks like the one the Bella is wearing in my first post.....Okay onto todays submission, this is a card that I made for another one-on-one swap that I am in.....everything that I used is from Stampin Up....the patterned paper in the background is from the spring mini catty and it is called "Au Chocolate"...I am loving it, of course that could be cause it is full of paisley print paper and you'll know how I love "paisley"....the flowers are from the stamp set "Doodle This", also found in the new spring mini....not much more to say about this card except it is done all in tones of Brown...oh yeah I forgot...I also added some Stickles to the centre of the flowers and around the doodle that you can just barely see under the flower and beside it on the left hand side......all these little details are lost in the scanning of the cards.....hmmmmmmm......If any of you ladies are "Bella" fans like me....well, Em from www.stampingbella.com has released a man yes you read that right a "Fella Bella" and he is looking pretty sharp with that new lady on his arm....better check it out.......later gaters.....

Another Share for Today

Well here is a little darling that I made for a swap....the darling being the Bella not the card...rofl.....if you do not know what a Bella is you need to get your tush on over to www.stampingbella.com and have a look at the amazing art work of Em's in the form of these cute and wimsical stamps. The background was made with a cuttlebug (gotta love it) and an embossing folder....black and white polka dot paper was some that I found in my scrap pile, card stock is from Stampin' Up as is the Ink. The oval that Bella is standing one (or it is supposed to look like she is standing on it, I need some more practice in masking) is from www.amuse.com, it is the small oval...the Prima is one that I got from www.allthatscraps.com, again another amazing online store.....colored her in with watercolors markers from Stampin' Up.....made a total of 6 of these today, so I am ready for this swap.......okay enough already....lol...later gater.....

Cool Weather In Manitoba

Can some one please tell Ms. Mother Nature that it is spring here.....I am so tired of the cool weather and the gloom, it is so windy here that it has blown a 6 foot set of steel wind chimes out of my tree, give me sunshine...weather news said rain today and turning to SNOW (yes you read the right, SNOW) over night.....I am supposed to be making bright cheery cards and I am still in the winter mode.....

This is a card that I made for a swap on one of my Yahoo groups, we were given the Sketch layout and asked to produce a card.....I really need a better scanner cause the colors are lost in my scanning, the card is really quite contrasting with the black, white and grey......I need sunshine to start to be able to produce bright and cheery cards....Patterned paper is some that I got from a scrapbook store in Winnipeg and for the life of me can not remember who made it.....all other paper and inks are from Stampin' Up and the stamps are from www.papertreyink.com, the set is Butterfly Kisses, you all should check out her site she has amazing stamps......and of course the Prima is another one I got in the Prima Share from Jody...(see yesterdays post for details), the brad was made by Bazzill.......Till later gater......

First Card Share WeddingBella

Well I was able to figure out how to get a picture on here, so the next thing I needed to do was figure out which one to use. I chose this one because it was a special card that I made for my daughter Christine who is getting married in less then two weeks on April 21, 2007. I made this card for her wedding shower.
Stamps are from www.stampingbella.com, paper and ribbon is from Stampin' Up, flowers are from a Prima Share that I got from Jody over at http://confessionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com, (you all need to check out this ladies BLOG, I think she is the Share Queen of the Internet), background was done with the Cuttlebug and one of their embossing folders...

Hello and Welcome!

My children told me it was time that I got with the times and build a BLOG....well I am not sure if I know anything about these at all....but I am sure having fun doing it....lol....welcome to the site and I am sure that I will learn as I go! Or maybe not...I may never learn how to upload a piece of artwork, so this whole BLOG may consist of only my writings...."wink".......Alanna