paper bouquets

Here's what kept me busy all morning, but I think.......I *think*.........this is my last project for this wedding. I think.

Here's the bride's bouquet, bouquets for the bridesmaids (4 of those) and a few boutonnieres just in case, with the extra 'buds'. Now for my allergies to calm down.....! Not sure what hit me this morning....good thing I wasn't working with real flowers - I would have really been a mess!

the sweet life....

I'm hiding in the office today... not coming out! My house is full of men intent on having discussions all day long. Our house is designed basically around a main 'great room' and every room in the house opens into the great room... so any move I or the kids or my helper make is going to be a distraction. Sort of uncomfortable! Sigh... but I'm happy to be hiding, actually, after such a busy week. I have photos from graduation to edit, and a few projects on my desk to finish up, a template to upload... I've been uploading cards to my Splitcoast gallery as well. Just that kind of day here...catching up on life a bit!

This is one of the cards I uploaded over at SCS - it features an Auntie Amy stamp called Kerr Jar and Berries - I watercolored it using Derwent watercolor pencils. Other stamps I used are from Impression Obsession... You Make Life Sweet, Cover-a-Card Medallion and Cover-a-Card Paisley Large.

Thanks for stopping by today!

almost......

I almost tried to blog tonight, but ......sigh......

Yesterday a power pole on our campus was struck by lightning (the opposite end of the soccer field from our house), and our power was out for 23 hours... I did not sleep well last night (no fans... and a plastic-hungry mouse in our bedroom...), and today was a long day full of rehearsals, graduation, and socializing.

Tomorrow our house will be the location for all-day meetings. I'll be hiding in the office! I do have a couple of projects to share, and still more cards in my "not posted" file - several cards from Impression Obsession's last release that I need to show you before they come out with more great stuff!

But... for now... good night!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................

my week.

Here's a little view into my week...

Six of the twelve cakes being baked for graduation....half way there...! ...certificates rolled and ready to pass out at graduation...

...and wedding favors waiting to be filled with chocolate.

Alrighty, back at it......

upcoming challenge schedule.....

Here's a quick card I haven't shared yet - this uses a bird from the Sing Loudly clear set, and a sentiment from Life and Flowers. I stamped the bird on a printed dictionary page, and colored it in with Prismacolor pencils, blending with OMS. I filled in with Solid Tree Leaves Trio around the edge as well.

Just in case you have some Impression Obsession stamps laying around and are interested in playing along with our challenges, here is the schedule for the next few months! We'd love to have you join us! All the details are on the IO Blog. Here's the sked:

June 3 -- Let's go to the beach! -- nautical, beach theme
June 17 -- Color challenge -- Red
July 1 -- Lazy days of summer
July 15 -- animals
Aug 5 -- Home Sweet Home -- related to your home, wherever that might be
Aug 19 -- Simple stamping... less embellishments, more stamping

Paper roses...paper roses....

Not much stamping time this week... if you could see my day planner you would understand why! In the next two weeks, we have a birthday party to throw (oldest son turns 9 tomorrow), graduation, a wedding, a send-off party for co-workers, and 4 days of all-day meetings (those meetings are at our house, and I'm not sure yet what that means for me...), homeschool to finish, and life in between! Our 10th anniversary is somewhere in the middle of all that mess... but I'm thankful to say that we were able to make reservations to get away for a few days - just DH and I - after the insanity dies down. It's nice to have that to look forward to!

These little pretties have been taking up much of my free time - yesterday I made 7 of the full size roses and 12 'buds'. These are for the upcoming campus wedding (5/31). Still waiting on wire for the stems and then we'll decide how to arrange them. The poor bride has been so busy finishing up classes and making other arrangements... so I'm just making roses while I have time and however many get done is what we have to work with. At this point I think I have 8 of each color and size - 24 full size and 24 buds. I'm basically following Tim Holtz's tutorial, except my flower base (Nestabilities Blossoms 1?) has 7 petals, and each rose is built from 4 flowers - his use only 3 - and I'm using cardstock instead of grunge paper.

Our campus graduation is 5/27, and my job is to make cakes (about 300 servings). That's 12 pans! I made 2 yesterday - it really is a shame to make the house smell so good and then not get to eat any! I'll leave you with my recipe, just for fun. This is a great one!

Carolyn's Chocolate Cake

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 c. cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1 tsp. instant coffee ( or whatever is recommended to make one cup of coffee, dissolved in 1-1/2 c. water)
1/2 c. milk

Mix all ingredients together. Beat until smooth. Bake in a 9"x13" pan at 350F for 35-40 minutes.

ETA: I'm not using frosting this time but you can. I'm just dumping on sprinkles while the cakes are still hot...I'm not a big fan of the frosting they like here (it tastes like fake margarine...), and sprinkles...well...what's not to love?

Impression Obsession DT Challenge: Best Friend

It's time again for a challenge thrown down by the Impression Obsession design team! Did you know that you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps? See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! A new schedule of the challenges has been posted for the next few months - plan ahead (or shop ahead!) so you can play along!

This week we're showcasing friendship cards, and challenged each other to make a card for our best friend - and send it! I have used a couple of Alesa Baker stamps on this card - her style is so elegant and enjoyable to color, especially her floral stamps. I'm so glad her line is still available - does anyone remember back when Stampa Rosa went out of business? Well, I've had this sentiment stamp since then. :) It's called "Thinking Of You Days".

The vase image is part of a clear set called "Daisy Love". I colored it in with Prismacolor pencils (the colors I used are listed below). For the big polka dot background, I created a mask using the 'blank' from a sheet of round cardstock ABC stickers (the part that's left after all the ABC stickers are all gone)... the kids love those stickers and I've been saving this blank for the right occasion. :) I colored in each circle with pencil, and blended with odorless mineral spirits. The lace border is the edge of a paper doily that I cut and tucked and straightened along the edge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's cards for inspiration....links are over to the left!

Fun with Fabric

Playing along with the Moxie Fab challenge again - this time the challenge is to use fabric on our cards. I had this scrap of canvas floating around on my desk, which I purchased locally, so there's my fabric, along with the cotton gingham ribbon (another local find).

I decided to pull out my coffee-themed sets from Impression Obsession - the focal image is called "Coffee Aroma". It's available in rubber (mounted or unmounted), and was recently made available in a clear set called "Coffee with a Friend". I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

I watercolored around the image first... I dabbed some ink from a Versamagic Turquoise Green pad on an acrylic block and used that as my paint, picking it up with a waterbrush. The image was colored with Neopiko markers.

For the background, I grabbed a scrap of glossy cardstock and laid it over the Cover-a-Card Thick & Thin stamp. The ink sort of beaded, which wasn't what I expected, but it worked for me... I like the distressed, imperfect look of it. I filled in some stripes randomly with marker. The sentiment is from another coffee set called "Smell the Coffee."It's stamped on a punched tag. Teal is probably one of my least-used, least-favorite colors, so I had to scruff the card base up a bit with some sponged ink.

For some reason (avoiding my to-do list?!) I took the time this weekend to catalog all my ink pad colors on shipping tags. Turns out I have 103 different colors of ink, and a few more on the way... not sure what to say about that! But it makes me happy to see all those colors in rainbow order, and it will help in some upcoming projects to be able to compare shades and such.

And that is all I know today. Take care!!

Lil' Lambs

 These two cards have been in my 'not posted' file for a while... these stamps are from Heartfelt Creations, and there's more where they came from - if you like 'cute kid' stamps (especially ones with facial features!) click here to see the rest of the "Lil' Lambs" line.  These designs are called Gardening Boy and Bouquet of Cheer.

Both scenes were watercolored using Derwent watercolor pencils and reinkers. I used a scalloped circle as a mask to create the clouds in the first background. This first card sketch was a challenge but I forget where - it's been so long! Seems it was from SCS. Nice one for using up scraps.

On the second card I used a set called Leafy Swirls, paper-piecing the leaves. The flowers are cut with Nestabilities - several layers of mulberry paper, attached with a brad, then squished into shape.

Hanging out waiting for my friend to arrive! She's not necessarily coming to visit us, but it's a nice bonus. I'm sure there are more important things I should be doing at the moment than blogging and cataloging my ink collection... but this is what I do when I don't know where to start!!

Enjoy your weekend........!

Pansies

This is another beautiful floral stamp from Auntie Amy - Pansies - it's a big one and so fun to watercolor. I didn't even notice when I purchased it that there was a ladybug on the leaf there! I used Derwent watercolor pencils on this piece, and couldn't go with traditional purple - had to try red pansies just for something different. Next time I'll have to do some paper tole with this image... love it.

I felt that any color or pattern on the card base would tend to distract from the watercolor work... so I filled the background with textures instead, using my Scor-Pal to create a diamond grid pattern. The sentiment is from the Flourishes Strawberries set. This card is on its way to a dear friend on the other side of the pond!

Strange week - one of those weeks where days 'feel' like different days... then we had a holiday Thursday which threw me off even more. I'm having to write every little thing down so I don't forget... there are way too many things going on right now, and way too many people have said, "Hey can you..."

Several culture jolts this week too... though we've been here 5 years, there are still things that shock us, and the longer we are here the deeper those things hit. Part of life, I guess!

Sweet peas

We had some dinner guests the other night who have been in-country for about a month, traveling to different tribal ministry locations to evaluate and encourage the teams in their literacy programs - their stories were so exciting, and we were so encouraged to see their enthusiasm for this new ministry. Anyway, they leave to go back to the States today, and I made this card for them.

Last month I caught wind of a BOGO sale at Auntie Amy's, and jumped at the opportunity to purchase some of her gorgemous stamps... Aunty Amy purchased the Embossing Arts line of stamps when they went out of business, and they have some beautiful images that just beg to be watercolored. I'll have more to share soon! This is the Sweetpea stamp, which is one of their Flowers of the Month set (you can purchase them individually, or purchase the full set at a great savings!). I watercolored the image using Derwent watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. The sentiment I used is from Heart & Soul Rubber Stamp Co. - the elegant font went perfectly with this image, I think!

OK - back to my to-do list!

Monday

Another week to fly through... these are busy days leading up to busier days! So thankful to have my man home, though. Somebody's got take care of me! I'm feeling much better, which is a good thing for this week of lesson prep and teaching ladies' chapel, homeschooling, designing invitations for graduation, preparing for a house guest next week, sitting in on student interviews, little-by-little making and stashing paper roses (2 a day) for the upcoming wedding, making a few cards for friends headed Stateside... this with all the life stuff sprinkled in-between. Woohoo!

Impression Obsession makes all the stamps on my card here...

Garden Planter
TypeStacks Family clear set
Cover-a-Card Medallion
Single Daily Bloom

The image is colored with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils... grass is sketched in and the butterflies are 'popped' - that shows up better below. I stamped the Medallion CAC over a sponged background, then stamped the daisy randomly over the area and sponged the edges. Rather than cutting around all the little tendrils on the image, I cut them off (gasp!)...and stamped the image on the olive layer instead. I do the same thing with butterfly antennae - can't be bothered with those!

OK - I'm off - need to get rolling today! Take care and have a great week!

3 Cheers for Chairs!

Saw this challenge over at Moxie Fab World, and thought I'd play along - because I love chairs!

This was a quick, clean and simple card.... I stamped the label from Journaling 1 in Bamboo ink, shaded around the edge with a Prismacolor pencil (Bronze) and blended with OMS. Next I stamped Cozy Chairs in my favorite new ink, Colorbox Dark Brown (finally, a really really dark brown!), and colored the image with a Prismacolor pencil (Chocolate), blending with OMS. The sentiment was stamped in Dark Brown as well. Done!

Have a great weekend!

Impression Obsession DT Challenge - Out of the Box

The rest of the Impression Obsession team has been dreading this challenge, but this is one of my favorites - it's the "Out of the Box" challenge, where we're supposed to use a stamp image for something other than its intended use.

So......these are the stamps I used - this is Goldfish, 2 birds from the Believe Birds clear set, and a coffee cup from the Coffee with a Friend clear set.

And....... those things somehow in my mind turned into this!I had so much fun making this card! All the elements are watercolored with reinkers. Another day that fish tail will have to be a campfire - can you see it? It's perfect for that too. The background (Cover-a-Card Tapestry 2), stamped in Adirondack Stream ink on sponged glossy cardstock, then sanded a bit to remove the gloss.

Here's a close-up on the butterfly:

Ha! I love it.

Did you know that you can enter these challenges too, using your Impression Obsession stamps? See the I.O. blog for all the details - you might even win a $25 gift certificate!! Be sure to check out the rest of the team's cards for inspiration....links are over to the left!

Batter up......

...that's a pun.

Get it?

Well you might... if you remember my series of cards last year using the Impression Obsession's Create-a-Cupcake set as anything other than a cupcake. (Click here to see all the cards I've made with this set!) Just warming up for this week's challenge to think 'outside the box'.........

I've had this little guy stashed for a while - he was colored with Neopiko markers and Prismacolor pencils, and you can see that I used the cupcake outline, face, and sprinkles from the set to make him - the bill of his cap and his smile were sketched in by hand. Love those freckles!

I created my own background paper by layering a couple of public domain images I found online. The ticket was also printed and lightly distressed. The baseball is handstitched. Not sure why I used so many staples, but... the stapler was handy, the staples matched, and I was in git-'er-done-quick-and-simple mode this morning. The sentiment stamp comes from the clear set "Flowers for You".

Day 2 with DH gone... I came down with some stomach flu bug the night before he left, but I'm feeling a bit better today. At least I have an appetite and everything has stayed down so far! Just taking it easy and taking things one step at a time. See you tomorrow with my challenge card... here's a teaser - what do you get when you cross a goldfish, 2 birds, and a coffee cup?

soooo.........

The wedding invitations are done! So here they are, all 52 of them... Huge thanks to Sue at Heart and Soul for allowing me tweak the Heart/Hands image to fit my needs. I stamped the image, watercolored it, overstamped the Flourishes Cover-a-Card stamp from Impression Obsession, on the pink background with Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid ink, then trimmed out an oval with my Coluzzle template...scanned the thing, resized and tweaked it, added the couples' names, then printed sheets of them to cut out with Coluzzle again.

The cardstock they chose is pearlescent on one side - it's beautiful but looked sort of plain just as-is, so we stamped the face of each gate-folded card with the same background stamp and Orchid ink.

End of our 'break'... sigh... really, the kids were the only ones that got a break! I was busy with different projects every day, catching up and finishing a few things that had gotten pushed aside while I was teaching. Next week will be busy as well, as DH will be away teaching at a conference for 5 days. Hopefully we can get ahead on school - we have 4 weeks of curriculum left that we need to finish in 3 weeks, so we're done before the craziness of graduation, the wedding, and a week of meetings at our house. Ack!

I have one big thing left on my to-do list, and I am dragging my feet about it... I need to order 4th grade books for my son, and it seems the easiest thing to do is to have them shipped direct from the company... they ship FedEx and we have heard stories about the huge fees that are charged on this end for customs and handling... but the other alternative is to have someone else ship them via USPS, which is slow and unreliable, and the new customs guy at the post office is very strict (they have a new restriction on school materials)... either way there will be fees... so... any advice or encouragement? I need to do this soon.

Happy weekend...............!