Christmas Stamp Camp

I have to say that I've been neglecting my blog for a few weeks.  No excuse other than I've been busy with the kids.  As with other things, I need to discipline myself to regularly contribute to my blog...Over the last few months I've been designing cards for three different stamp camps.  This card is one of the cards that we're making at my Christmas Stamp Camp.

Inspiration for this card came from Sharon Field.  She designed a card last November that had a door for the focal point.  She gave credit to Rosemary Diehl.  I wanted to do something a little different, yet keep it simple.  I started with Real Red card stock for my door and used a sponge dauber to add Frost White shimmer paint to the edges of the trim.  My door handle is a jumbo brad.  The wreath stamp comes from the Welcome Christmas stamp set.  I inked the stamp with Always Artichoke and stamped it onto Old Olive card stock, then cut it out.  The wreath was finished off by coloring the berries with a Real Red marker then adding Dazzling Diamonds and a white taffeta bow.

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Legoland

In the summer of 2004, Randy and I took the kids (we only had Bradley and Annika then) to Legoland Deutschland.  It was about a six hour drive from our home in the Netherlands across part of Germany to get there.  Oh, what a trip that was!  Rolling hills lined with vineyards for miles and miles, whining kids in the car saying, "Are we there yet?" 

At the front gates of Legoland, there were HUGE Lego pieces made into a sculpture  Inside the gates were real-sized lego pieces glued together into life-size objects - people, animals, furniture, etc.  It was so cool - a trip I'll always remember!

Last month, I found Lorri's card right around the time of our neighbor Christian's birthday. Perfect timing to put Lorri's idea to work!  The Lego set was a mostly red, one from Ben 10, so I used Real Red cardstock along with my 1 3/8 inch circle punch. I inked up a stamp from the Birthday Bliss set with Basic Black ink (I got that set FREE from Stampin' Up! last spring during SAB!)  Before I put the card together, I sponged the circles with Real Red ink to add some depth.  So simple : )

Bradley has been home sick for two days with a fever and an upset stomach.  This morning, now that he's starting to feel better, he got out an old Lego instruction booklet and started putting together a lion.  All of the pieces are mixed in with a gazzillion other Lego sets.  I can hear the sound of Legos being sorted and swished around on the carpet right now.  For those of you who have kids who play with Legos, you know the sound I'm writing about.  From all my years of cleaning up Legos, I got smart and had Bradley dump them onto a big blanket.  It makes for an easier clean-up.  Just fold the blanket up and funnel it into the plastic bin when construction is completed.  So far, Bradley has found all of the pieces to his lion.

Happy stamping!

Susan

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Baby Cards

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Amber, had a baby girl.  Of course, I wanted to send a card to celebrate the addition to their family.  As it usually happens, whenever I need a card to send right away, I don't have one ready.  So this time I got smart and made four cards - two girl ones and two boy ones.

I'll be ready when the next boy makes his appearance on this earth. Here's the card to prove it.



Above is the card that I sent to my friend Amber and her family.  I used the Top Note die, the 1 1/4 inch square punch, and the petals a plenty embossing folder to make the "baby quilt."  The stamp is from a retired set called So Many Scallops.   I added some Dazzling Diamonds using the two-way glue pen to the moon and stars.   Welcome baby Rylyn!

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Greeting Card Witch

I first saw a card very similar to this on Diana Gibbs' blog.  I really loved her card, but I had to change it up a bit since I didn't have the Wicked Fun dsp.  How is it that once I get an idea in my head, I find it so hard NOT to think about it?  Then inspiration hit me one day while blog surfing. I saw the color combo that Dawn Griffith used on a card, Tangerine Tango and Peach Parfait.  Thus, my card came to life!

I cut the background pieces large enough to leave just 1/16th of an inch around the edges.  I kinda like that look.  I stamped the girl using StazOn jet black ink on watercolor paper.  I colored it with several different marker colors and also used my aqua painter on the dress and the pumpkin. I thought about adding a sentiment, but I chose a simpler look.  What do you think?

If you'd like to know how to create this cute card, please join me at the Oil City YWCA on Monday, October 11th at my stamp camp.  Call 676-6528 to register.

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Pocket Silhouettes

WAY back in 1985 when I was studying psychology at Allegheny College, I wrote my undergraduate thesis on computer anxiety.  This was at the time when students were moving from typewriters and Brother word processors over to PCs. It was the era of WordPerfect.  Remember the black screen with green characters and dot matrix printers? Or maybe it was the blue screen with white letters. (It's okay,  I know you've done the math and figured out how OLD I am!)  My thesis was actually fun to write.  I thought I got over my personal computer anxiety,  but it's coming back as I tackle my new computer challenge -- BLOGGING!

Since I'm new to this blogging thing, I know I have to go into my photo editing program and add a watermark to my creations.  But that will come with future posts. One thing at a time!  I was just so happy this morning to get a "subscribe" button on my blog.  Yes, I am patting myself on the back for that one ; )

This card is an adaptation from page 111 of the IBC. I used markers to ink up the Pocket Silhouette stamp - old olive, melon mambo, so saffron and pear pizzazz.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The card base is melon mambo.  I ran the large white layer through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  It is finished off with some pearls in the center of the flowers along with some old olive satin ribbon.

Let me know what you think!



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Ready for Class on Monday

Here's one of the cards that I designed for my upcoming stamp camp at the Oil City YWCA on Monday, September 27th.  This card uses the Greeting Card Kids, Curly Cute and Baroque Motifs stamp sets from Stampin' Up!  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and Night of Navy.  I also used the new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch as well as the paper piercing tool and the mat pack.

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Gearing up!

It's been a few busy weeks in our house, getting used to the school schedules, etc.  Yesterday I photographed several cards and hope to have the pics posted very soon.  I'm getting ready for my first stamp camps at the YW in two weeks.  I hope to attract a few new people to stamping.

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