Thank You Card

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Fortunately for me I am having a pretty low-key, doing very little kind of weekend. My favorite kind! My card today is a thank you card that I made using the CTMH Solo T stamp set and Making Memories paper. I used the Threading Water punch along edge of the paper. I am still playing with both the new camera and the different photo editing software and still having trouble getting all of my pictures to turn out exactly right. That large T was stamped with Chocolate ink and then I went over it with a Sakura clear glitter pen. In person it is a nice shimmery brown, but it looks a little wonky here. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Stamp Something Recipe Challenge

It's been a while since I have participated in a challenge over at Stamp Something, since before the holidays I think.  When I saw the challenge this week I knew I was something I would enjoy. The challenge was to make something to do with a recipe. One of the gifts that I plan to give this year are family cookbooks. I am not sure when I am going to get them all done, but this is the first one. I used Kiss the Cook by Hanna Stamps and colored the image in with a combination of Prisma markers and Copics. I colored in the area behind the main image with a cool blue and decided to try my hand at drawing floor boards and coloring them in as well. I have seen several cards lately with the wooden floors, I think the first blog I saw them on was Candace's blog Rubbah Soul. On these composition books, I ran the ribbon from the bottom of the book up to the top and then left enough ribbon that it goes all the way thorough the length of the page to be used as a bookmark. I used the threading water punch around the image. The stamp above the main image is a See Ds stamp, it was a larger stamp that  trimmed down a little to fit in the area that I had. In person, those blues match a little better. I am still working on Kip's computer and it's a Mac. Until mine died I have never used it before. I am still getting used to the photo editing though and haven't quite got the hang of it. Thanks for stopping by today. Let me know what you think of my recipe book!

Home Organization Binder

No school today! Since the girls' mom is out of town I decided to take to day off too, they hate going to Kid's Club at the school. Jenna is writing a story for and illustrating it with my stamps. She needed a toucan stamp and imagine my surprise when I actually found one! Other than that we are just hanging out, taking it easy.

One of my main goals this year is to get a little more organized. When I saw this project on Erica's blog,  knew I needed one too. We have been doing better with our home organization, but it's nice to have everything in one spot. I used Boards and Beams from PTI for the house and the letters are Sizzix Round Table alphabet set. My wonderful friend Julie let me borrow this image and I loved it so much I had to order my own. My house is colored with Prisma markers. I could not get a picture of this without the flash showing up and without the flash it was just too dark. 

If you are interested, inside my binder are dividers and I have the following sections:

     Calendar: We both have schedules that change frequently and I cannot live without a      

         calendar. I have calendars for the entire year for long term planning. On our refrigerator

         we have a dry erase calendar that has a space for each day of the week. On Sunday nights I

         transfer that week's information. If I am really on top of everything I also write in the 

         meals so I know what needs to be pulled out of the freezer each day.

      Housework Lists: We made lists of things that need to be done around the house and then 

         separated that list into things that need to be done on a daily basis, weekly basis and a 

         monthly basis. We alternate who does what. Kip also had the great idea for us both to 

         come up with what needs to be done for it to be considered done. For instance, one of us

         HATES putting away laundry and when it is my my turn, I forget to put it away. All those

         lists are in this section.

     Projects: A new thing for us,but we are planning to do some rearranging and other things 

         around the house and this is where we will keep up with all that information. 

     Goals: Just a way to track our progress as we try to meet certain goals, right now, saving for         furniture.

     Menu: I try to preplan our meals, sometimes doing better than others. My meal planners 

        are in this section as well as recipes that I find and want to try. Erica's blog is great for 

        that too! 

     Lists: I will keep things like birthday lists, Christmas lists and other things like that in here.

Plus there is a section for each of us to file things in and a folder with a velcro closure for receipts. Have a great day!

Simple Pleasures and I won some Blog Candy!

I don't know about you, but this card makes me want to whistle the theme song from "The Andy Griffith Show"! I have always been a big fan of the show, the black and white ones, anyway. I think I had a small crush on Andy when I was younger! Truth be told, I really love all the old sitcoms from that era. I always show Kip the cards that I make and when I showed this to him, he said the same thing about whistling. The stamp is by Inkadinkadoo, I stamped it using Palette ink and then mounted it onto the brown card stock and then onto the black paper. I took a black pen and drew in the dots surrounding the image. Since I was thinking that this would make a great card for my grandfather, I decided to leave it fairly simple so it would look masculine.

The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy. Due to the cold and wet weather, my pain level has been pretty high which makes me a little irritable and I have been working extra hours which doesn't help anything. Imagine how happy I was today when I got home today and found a box sitting on the kitchen counter. I followed a link from SCS one day and found Carrie's blog and have been reading it for a while now. She makes some really nice cards and I love her photos that she has posted. I try not to complain too much about the cold after reading her posts of how cold it is there in Alaska. I won some blog candy from her blog and this is what she sent me:
So a million thank yous Carrie and you made my week! I can't wait for the weekend to roll around so that I can get busy will all my new things. 

The forecast here tonight is for freezing rain and ice. I hope everyone is safe and warm, no matter where you are. 

Inside Birthday Calendar

Remember my birthday calendar from the other day? I decorated each of the pages, something different for every month. The coasters are 4x4 so I decided to use 2.5 x 3.5 ATC cards for the decorated areas. It was a great way to use a lot of the scraps in my stash, especially the smaller pieces. Here you can also see the actual calendar pages, the stamp is from Clear Dollar Stamps . The hearts at the bottom are from the CTMH set, All My Love and February is from a Studio G set. I love those little conversation hearts! My friend Allyson gave them to me for Christmas this past year. She knows I love them and she picked up this set of foam stamps for me. I have several candles, candy dishes and other things that have the conversation hearts on them. I will show you a couple more of the pages over the next couple of days, I was very happy with the way these turned out.

I hope everyone is having a great, relaxing weekend. Last week was crazy busy for me at work and next week is looking to be the same. So today, I have been doing almost nothing and it feels great! Enjoy your weekend and spend some time relaxing and recharging your batteries. 

Another House Mouse

Okay, these stamps really are addictive! I had so much fun with the first image earlier in the week, I decided to do another one tonight. I think this is just the sweetest image. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and used OMS to help me with the shading a little bit. I have been practicing with my pencils and am getting happier with the results, especially areas that need shading. My paper is DCWV and the ribbon came from my stash. These colors look a little on the bright side, they are slightly more muted in real life. I have a new camera, am working on a strange computer and am using different photo editing software and I think I got carried away enhancing the color. I am so tired tonight so I am going to crash before I fall asleep at the keyboard, thanks for dropping in tonight!

Orange Flower

For some reason, I am in an orange mood today. When I sat down to create something today, I kept reaching for papers that had orange in them. There is a site called Card Sketch A Day that I sometimes use for inspiration when I want to try something new. Sketch challenges really are my favorite ones to do because that is where I seem to run out of ideas first. The sketch here is loosely based on their sketch for today. I flipped my shorter and longer pieces and I added a ribbon instead of a sentiment. My stamp here is from Stampabilities. I stamped the image using Palette ink and then colored it using Prismacolor pencils and OMS. The paper is DCWV and there is a decorative accent (pretend dew drop) in the center of the flower. I colored the dew drop yellow to match what I had colored. That ribbon is from Target from the wedding section. Have you seen that ribbon? There are several colors and I think two widths available. Each roll has a ton of ribbon and is only $2.99.

Did you watch all the festivities today? I wasn't able to see much of it as it was happening since I was at work. I have seen some of the hilights of the and am sure I will catch more of it tonight. I love the history and the traditions that are associated with these things. It has been interesting hearing how some of the traditions got started and how certain things connect the office of President from year to year. Thanks for stopping in tonight!

Little Ballerina

Look! A picture that isn't blurry!!  No, that doesn't mean that my computer is fixed, or even that I have a new computer. I am still working with Kip's computer but I can use my camera on here now. I have always been a little afraid of these House Mouse stamps. I just thought they would be so difficult to color and do them justice. I keep seeing them on the blogs from my blogger group and every time I do, I get a little more tempted. So the last time Hobby Lobby had stamps for 50% off, I picked up a couple. (BTW all stamps on on sale this week too). It was a lot of fun coloring this little ballerina. This is the card that I will probably give to Samantha for Valentine's Day. I know she will love this little mouse. Not, sure if you can see it or not, but the white piece of paper went through a paper crimper and has little hearts on it. Tuesday Morning had them one day for like $1.97 so I got this one and one with stars on it. My paper is from DCWV, ribbon is from Hobby Lobby and the little heart brads were a gift from my friend Angela and I think they came from JoAnn's.

Thanks for your patience and your comments while I have been having computer problems. I appreciate all your comments especially the ones with the blurry pictures! I have a crazy busy week at work this week and will be back as soon as possible. I am working on a home organization notebook and hopefully I will get it finished tonight. I got the idea from Erica  and as soon as I saw hers, I knew my house could benefit from something like that too. Have a great night!

Birthday Calendar

I had wanted to include perpetual birthday calendars with some of the
Christmas sets I made. I only got one done in time to give with my
gifts. I really wanted one to give to my mom so I told her that it
would be a little late. Here is her finished calendar. The stamp set
is Cake Occassions and is from Clear Dollar Stamps. I stamped with
CTMB ink and then went over the with a pink Spica pen and the cake
stand with the clear one. I used fine irridescent glitter on the cake.
I decorated each month with it's own little art work. I will show
those to you over the next couple of days, I am not sure how to add
more than one picture since I am still posting with my phone. The
inside calendar is also from Clear Dollar Stamps. It is called Coaster
Calendar and is designed for these cardboard coasters. I hope everyone
is having a great weekend!

Finally a card!

I did figure out how to post the photos from my phone onto my blog. The pictures aren't as great as with a camera but it will have to do for now. The angel seems a little strange too! It really is straight, I promise.  I started with the sketch challenge for today from Splitcoast. I left off one of the stars though. The image is from The Angel Company set, Playful Kitties. I color the cat with Prisma markers. I tried to make him look like one of our cats, Hobbes. I don't know if you can see it or not, but the pink circle has the word "cuddly" stamped all around. That sentiment is from the CTMH set, Solo C and the orange star is also from CTMH, from a booking set I believe. I sponged blue ink around tge image to look like the sky.  All three of our cats are indoor cats and they occasionally like to come to the door and check out "the big blue room".  All paper is DCWV and inks are CTMH. Thanks for dropping by! 

For some reason I have a post with the picture and one with the text. The card below goes with this entry.

Finally a card!

New product

I wanted to let you know about a new product that I recently
purchased. I have been seeing mention of Memento ink on several blogs
especially when using Copics. Clear Dollar Stamps has just started
carrying their inks, so on my last order I ordered the Tuxedo Black
and the brown one. Wow, I love it! Nice, clean stamped images and
absolutely no smearing with either of my alcohol based markers. No
heat setting either. I had been using the Palette black ink and was
pretty happy with it, but with some pale colors (especially skin
colors) I would sometimes have a very slight bleeding of the ink.

This is a test to see if I can post pictures that I have taken with my
phone. I have learned how to post to my blog on my phone and if I can
get the pictures posted, I will try to get some cards posted in the
next day or so, at least until I get a new computer and get everything 

set up and loaded.

This is how I feel about my computer situation:

A few things

My hard drive is shot. Yes, those are tears hitting the screen. I am
hoping to get a new one today or tomorrow and then get Kip to install
it and get me up and running in a day or two so I can start posting on
my blog again. This post was done on my phone, but it's not so easy to
type a blog post using only my thumb! Just a word of advice: make sure
all your important stuff is backed up, especially your pictures. We
haven't been able to retrieve anything as of yet, but am holding out
hope that it is still possible. Thanks for being patient with me and
for your encouragement!

I thought I would share few of my crafting related goals for the year.
(1) I want to work on my sewing skills. I have a good sewing machine
and some basic knowledge but I want to learn more so that I can
actually start to make some useable items. (2) Start a system for
organizing my supplies. I have the stuff I use all the time fairly
organized, it's the things that I don't use everytime I craft that I
tend to lose. We are going to be redoing some of our living space in
the house over the next few weeks and I am hoping to better organize
as I get set up in the new space. (3) Participate in more challenges,
not just the ones that are easy! (4) I make a lot of cards. Even
though I send quite a few, I want to try to look for more
opportunities to brighten someone's day.

Computer Update

I am still without a working computer. At this point we believe the
hard drive is dead. I tried to do some research on my own of how to
fix the problem so I could impress my computer guru husband. Most
every article I found referred to my problem as " the black screen of
death". Doesn't sound too encouraging, does it? Hopefully we will have
something for me to use at some point this weekend. Kip is a computer
geek, so I have full faith he will have me up and running as soon as
possible. I have new stamps and I can't show you what I've done!
Thanks for checking back and I'll get something creative posted as
soon as I can.

Computer Issues

For some reason my computer is not cooperating with me right now. I am very sad about this! I think I am in withdrawals. I can post on Kip's computer, but all my pictures and camera software are on my computer. Hopefully my hubby can get me back on track by the weekend. Thanks for checking in and hope to be back soon.

Back on Track!

I had a hard time getting back in the swing of things and going back to work this morning. I really enjoyed my time off. Normally if I am off from one job, I am still working at the other or I am traveling. Our visit to my parents was very short and rushed this year because of Kip's work schedule, so the extra time off was actually time off. I didn't get too much stamping done though, I did some spring cleaning around the house. Earlier in the post about my card box, I told you that one of my goals this year is to get more cards out and get them in the mail in a timely manner. So I am working on filling my box, I thought this card would make a cute birthday card for a little boy. I love this dinosaur set from Basic Gray. I stamped the dino bones using CTMH White Daisy ink onto brown paper. The palm leaves were stamped with CTMH Topiary ink. I cut them out and the used pop dots to attach them to the card. As I was putting it together, I decided to use the footprints to stamp across the card. All the paper is DCWV. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone has had a great day doing what you enjoy. A couple of weeks ago I was in Michael's doing some Christmas shopping and I came across this fun ribbon in the dollar bin. I love giraffes so I had to grab it. The stamp set I used is CTMH In the Wild. There are several very cute stamps in this set but this is the first time I have used this particular stamp. I stamp my giraffe with CTMH Honey ink and used chalks to color in his spots. All paper is DCWV.

Do you make resolutions? I don't, not really, because when I make them, they always get broken before the end of the month. I do have some goals that I have set, but no real resolutions. With goals, I think I have the entire year to accomplish what I set! One goal is to get more organized with my craft supplies and my cards. Another is to use all my stamp sets! I do have a few sets that have never seen ink but for the most part, I have used at least a stamp or two. Good luck with your resolutions if you make them!