It's Blog Candy time!

Yup, Chatty Cathy time! I have over 800 posts on my blog now. WOW, and a big UNREAL in there too!


Close up of the clear stamps set by Scrappy Cat. LOTS of fun flowers. Plus I'm adding some stick on rhinestones, double sided tape and some foam dots. The other photo shows the other items. And many times I add some extra fun "stuff" as I run across it in my workroom supplies!!



Nothing is FREE so here's what you need to do!!!! Just leave a comment on this post only. Leave your guess as to what bird this baby bird is in the photo!!! Hint, it's NOT a bald eagle!!! LOL Please don't include your email address in your comment.




I will draw a name using the "Random Name Generator" on Friday evening on June 27th. Check back on Friday evening to see if you're the lucky winner.











Have fun!
Wanda

Using That Decorative Paper!

What a better way to get yourself to use your decorative papers than to participate in a sway. The theme for this swap was to make a card using the Stampin' Up! "Prints Designer Series" paper. I was going to save this striped paper for the origami masculine shirt folding but I thought it would blend well with these colors so I used it. I know, it's better to use it than to hoard it. Like I don't have a ton of paper I'm hoarding as it is. But there is still some paper left so I can make a shirt sometime down the road. Does that day really ever come??? LOL

I had to try to figure out a layout that would allow me to make the cards using the decorative papers but I need to make sure I could make the 16 cards and have enough paper to do this. I liked this layout and did the math to see if it would work and I actually had just enough paper to pull it off!!!

Originally I wanted to use the "Lots of Dots" jumbo wheel but I just couldn't get the dots straight nor could I get them to line up evenly on the second row of dots. The first one I did was pretty good and after that, well let's just say it was the very reason why I decided to go with the "Dotted" background. It was SO much easier to work with!!!

I used Almost Amethyst card stock and ink with this card. The "thank you" is from the Stampin' Up! "Holiday Blitz" set. That is one little "thank you" that I find comes in VERY handy for LOTS of cards. The words just fit so nicely inside the 1-1/4" punch plus it layers up so nicely with the 1-3/8" circle punch and the scallop punch!!

I had added some 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon to one of the panels and as I was lying things out I noticed that the other panel just screamed for something. Another strip of ribbon looked silly there. And then I thought I should add some black brads. Well 5 black brads for 16 cards just didn't work because I didn't have enough of them. But I had LOTS of eyelets. And I got to play with the Crop-a-dial to install them. There was no hammering involved so I was able to do them at 1 am and not wake up anyone!! It sure makes punching and setting eyelets in place a breeze! And a quite breeze at that!!! LOL

It's basically a simple card to make. It's got a few layers to it but it goes pretty fast. I enjoyed making this card and it was nice to be able to use the decorative paper too!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

To the Moon and Back!

This is a card I made for the Stamp Share card swap. The theme for this swap was to make a card front using two of more of punches from a list provided. I chose the Large and Small Star punches. And what goes well with stars??? The rocket stamp of course!!! The rocket stamp came from the Stampin' Up! "Fun Pun" set. I've used the rocket stamp a lot and I think I have a lot more cards to come using it. It's just a cute and fun stamp to play with.

I also used "Priceless" set for the "smoke" coming out of the back of the rocket. The background was done using the jumbo "See You Around" wheel. That wheel reminded me of asteroids. I used it on Sahara Sand and Old Olive ink. It was layered on top of Soft Sky card stock. The decorative paper came from the "Fall Flowers" decorative paper. I sponged the edges of that piece using Old Olive ink.

I stamped the rocket using Black Staz-on and watercolor paper. I colored the rocket with markers. I colored directly on the watercolor paper with the markers. The colors were subtle enough to be able to do it without making the color too dark. They blend well with the rest of the colors on the card. I used the jumbo eyelets on the window part of the rocket. It gave it more of a spaceship look adding those. I have never used them yet and thought it was time to give them a try too!!! I have too many supplies I have never or hardly ever used. I think I need to challenge myself to start playing with those items more. They do add a lot to cards and scrapbook pages.

This was a very fun card to make!!! And I have to say that the Stamp Share was such a blast. There is a wealth of information at this event plus fun things to do and see. I always bring my camera and a notebook because there is just SO much that you can't remember it all. And it's a time to visit with some fun and talented ladies I only get to see at this meeting. Terri (the gal who puts this on) is an incredibly talented lady. I always look forward to her Stamp Shares.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Chalkboard Technique Technique Page!!

I had a lot of questions come in on the "Technique Book" that I am adding pages to. I purchased a 6" x 6" scrapbook from Stampin' Up! Plus I purchased the 6" x 6" sleeves. I cut my main piece of card stock 6" x 6". The white piece (usually white) is cut 5-3/4" x 5-3/4" and I decorate from there with the technique I have on the card.

This technique was done on SplitCoastStampers a month or so ago. I don't always get around to getting the technique page done quickly. I should really do one a week and then my book look pretty impressive!!!

This was a very fun technique and it really does look like a chalkboard effect.

I type my wording up on the computer. You will need to either set your margins so your typing area is 5" x 5". When typing up the instructions I try to leave out wording that doesn't need to be in there. It's one of those "just stick to the fact" type thing. Keep it simple but yet be clear on the technique. Sometimes some techniques are a bit more wordy and you'll have to change the font to a smaller size. Try not to go too small or it will be difficult to read. I usually use a 12 font.

Once you have your wording typed in you can change the length of your sentences so you can fit in your sample of the technique. And once you do this you can save it and work with it for more of your techniques. I have changed the layout a little bit and I switch between the two of them for a little bit of a variety. I print one out on copier paper and see if I like the layout. If I'm satisfied with it I will then print it out on the white or light colored card stock.

I try to decorate the background of the printed image too. Pick the colors that go well with the technique. Try to avoid ribbons, eyelets, brads or buttons for decorating with, they tend to make the album bulky plus they make marks on the pages between them. Just keep it simple and keep it fun.

So for today's post I have the Chalkboard Technique featured. I pretty much followed the layout I used for the "Scratch N Sniff" technique page. My other (few) technique pages can be viewed here.

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

I was going to be posting Blog Candy tonight but I am unable to. I have a busy night ahead of me plus I will be at the Stamp Share tomorrow so I don't have much time to tend to this. I will post it in a couple of days, I PROMISE!!!

Thanks SO much for stopping by,

Wanda

Slowing Breaking It In!

I got a new stamp set on Friday. Last night I finally sat down and mounted it on the blocks. I didn't have to cut it out because Stampin' Up! did the die cut thing on this set. I LOVE it when they do that. The set is called "Fresh Cuts" and will be in the new Stampin' Up! Catalog coming out soon!! Not soon enough for some. I believe it is August 1st that it will be available. I'm so confused on the dates of things now because of the two catalogs a year thing. But then again it doesn't take much to confuse me!!! LOL

For this card (a very quick and simple card!) I used the "Paisley" background stamp with white embossing powder. After it cooled I attached the ribbon and tied a knot. Then I used the "for you" words from the new set and punched them out (a bit crooked too - I'll have to fix that - I didn't notice it until I saw it on the photo UGH!!!). Anyway, I liked the words and how they fit into the oval perfectly. And if you like this little stamp, wait until you see the rest of them!!! Now it's a matter of using the other 4 stamps in the set!!! LOL I plan on playing with them later tonight.

This really was a quick card to make. The embossing took a few minutes because it added an extra step but the background needed something more than just plain.

I will be posting the "Chatty Cathy" Blog Candy tomorrow. I have 800+ posts now!!! WOW, I can't believe I've had that many posts!!! I also have some fun cards and projects coming up too. And I will have some things from the Stamp Share to show you too. LOTS of new things happening here!!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Good Thing it was Free!

I had gotten an offer in my email from Snap Fish. They are an online photo processing center. The offer was for 50 free prints. It wasn't totally free, I did have to pay around $3 for shipping. But still not a bad deal for 50 prints! And for me it sure was easy to gather up 50 pictures to have printed. I found some pictures of flowers I had taken a few weeks ago and I especially wanted the lilac one since I took the picture just for a card like this. I had the flowers offset so I could stamp words on the other side. And as many of you know it's not easy to stamp words on glossy paper. I actually planned for me to make mistakes with the stamping because I've done it before. SO I ordered two of that photo. I ruined both of them. I guess I don't know myself as well as I thought I did!! LOL

Now on to plan B. I located the photo on my computer (not easy to do, my desktop is as messy as my worktable!!!). I printed it out on glossy photo paper that I had gotten (get this) at the dollar store!!! And they were almost as good as the ones from Snap Fish.

The first photo is the one I printed out and the other one is the one I ruined with the stamp. The snap fish one is a bit more pink than the one I printed plus their photo paper is a bit more glossier than mine. I'm going to have to send in the image to Snap Fish again and have then print a couple dozen so I can get at least 6 good cards!!! LOL And they only charge 9 cents per picture! Not a bad deal and their service was pretty quick too!

And after I finish up those flower photo cards I'll just stick to rubber stamps and card stock!! LOL

Thanks SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Rocket to the Stars!

When "superimposing" stamped objects to your photos you want to make sure the image blends in well and is as real looking as possible!!! It didn't happen here!!! LOL Click on the photo to have a closer view! But be aware that the closer you look the less the rocket ship looks real!!! LOL!

Here is how I came upon this idea. (Sorry to let you know how this strange little mind works!!!) I had opened an email and it contained a slideshow of space shuttle and outer space pictures. Now in the last wonderful (NOT) update from Microsoft, I can no longer access my slide viewer on my XP computer. But that's ok it makes it easier to remove those photos I want from a slideshow. There was also another part of the update I don't care much for either and that is the search part. I click on search and my cute little wizard guy would come up. Now as default (I HATE it) a different search screen comes up but at the bottom of it I can access the old search. WHY?? Does Microsoft like messing with us??? We can save that discussion for another time!!! And my poor laptop is on it's last legs. The fan is starting to make even worse noises. I had purchased it several years ago. I had it for a couple of weeks and all of a sudden the fan started making a horrible noise. I called Toshiba and they told me they couldn't do a thing about it until it failed. Can you believe that??? They sell us defective merchandise and won't do a thing about it until it fails. I use to purchase Toshiba with every laptop I replace but no more. DH bought a HP and likes it except for the Windows VISTA! I have yet to find anyone that likes VISTA.

Anyway, back to this card. I had printed out the photo onto glossy photo paper. Once the ink dried I took the rocket from the Stampin' Up! "Pun Fun" set and stamped the image on watercolor paper and colored it in with markers. I added the jumbo eyelet to make it look more like a window in the rocket. I set it in place on the photo where the space shuttle was and there you have it. A stamped image "superimposed" on a photo!!!

It makes for a fun card, doesn't it?

I think the photo is a NASA file photo, though there was a website http://www.geoman.net/ after the NASA wording but it showed the domain name is for sale. Which means that the original owner of the website (if there was one) no longer owns it and it's up for sale. I did try to give credit here for the photo.

Have fun with your photos too. Stamping isn't limited to just card stock and decorative papers! Keeping it fun (even if you're the only one enjoying it) is what it's all about, don't you agree???

Thanks SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Faux Cloisonne Technique

Here is a page I made for my 6 x 6 Technique Book. I wish I would make a page each time I do a technique. I think about doing them. I add it to the list of things to do but don't make them as often as I would like.

If you click here you can see the card I had made using this technique. It's a very fun and simple technique. Just make sure you use old catalogs. Even with old ones I tend to "shop" around a bit too much too. I thought an old catalog wouldn't grab my attention as much as a newer one would but NOT true!! LOL Anyway for the card I looked for red pages and for the page I had looked for white pages. The design inside the flowers is from a ruffled bedspread. Just click on the page and you can get a much larger view of it. You will see the ruffles in the photo much better too. On the card I had made if you click that picture you will get a larger view too. You may even see that for the leaves my greens came from Christmas trees (complete with little white lights!!!). It's a very fun technique and you can get some pretty cool effects using it on your cards!!!

I'm not sure if you can read my instructions from the photo so I will add them here:

Page through some old magazines or catalogs and find a color you would like to use. Here I picked white so I looked for items in white. I stamped on the white area with Versa Mark and then sprinkled and heated up the embossing powder. When I was done I cut out the flowers and used several of them in a grouping on a card.

It's pretty simple. A bit time consuming with all the cutting but SO worth it!!

These pages are great to have for future reference. I'd like to have my book contain a lot more pages so my stampers can get more benefit from them. But it's coming along, slowly but surely!!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Link Corrected

In my post yesterday I had a link to Shellapoo's story and the link lead to a dead end. I hate it when that happens. I did fix it on that post and you can go there to view it or you can just click here and be taken to the correct place on the web.

Sorry about that!
Wanda

Digi Paper to Match!

Isn't this paper just BEAUTIFUL?? Want some??? Want some for free???? I got it from Emily at Stamping and Stuff. She designed this wonderful paper using the color keys to match the Stampin' Up! colors. I printed this one out on #24 copier paper. I highly recommend using #28 for this. It's a much firmer paper and is easier to work with. You can print out on card stock but you don't get the flexibility of it like you do with paper. The ink does absorb differently on card stock than it does on copier paper too. That is why I recommend the #28 paper.

It was so fun to print out this paper and have it not only look like what was on the computer screen but to have the color so precise too! I have mixed emotions doing this though. It's not like I don't have enough decorative paper and now I'm printing my own. What is wrong with me??? Oh PLEASE, don't answer that question!!!! LOL

For the flower I used the "True Friend" set by Stampin' Up!. I added a couple of black brads to the vanilla card stock and a clear rhinestone brad from the "Pretties Kit" to the center of the flower.

To make the flower I took the Bravo Burgundy marker and colored in the flower. I stamped off twice. Then I took the marker and I colored in the dots on the flower plus some of the outer areas. You can see where I colored by looking closer at the flower. To get an even closer view just click on the photo it will enlarge. Once I got the flower done I used Sage Shadow and Garden Green markers on the leaves and stem. I huffed on the rubber and stamped the image on very vanilla card stock. Another fun card to make!!!

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Making Someone's Day!

Would you like to make someones day? There is a SplitCoastStampers user name Shellapoo. Click here to read her story. She does not have a blog but she does have a gallery at SplitCoastStampers. Just click here to view it.

To make her day just leave her some comments on her postings. I had run across this last week when I posted a comment on a card she had made for the Sketch Challenge. I wasn't aware of her story until after I had left my comment and received a private message from her friend. I then found out her story and I passed this information on to the DIVA gals. I will also be sending this off to the gals in my stamping groups as well.

SO brighten her day by leaving a comment or two on her posts!! It's amazing how something so simple can make another person's day!

Thanks SO much,
Wanda

REALLY Old Flowers!!

At one of our DIVA Day events Sue had this card for us to make. The technique was "Non-metallic Polished Stone." I had such a problem with this technique. I took it home with me unassembled because I was going to redo it. I put it in a bag and brought it home. Now if you saw the piles of "stuff" I have here you would understand how I was able to lose this card for 6 months (or maybe even longer!). SO when I ran across this card I took it out and I actually liked the Polished Stone effect. I came to the conclusion that I was doing the same thing the stampers that come here do. I was comparing my work to the one done in front of me. I always tell my stampers not to compare their work to the original card and that was exactly what I was doing. SO I put the card together. I added a layer of Mellow Moss behind the Polished Stone paper.
I colored in the flowers (I told you I didn't finish the card at Sue's!!!) and I put the layers together. I actually like this card now!!!

The background was made using the Stampin' Up! "Flannel Plaid" background stamp. The flowers came from the Stampin' Up! "Fun and Fast Notes" set.

Once I got past the Polished Stone issue I really liked the card. It's also a very versatile card. It will work for Mother's Day, Birthdays, Get Well or Thinking of You. It's a very fun card to make and give!!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here

Thanks SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Dear Dear Ruth!

I cased this card from a fellow demonstrator Ruth B. from California. She is using this card in one of her classes. I changed it just a little. I had added some punches in the corners, I added the bee and I colored the background of the flower. I added the bee because I had never used it in all of the times I've used this set! It's such a cute bee too.

This card can be used for many occasions. Birthday, Sympathy, Mother's Day, Thinking of You or Get Well.

Isn't this such a pretty card? Thanks SO much Ruth for letting me CASE your card. Ruth doesn't have a blog so I can't direct you to it to view her to her other wonderful creations? She is a VERY talented lady!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda

Altered Album

I got this small photo album at Michael's about 3 weeks ago. It measures 3-5/8" x 3-1/8". I used the Stampin' Up! "Sticky Strip" tape to adhere the decorative paper to the album. Other tapes are just not strong enough and I didn't want to use a glue in the event that it may warp the paper. The tape was easy to apply and once I got it on the outside of the album I just set it on top of the paper and pressed it in place, rolling it along from the front to the back. For the strap part I traced it on a piece of decorative paper and cut it out. I also taped it in place and at the end of it where it meets the edge of the album I tucked it in with my fingernail. Before tucking it in I did use Crystal Effects to help hold it in place. I wrapped a pony tail holder around that part of the album to hold it in place while the Crystal Effects dried. I usually give that stuff a good 20 minutes to set up.

While I was allowing that to dry I stamped the flower from the Stampin' Up! "Live Your Dream" set. I hope this one makes it into the new catalog. I like it and I haven't got to play with it much!!! Anyway back to the stamping. I stamped the flwoer image using Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White card stock. Then I punched the image out using the 1-1/4" round punch. I punched out a 1-3/8" Groovy Guava circle. And I layered both of those on top of a scalloped piece of Chocolate Chip card stock. I taped it in place and then got out the Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon and tied it around the front cover of the album. The cover still needed a little something more so I took out the 1/2" circle punch and punched out a piece of Chocolate Chip and taped it in place on the strap. It made the strap look like it had a snap. SO cute!!!

And that was it. Not much to it but it sure changed the appearance of the album, didn't it??? These would make a great Stamp Camp item, Hostess gifts or Customer Appreciation gifts!

This card was made entirely of Stampin' Up! products. To view more items made entirely of Stampin' Up! products click here.

Thank you SO much for stopping by,
Wanda