No Time To Stamp?

I made 4 more cards using the One Sheet Wonder and First Fruits by Papertrey Ink, sticking with the theme of paper and ink only, and I still have enough paper left to make at least 2 more. So that’s 7 made so far, and a couple more coming! Really rushed tonight, so if you missed yesterday’s post, please refer to it. It also includes all the supplies and more detail. Here are today’s new cards:

All the same supplies as yesterday, only I added some More Mustard Paper and 2 of the cards used a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

This is one of those narrow embossing folders that come about 5 in a pack. This actually has flowers in the center. I only wanted the swirlies on the edges, so I covered the flowers in the center and no one will ever know the difference (except YOU - LOL!).

This card is my personal favorite from today’s cards. Again, if you want the list of supplies and more detail, seeyesterday’s post. Sorry to be so brief, but maybe you actually like that better — LOL!!! Got to run!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR STOPPING IN!!! I’ll move on to something different for tomorrow!!! Oh, and before I go, I just want to share that I really love these Papertrey stamps. They are clear stamps and the finest quality I have used. They accept ink wonderfully, all the time, and are an absolute pleasure to work with! Have a great day everyone!!!

Editing: I’ve been getting a lot of questions on how I got my One Sheet Wonder stamped so uniformly — wondering if I’m using a ruler or drawing lines, etc., etc. No, nothing, just eye-balling it.I started in the lowerleft corner and stamped in a line across the diagonal towards the upper right corner, rotating my stamp each time. I then came down and did the row beneath it, stamping my image kind of between the images in the row above. When I got to the bottom, I just flipped the paper and did the other half. HOWEVER, I have made many mistakes - the pattern truly is not uniform. On several occasions I forgot to flip my stamp and my rows are not as straight as you all seem to think they are — LOL!!! The point is, it looks nice because the color is so stunning and the images are spaced apart in a FAIRLY uniform fashion — it is far from perfect, but the eye sees the overall project, it does not focus on each stamped image. So just have fun with it — don’t strive for perfection because it’ll never happen — at least not in MY house — LOL!!! So happy that you all liked it so well!!! Truthfully, I had a blast with it and can’t wait to do more!!!

A One Sheet Wonder.Paper, ink and nothing more on this set of cards — and I like them! It truly can’t get much more basic than this!!! I haven’t done a One Sheet Wonder in probably 6 - 8 years. I needed to make several thank you notes today and I wanted to use the leaf stamp from First Fruits by Papertrey Ink, so I just thought I’d try a One Sheet Wonder. Here’s the sheet I stamped — it’s a full 8.5 x 11, though it appears to be square, it isn’t.

See that leaf in the lower left with more yellowish tones? That was the first leaf I stamped. I determined I didn’t like that much yellow, so I changed course. But it’ll work into something just fine! To stamp these leaves I used a Spectrum Pad that was from SU, long since retired, called Late November. Love these colors in this pad. I pull it out every fall. I just started stamping in one corner and stamped across the diagonal, repeating my rows until done. It was so pretty I hated to cut into it!!! Here’s the cards I made with it:

Only 3 cards tonight. I’ll finish off the sheet tomorrow, so we can have Part II. Using this amount of the OSW on each card will give me 8 cards from the one full sheet. Not bad!!! And I must say, it was VERY relaxing to sit and stamp that repeated pattern, so much so that I think I may be doing more One Sheet Wonders in the future!!! I especially love stamping with the Spectrum pad — so fun!!! And another thing I love about this set of cards is that they are paper and ink ONLY, nothing more — nothing!!!! That doesn’t happen too often, but I am very pleased with these simple little cards. They were truly fun, and quick, to put together. Here’s a close-up of the oval sentiment, which was done using the Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders:

That leaf image is beautiful to begin with, but isn’t it just so gogeous done with the Spectrum pad? I love it!!! That’s it for tonight — more with my One Sheet Wonder tomorrow!!!

• Supply List

  • Stamps: First Fruits by PapertreyInk

  • Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant

  • Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black, SU retired Spectrum Pad in Late November

  • Accessories: Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders

Thanks so much for checking in again — I truly DO appreciate it so much!!! Thank you!!!

This evening I made a card for our niece’s wedding which will be next Saturday. An October wedding. Her dress is white and her bridesmaids will be wearing brown. The flowers will be in fall colors with leafy accents about, so that’s what I tried to capture. Quite honestly, these colors just were not doing it for me in terms of a wedding card,but afterI decided to add lots of glitz and sparkle, then it seemed to work, and I really do like the end result!!! Here it is:

I’ll take this layer by layer — the bottom layer is stamped with Versa Mark inSU’s background called Print Pattern, embossed with Iridescent Ice. The solidoval is my favorite piece and you can hardly see it under the flowers. It is stamped in Versa Mark and embossed with Iridescent Ice as well, using Baroque Motifs (those gorgeous swirls)! It is framed in a scalloped oval (all done with the Nestabilities). I pierced each scallop, then I kind of rolled the edges over my Versa Mark pad and embossed them with the Iridescent Ice as well. The flowers are Daisy Doodle Primas and the leaf is in a bag from Michaels. Here’s a close-up so you can see all the detail a bit better:

The new couple’s monogram was done with the Special Occasion Monogram Stamper Kit by JustRite. Monogram etiquette dictates that when you monogram the initials of a married couple, the woman’s initial is on the left, the last name is in the center, and the man’s initial is on the right. This is for Maria and Andrew W. The monogram was cut with the Nestabilites again and it is narrowly bordered with a scallop, which was also embossed as above.

There is something I want to explain to you about doing this monogram. I’ve done a lot of monograms with the JustRite products, and I’ve never encountered this before, but I’m sure it is likely to happen again, just depending on the combination of initials used. When I just put my MWA onto the stamper and stamped, it was really off balance. Check these photos to see what I mean:

See the first photo. Letters are on the stamper as usual, and look how it stamps — really off balance. I could not move the M any closer, so I tried to move the A further away, and that kind of worked in this situation as I was NOT using a ring border. If I were going to use a ring border, then it would have been off balance within the border. And if you look closely at the W, you can see the problem. It is kind of off to one side on the rubber because of the huge swirly on its upper tail (real official terms here — LOL!). Anyway, to fix the problem permanently, I just cut away the rubber on the W under that swirly, allowing me to push my M closer in to balance it all out properly.Refer tophoto 2. See hownicely itnow stamped? Easily done, problem solved. And the moral of this story is — IT IS OK TO CUT YOUR RUBBER!!!

• Stamps: Baroque Motifs and Print Pattern by SU. Special Occasions Monogram Stamper Kit by JustRite.

• Paper: PTI White, SU Chocolate Chip.

• Ink: Versa Mark, SU Chocolate Chip.

• Accessories: Petite Oval and Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, SU Corner Rounder, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Chocolate Sheer Ribbon, Daisy Doodle Primas, Leaf from Michaels, Piercer and Mat Pack, Zots, Pop Dots, Mounting Tape

And that’s it for tonight’s project!!! Nice to have my wedding card done almost a week in advance — for me, that’s REAL GOOD!!! LOL!!! Hope you are all off to a good week!!! As always, thank you so much for stopping in!!!

Oops, almost forgot — it is Monday, and that means a sale over at Joan’s Garden — she has lots of fun things, including the Monogram Kit I used today. She also has a blending tool that I’ve never seen before and it sure has peaked my interest — hhhmmm!!!

Today I’d like to share a super quick way to perk up your bathroom! Using purchased shower curtains I made a new window valance alongwith adecorative shower curtain and valance. I spruced upa wall with a stamped item that I made 2 years ago, and I filled the room with the aroma of sweet smelling potpourri!!! My bathroom is sparkling clean, fresh smelling and just calling me to take a long, hot bath with a good magazine!!! I’ll start with the wall decor:

I made this framed item2 years ago as part of a contest being run at the Limited Supply Challenge at SCS on Labor Day weekend. When made there was a small framed piece to coordinate and several cards, but they have all since been given away. This piece has never been used, so I figured it high time it have a place of honor on a wall — and it’s place of honor is, appropriately, above the throne — LOL!!! Actually, this sits on top of the cabinet above the toilet. I made this using SU Petal Prints. You may see the SCS uploads for this piece and all the coordinates here, and here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Next I’ll show you the window valance, and if you can sew 3 straight lines, you can easily make this valance for any window in your house!!! If you can sew on a card, you CAN make this valance. Here it is:

Making this valance is Sew Simple you won’t believe. There is a tutorial at the end of this post.

Next I made a decorative shower curtain and valance. This was really hard to get a decent photo of asdue to the size/location of the shower within the bathroom I could not get far enough away to capture it all, but I hope you get the idea. I use 2 rods to accomplish this. The decorative side panels hang on a double rod. What you do not see is the shower curtain that actually pulls closed when you shower. That is hung on the inside hooks of the rod and is tucked behind the panel on the right. The decorative panels you see do not close. They are there merely for appearance sake. Then a bit above this rod I have a tension rod on which the valance is hung. Instructions will be at the end of this post. Here’s the pic:

This photo of the shower curtain reflects most accurately the true color of my bathroom walls — a very relaxing sort of seafom green. And here’s where the sweet aroma comes in:

Do you recognize the monogrammed gift bag of potpourri from this post the other day? I won’t keep the monogrammed bag of potpourri on my counter as it is a gift item, but I just displayed it here for the photo so you can see how lovely the potpourri looks when contained in clear glass — love the natural and earthy look it brings to the area. And that’s another idea if you want to add a bit more to your gift bag of potpourri — include a beautiful class container for the potpourri!!!

OK, now that’s it for my squeaky clean, sweet smelling bathroom perk me up. On to the instructions. To do my window and shower as pictured, I needed to purchase 3 shower curtains. Shower curtains work perfectly in the bathroom — they are a great weight and texture, they wash, wear and hang well, and all done in prints well suited to a bathroom!!! Your choices really are much narrower than shopping in a fabric store, and that’s a good thing — makes it easier to decide!!! Plus, by using a shower curtain, a lot of the work is already done for you, as you will see below. I got these shower curtains from Shopko. They were $35 each at full price, but I got them on a good sale, which is also a good thing!!!

My Sew Simply trick for today is how I did the window valance. Now, had I just made my curtain using 1 thickness of the shower curtain, hemmed the bottom and made my casing for the top, my curtain would have been rather *see-through*, and I don’t like that. I most often line my curtains so avoid that issue, and I make all my valances so they are self-lined. Basically, I make a tube, resulting in an automatically lined valance. Here’s how:

For the size of my bathroom window, one width of shower curtain works perfectly. Neatly cut the plastic part with the holes for hooks off the top. Measure down and cut so you have a 36″ longpiece. This is what you are working with, and see how your sides hems are aleady done for you? Very cool!!! I’m using a piece of white fabric with black stitches on my examples just so you can easily see.

Photo 1: Bring your raw edges together and sew with about a 1/2″ or 5/8″ seam, thus creating a huge tube.

Photo 2: Iron the seam down against the back side. So what is the back side? Well, on a plain piece of fabric it doesn’t matter. But on a print, you must pay close attention.When making a tube, one side will be the right way, and the other side will be upside down — look at my floral pattern. See how the flowers/stems are the right way — well,the flowers/stems are upside down on the other side.

Photo 3: Turn your tube right side out, so the seam is on the inside. Measure 3″ up from your seam line. This is the TOP of the curtain ruffle. Adjust it all nice and straight so there is a consistent 3″ from the seam line to the top of the curtain. Pin as shown so it’ll stay in place. Now, machine stitch justa hairabove the seam line, or experienced sewers or quilters would stitch-in-the-stitch. Run a second line of stitching 1 1/2″ above this line, which would also be 1 1/2″ from the top. That’s IT. Your sewing is done!!!

Photo 4: Take your valance to the ironing board and press neatly, getting a nice crispedge at the bottom (hem) and top (ruffle). Insert rod, hang, neatly adjust ruffles evenly on rod and admire!!! (That’s the fun part!!!)

Now on to the shower:

This valance was made in a more traditional fashion as I was not concerned about the sun shining through it and making it look too flimsy. There is no light coming from within my shower! To make this I needed 2 widths of the shower curtain sewn together. Start with another new shower curtain, as you won’t have enough with the one you’ve already cut in to. Again, remove the upper plastic band with holes, then cutyour piece23″ long. And cut two pieces that size. Sew them together on the short edges so you have one very long piece.

Rod Pocket and Ruffle: My tension rod is quite thick around, so I needed to make my rod pocket 2″, so I also increased my ruffle to 2″. At the ironing board press under 1/2″ along the top long edge (again, be mindful of the direction of the print pattern). Now fold the top down 4″ and pin in place. Sew down along the pressed edge, and then run another stitching line 2″ up from that, which is also 2″ down from the top. You have just created the rod pocket and top ruffle.

Hem: To hem your shower valance, press up 1/2″ at the ironing board, then turn up 2″ and stitch into place. You are now done!!!

Shower Curtain: To make the decorative side panels I merely cut the 3rd shower curtain straight up the middle and hemmed those cut edges to the same width as the factory sewn edges so they match. You will have 6 holes on top of each for hooks. Hang them up and your projectis completed!!!

I know I’ve strayed a bit from the usual card making posts, but I’ve been cleaning and sewing, so just thought I’d share. I have sewn my entire life, but much LESS so now that I’ve been making cards — LOL!!! Can’t do it all - but I surely do enjoy a small sewing project from time to time, and it is wonderful when I can combine the two!!! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend — see you soon!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop in!!! Just wish I could offer you a cup of coffee — LOL!!!

Keyword ssnotime54 -There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload yourproject at Splitcoastand/or your Blog, anytime at all! You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!)can play as many times as you like!!! The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!! Please link back here.

Todays challenge is2bKrafty with JanineJanine Orchardthat is, our very own KraftyStamp Simply DT member!!! And if you’re not getting it, Janine’s Blog title is 2bKrafty — which she certainly is!!! When I was cruising Janine’s Blog to determine what to pick from her designs for our challenge, I kept seeing Crisp, Fresh and Fun, and there were certain things that were predominant in her work that kept popping up at me. Following is that list, but remember, these are suggestions only of design elements that Janine uses often. You do not have to include all of these on your project, but they are here as a starting point. Please check Janine’s Blog for further inspiration from her gorgeous creations. There’s a lot to see and you WILL be inspired. Here are some ideas to get you in a *krafty* mode, ala Janine:

Colors: Vivid colors that are rich, deep or bright

Overall Feel: Crisp, Fresh and Fun!!!

OK, now let’s get Krafty and see what we all come up with — fun!!

Here’s what our DT did, but if you are viewing this late Thursday night or early Friday morning, please bear with us as everyone is uploading their projects thank you!!!

Check out Julie Koerberssample here.

Check out Dee Jacksons samplehere.

Check out Jennifer Bucks sample here.

Check out Janine Orchards sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershbergers card here.

Check out Becky Oehlers card here.

You can see all Gallery Submissions here.

Arent these girls justFABULOUS!!! Thank you girls!!! Much appreciated!!!

Heres my card for todays challenge:

Still playing with my Inkadinkado stamps — but I just LOVE this adorable snowman — he is so much fun!!! In keeping with the challenge today I used a large focal image, bright pink color, oval shapes, pearls and rhinestones for my embellishments, a small oval sentiment, and I do think the overall feel of this card is Crisp, Fresh andFun!!! At least it surely was FUN making it!!! Her body, hat and scarf are all accented with glitter. Thank you, Janine, for providing us with such inspiring work!!! Much appreciated!!!

This card is also another for the Inkadinkado sketch challenges that Jacksonbelle is running. I think I’m done now!!!

Stamps: Ornate Christmas by Inkadinkado, Small Script by SU

Paper: PTI White, SU Black, Crafty Secrets Radiant Pad

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black. Copics in RV11, Rv17, C1

Accessories: Satin Ribbon, Pearls, Rhinestones, Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Cropadile, Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, SU Corner Rounder, SU Small Oval Punch, Sponge, Mounting Tape

That’s it!!! Hope you can find time to play this week — Janine’s is a fun gallery to go through!!! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!!! Thanks much for stopping in!!!

A boutique gift item? Sure looks like it!!! What fun to change a $4 Wal-mart bag of potpourri (but it does smell delicious!!!) into an item that looks like it came from an expensive boutique!!!This was super quick and easy with the use of 2 items to make this a standout gift — the personalization with a JustRite Monogram Stamper C30 Kitand all that luscious ribbon!!! Take a look:

Isn’t this just so pretty!!! I love it just as much as I loved making it. For this project I used the smaller of the self-inking monogram stampers by JustRite, the C-30. In all my past projects using the self-inker I have used the C-45, which is the same size as all the original round wood stampers. But today I wanted a monogram a bit smaller, so the C-30 was the perfect choice at 1 3/16″. I have never used my C-30 before, and as it came with a double sided pad that was filled with black ink on one side and empty on the other, I decided to fill the empty side with SU Handsome Hunter ink. I have had great success using the SU ink refills in all my pads for the self-inking stampers by JustRite. Here’s a series of pictures to show you how easily it is done:

Photo 1 shows the ink pad with no ink on the side you are seeing. The other side has the black ink from the factory. I took the pad out of the C-30 to ink it up. Photo 2 shows you how I have begun to fill the pad with drops of ink. It saturates in quite quickly, but if it beads up, just wait a few seconds and keep going until your pad appears to be evenly saturated with ink, as shown in photo 3. Now, I’ve heard it said that you are supposed to wait a bit for the ink to evenly saturate and settle before using your stamper; however, I haven’t really found that to be necessary when using the SU ink refills. I usually stamp within a couple minutes. The first 2 or 3 images may be splotchy, but they clear up immediately!!! On this stamp today, my S was not accepting the ink evenly, so that told me that it needed to be conditioned, or roughed up a bit to give the rubber some tooth to better hold onto the ink. I just went over it with a pencil eraser very quickly, and that did the trick. However, on some of the larger stamps with more surface area to cover with ink, it may be necessary to condition with something a bit more rough. Just realize if ink is beading up on your rubber, you need to condition your rubber to give it a bit more tooth. And as far as actually using your C-30, it works just like the C-45. Taylor over at Taylored Expressions has prepared a perfect video to show you how to do this if you aren’t familiar, and you can see Taylors video here.

Once my Monogram was stamped, I used all punches on this project, making it super quick and easy. The monogram itself was punched with the SU 1 1/4″ punch, the matting was punched with the SU 1 3/8″ punch, and the scallop was punched with the SU round scallop punch. After adhering all layers together, I pierced the scallops. The small yellow punch is my Deco Corner punch by All Night Media. I can’t even tell you how old this punch is — I think it was one of the first I ever purchased when I began to stamp maybe 10 years ago. I used it to punch the corners. If you have any of those great new Spellbinders dies, those would work wonderfully for a project such as this!!! Here’s a closeup of the monogram:

And all that great ribbon is my new favorite, 1.5″ wide grosgrain by May Arts. Don’t you just love it!!! Here’s a close up of the card, which is 3.5″ wide x 4 high. Such a fun project!!! See how the ribbon is wrapped around the card?

• Stamps: Monogram Stamper C-30 Kit by JustRite

• Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter, Crafty Secrets Earthy Pad

• Ink: SU Handsome Hunter

• Accessories: May Arts Ribbon, SU Taffeta, SU Brads, Mounting Tape, Piercer and Mat Pack, SU Punches: 1 1/4″, 1 3/8″, Scallop. All Night Media Deco Corner Punch.

Thank you so much for stopping in to look!!! I’ll be back tomorrow with all the Stamp Simply Designers with another fun challenge!!! Hope to see you then!!! Have a great day!!!

I used this ornate snowman by Inkadinkado on a double challenge card this evening. I combined today’s color challenge at SCS, Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze, with another of Jacksonbelle’s sketch challenges requiring the use of Inka stamps. I have 3 new sets of Inka stamps, so I’m having fun with Lindsey’s challenges!!! Here is tonight’s card:

I followed the sketch exactly, but as I needed, and wanted, more room, I changed it up to a 5.5″ card. Can you see what I did — I do this ALL the time. I started my card as a standard A-2 size, which is the blue DP framed in black. I then realized that as my main imagewas so largeI wanted more room, so I cut a card base to 5.5″ square, just plopped my original work for the A-2 size onto the larger square card, and was good to go. That gave me room to add my sentiment circle and the nice wide ribbon I wanted to use. I just used the little snowflake stamp from the set to fill in the dead space along the right border. And if I didn’t tell you, I’ll bet you’d never know this started as an A-2 sized card!!! Good thing to remember — it works like a charm and is truly a life saver many times over, for me anyway!!!

My image is colored with the above copics, nothing fancy, but I was pleased to be able to acheive the colors I was after for this color challenge with my limited supply of Copics. And my sentiment was done with the JustRite Monogram Stamper, the Curlz Starter Kit which includes the Curlz Font and Wood Stamper and the Small Letter Kit. And I wanted to show it toyou because if you will notice, I used theWORDS ONLYthis time. I did not use the outer border. This gives much more flexibility as to size and shape you may want. By omitting the border I was able to to get just the size I needed to fit onto this card. And, luck was with me for once (LOL), as these words were still on my stamper from the last card I made using the Curlz font!! And you know what I decided, since I have several of this size stamper, I am just going to leave this *Let it Snow* saying on this stamper as I KNOW I’ll be using it again and again on both snowman and snowflake cards I plan to make in the months to come!!! That just makes sense, doesn’t it?

Stamps: Ornate Christmas by Inkadinkado, Curlz Starter Set by JustRite and Small Letter Setby JustRite

Paper: SU Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and SU DPs: Urban Garden and Green Tea

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, and Copics in B21, B95, YG95, C1.

Accessories: May Arts 1.5 Grosgrain Ribbon, SU Slot Punch, Rhinestones, Pearls, Mounting Tape, Pop Dots, Nestabilities by Spellbinders in Classic Rectangle, Petite Circle and Petite Oval.

And I guess thats it once again. I did get all my kitchen windows washed today and 14 qts. of applesauce made, so it was a good day. Tomorrow I want to tackle the bathroom do the window, which also involves making a new valance and shower curtain and valance there as well. Hope I get it all done!!! I hope you are all having a productive and fun week, too!!! Thanks much for stopping in!!!

Oh, and before I leave, just wanted to say I saw a new Blog today for the first time. She hasn’t been blogging long, but I was just awestruck by the exquisite beauty andmeticulous workmanship of each and every project on her Blog — YES, I went through them all!!! Thought you might enjoy taking a look, too!!! Her name is Deb and her Blog is My Muse. See you all tomorrow!!!

I picked up this Birthday Cupcake set by Inkadinkado this past weekend and I love it — if you can believe, it is my FIRST nicely sized cupcake stamp — too funny, I am always the LAST to get with the program and the trends — LOL!!! Anyway, since I’ve been enjoying my new Inka sets and since Jacksonbelle is running a sketch challenge for Inka stamps, I thought I’d do another. Here’s the link to the sketch, which is at Lynda Benden’s Blog – a GREAT blog to browse if you haven’t been there before!!! Filled with beautiful creations.

Fun card to make. I used some old DP that I have always loved (from Michaels), colored my cupcake with Copics, glitzed it up with some new Martha Stewart glitter in a purple shade, pierced my scallop border, used the Martha Stewart Lace punch, added ribbons, a flower and called it done!!! I did not include a sentiment. Although this is a Birthday set, I really could use this card for other purposes, so to be safe, I left off any sentiment. I like options when the cards are just going to be left here for my future use. I’ll adjust it to my needs when the time arises.

Stamps: Birthday Cupcake by Inkadinkado

Paper: PTI White, SU Barely Banana and Basic Gray, DP by Making Memories

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copics to Color

Accessories: Martha Stewart Lace Punch and Glitter, Glue Pen, May Arts Ribbon, Wal-Mart Flower, Petite Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, SU Piercer and Mat Pack, SU Brad, Mounting Tape

That wraps it up for this post — just a quick one. I have a lot of company coming and am starting a window washing project, so, well — you know how that goes!!! Got all my kitchen curtains washed today so I hope to finish the kitchen tomorrow. Hope you are having a good week!!!

Making this little 3 x 3 was purely fun tonight!!! I always love doing 3 x 3’s — they are *sew* quick and the canvas is *sew* tiny — I consider them just a delight to do!!! And tonightI used this tiny little image from a Crafty Secrets set called Glamour Girls. Bear in mind when you look at this picture that the entire card is only 3x 3, to give you some perspective on the size of the main image!!! And, as you can tell, I chose to dig into my sewing cabinets tonight and use some sewing notions to adorn this lovely, but apparently greedy, lady — LOL!!! But gee, doesn’t she sound like the lot of us!!!! Hereshe is:

She is colored with Copics, cut and embossed with a Rectangle Nestability Die, mounted on a scrap of fabric cutwith regular old-fashioned dressmaker pinking shears (kind of unheard of since the advent of the Sergers), and further adorned with buttons, pearls, a safety pin, a common pin, a crystal bead and tulle. That’s it — digging in my sewing cabinets, pulling out what looked like it might work! There are 4 tiny images like this in this set. I’d like to make a coordinating 3 x 3 from each stamp and have a set — what fun!!! But, only time for 1 tonight!!! (Oh, and that little smudge by her ear has since been fixed — the glory of the Copic Colorless Blender!!!) And I do have 2 scored lines across the top, that I easily did on my Scor-It Mini, but they don’t show up in this photo, though they do add a nice touch IRL!!!

Stamps: Glamour Girls by Crafty Secrets

Paper: PTI White

Ink: Brilliance Black, Copics in E000, R50, R20, R11, B21, 0.

Accessories: Safety Pin, Common Pin, Buttons, Pearls, Crystal Bead, Pinking Shears, Cropadile, Mounting Tape, Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Tulle, Glue Dots, Scor-It Mini, Fabric Scrap.

And, coincidentally (LOL) Joan has this set in her Every Monday Sale today, so if you’d like to see a picture of it and check on what else she has, just stop in at Joan’s Garden for some fun viewing!!!

Thanks so much for stopping in!!! We are promised nice weather, so keeping my fingers crossed. Wishing you all a wonderful new week!!! I’ll be back tomorrow!!!

I was gone for only 2 days, but I’ve been trying to play catch up since getting back home. I’ll post my card first and there will be announcements at the end of the post, so scroll down. I’m a day late posting my Dirty Girl Challenge card, but here it is. Each month on the 20th the Dirty Girls, current and alumni, run a challenge amongst themeselves and this month the challenge was to make a 1 layer card (no other paper, no DP, no nothing, just your base card), you HAD to mask and there could be NO pink. Doing 1 layer cards is so NOT my thing, I struggle with that, but here’s my attempt:

This picture does not do these pinecones justice. They are truly beautiful IRL and I could not capture that on camera. They are covered with sparkly snow and really grab the eye! To make them I stamped the pinecone in the forground first, with Versa Mark, and then embossed with copper embossing powder. I then masked this pinecone, stamped the 2nd pinecone and embossed. I then masked BOTH pinecones and stamped my boughs. To finish off the pinecones I filled in the white space by coloring with abrown marker, dabbing up the markerink that would bead up on top of the embossing with a paper towel. I then put my snow on top using Liquid Applique and I sprinkled it withDazzling Diamonds before heating it up to puff it up.

Even this close-up view of the pinecones doesn’t do them justice — I just can’t capture the tremendous sparkle — I NEED photography lessons — LOL!!! Anyway, to finish off the cardI applied Versa Mark to the edges, direct to paper, and copper embossed. I then added the ribbon, and I did something here that I typically do NOT care to do. I cut a slit in the top of the card to run the ribbon through. It works fine, but I don’t ususally care to do it. Had I known when I started that I would run my ribbon this way, I would have made this card a side fold, allowing me to wrap the ribbon in this fashion without cutting into the card. Just my preference!

• Stamps: Retired SU DD Pinecones and Season by Season

• Paper: PTI White

• Ink: Versa Mark, Versa Fine Onyx Black, SU Handsome Hunter, SU Chocolate Chip Marker

• Accessories: Copper Embossing Powder, Liquid Applique, Dazzling Diamonds, 1.5″ May Arts Ribbon

Now, on to the announcements: Here are the winners of the last few Blog Candy posts that were chosen over the weekend. All Blog Candy posts now have been drawn and winners posted.

Blog Candy #18 isCLOSED,winner is Cindy H click hereand scroll down to the bottom of the post. (JustRite Christmas Ensemble with Stamper III)

Blog Candy #17 isCLOSED, winner is MaryC click hereand scroll to the bottom of the post. (JustRite Special Occasions Monogram Set)

Blog Candy #15 isCLOSED,winner is Natasha T click hereand scroll to the bottom of the post. (Scor-It Mini with Tote)

Blog Candy #14 isCLOSED, winner is Denise click here. (Kitchen Sink New Release Stamp Set)

And the winner drawn to be the Stamp Simply Guest Designer for the month of November was Cathy Tidwell, a/k/a catdidit. Huge Congrats! Cathy!!! It’ll be so much fun to work with you. Here’s a link to Cathy’s Blog.

And on Sunday (it is late Saturday night as I post this) Carolyn King, a/k/a Cammie has big doings going on at her Blog, all to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. I am abit lacking for proper details as her post isn’t up yet, but please go on over to Cammie’s Blogto see if she had it up yet. Lots of fun to be had with prizes to win, all fora very worthy cause. Please give Cammie and her cause your support — click here. Thanks! (Editing:Cammie’s post is up — OH MY GOODNESS — this is the BIGGEST BLOG CANDYPACKAGE OF ALL TIME!!!!)

Now, about those little dress boxes I posted a week or so ago, see them here. I’ve been receiving a lot of requests as to where to get those boxes or the template. Well, they are cut on an AccuCut using an AccuCut die. Some scrapbook stores may have an AccuCut, so you could check in your local area. Here is the AccuCut site so you know what I’m talking about. Taylor, over at Taylored Expressions, has these cut for you and available for purchase — click here to see them.

OK, I think that’s it for tonight!!! I got some new things on my shopping trip — quite a few more items from the $ Bin at Michaels to alter, plus a few other fun things, so hope to have something to interest you during the week ahead!!! Wishing you a great Sunday!!! Thanks so much for stopping in!!!