Flower Garden

So I learned something new. This I think is called sanded embossing. I ran Paisley Petals designer paper through Big Shot using Flower Garden embossing folder. Then I sanded down the raised edges to remove the designer paper from them. Next I used Tangerine Tango, and Pumpkin Pie markers to color in the flower, and Old Olive to color in the leaves/stem.

Other things used: scallop border punch, ribbon, Tangerine Tango cardstock. Word stamp came from Happy Greetings.

I made some changes to my blog. Please see the side bar under Labels. You'll be able to search my blog under few different categories.
Also have listed the top 5 blog posts in the past 30 days. One other feature is shown at the very bottom of the blog page. Its a video feed. You can click on any of the videos to see ideas about the Big Shot and StampinUp! Hope this helps you enjoy my blog even more. Special thanks to Mary Nunaey for teaching a Blogger class yesterday morning to the VC Rockers list. This really helped me a lot!!!


We went to the drive in last night and saw Cowboys ad Aliens. AWESOME!!!!!



Stamping Trails
Karen

Christmas Journal

I found these natural journals at a local craft store. They were .50 each. Couldn't pass that up. Since I've been doing Christmas crafts at the end of the very hot July I decided I needed a book to jot down all my holiday details. Might actually keep on track this season! Book is 4" x 5 1/2" Pages inside are blank. Wish they had lines, but I'll cope without them!

Inked Christmas Collage with Soft Suede for the cover. Inked "25" with Cherry Cobbler and stamped on Vanilla cardstock, and punched with 1 3/4 circle punch. Inked the wreath around the 25 with Always Artichoke stamped on the same color cardstock and punched with large scallop circle punch. Santa Post was also used for the upper right corner. Added Cherry Cobbler seam binding and a scrap of Victoria trim. Round tab punch used for dividers.

And guess what????????? I stamped two of these yesterday so I have one to offer up for Blog CANDY. Just leave me a comment and tell me what is your favorite Christmas song. I'll drawn a winner on Tuesday. Good Luck!!



Here you can see the inside of the book with the different colored tabs.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Medallion Christmas Card

For those who asked for a peek....Here is my card for Christmas 2012. I used Medallion, and Christmas Collage background stamps.

Stamped Christmas Collage with Crumb Cake ink. Then inked Medallion with Crumb Cake and used sponges to add Cherry Cobbler, and Early Espresso to the stamp. Added a little pearl bead in the center of the Medallion and Cherry Cobbler seam binding. Very simple card, but I think its pretty stunning.

July is coming to a close. Don't know where the summer is going to but it is going. We should have the next 3 months of warm weather before November comes and the cold starts. Not looking forward to that. For now just planning to enjoy the warmth. It was 90 yesterday. Hot and humid..and you know what? I'm not complaining.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Harvest

I went through the garden yesterday morning and harvested some crops. The tomatoes are starting to turn. Not quick enough for me. These won't be ready for a few more days, but they will get ripe sitting on the table. Skip is worried that as soon as the tomatoes get ripe they will start to split or the bugs will get at them. Also got a ton of cucumbers, a few green peppers, zucchini, basil, and cilantro. YUM!!!!

I waited all day yesterday for "Mr. Brown". Good Grief!!!! The package was suppose to arrive early on Wednesday, but he let me down....didn't get here till 6 pm. Guess I'll be playing with my new stuff today. I did get some swaps finished. I'll post those later.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Christmas Card for the Year

Someone from the Rockers group asked me to share my Christmas card for this season. So here it is. Stamp set Tags Till Christmas, Sincere Salutations. Cardstock Real Red, Vanilla, designer paper Paisley Petals. Used bird builder punch to make the cardinal. Just had to trim the bird body a bit to make it look like a cardinal.

If you can keep it hush hush I'll share this with you....my Christmas cards for 2012 are also finished. Oh the stamping you can do when you don't have a day job.



I was so surprised while weeding the garden the other day....we have watermelons growing on the vines. How cool is that! This is the first year we have tried to grow them so I'm hoping they will do well.


I'll be watching for the man in brown today. I have an order coming in from Stampin'Up!. Its my demo kit! Yes that is right I'm a demo once again for SU.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Christmas in July.....going strong

A better question for this card would be.....what didn't I use on it? I have a lot going on here. Lets start with colors used...Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Pear Pizzazz, Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, and Very Vanilla. Stamp sets: Winter Post, and Lovely as a Tree. Skaters were stamped with Basic Black then water colored. Mask was used before stamping the trees in the background. I painted on some Crystal Effects on the bottom part to make it look like ice. Then I didn't like it so I painted Smooch over it. Along the tree line I added some Dazzling Diamond glitter.



If you look closely at the skaters hat bands, and the girl's cuffs, and collar you will see some "fuzzy" stuff. Thanks to my friend Kat for giving me this idea. I took Vanilla cardstock and grated it with my cheese grater to make "fluff" It sort of looks like Flower Soft. I used a bit of Tombo Liquid glue to adhere it.



I thought this card needed a good embellishment to finish it off. I took 16 inches of Cherry Cobbler seam binding pulled a center thread from it to gather it, then rolled it around a craft pick to form the rose. Leaf is from Bird Builder punch. Also used 1", 1 1/4, and 1 3/8 circle punches.

So what do you think? Is this a bit over the top? Love to get your feedback on it.

Stamping Trails
Karen

More Christmas in July

Yup its still hot here so I decided to make more Christmas stuff. This can be used either as a gift card holder, or greeting card. The bottom is a piece of designer paper cut 6x9 and scored at 3 3/4, 7, then turned 90 degrees and scored again at 1 inch. I didn't have any current Christmas designer paper by SU so I looked at what I did have on hand Paisley Petals, and thought that the green sheet looked pretty Christmasy so I went with that. Top is made with the Top Note die folded in half. You can see the word stamp very well in the pic. Cardstock is Cherry Cobbler stamped with Early Espresso. Word stamp from Heard from the Heart set.



Inside card is stamped using deer from Winter Post. After the layers were put together I used the tab punch on the top. This is just a cute little design. Not mine I used Andrea's video to make it. If you'd like to make one you can see the tutorial here

Stamping Trails
Karen

Christmas Card in July

Since its been so hot this week I decided to try to cool off my making a Christmas card. Well it worked for a little while...at least till I had to go outside again.

Stamp set: Winter Post, and Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, and Pink Pirouette
Accessories: 2 3/8 scallop circle punch, Early Espresso 1/4 grosgrain ribbon, Stampin write markers: Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Texturz Plates Backgrounds 1, Big Shot, sponge, and Decorative Label punch.

Click on the image for larger view. You'll be able to see the Texturz backgrounds better.



I put Whisper White on inside since Early Espresso is to dark to write on. I like the Pink Pirouette with this card. Gives it a Victorian feel.


Skip took me to see Captain America in 3D. OMG it is such a good movie. And best of all The Avengers will be out next year. Can't wait for that movie.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Clean Up Finished

We did the clean up in the driveway from the tree. Thankfully the driveway didn't crack from the weight of the tree falling on it. Skip still has to cut down the rest of the tree but all the branches are off now so it shouldn't be to bad. The hard part is finished. He would have finished the job yesterday, but we got hit with some unexpected thunder/rain storm.

I wanted happy pics for my blog today so I took some photo's of flowers blooming now.
Above is Zinnias


red lillies



purple glads



Wait a minute...how did this picture get in here. Burbank is not a flower. He's a cat. A very hot cat trying beat the heat yesterday by laying in the wet grass.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Missed it by that Much!

So Skip has been working on cutting down the tree all week. Yesterday was the hottest day in the past 16 years. We didn't mess with it during the day. John and my nephew Corbett helped him and at about 9:35 pm they managed to top the tree. One little problem....It didn't fall the way it was suppose to. Instead of landing in the grass across the front lawn it fell on the driveway. And as you can see by one of the pics it missed the lamp post by a mere few inches. Since it was dark and late he couldn't run the chain saw anymore. We will continue to clear out the driveway this morning. We are hoping that the crash of the tree didn't put a dent in the driveway. I'll keep you posted.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Blog Candy Winners

Thanks for the great comments ladies. Here are the winners selected at random


Wendy Cranford
Carey Rogers
Patrice H
Carolyn Sharkas
Debbie Peterson


Congrats! Please email your snail addresses to me so I can get these in the mail
clar42ie@yahoo.com


Stamping Trails
Karen

Tree Cutting Time

Talk about a crazy week. Skip decided to cut down the Sugar Gum tree in our front yard. It wouldn't be so bad but this week has been one of the hottest weeks of the summer. Temps in the upper 90's. Today it is suppose to reach 97 with heat index above 100. YIKES!!!! He has been cutting several branches a day then we have been pulling them to the back yard and stacking them in the woods behind our house. I can't tell you how much sweat has rolled down my face. WHEW!!!

Not to much time for stamping. I took mom-in-law Kate to her eye doctor appointment yesterday. Then took her to the bank and to the grocery store. Later today we are picking her up for an early dinner. Don't think we will be cutting any more on the tree today.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Fun with Paper T-Shirts-BLOG CANDY

Since its been hot and humid here I've been getting up early and taking a morning bike ride. A few days ago I rode the bike to Rite-Aide and found myself in there dollar bin section. I came across these fun T-shirt post-it notes. Course I had to get a few packs as I knew I could do something with them.



I started out just stamping images, then I got to thinking don't lots of T's have messages on them? Light bulb went off. Good thing it did as we had a bit of a storm and lost powder for a bit. Any way....I used Smarty Pants, and Sage Advise for some of the sayings. Other stamped used, Flower Fest, Bliss,and Vintage Vogue.



Here you can see what the post-it note holders look like when opened. Yes I even stamped some of the notes. What a cool find! So if you have a Rite-Aide near you check it out. You may find some of these fun shirts.

Don't want to make your own? I have 5 to give away. I'm keeping the John Lennon saying, but the others are up for grabs. Leave a comment and let me know which one you'd like and you just might win! I'll pick the winners Thursday morning.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Old Set

I was going through my stamps the other day and stumbled across Sketches. I loved this set and made many cards with it when it came out years ago by SU. Sadly like lots of my stamps they sit on a shelve or in a tote collecting the very best "vintage" dust my crafting studio can produce. I just didn't have the heart not to make a card with this one.

Colors used: Pear Pizzazz, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, and Jet Black. I added some SU designer paper, heart white paper doily, prima flowers, and a new punch I got from the Martha Stewart line called infinite loops trim.

Cookout yesterday went well. Sarah and Jason came over. Mom-in-Law wasn't feeling well enough so she stayed at home. Everyone missed her. I'll be spending some time with her this week. Hopefully she will get back on track soon.

We are getting a new patio. Not sure I'm going to be happy with the design or layout, but I'm going to keep and open mind and trust hubby on this one. Work should begin in a few weeks. I'll keep you posted and take some before, during and after pics. I'm hoping to get a fire pit. I'll see if I can get that worked in to the plan. That would be cool.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Nature Walk Mirror

I had some little hand mirrors that I purchased from Hollo's years ago...anyway I got them out yesterday and was just playing around to see what I could come up with. I used Brilliance Dew Drop ink by Tsukineko for all the stamping. I heat set the ink then wasn't sure if it would still stay on so I inked the art with VersaMark and added clear embossing powder. I still wasn't sure about the finish so I put a coat of Mod Podge over that. After that dried I wanted a border so I sponged Timber Brown StazOn around the outer edges. Seems like a lot to do for a little mirror but I happy with the results. The bird shows up better when you till the mirror a bit his under body was inked with Pearl Beige so it is a lighter ink. The Dew Drops are so pretty! Bought them some time ago when they were on sale at Joann's and I don't think I've use them. Shame on me I know!

Stamping Trails
Karen

Box Kite Card

I made this card for a Make and Take for the VC Rockers Group. It posted today so I thought I would post it on my blog as well. Pretty easy to make.

Supplies:
Cardstock cut 1 Tangerine Tango for back of card 4 ¼ x 5 ½, score this piece in half at 2 1/8
Cardstock for front cut 2 Tangerine Tango at 4 ¾ x 1 ½, Score each piece at ¼ from each end, and
also score each front piece in the center at 2 3/8
Stamps, sample used Flower Fest
Ink, sample used Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, an Eary Espresso
½ wide strips of window sheet
Snail adhesive

Directions:
Decorate front pieces as desired. In the sample I used Paisley Petals designer paper cut 4 ¼ x ¾ and then scored in half. Adhered the designer paper to the front pieces.
Attach the front pieces to the back by adhering the ¼ tabs on the front pieces to the back piece at both the top and bottom of the box kite.
On scrap cardstock stamp images and cut out.
Adhere window strip to back of stamped images then adhere other end to the back top of the box kite.
Card will fold flat to mail


Turns out Mom in Law Kate didn't have a heart attack. The results of the testing show she has 20% blockage which is good for a woman her age. She is back at home now. Talked to her yesterday and she seems like her old self. Skip will be bringing her over to our house for a cookout tomorrow. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.


Stamping Trails
Karen

Bottle Cap Magnets

Made these yesterday evening. Thanks to Kat for supplying the idea. She recently went to a class and one of the projects was bottle cap magnets. Started with a normal bottle cap (you can purchase these at the craft store), and ran it rough side up through the Big Shot. You'll need both plates and the platform. For the platform lift up both tab 1 and tab two. The Big Shot will flatten out the cap. Used the bee from Nature Walk on Daffodil Delight cardstock. I also used Flower Fold to cut out the flowers. Not sure If I like the Daffodil or Cherry Cobbler flowers better. I didn't have a clear dome to cover up the bee so I used Crystal Effects. After all the gluing was finished I spritzed the flower with Vanilla Smooch Spritz.


Skip's mom had a heart attack Wednesday evening. At first they thought she was just dehydrated but after running some tests on Thursday doctors stated it was a heart attack. They have moved her to the Cleveland Clinic where more test will be run today to check out the damaged and to see what caused the attack.

I'll keep you updated.

Stamping Trails
Karen

More Garden Pics

Roma Tomatoes




Oregano



Basil




Hot Peppers



Green Peppers





Cucumbers.


Stamping Trails
Karen

Vintage?

I was recently in a few swaps on the VC Rockers group, and I wanted to share some of the projects. Matchbox Dresser, and Flower Milk carton. Items were prepped but mailed un-assembled. I took some time yesterday afternoon to put them together.



The flower on top of the dresser was made the same way I made the flowers for the watering can I posted on Saturday. Only this one was made with the scallop circle punch. After it was finished I sprayed it with Smooch Spritz.



I'll start off by saying that overall I trust the PO to deliver my mail unharmed. But sometimes things happen. Kat sent me this card and I had to show you the condition it arrived in. Looks like it was dropped in the mud, dried then run though the machine. When I showed it to Skip he said that the mail didn't damage the card.....Kat was just doing some antiquing. Had to stop and laugh at that remark. What do you think Kat? It does look sort of....whats the word......"VINTAGE"



Love the card Kat. I know this is just a once in a while mishap by the PO. Don't stop sending those cards my way!

Stamping Trails
Karen

More Pictures of DC

Didn't have time to stamp yesterday so I'm posting a few more pictures of the DC trip. On the last night there we found this cool BBQ place. Great rhythm and blues songs playing, and the food was great! I'm sure it was bad for me, but hey I was on vacation. I had fried catfish, hushpuppies, and fries. Skip of course had the BBQ ribs. They had photos of rhythm and blues players. I liked this pic of Jake and Elwood from the Blues Brothers.



I couldn't get over the pigs playing guitars. LOL Click on the pic to get a larger view of them pigs.



While waiting for our tour bus I couldn't help but feed the pigeons. They came right up and took the crackers from my hand.




The Korean Memorial was so peaceful. I got some time to reflect on that war and the soldiers that died. One of which was my Uncle Glen Boothe. I didn't realize when I took the one photo that you could see our reflections in the monument.





We also stopped by the Reagan Building and had lunch before going on to visit the White House. Had to snap a photo of the donkey and elephant.

Stamping Trails
Karen

Some Pictures of DC

Just sharing a few pics today. I'm still recovering from the trip. It was long and hot. My car didn't have air conditioning and the ride was pretty sticky. Did lots of walking and stressed out my already injured knee. This was taken on top of the Lincoln Memorial this is the back of the monument. Love the horses at the top of the bridges.



This one is at the WWII memorial.



Front view of the Lincoln Memorial. We were both really bummed out as the Reflecting Pool had been drained. Tour guide said the pool was leaking so it needed to be drained for repair. Looked pretty ugly without the water.



I don't remember where this one was taken, but we liked the arches.

More later

Stamping Trails
Karen