State Swap from Kay

I got some goodies in the mail from Kay Hadley. 

She got my name for the VC Rockers state swap, and

I'm so glad she did. 

Love the plastic frame note holder. The saying on it fits me

(and a lot of other crafter's I know who shall remain nameless, but

you know who you are!). I could shop everyday for the rest of my life and 

still find some crafty thing to buy! 

The card is just beautiful! Love the fun fold cards! 

Yum caramel pecans. 

And to my friends down in TX (I have quite of few of them)

Do you think I can grow the bluebonnets here with these seeds?

I might try to next spring. 

Oh and the peppermint oats soap smells so good! 

Kay also made me a mini legal pad holder. I had to laugh as

I've been making them like crazy for friends and people I've been 

swapping with, but I didn't make myself one. So thanks Kay!

Kay also shared a giggle....she got the idea for the mini legal pad from my blog! 

Small world, and thanks for reading my blog! 

 

 

I've been sharing some of the stuff I made Carolyn for the 

state swap. She posted a pic of everything, so I thought I'd

share that here too. 

Stamping trails

Karen

July and August Paper Pumpkin Alternates

So I've been playing around with some alternate ideas for July's,

 

and August paper pumpkin kits. 

 

I looked at the large gem gift and I saw a fish.

 

The fishing pole I made by wrapping a pencil with washi tape. 

 

The greeting stamp says best wishes, but I omitted the w and added a F

 

to make it fishes. 

 

 

I used parts of the smaller gem box to make the fins. 

The hook is a small paper clip. 

I used some texture designer paper for the layer, and used the small

gem box to make the elegant trees. 

This card is from the August kit. I was so happy when I opened 

the kit as I love the colors, the stamps are great too. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Mailable Monday #166

I made this card while my friend Kat was here. 

She wanted me to show her how to make a defusser for

embossing folders. 

 

You can visit this blog post for a tutorial. 

I have to laugh at myself, because when I was showing her how

I didn't do it right, but then I remembered I put the tutorial

on the blog and went back to re-vist it before I showed her how to do it

correctly. 

Well even though I don't want it to snow any this season (with the exception

of just a bit of snow for Christmas), I do like this jolly snowman. Makes me

feel warm.....it really does since it's been in the 90's here! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Notebooks with Shaker Clips

Recently I participated in a state swap, and one of the things

I made was this Ohio Star quilt block notebook. 

To make the block look like it was quilted I 

ran the white pieces through the Darice quilt embossing folder. 

Broke out the Fuse Tool to make the little paper clip shaker. 

How cute is that. Carolyn already received her box and she let me

know she was very happy with it. 

And while Kat was here we made this musical notebook for our friend Ceil. 

 

Stamped with an old and fun stamp set "all that jazz" 

 

 

Inside shows the bookmarks. 

 

 

And look another paperclip shaker. The musical notes

in this were made with a mini punch. I was lucky to find

some sequin sheets at Pat Catan's and was able to punch them. 

Sarah is stopping by today. Going to do lunch and send her

home with some veggies! 

Check these out! Skip picked two baskets full of tomatoes yesterday. 

I froze a lot of them, but still have lots left. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Hello Fall....but it's still Summer!

Yes I know its still Summer, but as soon as the kids head

back to school I start dreaming of Fall. 

It is my favorite season and I just can't help myself! 

Stamp sets: Work of Art, Lovely as a Tree, and For All Things. 

First I misted a watercolor panel with water. 

Next I inked up the stamp with Crushed Curry and stamped. 

It was then followed with Cajun Craze (clean before re-inking),

Always Artichoke, and Elegant Eggplant. 

After the stamping was done I misted again with water just

to move the ink around. Used the heat tool to dry it off. 

Trees were inked with Jet Black StayOn. 

 

The solid wood element was inked with the same color inks before

attaching to the card.

Stamping trails

Karen

Mini Crazy Birds go to Paris for Coffee

Now isn't this just too cute!!!!!

I got a set of mini Crazy Birds at Michael's. By using

a 50% off coupon the set only came to 10.00. It came with

three birds and framlits, and also came with some greetings, 

and embossing folder. 

The embossing folder used is by Darice. When I saw it

at Pat Catan's I knew right away I wanted to use it with the mini birds. 

Here they sit together in Pairs on chairs enjoying a cup of coffee. 

Here is what the embossing folder looks like. 

Since I don't have mini accessories to go with the mini birds

I used the ones that go with the larger birds. They work just fine. 

I think it makes it cuter that the hats at just a tad bit to big. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Halloween Pocket Letter

I had fun on Monday making this Halloween Pocket Letter. 

I used Tim Holtz 8x8 Halloween designer paper. 

The mini pocket letter made by making 9 pockets in one trading card size sleeve. 

I went back and forth about using cardstock to back the mini pocket but then

decided to leave it clear. 

Close up of one of the pockets. I used the witch hat

from Tim Holtz Crazy Bird accessories to put on the old lady. Oops I meant 

on the "witch" 

I really like the undertaker wagon and wanted use it, but 

since it was larger than one of the pockets I had to layer it

and cut it to fit into two pockets. Works for me! 

One of the elements that is going in the back of a pocket. I made

this while Kat was here she was helping me out. I used the Fuse Tool

to make a little shaker to go over a paper clip. How cool is that? 

Stamping trails

Karen

Happy Mail from Ceil

I got happy mail yesterday!

Special thanks to my friend Ceil for 

sending me this very elegant card. 

Not only is it pretty on the outside, its beautiful on the inside! 

She also sent me this die. Love it! 

I had to play with it yesterday afternoon. 

This is the embossing folder by Darice that I used with the card. I picked

it up while me and Kat were shopping over the weekend. 

Another card I made using the negative image. I just

added a bit of designer paper to the back before layering it on the base card. 

Thanks again Ceil!!!! Happy mail is wonderful! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Vintage Pocket Letter

This is a pocket letter swap I received 

from Julie. 

Like the vintage theme. 

I've been working on some Halloween pocket letters that I'll

be posting later this week. 

Was bummed out yesterday as my friend Kat left heading back to 

TX. She had some bad luck on the road and got a flat tire. Since

she has had nothing but back luck on this trip I told her next time

she'll have to fly. Love ya Kat! Hope you have no more trouble on the last

of the drive today. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Mailable Monday #165

Well I tell you.....a card couldn't get any easier than this. 

I just used two different washi tapes with

a greeting stamped in the black space between them. 

Love the Just a Note greeting with the musical note tapes. 

Best travels to my friend Kat who is on her way home. 

We had a blast, and it was wonderful having her stay for the weekend. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Up Cycling with a Bike

I stopped by Hallmark last week to pick 

up some buckeye candy to send to a friend that I'm 

doing a state swap with, and while I was checking out

the clerk gave me a card with a coupon for 40% off an order in September. 

Here is what the card looked like. Not even done on cardstock. It was

printed out on glossy paper. I really

like the bike and knew right away that it was destine to up-cycled to

better things. 

So I first fussy cut the bike out. 

Next I inked up the woodland embossing folder with Crumb Cake ink,

and ran a piece of matching carstock through it. 

I sponged the edges before adhering the

bike to the bottom part of the panel. 

Journey was stamped on a scrap of cream cardstock with

Early Espresso ink and sponged. 

Attached it to the card with a piece of washi tape. 

The completed panel was then attached to a white base card. 

Really happy with how this one turned out. 

Just love to up-cycle! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Cruisin with Colors VC Rocks Blog Hop

Welcome to the Cruisin with Colors VC Rocks Blog Hop. 

This will be our last Hop of the season. 

First thing I thought of for color was this

VW Bug. It had to be bright yellow so I stamped

it on Daffodil Delight with black ink, then cut it out. 

Used a craft knife to cut out the windows. 

The background is stamped with Gorgeous Grunge with

Daffodil Delight, Tangelino Twist, and Pacific Point inks. 

I just couldn't resist using some peace sign washi tape!

Even though its the middle of August....Halloween is right around the corner. 

I broke into a retire favorite of mine Jack of All Trades stamp set. 

The washi tape is also retired from SU. Cardstock Pumpkin Pie. 

After inking up the pumpkin I rolled the edges in Soft Suede ink. 

What could be more bright than Pumpkin? Speaking of Halloween, and the Fall

season I should stock up on some canned pumpkin for all those cool weather

dishes. 

Don't forget to check out the VC Rocks Blog, and see what the 

other designers have done with this challenge.

Stamping trails

Karen

Up on the House Top.....Santa Got Stuck

Okay how cute is this? 

When I was out shopping earlier this week I stopped in

Michael's and used my 50% off coupon to 

buy a smaller set of Tim Hotlz Crazy Birds. 

I know...I know....I'm addicted to them! 

The embossing folder I used is from Darice. This one was

 

on clearance for 1.00. I knew right away

 

that I wanted to use one of the mini crazy birds to stand

 

on Santa's boot. 

 

The greeting came from the song Up on the House Top. I just changed

 

it to Santa got stuck. 

 

I have some more ideas for the mini crazy birds running like mad through

 

my head so look for more of them to pop up. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

 

 

Wood Mount Decorated Case

I made another half wood mount case using a 

glass knob at the top. 

The spools holding the trims I hand drew then cut out of 

kraft cardstock. 

Here is an inside view. 

Most of the embellishment on the front came from a 

misc pack of die cuts I got on the clearance rack at Pat Catan's. 

The knob is from  Tim Holtz. I had a 40% off coupon and

picked it up at Hobby Lobby. 

 

Safe travels to my friend Kat who will leaving her mom's and 

 

driving to see me on her way back home to TX. Looking

 

forward to another visit! 

 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Back to School!

Well the Brunswick school district went back to school today. 

I remember growing up on the west side of Cleveland and

we didn't go back to school till the 1st week of Sept. Normally the

day after Labor Day. How times change!

I picked up this plastic pencil case at Catan's, and knew right

away I wanted to decorate it for back to school. 

The apples were stamped on Real Red card stock then fussy cut. 

Love the large thinlit numbers. They can be used for so many different

things. The base is Crushed Curry cardstock that was

decorated with several different things. One was a Tim Holtz number

stencil, the other thing I used was a ruler background stamp (SU retired)

In hindsight I wish I would have also decorated the inside lid, but

since it is already glued in place not able to take it out. I may

just stamp some different elements and glue them on with Tombo. 

I also picked up this plastic case and decorated it. Not as happy with this

one, but I can still use it in the craft room. 

Here is the inside view. At least with this one I remember to 

stamp the inside. 

With the kids going back to school I hope everyone drives

carefully and be on the lookout for children, and the school buses. 

Back to school.....blues! 

Karen

Beauty of the Season

Well as of yesterday there are only 20 more Fridays till Christmas!

 

This card was made using Beauty of the Season stamp set. 

 

Stamp was inked with Jet Black StayOn on water color paper. 

 

After misting the paper with water I colored in using

 

Real Red, Crumb Cake, and Crushed Curry re-inkers. 

 

Completed panel was mounted on white cardstock base, and

 

spritzed with Tattered Angels Pearl mist. The greeting

 

was added after the card dried. Its popped over the layer. 

 

 

This card is from the silly file. I'm doing a state swap with one of the VC Rockers, and 

 

both of these cards were made for her. The cardinal is the OH state bird, and

 

the tomato is the state fruit. In case you haven't heard yes tomatoes are classified as

 

a fruit. Now since the tomato is part of the nightshade group, and eggplant

 

is also from that same group...I wonder if eggplant is also a fruit. 

 

Stamping trails

Karen