Very Thankful Card

You know that I buy the Ronald McDonald set every year from Stampin' Up but I was never in LOVE with the sets, I just bought them because it was ok and it was a good cause but this year, I LOVE LOVE the set. I really love this one with the simple image and the font on the sentiment. I am trying to figure out how to make the peacock image from the same set sparkle like the real thing. For this card, I just scored the lines using the score-pal around the edge 1/2" from the edge and simply used the current in color markers to color the stamp and that was it. A real simple card. I think it would make a real great set to give someone to make a set of 4 or 8. I am working on some projects for the next month and I can't post them until after either they've been published or I have shown it to my group- I don't want to spoil the surprise. So, check back in August for the new projects.

Lynda

This is a CASE of a card by Laurie Schmidlin that I made for my workshop. Used markers - I am so glad they have In-Color markers now with crushed curry, old olive and razzleberry. Edge the whole thing with distressor and really let your fingernail do your walking. Mount on Crushed Curry. Staple the ribbon strips and then moutn the littel flower stamped in razzleberry on top. 4x4 very vanilla CS stamped with background stamp and then stamped with the same flower in old olive stamped off and edge distressed again and pierced. stamp sentiment on Curry and punch out with modern label punch and mount with brads and dimensionals. Stamp the strip image from the Razzle Dazzle set in versamark. You could easily change the sentiment for any occasion with the Teeny Tiny Wishes set that fits in here perfectly.

Enjoy!

Lynda

On a Pedestal

This is a variations on the on a pedestal with slightly different back ground -I made these for a swap with some of my demo friends and for my stamping workshop- if you don't have the big shot or cuttlebug, do the left- on a melon mambo base CS- stamped on the left with versamark on the left and textured on the right with small polka dots. Tea Party DD paper on the bottom and tied with the new melon mambo polka dot ribbon- LOVE all of these!

Stamp the imge onto whisper white CS with pretty in pink for the base and melon for the cake and soft suede for the cherry. Separately stamp the cake in barely banana on white and cherry in red craft. Use crystal effects onto the cherry and let dry well- this will take several hours so be patient. I made 20 or so of these real quick in the morning so that it would be ready for my stamping get together that evening that people could quickly cut out. Mount the cherry with multimono and make small dots with it as well and use dazzling diamonds on the cake and mount the whole thing with dimensionals. Corner round and mount on so saffron CS. Stamp the sentiment with melon mambo and wipe away the center with blender pen and it will make it look a little lighter with little effort. Punch out with 1 3/8 circle punch and mount that on scallop circle punched on melon mambo CS.

Lynda

metal embossing

I had requests for bridal cards from both my sister and my stamping group and I was thinking about a design and I thought silver and blue would be so pretty. When I tried to use brushed silver paper it was just a little too "flat" for the delicate background I wanted then I remembered aluminum foil embossing so this is the final card that came out. The dress template was made up by folding a paper in half and playing with the cut until I thought the dress looked not too skinny and not too fat- it took a little doing but at least now have a pattern that I can use over and over again.

The dress is also made using a texture plate- cut the design out first in shimmery white CS and then place on texture plate face down so that it would be a symmetrical pattern, wrap a little piece of blue taffeta ribbon and glue dot down a flower from the pretties kit and a half dome pearl from the same kit. Place on card with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from All Holidays set, stamped in Bliss Blue on white, word window punched and then mounted on Bliss blue CS punched with the new modern label punch from SU and accented with a clear rhinestone brad.

The foil embossing is easy peasy- I would recommend that you cut the piece of heavy duty foil to the size neede so you manipulate as little as possible after embossing. It is a little too thin to emboss as is and does better with a piece of CS on top before layering as instructed and shown.

This is what it looks like after you run it through the Big Shot. All the wrinkles will magically disappear. Just lick your finger and slide the paper off the texture plate. Have your mounting surface all ready and put the tape onto the paper you will mount the foil. Be generous with the tape and I would use SNAIL or some smooth tape as one of my stampers found out with one of her "bumpy" adhesives left little bumps on the foil after mounting. This is a very delicate card and the foil can be marred with lots of handling.

This is what the final card looked like. It is really fun and easy project that looks like a million bucks. I've seen cards with less work on it at stores selling for upwards of $8 plus.

If you want something more heavy duty, I would consider using heavy tin or here I used a soda can that I cut out with my heavy duty craft scissors. Wash out the can and cut out the side of the can. I've been flattening it out under my old sizzix and a year later, it still has quite a curl. Oh well.

This is so thick that texture plate does not do well with it but with the embossing folders, it does a beautiful job that really holds its shape and is perfect for rough handled cards.

This is what the embossing folder did to soda can tin to the left and aluminum foil to the right. I like the heavy duty aluminum foil with texture plate because it really smooths out the wrinkles and if you screw it up, run the same foil in the texture plate and it will come out new. But with embossing folders, there are still lots of wrinkles which I did not like as much although in a pinch I would not complain- it's still pretty cool.

This is what the back of the embossed can looks like- I have no bad habits except for one can of diet Dr Pepper that I have every morning. I tried to give it up once after reading that aspartamate may convert to neurotoxic chemicals that can aggravate migraines but my migraines were no better and I REALLY like it so I am back- just could not save enough cans to get ready for my stamping workshop to have one for everyone. Take caution- the edges are sharp and you can cut yourself if you are not careful.

This is my card using the embossed soda can with the cuttlebug Embossing folder. Base card is the new In-Colors from SU- soft suede stamped with same color with the nuts and bolts from the set Lots of Bots. Mount the embossed metal with lots of sticky strips. Crushed Curry strip stamped and edge sponged with soft suede again. Circles cut out with the new circle cutters and I used paper piercer to add a little extra detail. The screw brad on the side from Michaels.

Give this a try- it is SO MUCH FUN!

Lynda

Handy Dandy Notebooks

Do your kids ever watch the Blue's Clues?

My kids have been watching it - Gosh I don't know how long- FOREVER!

I once bought a spiral notebook from Michael's $1 bin but it was a bit long, so I cut it in half and then covered it with paper and drew a chair for the front and Tyler has had it ever since, drawing bits of this and that. Unfortunately, Kyle got a hold of it recently now that he is really into Blue's clues and drew all over the inside with his little drawings and then fighting ensued with lots of tears shed that by all parties- esp Tyler that his little book that he has been treasuring was RUINED! Actually the plastic spiral was already breaking up and it was kind of ratty but Tyler was upset nevertheless.

So, the good mom that I was with the little Bind-it-All sitting on my shelf gathering dust decided to make up some handy dandy notebooks. Using the 4x4 coasters, I covered them with black CS, mounted colored CS that each of my kids chose, then drew 3 chairs in black marker on red CS, drew swirls with my versamark pen- I had a swirl stamp from SU that I used the first time but in my currently disastrous workroom, cannot for the life of me find- then put it together with bunch of copy paper that I cut up to make the pages and bound it up with my bind it all and some red 7/8" spirals. made a little handy dandy notebook for all three of them.

Now there is again harmony in my house- You think I did it for the kids? Nope. The effort is worth it for just some peace and quiet.

Easy Thank you card

My CTMH friend Kristine Baldwin sent me a thank you that I liked so much that I've been CASE'ing the layout to use for thank you and other sentiment cards all the time. This time I used the razzleberry lemonade paper with the new in colors Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry CS- here textured using SU backgrounds 1 texture plate and mounted on a 11x 4 1/4 vanilla CS with the bottom 1 1/4 cut off the front bottom.

The DD paper is 1 1/2" square with corners rounded on 2 ends and placed like a pinwheel. Place a brad of your choice- flower, metal, and here the clear rhinestone brad is lovely and adds that special something. Mount on 3 1/2 square then onto 4"square. Sentiment from Thank you kindly stampset from SU.

For all you demos out there, this is perfect size to place one of those pretty square SU sticky notes inside to write your personal message- which can then be peeled off to be used as a brand new card by the receiver- it's the gift that gives twice.

Try other DD paper combinations. It's a good way to use up left over paper you may have laying around- Make 1 1/2 inch strips and cut them at 1 1/2 inch intervals - you need 2 contrasting papers and if you have double sided paper even easier.

Cherimoya

Julie brings me the most interesting stuff to try. I have seen cherimoya at the stores but had never know how to eat it so never bought it to try but she brought me one and I had to check it out.

The name origninates form the Quechua word chirimuya, which means "cold seeds" because the plant
grows at high altitudes and the seeds will germinate at higher altitudes. The indigenous inhabitants of the Andes say that althought the cherimoya cannot stand snow, it does like to see it in the distance.
It is cultivated in many places throughout the Americas, including here in California where it was introduced in 1981 and in Hawaii.


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The fruit is fleshy and soft, sweet, white in color, with a sherbet-like texture, which gives it its secondary name, custard apple. Some characterize the flavor as a blend of banana, pineapple, and strawberry. Others describe it as tasting like commercial bubblegum. I tasted a hint of sweet ripe pear I thought. The texture is like that of a soft ripe pear and papaya. Similar in size to a grapefruit, it has large, glossy, dark seeds that are easily removed. I am told that the seeds are poisonous if crushed open and can be used as an insecticide.

This is a little excerpt from Wikipedia on how to buy and store it:
When ripe, the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure, similar to the avocado.When shopping, one should look for large fruit which is uniformly green. Avoid fruits with cracks or mostly browned skin. Ripe fruit may be kept in the refrigerator, but it is best to let immature cherimoyas ripen at room temperature, until it yields to gentle pressure. Different varieties have different characteristics of flavor, texture, and fruit shape contours. If the skin is allowed to turn fully brown, yet the flesh hasn't fermented or gone 'bad', then the texture can be custard-like. Often when the skin turns brown at room temperature the fruit is no longer good for human consumption. Also, the skin turns brown if it's been under normal refrigeration for 'too long' - a day or two maybe.

Julie, you are opening up the world of culinary goodies to my family. Thanks again!

Lynda

Technique- Shadow effect

We made this card at one of my workshops- It is adapted from a card I made at one of my Stamp and Chats with other demos- I just can't remember who to give credit- The original used the walk in the park designer paper and Baja Blue CS split down the middle and I really like that but

changed up everything else because I wanted to showcase the Eight Great Greeting stampset and the shadow technique.

Stamp leaf from Great Friend with versamark on the base Baja Blue card. Round off the endges. Run white taffeta ribbon around the card and adhere to the front where it will be hidden by the central image. Stamp the image in Baja Blue using the stamp positioner- Usually I eyeball everything but this is one time that this thing really is important to use- Offset the image some depending on how much offset you want and stamp using the white craft ink to creat the shadow. Edges were pierced, corners rounded and mounted on white and then black CS. Stamp the word from Define your Life using basic black marker, then punch with the round tab punch. Any solid image especially silhouette images works well for this technique. Try it out!

Get well birthday pop up

One of my stamping friends Lynne got really sick and had to be hospitalized the day before her birthday so I had to make her a card to commemorate both occasions and to hopefully cheer her up and make her laugh a little. The base card is SU good morning sunshine designer paper, stamped with little birdie told me sentiment and legs from Good Friend. The bird is stamped on whisper white CS with Pacific blue and tangerine orange and used dimensionals to mount it. Inside are the sentiments from the same little birdie set and Voila. It's the popup 3 tier cake from SU with a little patient in gown on top- called hospital visit from Katiebug stamp here at http://www.katiebugstamps.com/ I bought at the San Jose Rubberama years ago came in handy- again my obsession with images of real things even if whimsical- IV pole, bandaids- can't help it with my medical bent. My son Dylan was making rounds with me on her birthday and he sang her Happy Birthday in his sweet 4 year old voice in the ICU- it was a site to see. She's feeling a little better now and hopefully will be joining us in our stamping workshops soon.

Redwood National Park

Life is supposed to slow down somewhat as we get older, isn't it? But strangely I feel my life is speeding up - as if I am heading downhill in a car with no brakes - and it is exciting and scary at the same time. And sometimes I need a little help slowing things down and my DH helps me do just that.

He told me he made reservations for a campsite 2 weeks before we were scheduled to be there- it was a last minute thing- we were going to meet some friends and their 2 kids there - when he saw how stressed I was, he told me he COULD go alone with the kids and I had visions of Tyler, Kyle and Dylan running amuck and the mayhem they could create and felt too sorry for him to go it alone - but I had to find people to sub for me at work and trying to get basic things done before I left- the work just accumulates so when I come back, I have to spend more time at work to catch up so vacations are never vacation like other people- but I really did want to go.

We stayed at a campsite at the Redwood National Forest in Northern California and it was just soooo beautiful, serene, and magnificent. You'll have to see it for yourself. The trees are really that tall and some are hundreds of years old and would take many many grownups to go around them. There was this mist that hung on the trees that the trees use in dry seasons to get moisture. I am so happy to have at least some of these incredible trees preserved for future generations to see.

This is fern canyon where downed trees, the narrow canyon and the ferns growing on the sides of the canyons make the place seem ancient. One of the Jurrasic park and some other dinosaur movies have been filmed here. My kids LOVED this place and got soaking wet, wading through all the streams that flowed, playing with mud and checking out the fish and the frogs that inhabit the shallow waters.

We saw lots of wildlife, this is one of the elk just grazing by the side of the road nonchalentaly eating his lunch.

At the Gold Bluff Beach, the sand was gray black but so clean. There were seals bobbing in and out of water and the kids ran around chasing the waves, playing in the sand and all around getting soaked- do you see the theme here- lots of changes of clothing and towels will be required on our next visit here which I hope will be soon- even if I do have to spend 8 straight hours in a car with my kids- it was worth the trip.

This is elk prairie- now I know why it is called that- they do recommend that you not approach them by foot- they are big animals and could do you some serious damage if you provoked them.

We stopped at Grizzly Creek and at one of the stops in the middle of the redwoods was this beautiful canopy of a tree and the sun was shining through and the kids were trying to climb the tree- just gorgeous!

We meandered through the Avenue of the Giants on the way home and these trees are truly breath-taking.

Just a little too short of a time to get away but I have to thank my DH for putting the brakes on my ever hurried life and making me stop and smell the flowers.