My swaps ....

I made 80 of these card fronts to swap with all of the attendees at seminar. I did them all in one day!! Yes ..... I was getting tired of stippling!! I used two of the new sets in the 2009 Inspiration Book!! They are called Funny Farm and Funny Farm Phrases, which I will add links to after the new Inspiration book goes live. I used scrap copy paper, torn to stipple over to make the sky. I then added a piece of Catelyn WIC, one of the farm animal images and words to match the image and lastly a ribbon. I love the humor in this set. They are all done in the same design but with different animals, papers and words. Do you like them??? Let me know!! Blessings

TAC retiring stamp list

... and they are 25% off too!! If you would like to view all of the retiring set click here. I have them all posted on MY Products on my TAC web site. You can click on the image to see them larger on that page also. The prices on that page already reflect the 25% off. Please remember though if you want to take advantage of the perks to please e-mail me your order.


I love some of them so much I put them into my Stamp-a-Stack last Saturday. We had such a great day stamping and creating. Everyone needs a day like that now and then. This set is a keeper for sure! I used 'Mountain Scenery' for this sympathy card with the current set 'With Sympathy' for the words. I love the tree in this one and have used it so much.



For the second one I used the Scor-pal and scored every 1 1/2" on the diagonal in both directions and then stamped one of the 'Fantasy Flourishes' stamp in black in the diamonds that were formed. The words are from the Level A Hostess set called 'Feel Better'. What I live about both of these sets is that you can use them for males or females and for any occasion by just changing the words.

It is a beautiful day here and I hope to get a lot done in my stamping room. Need to clean it up so I can create some more! Be blessed today.

Spring into April ....#2

This time I used the set 'Forever Friends' from the Spring into April TAC promotion sets. I still am working with the Lilly Anna Paper Collection, the black and white ribbon collection, water color crayons and my Niji water brush. I added double diagonal score lines using my Scor-Pal for the background of this card and then added 1/2" strips of the Lilly Anna paper for added detail. YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON THIS CARD to see the detailed scoring lines. I have two different types of scoring in one card. I love the look I used the circle punch and it's complimentary scalloped punch for the roses. On the scallop punch I highlighted the scallops with TAC's Tombow white gel pen. On the the vase I used two different colors of blue crayons, first a lighter color all over and then highlighted with a darker shade of the same color. For the roses, I colored them first with light pink, highlighted with a darker pink, purple and a little yellow. I used my Tombow grey marker to add a base for the vase and to outline the image to give it depth. I stamped the words in Noir at an angel along one of the score lines.

For the second card I used the tulip image and colored in a similar fashion but I first used the negative of the largest scalloped circle punch for a template to stipple a background to stamp the image into. I used a stipple brush and yellow and Coquack inks for the stippling. I added score lines and green paper, words in Noir ink, a yellow bow and a corner punch for detail.

Today I will be grocery shopping and cooking for my guests. Then I will meet them at Hollo's for a day of shopping before we come home. It will be fun. Have a great day yourself!! Blessings

Spring into April

I am loving the Spring into April promotional stamp sets from The Angel Company! I will be posting for the next three days with cards from each of the three sets. Here is a link to cards I have already posted using these sets too. These sets are available only until April 30 with a $30 order and they are either $5 or $7 a set. They are great. For these samples I have used the paper collection Lilly Anna in the pinks, blues, greens and whites. I decided the bird would look good with a tail too ... so I stamped the heart in the set three times and cut them out to make him a tail. I pulled out my favorite coloring method, water color crayons to color the bird. I prefer using the Niji water brush with the crayons and i take the color off of the bottom of they crayon so I can save the tips for direct to rubber stamping. Some of my crayons have at least a 1/2" indent on the bottom of them since i use them so much .... but they will last a lifetime! I love the way you can get depth with just one color on this one (future projects i will show you how to get depth with two colors from the same family). Just put down a light layer of color and then add a little darker color where you want it to be darker. I added some scoring with my Scor-pal for detail, a little highlight on the green paper with my glitter gel pen, and a bow from the matching ribbon set for Lilly Anna.

I had a great Mojo class last night, another tonight and one on Sunday and Monday. If you haven't signed up for a class yet and want to be sure to let me know soon. Here is a link to a sneak of those cards. I have a double pocketed gift card or chocolate or tea bag holder, Mother's day cards, a great inside pop up card, a mini card photo album and more. I feature using different color combinations, using the Scor-pal for decorative backgrounds and watercolor crayons. I do sell the call direction sheets with pictures if you are not local ... just contact me for information.

Today is a cleaning day getting ready for my friends to come on Thurs. Ave a great tax day!! Mine are already in. Blessings

Altered Photo Books

Thanks to everyone for you compliments on my photo cards!! I have some more pictures coming to make more since they are so much fun. Today I was blessed to have 7 deer in my backyard and the dog or me on the desk flashing pictures of them did not disturb them. It was fun. To answer a question that was asked, I prefer the mat finish but it does not matter, it is your preference on the way you want the pictures to look.

Here are a few altered photo books I have been making for my Etsy store and up coming craft shows. They are black plastic and have 36 spaces for 4 x 6" pictures. I h ave been making them for all different occasions and for my personal use to store my zoo pictures, my backyard friend pics, and my Holden (nature park) pictures. Here are a few of the ones I will have on sale in my Etsy store. One of them is for pictures of a love one who you have lost and the others are for any occasion. I have more of them that I will be posting in the store also. If you want to see more pictures of them that is the place to look also. These are easy and fun to make. They are all made with TAC stamps and papers, Give it a try!! Blessings

Monthly Mojo Feb Sneak Peaks!

It's Monthly Mojo time!!! This is a class I teach monthly to get your cards ready for the next few months. Here are the sneak peaks for February's projects!! Aren't they cute!! In this class we will be making; a birthday card using a technique called bandanna, a sympathy card, a 'thanks' card, a gift card holder with a pocket, a bumblebee card gate card variation which you can make for any occasion, a Happy St. Pat's card made with Valentine images, and a baby shower card with matching gift tag! I will be using mostly new stamps sets from our new Serendipity for these cards! The class includes a stamped envelope with the inside stamped and decorated also. Cost of the class is $15. Here are the times for the class I have planned:

• Sun, Feb 8 2:00- 4:30

• Mon, Feb 9 1:00-3:30

• Tue, Feb 10 6:00-8:30

• Wed, Feb 11 6:008:30

Please bring with you a basic kit including: scissors, adhesives, bone folder, and Scor-Pal. If these times do not work for you let me know and we may be able to plan another time. I hope to start cutting for this class soon so let me know if you will be attending. Plan to attend with your friends each month and make it a social time too. Girls just have to have fun!!

NEW!! If you are not local and would like to have a copy of my PDF file send via e-mail with the supply list, step by step directions and a scan of the project, I am now offering it for $5 each month paid via Paypal or a check. If you would like to to pay for 3 months at a time then the price would be $12. Email me if you are interested.

I had to cancel my class of the Perpetual Date Book due to my trip but I am planning on having it next week. Let me know if you are interested in attending and what works for you. Blessings

True Beauty

These are beautiful stamps and will make some beautiful cards too! I couldn't wait to give them a try so I played with them before I left for a few cards I wanted to get in the mail before I left. I used the Glitter Gel pens to color and highlight them and I am very pleased on how they turned out. I just picked up a few scraps of thin stripes of paper I had left from other projects for accents with the color for the first one.

For the second one I use Playful Parenthesis also but turned it around so it looks like a shelf holding the image. On this one I stamped the butterfly a second time, colored it with Glitter Gel Pens and a black Gel and popped it on to of the image for a raised look. I sent this one to a very special person for their 60 th Birthday!

WOW!! Wait until I get home to show off Serendipity!!! TAC's new magalogue!! It is beautiful and has 47 new stamp sets, and new accessories. I will try and post a picture of it soon. I am so thrilled to be apart of TAC and all of the fun we have being angels. It is beautiful here ... warm with flowers blooming. What more could a girl ask for ... warm weather, great company, new stamp sets, and lots of fun!! Blessings

Sneak Peeks!

I do think this is going to be my new favorite set! Look at the way these two cards have such a different presence but both using the same set and technique to make! I used the new set call Beautiful Day which will be available in the first TAC published Magalogue on Feb 1! It will have 48 pages of new product and new incentive sets too! Can't wait to see them. Here I used paper piecing for both of these cards but used a different paper line for each.

The first one I used Uptown Girl WIC trying to archive the look of love for Valentine's Day and the second I used Willoughby SWIC. They really do have a different feel due to the papers, colors and design! Oh, the versatility of stamping! I love it. Sorry the scans of my sets are not so great .... I have a lot to do and not much time to fiddle with them.

To paper piece, you stamp your image in the same color of ink on the foundation paper and on all of the papers you wish to add. I like to put double sided tape on the wrong side of the piecing papers before I cut them out to save time. Then cut out the papers you want to piece on to the image and attach them the foundation paper. It is a great way to get bold coloring without coloring! Blessings

Christmas Gift Card Holder

This week just flew by .. my computer crashed and I could not use it for a few days but then I had an angel come over and help me out! Thanks Dan! But I did not have my printer until last night and guess what .. I fixed that myself. YES ME!! Well, I had two wonderful large workshops this week, worked hard on making new items for my upcoming craft fairs, and got part of my craft room cleaned. Yes .. that really kept me busy.

Here is one of the projects I have been making. (This is the project I was making.) It really started as a mistake .. I cut the paper the wrong way after I had folded this project but then discovered it was really a good idea. See mistakes are good in paper crafting.
Here are some quick directions:

1. Start with a 6 x 12 piece of card stock
2. With your fabulous Scor-pal, score the longest side at 3", 6" and 9"
3. Score the shortest side at 2" for the pocket
4. Fold the 2" side up and use red line or Scor-tape on the ends to hold it securely
5. The fold on the other score lines like an accordion
6. I glued the middle two sections together, but you do not have to it can be open
7. Then decorate. The finished book is 3" x 4".
   

I used Holly Flourishes, my Big Shot and the Christmas die, ribbon, Stickles, colored pencils, mounting tape, Vintage Holidays (retired) and Fun Bet (retired). The 'for you' is from Trendy Holiday Tags. It is a stamp with two lines ... the the great thing about The Angel Company's stamps is that you can cut them and use them how ever you would like. So, I needed it to be one line, so I cut it. I can now use it either way. I made three IOU cards for the pockets and the other pocket can have a gift card put in or money, or if you want to give more gift cards, put all of the IOU's on one pocket. This came from ideas I heard from my last craft show from my gift card book that sold out. I hope to post more of these this week. Hope you like it! I will have some at my next few shows and will be selling them at Jenniffer & Co Salon also. Blessings

Halloween Flip Out Book

It has been so much fun this week just stamping and getting ready for my first craft show of the year! It is Saturday at Lake Catholic if you are local. Here is one of the new Flip Out Books I made. This one is for Halloween, but I made another one with the Always Remember set too. I made a practical little web address book and a really nice Christmas planner book with my Bind it all too for the shows. I hope to show them to you next week. I have more I need to get done today so I will just show this book today.

It was made with a 12 x 12 sheet of black cardstock and folded in half in both directions. I used by Scor-Pal for this book to make nice crisp folds. Then one side was cut to the center and folded up. I have found that is easier to make these books bigger than you want and then cutting them down, so this one is then cut (folded up) to a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch book. I decorated it with a retired TAC paper, by Sizzix dies, Cuddlebug embossing folders and some retired and current TAC stamps. The last page is a pocket page with pull outs for more pictures.

I have a busy weekend and start of next week but hope to be able to still post. Saturday is my craft show and then on Sunday I will be taking a day trip to Riverside, PA for a Medieval meal and play and some local shopping. It is a group tour with the local collage and I really enjoy these trips. I hope the leaves are still beautiful for the drive. Then on Monday I will be stamping all day with my TAC-eee Ladies, my stamping group. We always have fun!! I hope you enjoy your weekend too. Blessings

Wine country & old friends

* Reminder to click on the pictures for a better view.

I have been blessed to have many different groups of friends. I made this little mini book to honor my great friends from high school. Yes, that was a long, long time ago, but we have stayed close all of these years. One of these friends I have been close to since 5 th grade when we took violin lessons together. We get together once a month (or more) for dinner, a show, a special trip, golf, or whatever. I have been blessed to have these woman in my life. We all know each other's history and stories and share our most inter parts with each other. We go through the good times and the bad times together, with support, prayers, laughs, wine (of course!) and fellowship. I hope that each of you have been blessed with friends like this.

Last summer we took a tour of two of the local vineyards and had so much fun! We learned how to drink different wines, how wine was made, and of course got to taste different types too! I will always remember the trip and our close ties to each other. This book puts the memories together for me in a special way.

It is basically a card, 4.25 x 5.5", that I added on some of my left over pieces from the Woodrowe kit from TAC. On the front and the inside top, I added a page that flips open. This allowed me to add four pictures on each section. Then the bottom inside of the card. I added one of the pockets. In the pockets from the kit and I put two pull out sections that I have pictures on each side. The left top two pictures are from the front of the book and the right two are from the inside top. Then the bottom left two pictures are from the pocket with the pull outs.

I decorated it with ribbons, tags and tabs from the kit, and stamps. This could be added to another larger page to add more pictures or used just as a mini book of one occasion like I am using it. On the pull out sections I stamped words on the pictures themselves with Noir Palette ink.

When you take the time to make a mini album you bring back all of the feelings and fun that are associated with the pictures you are using. Then every time you look at it or share it with a friends these same feelings and thoughts come back. So I really do hope all of you are keeping your memories alive and close to your heart by scraping them. The time I put into this book, maybe 2 hours, is nothing to the joy it will bring me. They have not seen it yet, but I will be sending them the link to my blog to read. Thanks you Carol, Ally, and Sherry for being an important and meaningful part of my life! I challenge each of you readers to share your thank yous to those who are close to you and your memories today. Blessings

New creations

The last few days I have been busy, I but have tried to get a little creating done too. Thurs night and this morning I was on fire with all the new kits, papers and stamps! I am totally amazed these new kits! No .. I am not showing them today but will as soon as I get pictures taken. This first card is made with monochromatic card stock (p. 112) the blue greens. It really matches so many of our SWIC papers. Here I scored down each side of the darker color with my Scor-pal and then evenly punched holes with my Crop-a-dile in the middle. I love the look of the lighter color showing through. The tag is from out new line of Reese SWIC! The tags are gorgeous!! The stamps are from the new set 'Welcome Home'. A real quick and easy card with style! Click to enlarge for details

The second card is the same idea with a stripe of the darker monochromatic paper down the side put this time I used the Scor-pal and embossed two lines down each side and then the Crop-a-dile to emboss raised circles in the middle. I used the 'With Sympathy ' set for the words and another tag from the Reese SWIC. Don't they both have a clean and fresh look with the teals and brown colors! Enjoy your weekend. Blessings to all.

Haven't been stamping much

I have been working on things here at my house. There is so much that needs done and I only have so much energy. But I would like to show you an idea I had the other day. I made these to post on my Etsy store. If you are not familiar with Etsy it is like Ebay but for hand made items, vintage, patterns and supplies. I have started to post some of my stamps that are retired on there also besides my handmade items if you are interested. Go check it out often since I try to add something every day.

Here are a group of stamped, decorated and punched out Date Disk circles. These stamps are great for scrap booking since you can stamp the image on a page and put in the date. Or stamp them on other paper printed or decorated with another stamped image and punch them out to add with mounting cushion. I made a set of 12 (one for each month) with an appropriated Distressed Seasonal Stamp in the middle for embellishments for scrap bookers. If you do not have the set and want to try them out this is a great way to do it. Have a great weekend! Blessings

Build a Buggie Set

**The Big Bite is now in stock if you have been waiting for it! And all of the scalloped punches too!

We all had so much fun playing with this set in my class using the Build-a-Buggie TAC stamp set! I made this carrot card, two different bunny cards, lots of different flowers and of course bugs with this cool set. What is so neat about this set is that is is just parts of bugs, and then you can create them in any color, direction, size and type. There are faces to give them character, wings, bodies and so much more. In the class I features Frutti Fusion and Gentle Beginnings paper collections.

If you are interested in this class and are local, I would be willing to plan one with you with at least 2-3 people. Let me know and we can set a date.

If you are not local, you can purchase the PDF file from with with all the scans and directions to make 12 different cards and a holder to hold the mini cards. E-mail me privately please.

Well, the new tile was laid in my bathroom today!! Yeah ... all of the moving, cleaning, purging, and pulling off wall paper is now starting to look better. Tomorrow I will be finishing (I hope) removing the wall paper and washing the walls down. It is going to be so nice to have it finished .... but that is a long way off ! Blessings

OK, I am feeling safe ...

... today that posting this card will not bring us anymore snow!!! But who know in Cleveland! It is beautiful again today! I was able to get out and do about 3 hrs. of yard work yesterday and hopefully later today I will be able to do it again .... there is so much to do!

Yes, this is the Spring time set again and the snowflakes are in the set too! The designer must live in Cleveland! LOL I used the Scor-pal to make two embossed lines on the scraps of blue paper, sanded them and then used the plastic mesh to poke a line of holes between the two lines for more texture. I added a close up shot so you could see it better. The words are from the Level A set 'It's the little things'. I have one more card to show you and then we will move on from this set. But I hope I have been able to show you a lot of different ways to use one set! Le me know if you type it too. And if you purchase this set from me in the month on April , I will include a scan of each of the cards I have done here for you!

Remember you only have till the end of this month to get the double incentives with TAC. You and a friend can both earn a Scor-pal for half price, a Level A set, and three free Gift with Purchase stamps with a $50 order each! Plus one of you can get a 'Big on Fun" set free with the $100 order. Call or e-mail me soon so we can get your order in. Enjoy your day! Blessings

Tip on piercing card stock

And yet another card using the Spring Time set from TAC. This is such a versatile set! On this card I used the tree top for the ground ... yes the ground .. I added a few leaves and flowers and the birdie too. I used printed papers from Cha Cha SWIC. And added detail by piercing the corners and two lines along the bottom of the printed paper. And ribbon of course! The words are from the TAC set Just Because and on the inside 'it's your birthday!' If you are not familiar with the easy and quick way to make the piercing holes here is a tutorial for you.

You will need some plastic mesh #10, a paper piercer, and a cushion. I use a small piece of thick fun foam.

You lay your card stock on the cushion with the mesh on top. Line up the edges so they are even and then punch in the squares of the mesh where you want the holes. If I am doing straight lines I go every other square in the mesh.

For the corner shown, I did every other square on the mesh and then skipped a row between too. It is so easy to keep your piercing straight on your card using this small canvas mesh!

The piercing adds texture to your cards and is easy and quick to do! Give it a try and let me know how you like it. Blessings