bad week, but still some cards

Still feeling pretty poor this week, and the violent night sweating isn't really helping. My Reclast infusion yesterday went fine tho and I got to go to the big library and check out all the new books.  There didn't seem to be as many tho, and I hadn't been there in ages.

I made a few cards today anyway.. ha!

I have been obsessed with making felt flowers to add dimension to my cards, but I knew I only had flower dies that were the regular thin Sizzix, so they wouldn't cut felt.  Today I went thru all my larger dies, and found a Hello Kitty butterfly die that had a flower in her hair- and it is cute!  I cut some felt flowers this afternoon and switched the centers.   The flourish is from a PaperTrey sympathy set, and I had forgotten about it because it was with the verses in the Sentiment binder, so it was fun to pull it out and use it.

This is a quick card I made for my Brother-in-Law who spend eighteen hours working on passing the OSHA test for his job this week.  I put a graduation hat stamp on the inside.  HA!  Simple but he will be amused.

Have a great week!

Anne

Valentines and Book of the Month

Book Of The Month

I have been having problems getting the books I want from the library lately.  One actually disappeared from the library website- I think someone must have stolen it or something!  I did finally get one of the bunch I have been waiting for tho, and I loved it!

Dog, Inc.: The Uncanny Inside Story of Cloning Man's Best Friend

By

John Woestendiek

If you remember the excitement/slash horror when Dolly the sheep was introduced as the first cloned animal, but not really anything happening since then, like me, this would be a great book for you!  The author explains in plain American English everything you could want to know about cloning, specifically the most recent developments in cloning dogs and cats for owners who wish to have their favorite pet back again... even tho it isn't really the same animal!

What I found most interesting was the whole cloning thing was started by an eccentric but very rich man who gets bored easily and decided he wanted to clone his girlfriend's dog!!  Great details of the whole process, yet easy to understand.

And the stories and the TRUTH behind the some of the people that were the first to clone their dog was really fun also.

****

Now on to the valentines!  Here is the card I made to send to my Godchildren this year.  I couldn't believe it when I realized I do not actually have a stamp that says "Happy Valentine's Day!"  Crazy, huh?  So I put "I adore you!" on them instead.  :)  Should embarrass the 18 year old boy, right?

The squirrel is from PaperTrey Inc.  The Magic Mesh (once again) was made by Minnesota Moms.   Cardstock by SU!, pattern paper from.... my bin of it.

Have a great week!

Anne

Scrapping with Jodi!

Jodi finally got to come over and scrap, so I got tons done this morning.  And lots of visiting too, of course!

Here is the card I did for each of my brothers' birthday.  They are a week apart, so they always get the same card, and Mom's always say "My #1 Son".  I do not say anything similar on mine, sorry.  :)

I did a fishing theme and finally got to use my baker's twine!  This one is brown and white.

Then I played around with some Magic Mesh (made by Minnesota Moms!) that I got from Anchor Paper after my doctor appt Thursday.  I added some flowers I cut from a strip I made with my MS deep edge punch, and a heart with scallop I had cut for an earlier project and didn't end up using.  I added some bling so I could show Jodi how the I-rock works.

After that I checked out the card rack to see what was getting low and saw I needed sympathy cards.  (Only one left!)  Funny to remember when I first started stamping I laughed that Jodi actually had a stamp SET for sympathy cards- and of course I ended up with several!

The card sketch is from Paper Therapy, pry slightly modified. I like the way they came out, I did four all mostly the same.

Happy Weekend!

Anne

busy week

I had a busy week.  Three doctor appointments!!  I did get new meds for the sinus infection, and think I am perhaps a little bit better.

Here is a card I made at the beginning of the week.  I am not sure what I think, it didn't com out exactly as I pictured, and I was mailing it so I couldn't do any 3-d stuff and I really wanted to.  :)

Here is Gregory's name frame.  I did the background with white cardstock and used my SU! roller to put tire tracks all over it.  His name was long, so I couldn't use any big stuff in the frame, and I decided to use some large diecuts actually on the frame itself.  I purchased them online and they were a bit bigger than I expected.

Have a great weekend!

Anne

Butterflies!

Today SCS had a challenge to use butterflies!   WT305

This reminded me that I had purchased a MS butterfly punch that included stamps to go with the punch.  I love butterflies, and they are the symbol for Lupus Awareness, so I had to pull it out to make a card. 

First I stamped and punched six butterflies.  I thought they looked good on the light pink cardstock, but I didn't just want to scatter them across the card, that seemed a bit dull.  I was looking thru my stamp book for a nice flower or something to put in the center, when I remembered I had colored a beautiful dancing little girl a few days ago. 

I popped the butterlies up slightly so they look like they are flying.

I added a nice blingy gem to her hair!

Did you notice I only used five butterflies?  The sixth went thru my Xyron X and onto the envelope so it matches!

Simple, but pretty.

Thanks for looking,

Anne

Yay Jodi!

Yay Jodi!  My best friend Jodi just got a job today in the Buffalo school.  So of course I made her a card in the school colors with the logo!

The card was super fast to make.  I used the SC315 sketch for the layout, and the school colors. 

thanks for looking!

Anne

elegant card

I have been trying to do more layered cards, and the card sketch challenge at lilsweetpea's place was perfect.  The sketch includes the layers!  I took the colors from paper playtime which added to the elegance I think.  Jackie gave me some blank 5x7 cards for Christmas, so I had more room to play with also.

The cardstock is SU!, the printed paper is DCWV, the stamp and flower is from Imaginisce.  The ribbon, believe it or not, is from... IKEA.  I have no recollection of purchasing it, but it was in my ribbon box!  :)

Hope you like my card!

Anne

Mom's Birthday

I wasn't planning on working in the beadroom today, cuz I had a doctor appt and planned on hitting a few stores- figured I would be too weak.  However, at breakfast, Dad asked me if I made a card for him to give Mom for her birthday...tomorrow.  I said nope, since I don't make things until you ask!  At least he did give me a day's notice, hey?

Today on SCS it is "use twine" for the challenge.  I thought it was great, since I keep telling myself I NEED baker's twine, lol, and the challenge should give me lots of ideas for using it.  

On the way home from St. Cloud, I thought of using my button stamp set and tying the button with hemp- since I don't have any twine, hemp is close enough!

Here is my card- I purchased the ribbon/pompom trim at Crafts just today.
 

I recently purchased an I-rock and gems using a gift card (thanks Andrew and Julie!) but couldn't get the gems to stick.  As the tool got hot, I thought there must be a problem with the gems.  And I am happy to report that I was right- I bought some more and they worked just fine. Luckily Imaginisce is already sending me replacements for what I purchased! They must not have had glue on the backs or something.

Simple card, as always.  :)  I love the heavily embellished cards I see online, but I just can't make them.   Or make them so they look nice anyways!  I think it is the lack of energy- I don't have enough to distress every layer and such...

Have a great day!

Anne

Sizzix Create-a-Bow

I just received the Sizzix Create-a-Bow die, and so far I love it!

Click here to see the die.

Today I had two gifts to wrap, one a belated Christmas gift and one an early birthday gift, so I tried the die out to decorate the gifts.

This one is for my Mom:

Top view:

This is the Christmas gift:

The die is very easy to use.  You have to cut each of three pieces five or six times, so I did three papers at a time.  To just make the bow, and not the included buttons, you can cut the paper to 3 inches by 6 inches, so you have enough paper in a 12x12 sheet for one bow.

I did the center slightly differently.  I cut an extra short piece and made it into a loop to cover the brad up.  I do plan on looking if anyone makes brads with longer prongs tho, it is hard to get all the layers onto a regular brad!

Next time I will pry try double sided paper.  I just didn't have any that matched the wrapping paper.  Ohh- I bet you could use the wrapping paper to make a bow also!  At least the Current stuff- it is thicker and I made a bunch of bags this Christmas with it...

Have a great day!

Anne

SCS314 challenge

SCS does challenges daily.  On Wednesday, it is a sketch challenge.  This means they give you a sketched pattern and you can fill it however you wish.

I have two cards today!

Lately I have been playing with my border punches.  I need Thank You cards, and I chose the birdcage stamp for both cards.  It is matted with silver to match the cage. 

This one is teals and chocolate, one of my current favorite color combos!

I also made some bows with my big shot today, so watch for those pictures!  Tomorrow I have a doctor appt so pry won't be posting.

Thanks!

Anne

Imaginisce Challenge

I am on the roll for challenges today!

Imaginisce has beautiful products.  When I first started following the blog, I thought the products might not be for me- I am more of a clean and simple stamper.  Then I won a package of the Garden Party line and realized that they work great!  They make my clean and simple projects look more embellished and pretty.  :)

Today they posted a challenge to take something you already have and make a new use for it.  I found this container that Girl Scout candy had come in and I had saved because it was cool.

 I decided to make it pretty and use it as a gift container.  This way I can put any gift in it, and the container is also a gift!

 I wrapped the outside in paper from the Garden Party collection, added ribbons over the edges where the paper met, added a pretty dimensional sticker.

I covered the GS logo on top with beautiful blooms.  The tag I had, I stamped an image from the collection on it to brighten it up.   See?  Clean and simple, but looking fancy!

All products but the adhesive, tag and ink were from Imaginisce!

Thanks for looking!

Anne

Stickle Challenge!

Good morning!  I made this card today for a challenge on SCS.  (TLC306) The challenge was to use Stickles (fancy glitter glue) to paint a stamp.  I picked one of my fave stained glass stamps, and some of my limited stickles to paint with.  Since the stickles were orange, I picked an dark yellow base, flower printed paper and bright orange to frame the image.

Click for a bigger picture to really see the painting and sparkle!

I think I will send this card to my cousin who recently got a new job.

Have a great week,

Anne