Stamps: Zoofari, Sweet Serendipity Inks: Basic Gray Papers: Carbon (retired), Basic Gray, Vanilla Accessories: Brads, Ticket Corner punch, markers, sponges, tag punch Great for a little boys birthday, and so cute and quick. Cut your DSP to 4 x 4. Sponge edges with basic gray. Stamp rhinocerous in basic gray. Color in. Punch paper with ticket corner punch. Sponge edges. Layer on basic gray. Adhere to Carbon DSP. Stamp greeting from Sweet Serendipity. Punch out using tag punch and adhere to card base. Voila - instant card.

So very sorry for no posts this week, or at least no crafty ones. My kids are at day camp all week. We leave at 7 am and get home at 7 pm. I have been hanging out at Archiver's inbetween stuff I have scheduled during the week working on my Convention swaps. Needless to say, that after being gone for 12 hours and the heat and humidity of the week, all three of us are pooped when we get home. Stay cool, stay inside, stay stamping!

{me} If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning! -Catherine Bird

Stamps, Simply Said, Canvas, flower stem of choice Inks: Certainly Celery, Versamark Papers: Certainly Celery, White, Old Olive, DSP Celery Accessories: White Taffeta ribbon, celery button, paper piercer, sponge, dimensionals, Crystal Effects Stamp flower head in celery on white. Pierce a flower stem free hand. *Or stamp a flower stem of your choosing using versamark as an outline. Pierce holes following stamp. Adhere to celery layer then olive layer. Tie taffeta ribbon around piece. Glue button to flower center using Crystal Effects. Set aside for a few minutes to let glue set. Stamp canvas on white. Adhere to celery card base. Adhere a narrow strip of DSP of choosing to card. Adhere ribbon flower accent to card using dimensionals. Voila!

Stamps: So cool, Canvas Inks: Brilliant Blue, Old Olive Papers: Old Olive, More Mustard, Bashfull Blue, Confetti White Accessories: Twill ribbon, mustard brads, circle punch (non-SU!), My Way punch Stamp canvas on bashful blue in brilliant blue. Adhere to mustard piece. punch out a circle. Stamp Dude stamp on white. Mount underneath blue and mustard layers. Adhere all to card base. Adhere a strip of twill at top of card and place brads. Fringe twill by pulling some lose threads. Adhere an arrow from my way punch of confetti white. Done. Voila!

Stamps: Seaside, Sanded, Warm Words Inks: chocolate chip, sahara sand, apricot appeal Papers: pumpkin pie, vanilla, apricot appeal, Accessories: blender pen, tag punch, brads, chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon Technique: Masking A nice card for just about any occasion. I stamped the conch shell on a piece of scrap and cut out around the image. I adhered it to my desired location on the white layer. I then stamped the sanded background. You now have a nice area where the paper is blank. I came back with the conch shell stamp and stamp it in the blank area in choc. chip. I colored in the conch with apricot appeal using a blender pen. Then I adhered the vanilla layer to the card base. I finished off the card with the apricot strip with ribbon and brads, and the tag accent. OK, I am signing off because "weather is here". The intense storms are bearing down on us right now. You can tell I am a hardcore weatherspotter and crafter if I am still doing this instead of hanging out w

Stamps: Yappy Day Inks: Black Paper: White, vanilla, black, ruby red Accessories: Jersey Ribbon Originals, Photo Corners Punch, brads (gray ones are non-SU!), Marvelous Markers This 6 x 6 scrapbook page was created by my 10 year old daughter last week when she was hanging out in my office one day, summer boredom setting in (LOL). It was all her own doing. I think it is faboulous. She also learned that you have to let the black ink dry a little bit before you lay your hand on it (hence the messy finger print marks). The brads for spots, all her idea. The brads really give the page a 3D feel! I love her layout, and I would even if she weren't my own daughter! Now it just need that perfect picture of her puppy Diamond, who died on April 3rd of anaplasmosis (a terrible tick born disease). I will be sad to see this set go. We all have used it for school projects and such. My son even decorated a cover for his dog story for school using Yappy Day.

Stamps: Seaside, Define Your Life, Defining Alphabet, Sanded Inks: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Basic Brown, Creamy Caramel Papers: Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Confetti White, Watercolor Accessories: Watercolore Wonder Crayons, Chocolate Chip ribbon, hemp twine, word window punch, brad, sponges, Aquapainter, Cutter Kit I have been playing with this seashell set quite a bit. I really want to use it for swaps for the upcoming Stampin' Up! Convention. This was my first run of playing with it. I think that the sanded background stamp and Seaside go hand in hand, much like a marriage. I was trying to create the look of waves at the seashore. Stamp sanded on confetti white in c. chip. Sponge b. blue. Stamp "simple" definition in c. chip. Stamp Ss in c. caramel. Tear about 1" off, sponge with c. chip. Tear bashful blue, about 1/2" off. Tear about 1/4" off blush blossom. Spong chocolate chip on all. Punch bashful blue word window. Adhere to

Sorry Sohott Fans (that sounds so big headed doesn't it?) but there will be no new craft post Saturday and possibly (thank you Mr. Dursly, Harry Potter fans) no post on Sunday. We are taking the kids fishing - NO I do not fish, plan on being the oldest MN to never fish - ever. I will take pictures, from a distance. Then we are heading to Annie's Malt Shop for some great greasy eatin' and delicious cool treats. For those that don't know, and if you ever come through Minneapolis, you have to spend a couple hours in Dinkytown, Minnesota. Al's Breakfast is there (world known), Annie's Malt Shop (legendary), the Library (a popular eatery and bar) and a darn eclectic crowd. My hubbie and I met there, some 18 years ago, working together at what was then Gray's Campus Drug, now known as the Loring Pasta Bar. Apparently they have great eating there. Just can't go there, not the same as a ratty, smelly, eclectic, interesting Drug Store that it was for some 80+

Have a happy and safe weekend everyone!   As my kids coined the catch phrase last year - LOUD ONE!     Photo taken at this years fireworks with my Canon Rebel XT and my EF 75-300mm lens.

That is Martha Goose. She has been in the family for quite a few years! She has outfits for just about any occasion - from Christmas, Valentines Day, strawberry picking and more! She is always ready for fun. I was trying to be artsy with the photo and instead I got wonky! Ah well, too many fireworks, I guess. For this quick Happy 4th card you will need the following: Stamps: Warm Words Ink: Night of Navy Paper: Ruby Red, Vanilla, Night of Navy Accessories: Large and Small star punch, hemp twine, crafters tool kit edge distresser As I said in my previous post, my daughter and I had been goofing around with stamps today, and I got inspired by the holiday. In just a few minutes I had this cute card made. I cut the blue 3" wide by card width (5 1/2"). With the 3 inch width the large star punch lines up top to bottom perfectly! Punch large star in center. Punch random smaller stars in blue. To get sparkle word in center of star I traced the star outline in pencil, then stamped sp

OK, funny, but true story. I was stamping today, working on a July Fourth card to post, and my daughter was playing around with some of the soon to be retired stamps (dogs and cats of course!) and all of a sudden looked over at me (she is 10) and asked why aren't they called "Fired" stamps? I got the biggest giggle out of that. She has always had such a way with words. She always call cakes (especially birthday cakes ) happy cake. Guess it is always a happy time anytime you have cake! When she was a toddler she called diapers "beepers" because she thought that when they smell, they beep, as in - time to change me! She still calls her blankets "rugs" because they are big and heavy much like a rug. Don't worry, I have kept track of all of her silly sayings. Maybe I should suggest to Stampin' Up! about a name change to the Retiring List to the "You're Fired" list. Bet Mr. Trump would approve.

Stamps: Pocket Fun, Stamp of Authenticity, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Canvas Inks: Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip Papers: Brocade Blue, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Accessories: Brads, Twill Tape, Dimensionals, brocade blue marker I made this card for Fathers Day a while back, hence the retired or just about to be retired stamps. Use the canvas background stamp and stamp entire card base and a piece of scrap, to give you the denim look. Make sure you get the outside of the card flap (waistband) also. Cut your card base 5 1/2 x 5 1/2. fold over top edge (or score) at 1 1/4. Using your craft knife, cut slits to allow 1/4" for belt loops on the flap cutting to about 1/8" of edge. I recommend making a pattern out of scratch paper ahead of time, even if it is a one time card. You do not want to ruin your entire project. Run a piece of brown CS about 1" wide through belt loops, adhere on either end and trim to fit card. Stamp pocket on canvas stamped b. blue piece. Cut out po