For baby George

I have been up since 5:30 a.m. because I needed to cook up a casserole for a potluck lunch at church. One slight problem...when we got to church the potluck is next week. Rats! It all ended up fine...we went to the in-laws and all feasted on hot dish and watched the Packer vs. Viking game.

I did get a chance to make a quick card. This card is for Amy (rohla on SCS). She makes the greatest cards and I really felt the pressure to make a great one. It is a neat story how I know her. She commented on a card I had in my SCS gallery and noticed she lived in a town near mine in Wisconsin...so I clicked on her profile and noticed she is a speech-language pathologist...same as me. Then I sent her a private message and told her "hi" and come to find out...each week we were at the same story hour at the local library. How fun! Anyways...she had a baby at the beginning of the month and I made this card for her. Supplies: cardstock- Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Bashful Blue, Marigold Morning (retired color), Basic Grey- Oh Baby, Girl; ink- Versamark; stamps- All Year Cheer (SU!); accessories- cuttlebug die and cuttlebug, sewing machine,round corner punch with guide off to make scalloped edge, white Signo gel pen. Hopefully she likes it.

Inspiration Saturday

Well Saturday finally arrived and that means a new Inspiration Challenge is posted on SCS. This week you were to get inspired by a pillow. The colors are a tad bit out of my comfort zone, but it all ended up OK. This will be for my friend's 3-year-old who just turned 3 and is into princesses right now. Supplies: cardstock- Cameo coral, Choc. chip, GP white; ink-Cameo Coral; stamps- Winged Things- SU!; accessories- sewing machine, hodgepodge hardware, grosgrain ribbon, printed tag (My Mind's Eye- Wild Asparagus). Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. Tomorrow is a good ol' potluck dinner at church, so I have to get cookin'. Thanks for stopping by.

Creating everyday

I set out to create at least one card each day this week...and I have done it! Yesterday on the Ways To Use it Challenge on SCS...the challenge was to incorporate food. Well, on Oct. 14th my dh and I will be celebrating our 7th anniversary...so this is for him. Supplies: cardstock-Garden Green, Basic Black, Georgia Pacific white; ink- StazOn Jet Black, Basic Black, Garden Green; stamps: Rubber Stampede- peppers, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Sanded...both SU!; accessories: prismacolors and gamsol, computer generated font, yellow Crayola marker to highlight.



Today is the Limited Supply Challenge on SCS and the challenge is to use Halloween stamps in a non-Halloween way. Well...this is for my dear sister...who I have been a little testy with lately. Supplies: cardstock- GP white, Basic Black; ink- StazOn Jet Black, Eggplant envy; stamps- So Very (SU!), $1 Michaels stamp, Autumn Leaves flourishes; accessories- eggplant grosgrain, computer generated font, dimensionals. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

A Child is Born

Here is a card I did for the Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge.
Supplies: cardstock- Bordering Blue, Elegant Eggplant, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Georgia Pacific white.
Ink- StazOn Timber Brown, Encore Silver
Stamps- The Angel Company- A Child
Accessories- Prismacolors and gamsol, Cuttlebug, Embossing folder- Tapestry, Organza ribbon, sewing machine, dimensionals
Technique-Gamsol magic, paper piecing (star)

Thanks for looking!

Tutorial on Inking with fiberfill

On Splitcoaststampers there is a thread about using polyester fiberfill to ink, or "sponge" the edges of cardstock. This is the technique that I have used since reading Carol Heppner's book "Inking". When I first started stamping I used cosmetic wedges, but I ended up with lines. Then I moved on to sponges, but felt that too much ink was soaked up and transferred on to the cardstock and I had little control. Then I read the "Inking" book and now used polyester fiberfill.

One thing that I LOVE about using fiberfill is that it is so cheap.


Here is a tutorial I made about how to ink the edges of your cardstock.
Supplies: Classic ink pad, scratch paper, your stamped cardstock you want inked, and a hunk of fiberfill.

1. Dip your fiberfill into the inkpad...being careful not to push down so hard that your fingernail touches the inkpad (you will see that this happened to me and I have a couple of marks on the cardstock as a result).

2. With your stamped image laying on scratch paper, start on the scratch paper and move in a circular motion toward the cardstock. Keep moving in circles on and off the cardstock all the way around the cardstock.

3. Keep applying ink in this fashion until it is dark enough for your liking.

4. Finish off the card.

What's for Supper?

If you are like me...you dread 4:00 p.m. because it means you have to figure out what you're making for supper. I just got to the point where I wished that someone would say, "Erika, make xxxxxx". I would find that so much easier. So, I had this bright idea that I would find a website that would email recipes each day. I found a free service called "Peak of the Market" and the last two nights we have had fabulous, but easy-to-cook dinners. I am a happy camper! Here is the link if you want to check it out...I don't like to keep a good thing in the dark!

http://www.peakmarket.com/v2_subscription.cfm

Have fun~

Bashful Bluebirds

Today my little guy woke up at 4:30 a.m. for the second day in a row...so needless to say, I did have some time to stamp. Today the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to use the colors Old Olive, More Mustard, and Bashful Blue. When I read the combination, I was skeptical of how the blue would look...but it turned out that it is a wonderful color combo. For this card I used More Mustard cardstock for the base, stamped the leaves with Old Olive on the Old Olive layer using Best Blossoms, and the patterned paper is from my scrap pile (I don't remember where it came from), and the scallops were done using my corner rounder punch with the guide off. For that I used Bashful Blue and I stamped the Inkadinkado birds with StazOn Jet Black on Georgia Pacific white paper. I just doodled the lines using a fine tip Sharpie and colored the birds using ink on the lid of my More Mustard and Old Olive inkpads and water and a brush. I used prismacolors and gamsol for the blue. The ribbon is from Wild Asparagus and the tag was made with my Cuttlebug and the stamp is from the Noteworthy set. I used wire to adhere the tag to the ribbon. Thanks for looking!

On Kimmie's blog (link posted on the right-"Kimmie's Kraftin' Korner")...she tagged anyone that wanted to be tagged. This looks like fun, so here is mine.
1. YOUR ROCKSTAR NAME (first pet, current car): Chief Town and Country

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie): Vanilla Gingersnap

3. YOUR FLY "GUY/GIRL" NAME (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name): E-HYB

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal): Yellow Bear

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born): Christine Durand

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first 3 letters last name, first 2 letters first name): ERIHY

7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink, & add "the"): The Purple Bloody Mary

8. YOUR NASCAR NAME (first names of your Grandfathers): John John

9. YOUR STRIPPER NAME (favorite perfume, favorite candy): Breathe Comfort Licorice

10. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (Mother's & Father's middle names): Lynn Joyce (I will have to be in the witness protection program if my dad knows that I let it out that his middle name is "Joyce"...hahaha)

Now I will tag anyone who cares to be tagged...try it, it is quite fun!

Altered Composition Notebook

Last week at Target composition notebooks were on clearance for $.35. Well, you can't beat that price...so I picked up 4. My sister and I sold some of our goods at a craft sale and I received an order from an 11 year old and she wanted a brown and blue journal. Yesterday I made this for her.

supplies: Modge Podge, My Mind's Eye- Bohemia double-sided patterned paper, bookplate and Happy Harmony stamp from SU!, blue grosgrain ribbon from JoAnn's. Thanks for looking.

Wet watercolor paper technique

I have tried this technique in the past, and I ended up with what I thought of as...sloppy results. Today I thought I would give it another shot and it turned out much better. To do the technique...you just mist some water on watercolor paper and then stamp on it with a solid stamp image. My best friend's grandma died today, so I made this to send to her. supplies: cardstock- Bravo Burgundy, So Saffron, True Thyme, watercolor paper; ink- Always Artichoke, Baroque Burgundy, So saffron; stamps- Rhonna Farrer clear flourish stamp, So very, Watercolor gardens; accessories- brads, ticket punch.

Question- Does anyone else have trouble trying to leave comments on some blogs? Ever since I registered on Blogger there are some blogs that keep "refreshing" or something. It is so frustrating because I will comment and then *poof* it disappears. If anyone knows a fix...let me know...it would really help me out!

2/5/7/10 boxes (Jenn Balcer's)

The Try a New Technique challenge on Splitcoaststampers was to create a 2/5/7/10 box. Click here for the directions. I am not one that usually makes such projects; however, this one was very simple, quick, and the tutorial was easy to follow. I made two of them. The first one I designed based on the colors of my sister's wedding coming up on October 6th of this year. I will make more of these and give them away as shower favors...loaded with chocolate, of course. Supplies: Georgia Pacific white cardstock, certainly celery and chocolate chip classic ink, Stazon Timber Brown ink, Blooming with Happiness, Noteworthy, Peaceful Wishes, and Itty Bitty Background stamps all by SU! Satin ribbon from Wal-Mart and corner punch *guide taken off* to create the scalloped edge.
The second box I made my son gave to his playgroup teacher today...filled with chocolate, of course. Last week at playgroup she made the comment that she feels invisible a lot of the time. I think she said it because she has to try to communicate with little ones that are between the ages of 12 months and 4 years. So we gave her the box and told her that we wanted to make sure that she did not feel invisible. For this box I used Wild Asparagus patterned cardstock, ribbon, and sentiment with SU! hardware. Thanks for looking!

Sick Day

Today the whole family was under the weather. I only work on-call, and today I was supposed to work an entire day for someone that is taking vacation on Friday. Now I will have to work Friday instead. After a nap and a cup of coffee (with hot cocoa mix) I mustered up enough energy to create a card. I discovered that some of the best inspiration can come from patterned paper. I was looking at paper that Lindsey sells in her eBay store- Jacksonbelle Embellishments and found a gorgeous piece of Fancy Pants Designs, Free Spirit paper called "Passion". That was my inspiration for this card that I am giving to my sister for her bridal shower.
details: Cardstock- SU! Purely Pomegranate, Georgia Pacific white
Ink: SU!Cool Caribbean, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky and Staz on Jet Black Stamps: Autumn Leaves Flourishes, Autumn Leaves Flowers, SU! So Very set
Accessories- Pomegranate double stitched grosgrain ribbon, black brads, dimensionals, ticket corner punch, primacolors, gamsol, paper piercer and mat.

Blueberries

I had an old At Home America catalog sitting down in my stamping room...and thought maybe I could find something in there as inspiration. Well, they had some "kitchy" canvases and one had blueberries. Seeing as I don't have a blueberry stamp...I made my own from a hostess reward stamp set from The Angel Company called Truly Blessed. I first used bashful blue and then just tapped the edge with Night of Navy to get some shading on the berries. I drew in the veins of the leaves and the stems and then touched everything to the canvas background stamp with creamy caramel ink. The other stamp set I used is Circle of Friendship from SU! Cardstock: base is a neutral from Wal-Mart, Basic Black, Ruby Red, and Night of Navy. The "rivet" is popped up with a dimensional. I distressed the main image...crumpled it up, touched it in the creamy caramel ink pad and rubbed it up and down the edge of my counter top. Thanks for looking...I sent this to my favorite uncle for his birthday.

Happy Snow People

Well, I am back creating again. Today is the Technique Lovers Challenge on SCS and it happens to be one of my favorite techniques...Gamsol Magic. I used Elegant Eggplant cardstock for the base of the card. For the rest I used Bashful Blue, Regal Rose, and Whisper White cardstock. To color the image I used my Prismacolor colored pencils and gamsol using a stump to "wash" the pencil on the image. The image is from Hero Arts and I also used SU! Snowflakes and Small Script. For accessories I used grosgrain ribbon and SU! circle punches...oh, of course stickles for some bling. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day.

First day of Kindergarten

I never thought I would be the mom that would get all choked up when their child went out into the big, scary world...but I guess I am. Today my girl went off to Kindergarten and I couldn't talk about it all day without getting all choked up. Of course, she had a wonderful day and everything went well for her.

While my little guy napped, I got a chance to get downstairs and stamp before work. Today on SCS is the color challenge and the colors were Always Artichoke and Groovy Guava. I used the retired Botanicals set, Sanded background, Weathered background, and Happy Harmony set for the sentiment. The leaves are folded and popped up with dimensionals. I did some distressing and used creamy caramel for the Sanded background. Thanks for looking!

Inspired on Saturday

It is Saturday and that means Spllitcoaststampers (SCS) has an inspiration challenge...which is my favorite of the challenges. To make this card I used- cardstock: cool caribbean, whisper white, and elegant eggplant cardstock (all SU!). Ink: same as cardstock + certainly celery and apricot appeal (all SU!). Stamps: Blooming with Happiness, Little Pieces (SU!) and Michael $1 clear stamps. Accessories: glitter brads from KI Memories, blender pen, white signo gel pen, and grosgrain ribbon all from SU!. To cut the ovals I traced a template and then cut them out. Thanks for looking and have a great Labor Day weekend...we are headed north to Grandma's cabin.