Yep... I've got the fever again. After posting my last blog entry, I headed straight back for the stamp room to see if I could come up with anything else. This card has a base of Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. (Click on photo to view larger image) I added another layer of Basic Black and Orchid Opulence. The Orchid Opulence was stamped with the stars stamp from "Haunting Halloween" and Basic Black Classic Ink. The cat and the rest of the sentiment are from the same stamp set and were stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolor paper. The image was watercolored with Stampin' Up! markers and an AquaPainter. "Witching you..." was stamped on Pumpkin Pie cardstock in Basic Black classic ink and punched out using the large oval punch. I matted it on a piece of Basic Black cardstock that was punched using the designer label punch. Ribbon is the striped Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up! Toodles!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
One Last Card For The Day
Yep... I've got the fever again. After posting my last blog entry, I headed straight back for the stamp room to see if I could come up with anything else. This card has a base of Basic Black and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. (Click on photo to view larger image) I added another layer of Basic Black and Orchid Opulence. The Orchid Opulence was stamped with the stars stamp from "Haunting Halloween" and Basic Black Classic Ink. The cat and the rest of the sentiment are from the same stamp set and were stamped in Jet Black StazOn ink on watercolor paper. The image was watercolored with Stampin' Up! markers and an AquaPainter. "Witching you..." was stamped on Pumpkin Pie cardstock in Basic Black classic ink and punched out using the large oval punch. I matted it on a piece of Basic Black cardstock that was punched using the designer label punch. Ribbon is the striped Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up! Toodles!
Gettin' My Mojo Back
Many of you know that I've been in the process of moving since August 15th. I know that's been a LONG time, but I've had a few setbacks during that time. The same day of my last post, I found out that the chimney in the new house leaked. I got that fixed and on that same day, my attic fan sucked one of the shutter louvres into the attic and basically tied it in a knot. It is NOT salvagable. I haven't had any major catastrophes since then, so HOPEFULLY that's the last of it for a while.
My friend, Amy, came over yesterday so we could work on getting some swaps done for our upcoming Stampin' Up! Regional Seminar in Kansas City on the 26th of this month. Amy accomplished a LOT more than I did. After taking a break from card-making, it's taking a while to get my mojo back. Here are a few things I've worked on lately...
This card has a Pretty In Pink card base. The DSP on the bottom of the card is Berry Bliss from the Spring Summer 2008 collection and retired with the release of the current Idea Book & Catalog. I stamped the hippo from "Bundled In Love" three times - twice on Berry Bliss paper and once on Purely Pomegranate Cardstock. I cut each of the three pieces out (body, head, and ribbon) and pieced them together. The head was mounted on dimensionals, giving it a 3-D look. The ribbon is "traitor" ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the rectangles for matting.
It seems like I always need a masculine birthday card and never seem to have a stash. I have plenty of cards stashed that would be great for anyone EXCEPT a man, so I made several of these the other day to keep on hand. The card base is Chocolate Chip. I used the Outlaw DSP (retired a year ago) and matted it on Sage Shadow cardstock. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip Twill. I stamped the mustang from the "Wanted" stamp set once on Very Vanilla cardstock (image on the far right). I inked the same stamp up again and stamped it off once on my grid paper and then again just behind my first image. I inked that stamp up again and stamped it off twice on grid paper before stamping it behind the second image. It gives the card the appearance of motion and is my favorite technique for this stamp set. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip Classic ink using the "Happy Everything" stamp set.
This was an attempt at a swap. I don't know if it will be a swap or not. It was fairly time consuming, although I really like the way it turned out. The base of the card is Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I used Summer Picnic DSP and added it to a layer of Old Olive. The ribbon is striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain. The images were stamped on watercolor paper using Jet Black StazOn Ink. I used markers and an AquaPainter to watercolor the pumpkins. The image was matted on a piece of Old Olive cardstock and adhered to the front of the card. The leaf is from the "Seasonal Icons" set. I colored the stamp directly with my Pumpkin Pie marker. I then "thumped" the stamp with Old Olive and Close to Cocoa markers so the leaf would be multi-colored. I stamped that image on watercolor paper and punched it out using the 1" circle punch. I stamped the leaf again, directly over the original image, using Versamark ink and added Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I heat set the powder and then layered the image over a 1 1/4" circle of Old Olive and a 1 3/8" circle of Pumpkin Pie cardstock. That piece was added to my card front using Stampin' Dimensionals. Turned out pretty cutie-patootie if you ask me.
Guess I'll head back to the stamp room to work on gettin' my mojo back. Toodles!
My friend, Amy, came over yesterday so we could work on getting some swaps done for our upcoming Stampin' Up! Regional Seminar in Kansas City on the 26th of this month. Amy accomplished a LOT more than I did. After taking a break from card-making, it's taking a while to get my mojo back. Here are a few things I've worked on lately...
This card has a Pretty In Pink card base. The DSP on the bottom of the card is Berry Bliss from the Spring Summer 2008 collection and retired with the release of the current Idea Book & Catalog. I stamped the hippo from "Bundled In Love" three times - twice on Berry Bliss paper and once on Purely Pomegranate Cardstock. I cut each of the three pieces out (body, head, and ribbon) and pieced them together. The head was mounted on dimensionals, giving it a 3-D look. The ribbon is "traitor" ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I used my Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the rectangles for matting.
It seems like I always need a masculine birthday card and never seem to have a stash. I have plenty of cards stashed that would be great for anyone EXCEPT a man, so I made several of these the other day to keep on hand. The card base is Chocolate Chip. I used the Outlaw DSP (retired a year ago) and matted it on Sage Shadow cardstock. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip Twill. I stamped the mustang from the "Wanted" stamp set once on Very Vanilla cardstock (image on the far right). I inked the same stamp up again and stamped it off once on my grid paper and then again just behind my first image. I inked that stamp up again and stamped it off twice on grid paper before stamping it behind the second image. It gives the card the appearance of motion and is my favorite technique for this stamp set. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip Classic ink using the "Happy Everything" stamp set.
This was an attempt at a swap. I don't know if it will be a swap or not. It was fairly time consuming, although I really like the way it turned out. The base of the card is Pumpkin Pie cardstock. I used Summer Picnic DSP and added it to a layer of Old Olive. The ribbon is striped Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain. The images were stamped on watercolor paper using Jet Black StazOn Ink. I used markers and an AquaPainter to watercolor the pumpkins. The image was matted on a piece of Old Olive cardstock and adhered to the front of the card. The leaf is from the "Seasonal Icons" set. I colored the stamp directly with my Pumpkin Pie marker. I then "thumped" the stamp with Old Olive and Close to Cocoa markers so the leaf would be multi-colored. I stamped that image on watercolor paper and punched it out using the 1" circle punch. I stamped the leaf again, directly over the original image, using Versamark ink and added Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I heat set the powder and then layered the image over a 1 1/4" circle of Old Olive and a 1 3/8" circle of Pumpkin Pie cardstock. That piece was added to my card front using Stampin' Dimensionals. Turned out pretty cutie-patootie if you ask me.Guess I'll head back to the stamp room to work on gettin' my mojo back. Toodles!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Almost Back...
I'm almost back to our regularly scheduled programming. Moving is hard work!! I'm hoping to have my stamp room ready for business by the end of the upcoming weekend. I'm planning to hold a stamping event sometime during the month and will be e-mailing invitations for that event. If you aren't on my mailing list and would like to receive those invitations, please e-mail me at Jen_Barrett at sbcglobal dot net (I type "at" and "dot" out to avoid spam since spammers have software tools that scan websites for e-mail addresses).
The recent purchase of a home and the move have gone relatively well, except...
I had my "new homeowner's initiation" last night. Here's how it went down. I went to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law (and Miss Em) immediately after work yesterday. By the time I got home I was exhausted and needed to unbutton my pants, if you know what I mean. I was on call for work until 7 AM this morning, so I wanted to get settled in before I started getting calls. I changed into my jammies around 7:45 PM, made a cappuccino, and started a load of laundry. I headed back to the living room with my cappuccino to watch the tube and check my e-mail. About 15 minutes after I sat down I could hear water running, but it sounded like it was coming from the full bath which is on the opposite end of the house from the washer. "Weird", I thought... "have the cats learned to turn the water on by themselves?" (they like to drink FRESH water from the faucet in the bathroom sink). By the time I got to the bathroom, there was water standing in the floor and it was still coming out of the toilet. Unfortunately, all my towels (except ONE (yes... I'm yelling)) were in the washing machine. I knew I had an old blanket in the garage that I'd been using to wrap things in as I moved them, so I headed that way. By the time I got to the kitchen, I could see the water running into that room from the laundry room. "What the..." I turned around and headed out the front door and used my garage door opener to get in to get the blanket. I headed BACK to the main bath and threw the blanket in the floor to start absorbing SOME of the water. I called the plumber in a panic and explained what was happening. The guy on the other end of the line said "Do you want someone to come out tonight, ma'am?". WELL, DUH!?!?!?! I then called Curtis to ask him to bring some towels and anything else he might have to sop the water up with. He got to the house about 20 minutes later and helped me get things cleaned up. Clorox doesn't make bleach strong enough in my opinion. I was frazzled by the time we got everything cleaned up. Fortunately, the sewage that backed up into the house wasn't bad as far as sewage is concerned. I never noticed an odor, thank goodness. If I had, there probably would have been other things to clean up.
Apparently, the sewage pipe had backed up when the washer was draining causing the water (and all the other things that go down the drain and toilets) to come back up into the toilets and the bathtub. The plumber got there at 9:50 PM and cleaned the sewage pipe out. He said he never found a blockage, so I need to call and make an appointment to have them come out with a camera that they can run through the pipe to look for obstructions. I guess it's a colonoscopy for your yard. Anyway, I guess I've been initiated. HOPEFULLY, that was the ENTIRE initiation. I don't think I could take much more!
Oh... to top things off, I had an appointment with the exterminator this morning. I had it on my calendar for the 9th - my bad. You have no idea how much of an organization freak I am (ok... maybe SOME of you do), so to be disorganized just makes my entire life total chaos. To start my day off right, today, my alarm didn't go off. I specifically remember setting it last night and double checking the time. At 6:40 AM my cell phone rings. It's the bug lady apologizing for not calling yesterday to remind me of my 7 AM exterminator appointment TODAY (yep... yelling again). Well, color me happy... I have 20 minutes to get out of bed and make myself presentable for the bug guy!!! I went ahead and called work to say I'd be late. I was just hoping I didn't have any other unexpected surprises that kept me from going to work at all today! The bug guy finished up around 8 AM and I was only an hour late to work... not a big deal.
These things happen in three's, right???? The plumbing, the alarm (or lack thereof), and the bug guy... that's it, right??? I'm terrified to do the next load of laundry, but you can be certain that I'll start it when I have several hours and lots of towels and bleach to devote to the task.
I'll be back soon with some crafty projects to share and some class times for this month. Toodles!
The recent purchase of a home and the move have gone relatively well, except...
I had my "new homeowner's initiation" last night. Here's how it went down. I went to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law (and Miss Em) immediately after work yesterday. By the time I got home I was exhausted and needed to unbutton my pants, if you know what I mean. I was on call for work until 7 AM this morning, so I wanted to get settled in before I started getting calls. I changed into my jammies around 7:45 PM, made a cappuccino, and started a load of laundry. I headed back to the living room with my cappuccino to watch the tube and check my e-mail. About 15 minutes after I sat down I could hear water running, but it sounded like it was coming from the full bath which is on the opposite end of the house from the washer. "Weird", I thought... "have the cats learned to turn the water on by themselves?" (they like to drink FRESH water from the faucet in the bathroom sink). By the time I got to the bathroom, there was water standing in the floor and it was still coming out of the toilet. Unfortunately, all my towels (except ONE (yes... I'm yelling)) were in the washing machine. I knew I had an old blanket in the garage that I'd been using to wrap things in as I moved them, so I headed that way. By the time I got to the kitchen, I could see the water running into that room from the laundry room. "What the..." I turned around and headed out the front door and used my garage door opener to get in to get the blanket. I headed BACK to the main bath and threw the blanket in the floor to start absorbing SOME of the water. I called the plumber in a panic and explained what was happening. The guy on the other end of the line said "Do you want someone to come out tonight, ma'am?". WELL, DUH!?!?!?! I then called Curtis to ask him to bring some towels and anything else he might have to sop the water up with. He got to the house about 20 minutes later and helped me get things cleaned up. Clorox doesn't make bleach strong enough in my opinion. I was frazzled by the time we got everything cleaned up. Fortunately, the sewage that backed up into the house wasn't bad as far as sewage is concerned. I never noticed an odor, thank goodness. If I had, there probably would have been other things to clean up.
Apparently, the sewage pipe had backed up when the washer was draining causing the water (and all the other things that go down the drain and toilets) to come back up into the toilets and the bathtub. The plumber got there at 9:50 PM and cleaned the sewage pipe out. He said he never found a blockage, so I need to call and make an appointment to have them come out with a camera that they can run through the pipe to look for obstructions. I guess it's a colonoscopy for your yard. Anyway, I guess I've been initiated. HOPEFULLY, that was the ENTIRE initiation. I don't think I could take much more!
Oh... to top things off, I had an appointment with the exterminator this morning. I had it on my calendar for the 9th - my bad. You have no idea how much of an organization freak I am (ok... maybe SOME of you do), so to be disorganized just makes my entire life total chaos. To start my day off right, today, my alarm didn't go off. I specifically remember setting it last night and double checking the time. At 6:40 AM my cell phone rings. It's the bug lady apologizing for not calling yesterday to remind me of my 7 AM exterminator appointment TODAY (yep... yelling again). Well, color me happy... I have 20 minutes to get out of bed and make myself presentable for the bug guy!!! I went ahead and called work to say I'd be late. I was just hoping I didn't have any other unexpected surprises that kept me from going to work at all today! The bug guy finished up around 8 AM and I was only an hour late to work... not a big deal.
These things happen in three's, right???? The plumbing, the alarm (or lack thereof), and the bug guy... that's it, right??? I'm terrified to do the next load of laundry, but you can be certain that I'll start it when I have several hours and lots of towels and bleach to devote to the task.
I'll be back soon with some crafty projects to share and some class times for this month. Toodles!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
