Hello stamping people! Here is another realtor card sample I made this year, from a design by Andrea Walford. I printed her instructions and put the card together just as she directed, even the tricky ribbon pleating part! She is a wizard, I tell ya. I don't know how she comes up with her amazing ideas but check out her site at www.andreawalford.com. This card is from her 12 Weeks of Christmas 2010, week #3. There was a video presentation also which took you through the ribbon pleating procedure. I'm glad I watched it, as well as printing off the directions, because it was tricky to master just from reading it. I thought it turned out well though and it sure photographed well! Thanks George. On another note I just had a birthday yesterday, Dec. 5th, and I'm so close to old age pension time it's a little scary, people! And to think I'm still working. I seriously need to win the lottery and stop this work/job foolishness. One more year and I hope that's it for me. I'm slowly getting ready for Christmas but it's taking more time than it usually does. I haven't even got my cards out yet and I generally have them mailed before the end of the first week in December. I got a card from my daughter already! I guess I had better get my rear in gear before too many more days go by. Enjoy the rest of your week everyone.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ...yikes, Christmas!

This is one of 6 cards I offered my realtor friend as his client cards this year. This one uses that yummy Cherry Cobbler seam binding, scallop punches and dies Presto Patterns dp and sponging. He didn't choose this one but he did pick 3 others so they're just about ready for delivery. He gets lovely (blowing my horn!) handmade cards for his clients and I get more of my cards out there so it's all good. I ordered another roll of the CC seam binding but as you all know it's backordered right now. I'm hoping it makes it into the big catty in July and with lots of other colors too! It's so scrumptious and easy to work with. The stamp here is from Perfect Punches, a really useful and versatile set to have. A little SU silver cord (retired) finished it off. I added a piece of WW to the inside so there's somewhere to add a greeting and that was it. Very quick and easy.

Helloooooo???

I know, I know....this long absence is inexcusable. I guess I suffer from thinking nobody wants to read my blog. It's been very busy over the past months, what with great grandbabies being born, grand-children graduating from high school, us buying a new truck and trailer to go RV-ing, dear friends passing away and so on. I promise to get some pictures on here of some of the above and also what I've been working on stamp-wise so bear with me. Thanks for looking in!

Hallowe'en Creations

This is a pic of the Hallowe'en favours I made for my hairdresser to give her clients during the week of Hallowe'en. I usually do this holiday along with Easter and Christmas for her, making appropriately themed little gifts. Her clients really like them and they're fun to make. I do up 50 of each and fill each one with a chocolate treat. This time it's Twix and Nestle's Crunch bars with a few Kit Kat when I ran out of the others. I used the new Sizzix pillow box die in my Big Shot machine and finished up every scrap of my retired Creepy Crawly Hallowe'en dp. I really liked that paper which is why I bought about 4 packages of it when it first came out! I tied each pillow box with orange gg ribbon tied in a knot and piled all 50 of 'em into a basket lined with orange tissue paper. I know Marilyn will love handing them out as much as her clients like getting them. Happy Hallowe'en everybody!

Sparkly Birthday Card

Here is a card I totally cased from my friend and upline, Kerry. Her blog is here at ehmazingstampers@blogspot.com She used the Birthday Whimsy set from SU which I don't have so I substituted Garden Whimsy instead. The butterfly is sparkled up with Rose Glitter Ritz 'cuz I didn't want to use the Cosmo purply-pink glitter. I thought it would overpower the Pink Pirouette cs which I just love. I also used whisper white and Pretty in Pink cs from SU. I used a couple of Pretties Kit flowers and a half-back pearl, secured with Crystal Effects and applied with a dimensional and I outlined the bottom right butterfly with a Sakura Gelly Roll silver marker. It sparkles too, as does the big butterfly, IRL. Doesn't show up that well in the photo. I made a similar card using Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise cs and I thought they both turned out well. I'm really liking the new In Colors and can't wait to do more with them. So many ideas, so little time!

The New SU Catalog and Stuff

Almost a month has gone by since I last posted, after being tagged by my good friend Kerry and adding my responses. I don't believe how time really flies. Now the new Fall-Winter catty has come out and is ready for release to our customers on Monday, the 11th. It's a great catalog, I think, one of the nicest I've seen so far with lots of new and exciting products. I am really liking the new In Colors too, especially the tangerine and pink, so I'm looking forward to creating some things with them. The new scallop border punch is like a prayer answered for those of us who weren't so keen on the corner rounder as scallop maker. It worked but sometimes was a little bit "off" which put ME off but it served a useful purpose I guess. Now the border punch is here and it couldn't have come any sooner to suit me! I like the square scallop and 1 3/4" circle punches too and I see there's a stamp set to go with the square in the RMHC Making A Difference set pictured on the inside back cover of the catty. It's cute and I think I'm going to order it, along with a ton of other stuff. (The only complaint I have about the new catalog is that some of the print, especially in the front pages, is in such light colored ink I found it very hard to read. But that's just my mature eyes I guess! ) I like the new Big Shot too but man, it's expensive! I'm sure I'll get one but that muttering under the breath noise you hear will be me, crabbing all the way to the cheque book. I'm off to Staples to get my book bound, wired and plasticized so it lasts until the next one and then I'm going to start putting my order together. Kerry and I are going to share some of the new Christmas stamp sets in an effort to make it easier on both of us so we have to collaborate our ideas before ordering. And then I'm going to wait patiently for the Holiday Mini. That's my favorite catalog of the whole year, I really look forward to getting it and I've never been disappointed. Now, if they would only bring back the 1/4" gold textured ribbon then my Christmas stamping would be complete! Bye for now and we'll talk soon.

I've Been Tagged

My upline and good friend Kerry tagged me today, along with other bloggers, to provide seven little known facts about myself so I dredged up these gems:
1. I despise asparagus, above all vegetables, to the point that I can't even stand the smell of them cooking. I know, I know, you're supposed to love them but you'll have to count me out!

2. I was born in London, England and came to Canada as a mere baby of 10 weeks.

3. I lived in Turkey (yes, that Turkey!) for 18 months when I was 14-15 yrs. old.

4. I am blind in one eye. No, you wouldn't be able to guess which one.

5. I didn't get my driver's licence until I was 21 so I wouldn't have to ask anyone to sign for me. My Dad laughed when I asked him as a teen if I could get it.

6. Everyone in my family (my side of the family) was born on a Thursday.

...and finally

7. At one point in my secretarial life I could type over 80 wpm.

Now you probably know more useless trivia that you can't even use to amaze your friends.
Thanks for tagging me Kerry.

Sympathy Card

My dh George has to go to the funeral of a co-worker this afternoon and he asked me to make him a card to take along. I didn't know this man but George has known him for many years so I really tried to put some thought into it. I used a 5" square ww base layered with Night of Navy and So Saffron and then another ww layer. I stamped the large image from Essence of Love with Versamark and embossed it with a garnet colored ep that comes out exactly the colour of Bravo Burgundy. I added the butterfly from Essence of Love in the upper right corner, the sentiment from the same set in the lower right and a piece of burgundy ribbon on the upper left. I used Bravo Burgundy for the stamping and I also put one of the Close as a Memory sentiments on the inside. I had some nice 5 1/2" square white envelopes to use that worked well for this card. It's never great to have to go to a funeral but I also had to go to one yesterday, of a co-worker's husband who died far too young due to cancer. Making a card for her and for dh's friend today brought home how fragile life is and how we shouldn't get so caught up in the day-to-day of it all that we forget. Hang on close to the ones you love!

Fresh Cuts Birthday Card

I cased this card by Kerin Sylvester, at http://www.kerinstamps.com/. She has some great ideas for using the Fresh Cut stamp set and the cards that go with it; this one really caught my eye and I knew my sister-in-law would love it. The iridescent ice embossing doesn't show up that well but it sure looks pretty IRL. All the supplies are SU except the ribbon which is a spool from the M store. I love ribbon and can't resist buying ones I like. Take a few minutes and check out Kerin's site, she really does some great cards.

So Much Designer Paper!

Since I seem to have so much designer paper on hand, and with a new catalog soon upon us, I thought I better use some of it up. I got four of these lovely tea tins from a lady at work which are perfect for this use. They're about 8" tall with completely flat sides which makes it super easy to apply the paper with SU glue sticks. Some grosgrain ribbon at the join with a little bow and punched scallops on the lids, and voila! Done. Both tins took less than half an hour which makes them great for a class. The paper is Jersey Shore, ribbon is SU Pumpkin Pie. I think I might do the other two tins with Christmas paper as I have lots of that, too! Hope you like them, I'll be back soon.

Scalloped Notes and Holder

Here is a set of scalloped note cards and box I made from a tutorial by Andrea Walford. You can see her great ideas and tutorials at http://www.sunnystampin.com/ . As she pointed out, this is a great way to use up any left over dp and you don't have to make the box. I did but I wanted to try it out just so I could say I did it. I used up some of my Afternoon Tea dp and a little Soft Sky, Choc Chip and ww cs too. It's a great idea she had, using the slit punch to scallop the little cards, and her note about reinforcing the fold with a punched out word window is important. There's not much holding front and back together so making the fold stronger just makes sense. Anyway, it took about 1 1/2 hrs to make it all and then take and upload the picture so that's not bad. Hope you like it and please visit Andrea's site the next time you're looking around the stamping world.

Bon Voyage!

This is me and the other couple that went with us on our Alaska cruise, on the day we left, May 25th. George is taking the picture of the three of us and, like a good wife, I'm holding his glass of Alaska Amber beer so it didn't fly off the railing! (This is 6:00 p.m. by the way) We were supposed to depart at 5:00 p.m. but what with late arrivals and such we didn't sail under the Lions Gate bridge until almost 6:30. What a sight that is. People stand on the bridge and wave at the passengers on the cruise ships because you're so close to the bridge deck.

No, I'm Still Here!

Wow, what a long time since I last posted! So much time has passed I don't know where to begin. Let's see if I can pick out the highlights......our house is up for sale so we're hoping to find a bigger one with room to accommodate my stamping. We did have one offer but it fell through when the buyers couldn't sell their house. It's a waiting game for sure. We went on an Alaska cruise in May and had an absolute blast. I highly recommend it as a way to relax. You're almost forced to take it easy because everything is done for you. Waaaaay too much food, you have to be really careful or the pounds pile on. We went with Celebrity Cruises and couldn't have been more pleased. The service was great and we really enjoyed it. It's so beautiful up there, the coast of B.C. is amazing, the air is crystal clear, eagles are common as grass, whales and sea otters and seals, oh my! Go if you can, you'll love it. My granddaughter got engaged, getting married next summer. Another granddaughter is graduating this summer. They grow up so fast, it's hard to remember them as babies. George is swamped with Union business because of school closures and layoffs here, so that's keeping him in his office almost daily. And now......the new retired list is out and this new Decor Elements promotion has appeared. I want to start planning classes for the fall but I don't know if we'll be moving or not so I feel like it has to be on hold. On the other hand, if the house doesn't sell then I have to plan classes for here so I can't wait too long. And then there is the new catalogue launch in August to consider. Plus working 3+ days a week. No wonder we get stressed. I'll try not to let so much time go by before my next post.

Thank You Card du jour

This is another of the thank you cards I put together for my co-worker in the Activities Dept. where I work. This time I used the new DP called Bali Breeze. Wow, it's so colorful, lots of turquoise and orange, so that's what I pulled in with the ribbon, scallop-punched detail and the base of the card. The flower, if you want to call it that, is 2 layers of DP and 2 layers of cs, one Purely Pomegranate, one Pumpkin Pie and then two layers of Bali Breeze DP. I cut into the scallops to make "petals" and then punched through all four layers, adding a brad from the Pretties kit. Then I put the ribbon on, one strip each of orange and turquoise and then a little knotted piece, the "Thank You" from Artfully Asian ( I adore that stamp set) and it was done. I tried to fluff up the petals but I was afraid of tearing them so I didn't go crazy with it. I added a line of scallops from Purely Pomegranate that I punched out with the slit punch. I like the effect from that punch since it's quite large, moreso than the corner rounder punches. I ventured into rub-on territory on the turquoise half of the card and I think it looks great; finishes it off sort of. All in all not a totally shabby effort, she said!

Thank You Cards

I know I haven't posted for a verrrrry long time but, you know, life just gets in the way. In any event I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that the weather isn't bringing anyone down. Hasn't it been awful? If it isn't more snow, it's rain, rain, rain. I guess if a person didn't have to go out in it, it wouldn't matter but when you have to go to work or get kids to school or even just do the day-to-day stuff like grocery shopping, doctor and dentist appointments and so on, sometimes the weather can really slow you up. But Spring can't be far away and since Easter is next month it's all uphill from here!

Seems like I'm in a "thank you" card place at the moment, having offered to make a supply for the Activities Co-ordinator at the nursing home where I work. She always has people to thank and I get lots of practice making cards for her.

This card has a Elegant Eggplant base with a layer of Always Artichoke and Confetti Cream. I used the Artfully Asian set from SU and stamped the design with Chocolate Chip craft ink; I then embossed it with SU clear embossing powder. The sentiment is just CC craft ink with no embossing. I colored the design in with SU metallic art pencils and added a length of SU Certainly Celery organdy ribbon which I think is now retired (rats!). Up in the left corner are three half beads from the Robin's Nest. They come in a little tiny bottle that the aforementioned activity girl spotted in a scrapbooking store we were in one day. There are red, green and clear beads in there, probably a hundred or so, so I thought I would throw them on there. They're actually quite pretty if you can get them to stay where you put them. I used Crystal Effects which seemed to do the trick.

I plan to post a few more of these thank you cards in the coming weeks and I will try to be more diligent about posting, period. The time just keeps flying by. Also, I'm having a problem with my left eye which the ophthalmologist says will have to be operated on in the (near) future. Something about a membrane pulling on the retina which is distorting my vision and creating little pencil eraser-size blurry spots. He would have operated already but since I can only see out of that eye, he is reluctant to expose it to the risks of surgery. We all know there is always a chance taken when we opt for surgery but in this case I don't think it's going to be a matter of "if" so much as "when" for me. I'll keep you posted. Talk soon.

New Spring & Summer Collection

Can you believe it??? My catty arrived today! I can't wait to get five minutes to sit down and go through it uninterrupted by phones, shopping, doctor appts., emails, cooking, cleaning, etc., etc. It has been very hectic the past 3 or 4 weeks; I've had several classes, made dozens of cards and 3D items so it's been hopping. I hope to post some pics here soon, and I'm trying to get a watermark done but everything takes time because everyone is busy. So, have a very merry Christmas and, although I know it's impossible, try to take some time for yourself. Talk soon.

Lynn

'EH'mazing Stampers

'EH'mazing Stampers

Bits 'n Pieces from Card Class

Well I have one more official card class to go, on Nov. 22nd, with the most recent one on Nov. 1st. I've possted three designs from classes - the wreath card, the quotation/tree card, and the blue Noel card, along with one of a set of 12 I made for a customer of mine. The idea came from my 'ehmazing upline, Kerry, who's blog is at 'ehmazingstampers.blogspot.com. Go there and check out some of her great stuff. But I digress! (as usual) The wreath card is a take on one I made last year for my own card but uses Purely Pomegranate, River Rock and confetti cream cs and stitched ribbon instead of Really Red and Mellow Moss cs and red gg ribbon; also the wreath is much smaller and the Merry Christmas sentiment is from a newer stamp set, Season of Joy. The card beside it uses the new Sidekick Sayings stamp set, Dashing DP and River Rock, Really Red and VV cs. I also used one of the stamps from Snowflake Spot for the background. A little SU gold cord finished it off along with some glue and Dazzling Diamonds. The tree was colored with markers before the glitter was added. The blue card was adapted from a design of Kerry's as well, changing the colors and layout a bit. I was getting a tad overloaded with River Rock and Purely Pomegranate so I opted for Night of Navy and silver embellishments (embies?) instead. The sentiment is from Many Merry Messages and the silver stars are courtesy of Background Basics and SU Encore silver. The tree is embossed with Detail White ep on glossy white cs, the background was sponged/daubed with Night of Navy and the spritzer tool was used with a Night of Navy marker to add some bg texture. The sentiment was also embossed with Detail White. The silver stars were embossed on glossy white with silver detail ep and cut out INDIVIDUALLY!!!! 30 of them.....thought it would never end. They were attached with dimensionals cut in half.

The burgundy/sahara sand card came from an idea Kerry used for a card wherein she masked off the edges with an oval vellum template and stamped off with the tall evergreen from Lovely As A Tree. I decided to forego the template and just stamped off, using my SMJ to make sure the trees were all in a row and properly spaced. I had made a set of 12 cards using the same plan but with Mellow Moss and River Rock cs and Happy Holidays from Many Merry Messages. I had bought ribbon from Mike's some time ago and it was the perfect olive-y shade to go with that card. So I used it. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right? But I digress again! That set of cards I sold to another customer who promptly showed them to this customer who promptly ordered a dozen for herself, but with a different color scheme. Women! Sheesh! She chose Bravo Burgundy and I chose Sahara Sand so I put 'em together and this is what I came up with. I sponged the edges and punched the corners and used another Mike's ribbon and SU gold cord to finish it off. This one's sentiment is also from Many Merry Messages. Now this same customer has ordered a set of a dozen of the blue Noel cards so she's helping my bottom line immensely.

Anyway, the card classes have gone well so far and have been a lot of fun. My ladies said the other night that they would like to try some 3D projects so my class on Nov. 22nd will be just that and in the meantime, one wants me to put on a class at her place in Aldergrove for her friends and rellys who don't want to drive to Mission. Sometimes I feel like I live in the farthest reaches of Nunavit when I tell people I live here. That's a very common reaction from those folks on the south side of the Fraser, believe me. In any event I said I would love to put on a class for the group, just pick a day/night and we'll have at 'er! I am very excited about doing it as it gets more ladies interested in SU and that's my goal. I just had to stress that I need an accurate number of people, no more than 10, and a rough idea of what they might want to do and if they're all newbies or not. Makes a big difference when you're teaching the totally uninitiated as opposed to the "oldies" in terms of what you can show them and what's just too much for them. Don't want to put anyone off right at the starting gate.

So, thanks for dropping in - we'll talk again soon.

Will October Birthdays Never End?

Just a quick note with this card, made for DH younger sister who lives in Nova Scotia. She's quite crafty herself so I always stress about cards I send her. But what the heck, I'm crafty too so I just make 'em and send 'em, hoping she likes 'em. This was done with Perfect Plum and Pale Plum cs and a stick pin from the Pretties kit. This was an attempt at coloring the flowers with an aqua painter - big mistake. Do not try this at home unless you have many flowers to waste. I was trying for a dark center getting lighter towards the edges. I guess I was having delusions of being Monet or some other famous painter! In any event it ended up looking like a dead flower but I figured with pearls and sparkly things from the kit it wouldn't look so bad. No way was I throwing it out! So I stuck it on there with some SU organdy ribbon and a key tag punch with a sentiment from Hugs and Wishes in silver encore ink. I sponged around the edge of the tag as well to set it off. Sponged around the Pale Plum with Perfect Plum and that was that. Except for the flower it didn't turn out too bad. Maybe the sister-in-law will think I planned it that way. One more friend has a birthday this week so I have to get busy with that one too. Creativity, don't fail me now.

More October Birthdays

This creation was for the husband of Joyce, one of our camping group. His birthdays is (I think) 3 days ahead of hers but I made both cards for the same day. His uses Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip cs and a really cute stamp set called Happy Camper. The sentiment is just the words from Fast and Fun notes colored with a Chocolate Chip marker. The campfire was colored with markers also - black, choc. chip, ruby red and more mustard - in an effort to make it look like flames. The trees were stamped off with Handsome Hunter and Chocolate Chip markers and stars were added with the silver Encore ink and the star stamp from Background Basics. I lightly sponged with Bashful Blue all over the BB cs just to give it a little texture and added some Antique SU brads to the right bottom corner. Again I tried a little presentation and DH took the picture, etc., etc. Malcolm liked it a lot, especially the envie which I stamped all around two edges with the hiking boot from the Happy Camper set. On Joyce's card I stamped a Sassy Stem on the envie which looked nice, too. I really enjoyed making these cards so I must have been in the groove or something. You know what it's like when you sit there, trying your best to be creative but nothing happens? Not today; today it all worked!