2007 May »

How are Ewe Today?

Uncategorized 18 Responses »

May 312007

My this week is going fast. I find myself with an amazing number of deadlines looming and really do need to spend some serious time in the studio the next few days. One thing that I spent the weekend working on were the cards that I promised the girls from the Cincinnati Stampin’ and Pamperin’ Retreat. I’m sure some of you know the story, and I’ve probably already told it, but bear with me. The day of the Shoebox Swap was on Saturday and I had not planned on staying. I needed to get back home for Mallory’s Senior Prom and did not prepare a swap. As luck would have it, when I checked in at home on Saturday morning, I was given the green light to stay in Cincinnati until the end of the day. I went back with the other girls after lunch but did not plan on participating in the Shoebox Swap. I was informed by our fabulous hostesses, and some other stampers in the room, that I was not allowed to stand around and watch and visit. I had to participate. Feeling BAD that I had not prepared anything, I left a note on the paper at my spot on the table (No. 22) that read: “I’m sorry and I feel really BAD, but I was not supposed to be here after lunch today but plans changed this morning! I did not prepare a swap and did not plan on participating. If you would like to receive a card made by me in lieu of this swap, please put your name and address somewhere on this sheet! Bad Sherry” 27 names and addresses later, your cards are in the mail! Hopefully you have started to receive them and if you haven’t and want to be surprised, don’t read any further!

Now I thought about this before I did the card. I didn’t want to use any SU sets that were retiring, and that left me with not much to work with! So many of my favorites retired – well actually most of my sets retired. I think I have seven to work with and none of them except this one have I used a great deal! (Disclaimer: don’t look if you want to be surprised)

The sheep was stamped in Black Stazon on Whisper White. The face and legs were colored with Blush Blossom and Tulip Puffy Paint was applied to the body. I used my embossing gun and heat set the puffy paint to that it would dry quickly and puff up. (It is so much fun to watch this stuff get puffy!) I thought it would be cute to draw squiggles that looked like barbed wire and hope that I accomplished that. The background layers are both stamped in Real Red on Whisper White. I kept a simple color pallet of black, white and red, carrying it over to the ribbon.

Stamps: Farm Fever, Weathered, Flannel Plaid

Ink: Black Stazon, Real Red, Blush Blossom

Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Markers, Black Gel Pen, Tulip White Puffy Paint, SU Gingham Ribbon, Dimensionals

Sketch Challenge Wednesday

Challenges, MFT Designs 10 Responses »

May 302007

I would say Good Morning, but I think it’s afternoon where I am now. I’ve lost part of my day today and it is so unlike me! For some unknown reason, I didn’t get to sleep last night until around 12:00 a.m., woke up at 3:00 and finally crawled out of bed at 4:00. At 7:00 I went back to bed and finally got moving around 9:30. So here it is 1:00 in the afternoon and I have gotten absolutely nothing accomplished today – except the card I’m about to show you!

Today is the Sketch Challenge on Splitcoast today and true to my promise to a good friend, I won’t miss it! Now I checked on this about 4:00 a.m., this morning but it’s taken me this long to get it done! I got to playing with some different ways to watercolor last night and wanted to try today to incorporate some of it into my card today. All stamps I’ve used today are from My Favorite Things, but I’ve used three different sets. I started out by stamping the main image from You Take the Cake in Timber Brown Stazon on watercolor paper. I watered the image with reinkers and some watercolor brushes but the image looked a little dull. So I went back over some of the areas with markers and then blended the color with Tsukineko fantastix brush point blenders that I picked up from Eclectic Paperie. I had already picked my background papers from the Retro mat stack so matching the colors was quite easy. Using the polka dot background stamp from Let’s Go For a Walk, I stamped the entire front of the card base and the background panel for the image in Versamark. I layered both the image and background on Chocolate Chip, wrapped the ribbon around the bottom two layers to resemble a package, tied a bow, and then raised the image panel on two layers of mounting tape. The sentiment is from Bundles of Bouquets and is stamped on watercolor paper that I sponged the edges of in Tempting Turquoise. I mounted a 1″ circle and the raised the sentiment up on Chocolate Chip that was punched using my new Designer Label punch (which I’ve had for almost two weeks and had to dig out of the box it came in – almost forgot I ordered it). The edges of the main card and the background panel are also sponged in Tempting Turquoise.

Stamps: You Take the Cake, Let’s Go For a Walk and Bundles of Bouquets by My Favorite Things

Ink: Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Summer Sun, Stazon Timber Brown, Versamark

Paper: Watercolor, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip, Retro matt stack

Accessories: Mounting Tape, Ribbon, Brads, Wedge Sponge, Reinkers, Markers, Watercolor Brushes, Tsukineko fantastix, Designer Label Punch, 1″ Circle Punch, ½” Circle Punch

Cool Tuesday!

Challenges, Papertrey 5 Responses »

May 292007

Good Tuesday morning! I got a lot done in the studio yesterday – the cards to the girls who attended the Cincinnati Stampin’ Retreat are ready to go in the mail and I even made a road trip with my mother, sister and aunt yesterday. I wanted to spend a little time in the studio this morning before my errands and decided to check in on the Splitcoast Color Challenge this morning. Some great colors that I couldn’t resist working with – Chocolate Chip, Garden Green and Cool Carribean. Since I’ve been in a gardening mood lately, that’s the first thing that popped into my head. Of course, I’m afraid the picture does not do the colors on the card justice – had a little difficulty this morning (so what else is new)!

Anyway, I decided to use the Green Thumb set from PAPERTREYink this morning with these awesome colors. The background paper is from the Retro Prints mat stack that Daughter #2 gave me for Mother’s Day. She was happy that I finally used it! There is just a little drop of Stickles in the center of each flower and the sentiment panel is raised on mounting tape.

Stamps: Green Thumb by PAPERTREYink

Paper: Whisper White, Cool Caribbean, Garden Green, Retro Print Mat Stack

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cool Caribbean, Garden Green

Accessories: Stickles, Ribbon, Mounting Tape

I hope everyone has a great day and I’m off to run a few errands now.

I've Been Tagged Again!

Uncategorized 4 Responses »

May 282007

So it appears that I have been tagged by Julie Buhler (bless you heart)! Love ya girl! The object is to give one word answers (a little difficult but I managed to do it).

You can only type one word. No explanations…

Yourself: BAD

Your Partner: stodgy

Your Hair: grey

Your Mother: wonderful

Your Father: deceased

Your Favorite Item: computer

Your Dream Last Night: unmemorable

Your Favorite Drink: diet

Your Dream Car: convertible

Dream Home: farm

The Room You Are In: living

Your Fear: heights

Where You Want to be in Ten Years: family

Who You Hung Out With Last Night: puppy

You’re Not: BAD

One of Your Wish List Items: cruise

The Last Thing You Did: stamp

you Are Wearing: jammies

Your Favorite Weather: warm

Your Favorite Book: novel

Last Thing You Ate: cheeseburger

Your Life: busy

Your Mood: content

Your Best Friend: many

What Are You Thinking About Right Now: nothing

Your Car: Lincoln

What Are You Doing At The Moment: sitting

Relationship Status: married

What Is On Your TV: movie

What Is The Weather Like: muggy

When Is The Last Time You Laughed: today

This is a new game of tag. Let me know your one word answers. You can link back here in the comments, so I can check them out!

I suppose I should now tag someone else! Let me see — Kendra, Linda, Vicki, Lauren, and Jeanne.

Happy Memorial Day!

Challenges, Stampin' UP! 8 Responses »

May 282007

Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone is enjoying the day whether you are having a get together or simply stamping. We had our big day on Saturday with the Graduation Open House! The family was here and we enjoyed a fabulous day outside. I laid around regrouping yesterday, reading and watching old movies. I hadn’t done that for a long time and quite frankly I was just plum worn out from all the cleaning and all the graduation activities from the prior two weeks. But, my baby is now a high school graduate!

I don’t often show a picture of the entire family, but here is a picture of Sydney, Kate, Me, Mallory and Lance.

I have decided today to devote as much time in the studio as possible. I am so far behind in getting things done that I’ve promised. Florence your card will be in the mail tomorrow. Girls from the Cincinnati retreat, I’m working on yours and just about done – they will be in the mail within the week.

When I checked in on Splitcoast last night the Try a New Technique Challenge was posted and I just couldn’t let this one pass by. It’s the Wet Watercolor Technique and we all know how much I love that one! You can check out Beate’s tutorial here. So I went to work this morning and came up with the card below. I have to say it’s a little difficult right now to find any type of floral stamp in my stash that has not retired and maybe I have a block about this technique, but it just definitely screams out for florals. I chose Heartfelt Thanks today because it had a solid image and an outline image (and it’s the only one I have left that is a 2-stamp set).

I used watercolor paper for both the image panel and the background panel. I colored the solid image stamps with markers and then dried the paper using my embossing gun. Then I colored just the flower image of the outline stamp with markers and stamped over the solid image. To soften the harsh white of the watercolor paper on the background, I misted it very heavy with water and using a sea sponge dabbed Cameo Coral on the wet paper. To take some of the color off then, I used a paper towel and just light dabbed up some color. Thanks was colored with marker, stamped off once and then stamped on the background layer. Heartfelt was colored with marker and then stamped with no off stamping.

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Ink: Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery

Paper: Watercolor, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Ribbon, Brads, Sea Sponge, Mister

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday! My mother just called and I’m going to ride over to the cemetery with her to put flowers on my dad’s gravesite – after all, it is Decoration Day (as my grandfather used to call it).