27 January, 2009

Tag, you're it!

Lauri has tagged me!

Okay, so what do I have to do? Go to the 6th picture in my computer, post it and write about it..
Hm.. better make sure I'm in my "clean files" LOL j/k.

Well, i'm at work.. lol so, this should be interesting....
*HOLD PLEASE*



Okay, well, first I want to re-iterate that this is my WORK computer.. so there isn't much on here.. LOL

Okay, so now the story behind the picture. I was looking online for images of puffer fish - and saving them - well, I ended up finding a puffer fish image from Rubbernecker, so didn't have to try and draw one myself. But the fish are still on my computer.

hmm... not as interesting, but there it is! He's cute eh? I can't remember what site this came from, but just google images of puffer fish & I'm sure you'd find him!

So, now its my turn to tag........you're it!!

MICHELLE
KADIE
SUSAN
JEANETTE
CATHERINE
GAEL

26 January, 2009

Blog Candy Winner

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
It is the Year of the Ox.

Yes today marks the beginning of the lunar new year ~ Hopefully you have some cash in your wallet and you're wearing something new! I'm not wearing red today - but close.. pink!

Time to announce the blog candy winner from a few posts ago.... *drumroll please*................. CATHERINE!

On its way to you is the birthday whimsy set, retired last year from SU!
If you already have the set, let me know and I'll send you something else =)
I'm also including 25 clear card sleeves for you!

21 January, 2009

Monsters Ink.......


they ink, they bathe.. did you know?!

I got this image in the mail yesterday - thanks to SANDRA letting us know about VICTORIA CASE ART STAMPS in her blog. So of course, I checked out her site and bought me a monstah!!


I couldn't wait to ink up this little guy yesterday and so I did. I attempted some coloring too and it seemed to turn out okay. I played around with the layout a billion times and still am not 100% happy with what I came up with. I would like to attempt this card again, but maybe a larger square card... now to come up with a sentiment for it.. I'll have to get my creative juices flowing!


Again you'll have to excuse the photo - bf had his laptop plugged in yesterday and I could get the image off my regular camera and uploaded. So I resorted to the ol' blackberry camera... I know I know... its dark and horrible....


For this card I used Chocolate Chip for the base, and layere Pink Passion with some dotty patterned paper from my cheap.. sorry, economical Walmart pad of paper. I colored the image with Stampin' Up!'s watercolor pencils and blended with the blender pens. Used a little thin pink satin ribbon and 3 dew drops (the medium pink from the Hyacinth bottle).

So.. how's this little poem for the card?
A big fuzzy monster
I found under my bed
He should be scary
but he’s cute instead

MISTER! you’re DIRTY!
I shrieked like a bell
You need a bath, mister!
You make my room smell!

So off the the bathtub
With my monster in tow
I scrubbed his fur clean
With the bubbles a - flow

You’ll see mister monster
You’ll be as clean as can be
Then you’ll be welcome
To come dream with me!

20 January, 2009

Blog Publishing!

My very great freind Michelle was mentioned on Hanna Stamps blog!
Michelle will be a grandma soon & recently had a baby shower for her son & his girlfriend! New twins are on the way to join the family very shortly! A VERY BEAUTIFUL cake was made to represent Hanna Stamps' B is for Baby set - which has become a favorite of mine. Please go check out hanna's blog and MISC. MICHELLE for pics and the full story!!

17 January, 2009

TIME FOR BLOG CANDY!!!!!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend!!

Well, I did a humungous clean up today - bf's dd has a friend over for a sleepover and my stipulation was that the place had to be clean! So everyone chipped in, and now, the place actually looks liveable!!

So, I'm taking a break from our little "american idol" contest to post a little blog candy in celebration of my clean condo!

I'm taking a litle break from my AMERICAN IDOL contest we're having here.. the kids are singing right now.. its almost my turn! LOL

So this is the deal, post a comment to my blog! A random name will be drawn of all entries & the winner will recieved:

SU! 2008 SAB set - Birthday Whimsy!
Jan 18th - edit - I'm adding 25 clear sleeves to the pot today!

GOOD LUCK!

12 January, 2009

A bit of Hanna, and some ATG!

I made this card using Hanna Stamps B is for Baby set.

Its also my first successful attempt at paper piecing. I always admire cards with all the detailed snips and love the way they pop out. I thought i'd give this one a try since the images are pretty easy to cut around. I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out, given it being my first try! I took this picture before I added some pink stickles along the edge of the centre.

This is made for my friend who's expecting her 2nd baby girl this week!

I was so excited my paper piecing worked out, i decided to copy it for a swap I joined. This is such a cute set, and I think I'm getting addicted to Hanna Stamps now! They're so easy to use & if any of you were at thier most recent release party - you may have seen me mentin that they smell nice too... haha.

Stamps: Hanna Stamps "B is for Baby"
Paypah: SU! - Pixie pink, Pink Passion
Embellies: green walmart ribbon; Stickles: cotton candy pink


Here is the baby card for the swap:















I hope they like it!

Stamps: Hanna Stamps "B is for Baby"
Paypah: SU! Bashful blue, certainly celery, so saffron; walmart patterned paper
Embellies: Clear dew drops; Stickles: baby blue

AND NOW FOR MY PERSONAL ATG review =)
I ordered my ATG online yesterday from NHS media. This is the 3M ATG714. It arrived via purolator this morning at the office. So, I'd been taking it out of its box, petting it a little, putting it back.. waiting to get home to give it a go! Well, the time is now. Here is the ATG loaded and ready to go. Its quite simple to load.


Here is a snapshot of it next to your typical 472 inches of SNAIL adhesive. Now, you can see the size difference of the gun itself, and how much MORE adhesive you get per roll.


I can definately see the benefits of using a gun like this for big projects, swaps & things where you need to use alot of glue. The cost of the gun will pay itself off in refill savings for those of us who stamp alot! Now, i'm right handed, and the most comfortable position for me, is to glue/write/doodle with things at an angle. The following picture is my attempt at showing you what I see when trying to line the edge of this piece of CS. As you can see, the downfall for me, is that I can't really see clearly where the tape is. The roller is about 1/2" wide, and the tape is 1/4" wide, and sits at the edge of the roller to one side (from the angle, it is the side closest to me). So, its a bit fidgety to see where EXACTLY to place the glue.



So, the easier way to glue for me, is to glue along the edge closest to me. Again, in this photo, i attempt to show you the angle as I see it. (That is, i stuck the camera in front of my face to take the photo). You can see here that its easier to guage where the glue goes, becuase the tape runs along the edge of the roller here. Put the roller along the edge, and that's where your glue goes! (Please excuse the pink plaid pj pants....)




Now, due to the size of this gun, its really hard to glue pieces that are small and odd shaped.. it works, but its taking practice.....


So, VOILA... here's the card I ended up making for this little "review".


Stamps: ELZYBELLS "coffee friends"
Paypah: SU! purely pommegranate, sage shadow, My minds eye patterned paper
Embellies: Dollar store find

Pros: Lightweight, easy to load, sure to save money on adhesive, dont have to change the roll after every swap - the tape is about 3 times the the amount you get in a SNAIL or MONO.

Cons: Bulky, so you need to be careful where you place your roller tip; the adhesive doesn't "finish off" as "cleanly" as a SNAIL.... and well lets face it.. its ugly as sin.

Still, it gets a thumbs up from me! I'm sure my ATG and I will become very, very good friends..



A GIANT THANK YOU!!!


For Christmas, my very special SCS friends banded together to spoil me. I recieved a very generous gift certificate to Rubbernecker!! This was a GREAT gift and one I can't thank everyone enough for. So of course, what did I do? I went shopping!!!!

I thought I'd share with you my load of goodies, now that I've uploaded the photos to my 'puter.
I have never torn into an order as quickly as I did this one. I got so many toys, I can't wait to create more with everything! Thank you again girls! You da best!!!!!

(BIG SISTER HUGS)

09 January, 2009

Blog Candy & Very Cute Stamps!

Good Morning all~
Whew! I'm still recovering from the Release Party last night with Hanna Stamps, of which my very talented friend Sandra is on thier design team!

Sandra's let us in on some blog candy from Victoria Case stamps... I'd never heard of her before, but just clicking onto her blog revealed that I will get to know these images real soon! They are adorable! So click on over for a chance to win some blog candy!! BLOG CANDY

07 January, 2009

Valentine's Kisses

Good Morning all~
Its been a while ya? Hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday.


So, I did fineally get to doing some stamping this year! The card i'll share withy you all today is a prototype of a v-day card for a swap I'm in on SCS hosted by Lauriloo.


This is the first time I inked up the background stamp which has a beautiful message about love on it. I got that in the pile of unmounted rubber off of an ebay auction. I inked up Melinda (Whiff of Joy) again, I love this image, it so adorable!

I didn't color her in. Partly because I think I suck at coloring, and partly because I thought she looked better "naked" for this card.


So now onto New Year's business!
What are your resolutions this year? I have a couple. First, I want to get my stamping space organized. Well, my stamps anyways. Thanks to some very VERY special sisters, I got a HUGE gift certificate for Rubbernecker, and my order came in the mail last night. I used the Tim Holtz paper distresser on the card about to soften the edges on the kraft stock and the momento coco ink for the images. I also got some EZmount and mounted pretty much all my unmounted rubber last night. yes, there I was sitting at the dining room table with sticky fingers mounting and snipping away. Put a little dent in my list of organizing to do's! I can't thank you ladies enough for your very generous gift!
My next resolution is cooking related. I am going to try a new recipe every 2 weeks (or two times per month anyway). Bf bought me a Nintendo DS and with it, the Cooking Personal Trainer software. There are over 200 recipes on it, and I want to try a bunch of them. This weekend will be my first experiment, though I have yet to decide on the recipe. It will be from the software, or perhaps a recipe i have gotten in a swap, or any of the recipes I find around - only rule for me is that it has to be new! I'm sure there will hits and misses, but I'm excited to get cookin'!
I'd like to make a final stamping resolution, but have yet to decide what that will be - so ladies? My question to you is.. what are YOUR resolutions this year?
Lastly, the Hanna Stamps release party is coming upon us quickly! Check out my favorite DT memeber's blog for sneak peeks! SANDRA is such a talented lady! Well, that is all for now. Back to WORK... its a blizzard out there and its nice to be inside while the white falls down......